Saturday, March 26, 2011

There Is Hope!

There is HOPE.  Always has been.

In the darkest of hours, even at the brink of death, there is hope.

The first glimmer of hope was given in Genesis when GOD pronounced that the seed of the woman would be the Saviour of the world.  HIS heel would crush the head of the serpent.

When HE gave us HIS WORD HE gave us hope.  The culmination of that HOPE was in the great sacrifice when GOD'S SON showed up on earth shed HIS HOLY, SINLESS BLOOD and died for HIS people to save them from their sins.  HE rose again and sits at the right hand of THE FATHER.  HIS PROMISE to return was not empty as is ours.  HIS second coming is imminent whether it be today, next year or 100 years from now.

Are you prepared to meet GOD on HIS terms?  Have you thought about what it will take to get you to Heaven?  If you think being good will get you there, THE BIBLE says that only Salvation through the death and resurrection of the ultimate sacrifice will any of us be clean enough to stand before a HOLY GOD.  You must believe and accept HIM as your SAVIOUR.  Accept HIM as LORD over your life.

These are pretty bold statements but they do not come from me, the come from THE BIBLE.  I purposely do not quote Chapter and Verse from THE BIBLE.  I feel it is up to you to make the study your own.  Pick up that BOOK that gathers dust on the shelf or is stored in a box in the garage or is maybe hidden because you do not want anyone to find it, but cannot bring yourself to throw it away.  Then read it.  Find out for yourself why HE did everything.  The answers are in there.  Sometimes I have found them to be difficult to understand, but understanding comes with study.

THERE IS HOPE.  AS LONG AS THERE IS BREATH, THERE IS HOPE.

Shalom.  Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.

Friday, March 25, 2011

The Sky Really Is Falling, You Know!

Radiation, volcanic ash, acid rain (not to be confused with acid rock), meteorites, blizzards, tornadoes, hail, monsoons, snow (not to be confused with heroin), firecrackers, greenhouse gases, methane gas from cattle - okay, some of that is not falling from the sky.

THE LORD told us that certain things were bound to happen.  Did we listen?  Of course not! 

Before explorers discovered the world was round, GOD told us in Scripture that the earth was round and before scientists proved that the earth orbited around the sun HE told us in Scripture that the earth was hung in the heavens.  HE never said anything about the earth being carried about on the back of a turtle or held up by Atlas or anything like that.

Funny how THE WORD OF GOD is almost always in question and being derided by the poor ignorant souls who choose to ignore, pooh-pooh and denigrate THE WORD OF GOD.  It was TRUE when it was passed down orally through the generations.  It was TRUE when it was written in stone by THE HAND OF GOD.  It was TRUE when GOD spoke through men and put HIS WORDS in writing.  It is TRUE today.

What is more amazing is it does not matter if you believe it is TRUE.  It is still TRUE.  It will always be TRUE.  That is why they call it ABSOLUTE TRUTH.

Science, technology and all of the philosophers spouting human words of wisdom as though they truly know anything.  They deny the power of GOD while still being unable to explain anything, give reasons for the existence of earth, humanity and all the trappings. 

They search for the string that binds us all together while discussing whether or not there is life on other planets and whether or not their salvation would be dependent upon Jesus The Christ. 

My goodness!  We have yet to determine if there is intelligent life here on earth.  But, we so do want to solve spiritual problems on worlds that we are not sure even exist. Huh?  The theory of everything is just that - theory. 

I like science.  I really do.  I just think we spend so much time trying to deal with the what ifs of the universe, that we fail to deal with some of the things right here, right now that we might actually be able to handle.  I like science fiction as well.  There has been quite a few discoveries brought on by people reading science fiction and saying, "Why not?"

Science has done more to prove the existence of GOD and reinforce the Scriptures than it has to disprove it.

That is my rant for the night.  I have been watching too much Discovery Channel.

Oh, did I mention meteorites?  There's a big one coming.  Straight for the earth, too!  ;]

Shalom.  Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. 

Why Don't You Just Get A Job?

I have never been as aware of how that question must sound as I am now.  I know now how difficult it can be.  I have been unemployed through no choice of my own during an economy that lends itself to joblessness.  So, how does one just find a job?

The question that comes next is, "Why don't you just go where there are jobs?"

When I was in my 30's and younger, I asked those same questions of chronically unemployed people I met.  Little did I know that some day I would be there.

I actually might be able to get a job elsewhere maybe moving a thousand miles or maybe just 200 miles away from my home.  But I have found I do not want to move.  I have lived here for almost 20 years.  Our house is ours.  I have pets.  I am 62.  When I was 32 moving was not a big deal.  The excitement of moving to a new area was a good thing.  I actually had a job that required that I move every 2 to 3 years.  I was the office manager for a construction company that set up offices across the country until jobs were finished.  Back then, I enjoyed moving.  I had little and few connections.   My ex-husband had custody of our son and it was easier to be gone than fight with the ex every day over some of the dumbest things.  I was still able to see my son when scheduled visits were allowed.

