Prayers Answered

I have talked to hundreds of people who have told me “God doesn’t answer my prayers”. I hate to have to tell you this: God now answers every one of my prayers!
For years as I prayed and when I got to the part where I prayed “and Your Will will be done” I would mentally cross my fingers because I wanted to be in control and I wanted God to know the outcome I expected from each prayer.
I expected to change the outcome of each person’s life, including my own. I had forgotten, or refused to believe, that it was God who wrote each person’s book of life, every word, every chapter, down to the last period and God didn’t need my help trying to edit the final copy.
For years each time I got to that one line in my prayer I added one more line. That line was “teach me how to accept your will”. Many times I just could not accept that outcome because it just didn’t end the way I thought it should.
For all of my life I had been told about FAITH and most of the time I used my faith, when it felt good to me. I also felt many of my prayers went unanswered.
It took me a lot of years to realize I could not break into the middle of a book that had been finalized and change a part without knowing the outcome. The outcome had already been decided by the author!
Ever since I realized that when I pray “Your Will, will be done” and I have learned to accept that outcome, it seems that God has answered my every prayer.
Many times I have stated that God answers all of my prayers. But, I failed to mention that God tells me to do things that are related to my prayers only through that part where I pray “Your Will, will be done”.
When you really think about it, those five little words that you use so casually actually opens your heart to anything God wants of you. Sometimes, they are prayers that He answers before we realize we had asked for them. Actually, they are God’s way of telling us what he wants from us.
I’m going to give you a long winded example of what I’m talking about: My Friend told me to start this blog. Of course I said I would do it. When my Father in Heaven tells me to do something I do it! Although I had no idea of what would be involved He and I both knew I would do it.
It took several weeks to learn blogging basics. Then it took a few more weeks to get the blog to where it would come up on other computers. I was so proud of myself, I was now a blogger! Then reality smacked me between the eyes! I had everything going for me. EXCEPT, I found that when I looked at my blog I had nothing put on it! It was like having a book with a nice front cover but when you opened the book all you saw was blank pages! My blog was worthless without text on my pages! Where were those words supposed to come from? I went back to My Friend and quickly learned what was expected of me.
I had written quite a few books but they were all photo-history books that required a lot of research but the writing part was just writing the historic information, really no creative writing. Again, back to My Friend I went, where I was told to pick up my pen and paper and start writing. I sure can’t say the words you read all came easily but as yet I haven’t found myself to be at a loss for those words.
There are several things I would like to tell you about each blog I publish. First; I print out each word because after my writing gets cold even I have a hard time reading it, so I print. Next, I type out the words in Microsoft Word, I thank God for its spellchecker. I’m sure you remember that I do all my typing with just one finger on my right hand and use my left thumb for caps. I print out the first copy and then My Friend and I do the first proofing. After I make the first changes, I call on Sandra to do the final proofing and correcting. Then that article is saved on my hard drive.
From start to finish each blog requires a full day of my time. When I agreed to do this blog I had no idea my two blogs a week would take a full two days out of each week of my eighty-five year old life. If I had known about all of this would I have said yes when told to do this blog? Of course I would have! Remember in my prayer I said “Your Will, will be done”.

No Time

How many times have we said “yes” when our hearts kept yelling say “no”? Many times we say “yes” before we realize just how deep a hole those three little letters have dug for us.
When we are in deep thought or find ourselves feeling that we have to give a quick answer, we find the easiest answer is yes. Although; if we had taken a few extra “thinking” moments our answer would have been a definite no.
Why do we pick that three lettered yes over the just two lettered no? Throughout our lives we have been taught that yes was a positive word and no was a negative word. I feel if a question is important enough to ask, the questioner should allow the other person some “think time”.
Time after time, in our everyday lives, if we would have had “think time” before giving our answers we would have found our lives to be better. In real-life we also find that “yes” answer are being given because that is the answer we think others expect to hear from us even though that is not the answer we feel in our heart. We are expected to be “politically correct.” We want to avoid controversy. If you feel an answer in your heart speak-up it’s your answer. If it is a no answer so be it “no” is not profanity.
Often, in our thinking, we feel we must say yes to those we love because if we say no they’ll stop loving us. Many times a thinking loving no has a more lifelong effect on those we love than an unthinking yes. At times that quick yes just shows impatience. It may be sending the message; “I’ll say yes because I don’t want to take the time to fool with you”. Or maybe what you’re really saying is “YES now get off my back”.
In marriage a cowardly yes is a wimpy way of avoiding an argument. Many times if that person would have had “time to think” or “time to talk things over” a no answer would have been found as the only answer agreeable to both. I personally would much rather be given time to think-out an answer than to be crowded into a snap answer that I’m sure will cause controversy. How many times has a person you love said yes to you while in your heart you can feel that they are radiating a positive no? Is that yes just being said to please you? Which answer are you supposed to believe? Only you and your Father in Heaven can decide.
With today’s overloaded life we must remember we are all working with the same size brain our ancestors had thousands of years ago. Yes, I know we have those computers of today that have untold storage capacity but it still takes our overloaded brains to control our fingers to touch the keys to open all of that memory.
No matter, how overloaded we feel our lives are today, we must learn to find those few extra moments to think out our answers to the questions that shape and make our lives and the lives of others. I guess we have to find time for some “no time”.

