Have you ever felt a temptation storming within your mind like a raging bull?

Have had a thought or idea in your head that you just couldn't get rid of, no matter how hard you tried?

You don't know where it came from, all you know is it keeps bouncing around your head, like a pin-ball that can't stop scoring pints.

This is just a little thing you may say. A small thing, it can't really matter that much.

Maybe it's stealing someone else's cookie, what harm can that be?

After all, you were unprepared, and it's not that big a deal.

And I'm really hungry!

I'll just do better next time.

Right now I just need to do this, really what harm can come from it?

You might want to reconsider

A Reflection:

Not a Schwinn from Sears

I dedicate this story to all parents especially those that homeschool

I just took my dad out to dinner for his 88^th birthday, God Bless him. I am now going through some boxes in the garage and found this picture of my first bike. Add to that, Connie just attended a mandatory workshop, at her work, on generation difference from the senior to the boomers, X- generation and Y- generation. Yikes!

Seems like a good time for “A Reflection”

The attitude about almost everything has distinctive differences from generation to generation, and the changes don’t seem to be going in a good direction.

Yes, it all can be explained by this bike.

Clearly the bike seems, humm . a little big. You might say!

Well let me tell you the story behind this bike, after all it can explain almost all of our generation difference, that’s what I said, right?

Let’s go back to, let’s say, the year 1957. My dad worked at McCoy Ford, a body shop in Anaheim. On Saturdays, as well as many summer days, I would go to work with my dad. Hang out, watch what was going on, and pound on some metal. But mostly watch how grown-ups and especially dads conducted the business of life. I learned how to follow orders, set goals and complete tasks. I learned how to take pride in your workmanship and help your fellow workers. What do you do when your boss barks out order, how to handle different types of people. And how to solve problems, yourself.

At times my fathers would go purchase parts, often used parts at some junk yard. I learned to haggle and still be honest. I think the most valuable thing I learned working with my dad, besides hard work, was patience. I watched my dad take things apart, like motors, and put them back together. Often, things didn’t always work right the first time, so he would just take it apart again, and again, and sometimes again. My dad could fix anything, and I learned his secret, beside determination, was patience. I wanted that, and now I have it, and it has served me well, in many ways.

I think I better get back to the bike. The bike started out as two bikes. I don’t know where he got the bikes, maybe they were junk, maybe he paid something for them, and it doesn’t really matter. I remember we worked on the bike together, there was disassemble, welding, painting and re-assemble. And boy was it ever the best day of my life when it was all finished. Yes, it was a little big. I figured that out though, I had a milk carton for getting on, and I could get off by glided up next to a curb. If no curb was available, a crash on a lawn would do just fine.

I could go on and on about my childhood, as I’m sure everyone could, but I better get back to that generation thing. The different attitudes from the different generations. The Y’s seems to think the X’s want to micromanage everything in their life. The X’s and the Y’s think the boomers work too hard, they should retire. They think the boomers and seniors are too uptight. The Y’s don’t like making commitments, and believe in complete diversity. They basically feel they are entitled to reap the benefits of the generations that came before them, weather it is wealth and the things that come from wealth or freedom that came from the sacrifices of those men and women that fought and died for our freedom. And to them freedom is interpreted as being free to do as they please. Freedom from rules and even freedom from parental authority. Oops, that last part was a little opinionated. Humm, I think I’m on to something too big for this blog. Lets get back to the bike lesson.

The real reward that comes from the choices parents and grandparents make is not the cell phones, I-pods, computers and other material things we give our children. No the real reward is the character we develop that comes from the way we live our lives. And that’s Something we just can’t give away. It is something we must learn for ourselves. I’m grateful to my dad for that bike. From that bike I learned to fix things. And I learned to solve problems. I just don’t know what I might have learned from my bike if it was a new Schwinn bike from Sears.

Character comes from planting, fruit comes from harvesting. We need both.

Valentine's weekend

photo; HDR image combining 5 exposures at F-22, lens set at 72mm

I started out Friday morning at 6am with my camera, tripod, and coffee. I was hoping to catch the sunlight coming through some arches I had seen off the cliffs of South Corona Del Mar.

