In my last post Bryan and I had just walked out of the Salvation Army after breakfast. Today we decided we were going to walk around to a couple of places. We are going to have lunch at the "Stew Pot" which is a soup kitchen that I had heard about and then we were going to walk over to the Arkansas Dream Center and see if there was anything we could help them with, but first things first. Our phones needed to be charged! Our first stop, the River Market to charge our phones.
One thing people assume is that homeless people would not have cell phones. The vast majority of them (at least in Little Rock) do in fact have cell phones, so us wanting to charge our phones was not too out of the ordinary. Bryan told me that the day before he had been kicked out of the River Market because he didn't buy anything and they wanted the seats for "paying customers." Now since we had just eaten a big breakfast at the Salvation Army and the River Market is not much more than a mile away we were still full after the walk over. Bryan didn't bring any money with him for his week on the street...I brought a few dollars with me. I bought us coffee and we sat in the middle of the River Market and charged our phones. Security started to walk over to talk to us and then he saw our coffee and literally turned around and walked away. I didn't feel welcome and none of the customers would make eye contact with us (except the homeless people who were all sitting next to each other about ten feet away from us).
Our phones were now charged and it was now time to start walking again. The Stew Pot was not really that close to the River Market so we started walking. As we walked we talked about the buildings and abandoned run-down houses that would be awesome to turn into transitional housing or a shelter. I was surprised at the amount of abandoned buildings...I'm not sure why I was surprised. I guess there were just parts of Little Rock I had never been to before or at least never noticed when I was driving. A city is different on foot.
We got to the Stew Pot and I found out it is inside an First Presbyterian Church. There were a handful of people sitting on the steps waiting for lunchtime to arrive. Bryan and I went and sat on a small ledge and watched as more and more homeless people arrived. While we were sitting there Bryan pulled his phone out and sent a text to someone. A gentleman saw his phone and walked up to us. He asked if Bryan had his charger with him. Bryan said yes as the man pulled his phone out of his pocket. He told us a story about how his phone is a "government" phone (there is some sort of plan that supplies the homeless with free phones, they are pay by the minute phones) and his charger had fallen apart as he was plugging it in while he was at work. He asked Bryan if he would charge it for him and Bryan agreed. He then handed the phone to Bryan and walked away. That struck me as odd...that he would just give a stranger his phone and walk away. There is an interesting community view that the homeless seem to share that I don't really understand yet.
As we were sitting there waiting to go in I saw some dirty looks and heard a couple people make comments about us being cops. Also there was some sort of gang dynamic that I didn't understand (Bryan was a gang member when he was younger...and I guess that is something that is always with you to some extent. I don't know.) So needless to say it was fairly uncomfortable for both of us so I was thankful when they opened the door to let us inside. We walked up two stories to where the lunch was served.
I got into a conversation with the guy that was in line in front of me about how cold it was outside. He was wearing a cammo army uniform all the way down to the boots. He had a metal cane and gloves that had the fingers cut off. I never asked him if he was actually a veteran (he was younger than me...but that doesn't mean anything) or if he just had the clothes. He told me he was warm except for his nose, which he explained had been broken recently. He then pulled it totally over to the side giving himself a small nose bleed and he said he got nose bleeds all the time. He explained that he would have to have surgery and that the cold bothered his nose but the rest of his body was fine. He told me about the 5 or 6 layers of clothes he had on at that very moment. Then we were next to get our food.
I thanked the ladies who were serving us lunch and they seemed to be shocked that I would thank them! One of them said, "You're VERY welcome and have a merry Christmas!" I guess they don't get a lot of thank you's because it is a daily service that they perform. I don't know, I just found it odd. Bryan and I finished our breakfast and the guy came back to see if Bryan was charging his phone. Bryan told him he couldn't find an outlet and the guy said he didn't see one either. He gave the phone back and and the guy walked away.
The lunch they served was again a really large lunch which included salad, chicken noodle soup, bread, coffee, pudding and dessert which was our choice of assorted donuts, bread-pudding or cake. After lunch we walked outside and started to head to the Arkansas Dream Center (which was several miles away). Before we got off the church's property I saw two drug deals. I will talk about the drug deals and other things in a later post, but for now I am going to go on with our day.
We walked across town to the Arkansas Dream Center. We got only to find it empty. Apparently we were too early. It is staffed by volunteers who are college students and they were not back yet, so we turned around and walked away. Bryan wanted to show me the tent city that he had found up in the woods by the capital so we started walking.
We got there and he showed me Billy's tent. Billy is an alcoholic that used to have his tent in the woods in a different location but people kept stealing his stuff when he would leave. He is on 12 medications (which is not a good mix with the booze) and recently had his pills stolen. Two days before Bryan had walked 20+ blocks to the pharmacy to fill his prescription for him after his pills were taken. The day before I arrived Bryan moved Billy to a new location where no one would know where he was. That way his stuff would at least be safer...for now.
We followed a path down the side of a hill behind Billy's tent and came into what used to be a tent city! It was about 25 campsites that were now almost all empty. Homeless people had made a community here at one time and then they had moved on. Bryan told me a story he had heard about that tent city. During the summer most of the empty spots were full. One gentleman would go down to the river and fish all day. At night he would come up and cook fish on an open fire for everyone who was staying in their tent city. Now I know he was homeless and without a job...so he didn't have a lot of other things to do, but that is still pretty impressive. He was doing things for those around him knowing that all he would get back was a thank you. That is not something that you see a lot out of people. Just think about the last time you spent 8 hours of your time doing something for someone who you are not related to that could do nothing for you in return. Just a side thought...but think about it...and now back to the story.
When we made it through the abandoned tent city we walked down to the train tracks. We followed the tracks up to the train station and Bryan told me another story. There is an events center that you can rent for receptions, parties...etc. on the bottom floor of the train station that I had never seen. Bryan told me that the guy who manages it gave him a free soda and also free drinks for his homeless friends that were with him. They started talking and Bryan explained that he was on the street for a week raising funds for outreach ministry and the guy donated some money on the spot!
The train station is couple blocks from the Salvation Army and so we walked up there and I got to meet the homeless friends that also go free drinks before. They were three people I had never met (remember I go to pass out water, food and clothes twice a week down by the Salvation Army). I found out that why I hadn't met them was because by the time I get downtown they are already inside the Salvation Army for the night. There was a taller gentleman who had a on a black stocking hat, a trench coat and dark sunglasses. His beard was trimmed short and his voice was strong and confident. Bryan said he looks like a movie star but he can't remember which one...so I know him as Hollywood (I think Bryan calls him Movie Star, his actual name is Dirk Buck who was a steel worker that lost his job up in Clinton, AR). The second guy was a special forces veteran who was also very clean, he wore a bright red stocking hat and a teal jacket. Bryan calls him Army Guy (his name is actually Jadon Langston and he is a certified welder). With them was a woman named Tracy who I found out was several months pregnant. They asked if we wanted to go get some coffee and just talk.
That sounded like a good idea so we started to walk towards the River Market, by now it was around 3pm and this will end part 2 of my story. I have been homeless for about 15 hours and it has been a new experience filled with a lot of eating, a lot of walking, a lot of drug deals and a few new friends. I will write the next piece soon.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Life...The Way It Is (pt. 1)
This is the first part of at least a three part series of posts I will be writing over the next week or so.
As many of you know I was "homeless" for 48 hours. Bryan Walker is the outreach minister for Benton 1st Assembly. He stayed on the street for a week as a fundraiser for the outreach ministry there and I stayed with him for two days.
Channel 11 came down and did a report on what Bryan was doing.
This first post is going to be about my time down on the street. It all started with a text message on Wednesday night. I closing up the coffee shop at my church after service. It was from Bryan and he said that he was not downtown, he was in Benton at 1st Assembly. He said he had a 19 year old girl that he rescued from the street and that he wanted me to come over to 1st Assembly while they figured out what to do in regards to this girl.
When I got over there he explained the situation. This girl had shown up and no one knew her. She said she lived on the streets and she was from Little Rock. She said her parents had died and now the street was her home. One of the homeless men had given her most of a bottle of vodka and she was REALLY drunk. Bryan called his mother (who had come down to visit him earlier) and she came and picked them up. The young lady threw up before she left the street and then she threw up again in the car on the way back to the church.
Something was not adding up with this girl. She wouldn't tell anyone exactly where she grew up or exactly where she lived. We asked for her birthday and she wouldn't say, but she kept saying she was 19...even when we didn't ask her how old she was. After some discussion we decided to call the cops. I called a friend of mine who is a state trooper and he called the Benton PD and had them send an officer over. The officer talked to Tara (that is the name of the young lady) and she told him her birthday. It ended up she was only 16, she was autistic and she was a runaway. The officer took her into custody and delivered her to juvenile services. That is how my time as a homeless man started...from there Bryan and I drove down to 3rd and Markham to stay the night.
When we got there it was already cold and dark. The police had kicked the homeless people off of the sidewalk where we were going to sleep and they had to move to a vacant parking lot behind a building. There isn't a huge difference between sleeping on a concrete sidewalk or an asphalt parking lot, so we got our "beds" ready and laid down. I had a sleeping bag (I forgot a pillow) and Bryan had a large comforter that would go over both of our sleeping bags to keep the wind out. So I was next to Bryan and about 5 feet away there was a stack of blankets and sleeping bags at least as high as a normal mattress would have been. On this mound of bedding were three homeless people. One older gentleman (we call him Pops), a woman (who I found out is a crack addict prostitute) and a middle aged gentleman (who was also a crack addict).
As we started to settle in for the night and the conversation started to slow down they started singing. Yes, I was serenaded by three homeless people. They sang a wide range of country music, old gospel and some blues. The only problem was that they didn't know any of the songs all the way through. You would get about one verse and maybe the chorus and then it would be time for another song. That went on until about 2:30am or so and I started to fade in and out of sleep. I found out in the morning that part of the discomfort I felt while laying there was because I had a tennis ball sized piece of asphalt under my back! I didn't see it when I laid my sleeping bag down because it was already dark when I got there. I also couldn't move to one side or the other due to the comforter situation (if I moved away I would be out from under it and and closer and I would be cuddled with Bryan...which neither of us wanted.)
Around 5am I was jolted awake by a man shaking both Bryan and myself. He was asking to use one of our phones. He said he needed to let someone know where to bring his truck. Bryan let him use his phone and the guy told someone to come down to the "Sally" which is what they call the Salvation Army. He thanked Bryan and walked away. Later Bryan told me that he was actually setting up a drug deal.
After the rude awakening I didn't sleep very well, which was probably for the best. I needed to be up around 6:30am to go get in line for breakfast at the Salvation Army.
The sun wasn't up yet and it was really cold when I got out of my sleeping bag. Bryan got up too and he folded up his sleeping bag and the comforter. I took the sleeping bag my roommate had loaned me and put it in the trunk of my car and Bryan left his bedding in a stack with all of the bedding of the homeless people who had sang us to sleep the night before. Now it was time for breakfast!
We got in line at the side door of the Salvation Army. The door opened just after 7am and we walked in. You have to sign in as you enter and the line goes two different directions. One line for coffee and then you turn around and go find the end of the other line for the food. I got coffee out of the big cooler and got in the food line. I looked at the breakfast (the people who were in the front of the line were already sitting down and eating). It was a donut, scrambled eggs with sausage mixed in, a hard boiled egg, rice a banana and a cup of apple juice. Since I don't eat eggs I was a bit nervous about the whole thing. I didn't want to waste any food...but no one was customizing their orders in the food line. You picked up your tray and you sat down.
There were not two empty seats next to each other so Bryan sat at one table and I sat at another table. I offered my eggs to a woman next to me when I had eaten everything else and she gladly accepted. Just before I got up to go a woman walked in the door. She had a clip-board in her hand and she started talking over the crowd noise. She said that once again this year they were going to rent hotel rooms for anyone who was NOT getting a check for Christmas so that they wouldn't have to sleep on the street. She said if you were getting a check she would find out about it and take you off the list! Also she said that you couldn't bring your girlfriend into your hotel room to stay the night! She said it was a Christian company that was based on Christian values and if you wanted to "shack up" with your girl you could rent your own room!
At that it was time for us to go, so Bryan and I walked outside.
That was my first 8 hours as a homeless man...I will pick up the story in part two.
As many of you know I was "homeless" for 48 hours. Bryan Walker is the outreach minister for Benton 1st Assembly. He stayed on the street for a week as a fundraiser for the outreach ministry there and I stayed with him for two days.
Channel 11 came down and did a report on what Bryan was doing.
