I was running up’erin’em mountains early Sunday morning and
met a couple who had two dogs. The dogs
seemed crazy. I asked them if your dogs listen to you—not a chance—they pay no
attention to what we say what’s so ever.
Sooooo I ran along and met another couple with two dogs who seemed under
control. I asked them the same question—they sure do. Soooo why do some dogs listen and others
don’t? Mabye it was ‘cause those folks acted like 600-pound gorillas or maybe
there were other reasons. What do you
think?
GeorgeTheCrook
says--Folks game the system to their benefit.
No kidding folks! Sometimes even
scam others. It appears that the gaming situation is all over the place. It is soooo hard to know who to believe. Everything seems to be a game; someone seems
to be always trying to take advantage of you (i.e. like if you don’t ask for the
senor discount, you don’t get it ha ha). It seems like folks are constantly
trying to take advantage of someone else (i.e. some folks are easier suckers
than others). This just goes on and on and on.
What a game!
Our identity seems to being compromised everywhere (i.e. one
big game)—our phones, our computers, our TVs and now even Jr’s teddy bear (i.e.
I read it in the paper soooo it must be right).
MissPerfect says--They know more about us than we know about
ourselves! That’s scary! And who are “they?’ Now that is scary tooo. And another thing, what they find out about
us are the facts; the truth! Now that is scary toooo!
Do
you know what an e-leash is? I like that
term. It is a modern day term of reality in our culture today. The "e-leash," tethering workers to
the office while they are supposed to be resting is becoming increasingly
common. Cell phones, e-mail and remote-access voice mail make it easier to keep
working. ItckieVickie says—It’s just one big game.
OurneighborJackhereintheValleyoftheSun
told me that he was/is a MN beet farmer.
He had a stroke that paralyzed his right side and he lost his
speech. It was a miracle but he has no
effects anymore. He is very thankful to
God (i.e. very open about it). He told me this story about his brother. His brother milked 60 cows by himself. After his stroke, he went to him and told him
there is more to life than milking cows.
His brother said that milking cows is the only think he knew. A few months later his brother had a severe
heart attack. The doctors thought he was
going to die but by another miracle, he lived.
He sold the cows and the farm while still in the hospital. They bought a 5th wheel and went
to TX, connected with a Christian Organization and now does carpentry
work. MyNeighborJack said—My brother has
never been happier; he was always a bitter man; now has a constant smile on his
face. Bingo!
OneSmart39yearoldfriend (i.e. I am a big fan of him) said to
me recently--I don’t have time to mess with $10. If I have to make
a call, spend 10 minutes hassling with someone and then maybe finally get my
$10, I just will lose the $10. I told him, I do it. I have time and it’s
the principle! I sorta kinda enjoy it most of the time. Businesses knows what they are doing; don’t kid yourself; it’s part of the scheme.
It works with many folks. WorldClassLarry says—Time is valuable; time is
money! Yikes!
I read this while eating my oatmeal with a half a banana on
it--The root of all of our problems is relational. We are dishonest with each
other. We play games with each other. We wear masks all the time. We fake it.
We pretend to have it all together when everybody knows we don’t have it all
together. We’re all broken. There are only two kinds of people in the world:
people who are broken and sinful and know it and people who are broken and
sinful and won’t admit it. When we refuse to be real with each other, it
creates all kinds of fears in our lives and isolates us from each other. It is
a roadblock to intimacy, and it creates insecurity. ItchieBitchie says—erv,
don’t reprint that stuff, I have just convinced myself that I was perfect and
now you get in my head. Now, I’m
confused again. Don’t do that. Quite playing games with me!
Sooooo we watched a little of the Suns’ game the other
night. The ad said if the Suns score
over 90 points, pizza will be half price at Papa John’s tomorrow. The Suns scored 90+ points sooooo I thought
we would try it. I ordered the pizza and
they gave me the price. It was not half
price. I told the guy what the ad was on during the Suns’ game. He said, oh!
Oh ya, it’s half price. I would
not have gotten the half price if I didn’t ask.
It’s a game folks. They know what
they are doing. Don’t kid yourself. My opinion, the pizza tasted like half price; it looks much better on TV; it's a game folks.
