He was a devil and a smoker: now he isn't.

He was a womanizer, a drunk, an abuser of legal drugs, mean to his wife, quick-tempered, a smoker and a Christian.  Somehow people have come to believe that Christians view themselves as self-righteous, church-going people who tend to be good for the most part and otherwise hypocritical.  He wanted to change his life.  He was miserable.  Attending church didn't help and neither did singing in a gospel band.  He was high on Zanax when he fell down an elevator shaft and was injured so badly he could never work again. 

Not being able to work changed nothing and no matter how hard he tried to live a good "Christian" life he could not.  The harder he tried to be good the more miserable he became because he realized he could not.  Then one day he walked into a little Baptist church somewhere south of Thomasville.  The preacher mentioned assurance of ones salvation.  The concept was foreign to him.  He grew up as a Free-Will Baptist.  It is the doctrine of Free Will Baptists that if one sins (commits as act displeasing to God or fails to complete an act that is pleasing to God)    that ones salvation is lost and one has to repent again.  It just doesn't seem right that a  person can go to church and confess their sins, ask forgiveness, and then live their life as always and still go to heaven.  Well, as it turns out, they can't. 

The man and the preacher had a long talk, about nineteen hours long.  The man began to understand that if one truly gives themselves over to God's leadership that they have to give up nothing.  They don't have to change anything at all.  God will take away the desire for things that are not good for them.  If one does not change then he must not have given himself to God.  Oh yes, he might have been sorrowful over his past actions and desired to change yet still not desired to allow God to have control of his life.  If that is the case there has been no conversion, no true repentance. 

Becoming a real Christian does not mean one becomes perfect and will never sin again.   Some mistakenly believe that a Christian cannot sin but there is no such teaching in the bible.  Christianity is not a lifestyle but a relationship, not really different from the relationship one would have with ones parent.  The child will not always understand the parent nor will the child always please the parent but the child and the parent will always have an unbreakable relationship. 

A rebellious child may not always receive the favors a parent can bestow and may not receive an inheritance but he will always be the child.  That relationship cannot be broken. 

Once the man fully understood the relationship between God and man he fell to his knees and asked God to take his life so that he may live.  He never drank again, never went to another bar, never sang another country song, never cheated on his wife again, and never abused drugs again.  But he just could not quit smoking.  He tried.  He tried all the methods and he tried for ten years.  For ten years he failed.  God had taken his desire but he wasn't willing to let go of his habit. 

He was sitting at his kitchen table one day, his wife doing the dishes, and he smoking his cigarettes.  He even had a mouthful of chewing tobacco and a nicotine patch on his  shoulder.  Too often we have a pet sin we are unwilling to let go of.  Oh. now some will claim that smoking is not a sin  because it is legal to do so.  The thing is, sinning is not something we do against men but against God.  I am a recovering smoker myself and I know that smokers stink.  Oh yes we do.  I know we can be ill when we "need" a cigarette.  I know it is a smelly, expensive, unhealthy, disgusting, offensive habit that smokers do their best to justify.  Quitting can be and probably will be, the most difficult thing a person will ever attempt in their lives. 

Well, the mans wife said to him just after he lit another cigarette "If you knew how much that hurt my heart.."  I don't know if she ever finished that sentence but it bothered him that he was still hurting his wife.  His habit, he realized, was affecting his family and not just himself.  He also knew he would never be able to quit. 

He bowed his head and prayed silently " Lord, if you will take this habit from me I will do what you have been wanting me to do." 

He spat out his tobacco wad into the trash can, snuffed out the cigarette he was smoking, pulled off his patch, threw the butts in the ashtray into the trash, threw the patch into the trash, threw his plug of tobacco into the trash, took his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and threw that into the trash, and then threw the ashtray into the trash. 

It's been twenty years since that day and he is still drug free.  Yes, cigarettes are a drug.  He is still a smoker.  From my own personal struggles with tobacco, I know that a smoker is just like an alcoholic.  No matter how long it has been since the last drink all it takes is one to be back in the condition one struggled so hard to escape from.  To me there is no such thing as an ex-smoker just recovering smokers. 

