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Three Levels of Heaven Part 5…Level Three

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

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Although I have so much more to share concerning the second level of heaven…I am compelled to jump to the third. I will come back to the second in time but I cannot wait any longer to begin to unveil the greatest mystery in our universe…the true secret of life.

Having an understanding of how energy works and learning how to change the way you perceive life and learning how to develop a positive energy field and learning how the “law of attraction” works are all very important…BUT…these things pale in comparison to what I am going to share with you today! It took me about 40 years of life to start to understand these things. So, please hold these truths in your heart, hands and mind delicately and let these things begin to take shape and work in a way that you might be able to actually embrace what I am sharing today.

One word of warning before I begin, however…don’t think you understand what I am talking about simply because you have heard some of the same words before. Try to get to the “pearl of great price” or the true “nuggets of gold” in what I am sharing. Do not summarily dismiss any of it simply because you see something you recognize and believe you already know. You may not have fully embraced what I have to say yet. If you actually do understand and actually live the way I am going to describe…please share with us a bit of your journey. I will be incredibly excited to hear from you and so will others. I will try to be as clear as possible…but if you have any questions at all I would very much like to hear them and see if I can respond. Please use the comments below to further this discussion.

First of all…the Third Level of Heaven is NOT PHYSICAL in any way…at least in any way that we can interact within our physical world. You need to understand this in order to even begin to comprehend what I am sharing. That is why I emphasized so much that the second level (essentially the energy level) is very physical. It happens to be largely unseen but still very physical. The Third Level is entirely Spiritual in nature…not the type of spiritual that many people believe is real. Most of what people believe in general about the spiritual realm is simply an unseen physical realm such as energy or the like. Whether you can wrap your mind around it or not…the truly Spiritual realm doesn’t have any  physical aspects at all. The problem comes with communication though. We still have to communicate with language that is very much tied in to the physical realm. However, I will do my best!

I grew up as a Christian. My family went to church regularly and I learned about what it means to live a “Christian” life. I was fortunate in that I grew up in a fairly unique setting where the church we attended was very attuned to the concept of Grace. What I was taught was that there was a God who cared for me enough to die for my sin which opened the door for a life of being able to interact with Him.

This is a fairly typical teaching in the Christian church. However, as I grew and expanded my horizons within the church I quickly realized that most people believe that there is more to the picture of what it means to be a Christian than simply what I was taught as a boy. I soon began to see that there was a great deal of emphasis on becoming involved and “doing your part” and sacrificing yourself and a whole host of other things that would easily cause one to feel obligated to this organization or that organization.

I flirted with this concept of feeling obligated but in the end it didn’t feel quite right. This idea that you had to be obligated to the local congregation to be “acceptable” to God was not quite in line with what I learned as a boy and also through college to some degree or another. So, I tended to not engage fully with any “church” that I attended and my response to any question asking for my help was an automatic “no.” This way it at least gave me a chance to think and pray on it. Still though…I rarely helped out. It just seemed to go against my grain. There were plenty of people that needed help outside the church…I always figured my energy was best reserved for these people. So…I thought, if I were going to be of service in my life…I wasn’t going to do it because of obligation…I was going to serve out of a sense of love or someone else’s true need.

The atmosphere of these local congregations was one of making people feel selfish or inferior if they chose not to help…or worse yet, the people that truly wanted to help but couldn’t for one reason or another really felt bad. I never let any of these feelings take much of a toll on me but I was always curious as to why there was always such a feeling of dissonance most of the time in these places.

I got married and started having children. My wife and I talked about it and decided that we didn’t want our children to become involved with “Sunday School” or anything like that. We felt like it was our responsibility to share our hearts, beliefs and understandings with our kids and didn’t want other’s input too early. So, we kept the kids with us during the services because we also wanted to stay together as we took time out to honor and worship God.

However, we still were asked on a semi-regular basis if we would help with the children’s programs etc…I always said “no” and they always couldn’t figure why we were not willing to help. My thinking was why would I want to contribute to something that I thought was already a waste of time. I also didn’t like the constant arm-twisting in trying to fill spots for Sunday school teachers. It seemed ridiculous to me that if this were of God it would have to be manipulated in such ways.

