Goodbye 2014*

This is the last day of 2014. It went by very fast. As I look to the new year I have some goals. I want a restored relationship with family. I have a son that is not my biological child, but I raised him from day one. He has hurt that I probably don't know. I wasn't a perfect Father, there are no perfect Fathers other than our heavenly Father. James 1:17 " Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Our heavenly Father has our best interest at heart at all times, All that we have comes from him. He does not change, he is consistent. I want to be a blessing with this blog, it is not my intent to piss people off. I tell what I think or how I am thinking on a particular day that I write a blog. I pray about it, I want to plant seeds, I want to promote a relationship with my Heavenly Father. I am learning with this blog that I don't always know who is reading what I write, so I want to be careful not to offend because of a careless word. If I prick a nerve in someone reading and I have accurately presented a scripture, I am OK with that. Sometimes maybe 4 people will read my blog, I have seen as high as 21. My goal especially as I talk about the Bible is to be accurate. Quality is better than quantity. If I influence just one person to have a better relationship with God this year, I am successful.  Many have an imperfect view of God, many times it is because they base their view of God on their earthly father and not on the word of God. I think of a message I heard recently, I want to be deliberate, intentional in my walk with God. I was raised with 7 other brothers and sisters and the majority of them, as far as I know, do not attend church except for possibly one brother. While I understand why it bothers me. I may come off as fanatical to them but I want to be deliberate and intentional in my relationship with God. God changed my life, what I am today, I owe to God. If I have a sweet spirit, I owe it to God coming into my heart and changing me. All of us are born in sin, there is not one that is without sin. My family has seen me in the worst of times and the best. My life has not always been a shining example of a Christian, but I am trying. There are times in the past where I allowed bad behavior in my life, and have not been the best example. I look at children that are struggling sometimes and I wish I could impart what I know to be true. They need God as they raise their children for wisdom and guidance. God wrote the owners manual for human beings to be the best they can be. It is called the Bible. It pertains to all areas of life. It transcends all situations and circumstances. In the Bible are instructions that have stood through times of slavery. Although not a perfect world, it tells us how to live in an imperfect world. There are instructions for husbands and wives, raising children and it works. The Church has taken drug addicts and alcoholics off the street and made productive citizens out of them because of the power of God to transform lives. I have seen the before and after pictures of God's work. As I write those words, I think of Bob Craft, when I first knew him he was an alcoholic living up on hillbilly hill.  I didn't see him for a lot of years and one day I run into him and he is a Deacon at a church and facilitating a recovery program for alcoholics through that church. I think of the first time I went to a Divorce Recovery program at a church and here was a man who went through 4 divorces facilitating that group. Occasionally I will hear someone tell their story at church and I am amazed at what God can do if we will only let him work in our lives. I want to be a blessing, I want to be intentional, I want to restore relationship with family that is now strained. I want to see my family learn of this God that I know.  If you see something good would you not tell it? If you see family in danger would you not tell it?  I do not know the number of my days but I want 2015 to count. I want to come through it seeing a change in my family, relationships like they should be. It can happen through God working in our lives and hearts, fixing us. We are a broken people, a broken nation and we need God. God bless, LVZ

Worship

At Church sometimes they will talk about CEM (Christmas, Easter, Mothersday), People that only go to church on those days to worship God. There may be other names and believe it or not some who go regularly really don't worship God like they ought to.  We think of worship as singing and praising God on Sunday morning. I remember the time when I realized even tithing was a form of worship. Honoring God with what he has given us. Giving back a small portion, its his anyway. the speaker this morning talked about worship as a lifestyle. Something we do as we follow after God. Everyday with a changed life, not just once a week. We pay attention to his word, and try to imitate him. If you love me, keep my commandments, he says in one place. Perhaps we have read the Christmas story, or sang we three Kings. But looking at the Magi, as they followed that star, they made a deliberate decision to follow and search for this King that was born in Bethlehem. It was intentional, deliberate act. It cost them something to follow and search for Jesus. As I thought about that,  how we worship God with our very lives. We believe the gospel at some point. We follow the teachings of Jesus. I deliberately try to attend church every week. I try to read something in his word everyday. I try to change my life to fit what he teaches. When my check comes, I write a check to what ever church I am attending, not because God needs it, he gives to me. Dave Ramsey once spoke about, God don't need his money, then he realized the Church had a bigger budget than Dave Ramsey does, and they don't need his money. I've seen people inside the church that forget, this is God that took the little boys fishes and bread and feed a multitude. It happened twice in the gospels. Once Jesus took a fish they had caught and took a coin out of him to pay the taxes or tribute that was owed. It reminds me of the joke I heard about the dollar bills talking. the hundred dollar bill talked about going around the world and all the places he'd been. the fifty had been all over the country. The twenty had also traveled some more locally. The ten and the five had not seen the grand places the others had seen, but then the one dollar bill spoke and the only place he had been to was church. It makes sense to me. God don't need our money, the Church don't need it, but we give because I believe God wants to teach us to be givers as he is. Everything we have came from God in the first place. They can clone a sheep but they have to start with a sheep, they cannot start with dust as God did.   Worship with a changed life, that follows after God, imitates him, follows him, searches for him.  Worship deliberately, intentionally, a way of life, day by day. God is worthy of such devotion. God bless, LVZ.

