Well clearly i haven’t been watching enough Todd Bentley as i woke up in the middle of the night in severe pain, which has meant i am actually unable to walk today because it’s too agonising to bend my right leg. Thankfully with a little Rage Against The Machine i’m coping.

My dad, sis and Marcos have been pushing me to check out Joel Osteen on Sundays nights on Sky, as he’s a very interesting Christian pastor who talks more like a life coach than anything particularly Jesus-ish and leads the largest congregation in the US. And it’s got him in trouble with the fundies (fundamentalists) as he supports all faiths, refuses to teach damnation or quote scripture everywhere and won’t ally himself to a denomination.

Atheists love him, and apparently he gets more letters from them than any other faith. You can’t help but love Joel.

What a guy. I ended up watching a lot of his videos and the amazing part is that he ironically has a huge following amongst Muslims and Hindus. You get past the Southern draaaaaawl quickly.

Enlarging your circle of love (pt 1) - ignore the worship/bible bit for the first 2mins…

“What about people who aren’t like us and don’t have our background? God put the people in your life for a reason. Too many people have their walls up. We make a judgement and we don’t even know the person. What causes us to judge is…pride. We don’t know what we’d do as we’ve never walked in their shoes. We haven’t had the upbringing they had. Some people look down on others that struggle with their weight. You don’t know the battles they face. Some have hang ups because of the way they were raised. They didn’t choose it. We have to get past this thinking of ‘if you’re like me i’ll accept you’. Don’t pre-judge someone because they don’t meet your standards.”

Pt 2 - “There is nothing God dislikes more than being Holier Than Thou. It’s more important to be pure in your heart to God even if you’re imperfect on the outside. We can’t go around shutting people out because they’re not exactly like us. We have to give people a little room while they’re changing. That young lady may be on her last legs.”

Pt 3 - “The mercy we show to others will be the same amount God will show to us. There is too much judgement in this world today. It’s not our job to convert anyone, just to present the truth. I love all people of all faiths as they are all God’s creation. He drew a circle around to shut me out, and i said i’m going to draw a bigger circle around him and shut him in. When you are good to people who don’t deserve it, you melt their cold hardened heart. I bet everyone here has someone in their life they are shutting out.”

And yes, it hit me VERY hard right when it was unexpected and was very challenging considering how judgemental i can be. Sometimes things are presented to you in your life and you think through them and agree, but sometimes they hit you right in the chest and push you. By the end of these i realised i had my head bowed, looking at the floor.