What Brings Happiness/Makes People Happy? Money??

You know, there are several reasons why I sometimes choose to make a comment that I'm about to leave on my blog or someone else's blog into a Post, whether than just a Comment. One is because the comment seems too long to just be a comment. Two is because I need to remain in the habit of Posting to my Blog once in awhile, so that those who follow me will continue to come by to check out what's new and three is because I feel the comment thread my comment relates to has gotten too long. This time, it is the first two reasons listed above that are causing me to make this Comment into a Post.

Anyway, in the next Post down, "Don't Forget to Enjoy the Journey", one of my favorite Commenters, BB-Idaho, left the most interesting link entitled, "Are We Happy Yet?". It contains research in the form of a survey about what sorts of things contribute to Happiness and what does not.

Among the other conclusions, one of the most interesting ones is that contrary to the popular belief by a lot of religious folk that money does not make people happy, well actually, according to the survey, it does. I was always a little skeptical of this idea anyway.

My father used to build custom homes and though he never considered himself rich, we were never really lacking in that department and my class mates at school considered us well off because we lived in one of the expensive custom homes built by my father.

My parents would point out that the "Custom Home" we lived in was furnished with a lot of modest, inexpensive furniture and that we could only afford it because Dad built it himself. My parents were very humble, not too showy sort of people; not like the way people generally stereo type the rich folk. Once Dad had a Million Dollars on the books, he claimed that "Now a days, a million is no longer that much money." Well, actually, that was awhile ago and I think that back in the 70s, it was a lot, or at least it was more than the parents of a lot my fellow class mates possessed. Everything is relative, you know.

Anyway, interestingly, I decided that I didn't like being envied. Envy creates a division between people that blocks genuine friendship and because of this, I considered it more of a negative, whether than something to be flaunted.

As odd as it may seem, when my husband and I got married, he had a Bran New, Bright Red Camero and I actually disliked the attention. I just wanted an ordinary economy car that would not cause me to stand out in any way.

Now, a lot of my readers are not going to fully understand my attitude, because it's actually not a very common one, but it was what it was and it actually took me awhile to realize that for someone who had never owned a new car before, nor much else that is more luxury than necessity, this was a really big deal and it is only natural to feel proud when one can purchase something so special and so much beyond what he's had in the past.

So you see, there are some negatives to having some wealth, such as feeling isolated by other people's envy, no matter what you do to avoid causing it. And than there is the matter of not feeling as close as to your father that works so much and is to himself a lot, as creative people often are. I don't know if not knowing who your true friends are was so much of a problem. For some reason, I didn't feel that one as much, yet the envy thing really bothered me quite a lot. I felt that it created a feeling of isolation that I did not like, especially since I never did consider myself any better than anyone else. Why should I? It was my father who earned the money, not me.

There is another side to this, though, for there are positives and negatives within every human experience.

Before I get into that, though, I'd like to tell you about how the rich and the poor sometimes view things differently and those new to wealth, or even smaller pieces of occasional luxury, view things differently than those who have had money for more than one generation.

An example of the first of these is how my parents used to note that they could always tell, when people walked through the houses as they were put up for sale, who could and could not afford to buy them by the way they reacted. The "lookiloos", who couldn't even begin to afford such a home, just reacted in amazement. Those who were potential buyers were way more critical and not as impressed.

An example of how those new to wealth view things differently than those who have had money for more than one generation is how my husband was so proud of his new Camero, but I didn't think it was any big deal.

One of the differences in attitudes between the rich and the poor that has really stood out for me, though, relates to the phrase "Oh, it's no big deal! It's just money!" Well, this sounds really good and even impressive at first, until one realizes that it is mainly the rich who say these things.

Probably the most key example of this casual attitude about money and things is the way my father treated his vehicles. He was not at all like my husband who is really big on maintenance, never misses an oil change, tire rotation, transmission service or anything else that is recommended for maintaining a car. No, my father actually put a lot of his tools and contractor supplies in the trunk of his new Lincoln Town Car. They used to really tease him about it and tell him how much they loved his fancy "Work Truck". In contrast, when those who have had less money most of their life, finally get something special like that, they treasure it, value it, take great care of it and protect it with their life.

The reality that I learned later in life is that while I was learning that "Money is not what brings happiness.", "It's just money.", "A house is meant to be lived in." and "They are just things.", someone else was learning "The Value of Money" and how important it is to take care of what you have because it was a lot of work to earn what it took to purchase these things.

Getting back, though, to the link "Are We Happy Yet?", though I was taught that money is not what brings happiness and have even listed some of the negatives for you above, even so, there is another side to this picture. I saw with my own eyes what happened to my parents and to the basic mood in the house hold when the economy went bad and they lost a bunch of it. I have also experienced first hand what it is like to struggle financially in my own marriage and witnessed the marital stress that can result. This is why I'm not too terribly surprised that some survey found a correlation between money and happiness.

