Blessed

There's a preacher out there that incessantly talks about what to do and how to behave in order to get God's blessings. He talks about blessings as though they were a unit of currency. It's amazing that somebody buys this hype. He's done very well, but he's just another silver-tongued devil. But I digress again.

Blessings are not complicated things.

I believe in happiness through kindness, service and sacrifice. And I believe in karma. Thus I believe that blessings come. And they come every which way.

I was climbing a steep and tall mountain a few weeks ago. I should have been up and back down by noon due to the possibility of lightning. I embraced the burn but was nevertheless climbing rather slowly. I started at sunup but there was just no way to meet the timetable. I saw the storms coming right at me and should have aborted but decided instead to continue. The storms went around the mountain and sleeted heavy below. I only got wet in the last ten minutes of my ten-hour hike.

Am I blessed?

I'm very good at science, math... and statistics. When a statistical improbability rears up, I take notice. And there's been quite a few of these. Not 100-year floods every year but 100-year blessings many times a year.

I believe, but not in TV preachers.


-copyright 2014 by Willy.

P.S., lightning kills many hikers above treeline.

Evil Happens

Why does evil happen? God, in perfect love, allows us the chance to do the right thing, or the wrong thing. Just giving us the opportunity does not mean God creates evil. But God allows the possibility of evil. And some choose to follow the wrong path. Such is life. Evil happens. I choose The Father, who guides me with a soft hand an an easy touch. Those evil people can go to hell.

The evil also make the wrong choice on health and fitness... living a rough life which eventuality results in bad quality and quantity, and thus getting to hell faster.

- text © 2013 by Willy

Sing Song

"Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go..."

I've been hearing that refrain all day, perhaps due to my noticing of tomorrow's play of the 1956 Elvis movie on the tube. I whistled it continuously during my long Thanksgiving day before-dinner hike today.

When I was a kid... before Elvis... my mother sang a fairly similar lullaby. I felt very cuddled in hearing it. In turn, I hummed this Elvis tune to my kids to relax them at bedtime. Not only that, but I still self-medicate to this ditty. Lullabies are meant to function just so, and work amazingly well.

I'm in the midst of some turmoil: A nutty young punk threatened to beat me up and has evoked memories of early school bullies. I've been sleeping with a shotgun, and Elvis calms me down.

Or perhaps I was hearing God's lullaby.

Prayers can be the darnest things... whistling a lullaby!

More conventional: "For exercise to calm the body and prayer to calm the mind, I am truly thankful, amen."

It's best to accept the situation, prepare for a possible eventuality, and go through channels... calmly.


- non-Elvis text © 2011 by Willy

Outdated or Wiser?

The same things are true in life as in fitness and in faith.

Fall color is here and leaves are carpeting our trails. Fall comes and fall will go, just as sure as the sun will return tomorrow morning. But we learn more each year. This year I discovered ruins just beside my favorite hiking trail.

I am a 60-year-old engineer and am outdated in many things, but not The Big Picture. Yes, kids know eye-opening computer tricks and give me six significant digits of accuracy but oftentimes they get the first digit wrong... that is, they went the wrong way. Can't argue about results based on experience. We know that kids come and kids get old and go, and we all learn from each other.

The AIG/bank/wallstreet/auto bailout came a couple of decades after the Savings and Loan debacle. The economy is a shambles and we don't have the power to fix it, so we wring our hands until we remember that this, too, shall pass. It happened before and it will happen again. I have faith that as liberals come then liberals too will go. The tide comes in and the tide goes out. It ebbs and flows. Are the politicians protecting worthless bank assets incompetent or just crooks? Yes, and then they go, and we relearn not to trust them, or the banks.

We will discover the motivation to embark upon a good fitness plan... then receive an overuse injury or accident, and we stop to heal, and start all over again. Only this time we will risk less to overuse and pick where we ride.

We're living the good life and divorce happens and life gets sour. And life ebbs and flows again later. We get mad at God and then, in His time, we go back, wiser, and learn not to enter another relationship like that.

In my business, the cannon is as outdated as the slide rule, and so is the canon... all of the canons... because the truth is that nothing stays the same.