This first post is going to be about my time down on the street. It all started with a text message on Wednesday night. I closing up the coffee shop at my church after service. It was from Bryan and he said that he was not downtown, he was in Benton at 1st Assembly. He said he had a 19 year old girl that he rescued from the street and that he wanted me to come over to 1st Assembly while they figured out what to do in regards to this girl.
When I got over there he explained the situation. This girl had shown up and no one knew her. She said she lived on the streets and she was from Little Rock. She said her parents had died and now the street was her home. One of the homeless men had given her most of a bottle of vodka and she was REALLY drunk. Bryan called his mother (who had come down to visit him earlier) and she came and picked them up. The young lady threw up before she left the street and then she threw up again in the car on the way back to the church.
Something was not adding up with this girl. She wouldn't tell anyone exactly where she grew up or exactly where she lived. We asked for her birthday and she wouldn't say, but she kept saying she was 19...even when we didn't ask her how old she was. After some discussion we decided to call the cops. I called a friend of mine who is a state trooper and he called the Benton PD and had them send an officer over. The officer talked to Tara (that is the name of the young lady) and she told him her birthday. It ended up she was only 16, she was autistic and she was a runaway. The officer took her into custody and delivered her to juvenile services. That is how my time as a homeless man started...from there Bryan and I drove down to 3rd and Markham to stay the night.
When we got there it was already cold and dark. The police had kicked the homeless people off of the sidewalk where we were going to sleep and they had to move to a vacant parking lot behind a building. There isn't a huge difference between sleeping on a concrete sidewalk or an asphalt parking lot, so we got our "beds" ready and laid down. I had a sleeping bag (I forgot a pillow) and Bryan had a large comforter that would go over both of our sleeping bags to keep the wind out. So I was next to Bryan and about 5 feet away there was a stack of blankets and sleeping bags at least as high as a normal mattress would have been. On this mound of bedding were three homeless people. One older gentleman (we call him Pops), a woman (who I found out is a crack addict prostitute) and a middle aged gentleman (who was also a crack addict).
As we started to settle in for the night and the conversation started to slow down they started singing. Yes, I was serenaded by three homeless people. They sang a wide range of country music, old gospel and some blues. The only problem was that they didn't know any of the songs all the way through. You would get about one verse and maybe the chorus and then it would be time for another song. That went on until about 2:30am or so and I started to fade in and out of sleep. I found out in the morning that part of the discomfort I felt while laying there was because I had a tennis ball sized piece of asphalt under my back! I didn't see it when I laid my sleeping bag down because it was already dark when I got there. I also couldn't move to one side or the other due to the comforter situation (if I moved away I would be out from under it and and closer and I would be cuddled with Bryan...which neither of us wanted.)
Around 5am I was jolted awake by a man shaking both Bryan and myself. He was asking to use one of our phones. He said he needed to let someone know where to bring his truck. Bryan let him use his phone and the guy told someone to come down to the "Sally" which is what they call the Salvation Army. He thanked Bryan and walked away. Later Bryan told me that he was actually setting up a drug deal.
After the rude awakening I didn't sleep very well, which was probably for the best. I needed to be up around 6:30am to go get in line for breakfast at the Salvation Army.
The sun wasn't up yet and it was really cold when I got out of my sleeping bag. Bryan got up too and he folded up his sleeping bag and the comforter. I took the sleeping bag my roommate had loaned me and put it in the trunk of my car and Bryan left his bedding in a stack with all of the bedding of the homeless people who had sang us to sleep the night before. Now it was time for breakfast!
We got in line at the side door of the Salvation Army. The door opened just after 7am and we walked in. You have to sign in as you enter and the line goes two different directions. One line for coffee and then you turn around and go find the end of the other line for the food. I got coffee out of the big cooler and got in the food line. I looked at the breakfast (the people who were in the front of the line were already sitting down and eating). It was a donut, scrambled eggs with sausage mixed in, a hard boiled egg, rice a banana and a cup of apple juice. Since I don't eat eggs I was a bit nervous about the whole thing. I didn't want to waste any food...but no one was customizing their orders in the food line. You picked up your tray and you sat down.
There were not two empty seats next to each other so Bryan sat at one table and I sat at another table. I offered my eggs to a woman next to me when I had eaten everything else and she gladly accepted. Just before I got up to go a woman walked in the door. She had a clip-board in her hand and she started talking over the crowd noise. She said that once again this year they were going to rent hotel rooms for anyone who was NOT getting a check for Christmas so that they wouldn't have to sleep on the street. She said if you were getting a check she would find out about it and take you off the list! Also she said that you couldn't bring your girlfriend into your hotel room to stay the night! She said it was a Christian company that was based on Christian values and if you wanted to "shack up" with your girl you could rent your own room!
At that it was time for us to go, so Bryan and I walked outside.
That was my first 8 hours as a homeless man...I will pick up the story in part two.
Monday, November 8, 2010
My birthday wish...
A few months ago I started talking about things that I would like to see happen. I discussed the fact that I would like to help more people. I have taken some time off from writing and now I think it is time to start up again. In 3 weeks it will be my birthday. I know that most of you who read this and most of the people on my facebook (where I will post this as a note and a link) were not planning on getting me any presents. I am aware that we reserve gift giving for some family members and our closest friends. That is fine, I understand that fact and I am in no way asking you to give ME a present. I don't need anything right now. I am not going without anything that falls into the "need" category.
Some of the people who started to read this already stopped and won't find out what it is that I am asking. I know that people have a short attention span...so I will just talk to those of you who are still reading. In a previous blog I mentioned the fact that I was going to find a charity that I could believe in and have anyone who wanted to do something for my birthday to donate to that charity. I did my research.
I found some CRAZY stats on the lack of clean water in the world. I know that I can not change the living conditions of the 2.5 billion people who don't have access to proper sanitation. I also know that I can not save the three children that have died from water related diseases since you started reading this post. What I can do is what I will do. I will do my best to educate people, donate what I can and give others the opportunity to do the same.
Here is my birthday wish:
I want everyone who reads this post to donate $1.00 to help people get clean water.
DONATE $1.00
If you click on that link and give $1.00. That is my birthday wish.
Now for my part. For everyone person wishes me happy birthday either on here or on my facebook between now and my birthday I will donate $1.00 to The Water Project myself. Now I know that I will have a decent amount of people who will wish me happy birthday so I won't be able to donate the entire amount on day one...but I will do it. If you want to know how the donations are going you can email me, leave a comment here or send me a message on my facebook and I will let you know the status of my birthday donation.
I'm not doing this because I am really worried about what you will think of me...I want people to live. This is one way I can help, it may be a small way...but it is what I can do at the moment. Please don't forget to click on the link and donate $1.00.
Thank you all. Remember to look around you today and see if there is someone who needs help. Reach out while you can.
Some of the people who started to read this already stopped and won't find out what it is that I am asking. I know that people have a short attention span...so I will just talk to those of you who are still reading. In a previous blog I mentioned the fact that I was going to find a charity that I could believe in and have anyone who wanted to do something for my birthday to donate to that charity. I did my research.
I found some CRAZY stats on the lack of clean water in the world. I know that I can not change the living conditions of the 2.5 billion people who don't have access to proper sanitation. I also know that I can not save the three children that have died from water related diseases since you started reading this post. What I can do is what I will do. I will do my best to educate people, donate what I can and give others the opportunity to do the same.
Here is my birthday wish:
I want everyone who reads this post to donate $1.00 to help people get clean water.
DONATE $1.00
If you click on that link and give $1.00. That is my birthday wish.
Now for my part. For everyone person wishes me happy birthday either on here or on my facebook between now and my birthday I will donate $1.00 to The Water Project myself. Now I know that I will have a decent amount of people who will wish me happy birthday so I won't be able to donate the entire amount on day one...but I will do it. If you want to know how the donations are going you can email me, leave a comment here or send me a message on my facebook and I will let you know the status of my birthday donation.
I'm not doing this because I am really worried about what you will think of me...I want people to live. This is one way I can help, it may be a small way...but it is what I can do at the moment. Please don't forget to click on the link and donate $1.00.
Thank you all. Remember to look around you today and see if there is someone who needs help. Reach out while you can.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
A lot to think about...
So in the past couple of days I have been faced with multiple couples coming to me with various issues. All of them very serious and all of them very different. Each couple is facing problems that I wouldn't have seen coming. Some came to me as a friend, some came to me as a pastor but none came to me to "fix" their situations. They needed someone to listen to them.
The way I see it love is a choice. The feelings you get when you "fall in love" come and go as the relationship grows. What holds the relationship together is two people who are in it for the long haul. Seeing as I am single, that is easy for me to say. I'm aware that it would seem odd to some that anyone would come to me for anything having to do with relationships...but mainly I think it is because I will listen.
Too often we get caught up in wanting to fix people or fix their problems. Most times, they need someone to listen to them. I point people back to the truth...but I don't tell them what they need to do very often. They already know, they just need to process it.
So I guess this has been a lot to think about because over the years I have seen so many "good" marriages fail. So many good people make dumb choices and be selfish. I know that marriages can last, I know they were designed to function correctly...I just don't see enough of that going on around me. I will do my best to lead by example when the time comes. I'm just not trying to rush into anything. No reason to push something that is only going to make things harder, you know?
The way I see it love is a choice. The feelings you get when you "fall in love" come and go as the relationship grows. What holds the relationship together is two people who are in it for the long haul. Seeing as I am single, that is easy for me to say. I'm aware that it would seem odd to some that anyone would come to me for anything having to do with relationships...but mainly I think it is because I will listen.
Too often we get caught up in wanting to fix people or fix their problems. Most times, they need someone to listen to them. I point people back to the truth...but I don't tell them what they need to do very often. They already know, they just need to process it.
So I guess this has been a lot to think about because over the years I have seen so many "good" marriages fail. So many good people make dumb choices and be selfish. I know that marriages can last, I know they were designed to function correctly...I just don't see enough of that going on around me. I will do my best to lead by example when the time comes. I'm just not trying to rush into anything. No reason to push something that is only going to make things harder, you know?
Monday, August 30, 2010
How has everyone missed supply and demand in the economic talks?
I don't normally write anything political or even anything about the economy. This post will be a bit out of the ordinary for me. I don't consider myself to be a business expert. I am someone who pays attention to people and situations, that is all I am.
Here is my question: why are we surprised that our economy is faultering when we ignored the laws of supply and demand for so long?
What do I mean by that? When I was young there was a movement across the country to "Buy American!" There were signs, banners, billboards and the occasional commerical that said we should buy things that were made in the U.S.A.!
At that time it didn't make much difference to me since the only things I cared about buying were baseball cards and wiffle ball supplies. As I got older I learned that the cheapest and best electronics and cars came from other countries. Also most toys came from a factory in another country as well. I figured that we needed to buy it from who ever made it the best and the cheapest and then the margin that we sold it for at the store would make the profits that we needed to continue to be the wealthiest country in the world.
This is pretty much how things have gone since I was a kid. People have exported production and imported good. We raise prices to pay for: the purchase of the product from the manufacturer, the shipping into the U.S., the rental or purchase of a storefront, the employee salaries/benefits and the taxes on all of the above.
If you think about it for a second something will start to show up. We are a nation of consumers. The only way a nation of consumers can continue to consume is if we are also a nation of producers. We have to eventually play both sides of supply and demand. If we are not exporting as much as we are importing we will eventually be giving more money away to other countries than we are getting back. That means we will not have the money to create new jobs or sustain the ones we have.
Does that sound familiar to anyone but me? The country is looking for a stimulus package or a government solution to our problem. How about we do this instead. Look for the "Made in the U.S.A." label and buy that stuff. If we do that then the factories where those products are produced will have to hire more workers and increase production. If more people are working and more money is going back into our economy then we will see economic growth.
Am I way off in my thinking? Am I making it too simple? You may pay a little more to buy something that was made in the U.S. instead of somewhere else, but in the long run it still makes sense. Prices will go down if we can produce more products. Mass production is how you get the price down, but there is no need for mass production in the U.S. if we are not buying any of our own products.
We obviously won't ever stop importing products. The problem is that we need to start working on improving U.S. products so that we will export more finished products than we are importing. I don't benefit from anyone buying any "Made in the U.S.A." products. I don't work for or own stock in any company that would benefit from my "plan". I just think that it makes sense and I haven't heard anyone talk about it. Maybe I wasn't listening, maybe you know better than me. I'm all ears.
Here is my question: why are we surprised that our economy is faultering when we ignored the laws of supply and demand for so long?
