Got Jesus?

Ive been a Christian since my early teen years and I would have to say that for the most part of my walk with the Lord, Ive been lacking. I would call myself a "typical Christian" but I know that would upset a lot of people. But, if I were more Christ like, I think I would probably upset even more people. I think if Jesus would have come to earth today, instead of all those years ago, He would still face the rejection and ridicule, even more so. I believe Jesus would be hanging out down at the beer joints, the homeless shelter, the wrong side of the tracks, the crack houses, you know...wherever the lost, the broken hearted, the sinners are hanging out at. Those people that most of us turn a blind eye to, a cold shoulder at. The homeless guy who walks into McDonalds and stands next to us to order and we grab our kids...that's the guy. Or is it the professional man or woman, Doctor, Lawyer, etc.. who is lost and needs rescue.

But the fact is, Jesus did come all those years ago. He left quite an impact on the people of this earth. He left us with some awesome gifts too. He left us with the Holy Spirit. He left us with a resurrection power. He left us with the same tools that we could continue the work He started. He called us all to be disciples. He called us to heal the sick, to bring hope to the broken hearted, cast out demons...all the things He himself did. He also made a way for us to approach our Heavenly Father, in His name. What are we doing for Christ? Us Christians? Are we spreading the gospel, are we doing all those things He did? Are our lamps shining in a dark world? Or are we just going to church everyday?

I know, I'm stepping on toes and people are out gathering up rocks to throw at me right now. But the word of God is a two edged sword so its cutting me too.

Years ago, as a law enforcement officer, I was working narcotics. I did that for years. But at this time I'm speaking of, I was working undercover, managing informants, buying drugs, serving search warrant and at this time the state was swamped with methamphetamine. Its a dangerous, very addicting drug. It takes over peoples lives. People were actually selling their children for the drug. So, I was in over my head everyday. When I began, I actually thought I could make a difference. But everybody I arrested was quickly replaced with another. And the prisons were turning out better meth cooks, with better recipes, better ways to deal drugs, smarter criminals.

The only people in my life besides my family, who I barely had time to see, were junkies. I would wire them up, send them into houses and they would buy drugs for me. Later they would introduce me, then I would buy drugs from them myself, then later follow up with a search warrant. and taking down a meth lab is dangerous in itself, not to mention the meth cooks, who are so eat up with the drug that they live in constant paranoia, see worms crawling on their skin and constantly see things that aren't there.

My heart was getting very hard and cold. Even though I attended church regularly, I began to see everybody the same, having little to no compassion whatsoever. I began to literally hate junkies, drug dealers, meth cooks, all of them. I was in a dark place myself. I knew I needed help and so I began to pray each day that God melt my heart and see people as He sees them.

How many of you have read the bible from cover to cover? I have. Now, how many have read a lot of the bible and can remember a lot of passages? That's a lot of you I know. How many have read the same chapter over and over and then one day it really really means something to you that it didn't before? God answered my prayer by speaking to me through a passage in the bible that I had read many times.

Many of us have read the story in Luke chapter 8 where Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. Let me just say that Jesus never did anything unless it meant something. He was on a mission. Most of us knows what happens in this story. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."

• Those disciples had to know at the time that this storm was a spiritual one. If not, they figured it out later, because this same event is mentioned by other disciples in the bible too. They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. So to the disciple, one storm ends and another begins. That is, when the storm calms, they hear the ranting and raving of a demon possessed man. They may have thought, "I would rather face the storm than this." What stood out to me in this passage, is the fact that this demon possessed man just happened to be in the right spot to meet his Lord that day. Maybe God had whispered in his heart "your deliverer is coming." I would like to think that this man knew his redeemer was on his way and could see him coming, perhaps he even ran to the waters edge with the demons resisting him the whole way. I'm sure they knew Jesus was coming too, because of the storm.

This man had a terrible life. Not much life at all. He had been rejected and kicked out of town by the locals. He hung out at the graveyard. He was demon possessed by perhaps somewhere between 2,000 (the number of the pigs) and 6,000 (the number of Roman Soldiers in a Legion). He had super human strength to be able to break his chains, so I'm sure others were in fear of this man. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" These demons did not want Jesus to cast them into the Abyss, the final place for demons and satan, but they wanted to remain in the area. 29 For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. 

30 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. 32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. 

Let me also point out, like St Mark did how this this man would often cut himself. For those of you who don't know, this practice of cutting oneself is a way of expressing emotional pain, or covering up emotional pain with physical pain.

