Monday's Menu

Wow can you believe it is almost May already. That means I am about to begin my "better eating habits" for the month of May. I want to see if I notice a difference. This will not and I repeat NOT involve the ingesting of veggies (with the possible exception of corn, mmmmm corn). However, I will begin eating fruit, two servings a day, possibly making one of my meals all fruit. Mmmmmmm Blueberry donuts, raspberry tarts, apple pie, oops just pulling your leg.

This is not meant to be a diet by any means, I am already lighter than I was when I was first married. It is to see if I "feel" healthier and/or have more energy at the end of the month. Notice I have not said anything about eating my usual staples ( Oreos, fudgeos, chips, chocolate bars, and etc, mmmm etc) and whether I will continue this month...well, I ain't tellin :)~ Like I tell Sheryl all the time...YOUNOTDABOSSOFMENOW.
So now if I am grumpier than usual it is because of the "eating healthier".

I am going to add a piece of trivia to the end of my blogs...some will be hard, some will be impossible. You can Google, that always helps me, or does it ;)

Today's trivia for all of you reading this. It happened on September 20 2005, Can you guess what it is? Trivia rating for this question - extremely hard.

Sunday's Screen

I love to peak people's curiosity (part of the pot stirrer in me)...others like to have their curiosity peaked. Have you ever wondered why we wear a mask. Who me? You know the one I mean, the one that hides some of those area/areas that we do not feel comfortable sharing with a small group of very close friends, let alone your spouse. We all have a mask, some just use different make-up or camouflage, while some of us have plenty of wardrobe to choose from :) Even me (I mean who knew I was a pot stirrer till this week). Yes I have a few...heck I have been told that the beard even counts as one. I'm going to shave right after I am done here. My guess is we wear the masks from not getting hurt by telling people what we are hiding. When you watch the news a lot of times you hear neighbours being interviewed about the guy who lived on the same block as them who was arrested for murder, and most of the time they say, "he kept to himself a lot", or "he was just a quiet guy, minding his own business". That guy could be me ;). We obviously can't put all quiet, shy people into this category of murderers, my point here is to show the mask that hides the deep within stuff that can't be shared for fear of being shunned, etc from friends and family. It is interesting to note that people can share anything with people they meet on the Internet, but not the people they know. They feel that no judgement is passed for what they are saying. We need to have a safe place that people can come and share whatever is on their heart. Oh yeah, we have the church. I remember reading "What so amazing about grace" and one of the lines in the book was something like "I don't want to go to church, I feel guilty enough". I am not looking for you to take off your mask/masks here by blogging this, just more of a point that there are lots of people with a lot of stuff in their lives that is causing their hurts. Therefore, to steal a friends quote, "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle".

Saturday's Symposium

Had an interesting lunch time discussion about people who tend to speak too long to the point where you are boring your audience so much that they start talking to each other. I guess this happened when some speaker at a grad in Flin Flon went on and on and on...you know the type. Somehow we got on to this discussion when I mentioned about going to grad's ( my opinion) what a waste of a good afternoon. Give me the diploma (in case I run out of toilet paper). I think we sometimes go a little to far ...after all a little knowledge can be a bad thing. I will let you know when i get a little ;) So my question here is how do you get long winded people to stop talking. I don't like hearing a story for the third or fourth time, even if it is told in a different way...same story...tell me once that's enough. The way I usually handle those long stories or stories that are told too freaking often...I just get up and leave. Believe it or not I wanted to be a cook or a chef, but I never stayed long enough other than to just stir the pot ;)~ I guess we all have topics that bore us to tears...I have so many in those categories that my mind starts daydreaming after the first few minutes. Can't wait to hear your advice on this one readers :)

Friday's Fragments

I was doing some reading online this morning and aside from the celebrity stories that pop up after I close my email, stories like "Jennifer Aniston's designer water, and Sheryl Crow the toilet paper Nazi", I eventually came upon an interesting story which I had heard about before where evangelist Tony Campolo swears to get his point across. In the article it quoted Campolo as saying, ...." I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a sh*t. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said sh*t than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night." I thought here is what Jesus was referring to when he was talking about the poor. It is not the only people he was talking about, as there are millions of people who would fall into "poor" category. We all know someone or we know someone who knows someone who is struggling, and that we would consider poor. Do we not care enough to give a sh*t to help them? Just a challenge to myself and to you to maybe give a you know what. To those who are already doing their part...God's blessing on you.

