Light

Sunday was my first over night working at Wal-Mart and I was tired as I usually go to bed at ten o’clock. It was dark when I got into my car to go to work. I turned on the car headlight so I can see where I’m going. Every block or so I met the illumination from the street lights. When I got to the stop light, it was brighter for the convenience store lit the corner up. The light turned from red to green and I drove on. I pulled into a semi-dark parking lot, parked the car, got out and started walking across the parking lot to the doors of Wal-Mart. The first set of doors opened to make way for the next set of doors, which led to a brightness that you can see everything! Everything that is good when you first walked into the doors. Bakery goods, fresh flowers, pizzas in the freezer and clean wide aisles. There were a few customers and workers, unlike the day shift the week before. There was a sense of harmony and quietness.

Now let me take you to another place, Las Vegas, Nevada, a city that never sleep. Where the nightlife comes alive with shows, gambling, noise, and lots of people. There are lights everywhere! In the hotel, the signs, the car headlights going bumper to bumper down the road. In downtown Vegas at night, you can’t see the dark sky, let alone any stars.

Two different places. Two different environment. Two different light. Yet both can trick the mind into thinking its daytime and keep you alert and going. Going where?????

There is an advertisement that says, “What you do in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Now there is two sides of the coin in that advertisement. On one side of the coin, Vegas takes your money, your integrity, and can take your life. On the other side of the coin, you take your experience of Vegas with you for the rest of your life, whether good or bad.

Wal-mart advertise, “Save Money, Live Better!” Wal-mart has two sides of the coins as well. You do save money compare to the higher price stores in the mall or shopping centers. They have Roll-back prices and clearance items in the stores. But on the other side of the coin, to live better, well there are temptations in the store as well. Temptations that you do not see when you first walk into the store. Temptations that is located in the midst of the good. Not only tobacco and alcohol, but even chocolates!

Both are somewhat deceiving. Both are focusing on bringing people to them through advertising.

Yet there is a greater light to follow. A light that not deceive you and promise you eternal life. A light that does not give you temptations. A light that is to be told everywhere! A light that can cleanse you and give you peace and joy. What is that light? That light is Jesus.

Light can be deceiving, whether you are in Vegas or walking into a Wal-Mart store. But there is One True Light to follow that will not deceive you, Jesus.

Which light will you follow today?

You’re 16

I just received an email from my brother, Roy, which made me chuckle and smile. He enjoyed reading my post about mom because it took him to a place in his life that he has forgotten and “it’s nice to hear it.” Also reading this blog provided him with a flashback to another time in both of our lives.

Birthdays are very important in our family and mom made sure we celebrated them (not hers, which brings another memory :-) ). When I was a teenager, I had a portable fisher price record player and a lot of 45’s. (remember those? I still have them in storage somewhere, lol) I was dating Everett and my brothers were teasing me about being 16 and have been kissed. I didn’t remember whether it was Roy or Todd, but Roy put on one of my record, “You’re 16 by Ringo Starr, and played it as a birthday present for me. Some of you may not remember the song. If you dare to listen to the lyric and watch the video of You're 16 by Ringo Starr, be prepare to laugh. My…how technology have changed over time!

I was touched that my brother would remember my 16th birthday in a special way. I also remember playing another song, but for the life of me I can’t recall the title and I’m not going out into the garage to dig out the old records at 2:09 in the morning. If it was 2:09 in the afternoon, I would be out there searching through my boxes looking for that record!

I don’t remember much else about turning 16, but that memory has been burned into my heart. The memory of plugging that record player into an outlet by the pool table/dining room window, which was turned into a kitchen later. We sat on the floor and played those records. I remember a tear or two dropped. I was truly touched.

It’s amazing how memory works and is connected in some way or another. What trigger one memory for one person usually triggers another memory for another person. There are stories, whether good or bad. They are the make up of our lives and keeps us connected.

Many people doesn’t see this side of my brother, Roy, because he keeps his feelings inside of him. But when he does something special, it is truly special. Thank you for the memory, Roy.

First Will Be Last…

Over the past year I have applied at several places for employment.  First part of the year I applied for jobs that I was educationally qualified for and the latter half of the year I applied for jobs that are minimum wages.   Last month I was hired at Casey’s.