Did he ever honor his promise to God.  Of course he did.  But not that day.  Not for a long time.  Actually, it took him fourteen years to finally give up running but he did honor his promise. 

Now I know that there will be many that don't believe in God and will deny the deity of Jesus Christ and that is their right.  No one is going to punish them for that and that includes God.  In spite of what many believe the bible teaches, God does not send any to hell. 

I was a parent and I had a son and when he was in high school he had lots of friends and they spent an abundance of time at my house playing their favorite board games (personal computers were in there infancy then).  I liked some of his friends and some I didn't care for and one I actually loathe, but I didn't let that bother me for I knew that at the end of the day all of them  would be going to their own homes.  The only sleep over would be the one that belonged to me and that was my son.  I never fed any of those kids or bought them clothes or took them to the doctor because they were not mine.  Some of the kids I really liked but that didn't make any difference.  It mattered not how good they were or how good looking they were or how wealthy they were.  The only thing that mattered at days end was whether they were my child or not. 

Some believe that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell.  That only seems right.  I have come to realize that there is no one that is so good that the devil doesn't want them or anyone so bad that God can't forgive them. 

There is so much more to tell.  Ask me and I will tell you.  If you want, I'll even introduce you to the man in the story.  It is all so very true. 

Asheboro paper error

A woman was attacked in Asheboro with a hammer.  The local paper described the hammer as a ball ping hammer but I do believe the correct hammer would have been a ball peen hammer. 

A claw hammer has a forked end that is designed to pull nails out while a ball peen hammer has a round nub instead of the claw.  I'm not really positive about the use of the ball peen but I would guess it would be used to deliver the last strike or two to the nail head as it would be less likely to leave an imprint on the surface of the material the nail is being driven into. 

I suppose I could research it but I really don't need to know. 

Freaky weather

During the warm summer months it is normal for the temperature to cool when the skies become cloudy, especially if it rains.  The opposite is the norm for the cold winter months with the temperature rising when clouds trap heat nearer the earth's surface.  I've noticed that this normal is not true for the rescent past and future with the cold, rainny days colder than the drier and more sunny days.  What gives? 

Who is Who

NewsDigest magazine notified me that I was named to the who's who in North American writers.  I don't have a copy of the article yet.  I'll share it if I find a copy. 

The state of being poor

Being poor isn't always a bad thing.  I've worked hard, made the best decisions I could make and used my resources wisely.  I make do with what I have, take care of my processions and live an honest life, giving of what little I have to those that have not. 

My house is neat, my yard well maintained and my trees were all started from seed except my cherry trees and three  peach trees. 

The advantage of being poor is take I know how to live with little and I value what little I have.  I just don't understand those that have little but show no respect for their meager possessions.  Why does one live in a trashy yard in a house in disrepair?  I know some are too poor and cannot afford to fix some things around their home but with some planning and thought things can be accomplished. 

My Mom had a handyman whom she paid well and one of his jobs was to keep her gutters clean.  He did clean them out twice a year but he might as well not to have bothered.  He needed to have cleaned them as often as they needed it.  As a result of his negligence the boards behind the gutters have rotted out and allowing the water to seep along the rafters and drip into a bedroom and the living room.  Mom is disabled, legally blind and hard of hearing and is now able to walk outside and inspect her property.

If Mom were rich she would have a more capable handyman and would have been taken better care of.  I do the best I can for her now but I live so far away and i am among the poor myself.  She has one son who is wealthy but thinks of himself and offers no help to her. 

But even in her condition, her house is neat and clean and her yard is well kept.  Being poor, blind,  crippled, and old is no excuse for being lazy and nasty.    

Double Standard

"an is paying Russian women working as technicians at its sole nuclear power plant to adhere to the Islamic dress code, an Iranian lawmaker told the ISNA news agency on Tuesday. Women in Iran, ... more »"

Muslims sue constantly in American courts for the right to dress as they wish.  A recent news report was of the first Bristist palace guard allowed to wear the traditional Isslamic headscarf instead of the tall fuzzy hat other guards wear, yet they expect people from other countries to adhere to their style of dress while in their country or working for them.   

