Moving even when we are sitting still

I did a bit of research:
The earth rotates about 1,000 mph
The earth orbits the sun at 67,000 mph
The solar system moves 515,000 miles per hour through / around the galaxy
The milkyway galaxy moves roughly 671,000 mph through the universe

So, when we are sitting still we are still moving roughtly 1,254,000 mph

So the next time you see me sitting at my computer and want to tell me I need more exercise.. remember that we are all moving pretty quickly. I don't want to risk flying away.  Imagine if you could jump and the planet would move beneath your feet?  It's hard to believe that our fragile planet is moving so fast. it's amazing really.

Well with the research my time is up.
My peace I give to you

Jonathan

why argue and fight over Israel and Hamas's arguing and fighting?

I was considering all the things that people are saying about this situation. How they badmouth, Israel, how they somehow fail to blame Hamas for anything. And other people who say that Israel can do no wrong and Hamas is nothing but terrorists trying to pretend to be legit.

To a degree both views are correct. I mean, if Israel said we will not fight another fight. we won't shoot another bullet or rocket we wont drive another tank.. In a matter of days, the entire population of Israel, Jew, Christian and Muslim (if they were Israeli citizens would be dead or in prison. While if the Arabs would say the same thing, There would be dancing in the streets of Israel.

But I say why argue? why fuss? We have the most effective tool and can have more impact on the conflict in Israel than the UN or the diplomatic corp. We have prayer. We can pray that the situation will resolve. that God will have His way that Israel will will find peace as a nation that the Palestinians will find peace. We can pray that The holy sites in Israel will be more than simple political points marked on maps instead of scoreboards. That the people who are fighting about the existence of Israel would discover a desire to lift each other up. That they would turn their spears into plowshares that they would turn to peace instead of war, that great things would come from tiny places.
This is what we can do.

I am out of time.
My peace I give to you,

Jonathan

What do you hold on to?

Sometimes we hold on to things so tightly, that we damage them. There is an old meme (from before that word existed) that showed a picture of a bird being released form a cage and the words said something like, "If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it truly belongs to you, if not then it was never meant to be."

I don't know that I completely agree with the details, but the sentiment is true. Sometimes in order to show some one or something how much we love it, we have to be willing to let it go.

Parents have to do this all the time, release their kids to grow up. Teach them to do the right thing, then trust them to do it.  It's hard, sometimes all we can do is open our hand and shut our eyes, hoping they will come back to us, and fearing they will simply disappear into the blue yonder.

I think God does that for use too. I think God lets us free so we can choose to be with Him. He never forces us to do anything.

Just have to remember that.

my time is up...

My peace I give to you,
Jonathan

Nothing

This is not a blog about nothing... well, maybe it is.
When I was growing up a minister who had a lot of input in my life, Rev. Loran W. Helm would share about nothing. about becoming nothing. He was speaking from a Christian perspective, however, I think that anyone can get some help from this.

When asked what we have in common with most of the world a lot of us, or maybe most of us would say "nothing"  meaning that there is no commonality... however... we are correct.. except in our meaning.
Nothing, if you go small enough what is between quarks and gluons, what surrounds the "God Particle"?  Nothing. Nothing suspends the planets in orbit, Nothing holds the tides in check. Yes there are forces and things and rules and laws.. but if you go small enough what holds it all together? Nothing. If we were able to compress matter so that there was no empty space between atoms and protons and neutrons... other than a big bang... we would be able to fit most of the world in a bathtub (that's a guess I haven't done any scientific measurements) but comparatively it would be.

So what do we have in common with the rest of humanity, the world at large, the galaxy, the Universe, and the multi-verse?  Nothing!

My time is up
My peace I give to you

Jonathan

Sleep Is For The Tired

When I came home this morning, from working my third shift job, my two youngest children (ages 19 and 14 so not so young) were sitting exactly where they had been when I left for work some twelve hours before. They had the same clothes on and when I asked if they had stayed up all night playing, they had the same sheepish grin.

I know that I have done this, so I can't say a whole lot, except I can say this. Sleep is a rare commodity. When you are a teen you think that you can have as much of it as you want. Go to bed at 5:00am and sleep till 2:00pm!  no problem! the problem is, when you get into your thirties you start to wish you had slept more regularly. in your forties you wish you could sleep regularly in your mid forties you wish that you could get a consistent amount of sleep.

Sometimes I sleep where ever I am. sitting in the car, in an office wherever. The other day I hadn't gone to bed yet and took my wife and mother to the chiropractor. I sat in the waiting area and put my head back and slept... I woke to that unmistakable feeling of someone staring at me.. this kid, maybe 12 or so was about 3 feet away staring at me. I asked if I snored and he just shook his head. I have no clue what he was looking it.
My point, I guess, is that sleep is a wonderful thing that shouldn't be taken advantage of nor should it be squandered. You CAN'T always sleep!

I'm out of time,
My peace I give to you,

Jonathan

Be willing to look foolish

In a book I just started reading, "The Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson and in it there is a quote, well there are LOTS of quotes, but this one stands out at the moment. "Faith is the willingness to look foolish."

Do we have that kind of faith? Are we willing to look foolish because we have faith in God? Are we willing to pray and then praise as if the answer is right before us? Are we willing to go out of our way to make a stand that appears to the world to be fool-hardy and even stupid?

