Never Lose Sight of the Light

Pss. 16:10 “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”

 Never Lose Sight of the Light

I think you all know by now that I’m an optimist. The past week or so I’ve been down, filled with aches and pains but the one thing that keeps me trudging through the mire is never losing sight of the Light. 

I can feel all of your pain for me as I unleash some of my darkened days. Rest assured my friends, they are far and few in between. It may seem like many days and to me, imagine, it seems like walking through the fires of hell but then I’m reminded, we all have to go through hell before we ever taste the sweetness and beauty of heaven. Even Jesus himself descended into hell before ascending to heaven, so what makes you or I any better than Christ?

If I just shared all of my happy, happy, joy days, that would not be giving you a realistic picture of all that I’m going through. I could lie and paint pretty murals of a joyous journey of beating one of the most devastating diseases eating man and woman alive this day and age. No, I’m choosing a realistic approach and giving to you the good, the bad, the ugly along with the strength and beauty along the pathways of my survival.

I might also want to add that I’m still learning as I go and believe it or not while there are tons of compassionate caring folks out in the world, there is an equal amount of naysayers who just don’t agree with a person doing alternative treatment. They think science is right, doctors are trained professionals and that is who they believe, everyone else is just quacks! I have to steer clear of those people but they get through the protective cracks of open groups on Facebook like Chris Warks? You know, the young man who is celebrating 14 years cancer free after going alternative? 

I read a comment on a thread on his FB page about how science is right, Chris is promoting people to kill themselves and that vegetables can’t and doesn’t cure cancer! Well, had they actually watched Chris Wark's module they would have known that at no time does Chris say vegetables cure cancer. He pretty much touches base on EVERYTHING as the cause and he talks about the spiritual side of the healing, the supplement side as well as the juicing side. But he still never claims it to be a cure but people attack him constantly calling him a fraud! He never responds because he has work to do, he doesn’t sit on facebook all day fielding questions and fighting back with the TRUTH of HIS HEALING!

I do understand that everyone has an opinion but in your opinion where you think you’re right, do you lash out at a person so you can be on the high horse? You know what it makes you look like right? 

I don’t believe in science to be 100% right all of the time. I have a good reason. To me, Science is just a theory of a brief moment in time awaiting another theory to prove it wrong. I think that is why I don’t hold doctors with all their years of education to be right about everything. There will come along a smarter wiser and better-studied physician who will prove them wrong. 

Did you know that scientists' thought that all mammals gave live birth? They proved that no mammal laid eggs that is until a new theory came along with the discovery in Australia, of the duck-billed platypus! The furry little platypus not only shocked the zoologists with its beaver-like flapping tail and wide duck bill, but the critter also was the only known warm-blooded, fur-covered mammal that lays eggs! How's that for science?

You see, when I walk this walk, it is toward the Light and I do not stop at the stagnant end of the tunnel where the scientist-doctor know it alls are standing there keeping people from seeing any source of light waiting at the other end of the tunnel for them. It is their way or no way. You HAVE to be wrong because they studied for years upon years and believe what they are selling you to be the truth. Then there’s the platypus that blew their whole theory to smithereens. What do you do with that? 

I know what I do, I follow Moses, David, and Christ because they were the platypus’ of their day. They were the ‘quacks’ if I’ve read and believed the Word correctly. There are people today who are dead set against any belief in the Holy Bible. They are set in their ways at remaining at the end of the dark end of the tunnel and really see no reason to make it to the other side, even if to prove their theory wrong, they’re on their high-horse and millions of Christians worldwide are the ones wrong.

There are SOME people willing to stand up and detach themselves of the stigma that governments made sure their people adhered to. Like cannabis, for example, it is an HERB, it is not a DRUG, it is a medicinal healing HERB, yet there are those floundering because of the stigma they are conformed to, as sad as that may be.

Chemotherapy is a toxic DRUG, one which many were led into the darkened tunnel to believe to be the CURE for a DEADLY disease. I think the platypus FACT can be used here; it came along and shattered the scientists’ theory of mammals. There is science to PROVE that chemo is not the only route, but the high-horse men won’t let facts through the tunnel because they’ll lose billions of dollars.

As I walk through the darkened tunnel, I’m bound to trip and fall. I’m going to have pain-filled days, I’m going to have doubts and fears only because that is the way I was conditioned. I SEE the Light at the end of the tunnel, I FEEL the healing taking place. I have unearthed a TRUTH that was right in front of me all along. Amid death, destruction, floods, pestilence, and raging fires can you say the same? 

My message of HOPE is this…NEVER lose sight of the Light that will one day bring you home!