I am not who I used to be.

If I wasn't southern I might have said I am not who I once was but choice of words has as much to do with being southern as the accent does, maybe more.  But I am not talking about where I am from but about who I am. 

I believe some people stay the same all of their lives while most people do not stray from from center.  But others are nothing like who they once were and I do believe I am one of those people. 

Of course there are many things I once liked that I still do;  white cake, my Mom's special pie, baseball, and food.  I realize that the mere fact of growing older changes people.  One would not want to act the same at twenty five as one did at fifteen or five.  Still the core of the person remains close to center their entire lives.  But I believe the last ten years has saw a transformation in me much greater than that brought on my the mere fact that I have aged. 

I react to people totally different, have different values, and I have different desires.  I do believe that I am a much better person than the person I once was.  Good for me.  And perhaps much more important, it's good for you. 

Big Hit

I lost $992.00 yesterday.  I'm struggling as it is and that is too much to take in one day.   My wife is out of work and the medical bills are piling up with no end in sight.  I need a break somewhere. 

There isn't any point in looking for the money as it was a paper loss on the stock market but every dollar loss is one less dollar I have to make it up with.  When I was working losses were esier to take because it meant each share of stock was cheaper and the potential return was higher.  But in retirement, I'm not buying anymore stock so a loss just translates into things being harder to recover from. 

I'm in a catch 22 as I can't afford to go back to work because my wife can not function without me but unless I increase our income we are both going down. 

I have no choice but to trust God.  There is no other way out.

The last day

Dec 20, 2012 is the last day unless you are a Mayan who are mostly Christian and other Christians who know how things are to end.  Some people have even put off Christmas shopping until tomorrow.  No sense purchasing presents if Christmas never comes.  Of course Christmas is the celebration of the birthday of Christ and if you know Christ as your savor then you know that December 21 is not the end of the world. 

No, December 25 is not the birthday of Christ but it isn't a pagan holiday as non-Christians would have you believe.  December 25 was a pagan holiday and the Catholic church found that donations fell off tremendously during this time period so the church decided to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25 to increase donations.  It worked.  Because there was a pagan holiday on December 25 some people think that the paganism was incorporated into the worship of the birth of Christ but that just isn't true. 

Where was God?

One man asked that question about the shooting and many people were upset with him for asking that question but it really is a good question.  I know the man wasn't just curious about God's whereabouts but was in fact mocking God's existence.  Still, it is a question we all face and it really does deserve an answer.

In the scriptures God says he made the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.  It doesn't matter if we have served God faithfully for fifty years, two weeks or never.  Life happens to us all.. God doesn't pick sides.  Now some people claim that nothing happens without God's will and that is true.  We must remember that God has a permissive will.  God sometimes guides events and people, sometimes He directly interferes and sometimes he allows thing to unfold naturally.  The bible if full of examples of each aspect of God. 

I think most people would be upset if God made us do what he would have us do.  That is what got man into trouble in the first place and why so many people  ignore God for the most part.  They want God to help them over the rough spots, to heal people of sickness and to make everything okay but please, no interfering in my decision making. 

It is our decision after all to serve God or not to serve God.  And as long as man wants to make that decision then God will allow rain to fall on the just and the unjust. 

God is there for the little ones, the ones to young or otherwise incapable of making a decision about eternity.  He will take them home to be with him.  God is also there for others as well giving them the strength and courage to hold together and to deal with the aftermath of what has occurred.  But we must remember that God says He will if we do.  In other words, the prayers of the unrighteous will no be answered nor will the prayers of God's children if there is unconfessed and unrepeated of sin in their lives. 

We cannot impart to God the feelings and emotions we have for God is not the same as we are.  There is more about him and his plan than we will ever understand or are even capable of understanding.  But God has revealed himself to us to the fullest extent we need to know. 

God is not a crutch, an illusion, a figment of ones imagination, imaginary, dead or a lie.  God is real. 

