This is going to be for believers and non-believers in Jesus.
I may have lost several people after stating that but for those that have stuck around:
Have you ever wondered where Jesus or God was during any past situation? This is not going to "explain" everything but just to offer my opinion on certain situations. (My Disclaimer)
Maybe there was a time in history such as natural catastrophes, evil rulers, or even just event in your own life. No matter the situation, where was God during that event? People always wonder: If God is all powerful and is such a loving God, then why does he let bad things happen? The first thing we need to remember is that God does not LET these things happen. We live in an imperfect world that is ever changing. We do not know when it is going to be any person’s time to go so we would need to prepare ourselves for that time.
You hear several people say: Live life as if there is no tomorrow, Live life to the fullest. We all take for granite that there will be a tomorrow. That is why I am posting this now. What if something was to happen and you truly did not get to do even just a handful of the things that you thought were possible to accomplish in your life. I am not saying to spend your whole paycheck to go tour Europe or go golfing all day for weeks or go to Vegas for a luxurious vacation; because what if then there is a tomorrow and you have to go back to what we call a “normal” life. That would not be practical. I believe that was the problem with some of the evil leaders of our time. They could not see past the fact that maybe what they were or are doing, could be wrong. If they were wrong, what would happen the next day? Most of them have found out what happens. They did not see past that illusion of what would happen if there was a “tomorrow.” They did not see the bigger picture. I am not saying that you should live a life in the dark wonder what might happen. What I am saying you need to prepare your heart for a life of understanding and a life of peace. I have found that in my faith. I do not have a defining moment in my life that made me say that is the time I decided that I am going to change my ways. It has been and still is a struggle. I am NOT a perfect person. I do not consider myself a role model or a person to look up towards. There are times in my life that I know that one way or another I am going to have to answer towards. Also, I am not trying to tell you that you HAVE to live your life this way. I am just saying that it is easier for me to accept certain events as tragedies but not “end of the world” tragedies. The natural catastrophes that have occurred are hard to watch and hard to believe that God could allow this to happen. But however, they are examples that it could be us that will be affected the next time. I really do pray for those people and I hope that they can find comfort that there is a higher power at work and they ARE NOT in control. None of us are in control. Every time we try to control our lives beyond what we are able then we tend to get stressed or start to loss hope. We do have a certain amount of control but when we get to the point where we could say: How am I going to get through this? Then that is the point where God will come to help us. There was a song that helps to explain what I am trying to say:
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
I just want anyone who is reading this to know that we are NOT in control. I had thought at one time, I wish I had all the answers but then I thought about it and I am not sure I want to know. I really like knowing that I am here for a larger purpose. Do I specifically believe in a Heaven and Hell? I do not really….. But I do believe that there is more to this life that I could possibly imagine.
I have found comfort in that and I have found comfort in believing in a God that will give me the direction I need to live my life either for myself, for my family or for others… However it was meant to for MY path.
So maybe just a little:
May The Force Of THX Give Your Life More Clarity
Friday, April 29, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Why I love this time of year
This is such a busy time for everyone. Spring sports are starting up, people starting to take some vacations or starting to plan vacations. This time before schools ends always seems to go by so fast. But…. There is always one time that I just wish would slow down just a bit and it is this week. There are so many stories out there that people are writing and books that are being made by the thousands. However, there is only one story that will always touch me in a way that make be break down and really make me think that I am not worthy. I know this is long but please take a few minutes to read through it.
