If God blogs

If God had a blog, I wonder what He would write or say.

Could it be about the glory of heaven (not yet revealed) or the follies of man? ~The triumphs of his creation and/or his disappointments perhaps?

But why should he be so telling? Who would be his intended audience? What is his purpose? Would it make any difference if he did? You would probably ask the same.

Didn’t he advise a long time ago that the whole duty of man is to “fear God and keep his commandments” (~Ecclesiastes 12:13); and expressed his desire that in the end, none should perish but that everyone would come to repentance and be saved (~2 Peter 3:9)?

But will God blog? Just a passing thought anyway.

Of course, there is no need for Almighty God to have a personal blog in order for his word to reach us.

He has already spoken thru’ his prophets and apostles of ancient times and his words are well documented in the Bible for all to read.

He is still speaking to us today thru’ his many servants and disciples whether on-line or off-line, in every which way that he knows how to reach us, but the problem is have you heard? Have I heard?

He’s is not the problem, I think we are.

If we haven’t heard what God has to say to us, isn’t it time we found out?

Don't wait for “six strong men” to take you to church!

God bless.

Don't miss seeing this video courtesy of "cathycat1023". It could change your life.

Bases for our belief

Beauty, they say is in the eyes of the beholder. So is “Truth”.

Everybody sees the same thing but in a different light. Some see it and surprisingly, some don’t.

Two people can look exactly at the same thing and see something totally different, agree?

Indeed, no one is quite the same.

Have you ever asked yourself why do you believe in the things that you believe in?

Is there such a thing as blind faith?

What then are the bases for your beliefs?

Buckminster Fuller (an American architect and a 21st century thinker) has this to say, “Belief is when someone else does the thinking.” And we don’t want to be like that, do we?

This brings to my mind what the Buddha said a long time ago, which is this. He had said:

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

There maybe a lot of truths in that but as I have said earlier truth much like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

The Buddha is of course entitled to his opinion but so are we.

“This is how humans are: we question all our beliefs, except for the ones we really believe, and those we never think to question.” ~So said one Orson Scott Card. Isn’t that paradoxical but true?

In the God-thing, Miguel de Unamuno puts it this way, “Those who believe that they believe in God, but without passion in their hearts, without anguish in mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, without an element of despair even in their consolation, believe in the God idea, not God himself.”

Consider what Catherine Marshall said in Christy (1967), which is this: “Those who never rebelled against God or at some point in their lives shaken their fists in the face of heaven, have never encountered God at all.” Really?

Well, what other people say or write especially those in authority have a lot of influence on us, don’t they? So my advice is to be careful in what you read or hear. Don’t just follow blindly as blind following could have disastrous consequences.

Keep an open mind and always digest what you have read or heard.

Don’t be afraid to ask our God for wisdom, a discerning mind and a righteous heart. Who knows Almighty God may well give you this like he did long time ago to King Solomon when the latter asked for wisdom above anything else.

If we take in everything that people write or say as the Gospel truth like for instance the way people generally follow from the reading of health books even respectable ones, we could die of a miss-print!

In the end, believe it or not (anything for that matter) is really up to us. Yes as Shakespeare had put it a long time ago, “To be or not to be, that’s the question,” isn’t it?

I think we cannot do away with decisions and beliefs in our everyday life. They are important like breathing and exercises but so are the bases for our beliefs. One justifies the other and vice versa and together they make us whole.

I guess in life, we have to apply our hearts and minds all the time and then choose wisely.

Take it this way life is interesting but not necessarily easy. It is fragile yet intricate, tenacious and challenging. To keep that in mind is to hold the key to survival. To me, indeed it is.

God bless.

Let's listen to Jim Reeves sing the beautiful song entitled "The Flowers, The Sunset, The Trees" brought to us courtesy of "164will".

An out-of-doors awakening

When your chips are down and life doesn’t seem worth living, take a trip out-of-doors.

Immerse yourself in Mother Nature. See, contemplate and marvel at her wonders.

Indeed, a breath of fresh air once in a while out-of-doors is good for you and you’ll be so glad that you did.

