Freedom, Diversity and Unity

"Vive Libre" is a statement I recently saw on a T-shirt as I walked past someone. It's a good message, so long as the freedom is the freedom to do good.

God the Son Jesus Christ wants us free to do good. John 8:32 Amplified Bible teaches us that truth and freedom go together: "And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."

In the beginning when the first man and woman choose a plan for their life that seemed good, but wasn't, one of the dynamics they set in place was they were no longer free to function as God designed them. The choice they made instead of giving them a better relationship with self and each other actually caused their relationships to deteriorate.

When Adam and Eve got along great with self and each other and were preparing positively to expand their family Genesis 2:25 Amplified Bible says, "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not embarrassed or ashamed in each other’s presence."

Without God living in us we do not have the person we need to empower us to grow in relationships of positive freedom with God, self and others. God wants us to experience this freedom. But by ourselves it's impossible. We need new life. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Amplified Bible says, "Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!" When we receive God by faith, God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost come to live inside us giving us new life, giving us the ability to function in freedom to do good.

God on the inside does not show up on the outside in full all at once. One reason God gave us the Bible is because He likes for us to chase Him something like we would when we are passionately in love with someone. We want to take the time to know everything about our loved one, and be our best self in relationship with our loved one.

Genesis 2:25 shows us that freedom to do good is diversity and unity: male and female, distinct yet harmonious. Please contact Michele and Rafael at email address michefrancesjackson@gmail to join our relationship group celebrating God's gift of freedom, diversity and unity in our relationships.

Got Problems? No Worries Mate.

Sunday I was looking at a photo in the August 2012 edition of Enjoying Everyday Life, the magazine of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce is reading a leather-bound Bible while sitting on a wooden chair on a wooden deck without guard rails above tranquil waters with a forest in the distance. Yellow/white sunlight hovers over the waters and everything else reminding me of Genesis 1:1-3 Amplified Bible: "In the beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light."

Light reveals things. God describes Himself as light. John 1:4 Amplified Bible says, "In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men."

One of the things God wants to reveal is that God's best plan for us is loving, eternal, family relationships with God and people. John 1:12-13 Amplified Bible says, "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]"

There was never a time when God didn't choose to be in relationship with each believer. Imagine the goodness if we always choose a relationship with God and each believer God connects us to.

God put Rafael and me together. Rafael is a believer who has autism. I am a believer who does not have autism. Rafael and I love each other. In loving each other we are celebrating God, people with autism and other different minds and abilities and people of multiple other characteristics.

God made Rafael with autism on purpose. Proverbs 16:33 Amplified Bible says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly of the Lord [even the events that seem accidental are really ordered by Him]."

God made Nick Vujicic and Daniel Martinez without arms and legs. Nick and Daniel are not biologically related, but they are part of the family of believers; and God created them and had them meet for a purpose.

One day Nick was set to give a speech at Knott Avenue Christian Church in Anaheim, California. Up until the time Nick was a young adult he had not met a person like himself without arms and legs. Meeting Daniel was inspirational confirming for Nick that there are others like him and giving him the privilege to guide someone younger, Daniel was a toddler at the time they met, over the obstacles of not having arms and legs through a faith that with God there are no limits.

Some say I am unrealistic in seeking marriage for Rafael because he has autism. Growing up Nick wondered how he was going to have a job that would pay enough to financially support a family. Nick wondered how he was going to have girlfriends and eventually a wife without arms to hug them.

So many mysteries that can become worries. Do you have autism, no arms or legs or some other challenges? "I ain't goin' worry about things I can't control . . . . Hold up. Why? God's got it," sings African-American Gospel singer James Moss on his CD V 4 ...The Other Side track "God's Got It." For believers God is able and willing to work out our lives for good even when we can't see how.

Growing up Nick couldn't see that he would be a motivational speaker, run a nonprofit group called Life Without Limbs and marry, but God not only knew it all along, God also had a plan for Nick to get there. God's got a plan for all of us. Chase God, and He'll reveal the plan.

Clues to God's plan are everywhere. Rafael is very spiritual. He enjoys music, meditation and intimate relationships. Women love spirituality and intimate relationships. Ninety-four percent of women in a 2002 Gallup poll reported that a spouse should be a soul mate first and foremost.

