Off Topic-sort of

Yesterday, I was feeling much better, so Candy and I grabbed a mocha and headed for Fernan Lake to watch the gees and ducks, and to see if any deer were coming down off of the mountain. It was a short wait, for soon the lake was full of tiny web feet gliding with grace out on the still water.

We were delighted to see what appeared to be a little family of ducks with a an adult female, make, and youngster, all paddling close to the boat ramp.They were minding their own business when two large seagulls swooped down close to the ducking. They did this several times, and my wife was no yelling at them to leave the baby alone. It was then that we saw the glory of the animal kingdom and the way that the young are protected.
The make and female nudged the baby in between them, and every time the seagulls swooped down, the parents would form a wedge and drive the gulls away. After about two attempts like this, the gulls grew weary of their game and left the ducks alone.

Ah, the beauty of nature, a gift from God. He not only watches over us, but He watches over all of creation.

Take time today to just observe nature for a few minutes. It will put a warm feeling in your heart, and smile on your face. It could even increase your faith.

Something to ponder

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews, 11:1=one of the most profound readings on faith .

Is Believing Seeing? Part 2

One of the best ways that I have found that works in my personal life is taking baby steps instead of giant leaps of faith..Belief expands each time that the baby step establishes a framework of trust. Here is a basic example of how this happens.

When I was very young, and before we moved to Cedar Street, we lived in a little house on what was called Hemlock Street . Hemlock no longer exists, and was part of the bulldozing when the Wallace Inn was built. Our house had a large concrete porch and steps, which by the way made for some interesting falls in the winter time. In the Spring, that same porch became a small boy's delight with a plethora pf imaginary ideas of how to play on it. One of the most fun things is that the porch became the quickest way to reach the yard, and I don't mean that we took the stairs. No, jumping off of the porch was the trick.

I did not just start jumping off on my own. Dad would stand down on the yard, and hold out his arms and tell us to jump, and he would catch us. Here is the beginning of faith.The first time was indeed frightening. Would Dad miss us, and  let us fall? Only one way to find out. Jump!And low and behold, those strong arms were there to catch us every time. A pattern of belief was born that day. If I could trust in this little exercise, surely I could trust him in bigger leaps of faith.I am going to come back to that in a minute, bu let's fast forward 50 plus years to a hospital in Idaho.

Because of the disease that I have, and because of past complications, coughing can turn into a deadly situation.
Well, when you have infections in your lungs, you have to cough the stuff up. Because I have gone in to total failure before just from coughing, I am a little shy about doing so.And yet, after the lung treatments every six hours, you are forced to cough up the plugs.Now, this is no easy task, and without getting graphic, let's just say that it takes everything out of me. Well, three weeks ago in the hospital, after I had been moved form ICU to a regular room, it was time that I started productive coughing.

OK, I was scared, to be honest. The first wheezing had started, and I knew that the first big cough was coming soon. Would the cough be successful, or would it send me into bronchial spams that can be life threatening?I tried to relax my body, and it was then , with my eyes closed, I saw like a little pool of water, and hands were reaching out, and saying, just jump, I will catch you.. My initial reaction was that these hands belonged to an angel, or perhaps Christ, I don;t know for sure, Maybe they were my Dad's hands. I took the leap, just like I did off that old porch over 50 years ago.and landed safely on the other side of the pool of water.
I did this for the rest of my hospital stay, and though some of the coughs were rough and scary, I would just picture those hands and jump. Belief was born, and became stronger each day as I practice that imagery.

Now, here is the most important thing of all. I no longer have to picture those hands when I jump, I know through established belief that they are there, and if they can catch me on little thing,s they can certainly catch me when I face much bigger pools of water to jump over.

Is Believing Seeing? Part 1

There is a line from Tim Allen's Christmas movie about Santa Claus where he says" I see it, but I don't believe it." The little elf girl then tells him " Adults have it wrong. Seeing is not believing, believing is seeing."

I want to start out by saying that I am not, in any stretch of the imagination, a scholar, an intellectual, or even particularly smart. I have no advanced degrees, and it has been years since I have done serious studies. It is a good thing, then, that studies of spiritual things, and spiritual awareness do not require anyone to be of any certain academic level.If that were so, then I am afraid most of the world would simply be out of luck.

We only have to turn to the New Testament to see that the disciples of Jesus were ordinary men. I think that they were chosen for that very reason, plus, the most important thing of all, they believed. OK, in all fairness, some were skeptical at first, and some believed right away. Some needed to see more to believe, and some needed only the words of Jesus to believe. So, the question of the day is based on the chicken and egg riddle.
Which comes first, believing or seeing?

For me, it has been a life long journey, and in a later blog, I will share my history of my own spiritual path, including my early church days, my theology studies in college, and then my branching out of thought and practice. But suffice to say for now, that I am still learning, changing, and hopefully growing on my journey.
Anyway, I got off track. My faith has been built on trial and error, and life experience. Perhaps if I were to just have more pure faith, I would not struggle as much. But, well, that is just me being me. 

One of my theology textbooks in college has this inscription in on the inside page

. "Knowledge without experience must always remain in the realm of doubt."

More later, but how is your faith or belief established, is it seeing is believing, or is it believing is seeing?

He Did What??????

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/21/trump-i-screwed-gaddafi/

I don't care about a candidate's personal sex life.

Right To Work- Yep

Before I begin my blogs on anything spiritual, I have to talk about the wonderful world of the "right to work states" The name alone has to be  the biggest oxymoron ever. Ah yes,I understand the meaning that we were told, but well, here is really what it means.
"Workers, you are screwed."Seriously, folks, this law needs to go NOW!!

He's back

Live , from Kootenai Medical Center, it is " Cedar Street Kid live."  Oh yes, my favorite show. It is good to be alive again and among the land of breathing. 6 days in ICU, 5 days in regular room, and the Dr says" hey, I heard air movement on your lung today, you maybe can go home tomorrow."It is always sweet after going into full respiratory failure twice in ten months to be alive, and ready for the rest of the show.

Well, I don't know when it will happen again, or when the final call comes It  could be today,it could be twenty years, but once again, I have a new love of life, family, friends, my God, and my earth, city, oceans,solar system, and most of all, a good cup of coffee.. Without good coffee, there is no hope . When I get home either today or tomorrow, my pot will be loaded and ready to roll. Ah, yes, the little things are great.
I love peeing standing up again. It is a guy thing, but an important guy thing. I got a two dozen bouquet of roses from my son's special lady. My first roses! Ah! Thank you Jenifer. My son came over form his busy schedule to see his old man. Thanks, Son, You are a great son. My daughter called  my wife everyday to check in. Love you, Christina. My brother and two sisters and one surviving Uncle Elmer, thanks so much for standing with us again.

And seriously, I missed all of you in blogger land. GF, thanks for the email. It was appreciated. You, are a very good man., and lived your life well. I always thought that you would be be a coach somewhere, not that is a bad thing, but you gave of your life, and helped many people, and after 40 years here you are and we reconnect in cyberland. What a world.!

Anway, I have been doing a lot of thinking, and,  now that is a scary thing, and I will be kind of writing  the next few blogs on a more philosophical and spiritual thought frame. I will try to offend no one, and still express my faith. It is my faith, and I expect no one to feel like I do. Hang with me. I love discussing religion and philosophy. After all, they were mt fields in college. (:) Let's have an open thought forum after the posts. Maybe I can learn from you guys, and maybe you can learn  something from me.

It Makes Life Worth Living

If you see your brother standing by the road
With a heavy load from the seeds he's sowed
And if you see your sister falling by the way
Just stop and stay you're going the wrong way

You got to try a little kindness
Yes show a little kindness
Just shine your light for everyone to see
And if you try a little kindness
Then you'll overlook the blindness
Of narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets

Don't walk around the down and out
Lend a helping hand instead of doubt
And the kindness that you show every day
Will help someone along their way

You got to try a little kindness
Yes show a little kindness
Just shine your light for everyone to see And if you try a little kindness
Then you'll overlook the blindness
Of narrow-minded people on the narrow minded streets

You got to try a little kindness
Yes show a little kindness
Just shine your light for everyone to see-And if you try a little kindness
Then you'll overlook the blindness
Of narrow-minded people on the narrow minded streets

Performed by Glen Campbell
Written by B Austin; C Sapaugh

Little Known Facts About Oceans and Their Occupants

Children Writing About the Ocean...
     
                                                                           

1)  -  This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles.   (Kelly,  age  6 )                                                                   
                                                                                 
2 ) - Oysters' balls are called pearls. (Jerry, age  6)                          
                                                                                
3) - If you are surrounded by ocean, you are an island.  If you don't have ocean all round you, you are incontinent.   (Mike, age  7)                 
                                                                                
4) - Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily        
Richardson . She's not my friend any more.   (Kylie, age   6)                                                                                    
                                                                                 
5) - A  dolphin breaths through an asshole on the top of its head.  (Billy, age  8)                                                                     
                                                                                 
6) - My  uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and pots and comes back with crabs.  (Millie, age  6)                                    
                                                                                
7) - When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean.  Sometimes when the wind didn't blow the sailors would whistle to make the wind come.  My brother said they would have been better off eating beans.  (William, age 7)                                              
                                                                                
8) -   Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids.  They are beautiful and I like their shiny tails, but how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really?  (Helen, age 6)                                               
                                                                                
9) - I'm not going to write about the ocean. My baby  brother is always crying, my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so I can't think what to write. (Amy, age  6)                      
                                                                                
10) - Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting.   Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves in to chargers.                                
(Christopher, age 7)                                                           
                                                                                  
11) - When you go swimming in the ocean, it is very cold, and it makes my willy small.  (Kevin, age 6)                                                 
                                                                                 
12)  -  Divers have to be safe when they go under the water.   Divers can't go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky, age 8)    
                                                                                
13) - On vacation my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was going very fast. She says she won't do it again because water fired right up her big fat ass. (Julie, age 7)                                   
                                                                                
14)  -  The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don't drown I  don't know. (Bobby, age 6)                                                
                                                                                 
15) - My dad  was a sailor on the ocean. He knows all about the ocean. What he doesn't know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom. (James, age 7)