Sleep evades me

Didn't retire until 11 and at 2:30 I'm awake and not feeling sleepy at all.  I suppose the warmer weather and thinking about the events of Sunday services has my brain in a tizzy.  Later today after taking my wife to get her eye glasses adjusted I'm heading to the church to carry wood to the curb.  I've got that last big pile to get rid of.  Tomorrow I have a VA appointment in Winston Salem, Wednesday I'm helping the preacher work on the outside lightins at the church.  Thursday I'm heading to Hickory to take Mom shopping and attend to her other needs.  Friday or Saturday I'm putting up a fence at the church.

I was hoping to get all the debris and weeds out of the space I worked all winter to clear but I think mother nature is going to beat me on this one so i may have to call in the big guns.  As much as I hate chemical warfare I may not have any choice.  Half of what I worked to clear last year is starting to grow back and it is still too bumpy and rocky with too many sappling stumps left in order to mow.  It seems weed killer is my only altermative.  The winter of 2013-14 will afford me enough time to finally win the weed battle but i'v got to hold them at bay until then. 

I was hoping to have every thing cleared so I could have a huge garden.  I know we have some members that could sure use a break on their groceries and get some fresh vegatables to boot.  I'll still have some for them from my home garden.  The space at the church really needs to be planted in pumpkins the first year.  The large leaves shade the ground retarding the growth of the weeds and vines.  As the ground is now, the ground can't be tilled because the vines will clog the tiller.  I broke the transmission on my attempt to till last year,  It would be nice if I could afford to have the land plowed but I can't.  It seems people don't help each other out much now a days.  That may not be true but it just seems so. 

One of the hardest thing about being a diabetic is the constant hunger.  To be totally honest, it is the feeling of hunger that keeps me from getting back to sleep many nights (tonight included).   Sometimes it is really hard to tell if I really need to eat or if my blood sugar is just too high or too low.  That is why it is so important for a diabetic to eat at the same time everyday and to pick the right kinds of food to eat.  It is also why it is so difficult for a diabetic to lose weight. 

Last year I walked five miles every mornings and ate a strict healthy diet and cluld not drop a single pound.  My diabetes was being controlled by diet and after losing fifty pounds it seemed I hit that plateau and no matter what I did i just wasn't going to lose any more.  I fufilled a dream I'v always had and coached a baseball team and halfway through the season the weight just started falling off me.  I was happy and proud of myself.  The only thing I hated was I just couldn't seem to stay out of the bathroom. 

At my next doctor's visit I found that I had gone from a diabetic who was able to control his disease through diet to a type one diabetic who was nearing death without help.  Unfortunately help came with a weight gain.  I've managed to get off the insulin but it is a mighty struggle trying to rid myself of this extra weight.  If I feed my hunger pains I'm also feeding the disease.  Sometimes life is really hard and scary.  Sometimes it is just uncomfortable.   

Is salmon the only good fish?

It seems no matter what ailment one is seeking to cure through diet, like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, pain, etc. there is one food that always seems to be mentioned and that is salmon.  I can eat it if I have too but there has to be some other fish out there that has a good taste that is healthy too.  Maybe it isn't as healthy as salmon but milder.  I've read some negative things about salmon too.

When I started working in a grocery store seafood departments were unheard of  but when they were finally accepted it seems the only fish we could sale was catfish, flounder and croakers.  We sold lots of shrimp and crablegs and some perch but not much of anything else.  It took a lot of work to get people to try other fish.  Steak fish like salmon, halibut, mackerel, shark, and tuna were occasional sells but the bread and butter of the seafood department was catfish, croakers, shrimp, and crablegs. 
Now it seems if a seafood department is out of salmon they are out of business.   

Does yard work hasten spring or prolong winter?

I still haven't finished working at the church  with the last of four  piles of wood yet to be carried to the street.  I also have a mini-pile and a couple of logs already cut up to dig out of the weeds plus the weeds to pull and all the debris to rack up.  I could have spent today racking and pulling weeds.  I can't carry the wood off  except on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays because the city picks up on Thursday and if I carry the wood to the street after the city picks up it is there during church and I don't want that. 

Next week I have an appointment in Winston-Salem on Tuesday and have to go to Hickory on Thursday.  I understand we might get some wet weather on Monday and with all the previous ground soaking the yard will still be too wet to drive on so I can't carry the wood to the street next week. 

While it hasn't been too wet to rack or pull weeds, it has been too cold and windy.  I'm recovering  from something the likes of which I've never had before.  It starting with a light sore throat then with  chest congestion and then my sinuses clogged up.  It doesn't take much movement to clog me up completely and breathing is difficult. 

I realize that the changing of the seasons is generally accompanied by high winds but what I don't know is when winter is going to let go and spring take hold.  I'll mow the grass in hot weather because I don't have a choice but I'm not pulling weeds, racking or carrying wood when the temperature goes above 70.  If spring comes quickly then I just may not get finished this year. 

I did order some packets of vegetation killer which I intend to use around the trees since I can't mow in that area yet.  There are too many small stumps, rocks, and bricks thrown about and the ground is too unlevel in sopts.  The unlevel ground is the cause of my koehler mower being damaged beyond repair.  This year I purchased a rider to cut the grass with so I have to take extra good care of it. 

If it gets too warm for me to pull weeds and rack then I'll have to spray vegetation killer on the newly cleared portion as well so I won't be able to plant pumpkins on that portion.  Last year I quit work at the end of February.  I could have been finished by the end of December this year if the city would have picked up the wood from the field but they wouln't so I've had to carry it to the street.  With all the rain and other things I've had to do I haven't been able to work on the field steadly like I did last year. so I've gotten behind. 

To tell the truth, I'm ready for spring and I really don't mind waiting until next year to finish except that next year I just may not feel like doing anything at all.  I'm not sure if I want spring to hurry or for winter to stay around awhile.  But to tell the truth it really doesn't matter all that much to me. 

light-headed

I'm feeling light-headed and dizzy.  My blood sugar is 349.  Not sure what to do. 

