Dealing with issues

     

     A half century ago I was about to graduate high school and still suffered from a problem that had plagued me for as long as I could remember.  It was not a problem I could take to college with me and in my first week of college I was terrified my problem had come to school with me.  Fortunately, it didn't.
     My mom had taken me to the doctor once to have me examined to determine what was wrong with me.  The doctor told her it was nerves which Mom explained to me as some doctor had injured me in some procedure causing some nerve damage that resulted in my problem.  To a youngster it sounded reasonable except for the fact I'd never been to the doctor for anything except for a physical and the one time in second grade where I burned my hand, neither procedure was invasive.  No way a nerve was clipped during an invasive procedure. 
   The funny thing is my problem disappeared the very day I went off to college and has never reoccurred.  it seems my nerve problem was caused by my relationship with Mom and not from some doctor error.  it seems like my whole childhood was spent trying to avoid interaction with my mother.  I found her irritating,  abusive,  and totally unreasonable.  She used profanity, a lot it seemed, and always seem to be angry about something.  if my brother and I slept in she would be mad because "you boys will mess up the house I've spent all morning cleaning".  If we got up early  then she'd say "I wish you boys would stay in bed until I get the house cleaned.  You run in and out making it impossible for me to get my work done." 
   If I wore a shirt to school that Mom had just washed an ironed then she'd get mad and yell at me "I just washed that shirt".  I didn't understand why it was such a big deal for me to wear a freshly cleaned shirt to school.  it just seemed the only peace I got was when I was out of her sight or when my dad was home.  So when I finally left home my nerve problem disappeared. 
   No, my problems with Mom were not solved because of the distance but the daily task of avoidance was eliminated.  In fact, fifty years later I still have issues with Mom.  I still find her irritating, and some times unreasonable.  it seems the world should revolve around her and you cannot have a conversation with her unless the conversation is about her.  If I mention I have a cold, it will remind her "I haven't had a cold in 35 years, not since my doctor gave me this special shot."    She never even asks how I feeling but launches into a ten or fifteen minute speech about her health. 
   The crazy thing about it is that I call my mom every day and visit her once a month to do repair work and take her shopping or what ever she needs.  I keep hoping my mom will one day realize how to have a conversation.  If I say I'm sick it would be a shocker if she responded "I'm sorry you don't feel well.  What are you doing to take care of yourself?"  But she's 89 so I think she is the way she will always be.  So I'll just love her in spite of all her faults.  She is, after all, Mom.

Another "you're doing it wrong" article from Yahoo

     "You've been making guacamole all wrong"   is the title of another  "you're doing it wrong" article on Yahoo.  How do they know I'm doing it wrong.  maybe I make it different or do it different than they do because I do it the way I like it.  maybe they have a different way and it may even be a better way  but if my way get's the job done then it isn't wrong.   
   Doesn't that just stick in your crawl when the first words out of someone's mouth is you're doing it wrong/  It sure does mine. 

Amanda Knox Decision is Final

  

