Master of Your Mind- April 2018
I grew up in church, Sunday school, Bible studies, etc. But for some reason I never understood that the Bible stories were real, with real people who went through real trials. The Bible stories were just stories, and the music was just catchy tunes. Growing up in Sunday school we see these characters through felt boards, paper crafts, stick figures, in Pictures, videos (that we know is just acting), etc. At least "I" never understood that the people in the Bible were real.
It wasn't until Jan of 2018 when the Lord brought Ron Hamilton and Majesty Music back into my life that all that changed. I looked Ron up online and found several sermons he had done over the years. As I was listening to his sermons it started to dawn on me that maybe the stories in the Bible were really real.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, on March 17, 2018 I got to see the Patch The Pirate Ocean Commotion Live concert and meet Ron Hamilton afterwards!
After the concert I got all the Patch The Pirate Adventures. One of the best things I ever did!
Growing up I always thought the Bible was this really hard, complicated, thing to understand...until... I heard the Patch Adventure "Ocean Commotion."
I was listening to the Patch adventure Ocean Commotion one day in the shower, and in the Adventure the crew is out sailing on the ocean and a storm is headed their way. Captain Patch sails the Jolly Roger to an island where there's a fortress where the crew can take shelter from the storm. On one side of the island called Oyster Cove, the crew spots a cluster of rickety shacks on shaky stilts called Follower Flats where the outlanders live.
The crew tries to warn the outlanders of the coming storm and that their houses on stilts won't survive the storm. But the outlanders believe the lies of their leader Wise Guy who doesn't believe that the storm will touch them. The outlanders make fun of the crew and tells them to leave.
Alberta Einstein: "But why won't they believe us?"
Bootstrap Ben: "They believe the lies of Wise Guy, Alberta, and they are afraid."
Sissy Seagull: "It's kind of like what happened when Noah was building the ark. No one believed him when he said a storm was coming."
Alberta Einstein: "They probably called Noah crazy too"
Sissy Seagull: "Or a cuckoo bird"
Pearl: "Or a trouble maker."
When I heard this, something inside me clicked! It hit me that this was REAL! I was like wait a minute, you mean to tell me that Noah was made fun of just like I've been made fun of??? You mean to tell me that Noah went through trials too??? In that moment, all of the sudden my view of the Bible completely changed! The Bible became real, personal, relatable, simple for me.
That changed everything!
There's a song in the Patch adventure "Ocean Commotion" called "The Master of Your Mind."
Ocean Commotion Patch Adventure
🎶"The Bible is the master of your mind.
It speaks the special language of your soul.
Everyday can seem the sweetest,
Every hill not look the steepest,
If you've opened up the book to read.
You're not alone.
Your fears can end where God's promises begin. You're not alone.
God's word is truth and needless fear is sin.
The Master of your mind provides the safest place you've been; in the arms of Jesus, at peace again.
If you became the master of your mind, and had to figure out the way yourself-
everyday would seem the longest,
every enemy the strongest;
Aren't you glad you've found a book that says-
You're not alone.
Your fears can end where God's promises begin. You're not alone.
God's word is truth and needless fear is sin.
The Master of your mind provides the safest place you've been; in the arms of Jesus, at peace again."🎶
I love this song. I love the part where it mentions that we're not alone. It hit me that we're not alone for 2 reasons.
- We're not alone because we have Jesus Christ as our savior. He is our refuge.
- We also have Bible stories of people who went through similar circumstances and we see how they handled problems.
The Bible wasn't just so called stories anymore. It was REAL stories of REAL people who went through similar things as I've been through and how God used those circumstances for good.
The Bible wasn't this hard thing to understand anymore, it became so simple. After listening to all the Patch adventures, I realized that the Bible is just stories, pictures, and wisdom for how we should live.
To put it simply, the Bible is instructions and examples for us to live by. It's so simple.
Here are some of my favorite Bible stories.
Job- who lost everything yet he trusted God and at the end of the book of Job we see that God doubled everything he had lost.
David- faced a Goliath who was way bigger than him with only 5 small stones and a sling. He could have been afraid but he trusted God.
Joseph- was sold as a slave but we see how God used that for good. God had a plan that no one else could see.
Paul and Silas- were thrown in prison and beaten and yet they were singing songs of praise to God at midnight, during the worst part of the suffering.
Daniel- got thrown in the Lions den yet he trusted God and God shut the Lions mouths and rescued Daniel.
Noah- got made fun of for building the ark but because Noah and his family trusted God, God saved them inside the ark while everyone else died.
We not only have Bible stories of people who went through similar circumstances as we have, and their examples of how they handled trials.
We also have the examples of Godly Christian people living today and how they handle trials.
The people who have been the biggest example to me is Ron and Shelly Hamilton. They have faith like I've never seen in anybody else. I can't even begin to imagine what they have been through, and what they're going through now, and yet they trust God and praise Him despite their circumstances. What an example.
We all have trials. God tells us in his word, the Bible, in John 16:33 that "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
One day God will make everything right again.
It may be hard now, it may be Friday, but Sunday is comin'!