What do I mean by that? When I was young there was a movement across the country to "Buy American!" There were signs, banners, billboards and the occasional commerical that said we should buy things that were made in the U.S.A.!
At that time it didn't make much difference to me since the only things I cared about buying were baseball cards and wiffle ball supplies. As I got older I learned that the cheapest and best electronics and cars came from other countries. Also most toys came from a factory in another country as well. I figured that we needed to buy it from who ever made it the best and the cheapest and then the margin that we sold it for at the store would make the profits that we needed to continue to be the wealthiest country in the world.
This is pretty much how things have gone since I was a kid. People have exported production and imported good. We raise prices to pay for: the purchase of the product from the manufacturer, the shipping into the U.S., the rental or purchase of a storefront, the employee salaries/benefits and the taxes on all of the above.
If you think about it for a second something will start to show up. We are a nation of consumers. The only way a nation of consumers can continue to consume is if we are also a nation of producers. We have to eventually play both sides of supply and demand. If we are not exporting as much as we are importing we will eventually be giving more money away to other countries than we are getting back. That means we will not have the money to create new jobs or sustain the ones we have.
Does that sound familiar to anyone but me? The country is looking for a stimulus package or a government solution to our problem. How about we do this instead. Look for the "Made in the U.S.A." label and buy that stuff. If we do that then the factories where those products are produced will have to hire more workers and increase production. If more people are working and more money is going back into our economy then we will see economic growth.
Am I way off in my thinking? Am I making it too simple? You may pay a little more to buy something that was made in the U.S. instead of somewhere else, but in the long run it still makes sense. Prices will go down if we can produce more products. Mass production is how you get the price down, but there is no need for mass production in the U.S. if we are not buying any of our own products.
We obviously won't ever stop importing products. The problem is that we need to start working on improving U.S. products so that we will export more finished products than we are importing. I don't benefit from anyone buying any "Made in the U.S.A." products. I don't work for or own stock in any company that would benefit from my "plan". I just think that it makes sense and I haven't heard anyone talk about it. Maybe I wasn't listening, maybe you know better than me. I'm all ears.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
I can't let it go...
I know that most people don't read a blog if it is over 500 words. This one will probably be too long for most of you to read. Know this, we can all do more. If you don't ever get anything else out of what I write please get this: we all need to do more to help our fellow man.
I am currently sitting in my office getting ready for service tonight. I know that when I am done closing up the coffee shop tonight I will go home to my apartment. I will go into an apartment where I have all the food I need, a bed to sleep in, a shower, clean dishes and way more clothes than I need.
I know that I am blessed, blessed beyond what I deserve. There is something stirring in me and it has been stirring for a while. I'm not sure exactly what it is and I have had a really hard time putting it into words. I'm not sure that today, right now is the right place or the right time but let's see how this turns out.
In the past few months I have run into some interesting people. I have read some interesting books and articles. There seems to be a thread running through my life and the lives of those I am coming into contact with. That thread seems to be a willingness to sacrifice.
Last week I found a blog, by accident, of a college student who is living on the streets. He chose to be homeless and is planning on living out of his van for the next year. I found a video online of a group of teens that spent 40 hours on the street with no possessions and no where to go. They had to search for food and sleep on the ground. I saw another video of a group that went down to Louisiana and spent a few days passing out food and clothing to the homeless and the poor in that area.
Those are the people I don't know in places I don't live. There have been some real experiences for me here in Arkansas lately too. I am making more friends that seem to not be concerned with stuff and holding onto things. I have started going downtown consistently with a small group and passing out water and a few things to the people on the streets here. We have made some new friends and last night was one of my "favorite" trips downtown (if you can have a favorite trip). We saw some of our friends we hadn't seen in a few weeks, we exchanged phone numbers with a couple of the homeless people and told them we would get a hold of them next time we come downtown.
We will be back and we will try to get a hold of them. If we see them all again it will be because they are still on the street. They still don't have jobs and they still don't have homes. That is a hard concept for me to deal with.
I know that a lot of them are on the street because of their own choices and addictions. That is not up for debate. The thing that gets to me is that it was so easy for us to get to know them. It took us showing up and spending an hour with them one night. Ever since that night we have been friends. We know each other by name and when they see us coming they come out of where ever they are to say hello. The water and the food are less important than they were that first night. We talk about our week and we laugh at each others jokes. We are really friends, maybe not "close" friends but we are friends.
I want to do more. On my second trip to downtown Little Rock to see the same group of people I had an interesting conversation. A gentleman who calls himself "Smiley" asked me if I knew his friend. She lived in Bryant and he thought we might know each other. I said I didn't know her. He then proceeded to tell me about her. He said she comes down with her van and takes a group back to her house. They shower, clean up and get on fresh clothes. Then they all go to the mall in Conway. He told me it was a lot of fun because the people there don't know they are homeless. He said it was great to spend a couple of house being treated like a regular person instead of a homeless person. He looked me right in the eye and said, "People treat you different when they know you are homeless."
That broke my heart. Does having a home make me a better person than someone who doesn't have one? Do my things make me more important that someone who doesn't have things? Does the fact that I may be able to help you if you needed help make me someone who you want to know? "Smiley" has issues. He is on medication for a few things, but he is a lot of fun to talk to. He carries on great conversations, he is smart and seems to be fairly well educated. He used to own his own business, he was a home owner and he had a family. Now he expects people to treat him like less than a person. He knows that he is not going to get the respect of a "normal person" when he goes around town. He is not bitter, he isn't angry, he knows he made poor choices and that is why he is where he is today.
So what is it that I can't let go? I want to know how much more I could be doing. I want to know how I can help the people I have met...and more than that how I can help the people that are worse off than them!
The people who live on the streets in America still eat better than a large portion of the people in the world today. What am I going to do to help the people who actually don't have the ability to help themselves? I am still working on that. I will come up with a way, I will come up with an answer to the question that is eating at me. When I do I will ask you for your help. This isn't something just for me, this is a global problem with a global solution. For now I am asking you to look around. Open your eyes to the needs that are around you. Do something today.
I am currently sitting in my office getting ready for service tonight. I know that when I am done closing up the coffee shop tonight I will go home to my apartment. I will go into an apartment where I have all the food I need, a bed to sleep in, a shower, clean dishes and way more clothes than I need.
I know that I am blessed, blessed beyond what I deserve. There is something stirring in me and it has been stirring for a while. I'm not sure exactly what it is and I have had a really hard time putting it into words. I'm not sure that today, right now is the right place or the right time but let's see how this turns out.
In the past few months I have run into some interesting people. I have read some interesting books and articles. There seems to be a thread running through my life and the lives of those I am coming into contact with. That thread seems to be a willingness to sacrifice.
Last week I found a blog, by accident, of a college student who is living on the streets. He chose to be homeless and is planning on living out of his van for the next year. I found a video online of a group of teens that spent 40 hours on the street with no possessions and no where to go. They had to search for food and sleep on the ground. I saw another video of a group that went down to Louisiana and spent a few days passing out food and clothing to the homeless and the poor in that area.
Those are the people I don't know in places I don't live. There have been some real experiences for me here in Arkansas lately too. I am making more friends that seem to not be concerned with stuff and holding onto things. I have started going downtown consistently with a small group and passing out water and a few things to the people on the streets here. We have made some new friends and last night was one of my "favorite" trips downtown (if you can have a favorite trip). We saw some of our friends we hadn't seen in a few weeks, we exchanged phone numbers with a couple of the homeless people and told them we would get a hold of them next time we come downtown.
We will be back and we will try to get a hold of them. If we see them all again it will be because they are still on the street. They still don't have jobs and they still don't have homes. That is a hard concept for me to deal with.
I know that a lot of them are on the street because of their own choices and addictions. That is not up for debate. The thing that gets to me is that it was so easy for us to get to know them. It took us showing up and spending an hour with them one night. Ever since that night we have been friends. We know each other by name and when they see us coming they come out of where ever they are to say hello. The water and the food are less important than they were that first night. We talk about our week and we laugh at each others jokes. We are really friends, maybe not "close" friends but we are friends.
I want to do more. On my second trip to downtown Little Rock to see the same group of people I had an interesting conversation. A gentleman who calls himself "Smiley" asked me if I knew his friend. She lived in Bryant and he thought we might know each other. I said I didn't know her. He then proceeded to tell me about her. He said she comes down with her van and takes a group back to her house. They shower, clean up and get on fresh clothes. Then they all go to the mall in Conway. He told me it was a lot of fun because the people there don't know they are homeless. He said it was great to spend a couple of house being treated like a regular person instead of a homeless person. He looked me right in the eye and said, "People treat you different when they know you are homeless."
That broke my heart. Does having a home make me a better person than someone who doesn't have one? Do my things make me more important that someone who doesn't have things? Does the fact that I may be able to help you if you needed help make me someone who you want to know? "Smiley" has issues. He is on medication for a few things, but he is a lot of fun to talk to. He carries on great conversations, he is smart and seems to be fairly well educated. He used to own his own business, he was a home owner and he had a family. Now he expects people to treat him like less than a person. He knows that he is not going to get the respect of a "normal person" when he goes around town. He is not bitter, he isn't angry, he knows he made poor choices and that is why he is where he is today.
So what is it that I can't let go? I want to know how much more I could be doing. I want to know how I can help the people I have met...and more than that how I can help the people that are worse off than them!
The people who live on the streets in America still eat better than a large portion of the people in the world today. What am I going to do to help the people who actually don't have the ability to help themselves? I am still working on that. I will come up with a way, I will come up with an answer to the question that is eating at me. When I do I will ask you for your help. This isn't something just for me, this is a global problem with a global solution. For now I am asking you to look around. Open your eyes to the needs that are around you. Do something today.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
My status was too long...
I tried to change my status several times on facebook. From my phone apparently it doesn't correct you or even put it into a second status...it just says it is too long and deletes it.
I guess I should have started with a blog and then linked them...but I didn't know that it would be a problem.
So here is the deal. People often say that they will give up ANYTHING for Jesus and for "The Call!"
My question is simply this, "What have you and what are you giving up right now?" To say you will give me a glass of water when I am thirsty is meaningless unless it is followed up by the action of actually giving me a glass of water when I'm thirsty.
To say you are willing and then to never "feel" like God is asking you to give anything up or to lay anything down to help others brings into question if you are actually willing.
I don't want to hear anything that you are giving up or laying down so that you can help others. That is between you and God. I simply want you to look at your life, look at what you have, and look at what you spend your time doing. Then I want you to talk to God. Have a conversation, ask Him what He wants you to do for other people...then when He tells you something, actually do it.
People all around us need help...and we are too busy to notice.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I guess I should have started with a blog and then linked them...but I didn't know that it would be a problem.
So here is the deal. People often say that they will give up ANYTHING for Jesus and for "The Call!"
My question is simply this, "What have you and what are you giving up right now?" To say you will give me a glass of water when I am thirsty is meaningless unless it is followed up by the action of actually giving me a glass of water when I'm thirsty.
To say you are willing and then to never "feel" like God is asking you to give anything up or to lay anything down to help others brings into question if you are actually willing.
I don't want to hear anything that you are giving up or laying down so that you can help others. That is between you and God. I simply want you to look at your life, look at what you have, and look at what you spend your time doing. Then I want you to talk to God. Have a conversation, ask Him what He wants you to do for other people...then when He tells you something, actually do it.
People all around us need help...and we are too busy to notice.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, July 30, 2010
Being homeless makes you no less of a person...
I was in downtown Little Rock last week. It was dark but still about 90 degrees and humid. Across the river was a stadium full of people watching a minor league baseball game and the highway behind us was full of people on their way...somewhere.
There were 7 of us downtown that night. We were outsiders. This was not our home, this was not where we "belonged." We came with cold water, some apples and a few pairs of shoes. It was the least we could do...literally, the least we could do. We took a couple hours out of our night to go spend some time with people who don't get a lot of personal attention.
Two of us decided to go see if we could find anyone else who might want a bottle of cold water while the rest of the group spent time talking to those few people who we found right when we arrived. On the walk I was talking to my friend. He was telling me about his time working for a homeless shelter. He spent over 3 years living and working in a homeless shelter. He wasn't getting paid, he had no other home, he had no other mode of transportation besides the vehicles that the shelter owned. He had volunteered to be homeless. That is not something that many people will do. He was explaining to me that he was just as homeless as anyone who stayed in his shelter while he was there. The thing of it is, he was no less of a man when he was there than he was right now. He has a home, he has a car, he has a job that pays him. Yet when he had none of those things, he was still the same man.
