Friday, April 27, 2012

No More Secrets


Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)

@#$%

"Since God has so generously let us in on what He is doing,
we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job
just because we run into occasional hard times.

We refuse to wear masks and play games.

We don't maneuver and manipulate
 behind the scenes.

We don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves.

Rather,

We keep everything we do and say
out in the open,
the whole truth on display,
so that those who want to
can see
and
judge for themselves
in the presence of
God."

2 Corinthians 4, The Message

@#$%

    I've been taught to dump my garbage before someone digs it up.

    Starting with God in a 1 John 1:5ff. kinda way, I'm doing that more than less in these last...

    There's nothing more disarming to busybodies, gossipers, and other slanderers than to cough up the truth about ourselves before others twist it into falsehood or ammunition to...

    For example, everybody knows or, uh, anybody who grew up around the 60s knows President Clinton was lying about not inhaling weed.  That's why few conscious beings believed him when he said it didn't do nasty stuff with that intern chick.  That's why he never engendered much trust while in office.  If a person will lie about something as inconsequential as...

    Besides, everybody's messed up in some way somehow sometime about something with or without somebody.

    Paul was clear on that: "All have sinned and..."

    Not you all.

    All.

    Truly, truly, He says to you/me, there are no secrets...sooner or later...and definitely in the end if you know what He means.

    Let's save ourselves from the pathology to hide when we're gonna be discovered eventually anyway.

    God can handle the truth about us.

    That's why He came in Jesus - to save us from the damning consequences of the truth about us.

    And if other people can't handle it, then that's their more than existential problem in a Matthew 6:14-15 kinda way.

@#$%

    Before Fifteen Secrets for Life and Ministry was published about nine years ago after writing it about twelve years ago, the title was Fifteen Theses for Life and Ministry.

    The publisher prompted the change.

    He said, "Nobody will buy it if we say fifteen theses."

    So he changed it to secrets.

    Surprise!  Surprise!

    Both of us were wrong.

    Be that as it turned out to be, I look back at those not so secret secrets that were intended to be theses and realize I've changed some/lots in the past twelve years.

    Heaven, I've changed some/lots in the last twelve hours, uh, minutes, uh, seconds, uh...

    He doesn't change; but we better hope we do if we're going to get better instead of staying...

    So I've decided to have some fun at my expense and hold some "Deeper Discipleship" sessions over the summer - 15 if you can guess why - and admit where I've changed and let folks grapple in a Christian kinda way with whether those changes have been for the...

    I've never held any classes related to the book for egotistical reasons - ponder on that for a while - though several churches have and you can too if you'd like a box of 'em at a highly discounted price for reasons noted in previous paragraphs (viz., postage and discretionary humorously insulting honorarium).

    What prompted this confession/inspiration/indigestion was reading my latest book in preparation for a NPR interview on 4/27 and discovering some typos and other aggravating printing miscues along with some stuff that I'd do/write differently than...

    Quickly, two things don't bother me.

    The typos and other printing miscues really don't bother me because I've grown up when it comes to anal grammar/spelling stuff; believing content/substance is more important than form/style no matter what religious people think.

    Change doesn't bother me either; or as I wrote in the non-bestseller that we're gonna dissect over the summer maybe along with your church/group: "When you think you've arrived, it's time to start over" (Thesis/Secret 11 on pages 159-170).

@#$%

    Speaking of my latest book, Kathie will post the schedule for this summer's appearances and signings below; including what happened on 4/28 which will be posted summarily in the next edition on 5/1.

@#$%


@#$%

Blessings and Love!



I Just Wanna Ride (FTW)

Appearances and Book-Signings

April 28
11:45 a.m.

Woodstock Harley-Davidson
2050 S. Eastwood
Woodstock, Illinois

Blessing of Bikes and Bikers

Free Lunch, Live Music, & Prizes to Follow!

May 3
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Plains Pub and Restaurant
37 E. Carey Street
Plains, Pennsylvania
"Lobster Night"

June 1-2
Noon - 5:00 p.m. on Friday
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. on Saturday

The Vintage Rally
(J&P Cycles)
National Motorcycle Museum
Anamosa, Iowa
(Details, Activities, Schedule, Lodging)

July 14
7:00 - 11:00 a.m.

Rock River Valley Blood Center
1740 S. State and Route 20
Belvidere, Illinois
"Buy/Read a Book While Giving Blood to Save a Life!"

August 7
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame
999 Main Street
Sturgis, South Dakota

Appearances can be scheduled and bulk orders of book available
for your event, club, church, or shop by calling 815-544-6402.

Click on www.koppdisclosure.com for related inspirations/indigestions.

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