Life is too short

Happy Friday everyone! How are you doing? I’m doing pretty fantastic if I do say so myself. I heard one of my coworkers say earlier that it was Friday. Shortly after saying that, I then heard her say, “It’s the only day I’m happy.” That struck a chord with me. Really? Seriously? Are you living your life for Friday to get here? Counting down the days till the weekend gets here? Is your life, your job really that bad where Friday seems like the only day where the sun shines? Life is too short and could be over in a moment’s notice, ENJOY your days. Nobody has the perfect job, even doing a job you love, you will have bad days. The State of Arizona is in a huge budget crunch right now and so all the state employees are complaining about not getting raises. But I have to look at it this way…shouldn’t we all be thankful we have jobs, good jobs with retirement and health insurance? Because there are many people who do not have a job, or they do have a job and they get no benefits. And, I have my fair share of bad days, heck sometimes the days turn into weeks. I will be the first to admit that. But we have to choose our attitudes and how we are to approach the day. If you get out of bed cranky, guarantee you will be like that the rest of the day. There are people who I work with, and honestly EVERY single word out of their mouth is negative. They hate their job, they hate their life, and they just hate everything. Oh man, those people mentally drain me! When I graduated high school, my grandmother gave me a plaque that said, “I love you more than yesterday, but only half as much as tomorrow.” I am changing that up and I’m going to say, “Today can be as good or even better than yesterday, but only half as good as tomorrow.” Ah, wise words from Brandy.

I saw an article a few weeks ago about the cost of stamps going up again in May. Bleah..Excuse me, Mr. Postman, can you cut me a break please? I don’t have time to write a lot of letters, but I do believe in that old fashioned way of communicating. I write to one person (Hi, Leah!) and I can’t explain the joy to receive a letter in the mail. It gets me all giddy inside. So, I send out her letters about every other month or so. But, I still also believe in sending out cards for birthdays, holidays, or just because. So, I keep the card business and post office running, because I give them so much money. I bought 8 cards yesterday for this month and that is only for the first two weeks in March. I just wish the cost of stamps would stop going up every year or so, it’s just annoying. Yesterday, I also bought stamps from a mail store as it was on my way to school. Why are they allowed to charge more for a book of stamps than normal? I paid an extra $1.40 for the same book of stamps that I could have bought at the post office cheaper. That should be illegal! Lesson learned, not to go there again. Anyways, I’m not going to let the cost of stamps stop me from sending out cards and letters.

School…it’s that time. Every time this semester, I get burnt out. Spring break is in two weeks and I am on countdown. Oh man, I so despise my Spanish class. There is so much to do and I am constantly doing Spanish homework. It seems as though a never ending cycle. That is on top of my math homework. But on the positive side, I figured out my grades so far. 97% in Math and 93% in Spanish. Woot, woot, I love me some A’s! Hooray!

Gotta go, have a great day!

Bran

Quotes of the day: “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.” ~Grandma Moses

“Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day.” ~Author Unknown

“When you feel dog tired at night, it may be because you've growled all day long.” ~Author Unknown

A few things I've seen lately

Good morning everyone! Yes, I said good morning. It's the wee hours of 5 a.m. here. I have the luxury of working from home a few days a week and we can start anytime we want to. So, I wrote this really long blog yesterday, it was really good, but Xanga screwed up and silly me, I didn't copy it before pressing submit, so I lost it. Oh I was so angry. So here is the post again, typed quickly as I need to be working.

On Thursday night, we had a guest speaker come to our church and speak. His name is Nick Vujicic and his ministry is www.lifewithoutlimbs.org. He travels around from various places speaking about how despite your circumstances (His being the fact that he has no arms and no legs), God can still use you for His glory. Our Worship Center was packed beyond capacity. They opened up the Chapel and even had to put chairs in the lobby. It looked like Easter on Thursday night. It was so awesome. He did an invitation for people to come down and either commit for the first time or recommit to Christ. I had volunteered to pray with people when they came down, and as I stood to the side, tears came down my eyes, as I watched people just keep coming and coming. It was estimated that 300+ people came down that night, most of them high schoolers. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced. Definitely check out his website, and if he ever comes to your town, don't pass up the opportunity to see him speak. He is on fire for Jesus and will inspire you!

A few nights ago, I was flipping around watching news programs. ABC Primetime had something that not only caught my eye, but scared me as well. There is a man from Texas who is claiming to be the second coming of Christ as well as the Antichrist. This man is actually claiming to be Jesus in living form. Huh? Jesus? He has millions of followers, people who for sure in their heart believe he is Jesus. However, on his body, he had tattooed the mark of Satan, "666". They showed people grinning as they got these tattoos saying things like, "This is to show that I belong to Jesus." Wait, wait, wait. Now, I wear a cross on my neck every day that shows I belong to Jesus. He tells his followers that it's okay to keep sinning because he had previously died on the cross to take care of all that. His motto is "Once saved, always saved." I was so intrigued by this show, because I couldn't believe people are so blinded to the truth. But yet completely scared because this person is NOT glorifying Christ in any way. I began to think of all the people seeking truth and they encounter him or his people. They would get the wrong idea as to how us, as Christians, are, or even worse, they will get the wrong idea about who Jesus is! Here are a few articles on him, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Luis_de_Jesus_Miranda, http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2925021. They are quite interesting.

This man above is what I refer to as a "Scary Christian." You know a person who claims to know God, but their actions do not portray Christ in any way. Or the way they present Jesus is just, well scary. Other examples of "Scary Christians" are Benny Hinn and the big, pink-haired lady on TBN. Saturday night as I was driving home, I stopped at a major intersection. I heard some people singing. I rolled down the window and heard them singing praise songs and clapping. I thought that was pretty cool and an interesting way to get Jesus out on the streets. But then, oh then, a scary person appeared. She began screaming (literally) into a microphone about how Jesus died for your sins. The way she was doing it frightened me, if I was not a believer, that woman would of scared me to the point that I wouldn't want to find out who this Jesus was. My thinking was if she was scary, how would Jesus be?

Okay, a few things happening with me this week. I got my car back, he's as good as new. I'm still having issues with car insurance people, but hopefully it will all get worked out. I started school last week. I have two awesome professors. They both love their jobs and their lives. It definitely shows in their teachings. Lots of reading in Psychology though. Oh well.

Have a great day! And try to be a loving Christian, not a scary one.