Irratating words and phrases

"Who let the dogs out" and "Just sayin"  are two phrases that I find irratating.  The one used most often by the young writers of today, especially in the fashion field is "stunned or stuns"  Tonight on Yahoo one headlines reads "Sandra Bullock Stuns in Red Dress".

Now don't get me wrong.  I love Sandra Bulloock.  Sandra Bullock and Jodie Foster are my two favorite female stars.  I looked at the picture of her in that red dress.  Not because she stuns but because it was Sandra Bullock.  It is a nice dress.  But why are writers choosing words that are so over the top?  Why do they have to use the same over the top word over and over again?       

When is spring supposed to get here?

I'm not so much looking forward to summer if it is going to be hot like 2012 but I am looking forward to the day when I can walk on dirt and not get muddy.  It has been wet for so long in some places it looks as if the ground has melted away like cake frosting in a too warm kitchen.  I've still have a few stacks of wood at the church I need to carry off but it has been so wet I can't pull the truck down to the piles because I would get mirred in the mud.  The mud might be fine for pigs, bakers and wrestlers but it doesn't do much for Ford Rangers and fat old men.

I started the project in the fall of 2011 clearing the back half of the property at the church.  I worked six months last year and now starting the eight month of this year (counting from September of 2012 until the present).  Soon it will be too warm to work there and i need to get the wood carried off and the weeds pulled in time to plant. 

With my wife being injured for the last four months and taking care of her, taking care of my aged mother, and helping to care for my monther-in-law, it has been hard to find time and days dry enough to work.  It sure would have been nice to have some big equipment to work with.  Last year I had a mattock. a rack, a pair of lopers, and a small hand saw.  This year I added a chain saw, which  couldn't afford but purchased anyway. 

I had a funeral to attend today and we are expecting rain or worse the next two days  so yoiu know Thursday and Friday are going to be wet.  I can only stack wood by the curb on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday because pickup time is early Thursday morning.  Next week I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and I am going to take care of Mom on Thurdsay. 

I had hoped to get the work done before spring but it looks like it will be a close call to get it done before it feels like spring and almost impossible to get it done by calendar spring.  I really do need to get finished so i can get the pumpkins in the ground. 

To what country do we owe allegiance?

A high school student was removed from her class for failure to pledge allegiance to the flag.  I'm sure that will get the blood boiling of many loyal Americans.  In somecals, I've heard, it is against policy to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and that makes other americans angry. 
But as an American how would you feel if you sent your child to school and they were removed from class for refusing to pledge allegiance to the flag?  Not the American flag but the Mexican flag. 

No way that would every happen in America.  No American High School would ever require America citizens to pledge allegiance to another country.  Well, I wish I could say that was true but it isn't. 

"A Texas high school student who says she was removed from her Spanish class for refusing to recite the Mexican pledge of allegiance is suing the school district."

At least she is suing.  Personally I'm proud of her. 

A dear old saint passed today

Mrs. Dora Tickle, 93, of Old Randleman Road, Greensboro, passed today at Moses Cone Hospital.  I was hoping to see her one more time but I never had the chance.  The last time I saw her was in October.  My wife and Mrs. Tickle were both hospitilized it October at Moses Cone and both on the third floor.  My wife was on one end of the hospital and Mrs. Tickle was on the other. 

I did go by her house several times to see her but she wasn't able to receive company.  The pastor and I went by to see her Saturday but again she wasn't feeling well enough to have company.  At least the preacher saw her Sunday evening when she was taken to Moses Cone.  She had become frail but her spirit was always bright and unlifting. 

I will always miss Mrs. Tickle and count it one of the best blessings of my life to have known her. 

With One Accord

Starting last Saturday, the members of the church I attend all agreed to pray a 9pm every night.  It's awesome. 

To retire or not, that is the question

It seems that almost all of the articles on saving for retirement suggests that few, if any, have saved enough and that the best way to maximize retirement is to work until one is seventy, especially if you are a man and expect to die before your wife.  Apparently these articles must be written by young people who are afraid there will not be enough money left in the social security system for them to draw from so they hope us baby boomers will work until we are just about ready to die so we won't collect many benefits. 

No, I didn't save a fortune and I am still making house payments and I probably always will.  My retirement will not be spent traveling or camping or taking long vacation to visit the kids and grandkids.  No I spend my time working at the church, working in the yard and taking care of family members.  I don't have a great deal of extra money but I have saved enough to maintain my working man's lifestyle without having to work. 

I retired early.  Those that advocate people working until they are in their seventies just haven't been around many older people or haven't been paying attention.  Many seem to be decrepit by the time they hit sixty but even for those with few health problems, pain comes and doesn't seem to want to go away.  By the time one saves all he can save and has maximized everything, he is just to racked with pain to really enjoy life. 

Perhaps better advise would be to save all you can, retire early but wait as long as you can before drawing social security to maximize benefits there. 

There was a joke about the young business man that passed a man fishing under the bridge everyday.  One day he stopped to talk to the fisherman and learned that the fisherman never worked, lived in an old shack in the woods and did nothing but fish all day.  "You should get yourself a job, work hard and save your money" the young man advised. 

"And then what?"

"Then you can retire and enjoy life."

"Well, that's what I'm doing now" the older fellow replied. 

Sometimes I think that we live life backwards.  We should be born old and with our bodies racked with pain it is easier to sit and study and learn.  Once we have learned then our bodies don't hurt as bad and we can go into the work place with our strength and knowledge and as we get younger and wiser we are able to work harder and harder and with more enthusiasm.  Then when we have worked long enough, we can retire, being full of vim and vigor and play with younthful energy until time to leave this world. 

Why is God Invisible?

No living person has every seen God.  The bible even refers to God as the invisible God.  Is God really invisible and if not why can't we see him?

I recently read a statement from a young man that said that God has had 2,000 years to convince him that He was real and having failed to do so he must conclude that God isn't real.  The young man had a lot of things wrong in that statement.  God has been around a lot longer than 2,000 years.  In fact He has been around forever.  The young man, on the other hand, has been around for just a few dozen years at the most and many of those he was too young to understand many things.  So the truth is, he has only had a relativbely short time to make a decision concerning God. 

