Friday, July 30, 2010

CALIFORNIA GURLS

Happiness is a state of mind or inside feeling that shows up on faces. The look of love, pleasure, joy, contentment, satisfaction are clear without words. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical analysts have researched happiness in order to define its source. However the intellect has stumbled when attempting to define a direct measurement of happiness. Being happy or feeling joy does not require laughter.
We are told and we are sold that the TRUE positive EMOTION of JOY that we SEE in those SMILING FACES, or in those we HEAR constantly LAUGHING --- does NOT auto-matically place them in the desired category of a "Happy Person". The ability to remain HAPPY, content, SATISFIED, or joyful regardless of an external circumstance does however BEGUILE us! Consider California Gurls, Kate Perry, Ghandi, Oprah, Mandella, Corrie Tin Bom, Mother Teresa, or Billy Graham --- so bewitching! How did they come by this JOY? Is the common denominator MONEY? Does plenty of cash guarantee happiness? Look at Mel Gibson, a Million Dollar Athelete, Bradd Pitt or ...you name the celebrity of choice then google their HAPPY quotient. Does their "HAPPY" default to a FEIGN without FAME? What about BOB --- that HAPPY FACED DUDE? Ain't he the absolute perfect VISION OF JOY ?
His eyes are bright
He emits a light
Nothing changes
His attitude
is HAPPY
ALL the time.
Listen to Bob RAP this SONG~
"Smiling faces going places
Light hearted with lolipop faces
To the mall, a beach, or back road races
California Gurls giggle loud and lotz
They seldom complain or throw rocks!
California Gurls, a fluff of curls
They leave me in a whirl
Witty and meaningless
Leaving Bob breathless
Shameless and Aimless
Seeking that famous
HAPPINESS! SHOUT JOY OUT! Consider a concert or a football game? What the crowd feels travels and spreads --- ANGER or JOY is CONTAGIOUS ~ YIKES! Research identified a number of attributes that correlate with happiness: relationships and social interaction, marital status, employment, health, democratic freedom, optimism, endorphins released through physical exercise and eating chocolate! Religious involvement, income and the proximity to other happy people. Human relationships, and PET relations are consistently found to be the most important correlation with human happiness. The 2008 British Medical Journal reported that happiness in social networks may spread from person to person. VISUALIZE "THE WAVE" movement at a game~ That research MUST have been FUN! Scientists followed nearly 5000individuals for 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study and found clusters of happiness and unhappiness that spread up to 3 degrees of separation on average. Happiness tends to spread through ongoing contact with family, friends, siblings, spouses, co-workers, and neighbors! STATS suggest happiness spread more consistently than unhappiness through the network. The HAPPY analyst reported that HAPPINESS spread through a population like a virus! ALSO that older folks generally happier than younger folks! JOY does not appear to be generational, because longitudinal research found that happiness increased over time for the older people who were studied. Older peeps SHARE that their creaking health has a bone to pick with the BOUYANT youth that whine about taxes~ Young persons FEEL more anger, anxiety, depression, and financial stress while balancing troubled LYRICS in popular LOVE songs~

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

JASON GRAY

GIVE ME RULES I WILL BREAK THEM
"MORE LIKE FALLING IN LOVE"
Give me rules
I will break them
Give me lines
I will cross them
I need more than a truth to believe
I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes
To sweep me off my feet
It ought to be

(CHORUS)
More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love

Give me words
I'll misuse them
Obligations
I'll misplace them
'Cause all religion ever made of me
Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet
It never set me free
It's gotta be

It's like I'm falling in love, love,
Deeper and deeper
It was love that made
Me a believer
In more than a name, a faith, a creed
Falling in love with Jesus
brought the change in me
It's gotta be
More like falling in love.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

TOMMY DORSEY

Back in 1932, when Tommy was a new husband to his beloved wife Nettie, they lived humbly in a little apartment on Chicago 's south side. One hot August afternoon Tommy had to go to St. Louis where he was to be the featured soloist at a large revival meeting. He didn't want to go. Nettie was in the last month of pregnancy with their first child. But a lot of people were expecting him so he kissed Nettie good-bye, clattered downstairs and in their Model A he chugged out of Chicago on Route 66. Just outside Chicago he discovered that in his anxiety about leaving Nettie, he had forgotten his music case. So he wheeled around and headed back home. He found Nettie sleeping peacefully and hesitated by her bed. Tommy felt that something was strongly telling him to stay. But eager to get on his way, and not wanting to disturb Nettie, he shrugged off the feeling and quietly slipped out of the house. The next night, in the steaming St. Louis heat, the crowd called on Tommy to sing again and again. When he finally sat down, a messenger boy ran up with a Western Union telegram. Tommy ripped open the envelope. Pasted on the yellow sheet were the words: YOUR WIFE JUST DIED. People were happily singing and clapping around him, but he could hardly keep from crying out. He rushed to a phone and called home. All he could hear on the other end was 'Nettie is dead. Nettie is dead.' When he returned home he learned that Nettie had given birth to a boy. His emotions swung between grief and joy. Yet that same night, the baby died. Tommy buried Nettie and their little boy together, in the same casket. (Resting in PEACE side by side Nettie and Tommy) After the funeral Tommy fell apart. For days he withdrew from all who gathered to comfort him. Tommy felt that God had done him an injustice. He did not want to serve God anymore or write gospel songs. He just wanted to go back to the world of jazz and forget everything. Hunched over in grief, alone in a dark Chicago apartment Tommy thought back to the afternoon he went to St. Louis. He remembered the inner nudge to stay with Nettie. Was that something God? Tommy grieved and cried out to God his sorrow for not paying more attention to Him that day. In the midst of his brokeness and sorrow, Tommy vowed to listen more closely to God. Everyone offered their best, but no kind acts could ease his deep sorrow. A good friend piced Tommy up the following Saturday and took him to a music school named Maloney's Poro College. It was quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained windows. Tommy sat down at the piano and his hands began to browse over the keys. Tommy remembers "Something happened to me then. I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, once into my head they just seemed to fall into place. The Lord gave me these words and melody, He also healed my spirit. I learned that when we are in our deepest grief, when we feel farthest from God, this is when He is closest, and when we are most open to His restoring power. And so I go on living for God willingly and joyfully, until that day comes when He will take me and gently lead me home."
The song 'PRECIOUS LORD' by Tommy Dorsey
'Precious Lord, take my hand,
lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak,
I am worn, through the storm,
through the night, lead me on to the light,
take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.'

Sunday, July 18, 2010

MOVIE of TRUTH

IF a movie could be nominated for an OSCAR based on a message of TRUTH, or IF a movie was nominated for it's VALUE in society, then the MOVIE entitled "The Gospel of John" would win the BEST MOVIE for the century! The script was written by God. This 3 hour EPIC does not add one word to the Gospel of John. Enjoy perfection on screen. Purchase on AMAZON with commentary by the producers. Hear the Word and watch Father, Son, Holy Spirit love us --- even in our doubt, denial, rejection of the truth, He tells the truth, but do we listen? Do we accept that God is God and we are not? His ways are not our ways. Mary poured out all she had because she loved Jesus, He had just raised her brother Lazurus from the dead! VISUALIZE Jesus, the Holy Spirit telling us the Truth, and yet some still do NOT believe? Must we also see miracles in order to believe? "Sir they said, 'we would like to see Jesus'." John 12:21 Excitedly Andrew and Phillip raced to tell Jesus that even Greeks wished to see Him. Without restraint of their internal jubilation about their close friend Who would soon rule the world --- Jesus knew the motive of their hearts and He had already rebuked them for their pride --- Knowing all things, compassionately He said "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." John 12:23 --- He knew that they just did not get the agony He was about to suffer. In love Jesus then explains "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." John 12:24 --- One life changing lesson in this scripture: ONLY when we die to our selfish desires, can our life increase the harvest for His kingdom. "His heart was touched and He was deeply moved. Where have you buried him. Jesus wept." For one seed to produce more grain, it MUST fall to the ground and die. The blessing of a broken heart, a broken pride, a demolished dream --- is death to ourself, a life's meaning as the world teaches. In that moment we realize today what Jesus is saying to us. On this side of the cross, His lesson is clear --- the TRUTH of this principle was made manifest in the death of Jesus on the cross. Like a grain of wheat, the mission of God complete, Jesus came down into the pit, into the world to be seen, that we might believe. To be put to death publicly, that His death would produce many seeds, many believers, many followers. Jesus knew that He would send the Holy Spirit in His absence, and that in the future, generations of people would understand through the Counselor. So without explaining what was meant in words, Jesus said "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." John 12:25 What did this mean? Disciples then and today are baffled because to choose to die to our ways---when in our education, in our world, this makes no SENSE ---the cross, the life and death of Jesus confounds the wise! Because it takes FAITH in the purpose of Jesus to crucify our desires for recognition and importance. To fully YIELD our lives to the purpose of God, is to understand what Paul said "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." The power in a single seed, a single life... is in the portion we allow the Holy Spirit to rule. It is ONLY in our full surrender that He is glorified through us. That is when one is willing to hate this life on earth, to die to it's own: will, goals, dreams, desires, wants, needs, plans, rights and personal reputation. Jesus said "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." Whose approval do we seek? Approval and blessings from the world or from Jesus, the Son of God? Who do we listen to? What voice calling out in the desert? "I am the Good Shepherd -- I know My sheep. The hired man runs away because he does not care about the sheep. I am willing to die for them. They will listen to My voice and become one flock" One church, one body united in Jesus Christ. Are we afraid of speaking about our faith in public because we will be laughed at? "Those who speak on their own authority are trying to gain glory for themselves. But He who wants glory for the One Who sent Him is honest. There is nothing false in Him." Then Jesus told the Pharisees, the highly regarded teachers of the law of Moses "Stop judging by external standards, and judge by true standards." Today, on this side of the cross, as per His promise, the Holy Spirit resides in our body which is the temple of God. As Jesus taught in the temple, He said in a loud voice "Do you really know Me, and know where I am from?" "A branch can only bear fruit if it remains in the Vine."

Saturday, July 17, 2010

CHRIS RICE ROCKS

Listening to Chris Rice on my morning walk
His beat, His melody, His words just ROCK!

LYRICS to a Chris Rock hit entitled "CLUMSY"
You would think I would have it down by now,
been practicing for 30 years, I should have
walked a 1,000 miles, so what am I still doing here? Yeah!
Reaching out for that same old piece of forbidden fruit,
I slip and fall and knock my HALO loose,
by that time whatsa girl suppose to do?

I get so clumsy, I get so foolish, I get so stupid,
and then I feel so useless, but you say that You love me,
and You are still gonna hold me,
that You wanna be near me ---
cause You're making me HOLY,
Still making me HOLY, HOLY yeah!

Gonna get it right this time,
I'll be strong and I'll make You proud.
Prayed that prayer a 1,000 times,
the rooster crows and my tears roll down again.
You remind me that You made me
from the dust and I can never be good enough, and
that You're NOT gonna let that come between us...

Cause I get so clumsy, I get so foolish,
at times I get so stupid ---then I feel so useless,
but You say You love me ...
and You are still gonna hold me...
cause You're making me HOLY.
Chris Rocks voice soothes because the Holy Spirit has softened his heart and through Chris, the heart of Christ for all His creation is heard. Dance for Jesus and live. With your final heartbeat, kiss the world goodbye, and go in peace and laugh at Glory's side --- and fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus and live!
SO GO AND LIGHT YOUR CANDLE - in a dark world full of people who slipped into a hole. Don't be FOOLED by the maze of teachings. What has worked? Who can help?

