Below is a prophetic encouragement drawn from the story of Gideon in Judges 6-7.

This is a word to all who feel less than able, forgotten, hidden, unseen or driven into a life that is far less than you dreamed.

This is a word to those who haven’t lost sight of what has been,

but struggle to figure out how it can be.

This is for all who hear the word of the Lord and obey, even if it’s in ways that are less noticeable, seen or celebrated but you still get it done.

A word for those who feel like the ‘weakest or the least”

who seem to be running from life more than chasing it.

Those who are forced into the situations of life that never fit,

you deal with wheat where there should be wine.

O, Valiant one, mighty warrior, mighty Hero, mighty heart of valor...

the Lord is really with YOU.

I know you’ve been called everything else by others, by demons and defeats and your own head and heart,

but you are who He says you are today, even if you don’t yet believe it.

A word of visitation for you...

God is here,

he has sent his ministers of fire, angelic messengers and warriors

sent to war for your heart,

your call and the life you were meant to live.

He sends help to his heroes.

A word to the wonder seekers, those who dream of

a kingdom coming and God’s will being done right here on earth.

You dream the dream of Eden and are called to fight battles bigger than you can ever win on your own or in your lifetime but you must fight on.

A word for the sign seekers,

on the hunt for the evidence of God at work all around you.

You are the seers, the ones who call those things that are not as though they were.

Those who choose to believe that God will make His ways and will known for those who truly seek Him.

A word for the demolishers of idols,

those called to deconstruct the lies all around us,

the false realities, images and narratives.

Destroyers of those dead altars that have produced so much pain in your family's line.

You are the curse breakers,

the end of the line for that which steals, kills and destroys.

A word to those about to be clothed by the Spirit in a fresh anointing

to do what you could not,

to be what you could not be on your own

and “to go”...when staying would be so much easier.

A word to the Fleece bearers,

who at times feel like they are dew-filled but all around them is dry

and at other times you are dry as desert and yet all around you

is drenched with the dew of heaven.

In this season, God will fill your bowl, soak your soul, secure your steps and quiet your doubts.

Pastor Eric. Jacob's Well, Spokane Wa.

 

Nine years ago I met Sarah, she was incarcerated in the jail where we had a weekly service. Some of the Christian women in her dorm talked to her about the Lord and encouraged her to come to our meeting. She never heard about the Lord in any depth until she landed in jail and it was there she began her journey and the Lord fell on her there in such a powerful way. 

We stayed in touch and some years later I asked her to join me and we continued to hold services at the jail together: we now alternate between the men and women each week. This week I had the women, she the men. When the women were coming downstairs to the meeting room, one of the women, let's call her Cheryl, noticed Sarah and called out her name; she and Sarah had been dorm mates together nine years ago in the jail when both were struggling with drugs and homelessness. There was only a minute for them to talk but Sarah told her how the Lord had rescued her and that the Union Gospel Missions women's program was a life saver for her. That was about all there was time for, so they said their cheerful goodbyes. 

Cheryl entered my meeting room first: a tall, lanky, extroverted woman of thirty, and she remembered me from nine years ago! We began chatting as the other women arrived, there were six altogether.

We began reading a list of "the promises of God" I prepared where we would discuss each one before moving on to the next. Before long something in one of the verses triggered Cheryl, I'm not exactly sure what it was but she began pouring out her story between sobs, admittedly it was hard to follow completely, but apparently she dated a man and this man harmed her four year old son. I couldn't make out precisely what she said because by now she was in the depths of anguish and sorrow groaning such desperate cries that all of us in the room were in tears as she tried to talk between these soul agonizing sobs. I've seen and heard countless tears fall, deep soul wrenching tears, but I've never heard anything like those haunting sobs last night. 

Apparently she felt completely responsible for what happened to her son, and she mentioned something that made me think this man may have dropped her son or intentionally hurt him, I just couldn't make it out, and didn't dare ask questions. After a long time she began to compose herself and I tried to direct the conversations and read scriptures that I felt would bring some degree of consolation. The meeting went on for an hour, and at least six more times she would break down into these consuming groans and sobs. 

