To My Children and Grandchildren

In a few days I will be leaving on a "much needed" respite from the daily duties of my world . . .
To escape to the freedom to be able to just relax. It seems my cruises have given me that ability to "just get away and reflect" and to rebuild my body and mind . . . .

To those that I love with all my soul, I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH! As a mother, grandmother, friend, partner, my life has been overwhelmingly fruitful . . Reflecting back I could never have believed that I could have accomplished so much, loved so much, lived so much . . .

All of my desires have been fulfilled . . . I have been a reasonably good mother, have loved a good man, have shared my faith with many others, have left a legacy of love for those who follow me. Should I be chosen to continue this life in a better place, I will have accomplished the goal that was set out for me. In spite of the pitfalls and mistakes. I am who I am not in spite of the bumps and valleys, but because of them. And I like who I am and where I am . . . . . . . . . . . .
In sharing with friends where I have come from it only makes me realize that the Lord has had a huge place in my life . . . Many times I could have chosen a road that would have taken my life down to destruction but I have been blessed with making right choices and even when I made the wrong choices the Lord has not allowed me to get too far afield, healed the scars and set me back on the right path . . . . .

My prayer is for all that I love to reach this place in their lives. I will continue to grow and flourish as long as the Lord sees fit to keep me here . . .

Live long . . . Love completely . . . Forgive as needed . . . Strive to be where the Lord wants you to be and about the business that He has chosed for you . . . . Remember, there are those in this world who the only glimpse of Jesus they ever see is you and your life before them . . . Make Him proud !!!!!!!

What really is the answer?

The heartaches of the world surround us . . they are everywhere. . . . What is the answer and how to we eliminate the suffering? This is the question of the ages. . . The Bible tells us that the poor will always be with us, but why? Is it possible that the most important thing is to share the love of Jesus in this life to create a better life for as many as possible in the next?

How can we live our daily lives knowing that there are people who are suffering beyond our capability to realize or understand?

For me it means that I live my life, where I am to the best of my ability. . . To work hard to create my life in such a way that I can take some of what the Lord allows me to create and share in the only way I can, by sending part of my treasure to those who have created a life of service to the needy . . By raising my children to be productive members of our society and giving them the opportunity to serve as they are called . . Some will, some will not. . .

What destruction has America's greed for things and comfort caused the world . . . No doubt much but when weighed against the good things that we have done it seems to me that the scales are if not balanced, at least well on the way to being so . . . No country in the world has ever shared its bounty so much and even though our appetite for things is unbounded, much of that appetite creates opportunity for others to have a means to work so that they may eat and survive. . . What about the many, many ministries that are being supported by the wealth that we have created . . Are they helping or hurting the poor? Should we just leave them alone to just be where they are and what they are or does the billions of dollars worth of aid that is sent amount to nothing?

Much needs to be done to alleviate the suffering around the world but what can one person do? It seems that it is not the failure of the people but the failure of the governments around the world . . Many take our billions of dollars and instead of helping the people they build for themselves great empires where only a few have what they need and the people are in want . . Should we give all so that we are no longer in a position to create more? Only those that have can give . . .

So many questions? Who has the answers? Only in searching the relationship with the Lord for each of us can these be answered . . . Jesus is the answer . . . Allowing Him to live through us is the answer . . . Learning from others who believe differently and allowing them to learn from us, perhaps we can arrive at a solution . . . But we have not arrived there in the many centuries, what makes us think we will be able to solve the problems of life . . We cannot . . Only by spreading the Word and allowing the Lord to guide us can we begin to make a difference. . . . Day by Day, Month by Month, Year by Year . . . . Living our lives to bring glory to His name.

Dear Lord, guide us and show us the way . . . If those that know Him will pray and seek His face, He will heal our land and cause us again to the the shining light on the hill that was the original plan for our country. . . Only man can mess it up and he has surely done so . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Sky Is Not Falling

A Look Inward . .

What really is our purpose here on this earth? God has given us two great mandates . . . The one that Christ gave us to go and spread the gospel and make disciples and teach them what Christ taught us . . . But we forget the first . . . Given to the human race in Genesis as God's initial instructions to the human race . . . the Cultural mandate. . . to take all the potential the world and its inhabitants have and bring them to the glory of God . . .

Many of us have the excuse that we are too busy just surviving to affect our world around us . . . But the truth is that most of us have accomplished that survival and have fulfilled Mazlo's theory long, long ago. In all spheres of our life we are to bring God's principles to play but we have allowed Christ to be pushed out of our society and are being led primarily by unbelievers.

We must first cultivate our own personal lives with the Word of God so that we can go out and live and teach others so that they can live and teach others, etc, etc.

We allow the prosperity we enjoy to crowd out the cause of that prosperity in our lives, our relationship with the Lord. . . We must remember that we may well be the only Bible many non-Christians ever get to see. . .

Abide in faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love . . God forward and teach . . .

Why Are We Here

In analyzing the question, "Why am I here". . . It brings up many happy and sad thoughts. Why was I born in a place where life is easy and rewarding and others are just struggling to survive?
Our Lord tells us that to those who are given much, much is demanded of them . . . Am I doing enough to balance the scales? Do I need to do so?

It is easy to sit back and count the good deeds and justify the not so good ones. . . . So many years of struggle and so many failures and so many successes . . . A wonderful family, children who mostly love the Lord and who are living out their lives in a productive way . . . then why am I asking these questions?