GOOD FRIDAY -Another Perspective of the Cross

Song is called "Too Small a Price" by Don Francisco.

If you like his music you can download it for free at:

http://www.rockymountainministries.org/index.html

DEAR ANONYMOUS

Dear Anonymous,

Thank you so much for your comment and for reading my blog.  I am very sorry that I have not been posting of late.  I try to go where God leads me and lately it is in the area of making videos for You Tube.

Jesus said:  Luk 21:25-26 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Luk 21:28  And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Throughout the scriptures we are told to be watching and waiting so that is what I am doing. I have been posting videos on You Tube that present mostly weather related news headlines from around the world. 

The mainstream media cannot begin to cover ALL the events that are happening world wide.  Besides, the general public seems more interested in the lives of Justin Bieber, Charlie Sheen or Lady Ga Ga, then they are in the tragedies happening world wide and the soon coming of the Lord Jesus.

From what I have been observing worldwide, the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is very near.  Nation has risen against nation, kingdoms against kingdoms, there are wars and rumours of war and we are seeing famines, pestilence and earthquakes in diverse places. (Matt. 24:7)

Much of the world is busy eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,(Matt. 24:38) and they do not see the signs around them and they are not preparing themselves to meet the Lord.

In my videos I try to present a brief overview of some of the things happening to alert people to the changes the earth is going through and to wake them up to the nearness of His coming. 

Through this medium, I have attracted attention to my channel where I have videos pertaining to Christianity, Evolution, Dinosaurs, and even comedy.  I have had opportunities to witness to a few people and I have made a couple of on-line friends as well.

For now, it seems this is where God wants me.

I have been planning to move some of the videos to my blog but was unsure if I should keep the two separate or not. What do you think?

If you would like to visit my You Tube Channel you can find it at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Tinkoneofsix?feature=mhsn

Jesus is coming Soon

Are you watching and waiting?

THE GIFT OF ALONENESS

"As Christians, we are called to convert our loneliness into solitude. We are called to experience our aloneness not as a wound but as a gift--as God's gift--so that in our aloneness we might discover how deeply we are loved by God." ~ Henri Nouwen

“Every once in a while we find ourselves emotionally stripped, as all that life holds is swept away. We find ourselves kneeling at the feet of our Lord, grateful that He's there--His spirit a balm to our weary soul.” ~ Darlene Schacht

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When your children are grown and on their own, when your husband has been taken from you, when family and friends seem to desert you, then the gift of aloneness is more precious than anyone can even imagine.

You are forced to rely on the ONE you should have been relying on all along.

You are forced to acknowledge all the times you made excuses NOT to spend time with Him. There are no more excuses and you realize how much He really does love you.

You regret all the stupid lame excuses, the lost moments, the frivolous endeavours that took “time” away from your precious Lord.

You gain a deeper love; understanding and trust in Heavenly Father through spending time with Him and you realize you have need of nothing that this world has to offer. 

He will supply your every need according to His riches in Glory.  (Phil. 4:19)  As you delight yourself in Him he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4) You have no need to worry about what you will eat or drink or what you will wear.  Your Father knows you have need of these things.  As you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; all these things shall be added to you. (Matt.6:31-33) 

You weep and pray for others who don't know the intimacy with Him like you do or for those who don't know Him at all.

You want to scream at the world; "He loves you so much, don't you care, don't you realize, isn't He worth a portion of your time?"

Some know and take that time but the vast majority of the world goes on about their daily business.  They are too busy.  They don’t have enough time.   

They neglect most precious gift of all.

MAKING MEMORIES FOR YOUR FAMILY

Think back over the years and try to remember some of the best memories you can recall?  Are these memories about things you got or about experiences you had?  For most of us our memories consist of things we did and experiences we had. 

When my children were growing up I wanted to make memories for them; Memories different from the regular memories of growing up.  We all have those, but I wanted something extra special to stick out in their minds when they got older.  Something they would remember with fondness.  I found that in making memories for my family, I created wonderful memories for myself and I had so much fun coming up with ideas and implementing them.

The types of memories I am talking about are the totally out of the ordinary kind – not the kind that become traditions – although that is o.k. as well.  These should be things that normal families don’t always do; things that stick out above all the rest.

Here are a few examples of some memories I created with my family.  

After taking a course on being a “Total Woman” our challenge for the week was to make sure that the last thing our husbands saw in the morning before he left for work was a bright smiling face, after all if anything bad had happened to me or him that day, his last memory would be one of me smiling. 