I always told the “arm-twisters” if there quest were truly what God wanted then He would provide…otherwise just let it die until such a time that God was going to provide for the needs of the program. Of course, I was not appreciated for such advice!

Anyhow…through all of these years I constantly felt as if most of the “church-going” people were really missing out on some key elements of what it meant to have a relationship with God and what it means to practically live that out. The general consensus of most people was that in the end although you are “saved by grace” you continued to be saved by what and how much you did. That was a complete disconnect for me…it did not sit well with me.

Of course on the other hand there was always the question in my mind of what the practical out-workings were of a life of complete Grace. The argument against this type of life is that the “Christian” would then continue to sin knowing that God had it all covered anyhow. I knew that this also was not right.

I had always enjoyed a good relationship with God and good open communication. However, I still always felt a bit disconnected and never could figure out why. Until…I came to a realization that I was feeling the disconnect because I had a bit of a misunderstanding about what it actually means to be a Christian…or one who relates to God in an intimate way.

Now, I figured if I had this misunderstanding and I was already far removed from the typical teaching and practices of the local church in its inner workings, then how far askew must most people’s understanding be?

Well there came a point when I began to realize that my concept of God and of the cross was off. I was always taught that God the Father needed to judge the sinners of the world…it was something that he almost took delight in or at least was something that he was compelled to do by His own sense of justice… His nature was to judge because of His own standards of perfection.

The next logical step was that this “mad” God needed to take out His anger on someone and His son was the only one who could really take what His Father dished out. So Jesus became the incredible loving one and the Father became the “bad” one. You know the “good cop bad cop” routine…well they played it to a tee. But if it was the Father’s nature to really want to “get” someone for his/her actions…then it wasn’t such a lovely proposition to hang out with Him ever. Jesus was good…but the Father…He is too scary.

So, although the Bible talks about God being Love…He (at least the Father) didn’t seem to act like it much of the time…always ready to “smack you down” if you stumbled. As I began to realize the disconnectedness of all of these things it started to make sense to me why so many local “churches” behaved the way they do. They are simply reflecting their understanding of how they believe God Himself works.

So, although I never felt much of the bondage that most people feel growing up in the “church,” I did feel a bit of that disconnectedness until I began to “see” things differently. The greatest revelation of my life was when I realized that I had the whole concept of the Cross messed up. I believed what most “churches” teach that the cross was an undertaking of God to make sure that someone was punished for my sin and your sin. Of course that someone was Jesus.

But there were things that didn’t make sense to me in light of beginning to understand that Jesus was a perfect reflection of the Father. When Jesus was confronted with sin His response was always truth but always couched in a great love and understanding. When he was kneeling down with the woman caught in adultery…His response was one of a loving understanding with the hope of bringing healing to the woman.

Now that concept resonates with me…it made sense that the very nature of God would be to want healing for His people…not punishment. As I considered this…it also made sense that the only people that Jesus ever really showed any anger toward were the people who were always using religion to control others. Again…this is something that resonates with me.

If Jesus is a perfect reflection of the Father than that is how the Father feels as well. I began on a journey of understanding that has completely “rocked” my world and given me a completely different life…this…what I am about to share…is what the 3rd level of heaven is all about.

You see…the beginning of understanding is that the cross was not about punishment at all…but about healing and cures. The Bible is quite clear that Jesus actually became sin. He didn’t carry sin so that he could be punished on our behalf…He became sin so that sin could be dealt a deathly blow once and for all. Like all things in the universe…the energy of sin is connected with itself. All sin for all time is connected.

When Jesus became sin and was able to withstand the loving wrath of His Father (I will explain this in a moment) sin was dealt a death blow once and for all time. The effects of the cross were that there is now a cure for sin for anyone who connects into that event. The reason Jesus was able to do this was because he lived a perfect life. He was not stained because of sin and therefore His relationship with His Father was never marred in any way. Because of this He was able to withstand the Father’s wrath upon sin itself as Jesus Himself became sin to accept the cure for sin within His very own body.

Now, the term “the loving wrath of the Father” what does that mean? In God’s incredible love his desire is to destroy anything that gets in the way of our relating to him. Thus his wrath is simply an action of His love against whatever stands up against us to keep us from His loving arms. What are the effects of sin? In essence…it is shame and hiding and isolation…all things that keep us from wanting and being able to become close to God Himself. We do not feel these things because God is distant (as is so often taught) but because we cannot get past our own shame and guilt to actually engage in a meaningful relationship with anyone let alone God Himself.

