An Easter Message About The Glory of God

  When you hear someone talk about, “The Glory of God”, what do you understand that to mean? Sometimes, we say someone is basking in his own glory. When we say that, we’re usually talking about someone getting the big head over his own fame and fortune. In fact, here are the three common definitions of the word “glory” in the dictionary: 1) high renown or honor won by notable achievements. 2) magnificence or great beauty as in the train has been restored to all its former glory, and 3) take great pride or pleasure in, as in they were individuals who gloried in their independence.

  But this is not what the Bible means when it talks about the Glory of God. God’s Glory is not a prideful feeling of emotion. Nor is it a puffing up of His own ego. And even though God is a beautiful thing, He doesn’t glory in His appearance. His Glory is not His renown either. So what exactly is the Bible talking about when it talks about “God’s Glory”? Most of us can’t even imagine what God is. Most baby Christians imagine God to be an old man with white hair and a white beard sitting on a throne. I assure you, that is not what God looks like. Jesus/Yeshua/Immanuel, also known as the Son of God said that no one has ever looked on the face of God and lived except for him. So no one really knows what God looks like. But Jesus told the Pharisees that if they knew the Father, then they would know him. And if they had seen him, then they had seen the one who sent him. The way I see all this is as follows. God is not of this universe. God exists outside of time and space. Therefore, He most likely would be invisible to anything that does exist inside the universe.

  People talk of higher levels of beings. For instance, we exist in a three-dimensional world. We would perceive a two-dimensional being as a flat surface. A two-dimensional being would probably not be able to perceive us at all. A four-dimensional being would not be visible to us at all. Four, five, six, etc. level beings would exist on different levels of reality all of which would not register on our three-dimensional awareness at all. God, then, would be the ultimate level of existence and completely invisible to all levels of reality. I’m not saying this is the way it is. But scientists speculate about different levels of reality all the time.

  Now we come to Jesus. Jesus, in this case, would be the three-dimensional manifestation of God. God then had to manifest himself on our level of existence to bring his message and redemption to us. So does Jesus look like God? No. Jesus looks like a man. He often referred to himself as the Son of Man. Was Jesus this beautiful, perfect, Hollywood image of a man? No. He was just a man born of a woman. However, once Jesus resurrected and ascended into heaven, he received of the Father his “Glorified Body”. So in heaven, Jesus is much more than just a man. But he has taken on a manifestation that we are able to look upon and live to tell it.

  When the Bible says God says, “Let us create them in our image,” it doesn’t mean let’s cookie cut them so that they all look like me/us (God the Father and God the Son). Clearly, all men don’t even look alike. So what’s meant by this? Instead of an image, it’s better to think of likeness. He created us in his likeness. God reveals himself as one but consisting of three different manifestations. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit making him, on one level, a three-dimensional being. So too are we. At least originally. The first man was Soul, Flesh, and Spirit and also a three-dimensional being which would make us like God in that way and by the fact that we would live forever. However, when man fell/sinned he forfeited his spirit.

  Spirit is what gives us the possibility of everlasting life. Without it, we eventually die. When a man is “born again”, he receives the Holy Spirit. Then he is restored to his original form and is capable of everlasting life. Without that spirit, the body dies. It is debatable what happens to the soul then. Some say it returns to the Father who gave it. Others say it is condemned to hell and punished for eternity. I don’t know the answer to this one. I only know how I would want it to be. But I’m not God.

