Insidious Adaptation

One must realize that we invest in the worst investment ever when we toil away to make money. Yes, money is the worst investment out there, and that is not because I do not have any, but because what I do have can only buy things of this world. Like fun money at an amusement park, I don't really need a lot because I won't be here long. I figure maybe a few bucks here and there, get something to eat, something drink, sustain myself. Overall, the park will close, and I will go home, why be left with a bunch of worthless pieces of garbage along the way for someone else to pick up. The turmoil over money is one I am very familiar with and thought would save me one day. Yes, one day a yacht was going to show up at my house and take my family and I away to a different world. One where I would then be content and I would then be generous and then I could be the peaceful father depicted on the TV commercials and sit com shows. A lie I was sold on as the greed for more money leads...

Opposition at times seems to be the best method to describe something. When one cannot think of what it is, one can only know what it isn't. With that, what if Jesus did not die on the cross for our sins as the Holy and perfect Son of God in flesh to account for the terrible deviation against all that is true. Furthermore, what if He didn't exist. A world without Jesus, a world then without the Bible, for the Bible refers to His coming and God's sending His son for Redemption. So, no Holy Inspired Word from God. Therefore our sins, they still exist. They are still ours to account for. Life would not be full of rebellion, there would be nothing to rebel against. There would be no hope. All that is good would be lost to the evil of man in this world, and those that oppose Jesus now, or oppose God don't even realize the structure provided for them to defile God's nature by the ones who believe in Him. "For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will...

"The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in very much. If then you haven't been trustworthy handling world wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches?"  - Luke 16:10-11  We would all like to believe our cause is a noble one. We look to the world to tell us that it is. We look to our friends, whom have had the similar interests, or to family from which our interests have been raised, for them to tell us, "Yea, good job." When in the end, what matters is the progress of your wealth for others, not yourself. In July there was a death. An uncle. A military man, retired. His name was Mike. His funeral was yesterday, five days after what would have been his 72nd birthday, a service I was fortunate enough to have seen pictures, videos, witness second-hand, the military burial at Arlington National Cemetery. I performed those same funeral specifics. I have done what t...

"Live each day as it is your last." This.....and moment, gone. "Be mindful of such moments, for this too shall pass." "Do not take for granted what you have now, for someone else would kill for it." Like the ingredients to a cookie, each one a critical element. The eggs, the butter, flour, sugar, baking soda even, a fine chemical equation erupts as heat serves as the catalyst to ignite a reaction. We too have our own ingredients that make the moment what it is. Our personality, our experience, our intricate way of seeing something, all necessary to make the moment, this moment, what it is. No two moments are alike. Just like no moment for me is the same as the moment for you. To analyze and compare the moments, would mean to take my past isolated moment, and your past isolated moment and compare them side by side, and who benefits from that? Considering that moment will never happen again, and that we used future moments to compare past moments...

Toilet seat? Is that really a thing?  I have not had to worry about a toilet seat placement at any point in my life. I have not been corrected, but maybe one time. One time, most recently, my wife reminds me that I need to leave the seat down so our daughter can get up on her own to pull her little seat on top of the adult toilet seat and prevent her little cheeks from falling in the water. One time.  Arguments over money? Like, blaming the other person? Like, complaining that they are using it all?  Any discussions of finances on my end has never been on where my wife spent money. There have been a few between us about career choices, decisions, new jobs, and what this meant for bills, however accusations have never been my forte, nor have I ever felt that from her.  Blame, resentment, despise, contrite...you exist with those feelings?  Why the heck would I have married someone who I would hold a deep resentment for? Why would I want to be wi...

Look at her, miserable. She probably hates it here.  “Why can’t I find a place where people want to work?" Uh, scratch that.  When you are sad, everything is dismal. As though the very paint that paints the world is that of a flat brown and any color attempted to paint over it, pale, flat as well. The picture exists, it forms the same structure after all, but there is no vibrancy. What is lacking is the essence of flavor, the subtle aroma of fresh smells and exciting possibilities. Sadness makes anything negative seem possible, takes away a compliment, and instead of trying to get out, the self-defeat prevents much of what little effort is had. I can only write these words by being in the state of sadness, an extreme, acute, feeling that comes and goes. Possibly from over exertion, or some dietary restriction, which happens. All to often the sadness is remedied through my spiritual connection with God and what he wants for me, but this one lingered longer, maybe long enough...

Smoke lingers in the thick, damp air. Wafts of sulfur and burning paper fill the olfactorys of a town celebrating. The kids run around with fire sticks, adults gather and drink from cans, bottles, large stainless steel containers with a pump on top. The animals are scarce, avoiding the flash and bang from the larger fire sticks. Celebrations of a victory erupt across individual city blocks neighborhoods, towns all throughout the land declaring unity and its freedom. We get to do this... Happy Birthday America, for you truly are the greatest nation in the history of the world. Established by men who went against oppression, the wrong they were seeing, to produce the documents that built the nation today. For even, Benjamin Franklin, a Deist declared, "I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that a...

