Category: Blog Article

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

Do you know people who are dying? I do. Basically it’s everyone, at least in these bodies. Heavy topic but one most people don’t like to address. It’s easier for us to chat about episodes of television than something so real as our own mortality. I often think the fact we don’t know when the moment of death will come is both a blessing and a hindrance. As a blessing we can live in ignorance and enjoy each day without dread but as a hindrance sometimes we waste each day in ignorance thinking we have so many.

How many of us would live differently if we actually knew the time stamp of our eventual demise? I try to live my life with enthusiasm but let’s be honest. I have to make a living and there are basic chores to caring for our needs. These two simple things can bring a warp to anyone’s life especially if you throw in the family that goes with it. No more living selfishly as an island apart but now you are connected to this thing which draws your attention. How does one live each moment with enjoyment when our time here on earth is very limited? What are our thoughts when we are doing the wash or answering a phone from an angry customer?

Jude 1:21  Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

We had been invited to dinner at a friend’s home and met a wonderful couple. We celebrated a dinner for thanksgiving together and enjoyed getting to know each other. I learned something sounding vaguely familiar as an acronym. One of the ladies had a tattoo of a frog upon her middle. When she showed it to me she commented that it was special to her; for her it was a reminder for faith. I didn’t understand what she meant so when I asked why a frog, she simply stated, “fully rely on God”.

Since that time I have had a new respect for these jumping amphibians. I have even considered my own tattoo reminder.

My husband and I watched a movie this morning called Pilgrim’s Progress which was an allegory for our spiritual journey and the many ways we can be distracted along the way. I found myself greatly encouraged in being reminded of my Father’s promise He will never leave me nor forsake me.

As the battle wages against us daily we need to be continually strengthened to stand strong and face our purpose without fears and doubts.

Psalm 18:32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect

I have a theory and one day when I am mature enough I hope to live it out. I want to wear a bubble suit made of joy! A suit no evil can penetrate. Sometimes I think in His infinite wisdom my heavenly Father allows my heart to be laid low. Without this inside knowledge I cannot relate to another’s pain. If it were up to me I would stay inside my joy bubble and bounce along as high as the atmosphere would allow me, drawing nearer to the heavens.

Psalm 45:7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

Everyone has a twin in the world and most people are referring to someone who looks “just like them” but I am far more intrigued with the inner twin. If you know even a small bit about astrology, I was born in the month of the sign for Gemini. I have never known too much about what that meant other than the usual references given for the “type” of personality I may have because of a month I was born in.

This has always been a bit strange to my thinking especially since most of the human race are very individual. It seems like some kind of hoax to put us “monthly born” into the same small box of definition. Is it any wonder we want to escape from this definition of a fallen world? An example of this behavior is how some of our human specimens are looking for the biggest spotlight they can find in “fame”. If you don’t believe me, just look for the latest headlines for those lacking self-definition?

Let’s get back to the inner twin though. The person you want to be and yet don’t always manage to be. I want to be nice 100% of my life but that just isn’t where I am living. I live in that space where I continually look at who I want to be, with the happy face as a permanent fixture. Looking back at me however is someone who can be gritting the teeth sometimes just to be cordial.

2 Tim 2:24 And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.

I had an email touch my heart this morning. A friend of mine lost a dear friend to violence. His name was Matt Garcia, age 22 and he had been shot. I have no words of wisdom. I don’t always understand the “whys” in life and death. My friend shared Matt’s one and only blog written days before his death. It seemed appropriate to share this young man’s words of wisdom.

From Wednesday, August 27, 2008 —MY LIFE, Current mood: blessed, Catagory: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Well I should be in bed but I thought to myself, I have never wrote a blog in my entire myspace life and I been having this “principal in my head”. I will keep it short and straight to the point. I been thinking about my life and it is not complete but it is getting there. I thought about the things I have accomplished over the years it has truly been a blessing. It just shows people when you put your mind to something you can make it happen. I still haven’t accomplished everything, but I am working towards it and I believe if it is God’s Will, it will happen. All of us have goals but they are all different, hold on let me take that back, they could be the same but with different agendas. I just see the potential in our generation to make things happen. Some other people in past generations, and sometimes in my case our generation don’t feel that way but let’s prove them wrong. That is what drives me proving people wrong when they think I CAN’T but then, I keep making things happen. It feels good but at the same time you wonder why these people can’t stand you or like you. There are people that don’t support anything you ever do but if you prove to them you can, they can still hate, but “Who looks Stupid”? Exactly!!! But this is one of those things I learned and wanted to share with my friends on myspace. Everyday we learn something new. Take life as a test and shoot for a better score each day. It doesn’t have to be an “A” the next day, but let’s hope it improves. Hope you can use this one day when you feel the way I feel right now!!!!

