The Winter of Our Discontent

God is testing my faith. As the headlines unfold, I feel a swell of anger building inside of me, feeling helpless to do anything when I want so very much to speak my mind. My head is full of ideas, half finished thoughts, opinions, and memories. Just when it all begins to boil over, I realize that I am trying to control situations that are not mine to control.
Tina and I are following a path to conceive a child, and we are encountering challenges along the way. She had a fibroid surgery last month that revealed some tissue issues, (smiling at that!), that are not as serious as they could have been if we didnt have the surgery. (praise to God!) So we are still trying to prepare the womb for fertilization. God is in control, and we pray daily for Him to give us wisdom.
Ginger Creek Community Church is our home now for fellowship and worship. We are pleased to be a part of a small group that brings us closer to families that share our beliefs, and our desire to serve.
But I digress from the point of this message. Love that we can express is the gift given to us by God. We are meant to explore it, grow it, share it, and embrace it at every opportunity. It is by our grace, and with our love that change can occur. It is not the politics of the day, but our unconditional acceptance of God's love that will form the future. It is the faith in God that shapes our lives. Loving replaces the anger, and when that love swells, there is no reason for discontent. And with that in my heart, the winter will not be cold.
Please take the time to appreciate everything around you. God gave it all to you. See yourself outside of the situation that you may think is hopeless.

for crying out loud

i have not written anything here for so long i forgot i had this blog! alot has changed, and yet, everything remains the same. summer came, and went quickly this year due to attending summer school to finish my anatomy course. we were fortunate to begin summer with a trip to portland, and oregon's wine country. we pretty much stayed home during the summer, but finished it off with a road trip to thomasville, nc via my hometown of oak ridge, tennessee. we visited 7 states, and put things in perspective. and here we are, fall at hand, rain falling all day, hurricane ike moving towards the north, and tennessee winning their home opener! tina and i are trying to get pregnant, and God is moving in our lives to bring us a child. we found a new church, a new small group, and our lives are being challenged to accept the future without trying to control it. we are excited about the fall, the prospects of a new president, and of course the holidays! our second year here in chicagoland has been awesome, and we will be married three years this october! so many things to be thankful for, and to look forward to as well. tina's best friend is getting married in 09, nursing school completion is on the horizon, conception is becoming a real possibility, and maybe finally, bin laden's ass will be in a sling. let's roll pakistan!
anyway, God bless all of you! and just so you know, governor palin is right on!

give me my money!

what a great day! ice cold and sunshine....football on the telly, leg o lamb roasting in the oven, faithful wife upstairs scrapbooking, and talk of free money in the spring from our politicos in washington, d.c. an economic stimulus package! wow. i cannot wait to see how that works out. i dont know about everyone else, but we are going to blow our dough on something to help the economy. i dont know what yet, but i told my wife she could go out and buy whatever that money will buy. that made her stimulated! i dont even know how much it is, but i heard it might be 1600 clams. i also heard that some people wont get any cuz they make too much money. i dont understand that very well-- i thought people with money who had all their bills covered would probably spend extra money in the economy--or maybe im over thinking that. i am sure the politicos have it all figured out. they are, afterall, smarter than the average working citizen. i just wonder what this diversion is all about....
anyway, i am excited because spring really is not too far off, and that means golf for me! and boy do i love to play golf--haven't played for awhile (since november), but i love this time of year. PGA gets rolling and the promise of warmer temps has me salivating. i have lived in the south most of my life so i have no trouble visualizing those people getting a head start, but up here, there is going to be a special feeling when the weather turns. and i am excited! i love the promise that the future holds....
so, i have to say that i do have a bone about the economic stimulus package. free money to people who will probably pay bills with it because they are strapped right now is not going to stimulate the economy. but giving it to them will help families so i am for that! here's my idea. roll back the feds, cut spending, cut pork belly programs, allow people big tax deductions for supporting charities, and just plain helping other people, and give me my money that i work hard for everyday! stop taxing us for everything we do. there have never been as many taxes on us as there are today, and that needs to stop. hey here's an idea for economic stimulus--give every family in america $5000.00 and family passes to an amusement park . or even better still, allow everyone who files income taxes in this country to have a pass for 2007. now THAT is stimulus and almost has me salivating as much as the promise of spring!

the power to facilitate change

greetings earthlings! this is my first post. politics... Dominating -the -scene. lota problemos out there dude! and lottsa people wanna help solve them . many interests, causes, foundations, benefits, walk-a-thons, you get the point. (all good stuff really) and depending where they are, the politicos play the game. like now in detroit its all about the cars. but i digress. can they get specific? can they pick a problemo and just deal with that? i mean can they define a problemo and do what our best capitalistic partners do? actually offer a solution? we, the people, would embrace our leaders if they would actually sit down together and come up with a solution to a problemo. make it simple at first, like what time can we expect our garbage to be picked up every thursday. i mean shouldn't that be the day? around here it is...other places friday, other places saturday. why not mondays? you know after a great weekend of real trash production.
and i mean isnt that another real problem? producing all that trash? well, lets keep focused.
lets have all the politicos work for the sanitation departments across the country and figure things out and get together and try to solve that one problem before they try to solve the complicated ones like health care. God knows we would be better off with them working on the trash issue rather than something important like health care. afterall, with all the trash talk out there right now, we would be alot safer if they invested some real time with the garbage.