Grammatical errors.

Have you ever thought about grammatical errors?  I have.  Many times I sit down at the computer and type out thoughts that I have about various subjects.  I don't think about typing errors or making it perfect the first time, or even when I revise my thoughts in a more organized manner.  I usually ask my wife to proof read my writings and she adjusts or helps me to correct my writing.  If it were not for her, my writing would be fragmented and have a lot of run-on sentences.  She is my gramatical checker.  I have come to realize that i am not a good writer but my checker is.  It is like this with God.

He is our checker in everything, as we measure ourselves against his standard,  it should be the only one and there should be no others.  If we do not follow his standard, then what do we measure ourselves by the world, friends or co-workers.  If we measure ourselves against others and what they have or their standard the we will falll short of what God has for us and we will always fail in who God made us to be.  Do we fall within his measurement or do we fall short?  I choose to never fall short of His standard as He has set the bar where we all need to be.

Distractions of the world

I have visited various places around the world and the one place that I have come to recall is Hong Kong.  I imagine that there are others places that are like Hong Kong in that everywhere you look there are distractions.  From every electronic store, to every billboard sign.  They scream at you look at me, don't look anywhere, but LOOK AT ME!

The last time that I had visited there was back in 2008 and as I reflect on that visit one things sticks out in my mind.  Electronics! I would walk around and see people over there so consumed with their cell phones, mp3 players or whatever device they were on.  It was not just the younger generation, it was the older generation also.  It makes me think about how we can be so consumed with something that it affects our whole life, for the good or bad.  The devil uses these distractions to get our focus off of where it should be and that is on God. 

As I was riding the subway/metro I realized that nobody was having conversation with one another, they were all on their devices.  I look around here in America and have noticed that we are also there, in the fact that we are so consumed with electronics.  People are distracted by their devices, and it is all generations here also.  I heard an alarming statistic the other day about there being more electronic wifi devices here in America than there are people, which in mid 2011 was 311,800,000.  Is this a plot of the devil to keep us distracted, I think so.  We are consumed with our devices as many of us use them for our jobs. The younger generation is already dependant upon them.  It can turn into an idol if you let it. An idol that is used to turn our eyes away from God.

The devices we use on a daily basis, can do so much. You can surf the web, listen to music, store files (I.e. digital books, powerpoint...etc), check your email, receive/send texts and receive phone calls. I got to thinking about books and how a lot of companies are going digital.  Look at the nook and the kindle, they are devices that you can store digital books on.  It made me take a look at my phone as a device that can store the same information.  I have many different version of the bible in leatherbound, as it were, at home and on my phone, Yup you guessed it, I have those same versions on my phone.  The funny thing is that my phone is not my bible.  My bible has throughout the years been highlight, underlined and notated by me.  Yeah, you can do the same thing with the version on your electronic device, but carrying my bible and having it to read in my hand makes a statement, wherever I am.  Yeah carrying it in your phone is more convenient, but what are you saying to the world that my phone is more important than anything else in the world.  The bible should be an outward display of who God is in you.  Which opens my eyes, who is God in me?  And what does that look like on the outside? 

Well I know what He wants me to be and I am very excited to see where He takes me.  He has a plan for all of us and when we realize that, then we can have the overwhelming peace that comes along with that.  So put your electronic devices down for a little while and get your bibles out and turn to God.  After all He was the one who created you, not the device your are on.

God's Love

     Throughout the course of my life, I have often made choices that pertain to me, never really thinking about anyone else or even God.  In one way or another, whether good or bad, I had always done this.  Then a day came when I had made one too many mistakes.  They were mistakes that I thought I would never recover from.  And even through that time in my life God was there at every corner still loving on me.  Often times I have asked why and every time I hear the same thing, "Because I love you!" 

     Those words have changed my life from the man that I was (self created), to the man that God created me to be.  In a sense of anything that my feeble little brain can understand, God created me and He knows my whole life and where he intends to take me and my family.  I know that over time He will show me the things that He needs me to know or even to do for Him.  As I am along for this ride with God I have given Him full control of my life.  I often have pondered why we think that we need to be in control and I come to realize that the devil tells us that we need to have it.  And this is a lie that he tells us, and I have found that when I have control I mess everything up.  And when God has control it is all going to be all right, come what may.  It is knowing that He will guide me through the good times and the bad.  We thank Him for all the we go through. 

     Which makes me think of how little I am in relation to all that He has created.  I remember visiting various countries around the world and how big they seem to be, Australia, Hong Kong, United Arab of Emirates and other places.  When I think of this planet that we are on and how big and vast the universe is (that we know of) we are like a speck of dirt in the middle of the universe and that us humans are even smaller.  On the microscopic level in relation to what God has created and yet there He is full of love, compassion, mercy and grace. 

