Sick Of It All

Ecc.10:13 “The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.

I’m seeing the devastation all around, not just in my homeland; floods, earthquakes, riots, forest fires, drought etc.  It’s easy to point fingers when it is all happening to someone else but clearly there is nothing to joke about when people are dying! Devastation is NOT a political joke, nor should you feel good about yourself in sharing in the ridicule.

Some will laugh and blame witchcraft and ignorantly blame gays for the Houston, Texas area flooding (even in jest it is NOT FUNNY). But will Florida point the same finger when THEY are hit with devastation? Or California when that big earthquake hits or are they blaming these folks for their drought? We live in a pretty sick world that loves laughing and pointing fingers all the while touting scripture that they pretty much don’t LIVE or TRY to live but they go on in their ignorant fashion laughing and blaming OTHERS!

When will man look in the mirror and blame himself for not doing one daggum thing? Never, that’s when because they’d rather laugh, taunt and mock other people for the devastation hitting the world. It makes them feel good.

Like I said before, I’m not affiliated with any political party and I can see clearly every single day why I don’t affiliate with the moronic conservative crowd that thinks their poop doesn’t stink and it is ALWAYS the other parties fault for EVERYthing. I don’t affiliate with the other party because, well, their not the brightest bunch of apples hanging on the tree either.

People of BOTH parties swim in rude ignorant behavior, they are hate-mongers who bask lovingly in all the hate they spew and actually feel good about themselves? I’d be quite embarrassed if I were them but no, they enjoy the hate; they love wrapping themselves in a satanic type blanket and cover themselves in scripture-chocolate-filled parfait.

A sadistic nation of people who call themselves Christian, whom I turn from on a daily basis and just about delete my facebook account daily too because their sickness will not infect me if I don’t let them.

From Bible Gateway:
Revenge belongs to God. If vengeance is God's, then it is not ours. God has not asked us to settle the score or get even. Ever.
Why? The answer is found in Joseph's statement: "You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done."
Forgiveness comes easier with a wide-angle lens. Joseph uses one to get the whole picture. He refuses to focus on the betrayal of his brothers without also seeing the loyalty of his God.
It always helps to see the big picture.

So who gives people the right to lash out? To hate? To mock, laugh, taunt and tease? It sure isn’t God! They say they know, they say this, they say that. People who blow breath from their mouths because they read does not make a person KNOW! I’m sick of it all!

Do you realize that people split hairs on the things they claim to know but really know absolutely nothing about, in my book? Because I choose not to hate people, because I choose to forgive, because I choose to live as a Christian has me splitting hairs and not wanting to be anything! I’m sick of it all!

They say they know Muslim but they are lying, they know OF them and judge ALL of them as Islamic haters and killers, and judge them as such. They say they know atheists but they don’t know them, they know OF them, and judge them as people who don’t believe in God so they must be judged. They judge the Buddhists that they claim to know and they even claim to know some Christians. Well let me tell you, some of the so-called Christians I KNOW are no better than ANY of these people listed above; they are in the exact same category that they place on the people they are judging.

What makes them better; because their God is better than the other god or goddesses? I’m just sick of it all. This country is going to hell in a hand-basket and it is those very judgmental freaky know it alls who are to blame! YOU are the very reason this judgment is raining down on us. “Judge not lest you BE judged.”

I want to know whose God died and made man judge and jury over it all? (Spare me the "Jesus died." He died for your SIN not for you to JUDGE)

 It seems the so-called Christians feel THEY have a right, the Islam followers feel THEY have a right, name any religion and they all feel entitled to be judge and jury of their fellow man. Only God the Father has the right to judge! And it is because of MAN that all this devastation is showering down on us. Because of YOU and ME! Not because of THEM (whomever you put in a box.)

The real CHRISTIANS are a separate crowd of people. THEY are the ones sharing love, comfort, compassion and understanding. If THEY sit in judgment, it is NOT publicly or socially, it is behind closed doors in prayer! It is THOSE Christians whose words I listen to and turn to, honor and respect on a daily basis. I will not embrace the hate mongers of society as my fellow Christian just because they say this or that is so! Deceivers and deceived they are.

