Category Archives: Christian Life

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Who is Jesus Christ to You?

GUEST POST by REV. PETER F. HANSEN

One way YOU are not saved is by belief systems or religious ideals. Nobody gets to heaven by just thinking it’s real and they deserve it. Christianity is either a great fraud for gullible people who inject meaning into their bland, useless lives; or it’s the Truth that explains everything.

Jesus was either a madman, a charlatan, or He is the Son of God. There is no evidence for a misunderstood carpenter to whom His disciples attributed miracles he never did and god-claims he never said. His life is still transforming our world after 2,000 years. I am convinced that he was not a madman, nor a charlatan. I have to go with God. If He is God, then this must change us.

There is no neutral ground. Hate Him rather than feel mildly favorable toward Him. Atheists are converted to Jesus faster than are agnostics, for atheists must believe in God in order to hate him. Agnostics won’t even enter the fray, they can’t be bothered to find out if it’s worth it.

If Jesus is God, then He’s our only hope. If Jesus is God, the sky holds no fearful portent. If Jesus is God, the grave no longer yawns with chilling imaginings. If Jesus is God, the Face beyond the sky is one of love. If you regard Him mildly, a model for stained glass and sweet songs, you’ve never met Him.

It comes down to you. You are either a madman, a charlatan, or a believer in Jesus, the Son of God. The madman sees a mirage, not Reality, and imagines that what he sees is all there is. The charlatan invents himself as he goes along, plays the part of a success, projects confidence in himself while inside he’s shaking at the prospects. A believer in Christ sees the Invisible, weighs the immaterial Truth, and knows for a fact that the God beyond this world, in truth, is.

Jesus is not the embarrassing fact of our upbringing, as fidgeting children bored by a felt-board story. He is not the kindly angel who answers our selfish prayers with cute ‘miracles’ we send in to magazines. Nor is the Christ just one of many equally good choices. Jesus is the fact we meet at the end of time, and we’d best be on friendly terms when we appear before Him. No one is saved by a belief system. Christ lives. And because He lives, I live. I must give myself, nothing held back, no other way. PFH+
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Question: I asked Father Hansen about the term, madman. To me, it seemed a bit harsh. Here is his reply.

Answer: It is a strong statement. But when people can sit and read this, they are already not ignorant and unknowing. They have the choice to be mad, false or faithful. In the end–which is my point, not the beginning–we all are one of the three. There will be no “missed the party” category. Everyone has the chance at this.   >This is a spin on the madman, charlatan or Savior that is classically used to describe Jesus. It describes us as well.

blog photo peter hansenRev. Peter F. Hansen Bio:
At age 19, Peter Hansen thought he’d be an architect, and thus obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree from UC Berkeley in 1972. He worked 16 years as an estimator and project manager for heavy industrial special coatings contractors. God had other ideas. Called to be an Anglican priest in 1980, he completed a seminary degree and was ordained a priest in 1985. Hansen founded and served the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Sacramento for ten years.

He has been rector at St. Augustine of Canterbury Anglican Church in Chico since 1991. Hansen helped found a police chaplaincy for the Chico Police, established in 1999. Fr. Hansen also formed and ran a pro-life ministry (ChicoLife) 1992-2010. He is a biblical counselor at The Growing Place. In the Anglican Province of Christ the King, Hansen is Treasurer of both the Province and the Diocese of the Western States, and as Canon to the Ordinary.

10305258_458594310909616_8644498251741621497_nFr. Hansen is author of the book I Was There: Eyewitnesses at the Foot of the Cross, (WestbowPress, 2014) and several songs. Link to Fr. Hansen’s facebook book page is here: facebook.com/IWasThere:Eyewitnesses. Norma L. Brumbaugh’s book review is here: I Was There.  Interesting note: Father Hansen’s book cover is derived from a photo of his own feet!
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I first met Father Hansen at his church while attending a Christmas Eve service in 2007. It was my first visit to an Anglican Church. I can’t say I was entirely comfortable at an Anglican service. Its liturgy, icons, and forms, differ from my Baptist Protestant heritage. However, I was moved deeply in my soul by two aspects found in their worship service. 1. The reverence and holy hush of the service. 2. The respect outwardly and inwardly given towards things of God. Several more times I would visit his church and other times we would converse at social functions including his book signing at a local bookstore. We have shared our faith and the ways of God in some wonderful conversations. I appreciate him and his ministry. Thank you, Father Hansen, for writing this message for my blog.

