Faith in God

A king who did not believe in the goodness of God, had a slave who, in all circumstances would always say "My king, do not be discouraged, because everything God does is perfect. He makes no mistakes!"

One day they went hunting and along the way a wild animal attacked the king.  His slave managed to kill the animal, but could not prevent his majesty from losing a finger.

Furious and without showing his gratitude for being saved, the nobleman asked "Is God good? If He was good, I would not have been attacked and lost my finger."

The slave replied:
"My king, despite all these things, I can only tell you that God is good, and he knows why these things happened. What God does is perfect. He is never wrong!"

Outraged by the response, the king ordered the arrest of his slave.

Later, the King left for another hunt, this time alone. He was captured by savages who engaged in human sacrifices.

On the altar and ready to sacrifice the nobleman, the savages discovered that their victim did not have one of his fingers. According to them, only a whole person with all his/her parts intact could be offered to the gods. The King without a finger was deemed an abominable sacrifice for their gods. So they released the King.

Upon his return to the palace, the King authorized the release of his slave.  He received the slave affectionately.

He asked his slave, "my dear, God was really good to me! I was almost killed by the wild men, but for lack of a single finger, I was let go! But I have a question: if God is so good, why did he allow me to put you in jail?"

The slave answered, "my King, if I had gone with you on this hunt, I would have been sacrificed instead because I have no missing finger. Remember everything God does is perfect. He is never wrong. He made you to keep me in jail so I would not be with you on the hunt."

Often we complain about life, and negative things that happen to us, forgetting that nothing is random and that everything has a purpose.

Every morning, offer your day to God, don't be in a rush.

Ask God to inspire your thoughts, guide your actions, and ease your feelings. And do not be afraid. God is never wrong!

You know why this message is for you? I do not know, but God knows, because He never makes mistakes...

The path of God and his word are perfect, without impurities. He is the way of all those who trust in Him.

God is never wrong!

The One That Got Away

OR

How I Twisted My Ankle On a Jello Shot

Went to my daughter's house to keep her from going ballistic on the roofers.  Left with 2 trays of jello shots.  When I got home, I tried to balance the trays of jello shots on the railing while I unlocked the front door.  Jello shots do not balance on a railing.  Ended up with jello shots everywhere.  I couldn't tell how many fell off the porch, behind the bushes, into a deep pile of leaves, but imagined a raccoon finding them and getting hammered and I just wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I got wildlife hooked on jello shots.  So, I turned on the porch light and went in the house to find something to gather up the escapees with.

For some reason, it seemed easier to grab a vacuum cleaner attachment than a rake, so I went with that.  Back outside, it seemed dark, so I turned on the porch light - not remembering or realizing that I had already done that. I turned it off then back on.  Realized I needed a flashlight.  Back in the house, then back to the front porch, one more time not thinking and turned off the porch light, so then back on again.  Stepped off the porch.  It turns out that leaves mask what's underneath and give way under the weight of a human foot.  Down I went, rolled and tumbled.  Laid there in the leaves for a few minutes, having twisted my ankle, and realized, there's no one to call for help, so I stumbled and fumbled and eventually got back to my feet.

Tried to rake in the jello shot with the vacuum cleaner attachment (turns out there was only one jello shot, so the raccoon probably would have survived) and kept losing it in the leaves, however, at this point it seemed sillier to give up than to keep trying to retrieve a jello shot with a vacuum cleaner attachment, in the dark, under a bush, hidden in a pile of leaves, so I persevered until I was triumphant.

