Are you missing the boat?

This post is more for the younger folks who may be just getting into their career but have not started saving toward retirement yet.

Get started.

I know the stock market has its ups and downs and has been volatile the last few years but that is no excuse.

I am not going to propose asavings plan for you. That is something you will have to decide on based on what is available to you but I just want you to get startred.

I once worked for an employer who matched by contributions to a 401k dollar for dollar but that isn't likely to happen again. My present boss does 50 cents on the dollar for the first 3%.

That doesn't seem like much but it works like this:

For every $1,500.00 I actually contributed to my savings account, my employer has added $1,100.00. The increase in the stock market over the last three years has added another $1600.00 to my balance.

In other words, I put $1100.00 into a savings account that is worth $4200.00. That includes the great dip in the stock market when people were losing 40 to 60 percent of their savings.

I admit it was hard but I kept telling myself that the lower the market got the more stocks I was buying per dollar invested. I was right because when the market began to recover, I recovered quickly.

I can't promise you that you will do as well with your savings plan as I have done with mine but i can't say you won't do better either. All I am saying is that if you save nothing you will have nothing but if you save a little, you may end up with a lot.

So get going on that.

PS Never touch it. You may move it around but never take anything away from the account.

Seriously.

The End

The way getting into heaven works is like this:

When a person is born an account is set up in their name and $10000.00 credited to that account. When that person does something good, money is added to that account and when the person does something unworthy money is deducted from that account. God's plan is the fee schedule for payments and charges.

The best chance for going to heaven is to die young or to live to be very very old. Young people haven't had the opportunity to commit the really expensive offenses and old people just can't get out and do those bad things as often, if at all.

When you die you really do checkout. You get to buy your place in eternity. If you did a lot of good stuff and have become rich then you get a nice place to live in forecver. If you barely hung onto your $10,000.00 you may be homeless and wilol have to haunt things on earth. Those who lost their money, well, you know how that ends too.

Tipping

I like good service and if I'm given really good service I can be a generous tipper. Sometimes even with poor service I'll tip good just to prove to the waitress that because I wasn't as well dressed as the people she was fawning over, I'm not nearly as big a jerk as they are.

I wasn't surprised but wadisappointed at how chep people were on Thanksgiving day. K & W was opened Thanksgiving day and the waitresses who worked would have rather been home with their families yet they worked to ensure that people had a traditional dinner for the holidays. When I left the restaraunt, I noticed that at the six empty table, each holding from four to six people, the waitress had received a total of two dollars in tips.

I guess people feel since they had to stand in line to get their food that the waitress didn'y work hard even to deserve a tip but the wait staff only make $4.35 an hour and depend on tips to feed their families and take care of themselves. maybe they don't deserve 15% or 20% like a regular waitress but would it have hurt anyone to tip a dollar? Hell, even 50 would have helped her out and afyter all, she did take that big tray away for you, refill your drinks, and brought you special condiments you asked for.

Don't be so cheap from now own, people.

The Light Bulb

The Light Bulb


Most people in the world know what a light bulb is and how it is used, although it is possibly true that not every person has owned one or even used one. Before the light bulb there was the campfire, oil lamps, and candles. It really hasn't been that many years, in terms of the length of time man has been around, that we have had use of a light bulb.

Until recently all light bulbs were nearly the same but now we have the pig tail looking ones, florescent bulbs really, that are much cheaper to use, and soon to be the rage is the LED bulbs which put out a brighter light and are cheaper still to use then the florescent bulbs. Florescent bulbs are expensive and the LED lights are more expensive still but the power usage is less for the florescent and even less for the LED and the length of time a bulb will last is 10 times greater for the florescent over the traditional incandescent bulbs and 20 times greater for the LED. Which one you use depends on where you choose to use it and whether you want to save money now or in the future.

The one thing that the campfire, the torch, the oil lamp, the candle, the incandescent bulb, the florescent blub and the LED bulb all have in common is light. With the exception of the campfire, the primarily purpose of all the sources of light is light. The campfire is perhaps built for heat and cooking but light a fireplace, light is a by product of the fire and could possibly be the reason for it.

The Holy Bible has a parable ( a story with a message) that says no one lights a candle and hides it under a basket. Or they shouldn't anyway or otherwise the light serves no purpose. But it reality, there are times when we do have lights we keep hidden. The refrigerator light is one. Honestly, we don't know if it works until we open the door and we will never know if it didn't turn off when we closed the door. One thing I do know it that a florescent bulb won't work properly in the refrigerator because it is too cold.