In many ways it isn't easy knowing the truth.  There is the Christian bible, the Holy Bible, the atheist bible, the Koran,  and many other books that others claim to be the bible but have either added something too it or taken stuff away and thereby perverted the word of God.  The other day, a man called the preacher and stated that his wife didn't like the Sunday Sermon.  It wasn't the style or delivery she objected too but the message.  However, the message was exactly what the bible said and meant. 

People are lazy and don't want to study hard to understand stuff..  No only that but over time, our opinions change so what once was acceptable is no longer held as proper.  When people become "enlightened" they want the bible to be changed to reflect their new views on life.  The easiest way to accomplish that is to pen a new translation of the bible.  I have no problem with different translations but I have serious problems with new interpretations. 

Another problem people have is that they build a doctrine from just a few verses of scripture and the doctrine is contrary to what the bible actually teaches.  "Take a little wine for thy stomachs sake", Jesus turned the water into wine, deacons are not to be taken with much wine, seem to teach that the scriptures say it is okay to drink as long as we do not do so to excess. 

In I John chapter three one of the verses say "we sin not"  so some people teach that Christians cannot sin.  Yet in that same book, in chapter I verse 18 the bible says he who says he is without sin is a liar and the truth is not in him.  Careful study will reveal that there is no contridiction there.  It is true that people commit sin, even Christians, but as a Christian God forgives our sins. 

God cannot look upon sin.  Christ became sin for all of us and he did so while hanging on the cross at Calvary as reflected in His words "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"  At the moment Christ became sin for all of us God turned His back on Jesus.  God is invisible to us because "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" 

God did however, send His son to earth to teach us and to show us.  He walked among us teaching and healing until His time had come for Him to lay down His life for our sins.  He did not have too.  It was His choice.  Just as Christ had a choice to die for you or to escape the cross, we have a choice to accept Christ as our savor or to reject Him. 

God gave us Christ, He gave us the prophets, the disciples, the churches, and His written word.  He God did not exist there would be no written word and no Christ.  That He exists is as plain as the nose on your face.  His existence is not dependent on our believing but our existence is dependent on Him.  God does not send people to Hell.  Hell was created for Satan and his angels not for man. 

There are many who have accepted the fact that Jesus is the Christ yet have not learned to fully trust Christ in their everyday lives.  What they are doing is believing in the concept of Christ but not fully believing in the personhood of a risen savor nor fully accepting that Christ loves us and will indeed honor the promises he has made.  I have to admit sometimes it is hard to fully trust Christ.  It is like having a fear of flying.  Flying commercial airlines is the safest form of mass transportation there is yet some people will drive rather than fly.  That is just human nature. 

There have been several incidents in my life that have proven to me that I can trust Christ and the stronger my faith becomes the more Christ proves that He can be trusted.  I know for a fact that God is real and that Jesus Christ is a savor and my Lord.  So why then is God invisible?

He is invisible only because we refuse to see Him.    

homemade Pimento cheese

I like pimento cheese on celery as a snack but I don't buy pimento cheese at the grocery store because i don't think it has much flavor and it costs too much.  Today I decided to make my own.  I purc hased an eight ounce block of sharp cheddar cheese and a 4 oz jar of pimentos.  I sherred the cheese, added the pinmentos, mixed it some Duke's sprinkled in some salt and pepper and had a delicious treat.  Believe me, it is much better than anything Star or Ruth's ever produced; and much cheaper too. 

Of course, one can make variations on this simple recipe acording to ones taste.  Four ounces of cheddar and some Monteray or Colby cheese can be used or use four ounches of cheddar and some pepper jack.  Whatever ones taste.  But the recipe is still simple an easy.  I purchase the block and shred it because it is cheaper than the already shredded but to save some time call the General uh, I mean, by all means use the shredded cheese.     

ungrateful kids

He was broke, no car, no job and about to lose his home and his daughter.  His only hope was to borrow some money and quickly.  But he had no credit and no collateral.  So he turned to his mother.  She came through for him to the tune of several thousand dollars. 

He got him some transportation, paid his rent and found himself a job.  And he repaid his mother.  The only problem was he was asked to repay the loan in small monthly payments but he just had to repay the loan in one lump sum from a tax return.  The whole point was to try to teach him to make wise money decision and to budget his money.  Of course his mother was glad he repaid her but disappointed that he refused to learn the lesson she needed him to learn. 

Well, it didn't take long for him to to find himself in desparate straights again and seeking another loan from his mother.  Only this time she didn't have it.  She could take in her granddaughter for the summer.  It would give her a chance to bond with her granddaughter and take some of the pressure of of him.  No, he siaid he would find another way.

As time went on he became more cold and distant from his mother and when she suffered a serious illness he never responded at all.  Finally, six months later she reached out to him via a letter.  He did call her but to cuss her out for not being there for him, for trying to take his daughter away from him, and to tell her that the God she believed in wasn't real and religion was just voodoo.  He said he didn't have any family.

That really hurt her.  She didn't deserve that.

10 formerly popular girls names

Joyce, ranked 969.  I had a cousin named Joyce and went to school with a Joyce. 
Rosanne, ranked 14, 265.  Of course most people know Roseanne Barr.  I knew a Roseanna once, the daughter of a good friend.  Hattie, number 993, is my mother-in-laws name.  Dorothy, number 937, was the name of a former girlfriend.  Madeline was the name of one of my favorite comedians.  You might remember her from Blazing Saddles with her rendition of "I'm so tired". 

Willow is another pretty name and the name of the girl who was one of Buffy the Vampire Slayers sidekicks and also one of the stars of "How I met your Mother".  And who could forget Pamela Anderson?  I've know many a girl named Pam and even dated a couple, one from Huntsville, Texas and one from Opelika, Alabama. 

Anne, number 996, was the first name of a girl I had a crush on in high school.  Leona at 929 is the name of that mean woman, Mrs. Helmsly. 

The last name on the list, Janet, is the 951st popular name.  I'm sure most of us have heart of Janet Jackson. 