Earlier in the night he had said that people tie their worth to their possessions. Both Christians and non-Christians do the same thing. If we lose their "stuff" then WE are no longer worth as much. You can see it in how we talk about the poor and the homeless. You can see it in the way we treat the guy who comes up to us at Starbucks and asks for a couple dollars because his car is out of gas. We don't look at them as equals. They are now sub-standard humans and we don't have to pay them the same respect as other people.
If we would take a look at ourselves and be honest with ourselves we would realize that it wouldn't take much to put us in a situation where we needed someones help. We may have plenty right now, but that doesn't mean we will always have plenty. The Bible says, "He that gives to the poor lends to the Lord." (Prov. 19:17) If you aren't a Christian then living by what the Bible says doesn't matter to you. Just remember that there will be a day when you need a hand up, someone will have to come to help you. That won't make you less of a man/woman...it will just make you human.
"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." -Jesus
There were 7 of us downtown that night. We were outsiders. This was not our home, this was not where we "belonged." We came with cold water, some apples and a few pairs of shoes. It was the least we could do...literally, the least we could do. We took a couple hours out of our night to go spend some time with people who don't get a lot of personal attention.
Two of us decided to go see if we could find anyone else who might want a bottle of cold water while the rest of the group spent time talking to those few people who we found right when we arrived. On the walk I was talking to my friend. He was telling me about his time working for a homeless shelter. He spent over 3 years living and working in a homeless shelter. He wasn't getting paid, he had no other home, he had no other mode of transportation besides the vehicles that the shelter owned. He had volunteered to be homeless. That is not something that many people will do. He was explaining to me that he was just as homeless as anyone who stayed in his shelter while he was there. The thing of it is, he was no less of a man when he was there than he was right now. He has a home, he has a car, he has a job that pays him. Yet when he had none of those things, he was still the same man.
Earlier in the night he had said that people tie their worth to their possessions. Both Christians and non-Christians do the same thing. If we lose their "stuff" then WE are no longer worth as much. You can see it in how we talk about the poor and the homeless. You can see it in the way we treat the guy who comes up to us at Starbucks and asks for a couple dollars because his car is out of gas. We don't look at them as equals. They are now sub-standard humans and we don't have to pay them the same respect as other people.
If we would take a look at ourselves and be honest with ourselves we would realize that it wouldn't take much to put us in a situation where we needed someones help. We may have plenty right now, but that doesn't mean we will always have plenty. The Bible says, "He that gives to the poor lends to the Lord." (Prov. 19:17) If you aren't a Christian then living by what the Bible says doesn't matter to you. Just remember that there will be a day when you need a hand up, someone will have to come to help you. That won't make you less of a man/woman...it will just make you human.
"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." -Jesus
Saturday, July 24, 2010
It only matters if it happens to someone I know...
"The American response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, demonstrated that large-scale evil and suffering usually remain distant from us.
In Sudan, millions, including children, have been murdered, raped, and enslaved. The 2004 Asian tsunami killed more than 280,000 people. Malaria causes more than two million fatalities annually, the majority of them African children. Around the world, some 26,500 children die every day; eighteen every minute.
The loss of American lives in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, numbered 2,973–horrible indeed, yet a small fraction of the terror and loss of life faced daily around the world. The death toll in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, for example, amounted to more than two World Trade Center disasters every day for one hundred days straight. Americans discovered in one day what much of the world already knew–violent death comes quickly, hits hard, and can be unspeakably dreadful." -Randy Alcorn from his book "If God is so Good"
In Sudan, millions, including children, have been murdered, raped, and enslaved. The 2004 Asian tsunami killed more than 280,000 people. Malaria causes more than two million fatalities annually, the majority of them African children. Around the world, some 26,500 children die every day; eighteen every minute.
The loss of American lives in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, numbered 2,973–horrible indeed, yet a small fraction of the terror and loss of life faced daily around the world. The death toll in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, for example, amounted to more than two World Trade Center disasters every day for one hundred days straight. Americans discovered in one day what much of the world already knew–violent death comes quickly, hits hard, and can be unspeakably dreadful." -Randy Alcorn from his book "If God is so Good"
People are worried about the economy right now. They aren't worried about the economy because they are really concerned for the people who don't have jobs at the moment. They are concerned because an unstable job market could cost them their job! When the housing market collapsed people were concerned. I talked to a lot of people about it. Almost all of them still had their job and were still able to make their house payment just fine. The problem was that now their house would be worth less money. They might not be able to refinance so that they could pay off their credit cards.
People are selfish. This is not a secret. It isn't something that we talk about very much because when we talk about it we have to take a look in the mirror. We don't like to look at ourselves and say WE are selfish.
The problem is that we truly are a selfish people in a country that fosters selfish attitudes.
This is something that has bothered me for a long time. I have done what I could, which to this point hasn't seemed like much, to get people to see that they are only living for themselves and their own desires. If what I am saying is not true then do me a favor. Everyone who is reading this right now, talk to all of your family and friends. Decide what your favorite charity is and instead of getting any birthday, anniversary, Christmas, Father's Day, Mother's Day...etc. presents, have them donate whatever money they would have spent on your gift to your favorite charity.
What? You don't like that idea? Why not? Why do you need more stuff? Why do you need extra things to go in your house when their are people who won't be alive tomorrow if they don't get help from someone? I have had people tell me that we shouldn't help those who won't help themselves. Then you pick a charity that only helps people who can't help themselves. Pick one that helps orphans in a third-world country. Pick one that helps villages get clean drinking water. I don't care who you want to help, I just wanted to show you that you are selfish to some degree.
Here is my dilemma in writing this post. Now this year for my birthday, I expect no gifts. I am going to spend the next couple of months coming up with what charity I would like to support. I will find one that is easy to donate to and that I believe in. I will have anyone who wants to get me anything (which now that I am an adult, the list is getting shorter every year) donate to that specific charity. I will have the person who draws my name this year for the family Christmas gift exchange donate money to a charity and not send me a gift card.
Why haven't I talked about things like this before? If this is truly something that bothers me then what has been holding me back? One reason is that it sounds self-righteous. It sounds like I am telling you that you are selfish and that I am not. That is simply not the case. I have never told anyone to donate money instead of send me a present. I might not be worried about "stuff" but I have not done all the good I could have done. I am starting right now. I am going to change some things about how casually I have lived my life up to this point.
If you are not ready to lay down your desire for things then that is something you have to live with. I'm not telling anyone what they have to do. I'm just saying that if we do nothing then we are selfish. If we don't change then we will never make a difference to people who need help.
Some of you who read this will be Christians, while I know some of you are not. Let me talk to the Christians first.
I do believe that as a Christian we should be more worried about our neighbor than we are about ourselves. I think we should give more, care more, show love more than anyone else. The problem is that I don't see it. I know there are the exceptions to the rule...but it is time to adjust the rule. The Bible says it is more blessed to give than to receive...but do we live that way? Do we live the picture we see of the church in Acts where it says that none of them considered anything to be their own and if someone had a need they would sell what they had and meet that need. Are we doing that today? Why not? We're selfish. Almost all of us are selfish to some degree. I was told that I had to start being nicer when I speak to people. I am challenging them too much and telling them that they aren't doing a good enough job. Well the way I see it, I am telling the truth. If you don't want to hear the truth then don't read what I have to say and don't come listen to me speak. If I don't challenge you then I don't really care about you.
Now to those of you who are not Christians. You may or may not care about what I think of you. Please know that I care about you. I care enough to say that I want you have a relationship with Jesus Christ. That being said I don't believe that only Christians need to give more. I believe that everyone should do more, I just expect more out of people who say they believe what I believe. If you don't want to give to anyone else, that is sad. Here is the thing though, I know some of you who read this really do care for people. I know you volunteer your time and donate your money. I just want to see it more. Not for my sake and not in the hope that one day you will earn your way into me thinking you are a good person. I really care for the people all over the world that are dying tonight because we in America didn't step up and do something about it. That is not a Christian/non-Christian issue. It is a rich/poor issue. It is a have/have-not issue. We are the rich, we are the one's who have. It is time to give something to those who so desperately need it.
Monday, July 19, 2010
What would you do for someone you don't know?
My question is what would you do to save a life? Maybe I am looking at this all wrong...and if I am I would like you to set me straight. I was in charge of organizing a blood drive last week. The Red Cross came and set up for it and their goal was 30 donors.
A little information they gave me (since I was the contact on our end of the blood drive) is that 97% of people will need to receive blood at some point in their life. Only 3% of people in Arkansas actually donate blood. Those stats are pretty crazy! I tried to share them with everyone I could and I was actually a bit surprised by how many people said they weren't going to donate. The question I asked almost everyone who said they weren't donating was what if it was someone in your own family that needed blood. Only 1 person said that even if it was their family they wouldn't donate. Everyone else who was eligable but wasn't going to donate said if their family needed a donation they would go and donate blood...but because it wasn't for their family they weren't going to donate.
Here is the part that bothered me the most. This blood drive took place at my church. All the people who said they weren't going to donate but if it was for their family they would donate...those people were all "Christians." I'm not exactly sure why that bothered me as much as it did. Maybe you don't like needles, maybe you have had a bad experience when you donated before. I don't know why you say you aren't going to donate. One donation can save up to three people!
I guess it was not the fact that people weren't too interested in donating blood that shocked me. It was how many would be willing to help if it was their family and yet they wouldn't if it was someone else. That goes against what I believe we should stand for as Christians.
I will say that according to the Red Cross rep churches are where they get most of their donations during the Summer months. Without churches having blood drives their would be an even greater shortage of blood. A lot of people aren't eligable for one reason or another. I'm not trying to talk bad about people who didn't donate. I was just surprised that if it was someone that mattered to them personally they would help...but if it isn't then they aren't going to give up an hour of their life. That doesn't seem right to me. Love your neighbor as yourself was the second most important commandment...if my memory serves me correct. Your neighbor is not just your family is it? Am I looking at this wrong? If you are truly that afraid of needles then that is one thing...but if you can get yourself hyped up enough to give blood for your family why won't you do that to save a life of someone who isn't part of your family.
I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts. This is a very recent event (yesterday) so my emotions are a bit raw at the moment. Let me know if you agree or don't agree. Either way I am still of the opinion that if you would do it for your family then you should do it when it isn't your family. What if it was your blood that would save my life? My family is in WA, they aren't close enough to donate blood for me. Just a thought.
A little information they gave me (since I was the contact on our end of the blood drive) is that 97% of people will need to receive blood at some point in their life. Only 3% of people in Arkansas actually donate blood. Those stats are pretty crazy! I tried to share them with everyone I could and I was actually a bit surprised by how many people said they weren't going to donate. The question I asked almost everyone who said they weren't donating was what if it was someone in your own family that needed blood. Only 1 person said that even if it was their family they wouldn't donate. Everyone else who was eligable but wasn't going to donate said if their family needed a donation they would go and donate blood...but because it wasn't for their family they weren't going to donate.
Here is the part that bothered me the most. This blood drive took place at my church. All the people who said they weren't going to donate but if it was for their family they would donate...those people were all "Christians." I'm not exactly sure why that bothered me as much as it did. Maybe you don't like needles, maybe you have had a bad experience when you donated before. I don't know why you say you aren't going to donate. One donation can save up to three people!
I guess it was not the fact that people weren't too interested in donating blood that shocked me. It was how many would be willing to help if it was their family and yet they wouldn't if it was someone else. That goes against what I believe we should stand for as Christians.
I will say that according to the Red Cross rep churches are where they get most of their donations during the Summer months. Without churches having blood drives their would be an even greater shortage of blood. A lot of people aren't eligable for one reason or another. I'm not trying to talk bad about people who didn't donate. I was just surprised that if it was someone that mattered to them personally they would help...but if it isn't then they aren't going to give up an hour of their life. That doesn't seem right to me. Love your neighbor as yourself was the second most important commandment...if my memory serves me correct. Your neighbor is not just your family is it? Am I looking at this wrong? If you are truly that afraid of needles then that is one thing...but if you can get yourself hyped up enough to give blood for your family why won't you do that to save a life of someone who isn't part of your family.
I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts. This is a very recent event (yesterday) so my emotions are a bit raw at the moment. Let me know if you agree or don't agree. Either way I am still of the opinion that if you would do it for your family then you should do it when it isn't your family. What if it was your blood that would save my life? My family is in WA, they aren't close enough to donate blood for me. Just a thought.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Crazy couple of weeks...