Most of the light bulbs we burn are for personal use but some are for the benefit of everyone, like street lamps and traffic lights. Some lights are colored and are a joy to look at like Christmas lights and other colored ones, while pretty, don't bring us joy, like those colored one atop a police car.

We are so used to the presences of light and light bulbs that we pay little attention when they are turned on. It is only when they should be on and aren't that we notice. Even so, some lights are more important than others. Jesus said He is the light of the world. As Christians, we should let the light of Christ shine so others may find their way. But the truth is, we don't always.

A group of Christians, like minded and assembling themselves together on a regular bases is known as a church. In the modern world, people have come to confuse the building where a church meets with the church itself. I have read that a thief had broken into a church when the truth is a thief broke into a church building. The church is the people, not the structure. So whenever I refer to the church or a church I am referring to the group of believers as a collective unit.

I wrote a book, Queen of Southgate, and while writing that book I meet many of the street people, drug dealers. prostitutes, and thieves in Greensboro and High Point, NC and I know they have chosen to live their life after their own desires but the truth is many of the wealthy I serve at work are in the same situation. I look at the children of the rich, the beautiful young girls and the handsome young men dressed in their fine clothes and proud of their good looks and wealth and the head start they have over the general populace in obtaining more wealth and prestige and influence over others and realize they too, chose to live their life after their own designs.

The world with all its glitz and glamor is truly a dark and lonely place. Just venture out one cold night without your cellphone or cash or transportation and one will soon learn what a cold, dark, and dangerous place we really do live in. In such a situation one only wants to find a way home, to find someone who can help them get there. They pray for daylight so they can see their way to a safer place.

A little light in a dark place, the beacon on the hill, the little white church in Randleman on Sunset, the son of God who is the light of the world. Men are lovers of darkness. Seek ye the light

A Personal Invitation

I want to extend a personal invitation to those from the area who regularly read my blog to come and visit me with me at One Way Baptist Church. Because of my work schedule I do not get to attend many morning services but I have made most of the night meetings. Today I was fortunate to get to attend both, one of therm with my wife.

At the very bottom of the blogs I have my first link up which is to the web page from the church so feel free to explore that and meet the pastor.

If anyone is aware of a building that isn't expensive that would make a good meeting place for a church please let us know because it will be soon that we will outgrow the small building we are meeting in now.

Again, I would love to meet some of my readers and with the church is the best place I know.

I want to give a shout out to Dave and his wife, loyal readers who travel via RV around the east coast who honored me with a visit this week.

He has read my book via KIndle and is looking for an original copy. I don't even have one. I doubt that anyone reading my blog has a copy but if you do, I'll be glad to purchase it from to send to Dave.

Thanks,

Hope to see you ar church.

Not to Bright

Ecclestone made the comments in response to an attempted attack on Formula One driver Jenson Button in Sao Paolo ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, suggesting that robbers go after people who look vulnerable.

"They look for victims, they look for anyone that looks like a soft touch and not too bright," Ecclestone said. "The people that look a bit soft and simple, they will always have a go at."


For those that missed the article, Ecclestone is the boss of Formula one, which is a specially built type of race car popular in Europe. He is eight years old and was mugged, losing $314,000.00 in jewelry in the robbery.

Now, a eighty year old man wearing $314,999.00 in jewelry in an area in knows in full of mugglers seems to be a soft touch and not to bright, in my opinion.

refinance

i refinanced my home which took longer than I thought it would, or should. I started the process back in June after sevral months trying to convince my wife it was a good idea. Sometimes she can be a little negative which gets on my nerves but then her over cautiousness is sometimes a good thing so all and all, I'm glad she is the opposite of me in that and many other reguards because it gives both of us a chance to look at things all many viewpoints.

It turned out to be a good thing in the end and my wife is happy. She gets to skip the December pyment and gets $500.00 back to boot plus a lower monthly payment. Our house payment (not including what comes into escrow) is now less than we were paying for that tiny apartment.

Now if only I could sell my mountain property..

Good friends and good food

I had a nice surprise when an old Navy buddy and his wife stopped by for a visit Friday and spent a good portion of the day with my wife and I. We talked and laughed and my wife enjoyed the visit almost as much as I did.

today I baked two pumpkin pies and I tasted one of them. I just wanted a bite but I ate half of it. yes, it was that good. fresh pumpkin right from the garden. The xpices make the pie a brown color not the orange you find in store bought pumpkin and sweet potato pies.

