The Bad Christmas Trip

First I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad from the bottom of my heart.

But some of us ought to go ahead and acknowledge that we start tripping this time of year. Christmas is a time for giving but it is also a time for receiving. When we expect to get as much as we give or want to give, that's when the trouble begins. Our expectations rise to the occasion and our self pity kicks in because we know that we won't get what we want; even if we don't even know what we want.

So what's the solution? For me its important to take myself out of the equation by focusing on who is really important. First of all its God then others. If I am being grateful to God for his gifts of love, grace and mercy then this will surely stop the madness of the season. The rest of the year will be better too.

Beginnings

This is what I would have said to her had I met my wife while we were still in high school instead of when we met seven years after high school. During high school I was a musician and I loved playing jazz and rock on my instrument the slide trombone.  The words to the Chicago band's song Beginnings, express just how I would have felt had we met while in high school. I sure hope she would have liked it had I played Beginnings on my horn and sang it to her. But Its hard to know just what her reaction would have been had I done so. I'm guessing that her feelings would've been hard for her to put into words. Maybe she would have been...silent... silent, but I hope in a good way. 

The song Beginnings (you can hear by clicking here!)

Song lyrics excerpts are below. 
Songwriter: Robert Lamm

When I'm with you, it doesn't matter where we are, or what we're doing
I'm with you, that's all that matters.
Time passes much too quickly, when we're together laughing I wish I could sing it to you, oh no, I wish I could sing it to you.

Oh whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.
Oh whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.
Mostly I'm silent, mm-hm-hm-hm... Silent, la la la la la.

Never think of the right words to say.

When I kiss you, I feel a thousand different feelings
The color of chills all over my body, yeah, yeah, yeah!

And when I feel them, I quickly try to decide which one?
I should try to put into words, oh no, try to put into words.

Mostly I'm silent... Silent... La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la... Silent.

Dirt

It is really early in the morning.  There is a big pile of dirt in my driveway about 41 cubic yards along with 30 pieces of grass sod stacked behind it.  A dump truck dropped these off last Wednesday but there is no religious significance to their presence. My plan was to get my yardman to spread the dirt at the top part of my front lawn (nearest to the house) where the earth is barren that is, without a grass covering.  The earth in this area was eroded by rain due to a lack of grass and large tree roots that are clearly visible above the ground from my two large oak trees.  I want to cover those roots over with my new soil and then plant the new grass sod so that I can have a nice green front lawn. After all the Lord wants me to “lie down in green pastures” not barren ones am I right?  I swear on a stack of bibles that I don’t really talk like this!   This yardman, who usually cuts my grass showed up Thursday, took one look at that pile of dirt and ran saying he’d return on Friday.  Well it’s Saturday and he hasn't returned yet.  I guess he doesn't have the kind of faith that could “move mountains,” but I do.  So I’m just going to have to do the job myself and keep my appointment with a shovel and a sore back.  Please pray for me.

"Five is Better than Zero," and other Wise sayings

"When you’re struggling not to say something in anger; stop thinking it!"

 –A saying of j hammond

When it’s time to get away, try using: "The Walmart Excuse"

–From a blog post by j hammond

"Deer, I am sorry to hurt you, but the people are hungry."

-Choctaw Hunter’s Prayer

"Remember that your children are not your own,
they are lent to you by the Creator."

–Mohawk proverb

"If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come."
-Arapaho proverb

"Five is better than zero!" Spoken by the guy you loaned
twenty dollars to when he pays you back only five dollars.
-A saying my brother attributes to Norman Wise.

The Seed of Faith

When I was a married law student I would sometimes study in public libraries because they were closer to home than the law school's library. I remember one day while studying at a public library that I heard a male voice say over and over again, “Thank You Jesus, Thank You Jesus, Thank You Jesus.”  My curiosity got the best of me so I got up and walked over to see what was going on. The speaker was a young man about twenty years old with his hands clasped together and his eyes screwed tightly shut in prayer. I didn't disturb him and went back to my own table wondering why he was so passionately thanking God. Had he gotten out of some kind of trouble? Did he recover from some serious illness?  Nevertheless, I went back to studying my law books and went on with my life and never saw the praying man again. But I never forgot him. From time to time I would think about him as eight years passed by. During that span of time I would experience many good things in my life, but also some bad things and some very deep emotional pain.

