by David Hayward | Sep 6, 2012 | Ideas
Purchase this picture! Have you ever felt this way? Like maybe there was something seriously wrong with you? Like people really thought that maybe something had snapped inside your head? Like maybe you should see a doctor? Like maybe you’ll hopefully get better...
by David Hayward | Sep 5, 2012 | Feelings
How does this drawing make you feel? Purchase the original drawing or buy a print! –> (PS: You can now read people’s “stories” by choosing the category “community stories” in the sidebar. I encourage you to do that and catch up...
by | Sep 5, 2012 | Feelings
My story is not one of being hurt by the church. But simply outgrowing it. Perhap. I was born and raised in the evangelical tradition and can remember struggling with it’s relevancy at age ten, I am now mid 50’s. I did the teenage rebellion thing and in...
by David Hayward | Sep 4, 2012 | Ideas
The rain pours down from the heavens, making everyone and everything that lies beneath it wet with its being. Of course, you can position yourself inside under a funnel and imagine that you are the only one receiving it. That you are special. That you are the only one...
by David Hayward | Sep 4, 2012 | Ideas
Labels are an easy way to intimidate people. All someone has to say to you is, “Oh! You’re becoming a universalist!” and gallons of fear come flooding into your mind and heart. Just say, “No! I’m not sure what I am in that regard. I just...
by David Hayward | Sep 3, 2012 | Spirituality
Whenever I felt that our obedience to or admiration of a leader was too great, this explanation was always used… that we were serving God, not the person in authority who was benefiting from it. Most people seem to buy it. Some don’t. I want to tell you...
by David Hayward | Sep 2, 2012 | Feelings
You are sought. You are found. You are not alone. All is full of love. Do you believe that? I’ve opened up a new store that is more user friendly! Same coupon code for 30% OFF applies: “hayward”. Thanks!
by David Hayward | Sep 1, 2012 | Ideas
You’ve heard the expression “There are no atheists in foxholes.” Which means that everybody under extreme threat will seek out a divine power to intervene and save them. No one is quite sure who coined the phrase. Obviously a believer. I’ve...
by David Hayward | Aug 31, 2012 | Ideas
I would like to write this morning about abuse. I tweeted and facebooked a couple of statements last night: “It’s abusive to criticize people for the way they speak out against how they’ve been abused.” “No matter what the religious tell...
by David Hayward | Aug 30, 2012 | Feelings
People generally reach high and are shallow or reach deep and are boring. Is there a way, like this tree, to be both? Can we reach down down down into the earth’s rich soil to receive all the nutrients available to us in all its variety, and at the same time...
by David Hayward | Aug 30, 2012 | Feelings
I can’t count how many times this has been used on me. And when I resisted I was called a weakling. A wimp. A spiritual pussy. Back in 1997 when we were going through a horrendous church split, largely due to the intrusion of the previous pastor in our affairs,...
by David Hayward | Aug 29, 2012 | Feelings
A friend sent me this video today. I wept all the way through it. Experiences like this I call “spiritual”. How did you react to it? I’d like to know. I’m not sure exactly why I found it so moving. Was it… I want to go to Burning Man? the...
by David Hayward | Aug 29, 2012 | Ideas
I wrote on my other site that I am amazed at how important some issues seem when you are immersed in a certain culture. But once you extricate yourself from that culture, after a while you realize that those issues that were so important are totally irrelevant. Like...
by David Hayward | Aug 28, 2012 | Ideas
There are just so many problems with that idea I can’t even try to begin! For example… right off the bat homosexuality, never mind homosexual activity, is a sin. But more than that, it attempts to draw a line between the person and his or her state of...
by katiepearl | Aug 26, 2012 | Feelings
The internet has been the release valve on a very painful time; four years ago, I left my job as marketing manager for a small Christian charity, because I had been bullied to the point of a breakdown by the chief executive officer. In public, he was charming and...
by David Hayward | Aug 26, 2012 | Spirituality
There have been just a few times in my life when I feel I’ve received direction or revelation from something Other. On the other hand, I have come out of a Christian culture that hears from God a million times a day. I’m serious! For so many years I was...
