awesome!!!! so glad to hear that!
blessings
Rhonda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "April Stahl" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 11:25 AM
Subject: Re: You Can Do Better


> As usual, Brother Phil, I truly enjoyed this e-mail.  There is definitely 
> a lesson there.  Guess what!  I am officially cancer free!  Praise God!  I 
> have to go every six weeks to flush the I.V. port, and I have to have 
> check-upss every three months, but God still has work here for me to do. 
> Praise God from whom all blessings flow
> !
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:51 AM
> Subject: You Can Do Better
>
>
>> I'm pretty certain I posted this awhile back but I hadn't finished the 
>> article.  So, if you read this following testimony, and think you have 
>> read it before, you likely have.  However, I have added a lot to it so I 
>> thought some might like reading it again.
>>
>> Phil.
>>
>>
>> You Can Do Better Than That
>>
>>
>> By Phil Scovell
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I was just 20 years of age.  My wife and I had only lived in Denver for a 
>> couple of
>> months.  That year was an extra harsh Colorado winter for the Denver 
>> area. At that time,
>> in 1972, the snowfall in Denver was 61 inches for the seasonal average. 
>> That first winter
>> we lived here, the weather service recorded over 100 inches of snowfall 
>> and a dozen
>> major storms of 12 inches or more.  A couple of blizzards were over 20 
>> inches.  Over the
>> years, fortunately, this type of weather has dropped off to the point 
>> that the annual
>> Denver snowfall total is down to about 30 inches.  The high country, as 
>> we call it here, in
>> the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains, still continues averaging 
>> 10 to 30 percent
>> above normal seasonal snowfall nearly every year.
>>
>> I remember these wintry details for many reasons but largely because I 
>> found
>> myself out in this cold freezing, snowy, icy weather during November 
>> trying to learn my
>> way downtown using my white cane.  At that time, we lived in west Denver 
>> and where I
>> ended up working was about a 45 minute bus ride with an exchange of buses 
>> in between
>> and that alone, the exchange, I mean, lasted several minutes just by 
>> itself. I had already
>> trained considerably with the use of the white cane for mobility but 
>> Denver was much
>> larger, with more traffic, and streets that were less than the average 
>> squares created by
>> corridors north and south, east and west, which provided for more 
>> convenient right and
>> left turns.  I was more accustomed to traveling this way from living 
>> previously in Omaha,
>> Nebraska.
>>
>> I also quickly learned that places of intersections in the Denver 
>> downtown area, at
>> that time, had four-way stops.  That is, all four lights turned read at 
>> one time and people
>> could cross diagonally to any corner they wished.  This made crossing 
>> such an
>> intersection, especially since I learned the hard way the first time, 
>> quite difficult.  As a
>> white cane traveler, you listen to the people in front of you, or around 
>> you, and judge
>> direction by where they are going.  Logically, when the light turns, you 
>> cross just like
>> everyone else around you.  Not so fast, Quick Draw!  I stepped out, the 
>> first time I
>> learned otherwise, following a man in front of me when he suddenly swerve 
>> and makes a
>> hard left angle turn.  I thought, "Where in the Sam Hill is that guy 
>> going," and fortunately
>> I continued straight across the wide street.  A tip about this type of 
>> crossing is to listen for
>> the waiting traffic to the side.  Cars are pulled up, engines idling, 
>> waiting for the lights to
>> change.  This is, by the way, what kept me from following the man who 
>> curved away
>> from a straight walk through the painted white lines of the crosswalk. 
>> Later that day, I
>> mentioned this event to a blind friend and he explained to me what was 
>> happening and
>> indicated streets where this was permitted.
>>
>> Since I had a considerable bus ride, bus transfer, and several blocks to 
>> walk to
>> work even after leaving the bus, a mobility instructor was appointed to 
>> come to my house
>> during evening hours to teach me where to find the bus stops, going and 
>> coming from,
>> work, and to learn the route in-between.  This was extra training just to 
>> get to work and it
>> lasted two weeks.
