Friday, September 27, 2013

The Right to Defend the Truth

Concordia, Kansas

The Right to Defend Truth


It came as a surprise when on my wall I found a posting of someone sharing what they believe to be truth. Share it on your wall I might chuckle and move on but share it on MY  wall, and I have every right to defend what I see to be truth.

The post read something like this:
Should we be suprised? Not at all, because God created ALL animals during the week of creation. He also made man. We lived together with ALL of God's creation. Job 40 speaks of the behemoth, a large sauropod dinosaur. There are references to the leviathan- a sea dragon which was perhaps an aquatic dinosaur. The evidence is there if you come seeking answers with an open heart.

Seeking answers? With an open heart? Really? The pic attached went on to try and show some kind of ‘proof’ that man and dinosaurs were created on the SAME DAY!  Say what? Man is millions of years old? That is truly news to me, and I find it a quite hard truth to swallow. I was not and am not seeking answers, but this was posted on MY WALL. Thanks for sharing what YOU believe in but it is not the same thing ‘I’ believe in!

I went on to say that is fascinating to find out that MAN is millions of years old, where they went on to say, “Millions is a gross error.”  Oh dear, the very scientific proof you posted is NOT a gross error? Hmm… it’s the internet. A pic was attached to it, so we know how factual that is, right?

So is man and dinosaurs thousands of years old? Just a million? What?

I replied: So let me try and wrap my blonde brain around this: Man and dinos cohabitated. God put them here, gave Adam a pen and paper and said, "Start writing this down." Then the flood wiped out all the dinos, (except a few stragglers, like the LochNess monster) then Noah conveniently remembered the tale of the beginning of time, decided to start taking notes himself, and a thousand or so years later, scientist started trying to find the 'beginning of time'??? I'm confused now. Sure makes me want to toss my bible out the window.

The discussion took a turn. I was called ‘being negative.’ For what? Not believing your truth? My apologies, but you don’t believe MY truth either. What I believe to be true was trying to be shattered like a mirror on the floor. Was God a liar? NO!! I went to bed and prayed for an answer.

I arose the next day to the answer in Apologetics – defending my faith. Something I never felt I necessarily had to do but here I was. My defense— yes, found on an Apologetic web site –AFTER I drank in what GOD himself delivered to me.

Although some Christians claim the days of creation are exactly 24-hours in length, it is apparent from the literal reading of the Genesis 1 text that this is not so. Two days stand out, in particular. On the third day, God created the plants. The particulars are important, so let's look at what Genesis 1 says:

Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:11-12)

The interesting part of the account is that God did not create the plants in the manner we might assume He did. Instead of creating a world filled with full-grown plants, God actually created seeds and planted those. We understand this from the word "sprout," which refers to God allowing the earth to produce plants through germination (sprouting). The Hebrew word dasha tells us that God used processes identical to what we see on the earth today. Plants spouted, grew to maturity, and produced seeds. Several kinds of plants are described. The Hebrew word deshe refers primarily to grasses; the word eseb refers primarily to herbs and the words peri ets refer to fruit trees. Some Christians claim that God could have sped up the process so that it all this sprouting and growing happened within a period of 24-hours. However, the text clearly states that the land produced the vegetation and trees. Conjecture about what God could have done to speed up the process have no biblical support and directly contradict what the text actually says. Since fruit trees take several years to mature and produce fruit, the third "day" must have been at least several years long.

It went on to say:

The sixth day was also a very busy "day." On the sixth day, God created the nephesh (soulish) animals, including the wild animals (carnivores), cattle (herbivores) and "creeping things" (rodents?) (Genesis 1:25). Then God created Adam, the first man (Genesis 1:27, 2:7). He placed the man into a special garden that He had planted (Genesis 2:8). Again, God was playing farmer by planting the garden and letting it grow (Genesis 2:9). Adam was placed into the garden "to work it and take care of it" (Genesis 2:15). We don't know how long Adam worked the garden before God gave him another assignment. However, it wouldn't have been much "work" if Adam was there for less than 24 hours. Next, God had Adam give names to "all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air" (Genesis 2:19). The process would have required Adam naming tens of thousands of species (minimum). Even naming one animal every ten seconds would have taken Adam several days, at minimum. Then God put Adam to sleep and created Eve from part of Adam's side (Genesis 2:22-23). Adam's response to Eve's creation is also telling, since upon seeing Eve for the first time, Adam said "at last." This is not exactly the response one would have expected from a man who had waited for less than one day (or else Adam was the most impatient man in the history of humanity). So, we must conclude that the sixth day was much longer than 24 hours, and probably took at least several years, based on Adam's response.

And on:
Besides the biblical evidence that at least some of the Genesis "days" are long periods of time, Genesis 2:4 refers to all 6 days of creation as one day:

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. (Genesis 2:4)

In addition, the seventh day of Genesis is not closed:

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2:3)

In all other days the text says, "there is the evening and the morning, the n day." In the book of Hebrews, the author tells us to labor to enter into God's seventh day of rest:

"For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"... Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:4-11)

By any calculation, God's seventh day of rest from creating has been at least 6,000 years long, since it continues to today. God's seventh day of rest from creating will end when He creates the new heavens and new earth.

