Tales From Another Planet

Proverbs 29:25 in the Message says "The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that." Luke 12:4-5 (NIV) says "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after killing the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." I have been hearing a lot lately in my devotion and prayer life about fear. I'm not afraid of dying, but I'm also not as afraid as I should be of dying without making a difference in the world. If I continue to procrastinate and ignore God's plans for my life, I am worse than dead already. What will I tell Him when He looks at me and asks for an accounting of the life He gave me. Will He say "well done", or "I never knew you"? I fear right now that the answer would be that He knew me a little, but was saddened by my disobedience. I keep crying out for the an...

Lately I have been doing everything that makes me feel more depressed. I've been thinking negative thoughts, judging others, not doing what I feel is right. Why do we do this to ourselves? The American motto is to "do what makes you happy." But so many people are trying to live this "American dream" and falling into depression. Does it make me happy to mindlessly search the Internet for houses I can't afford or jobs that aren't the right fit for anyone? Does it make me happy to feel my eyeballs almost pop out of the socket staring mindlessly at Internet articles or computer screens? Does it make me happy to think negatively about my job and my life rather than doing something about it? I didn't write anything this morning on my novel. Despite the fact that I had an extra two hours before work. Was I tired this morning? Yes. Did it make me feel any better to lay in bed and extra 30 minutes and then laze around the apartment for an hour and a half?...

Since when has the government decided that owning businesses is legal and ethical? The White House is trying to own health care , already owns several car companies and a good portion of several banks. Why does no one in America seem to have a problem or concern with this? Talk about a conflict of interest! When the government owns something they can choose whether to pass tax laws or legislation that will hurt privately owned business and help themselves. Who is going to oversee the government? The government is already controlling whether or not banks can pay back their TARP money and buy back the government's stock. Are they basing their decision on the financial health of the banks? No, they are basing their decisions on the fact they want to "earn a profit for the American people." Sounds like a great basis for a major government decision. I don't necessarily want to go back to the way things were, but I do want to see government get out of our business. I ...

I was reading in Mark today about the parable of the sower. I've heard the story so many times I usually don't even think about it. Of course, I must be the good seed because I'm listening to the word and because I believe so strongly in God's message. As I read Jesus' description of what he meant by the parable, I realized I had been fooling myself all along. It's not that I don't believe: I am trying to grow in the thorny soil. But I am also being choked by worries and deceitful things of this world: like American consumerism. Even though I do believe, and I'm trying to grow, I am letting myself be unproductive. I need to ask the Gardener to come by and rip some of those thorns out of my life, despite how painful it might be. I know the things that I ought to do, but I let myself get distracted by my problems, which sometimes seem too big for my tiny seedling status. If I want to grow and mature and be productive in my faith, I have to get rid of t...

I live in Louisville, KY. I drive a lot of miles for my job. I often drive 500 miles a week. Mostly I stay within Jefferson County, but sometimes I drive to neighboring counties. I know for a fact that there is price fixing at the gas stations, and I can usually even predict which day of the week prices will go up. I suspect prices will go up today, but I haven't been out on the roads yet. It's one thing for gas stations to be competing and matching each other's prices. Yet, when every single gas station in the county goes up exactly 15-30 cents within 24 hours, something fishy is going on. The news stations investigated for over a year, the governor even came for several weeks to try to investigate (that period was actually the longest time frame that the gas stations did not increase their prices). I know what the market price should be, because I only have to drive a few miles out of town to the Simponsville exit on I-64, just outside of Jefferson County. Shelby Coun...

I thought it was just a stressful job. I had no free time, my boss was verbally abusive, but I thought once I quit it would all go away. After I quit, I thought maybe I was depressed: I was unemployed, my brother had recently suffered a serious injury. But, when my life started getting better, my mental state continued getting worse. After almost a year of living through severe apathy, lack of focus, and even some short term memory loss, I finally decided it was worth mentioning to my doctor. After running some blood tests, she diagnosed me with a severe B-12 deficiency. I couldn't believe that after all of those months of wondering what was wrong with me, and why I could never complete a task, all I needed was an injection and some B-12 supplements. I now take sublingual B-12 tablets everyday, since I have a severe aversion to shots. I feel so much better. I am finally able to keep up with an exercise program for more than two days, I can remember events from the past week, ...

I definitely should not have published that post yesterday. Today some idiot rear ended me while I was stopped at a stoplight. I think she had been behind me the whole time, she just "suddenly" hit the gas and slammed into me. Then, my husband almost got hit on his way home from work by a guy who was tailgating him. Fortunately, the guy hit someone in the lane next to him. I still can't believe how crazy Kentucky drivers are!