  Anyway, the soul is what makes you alive. It’s what makes you different from a rock or a table. The soul is the prime motivator and repository of all your actions, words, and memories. It is the “I am” that you call your “self” – that voice that’s speaking to you right now in your head. Your soul is not a part of your body. It is not your brain. Think of all the various parts of your body, with all its amazing systems functioning together as one, like a car. Your car, on its own, doesn’t do anything but just sit there in the driveway. You, the driver, have to get in the car and drive it before it will move or do anything. It is the same thing with your Soul. Without it, you do nothing and go nowhere. But you can die, and so can the car. I personally believe, that if you do not become indwelled by the Holy Spirit, your Soul does not return to God. And it does not go to a place where it is tortured forever and ever by demons and the Devil. The Soul without the Spirit can experience what the Bible calls “the second death”. The Bible in, The Revelation of John, states that Satan, all his fallen angels, the lost souls who followed him, and even death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire, after the Great White Throne Judgement, and will perish. This is the second death. The original Greek word for “perish” means to be blotted out or to cease to exist. It doesn’t mean torture for eternity. So that’s the way I see it. And to me, that sounds like righteous judgment. Eternal punishment is not. The second death is only eternal punishment in that it is finished forever. Those souls will never live again.

  Now back to God’s glory. What does the Bible mean when it talks about God’s glory? It’s the bright light that is difficult to even look upon. It’s the bright light that knocked Saul off his horse and blinded him on the way to Damascus. In heaven, there is no darkness, yet there is no sun or moon or stars. There is no day and night like on Earth - only eternal light which is the Glory of God shining forth from his presence. His Glory fills the whole of Heaven eliminating all cold and darkness. How wonderful it must be to bask in that Glory and know that it is a manifestation of God. Not apart from God but a part of God. And how sad would it be to miss out on experiencing God’s Glory?

  When God said, “Let there be light,” he created a kind of artificial Glory emanating from the stars for us to walk in. It is wonderful on a sunny day to bask in the sunlight. Just imagine basking in the real thing how much more wonderful it will be.

  Now let’s look at it this way. In quantum physics, all things, in reality, are energy. All energy differentiates into frequencies. So God’s Glory/Light is the ultimate and primal frequency. It is the frequency that generates all other frequencies. So, the Bible, in John Ch. 1:1, says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” A word is a spoken sound or frequency. In that light (God’s Light), that opening sentence of the Book of John makes a whole lot more sense. In the beginning was the perfect, eternal, frequency, and the frequency was with God, and the frequency was God. When God spoke upon the face of the universe, his perfect frequency created new frequencies. The harmony of all these new frequencies became what we experience as the universe. But what we call our physical selves are only vibrations spoken into existence by God. But God did something else with us. He breathed his spirit into us. Spirit being a different kind of vibration or frequency. It is one that cannot be destroyed. It can be removed from us if we do not obey God, as it was with Adam and Eve. But it can never die. Neither can the Holy Spirit. That’s why blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is such an unpardonable sin. It will cause the Holy Spirit to remove itself from you. And you will surely die.

  So, that is the Glory of God. It is a light so bright you can hardly look upon it. But God is not just that perfect frequency of light. He is also an emotional being as we are. And as we do, so too does he have feelings. Now scientists will tell you that feelings are a result of chemical and electrical responses in the body to outside stimuli. It’s all about the chemistry, they tell us. And they are partially correct. But even all that “chemistry” boils down to just an interplay of frequencies of energy. Everyone who has ever had a near death experience (NDE) or what’s usually referred to as a “Mystical Experience” talks about an overwhelming feeling of peace, joy, and love. These feelings (or vibrations) are an aspect of God’s Glory. You can think of those feelings as harmonic frequencies embedded in God’s Glory. To be in his Glory is to experience ultimate peace, joy, and love because your own frequencies will resonate with His.

  All this puts a different light (no pun intended), on the subject of why we are told so much in the Bible about the angels singing to praise God. And why singing has always been an important part of our worship of God. Our harmonious vibrations sent forth to heaven are echoes of perhaps our spiritual remembrances of these heavenly frequencies presented as true worship to the Glory of God.

  May all within you be harmonious giving you peace, joy, and love by the Grace and Glory of God.

P.S. And if you think all that came from this little pea brain of mine, think again. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will even send vibrations to stir a poor old soul like mine.       

World of Destiny: Living in a Terrorist State Most of the peop...

World of Destiny: Living in a Terrorist State  Most of the peop...: Living in a Terrorist State   Most of the people of the world just want to live in peace and be left alone to make theirs and...

