White Chocolate Scone

There is nothing I love more than a White Chocolate Scone from the Broad River Coffee Company.

I love them and this morning as I was at work preparing for the day and getting things in order for opening. I saw that there was one White Choc. scone left and it appeared to have my name on it. I took it out of the container that it was sitting in very carefully as I would for anyone who would be ordering it. Set it down on a plate and put it to the side. As I went about my work, I kept thinking that I really shouldn't eat that scone, I really shouldn't eat that scone. I was caught in a tug of war of I should and shouldn't. The stomach was hungry and I sensed it would be a busy day and I didn't have any Wheaties left so I should eat. Then I remember the four and half donuts that I ate the other night and realized if I want to run this half-marathon well coming up in a couple weeks that I should probably watch what I put into my body and adding a white choc. scone would not advance the cause but rather slow it down or potentially ruin it. I took it off the plate and placed it back in the container.

Today as I ran for what seemed like eternity I thought about the spirit of Self-Control and how it is a fruit of the spirit.

How often do we pray to God to have this fruit bearing spirit in our lives?

So often we sense that we shouldn't but we do it. We slow down the cause or even ruin it because the stomach is hungry and we don't rely on the bread of life who said I will fill you spiritually, namely, Jesus Christ.

I want to run the race of life controlled by the Lord who is the way to become truly human, the life that gives me the ability and that being the truth that sets me free.

Grace is our teacher and may it continue to patiently deal with us all and lead us in the way of self-control.

End of January

Well, we have kicked of the new year and we're almost through the end of the first month. WOW!

I've been busy running until last week when I hurt my leg in an unrelated running injury.

It has been humbling experience and has just taught me that running isn't everything. I may or may not had been getting a little obsessed about running. I have only one Lord and He is Jesus. It's hard to live that out some days but the reality is the power of the Holy Spirit. The potential to overcome anything by a strength and spirit that indwells you that overcame death itself.

I'm learning right now to have a grateful heart no matter where I am. I just thank the Lord where I am and what I'm doing. I don't want to stop loving wherever I am.

I hope to share that love with everyone I come in touch with. We can love, we just cannot do it in and of ourselves.

This week find something small that your grateful for, whether it be hot water, food, or just a copy of the bible. Thank the Lord for it.

I'm planning on starting up a book/small group at the Shelby Broad River Coffee shop on Monday nights, please pray for this endeavor and if your interested in being apart of it let me know.

Fog!

It's Saturday morning and I was going to run 5 miles, when my knee started hurting and the fog was to thick. I shall wait til later in the day.

It's given me time to catch up on some things, like reflecting.

How often do you reflect? I know I don't as often as I should. I usually only reflect when times are good rather when there bad.

I look through life only how I want to see it. However, if we are new creations in Christ we should be looking through the lens of His vision not only for our earthly lives, but for our neighbors and His name sake.

I get so frustrated at circumstances that I can't control and often forget the moments I could chose to alter history and create a better outcome.

To recap my Christmas. It was quick. However, I did manage to eat at the Waffle House for the second year running, I think that is Tradition now. I was able to see a new movie in theaters and even chase a dog into the back yard after an hour and a half, more of that to come later this week.

I guess I just want to not worry so much about situations I can't change, but spend my energy and time on the circumstances of Life I can change with His strength, that's my attitude. I want it to be humble, obedient, and severing. That I could comfort, encourage, and urge people to live a life worthy of God for that is the meaning of life, for we were wired that way to explore new depths and heights of His love, for God does love you and loves you so much to not see you decay in the frustrations of life but to live abundantly in the joy of Himself and the pleasures of this day that He has created.

This Holiday live. Wake up from the slumber of Fog, the weight of fruitcake and run, breathe, experience the newness of the day and remember the Fog does eventually rise up and moves on, so should you.

Run Against The Wind

That's what I did today at 3 pm in the afternoon. Week 3 began today and it was 36 degrees and windy.

I really didn't want to run today because it was so cold and I had stuff I needed to do, but they were really all excuses.