So, I'm sure this man was not very popular or liked, so much so that the local townspeople kicked him out of town. I'm sure they did not even like the sight of him. But like I said before, I had read this story many times but this time, my heart melted as I read that Jesus loves His sheep so much, he would leave the 99 for the 1, He would travel through a virtual hurricane just to get to us, that He knows each one of us and knows our situation. God did answer my prayer and gave me a compassionate heart and so I ask each one of you, do you know someone who is hurting today? Is there someone on your heart that needs prayer? Do you know someone who doesn't know the Lord? Let us all continue the work that Jesus started. It starts with compassion. It starts with trying to see people as God sees them. Pray with someone today, help someone that needs help. If there is anyone reading this who doesn't know the Lord then just say this simple prayer, " "Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be." If this prayer expresses the desire of your heart, then you can pray this prayer right now and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.

Jesus said "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him."Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be.

If you did pray this prayer, please brother or sister, leave me a comment and I will continue to pray for you. If you are a new Christian, I encourage you to begin attending a bible based church in your area and read your bible continually, and pray continually. Stay focused on God.

I would love to read comments from anyone reading this. If there are any of you who need prayer, please let me know and we can come into agreement together believing in an awesome God.
 
    

Malaysia the Beautiful

I posted a blog recently describing how I want to travel. I still do by the way. In that post I mentioned Ireland, because that's where my family came from.

But there's another country that's on my bucket list. I became interested in Malaysia when I was a teenager. I learned about this beautiful country in High School and I remember after seeing pictures of it the first time my imagination soared. I could see myself laying on one of its awesome beaches, soaking up sun, swimming in its crystal clear water, walking through one of many ancient palaces, visiting one of its cities towering with skyscrapers, I could go on and on.

What I did learn about this country years ago is limited but it must have really sparked an interest in my young mind back in High School because, I have forgotten so many things since that time. Only the most important things stick with you.

I would love to see comments regarding Malaysia from anyone else as interested as myself, from those that have actually been there and have experienced it's beauty first hand or better yet, from the wonderful people of Malaysia.

For those of you who don't know much about this awesome country, Malaysia is  a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi). Malaysia has a King, Abdul Halim @Abdul Halim. Isn't that cool?! 

The country is separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysiaand Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore,Vietnam, and the Philippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population was 28.33 million, with 22.6 million living on the Peninsula. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai is in Malaysia, located in the tropics. It is one of 17megadiverse countries on earth, with large numbers of endemic species.

Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963, with si being added to give the new country the name Malaysia. Less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation.

The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a large role in politics. Theconstitution declares Islam the state religionwhile protecting freedom of religion. The government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is the king, known as theYang di-Pertuan Agong. He is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the Prime Minister.

Since independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDPgrowing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fueled by its natural resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce andmedical tourism. Today, Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy, ranked third largest in Southeast Asia and 29th largest in the world. It is a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, theEast Asia Summit and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and a member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the Non-Aligned Movement.

If you want to learn more about this great nation, there is a treasure of information on the internet. I encourage all of my readers, friends, anyone reading this post to learn more about the people of our big planet. I hope to see some of your comments on this post about what you've learned! Thanks for reading my blog!!

I Hate Spiders!!

Why did God create them? I'm in no way criticizing the Allmighty but the only thing I can figure out why spiders exist is to scare the hell out of me!

They are just so creepy. And what's worse is all my friends and family know that I am terrified of them. I hear so many times "oh that one won't hurt you," or "it's more scared of you than you are of it," but I'm not gonna go out of my way to bite the spider so I really don't get that.

I know there are people on our strange planet who actually keep them as pets.

I'll just come right out and say you're freaking nuts if you like spiders crawling all over you. Working in law enforcement for so many years I learned early on to never let other cops know your weaknesses and fears because your fellow brothers and sisters will use them against you. I've had plastic spiders and real ones hidden in my desk, hanging in my locker, my patrol car, everywhere. Hell I've had them thrown at me. But they all figured out that I will go beserk, crazy, nuts at the sight of one of those creepy things. Now that I'm retired it's safe for me to disclose the fact that I've shot spiders with my service weapons. That includes my pistol and shotgun.

I would be the first cop charging thru the door, the best back up another cop could have, I've been in the ER plenty of times because of my Irish bravery so any cop I ever worked with never had to doubt me. But when it comes to spiders...I'm out on that. 

So, in all fairness to all things great and small, including spiders, can anybody tell me what they are good for? Their creepy, they bite, it hurts and some are even fatal. Some just cause you to lose the tissue around the area of the bite. Some are this color and that color, this size and that, this type and that, but to me, they are all deadly. Their hard to keep out of the house, the flower bed, in the attic, under the house. 

It's hard, at least for me, to find an insecticide that kills them and keeps them away. So any advice would be greatly appreciated. I 

I would love to hear others' experiences with these little creepy crawlers, and for those reading this who live in another country, please tell me what kind you have to deal with, pictures please!!

Thanksgiving!!

