I get off from work about 6pm each night. It takes about 30 minutes to drive home. One of the jobs I had before, it took an hour to drive one way. Those were long days. I have worked a 12 hour day most of my life. I am not afraid of work. I have been working since I was 13 years old. And in the meantime, graduate from high school and went to college. My college career was interrupted by a national war. I served 6 years in the military. When I came back it was hard to go back to school. I tried but I just wasn’t as young and eager to go to school. Within 6 years, I was married and working. I tried off and on to go back. When I was 42 years old, I went to school to become an EMT. I thought I was brain dead. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. I passed the National Board exam by the skin of my teeth and became a Basic EMT. All the ambulance companies wanted me to work for them. I declined their offers because I didn’t want to pick up dead bodies on the side of the road. I was a teacher for the American Red Cross. And took the course to teach for them. I literally taught every course they offered. I have worked in so many jobs to make ends meet. I have always done what was necessary for my family. I never complained about it because I love my family. The view from the cheap seats is where you can see most everything but not always clearly. To Be Continued.
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Esteem others better
It is the funniest thing that people are taught to strive to be better than anyone else. We are schooled with this mantra all of our lives. And that if you can’t win honestly, do it any way you can. This has led to many hurt feelings and hatred, not only from others but of ourselves. Well I can’t say that I didn’t do that because I did. And it led to hatred of myself and others. It took a long time for me to get to the place where I would even consider living another way. I had to come to the end of myself. And realize that there is more to life than what I have. I was glad to see another way and hoping that I could live this way. Do you know what happens to a person who doesn’t like or hates themselves? They don’t care what happens to themselves or others. This is where criminal activity comes in. You wonder why they won’t stop. Because they have no hope that anything will change for the better. They are the trash and will do whatever to prove it. And all they needed was someone to tell and show them that they are worth something. I have seen it many times how a kind word or gesture stuck with the person all of their life. I couldn’t do this before I met God. He showed me I was worth something. And hope came into my life. I began changing into the person God saw in me. The bible says it this way. “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
When No One is Looking
What do you do when no one is looking? We were all raised with families and taught values. Some were good and some were not. But our mothers and fathers tried to show us what was right and real. They wanted our lives to be as good as possible. There is a story I learned of just recently. A 15 year old boy who was taking care of his mother who was disabled. He approached a person in the grocery store and asked them if he could help them in exchange for food. His mother couldn’t work and they didn’t have food in the house. The young boy would work for food to feed themselves. He was a straight A student in school. People responded to the need of this family. This boy on his own went out and did this for his mother and himself. What would you do if no one was looking? What do you believe and does it show in your life? The US Army began teaching values, loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. They did this because they found that these values weren’t being taught at home. And as a whole our society was moving away from these values. The need in our lives has always been for living a purpose driven life with values. We all want our lives to mean something. We want our life to have value. The bible says it this way. “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;” Philippians 1:27, KJV. So what do you do when no one is looking?
Not of Works
I have seen many people do good works. People give from their hearts to people less fortunate. I know of one man who was very wealthy and gave half of his income to charity. I have seen my parents reach out to needy people with money or food or clothes. It is heartwarming to see people help other people. I have seen it in the strangest places with a person who wouldn’t be caught dead helping another person. There is something about seeing a need in other people. You see the need because you have been there and understand what is going on. A friend of mine picked up 2 hitchhikers and gave them a ride to Baton Rouge. They were going to rob her, when she offered them a coke and some food. The 2 hitchhikers had a change of heart and told her that she shouldn’t pick up hitchhikers. It was resolved because she reached out to them with her heart. But what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Does the compassion to help people come first or does faith or belief in God that you can make a difference? God is love and has compassion for man. He sent His only Son to die for our sins. So we could come back to God. Good works don’t get you into heaven. And just being a good person doesn’t make it either. God is very specific about how we can enter in. He says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph.2:8,9 KJV).
Embarrassment vs. Ashamed
The shame of it all, shame faced, shame on you, bringing shame to your family, shame and dishonor, clothed with shame are some sayings about being ashamed. My wife has always been concerned about being embarrassed. For some reason she thinks that she will be made to look foolish. But embarrassment is a natural part of living. It is there to teach us and instruct us on how to live. It is a natural reaction with physiological responses. No one likes it when your face turns red and people see that you have made a mistake. But it is necessary. Now shame on the other hand, is a natural response also that will keep us from dying. Everyone is born with shame. It is part of the inner workings of our heart. It is a safeguard for our heart. And yet people do their best to get rid of it as fast as they can. It all has to do with the fall of Adam and Eve. When they sinned against God, they were ashamed of what they did and tried to hide from God. Of course they couldn’t. For the first time in their lives they were ashamed before God. And that curse has stuck ever since. It is important that we have this working in our lives. It does help to keep us out of trouble with God. So when someone says, the shame of it all, you know it is true. Revelations 16:15 “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”
A Second Chance
No one wants to believe that they are going to make mistakes in their life. But the truth of the matter is that it is an ongoing dilemma for man. Ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, there has been a continual effort to make as many mistakes as possible. It seems so inconsistent that man can make as many mistakes as he has. You would think that everybody would learn from them and go on. Unfortunately man is trying to prove that he is god and doesn’t need anyone else. But all he has proven is that for 6000 years is that he still can’t control his life. There is only one way to be able to make the least amount of mistakes and that is with God’s help. We are flawed human beings. I have made my fair share of mistakes. And some have been deadly. One took 15 years to correct. But with the help of God, I have turned my life around. I am not perfect by any means. What I am is forgiven. You see being perfect won’t get me into heaven. But being forgiven will get me there. God is the God of the second chance. Only human beings have this right with God. Even the angels in heaven don’t have the right of the second chance. The disciples asked Jesus about people who offended them. They asked Him how often where they supposed to forgive people. Jesus said to them until 70 x 7, you will forgive a person in a 1 day. That means that you forgive always. And God said also if you don’t love a person who you can see, how you can love God who you can’t see. All this means is that you want a second chance, then you are going to have to give everyone else a second chance.