So I know people with 5 of these formerly popular names and know of the other five. 
How about you? 

Upside down fish

Late last fall I noticed one of my larger Koi was floating upside down in the middle of the pond.  I assumed it had perished for some unknown reason but it was in such a position I could not fish it out.  It was a cold rainy day so I thought it better for me to wait for a nicer day before I uncovered the pond to fish it out. 

It was a good while later when I found the time to make another attempt to get the fish out of the pond but it was no longer in the middle of the pond but floating near the edge so it would be rather easy to get out .  When I touched the fish with the net, it turned upright and swam away.  What a surprise!

It didn't swim like a normal koi but only used the fins on its right side.  After it stopped, it rolled back over on its' back.   It is still alive.  Maybe it had a stroke and is paralyzed on the left side.  Maybe it will recover in time.  I don't want to kill a living creature but neither do I want it to suffer.  I am going to wait until spring when I clean my pond to retrieve it if it is still alive and I will place it in a tank of its own   so other creatures will not bother it. 

Any one know of a reason  for its behavior or a reasonable course of action concerning this fish?

I'm back with the Asheboro paper

As a present an in-law purchased a subscription to the Courier-Tribune for me and after a couple of years I dropped them and started taking the News and Record.  One of the main reseanos I dropped the Asheboro paper is that someone had damaged my newspaper box and I repeated asked that it be replaced but it never was. 

With the News and Rrecord I received a new set-up.  I liked some of the expanded sections.  However the paper wasn't always delivered and when it was no one could be quite sure what time of day it would get here.  I missed the local stories about what was happening in my community.  I get my state, national, and world news from TV and the internet and I can find out the important stories from Greensboro and Winston-Salem there as well.  But there isn't anything about my friends and neighbors any where but hte courier-Tribune. 

I like the law log and the gardening section and I did enjoy some of the local feature writers  work even though I don't always like them personally or agree with their viewpoint. 

But most of all I liked the dependability of my delivery person.  I know when I get up at 4 am on a bitterly cold and maybe rainy morning and head out to the  curb, my paper was nice and dry in the delivery box where it should be. 

Gardening News

I'm excited about this coming spring.  I've built my grape arbor and rooted new grape vines.  Besides the sixteen feet of vines I already have, I'll have an addtional 24 feet.  I just have to find me some vit B0-1 tablets to crush up and add to the water when I plant my vines.  I do believe it is 2 tabs per gallonof water and four gallons of water per vine. 

I just havested the last of my carrots and shredded them for carrot-rasin salad.   I don't care for it with pneapple in it like Golden Coral serves.  Just carrots and rasins.  In case you didn't know, you do not have to harvest your carrots at the end of the growing season.  Just leave them in the garden and pick when you want some fresh carrots.  Some recomment covering them with a board during the winter but I don't and mine have done just fine.  Carrots from the garden have a strong taste than ones you buy at the store.  Of course, the ones at the store would have tasted like home grown if you could eat them fresh picked. 

I like cooked carrots.  Many people don't.  If you are one of those, I suggest sprinkling some brown sugar on them when you cook them.  They taste like sweet potatoes then.  Sweet sweet potatoes.   

I'm planting all my vine plants at the Sunset Street garden except for my tomatoes.  I'll have a separate garden spot for them in the back yard.  My regular garden in the big space beside my house. 

I'll have my pumpkin garden this year as well as cataloupes, watermelon, and maybe some gourds.  Come fall, if you need some gourds or pumpkins for decorations or pies, look me up.  Organic produce cheaper than Walmart. 

The pope is quitting. What does this mean?

Some people believe that there is a prediction about how many Popes there will be and according to those predictions there won't be but one more before the world ends.  Of course, no one knows how long the next pope will live. 

No one know when Christ will return.  The apostle Paul didn't know.  Even Jesus himself did not know.  I have no idea how anyone else would have a clue as to how many Popes there would be before Christ's return either. 

I firmly believe that he will come back when everyone has quit looking for him.  Anticipation is high because many believe that there has been thousand years gaps in great events and because they believe the bible says that a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day.  The six days of creation and the seventh day of rest equates to six thousand years of man on earth as ruler and the thousand years reigh of Christ.  It was two thousand years from Adam and Eve being kicked out of the garden until the flood and two more thousand years until the birth of Christ.  It now has been two thousand years since His birth so it is time.  But soon, people will quit believing.  Few actually believe now and more and more people are becoming hostile to the idea of God really existing and that Christ is God in the flesh and that he really lives and is coming back.  Most people today, even in the USA believe that isn't true.  Few people actually trust God and Jesus Christ.   

Offer on property

I have a piece of land for sale in the mounttains and I was asked if I would consider owner financing.  Anyone have any ideas about what is a fair deal? 

ze-a-Palooza: Kathie Lee and Hoda’s Dry Spell ...

After going 30 days without a drink of alcohol katie Lee and Hoda celebrated with a glass of wine.  Thirty days is a piece of cake.  It has been twenty-one years for me. 

A different world

A different world was the name of a TV program and is also a reality not only in different places around the globe but in the life I live.  When I was young it seemed most people were either Christians or had respect for Christians.  For the most part it was a good world.  It was far from perfect though. 

I believe Vietnam did more to change the world I knew more than anything else.  I just can't imagine anyone taking someone serious who thought that prayer should be banned from schools.  Yet during Vietnam the drug culture was introduced to American youth, people became brave and foolish enough to flee to other countries to avoid their duty to their country, values changed, music changed and the world in which I grew up in ceased to exist. 

I believe that people should be allowed to own guns but I just don't believe guns makes people as safe as gun owners believe they do.  It's not the gun laws or lack thereof that makes the American society so dangerous but the value system we now have in place.  There is a large anti-government sentiment.  Police are not liked, drugs are either embaraced or tolerated, and not believing in God and being hostile towards that do  are the ideas that make this country far less safe than it should be. 

Things are such now that it is not even safe to invite people to church.  I am certain this isn't the type of world I want to live in and I know that the problem is far bigger than I can possible handle.  Christ tried to love people and he was crucified for it.  I've tried for two years to get people to come to church and have failed. 