An Out-of-doors experience is not only useful to inspire poets but also beneficial to all man who longs for an awakening of his own soul.

Enjoy this poem while you’re contemplating your next visit out-of-doors.

A poem by Stromboli Smith.

“I climbed to the top of a mountain one day
To see the sun setting in glory,
And I thought, as I looked at his vanishing ray,
Of a perfectly splendid story.

'Twas about an old man and the ass he bestrode
Till the strength of the beast was o'ertested;
Then the man would carry him miles on the road
Till Neddy was pretty well rested.

The moon rising solemnly over the crest
Of the hills to the east of my station
Displayed her broad disk to the darkening west
Like a visible new creation.

And I thought of a joke (and I laughed till I cried)
Of an idle young woman who tarried
About a church-door for a look at the bride,
Although 'twas herself that was married.

To poets all Nature is pregnant with grand
Ideas--with thought and emotion.
I pity the dunces who don't understand
The speech of earth, heaven and ocean.”

God bless.

A recipe for wealth

Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko in their book “The Millionaire Next Door” have this to say and I quote:

“Most people have it all wrong about wealth in America. Wealth is not the same as income. If you make a good income each year and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier. You are just living high. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend.”

“How do you become wealthy? Here, too, most people have it wrong. It is seldom luck or inheritance, or advanced degrees or even intelligence that enables people to amass fortunes. Wealth is more the result of a lifestyle of hard work, perseverance, planning and most of all, self-discipline.”

The above says it all, doesn’t it? And who says wealth cannot be earned? Until recently, executive pay and bonuses in America were out of this world!

If that happens in America, it can also happen anywhere else in the world.

To become rich, it seems that one has to be stingy with money, that’s the first rule. Indeed, I think the rich of today wouldn’t have gotten where they are if they had not been careful on how they use or manage their money.

Indeed, it has been said, “A penny saved is a penny gained.” And there is an old proverb which says, “A fool and his money are easily parted.” Isn’t that true, even today?

The second rule which is hard work, perseverance, planning and self-discipline are too much of a bother to many; and probably that’s why so few of us in the world are really rich today.

We shun hard work and planning; have no self-discipline and cannot persevere, don’t we?

I see a new generation now that wants to get rich quick but is not prepared to put in the kind of work and sacrifices that our fathers and fore-fathers had done.

It’s about time somebody comes out to say this. There are no short-cuts to success or to riches either. Money just doesn’t grow on trees!

If you want money, you’ll have to work hard for it and when you have it the advice is, do not squander it.

Invest your money wisely and you’ll see it grow, then you’ll be rich. It’s as simple as that. Try it but just don’t be disappointed if you don’t get there.

Now, is there anyone out there who doesn’t want to be rich?

Cheers!

Thanks to "guru006" for giving us this music-video, taken from the movie "Fiddler on the roof". Sit back, relax and enjoy.

A picture of health

It has been said that being in a good frame of mind helps keep one in the picture of health.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “All sorts of bodily diseases are produced by half-used minds.” And I think there’s a lot of truth in that.

Now, the question is how to keep a good frame of mind when everyday in the daily papers we are bombarded with all kinds of negative and disturbing news.

It hurts to know, the world is actually rich yet poor.

Hunger, diseases, human sufferings and injustice are not just prevalent in many parts of the world, but are literally right at our front door. So do tell me, how are we to have a good frame of mind?

If nothing else works, we have to remain strong, think happy thoughts and change our very own perception of the world around us to something more palatable, I guess.

Have yourself a breath of Heaven like what Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott wrote:

"Every now and then,
when the world sits just right,
a gentle breath of heaven
fills my soul with delight..."
(~Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott, A Breath of Heaven)

However, if you still have the blues and cannot help thinking of the topsy-turvy world that we live in, I suggest you take time off and go made some marmalade or get busy with your hands. Just do something useful.

Indeed, it's amazing how it cheers one up, takes the blues away, just to shred oranges or to scrub the floor. Try it.

We need to use our minds to their fullest, to think as our Creator would want us think, for what we do and who we become depends a lot on what we think.

Minds that think seldom wear out but those that don’t often rust out, if you are not careful.