The most segregated time in America

The most segregated time in America is Sunday morning.  I don't remember who the author was when I first read these words, but he is right. That is a time we mostly choose to worship in a ethnic or race based congregation.  I am not here to say anything is wrong with that but we choose to be more segregated at the time we worship our God than at any other time in America. If we believe the Bible to be true, then we must realize there was only one race at creation. I believe there was only one race at the time of the great flood.  I heard a preacher say if we are looking for a political answer to our problems, we are looking to the wrong source. I believe even Martin Luther King Jr looked for a spiritual solution to the problems in America. I think we look at him more as a political leader than a spiritual one and I believe the opposite is true. I believe he was looking more for a spiritual solution, but as God directed him and blessed his actions, it became very political. I don't claim to understand what is happening in America today, but I think there is a political agenda behind a lot of the media reporting today. I did not live in an area where there were colored only and whites only water fountains. I did not live in an area where blacks had to enter the back door of a doctors office.
I also believe prejudice is a condition of the heart, a spiritual sickness and not based on race. Sometimes I hear things that indicate whites are the most prejudice people on earth. They are not, there are Blacks that are just as prejudice as any white man I have run into.  I believe it is a condition of the heart. I believe a spiritual solution is needed, not a political solution. It is politics that is driving the division we are facing today. We need to be mature enough to think through the media reports and what the agitators tell us. The bad stuff we are being fed about Police through social media and the press is not good for America. Civil authority is ordained by God, Read the first part of Romans 13. Our leadership in our churches needs to be trying to pull us together with a spiritual solution and not become political and drive us further apart. 2 Chronicles  7:14 has the answer for America today. Martin Luther King Jr accomplished much with his spiritual leadership and that is what we need today, not political agitators like Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson. They may be ministers but they are more political than spiritual and are doing much to drive us apart instead of pulling us together. We must be smart, we need the police. We must realize that the bad police are a small percentage and they do need to be dealt with, but lets not demonize the good guys in the process. We need them. We will accomplish more if we pull together and work together as one nation under God. God bless, LVZ.

Normal, ordinary

What is normal or ordinary? Jesus was, at least that is why he came to earth as a babe in a manger. He came in a humble way to be able to connect with normal ordinary everyday people. As  God, He could have rolled out a red carpet for his arrival but he wanted to be able to relate to you and me. Normal, ordinary everyday people. Most of us will never accomplish great things. I will never be a Billy Graham or a George Bush or an Abraham Lincoln. I will never be a Bill Gates or a Michael Jordan. Jesus wants me just as I am. My quirks, my short comings, my humanness and what ever else I can pull up to describe ordinary. Some of us, are just going to be terribly ordinary and not accomplish great things. Yes, some have been Billy Grahams, or Martin Luther King Jr's, but so many of us are not going to do anything great. But God wants us, just as we are. We may never know what God does with us or through us because so many of us could not stay humble if we did. Many times it is like we pray to God for someone and God answers and we say I prayed for him. Its like calling the police or a fireman to attend a situation where they are needed and think we are the hero because we called the police and they came and did their thing. The police or a fireman came and save a life and we say I called them, like we are the hero. God uses ordinary everyday people because he is the hero that changes lives, not us because we prayed. I think God wants the credit for the things he does. Sometimes you hear people say they have the gift of healing or whatever, and you want to say go to the hospital and heal if you got it. How come they don't, probably because they would embarrass themselves. What's wrong with just being ordinary?  What is wrong with just being a clay pot in the hands of God and allowing God to be God?   In the following scripture Isaiah says, he had no beauty, nothing to attract us to him. This was a prophecy of Jesus. He was ordinary common, normal. He came in that form to be like us, so we could relate to him and have relationship with him.
Isaiah 53:2
"He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him."
I had started writing this Sunday morning and forgot I had already published it. I had intended to find a scripture that told how ordinary he was. The worship leader this morning read part of Isaiah 53. There was this verse  that said  there was nothing about him to attract us to him. No Robert Redford, or Denzel Washington look alike, but what he did is love us in an extraordinary way and died for our sins. Jesus wants relationship with plain old ordinary common normal people like me.



  God bless, LVZ.

Family of eight

In my family, I have three brothers and 4 sisters. Then there are our Children and Grandchildren. First cousins too many to count, and their Children and Grandchildren. Then you include my wife's side of the family and it gets even bigger. I thought about this over the holidays when I was able to see a lot of my family, but not all. I have a son that doesn't want to have much to do with me, and it has been that way for many years. The latest thing was he was hurt over a word I used, indifferent. As I thought about it, I have to be some what indifferent, because life goes on. It doesn't stop because he is mad it me. I choose to go on even if I made a poor choice of words and try to do better.  I will continue to have relationship with the family and friends that want to have a relationship with me. If that means I am somewhat indifferent, so be it.  But it happens to the best of us, an ill spoken word or an action on our part hurts someone.  As I thought about this, you know who I think gets hurt the worst? The person who withdraws and maintains an unforgiving spirit. Many times we don't even know what is wrong, especially when a person don't speak to us for years. It hurts the person who withdraws the most. Those with a forgiving spirit move on. It doesn't mean the action or word did not hurt them. It just means they chose to overlook it or forgive it and continue relationship. Not only is it biblical but it shows maturity.  They do better because they continue in relationship, perhaps the time comes when they can talk about it and listen to the other side. It is that attitude of forgiving that is so needed. Everyone of us is going to say or do something that hurts someone sometime, we are human. But we need each other, especially families. I don't like it if someone stays away from me or won't speak to me, but life goes on and so should we. It doesn't mean we will not get hurt. It is usually the people closest to us like family and friends that are able to hurt us the most, because of relationship.  Right now I can think of at least five people that don't want to have relationship with me and for some, I might know why but there are some I don't know why. If I hurt them, I could try to do better if I knew why, and if I do know why and they won't speak to me, I still can't fix it.  Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three is not easily broken." These words were penned by the man considered to be the wisest man that ever lived. We need each other, especially when the going gets rough. Not two long ago I heard and I believe I blogged about two horses that won a pulling contest, but what surprised me that together they pulled more than double what they had pulled individually. I mean one pulled 9,000 lbs and one pulled 8,000 lbs alone but together they pulled 35,000 lbs. As long as I have been alive I have seen division between people over stupid stuff, when we really need each other.  A little forgiving seems to go a long way towards mending relationships. Here is another thought, to be unforgiving is like eating poison and expecting the other person to die.  It only hurts the person with the unforgiving spirit. We can help each other if we stay in relationship  and maintain a forgiving spirit. Overlook some things and after a while they may not look so bad. Think about it, we need each other.  God bless, LVZ.