At one point as she was wringing wet with self-loathing, she mentioned that when she saw Sarah before the meeting, and how God had rescued her, restored her losses and now she was helping other women discover the riches of Christ's love and salvation, and realized that in the last nine years she didn't heed the call and has gone through such horrid suffering and loss that she sobbed out, 

"I'm done with this! I'm going to stop resisting God and I'm going to get in the program Sarah did and stop running; I've tried everything but God, and I'm done! I'll gladly take a year and try what Sarah did! I can't go on like this!"

She said this in such wrenching pain, floods of tears and sobs, it was like I was watching a woman in the throes of agonizing labor birthing, not a child, but a soul! I stood there watching a woman being born again! 

I wish words could capture the emotions and spiritual drama of the evening, but they simply fall short. But when Christ orchestrates the salvation of a soul through countless seemingly incidental happenings, well, we stand in awe of His love for us. 

Our time was up, she felt vision rising, a ray of hope breaking through the hopelessness, and a determination in her like few I've ever seen. We prayed, she prayed, thankfully I had a pamphlet on the Missions women's program and gave it to her and we said our emotional good-byes. 

Every woman there as well as myself, felt like we'd been through an emotional wringer! But a good one. We all knew something profoundly eternal took place that night.  

 

It was ladies night at the jail yesterday; the female population is low and I usually have four to six women that want to "come to church." 

Last night the first woman arrived and we sat and chatted for a while when she began to pour out her past so freely. It's not unusual that women open up and share, but usually it's after I've built a  rapport with them. This woman was in her forties and like so many there she was missing many teeth and her face betrayed her past of struggle. No one else arrived so I knew the Lord must have something special for this woman, when just then another woman entered. She was well over six feet tall, and had the most beautiful skin you've ever seen! It was a deep, dark ebony that immediately reminded me of Song of Songs 1:5 where the Shulammite bride declared, "I am black and beautiful." 

Then a third woman arrived, she was in her early forties, very pretty but wore such sorrow in her face I immediately remembered her from the previous meeting. My heart went out to her in the previous meeting and I was so glad she came again because I prayed before I came that I could leave them with hope, a ray of gladness, and some degree of the joy of the Lord. 

I have a number of topics I'm ready to discuss depending on what opens up. This was the night to simply read through a series of 12 scriptures that reveal how the Lord loves us and is ready to forgive us.

As we read a verse we then discussed how it struck us, and they were all very engaged and it was the kind of candid meeting I long to have where the sense of the Lord's presence fills the room. 

Nearing the end of our time, the woman who came in last began sharing how her partner had been outside the jail earlier, yelling for her as he wept loudly. He is deep in addiction and has attached to her so strongly that he feels like life without her isn't worth living. This isn't a new story, many partners are so dependent on the person they love it becomes a suffocating obsession, and like this man, he would go to her workplace, home, and tonight, even the jail. I had to talk with her about this! So I asked if she could stay and talk, and she said yes she wanted to, so as the others left we had some privacy. 

These are difficult situations because there is so much to cover in such a short time, what should take hours and hours of counseling is left for me to summarize in thirty minutes! And it may be the last time I ever see her. But the Holy Spirit was heavy on the room, the words flowed, her heart was open, and I left feeling I did all I could do, which of course, is never enough. But God....

 

 

 

  In my work as a volunteer chaplain in the county corrections center, the vast majority of  men and women I speak with grew up in horribly dysfunctional homes where they were left to fend for themselves. They were never taught personal grooming, how to apply for a job, much less the social graces. There's no way to calculate how this impedes and hinders their way in life. 

My Mother grew up in a loving family and had five sisters. They lived simply and were what we might call, Lower Middle Class. Even so, each of the sisters were sent to "Charm School." Charm school in the forties was a type of etiquette or finishing school, where women were taught the social graces, personal grooming, and how to present oneself in polite society.  Here is a summary of what they were taught.