A Swedish proverb says, “Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours.” Really?

So forget about chasing the big stuff, why not learn to enjoy the little things - there are so many of them like reading, writing a blog or tendering to a garden for instance.

As they say, the best things in life are free! And why can’t that be? Like the air we breathe and the friends we have. Isn’t life great?

The way to go is: “Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.” This is what H. Jackson Brown, Jr., advises in his Life's Little Instruction Book.

Irving Berlin puts it this way:
“Got no checkbooks, got no banks,
Still I'd like to express my thanks -
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.”

What’s there to complain about, so have we!

In conclusion, I like what J. Brotherton said and that is this, “My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants.”

To keep that in mind is to stay happy, healthy and wise.

God bless.

Flowers, a gift from God

Often we take for granted that flowers are ingeniously pretty and sweet but have you ever wondered who made them?

Indeed, if flowers are a piece of God’s creation which I think they are, they reveal a side of God which we probably never knew. What incredible craftsmanship!

Don’t you see, no two flowers are quite the same and indeed, no Michael Angelo and their like could ever sculpt and paint the way Almighty God has done?

In flowers, God’s tenderness and loving care are depicted for all to see. How awesome and sweet?

Flowers are truly a thing of beauty and a joy forever! A bunch of them blooming in your sight can take your breath away.

Without them I can’t imagine what our world would be like?

Jacques Deval had once said, “God loved the flowers and invented soil. Man loved the flowers and invented vases.” How pathetic?

Henry Beecher said a long time ago, “Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.”

But that shouldn’t give man the right to pluck or kill them off as he wished, as like trees, they are also living creatures.

To me, flowers carry the future seeds of life and should be allowed to bloom into fullness to fulfill the mandate which their Creator had given them.

In conclusion, I would like to share this poem with you which I find rather interesting:

“Have you ever seen a flower down
Sometimes angels skip around
And in their blissful state of glee
Bump into a daisy or sweet pea?”
~a short poem by Jessie Lane Adams

It has been said that bread feeds the body indeed, but flowers feed also the soul. Yes, can you imagine what humanity would be if God did not create the flowers? Think on it.

Legacy, a sobering thought

The famed evangelist Billy Graham, when asked how he wish to be remembered said this,

“That I was faithful to what God wanted me to do, that I maintained integrity in every area of my life, and that I lived what I preached.”

Bravo, that’s very well said. My hat’s off to Billy Graham.

I respect and admire the man but how many of us can really emulate him or even come close to what he said or did in his life. None, I guess.

We know it is not how long we have lived that matters but it is how well. In the end we all will be remembered by who we actually are or by what we have done, isn’t it?

Like it or not, life indeed is our only chance left to deliver whatever it is that we always wanted to be or to do. A sobering thought, indeed. So, have we lived what we preached or wanted to?

As for me, I want to be remembered as “Me” whatever that may turn out to be. Yes, I have always wanted to be just me, not a copy of someone else.

Heck, whatever it’ll be, I’ll have to leave it to those who wanted to remember me, but it would be nice to think they would say that I was a kind-hearted and generous soul, God-loving and fun to be with.

Bruce Lee had said this, “The key to immortality is to live a life worth remembering”.

What kind of a legacy would you like to leave? Think on it.

In conclusion, I shall leave you with these remarks from some famous guys to think about.

Brandon Lee once said, “I don’t want to be remembered as “the son of Bruce Lee”.

"You are remembered for the rules you break."
~Douglas MacArthur

"I would like to be remembered as a man who had a wonderful time living life, a man who had good friends, fine family - and I don't think I could ask for anything more than that, actually."
~Frank Sinatra

"I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free."
~Rosa Parks

"Our sins are more easily remembered than our good deeds."
~Democritus

"I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle." ~Sitting Bull

"I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money."
~Orson Welles

"Fancy being remembered around the world for the invention of a mouse!"
~Walt Disney

Cheers!

Songstress Teresa Teng

Teresa Teng (b.1953 –d.1995), the famed Taiwanese songstress is no longer with us but her beautiful sweet voice is instantly recognized throughout East Asia and her songs remain immensely popular among the Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian listeners.