The story is the same and it is told pretty much the same every year. Here is my version:
There was a man who was born just like any other man. There was one exception. He was already told the path for his life but he still had to live it… as a mortal man. This man, well, boy … went through his early life just wanting to be a boy. He wanted to explore and try new things, like any other person at his age. He saw where his parents were going and wanted to know more. He went to seek out those places and people there were even taken back by the fact that a boy wanted to be more than what he was. This boy had been told that he was special and had a purpose. Are we not all raised the same way? Did you Mom or Dad tell you that you were special? But somehow he started to believe it as well at a young age. The written story seems to stop at that point. But why? Was it because no one documented his life? Was it because he disappeared for a while? Did people lose interest? Did people lose hope? I think it was because the story was meant to be one of the best stories about what some people believe to be about a perfect person and that time was not perfect. I do have a belief that there may have been stories of that boy becoming a man and those stories were not perfect. There have been movies that have shared the same thoughts. I am using a few of those and expanding just a bit. I believe that during that time were not the greatest of times for that boy. He was going through changes like we all did. I think that he was not perfect. I am sure he got mad at his parents, I am sure that he rebelled like we all did at one point. I have told stories of my past and I would not want to re-live that time at all. I put those stories out there not to gain sympathy but to get them out of my mind and move on. I am sure that those were the same thoughts of the writers of that time. This boy went through many trials and hard times but the people of that time may have documented them but they were never made public because of the fact that this was supposed to be the story of the greatest man who ever lived. Why would you want to tell stories of how he was weak and troubled? That does not help with building a great character story. What does help is that this boy becomes a man and is still strong in character and does not waiver. So why give out facts that man paint a different picture of someone who may have had hard choices and may not have made the right path. I am sure that most of us wish there were times now that we look back that we could have rewritten that small part of the story but it is not possible. Also, it seems as though there was not the same open society that we have today. If there were rumors of anything that was not liked by the rulers, those people were dealt with in a way that silenced any word of what happened. And so the story picks up after that rebellious and adolescent time. Most of us can agree that after we hit our late 20’s and early 30’s that we became more responsible. We all still remember the times when we were younger and had some revelations from when we were younger. Some “aha!” moments. I am sure that is what happened to this man. He remembered his parents telling him stories about who he was and what he was meant to do. I am sure that he had some internal feelings as well that made him realize that it was time to start to be the man that he was meant to become. The story goes on about time of extraordinary events that happen. It is hard for anyone to really believe that these events happened. Most of these events cannot even duplicated to today with modern technology but it is written that this man achieved the impossible. The one thing that is kind of odd about those events is that they are not debated in history. They are debated now by people but not in the history books. This man was also telling stories of events that had not happened but later became true. These note vague events and they were not far into the future. Most of them were just days away. Getting to the end of the story, he would tell the people about events like what you one person would do after he was gone. He told another one on how that person would betray him. He told about events that had a chronological order and after the story was written, it was documents that those events did happen. He even told stories about how he would die and what would happen to him after he died. He told stories about why he was there and what he was meant to fulfill. At that point, that is all those were… just “stories”. No one really believed them because it was just kind of far-fetched that a man could know so much about the future and only be a man. The story ends with more facts that were foretold by this man. He was beaten and tortured and humiliated. He was given several opportunities to have that treatment stop. He was told that he did not have to go through with this. But in his mind, he knew why he must go through this type of pain. It was for each person. His “aha!” moment was that he was meant to fulfill a purpose. He then knew that he was not here to be wealthy, to be popular, or to be a great ruler; but to become a man of the people. There are several of those people living today but none of them have the same mindset that this man had. He knew that in order to be a true “man of the people” that he would have to give up those things that may come his way such as, money, popularity and achieve great leadership. This man took it upon himself to show the world that he was who he had now become. This was one man who said that we all needed help that we all needed hope of a better life, that we all are special. There were a few other specific events that were fulfilled and he knew that after those were completed that it was time. He then just gave himself up, a true “man of the people”. At that point there was darkness and the earth shook. Then the overall story ends. That is actual fact. There may be some debate on how some of the little stories actually happened or if they were exaggerated a bit, even the end of the story about the darkness and the earth shaking.
This is where the story continues on for those who believe and have faith. There are those who do not believe and there are those that refuse to believe. I am the opposite. I refuse to NOT believe. I am sure it had to be how I was raised or what has happened to be in my life but I find it hard to not believe that this is all that we have in our life; what is right in front of us. If that is the case, then this all is very sad. I do not know what I am meant to accomplish in life but I know it was not to sit behind a half of a desk and test software. I am not meant to make a ton of money. I am not meant to be the most popular person. I am not meant to be a ruler. I do not know what I am supposed to do but I do have faith that someone came to this Earth to give me a bit of guidance on HOW I am supposed to live. I have faith that there is more to this life that what I can physically see. I do not put my faith in those other things, money, popularity, or power. All of those things can be taken away so fast that you have nothing left but one thing. That is your faith. I am not trying to preach to anyone here but I am telling you why I believe in that Man who gave me hope that there is more to this world than what we see right in front of us.
