Just my luck
God Bless:
Friday, October 28, 2005
Just My Luck
A friend (if you can call him that now) said I saw this and thought of you. Humor only goes so far, I was not speeding!
Just my luck
God Bless:
Just my luck
God Bless:
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Almost One
As I sit and ponder my youth (which has long past me by) there are times in my life were it not for the grace of God I would not be here today. Let me introduce to you an element in my past life that I had some control of, and at other points I had no control.
Let me begin with a story……
There was once a couple who loved each other, but intermingled with their love there was another love that they both shared even more. This other love that they both shared was for a drink. Their love for alcohol made all other issues secondary to this, their first love.
Into this perfect love that they both shared came and unexpected surprise. It was me....
With my arrival came unexpected problems, I cut into a budget that was so carefully setup. My parents were faced with a decision, do they rearrange their priorities to be parents or do they abandon themselves to their first love. A choice had to be made, and it was made. I lost; I came in a dismal third to their first love. Let me say this in their defense, they did love me, but not enough.
You see both my parents where alcoholics. Their dependence on it overcame their desire to be parents. Their lives centered on sharing a drink, then another, then another and so it went. There was not enough money for both me and the bottle.
As you see, alcohol played a big role in the shaping of my early life. My self esteem was affected by this. But it does not end there; it also affected my later years.
As a teenager I knew what alcohol had done to my real parents but I gave no heed to what it could do to me. Surely I would not make the same mistakes they did. I drank with good friends (and with no so good friends) thinking all the while it was just a single drink.
For more that four years this was my pattern till one day I stopped. There came a moment in my life when I took a look around me and asked; “What is it that makes me feel good about myself?” I had to admit there were times the alcohol made me feel good, but afterwards, not so much so. So to get past the bad feelings, I took another drink to make me feel better.
Now to bring this point even closer to home, I was a Christian. When people questioned my drinking I would argue the Bible does not prohibit the drinking of alcohol, so I was spiritually free to use it. But was I?
I looked about me and saw the crumbled and shattered walls of lives that surrounded me, which included my own, and as I thought about this, in my hand was a drink. I had become the person that my adoptive parents had warned me about. At that point in time I sat down my drink and have not picked one up since.
I had finally realized with the help of some medical personnel, family, and friends that I had a really good likelihood of becoming that which destroyed my parents.
So why write this diatribe? It is because I see many others that surround me both young and old drowning. Alcohol has been used in the past for both medicine, a drug, and as a poison. For some like me, we have seen the poison side of alcohol. It poisoned my family; it poisoned my youth, and almost poisoned my adulthood. For you see, I could have easily been my parents all over again…..but for the grace of God.
To end this discourse let me tell you another even shorter story. I got to ask my real mother about drinking and her love for alcohol. I asked her if she had to do it all over again, would she have taken that first drink, and her words came home. Her answer was, ‘No, for the simple reason that after that first drink there was born in me a desire for another, then another, then there was no end in site.’
She now understands the consequences of that first drink some 45 years later, and to her credit she has not had a drink in over 14 years. As she stated she can never recover those 45 plus years she lost. She can not recover the lost love of a son or a daughter that was poisoned by her sickness, which was alcoholism. I know for a fact that I walked a thin line for far too many years. Even today I have to be vigilant in where I go and who I hang with because there is within me that which I loathe, a weakness that with one drink waits to escape. Though you may not sub come to this sickness yourself, those who you encourage to join you in that simple drink may be ensnared by it like my real mother and father. Personal weakness has nothing to do with it. Like any other drug many who try once may have propensity to be ensnared by it after that one drink.
God Bless:
Let me begin with a story……
There was once a couple who loved each other, but intermingled with their love there was another love that they both shared even more. This other love that they both shared was for a drink. Their love for alcohol made all other issues secondary to this, their first love.
Into this perfect love that they both shared came and unexpected surprise. It was me....
With my arrival came unexpected problems, I cut into a budget that was so carefully setup. My parents were faced with a decision, do they rearrange their priorities to be parents or do they abandon themselves to their first love. A choice had to be made, and it was made. I lost; I came in a dismal third to their first love. Let me say this in their defense, they did love me, but not enough.
You see both my parents where alcoholics. Their dependence on it overcame their desire to be parents. Their lives centered on sharing a drink, then another, then another and so it went. There was not enough money for both me and the bottle.