Living in a Terrorist State

  Most of the people of the world just want to live in peace and be left alone to make theirs and their family’s lives as comfortable as possible. I talk to people from all over the world, and when I ask them, they pretty much say the same thing. I talk to people all over Europe and Canada here on my computer. And, on my job, I talk to sailors from all over the rest of the world. So far, all have agreed with me on this. So why is there so much turmoil in the world? “It’s our governments,” most of them assure me. They, and not the people of the country are the problem. How can this be? Aren’t our governments supposed to be representing the will of the people? And if they are not, shouldn’t we have already gotten rid of our unruly governments? At least that’s how it’s supposed to be in Democratic societies.

  Even in a totalitarian regime, if it’s doing completely opposite of the will of the people, why don’t they rise up and get rid of such an evil government? I mean, after all, the people far outnumber the rank and file of the government. So, why is this not happening? Why are we letting our governments terrorize countries to the point of them wanting to completely wipe us out? And who are the terrorists anyway? Is it the ones who drop the bombs indiscriminately killing men, women, and children? Or is it the victims of those bombings striking back any way they can at the bomb droppers? In a previous blog article, I asked the question – “Are we insane?” In that article, I concluded that we absolutely must be.

  Six months later, it’s getting worse. Many are starting to write about us being on the brink of another World War. This is unthinkable. Too many countries now have nuclear weapons. And none of them are liable to suffer defeat until that last arrow has been pulled from their quiver and let loose. Once one of them unleashes destruction of that magnitude, insanity will ensue. History will end – or reboot with cave dwellers starting from scratch.

  Now my next question is, who is responsible? Is it ISIS, North Korea, China, Russian? Right now, our propaganda is trying to place all the blame for everything bad that happens in the world on Russia. Russia is even being accused of somehow “hacking” our most recent election. Which is patently absurd, by the way. And you probably say, “Hey, we don’t use propaganda!” Wrong. We use it all the time and very effectively most of the time. When it fails, then we resort to what’s called “False Flag Operations”. 9/11 is one such operation. Prior to most major conflicts in history, false flag operations have been used to goad an unwilling population into support of conflicts they previously would have never supported.  I know we have suffered legitimate “terrorists” attacks. In most of them, only a relatively few people have been killed. We, on the other hand, have been dropping bombs, almost on a daily basis, on several other countries, whom we have not even declared war on, for many years now. You must ask yourself, what would you be willing to do in retaliation if someone dropped a bomb on your house while you were at work and killed your whole family?

  See that’s how propaganda works. In the west, we are so brainwashed into thinking that our actions are always on the side of righteousness. Our actions are always justified and are reactions to something evil done to us first. But is that true? Let’s take the most recent case. The president of Syria, allegedly, used poison gas on some of his own people. So the U.S. government sent in cruise missiles and took out one of Assad’s air bases. We have not declared war on Syria. Syria has never directly threatened the U.S. I know gassing your own people is a horrible thing. But what gives us the right to do such a thing in return? What makes our action “righteous” and Assad’s a criminal act? To me, both acts are criminal. Both are wrong. And like my Momma always used to say, “Two wrongs don’t make a right, any way you look at it.” Certainly, our government’s actions over the last several years have been anything but righteous. Our bombs, cruise missiles, and drones kill indiscriminately men, women, and children all over the middle eastern countries in undeclared wars. Isn’t that the total definition of terrorism? So, I ask you, who is the terrorist here? Are we living in a terrorist state?

  I think the answer is pretty obvious. So, my fellow citizens who are appalled by all this, what are we going to do about it? Are we going to just sit back and watch it unfold on TV like watching a video game? When the nukes start falling in your own neighborhood, is this going to be the last thought that goes through your mind? - “Man I wish I had been more active in stopping my rogue government from doing such crazy things!” “But what can I do about it,” you ask. Well, you can become more vocal and active in the political arena. When the next election rolls around you could inform yourself and get out and vote. The last election was a hotly contested one, yet only about 58% of the eligible voters in this country actually got out and voted. And that was better than most elections.