However, I give that young man's prayer allot of credit. I know in my heart that on that day, a seed was planted in my soul that mysteriously and persistently took root over time. Eventually, I would gain a much fuller understanding of why anyone would want to thank Jesus over and over again and without shame. Then came the fateful day when I myself made Jesus the lord of my life. Now I too have become very grateful for the many blessings that have come my way.  You just never know who might be listening to or watching you when you call upon that name that is above all names: Jesus.

Feelin's From Within

Okay so I recently went to a vinyl record store in LA called Record Surplus which is on Santa Monica Blvd. It had a pretty nice selection of old vinyl albums, and you could listen to them over headphones  on three or four conveniently placed record players. I got a kick out of using their record players because I used to have a 70's era Marantz receiver just like the ones they have for your use there. I browsed for about an hour and felt at home in there. A year earlier I had gone to San Francisco and wound up doing the same thing by checking out the Groove Merchant Record store and the Amoeba Music store on Haight Street. And the year before that I was in the Record Mart store in Chicago where I found a treasured album called Powerhouse by the Jazz Crusaders (see earlier post "Jazz Record Found").

Who knows when I may find that other jazz album I've been searching for called; "Feelin's From Within" by Joe Thomas. There's a cut named Coco (click on it) from that album which is the last missing piece from my California road trip playlist. (See my earlier post "Vantastic Voyage.") Although I've looked for it in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and even on Amazon it still eludes me. Yet, I'm not concerned. I've got a  feelin within that I'm getting closer.

I Thank You

You didn't have to love me like you did
But you did, but you did, oh, and I thank you
You didn't have to hold me like you did
But you did, but you did, and I thank you

                                                Happy 34th anniversary to Us

But this post could just as easily be about

thanking you God, for your amazing grace

 and I thank you.

Blown Away

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us, (Psalm 103:12).

This scripture reminds us of God’s great power and his great mercy and his loving compassion for us. But can we imitate Him in this (as in Mat 6:15)? We are not God, we cannot separate others from their sins even as far as the length of our noses.  Maybe what this means is that we can try to look at others (who have wronged us) as if they had never sinned. What will happen if we treat them that way? Have you ever experienced such forgiveness and were you blow away?   I have and I was blow away -as far as the east is from the west.

Get on down

Get On Up and Get Down

I saw J.B. at the Seton Hall U gym when I was still in the 8th grade. It was my first concert and I can't even remember how I came to be there, but I was. I remember seeing those big Vox speakers outside of the closed curtains on either side of the stage and I heard the band rehearsing a new song; "I Don't Want Nobody To Give me Nothing" and I was hooked before the show even got started. Then the curtains parted and the stage lights came up and the announcer standing there stage center said something like: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you, The Hardest Working Man in All Show Business, Mr. JAMES BROWN!!!" And then simultaneously, Maceo and the  band hit it and started in playing "Cold Sweat" and I'd swear that I broke out into one myself. J.B. then came sliding out on stage, hair slicked back, head rocking and already sweating and proceeded to put on a show that I'll never forget. Incidentally the photo is more recent, it's some people getting down at my daughter B's wedding reception in ATL. On a personal note, I'm looking forward to seeing the "Get On Up" movie tonight; with the same 8th grade zeal that I felt before... I got that feeling, baby.

"Man Overboard"

The following is a true story about what could have happened on board a cruise ship to an unsupervised minor child. When I first saw her, the little five or six years old girl, was hanging over the ship’s railing balancing herself on her abdomen, with half her body over the sea and her legs hanging behind her over the deck. She was looking down at the sea with her two friends of about the same age; but they weren't risking their necks on the railing.  It was early evening and the sunlight was dying fast when I came up on deck and saw them and immediately appreciated the danger. So I said to the little girl in a calm but authoritative voice,“get down from there right now!” Fortunately, she obeyed my command and slipped back down to the deck. Then she and her friends ran off back inside the ship before I could say anything more. There was a deck chair pulled right up to the railing that she had stood on to boost herself onto the railing. I stood there at the same railing, freaking out a little about what just happened.  This was on deck four (4) of the ship (where the lifeboats are) which is about three stories above the sea if this were a building. Also the ship was cruising at a speed of at least 20 knots.

