Opportunity!

-Setting the powers of the mind lose, unshackling innovation and invention; releasing the frail human into a glorious new force of wills. Leaving the world of restriction and catapulting instead into an adventure of the grandest kind. Reward intrinsic and eternal awaits or the weighty doom of defeat draws near. But you now hold the wheel; the sails are bent with the wind of your heart and the cannon, your mind, in search of their target. Now is the time to let lose, now is the time to take your stand, and now is the only time!-

Ah, the limitless view of the unemployed; the unshackled opportunity.

Grandma's

My Grandmother’s house is nestled on the side of Cullowhee Mountain in North Carolina; it’s about a quarter of the way up the mountain with a long curvy driveway that is in much disrepair. Many years ago it was paved with blacktop and, I imagine, quite nice, however, now it is filled with pot-holes, crevices and mounds of loose asphalt. It reminds me of the unstable roads of L’viv Ukraine; besotted with craters from sunken brick and treacherous to any low riding vehicle. Only, instead of the mangled brick roads of L’viv you have such a narrow path that you can not dodge the holes or out maneuver the erosion and debris. In Ukraine, when road condition or traffic caused problems the taxis would simply use the sidewalks, my Grandma’s driveway sports a thirty foot drop off on the side instead.
It’s always frightening to drive on her driveway, even more frightening to be a passenger and feel as if you are hanging over the edge of the precipice as you speed up or down the incline, the wet leaves making the tires spin and refuse to grip at times. It’s always exhilarating. When my family use to drive to Grandma’s in our big 15 passenger van I, sitting in the far back seats, always had my doubts as to whether we could indeed make it up the incline, the van would quiver and the engine would seem to moan but somehow it always pulled through and brought us to the top, I would silently congratulate it and give my arm rest a little pat as if to say “thanks and well done”.
A small stream that ran down the mountain, right next to the driveway and, needless to say, partly the cause of the erosion, was always a favorite of my older sisters who would spend hours catching salamanders under the rocks in the stream, naming them and making up their life stories. At some point in time my Grandmother accidentally drove over and killed a rather large poisonous snake crossing her driveway as well….but that was before my memory.

My Grandma’s house always smelled musty and old from being in the humid mountains, it especially bore this familiar aroma before she had the shag carpet removed and reverted back to the less 60’s but more practical wood flooring.
When we were younger, and even a bit so now, her basement was frightening to us kids, you had to traverse steep wooden stairs and instead of a hand-rail the walls by the basement steps were always plied with mouse traps, some of them even set. After you survived the steps the basement was eerily dark, due to the burnt out light bulbs, and cool. In our young imaginations we could envision the evils that lurked in the corners and in the closet that contained the loud creaking of the water heater. Being in the mountains, snakes could also haunt the basement and we were consistently wary of their potential presence. The only consolation we found in the basement was the adventure of discovering what we concluded as “old relics” that were stored down there. These included a rotary phone; boxes of old dress patterns, jars full of buttons. Our favorite article of amusement in her basement was an old dart game hanging on the wall with a handful of rusty darts accompanying it; we would play with them for hours; much to our grandma’s chagrin.
Later in our lives we discovered a ping-pong table as well, in another room in the basement that offered a lot of enjoyment and was a bit safer as well, I'm sure, to our grandmother’s relief.

Snapping beans.....

The smoke from the nearby fire drifted by, hardly annoying, just strong enough to flavor the breeze but not so overpowering to burn the eyes; a pleasant smoking, perhaps as an aging ham would feel in an old drafty smoke house. Smoke strong enough to add flavor but not so strong as to spoil the taste.
The pop of beans, beans being snapped by young hands and also by fingers that have weathered much more of life’s adventures, the snapping punctuated the silence. The soft scrapping of sand drew your eyes to the old sandbox, the home of countless castles, farms and secret lairs again being rebuilt into something extraordinary and new, unworried and ignorant of the farm cats that had also enjoyed the soft sand. Looking further on, the young chickens running loose through the yard, fat bodies evidence of their healthy diet supplemented with juicy bugs they happily clucked over. The chickens dodged the larger geese, masters of the yard that intimidated even the sly foxes, no surprise though, from birds that resemble dinosaurs in looks and actions. The afternoon is cool especially under the tree where I rest observing a glimpse of a quiet summer afternoon, both timeless and priceless, locked away in the heart forever.

pet peeves.....

