link2jesus

I got an Ipod for Christmas, and I haven’t downloaded much music, but I have purchased some games. I like Mahjong and Sudoku, and can usually solve the puzzles. I can also check my email, and since some of my friends wanted me to join Facebook, I did. As you can see, I have not posted anything here since. By the way, Happy New Year!

Every morning I turn on my Ipod and check the weather, then I go to Facebook. While my own husband doesn’t say much to me on Facebook, I can listen to another couple banter back and forth. When I want to make plans for a craft show to benefit a local charity, I get all kinds of advice, albeit unsolicited. If I post a picture, I get to hear everyone’s memories about it. That is OK. It is just not for me. It is easy to get sucked in, it is easy to get obsessed. I guess I thought my status was all about me, and not all those other people.

What bothers me is how friends of friends and everyone else that is on Facebook can see everything on my wall, on my profile, and maybe in my head. Who knows. Sure, I can up the privacy settings, but it is too easy to get caught up in who is talking to whom. I even had to “unfriend” my husband because he was friends with some pretty shady characters. All you have to do is check out their websites to see what their intentions are. But if you are there to play the games, apparently you accept every friend invitation you get, so you can have the biggest army, and these unsavory people have access to your information. A guy posed as a friend of my husband and said he was in London and needed money to get back to the USA. Scam. So it can be dangerous if you don’t watch who you “friend”. 

The games are the other thing about Facebook I don’t like. That is all some people do, and that is fine if you like those games. Take Farm ville or Farm Town, whatever it is. I am not interested in playing some game that makes farming look like something it is not. I was raised on a farm, and I know that you don’t plant your crops to be pretty. You rotate your crops for a reason. I don’t think the game included turning bales, walking beans, or chasing pigs that got out to the other end of the section. I know I can hide the gamers. But what if they actually say something, and I wouldn’t see it. I can’t win in this situation.

 What I seriously don’t like is all the email notifications that someone friended someone else, and you wish you had not “friended” one of them. Why have Facebook if you get all the info in your email? So my fix was to deactivate Facebook. Now you can just send me an email, write me a letter, or call me. I prefer one-on-one conversations anyway. I’d rather see your face than your facebook. Apparently I am too private a person to broadcast my life every day to everybody.

And yet, there I was every day, checking what other people were saying, watching their conversations unfold. Not a part of it, just observing. Sounds kind of like stalking. Actually you may think you are friends with someone, but you are not really interacting, just watching each other. My biggest hangup is, Facebook was taking up time that I should be using to talk to the people that are part of my life. I could plan my day, think positive thoughts, and ask God what my status should be. I could write on my blog. It’s pretty sad when two people that live in the same house don’t talk to each other for an entire night because they are on Facebook. Do I need help? Do you?

If you have an addictive personality, you are probably hooked. See if you can get some help. I heard that one of my friends was going to start a Facebook Anonymous chapter. I wonder if there is a 12 step program for this. Step one: admit that I am powerless over Facebook. Stop believing the lie that I could quit any time. I can quit. Anytime. But I will probably be back. Or post more on Twitter…

In case I don’t get my cards sent out, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi, everyone. It has been a long time. Jennifer has been to many treatments, including about 10 days in California this summer. Progress was made on the brain tumors, all three shrank considerably, and she felt no pressure in her head for a while. Now the tumors are back, so she will need to continue the treatments. Fortunately, Duke now has a machine that does the treatment, so she will be able to stay home.

Now there is another problem. She just found out that she has Hepatitis C. So the doctors took her off all her pain medication, because Hepatitis affects the liver, and the liver filters everything out of the blood, including medications. So in order to relieve some of the work her liver has to do, she is off the pain medications. She has trouble sleeping because of the pain.

Keep praying for her, she has fought for over 3 1/2 years. She is strong, although she told me a while ago that she doesn’t always feel strong. This is when she needs our prayers the most.

Wow, it has been a while since I was last here. We have been to Gatlinburg over the weekend, and I hope I can post some pictures for you. It was a lot of fun. Larry & Jennifer & I went part of the way on Friday night, and continued on Saturday morning. We walked all over the down town area with its little shops, (bought some fudge, yum!), rode on the chair lift, and took lots of pictures. Sunday we rode around on the trolley. Too bad we didn’t know about that on Saturday! No, really, it was all  within walking distance on Saturday, and we got to see some places we would not have on Sunday, such as the school, library, etc.

OK, I better try to put a few pictures up. I’ll try to be here more often.

Traditionally, worship is what happens in the church service. Typically, that includes greetings, praying a few prayers, singing a few hymns, reading a few scriptures, hearing a sermon, and taking a collection. However, it may not happen even if all these things are taking place, and is possible if none of these things take place.

Worship is meant to be done not only in community, but personally as well. What God sees when someone worships Him is not what is coming out of their mouth, but what is coming out of their heart. Prayers and hymns, traditional or modern, can be worship, but are by no means the only form of worship God recognizes.

