It seems God has a way of keeping me on my toes. My world has been turned upside down all at once. Today I sit at the crossroads of my life with a slur of beginnings and endings wondering what tomorrow will be like.
May 13th at 10:16am Jahaira Lynne O'Brien was born. 8lbs 10oz 20.5 inches. My first new beginning. I've been a Dad for quite some time now. First to my stepson, then to my firstborn son and now a baby girl. I was surprised at the different feelings I developed. I've always heard the phrase "Daddy's Girl" but never understood it until now. Not that I don't love my son's, but I'm not very protective of them. I expect them to figure it out and experience the school of hard knocks. Yet I already feel myself being very protective of Jahaira. I'm thinking at this point, I'm going to have to count on Mom and bro's to teach her the school of hard knocks, cuz Daddy wants to build a wall (Pink Floyd anyone).
My first ending is also my second beginning. End of unemployment and the beginning of a new job. Quite frankly I was enjoying unemployment. Not waking up to an alarm clock, spending time with the wife and kids. My new employer has expressed very high expectations. Me being me, I'm of course questioning if I can meet them, when in reality, I'll set my mind to whatever task needs to be done and it will get done. I love the challenge, yet always question my ability to meet the goal. I make the least sense when dealing with me. Tomorrow is the day. It's a good job. Better pay, full benefits, plus 401k match. 2 weeks vacation starting and a boss who doesn't want to be my boss, but instead just expects me to perform so he doesn't have to worry about it. My kind of job so far. It's swing shift, that will take some getting used to, but it should be bearable. At least it's not graveyard.
Next at the crossroads is an ending. My good friend WJS graduated from Law School. He's been my best friend (before I met and married my wife of course) since I was a teenager. He was blessed to marry his High School Sweetheart. And he's been struggling through school for many years, while handling marriage and children (2 boys so far). Today, 2 days after his graduation, he is on his way to Texas. This is to be his new home. I must say his graduation has been a bitter sweet event. I will greatly miss my friend and his family. At the same time I'm thrilled for him and his family. I'm certainly glad he could escape the cesspool of Los Angeles. So farewell my friend. Keep fulfilling those dreams.
Today also marked the beginning of a month long visit from my mother-in-law. I'm hoping it turns out to be a blessing of grandmotherly assistance, yet fear it will be a battle of wills between mom and daughter.
So I now move forward through the crossroads into a new world trusting that God knows what he is doing. May God give me the wisdom to raise my daughter up right, the fortitude and guidance to succeed in my new career, and comfort in knowing that WJS and family have moved on to a better place.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Worlds Apart!
I recently ended a debate I was having with a Mormon. His final response was clear. "Our worldviews are so far apart we will never find common ground." I couldn't argue with him as I agree with him. This debate led me to wonder, why are the things which are so crystal clear to me, so hard for others to see?
Here is a list of a few
-Big government is bad (no we don't need the welfare / warfare dictatorship we have)
-Government doesn't belong in the private sector. (let business and people take care of themselves, they will do a much better job)
-My money belongs to me (God only demands 10%, why should the gov't get more than God?)
-Credit is bad (my grandfather bought 7 houses in cash. Wish I had learned this lesson much earlier in life)
-An armed nation is a safer nation (no, I don't own a gun, bun I'm working on it)
-God is omniscient and in control of everything (he means evil for good and good for good)
-Welfare is bad (hellooooo, since when is stealing from one person to give to another a good idea?)
-Everyone believes in God (they do.)
-Gov't controlled schools are destroying our youth (so we should stop giving them our money)
-the Feminist movement is evil (and no, I don't hate women, I'm married to a very beautiful woman who happens to have spent the first 30 years of her life engulfed in a feminist world)
-a Christian Democrat needs to re-evaluate his faith. (before you scream, I don't like the Republicans either, but at least their political view is slightly closer to their faith which they proclaim)
I could go on for a long time and create a list that would raise all sorts of controversial issues. And then everyone would hate me and never read anything I wrote again. I guess I'm assuming that someone is actually reading this. But that isn't my point. My point is no matter the issue, the response is always the same.
Fictitious Example:
This is what I hear from my perspective.
"Tell me you don't really believe that... the earth is round" and I reply, "Well YES, I do believe... that the earth is round, and I believe it because... I've been around the earth"
Now for what they hear.
"Tell me you don't really believe that... the earth is flat" and I reply, "Well YES, I do believe... the earth is flat, and I believe it because... wah wah wah wah wah wah"
It's always as if I'm bringing some absurd notion to the table and all they can focus on is that I believe this absurd notion. The rest of my argument falls on deaf ears.
