Vet Church and TIME
Phase 1: Conception. Phase 2: Childhood.
Phase 3: Adulthood.
Phase 4: Afterlife.
Phase 1: God knows us -from the womb- Google it!
Phase 2: The tools to choose come our way -sometimes this phase is horrific and painful.
Phase 3: The choosing -what will you chose?
Phase 4: Lotta Speculation and Interpretation-we’ll see!
I have always wanted a ROLEX time piece. Now as many of y’all know I haven’t budgeted that sorta luxury but I wouldn’t be adverse to wearing one. Of course at this point in my life I would sell it and reinvest the money into Vet Church. And all because I am choosing to invest all my time and resources into the afterlife (Phase 4).
Vet Church is my way of preparing for the afterlife. See, I know what is real. I am an ordained minister of the Gospel. I studied till they conferred a Doctoral degree upon me in the area of Pastoral Care. I’ve also lived a little. And during that living I discovered that a persons story is real. The story is everything.
You have a story. I have a story. We all have stories. Our lives are a great big story.
Our story is so sacred that at some point the Father said to the Son, “Here’s an idea, you go down there and die so that I can have a relationship with them.” The Son agreed and the story went from conception to childhood into an adulthood that ends with death on a cross. That story doesn’t end at the cross though it ends in the afterlife when the Son rises from the dead. And through that resurrection into the afterlife the relationship between humanity and God was rekindled. After the resurrection from the dead the Son sent the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort folks as the journeyed through life.
So how does Vet Church fit into the story stuff. Well, I love music. From the time I was young my mom would sing with me. Then I heard this band called U2. Years went by.
Medically retired from the Army and trying to get off an enormous amount of medication, I started writing songs and singing them. Then my mom died. I did some self-examination. I was no longer suicidal. I was no longer the pristine spotless chrome sorta guy. I was fed up and fired up. I wasn’t pastor material. I was hurt, frustrated and angry. I still believed in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit story. I was also still an ordained minister of the Gospel. And I didn’t fit in. Regular Church wasn’t working for me. The music and the story were all I had. Then I realized that’s all any of us have. A song in our hearts and our sacred story.
I started Vet Church for many reasons. The one that stands out to me the most is that I wanted to do communion. I wanted to partake in the Bread and the Blood. The purest moments of communion for me were back in Afghanistan with troops before they rolled out into the Korengal Valley. So I modeled the Sunday services of Vet Church after those pre-CLiP moments. Yes! We do communion every Sunday.
PTS-D, Morale Injury, 22 a Day, Hurt, Anger and Pain- constant aching pain; it’s all there. It’s always there. So I decided to keep going.
Vet Church is a way to celebrate the Relationship with God and man (Sunday Services); the sacredness of Story (the Pod Cast); and our lives (through the music). I’ve got to keep going.
We are part of time. We are all in this together. We may never get a chance to fasten a Rolex to our wrist but we can all be part of celebrating time. Join us in Vet Church as we celebrate our time and the time we will spend together in the afterlife
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