Ah Thanksgiving...a wonderful time for families to make the arduous effort to come together and have a big meal...all under one roof. Unless your like the typical American family and you may have to travel not only to Moms house, but your in laws as well. Regardless, wherever your having Turkey Day, it's one of the best times of the year to reflect. I'm not kidding!

If your children are still young, it's the perfect opportunity to teach them the importance of being thankful. If they seem to have a problem coming up with a detailed list of items to be thankful for, take them down to the nearest homeless shelter. But if your kids can only come up with a short list, like "I'm thankful for my Xbox," and "my game boy," things like that, don't put the whole blame on your kiddos. You Dads need to spend more time with the kids, getting down in the floor playing with them, out in the yard throwing a football around, etc. And don't tell me that you don't do it because your Dad didn't do those things with you because that's a sorry excuse. You can break those chains. You can choose not to be the same man your father was. Ok I'm getting into a completely different topic.

It's really never too late to learn how important it is in having people in your life who love you, who provide for you, or having a warm bed to sleep in, a roof over your head, food to eat, etc. We should never just take things or people for granted. Family is important. If you have a family, be thankful for that. Some people have nothing. Nothing.

If you and your family haven't been speaking, stop waiting, give them a call, and set things right. Forgive. It's time. Friends, believe me on this...life is way too short. Life can be so good. It's up to you.

If your the man of your house, then be the man. Get your family into the holiday spirit by setting the example. Don't mope around the house like you don't want to be there. Make it a happy home. 

On Thanksgiving day, get up early and help each other make a wonderful meal together. Play with each other. Love on each other. Watch some football together. Make this Thanksgiving be special. Together. 

Happy Holidays!!!

I Need To Travel Somewhere. FAST!

Its not like I've never been anywhere before. I personally know a lot of people who have never travelled outside the state of Oklahoma. That's nuts.

I've lived in Norway, Louisiana and Oklahoma. I've travelled this country, passing through most states. My son and I spent a week in New Orleans staying in the French Quarter. We had a blast. I stayed in New York City for a few days, Pennsylvania a couple months. So I've had some experiences outside of Nowhere Oklahoma before and I think that may be my problem.

I want to visit Ireland in a very bad way and I'm determined to do it. I came very close before. I had the whole trip planned, tickets bought, Hotels and Castles, a stay over in New York City, we were gonna go see the New York Yankees play ball, gonna go see a play, all before boarding the plane bound for the Emerald Isle. But, health problems caused me to cancel the trip. My Fiancé, her wonderful children, I really let them down...but, I will make up for it. I promised them.

At this point in my life, I'm disabled and a retired cop. Winter time is upon us. I'm very bored. My life is at a stand still it seems. A perfect opportunity to travel. At least a cruise in a warmer region of the world. Can you believe I've never been on a cruise? I'm hoping some of my readers will give me suggestions on Cruise Vacations. Maybe some of you have even been to Ireland before! Right now I just need some ideas so I can get the gears in my noggin spinning. I need some inspiration, some motivation, and a lot of cash, LOL.

Too Many Scary Movies!

Am I the only person who has noticed a dramatic increase in the production of Horror movies? Or am I just getting more dramatic in my old age? Or both? Don't answer that. Like most evenings in my living room, we sit down and relax in front of this huge television and fumble through the movie channels, unless there's a good sports event to watch. Regardless, we usually settle on something to watch before we all get on our smart phones and get on Facebook or Google.

We don't watch horror movies. Well...Rena doesn't watch horror movies. Sometimes, if I'm the only one here at the house, I may watch a horror movie. Regardless of what we watch, the commercials keep reminding us of the latest movies coming out and it just seems to me that every other one is either a horror movie, or at least a really creepy one, if there's a difference.

I was born in the 60's and the biggest difference to me in today's movies verses the older ones is "imagination." Back then you had to use your imagination while watching a movie. Today's movies leave nothing to the imagination. They show more than you could ever imagine. They sometimes show more than you want to imagine. Horror movies have come a long ways, surpassing anything my imagination could ever conjure. I wouldn't want any of that stuff rolling around in my noggin but like I said before, my curiosity gets the best of me and if I'm the only one at home...which means I'm all alone in this big ol' creaky house, I will watch a recent horror movie.

My mother told me a story that when my Uncle Tom would come home from Vietnam on military leave, he would call first before coming over to visit. He would ask his big sister, my mother, to leave the porch light on. This was a guy who had already served one tour of duty in Vietnam and who had seen terrible things in the scary jungles over there, but he was haunted by a horror movie from his youth most of us are familiar with called Frankenstein.

I think what most of us are afraid of the most is the unknown. I think it's what we feed our minds, which is why I mostly stay away from scary movies. We need more wholesome, family movies today to feed our minds. Maybe the violence in this country would drop if we all would pay more attention to what our kids were watching. But that's another story. Talk to you later friends.

