DONOFRO

Every man knows how important a wallet can be. Every man has his own needs in a wallet. A wallet holds a lot of things that a man uses and sees, most everyday. A wallet can say a lot about a man.

Many a time I have been riding in my car, on a road trip, and feel the bulge that is my wallet causing pain to my buttocks. The inconvenience comes in having to take it out of my pocket whilst driving at 65mph. Most of the time unbuckling my seat belt is involved; and most of the time a swerve between my lane and the opposing lane is involved. Once removed I am still in a state of frustration and disillusionment cause by the swerving and lack of safety my wallet has put me in. 

At this point, most people that have taken the time to read this far are wondering where I am going with all of this. I am going to make a turn here and possibly even shock myself at what comes out in this post.

A wallet does many things, as stated above. It describes people, holds things, has an important job, causes pain, disillusionment and can be destructive at times. A wallet is like the enemy. It tells people who they are, but causes them pain at the same time. It holds important things in peoples lives, but destroys them with the same things. It has an “important job”, but shields us from the truth. 

The enemy can be like a wallet, but so can Jesus. He is the best wallet in the world! He holds everything we need with no pain involved on our end. His job is to make sure our identity is in Him and no one else, so His wallet looks amazing. And last but not least His wallet has the most money out of any wallet ever. The best part about that is this: Jesus’ wallet that He gives to us never runs dry!

If you want to give me a wallet, I think this one is as close as I can get to a worldly copy of Jesus’ wallet ;) 

http://us.bellroy.com/products/travel-wallet#variant=cocoa&image=6

I have a tendency to judge without knowledge. That is a very dangerous and ignorant issue in my life. Let me use an example: I hear about a band. I tell someone I found out about them. They tell me the band is not good and the band has a weird religious beliefs. I never listen to the band again and tell people it is a bad band, do not listen to them. 

The reality is that I have no idea what the background of that band is and most likely never will. Someone told me they were bad and off of their statement, I made a false judgement. If I have never talked to those people face to face, how do I know if they are bad people? I don’t. Therefore, I have no right to judge at all. 

What I am getting at, is that even if I know the person and have deep intellectual conversations with them, I still cannot judge. And in the end, Jesus is the only Judge anyway, so it does not really matter what I think, He sees into the depths of every heart. I do believe that if I see things in a friend I can help walk them through them, but there is a very fine line there and they have to be willing.

The truth of it all is that God can use anything for His good and bring fruit from anything. So, I will love and seek Jesus over my own thoughts.

Matthew 7:1-5

Just something Jesus has been laying on my heart lately. 

Over the course of the past 2 months I have been on a “diet” which I would actually call a lifestyle. I have come off of dairy and gluten. I eat completely organic and have a desire to share what I know with people I love and anyone else who will take the time to hear me out. 

I often wonder how anyone could not be happy to live, and live long. But not only do I wonder who wouldn’t want to live long, I also wonder who wouldn’t want to be healthy. As someone who believes in Jesus and that the bible is the written word of God, there are verses in the pages of the bible that drive me to believe Jesus wants me to take care of my body and keep it clean and healthy. First and foremost I believe that I am suppose to keep my body clean and healthy in a spiritual sense, but I strongly believe that the physical aspect of living healthily goes right along side the spiritual. 

In America there are thousands upon thousands of places to eat. Most are developed out of sheer convenience to the consumer. The restaurants are the end of a list of precursors that fuel the movement. After watching several documentaries on the food industry and health in America I am convinced that as Americans we are lied to; not out of ignorance to the problems at hand, but out of greed and stupidity. The farmers in America sell out to the “food industry”(which is very loosely used terminology), so that they can simply make money and don’t get bought out. The doctors and physicians tell patients that there are no other ways to fight the diseases or do the operations they need to do so that they gain the reliance of the people to give them money. The medical and food industries simply lie so that there is “hope” for their jobs and businesses to flourish when in actuality, if the healthy treatments/living styles I am going to touch on were allowed to be used in America, they would still be able to maintain their multi-trillion dollar industries with no problem anyway.

