Walking The Cat

Greetings:

What idiotic inspiration comes over a person who decides to do something that is totally against all rational thinking? I had a hallucinatory dream where I thought it would be a good idea to put leash and collar on the cat and take him for a walk. It would be the fair and equal thing to do since we walk the dog all the time. Aren’t we all about fairness today as a society? Aren’t we supposed to treat everyone the same no matter the type of person, motivation, experience, or education? We treat everyone the same, right! Well, in my twisted dream state, I attributed the same conditions upon the animal world.
Back to my walking the cat, the first thing that happened that should have given me a hint this was a bad idea; the cat absolutely hated the collar. The cat twisted and fought every moment of its application, unlike the dog that goes bonkers at the thought of a walk and can’t wait to have the collar put on, that cat wanted none of it. The next step is to get the cat away from the dog. The dog fairly upset the cat is going on an adventure and he isn’t.
Out the house we go; the cat is heading straight away from me at breakneck speed attempting to distance himself from his medieval captor and his harness that holds him captor. He darts one way, then the other, back and forth unlike our dog who is content to drag us along walking straight ahead. We reach the end of the driveway, and the neighbor’s dog appears and that’s where the brilliant idea hits a major roadblock. The cat heads up a tree close by with his hair standing out like quills stuck in his back. Arching his back and hissing all the while I’m pulling on the collar in a vertical manner. After a half-hour or so finally getting the cat out of the tree, we decide to head back to the house. The cat is only content to make the short journey back to the house attached to my leg. I guess it was my punishment for this idea gone badly. We reach the house undue the constraints from the cat while putting that idea to bed with all the other dumb ideas I ever had.
If I learned anything from my hallucinatory dream, there is a natural order to all things in the universe. We walk dogs not cats for a reason; cats can function quite well on their own. Society is not a one size fits all, we all have a place and we’re all different. Socialism won’t work; it’s like walking a cat, a really bad idea.

Outrage

Greetings:

“Outrageous,” the man said in a defiant tone. “The things that are happening today are simply outrageous,” he continued on. He added, “The news is full of politicians with no conscious, we have cities gone wild, and a government full of corruption, its simply outrageous.” The guards came in at that moment and told the inmates, “Turn off the TV it’s almost lights out for you murderers and thieves.”
Outrage, is expressed by one and all over acts and opinions of others. We’re rarely outraged by our own acts, our thoughts and beliefs seem perfectly reasonable to us, it’s others that are on the fringe. But others may think the things we say and do are in the realm of outrageous.
We can be outraged, insulted over comments made by those whose opinions are contrary to our own, but still be wrong ourselves. We could be right in our indignation, but we probably wouldn’t know since we gauge our outrage within our own views. For instance, Conservatives are outraged over Liberals comments and Liberals are outraged over Conservatives remarks, who is right and who is wrong. It’s clear to you who’s right, but it’s clear to them as well.
How do we gauge who has the right to be outraged? Do your opinions help or hurt? Are your actions based upon goodness or evil? Do the things you believe affect the people within your circle of influence have a positive or negative impact? How does time contribute to the overall effect of your beliefs, do it make things worst or better?
Here’s where I bring Christ into the story. Are you outraged when I tell you Christ is the God of the Old Testament? Many in this world would be, even when I can show them in the following scriptures it says he was, John 1:1-18, 1Cor. 10:1-12, Heb. 1:1-3.
Are you outraged when I say no one goes to heaven when they die? Most wouldn’t accept that belief, even when scripture backs it up: John 3:13 Acts 2:29-35. Well, now I know you’re outraged, I’ll end here. But instead of being outraged for once, see how this impacts your beliefs today and in the future.

My Dog

Greetings:

The farmer came to town on Court Day and saw a man entertaining a crowd with the tricks of his trained dog. The farmer said, “How did you train your dog that way? I can’t teach mine a single trick.” The dog owner said,” its not easy, to begin with, you have to know more than the dog or you can’t teach him anything.”
I think about that as I sit here in my living room watching my two year old wire hair terrier drag our two year old mixed breed cat across the floor by his ear. It’s a constant occurrence between the two who’ve become close buddies over the last year or so. They tussle and play, sometimes at a high level of intensity, but they always seem to end the day wrapped in each other claws, arms, paws, well each other anyway.
The dog can do some things on command, he can sit, shake one paw, high five with another. All this at the promise of a snack or treat he dearly loves. He stays by my side as long as we are in the yard, outside the fenced yard all bets are off, unless on a leash. He would play fetch the ball all day long, if I only could withstand the constant throwing the ball across the yard. He loves squeaky toys, the louder the better. He will get right in your face and repeatedly squeak the toy as if to say. “I can do this and you’re going to enjoy me doing this.”
I say all this about my dog because we’ve become very attached to the mutt. He has a way of laying his head up against you, sitting there almost as if say, “I’m so happy and content and wouldn’t want to be any place else.” His interaction with the cat is better than watching TV and teaches me more about how the human race should get along than any sermon I’ve ever heard. He teaches me about unconditional love, and what it means to forgive.
Yes, he’s a pill sometimes, but aren’t we all. I believe he would give his life to protect us, if push came to shove, I think he would be there between us and danger. Who else can you say that about if your life was depending on them? Yes, my dog it seems is smarter than me sometimes, but that’s okay in this world of troubles we live in today, I’m glad we have him.