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. That means when we pray in faith we are praying for things that are hoped for and thanking God for things that we can't see but that He has already accomplished in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Be willing to look foolish. Be willing to stretch in prayer and reach out to the hope that is the fruit of the Spirit. Faith is the substance of that Hope. I would rather be a fool with faith than a wise man with only facts. Facts are depressing, and facts can change depending on who is using them. Hope, on the other hand is always above and beyond Hope takes imagination, Hope takes Faith.

My time is up,
My peace I give to you,

Jonathan

Choices, so many choices

Did you ever notice that today we have so many choices. It seems like as time has gone on, we, as human beings, have gotten more and more choices. From big things like where to live to little things like what sort of gum to buy.

There are so many choices, and yet we don't seem happy. Have you noticed that the more choices we have, the more stressed out we seem to be. Kids get stressed trying to decide what toys to play with. If you only have one toy, then there is no stress in choosing. You either play with the toy, or not.

As a developer there are dozens of ways to accomplish the same thing, do I use the "right" method, the trendy method, the fast method, or the best method?  And, not to mention, who chooses what is "best"?

Well my time is up.

My peace I give to you,
Jonathan

Not always what we think

Sometimes we get so convinced that what we are feeling is all about X  when it's really about Z.Case in point, last night at work I was anxious and stressed and I knew it was from a situation at home. I just knew it had to do with situation X and I as concerned and worried and prayerful about it. (that situation does need prayer and God's help, so the prayer didn't hurt!) I was so anxious I finally left work early (I made up the time this afternoon) and when I got home, my wife was sick! She was having all the symptoms of low iron... I wasn't sure if I was going to have to take her to the hospital, it was that bad.

I ended up going to the store and buying a bunch of IRON rich food and drinks, Steak is high in iron, dark green leafy greens are high in iron. Dark Stone fruits have some iron. Bolt house Daily Greens has 50% of the needed iron per serving (2 servings per bottle)  oh and pumpkin seeds! a quarter cup of pumpkin seeds has 25% of the RDA of iron!!

Anyhow my point is that we don't always know what we think we know. We don't always understand the whole picture, until after the fact. If you think that you are upset or worried about a given situation, then by all means pray, lift that situation to God, but be aware that you may be more closely tied to the problem than you realize, and God may be trying to get your attention on Him.


Time is up
My peace I give to you.

Jonathan

Be careful little mind what you choose

Choices, wow they can have such long lasting effects on our lives. Often the choices that we make which have the most impact, seem the least significant at the time.

Choosing to room with someone may seem like a minor thing, but it has the potential to totally destroy your entire life.  Choosing to drive one road instead of another may be minor, but might be the choice that saves you from a terrible accident. Choosing to do that one last thing, might just make you late enough to miss one of life's key moments.

My point is that the Holy Spirit will guide us, if we listen. If we listen to that small still voice, sometimes we have to really struggle to be quite enough to hear. The Holy Spirit will help us hear what He wants us do to.  God never forces us, but He will show us. We don't have to blindly stumble through life, use a guide that won't ever leave you stranded with no coverage. The Holy Spirit will never leave us, If we remain true and faithful, then we can hear what the holy Spirit is whispering to us. We can feel the impressions of Gods fingers on our heart and make the right choices.

My time is up,
My peace I give to you

Things I Want... or Think I Want

When I woke up this afternoon ( I work third shift remember), I had been dreaming / thinking about some things that I want.

When I want something I know I have to wait for it. I can save money to purchase something that I want, though I would rather not, I figure the waiting is good. Then I have the money, and go to spend it and I hesitate. What if there is something that I want more and just don't know it? What if something I think I want today is really not what I think it is? What if I get bored with it?  Hmm bored is another topic for another day, but that can read what if I become unthankful for it?

These are all questions that go through my head. I have to wonder if I'm doing the right thing.  So, is this because I am indecisive? Have low self esteem? Or is it because I am frugal and don't want to waste money?

There are some things I want that I know I want, I have been waiting years for, when those things start working out it's incredible and I just wish that I could get everyone else to be as excited as me.  There is a dog, and Akita dog, I have wanted another Akita for almost 9 years, since Xena, my first akita, had to be put to sleep. (That almost killed me.)  Now I have someone who wants to almost give me Godrich, He is a beautiful 18 month old male. Great conformation and bloodlines, temperament that is absolutely wonderful, and I even got half the money that I need simply by doing some simple insurance stuff at work! God has worked it all out.... ooops my five minutes are up, I'll fill you in on Godrich next time,, maybe.

Until then,
My peace I give to you.

Greetings from The Five Minute Blogger

Why the Five Minute Blogger?

I spend anywhere from five minutes to five hours a day on Facebook, sometimes responding to posts with LOTS of writing, sometimes sharing things that really move me. I got to thinking about it. and thought, you know what? I should be able to do a blog in five minutes. Just to write things for five minutes.
Five minutes can be a very long time when you start trying to write, or do anything, for that duration.

You get distracted, other thoughts pop up, things catch your attention, all sorts of distractions try to cut in on the five minutes of writing.  I am going to go back later and correct my typos. and believe me there are many. I have dyslexic fingers. I really believe I have a mild case of dyslexia, that normally only comes out when I am typing. Once I wrote a whole page of notes backwards.

But I digress. I decided to start this Blog as much as a test as anything. I want to see how possible it is to write a five minute blog each day, except the weekends.  I also want to see if it's possible for me to discipline myself to do so.

I probably could have written more, except I got distracted by someone asking me a question... So until next time my peace I give to you.

Jonathan