Organic living: The strawberries are bigger at Walmart and the vegetables look so very colorful, yet the reality is that they are filled with toxins and even poisons that are so bad for our body that, in my opinion, it is a miracle we have survived under these conditions for as long as we have. So what exactly is organic food? It is the consumption of fruits and vegetable that have not been doused with pesticides and various other things. Organic living is healthy eating and healthy thinking. It is eating the fruits that are actually good for you and that will benefit you in the long run and being confident in who you are as a person. When I used to eat a burger and have a diet coke at a fast food restaurant, I would feel so terrible afterwards and wondered why I still felt so hungry. I watched a documentary called Hungry for Change on Netflix. I found out that the burger was filled with chemicals that have been created to tell my brain that they are actually nutrients I need to survive, when in reality my body was left without nutrition. And the diet coke I was using to wash the “burger” down has an ingredient in it that is used to make jet fuel. As you can imagine I was rather perturbed. I was even more frustrated that doctors and physicians and everyone involved in the creation of the chemicals are completely ok with what is happening. If you tie everything together is sounds like this:

The farmers put chemicals in their fruits to make them grow faster, but the chemicals they use are harmful to consume. Once on the market the restaurant prepares the food and the consumer eats it and pays for it, monetarily and physically. Since the food is fake in a number of ways we choose to buy more and eat more either at the restaurant or at home. In some cases weight sets in and we now have what is known all over the world as the obesity epidemic in America. It is treated with diets that also have chemically altered drugs and supplements which cause more pain and suffering than necessary. Or the consumer gets some sort of disease that is potentially terminal. The doctors prescribe more drugs and treatments for the disease and in some cases even tell the patients that they have so many months to live. The patient is now in debt and suffering from depression and feels that the only way to get better is to listen to the doctors. The doctor is now needed, but I believe that is the furthest from the truth.

Like I said, I have been watching many documentaries and they have changed my life in so many ways. One way is the realization that it is not that I can’t eat this food that is so very corrupted, it is that I do not want to. I do not want to put things in my body that will harm me and affect me negatively in the long run. Another is that there is a way out. It is not hard. It is not more expensive. It is life giving, not life taking.

I juice. There is no easier way to put it than that. A man named Max Gerson, a German doctor, discovered that juicing everyday along with coffee enemas can be the cure to many diseases. The main disease that he directed his research at was cancer. His theories and philosophy have been carried on to this day by his daughter, Catherine, who resides in Southern California. His studies and therapy are not well known in America because it is banned in America. It is said that doctors are not even allowed to mention Gerson’s name in fear that a patient might try his therapy. He established a hospital in Tijuana, Mexico. They have had numerous testimonies and recorded clinically proven healing’s over the past 80 years or so. Men and women alike have seen Cancer, MS and many other terminal diseases simply dissipate and never come back. Catherine, Gerson’s daughter, was cured of Bone Tuberculosis and is the longest surviving Gerson Therapy patient to date. She is 91 years old this year and still helps run the show in California at the Gerson Institute. Gerson was not in the medical world to cause problems, but his stand for truth is what stirred the pot and had him banned from practicing in America. He was merely trying to simplify what science has made so complex and his simplicity has saved hundreds, possibly thousands.

Gerson went back to ground zero. Adam and Eve sinned and death entered the world, but I believe they still had great health (they lived hundreds of years). Over the years as sin has entered the world there has come a lingering fog of deception and lies that has corrupted the minds of the human race and I frankly feel that as a believer, I can overcome it. I have a responsibility to act upon what I know and to take care of my body. I know that there are many things in America that are very unhealthy for me and I choose not to eat them, not because I can’t but because I do not want to. I also want to clarify that America is not the only country that deals with the issues at hand, but it is one of the major, if not the most major country that struggles. This is not to discredit doctors and farmers. I know there are good ones out there. 

