00:00It is Sunday morning, and I would like you to watch a video, form some opinions, and
00:19then share your opinions.
00:22That would make me very happy, and it would also educate us all.
00:26After all, together we learn.
00:30It is Sunday morning.
00:34And it's called, Build Your Church.
00:41Now there's a saying in the Bible about, upon this rock I will build my church.
00:50Because a rock is one of the most stable things that we can think of on the earth.
00:55It is natural, it is natural.
00:58So the saying is, upon this rock I will build my church.
01:02This is how Melanie is going to take that phrase.
01:06Okay, I'm going to build my own church.
01:11It's not going to have a religious name.
01:13It's not going to have a dogma that's acceptable to masses, or unacceptable to an equal amount
01:21of masses.
01:23And has nothing to do with Melanie's church.
01:27Melanie's church consists of two things, because I prefer simplicity when I kid.
01:34The first thing is my faith.
01:36I have faith and a power higher than myself.
01:41You call it God, Allah, Mohammed, you know, it doesn't matter the name.
01:47You can call it energy.
01:48You can call it source.
01:51You can call it whatever name feels comfortable for you.
01:56But the first one is faith in something bigger than myself.
02:02That I want it to be divine.
02:05I don't want it to be a smarter human.
02:08I don't want to believe in a smarter human.
02:11I want to believe in something that's beyond humanness, beyond the limitations of humanity.
02:20So the first thing in my church, in Melanie's church, is faith.
02:24My faith.
02:25What is comfortable for me, what makes sense to me.
02:29The second thing in my church is my desires and my dreams.
02:35Because my church includes God and me.
02:39It doesn't contain anybody else.
02:42It's a communication between the two of us.
02:45I have the faith.
02:47My part and his part is helping to unfold my dreams and desires.
02:54So we're in partnership.
02:57So that's my definition on church.
02:59Now I want to tell you a cute story.
03:03I did outside sales for the company that I worked for.
03:06And so that means I got in a car and actually went to see the client.
03:09And I would go, you know, I did it five days a week.
03:17And as an example, a car.
03:19You know, cars have problems.
03:21You know, alternator goes out, you have flat tire, you have blah, blah, blah.
03:26Things go with it.
03:27And as a female, I don't get involved with that.
03:31I have my car serviced on a regular basis so it doesn't cause me problems.
03:35This one little story I'm going to tell you
03:37is that I was in a city that was approximately 25 miles from where
03:45the business was that I worked at.
03:47So I'm coming back and it's going over some large bridges with water.
03:53And as soon as I get into the parking lot of the company I'm working for,
03:58my tire on the back driver's side goes flat.
04:03Right there in front of my eyes.
04:05I get out of the car, look at the tire, and it goes down.
04:08I went, whoa, what happened with that?
04:15So I'm thinking, as soon as I saw it, I went, this is not a coincidence.
04:20This just, I didn't pick up a nail in this parking lot when I got here.
04:25That isn't it.
04:26I've had this flat tire.
04:28How come I didn't have problems?
04:30Because I visualized, and she does it all the time, I have an angel.
04:34We all have angels.
04:36I've named my angel as Gracie.
04:38So Gracie has long, red, blonde hair, wavy, and it's long and she flows.
04:45And she sits on the top of my car.
04:47So whether I'm going 65 or I'm going six miles an hour, it doesn't matter.
04:51She's on top.
04:52So she protects me.
04:53I believe that.
04:54I believe in divine protection.
04:56So she protects me.
04:57So she's in my car.
04:59She's the one that kept that tire with air in it until I stopped.
05:03There is no doubt in my mind, I had a flat tire 25 miles ago.
05:08But she kept me going until I stopped the car.
05:14And where I stopped the car, I could get help.
05:16So the story is Gracie, my angel, on top of my car.
05:21Now the last one is to show you that I do have a sense of humor.
05:26In 2021, I got another dog, who I love dogs.
05:31And this time, I got myself a standard poodle.
05:35Never had a poodle before.
05:36They're smart.
05:38Smart.
05:38So I'm a single girl and I'm watching TV.
05:42And I yell at the TV, oh, use your common sense.
05:46I'm talking, I'm yelling at the TV.
05:48She lifts her head.
05:49She says, well, you know, mommy, it didn't used to be called common sense.
05:53It didn't used to be called common sense.
05:56And of course, I burst out laughing.
05:58I said, OK, Ziva, what did it used to be called?
06:02She pauses a moment.
06:03She says, poodle sense.
06:08Anyway, so I go, oh, Ziva.
06:11She says, mommy, now you know we're one of the smartest breeds that there are.
06:15Why wouldn't it be called after us?
06:17But then the German Shepherd heard about it.
06:20And then the Great Dane heard about it.
06:23And the Pekingese heard about it.
06:24And they all want to be named after them.
06:26And then that wasn't enough.
06:27Then the cows heard about it.
06:30And the goats heard about it.
06:32And the horse, horse sense.
06:33All the animals heard about it.
06:35They wanted to be named after them.
06:37She said, mom, that didn't work out.
06:38So it went back to common sense.
06:40But it used to be poodle sense.
06:46As you know, not being religious has been an asset to me.
06:52Because I'm not beholden to any founder, any myth, any doctrine, or any dogma.
07:00I am then free to be the vehicle or the vessel to be used to impart whatever
07:08the spirits want me to say.
07:10And I've also said quite often that the Bible is a good book to have
07:16around as literature, as literature.
07:20And I have been inspired by the Bible.
07:24Two books in particular, Sirach and the Proverbs.
07:29They are wonderful.
07:31If you read nothing else, those two books will guide you for the rest of your life.
07:38You don't need to read anything else.
07:42Thank you, Melanie, for having the courage to be yourself and to think for yourself.
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