just another birthday

Friday the 15th of April was is my 57th birthday. April 14th would have been my sister Pat's 58th birthday. We were born one year, one day, and 5 minutes apart. Only 2 people at my job remember my birthday. My team did not remember. There was no traditional balloons and desk decorations. My extended family (ex-wife and stepson) made a homemade mexican mealm which was nice, but I had to serve myself. I also had to was wash the dishes, since Nina strained her back and foot by standing so long in preparing my special dinner. It got late and the boys were already upstairs, so no birthday cake that night. I ate 2 doughnuts from work. Did I mention no presents, because we don’t have any money. That would never happen on any of their birthdays. They would get very pissed. Should be reading my bible right now to get a better frame of mind.

Window of Opportunity

One tricky fact about windows: What looks like a window of DEFEAT can actually be a window of VICTORY. It simply depends on your perspective. Window of Testimony = The best evangelistgic tool of all time is YOUR story! So you better find an audience. The danger with the Testimony Window is that it wants to close, so you have to fight to keep it open. If you are serious about keeping it open, you will have an undying desire to succeed and grow. Window of Repentance = God's grace will always be here, but you will not. Eternity is closer than you think.

Revivng Your Life

Check your life for a sense of purpose. If you stand for nothing, then you will fall for anything.

Check your life for a pattern of relevance. We are all called to reach people.

Check your life for a spirit of urgency. We can't put off what God is calling us to do TODAY.

Regrets

Small things left unattended to, will cause great disasters.
Small things properly attended to, will lead to great victories!

What you don't deal with in private, God will deal with in public.

I would rather have the pain of discipline, than have the pain of regret.

The trouble with good advice, is that it often interferes with our plans.

Ramdom Thoughts

1. You can have more degrees than a thermometer, but at the top of the ladder is God.
2. A man does not ask for directions. That is man law #15. If he asks, they will take away his man card and make him wear a tutu. That is why your car's GPS is in a woman's voice.
3. People don't see things as they really are. They see things as THEY are.
4. The only way you can change the way people see you.....you have to change the way you see yourself. Your life is a mirror of how you see yourself.
5. Fear is a self full-filling prophecy. If you think you will fail, then you will.
6. The tongue is the smallest part of the body, but it can control your path. Like a rudder on a boat. Small but directional.

Puns for Educated Minds

Puns for Educated Minds

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

14. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was,
a nurse said, 'No change yet.'

17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

18. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

19. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

20. A backward poet writes inverse.

21. In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

22. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

23. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects!

WE SURVIVED... the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants &children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts, or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because,

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes. No video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or chat rooms.......

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers , problem solvers, and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them... CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives
for our own good .

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!