1. Poise and Deportment:

How to walk gracefully

How to sit and stand with proper posture

 How to enter and exit a room with elegance

 2. Etiquette and Manners:

Table manners and formal dining etiquette

How to greet others and make polite conversation

Social customs for different occasions (e.g., weddings, dances, tea parties)

3. Grooming and Personal Care:

 Skincare, hair styling, and hygiene

 Makeup application and wardrobe coordination

 Voice modulation and diction

4.  Dating and Marriage Preparation:

How to behave on a date

The role of a woman in relationships and, eventually, marriage

Often included instruction on being a supportive wife and mother

5.  Domestic Skills (in some programs):

 Cooking, sewing, entertaining, and home management

There were "charm schools" for men, although not nearly as popular. 

I couldn't help but think how important these skills are for anyone. But sadly many today grow up "feral" or peer raised with little or no instruction, guidance and support, much less, love and security. 

When I was a young boy I always admired my Mother's poise, dignity, charm and manners. I don't know how much of this came from her Mother or from Charm school, but she always held herself with a sense of decorum that I felt and helped shape me in some small way. 

 

 Here's a riddle by Francis Bacon --

"For occasion turneth a bald noddle, after she hath presented her locks in front, and no hold taken." 

Bacon is here referencing a common saying and imagery of his time, personifying opportunity (occasion) as having hair at the front and being bald at the back. 

This emphasizes that if one does not seize an opportunity when it presents itself (by its forelock), 

it quickly passes by, and there is nothing to grasp once it is gone.

 

 You are gods*

"Has a more ominous and marvelous phrase ever been uttered by the All-knowing?

Hold your first child in your arms and feel genesis-like, 

then stand in the cataclysm of addictions and smell sulfur on your breath.

Sit in the reverberating atmospheres of choral voices lifted in stained light cathedrals 

and afterwards pull the trigger with a calloused hand.

In your dusk grief, curse down the holy heights of all the thrones above the Pleiades, 

and in the dawn kiss the feet of the sacred as you take wine to your heart and bread to your flesh.

Make love to the dream virgin, bedded in faithful matrimony, 

and rape the unloved having the nightmare.

Be born into the house of the Divine by undeserving love and grace,

and burn it all down in blind accusations till only your ignorance is left to fellowship within the empty room.

You were brought up from the pristine red clay of Eden, 

but you’ll perpetually live East of the gate of the flaming sword.

You are gods…that will exist eternal, 

but forever be cast in the choices of time."

*Jesus in John 10:34

Pastor Eric, Jacob's Well, Spokane Wa. 

As I read through this I was reminded of - "For I do not do the good I want to do, 

but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing" from Romans 7:19

 

Jesus said, "Don't think for a moment that I came to grant peace and harmony to everyone. No, my arrival will change everything and create hostility among you. From now on even family members will be divided over Me and will choose sides one against another. Fathers will be divided from sons and sons from fathers; mothers will be divided from daughters and daughters from mothers, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, all because of Me. 

Now consider this; when you see a cloud forming in the west, don't you say, 'A storm is brewing? And then it arrives. And when you feel the south wind blowing, you say, 'A heat waves is on the way.' And so it happens. How foolish! You are such experts at forecasting the weather, but you are totally unwilling to understand the spiritual significance of the times you're living in, you can't even judge for yourselves what is good and right." "Oh foolish ones, who has bewitched you? O how terrible for those who confuse good with evil, right with wrong, light with dark, sweet with bitter. 

Throughout human history the fingerprints of God were upon humanity, yet they refused to honor Him as God or even be thankful for His kindness. Instead, they entertained corrupt and foolish thoughts about what God was like. This left them with nothing but misguided hearts, steeped in moral darkness. Although claiming to be wise, they were in fact shallow fools. 