  I can hear you now, “But, it’s the shadow government that is responsible and they are unelected.” Well, they are way less than 1% of the population. If even 50% of the population rose up and rooted them out, there would be nowhere for them to hide. The other thing you can do is pray. Pray a lot! We’re going to need it. Best you get in the practice now rather than waiting until it is too late. I don’t know about you, but it makes me really uncomfortable thinking that I might be living in a terrorist state that is responsible for so much evil in the world. I don’t like thinking of my beloved United States of America that way. But it’s getting harder and harder to avoid it. Just as the people of Germany, who stood by and watched the Nazis reign down terror on their neighbors too afraid to oppose a few powerful men, are we now doing the same thing? I’m not saying Donald Trump is Hitler. But I am saying that the ones making our foreign policy are criminal and need to be reined in by someone.

A Brief Little History Lesson

  I would never dream of denying the wrong the Europeans and later self-styled-Americans did to the "Native" Americans. It was attempted Genocide plain and simple, and we broke every treaty we ever made with them. What the diseases brought over from Europe didn't finish off, we tried to kill off with Winchester rifles. The only justification for it was that they were inhabiting a land that the immigrants wanted. The incoming peoples outnumbered them tremendously after millions died from European diseases they had no ammunity to. And it was indeed shameful and even a horrible atrocity what was done to them. Today’s Americans, however, can’t be held accountable for what our great grandparents did. We can be held accountable for how we are treating those groups of people now.

  But there are a couple of misconceptions going on here as well that I would like to address. First, they weren't native to this continent at all. They were just the latest migration of peoples that had displaced (killed off) the people they found here when they got here. Did you know that when you do DNA tests, you won't find that your great grandmother was Native American, even if you know she was? This is so because her DNA is the same as some European or Asian people groups that she was descended from. Did you also know that the Cherokee Indians, when tested for DNA, were found to be descendants of the Hebrew people? One of the ten "lost tribes" of Israel perhaps?

  Did you know that there were stone age type peoples living from the top of North America all the way down to the bottom of South America before the "Native" Americans showed up? Did you know that many of those were giants of at least 8 to 12 feet tall (some of Goliath's kin maybe)? Do you see any of those giants still walking around? No. And that’s mostly because the giants were killed off by the influx of old world peoples (the giants reportedly had a nasty habit of cannibalism so they had to go). The ones who did the killing then were those same people later called "Native Americans". But some of the other cave dwellers were probably mostly assimilated...maybe. 

  History is what it is, and it's not always pretty. Mistakes are always made and the point of studying history is that we learn from those mistakes and don't make them again. Sadly, we don't seem to be capable of learning that lesson. History is so full of repeats that it's disconcerting to think about.

  And by the way, people, there is no such thing as different races in the world. There is only one race of humans on this planet currently. And that’s the human race. So, get rid of that prejudice right now and maybe some of the killing of our fellow humans will stop. And finally admit there are no people groups in the world now or in the past that do not have blood on their hands. Since Cain, man has always been a killer. And we get better at it all the time. Want to change the world? Change that one fact right there and then we will be getting somewhere. Where to start? Look in the mirror.

  Now for more frightening news, look at what's going on today. Massive migrations of peoples brought on by prejudice, more killing, and war. I don't believe in karma as a blind force of nature. But someone who does might be able to make a strong case for some overwhelming karma headed straight for Europe and America via the Muslim influx. Can history repeat itself? It can, it has, and it will if we let it.

Good Vibrations

  Like all politicians, scientists lie to us every day. When their lips are moving, they are probably telling a lie. They all know the Big Bang Theory is a lie, but they continue to preach it anyway. They all know that Evolution doesn’t exist but they continue to lie about that one too. Lie number one in Evolution is that life somehow and accidentally was created out of non-living materials. Can’t happen folks. Never has, at least not on its own. If it did it would still be happening all the time. After all, there is still plenty of inanimate non-living material around. Still plenty of ocean water. Still plenty of lightning. But their theory is that it started accidently one time billions of years ago and then just quit happening. Sure it did. They can’t point to any proof of evolutionary steps in the fossil record when there should be uncounted numbers of fossils showing a step by step progression. But there are none. So, my point is they lie even about the basics.