The LORD says, “See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” — Isaiah 42:9 (NIV)

UnAmerican

The American Flag at Fort McHenry

Baltimore, Maryland

Pss. 136:1 “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

UnAmerican

I’m jumping on the bandwagon here. I’ve been called un-American so many times it makes my head spin. Why? Not standing for the National Anthem? No. Not picking left OR right? No. I’ve been called un-American because I don’t like chocolate or fatty foods like bacon and enormous amounts of cheese. Well I’ll be!

I don’t think this post is really about being un-American as much as it is going to be about what riles the world, gets under their skin, irks people to no end. If the cause does not fit into the norm, meaning the [supposed] majority, then you are on the outside, the minority. If you’re black you’re in the minority, orange, minority, alien minority. What if you’re Irish or German does that count you as a minority too? Are the majority of Americans Irish and German? I don’t think this day and age they are. 

It makes you think. What does it mean when someone calls you un-American? I respect soldiers who were drafted at a young age and basically forced to fight for this country. I admire the men and women who choose to continue to fight for this country day in and day out. But does it make me un-American because I don’t and won’t conform to what YOU might want me to post on facebook, Instagram, or twitter?

I was and never will be someone who votes because you tell me I HAVE to vote or be called un-American. When the National Anthem is on, STAND, place your hand over your heart! Say the pledge of allegiance daily. Well, we want our kids to pledge allegiance to a flag for twelve years of their life and we get all riled up because some lying meme says it’s going to be taken out of schools? Americans want everything THEIR way and you’re UNAmerican if you disagree with one or two people who don't think like you think.

I think that our founding fathers when writing the Constitution knew back in the day that God (or mere mention of Him), our rights or our liberties would continue to be an issue in the distant future. I don’t think they thought that allowing people from other countries here was going to be such a big issue but here we are being our American selves and not wanting immigrants to share in our wealth and prosperous land. (I say that loosely as I look around at other countries, impoverished nations and their debts.)

You know, I find it quite amazing that individuals are not allowed to think for themselves, speak out about something they don’t believe in or are shamed because the small brained feel it necessary to be louder than the minority of people who just want to be heard. I thought we had rights to protect us but year after year, political figure after political figure wants to change the way things are run.

I blog today because it is my right as an American to say what I want to say but to lump me together with the other billions of Americans is offensive to me because I am not like them or you for that matter. I don’t read the ‘what people are talking about today’news. To be honest, I go to facebook and see what people are griping about, reeling about, who is offending whom on this or any given day. Then as the writer in me takes over, I research and see if it is worth blogging about. More times than not, the answer is no because I won’t conform to what the masses expect from me. I won’t be a part of the hate brigade and if that makes me un-American, then so be it, off with my head!

Yup, I’m all about God and I’m sure that offends the majority of people but I don’t care. I don’t live to serve man and debate about who’s right and who’s wrong; I live to serve God. Not a country, not a flag, not a battalion, not a president, not anything but God, so yes, if serving ONE God makes me un-American, then Hail to the King of Kings! 

God you reign, God you reign!

Forever and ever… God you REIGN!

They Ruin It...

Prov. 13:18 “Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.”

They Ruin It…

They’ve [humans] ruined my relationship to church; it’s now relinquished to a place to show my face so I can come home and boast of how great the sermon and praise was. They’ve ruined what little trust I had in people by being more about the manipulative angle they can use to abuse me. They make drinking alcohol all about fun and games like it is just a second nature and fine to do without ramifications, they spread lies like mosquitoes spreading Lyme disease injecting their poisonous falsehoods for the world to see and STILL claim to be Christian. 

It is Christians, you know, the very good Christians that are destroying the religion, for ME. I have a faith in Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father but I have zero faith in humankind. I don’t have faith in the churches because they are imploding while touting their growth. Church is no longer about God, it is about an opinionated what-you’re-doing-wrong drama. 

I read the headlines and the stories are unending of a collapsing society. I should say societies because this is happening worldwide and if you just happily ignore the succession of downfall going on around you, then to me, you are part of the problem. We are perverting society by accepting sin like candy from a dirty old man, it’s become the norm.

Evil is stampeding across the globe knocking down pillars that have been in place for centuries. I’m saddened not celebratory at all. Everything is about race, sexism, politics, shoot or be shot, kill or be killed, blatant propaganda spoon-fed by the media to the masses and fed to innocent children who know nothing yet but are being programmed to follow in the footsteps of the hate in the world.

We as a human race are not coming together to solve problems, I see too often people sitting back and being PART of the problem and enjoying their placement in a world of fellow angry citizens who can’t even rise from bed without feeling hate in their veins.  And that makes you a good person?