No I'm Not

I got quite a shock the other day. A person I was talking to thought I was a minister! It made me realize that I had to set some things straight about my blog.
No, I’m not a minister, not a prophet, not a soothsayer, not a fortune teller, and I hope you don’t think that I’m some kind of a kook that just pulls things out of the sky. I look upon myself as just His tool to be used by Him at His will.
I feel that I have been blessed with the ability to carry on a normal conversation with My Friend (My Father in Heaven). If I ask questions and He feels I need to know, I get answers. If he tells me to do something I DO IT. When I pray that prayer includes the words “and YOUR WILL, will be done”. That doesn’t leave me much “wiggle room”.
I believe a diploma or any other certificate that is nailed to the wall is unnecessary when it comes to talking to My Father in Heaven and to follow His instructions. I know He is always by my side, because He told me so. Why should I doubt it? If you don’t believe He is by your side, so be it, I look upon that as your loss.
Do I speak for God? Absolutely not! I look upon myself as just another of His tools. Remember my prayer; YOUR WILL, will be done? Well the rest of the prayer is; Help me do and say things that are pleasing to You.
Before I started this blog, I was told to start it. Remember, before then I had no idea what a blog was. The first thing I did was buy the book “Blogging for Dummies” so that I had some idea of the blogging format. I had a crash course with many new words I had never heard before. It was an exciting new learning experience! You must realize I type with just one finger and my left thumb is there each time I need a cap! Think about this; He could have chosen a ten finger typist, but he chose me! So, I started this blog.
I have yet to read other blogs, but this may be good, so I can’t use others as guides. I write what I’m told to write and when to write it. I have been surprised at some of the deep stuff I find myself writing. Those times I’m sure I’m the tool that writes the words that need to be said.
The choice in naming of my blog really was not mine but the naming is now clear to me. Hundreds of people with better credentials could have been chosen to do this blog but I WAS CHOSEN “just Bob” the least of them! Thank You for choosing me, My Friend.

As an afterthought, I welcome comments. At the bottom of the page, you will find the comment section. You will have a choice of several different things. The easiest way is to sign in as Anonymous. When you comment, please put your first name or initial at the end of the comment. Thank you.

Mistakes

Before we dwell to deeply into this subject I want you to look closely at my photo on your right. You don’t see anything special? Look again as I explain; my theory is that every time I make a mistake one hair turns gray. Then, if I make that mistake again that hair falls out. Are you beginning to see the real picture?
One day I looked at myself in the mirror and was shocked to see that my top was total gray and also I noticed a lot of skin showing. That was the day I started growing my beard so that I would have more room to display all of my mistakes! Just because I was growing older I had no intention of just sitting around and watching the grass growing. I wanted to learn new things and do new things and those new things often come with making mistakes.
That’s enough about me. Now, let’s get back to the important stuff. One of the most important things we always have to remember is this; ALL of our mistakes are now history, that’s UNCHANGEABLE history, they are now in the file labeled yesterday, they’re gone. So, what good are they?
Every mistake we have made throughout our lives has been a learning experience. How many times have you heard someone say “I’ll sure know better the next time”? If you hit your thumb with the hammer while driving that nail you’ll sure know better the next time! If you find yourself saying “if I only knew then what I know now” I want you to think about this; if you hadn’t made the first mistake how would you “know now”?
A good mistaker has many of those short phrases in their vocabulary; I should have, I knew it would BUT, I was told it wouldn’t work but I had to see for myself, etc.
Are you starting to get my point? The person that says they haven’t made mistakes is a person that hasn’t lived or they have a strange way with the truth.
Success is the top step of a stairway called mistakes! Progress, learning, is built on mistakes. If you don’t know what will not work how will you know what will? When you were small you were told not to touch that pan because it was hot but you still had to reach out and see for yourself. That one mistake probably will last you a lifetime it taught you not to touch a hot pan.
We must learn to convince ourselves, we aren’t making mistakes “we’re making learning experiences”. Some mistakes are very minor, others may cost us everything we’ve earned but look upon each as a learning tool. I personally try to never let one of my mistakes cause a hardship for others. For me, I can handle a battered body or ego but I don’t want one of my mistakes to cause pain for others. I will sometimes tell others the things I have learned from my mistakes but I try not to intrude on their learning experiences.
Each person’s heart is full of their dreams. Just like finger prints your dreams are like no others. We can’t let a few mistakes bottle up those dreams. It’s as simple as; no dreams, no mistakes, no life. In my lifetime I’m sure I’ve made hundreds, probably even thousands of mistakes, I’m not going to let those few mistakes (pardon me, learning experiences) keep me from letting my dreams continue to flow from my heart.