>>
>> During this particular November, it was bitterly cold, snowy, and the 
>> streets,
>> parking lots, and sidewalks all had a great deal of ice and snow 
>> incrustation.  After being
>> outdoors for two and three hours, we both, my mobility instructor, and 
>> myself, were
>> getting more than a little cold.  Such focus mobility in bad weather, for 
>> a blind person,
>> creates, to say the least, extra stress.  You are listening at all times 
>> to your surroundings
>> such as barking dogs, are they coming this way, cars backing out of 
>> residential
>> driveways, not seeing you, and nearly running you down, sidewalks at 
>> intersections with
>> cut down curbs level which assist in helping you suddenly find yourself 
>> in the middle of
>> the traffic without realizing it until several car horns begin honking 
>> louder than a flock of
>> geese flying south for the winter, and you scurry back to where you judge 
>> the sidewalk is
>> and pray you don't get run down before you fine the damn street corner. 
>> Of course, no
>> respectable Born Again Christian, spiritual man of God such as I, would 
>> never think, let
>> alone say, such a thing, but it is the way of things traveling blind and 
>> hoping your white
>> cane isn't mistaken for a broom handle or mop handle before a driver 
>> squashes you, or
>> knocks you into next week, which has, by the way, happened to a couple of 
>> friends of
>> mine; one died and the other survived.  So we ain't talking about a warm 
>> Sunday
>> afternoon stroll in the park type of relaxation sort of thing, when White 
>> cane traveling is
>> via busy metropolitan streets, if you get my meaning.  Additionally, in 
>> such cold weather,
>> wearing earmuffs, a stocking hat pulled down over your ears, or even just 
>> a common old
>> hat can change the acoustical characteristics of the sounds around you 
>> and coming to
>> your frozen ears.  If you think feeling around with a white stick with 
>> your eyes shut is
>> dangerous, just let your hearing freeze up and find out now you can't 
>> even ear where you
>> are going.
>>
>> Another unique experience for a blind person is crossing a street with a 
>> situation
>> of a parking lot, or in my case, a gas station on the opposite corner. 
>> Since there are few,
>> if any at all, reference points in which to allow you safe passage 
>> traversing such a place,
>> it is common, if you aren't staying focused, especially to the traffic 
>> noise on one side of
>> you, to veer off a straight line into the parking lot or gas station.  In 
>> such cases of drift,
>> you end up walking into a parked car gassing up, or you'll be introduced, 
>> somewhat
>> embarrassingly, to a gas pump with which you have collided, , or perhaps 
>> you'll miss
>> everything and walk right into the front of the gas station building; 
>> breaking out a large
>> display window with your head.  Then there is the likelihood of being run 
>> down by a car
>> pulling into, or out of, the gas station just as you are crossing the 
>> entrance or exit
>> driveways.  This was one of those cases.  Due to the extreme cold, 
>> frustration of learning
>> a difficult mobility route, I drifted off to my left.  I was tired and 
>> cold and sick of trying
>> to remember all the left and right turns to reach the appointed 
>> destination. In fact, I
>> occasionally, to this very day, still have nightmares that harkens back 
>> to those days of
>> watching your step, sort of speak, or be killed on the way to work.  The 
>> mobility
>> instructor, who was following at a considerable distance, began yelling, 
>> no, screaming at
>> me, "Think, Phil!  Think!"  There was something to the tone of his voice 
>> that angered me.
>> In my ears, his words sounded more like, "You idiot.  Can't you do better 
>> than that?"
>>
>> Many decades later, I was seated in a friend's office as we talked about 
>> my
>> daughter being a meth addict, the stress of closing a church I was 
>> pastoring, and a dozen
>> other things that had finally gotten me down.  I was depressed, hardly 
>> sleeping, hearing
>> voices, and was suicidal.  A ministry a man was doing is quite similar to 
>> what I do as an
>> intercessor and praying with people, allowed me to make an appointment 
>> with him.  The
>> anxiety and panic attacks I was having at this point in my life were more 
>> than I could
>> handle at the time.  During our conversation and time of prayer, my 
>> friend said, "Phil,
>> you know what to do; you just aren't doing it."  It was true, of course, 
>> that I knew what to
>> do, at least, based upon what he had taught me and that I had learned 
>> from other Bible
>> teachers and preachers.  The problem occurred when I found myself doing 
>> all the things I
>> had been taught by such people but it wasn't working for me.  "How could 
>> the Bible," to
>> which I was obedient, "not be working for me?"  This was pushing the 
>> anxiety level off
>> the meter's scale.  I honestly did not know what to do.
