Category: Words To Live By

Have you ever thought about a person from your past that was once close to you, but hadn’t been a part of your life in quite sometime for whatever the reason? Have you ever gone a step further by attempting unsuccessfully to track them down because you really missed some part of that connection? If you can answer “yes” to both, then the more important question I want to ask you is this. Did that person ever suddenly reach out and contact you shortly after your unsuccessful search for them? If so, it’s quite possible you may have experienced one of your very own psychic abilities.

The word “psychic” has always drawn many harsh critics in this world, and for a long time, I was one of them. For many of the earlier religious years of my life, I labeled anything that fell under this term as either being “devil-based” or a bunch of crap. But then I started noticing strange phenomena happening to me at times that I couldn’t explain through science or rationality. The following is a list of just some of them:

• Knowing what my friends were going to say before they even said it
• Have knowledge about certain events or actions in a person’s life that I was never told about
• Having frequent Deja Vu experiences
• Thinking about a random person out of the clear blue and suddenly the phone is ringing with them on the other end

And of course, my most recent experience with this was when I searched intensively on the Internet for a close friend I lost touch with many years ago. His name’s Steve and at one time, was one of my best friends. I met him back in 2005 when I lived on the small island of Chincoteague, VA during the years where I owned and operated a bed and breakfast there. He wrote for the local newspaper and became interested in some of my random writings about a meditation retreat I had gone on. To make a long story short, he suggested I write an article about those experiences, and that eventually led to me becoming a monthly columnist for his newspaper. It was through that experience where I learned about my passion to write. And it’s also where I developed a wonderful friendship to a guy who helped me to get through several lonely and very difficult years of my life. Somewhere along the lines though, after I moved far away from that island, I lost contact with Steve. More than five years passed until just a few days ago when I started thinking about him again. I went onto the Internet to look for him but I found nothing other than an old image on Google. Silently to myself, I wished him well and went on with my life. Three days later, I received an e-mail from my website that was sent by him!

When enough things like this begin to happen in life, it becomes harder and harder to write them off as coincidences. In this case, something more was going on that I tend to believe was a psychic connection. I say this because of what I learned from Steve once I got on the phone and spent an hour catching up with him. It was then that he told me how much he had been thinking about me lately. Ironically, in that same period of time I too had been thinking about him, which is when I had tried to locate him on the Internet.

I’ve often tried to duplicate what happened between Steve and I, but with others from my past. There are many people I’ve lost contact with over the years and been unsuccessful in my efforts to track them down. None of them have ever reached back out to me either. So its made wonder if a psychic connection only happens when God wants it to happen. Maybe God wanted Steve and I to rekindle our friendship for some reason that’s beyond either of our comprehension?

Whatever the reason, I’m just grateful for when those strange psychic phenomena occur in my life, like I believe it did with Steve. I give God thanks for reconnecting me to someone who helped guide me long ago on part of my spiritual path, even when he probably didn’t know he was even doing it. It’s because of Steve that I ever even learned about my passion to write. But even more importantly, it’s quite possible that I wouldn’t even be sitting here right now writing this entry, and maintaining this blog, if God had never put Steve in my life in the first place…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

There are many out there who are openly criticizing Dennis Rodman and his ongoing friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. I’m not one of them. In fact, I feel the exact opposite. Instead, what I feel towards Rodman is admiration because he is going against the masses and practicing something that I believe Jesus would be doing if He were still alive.

The one thing that I have always embraced most about Jesus is the fact that He practiced unconditional love and kindness towards everyone, regardless of what any of the masses felt. In the Bible it was written that He first openly practiced this principle with Mary Magdeline, who was said to be a prostitute. When she was about to be stoned, Jesus asked those who were going to commit that act to do so only if they hadn’t sinned themselves. The story goes on to say that no one threw a stone that day at Mary. I’m a firm believer that Jesus would feel the same way towards Kim Jong Un, even though the rest of the world has a lot less kind things to say about the man. While many label him as a ruthless dictator with absolutely no heart or compassion, I see something completely different. What I see is a person who was suddenly thrust into a position that had always been served in a certain way. I also see a person who has a soul just like me and that alone is enough to warrant my own love and compassion. Because it’s through those things that great spiritual change takes place.