     It makes me fell very special to know this, the God who created all things loves me.  God is amazing and He will always be that way.  And as we bend to our creator in full surrender and worship, there is nothing that we can't accomplish for Him.  Giving your whole life to serve the creator in all His splendor is the most wonderful, awesome thing that we can do.  A life that is given to God is a life worthy of living. So what are you waiting for, God is awaiting your decision and He loves you.  Psalm 103

Cleaning out viruses....

There I was fixing another computer that was hit with viruses and it got me to thinking about God again. Most computers that I have worked on that are affected by one of these can disable the computer to where the user will not be able to operate it. Every single virus, trojan, malware or tracking software has the ability to do this. Most of the viruses that I have come across are pretty easy to remove if you know and have the ability to do so. I use a few different programs to assist me in the removal of them. Some of the viruses can be difficult to remove thus requiring more time and effort to delete them. Which made me think about how God operates in our life and how the devil does.
Viruses are intended to be malicious just like the devil. People write them with the intent to destroy or steal information. The devil has always operated this way to destroy people and families. He wants to divert our attention from God and on to other things that he wants us to be consumed with. He tells us that everything that he wants us to do is all right and when we listen to him we fail in who God made us. Of course the alternative is when we listen to God then we are able to glorify Him.

When we have God on our side it is like those programs that I use to get rid of the viruses, he takes control over you as long as you allow him too. And sometimes it may be painful when He comes in. It is not always painful as sometimes it is joyous. And like the viruses there are some that are rooted deep so deep that it takes time for Him to clear that out. He does this on His time not ours, when we fully submit to Him. Time is always a factor that we take into consideration for all things, however with God, there is only His perfect timing. When He does complete all that he wants then we are perfected, not in ourselves, but in Him.

It is amazing to know that He can take us and clean us all up like this and make us His own. And seeing that from the beginning of time we have always been His, we just need to realize and understand that fact. Hebrews 13:5 "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Tears of a man

There I was in a mini-discussion with my brother-in-law.  It was not a heated discussion but it was one with a lot of emotion in it.  As men we are always told in this society that, "It is not ok to cry" as it shows a weak man.  I know that this is not true now but as I was growing up I fell into this little trap.  The conversation that was being had with my brother-in-law was about him doing what is best for his wife.  I can totally understand what he was talking about and in the 20 years that I have known him I have never seen him cry until that day.  It made me think about the devil and how he has made the man who cries to be like a weak vessel, a lesser man as it were.

My brother-in-law is a real man, and what I mean by that is he can live off the land if need be and he has done that for a few years now.  I see how strong he is as does the many things to take care of his family now and through the years.  His father was as rough and rugged as can be and my brother-in-law learned how to live from this great man.  I have always wondered about meeting his dad one day to see if he was like my brother-in-law, but he has long since passed on.

His father lived in Alaska, the rugged land that it is and lived off it.  I know that is where my brother-in-law learned how to do this.  His father was a rugged man and yet I could imagine never seeing him cry.  I also could never imagine a man like my brother-in-law to cry and yet, it is amazing to see a man change when he allows the Holy Spirit to take control.
God knows that we should cry, as it is a release of our emotions.  And it is amazing to feel that release of all things that we hold inside when we cry.  We as men are told to be strong and not shed a tear. This is a lie of the devil and he has many things that tell us that we are not men, but that will be shared in other blogs in the future.  He is a liar and a thief and we as men should never fall into this trap that he sets for us.  God knows who we should show our emotions so we can allow God to have control and not the enemy.  Praise God for the tears that we are able to shed for ourselves and for others.  I have learned this through out the past six years of my life and God has been faithful to show me these things are good for us, so if you are a man and reading this remember, Psalm 126:5 "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy."

Watching, waiting and learning.....

As I sit here and watch my mother-in-law basically die in front of us, I think of many things.
Having faith in God, Thankfulness, Joy, Love, Patience. 

Throughout our many trials in this world, I am realizing that the only real constant in this world is God.  No matter what we put upon ourselves He is always there.  We may sit and wonder about many things in this life but when it is all said and done we are left with the One who created us.  

To see a very young woman die at the age of 67 has to have been possibly the roughest time for my wife. Yet there she was dieing in front of us!  It was very difficult to watch someone that you have learned to respect throughout your life go through this.  I think back to the many good times that I had with my mother-in-law and the many rough times.  The latter part of her life was pleasant yet challenging.  It was lovely in the sense that she found God, awful in the sense that her body was deterioriating. I am not going to elaborate on this but just know that if I could become an advocate against smoking this would be the reasoning.  

