Controversies, Genealogies, and Dissensions.

I have posted this verse on my Facebook page 3 times in the last 10 days:

But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about 
the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. Titus 3:9 ESV

The verse after it states:

As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, 
have nothing more to do with him

Or as the King James version puts it:

But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about 
the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. Titus 3:9

A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

Those are pretty strong words and that verse has been rolling around in my mind for days. I knew I would write a blog about it.  Titus 3:9 and 10 remind me of a quote from Pope Francis. -- "If 
someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then 
who am I to judge him? ... The problem is not having this tendency, no, 
we must be brothers and sisters to one another. The problem is in 

making a lobby of this tendency: a lobby of misers, a lobby of politicians, 
a lobby of masons, so many lobbies." (News conference during flight 
from Brazil to Rome, July 28, 2013).

We can get SO caught up in what we believe as Christians and think that everyone else should believe the very same way. Everyone's walk with Christ is unique and NO ONE  can say a brother or  sister Christian is wrong. We might not understand the walk our    brother or sister in Christ is taking but we are walking a different walk than they are and they are walking a different walk than we are.  

How can we criticize that?   I'm not sure we can.

I must admit Titus 3:9 has given me pause to think about the subjects I put my effort      toward.

Something to think about.

J. 

A small slice from 2009.....

HONESTLY. 

To do this, copy this entire message, then go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, delete my answers, and type yours.

1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth?
Coffee

2. Where was your profile picture taken?
Nov 2007 in the train station in Washington DC waiting to come back to florence SC

3. Can you play Guitar Hero?
Nope..but I can play Guitar for real...

4. Name someone who made you laugh today?
Randi Massengill

5. How late did you stay up last night and why?
11:30pm watching TV

6. If you could move somewhere else, would you?
Texas, Denison Texas

7. Ever been kissed under fireworks?
Yes

8. Which of your friends lives closest to you?
Wendy Kimball

9. Do you believe ex's can be friends?
no!!

10. How do you feel about mountain dew?
nasty taste.....

11. When was the last time you cried really hard?
A few years ago when Randi and I almost split up

12. Who took your profile picture?
Randi, my wife

13. Who was the last person you took a picture of?
Randi

14. Was yesterday better than today?
Nope

15. Can you live a day without T.V. ?
yes

16. Are you upset about anything?
not really at this moment

17. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it?
yes

18. Are you a bad influence?
Sometimes

19. Night out or night in?
Night in

20. What items could you not go without during the day?
Computer, toilet paper

21. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?
Pat Patterson...(I miss that guy and wish I had talked to him before he passed away)

22. What does the last text message in your inbox say?
??? I don't know

23. How do you feel about your life right now?
very good

24. Do you hate anyone?
I try darn hard not to hate anyone. Some people I dislike more than others

25. If we were to look in your Facebook inbox, what would we find?
Notes to my son and my two cousins about a Massengill Family group me and my two cousins started on FB

26. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass?
Yes...

27. Has anyone ever called you perfect before?
yes and i proceeded to tell them it was bull.....no one is perfect

28. What song is stuck in your head?
Yesterday by the Beatles

29. Someone knocks on your window at 2:00 a.m., who do you want it to be?
someone who is REALLY in need and it is something I can help with. Any other reason can wait until the sun comes up.

30. Wanna have grandkids by the time your 50?
no

31. What do you have to do tomorrow?
clean out the shed in the back yard and crush cans for recycling

32. Do you think too much or too little?
way too much.

33. Do you smile a lot?
I've been told I do but I don't think so...

The tender middle

I saw a Facebook post from a friend tonight that just said "Why me???" and I didn't know what it was about but I KNEW how it felt.  Been there, done that.  I got picked on in grade school by a person I didn't bother and who I wanted very badly for him to leave me alone.  I'm not sure what it was about me that attracted his attention but it did.  At my young age I felt like it was because my father was away with the military and his father worked for the City of Knoxville. I also felt like it was because my dad was a drinker and I felt like everyone knew it. I'm sure they didn't but I sure felt like they did.