This isn't going to go the way you think... The best line from the latest official Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi .  In the scene, Luke, the master, is trying to coach young Rey about forces, right and wrong, through his own experiences, reporting what he knows to be a hard truth. No matter how hard a person tries, or how bad they may want something, sometimes it just isn't going to go your way, or as expected. Unfortunately, plenty of things do go our way that we fail to acknowledge. Certain failures or hard times end up bringing out the best in us. A break-up, a firing from a job, a failed project, only to produce the better version later. Uh hem, failed writing attempts to convey what I thought a clear message, however feedback says otherwise. It's really two things that all of the online success coaches are going to promote. The same basic ideas that children are taught, to pick yourself up when you fall, and to learn from the failure. These two concepts a...

In elementary school there was this sales program to raise funds for school equipment or something. I have no clue what the money from sales of chocolates went towards, just that it was a yearly thing and it always happened early in the school year so that the mostly-obligated customers (parents co-wroker of parents, neighbors) would get their over-priced candies or popcorn by Thanksgiving. I remember having a little bit of funds to where I could buy from myself as well. Essentially, get high on my own supply. Looking through the pages of a book full of goodies, was like me in a candy....wait, literally I was in a candy store and I was able to get whatever I wanted. The catch, I had to wait months, when I could go to the gas station and purchase something now. However, these candies were not just regular candies, they were labeled as, " The World's Finest Chocolates. " Yes, I remember taking the title literally as though we were dealing a delicacy to the public, pro...

A box on the grocery store shelf, nothing special. Two dollars, an egg, and a cup of oil, and you’ve got yourself a snack made for a king. In fact, kings wouldn’t have had it this good when kings ruled the land. The heroes depicted in Game of Thrones don’t have a box of easy to mix, bake, and eat brownies, but yet, I do. I am not royalty, I am not famous, why should I have access to such a plethora of taste. My buds stimulated as a sugar glaze and the perfect ratio of fatty acids graces the tongue telling the brain how good I’ve been. As with all good boys, they are rewarded. My reward is a delicacy ready without much effort at all, and available to anyone. No longer are delicacies measured by the time it takes to produce. Sure, purists can always argue that those ingredients are crap and that the authentic stuff is better. Nobody is disagreeing with that. However, to a poor person getting $100,000 one could say a million is better, but that hundred grand still looks pretty sweet (...

My wife and I differ on the topic of nutrition. She was raised with an environment of “enough” and I was raised in an environment of “excess.” For this reason, I had to learn early on to watch and learn about what I ate, when she had, just enough, stopped when done. It was this background that led me to invest in education about foods.  One thing I found very interesting is that nuts are not always nuts. As my wife exhales, looks away in contempt, I make my next phrase, peanuts are legumes, and other tree nuts, are nuts. Huge difference nutritionally and if you suffer from chronic inflammation, like most people are these days, then this difference is critical for you.   The almond is one of my most favorite tree nuts. I seek them in the store as though I am a hunter searching for a plump wild boar, or a cheetah going after a jackrabbit, or an arctic wolf taking down a wildebeest, or…., sorry, new documentary about animals hunting has me obsessed. Nonetheless, almonds...

Bzzzzz there is a fly in this room right now. I cannot stand the filth I feel at times when there is a fly in the room. As though he is taunting me with his unnecessary buzz. What is that sound that comes from a housefly anyways? Is it their wings? Do they purposely make that sound to make them even more detestable? They are gross because they start out as maggots, they tend to poop whenever they land, they tend to be around gross things, and like my dog, tend to track in the house what they were recently in. How can I possibly find peace with this? How in the world am I able to dig deep enough to, "just ignore" the fly and continue on with as much contentment as I had before I head the fly's buzzing past my head? I cannot recall how content I was before this. I now realize what I had because it is gone. A tiny fly, his unnecessary noise, and now an interpretation of filth, how would anyone ever, feel content again? Well, I guess, someone could have it worse than the...

The human hair, it grows all over the body. It seems to get more plenty in undesirable areas as we start declining in our productive years. Lanugo is the slight fur of a baby, necessary for warmth, the same hair that grows on a person whom suffers from anorexia. The hair above the eyes, well, that one has always been a mystery, maybe it keeps a slight bit from the second line of defense, the eye lashes. The more private areas tend to have a preference as to what is done with that, for women it helps keep a pH balance, men, it is useful for....smell maybe? Nonetheless, no hair is more important than the ones on our head, especially a girl's head. Girls have this ability to alter their entire persona by simply changing their hair style. One day they can be mysterious and dark with long, thick locks dyed a dark brown or a bold black, the next they can be a fun, party-girl with a short, blonde cut making the hair appear light and as free as its owner. Other hair styles, such as the a...