What exactly constitutes a good Christian or a good person? I shouldn’t have to struggle to see them; they should be quite obvious among the crowd yet they’re not. They’re hidden among the booze drinkers, layered with, if not covered in, the hatemonger; splintered by the right and wrong in the world.

Actions are what separate the good, not color, religion, race or sex but that is what we’ve done to the world, divided man and thought, and has made information so liquid we bathe in the offering. It does not make us good people by agreeing to everything the hate spewers feed you.

Greed has ruined any form of celebration for me. People want and want but are not willing to give a little time and effort to the term ‘change’. They’d much rather be herded together like cattle and be tagged and counted among the crowd as one of the all.

I feel alone as I wade in the ocean of life. I’m out to sea and see no land in sight. Ruined is the joy in a day. Gone is the hope in tomorrow. I have but one thing to hold onto as a life preserver and that is my faith in God. 

While man has destroyed everything, burnt the promise of growth, singed the tide of deliverance, damaged the blossoms of love and buried the plateau of joy, I remain alone. I will count by single digits the good ones and remain skeptical of the boasting 'good' people; skeptical not judgmental because I hold no right in judging. We each have to judge for ourselves what is right and wrong and prayerfully I choose right.

Ten Things Money CAN’T buy?

Manners
Morals
Respect
Common sense
Character
Class
Integrity
Trust
Patience
LOVE!

Bonus: Faith, Hope and Charity

1 Cor. 13:13 KJV “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

A Pick-N-Choose World

Ps. 55: 16 “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.”

If you believe what you like in the gospels,
and reject what you don't like,
it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.
 ~ St. Augustine

I saw this quote and felt like giving St. Augustine a high-five! This is so true. People have a tendency to pick and choose what they believe and read in the Bible. 

Then I spotted this meme of the Mash TV series.  Hawkeye and Father Mulcahy are talking:

“War isn’t hell, war is war and hell is hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.

How you figure Hawkeye?

Easy Father. Tell me, who goes to hell?

Sinners, I believe.

Exactly, there are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chock full of them – little kids, cripples, old ladies, in fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander.” 

This struck me: “Who goes to Hell? Sinners, I believe.”

If we are all sinners, does that mean we are all going to Hell?

Well wait, we’re not all going to hell, right? Because all we have to do is read, believe, sin, and ask for forgiveness over and over again? Right? I got it. I don’t believe it but that is my right also just as you have your right to pick and choose what you believe in the bible and what actions you take LIVING the word of God. 

It seems to me that all this country is wrapped up in is politics, lies, media’s supposed truths, and more sin drowning in their veins. They love riling people up as they sit and judge and point fingers demanding transparency from situations we have no business in knowing. I say that with respect to the DECEASED in the matter and families who are dealing with a horrible death. They don’t want the stories rehashed over and over. They don’t want killers faces again and again in the news. When does the media share the innocent victims lives and plaster their images for all of the world to see? They don’t because NO ONE would SHARE that and feed the click-bait world.

The world bathes in sin yet claim an allegiance to God, any God for that matter, they wrap their belief in sin, let sin seep through their veins and bleed falsehood all in the name of an allegiance to their God?

While everyone is enjoying hating the president of the U.S, I’ve heard him called everything from a liar to a Muslim, to being a part of Islam and it goes on and on. People of the world would so much rather HATE than look deeply in the mirror and see the true them that is reflected back. Lies have been going on since the beginning of time itself and we think we have rights to the truth? Just what truth do you seek? Do you seek truth from politicians? That’s funny. Presidents lied in the past and they’ll lie in the future. Man will lie in his own lie.

The further and further we push God out of our country, the more and more people need to hate. They’re addicted to it, it’s a NEED of theirs to feel in control.

John of the Yahoo comment section wrote: “I am so surprised that the anti-Christ [Trump] is going to use political correctness to take over, I always wondered how he would do it, the bible says he will be a great speaker spewing good things from his mouth, that he will preach peace. Years ago I thought all this religion was nonsense, that there was no way we would ever lose Christianity in this country, or that the teaching of Jesus would stop as Jesus said it would, but now as an old man I am a firm believer, because I see the things of Christianity coming to an end in the name of tolerance, and I am not just talking about the saying of have a merry Christmas or the taking down of the ten commandments, I see an assault by our own government and president, and I have to wonder where all the Christians are at.”

All the Christians are too busy picking and choosing what they believe in. They’re rolling around in a mud bath slinging hate to the world, getting caught up in sin and calling their anger justified by the word of Christ. Allow me to tell you, there is no in between. You can’t be against the Lord one day (full of hate, rage and rants) and be a good looking upstanding Christian the next. It just doesn’t work that way. 