Being a believer takes faith. There are folks who think God and the Jesus
stuff is just a big game. It’s not a
magic bullet; it’s a bunch of bull; the big wink; the fraud. It makes no sense to them (i.e. at least
not today). There is no logic or absolutes. It doesn’t give any VIP
treatment. PhD-CannonBallRon says—Do you
know how smart I am; I can’t believe in a God; it’s just spinning a story;
it’s an old lie; it's just throwing time and money down a rat hole. EasyGoingJohn (i.e. anyone can
be a John) says—We all get to decide on this Jesus stuff. It’s our decision and decisions have
consequences. Such is life.
This is what a friend here in the Valley of the Sun says
about her conversion to believing in Jesus (i.e. printed as she wrote it and with
her permission) -- How I became a
Christian:
I was raised in the Presbyterian church as a child, attending Sunday school weekly and vacation Bible school in the summer. But it was just a Sunday thing. It did not carry over into the rest of the week. I couldn't wait to get home and change out of "Sunday clothes " and go out and play.
As happens to many, I drifted away from God like someone who grows to know that Santa Claus and the "tooth fairy" are not real. I searched for the logical explanation to the things I saw around me. I don't think I became an Atheist, rather an Agnostic. I believed there was something greater than myself, but not that He was actively participating in the world today, but a supreme being who set things in motion, and then left the world to carry on unassisted.
In college, I loved learning in all of my classes (except maybe "Art Appreciation" with the boring slide shows), especially in my major, Biology. Cellular biology, genetics, microbiology, comparative anatomy, all of them were fascinating to me. This was the logical explanation for which I was searching. Many of my friends were PhDs or graduate students and most were not Christians. The Christians I met seemed to be hypocrites, not practicing what they preached. To me, the sciences were real, factual, provable and more appealing.
After college, I went to Alaska and married a college professor with a PhD in Botany. I taught high-school, he taught college and we commercially fished for salmon in the summer. We embraced the Alaskan lifestyle and loved all of the varied experiences it offered.
All of my life, everything I wanted to do, I accomplished if I set my mind to it. There was a good friend at the school where I taught, who also had started a church and was a minister there. He was different than other Christians as I remembered them as he seemed to really believe the Bible was true and tried to live by what the Bible said. ( I didn't know what it said, but I thought I did.) I had great respect for him and we had many fun discussions in the teacher's lounge over a 5 year period of time. Because of my respect for his integrity and intelligence, I was convinced that if he could learn some of what I knew about the sciences, then he would realize how outdated the Bible was. I tried bringing him all kinds of books, made fun of him reading the same book over and over. I finally decided that he did not have the time or inclination to go back to college and get a science degree, so I would read this book from which he kept quoting, the Bible, and then I would be able to refute him with terms he understood. During this period of time, he was also building a new addition to the church where he preached. Not just supervising, but actually building. All of this as well as his preaching, he did for no money, no salary. Anyway, I was also going through the soul searching and pain of a divorce. Not an easy or quick process as anyone who has been through knows. I finally had something in my life I could not fix or overcome no matter how much I wanted. On one of my crying times, I drove to a bluff overlooking the ocean and a sunset. In anguish, I said "God help me". That's all. Not a long drawn out prayer, I was not a Christian, but I had asked for help. Nothing obvious changed, no response from God or anything. Still working everyday teaching school, coaching in the afternoons, and opened a new business in our town; women's fitness and weight loss, plus gymnastic instruction and still commercial fishing for salmon in the summer.(When I used to get frustrated or not be able to fix something, I would just bury myself in work) Remember though, I was reading the Bible through in order to prove my friend wrong. The opposite happened. As I read, the words convinced me that I was the wrong one. I became more and more convinced as I read through the gospels and into the New Testament. By the time I reached the Book of Revelation, I was ready to be baptized. I have since read the Bible more than 30 times and continue to learn something new each time.
I was raised in the Presbyterian church as a child, attending Sunday school weekly and vacation Bible school in the summer. But it was just a Sunday thing. It did not carry over into the rest of the week. I couldn't wait to get home and change out of "Sunday clothes " and go out and play.
As happens to many, I drifted away from God like someone who grows to know that Santa Claus and the "tooth fairy" are not real. I searched for the logical explanation to the things I saw around me. I don't think I became an Atheist, rather an Agnostic. I believed there was something greater than myself, but not that He was actively participating in the world today, but a supreme being who set things in motion, and then left the world to carry on unassisted.