Association
What do you think about when you hear the word association? Most people think about an organization that they belong to. That is one meaning of the word. I don’t think that there is anyone who didn’t watch Sesame Street television program. They have taught millions of children letters or numbers. They taught them by association. If the number 3 was being taught there were 3 pigs. They did the same with letters. I watched with my kids when Bert and Ernie were on. When Sesame Street was for younger children, my kids moved on to big boy associations. There was scouting with knot tying and camping. Then there was team sports like football, baseball or basketball. And of course there were girlfriends. In each stage of their lives they learned about life through association. I was very careful about which association they could be part of. I want my children to have the best chance of living a good life. And that meant I had to choose for them until they were old enough to make their own decisions. With each level in life they attained, they learned through association. It didn’t matter where they were, they learned from the things around them. This is how we as a people learn. As the old saying goes, monkey see, monkey do. Or as it says in the bible, in I Corinthians 15:33 “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” (KJV).
The Lack of Predictability
In the past few months there has been a series of storms throughout the nation. They have been consistent and unpredictable. Although the weatherman has his computer program models that he can try to predict the weather, it doesn’t always work. I don’t know what percentage of predictions he gets right but it isn’t that good. I will always look at the weather radar to see what is really going on. The same is true about life itself. There are many things that happen all over the place but you can never predict what will happen to people. Everybody wants life to go on with some degree of predictability. They want their lives to have some consistency. So they can live their lives are normally as possible. But it don’t work that way. The people that can adjust to life can live a fairly normal life. But for the most part people don’t adjust to the changes thrown at them each day. If only we had a way of knowing what was going to happen that day, we could adjust our lives to fit it. And things wouldn’t be as uncertain as we walk through life. I know that I have said it before, change is the only constant in life. Nothing will ever stay the same. It is always evolving. That is why many people believe there is no God or at least try to prove the He doesn’t exist. That one thing that can stabilize your life most people reject. I was like that before I met the Lord. It was up and down depending on the way the wind blew. God offers so much to us that we actually need to live this life. And all we have to do is to accept His offer and live. God will never threaten you or bully you. He offers a live worth living. As oppose to the horrible life of obsession, oppression and addiction the other side offers. Choose God and live. You know you only have so much time to accept this offer. Then it is gone forever. Choose God.
Paul’s Conversion
Saul of Tarsus was a deeply religious man. He believed in the God of Israel. Saul had devoted himself to God. He graduated from the school of Gamaliel. Saul went to Jerusalem with Gamaliel to become part of the religious leaders there. He was young and energetic. The leaders of the day sent him out to try and stop the teachings of Jesus and the followers of the Way (Jewish Believers). It was on one these trips that something happened to Saul. He was on his way to Damascus to capture and imprison any followers of the Way. Because Jesus was died so they thought, it would be easy to capture His followers. Saul was traveling with many people when a light shown from heaven. Everybody saw the light but only Saul heard the voice of God. God spoke to Saul and asked him if it was hard to fight against God Himself. Saul was blinded by the light. The people with him had to lead him all the way to Damascus. He was blind for 3 days. God spoke a one of the followers of the Way to go to Saul and speak to him. As the man spoke to Saul the scales fell from his eyes. As Saul could see with his eyes and his heart, he became the Apostle Paul. The Jewish Believers were still afraid of him because he had done much damage to the followers of the Way. The story is in the bible for a reason. That God can take anyone and turn them into a mighty person of faith. God can even take a jackass and make him a preacher. He did this for me. God isn’t stopped by anyone or anything anywhere. God said that love is the greatest thing on this earth. It is a truth. God is love. And anyone who ask can receive from God. This is how Paul was converted.
Darkest before the Dawn
It is a fact that the night is the darkest before the dawn of the sun. It is the time of great turmoil for many people. The dawn has always been seen as hope for tomorrow. It is the beginning of a new day and a second chance. Hope is a fragile thing in our lives. We want to believe that there is a future. But after we screw up our lives we can’t see anything especially hope. And it becomes most apparent in the dark of the night when we are alone. Did you know that it is be design? The term is coming to oneself. Coming to the understanding that we can’t do anything by ourselves. That we need help to live our lives on this earth. That is why the dark of the night affects us so. King David had taken another man’s wife and she became pregnant. Then he had the husband killed in battle. For all that God gave him, he was going to lose his life because of this. For all the torment this caused, it wasn’t until his son, a prophet, came to him and confronted him. That David faced the Lord and the consequences. All this happened in the dark of the night, when David understood that he had sinned against God and was going to die. He turned to the Lord to ask for forgiveness. God did forgive him, but the consequence was that his family was destroyed because of it. If we turn to the Lord, there is nothing that God wouldn’t forgive and restore us back into the kingdom. But that doesn’t always include the consequences. Consequences can be far reaching. It may go on for years. But there is hope in a new day. Perhaps God will change His mind about the consequences. There is always hope in God, when the sun arises after the darkest part of the night.
Joseph1637/Crain Blanchard 