My Rebirth: We all Have a Inverted Cross, Flip it!!!
Nearly Two years ago I was reborn into a new man, but it has been a gradual change...For me it’s clear, I have indeed found the Lord, and He is now my song and my salvation...Here is a quick preview of my last two years in a simple write up, those who continue to question the Greatness of the Lord, than do not close this out just yet…
On December 15, 2019, I was Christmated into the Orthodox Church, and Heather and I also had our marriage finally blessed in the Church...It was up until just last year when something hit me while we watching this TV Series called the Chosen...It was the moment towards the very end of episode one, when Yeshua (Jesus) redeems Mary Magdalene...When He said I have called you by name, my heart felt relief and chosen, but chosen for what?
On the day of my Chrismation I chose my Saint Name to be Saint Philip...If I’m being honest I chose that Saint because it coincided with my birthday which is on November 14...I didn’t know anything about St. Philip before choosing his name, but now I know a great deal about this Saint...There are three things that stand out to me about St. Philip is this he was a peacemaker, and peacemakers are known as sons of God...St. Philip was a true brother in the end when he graciously gave his life and returned to save Bartholomew...Lastly St. Philip was extremely close to Yeshua (Jesus), and he was also a study of John the Baptist before following the Messiah he chose to Come and See... This is what he told Barholomew.
My rebirth is interesting. I'm slowly turning into a “peacemaker”, I have the heart of a lion who would graciously give his life for a brother, as well as the name of Christ...Lastly I have picked up my cross, and have chosen to serve Christ, our God...I now do His will and no longer concern myself with the will of mankind...I see life as full of afflictions and tribulation and I’m constantly falling short, but our Creator has picked me up out the ashes and set me on level ground, He has helped establish a fair playing field…Struggling is all part of life and being a Christian full of faith...Following Yeshua (Jesus) isn’t going to be easy and even in the Bible we are told this from the mouth of Yeshua (Jesus) Himself...Following Yeshua is definitely being different, and believe me I’m different but in a good way, my different is in the Name of Christ...He has redeemed me, I’m now His, and answer only to Him, for now I’m a messenger for Him...
In this last year the Lord has done it all for me, He has blessed me and the family...He has blessed my friends and family members, He has answered my prayers and shown me the way...He has used the Scriptures to give me clues, messages, and even times where He has used the Scriptures to scold me...My Transformation has been a working progress, but isn’t that the true secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven...We can start out like that of a mustard seed and slowly grow into the magnificent tree bearing the good fruit that Christ our God is talking about…
In closing, I like to point out there were moments I thought nothing could help me escape the horrors of war...I now like to point out that Christ can heal all of afflictions no matter how they come at us, we just have to not only hold the line, but the hold the faith just like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did!!!
“Remember the Lord chooses us, and it’s up to us if we decide to follow His calling...Our lives are an inverted Cross, we must flip our inverted cross from upside down to right side up, and bear it just like Christ did to the end…
-JPCE Spiritual Talk
