Do you know why there is a Christmas? Everyone knows that Jesus came into this world and it is celebrated on Christmas day. The world has made it a special day. There are Christmas specials at the local churches, on television and even at local community centers. There are Christmas lights on all most every house. People are busy buying gifts for almost everyone. Christmas has become a big production. Businesses have to make their yearly income at Christmas time to be successful the rest of the year. The Salvation Army has a Santa Clause at most large retail outlets to collect donations. But what is Christmas about? Why did God send Jesus to this earth? Almost every culture in the world holds that Jesus is a prophet of God. In the past few years there has a real been an attempt to dethrone Jesus. The other side says that there is no God and we are really God. I don’t want to laugh at people’s heresy, but it is sad what man can think of. Jesus came to earth for a very special reason. Don’t only to fulfill the prophesy in the bible, but to do the work for the Father assigned to Him. The work that God had for Him, led to His death. He took abuse, rejection and betrayal by his disciples. But He didn’t give up at any time, Thank God. God knew what was in the heart of man and was willing to sacrifice His son to redeem the world. The Bible says the Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. Jesus came into this world in a stable with animals. It was a lowly place indeed. He came in as low a station that anyone could. And the world came to Him. Honor Him in the same way. Help those who cannot help themselves. Give of yourself to others and Jesus did for us. This is the Christmas story. I want to wish you a Happy Hanukkah and a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.
Monthly Archives: December 2017
Dependent Beings
Why are we so interdependent as human beings? As newborns we as a species are the most dependent of all the animals. It takes us longer to mature than any other. We rely on our parents all of lives. We grow up and become adults with children of our own and still depend on our parents. It is like it is a never-ending circle. We are social beings that live in close proximity of each other. Yes we like our space but you that is getting smaller and smaller all the time. I have seen the TV reality show about people living in the wilds of Alaska. What is interesting about the show is that people want to live like that. Living apart from people does appeal to me. But I look at what I need and see that being around people is the only way I am going to survive. So we have developed skills for dealing with people. Some are harder than others to develop. But to be able to living on our own we must have skills. Our parents teach us the skills they know to prepare us for life. Sometimes they are just what we need. But I see the lack of skills in a lot of people. That is when it gets hard to live or accomplish things in our lives. It funny how our teenage years were a practice time for developing skills. It seemed so difficult for somethings and easy for others. Love relationships always seem the hardest thing to do. It was always by trial and error. The affairs of the heart always seem to hurt. But those skills if accomplished help us to make our way into the world of marriage. Being dependent was always the plan for God. We were made with a part missing. We needed to fill that part with God to be completed. Many had filled that part with alcohol, drugs, sex, power or crystals. But you can’t fill your life if anything but God and expect to be whole in this life. Or to be whole in the life to come. All you have to do is ask and He will answer you. Be complete in your life and ask.
Listening Skills
How good are your listening skills? Everybody hears, but I am not talking about that. Listening is something altogether different. I go about my day getting my work done. I hear everyone that talks to me. But many times I don’t listen to them. I am in a hurry and need to accomplish my work in a set schedule. I only have time for so much. I have an allotted time for everything. This many times rules out listening to people. For the most part, when a person speaks to you they are saying more than you are hearing. Some of what they are saying refers to the work at hand. But sometimes they are talking about themselves. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. If you are too busy with work or preoccupied with something else, you will not hear what they are saying. Most people have resign themselves to knowing that people aren’t listening to them. Still people try to reach other people. This is where the skill of listening comes in. If you have developed a skill, you will hear the most astounding things. We are social beings and need to have interaction with other people. The lack of relating to other people can be maddening. And we always find that people who live alone are strange. If you listen to a person talk, they will tell you their life’s story within minutes of talking to you. It is funny how that works. People want to relate to others and will talk until they find someone who is listening. This is the art of communication. Every animal on this earth communicates with someone. So listen to what is being said around you. And you will find out things that you never knew before. This is the difference between talking and communication.