God's dicipline

Proverbs 3:11,12  "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, Because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." Isn't it true, we love our kids and that is why  we discipline them. We love them. In this day and age many try to be their children's friend and it doesn't work. Children feel loved when they have boundaries. This verse is telling us to accept God's correction. God corrects us because he loves us.  The world does not revolve around us. Some of the loneliest people are those who have not learned to care about others.  DO you ask questions of others, how are you doing? What is going on in your life? I remember well the many times I would check on my father. He lived long enough for me to go through three divorces, but he never asked how I was doing?  I was proud of the accomplishments in my life, I became an engineer. I remember the first time I put my name on a drawing title block as engineer. I printed the drawing and cut out the title block. I don't think my Dad ever knew what I did on my job. He never asked. I have tried with my daughter to do better and to ask how she is doing. Her most important job is the grand kids of mine she is raising. She also loves to reupholster furniture. I know this because she communicates with me. As for my son, I know he has done tree work lately. But I know very little about him. He is a social person so it is not a surprise to me that he is active on face book. I often thought he would be good as a salesman or something to do with the public because he likes to talk. I think a draw back is he talks but needs to listen more.  Parents discipline their kids because they love them and want to train them for the things in life they will face. To teach them the correct way to interact with others. Many earthly parents are imperfect, let me rephrase that, all parents are imperfect. They are human, they make mistakes, not intentionally, but it is part of being human. No parent ever thinks, I am going to do this to mess up my kids, they do what they think is right. We discipline because we love our kids and we want them to do right. They are a reflection of us. So it is with God, he disciplines his children because he loves them and we are a reflection of him. I remember the time I was taking my daughter to piano lessons. I was sitting in my car waiting for her, when I saw a father and son walk up to the street corner to cross the street. The family resemblance was there, the son looked like a smaller, younger version of his father. They really looked alike. But what got my attention was the body behaviors. Both looked both ways at the same time. Then the both licked their lips at the same time and crossed the street. I hope I imitate my heavenly father so closely. He disciplines me because he loves me. God bless, LVZ.

In Due Time

Clic on the marshmallow test link above
In due time, some difficult words to live by. This is an area I know I have trouble with. 1 Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."
As I think about the last words in the verse above "in due time", this is God's timing. We live in the age of microwaves and drive through windows. Sometimes I will be at a drive through window and I think the guy in front of me should have gone inside because he doesn't know what he wants. My impatience is showing. I have had times when God answered my prayers right away. Sometimes while I was yet speaking or praying.  When God doesn't answer on my time, I think sometimes I just do what I think and not wait on God. This verse is about trusting God, and waiting for his timing. God may not answer when we want him to but his timing is always right. When it is God's time,
 what ever the issue, it will be the right time.  God's timing is perfect. It's just that it is hard to sometimes wait on him. The marshmallow study in the video about shows how hard it was for children to wait.  I know I have trouble waiting. According to the researchers : The kids who had waited for two treats had higher SAT scores, greater workplace success and a lower body mass index later in life.  I  shared the above video from Google by typing in Marshmallow test. God knows the best for us if we will wait on him. I found it interesting that as they followed these children in later life, the ones that were able to wait did better in later life. God wants what is best for us, but the best is in his timing, not ours. God promises to lift us up when we humble ourselves and wait for him. I think that is true in my own life. As I was praying about a church to attend when I moved here, I was getting discouraged, but I kept waiting. There were other good churches that I visited, but in my spirit I didn't feel it was God's answer.  When I visited my current church, right from that first visit, it felt right in my spirit. 2 years later,  I feel God has confirmed this decision over and over again. I am so glad I waited on God. There have been so many times when I didn't. I have been married and divorced 4 times, and I think back and I did have warnings a couple of times, but I went ahead and did what I wanted to do instead of waiting on God. Other areas of my life, the same thing. Many times I was like those children that just couldn't wait. Wait on God that he may lift us up in due time. He knows what is best for us. God bless, LVZ,
Many of my blogs are a result of something I was listening to or reading. In this case it was a sermon by Bill Wolfson of CFAN in Tacoma.  I feel like I borrow or steal a lot of stuff. I wonder if any are just my own thinking and not the result of something I heard, read or saw. If I get it through google, I feel it is public information. I am influenced  by the Pastors I listen to. We do have a responsibility for what we take in. I do try to take in good stuff and make it my own.

Do not withhold good

As I was reading in Proverbs this morning I read Proverbs 3:27 "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act." What does this mean? My thoughts went to recent events and even yesterday as I typed in Officer shot in google, how many links came up. It is in my power to act on their behalf. I want to do what I can to be a healing agent in the divide that is happening in our nation. This divide between our public servants and the black community is dangerous for our nation. I read recently in Romans 13, that all authority is given by God. The police are necessary. We should not put the police as a whole down because of one bad cop. In the most notable of the current incidents, the cops may have overreacted, but I do not believe they were bad cops. They are public servants, we need them, we pay them, we give them the direction through other elected officials and the laws that we put into place for them to enforce.  Lets say you owned a business and had employees under you and you treated them as we are treating our police today. How do you think your employees would feel? One messes up, and you lump all of them together and speak badly of them as a group. You employees would not be happy, moral would be low. It is like the beatings will continue until the moral improves. The police are public servants, they are our employees.  They deserve respect not the trashing they are receiving from the public at this time. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due. They have a difficult job to do. They serve the public. we need to lift them up. Think of all the difficult situations they can come in contact with on a daily basis. They do not know what they are going to face when they walk up to a car or a door. They want to go home alive at the end of the day. We do not face the dangers that they do on a daily basis. Sure on the job especially if you are dealing with the public you face unruly people, people that have had a bad day. But do you have to fear on a daily basis that the situation you are walking up do may harm you because of who you are. We need to lift them up and encourage them. the bad cops are a minority, a small minority. If we continue this way, who would want to be a public servant and put their lives in danger and be trashed talked on top of it all. We owe them respect and honor. We need to teach our young to submit to their authority and we will not see so many getting hurt. The ones that are getting hurt have not submitted to the authority we gave the police to police us. I do not believe for an instant that there is as much racism in the police department that we are hearing over the internet and the news media. These incidents are being blown out of proportion to serve a political agenda and it is hurting our nation. It is in our power to act and to try and heal this divide. Lets lift up our public servants and honor and respect them every chance we get. Lets turn this around, we the public have the power to do this. Every chance we get, let the police know you support them and respect them for the job they are doing. They are your employee, and you want your workplace to be a place they want to come to work in. God bless, LVZ,

