What is enough? How much does it take to satisfy your desire? What is the end result? It’s funny how our heart desires things. We want what we want. All of our lives are planned out to acquire things for our lives. In the past few years there had been a minimalist movement in America. People have been going for tiny houses. Houses so small that they are the size of a room in most houses. It is a backlash to the greed that is rampant in our country. But how much is enough? If you gain the whole world and lose your soul, what is it worth? It is unfortunate how much it cost us to gain the whole world. Do you know the cost? Are you willing to pay the price? Understand that there is nothing wrong with having money. It is when money becomes your god that everything goes sideways. When money is more important than people, it is very destructive. My mom use to say all things in moderation. She was saying that you control the things you do and what you own. And do this with balance in your life. It was and is good advice. By most standards, my parent were middle income. They had a large home and a motorhome. We were comfortable. It was a blessing. I worked for extra money since I was 13 years old. I developed a good work ethic. But it wasn’t until I found the Lord did I become satisfy with life. My life has been blessed. My family and I never lacked for anything. If I needed I received from God. You know God spoke to me and told me not to look at catalogs. They gender greed in your life. But more than that I learned a most important lesson about being satisfied in life. God says it much than I. In 1 Timothy 6:6, 7 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes

Information has come at us at an accelerated speed. It is as if we are being bombarded with info. Some we can use and others well. The internet has revolutionized our lives. We live faster than before and die soon than expected. Everybody wants to live forever, but that’s not going to happen. Despite all the new drugs to come out on the market every day now. Life expectance is shorter. It has to do with our lifestyle not our life in general. We gather info faster. It seems that children grow faster or mature before they are supposed to. For a while parents when wanting their 5 year child to excel at school. They put them in special schools to give them a head start on learning. You know what was not so surprising was that all the children caught up to each at 7 years old. Like it always was designed too. Our lives are design to go in a certain way.  We are individuals but in general we are the same. Despite our schooling, or environment or money spent on each of us. There are certain things that will happen to each of us. God gives us opportunity to develop as an individual through our world. But we are judged accordingly by the same standard. Yet we seem to what to change that standard to fit our wants and desires.  But it healthy. You can’t eat like a pig and expect your heart to survive. You can’t go in extreme weather without protection and live. You can’t murder people and expect to survive. As the bible says in James 3:13-17 “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom……But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” (KJV)

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes

Every year families gather together for the Christmas season. All wanting to be with their family and share the food and fellowship. My family, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers and my mother and father would gather at one of the three sister’s home for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. As we got older, wives, sweethearts and children were added to the occasion. It filled our homes with laughter, loud talking, and the smell of food. We are nine first cousins, all guys, and we played baseball outside. Mom and her two sisters planned these events every year without fail. When they started it included their aunts and uncles and my grandparents. Our celebration has dwindled to just my immediate family. Our lives went in different directions. We are scattered across the country. My whole family can be hard to take sometimes but they are my family. I love them very much. The only sister left is my aunt who is ninety-five years old. She doesn’t recognize a lot these days. I went to visit her in the hospital and began to laugh and she said I know that is Crain. Jesus came to earth to give us hope and joy to live this life. We remember once a year the birth of our savior, but look around and see the people. They need the joy and hope brought to us by that little baby. Jesus came for people. It is the only thing that will leave this earth and go to heaven. Stop looking at this world and see the signs of the times.

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes

It is a time I have chosen. It is Sunday morning and time to get up. My cat is there to remind me that I chose this time. And there is no time like the present. It is time to get out of bed. It is time to feed the cat. It is time to write the blog. If my son’s dog was here, it would be time to walk to dog. Our lives are scheduled. There is just so much time in our lives and we have to use it accordingly. I have always heard all of my life how people can’t wait to retire. So that they will have time to do what they want. The sad reality of this is that most people don’t live long after they retire. It has to do with using the time given you by God correctly. Time is a gift that has to be used. As most people have heard the saying that time waits for no man. This is true time is relentless. Time was set in motion by God and will continue until it has completed its course. What will happen at the end of time? God has written down a few things that will happen. The earth and the world are temporary. In the end God says that the earth and the heavens will roll up like a scroll, disappear and be replace with a new earth and heaven. And all the people who are alive on this earth will disappear of the face of this earth to reappear in heaven to face God eternally. Again it is all about making that choice in our lives. I saw a herd of sheep and goats the other day. I was reminded how at the end of time God will gather all peoples, dead or alive, to Himself. And He will separate the sheep from the goats. All the people who are His flock of sheep are gathered into everlasting life in heaven and all the people who are goats will be sent into damnation. Life is a timed event. So use your time wisely and choose God over the world.

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes

What is that saying, oh yea, a journey always begins with the first step. It doesn’t matter where you are going life is always a journey. The journey from being a baby to a toddler, then the journey from toddler to childhood. Then the journey we make from childhood to adolescent. Then we make that all important journey from adolescent to teenager. For most people that journey almost kills us. Then the journey to adulthood is easier than becoming a teenager. I traveled a lot when I was a child. My parents believe that part of our education was to see the world and all its beauty. Which I still believe to this day. There is so much to learn when you travel and see different people and places. All of this gives you a unique perspective. It increases your understanding about life itself. And what this world needs is understanding. My wife had a limited amount of travel in her life. So on our honeymoon, I took her across the country for 2 weeks. We went through the South and up to Washington DC. The first thing she wanted to see in Washington was the First Ladies dresses at the Smithsonian museum. I wanted to go to the National Air and Space museum. We strayed for 2 days in Washington, but it wasn’t enough time to see everything. Our life with God is a journey that we all must take. Many people are afraid of the trip, because it will reveal what is in their heart. That is the most important part of that journey. The only way to be healed is to see what is there. When we do, God is able to deal with us. The journey had always been about becoming whole with God and as a human being. Take that first step with God and ask Him to heal you. And I promise you, you will never be the same again.

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes

I don’t think there is anything more beautiful than a full moon. The bad weather came and went. The skies are clear and the moon is shining. After all it is spring and the rain cleared the air. The earth just righted itself. And I am thankful to God that He hears me and answers my pray. I really didn’t want to be running around in the rain all day. It seems that I am more like a cat each day. I like my comfort. It isn’t always like that. There are times that I just don’t want to see, but I do have to go through it. As God says in every temptation, He always makes a way of escape. So that I or anyone else will be able to bear the trial. I try to learn as much as God is willing to teach me. Because if I don’t learn it the easy way, I will have to learn it the hard way. It is funny how everything is moved through pressure. The wind, the waves, the weather and us are all moved by the amount of pressure applied to us. At the full moon the barometric pressure upon the earth is released. Sometimes strange things happen at the full moon because of this release. But I am enjoying the beauty of it all. It is so easy to find ugly in this world. All you have to do is just look around. But finding beauty sometimes takes time and effort. As you know beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is a lot to be said about looking for beauty instead of the ugly. As God says in Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” {KJV}.

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes

The weather is terrible. Nature can’t decide whether it is spring or summer. There has been a series of big weather fronts for months now. Sometimes I wish that it would make up its mind and quit. But the weather isn’t up to us to decide. Today again there is lightning, thunderstorms and rain. I work outside so I will be dodging rain drops all day. It is interesting how the earth corrects itself. If there is anything wrong it will adjust the weather accordingly. Although it seems that the weather has gone wild, it is only responding to what is happening on this earth. I don’t know if you remember acid rain. In the Northeastern states, smoke pollution from different industries set sulfuric acid into the sky. The earth responded with rain to clear the skies and acid rain fell on the Northeastern states. That is until the government made that industry clean up its act. There is a climate change occurring now. How far it will go isn’t certain? Everybody has their opinion on what will happen, but nobody really knows for sure. There is only one person who knows what will happen. And He isn’t talking to us about the weather. The world was design to run smoothly and automatically. Besides natural phenomenon, like an asteroid, the earth works on it own. But you know that even if an asteroid hits this earth, it will adjust for it. People won’t survive but the earth will. It’s too bad man doesn’t work that way. But God design this earth to be self-sufficient. It runs on God’s command. You know what God says in Matthew 5:45 “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (KJV).