So, His wrath is an act of Love that leads to the opening up of the doors that we normally keep shut and locked. When we experience the curative nature of the cross we then realize we are free to love and (more importantly) to be loved. Being able to live and walk in the Freedom of being loved by God and knowing that reality down to the very core of your being is an incredible experience. I know of very few people who have actually experienced this as I have.

One of the most beautiful things in my life is being able to not only know the love of God for me but to actually experience His affection for me. I literally feel so close to God, the Creator of All things, that I can climb up into His lap if need be and just be held. Or, I can have an interactive conversation with the Father and I will share my heart with Him and He will share His heart with me.

The fact that God is a trinity (three persons with one nature) explains an awful lot about the very nature of God. He has to be able to have relationship with Himself that is perfect in love, harmony, sharing and caring to ever be able to have that type of relationship with me. In fact…He has such an incredibly beautiful and selfless relationship within the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that His greatest desire is for me (and you) to join Him in that relationship.

When our sin and shame no longer have power over us and we are able to walk in complete FREEDOM to love and be loved…then we can actually, in practical and real terms, enter into the amazing relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and enjoy that relationship and be included in it…it is an absolutely incredible thing.

This is what it means to live in the third level of heaven…to actually and really enjoy and be involved with the most beautiful relationship that could ever be possible…ever! That is the incredible intimate, affectionate relationship of God as He relates within Himself and to me and anyone else who wants to accept the invitation.

That is what Jesus meant when He told people that the Kingdom of God was right there. This love relationship is the ultimate reality of what the Kingdom of God is and it is here to be enjoyed. It is truly amazing and unbelievable. I so hope and wish that you will join us in this journey of inter-relating and having intimacy with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This is not a physical relationship…not even in the energy realm…at all. It is more real than any of that. It is the most substantial realm of existence there is and it is available to anyone who desires it. I can tell you this very surely…God certainly desires it. There is the sin and shame issue that always gets in the way of His yearning for you and His invitation to you.

However, Jesus in His amazing love and the Father in His amazing love created a way of cure for these things if we would only take it into our very being. The pain Jesus felt on the cross was only matched by the pain that the Father felt because of what His only Son was experiencing. A Father’s love for His son is indeed special and unique…and God the Father’s pain in joining with the Son to provide a cure for our sin was because He made an incredible sacrifice in allowing Jesus to do this thing. The Father had to agree that we are worth it…that the relationship that the action of the cross would open up was worth the sacrifice to both the Father and the Son.

It is absolutely incredible! I hope you get a sense and a flavor of what this means. The enormity of it is staggering. Yes…living in the second level is special because we get to experience the physical nature at its finest when energy interrelates and we feel like we are really connected to something. Then we experience the power of the law of attraction and all that comes with that understanding.

The third level of heaven does not negate that…in fact it celebrates that. However, the experiences able to be had in the second level of heaven pale in comparison to the experiences awaiting us all in the third level of heaven. Wow…it is absolutely and stunningly beautiful and exciting. Language does not even begin to be able to convey all that is there waiting as we enter into the most beautiful relationship there ever was and ever will be…entering into fellowship and intimacy and absolute love with the author of love and the best lover there ever was and ever will be.

Again, I hope you will consider joining me as we venture and dwell in the third level of heaven.

As always…Blessings and enjoy this adventure we call life!

Life as a Father of Seven Children…

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

When I tell people I have seven children there are two phrases that always follow (one a statement and the other a question):

“Wow…that’s a big family!”

“Are they all yours?”

Well…it doesn’t seem like a big family. In fact when even just one of the children are off doing something else…there is an awkward gap in the house. Things seem incredibly quiet and it feels like we are not whole. It may sound strange to many of you…but when I am away from them…I don’t like it…not even for a day.

Sure it is nice to have some alone time to get things done. I use as much of that time that I can. But, there is a major part of my being that is tied up into the other eight people in our family that I have a developed tendency towards being a bit heavy hearted when I am away.

Oh, before I continue…yes they are all my wife’s and mine. Yes she actually gave birth to all of them!