Have you ever felt like everything was falling down around you? Well the past couple of weeks has been that way for me...but probably not in the way that you are thinking.
My life is going great right now. I love my job. My needs are met. I am building new relationships. I am strengthening relationships I already had. So you might be asking what is falling down around me...let me explain.
People are what matter to me. Possessions, positions, money...nothing really matters to me but people. In the past few weeks I have had one person after another come to me looking for advice, help, comfort...and sometimes just someone who will listen.
I always try to be there for everyone that I can be and I will always continue to do that...at least that is my goal. It is just crazy how many people are going through so many struggles all at once! Maybe it is because I have been here long enough for people to get comfortable coming to me. Maybe there was this much stuff going on before and they didn't want to include me in their lives that much yet. I don't know, I just wish I could do more. I want to be able to help more situations...but I know that I am not the answer.
When people come to me for help, they should know I will point them back to the One who is the answer. I give scripture, I point them back to Jesus and love. I know it is the right thing to do and I really can't do anything else. If I don't believe that God is enough to take care of their problems than I am in the wrong "business!"
If you say you believe in Jesus and you say you believe in the Bible...then when you come to me you better expect that I will point you back that direction! If you don't believe in either Jesus or the Bible...the odds are you aren't coming to me for help.
I have said all I can say in every situation. I gave all the natural advice I could give. Now it is time to pray and trust God. Nothing else will do any good.
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My life is going great right now. I love my job. My needs are met. I am building new relationships. I am strengthening relationships I already had. So you might be asking what is falling down around me...let me explain.
People are what matter to me. Possessions, positions, money...nothing really matters to me but people. In the past few weeks I have had one person after another come to me looking for advice, help, comfort...and sometimes just someone who will listen.
I always try to be there for everyone that I can be and I will always continue to do that...at least that is my goal. It is just crazy how many people are going through so many struggles all at once! Maybe it is because I have been here long enough for people to get comfortable coming to me. Maybe there was this much stuff going on before and they didn't want to include me in their lives that much yet. I don't know, I just wish I could do more. I want to be able to help more situations...but I know that I am not the answer.
When people come to me for help, they should know I will point them back to the One who is the answer. I give scripture, I point them back to Jesus and love. I know it is the right thing to do and I really can't do anything else. If I don't believe that God is enough to take care of their problems than I am in the wrong "business!"
If you say you believe in Jesus and you say you believe in the Bible...then when you come to me you better expect that I will point you back that direction! If you don't believe in either Jesus or the Bible...the odds are you aren't coming to me for help.
I have said all I can say in every situation. I gave all the natural advice I could give. Now it is time to pray and trust God. Nothing else will do any good.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, May 31, 2010
A quote made me think...
Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none. - William Shakespeare
Is this a true picture of what we have been asked to do? Is "love all, trust a few..." truly the God kind of love?
I was discussing this subject just the other day. Well...not exactly this conversation but it was a conversation about both live and forgiveness.
The question was asked about people who have hurt you in the past, "How close do you let them get again? Do you open yourself up to get hurt again?" It is not something I have a clear answer on and I left that conversation with the agreement that it is a case by case situation.
We agreed that you have to forgive them, which means you can not hold what they did against them. You have to look at them as if they had never done anything wrong and never bring what they did in the past back up against them.
The tough part (as if that was "easy") was how close do you let them get again. If they pursue a relationship with you, do you allow it to happen even though they hurt you before? This is where we said you would have to look at the situation and see. Can you truly love and forgive someone from a distance...even if they want to get closer?
That is what is going through my head tonight. I need to go to sleep. I will come back to this subject at another time.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Is this a true picture of what we have been asked to do? Is "love all, trust a few..." truly the God kind of love?
I was discussing this subject just the other day. Well...not exactly this conversation but it was a conversation about both live and forgiveness.
The question was asked about people who have hurt you in the past, "How close do you let them get again? Do you open yourself up to get hurt again?" It is not something I have a clear answer on and I left that conversation with the agreement that it is a case by case situation.
We agreed that you have to forgive them, which means you can not hold what they did against them. You have to look at them as if they had never done anything wrong and never bring what they did in the past back up against them.
The tough part (as if that was "easy") was how close do you let them get again. If they pursue a relationship with you, do you allow it to happen even though they hurt you before? This is where we said you would have to look at the situation and see. Can you truly love and forgive someone from a distance...even if they want to get closer?
That is what is going through my head tonight. I need to go to sleep. I will come back to this subject at another time.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
It is time to write...
I was trying to go to bed early. That normally doesn't work out very well for me and once again tonight I failed. I am laying here thinking...so it is time to write.
What do you think of when you think of being successful? What is success to you? I think that a lot of people have a lot of different ideas about what true success really means.
I know that people have hinted to me that my success is based on how many people I get to show up to my singles events. They ask how many came to whatever my last event or service was and when I tell them they are normally very supportive. They tell me how good it is and that it is growing...but that is really not the point of what I do.
Of course I want as many people to come to the events and services as possible...but not because I care about impressing anyone with the attendance. It is about relationships with the people that are there and it is really about pointing them back to a closer relationship with Jesus! I want to help as many people as I possibly can build a relationship with Jesus. That is success to me.
Not everyone is a preacher. Not everyone is a "minister" in the sense of earning a paycheck from preaching. I know that...but aren't we all called to love? Aren't we all called to be Christ's body on the earth? Are you doing your part? Is doing your part to spread the gospel part of your definition of success?
Maybe you are. Maybe you are really doing all you have been called by God to do...but if you aren't, you have just been reminded. That's all.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
What do you think of when you think of being successful? What is success to you? I think that a lot of people have a lot of different ideas about what true success really means.
I know that people have hinted to me that my success is based on how many people I get to show up to my singles events. They ask how many came to whatever my last event or service was and when I tell them they are normally very supportive. They tell me how good it is and that it is growing...but that is really not the point of what I do.
Of course I want as many people to come to the events and services as possible...but not because I care about impressing anyone with the attendance. It is about relationships with the people that are there and it is really about pointing them back to a closer relationship with Jesus! I want to help as many people as I possibly can build a relationship with Jesus. That is success to me.
Not everyone is a preacher. Not everyone is a "minister" in the sense of earning a paycheck from preaching. I know that...but aren't we all called to love? Aren't we all called to be Christ's body on the earth? Are you doing your part? Is doing your part to spread the gospel part of your definition of success?
Maybe you are. Maybe you are really doing all you have been called by God to do...but if you aren't, you have just been reminded. That's all.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Sobering news...
I got a text message that shocked me and has made tonight a bit rough. I am not going to go into what it was because those involved probably don't want me writing about it.
What I am struggling with at this moment is if there is more I can be doing. People are hurting all around us. Every day we see, talk to, work with and walk right past people who are hurting. I say it is more than that, I say not only people that are hurting but people that we could help!
I say we because I want to do more too! I am not shoving the responsibility of helping people off onto you. I am saying WE all need to do more.
Take the time to listen. People will tell you what is going on in their lives quick if you just ask the questions and actually listen instead of wait for a chance to talk! Say a kind word, smile at someone, hold a door, pay a compliment, do a little more than you did yesterday for someone.
Watch for people who normally talk but today they are quiet. Look for people who are always on time and then they start showing up late. Look for the changes. Reach out to them. Find out what you can do and do it. Don't let your life get so busy that you miss out on what matters. People matter. Your stuff, your car, your computer, your full hour by yourself at lunch...those aren't the things that matter. No one is going to say after they die, "I sure wish I had put in a few more hours at the office."
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
What I am struggling with at this moment is if there is more I can be doing. People are hurting all around us. Every day we see, talk to, work with and walk right past people who are hurting. I say it is more than that, I say not only people that are hurting but people that we could help!
I say we because I want to do more too! I am not shoving the responsibility of helping people off onto you. I am saying WE all need to do more.
Take the time to listen. People will tell you what is going on in their lives quick if you just ask the questions and actually listen instead of wait for a chance to talk! Say a kind word, smile at someone, hold a door, pay a compliment, do a little more than you did yesterday for someone.
Watch for people who normally talk but today they are quiet. Look for people who are always on time and then they start showing up late. Look for the changes. Reach out to them. Find out what you can do and do it. Don't let your life get so busy that you miss out on what matters. People matter. Your stuff, your car, your computer, your full hour by yourself at lunch...those aren't the things that matter. No one is going to say after they die, "I sure wish I had put in a few more hours at the office."
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, April 29, 2010
My first post...since this got linked to my job...
I guess in a way everything I have done since I accepted this job has been "linked" to my job. I guess the difference now is that I actually have a link connecting this blog to the website: http://www.crossoversingles.org which is the website for the singles ministry here at Family Church.
I don't know if we think enough about how our actions in our "personal life" actually reflects on so many other things. Anytime someone sees me outside of church my actions reflect on their view of Family Church, Pastor Perry, ministers in general and in a broader sense God. That is a pretty big responsibility.
I guess the reason that I never gave it much thought before is because in recent years I have made a point to try to be a reflection of the love God has shown me. I know I have made mistakes, but I am doing my best to live a life that glorifies God in all that I do.
Both of those sentences sound very churchy. I sound like I am just using Christian lingo to make myself sound good. If I had heard someone tell me that about themselves even a few years ago I would have rolled my eyes and thought they were just playing the Christian game. I see it differently now...but I understand why people roll their eyes at me sometimes now. :)
I don't worry about doing the "wrong" thing most of the time. The stuff I used to do that were a bad witness don't even tempt me anymore. I am now pursuing a relationship with God in a way that other things don't seem as important and don't have the same pull on me that they used to have. Also, a reason I am not worried about doing something in front of "you" (whoever you are) that would be looked upon in a poor light is because I know that God sees everything I do and He also knows everything I thought about doing! Lol That is a higher standard to live up to. No offense, but I am not worried nearly as much about what you think of me as I am about what He thinks of me!
Time to go plan some events for next month. If you get a chance, take a look at my new website. Let me know what you think. Thanks.
I don't know if we think enough about how our actions in our "personal life" actually reflects on so many other things. Anytime someone sees me outside of church my actions reflect on their view of Family Church, Pastor Perry, ministers in general and in a broader sense God. That is a pretty big responsibility.
I guess the reason that I never gave it much thought before is because in recent years I have made a point to try to be a reflection of the love God has shown me. I know I have made mistakes, but I am doing my best to live a life that glorifies God in all that I do.
Both of those sentences sound very churchy. I sound like I am just using Christian lingo to make myself sound good. If I had heard someone tell me that about themselves even a few years ago I would have rolled my eyes and thought they were just playing the Christian game. I see it differently now...but I understand why people roll their eyes at me sometimes now. :)
I don't worry about doing the "wrong" thing most of the time. The stuff I used to do that were a bad witness don't even tempt me anymore. I am now pursuing a relationship with God in a way that other things don't seem as important and don't have the same pull on me that they used to have. Also, a reason I am not worried about doing something in front of "you" (whoever you are) that would be looked upon in a poor light is because I know that God sees everything I do and He also knows everything I thought about doing! Lol That is a higher standard to live up to. No offense, but I am not worried nearly as much about what you think of me as I am about what He thinks of me!
Time to go plan some events for next month. If you get a chance, take a look at my new website. Let me know what you think. Thanks.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Tomorrow is on my mind...
Today was for the most part a day I would like to forget...except that it was a good reminder.
Since you don't know what I am talking about, I will try to explain. I had 6 major things come up today. All six (on any other day) would have been the one thing that I more or less defined that day...except they all happened today! 4 of the 6 things were negitive, but since basically all of them were private matters about either me or my friends I won't go into what they were. Let's just agree that it was an eventful day.
As I was reflecting on my day with a friend I was struck by the difference in a three of the things that happened. Three of them had eternal significance in three different peoples lives. These are the things that really mattered about today.
Where you will spend eternity and who you will spend it with is what matters. It isn't enough just to say you know this fact. You need to live this fact.
I can say that I get distracted by daily life just like everyone else sometimes. I lose sight of what really matters...and then there are times when I look back and see that what I thought really mattered doesn't really matter.
Growing up in church it was common to hear people say that we shouldn't be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good. We needed to make sure that we stayed in touch with the world. People looked at certain church members and told me that they were too far out there. You have to make sure that you plan for your future because one day you are going to want to retire and be comfortable.
In the last four months my opinion on all of this has changed. I don't see in the Bible anywhere that Jesus told us to remember to not focus too much on Him. I don't see Him teaching the disciples to make sure they stayed in touch with the world around them because too much Jesus will make them unable to be a good witness.