Everybody is different

I do the best I can. I want to be the best I can be. I am not a perfect Christian. I never was a perfect parent. I obviously wasn't a good husband, I've been divorced 4 times. But I keep trying. I learned not to quit. In times past I got discouraged and quit. I learned there are no perfect people, there are no perfect Christians. No perfect Parents or Grandparents. If I have done something right, it is when I tried to follow God to the best of my ability. I can give a lot of advice, but lots of people don't want to hear it. I didn't, and I think back of the trouble I could have avoided had I been willing to listen to some of these older people.  My fifth try at marriage seems to be working, I have been married this time almost as long as I was to the last three combined. I think I learned some things. I believe I am a better husband than I was in my first marriage. I recently had a difficult phone call with my son. Once again I learned some things about myself and about him. If he didn't love me, he wouldn't have been so hurt by a careless word of mine. I really did figure he cared less, the only time he has contacted me in the last ten years was when he needed something.  But that is really quite normal for the next generation. We try to make things better for our children and sometimes it makes things worse. I did believe in spare the rod and spoil the child. His mother tried to be his friend. So most of the time if their was any disciplining to do, it fell on me. I can tell you today, parents need to be together, they need to be a team. If not it is the children that get hurt. I saw an article in the newspaper about rules for raising children, it was really quite simple. I threw the paper away so I cannot go back and look for it. I do remember the person saying it is OK to say: "because I said so" to your kids. I am not alone in this world with having trouble with grown kids. I do love them, but they are grown and making their own decisions now. All I can do is continue to pray for them, and I will probably be doing that for as long as I live. I hope they are better parents than I was. I hope they will learn to trust God in everything. I have some relatives that are a lot farther down the road then I am. I am almost 62, but I recently told one of my favorite Uncles that when I grow up, I want to be just like him. He has a sweet spirit about him and I love to see him every chance I get. I would bet , if you talked to him he wasn't perfect either, but he learned to trust God. He still has that faith, he doesn't walk as fast anymore, he looks shorter than he used to. I really like his sweet spirit and that is what I want to copy.  That's what we need to do,  find somebody on this journey through life and copy them as they copy Christ.  Church has been a big part of my life. I kept going to church even in the bad times when I was going through a divorce. You know, God hates divorce, but he loves me. God hates sin but he loves me. God has been disappointed with some of the bad decisions I made in life, but he loves me.  You know how I know? The Bible tells me so, just like the song I learned in Sunday School so long ago. Yes Jesus loves me, As I write this I can hear Whitney Houston singing.  Yes Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.   God bless, LVZ.

Your Just Like Your Dad

As I thought about these words that were spoken recently, I thought about my heavenly Father. What a compliment that is to be told you are just like your Dad. My Heavenly Father is the one I want to be like. He always has my best interest at heart. He always does what is best for me. He said in his word I will never leave you nor forsake you. Lo I am with you always. He is the father to the fatherless. He is a defender of widows. He will find you in the lowest hell and bring you out. There is no mountain to tall he cannot find you. Though a mother forget her suckling child, yet my heavenly father will not forget me. He allowed Job to be tried and told Satan, this is my child, there is none like him. You can afflict him  but do not harm a hair on his head, he is my child. When Job's trial was over, God blessed him more than before. My heavenly Father loves with an unconditional loves that cannot compare to anything else we experience. He sees through any hurt and brings us out. My Heavenly Father cannot be compared to any father on earth.  To be told I am like my father is the biggest compliment one can be given. Oh if it were only true in the deepest sense of those words. But at last I realize I too am like my earthly father, imperfect at best. But still my heavenly father sees me through his Son Jesus Christ, and loves me for who I really am.  Oh, I wish those words were true about me and my Heavenly Father, But it is, I have been forgiven, I have been washed in the blood of Jesus. I am made in the likeness of my Heavenly Father, a spiritual being, I am like a chip off the block of my heavenly Father.  God bless, LVZ.

Authority

This has been on my heart a lot lately. Once again I read Romans 13:1-7 this morning.  It starts, there is no authority except that which God has established. Our civil authority is ordained by God. He approves of it. It has his stamp of approval on it. Then it continues, whoever rebels against the authority rebels against what God has instituted.  Here again God instituted authority. If we rebel and dishonor authority, we rebel and dishonor God. I know in the past, we had civil rights protests and marches etc., but it had a God designed purpose other than to tear down. It was intended to make things better. The protests we are seeing today are violent and meant to cause a rift in our country. They are not against an unjust law or interpretation of law. It seems to have a political agenda that is not God honoring and it is destructive. It is not bringing our nation together, it is driving us apart. Rulers hold no terror for those who do right. As much as I have heard about these two individuals, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, they were on the wrong side of the law and would not submit to the police. We must recognize that to have justice in these incidents. It is so unfortunate that these men died. Their families and friends are hurting, a life was snuff out too early. These men hold most of the responsibility for their deaths, they would not submit to the governing authority. They resisted and fought the police. We need to submit, verse 5 tells us to submit to authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. It is the right thing to do. We need to teach this younger generation that the governing authorities are their for their protection and need to be submitted to and respected. Most of the officers we deal with are good officers, they are just trying to do what we the public tell them to do. We are their bosses in a way. We need to honor and respect and submit to the police officers we come in contact with. Especially in the line of duty, they are there as public servants to do OUR biding. It was said that Eric Garner was selling untaxed cigarettes, against the law. They also had some kind of community cleanup effort in work and Eric was part of the problem the city was trying to correct. Brown had just robbed a store, this is not profiling, he was the exact man they were looking for. He knew he was in trouble and did not submit, he had just robbed a store and was found. Both would be alive if they had not resisted the God given and God ordained authority they were dealing with at that moment. Verse 7 "Give to everyone what you owe them: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue then revenue; if respect, then respect, if honor then honor."  We do owe our God ordained law enforcement officers respect, we should respect and honor them, it is a matter of conscience. Most of them are good officers, and we owe them respect. God bless, LVZ