While running back to the house, I was running straight into the wind and it was one of those moments in which I just wanted to stop running and start walking. It hit me that's like so many of us in our everyday lives. Will see the worst in people, jobs, situations, and even running. Suddenly, will just want to stop and give up. Today, I challenge you not to stop running, but to keep running and realize that the troubles may never seem to end, but that's what you thought about the last big epic struggle in your life and didn't you seem to make it through.

Learn from this one so that when you feel the wind kick up and start blowing in your face on a cold day in life, no you'll be home soon for that's were the prize is. It's a cold glass of water or a hot shower.

If these analogies didn't fit your situation plug in what works. Just don't stop running and when you feel alone ask someone to run along with you, for life was meant to be done together.

Merry Christmas and don't drink to much eggnog or eat to many cookies.

You There?

I'm here and I'm sorry for the delay of keeping everyone up to date with my life. I guess I was to busy learning that there are only three words in the English vocabulary that look like this. Roomkeeper, Bookkeeper, Innkeeper. Thanks Pat Sajack from the Wheel of Fortune.

So what has been going on with me seems to be the most asked question these days.

Well, not to terribly much except for what I'm about to blog about.

I want everyone to know right now that I'm training for a Half Marathon because of health, getting fit for India, and lastly for the celebration of Nick and Caroline getting married.

I plan on running in the Country Music 1/2 Marathon and look forward to training and actually running in it.

I could use the encouragement and prayers for I'm great at starting something, like running and not finishing.

This all came about after a recent stint of cooking which I've really enjoyed.

If you know me, I used to hate buying groceries and even cooking. I nearly burnt a house down one time cooking fajitas. I've been cooking though for about four weeks now pretty regularly and actually buying groceries, not just a few items but a shopping cart worth.

These things are all apart of an effort to do something each year that I have never done before.

The first day of training went well. It happened to be windy and 41 degrees, and I ran all two miles with everything I had. Today I shall run another 2 miles and can't wait. Running with people really helps and brings more meaning to Do It Together Sometimes.

Have a great day and I'll keep you posted.

Saturday Morning Reflection

Honesty is the best policy.

You've heard that one before but you know it's so true.

I hear our conversations and I listen to my own and I'll be honest, we are afraid to be honest and open.

Why? I'm not really sure. Maybe it's the fear paralyzes us to the point of not speaking in truth and in order to not look like a fool we resort to keeping quiet or to the point of speaking in lies. I admit, the lie is easier and more fun in the moment than having to put your whole self out on the limb to tell the honest truth of what is going on. Even if you don't know what is going on.

The Danger...

of keeping silent or telling the lie is that a root of bitterness really begins to grow and we become a people of envy, jealousy and provoking others to the point of them losing some dignity they may have.

How could this be who we were created to be? It isn't. We were created for more than that. We were created to have a base for our truth and a base on which to stand firm on.

The Solution...

is to speak in truth and love. Slow to speak if I may say and quick to listen but certainly speak. Speak wisely, just don't throw out promises after promises that you know deep down you can't meet. Don't be afraid even though you may miss the opportunity to share. There are other moments in life to share. Share early and not late. I don't know fully but I'm learning and that should be the goal.

As a body of believers we must become honest and get to the real issues of what we are thinking and feeling. We must do this with love, peace, gentleness, humility, and patience. It must be for more than just ourselves but for the body as a whole. We must not hold it in, or it will turn out like water ready to explode from a tea kettle shut tight.

Today listen in the silence share in the conversations.

What!