Didn't quite work out like I expected, but that's OK.

Photo; HDR image combining 5 exposures, F-7, 24mm

While I was there I photographed some houses. I think that's OK.

Saturday night I took my sweetheart to Cafe Zoolu and than to the Laguna Playhouse to see George Gershwin Alone, both in Laguna Beach. Got some points.

On Valentine's day Connie and I went to the Montage in Laguna Beach to just take a walk

We ran into this young man purposing to his sweetheart, how sweet. So I offered to take their picture. They were very happy. I sent it to them. That's OK I think.

All in All A pretty good weekend

Renewed

photo; cottage at Crystal Cove . Nikon D-200 F10, 1/125 sec lens set at 70mm

My state of being is now the existence beyond my comprehension

I have truly had no experience to match my present situation

I must try to use my imagination to explain my awareness

It is dark, but not completely black

I am crammed tightly in a confined space

The surface around me feels smooth and yet lacks any irregularities

suggesting an opening or way of escape

I sense motion, yet unsure of its meaning

My emotions are mixed, dominated by fear and despair

with an odd feeling of comfort

my fear is that of eminent danger

of a catastrophe about to happen beyond comprehension

or perhaps worst yet, nothing will happen

and I will remain in this prison forever

I ask myself, where am I , how did I get here

I know not where I am, within my confinement nor beyond

am I on a cliff, furied within the earth

or perhaps on the bottom of the sea, I can not know even this.

Yet something tells me I should not be thinking of such things

perhaps I should not be thinking at all

my arms are against my stomach, my knees are against my chest

and I can't even raise my head up fully

I have no abilities and therefore no choices

and if I have no choices what good is my thoughts, but to torment me

perhaps if I were to work very hard within my mind and gained some understanding

could my understanding change anything, could it deliver me

than what good would understanding be, but to torment me

I can think about my dreams, dreams that will never come to be

and what good are thoughts such as there, but to torment me

so now I know that I am imprisoned and with a tormentor, myself and my very thoughts

What is this existence

have I been buried alive in some tomb

will death soon deliver me, I fear not

for not even death can reach me in this place

perhaps my wretched soul is in HELL

can this be hell, shut off from all life with no light

having a mind that works but a body with no life

a mind without love, kindness, compassion, or forgiveness

for I no not even these emotions

they do not exist within my thoughts

nor is there any input to my mind

no experiences to process

only the constant replay of thoughts of myself

no one else exist within my prison, except me and thoughts of me

this must be hell, I've discovered hell

and I fear I shall remain in this state for all eternity

who can save me, can anyone deliver me

oh, wretched soul that I am

I am entombed in my death, a place that even prayer can't reach, I fear

my engulfing thoughts of peril are overwhelming

and yet there does exist a thought of hope, like a seed buried in my cold and barren heart

so I cry out to God and confess that I am a helpless and lost sinner

I beg for forgiveness and invite Jesus into my life to save me from this state of death

and suddenly something begins to happen, a crack has formed

and a sliver of light is now entering my darkness

another crack has appeared, and another

I feel the casing breaking away and light begins to stream in

I see now that the prison that I was in was merely the membrane of an egg

I am free, free indeed

I can move, I am alive, there is light everywhere

it is wonderful, I can see and the beauty I see is beyond any dream I could have had

There is a God and He freed me from my prison

Hey look honey, that man we have been praying for isn't that him going to the alter to

accept Christ

photo; cottage from Crystal Cove and garden walk from Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC.

7 images of the cottage were taken and blended in hdr process than merged with garden image

Anger

no dog was hurt in this picture, it's all for show

This will be positive, I promise.

"Never go to bed mad, stay up and fight"

Phyllis Diller

When something in our life gets out of balance or a lie becomes our truth, during our childhood, it is far more impacting than when we encounter such things later in life. If you start a journey and you are off in direction just slightly, by just a fraction of a degree, after many years, you will find yourself far off your intended and purposed course. It is like aiming a rifle at a target five feet away, 1 degree off means nothing, but if your target is 5 hundred yards away, you won't even come close. Later in life when we encounter a lie or find something out of balance we quickly sense we have gone off our familiar trail and we seek to make corrections.