I did not need to imagine just how fast the ship would have left a man overboard behind. The day before this happened, I had been speculating about this very thing!   I even ran an experiment by looking down at a certain area of the sea, and kept my eyes on the spot while counting off the seconds it would take for that spot to drop out of sight behind the ship. I came up with about sixteen seconds at the rate of travel our ship was cruising. So back to what could have happened to the little girl; here is the ultimate question. What would I have done had she fallen overboard? I could think of several things latter that I could have done but while it was happening, there was no time to think and no way to raise the alarm“man overboard!”

There were no life rafts in the area, no phones, no alarm bells and no other adults, there was just me. Looking out at the big sea and the darkness I knew that probably we both would have drowned had I jumped in. My good sense told me that there was no sense in both of us dying was there? But my heart wouldn't let it go at that; I had to think about,“what if she were my own child, would I still hesitate to jump -would I be afraid to?”  Of course I would be afraid, but yet I know what I would have done although it pains me to say it. I would have screamed at the other children to tell somebody what happened then, I would have gone over the side after her. I would then be in the water holding that child and together, we would watch the big ship rapidly pulling away from us. Before long, we would see the big ship’s lights dwindling into the night and we'd be left totally on our own to die in the vast dark sea. By then, I would say to my wife that I left behind on the ship, although she couldn't hear me,“Goodbye my dear wife; but this little child in the water with me needs me more right now." Also, "I love you; please tell our children I was thinking of them when I jumped in to try and save this child."

Of course, I would also be praying hard for God to have mercy on our souls and to please turn that big ship around. By the way, the little girl is white while I am black, but that was never any consideration. She was one of the little ones that Jesus would save too and that's all that matters to me. But there might still have been another ending to the story; had we both gone into the water. A happy ending in which the other children somehow raised the alarm in time. Then after being rescued, I could give the little girl back to her parents safe and alive. Then I would fall exhausted into my own dear wife's loving arms but safe, happy and rejoicing.

The Civil War

Wait a minute, wait a minute STOP the music!  Brothers fight against brothers, sisters fight against sisters, mothers against sons or daughters. Even uncles, aunts and cousins get into the action. I’m not talking about wars between flag waving nations, I’m talking about our families!  After a parent dies with no living spouse their descendants will  often go to  war over the house, the couches, the knickknacks, the family photos and sometimes over money even when it's a very small amount.

How do you keep this painful war from happening in your family? What can stop this carnage? It is up to you to prevent a war by laying down the law to your family in your Last Will and Testament.  Having a Will is like writing a peace treaty to prevent a war from ever happening.  The most qualified person to decide who will get your stuff after you die is YOU.  Your Will gives you the ability to gently guide your family by dividing your property in any way that you wish. You can even spell out what to do with your remains in a Will. Your family will be glad that you did have a Will! It takes the pressure right off of them to make those hard decisions that you should have made. Your Will can be like a bridge over troubled waters. It is one of the most loving and practical things you can do for your family while you are still here. I've seen some really bad grade C minus and grade F do-it-yourself Wills, that ended up having some unintended or undesirable outcomes. Avoid those, you should have your Will professionally drafted by an attorney. For more information click on  Jhammondlaw.com.

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The Dead Sea Incident (Public Hot Tub Dilemma)

I won’t get into the hot tub at the gym anymore because I hear that it is really germy. We all know that kiddy pools are often germ filled because little kids pee in the water. Maybe not on purpose, they just do and it’s very common.  But adult hot tubs can also be germ filled because grown people also pee in them or simply plunge their unwashed bodies into the hot water.  They think the hot water will kill off all the germs but I am told by some reliable scientific sources; that some very nasty germs like hot water. 

But the ocean is different right? Who hasn't peed in the ocean. A person needing to go should maybe move away from the other swimmers and out into deeper water. Here in deep water; the waves, strong ocean currents and a high concentration of salt should dilute urine in seconds flat, right?

But what if a large number of people peed into the ocean at the same time; what affect would that have on the ocean environment?  It’s a fair question and after doing some more research this time historic research; I found that a precedent has already been set in ancient times.  Thousands of years ago, an army of thousands of guys peed into what was once known as The Crystal Blue Sea at the same time. This body of water still exists today, but after that onslaught everything living in the water died and then the water itself died. Naturally that dead body of water had to be renamed. People began referring to it as "The Dead Sea" and the name stuck. And yes, the fashionably dressed guys pictured above were heavily involved in this disturbing incident. True story?

I Got LAWYERED Up!

“Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what’s going on

What’s going on

Ya, what’s going on

Tell me what’s going on
I'll tell you what's going on – Uh”

As sung by Marvin Gay (check it out).