  So, let’s now look at what else they lie about. Remember Einstein’s great theory E=MC2? How do we know that this equation is even close to being right? Maybe it’s really E=MC1.5 or E=MC3. I mean there’s no way to really prove the exactness of this equation other than just taking his word for it. Now let’s look at the equation itself. E is energy. And what this equation is saying is that everything on both sides of the equal marks is the same. So basically, everything is energy. On both sides of the equation is nothing but energy. OK, I might give him that, but it depends on what you mean by the word energy. And what does the “M” stand for anyway? Mass, you say? What is mass? Maybe we can break it all down and see if we can understand what’s being said here. And remember, I’m no scientist or mathematician. So, I’m going to keep it about as simple as I can.

  In quantum physics, it has been determined that the presence of an observer makes a difference as to the outcome or nature of the observed. For instance, if you were trying to observe the nature of light there are tests you can set up that are fairly simple in doing so. But what they have discovered is that when you observe the test, light seems to behave as a wave, and when you don’t observe it, light seems to behave as a particle. So, the results are determined not only by the presence of an observer but by what the observer expects to see. Back there in the very beginning of scientific questioning, they weren’t aware of this fact. And when they started thinking about reality, one of them came up with this theory that all material things were made from tiny particles called atoms that were so small they couldn’t be seen. But they were made out of solid material for the most part with these little moons of electrical particles flying around the massive (note that massive here means having measurable weight) inner core. Kind of like a little miniature solar system. They set up tests to prove or disprove this theory and, voila, those tests seemed to confirm that these little mind constructs of the un-seeable were reality. They came up with the whole periodic table and patted themselves on the back for fathoming one of nature’s deep mysteries. But where they correct, or only seeing evidence of what they wanted to see. Later on, when they started “smashing atoms” they discovered that even these particles were made up of even smaller particles and some of those were really strange. Then quantum theory came along and started saying hold up. We can’t even guarantee that any of this stuff is solid. It all seems to be energy or vibrations. And the weird thing is, it seems to pop in and out of existence so frequently and fast that we can never pinpoint the exact location of any of it at any given moment.

  So, basically what they are saying is that everything really is just energized vibrations of the ether and only seems to really exist in the presence of an observer. Woa! Did you get that? So, matter isn’t real. And if it’s not a real thing, then the whole underpinnings of our “science” is wrong based on imagination and nothing more.

  Now let’s take another part of our famous equation. C squared where C is the speed of light. We’ve all been told that this speed is approximately 186,000 miles/second. I’d like to see the radar gun they measured that with. And furthermore, they say that it takes light 8 minutes to get from the sun to the Earth. But what exactly are we measuring? A particle moving through space? Or a wave propagating like a ripple on a pond? And didn’t Einstein say that if it were possible for an observer to be riding on that light for him there would be no motion through space? And that light going the speed of well…light…would simply see either the universe shrink down to a singularity, or the light itself would be spread out all over the entire universe at once. And the observer would also be everywhere at once so would detect no movement at all. So, if light can’t be said to be moving at any speed at all, then what the heck are we talking about when we say C squared?

  From what I’m gathering from quantum physics these days, they seem to be saying that light (and everything else for that matter) is just a spontaneous, energetic vibration of the ether. And light cannot be said to be traveling from the Sun to the Earth at all. It does not radiate from its source. Instead when our star came into existence, it vibrated the ether in all directions to infinity at once. If this is true, it changes the whole picture we have of the universe and all that stuff about red-shifts and expanding universes is bogus.