Attitudes of the Heart
Remember your heart is who you are. Your heart is your mind, will and intellect. This is the part of you that is eternal or immortal. This is what most people call your spirit. Everything you have ever learn is stored in your spirit. All the good things, bad things, everyday experiences are there for you to recall. This shapes what you believe and who you are. So the attitudes of your heart are important part of your life. Each of us are basically the same. We each have parents and came into the world the same way. This is where we differ. According to where we were born and taught as a child determined what we became when we grew up. I like just about most foods. You can tell that by the size of my belly. I like to cook also. My latest thing is jams and jellies. I will taste them to get the consistency right but I can’t eat them because of the diabetes. I don’t want it or need it, but it is there because of my life style or because of what my parents had. Yet I am not going to quite just because I am being tested. I am determined and persistent. It is an attitude that I developed when I was a child. Some might say I am stubborn. But I am not stupid about what I will or will not do. I have a positive attitude that everything will work out like it is supposed to do. And no matter what happens every morning is new and ready for me to begin my life anew. I didn’t always think like this. It took a force of nature to change me into the person I am today. That force had to move heaven and earth for me to believe and trust that I had hope for the future. I have only found that hope in one person, God’s own son, Jesus.
A Peaceful Life
I am looking at my cat and she is snoozing away. Her feet are in the air and not a care in the world. I haven’t slept like that in years. I can remember that I use to be able to drink coffee and go right to sleep all night. You look at children and they don’t have a care in the world. They can sleep like a log. My oldest son use to sleep for 8 hours at a time. That boy could sleep more than anyone I have ever seen. As you grow older it seems that sleep eludes you. That restful and peaceful kind of sleep that we all enjoyed when we were younger. What has changed? Why don’t we have a good night’s sleep anymore? I know people that use alcohol to get a night’s sleep. And even worst to use drugs. The things of this world can’t bring you peace. And peace is the only thing that give you a good night’s sleep. So where did the peace go? Why don’t we have peace like we did when we were young? Do you remember the first time you lied to get your way? And how bad you felt afterward. And the lack of peace in your life. How often have we done that so we could get ahead? And what did it cost us to get there? In 1983, Gallup poll took a survey across America. They ask what was the 3 most important things in your life. Surprise, Surprise, #3’s answer was peace or the lack of it in their lives. It hasn’t changed. The answer is still the same. We need peace in our lives to live on this earth. And I know of only one place to get peace in our lives. And that place or person to ask for peace is God Himself. There is no one else that can give us peace in our lives. And you know how to do that is just to ask God Himself for the peace to live your life.
Traveling
I have lived in many parts of this nation. The Rocky Mountains are beautiful. I lived in a little town called Golden, Colo. It is a suburb of Denver. There was only several million people in Denver. But the attitude of the people was of a small town. My cousins lived up the mountain in a town called Evergreen. Now that was a small town of only a few thousand. Then I lived in Indianapolis, Ind. You would think that it is one big city. But it isn’t at all. Indianapolis is made up of over 200 towns each individual and distinct. They claim to fame when I lived there was that there was a bank robbery every week. Indianapolis is bisected by no less than 7 interstate highways. The people would come home at 5, change their clothes and go out until 2 or 3am. They did this all the time. It like to drove me crazy. I couldn’t stand living in that kind of life style. I have lived in Houston and San Antonio. I always liked traveling around the country. My parents would take us on vacations all over. The only states I haven’t been to are New England and the pacific coast. My cousins in Pierre, SD., have a 80,000 acre wheat farm. They fly airplanes to check the crops. Life is different everywhere. So are the people who live there. Discovering who those people are has become one of the most important things in my life. There is a real diamond mine in Murfreesboro, Ark. I love to talk to strangers. My wife gets embarrassed when I do. But you never know what you going to find when you do. I guess it goes back to me being shy when I was young. And wanting to meet people freely. Mark Twain said that “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” I don’t travel as often as I would like, but I still want to.
