Growth and Evolution
Growth and evolution are not the same. In my mind, folks tend to get these mixed up. One may even use the phrase “my personal evolution” to describe an event that changed them, but they’d be wrong.
Individuals should grow; species should evolve. An idea grows; concepts evolve. Understanding grows; institutions evolve. You can’t have evolution without first experiencing that phenomenon of growth.
What growth means exactly is of course depending on the connotation. Physically if someone doesn’t grow, they are often diagnosed with a disorder or disease. This person’s life would be in jeopardy if their systems didn’t develop correctly. They’d be abnormal.
Intellectually, if one didn’t grow we’d call him retarded in some way (it’s quite stupid to say that the word “retarded” is a cruel descriptor because it has been used as a word of some ridicule… come on. Retard means to not grow or to not move forward or to slow down.) A 30 year-old with the intellect of an infant would be pitiful and not a positive.
Emotionally we have to grow also. Our society has put much stock in this growth lately but we flap like sheets in the wind. It’s hard to measure. And, sometimes it’s downright uncomfortable and we can’t have that in this day and age now can we. But still it’s a requirement for a healthy individual interacting within a community. Emotionally retarded individuals create emotional instability. Spoiled folks, whiners, bullies, race-baiters, ingrates, bigots… don’t you want to live beside these folks? To grow emotionally, we need to experience and assimilate the polars of behavior such as joy, despair, love, hate, winning, losing… there are millions of them.
Spiritually Retarded
Why do we accept the notion that it’s okay if people are spiritually retarded? I’m not trying to be funny here. Take this as I mean it. It’s a sad state of affairs when you meet someone with a retarded spirit. Those that don’t explore spiritually are like infants that don’t grow. They are unhealthy. They have a disorder. If one doesn’t explore spiritual matters, to think of the way of things, he/she is cannot experience what it means to be fully human.
If one explores a path and considers some things and decides that there isn’t a spirit at all, he/she is lost. Their path has dimmed. They have lost a part of their humanity. They may stay there or they may continue to explore and find their way again.
Some are spiritually retarded in that they have found a thing but they quit exploring. Paul talks about milk drinkers. “Grow up. Eat meat.” is pretty much the thrust of that sermonette. These are spiritual babies. They do not grow past what they know. They are retarded. These I personally have the most trouble with. They have seen a thing but refuse to learn from it.
Renewal and Grace
Growth needs renewal. Growth needs replenishment. Growth needs grace most of all. Grace is the right to make mistakes. Grace is also the gift to learn from them. When we make mistakes, we ask others to extend grace to us. When others make mistakes, we extend grace to them. In both instances, we grow. Be cautioned, though. There is a spiritual reciprocity at work here. I may only experience grace as I am willing to extend it. I am forgiven. I must forgive in order to learn the full lesson and for growth to occur. In Christianity, I am forgiven and allowed to grow. I extend that grace so others may grow. There is eternal renewal there. There is replenishment.
As we grow individually, let us evolve collectively. |
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 Happy Easter.
So what's up with the picture? It's another composite work of mine pertaining to my understanding of what Easter really means. From Paul as written in 1 Corinthians 15:
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
May God grant you the wisdom to understand this.
Truth beyond Facts.
Growing up, it was always an intellectual sport to debate the scriptural timelines of that Passover week almost two thousand years ago. After many, many years, I've decided to look past the discrepancies. It just doesn't add up... the timeline differs from gospel to gospel. The specifics are just different. Theories abound from a Wednesday or Thursday crucifiction to a Saturday ressurrection. What I do know is that the common Good Friday crucifiction is probably the least plausible. The common Sunday morning resurrection is much more possible, though.
But the thrust of the story... that there was sacrifice, deception, betrayal, denial, fear, a lynching, torture, framing, forgiveness, death, hiding, resurrection, life, love, newness, beauty... did I mention love?... all that is there.
