Putting Life Into Life

Life is meant to be lived. Life is not slow succession of work to home to food to couch to bed to work and on and on the stagnate drama unfolds. I can not imagine a less illustrious scenario or less appealing or more appalling existence. Where is the life? Where is the meaning? No wonder people need more and more entertainment or to be in everyone’s business about news or stories played out hundreds of miles away in lives none of us lead that we wouldn’t care two shades about except for boxes of internet and high definition we feel we can not live without. And we wonder how the country and citizenry is dumped into extreme leftist ideals by extreme leftist ideas played out in most entertainment forms we embrace. Evolution is rampant throughout all of it. More and more skin is shown off on poor women who barely eat and need to show skin to be noticed? Everyone seems okay to sleep around with whomever you like and we are content sneaking into everyone’s open bedrooms. And we are okay with a meaningless existence as long as we are corrupted regularly with entertainment meant to sway thinking. So, I for one am tired of it. I wish more were. So, at our house, we go to grandma and grandpa’s house and walk their dog because they can’t right now. We clean their house. If their senior neighbors need help carrying groceries in, we help them. If someone needs to talk, we talk to them. If games need to be played, by golly we play them. At home, we clean together, play games, learn about all subjects you can think of, speak about travel and plan for it, play in an oldies rock and roll band for the benefit of seniors to reminisce and get a little money for us. We play in the worship band at church, we hike, we exercise, we craft, we do devotions and pray together, we play in parks and my kids include kids others left out. This is life. We live. Full and free, we live life. Why work so hard at it? Because I believe in being a good steward of what God gave us. I believe we were created for a reason. I believe we will all be accountable for what we did with what we were given. I believe I know enough about God to want desperately to be on His good side. I want to make a difference. I want my kids to. I want to live. Life is so much more than what most people do. Life is so joyful when we live life on purpose, making the most of every opportunity. And energy always rises to the level of interest. Find something to do with your talents that interests you. Then do it. Where there is a will, there is a way. And where our skills and wills meet, magic happens!

Yosemite National Park

The drive is long to this amazing place in California, but you know you are close when you are driving around mountains and through tunnels in them that make you feel like you could precariously live there and long for a cozy cushioned chair and a warm blanket and golden retriever at your feet. It is that cozy and picturesque. And that is right before you get there. You see my favorite half moon mountain and you are tempted to start taking pictures, but when your camera is as cheap as mine, don’t waste the time for it will be far away and better opportunities will arise in the park, guaranteed. The park is massive and will lead you through many parking lots (and an overpriced hotel- I booked a cozy bed and breakfast 15 minutes away for less) and driving roads around the park. There are many opportunities to park and take it all in or take pictures. And what you are taking pictures of are immense God-breathed mountains of varying heights and functions and each of its own character. Some have glorious waterfalls, some have waterfalls only when it rains, making it one of the few parks that is just as interesting and lovely when it is raining. And let me tell you, I am a hiker, and the hiking trails (ranging from seriously easy to about to kill yourself climbing rock faces) are some of the best ever. The trails are monitored regularly for debris, safety, whatever. Guides or rangers pop up now and again to ask for directions if lost or if you dropped your map (yeah, don’t do that). Everywhere you look is a new view, a gorgeous fingerprint of God, an amazing vantage point of the world, it seems. And the people you meet are all in great spirits because they are there enjoying God’s creation just like you and it is a wholesome sort of unspoken commonality there. Completely lovely and amazing place to go for a pure and wholesome and magnificent enjoyment of splendor and serenity. I highly recommend Yosemite National Park as a must visit destination within our borders.

The Grand Canyon

God wanted us to see His power and magnificence, so He made the Grand Canyon. I was there three times and I have hiked the canyon twice now. Once was half way down with my cousin, who it turns out was afraid of heights. 🙂 The second time was all the way down and through the canyon some and then all the way back up in one day. I would not recommend that. The going down part is easy, but the other part was rough, and I was in great shape at the time. One thing I love about this amazing place is that every time you are there, different times of the year, different times of the day, it is always fantastic and beautiful and always different. Shadow, texture, color, they are all there in multiples on multiples. The feeling of insignificance when standing at the top of this beyond-enormous chasm is hard to describe. You feel exactly how tiny you are in the scope of things and how huge God is for being big enough to make this massive thing. It gives scope to problems we may be facing and how huge God is to handle any tiny thing we war at. There is also a little campground outside the park where you can save a lot of money and have a better feel for the land. It is incredible! I highly recommend going there. I know I am with the family some day.

Choosing the Leader to Follow

Choosing your leader is so very important because leaders lead the people who are so busy working and paying the bills that the energy of leadership is necessarily placed in delegated hands that can commit to it full time. So when we consider what leader to place in that most important position, we certainly must consider the character of the person. The most important thing about a leader is his core beliefs, spiritual and mental. The absolute greatest presidents, for example, of all time were Christians who had served in the military, so we knew they put their money where their mouths were. A leader must be willing to work, to lead, to fight, to win, to avoid fighting where possible, to lead successfully to the battle when necessary, wise enough to know the difference. A leader is merciful but not weak, tolerant but not wishy washy, kind but resolute, for those he or she is leading. Rhetoric is not the hat rack to hang your hat on but character is. Loving God is imperative because the best leaders lean on truth for their decision making.