It's not the breed. Really?

A man near Fresno, Calif., was mauled to death by four pit bulls that have since been taken away as authorities on Thursday investigated what happened.

The man was found dead Tuesday night in the driveway of a home in Selma. Animal control officers later impounded four pit bulls, six pit bull puppies and two other dogs at a house next door, NBC affiliate KSEE TV reported.
Neither the victim nor the dogs' owner were identified.
A neighbor said he wasn't surprised, saying that the pit bulls had killed his own dog about a month ago.

 

"They come in our front yard and will come in our driveway," Blake Anderson told KSEE. "I couldn't even get out of my car one time. There were like four of them, so yeah it's ridiculous."
Anderson said the owner should be held responsible for letting the dogs run free.
Authorities would not confirm if the owner will face any charges.
Liberty Animal Control Services, which handles pet issues in the area, said it had not received any earlier calls about the pit bulls.
"The owner of the animals was cooperative. He did sign all the animals over to Liberty Animal Control Services, where they will not be returned to the owner," Liberty director Daniel Bailey told KSEE.
More content from NBCNews.com

12/12/12: Fun facts about this rare day

Actually, you will have to go to MSN to read the story about fun facts.  The headline calls this a rare day but actually ever day is rare because there is only one of each day.  12/12/12 is no more rare than 11-09-46. 

I know why this day is referred to as rare but it really isn't as far as that goes I mean there was 01-01-01, 02-02-02, 03-03-03, etc and there is one every century I do believe. 

Wozniacki mimics Serena Williams?

Caroline Wozniacki stuffed towels in her bra and on her behind to make herself resemble her friend and fellow tennis player Serena Williams.  One commenter, Sam Ojekwe-nwaJehovah•2 hours ago , said               

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"CAROLINE WOZNIACKI'S antics were EXTREMELY RACIST, OFFENSIVE, CLASS-LESS, TASTE-LESS, COMPLETELY SILLY and TOTALLY STUPID. they were also DIS-RESPECTFUL. if CAROLINE WOZNIACKI had any regard at all for the OLYMPIC GAMES or for BRAZIL which is the country that will host the next i.e the 2016 Olympics ,she wouldn’t go around trying to disparage an international Olympic Champion in BRAZIL. if CAROLINE WOZNIACKI had any regard at all for the U.S.A, she wouldn’t go around trying to disparage a U.S.A Olympic representative ---- less so an OLYMPIC CHAMPION of the caliber of SERENA WILLIAMS."

Not all black women are built like Serena Williams nor did  Ms. Wozniack intent for her actions to represent all black women, nor does anytime anyone says anything negative about a black person reek of racism.  The only person that has the right to be upset over Ms. Wozniacki's action is Serena Williams herself. 

Monday, 12-09-12 is the big day

Tomorrow is the big day and it doesn't look good so far.  On October 17, 2012 my wife said "Oh" and then did a face plant.  Once I helped her to her feet she complained that her glasses were messed up because she could not see straight. 

I took her to the hospital and from there she was airlifted to Baptist and a week after getting released from there she was back in the hospital at Cone.  Last week she had her second MRI done and she will have to see a specialist to have a test run on her heart.  She already has had an EKG and an EEG. But tomorrow it is back to the eye specialist.  If the injury to her 4th cranial nerve was caused by the fall her vision should clear up, in about 6 to eight weeks, we were told.  If the damage was caused by what caused the fall then her vision will never be normal again.  It has been almost seven weeks and so far no improvement. 


No one knows exactly what happened and my wife doesn't remember anything from Tuesday at noon until Thursday.  It could be that she just simple tripped or she might have had a sudden drop in blood pressure due to medication or a heart condition.  The trouble with that hypothesis is that her head trauma resulted in bleeding from the center of the brain.  A fall would most likely produce an injury to the outside of the brain. 