I hope you're cool where you are. It's the hot and muggy time of year when all of our windows come down and the air flips on and we wished we had a pool to jump in or you go and jump in someone Else's pool.
I just got done watching the entire first season of the Cosby Show this past weekend. I have now again become a fan of Bill Cosby. I forgot how much I liked that show and how much it really was apart of my life growing up. I recommend that you watch a sometimes corny, but mostly funny show that really valued family, doing your best and culture.
I think that we could all use a lesson in those areas of our lives. I know that it's a TV show and that I shouldn't live in some fantasy but I really do think that the time of loving your wife/husband for forty six years is possible again. I think that the idea of taking some responsibility for our actions could be reintroduced to our day in and day out lives.
Lastly, as far as culture is concerned, there is a ton of art and music that could be rediscovered to our generation. I just bought a couple of songs from the show that were really good, and not just good to the ear but good for deep down in the soul. Lena Horne and John Coltrane, WOW. I think that this month should be the month of Jazz. I at least want to become more familiar with a really good form of art and style.

Today thank the Lord for the family that Loves you and if you don't have a family that loves you maybe you should start loving someone that doesn't have a family.
Today thank the Lord for the opportunities that you have and if you feel oppressed maybe today is the day to make opportunities.
Today thank the Lord for the melting pots of cultures that exist in one country and if you don't have any in your town than use the medium of technology that you're reading this on to find some different cultural experiences. Let us begin to suck all of the experiences out of this gift of Life that we have.

I'm Back

It has been a few months and weeks since I last left a word for you to read over. It has been a journey over the past few months. One I was not really expecting to journey down but nonetheless one that has been joyous and eye opening.

I'm writing this blog in response to a request for a blog to be written. I normally like to write these with a little inspiration backing them, but for Lauren Biggs I'll write one regardless.

I would love to give you a run down of life right now.
1) I'm still working at Broad River Coffee Company and love it. I get to meet a wide variety of people that remind me that People are People and that we really need some help in this thing called life.
2) Still living with my brothers Nick and Justin who continually remind me that I need sharpening and that the best way to do that is let them Sharpen you.
3) I have an opportunity to preach on May 18th at pastor friends church in the research triangle of NC. So you fine readers keep me in your prayers.
4) Hoping to take my grandmother to New York in the early part of June so if you have any suggestions of places to see and things to do pass those along.
5) Still planning on going to Malaysia. (July 28-August 9) Pray for me and that the trip. That I'll be open to the spirit of Truth and what God wants to say to me and how He wants to use me.
6) That we have a choice to live a life that Honors God or Dishonors God. We can choose to make much of Him by the way we treat ourselves and others. I guess i'm just understanding that we can really by the grace of God and his strength make Him known by the way talk, walk, and live. May we really clothe ourselves with gentleness, compassion, humility, kindness, forgiveness, and be motivated by the Love of a father that first loved us.
7) My Birthday is May 13th and I will be 24, oh my.

Until next time.

The Conflict - Introduction

At this very moment there is a war going on in the Middle East. It has been going on for many years now and there never seems to be an end to the conflict over territory nor over the right and wrong way to live life in those countries. Right now there is a conflict within the country of Africa in which people are starving to death and are dying from a horrible virus known as HIV. Right now there are little children being sold for sex to older adults in the country of Thailand. Infact, in the five minutes that it takes you to pump your gas 67 children will starve to death. It seems that the Conflicts of life never end.

As you read this and as I hear this many times my heart feels a quick sadness, sometimes even an angry emotion will ignite in my soul. For many of us Americans we don't understand starvation, nor do we understand selling our children for sex and we can't begin to comprehend the idea of war in our backyard. We usually end up saying that these tragedies are terrible and ask "how could something like this happen, especially if there is a loving God," I mean God does love you and I right. For the record He does. We will turn off the radio or TV and go on about our lives that seem to be free of Conflict. However, I think there is a conflict that sometimes isn't visible to the outside world. Conflict that can't be tracked for the yearly statistics. A Conflict that wages war on the inside of us. A battle that consist of weapons of pain, loneliness, anxiety, unworthiness, regret, resentment, and last but not least Fear. This Conflict starts within your soul and works it's ugly self out on to others and sometimes the Conflict works itself out of others onto you.