Though money can not buy a lot of things that are quite valuable, such as love and true friendship, even so, a lot of what money can buy is not without value. Though I'm not much into the showy prestige stuff, money also buys Food and Clothing, as well as a few Intangibles, yes, Intangibles, such as Education and the Opportunity to Travel. Education leads to Knowledge and Traveling leads to very precious Memories. Knowledge and Memories are both Intangibles, so you see, money buys more than just "Things".

Well now, isn't that interesting? I was intending to respond to the entire article "Are We Happy Yet?" and yet I didn't even get past the first issue mentioned, which is money.

Don't Forget to Enjoy the Journey

As I think of things that different people have said to me throughout the blogging world, there is also something that Griper said that really stuck with me. Probably the most important thing that Griper has ever said to me is "Don't forget to enjoy the journey." I have to keep remembering that. Too often I get all caught up in the conflict between Joy and Freedom and Duty. I don't know if I remember all of my thoughts connected with this, but I'll try to come up with at least some of it.

BB's first comment on a previous page relating to our puppy, "Difficult Dogs and Puppies/Tired/Submissive Peeing", reminded me again of the above quote from Griper. What BB said was "Puppies are supposed to bring happiness. Aren't they?", but he might as well of said "Oh come on, Lista. Don't forget to enjoy the journey.", because that is what I heard in my own head.

Another thought was in relation to the verse "28) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30) For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 12:28-30, KJV)

Now that I think of it, I was going to connect that thought with Griper's idea "Don't forget to enjoy the journey." and talk about how God never meant for life to be so hard, how it is important to allow ourselves a little joy because without it, even our Christian testimony loses it's credibility.

A couple other verses that go along with this are found in the Gospel of John; "10) The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10, KJV) and "11) These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full." (John 15:11, KJV)

And then right along with my thoughts on Christ's yoke being easy and that He came to give us life and joy come thoughts about Freedom and Duty. I wish my thoughts on these things were flowing more freely right now than they are, but to be brief, it has been quite apparent in my life that life is really hard when I try to do it in my own strength and when I am allowing myself to be bound by the Expectations and "Duty" that has been imposed on me by others and at times even by myself, but not by God. God is the only one really that we need to please. So many things that we think are important really aren't and in reality what God thinks is all that matters.

Never Negotiate from a Position of Weakness

I guess I really should try to do another post. There are so many thoughts that go through my mind at times and any one of them could be made into a post, yet so often, the inspirations seem to just sprout up and than pass, without any one seeming any more prominent than another.

At first, it seemed that I couldn't get any really strong handle on any single subject, so I thought I'd just introduce each thought briefly and see which ones takes off in the comment section.

Fortunately, once I got started in my writing, my thoughts did flow again and I soon discovered that what I was writing in relation to the basic theme of how I've been inspired by others could be broken down into two parts.

BB-Idaho said something to me once and I wasn't sure how he worded it. I just remember that it was in one of my earlier posts. I had to do word searches looking for it, but finally did find it in the post "Lessons for the Strong and the Weak". In about the 11th comment down, BB says "Never negotiate from a position of weakness. Always negotiate from a position of strength." This is an issue that I keep continually going back and forth on because I've never been quite sure whether people are more impressed with strength, or humble honesty. I don't know. Do people mostly like those who are strong or those who are real? I guess the context of the statement is in relation to the subject of negotiation, yet when I think of my own strengths and weaknesses, what is usually on my mind is things such as influence, impact and trying to deeply touch those I interact with. Perhaps that is another subject, other than negotiation.

Since I don't very often view myself as a strong person on a lot of levels in comparison to most of the rest of the crowd, I tend to go with the humble, honest, genuine and real approach, whether than the "strong" approach.

There are verses in the Bible that relate to this idea.

"10) Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." (James 4:10, KJV)

"10) Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10, KJV)

"5) Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5, KJV)

"27) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." (1 Corinthians 1:27, KJV)

Difficult Dogs & Puppies/Tired/Submissive Peeing

I wish that I could stop feeling so tired so much of the time. I wrote another post about our puppy a few days ago, but didn't have the energy or drive to proof read and post it. I may later, if I can get out of this gloomy mood. We'll see. The post was about how we have had project after project to do in relation to our new puppy.

The reason why I'm so tired, though, is because our new puppy, Shasta, has returned to his habit of not sleeping through the night. My husband, Ray, just recently built him a box out of Masonite for him to sleep in. He was sleeping in a card board box, but that wasn't working after awhile because he was beginning to eat the cardboard. I'm wondering if the Masonite bottom is not as comfortable for him as the cardboard was. He is restless at night and sometimes doesn't get to sleep until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning.

It really does seem that Shasta is mostly potty trained, yet he did pee in the house Yesterday. He tried to hide it under the table this time, which is a good sign because it shows that he is genuinely ashamed and knows he did wrong.