Pick and choose right or wrong, there is no justifiable middle.

They Know It's Wrong...

Ezek. 34:11 “For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.”

They Know It’s Wrong...

They know it’s wrong, yet they still do it, sin. Why is the moral compass so set on headed South? People know right from wrong yet they still CHOOSE to take the wrong over the right thing to do. They feel the temptation pulling on them like two magnets attracted to each other, the pull is too strong to show any kind of resistance.

Satan knows what flavor of sin to bait his hook with and time and time again man chooses to nibble on the bait instead of being the better fish and swim away. Take for example the political year. You can smell rancid satan odor in the air, you know you’re being pulled by only one thing and instead of resistance you jump in head first and go to battle with him. What does he offer that is so sweet tasting that gives you a reason not to fight?

God’s way is not an option, it is a necessity but so few feel HIS pull. They’d much rather jump in the dung heap and swim with the fetid parasites than dance with queer little angels who always seem too happy and filled with joy, choosing the higher road instead of squirming with the vermin on the lower road.

I think political years are poised so that we can really see with a bird’s eye view of just whom it is that we call a friend. I know after this election year is over I’ll still be holding on tight for the strength and armor of God to wrap around me and continue to show me the teensy bit of light that might still be left in all of them who chose to go south.

It’s not a left or right choice, it’s a north and south choice and so many people have chosen the south because of the warm comfortable fit that it gives them in an angry society. The bitter men all bundle together moving in a rampage shoulder to shoulder as they march for what THEY believe is right but if you look down upon the masses from an eagle’s perspective there is only a few here and there choosing the right direction and the masses that are headed south are too numerous to count.

From up here (yes, I’m soaring like an eagle) it looks as if God is separating the good and the evil putting them all in little Easter baskets. I think Ishtar (who Easter is derived from that everyone blindly celebrates thinking it a Christian holiday) would be very happy. 

From Wikipedia: "Woe to him whom Ishtar had honoured! The fickle goddess treated her passing lovers cruelly, and the unhappy wretches usually paid dearly for the favours heaped on them. Animals, enslaved by love, lost their native vigour: they fell into traps laid by men or were domesticated by them. 'Thou has loved the lion, mighty in strength', says the hero Gilgamesh to Ishtar, 'and thou hast dug for him seven and seven pits! Thou hast loved the steed, proud in battle, and destined him for the halter, the goad and the whip.'
Even for the gods, Ishtar's love was fatal. In her youth the goddess had loved Tammuz, god of the harvest, and—if one is to believe Gilgamesh —this love caused the death of Tammuz.”

My new year has begun (thank you, Mike, for remembering) and as usual, I have my blinders on. I don’t want to be a witness to the world collapsing all around me. I don’t want to see people that I trusted fall. I’m losing hope in the world and people in general. I always tried to see the good in people but blindly I’ve been led on and they’re just as wicked as the next person. I thought that Mardis Gras was in February, why are humans still embracing the masks?

I hold onto the tiny rays of light that do make it through to my world and is not the false pretense of the enormous amount of people who have headed south with their immoral compass. They know it’s wrong and if only they knew what truth and Light looked, tasted and smelled like, I believe the world could be a better place to live.

I think I’ll nestle up here on a branch, a Branch that was extended to the world but they were too caught up to see the beauty of it all. May God have mercy on our soul. 

Proverbs 11:18 (NIV) “The wicked man earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.”

Content

Ex. 2:20-21 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

You could see this post as content [kon-tent] significance or profundity; meaning:
a clever play that lacks content.
Or: substantive information or creative material viewed in contrast to its actual or potential manner of presentation:

Or content [kuh n-tent] satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.

I was going for the being satisfied with what one is or has but it can also be seen as significance. I see a problem that has risen to record proportions in a nation of contentious people. They are not happy with what they have or with whom they are, causing an upheaval of indecisiveness.

Rom. 2:8 “But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,”

Not only do I see this in the (I never talk about) politics, but in people’s lives. They are never content with the blessings they have and always seeking out more, whether it is more clothes, a bigger house, more selection or more choices, then they’re left confused wanderers by not being content with what they have. 

Why can’t people be content? People are no longer impressed with integrity, kindness, humility and generosity; they’re too busy being overcome by anger and hate as if something has possessed them that they’ll never admit is happening.

“I still get very high and very low in life. Daily. But I finally accepted the fact that sensitive is just how I was made, that I don’t have to hide it and I don’t have to fix it. I’m not broken.” ~ Glennon Melton

We must be able to overcome the dark force that is waging war on our souls so much so that we act like a roaring lion filled with hate, not a gentle Lamb like Christ. It is much easier to come out and attack, lash out at anyone and everyone who doesn’t have the same perspective as we do and yet we find ourselves clinging to the ones who are also filled with the maliciousness.