This Conflict may have been going on since you were the age of six. The Conflict may have started the first time you slept with him thinking that he would make you feel valuable and valid as a human being. Sometimes the Conflict began when you were awake one night and looked at that website thinking that no one would ever find out. The Conflict could have started the night that you had a dream to do something great and significant with your life, but the Conflict says you can't because of who you are and what you have done. The Conflict started for some when the moment of success did not persuade others to think more highly of you or of anyone else for that matter and it left you feeling empty and fearful for your life.

Something is after your thoughts and soul, something that will not bring you life but bring you a false sense of reality. The fact is you and I are wanted Men and Women. The reality is outside of us and inside of us, is a reality that wants to destroy us. A reality that wants to suck the life out of us. The reality that wants to continue to feed us the lie that we will continue to buy, because honestly it feels better and is more comfortable than the truth. Of course then what is truth? This Conflict takes us from Life to death. We become more than the men and women we were intended to be but simply existing creatures of habit, of fear and emotional depravity, and forced to conform, into standardized people of society in which we work and work for things that will make no difference and be of no true change of the world around us. We have become OK with the OK life. It seems the Conflict never ends, because the truth is it doesn't.

Again sometimes this Conflict starts out subtle and your unaware of it. I mean the starving kid started out as one, but unfortunately it doesn't become a problem until 67 are starving every five minutes. The same is true with our souls, they are starving for food a different kind of food than a cheeseburger. Our souls are starving for truth, meaning, intimacy. This doesn't become a problem until we are either bankrupt, stricken with disease because of a bad choice made one night, working on our second divorce, or maybe so afraid to step up and out of the ashes to maybe become the man or woman that we were created to be.

This Conflict could look different for everyone, some the conflict is the loss of a job that you were hoping to get. The other could fall into the category of a broken relationship that was all you had and had built on so much trust, but the trust was broken and suddenly you were left wounded, empty and hurt without an end in sight. The Conflict could be a fear so deep that it haunts you all night long. The voice that tells you, "you aren't good enough, you will never be anything." It's the voice that has been saying the same thing since the beginning of time. Sometimes the Conflict comes from our choices and other times it comes from the choices of others. As if it were a bomb that exploded around us and we were the victims of mere shrapnel flying through the air. I remember having a History teacher in High School who always said that "War is Hell" she wasn't lying. You may actually be reading this and think Conflict, what conflict, life is good and what possibly could be wrong. Just know that you are not invincible and Conflict will come and I hope that you would be prepared with the strength and hope to press on when the fire is turned up.

The Conflict seems dark, lonely, and without any hope in sight. You are tired and broken from your core out. You try to do everything that everybody tells you and still there seems to be no end to the darkness that surrounds you. It seems that you have wound up in the oven and that the chef forgot that you were in there and you are truly burning to a crisp. Will you use what strength you have left inside of you and journey with me along this path to find Life over Death. To move from a masked being who hides behind shame, guilt, loss, and mostly fear, to a person who rises up to greatness that represents the God who does love you and created you to be joyful in Him. To live in relationship to Him and with others for a greater good that surpasses all that your vivid imagination could think or ask. To live outside of shame, guilt and fear because of a God who loves you and came for you no matter what has been done to you or you have done to yourself. Sojourn with me to discover a truth so profound it would be consider scandalous, a hope so moving that you couldn't stop moving towards action till your very last breath, and to be found and to find a love that conquered death by laying it's life down for you and I, so we could share that surpassing knowledge with others who feel trapped, afraid, and fearful for existing to continue.

Venti Soy Mocha

I love working at a coffee shop for the reason you get to meet so many interesting people.

While at work yesterday one of my regulars came in and I made there usual drink, One Venti Soy Chocolate Mocha. In the process of making the drink I asked, “why the soy?” They informed me that there stomach was the master and that they were the slave. They described that when really stressed they suffer serious stomach issues and for that reason any type of drink or food makes it worse.

