My Random Thoughts

 Binosh and he is from India

I find myself getting worried around the third week of every month. I begin to worry when I do not find, at the beginning of the week, a envelope from compassion. This envelope contains the statement and payment envelope for the child I sponsor through compassion. This worrying always come to an end when I receive the envelope in the mail. In fact, I probably worry more about that envelope then I do for any of the bills I have to pay. God is changing me to be more compassionate for people I do not even know. I am so thankful to be blessed with this worry. I urge everyone to consider sponsoring a child and see how God will work through you while changing your life for the better.

 Thomas

I have seven user ids and passwords that I need for work. That is way too many ids and passwords to remember. I cannot use the same user ids on any of the programs that I need to use. There has to be a better way of making things secured without needing this many user ids and passwords. Many of my co-works have all there user ids and passwords written down on a piece of paper taped to their monitors or in their desk drawers. All those security measures are now useless.

Thomas

It has been a crummy week!!!!!  Things at work are not so hot right now and it is driving me crazy.  It got to the point today where I cleaned out my desk and took all of my stuff out to my car.   I am not sure how much more I can take of this madness.   My bosses boss tells me to do something and then when I do the thing he tells me to do and things go wrong my bosses boss yells at me for doing what he told me to do.  Example:  I am told that we are spending too much on vehicle maintenance.   I am told to extend the time between oil changes extra.  The vehicle breaks down because the maintenance is extended to far.  I then get lectured because the time between normal maintenance is extended.   The other issue at work is that I am caught between to departments.  What is profitable for one department is not profitable for the other department and it is the same the other way around.   Thus, when one of the department numbers are down it is my fault because I am favoring the other department over the departments who’s numbers are down.  Then a couple months later, the issue raises it head with the other department whose numbers have gone down.   I am getting very tired of all the politics that goes on at work.  I use to enjoy my job even though the pay was not so great.  I do not enjoy my job anymore and no amount of money is worth the headaches this job causes.

Thomas    

Are you a friend of mine?   If so, how do you think I define a friend?  Here are some ways to define a friend. 

Friend.

Merriam-Webster English dictionary

Main Entry:  Pronunciation: ‘frend
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English frend, from Old English frEond; akin to Old High German friunt friend, Old English frEon to love, frEo free
1 a : one attached to another by affection or esteem b : acquaintnce
2 a : one that is not hostile b : one that is of the same nation, party, or group
3 : one that favors or promotes something (as a charity)
4 : a favored companion
5 capitalized : a member of a Christian sect that stresses Inner Light, rejects sacraments and an ordained ministry, and opposes war — called also Quaker  Bible NIV 

Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity

Proverbs 18:24
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 27:6
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

 My definition for a friend is from Proverbs.  How do define a friend? 

Thomas  

As many of you know that I had complained in a previous post that I was having trouble reading my Bible and I decided that I needed to get glasses. When I first arrived at the optometrist, they asked me to fill out some paper work. The print on the forms was small and hard to read. Does it make sense to have small print on those forms at a optometrist? After the test results were in, it said that I need to have reading glasses. During my eye examine they put something in my eyes that made everything blurry. So here I am trying to pick out glass frames and lens options and I could not read anything they put in front of me. All I know I could have been signing my life away.

After I was done picking out my frames and lenses, I was shocked with the prices. How could someone who did not have insurance or have some saving set aside afford a new pair of glasses. Something is wrong when frames are priced in the hundreds and the lenses are even more expensive.

Well the good news is that I can now read my Bible and I am a happy but a lot poorer at this present time.

Thomas

When I saw this  video I thought of Isaiah 11 and that day cannot get here fast enough.

Isaiah 11

The Branch From Jesse

 1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
       from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
       the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
       the Spirit of counsel and of power,
       the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD –  3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
       He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
       or decide by what he hears with his ears;  4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
       with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
       He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
       with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.  5 Righteousness will be his belt
       and faithfulness the sash around his waist.  6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
       the leopard will lie down with the goat,
       the calf and the lion and the yearling ^[a] together;
       and a little child will lead them.  7 The cow will feed with the bear,
       their young will lie down together,
       and the lion will eat straw like the ox.  8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
       and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.  9 They will neither harm nor destroy
       on all my holy mountain,
       for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
       as the waters cover the sea.  10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, ^[b] from Cush, ^[c] from Elam, from Babylonia, ^[d] from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.  12 He will raise a banner for the nations
       and gather the exiles of Israel;
       he will assemble the scattered people of Judah
       from the four quarters of the earth.  13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,
       and Judah’s enemies ^[e] will be cut off;
       Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
       nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.  14 They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;
       together they will plunder the people to the east.
       They will lay hands on Edom and Moab,
       and the Ammonites will be subject to them.  15 The LORD will dry up
       the gulf of the Egyptian sea;
       with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand
       over the Euphrates River. ^[f]
       He will break it up into seven streams
       so that men can cross over in sandals.  16 There will be a highway for the remnant of his people
       that is left from Assyria,
       as there was for Israel
       when they came up from Egypt.

