Tuesday, September 29, 2015
What Matters Most
What Matters Most from Just A Friend on Vimeo.
Well, today happens to be my birthday. Kind of exciting. And as you all know, I'm a very well meaning person, and anytime I hear about anyone having a birthday, I do my best to enrich the experience for them. However, living in a nursing home, and being a worshipper of the living God: Jesus Christ, the righteous, I encounter all kinds of people every day who are unable to make a statement like that. They are unable to truthfully say, "I'm a well meaning person, and do my best to make people's birthdays happy". I meet people who have a great deal of debt as far as their conduct and their attitudes are concerned, and I meet people who would love very much to rob me of my destiny; the destiny of someone who has believed in the unconditional love and unending forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is eternal life. And so, on a day like today, kind of a special day, (my birthday), some of the people would want my faith in God to fain. In a nursing home, you see and experience an unusual degree of depravity. But when I first became a believer, I was so excited about Jesus Christ that I asked him (more that once) to bring me to the most hardened of hearts and may I be able to soften them. And this is what I need to keep in mind. That it is not for me to argue back or fight back when I have been wronged, but to consider the condition of someone's heart: to realize that I am dealing with a broken person, and to be patient and kind.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Friday, September 25, 2015
Telling the truth is being a true friend to both yourself and others
For a number of weeks now, I had found myself sleeping the entire day. And I didn't understand what was going on. I thought I was sleeping most of the night. I was sleeping late enough in the morning to get my 6-8 hours of sleep, so, "what is this?", I wondered. And so, when my therapist (psychologist) came to see me, I confronted the subject right away. I said "Frankly, I'm concerned that I've been sleeping excessively. I've been sleeping most of the night, and then the entire day".
And so, I don't think anyone had told her to approach the subject with me, but out of the concern of a true friend, and out of the diligence of someone who wants to do her job properly, she began to tell me some facts that she had learned about cell phone usage. First, she told me that studies have shown that using a device late at night when it is dark out, and you(I) am staring into the the phone screen, that the phone screen can deceive the body into thinking it is daytime, and/or time to be awake and energetic, and therefore it can artificially alter someone's whole sense of when day is and when night is. And myself, always having been determined to help myself when there is a problem, I took what my therapist said very seriously. And so she suggested, I should just make up my mind that at a certain time, once it gets dark, I turn the phone off and do other things, things that don't involve artificial light. Well, someone else might have been angry or hurt to hear advice like this. But myself, I made up my mind to do as she suggested. And now, for 2 days, I've gone to put away my phone earlier. The first night, still relatively late, but better for me, and last night, I turned the phone off, I think even before midnight, which is an acceptable target time for me.
The result is that today, I feel energetic, and psyched to make friends, build up existing friendships, and in general, provide the type of support that I thrive on providing. A life can be a baffling mess, and one caring friend, one honest person, can fix it with just a few words of TRUTH. Make up your mind to tell the truth today.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
It took a Genius
You're the maker of my heart
Cause you've formed the hearts of all
And long before I knew it
You were waiting for my call
You're the author of my life
And you know my every part
It's so good to know the maker of my heart
When I was just a dream
You could see my head and form
You planned for me to know it from the moment I was born
Before my mouth had opened
You knew every word I'd say
So search my heart and lead me
In your ever truthful way
You're the maker of my heart
Cause you've formed the hearts of all
And long before I knew it
You were waiting for my call
You're the author of my life
And you know my every part
It's so good to know the maker of my heart
You hem me in completely with your strong and loving hand
In time you will accomplish everything your heart has planned
Man may speak against you
And deny that you exist
But of every truth I've ever learned
The greatest one is this
You're the Maker of my heart
Cause you've formed the hearts of all
And long before I knew it
You were waiting for my call
You're the author of my life
And you know my every part
It's so good to know the maker of my heart!
You're the Maker of my heart
Cause you've formed the hearts of all
And long before I knew it
You were waiting for my call
You're the author of my life
And you know my every part
It's so good to know the maker of my heart!
Monday, September 21, 2015
Friday, September 18, 2015
Monday, September 14, 2015
Am I still inspired?
This month, I will be celebrating my 58th birthday. Well, looking back on all the years of my adult life, I have lived a ridiculous life. To begin with, the well accepted custom of lying about one's age is something for which I have laughed at people for many years, and promised myself that no matter how old I got, I would bear witness against deception, and boldly tell the truth. But although there are things about me that have never changed, there are, sadly, things that were just not able to stay the same. Unfortunately, we all, as we get older, come to see certain things about people and life that are not pretty to see.
One thing that has changed a lot is the nature of my love for people. I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ all the way back in the summer of 1979. Once I took it in that those who understood who Jesus Christ was were going to Heaven, and those who did not know the importance of faith in Him were not, I became intensely burdened for all human beings all over the world. Everyone I met, everyone I even had a casual conversation with in a restaurant or on the bus, I could only think of how awful it would be if they ended up in Hell! From morning till night, I prayed for everyone in the whole world to be saved.
Well, at 57 years old... almost 58, do you think I still love people as much as I did? I'll give you a hint: NO. Particularly since I became disabled, and have seen the hypocrisy of the way people treat others, how much they kiss up to those who they see as important and how miserably abusive they can be to those who they think don't matter, I am not at all so concerned about whether they go to Heaven or not. And yet I know God's word has not changed. What is known as "the great commission", to go into all the world preaching the Gospel to every creature, has not moved anywhere. So I know that always, though Jesus Christ was fully aware of how much people kiss up to those who they see as important and how miserably abusive they can be to those who they think don't matter, He still has loved them with an everlasting love, and asked us to do the same.
And so, as the Jewish New Year was just yesterday, and now we have begun the 10 days prior to Yom Kippur, when we reflect on how we have lived for the last year, and prepare to atone and be cleansed, one thing for me is to "return to my first love", as it says in the Book of the Revelation". I need to get past what I have learned about people after all these years, and regain my enthusiasm and love for them. I want find in my heart once again, that young woman who could not bear the thought of anyone suffering for eternity.
♬ Special Gift: More Than Just A Friend
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Emotions
Well, very soon it will be 9/11. And I'm sure even though 14 years have gone by, the memory of 9-11-2001 still brings many emotions into most people's minds and hearts. Many are not sure exactly what is going on in Washington, particularly with the new treaty with Iran. Personally, I don't know what the details of it are, but there have been rumors (which I don't believe) that President Obama actually hates the United States, and that he is actually a Muslim. Now, the way I look at it, President Obama's personal life and beliefs are really nobody's business, so it makes no sense to wonder about them, because he is in a sense, a celebrity, and we will never be able to be sure unless we are a family member or a close friend.
But every year, when 9/11 arrives, there are people who get frightened. Some have very vivid memories of the atrocity of what occurred in 2001, and vivid memories alone can trigger fears and emotions that, even though they might not make sense, it is what we feel. But we have to respect our feelings.
We need to respect our own unique feelings about what happened on that day. We may wonder if our feelings are weird, or whether others feel as we do or not. But we need to show very serious respect for whatever it is we feel. And then we need to acknowledge that we are limited humans, and that that is alright too.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
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