      Amanda Knox, an American student who choose to study overseas and was charged with murder following the death of her roommate has been awaiting the decision of the courts on her case.  After her conviction she appealed and was found not-guilty but the higher courts wanted to review that decision.  It has been several years now but the decision has been handed down.  Amanda Knox had said if her conviction was upheld she would not go to prison but I don't really think she could have remained free long.
   I read the facts of the case before the first trial and I read the facts as presented by the prosecution after her conviction as well as watching documentaries on TV and reading any other available articles on this case.  I have to agree that sometimes her behavior was a little weird and she really isn't all that likeable of a person, I just couldn't wrap my mind around her guilt.  I think, perhaps, she really didn't take the investigation and charges against her all that serious.  She knew she was not guilty and figured the investigation would show that she was innocent so she didn't act the way one would think she would behave. 
   Perhaps if she had been investigated in the United States of America  she would never been charged much less tried and convicted   but she was being tried in the court system of another country and their laws and investigative techniques are different than ours.  Even under our system innocent people get convicted and sometimes the guilty go free.  Most often the unthinkable happen because of shoddy police work and prosecutorial misconduct.  There are, of course, other reasons for false convictions.  mentally incompetent defendants, shoddy lab work, unreliable eye witnesses, and sometimes just plain misinterpretation of the facts.   An example of that was a case the famous doctor Lee was hired to consult on.  The angle of the bullet entering a car clearly showed the defendant was lying and was guilty of murder.  At first Dr. Lee agreed but after talking with some other people he realized that he had  checked the car on level ground when in fact the shooter was standing on a hill.  When he had the true facts it was easy to see that the accused was innocent. 
   Even though the American system of justice doesn't always get it right I would rather take my chances here than   in another country, especially in one I didn't speak the language and wasn't fully emerged in their culture.   I believe the Italian courts have made the proper decision in deciding not to seek to retry her or to uphold her conviction. 

It's Over

Our revival services are over.  The messages were good even though I wasn't pleased with the style of preaching the man still delivered God's word and I am thankful for that.  I would much rather be among God's people than any where else. 

Community policing

    I live in Randleman and we seem to have more police officers than we do criminals and I am certainly not complaining about that.  I see an officer ride through my neighborhood on a regular bases and I suppose that's a good thing.  They are quick to respond if you need one and so far all I have come into contact with have been really nice people.  They seem to be doing a descent job of policing the town but the things that really bother me doesn't seem to concern to police. 
   I've got neighbors with junk cars scattered on their property and one buys and sales autos and auto parts but the worst thing is they are souped up mustangs he deals in.  They are loud, disturbing, and disruptive.  I have another neighbor  who is operating an illegal daycare center.  The people were ran out of Asheboro because of the excessive traffic their operation caused and now it is my problem. 
   The police chief of Richmond, California seems to have the right idea.  He addresses the small problems that concern the citizens and in turn the citizens are more helpful in aiding the police with the bigger problems.  It goes back to that old saying "People don't care what you know until that know how much you  care. 

Night One is Over

      I love good preaching and I heard some last week from Rev. Savage from Concord, NC but the preaching at tonight's revival was simplistic delivered by a lot of sorry dancing and a lot of yelling and screaming punctuated by hacking and amens.  In case you don't know what hacking means it is a form of preaching in which a sentence is ended with a loud sound, usually an uh added to the last letter of the last word.  In the case of the last sentence the word would be worduh or wordaa, I guess depending on the preacher and the hearer to some extent. 
    The message was preached on a level intended for seventh and eight graders or people who have never been to church before but held as much interest for a mature Christian as an art exhibit of sixth grade coloring book drawings. 
   One man took his niece to Greensboro to buy a record of a particular song and he had a running fit for 7 or eight minutes over that song and her rendition of it.  She's a good singer but neither her performance nor the song was worth getting excited about.  If you like that old fashion hell and brimstone type of preaching you would have enjoyed tonight.  As for me I like the word of God expounded on so that I will learn or be drawn nearer to God.  I don't go to church to be entertained which, to me, is what this style of preaching is geared to do. 
   

Revival

Revival services are being held at One Way Baptist Church in Randleman tonight through
Friday.  We'd love to have you visit the church.  Services start at 7 pm. 

North Korea Has Another Temper Tantrum

  North Korea says if the United States of America attacks them they are ready to respond as they have nuclear missiles.  The United States of America has no reason or desire to attack North Korea.  If North Korea ever fired one of it's nuclear missiles the missile would prove to be a bigger danger to North Korea than to the United States of America. 
   North Korea reminds me of the story about the country that started a war but no one else came.  "The Mouse that Roared" or something like that.  A little fellow was picking at a big, big man, wanting to start a fight.  The big fellow told him "If you hit me and I find out about it you'll be in big trouble."  North Korea's leader reminds me of a fat three year old who holds his breath and rolls around the floor kicking his legs.  It's all for show. 
   I'm not sure what the man is trying to accomplish by his tactics. Maybe it is a show for the average citizen  to convince them that he is a brave leader and that their poverty is the fault of American policy and not the fault of the North Korean leadership. 