Thursday's Tirade

Todays blog...I was thinking (third time this week for those counting) anyone have issues or ideas on what they want me to blog on. Maybe once a week I could blog on something you want to hear my rantings on. Send an anonymous post and I will tell you what you want or don't want to hear :) I could be the next Don Cherry...the guy you love to hate ;)


Mother Teresa has been such an incredible example to follow when it comes to Christ's teaching of feeding the poor and helping the needy...not sure anyone did it better than she did. Yesterday, I was out near Superstore and I noticed some guy holding a sign right near the lights on Victoria and Prince of Wales. His sign said something like..."travelling, and hungry...etc". My thought was how about getting a job then you can travel and have money for food. To me this (in my opinion) is not what Jesus was talking about when he was referring to the poor. To me if you are traveling then you save up the money to do it and then you go, or at least put it on your credit card. I don't go buy groceries and stock up my shopping cart and then tell the cashier when I get there that I don't have money to pay for this, and then hold up a sign in the store and saying hungry and broke, (Gee I wonder if people would fall for that). You can see why I don't work in the area of the church where I am responsible for those in need. I hate when people take advantage of those situations...just beg for the sake of begging when they are very capable of getting a job. There are lots of jobs in Regina, stop taking away from those who are more in need of assistance. Grrrrrrrr Okay done ranting on that issue. Politics anyone :)~

Wednesday's wondering

Hmmmmm, lately while I have been out either driving to work or just going for a walk this thought hits me. I feel like we are all a herd of cattle...going to work in our cars, or walking to the store or going out for coffee etc. All the signs, and lines on the road are there to keep us going in an orderly fashion. I almost have the feeling we are wandering aimlessly and without purpose. We need something to do in order to keep us busy or to keep our minds from thinking (I am great for that with my headsets on at work or radio going in the car). We have TV, and Internet, sports and other interests and hobbies, etc. We keep our kids so busy in activities that they don't have time to think (or get involved in the wrong crowd which is usually our thinking), then we are so exasperated because when our kids are busy that means we are busy driving them around. Makes for a great book title, "Get outta my way...I am in a hurry to get nowhere" Okay enough of that story, obviously still wrestling with purpose!! Although, when I think of purpose as it relates to work, for the most part, no one really gives a rip or let me put it this way...when you die, wouldn't it be better for people to remember you for your relationship and friendship with them than the work you did. After all work is a freaking curse. Oops that could be construed as a complaint. Whew, Tuesday is over :):) When you think of it what really matters (it is not the end all be all), is love and respect of others. Hmmm "Love God and Love your neighbour" I know I have heard those words before...simply put that is all that matters!!!
Okay I am in a hurry so get out of my way...I need to go to join the herd and make my way aimlessly to work....

Tuesday's Test

Here is a one day test for everyone reading this blog, and if you read this blog twice try it for two days. I warn you it is not an easy test (actually there are two challenges involved here). I want to see if I can make it one hour without failing. Curiosity peaked yet? :) For one day, don't complain and don't gossip. Fairly simple...right? Hmmmm I will let you know how I did. Will probably have to keep my mouth shut most of the day to even be close to successful. The silver lining at the end of the day is there is always forgiveness. Whew. Have a great day...

P.S. Did I tell you what what's her name did, I can't believe she did that. Okay, I am going to start now. ;)

Monday's meditation

Was reading in Romans yesterday and figured out exactly where I am at in my Christian walk. Click on this link to read Romans 7:14-25 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%207:14-25;&version=31;9;49;65;
This is me. Every time I desire to "do good", there is something in my head wanting to do what I should not do. It is that constant struggle of whether to do right or wrong.

