The Devil in the corner of our ring

Oh, how easy is it for the devil to creep into the corner of our ring when we least expect it. He grabs us at the moment of our weakness and catches us off guard. But the beauty of it is that it is only for a moment until I have come to my senses and I realize it is the one moment and time for him to strike. For God has much greater power in life and I am glad when I have yielded to the Spirit's power to uplift someone whether through a video or prayer to replace sadness or bitterness with a sweet fragrance of joy. Thanks be to God that I was able to do that and also to emerge semi-victorious from some temptations even if tainted by sin but covered by the thorns of His enduring grace.

Two teams -both could win-hard to say who

The super bowl is on sunday. Between two teams that would be great to win. one an underdog, Giants team that has been gearing up for over a month to defeat Goliaths that they have faced and for the unbeaten Patriots to win all of their games this season. So, let the chips and dip roll out and see who becomes the victor of this much talked about game of the century.

All From the Heart

I went to the annual Cabaret and Auction for the Kennedy Center-the 2008 version. It was a lively time with twenty or so songs from the heart =ranging from spanish songs and songs of longing of the hearts of lovers for one another. a song of anguish and hope over a mother who lost her 7 year old son tragically . The song expressed emotions from her heart of wanting time to stand still-yet also allowing her to realize that she had eternity to cross over to finally meet up with her son again.
Another good song in the tradition of country music was that of Jesus taking the wheel of our lives. Of letting him in on our life.
These expressions raise hope that the heart is fully beating within the Kennedy Center as the staff deals with the issues of the clients within the agency,

As I mingled through the crowds and chatted with the attendees at the table, they wondered about my connection to the Kennedy Center of whether i was a client or not. At times, I feel that I would fit in well to the mold of the client in being told what to do and when to do it. Yet, I am glad that I have the freedom to go about my everyday life on my own with only the occasional assistance of a friend to take me to and from my church. I am glad that I get the opportunities at these functions to breathe some cash and hope into their hands so that their mission continues forward so that the clients have opportunities to serve the community and live better lives for themselves.
And to have had the chance to benefit from various agencies in the past similar to the mission of the Kennedy Center itself.

a little too much

Tendencies to desire to gather are strong for me. When confronted by great deals of buy one get two free or half off and no shipping and $15 off for CDS , I am mesmerized of how to obtain it for hours neglecting other far important chores. So Help me God to stay focused and not give into the momentary and fleeting obsessions. thanks for the strength tonight to not give in. Help me to practice the self discipline to be better in my life.

On a more spiritual plane, Jesus did not have to contend with a barrage of emails or blogs but dealt directly with people. He spent his time wisely going from one person to the next in that he focused on the eternal. I can get bogged down in adding to the shopping cart in my life and totally lose the focus on what really matters. I am trying to caulk a crack in the soul by stuff and I refuse to yield the time to you, Lord, and let you apply the caulk correctly. Otherwise, it may require a more radical adjustment. Thanks for slowly teaching me the lesson.

New York giants won!!!!

In the last 5 weekends, I believe I am 4-1 in watching some portion of a game. It is a record for me. Normally, I just read about the game. But the games this season ending and playoffs have been exciting match-ups and very close games to watch.
I enjoy watching the ball spiraling through the air. I do not understand the positions and strategies that the teams use; yet, I enjoy watching the two teams in a game struggle to make it a close game down the stretch or close in a win from an insurmountable deficit.
So, I am glad for the outcome for the interception which occurred against the Packers just as the Giants forced an interception against the Çowboys. So, New England, better be aware of New York.

Yet, as I look out at what I just watched over the last five weeks and wrote about, the game of football or any sports game is a lot like life. It has its ups and downs;yet, it requires a team approach. Just like when I was born, I was pronounced 3rd and 25 and doctors discounted that I could take the "ball" down the field and make anything of the game of life. I am glad that my mom and dad saw through the prediction from the doctors and took the chance and ran some plays through puzzles and therapy to bring me into a daily battle of the workforce and educational institutions.
I have thrown interceptions in my life in how I have related to my friends, coworkers and family. Yet, I have learned from each wrong toss and have come out as a stronger individual. So, Keep on with the struggle with a good approach to the outcomes. With a positive attitude. It is in the playing of life that we gain our gatorade moments in the spot light or our times with our heads in the towels.

Happy Monday Martin Luther King, Jr.

Glad that you were a struggler for the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King. You jumped into action and got involved in the civil rights issues of the time. I am so thankful that you took to the streets and made sure that blacks could ride the buses along with the whites. Nowadays, I see the fruits of your labors on the buses that I ride to and from work each day. Where I live is a melting pot of many cultures=that of the hispanics, immigrants and lower working class. I am glad that you took your beliefs and brought them to the world to see in a way that transformed not only our country of America but also that of the world. So, when I board my buses on Happy Monday, I will remember the dream that you had so so long ago.

The Language of the Heart

Awakening from a long slow slumber and to crawl out of the spot of a rest-yet also a sense of restlessness. This is how I sometimes feel. Walking from one spot of the house to another. Looking down and out and not knowing fully how to proceed. Walking over the elephant in an awkward dance. That is not to say that I have not been trained how to live well. I was shown diligently how to do the chores and had weekly practice clearing and setting tables and washing up after dinner.