As far as grocery retail sales go, I think this Thanksgiving was a bust.

I hope your holiday is good.

One day not enough.

An old friend, a man I meet while in vietnam and with whom I served also in the Philippines with, stopped by to visit yesterday along with his wife. She is a pleasant red head and he still has the same figure he has had since I've known him. Me, I've gotten fat and even though I've lost 50 pounds I have many more pounds I need to lose.

My wife enjoyed our visit as wellas I did. I had no idea that he has read my book and reads my blog as well. It is nice to know that somewhere there is someone who finds me interesting.

He has been gone for less than 12 hours and I miss him already. Good friends are hard to come by. Really hard. Cherish them.

finally, a display

Why am I so excited by a display? For my high school graduation I asked for and received a set of china in lieu of a fishing trip to the mountains or a week at the beach. I did get to go to the beach for a couple of days when the family went to pick my older brother up and a day in the mountailns fishing when the family went to retrieve my younger brother so I do have my memories of that time period as well. I worked so the china was something I thought would always remind me of my accomplishment and last me a lifetime.

For the past six or so years my china has been packed away in cardboard boxes. I don't have room for a china cabinet here and had no way to display them. The other day I purchased a bookcase with a glass front that was small enough to fit in the corner and large enough to hold by dishes.

Packed away among the dinnerware was my piggy bank, a gidt to me from a stranger on my first birthday. Also among the treasures is a set of anchor Hocking glasses, dark green glass with gold overlays that were a gift from my grandmother to me. The glasses still have the original box and price tag from Montogery Ward and seem to indicate the purchase was made over a hundred years ago.

My wife also added a China doll she has owned since her childhood. It is over fifty years old.

In all that time I have managed to keep all the pieces intact except for one coffee cup. The china is a complet setting for eight people ifone doesn't have coffee or tea.

It feels good to be able to enjoy the china again.

Stupid lawsuits

I read where Del Monte and Kroger offered an idiot $150,000.00 to settle a lawsuit in which he claims he suffered greatly because the lid of his canned fruit flew off and hit him in the eye when he struck it with a screwdriver. Who but idiot's open can of fruits and vegatables with screwdrivers?

I may be party to one of those stupid lawsuits myself. A customer had a pack of stew beef and saked me if it was okay since it had been reduced. I assured her it was but this lady said "I hope I don't get sick from eating it."

If you aren't sure about something maybe you are better off not doing it. The only thing that concerned her about that pack of ste was one piece was darker than the rest but from my professional experience, that darkness had nothing to do with the quality of the meat. There are other factors than enter into it like the cut of beef the stew came from and bloom.

Anyway this woman said her husband and she became very sickand her husband missed work because of eating the stew.

Food claims are hard to prove. She told me she was going to cook it in a crock pot. Did she lift the lid on the crock pot too often or for too long a period of time? Did she cook the beef on a high enough temperature and/or did cook it long enough?

My bigeest concern is that she either talked herself into getting sick or she faked the whole incident.

Enjoying Church

A co-worker asks another employee if he was a Christian. I then asked him if he was a Christian. He said "No way. If I can't see something I'm not going to believe in it."

I fully understand but I've seen too much not to believe. Once, a friend who was going to bible college in Winston-Salem, attended a small church in Hickory. It was his last Sunday there as he had finally graduated and had secured a position in a small church. While in school he also worked so he had an income sufficient to support himself and his family but the church's salary wouldn't be as much as he had been making so things were going to be rough for him for awhile. Our church took up a special offering for him. It wasn't much, just eighty dollars, and it was all in one dollar bills.

We left the church about the same time with him pulling out first. It was a country Baptist and when I say country, I mean it was a long way from the church until one saw a house or any human life form. I was shocked after we had gone about a mile or so. Bill stopped at a stop sign and just as I pulled to a halt behind him I saw money floating down, covering the top of bills car and the roadway.

"Poor bill: i thought "he's lost his money," I exclaimed to my wife. I jumped out of my car and started grabbing money and collected over fifty dollars. I handed the money to Bill and he said :kept it, you found it."

"No, I can't keep the money the church gave to you."

"But this isn't the money from the church. My wife has that in her purse."

"Where did this come from then?" I asked, as I looked at the huge stack of bills Bill had picked up. His wife had collected almost as much as Bill did.