So, the long and short of it is that I have never felt like we have a large family. It never feels too crowded to me…it rarely even seems too loud (except perhaps when they are playing soccer in the house)…primarily because my children are not naturally loud people. We have a house full of soccer players and readers, cooks, delightful human beings and hopefully someday…musicians as well.

I have to tell you…my heart is so full of love that I can’t hardly stand it. When we had our first child, a son, I was so convinced that every bit of love that I had within me was spent on him. So, when I found out we were going to have our second…honestly…I was nervous.

We never know the sex of our children ahead of time so my feelings had nothing to do with that…I just believed that I had a limited amount of love to give out and it was all spent on my first born. It wasn’t until our eldest daughter was born two and a half years after our son that I realized that the spigot hadn’t even been turned up yet.

We have birthed all of our children at home for reasons I will discuss at a later time…but as my wife was laboring in our bedroom I was unsure of how I felt about this baby coming. I had no such doubts during the first birthing process. Of course I had some nervousness about having our first baby at home…but I never questioned my feelings for that baby.

I honestly did not know until she was born how I was going to feel. Well, the birth was slightly challenging because of some fear issues happening in other areas that I am not going to share right now…but as soon as those things were “dealt with” at that time, our daughter came out with a full force of energy. She was so ready to be born at that point.

Anyhow…as soon as she came “flying” through the birth canal and she was physically present there. Every ounce of doubt I had was instantaneously gone. The spigot of love from my heart was turned up higher than I ever could have imagined and it was at that point that I knew that the type of love I was dealing with was  coming from an unending supply.

I never doubted the power of love again and with the birth of each of our children (at home of course) my capacity to love only grew more and more.

So…one of the first things that I would share with the entire world if I could is the incredible love I learned as a result of having all seven of my children. There is not a day that goes by that I am not eternally thankful for them and for the capacity within me to love that is amazingly large.

I figured it out one day when I was thinking about my seven children…it took seven for me to finally realize what it means to love and live loved. I don’t know if you have found that…but if you haven’t…please hang out with me here and I will continue to show you the things I have learned.

There are so many things I really would like and need to share…but I believe I should leave those things for another time. I don’t want to convolute the primary issue of loving and being loved. I believe there is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, more important than learning these two sides of love in life. For me it took having seven children to get this far.

How much further I have to go is yet to be seen. I know this one thing to be true though…I have learned things in these areas that have become imbedded within my very being that others look at me in bewilderment and wonder if I am deluded or making this stuff up. I am not making this stuff up…the ability to truly live a life of love is well beyond any imagination I could possibly have.

We will continue this again…until then…

“Live the Adventure!”

I would love to hear from you…please leave a comment or any questions below…

A Father’s Affection…Why You Need IT for Your BUSINESS and Your LIFE!

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

I was sitting with my youngest son this morning not able to do much work because he wanted to be held…so what did I do instead? I held him and enjoyed the amazing connection that I have with him!

You see…I absolutely adore my children! I have seven and I truly believe they are the most beautiful people on this earth!

As I was holding him I was thinking about the incredible freedom that he lives under. I don’t mean freedom from basic rules and guidelines that keep him safe and so forth…but what I am talking about is the freedom from fear, the freedom from self-doubt and the freedom from a sense of utter loneliness that so many people actually feel and realize when they are being honest with themselves.

My son knows my affection and lives in it. He knows what it means to “live loved.”  That is his natural mode of existence. Now of course…he is loved intensely by all of us but there is something about a Father’s love that is just a bit different. It has a different sort of impact on us and it has the power, more than anything else in this universe, to free us from the abiding fear that is ever present in our surroundings. We all know it and feel it at times of uncertainty and loneliness…it is simply a proven fact.

A Father’s affection will create a barrier around the recipient that enables that person to literally soar like an eagle…no fear of tomorrow…hardly even a thought about what tomorrow may or may not bring. Someone who lives in their Father’s affection can literally conquer any obstacle and soar to any height because there is always safety in being loved by a Father!

Don’t get me wrong…I am certainly not discounting the love of a Mother or siblings or spouses or friends or anything else. We all need to feel the love of many people in our lives. The love of a Mother extends compassion to and through us…exceedingly important and so much more…things that a Father usually does not provide. However, for the most part, a Mother’s love does not have the freeing power that  a Father’s love has.