One of the hardest things to do in my Child of God walk is to forgive, to love my enemy, to turn the other cheek. People see me as either naïve or blind to reality but do they ever see me as a Child of God? No, and yes, do you know why? They’d rather pick a negative connotation not knowing it is an evil dark force that is drawing them to the conclusion. 

You see, they are the ones blind. They are blind to the blood of Christ that they claim is seeping through their veins. Jesus knew the men who were killing Him. Did He choose to lash out and spew hate filled words to carry Him to heaven? Did He choose to separate himself from the prostitutes, the poor, the lame and the different?

I know what you’re going to say. He was a better man than you. Yes, this is true but He is the one whose words should be first out of your mouth, not the ones that satan chooses for you.

We’re human and we are weak but He is strong! He is the one who has the strength to overcome the evil in the world and instead of rallying around satan, without demeaning hate-filled words, whose end has been prophesied about and will come, Jesus’ end is just the beginning.

When you are filled with love and joy part of the time in your daily living then you are not filled with Jesus all of the time. Being human allows you that right to choose good and evil.

I choose to overcome the evil force playing tug of war in my soul. Do you think it is easy? Do you think Joni just wakes up with her head in the clouds? No, she has to work at being there like everyone else but again, it is her CHOICE to choose good over evil.

Being content with all that I am and all that I have, not wanting more and more keeps me grounded in the here and now.

Phil. 4:11 “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”

Letting go

Isa. 38:18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Letting Go…

On October 16^th my dad went into the hospital. Being so far away is hard but I imagine not as much pressure as on the ones who have to be there day in and day out and watch the lighthouse of their life crumble before their eyes. When he went in he had told my mother that he wouldn’t be coming back home. She just shrugged it up to his tiredness.

Like water in a clogged drain, my father kept going down, slowly and exhaustively. My mother was tiring but kept holding on to the threads of her husband who was once vital in their daily walk of life. For sixty years they were one for each other. No one else in the world seemed to exist and he was her lighthouse that she sought out in the dark.

By the 23^rd she held onto hope that he would be coming home, not in the condition he went in but much worse off than what he was before entering the hospital. Her daily visits to the hospital, by either my sister or brother, were tiring for her but she kept going on, no matter what, she was holding onto hope that he’d be coming home.

I’ve called twice a day for the last two weeks and what I heard on the other end was not good. He had slept and slept and on a rare occasion would wake then drift off to sleep. He went from ICU to a ‘room’ then back to ICU and then back to a room.

Ironically his first room number was 405. Our address growing up and where we resided for almost 30 years was 1405. The next room he was put in was 317, the time of my first child’s birth/death. Also, it was the same floor and same hospital where my grandmother died one room over in 316 a few years ago.

My feeling in my sunken heart was that this is it; this will be the week my father dies. I cried, I sobbed like a baby, hoping beyond hope my feelings were wrong. By the 25^th my mother had seen a ray of hope, my dad sat up and talked. He sat in the chair (as opposed to lying helpless in the bed) and conversed. By Sunday he was back to sleeping hours on end, not looking as good as he had the day before.

By Monday the 26^th there was talk of putting him in a hospice because there was nothing they could do. He was now seeing people who weren’t there and talking gibberish in his sleep. They were going to take him off the defibrillator because his heart is being overworked. The doctor said this is a painful step as his oxygen is minimal and his heart is pumping at abnormal rates. His blood pressure would drop to a deathly low then soar to an astronomical high. Would he make it through the night? The doctor’s and all around him said no!

The call came in that they had to make a decision to turn the defibrillator off. I spoke to my mother and said is this what you want. After I told her to let him go in peace not pain and the conversation ended with he’d be taken off the life source keeping him alive.

I called my brother, the black sheep whom no one has conversed with, and told him the defibrillator would be turned off and that he wasn’t expected to make it through the night. We cried, we laughed, we spoke of old times, and we mourned. I hung up the phone and drained remaining tears as I let my father go. I would sit and wait impatiently for the call that my father had passed. It never came.

Instead, at nine p.m my mother called and said they DIDN’T turn the defibrillator off. My father had awakened and said not to touch it, he just wanted to go home. This is something impossible since they can’t send the machine home with him to keep him alive. I believe there is another aspect of… affordability. The hospital has done all it can, told the family the options, and they are releasing him to the unknown. Ten to fifteen hours of sleep, the machine alone keeping him alive, pain and suffering abound, the heart and lungs trying to pump the very last second of life as the host lay waiting to take his last breath.