This customer was a slave to the stomach. Are you a slave to the stomach? Am I a slave to my stomach? It goes deeper too I think than being a slave to my actual stomach. It goes to being a slave to those deepest desires that somehow I know are wrong but I continue to feed them. My soul is hungry for food and not just chicken soup. My soul longs for the day to be loved and love. My soul yearns for the meaning of life, which really means the job I will do for the rest of my life, even though the meaning is much richer and deeper than just an external work. My soul thirsts for water that will quench the parch desperation of being wanted and needed by others. The reality is we are that customer; however the hope is greater and more profound than the stresses we are faced with everyday.

The stomach and the cravings will die as will we.

The spirit will live for eternity in Heaven or Hell.

The spirit can and will give us the strength here in the present if we feed it the very thing it needs.

What are you feeding your soul via the spirit? Are heart is a great home for cleanness or uncleanness. It’s what comes out of that heart that determines what is going to shape tomorrow. Yes, there are choices of others that have effect on our lives and I’m convinced though we have a choice how we respond to those choices. We must become a slave to a new master, a master who is humble, loving, merciful, forgiving, and above all else God. He is what we need, He is what will give us life, He is what will help us to conquer the stresses of everyday life for his burden is light, He is exactly what our soul and spirit hunger for He Himself created us with a piece of Him in us. We have been separated by sin and have the access to be reconciled to Him through His son Jesus.

Jesus claimed to have living water and be the bread of life. He has the key to a new life and a new creation beginning inward and working its way outward.

What bread will we eat today and what water will we drink today?

Vivir

It seems that I'm in a particular season of reflection of life.

Without any real sense of major direction, I find myself reflecting back on where I have come from. I recently heard it said that in order for you to realize where your headed and to become who you were created to be you have to realize who you are and to realize who you are you have to see who you were.

What I was before this moment in time was, dead. Not in a physical death, but in a spiritual death. The reality is we are either alive or dead. Our souls are in need of life or in need of food for that life. The dilemma comes in the way of trying to find the true food, the true source of life, to find our self.

I find it interesting that Jesus says that in order for you to find life you must lose it. What?

I must be willing to lay down my life...
In all my desires of advancement for the sake of me.
In all my desires for the best career that will help me to live a comfortable life. In all the dreams of finding the best mate that will fulfill all my wildest dreams of stability.

Jesus challenges us by saying in order for your soul (true self) to be satisfied you must deny all that your flesh desires, take up your cross, which in essence demands we would walk the hill of Calvary and slaughter the deepest emotions and desires that are outside of God and Follow Him realizing His desires that will not advance who we are in society but who He is as God and Lord. That we would trust (put our faith) in Him for the only source of life. That we would follow Him. His mission was to serve God the Father and to do only that which God wanted Him to do. That was to be a sacrifice for all of Humanity. The cost is no less for us. We are to do what God wants which in essence would be to lose our life for His sake. To use all that we have not for our good but for His name and Kingdom.

Maybe it sounds strange and maybe it goes against the teaching of some, but it's clear in the red letters that Christ raises the bar of living and challenges us to more than simple mediocrity of our self. And the most amazing thing is He says we don't have to do it alone, He will be with us in Spirit.

We immediately read those words and want to give up, but I'm finding that as Jesus looked on the crowds He had compassion for them and healed them. I think that he does the same now. He looks at you and me, in all of our sickness that goes against the character of who God is, and He has compassion on us. We can stand firm in Him, because He is now our life and we are now hidden in Christ. For we are now a new creation, in a new Kingdom that is advancing in the integrated world of an old kingdom. May we fix our eyes on Him for He truly is the author and finisher of our faith.

It's Good

I'm back in Boiling Springs, NC and really feel like i'm at home.

It has taken some time to get used to making lattes and smoothies, but it has been well worth it.
When i'm not working, you can find me trying my darndest to build community throughout the community and try to piece together a book that i'm working on in my mind as of right now. I'm also trying to read a lot these days. I find that we spend so much time being busy with things that really don't make a difference and mean anything in the end.

I hope life is well for all you blog readers and note readers.

Life is good, I just keep remembering that though my circumstances seem crazy and uncertain, Jesus is the certainty.

Have a wonderful Friday and weekend.

Welp!