And on:

Age of the earth according to science
The age of the earth can be measured by numerous different techniques, most of which provide just a minimum age. The absolute age of the earth has been most accurately measured through radioactive decay of its rocks. Because of plate tectonics (which recycles the earth's crust) and the late heavy bombardment, none of the original rock formations appear on the surface of the earth at this time. So, the oldest known rock formations have been dated to 4.0-4.2 billion years old. However, tiny zircons, some of the hardest minerals on earth, have survived these catastrophic events and have been reliably dated to 4.4 billion years old. Rocks returned from the Apollo moon missions, along with meteorites derived from Mars have been dated at 4.5 billion years old. Meteorites from the solar system that have landed on the earth have been dated to 4.56 billion years old, which establishes the date at which the solar system and all its worlds were created.

This is what God placed on my heart to defend MY faith. The poster stomped off and in an immature and VERY un-Christianlike manner, never spoke to me again.

All because I don’t believe man and dinosaurs cohabitated?

My wall, I defend. Your wall, I chuckle and move on.

You writer, don’t sell something you don’t have 100% TRUTH in. Back it up or look a fool!

Thank you for bearing with me through this week-long series. I needed closure to this, and I got it.

God Bless!

1 Peter 3:15 "But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence," 1 Peter 3:15


Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Truth Shall Set You Free


I’m not sitting on a high horse of preaching this week, I’m just trying to show you that in writing, readers can see through any lies that you dish out. If you try to con a person into believing what you say to be true, you better have some hard evidence on where you’re coming from.

I don’t mean for you to search google to find the truth, I mean research everything you know to be truth because if it is shallow truths from google, you’re surely going to be caught in the web of lies.

By doing the research for your readers, the truth will set you free and the reader free in allowing them to open up to your words and trusting what you have to say. If you are not sure if it is solid truth you stand on, then you better have something to back up in the way of proving your stance.

This is usually why I stand on biblical truth. As far as I know God doesn’t lie. He doesn’t dish out half-truths and He doesn’t stand on sand to build you a story He needs you to hear. He built the scripture on a solid foundation so that you KNOW it is truth.

There are some non-believers and even believers who feel like God made a few mistakes in delivering His message or maybe they weren’t documented well enough. I know in some places the bible is meant to be taken metaphorical and not literal in meaning. Like the term ‘eye for an eye’, I don’t think that for one second God intended for us to go around and pluck people’s eyes out because they offended you. We’d live in a blind society for sure.

In writing we need to use metaphors but to the extent people understand that you are metaphorically speaking. Know your metaphors and use them wisely. Know your truths and keep them to yourself. Know your friends and be aware of the your enemies.

Psalm 18:39 You have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued my enemies under my feet

The truth will set you free. Is that a metaphor or something? How will truth set you free? Are we all just imprisoned by lies?

As I’m disliked for my views, persecuted for Christ, I will stand tall knowing I’m not a hypocrite who pretends and hates on people because of their beliefs. I love all, forgive all and if anything I learned in being battered, is turn the other cheek. I’ve run plum out of cheeks to be slapped on but it’s okay, I have God and He is more than enough for me!

The TRUTH does set you free.

God Bless!

 


Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Truth Hurts

Pss. 86: 11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

Yes it does.  I still remember being told that Santa Claus was not real. Yeah, I had mean brothers and a sister who didn’t want to see me happy, so when I proclaimed Santa got it for me, they made sure they said loud and clear, “Santa ain’t real!” (Yeah they used the word ain’t)

I didn’t want to believe it. My mother wouldn’t lie to me, would she? Well sure enough, she wasn’t happy with my brothers' way of telling me but she did sit me down and tell me the truth. Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny all lies concocted by some age old myth. Great, my entire life was a lie. Granted I was only six but to me, my life was all a lie. I grew to form my own beliefs, never, and I mean never counting on man to feed me the truth!

Now imagine me as a grown Christian woman, someone telling me that the Bible has ‘some lies’ or untruths in it (lies; untruths, same thing), but ‘most’ of it is true. Well slap me upside the head and color me stupid!

My faith has been built on these truths, or what I have known and been SHOWN to be truths and after being told that, all of my biblical beliefs came crashing down around me and I began digging through the rubble reassessing my ‘beliefs’.

The truth hurts. Have you ever been lied to? It sure doesn’t feel good, nor does it feel good when you find out the truth.

Pss. 32: 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

Instead of doubting my faith, I went to God himself and asked for clarification so that I might respond clearly to the attack, as I saw it, of lies about Him and His truth. He guided me to truths about Him and when shown to the person, undoubtedly the person became angry. Mind you they were not MY truths, they were God’s truths.

I didn’t dig for scientific proof, I didn’t sling words to say 'Believe this', I slung it to say, you’ve showed me what YOU believe to be truth, and here is what I believe to be truth.

Truth hurts. I also got a quite intelligent answer from a kid, almost 18 years old. He said, “There are only opinions of one truth.”

“What?” I said.

“Truth is like a tree root, it grows and grows, the branches are the opinions formed from that truth.”

Wow, what a smart kid, I say!

Eph. 3: 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Imagine a strong wind coming in and breaking those branches leaving all leaves on it to wither and die. No, I won’t be a branch, I won’t pretend to be a leaf. I choose to be the root and the Son being the Light in which I find my strength to grow.

