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July 29 DEBATING If you look, I have this blog listed under my "Hobbies" category. Sound strange? I consider it a hobby because I enjoy a good debate. In fact, I'm learning how to take a stance for the opposing viewpoint just so I can have a good discussion. For example, I'm totally against the death penalty, but I may engage in a debate with someone and take the stance of being for the death penalty. Why? It's not because I want to argue. What happens is I can draw other people into the conversation and, by taking the opposite stance, I can often get the person to give more in-depth explanations for why they hold to their particular stance. Even if I'm taking my regular stance, I can learn more about what I believe and why, along with even more information about the topic.
Some people think a debate and an argument are the same thing. They're not. I would say if it's called a debate but you're only using it to show someone how much you know or how many big words you can use, it's an argument. The trick is knowing the difference between an argument and a logical debate. There are rules to debating and if you're not following the rules, it's an argument. A calm, rational discussion (or debate) can be used to teach people may things. It involves not just hearing the other person, but really listening to them. It's a mutual sharing of ideas, not a one-sided conversation involving two people trying to get their point across.
The main rules are simple:
These simple rules can turn an argument into something helpful and meaningful to both sides. If you're having an argument with a spouse or friend, they may not want to follow these rules, but if you do they may calm down enough to have a rational discussion and not feel a need to "win". July 26 GREAT HAIR MIGRATION While vacuuming, I rediscovered the phenomenon of the great hair migration. Anyone who has hardwood floors may have noticed this strange fact of nature. Pet hair has an unexplicable way of migrating from one place to another and then being able to hide in the smallest of places. If not found and eliminated from the home, I think these separate clumps of hair will one day be attracted to one another, some yet unknown law of nature will combine them into a new organism, and you'll find yourself with an unknown pet in your house. If you have cat or dog in your house you've never seen before, don't blame the kids for bringing in a stray. More than likely, the final step has finally been reached and it's nothing more than the reanimated hair clumps.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's quite simple. The shed hair has nothing to hang onto, such as carpet fibers. As you move around the house, the air you stir up blows the hair under chairs and tables where no one can see it hiding. Or so it seems. I still think the hair is migrating to those unseen locations until there's enough to get together and form another cat. It doesn't matter how much I brush my cats, that hair jumps right off of them and then finds the hiding places.
Keep your eyes open for the hidden hair to start making it's move. And if you find a strange animal in your house just remember I was the one who told you about the great hair migration. CHANGING SHEETS Ok, I know I said I was going to have fun this weekend, but I had to get some cleaning done. I decided to change the sheets on my bed while I was cleaning in the bedroom. My experience made me think some people may not know the proper way to change sheets. Here's how to change sheets properly. Please keep reading, this isn't that serious.
Remove the comforter or bedspread.
Untuck the next blanket, throw the edges over the little cat, and place the whole bundle on the floor.
Untuck the fitted sheet using the same process above, this time it's the big cat.
Take off the fitted sheet without any problem. The same goes for removing the pillow cases.
Rescue the little cat who can't figure out how to get out the blanket wrap he's in.
Get two corners of the fitted sheet on, remove the little cat from the middle of the bed.
Get another corner on, then remove the big cat from the middle of the bed. Get the other corner on bed.
Get the foot end and one side of the flat sheet tucked in before removing the little cat from middle of bed.
Tuck in the other side.
Put both cats out of the room and close door.
Get the blanket back on the bed.
Let the cats back in so the crying and scratching doesn't drive you nuts.
The little cat thinks hidden hands are toys. Stuff pillows into pillow cases while trying to avoid cat claws.
Throw comforter over bed. Remove the big cat from middle of the bed so you can get it straight.
Pull the comforter back into the center of bed.
The little cat is under the bed attached to the end of comforter. Remove the little cat from the end of comforter.
Get the comforter close to being in the correct place. Remove the big cat from middle of bed so you can get it right.
Pick up the dirty sheets, lay them back down, remove the little cat from middle of the bundle.
Take the sheets to the laudry basket.
When you're finally ready to wash the sheets, make sure no cats are sleeping in the basket before dumping in washer.
And you thought I had some serious advice about changing sheets. If you don't have cats, it's not serious. If you have cats, I'm very serious.
