What is exciting to me is that each day is new, a new beginning. It gives me an opportunity to accomplish what I didn’t yesterday. Each day doesn’t mean that I will accomplish something significant. There are plenty of days, that I just slept or read a book. But I have a drive inside of me that won’t let me stop. I have always had a project to do. I could never just sit idlily by and watch the world go by. I have been studying my family history for at least 10 years. I studied the New Testament of the bible. It took me 25 years. Then I studied the Old Testament which took me 5 years. I have written 5 books. I haven’t published them. But I am hopeful for the last one. That book took me 2 years to write. My projects have never been about busy work. I was interested in a subject and studied to learn for myself. I like to read to understand things. I never take anyone’s word at face value. I always proved it to be true. I want to know it is real. Once I proved a truth to be true, I will believe to the end. I was raised in a good home and went to church. But I didn’t believe what people said God was saying to me. I began to prove what God was saying for myself. You know what I found that God isn’t a man that He should lie. What God has said is the truth and can be trusted. You that have ears to hear and eyes to see, believe that God is real. And He will prove it to you. Just like He did for me.

www.joseph1637.com

joseph1637@juno.com

Faith is believing and trusting in something greater than yourself. I know that our faith in mankind has been tested beyond the point of trust. Many times, our faith begins to wane. It is because of the horrible things we see what people do to each other. We didn’t start out being faithless. We had hope of a bright and wonderful world. We wanted everything to work out right. We believed that things would correct itself so our faith would be justified. If you look at the situation with man, you have to look at how we started out. Why does a baby know how to lie, steal and cheat? You would think that a proper upbringing would correct those defects in man. But it doesn’t. Man is born corrupt with sin. Only God can change the heart of man. There is no hope that man can be disciplined, educated or made to change into a non-corrupt human. The only way is through God Himself. When we ask for forgiveness and walk with God, things will change in our lives. God will begin to change our heart into His image and likeness. This is where our faith is renewed and we begin to trust again.  We understand that through faith the worlds were made by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

www.joseph1637.com

joseph1637@juno.com

On December 7^th, 1941, the empire of Japan attacked the United States. Everyone knew that war was coming, but no one knew when or where. The United States was unprepared for war. No one wanted to hear or even consider that war would come to the US. The US had to use what it had to defend itself. It took them almost a year to be able to take the offensive to the enemy. Yet all the signs were there for war. We all want this world to be safe and secure so we can live a good life. God established governments to keep the peace in this world. But they are human beings and are as good as the people they serve. You ever heard of the expression, holding their foot to the fire. It means making a person accountable for their actions. If you want different results, you are going to have to do things differently. It can’t be the same old same old. In 1941, there were people who knew that the Japanese were going to attack, but they were shouted down by the fear of the people. The military has an expression, you prepare to go to war to prevent it. There is truth in the saying. It says in I Corinthians 14:8 “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” (KJV). There is a battle raging and most people don’t even see it. And what is unfortunate is that they don’t want to hear about. The trumpet has been sounded and will be sounded until the end. So, who will prepare himself for battle?

www.joseph1637.com

joseph1637@juno.com

I have never been known as the most socialable guy around. I have always tried to be congenial to everyone. It was always hard for me to reach out to people, but I had to do this for my sake let alone others. Not being so socialable, it didn’t endear as one of the boys. I went to a new church and really no one was talking to me. I asked God what do I do? He said, if you want friends, show yourself friendly. So, the next Sunday I stood in the lobby of the church and greeted everyone who walked through the door. It’s funny, I wasn’t the only person who felt that. People began talking to each other and sparked a comradery amongst the members of the church. I have strived to greet and introduce myself to anyone who was willing to talk to me. Then I began to work with the socialably unacceptable people. This change me in more ways than I can describe. Everyone, from the most important to the least of all, wants to be loved and accepted by someone. I will still shake anyone’s hand who looks at me and greet them. I still open doors for people and try to be as polite as I can. I wasn’t always like this. My brothers and cousins can attest to this. But when I met the Lord and began to follow God, it changed me. It changed me so much that I wanted to reach out and to love beyond a reason.

www.joseph1637.com

joseph1637@juno.com

Each day, when we sleep, we are renewed. As we are renewed for a new day, we have hope for that day. It is funny how that works. It is the New Year and there is hope again that things will work out. We are hoping against hope for a different result. I like the cartoons in the newspaper. I was reading one that talked about resolutions. It was making fun about people making new year resolutions. Do you know the definition of insanity? It is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Do you know why new year resolutions never work? Because we are unwilling to change to make it happen. Change is the key word here. We have to change to acquire different results. A new vision for the new year means that we will change and this brings new hope. It is important that we are wanting and willing to change for the better. I am not making fun of the wanting to change. I am making fun of the willingness to change. It is a struggle that we must all face. The only constant in this world is change. It is how we get from one place to another. God is the God of the second chance. Where we can have hope that things will change for the better. We can get a new vision of the kingdom of heaven and have hope for the future. Because it is God that designed us to be renewed each day that we would have hope for our future. I wish and pray for hope in your life and with the hope in God a blessed new year.