The preacher thought maybe it was the hard benches that were in sore need of replacing so we purchased chairs with 4" of padding but no one came.  He thinks now it is the size of the building but i've seen smaller and far less attractive facilities serve as a meeting places and they grew into grew churches.  "Maybe it what I preach" was a sentiment expressed by our pastor but if no one comes how do they know how or what he preaches?

I don't know what the secret is.  All I do know is I b elieve God placed me there and I will stay there until either God tells me to move on, I die, or I'm the only one left.  I just pray that some people that love Christ and want to do his will and his work will find there way there.  If they could, just maybe this could become a different world, one in which we will feel safe and proud    to live in. 

Courier-Tribune makes mistake

The singing at One Way Baptist church on February 10, 2013 will be held at 10 am until 12, not at 6 pm reported by the paper.  I sent the copy correctly but I guess they just wanted to make stuff up. 

Mountan Joy on the tenth

Eight days and counting.  Mountain Joy will be appearing at One Way Baptist Church in Randleman on the 10th of February.  One Way Baptist is located on Sunset (runs between 220 Business and Stout Street.  Turn left onto Sunset in front of Sir Pizza on 220 business-Main Street),

Sunday School is at 10 c'clock and Worship Service starts at 10:45 but instead of our regualr service Mountain Joy will be singing for us.  I suggest that you come at ten as seating is limited.  No decision has been made about having Sunday School yet but even if we do, you will enjoy that as we have an excellent teacher. 

 

Latest Poll

Which quality would you rather have?

• Gorgeous looks.
  
  19%
• High intelligence.
  
  41%
• Unflappable self-confidence.
  
  40%

Thank you for voting.

 

 

 

Here's my take on this.  Looks will get you friends and advantages that ordinary people never receive but it will not necessarily make ones life better.  Good looks does come with some risks. 

 

Most people chose High Intelligence.  Being smart is nice except that many highly intelligent people are socially inept.  Contrary to popular opinion not all jocks are dumb and not all intelligent people are nerds.  In fact, highly intelligent people also tend to be more athletic and better looking than average. 

Being highly intelligent does not necessarily translate into wealth.  Ask any MENSA member. 

I should know.  I am a member of MENSA.  I made the second highest score on the college board in my high school the year I graduated and I graduated in a class of 435 students.  I mad far less money than either of my brothers.  My younger brother was by father the best paid of the three of us but he had the lowest IQ.  What he did have was confidence and drive.

 

I have noticed that people that have confidence in themselves often are able to get others to believe in them too.  They can be charming, persuasive, and influential.  Without confidence one cannot lead.

As Henry Ford proved in court, one doesn't have to be highly educated to be a proven leader or wealthy.  One only has to surround themselves with learned and intelligent people.  Confidence in ones abilities and charm are the best tools to draw intelligent people to you. 

 

Of course, it would be great to be smart, confident and good looking too. 

You really can't worship God and not go to church

I once was shown an illustration about the importance of church attendance.  Pour charcoal in the center of your grill and light them.  After the coals start getting hot, take one and set it off to the side.  Which briquette goes out first: the one by itself our one in the pile? 

I have met many people who say they don't like organized religion or say they can worship God just as well without going to church.  Yet the scriptures say not to forsake the assembling of ourselves so if we don't go to church then we are not obeying God's word.  If we are out of his will we are out of his fellowship.

I have never met anyone who does not attend church who regularly studies the bible, supports missionaries, takes care of widows and the elderly, and does all the functions that are normally done by a God-fearing church.  We need the church to encourage us and to give us support and knowledge.  More can be accomplished by the collective will than any individual can accomplish on their own. 

Attending church does not make one holy, righteous or saved but how will your neighbors know you even believe in God if you never attend church?  You really can't make an effective witness for Christ when you live in disobedience to him. 

How is your prayer life?  Are you finding that your prayers seem to lack power and never receive an answer?  The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much we are told. We are also told that if we have ought against our brother go and forgive him and then come back and pray.  Prayer will not be heard by God if we have unconfessed sin and purposely failing to obey God is a sin. 

Those people who fail to attend church do not keep the Lord's Day holy, do not give their tithes and offerings, do not have an effective prayer life if they have one at all, do not study God's word, do not witness nor support those that do. 

I realize that a person's Christian life is what goes on itside him and not what goes on around him but we must bear fruit or we are of no use to God.  I have never seen a tomato plant, squash, corn nor any other vegatable growing in the wild but always in a garden.   I have never met a person that was actively working for God, growing in faith and knowledge that was not attending church. 

Me 1, Insurance company zero

  On Oct 17, 2012 my wife fell while we were on vacation in Mt. Airy.  As a result of the fall I took her to the Mt. Airy hospital where she received a CAT scan and then was rushed to Baptist because of a brain bleed.  There she received an MRI which showed the bleed was in the center of the brain.  She has also suffered damaged to her 4th cranial nerve resulting in blurred vision. 

A week after her release she was talking incoherently  and the rescue squad was called but by the time they examined her she was able to answer questions so she was not transported.  However the next day I found her passed out in the laundry room and I did have her transported to Moses Cone where they diud a MRA which is an MRI with the dye.  The reason  for her gibberish talking and her passing out were diagnosed as mini-strokes caused by flakes of blood from her brain injury.  She was placed on anti-seizure medication.

My wife had an accident policy  and they denied her claim saying the medical evidence showed she suffered an aneurysm. What all the doctors have told me has been the same story.  Brain bleeds in the center of the brain are usually caused by aneurysms and not falls they cannot find evidence of an aneurysm. I needed a statement from a doctor that stated that her brain injury was not caused by an aneurysm.  Today, a doctor confirmed that and is sending me a letter that states that fact. 

All other possible medical conditions have been ruled out.

Me 1, insurance zero. 