I need to go pray, a nation of beasts needs my prayer.

Ecc. 10:14 A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

The 'Year in Review' goes over bad

2 Pet. 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

In the facebook world everyone knows everything about you, especially what you post and LIKE. Some people don’t know that what you LIKE or COMMENT on is showing up in your friends’ news feed. You know like all those Bible pages you LIKE and comment on? Or maybe your thing is LIKing HOT BABES and not realizing all your friends see you for who you really are.

Needless to say, facebook has taken it upon themselves for people to glorify their productive and bountiful year and has an APP for showcasing your year in review. While it seemed like a good idea at the time, facebook is now being slapped in the face with the folks who DIDN’T have a good year.

Facebook is a place to share your pains and sorrows as much as your joys but since there is no dislike button, when someone dies, people show their support by clicking LIKE! The APP is compiled of your activity on facebook in way of posts that people LIKED.

I’m wondering if the like button isn’t a measure of popularity.

When people post meme’s they get less likes than someone pouring out their heart of pain which gets all 800 of your friends in a LIKING frenzy. To a person (and I know many) who have had a bad year, the APP will glorify the painful posts because they got the most likes.

The APP. does ask if you want to share your year in review; I myself only having 90 friends tops, chose NOT INTERESTED. Of the ninety friends, I’m lucky if five people like ANYTHING I post and that’s in a week, so I am kinda curious how facebook would handle an unpopular person’s year in review. Showcasing what OTHER people have posted on my wall? Boy, that should make me feel real good.

While I think the whole thing was well intentioned, the APP. has caused a lot of heartache to people who have lost children and parents or pets and siblings. It just brings up the worst part of your year. Haunting reminders that your year wasn’t really all that good.

I’m sure the boasting people that bought new houses and cars, new dogs and new this and that like showcasing all the good that has happened to them in the year, the only people who are hurt by the APP. are the people who have been HURT throughout the year; by the looks of it, it’s the majority of people on facebook.

Yeah, as you can tell facebook has worn off for me. No more joy, no more idle chit chat and fun banter, it has become a ‘Popularity Contest’; one that I’ve never been a participant in. Sorry, that’s just me. I’ve never been like everyone else and I guess God made me that way.

To those that have hurt this year, my heart goes out to you. I totally understand that nobody’s life is perfect and having it displayed hurts. May you all find a peace wash over you in the coming New Year. Toss this old year in the garbage where it belongs. Make the best of what you have – be yourself! That’s what works FOR ME!

Lent: Day Twenty ~ Sacrifice

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Lent: Day Twenty ~ Sacrifice

God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sin; the ultimate sacrifice. And here we are a nation finding it hard to sacrifice even a parking spot to the person who arrived opposite you at the same time. You hurriedly jump in the spot and you see it was an elderly woman with no handicap spaces available, seeking a spot close to the store. You scoot out of your car, hey because you were there first, and you rush in the store.

Do you recognize that scene? No? How about the person on the highway, doing the speed limit that you feel you NEED to pass up because they’re going too slow? A hurried race to get wherever you are going, doing whatever you were doing only to arrive at the same exact location you had planned.

Sacrifice. No one is willing to sacrifice one moment, one second of their time to complete the task they selfishly set out to do for themselves. Maybe this post should be about control because basically that’s what it is, the need to control every aspect of your life, not giving anyone else a moment of your sacrifice.

Sharing, sacrifice, caring about others feelings; these are all things the world is depleted of. I see the nation squandering opportunities of sacrifice to have the me, me, me position. Everyone has the truth, everyone has the proof, everyone dawdles their days away because truly, sacrifice isn’t in their vocabulary.

I was asked recently if I was Catholic. Because I celebrate Lent; she was curious to know. It was an honest and fair question, after all I say I’m a Christian and I’ve never really specified myself as attached to a certain religion. Yes I attend an Evangelical church, we’ve also attended a Baptist church and yes I was raised Catholic.