All in all, this is an invitation to stand up and give it a go. I feel like a weight has lifted off of me since I started. I am more awake and alert than I ever have been and by body feels clean. It is not hard to do and there is a 15 or 30 day challenge online that is perfect for anyone who is interested. This is not a quick fix diet to lose weight, it is a beginning to a lifestyle that will enhance every aspect of anyones life who is willing to commit to it. 

I feel better, I look better and I live better.

Recommended Movies:

Hungry for Change

Forks over Knives

The Gerson Miracle

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

Dying to Have Known

This has been a thought on my mind for a while now and I have been thinking of a way to express it: We all want to be wanted…

God created me to desire someone to want me. Adam and Eve, they wanted each other. If I am wanted, I know I am cared for. I have a quick story that I feel is a good example of being wanted:

I have a friend who is planning on moving away to do a school. Things happened with passport stuff and application complications made it seem like a lost cause. However, once it all came together and the application process went through, he got an acceptance letter. Now, even when he received a very large check for this very trip, he never sounded more excited that when he got the letter of acceptance. He knew he was wanted! 

There are so many things that I feel in my heart I need. A job. A house. Money. God. These are all valid. True statement; not necessarily. I don’t need a job, but if someone hired me, I would know I would be  wanted, because I would have overcome the 2.7 million who have lost jobs over the past several years. I don’t need a house, but it would bring someone or some people who would want me, so they could find security in my home or just a place to chill. I don’t need money, but it makes me feel wanted, because if it didn’t have me, it wouldn’t be used and wouldn’t provide for me. 

God. He wants me, I know He does. He died so that I might live. I have nothing to give in return, yet He still wants me. He does not need me, but I need Him. I am wanted by Him and there is no loss on His end if I say no. But, if I do say no, I lose everything and therein lies the flip logic of this blog post. Who would want a quitter and a whiner? Jesus. Only Jesus.

He wants me, always has, always will, even when I put my selfish pride and petty problems before Him and say I don’t feel wanted or you didn’t come through for me in this area or that area. So what! All He does is wait for my return. If I don’t return, does He lose? No. But He does grieve for the loss of a son(or daughter). I know I am wanted and I know I am taken care of, even if the world may fall around me and I lose everything. I have taken literally the parable of the wise man(Mt. 7:24-25), because He doesn’t drown. He has a rock that keeps Him above the waters of life that storm around Him. He is safe in the house of God, forever! 

One more thing; going back to my friends story. If I think about it, it only makes sense that I wake up everyday just as excited as he was when he received his acceptance letter. I am wanted even when I am sleeping and I am wanted way more by the Creator than by those who He has created!

Just remember you are wanted even if you, “don’t want to be” or “don’t think you are”. 

Dear Tumblr world, 

I will be making posts soon. We have finally settled after almost 2 months and there are several posts in my “post brewing pot” :) 

Sincerely, Joseph

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Blessed be the God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

the Father of mercies

and God of all comfort, 

who comforts us in all our affliction,

so that we may be able to

comfort those who are in any affliction,

with the comfort with which

we ourselves are comforted by God.

I have been reading and re-reading 2 Corinthians. So far one of the major things that has stuck out to me is the God of comfort. I looked up what comfort means today and it is basically a physical freedom from pain or constraint. I can’t help but think of war when I think of this word. When I think of comfort I think of men and women who have been devastated by the effects of war, have come home, and are now being taken care of and nursed back to health. 

We are at war. We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities not of this earth. When the Lord comforts us I view it just like this. We have been fighting, we are weak and He is strong in us. He is there for us to come home to and re-gain what we have lost, which is merely strength, for we have gained so much more throughout so many battles. Wisdom and perseverance is won over to us. Loyalty and humility is gained in the midst of war. We come home weak, but we also come home changed. 