As you see, alcohol played a big role in the shaping of my early life. My self esteem was affected by this. But it does not end there; it also affected my later years.
As a teenager I knew what alcohol had done to my real parents but I gave no heed to what it could do to me. Surely I would not make the same mistakes they did. I drank with good friends (and with no so good friends) thinking all the while it was just a single drink.
For more that four years this was my pattern till one day I stopped. There came a moment in my life when I took a look around me and asked; “What is it that makes me feel good about myself?” I had to admit there were times the alcohol made me feel good, but afterwards, not so much so. So to get past the bad feelings, I took another drink to make me feel better.
Now to bring this point even closer to home, I was a Christian. When people questioned my drinking I would argue the Bible does not prohibit the drinking of alcohol, so I was spiritually free to use it. But was I?
I looked about me and saw the crumbled and shattered walls of lives that surrounded me, which included my own, and as I thought about this, in my hand was a drink. I had become the person that my adoptive parents had warned me about. At that point in time I sat down my drink and have not picked one up since.
I had finally realized with the help of some medical personnel, family, and friends that I had a really good likelihood of becoming that which destroyed my parents.
So why write this diatribe? It is because I see many others that surround me both young and old drowning. Alcohol has been used in the past for both medicine, a drug, and as a poison. For some like me, we have seen the poison side of alcohol. It poisoned my family; it poisoned my youth, and almost poisoned my adulthood. For you see, I could have easily been my parents all over again…..but for the grace of God.
To end this discourse let me tell you another even shorter story. I got to ask my real mother about drinking and her love for alcohol. I asked her if she had to do it all over again, would she have taken that first drink, and her words came home. Her answer was, ‘No, for the simple reason that after that first drink there was born in me a desire for another, then another, then there was no end in site.’
She now understands the consequences of that first drink some 45 years later, and to her credit she has not had a drink in over 14 years. As she stated she can never recover those 45 plus years she lost. She can not recover the lost love of a son or a daughter that was poisoned by her sickness, which was alcoholism. I know for a fact that I walked a thin line for far too many years. Even today I have to be vigilant in where I go and who I hang with because there is within me that which I loathe, a weakness that with one drink waits to escape. Though you may not sub come to this sickness yourself, those who you encourage to join you in that simple drink may be ensnared by it like my real mother and father. Personal weakness has nothing to do with it. Like any other drug many who try once may have propensity to be ensnared by it after that one drink.
God Bless:
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Freedom and God's Moral Law?
The Greek word for Law is 'nomos'
When one speaks about God's laws what is brought to mind? If one was to study the laws of the OT one could break them down into three categories.
1. Civil Laws - the law of government of Israel.
2. Ceremonial Laws - These surround the special offerings and sacrificial offerings and how they were to be presented. They also dealt with the clothing of the priest and random other issues.
3. Moral Laws - these laws are embodied in what we know as the Ten Commandments.
Let us focus just on God's Moral Law.
So I ask the this question: Are we free from God's Moral law?
Can you remember the The Commandments? Lets summarize Exodus 20:3-17
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother:
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8.Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Read through these laws and ask yourself, are we free to ignore any of them?
When one speaks about God's laws what is brought to mind? If one was to study the laws of the OT one could break them down into three categories.
1. Civil Laws - the law of government of Israel.
2. Ceremonial Laws - These surround the special offerings and sacrificial offerings and how they were to be presented. They also dealt with the clothing of the priest and random other issues.
3. Moral Laws - these laws are embodied in what we know as the Ten Commandments.
Let us focus just on God's Moral Law.
So I ask the this question: Are we free from God's Moral law?
Can you remember the The Commandments? Lets summarize Exodus 20:3-17
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother:
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8.Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Read through these laws and ask yourself, are we free to ignore any of them?
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Boerne Rod Run
This past weekend Boerne (located in south Texas) hosted their Annual Rod Run. There were more than 350 cars this year. Many of the same cars come each year but there are more new ones every year. I got shutter bug happy and took over 150 photos this year. The three posted today are just a glimpse of the ones I took. The hours people put into this hobby baffles me and the amount of money people spend restoring these cars you would not believe. But as they say: "the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys". But that is not all together true, for many women have their own cars displayed this year. The red Ford belonged to a woman well into her 60's.
It was a great year and I will publish a few more over the next coming months.
A Candy Apple Red
It was a great year and I will publish a few more over the next coming months.
A Candy Apple Red
Saturday, October 08, 2005
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