I couldn't believe he did this

       He purchased for gift cards and the verses in the cards were from an unauthorized version so instead of writing an authorized verse in place on the one on the card he changed the version.  I mean like he is giving cards to preachers wives and thought if he changed where the verse came from they wouldn't know it was wrong.   If it wasn't so pathetic I'd be upset. 

When Things Upset Me

      March is Pastors wife appreciation month.  We showed our Pastor's wife appreciation during Pastor Appreciation Month.  I don't know who makes these things up but I do know there was never an apostle appreciation day.  Anyway my wife is not a pastors wife.  She doesn't need, want, deserve, or appreciate being given recognition for something she is not and she told the Deacon that but he claims he spoke to God and God told him to honor her and that the pastor approves. 
    I don't think God would put his blessings on earthly honors and I seriously doubt that God would speak to this Deacon.  he God di one would think he wouldn't have to cheat in Sunday School and wouldn't be stealing from the church.  I'm rather tired of his antics.

A Sad Thing

              I grew up in a different time than you did, most likely.  When I was conceived WWII had not been over long.  Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected President of the United  States of American the year I started first grade.  For most of my adolescent years dope was a soft drink, grass was just that, grass, and weed was anything that wasn't a flower, grass, tree or a vegetable that grew in your lawn.  Blacks and whites went to separate schools. 
     I remember taking a speech class in college one time and one fellow did his speech about a person he had meet and had made a recording of on cassette tape.  This person drew a great deal of interest from the other students so many years later after I lost my business and I was struggling financially and was single  and lonely and broke, I thought maybe I could find something interesting to write about that would not only garner me some attention but make me some money.  Writing a novel was difficult, writing a true story harder still, but selling it to the public was a skill I did not have.   But through the researching and writing of the book I learned a valuable lesson. 
    After I graduated high school I went off to college.  The Vietnam war was starting to affect young lives by then but it wasn't something I really paid much attention to.  It wasn't until my junior year when I transferred to a larger school that I got a close look at how the war was affecting people.  A few of the students were addicted to hard drugs like LSD and they acted really weird.  I didn't much care for the way it effected them so illegal drugs had no lure for me.  By the time I got my draft notice drugs were ingrained in the youth culture along with "free sex".  Terms like "Hippies" and " Helter Skelter" made the news along with the Black Panthers,  student protests and anti-war activists.  For the first time in history people know where Hanoi and Saigon were.  Real war was broadcasted right into our living room during the evening news. 
    The war finally ended but by then drugs and an antiestablishment mentality was firmly ingrained into our youth and it is a battle that is still being waged today.  Our youth know longer remembers where Hanoi is and there is no Saigon.  The Vietnam conflict has given way to many more conflicts and wars.  America has discovered that wars fought with guns and bombs is easier to win than wars fought with ideas.  And so it is with our domestic war: the War on Drugs.  We cannot eradicate the sources and there are just to many users to deal with.  eliminating the suppliers is the hardest battle of all. 
   Writing my book gave me a first hand look into the underground of the sellers and the hard core users.  To many of them drugs offered freedom:  cash to buy what one wanted, freedom to escape poverty and the hurt of being abused, and a chance to live life free of any ones control.   The saddest part is the harder one tries to gain freedom from ones past and to garner freedom for ones future, the more enslaved they  obey is your master.  Drugs do not offer freedom but only serve to enslave you.  The same with sin.  The saddest thing of all is the person who rejects Christ because they falsely believe following Christ is giving up freedom when following Christ is the only way out of slavery.    
 