Soul mates start out as friends. The Bible talks about sex as a husband and wife knowing each other. While God did not design for singles to engage in sex, God did design for both singles and married couples to have same-sex and opposite sex friendships. Begin and improve your friendships by joining Rafael's and my relationship group. To join contact us at email address michefrancesjackson@gmail.com.

Individuality Please

God sent me some inspiration Saturday while I was sitting amidst my balcony garden. Researchers from the University of Munich Germany found that looking at green for as brief as two seconds stimulates creativity. "God delights in concealing things; scientists delight in discovering things" (Proverbs 25:2 the Message Bible).

I have had people lie to me and say that my son, Rafael, was born with autism because I and Rafael's father had sex outside of marriage, and Rafael was conceived from one of these sexual encounters. While having partner sex outside of marriage is a sin that I have asked for and received God's forgiveness and no longer practice, it is a sin that is not connected to autism. John 9:1-3 Amplified Bible says, "As He passed along, He noticed a man blind from his birth. His disciples asked Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered, It was not that this man or his parents sinned, but he was born blind in order that the workings of God should be manifested (displayed and illustrated) in him." God is working through Rafael and me to bring healing to others regarding a dehumanizing view and treatment of persons with autism and other different minds and abilities. This type of mindset tries to erase the individuality of persons with autism and other different minds and abilities through steering them into certain custodial and administrative careers. Custodial and administrative careers are good careers if they are a person's calling. However if a person is singing jazz notes by spontaneous expression of an internal gift from God, why not educate and develop in as many ways as possible the singing ability, so that this person may bless society through a musical career?

The First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald, was born to unmarried, African American parents. First her father died. Then several years later when Fitzgerald was still a youth her mother died. Fitzgerald ended up in a New York orphanage. Instead of encouraging her singing gift, governmental employees forced Fitzgerald to take up "marketable skills" like typing and stenography.

Ohiyesa (Dakota for "Wins Often"), who took the name "Charles Alexander Eastman" when he received Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord in the 1800s, is a husband, father of six children, physician, writer, speaker, advocate for Native American rights, among other things, who described American culture as "a system of life based on trade." Things haven't changed much with today's "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" mentality.

American culture is high on the drug of conformity. Our culture compels people to pursue certain "marketable careers" irregardless of an individual's gifting from God.

Not everyone gets hooked on the drug of conformity. "Trabajare no por mi mismo, pero para otros" ("I shall not work for myself, but for others,") is a maxim of Reverend Patrick Fernandez Flores, the first Mexican American and the second U.S. Latino priest appointed a bishop in the Roman Catholic church.

Christians are not called to conformity, but to use their gifts and all of themselves to love God and to share the love of God on the inside with themselves and other people. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 12:1-2 New Living Translation Bible, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Paul goes on to say in Romans 12:6 New Living Translation Bible, "In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. . ." Live always incredible and improving empowered by God's love while cultivating and sharing your gifts. Read my 6/14/2012 article "Connecting Relationships and Faith."

Come off the drug of conformity and receive an ever evolving relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. God is for us. Chase and receive Him continually. Former drug addict current Pastor Wess Morgan sings on his CD Look At Me Now track "You May Not Know Me" about God's drastic change in his life, "You may not know me the way I am. You used to know me back when I was dangerous, reckless so frivolous."

Once America looses the dangerous, reckless so frivolous drug of conformity perhaps we will see persons with autism and other different minds and abilities in mass in all kinds of private and public places fully participating in society using the gifts God gave them to bless society.

Join Rafael and my relationship group to participate in the transformation process by contacting email address michefrancesjackson@gmail.com. We also welcome on-line comments.

Love or Terrorism?

As I was painting my fingernails bright red on Tuesday thoughts came to my mind like, "Why is there so much hatred, fear, envy and other negativity towards sexuality and differences in people?"; "Why are some people singled out for persecution?"

". . .  the whole point of Klan-style terrorism was to make examples of "troublemakers" so that everyone else would stay in line," writes Eugene Robinson in his book Disintegration The Splintering of Black America.

Conflict is inevitable. Using terrorism to try to transform others is not inevitable. During Jesus Christ's earthly ministry He and many of the religious, governmental and other leaders clashed. Jesus didn't teach His disciples to try to limit His adversaries to certain books, certain places or certain relationships. Jesus Christ didn't teach people to monitor the every movement of adversaries or try to force them in other ways to convert to Christ.

