Last night I had a dream that I believe God sent me to help me keep my spirits high through this time of finding another church.

I know this is basically the story of the ugly duckling, and the dream could have been brought on my the simple fact that we were just treat horribly and kicked out of a church, but I really think that the dream was send by God to keep my hopes up that our swam pond is come. There is a church out there where we will fit in and we will feel at home and we will be able to reach our potential in Christ and that excites me.

I wrote this short story back in 2000 and somehow it when I was looking through my old stuff today it just jumped out. I hope you enjoy it.

The Diagnoses
By Patrick R. Aquilone

The doctor entered the room. There was a silence as Joe and Nancy had been waiting, praying that the results would be good. They had been through so much. They had plans for the future for their family. They had hopes of growing old hopes of being there for all the good and bad. All that they had been or would be came down to this moment. It would either change everything or offer a sigh of relief.

“Joe, Nancy,” spoke the doctor. He smiled and then it faded to a frown. The doctor had been there through it all for them. Through the cyst, the gal bladder, the pregnancy with all there problems, and much more. He had helped them struggle through everything, but this time would be different. “I am afraid that I have bad news. The test came back.” The doctor hung is head down. He knew how they would receive the news. “It’s cancer.”

Joe’s mouth dropped to the floor. His wife had cancer. He could not believe what he was hearing. He almost began to cry, but stopped himself. His heart had dropped. His face had dropped and his shock shown on his face.

Nancy turned and looked at Joe. In an instant, she knew all that he was thinking, feeling. She had been with him for so long that she did not need words. It was all there in his face. It was written like a book for her to read. She knew he was feeling her pain. She knew there was nothing she could do.

“What now?” Asked Nancy after a long pause.

“Well, we could try chemo,” the doctor placed the file on the counter. “But honestly, you don’t have long. Personally, I would make the best of what time you have.”

Joe could not believe his ears. His worst nightmare was coming true. It had taken him what he thought was an eternity to find Nancy and now she was going away. Not by choice or in an ill manner, but going away nonetheless.

“How long?” Joe barely managed to get the words out.

“If her body puts up a fight, maybe six months no more.” The room fell silent as the doctor spoke those fatal and final words on the subject. There was nothing more he could do.

Nancy could feel the warmth of the love in the room. She began to feel at peace. It was not the love of her husband or the doctor although both did love her. She felt the love of God. She knew it was all right. She did not know if she would be healed or taken to heaven. All she knew is that she was not alone. That God was with her and her family.

She looked at Joe who had hung his head and the smile grew bigger. “It’s alright.”

Joe raised his head. He was not sure he heard what he heard. He was not sure if this was just a ploy by his wife to make him feel strong and secure through this time. He was not sure of just about anything anymore.

“It’s alright,” Nancy reiterated. “God is with us.”

Joe managed to smile and as he did he could feel the love in the room. He too began to have that peace that passes understanding. He began to understand why Nancy was smiling. He too was not sure what was going to happen, but he knew that God was there. And he knew that no matter what happened, God would be there.

They left the doctor’s office holding hands Nancy, Joe and God.

God showed me an interesting example of the application of faith using a simple whistle.

Take your standard whistle.

When you blow air into the whistle, a sound is produced. Simple and easy and works every single time without fail.

The same is true with God. God is simple and true and works every single time without fail if we apply our faith to his word.

If we apply our faith, which is the breath that we blow into the whistle, to the word of God, which is the whistle, then we get the sound, which is God moving every time simply without fail. And all of this is because of the fact that God loves us so much that he wants to do things for us and that is why he has given us his word that when we apply our faith he will always come and do his part, like the whistle, without fail. This is why the Bible says that we have a God that we can trust and count on.

Try putting your faith to something in God’s word today and believing him for something and watch the beautiful sound that God will make for you.

The more that I am praying and thinking about Love the more God is showing me about His love and the more I am being amazed. Let me share with you how he has amazed me today as I was praying in the spirit.

The Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8) and that the greatest of all things is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Today, I was thinking about how God’s love works through us. Since God is love, that means that all things work through the love of God or stated another way everything that God does he does through love. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we see many things that love does like being patient or being kind or enduring all things. As I thought about this, I began to see the last verse in a new light.