Or how about the time I was stationed in Puerto Rico and a friend had invited me to go with him and another guy to a bible study in San Juan. It was a difficult trip from the little base I was stationed out and required us to walk in some lonely, dark, and isolated places. My friend didn't make it that night so I went with this other guy, a man a few years younger than I was, a mere teenager. On the return trip we were surrounded by six men bearing knives and threading to use them on us if we didn't give them all our worldly goods.

The teenager I was with stepped forward and proceeded to drop kick and karate chop the six men into changing their evening plans. Turned out he was the former leader of Chicago's biggest street gang and had been converted to Christianity by David Wilkerson of "Sword and the Switchblade" fame. Just a coincidence?

I once owed by Mom several thousand dollars and to repay her I deeded her a set of burial crypts worth just about what I owed her or a little more. She tried selling them for years and although they were the only two crypts available there were no takers. a decade went by and there seemed little hope that Mom would ever sell them to get her money back. She had all but given up and had decided to include them in her will as a gift to me in lieu of my share of of an insurance policy. But then,
just as she was about to file the will her pastor was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only a few weeks to live.

Even though she sold the crypts below their fair market value, she doubled her money and the preacher got a bargin. Just a luck break?

Believe what you want. I do.

Enjoying Church

A little light in a dark place

Christianity has fallen out of favor in America today and those who do practice the religion adhere to a more subdued following than our forefathers did. Seldom do Christians mention their faith outside of church and except for the lunatic fringe, no one goes from house to house inviting people to church. In fact most churches today don't seem to care if you come or not, or so it seems.

There is a little light in a dark place, a small group of people, a church, who are creating quite a stir in their community. It's not that they are radical, because they aren't, and they are not doing anything that Christians did not once do. It's just that they are doing it in a day when ones faith is something that one seems to keep private. There is no embarrassment over ones faith here.

One Way is a little light in a dark place. That is all it takes to find ones way in the dark. Without just a little light to guide the way there is no way one will ever find their way home.

Brand

I'm sorry, but he looks retarded.

War

Sometimes war may be necessary but other times I believe it best to let things be. We lost the Vietnam war and since we pulled out, peace has reigned in the area and properity has befallen our former allies and enemies. No war casulties either. I wonder is the Koreas, North and South would not have been better off if there had been no war there either. Iraq would be. Maybe Afganistan too.

If it had been necessary for national defense to attack Afganistan, and it may well have been, we should have gone in, toppled the government, and then pulled out letting the country put itself back together. If they began fighting each other fine, that's there problem and no American lives are being lost and we know they can't be planning more attacks on the US because they are too busy killing each other. They would quit after a few years as one side or the other would gain the upper hand.

If we didn't like the winner then we could go back in and toppled the winner then step back while they fought some more.

That's what they are doing now but it is costing Americans their lives. Can't we let the ixdiots kill each other without us getting in the middle?

finally

i haven't been able to access my blog or even a blooger account by anyone since my last post. I could bring up Randolph is talking but none of the individual blogs. The only way I got on this time is by accessing my blog and signing on from there.

It is just me or are others having problems.

The Giants won the penant. I've been a Giants fan since 1956 so this was a long time coming for me. Harry Reed won re-election which one was disappointment in an other wise refreshing election.Just been contemplating the fact that Greensboro and California both had recall elections. Can we have one at Federal level? We would not have to wait two more years.

One Way

One Way Baptist Church is on Sunset in Randleman just off Stout Street and is a church meeting in a tiny building. It is exactly what one would expect to find in a place like this. There is no Sunday School, no Wednesday service, and no piano. It would do no good if someone gave the church a piano as the building is too small to put one in.

There is no doctor of divinity here, no college trained music director, no one wears choir ropes or passes out bulletins with a service guide, and no padded pews.

What you will find if you stop by is three preachers who accomplish more in a week than most churches do in a year with there prison ministries, their prayer habits, and their dedication. You will here good, old fashion preaching from men who know their scriptures.

Why are churches like One Way Baptist important? Being few in number, there is a strong desire to grow. Churches that have large numbers of people feel like they have succeeded and lose the zeal to visit people and to spread the gospel. The main interests of large churches is to convert those in foreign countries by sendin missionaries and to take care of the members they already have.

It is good that they have a missionary program because churches like One Way are unable to do that. No, being a small church doesn't make them a bunch of losers or freaks, or heretics, or fanactics. No, they are just oridinary folk with the desire to carry out the great commission: "Go ye into all the world, first into Jerusalem, then into Judea, and then into the uttermost parts of the world." In other words, start spreading the gospel at home, then into the neigborhood, then into other areas futher away from home.