Comunication

Communication needs to be two ways. There needs to be a time to talk and a time to listen. If you are only willing to talk and not let others talk to you, you are not communicating. In that case where only one is doing the talking and not listening, that is dictation possibly, but not communication. Some times it is the way we say things. Once, on my job,  an electrician asked if we could reroute a wire bundle across the airplane at a different location than had been designed. I investigated the issue. I knew rerouting would make his job easier, simply because he told me it would. I discovered that doing what this electrician was asking would add 48 feet to 24 wires and shorten none. In spite of the fact that it would make his job easier, I knew this would add a lot of weight to the airplane and it would never be approved. Airplane builders are constantly looking for ways to reduce weight. If his request had reduced weight instead of adding weight, it would have probably been a slam dunk.  But I knew I had to tell him no. I learned something, I told the electrician no and then tried to explain why. He was already angry that I shot it down and wouldn't even hear my explanation. Perhaps the same happens when we hurt someone with words. We start off by trying to explain our point of view and then say I am sorry. We need to say I am sorry first, and perhaps maybe even at a later time we can explain our words or our thoughts at that time. Some times if the I am sorry does not come first, we may never have a chance to explain. Sometimes it is not even necessary to explain. I am sorry may go a long way to healing a hurt. If a person won't hear you, it is impossible to say I am sorry and that is on that person. Enough said, communication needs to be two way. I think communication needs to be almost 50 / 50 listening and talking for it to be effective. If we do not listen how do we know that the person we are conversing with heard what we really wanted to say and not just some mumbo jumbo. Some of us are big talkers, some use less words. It is important to know if we have used enough words to convey our thought, and that can happen only by listening. God help me to listen more and to know the words I have used have conveyed the thought I intended and not something different.  God bless, LVZ.

Sticks and Stones

We have all heard the children's saying "Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."  I don't know where that saying came from but it couldn't be further from the truth.There have been a couple of times in my life when I said some words that, to put it as nice as I can, they just weren't right. It has happened again, words or the wrong ones or using the wrong meaning of a word can and does hurt.  Emotional pain, can be o so devastating. Unless you have a skull that is an inch think or simply do not care about anything, words can hurt deeply. I can think of several times that I used words wrongly or misunderstood the meaning intended. Then it is people that we love or that love us can hurt us deeply. If there is an emotional attachment through family or some kind of relationship. be it through Church, a business relationship, family relationship, or what ever, the wrong words can cut us deeply. It has happened to me, and I have been the speaker of words that have hurt others. I think that Christ because he is God and created us and knows us better than anyone can possibly cut through the junk and tells us just what we need at the right time.Who hurts us the most deeply? Usually it is someone we trust, a parent or other relative. Perhaps a child can say things that deeply hurt us. A lover, a confidant. Some times an imperfect parent that has hurt us can give us a tainted view of God that is not correct.  God always has our best interest at heart.  But here is an important question: What do we do with our hurts? Do we take them to God and let him handle it or do we harbor them inside? There are no perfect people, there is not a perfect church. After all, Churches are made up of the same imperfect people we deal with every day. We want them to be perfect, after all they are suppose to be Christ like, but they too are on  a journey and have not reached the end of their travels. Parents are not perfect, often we see the mistakes of our parents and we think we will never be like them and then down the road we see the same imperfections in ourselves that we saw in our parents. Some times the desire to be better is so strong that we do not want to acknowledge the same imperfections in ourselves.  Some times God must smile at our foolish talking, because he sees us as we really are. God love can fix any hurt, if we will just give it to him. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will really really really hurt. Especially when they are from some one we love and care for.  God bless, LVZ.

Indifferent

in·dif·fer·ent

inˈdif(ə)rənt/

adjective

1. 1.

   having no particular interest or sympathy; unconcerned.

   "they all seemed indifferent rather than angry"

   synonyms:

   unconcerned, uninterested, uncaring, casual, nonchalant, offhand,uninvolved, unenthusiastic, apathetic, lukewarm, phlegmatic, blasé,insouciant; More
2. 2.

   neither good nor bad; mediocre.

   "attempts to distinguish between good, bad, and indifferent work"

   synonyms:

   mediocre, ordinary, average, middling, middle-of-the-road, uninspired,undistinguished, unexceptional, unexciting, unremarkable, run-of-the-mill, pedestrian, prosaic, lackluster, forgettable, amateur, amateurish;     I used this word in what I thought was a light hearted way.  Some one used the first meaning above when I intended the second meaning "Mediocre". It hurt and I understand why it hurt. That is the trouble with the printed page, it is never as good as face to face. If you make a mistake you are not there when it is read to make a correction. I was talking about the job I did as a parent, they took it as if I was saying it about them. As you look at the first meaning, their are so many ways it could be taken wrong. I did not look it up before I wrote what I wrote. I remember years ago another incident where I used the word strange. As I think back, I wonder how I ever used it in the way that I did , but I did. I was at someones home and they had a young toddler and he walked over to me and was interacting with me. It may have been the first time I'd seen this kid. This kid is not strange, I said and as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I saw how bad it could sound. I was using it like this kid is not a stranger to me.  I did not intend for it to be used as the kid is weird or something. Why I ever chose to use that word in that sentence to say that, I do not understand where that came from. It sounds worse today than it did 30 plus years ago. It seems to be the story of my life. I say something off the top of my head and someone is either wanting to shoot and kill me or change their name because they do not want to be associated with me.  I am sorry if I use words  inappropriately. We are all human and I wonder how many times people have been hurt with the wrong meaning or the wrong usage of a word. In this case I wasn't even given a chance to explain. I pray God will help me in the future to use my words more carefully.  God bless, LVZ.

