Tidbits from the Week’s Dust Bin

I started a new blog. YES, I did! I am not crazy… I don’t think I am. I don’t feel like I am, lol. My new blog is just starting up, and there is very little content right now. I’m taking my time with it. No embellishment, no crazy chattering, no colorful buttons and advertising. I suppose it reflects how I feel lately- gray and white. Pensive. Reflective. 2011 was a difficult year. Much happened this year but I’ve managed to plow through it because I’ve been so busy until now. Now that I have more time on my hands, it’s all kinda hitting the fan. I know my problems are very tiny compared to so many other people’s troubles in the world. During times like this, when you just want to dissolve into a puddle of self-pity, it helps to reach out to others, to give even when you have very little to give.

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I am currently unemployed, except for a few blogging offers here and there. It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted work and never got it. What a terrible feeling. I now know how debilitating and depressing unemployment can be. I simply can’t imagine how awful it must be over an extended period of time, especially for a man who is the bread winner of a family.

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My kids, who learn their school lessons at home, are pretty self-sufficient when it comes to the schoolwork. I have to look over their work, I do some administrative duties, and sometimes one of the kids will have a problem where they need assistance, but most of the time they read their own books and do the work without any active teaching from me. (It took a long time to get to this place, believe me!). The two most intensive subjects where they still usually need Mom and Dad’s help is with writing compositions and certain math concepts (such as algebra). I handle the writing and the husband handles the math.

Last night, my husband was working with my youngest son on math- banking, taxes, and investing. I was busy working on the computer while they were wrangling through various word problems and filling out math worksheets upon math worksheets of calculations. I tried to “set the mood” by playing classical guitar- you know, brainy music that would “enhance” the learning experience. At one point in the conversation, I heard my husband say quietly to my son: “Einstein said that compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.”
That made me literally laugh out loud. Unfortunately, my BWAHAHA!!! interrupted the brainy reverie for a while. :duncehat:

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In church on Sunday, part of the following passage was read to us. It’s one of those “precious” parts of the Bible that I love:

For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.

But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.

For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-10, New Living Translation

Our culture likes to mock Christians and Christian beliefs, but to me it seems people are cutting off their noses to spite their face. It’s like they don’t WANT to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He rose from the dead, and that He is returning. The proof of the holy scriptures and of the resurrection is rock solid. But it’s all mocked, all in ignorance of the facts and the historical precedents before us. You know about those guys who did such silly things like invented the steam engine, drafted our Constitution, developed the heliocentric theory of the solar system, developed electromagnetic induction, developed the first and second laws of thermodynamics and the absolute temperature scale, invented the method for milk pasteurization, and invented peanut butter? Yeah, all those stupid people were Christians who believed in the birth, death, resurrection, and return of Jesus Christ. How silly they were, right? I mean, they didn’t even have their own TV shows!

Today, it’s so fashionable to be skeptical, but I think it’s so stupid to be skeptical, especially when the facts are readily available for anyone to look into. Jesus is coming back soon.

I once talked to someone about the book of Revelation, the last book in the New Testament. I said that I found it absolutely amazing that in no other moment in history were the events in Revelation able to occur until now. A global currency? Not possible until now. An army of 200 MILLION?! Not possible until now. A “mark” that is forced on everyone or else they can’t buy or sell anything? Not possible until now. As I stated this, I asked the person to whom I was talking, “Isn’t this some proof that the Bible is true and that these things are going to happen soon?” The person just looked at me and said, “Well, they MAKE it happen.”
:duncehat:
How can you MAKE HAPPEN an army of 200 million people PLUS all those other things? At the same time?! It’s not something you just cook up one day.

I spent a lot of years, looking all this stuff up. I have scoured ancient documents, researched archaeological discoveries, read books and books and books. It’s pretty insulting to have someone throw all that research back into your face because they just don’t “feel” that it’s true. If people don’t want to believe it’s true, fine. Don’t. But it’s so insulting and baffling for some folks to mock my years and years of looking into the subject and mocking the people of the past upon whose discoveries and inventions we enjoy today. I don’t know, maybe I am now led by a sense of duty to at least make the effort and cast my opinions aside and see what the truth is. I just figure others would want to know, too.

*steps off soap box*

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The cares of our life can swallow us up whole, if we let it. We forget that we are emotional beings- spiritual beings. There’s an old Scottish proverb:

Be sure to live your life, for you will be a long time dead.

Indeed. I don’t think that means to eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. It means to make peace with God and live in peace in this life, for the next life will be a long time lived in light of our decisions here.

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I told you I’ve been thoughtful, lately.

Thanks for reading.

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