In my adult mind I can see that some people mistook my shy or soft side as a weakness when in fact it was a plus.  I didn't talk much but I took a lot in, much like a sponge takes in water. I watched life go by and I was content to sit on the sidelines and watch life go by. I felt if I opened my mouth, I would be ignored and dismissed. I felt like my opinions carried less weight than other peoples did.

At about age 15 I ask my dad something and his answer was "I think you are old enough to make those decisions for yourself".....MAN! it was like being let off the leash. I don't remember what question I ask but, boy do I remember the answer!  

Even as an adult, I still have a bad habit of saying "May I ask a question?" because I still feel that small boy inside me saying "you're not good enough to give your opinion", however as a counter to that I also tell myself that my opinion is just as good as anyone else's! I can't say I excel and I can't say I fall flat all the time either. I'm painfully average. Right smack in the middle.  They once had an answer on Jeopardy "5'9" 185 lbs and size 9 shoes" the question "What is the measurements of the average man in America" and at the time I was only 5 pounds less than that....talk about average! I always wanted to be 6 foot tall....I didn't make it. Oh well! can't have everything.

Sometimes, the insides of our own minds are our worst critic.  You know where the bad stuff about yourself is buried and when you are doing badly, your mind will remind you of every time you fell flat or goofed in front of a crowd full of people.....

It wasn't easy to live through the hard times but it has given me a perspective that I KNOW things will get better and you can't always be on top.  It has provided for me when I was halfway around the world with nothing but snail mail to keep me going (during the Gulf War it took over two weeks to get my first letter from home but when I finally did get mail I got four letters in one day. That was the hardest two weeks of my life!)

Being down isn't easy but maybe God has something in store that only such knowledge can give you an edge to live through during a rough time.  Remember, even the flowers need rain to grow. It can't always have the sun at our backs.....or our shoulders would burn and that is no fun either!

Sometimes only God knows "Why" and he has a plain for us all.
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the LORD "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plains to give  you hope and a future"

J.

21 Date night questions taken from http://davewillis.org/21-date-night-questions/

21 Date Night Questions

Just when you think you’ve come to know all there is to know about someone, you’ll find out that you’re just getting started! Marriage is a lifelong journey of discovery and communication is the only way to continue growing in your discovery of one another. Below are some questions that should start some great conversations! Turn off your phones and TV and ask your spouse these questions. I guarantee that you’ll both end up discovering something new!

1. If there was a movie about your life, what songs would you want on the soundtrack?

The CD unplugged by Eric Clapton.

2. In that movie, what actor (past or present) would you want to play you?

Matt Damon. I like his movies

3. If you could have named yourself, what name would you have chosen?

Johnny is ok I just wish I could have also gotten my Grandfathers middle name too.

4. What is your favorite thing about yourself?

I love fixing stuff. I'm not always good at it but getting there is half the fun

5. What is one thing you wish you could change about yourself?

The fear in my own head that tells me "I can't" way too many times a day

6. What was your biggest fear when you were a child?

Being left away from home alone. 

7. What is your biggest fear now?

Screwing up at work. 

8. Besides our wedding and the day kids were born, what is your all-time favorite day?

20 Jan 2000, when I married Randi (that answer isn't allowed according to the question but that is my answer)

9. What would you do with the money if we won the lottery?

a. keep it private

b. invest, invest, invest

c. repair computers and network and be my own boss.

10. What would you do tomorrow if you lost your job and money and we had to start over?

Pick up a network tester and a toolbox and get to work. 

11. When you were a kid, who was your biggest hero?

My Dad. He is the reason I went in the USAF

12. Who is your biggest hero today?

My Wife, Randi. She has a calm about her that I've never seen in anyone else.

13. What is your greatest regret?

Didn't go to college sooner/Didn't retire from the USAF

14. What is one thing you’d like to accomplish by this time next year?

Read my Bible more.

15. If you won a free vacation to any place on earth, where would you want to go?

Alaska to see son, daughter-in-law, and Alisen, meet C.J. (my newest granddaughter) or Texas to see my daughters and maybe see an F1 race while there.

