I read something recently that really upset me. I am not the type of person to normally confront anyone, so I usually just let things go. In fact, I tend to clam up and not say anything about anything. This is why I haven't blogged in days. I was just sitting here getting frustrated. It really bothered me, and I am still dealing with this. I get very frustrated when assumptions are passed around like facts. There have been many times when someone will email me something urgent, "you need to send this to everyone you know". I will do a search on the internet to see if it is legit. So far, none of them have been. But if more people did this, we wouldn't have so many bogus emails flying around. It seems "everyone" is making up numbers and information to suit their own purposes. The government does this, too. "35,000 people per year die from the flu." Yeah, right. It isn't true. They pull that number out of their, well, you get the picture. The number is somewhere closer to 700 per year that die from the flu, or complications thereof. Everyone is up in arms over this avian flu. IT HAS NOT MUTATED to humans. There is a possibility that it MAY, but it is slight. So, why all the scare tactics?
Why do we feel we can pull information out of the air, make things up, etc. without getting the facts straight? Without the facts, it is just opinion and assumptions and, like belly buttons, everyone has one. What is the old saying about when you assume? Wouldn't it make more sense to do a little research before you start talking about something? Just a thought.
I guess I just got my frustrations out and let it go.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Top Ten
We haven't had any top ten lists lately and I guess Joann is probably going through withdrawals, so:
Top Ten Things I miss from My Childhood
10. No mortgage payment (do I hear an AMEN?)
9. My mom calling school to say we were sick (Yeah...of school) and we would go to the beach
8. Going out to breakfast with my dad before school - at Sambo's
7. Being able to fit in the back seat of a Porsche
6. Being able to sleep till noon.
5. Feathered hair.
4. Sav-On ice cream - a quart sized scoop for 25 cents and no guilt
3. Thinking people in their thirties were so OLD!
2. Three week vacations in the camper.
1. Three months off of school in the summer with nothing to do.
Please feel free to add your own...
Top Ten Things I miss from My Childhood
10. No mortgage payment (do I hear an AMEN?)
9. My mom calling school to say we were sick (Yeah...of school) and we would go to the beach
8. Going out to breakfast with my dad before school - at Sambo's
7. Being able to fit in the back seat of a Porsche
6. Being able to sleep till noon.
5. Feathered hair.
4. Sav-On ice cream - a quart sized scoop for 25 cents and no guilt
3. Thinking people in their thirties were so OLD!
2. Three week vacations in the camper.
1. Three months off of school in the summer with nothing to do.
Please feel free to add your own...
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
We Are ALL Saints...
We Are All Saints
saint [sayntin French names often, saN]
n (plural saints)
1. somebody honored by church after death: somebody who has been particularly holy in life and after death is declared by a Christian church to have a privileged place in heaven and be worthy of veneration
2. somebody in heaven: somebody who is thought to have gone to heaven after death
3. virtuous person: a particularly good or holy person, or one who is kind and patient in dealing with difficult people or situations
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
I can think of only a handful of people I would deem to be saints, so it is nice to know that not I, but the Lord, decides who is a saint. I can, however, come up with quite a few sinners, self included. But it is not my decision to make. The Lord loves all of us. He wants us to come to Him, to worship Him, to love Him and to do things and live our lives in the way that He has planned for us. Is that too much to ask? He basically says, “Come to Me and love Me. I will provide for your needs and I will love you forever. I will not turn my back on you. I will not talk behind your back. You will forever live with Me and I will not leave you. Will you follow me?”
We get so wrapped up in the day-to-day things that we do, that we do not take the time to stop and just listen to God and what He is saying to us. It may not be a booming voice (I think very few people hear the Lord in this way). It may be a subtle feeling, something someone else says to you, an urge to do something that you hadn’t thought about before.
I used to “test” God. I would be worrying about something, thinking about something, trying to figure out the best way to go about it and I would pick up the Bible, close my eyes, open it up and stick my finger on the page. Open your eyes and read what is there. Amazingly enough, very often this would result in my reading a passage that fit the circumstance. I am not suggesting that anyone do this, but at the time I was not walking the walk and I think it was God’s way of showing me He was still looking out for me.
