As we face a presidential election this year in the U.S., we're again confronted with the issues which plague our society. During the current administration, we've seen the collapse of the housing market and the decline of car sales. We've seen thousands lose their jobs and then their homes through no fault of their own. We've watched helplessly as banks and mortgage lenders have gone under through their practices of making bad loans. We've witnessed CEO incomes skyrocket while the average person's has declined or stayed level at best. Prices are soaring everywhere. We've lived well beyond our means.
I'm over 60 years old now, and I'm literally shocked when I go into a grocery store to do my weekly shopping. Things don't cost cents now -- they cost dollars! When I was young, bananas sold for ten cents a pound; 59 cents per pound is the current price. Eggs used to be 29 cents a dozen. A loaf of bread was also 29 cents. Milk was less than a dollar a gallon. I remember gasoline being 24 cents a gallon, and that was in the days when someone pumped it for you, checked your oil, and washed your car windows for free! Disposal diapers were invented around the time my daughter was born, but I used cloth diapers, rinsed them in the toilet, soaked them in a bleach solution, washed them and then hung them to dry in the sun. Now they're practically unheard of. Tennis shoes were basic foot wear, not the fancy brandname shoes of today. I don't even remember "designer clothes" being prevalent in school. Those who came from well-to-do families simply had more and nicer clothes.
As the years have passed, prices have soared while incomes have not kept up with the cost of goods. Yet we think we must have it all -- right now! Newly-married couples purchase homes that require two incomes to meet the mortgage, and in doing so, they mortgage any free money they could have with which to help others. They lock themselves into a lifestyle that keeps the woman from being an at-home mother when the kids arrive. They must have two nice cars in the driveway and a house full of new furniture to make the statement that they are doing well. Everyone has been chasing money, and the collapse of the economy is proof that God's Word is true. People cannot serve, or pursue, two masters; pursuing God and pursuing money can't be done (Matthew 6:24). When everyone is out for themselves, to line their pockets, to make their lives more comfortable, and to take luxurious vacations while other people try to figure out how they're going to feed their kids that day, we enlarge the gap between the have's and have-not's and sin against our Creator. We have become people who no longer distinguish between "needs" and "wants." We've become a people who place more value on our income level than on the people who don't have an income. We sit in our well-appointed homes and consider not the plight of others who simply have been born in the "wrong" country.
When we hoard money for ourselves while others die from lack of food and/or water, we are sinning. It's as simple as that. I'm not saying that having nice things and going on vacations is wrong, but I am saying we need to give away as much as we can to help those in need. When the offering plate is passed at church, do you tithe? Or do you throw in a $5 or $10 bill and feel good about your generosity? I firmly believe that if people who call themselves Christian would tithe their incomes, the church would have no financial concerns and would be able to be the hands of Christ to those who desperately need it a thousand times over.
Our pursuit of money has caused the financial crisis in this world, and when the main point of concern becomes the economy and not our moral fiber, we are heading down the path to destruction. God's Word is true -- always has been, is and always will be. We cannot pursue wealth at the expense of others and a relationship with Him.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Done!
After very long hours of editing, "Amanda's Hope" is done!
I'd submitted this to my publisher, WestBow Press, and had received the editor's suggestions about 8 days ago. I took Friday off last week to work on the manuscript, thinking I could wrap things up today without working on Saturday and Sunday. Such wasn't the case. I worked 7.5 hours on Friday, editing about 60 pages when my goal was 100. So I worked about 5 hours on Saturday and 2 hours yesterday, when I had a computer scare. When I turned on my laptop, the screen was blue with an error message. It told me to turn off the computer and try again, but it wouldn't shut down. Something inside it was running continuously and overheating, sending out an odor that made me put it outside, where the temperature was about 43 degrees, to stay cool. We called my son-in-law whol told me I had to hold the power key for about 10 seconds to shut it off, and that worked. When I rebooted, everything was fine, but that was a scare.
I saved the edits on a thumb drive and worked in it from that point on. Today I worked for about 8 hours and finally completed the edits. I'm pleased that the book is now a lot better and will read better.
I'll e-mail the document to WestBow Press tomorrow evening; I'm too tired to do it tonight.
The book should be completed within 4 weeks! I'm excited about the fact that it will be marketed nationally, as well as available in hard cover, soft cover, and e-book. I'm just happy to be done with it. I've done nothing but stare at a computer screen for days!
By the way, the cat that comes to visit got shut in our garage today. My husband had come home for lunch and had gone back out to work. About an hour later, I heard a cat howling, but my 2 cats were in the house, Delilah on a kitchen chair and Samson on the rocker in the living room. After following the howl, I discovered the cat in our garage. He was very glad to see me and the open door!
I'd submitted this to my publisher, WestBow Press, and had received the editor's suggestions about 8 days ago. I took Friday off last week to work on the manuscript, thinking I could wrap things up today without working on Saturday and Sunday. Such wasn't the case. I worked 7.5 hours on Friday, editing about 60 pages when my goal was 100. So I worked about 5 hours on Saturday and 2 hours yesterday, when I had a computer scare. When I turned on my laptop, the screen was blue with an error message. It told me to turn off the computer and try again, but it wouldn't shut down. Something inside it was running continuously and overheating, sending out an odor that made me put it outside, where the temperature was about 43 degrees, to stay cool. We called my son-in-law whol told me I had to hold the power key for about 10 seconds to shut it off, and that worked. When I rebooted, everything was fine, but that was a scare.
I saved the edits on a thumb drive and worked in it from that point on. Today I worked for about 8 hours and finally completed the edits. I'm pleased that the book is now a lot better and will read better.
I'll e-mail the document to WestBow Press tomorrow evening; I'm too tired to do it tonight.
The book should be completed within 4 weeks! I'm excited about the fact that it will be marketed nationally, as well as available in hard cover, soft cover, and e-book. I'm just happy to be done with it. I've done nothing but stare at a computer screen for days!
By the way, the cat that comes to visit got shut in our garage today. My husband had come home for lunch and had gone back out to work. About an hour later, I heard a cat howling, but my 2 cats were in the house, Delilah on a kitchen chair and Samson on the rocker in the living room. After following the howl, I discovered the cat in our garage. He was very glad to see me and the open door!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Cat Walk
Life presents some strange happenings at times, and yesterday I witnessed one of them.
I took the day off yesterday to work on my manuscript of "Amanda's Hope." I got the editorial review from the publisher and am in the process of editing the entire book according to the review of the first 1700 words. Reading the manuscript with an editorial eye is quite exhausting and time-consuming. I wanted to get 100 pages done yesterday but managed to do only 60 in 7.5 hours of work. I situated myself in our small office which is at the back of the house and wrapped on three sides by four sliding glass doors, which lend an outdoor feeling to the space. With my laptop literally on my lap, I sat facing the birdfeeder suspended from a wire outside the west-facing sliding glass door in order to enjoy my feathered friends as I worked.
During the morning, before Bob left for work, we noticed a cat that didn't belong to us wandering through our back yard. It was a rather large cat, striped gray with a white chest, white chin, and white legs. Obviously not a feral cat, it slowly wandered around our yard and deck. Not wanting my cats to get into a fight with it, I went outside thinking that it would run away at my approach. But it didn't. He sat down and looked at me and then came up to me and let me pet him. He was well fed and clean and had an obvious scar across his nose from a previous fight. I told him that it would be a good idea if he left, and he wandered off, following the stones that lined our grassy areas all the way to the side of our house. I went back to the computer and to my work.
Later, about half an hour before noon, I heard the cat door flapping and quickly glanced up to see Delilah coming through the door. Delilah is my female cat, grayish-brown tabby with a white chin and very long fur derived from her Maine Coon Cat ancestry. With my quick glance to the cat door, which was located about eight feet from where I sat, I thought to myself, "I didn't know Delilah was outside," but didn't think anything more about it and resumed my editing. Several minutes later, I heard the cat door again, and I glanced at it again and saw that Delilah was going outside, but something caught my gaze and held it. It wasn't Delilah! It wasn't even my cat! It was the cat that had been wandering in the yard that morning. I laughed so hard as that cat calmly exited through the cat door. It was obvious that he knew how to use a cat door and had probably used it before.
Stunned silly, I realized that Delilah hadn't come in earlier; she was laying in her usual place on a kitchen chair the whole time! This other cat had simply come into our house through the cat door, wandered around unbeknownst to me, and gone back outside of his own accord. After I got over my initial shock, I went outside onto the deck, where the visiting cat had settled in the sunshine. Again, he allowed me to pet him (don't know if it's male or female). I relayed to him that it probably wasn't a good idea for him to come into my house univited. He doesn' come in for food because our cats are fed canned food twice a day; there's never dry cat food sitting in bowls. I have no idea what possessed that cat to do such a thing yesterday.
This strange visit might explain why I've been awakened several times to the sound of the cat door being pushed open during the night when both cats have been on the bed with me. It makes me wonder how many times this other cat has come and gone through our house without us knowing. And since we're gone during the daytime, this could be occurring on a regular basis without our knowledge. Our strange visitor didn't do any harm yesterday, but I'm concerned about him coming in and fighting with my cats while we're gone. By the way, my cats were sleeping, one on a kitchen chair and the other on our bed, while this non-resident wandered through our house!
I had to call Bob after this happened yesterday; it was just too funny to me! And the fact that I cast such a quick glance at the cat and didn't notice that it wasn't mine was even funnier!
This reminds me that unwelcome people or things can enter our lives without our permission. Instead of looking intently at situations or people for what they really are, we cast quick glances only later to realize that we should have prevented such an intrusion. Oftentimes people enter our lives and wreak havoc and then quietly leave. We need to be mindful of what enters our lives, our hearts, and our homes. We must keep guard over our literal doors andyour spiritual doors lest the enemy of our souls quietly and unobtrusively enters and does us harm.
I took the day off yesterday to work on my manuscript of "Amanda's Hope." I got the editorial review from the publisher and am in the process of editing the entire book according to the review of the first 1700 words. Reading the manuscript with an editorial eye is quite exhausting and time-consuming. I wanted to get 100 pages done yesterday but managed to do only 60 in 7.5 hours of work. I situated myself in our small office which is at the back of the house and wrapped on three sides by four sliding glass doors, which lend an outdoor feeling to the space. With my laptop literally on my lap, I sat facing the birdfeeder suspended from a wire outside the west-facing sliding glass door in order to enjoy my feathered friends as I worked.
During the morning, before Bob left for work, we noticed a cat that didn't belong to us wandering through our back yard. It was a rather large cat, striped gray with a white chest, white chin, and white legs. Obviously not a feral cat, it slowly wandered around our yard and deck. Not wanting my cats to get into a fight with it, I went outside thinking that it would run away at my approach. But it didn't. He sat down and looked at me and then came up to me and let me pet him. He was well fed and clean and had an obvious scar across his nose from a previous fight. I told him that it would be a good idea if he left, and he wandered off, following the stones that lined our grassy areas all the way to the side of our house. I went back to the computer and to my work.
Later, about half an hour before noon, I heard the cat door flapping and quickly glanced up to see Delilah coming through the door. Delilah is my female cat, grayish-brown tabby with a white chin and very long fur derived from her Maine Coon Cat ancestry. With my quick glance to the cat door, which was located about eight feet from where I sat, I thought to myself, "I didn't know Delilah was outside," but didn't think anything more about it and resumed my editing. Several minutes later, I heard the cat door again, and I glanced at it again and saw that Delilah was going outside, but something caught my gaze and held it. It wasn't Delilah! It wasn't even my cat! It was the cat that had been wandering in the yard that morning. I laughed so hard as that cat calmly exited through the cat door. It was obvious that he knew how to use a cat door and had probably used it before.
Stunned silly, I realized that Delilah hadn't come in earlier; she was laying in her usual place on a kitchen chair the whole time! This other cat had simply come into our house through the cat door, wandered around unbeknownst to me, and gone back outside of his own accord. After I got over my initial shock, I went outside onto the deck, where the visiting cat had settled in the sunshine. Again, he allowed me to pet him (don't know if it's male or female). I relayed to him that it probably wasn't a good idea for him to come into my house univited. He doesn' come in for food because our cats are fed canned food twice a day; there's never dry cat food sitting in bowls. I have no idea what possessed that cat to do such a thing yesterday.
This strange visit might explain why I've been awakened several times to the sound of the cat door being pushed open during the night when both cats have been on the bed with me. It makes me wonder how many times this other cat has come and gone through our house without us knowing. And since we're gone during the daytime, this could be occurring on a regular basis without our knowledge. Our strange visitor didn't do any harm yesterday, but I'm concerned about him coming in and fighting with my cats while we're gone. By the way, my cats were sleeping, one on a kitchen chair and the other on our bed, while this non-resident wandered through our house!
I had to call Bob after this happened yesterday; it was just too funny to me! And the fact that I cast such a quick glance at the cat and didn't notice that it wasn't mine was even funnier!
This reminds me that unwelcome people or things can enter our lives without our permission. Instead of looking intently at situations or people for what they really are, we cast quick glances only later to realize that we should have prevented such an intrusion. Oftentimes people enter our lives and wreak havoc and then quietly leave. We need to be mindful of what enters our lives, our hearts, and our homes. We must keep guard over our literal doors andyour spiritual doors lest the enemy of our souls quietly and unobtrusively enters and does us harm.
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