I didn't think that we had a problem with this thing called "Submissive Peeing", which is when a dog pees when the "Pack Leader" either arrives home, yells at him or her or is too rough with him or her. I didn't recognize this because apparently, even though I've probably been spending more time with Shasta than Ray has, I'm not the one that Shasta considers the Pack Leader. Though Shasta is difficult for either of us to control, he does appear to respond more at times to Ray's deeper, more masculine and authoritative voice, than to my more feminine, higher pitched voice. He doesn't pee when we arrive home, nor even when we yell at him, but Ray thinks he does it when he plays too rough with him. Apparently, he gets too excited and it scares him a little.

When I play with him and get him all excited by throwing the ball across the floor, Shasta handles this fine and doesn't pee, so I disregarded the "too excited" idea, yet I'm not the trigger. Ray is. Apparently, I'm not the pack leader according to Shasta. Figures. Our previous dog, Casper, favored me, but I guess I can't always be the one chosen. Oh well.

Interestingly, I thought I was going to write about feeling discouraged, but I wrote about the dog again instead. One day, I hope to be past all this puppy stuff and actually have a dog. Maybe one day I'll actually have a life again. Oh well.

Impossible Dogs & Puppies/Play Biting & Jumping

When we arrived back from our trip, late Saturday afternoon, we actually decided not to pick up our dog from the boarding facility. This is when I realized how much I was enjoying our break from him. He is a Samoyed. We named him Shasta and he is the most difficult puppy that either my husband or I have ever owned. We were driving past the facility prior to 5:00 PM and could have picked Shasta up. If it had been our previous dog, Casper (a Samoyed Mix), we would have eagerly picked him up, but when my husband, Ray, suggested picking Shasta up, I told him that I was feeling very tired and needed a break from him. He agreed. The following day, we were both feeling sick, so we left Shasta at the boarding place until Monday afternoon. The first day, he was eager to see us, obnoxiously energetic and demanding of our constant attention.

Shasta has been a very difficult puppy for several reasons. He still play bites too hard, he needs two to three walks a day, he can be quite destructive, he wants to be with us constantly and he still, even to this day, is not yet potty trained.

When I first started this post, I thought I was going to tell you everything about our problems training Shasta, yet it appears that I have more to talk about than can be expressed in one post, so perhaps this is going to be another series. Shasta is getting better, but BOY, has this ever been a long hard struggle!!

Play Biting

There are several trains of thought on Play Biting. Some people say that a puppy should not be allowed to bite at all and others say that they just need to learn "Bite Control", which means that they need to learn not to bite too hard.

"Bite Control" is learned by watching the reaction of the victim. It was suggested that we just yell out "No Bite!", "Stop it!" or even just "Ouch!". With our previous dog, Casper, all that was required was the soft command "Easy". Shasta, however, is another matter. He doesn't respond to any matter of yelling. It is really hard to get him to quit. When he gets all excited, he doesn't seem to be able to help himself. He's gotten better, but is still bad at times.

"Don't bite at all"? I've read at least one comment on the subject that says that this isn't even possible. Play biting is just something that puppies do. This resource suggested that "Bite Control", needs to be established prior to 4 months of age. Oophs! Too late! He was 4 1/2 months old by the time I read that.

I've heard two ideas on trying to get the biting to actually stop. Some people say that all you have to do is hold the mouth closed and say "No Bite!". We tried this too no avail. Occasionally, he would bite softer for awhile, yet in a short time, the biting got hard again. Then I watched the vet use this approach. She held his mouth shut for what must have been a full minute and even lightly snapped his nose once in order to get his attention. She said that you have to keep holding him still until he calms down and stops struggling. This actually worked for her, so I concluded that I just wasn't holding the mouth shut long enough. In order to hold the mouth shut effectively, you have to get a hold of the back of the dogs neck and hold him still. The vet had the advantage of my husband, Ray, also holding the dog. When I tried to duplicate what the vet did, this is when the real battle began.

By 4 1/2 months old, Shasta was already big enough and strong enough to put up a big fight. He thought the whole thing was a game. He would jump up and bite my hands and arms and than jump away so that I couldn't grab his neck. This practice would occasionally rip my cloths, so I couldn't ever wear anything nice in his presence. Once I finally did grab him, I had to push him down to the ground and hold his mouth shut. It was a considerable struggle to do so. Once, I had to pin his head down to the ground with my arm around his neck and even so, he would struggle significantly before he would stop. You would think after all this, it would be enough, yet believe it or not, when he finally did calm down and I let go of him, he jumped up and bit me again, as if very eager and willing for round two in our "fun little dog fight". I was not having fun and you would think that he would know that by the very angry tone in my voice.

The other approach to the play biting problem is to ignore and turn your back to the dog. There were times in which this actually worked, yet even this did not stop the biting at the heels while walking away from him. After awhile, I had to ignore him every time he bit me and never pet him or touch him in any way until he licks my hand. Even this did not produce immediate results, but he has gotten better.

Jumping

As to the jumping and biting, sometimes I focus more on the jumping than the biting and when he does jump, he gets a knee in his stomach.

