This Thing Called Life

By Don Baunsgard

Each and every life has a story to tell. We all have to figure out how to navigate through life with the pain and the struggles that come with it. But. there are invaluable moments of love and beauty, relationships and growth. Every one of us has to learn how to move away from the past and forgive ourselves for the poor choices and the sin and pain that followed it. This Thing Called Life is a personal journey of joy and sorrow, grace, and love. It's about how to learn to love yourself again and see what Jesus saw in you all along. My relationship with Christ has done more than just save me, it helped me to understand what true forgiveness means. Every single one of us is in some way broken, but God has a purpose for each of us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9781643006369

Book preview

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This Thing Called Life

Don Baunsgard

ISBN 978-1-64300-635-2 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64300-636-9 (Digital)

Copyright © 2018 Don Baunsgard

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

You Have Chosen . . . Wisely

Freedom of Forgiveness

What Is Your Milk?

I Named Her Trinity

Build It, and They Will Come

By His Wounds, We Are Healed.

Desires of Your Heart

Life on the Hill of Riverbend

If the Shoe Fits

Finish the Race

About the Author

To my wife, Lena, who always believed in me.

I have first- hand seen the effects of giving and it is more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. It truly is better to give than to receive. I only want to give more. What else can I do to change these children’s lives? What else can I sacrifice? What else can I let go of? What else? I know I can do more and it is up to me! Take that step of faith—step in the direction of Christ and store up more treasures in heaven. I know God is smiling down on me. I know He is happy. I only want to continue to shine for my Lord and Savior. I love you Jesus!

—Don Baunsgard

Nov 6, 2006, Kasitu, Uganda

Chapter 1

You Have Chosen . . . Wisely

May your choices reflect your hopes not your fears.

—Nelson Mandela

There are moments when one has to choose between living one’s own life fully, entirely, completely . . . Or . . . dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands.

—Oscar Wilde

I have loved movies for as long as I can remember. I love how movies can take us to other worlds and on new adventures. They make us laugh, cry, and experience every other emotion, touching on almost every subject. We are quickly transported out of our reality into this great adventure, or they take us back into history to give us a glimpse of what it must have looked like or felt like through some of the most dramatic times of our existence.

It will become quite obvious to you, throughout these chapters, that movies have impacted my life greatly. I believe there is a lot we can learn from them, but I also believe they can hold a deeper message that is trying to be revealed through many different angles and throughout the story being told. I can still remember when I was eight years old, in a galaxy far, far away, my dad took my brothers and me to see Star Wars for the first time at the drive-in theater. Like everyone else who was watching this movie for the first time, I was mesmerized by the effects and the story of the characters involved, and I have often found myself relating to the characters in movies and the challenges they have to overcome.

Steven Spielberg is probably, and most rightly so, my favorite director and storyteller. One of his most memorable characters, which actually was created by George Lucas, is in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the third installment of the Raiders of the Lost Ark franchise. Indiana is again on a journey to find a Holy Relic . . . the Holy Grail. But, this time, he is trying to save his father’s life, and the Holy Grail holds the power to heal his father’s deadly gunshot wound. With just a drop of water from this holy cup, which was supposedly the cup used by Jesus of Nazareth at the Last Supper, his wound would miraculously heal.

Through many perilous riddles, taking a huge leap of faith and narrowly escaping death several times, he weaves his way through the challenges set before him until he finally arrives at his final destination—the cave with the Holy Grail inside. Upon entering this cave, it eventually leads to a room where he finds a brave old knight who has been standing guard for centuries protecting the Holy Grail. The challenge of finding the Holy Grail in this room is that along with it are hundreds of other chalices, glasses, and bowls that all could be the one Holy Grail. So here lies the problem, Indy has to figure out which one is truly The One, and if he chooses the wrong one, his father dies and so does he and his friends. So, looking at them all, Indy finally chooses an old looking wooden or ceramic glass amongst the many other more vibrant and beautiful options, all the while, his dad is slowly dying and he is running out of time. Then in dramatic fashion . . . the old knight says to Indy, "You have chosen . . . Wisely." Without wasting any time, Indy quickly dips the chalice into the water basin, pours it on his dad’s wound, and saves his dad! They ride off into the sunset with their friends happily ever after. Love that movie!

