What are the elements that are talking and acting in your neighborhood? I'm sure you encounter positive and negative actors. The news papers and other media diligently report on both the good and the bad elements contributing to your every day experience of life's drama.There is also a sufficient amount of reporting about how people manage, or not, neighborhood theater.

The Father's children go to the never-ending way gym. There they find a variety of powerful equipment which uses their neighborhood's elements for building their grace-mode character. The best part is the Father's children don't exercise alone, hoping for injury free results. No. We have a personal trainer, Jesus. He and the Father pour their life into us, agape-love.

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance,character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us,because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans5:2-5, NIV)

Paul wrote to the Ephesian church about this exercise equipment using the metaphor of the dress elements commonly observed when Roman soldiers were seen marching along their streets.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything,to stand. Stand firm...(Ephesians6:13, NIV)

When we commit to working out in the never-ending way, earthy neighborhood drama provides motivation for the push-back with which our personal trainer guides us. He provides the power that originates in his neighborhood and builds us up in ours. Agape-love performs a work in us that supports and refines our grace-mode skill for staying our course and participating in the flow of agape-love through us to others.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:22-24, NIV)

His Holy Spirit is actively engaged with us (spirit, psyche-soul, and body-brain) replacing old mr. self with a new self that is rooted in the Father's agape-love pouring into and out of us.(Romans5:2-5, NIV)

Truth:(Ephesians 6:14)

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Galatians5:16, NIV)

When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.(John 16:13, NIV)

This is the Way in which I, Andrew, Stephanie, Nicole, Brad and Heidi have placed our commitment. We've all worked through challenges encountered in our earthy neighborhoods and used these exercises,with our trainer Jesus, to birth character actors which produce our new selves.

We've discovered the truth in this treasure hunt. There is another neighborhood where the Father's home is found. And, from this home he reaches into our neighborhoods showing us the wisdom and joy of agape-love desires. We are no longer limited by the desires of a material body-brain. Rather, we live forever in our Spirit-to-spirit encounter with Him. (See Romans 8)

...love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1Peter 1:22-23,NIV)

Righteousness:(Ephesians 6:14)

When people are living in self-centered (body-brain) earthy dramas, the acting out of their thinking is based on what they determine to be right for them. They are self righteous, which means they are able to tap their reasoning prowess for the purpose of making the thinking behind their behavior sound acceptable by all earthy standards of self-service.

For Andrew it was loyalty to the feel-good emotions that tethered him to his partying friends.

For Brad it was his brain convincing him he had the right to experience his desire for love.

When we come to the Father through Jesus Christ he is able to forgive our sin and reconcile us with the Father. He gives us the power to put off our sinful nature and replace it with our new, righteous nature in all of our relationships. Then we are right, righteous.

The right for Heidi  was getting out of that self-service trap and listening to Jesus about forgiveness and the better life that would emerge from her present trial.

For Nicole it was the experience of a greater love in the Father's Way.

For Stephanie it was the experience of agape-love from two families in two neighborhoods.

For me it was journeying in that never-ending way that my brother had stepped into.

But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1John 2:1-2, NIV)

Peace:(Ephesians 6:15)

Grace-mode!

Life drama is acted out in an environment realized by events.The Father's children who are acting out of grace-mode give life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. (Romans 4:17b,NIV)

This is the Merwins looking beyond the sickly, dirty little girl they found in a Korean orphanage. They made her part of their family,giving her life, and supporting her metamorphosis into a beautiful young woman who is now counseling other women with the same expectations.

This is Heidi acting out of forgiveness, which allowed her and Brad to listen to each others' needs. This was grace-mode's strenuous investment in reconciliation and the resulting realization of its benefits, agape-love. (Ephesians 4:29)

This is Andrew giving Jesus all the disquieting voices rumbling around in his conscience, condemning him. He could then move beyond the earthy influences that would eventually claim his body-brain with dead-end death. Now he was able to take up the vision of a new self living the Father's promises in the never-ending way.

This is me finding the Father's calming voice within my new self, stepping back in the face of opposition and praying for the best way to respond.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit,impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:17-18, NIV)

Faith:(Ephesians 6:16)

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1, NIV)(see Romans 8)

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.(James 2:15-17. NIV)

One's faith and belief in Jesus creates new selves in His children where the Father's presence, powered by agape-love, is revealed in earthy neighborhoods when we choose to express His love to others. This is spiritual exercise that matures our new integrated self (spirit,psyche—soul, and body-brain). Faith and belief move closer to full maturity in the same way that exercising in the gym builds muscle and stamina in one's body-brain.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:12-14. NIV)

Salvation: (Ephesians6:17)

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us,not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his  mercy.

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.(Titus 3:4-7, NIV)

There is this distant, empty feeling that Nicole couldn't identify. It's like when you're trying to think of a word. It is right on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't identify it. Nicole tried to avoid this nagging ache by indulging in the party culture that was an easy entry for a top model.

Salvation is pictured as the helmet that protects a soldier's head and the all important brain inside. The Father's salvation births in us a spirit by which He is able to move understanding into our psyche—soul and body-brain. A new reality replaces death's shadow with an eternal promise made for moving in earthy neighborhoods and beyond.

When Nicole started attending the Brooklyn Tabernacle she was able to identify the filling for her empty feeling. The Bible studies and prayer groups put her in touch with other people who were dealing with that same emptiness. Nicole said that the Holy Spirit began showing her the Father's wisdom. When she adopted that wisdom she was able to participate in the integrated life (spirit, psyche-soul, body-brain, (1Thessalonians 5:23-24) that would give her access to the Father's eternal Way. She was rescued from the dead end life so often experienced in earthy neighborhoods.

The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God: (Ephesians6:17)

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.(Hebrews 4:12-13, NIV)

But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10, NIV)

The spirit is distinct from the psyche (soul) and body-brain because the Father births spirit in his children. While psyche and body-brain are born out of human DNA. (John 3:3)

The Father's Word, found in the Bible and explained by the Holy Spirit to the believer makes clear the difference between spirit-inspired thinking and body-brain inspired thinking. (Romans 8)

Nicole was gradually understanding that a mature character was more important than body image. She was now able to vision the Father's values as they contrasted with earthy cultural values.

There is always tension, in earthy neighborhoods, between the Father's Way and the exclusively human way. Nicole made the conscious choice to follow the Father's wisdom rather than find her end in the the human way, where one's last thought might be: I did it my way.

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. (1Peter 5:10-11,NIV)