This next part can be fairly heavy reading, and may make you squirm a little also, makes me squirm a lot. Many of us can think of someone who has performed the most heinous crime ever committed (Jeffrey Dahmer, Paul Bernardo, Clifford Olson... unfortunately I could go on). These men murdered, one as many as 17 people including children. If you found out that either of these murderers had come to know Christ as saviour and Lord while serving time in prison do you rejoice or do you (even for a split second) think that person does not deserve to be in heaven after what they did? I will get back to that question later on.


Something to think about for awhile while I tell another story. When I was a little kid ( a few years older than the one you see in the picture on this page, I still remember so vividly going into the Safeway and stealing a pack of cigarettes and then running across the street to the Texaco gas station and stealing a coke from the machine outside, and then going down under the bridge by the river and lighting up and drinking my coke. Hard to believe eh, I mean wow they had cigarettes when I was a kid, and Coke too ;) A friend I hung out with at that time would grow up and I would hear stories of how he went to prison for killing someone when he was in his early 20's. Was his killing someone worse than my stealing something. There was a time I would answer that without hesitating and say "Heck yeah". But then when you think of doing something wrong or sin as we call it in Christian circles do we have a hierarchy of sin...those more acceptable than others... I stole something worth about $1.00...someone else robs the bank and gets thousands of dollars...and yet someone else murders 17 people...whose sin here is the worst? How does God see sin? My understanding is (and feel free to correct me here). God sees sin as sin...there is no "good" sin. Maybe we have downplayed what we have done in order to make ourselves look better than we actually are. When we sin, is God disappointed with us. I believe he is. When we come to him confessing our sin, is he pleased with us. I believe he is...and he forgives us our sin...no matter what we have done. Guess I kinda answered my earlier question that I said i would get back to. Even though my and maybe your sense of justice wants people like Olson/Dahmer/Bernardo etc to be punished, even into eternity...God's love (even for them) stretches far beyond what we can ever imagine. Now before I decide to take licence with God's grace and go and sin as I please, I need to go and read Romans 6:1-10 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%206:1-10;&version=31;9;49;65;
God's grace be with us today, because we are sure gonna need it.

My anonymous friends

It has come to my attention from an anonymous friend, who shall remain anonymous...for now :):):) told me that he/she (see how I got around that one without telling people your name :) ) is unable to post, so I changed the setting just for them...(NOT THAT I HAVE FAVORITES OR ANYTHING) , so now they can post just like the rest of us.

Sunday's Subject

As most of you who know me fairly well, know that I am one of the worst eaters of anyone they know. Typical day for me, is toast for breakfast, hot dogs for either lunch or supper, and then a hodge podge of choices for my other meal that might be pizza, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, etc. Of course in between all of those meal there is my staple of chocolate bars, oreos and fudgeos, Lays salt n vinegar chips, not only in between those meals but with the meals, except for breakfast. No veggies for me, and rarely fruit. Recently, I have noticed I have not been feeling as well as I used to (so I have gotten away with it for this long) therefore I have decided to slowly add fruit to my nutritional menu :) Will let you know how that goes. Oh yeah, I will start in May, after all why do today what you can put off till tomorrow.

Today's thought for the day...pets. I know that anyone who reads this may take offence, but I am also looking for your feedback because maybe not having a pet I just don't understand the "pet lover". I was listening to the radio yesterday and they were talking about a telethon for the humane society and right away my hair starts standing up. I don't hate animals, really after all I have 9 goldfish ;) ..I guess what i dislike is more the issue of excessive animal rights to the detriment of people's plights. If there were a telethon for pets and one for the poor people (whether for people in Regina or India) should our money not be going to the poor. Yet we know how attached some people become to their pets where they even refer to them as their children. Even today there are pet cemetarys, funerals and people dying that leave all there inheritance to their freaking animal. Ok.... deep breath.....sigh. I feel better now. I am not against the cause of animal rights and it is great for people to be involved but (in my opinion) are there not much more important issues out there for Christians to be involved with. I am getting off my high horse for today's thought, because I know I have already ticked a few people off. After all, what are friends for other than to push each other to think about all of life's issues and to get a perspective and understanding on so that we can then act on. So feel free (let me have it) and help me to understand this issue differently.

