Stuff That Matters in Life

Besides the obvious difference in the price of a gallon of gasoline, many things have changed since I started driving 30 years ago:

* we didn’t worry about mpg

* AC was an option

* only huge monster luxury cars had power windows

* there was no seatbelt laws

* high school guys used to get part-time jobs working at the gas station pumping gas. Now there are no full-service stations, and no jobs for high school guys at gas stations.

* no one bothered to lock their car doors much less have a car alarm.

* I think AM/FM radio was an option. Maybe an AM radio was standard.

* bucket seats were an option. Why don’t they make bench seats anymore?

* Nissan was Datsun

* Japanese cars were too small and uncomfortable

* automatic transmission was an option

* my first car was an Opel – anyone still know what auto maker that is? German, I believe. Why don’t they sell it here in the US anymore? It was a hand-me-down car from my brother, a bright blue 2-door, stick-shift. I wish I have a picture of it.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

Is it ok for a Christian to celebrate Halloween?

Some people can certainly go too far on Halloween by glorifying the things of the occult. Even seemingly children’s games that involve witches, casting spells, etc. are inappropriate in my opinion. I do not go to Halloween “parties” because they will always involve some type of games involving those symbols.
However, I am not oppose to having  some fun dressing up in costumes and running around the neighborhood and mall getting free candy. I do not join in the “spirit of Halloween” but I do want to take advantage of the fun part that is offered.

I don’t know if that makes any rational sense.

VeggieTales is the creator of Snoodles. Snoodles are small teardrop-shaped creatures with wings – very cute. In today’s episode (NBC 9:00am PST) a small Snoodle meets the one who created the Snoodles. In their conversation, a great truth was clearly presented in rhyme:

The young Snoodle pondered the things he’d been told.

Then wondering something, grew suddenly bold.

“But Sir, if you made this incredible land,

Can’t you make Snoodles obey your command?”

The Big One smiled warmly, then said to the small,

“A gift that’s demanded is no gift at all.”

First it’s my knee problem. Now it’s a cholesterol problem.

My blood tests showed my cholesterol at 237. Yes, that’s high. My HDL good cholesterol is 55 – that’s good, and my LDL bad cholesterol is 151 – that’s not so good.

I have a family history of cholesterol problem. My brother and sister are on medication and they exercise much more than I do.

So it’s oatmeal and fish oil gels for me everyday.

But I know I will probably be on that Lipitol soon. Since I am not overweight – in fact, I would like to gain a couple of pounds – I never think of watching what I eat. I have never liked to eat junk food, I do not snack, I do not eat out much. But my weaknesses are juicy medium rare steak, rich cheesecake (none of that low-fat kind), Mexican food with lots of cheese, and Italian food with butter and lots of cheese.
Is there any hope for me to lower my cholesterol without meds?? I don’t think so.

When I think about our financial situation, I get worried.

Our main source of income is from real estate sales. Everyone knows that real estate sales is down. If we were just real estate agents, I wouldn’t be worried. We have reserves to live on even if we don’t make a sale. We live frugally in good times as well as bad. But as owners of the company, we still have to pay overhead expenses even if there is no income. Office expenses are much higher than my personal expenses. That is what worries me.

But the Lord spoke to me yesterday while I was driving. “Aren’t there more important things to worry about? If you have to worry about something, why not worry about the salvation of your friends and family, whose souls will be lost in eternity? At least that would be worthy of your worry.”

OK, I will let the Lord take care of us while we put our energies towards a greater cause. Thank you, Lord.

Hours of fun with a ziplock bag and water?Amy and I used that to magnify things around us, including ourselves. It looked so cute we took some pictures. It makes us look like we have big cartoon eyes. Believe it or not, we spent a long time using our imagination playing with a bag with water.
I love my kids!

A year-long study by the Business and Media Institute found that news reports about the American economy have been grossly distorted with twice as many negative stories as positive ones. Moreover, the negative reports were often aired in full-length segments, where as the positive stories only got a brief mention. The worst offender of the big three networks was CBS – fully 80% of its reporting on the economy was negative.

(from Gary Bauer‘s End of the Day report)

People should be aware that the major networks and media have a bias. There are probably more accurate/balanced news reporting on the internet. Any recommendations?