Yesterday

Yesterday is history. It’s gone never to raise its head again, don’t try to hold on to it or relive it. It’s gone, forget it. Do you remember that big brick Catholic Church on the top of the hill, the one with the two steeples? Remember the sound of its big bell that rang several times each day?
Today that bell is silent. The doors with those beautiful stained glass windows are closed and locked because the hundreds that walked through them over the years are now gone.
Next look at the thousands of Protestant Churches, and then notice that they too have many empty pews. Then look at those sitting in those pews, I want you to notice how much gray hear you see and also notice how much hair color is being used by others to hide their gray.
What are we doing wrong? What is happening to the under 50 families? I want you to notice that I stressed FAMILIES. Seldom do you see families: mothers, fathers and children you may notice a few mothers and their children but the FULL families are few and far between.
What can we do to change this trend? We don’t need to change the trend (it’s beyond fixing) we have to change the CHURCH! We have to change it to fit today!
Each minister better become computer savvy real quick or their church will become just another empty shell. This generation is not looking for long sermons and threats of going to Hell. Those days ended with the coming of the computer, the TV, and the cell-phone. Those days are the yesterdays I’ve been talking about! Many more will take the time to read a short blog, on their own time, than to sit and impatiently fidget through a long sermon
Fellowshipping used to be a mainstay of yesterdays church. But today: if you can’t make it quick, I don’t have the time. In other words, I want a quick fix or I just will not bother.
So, what has caused this change? I think it started with Wendy’s, McDonalds, and Burger king. They’ve replaced the dining room table. Drive-throughs have replaced the kitchen stove.
Over fifty percent of the wage earners in this country are now women. Much of the time they are the principal wage earners! But, a lot of the churches are still thinking male dominance. Wake up men and churches you messed up! Those “frail” looking women are now a new class! They’re now equal partners and wish to be treated as such.
Now let’s look at the kids; it makes sense that if mom is working the kids are left more on their own, with little guidance. Many have chosen their hero’s that seem to be people that we would be shocked to find in our living rooms. If you look at the way the kids dress you may feel a little more guidance could be used. The boys; some want to look like slobs, many could use more pride in themselves and those around them. The girls; to be in fashion it seems as though they have to show as much naked breast as possible. Then; there is the cell-phones, I actually saw two people seated at the same table talking to each other on their cell-phones. Many parents would be shocked to see their kids Facebook pages. Have you watched the kids hands while they are texting? I used to think the old gunslingers of the old west had the fastest hands, not any more.
Folks are no longer impressed by fancy robes, miracles, and formalities. All they have to do today is turn on the TV and flip a few channels and there they all are. Our churches MUST learn a hard lesson. Today’s generation has been taught that if you don’t like what you’re seeing you just flip to another channel or as last resort hit the off button and look at a blank screen and that is what many of this generation is doing.
The congregations of today are dying off or drying up. Along with the Bible, today’s churches have to quickly learn some new words; blog, Facebook, tweets, and texting! Today’s leaders are going to have to stop trying to change the people. As bad as it sounds, you’re going to have to change the CHURCH to fit into today’s world or die with the ageing generations within the present day church. In Willie Nelson’s words: “We have a long ways to go and a short time to get there”.

A Negative World ?

