28 December 2019......so how many days to Christmas?

So I have been thinking and contemplating how we do certain things. I learned about how some countries do taxes and I like the ideas. 

So in some places the people who are more likely to need and use welfare are the people that pay the highest tax rate. The more money someone makes the lower the tax rate. 

In a way it makes perfect sense. If you want to keep more of the money you earn you do more to have a higher wage. 

I like the idea that if you earn more money you pay less taxes. If you earn more the less likely you would be to need government, or any kind of assistance. 

Going hand in hand with that idea is what you go to college for, if you do go. Honestly I think college is mostly a scam. If a person were to choose the right major then it could be a good idea. 

Regardless, I think everyone should minor in business. Your major will determine the business you are in. Education. Education business. Health care. Health care business. Art. Art business. Science. Engineering. Music. The common denominator is business. Are you running a family. You still have income, expenses. It’s all very similar to a business. 

That said college should not be thought of as the be all and end all. If you install cable, internet, run a back hoe, drive a truck, build beautiful furniture, are a master chef, etc., the world needs you. 

I say you don’t need to go to college to be successful.  I have a college degree but I feel I was well on my way to being homeless. Luckily I found the Army. Not the easiest way to live but it’s not bad. Still before that, I was a teacher. I did not mind teaching, but the educational system was horrible. Ugh. There are less painful ways to earn money. Like being in the military.

Still be very careful if you do go to college what you get your degree in. Pray about it. Think about it. Personally I know people that got the same degree as me, theater education, and, while I love it, neither theater or education is going to make you a living unless you are lucky and very gifted. Neither are many other subjects. 

While I loath saying it the department of education and the department of labor have some very good tools to help a person make a well informed decision. On a side note I think it would be better if they were one entity. The fact is there are so many options available to us. 

Personally I would never encourage anyone to pursue a career as a professional athlete. Still, if I could do what they do, it would be stupid to turn it down. That’s me. If you can get a million dollars by staying in shape and playing a game, do it. Still, most of us live in the real world. If your an athlete or some other kind of professional entertainer you live in a world apart. 

I have a masters degree in the soft sciences, Social Work. I love most of what I had to learn. Still.  It is not something that will make you rich. We all have our skills and talents. I say learn your math. Learn your science. But think about what you can do. What you want to do is nice but not the most important. Someone my want to fly like super man. Probably not going to happen. I want to walk. That is not going to happen anytime soon. I would love it if people would laugh every time I say something I mean to be funny. I get myself in lots of trouble if I try to be funny. 

What we want is not as important as what we can do. We need to aspire to be more than we are. We can all help in some way. We can’t all be like Tony Robins. The man never got a college degree but he helps more people than I can count. He helps. We all get sick at times. Doctors and nurses help, and help lots of people. 

One way we need to think of ourselves is a cog in the machine of life. How are we making life better for ourselves and others. We may not help everyone. Still we could help one person. And at times that is enough. 

16 December 2019

I have had a hell of a weekend. My cat was acting fine last week. Then Wednesday she started acting lethargic. She didn’t walk. Didn’t want to eat. I wasn’t to worried the first couple of days. By Saturday morning I knew something really wasn’t right. She had vomited blood by the front door. I was going to go out. Suddenly my plans changed. I tried calling several people. Finally I was able to get my son to come help. He cleaned the yuck she made and we took her to the vet. The vet checked her and decided there wasn’t much that could be done. So the vet sent us to the emergency clinic for animals. 

There they tried to help her. She even stayed overnight. I got a call From the vet letting me know they would watch her and call me the next day. After church and eating lunch, I called the animal clinic. The cat was not doing any better. 

I called someone to drive us picked up my children and went to the animal hospital. They got her and lay her on a table in a room. She did not move at all. We had all been hoping for a miraculous recovery. She just lay there. Everyone was bawling. Finally my daughter pushed the button to have them give the cat a painkiller. After that the cat raised her head a couple times. It was most likely the painkillers were making the cat not mind moving. Side note. I feel that way some days after I’ve had ibuprofen or some other kind of painkiller. The thing was the cat had sores in her mouth and would not eat or drink. 

Finally my daughter again pushed the button to call the Vet in. The vet administered the final two shots and she slipped peacefully away. My children were devastated. I was kind of a mess myself. 

The worst thing for me is the cat’s food container and water container are still out and waiting for her. I keep expecting her to walk into a room or something else. I’m sad she is not here. 

My dad and my grandma would probably really get after me. For them cats were outside animals. That was another time and another place. 

One thing about me while I have been writing this I start bawling a couple of times. It has not been the easiest watching her digression. I hoped she would be with me a lot longer. 

One thing I have learned is for every situation we put ourselves in it is good to figure your exit route how ever roughly. Getting a cat is fun. What can happen at the end not fun. 

I think I will have to make a special savings account for the next animal I get. Kind of like having a will and advanced directives for me. But that is for next time. 

Right now I think I will just curl up in the corner. 

6 December 2019.......why is .....grrrr

What  does the Lord sound like?

In the Old Testament, it says

“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” 1 Kings 19:11-12 

This is the typical way the Lord works, “a still small voice.” He is always talking to us. Are we listening?

There have been other times recorded in scripture, when the Lord works slightly different. 

First, Paul the apostle. He was on his way to do bad things, and let bad things be done, to the early Christians. Then he was stopped by what most of us would consider a miraculous event and he became one of the very people he was, or had been trying to pursue. 

Second, Alma the younger, the prophet and high priest among the Nephites. When he was younger he went around with others trying to destroy the church. Finally, while he was traveling, like Paul, he and the group he was with was stopped by an angel. Definitely not typical. 

So these are just two examples of how the Lord doesn’t usually work. Some of us might want an experience like that but that is not how the Lord works most of the time. 

We have to remember “still small voice.”

At times he has to get someone’s attention in a very dramatic moment. The Lord knows who he needs to do his work. He might have to get some people’s attention in a very dramatic way but I doubt that is his method of communication in future events. 

Does The Lord communicate with me. Of course. I would say that He communicates with everyone at times and in some fashion. He is always “talking” to us. Are we listening?

Like Christ taught. 

“... what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

Matthew 7:9-11

Everything is in His time. We can’t expect everything to be in our time. If everything happened in my time I would be walking. But I shouldn’t complain. I always have a place to sit down.