Fish 1, Fisherman 0

Well, I don't know the exact score but a fisherman hooked a black Marlin and the boat captain but the boat into reverse (standard practice) but lost his footing while the boat was a full throtle.  The boat sank and the fish got away.  You can read the story at:






http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/50860/a+hooked+marlin+sinks+a+fishing+boat+well+something+like+that/

Roadside signs, vandal cover

Our church is using a portable roadside sign, 4' by 8' but it doesn't have a vandal cover and we really need one as people are stealing our letters and changing our messages.  Anyone have any ideas on where we can get a vandal cover or does anyone know how to make one? 

Fair or not?

I really do believe our justice system needs a serious overhaul.  I've read about people who commit multiple murders receiving a relatively light sentence and someone who didn't actually commit a murder being sentenced to life and in rare occasions even death. 

In the Saturday edition of the News and Record there are two stories of crime.  Each crime is similar.
In each  situation  a couple was robbed a with a weapon of their rings. 

In one case, one man, with a knife, robbed a couple of their rings.  That man was charged with two counts of kidnapping, two counts of communicating threats, one count of assualt with a dangerous weapon causing bodily injury and one count of assualt on a female.  He is on a $50,000 bond.

The two men in the second robbery hurt no one and have been charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon and were placed on a $100,000 bond.

Maybe the difference is the conspiracy part but I would rather not be cut in the face while being robbed.  I consider the first robber to be much more dangerous. 

A long winters nap

Just hibernating this morning waiting for the snow and ice to begin today wishing it was a little warmer so I could get back over to the church and finish my winter project. 

The pastors wife is resting uncomfortably after back surgery Monday.  I know she wants to be well enough to be at church on February 19, 2013 when Autumn Joy will be singing.  We probably will have Sunday School but we'll just be  having singing starting at 10:30.  This will give the pastor time to rest his voice.  Hey, you are invited to come.  I do believe it will be in the Asheboro paper as well.

I'm really serious.  We would love for you to come. 

Our Sunday School is only 30 minutes long and we have an excellent teacher.  I advice coming to Sunday School if you are planning on coming to the singing.  There are two reasons:  one you will receive a blessing from the lesson and the second reason is One Way Baptist on Sunset in Randleman has limited seating so coming for Sunday School gives you a better chance of getting a seat. 

Sunset in Randleman is a side street that runs between Stout Street and Main Street.  Main Street is 220 Business and Sunset and main intersect in front of Sir Pizza. 

Enjoy the   snow, sleet, and freezing rain and I'll see you at 10:oo on February 10. 

Virus alert

If you are running a JAVA program you should remove it immediately to protect your computer.  I delected my Java but I needed to temporaily reinstall it to do an inquiry with my investment firm and in that brief period my computer was attached with five viruses vis Java, two of them serious threats.  Microsoft essentials stopped them from infecting my computer.

Microsoft and other platforms recommends removing Java. 

Terrorists don't use bubbles.

Pa. kindergartner suspended for bubble gun remark

Associated Press – 10 hrs ago

MOUNT CARMEL, Pa. (AP) — A 5-year-old Pennsylvania girl who told another girl she was going to shoot her with a pink toy gun that blows soapy bubbles has been suspended from kindergarten.

Her family has hired an attorney to fight the punishment, which initially was 10 days but was reduced to two.

Attorney Robin Ficker says Mount Carmel Area School District officials labeled the girl a "terrorist threat" for the bubble gun remark, made Jan. 10 as both girls waited for a school bus.

Ficker says the girl didn't even have the bubble gun with her and has never fired a real gun. He says she's "the least terroristic person in Pennsylvania."

School district solicitor Edward Greco tells pennlive.com (http://bit.ly/13Nu0QF ) officials are looking into the case. He said Friday school officials aren't at liberty to discuss disciplinary actions.

___

Bad ass or dumb ass?

I'm sorry about the title but I'm so tired of pro-gun people claiming that "if he /she had had a weapon then" and you can fill in the blanks.  I am not anti-gun by any means and I have owned guns in the past, both rifles and handguns. 

Two recent stories has prompted my comments.  The first was the woman from Michagan, a college student I believe, who was kidnapped off campus.  She was raped but espcaped from her vehicle and a 14 year old boy took her in and allowed her to call the police.  The suspect tried to burn down the house she had taken refuge in.  After setting fire to the house the suspect fled the scene, stole a garbage truck and was shot dead by the police. 

So many gun owners or gun proponents wrote in to say "if she only had a gun she could have killed her kidnapper at the point of attack." 

For one, having a gun on school grounds is probably illegal and if she had had a gun with her more than likely it would have been in her vehicle.  It would have been more readily available to her kidnapper than to her.  I don't know the laws in Michagan but shooting an unarmed man might have been considered excessive use of force.  Of course she would have been much better off threatning the man with a gun allowing herself time to escape or for the suspect to change his mind and leave. 

My point is that having a gun in this situation might have been a good thing or it might have been a very bad thing.  The suspect calimed he was going to kill her and she did get raped.  But she is alive and had she not been his victim the next person he kidnapped might have ended up dead.  This story ended well but we can't say "What is" because there was no "Ifs in this situation".  We don't know how things would have played out if the circumstances had been different because they were not different.

The other story was about a may that was shot by his four year old.  If that man did not have a gun he would not have ever been shot by his 4 year old.  If asked he probably would have claimed he had the gun for protection. 

One gun rights advocate said the FBI has concluded that 1.5 million to 2 million murders have been prevented because of gun ownership.  Really?  How many dead people would never have died if there had been no guns? 

Most gun owners are responsible but give a badass a gun and he just might turn into a dumbass. 

My father was a gun owner.  The only two times that gun was ever brought to bear was near disasters.  The first is when one of his children came hom e from college and arrived home very late.  Not wishing to distrub his parents he used his key to let himself into the house.  He was greeted by his father and his loaded pistol.  The son had no idea his father had purchased a pistol. 

The next time the gun came into play was many years later.  My dad was asleep when two kids broke into his home.  One found his pistol and held it pointed at my fathers head intending to kill my father should he wake up. The thief took the gun with him when he left opening up the possibility yhat now it would be an armed thug and not just a punk teenager. 