I feel like saying, "If you can just step out of your box for a few minutes, we can get past your belief that my view is absurd." Even those who seem open reach a point where there is an impenetrable wall. Usually a wall built by years of self indoctrination via church / media / and other propaganda. It molds their thoughts into notions which, to me, stand outside of common sense and reason. Yet these are notions which I highly doubt they would come to of their own volition.
My 8 year old can figure out that if you walk into a room full of armed men, it is probably a bad idea to try to rob it; or that it is wrong to steal from one person and give it to another person: or that God is either in control or he's not in control:
Ok, not all of my viewpoints an 8 year old can understand, but many of the most hotly debated ones I'm sure he can figure out.
Is there a point to this blather. No, just me being frustrated at those who walk through life with blinders on repeating the nonsensical propaganda that someone has been feeding them all of their life, not really seeing, sensing and learning for themselves, but clinging desperately to their views, taught them by some inspired leader, in spite of all rhyme or reason.
We live in a world which has forgetten the most basic of questions; WHY? Why do you believe it is right to take money from A and give it to B? Why do you believe gov't has a right to my money? Why do you believe the world is round? Why do you believe you have a free will which supercedes the will of God? Why don't you believe in God? Why do you believe in killing babies? Why do you believe that America should be the world Police building other nations in our "perfect image"? Why are your marriage vows so easily discarded?
What about me you say? Fair enough. Why do I believe in God? Why do I value the life of a child who is still in his mothers womb? Why do I believe the world is round? Why do I believe America should return to the Founding Fathers belief of "Alliance with none, commerce with all"? Why do I fear what public schools are doing to our youth?
I have answers to all off my why's, answer formed through life and studious observation, not through brainwashing by media, religion, school, gov't propaganda, or whatever draws people to irrational conclusions.
Ok, vent is over, I feel better. Now dear reader, don't forget to ask yourself Why? Why you believe whatever it is you believe.
Here is a list of a few
-Big government is bad (no we don't need the welfare / warfare dictatorship we have)
-Government doesn't belong in the private sector. (let business and people take care of themselves, they will do a much better job)
-My money belongs to me (God only demands 10%, why should the gov't get more than God?)
-Credit is bad (my grandfather bought 7 houses in cash. Wish I had learned this lesson much earlier in life)
-An armed nation is a safer nation (no, I don't own a gun, bun I'm working on it)
-God is omniscient and in control of everything (he means evil for good and good for good)
-Welfare is bad (hellooooo, since when is stealing from one person to give to another a good idea?)
-Everyone believes in God (they do.)
-Gov't controlled schools are destroying our youth (so we should stop giving them our money)
-the Feminist movement is evil (and no, I don't hate women, I'm married to a very beautiful woman who happens to have spent the first 30 years of her life engulfed in a feminist world)
-a Christian Democrat needs to re-evaluate his faith. (before you scream, I don't like the Republicans either, but at least their political view is slightly closer to their faith which they proclaim)
I could go on for a long time and create a list that would raise all sorts of controversial issues. And then everyone would hate me and never read anything I wrote again. I guess I'm assuming that someone is actually reading this. But that isn't my point. My point is no matter the issue, the response is always the same.
Fictitious Example:
This is what I hear from my perspective.
"Tell me you don't really believe that... the earth is round" and I reply, "Well YES, I do believe... that the earth is round, and I believe it because... I've been around the earth"
Now for what they hear.
"Tell me you don't really believe that... the earth is flat" and I reply, "Well YES, I do believe... the earth is flat, and I believe it because... wah wah wah wah wah wah"
It's always as if I'm bringing some absurd notion to the table and all they can focus on is that I believe this absurd notion. The rest of my argument falls on deaf ears.
I feel like saying, "If you can just step out of your box for a few minutes, we can get past your belief that my view is absurd." Even those who seem open reach a point where there is an impenetrable wall. Usually a wall built by years of self indoctrination via church / media / and other propaganda. It molds their thoughts into notions which, to me, stand outside of common sense and reason. Yet these are notions which I highly doubt they would come to of their own volition.
My 8 year old can figure out that if you walk into a room full of armed men, it is probably a bad idea to try to rob it; or that it is wrong to steal from one person and give it to another person: or that God is either in control or he's not in control:
Ok, not all of my viewpoints an 8 year old can understand, but many of the most hotly debated ones I'm sure he can figure out.
Is there a point to this blather. No, just me being frustrated at those who walk through life with blinders on repeating the nonsensical propaganda that someone has been feeding them all of their life, not really seeing, sensing and learning for themselves, but clinging desperately to their views, taught them by some inspired leader, in spite of all rhyme or reason.