Instead Jesus taught people things like receiving a relationship with God, cooperating with God to allow inner transformation that will show up on the outside and living life lead by the Spirit of God and not by fear or coercision.

Fear and coercision are terrorist tactics that lead to the tyranny of Satan; being enslaved to sinful behaviors. 2 Timothy 1:7 Amplified Bible says, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control."

Sometimes even some Christians become deceived and disobedient to the Word of God and try to change people through terrorist tactics and end up supporting tryannts. Not all Christians and other people in the American colonies were for the independence of America. Instead some supported Britain.

Yet the founding principles of an America independent of Britain were based on the Bible not terrorism. Our American Declaration of Independence says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness . . ."

Jesus Christ gave His adversaries the freedom to believe and to live wrong all the while extending to all people the offer of righteousness.

Means matter. Means are part of the message.

Sometimes terrorists will say they are for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but they will also stalk people, monitor their telephones, Internet and other communication devices, steal, harrass and harm people who hold beliefs different from theirs.

Jesus loves people even while they are His enemies (sinners). Romans 5:8-9 Amplified Bible says, "But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us. Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ's blood, how much more [certain is it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God."

No one need die for sin anymore. Jesus' one-time death and ressurrection paid for sin. Now it's time for those who receive God to love large. Jesus Christ says in John 13:34-35 New Living Translation Bible, "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."

Love is not weak, but a wonderful way for conflict to be resolved with all parties in the conflict winning. Through love no one is trying to defeat another through scarring others out of their minds or some other destructive tactic. Love and terrorism are antithetical. Dr. Gary Smalley writes in his book The DNA of Relationships Discover How You Are Designed for Satisfying Relationships, "Remember, you're part of a team. Therefore you have to redefine winning as finding and implementing a solution that both people can feel good about." Dr. Smalley says win-win solutions can be applied to all kinds of relationships. He writes, "The spirit of the no-losers policy also applies in the workplace. If I know that my boss feels very concerned about making decisions that work for me, I can relax and give my best to my job. I feel good about being his or her employee. Of course, at times an employer has to make difficult and unpopular decisions for the health of the company. But even then, the spirit of the no-losers policy can come into play. People committed to win-win will find a way to walk through even a layoff or termination so that people feel valued, honored, and convinced that the employer did everything possible to make the situation work."

Win-win solutions work best for those who have rejected terrorism, embraced the love of God and made sacrifices to share God's love on the inside with themselves and other people. The book The Wisdom of the Native Americans records Chief Dan George saying, "My friends, how desperately do we need to be loved and to love. When Christ said that man does not live by bread alone, he spoke of a hunger. This hunger was not the hunger of the body. It was not the hunger for bread. He spoke of a hunger that begins deep down in the very depths of our being. He spoke of a need as vital as breath. He spoke of our hunger for love. Love is something you and I must have. We must have it because our spirit feeds upon it. We must have it because without it we become weak and faint. Without love our self-esteem weakens. Without it our courage fails. Without love we can no longer look out confidently at the world. We turn inward and begin to feed upon our own personalities, and little by little we destroy ourselves. With it we are creative. With it we march tirelessly. With it, and with it alone, we are able to sacrifce for others."

Please share personal stories of love transforming terrorism.

Wisdom Keeps on Giving Good

"Real giving occurs when I give somebody something that I want to keep," says Joyce Meyer in her book Love Out Loud 365 Devotions for Loving God, Loving Yourself, and Loving Others. I really wanted to keep my book Crazy Good Sex Putting to Bed the Myths Men Have About Sex by Christian author Dr. Les Parrott, but I donated it to a local Prince William County, Virginia, library.

Please share an on-line comment about the books, audio-books, CDs, DVDs and other media you have recently donated to a library. Please also comment about other gifts that keep on giving to others. I welcome financial gifts to my ministry. Checks and money orders should be made payable to "Michele Jackson," and mailed to P.O. Box 2106, Woodbridge, Virgina, 22195.

Learning is a lifetime pursuit that at its best connects to wisdom. Proverbs 8:35-36 Amplified Bible says, "For whoever finds me [Wisdom] finds life and draws forth and obtains favor from the Lord. But he who misses me or sins against me wrongs and injures himself; all who hate me love and court death."

