It pains me to think of my 'former life' with all its mistakes and grief.
I was a bad boy and I liked it, but things are much different now. After coming to my senses, I have a great life, an even greater wife and a family to be part of, and I really would like to keep it that way.
Yesterday I got a call from a relative in trouble. She explained the situation and asked for my help. Heretofore our relationship had basically quietly ended and I thought that I would be the last person in the world she would ever ask for any help. Still, in the back of my mind I wanted to reach out and try to do something for her; even the smallest of gestures to show her that I still loved her and cared about her. I hadn't stopped loving her, it was just better to leave her alone and not get involved in all the drama she instigates on a regular basis. For some reason she has to have some form of confrontation going at all times.
In this case the issue involved a range of things that could be handled in a variety of ways and she was asking for a very strong approach to the problem that had an element of danger to it that I wasn't willing to get into. "The old John" would have relished a good challenge like this but I'm not that person anymore; thank God.
I called a friend that is very familiar with these kinds of issues and got some really sound advice. I then called my relative back and was promptly turned down flat. She didn't want to hear the advice or the listen to the solution my friend had offered, she just wanted 'her way'. The advice was sound and would put her in a position where she could have a much better life and be safe from the "elements" endangering her. As we finished up the conversation I asked her to "think about it and call me back". I'm really not expecting the phone to ring anytime soon with her at the other end of the line.
I can look back on some of the very worst decisions I ever made and more often than not, there was another direction being pointed out to me by some well meaning person sitting on the sideline observing with an unbiased eye.
Why is it that we are so self destructive and selfish? You would think that a person with a better than average IQ could see the way more clearly; especially when it's being pointed out to them by someone that knows all the angles and all the ups and downs and is more often than not a lot smarter.
I hung up the phone thinking to my self, "Well, that's probably the last time she'll call me for help...."
"I love you ...ouch...."
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
... and it just kept blowing
I agreed to meet two friends at an outdoor event for the homeless in downtown OKC last Saturday. I made the short drive to the location just off Broadway and 12th Street and parked. As I entered the gate I noticed that the wind had picked up significantly and was beginning to blow about 30 miles per hour. I thought, "Man, this is going to be a trip if it keeps up like this all day...."
Little did I know that it was just the beginning of our windy woes.
I have lived in Oklahoma for over 25 years now and it isn't news that the wind often blows at a steady pace on certain days, but this was more than just a 'usual' windy day to say the least. I took a few photos of some of the activities with my little digital and as the day progressed I began to notice that all of the pictures were taking on an odd similarity.
Everyone's hair was "pointing" in the same direction; straight out. Depending on which way they were standing, their hair was either in their face or straight back behind them. I have never experienced a wind so constant except for the times I was standing on the side of a mountain in Colorado.
The gusts were around 45 miles per hour for most of the two hours I was there and as I left it seemed as though the wind pressure grew worse rather than better.
I can't say for sure, but I think the weather is changing a great deal of late. The recent storm in the East put almost 3 million people in the dark for several days and I heard a scientist say that the Antarctic area he was studying had risen several feet in last five years. The same radio program went on to tell of how the ice has gone from 30 feet thick in the winter to only 25 feet thick and was often found cracking up into large sheets of moving ice flow.
The Earth is groaning just like the Bible said it would. "...the rocks cry out..."
How can anyone not know that God is trying to get through to us in many ways and yet, for the most part our eyes are blinded from it all. Our ears have become dull of hearing about God and his principles and aspirations for us.The cares of this world supersede our judgement and we take the low road to the worst choices and even at that seem to be oblivious to it all.
I left the event with a sense of loss. The small turnout had disappointed the organizers but I knew why the homeless people hadn't come. They were wiser than the organizers. They had found refuge in some abandoned building or a friends house and stayed out of the elements, conserving energy and resources. They are prepared for the worst; we're not.
As I got into my car I realized that I too had been buffeted by the wind. I looked into the rear view mirror and had to laugh. My hair was standing almost straight up like a collar on a shirt.... and it just kept blowing.
Little did I know that it was just the beginning of our windy woes.
I have lived in Oklahoma for over 25 years now and it isn't news that the wind often blows at a steady pace on certain days, but this was more than just a 'usual' windy day to say the least. I took a few photos of some of the activities with my little digital and as the day progressed I began to notice that all of the pictures were taking on an odd similarity.
Everyone's hair was "pointing" in the same direction; straight out. Depending on which way they were standing, their hair was either in their face or straight back behind them. I have never experienced a wind so constant except for the times I was standing on the side of a mountain in Colorado.
The gusts were around 45 miles per hour for most of the two hours I was there and as I left it seemed as though the wind pressure grew worse rather than better.
I can't say for sure, but I think the weather is changing a great deal of late. The recent storm in the East put almost 3 million people in the dark for several days and I heard a scientist say that the Antarctic area he was studying had risen several feet in last five years. The same radio program went on to tell of how the ice has gone from 30 feet thick in the winter to only 25 feet thick and was often found cracking up into large sheets of moving ice flow.
The Earth is groaning just like the Bible said it would. "...the rocks cry out..."
How can anyone not know that God is trying to get through to us in many ways and yet, for the most part our eyes are blinded from it all. Our ears have become dull of hearing about God and his principles and aspirations for us.The cares of this world supersede our judgement and we take the low road to the worst choices and even at that seem to be oblivious to it all.
I left the event with a sense of loss. The small turnout had disappointed the organizers but I knew why the homeless people hadn't come. They were wiser than the organizers. They had found refuge in some abandoned building or a friends house and stayed out of the elements, conserving energy and resources. They are prepared for the worst; we're not.
As I got into my car I realized that I too had been buffeted by the wind. I looked into the rear view mirror and had to laugh. My hair was standing almost straight up like a collar on a shirt.... and it just kept blowing.
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