THAT is my truth. THAT is who I am. I won’t be swayed by science; I won’t be molded by words of men. Science is just an opinion formed by men with supposed intelligence. Remember, science once stated that Pluto was a planet, only for years to pass and then to say it isn’t a planet. What IS the truth?

I tell you this writers, the reader WILL find out for themselves. If you mislead them or try to fool them, they WILL find out. And the truth hurts.




Tuesday, September 24, 2013

When Lies Become Truth


Pss 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.

You’re a bold writer who can take the truth, twist it into your truth, then sell it to the public overwhelming them into believing your truth is THEE truth.

Take for example UFO’s. You pick up the paper, or should I say you turn on your computer (no one reads the Newspaper these days) and there you see it, UFO spotted here, or UFO spotted there, UFO this, UFO that.  You then begin to believe that UFO’s actually exist!

Then they go on to show you the scientific proof of their existence so again, you begin to believe them to be true because science can’t be wrong, can it? Of course not, it’s science! Even when the government pipes in saying, “It was a weather balloon,” or “It was a TOP SECRET government drill.” Nobody believes the government these days, so people are more apt to believe what the scientists have to say and the eyewitness accounts become more plausible.

Me, being a writer, likes to do research on the matter and form my own truth not something someone wants to sell me. How do I form my own truth? I weigh the pros and cons, never accepting something as truth unless I can find how it relates to my life in a biblical sense. I measure it against my biblical beliefs. My biblical beliefs are formed on what God has shown me through the years, not what a book has told me to believe. To each his own, right?

Where do I stand on UFO’s? I believe that UFO’s are a form of satan wanting to distract us from God. It looks to me he can be very convincing and has quite a few scientist wrapped around his little finger. They feed us lies; we believe them.

Writer’s have readers wrapped around their little finger also. They write lies and there are a few who actually believe it. Take for example the man who had a Tell All book as Oprah’s book club pick. He was on national television telling you a lie and not only did viewers buy it, Oprah was duped into believing the lie too!

Later it was PROVEN to be a lie, and he recanted the story saying it was all made up. It sold millions of copies, so millions were conned into believing his truth! Writer’s have that sword and they wield it to suit themselves.

Take the bible for example. It is made up of stories from well over a thousand years ago and to this day it still stands the test of time. Instead of scientists proving it to be a long drawn out fairytale, they in effect are proving the truth of God’s existence. Disproving the Bible is a challenge to them.

We as believers believe the Bible to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. (Yes THAT term is still said in a court of law) Why? If the Bible is all a lie, why do so many believe it to be the truth?

This is why, as a writer, I need to give you the whole truth. Not a portion, not one I made up myself, not one that scientists feed me, a truth I derive from the very Book that has been delivering TRUTH for centuries.

While I may offend some writers with this logic, please know it is my logic and I’m not forcing you to believe anything I say. Chuckle if you want. Just know, you as a writer hold something in your hand that can shape a persons mind. Wield the sword lightly. Words can help or hurt, the choice is yours.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Truth in Tales



Pss. 30:9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?

Have you ever read Hansel and Gretal? Well, I’m sure at some point you have, if not yourself maybe for your child? Did you ever wonder if the world they lived in was real?

Writers have a tendency to write fiction that comes off as an intricate world of fairytale imagery. I often wonder where the truth is and sometimes I won’t even read it because of the frivolous lie that I’m trying to be forced into.

Take for example sci-fi. I am no fan of sci-fi for the very reason that the conjured worlds I can not really climb into and envision myself. When I read a book I like to envision myself running through the field/street scene and with sci-fi, I can never seemingly grasp running on Mars.

Another example is vampire stories. Now I know there are millions of fans who love a good vampire story. They love the fantasy world, climb into it, and relish all the dark substances that it entails. I don’t like them and I know there are actually people who drink blood and think these vampire tales to be some sort of truth to them. I bet there is even some sort of statistical facts that can prove their existence. I’m not interested. Don’t inundate me with false truths.

Years ago the possibility of life on Mars was an impossibility and recent scientific studies show that life on Mars will become a probability. Maybe some of your sci-fi tales will become a reality. But no, I don’t believe vampires are real, so don’t try to sell me that tale.

I know some people like the occult and I myself, when I was a young child, dove into those tales thinking them to be truth. I quickly had to ride out of those childhood fantasies and hold onto something that was truth just to keep my sanity.

I remember watching The Lost Boys and I so wanted vampires to be real. It was a stimulating arousal wanting Keifer to suck on my neck and make me one with him. My disillusion quickly faded when I found God. Now I know some of you Christians out there can read those non truths and walk with God at the same time, but me, I don’t feel complete. So I don’t read fantasies like The DaVinci Code or Salem’s Lot.

Some will tell me that the DaVinci Code was based on scientific studies and proof, but to me, it is a book full of lies wanting to distract me from the truth. That’s what fantasy is to me, a demonizing of truth. I prefer non-fiction, or at least a fiction based on a true story, than read about, fill my mind with, hunger, for lies!

As you can imagine I was pretty upset as a young child being told that Santa was not real, or the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny for that matter. I felt that it was a betrayal and no, maybe I never did get over it because now, I don’t like lies or fantasy tales.

As a writer we’re supposed to be open to fiction. It’s what we do, write lies in hopes someone walks away loving it.