Word for the day. Funny. Haha?

Humor. Some say it's a prescription for sickness. I say it's a daily necessity, but since I just brought myself into this conversation let me explain "me" a bit. It has been said and I'm a firm believer that Marlin has a "sick" sense of humor, but I haven't always had this sickness. My sense of humor was shaped by a career. Law Enforcement. Growing up in my small family of three brothers, I was the youngest, which means I was picked on daily, beat up hourly and blamed for everything. My bestest friends were animals (no I was not intimate with our farm animals).

I grew up watching the Brady Bunch, the Partridge Family, Andy Griffith and Barney Fife, One Adam 12, Police Story, Captain Kangaroo, the Electric Company, Zoom, Sesame Street and many more programs that were very wholesome and oozing heavily in rated G. But back then, Saturday mornings were the bomb! It paid to wake up early, make myself a big bowl of cereal and turn on the television (no remote control!!) and watch cartoons until about noon. Then, Saturday Night Live came on after Mom went to bed. My SNL cast were the best! Bill Murray, John Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Dan Akroyd...that's all I can remember off the top of my head. They were the best and I have a lot of friends who can back that up!

But I was pretty cool with my sense of humor back then. The teenage years. It wasn't sadistic yet.

Then I became a police officer. For those who don't know me that well (yes their are a few of you), before I became a cop I was an innocent, naïve person. I did not use curse words very often. I was a nice young man. A police officer gets cursed at a lot. He/she hears the F word so much that it's impossible for it to escape your own vocabulary. So much so that it becomes one of your most used words. It even becomes part of the language used in your police commands. This is because the F word is a word that bad guys understand the best. It's the exclamation point of a sentence for them. Their own mothers used it in sentences when they meant business. Like "get the F out of bed right F ing now!!! So, cops use it in sentences like "get on the F ing ground," or "show me your F ing hands"!! The bad guy understands that you mean business and it means right now. Quickly.

Police officers, in their line of work have to see things that they would like to clean from their eyeballs and erase from their memory. Those motorists who come to a screeching halt in an attempt to see the blood and guts on a vehicle collision or crime scene, for example...the cop is the one who is usually standing in the blood and guts of what used to be a person, and taking snap shots. They go home each day and like me, I used to watch cartoons or comedies to try my best to get my mind off of what I had to see at work that day. But the images don't go away. After a few years, the cop is standing in the blood and guts cracking jokes and making fun of each other.

Now, we all have Facebook. Yay! We can even use curse words when we text or post on Facebook and it isn't that bad because we use the first letter of the curse word. Like, WTF. It doesn't sound all that bad when it's spelled out like that, does it? Yesterday, I heard of a very nice Christian lady I know who accidentally used WTF in her Facebook post. A friend of hers had recently been awarded Teacher of the Year in her district and so my friend wanted to post something nice, like "way to go" on her Facebook page. Many of others had already posted on this teachers page so she did too. But, instead of posting WTG (way to go) Sarah, on her friends page, her post read WTF Sarah! Imagine Sarah's surprise. But my friends daughter saw the post, called her mother on the phone and said "WTF mom"!! Just kidding. Her daughter did correct the post for her.

But sometimes our sense of humor does get us in trouble. Mine has. Many, many times. A lot. But, its my sense of humor and I need it to survive. Trouble or not, the show must go on! I believe there are many types of humor. I mean, many types of people have different senses of humor. Not all are the same. Like, my lovely Fiancé...she is mostly all business but she is also very funny. She makes me laugh quite a bit. But when it comes to what makes her laugh...let's just say its different. Let me describe it this way...after I had my first back surgery, which was a double fusion with hardware, I woke up to a great deal of pain. My Doctor told me before the surgery that it would be painful but I was already in pain so I thought it would be worth it. I was wrong. When I opened my eyes I saw my lovely lady standing next to my bed and then I felt a lot of pain. I grabbed the sides of the hospital bed and began shouting for pain medicine. I was shouting, loud! Again I saw my lovely lady who I love with all of my being but this time she had her hand pressed tightly over her mouth. She does this when she's laughing uncontrollably. You see, her sense of humor is different than say, most people. What makes her laugh is other peoples calamities. Especially mine. One day I was helping her move a very heavy table piece from a closet (she refuses to purchase any furniture unless it weighs at least 500 pounds) and while doing so I dropped it onto one of my toes (I was wearing socks) and smashed my toe into many pieces. It really hurt bad and so I hopped to a nearby chair and covered the toe with my hands to keep her from touching it. You see, she is a Nurse and apparently nurses like to immediately touch a body part when it is in a great deal of pain. Again, she is standing there with her hands pressed firmly against her mouth. Funny. For her.