That is why I say for your Business and your Life you need to live in a Father’s affection. There is no more powerful way to become truly FREE to live out life to its fullest extent. Our inability to embrace life and fully engage in life has a great deal to do with how safe we feel and how ultimately we “live loved.” A Father’s love makes us feel safe enough to explore, to attempt, to jump, to journey and grow in areas that we are not familiar with.

Life is constantly throwing hinderances in our way but our natural ability to overcome these have a great deal to do with the Freedom we feel when we are “living loved” in a Father’s affection. The good news is…even if your father was a complete idiot (hopefully not your own) a Father’s love can be experienced through a surrogate or even better through the person of God the Father.

Quite simply though…if you are finding road block after road block in your ability to engage fully as an entrepreneur or simply as a human being, take a step back and consider these things. My youngest son does amazing feats as an 18 month old boy. He does not know the “feeling” of fear. He is not hindered by self-doubt or fear or loneliness. He is completely free to look at the moment he has in front of him and fully engage in it. All that he is can be focused on what is happening right here and now because he has no outside worries of any kind. This is far from true of many 18 month old children. It is in fact more of a rarity…especially these days. By 18 months those feelings of fear and of being unsure of oneself have begun to become cemented in people’s personalities.

I personally also know of this life-changing power of feeling a Father’s affection. The freedom I now experience in life as a 46 year old man is far more than I can ever remember in my years growing up and as a young adult. I came to this realization as I was struggling through my twenties and thirties. I was daring and willing to take risks because I had it as a part of my make-up. However, I was not free of fear and so everything that I did was hampered in one way or another.

It was coming to the understanding that I am truly loved and that I really can live in the Father’s Affection (actually not just an understanding but an emotional reality as well) that freed me to begin to soar and learn how to truly appreciate this life and live it as the adventure it was intended to be. Oh I know that a lot of people live in a heightened state because they have learned how to substitute what I am talking about for strictly positive energy…but it truly is not the same. I know of both. Living in a heightened positive state is very important and powerful…but “living loved” is beyond any ability to convey in mere words.

Take a positively minded and charged individual who understands the laws of reciprocity and the law of attraction and how to positively interact with his/her fellow human beings and let them get a hold of this idea that I am talking about…and even their lives are catapulted to a different level of freedom that is really inconceivable any other way.

I am not asking anyone to become religious (religion simply destroys what I am talking about…it brings bondage and slavery) or to do anything at all other than to consider and meditate on what I am saying. If it rings true for you…I would be so happy to hear about it. If it doesn’t…I completely respect that as well and would love to communicate further with you on these things if you are so inclined.

However, it has been my experience in consulting with thousands of people that the Freedom that a person can truly feel when they feel the affection of a Father is truly unique. Entrepreneurs can soar and life can be experienced in a degree that is nearly inconceivable any other way. I hope  you continue to join me on this “adventure we call life.” If you want to know more about how life can truly be lived in a degree that is beyond you wildest hopes and expectations…subscribe to our newsletter by filling in the boxes on the right…“Living Beyond the Edge…of Normal.”

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Fly Fishing…a slice of life!

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
After nearly walking for 4 miles…this is where we started!

After nearly walking for 4 miles…this is where we started!

14+ inch Brown Trout!

14+ inch Brown Trout!

Action shot!

Action shot!

Daughter being sneaky!

Daughter being sneaky!

Casting further up the creek!

Casting further up the creek!

Son getting ready to catch one!

Son getting ready to catch one!

17+ inch Brown!

17+ inch Brown!

Where I caught the 17 inch Brown

Where I caught the 17 inch Brown

Okay…it is a day late and I apologize for that! However, I had some issues with the photos so I have a bit of an excuse.

One of the beautiful things about fly fishing is that it teaches you to live in the moment. If you are not aware of each second then you would surely miss the opportunities that arise in the form of catching fish. When fishing for trout specifically they can rise in an instant and be gone just as quickly. You very much have to experience it all as it is happening or you miss the experience.

With the stunning beauty of the surroundings, the utter enjoyment of the fishing and the wonderful interaction with my two eldest children…I had such a fantastic time. We ended up fishing for three days. The first day we fished Flat Creek; the second Caples Creek; and the third the Silver Fork of the American. I am still trying to decide if I should give exact locations and give away our secrets, but suffice it to say that we had to do a fair amount of walking to get away from the beaten path and into some great fishing.

