Finding Him

Over the years I’ve found God in the strangest places Places most people never thought of looking for Him I’ve found Him among people that most have forgotten People hurt by those who are happy to ignore them I found God on a sidewalk listening to a homeless man’s hurt Ministering to a man because other preachers didn’t want to His situation wasn’t much different from the rest of us All he wanted was somebody to listen to what he’d been through I found God in the voice of an addict as he testified Much of his testimony written in the lines on his face He told of how many had given up and written him off as dead But then a brother in Christ had shared some of our Lord’s grace I found God in a Hollywood actor’s heart Even after living a life of sin and debauchery He remembered where his life and blessings came from He listed God as his hero in his biography I found God in a rock singer’s words and music His lifestyle lead him to the grips of death and back again God’s grace lit a spark in his heart he had to share But many ‘Christians’ still only remember his sins I found God in the heart of a girl who had a past A young woman shamed by her tarnished history But she found grace while at her lowest of lows Now she shares Jesus and raises a family I found God in a fellow preacher’s heart But you say isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be But you haven’t seen the things that I have seen Preachers fueled not by love but by greed I found God up in the starry sky at night All of His creation on display for us all to see He created the wonders of the universe But He still took time to a man like me I found God while down on my knees in prayer Begging Him to please help me let go of all this hate I felt His hands on my shoulders and heard His voice As He saved my soul and assured me of my new fate I found God just in time to change my life The day I realized He had always been all around He saved my life and set my new course He gave me a new life to live a life unbound

The Remnant

A little over a week ago, I wrote a blog entitled 'Sick Day'. In it I spoke of my discouragement with the United Methodist Church and had basically decided to leave. In the time since then, much has happened. My friends returned from General Conference with news that all of the agendas being pushed by the ultra-liberal groups within the denomination had been shot down. Our church's laws in our Book of Discipline would not be changed to something contrary to the bible. It was due mainly to our brethren from Africa standing firm on biblical teachings that this happened. Though not everything went as we had hoped, enough happened to give many of us renewed hope in the UMC and a renewed vigor to continue to fight for our beliefs. I have decided to continue to fight the good fight. Even though some within our denomination view us as crazy and some even accuse us of being hatemongers, we will continue to stand our ground and stand for the Holy Bible being God's inspired Word.We simply believe that the bible is the truth. It means that what God calls sin in His Word is still sin to this day. It doesn't mean we hate anyone. We simply will not back down from our beliefs. Aside from this, the outpouring of love from my church family melted my heart. They understood my reasons for feeling the way I do, but truly did not want me to leave. Some of what they said broke my heart. I had to remind them that is was nothing of their doing that made me feel like leaving, but my discontent at the governing body of the denomination itself. That feeling continues, but I know that more good can be done from the inside, than looking in from the outside. So, my friends, I will not be leaving my home church. I will continue to stand for my beliefs. I will continue to be a part of the remnant. God bless you my friends, Pete.

Walking On The Edge

Why would a minister call his blog 'The Edge of Darkness'? Well, as a minister it is my calling to reach out to the lost, those souls who don't know God. Many people of the world have never had God witnessed to them or have never been witnessed to in a manner that connected with them. In many cases, they've been approached so aggressively that it actually drove them away from God instead of bringing them closer. They weren't shown 'the light', which is God through His Son Jesus the Christ and therefore have never recieved the Holy Spirit so that they may experience the spiritual rebirth needed in order to start walking in God's ways. So, in order to reach out to the lost and open their eyes to the deceptions of the world, you must walk along 'The Edge of Darkness'. God bless you my friends. Pete 5/5/12

Streams

For some reason I have streams on my mind tonight Like the ones I remember playing in as a kid Wandering down seemingly endless pathways Like paths we could have taken, but never did Streams that can flow so strongly at times But dry and fade away in times of drought Just as our life has it's own unique flow That dries and fades in times of doubt The streams can carry reviving waters to the fields Turning what was dead and brown back to vibrant colors Our lives can carry such love and joy through us When it shines, we're a light to countless others The streams carry precious water out to great rivers They become part of a larger body a greater whole We too are part of something greater than ourselves When we take part in life and join with other souls The stream that once struggled on it's lonely winding path Fighting such a treacherous world to make it a little farther Now it is part of a great river moving across the land Until it rests by fields of green in the still waters Just as the stream had to fight against the world by itself We too face many tribulations when we choose to walk alone But we can join our souls to something greater when we believe We can claim an inner peace, a peace we've never known We can allow our life's stream to continue to flow alone Or we can choose to join our souls to something so much greater We can allow our lifespring to fadeaway in the passage of time Or we can choose to spend eternity with our creator