Life ebbs and flows, and there's much comfort and tranquility in knowing that, and accepting it.


- © 2010 by Willy

The Angel Waved

The angel looked like a cloud against the red sunset, and she waved at me... for the longest time. It was pleasant.

I always thought that if I was ever in one of those "Touched By An Angel" episodes in real life, the minute the angel lit up, I'd have a stroke or heart attack and die of fright.

This one was not frightful. She was just saying "hi." I'm lucky to have recognized her. It took a while.

- © 2010 by Willy

The Why Of It...

My daughter had a boyfriend heartache, so she came home to talk to an old friend. The breakthrough came: "She told me something powerful: 'You may be all the Jesus some people see.'"

Now, that's a terrific solution statement, no matter what the problem is, but it's difficult for this ol' engineer to understand matters of the heart. Experience 'em, yes, but understand, no. Engineers do heads, not hearts.

I had earlier reminded her that the last stage in grief is acceptance, but now I just listened and took her out and showed her some stress-reducing things that work for me and may work for her too, like feeding the ducks and hanging out by a gurgling brook. We hiked in my backyard mountain... the inchworms were raining down this weekend, no doubt incubating in our oak-pine-hickory canopy above, but more about that some other time.

You would think that figuring out life is easy... that the number of heartaches someone will experience in their lifetime (Nh) is equal to the number of temptations (Nt) that occur times the probability of succumbing to temptation given the temptation (Ps/t). But life is not an equation Nh = Nt x Ps/t. And Ps/t is tough to figure. Life is not Yes or No, Black or White... it's endless grayscale, infinite graduations of brightness and hues of an uncountable number of colors, with a timescale and with many strings attached.

But I do agree that cutting down the number of temptations, and me behaving like Jesus, does result in a simpler life with less heartache... for me and for you too.


- © 2010 by Willy

My Visit With The Monks

Happy Easter resurrection. I just got in after spending a few days as a guest of a monastery. A small group attending a small group of monks'. This year one became a priest, one died, they had five novices (the most ever) and a chef instead of a cook (correlation to the most ever novices?). The beautiful liturgy, elegant chants and interesting lectures were terrific, and keep me grounded.

Lent is time to fast from delight, so I snuck out yesterday and bought two big chocolate Easter bunnies to gorge on today, a ritual which I do every year too. I'll be sick to my stomach by tomorrow.

I had a long talk with one of the priests, whom I've known well for 15 years (my troublemaker son went to school there). I told him that I noticed that for the last couple of years I've become ornery. I don't like crowds either. I'm an old man with no tolerance for fools like the swivelhead teen in front of the pew nor the cougher behind. "Stay in community," he essentially said, "tolerate, do discipline of the eyes."


- © 2010 by Willy


P.S., in his talk, this priest quoted Malcolm Muggeridge stating "It's those times of biggest failures when I grew as a man and close to God."

Money:

If money is the root of all evil, why do churches beg for it?

Like many things, money can do good as well as bad. Just like some people are wonderful and some are butts. Religion teaches the facts of greed but then the pastor sells salvation. Just like paying lip service to a balanced budget but going on a spending spree. People can get greedy, and many do. After the necessities are covered, why would anybody want more? It's disgusting.

Can you tell it's Sunday?


-© 2009 by Willy

P.S., "With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my crooked arm for a pillow, is not joy to be found therein?" - Confucius, a looong time ago.

Today's Prayer

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

Father, thank you for this day, today. Help me to start this day with a good attitude and plenty of gratitude. Let me make the best of every minute. Please keep me safe from all danger and harm. Help me clear my mind and focus so that I can hear you and yours. Continue to use me to do your will, and give me discernment. Please broaden my mind that I can accept all things. You have done so much for me. You keep on blessing me. Please forgive me if I have done, said or thought something that was not right.

Father, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Let me not complain over things I have no control over. Let me remember that others learn as they struggle, and I should help but not do for them.

Continue to bless me that I may be a blessing to others. Keep me strong that I may help the weak, and smart so I can teach them. Stay close that I may have encouragement for others. Continue to send me your angels, and those who make me smile.

