1894 HEROD- FAME- AND ONE COOL DUDE
I mentioned the other day that
some of the street guys said ‘wow- were gonna be famous’ when I told them I was
gonna post their pics to the site.
The next day I was watching the
local news- and they did a report about 2 guys getting arrested for peeing- on
a cop car- at the police station.
So- whenever I see a news teaser
like this [you know- ‘coming up next’] I think ‘geez- wonder if I know them’.
Sure enough- it was Albert and
another guy that I just saw at the mission.
They did want to be famous.
Right after I posted yesterday- I
read an article that backed up my suspicion.
It was so obvious it was funny.
I wrote that I saw an NBC news
clip that portrayed Romney as this angry- mean- loser who can’t stand the heat.
Then- they spoke about Obama as a
very calm- almost messianic figure.
So- right after the post I read
my paper- there was a report by the AP [associated press].
Let me quote the first paragraph-
it’s right here ‘Romney is portraying THE OUTWARDLY CALM PRESIDENT as a man
seething with animosity and power lust as the Repubs seek to undermine one of
the Dems greatest strengths- his PERSONAL LIKABILITY’.
I mean it’s so obvious- you can’t
take these guys serious.
I was watching MSNBC- Matthews
was responding to the court ruling that backed the Repub rule that in
Pennsylvania you need to show voter I.D.
This has been an ongoing political
battle in a few states- including mine.
The Dems charge that there is
absolutely never any voter fraud- ever.
[note- a few years ago they
showed a tape of a Texas Dem- she was speaking to a room full of Mexicans- down
by the border- she said ‘go out and vote- even if your not a citizen- they cant
check!’]
They say the Repubs are doing
this because they know many ‘poor Blacks’ who vote Dem- cannot get their I.D.’s
Once again- they don’t realize
that this stereotype is racist.
Like when Harry Reid said of
Obama- and Biden too ‘he’s the first CLEAN BLACK guy- on a national scene- he
can talk good- he doesn’t SOUND BLACK- only when he wants to’.
Yeah- you tell em guys.
I’m surprised Biden didn’t kick
in ‘yeah- you need a slight Indian accent in the 7-11’s and Dunkin Doughnuts
too’- ‘I’m not kidding either’- yeah- we heard.
So Matthews goes on and asks his
guest ‘tell us what this rule means for the poor voters in the state who
usually vote Dem’.
The lady goes on and says that
this forces them to travel across the country [huh?] in order to obtain their
proof of birth from their state.
What about the fax machine?
Then she said many of these
people were born by midwives [many- these people- hmm?]
And they don’t have birth
certificates.
One of my daughters was born by a
midwife- she has a birth certificate.
My homeless friends are
constantly losing their picture I.D.’s- which is an important thing for them to
have- and they regularly write- contact their home state of birth- without
actually going there- and they get new I.D.’s
I really don’t know why MSNBC
calls itself a news station.
Then the wonderful Chris Matthews
says ‘they are going back to the days of King Herod- where he made all the
world travel back to their homeland to
be taxed’.
Please- Please- try and stick
with the news as best as possible- because when you guys delve into the faith-
you really screw stuff up.
Oh- I forgot- I also cut out the
picture from the article- it shows the most calm picture of Obama I ever did
see.
He’s with his wife at some
function.
She looks good too- like a happy-
sweet angel.
Romney?
He is on a plane- doesn’t look
that bad- but maybe a little stressed.
Now- I’m sure they searched high
and low for a stressed pic of Romney- this was probably the best they could
come up with.
I remember when Newsweek posted a
cover picture of Michele Bachman- I mean it was the most insane shot I ever
saw- like some wild eyed lunatic.
Yeah- the media do stuff like
this- all the time.
People don’t realize they are affected
by it- but they are.
Okay- this past week I posted
some pics of old friends and I also shared a story about some of these friends
with the homeless guys.
So I think I’ll post another
‘post’ right below- one that has some info about these old friends.
So- enjoy your weekend- Oh- if
you’re a Black person from the great sate of Penn.- say high to King Herod for
me.
[1646] I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE-
The other night I had
a weird dream- 2 young guys showed up at my door. They rang the bell and as I
opened the door one of the boys said ‘John, do you remember me’. Now- to be
honest this has happened lots thru out my life. At the Fire House I would often
show up for shift in the morning and the off going shift would say ‘John- one
of your convict buddies stopped by yesterday’ [they eventually caught on that
lots of the guys I worked with at the jail/prisons knew where they could find
me when they got out- and they figured they would catch me at the Fire House].
So stuff like this has happened lots- and there are times
when I simply don’t remember who the guy’s are- if you give a bible study 5
years previously- they might remember you- but you might not remember them. So
in my dream I told the kid [around 19 years old] ‘to be honest I don’t really
remember you- just a little’ [Yes- I admit at times I have said ‘yeah- I think’
just so I wouldn’t offend the brothers].
The boy tells me that I did indeed help him and he won’t
forget it. So I fellowshipped a little while. Then the boy asks a strange
request ‘John- will you draw me a picture’. Sure- it seemed like something a
young boy would ask- but why not. So I drew a picture of the beach and us just
sitting there- like Father and son- and he asked me to sign it for him. I gave
him the simple request and he seemed like a little boy getting a present from
his dad. He talked a little more and as he began to leave he told me his name.