What about someone that gives money to the poor? If their heart is in the right place, that is worship. How about the friend that comforts someone that is grieving? If it is with the heart of Jesus, that is worship.

The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Maybe it is done by living our lives in communion with God, and our actions then show Him that we do worship and adore Him, and live our lives as Jesus to the world. As we allow Him to live through us more and more, and become closer to Him, our every breath will be praise to Him. Our waking moments will be communion with Him, and our dreams will be of the God we adore.

Sounds like worship to me.

Tragedy strikes us again and again, fear is a force we have to face. Not only adults, but teenagers are dealing with things that no one should have to deal with. We have handed them a world filled with problems - financial, moral, ecological - leaving them in a spiritual vacuum. Even the young people that are not “lost” struggle with depression, anxiety, and despair.

We know that we are taught to “count it all joy” when we are faced with problems, because by persevering, we are building Character. We are told that we are not going through anything that is not common to people everywhere, that someone, somewhere, has suffered the same loss. But what good does that do right now?

We need to demonstrate the love of Jesus, not just quote His words. This is what a very dear girl has done for someone, and it is one of the things I love about her so much. Here is the scenario.

A young man was filled with guilt about something that happened, an accident really, and not his fault. But he felt responsible, I am sure. I am also sure that other people gave him a guilt trip. True, he made some mistakes. But here is what this young lady did. Very simpy, she was a friend to this young man, even when she was told that it was not good to hang out with him. She loved and accepted him as a person without being judgemental. She listened to him. She was a true friend.

The story ends tragically. This young man was unable to overcome the guilt, and ended his life. He texted a goodbye to his friends, and it was over quickly. Too quickly for anyone to stop him, even though they immediately went to find him. I am sure his friends are asking what more they could have done. After the fact, I am sure they can see the signs. But you never expect this to happen to anyone you know, much less a friend. But I hope they can take comfort knowing that their friendship was what he needed most, and he had that, 100%.

This is part of what kids today have to deal with. It is hard. It is not the problem, but only a symptom. The hopelessness is the problem. How can we tell them about the hope we have? How can we make them understand that there is a light in this dark world? They have been thrust into a pit, one that we have helped to create.

Let us not tell them there is hope, let us instead demonstrate it. How? Love and acceptance. We shouldn’t be saying, don’t hang out with that person. We should be inviting “that person” into our homes and showing they are loved by our God and Father. It is only by the love and acceptance that we show that they can come to the point where they want to know Jesus.

Demonstrate the love to someone today.

I have been working on adding some pictures to my website, and have added a photo album. It is possible for you to register and leave comments on the pictures. So far, I have uploaded pictures of Grandfather Mountain. More to come soon!

Have you ever noticed how some of the old hymns we used to sing seem to come to life when we sing them now? Maybe it’s just me, but the old songs take me back to a time when life was good, and faith was young. “Amazing Grace” is still amazing, still sweet. Some things never change.

One song that I was thinking about is “Onward Christian Soldiers”. We are in a spiritual battle every day. It is like war out there some days. But the part we sometimes forget is that the battle is already over, already won. The cross goes before us. The tomb is empty. Jesus has already won.

What is it in your life that you struggle with? Maybe our problems will not go away, but we don’t need to let them get us down. We can still have victory. This life is temporary, along with this earth, this body. What goes on is what is done for Jesus. This is eternal.

Let me clarify this a little bit. What we do for Jesus is not even by our own strength. If it is by our strength, it is just us trying to do what we think God wants us to do. We must first be in prayerful contact with Jesus, and ask Him what we are supposed to be doing. We may not get a specific answer, but maybe the answer is to continue to be in contact with Him. That is what Jesus did. Everything Jesus did was what His Father was doing through Him. Jesus went out and spent time alone with His Father, talking, reasoning, and responding.

Jesus said if we know Him, we know the Father. If we see Jesus, we see His Father. I’d like to think that when I look at you, I might see some of Jesus there. Your candle must burn with His light. Otherwise, it can’t penetrate the darkness of this world.

What is amazing is that the God of the universe would want to live His life through me.

What if Jesus had lived in days like these? What would people be saying about Him? Would they be Twittering about Him? Would news about the miracles spread across the globe like wildfire? How many people would be flying to where He was? He certainly wouldn’t be able to keep people from talking about Him.

With all the political and economical unrest today, would  we recognize Jesus as our Savior? Would we be looking for someone to run our country, and our world? Some of the Jews were looking for a king, are we any different? Or would we see Him as the Prince of Peace? Not world peace, but internal peace. Could we accept our circumstances as they are, but change our attitudes?

With the world in the shape it is in, would The Cross even make the front page news?

I want a Savior, not for the whole world, but for my little world. I don’t expect Jesus to change the darkness of our society, but to bring the Light to me. Yes, our world is dark, but He is the Light. He is the Truth. He is God, He is eternal. He is our hope for the future. His hand only can save us. It was to bring us hope and peace that He came to us, and it was because He loves us.

Maybe He would have had a talk show. Probably not…

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