God Bless

08/27/2008

Matt Garcia

His MySpace: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.Confirm&friendID=14804380

Labor day has come and gone and for once we did no labor of any kind. As the hours count down and it’s time to go back to work I wonder about all the people who had no down time to enjoy a holiday. As I enjoy being well rested I will keep in mind to have compassion for those who are tired and weary.

It’s no secret I am not for beating people up. Matter of fact a very dear friend of mine once called me a fence dweller in not so many words. At the time she was basically stating that I didn’t seem to want to take anyone’s side in an argument. Her words cut me deeply but not in a painful aspect, more in the sense I wanted to understand why she viewed me in that way. At the time it made me feel as though I was “weak” and wouldn’t take a position. This was many years ago and in that time both her and myself gave ourselves to Christ.

We have not had that type of conversation since but her words still haunt me. I wonder about them in metaphorical aspects. Am I a “peace maker” or a “coward” so to speak? It may be shocking to others that a person would be so blatantly honest in looking at the “inner man” but isn’t it time to let go of the shadows which try to keep us captive? I even have a family member whom I drive crazy because he can’t understand my continual search for truth and the confession at how this can change with our experience.

One of the areas that he misunderstands is my changing face. What does that look like? Humble. How many of us can admit the mistakes of our youth?

Ps 25:9

He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

The roads are starting to back up around local neighborhoods, which means mom and dad are carpooling for the kids who are in school again. As an adult I can honestly say I remember what it’s like to be fearful of meeting classmates for the first time. My first day of kindergarten was so traumatic I have never forgotten it. I can remember crying for a long time as a teacher, whose face is now a blur, tried to help me find the box with my name on it. Since I didn’t yet know the alphabet, this took a while. I still get nervous around groups of people I don’t know, I suppose that is a good reminder for what our children face at this time of year.

I was thinking about loving parents and the desire we have to desperately want to protect our young There are the other kind of parents too. The one’s who are eager to drop of their disciplinary blunders for the chance of having a free babysitter for some hours in the day. When such worlds collide it makes for quite the social soup don’t it?

How does the caring parent really protect their own child without judging another’s? With the rise in “home schooling” you have to wonder at the balance being offered in our classrooms. I have no answers to this dilemma, only questions.

The game is afoot so to speak. McCain has announced his running mate to be Sarah Palin. Having been so turned off by the political bashing being done in the news media I have to admit I hadn’t been digging too deep into who the VPs were going to be so this announcement surprised me. I have a vague remembrance to having heard something a while back about some bridge to be “built to nowhere”, but it’s not real sharp in my recollection so perhaps I am imagining remembering the story. Either way the simple fact we have a political candidate who questioned a boondoggle that could have benefited her state grabs my attention. Why would a politician try to be fiscally responsible? So what if the bridge didn’t really make financial sense? She still could have pushed forward with the project, taken the money and when the project came up short, offered the usual…”Oops, we erred in our figures, please Uncle Sam, may you offer more nickels from your pockets lined by the tax paying citizens?”. So why didn’t she?

I have an answer…..common sense and perhaps some of what we rarely think politicians possess; integrity! Do we have a bona fide rational candidate who really takes their oaths to serve “the people” seriously?

She’s a woman. Well let’s talk about that. Being a woman myself I don’t feel compelled to vote for her because of her gender. I have worked with and befriended many women who I wouldn’t trust with my sandwich. No one should get a free vote simply because of gender or color so we need to look under the hood for what she really represents. Like any candidate, if their car is only “representing” but doesn’t “deliver” then vote your conscience.

I am steeling myself for the inevitable smear campaign, but I am ever hopeful truth shall prevail, and may the best leadership team come to power. Have you read your money lately? “In God We Trust”.

2 Ch 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.