Needing

Greetings:

There is a great difference between wanting and needing most folks would agree. The part that so often gets confused, one might not be able to distinguish between wanting something and needing something. “I want therefore I need”, seems to be the mantra of many folks today. I can want things out of my reach and be totally miserable because of my desire to live above my means. I can strive to acquire the things I need and live a comfortable life within an affordable parameters designed around my income sustainability.

I need a car but do I need a Cadillac or Lincoln Continental, would on the other hand, a small compact suffice for the need I have. I need a home but wanting a million dollar home is useless in my case and far above any reasonable expectation of affordability. A small home is more easily attained and kept. I want a job that pays me really well but I really need a job where I can receive a paycheck each week, even if it’s only minimum wage.

We want, we want, we want; even our Government is evolved in this lunacy. On our behalf, our government wants to eradicate poverty. I want to see poverty eliminated as much as the next person, but the truth is, it will never happen no matter how much of our tax dollars are spent. The wisest of the generation of Oz has deemed dump truck loads of tax dollars are not to be spared in the education of our most tender minds. Once again, given the track record of so far with dollars to achievement ratios, it seems want is over rated and need is underestimated.

When we boil down the soup we call want, it often turns bitter quickly because it’s unsustainable in a natural environment. Need is always attainable and easily acquired, need is always refreshed by the will of God. Gods will is for us to have what we need, not what we want and its good we live in a world where this is the way of life. Most folks would agree, the will of God is what we need in our lives and the good news is, when it comes to wanting God in our lives, we can have that as well.

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Seven Wonders of the World

Greetings:

Junior high school students in Chicago were studying the Seven Wonders of the world. At the end of the lesson, the students were asked to list what they considered to be the Seven Wonders of the World. Though there was some disagreement, the following received the most votes.

1. Egypt’s Great Pyramids
2. The Taj Mahal in India
3. The Grand Canyon in Arizona
4. The Panama Canal
5. The Empire State Building
6. St. Peter’s Basilica
7. China’s Great Wall

While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student, a quiet girl, hadn’t turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The quiet girl replied. “Yes, a little. I couldn’t quite make up my mind because there were so many.” The teacher said, “Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help.”

The girl hesitated, then read, “I think the Seven Wonders of the World are:

1. to touch…
2. to taste…
3. to see…
4. to hear… (She hesitated a little, and then added…)
5. to feel…
6. to laugh…
7. and to love…

The room was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop. May this story be a reminder to all of us that the things we overlook as simple and ordinary are often the most wonderful, and we don’t have to travel anywhere special to experience them.

Author unknown

What a simple way to express God, knowing man is the greatest of all the wonders of the world.

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The Face of Evil

Greetings:

The face of evil, what would it look like if we knew what we were looking at? Would it look like the young man that blew himself up in a crowded bus taking innocent Israelis with him? Would it look like the men comprising Jordanian armies going street by street systematically killing whomever they can find? How about the guy that killed so many teenagers on vacation on a retreat in Norway several years ago?

The face of evil might even look like a clean cut young man going to college getting his doctrinal degree. That same young innocent looking young man might turn out to be someone who could walk into a capacity-filled theater and start randomly shooting without regard killing men, women, and small children. He could be someone who after all his carnage was complete would have one more surprise, his apartment might be booby-trapped trying to take even more unsuspecting lives.

The truth is, evil can’t be seen just by looking at someone; evil people don’t walk around with stamps on their foreheads announcing who they are. The old adage, “you can’t judge a book by its cover”, is as true today as it was fifty years ago. It’s a shame tragedy of this type is foisted upon us both locally and nationally but it is the by-product of a society and cultures who have eroded their morals to a point where little consideration is given before an educated, clean-cut young man goes on a rampage of terror.

God is not allowed to guide our youths thinking any longer, God is not allowed in public; he name can’t be said above a low whisper. It may offend someone if they see God displayed is some way or fashion but they will openly morn the loss of innocents in tragedies such as these and a national call to prayer will go out. We were asked to pray but for what and who do we pray to, because it’s too late, we sent God away long ago as a society?

 “The Dark Knight” will forever stigmatize the imagination of a nation but it will do little too subside the violence we have unleashed into our lands. We will continue to suffer with these types of rage killings because we have traded our God for chaos and chaos brings violence. The face of evil will continue to grow without restraints and it can even consume a nation, especially one without God.