Over the last week, the parable of the workers in the vineyard came to my heart (Matthew 20:1-16).  It is a story how the landowner went out every few hours to hire men to work in his vineyard for one denarius.  It didn’t matter whether they worked 12 hours or one hour, they all got the same rate of pay.   

The workers who worked all day for the same pay as those who worked for a partial day became envious and angry.  They felt that they were not being treated fairly and complained to the landowner.   The landowner offered each worker a rate of pay for the day and each worker had accepted the offer. 

As stated in my previous post, I was able to obtain a part-time minimum wage job at Casey’s last month.  Today I started part-time with a little higher than minimum wage with Wal-mart, which is a far cry from what I made from my previous employments.  Although my wages has decreased,  the humility, healing and  faith continue to grow in strength as I was able to spend more time in God’s Words.

When I was thinking about this parable, there were similarities.  Whether it is a white collar job or a blue collar job, we both worked about the same amount of hours per day.   Both jobs are stressful, the former has more mental stress and the latter has more physical stress.   The white collar job requires high education and the blue collar job require experiences.   Yet the more education you have, the higher rate of pay you get. 

Not always so.  As with me, my high education disqualified me for many employment because of being “over qualified”.   In this economic time, to have a job is a blessing.

The workers who worked all day for the same pay as the one who worked a couple of hours for the same rate of pay were envious.  How many times we get envious of those who gets better pay than we do?

The ones who did not accept the offer the first time around ended up wishing that they had employment and were getting hungry as well as thirsty.  They were simply not ready to accept the offer. 

As time goes by, the offer became more attractive and the workers were grateful to have employment and with such a generous wage, which they did not deserve.   They did not boast about it, they just accepted the pay. 

The Lord is also generous with his offer as well as the landowner.  Sadly, many will wait for a better offer (job) to come along.   But the offer is free, all we have to do is believe in Him.   When we believe, we will have eternal life with the Lord.  How can it get any better than this?

Although my wages has decreased from my previous employments, I have been blessed abundantly with a lesson of humility,  dependency on God, not self and an opportunity to minister to more people through my writings and my secular employments. 

Where is your focus?  Are you focusing on what you don’t like in a job you are in?  Are you focusing on what others have and you have not?  Or is your focus on what God is doing in your life to help prepare you for what is next in the plan He has for you? 

After all, first will be last and last will be first.

Cost of Everything

Have you noticed how high things cost lately? Working at Casey’s made me more aware of the cost of foods and general merchandise. First thing I noticed was the cost of a candy bar, which is 1.10 with tax. I can remember a time when I use to go to the nearby mom and pop store and buy a sack full of penny candies for a quarter (which was bout 40 years ago).

Now I see kids come to the store and not blink an eye when they buy candies and sodas with five dollars and smile. I know it would be hard for them to imagine their grandparents getting a sack full of candies for a quarter, just as it was hard for us to imagine our parents or grandparents walking 2-5 miles to school in snow up to their waist.

When I was talking to dad the other day, we were talking about when they had a hard time financially. But as a child, I could not even remember the hard times because we had food on the table, clothes on our back and shelter. Dad would hunt and fish so we would have meat on the table. We were also raised with unconditional love.

When I got married, my husband and I were able to save our money and invest in a retail business. Over the years we had everything in the world we needed financially. One of the downfall in owning a business is that it takes 24/7 of your time. My husband would remodel fixer upper homes for additional investments. All this sacrifice took away from family time. I soon went out with my friends. Over time it put a strain on our relationships and we ended up in a divorce because we were both selfish.

Jesus was not selfish when he laid down his life for you and paid the ransom for your sin. Through his life, he taught us how important relationships with the Father in Heaven is as well as how important relationships with your family and neighbors are. My husband and I did not have our priority straight. There was no balance. Although we loved each other and our sons, we thought it was more important to be comfortable in life financially.

Would you lay down your life for your family? How about for a stranger? What is the order of your priority in life? What are you sacrificing? Is what you are sacrificing building relationships or destroying relationships?

I believe many of us are having a hard time economically. Because of the hard time, we are taking inventory of our own life. Just like businesses take inventory to find out what is moving and what is not moving in the store as well as the profit and loss of the store.

From rag to riches. Then from riches to rags. What is consistent is that although I have nothing (financially), I have much, which is love.

TheBigOne

Normally I don’t do this, but I thought it was funny and wanted to pass it along.

