All the victories, defeats and heartaches are in the past. We only like to talk about our victories. This is to prove to yourself and others that we are special. That we are worth paying attention too. And we hid all the mistakes and tragedies with as much deceptiveness as we can muster. We fool ourselves to the point that we forget all the bad things of the past. There are good things that have happened in the past and we can make them part of our lives. But the rest is just dead weight. Baggage that we can’t carry if we want to live a productive life. I have seen people destroyed by that dead weight. In some cultures of the past, if a man killed another, they would tie the dead person to their backs. They would carry the dead person until they died. If a person is a human being, then they carry baggage. It scars your heart and mind and sometimes your body. If only we could just dump this baggage and go on with our life. I have struggled with this for a long time and wanted a better way. I didn’t have the power to change my life. But one day I met the person who had the power to change my life. He showed me how I could dump the baggage and live a good life. He began to change my heart, my thinking, and all the bad habits. He showed me I had hope for a future. Even though I had screwed up a lot. I could become a different person. But it was not by my power that I could this. It was only by the power of God could this happen. God said, when I forgive your sins, and not remember them anymore. They are cast into the sea of forgetfulness. And it is as far as East is from West. God will forgive us and cleanse our hearts and minds to the point that we don’t even remember our past.
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Weather we like it or Not
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 sent 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).
What do you think of Yourself?
Who are you? What kind of person are you? Do you think that you are worth anything? How does that express itself in you? What happens when your heart reveals itself to the world? These are important questions that actually change the face of the world. It will start with your world, then goes out from there. Did you know that what you think of yourself resounds throughout eternity? God says that we were wonderfully made by His hands. Yes, we were made out of the dust and water of the earth. And we will return to dust in the end. But that is just our physical body. Our heart is immortal. And it will return to God. God says that we shouldn’t think more of ourselves than we ought. I have known people with the big head, thinking that they were more important than anyone else. They found out the hard way, that they weren’t. Everyone is equal in the eyes of God. As compared to God, man has nothing. We have to go to Him to receive anything on this earth. The bible says, if you gain the whole world and lose your soul, what have you gained? God thought we were important enough to Him to make us and give us a home. So, what do you think of yourself as in God’s universe? What you decide echoes into eternity.
Renewal
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 God’s hope does spring eternal.
Full Moon
The other night was the full moon. As I was driving home I could see the man in the moon. It was close enough to the earth see features on the surface. Although the moon is 93,000,000 miles away from earth. The moon has a direct influence on earth. It directly effects the tides of the oceans and the weather. It’s funny how it affects us so far away. The atmospheric pressure builds until the full moon and then is released. It causes more things than the tides and weather. Crazy things happens during the full moon. More robberies happen, more killings happens, more strange behaviors happens around the full moon than not. More people fall in love during the full moon. It’s like the world goes crazy for one night. This is no excuse for anything, but it’s interesting. Each day is a new day for man. God gives us now to live in. He wants us to be aware of what is going on today. For us to be the people we are supposed to be. We can plan for the future, but we have to take care of now to get to the future. Day before yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day. It was clear and cold not a cloud in the sky. And today promises not just the same. But that is no excuse for not preparing and executing our plan for today. God gives us the tools to do our job each day. We are to take what we are given and use it to make the best result we can. That means studying and preparing for our future. It doesn’t matter what we do in life as long as it is honorable. Living up to who and what we are in this life. It is always up to us what we will become. So choice wisely what you do with your life. Go after it with passion and heart and you will succeed. Because remember that God gives us now to live and have our being. It is also called by another name. It is also called the present.
No Big Secret
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, 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 with our 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?
Gentleness
I can remember my mother being gentle with me. I would just want her to touch me and talk to me. She had such a sweet spirit. My mother died almost 20 years ago, and I still miss that gentleness. Most people see gentleness as weakness. You must be hard against a world in chaos. When I worked for a Christian radio station, I interviewed the leaders of most religious denominations in the US. They all had one thing in common. They were gentle and encouraging with me. It surprised me. I was expecting these no-nonsense men, who led a large group of people. But to a man, they had a tender heart for people. They were gentle, and this gentleness got them where they were. You see, gentleness isn’t weakness as most people believe. It is strength of character. It is a belief that isn’t shaken by the turmoil of this world. How many people do you know that are gentle? You see this attribute in people of all classes. It isn’t one group or another. It is just individual, who belief in their cause and work at it with strength and courage. These strength of character beliefs are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. It isn’t surprising, that these are the qualities that most people strive for. But to obtain these qualities, there is only one place you can get them. They are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They are given to God’s children. But the good news is: all you must do is ask God to forgive you and come into your life. When He does, God will give you these gifts freely.