Which brings me to my point that I struggle to cope and make myself comfortable in this world. I know that I am handicapped, yet what I have not done is to rise above my handicap so I can soar above my problems and to look at them from God's perspective. There are small challenges that I need to meet such as maintaining a sense of order in my life, challenging and using my brain and stretching it to grow in foreign areas that I have not allowed it to walk in quite some time. And being honest with others of the goliaths that I face on a daily basis. And to be fully human and embrace each moment in my life so others can see a fuller picture of God. And I need to see a fuller picture of God as well to move out and make an impact for Him.

So, I challenge myself and the readers to face the giants in their lives and make the world a much stronger place as the results of our struggles. Fight on for this is our one life to live. Impacts and puddle bursts can only occur when our feet hit the pavement.

Live STRONG.

Don't die with the music still inside you

Barbara Sher on her program on PBS included a quote by Benjamin Disraeli who said in essence, "Do not die with the dream still inside you," As people, we need to get out there to do what we love to do.
It is always a treat to be able to imagine the musical composition that I have heard-of a gift a composer or songwriter has brought into the world. Then i can replay it within my mind or listen to it again with a renewed sense of enjoyment.

So let us create gifts for each other to enjoy and benefit the planet upon which we are living.

Caged by expectations

Feeling caged by expectations.
Being within the womb
seeking release and freedom

Seasoned within the crockpot
cooking on a gentle eddy.
Out opens the lid of the pan, and in reaches this big wooden spoon. Coming in now to stir you up and get you going.

EIgh, we have been in here quite some time. We were quite comfortable in our sealed bag for so many years. Almost twenty minutes ago, we were dumped out into this H..O...T.. bath. We were quite getting used to our swim through this pot. Now to get poked. All this commotion now. "What are you up to ?" We knew we would eventually end up here now. But our cousins never warned us about what was ahead.


Cooking for me is something that I do not do often. I mainly like to eat out and have the food prepared for me. One place that I enjoy going to eat is at Seattle Coffee at the Borders bookstore and cafe in Milford. As I walk up to the counter, I see overhead a display of a large red and white coffee cup that is sitting on a saucer with a spoon sticking out of it.

In front of me are a variety of choices ranging from an herbed cheese pretzel, a little italy sandwich, cheese and tomato sandwich and then I have choices of various mixed drinks of

Yet when I do cook I enjoy cooking pasta and enjoy seeing how the cheese is caged within the ravioli and enjoy watching the pot of water rotating the ravioli back and forth. When I was born, I did not really enjoy eating. Yet, when my german Nana Puhkit sat for me while my parents went out for a movie,

Understanding the Mind and Heart and Will

Within each one of us is a mind, heart , and will. For us to understand and uncover what God is worth is to look at those elements. Lord, it is not easy to understand the depths of the heart that you have placed within me. You tell me in scripture that you will search my heart. You will send out your beacon of light into the unknown and will uncover the hidden parts of me that do not know you. Help me , Lord, to reflect more of your love as I reach out and see others, whether on the bus, or at Panera Bread or even at work or within one of my writing circles. I love participating in my writing. I rested back on something that I really enjoyed that I created. Yet, Lord, I need to keep creating. To share and give birth to new poems daily so that they can be shared with a world that is desperate for some light and hope.
The heart is at the center of this equation and sort of acts like a cop on the street or a referee in a game.

The distant role of Wisdom

Imagine a prominent leader of a great nation called to a summit. To a place with no access to wifi or blackberries, the internet or even a cafe or a place with no towers for cell phones to reach. This leader is taken up to a big mountain to have a mountain top experience. Yet, his followers feel stranded. He has led them through a tough terrain. Yet, they are told to wait. His brother had been given the task to watch over them. To make sure that they did not lose their faith.

That indeed did happen many years ago at Mount Sinai where Moses was called up by God onto a mountain to meet with God in conference call and write down on tablets of stone what is now known as the 10 commandments made famous in motion pictures by Charleton Heston.
The issue of the 10 commandments is seen clearly in scripture through Proverbs 3:1 that states, "My son, forgot not my law, and let thy heart keep my commandments." The role of the seeking of wisdom and discernment is that of a relationship between God and His people. Just like it was entrusted between God the Father and His son, Jesus, to that of Jesus and the disciples and to that of The Holy Spirit and Jesus's followers as well.
So even if wisdom seems somewhat distant, it is indeed just as close as the utterance of a prayer.

Happy New Year 2008

This is a whole new year and I will try to be more regular to my readers, new and old, in giving them inspiration for those who are struggling to make it in their lives.
Speaking of struggles, I finished watching an independent movie, Children of Heaven, featuring how a boy lost his sister's shoes and his sister met him after she finished her class in the morning so she could swap her sneakers and wear his shoes. it showed a cooperation and how Iranian families lived from paycheck to paycheck and survived doing odd jobs in the rough Iranian country. The boy goes on to win the 4km race so that he could give her a new pair of shoes. At the end of the movie, the boy dips his feet into a pond where the goldfish swarm around his feet and clean up the sores that he gathered along the way in the race.

In a way, this movie has a parallel in our lives. Many times, we lack something of necessity, yet when push comes to shove, we must all reach out and cooperate in one way or another. To make the lives of others much better than when we found them. To make a daily improvement in some way. Like the way I feel after my maids have been at my place for their hour cleaning up and organizing my life. So that I have a better place to stand at the end of my days.