Monthly Archives: January 2025

What Remains the Same?

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If you look at the news of the day, you will see our President, (USA), undoing as much as possible the previous administrations policies. For good or bad, this President believes himself to be right. Just as the last President did. It all depends on what you believe is right. I have a riddle for you to solve. I wrote this riddle 12 years ago. I’ll give the answer at the end of the blog.

What remains the same and is constantly changing? and why?

My life has changed in this past 12 years. 2 of my brothers have died. I have 4 grandchildren. 6 major hurricanes and a state wide flood have occurred in Louisiana. My house was under a 1 ½ feet of water for a week. Not everything was destroyed in the flood. Which I am very grateful. We found a brand new house and bought it. I have maintain relatively good health. My poor wife has had multiple surgeries for broken bones. She tries hard to move fast as she can and ends up falling and breaking something. C’est Malheureux. When Covid came, everything shut down. So many people lost their jobs. It was a time of great uncertainty. It could have been a real disaster in this country, if the government has not done something. But there has been a lingering distrust of government since the end of Covid. We just had a record snow fall of 10 inches in South Louisiana. South Louisiana is what you would call semi Tropical. This snowfall has happened twice in my life time. It seems like nothing remains the same.

Now let me give you the riddle.

What remains the same and is constantly changing? and Why?

The answer is Man. The constant or the same is change. Ecclesiastes 1:9 “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

Snow in South Louisiana.

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South Louisiana is known for hot summers and mild winters. We have blistering heat and high humidity. Our water table or sea level is about 35 feet below my house. We have rivers running through almost everywhere. The only state that has bigger misquitoes is Alaska. We have alligators, bobcats, muskrats, beavers, nutra rats and crawfish. And all of those animals have recipes for them. I’m joking, except for the alligators and crawfish. South Louisiana is called Bayou Country. The French Acadians came to Louisiana when there was nothing but bayous and misquitoes. They settled here and populated the state. I’m French and Irish. My french family settled in North Louisiana. Then moved to Lafayette.

All my life the weather patterns have changed drastically. If we had a cold winter, we had hurricanes in the summer. If it was a mild winter, then we had a blistering heat in the summer. I can remember days that were 100 degrees with 100% humidity and it wasn’t raining. Louisiana is a green state, beautiful oak and magnolia trees everywhere. So to my surprise, when an arctic storm to come through from Texas to Georgia.

As I am writing this, it is 12 degrees Fahrenheit with about 10 inches of snow on the ground. The last time that I saw cold and snow like this was when I was 8 years old in 1957. Everything is white and beautiful. The snow will stay for another 2 days. It is suppose to warm up to 70 degrees this weekend. Which means all the snow will be gone. Life changes every day. Nothing remains the same. This is the true test of life. If you can survive the change. This is a challenge that everyone faces. And not everyone survives.

I struggled when this change until I couldn’t go on. I was about 28 years old. Some dear friends lead me to the truth. I couldn’t survive the changes in my life without one person changing my life for the better. Of course, I am talking about Jesus and His life changing ways. I gave in and decided His way was better than mine. I have never regretted that decision. Whatever the weather does outside, my life is set on achieving one goal. That goal is to make it to heaven and to live with God, my Father and Jesus, my older Brother, forever.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

What do Other People see?

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Perception is an important tool in our arsenal. It is not just what we see, but it is what we understand. It is easy not to see what the truth is and make a mistake. Perception is tricking if you don’t know what you are looking at. It is like the old saying, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Whether it is a person, place or thing. We have to get to know who or what is there, personally. Sometimes it is hard to do that and people just give up on trying. And in that moment they make a judgment call, whether it is right or wrong. The strangest thing is that man believes that his perception of himself is right. Sometimes it is true, but I think it is just bravado.