I'll tell you what’s going on with me and my family at least.  I got LAWYERED UP with my daughter Brigette taking the oath as a lawyer in Georgia, my son Alex just finishing law school in Texas and my niece Toni also graduating from law school in Alabama. Together we will try to "bring some understanding here today," all across this land.

Clashes with wolves

"Clashes with wolves" is not your Native American Indian name; it's a classification. It's the name for the experience of being beat up like a punching bag when you visit your family. I wish this kind of experience was only in the movies. I wish it didn't happen for real but it does. Why do families sometimes turn mean like that; is pride at the root of it? Maybe after some healing takes place you will understand. My salve for healing is grace and gratitude which when done from the heart rekindles love. Very soon afterwards, you'll be Dancing with wolves instead of clashing with them. Or better yet our families will appear in togetherness in another form; one closer to God's image.

Long Distance Runaround

It's going to be a long drive over a Long and Winding Road! Some of it at night because you will be driving; in excess of  six hundred miles. Equipment you might want  to take along for the long ride are a radar detector and a CB radio.  But there are driving skills too that will help you along the way. For instance after being on the road for several hours and daylight turns to dusk and traffic has thinned out to just you and the lonely road; I would start looking for a pace car or truck to follow. The pace car or truck will help you to keep a steady pace and by concentrating on them this will also help you stay alert.  Using your car's cruise control is okay but over the long haul following behind someone else is much better. Following someone forces you to make constant speed adjustments just to stay the right three or four car lengths distance behind them and this speed adjustment activity keeps you more alert. Sometimes I prefer choosing big trucks over cars as my pace car; because professional truck drivers do a much better job of keeping up a steady speed than most car drivers do. Sometimes I do get lucky and find a good highway driver in a car and they will do just fine. 

When following behind a big truck it is courteous and much safer to keep your distance so  that they can see you in their rear view mirrors. When following another car and it's nighttime, it is also courteous to stay back far enough to keep your headlights from blinding them in their rear view mirrors.  Another thing about truckers that I appreciate is that they will warn you  about upcoming speed traps. They can do so by tapping on their brakes and slowing down so that I'll know to slow down right along with them.  I've even had a trucker stick his arm out from his cab window and pat the air to signal me to slow down while I was passing him and sure enough there was a 'Smokey' up ahead.  I appreciated that the trucker was keeping the front door open for me so that I wouldn't get pulled over and bitten by a bear.

If my pace truck turns off or is driving too slow I'll go ahead and pass him and find another to follow. And yes, sometimes I am the pace car that somebody else is following; no problem, I'll lead on I've got this! And did I mention that having a car stereo is essential? Or at least earbuds plugged into something. Music like, Long Distance Runaround will definitely keep you alert and help you to pass the time on the road. Sometimes while driving long distance I want my mind to drift....to some cool music  and be on autopilot, if you know what I mean. An old favorite mind freeing and beautiful jazz cut that I love to drive by is; Joe Thomas' "Coco,"; which  just happened to be on  my California road trip playlist from 1977.

Pacific Ocean view from my 75 Dodge Street Van window (circa 1977) No doubt I had the stereo on laying down some tracks as I cruised along the Pacific Coast highway.

Hiding a Bad Motive

Hiding the truth is easy or it's hard but can we handle the truth? I said that I wanted to rekindle an old friendship with a guy I once knew, a man from the past. "We could be friends again," I said. "I could help him in some way," I said. Those are really good motives aren't they? But lurking underneath was another motive –a bad one.  With all this talk going on now about medical marijuana and legalizing it, I got it into my head somehow to try some out.  And that guy from the past was one of the biggest potheads I ever knew. So the truth is; I was hiding a bad motive underneath a good one and hoping he could get me some. By the way this man from the past and I were never really friends, we were just acquaintances. Can I handle this truth about myself? You bet I can, once I admitted it.  I've got to wonder though, in how many other ways do I try this mental ploy of hiding a bad motive underneath a good one? I'm going to have to be on the lookout for that.

Walk This Way

When the Lord speaks something to you His very words have power.   Have you ever had one of those mornings when you get out of bed just full of anxiety about your day ahead?  This morning was like that for me -because I had several work matters on my mind that I feared would go wrong.  I actually felt all the symptoms of fear even though I knew my problems couldn't possibly compare to the more serious problems people can have.  I went ahead anyway with my 'Quiet Time' which presently consists of reading the book of Matthew. While reading it the following words literally jumped off the page at me. “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” (Matthew14:27) Jesus spoke these words while he was walking on water towards his disciples -who feared he was a ghost. Yet somehow, Jesus also spoke those same words to me while I was sitting at home. 

