People Who Want To Get Rich Fall...

"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction." --Paul, 1 Timothy 6:9.

A few days ago, I stopped into one of my favorite local resale shops, searching for a purse for a weekend event. I found two purses (under $10 for both of them!), and was about to pay and leave the store when I decided to browse the book section. I came across a little gem by (the late) Derek Prince, If You Want God's Best. Used copies are available at amazon.com

This is a little book, one that will fit into a man's coat pocket, or a woman's purse. Less than 110 pages, a fast reader could finish it in less than two hours. If you give this book the time and attention it deserves, you will spend considerably more than just a few hours with it.

Many of us have grown up in churches where we were taught it is not good to "pursue riches". I grew up in such a church. Some of the reasons given made sense, others did not. After all, don't we have to earn money to care for ourselves and anyone who is dependent upon us? Don't we want to give to church or charity, or leave something for those who will remain after we are gone? Don't we want nice vacations, a safe, reliable vehicle, or a night out now and then? For all of these things, we need money. Every time I pick up a magazine or listen to a money management program, Suze Orman is telling someone they must have six to nine months worth of living expenses tucked away in an emergency fund! Why would a reasonable person tell us not to pursue riches?

Here is the answer from Derek Prince. He says it so well: "I thank God that there is an alternative to pursuing riches. We can seek the kingdom of God and let God add to us what we need, in abundance, because God is not stingy,but generous. Once He sees that our motives are right, He can release His generosity toward us...There is a great difference between pursuing the temporal, and pursuing the eternal and letting God add the temporal to you. You must have your priorities right." --If You Want God's Best, by Derek Prince (page 91).

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Michael Joe Jackson, 1958-2009

--photo from examiner.com






This is the Michael Jackson I loved. And still love.

As the years passed and his appearance changed, I think I always held this image of him in my mind. It's hard to let go of a dream, even when you know it's a dream.

"I Want You Back". "ABC". "The Love You Save". "Darling Dear". "Mama, I Think I Found That Girl". "I'll Be There". Every one of these songs holds memories of a happier time, a more innocent time. Smooth harmonies, perfectly rounded afros, energized dancing and singing, gloriously bright, colorful stage costumes with fringe and bell bottoms, "bubble gum soul"...when I watch videos of the Jackson 5 during the early 70s, I realize how long ago it really was and how old I really am.

One of the girls I rode the school bus with argued endlessly with me about why the Osmonds were better than the Jackson 5, or J-5 as we called them back then. Little did we know our heroes struggled with their own personal demons. We were not ready to know such things, or to understand them.

Instead, we just loved them. They looked so much like us, their smiles were echoed in the expressions of our brothers, cousins, the cute boy down the street. They, too, were from the industrial midwest (Gary, Indiana), and found a way to fame and fortune based on talent and hard work. That's what we used to call "family values."

As for Michael, I loved the fact he was only a year older than I. My girlfriends and I dreamed about marrying him one day, moving to a big mansion in California, and having five kids--all with names that began with the letter M.

It was not to be. As time passed and we became older and more perceptive, we realized the dream was just that. But we were never regretful or ashamed of our love for Michael. We were so proud of his fearless stage presence, his mind-bending dancing, his relentless talent.

The child molestation case, the questionable marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, the even more questionable marriage to Debbie Rowe, the baby-dangling photo, and the rumors of financial mishaps tempered our love just a bit.

RIP Michael. We still love you.

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Morning by morning, new mercies...

I believe God wants my faith, trust, and love--and does not need my help. So...

Lord, forgive me for looking for old mercies when it is time for "new mercies."

Forgive me for forgetting you are always "doing a new thing" in me, not only in someone or something else.

Remind me of how quickly circumstances can change for the better, or the worse. Remind me you are the "God of coincidences."

Keep me mindful of how one inspired idea from you can change my life forever!

Amen.

(c) 2009 deborah evans

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It's Father's Day Weekend: What If I Didn't Have A Great Father?

I have posted here about my loving relationship with my father, of how much I miss him now that's he's passed on, etc. It's Father's Day weekend. A lot of us will take this time to be with our fathers, or to reflect on the times we shared with them, or both. Some of us will just enjoy all of the adulation and attention rightly given to good fathers, grandfathers, uncles, etc. on this Sunday. Others will feel a sense of sadness, anger, or frustration because they didn't have the relationship they wanted to have with their fathers.

I have friends who don't have happy memories of their fathers. What is this weekend for them? Some have children and enjoy being the dad, but still miss their fathers. Some feel the lack of a father has cursed their lives. Some feel stressed and pressured to be "the world's greatest dad" to make up for their lack of a loving, fathering presence.

What does this weekend mean for those who don't have happy father-child memories?

It is a chance to experience and know a heavenly father--one who loves you perfectly, endlessly, and limitlessly. One who will never leave you, never die, never tire of listening to your joys, sorrows, problems, and progress reports! One who will always have an answer for your questions--perhaps not always the answer you want, but--a real answer to your real problems, an answer you can trust, believe in, and act upon. One who will show you how much He loves you and how pleased He is with you. Does it get any better than this?

Whatever part of you that seeks a father can have that longing fulfilled. God is waiting to hear from you.

"Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me." --Psalm 27:10

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See, Recognize, Understand

For the past six months, I have worked on incorporating my 2009 resolutions into every area of my life. My 2009 resolutions, described in this blog at the beginning of the year, are: 1) listen, and 2) speak. My mid-year resolution, growing out of my practice with listening and speaking, is: see,recognize,understand.

I have learned how careful, active listening to others--as opposed to immediately debating and disputing what I don't agree with or quickly understand-- can empower me, the listener. I've gained knowledge and insight from just listening and allowing someone to fully and completely say what they wish to say. I have learned how hidden enemies will often expose themselves if they are allowed enough time to speak. I have learned how friends will find a way to meet me at my point of need or interest if I allow them to fully share what is on their hearts.