This is why God lifted off his restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires. They were given over to moral depravity, dishonoring and mutilating their bodies by sexual perversion among themselves - all because they traded the truth of God for a lie. They worshiped and served the things God made rather than the God who made the things. For this reason God gave them over to their own disgraceful and vile passions. Enflamed with lust for one another, men and women ignored the natural order and exchanged normal sexual relations for that which is unnatural: and men committed shameful acts with men, receiving in themselves the due penalty of their errors. They trusted in confusion and sabotaged their lives." 

Everything written above comes from the Bible; some are paraphrases some are word for word translations; I believe this world view is truth and evident in our world today.  

 II got permission to share this and I'm eager to do so!

This woman has gone through life's most difficult circumstances, and yes, she was broken and near death until she met Jesus, and OH!!!! What healing he brought her!

"My mother was a paranoid schizophrenic, and my father was a megalomaniac who sexually abused me--incest.

I attached to neither.

Rather, I attached to my brother 7 years older than me,

and he loved me, doted on me, thought I was the best gift to him in the world.

That ‘saved’ me from dying in infancy as my mother never comforted or held her babies.

It’s all very complicated but the survival system in my brain (fight/flight/freeze)

opened and stuck in a locked position causing my adrenals to overwork,

my brain was constantly overdosed with hormones, cortisol, adrenaline constantly flowing and I learned many erroneous defense mechanisms which turned into untoward learned behaviors.

I’ve been in healing ministry with Jesus for 15 years.

Healing begins with forgiveness.

He cleared away the erroneous foundation in me,

wiped it clean and simply began teaching me in the way a child should go.

Right now, we’re dealing with undoing the wrong attachment to my elder brother and attaching to our Father and Jesus only.

Because of the above (which is brief) during the first 14 years of my Christian life walking with Jesus beginning at age 50, I was shunned by pastors, shunned by 2 churches,

twice locked into psychiatric wards for what doctors deemed ‘psychotic’ behaviors (8 fragments in my mind), lost all civil liberties and drugged.

I was diagnosed as being an Alcoholic,

diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder,

Attachment Disorder,

Major Anxiety Disorder,

Dependent Personality Disorder,

Borderline Personality Disorder,

with suicidal ideation, C-PTSD, and other terms I cannot remember.

All believers abandoned me, but 2.

My immediate family were all dead and I was estranged from my 2 daughters.

No one within the secular or Christian realm of psychiatry could or did help me.

Only Jesus. Jesus and me.

On top of all that, I had many wounds,

the embittered root systems of incest/sexual abuse,

fear/terror, lies, abandonment,

rejection, neglect, death ideation,

isolation, hyper-vigilance,

psychotic behaviors (fragmentation),

survival system injuries,

deadened emotions,

deadened conscience,

erratically systemic bodily functions,

myriad erroneously learned behaviors,

alcoholism,

I was a de-humanized creature, with a deeply rooted fear of all people, all the preceding exacerbated through freemasonry within my familial generational lineage.

For all of the above, I was a completely shattered person who ran all over the world from trauma, was homeless, raped and the list goes on.

Because of my experiential knowledge I am quite able to minister to the homeless, alcoholics, street people etc.,

because I understand the journey of pain

and when it’s left on its own the damaging effects it has on everyone.

Jesus walks the streets with me, Jesus ministers to people through my spoken and written words.

It is Jesus Who heals. Only Jesus.

Thank You, Jesus!"

 

"Worship is the free offering of ourselves to God; ever renewed, because ever imperfect. Worship expresses the consciousness that we are His by right, yet have not duly passed into His hand; that the soul has no true rest but in Him, yet has wandered in strange flights until her wing is tired. 

It is at once the lowliest and loftiest attitude of our nature. Breaking into strains, now penitential, and now jubilant; this twofold aspect of devotion must ever have, pale with weeping, flushed with joy; deploring the past, trusting for the future; ashamed of what it is, kindled by what is meant to be; shadow behind, and light before." 