Taxes are complete

     The CPA just finished my taxes.  The bank usually does my taxes and because I'm old they do not charge but the bank refused to do my taxes this year because my wife inherited some money.  It cost $170.00 to get the tax forms prepared but that is far less than others charge for the same service so I'm not complaining.  It is the first time in over fifty years I've paid ; the last time it costs me $35.00.
  The biggest surprise about this years tax returns (Federal and state) is that the total on both forms is zero.  If it wasn't for inheriting some stuff, I probably wouldn't have to file again. 
   My wife and I tithe 50% of our taxable income ( before deductions) and not counting offerings.  In case you don't understand, a tithe is 10%  of ones gross income and an offering is hat is given above that.  In addition we give another 10% of our taxable income plus an amount that is even larger in labor and other gifts.  For example, I purchased a riding lawnmower, a weed eater, a push mower, and a chain saw, mowed the grass ever week that it needed mowing for the past four years, purchased chemicals and grass seed, cleared half the property of trees and over growth, purchased outdoor carpet and installed it  on the steps and handicap ramps to make them safer to walk on, and have done almost all the regular maintenance on the property.  That equates to over $4000.00 a year in free labor and materials for maintenance on church property, or a total considerably higher than my  taxable income . 
   I'm not writing this to brag on my giving but on God's generosity.    During the last 4 1/2 years God has given me back my wife and even made it possible for me to pay off all my debt and even double my savings in one year after my wife had to give up her job and faced with thousands of dollars worth of hospital bills.  So even if I give back to Him all that I have it pales in comparison to all that He has given me. 

Pinto Beans

We are have a fund raiser with having a pinto bean supper at $6.00 per person.  If interested in buying a ticket please contact me.

Getting ready for spring

      One really doesn't get ready for Spring as it comes whether we are ready or not, just like "it" in hide and seek but there are things one does in Spring that one doesn't do any other time of year. 
   One thing we do is "spring forward' which we will do this weekend in honor of daylight savings time or the end of it, I never can remember.   But there are more personal things for me.  One is my ponds.  I take my pumps out I the fall and have to reinstall them in the Spring.  since my neighbor has an Oak tree I can't take my netting off   until all the old leaves have fallen off his tree.  Having the netting on makes it much more difficult to put the pumps back in.
   Other things I do is open all the vents around the house.  Open vents keeps the house cooler in the warmer months and closing them keeps the house warmer in the cooler months.  My neighbors don't understand this concept as they never change theirs.  It only makes a few dollars a month difference but a few dollars more is better than a few dollars less. 
  I  have my lawn care equipment serviced in the fall so its ready to go.  I just have to take Mom's stuff back to her house.  This Spring I'm going to sow grass seed as well as till my garden space and fertilize my fruit trees and begin preventive spraying.  I hate having to spray but if I don't my tress get diseased and I have no produce. 
   Of course it's still winter and half my front yard is under water and a deep freeze will cause my yard to be a sea of ice.  it hasn't happened yet but with all the saturation from the recent snow and the all day rain we have had it is just possible with temperatures down to at least 20 tonight.  I have at least twice as much water standing in the front yard as I have ever  had and that is even after I unclogged the drain hose. 
   I'm ready for Spring, for real, even if I do have to work harder. 
 

Spock WAs Right

    A bi racial girl wrote a letter to Spock asking him how he handled being bi-racial when he was growing up.  I really never thought of being bi-racial along the same lines as being the fat kid, the tall kid, the ugly kid, the poor kid, the nerdy kid, or anything else that sets us apart from others.  Perhaps being of a different color makes one a target to a wider group of people but it really doesn't matter.  The problem and the solution is the same. 
   In a nutshell, what Leonard Nimoy told the girl was she had to make the decision to either seek popularity or to be true to who she was.  He pointed out that if she sought popularity and found acceptance your friends still could turn on you.  No, it was best, he believed, to be the best you could be at who you really were. 
   Excellent advice.