I also don't see where I am supposed to spend the end of my life relaxing and focusing on myself and making sure I am comfortable.
What I see is a call to leave everything and follow Jesus. I see a rich man who wouldn't give up his possessions...so he didn't follow Jesus. I see the disciples leave their businesses and everything they were comfortable with to follow Jesus, even when that meant they would be persecuted because they followed Him.
I am not asking anyone to do anything they don't see in the Bible...and honestly, you can and will do whatever you want to do.
Just know that if my life doesn't seem to line up with what you think it should, take a closer look. I'm not saying you should compare yourself to me or to anyone else around you. I say read the Bible and see what you see. Find out for yourself what a follower of Christ looks like and try to be that.
Some of you who read this aren't Christians. You don't believe Jesus is the Son of God. I know that reading this won't change your mind, but know that I love you all. I care what happens to you and if I can do anything for you I will. Jesus loved you enough to die for you and I will do my best to show His love through my life.
If you do know Jesus...seek Him first. Stuff doesn't matter, your career is not the most important thing in your life...your relationship with your creator is.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Since you don't know what I am talking about, I will try to explain. I had 6 major things come up today. All six (on any other day) would have been the one thing that I more or less defined that day...except they all happened today! 4 of the 6 things were negitive, but since basically all of them were private matters about either me or my friends I won't go into what they were. Let's just agree that it was an eventful day.
As I was reflecting on my day with a friend I was struck by the difference in a three of the things that happened. Three of them had eternal significance in three different peoples lives. These are the things that really mattered about today.
Where you will spend eternity and who you will spend it with is what matters. It isn't enough just to say you know this fact. You need to live this fact.
I can say that I get distracted by daily life just like everyone else sometimes. I lose sight of what really matters...and then there are times when I look back and see that what I thought really mattered doesn't really matter.
Growing up in church it was common to hear people say that we shouldn't be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good. We needed to make sure that we stayed in touch with the world. People looked at certain church members and told me that they were too far out there. You have to make sure that you plan for your future because one day you are going to want to retire and be comfortable.
In the last four months my opinion on all of this has changed. I don't see in the Bible anywhere that Jesus told us to remember to not focus too much on Him. I don't see Him teaching the disciples to make sure they stayed in touch with the world around them because too much Jesus will make them unable to be a good witness.
I also don't see where I am supposed to spend the end of my life relaxing and focusing on myself and making sure I am comfortable.
What I see is a call to leave everything and follow Jesus. I see a rich man who wouldn't give up his possessions...so he didn't follow Jesus. I see the disciples leave their businesses and everything they were comfortable with to follow Jesus, even when that meant they would be persecuted because they followed Him.
I am not asking anyone to do anything they don't see in the Bible...and honestly, you can and will do whatever you want to do.
Just know that if my life doesn't seem to line up with what you think it should, take a closer look. I'm not saying you should compare yourself to me or to anyone else around you. I say read the Bible and see what you see. Find out for yourself what a follower of Christ looks like and try to be that.
Some of you who read this aren't Christians. You don't believe Jesus is the Son of God. I know that reading this won't change your mind, but know that I love you all. I care what happens to you and if I can do anything for you I will. Jesus loved you enough to die for you and I will do my best to show His love through my life.
If you do know Jesus...seek Him first. Stuff doesn't matter, your career is not the most important thing in your life...your relationship with your creator is.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, March 14, 2010
You never know...
This is going to be a short post...I think. I was going through my day today and started to think about how people have affected me and my life. There are always people coming and going in our lives. Other than family there is no one who is a set piece for sure in your life forever...and in some families there is no security.
My family is large, we are close (in relationship, not miles) and I know they will always be there for me. They have done a lot to help me become who I am today, but they weren't the only ones involved.
I know I have talked about my friends in the past. I have talked about the people who are new in my life and who reached out to me when at that point I hadn't given them reason to reach out. I wasn't thinking about them today. Today I was thinking about the people who have stepped out of my life. Not in a bad way and not even always on purpose, we just went different directions. Some of the people who have meant a lot to me didn't seem to know how much of an impact they really had.
It makes me wonder what role they thought they played in my life and what thought they gave it, if any, before they stepped out of that roll. Also, who did I just walk away from that I didn't know I was affecting?
I was not concerned about myself really...my thoughts went to others. My life is about helping people and I want to make sure I am doing that to the best of my ability. So I thought about those who are around me that I may not think I am close to. Am I having the positive impact I want to have on even casual friends?
When I transfered schools as a sophomore in high school there was a senior that I met during my first week of football. He had no real reason to reach out to me other than we played the same position. He helped me fit it and made me feel comfortable right away. I sent him one message on facebook thanking him...but I don't know if he even really remembered me. It had been 10 years since I talked to him. He passed away and I don't think he will know the impact he had on my life until we meet again in Heaven.
I want to make sure that I am showing love to the people who I meet when it doesn't seem like it would matter. I want you the reader to take time to smile, hold a door, be nice to the new guy. You just never know the impact you are having on the lives around you and I don't think you ever will.
Just make sure that you love people. Other than loving God I don't see anything that matters more than that.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
My family is large, we are close (in relationship, not miles) and I know they will always be there for me. They have done a lot to help me become who I am today, but they weren't the only ones involved.
I know I have talked about my friends in the past. I have talked about the people who are new in my life and who reached out to me when at that point I hadn't given them reason to reach out. I wasn't thinking about them today. Today I was thinking about the people who have stepped out of my life. Not in a bad way and not even always on purpose, we just went different directions. Some of the people who have meant a lot to me didn't seem to know how much of an impact they really had.
It makes me wonder what role they thought they played in my life and what thought they gave it, if any, before they stepped out of that roll. Also, who did I just walk away from that I didn't know I was affecting?
I was not concerned about myself really...my thoughts went to others. My life is about helping people and I want to make sure I am doing that to the best of my ability. So I thought about those who are around me that I may not think I am close to. Am I having the positive impact I want to have on even casual friends?
When I transfered schools as a sophomore in high school there was a senior that I met during my first week of football. He had no real reason to reach out to me other than we played the same position. He helped me fit it and made me feel comfortable right away. I sent him one message on facebook thanking him...but I don't know if he even really remembered me. It had been 10 years since I talked to him. He passed away and I don't think he will know the impact he had on my life until we meet again in Heaven.
I want to make sure that I am showing love to the people who I meet when it doesn't seem like it would matter. I want you the reader to take time to smile, hold a door, be nice to the new guy. You just never know the impact you are having on the lives around you and I don't think you ever will.
Just make sure that you love people. Other than loving God I don't see anything that matters more than that.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Single's Awareness Day...or at least it used to be...
Sunday is Single's Awareness Day (S.A.D.)...also known as Valentine's Day. When I got home from work today I was going to write about my experience with S.A.D. and all the reasons that I have to not really enjoy this holiday.
As I sat down in my living room and started to collect my thoughts I started to laugh. Laughing while you are sitting in an empty apartment with the tv turned off is an interesting feeling. I was laughing because I am not that guy anymore. A few years ago I made a post on my myspace (which I don't even have anymore) with the title "Single's Awareness Day." I was basically planning on writing the same thing with a couple new sections. Something about this didn't sit right with me and it took me a few minutes to figure out what it was.
In the past couple months I have had no less than half a dozen people come and talk to me about different situations in either their past or their present that they were having a hard time dealing with. It seemed to be an amazing theme that no matter the person, their age, their circumstance...the conclusion that we came to was that they needed to forgive someone (sometimes that person was themselves.)
The issue that kept coming up was that they had already said they forgave, but they never really did. They still held that offense over the person and when something similar happened to what they had already forgiven them of they would say, "here we go again!" The person who said they forgave would tell me about the 25 times this person did this before. That is not forgiveness. Not the forgiveness that I see in the Bible and not the forgiveness that I want to see others show to me.
So that was what I tried to point out in each and every case. When you say you forgive, you can't bring it up again. You can't be waiting for a repeat offense. If you do then you never really forgave them and you aren't walking in love or forgiveness (love keeps no record of wrong.)
The reason I laughed in my apartment all alone today was because I was about to do exactly what I told others not to do. I was going to recount (not naming names...just giving situations...like that is any better!) all of the times that I have been hurt or had an experience that makes me not enjoy this holiday. I am not that guy anymore. Some of you are around me a decent amount now and you know who you are. Do you hear me talking bad about a lot of people? Do I complain about things people have done to me in the past? I don't think I do...and I really try not to. If I complain to you about someone else, tell me. Make me aware of it because I don't want to be that guy. I forgive before I am asked to forgive. If you upset me (which is not really easy to do) the odds are you will never find out. I make a point of forgiving people when they do things that hurt me. Most of the time they were not aware that they hurt me in the first place.
Most people are not out to upset you. Usually they aren't trying to hurt your feelings, they are probably too caught up in their own life to notice what they did to yours. That doesn't make it right, but if you give people the benefit of the doubt and assume they were not being that way on purpose then you can forgive and never touch that thing again in your thoughts. I had to really think to come up with reasons in the past that I don't enjoy this holiday. I have more good memories than bad ones and even if I didn't...I still would have a good day on Sunday.
Forgiveness makes life enjoyable again. It makes you smile which will make other people smile. If you hold things against people that they have done to you, whether on purpose or on accident, you will only be hurting yourself. The Bible tells me that I have to forgive you 490 times for the exact same offense. I haven't had anyone that needed me to forgive them that many times for the same thing yet...and when I do, I will just raise the number.
Life is too short. Change the world that you live in, starting with how you treat those people who are closest to you. Then move out from there. "...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us..."
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
As I sat down in my living room and started to collect my thoughts I started to laugh. Laughing while you are sitting in an empty apartment with the tv turned off is an interesting feeling. I was laughing because I am not that guy anymore. A few years ago I made a post on my myspace (which I don't even have anymore) with the title "Single's Awareness Day." I was basically planning on writing the same thing with a couple new sections. Something about this didn't sit right with me and it took me a few minutes to figure out what it was.
In the past couple months I have had no less than half a dozen people come and talk to me about different situations in either their past or their present that they were having a hard time dealing with. It seemed to be an amazing theme that no matter the person, their age, their circumstance...the conclusion that we came to was that they needed to forgive someone (sometimes that person was themselves.)
The issue that kept coming up was that they had already said they forgave, but they never really did. They still held that offense over the person and when something similar happened to what they had already forgiven them of they would say, "here we go again!" The person who said they forgave would tell me about the 25 times this person did this before. That is not forgiveness. Not the forgiveness that I see in the Bible and not the forgiveness that I want to see others show to me.
So that was what I tried to point out in each and every case. When you say you forgive, you can't bring it up again. You can't be waiting for a repeat offense. If you do then you never really forgave them and you aren't walking in love or forgiveness (love keeps no record of wrong.)
The reason I laughed in my apartment all alone today was because I was about to do exactly what I told others not to do. I was going to recount (not naming names...just giving situations...like that is any better!) all of the times that I have been hurt or had an experience that makes me not enjoy this holiday. I am not that guy anymore. Some of you are around me a decent amount now and you know who you are. Do you hear me talking bad about a lot of people? Do I complain about things people have done to me in the past? I don't think I do...and I really try not to. If I complain to you about someone else, tell me. Make me aware of it because I don't want to be that guy. I forgive before I am asked to forgive. If you upset me (which is not really easy to do) the odds are you will never find out. I make a point of forgiving people when they do things that hurt me. Most of the time they were not aware that they hurt me in the first place.
Most people are not out to upset you. Usually they aren't trying to hurt your feelings, they are probably too caught up in their own life to notice what they did to yours. That doesn't make it right, but if you give people the benefit of the doubt and assume they were not being that way on purpose then you can forgive and never touch that thing again in your thoughts. I had to really think to come up with reasons in the past that I don't enjoy this holiday. I have more good memories than bad ones and even if I didn't...I still would have a good day on Sunday.
Forgiveness makes life enjoyable again. It makes you smile which will make other people smile. If you hold things against people that they have done to you, whether on purpose or on accident, you will only be hurting yourself. The Bible tells me that I have to forgive you 490 times for the exact same offense. I haven't had anyone that needed me to forgive them that many times for the same thing yet...and when I do, I will just raise the number.
Life is too short. Change the world that you live in, starting with how you treat those people who are closest to you. Then move out from there. "...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us..."
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Just a conversation...
How does it happen?
I called my Mom today. We had a really good conversation about all kinds of things. I was having a night where my emotions were starting to take a bigger role in my mood than I allow. I was going to blog about how I was feeling and that I normally keep myself in check better than I this. I decided to call her before I started writing because by the time I am done writing I usually am ready for bed.