He said ‘I’m Texas Ruiz’. And he left.
As I woke up [around 3 a.m.] I didn’t think too much about
it. As I started the coffee, getting ready to go in the yard to pray. I
remembered who Texas Ruiz was. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I pray for the
cases I see in the paper- or on the news- the severe cases of crimes that have
been committed. I have a wall of names [around 30 or so] that I paint the names
of these people on. They will forever be on my prayer list- so I try and pick
cases where the criminal [or victim] has a long lasting result/penalty- so as I
pray for them over the years they can benefit from it.
One of the cases was a local one- here in Corpus Christi.
The stepdad called 911 and his stepson [around 1 year old] had died. At 1st
they thought it was from some natural cause- then they found out the step dad
abused the boy and he died from this abuse. I saw the boy on T.V. a lot- being
it was local. As Protestants we usually don’t pray for the people who have
died- but I actually have felt the Lord challenge me about this over these last
few years- and I do pray for the victims sometimes, even though they are dead.
When I saw the boy on TV I would just raise my hand towards him and pray that
God would be with his soul- I felt real bad for the kid. I did this a few times
over about a week. I felt like a ‘dad’ to the kid- just praying for him. The
boys name was Texas Ruiz.
There is a verse in Ezekiel 37- God says ‘in the day I raise
you up and bring you back from the dead- in that day you will know that I am
God’. I wrote this verse down on an ongoing journal type thing- every week I
add whatever verse/book I’m studying from- whatever I feel might be
significant. So I stuck this verse on the top of the page. A few days went by
and I wrote the dream on the same page- I felt it was significant so I wrote it
down.
After a few days- while reviewing the page- I saw that on
the top it said ‘in the day I bring you back from the grave’ and in the dream-
yes one of ‘our people’ did come back- it freaked me out.
In John’s gospel, chapter 11, we read of the story of Jesus
raising Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus and his sisters- Martha and Mary- are
good friends of Jesus. They lived in a little town named Bethany [the name of
my oldest daughter] and for the Jewish people to openly embrace Jesus at the
time- it was a sacrifice. Many of the religious leaders already had turned
against Jesus.
So one day Lazarus gets real sick and the sisters send word
to Jesus ‘Lazarus- your friend- is sick’. Now- Jesus is going all over the
place- healing sick people- opening blind eyes- multiplying bread and fish. I
mean the sisters must have thought ‘well- at least all the flack we’ve taken
over openly befriending Jesus will finally pay off’. But when Jesus hears about
Lazarus the bible says he purposefully waited 2 extra days before heading
towards Bethany.
Now- after a few days Lazarus did indeed die. The sisters
are mad- ‘wow- he healed all these others- strangers- yet no time for us’. When
he gets to the outskirts of town Martha goes out to see him ‘Jesus- why didn’t
you come? You could have prevented this from happening’. Eventually Mary says
the same thing to him. Jesus tells them ‘I am the resurrection and the life’.
The sisters only saw Jesus thru the lens of ‘why didn't you
fix the problem when it was still possible’ Jesus was saying ‘it’s still
possible’. He was telling them ‘Just because the thing you thought I would do-
in life- didn’t happen yet- I can still overcome the devastation that it has
caused you’. Jesus of course will raise their brother- it becomes a huge
miracle to the point where the religious leaders conspire to kill Lazarus too-
because so many Jewish people begin believing in Jesus because of this miracle.
In Ezekiel 37 God told Ezekiel [and the nation of Israel]
‘in the day I bring you back from the dead- in that day you will know I am
God’. Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. A real event that took
place in time and has stood the test of historical examination [too much to
cover right now- but take my word for it- the evidence is overwhelming].
Sometimes we are like the sisters of Lazarus- we expected
God to prevent the disaster from happening ‘Lord- if you were here this would
not have happened’. The test of faith is to continue to believe- even on the
other side of the disaster. The problem with Mary and Martha was they felt like
Jesus simply did not come thru in time- they heard all these great stories
about how Jesus helped all these others- yet they sat at home- with a dead
brother and a funeral to attend.
Today I want to challenge you- are you like the sisters? Did
God not prevent the disaster from happening? Did he not do for you what he did
for the others? You might not see the ultimate ‘healing’ until the
resurrection- the ‘last day’- but be assured- in the day he raises you from the
dead- you will know that he is God.
[1645] THE CHINGALINGS-
Got an email the other day from one of my old buddies who I
haven’t heard from in a few years. He must have googled my name and found the
blog site- it’s not hard to find me being my name is on a lot of the posts that
I publish.
He was surprised to have heard that I retired; he used to
call me up a lot over the years when I was at the fire house. We grew up
together in N.J. and he was one of the friends I always kept in touch with. He
told me that a mutual friend was still in prison [Rahway, N.J.] I told him
‘yeah- I know’ I have been writing him in prison ever since he first told me
about it a few years back.
He finally sent me the ‘rap
sheet’ I knew our friend was doing time for a serious offense, just never knew
the whole story. As I read the link I pictured in my mind the whole scene. They
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
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