We live in a world which has forgetten the most basic of questions; WHY? Why do you believe it is right to take money from A and give it to B? Why do you believe gov't has a right to my money? Why do you believe the world is round? Why do you believe you have a free will which supercedes the will of God? Why don't you believe in God? Why do you believe in killing babies? Why do you believe that America should be the world Police building other nations in our "perfect image"? Why are your marriage vows so easily discarded?
What about me you say? Fair enough. Why do I believe in God? Why do I value the life of a child who is still in his mothers womb? Why do I believe the world is round? Why do I believe America should return to the Founding Fathers belief of "Alliance with none, commerce with all"? Why do I fear what public schools are doing to our youth?
I have answers to all off my why's, answer formed through life and studious observation, not through brainwashing by media, religion, school, gov't propaganda, or whatever draws people to irrational conclusions.
Ok, vent is over, I feel better. Now dear reader, don't forget to ask yourself Why? Why you believe whatever it is you believe.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Quotes of Thomas Jefferson!!!
In reading the writings of our nations Founding Fathers, it saddens me to reallize in how little regard our society holds their views. We pay them lip service by celebrating Presidents Day and the Fourth of July and such, then chose to ignore almost all that they believed in. The rights and freedom for which they fought to secure, we throw away. In modern America, their views are considered antiquated. Washinton, Jefferson, Franklin, Hancock, Adams, Revere, Paine, and such. Great men, great leaders of their time. But their way no longer applies to us.
We study the warriors of ancient China, the philosphers of ancient Greece, many of us adhere to Biblical concepts written millennia ago. Yet the political wisdom of 200 years ago is antiquated.
So here is some political wisdom from 200 years ago from the pen of Thomas Jefferson
-Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.
-I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
-We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.
-The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
-There is nothing more unequal, than the equal treatment of unequal people
-Democracy is 51% of the people taking away the rights of the other 49%
-If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.
-The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
-I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another
-That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves
-Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
-We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate
-Never spend your money before you have it.
-I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
-I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
We all should spend more time reading the writings of the men who Founded this nation, and then practice applying their wisdom to our world. If we don't, we will continue down the road of less freedom, less property and less rights.
We study the warriors of ancient China, the philosphers of ancient Greece, many of us adhere to Biblical concepts written millennia ago. Yet the political wisdom of 200 years ago is antiquated.
So here is some political wisdom from 200 years ago from the pen of Thomas Jefferson
-Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.
-I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
-We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.
-The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
-There is nothing more unequal, than the equal treatment of unequal people
-Democracy is 51% of the people taking away the rights of the other 49%
-If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.
-The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
-I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another
-That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves
-Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
-We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate
-Never spend your money before you have it.
-I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
-I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
We all should spend more time reading the writings of the men who Founded this nation, and then practice applying their wisdom to our world. If we don't, we will continue down the road of less freedom, less property and less rights.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Who said it?
"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war, neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it's a democracy, or a facist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
Can this quote be applied to todays war? I'll let you decide. But who am I quoting dear reader? None other than convicted Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering at his trial at Nuremberg.
Can this quote be applied to todays war? I'll let you decide. But who am I quoting dear reader? None other than convicted Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering at his trial at Nuremberg.
The Lord Provides
I've been unemployed since Feb 12th. At first I was worried. My wife being pregnant, and knowing how tight our finances were up to my lay-off, I thought we would be sinking fast.
But somehow my finances have been more abundant than when I was working. My pregnant wife has been taken care of and very shortly will be giving birth to our daughter. My family has been completely provided for no thanks to me. I did hesitate in tithing during this time, but only momentarily. If God provides for me in times of plenty, I should trust him to provide in times of need, and he has. Glad I had the faith to continue to tithe.
March 12th marks 3 months of unemployment. It also marks the first day of my new job. My new employer is giving me everything I asked for. The pay I asked for, the shift I asked for, the benefits I wanted and time off to have my baby should I need it.
Amazing is all I can say!
The Lord Provides
But somehow my finances have been more abundant than when I was working. My pregnant wife has been taken care of and very shortly will be giving birth to our daughter. My family has been completely provided for no thanks to me. I did hesitate in tithing during this time, but only momentarily. If God provides for me in times of plenty, I should trust him to provide in times of need, and he has. Glad I had the faith to continue to tithe.
March 12th marks 3 months of unemployment. It also marks the first day of my new job. My new employer is giving me everything I asked for. The pay I asked for, the shift I asked for, the benefits I wanted and time off to have my baby should I need it.
Amazing is all I can say!
The Lord Provides
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