I hope and pray that someday I can be the person the Lord wants me to be. I don’t have a clean house. My children don’t always look perfect, my husband is stressed out, we don’t have money to spare, but in this house, we praise God and ask for His blessing on our lives. My husband has been on this amazing journey, although he doesn’t realize how far he has come. He still sees all his faults and where he has been. I pray that God will show him that he doesn’t need to know everything and that it’s okay not to be perfect. After all, he is not in seminary for himself, but for Jesus Christ!
I pray that all of us saints will realize that God is not expecting us to be perfect. After all, we cannot be so without Him. That we do not have to strive to be perfect, but just to be ourselves, to be open to how God wants to use us. To be available to Him, to be used by Him. It’s okay if we get angry or frustrated sometimes. But we need to submit to Christ, to allow Him to mold us and shape us the way HE wants us to be. And although we will go through trials, we need to ask HIM to walk through them with us, to be by our side. For we cannot do it alone. I had a teacher in high school who told us to pray for trials. I understand about needing to rely on the Lord during trials, about trials helping us to become more submissive to the Lord, etc. but I told this teacher he was whacked in the head. We get enough trials in our lives without asking for more! (This was a few years after my brother died and I was a teenager in 10th grade! I had enough trials!)
I thank the Lord that He provides for us, cares what happens to us and that He protects us. I don’t feel as though I am a saint, but I pray that, with God’ help I will become one. That others will see Christ through me and that I will become a virtuous person. This can only happen with God’s help.
saint [sayntin French names often, saN]
n (plural saints)
1. somebody honored by church after death: somebody who has been particularly holy in life and after death is declared by a Christian church to have a privileged place in heaven and be worthy of veneration
2. somebody in heaven: somebody who is thought to have gone to heaven after death
3. virtuous person: a particularly good or holy person, or one who is kind and patient in dealing with difficult people or situations
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
I can think of only a handful of people I would deem to be saints, so it is nice to know that not I, but the Lord, decides who is a saint. I can, however, come up with quite a few sinners, self included. But it is not my decision to make. The Lord loves all of us. He wants us to come to Him, to worship Him, to love Him and to do things and live our lives in the way that He has planned for us. Is that too much to ask? He basically says, “Come to Me and love Me. I will provide for your needs and I will love you forever. I will not turn my back on you. I will not talk behind your back. You will forever live with Me and I will not leave you. Will you follow me?”
We get so wrapped up in the day-to-day things that we do, that we do not take the time to stop and just listen to God and what He is saying to us. It may not be a booming voice (I think very few people hear the Lord in this way). It may be a subtle feeling, something someone else says to you, an urge to do something that you hadn’t thought about before.
I used to “test” God. I would be worrying about something, thinking about something, trying to figure out the best way to go about it and I would pick up the Bible, close my eyes, open it up and stick my finger on the page. Open your eyes and read what is there. Amazingly enough, very often this would result in my reading a passage that fit the circumstance. I am not suggesting that anyone do this, but at the time I was not walking the walk and I think it was God’s way of showing me He was still looking out for me.
I hope and pray that someday I can be the person the Lord wants me to be. I don’t have a clean house. My children don’t always look perfect, my husband is stressed out, we don’t have money to spare, but in this house, we praise God and ask for His blessing on our lives. My husband has been on this amazing journey, although he doesn’t realize how far he has come. He still sees all his faults and where he has been. I pray that God will show him that he doesn’t need to know everything and that it’s okay not to be perfect. After all, he is not in seminary for himself, but for Jesus Christ!
I pray that all of us saints will realize that God is not expecting us to be perfect. After all, we cannot be so without Him. That we do not have to strive to be perfect, but just to be ourselves, to be open to how God wants to use us. To be available to Him, to be used by Him. It’s okay if we get angry or frustrated sometimes. But we need to submit to Christ, to allow Him to mold us and shape us the way HE wants us to be. And although we will go through trials, we need to ask HIM to walk through them with us, to be by our side. For we cannot do it alone. I had a teacher in high school who told us to pray for trials. I understand about needing to rely on the Lord during trials, about trials helping us to become more submissive to the Lord, etc. but I told this teacher he was whacked in the head. We get enough trials in our lives without asking for more! (This was a few years after my brother died and I was a teenager in 10th grade! I had enough trials!)
I thank the Lord that He provides for us, cares what happens to us and that He protects us. I don’t feel as though I am a saint, but I pray that, with God’ help I will become one. That others will see Christ through me and that I will become a virtuous person. This can only happen with God’s help.
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