Before the Rocks Cry Out
I have always been a shy person. I am not boisterous about many things. I get loud when I am shoved into a corner and get angry. But this isn’t the way that God wants me to express myself. God has given me great understanding. I asked God for wisdom. Wisdom is experience and understanding. So, God had to take me through many experiences to teach me understanding. When I asked God for boldness, He put me in the middle of a battle. And I had to fight my way through with boldness. Same was with patience, giving, faith, healing and every other attribute of God. I had to learn not only how to fight my way out, but how to make the attributes of God mine. It was the only way God could trust me with His power to work in the kingdom. But back to boldness. I was young in the Lord. I was driving and came to a railroad crossing. I stopped as the train went by. God spoke to me to get out of my car and tell everyone stopped that Jesus loved them. I froze. The hand of God lifted off of me. I prayed for hours that God would forgive me and come back. I had sinned and God can’t live where sin is. He did and I have learned how to share the gospel with people. As Jesus was entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the people were praising God and saying that Jesus was the Messiah. The religious leaders told Jesus to stop the people from saying this. Jesus said if they do, the rocks will cry out (Luke 19:37-40).
joseph1637@juno.com
The Future
How many times have you destroyed your future and didn’t know what to do? Unfortunately, I can count them on both hands. You know what is funny about all that is that I did it each time on purpose. The first time I was 12 years old. I had an old tire and a long rope. I tied the rope to a tall tree and the bottom of the rope to the tire. I got a 6 foot ladder and climb up on it with the tire. I jumped onto the tire and it swung out to about 10 or 12 feet above the ground. When I reached the highest point of the arc, the rope broke. I landed flat on my back. The fall knocked me out for about 10 to 20 minutes. I had a concussion. I didn’t tell my parents for obvious reasons. It was serious enough to cause dyslexia. How it manifested itself was in my reading ability. In the 10th grade I had a 6th grade reading level. Fortunately for me, my mother was a special education teacher. She knew who to do. I caught up to my reading level and passed it. One of the first things I did was read. All through high school I had terrible grades, so my chances of getting into a good university were almost nil. I went to a local university and was doing pretty good. Until I joined a fraternity and it all went downhill from there. Opportunity after opportunity was presented to me and I threw it away until I was 28 years old. That was when I met Jesus. He showed me how I could be someone special. I had to follow after Him and trust that He had my best interest at heart. I have seen so many things that God has done for me and others. The miracles, the healings, and the salvations that God let me be part of. And all I had to do was trust and believe in Jesus. All you have to do is ask for help and God will answer.
Vulnerability
Growing up I was vulnerable because I believe in the good things in life. Those things were friendship, honesty, integrity and loyalty and love. As I began to grow and venture into the world, I found people who didn’t believe so. I was made fun of because I believe. It seemed to hurt more than I thought it would. By the time I got to college, I was a mean bastard. People didn’t want to be around me. I had been hurt so much I gave up on being vulnerable. No one was going to put me through that pain again. But I was alone. Loneliness is as hard and hurts as much as a beating. It can make people do strange things. I wouldn’t talk to people. That made me strange enough. Yet I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I had a girlfriend in college. She saw something in me and took a change. Unfortunately I wasn’t ready and she walked away. It seemed that no one wanted to have anything to do with me. Until these two businessmen saw something in me and asked me to join them in their business. I was 28 years old. They began to talk about Jesus to each other. They never directly preached at me. It took 3 months of listening before I was even willing to go to church. But when I did go, I met the one person who loved me for me, God Himself. God began to teach how that being vulnerable opens your heart. And when your heart is open you can see clearly. There will always be pain in this world. But if you open your heart you can see their pain. Then you can do something about their pain. Jesus said, I came to seek and to save that which was lost. And He also said, go ye into all the world and preaching the gospel to everyone.
Joseph1637/Crain Blanchard 