Now, I could be wrong, but I began to see the first part of this verse as applications of what we do with the last part of this verse which is the greatest thing which is God or God’s love. Let me put it this way, as stated everything that God does he does through love and when we apply our hope or faith or love in him he moves through his love to perform a great work or miracle. It is our working in our hope, faith and love that makes God’s love, again the greatest of all things, move into action to work many things in our lives which include the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

And many more acts of God. This thought process just amazed me that through the moving of our hope, our faith and our love in God, God moves through himself or more precise his love to act on our behalf to see things done and mountains moved. In my mind, this connects the following Scriptures together with what I have stated above.

WOW!! This excites me. I hope it brings a little of God’s love and excitement to you today as well.

No matter how many times I have read the easter story, there is always something new there. Last night during our family Bible study, I was struck by the last words that Jesus gave as instruction to the apostles before leaving to go to the garden where he would pray and be arrested.

At the end of the supper, Jesus tells his disciples that he will only be with them a very short while and where he is going they can not follow. It is here that Peter says he will go wherever Jesus goes even to death and Jesus tells him that he will deny him three times before the rooster crows signaling the morning. He also give them this message.

Jesus, being the son of God, knew two things. First it would be by showing love that people would see that we are true disciples of Christ and second that people don’t need more “gods” or rulers or commanders or people yelling at them or bullies or anything else they need more love. And God has love us with a perfect love that can so fill us and make us whole and accepted and full and righteous and needed. This is what Jesus knew we needed and why it is so important that we never forget this when we are in the world sharing with a hurting world that has plenty of rulers, gods, bullies and the like but is severely lacking people who genuinely are sharing love, that love that can only come from God.

God is so good. God has been speaking to me through my daily devotions. It is a book that was written years ago and the devotions for today were the ones I just happen to be doing for today, but of course God is in control and knows what he is doing and is speaking to me through them. Let me share about what God showed me last night.

Even though I know exactly where my errors where and where the errors of others were in what happened to cause me to wind up where I am, I still have had the feeling like I have falling out of grace and back to square one somehow. Like somehow while I am on the track for God and the calling on my life, I managed to have to go all the way back to the beginning to start all over again which is honestly depressing. Well, last night, the Scripture for the devotion was from 1 Peter chapter 5.

Verse 10 really hit home for me. God really spoke to me because all I did while I was at that church was to serve God to the best of my ability and tried to humble myself and be submissive. And yet, no matter what I did, I was met with scorn and I suffered and suffered. So, when I read this and got to verse 10, the words just jumped off of the page especially concerning the fact that God himself will perfect me, confirm me, strengthen me and establish me. After all, my calling is not of my doing anyway and therefore it is of no surprise that it is God who will do the confirming and establishing. Furthermore, none of this is a surprise to him and none of this has effected his plan for my life. Again, I broke down to tears, but thanked the Lord for his word and his hand over my life and just prayed in the spirit confident that God is perfecting me, confirming me, strengthening me, and establishing me.

I thought I would post a short story that I wrote some time ago. It is a bit rough around the edges as far as grammar goes, but I think it is good elsewise. Let me know what you think.

Soldier in the Army
By Patrick R. Aquilone

A man named Bob died and went to heaven.

After a short while, Bob was instructed by Jesus to go and speak with the Archangel Michael. Bob was a little confused at first, but he knew that he should follow what Jesus told him to do. So, Bob set off down the main street of heaven looking for the Michael’s office. As he walked down the gold covered street he saw several buildings of all shapes and sizes and representing all different styles of office functions. There was “Peter’s Rock” foundational office. There was “Jonah’s Dive” for the learning of how God has worked in your earthly life. Office after office he pasted as he walked down the street.

As he approached the end of the street, he found Michael’s office. The sign outside read “Michael’s Military Coordination.” Bob was puzzled by the sign, but quickly climbed the steps and entered the building. Once inside, he found himself in a great hall with only two doors the one he came in and the other he presumed was Michael’s office. He slowly walked down the hall admiring all the artwork on the wall. There was a great many paintings. Many of them seemed familiar, but there was something he noticed that was different about them. In all of the pictures, there was what looked like angels upon angels. The angels appeared to be helping the individuals in the picture. One picture he took special attention to. It was a portrait of Billy Graham, a man he recognized. However, Billy was only in the center of the picture. Behind him stood a great multitude of angels. He stopped and stared for a moment at the picture. Row after row of angels.

He stood for what seemed like an hour and then remembered why he had come into the building. He walked up to the door at the end of the hall and was about to knock when the door suddenly opened. A voice from inside the room spoke, “Come on in, Bob.” Bob took a small step back and then slowly entered the office.