I was never a morning person and rarely got up when my husband left for work in the wee hours of the morning but I was determined to meet the challenge.  I would drag myself out of bed, get ready, give him a big hug and kiss, and would walk him to the car. I would stand there smiling and waving as he drove away – even if it was raining.  It put a smile on his face and he really appreciated the effort I made.  It was something totally out of the ordinary but it was a gift from my heart to his. 

When my oldest daughter was about seven I decided to put on a ‘restaurant night’ for her and her grandparents.  I typed up a menu.  She got to chose which foods would be served and she got to invite her grandparents over for the special event.  We decorated the table and used the fancy dishes.  My husband and I were the maid and butler and we did not eat with them.  This was her special night with her grandparents and we were making a lasting memory for her. 

One year I decided celebrate Christmas in the summer to make memories for other members of my family.  I invited them over for dinner on a certain day and didn’t tell them what I had planned.  I served a full turkey dinner on my best dishes and then invited everyone down to our rec room.  There I had set out a fully decorated Christmas tree and I had presents waiting for them. (I bought a few dollar store items for each person and wrapped them in Christmas wrap.)  I had Christmas music playing softly in the background. As I handed out presents I would wish them a Merry Christmas and explain that Christmas should not only come once a year.  I still hear comments from certain relatives saying “Remember the time you had Christmas in the summer?”  We all had a lot of fun and some great memories.

Memories are made of experiences and not so much of things.  They come from our hearts and minds.  It’s o.k. to put little notes into your husband or child’s lunch box every now and then but if you do it all the time, before long they take this for granted and it doesn’t really stick out in their memories. It becomes more of a tradition.  

Try to think of ways to surprise your family with the totally unexpected. Make sure to include teenagers and get them involved in ideas and planning as well. At first they may scoff at the idea but eventually they may come around and enjoy themselves.  Make sure to take plenty of pictures and video so you can enjoy these special times together in the future.

Here are a few ideas to get you started. 

Pick one member in a family and make that person King or Queen for the day.  For one special day, that person doesn’t have to do chores, gets to choose their favorite foods to eat, picks their favorite movie to watch, etc.  Everyone in the family has to do something extra special to honor that person for the day.   Make sure every member of the family gets their chance at being king or queen for a day but spread this out over the year so it does not become a regular event but sticks out in the person’s memory.  A twist on this could be a day to celebrate an Un-Birthday half way through the year.

Throw a picnic in the middle of your living room or in a park in the middle of winter.

Have a family pajama party and everyone sleeps together on the living/rec room floor, or make a tent with blankets and sleep there for the evening.  

Have each child invite one friend over for a family night of charades, board games, pizza making, cookie baking, or crazy menu night (see below).  Make the evening different and special so the friends will remember it as well. 

Make a coupon book or coupon jar and hand it to family members for a job well done.  The coupons could include things like a free back rub, free hugs, a favorite meal, an extra hour before bedtime, or any number of things.  Use your imagination and make it fun.

Plan a “Help our neighbors” night.  Get the family together to do something good for your neighbors.  You could shovel their walk, mow their lawn, rake leaves, pick weeds, etc. Another spin on this is to do something for someone else ‘anonymously’.  Leave a bouquet of hand picked flowers tied with ribbons, some groceries, a plate of cookies, a card, or a special note saying something nice about them.  Don’t let them know who did it.  Leave it on their doorstep and run.   This will create memories and encourage family members to be more thoughtful of others. 

Invite one of your children out on a date.  You could go out to a movie, out for a meal, to the zoo, museum, etc.  Make it a special evening just for that child.  This works great with teens. 

Make a Scripture/Bible Cake and make a game of it.  Get the family to look up the verses and find the ingredients.  The recipe can be found here: http://www.abetterhope.com/funpage.html

Plan a “No Electricity” night.  No T.V., radio, electronic games, etc.  Turn out everything you can that runs on electricity. Make sure to unplug or turn off telephones.   Light candles, serve a cold dinner and have everyone pitch in with clean up.  Hand wash dishes as a family then sit together and tell stories. 

Have a crazy menu night.  Menu items are disguised so no one knows what they are getting.  Here are a few examples:

           

1.  Themed after a favorite T.V. character or show.

Mickey’s Marvelous Munchies

Minnie’s magnificent magic marinade

Daisy’s delectable dairy

Donald’s dingy dragon soup   

Pluto’s pompous poison

Goofy’s grand and gross grunge Etc.

