All my life I have never been afraid of working. Since I was 13 years old I have had a job. Back then my parents asked me if I wanted an allowance or money when I needed it. Since I was working I decided just to receive money when I needed it. Even in college I worked. I was taking 12 hours a semester and working too. It was a lot to handle but I did just fine until a romance and a fraternity came along. I have always tried to take responsibility for my actions. However, as things turned out I had to make a choice each day in my life. I won’t say that it was easy but it was always simple. I waited to marry because I didn’t think that I was ready. When I did decided I was 32 years old. The only time I really became afraid was each time I brought a son home from the hospital and held him in my arms. I looked at my child and the realization that I was responsible for this human being. And each time I dedicated him to God. And asked God to take care of that child. What God did was to give me peace. Because you see God is ultimately responsible for each of us. And all I had to do was to see about the needs of each child. Even when any of my children became deathly ill, I was at peace. My wife didn’t quite understand why I wasn’t running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I didn’t have too. All I had to do was my job. Because you see all things work together for good, for those that love God and are called according to His will.
Billy Graham’s death
You can find almost anything on Facebook. The news of Billy Graham’s death, seems to be a sideline. That man has done more to change this world, than any government you can think of. I know because he change my world in 1957, when he led me to the Lord Jesus. He goes home not as a conquering hero, but as a Christian who did the will of God. I pray I can say the same when it is my turn. This world is needing many Christians like him. Pray that God will raise up more.
The Sun also rises
It was raining. The thunder and lightning woke me up. But some people become afraid of this. But I find it very soothing. Because I know that by this act of God that He is still in control. It has a very calming effect upon me. It is like listening to ocean roll into the shore or ducks flying into a lake. There are many things that God does to bring peace to this earth. And if you don’t listen or look for them you will miss them altogether. Peace is important in our lives. It is how we can deal with everyday life. And with the lack of peace can bring turmoil. Everybody wants to find that place of peace or the lack of noise. I enjoy the delivery service because most of the day it is absolutely quiet in the truck. I enjoy talking to people but silence is golden. Each person strives to find that place of peace. For some it is in the middle of chaos with people all around. But when we find that place it seems to us a perfect place. So look for your place today. See if you can find the peace that God has promised to all of us. As the bible says, God makes the sun to rise on the good and the evil and He sends the rain on the just and the unjust.
Time waits for No One
Our lives consists of so much time. When it is used up, it is over. There is no more time for us. We can’t reload time in our lives. We are responsible for the time we are given. We have to use it wisely. It is too bad that we can’t make people use their time correctly. And God won’t make you obey with a big stick. We have free will and can choose what we will. That is why when we stand before God there is no excuse we can come up with that will justify our lives. And make no mistake we will stand before God in judgement. But God gives us opportunity after opportunity to do the right thing. If God is anything, He is the God of second chances and third and fourth and fifth and so on. But time waits for no one on this earth. For that matter neither does it in heaven. When God set time in motion, He did it for man to tell the time and seasons. He divided day from night and season from season. He gave us feast days to celebrate the time of year. God set the stars and planets in motion on schedule having each one moving in time. We went to a reunion and my wife became lonesome for my parents because they are no longer alive. I told her that is what the reunion is about, to remember those that have gone on and greet the new people that have arrived. In other words to mark time in our lives. Time is so important to us because it is a gift from God to help us decide what to do in our lives. It would be a great shame to waste the precious time you were given. Because as we all know time waits for no one.
A New Day
It’s a new day and my cat is just as hungry as ever. She greets me at the same time every morning. She had to adjust her time for day light savings time. Because I wasn’t getting up an hour earlier to feed her. But life is going on. It is time to write my blog and get ready for work. It seems like a regular Monday. But it isn’t. I am a day older and the circumstances are different today. My job hasn’t changed but it still will be different today. I sometimes wish life hadn’t gone by so fast. My wife and I went to a family reunion yesterday. It is something that I have been going to since I was born. Each year new faces appear and slowly but surely the old faces disappear. But it was a beautiful day and the fellowship and the food were good. My 3rd son is preparing a garden in his yard this year. I already have plans for the fruits and vegetables. I started canning food. My parents and grandparents use to do this when I was little. I can still remember when my mom and her 2 sisters, my grandmother and her sister came to the house with a large sack of okra. They use to put band aids on their fingers because the okra had spins. They cooked or I should say smothered the okra and divided it amongst themselves. The okra was very tasty. So God gives us each day to live our lives for good or bad. He wants us to live a good life but it is not always the case. Our free will chooses the path we will take each day. Make no mistake we choose which way we go. There is a scripture that I have quoted for many years about each day. It says, this is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it. I will rejoice and be glad in each day because it is a gift to me from God Himself.