Saturday's Stuff

For today's post I thought something a little lighter than the usual heavy duty stuff. If you know me well enough...most of what I have posted is not my everyday conversation. I don't mind talking about God for a little while...but all the time is just too much...at least for where I am at. I prefer to talk about where people are at, and how life is going...if God comes up in the conversation then fine...but after too much "God talk" I am literally going blah blah blah in my head or I am day dreaming.

My weekend is here...with the slight exception of going to work for a couple of hours tomorrow. First of all ...congrats to Melly Nelly and James on their big announcement of baby on the way. I am sure you want all our input on what to name the baby....let me begin...hmmmm how about Jamel, born on thanksgiving day at 3:00 in the morning, 7.1 pounds. ;) Are Mom and Dad thrilled for y'all? Wow babies having babies :)~ On the other hand maybe the baby will be born on your birthday...wouldn't that be cool. ;)

Friday's "Feelings"

Let's talk about the three letter word that Christian's don't want to talk about, or for the most part no one else either. When is the last time you talked about this with someone you know, or for that matter, don't know. I mean it's there all the time, on the TV on the Internet, everywhere you look you can find it. I will start again :)
Just kidding. I remember taking a course called creative bible teaching and the hook (get people interested) was the first of four parts. Did it work :)~ I think it would be a fascinating blog though. ;) Actually today's topic is...can we lose our salvation. I know when I was first in Bible school I would have answer NO. Today I would probably either answer yes or did they really have it in the first place. The reason I am bringing this up is I am struggling with my own. If I said I were actually following God, having accepted Christ, why would my life not show that. Why would I do the things I do, or think the things I think or say the things I say. I won't go into detail at this time, probably because it would not really be beneficial for anyone reading this. I guess we all have our "thorn in the flesh", I just happen to have a whole branch. Having said that (losing salvation) I guess it can still be gotten back...but the one thing we don't have on our side is time...think about this...we live a life of hopefully 75 (healthy) years, in what we may or may not think of as a wonderful life (full of ups and downs and just plain in betweens). But eternity is forever and ever and another forever after that. I find the older I get the more I think about death...how often you ask (I heard you ask Mel), several times a day...so it makes me think I really need to get my life in order, as only God can do...but I keep putting it off. Feel free to keep me accountable...

Thursday's Thought

Two part post here and hoping to hear your comments on these questions.

I have always wondered what makes people believe in God, and why some have a very strong faith while others it just barely seems to exist. Some say, (I won't mention your names, you know who you are) I want to die today so I can be with Jesus (paraphrasing here), while others (me included) are thinking more along the lines of "No, I will wait my turn in line or when I am older, like in my 80's or so." So for us in the latter category does that show a lack of faith because we want to hold on to "this Life" so much. Makes me think of the quote "better the devil you know".... yeah I know not a real good reference point when we are talking about eternal life.

Part two:

If (I must admit I hate hypothetical questions) you were not a believer and never heard the Gospel or of God or any thing referring to a creator...what would make you believe there must be a higher power? So picture yourself as Tarzan or Jane, no you can't be cheetah (not in the physical sense)...but swinging around in the jungle with no sense at all of a God or creator. I have my own thoughts on this issue but I will wait to hear what y'all have to say.

Wednesday's whimper

Hard to believe it was a year ago this evening that I got a call from my brother John. He was supposed to phone me about ordering tickets for the Player's Golf Championship in Florida for May 2007. He said he would not be able to make arrangements at this time...then went on to tell me that he was diagnosed with cancer. Immediately my thoughts went back to 1998 when my sister Mary (46) was told in September that she had cancer...and how she would live only three more months. I tried not to cry while talking to John...thinking this just could not be happening. Every time tears welled up I put my thoughts on something positive. In the background it sounded like someone crying , and John saying "hey, none of that". He wanted to keep positive himself.