2.  List food items in a foreign language so they don’t know what they are ordering.  The following are a few examples in Italian.

la mela – apple

il burro – butter

la cena – dinner

Here’s one site that has some food names in French, Spanish, Italian, German and Swedish. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/food.shtml

3.  Numbers and letters menu.  Pre-choose a food item and assign a letter to it, the same with utensils.  If your child picked the letters c, p, a, and f for their meal and the number 3 and 6 for their utensils, this is what they might get:

C = soy sauce

P = wiener

A = glass of water

F = raw vegetable

3 = large serving spoon

6 = napkin

Now they have to eat whatever they have chosen with only the spoon and napkin.  This will cause giggles all the way round when they see what they have ordered.  Of course you can serve a regular meal afterward.

4.  Create a menu with the craziest, grossest or funniest names you can think of. Kids seem to enjoy eating their food so much more if the food has the craziest names.  Get them to help name foods for other meals and you will see them gobble their food up on no time and they will have fun doing it.

Scrambled wiggly worm spaghetti

Dead fish eyeball soup

Lazy lying lousy leftovers

Greasy grimy garden greens

Ewieey gooey  chopped and mangled potatoes

5.  Here’s a site with a crazy menu.  http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/03/blog-sway-with-idea-room.html

I hope you enjoy these ideas and have fun making memories with your family. Please feel free to share your ideas as well.

THE LOST ART OF LISTENING - WHEN YOU READ

I am a blogger (and I make videos) and the following are MY observations and MY opinions.

In the blogging community (and in videos) there are hundreds of individuals that want to communicate with others. They daily put their lives ‘on the line’ and are open to ridicule, antagonism, disrespect, mockery, and discrimination.

So why do these people do it?

They long to be heard, to be seen, and to be understood. They long to be acknowledged as individuals. They hope that in some way they can reach out, encourage, uplift, inform or help others. Words may be just words to some people but these people will use words from their heart and mind to try to communicate to others.

These people are inviting us to look into the secret places of their hearts and lives. They invite us into their private world and we should be respectful of their words and space. And yes, I am a person inviting you into the secret place of my life, and I hope that readers will respect my thoughts and my space.

But sadly this isn't the case. Go onto You Tube and you'll see thousands of scoffers, especially if the word Jesus is mentioned. Look at the Christian community and you'll see "comment deleted by moderator", that's if the blogger even has comments open.

As we read what they have written, we tend to create images and thoughts from the words we read and bring them into our own reality. We should be trying to see the words written through the eyes of the writer and not through our own preconceived ideas and biases. What is the writer really trying to convey in this article? Have I read every word accurately? What can I learn through this and how does this apply to my life? Etc.

I believe reading and listening are becoming lost ‘arts’. Reading should be an act of contemplation, deep thought, consideration, purpose, and reflection. It should be an act in which we allow ourselves to join with the mind and heart of another human being and see things through their eyes.

It is so easy to stand on the outside and criticize what another has written. We only see words on a page and we don’t bother to look beyond. We don’t care to see the person behind the words and yet words sometimes are the only form of expression an individual may have to reach out to others.

It is much the same in the real world. We tend to see only what we want to see, an outer shell. We don’t care to see the real person inside that shell.

These writers are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and friends. They are real people with real desires and needs. They have chosen to invite you into their private lives and hope that in someway they can encourage you or make your day a little brighter.

When I write an article, I presume that my readers will pour over each word and understand the underlying message of what I am trying to convey. I presume they are reading with an open mind and that they have put away their own biases and that they are really seeing ‘me’ and what I am all about.

I am very careful about every word I put down. Questions go through my head as I write. Are my words glorifying my Heavenly Father? How will others perceive my words? Will my words be offensive to some? Will my words bless and encourage others? Will I have lots of readers or only a few? Is my spelling correct? Have I used proper sentence structure, language and punctuation? Will my family be reading? On and on it goes.

I try to be open and honest and yet I find I hold back so much of what I would really like to say. I fear my audience would not understand or be able to accept what I have to say and yet I have this inner need to share, to reach out, and to try to help by using words from my heart.

I write, rewrite and end up discarding article after article believing that maybe one article isn’t really that important or another article is not worthy of my audience. It can take me hours to create what some might see as simply a few lines.

I write from my mind and my heart and it is only natural to presume that other writers are doing the same.

If you enjoy reading my writing then I welcome you into my world. I encourage you to take what you can and leave the rest. I hope I can share some bit of wisdom, advice, encouragement, or just plain entertainment to willing eyes.

Pro 12:25 Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.

1Ch 28:9b …for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

To those who would find fault or criticize; I’ve seen countless ‘trolls’ who seem to get some sort of perverted warped sense of satisfaction in putting down others and making negative comments. This seems especially prominent on Christian blogs and videos.

What purpose does this serve?

If you don't like what someone has to say, then don't read and move on.

We live in a free country, but it will never truly be free until people like you and I live out that freedom by respecting the words of another.