Family Rules

Help Each Other

Always Tell the Truth Share

d o y o u r b e s t

Pay with Hugs and Kisses

Listen to your Parents Laugh at Yourself

Say I Love You

Try New Things

Be Thankful

Show Compassion

Be Happy

Love Each Other

Dream Big

Respect One Another Laugh Out Loud

Keep Your Promises

Say Please and Thank You

B e G r a t e f u l

Think of Others Before Yourself

Use Kind Words

Know You Are Loved

Hug Often

Sometimes, the choices we have to make are life-changing or will have a huge impact on our lives going forward. And then, there are the choices that we make that we had no idea would change everything about our current lives and all that we thought they would be. (Insert children here.)

Choices are a part of our every day, every minute life. We can’t ignore them, and we can’t run from them. They simply have to be made. Some choices are minor, and some take days to make. However, we have control over our choices. What we eat, what we think, what we say, where we go and what we will do with our lives . . . but choose wisely.

You have the power to change who you are and the power to change the world and everything in it. You can also make a difference in someone’s life if you so choose to. Everything you decide to do will, in one way or another, have a direct impact on your life, the people around you and the world, good or bad. It is up to each of us to decide how and when we are going to choose wisely.

As a child, we soon learn how choices impact us, and as we grow older, our choices change, and we soon realize that it is up to each of us to determine what direction we want to go. Don’t ever underestimate the power of your choices. Realize also that your choices can, and ultimately will, define who you are choosing to become.

My wife and I strongly believe in positive reinforcement. Throughout our house, we have many different signs with positive words of truth, love, and encouragement.

The sign on the previous page is hung in our dining room.

Each of these suggestions become choices we make that will bring light and love into both the lives of those whom you love and into your very heart. We try as a family to make sure we are reading this out loud before we start dinner most evenings. The more you believe in these words, the more you will act on them. They will become a part of your DNA and your everyday life. When you start to understand how much these words mean and the amount of love that is in them, you will want to help incorporate them into your children’s lives and put them into action.

I have always made an attempt to be a person who exemplifies the light and love of Jesus—to be light in this world. To choose to lift people up and not bring them down. I have long believed that it is so very important to make people feel valued, worthy and loved. To try and find the beauty in that one person or the gift they have been given and help them to see that gift and beauty in themselves. Life is too short to be mean, rude, selfish, and evil. But for whatever reason, people still choose to be that way. All of us have the choice to be who we want to be at any moment in our life and it doesn’t have to be done wearing masks or pretending to be someone else. Just be yourself and love who you were created to be. Unique and beautiful . . . just as you are.

The nucleus of who you are right now is completely dependent on the basis of all the information you have accumulated over the course of your life and what you have then chosen from that information to be attached to your persona and character.

If your mom told you growing up that you were strong, beautiful, and funny, there is a very good chance that you grew up feeling that way and even believe that is who you are now.

One day, a long time ago as a child, I was singing in the kitchen, and my dad overheard me. He yelled from the living room that he thought I had a beautiful singing voice. I will tell you right now, I have never forgot those words. And for some reason, they stuck with me, and I believed him. I have not gone on to a successful singing career, but I have sung many times in church, karaoke, and even at our own North Bend festival. People seem to enjoy my singing, and I enjoy singing for them. This is the power of our words and our choices.

The same goes for a negative comment or action. Especially if it is a continued barrage of insults and bashing throughout your childhood coming from your parents or guardian. But here is where the power of our choices comes in. You can choose, if you so desire, to ignore and reject those negative insults, and you can change the record that is playing in your head. You are not the result of what someone else thinks or believes you to be. Most of the time, those kinds of rejections are based out of their own insecurities and from the pain of their own past. They are puking on you the negative words and thoughts they inherently believe about themselves. You have the power to change that.

Throughout most of my life, I have struggled to understand who I am and why. I believe this to be a normal step in the process of just plain growing up, but sometimes, people grab ahold of the information that they have been told or have been given about themselves and then choose to believe it. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can change—if you want to. You can be whoever you want to be, you just have to believe that you can. You can choose to change who you are, a character issue or behavioral issue, something about yourself that you don’t particularly like at any time. I have had to do this many times throughout my life.

I try and love all the different people, their walks of life and their stories. I try to be open to the reality that most people are broken and come from some form of brokenness. I don’t always succeed in this. My own brokenness will sometimes try and fight back, not allowing me to offer kindness, patience, or compassion to those who are hurting and lashing out.

My initial belief though is that everyone desires and deserves to be loved and accepted. But a lot of people don’t believe that they are worthy of love or that they will ever be loved. Everyone has a story to tell, and I will be sharing some of my own stories and my testimony throughout the chapters of this book. I am hoping and praying that this book and my own story will be an inspiration to others. If we choose to shine brightly with the love of Jesus in our hearts, then maybe, just maybe, someone will see that light and ask where it came from.

