Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgivings that have been answered

When life tends to get you down you forget that things could be worse off for others, than they are for you. I was bemoaning my bad times, until I called a few friends only to find out that their Thanksgiving feasts were going to be for Sheri nothing, and for Barbara a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Here I was unable to go and give them something different, I wanted to help them but could only pray for them and go on.

Sheri's landlord invited her over for dinner. Barbara's neighbor brought over a Turkey and all the fixings and a pan to cook it in. Neither of them knew about the surprises they were to received until the seconds after being dumbfounded by heaven sent help.

At times like this I am thanking the Lord for faith strengthening when I least expect it. Remember to not forget to pray for others or yourself especially when your mood swings down the incline, when things seem hopeless the most.

Here is a set of leafy pictures that brightened my day.

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/bio-diversity/

The Peace of The Lord be with you all.
Charles.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Where are we at, and When are we living?

For many months I have been elsewhere doing other things and not writing and putting a lot of my thoughts down on paper. Like other things if you don't use them they can seem to fade away into dust, writing is like riding a bike or swimming, once you learn how it will be with for life. I have been writing. Just not writing stories and poems, mostly on discussion boards or comment sections of other people's writings. I realized though that I was getting into a frame of mind where my thoughts were being translated into sound bite sized utterings. I can't really enjoy that method of writing for long, maybe others can, but not me.

Do we live in a sound bite world? Where book reading was going by the wayside because our attention spans were shortening? Maybe I have not spent enough time in a Library lately, last time I went into one of them places was about 5 months ago, and a book store over 9 months ago. Sometime early this year my brother bought his wife a Kindle. It was cute, they have a lot of electronic gadgets so it was just another toy for them in my eyes. But she is a reader, and has several thousand books all over the place, almost seemingly to run out of space for them all. If she uses it, she will save on space that is one thing for sure. But looking around out on the space lanes of the internet I still see a dumbing down, more and more people using the Lingo of the age where we can shorten what we say in text to what our ears hear, "u" and "r" being used for you and are, "plz" for please, "lol" for laugh out loud (more of an emotional shorthand). Some of these have been with us longer than others, anyone who's been online for all these years knows the reason's behind the shorthand. But it still bothers me when I also find it in the written words on paper. English becoming slang, Complex thoughts becoming brittle until they crumble at the near edges of dust at 140 spaces long. I hope I am not seeing the future coming up to meet me.

Another thought crossing my mind is how are Christians dealing with the changing times. If you are a Christian you know that in the general public of Online Forums you will get balsted (Flamed) for admitting that you are one. Oh there are Christian friendly sites out there, but if they are open to the public how many times have you seen those posts by people calling you names for being one. Civil discourse is on rocky ground in the online world. We were warned by Christ to expect that in the days ahead. Attacks on Christ and on his followers are not limited in the world we find ourselves. But remember He is Here, Alive and well, just a Prayer away.

Christ be with you.