Now I’m in Turkey or is it I’m a turkey! I’m just amazed how they could have built these stone buildings during the 6th century BC. A Turkey lady told me that Turkey is as old as you look erv! ! In Turkey they tell it like they see it folks (i.e. it’s an old philosophy haha). Even then folks didn’t agree on much of anything, and we still don’t. Crazy. Yikes! We are trying to follow where Paul walked. I don’t know if I would have done it if I was him. Pretty tough job: there was turbulence where every he went. But he seemed to tolerate it and believed what he preached. He was a tough old fart!:
There seems to be a lot of turbulence in the world, maybe! But maybe there has always been a lot of turbulence. Paul said--A time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation....Work at telling otters the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you. 1 Timothy 4:2-5
A friend and I were having breakfast and he said something
that sorta kinda startled me. He said
something about a mutual acquaintance. He said that it appears that they seem
to do much for show and isn’t always real.
Two things that startled me. One
was that my friend normally doesn’t say much negative about others and the
other was that I thought the same thing.
I say sometimes of which many of you have heard me say—If you and I
think that than others do tooooo; you and I ain’t that smart! Paul the Apostle before his “road to
Damascus event" seemed to do things for show or was way different anyway. Then
after his experience, it appeared he was a way different person, no more for
show but a humble person. Oh Paul, what got into you? Huh, interesting.
I was talking to a gal in AZ this winter who just seemed to
really like her long-time job. She sure
did. Why I asked her. Well, it seemed to be meaningful to her (i.e.
had purpose), I think. I think she felt empowered, employees like that). It
didn’t seem to be a burden to her but an excitement. I think she did her job
with gladness and simplicity and class (i.e. she was a flight attendant for SW
for 25 years). JoeTheGreat says--A
person who regards everything as a burden cannot be a faithful
servant/employee! BUT I read in the paper, soooo it must be right, that on any
given day about 80% of all employees are looking for a different job. Yikes. They must not be happy, I guess they what
something better. Could be! Generally,
they want more money maybe! BUT Paul’s motive was not money. He sure seemed to take his mission serious. Folks
threatened his life, but he kept at it soooo it must have been important to him.
Such is life.
MissPerfect says--There seems to be always turbulence in our
family. We all don’t agree and then we
have kids who marry folks from different backgrounds and sometimes we have
divorces and issues with gender and many other issues. We even have some folks think they should be treated
differently because they think they are the prince or princess of the
family. Who are the ones who think they
are the prince and princess of your family?
Is it you? Princes and princesses can be hard to deal with because they
think they are better than everyone else and expect different treatment. AverageJoe says--Some
folks blend into the wallpaper and others sorta kinda stick out like a sore
thumb.
I asked this flight attendant of 25 years to write about
turbulence. This is what she wrote: Turbulence, think of it as potholes in the
paved road you drive on, some small, some BIG. Annoying or a little
scary! Your crew is trained to keep you safe. Listen to them. When the
seatbelt sign is on-remember it’s for a reason. Not just to annoy you. If
you’re injured reports have to be made and believe me flight attendants don’t
like spending their free time this way (i.e. did you know that flight
attendants only get paid when the door closes to the time it opens?)! Help
yourself, dare I say as with everything in life, be aware. When flying keep
your seatbelt on a little loosely. That way if any turbulence is bad, you head
will remain safely below the bins and just your tummy will get a thrill.
This amount of turbulence is rare. If you’re in the aisle and it’s bumpy, lock
the toes of your shoe under the luggage bar under the seats. It’ll keep you
stable and anchored to the floor. Keep your knees loose like a skier absorbing
small bumps. As you walk down aisle keep one hand sliding along bins to feel
secure. Best thing, watch your flight crew! If they’re not bothered, be
reassured. However, know that they have “air” legs. Similar to sea legs on
boats. Please don’t let flying in turbulence make you unduly
uncomfortable. The crew working that flight have your back! Remember it’s just
a bumpy road sometimes. Watch your crew and relax.
She said--Airlines like older flight attendants as they can
handle situations better than a 20-year-old blond (i.e. she was 67 when she
retired). The older attendants have fewer
beers at night and don’t think they are the queens/kings of the airline. She would say something in a cute, funny way to
diffuse tension and conflict like—you want to duke it out big guy, let’s do
it. I have 140 friends on this plane
that will support me (i.e. it was diffused and it ended the confrontation and
everyone was happy). Besides older
flight attendants aren’t spending their nights trying to get a pilot for a
husband and are done having babies. She told me that through all her years there
was never a client that caused turbulence that she needed help in solving (i.e.
that is impressive). Muhammad Ali
said—It isn’t bragging if you can back it up. This gal is a very nice gal I think
and very confident. She has been
divorced for many years and doesn’t probably ever want to ever get married
again she says but maybe…. She said she was married once; her husband was toooo
young but she wasn’t.