I know there can be a lot of positive things to be said about gun ownership and I certainly don't want the government to start limiting citizens rights.  What I wish I could do was get the point across to many of these hot heads who brag about what would have happened differently if they had been there with their gun. 

They never have been.  I've never read a story about work place violence or school shootings where a person with a gun was the hero and stopped the killer before the police arrived or before anyone was hurt.  These hotheads arguments don't bare out in reality.  No one will ever know what would have happened if these braggards had been there with their toys but the reality is that they weren't. 

Wells-Fargo. What does it mean?

Well is being or feeling good, but it is also a deep dark hole.  Fargo in a town in North Dakota as well as the last name of the man who started Well-Fargo Bank and a fairly popular last name in the USA but not common or popular as a first name. 

From my resent experience with Well-Fargo, the bank, I would think the proper definition would be an unpopular deep dark hole. 

There are two reasons I say this.  I personally do not have an account with Wells-Fargo the bank but my mom does.  I backtrack a moment on that last statement.  I had some remodeling done at the house which was financed through Wachovia which, as you should know, is now Wells-Fargo.  That bill has been being paid on-line but now Wells-Fargo says that we must open an account with them in order to pay the account on-line. 

We have never received a bill. 

The account is a revolving account and we have a credit card to use except the number we were given to activate it is not a valid number. 

We can't pay the bill at the bank either and we have no address to which we are supposed to send the payments.

Now for the other reason.  My mom has banked at the same location for years although it has undergone many name changes.  It was 1st National, then Northwestern, then First Union, then Wachovia, and now Wells-Fargo.  Mom needed new checks but did not have a check reorder form. 
As I have been doing her banking for her for over ten years now I saw no problem in me running down to the bank and asking them to order some checks for her. 

To my surprise they said no.  They claimed that no one knew who I was.  Strange because the people in the bank at the same people who I have delt with for years but suddenly they don't recognize me. 
Mom is 87, deaf, and legally blind, and doesn't get around all that well but I had to take her down to the bank in order for them to order checks for her. 

So for me when I think of Wells-Fargo and customer service I think of an unpopular deep dark hole. 

Only you can prevent forest fires

"Only you can prevent forest fires" was something smokey said many years ago.  Unfortunately not all fires are in the forest and not all fires can be extinguished using water.  Fires involving grease or oil need something to sufficate the fire.  That is a lesson we learned way back in grade school.  But some people, no matter how rich or how famous, can't seem to recall those elementary lessons.  Check out this story:

 A candle that the rock icon and his manager wife, Sharon, had left burning through the night exploded in its glass vase and sparked a small blaze in their living room. Quick-thinking Ozzy, whose arm had been bandaged up following hand surgery on Wednesday, tried to air the room as Sharon rushed to collect some water, but her efforts to extinguish the oily flames only caused the fire to spread, singeing chunks of the rocker's long locks in the process.

Is Steve Harvey Correct?

"Act Like a Lady but Think Like a Man" or something similar to that is the title of a best selling book by Steve Harvey, the comedian, game show host, and talk show/variety show host.  I have to admit I like the format of the Steve Harvey Show and he is an interesting character in and of himself. 

I haven't read his book.  It is written to the ladies and if you watch his show you will notice it is about women and for women.  He does fancy himself a ladies man and in his book he proposes to teach women to act like ladies by understanding how men think and using that knowledge to their advantage. 

When I was a younger man I had a high school girl writting me and she was telling me about her life, especially about her relationships.  Like Steve Harvey does in his book, I told the girl how men think.  At first he made her mad but she later admitted that I was right.  I knew I was right.  I'm a man. 

I don't agree that everything a man does is about sex.  Oh, I know a lot of what men do is about sex.  The prettiest women get the most attention from male workers in retail stores, are less likely to be found guilty in a court of law, and are probably treated much better in most aspects of life than either men or their less attractive counterparts.  A rescent study showed that men are most likely to find guilty in court an overweight woman than either any man or attractive women.  Life isn't fair that way.

One of the most talked about people of late is a football player named Tim Tebow.  It isn't so much his atlectic abilities that have drawn the interest of people but rather his religion.  Whether people expressly comment on it or not, I think it makes him a polorizing figure and he has drawn much scorn because he is a Christian.  No, not because he is a Christian like most Christians view themselves as but a Christian like the Bible teaches us a Christian should be like. 

A person who is fully surrendered is a new man.  One doesn't have to try to live a Christian life but God will take from us does things we do not need and give to us those things we do need.  I see in this young man a desire to live as Christ would have him live.  He isn't motivated by sex but by love. 

Men like to be winners and I believe  that winning is a stronger motivator of men than sex is.  It dating, sex is the goal, the reward, if you will, for winning.  But that is just the regular season.  The championship is determined by whom a man gets to be his partner.  Prestige, power, and things are the rewards of being a winner at work.  It is about being good at what one does. 

I believe if women understood that they would have a better relationship with their husbands.  What your husband to take more interest in housework?  Sure you have nag him and plead and beg all you want but that will only make your husband mad or withdrawn.  That is telling the hunter he isn't a good hunter.  It is what he does and you critize him for not being good at it.  That isn't motivation.

Tell him you like the way he washes the dishes because he is faster or better at it than you are, or more careful or whatever.  Make him feel special and appreciated and he will wash so many dishes that you may never get to do that task again. 

We all like to think we are special.  Whomever you married you married because at the time you thought they were special.  If one continues to treat their spouse/partner as if they are truly special the relationship will not only last but be a happy one. 

Thumbs down

I do believe some people would give a thumbs down to anything.  I'm not always right and sometimes people don't recognize my humor and I can understand that.  What I don't understand is why someone gives a thumbs down on concrete issues. 

I wrote a response about a boston butt.  The author of the article said one should get a bone-in as it adds flavor even though a boneless one is easier to deal with.  My comment was that one could ask the buther to remove the bone and tie it back on which would make it easier to deal with while giving the flavor of the bone-in one.  Someone gave me a thumbs down on that. 

I was a butcher and I know a lot about meat.  I started cutting meat before the meat was broken down into small primals.  I'm the type of person who researches what I don't know.  I was one of the smartest buthers you would ever meet and I was a member of Mensa if you have any doubts about that. 