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes

Spring is the hope of renewal. Of all the seasons, it is the one that shows us great promise. Every tree, bush and flower is in bloom. My mom had her favorite flowers. They were planted in the backyard. They were red and white amaryllis. The flower looked like a trumpet announcing spring. I have those amaryllis plus orange, white and solid red ones. These flowers only bloom in the springtime. Spring is the hope of a new future. Hence we have New Year resolutions and the Lenten season before Easter. All this is preparation for the renewal of spring. Thus the saying that hope springs eternal. It is also the time of festivals such as Mardi Gras, the flower festival, the wine festival and if you can believe it, the poorboy festival. This one is dedicated to a sandwich. The biggest festival is Festival International. It is the largest francophone festival in the world. Every French speaking country in the world descend upon our state to celebrate the French culture we share. Hope is so important to us. Without it we wouldn’t believe that things could change and get better in our lives. Our children are a source of hope and renewal in our lives. We want better for our children than what we had. That our children will turn out to be better than we were at everything. And where do you think that this hope came from in the first place? As human beings our capacity for destroying is unrivaled by any other species. So where did hope come from? We have to look at who started all of this world. Go back to the beginning and see what God did. How He put into motion the planets, the stars and especially our world. Then He put man on it to live a life of hope and renewal. That renewal that we all search for is there for us, right in front of our faces. And all we have to do is ask for it. And hope does spring eternal.

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes

I have never made the reason I write this blog a secret. Life is difficult as it is so I have written to show how I make it through the day. I have always wanted it to be simple enough for anyone to understand. But enough knowledge to be informed about what is real and what isn’t. There are many obstacles or hurdles that we must jump each and every day. Some seem soon insurmountable. When my brother died last year, for almost a month, I felt lost. If I hadn’t been able to write about it I probably would have been lost for a lot longer. Sometimes you don’t think things effect you as much as they do. Since I have known the Lord, I have been optimistic about life. Each day to me is a new day. Whatever I screwed up yesterday, it is gone and will never return again. I have always tried to show a way through this life with God. But not as a co-pilot but my Father. He is in charge of everything. There isn’t one thing that happens on this earth that God doesn’t know about or is doing something about. You wonder why things happen the way they do? The world was set in motion by God. He showed man how to live and be happy. But man’s choice was not to follow God. You can’t blame God for what you choose to do. Most times we are asking Him to get us out of the situation. And God is willing to help us through life if we ask Him. He doesn’t carry a big stick and hit us with it. He is a Father who loves us and wants all His children to come home to live with Him. Again it is no big secret what this blog is about. What will you choose to do with your life?

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes

One of the hardest things in my life was and is owning up to my mistakes. I like to think that I am a reasonable and bright man. But it isn’t always the case. I make mistakes like everyone else. I have made some I will never talk about. God only knows what they are. This makes me a human being. I am not perfect. This makes me nervous just talking about it. But I had to see my flaws before I could go anywhere with God. It isn’t fun. It is a pain in the rear. God accepts us just as we are. Afterwards, He begins to work on us to change. When His light shines on our lives, it reveals what is there. I had things tucked away so no one could see it, including me. As God shined His light on my heart, things became visible. And I cried a lot. This is what I was supposed to do. God only worked on one thing at time. So I wouldn’t be over powered by the process. What is happening is am being turned into the image and likeness of God. A process of which is not over. Until I stand before God in heaven, the process will continue in my life. Thank God. As it says in the bible in Romans 6:4 “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes