MEN JUST CAN’T DO IT

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

It looks like its simple enough a cave man could do it. Forget that. Men just cannot draw blood. I don’t know why they can’t—they just can’t. I’m thoroughly convinced it takes a woman to do it. I know about this stuff. I’m diabetic and I get my blood tested every three months. For years every time I went into the lab a young lady (not always the same one) would be there to take my blood. It wasn’t what I would call a pleasant experience—but it wasn’t bad either. Then one day, a young man appeared. He tried one arm. Nothing! He tried the other arm. Nothing! I left with both arms hurting and bright colored bandages on both arms. I looked like a clown. Like the one with tears in his eyes.
On two other occasions this young man tried to draw blood from me without success. He should have hit blood because he drove the needle all the way to the bone.

Today, I went in for my three month check-up. I made up my mind that if this young man was there, that I would be as polite as possible but I would ask for a lady to draw my blood. To my pleasant surprise, he wasn’t there! Instead there was another young man there that I had never met. So, not wanting to be rude and not wanting to believe that just because he was a man that he couldn’t draw blood, I sat where he told me to sit and put my arm out. I don’t need to tell you, you already know—he couldn’t do it! I said, “I don’t believe this. I want a lady to finish this. A lady came over and in just a second or so without any pain—she drew the blood.

I drove away from the Dr.’s office muttering to myself, “I hate to admit it, but there are just a lot of things that men can’t do.”

I NEVER PLAN TO OFFEND

Monday, December 11, 2006

Try as you may, it is almost impossible to keep from offending someone. This is nothing new—it has always been this way. But what is new is that today almost everybody is offended about almost everything.

What can you do about it? Not a damn thing!

I never plan to offend anybody. If I do offend some honest, sincere person then I am extremely sorry and I apologize. But for those of you who just go around looking for something to be offended by, I don’t give a flip. Go ahead and be offended.

I put up a Christmas tree and have no plans to put up anything representing all the religions of the world. We decorated our house inside and out. We say, “Merry Christmas” and although we hope you have a happy holiday we don’t usually say so. But we don’t get offended if you say that to us.

Good grief! The number of things that offend people today is so long I can’t list them all. I don’t know about you but I plan to keep living my life the way I always have. I try to use common sense and do the right thing at all times. I hope you like that, but if you don’t –TOUGH!

WHITE CHRISTMAS? IN PHOENIX??

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Am I dreaming of a white Christmas? In Phoenix?? Are you kidding?
Last night I cooked steak outside on the grill. The weather was fantastic. However, it got a little cooler during the night so we had a fire in the fireplace this morning. We love it. Oh, it would be fun to have snow here, anytime—but we are not expecting it. If we want snow we can drive up to Flagstaff.

In our 17 years here we have seen snow twice. We saw enough snow to cover the ground one day when driving home from Cave Creek. Another time I had gone down town to the library on a Sunday afternoon. I had a meeting there with a group of ladies. I had to run the wipers all the way home to keep the snow off the windshield. The ground was completely covered and people were either outside or looking out their windows. It was marvelous. It came quickly and it left quickly.

Snow in Phoenix this Christmas? I don’t think so. But hey, maybe I will dream about a white Christmas. It will be fun. But if it doesn’t snow, I won’t cry. I will just run outside and get a tan.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS

Saturday, December 09, 2006

“In a few days it will only be a faint little memory.” Those words have always infuriated me. Just before I had gall-bladder surgery I heard them. You have heard them too. There is always somebody that feels compelled to enlighten you in an effort to make you feel better. I think we hate to hear these words, first of all, because we don’t believe them—at least not at the time they are said. In the second place we don’t want to feel better, we want somebody to recognize our problem and “feel our pain.”

But, as much as we hate to admit it—we know it is true. In a few days or maybe a little longer—it won’t hurt so much. Thank God, he made us this way. We have grit—true grit that enables us to bounce back or pick ourselves up and go on. Where does this strength come from? It comes from HIM. It really does. God gives us the strength to go on. My favorite Scripture is, Romans 8:28 “…in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Everything that happens in our lives is not good, but it can work for good. God sees to it!

In the morning at 9:30 I will teach a class, “Overcoming Emotional Depression” at the Lincoln Heights Christian Church. I would love to see you there if you live in the area.

God bless you as you live for HIM.

VICTORY AT ALL COST

Friday, December 08, 2006

We are not winning the war in Iraq. But we must win. We can and we must. Don’t think for one minute that President Truman wanted to drop the atomic bomb. It was probably the hardest decision of his life. He did it to achieve victory and to save lives. Now, I’m not suggesting the United States drop the atomic bomb but I am suggesting that we need to fight the war and win it or come home and shut up and wait to be killed ourselves.

Listen to what Winston Churchill once said about victory:

“I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government, that I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind…You ask, what is our policy? I will say: it is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”

BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO!

AMEN, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN, AND AMEN!

MANAGING OUR EMOTIONS

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Sunday morning at Lincoln Heights Christian Church in Phoenix, I will continue my series of Bible class lessons on the theme: “Christmas—Renewal through Christ.” The topic Sunday will be: “Overcoming Emotional Depression.” When we come into the delicate area of temperament and emotional behavior, there is no sharp, clear-cut distinction between normal and abnormal. We are all neurotic to some extent; that is, we all have nerves. We have emotions, and they sometimes misbehave abnormally. We all have our ups and downs, our good days and bad days. Everybody gets depressed at times.

Depression can be very serious. Sunday we will talk about ways to overcome this depression. In times of depression, we must cry out to God for hope and seek community with his people. Joy stems from the knowledge of God’s work in our past, plan for our present, and power over our future.

I’m excited about presenting these lessons because I know that we all have times of depression and sometimes it is unbearable.

THERE IS HOPE IN CHRIST.