Back in the house, turned off the porch light, looked back outside, the porch light was still on, I had turned off the foyer light overhead.  Turned it back on and the porch light off and realized I had lost part of the vacuum cleaner attachment.  Porch light back on, no wait, that was the foyer light, then the porch light, back outside - at this point I don't know what lights are on and which are off and wondering, really, if I even needed them at all, because, hey, just realized, I'm holding a two foot long flashlight.  Found the attachment in the dark, back inside, flick the lights back and forth a few more times, start walking through the living room and hear the sound of leaves trailing behind me.  Remembered, I fell in a pile of leaves, could that sound possibly be because  I'm covered in them?  Lights on and off a few more times as I muddle my way back outside, this time careful not to step in the black hole pile o' leaves just off my porch step.  Clean myself off, back inside, lights off and on and possibly off again by now, (half wondering if the neighbors are watching at this point).

Go to put the little AWOL jello shot into the frig with its little friends and somehow knock out the veggie crisper drawer.  Jello shots out of the frig, bang crisper around the frig a few times to vent; consolidate jello shots into one bin (go ahead and take a few pics because at this point I realize this little snafu is at least going to be posted on fb), sit down, have a banana, showing restraint not to just ingest all of the jello shots.  Stand up, walk through and slip on Velvet's drool from where she was sitting while I ate my banana...seem to have blocked out whatever went wrong after that; couldn't have been good.  Just as well, I feel my entire body turning into one big bruise, so I'm going to call it quits here.

So, long story short:
roofers jello shots intoxicated raccoon porch light flickers leaves twisted ankle vacuum cleaner attachment flashlight banana Beagle drool

Voting in the 2012 Election

Today I stayed home from work because I've got a flu/sinus infection and so to gear up to go vote took a little coordinating of rest, food and medicine.  I think I timed it pretty well.  I got there just after 11 am, thinking there would hardly be any line, but was I ever wrong.  The line snaked and turned and seemed to be endless.  I asked a poll worker about it.  Why did they change the way they use to do it?  Before, we were all divided into separate little groups into separate little church classrooms and voting never took more than 10 minutes.  Another year we were divided into 4 groups alphabetically and then another year into 2 groups alphabetically, so I guess, in hindsight, I should have seen this coming, however, to do it this way for a presidential election was just pure craziness. 

Being sick, running a low grade fever, and suffering hot flashes, coupled with standing in a long line and sweating to death made me feel like passing out and I almost turned to leave, but then the lady in front of me started talking to me.  She said her husband said it was only about a half hour wait this morning and it was about the same length of a line.  So, I'm thinking, 'half an hour, I think I can do that.'  Then, she said, 'you know, its amazing people will stand here and complain about this line, yet people wait in much longer lines at amusement parks just to ride one ride.'  She had a point there, so I decided to stay and if I needed to sit, I would ask the people behind me to save my spot.

The people behind me were very offensive in the things they were saying about the candidates, past elections, people in general, and I tried not to listen.  For the life of me, I could not tell if they were democrat or republican, because they bashed both equally.  The couple in front of me then started talking to me more and more and then I found out they weren't a couple; they had just met in line.  I thought that was so great.  The man, it turns out, was a bodyguard for Presidents Ronald Reagan, and George Bush.  Very interesting and exciting.  I never met a bodyguard before, especially not one for two U.S. Presidents.

He bought me a cup of coffee, which I thought was really nice.  People just don't interact like they use to, so it was wonderful to meet such nice people.  It was a delicious Boston Stoker Cinnamon Twist.  The church where we voted had a cafe which I'm thinking is an excellent idea for all voting places.

Well, that was the adventure for today.  I think its wonderful to meet new people and strike up conversations.  It made the line seem not as long.  The whole process took half an hour, which, I'm understanding is not very long this year.

Get out and vote :-)
If you don't know where to vote, search online for your county's board of elections website.  Take your driver's license or other picture/state issued photo id and if you've moved and not been able to change your address, take your license and a utility bill with your name and address on it.  You will have to fill out a provisional ballot, but at least you'll have the opportunity to vote (but, please, don't take my word on it; check with your board of elections).  Those in New York and New Jersey have some options because of the hurricane.  This is the latest article I found on it:


www.newsday.com/long-island/voting-begins-tuesday-across-long-island-1.4...

Praying for whomever is best suited for the job(s) to triumph.