My mother said he was not supposed to make it through the night even with the defibrillator keeping him alive. My day and night was spent mourning like a baby who lost their first puppy.

After calling my mother twice in the early morning and not getting an answer, wondering if he was alive or dead, I waited the entire day of the 27^th for ‘the phone call’ that never came. Instead at 5:30 she did call to tell me that they put him back in a room, #316 by the way, and that he was having hallucinations, unable to eat whole food because he was choking on it, then sleeping for hours on end.

I’ve struggled with the decision to put him at rest but it had to be done to face the inevitable. I woke feeling a peace around me because I had let my father go. I don’t know where his destination will end, I cannot be certain because his destination is his; it is between him and God

Today the 28^th they will decide to put my father in a hospice against his wishes (remember he just wants to go home), to live basically on life support. The ones back home have had to make this heart wrenching decision. I cannot fathom what they are enduring and the guilt of not being there is sometimes overwhelming but I feel peace because I’ve done the hardest part on my end and that is… I let my father go.

Lam. 1:20 Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

The Pits

Concordia, Kansas

Pss. 40:2 “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”

The Pit

It saddens me when people are so filled with hate that they need to point fingers, laugh at, mock, joke and make fun of people (after posting scripture mind you). The world is so full of negative influence that people just fall right into the web of deceit.

They are misled and misguided and they are only a source of light and inspiration to make themselves look good? It puzzles me to no end how people really feel good about themselves when they KNOW they’re not following God FOR God, they follow Him for looks.

I liken the world to a pit; a pit where people are clawing at the mud, trying to find purpose in their existence and just spilling more mud because clawing is only stirring up the avalanche of clay that will soon bury them knee deep in the mire.

They seek but cannot find; they search but cannot grasp; they claw and fill their nails deep with the clinging clay. They are stretching for everything out of arms reach. They think but they don’t think fully; they aim but always miss the target.

"Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real; the choice to be honest; the choice to let our true selves be seen." ~ Brené Brown

People seem to graze at the truth but never end up capturing the truth. When the truth is captured they can lay claim to their authentic self, which has eluded them while seeking out the wrong things in life.

Why do people strive for what they can’t have? Why do they poke fun at others or crave what other people have? Why do people try to claim goodness when so much is eating at them where they need to release a negative spin on almost everything they touch, read or hear?

I see people trying so hard at being good but they lose track when they try too hard. Being good and righteous should not be a chore that one undertakes, it should be a flow of natural behavior that many, all too many, do not understand. 

They would much rather tread in a mud-filled pit and try to define good and bad and cling to both. It can’t be done. I see it being done but really it should not be a way to live. You cannot serve the masters of good and bad, right and wrong, dark and light. You’ll find yourself stuck in the pit and never finding sure footing of a way to get out. 

You can try and find God, but cling to the negative juncture in the road. You will try to see the light, but offer up a dark shading umbrella for people to climb under. You pretend to offer light but secretly hide the darkness within you and that is what is shining forth, not the light within you. 

Now I see where the term, ‘the pits’ comes from, “the pits” as slang for the very worst, the most degraded and depressing example of something. To me, humanity is ‘the pits’!  They live there, breathe there, share there and cling to their own beliefs infecting others like a wildfire burning out of control with the compulsion of negativity. People of the same thought process, ‘we can serve two masters and get away with it’ feed the pits.

I myself, when I see negative reactions to things I run like a bat outta hell! I won’t allow myself to be infected so I strive to spread light and love in hopes to give the people in the pits a rope to hold onto to pull themselves out.

While they continue on the path of politicizing everything, children are being beaten to death. While they fill their bodies with food and nourishment, people are dying without a bit of kibble to bite on. While they’re off laughing and enjoying poking fun at people, there are people being battered and bullied physically.  

Before laughing at all of the crazy crud going on in the world take action, not words and memes but first, take a look inside yourself and see what is bullied and battered and why you feel the need to poke fun at others. Maybe you’ll see a way out of that pit you find yourself dwelling.

Matt. 18:33 “Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?”

Tuning Out

Rom. 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

It is quite sad that so many are working hard to bring people to God yet turning them away from Him unaware. I’ve been tuning people out for some time now but still, that doesn’t keep me from observing their behavior. The negative aspects still have a way of seeping in when I least expect. I’m not offended as much as I’m saddened at their inane actions while claiming to be children of God. Human beings are a sad lot.

I see why people are turning from God in record numbers, not just because they don’t believe in the first place, but they are being deceived and that can lead to a falling away of forming any sort of belief system.

