I recently purchased a big tub of Life Brand “Green Source” Nutritional Supplement as a way to get more “greens” into my diet. And although it says, “Natural Mixed Berry Flavour”, I specifically taste “bee pollen”. Yuuuuuchk!!

The stuff looks like the dirty water I used to get from cleaning off my paint brushes in art class. It’s a soupy dark green and very hard to mix. The clumps of spirulina and pectin are incredibly hard to locate and disgusting if you get one caught on your teeth. I take no prisoners when it comes to crushing them with a spoon and drink carefully to avoid disaster.

After the first sip, my stomach lurches a bit. I’m sure it’s growing into a full-fledged stomach ache. Maybe I’m allergic to the pollen which would explain the reason that it’s all I taste or smell. But my doctor isn’t interested in sending me for allergy tests even though I’ve asked.

I go to the web-site for Shopper’s Products and I can’t find any helpful information there about their product. I have to do my own research. Apparently the bee pollen has amino acids in it. The Lecithin I know is great for building up cell wall linings and the spirulina and chlorella are the best ways of keeping blood cells oxygenated and fed with nutrients because they are complete cell foods and at the “bottom of the food chain” where all of the most nutritious food lies.

Apparently the rest of the ingredients all help with getting rid of toxins and improving memory. I should be having really soothed liver movements after a few weeks of taking this to tone my digestion. But as I read how small the doses are, I can’t help but wonder if this product was put together from a wide variety of sources to make up for the fact that they went really really cheap on the overall concoction.

Does anybody really know if these drinks work or not? Please leave comments below as I’d like to know what to expect. The web-site was of absolutely NO help. Thanks! =)

Well, anyone who has been to a football stadium or hockey arena will tell you that the excitement in the air is palpable during a winning game. Carl Jung’s concept of the “collective conscious” is a great explanation for the way whole masses of people seem to create a vibrant, unified and numinous sense of reality. Sports on this level isn’t just a game – it’s a spiritual high very much like corporate worship in a Christian setting or healing concert.

The thing that’s different between the sport or healing session is the difference in information. While a soccer game carries with it temporal information like who  won or lost which series, healing is information that changes our minds, personalities and effects our spirits more for the long term. Information is Info in formation. To be healed is to receive new information that carries a healing effect right down to the nerve cells and dna in a person. What we call “faith” is actually an “informed” way of putting various ideas, concepts, values and motivations together into a framework that changes you. And there is, within the framework of religion, information that is so fundamentally life-changing that your physical body follows after the change to your mental state and spiritual body. This is why it is so important to “receive” in healing.

So, when I think of healing, I think of myself as a healer. I’m a person who’s job it is to speak into a person’s life certain spiritual truths that I intuitively think apply. And I speak the words in a graceful way that is sensitive to how the person likes or doesn’t like to receive information. People with trust issues have huge problems with healing. People with control issues are just not able to let anyone minister to them and are also very difficult to work with. So too are people who are not ready to let go of their inner victim. They still need pity to help them get the attention that they need. All of these forces in psychology make it impossible to make a long-lasting impression on the psyche.

The information that is often used in healing does one or more of three things:

1. causes conviction (repentance) by inspiring the patient to acts or thots of GOODNess
2.  breaks through the lie in a vow that the patient has made
3. re-writes a memory with a narrative that is more hopeful and helpful

All sicknesses and illnesses and maladies that are caused by one of the above can be redeemed. We can all work on our own healing knowing this information by trying to “name” the problem we are having and then asking ourselves which solution is needed:

1. is there something that I did that was wrong that I need to identify, confess, confront and change? Do I need help to turn this habit or flaw around?
2. have I said things in my heart that I need to retract? does my belief system help me or hurt me? do I remember a time when I said, “I will never…”? Am I open to possibilities of trying what someone else suggests for a change? Even if I feel uncomfortable?
3. Am I able to look at this painful memory and see that I am still loved, accepted and forgiven? Am I able to extend love, acceptance and forgiveness to myself? Am I able to accept love, acceptance and forgiveness from others? God? Am I able to see anything good to come out of this memory? Can I be thankful for the person I’ve become?

