Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my blog. I will share resources for people who are struggling in the Waukesha area. I know that it can be hard to ask for help. I felt rather humiliated about the act of asking for help. If you need it, it is okay to ask.
I will also share my Christian writings. I am writing a fiction story titled Diary 2.0 that involves a man who was in an accident and received an robot body to replace his damaged body. Since I struggle with depression, I will write about how I have integrated my Christian beliefs and my use of Psychology and Psychiatry in my recovery efforts.

Salt of the World

Jesus compared us to salt.

“If the salt have lost
His savor wherewhith
Shall it be salted?”

Salt is a great
Preserver for meats
And other foods.

Like salt,
We are to
Preserve the world
From evil.

Living a good life
Can make a greater
Difference than one can think.

Now, if I could
Only follow my own
Advice.

4/28/1996

Baptizing of Jesus

When I think of the
Baptism of Jesus by
John the Baptist,

I think of what the
Onlookers must have
Thought as they heard the voice
saying, “This is my beloved Son,
In whom I am well pleased.”

“Huh, where’s that coming from?”
Some may have thought,
While others stared in
In disbelief.

Just as God testified
For Jesus,
Jesus will speak for
Those who know Him.

In this is our only
Way to heaven
And salvation.

So, hear Him
And confess Jesus.

So that He will
Confess you. 3/6/1995

I have been learning that God is the one who gives us faith and the ability to confess him. So, I am a little uncomfortable with my last few lines of this poem. I guess it shows that I am still learning about God and my faith.

Wise men in poetry

The life of Jesus

Started in humble surroundings.

 

Yet, wise men

Came from the east to see

The baby Jesus.

 

They traveled

By a star over Bethlehem.

 

Once before Jesus,

They presented Him with

Gold, frankincense and myrrh.

 

These men were

Wise enough to see passed

The surroundings.

 

If only,

We were wise enough to see

Passed our surroundings to see

The truth.

 

Then, we

We would be able to

See what God sees.

4/22/1996

 

Jesus touches the leper

Jesus walked with a multitude following him. Then, the crowd parted to allow a leper to pass by.
“Unclean” yelled the leper as he tried to approach Jesus.
The people moved away from him in order to keep from touching him.
“Don’t touch him, honey. He is unclean.” said a mother to her child.

The leper walked up to Jesus and kneeled down on his knees before him.

“If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” said the leper.  He remained on his knees.

“I will; be thou clean.”  Jesus reached out and touched the man.  The man flinched at his touch as if he had forgotten what it was like to be touched  by another human being.  The leprosy left him leaving normal looking skin.  ”See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.”

The man jumped up and ran off.

He yelled to everyone, “I have been cleansed.  He touched me.”

Due to this man’s telling everyone about his cleansing, Jesus could no longer enter a city.  He stayed out in the desert places or secretly entered a city after this time.

Questions to ponder:

1.  What do you think it was like to be declared “unclean?”  He had to live outside of the city.  No one was to touch him or his clothes.  He had to shout “unclean” to warn people every where he went.

2.  What was it like to be touched by Jesus?  This man was supposedly holy but he was willing to touch the “unclean.”  Have you ever felt unworthy to be in the presence of another?  God loves those who feel unworthy to be in the presence of other people.

3.  Do you remember a time in your life that you need someone to touch you or hug you?

4.  If the man had a family, he would have had to leave his family to live outside of the family.  I have met people at the work release jail that can’t go home to see their families.  Are you in this situation?

God’s perspective: compassion

I have been writing a book that I think I will call The Jesus Tour.  I found myself wanting to swoop down and fix the lives of my characters.  Yet, I knew that I couldn’t because it wouldn’t be believable if I did.

Then I started wondering how God feels when He wants to swoop down to fix a person’s life.  Does He cry when we are hurting?  Does He sometimes have to fight with Himself to keep from intervening because He has a plan?

I did a search for the word compassion in my kindle Bible.   Here are the verses that came up which describe Jesus having compassion on someone or a group of people.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.  Matthew 9:36

And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and healed their sick.       Matthew 14:14

Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they…              Matthew 15:32

So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received…         Matthew 20:34

And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will, be thou…       Mark 1:41

And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were…        Mark 6:34

I have compassion on the multitude, because they have been with me three days, and have nothing to eat…                      Mark 8:2

And when the LORD saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.                    Luke 7:13

So, I think that God feels compassion for us just as I do for my characters.  I think that He choses not to intervene at times because He has a plan for our lives.