When Beliefs Attack

Greetings
A couple going on vacation but his wife was on a business trip so he went to the destination first and his wife would meet him the next day. When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick email. Unfortunately, when typing her address, he mistyped a letter and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher’s wife whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her email, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor in a dead faint. At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen: Dearest Wife Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow.
.P.S. Sure is hot down here.
Sometimes our beliefs are our own worst enemy. We cling to age old traditions that were comforting to our fathers and their father’s before them. Then, being raised in the shadow of these beliefs, we raise our children in like ways. Its, funny, we can see traditions are not always the best friend when it’s someone else traditions, but when they’re tied to our own religion, we’re blind to the effects.
The best example of tradition gone wild, the carnival in Rio – people dance for 5 days until they pass out. Also, in Spain people spend their Sundays watching bullfights. Thousands of Germans gather in tents each year for their Oktoberfest – drinking huge amounts of their beloved beer. But when you add religion into tradition, we don’t recognize the warning of bad traditions. It’s like the heavy drinker not realizing they’re alcoholic, they can’t see the problem staring them in the face.
What traditions or beliefs in your life are dangers to you spiritually? Do the spiritual health check; Is what you do year after year in the name of God not match Christ instructions; if so, you have a problem. Have you searched the bible for a reason you celebrate what you do and you can’t find it listed with the pages; that’s a problem. Don’t let your beliefs of something that isn’t real destroy you. If the women in the story above knew what scripture actually says about the state of the dead, she would have laughed instead of dying. It’s just a story; that’s true, but it shows the shadowy line between reality and what we believe is truth.

A New Page

Greetings:
Every day is new never existed before, nothing new about that, right! But, each day brings opportunities to do things different, see things differently, change our view about our surroundings; we have choices galore everyday. Everyday is a new page in our lives filled with good and bad, sometimes fraught with a bit of danger, near misses on the highways, or even finding the perfect person to spend the rest of your life with.
Yesterday was old news, yesterday was possibly the greatest day of your life, or the worst, depending on your circumstances. You may have laughed all day, or cried upon your closes friends shoulder all night, but that was yesterday.
Yesterday is a turned page in your book of life, it told the story of you and your adventures. Today on your new page, which is yet to be written, is the nothingness that will become history tomorrow. What will tomorrow have to say about today? Will it say, you were good or bad, will it say you were a success or a failure? Will this be the last page of your life? How will the tomorrow be written?
The newest page of all, even after death, will say volumes about you and your life. It will be written by you and viewed by Christ. He will see the pages of your life unfold before Him; how will they speak to Him? What will your life’s book read like to the host of heaven? Will your life read like an adventure, a spy novel, a detective mystery; does it speak like a documentary of sadness. What category do you fit in today? A better question might be, wouldn’t it be a wonderful story to tell the world of someone who was on the wrong path in life, documented in the pages of their life’s book of someone failing in life. Half way through the pages, our tale begins to tell a different story; one of a human turned to the glory of Christ. What a story that would be, a story read over and over throughout eternity to the host of the External’s Kingdom. That story could be one about you, and me, it could be the second greatest story ever told. It could be; all you have to do is turn to a new page.

The Caddy

Greetings:

The golfer was choosing a caddy. “Can you count young man?” he asked. “Yes sir,” said the boy.” “Let’s see how you do,” the man said. “How much are two, six, three, and seven?” “Eleven, sir,” the boy said. “Excellent,” the man said. “You’re hired.”
We laugh at jokes where people aren’t as honest as they should be in different circumstances. We tend to ignore dishonesty when it comes to those that hold sway over us, and who are in positions of responsibility. We don’t become indignant when they twist truth or warp it beyond recognition as long as we benefit from it.
Are our lives truly better when we benefit from a lie? There was a time when we taught our children, getting ahead through dishonest means, no matter whether golf or business, was the wrong approach to life. Dishonesty to ones self was letting yourself down, your, family, and the community around you. We taught our children to shun such practices, to be forthright, and honest, even when playing golf, because if you’re not honest at golf, where else are you dishonest.
Yes, we look at this as being just a little deceitful and funny, but have we laughed at the small stuff for so long now, its becoming too hard to trust anyone. Has a little dishonesty become the norm in many Christians lives? Has a nation of Christians become so use to dishonesty that they can accept anything that’s said, even when proven false, and not just once, but over and over again?
We can ignore the untruthfulness of our neighbors and leaders, Christ won’t, He can’t. Our relationship with Christ is built upon trust, love, and honesty. When He’s looking for a caddy to carry His words to the people, He’s looking for someone who can count the cost. He’s looking for someone who can make all the way to the end and give an accurate account. Are you that person, or are you thinking, it doesn’t matter?