This is what I perceive Dennis Rodman trying to do and I’ve always liked him because of that. When he played for the Detroit Pistons or the Chicago Bulls, he genuinely liked to beat to his own drum. He always ignored what everyone said about him and lived by his own passion. Now, Rodman is doing the very same thing by attempting to bridge the tense relations and open the door a little more with North Korea. I think that’s a pretty admirable thing to do and I’m convinced that Jesus would feel the same way.

What too many fail to remember is that Jesus helped change people’s hearts by showing them true love and light, no matter how bad of things the people said they did. This is how I’m trying to live my own life these days. I attempt my best to love and embrace everyone I come across, regardless of any harmful actions they might have ever done to others. I also do my best to embrace those who don’t choose to embrace me, including the many Christians who have often told me I’m going to hell because I’m gay.

So I’m grateful for the people like Dennis Rodman who continue to do their best to love and embrace those that the masses so quickly denounce. I believe the hearts, minds, and souls of every single human being can be changed for the spiritual better through all acts of love. Whether Rodman’s action of putting on an exhibition game for Kim Jong Un’s 31st birthday helped to soften the heart of the North Korean leader will remain to be seen. But it’s the fact that Rodman continues to make attempts to love unconditionally that I believe really matters.

If we are going to walk in the shoes of Christ, then none of us should be judging anyone, including Un. Instead we should be praying and doing our best to send love and light to those people, like I believe Rodman is trying to do with Un. Because it’s in that type of unconditional love where God’s light and change can truly shine forth…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Many people have probably heard the story about The Good Samaritan. But how many can say they’ve truly experienced it themselves? After what happened to me the other day, I believe it’s safe to say that I’m now one of them.

For those who might not know what the tale of The Good Samaritan is about, it comes from the Bible in the Gospel of Luke (10:29-37). In it, Jesus shares a parable about a Jewish traveller who is beaten, robbed, and left half dead along the road. Both a priest and a Levite walk by avoiding this traveller completely. But when a Samaritan comes along, he helps the injured man, even though Samaritans and Jews at that time generally despised each other. Today this parable has been used to refer to any instance where a person reaches out to help a stranger in need.

I have always been fascinated with this parable because of how many in this world today still act like those “priests” and “levites”. They witness others getting beaten, robbed, mugged, raped, or taken advantage of in some way and they never say or do anything about it. They also often observe those who might need a general kind of helping hand during one of those little crises that can happen in life. But there too, they always make excuses and avoid doing so. And it is this very thing that happened to me only a few days ago.

I had been driving on an icy and snow-covered neighborhood road heading to an AA meeting. In front of me was a car that appeared stationery, empty, and parked. As I proceeded to drive around it, it suddenly started to turn straight into me, unaware that I was trying to pass by it. I slammed on my brakes but had no ability to stop my vehicle due to the slippery conditions beneath me. Somehow the other vehicle narrowly avoided hitting the right side of my car by mere inches as it maneuvered back onto the road and came to a standstill. I, on other hand, careened straight ahead into a large snow bank, where it there became completely stuck. I sat for a moment feeling a little shocked and then looked over at the other vehicle to make sure whoever was driving it was ok. But sadly, what happened next was a good example of those “priests” and “levites” of today.

I watched as the other vehicle’s driver quickly spun away, not even once making sure that I too was ok. Then I saw how one car after another continued to pass by even while I waved my arms for their help. I honestly thought about the story of The Good Samaritan as each of those car’s drivers noticed me and I began to wonder if anyone would ever come to my aid. Thankfully, God eventually sent me two of them. But it’s the first one, an elderly woman, who made this story get even better.

Upon hearing that I was heading to an AA meeting, she told me that she had been sober for 12 years but hadn’t been to one of them in a very long time. When I told her that I had been sober for over 18 years and that I still went to meetings regularly because they helped me on my spiritual path, I could see it touched her in a very positive way. When she and the other kind man were able to finally free my car from it’s temporary prison, I said thank you and God bless to each of them. But it’s the spiritual love I felt from that elderly woman that day, which made me question whether God wanted all of it to happen just as it did.

Regardless, I am quite happy to say I made it to that AA meeting on time and even got to share this story with everyone there that day. And as I share about it again right now, I find myself feeling very grateful to my Higher Power. It really is wonderful to know there are still some Good Samaritans out there in the world these days. My only hope though is that there are many others too.

So if a day comes where you find yourself on a road whether it’s ice and snow covered or not, if you happen to see a stranger who could use your help, it’s my hope and prayer that you too will become The Good Samaritan…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson