Author Archives: joseph1637

What do You see?

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In high school, my professor teased us saying that we had myopia, near sightedness, for not seeing or understanding what he was talking about. It’s Christmas time again and we are singing Christmas carols. Just like the angels sang to the shepherds watching the sheep in the fields around Jerusalem over 2000 years ago. I want to ask you a question, what did they see? Then when Gabriel announced Jesus and told the shepherds to go to Bethlehem, what did they see? When Mary, Joseph and Jesus stayed in Bethlehem and the Magi (Wise Men) came and found Jesus, what did they see? When John and Andrew heard John the Baptist point at Jesus and say, behold the Lamb of God that takes the sins of the world away, what did they see? When Jesus called Peter to ask if they had fish. Peter said that they didn’t have anything. Jesus said to throw their net over the side and it filled with fish. Then Peter jump over the side and swam to Jesus. When he did, what did he see?

When the Roman Centurion who had crucified Jesus and watch Him die, said truly this is the Son of God. What did he see? After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to the Apostles and spoke to Thomas, saying place your hand in My side and in My hand. What did he see?

Now it’s over 2000 years later and the world is rolling along. We look at this world and wonder how long before it all blows up in our face. You look and look, then I ask you, what do you see? The bible says that you must first believe, then you will see. And if you see the truth of God, what are you going to do about it?

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

What do You know?

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As most of you know that I have lived a long time. I have seen things come and go. And have recognized many patterns to life. Some of them are good and some well, they come and go. I have see things that are good go by the wayside. And some things couldn’t leave too soon. When I graduated from high school, my parents and I bought the ugliest suit you have ever seen. It’s was a graduation gift. Now the wing tip shoes they brought with the suit, I liked. I don’t think the shoes ever went out of style. I have seen many men wear them throughout my life. I never wore polyester shirts or bell bottom jeans. But I did have crew cut hair that I put Dippety Do hair gel into it. That was quite a sight.

I have served in war and seen my sons go off to war. I seen my babies born and held them for the first time and cried. My wife had them all Caesarean section. And I was even in the operating room. And now they have babies. Growing up my family would gather at one of our houses for Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter. That was a blessed time, but I didn’t realize it at the time. Then my family began to die. My grandmother and her sister first. Then my parents went. My aunts and uncles then passed on. My older and younger brother have since died. And I now find myself the patriarch of my family and feel alone. My early years with my family call to me and I remember those times.

Christmas is a special time of year for families. If you neglect your family during this time, you are doing damage to yourself and your family and friends. Sometimes this damage can’t be reversed. I have had to swallow my pride and reach out to my family just not to be alone. Even if they were wrong. I have never been perfect. I have tried to a decent life for my sake and others. But Christmas sometimes overwhelms me with memories. Press through the loneliness and reach out to your family, because one day they will be the patriarch of the family and remember the good times and the bad.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

Pearl Harbor Day – What does it take to go to war?

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I served in the US Air Force during the Vietnam war. I went to basic training like everyone else. I went on to advanced training school. Then I was assigned to my post. I left home not knowing what to expect. Even when I was at my post, I still did not understand what it took to go to war. The basic training I received was just that. It was the basic knowledge of being in the military. Training for war was more of advanced than that. Also the knowledge of war or the understanding of that knowledge had to be experienced. I was stationed state-side for my tour in the Air Force. Three of my sons served in the Iraqi and Afghanistan war. Two came back with PTSD. They all understood what it took to go to war. They had experienced the trauma of war. It’s been 15 years since they served and are coping with the understanding of war.

War is not natural to man. It goes against everything that we are. It takes a little bit by bit of our heart each time anyone serves in the front lines. But it is a conscious decision on our part to go to war. It is not surprising that many people choose not to go to war. There are cost to war. The bible says that before a king goes to war, he sits down and counts the cost. To see if he is able to wage the war and win. If not he sues for peace. This comes from an understanding of war.

Jesus calls us to be good soldiers to put on the armor of God to fight the enemy. Many people when they first start with God are on fire and press against the enemy. I have watched them falter and stop their fight with the enemy. The cost became to high for them. They saw and understood the cost of war. Jesus fought the fight everyday. He did not stop just because the devil was pressing in on Him. People say He is God and can do that. Jesus proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that man can live righteously on this earth. He was a man was all the frailties. The bible says that Jesus learned obedience by things which He suffered. God’s call to man comes with many promises. These promises can be had if we stand up and press into God. It all depends on what you decide to do. Whether to go to war and follow Jesus or not. Yes it does cost us everything we have, our life. But once you have given your life, what else can the enemy take from you? He can’t take anything from you because God has promised.

I saluted all the men and women who have served their country with honor. Some paid the ultimate price. But all gave their lives to serve with duty and honor. God bless you all.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

It’s Christmas Season again.

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Black Friday is today and Cyber Monday is to come. In my many years in retail, my favorite time of year has always been Thanksgiving. People would come into the store with a smile. It is because Thanksgiving as apposed to Christmas, is a time about friends, family and food. There is always too much food and discussions about anything and everything. Unfortunately, Christmas has become commercial. Tis the season to spend all the money you have to try and stay up with your family or neighbors expectations. The real reason for Christmas seems to be shoved aside. Usually for unnecessary things that don’t last more than a few months. I know that businesses have been trying to recover from the Covid pandemic. It seems that the thought of the gift is not as important as the price. Which makes it very hard to give to people. As I have gotten older, I see the value in the thought of the gift, than the price.

My maternal grandmother, after granddaddy died, lived on Social Security. She lived on $125/month. My mom and her two sister’s helped her with the bills. When it came to Christmas, my grandmother had this inner sense of what to get her grandchildren. Her gifts were never expensive, but she knew what to get for us. She would give gifts that were tailor made for us. She was always amazing. She could make cookies faster than anyone I knew. Yes, I loved my grandmother. She was a real blessing in my life. And I miss her very much. I miss my whole family.

Christmas started as a point in time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. He really was born in the springtime, right before Passover. In Israel, winter is the rainy season and no one can travel around the countryside with any ease. Caesar called for the taxation in the springtime allowing everyone to travel to the cities of their birth. When Jesus was born, there was much celebration. Western culture chose December 25th as the date of Jesus’ birth. Saint Nicholas lived in the 3rd and 4th century. His was a bishop of Patara in Asia Minor. He would give food and gifts to the children. This is where the custom of Christmas began. In Holland, Saint Nicholas day in celebrated. He is called Sinterklaas. Translated into English, it is Santa Claus.

Christmas has never been about gift giving. It has always been about giving of yourself to others, your time, your attention and yes your money. Saint Nicholas never sought gifts in return. He did it out of the love in his heart for Jesus. This is what Christmas is about. Find someone that you know that can’t return a gift and give yourself instead. And be blessed in this season of giving love to one another.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

I msut be about My Father’s business.

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For thousands of years, before colleges were commonplace, people would apprentice with their fathers or mothers. If a father had a business, the son and sometimes the daughter would join their father to learn the business. The child would apprentice for years. It would depend on how intricate the works was. Jesus apprenticed with His father, Joseph, as a carpenter. Jesus was called a carpenter. And so it was for many sons and daughters. Usually the daughters were taught home economics by their mothers. This is why so many wives and mothers were in charge of the money for the business.

When Jesus was 12 years old, Joseph and Mary decided to take Him to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. When the caravan was ready to leave Jerusalem after Passover, Joseph and Mary joined their family and left Jerusalem. They thought that Jesus was with the other children playing. The caravan traveled a day journey and Joseph and Mary began looking for Jesus. When they didn’t find Jesus, they immediately returned to Jerusalem. On the third day, they found Jesus in the Temple listening and asking questions to the doctors of the Law. This is what Mary said to Jesus and His reply.

“And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” Luke 2:48-49.

The question wasn’t only to Joseph and Mary, it is directed at us. The bible says that Jesus submitted to His parents and return home. Where He grew in wisdom and statue and in favor with God and Man. What Jesus was asking, if we understood that the Father’s business in our business. And the we must be about that business. You see we are God’s apprentices. Therefore we must be about our Father’s business.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

There is Nothing New under the Sun!

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Almost 3000 years ago King Solomon lived. His reign was extraordinary. Solomon was and has been the richest man ever to live on earth. The Temple was clad in gold. His guards were dressed better than any king or queen. All of his gold was kept inside the walls of Jerusalem. The silver was dumped on the ground outside the walls. He control the known world. His rule stretched from China to Britain. Solomon is the only man to do this, because of God’s gift to him. God gave Solomon wisdom beyond any man including today. Kings and Queens would travel to Jerusalem just to hear him speak. He wrote the book of Proverbs in one day.

Yet with all this wisdom, He said, that with much wisdom comes great sorrow. Solomon could see what people were thinking about as they went about their daily lives. He could see their suffering and pain and understood why. The wisdom didn’t control him, but it began to weigh heavily on him. Reading what he wrote in the beginning of his reign and what he wrote in the end, you would say it isn’t the same man.

The book of Ecclesiastes was written before his death. It is a no nonsense approach to living. It is very matter of fact. There is hardly any emotion in the book at all. Solomon had become jaded of life. It is because he saw too much of the good and bad in life. The book is true none the less.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon said that there is nothing new under the sun. What had gone before shall be again. Thus the saying that history repeats itself. What Solomon saw in humanity is the sin nature of man. That nature that always wants to do evil in this world. It brought him much sorrow. Solomon saw that education, enough food and a stable government didn’t change anything. And people weren’t willing to listen to God and follow Him. There were some, because God has always had His people. But people looked to Solomon as their savior.

Solomon understood the truth. That man can’t live without God. As God spoke to Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” What was true 3000 years ago and is true today. For you see, there is nothing new under the sun.

Crain Blanchard

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

How do we learn?

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Most people would just say in school. Thinking about our formal education. But how much of the knowledge that you learned in school did you retain in life? For most people we have retain some of the knowledge, but how many people have retain that knowledge? The knowledge didn’t become real until they applied it to a practical application. When they took the knowledge and did something with it. How many people remembered the first time you applied your knowledge and it went wrong. You messed up something important. And the world came down on you. Then what happened? We had to face the truth of our reality. More experienced people had to step in the correct our mistaken. If we were blessed, we had someone who could guide us in the right path. Some didn’t. But in either case, you remembered how to apply the knowledge we learned. Even if it is years later, you still remember how to apply the knowledge in a workable way.

Knowledge + Experience = Wisdom. Wisdom = Discretion. This is the application of Proverbs. Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs in one day. He asked God for wisdom to rule Israel. God gave him the wisdom of the ages. He understood the workings of mankind. He saw how everything worked and fit together. No one could trick him. Kings and Queens of many nations travel to Jerusalem to see and understand the wisdom of God. Many people have tried to rule the whole, but only one man has ever ruled the world. That man was Solomon. Through the wisdom of God, Solomon conquered, made treaties with and received tribute from all the nations of the known world. He was the richest man to ever live. Solomon kept all the gold inside the walls of Jerusalem. He dumped the silver on the ground outside the city.

So Solomon past on the wisdom of the ages and taught Knowledge + Experience = Wisdom. Wisdom = Discretion.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

How much time do you have left?

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Despite what you think, you only have a moment. In a moment is a lifetime. We live moment to moment. Even though you think of a moment as a blink of an eye. Car accidents happened in a moment. The birth of our children happened in a moment. Jesus’ crucifixion happened in a moment in time. Your lifetime is lived a moment at a time. All though, each moment adds up to all the experiences of your lifetime. So, how much time do you have left?

Most people are busy with their lives, doing all kinds of things. So why is a moment so important? And how does a moment affect our lives? Think about the exact moment that your life changed? How long did that moment last? If you look back at it truthfully, it happened in a blink of an eye. Why? We live in the present and don’t or shouldn’t live in the past or future. God gave us time. But all we can live is in the now, the present. You see that is the only time that God guarantees. As He says, today is the day and now is the time.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

Disconnected: Covid style…

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I have been watching as people swing from one thing to another. Since 2000, there has been a series of disasters that have modified people’s opinions and actions. In 2000, Presidents Bush and Clinton began raising money for the disaster in the Indian ocean (the Tsunami). They raised millions of dollars for the American Red Cross. People still had disposable income. Then in 2001, the US was attacked on 9/11. President Bush landed in Shreveport at Barksdale AFB to begin to direct the US government from there. Churches began to fill up as people saw the uncertainty of their lives. As President Bush stepped up and took control of the situation, the churches began to empty. Then came the 10 years of fires in California and other states. This disrupted our food supply and prices began to rise. Then came Hurricane Katrina and the shutting down of New Orleans and the port. It cost billions of dollars. Most of all the grain in America is shipped through the port of New Orleans. Then Hurricanes Ike and Gustav that hit Texas and severely damaged the Oil industry. Which meant the further lost of money and rising food cost. Then there were tornadoes in the middle western states. Let us not forget the recession of 2008, when major industry in the US began to collapse. Also, lets us not forget the on going droughts in the western states and the bird flu, which the US government had to kill millions of chickens. Food prices went up and up.

There has been a major disaster every year in the US since 2000. Which further reduced our disposable income. Then in 2020, Covid-19 hit our country. Our health system was blind sided. They were not prepared for a world wide pandemic. Our government overreacted to the problem. It was like watching chickens with their heads cut off. It was total chaos. They didn’t get their act together until the pandemic was almost over. Hundreds of thousands people died during the pandemic. Businesses shut down and everyone was quarantined at home. I don’t know the exact of amount of money that was lost from 2020 until the end of Covid-19. But it is certain that billions, if not trillions of dollars were lost. During this time, people became disconnected from one another, the community, the state and our national government. What it produced is depression and anger. Now days you can go online and find a psychologist to help solve any problem you have. Yet people are still disconnected.

We are social beings and need social interaction to maintain good mental health. If we separate ourselves from all other humans, our behavior becomes abnormal. It is because of our disconnection to other people. I know that we can’t get alone with everyone. But we can try conform to the social norms. This will help our feelings of disconnection and help to correct mental health issues. I am not saying that you have to conform to all the social morays. I have been living for 75 year on this earth and do not conform to all the social morays. But I like to talk to people, to see who they are. I like to do things for people to help in some small way. It makes me feel good about myself, that I am not social, pardon the expression, moron. I am not a social butterfly nor am I so introverted I don’t speak to anyone. The joy in my life is seeing people smile and to feel joy. This is where we become connected to each other and can feel good about ourselves.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

Though He slay me…

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Today I want to tell you a non-fictional story. The story is about a man who lived about 4000 years ago. The three great religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, all consider this man a prophet of God. We are talking about Job, whose book in the bible is considered to be the first book written. Job was a righteous man. He had a wife, seven sons and three daughters. Job lived in the land of Uz, which is north of Jordan, along the Syrian and Iraqi border. He was very rich. Job owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred pairs of oxen, five hundred donkey and a lot of servants. Job was a Patriarch or king in the middle east. He was the grandson of Esau, the brother of Jacob or Israel.

Because Job was a righteous man, God put a hedge about Job. Nothing or anyone couldn’t touch Job. The story goes that satan went to God and asked Him for permission to attack Job. God gave him permission to take everything but his life. Satan believed that if Job lost everything, he would curse God and died. The devil took his wife, his children, his servants and his livestock. The devil did all this and Job still praised God. The devil touched his body with a pox, which was very painful. Job’s three friends came to console him. They look at Job and lost hope. Then they told Job to just curse God and die. After all that happened to Job, he looked at them and said, Though He slain me, yet will I trust God.

Faith is not something that you can touch. But it is something that can move mountains. It is the hope of salvation from this world. God rewarded Job’s faith in Him. He restored to Job, a wife, children, servants and livestock. Job became a greater Patriarch in the end. Faith in God, Jesus, will get you from here to home, heaven, just like Job.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com