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The Hand that Feeds You

Greetings:

When I was growing up I always knew who it was supplying the food on the table. It was the same two people I trusted and relied upon everyday of my life. I never would have given a thought of rejecting the food and clothing my parents supplied because I needed the benefits they supplied and had no way of acquiring them for myself.

I never expected to see the neighbor walk through the front door with the necessary things we needed to survive and I probably wouldn’t know what to think if they had. If there ever would have been a time when we had no food, it probably would have been a welcomed gift had they done such a generous act; but it wasn’t their responsibility to feed me and my siblings.

Although we seldom were appreciative of the food and clothing that was supplied to us growing up, we still had a love for our parents. We never rejected the simple things they supplied necessary for us to live when we were totally unable to provide for ourselves.

What does it say about a nation that hates the hand that feeds it? We have rejected our blessings from God and in many cases God himself. What does it say about a people that has lost its identity and no longer knows from whence it blessings will come. Are we now so incredibly blind as a nation to the benefits of Gods teachings and love that we reject his grace and power with little consideration of the repercussions. Can we simply sustain ourselves as a nation without God? As a child I knew I couldn’t live without my parents being there with the necessary things for me to live. As a nation we are more ignorant than a child because we can’t seem to see our spiritual benefactors hand at work within our nation. How long can a child survive without his needs? We may get the answer in the form of us as a nation rejecting the hand that feeds it.

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Charles

Greetings to all:

Charles was unique fellow to say the least. Charles wasn’t the brightest kid; he was short on education and lacked a lot of guidance in his upbringing by no fault of his own doing. He was the product of a broken home and he was the second of four children. He lived with his mother and was going to school part time and working in a restaurant in the evenings. The bulk of his earnings went to support the household and he was able to keep only a small portion for school, clothes, and a theater visit once a week.

Charles was a hard worker when he was at the restaurant and was well liked by all. His manager was a friendly guy but when it came to getting the work done he was adamant. The work at times was fast, hot, and demanding; it was a popular restaurant with the college students and they could be lined up out the door for hours waiting for a good cheap greasy meal.

Charles would dish out the food at furious rate trying to keep up with the demand, all the while the manger would be yelling to hurry up. All poor Charles could do was keep going and yell back, “I’m trying, I’m trying”. The manager would gradually raise his voice higher and more demanding as the night progressed and Charles would more adamantly counter with his usual reply,” I’m trying, I’m trying”.  This went on for a couple of years, the same scene played out every evening like they were stuck in time.

One day it was time for Charles to leave; he had joined the Military and was on his last shift. There were fond farewells and best wishes given unlike any other time he had worked there. The one thing that stuck with Charles the most out of everything said to him that day was said to him by his manager.

His manager gripped his hand and told Charles the one thing that always had impressed him more than anything else about him was, he never said, I can’t. “I shouted and demanded but you never said I can’t, you always said I’m trying”, you never quit.

How do you respond to God when outside demands are weighing heavy on you, are you like Charles and say, “I’m trying”, or are you like so many others and say to God,” I can’t do this anymore”. Like Charles’s manager, what will get our creators attention , is continuing to try, and with Gods’ help and his endless love we will overcome, and its okay to ask for a little help when things get a rough, he will understand.

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Horse of Course

Hello Everyone:

There was one thing I learned early on as a young boy growing up on a farm; animal attitudes are as unpredictable as Texas weather. The worst of the bunch are horses by far. I learned the hard way if they can bite you, they will. If they can kick you, they will. If they can buck you and stomp you, they most certainly will do their best to do so.

For most folks today, horses unlike most farm animals are more of a hobby than a necessity. We don’t rely on them for transportation or farm work like we had in the last six thousand years. Horses can be a lot of fun when they aren’t being cantankerous my wife and I spent many wonderful weekends riding together in years past. They even say riding a horse is therapeutic. Ann Romney used it as therapy for her cancers and attributes it towards her complete healing. Unfortunately, the only therapeutics I received from riding horses was from mending broken bones and cuts, but there again horses and I never seem to see eye to eye.

Horses are very intelligent animals they can sense when something’s wrong and show their uneasiness at the first hint of danger, but horses can be taught to disregard their inherent fears and carry their passengers into harms way at the risk of demise. They’ve carried men on and off the field of battle since the dawn of time up to and including WWII. Even through they can be the most obstinate of beast, they also can be the most noble of beast; they could kill you in and instant or bond with you for a lifetime.