In so many ways I thought I had adjusted to John being gone but I still have two messages on my answering machine from almost a year ago that I still listen to every once in awhile. The positive from this whole experience was that John came to know Jesus Christ as saviour. The negative was watching him suffer so much over the next 5 months. What a horrible way to die.

Okay I am sure John would not want me to dwell on this issue so it is time to move on.

Tuesday's Traffic

How nice it is driving to work at 5:00 in the morning with not too many cars on the ring road. Sure makes for a nice, but boring 15 minute ride. I am thankful though because it is spring...give me a pothole over a snowdrift any day. Was thinking as I was driving (wow that's a first) maybe these blogs are a little too negative and maybe a little heavy but at the same time it is stuff I am thinking about in my head. Maybe that's why at work I like to keep things light. My wife knows how negative I can be...especially after watching the news with my "realistic view point" (others say pessimistic). With so much negative news on I am almost at the point where I don't want to know what is going on in the city, Country or world, because when you get those stories like the shooting yesterday in Virginia usually my first thought was I hope they shot the SOB. I know this is not the kind of thinking a "christian" should have, but I have it every time some story of injustice comes on the news. So I am trying to in some way have God work on me in this area. I am a work in progress and one saying about progress is "Progress always involves risk; you can't steal second base and keep your foot on first base." So if I am trying to progress and steal second, I better hope that God is at the plate to bring me home.

Monday morning musings

When I said yesterday in my blog, "what is life all about"... I guess I have been thinking about life in general. Something that has been on my mind for a few months now is how "meaningless" life seems, and how there really has to be more than "this". Here is what I mean...We have become a society so caught up in the lives of everyone else that we are missing out on what God really wants of us. For example, we are so drawn into the lives of celebrities, musicians, and athletes, especially when they screw up (I guess it makes us feel pretty good about ourselves because surely we are not as bad as they are). For example, Anna Nicole-Smith...she dies and all people care about is who is the father of her baby. Who gives a rip. We care more about things that don't matter than things that have meaning. I look at it this with with celebrities and the media...when they screw up it is brought to light by the media for all of us to see ...makes me think of that Bible verse that says, "For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light." Luke 8:17 NASB. The same applies to me and you in that all that we do will someday come to light...some of it here on earth for all to see...and all of it before God. That is very scary.

Most of us have probably thought, " I wonder what it would be like to be a famous actor, singer, athlete, etc". Make ten or 20 million dollars a year. Have so much money we could light cigars (sorry Tim) with our hundred dollar bills if we wanted to. On a much smaller scale we do the same things. We want the latest toys, nicer houses with three car garages for our two cars, new cars, designers clothes etc. Where does it all end? What comes to mind here is, "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?" Mark 8:36 NASB

If I won a million dollars in the lottery I would be thrilled...but we always want more. A lady from Manitoba a few weeks ago won the lottery and the year before she won it also. She did not stop playing the lottery, winning once was not enough, she wanted more. When a golfer wins the most prestigious tournament there is, there is an overwhelming sense of accomplishment... or when an actor wins an academy award for best actor or a team wins the Superbowl or Stanley cup there is that same sense of accomplishment...but then what? You are at the top of your game and more money than you know what to do with.
In the whole "scheme" of life and purpose what does it all mean when on that day we die and meet God and he says to us, "Why should I let you into heaven?" He won't be looking for your trophy's or all the wealth that we amassed. He is going to be looking at what we did with what he gave us. (SeeMatthew 25:14-30)

Obviously, I am not there myself, so hopefully I don't die today...because I think God would be pretty disappointed with me and what I have done with everything he has given me (knowledge, money, etc). How about you?

I am not rich compared to the movie stars, athletes etc...but compared to the guy in Africa or the girl in India living in extreme poverty I am quite rich. I would love to hear all your comments, whether you agree or disagree with what I blog.

Why Blog

I decided to blog because I find it easier to type about what is going on that to talk about it. That way you don't have to see the reactions people give even though you are telling them the truth. Going through lots of struggles lately ... anything from what is a Christian? ... am I a Christian? to what is life really about? More tomorrow. Take the quiz about me. Thanks for the idea Mel about the quiz.

Mike