>>
>> Recently, at a low point, these two memories collided in my thoughts.  I 
>> could not
>> identify the emotions associated with either of these two memories which 
>> had caused me
>> to instantly conduct my standard automatic (SAD), Search and Destroy 
>> mission.  I felt,
>> based upon the Lord displaying both memories at the same time, they had 
>> to have a
>> common theme, commonality, or buried lie, but how and where?  I could not 
>> see the
>> connection but I knew it was there.
>>
>> Several weeks passed and I had, of course, prayed about these two 
>> memories
>> repeatedly and seemed to make little, if any, headway in understanding 
>> the memories and
>> their relationship.  One day, as I sat at my computer, not typing but 
>> just finishing a task, I
>> felt the Holy Spirit say, "So how did you feel in both these memories?" 
>> Since I was
>> finished with that which I had been working, I stood up and walked about 
>> 6 feet to a
>> secondary room where I have a reclining rockingchair I sit in when 
>> praying with people
>> on the phone.  Sitting down, I allowed my thoughts to instantly focus on 
>> these two
>> memories and straight up, whatever first came to my mind, answered the 
>> Holy Spirit's
>> question.  I named things such as rejection, a feeling of defeatism, and 
>> other related
>> emotional feelings but somehow, none of what I felt really touched the 
>> core of the
>> woundedness these two very vivid memories brought to my mind and 
>> emotions. Then, I
>> heard it within the flow of my thoughts, "You can do better than that." 
>> It was actually a
>> more menacing and threatening thought in my mind along the lines of, "You 
>> can't do
>> anything right.  You're blind.  Blind people can't do anything right. 
>> And you call yourself
>> a Christian."  These fiery darts of outside thoughts attempted, and 
>> accomplished,
>> penetration into my mental flow of thinking patterns, (I.E. my mind).  . 
>> Recognizing
>> what it was, demonic oppression with a truck load of lies they were 
>> dumping on me, I
>> took every thought captive, praying against it, and authoritatively cut 
>> off their ability to
>> continue trying to gain a spiritual handhold in my thoughts and mind. 
>> The two
>> memories, although different, were linked.  Thus, the Christian and the 
>> secular crossover
>> perpetrated a dual mental attack.
>>
>> In such wounded memories, there is also the truth that is needed to bring 
>> healing
>> to the circumstances and the damaged emotions associated with the pain 
>> one feels.  I was
>> stumped as to what the truth might be and turned the memories over and 
>> over in my mind
>> trying to probe for the truth that Only the Lord can give.  It eventually 
>> dawned on me that
>> the lie the Enemy was attempting to hide was, "You can do better than 
>> that." The
>> problem was, this type of a lie contains truth.  We all can most 
>> certainly do better.  We all
>> can achieve personally.  We all can succeed in any area of life we 
>> desire. In short, there
>> is no limit to what we can do but even great achievers in life often 
>> suffer from depression
>> and overwhelming thoughts beyond their control.  So what's the truth? 
>> Usually doing
>> better means based upon someone else's standard, that is, "Do it like me, 
>> and as well as I
>> am doing it, and you will not only be ok, you'll be like me."  WRONG!  I 
>> want to be like
>> Jesus and I am, so buzz off.  This attitude, though normally unspoken, 
>> creates an endless
>> and impossible level of accomplishment because, quite simply, everyone is 
>> uniquely
>> created differently.  So, in short, in an earthly sense, there is no 
>> human standard of
>> success or failure.  In this case, Jesus answered my question concerning 
>> the truth and He
>> said, "I have already done all that needs to be done.  I accept you as 
>> you are.  You don't
>> have to become a better person to impress me.  I am already impressed 
>> with you just as
>> you are now, and this is because you are just like me.  I have made it 
>> so."
>>
>> If you try and improve upon this concept, you will discover you can never 
>> do
>> enough; you can never achieve adequately, to the point, that you are 
>> fulfilled or satisfied
>> with yourself.  You will be that little cute hamster in his wheel; 
>> running, and running, and
>> running, and spinning, and spinning, and spinning, yet without ever 
>> reaching your goal
>> and satisfaction that you have done well in the sight of the Lord.  You 
>> will, in short, spin
>> yourself into what I call, (CQG), Christian quasi genericism simply put, 
>> performance
>> based Christianity.