When I was young, perhaps 12 or 13, I used to hear my parents and my older sisters yelling and screaming at each other. They would yell cruel words, make threats, and scream hateful things to each other. For some reason this really effected me. I would go into my room and close the door and just listen and feel my stomach turning. I ended up a teenager with bleeding ulcers over this. It effected my attitude toward anger for the rest of my life. I later realized that this behavior between parents and teenagers is not that unusual, and doesn't mean they don't love each other. But for me, my course in regards to expressing emotions now had it's heading; learn self-control and avoid showing emotions especially anger at all cost, you will just hurt others with your selfish outburst. Well there is plenty of good reason to stand firmly on this perspective. The Bible has plenty to say warning us about anger. "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing" (proverbs 12:18) "An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins." (proverbs 29:22) We don't need to look far to see the harm anger can bring. What is anger, but violence and cruelty, right? Actually what I am learning as I try to correct my imbalanced course, is that anger can also be good. Not only that, it is necessary to healthy living. I am learning that anger is just energy. Energy can be used either for good or bad. Like a revved up engine filled with horsepower waiting for our instruction. If we try to hold it all in, it is like holding the clutch on the floor and letting our engine just sit there racing- we will blow a piston sooner or later.

I am learning to welcome the energy from anger and use it in a responsible way. Getting mad at the pile of paper on my desk can make me finally do the filing I have been putting off.

Getting mad when you can't button your pants can be the motivating energy to get you to the gym. Getting mad when you lose a loved one can become the energy to show those remaining in your life how much you love them and appreciate them. It can also be the energy you need to find your God given purpose in life and get yourself busy pursuing that instead of the many endeavors of folly and foolishness that consume our time, before our time is up. Getting mad at those people in your life that you know are harmful to you, can give you the energy to finally put up boundaries in your life to protect yourself from those kind of people. I believe I could go on and on. Jesus got angry at the money changer in the temple who were fleecing those who came to worship Him and he turned over their tables. Learning to not feel guilty about being angry may be the hardest part for me. The key is knowing what is worthy of our anger and what to do when we are angry. I know that many people are challenged with trying to control their anger. But for me, I have to learn to allow anger into my life.

I think this quote from Martin Luther King puts it best;

I never work better than when I am inspired by anger; for when I am angry, I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart.- Martin Luther

Please hit comment and share your thoughts-Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Sea Glass part 1

Connie and I have a hobby that I would like to tell everyone about. It is Sea Glass hunting and collecting. We have done this from mostly our beaches right here in Souther California, but also

Mendocino, Carmel, Monterey, Hawaii, and Maine. What is Sea Glass?

Sea glass (also known as beach glass, mermaid's tears, lucky tears, and many other names) is glass found on beaches along oceans or large lakes that has been tumbled and smoothed by the water and sand, creating small pieces of smooth, frosted glass.[1]

Sea glass is one of the very few cases of a valuable item being created from the actions of the environment on man-made litter.

we have found it in a ocean pool

We went to Mendocino because it is close to Fort Brags (great sea glass beach)

Hawaii

Sea Glass part 2

You might ask what can you make with sea glass?

pots for our plants

a patio table to entertain at

We make bottle art

Sea Glass part 3

We take walks

We wait for the tide to go out

We walk our dog

Mostly what we are doing is building our relationship. We spend time together talking about our family, our dreams and fears, and we talk about God and His love for us. And we talk about the love we have for each other. We are collection sea glass and much more.

I hope that as we share our story about collection sea glass that you can relate to some experience that you and your spouse of loved one share together.

Please share your story.

The State Loves you

This 2 year old child is chained to a lamp post while his father works, as a (unlicensed richshaw cyclist in Bejijing. His mother is disabled an collects rubbish at the roadside. His father says he must do this to prevent his child from being stolen. Two months ago his 4 year old daughter was stolen.