My truths are not your truths, nor yours mine, and I’m okay with that, but please don’t try to sell me on your truths when mine are already formed. It’s demeaning to me as a human being. 

I read what I like to read, you read what you like to read. As humans we’re allowed that, to be different. I don’t force my beliefs on you, please refrain from trying to force your beliefs on me.

You read me because I obviously have written something that you WANTED to read. You stay away because I obviously DON’T have something you want to read. Granted this post makes absolutely no sense, but that’s okay, in the coming days you might put it all together and it will make sense.

My point being this week will be, truth and all that means to us as writers who are trying to sell the story to the public. Readers want something to hold onto as truth; to carry with them throughout the day or their life. We as writer’s are obligated to give them that.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Poetry Sunday ~ Destiny...no more

May 2003

 Destiny…no more

She rode into my life like the stallion of my dreams
To carry me off to sanctity it seems.
It was her stoic behavior that bustled me through
To a world of fresh life, to all things new.

It was with Destiny that my license was gotten
She carried me through tough times that were rotten.
Whisking us to Nebraska up north
And south to NASA and everywhere henceforth.

Great stamina for a fourteen-year-old truck
To ferry us through until one day she was struck.
The memories I had all flooded my mind
Like getting us through travels with him being blind.

Texas, Nebraska, and Omaha trips
Light shows, balloon fests, our loving quick quips.
Destiny was alive, it seemed to me
She knew she had a hand in setting me free.

The first time I hurt her, her airbags all blown
But out of the ditch, her true colors shown.
She started right up the very next day
And for four more years she never did sway.

Is it possible to say we lost a true friend
Who stood beside us to the very end?
An inanimate object to which we adore
Til Carma showed up, now Destiny’s no more.

Luke 2: 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

Author’s note: Destiny is the name of our truck that was recently totaled in a collision.
While we understand it was ‘just a truck’, she meant so much more to us both.
Praise God, no one was hurt!
 She served us well!
RIP Destiny

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Quotation Saturday


Pss. 25: 5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

FAITH

 “When something tries to contradict the very faith I hold to be true, and tries to sway my belief, I WILL seek out the truth and facts from God not man. My faith is not measured by a book or Scientifics, it is measured by what God himself places in my soul. And no, it can never be swayed.” Joni

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
~ C.S. Lewis

“I don’t think that we're meant to understand it all the time. I think that sometimes we just have to have faith.”
~ Nicholas Sparks

“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. . . . Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord. . . .”
~ Charles H. Spurgeon


FACTS

“The Truth is in the root of the tree. The branches are opinions formed.”
~Adam Zipp

“Sometimes, some lies that spoken with high confidence
could be more receptive than facts that spoken with doubt.”
~ Toba Beta

“Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.”
~ Henri Poincare

“I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts.”
~ Mark Twain

“Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them.”
~ Charles Dickens, Hard Times

“When we are young, we spend much time and pains in filling our note-books with all definitions of Religion, Love, Poetry, Politics, Art, in the hope that, in the course of a few years, we shall have condensed into our encyclopaedia the net value of all the theories at which the world has yet arrived. But year after year our tables get no completeness, and at last we discover that our curve is a parabola, whose arcs will never meet.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays


DOUBTS

“She hated that little voice inside her head. Like the Seelie Queen, it planted doubts where there shouldn't be doubts, asked questions that had no answer.”
~ Cassandra Clare, City of Lost Souls

“it’s that sense of powerlessness that destroyed my soul. i cannot be as good as i would like to be.nor as bad as i think i need to be.i think you have the same doubts that your goodness was not rewarded”
~ Paulo Coelho

“When in doubt, throw doubt out and have a little faith....”
~ E.A. Bucchianeri

“But, oh, when gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call thee mine;
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline.
Yet, gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust;
And still my soul would cleave to thee,
Though prostrate in the dust.”
~ Anne Steele

Friday, September 20, 2013

My New Toy



For a couple of days now I’ve tried to upload pics to my blog, to no avail. I’ve sought help but nothing came that was of any value and no help was found. I’m not tech savvy and anyone who knows me knows, I HATE computers, the net, hypocrites and negativity.
Adam told me it was in the server (he’s becoming tech savvy! That’s his plans for his future, Graphic Design.)

Anyway, I wrote to google and as many have said, they never get any kind of response, but I took a shot at submitting my problem to them. (LOL! I submitted, Ben!)

Well I woke this morning and went to see if my ‘scheduled’ blog was posted. Sure enough it was, no pic mind you, but it made it. This is the new toy I speak of. Scheduling post and pic arrangement!


I’ve always posted pics at the top of my blog, but never on the side or within the posting. With a little help from another tech savvy person, I figured it out and got it done! As you can see in a few previous posts, the pic is within the words to the left? Woohoo! Yay me!
I can move them around to the left, to the right, to the top! This is a great accomplishment for me as you can imagine. Not being technologically adept, you can see how something this small can excite me. It’s my new toy to ‘play’ with as I prioritize my time on FB and other social networks.

It has come to my attention that I WOULD be missed if I ‘cut off’ the social scene, sorry for the poor choice of words. (I’m a writer, I should know better!) What I meant to say was, I need to prioritize my time, so that I’m spending more time with my writing dream than I am playing in the playground with my friends. You know what I mean? When your child is spending too much time in his room gaming, don’t you just want to say, get out there and play in the real world?