She also said that Southwest Airlines would look for
potential employees who had a nice smile, a nice personality, a good work ethic
and a good attitude. They then would
teach them the skills (i.e. ya can’t teach the first four but can teach
skills). But the larger the company got, the harder it was to select the great
potential employees. You believe this,
when she first started there were 30,000 applicants a year or about 3,000 per
job opening.
This gal is extremely positive it appears. She likes life it appears. Here is a suggestion—Never give up hope. Now that can be difficult maybe sometimes
when life looks pretty tough. But never
give up hope. There is no medicine like
hope no incentive so great and no tonic so powerful as the expectation of
something better tomorrow. Paul sure had
that hope that he was preaching about in Turkey. He was relentless.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great was ever achieved
without enthusiasm.” RickyRick says—"I believe that with all of my heart
and have found it to be true in my life. You’ve got to have passion and
enthusiasm, or you’re never going to make it to the finish
line. Most people would consider me an enthusiastic person—and I am.
I haven’t been an enthusiastic person for just a week or a month. My enthusiasm
has not waned after a year or five years or 10 years. I have been consistently
enthusiastic about the goals that I’ve set for more than 30 years. How do you
do that? How do you stay enthusiastic day after day in spite of delays,
difficulties, dead ends, problems, pressures, and criticisms? How do you stay
enthusiastic for more than 30 years? Positive thinking is not enough. Pulling
yourself up by your psychological bootstraps is not enough. Talking yourself
into optimism is not enough. The way you stay enthusiastic for a lifetime is found
in the word “enthusiasm,” which comes from the Greek word en
theos. En is the Greek word for “in.” Theos is the Greek
word for “God.” So en theos means to be “in God.” Once Saul figured
it out and was named Paul, he sure had a lot of enthusiasm. Wow! RickyRick went on to says, “When you
get in God, you will be enthusiastic. It’s the kind of enthusiasm that
isn’t affected by the economy or the weather or your circumstances. It’s
eternal, because you are tied to the eternal God. You are in Christ.”
When traveling I always learn that folks live differently and think differently. They seem toooo anyway. Again, maybe, that is because of their past history. And in Turkey their history is pretty old compared to us in the U.S. It is one of the world’s earliest permanently settled regions. Maybe inhabited since 40,000 years ago with settlements going back to approximately 7,500 B.C. Most of you probably don’t remember the Trojan War! haha Troy is the setting for Homer's Iliad in which he recounts the final year of the Trojan War sometime in the 13th century BC. You think they have gone through a lot of changes? Of course they have. 98% of the current population of Turkey is Muslims (i.e. even all the Muslims to this day probably all don’t all agree as only about 15% are practicing their religion—they call themselves cultural Muslims—Oh, Greece is about 94% Orthodox with only a small percentage practicing their religion—crazy). Paul didn’t convince all the folks to become Christians on his journeys. But according to the Acts of Apostle in Antioch, now Antakya, is where followers of Jesus were first called Christians and became very quickly an important center of Christianity.. Paul was all over the place. But not on a tour where everyone took care of him like they are me. Oh no!
WorldClassLarry says--Live under your limit (i.e. way below your limit of credit). The banker doesn’t want to you do this. They want you in debt. They can’t make any money off you if you are out of debt. Soooo folks, who is in the boat with you? ItchieBitchie says—If you have tigers, lions, donkeys, and asses in your boat, you have a problem (i.e. you can’t believe everything some folks tell ya). You got to get rid of the turkeys and get some really good folks in your boat with you. And who are the good folks? Ahhhhhh, you get to decide that. The folks of Turkey and the Middle East and all over the world are still trying to figure that out. They are still fighting about that after all these years. Will they every decide do you think? Such is life.
Paul (i.e. that Paul is everywhere) tells us how to be “in God”—enthusiastic—in Romans 12:11-12: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (NIV). And for God’s sake, don’t be a turkey!
Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:
erv
MyFriendJean said—We are either leaving our mark on the
world or the world is leaving its mark on us.
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