In relation to the jumping, aside from the knee in the stomach, another approach is to step on the back paws. Shasta is usually at an angle, though, that makes this approach difficult. Some other approaches are to teach the dog to come and than sit, or to refuse to pet the dog unless he has all four feet on the ground.

I'm considering something else too. What I like is when Shasta stands next to me and leans against me so I can pet him. He doesn't do this near often enough, so what I'm considering doing now is adding this to his treat training routing. He already knows sit, stay, come and lay down. He won't do any of this without a treat, though. Whether than teaching him to come and sit, what I'd like to teach him is the command "Come Here", while emphasizing the word "Here" because it sounds sort of like "Heel". I've just barely started adding this to the training routine. He has to sit, stay, come and then I say "come Here", while patting my legs and when he doesn't respond, I pull him over into the desired position and pet him while saying "Good Boy!" and giving him his treat. Even this position is different than jumping. I'll let you know later whether or not this works.

Like I said before, when I first started this post, I thought I was going to tell you everything about our problems training Shasta, yet it appears that I have more to talk about than can be expressed in one post, so perhaps this is going to be another series. Shasta is getting better, but BOY, has this ever been a long hard struggle!!

Out of Town Again

Well, I guess I better tell you guys that I'm going to be out of town again. I guess I've been away from the computer at times for a few days at a time over the Holiday Season, but now it is going to be an entire week. We are leaving town Tomorrow for Southern California and will be down there for a week. Aside from visiting with family and friends and having our normal New Years Day bash with relatives, I guess we're going to the Rose Parade this year. My parents have bought us all tickets to sit in the grand stand to watch the parade. They rented a limousine and everything, so I guess we are really going to "live it up".

Judge Not, That ye' Be Not Judged

I just wrote something on Griper's blog that sounded like it could be another post. I thought I might repeat it here for those of you who visit me that may or may not also visit Griper. I wrote it in response to a Christmas Poem Griper posted by George R Sims. I guess it's called "Christmas Day in the Workhouse". Griper entitled his post "Christmas of Long Ago". It is a poem about the Hypocrisy of doing good deeds for the wrong reasons, while not having any real love in one's heart.

Many people have decided not to go to church because they have seen Hypocrisy there. In response to this, I've heard it said "Just because the mouse is in the cookie jar, this does not make him a cookie.", so also "Just because someone goes to church, this does not make him a true Christian."

Since I tend to interpret a lot of things on Blogs Politically, I felt moved to add that Just because someone is a Republican, this does not mean that he necessarily cares about the poor.; or put another way, Just because someone is a Republican, this doesn't mean that he's a rich snob that does not care about the poor.

But then again, perhaps this same thing could be said about the Democrats as well. Just because someone is a Democrat, this does not mean that he necessarily cares about the poor., nor does it mean that he doesn't care and is controlling or lazy.

Griper seemed to think that I was changing the subject from Christmas to Politics, yet what is true in every day life is also true in Politics. Christmas is about love for our fellow man and this includes love for those who have different opinions than ourselves within Politics.

We are to love without Hypocrisy. This means doing it for the right reasons and it also means not judging those around us. There are several verses that come to mind in relation to this. I have listed some of them below...

"1) Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2) For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Matthew 7:1-2, NIV

"21) You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22) You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23) You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?" Romans 2:21-23, NIV

"3) So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?" Romans 3:3, NIV

"41) Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42) How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite; first take the plank out of your eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Luke 6:41-42, NIV

Getting back to the Political side of this, some Democrats care more about either control or the desire to be taken care of and some Republicans are guilty, just as they have been accused, of caring only for the well being of the rich and not the poor. We need to be careful, though, that we do not Stereo Type each other. Some Republicans do care and others do not and the same exact thing can be said about the Democrats.

It does no good to deny the Hypocrisy and Selfishness that can exist on both sides. We all need to ask God continually to search our hearts and purify us of all wrong motives.

It does no good to Stereo Type. It does no good to behave in ways that justify these Stereo Types. It does no good to judge and point fingers. It does no good to scream and vent our anger. It does no good to refuse to compromise on anything at all.

This comment is aimed at who ever is listening. Republicans; Democrats; I'm talking to both of you! Would you please both just knock it off!!

Fortunately, there are good and sincere people in both parties and these are the ones who need to work together for the good of the whole country and all of mankind.

Twas the Month Before Christmas - Meaning of Christmas Lost

Well, the good news is that even though I've been so busy with Christmas that I was wondering if the last post I did was going to be my only post in the month of December, I've been receiving some really good Emails that I absolutely must post. The first is a poem about how attitudes are changing towards Christmas.

*Twas the month before Christmas*

*When all through our land,*

*Not a Christian was praying*

*Nor taking a stand.*

*See the PC Police had taken away,*

*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*

* December 25th is just a 'Holiday'.*

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*

*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*

*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*

* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*

*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*

*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*

* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*

*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*

*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*

*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,

not Happy Holiday!*

Please, all Christians join together and

wish everyone you meet

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christ is 'The Reason' for the Christ-mas Season!

