Life as we know it

Life as we know it here in America is an odd thing. I, a middle class blue collar worker bee, have it pretty good. In a slipping economy I have a good job with benefits. I own a nice house in the country (well, own as long as I continue to make my payments...). My wife has a nice car to drive. I have tons of friends and nearby family. Most importantly, I have a personal relationship with my Papa God and I am free to make the most of it.
So then why do I struggle so much? Why does it seem so hard all the time? Why do I have a difficult time with work? Why do I struggle to appreciate my house and cars and all that stuff that is really a gift? Am I spoiled? Am I materialistic?
I have been coming more and more into the knowledge that the world has completely and totally turned logic around from what it was designed to be. So much of what we take for "natural law" isn't natural at all, but rather satan spawned. I want to badly to move from a life of brain knowledge to a life of experiential knowledge. I want to live out what I know. Truth is only as useful as it is applied. "Know the truth and the truth will set you free" doesn't mean that we find things out and are just happy with knowing them. We wouldn't discover the cure to aids and think "Oh good! Now I know the cure for aids I can just wait to die and die happy". Heck no! We would take that knowledge and apply to life. Not just our life but all life and in doing so, improve the quality of that life for MILLIONS!!! So why do we take the spiritual truth we know and act happy knowing it? Why don't we take that knowledge and share it with everyone? I know that many people do, but many more don't. I am so tired of living life to achieve the American Dream. I don't want to work for money! I hate it! I want to work for people. I know that you are supposed to work for God not matter what you are doing but I struggle with that. I try to have a good attitude and do a good job regardless of what I am doing, but I really want to work somewhere that makes a direct and positive difference in peoples lives.

Who are you?

Yesterday I walked into a room in my house and found a raving lunatic. He was so off his rocker that he was flat on his face. Out of his mouth spewed nonsense and craziness. The craziest part about it was that he was one hundred percent sure that all he was talking about was true and legitimate. Not only was he sure that the falsity he spoke was true, but he was seriously passionate about it. He looked me in the eye and told me that he had expectations about life. H knew that there was supposed to be a way things went. His life was supposed to have meaning and everyone around him was supposed to see that not only did his life have great meaning, but that he needed them to cater to his every whim and desire for that meaning to come forth. The scary to behold, I was riveted. I couldn't stop listening. His words were honey. His ideas seemed founded in logic and truth. He was so sure of himself. I wanted to know where he came by this information. This life altering, earth shattering information. He said he was born with it. That slowly, as he matured and became the amazing specimen of a man that he is today, the knowledge grew within. It was teetering on the brink of conscience thought when somebody came along and pushed it over the edge by treating him as if he were a normal person. It was like a volcano going off.
This was so exciting to me that I quickly called up a good friend and mentor. “You'll never believe what I've learned today” I practically yelled into the phone, “My expectations and ideas about how life should work are totally legit. The are inborn and therefore one hundred percent truth!”
My friend chuckled and spoke those words which come from the word of God. Showing me, enlightening me to the real truth. The Truth spoken not by a madman, but by Truthspeaker Himself. I went back to that lunatic and spoke the truth to him as well. He was frustrated at having all his rights taken away. At first. Later though, he realized that giving up rights for the short term brings unlimited freedom for the long term, making it more than worth it.

My Struggle

The mountain looms before me. Snow, ice, rock. Hard, unforgiving, merciless. At the bottom there is nothing. No progress, only stagnation and apathy. At the top there is, if nothing else, a view of what's to come. Though I know there is more. Much more. With daylight fading, I begin my assent. I begin moving from the footprint left when the world stepped on my and begin my forward progress. With determination in my eyes I move upward. I climb. Before I get very far though, I begin to slip. My feet cannot find purchase. I fall on my face, bruising and cutting my skin. Determination aids my legs in lifting from the ground. Again, pushing, fighting, scraping against the rocks with broken and split fingernails. Digging in with numb toes. Exhausted, completely out of fuel that is will to go on, my knees hit the ice. As my upper body nears the snow, my hands automatically appear underneath my chest and attempt to hold up my face. Pain shoots up my right arm. Snow fills my nostrils and open, screaming mouth. Blood is streaming down my arm as it pumps liberally out of my palm. With pressure the bleeding stops. A quick snow wash reveals a slice too clean to have been made by rock or ice. God must be mocking me. Kicking me when I'm down. Taking advantage of my inability to scale the obstacle set before me. What method of torture is He using on me? Three more nicks appear on my fingers as I brush away the snow. A metal spike, browned by my blood pokes through the snow, along with many others connected to a soul. Wish concentrated effort, I free the boot from its icy prison. Its exactly my size. Its partner is revealed next to the whole created by the first climbing boot. With my street shoes behind me, I begin to tread straight up the hill with not one slip. My hand still hurts, I'm still cold, but the summit is in sight. My heart reaches out to the Ever Merciful, seeking and receiving forgiveness for its doubt and thanking Him for always giving me the tools I need, even when I am so blind He has to stab my hand to open my eyes.

There is water under the seat. Where did it come from? Ask the mountain man, he knows. His knowledge is neverending, that is, until you ask him about flamingos. He is deathly frightened by flamingos. Shame on them. The way the fly about in big groups, as if they don't have any natural predators. Oh, but they do! Alligators!!!!!!! I wish I could eat some alligator. I hear it can be quite tasty. Snake too. One day maybe. But then again, maybe not. I am but dust in the wind, a mere whisp of fog disappearing as soon as the sun appears, am I not?

BOOGERS

I pick 'em. I flick 'em. I don't eat 'em. I prefer to use a tissue, but when I'm driving, I do what must be done. Then I roll down the window and try to dislodge the sucker one handed. They can be very sticky. I'm gonna go blow my nose now.

I am ready for heaven, or a time machine

The battle lines have been drawn. Gear is being strapped down. Weapons being sharpened. Here come the combatting armies......BAM! The shit has hit the fan! Oh man look at that splatter! Don't expect more details. Just know some relationships are on the line and I have a feeling some choices are going to be made. Now where is my time machine?

What's in a band name?

I have been meaning to write this for some time. Listening to KLOVE, not my first choice but only choice for christian radio in good ol' GP, I have recently heard a lot of band names that just sound silly. Names like Tenth Avenue North, Pocket Full of Rocks, and Mike's Chair. Hearing those names makes me wonder, just what kind of holy, inspirational message do names like those put forth? How do those names convey the image of Jesus Christ?
Then it occurred to me. Remember the passage in the gospels where Jesus is railing on the Pharisees for washing the outside of their vessels (aka themselves) when the inside was all maggoty? Well the band names are sparkling on the inside. All three of them put out songs that are just awesome, despite their unchurchlike names. The name is not important, the content is. We have to stop putting on airs like we are some big important thing. These band names have inspired me. They have inspired me to be less judgemental, and more open to letting God work His way.