My Christ, my Messiah lights my path. I carry his yoke. At resurrection, I will evolve, as is His Way, to become like the new Adam. All because of what happened during Passover so, so many years ago. The truth peacefully heals and intellectual gap. |
 For those who know me personally, it's been an interesting three or four months. As a healthy young 46 year old, I never expected the curve ball coming my way. December 11 started as a gold star day. We rarely get snow in South Mississippi, but that morning we awoke to a white blanketed world. I was a kid again, throwing snowballs and taking pictures of our winter wonderland. I'd never seen our Christmas decorations in the snow... it was a beautiful, mystical - magical event.
I was scheduled for a cardiac CT that same day as a result of a small anomaly on a stress test I had a few weeks earlier. My wife and I trudged through the snow to the medical facility. Needless to say within a short few hours, I went from a kid building snowmen to a 46 year old with 3 major blockages in my heart. Thank God Almighty, I hadn't had a heart attack because one of the blockages was in such a precarious place if a clot would have formed in that location, I would have probably dropped dead in seconds.
It's a weird feeling to be told you were being scheduled for a heart cath and a possible bypass surgery. I'd never even been in the hospital before besides being born. My "immortality" had taken a severe blow.
Long story short.... on January 5, 2009 I underwent triple bypass surgery because the location of the problems were too dangerous to stint..
I'm doing very well now. My recovery has been great with just a few non-noteworthy setbacks. God certainly is good. Very good.
While physically a toll has been taken, spiritually it's been a reawakening. I appreciate things more. I am aware of things more. My relationship with my heavenly Father, Christ, and Spirit has always been tight, always been a process, always been at peace. During this time, that relationship has become deeper, tried, ever-present, natural.
I'm back at work now both at school teaching my kids (only four weeks after surgery) and at all my other endeavors (web work, programming, farming). Normalcy has a new meaning. But, then it's always changing anyway.
I'm looking forward to seeing my great grandchildren. The ticker is fine. Again, God is good. |
ePathSolutions is now StephenSeal.com
Frankly, I'm just ePath'ed out. First there was ePathSolutions.com. Then ePathAcademy.com, my teaching site that I use everyday for teaching job at our local high school. Then, ePathWebWorks... ePathDesign... epathquick... epathresellers... and even epathentry. Some of these projects where more profitable than others. So why did I just mention ePathSolutions in the opening? Because, ePathSolutions has been my favorite child. The name in the answering machine. Ahh... I'm going to miss you. And there were others not of the ePath family. ImageEverything, my photography site will also be folded into StephenSeal.com. My LoblolyMoon.com site? That one also. Everything. All have ended up here except a few spiritual sites that I'll keep up separately. But that's it. These sites will grow on their own. What will happen for all those sites meeting their end? Oh, I'll store away the names for now, at least most of them. But, eventually, they'll all point here to StephenSeal.com.  the CodeCreative
So that's pretty much it. On to new things... fresh things. Enter "the Code Creative" my design rebirth. It's actually more a state of being than ePathSolutions or ImageEverything was. StephenSeal.com will focus on creativity, whether in design, images, or coding. It'll be about learning and sharing. Although the items in the portfolio are about profit, all things at StephenSeal.com will primarily be about the joy of experimentation and expression. I don't make a living at this so I'm able to give myself some leeway. Well, here I go. On a side note, I'll try and include some art work with a most entries. Although I'm a decent photographer, I love to go onto www.istockphoto.com, download a few images and mash them together and see what I can do. It's how I stay sane. When the design gallery gets going, I'll post them as a collection for viewing. |
Fun with Photoshop  For fun sometimes, I like to experiment with Photoshop and the filters to create some textures for background use for my websites and other design tasks. You are free to download some of these graphic packs or all of them. No license. No royalties. Just do something nice for someone.
Things to share
All links will start to download a zip file. Have fun with them.
What's available for download (just click the link): All images
organics
spacey
geometry
shocking
darkscapes |
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