  The Bible says that God spoke the universe into existence. And he looked and said it was good. Speaking is sound and sound is defined as vibration. So, the universe as we know it, is basically how our own collective minds wish to interpret the good vibrations God spoke into existence. Our minds and imaginations can come up with all sorts of strange things and they might seem very real to us. Our senses are easily tricked into believing that there is a reality out there that is solid and would exist even without us or God. But it is becoming more and more clear that it is all an elaborate, (and as Einstein himself pointed out) persistent illusion.

  So why do scientists lie to us or mislead us constantly about all this? There are many reasons, but the bottom line is they want to keep the status quo as it is. They want a materialistic and godless universe because they don’t want to be held accountable to or by any superior being. And if you watch them closely, many of them strut around with a smug superiority like they themselves wish to be thought of as our gods. Some, however, have begun showing cracks in their armor. Encouragingly, a few have simply relented and come over to the other side of good vibrations.     

                                                                           

                                                                     

The Way I See It Now

  In my youth, I favored the Democratic Party. I was a working man in the oil industry. Labor Unions pushed the Democrats on us claiming that they were the party that best represented the working man. Maybe, for a while back then, that was true. But for the last couple of decades, it seems they have increasingly become the party of those that don't work. They are the party of those with their hands out constantly wanting free stuff. Those same people don't seem to understand that nothing is free. Those still gainfully employed are the ones that have to pick up the tab. I’ve even seen comments from my Canadian and European friends saying that they don’t understand why a modern country like the U.S. still doesn’t provide free medical care for all its citizens like their countries. Well, first of all, your medical care is not free. You are taxed up the kazoo to pay for it. Secondly, we’ve tried very hard to not become a socialist or communist country like you’ve all done.

  Today, the Republican party seems to be the one that understands this simple basic fact better than their rivals. Those in this country who are still picking up the tab are fed up with it. And that right there is the bottom line that explains the Donald Trump victory. It wasn’t the Russians, okay. And when I see liberals on the streets demanding that we bring in even more freeloaders, it makes my blood boil. As for me personally, though, it seems that neither party has been representing my best interest in the last couple of decades. They're too busy worrying about themselves and making sure their own bank accounts grow at our expense. Both parties have become so complacent in their own corruption that it's difficult for me to see them other than organized crime. And have you noticed how their reach has extended into every aspect of our lives? If you're a small business owner, they are even to the point where they are telling you who you must sell your products and services to whether you like it or not. Our forefathers would be up in arms in a heartbeat over that one.

  Government has grown too big and become too invasive. And when I see their brainwashed minions from both sides out there demanding that the rest of us conform or be silenced or even worse killed...well my friends...enough is enough. Do you realize how close you are to being just like the Islamic terrorists with their "convert or lose your head" routine? It is time for a revolution. Not against each other. But against the real enemy of the people - those in government that would control your mind and every aspect of your life. It is way past time to stand on your own two feet and stop being manipulated by the talking head of your choice on TV. Use your brains for what God gave them to you for. If you don’t understand the broader issues at stake, do a little research on your own. You have a computer now and don’t even have to go to the library. All the great classics discussing these issues are right there online for free.

  It almost makes me cry when I see someone asking college students simple questions about our government or our history, and they don’t have a clue. Our educators should be ashamed as well when they see this. Johnny was a smart kid when we sent him off to elementary school. But by the time Johnny gets that degree, he’s brain dead. In this day and age there is no excuse for that. If what we are doing today doesn’t work (and there’s plenty of evidence that it’s not) then go back to the way they were doing it forty years ago. Because by God it was working then. We had some of the greatest minds in the world. New technologies and inventions were raining down on us. So where did it all go? What happened to us? The evidence is mounting proving that those who say we are being systematically dumbed down are correct. Don’t you all see that it is time now to fight back before it’s too late? Stop fighting in the streets like spoiled children. That’s exactly what they want you to do. The more you do, the more they swoop in and take away even more of your freedom. And create yet another bureau to control you. Divide and conquer is the oldest trick in the book and they are very adept at this.