SERIOUS IS WHAT I AM I just figured it out. I'm a serious person. It's just my nature or, better, the way God made me. I don't mean I'm serious all the time, but when it comes to blogging, I find more serious things to talk about most of the time. Take this blog for example ... serious. Or is it? I was posting some of my favorite fiction books (all fairly serious) and movies (still somewhat serious). I looked at those lists and thought even my favorite books and movies are mostly serious. There are funny parts in each of them, yet the main plotlines are serious. The exception to the rule is Labyrinth, which is mostly funny. If you haven't seen that one yet, you'll love it.
Speaking of Labyrinth, I went to see that one at the theater with a couple good friends. We were standing in line with a bunch of parents with small children waiting for the theater doors to open. We were the only adults there without kids in tow. Let me tell you, people will look at you suspiciously if you go to a kids movie without any kids. We did enjoy the movie. I think we enjoyed it more than the kids and the parents who had to deal with fidgety kids through the whole thing. If you've seen the movie or see it later, that's where I got the name for my cat Hoggle. I just loved that character. The Goblin King (David Bowie) always said Hoggle's name wrong and the same applies to my cat. No one can remember his name. My dad calls him Eggnog.
I'm not so serious when it comes to spending time with my friends and family. Hey, life's to short to be serious ALL the time. In fact, one of my Spaces friends (you know who you are) sent me a message saying we should get together this weekend and crash some parties. I wish we lived close together and we might do it. I'll probably do something not so serious this weekend, but I'll know when it happens.
Next weekend is going to be the definite not serious weekend. Me, Mom, younger bro, sis-in-law, niece, and nephew are going to the NASCAR race in Pocono. We've been going every year for about 7 years and always have a great time. I'll tell you about it when I get home and I'll post some pictures. If any of my Spaces friends are going to the Pennsylvania 500, maybe we could meet at the track. July 23 SERVANT CHAT I received a message yesterday at my other Space and I thought I better tell my friends about the other Space.
If you see a picture of a dove and a sunset (Servant Chat's logo) on someone's friends list, that would be me. After my friends and I created the chat room, we were trying to think of ways to "advertise". I already had this Space, which I started as a kind of profile to share with my chat buddies. So, I asked myself, "Why not start a Windows Space for Servant Chat?" There was no reason not to, so I did. Windows Spaces is growing larger every day and will soon be equal to MySpace. If you've taken a look around either of these places, you'll see there are a lot of non-Christians out there and I think we should use any means available to get God's word and message on the internet. You never know when someone will pop in to read something at your Space and be drawn to learning more about God and life with Christ.
So what is Servant Chat? We call it a Christian chat room because our mission is to reach out to non-Christians through sharing our testimonies and having discussions about the Bible and other theological topics. We do have a lot of fun and a lot of nights it's more of a Christian get together and we talk about all kinds of stuff. We want to stick to the principle no one gets banned from our chat room simply for talking about their beliefs (regardless of their religion or lack of religion) and only ban people who won't control their foul language and a few other things. Some of our founding members had been banned from other Christian chat rooms for doing nothing more than stating their Christian beliefs, which went against the beliefs of the owners of the chat room. And non-Christians were banned for doing nothing more than coming in and disagreeing with the Christians, they weren't putting down Christians, just disagreeing. Servant Chat is there for people to ask questions. We feel everyone can learn something, even through someone else's doubts or unbelief.
If you have Servant Chat on your friends list, I thank you. Don't feel you have to add the Space to your list. I don't sign into that Space unless I see I have a message or a friend invitation, so you won't find any comments at your Space from Servant Chat. You can consider any of my comments from this Space to also be coming from that Space.
I guess I need a disclaimer. Any comments made through the Space for Servant Chat are my opinions only and do not reflect the opinions or beliefs held by all staff members at Servant Chat. That Windows Space is the UNOFFICIAL Space for our chat room and forums. July 22 WE ALWAYS HAVE LOVE JulieAnne wrote a wonderful blog, part of which talks about life as a single mom. You can read it here - http://cid-84bb035671bcf941.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!84BB035671BCF941!188.entry. After leaving my comment at her blog, I thought I'd like to share my thoughts with everyone. I'm expanding on my comments there.
When we're faced with a choice between spending time with our children (or our families if we don't have kids) and teaching them about life and love or working a full time job, I don't think the choice is very difficult. I told JulieAnne that by her choosing to be there for her children instead of taking a good paying job (which I assume would take a lot of time away from her children), she made the right choice. By choosing to bypass the money even though it meant doing without some things, her children grew to know her love and learned a valuable lesson for the rest of their lives ... money isn't everything, love is. Now that I sit here thinking more about it, JulieAnne's actions are helping to break the cycle of living like the world which tells us to "look out for number one" and leads only to selfishness.