16. What was your first nickname?

J.J. given to me by my Dad

17. What is your earliest childhood memory?

Playing on the floor in base housing at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, MO

18. What was the moment when you laughed harder than you’ve ever laughed?

Watching "Rodney's Place" on HBO in the late 70's or early 80's (it was full of up coming comics. Tim Allen, Jeff Foxworthy, John Fox, Thea Vidale to name a few)

19. If you could write one new law that everyone had to obey, what law would you create?

Use the turn lane and your turn signals.   

20. What’s a new hobby you’d like to try out?

I have enough hobbies to choke a horse. I don't need another hobby. 

21. Besides marrying Randi…what’s the greatest thing that has ever happened to you? 

Graduating from college in 2005

There should be one more question:
22. What is your super power?
I know where every bathroom in town is and I also know the call signs for all the NPR stations in the state of SC. 

What movies made you cry.....

A few mornings ago, on the local NPR station they ask "What movie made you cry and why". For me the answer was easy. It was "Good Morning Vietnam" from 1987.  It wasn't anything in the movie or in the story of the movie, it was seeing Military men wearing khaki uniforms. The Air Force called them "1505's"

Robin Williams in 1505's khakis

 1505's were long gone from the Air Force when I went in the Military. I was kind of sad about that. I would have loved to wear the same uniform my Dad did but it wasn't to be. I can't tell you how many times I saw my Dad leave home wearing 1505's when I was a kid.

My Dad at age 38.

 Watching Good Morning Vietnam threw me back to a time in my life that I had no control over anything. I was a very young kid.  Watching Robin Williams leave Vietnam in 1505's made those hard times suddenly come flooding back to me and I sobbed a great deal.  I get a lump in my throat writing about it even now.

Thanks for the memories Robin. You were a very good actor, no matter what role you played.  The world is less funny and heaven is more funny with your passing.

J.

Do we need to beg God for our needs?

Sometimes as fretful humans we get things on our minds and just can't let those things go.  In our prayers we mention the same problems or concerns.  Will a long often repeated prayer get The Lord's attention more than a short prayer?
Matthew 6 has a great deal to say about prayer:

5And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly. 7But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8Be not therefore like them: for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him.  

I'm guilty of being a worry wart. No one worries more than I do.  Rather than praying for/about the things I'm worried about, I sometime will admit to saying very short prayers asking for God's will being done rather than a great jumble of words about all the topics I'm worried about....  I don't dwell on my concerns and yet I feel like I've also prayed about my concerns. Win-Win if you ask me.  

Sometimes trying NOT to think about a problem will make you think about it more than you normally would...

The Lord has been good to me...today and everyday

J. 

Lent 2014.

Within the last year, we, Randi and I, have joined the Church.  We haven't been there every time the doors opened but we have tried support our Church where and when we could.  It has been a good thing for both of us.

When Ash Wednesday came around Randi and I spoke about giving something up for the season of Lent.  To say I have a softdrink habit is putting it mildly.  I'm USDA 100% hooked on soft drinks OR I was Hooked on soft drinks. With the help of The Good Lord, I have been soft drink free for 40+ days.  I'm pretty happy about that and how that turned out.

I've never been in a Church that was big on Lent, so all this was new to me.  I never really thought much about it and how it fit into my walk with The Lord, however, I felt I had to support my wife if she wanted to give up something for Lent.  It has been an interesting month and 10+ days.  The thought of a soda has crossed my mind a few times but I always tried to redirect my thoughts to water or tea (hot or cold).  I can honestly say I feel better and I'm 100% less bloated after a meal.  When we started this, I said if I didn't drink a softdrink for 40 days I wouldn't pick one back up again.   This experience has made me think of what else I need out of my diet that truly does me no good on a daily basis.  Ranch dressing pops to mind as I eat Ranch dressing on a lot of things, usually as a substitute for mayonnaise.

I can truly say the experience has been a good one for Randi and I and I can also say going to Church again has also been a good experience for us. It has been good to have a Church family, as we have no family related to either of us in the local area.

I must say "Thank you Lord" for the help and support and I'm thankful for the help and support of a dedicated spouse.

J.