  So how do we put an end to all this? First step is to educate yourself. The government is not going to do that for you. Second, learn to choose your battles wisely. Knee jerk reactions are what the government counts on to get their way. Study each issue and join with those who agree with you on them. Don’t demonstrate. Become an educator and then Vote! Only 10% of our population voting on any election or issue is disgraceful. Be a part of the solution, not cannon fodder for someone else’s cause. And lastly, even though many of you might not adhere to the same Christian values that I do, at least you should know that to love your neighbors is a better path for getting things done than hating everyone who doesn’t agree with you. Lose the hate. We are all in this together. And if we don’t approach it that way, we are surely doomed.

  Yes, I realize that I’m asking a lot. It’s not time to make America great again. It’s time to wake America the hell up! But looking around for even a minute, you should be able to agree that we are in trouble. And as long as many of our calmer minds are glued to American Idol or The Bachelor, it’s only going to get worse. For my part, I pray that there is still time to fix some of this. But day by day, I find that my prayers are turning more to, “God, please protect our country from itself, because our own citizens don’t seem to have the will to do it.” I still have hope that it’s not too late. I know many who have surrendered already, thinking that all this is God’s will. And that it will be soon when He puts an end to this charade we call life on Earth. It could be. They could be right. But I haven’t heard any trumpets blowing yet.  And as a warrior in God’s army, I’m going to pray that it’s not the end and do my best to love and fight for each and every one of you. As a Christian, that’s my job.

  I can hear some of you already. “Well, as a Christian, don’t you care about immigrants?” Yes, I do. I love all God’s people. But if we take them all in, we will drown this country and lose our ability to help anyone even ourselves. If you are so concerned about foreigners in need, why is there a single homeless American sleeping on the sidewalk in your own neighborhoods? Remember I said we must choose our battles? Right now, we need to fix what’s wrong with America. Then we can focus more on helping the rest of the world. We can’t do both. If we try, we will lose America. Then where will the hope be for the rest of the world? And yes, I know America caused many of the problems in the world with ill-advised wars. That’s exactly the kind of things that need to be fixed. And that’s the way I see it. If you have better ideas, leave the address to your blog in the comment section so we can all go check them out.

68

Reflections on my 68^th Birthday

  I can’t believe I’m that old. Sure, I feel every bit of it. But sometimes I feel like I’ve floated through this life like a butterfly on a summer breeze. And it was only yesterday when I left the cocoon. Then again it seems like half the stuff I remember happened to someone else. I’m not that person anymore, and there are serious things I really regret. It’s almost hard for me to believe I was born in the forties (well the end of them anyway). I grew up during the famous “Happy Days”. Do you realize how different things were back then from what’s going on today? Just to really bring it home, we didn’t even have TV! I remember when the first family on the block got a TV. Suddenly everyone wanted to be that little girl’s friend so we could go over and watch it. And it was all of two channels in black and white. Woo Hoo!

  The first president I remember was Dwight Eisenhower. I remember sock hops, car hops, and pinball machines. We never locked our doors and the windows stayed open all night in the summer time…no AC…just an attic fan. No AC at school either. I know you people up north are used to that, but in Southeast Texas in the summer we’re talking hot and duct tape humidity (very sticky)! Phones were huge and heavy, and there was a party line in the neighborhood. You often had to wait for a neighbor to get off the line so you could make a call. Not that we kids called anyone. Who you gonna call? All your best buds lived right there in the neighborhood. You just knocked and said, “Can Johnny come out and play?” Baseball games and football games were on just about every day in the summer and most evenings after school too.

  I remember the first transistor radio I got. Such an amazing thing and so small. I used to lay on my top bunk at night listening to music and marveling at it. And the radio station I listened to was one of the few AM stations in town…KOLE and they called it King Kole. It played a variety of music. There wasn’t a separate station for each genre like there is now. And FM radio? No that was future tech. Little did I know then that the techno age was just about to bust loose. The biggest difference from back then to now, I think, was people were more respectful and less fearful of the future. I look at society today, and it almost makes me cry to see what we’ve lost over the years. We all grew up with a sense of community then that is all but gone today. I don’t even know most of my neighbors now, and they seem to prefer it that way. Speaking of music…that whole British Invasion thing really made an impression on me. I loved Elvis, but he had to move over when the Beatles hit the scene. I remember my step-father saying that they wore wigs because a man couldn’t grow his hair that long. It just wasn’t natural. We all started growing ours to prove him wrong. He hated that.

  I remember watching the nightly news on our brand new round screen black and white TV and it was just the news. No opinions, no arguing, no talking over each other. Walter Cronkite was the man back then. But I usually missed that anyway, because my step-father insisted we get all our homework done before watching TV. School was mostly torture to me. I was so terribly shy. And I started really being attracted to girls in the fourth grade. But I could never get up the nerve to actually talk to one. So, crushes usually ended up crushing me because the girl of my dreams always got scooped up by some brainless jock. I have very few memories of elementary school. Either it was too traumatic for me to remember or that uneventful. I always made good grades without halfway trying. I was always reading and learning…I just wasn’t interested in what they wanted us to read and learn. High school was pure hell for me, and I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

  I went on my first date when I was a senior. My two best friends conspired with a girl that had her eye on me and tricked me into going to a dance with them. Bad news was, I didn’t know how to dance. But I somehow survived high school and got a job after graduation to hold me over until I left for the military. The plan was to go into the Air Force. That didn’t work out so well, because of the draft notice I got on my 19^th birthday. So, it was the ground pounding Army for me all the way for the next four years. This was during the height of the Vietnam war, so exciting times. I lucked out, though, and spent 2 years in the Republic of Panama instead. That allowed me to come home and marry the girl of my dreams (yeah I finally managed to dream the right dream!). I was 20 years old when Linda and I got married and I was still a virgin up until our wedding night. How many people can say that these days? Different times indeed.

  After having two beautiful kids and landing a great job at one of the local refineries, I thought I was on track to accomplish all my dreams. For a little icing on the cake and to use Uncle Sam’s GI Bill, I decide to also go to college. I did well in college. But it was like a circus juggler that just gets one too many plates spinning on the end of those sticks. It all came tumbling down. My life was a very traumatic roller coaster ride from that point on. I’m sure you can get the gist of it from some of the previous articles I’ve written here on this blog. So I won’t go into all that.

  But my how times have changed. People are angry so much more now. And I tend to think it’s more from a deep-seated fear brought on by our sense of impending doom. Is there doom and gloom waiting around the corner? I don’t know, but I’m not worried. One other thing that’s changed in all this time, is that I’ve discovered a deep faith and trust in God. Once I came to my faith, I didn’t change completely overnight. It was a slow, steady process. But without this transformation, I know I would not be celebrating a 68^th birthday at all. Loved ones have come and gone. I have loved them all deeply and with all my heart. Most of the older generation of my family is gone now, and it’s shocking for me to realize that I’m now the older generation. How did such a thing sneak up on me like that? Time – the ultimate school teacher. You can learn a lot given enough time, and you just pay attention. The problem with Time though is eventually, she kills all her students.

  My message to the younger generation…pay attention. Learn all you can. Learn to roll with the punches. Don’t worry so much. Tomorrow always takes care of itself. Don’t count God out of the equation. You can find Him simply by looking into the deeper mysteries of religion or science (yes science will get you there, but you have to look deep into it and be honest). Don’t fall for what passes as Religion or get caught up in the Religion of Science. Once Jesus (the best friend you always wished you had) begins to walk beside you, all that other nonsense begins to fall by the wayside. And the most important lesson of all…don’t lay up all your treasures here on Earth. You can’t take them with you. Anything you can stack one on top of another is worthless in the long run, including money. Love and memories go with you always. And your good deeds you will wear as clothing in paradise. May all of you that haven’t yet, live to see your 68^th Birthday with a smile on your face as I have. And for the younger generations – keep your arms and legs inside, seat belts buckled up, and enjoy the ride.