I pray for those that are lost and can't find their way. I pray for those that are misjudged and misunderstood. I pray for those who don't know you. I pray for those that don't believe. I pray for all my brothers and sisters. I pray for peace, love and joy for us all, and that their needs are met not only through you but also through their own hard work. People change through you.

When this world closes in on me, remind me of Jesus' example to find a quiet place to pray... it's the best response when I'm pushed to my limits. I know that when I can't pray, you listen to my heart and mind.

Let me see sin through your eyes and acknowledge it. When I sin, let me remember to repent, confess my wrongdoing, receive your forgiveness, and change.

I know that there is no problem, circumstance, or situation greater than you. Every battle is in your hands for you to fight. I place my problems and battles in your hands.

I pray that these words be trully received into my heart.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

- not © by Willy

P.S., Lord, thank you for all the opportunity to be courageous, solve problems, exercise serenity, and all the others... but could you please have pity on me and lighten the load? Thanks.

What Else?

"Lord, people have drained me and life is tough. I'm done here... I'm ready to go."

"Not yet. I have sent you into this world with a special act of love to bestow. No one else can offer that act of love... it has been entrusted only to you."

"Lord... Father... I've lived a long life giving to my brothers and sisters. What else do I need to do? "

"When you're done, you can come over."

- text © 2008 by Willy
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Have Faith

Whether I believe in God or not, he exists anyway... so why believe? Or why not believe? Or why not, not believe?

It is easy to ignore something that happens normally, something that we expect, like the sun coming up every morning, the birds flying around, the leaves rustling, or a beautiful sunset... even though these are all miracles... but the unexpected long-shots grab my attention. When the right people happen to call me, when my thoughts drift in a specific and unusual direction, when the right answers and solutions come readily...

When coincidences happen that shouldn't...

Then I get goose pimples in the back of my head, I pay very close attention to my world, fall to my knees symbolically, and look for and appreciate the tokens of His love around me. I again realize that everything that happens in my life is part of His plan. I smile appreciatively and recognize that I am lucky because I don't know where earth stops and heaven begins. I pray for friends and foes alike. And I know it's going to be a wonderful world.

Why believe? Probabilities!

- © 2007 by Willy

P.S., Look for the perfect mistakes, too.
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And God said...

grad dot E = rho / epsilon-zero
grad dot B = 0
grad cross E = - del-B/del-t
grad cross B = 1/c-square times del-E/del-t
+ micro-subzero time J
... and there was light!

Similarly, have you noticed that sunsets are usually red but sunrises are yellow? This is because normally we are looking at the sunset thru the heated atmosphere, which looks red. Thus a modification is needed to the wave equations above.


And the three-dimensional standing waves made by any boat on a calm lake are also wave equations, though not of light, but following the same physics. It's all the same physics, the same laws, and the same equations.

We're trying to understand.

"I want to understand what's on God's mind, the rest are just details." - Albert Einstein.

Me too.

- some of this © 2007 by Willy

Taking a Step Into the Light

I'm taking one step into the light. If God is not there, I've lost nothing. If God is closer, I've gained everything. So, what keeps me from taking this step?

This paraphrase of Pascal's Wager... a good example of the tie-in between philosophy and religion... irks the atheists to no end. To me it's beautiful logic and a debate winner.

God exists, whether I remember to take that step or not. But what has fascinated me for a lifetime is... what is my mission here? What does my Father want me to do? What are my tasks?

I call home in prayer every day for an answer.

Certainly, I know part of it: we are here to contribute. At the end, He will ask, "Did you make a difference?" He gave me my talents for me to do something with them, rather than to stick them under a rock.

I believe I'm here because I have some special message to deliver, with a special song to sing for others, with a special act of love to bestow. No one else can speak my message or sing my song or offer my act of love. These have been entrusted only to me. I'm positive about this.

My life has had some brokenness... broken relationships, broken promises and broken expectations. It would be easy for me to become bitter and resentful without continuing daily talks with my Father. I pray daily... for my sanity. Father is always there and always answers. The brokenness is something that my limited human mind can't grasp, but I keep trying. My Father I trust. Your will be done, Father.

All this talk is to remind myself that it's time to take another step.

May the good Lord hold you, too, in the palm of His hand.

- text © 2007 by Willy
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