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Getting somewhere requires effort, it takes
faith to push on, it's easy to screw up,
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Friday, November 29, 2013
Black Friday and a shopping frenzy
Black Friday should actually be called the “The Hunger Games”. People kill each other and
the winner gets a $20 crock pot ~ unknown
Today in the USA they have this day of bargains at the shopping centres and call
this day BLACK FRIDAY.
This is the day following thanksgiving in the USA where the shops open early and give promotions
to get the Christmas shopping spree going in earnest.
How do we react?
Do we rush out to buy the next latest and greatest gadget or clothes item
or other item of desire?
What is our actual relationship with God through all this?
Yesterday we look at being thankful for what
we have received and today we do the opposite. We chase after things we think we need but if we really check that need out, we are
chasing wants., not needs.
What happens to us? Are we all so programmed by media and television promotions that we lose our sanity,
our peace, our joy and instead conjure up our greed, our false needs, gluttony, pride and other selfish, nasty and ignorant
things?
It is said that Black Friday can boost Walmart’s income from $14 billion to $19 billion.
Where does that money come from?
Us!
Do we need to spend it?
We need to decide what
we are going to do!
Let’s remember that the true joy of life, true happiness, doesn’t come from things but from
relationships.
The key of these joys being our relationship with God, and then our relationship with
those around us and even in some ways our relationship with ourselves.
We are self-aware and must ask what type of person
are we.
If I’m a madly materialistic person, pushing others aside to get what I want, I'm the type
of person that is then asking to have poor relationships. That path will soon lead to a poor self image, even depression and
loneliness.
How about instead of chasing to see what junk we can accumulate (by buying what we really
don’t need), we instead save some of that money and perhaps plan to help a family or person in need with some of it.
Perhaps if we pray and find someone who’s
life we can change for the better with a few of our dollars, we will start to build good relationships. Perhaps soon we will
have another friend, someone we care about and who cares about us.
Perhaps that friend will last for a lifetime instead of being replaced
by the next best model next Black Friday.
Maybe by carefully evaluating our situation and helping others we can change it into a serving
Friday, a loving Friday, a good Friday, a Friday that actually extends into our year in a special way.
God wants us to have
that type of perspective on life.
There is a good challenge for this Black Friday.
Let’s ensure we increase our eternal
rather than material wealth.
That’s a wealth that does not rust, become old or get destroyed.
Have a wonderful God
blessed day!
Fri, November 29, 2013 | link
Thursday, November 28, 2013
What we can believe in, and still disbelieve in God! It is better to believe than
to disbelieve; in doing you bring everything to the realm of possibility ~ Albert Einstein
Today the “bitcoin”
hit the $1000 mark.
Wow!
This is an abstract concept that deals with a currency that is virtual (it doesn’t
exist) and yet people not only believe in it, they trade with it. It exists on the internet and uses cryptography
to protect itself and make it difficult to counterfeit.
Yet today it is valued at $1000 and yesterday it was valued at $900. The
beginning of the month it was $215 (according to www.thestar.com).
It is so powerful a currency that the US government is getting concerned (I guess it’s something
they cannot control) and they have had a senate hearing on it.
The value of this currency is based on people’s confidence
in it. Obviously they have a lot of belief or confidence in this abstract human created, non-real money. It’s almost
as if Monopoly money went viral. (I know its not monopoly money, but if the amount of monopoly money was capped and the duplication difficult,
it could be!)
You cannot even securely put bitcoins in your pocket, they only exist reasonably safely in special
internet storage locations called “wallets”. Who owns bitcoins is even tracked electronically to ensure
they don’t get duplicated and get used more than once.
Isn't it amazing what we invent and then believe in?
Strangely however, when
I point out God exists, but we cannot see him, that we have proof of his existence in records from history and people statements
about him, quite a few people simply say this is nonsense and an idea made up by men.
Yet, there is a huge amount of
evidence and information that shows God must exist.
The effects of God’s existence are all around us. We can check out the historical
facts. We can look around at diversity and complexity of life and know that it required guidance of some part. We can investigate
and find no known scientific evidence for life being created on earth, yet see it all around us. Yet many still reject God’s
existence based on a false logic. A faith in God’s non-existence!
I really find it strange
how some people who accept bitcoins as real, would reject God. God exists much more than any bitcoin. God has been
in existence forever, but bitcoins are created by people.
Bitcoins are a recent phenomenon, with no
history of significance to back their claims.
Amazing what some people put faith in isn’t it?
Do you have faith in God?