Sunday, July 11, 2010

SOAKED IN SPIRIT

What I truly long for is the warm fragrance of Him in the sunshine, the taste of cool breezes that prickle me with the tiny bumps of His awareness, the soft texture of flowers that He made for my pleasure, His vision of a birdsong, and the sound of a gentle drenching, quenching rain. To be immersed and totalled impressed by His passionate creation and respect His purpose --- for my soul.
With a bump inside, don't be shy --- dance to TRINITEE 5:7 and sing "Dance Like Sunday"
I will give praise anytime, anyday
See he's done so much for me
That I want the whole world to see
Hey! That's o.k.
You can praise Him like me
You don't have to be ashamed
You can praise Him this way
Come on get out of your seat,
Stand up give Him a little dance, Say dance with me
He's done too much for you
We got to give Him a little praise
so here's what we gonna do…

CHOURS: We gonna dance dance like Sunday
We gonna praise Him in a new way
Show you how to have a good time,
come on get with me…
It’s o.k.. Everybody join the praise

Now look at me, even talk about me
for the way I feel won't change...
Hey! Cause I love to call His name
I can't sit down cause
everytime I think about
everything He's done for me (say)
I can’t hold my piece

Come on get out of your seat,
Stand up give Him a little dance, Say dance with me
He's done too much for you
We got to give him a little praise
so here's what we gonna do…

Dance with me (yeah) don't be afraid just do it
You need to give it up (just move your feet, yeah)
It's easy for me so if you really believe
come on…join the praise!
To accept that I am His and He is mine, for all time, without separation, without a need unmet. He says I am the bride and that He is the Bridegroom and I trust that His Word is truth. Slipping and sliding in and out of belief in the truth of who resides within us - to protect us, guide us, convict us and transform us. Artist Chris Rice stirs us with a cool beat in his hit song "CLUMSY"
You think I'd have it down by now
Been practicin' for thirty years
I should have walked a thousand miles
So what am I still doin' here
Reachin' out for that same old piece of forbidden fruit
I slip and fall and I knock my halo loose
Somebody tell me waht's a boy supposed to do?

I get so clumsy
I get so foolish
I get so stupid
And then I feel so useless
But You're sayin' You love me
And You're still gonna hold me
And that You wanna be near me
'Cause You're makin' me holy
You're still makin' me holy, yeah

I'm gonna get it right this time
I'll be strong and I'll make You proud
I've prayed that prayer a thousand times
But the rooster crows and my tears roll down again
Then You remind me You made me from the dust
And I can never, no never, be good enough ---
And that You're NOT gonna let that come between us

Chorus: From where I stand
Your holiness is up so high I could never reach it---
My only hope is to fall on Jesus!Soaked in spirit I spin and dance in His presence and all of creation responds! The trees dance as the leaves clap their hands in the wind that is His ever present breath! Walking and talking with my Lord is more like falling in love than the very best daydreaming! BE BLESSED listen for FREE on ITUNES to the happy melody of Jason Gray's hit song: "More like falling in Love"
Give me rules
I will break them
Give me lines
I will cross them
I need more than a truth to believe
I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes
To sweep me off my feet
It ought to be

(CHORUS)
More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love

Give me words
I'll misuse them
Obligations
I'll misplace them
'Cause all religion ever made of me
Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet
It never set me free
It's gotta be

It's like I'm falling in love, love,
Deeper and deeper
It was love that made
Me a believer
In more than a name, a faith, a creed
Falling in love with Jesus
brought the change in me
It's gotta be
More like falling in love.GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS oh God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changes not, Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me
Summer and Winter, Springtime and harvest
Sun, Moon and Stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Beautiful rendition by Chris Rice on ITUNES