Thoughts On How People Grow.

When it comes to people. growth happens in too many ways to list here. Let's take three easy ones today. Fast, Slow, and somewhere inbetween(there is another term for that one) . The mountaintop experiences(as some call them)are the ones that bring about rapid change. We alter the course of our lives in a heartbeat as the result of something, someone, or a combination of the two. People's "firsts" can become the bookmarks by which they can actually see the very moment that their life changed for better or worse. I can already see I'm only going to be able to touch on one of the three today.
Pick one in your own mind and jot down on a slip of paper an important first. I've already done this. Mine is "my first drink of alcohol." (Don't go getting Schitzy on me here. I do not belong to a group or a club or any other association with fanatics that don't believe in alcohol in any manner shape or form.)That just happened to be the first one that came to mind today! It has forever changed me and the course of my life. We can never go back not even for a second in time, so this excercise is for the sake of perspective. Looking at one moment in time that changed us can be a fantastic help in realizing the potential of tomorrow. It has to do with that whole "self image" thing. To "grow" is to enter into the art of becoming who, what, where, and how we would like to see ourselves at some point in our future. For me it has been 41 years since that first encounter with beer. It has been a year and a half since my last. In the "between" time I have experienced every shade of color that accompanies a variety of lifestyles. The one I enjoy the most and take the greatest pride in is the "where" of "who" I've become. Here's how the fast change took place. It was at the lake and all the guys, my dad and uncles and their friends were fishing from the dock and some a ways off shore. I became the "official" beer tender for the keg they had on ice. They were having so much fun that I figured I might as well do it too. I drank a little and then a little more, until my legs got wobbly and my head spun. They all thought that I was just about the funniest thing they ever saw. So I got a thing in my head and when I wanted to be accepted and enjoyed by people later in life I drank. I'm NOT placing blame on anyone else for my choices. The growth at that moment was mine, and the years that followed were mine, and today is mine. Nobody else is responsible for that spurt of growth at any early age but me. How about the one that came to your mind? If this were a group type thing we'd all sit back and discuss that incident we wrote down and the extent to which it had an affect on the life we have today. Sometimes when we dig around the roots of the tree of our lives we uncover new insights on why, where, how, and who we are. This, in and of itself is growth, and may very well be the enabling force we use to begin to thrive once more. Many blessing to you as you check your "new growth." In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Soon, Very Soon, I'll Be Moving! 

Thoughts On Internet Travel And Who We Are!

This is one of the most fascinating studies I believe I have ever been into. The habits of the internet travelers. I E back and forth with a circle of folks that I really enjoy sharing thoughts and feelings, concerns and prayers with. We also share the required amount of funnies per day and when chatting have come up with interesting comments to brighten one another's days. My 'puters and I have a hot and cold relationship. One of them sits here by my desk, doing his job, day in, day out, has not been shut down in several(maybe five)months. He requires very little attention and only asks that I keep him supplied with juice and work that he can do. I realize that the relationship cannot continue on this basis forever, but it is enjoyable while it lasts. We've spent a lot of hours working diligently on the new book together. When all the rest of my 'puter friends strike for more online time or fewer work hours I threaten to send them to 'puter heaven with a hammer. It seems that would be a fitting end to a stubborn and sometimes contrary existence. Enough about the friends I work with, though, what about the others out on their screens? Most of them I have never personally met, even fewer have sent pictures so I can add a visual in my memory to their tappings, and now I find that many are resorting to anonymity as their final battleground for space in cyberspace. It seems there are persons who really enjoy "putting a bone in somebody else's icecream." This goes way beyond spamming, I guess. I'm not the seasoned veteran that some are, only a novice, but I have now heard horror stories of virus infections and burn downs and insidious little programs designed to interrupt the flow of someone's, otherwise enjoyable, travel on the net. Reminds me of the insurgency in Iraq in a lot of ways. Think about it, folks going about there business of shopping in the marketplace or having lunch with a friend when one of these, demented by some sort of religious fervor, insurgents drives up in a car filled with explosives and pushes a button. Now there is a "bone in the icecream!" On the net we have insurgents who, it seems, have as their one goal in life, the desire to drive or walk a bomb into my system. My response has not been to hide myself from others, thus I'm probably an easy target. How about the rest of us, are we going to go underground and hide from the threat? This is one of those thoughts that could go on and on. My suggestion would be to own a large hammer, and be prepared, very prepared to use it, unless you have insulated, barred your doors and windows(especially windows)and created firewalls enough to keep you safe from the insurgency. Finally, if they would just do this stuff openly instead of anonymously, we could do honest, forthright battle with them on a clear playing field. Then we could really put that hammer to use! In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Sometimes A Hammer Is The "Only" Solution! 

Every Day Is An Adventure

Space, the final frontier......Whoosh! I am so amazed by what can be viewed in the heavens. It is 2am here in SD. It appears as though the rain may have ceased. I just finished chapter 54 in the book. This one took awhile. Kyra and I are working on our outdoor cooking techniques. She would really like to cook with me. We do some baking, mostly cookies of the chocolate chip variety, together. She came out a bit ago to ask why I wasn't sleeping yet. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't "feel" like sleeping until this very moment. My mind is fried tonight. Kaput. As in, "can't go no mo." I did want to pause for a moment thought and mention how it is that I feel when I get to looking at our universe. So vast, so deep, and yet it reminds me of the small universe that each one of us is. If we look inside, are we not as vast as the unending galaxies? Even at the age of four my grand daughter, Kyra, is so amazingly complex and deep. Maybe I read too much into the simple things. Last thought of the day, a quote by John Barrymore. "A man is not "too" old until his regrets outnumber his dreams." God bless, Preacher.
(Pssssst! Today is Sunday, join us in sharing worship with the Body of Christ.)

Many Thanks To The Astronomy Picure Of The Day People. You Amaze Me! 

Here's To The Future Of Motherhood

I've been stacking a few photos on the blog as a result of time constraints. It seems our lives get so busy sometimes we tend to forget one of the principals involved in our even being here. Our mothers! This coming Sunday is Mother's Day, and I suppose there is no one that needs another reminder. The commercial world that wants every nickel they can squeeze out of you "in remembrance" of any and all holidays, has probably done it to death by now. Let me go at it another way. My youngest grandaughter is spending the next five or six days with us. She is a little over four. Thus far we have had a pretty good day. I couldn't get her as early as I would have liked due to necessary hospital stops. We managed to hook up at 10:30 this morning, since then the day has been interesting. Right now we can't seem to be able to get our shoes to fit properly and that is going to bring about a veritable gush of tears any second. In other words, "It's time for me to take a nap." Back to 'MOM' and what we might ought do to remember her as a mother. I guess I try to do a little something for all of the ladies that I know personally who are mothers. That makes it very simple. But there are the grandmothers, and the friend's mothers that we have never met or even so much as thought about before this second. Pray for all of them, and include the mothers of the future this year. This could well mean a lot of prayer, but it's worth it and so are they. Our daughters, sisters, and grands and great grands that will be bearing fruit one day, need all the help they can get to prepare for that "difficult" generation that they are going to raise. Mine was the worst of all, the "Woodstock" genre of the sixties, the "hippies," the "yuppies" of today, the "baby boomers." Do you ever get tired of the labels that are imposed on people for one reason or another? I know I sure do! But there is always another one coming, the "next generation." So, today I would suggest(I never give advice)that we all focus on the label "mother," and what it may mean in another half century. God bless, Preacher.