You know what is funny(interesting) is that other people can see us for who we are. They can see the real us faster than we can. There is a real reason for that. What they see in us is a reflection of themselves, whether good or bad. Everyone says that they are an individual. They are unique in this world. It is true that we are individuals, but we are more similar to each other than we want to acknowledge. Cultural differences make us unique, not different. And just because of the pigment of our skin, it does not mean that we are not the same. We are born, we live and we die. There is no difference. We are not going to get along with everybody, but we can at least try to understand who they are. So that we can have a better perception of who we are.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

The Value of Age.

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As a person gets older, it is expected that wisdom follows. Wisdom is a combination of experience and knowledge. There is a famous saying, that has been written on many walls, knowledge is power. But the sad part of that saying is that knowledge is not power. It is knowledge (understanding) + experience = wisdom, then it is wisdom applied that equals power. As a young man so many things were handed to me. First, my parents paid for my college tuition and books. All I had to do is work for spending money. I worked at a burger place on campus. All the social things got in the way of my college education and I failed. If that was not enough, it was the height of the Vietnam war. And I was #41 in the draft. I did not learn what I was supposed to. It was not the college work, it was the living skills.

I fumbled around for a few years, until I decided that I was going to get my life on tract for success. Once I became focused on living up to my potential, I began working toward that goal. It took hard work and many hours to get wisdom in my life. I did not succeed in all my endeavors. But the ones that I did succeed in were great. I truly believe that the failures keep a person balanced in life. If all you have is success, where is the growing part of your life? It is true that we grow in all our failures or completely fail.

It took a lot of wisdom to keep me from becoming bitter about life. I had to apply the wisdom I had learned to keep my on track. All of my paths were lonely. I alone had to figure out what was the best way for me. I had to struggle against myself to accomplish my goals. This is how we succeed.

I worked retail for 35 years. Then I began to write. I have always wanted to write, even when I was young. I have written 5 books so far. Only published one and had one on Kindle. I have been blogging for 9 years, Joseph1637.com. It has been very interesting. I even had one blog go viral. It was Disconnect 1.0. It went around the world. I had comments from most every country, starting in Europe, to the Middle East, then Asia, then Australia and back to America. There were over 15,000 comments in one month. I have followers in China, Europe, South America and North America. Success is relative. But I have enjoyed the success that I have received. I understand, just like the roman generals after their victories that paraded in Rome, Glory is Fleeting.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

The Will of God.

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The bible says that Jesus made everything including earth. After God set everything up and gave it to man, man rejected God. It was by God’s will that the earth and mankind be made to share with Him all that God has. God has continually tried to bring man back into the fold. God has not given up on mankind. But mankind has given up on God. Ever since Adam and Eve received the knowledge of good and evil, man has declared his godhood. He can do what ever he wants. The only problem with that is that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Then mankind does not have the power to correct his mistakes. In which they lead to death and destruction. That is why there is so much devastation in this world.

God has from the beginning intervened in the affairs of man. He has tried and with some success, helped man to create a stable world to live in. It is funny, interesting, that man knows and proclaims who the devil is. But is unwilling to confess the same for God. In 1982, a US Congressman, who was dying of cancer, tacked a bill on the wall of Congress for anyone to sign. This bill would proclaim that 1983 was the Year of the Bible in the US. It didn’t go through any committee or any debate. It was just up to the Congressmen and Senators to sign if they wanted it to become law. Well it passed and the President Reagan signed into law. It was the first time in 2000 years that any government had acknowledged God. The GNP for the US increased by 100% over the passed 20 years. People became wealthy by the will of God.

The bible is a written history of what God has said and done for mankind. In every case, those people who did the will of God have prospered. And those who did not, fail in their efforts. We ,with free will, have to decide if we are going to do the will of God. God did not make His will complicated. He made it simple for man to follow. But we have to decide what we are going to do. I would ask you and implore you to follow God. This is the only way that we will succeed in this life and in the world to come. Yes there is another world. It only has two place to go to. There are heaven, God’s home, and hell, the devil’s home. God does not send anyone to hell. Anyone who goes to hell has to choose to go there. Although God is sovereign with all power to do anything, we have to choose where we are going after death on this earth. God’s will is there for anyone to choose. And I highly recommend to follow God home to heaven.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com