I have also gained a new appreciation for the value of speaking and speaking up. Coupled with concerned listening, speaking up can be one of the most freeing things we will ever do. Why have so many of us become accustomed to feeling we should not speak if someone else will be offended? Do I fear my own lack of verbal impulse control will sabotage my purpose in speaking up? Do I feel unworthy of being heard? Do I believe someone else always knows more than I know?

Listening and speaking have strengthened my ability and willingness to see, recognize, and understand what is happening in my life and in the experiences of others. Why do I often refuse to acknowledge what is before me? Do I fear the recognition of truth because knowing and understanding what is true will require me to speak or act in a new and different way? Is ignorance, however limiting, a type of bliss? How often have I given away my ability to recognize what was real because I feared the responsibility that accompanied knowledge?

Resolved, for the remainder of 2009: See,Recognize,Understand.

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Parental Alienation and The David Goldman Case: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

I have followed the David and Sean Goldman case for quite a while, and have wondered how it would end. Would it end well? And for whom? I hope it ends well for Sean Goldman.

If you are not familiar with the case, here is a summary: David Goldman takes his wife and young son to the airport. The wife and son are taking a vacation in the wife's native Brazil. After arriving in Brazil, the wife informs her husband she is not returning and their son will remain in Brazil with her. Permanently. For more information, see BringSeanHome.org.

Four years later, David Goldman is still trying to obtain custody of his now nine year old son.

David Goldman writes on his website he had no idea his wife was displeased with the marriage and he believed they were a typical, happy family. The wife is now deceased, having died in childbirth after re-marrying in Brazil, and cannot tell her side of the story.

Sean Goldman has lived in Brazil for approximately half of his young life. His stepfather has cared for him during this time. It is very likely Sean has no clear memory of his life in the U.S.

How does Star Trek's Let That Be Your Last Battlefield fit into all of this?

Anger and rage follow an injustice. Someone has to choose to stop the fighting and be a peacemaker. Having been wronged does not disqualify you from becoming a peacemaker. In fact, you may be just the one to do it.

I have some knowledge of parental alienation. It is a cruel injustice, beyond words in its power to hurt. People who engage in creating parental alienation are so wounded and so dysfunctional that there is no extreme to which they will not go to "carry the day", make their point, and prevail in a conflict. If you fight them on their terms, you have to live in the pit with them everyday. Forever.

In the Star Trek episode, two men from one planet carry their war into the galaxy. The fighting, the hatred, and the arguing are endless. They drag others into their conflict, unconcerned for the damage they are causing. After a long journey, they return to their home and find the entire population dead in the aftermath of a civil war. Undaunted, they reject all offers to live peacefully in a new world, return instead to their home planet, and continue the war. Each man is an army of one. The end.

There's a little bell in the back of my head that rings when I wonder if David Goldman is now more concerned about winning the battle than he is about what is best for his son. What nine year old wants to leave the only home he can remember to live in a "foreign country" where he knows no one, not even the father who is fighting to bring him back?

I believe David Goldman loves his son. I hope he loves his son more than he hates the people who stole Sean, brainwashed him, and are keeping him in Brazil.

On June 3, 2009, David Goldman experienced another legal setback when a Brazilian high court overruled a lower court and kept David from bringing his son back to the U.S.

I hope David Goldman will consider letting that be his last battlefield.

If you were looking for justice, David Goldman, perhaps it was expressed in your ex-wife's loss of life.

If you are looking for peace and a relationship with your son, perhaps it can be found in your temporary relocation to Brazil, the place your son calls home.

Is this a workable answer? I don't know. I know for sure that after a time, we can lose the thing we seek while fighting for it. It takes a lot of courage to say "If there were winner and losers, I guess I was the loser. Now, I will move on with life as it truly is."

Let that be your last battlefield.

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My Determined Purpose

"For my determined purpose is that I may know Him {that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly}, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection {which it exerts over believers}, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed {in spirit into His likeness even} to His death...Philippians 3:10, Amplified Bible


"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." --Isaiah 55:8 & 9, Amplified Bible


How can I accept the "higher ways" of God?

Am I pursuing a path I cannot truly know or understand? Doesn't this cause and create frustration, perhaps even a little craziness? Why would God ask me to follow a path beyond my comprehension? If His ways are so different and so distant, how can His ways ever make sense to me? What is the basis for my understanding of what my life is all about?

Perhaps God is asking me to follow Him, not a known or knowable course or pathway.

When I was a little girl, I would sometimes walk with my father to our local bank branch or to our local post office. I held his hand as we walked down the busy streets. I had no idea of how to get to the offices on my own, and would not have attempted the trip alone. I was just walking with him, following him, and I was assured he would get us there and back. In fact, it never occurred to me that he didn't know exactly where we were going.

God knows where I need to be. God knows how to get me there. Do I believe this?

When Jesus reinstated Peter after the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus said "Follow me." His ways may seem strange or uncomfortable to me, but He can be my friend and companion in the middle of it all. In the middle of it all, I can learn something about Him I would never have learned in my self-chosen place or path. In the New Testament passage from Philppians, Paul describes a progression of knowing God: first is perception, second, recognizing, and finally understanding. The perceiving, recognizing, and understanding described here refers to Paul's knowledge of God, not Paul's comprehension of God's long term plans for Paul's life.

Sometimes things make sense and sometimes they don't make sense. Sometimes I can see my way clear to the horizon, and at other times, I have, as one author wrote, "just enough light for the step I'm on." In every circumstance, my determined purpose is that I may know Him.

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