Over the last century we as a nation progressed forward into a time of opulence and carefree living; we no longer rely upon the graciousness of horses to carry us to our destinations. Today, we have the modern age that serves us with cars, trucks and airplanes that does the chores once done by horses. 

Although, we are more advanced in some ways, we have lost much in exchange. What we were taught by simple farm animals can’t be replaced any modern gadgets no matter how sophisticated. We s a nation have forgotten that simple things like horses served us well the first one hundred and fifty years. Maybe it’s time to look at the horse again and consider for a moment its honesty, loyalty, and nobleness and try for a while at least adding these virtues back into our society.

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The Old Dead Tree

Greetings;

I recently embarked upon a chore to remove a very large old dead tree from my property. I have a small Bobcat with a bucket I use to do many landscaping projects around the yard and I thought it would be the perfect implement to push down the old tree. I aired up the tires, checked the oil and finally fired up the bobcat and started my run at the tree. Upon contact the tree shuttered violently and the bobcat abruptly stopped dead in its tracks jarring me sillier than I was.

There was no sense of clarity at that moment just fog; so, I decided to ram the tree again and again and again, until the fog lifted just enough I came to the realization it wasn’t working and wasn’t going to work no matter how many times I rammed the old stubborn tree.

With my brain sloshing about I began thinking of ways to remove the old tree other than the self-destructive course I had just abandoned. I had a chain saw but the tree was entirely too big at the base and where it was located made that option too dangerous. I tried tying a chain around the top limbs and pulling it down but it was much too stubborn to budge. It came to me in a daze while yanking on the tree with the chain, “why not burn it down”. I began piling wood upon wood at the base of the old tree and when I thought I had enough, I set it ablaze. The old tree began burning at the bottom and the wood piled around the base completely disappeared over the next few hours. It took three day for that tree to completely burn away, even the roots smoldered into ash where there was nothing left. After all of that the pounding my head and body took healed and I was back to a semiconscious state, I began seeing a lesson emerge from this whole event.

Old dead ideas are hard to remove; they are like the old tree in many ways. They take up space, they are sometimes dangerous, and they don’t do a thing for the world around them. It takes a drastic event like fire to remove them completely. Ideas are like the old tree they must burn all the way down into the stump and roots to ensure they are totally gone.

Once the area is clear, a new tree can grow giving shade, fruit, and beauty for years to come. Once the old ideas are cleared completely away a new way of thinking and believing can begin and a new way of life giving hope to those around you can begin.

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4th of July

 

Greetings:

On this 4^th of July I would like to give my thoughts on what it means to be free. I was always taught being free meant being an individual. It meant, a person could succeed and go as high as anyone in this country in education or wealth. You could fail or succeed in life, it was up to you. Because this nation is so diverse and robust a person could fail several times in their lifetime, learn from their failure, and still succeed in the end.

It meant we got to choose what we ate, drank, and said, we could choose how we worshiped and how we acted as a person or group. We could choose to be stupid or smart; it was our choice guaranteed by the constitution. It meant we could enjoy the quality of life we decided for ourselves and our families not some bureaucrat thousands of miles away.

We the People, is at the beginning of our honored document. We the people are willing to endure many things too keep our freedoms. We once endured rationing of all kinds of luxuries order to maintain our sacred freedoms and many would be again. Many men and women died in several wars over the centuries for cause and country to maintain our inalienable rights. The blood of Patriots past and present paid the price for the liberties we enjoy today. Every drop of blood was payment for an idea larger than man himself, gifted from God to humanity this nation became a beacon to those wanting to be free from tyranny. Our forefather recognized liberties were from God and equality wasn’t given by status but simply by birth. Our forefathers also realized that government was an uncontrollable beast ravaging mankind without mercy. They saw the need to have God as the governing force and warned against letting government loose, so the constrained it by a very short document called the constitution.

We are blessed as a people and a nation, once we were lead by the principles of the Holy Scriptures and not by fifteen-second sound bites on the evening news. Our children were once taught by dedicated men and women driven by love of God willing too instill within the hearts and minds of the most tender among us the love of God first and the love of liberty and country second. Sacrifice wasn’t just a word but a way of life to many for a greater good. Liberty didn’t mean we had the right to disrupt and tear down, it meant we had the right to build a greater life, community, and nation.

If we would allow God to lead this nation like we once did and let his word be spoken in schools, government halls, and courthouses, and return to the principles laid out in that sacred document. We the People would once again have a country not driven by fear but by the almighty God. Have a great 4th of July and God bless you all!

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