Used Coffee Maker

I was just outside looking under the hood of my car. The people who live across the street's grandpa was outside, too. I could not take more than a few steps outside before he greeted me with a warm "How're ya?" The casual conversation ended with him wishing me a happy new year and to be safe, because the roads are still slick in some spots, but the main roads are doin' fine.




I looked at a poem I wrote awhile back this morning. I'm thinking if I should try to write music for it or not. If I messed up trying to write music for it, then the poem may be tarnished in my head. It is one of my favorites.



I showered this morning. Breaks from school basically mean breaks from every-day-showering. I suppose I am helping the environment, plus my wallet. It allows me to use less Axe hair putty.



I just made my mom and me some coffee. She said I could use her beans, but they are the mega-off-brand kind. Like there is off-brand, and then the kind that could be mistaken for flavored dirt. I used my really expensive Folgers dark brew. It seems like Wal-Mart always has it on sale.



The snow is melting, my Chia Pet is beginning to come alive, and although this morning is drab, I have a good feeling about today.



My car needs fixed, my hair needs done, my tum has not had any food today, my neck line needs shaved, there are people who will be smashed drunk out of their minds tonight, there will be people looking for a place to get a meal tonight, and the new year may not even be better than this past one.



But I decided my life can be like my pre-owned Mr. Coffee (R) coffee maker. At school, there is a free store for people who need clothes or appliances or furniture. Like a Goodwill, but it is all free. Just have to walk there and take what you want. It is a nice place. I found a 12 cup programmable coffee maker there in November. It even has a built-in cleanable filter. No more paper filters! Or paper towels as my mom would use. The only issue it has is the lip on the pot has been broken. It still pours fine; I just have to pour with an awkward angle so it doesn't drip. Makes a helova cup of coffee, though.



When life gives you a used coffee maker that is broken a little, try using it anyway. You might be surprised what kind of blessings Someone has given you. They just may be hidden a Goodwill spin-off store.

P.S.  Full moon on New Year's Eve! Happens once every 29 years. Take a look at it tonight.

What a Sad Day

I have these days somewhat often.  The days when maybe I balance my checking account, or look at how much homework I have to do and see my scheduled hours for the week at work, or when I look at my tuition balance.  Maybe days when I realize I spend way more than I make, or when I remember my parents' health is in a steady decline.  The car's transmission, the health issue, the unsaved family and friends, the...........

Have you ever had a day like this?  A day when you look at the theoretical empire you have been trying to build and realize it is all really a flimsy sandcastle and high-tide is rolling in and an 8-year-old boy with water-wingies is rushing full-speed toward your castle so his kool-aid-stained feet with sand stuck to his toes can thrash your castle?

It is days like today I wish I had been remembering I should be standing on Christ the Solid Rock and not Billy the Flimsy Sandcastle Man.  No matter what good deeds I do and hard work I do or how high my GPA is, the fact remains that without Christ, I am destined for dirt.  And it does not stop at the dirt.  Without Christ, I am destined for hell.  What a wonderful way to live, right?  Even if I were not to believe it is true, my meek belief system does not decide what is true and false.

So, here I am.  A weak human sitting in Indiana... until I trust in Christ.
When I trust in Him, I do not have to build an empire because He has had one that has always been and always will be.
His throne is ultimate authority.
His power is greater than my Oldsmobile and anything else for that matter.
Congress and the Prez cannot sign a bill that God cannot revoke.
Mother Nature cannot produce a wave so big that He cannot surf it with ease.

Yet here I am, moping about all of my problems.  When Christ would rather go through hell to live with me, than to live without me.  Oh, what love.

Do you know that love?  As you can read, life is not a bundle of cotton candy when you trust Christ.  In fact, He never promises all our troubles and financial problems will disappear.  Your car will still break down and your parents will still die of old age.  Your tests will still be hard and your boss will still be on your case.  Your kids will still be bad and there will still be pot holes on Main Street.

But Christ does promise us an enternity in a paradise unexplainable.  Even better than the one you have heard about at church.

Please, join with me today as I declare

"On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."

Do you know the Solid Rock?

A Great American

Johnny Cash performing "Redemption" live.

Most of us have heard Johnny and his story.  It is crazy to think there are two really famous images of him.  Here they are:

Speaking... or signing his mind early in life.

And

Standing next to one of America's best preachers,Billy Graham.

And what strikes me as great about Johnny was not only his great music and conversion story, but also his humbleness.

Johnny performing "Help Me"

But boy, he would tell you how it was.

Johnny performing "God's Gonna Cut You Down"