Do you think you will have faith in bitcoins?
The one faith
gives you an eternal investment, the other a fleeting one.
Have a great day!
Thu, November 28, 2013 | link
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Does my actions impact others spiritually? Physical
strength can never permanently withstand the impact of spiritual force.~Franklin D. Roosevelt
Day in and out we attempt to impress
others with our abilities, strength, capabilities and opportunities don’t we?
We are in a never ending flow of actions
that deviate little from our planned purpose unless some spiritual interruption knock us off our chosen path, and then only if we
let it (at least that's how many of us think).
Is this really so?
Do we track our lives forward with certainty according to a planned
path that we administer with great knowledge and fortitude?
Hardly!
Most of us have a glimmer of our purpose and
daily reach out to it to find our way in the light of God’s eternal guidance.
Wisdom is not pre-knowledge,
but in us responding in love to our loving God’s guidance, while knowing that he eternally can direct us and compensate
for our failures. We are inadequate and unable to make significant difference only by our own will and direction.
How
then is it that we have the ability to influence others if we are so tentative in our own lives?
We live in a spiritual world as much as we
live in a physical world.
Events are not only shaped by the physical laws of nature science, sociology and psychology,
but also the spiritual climate we find ourselves in and the spiritual inclinations of those around us that tilt the spiritual
plain in one or other direction. Friends, families and foes alike influence the spiritual world we find ourselves in.
Our choices as a collective group within society are significant.
Many years ago Moses in giving out the
covenant of God warns this is the case. In Deuteronomy 29 this was recorded so that we, the future generations might read
and understand.
Moses was talking to freed slaves who had come out of the spiritual influence of the Egyptians
and who had nations with different spiritual inclinations all around them. This is what he says...
16 You yourselves know how we
lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. 17 You saw among them their detestable
images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. 18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe
among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there
is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.
19 When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves,
thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered
land as well as the dry. 20 The Lord will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against
them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven. 21 The
Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written
in this Book of the Law.
These words are not for the faint of heart.
The danger of tracking in our own way towards goals we think
are good, but which God has not blessed, is very simple.... We walk into disaster and curse ourselves.
Yes God is a loving God who also said in Luke 17 “Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times
come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
God will forgive us if we turn away from these ways and back to him.
Yet, the warning was
for a group of people, not only an individual. In our modern world we think that each individual is only responsible for themselves.
That’s not God’s way.
We are responsible as a society as well!
This year we will make decisions in committees,
boards, and as voting citizens. Each of these is an opportunity to spiritually incline the spiritual plain towards
Gods love and blessings.
How about we actively try and listen for God’s guidance and tilt the world towards
being a better place?
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Should I consider myself on the list of those going to heaven?Aim at heaven
and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.~C. S. Lewis
 Fear
or Joy?
A simple choice one would think, but for many it is not simple.
Life is simply not able to resolve these differences to an extent
that enables the person to make wholly informed decisions regarding which of the options they would accept.
Inherent in this is the way that
people are incapable of making deep decisions that govern their lives and enable them to reach the full extent of their growth
potential.
We are all doomed at birth to a life that is going to be a struggle.
No baby born will be
without some sort of strain or stress in their life as they mature. Some have far more, but we all have deep calamities
and hardships.
Yet what is the difference at the end of life?
We all have one life in order to achieve our place in the universe
of God’s desire.
We all have to face our own challenges and opportunities and pass or fail in
these tests.
How much can we address each other and direct anothers way?
Who gives us the authority to step into another’s
life and direct them when they have not asked for our help, or even should they ask, is it with pride and authority or with
a submission to God’s leading that we endeavor to provide some help to those in the pain of indecision?
We can never really know our success
or failure in this life, that is for the eternal judge to evaluate.
We are not able to even ascertain our own success or failure,
never mind that of others.
Compassion should guide our every action.
Compassion for those who like us are sinners!
People who have chased incorrect dreams, lost the race in many ways, been selfish instead of selfless, who ignorantly chose
incorrectly, who are perhaps superior and nasty to others like us when we have no right.
We are sinners!
That is our true inheritance
which none of us can escape unless we turn to our saviour who guides us through this morass of time and space, forgiving us
by application of his lifeblood and wisdom, leading us by the example he provided when he lived through this same maze of
potential failures, yet succeeded.
In Him we live and move and have our being!
The words of Hebrews 12 sum this up magnificently...
You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness,
gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that
no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal
touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”[c] 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have
come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names
are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to
Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not
refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we
turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised,
“Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more”
indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving
a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for
our “God is a consuming fire.