There are two songs that I HAVE to listen to continuously every year at this time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK1MXQxNlYI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hirUSLS54WU
May the Force of THX Give Your Life More Clarity
The story is the same and it is told pretty much the same every year. Here is my version:
There was a man who was born just like any other man. There was one exception. He was already told the path for his life but he still had to live it… as a mortal man. This man, well, boy … went through his early life just wanting to be a boy. He wanted to explore and try new things, like any other person at his age. He saw where his parents were going and wanted to know more. He went to seek out those places and people there were even taken back by the fact that a boy wanted to be more than what he was. This boy had been told that he was special and had a purpose. Are we not all raised the same way? Did you Mom or Dad tell you that you were special? But somehow he started to believe it as well at a young age. The written story seems to stop at that point. But why? Was it because no one documented his life? Was it because he disappeared for a while? Did people lose interest? Did people lose hope? I think it was because the story was meant to be one of the best stories about what some people believe to be about a perfect person and that time was not perfect. I do have a belief that there may have been stories of that boy becoming a man and those stories were not perfect. There have been movies that have shared the same thoughts. I am using a few of those and expanding just a bit. I believe that during that time were not the greatest of times for that boy. He was going through changes like we all did. I think that he was not perfect. I am sure he got mad at his parents, I am sure that he rebelled like we all did at one point. I have told stories of my past and I would not want to re-live that time at all. I put those stories out there not to gain sympathy but to get them out of my mind and move on. I am sure that those were the same thoughts of the writers of that time. This boy went through many trials and hard times but the people of that time may have documented them but they were never made public because of the fact that this was supposed to be the story of the greatest man who ever lived. Why would you want to tell stories of how he was weak and troubled? That does not help with building a great character story. What does help is that this boy becomes a man and is still strong in character and does not waiver. So why give out facts that man paint a different picture of someone who may have had hard choices and may not have made the right path. I am sure that most of us wish there were times now that we look back that we could have rewritten that small part of the story but it is not possible. Also, it seems as though there was not the same open society that we have today. If there were rumors of anything that was not liked by the rulers, those people were dealt with in a way that silenced any word of what happened. And so the story picks up after that rebellious and adolescent time. Most of us can agree that after we hit our late 20’s and early 30’s that we became more responsible. We all still remember the times when we were younger and had some revelations from when we were younger. Some “aha!” moments. I am sure that is what happened to this man. He remembered his parents telling him stories about who he was and what he was meant to do. I am sure that he had some internal feelings as well that made him realize that it was time to start to be the man that he was meant to become. The story goes on about time of extraordinary events that happen. It is hard for anyone to really believe that these events happened. Most of these events cannot even duplicated to today with modern technology but it is written that this man achieved the impossible. The one thing that is kind of odd about those events is that they are not debated in history. They are debated now by people but not in the history books. This man was also telling stories of events that had not happened but later became true. These note vague events and they were not far into the future. Most of them were just days away. Getting to the end of the story, he would tell the people about events like what you one person would do after he was gone. He told another one on how that person would betray him. He told about events that had a chronological order and after the story was written, it was documents that those events did happen. He even told stories about how he would die and what would happen to him after he died. He told stories about why he was there and what he was meant to fulfill. At that point, that is all those were… just “stories”. No one really believed them because it was just kind of far-fetched that a man could know so much about the future and only be a man. The story ends with more facts that were foretold by this man. He was beaten and tortured and humiliated. He was given several opportunities to have that treatment stop. He was told that he did not have to go through with this. But in his mind, he knew why he must go through this type of pain. It was for each person. His “aha!” moment was that he was meant to fulfill a purpose. He then knew that he was not here to be wealthy, to be popular, or to be a great ruler; but to become a man of the people. There are several of those people living today but none of them have the same mindset that this man had. He knew that in order to be a true “man of the people” that he would have to give up those things that may come his way such as, money, popularity and achieve great leadership. This man took it upon himself to show the world that he was who he had now become. This was one man who said that we all needed help that we all needed hope of a better life, that we all are special. There were a few other specific events that were fulfilled and he knew that after those were completed that it was time. He then just gave himself up, a true “man of the people”. At that point there was darkness and the earth shook. Then the overall story ends. That is actual fact. There may be some debate on how some of the little stories actually happened or if they were exaggerated a bit, even the end of the story about the darkness and the earth shaking.
This is where the story continues on for those who believe and have faith. There are those who do not believe and there are those that refuse to believe. I am the opposite. I refuse to NOT believe. I am sure it had to be how I was raised or what has happened to be in my life but I find it hard to not believe that this is all that we have in our life; what is right in front of us. If that is the case, then this all is very sad. I do not know what I am meant to accomplish in life but I know it was not to sit behind a half of a desk and test software. I am not meant to make a ton of money. I am not meant to be the most popular person. I am not meant to be a ruler. I do not know what I am supposed to do but I do have faith that someone came to this Earth to give me a bit of guidance on HOW I am supposed to live. I have faith that there is more to this life that what I can physically see. I do not put my faith in those other things, money, popularity, or power. All of those things can be taken away so fast that you have nothing left but one thing. That is your faith. I am not trying to preach to anyone here but I am telling you why I believe in that Man who gave me hope that there is more to this world than what we see right in front of us.