Subtle, Less Obvious, Handicaps

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. What can I say? With Christmas and the new puppy, I've been quite distracted.

For the inspiration of this Post, I have a new comer to thank that just happened to drop by one of my earlier Posts through a Google Search. His name is Cenk and the page he visited is "Shay's Day - Inspirational Story". I guess that it's not so much what he said that inspired me, but the fact that he visited and commented on an earlier Post and thus got me thinking about that Post again. In doing so, I was reminded of something that I thought of saying relating to the subjects of Handicaps and yet never did say it until now.

The story in the linked Post is about baseball and the reaction of a couple of kids to a handicapped boy, yet sometimes on my blog, I like to compare everything to Politics and even though I never did that with this Post, now that Cenk has caused me to revisit it, I have remembered something that I always wanted to say and never did.

In the world of Politics and Capitalism, there are all sorts of Handicaps. Some are severe enough to earn a person Disability Payments. Others just cause people to not do quite as well in the job world as someone else with a higher IQ or with certain God Given skills that assure their success as long as they put out the necessary effort.

I became very keenly aware of this reality when I was in College. With my slow reading and inability to multitask, I had to study more hours than most to achieve the same results. The fact that I graduated with a degree is no less than a miracle. The average class load is 16 Units, but every single time that I tried to handle that much, I ended up dropping back down to 12 Units because that was all I could handle. Consequently, it took me 5 years to complete the goal, instead of only 4. Many students take on full time jobs while going to school. This was not even an option for me because I simply do not posses the mental capacity, nor the energy required. I was often physically sick as it was, even though my schedule contained less than many other students.

I'm not saying that success does not take human effort, cause it does, yet there are those in our society for which massive amounts of effort does not pay off the same as for someone else.

Some people would use this reality as a justification for Socialism. I don't agree that Socialism is the way to go, nor do a agree with those who make a career out of welfare, yet I am sympathetic enough to those who are weak in some ways that I do not agree with some extreme Republicans who seem to want the Government to be so small that Government Assistant Programs are almost non-existent.

I always remembered something that my father once said in relation to getting assistance, or in this case, I believe it was Educational Scholarships. He said, "If a person is poor, he will be O.K. because he will get the Scholarship. If a person is rich, he will not need the Scholarship because he can afford to pay the Tuition, but if the person is Middle Class, he is really screwed because he can neither get the Scholarship, nor Afford to Pay the Tuition."

Actually, this works the same way with Handicaps. If a person is severely Handicapped (or at least enough to be defined as Retarded/Mentally Challenged, Maimed in some way or so Emotionally Disturbed that it is Diagnosed as a Psychiatric Disease), he can get Disability. If a person is not Handicapped at all (or is actually Significantly Gifted), he will not need the Disability, but if a person is only mildly Handicapped (or not quite as Smart, Efficient or Energetic as the rest), he is screwed because he can neither get the Disability, nor Succeed in a Capitalist Society.

I believe that the above linked story about Shay is not just about how we treat those who are handicapped in some obvious way, but also about how we treat anyone who is weaker than ourselves, such as some of those who are poor. Are we willing to help them or do we just judge them automatically as lazy before we've even taken the time to hear their story?

One of my most Favorite Posts that is listed on the right is the one "Lessons for the Strong and the Weak". In this Post, the Strong are told to be Humble, Don't Judge and Give to the Poor, and the Weak are told to share whatever talents they have no matter how small, don't lose heart and don't give up.

I told you of one of my weaknesses, now I will tell you of one of my strengths. I have the ability to sing. Oddly, my brother can't even carry a tune. Not only do I sing, but harmony is second nature to me. The difference between me and my brother is not because someone taught me to sing and he was deprived of the same training. I wasn't even taught how to do harmony. I was doing that as a child and it was second nature to me.

What I found really strange later was not that I had this ability, but that other people didn't. I'm really amazed at times how common it is to walk into a room or a church where people are all singing in unison and once I add a harmony, I'm the only one doing so. How odd it is that God wouldn't pass this Gift around more than He has. This really puzzles me, yet I tell you the truth. It wasn't through effort that this ability has occurred.

Another thing that frustrates me is how rare it is to find an energetic, highly efficient person who actually realizes that they have a God given Gift.

And then there is a highly common phrase that people throw around that isn't even accurate. I'm sure that many of you have heard and possibly even said "If I can do it, anyone can." Well, what if I was to say that "If I can sing Harmony, anyone can."? This sounds like a humble statement, but really it is not because it denies that there is any God given Talent involved and assumes that the credit goes to our efforts and our efforts alone. When this really gets confusing is when Talent and Effort is combined, yet even if the Effort is significant, this still does not negate the reality of the Gift.

I guess the one verse from the Post, "Lessons for the Strong and the Weak", that keeps coming back to my mind in relation to the Strong is 1 Corinthians 4:7, "For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" (NIV). This Scripture could not possibly ever be repeated too many times, for it is something that we so continually forget.