What is happening?

As I listen to people on the Internet and at the mall or where ever, I hear some disturbing things. White People are more prejudice.  The protesters in Ferguson were bussed in and had professionally made signs.  I wasn't there, but as I look at pictures and video in the future I aim to look at things like that. Police officers who we pay to protect us, feel like they are being thrown under the bus. People / protesters seem to ignore any mention of the dead men fighting the Police and not complying. Does it matter that these men were fighting back and not cooperating. What does this lashing out at the police without any regard for their side of the story do to them?  Do they not deserve to be innocent until proven guilty as the rest of us? I think of an incident in Tacoma where four police officers were shot down as they were on a coffee break.  Or the State trooper that was shot immediately upon walking up to a car.  How about the Police officer that was shot and killed here in Tupelo by a Bank Robber and his partner seriously wounded. The dead officer left behind two small children. Where were the bussed in protesters  and professionally made signs? The officer was white and the robber black. Was it racially motivated just because one side of the incident was white and the other side black?  How come it doesn't seem to matter that Brown and Garner were not cooperating with the police? Why is it if you give an opinion supporting the police in these actions, your considered racist?  To me, both the Brown and Garner incident stink of dirty politics and has very little to do with racism. Americans, we are being fed another load of crap to influence us for some sort of political agenda.  Think it through and look closely, there is a political reason they are trying to divide us along racial lines. We have made much progress in the last 50 years. Lets not go backward, let us move forward.  On a positive note: the city of Tupelo and 8 days of hope really reached out to this Police Officers widow and the children he left behind. They remodeled and enlarged her home and did other things to support this public servant's family that gave his life in the line of duty. If Brown or Garner had injured or killed an officer in their resistance would their be any protest then?  Would it be considered to be racially motivated? What if Brown had gotten the officers weapon and killed him? Who would be protesting then? Would the community be supporting the officers family as we did in Tupelo?  What if 300 lbs Garner had slammed the officer up against the Brick wall  and gave him a fatal blow to the head, who would be protesting then?  These are purely politically motivated for a purpose I am not sure of nor do I know who the who is main agitator behind these incidents. I am positive there is a political motivation behind the reporting of these incidents.  That, my friends is my opinion. God bless, LVZ.  

Race relations

As I think about what has been happening lately with the Brown and Garner unfortunate deaths, I would like to make some comments. Some years ago before I went through my first of four divorces, I had a brother that went through his divorce. I remember how I was thinking at the time. I was not very sympathetic. It took my first divorce for me to understand the emotions and the difficulties you face when going through a divorce. I had to experience it for myself before I really was able to understand. I think it is that way with many things in life. We White people have not faced what Black people did through slavery and the years of separate water fountains, separate entry doors to Doctors offices etc. I think the Brown and Garner incidents have been used by the media to open old wounds for a political purpose. But  as White Americans perhaps we can understand if we think back a few years and remember the injustices that were put upon our Black Brothers and Sisters. I, as a White person have not experienced what they did years ago. Perhaps like my inability to be very sympathetic when my Brother went through his divorce because I had not yet experienced it, the same is happening with theses incidents. Black people had relatives that were arrested and taken to the police station and never seen again. I understand that much of this bad stuff happened years ago, but if it had happened to me. I'd still remember it. I never had to drink from a black only water fountain. I never had to go to a Doctors office and enter through a back door. I never had to look down when passing a White person. I have never had to be  worried about being in a Black and White relationship like the things that happened years ago. Voters rights workers that disappeared into a swamp. I never had to be escorted to school by the National Guard. Remember the police were involved in enforcing many aspects of segregation. I do not say these things to put down our police. I believe they too have come a long ways. I believe the bad cops are a minority. I also don't think these cops in the Brown and Garner incidents are bad cops. Both men were being uncooperative with the police, and a minor incident became major. I think it could have been avoided with cooperation.  I think it is unfair biased media reporting that we are experiencing.    We have come a long ways in the right direction since those long ago years that I never experienced first hand. Perhaps a little understanding or at least try to, even though we may not have experienced some of these things first hand. I think White, I am White, and having not experienced some of the Black experiences of the past, perhaps I can at least try to understand as the Media unfairly reports these incidents to incite the Public. I do think the Media is unfairly reporting these incidents to inflame and outrage the public. I do think some Public Officials (such as Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton and others) are doing the same to fan the flames of Racial unrest for political purposes.  We are one race,  the human race, and I believe we will get through this with God's help.   God bless, LVZ.