It’s confusing when people are touting that they KNOW the truth but don’t LIVE the truth. People boasting of their love of God but are visually so filled with internal hate for everything. People seeking the truth are then led to believe that you can do no wrong and the bible then becomes a laughable joke. They see people practicing not what they are preaching.

I’ve come to the conclusion that we don’t live in God’s world, we live in a political world and man uses the bible as a footstool to base their belief system on and of course, the non-believers are not going to stand for the word Bible or God in their vocabulary. Everyone is too busy seeing the left and right or the wrong and right of things, not the God things. Their focus is NOT on God but the world.

Rom. 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

I realized something last year; that I had raised my son in a Christian household and when he turned eighteen; I realized his beliefs were not the same as mine. Sure I tried to instill all my Christian beliefs into him but there came a backfire when he said to me, “I don’t believe the same things as you.”

A shocker right? Wrong! I realized (an awakening of sorts) that my son is not my property, he is God’s property. It was my job to teach him in the way that he should go but in the end, he is his own person and can form his own ideas/beliefs. He hasn’t turned from God, he’s just drinking in all the foolish lies people spout and forming his own opinion. Wow, how did that happen, he turned out to be his own being? He doesn’t do the facebook thing because, “There is no good in that place.”

This is what is happening in the world today. We try and shove OUR belief down people’s throats and it backfires, people are not buying what we are trying to sell. To a believer you’ll get an AMEN sometimes but to the non-believer you get tuned out. You are turning them AWAY from God instead of TO God.

I was taught as a child that you don’t discuss money, religion and politics because it causes disagreements, arguments, and division. It’s not a law to abide by but it is a non-formal moral code that humans have supposedly grown accustomed to, you’d think.

I think of facebook as a gathering of friends. It would be no different if it were everyone sitting around in the park at a picnic table sharing food and family fun. What I don’t expect is to be hit (and hit hard) with a barrage of political crud, religious buffs (who know everything, BTW) and gabfests on money. Oh wait, the only time money is brought up is when people are sharing the abundance of the amount they have, which is almost NEVER! So why not hold the religion and politics to the same stature? You’re among friends, act like it!

I’m starting to think that these folk don’t have a moral code that they live by. They just want to point out that they are right and you are wrong. It makes me want to tune out and turn away from the very people I’ve come to know and love. Facebook has become a cesspool for the arrogance of society; taken away (or lost in the crud) is the fun-loving, God embracer. Oh they’re there, but far and very few between. My newsfeed is down to about five people now, a much more POSITIVE flow of the GOODNESS in the world.

This is what is happening in the world today. People are tuning out and turning away; tuning out from the hypocritical society, the political garbage and turning away from God. Guess what, people can actually THINK for themselves. They don’t need YOU to tell them what is wrong with the world, clearly showing them where YOUR focus is, and it isn’t on God!

My only saving grace is turning away from the world and tuning into God. God is my refuge; He’s not my platform, I don’t use Him for gain, I use Him for comfort. He is my Soul Food!

Let me let you get back to your political propaganda, your regularly scheduled program. I’m tuned out of Social Media and I’m tuned into God.

Pss. 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

AMEN!

Why King James Version?

Prov. 30:5-6  Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Since first grade and my entry into a Catholic elementary school, I was introduced to the Word via the King James Bible. For countless years the King James Bible was my guide. I read it like it was the only book on my shelf from front to back and over and over again through the years.

In ninth grade I went to a Christian school and again, the use of the KJV bible was the one used for our bible studies. I hadn’t even heard of other translations of the bible but our Pastor at CLA (Christian Liberty Academy) told us of numerous ‘other’ translations that were out there and that we should steer clear lest we wanted to be led astray.

I remember one distinct day a conversation my sister and I were having as she was struggling in her faith. She asked me how I understood the bible so clearly when she herself found it so confusing. She knew of my love of poetry and I told her, “It is poetry to my eyes and ears.”

As you can imagine she looked even more confused by stating, “I just don’t get it.”

I personally don’t think the bible was written for us to ‘get’. I think it was written solely for us to feel! A new age guru did not write the words of the bible. He did not set out to explain every minute detail of every single word defining passages along the way. But in many of the NEW translations I feel that is what someone tried to do, write the bible more clearly so everyone could understand the Word it was speaking.

Even at our church, the KJV is frowned upon, seeking the word from the NIV because that was the most closely translated version of the KJV. Pastor Mike would often reference the KJV because the NIV didn’t have the clarity of the words. Many friends find the NIV an easier read, also. Can you all say, DIVIDED?

Does anyone realize that all these versions are simply dividing instead of what the Word intended on UNIFYING. When people hear that there are over 50 different versions of the Bible in the English language alone, they often think, "No wonder they are so divided.”

