George's Story and Is This Program For Me?
Update for March 2007:
When a reporter interviews someone to get “the story”, there are always the five basic questions plus the follow-up questions. If you wanted to know if a program matched your interests, the answers to these questions might be helpful. But wonder if the reporter were interviewing Jesus and trying to get “the story” on what in his opinion happened to one Dr. George Barnard who grew up in a small mill town in rural North Carolina in the 1940’s? Would he answer the questions in modern day language or would he use ancient wisdom to again let the reporter become another apostle to spread the good news of how truth is Truth even in 2005? How would George’s story lead to a book of poetry and a soul guide that could bring new life into my ministry whether God calls me into a small cottage walk with him each morning or I am leading a large congregation?
The Mill Town Son
“There was once a very young son of a modest family in a North Carolina mill town whose father developed a dreaded illness. This son prayed every night that his father might be spared his life. But when his father died, the son left for a far and barren spiritual land. He and his loving mother worked very hard and he became a caring physician and psychiatrist. He married and God blessed him with several sons and daughters. However, something was missing in his life.
Over time one of his daughters went to the ‘near East’ and one of his sons went to the ‘Far East’ and they learned something more precious than gold. They taught their father how to pray in private that reminds me of something I used to say.
The father’s heart began to fail and his doctor told him to join a group of men to share his troubles. In this group were some ministers who shared with him the story of a son who went to a distant land and was feeding pigs and came to himself. This son rehearsed his ‘beg for forgiveness speech all the way home but never got to deliver it. When his own father saw him coming down the road, he ran out the door of his home, hugged, kissed, celebrated with his lost son who was now found.
Being a physician of the mind, upon hearing this story he began hearing it with his mind, heart and soul. He heard this sacred story as symbolic of our heavenly father welcoming us on a path of discovery of our true selves that we were created to be. He found the story in the earliest of scriptures which spoke of ‘male and female the Father created them in His image’. Once he began rediscovering his authentic Self, he was filled with joy. He then began to write poetry about his journey of self-discovery into wholeness. The friends in his men’s group encouraged him to let others read it and before long it became a book. And now he can’t help but want to share the joy that he feels in the form of poetry and with a guide of self-discovery, transformation, reconciliation with our true selves, and a peace that passes all our understanding.”
Is this Program something you have been looking for?
Are you feeling disconnected from you created self? Do you feel the world pulling you away from the created beauty of nature that lies all around you and within you? When is the last time you really stopped long enough to feel the smell of flowers all the way down in your soul? Or laid on your back and lost yourself in the passing clouds overhead or gotten so far out in the country that you could actually see the Milky Way?
This is a literal “Down to Earth” and “Back to Nature” program to help us all get back to our true nature as God created us so that we can find joy in the simple things of life. Dr. Daniel Robinson is a Franciscan trained Spiritual Guide who will join experienced ministers and retreat leaders Rev. Cliff Lyda, and Dr. William Barnard depending on the size of the class to help focus our senses within the nature that lies within and around us at Lake Junaluska in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
Let our hearts be still and let God lead us by the still waters and let the beauty of the changing seasons of the Fall open our hearts to change. “Were not our hearts strangely warmed as we walked along with him on the road and he talked of the ancient scriptures with us?”
When a reporter interviews someone to get “the story”, there are always the five basic questions plus the follow-up questions. If you wanted to know if a program matched your interests, the answers to these questions might be helpful. But wonder if the reporter were interviewing Jesus and trying to get “the story” on what in his opinion happened to one Dr. George Barnard who grew up in a small mill town in rural North Carolina in the 1940’s? Would he answer the questions in modern day language or would he use ancient wisdom to again let the reporter become another apostle to spread the good news of how truth is Truth even in 2005? How would George’s story lead to a book of poetry and a soul guide that could bring new life into my ministry whether God calls me into a small cottage walk with him each morning or I am leading a large congregation?
The Mill Town Son
“There was once a very young son of a modest family in a North Carolina mill town whose father developed a dreaded illness. This son prayed every night that his father might be spared his life. But when his father died, the son left for a far and barren spiritual land. He and his loving mother worked very hard and he became a caring physician and psychiatrist. He married and God blessed him with several sons and daughters. However, something was missing in his life.
Over time one of his daughters went to the ‘near East’ and one of his sons went to the ‘Far East’ and they learned something more precious than gold. They taught their father how to pray in private that reminds me of something I used to say.
The father’s heart began to fail and his doctor told him to join a group of men to share his troubles. In this group were some ministers who shared with him the story of a son who went to a distant land and was feeding pigs and came to himself. This son rehearsed his ‘beg for forgiveness speech all the way home but never got to deliver it. When his own father saw him coming down the road, he ran out the door of his home, hugged, kissed, celebrated with his lost son who was now found.
Being a physician of the mind, upon hearing this story he began hearing it with his mind, heart and soul. He heard this sacred story as symbolic of our heavenly father welcoming us on a path of discovery of our true selves that we were created to be. He found the story in the earliest of scriptures which spoke of ‘male and female the Father created them in His image’. Once he began rediscovering his authentic Self, he was filled with joy. He then began to write poetry about his journey of self-discovery into wholeness. The friends in his men’s group encouraged him to let others read it and before long it became a book. And now he can’t help but want to share the joy that he feels in the form of poetry and with a guide of self-discovery, transformation, reconciliation with our true selves, and a peace that passes all our understanding.”
Is this Program something you have been looking for?
Are you feeling disconnected from you created self? Do you feel the world pulling you away from the created beauty of nature that lies all around you and within you? When is the last time you really stopped long enough to feel the smell of flowers all the way down in your soul? Or laid on your back and lost yourself in the passing clouds overhead or gotten so far out in the country that you could actually see the Milky Way?
This is a literal “Down to Earth” and “Back to Nature” program to help us all get back to our true nature as God created us so that we can find joy in the simple things of life. Dr. Daniel Robinson is a Franciscan trained Spiritual Guide who will join experienced ministers and retreat leaders Rev. Cliff Lyda, and Dr. William Barnard depending on the size of the class to help focus our senses within the nature that lies within and around us at Lake Junaluska in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
Let our hearts be still and let God lead us by the still waters and let the beauty of the changing seasons of the Fall open our hearts to change. “Were not our hearts strangely warmed as we walked along with him on the road and he talked of the ancient scriptures with us?”
posted by Dr. Daniel Robinson | 9:23 AM
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