 Thomas 

Here I was filling out this very long form with a lot of personal questions while I was wondering if I was wasting my time. After turning in the form, I was told that I would be getting a call from the associate pastor about the results. A couple of weeks later, I was sitting in the associate pastors office and I was told my results. Well Tomas, the test says that you should be teaching. Your spiritual gift is teaching. Teaching?????? I shot back that teaching is a skill not a gift. (I do know that teaching is a spiritual gift.) I was told that I should be a small group leader or teach one of the Sunday youth classed. So that was it. I could not serve God or the church in another area. Well there is one other area I was told I could serve. I could start up a thirty and older single group that would meet thought out the year. WOW! I could form and run the “I am desperate to get married group”. That part of the conversation ended as fast as it started.

The reason why I bring this all this up is because I wonder how accurate those type of test are. I have not felt any passion ie joy towards teaching for the last few years. I know that having no passion is probably a very poor excuse why I am not teaching or leading a group. I wonder if I am being selfish and stubborn at this present time. Should there be happiness, a joy, while serving in a ministry?

Thomas

I have dreaded this day for a long time.   I am willing to admit that I am getting old.  You read right.  I am getting old.   What has forced me to admit this weakness in me?  The letters in my Bible are getting so small that I have trouble reading more then two sentences at a time.   Why must I get old?  Why? Why? Why?   Whats next?  Losing my hair?   No!!!!!!!!!

Thomas 

First of all, I am a live.  I am sorry that I have been a little deliquent in updating my blog.   I still feel a little bit under the weather so I am going to post something I wrote ove a year ago.    

As I was watching the movie Dave last night a couple of the lines of dialog started my mind down a path of thought. For those of you who do not know what the movie Dave is about, it is about a person who impersonates the President of the United States being asked to impersonate the President after he has a stroke. This series of dialog takes place in the oval office with the staff of the President asking Dave to impersonate the President. Dave at first turns them down saying something to the extent it is against the law. They answered him by asking if he had ever run a red light in the middle of the night with no one around. Then they asked him if he would do it if his mother was ill and they were on the way to the hospital. So why did this little bit of dialog set me to thinking? It has to do with sin. I began to wonder how many people start off with the big whopper of a sin or work themselves up to the big whopper of a sin. Let me explain here. Does the person who commits adultery start off committing adultery or do they work up to it.   It starts off with staying after work and having a in depth conversation with the other person. Then when he or she gets home, say they were just talking with a coworker while making sure that he or she does not mention whom the other person was or what the conversation was about. Then, one day he or she goes out to lunch with the other person even thought they should not. Then, a couple of weeks later the other person needs a ride home and there is an exchange of a kiss. A couple of weeks later there is a ride home, but this time he or she stay there at the other persons house and committees adultery. After he or she goes home and decides not to do this again ends up the other person a couple of weeks latter once he or she got over the guilt of what had happen. Over time this relationship grows until the sin get exposed . This person did not commit adultery at fist, but over time it got to that spot. Each step along the way was an escalation of what happen previously had happen. He or she could have prevented it from getting to that spot but did not do so.

Is it not amazing how sin works that way. Satan know that he has to get a person to that spot were a person will commit the big sin. Each step of the way seems innocent and does not have any consequences, but in the end it does. A teenage who at first think a little fooling around is okay, but ends up pregnant or getting the person pregnant. A person who at first has one drink and drive home becomes the person who after three or four drinks and is drunk and who drives home and has an accident that injures or kills someone. Or a person who at a party smokes a little pot , but ends up in the long run a drug addict. I doubt that any of these people had planned on those outcome but sin is that way.

So how does a person make sure that they are not going down that path.? I believe that a person should continually take a step back and ask a coupe of basic questions. Is this this the direction in my life I want to head and is this God expects from me. If you are asking those questions, there is a good chance that you will not end up making the whopper of a sin. Also, I believe that if your are continually in prayer and studying God word that you are less likely to end up going down the wrong path.

If you realize that you are down that path and you are not sure what to do, reach out to God. He is faithful. God will help you get off that path. I am not saying that it will be easy to change the path you are on and there is a chance that there will be consequences to pay, but the out come will be better.

I know that through out my little ramble that I mention little and big sin. All sin is wrong in God’s eyes. All sin lead to death and should be eliminated from our lives. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thank you for being patient with me while I rambled

Thomas

This means war. That right. War!!! I am so lucky right now. I have been sick since Wednesday and it sucks. I am declaring war on the cold/flue bug. I will not stop until I have over medicated myself with some over the counter medication. I will win this battle and if I am lucky I will win this war.

Something to ponder though. I take some medicine for my running nose, sore throat and coughing. Then my sinus act up so I take some medicine to clear up my sinuses. This causes me to have a running nose again. Maybe I should not take any medication. I am going to be suffering anyways.

Now were did I put the aspirin?   My head is pounding.  lol

Thomas