It is quite remarkable how each of us are learning, growing, and teaching something to ourselves and to somebody else every day of our lives. If you have children, you totally get it. If I even tried to list all that I have learned over the course of my life, it would be endless. I don’t know about you, but I am constantly questioning my life, Why I am here, and what is my purpose? It seems we are left to our own devices to figure this all out.

I, personally, am a man who loves to see results. When I choose to do something that I believe in, I go after it with all I got. I love seeing the end result of hard work and determination—especially if it is eternally motivated. By storing up treasures in heaven, you are basically filling in the gaps of darkness all around you with light and the love of Jesus. In choosing to move in the direction of love, peace, forgiveness, grace, and mercy, you are choosing to bring light into your world, which can have a tremendous impact to those all around you.

We all can make a choice that can change the lives of thousands of people either in a negative way or in a positive way. One choice can destroy life, and another choice can bring life into this world. We all have to choose what is right and what is wrong and decide what moves people to make choices that can bring life and love or bring death and destruction.

These are questions, I am sure, that have been asked many times throughout our history and even in our own lives. Why, exactly, do people choose to do what they do? What motivates a human being to choose hate, violence, negativity, and evil in their choices? Where does this stem from? What leads them to make these choices? Why does it seem that there is so much sadness, loneliness, and evil in the world? The questions that boggle my mind is where do people get the idea that it is okay to do such horrible and despicable things, evil things to other people? Even worse . . . to innocent children?

I have to ask why? Why did Catholic priests prey on little boys for decades to satisfy their own dark and twisted fantasies? Or coaches and doctors that we trust to take care of our young girls and young women who end up molesting them? Why do men walk into a school and kill innocent children? Why did Hitler have this insatiable desire to wipe out the Jews? Why did the first settlers to America wipe out the Native Americans, their tribes and their culture in the name of God? How could we ever believe that we had the right to make someone else our slave because of the color of their skin? Do we really believe we have been given that right? Where do we get the idea that one race is more important than the other? Aren’t we the human race? Don’t we all bleed the same color? Don’t we all have one beating heart and two lungs to breath? Are we not all from same stock—the race of humans?

How does one come to believe that life has no worth? Where does the disconnect happen in the mind and heart of a human being where they see no reason to live and go so far to even believe that they should become God and end the lives of others?

I have no answers to most of these questions. If I could even try to sum it all up, in my belief and in my opinion, it has been the lack of love and true understanding of how important it is to have God in our lives and to know and understand fully what a real relationship with Jesus looks like. Not religion but a relationship.

Let me elaborate here for just a bit. If, throughout history, we integrated into our everyday lives more about the love, truth and forgiveness of Jesus, then there would be more positive changes to personal behaviors and choices that would be made. If they truly knew him, had a relationship with him, truly listened to his words and followed his example, felt his love and forgiveness, and accepted him with faith as their Lord and Savior, a lot of these atrocities and tragedies to mankind would ever take place. Sadly though, we are but sinful man. We will continue to fight against the light of Jesus. Demanding our own way of life, and not the true way!

To those who choose atheism, evolution, agnosticism, and every other form of selfish formulation of life, will continue to make sure that their kind of faith will fit into their own objectives and beliefs to satisfy their human desires. Sadly, because of our selfishness, greed, and sin, we will continue as a human race to choose to withhold God from our countries, our schools, and life in general, and we will continue to repeat history.

We cannot change the world until the evil one is vanquished from the earth. He will continue to rule over it and push all the buttons that cause chaos and disbelief in God’s only Son. He will continue to win if we let him. You have the freewill to choose what side you want to be on. Choose wisely.

I have made many poor choices in my life that ultimately caused pain to myself and to others. I then allowed my poor choices to consume me with guilt, shame, and remorse. Of course, every one of us will make poor choices in this thing called life. It is what you do after you have made those poor choices, mistakes, or errors that will define you the most. Most people want to hide from their mistakes and pretend they never happened. Sweep them under the rug, lock it up in the closet of your heart, and then hope that it will go away.

Can I just please tell you, in my experience, that never works. In fact, it will end up rotting your soul and devouring your happiness. It will bring separation, anxiety, insecurity, and pain once it surfaces in your relationships and in your life. Give yourself some grace and learn how to forgive yourself, and if needed, ask for forgiveness from the ones you hurt.

It