Sick Day

I'm at home sick today. For those of you that know me, you know that I have chronic sinus problems that I deal with pretty much daily. This is one of the bad days. Sitting at home sick, gives me time to think. Something I don't know that I really want right now. I'd rather keep my mind occupied at the moment. You see, I'm getting ready to leave my home church that I love very much. I know what you must be thinking; 'If I love it so much, then why am I leaving?'. Well the past few years I've been part of the United Methodist Church. When I first started attending there, everyone just made me feel so welcome. They made me feel like family and to this day, I love several of them just like family. The thing is though, the governing body of the church at the highest levels is supporting agendas that go against my beliefs. They support allowing things into the church that go against the Holy Bible, against God's Word. This grieves me to my very soul. My faith is most important to me in life. Though I am compassionate toward people who are dealing with problems in their lives and those who are living different lifestyles, I'm also very hardedged about my beliefs. I believe to love the sinner, hate the sin. If someone isn't trying to live a Christlike life, I can still show them love even though I don't agree with how they're living. On the other hand, I don't believe in changing the church to accomadate a lifestyle contrary to biblical teaching. Either you believe in the bible in full or you don't believe in it at all. You don't put aside parts of it in order to make the church 'more inviting'. When you do that, you adopt a false religion. That is something I will not be a part of. Aside from that, I just don't feel I'm growing spiritually in the place I'm at right now. It quite simply is time to move on. A season of my life has ended and a new one is about to begin. It's time to once more step out of my comfort zone and follow the calling that God has placed on my heart. I'm still affiliated with several ministries, including my own, so I won't be out of church. As far as what I will call my home church, we'll just have to wait and see. I hope this hasn't discouraged any of you my friends. I hope it encourages you to take steps toward your own spiritual growth. Maybe it's time for you to begin a new season in your life as well. I'll leave you with this scripture. Ecclesiastes 3 New King James Version (NKJV) 1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; 3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; 7 A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; 8 A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace. God bless you my friends, Pete 4-30-12

I know I haven't been on blogspot for a very, very longtime, but I'm hoping to put it back to use now.

How Did I Get Here From There?

Today I'm an independent Christian minister trying to live a good life and witness the gospel of Christ to other people. I used to be a foul-mouthed, heavy drinking, stipclub patroning, irreverend sinner. This wasn't that long ago either. So, that brings me to one of those monumental life questions; JUST HOW DID I GET HERE FROM THERE?
When I was in my twenties, I fell into a habit of going out with some friends to this redneck country bar and dance club 2 or 3 nights a week. It wasn't really my kind of place, but the beer was cold and there were some pretty women there, so I tagged along and hung out with my friends. Though I never got cuaght, there were plenty of nights where I probably had no business driving home; not good. During this time, I also talked nasty enough to make a sailor blush. The more obnoxious and offensive then language, the better was how I was back then. I was so mad at the world for so many things, like the death of my dad when I was only 17, and I didn't even realize it. It was like I was being so self-abusive, I was tempting and almost even welcoming death.
When I was in my late twenites, I got into a steady relationship with a young woman and started calming down a bit. I was still foul-mouthed and still drank heavily at times, but I wasn't self-destructing anymore. I felt like I had a place and purpose in life I guess. We were together for a few years and were eventually engaged, but in time, we drifted apart and went our seperate ways. I have no complaints about that relationship and wish her all the best in life. The only thing is though, after we split up, me and a buddy who was in a rocky relationship started hitting the stripclubs pretty regularly. Needless to say, with consumption of much alcohol and getting to know some of the strippers on a first name basis, I ended up wasting a whole lot of time and money.
Oh, and did I mention that I spent my time in between all of this doing fundraisers for charitable organizations and calling myself a Christian? Yes, while I was living this life of sin, I was still talking to God and doing God's work by helping orphans. During all of my sinful times, when I was alone, me and God still chatted. I knew my life wasn't right and I knew He couldn't be too proud of me, but I was always His child. I was even mad at God for a long time for taking my dad away from me too soon. It took me years to realize that maybe my dad had beeen hurting more than he had let any of us know and that God had taken him home so he wouldn't suffer anymore.
Well, a few years ago I was introduced to a girl that was the exact opposite of everything I had been looking for. A blue-eyed, blonde-haired, pentecostal holiness Sunday school teacher from West Virginia. We hit it off great and spent as much time together as possible. I got involved at the church she attended, got saved, began learning about the ministry from the pastor, started teaching teen Sunday school, started my online ministry, and was eventually ordained as an independent Christian minister. My girlfriend and I were engaged for a long time. We were together almost 3 years. Eventually, our lives started taking very different paths. I won't go into details, but that relationship ended very badly. I was getting more and more involved in the ministry and she was going in a different direction. I went through a lot of pain over that breakup, because I not only loved her, but her 2 kids as well. Through all of the pain though, I grew even closer to God and He put people in my lifepath through my ministry who were going through similar situations. He made me be strong for others even when I didn't want to be.
So, today I minister via the internet, reaching out to people all over the world. I've made friends in more countries than I feel like typing here. I'm no longer the foulmouthed, heavy drinker I used to be. I'm just a sinner trying to live a good life and serve God. I'm still probably not everybody's idea of what a minister should be. I do preach to gospel straight out of the Holy Bible. I don't believe in twisting or manipulating it to serve my own puposes. I do sit down with a friend to talk over a cold beer on the occasion that they want to have a converstion about life and God. I know a lot of people would disagree with that, but we'll just have to agree to disagree. I do still listen to a lot of the rock, metal, and blues music I grew up on. I do believe the scripture that says it's not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of him. I don't think that having a drink with a friend or listening to a certain song is gonna send you to hell. Well, I won't go off on a rant here. I'll save that for another day. Anyway, I've come a long way from where I used to be. Maybe I truly am the prodigal son come back to God's service.

With all my love my friends, Rev. Norman L. Morrison a.k.a. Pete.