Well living out here in the middle of nowhere and his school friends being at least 17 miles away, it’s just not an option for him. As for me, my only time to get out IS on FB to meet up with my friends. (Thanks Stena for the reminder!) They are such an inspiration to my writing life, cutting them off would be like severing a finger or something! A gruesome thought!

My other new toy is scheduling posts. I always schedule my poetry Sunday because on Sunday mornings my time is better spent getting ready for church, not worrying about the shenanigans going on at FB. But recently, since the writing bug has bitten me again, I’ve been writing post after post, for two weeks straight now. This is a good sign to me!


I’ve been scheduling them in advance! That is so cool! If the weather knocks out my net, my posts will still arrive. If I lose things because I didn’t back up my files, the post will have a home.

And today as I checked to see if I could post a pic yet, voila! I can! Adam was right (he loved hearing that) maybe it WAS within the server. Well wouldn’t ya know, google has served me well, thank you GOOGLE AND friends!!!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Prioritizing



“The quieter you become the more you are able to hear.” Rumi

Yup, this here is another blog post from none other than, ME. Aren’t you all so lucky!

I have been taking measures to change my online presence and that means prioritizing my time on the web. As you’ve read since the beginning of this month, I’ve been writing blog posts and enjoying writing again in general. So what does that have to do with cutting out certain things on the web?

Well allow me to tell you. First of all, I’m in no popularity contest. The fevered race to be all for everyone while selling myself short. I am me, being a writer, first and foremost. As a child I was never popular or had many friends and maybe that is why I began writing because all my friends were in my head just waiting to be ‘fleshed out’ in the written word.

I joined facebook because it touted, ‘Get connected with your friends from school’. “Wow!” I thought, “I wonder how everyone is doing?” This is to show you how popular I am, not one friend from school has EVER looked me up! So, I decided to ‘friend request’ people from my writing classes. Heck, even most of them don’t want to be seen knowing me.

Most accepted my friend request, only to delete me further down the line. After my attack a few years ago, I HAD to delete a few, to keep my sanity! I know I know, I’m not that sane anyway, but what little I had/have, I want to keep! So the second goal on my agenda is prioritizing whom and who isn’t a true friend, and well look around, their all lining up, don’t ya see?

What was the first goal on my agenda, you might ask? My first goal was getting back to writing. I felt it was sleeping for quite awhile and recently has been awakened with a new passion. But with the passion, along comes obstacles that were around before the break and by prioritizing, I’m hoping to keep the block out of my way so I can accomplish all my goals I’ve set for myself.

Goal #1 – Get back to writing.
Goal #2 – KNOW who your TRUE friends are.
Goal # 3 – Cut the social network time OFF!
Goal # 4 – Prioritize the web usage. Not for fun and popularity contests, for WORK! Writing!

Goal # 5 – This is the biggy!!! Write and submit! Yes, I said submit!!!

It looks to me like I’m on a roll. I’m accomplishing my goals by setting priorities. You do know that by prioritizing that goals are easier to achieve, right? Take me for example, I’m accomplishing four of the goals already, in motion, and I’m improving because of it. Now to tackle number five, and I’m good to go!!!

Godspeed!

NOTE: No PIC? Because blogger is not allowing me to post pics at this time.  No one else is having a problem, but on TWO computers here at home? Nothing. So we’ll see if we can find the bug causing this. Not a tech savvy woman…so wish me luck!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Justification



Ex. 23:7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.



After reading yesterdays post, this one is going to be about justifying my actions. Just like when I drank and thought, ‘It’s okay, I don’t have a problem.’ I DID have a problem, one that needed nipping-in-the-bud. (pun intended here) After all, it made Bud wiser?



Well it made me wise enough to know that alcohol is poison that enters your system and your body fights to restore the normal flow, a defense mechanism, if you will, yes after one sip. No different than a bee sting, a mosquito bite, or snake bite. Your body goes right into fighting to get the poison out of your system. That is why after too many drinks, you throw up, your body knows poison when it enters its system.



Being of sober mind not only means, no alcohol; nowhere does it say, ‘one drink and you’re okay’, in my warped mind. Keep in mind, as a RECOVERED alcoholic, one drink is a fall, a fall I’m not willing to take because we live in a society where everything goes! Everything is justifiable!



I’ve come across a blog that shares what a sober mind is and it’s worth a read. Not about alcohol at all!





This post isn’t about alcohol and its poison, it’s about justifying your actions. Yesterdays post about web addiction, and admitting it, was my first step of releasing the poison the web dishes out, and nipping the problem before it gets out of hand.



I DO mostly use the internet for writing and research but too often I find myself straying into social scenes like facebook, and giving too much playtime to my web interactions! Maybe you all are content with that, but I’m not. As I search within myself for a better day-to-day living, something needs to be trimmed so that I realize my full writing potential! I’m not bored with life; I’m in awe of it and think it needs some TLC! I don’t think I have enough friends to even care if I’m away awhile. So no, they WON’T miss me… Maybe two or three, but they’ll have others to cling to and stalk. I’m a mere afterthought; I guess that’s better than no thought at all right?