Now for those of you who don't know my Mom I will tell you just a little about her. She is a very strong woman and she is also really sweet. She truly cares about me and always has. I have amazing parents and this is just one more time that I can look at and thank God for allowing me to be this blessed. As we talked all the things that seemed to be big got smaller. She was asking about what is going on in my life and as I told her about it I was reminded of why I am here.
All that was said to say I know I am blessed. I know I am in Arkansas for a reason. I get to speak to the adults at our church a week from tomorrow. This will be the first time any of them have heard me. I know what I need to say, I am ready to take another step along the path that is my life. Thank you Karen Peck (my Mom) for bringing my focus back where it needed to be...even though you didn't mean to.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I called my Mom today. We had a really good conversation about all kinds of things. I was having a night where my emotions were starting to take a bigger role in my mood than I allow. I was going to blog about how I was feeling and that I normally keep myself in check better than I this. I decided to call her before I started writing because by the time I am done writing I usually am ready for bed.
Now for those of you who don't know my Mom I will tell you just a little about her. She is a very strong woman and she is also really sweet. She truly cares about me and always has. I have amazing parents and this is just one more time that I can look at and thank God for allowing me to be this blessed. As we talked all the things that seemed to be big got smaller. She was asking about what is going on in my life and as I told her about it I was reminded of why I am here.
All that was said to say I know I am blessed. I know I am in Arkansas for a reason. I get to speak to the adults at our church a week from tomorrow. This will be the first time any of them have heard me. I know what I need to say, I am ready to take another step along the path that is my life. Thank you Karen Peck (my Mom) for bringing my focus back where it needed to be...even though you didn't mean to.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Time for sleep...
Today I had the most emotionally draining day of ups and downs that I have had in a while. It started off first thing in the morning and didn't stop until just a little while ago!
I talked to 3 people today that I didn't expect to talk to. All three are people I consider to be friends and all three bring out different emotional responses in me. Some of them because I miss them and others are different reasons.
I am not one to vent online about my personal life and I am not going to start now. I guess I just want you to be sensitive to the people around you. You never know what is really going on in their lives at the moment you walk in the room, give them a call or send them a text. Just remember that you can change someones day for good or bad with the first word out of your mouth.
I need to sleep now, smile more. It makes everyone's life better.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I talked to 3 people today that I didn't expect to talk to. All three are people I consider to be friends and all three bring out different emotional responses in me. Some of them because I miss them and others are different reasons.
I am not one to vent online about my personal life and I am not going to start now. I guess I just want you to be sensitive to the people around you. You never know what is really going on in their lives at the moment you walk in the room, give them a call or send them a text. Just remember that you can change someones day for good or bad with the first word out of your mouth.
I need to sleep now, smile more. It makes everyone's life better.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, January 24, 2010
All you need is love...
I posted a facebook status that said, "Just saw a blackberry commercial with the song All You Need is Love. Do you agree? Discuss..."
I didn't put any limitations on how this was interpreted or in what context I was talking about love. I got a very interesting mix of comments back. Some people said yes all you need is love and there were various reasons why it was all you need. One person got very literal and said you need food, shelter....other basic things besides love. Then that same person said that one persons actions based on love may seem cruel and inhumane to someone else.
It was a lot to think about and it is funny that no one asked for any clarification. They all just went with what they thought I was asking.
From my point of view I was really looking for what people thought in regards to two different uses of the phrase all you need is love. First in the relationship sense and second in the perspective that in life (and all the decisions that go into life) all you need is love. Agree or disagree on either one of those.
When it comes to a relationship I think that all you need is love does not cover enough. You must add at at least 4 words to this sentance to make it true. "All you need is love"...for the other person! What do I mean by that? If I say all I need is love then of course I mean love for the other person in my relationship...right?
Here is the problem that I see. People say they love someone else...when really they don't. They love the way someone else makes them feel. They love the things someone else does for them. Sometimes they even love the "idea" of being with that other person. In all of these cases they are really saying, "I love me." They are in love with what you do for them and when you stop doing whatever that is...then the love is gone. It magically disappeared! They will give all sorts of reasons why the love they felt is gone, but in reality it was never truly love for the other person at all.
If you truly have love for another person then making them happy is what is most important. Laying down your desires for their good is what you will do and you will do it gladly. This is the kind of love that makes the statement "all you need is love" actually work. The problem is that not very many times in life do we see this kind of love in action. Emotions change, situations change, people change...those are facts. You can love someone no matter what they do or say. You can love someone that doesn't love you back. That choice is up to you.
When it comes to the bigger picture of in life all you need is love...I believe the same equation appplies. If I live my life for the people around me instead of for myself then I will have a positive impact on their lives. I will improve the quality of the lives I come in contact with and when I do that I will improve the quality of my life.
Most people are selfish most of the time. It is amazing to me how when you do the smallest thing for someone they are shocked! You pay for a candy bar for the person in line behind you at the gas station and they don't know how to react! Most people make almost all of their decisions based on what is in their best interest. I will not say that all of my decisions are based on what others need. I will say that I am doing my very best to get there. I choose every day to make decisions that will help someone else because I love them. My love for people in general has led me to where I am today...and I am happy with where I am today.
Pastor Perry said in church today that you never tell the truth at funerals. Everyone was a wonderful person...when they are the one that died. He was kind of joking...but it is also pretty close to true. One thing that jumped out to me when my Grandma Ardis died was that what was said about her was exactly what I had seen in her life. I swear I never heard her say one bad thing about anyone in my whole life. She would do anything for anyone who asked if she was able. She lived a life of love...and they had to have her memorial service at the community center because there wasn't a church big enough in our little town. That is a legacy I would like to leave behind. I want people to know that I care. I want people to feel loved when they are around me. I don't care if I am rich, I don't care if I am famous...I just want to show true love through my life every day until my time is up.
I know I don't always live up to what I want, but I am trying. If I didn't show you the love I should have I am sorry. I will do my very best to do better next time.
This post is long enough...so I am going to stop. Just remember that you can save a life with a kind word. What you do and what you say matter. Change someones life today.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I didn't put any limitations on how this was interpreted or in what context I was talking about love. I got a very interesting mix of comments back. Some people said yes all you need is love and there were various reasons why it was all you need. One person got very literal and said you need food, shelter....other basic things besides love. Then that same person said that one persons actions based on love may seem cruel and inhumane to someone else.
It was a lot to think about and it is funny that no one asked for any clarification. They all just went with what they thought I was asking.
From my point of view I was really looking for what people thought in regards to two different uses of the phrase all you need is love. First in the relationship sense and second in the perspective that in life (and all the decisions that go into life) all you need is love. Agree or disagree on either one of those.
When it comes to a relationship I think that all you need is love does not cover enough. You must add at at least 4 words to this sentance to make it true. "All you need is love"...for the other person! What do I mean by that? If I say all I need is love then of course I mean love for the other person in my relationship...right?
Here is the problem that I see. People say they love someone else...when really they don't. They love the way someone else makes them feel. They love the things someone else does for them. Sometimes they even love the "idea" of being with that other person. In all of these cases they are really saying, "I love me." They are in love with what you do for them and when you stop doing whatever that is...then the love is gone. It magically disappeared! They will give all sorts of reasons why the love they felt is gone, but in reality it was never truly love for the other person at all.
If you truly have love for another person then making them happy is what is most important. Laying down your desires for their good is what you will do and you will do it gladly. This is the kind of love that makes the statement "all you need is love" actually work. The problem is that not very many times in life do we see this kind of love in action. Emotions change, situations change, people change...those are facts. You can love someone no matter what they do or say. You can love someone that doesn't love you back. That choice is up to you.
When it comes to the bigger picture of in life all you need is love...I believe the same equation appplies. If I live my life for the people around me instead of for myself then I will have a positive impact on their lives. I will improve the quality of the lives I come in contact with and when I do that I will improve the quality of my life.
Most people are selfish most of the time. It is amazing to me how when you do the smallest thing for someone they are shocked! You pay for a candy bar for the person in line behind you at the gas station and they don't know how to react! Most people make almost all of their decisions based on what is in their best interest. I will not say that all of my decisions are based on what others need. I will say that I am doing my very best to get there. I choose every day to make decisions that will help someone else because I love them. My love for people in general has led me to where I am today...and I am happy with where I am today.
Pastor Perry said in church today that you never tell the truth at funerals. Everyone was a wonderful person...when they are the one that died. He was kind of joking...but it is also pretty close to true. One thing that jumped out to me when my Grandma Ardis died was that what was said about her was exactly what I had seen in her life. I swear I never heard her say one bad thing about anyone in my whole life. She would do anything for anyone who asked if she was able. She lived a life of love...and they had to have her memorial service at the community center because there wasn't a church big enough in our little town. That is a legacy I would like to leave behind. I want people to know that I care. I want people to feel loved when they are around me. I don't care if I am rich, I don't care if I am famous...I just want to show true love through my life every day until my time is up.
I know I don't always live up to what I want, but I am trying. If I didn't show you the love I should have I am sorry. I will do my very best to do better next time.
This post is long enough...so I am going to stop. Just remember that you can save a life with a kind word. What you do and what you say matter. Change someones life today.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
I don't moderate very well...
Today I truly realized something about me for the first time. This is something that may not be important to you (the reader) at all, but it does really matter to me.
For years I used to say I didn't moderate very well. When I do something, I do that thing a LOT! I was not allowed to carry medicine, energy pills...etc. This was not when I was a child, this was me in my early 20's!
Most of the time it was my brother who would notice my excess and remind me to stop. I no longer have any trouble with medicine, energy pills, energy drinks...or any of the vices that I couldn't control at that time.
In the past two or three years I had stopped saying I don't moderate well. I was keeping things in check and then I moved here.
I didn't pick back up any habits that I had from years gone by, but today I looked at patterns in my life right now. I don't have a problem so much with moderation, I react to stress by using repetition.
I am not a person who gets stressed out. I don't worry about things and I don't show the cracks of stressful situations. I fill those cracks with repetition. I will give you the example that made this all clear to me.
The week I was going to move into my apt here was very stressful emotionally. Not because I was moving, it was another major situation that caused me a lot of stress. Most people didn't see a change in me and they didn't notice a change in me over the past two weeks either (another very highly emotional time of stress for me.) The pattern that emerged was in my food habits. The first month I lived here I ONLY had pre-cooked chicken, rice and soy sauce. I ate 4 bags of rice in a month. I got away from that for a few weeks and then last week I went shopping for food. In the past week I have eaten an entire bag of tangerines and 14 cans of tuna. Every night I came home and read a book while I ate oranges and tuna. My routine puts my mind on auto-pilot in certain areas so I can deal with other things.
Looking back I see this pattern to be true. After the most stressful situation of my life I filled my routine with unhealthy things that I didn't moderate and those things I stopped once I got my head straight and dealt with the past. Since moving here I have been quiet and reserved at work. Neither of those are typical traits for me but I look back and that is how I started off my last couple jobs in new areas. While I am getting comfortable and dealing with the stress of a new place I get into routines and I pull back socially. This gives me less to deal with so that I can use my energy to focus on the task at hand.
So I guess I say all that to say I don't have a moderation problem, I just don't always deal with stress in a healthy manner. You may not see it, but it does affect me. Now that I see this in myself I am going to work on it. I guess time will tell what happens next. I am trying to deal with my current stress in a healthier way. Let's see if it works.
Like I said, this post was more for me than it really was for you. You now have a little better view of what goes on in my mind from time to time.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
For years I used to say I didn't moderate very well. When I do something, I do that thing a LOT! I was not allowed to carry medicine, energy pills...etc. This was not when I was a child, this was me in my early 20's!
Most of the time it was my brother who would notice my excess and remind me to stop. I no longer have any trouble with medicine, energy pills, energy drinks...or any of the vices that I couldn't control at that time.
In the past two or three years I had stopped saying I don't moderate well. I was keeping things in check and then I moved here.
I didn't pick back up any habits that I had from years gone by, but today I looked at patterns in my life right now. I don't have a problem so much with moderation, I react to stress by using repetition.
I am not a person who gets stressed out. I don't worry about things and I don't show the cracks of stressful situations. I fill those cracks with repetition. I will give you the example that made this all clear to me.