James Martineau.  

 I don’t want to be a Christian

who forgets how to feel—

who hides behind answers,

quotes verses like shields,

and silences sorrow

with a song.

I don’t want a faith

of romanticized abstraction,

where resurrection is polished

and the cross is theory.

Give me something real—

flesh and blood,

grief and grace.

I want to weep

with eyes wide open.

Tears that speak truth.

Tears that rise

from the ground of compassion,

from the jagged knowledge

that the world is not

as it was meant to be.

I have seen it—

the wounded souls,

the haunted eyes,

the bruises beneath the surface.

I have felt the weight

of injustice

that crushes and isolates,

while the world looks away.

These are not tears of despair—

but of resistance,

of aching love,

of holding the pain

when no one else will.

I want a hope

that isn’t saccharine.

Not hopium.

Not denial in disguise.

But a defiant, dirt-under-the-fingernails

kind of hope—

the kind that walks through the valley,

sits in the ashes,

and still whispers,

“Even here… God.”

I want a gospel

that holds the wound.

A Christ who draws close,

a Spirit who groans,

a God who gathers every tear

in a bottle,

holds every sorrow

like a fragile flame,

and knows

what it is to break.

I want to believe—

not cheaply,

not loudly—

but with trembling trust,

that one day,

every tear

will be wiped away.

Not erased,

but remembered,

redeemed,

and transfigured.

Until then,

let me be the kind

who weeps.

Who walks in holy realism.

Who holds vigil

in the shadow of the cross

and waits,

with aching hope,

for the dawn.

- Rev'd Jon Swales

 

The following quote by James Martineau is written eloquently; his grasp on the English language is amazing; but it makes it hard to understand if you don't read much of it. 

Because of that, I ran it through ChatGPT which helps summarize it because it is so important to the Christian walk. 

Original 

"Our natural faculties and affections are graduated then to objects greater, better, fairer and more enduring, than the order of Nature gives us here. 

They demand a scale and depth of being which outwardly they do not meet, 

yet inwardly they are the organ for apprehending. 

Hence a certain glorious sorrow must ever mingle with our life: 

our actual is transcended by our possible; 

our visionary faculty is an overmatch for our experience: 

like the caged bird, we break ourselves against the bars of the finite, 

with a wing that quivers for the infinite. 

To stifle this struggle, to give up the higher aspirations, and be content with making our small lodgings snug, is to cut off the summit of our nature, and live upon the flat of a mutilated humanity."

 A.I. explanation - 

Our minds and hearts are drawn to things greater and more lasting than what the world offers. Though the outer world falls short, inwardly we’re built to grasp deeper meaning. This creates a beautiful sorrow in life—our reality is outpaced by our potential; 

our imagination exceeds our experience. 

Like a caged bird longing for the sky, we strain against our limits. To stop striving, to settle for comfort alone, is to deny the heights of our nature and live a diminished life.

 

I read that "The average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those, 95% are exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before." 

Wow! how sad, what a waste of potential, experience, insight and enjoyment. That very night I read this insightful piece by Martineau, about how God has implanted moral admirations and disgusts ready to awaken into power and do homage to the noble, and spurn the evil. History is long and rich, and the lives of the great and good are never far, but lie scattered like gems in biographies and good fiction that bring this various world before the mind, and in doing so it has a great effect on us. Here is how he describes, so eloquently and thought provokingly, its effect on us.  

"The effect of this wider experience is incalculably great. Opening fresh continents of character to mental survey, and throwing the human tones upon the ear in language unheard before, startling the young observer with the sigh of pity and the vow of justice and the prayer of sorrow, in dialect other than the vernacular, it acts upon the judgments of conscience like foreign travel upon those of perception; and imparts a quickness of insight and breadth of view which are unattainable within a narrow circle, and which, by the very presence within the memory of a thousand other scenes of beauty, bathe the home-landscape in a light of new endearment." 