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Reality
I hear people talk about the real deal. It is something that they suppose is authentic. Or let’s get real is another saying. What they are talking about is reality. So many people have adjusted their reality to make it what they want. You have to ask yourself what is reality? How to you define real? Well I know that the earth is real. The sun, moon and the stars are real. Then if they are real, then all of creation is real. Yet the bible says that the earth and stars will disappear just like a curtain being rolled up. This earth and all on it are temporary. Then what is real? What is truly real? You have to ask yourself what will not disappear at the end of the earth. Then you have to believe that someone or something is in control of our future. I don’t believe it is a rock or crystal or someone doped up and chanting. Your perspective is what you believe is the right and real way, almost. What we believe does alter our destiny, but it doesn’t change the outcome of the world. The real plan has been put into play and we can’t change it. All we can do is believe and follow along. We aren’t smarter or stronger than God Himself. We can’t change His plan in any way or aspect. The only thing we can do is to accept or reject His offer of eternal life. We are eternal being and will live forever. But where you live is up to you. When you die there are only 2 places to go, heaven or hell. And if you don’t live God’s way here on this earth, you will not live in heaven with God. It is a very simple choice to make. And all you have to do is ask God and help will arrive.
The Cost of Life
Why does honor and integrity cost us everything? There is nothing more precious to us than our life. Yet we become willing to risk it all for honor. These human values are most precious and valued above all things. We see it in the animal kingdom, where a mother will defend her children to the death. Where the parents give all that they have for their offspring. Honor, courage, and integrity are strong values in our lives. People who don’t follow them consider themselves worthless. What is it about those values that would make us want to do whatever is necessary? How many people do you know that follow that way of life? Probably just a few people come to mind. One of the most honorable person I know was an uneducated woman from south Louisiana. She spoke fluent French. She was a maid and very poor. She saw a need in Haiti and went an opened an orphanage. For 20 years, she worked with the poor people and helped young people get an education. She didn’t asked for things for herself. Every so often she would come back to raise money for the orphanage. She worked in Haiti until she couldn’t physically do it anymore. This woman had honor and integrity far above most people I know. What is your life about? Is it just to a acquire things in this world? Or do you have a purpose or plan to accomplish something honorable in this life? Honorable doesn’t mean that you have to go to Africa or have to give everything you have to the poor. It means being true to yourself and God. There are many wrongs that need to be righted here just outside your door. All you need is to open your eyes and see what needs are around you. There is no greater love than this, to lay down your life for another.
Christmas Cheer
We decorated the front porch of our new house. It is the first Christmas in our new home. My wife took great pains to find just the right decorations for the house. Now I am going to electrify it with lights. But this year I am not feeling the joy or exuberance of Christmas cheer. Everything seems to be in place, but the joy of Christmas has avoided me. As I get older, I think about my mortality. I also think about the things I want to accomplish on this earth. it just seems that time is running out. I am also thinking about my parents and younger brother, who died 2 years ago. I am not trying to be the Grinch that stole Christmas. I want my joy back. I do understand that people get nostalgic at this time of year. But It shouldn’t take my joy away. I am mortal and immortal. Both parts reside in me. When my mortality ends, my immortality will continue. The other night I rode around looking at the Christmas lights. Some were just beautiful. I do enjoy it so. I just feel a lose right now. I also know it will subside into the joy of the season. You see the joy of the season is the reason for it. And the reason for the season is Jesus the Christ.
Ordinary vs Extraordinary
Growing up we have dreams of great things. We want to succeed at everything we do. We want to be a hero to our family and friends. It is the desire of our heart. When we grow up, it seems to turn out differently. Even though we accomplish our goals, there seems to be a let down at the end. We don’t turn out to be heroes we saw as a child. Everyone’s life falls into the ordinary category. And extraordinary seems to happen once in a while. Our lives are based upon the ordinary. There are basic things that we do. Everyone grows up, works, marries and has children. However you live your life, the extraordinary comes in when you live your life for others. There are people, who are extraordinary having given their lives ordinarily. And you will never know their names. Extraordinary lives aren’t just the heroes on the battlefield or the fireman or policeman. They are the ordinary people who love so much, that they are willing to give their lives helping others. My mother, a special education teacher of the hard of hearing and hearing impaired, work with twins, who couldn’t speak in the 1st grade. She worked with them until they graduated from high school and went on to college. Committing your life is an Godly attribute. God puts into our hearts the love we need to live the life. And this is what is extraordinary.
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