Racial Divide, the next election has started

We have known for years that the Media leans left. Except for Fox News, and that will aggravate any Liberal alive, that one station leans right. The fact is we do not hear unbiased reporting from the news media and have not for many years. As I think on what is happening in our country today, I will try and tell how I see things. The next Presidential election usually starts 2 years ahead of time. We start seeing the candidates jumping into the ring and declaring their intentions to run. Well it is that time again. That is what I think is going on. Obama is a very smart man Politically. That is how he won not only the Democratic nomination but the Presidency. I believe he is trying to use his position as President to influence the next election so his party wins. I believe he has done this with his executive order on immigration reform to buy Hispanic votes. IF the congress does what they should do and keep the executive branch of government in its place and overrides his executive order, or what ever it is they need to do, the Republicans will look bad and Obama accomplishes his purposes either way. I believe the racial tension that is developing in this country is manufactured by the Liberal Party, the President and the Media to influence the voting in the next election. They are purposely opening old wounds to influence the black vote. They are inflaming the black community with their reporting of these incidents.  Is this not something we have seen before? In Benghazi, did they not put out a false report to cover what happened? Their talking points, the line they gave to the country that it was a situation inflamed by a video and not a planned attack to cover their butts. Did the Media not air the false story about George Bush's National Guard papers just a few elections ago? Do we not face half truths and out right lies every election to manipulate us to vote a certain way in every election? My favorite is the internet story that came across for several candidates in several elections: A candidate is talking about his faith and he says his favorite scripture is:  For God so loved the world, that he gave his his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Then they give the scripture reference as John 16:3 instead of John 3:16. John 16:3 says: And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. I heard this same story about Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, George Bush etc.  Now anybody with half a mind knows that all of them did not make the same mistake, but we have forgotten what was said in the last election. This is sent from one Christian to another on their mailing list without checking facts. The intent is to say that this candidate is not a true Christian.  Every election the same type of stuff happens, falsehood, half truths and outright lies. That is why I think the bad reporting on these racial incidents are being reported the way it is. If the Black community is upset, they feel they will tend to vote Democratic. This is what I believe is happening right now. The reporting is intended to open old wounds. I hope we will see through many of the lies and half truths etc. and vote our conscience based on truth and not allow ourselves to be manipulation by the inflammatory reporting we are seeing today. Just as Christmas ads are starting earlier and earlier each year so is the political maneuvering for the next election.  That is what I think is happening in each racially charged incident being reported without the facts or all the facts.  Be careful, the election campaigning has just started. Let us think things through and not buy everything that is sent our way over the internet or on TV news. The think what disturbs me the most is Christians (including me) pass on these lies without even thinking.  Their you have it, my opinion. God bless, LVZ.

Future

I seriously wonder if something is up in the last two years of Obama's term. It seems people are very fed up with Obama except die hard liberals. What happens if a conservative looks like they will win in the next election? It appears Obama is concerned about this with his buying minority votes with some of his executive orders. He is over stepping his authority by creating law via executive order. He is smart, because if the conservatives do what they should and put a stop to this, they will look bad to the minorities and Obama wins any way. He seems to be fanning the flames of racial mistrust. This country has come a long ways since the 50's and 60's. If this racial tension continues for the next couple years, it wouldn't surprise me if martial law and a suspension of the next election happens. Presidents have been limited to two terms since the 22nd amendment. FDR was elected to office for four terms but died about a year into his 4th term.  This was during the war years and the great depression. I wander if something is underfoot to try and keep Obama in office after his second term is over because of the racial unrest that is being promoted. Yes I say promoted. The incidents about police brutality are being unfairly presented to the public. Both Brown and Garner would not submit to police authority and unfortunately it ended in their deaths. But the media is unfairly reporting these incidents. First, the hands up which is not what happened in the Brown incident is still being told after the Grand Jury findings  supported the Officers actions. Second in the Garner incident which I was able to watch the tape, Garner towered over the officers speaking with him. Garner was not cooperating with the Police and they had to take him down. From the video he was about twice the size of any of the officers I saw. He would not cooperate. What are the Police suppose to do, take his word for it, that he is not doing anything. Should they just walk away. Can you or I do that even when we get a ticket. Tell the officer I am innocent and he should say OK and walk back to his patrol car? How ridiculous is that. Perhaps we fell uncomfortable with the coke hold. What should the police do when they are confronted with an unruly person? How should it be handled? The Police are not being given a fair shake in the recent reporting. These incidents are being manipulated by the media. For what purpose remains to be seen. I am concerned that something is up. I feel more than ever before, we need to pray. THe authority we have is ordained by God. We have taken pray out of schools, we have approved abortion on demand, we are promoting same sex life styles. What is happening with the police right now bothers me. Are we headed for a national Police under control of the Federal government? What is the purpose of the biased media reporting on these Police incidents.  I feel something is in the works and the public is being manipulated. I really hope I am wrong and am just having a bout of paranoia. God bless, LVZ.

Respecting Authority

The more I read this garbage on face book and racebaters  like Jessie Jackson, the more disgusted I get with whats happening in Ferguson, MO. There are many passages in the Bible dealing with civil authority but I will mention Romans chapter 13.  Civil authority is given by God, ordained by God. We do not need to fear civil authority if we do right. That is what happened in Ferguson from what I am reading. Brown robbed a store and was not submitting to the civil authority. If he had acted in a manner with respect for the civil authority that we pay for and ask for with our taxes and officials we elect, non of this would have happened. I have blogged about civil authority several times. There is a lack of respect for the authorities in this land from the President on down. I cannot tell you how many negative posts about police I have seen since this Brown shooting. I am guessing they are about 20 negative postings to every positive one.  This is not good. We pay the police to protect and serve us. They have a difficult job. Their dealings with the public are generally on a negative note. A traffic ticket, a disturbance call, someone breaking in a home or a building. They do not know what they are going to face, but most times it is a negative situation. They need our respect, our support. They are ordained by God for our good. How can we expect to get the best to serve us in this capacity if we put them down. If they do their job and then have to leave town as Officer Wilson is having to do because he shot a robber. We need to leave Black and White out of this issue. Wilson was a Police Officer called to this area. Brown was a robber, leaving the store he robbed. Leave Black and White out of it. Another point that I cannot get out of my head, Officers have split second decisions to make. Is it possible to get it wrong sometimes? I think so, even though they are trained for these situations. It is bound to happen. Do I make bad decisions on the fly, yes. Sometimes even when I have had time to think about it. People that do their jobs every day sometimes get it wrong. That is why I worked on a corrective action team, to fix it. This officer should not have to resign and move because he was doing his job as trained. If Brown had respected authority, he would be alive. It is not because of racist attitudes that he is dead, it is because there is a general lack of respect for authority. Forget the fact that he just robbed a store, he did not / would not obey a civil authorities commands. Police come in to a situation and try to get it under control. under their control, not yours. Police are not the enemy, they are God ordained authority and need to be respected as such. The small percentage of bad ones need to be dealt with, and I believe the Police departments do that sometimes slowly but we have so many laws to protect the wrong doers that it needs to be done with care. We need to respect civil authority from the President on down. we can live peacefully in  this land when we do. They are here to get the bad guys what ever color they may be. That is what we pay them for. Have you ever heard someone getting a ticket say why don't you get a bad guy and leave me alone. When they get a bad guy and he is a minority, then they have to resign and leave town. That is not right. God bless, LVZ.

