Trans

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 

~ from John 8

We were called to LOVE.  Not Judgement.

The 1977 Trans Am

I have no right to tell you you’re WRONG if you don’t truly appreciate Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed and of course Jackie Gleason, and the smoking hot car that lightnings across the screen in 1977’s Smokey and the Bandit.  Maybe you are wrong <not really>.  And we’ll refrain from discussing the General Lee - not the groundhog, but the Dodge Charger that The Dukes drove screaming through Hazard County!

Trans Atlantic Flight

I have NEVER flown a Transatlantic flight, but I long to put my feet on the rich soil (historically and physically) of Scotland, Ireland and the aged countryside that my heart knows shares some of my past, my being.  How can I judge something I’ve never experienced?  I know I’m not always the best traveller through the skies, I’m still waiting on my red cape and spandex suit…

Trans Siberian Orchestra

I HAVE seen the Trans Siberian Orchestra back in Atlanta.  It was a pretty good show as long as I didn’t wear my trained musician ears and just enjoy the show and music.  And even if I did start judging, I’m not the guy up there.  I’m not performing.  I don’t know what each performing member has going on - on the stage, in their personal lives, what’s driving or hindering them.  I just need to sit back and experience.  And if I don’t like it I can just NOT buy a ticket to see it again.  That simple.

But there’s another Trans…

Who am I?  I’m a child of God.  A man.  A father, a son, a brother.  I’m healthy and as close to whole as I’ve ever felt in my life.  Regardless of what or who I am, I am loved.  

And I CANNOT, WILL NOT, hopefully ever look down on another of God’s creation who is finding their own path in this life.  My faith WON’T allow it.  The God I love so dearly just isn’t about the dagger of judgement and shame that I have experienced so many times in the past.  If God is Love, then I need to show LOVE <3 

You be you.  God and Jesus love you - at least in my simple understanding.  I know that we all are different.  People, stop shunning and start hugging.  I know different, odd, diverse is often scary.  I’ve lived in that circle and circumstance my entire life.  Just FUCKING Stop.  Show love - and not love with a BUT.

“I love you, BUT if you would only”…  NO!  

I love you.  I love each of you.  My enemy and my friend.  My family and my coworkers.  My tribe and those I get to meet along the way.

Who didn’t love the Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit.

While it’s a little scary to me, Trans Atlantic bridges the lands across the seas.

Though not everyone’s jam, the Trans Siberian Orchestra has some really cool Christmas music.

Maybe I’m a man trying to be Transcendental.  Look that word up.  

Maybe we should all be a little more Trans…

~ Peace & Love

The Burtle 

“…he sat down to teach them.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 

“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 

They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, 

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 

Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. 

“Go now and leave your life of sin.”

John 8:2-11