What do you call a “disease of the soul”, an illness resulting from a longing, frustrated desire, and deep inner dissatisfaction and emptiness?  First clue … it is the necessary beginning of any spiritual path.  Second clue … it is a condition that manifests itself as if our souls are searching for love but lacking an inner experience of intimacy with oneself, with God, with life, and with the moment.  It happens when you get disconnected, abandoned and rejected and try and find love in the wrong places. It happens when you search for “your own” enlightenment by often looking for “people, places and things” to make you feel an intimacy of happiness.  The saddest people in the world are those people in the morning who seemed to be the happiest people last night.  What would you call this disease? 

If intimacy of happiness is what is being longed for then, where do we search and how?  All too often the search involves “over stimulation” whether it be in the search for or in the fulfilling of the longing.  The search usually involves an object, a substance, an event, or a repetitive anything (shopping, thinking, blaming, abusing, eating) in a way that cannot give the “intimacy with the moment” that is being sought. Then over time, when the fix does not work the ante is upped. You will always need more and more of anything that is not working.  Conversely, if something is really working for you, then less and less will be required to satisfy you.

The problem is that when you develop that trust relationship with a behavior, substance or compulsion of some kind and it is usually a momentary intensity passing itself off as intimacy, the effect is quickly over and then you need more.  When you put your trust and love into that behavior and that becomes what you seek the most, you have just defined your new god.  This is a god that cannot save you from the hell of loneliness, abandonment and rejection. 

We cannot engineer our own enlightenment.  It usually comes in the form of the work of someone else.  God’s grace from start to finish through and in the form of someone else.  We were made to breathe the Air that always surrounds us, feeds us, and fills us. Some of us call this experience God, but the word is not important.  For those who will gasp at this... even God said, I am what I am.  What is important is that you find someone who can guide you on a path to enlightenment, to a god that you can be in relationship with.  

If you seek to be happy, joyous and free then you need to look to the people around you and find those that are happy, joyous and free during the day time.  Souls that are alive to the world, engaged and rooted in happiness.  Find someone to talk to who can share their journey and their insights as they guide you.  Join a group that encourages discussion and laughter and I add, “in the morning”, because it is in those places that you will find the kind of god that you can be in relationship with. 

Life is tough, there seems to be no rules (just laws and punishment) and little direction in getting through it, never mind living it.  How you get through life and how you live it is up to you.  There are choices and one of those choices is right now.  Do you have a disease of living, a disease of the soul?  What are you going to do about it?

People become willing to consider Jesus when they like and trust the people who call themselves Christians. 




This is my "kinda" niece Robin.  She rides this horse, as far as I can tell, a lot.  The horse's name is Tommy... I love the name and especially this cheeky picture.  Robin has a special place in my heart, she loves horses, as I do, and when she visited us this past summer, arranging the perfect horse ride for her in the mountains, became an exciting time for me.  I went and checked out several trail riding companies and picked the best one.  That is the kind of relational love that families have, wanting the very best for each other.  

There is little sense in me telling someone about my relationship with Jesus unless I practice, in my life, this kind of relationship.  People need to be attracted by my relationship with Jesus and to want what I have (peace and joy).  I always say love, faith, hope are all verbs...they are the "doing things" like checking out the best trail ride or driving a family member through "mountain snow storms" to get to a doctors appointment.  That's what I call love....  Practicing "the doing part" of our faith isn't always easy....sometimes we have to "just do the right thing" even when it is inconvenient or costly.  

It seems to me that If we aren't prepared to follow (faith, hope and love)  the way of Christ...........all the way to the Cross, then what is this "Christmas thing" all about?   It is easy to talk about and study faith, it is easy to talk about hope and it is easy to choose who we love....but to practice it...to have faith that the way things are, is where we are supposed to be in life....to bring hope to others....a phone call down the road a few months from a friends loved one's passing....yes and even loving that "crusty" old person with a hug...  Loving isn't hard and the rewards of being loved right back are amazing.  On November 29th., another "Advent" begins.  How will you prepare?  Who will want the faith, hope and love that you have?  These are the questions that advent shakes in me.  What will my Christmas be like?  How will that birth (the Christ) in me inspire that birth in others.... 

Christ didn't tell us to talk about him, but to "be" like him.... 

Well, today started with an email getting through the filters offering to give me big money for a 20 minute store visit...  After checking out the email, I got the following result.

It is hard to believe that there are so many people who are trolling out there looking for unsuspecting people.  It makes me wonder what the resultant effects are.  I know I have become much more cynical about receiving any email from someone I am not in regular contact with.

If you get one of these fantastic emails...report it and move on.  Something even crazier will come along.... just to make your day.

SCAM: Secret Shopper, Mystery Shopper and Detective Shopper Scams

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Chris Edwards — 506 Comments

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There are several of these emails going around. I have listed a few of them below.

How The Scam Works

This scam is similar to many other scams, however, this scam is disguised much better. Here are the steps of the scam:

• First, you receive a recruitment email from a secret shopper service, sometimes called SS-Network. The recruiter tells you that you have been selected for an assignment as a secret shopper in your area. You will get $200-$300 dollars and will receive a packet that will have the funds for shopping. All you need to do is send them your name, address, age, occupation and an alternative email address.
• After they receive your information, you will receive another email with your instructions and a USPS tracking number. In this you will be given instructions. The instructions are listed below.
• You then will receive by mail a money order for a large amount of money. This is normally several thousand dollars. The money order looks legit. Per instructions, you are to cash this at your bank, subtract your payment ($200-$300) and then proceed to Walmart and spend $20 on any item you want.
• Now you are to survey you experience at Walmart. This is where the scammer is trying to gain your trust. Their goal is to make this secret shopping scam seem real so that you don’t expect anything.
• Your next assignment is to either send the money to another secret shopper or secret shop Western Union. You are to send the remainder of your balance to the person listed in your instruction email. Once the money is sent, you are to take note of how the service was and send them back an email letting them know your survey results as well as the transaction number.
• A few days later, or even a week later, your bank rejects the money order since they realize it is a fake and the funds are removed from your account.

As you see, this is just a play on many other scams. If you receive an email asking you to be a secret shopper and it smells fishy, DELETE IT! Most secret shopping networks will have an official website where you setup your account. Normally, the amounts they have you performing your secret shop with is lower amounts. They also never ask for you to send back the remainder of the balance.

Read more: http://www.708media.com/scams/secret-shopper-ss-network-scam/#ixzz3rlMeh4zH

Progress isn't about time.....



This is so true.  I spent far too many years worrying about what had happened instead of focusing on what I needed to plan for.  Cars are interesting.... the windshield is certainly bigger than the rear-view mirror..... I spent far too much of my life thinking about what happened instead of what was ahead.  You have to fall down a lot to learn that lesson.

Life in the Windermere

Grandson's are great, this young one is my first and only.  He is a handsome happy dude.  I look at him and see features that are just like me.  Love it.  Well, I've never blogged before so let the good times role.

Terrorism

Terror again in our world. Small groups of "radicalized" humans intent on making "their" position a reason for murder. I think that if we see them as '"organized murderers" and not as a cause, we will stop being terrorized. What a pleasure these very sick people must feel when they see the look of hopelessness on our faces as we spread their "terrorist" on our screens. My message to them is "you are murderers and I refuse to give your cause (murder) any more traction". Get help..... you are sick. NO God would have a place in God's heart for you.