 Beginning with the second century, the leadership of the Christian church passed to the early Church Fathers. 

They were men of Greek and Roman training and culture. 

Through them not only Greek philosophical ideals but also Greek methods of thought found an increasingly prominent place in Christianity. 

True to their inheritance and training, these great leaders regarded individual belief as far more important than social living. 

The church began to demand of its followers loyalty to a definite creed rather than loyalty to the service of their fellow men. 

As a result, the rank and file of the medieval church were wholly unconscious of the social dynamics which the scripture contain.

The Protestant Reformation put the scriptures again into the hands of the people; but unfortunately, it continued to fix their attention chiefly on the theological and largely ignored the social teachings of the Bible. 

The main emphasis was still on other-worldliness. Religion and practical ethics were regarded simply as the means whereby the individual might secure a title to future blessedness. 

There were a few striking exceptions; but a majority of the Protestant leaders failed to see that the message of historic Christianity is to the living, not to the dead, and that it must express itself in human society as well as in the soul of the individual.

Puritanism, with its splendid emphasis on personal ethics, still largely lacked the social passion. Its leaders, however, were powerfully influenced by the democratic ideals of the prophets and Jesus. Their heroic efforts to found a Christian commonwealth marked the beginnings of a new social consciousness. Until the close of the 19th century, however, a majority of the Protestant churches throughout the world were still under the chilling shadow of the Middle Ages. Even during the last quarter of that century, a prominent Protestant theologian declared: 

“Christianity is not a life: it is a dogma!”  

Charles Foster Kent, PH.D., Litt.D. from “The Social Teachings of the Prophets and Jesus.”  

 

 "But high hearts are never long without hearing some new call, some distant clarion of God, even in their dreams: and soon they are observed to break up the camp of ease, and start on some fresh march of faithful service.

They do the good only to see the better, and see the better only to achieve it; who are too meek for transport, too faithful for remorse, too earnest for repose; whose worship is action, and whose action is ceaseless aspiration." James Martineau.    

 

Each time I go to the Jail to speak I wonder 'what will God do tonight? Will I sense His presence in that miraculous way again? Will hearts be touched, will souls be moved and encouraged along their way?' 

I'm an old man, and as much as I complain about bodily aches and pains, age has its benefits. Jesus said we must become like children to enter the kingdom of God, and sometime I think being a grandfather or father figure helps. 

It always amazes me how my first impression of those who filter in to the meeting room transform after I get to know them. 

Last night a woman, thirtyish, entered first alone and she walked in boldly, but eyes averted from mine. We greeted each other and she was a very "rough cut." Browned skin, her neck completely tattooed; her face had two small tats around each eye, her teeth; suffice to say they were in need of a great deal of work. 

One might think she and I would have little to unite on, to connect with: oh! but when the sweet Spirit begins to descend, this rough cut of a woman changed before my eyes into a little helpless girl. 

For some, my old age reminds them of a caring parent or grandparent, and walls come down quickly, and God uses my age to soften and open hearts. Such was the case last night, this woman watched me, and was captivated by every word we read. She had no Bible knowledge, and would not count herself a Christian, but she did say she's always prayed. She didn't share anything about her past, but it was evident she's gone places she woefully regretted, and here she sat, heart open, mind clear and hungry to learn and find hope. 

I chose a passage beginning in Galatians 5:13 from The Passion Translation, which has a warmth to it that some translations lack. We began reading one verse at a time and discussing each line in depth; it began with,

"Beloved ones, God has called us to live a life of freedom." 

I couldn't help wonder if she ever lived in freedom? Freedom from grief, from oppression and dominance, freedom of spirit, freedom to grow and express herself, advancing spiritually, and as a woman, freedom to seek her aspirations and hopes, and....dreams. 

I can't recall anyone that showed such enthusiasm and delight reading the holy lines we covered; her poor scorched soul drank in every word, with a childlike joy and hunger. What a moment, what a joy, what a privilege to be there!

