“Lo, I Am With You Always”

When tragedies and hardships come our way, so many of us question why?  If we look around, everybody has some kind of tragedy to overcome.  This past weekend, tornadoes and thunderstorms went through Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and the Carolinas leaving deaths and destruction.  South Carolina had some rain and some lightening but the others caught the bulk of the force.  We heard reports how the parents and children died together and how some parents died shielding their children to keep them alive.  What are we willing to go through in times of danger?  What was going through their minds being in the middle of harm’s way?  Homes and buildings were destroyed and where was God in the midst of this?  I believe that he was there and that God never leaves us.  Who am I to question God’s actions?  God’s own son was sacrificed for us and Jesus suffered some serious hardships.  How can I even begin, being created by Him, to presume I even understand why things happen?  I don’t have a clue?  I don’t think we are ever absent from God, if anything, we are absent from His love.  Even in our darkness absent of His light, God is still with us.  Somewhere and somehow along our life’s experiences when we lost our innocence, we also lost our faith and trust.  When we were children, we just knew that we would be provided for.  We didn’t always get the things that we wanted but we quickly seemed to forget it and move on to something else.  As adults, we hold grudges.  We might forgive but we can’t forget.  Even though we might have the same experience, those experiences affect us differently.  I don’t have to get into what is a positive or negative attitude, you can figure that out.  But we can agree that it might have something to do with our way of handling tragedies.  I can say this, it’s not ever easy.  That’s why we need to remember that through it all Jesus is always with us.

Annual Memorial Service for Highway Fatality Victims – April 9, 2011

Too Many Names

Each year the South Carolina Department of Public Safety (SCDPS) holds a memorial service to residents and visitors who have lost their lives on South Carolina highways. The memorial brings together families and friends of the deceased and hopes to educate the public in an effort to prevent future loss of life on the state’s roads. We lost more than 800 in 2010 in traffic collisions. They never returned home not even able to say goodbye. More than 700 people across South Carolina and other states attended this solemn service. You never know what people are going through, so always try to be understanding towards each other. There is more than enough pain and sorrow for all of us.

Something About That Name Jesus - Rance Allen Group

Old Minds In New Places!

Please go to this website and read the Pastor’s Update, click here. I enjoy talking to this pastor. His conversations are basic but still complex, woven with intricate, interconnected parts, which give us listeners something to think about long after the conversation has ended. I have quoted Reverend Colley before in this blog. In fact, you can reference the Wizard of Oz sometime ago. It was his discussion that caused me to dig deeper into what the featured characters were all about.

I know that I find myself using old thoughts in this new day and time of modern technology. We often talk of “back in the day” when everything seemed so good. But where were we “back in the day?” How old were we then? Did we have these burdens to carry and obstacles to deal with? Or were we younger with little or no responsibilities? I imagine that to some people “back in the day” wasn’t a very pleasant time and is glad that it’s over. Life’s experiences should have taught us something if we wanted to learn from it. But, I have to refer back to what Rev wrote in his update. Something that we all tend to forget when we overcome our problems and forget what we just been through. That is what do we have now compared to what we didn’t have? Just as the Israelites felt when they were led out of Egypt towards freedom and independence "they compared God’s grace and mercy with Pharaoh’s whips and chains and they preferred the whip." They forgot that they were traveling with God, Who makes all things possible! We can’t operate with the same mentality as we undergo internal and external changes. We must include God in our daily functions, even our most ordinary actions that we take for granted. They should always be done with faith and hope that we are serving a greater purpose than ourselves.

Can't Be Friends - Trey Songz

She Really Is Not Into You!

Fellows, I learned that no matter how much a man tries to appeal to a woman’s best interest, if she doesn’t want you, nothing is going to work.  She doesn’t want a relationship and she doesn’t want to be with you.  A “friend” is a term that she’ll use to keep you at arms distance.  In other words, “friends” don’t have to talk to you until they want to talk or need something.  Remember; she doesn’t want a relationship, she just got through a bad one.  She’s just not into you!  She really doesn’t want a friendship but she thinks that you might be a nutcase and do something stupid.  So, to avoid all of that getting to know each other and spending quality time doing so, she simply avoids talking to you during prescribed times.  Fellows, we’ll just need to fade out of their lives.  It’s not that they want us in it, anyway.  All the woman has to say is, “You don’t fit the profile of the type of man, I’m looking for.”  Or she can say, “You’re not my type and there is no chance in hell, I want you as a part of my life.  I don’t want to go to concerts or events with you.  I don’t want us to visit each other, and I definitely can’t see us as a couple.”  Understand that there is always one person in a potential relationship that loves the other more.  If you’re not compatible, drift away, my brother.  No use fooling yourself.  There’s no harm if you were buying her things, if you thought they she would look good in them.  You just might not ever see how your gifts would look on her but that’s life.  So regardless of how good you think she looks or how much she will make your life better, get out of the way and get a life.  Stop hoping, wishing, and praying that she’ll see the good in you.  She really is not into you!

My Heart Says Yes - Troy Sneed