The week I was going to move into my apt here was very stressful emotionally. Not because I was moving, it was another major situation that caused me a lot of stress. Most people didn't see a change in me and they didn't notice a change in me over the past two weeks either (another very highly emotional time of stress for me.) The pattern that emerged was in my food habits. The first month I lived here I ONLY had pre-cooked chicken, rice and soy sauce. I ate 4 bags of rice in a month. I got away from that for a few weeks and then last week I went shopping for food. In the past week I have eaten an entire bag of tangerines and 14 cans of tuna. Every night I came home and read a book while I ate oranges and tuna. My routine puts my mind on auto-pilot in certain areas so I can deal with other things.
Looking back I see this pattern to be true. After the most stressful situation of my life I filled my routine with unhealthy things that I didn't moderate and those things I stopped once I got my head straight and dealt with the past. Since moving here I have been quiet and reserved at work. Neither of those are typical traits for me but I look back and that is how I started off my last couple jobs in new areas. While I am getting comfortable and dealing with the stress of a new place I get into routines and I pull back socially. This gives me less to deal with so that I can use my energy to focus on the task at hand.
So I guess I say all that to say I don't have a moderation problem, I just don't always deal with stress in a healthy manner. You may not see it, but it does affect me. Now that I see this in myself I am going to work on it. I guess time will tell what happens next. I am trying to deal with my current stress in a healthier way. Let's see if it works.
Like I said, this post was more for me than it really was for you. You now have a little better view of what goes on in my mind from time to time.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, January 14, 2010
I had several blog ideas today...
What one am I going to write about? I'm not sure just yet...well it started with the whole Haiti earthquake relief. It is amazing to see people band together and give so much help (help that is desperately needed!) even when we are in "tough economic times." Our economy doesn't seem so bad when you think about the fact that 1/3 of Haiti's population was affected by the earthquake. We lay down our own "needs" in a second when a true need rises up...but how many thousands of people die each day around the world and IN THE USA because they lack the basic essentials for life! They don't have clean water or they lack the ability to santitize their food.
Why does it take something like this to make us see how much we have to give?
I did donate a small amount of money to help with the relief, I am not saying we shouldn't help! I'm saying why don't we help someone each month instead of just when the big disaster happens? Why is need so out of sight out of mind in our society as a whole? I am not saying anything to you that I am not saying to myself too! I want to do more, I can do more and I will do more.
This isn't a contest and I know that not everyone is in the same financial situation. I do know this, almost all of us eat out more than we need to and could cut a Starbucks drink or two out a month to change a life. Just think about it, do what you are comfortable with. No pressure from me...just don't forget that the need is there.
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Why does it take something like this to make us see how much we have to give?
I did donate a small amount of money to help with the relief, I am not saying we shouldn't help! I'm saying why don't we help someone each month instead of just when the big disaster happens? Why is need so out of sight out of mind in our society as a whole? I am not saying anything to you that I am not saying to myself too! I want to do more, I can do more and I will do more.
This isn't a contest and I know that not everyone is in the same financial situation. I do know this, almost all of us eat out more than we need to and could cut a Starbucks drink or two out a month to change a life. Just think about it, do what you are comfortable with. No pressure from me...just don't forget that the need is there.
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Tuesday, January 12, 2010
I wrote a poem again...
The last time I wrote one was...well it was a long time ago. I am pretty sure that I blogged about how I stored it in my phone and that phone died...and so did my poem.
This one is not stored on my phone...but it is in a journal that for now is just for me.
I don't think it is a very good poem, but at least it is something. I do my very best not to vent in my writing and for the most part I don't. Poetry is an outlet, it says things that only the writer truly understands. You may think you know, but most of the time you only know as much as the writer wants you to know about the true feelings behind a poem.
Mine was written for me. I will read it again tomorrow night and see what I think of it then. :) for now I am going to attempt sleep once again.
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This one is not stored on my phone...but it is in a journal that for now is just for me.
I don't think it is a very good poem, but at least it is something. I do my very best not to vent in my writing and for the most part I don't. Poetry is an outlet, it says things that only the writer truly understands. You may think you know, but most of the time you only know as much as the writer wants you to know about the true feelings behind a poem.
Mine was written for me. I will read it again tomorrow night and see what I think of it then. :) for now I am going to attempt sleep once again.
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Monday, January 4, 2010
I'm blessed...so much more than I deserve
Once again I am blessed beyond what I expected or even was hoping for! As some of you know I have had a car that...has a lot of character! I have been driving a 1987 AMC Eagle the "Chick Magnet" for almost two years now. I am not complaining, it was a blessing when I got it and it served me well. I had been planning on selling it around the middle of this month and buying another car. Well the Chick Magnet had other plans. It decided to die as I was pulling into the church parking lot on Sunday...and it is still sitting in the parking spot that the ushers, greeters and PJ helped me push it into. So today I decided I was going to buy a car, since I didn't have one to drive.
Here is where the story gets fun; sometime this morning someone called the dealership where I was buying a car and said they wanted to help me buy one! They put down money on top of my down payment and said that the salesman couldn't tell me who it was! As if that wasn't awesome enough the guy who was going to buy the Chick Magnet (even though I can't get it started!) said he wanted to pay more than double what I was asking for it while it was running! To top it all off the dealer who I was talking to about a car gives me a much better price than he had to and with all the help from the unknown giver and the buyer of my broken down car I now have a car with a reasonable payment! Even if I only pay exactly the payments I will have the car paid off in 12 months! If that isn't God at work in the first week of this New Year I don't know what is!
God is good...and you can say that all of this was done by people. Which of course is true, but why would all these people decide to help me!? I haven't known any of them a year yet and we all know that the economy is not booming to the point that they all had extra money laying around to throw toward a guy that they are still getting to know!
I have been blown away once again by the friends that I have here...oh man, I almost forgot! I was also loaned a car this morning to get to and from work because my car stayed in the parking lot from Sunday morning until...now! I have an amazing friend who said, "I don't need my car today, just drop it off after you get off work." That just doesn't happen!
Now I know I didn't list any names...and some of you know who some of the people are that helped me today. I will and have thanked all of the people that I know who they are. I know that none of them did anything for me so that other people would pat them on the back. They reached out and helped where they could.
That is what love does. You might not have all the pieces to help put someone back together...but you might have a piece. Sometimes we think that what we have doesn't amount to much. We think that what we can do won't make a difference. You couldn't be more wrong. If we all do what we can do then we can change the world...one life at a time. Thank you to everyone who does their part. Thank you to all of you who do the things that don't get noticed by most people. If you look at your life and you haven't been doing the small things to help other people...now is a great time to start. It is like someone once said, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is right now."
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Here is where the story gets fun; sometime this morning someone called the dealership where I was buying a car and said they wanted to help me buy one! They put down money on top of my down payment and said that the salesman couldn't tell me who it was! As if that wasn't awesome enough the guy who was going to buy the Chick Magnet (even though I can't get it started!) said he wanted to pay more than double what I was asking for it while it was running! To top it all off the dealer who I was talking to about a car gives me a much better price than he had to and with all the help from the unknown giver and the buyer of my broken down car I now have a car with a reasonable payment! Even if I only pay exactly the payments I will have the car paid off in 12 months! If that isn't God at work in the first week of this New Year I don't know what is!
God is good...and you can say that all of this was done by people. Which of course is true, but why would all these people decide to help me!? I haven't known any of them a year yet and we all know that the economy is not booming to the point that they all had extra money laying around to throw toward a guy that they are still getting to know!
I have been blown away once again by the friends that I have here...oh man, I almost forgot! I was also loaned a car this morning to get to and from work because my car stayed in the parking lot from Sunday morning until...now! I have an amazing friend who said, "I don't need my car today, just drop it off after you get off work." That just doesn't happen!
Now I know I didn't list any names...and some of you know who some of the people are that helped me today. I will and have thanked all of the people that I know who they are. I know that none of them did anything for me so that other people would pat them on the back. They reached out and helped where they could.
That is what love does. You might not have all the pieces to help put someone back together...but you might have a piece. Sometimes we think that what we have doesn't amount to much. We think that what we can do won't make a difference. You couldn't be more wrong. If we all do what we can do then we can change the world...one life at a time. Thank you to everyone who does their part. Thank you to all of you who do the things that don't get noticed by most people. If you look at your life and you haven't been doing the small things to help other people...now is a great time to start. It is like someone once said, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is right now."
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Friday, January 1, 2010
2009...change
Change is the theme of this year for me. There is no question about that. Last year at 10:10pm on January 1st I was in Stevenson, WA with my brother and my cousin watching videos on YouTube.
If you had told me right them that by in one year I would have left my job and taken a position as a singles pastor in Bryant AR I would have said you were crazy! What a difference a year makes.
One thing I know is that I never say never. There seems to be no rhyme or reason when it comes to where I am going to move or what job I will be asked to do next. That has never been more evident in my life than right now.
People make plans, they look at exactly how they want their lives to go and where they see themselves in 5, 10 or 20 years. I'm not saying that having a plan is bad or wrong...what I am saying is that you need to enjoy what you have and where you are right now!
I left a lot of really good friends and my Dad when I left Oklahoma. I had a good job, a stable job where they wanted me to stay. I was very blessed with everything I had and all the people that were in my life every day.
From the outside looking in my choices don't always make sense. The reason for that is because I don't make my choices based on what "you" are going to think about them. I believe God has a plan for the life of every human. You don't have to agree with me on that, you choose what you believe. I also believe that if I make my choices based on love and where I believe God wants me to be then I will be happy.
If I told you that this whole year has been fun or that I haven't had any struggles along the way I would be lying. My happiness is not based on my circumstances or what side of the bed I wake up on. The last month has shown me that I can be happy when nothing seems right. I can rest in the fact that I am not moved by what I see. I am doing my very best each day to show the love of a perfect God through me, an imperfect man. I am honored to be used to help anyones life. I'm not here for me, I'm here to help as many people as possible before my time is up.
I found out in the last year that people in Arkansas are really nice. Southern hospitality is not a myth. I constantly have people checking to make sure I am not alone for the holidays or that I don't spend too much time by myself. These aren't lifelong friends, these aren't people I had ever met before 2009 (with the exception of one family.) These are people who opened their homes and their hearts to a guy from Washington that they don't really know. They have done for me what I am trying to do for them.
Most people won't get this far into this post. I found that long posts are only read by a few people...but if you made it this far I want to ask you to do something for me. Change someones life this year. Reach out and make a difference. Smile when you don't feel like it. Hold the door when it is raining. Invite someone to come with you to the movies even though your friends don't know them. Close the gap that people feel between them and the rest of the world.
"Be the change you want to see in the world." -Ghandi
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If you had told me right them that by in one year I would have left my job and taken a position as a singles pastor in Bryant AR I would have said you were crazy! What a difference a year makes.
One thing I know is that I never say never. There seems to be no rhyme or reason when it comes to where I am going to move or what job I will be asked to do next. That has never been more evident in my life than right now.
People make plans, they look at exactly how they want their lives to go and where they see themselves in 5, 10 or 20 years. I'm not saying that having a plan is bad or wrong...what I am saying is that you need to enjoy what you have and where you are right now!
I left a lot of really good friends and my Dad when I left Oklahoma. I had a good job, a stable job where they wanted me to stay. I was very blessed with everything I had and all the people that were in my life every day.
From the outside looking in my choices don't always make sense. The reason for that is because I don't make my choices based on what "you" are going to think about them. I believe God has a plan for the life of every human. You don't have to agree with me on that, you choose what you believe. I also believe that if I make my choices based on love and where I believe God wants me to be then I will be happy.
If I told you that this whole year has been fun or that I haven't had any struggles along the way I would be lying. My happiness is not based on my circumstances or what side of the bed I wake up on. The last month has shown me that I can be happy when nothing seems right. I can rest in the fact that I am not moved by what I see. I am doing my very best each day to show the love of a perfect God through me, an imperfect man. I am honored to be used to help anyones life. I'm not here for me, I'm here to help as many people as possible before my time is up.
I found out in the last year that people in Arkansas are really nice. Southern hospitality is not a myth. I constantly have people checking to make sure I am not alone for the holidays or that I don't spend too much time by myself. These aren't lifelong friends, these aren't people I had ever met before 2009 (with the exception of one family.) These are people who opened their homes and their hearts to a guy from Washington that they don't really know. They have done for me what I am trying to do for them.
Most people won't get this far into this post. I found that long posts are only read by a few people...but if you made it this far I want to ask you to do something for me. Change someones life this year. Reach out and make a difference. Smile when you don't feel like it. Hold the door when it is raining. Invite someone to come with you to the movies even though your friends don't know them. Close the gap that people feel between them and the rest of the world.
"Be the change you want to see in the world." -Ghandi
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