Facade or Real!

You might want to take this for face value!  Soooooooo what's face value?  In America everything is evaluated by how much it cost (i.e. $$$$$) it seems.  Maybe that's why it's soooooooo hard for some to accept salvation (i.e. 'cause all you have to do is ask for it--no cost to us).  I don't know.  What do you think?  Remember you didn't pay anything for this "It's Saturday" so you get what you pay for!  Such is life.

As many of you know, folks who I cannot stand are fakers a.k.a. JoeHollywoods!  I like real folks.  Fakers drive me crazy.  You know who they are usually.  Some of you and me are maybe fakers at times tooooooooo!  I hope I'm not but...!  Some of you think I am a fortunate guy.  Others of you think I am unfortunate.  Who really knows?  Does it make any difference what you think?  Does it make any difference what anyone thinks?  Does it make any difference what I think?  Can I accept my fate or is it God's will or maybe some of each?  I don't know for sure.  I guess time will tell.  And who really cares if I can accept my life or not--Really who really cares!  I do, yes I do!!  I feel very good about my situation (i.e. whether you think it's good or bad--I feel comfortable in feeling uncomfortable).  I'm very comfortable with myself (i.e. most of the time).  Yes I am.  Sooooooo am I fortunate or unfortunate?  It really doesn't matter to me.  I'm not like any other...or am any other...I'm me!  Such is life.

When in Israel, our guide kept mentioning that the Romans copied most everything from the Greeks (i.e. didn't really create much new).  They were fakers in that they always had a front but had no substance (i.e. nothing in their hearts) within.  Unlike the Jews who had much in their hearts.  King Herod a.k.a. cuckoo Herod built much but it was always for his personal protection (i.e. always worried someone was going to kill him e.g. Masada) or for show--he even put sings above the gates to the city telling folks that he was great and he was humble about it.  He was a fake and had a lot of window dressing and plaster idols. 

In the cartoon Hagar the Horrible--Hagar says to his son Hamlet--When you grow up you'll realize that...money isn't everything!  It's ninety-eight percent of everything but it ain't EVERYTHING!  I visited with a young man in the New York JFK Airport.  He was telling me that life in New York City for him is just survival (i.e. sooooo expensive soooooo he has several jobs just to make a living).  We talked about his iPhone and he told me--there is much more technology out there but they need to leak it out slowly so they can sell and sell and sell--have to have something new continuously (i.e. money money money).  He might be right. 

SusieQ says--We got married for better or worse.  He couldn't do better, I couldn't do worse!  Such is life.

Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.~Henry Ford~ No fake here folks.  I called a friend the other day (i.e. I think he's 42).  Some folks say they are going to do something but never do it (i.e. I know folks like that).  He didn't tell me that he was going to do it but he did it.  He did his first triathlon.  He said he has lost 40 pounds down to 173.  I figured if an old fart like you can hike and bike and do all that stuff, I surely can tooooooo!  I told him that I just told someone--a hero is one who has self-discipline.  My Daddy, Chester, always told me, self-discipline is the best discipline.  I told him I'm soooooo proud of him.  He's my hero.  No fake here folks--nutten but the real thing!  Sooooo I visited with our ex-neighbor while she was filing her vehicle with gas the other day.  I see her exercising (i.e. jogging and pushing the stroller) past our house sometimes.  She lost a lot of weight and looks great.  Sooooooo I asked her how much she lost.  She lost 40 pounds (i.e. back to her per children weight).   Soooooooo how did you do it--exercise 30 to 40 minutes a day; I feel soooooo great.  You look great and I'm proud of you (i.e. she's my hero).  Yes she is. Some things a guy can control and there are some things a guy just can't control (i.e. difficult can of corn to haul).  AverageJoe says--In those situations we can only control our attitude.  The things we can't control we just need to pray about.  I had three friends this week said they were going to pray for a miracle.  Do you believe in miracles?  Do you believe in pray.  Is it real or just a facade?

Abraham Lincoln said--“You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”  ~  The label certainly appears to fit in the minds of British police--Scotland Yard, the UK's police force, has given Obama the security codename 'Chalaque' for his visit this week to the United Kingdom, the UK Daily Mail reports. The term is reportedly a Punjabi word meaning someone who is too clever for his own good, according to the newspaper. It is also said to mean 'cheeky, crafty and cunning'," the paper notes.  Hey, I read it in the paper sooooooo it must be right!  Such is life.