>>
>> Aren't you sick of living like all your Christian friends?  Haven't you, 
>> by now,
>> exhausted about everything the pastor has told you to do to become a well 
>> behaved good
>> little Christian?  Haven't you read one too many Christian books telling 
>> you how to live a
>> successful, productive, Godly Christian life?  Hasn't legalism, in all it 
>> various shapes and
>> ugly forms of phony spirituality, gotten the best of you by now?  When 
>> will you ever
>> achieve the best you can be and how will you know you have spiritually 
>> arrived?  My
>> answer is simple.  Whatever I can't do, Jesus already has done.  Why 
>> should I reinvent
>> the theological wheel, whipping up a denomination in the process, or in 
>> order to maintain
>> a good strong hold, that is, control, just have one big megachurch with 
>> thousands of
>> Sunday-go-to-meetin' folk and thousands more on television that send me 
>> money.  Boy,
>> ain't we having church now!
>>
>> Recently, a good Christian buddy of mine tried reaching me three times 
>> over the
>> weekend.  I don't know where I was but it wasn't where I could hear my 
>> office phone any
>> of those three times.  He did record each time, a voice mail message, 
>> leaving strong
>> words of encouragement and instruction.  How did he know I needed to hear 
>> his
>> encouragement?  He knows how to pray and how to hear the Holy Spirit. 
>> It's easy;
>> anybody can do it who learns how to pray.  In his direct words of 
>> challenge, it included
>> mild rebuke for trying too hard and forgetting to let the Lord do all the 
>> heavy lifting, plus
>> confirmation of his personal love and concern for me as friends and 
>> Christian brothers in
>> the Lord.  He also told me a story you also need to here, so I'm going to 
>> tell it to you.  It
>> is more than worth retelling.
>>
>> A good old boy is walking down a dusty old road in the summers heat with 
>> a 100
>> pound see bag toss over his shoulder.  During his long walk into town, an 
>> old beat up
>> pickup, with bald tires and rusting paint, slowed and stopped next to 
>> him. "Say, son," he
>> called out the open window which handle had busted off three years 
>> before, hop in the
>> back and I'll give you a ride right on in to town.  I'd let you ride up 
>> front but got my wife
>> and two young-uns already up front, if-en, that is, you don't mind ridin' 
>> yonder in back."
>>
>> "Naw, sir," the young boy replied.  "I'm much obliged and I surely thank 
>> yaw
>> kindly."
>>
>> The boy, with his heavy feed sack, climbs into the back and sits down 
>> with his
>> seed sack still hanging off his right shoulder.
>>
>> As they drove on in toward town, the driver of the pickup looks back and 
>> notices
>> the boy is still trying to hang on to that heavy feed sack tossed over 
>> his back.  Since the
>> back winda of the truck had been blowed clean out accidentally by the 
>> farmer's shotgun
>> discharging last fall when he had been hunting rabbits and squirrels, 
>> blowing the winda to
>> Kingdom Come, nobody hurt, praise be to the Lord, the farmer said, "Say, 
>> son.  I knowed
>> this here truck ain't much but she's strong and big enough to carry that 
>> feed sack you be
>> trying to carry.  Drop the load, boy, and enjoy the ride."
>>
>> Do you see it?  Even as Christians, and I don't care if you have a radio 
>> or
>> television show, have written 50 books on how to be a magnificent 
>> specimen of Jesus
>> Himself, are a millionaire and give a 20 dollar bill each week in the 
>> offering at church, or
>> even if you've been saved and healed from disease, bowlleggedness, bald 
>> headedness, an
>> athlete's foot, if you are still dragging that heavy sack around when 
>> Jesus has done
>> already done all the heavy lifting, you best be getting your head 
>> examined real soon like.
>> And if you cannot understand plain English, you ain't never gonna be free 
>> in Jesus.  If
>> you need help finding out how to get rid of that heavy old sack, you all 
>> give me a ring.
>> Yaw hear?  Better yet, get Jesus on the horn and talk it through with 
>> Him.
>>
>> It Sounds Like God To Me
>> WWW.SafePlaceFellowship.com
>> __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus 
>> signature database 4791 (20100120) __________
>>
>> The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.
>>
>> http://www.eset.com
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus 
> signature database 4793 (20100121) __________
>
> The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.
>
> http://www.eset.com
>
> __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus 
> signature database 4794 (20100121) __________
>
> The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.
>
> http://www.eset.com
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> 


__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4794 (20100121) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

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