Question to readers, if there are any out there LOL (anonymous or others)

If you were to stop and think, asking yourself are you happy at this time in your life. What would the answer be? Not looking for a "pat" answer here. Looking for honesty, so for some it may be easier to post as anonymous. If you are happy, what makes you happy, If you are not happy, what is making you unhappy, what can bring that happiness back? No right or wrong answers here. Just looking myself.

Monday Morning Ministry

Here are ten signs you are either probably not in church or probably should not be in church on Sunday.

10. You keep looking at your watch, and wonder why the service is not finished yet.

9. The kids are not misbehaving during the service, so you take the initiative and get things going.

8. You park in the handicap spot, so you can be the first one out after service.

7. You keep watching the nursery monitor for your number to come up so you can leave the service.

6. You look over at the lady next to you in the congregation and wonder where she got her hat.

5. There are only front row seats left so you decide to leave.

4. You read the bulletin, or some book to take you mind off the sermon.

3. The offering plate comes by, and you offer to take.

2. You ask your husband before leaving for church, how does what I am wearing look?

1. You are too busy at home making a list of why you shouldn't be in church instead of being there.

Tuesday's Telling

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu.

If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period.

I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke, it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Tuesday's Trap - Santa Part II

Most, if not all of us grew up believing that Santa was a real person who brought presents to good little boys and girls. Amazing that I believed that... being that I was not the best of little boys....but still got presents, and some pretty damn nice ones too. Why is it that we need to tell our kids or anyone elses for that matter that Santa Claus is real. We make him out to be the focus of Christmas rather than focus on the real meaning of Christmas - Jesus Christ. If most kids were asked the meaning of Christmas I think they would answer it is about getting presents from Santa. Christ would be a distant second. Let's look at it this way....Santa is giving me all these presents, and really I was not that well behaved this year anyway. Jesus is seen as more of a secondary church answer for why Christians celebrate the season.

Another reason I don't like the promoting of Santa is kids are being lied to (pure and simple) that first of all Santa exists. If kids look to their parents for truth and yet are being fed this, maybe you lied to them about more than just Santa. Look at it this way If you once believed in a man who knew what you were doing, who had amazing abilities, and who gave you nice things, and he turned out to be a fake, why should you believe in another man who knows what you are doing, has amazing abilities, gives you nice things--Jesus Christ? If you get burned once, why get burned the second time? Wouldn't it be better to be honest with our children right from the start, and teach them the difference between truth and make-believe?

Maybe believing in Santa is just an escape for having to believe in Jesus. Some extreme Christians believe we should burn a likeness of Santa in church every Christmas. I am not at all saying we do this. Obviously Nicolas was a man of God in his day, and he would probably be extremely embarrassed at how he is portrayed today to the point of being the meaning of Christmas over Christ. The gift of giving is something we can all do. It's better to remember the real Nicholas, who can serve as an example of how to really keep Christmas. In society today, we give to those who have at Christmas, and maybe remember those who don't have by donating a can of soup, while giving family members a new PlayStation, or Ipod or computer or toy or _______ fill in the blank.

Christmas has obviously gotten away for what it was intended to be, but it does not mean I can't change myself where I think I should or where God thinks I should. Maybe Christmas, at least when it comes to giving should focus more on Matt. 25 - to feed the hungry, help the sick, clothe the naked, invite the stranger, give to those in need instead of want, etc. This is just my opinion of how Christmas has evolved. You may have a totally different one than mine. Would love to hear it. Talk to you again about a similar matter at Easter....but first let me tell you what I want for Christmas! Merry Christmas...I'll be back in the new year....

Sunday's Santa Part I

Most who know me know I really don't care for the mention of Santa Claus at Christmas. Especially when it is used by Christians, I mean others don't know any better. Here is a brief history of how Santa Claus began. I will reserve comment for later this week on my own personal feelings toward Santa and Christmas.

For 22 years Nicholas watched over his church. He loved having children sit on his lap while he told them stories about Jesus. One of his other joys was gift giving. Once a man in his church went bankrupt. In order to pay his bills the man was going to sell his three beautiful daughters into slavery, a common practice in those days. When Nicholas heard about it he collected an offering and in the dead of night tossed the bag of gold into an open window in the man’s house. In other cases, if the windows or doors were locked, he would drop the gift down the chimney, which often had stockings hanging nearby to dry from washing.