Social playtime has to be trimmed to posting my blog post, maybe a spirit-filled post, here and there, but just not a continuous flow of posts throughout the day. I think the twitterfeed is set, so that’s a good thing when posting my blog. The only tabs open will be my dictionary/thesaurus, RhymeZone, and MS Word, where I write!



I always seem to get in a reflective mode as the season changes. It’s like Fall is a call to put old baggage to rest; to prioritize; to let the leaves fall where they may, and pile them in a slush pile so winter can do the cleaning of my soul that is necessary.



We can all justify our actions as a means to feeling good about ourselves, but justification is just a warm blanket we carry around like Linus, it’s our safety net. We hide under the blanket masking our true identities. Something gets lost along the way, your vibrant soul! God is my only safety net and justifying my actions is in a sense a betrayal to His plan for my life.



In a world where tuning into the net is full of the news of the day; killing, fires, floods, tsunami’s, hurricanes, and then there’s the lovely political hate filled posts, it’s enough to make you shudder and want to retreat back to bed, there certainly is another way of facing the world’s tragedies and faults, and that is certainly not by justifying the pebbles you ripple across the lake. Those ripples affect EVERYTHING, so choose wisely.


I just want to write!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Addicted to the Internet


1 Tim. 6: 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

It wasn’t until eleven years ago when I was first introduced to the computer. My brother-in-law gave me an old one that he said would be good for my writing, and my niece came around, and hooked me up to the internet via an AOL ‘try me free’ disc. And the rest is history so they say.

Before this humming machine rattled into my life, it was a much simpler life. I gardened; I swam in my aboveground pool, relished the seasons, and cherished the solitude of living the mundane life. It was a life where the real world was all I had, good and bad, it was mine. I had my family, albeit a family in dire need of the strength I seemed to give them, I had my dog, but something was missing. I was living but something was missing.

I never owned a microwave, hadn’t touched a cell phone, I didn’t even have a dryer; I hung my clothes on a clothesline! Then it happened in 2003. The internet happened. I was addicted to solitude, then the internet came along. When one has an addictive personality, don’t we always seem to give up one addiction and replace it with another?

This post came to mind when a friend, asking for prayer, mentioned he thinks his child is addicted to the internet. He and his wife took it away, and my heart sank. I totally understood her connection to the virtual world that holds many of us in its grasp. I’m sure he and his wife have outside lives where they connect with humans on an hourly/daily basis, but me, I really conjured images of me and my absorption of the internet.

I saw me, upon awakening, turning on my laptop computer, THEN making coffee. I saw my son awakening, with his ipod attached to his hand like a third limb. I saw my beau wake, and sit in his desk chair as the desktop computer behind me hums to life. I didn’t like the images I saw. I saw three people addicted to a virtual world that they lived in, on an hourly basis.

What has become of the real world and where did it go? I get in the car and ride down the dirt road, drinking in the beauty of it all: the sky, the endless farms, cows, birds and it seems like a picture ripped out of a magazine. It doesn’t feel real.

I think of taking it away, from all of us, and I feel like we would just lash out in anger at each other until we all gave in and re-entered to zone of the web. That’s pretty sad! BUT I don’t think I’m alone on this web of suffocation.

Sure, I’ll justify my actions by saying I’m using it for writing. He’s using it for writing, and Adam is using it to connect with people that in the real world don’t give him the time of day. We all justify our actions and it makes it okay? I don’t think so!

I have to be honest, I think giving up alcohol was easier than even the THOUGHT of giving up the internet. I gave up drinking at 21, and for seventeen years after that I lived without a computer, so I know a life without one can actually take place. Adam has only had his ipod for about three years and I know he had a life before the ipod came along, and at first it was used for games and music, until he found apps that took him outside the realm. I do think beau was a computer geek since he was a young man; still, a virtually good fella. (pun intended)

On a positive note, this summer I didn’t spend much time on this thing. No writing freed me up to play Chess. Yes, I play the game that came with my computer because not many enjoy the game I love so much! My days were spent cleaning, mowing, gardening and enjoying my surroundings. My arthritic pain kept me tied to my sofa a lot, and we watched movies at night and since I would rather be on the computer than watch what the TV has to offer, the net is a safer venue for me. No ads, no clutter and I CHOOSE the good and positive I can glean from the net. Is that justification? Denial?

Now that I’m back writing, I look around the house, YouTube blasts in the background, (through earphones mind you), keys tapping an almost melodic accompaniment, Adam with his third limb goes off to his bedroom and I sit here writing and peeking in on the active frenzy of my writing friends on facebook. Picture of a perfect, loving, Frisbee playing, ball tossing, family romping through the tulips of life, eh? I live in a non-communicative household and a world of communication at my fingertips. Go figure.

 
Hello! My name is Joni and I have an addiction. The first step is admitting it, right?

Monday, September 16, 2013

Submitting to...

...to God


Ha! Now that I’ve got you in here, you’re committing to read the entire post, right?

I’ve written a few posts about submitting your work but have I mentioned submitting to the Lord? Allow me to bore you or enlighten you, won’t you?

When I first began writing or should I say, taking my writing seriously, I felt that it was only by the grace of God I made it to where I was in my writing journey. Keep in mind that Submitting to God is not the same as serving. I’ve always served One God and only one God, and no one had to tell me or ask me to serve, I just did/do it.