So many times I was upset but tried not to show it and wound up failing in this area.  I was upset for many reasons and there were two that was more constant than the others.  It was the fact that she was not a grandmother to our kids and that my wife and I had to take care of her.  All of those feelings have been long gone and once I realized that this was my portion, as it was my wife's.   I accepted that this is what we needed to do, although at times it was not easy to do.  At times it was like taking care of one of our children when they were babies.  And believe me there were times when I thought I was taking care of a baby.  I  struggled with selfishness throughout this time. Everytime that I had to do something for her, (it was not easy at first) I eventually found joy in doing it.  As we watched her lay there helpless I realized how she was a very strong willed woman and she was very active. She had done many wonderful things in her life to raise her children.  She took on many jobs, she was a truck driver, a waitress, a flagman for road construction and one of the first ladies to work in a coal mine in Colorado.  What an amazing and hard life she had.   I now fully understand how it was so hard for her to lay there in bed in the last month of her life.

In the Assisted living home that she resided, she made a very strong impact (as she did everywhere she went) on the people who lived there.  She was always there to be with the people and to help them in any manner that she could and even on oxygen she was there.  I remember as I was dropping off medicine for her (which would happen at least once or twice I month) I went to go visit her in her room and noticed that she was gone.  I went to all the normal places and when I found her I did not announce that I was there.  I got to see her helping the others get their bingo cards and making sure that they had enough chips for the game.  That moment I took out my phone and I took a video of her doing this while she was unaware of it and that has made a lasting impression in my mind.  She was not just this way with the tenants there, but also the employees.  We decided to celebrate mom's b-day  early as her days were numbered.  We had invited all the people who worked there to be with us.  It was our way of thanking them for making her last days on this earth as pleasant as possible.  The whole staff was more than what I ever expected from the place.  Now that I look back when we first moved her there I realize that my first assumption of the place was wrong.  I knew in my heart that this is where she would breath her last breathes, but I never told my wife that.  My wife knew that her mothers life was pretty close to being over, as she had a dream about a year ago that her mother was dead.  It was a known fact that she was going to die but we never knew when the time would be.

Mom would always complain about the food wherever she was and boy did she raise a stink in this place.  The food as it is anywhere can be good or bad it just depends on how it is prepared and nevertheless she helped to make sure that the food was better for the tenants of the assisted living home.  The cooks there really loved her, actually the whole staff did.  Which makes me wonder if they were just being cordial or if this was real.  I think in my mind I wanted them to be fake, but as time progressed I saw the genuine concern for her well being.  This is something that had struck me hard.  I know that there are plenty of genuine people out there and we met a lot of them where she lived.  They were all real authentic and there was not a single one of them faking the love that they had for for mom.

My mother-in-law really found a strong love for God and had many questions for all.  I recall when we first started attending Church, many of our friends would have meetings with our Pastor in the park at 2pm.  She attended these with my wife and had many questions also.  Her main question was in the fact of being double-minded and of course our Pastor did a fantastic job of answering the question.  In her life she had made many friends and she found one at the assisted living home.  She became a good friend that she would eat dinner with all the time.  Her friend and her would always have dinner together.  Her friend is younger than her and is suffereing from dementia with a family history of Alzheimers.  She is a precious woman, who we might take to church some day.  She is a woman who loves God and I am thankful to have met her.  Only time will tell what happens to her friend, but I think that God has plans for her and He does for all of us, and all of us are important in how makes things happen.

My wifes sister and brother-in-law decided to take the trip out here to Fresno.  It was a very good move on their part.  Of course God orchestrated it all, as He always does.  To see my sister-in-law get released from the bonds that were holding her was a beautiful site.  God does this on His time and His time is always perfect.  Although we may not understand why He does it the way He does, we just trust and have Faith in all that He does for us.  So for those of you out there who don't think that God loves them or even has a desire to, He has given us Jesus who died on the cross for you and I.  The ultimate sacrifice is that of Jesus and in return for that sacrfice God wants your turn to him with your whole being.

I look like Jesus

As I was sitting there on the kitchen floor, not doing much of anything.  I noticed the sign that we received at church last Sunday.  The sign reads "I look like JESUS!"  It took me a second look at it to notice that Jesus was capitalized.  Now everyone knows that when you capitalize something in text or email it is like yelling or shouting.  I thought about this for a second and then I realized "Hey this an excited sounding exclamation that we should proclaim daily with our lives"  It should be a, daily living that we should be displaying in our lives.  Do you make the attempt to look like Jesus daily?  Are you living for him daily and do you look like him?