Dear God,

I know that You have a plan for my life but I want to make a better income now rather than later.  I want to be a published writer now!  Help me to have patience as I try to wait for your timing instead of my timing.  Since I want everything now, it is hard for me to wait even though the Bible reminds me that you had compassion on people then.  When I see that you had compassion before healing the sick, teaching the multitudes, and feeding the crowd, I know that your plan is far better than I can imagine.  Help me to stay faithful to you even when I feel like you don’t care about me and my life.          Amen.

 

Genesis 1 in pictures

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one peace, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seeds, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him’ male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

And God saw every thing that he made, and behold, it was very good.  And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

On writing

Now, if I can get my cat to write my book for me.

I love to write yet, I can’t seem to get myself to sit down at my computer.  Here is some of the thoughts that have been running through my head.

Yesterday, I thought…

“I just don’t think that I can keep the life of Christ in chronological order for the rest of my book.”

“But the contest due date in July first.  So, get writing girl.”

“Oh, I have an idea.  Let’s do one teaching moment, one parable and one healing miracle to display the ministry of Jesus.”

I spent part of last night working our a scene idea or two in my head and wrote some too.

Today I thought…

“Oh, I’ll write this evening .  First, I will research to see what type of bike or tricycle that I want to buy.”

“I will write some when I finish reading this good story on my kindle.”

“Oh, I want to look at the freebies list on Amazon while I am laying here with my cat on me.”

It is now around 11:30 PM and I have not wrote a word today into my book.  Now, I am writing this post.

 

Living in community

For as we have many members in our body, and all members have not the same office: so we ,being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”  Romans 12:4-5
Paul compared the body of Christ to a human body. We all have different jobs that we do to help the body of Christ just as our body’s parts have different jobs. A  person talked to me about the idea that every car is a work of art. Each part was drawn and designed before it was ever constructed. The pieces were put together in the way that the engineer wanted them put together.  His comments made me think of how our body is like a work of art.  So, I mentioned this the next time that I ran into him.  He started to compare the parts of a car to the human body.

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the portion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching…

Romans 12:6-7

Since Paul compared the Body of Christ to our human body, this conversation has made me think about these verses.  Let’s imagine our body talking like we do at times.

“Oh, I am not important, I just pump this liquid around the body.  How could that be important?” said the heart.

“I know what you mean.  I always wanted to be a brain but I am only here to protect you and the lungs.” said the ribs.

“I am sick and tired of just sitting here telling others what to do.” added the brain.  ”I want to be the one that is touching the people not the manager.”

“I may be closer to the action but I am just a messenger.  I just take messages from you, Brain, and deliver it to the fingers.”  said the neuron.  ”I wish I knew more about what is going on.  But, I just deliver the messages.”

I suspect that you are like me.  How could the heart say something like that?  The heart pumps the blood which we need to survive.  Yet, who hasn’t heard someone say that bringing the food for the fellowship gathering isn’t important.  Both the heart and the person who brings the food is providing for the body’s nourishment.

I tend to think that the pastor is the important part of the ministry of the church.  I tend to forget that I am also part of the ministry of the church just as my foot is a part of my body.

Another thing that I find fascinating about the human body is how well everything works together.  It seems like God designed each part of the body for it’s particular function just as the engineer designed each part of the car.  God gave me and you the gifts that He wanted us to use in our service to Him.  He designed each part of the body of Christ just as a car engineer designed the car.

Dear God,

Please we start to think that we can’t help the body of Christ, remind us of the fact that You designed each on of us for our specific calling.  If one of these people don’t know their calling, please reveal it to them.  Thank You for your guidance and love.   Amen.

Jesus visits his hometown synagogue

On the sabbath, Jesus attended a service in Nazareth. The white stone building sat on top of a hill.
The two synagogue rulers sat in the chief seats in front of the congregation. When one of them nodded, the congregation recited the shema which is based on Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 11:13-21 and Numbers 15:37-41 (Bible International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, MA, DD, General Editor ). The prayers were spoken next. Soon, it came time for the readings.
Jesus stood to read. The synagogue servant handed him the scroll of Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and began to read “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the LORD.” (quoted from Isaiah 61:1-2)
All eyes were on Jesus now. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of Jesus rolling up the scroll. He handed it back to the servant and sat down. It was traditional for the person who reads to give the sermon of the day. So they waited to see what he would say.
“This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
“Huh? Isn’t that Joseph’s boy?” asked one person.
Another person replied, “Yes. I remember that he helped his father to make my chair. He is a good carpenter. But, a prophet or the Messiah?”
“That verse mentions the vengeance of our God right after that reading.” added another person.
“You will surely say this proverb to me ‘Physician, heal thyself. Do what you have done in Capernaum here.”
“Please let us see you do those wonderful things that we all have heard about?” requested one person.
“Verily, I tell you. No prophet is accepted in their own home. In the time of Elijah, there was a great famine and many widows in Israel. But, God sent Elijah to a widow of Sidon rather than to any of the Israelite widows. Also there was many lepers in the times of Elisha. Yet, Naaman the Syrian alone was cured.”
The people jumped up from their seats as one. They grabbed Jesus by his robe and pulled him towards the edge of the cliff.
One person shouted “How can a man that we have known for many years claim to be God’s anointed one?”
“You are a carpenter’s son. How can you make yourself out to be a prophet?” asked another.
They continued to drag him over to the cliff. Now, Jesus was near the edge of the cliff. The people were ready to throw him over but something stopped them.
Jesus just walked into their midst. The people stepped back to let him pass and didn’t even touch him.