BUT I do not define myself AS an Evangelical, Baptist or Catholic, I define myself as a Christian, a spiritual Christian at that. Lent, to me, is a part of my Spiritual Christian journey. Sacrifice is part of the Lenten experience, to me. TO ME!

I sometimes get confused during this time because as I’m sacrificing, there are many people around me who don’t even acknowledge it as Lent and continue in there day to day life, over-indulging in ignorance and hate and selfishness and the consumption of life in general.

It puzzles me as how they can complain about something as simple as rush hour traffic, or the long lines at the food store, or not being able to get that parking spot closer to the door of the store. Humanity puzzles me when they don’t have one ounce of sacrifice in them.

How many people unknowingly suffer because you’re to prideful to sacrifice one iota of time, hate, mischief, misunderstanding and judgment?

It is really weird, because I spent twenty years sacrificing my life in a marriage that didn’t work two ways. The reasons behind failed marriage are because of sacrifice and compromise that two people couldn't agree on. Relationships are severed because it wasn’t worth the sacrifice. To some, sacrifice means everything while to others it means nothing. When two are not willing then one is left alone.

Lent to me is a time to find where more in my life might be sacrificed for others. I find no joy in living and never putting other people first while I’m off thinking of what I can selfishly accomplish today.

While sin is set on eating us away until we don’t even recognize the path we’re on is empty of worth, I’m off thinking how I can make a person feel that they are worthy. It is my goal to put you before me and see where it carries me.

Now if the whole world could think of Lent as a spiritual journey instead of just a religious holy time, I think more and more people would understand the fruit of sacrifice. Why is everyone set on what the materials fruit produces and never concerns themselves with the spiritual fruit salvation brings?

Sacrifice five minutes of hurriedness to slow down and take your time. Sacrifice the moment of hate and instead share love. If we can acquire 24 hrs of moments that we sacrifice bad with good, the world will then take a spiritual spin with you, otherwise the rotation will always be the same. Every day you will wake, seeking solace and finding none. More and more negative will flow in and soon it becomes too much of a burden to bear, then it consumes you.

Sacrifice…if God can do it for us, I think we OWE it to Him to TRY and do our best for Him.

 Pss. 54:6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O LORD; for it is good.

I'm Tired...

"And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left." Isaiah 30:21

I’m tired…

Have you ever been so tired of life that you just want to climb in a shell, meditate (which to me is PRAYER) and leave all the clutter on the screen behind? Well I am!

Note: I’m tired of all the liking, all the twitting tweeters, all the clutter that fills a page.

Tired of being put down, led around like a puppy on a leash, being mislead, disrespected, unappreciated, the feeling of being unloved. I’m just tired of it all. (pity party about to ensue)

Every day I wake feeling good, glad to be alive, then it happens, I read the Yahoo news feed and the comments, and did you know that the mere mention of God draws so much hate and thumbs down? I think that is why Facebook doesn’t have a thumb down button because it would cause a virtual cyber riot!

I’m tired! I try to lead my life in a respectful manner, show others respect, share the word of God and am always most certainly persecuted or misunderstood. This is the life I chose and one where God has chosen to walk with me down this murky path, never to be left alone. Nothing in this physical world can fill me spiritually like the Fluent Waters of God.

Although the physical world and many of its people lets me down, the spiritual world NEVER lets me down and thus I need to hide for a spell to allow it all to make sense. To you, it might not make sense. To you, you’ll fan through a few words, roll your eyes and continue on thinking blah blah blah, there she goes again. Yes siree! There I go again!

And go I must. To the two or three who have been there for me and actually understood me and comforted me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You won’t be forgotten as I hope in some small measure, neither will I be forgotten. I’m grateful for the few He has placed in my life!

Pss. 23:

[1] The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
[2] He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
[3] He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
[4] Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
[5] Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
[6] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Woeful Wednesday?

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence. ~Eric Fromm
***

Seems like I have a lot of those days lately doesn’t it? It’s okay when it is only one day out of the week or perhaps a day out of the month. As long as I keep the Lord and my relationship with Him in perspective, life will work out just fine for me.