After traveling around and being so uncertain and still a little uncertain, I've decided plant self back down in Boiling Springs, NC.

It was a hard decision but I know that it will be good.

Thanks to all who love me and pray for me and to those who are in Anderson you really should come and visit me someday in Boiling Springs, NC.

I'll begin work on Monday and looking forward to spending my time doing a little of that since it has been a while since I was last employed.

Keep shining and rocking.

Home

I'm coming back to Anderson today.

Kip Anderson - Woman How Do You Make Me Love You ?

Thought # 191

The things that make us mad are usually things that we ourselves do.

This usually helps me deal with others better and helps me avoid drama in the future.

We will miss you.

I just found out that a good friend of mine pasted away yesterday morning. Kip Anderson was very instrumental in my life and really help teach me discipleship before I moved into a house to teach me more in depth discipleship.

Kip was one I helped as much as I could and one who did more than He'll ever know in keeping me in the body of Christ. He listened and he shared stories that I will cherish forever. One thing that I will really miss is going to the Grey House in Starr, SC to see him perform. To just sit around the piano and listen to him sing from down in the depths of his soul was amazing.

For his life and friendship I thank God.

Today's passages come from two passages that he always quoted to me.

The first 1 Corinthians 2:8-10 (NIV)
8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"[a]— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

The second which was one of Kip's favorites and this past year would be huge in my life is,

1 Corinthians 13

Love 1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Passages

Welcome friends,

To the new site and the new name. I thought that Five Porches was to confusing to understand its meaning (it was a place of healing in days in the past).

Welcome to the Porch a place to relax and converse over some of the topics that relate to you and me.

Today I wanted to share a passage that has really been instrumental to me in my journey with God. This post was inspired by the series that Mosaic LA is currently in.

This particular passage was read back in 2004 during a tough time for me but it pointed me towards a goal. A goal that is unseen but eternal, a goal that did not build myself up but humbled me to reach up and cry out in desperation for a Lord that loves me no matter what and wants to use me in extraordinary ways, even if they aren't successful according to success of today.

Philippians 3:7-21 (NIV) courtesy of biblegateway.com

7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Pressing on Toward the Goal

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Share a passage that has been instrumental to you on your faith journey.

Thought # 25

This isn't my own, but I thought this was neat to read after watching a movie last night entitled "The Ultimate Gift", which involved dreams.


Just how big are you prepared to pray and to dream?
- By Earl Creps

Great question now am I willing to answer and are you?

Thought # 295

If so many people are willing to die for what they believe, why are we
not willing to live for what we believe?

I'm tired of playing games with myself, with people, and especially with God.

I'm reading through the Old Testament and realized people haven't changed much in the past 3000 years. Yeah, we have global warming, we're all going green, we watch Fox News because it's fair and balanced, we love Oprah's favorite things even though we couldn't afford on a good day.

However, at the core of our being we really are selfish, greedy and broken people. People still
searching for a meaning and purpose in life. We want someone to love US and hopefully someone who won't make us mad, or fall short of our expectations and keep us from loving them in return.

At some point, we will all find ourselves wandering through life's deserts, either feeling completely bewildered and abandoned, or worried whether we'll ever reach find our destination and unable to focus on anything outside of ourselves. Then if the route we've taken seems to lead nowhere, we shrug and convince ourselves there's nothing worth pursuing at all.
I mean its all relative anyway, right ... because what's true for you is not necessarily true for me. Or maybe it was last time but not necessarily this time. We want truth, we want it now and we want the truth to include a LOVE of our of own creation: what we don't want is someone else preaching it down our throats.

But what if there IS a love that knows no color, no political party, no country, no denomination, no eye color, no nose size, no income earnings, a love that's infinite, perfect and fail-proof.

Does that kind of Love actually exist?

Yes, if you're willing to stop playing God-games and live the life he intended. Love! You have to find love in order to become Love. Some find love in people, gold, political parties, social systems, but I have found it in the one that speaks to me in a whisper that asks me to follow Him.

Are we willing to give up the things we know best to obey the God who loves us most?