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6 Great Pick-Me-Uppers You Can Do By Yourself on a Bad, Miserable (& Lonely) Day

6 Pick-Me-Uppers You Can Do By Yourself on a Bad, Miserable (& Lonely) Day

Okay, so the day didn’t start so good. You burned the toast and spilled the coffee on your shirt. Then someone was rude to you ‘cuz they didn’t like your comment; and you got cut-off in the middle of an intersection; and you got a bill with a late fee you didn’t expect. Seeing red ’bout now.  You get the picture. To make matters worse, you are by yourself and the walls seem to be closing in on you.

What to do?

Glad you asked. There are a few things you can do to help yourself into a better or  good mood. Here are a few mood-elevators that work for me. Maybe they will work for you.

  1. Light a candle(s) or Scensi – Enjoy the scent as it wends its way through the room and beyond. Delight in its soft glow and warm energy while it graces and refreshes your inner person. Allow yourself to relax from head to toe. Stretch and sigh. Close your eyes. With intention, turn your thinking mechanism toward nobler, kinder, life-enriching expressions that are positive in nature.
  2. Read a favorite book – Most of us have a favorite author and book. Dust it off, reread those sections that speak to your soul. While you’re at it, remember back to the first time you read it and the thoughts that spoke to you of love or adventure, human strengths of courage and bravery or sacrifice and goodness. Let yourself be taken away to that delightful place of rediscovery. Immerse yourself in the book’s language and absorb its truth, the message you find refined like gold between its pages.
  3. Play music that inspires you – If you need to lift yourself out of a cranky mood, put on some lively tunes and let yourself sing or dance to your heart’s content. If you’re in a quieter, reflective mood, revisit a few old-school crooners or rock ′n roll legends with their lovely music scores and tender love songs. These can mellow and sweeten you in a place that will take you back to yesteryear. Gospel can be quite uplifting and joyous. Band, symphony and movie scores are wonderful too. We have a fondness for music that speaks to us.
  4. Put together a jigsaw puzzle – Buy a new puzzle if you want. It will be more fun. The puzzle in the picture cost $10 at Kmart. My goodness, you can have music playing, candles burning, popcorn or chips and salsa (or ice cream) and have a nice little solo party while you put a challenging puzzle together. I did the 1,000 piece puzzle in the photo this summer and loved finding and matching every individual tiny bit of puzzle color.
  5. Watch a movie from a genre you love with an actor you adore – Be it western or romance, war or adventure, comedy or a musical, a movie you love, love, love will be a day-brightener and mood-lifter. Certain actors with talents we appreciate make the screen come alive. Watching a well-liked movie has the power to change our mood in an amazing way. A great movie is timeless and entertaining. It offers us solace and retreat when we truly need it, and it gets better each time we view it. We wait in anticipation for those well-known lines and music scores.
  6. Go for a walk, exercise, or take a drive in scenic country – Here are MY all-time favorites. I love nature walks no matter where they are located. A bad mood is quickly chased away after about ten minutes of walking or viewing. Nature has a way of calling to me. A sunrise or sunset can transport us in another direction as it give to us an almost other-worldly sense of awe. Even the stars on a moonlit night far from city lights causes a remarkable soothing within our inner person. A hike on a trail where we notice the blackberries and moths, butterflies and ladybugs, is a delight that sings to our insides and has the power to bring generous spurts of joy.

Well, of course, there are many more than the ones I’ve listed. Maybe you cook or garden, sew or crochet,puzzle 2 make or build things. Most of us, other than the most phlegmatic and even of temperaments, will have a few or many bad days that make us sad or miserable whether caused by others’ actions, hurtful situations, or utter loneliness. Part of the human experience means we will have bad days and difficult situations. It’s a given.

There are times we are lonely and feel left out of life–when the phone doesn’t ring, a text isn’t answered, the friendship has ended, or we are struggling with a loss of some kind; loss of a job, relationship, finances, home, or failing health has caused a bleakness to grow in our spirit. We may go to our friends for support. We talk and talk, cut loose the anger, harbor the bad feelings, or we self-indulge, overeat, over-drink, shop ’till we drop or whatever rocks our boat that we do to make ourselves feel better. Moods are a bear. Some solutions we choose to mediate our moods can be damaging and destructive to our health and well-being and some are not wise. Other better choices are both wise and good for us.

It is helpful at times to be alone with ourselves and allow peace to come in to refresh our souls. We may read Scripture, pray and meditate or journal, write prose or poetry. There are many ways an individual can recoup and draw strength to meet the down mood head-on as an active solution to help chase it away.

What can you add to this list?