Submitting to God is placing your trust in Him to carry you, even your writing. I’m not one to babble on and on about nothing, I like to relay a certain positive message in my writing where you walk away thinking and feeling like you’re that much more informed by what you read.

I was kind of honored when on Facebook an author asked, “Who is your favorite female blogger,” and among many replies there was MY name, Joni Zipp! I’m hoping a frenzy of folk Googled my name, found my blog and also found the inspiration they were looking for! I have submitted to God, so only He can get the credit for where my journey goes. And I pray that that is what you see in me when visiting my blog. God shining through every post!

Here’s another example of the fruits of submitting to God:
Many years ago there was a man named Miles that I met who had no other interests but the net, surfing the net, stuff and junk and me. Many months (almost a year) of being intrigued, we met, in person.

The man wasn’t interested in much except surfing the net, working, and gaming. Even I, in all my beauty couldn’t entice him away. One day (I’m sparing you the lengthy portion of the tale) he submitted to God. His whole life changed and as we sit here today, he is a published author.

Many of you can take an educated guess as to who he is, I’m just telling you, sharing with you, that he is a changed man. Does he still surf the net, game, and work? Yes, all of the above, except there is one difference, since he’s placed God front and center, he now has a purpose, loves writing, loves serving the Lord, and loves me! (Well I think he’s always loved me, but under God’s Light, there’s a different ambience surrounding us.)

He submitted to God and I had the pleasure of watching the metamorphosis take place. Yes, he physically and spiritually went through a life-altering change. From being blind to the miracle of seeing again, from being an ungodly person to a person who proclaimed the Lord as his Savior! Does he still sin? Well of course! Romans 3:23 says: “All have sinned, and come short of the Glory of God.” We change and strive NOT to sin but nonetheless we are ALL sinners.

So when I say, ‘Submit to God’ I’m not telling you as if I’m preaching, rather I’m offering you a suggestion in a way to change a negative atmosphere in your writing journey (or life for that matter) into a positive flow of blessings in your life AND your writing.

See, that wasn’t so bad now was it? If your reading this sentence then you made it through the entire post without running away! Thank you and God bless!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Poetry Sunday ~ Secrets Unearthed



Pss.62: 4 They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.



Secrets Unearthed

When secrets are wrapped
in ribbons and bows
Lies in disguise
as everyone knows.

When a person trusts
The truth in all
The little white package
Will begin your fall.

The fruits of deception
Like a spiders soft web
Is woven deceit
Of a fine flowing ebb.

One can’t discern
A lie from the truth
we’re made to become
an unnatural sleuth.

Not bear false witness
Or so they say.
You walk a frail line
If lies are okay.

I opened the box
Of a living tall tale
A slaughtered love broken
By betrayal’s trail.

I see through the veil
Where mendacity hides
But honesty’s where 
True love abides.
                                                             

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Quotation Saturday

WRITING

“Writers write. But writers more often than not are not writing. They are waiting to write, preparing to write, rehearsing, practicing, taking notes, outlining, reading. On top of the anxiety of writing (or not writing) is this other anxiety--that all the activities of the prelude, in reality, are not prelude at all, but a symphony of fiddling around, a divertimento of tuning up.”
~ Susan Neville and Michael Martone

“When I wrote and got out of the way, writing did writing.” 
~ Natalie Goldberg

“As I have pointed out before, characters are not born like people, of woman; they are born of a situation, a sentence, a metaphor containing in a nutshell a basic human possibility that the author thinks no one else has discovered or said something essential about.
But isn't it true that an author can write only about himself?”
~ Milan Kundera

“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.”
~ James Michener


YEARNING ~ On Writing

“Because what’s worse than knowing you want something, besides knowing you can never have it?”
~James Patterson

“How we need another soul to cling to, another body to keep us warm. To rest and trust; to give your soul in confidence: I need this, I need someone to pour myself into.”
~ Sylvia Plath

“A lot of people get so hung up on what they can't have that they don't think for a second about whether they really want it.”
~ Lionel Shriver

“The feelings that hurt most, the emotions that sting most, are those that are absurd - The longing for impossible things, precisely because they are impossible; nostalgia for what never was; the desire for what could have been; regret over not being someone else; dissatisfaction with the world’s existence. All these half-tones of the soul’s consciousness create in us a painful landscape, an eternal sunset of what we are.”
~ Fernando Pessoa

                       
SPIRIT

“We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being.”
~ Hermann Hesse

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
~ Albert Einstein

“Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain’t comin’ back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can’t take the sky from me
There’s no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can’t take the sky from me…”
~ Joss Whedon

“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
~ Albert Einstein

 FILLED

“My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”
~ Mary (mother of Jesus), Holy Bible: King James Version

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it...”
~ Wilferd Peterson

“I consider myself a stained-glass window. And this is how I live my life. Closing no doors and covering no windows; I am the multi-colored glass with light filtering through me, in many different shades. Allowing light to shed and fall into many many hues. My job is not to direct anything, but only to filter into many colors. My answer is destiny and my guide is joy. And there you have me.”
~ C. JoyBell C.

“There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometimes lose sight of this force when there is suffering, too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.”
~ Mother Teresa

Friday, September 13, 2013

Another Secret Hideout -- Goodreads


Goodreads is another secret hideout. Well I don’t think it’s a secret because they have thousands of people on there of all ages running the halls!