My buddy Aaron and I rode bike to Kesley corner and back Saturday (i.e. 11 miles).  We rode past the sale barn.  They were having a horse sale.  Aaron had never been to a horse sale so we stopped.  We saw a lot of horses, expensive cowboy hats, expensive belt buckles, expensive trucks, and expensive horse trailers.  ItchieBitichie says--The stereotype of those folks is "it's all for show" and those cowboys and cowgirls checks ain't no good!  Can you really tell  the folks who are really rich?  Sooooooo what's rich?  Okay, lets limit that to $$$$$ rich for this part of the discussion.  Go down your street or road and try to determine who has a lot of $$$$$.  Do you think you can really tell?  Might you be fooled?  Does stuff make them rich, even $$$$$$ rich?  It's really easy to fool folks with stuff I think.  What do you think?  Maybe they are an ego maniac and stuff builds their ego.  I talked to a guide as I was entering our bus one morning by the Dead Sea.  He lived to the west maybe 8 miles.  Where he lives is just desert mountains that look barren (i.e. a few sheep and camels literally) he told me.  He said it's the best place to live in all the world.  Why I asked.  The desert is real, not fakey.  He said he has traveled much of the world and much of the world is fakey (i.e. glitzy and commerical).  The desert is not fakey but real .  He said he wouldn't live any other place.  I asked our guide about him.  He is from a nomadic tribe and lives in the desert.  Huh, interesting!

One day, if you believe in a judgement day, it will be the real thing.  Folks won't be able to be a faker, can't buy your way, can't talk your way, can't be a phony.  Soooooooo what has inspired you to be who you are?  What inspired you to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?  What has made you not to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?  It's sooooooo hard to change.  The Muslims and Jews have disliked each other for years.  What will make the situation change.  I think, it will be something beyond human understanding.  Maybe the end of time (i.e. now that's beyond human understanding).  You folks and events affect my future.  Sometimes I'm just simply ignorant!  Sometimes my thinking is in a box within a box (i.e. pretty small and confined).

Can't fake your emotions (i.e. like when they make you cry).  Now that is the real stuff folks.  Your veneer sorta kinda breaks down doesn't it.  Such is life.

Soooooooo do you believe in miracles?  Do you believe in prayer or is it just a facade?  Texas Beer Joint Sues Church In Mt. Vernon, Texas. Drummond's Bar began construction on expansion of their building to increase their business. In response, the local Baptist Church started a campaign to block the bar from expanding with petitions and prayers. Work progressed right up until the week before the grand reopening when lightning struck the building and it burned to the ground! After the bar burned to the ground due to the lightning strike, the church folks were rather smug in their outlook, bragging about "the power of prayer ", until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church . . ."was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means." In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise. The judge read through the plaintiff's complaint and the defendant's reply, and at the opening hearing he commented, "I don't know how I'm going to decide this, but it appears from the paperwork that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that now does not."

The world is real (i.e. brutally real).  I finished a book that I started in AZ and read another while riding in the plane on our trip.  The book I started in AZ is All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.  It was in the AZ Republic as sorta kinda a classic of the SW.  I really enjoyed it.  Here are a few of the lines:  In the end we all come to be cured of our sentiments.  Those whom life does not cure death will.  The world is quite ruthless in selecting between the dream and the reality, even where we will not.  ~  What is constant in history is greed and foolishness and a love of blood and this is a thing that even God--who knows all that can be known--seems powerless to change.  ~  The world seems to care nothing for the old or the young or rich or poor or dark or pale or he or she.  Nothing for their struggles, nothing for their names.  Nothing for the living or the dead.  Actually this book is not that negative but it's about life of a young man who sets out on his own and finds out that the world is quite interesting.  The second book I read is A Choice Of Weapons by Gordon Parks.  My cousin's husband gave it to me to read.  My couz said I wouldn't like it.  She was wrong.  It's about Mr. Parks growing up as a black and how he suffered for it.  How the real world was very cruel to him because he was black.  A very good read about the reality of the world.  Such is life. 

Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:

erv

MyFriendJean says--The gem cannot be polished without friction.  Nor man perfected with out trials.