Even though it may not seem true in today's world, love is really the only thing that lasts. Forget for a moment about all of the broken marriages and picture the relationships you know which have lasted through every bad situation. I hope we all know at least one couple who've stuck to it "through good and bad, sickness and health". This is the ultimate human expression of REAL love. When we can live through and deal with any situation because we have someone who really loves us standing at our side, we learn love IS the only thing that matters and REALLY lasts.
When we lose a job or hit on hard times, when all of our "friends" abandon us, when life seems to be falling apart and we can't seem to get it back together, we have our love for one another. Some people would tell us "Love doesn't feed the family" or "love doesn't pay the bills". Or does it? Our lasting love for one another leads to words of encouragement to pull each other out of bouts of depression and hopelessness. Love helps us pull ourselves up off the ground and find ways to "make due" until the situation changes. Love is the way we let other people know their true value, even when other people make them feel worthless. Love leads us to dependence on God instead of ourselves.
There's no "blame game" with real love. We don't point fingers and accuse the person of not doing enough to provide for our needs. Love drives us to cutting back to the bare necessities when the budget is tight. Love means we do all we can to let the other person know we appreciate everything they're doing for us, regardless of the income. It may seem like an idealist version of life to say "I can lose everything, but as long as I have you I can start over". So I'm an idealist. I truly believe I could make it through this life without the things I now have or the steady income as long as I'd have someone who really loves and supports me standing by my side. Maybe it's a very good friend, maybe a husband or your children. Hang on to love and allow others to help you and be willing to help them, no matter how bad things get.
When we have nothing else, we have love. July 20 MODERN DAY PIRATES I had to shut down my computer for a while because it was storming. I should've used the time more constructively and did some Bible reading or more work on my novel, but I sat and watched a program on History Channel about pirates. I know that sounds silly ... I don't want the computer on during a storm but I'll watch TV. Anyway, I was watching and thinking we have pirates today, only we don't call ourselves pirates.
There's no way I'd ever say anything pirates did or do now is acceptable, but I was thinking more about how they collect treasure. One pirate was named Black Bart Roberts. According to the documentary, he and his crew stole so much from other ships they were really wealthy. What did they do with all that wealth? Nothing. I'm sure they bought food, guns, ammunition, and other things necessary for the life of a pirate, but what they spent was for things to overcome even more ships (to gain power) and steal even more treasure (to become more wealthy). When these pirates were finally killed in action or their ships sunk, a lot of the treasure was never recovered. Even today, we don't know where the treasure might be hidden. If I could ask these pirates some questions they would be "Even though stealing is wrong, why didn't you ever take the wealth you collected and retire somewhere? Why did you think you needed even more when you'd never be able to use what you already had?"
Then it hit me. They did it for the same reason modern "pirates" do. We go through our lives telling ourselves "I need just a little more, then I can be truly happy". When we do get that little more, we adjust the amount we need for our happiness and need just a little bit more. Some people will stop at nothing to get more. They lie about their co-workers so they get the prime promotion, spend their pay at the casinos hoping for the "easy" payday, or find ways to steal money they didn't earn. People will find jobs that pay well enough to pay the bills, buy the necessities, and have some left over for a nice vacation, but then say "it's not enough". When we get more wealth, we change our lifestyles so we require even more wealth to provide for that lifestyle. So instead of enjoying what we have, we become like those pirates of old. We hoard the wealth and use only enough to "buy" our way to a position through which we can hoarde even more wealth.
There were even what could be called "legal pirates". To make them sound more legit, they were given the name of "privateers". These were ships and crews hired for the purpose of seeking out and destroying the enemies of the governments who hired the privateers. The captains and crews were rewarded for their action with any "treasure" taken from the enemy vessel and, some times, given the enemy vessel for their own fleet. More than likely, these privateers also attacked and raided other ships. You know how greed works. The legal way gives us money, but it's not enough so we have to make up for it by illegal means. Some privateers turned to piracy after the war was over. Why not? It was "easy pickings". I guess "privateer" is a politically correct term applied to certain men so what they were doing wouldn't be questioned by the citizens who would've otherwise been against the practice.
We all know some modern day pirates. The first on the list are the criminals. The others are people who will use any tactic to get ahead and accumulate wealth. They may not steal, but they'll lie and cheat to get more money and possessions. They may not break any government laws, but they still don't follow the accepted moral norms of society. And who are the privateers? These are people who use legal means to gain wealth they can't earn by the "sweat of their brows". The easier the money comes, the better. An example are employers who hire workers at lower wages so there's a larger profit margin.