Questions to ponder

1.  What must it have been like to have a person who grew up near you declare himself to be a prophet or maybe even the Messiah?  You remember him learning the scriptures as a child and playing with him.  You remember seeing him learning to be a carpenter.

2.  What happened to stop the people from stoning him?  They were angry enough to force him to go to the cliff but he ended up walking through their midst and leaving.  How did that happen?

650 million What would I do with the jackpot?

I sold a lot of lottery tickets today and yesterday. Why? The jackpot is huge today. 650,000,000. I can’t imagine winning a million dollars let alone that much money.

It turns out that three different people won which means that the three will share the jackpot.  The article said that no names had been released yet.  I think that would be the first thing that I would do is hire a lawyer to help figure out how to claim it without revealing my name to the press.  I hope that I would hire a financial advisor but I tend to not feel comfortable around people in suits.  They intimidate me.  I think I would pick the annuity option rather than lump sum.  I don’t think I’d do any good at controlling my spending behavior at first.  I find that easy to get money is easier for me to spend.  If I have to work hard for the money, I tend to be a bit more tight with my money.

I have always wanted to buy a house but this time I had second thoughts.  I hate cleaning and think that yard work would become something that I hate if I had to do it all of the time.  Now, I think I’d want to move to a nicer apartment or a condo.  I would love to have a small plot of land to have a garden on too.  I have thought it would be nice to have a gym membership for the winter months.  I can get enough physical activity during the summer months but I get heavier every winter.  Grrr.  So, I would want an apartment with an exercise room, swimming pool, some nice trails near by, a bath tub, a wash machine and dryer in the unit.  I’d also want a landlord who fixes things rather quickly and allows cats.  I think if I had these things, I’d cry for joy at first or do a happy dance.   My sister says that money doesn’t make one happy but I think it would make me happy in the short-term.  I don’t think these things would make me happy in the long-term.  My digital camera made me happy for a while after I bought it.  But,  it didn’t last of course.

I have always been afraid of driving.  If I had that kind of money, I could buy a bike for riding to and from work.  Then use a taxi for other trips such as grocery shopping.  I don’t know if I would buy a car because I am nervous when I drive.  I would want a bike that is more of a comfort or commuting bike.  The bike would have multi-gears because I live in a hilly area.  I would want to be able to ride in more of an upright position rather than having a bike  that requires the rider to bend over to reach the handle bars.  The bike would have suspension or something like it to help reduce the bumpyness of the ride and be relatively easy to balance as I ride.  Before buying the bike, I’d want to test ride some to get a better idea of what I want in a bike.

On the topic of work, I am divided on the issue.  I enjoy chatting with the lonely customers.  I feel like I am providing them with a place for them to go to talk to another human.  However, I find that I would like to be a writer or maybe even a pastor.  I know that I’d take some Bible classes at a Seminary and some classes on writing too.  Other times, I want to run as fast I can from working in retail.  I hate when a customer treats me like crap.  I hate when a customer complains about a 50 cent difference in a price.  Then we go look at the tag and she ends up having misread the tag.  (Please note that the item was on clearance at probably 75% off.)  Is it really worth holding up a line to get fifty cents?  I have had some refunds that were less than a dollar too.  Why does a person return something for less than a dollar?  I sometimes think that the time and paper is worth more than the refund.  So, as you can see, I am divided on this issue.  I could see working in a social service organization too.  The money would be nice to pay for the taxi so that I could work whatever hours that they needed.  It would be fulfilling at times to actually help people rather than sell cigarettes, alcohol and lottery tickets.  These items don’t help anyone.  But feeding the hungry, caring for the homeless, being with those who feel abandoned, crying with the mourning or hurting can help others.

I would want to give some to my church; however, I am not sure how much.  I would probably want to help out some of my family members but I am not sure how much.

What would you do if you won a million dollars or more?