Picture shown is courtesy of Wikipedia.

It is often said, "Wherever there are Chinese people, the songs of Teresa Teng can be heard."

Many of us didn’t know that Teresa Teng died suddenly from a severe asthma attack while vacationing in Thailand at the age of 42.

She was given a state funeral in Taiwan, with the Republic of China flag draped over her coffin and the former president Lee Teng-hui was in attendance among thousands in mourning.

Teng's singing style is one filled with simplicity and sincerity. Indeed, she has the magic to make every song she sings literally come alive.

This is one of my favorites, a song first recorded in 1974, called the “Rhythm of the sea”. I find it very soothing and invigorating.

The song symbolizes the longing for freedom, with a lady strolling on the beach watching and appreciating how the seagulls are braving the dark clouds, the wind and the agitated waves over what appears to be a raging storm coming in from the sea.

I hope you like it too. Thanks to “hkship” for sharing this lovely music-video. Enjoy.

I'm just a country boy

I’m just a country boy, always have been and though I now live in the city, my heart and soul still belong to the place where the meadows are always green and where cockerels crow every morning at the crack of dawn without fail.

I have lived more than 40 years in the city yet I have not lost my love for the country life where I was raised in my childhood and my youth.

Those were the days in the country when school bags were light and to walk a mile or two to school was the norm rather than the exception.

How I'd love the sun and would go fishing, fly a kite or stroll rather aimlessly with a friend when the holidays came. No need for car, got bicycle can roam already and what a joy it was!

We knew then what it was to be disciplined when we disobeyed orders or did wrong in the eyes of our elders. Even though we held our heads high, we had always respected and submitted to authority.

Life was simple but for many of us, life was not necessarily easy. We had not only our studies to do but we had our household chores in almost equal measure too! Somehow we prevailed, and hard work didn’t wear us out at all.

The good thing was we never bore a grudge against anyone for whatever disciplinary action which they inflicted upon us, and because of that I guess we learnt a lot about life and matured at a young age, which actually benefited us a lot in our adulthood.

I am sure that if you were a country boy or girl yourself, you must have gone through the same kind of experience which I have just described, maybe even more.

Today, they say times have changed, so have kids. Kids maybe a lot smarter now but alas, many have not necessarily turned out good.

O, how I wish when we retire we could live in the country once more, in the countryside where friendships are easy, life is simple and uncorrupted; where the air is clean, food is fresh and traffic-jams are never heard of. But who wouldn’t?

Yes, in a vale of a place where rippling streams flow and flowers still grow wild; ducks are heard, squirrels are seen, larks sing, buffaloes roam, and indeed where cockerels still crow! What a wonderful place that would be.

Now, if you have not heard Alison Krauss sing before, turn up the volume and listen to this beautiful heart-warming song by Alison entitled, “You’re just a country boy”, music-video courtesy of “huffman142”. Thanks to “Huffman142” for sharing and God bless.

Reba McEntire

Have you heard of Reba McEntire?

She is one of America’s great female country music performers.

Yes, Reba McEntire (born March 28, 1955) is a Grammy award-winning American country music artiste who’s singing career and breakthrough success came in the late 1980’s.

She produced and released a series of successful albums and number one singles in the 1980s and 1990s.

Sometimes she has been referred to as "The Queen of Country," having sold forty one million records in the United States and fifty million worldwide. She ranks as the seventh best-selling female artist in all genres and is the second best-selling female country artist of all time.

She had originally planned to follow her mother’s footsteps to become a school teacher but fate had it, she pursued a singing career instead, a career that spanned more than 20 years and that made her one of country music's most influential female vocalists and one of the most well-loved entertainers.

Indeed, she credited her success to her mother who had taught her and her siblings how to sing at a very young age.

Her singing style is unique and I particularly enjoy the following 2 hits.

1. The Greatest Man I Never knew, a beautiful duet with Kelly Clarkson, the music-video courtesy of "mido 1975".

2. Cathy’s Clown, the music-video brought to us courtesy of "beingme84". Thank you for sharing.

Turn up the volume, listen and enjoy.