Now for the part some people won't want to hear. We have religious pirates and privateers. The pirates are the church leaders who ask for money for some imaginary ministry so they can take the money, put it in a bank account, and live the life of the "rich and famous". They pay out just enough toward ministries and other programs so they look legitimate on the surface. Sure, they have huge church buildings, missionaries in other parts of the world, and most people wouldn't have a bad word to say about them. Until you dig deeper and find out the largest part of the contributions they receive go directly into bank accounts only they can access and use. The names on the accounts are not the church leaders, but no one else in the church can use the money.
The religious privateers are the people working under the church leaders and following their orders. They collect the money, place it in the bank accounts, and work at covering their tracks. These are the "front men". They're the ones standing in front of you and the media telling you the church leader isn't a bad guy, he's only misunderstood. They're the ones telling you if you send $1000, you'll be blessed by God and receive $10000 in return. There may be no human law against twisting Scripture to fill your own coffers, but I'm sure God sees it differently. These are people who're hired to make the work of the pirates look legitimate and get us to accept their version of the truth. They're well paid to take the fall for the "captain" when he or she is finally shown to be the scam artist and pirate they really are.
We say we're joking around when we call someone a "pirate", but it may very well be the truth. The problem today is the pirates don't have a "Jolly Roger" flying from their place of business or their church steeple so it's harder to tell who may be a modern Black Bart Roberts. LEAN ON ME I've been reading blogs and found there's one thing we all seem to have in common ... sometimes it's hard to know what a real friend is or who our real friends are. Who hasn't been "stabbed in the back" by someone we considered to be our best friend, which is the hard way to find out they weren't really our friend in the first place. A friend is always a friend no matter how rough things get. They don't talk behind your back, make fun of anything about you, and they'll always defend you. If you do something good, they give you the credit. If you do something wrong, they may not support or condone what you did, but they'll lovingly correct you and help you learn from your mistakes.
One song I feel really tells us how friendship should be is Lean On Me. It was written in 1972 by Bill Withers. The most popular rendition was performed by Ben E King. Many other artists have recorded the song. Here are the words:
Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow, but if we are wise, we always know that there's tomorrow. Lean on me, when you're not strong and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on. For it won't be long 'til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on. Please swallow your pride if I have things you need to borrow, For no one can fill those of your needs that you don't let show. Lean on me, when you're not strong and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on. For it won't be long 'til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on. If there is a load you have to bear that you can't carry, I'm right up the road. I'll share your load if you just call me. So just call on me brother, when you need a hand. We all need somebody to make it. I just might have a problem that you'd understand. We all need somebody to make it. Lean on me when you're not strong and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on. For it won't be long 'til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on. July 16 SILLY QUESTIONS Blame the heat! Blame the funny people on my friends list! Blame anyone but me! I have no idea why, but something has me wound up and I'm in a silly mood. After I read blogs, answered emails requesting family history information, and responded to a post at the Servant Chat message boards, I took a bath and made my lunch for work tomorrow. The whole time I was thinking about some of the silly questions I've heard. Don't believe it when someone tells you there are no silly questions because there are, just not the ones that need real answers. You ask, "So what's your point?" My point is you just ask a good question and the answer is "ask your questions and you'll find out whether or not it's silly by the answer you receive". If you get a silly answer, you probably asked a silly question. Sorry about the sarcasm (not really), but it's part of my sense of humor at times. So here are some of the silly questions I've heard:
A supervisor at work asked, "What are you doing, I told you to do something else?" If I was brave enough, I'd answer the question with "Apparently not what you want or you wouldn't be asking." One of these days I'll say that and get fired. If you don't want an answer to your question, it's silly to ask.
I sit down to eat lunch and a friend asked, "What kinda sandwich you got today?" I tell her, "Butter and sweet pickle." Her silly question, "You're really not gonna eat that are ya?" My answer, "No, I brought it to feed the groundhogs behind the building." I never made a butter and sweet pickle sandwich I didn't intend to eat.
I overheard a mother ask a kid, "How many times have I told you not to do that?" The kid whined, "Why does dad let me do it and you tell me no?" Silly kids. If Mom says no, she means no. Don't ask why. That's not only a silly question but could lead to bodily harm.
When my niece was younger, my sister-in-law had told her not to do something two or three times. The very next time my niece did it, sis asked, "What part of NO don't you understand?" Niece's response, "The O." See ... silly answer to a silly question.