Tue, November 26, 2013 | link
Monday, November 25, 2013
We get so caught up in ideas we often miss the truth We get so caught up in ideas we often miss the truth
A little girl day dreaming rides her tricycle into the traffic …
who is to blame?
Her mother of course, but that’s not true in this case…mother told her to go on into the house while
she unpacked the groceries from the car.
The little girl did just that, but when her
mom was going to get groceries from the car, she came back out and climbed on her tricycle without mother knowing.
She was day dreaming!
Her mind was full of abstract thoughts that stopped her from realizing what her mother had always told
her, “never drive your tricycle into the road!”
How often do we get caught up into an abstract thought world of
our own? We use big words, complicated ideas, language that is special to a small group of people, and miss out on core truths
around us all the time. I know I do this, do you?
I have just taken my wonderful wife away for a few days around her birthday. We cut through the routines
of our days to do different things together. The time was special, renewing, invigorating, and drew me closer to her.
What time
away did, was that it interrupted the thought flow, the routine, the mindless chase of everything stressing us daily. This gives time for
reflection and truth to settle in. I could fall in love with her again, in a new way, and it re-affirmed how right our relationship
is and how good God was to put us together.
That having been a wonderful interlude, I return to my
routines with new thoughts!
I realize how complicated we make life! Instead of realizing the simplicity of life is in
that God wants us to have a close personal relationship with him, to love God as he loves us, we instead fill our time
with building abstract reasoning’s about God, arguing silly details, failing to connect tightly with God.
We are not really here to be academic or studious,
but rather to love God and our neighbour as ourselves!
It’s not complicated, but it is a challenge!
True love means deep true commitment!
It means drawing away into a time of special relationship
with the one we love so the love can grow.
When did we last draw ourselves out of our routine
to spend time with our wonderful God?
Do we even know what this means and how to do it?
God made the first move
John3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.
God is spirit and wants our worship in Spirit
John 4:24 “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
By simply appreciating the beauty around us and thanking God, but understanding God upholds and guides us and thanking
him, but seeing the pain in the world as a result of sin and wanting to make other’s lives easier but allowing god to
us our lives in service, we a can draw closer to our wonderful God and experience him each day!
Praise be his name! He is the one who gives
us good advice, who rushes into the traffic and pulls us to safety, who loves us deeply even when we don’t always listen
to him.
Let’s empty our minds of the worthless concepts and draw near to the simplicity of God today!
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If you want to see a short blog describing a perspective on what I believe click here
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Rift in Evil
By Ken
X Briggs - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size:
6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. |
Credit cards are acceptable on sites having Ken's books: 
:)
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Click
on XML Click here =>  to be told of new blogs
| Ken's book covers are displayed below. . . | |  This
suspense thriller centers on Kiara, a beautiful young woman pursued by a murderous group of people, who relentlessly and ruthlessly
hunt her and her sisters. Kiara has no idea why she is being targeted! When Kiara and her family turn to the law for help,
this fails. Her pursuers’ powers reach deeply into the political and law enforcement world. Family support for her dwindles
when they too have to flee her pursuers. Can Kiara escape the clutches of both the law and dishonest big business? With the
media broadcasting that Kiara and friends are dangerous and subversive, can Kiara clear her name and bring her pursuers to
justice?
| | | | | To purchase Kiara's Pursuer ebook
@ $1.99 kindle version click here, To contact the author contact Author@KenXBriggs.com | | | | | | | | The town of Zinaville is dropped into a spiral of evil causing a young man and a beautiful but abused woman
to launch into an investigation that unveils an evil conspiracy. A horrific mining accident results in Joshua
Robyn's father being killed. Joshua struggles both with himself and his townsfolk as he tries to make sense of an incomprehensible
situation. Is it an accident or a murder? Why is there a seeming link to evil? Why is his work environment suddenly threatening?
What is the conspiracy about and what are they trying to do? As action moves dramatically from exotic African grasslands to
the heart of North America's cities, the plot unfolds and the pace quickens. Will there be time? Why is a beautiful abused
young woman in the center of this plot? Evil tendrils tighten on their lives and the interplay between the visible
and invisible world shows opposing forces at work. Will there be a rift in evil? Will they be able to stop the
evil in time? | | - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect
Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size: 6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available
from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. Chapters | | | | |
| Frugal Eating Advice |
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| Good advice for students living on limited $'s. Click on the image! |
May you be blessed today!
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