In college, I loved learning in all of my classes (except maybe "Art Appreciation" with the boring slide shows), especially in my major, Biology. Cellular biology, genetics, microbiology, comparative anatomy, all of them were fascinating to me. This was the logical explanation for which I was searching. Many of my friends were PhDs or graduate students and most were not Christians. The Christians I met seemed to be hypocrites, not practicing what they preached. To me, the sciences were real, factual, provable and more appealing.
After college, I went to Alaska and married a college professor with a PhD in Botany. I taught high-school, he taught college and we commercially fished for salmon in the summer. We embraced the Alaskan lifestyle and loved all of the varied experiences it offered.
All of my life, everything I wanted to do, I accomplished if I set my mind to it. There was a good friend at the school where I taught, who also had started a church and was a minister there. He was different than other Christians as I remembered them as he seemed to really believe the Bible was true and tried to live by what the Bible said. ( I didn't know what it said, but I thought I did.) I had great respect for him and we had many fun discussions in the teacher's lounge over a 5 year period of time. Because of my respect for his integrity and intelligence, I was convinced that if he could learn some of what I knew about the sciences, then he would realize how outdated the Bible was. I tried bringing him all kinds of books, made fun of him reading the same book over and over. I finally decided that he did not have the time or inclination to go back to college and get a science degree, so I would read this book from which he kept quoting, the Bible, and then I would be able to refute him with terms he understood. During this period of time, he was also building a new addition to the church where he preached. Not just supervising, but actually building. All of this as well as his preaching, he did for no money, no salary. Anyway, I was also going through the soul searching and pain of a divorce. Not an easy or quick process as anyone who has been through knows. I finally had something in my life I could not fix or overcome no matter how much I wanted. On one of my crying times, I drove to a bluff overlooking the ocean and a sunset. In anguish, I said "God help me". That's all. Not a long drawn out prayer, I was not a Christian, but I had asked for help. Nothing obvious changed, no response from God or anything. Still working everyday teaching school, coaching in the afternoons, and opened a new business in our town; women's fitness and weight loss, plus gymnastic instruction and still commercial fishing for salmon in the summer.(When I used to get frustrated or not be able to fix something, I would just bury myself in work) Remember though, I was reading the Bible through in order to prove my friend wrong. The opposite happened. As I read, the words convinced me that I was the wrong one. I became more and more convinced as I read through the gospels and into the New Testament. By the time I reached the Book of Revelation, I was ready to be baptized. I have since read the Bible more than 30 times and continue to learn something new each time.
ItchieBitchie (i.e. is important but has no shoe contract) says--One of the great questions of life is,
“Who are you going to trust?” The way you answer that question will determine
whether you’re happy or miserable, whether you succeed or fail, whether you
make something of your life or you waste your life.
Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:
erv
MyFriendJean says—A merry heart does good like a medicine.
P.S. TomTerrific says—I have done the mind science measurements. Looking at those readings, I think that believing in Jesus is no slam
dunk; it’s more like March Madness!
NO GAME ALERT! I had a friend tell me that he doesn't listen to my podcasts as he thinks all his money will go from his savings account to mine (i.e. good idea). Not soooo, it's like listening to a tape recording of a conversation. If you are still fearful, ask your grand kids about it. ha ha YaBut I might find out where your house is from your clicking on it and will stop by and pick up your John Deere lawn mover! Old timer, I'm tellin' you flat out, I'm kidding! I hope you try the podcast. This podcast is a conversation with Jim, a friend, who is a retired engineer who had is head in the stars and still does.
NO GAME ALERT! I had a friend tell me that he doesn't listen to my podcasts as he thinks all his money will go from his savings account to mine (i.e. good idea). Not soooo, it's like listening to a tape recording of a conversation. If you are still fearful, ask your grand kids about it. ha ha YaBut I might find out where your house is from your clicking on it and will stop by and pick up your John Deere lawn mover! Old timer, I'm tellin' you flat out, I'm kidding! I hope you try the podcast. This podcast is a conversation with Jim, a friend, who is a retired engineer who had is head in the stars and still does.
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