I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked;

[Rita Migliore]

"The different dark nights are just God stripping us of our selfishness at ever deeper levels. Level one is being stripped of the emotional inducements which first drew us: the joy, the exhilaration of Spirit-filled music, of great preaching, of feeling the weight of sins dropping way. These things are all good, but they naturally grow less and less as we get used to them. Been there. Done that.' Singing carols at Christmas time is more appealing than visiting someone in prison...God strips us of our unnecessary attachment to emotional highs and frees us of deeper selfishness. Our intellectual pride is the next to go. We may begin our Christian journey by being comforted by belonging to a church we believe is the best and truest church. We feel spiritually superior. But we are humbled to find Christians outside our group who are more loving than we are. We begin to struggle with doubts, including doubts about whether we are any holier than we were ten years ago. Now we are bored by preachers who used to inspire us. Worse yet, we are disillusioned by the falls from grace we may see in our heroes in the faith.What God is doing is getting you now to deepen in faith and hang on to the ideal of imitating Jesus by hanging on to your ideals by faith ~ which is by definition something we can't see. We may feel like Jesus on the cross: "Why have you forsaken me?"It is only through suffering and living throughout the disappointments of life that are not your choice. Peter was the forceful leader of the early church, but for his personal growth he needed to be cured of his self-will, like all of us. At the end of John's gospel, Jesus tells Peter that he will have to be stripped of his self-will, as we all will: John 21:18.A the end of the dark night comes the dawn and we will see Jesus"Francis MacNuttFounding Director and Executive Committee Member of Christian Healing Ministries

[Matt Miller]

I know Pete was in Patterson NJ right?
I doubt we are related although you never know.
Same last name for sure - funny two Millers went to NJ but I was in Elizabeth NJ about the same time (maybe just before he was there) and knocked a lot of doors in Patterson and Elizabeth - as a very young WOW that really was the best year of my life.

Did you know Pete?

[Rita Migliore]

Matt and Steve -- sure takes some time for people to learn how to be human -- huh -- maybe even a lifetime. Dogs just know how to be dogs : doggonit! Matt - are you related to Pete Miller (6th Corps)?

[Matt Miller]

I like it the quote
A lot of relationships break up because of those "absolutes".
A lot of relationships go sour in the "expectations" game.
a dog is aways fun to walk without a leash - they rejoice just to walk with you. It forces you to pay attention to the relationship. People who walk their dogs with a short leash rarely talk to their dogs. They can't wait until their walk is over.

I suppose if you put a leash on a relationship - it's the same way.
Matt