Goodreads is basically a site for book readers and everything books. It’s where you read a book, post that you’ve read it, and share with others their thoughts on the book. You also list the amount of books you’ve read in the past and rate them; catalogue your library of books, post book reviews, and connect virtually with book lovers, quizzes and games.

You can also create lists of your genre. Lists of your favorites



You can join a book challenge, where you list the amount of books you’re going to read in say a years time. It sets you on your goal of reading that amount of books and it holds you to it too!



Steven likes it for the widgets he can place on his audiobook blog, like ‘What I’m Currently Reading’. He’s really into The Neverending Book Quiz, you guessed it, a quiz about books that never ends. He tells me you can put in your own questions to ask, and actually look at who is getting the questions you’ve asked right. He also claims it is “Rollicking good fun.” His words, not mine! I imagine him skipping through the site tossing daisies as he ‘rollicks’. (Doesn’t take much to amuse him when it comes to books and sci-fi, eh?)  In my words it’s a pretty cool site, but I’ve not used it as much as he has because honestly, he listens to more books!



There is also the chance to become a librarian!!! He likes that, too. Yes, of course he IS one on there! He has the power to fix things, where he might see a typo of some sort, or like an author was listed wrong on the reviewers post. Power I tell you, and if you’re a man or woman who likes power, then the Librarian is the job for you. (no pay, just good honest joy in the written word.)



I have 26 friends and listed that I’ve read 130 books. The leader of my friends is Julia with 802 books read, Steven, who only lists books he reviews, is at 387, and Benning is in third with 217 books. It’s really fun to watch your friends chart their reading habits.




It’s a nice place where you connect with friends, so far for me it is 26 WVU friends. And like Linked In they have groups that branch off into discussion forums, where you discuss books! Now remember this is about books or audiobooks, which I myself feel like that is cheating because you can listen to three or four books a week where you can maybe only read one page-turning real hard copy of a book in a week.  But still, a listen or a read, a book is a book. It’s all-good, books are books and no matter how you get them read, you’re a reader!



You might ask why I, as a writer, would be found on a book social scene. Well because the last time I checked, writer’s WRITE books, and we’re all about books, so why not be a part of the reading community that may one day read my book, review it and discuss it? Sounds like a win/win situation to me.



Go on…find out for yourself how addictive these sites, LinkedIn and Goodreads, are. It has been a pleasure sharing!



Thursday, September 12, 2013

The Stalker



A stalker is someone who pursues game, prey, or a person stealthily.

So why am I doing a stalker posts?
Because I catch some people obsessively watching me on facebook (or other sites around the web), never showing their face, but you know they’re there hanging off of every word you say. I’m not an obsessive person (unless it’s cleaning the house) or a stalker but I do lurk and see who is watching and who is obsessing, and WHO is learning from me.

Twitter abounds with people ‘following’ you, and Facebook calls it ‘friend request’, while I like to call it a stalkers milieu. This is where you LOL. Don’t you find it odd that people friend request you, then watch everything you do? It’s a voyeurs dream; a hidden place to safely stalk people from a distance, far enough that they can’t see you, but close enough to give off a creeper vibe? And I even noticed a new thing on FB, a button that says ‘follow’! My goodness, talk about paranoia! These places are a breeding ground for it.

I have two places I hang at on Facebook, one for family and one for my writing friends. It’s odd but I feel safer among my writing friends who come from around the globe: Malaysia, Argentina, Italy, UK, to Florida and many more of the other 50 states. Whereas on my family page, where I have local friends to family dispersed throughout the US. I feel creeped out on my family page! I see family posting on other people’s walls. I see them LIKING what other people post, but me? They act as if I have the plague and avoid me at all cost. Sometimes I just want to run and get away. I do…to my other safer page.

They’re quietly lurking but never comment. They’re watching but never letting me know they’re there. It’s like living in the Norman Bates Psycho house at the top of the hill, just waiting for the people from the Bates Motel down below to arrive at your doorstep. And creepier is when someone uses things I say/post on facebook as a sword to fight with and use against me! Get a life! I’m not there for you creeper!

And when did facebook become a political venue? I think by posting all that crap, like Obama being the antichrist, gun control, PETA attacks, etc. is really undermining my own intelligence in being able to actually read the news myself! I read the news, I’m intelligent enough to know GOSSIP and unworthy hate-filled postings to know NOT to repost, NOT to click like and NOT to be suckered into believing everything I read! I thought FB was a place to socialize, share fun, uplifting and inspiring posts? It is losing it’s fun real quick!

And like my blog here. I know family and friends are visiting, but they would never be seen commenting, not on MY blog. Wow, what a support system! I do understand that not all have a google account and can’t figure out how to comment anonymously, but the ones that can, won’t comment. Nope, only dear friends who support my writing dream; those who understand what it means to support you as you strive for a goal.

Hey, I would even take a comment of “good post” if they haven’t a clue to what I’m trying to teach or say! And any time I’ve opened the comments, I’m hit with spammers, commenting but not without and ad/spam under the comment! But I’ve decided since diving back into writing, that Facebook, Twitter and my blog is not about comments or conforming to others ways, it’s about stalking and lurking. Me? I’ll just WRITE!

My rant for the day, thank you.