Another thing that is worth repeating is what I said earlier about the story relating to Shay. I believe that the above linked story about Shay is not just about how we treat those who are handicapped in some obvious way, but also about how we treat anyone who is weaker than ourselves, such as some of those who are poor. Are we willing to help them or do we just judge them automatically as lazy before we've even taken the time to hear their story?

In closing, I'd like to thank Cenk again for commenting and bringing me back to one of my earlier Posts.

More Humor

Perhaps it's time for a little humor.

Much has been said about the aging of the President of the United States during their terms in office. Below are just a few examples (Pictures on the left were taken their first year in office. Pictures on the right were taken during their last year in office):

Ronald Reagan

Bill Clinton
George W. Bush

And now with state of the art computer imaging software, we can look into the future and see what our next potential president will look like after his term in office:

and even his wife.....Michelle

Hit Counts and Success as a Blogger

Maybe I'll just say something brief. Sometimes I feel so darn tired and in my tiredness, I don't post and in my not posting, I watch my hit count drop again.

Perhaps I shouldn't keep returning to this subject, yet it seems to be the easiest subject to write about off the top of my head without an enormous amount of thought and effort.

The thing is that when I'm not posting to my own blog, it is because I'm distracted by conversations on other blogs and if I was to ask myself the honest question about how much exposure I'm getting, is it really my own personal hit count that contains the accurate answer to that question?

If when I do not post to my own blog, it is because I am visiting and posting elsewhere, than the actual answer to the question of how much exposure I am getting has more to do with the number of hits to the blogs that I am currently conversing on. After all, isn't it possible that when ever I am not posting to my own blog, but instead posting to another blog that has more hits, than in this case, I am getting more actual exposure when my hit numbers are low because I'm conversing elsewhere. Since the people who visit other blogs are often different than the ones who visit my blog and since the people on one blog that I visit are different than on another blog that I visit, perhaps when I visit is when I get more exposure, not when I post on my own blog.

This is a very interesting thought and it brings me back to something that I keep saying, which is that the hit counts on ones blog are not an accurate record of any given person's actual exposure on the web, nor is it an accurate record of what kind of an impact that person is having on the world.

A New Direction - Jesus' Anger, etc.

Well, I was headed down the rather peaceful path of telling you some lessons I've learned lately from our dog and from dogs in general, but this morning I woke up feeling a small sense of unrest. Since I have just finished telling all of you how important it is to not only come to God, but also to listen to Him, I guess I better practice what I preach and respond to the still small voice inside of me when I hear it. I guess this is a good opportunity for me to tell you what following God's direction is like. So often when I set out to do a certain thing and set goals for myself, I am interrupted by a strong urging to do something else. Sometimes I ignore it and continue with my own plans and sometimes I give in and change direction.

My feeling of unrest this morning was in relation to Righteous Anger and Passion and the whole question of when our Anger and Passion is self-directed and when it is God-directed. I sense very strongly that one of my primary purposes for being in the Blogasphere with the rest of you is for the sake of trying to urge you all the remain as God focused as possible.

Now, there is such a thing as Righteous Anger and it simply isn't true that Jesus was never angry. Let's take a look at the one time in which the Bible mentions His anger.

"12) And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13) And said unto them, 'It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.'" (Matthew 21:12-13, KJV)

"15) On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16) and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17) And as he taught them, he said, 'Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations' ? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.''" (Mark 11:15-17, NIV)

"45) And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; 46) Saying unto them, 'It is written, 'My house is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.''" (Luke 19:45-46, KJV)

What exactly is the message here? Was He just upset that they were doing financial business in the Temple, which was supposed to be a place set aside for prayer, or was it because they were charging too much for the merchandise being sold? Generally when someone who is selling something is called a "thief", it is referring to high prices and the gouging of the public, in which case, the one record in the Bible of Jesus' anger had to do with protecting the poor, not protecting the rich.

It seems a little odd that I keep finding myself writing on the poverty side of the issue even though I'm a Republican. Another obvious question that comes to mind is whether Jesus is delivering a message to individual business men to stop gouging the public, or is it a message to Governments, giving them permission to step in and put a price freeze on things when such gouging takes place. I honestly don't know the answer. Biblically speaking, it is unclear.



I've been racking my brain lately for Bible references that relate to how a Government should be run. One thing that came to mind was how the Lord directed Joseph when he was in a high place of authority in Egypt, just under the King. The Lord revealed to him that there would be 7 years of plenty, followed by 7 years of famine, and instructed him to set aside extra grain during the years of plenty. Interestingly, the grain was not later given away, but sold and the result was the Children of Israel ended up selling themselves into slavery in Egypt. Why did God allow this to take place?

Since God did not do anything to stop this, it would seem that He was in support of Free Enterprise, yet later he sent a deliverer, Moses, who demanded that the Pharaoh "Let My People Go!". What's with that? If the slavery resulted from Free Enterprise, than why should the Pharaoh later give the people back their freedom?