If you can answer “yes” to these questions, even if they cause you pain, chances are you are already healing or open to it in a radical way. If you can’t handle what I’ve written here… you are just not ready to be “formed” by this information. Your world is probably hard to cope with and you are experiencing a lot of resentment. Perhaps you think everyone is stupid and that you are the only sane person. This is just pride. And you are using it to protect yourself from feelings of shame and guilt so that you don’t have experience any psychological pain. That’s ok~  take your time.

When I became a Christian back in 1992, I was excited to find out that the number of prophecies written about Jesus was in the hundreds. Probably the biggest source of prophetic statements made about a coming Messiah can be found in Isaiah 53 where the prophet Isaiah speaks of a “suffering servant of the Lord”. Almost the whole chapter describes specific things that happened to Jesus – an incredible coincidence since it was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born.

So, how did Isaiah know? Was he consciously writing about Jesus? Did he “see” him? Was Isaiah, “tuned in” like a “radio” to God’s voice? Was Isaiah an extremely “spiritual” person? Or was he a normal person like you or I who just wanted to know the future?

I think all of these are relevant questions to consider in the discussion about what makes a prophet. Because in our postmodern times we have learned a lot about human sciences and any study of prophecy should be done within an understanding of what it means to be fully human.

There is something about a prophet that we recognize as being, “above” us in terms of awareness. Prophets are noticeably brave – for it was their nature to find the important places and radically tell everyone that they needed to change and change NOW. Prophets also did speak in visual terms. Ezekiel was a prophet that spoke of seeing, “wheels within wheels” and many have tried to figure out what that looks like in the mind’s eye. Some say, “UFO’s”, but I say it was probably a mandala. Who really knows…?

Jesus was an interesting prophet. He would show up at the Festival of Lights and announce, “I am the LIGHT”. Wow! what an ego (or maybe he really WAS “Light”)!

In modern day prophetic movements, we still see a lot of people in the church using rich imagery to explain ideas and concepts that enrich people’s religious experience. I had one prophet place his windbreaker around my shoulders to signify a “coronation” for my ministry. At the time I was bawling my head off from the scripture in Kings that he had read about Solomon pleading with God for wisdom. I went away from that session knowing EXACTLY what I needed in life whereas I had arrived with a deep soul misery. The prophetic speaks INTO our lives and changes our course.

So, if there are “change agents” in your life who often think in visual terms and can help you get a fresh perspective, you might consider that person to be a prophet. A false prophet is a person who tries to change you in a way that doesn’t suit you and may even harm you if you take their advice. But a true prophet will instill love, harmony, fresh hope and unforgettable memories. Thank goodness such people really DO still exist today.

Integrity is such a great thing to have. Integrity is one of those qualities that allows you to have a seamless belief system that makes all the pieces of your life make sense to you and is pleasing to those around you. When you say something, you know that you mean it and that it rests on other beliefs. Integrity is something you live for. You don’t mind that others don’t have it so much – because you know how hard it was to get it. Integrity is not “born” – it is the result of great, conscious design on your behalf.

People with integrity attract a crowd. When people see that you have integrity, they are incredibly curious about what makes you tick. They might ask you a lot of questions about how you got that way. They see that you are held miraculously together by values that are simple and straightforward. You’ll receive a lot of compliments and they won’t go to your head. People with integrity don’t take up a lot of “space” – they’re humble people, not proud nor arrogant.

Integrity is made up of some other very fundamental components as well. Honesty is one of them. Strength is another one. Honesty is the ability to open up about absolutely anything. People with integrity can handle scrutiny because there is nothing to hide. And people with integrity are strong because they’ve gone through testing to make sure that their character lines up with the coping skills needed to handle life. Life skills like relationships, usefulness to others, and ability to rise above suffering and “bounce back” into shape when the pressure gets to be too much.

  There is a social aspect to people with integrity. They don’t live solely for themselves. People with integrity practice hospitality and love to share themselves with others for the betterment of everyone. People with integrity are teachers who support the views and opinions of others who are trying to engage culture through questions and insight. Non-controlling dialog is the hallmark of a person with integrity and they are a pleasure to be around.

  So… I hope these musings and pictures have left you wondering about what you can share or offer. Perhaps you can see what still needs to be worked on in the design known as, “you”. Be patient with yourself. Be open with yourself. Take time to be by yourself and ponder what things you notice are inconsistent. Take time to heal the blame, memories or lies you rehearse in your mind and try to write a new script for yourself. Imagine how you want to be – and then know that many others got to where they are by doing what you are doing now.