I don't know if I'll ever see her again, but Jesus met with us last night, and she felt it, saw Him in His word, and I have no doubt it was a divine appointment. 

 I visited some men at the Union Gospel Mission in downtown Portland yesterday. The visit was very productive and I left sensing the Holy Spirit in the way words never capture. 

As I weaved my way through the streets laden with the homeless, and got into my car, I noticed a man across the street, fiftyish, pushing a grocery basket with what looked like flowers in it, not fresh beautiful buds, but rather something days old that may have been in a wedding? 

He was a lean white fella, straight blond hair and mumbling loudly to himself. I looked behind, him fifty feet or so, and noticed another man walking the same direction that also had straight blond hair. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, and the fella had his shirt off enjoying the sun I expect. 

As the shirtless fella got closer I was shocked to realized that this was a woman, and she had taken off all her clothes, down to her bare feet! 

She too, was fiftyish although her body looked much older. My first thought was she had no clothes, and I grimaced thinking how vulnerable she was walking the streets of Portland! A very dangerous place in the best of circumstances. At the beginning of the block, the police park on the corner because the crime rate is so high in this area, so I had to believe they saw her. Then I remembered in our cesspool of a city, there is no law against public nudity unless it's done for sexual pleasure. How one determines that is a mystery to me!

When I was a young teen, I had a loved one go through a very traumatic crisis and they had a nervous breakdown, and at the height of her breakdown, she walked out of the shower, through the living room, where every one was watching television, and walked out the front door, oblivious to her state. 

It may be this woman triggered that memory and contributed to the emotional reaction and feeling of helplessness I had as I frantically searched my brain for some way to help. When I prepared to come down to the mission it was a cool morning so I wore a T-shirt and a light outer shirt, so I realized I could give her my outer shirt and I felt the Lord would want me to do that. I drove my car to the other side of the street, lowered my window and said, "I have a shirt you can have."  She glanced at me with a scowl and turned and walked away. I knew that was all I could do, you simply never approach a homeless woman on the street, it never ends well. 

So I drove off in a storm of disturbing emotions that still haunt me today. What if this was someone I knew? Can no one come to her aid? Will the police do nothing? How have we as a country allowed things to deteriorate this far??? 

Sadly, oddly, in this part of town where so many are addicted and have mental problems, most people don't even notice, much less care, about a woman walking around naked. But make no mistake, she is in real and imminent danger. 

Later that day I talked with one of the staff members at the mission and shared what I saw; he said this woman has done that multiple times. 

So here we are, living in a world where a woman suffering who knows what, has put herself in the most dire circumstances and left to fend for herself.......

 

I realize many men have been deeply hurt by women, the door swings both ways, that being said, women are victims from men at a far higher rate. 

U.N. data cites 51,100 women killed by intimate partners or family members in 2023, averaging 140 per day. 

This reflects only femicides, a subset of abuse, so total daily victims (including non-lethal cases) would be far higher. 

The National Domestic Violence Hotline reports 24 people per minute in the U.S. are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, totaling over 12 million annually (men and women). Assuming women make up ~75% of victims (based on U.S. trends where 1 in 4 women vs. 1 in 7 men face severe abuse), this suggests ~25,000 women daily in the U.S. alone.

So, 24 women per minute are abused, and we wonder why the radical feminist movement grows.....

 

"SHE GAVE YOU HER BODY, BUT TOOK YOUR DESTINY" – When sex is a transaction, the man always loses more.

There are two types of men in this world: those who build their future and those who trade it away for temporary pleasure. Many men don’t even realize when they’ve been robbed, not of their money, but of their potential.

She didn’t hold a gun to your head. She didn’t break into your house at night. But she walked away with your focus, your ambition, your discipline, and your financial future.

And the worst part? You willingly handed it over.

This is the silent robbery happening every day. Men think they are enjoying, but they are being emptied.