So what sort of direction in the Bible has God given to Kings? A lot of times they were directed to go to war. I guess I've leave that one alone for now except to say that the Israelites always sought God's blessing before going to war and if it was not given, they did not go to war.



I think of King Solomon and his Wisdom and the story that comes to mind is the one in which King Solomon settled a dispute between two women over a Child that they both claimed to be theirs. The story is interesting.

"16) Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. 17) And the one woman said, 'O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18) And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. 19) And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it. 20) And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21) And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.' 22) And the other woman said, 'Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son.' And this said, 'No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son.' Thus they spake before the king. 23) Then said the king, 'The one saith, 'This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead.' and the other saith, 'Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.' 24) And the king said, 'Bring me a sword.' And they brought a sword before the king. 25) And the king said, 'Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.' 26) Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, 'O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it.' But the other said, 'Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.' 27) Then the king answered and said, 'Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.'" (1 Kings 3:16-27, KJV)

I guess the real point of this story was that Solomon was a wise King, yet what's interesting in relation to Government was that in this setting the King took on the role of a Judge. It is difficult, though, to find any direct instruction as to how Governments should be run. I just pulled out an example from the Scriptures of the role of one particular King, yet this probably has more to do with the culture of the day than with any specific instruction from God. Fortunately, Solomon was a wise King, which is quite a lot more than I can say about the Supreme Court Judges in our country that currently have far too much power.



When I was considering the idea of whether or not the Bible has anything to say about Government, the other Scripture that came to mind was Jesus' words in the Gospel of Mark...

"13) Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch Him in his words. 14) They came to Him and said, 'Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15) Should we pay or shouldn't we?' But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. 'Why are you trying to trap Me?' He asked. 'Bring Me a denarius and let Me look at it.' 16) They brought the coin, and He asked them, 'Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?' 'Caesar's,' they replied. 17) Then Jesus said to them, 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.' And they were amazed at him." (Mark 12:13-17, NIV)

The point being made is that the coin was made in Caesar's image, but that people are made in God's image, so as far as Jesus is concerned, it would be of no Eternal Consequence if all of the money were given to Caesar and the hearts of the people were given to God, or another way of putting that is that our money is not what is important. What's important is the condition of our heart towards God, so if the Government wants the money, so be it. What is important is our heart condition towards God.



Perhaps I should return to the bottom line again and it is this.

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14, KJV)

I quoted this in a previous post entitled "Blogging Fatigue/Sometimes God has Different Plans". Before I close, I'd like to quote one more verse.

"1) A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. 2) In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat-- for he grants sleep to those he loves." (Psalm 127:1-2, NIV)

So why don't I just close with this point... All the Political Passion in the world is not going to make one bit of difference unless God's people get on their knees and seek God for direction. This message must be important, because God keeps asking me to repeat it.

Lessons During Worship

In a way, I feel as if I've allowed my heart and mind to fall into a little bit of a back log in relation to things that I want to share on my blog. I sat down just a few minutes prior to writing this post and began to write down a few titles relating to things that I could share with you and in doing so, came up with 4 titles, or actually it ended up being 5. Three of them have to do with lessons I've learned from our Samoyed Dog, Shasta. One other one has to do with what I remember from a book entitled "Lessons from a Sheep Dog" and than there is this one, which is just some things that the Lord was speaking to me about during worship this Sunday. I considered submitting all of these all at once so that you can read them in the order in which I wrote them, whether than in the reverse order as the computer likes to stack them, but than as I've been reading through some of what I've already written, I've decided that maybe the order in which they are read doesn't matter so much. Perhaps I'll just submit one a day for awhile. That will be different for me.

As to the subject of this post, the Lord was speaking to me in relation to two of the songs that we sang this Sunday. The first was "Come, Now is the Time to Worship". The words of this song go like this...

Come, Now is the time to Worship.
Come, Now is the time to Give your Heart.
Come, Just as you are to Worship.
Come, Just as you are before your God. Come.

One day every tongue will confess you are God.
One day every knee will bow.
Still the greatest treasure remains for those,
who gladly choose You now.

During rehearsal, I was so greatly touched by the song, that I actually requested from my singing partner the chance to share something. What I shared was in relation to our dog, Shasta. Since he is a Samoyed, he struggles a little with the command to "Come". As his owner, I so desire him to want to come to me and basically what I shared at Church on Sunday, just prior to singing this song, is that this is how God feels about us. He wants so badly for us to "Come" to Him.

I also explained what that coming means. God wants us to come and sit at His feet. Not only does He want us to "Come" and Worship Him, as the song suggests, but He also wants us to come and spend time with Him in the form of Private Devotional Time, involving the Reading of Scripture and also Prayer. To truly "Come", we also need to be willing to listen to what He has to say.

When we "Come" to Him in Prayer, if we come only with requests, than this is more like asking Him to come to us and to do it on our terms, yet if we "Come" in order to also listen to Him, this is a form of truly "Coming" and being willing to do so on His terms, whether than on ours. Instead of just telling Him what we want, we need to "Come" and listen to what He wants and be respectful of what He desires from us in our lives.

