NEVER WITH CHRISTIANS OR FAMILY!!!!

For those of you who claim to be a follower of "The Christ", you may find this to interesting and for those of you who are not you will probably be able to relate to this blog in some sad way.

Have you ever found yourself feeling like you need to apologize because you are a "christian"?

I have! My Grandfather Stratton used to say, "never do business with christians or family". Why? because they will screw you every time! That part is my addition to his saying. Where do you suppose a saying like that comes from? I find that most of the time sayings are based in truth! This is no exception to the rule and if it sounds like I am pissed off well that is probably because I am.

Never do business with Christians, what a sad commentary on those who "profess" to be followers of The Way, disciples of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the Savior of the world... need I go on? Is it any wonder why Christianity in America is on the decline!? Is it any wonder why people are afraid to open their mouths and talk to someone about the "change " and "difference" God has made in their lives? One, because there is no difference, and two the person they are talking to has probably had some BAD experience with one of those so called "christians". I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the times I have been wrong in some way by a professing christian. I find it totally unfathomable that we have fallen so fare as to be the "bad taste" in people's mouths. Being a Christian is not a "get out of jail free" card. We act as if we have license to live as we please, do as we please, and it's OK, to bad so sad for everyone else. what is up with that? Have we no sense of shame? Are we nothing but excuses blaming others and even God for our actions?

Have we as Christians not been called to a HIGHER PURPOSE, to be the a light unto the world, a light shinning on a hill for all to see, salt to the earth? We are to be what makes everything seem right and hopeful, a life filled with purpose for something bigger that our own greed and selfishness. We are to live a life of sacrifice for others who are in need. We are to love all others above ourselves and no one more than the Creator of all things; without whom we have not even our next breath. His very word holds the universe together. All creation sings His praises and that means ALL CREATION not just a select few humans, but that is another blog for another time.

What is it going to take to wake you "professing Christians" UP?!!!!!!!! WAKE UP!!!!!!!!

WAKE UP!!!!!!! WAKE UP!!!!!!!! THE TIME IS SHORT AND YOU ARE NOT, I REPEAT, NOT ABOUT YOUR FATHERS BUSINESS!!!!!

John the Baptist said "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand".

For those of you who will read this that do not have a personal relationship with God/ Jesus/Holy Spirit, I want to personally apollogise to you if you have had the misfortune of dealing with one of these so called "christians". You don't have to but I am asking you to please forgive them. You see, it is not that we are suppose to think ourselves better than others but that we are to be humble and serve and love others. Somewhere along the way "we" have lost sight of that. We have forgotten just what it truly means to be a "Christian". It is my prayer that you will give US a second chance. You don't have to and I would not blame you if you did not grant that request. I have met many people in my life that want nothing to do with Jesus Christ because of those who claim His name.

Please understand, I know that we are all human and that we make mistakes and do things that we should not. But, this should not be the norm!!!! Let us treat people the way we want to be treated and love people they way God loves people. The most important thing to God on this earth is .......? PEOPLE!! If your life as a christian is not about people that you need to step back and take another look at what you are doing. Do you realize that PEOPLE are all you can take with you when you leave this world?

All this comes from someone who has been there, had to ask forgiveness of those whom I offended and is moving on to better and HIGHER things.

Jesus said that when he comes back he wonders if he will find any of "the faith" left. We have not and are not "being" what we were created for. LET'S GET TO IT!!! What do you say?

As far as Family goes....... We all have them and have to deal with them in our own way. I will pray for you and you can pray for me!! :)

THE ONLY REAL MISTAKE

It is 4 am and here I sit. It has been raining and my big ferocious rottie is afraid of the thunder. I can't go back to sleep because my mind will not let me so...... here I sit. Up at 4 am is unusual for me but there seems to be a lot of things going on in my life that are "unusual" for me and perhaps that is one of the reasons why I am writing this blog. "waking up" as it were and every pun intended!

Have you ever NOT done something because you were afraid of making a "mistake", afraid of "not doing it right", afraid of "failure"? Let me tell you, up until about the year 2000 that is the way I lived my life and if I am not careful I have the tendency to slide back onto that dead end road. I have come to realize that the only real mistake........ is not learning from your mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. I mean face it, that is how we learn. When I was a little boy I can remember my father telling me "you're alright, keep trying". But somewhere along the line I became afraid of making mistakes, not doing it right or failure..... whatever you want to call it. At some point in my life it became more important to not fail then to try and at that point I stopped learning, growing as a human being. The importance shifted from "you're alright, keep trying", to don't do that you might mess up. It took a "big mistake" to help me realize that, OK it did hurt but it didn't kill me and the most important thing, what are the lessons I can learn from this.