Ferguson

I think it is really sad that this incident happened. Yes, a young man lost his life. He was a thug and a robber. He was after the officers gun, and got shot. Here is a public servant that was doing his job trying to keep average citizen like you and me safe, like he is paid to do. He approaches a robber, gets in a fight and ends up killing the young thug. He has to resign his job and probably move with his family because the thug he came up against was black.  I do not believe there is a single black person would be outraged if the thug had been white and the officer in the same set of circumstances had been black. So who is racist in the Ferguson incident? Who is being unfair? How is this racial profiling if a report of a young black man robbed a store was sent out?  Who are you going to look for? You would look for a man that fits the description.  Perhaps we need double officers and only send a black officer is the report involves a black robber? Send only a white officer if the offender is white. How does that make any sense? What do we want? Perhaps society has done badly in the past, can I or anyone take back the mistakes of the past?  How is requesting discipline or charges against a police officer by mob violence an answer for justice? How is this right to destroy and damage businesses that had absolutely nothing to with this issue. The people promoting more protests and supporting the violent protests of the last few months are sic. It is time to turn them off, (Jessie and Al and  others) who are promoting more discord. We need to find voices of reason and healing. I feel there is a political motive behind this. Can we not wake up and see it for what it is? It would have made more sense to go after Zimmerman, he was told to stop and let the police handle it. If anyone should have been charged, it was Zimmerman,  He was not a paid public servant told to go after this man, he was told to back off. Trayvon came from a convenience store with an Iced tea. Brown came away after robbing it. It is one thing to protest injustice but lets get our facts straight first, think it though so you don't come off looking like an idiot later. Protest is one thing, but harming innocent people and property in the process makes us look like idiots. I want justice and fairness, but this is just plain stupid. I was for Zimmerman being charged, he did wrong, but not this Police officer.  The White Police Officer deserves the same right to justice as a young black man. The Police Officer was serving the public, the young man was robbing. Talk about calling evil good and good evil.  God bless, LVZ.

Church

I know there have been times when I prayed for God to help me find a church. The times when I prayed the most and really depended on God to direct me are the times I did best. Sometimes I prayed lightly like a prayer over a meal and made my decision. At least twice I really prayed and did not make a decision until I felt I had really heard from God. I did that when I came to Tupelo, I visited and visited and prayed and prayed some more. The longer I attend, the more I feel I really got God's answer. There are a lot of good churches even here in Tupelo, but recently I heard someone talking about the best and they were talking about their denomination. I thought about how I had done when I was in a  denomination, even at times when I preached a sermon or two. I would read denominational stuff to try and prepare myself. I realize now how I could be studying one man's error and promoting it if I was not careful. I find that even today, I want to find scripture to back up what I already believe, instead of studying and letting God speak through his word.  Old habits are hard to break. We can beat people up with the word if we are not careful. And ofttimes when we study by finding scripture to back up our position, that is what we end up doing. I know, that is what I heard and learned growing up. I want to be an encourager and lift people up, not beat them up with the word. Sometimes I still want to find scripture to support what I already think. Think Jim Jones, and that is not what I want to be. This is one of those blogs when I am just thinking on paper. I recently visited a church along the road while I was driving. It was 10:00 Sunday so I stopped and went to church. It was really OK, but I sure miss my church when I am not there. Even a statement made to any newcomers, if you have any feed back that you can give us please do. We are not perfect but we are willing to learn. If there is something we can do better let us know. I have a pastor that is trying to teach me, not to add to his church, but that I might be the best that I can be. Sometimes I think it is the difference between building a church and building people into what God wants them to be. As time goes on, I just know God answered my prayer. I really was thinking I am not going to find a Church equal to what I had in Tacoma but in reality, I think I found better. Perhaps that is loyalty thinking because I am here now.  It really was a good church I attended in Tacoma. I think they were trying to build people to be the best that they can be. I wonder how did I get so stuck on my denomination? And why are so many others stuck on theirs and they really have no idea what is out there. Just like me if they move, they go from church in that denomination to church in that denomination. They don't have to pray about it, they already know in their heads what is best. Or do they? I'll never forget Sisco Heights Community Church and how they helped me to get free from this denominational thinking. I almost have to laugh as I would think, I am probably here to teach them about the true church. Hind sight, I believe God led me there to help me. I was so stuck on denominational thinking. They taught me a lot. We, all who have accepted Jesus as Savour and Lord,  are going to be in Heaven some day. It reminds me of the joke I heard: ST Peter was walking a newcomer around heaven. As he came to this one place where a certain denomination was (Insert you own denominational name), he said: Be really quiet here, they think no one else is up here. :) At one time I had a Pastor ask me what I thought my knowledge of the scripture was on a scale of one to ten, one being low and ten being high. I said a five. He said just being a member of said denomination, your probably an 8. I know he meant to encourage me, but I still think about how denominational that thinking is. I find even to day, compared to some of the teachers / Elders in my church, I know so little. I have been on this way a long time. Just last night as I was listening to CFAN on the web, one of my favorite passages of scripture that I use a lot to guide me, I saw something new, "as unto the Lord" in Ephesians 5. Surely we can trust God, he has our best interest at heart. I would do better if I prayed more and actually waited for God to answer instead of going ahead with what I think. God bless, LVZ.