To Life Itself
I went to a wedding. A young friend of mine married for the first time. She looked beautiful and the groom was handsome. Her mother fell off a ladder last Monday and broke her foot and took 7 stitches in her head. She said she was going to the wedding come hell or high water. She look good and her sons helped her to her place in church. They have 6 six kids, 4 girls and 2 boys. The wedding was lovely. It wasn’t over the top. The daughter used her money wisely and planned everything. Even the 86 year old grandmother looked good. Grandma was going to her granddaughter’s wedding to celebrate life. She got up and danced several times. She had to be assisted to the dance floor by 2 men. But she was going to dance at her granddaughter’s wedding. The mother with the broken foot hardly left the dance floor. The dad talked to everyone and danced with his wife and everyone that asked him. The food was good and party was fun. They all came to celebrate life itself. Everyone had a smile on their face. They didn’t throw rice when the couple left which is traditional. They blew bubbles. In all it was a really sweet time for the family and all the guest. This is about what God gives to us on this earth. Life is hard enough as it is, but God wants to enjoy and celebrate our lives. As it says in the bible: Ecclesiastes 8:15 “Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.”
Life after Death
I was in my doctor’s office this morning and we were talking about a dream she had years ago. She was in college and separated from her family. She was lonely and miss them. One night while she was sleeping she received a phone in the middle of the night. She was so tired and sleepy that when she answered the call it was hazy. When she woke the next morning she remembered that the call was from her grandmother who encouraged her. She checked her phone and had received a call during the night. The only problem was that her grandmother had been dead for several years. She mentioned it to me because she said that she was afraid of death. Most people are afraid. The reason is that they don’t know where they are going after death. My younger brother died of cancer about a 2 years ago. He wasn’t afraid because he knew where he was going. How he knew is because he knew Jesus. The bible says that man is held in bondage all of his life because of the fear of death. The bible also says for whom God set free is free indeed. Jesus descended into hell and took the keys of death and hell away from the devil. So that we could know where we are going which is the kingdom of heaven. You see God rules in heaven. Before my brother died, he asked me if there is much pain in death. I told him the pain is on this side of the world. When he died he closed eyes and woke up on the other side in heaven. So the answer to the question is there life after death is yes. For those going to heaven it will be blessed. And for those who didn’t choose God, there is only one place left. And that place is hell.
No Man is an Island
We are social beings. We were made to be with other people. Our lives work together and intertwine with other social beings. Then why do we feel alone? Why is it we have that awareness of being separated from everyone else? It is the most uncomfortable and unnerving feeling to have. Although it isn’t a spatial thing because there are so many people on this earth. You can’t go anywhere without bumping into someone. Or my favorite, to find trash on the ground in the most remote location you have ever been. People inhabit this earth. But what I am talking about is been in the middle of a party and feeling alone. There is a real reason why we have that feeling. If we didn’t have that feeling, we would never know that we a truly separated from our creator, God Himself, and need to join with Him. It is funny how that feeling crops up every now and again. Our need to be social or interact is a driving force in our lives. We need to have relationships to grow and function in this world. Loneliness can drive a person insane. So what do you do about this? I began to attend a new church years ago and no one payed any attention to me at all. It was distressing. The bible says if you want friends show yourself friendly. So what I did was to arrive early at the church and introduce myself to as many people as I could before church started. Soon people were greeting me everywhere. It was amazing. God’s word works and we don’t have to alone and separated. Because you see no man is an island.
In One Generation
During the 60’s, political activism was encourage for everyone to be involved in the shaping our country. Many pastors thought that this was a way to keep the influential power of the Church. It worked for a time because the general thought was that we are a Christian nation. Churches were involved in political campaigns. Many Christians won. More people were interested in programs more than the Gospels. It was and is a popular way to run a church. During the 70’s there were Holy Ghost revivals. People getting filled with the Spirit of God and dancing in the aisles. In the 80’s it was a time of teaching. People learning about the power of God and how to use it effectively. In the 90’s it was a time to work in the world to bring people into the church fold and help the needy. At the turn of the century the world faced disaster after disaster. Nothing was spared. Everyone was vulnerable to the disasters. And it hasn’t stopped 16 years later. It isn’t the first time this has happened. It happened in the 1st century with the new Christian church. Ephesus was the center of Christianity in the 1st century. Read Ephesians then read Revelations. In 40 years, Ephesus went from a powerful Christian church, to a church on the brink of failure. One Generation, 40 years of time, so where is the church today? And why won’t the church hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to us?
Needy Information
I want to talk about information that is needy for everyday life. There are many blogs that talk about all kinds of things for everyday life. I like to can fruits and make jellies. I found a blog about that. It is a fun blog but not life or death. My subject matter has always been life or death subjects. I have tried to make it as interesting as possible to keep people’s attention. I don’t want to become the boy who cried wolf so that no one will listen. But I have to speak the truth in love at all times. It is like a watchman on the wall of a city, if the he can’t trumpet a clear signal no one will know the truth. Then I become responsible for the blood of people who die because of it. Needy information is for the spiritual man. There are many connotations of that word spiritual. What I am talking about is your heart that is the image and likeness of God. We are eternal beings and will live forever. And it is up to you where you decide to live for the rest of your life. There are only two places that you can go to. They are heaven and hell. This isn’t the heaven and hell that man thinks of. It is the actual place that God designed. Heaven is the place where God resides. And hell is the place reserved for people who are separated from God and of course the devils. Heaven is a joyous place where we will live in peace and contentment. Hell is a place of torment and suffering. Each of these places are eternal. They will last forever. So we have to choose in this life where we are going in the next. Choose well because it will be forever. For the bible says narrow is the gate that leads to righteousness and few that find it.
Joseph1637/Crain Blanchard 