He doesn't live in the right province to qualify for child care, he only makes f4.50 per day.

"I don't even have a picture of my daughter to use for a missing-person poster. I cannot lose my son as well"

This image and the story that goes with it breaks your heart. If you have children or love children and know the special bond between parents and children, you can imagine what it must be like to be in this position.

In China the state controls where you can live, how many children you can have, how much money you can make, when and if you will receive health care or child care. The profits of a hard working productive people goes to the state and a few rich elite. God Bless America and the freedom we have. Don't let anyone tell you that the state loves your family and knows what's best for them better than you. Pray for our nation and it's future.

2 Chronicles 7:14

Some people may think that people who have a hard time absorbing data rapidly must have some learning challenges. Why are introverted people so--- introverted. Well here is a exclusive look into how their minds are working.

Broccoli and Baby Carrots is based on the struggle within all of us referred to in Romans 7:15-25

I need to put information together in my mind in a way that makes sense in my world.

enjoy.

Broccoli and Baby Carrots

I must prepare for battle. My enemy is strong, well armed, very crafty, and has many seasoned solders. I both hate and respect my enemy. As we stand on opposing hills this morning, I feel confident and strong. The memory of our last encounter I try to force out of my thoughts. My enemy has great and powerful solders on his side, with craftiness beyond belief. When in battle, if he senses weakness in your forces, his power over you becomes a like a spell. And without my defenses, strong as I am, I don’t have a chance. For when the spell of my enemy comes upon me it is as if my very soul has departed and I am possessed by the soul of this beast for a time being. I take upon myself a new nature. My new nature will deny any fault accused of him. And I am programmed to stand on his behalf against both myself and others, without hesitation. When I hear his voice my immediate reaction of approval is so instinctive and responsive, that it will bypass my very thought process. I obey without hesitation. I am just left to wonder why I did what I did--- But that was yesterday.

And today the battle shall be different; today I’m determined to have victory. One of my commanding officers tells me that the spoils of this battle shall be seeds of a future harvest. But such talk doesn’t seem to summon much enthusiasm among my men. I tell them, we shall obtain victory for the sake of victory. We can not let such an arrogant fool such as that defeat us. So prepare for battle, I cry. The battle is less than an hour away, so ready yourselves men. It is a fight of good and evil, gird yourselves for battle.

My enemy gives his men no such pep talk. His men are always ready for battle, like starving hyenas staking a wounded animal. The hope of spoils in their camp has no such thoughts as, “seeds of a future harvest”, but rather fresh meat for their lust this very day.

I now get into my chariot and along with my forces ride swiftly to the battlefield, some five miles from here. I know this battlefield well, and all along the way we are experiencing attacks. The closer I get the stronger the smell of former defeats fill my nostrils. And the smell enters my body like nova cane to numb my will to fight. I’m very close now, and again I feel the enemy’s spell coming upon me. I raise my fist and cry out “you shall not have me this day”. But his strength is too great. I know myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once to take its flight from my body. I am experiencing this unfathomable longing of my soul to vex itself- to do wrong for wrong’s sake only.

My body is now under the control of my enemy. My forces have all left me. Perhaps, seeds of a future harvest was not a strong enough enticement to drive my men to their best. When a warrior is fighting and his adrenalin is pumping, he wants to devour red meat at the time of victory to satisfy his enraged lust.

I have now been commanded to pull my chariot over. I’m brought now shamefully through a crowd of people. All eyes I feel are on me. I move now like a young recruit following his commanding officer. Without hesitation I open the door. I am doing exactly as my enemy commands me, with no trace of resistance. I take a deep breath, draw my shoulders back and prepare to do what I must do. The man behind the counter asks what I want. And I speak the words as if they were my own. “I’ll take a jelly donut, the one right there, and a coffee please” There my shame like nakedness is laid out for everyone to see. As I devour this donut with jelly on my chin, I feel renewed confidence. I am strong and my forces with me are ready for the next battle. For lunch I’m going to have broccoli and baby carrots.