This, by itself, probably could have been enough of a post, yet God spoke to me again during worship in relation to another one of the songs. This time it was in relation to the song entitled "More Love, More Power". This one goes like this...

(Chorus)
More Love; More Power; More of You in my Life.
More Love; More Power; More of You in my Life.
(Repeat)

(Verse)
And I will Worship You, with all of my Heart.
And I will Worship You, with all of my Mind.
And I will Worship You, with all of my Strength.
You are my Lord. You are my Lord.

(Verse)
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Heart.
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Mind.
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Strength.
You are my Lord. You are my Lord.

What the Lord spoke to me about during this song was that if we want "More Love" and "More Power", than we need to do our part by "Worshiping", "Seeking His Face" and also "Coming" to Him in all the ways that I mentioned earlier.

Too often our Relationship with God is a one sided Relationship, in which we just want God to do for us, but we are not willing to also do for Him. No Relationship should be so one sided and especially not our Relationship with God.

Please Don't Let Obama Win!!!

I've been wanting so badly to post about things related to the election, but have been so distracted by our new puppy, that I haven't had much of a chance to think as straight as I'd like to and as a result have only posted 5 posts last month, the month before the election. This is less than any other month and none of the posts I did were directly related to the Election. Consequently, I've been feeling a little annoyed both with our puppy and with God. I posted a little about this in my Post Entitled "Blogging Fatigue/Sometimes God has Different Plans".

Well, God finally gave me a break and I'm so glad that I checked our Email today because one of the Emails was exactly the sort of thing that I needed in order to post something relating to the Election. In this Email, a friend of ours sent the following link.

The Rise of the United Socialist States of America USSA

This is just the sort of thing that really scares me about Obama.

Planting, Watering, Blogging and Counting Hits

I keep coming back to the similar subject of numbers within churches. There are some churches that draw large crowds. Often these are churches that stress Evangelism. They are led by pastors whose gift is Evangelism. They grow quickly in numbers and have lots of new converts to the Christian Family.

Often these churches do not have enough leadership in order to take care of all the discipling that is needed. The focus is on Evangelism and not discipling. The numbers are impressive, but the depth of growth and faith among them is not and some even fall away. I talked about this in more depth in my post "Why do we Blog?".

I remember reading once about a minister that was discouraged about his numbers and also jealous of this other minister that had a huge church. It seems to me that it might have been Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but I'm not sure. Instead of the Lord blessing him with larger numbers, he was asked to pray for the growth of the larger church that he was jealous of. Reluctantly, he obeyed. What made it even worse was that the prayer for this other church was answered.

This minister's smaller church was near by and continued to only grow at a snails pace. Eventually, though, as this larger Evangelistic church grew, some of it's members began to seek council from the minister at the smaller church. Like is so often the case, the larger church lacked the leadership required to handle the load of the rapid increase in their numbers.

Hungry for Discipleship and something more than just the basic Gospel Message taught over and over again, those who wanted something deeper than that overflowed into this other minister's church and his church began to grow as well; never as fast as the larger church, but it was a growth that represented not just an introduction to the faith, but a greater depth and growth.

The principle here is illustrated in one of Paul's letters to the Corinthians...

"6) I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7) So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8) The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose and each will be rewarded according to his own labor." (1 Corinthians 6-8, NIV)

So what does this have to do with Blogging. Well, different bloggers have different gifts. Just as in the Church "One Plants and Another Waters", so also in the Blogosphere, one plants the seed of a new idea into the hearts of many and than another picks up the job by trying to weed out all the obstacles that are blocking people from accepting the idea.

The second of these jobs is more intense and requires much time and thought. The second of these jobs involves a greater depth that is not accepted by and does not draw all of the crowd.

As one last thought, I ought to add that influence goes out like the ripples from a pebble thrown in the stream. As I am often influenced by people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as by many of you, and my blogging is influenced by you all. As you influence me, you influence how I write and than what I write influences how other bloggers write, which influences what other people write, which influences all that is available on the Web to read.

Interestingly, when ever I pray and ask God to do this or that in our world, God ends up assigning me at least part of the job. For example, I asked him once to give energy to all the bloggers on the web that are writing about what is true. Since I don't have the energy to do the whole job myself, I need God to give energy to all others that are doing it as well. Considering that prayer, is it any wonder that aside from my originally thought that I'd be blogging about Politics and the fact that God seems to keep drawing me away from that and into more Spiritual Subjects; that aside from all that, I am also drawn often to the very subject of blogging itself? As soon as I submit this post, I will be able to say that I have done more posts on this subject than any other subject. Why the subject of Blogging? Well, because this is one way in which I can encourage other bloggers and "give energy" to them to continue presenting what's true.

When you think about it, there are two ways to influence the world. One is to directly influence someone and play a part in changing their mind on something. The other is to influence those who influence. In a lot of ways, the second of these contains more power.