Posted by By Mark Tetley
During my early school years when all the other kids were fighting over the red and turquoise and blue crayons, I wanted the black one. I liked black to draw and to color everything except the sun. I could use yellow or orange for that. During my preteen and teenage years, I used to dream of living on a deserted island, not with a group of people like Gilligan and the gang from the S.S. Minnow, but by myself. Frankly, I have always been afraid to explore what that was probably saying about my psyche at the time.
My childhood seemed normal to me. I was never abused or went without a meal, but I was raised in an unhealthy family environment. Looking back, I can see that the disharmony in our family had a deep impact on me.
Then one day everything changed – Yeah! Don’t I wish.
It wasn’t one day, but it was over a period of time. It was not a change, but a transformation that took place. Actually, that is still taking place.
The change began when I realized how much God loved me. It included embracing Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for me, but it was so much more. In turn, I started to love God back and then began to love others.
This is not the place to go too deep with this, but as I “connected” to God and became transparent with Him about what was going on inside of me, the good, the bad and the real ugly, I began to change. Then, as I connected to others who I could open up to and who were also following Christ I became stronger as they gave me encouragement
Sometimes when you read someone’s writings or listen to them speak, you can get the impression that they have always had life figured out and never have the same problems as you. Well, as you read this blog one thing you need to understand is that I am not a person that has always lived a wonderful life, nor am I someone who has all the answers. If I ever come across that way, please forgive me.
Today, I live in sunny colorful South Florida where every day I see greens, blues, yellows, reds, purple colors in the plants, trees, sky and ocean. Living in the middle of almost 7 million people, I am constantly surrounded by people and I love it, because of the work that God has done in my life.
The theme of this blog is helping people connect with God and connect with others. It is in those two things that I have found joy in my life, something that was missing for a long time. I would love to dialogue with you more if this interests you. Just leave me a comment, or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
Connections 