This has to be one of the funniest country songs ever written........

not the perfect one mind you.....

no trains, dogs, pickup trucks, jail or Divorce..........

But a great country song.....turn up your sound

~TheBigOne

Age

There are many definition of Age due to what you are talking about. One definition is how long an organism have lived (dare a woman tell?). How about aged cheese or wine? Another is a period of time or history. The Biblical Period, the Renaissance Period, the Baroque Period, the Ice Age and so on.

Age also determines our rite of passages. When we start school, lose our first tooth, go through puberty, go to High school, when we get our driver’s license, have the right to vote, to be an adult, to buy alcohol, get senior discounts or Social Security Medicare.

In the social realm, we put much emphasis on age. When working, I encountered two men (do you notice that things happen by two?) who were talking about how old they are because of being tired and the ache and pains they have after getting off work for the night. I commented to both of them that they are not that old! They replied saying I was not near as old as they were. One said he was 40 and the other 42. Now I took that as a compliment for I am 50!

Why is age so important? In the Biblical Period, women were getting married at the age of twelve and in our culture, women are getting married in late 20s or 30s. Some never get married, but live with their significant others. Puberty age has changed over the decades. Maturity and immaturity determines if we act our chronological age. How we dress determines our age. Our cultures determines our age, what is appropriate and what is not.

What if we don’t go by age, but by experiences? Then the whole perspective changes. A child who lived a sheltered life vs. a child who lived a life for survival. A family of two parents vs. a family of one parent. A person who lived in low income family vs. a person who lived in a high income family. A person who lived a healthy life vs. a person who has been ill most of their life.

Our past experiences determines are age and maturity as well. It also defines who we are as a person. What is your story? What defines you as a person? Does age really matter in a social realm? These are questions to ponder. Age….

New Perspective

Have you ever known someone for most of their life or your life and when you see them again in a different environment that person seem so different?   That happened to me not just once, but twice last night while I was working at Casey’s. 

I am a cashier and one of my job is to turn on the gas pump when someone lift the nozzle and hit start.  As pump one was initiated to start,  I noticed a small older model maroon car, but I could not see the person pumping the gas.    I went about my business and saw that the pump had finish pumping gas.  I looked up and saw a man walking about six feet tall into the door.  I was shocked to see my son, Steve, who lives in the Quad Cities.  He was only in town for a short time and came by to get gas, soda, and beef jerky (which was high priced I thought). 

Later in the evening, I looked up to greet another customer and I had to look twice!  Standing before me is my other son, Brad.  He was getting ready to go out of town and stopped to get some Dew! 

Now I have given birth to these boys and raised them.  They are adults.  But what made them look so different?  It was as if I was seeing them in a new perspective and I was.  I was seeing them as customers who happens to be my sons. 

I cannot remember a time where the boys came into my workplace as customers.  When I was a waitress or a night manager in a grocery store, they were too young to be in the store or restaurant without adult supervision.  Later I worked in social services and they were not my clients.  However, when I was an associate pastor, they did come to listen to one or two of my sermons and I saw them in a new perspective then too. 

You see, it’s not that they are different, but my role or personality changed while in a different environment.  We all wear different masks while we are wearing different hats in life.  How we act with our children is different than how we act with our parents.  How we act with our friends is different than how we act with a new acquaintance.  How we act at home is different than how we act at work. And unfortunately, for many of us,  how we act in church is different than how we act the rest of the week. 

The personality of these boys were the same as before last night, when I look at the situation closely.  What I saw in Steve is that he is a tall  big guy who loves to joke around and laugh at the small stuff.  What I saw in Brad is that he has dark eyes, a great smile and a great laugh.  In addition they both love to catch me in a “mom moment” (when I say or do something that is funny unexpectedly).  Of course there is more to them than what is said here and I am at risk of embarrassing them. (Love you both :-) )

There are many stories of people in the Bible who sees others in a different perspective because of their physical ailments, their financial status, their marital status or their social status.  Many times the way we views others is how we unconsciously view ourselves in the same situation.   Matthew 7:5 says, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” 

The next time you find yourself seeing someone or something in a different perspective, ask yourself, “what is different about me?”  Do I like what I see in me?  If not, what do I need to change?  Am I being true to myself?

As I see the boys more often in the store, I suspect that my role as a mother will come through more.  However, the “mom moments” will always be there for all to enjoy in laughter including me.