I also looked up the meaning of the greek translation used in this specific verse. It is interesting to see some of the differences in the way people thought back then in comparison to now. The meaning of comfort in the greek is:

1) a calling near or a summoning, (esp. for help)

2) importation, supplication, entreaty

3) exhortation, admonition, encouragement

4) consolation, comfort, solace; that which affords comfort or refreshment

a) thus of the Messianic salvation (so the Rabbis call the Messiah the consoler, the comforter)

5) persuasive discourse, stirring address

a) instructive, admonitory, conciliatory, powerful hortatory discourse

The ones I picked up on the most were 1 and 4a. Thinking of comforting as a calling or summoning gives such a marvelous picture to the concept. I can see Jesus in heaven screaming out for those of us who are so broken and weary to come to Him. Then to throw salvation into the mix, wow! I guess what I am getting at is that I tend to overlook salvation as a comfort, due to the fact that I am so thankful for salvation. My thoughts would be that salvation saved me from death in hell forever, hallelujah, thank you Jesus. The not so common thought would be, salvation saved me from death in hell forever, mmmm, that feels good. It almost feels selfish to think, but that should be my thought! It does feel good that I am saved and will never burn in a painful fire, but will be consumed with Holy fire. Glory!

My apologies for such a long time in-between posts. I have been working on a Christmas EP, check it out! donofro.bandcamp.com.

Be blessed!

-I am talking like a mad man-with far greater labors, far more

imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near death. 

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 

Three times I was beaten with rods.Once I was stoned. Three times

I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent

journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from

my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the

wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and

hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often

without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things,

there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not

indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my

weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed

forever, knows that I am not lying. At Damascus, the governor under

King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but

I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped

his hands.

I am stirred by this. I honestly wonder why I ever complain. Life is hard, I get that. But to what degree do I understand? Things are thrown at me everyday. I dodge, sometimes get hit directly between the eyes, but I somehow still manage to keep going. My struggle is in the fact that I find it extremely difficult to sit and spend more that 5-10 minutes with the one who is the only reason I can keep going. I look at what Paul went through, and I feel like I am missing something. There is something more that he was in touch with. What had he tapped into that drove him to press through the most gruesome of adversities. I am sure it is the love and grace of the kingdom of heaven. If so, then what is my problem? Do I even have a problem? Am I spot on, but because I have a tendency to over-think and over-analyze I am missing what is right in front of me? 

My dilemma is that I sit at my desk and attempt to read, but I physically feel the weight of my flesh saying, “no, this is not normal”. I am very well acquainted with that which Paul stated: For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate(Rom. 7:15). I want to be relational with Jesus, read my Bible and sing my praises to Him. Everything else is what I hate, because it draws me away from those very things. I struggle with responsibility to make time for Him. It is very much my fault that I have less time than I want, but I am still lost as to how Paul got to where he was in 2 Corinthians. 

This is the real life struggle of a human who longs for the one who created him. I am not ashamed. I wonder, as I have written this, if I have done just that which Paul was talking about, boasting in my weakness. I never thought of it that way. Though I struggle Jesus promises to make all things new(Rev. 21:5) and to work all things out for good(Rom 8:28). Though I am imperfect and I struggle, I will be made new and good.

The idea of pregnancy is what I leave the reader with. A baby rests once conceived, but only for a time. At a point, the room in the tummy runs out and something has to give. Labor is the avenue to freedom for this little one. Newness of life is born into the world and what a wonderful day indeed. I look at my struggles as labor pains. It sucks, but at the end of the time is the inevitable reality that something is born. If I stick with it and fight till the finish, I am promised goodness. It is like any form of training. I work and work and get angry and frustrated, but all of a sudden, something breaks and beauty enters the atmosphere of my life and I am better because of the struggle. 

FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST AND TO DIE IS GAIN.

(I was going to post a picture with this entry, but I couldn’t really come to terms with putting a picture of some random pregnant lady I didn’t know up here.)