Back then, arthritis was not a factor.  And the extra weight I have put on was not there to slow me down.  My mother suffered from rheumatoid arthritis but even with that knowledge, I never thought about how it might affect me in 20 or 30 years.  I actually never thought about aging and therefore never prepared myself mentally for it.

I also never considered that I would one day not be working.  Retirement was the farthest thing from my mind.  Even last year, I thought it was at least 4 years away.  I have not even taken a vacation in 20 years.  For the past 40 years, with the exception of 11 months after the birth of my son when he was nursing, I was never unemployed for more than a few days. 

At this point it has been almost a year since my former employer terminated my employment simply because he could.  It was unexpected.  I had not planned on being unemployed, but when I found myself unemployed I tried to be optimistic.  I tried to keep a stiff upper lip, look on the bright side, know that when a door is closed another opens,  and all those positive things.  I tried, but failed at doing any of it.  I tried counseling for the deep depression and severe anxiety and that worked rather well for a while.  One can only afford so many sessions.  I have worked in the garden, walked 2 miles a day (that lasted a week), picked up old hobbies, completed some projects around the house, purged some old junk, prepared for a yard sale that has not happened yet, tried to rekindle old friendships, written more than 100 blogs about a variety of stuff, read my Bible and prayed.

I am still fighting the depression and anxiety.  I am almost afraid to work.  The what ifs fight to consume me no matter how hard I fight the urge to fend off what if

For many families out there, the what ifs are a reality.  They have lost well-paying jobs, then their house, then their cars and some have lost their spouse and children.  I often wondered before the economy went south how some of those young people afforded the new vehicle, the big house and all that stuff and when they started losing homes and vehicles and went back home to live with parents (for a while, just til we get back on our feet) what I had suspected was true.  Many did not even realize they were living above their means.  They thought it was normal to live from paycheck to paycheck and rely on credit cards.  They thought the party would never end.

But, when all is said and done, above all I am blessed!  I have a husband who still loves me even though he is stuck with me 24/7.  We have food on the table, clothes on our back and a roof over our head.  Our debts are small and we own most of what we have outright. 

We have a garden.  We have our pets and we have friendly neighbors.  We have a relationship with THE MESSIAH.  We know that when we die, we will be in the presence of GOD ALMIGHTY.  It is comforting to know that whatever happens HE will always be there for me.  If it had not been for that, I would not be able to write and whine about what has happened.  I owe it all to HIM who said HE would never leave nor forsake me.  I can turn from HIM knowing HE will never turn from me.  It is only because of HIS Peace that I have been able to survive and thrive.

Shalom.  Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.

No One Remembers, But We Need To!

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  How true.  That is not the quote exactly, but I am sure that the intent is the same.  We all make mistakes but if we do not learn from our mistakes we repeat them over and over until we do.

It is the same the world over.  It is the same for every human being.  And it is the same for countries since they are ruled by human beings, unhappily, many human beings who chose not to learn from the past, from the history so dearly paid for in blood, sweat and tears.

"You don't know ME!"  
"That will never happen to ME!"

We all say those idiotic statements.  IT, whatever "IT" is, will never happen to me.  Tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanoes, spousal abuse, abortion, molestation, divorce, death, illness and any other tragic accident will not happen to me.  But it does.  In the case of countries and dictators, presidents, kings and queens it is assassination, insurrection, coups, national financial collapse, invasion, public unrest and on and on goes the merry-go-round.  And it happens.  There is intrigue of all sorts, failed regimes, spies, social problems, nuclear power melt-downs, power grid failures and we all fall down.

The news is filled with undeclared wars, nuclear melt-downs from the very plants that are supposed to make life easier and provide for the human equation.

My goal when I was a teenager was to become a nuclear physicist.  I never became that physicist.  I never lived my dream.  The world may be a safer place for it.  Or the world may have missed a chance to have safer nuclear power plants.  There is a safer way to use nuclear power.  Instead of using fission, why not use fusion?  Money, of course!  (Maybe I could have discovered a totally new way of producing energy for use in our daily lives.  Hmmm?)

All funds and time and effort have been spent on developing nuclear fission plants.  It may have something to do with much of the research having been done through the research on the bomb.  Unlike GOD Who has no trouble putting atoms together, we humans are much better at splitting things like atoms apart.  Because it was easier and faster to create a fission weapon, we continued upon that path.  We have followed a path which is failing to provide us with the easy life we so desired.  Fission is fraught with by-products more hazardous than the fuel itself.  Unable to dispose of radioactive waste, we stumble about, refusing to see that the use of fission reactors needs to go by the wayside in favor of the fusion reactor that produces less harmful by-products or radioactive products with shorter half-lives (depending upon which research articles you read).

Or maybe not.  Maybe we just need to continue the insanity, never changing, and keep doing things that do not work and expect them to work ... eventually.  Life was never supposed to be this complicated.  HE gave it to us to live fully not fully mess up.  If we all followed HIS mandates, HIS way of living, we would not have the problems we have neither personally nor world-wide.

Shalom.  Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.