Nicholas died in AD 342 on Dec. 6. By then he was well known in the area. Many Christians began to follow his example in Christ and give gifts to the poor. It became popular to hold a feast and worship service in his memory on Dec. 6. People would even dress up like him, hold children on their laps, and give them gifts.

Nicholas soon became a patron saint, like a sports hero. In Holland the Dutch pronounced his name as Saint Nicklaus. As they came to America and spoke quickly, to the untrained ear it sounded like they were saying "Santa Claus." The Germans, because of the Lutheran Reformation, focused their attention on the Christ child. In German the baby Jesus is called the "Krist Kindle." Again spoken quickly this would sound like "Kris Kringle," which later was applied to the Santa Claus legend because Christmas was celebrated near the time of St. Nicholas’ day.

The Puritans, however, made it illegal to mention any saint’s name. During the 1600s it was forbidden to light a candle, exchange a gift, or sing carols. Still, people will celebrate what they want. If we don’t teach them how to sing and feast and pretend to the glory of God, then the world will teach them how to do it without glorifying God. That’s what happened to St. Nicholas.

In 1820 a dentist named Clement Moore wrote a poem for his sick child to cheer him up. Called "Twas the night before Christmas," the poem told children that St. Nicholas lived at the North Pole, drove a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer, and had a tummy that shook like a bowl full of jelly. (Actually he was probably thin from fasting.) Forty years later Thomas Nast drew a cartoon picture showing St. Nicholas with a long white beard (probably true), rosy cheeks (probably not), dressed in red (true), and with a sack of toys on his back (probably not, since the people needed money and food more).

Just a little history on how Santa came to be....more later...

Friday's Facebook

I read this post on a friends facebook wall. As I was reading I thought how true it is, at least for me. I often think about the shrinking church (hey I am one of them) and wonder why people are not going anymore. I guess everyone has their reasons, I am sure I have mine. More important question, is the relationship with God. Is it there? Anyway, here is the post I read....

Think about what you are reading ok. because it's the truth.

Why do we ((sleep)) in [[church]],
But stay ((awake)) through a [[2 hour movie]]?
Why is it so ((hard)) to talk about [[God]],
but so ((easy)) to [[Gossip]]?
Why are we so ((bored)) when we look at a [[Christian magazine]],
but find it ((easy)) to read [[Playboy]]?
Why is it so easy to ((ignore)) a [[Godly]] Facebook Wall Post,
Yet we ((repost)) the [[nasty]] ones?
Why are ((churches)) getting [[smaller]],
But ((bars and clubs)) are [[growing]]?
Think about it, are you going to repost this?
Are you going to ignore it, cause you think you'll get laughed at?
Would You Have Opened This if it Said.... Read This In Gods Name.

80 % of you wont repost this.

Jesus Christ said:
"If you deny me in front of your friends I will deny you in front of my father

Monday's Message

On Thursday Steve was transferred to St. Boniface hospital in Winnipeg where they did an angiogram and found out he had an "ischemic" event. I was told that when this happens blood flow to the heart muscle (myocardium) is obstructed by a partial or complete blockage of a coronary artery (it is good to have a couple of nurses in the extended family. He had (I think) 4 blocked artery's 3 partially blocked and 1 completely blocked. They put a shunt or stint in the blocked one and cleared the others out. Once that all took place he was feeling much better. He was transferred to Portage la Prairie on Friday and released on Saturday, and except for some dizziness and tiredness he is back to normal. We got to visit on Saturday evening for a few hours and stayed at his place that night. Had a really good talk about how God worked in all of this, not only in what we can see, but what we can't see (future results). On Saturday Steve went up to Elkhorn to get his van and stuff and he met two of the people who were there that day, one of them (Carl) was the one who dragged him back over to the hotel from the parking lot after having the attack. He was amazed to see Steve there, especially after seeing him just four days ago passed out and turning blue.

On another thought, can Winnipeg come too soon. Nope. My bags are packed. At least in my head ;)