Sometimes when fear strikes me I'll pray to God to take it away; but often my fear remains sticking to me like glue. This time while reading, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid,” my fear and all anxiety were immediately lifted from me.  It was such a powerful change that all traces of fear -even the vapor trails- were suddenly and completely gone. Instead I was left with feelings of amazement, joy and thankfulness. There are many layers to this scripture but for the first time, I simply focused on the reasons why Jesus was walking on water. He did it to be with his friends. And he did it to be with us too.  My day after my encounter with Jesus walking on water was a blessed day. I was fearless, joyful and full of hope.

A Brain Washing of the Spears

It started out with the telegraph then the telephone and we all became wired up then un-wired. Then an unknown Eople (see my earlier blog post -The washing of the Spears); came up with the infamous Beeper or Pager a wireless thing that you could walk around with. You know of it, the little box that clips to your belt that will beep loudly and display the phone number of the person that called you. You could silence it and instead of beeping it would make an obscene buzzing noise and if it was on a table it would vibrate itself right onto the floor. Unfortunately they rarely broke when they hit the floor. It wasn't the first wireless device -long before beepers there were handheld two way radios called Walky Talkies, what a stupid name.  But mostly those were used for military purposes to say, call in an airstrike but very few civilians had a Walky Talky. The beeper of course, was used mainly by doctors on call and by business men -yeah right, drug dealers did a lot of business using a beeper. I must admit that I got a beeper myself since I have clan responsibilities but no one hardly ever beeped me. Also pay phones had to be widely available for a beeper to be of practical use and pay phones have by and large disappeared.  Then came the Cell Phone, the devil’s own tool. In the early days only a few Eoples had a cell phone. I guess the first words ever uttered over a cell phone were not ‘Watson come here, I need you.’  More likely it was, 'Fred where the hell are you, come home now!’ You see Cell Phones will intrude on you wherever you are, whatever you're doing and whenever you wish to be left alone. And if you don't answer it? Someone will leave you a message, sometimes multiple messages -oh what a pain.

I still prefer to write of course.  I am writing this letter to an Eople right now. I take pleasure in writing with an ink quill pen on wood fiber paper. I am not the only one.  The other day I received a letter in the mail from right across the street from a fellow low brow. His letter had a Chinese post mark on it and it took a glorious eight months to reach me. But I digress, the reason I got a Beeper was because I lead a clan of the old ones, Neo Neanderthals or low brows. I am compelled to write this letter now as a warning that concerns the Smart Phones that you Eoples now use.  It’s bad enough that you text while driving and Twitter your little heads off and take unwanted  photographs that blatantly invade the privacy of others; but now you want to surf the web and do online banking right from your hand held Smart Phones.  But I know what your real aims are.  You have placed chips inside of these so called Smart Phones that will identify us as Neanderthals! You are keeping track of us, spying on us and plotting against us. 

Right now, I am shaking in fury and my coarse hair is standing on end -GODS OF THUNDER, GODS OF OUR FOREFATHERS, THE EOPLES HAVE GONE TOO FAR!!!!  I your clan leader once again declare WAR on the evil Eoples. CALL TO ARMS!!!!!!!!!!  Meet me tonight at Pride Rock and bring plenty of spears along and our new secret weapon -the Owls. We will call in our owls  -as our own airstrike, to swoop down on unsuspecting tweeters and snatch their cell phones right out of their soft itchy fingers. We will work ourselves up into a blood frenzy -that won't stop until we hunt every Eople down. And since they -with their big fat brain pans, think they're so smart; we'll aim our spears directly for their fat heads. That’s right, their brains will ooze out like wine which we will drink in as a cold revenge offering.  Then once we emerge victorious from the hunt, we will gather together at dawn to wash our spears. Oh yes, we will have a boisterously good time whacking our spears together and swapping spit. And then our spears will receive a good brain washing -until the next time they will be needed.

The Protégé

The Protégé

In college I took a Hatha Yoga class and became spiritual -or so I thought- and began meditating. By the time I graduated from college I added some reincarnation beliefs to my Yoga Kundalini experience. This then led me to believe that I was being  taken care of -as a reward for some great thing I’d done in a past life.