The office was rather plain. It had a small desk with a chair on either side. There was no painting in this office, because most of the walls were glass or something like that. He looked around and then his focus came upon a rather average looking man he presumed to be the archangel Michael. Michael stood and smiled. “Please have a seat,” Michael spoke as he motioned to the empty chair on the opposite side of the desk.

Bob walked over and took a seat. He was not sure exactly what would be proper etiquette when meeting an archangel, but he basically managed to smile and say hello. Bob was a little bit nervous, but he was not scared. He knew that he was in good hands. He just didn’t know what exactly this meeting was going to be about.

“Bob,” Michael began, “Why don’t we start with you sharing your testimony?”

Bob looked a little bit puzzled. “I am sorry, but I am not sure what you are asking for.”

Michael let out a little laugh. “I am sorry,” Michael apologized. “I forgot. You were saved just hours before passing into eternity, correct?”

“Yes,” Bob spoke relaxing a bit. “A long time neighbor of mine, John Smith, came to my hospital room and shared the Gospel with me. I had heard it all before, but somehow it was different this time.” Bob began to speak with his hands and sound excited. “This time I really understood what he was saying and it made so much sense that I gave my life over right there, and a good thing too. I died that night.”

“Ah yes, John Smith.” Michael’s smile broadened and he spoke with a genuine enthusiasm. “I just love Christians like him.”

Bob was a bit confused by what Michael was saying. “Excuse my ignorance, but I thought you would have loved all Christians?”

“Yes, I do,” Michael responded. “Just some Christians make our job a lot easier.”

“Job? Easier?”

“Allow me to explain.” Michael stood up and walked around to the front of the desk settling down and sitting on a corner. “I am in charge of God’s army of angels. Our job is to protect people from the God’s enemy, Satan. We assign at least a legion of angels to every person on the planet. Once a person takes the step in faith to become a Christian they immediate receive additional legions of angels. Up to twenty legions can be on any one Christian at any one time. Anyway, these angels receive their orders from God through the chain of command and do whatever it takes to complete their mission and protect the person they are assigned.”

Michael stopped as he could see that Bob was getting confused. Bob took advantage of a pause in the conversation. “I do not understand. If there are angels protecting people that are not Christians, why is the world so bad?”

“That is a good question,” responded Michael. “It all comes down to free will. God gave everyone the free will to choose to believe or not believe in Him. If a person does not believe in Him or does not believe correctly in Him, that person is not a Christian. If he is not a Christian, that person is not asking for God’s direct protection on their life; however, that does not mean that God abandons them. God still assigns angels to keep that person from certain things happening in their life.”

“Certain things?” Bob questioned.

“Certain things vary from person to person, but it is whatever God tells us. Also, there are a lot of Christians out there that pray for those who are not Christians. Those prayers provide protection for those people even if they are still choosing to not believe in God.”

“Wow, I never realized that prayer was that effective,” Bob spoke amazed.

“Most people don’t. As a matter of fact, your friend John has been sending up prayers for you for the last five years. There are a great many things that you have been protected from because of his prayers.”

“Really!?!?” Bob was amazed.

“Yes,” Michael responded. “Do you remember about a year ago when you had some trouble walking into your bank.”

“Yes, I do,” Bob sat up in his seat. “I went up to the door and could not open it. I tried and tried, but it would not budge. I remember trying every door. I could even see people inside, but I was not able to get in. So, I went to the ATM and went about my business. Later that day, I discovered the bank was held up. I was really lucky.” Bob’s face suddenly changed as if a light bulb went on inside. “No, I was not lucky. I was being protected.”

“Correct,” Michael responded. “You see John was praying that God protect you in your ignorance towards God. Well, if you had walked into that office at that moment, you would have walked in behind one of the soon to be bank robbers and surprised him with just your presence. Satan’s plan was that that robber was to turn around and pull his weapon and shoot you. Instead, you were prevented from entering the bank and no one was hurt in the robbery.”

“And all that happened because John was praying?” Questioned Bob.

“Yes, it did, but it still did not override your free will. You could have chosen to keep trying and eventually you would have entered the bank and been shot. You just decided to go to the ATM instead. So, the prayers allowed us to kind of help you change your mind about entering the bank.”

“And I am glad it did.” Bob spoke matter of factly. “So, why do you love Christians like John more if they give you extra work because of their prayers?”

“Another good question.” Michael returned to his seat as he spoke and sat down. “You see we do not mind work at all. Christians like John are great because of two things. First, their resistance to Satan and his attacks allows us to free up legions of angels to go on emergency squads.”