During Jesus Christ's earthly ministry, the majority of the Pharisees were well educated, but wronged and injured themselves and others by creating rules that lacked the Spirit of God. God is the source of goodness. Following many of the Pharisees' rules meant participating in evil. Martin Luther King Jr. says in his speech "The Better Way" on the CD The Wisdom of Martin Luther King Jr. quoting Gandhi and Thoreau, "Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as cooperation with good."

Bartolome de Las Casas was a Dominican friar and bishop who practiced non-cooperation with evil. He spoke about the humanity of Native Americans during colonial-era Spanish rule when Native Americans were thought to be and treated as a lesser race.

Please share an on-line comment about current evils in relationships, sexuality and life that need to be exposed.

Food, Love and Marriage

Last Thursday Rafael and I enjoyed walking and listening to live jazz music being played by a military band in a shopping mall. Thus inspired I recalled eating at an African-American restaurant in Washington, D.C., on July 4th, and I tried to count the number of African-American restaurants in Prince William County, Virginia, where Rafael and I live, that have waiters and waitresses, outstanding food and remarkable decor. I couldn't recall and count even one such restaurant.

I know where to buy our favorite fajitas with fine decor and wait staff but no jambalaya with other outstanding African-American food and remarkable decor. If you have eaten out and enjoyed fine African-American food in Prince William County, Virginia, please leave an on-line comment sharing the experience.

Many lovers enjoy sharing delicious food. I pray that Rafael, my son who has autism, enjoys dating and eventually marrying a Christian woman who shares his delight in eating out, personal relationships and beautiful, balanced, Biblical sexuality and sex among other good, enjoyable, beautiful things. Rafael savors saturating his fingers with food. He likes to feel it, smell it and taste it. Food and fingers fascinate him. He revels in having his finger tips kissed and kissing the hands of some people.

God created both single and married people with a desire for marital sex and other relationships. The first man had a relationship with God and the animals, but this was not enough. Genesis 2:18 New Living Translation Bible says about God creating the first woman for the first man, "Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”"

Mohandas Gandhi said, "To say that some men are untouchables is a heinous sin." Yet some would like to treat persons with autism and other different minds like untouchables denying them access to restaurants, marriage and the best possible life.

God wants the best possible life for everyone. God created us and preserves our life from fertilization through birth, youth, old age and beyond death for people who are African, European, Asian, Hispanic, male, female, working all different kinds of assignments at all different kinds of hours and with different minds and abilities and with multiple mixtures of these characteristics. God created us to have a good relationship with Him and to be in relationships with people who are just right for us.

Good relationships are compatible with good business. An untapped, massive market exists in welcoming persons with autism and other different minds into restaurants, marriage and other good, enjoyable, beautiful things. Please share an on-line comment about your best eating-out experiences and moments in marriage.

A Good, Enjoyable, Beautiful Life

Autism and other different minds are not fully understood. Experience provides some learning and sharing. Yet different minds are not integrated into our society.

Saturday Rafael and I ate fish tacos and drank sweet, mint, green tea in a restaurant. I didn't see anyone who has autism like Rafael does. I rarely see people with autism in restaurants.

Rafael and I enjoy eating out. Eating out can be part of a good, enjoyable, beautiful life. Jesus Christ is for joy. Satan is for sadness. John 10:10 Amplified Bible says, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."

On Tuesday it was confirmed for me that at times powerful people prey on the perceived weak. Why not instead pursue every positive way possible to give different minds a good, enjoyable, beautiful life?

"Jesus answered, Is it not written in your Law, I said, You are gods?" (John 10:34 Amplified Bible). Believers are gods. Gods have power to seek and seize good.

Good includes an enjoyable, beautiful life from fertilization through birth, youth, old age and beyond death for people who are African, European, Asian, Hispanic, male, female, working all different kinds of assignments at all different kinds of hours and with different minds and abilities. John C. Maxwell writes in his book How Successful People Think Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life, "Good thinkers, especially those who are also good leaders, understand the power of shared thinking. They know that when they value the thoughts and ideas of others, they receive the compounding results of shared thinking and accomplish more than they ever could on their own." Please leave an on-line comment sharing your thinking about liking this article and/or ways to fully integrate different minds into society.