www.joseph1637.com

joseph1637@juno.com

Wisdom is defined as a combination of understanding and experience. I knew when I began to walk with God that I didn’t know or understand enough to do anything. So, the first thing I asked for was wisdom. Learning has never been a problem for me, but stepping out and experiencing the knowledge was new to me. God took me through most everything that I had problems with. It started with boldness. I have always been a shy, introverted person. Then my lessons moved on to faith. Trusting was always an issue for me. I walk out to the hairy edge and back. Sometimes it scared me until I shook with fear. And another lesson was overcoming fear. God says that fear will bind people like rope all of their lives. You wouldn’t believe what I had to do to overcome fear. But that one made me a warrior. God says that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. And that discipline will drive it far from them. One of the most important lessons I had to learn was discipline. Because of the fear in my life, I didn’t listen to many people. I did what I wanted and anyways got into trouble. I needed discipline in my life, badly. I have walked with God for a long time. And I have come to one real truth in my life, that I know and understand very little about God. It will take an eternity to learn everything about God. But where I began with God, was that He is alive and loves me unconditionally. And you what, He still loves me after knowing me.

www.joseph1637.com

joseph1637@juno.com

I was looking at a recipe for black-eyed peas. It looked really good. Of course, it is traditional at New Year to have ham, black eyed peas, greens and cornbread. This meal has been served in Southern homes for New Year’s dinner for many years. I grew up eating this meal and I like it. It is considered lucky food for the new year. But there really is no such thing as luck. But there is such a thing as being blessed. If you can remember an old TV show called Hee-Haw, they use to sing a song about luck. Some of the lyrics go like this, if I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. Well there is another saying, fortune favors the prepared. It is unfortunate that people will hope on luck and gamble their money away. A new year is here and we are expecting it to be better. That is why so many people are making new year resolutions. But the life expectancy of those resolutions are about one month. Then what are you going to do? Is it back to the same old grind or will there be change in your life? There is a way to make a difference in your life and others. And that is being blessed of God. When God blesses, it will stay no matter what comes. And the only way I found of being blessed by God is by going to Him, through prayer or worship. Remember where you can go, when you hope your gambling will pay off.

www.joseph1637.com

joseph1637@juno.com

The heart of man is a paradox. A person, who has no strength or stamina, can, given the right circumstances, do feats of strength. There are stories of women lifting cars off of their husbands. There are stories of soldiers rescuing their comrades under fire, that would have killed lesser men. It is about what a person believes and is willing to do for another. It is all about their heart. Our physical frame can be conditioned to take on pain. Endurance is what athletes want to perform at their best. But to get to that point their heart has to be convinced that what they are doing will accomplish their goal. There are stories of physical and mental endurance that dwarfs normal life. And we aren’t made any different from each other. Our hearts function as one person. Each person is an individual, but our hearts are made from the same thing. That is where the paradox comes in. Everybody believes something and it affects our lives. But put people in the same circumstance they will act as one. My example is the floods in Louisiana in August. There were many stories of the Cajun navy. The same thing happened during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It is a paradox, that people’s heart reached out to others in need. So, it comes down to what you believe and what you are willing to risk. We can be vulnerable and strong at the same time.

www.joseph1637.com

joseph1637@juno.com

The food for the holidays was very good. I have started thinking about how long it will take to lose the pounds I gained. If it would only be as easy to lose weight as it was to gain it. Have you started rehearsing those new year resolutions yet? How many do you think you are going to keep? There was a cartoon today, where one person was asking the other when was the best time to join those hard to get into health gyms? The other guy said February 1^st. All those new year resolutions don’t last very long. They are not worth much, because it takes convictions to really change. You must believe and trust that your decision is the right one. I have done Daniel’s fast three times in my life. And I will tell you a truth, it gets harder each time. If you don’t know Daniel’s fast is 21 days on, in my case, water. The first time I did it, I lost 55lbs. I kept it off for about 10 years. Then I slowly gain the weight back, but it took almost 20 years. There is nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight or learn a new skill. It is the follow through that really counts. I can almost see the new year. It is just around the corner. I am hopeful that this year will be better than, let say the last few years. And it will be if you commit yourself to the truth and follow after God. I don’t want to talk about the other path, because it is just hurtful. Turn around and look at the new year. It is here already.

www.joseph1637.com

joseph1637@juno.com

Christmas was a very nice day. We spent it at my brother’s house. The food was good and we had plenty of it. I told my wife that we shouldn’t cook so much because it was a small gathering. We even brought storage containers to bring food back. We exchanged gifts and they were very thoughtful ones. It is not the quantity of gifts that count. We watched basketball games. My son and wife like the San Antonio Spurs. I just like San Antonio. I am not into basketball, though my sons did play it in high school. I do love turkey and dressing. Of course, there was ham and pork. And I made the desert, a bourbon caramel pecan cheesecake. It took a while to eat desert. We had to let our food to settle. I have had Christmases where there was nothing but noise from morning to night. We sat on my brother’s patio. The weather was mild and a cool breeze blew. We were able to talk to each other and about everything. It was a real blessing to be at their house. I wish it could have lasted longer. It seems that my days go by in a whirlwind. It funny, because when I was young, time moved at a snail’s pace. When I left home for college, it began to move faster. As I got older, my life moves like a freight train speeding by. But I am grateful for the times I have with my family. I just wish more of my family could have been with us. Now that Christmas is over and the New Year approaches, I pray that your new year is blessed and filled with the Joy of the Lord. May the Lord bless and keep you.

www.joseph1637.com

joseph1637@juno.com