I suppose it just goes to prove the point that one can't please everyone. 

Pat Robertson has diarreha of the mouth

"If your husband isn't paying attention to you, it's probably because you don't look 'pretty' and 'alert,' according to evangelical talk show host Pat Robertson"

I wish this guy would just shut up and go away.  Every few years he just has to say something stupid.  He is an embarrassment and I wish people would quit supporting him.    

Jesus is a fantasy

I'm hearing more and more young people caliming that Jesus is a fantasy, the stories in the bible are not real, there is not God, and that religion is responsible for more wars and deaths than any other csause. 

It would be just terrible if they were right, wouldn't it?

I don't want a bunch of fat old men deciding what I can do with my body

"I don't want a bunch of fat old men deciding what I can do with my body" was a quote in the  recent news by a famous lady .  Who the lady is does not matter because this is the exact sentiment express by many abortionists. 

In an attempt to justify their actions and ease their quilt, many claim that a baby isn'at a baby until it can survive outside the womb.  Until then it is a fetus which is a thing and not a human being.  The truth is, most people cannot survive outside the womb until they are in their teenage years.  Seriously.  Just kick a ten year old out of the house and see how long they survive. 

I know, it just doesn't seem right that the people on the Supreme court, especially the men, should have a say so in what a woman does with her own body.  Then again it doesn't seem right that a single person should have sole power over the life of another human being with the power to say whether they live or die   and they have no input into the decision. 

Now most people will agree that if a woman becomes pregnanr because she was forced to and had to input into becoming pregnant should have the right to terminate that pregancy.  But, in my opinion, if a woman feels the reason they want to have abortion legal is as a last resort birth control method under the pretence that it is their right to have control of their body, then they are not really wanting to control their body but an escape clause to undo the consequences of not controlling their body. 

The time for control is before the act, not afterwards. 

There really is not any do overs.

Someone has to die. 

Gun Control or not?

Every time there is a mass shooting people come out of the woodwork demanding gun control and weapons bans and an equal amount of people are there to shoot them down and claim their 2nd amendment rights. 

So, should there be some form of gun control or not?

I read stories about people being murdered and gun lobyists claiming that if they had had a gun they could have defended themselves but then I think of my dear old father, laying in his bed one night, suffering from the cancer that eventually killed him and my mother, asleep in bedroom one night when two teenagers broke into their apartment. 

It wasn't an apartment like people would normally think of but it was actually the fellowship hall at the church my father was pastor of.  There was a small den and a bedroom/bathroom built at the back of the fellowship hall that my parents stayed in.  The intent was to let visiting pastors use the bedroom/den instead of having to stay in a motel. 

My dad slept on a cot in the fellowship area because of the pain of the cancer.  The two boys discovered my father's gun and held in on my dad in case he awoke.  He later stated if my father had woken up he would have killed him.  Of course, if my father did not have the gun the burglar could just as easily gone to the kitchen and retrieved a knife. 

One of the most commonly stolen items in breakins are guns, especailly in homes where the owner has a large gun collection.  I wonder sometimes if having guns is an encouragement  to thieves to break into a particular house. 

I understand the fasination with weapons.  Some people just like the power, some like the history, while others like the financial rewards of buying and selling things.  Most people, however, just like the feeling of protection having a weapon affords them. 

I will admit there are many people that should not have access to guns.  They can be mentailly unstable, just plain mean, irresponsible, or immature. 

Granted, it is a lot easier to kill many people at once with a firearm than it is by most other means but in the over all scheme of things mass murder represents a small fraction of murders. 

In order for gun laws to work, they must keep guns from being stolen and prevented from ending up in the hands of people that should not have access to firearms.  No set of laws can be prefect so there will always be people with weapons that should not have them.  Outright gun bans is not the answer, or I don't believe it is. 

People do stupid things all the time and we cannot make enough laws to prevent people from doing stupid things.  We can, and have, done things to make the stupid things people do less harmful to themselves and others and we will continue to do so. 

But along with that we have to take upon ourselves a degree of responsibility.  People sued the theater because they banned handguns so victims felt the theater owned them a greater degree of protection.  But the victims forgot personal responsibility.  If they felt unconfortable about the gun bans they should have not gone to the theater or they could have demanded the theater provide them with the level of security they felt they deserved.  But to claim the theater was at fault after the incident is too late and benefits no one and is not going to fix or solve any problems. 

No one wants to live in an environment of security cameras, metal detectors, and body searches.  If we give up our freedoms for safety then we have neither safety nor freedom.  There are risks in being free and there are costs in maintaining that freedom. 

Responsible people thinks of all the consequences before deciding on a course of action.  I believe a well thought out response is due this matter as well.    

Taxes rise, but it could have been worse

The Yahoo headline read "Taxes rise but it could have been worse".  I agree.  We could have elected Obama to four more years.  Oh, that's right.  He was relected. 

At least we had good news from the stock market this week,, especially today.  As of this point in time, the stock market has risen over 300 points. Maybe I'll recoup some of that money I lost last week.  I just wish people would stop investing and selling based on their emotions (at least the reasons given for huge swings in the market place are reported to be based on emotions). 

Logic would dictate less volitilty in buy/sell reactions. The only reason to sell at a loss is if one really needed the money.  If the stock was a bad buy or is becoming a bad but why would anyone else purchase it?

New business in Randleman

I stopped in the newest business in Randleman and I liked what I saw.  The store is in what was part of the old CVS in the former Lowes Food shopping center.  Lowes Food's place is being remodeled for a church but that will be months in the redoing.  Hopefully the addition of the church will be a boost to Sunshine Pets.  They have a really nice aquarium setup, the store is clean and bright, and the owner is cheerful and friendly. 

I purchased a cat toy from them and come this spring I'll provide them with some pond fish and some pond plants. 

Pet stores are expensive to set up and are a tough business, especially with all the new megastores and Walmart but if the prices are anywhere in the neighborhood of my budget I prefer to to business with the small family owned businesses. 

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.