There are two songs that I HAVE to listen to continuously every year at this time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK1MXQxNlYI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hirUSLS54WU
May the Force of THX Give Your Life More Clarity
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Continuing On.....
Alright, I left off with middle school….. I was starting to feel more comfortable but still not fitting in with a group. I did try out a few church camps and those were great. I loved that. I have had my kids start to go and they did like them as much but they do not seem to be the same as they were way back in the day – side note, can you not say “back in the day” without turning your lips in and talking like an old person, just wondering, - Anyway church camps… I had a great time at those. It could be that it reminded me so much of small town life and several of them were from smaller towns or it might have been that I did not have to try to fit in there. Everyone was accepted. 
That is when I thought things could get better starting in high school. In a way I was right. I got to the point where I acted like I did not really care what people thought about me but I really did. I would do certain things to specifically standout, by the clothes that I wore the people that I started hanging out with and just being different. I was not trying to impress anyone like I was in the previous years. I felt better at that time but I still look back and realized that I did not really like high school that much. Maybe I just remember the bad times and not all the good times. I do remember some of the times where I was acting like a teenager. Those were some of the best times. We would not do anything that was too out of line. I would leave cartons of milks in my locker for weeks until it was so bloated that was about to explode. I would then pull the lockers away from the wall just enough to put the carton back there and reset the lockers. That carton burst and that smell traveled to other parts of the school. Man that was funny because really only a select few of us know who did it and I never got caught. There were other things again like rolling bbs under the Math office door. I am only mentioning all of this now is because the statute of limitations has my partner-in-crime at the time was the same locker partner that I hated from Middle School. Yes. That same person is now my best friend still to this day. There was Cell Biology that was a waste of time because of the people that were in the class. I did learn anything in that class. I guess just enough to pass. That was about all I remember from my freshman and sophomore years. I know that is pretty sad. Well there was one more thing that I do remember and that was meeting my wife. That was a match made in Marching Band. It was weird because it was just a perfect fit. We pretty much got along all of the time….. I know that is not true. We were able to fight well, though. There were a few times that things did not really work out but we always came back to each other. She never really left but I had some problems. It was really a great time with her. She really helped me to get though several events and I think that is why my Junior and Senior years were a blur. I really did not care about school. I did just enough to graduate, just barely. The other times that were good involved Marching Band but were not specifically school related.
That is when I thought things could get better starting in high school. In a way I was right. I got to the point where I acted like I did not really care what people thought about me but I really did. I would do certain things to specifically standout, by the clothes that I wore the people that I started hanging out with and just being different. I was not trying to impress anyone like I was in the previous years. I felt better at that time but I still look back and realized that I did not really like high school that much. Maybe I just remember the bad times and not all the good times. I do remember some of the times where I was acting like a teenager. Those were some of the best times. We would not do anything that was too out of line. I would leave cartons of milks in my locker for weeks until it was so bloated that was about to explode. I would then pull the lockers away from the wall just enough to put the carton back there and reset the lockers. That carton burst and that smell traveled to other parts of the school. Man that was funny because really only a select few of us know who did it and I never got caught. There were other things again like rolling bbs under the Math office door. I am only mentioning all of this now is because the statute of limitations has my partner-in-crime at the time was the same locker partner that I hated from Middle School. Yes. That same person is now my best friend still to this day. There was Cell Biology that was a waste of time because of the people that were in the class. I did learn anything in that class. I guess just enough to pass. That was about all I remember from my freshman and sophomore years. I know that is pretty sad. Well there was one more thing that I do remember and that was meeting my wife. That was a match made in Marching Band. It was weird because it was just a perfect fit. We pretty much got along all of the time….. I know that is not true. We were able to fight well, though. There were a few times that things did not really work out but we always came back to each other. She never really left but I had some problems. It was really a great time with her. She really helped me to get though several events and I think that is why my Junior and Senior years were a blur. I really did not care about school. I did just enough to graduate, just barely. The other times that were good involved Marching Band but were not specifically school related.
So all in all, I did not care for school in general. I know people look back and say: "It was the best of times."
Not for me.
I would say the best of times is now. People wonder why I act the way I do, like a child sometimes; it is because I liked the way I felt back then but I love the people I am with now more. I combine those two feelings and it is just fun.
Everything has changed since my school days. I am not as out-going as I was, I am way more responsible and I guess I care more about being a better person that I do about what others think about me. Which is a complete 180 from high school.
Now that I am done with the past, the future posts will have a deeper purpose.... yeah right!
May the Force of THX Make Your LIfe More Clear
(still needs work)
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