I can tell you this…Flat Creek was flat this time of year. I have never fished this creek in July before and now I know why. It was much too low for any productive fishing. However, the next two days were filled with lots of fish and lots of fun and lots of walking. We were just absolutely worn out. Anyhow, my main objective is just to say how proud I am of my children as they were really starting to get a hang of this sport that literally takes decades to fully learn. Also, I wanted to share just a few pictures for fun!

Action shot!

Action shot!

Nice Brown!

Nice Brown!

I am amazed with my eldest son…

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

My wife has taken the three girls to a “sewing day” today. They are involved with a local sewing club and every year the “ladies” get together and spend nearly an entire day together. Most of the people involved are older in age…but apparently quite young at heart. My three girls are decades younger than most of the women in the club but they are embraced and helped as though they were everyone’s daughters. It is a beautiful thing. Tami will then take them all directly to their soccer training…oh the modern girl! I must brag a bit and say that all three girls are quite talented in the sewing and even more so in the soccer. All three of them (the twins on one team and the elder on another) “play up.” That is to say that they play on teams for girls that are older than they are. I would go on about them but my intention is to talk about my son.

He is nearly fifteen years old. Since Tami is gone all day with the girls it has fallen on his shoulders to have primary care for the younger three boys…7, 5 and 18 months. Now, I have talked to many moms who have a difficult time dealing with only one or two at these ages. My son has done an incredible job feeding them, taking care of their needs, making up games for them, playing with them and just overall giving his entire being to his three younger brothers. I hardly know a handful of adults who are so able to give up their own agendas and give themselves so fully to others…especially others covering these particular ages.

His ability to pour his love into his brothers speaks of an understanding about life and love that far surpasses his nearly fifteen years of age. He has caught a glimpse of what it means to be loved…not only by his mother and me but by God…and is able to allow that love to flow from his very being. I am not trying to say he is perfect. But, I am simply trying to share with all of you that a life of one who understands what it means to be loved has an incredible ability to enjoy others and love others because of the inherent understanding of the precious beauty and gift of love.

One of my greatest desires in all of life is to be able to share with as many people as is possible what it truly means to live loved. I hope you can continue on this journey with me and come to see a glimpse of this incredible beauty in life that is not only available and accessible…but the doors are standing open for you to enter in. We will talk more about these things in the future…but I wanted to share with you what a lovely human being my eldest son truly is.

By the way…he is one of the most talented soccer players at  his age that I have ever seen.

Remember to “live the adventure!”

Corporate America’s Assault on the Responsible Individual…

Friday, June 19th, 2009

How many of you are sick and tired of your bank? Your phone company? Your TV Provider? Your government? Your insurance company? Your medical provider? Your place of employment? The airline you use? The hotel chain  you used to like? And countless other places where we are not so well represented in corporate America…

I am typically very mild mannered and evenly tempered…but when one of these major institutions backs me into a corner because of their deceitful actions, I come out fighting. I usually start with “this is not about you personally” to the person I am talking to directly before I come out with “all guns blazing.”

Let me share a few stories (some just in the recent weeks)…

I made a purchase with a credit card (a fairly substantial purchase) that was approved ahead of time by the card issuer. Within a week we start getting 8-10 calls/day from this same company. We ignored them for about 10 days. One Sunday morning however, I was so fed up I answered the phone with “you people are incredibly rude…what is your problem?” He said they were calling because I was over my credit limit. I actually had no credit limit on the card ever before and the purchase I made was pre-approved by them. After the purchase they came back and established a credit limit on the card that was substantially lower than the charge made on the card. The payment on this card was not late and it had never had a late payment on it. I told him that I would sue the company for harassment and breach of contract if they ever called even one more time again. Apparently that got through to them because they never called another time. I did not pay the card until the due date (which was still two weeks in the future). They lowered my credit limit below my amount of purchases and the collection department was calling…what is that?

Another one…I went to charge another card for a purchase and it was declined. I called the company and they told me that I was overdue on a payment. I was on my computer and told him the payment wasn’t due for another week. He then backtracked and said it was an internal computer problem and he was very sorry…it was all their fault. Now I don’t know what happened, but they didn’t have the decency of being honest up front.