Every place I turn it seems as though I find myself running headlong into that corner called negative. I turn on the TV to check the weather or the news but all I see is bad, negative news or news about some awful tragedies that are messing up other people’s lives. It seems to me that good news just isn’t news at all. Where are all of these people that go to church on Sundays? Aren’t they being told to love their neighbor, to help those in need, to touch just one life to help make just one life a little better? Or, is all of that forgotten when the church doors close behind them on Sunday as they walk out?
Today I heard something that almost made my skin crawl. One of my neighbors has a student in a special education class in one of our public schools. The student came home from school the other day very upset, his teacher had scolded him in front of the class for using the word CHURCH in class! I want you to really think about that! The teacher said that is school policy. I can’t believe my tax dollars are being spent to make rules like that! A public school in the Bible Belt in Florida having a teacher that is so paranoid that she would scold a student for using the word church. If this teacher is one of the best, and I believe only the best should teach a special education class. If this is truly school policy I think it’s time to make a few changes! I cannot visualize what must be going on in the classes of the poorer quality teachers. If this is the way we are teaching the classes now growing up, heaven help us when they become our leaders. If that wasn’t bad enough, I want you to think about this: Think what would happen if a poor kid lived on Church Street! Would the family be forced to move? The poor kid could never give his home address even if the school asks! Worst yet what if the kid’s father was a pastor of a ****** (sorry they can’t use that word).What if the family name was Church could the student only be called by their first name? I wonder if the word mosque is banned. Please tell me, how much stupid can we take before we throw up our hands and say that’s just too much.
When I was growing up the first thing we did in school each morning was to stand face the flag, place our hand over our heart, then recite The Pledge of Allegiance to OUR COUNTRY back then we weren’t worried about someone’s feelings being hurt. Next EVERYONE bowed their heads and recited the Lord’s Prayer. You notice I made it a point to say everyone. No negative mothers and fathers screaming that if they use the word God it will warp the kid’s lives forever. Back then it was truly the UNITED States of America, Today with everyone is afraid of their neighbor, for he might sue, it seems to me most people want that united part printed in very small print.
Whatever happened to: “accentuate the positive then eliminate the negative”? I’m sure all of us have negatives in our lives but we don’t have to let that be our headline of the day. For each negative in our lives I’m sure God gives us at least ten blessings. We just can’t let one negative blind us from all the blessings He puts before us each day.
Most of us have suffered a major tragedy sometime in our lives but now that’s history. No matter how badly we were hurt we cannot waste the rest of our lives waiting for that next tragedy to happen. If you waste your life waiting for something else to happen it probably will but think of all the blessings you will have missed while looking for the worst.
Only you can control your life. Only you can dream your dreams. Only you can talk to YOUR FRIEND and receive your answers. Start each day thinking how great that day will be. Don’t hold back for what might or what could happen. Just think: you woke up and you’re breathing! See there, you have two blessings already and your feet have hardly touched the floor!
Stop worrying about what might happen. Start looking for the next blessing. Didn’t that first cup of coffee taste great? That’s because you left the negatives in the bottom of the cup with the rest of the residue. Now let’s start looking for our next blessing. I’m sure Our Friend will put it somewhere it’s easy to find.

Does It Really Make A Difference?

I had planned to keep this blog non political but lately I have read and heard things from the mouths and pens of people that call themselves fellow Christians that have caused me great pain. So, I hope this is the first and last blog on this subject.
I want you to do some HONEST soul searching. I want you to look deeply into your heart. I am sure you feel that you are not a racist, but if our president was all white, would you look at him differently?
I know it’s hard for you fellow Republicans to admit it, but the man has accomplished many things that were politically impossible before his term in office.
I know many of you believe he only breaths negative thoughts, but take a few minutes and look at the positive things that have happened in the short time he has been in office.
Then, think of how these accomplishments could have been improved with honest discussion instead of a flat-out no or worse: hell no.
Remember when one of your kids turned three? You were so glad you both made it through those terrible 2’s. Then; one day you told him to do something, he looked you in the eye; stomped his foot and shouted “NO”. How long did it take you to explain the difference between the Indian and the Chief? I did not elect a foot stomping, NO shouting, three year old to Congress! I expected my elected representative to be like a member of the tribal council, one who could sit down and talk things over with the chief.
I feel that each of the new laws could have been greatly improved with a little give-and-take on both sides.
I don’t care if our president is black, white, red, or green, he is still our countries leader. He was elected by the majority of the voters in this, MY country. The office of my President has my respect. I believe that a person elected by a majority of the votes in a general election was put there by the Will of God and I accept it as such. It may not have been MY will but I accept it as HIS will.
I would not and could not, under any circumstance, call the President of MY country the names I have seen in other columns. I am ashamed for those so-called patriots that have no respect for our Commander-In-Chief. If we are the teachers what can we expect from our next generation now growing up!
Almost every Sunday at church I am told to love my neighbor as myself. I am not told to love the people from one political party and hate all of those from the opposite party.
My church, in fact all Christian churches, teach love. They sing songs about love. I just cannot understand where all of this hatred is coming from. Some people are standing up, holding up the Bible and proclaiming to be “born again Christians” while spewing nothing but hatred from their mouths. I call them “self proclaimed Christians”
Hate divides countries. We have to learn to “love thy neighbor as we love ourselves” before it’s too late.
Look deeply into your heart for I know my Heavenly Father will do so on YOUR judgment day.