They might be wrong and they might be right. I’m not here to say who/what is wrong or right, I’m here to say what works for ME! And quite frankly, the King James version has worked for me for over 40 years now, so why would I want to conform to what other believers are believing and using? If the other translations work for you, that is fine, but my house, and me, we serve the Lord and I won’t let other translations cloud my enjoyment of the poetry it speaks to my heart and soul.

The one scripture that stands out to me that is too ‘changed’, and it’s not because of any Charlie Brown Christmas either, is the one from Luke.

KJV - Luke 2:8-14 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

NIV – Luke 2:8-14  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The entire scripture was changed! Did you notice that the NIV omitted the words CHRIST OUR LORD? Yes, I know Messiah the Lord means the same thing but WHY omit CHRIST? How is changing those three words more clearly defining the Word? I find that entire scripture sacrilegious! But then again, that is just ME! And just on whom does His favor rest?

As hard as satan tries to tug and pull me away from what CHRIST has shown me, I will not be led to his lies, fear and doubts he tries throwing at ME! I am SPIRIT-FILLED, not just a liver and believer. I am a follower of Christ and not ashamed of it in anyway way. But satan will have you believe otherwise through guilt, shame and doubt. Be aware of his tactics.
So why do I choose the King James Version? Because it is a poetic imprint on my soul that I just can’t shake and don’t want to either.
 
Follow what is on your heart and may God be with you at all times.

I'm Not Too Blind to See

Romans 14:12 'So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.'

I’m Not Too Blind to See

Man has eyes set on worldly things

I’m not too blind to see.

He roams around looking to find

others like him that agree.

He finds the wrongs then compares

I’m not too blind to see.

Man is lost; his pride beset

by a hate-filled anger spree.

Given free will we make a choice

I’m not too blind to see.

I choose to bow my head and pray

Outrage is not for me.

Silence is not an obvious route

I’m not too blind to see.

But I will not give satan

one ounce of strength from me!

There are fools among the crowd

I’m not too blind to see.

I’ll choose love any day

over animosity.

Prov. 14:15-16 The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going. A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.

Grammar Police

Grammar Police!

***

I thought that was a funny title since I am on so many occasions the one being ‘charged’ with the crime of  Grammar Faux Pas.
I do try my best but I found that I am human after all, I make mistakes, and I lose sight of grammar skills when I get into the Zone of writing and all grammar rules fly out the window on a catapult!

I’m not talking typo’s here, for today I’m referring to words. This week we’ll get into other aspects of grammar skills but today, words are on my mind. I was talking to a friend from church, she is a fellow writer also, and we got to talking about similar sounding words that are frequently misused or abused, should I say? Or just plain old misunderstood.

read/read --  I read the book in one day. Or  I read a lot of books in a week.

lose/loose -- I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached. 
                   My head is attached by loose threads holding it together.

wood/would --  This one seems easy enough but you’d be surprised by the writers who misuse it.
                         The wood on deck is solid oak.  
                         I would rather be somewhere else today.

its/it’s --  It’s a sunny day out there. (contraction of it is)  
              My book has a mind of its own.

desert/dessert -- The desert was not a place to be all alone in my travels.  
                         I wanted dessert after a full course meal!

coarse/course -- The material was coarse to the touch. 
                         The course at school was not fulfilling for me.

your/you’re -- Apparently this is my most abused word. I think they’re more of a typo though because I know the difference between your and you’re.
                       Did you get your hair done again?
                       You’re not going to believe this! (contraction of you are)

their/there/they’re -- Another extremely misunderstood set of words.
                       I wonder where they’re supposed to be placed?
                       Place them over there.
                       Their team won the trophy.

We have homophones -- Words which have the same pronunciation but different meanings and (sometimes) spellings.
 
homonyms -- Words which have the same pronunciation and spelling but different meanings.
 
and homographs -- Words which have the same spellings but different meaning and (sometimes) pronunciation.

Can you imagine coming from another country and trying to learn our language? If I’m an American and get confused, imagine someone from Argentina, Russia, or Mexico trying to write our language. Speaking it might be difficult for a foreigner but trying to spell and write the English language? That is an entire different story. (no pun intended.)

While doing research for today’s blog, I found quite a few useful sites for the writer to use as they venture down the writing road. I’m hoping to do a week long Grammar Police series but with another Omaha trip this week and it being a Holy week, we might have to run into next week, but stick with me, there sure is a lot to be gleaned in the way of knowledge for your writing endeavors. Who needs a course in college when you have a blogful of info right here at your finger tips.



Have a grate week, I mean GREAT week! (pun intended)