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).

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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.

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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 (Christians). 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 Christians 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 the 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.

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is as individual as we are. It has always been up to our perception of things. Yet there are things that are universally beautiful. For instances, a rose is a rose, is a rose, by any other name. The shape, the fragrance is unmistakable, a perfect symbol of love and beauty. And then who would call an aardvark beautiful, except for a few naturalists. Yet it is beautiful. Or what would you say to a jackass or a hairless Chihuahua? They are perfect in their own way. When God made people and things on the earth, He made them individual and beautiful. Even a wild rose in the middle of a trash pile is beautiful. So why can’t we see the beauty in people who are different? People or things that are different are usually shunned. As if it is a terrible different, we turn our backs to it and don’t even recognize it exists. I have said before that I like to open doors or smile at people. I look for the heart of a person, not the outward exterior. You would be surprised at the tenderness of people’s heart when you express yourself. I have had very few people not respond to my acts of kindness. God said we are like a fountain of water. As it pours out of us, how can sweet and sour water flow out of our hearts? Bitter water spoils the sweet water. Yet if you listen to people you can hear the bitter. That is why an act of kindness is always appreciated by most people. And even the hardest of hearts will crack with a kind word. So look for the beauty in this world and you will be surprised at what you will find. I wish for all of you a good day, especially if it is storming outside. For this is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it.

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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 forgive him. 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.

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There is a hole in our lives. We are always seeking to fill it up. Most people don’t what is missing in their lives. But are willing to look for this missing piece to fill that hole. It starts very early in life. As kids we look for something important for our lives. Most want to firemen, policemen, soldiers or doctors. They think that will fill the void in their lives. As we get older we look in different directions. When girls come into view, then we need money to pursue that direction. Depending on whether or not we go on to college, which is a whole new avenue, our search intensifies. But somehow in the back of my mind I knew what would fill that hole. I started drinking in college with buddies. It continued after college without the buddies. I was drinking up to 10 mixed drinks at one sitting. I knew I had to quit. Finally I walked away from it and never regretted that decision. I was 28 years old and still didn’t fill the void in my life. I was miserable. I began seeking a new job opportunity which turned into a calling. As these businessmen introduced me to the one person who could fill the hole in my life. To my surprise the person was always there waiting for me to turn around and see Him. Of course that person is Jesus. He began to fill the hole in my life, not with booze, or drugs, or sex. He filled my life with love, joy and peace. And I became whole for the first time in my life. As the bible says, in Matthew 6:28-32 “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:….. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

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What is enough? How much does it take to satisfy your desire? What is the end result? It’s funny how our heart desires things. We want what we want. All of our lives are planned out to acquire things for our lives. In the past few years there had been a minimalist movement in America. People have been going for tiny houses. Houses so small that they are the size of a room in most houses. It is a backlash to the greed that is rampant in our country. But how much is enough? If you gain the whole world and lose your soul, what is it worth? It is unfortunate how much it cost us to gain the whole world. Do you know the cost? Are you willing to pay the price? Understand that there is nothing wrong with having money. It is when money becomes your god that everything goes sideways. When money is more important than people, it is very destructive. My mom use to say all things in moderation. She was saying that you control the things you do and what you own. And do this with balance in your life. It was and is good advice. By most standards, my parent were middle income. They had a large home and a motorhome. We were comfortable. It was a blessing. I worked for extra money since I was 13 years old. I developed a good work ethic. But it wasn’t until I found the Lord did I become satisfy with life. My life has been blessed. My family and I never lacked for anything. If I needed I received from God. You know God spoke to me and told me not to look at catalogs. They gender greed in your life. But more than that I learned a most important lesson about being satisfied in life. God says it much than I. In 1 Timothy 6:6, 7 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”

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Information has come at us at an accelerated speed. It is as if we are being bombarded with info. Some we can use and others well. The internet has revolutionized our lives. We live faster than before and die soon than expected. Everybody wants to live forever, but that’s not going to happen. Despite all the new drugs to come out on the market every day now. Life expectance is shorter. It has to do with our lifestyle not our life in general. We gather info faster. It seems that children grow faster or mature before they are supposed to. For a while parents when wanting their 5 year child to excel at school. They put them in special schools to give them a head start on learning. You know what was not so surprising was that all the children caught up to each at 7 years old. Like it always was designed too. Our lives are design to go in a certain way.  We are individuals but in general we are the same. Despite our schooling, or environment or money spent on each of us. There are certain things that will happen to each of us. God gives us opportunity to develop as an individual through our world. But we are judged accordingly by the same standard. Yet we seem to what to change that standard to fit our wants and desires.  But it healthy. You can’t eat like a pig and expect your heart to survive. You can’t go in extreme weather without protection and live. You can’t murder people and expect to survive. As the bible says in James 3:13-17 “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom……But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” (KJV)

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Every year families gather together for the Christmas season. All wanting to be with their family and share the food and fellowship. My family, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers and my mother and father would gather at one of the three sister’s home for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. As we got older, wives, sweethearts and children were added to the occasion. It filled our homes with laughter, loud talking, and the smell of food. We are nine first cousins, all guys, and we played baseball outside. Mom and her two sisters planned these events every year without fail. When they started it included their aunts and uncles and my grandparents. Our celebration has dwindled to just my immediate family. Our lives went in different directions. We are scattered across the country. My whole family can be hard to take sometimes but they are my family. I love them very much. The only sister left is my aunt who is ninety-five years old. She doesn’t recognize a lot these days. I went to visit her in the hospital and began to laugh and she said I know that is Crain. Jesus came to earth to give us hope and joy to live this life. We remember once a year the birth of our savior, but look around and see the people. They need the joy and hope brought to us by that little baby. Jesus came for people. It is the only thing that will leave this earth and go to heaven. Stop looking at this world and see the signs of the times.

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It is a time I have chosen. It is Sunday morning and time to get up. My cat is there to remind me that I chose this time. And there is no time like the present. It is time to get out of bed. It is time to feed the cat. It is time to write the blog. If my son’s dog was here, it would be time to walk to dog. Our lives are scheduled. There is just so much time in our lives and we have to use it accordingly. I have always heard all of my life how people can’t wait to retire. So that they will have time to do what they want. The sad reality of this is that most people don’t live long after they retire. It has to do with using the time given you by God correctly. Time is a gift that has to be used. As most people have heard the saying that time waits for no man. This is true time is relentless. Time was set in motion by God and will continue until it has completed its course. What will happen at the end of time? God has written down a few things that will happen. The earth and the world are temporary. In the end God says that the earth and the heavens will roll up like a scroll, disappear and be replace with a new earth and heaven. And all the people who are alive on this earth will disappear of the face of this earth to reappear in heaven to face God eternally. Again it is all about making that choice in our lives. I saw a herd of sheep and goats the other day. I was reminded how at the end of time God will gather all peoples, dead or alive, to Himself. And He will separate the sheep from the goats. All the people who are His flock of sheep are gathered into everlasting life in heaven and all the people who are goats will be sent into damnation. Life is a timed event. So use your time wisely and choose God over the world.

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New E-Book: Le Dragon Rouge et ses soldats fantômes