I deposited a check in one of my bank accounts. I received an email a couple of days later and I was overdrawn. I called the 800 number and they had no idea of what happened. They had absolutely no record of my deposit. I had a receipt for my deposit. I went to the local branch (who I must say were very friendly) they eventually found the check in with the deposit slips. It had never been sent in.

I just recently switched cell phone carriers. What a hassle that was! Anyhow, I was originally billed from my old carrier through the end of the cycle even though I had only gone through about half of it. I was able to work it out with one of the customer service reps and it seemed fine. We started getting 6-8 calls/day from this company. I finally called them back and was told that they had changed their policy and were billing to the end of the cycle whether the service was used or not. I told the gentleman that there was no way I was paying for services not given and that my final bill had already been adjusted but I still hadn’t received it yet. He told me that was impossible because they never waiver from their policy and their policy was billing till the end of the cycle. I finally got him to look up the details and he found out that indeed my bill had been adjusted and all he said to me was that I was lucky. I told him I hadn’t seen the final bill yet and he told me it had been sent. I assumed it was lost in the mail but asked him why they denied me access to my online account because  I would be perfectly willing to pay for it online. He then slipped and said “oh that is why it was never sent to you because you had been signed up for paperless statements.” Caught in more than one lie. They are still calling 6-8 times/day which we ignore.

The federal government wants to take care of everyone who chooses not to take care of themselves by stealing money from me and my friends. The California state government is even worse. They just raised our taxes to be the highest in the nation because they refuse to cut spending on idiotic things. We own some property in Nevada and have a disabled young man who grew up in one of our places. He has cerebral palsy and can’t work. His father died and now he gets about $700/month disability. We helped him apply for rent help from the state. I had previously told him when his father died that he could pay as much as he could afford for rent…if that were zero than that would be zero. I could not kick him out and I could not take his money that he needed to use to eat and so forth. In another couple places we had people living there who were getting help. One of these families with children did not work and had every bit of their lives taken care of by the state and federal governments. I asked them why they just sat around all day everyday and never tried to work. They simply responded “because we can”…unbelievably frustrating. Now this young man with cerebral palsy has qualified for a bit of help…but a fraction of what these other people were receiving. He is genuinely disabled and getting almost zero help. These other folks could work but choose not to. What is wrong with this picture? Our government at its finest!

We have seven children and have birthed them all at home…some by ourselves and some with a midwife or two. Anyhow, because of this we had a 3-4 year struggle getting social security cards (for tax purposes) for a couple of our younger boys. I spent countless hours with the social security administration and through our congressman eventually talked to the regional director of SSA. We were told over and over again (including by the regional director) that since we homeschool and we take care of any health issues at home and because we do a whole host of other things that are not “normal” that there was no way that they could issue cards (numbers) to these two boys. We were told repeatedly that there were only a few things that they would accept for I.D. verification…and we weren’t involved with any of these. I tell you, this was a frustrating experience. I kept fighting though and I eventually met a very nice gal who worked at one of the local SSA offices. She sat me down at their computer and showed me all of the possible inputs for I.D. that they accepted…there were dozens of them. It ended up being very easy to accomplish in the end once I met someone who was honest with me. I was lied to by the Regional director as well as dozens of various customer service reps at various offices. I know I was lied to because when I was able to look at the input screens myself (the same ones all of these other folks were looking at) I could see exactly what they weren’t telling me for the past 3+ years. Isn’t that disgusting?

I have many more stories as well. I hope you get the point and we have friends that have had similar issues.

I for one have never been a corporate fan and believe that individual entrepreneurship is the very best way to make a living so that we can stay out of the corporate sphere as much as we possibly can. We wholeheartedly believe that the home is the most powerful place on the planet and that is why we choose to do nearly everything out of our home. We choose not to incorporate the “bad” energy from these giant corporate institutions and instead focus on the love and beauty that has been given us. I will fight for our rights…but I leave where it belongs. We’ll let the rest of them wallow in the madness. As for me and my family, we walk to the beat of a different drummer.

Keep following and I will talk more about that in the future.

Meanwhile I appreciate your feedback and always remember to…”live the adventure.”