Would You Know Him?

Greetings:

A man asked his lawyer about collecting old debt. “Did you send him a bill?” asked the lawyer. “I sure did,” said the man. “What did he say to that?” the lawyer asked. “He told me to go to the devil,” said the man. “Then what did you do?” asked the lawyer. “Why, I came to you, of course,” the man said.
The devil truly does come in all shapes and forms. The devil or satan as he’s called, has many tools at his disposal to deceive the world, and it’s a world ripe for his deception. Humans, no matter their faith, want to believe they have the spiritual side of things pretty well figured out. They’ve been taught all the ins and outs of the does and don’t within their beliefs and they can put there finger on the culprit called satan. He has different names and appears differently within religions throughout the world, but he’s one and the same being. Satan has troubled man throughout history. He’s played one religion against another with devastation that is off the scales, and its never been more evident than today.
Even within religions, he’s managed to divide and conquer; he has split churches after churches and synagogues after synagogues, and all the while, we just keep believing he’s just a myth. My question to is, “Would you truly know him if you saw him?” Most folks would say,” Yes.” They would notice right away the horns, red body, with a forked tail. Stop and think about that for a moment; If satan is truly alive would he appear in the way you would expect, or would he come as a minister of light as the scripture says. Would he come as someone you’d instantly hate, or a being you’d instantly embrace? He is the original liar of this world, the deceiver of all the nations, scripture tells us. I ask one more time, “Would you know satan if he stood before you? Would you know his church, his people, his ministers? Would you know his doctrine, because all these are mentioned in the bible. Would you truly know satan, and for that matter, do you truly know who God is? I know you think you know, but so does everyone one else around the world within their own beliefs. Now stop and think about it, then get back with Christ.

Wondering

Greetings:

A romantically inclined young lady said to her mother, What made you marry Daddy?” “So you’re beginning to wonder, too,” said her mother.
You might say that’s a funny way to begin a greeting, but I say, have you ever wondered why Christ keeps calling his people back to Him. We tend to stay in the dark with our relationship with Christ. We tend to only look like we love Christ, secretly our actions say something entirely different. So, Yea, I’m wondering about Christians and their relationship with Christ.
Why, you ask do I make this connection with Christ and Christians, because Christ does. He is the husband over the church and the bride is the church, the scripture say plain as day if you’re willing to believe. Ohhh! I forgot, we aren’t supposed to worry about those kinds of things. Because, we have that kind of relationship, one where only one side of the marriage is honorable, forthright, obedient to their vows, that would be Christ by the way.
Man keeps on saying, “I LOVE CHRIST” but I don’t have to do a word he says. Ever try that in a human relationship, doesn’t work so well, does it? Same with Christ, He doesn’t allow that either, you just don’t know it; remember, you’re blind. Because if you weren’t blind, if this Christian nation wasn’t blind, society would look and act completely different. Whether you believe all those scriptures pertaining to Christ union with the church are metaphors or real, they were said and taught by Christ and His disciples. That means, they have real meaning and a direct application for us to live according to the word of Christ.
What made you become a Christian in the first place? Are people wondering why you bother to look Christ like? Are you saying one thing in church and doing something else at home? Its time to show your love for Christ by keeping His commandments, His words not mine, John 14:15. Then, the world will stop wondering; at least, those closest to you will.

Rock Hunters

Greetings:

Here lately in the Harmon home we’ve been collecting a lot of rocks. “What for,” you ask? Well, rocks and not just any rocks are a particular attraction to my wife. She likes unique ones, shinny ones, pretty ones, pretty much everything except regular old dull rocks. We have rocks on window seals, book shelves, on the floor and decorating certain areas of interest. I tease her by telling her, half of Colorado resides in our back yard.
But, as bad as my wife is, my sister is worse. We recently made a trip to Colorado for a few days to bring back a tractor from my property there. By the time my sister had gathered all the rocks she wanted to bring home, we barley had enough room on the sixteen foot trailer for anything else; fortunately we made it back okay. I’m exaggerating a little, we had plenty of room for what we needed to bring home, we just had to inflate the tires with more air.
The world is consumed with rocks, but their focus isn’t on the worldly type. It’s on the extraterrestrial ones, rocks from anywhere from outside our atmosphere are the interest of much of the world. NASA wants to land space craft on the moon to gather more rocks. They want to go to Mars to look at those rocks, and they want to land on an asteroid in space which is just a big rock.
People in this world want all the weird rocks they can get their hands a hold of, except the one rock that counts. That rock was here on earth once but now it’s extraterrestrial, but the rock is soon returning by its own power. That rock is the purist of it’s kind, brighter than any other, that rock is Christ. Yes, I’m a rock hunter too, along with my wife and sister. We’re searching for that great rock, the foundation of all that exists; we’re waiting for the return of Christ. Do you like rocks? When you start your search for that perfect rock, you might be surprised at what you find.