We haven’t gotten any calls from Omaha to say, “Come on down! You’re the next in line for The Cornea Transplant!” Of course I don’t think they’ll be as enthusiastic about it as the Price is Right guy, but that is what it will sound like to us, who are here waiting for that call. I’m sure people on the outside are wondering, “Did they get the call yet?” and we here on the inside have to go through each day, wondering if the next time the phone rings it is going to be ‘the call’.

I’ve been keeping myself busy, cleaning like a mad woman, since I missed two weeks of work due to my twisted blue smurf foot! And thanks for all of your concern, my internet friends. My foot is healing, I can walk around on it, but please don't ask me to put a sneaker on, it just might hinder all the progress that the foot has gone through the past two weeks.

I did something that I rarely do, and that was REST! I kept my swelled and blue foot up for almost two weeks, only walking on it to maybe wash a load of clothes, or fix dinner, then it was back to the sofa to rest! Me! For those of you who know me, and know me well, Joni does not rest, even if she has impending pneumonia!

Now my grass outside has grown to impossible heights. I like to keep up on it, and yes I have a son who has been mowing, but I’ll have you know, my mower does not like wet grass and it conks out about every minute of mow, so that then the thing is so worn out from inhaling all the wet grass, it won’t restart again!

Woe, Woe, Woe is me! Not! Today is beaus and mine’s ninth year together. In all its color and craziness, highs and lows, ups and downs, to see and not to see, we’re still together. So while I have a lot of woeful sighs, bad days, lowest of lows, I have high highs too! AMEN!!!

Even after the barn caught fire the other day. The owner and his workers were well on their way to reopening this Turkey Ranch I live on. They had the barn all cleaned out and the wood chips were delivered and while spreading them on the floor for the soon to be arriving turkeys, the place caught fire and by the time the fire department arrived, the roof of the place had collapsed and not one wood-chip left over.

The only affect it had on me was the sadness to the workers who were excited to see, after two years of being closed and job losses, the Turkey Ranch was re-opening and giving hope to possibly new workers! We go on! It is what we do!

I’ll continue to rise at the crack of dawn to write and have a great and glorious day today and always. Now I expect you to do the same! :) Godspeed!

Burnout

Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
***

Well I have two posts today for a reason. The one below is post number 666 and as much as I know it is just a number, something about it screams out EWWW! to me. So today you are blessed with TWO posts by me, how lucky is THAT?

I’ll finish what I started on that ‘other’ post.

F2k was draining. I have loved and been committed to f2k for some years now, but as the format changed, the guidelines altered, the reading and reading fell upon us, the choosing and deciding, this was all too much for my brain, with reality slapping me upside the head on a weekly basis.

So I decided to take a break. We have a lot of mentors in place for just this reason. We call it burnout when we over do it, and many of the mentors don’t get it because they have lots of time on the computer to dedicate to the course, even though life is slapping them in the face with illnesses, deaths, and hardships, you would never know it. We’re troopers.

We go on and on like energizer bunnies, tossing reality to the side and voluntarily diving into the assistance of the writer. It is what we signed on for and we are a dedicated committed bunch of folks.

I’ve decided to focus on my first love, WVU. I’m going to facilitate some courses and hopefully together with a bunch of other facilitators, we can get the course registration up and maybe even keep the people IN the class for the duration of two weeks. This is much less stress than the weekly demands of the f2k.

You have to remember, this is all volunteer work and I watch each session as mentors struggle with their lives, stay strong and commit to this seven week course. That is almost 2 months. So next round, I need a break. I’m honest enough to admit it and brave enough to stop my own downfall.

The next f2k course is April 6 I believe. That is a four week break? I can not commit fully at that time, with possible Dr. visits, hopefully eye surgery for the beau, the arrival of Spring and my New Year, and life wrapping its arms around me, drinking me in like a morning dew on grass!

Foresight is good to the extent you can know your limitations and act on them. That is what I’m doing, thinking ahead. My presence will still be felt, and I’ll miss the course, but this gal needs time to BREATHE!