BRUTAL THREAD: How Sex Can Steal Your Future

1. THE COST OF FREE SEX IS YOUR AMBITION

You met a fine girl. She gave you her body for free. No stress, no commitment, just pure enjoyment. You thought you hit the jackpot? No, you entered the trap.

Each time you’re with her, you’re spending hours, days, and nights chasing pleasure instead of chasing progress.

You wake up late, you miss opportunities, your mind is distracted.

You thought you were enjoying her body, but she was taking your focus, your time, and your hunger for success.

2. EVERY TIME YOU SLEEP WITH HER, YOU LOSE ENERGY—SHE GAINS IT

There’s a reason great warriors, boxers, and kings of old practiced sexual discipline. They knew that their energy, clarity, and strength came from controlling their desires.

When you release carelessly, you are losing more than just fluid. You are losing drive, willpower, and aggression—all the things you need to dominate in life.

Now, check her: she is glowing, she is energized, she is more powerful.

You are weaker.

Why do you think they say "behind every successful man is a woman"? Because she collects his energy and multiplies it. But what happens when she takes your energy and leaves?

She goes to multiply it elsewhere.

3. SHE TOOK YOUR MONEY, BUT YOU THOUGHT IT WAS LOVE

At first, it was just small-small money—transport fare, lunch money, a little shopping. Then it became rent, hair, nails, and urgent 2K every week.

You thought you were investing in her? No, you were funding your own downfall.

She took your hard-earned money, but did she invest it back into you?

No.

She used it to look good for another man who had more focus than you.

4. SHE WASTED YOUR YEARS, NOW SHE'S GONE

How many men have given their prime years to a woman who had no plans of staying?

She took your time, your energy, your youth… then she moved on to the next best option.

Now, you’re in your 30s or 40s, starting over while she has already secured her next destination.

Reality check: A woman’s time is shorter, but a man’s wasted time is costlier.

5. YOU THOUGHT SHE WAS LOYAL, BUT YOU WERE JUST A PHASE

Some women are seasonal lovers—they attach themselves to a man for a period, take what they need, then move on.

You thought she was forever. She knew she was temporary.

You were just a “right now” guy. And when she found a "forever" guy, she walked away without looking back.

6. YOUR FUTURE IS MORE VALUABLE THAN HER BODY

Many men have traded their destiny for a few minutes of pleasure.

Ask Samson. He had superhuman strength. Delilah used love and sex to take it away.

Ask Solomon. The wisest king in history lost his throne because of women.

Even great men fall when they don’t control their desires.

Now, look at yourself. What have you lost so far?

7. WAKE UP BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE

If you keep trading your time, energy, money, and focus for sex, you will wake up one day and realize:

The men you started life with are now ahead of you.

Your bank account is empty.

Your dreams never happened.

And the women who wasted your years are now with better men.

BOTTOM LINE:

Sex is not free. It is always a transaction.

Either you gain something from it, or you lose everything to it.

Choose wisely.

 

 This disturbing picture was taken by Cedric Hayes, he works with the homeless and he takes a photo every day in downtown Portland Oregon, to bring awareness to the needs of the homeless.

I suspect this fella is near my age, and it begs the question, can no one help???? Does no one care?

You may notice his legs are amputated below the knee. Someone's father, mercy Lord, stir the hearts of your church!

What can one do?

There are many ways to help, and each Christian can do something;

if nothing more than writing a letter to the city. Of course we can all support organizations that work with the street people, we can volunteer in countless ways.

No doubt, some are called to approach people on the street, they have faith and courage, some are called to be political; some can help with administrative tasks, and on it goes; but we can all do something.

"Men ought always to pray.."

 

Look for patterns not promises.....

 

Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law,

Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw:

Some livelier play-thing gives his youth delight,

A little louder, but as empty quite:

Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage;

And beads and pray'r-books are the toys of age:

Pleas'd with this bauble still, as that before;

'Till tir'd he sleeps, and Life's poor play is o'er. . . .

Alexander Pope.