We are the sum of all our experiences! Do you realize that? There is no such thing as "shudda, wudda, coulda"! The phrases, "if only", "what if", if I had just", or the all important "I wish I had", should not be in your vocabulary. You can't go back and change the past, there is no promise of tomorrow, all you have is today, so get over it, suck it up and move on! Our mistakes do more to shape who we are than our accomplishments. Let me repeat that, our mistakes do more to shape us than our accomplishments. The only real mistake is not learning from your mistakes.

History always seems to keep repeating itself. Why is that? Because man never learns from his mistakes. Hey what do you say, let's go around that mountain one more time. Do you know people like that? Are you one of those people? We are destined to keep making the same mistakes if we don't learn from them. "I have been married 5 times"!! said with a strange sense of pride like you are going to get an award. "I always pick the wrong person"...HELLO... WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!! LEARN, LEARN, LEARN !!! Or how about, "why do I always keep doing that"? How many time have you heard or said that one? Can you smell the coffee yet? :)

Most people just go through life making the same mistakes over and over again, complain about how their lives suck, and live in the past of some "glory day" of their life. Why? Because somewhere in their lives the "mistake" became bigger than the "lesson". I can still hear my father say, "Thomas do something, even if it's wrong, do something". It is far better to do something, even if you don't succeed, than to not do anything at all.

Wake up people and smell the coffee!

INSANITY!!!!!!

It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I see this every day all around me. People tend to get "stuck" in their lives by their routines and habits. They constantly complain about things in their lives that drive them crazy or that are hurting them in some way, either mentally, emotionally, physically or financially, but they are unwilling to change anything in their lives in order to make a change. I have seen this in my own family and it drives ME CRAZY.... but you can't change your family.

Their is nothing worse than listening to someone complain about their unruly, out of control children, who just happen to be of legal adult age, but will not stop enabling them which continues to perpetuate and encourage their behavior. Come on people grow a pair and take control of your lives. Take responsibility for raising them and do something about it! Nobody wants to listen to you piss and moan about a situation that you have allowed and don't have the intestinal fortitude to do anything about. Oh ya, it is easy to point fingers at other peoples kids and spew out what those parents should be doing but when it comes to you and your kids, well now, that is something entirely different! PLEASE!!!!

This same principle applies to every area of our lives in some way or another. Look at our Government for another example. How many times in the history of civilization has big government, socialism, communism, whatever you want to call it, been successful? I mean seriously people get a clue. It has never worked and it will never work and the problem is (are you ready for this one) you and me!!! People are the problem. Man left to himself will always find a way to better himself before others. The problem is humane nature. Those in control are, by definition , completely insane. They are pushing us toward a socialistic/communistic/ tyrannical state so fast that it is not funny in the least. With all of Obama's czars, that answer to no one but him, congress in a joke. History is repeating its self and this great nation will end up in ashes and rubble. Yes you are right THAT IS INSANE!!!

Most of our "rights and freedoms" are gone, it is just that people have not realized it yet. The right situation has not presented itself for all the presidential orders and laws to be implemented. By the time the masses wake up to the fact the trap will have been sprung and it will be to late. As Benjamin Franklin once said. "we have given you a Republic, if you can keep it". Hear that sound? It is our Forefathers rolling over in their graves.

Get it? Get the picture? WAKE UP..... and smell the coffee!

I have never been one much for writing my thoughts down. But, recently I have been wondering if there is anyone out there who thinks and feels the way I do and if what I have to say would be interesting for anyone to read. So, I am going to start blogging here and let's see what happens. I have often been told that I am somewhat of a catalyst, not that I try to stir things up, it just seems to happen.

In the year 2000 I woke up from what seemed to be a very long sleep and I have been continuing to wake up ever since. I began to see things differently and be aware of what was going on around me. I seemed to be developing a sense of discernment about people and the meanings behind what they said. The more I put this new found sense to the test the more I realized that people very rarely say what they mean, for what ever reason. We, in this country have lost the art of honesty. A man's word is no longer his bond. Back in the day if someone told you they would do something then no matter what they would do it. Legal documents and lawyers we not all that common because they were not needed. Did you get that?" THEY WERE NOT NEEDED!! Somewhere along the way we started to need them. What happened to "us" so that we have become a nation of law suits and liars? Somewhere in our history "WE" as a collective took a wrong turn and it has lead us to where we are now. I hate to inform you of this but despite what "they" say, man is not getting better. Man is collecting more and more knowledge but is losing more and more wisdom. Knowledge is nothing but dangerous without the wisdom in how to use that knowledge.

I don't proclaim to have all the answers, in fact I have more questions than answers but at least I know I don't know everything and questions are a good thing. In order to have questions you must first be aware of your surroundings and that means you must be "awake". Wake up you citizen of America, wake up and smell the coffee!