My feelings of well being continued on for awhile after I became married. But four years later when children, bills, responsibilities and hanging out with bad companions took hold, my feelings of well being quickly evaporated. I became a person who was, “drifting on a sea of forgotten teardrops,” as Jimi Hendrix once sang and I became very weak spiritually. Eventually I also became "Depressed and downhearted and I turned to Cloud Nine," as the Temptations once said in a song. 

But what I didn't know was that all along; I was closer to the truth than I ever knew. No meditation while staring at a candle ever gave me the answers I was seeking.  And there never really were any rewards from a past life well lived. The truth became obvious once I became a Protégé of Jesus Christ. A Protégé according to the dictionary is an understudy or person being influenced greatly by another person. A person who is guided and supported by an older, more experienced or influential person. Synonyms: disciple, student, pupil, trainee, apprentice. I am very fortunate that Jesus desires to bless as many as will come to Him.  You too can magnify your spiritual journey, improve your conscious contact with God and discover the truth. Just seek Him with all of your heart, begin to follow Him and learn from Him.

God's Valentine's Day Roses

It’s Valentines’ Day again so I stopped by the flower Tent Sale outside the grocery store early this morning. As I walked up to it, I noticed a guy unloading a stack of boxes filled with fresh new bundles of red roses. What luck, I was able to grab a dozen of their freshest and prettiest roses.    After that, I rushed back home to be in time for my morning prayer with my wife.  I felt good about the fresh new roses and while on the way home I got the strange idea to add a Valentine’s Day twist to our morning prayer.  The prayer I said with my wife a short time later went like this:

   “Lord, I want to thank you for this beautiful new day and for these beautiful new roses. And Lord, my wife thinks that these roses are for her, but actually I got them for you! However, I will give her your roses –to take care of just like you once gave us a Garden to take care of.  And Lord,  our prayer is also for all the lonely people in the world. May we all be reminded about your great love for us and be reminded to love you with all our hearts.  Amen.”

Should anyone thinks that my prayer was irreverent

I would disagree with them.  You see, my personal belief is that Jesus has a great sense of humor.   In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he were rolling his eyes while I was praying –if not laughing out loud. And don’t worry; my wife is also receiving a card, candy and dinner to go along with God’s Valentine’s Day Roses that she is taking care of.

Not Worth Dying For (repeat after me)

Misused, ripped off and abused by drugs?  What a terrible blow, what can you do, where can you go to find some peace of mind? I suggest that you seek out the nearest AA or NA recovery group to find some sanity and maybe find God. In those rooms, you will recover.  If you don’t try you’re going to die. Or be locked up in darkness.

Misused, ripped off and abused by drugs?  What a terrible blow, what can you do, where can you go to find some peace of mind? I suggest that you seek out the nearest AA or NA recovery group to find some sanity and maybe find God. In those rooms, you will recover. If you don’t try you’re going to die. Or be locked up in darkness. 

Cleanup On Aisle 3

What, again? I just made a mess of my inner thought life by letting bad thoughts creep in and sit for awhile. I'd better hurry and call for a "Cleanup on Aisle 3." The bad thoughts I'm talking about are resentments, self-seeking and fear.  These thoughts always put me in a state of discontentment and make me a harder person to live with. If I allow bad thoughts to continue unchecked, then even worse problems will happen.

Fortunately I have been given the spiritual power to clean up my thoughts by the exercise of will power. But first, I have to recognize that my thinking is trash! Then I must change my bad thoughts and quickly; before anyone else slips in my mess.  

Welcome To Somewhere

Welcome, bienvenue, bienvenido,  έkâbo to a good place, a bad place, to bondage or to freedom and to the rest of your life! 
That's what the sign should have said but it just said, “Welcome to Houston!” I never left again except for short visits and vacations elsewhere. I was twenty four years old on arrival but now my age has more than doubled. I have now been married  for over half of my life and have been blessed with two children who are themselves now married. But what did it all mean? The character in 'Saving Private Ryan,' put it this way: "Have I been a good man?" It's truly been  a mixed bag experience but I can now say confidently that all the bad things I've done have been forgiven. At least by God. He's given me a lasting grace even through today and in this I find great peace. I've always wished for this kind of peace and now I have it.

Maybe now it’s your turn to go somewhere where a welcome sign will greet you. If it's here you've come, then Welcome to Houston!