There are two other possibilities.  One is a stroke and the other is an aneurysm.  A stroke would cause the vision problems and the fall but then again, the fall would have injuried the outside of the brain.  It seems the most likely cause was an aneurysm and the first MRI shows the blood vessels in her brain are in the shape that would be seen after an aneursym.  However, there is no signs of the damage that an aneurysm would have caused so it cannot be determined if that is the cause of her head trauma or not. 

What has been determined is the episode she had on the 28th of October and again on the 29th were mini-strokes.  She has regained her full speech back and she is more steady on her feet and seems to be improving daily in her coordination.  But there doesn't seem to be any improvement in her eye sight.  However, the testing tomorrow will determine if there has been any improvement, however slight.  Any improvement will give cause for hope.   

Lottery winner wants a sound financial plan

The man who won half of the 588 million dollar lottery wants to wait until he makes a sound financial plan before claiming his winnings but has decided to opt for a lump sum prize. 
That strategy doesn't make sense too me.  It just sounds greedy. 

Half of the prize money is around 294 million dollars, or 9.8 million dollars per year for the next thirty years.  I could live quite well with 9.8 million dollars per year. 

One of the biggest problems with the lump sum is people not used to large sums of money believe that it is an endless supply and some times don't realize the hidden costs of some purchases.  Take a trip but the money you spend never earns a return.  Invest in family members but most often their start up ventures end in failure and again no return.  Buy a fancy car but face the depreciation.  Huge houses are nice but the upkeep is huge too.  Without due care, one can spent it all in a short time and even end up in debt. 

But, with the yearly withdrawal, even if you blow the 9.9 million dollars this year, you have another 9.8 million coming next year.   Hopefully one would get used to having money after a years or so, most of the beggar relatives and friends have gone away, and you can really start to enjoy your money and make wise decisions with it.   

Eleven year old shoots at intruder

Stocksdale, NC. 

A boy, eleven, took a sick day from school.  Around lunch time, 12:45 pm to be more precise, the boy heard dogs barking and when he looked outside he saw a masked man so he retrieved a pistol.  When he returned to the room he saw the man inside the house so the boy shot at him, striking the TV set.  The intruder fled.

Even though the boy was a poor shot he acted quickly and bravely.  However, my question is "Why is an eleven year old child home from school by himself all day and why was he allowed access to a loaded gun? 

Apparently the deputy didn't investigate that part of the crime but I believe someone needs to look into the situation more thoroughly. 

The work at the church continues

I have tried to clear the property at the church using just the hand tools I had available without having to buy anything.  I used a loper, a small hand saw, a mattock, and a steel rank.  I fianlly gotten to the point the next thing I have to clear out is all the fallen trees.  I have three piles of trunks that I have drug out with each pile big enough to fill a pickup truck to capacity.  What I'm left with are thirty and fifty year old intact trees that need to be cut into small pieces and hand carried out. 

As you know from reading my blogs my wife illness is resulting in huge medical bills and a loss of her income (I'm on social security) so I can ill afford to purchase anything now.  God did provide for us with a little cash winfall and a permanent monthly income but that by no means even begins to replace what my wife was making.  It is enough, however, to keep us from starving and/or losing our home. 

No, I purchased a chain saw because I can't finish the job without one. I found a really good deal on a high quality one and I feel justified because I would have given the church my tithe.  I still will give the church the remainder of it but I beleieve my labor for cutting the grass (I purchased the lawn mower and paid for its upkeep out of my own pocked and mowed the grass at no charge) and the six months of labor I gave to clearing the land up to this point more than makes up   for the cost of the chain saw. 

I didn't get to work at the church today because I took my wife to the neurologist today.  He is scheduling her for another MRI and some kind of heart test.  Please say a prayer for her.  She still has a lot of healing to do.  We are both thankful for what God has done for her and for us so far.  Praises to his name. 

Dishonest people

How often do you perform a random act of kindness?

That is the title of a recent YAHOO SURVEY and 63% of respondents replied often.  It is evident that the respondents do not represent a cross section of people, most people are dishonest, or many people have no idea what a radom act of kindness is.  Helping a family member or close friend is not random and taking out the garbage because your nine month pregnant wife asked you to does not qualify.