“Emergency squads?”

“Yes, God knows everything so the sound is a bit misleading, but basically they are floating legions that can be easily moved from one assignment to another as God’s work in different people changes. Anyway, the second reason for loving Christians like John comes from his love of the lost people on the earth. He not only prays, but also goes out into his area of the world and will thwart Satan’s plans left and right by calling on the name of Jesus in the most desperate of areas. I love working overtime to stop one of Satan’s plans. So, that is the main reasons why I love Christians like John.”

“I never knew that John did all that.” Bob spoke a bit shocked.

“Oh yes, John has really shown the love of God through his life to many people in your town.” Michael clasped his hands. “Which brings me to why you are here. You are here to receive your assignment in God’s Army.”

“I don’t understand,” Bob spoke. “I am no soldier.”

“Everyone who is in Christ is a soldier in His army. Just some are soldiers here and some are soldiers back on earth.”

“I apologize for my ignorance again, but why would you need me as a soldier? It would seem to me that the angels that have been doing this would be much better at this then someone like me.”

“You see, the angels are great workers for God, but they lack one very important thing.” Michael pointed toward Bob. “None of us no what it is like to chose to not serve God. You see we have been with God since the beginning. We have always seen His glory and felt His love. We have no frame of reference for understand what it is like to live your life on earth not having those benefits. That is why it is hard for most angels to understand why people chose to not follow and serve God. So, we need the benefit of someone who has lived down there to help lead us.”

“Wait a minute,” Bob almost began to sound a bit scared. “Did you say lead?”

“Yes.”

“I have never been a leader. I have always been the follower type of guy.”

“That is what you were when you were on earth. You are no longer that person. Right now you are filled with the glory of God’s. You can be anything that God wants you to be, and he wants you to be in charge of a legion of angels.”

Bob swallowed hard. “Well, if that is what God wants I will give it a try.”

“Great,” a big smile came across Michael’s face. “Now, Peter has assigned you to legion 777074.”

“Peter?”

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you one more thing.” Michael stood up. “I am in charge of all the angels that battle for God and His will. I am like a Master Sergeant to put it in common terms for you. Christians who have stepped into eternity and now are in God’s army are all officers.”

“Why?”

“That is the way God set things up. He loves those who have had the ability to choose to love or not to love Him and yet chose to love Him over the angels who had no choice. It is all right because all of us angels completely understand and have no trouble following God’s plan for us. Peter, who was an apostle of Jesus Christ, is in charge of all the Christians in God’s army. He is like a General.”

“So, I am like a?”

“Lieutenant.”

“Wow!” Bob was surprised at what he was hearing. “So, what legion do I have again?”

“Legion 777074 which happens to be one of the five legions assigned to your neighbor John Smith.” Michael smiled. Suddenly an alert began to sound. Michael checked his desk and looked up.

“Something wrong?”

“Yes and no. Your new assignment is about to share the Gospel with someone you know and we are sending all the emergency squads in for support. If there is one thing that Satan hates is a believer sharing his faith. This could prove to be a good experience for you.” Michael motioned as he began to head to the door. “Let’s go.”

They both left the office and were off to hopefully see another person birthed into being a Christian.

I am excited because I spoke with my good friend last night smokin-man (you can see him on my friends page) about a new project that I want to do and he is on board to do it. I don’t want to give anything away about it just yet, but I will say that it is a comedy music video that I think everyone will get a kick out of that I will post on YouTube when all is said and done. So, keep watching

Well, I have had an interesting week. I have been officially kicked out of my first church. There was no meeting no discussion no asking me what happened, I was just tried, judged sentenced and executed and told not only to not come back but that I need to go and find Jesus. It is amazing what people will do and say when they are stuck on themselves and blinded by the enemy.

It did bother me a bunch to have this happen because those who know me know that I try really hard to be a good person. I follow Jesus with all my heart and everything I did for that church I did only to help and it hurts. It really hurts. But God is the healer of broken hearts. In my daily devotional, he has been taking me to verses that are helping me to see that he still loves me no matter what other say. Verse like Romans 8 where it says that he does not condemn me and that no one and nothing and take me out of God’s hand. And verse like John 15 where God says that whole purpose that Jesus came was to show the way to God and the way is love and that if you are Jesus’s disciple they will know it by your love. God is so awesome.

So, I am moving on. I would like to say that I am all over what happened, but I am walking it out. I just know that I am not walking it alone. God and my family and my friends are with me and I am very thankful for that.