One night I heard a noise in the kitchen, went to see what it was, and saw my younger cat sitting on the counter. I said, "You know you're not allowed up there. What do you think you're doing?" Is there anything more silly than asking a cat a question in the first place. Ok, even more silly was interpreting his meow to mean "What do you think I think I'm doing?"
I hope this isn't a silly question. What silly questions have you've been asked? July 15 TAGGED BY SHEILA I knew it would happen sooner or later. I'VE BEEN TAGGED! By the other Sheila, not myself. ROFL!
If you've been tagged. Post the rules at your Space. List eight things about yourself to share with all of your friends. After the list, choose eight other people to tag, list their names, and link to their Space. Then go to their space and tag them by leaving them a comment under one of their blogs telling them they've been tagged. Tell them to visit your Space to see the rules and what you wrote about yourself. You can copy/paste my blog, make the changes, and then post it at your Space.
1) I like activities which "exercise" my brain - crossword puzzles, computer games like Myst and the CSI games, and now trying to think of eight things to say about myself.
2) Even though some people will be shocked and horrified, my favorite author is Stephen King.
3) With the exception of green peppers and raw spinach, I think God was joking when he created green vegetables. Green vegetables! ACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!
4) When I don't like something, I say ACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK! Imagine a cat with a hair ball. No I don't say it when in public. LOL.
5) I never do these "share something about yourself" things when I get them in emails, but I'll do it here with my friends.
6) I figure why use the stove when they make microwavable dinners. Hey! I'm single.
7) I've learned cats love the smell of sweaty socks, but hate the smell of bananas. I'm still trying to figure out why they look at me like I'm the crazy one.
8) My favorite singer of all time is Jake Hess.
Who to tag? Hmmmmmmmmm. I'm tagging Helen, Gracey, Jake, Joseph, Ralph and Doreen, Aunt Tea, Living Waters, and Christ Follower. Have fun y'all. July 12 SIMPLE LIVING My friend Rhonda brought up a thought in one of her comments about one of my other posts. I had mentioned the Amish and she said about how it would be nice to incorporate that simple way of life into our own. If you stop to think about it, our lives are much easier than the lives of our grandparents and, in some cases, easier than the lives our parents lived. We live in a time of multi-car families in which we don't have to wait for a ride, DVD players so we don't have to choose one day of the week to get our fill of movies, and cell phones we can use to talk to anyone at any time. Because of time saving devices such as microwaves for fast meals, the internet for fast communication, and newer machines for fast production, we have more time to do more stuff. Or do we? Does an easier life necessarily mean a more simple life?
Before I go on, I want to expain one thing. Simple living doesn't mean tossing out your DVD player or microwave, limiting your family to one car, or having no more in your house than the bare necessities. However, there are some people who have opted for a version of simple living in which they've taken these steps. Simplicity isn't always about having less, but having fewer posessions does help. I won't try to fool you. Simple living isn't an easy thing to bring into your life after you've lived with the modern conveniences for so long. I've already started to incorporate some of what I've learned about simple living into my life. For me, it's a gradual process of change. For other people, they may be able to make the change more quickly.
Simplicity is a way of life. As a matter of fact, simplicity is a Biblical concept. The idea behind simple living is to spend less time doing things which keep us busy and gives us more time to spend with God and our families. Groups such as the Amish, Mennonites, and Quakers live in simplicity. The Amish are at what most people would view as the extreme of simplicity. The Mennonites use limited modern conveniences. The Quakers, for the most part, look no different than you or I, but they still incorporate the discipline of simplicity into their lives.
So how can we incorporate a simple way of life without selling everything we own and cutting the power lines to our homes so we can live in a life more closely resembling the Amish?
These are just a few of the many ways in which we can simplify our lives. For a better explanation about what I've listed and for even more about simplicity, you can read Freedom of Simplicity by Richard J Foster. July 10 WHAT I'VE LEARNED ONLINE I just finished catching up on everything new on the internet. Well, maybe not everything as that would be impossible. I did read some new blogs and my email, but I still have to check the message boards. That'll have to wait until after I wash the dishes.
I was sitting here thinking about how much I've learned since I bought a computer and got hooked up to the internet. I've learned a lot about my family's history, my Christian beliefs, how much good there is even when things often seem so horrible, and a lot more. Here are some of the things I've learned.
Why it took surfing the net to learn some of this stuff I can't explain. I'm only glad I learned them. |
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