I don’t know who originally had the brilliant idea of stating the well known proverb about how bank tellers are not shown fake money, instead real money, in order to easily spot the “different looking” forgery. I’ve heard this a thousand times, every time it is to discourage the idea of trying bad or different things just to learn about them but instead encourages people to simply know the good and avoid the learning about the bad.
Though this method may work in the banking world it should be rethought for the rest of the world. For example, a pet peeve of mine, I have seen countless Christians ready to condemn things they have not taken the time to understand. It isn’t always that they are wrong to condemn these things but it sure makes them look stupid when they show their ignorance when questioned about what it is they don’t agree with....”well, umm, people told us that it wasn’t what we believe, but I don’t know why for sure” Even the forerunners in persecuting many ideas really have no idea what they are persecuting, what they disagree with or even what THEY really believe. Come on people, if you want to take a stand I applaud you, but please know what you are standing for! Furthermore, try a little harder to understand those you claim to stand against, use your minds as well as your hearts and you won’t constantly look so foolish. I mean, please! Sorry....just a pet peeve that got on my nerves ; )

Summer.....

Laying in the grass, tall and coarse, I watch as a honey bee, cheerful yellow and black, flies by me. The grass sways as a breeze stirs, its soft breath rising and falling as it blows and whispers by. The bee, with a soft and somehow soothing buzzing sound, drifts from one white clover near by to other a few feet away. The honey bee moves lazily, buzzing on. I lay watching the bee in its slow but important work; my eyelids feel heavy and slowly close, hypnotized by the warm rays of the sun and pleasant sounds of God’s creation around me. This is a beautiful time of year.
(photo by Wesley Smith)

Focusing....

I was listening to a song on the radio the other evening, “There’s a light at the end of this tunnel” (Tunnel, by Third Day) were a few of the words. This song was emphasizing the idea that life is really hard sometimes but we shouldn’t give up, there is a light at the end. It made me think of sermons I’ve heard before and what I’ve heard people say countless times. They tell us that we, as Christian, need to keep going, keep running the race and not give up because God and heaven, if we are saved, is the “light at the end of our tunnel”. Somehow we have to bear this world and all the hardships and troubles because heaven is our ultimate goal and prize. Now please don’t get me wrong, but this entire way of thinking irritates me too no end! Did God create us and put us on earth so we could suffer our way through, and barely make it, just so we could spend eternity with Him? No! We were created for God’s pleasure, and he created the world for our pleasure as well. We are to enjoy God and His creation, here as well as later in heaven. Since when is life a trial we must face and go through? God gave us life to enjoy! We, as Christians, are heirs of Abraham and under the promise, the promise Christ fulfilled on the Cross. We have eternal life but we still, and should, enjoy our lives as Christians and God’s greatest creation on this earth he created for us. His pleasure is found in our enjoyment and communion with Him, not in seeing us suffer and agonize through life. Life is not a tunnel; if we can’t enjoy the life God has put us in now, how are we to enjoy it in eternity?
On a side note, God’s word tells us that death has no sting for us, as Christians, and somehow people took this to mean we should be looking forward to our release from this world; and we should in some ways. However, I do not look forward to dieing and leaving this world. At times I have even felt somewhat guilty, when people talk about these being “end times” I am not happy about the idea, I still have a life to live. I want to have a family, I want to serve God, I want to live a long life and see my children’s children walk in faith. I know there will come a time when I will be old, I will be happy but worn out, I will be ready for a “new body” then. I’ll be ready for an endless life of health and youth with my savoir. Honestly though, that “endless” part of my life with my Lord started the day I asked to be added to Christ’s family, this life is not some journey to reach a goal of heaven, the new life has already begun for us, it’s not something we have to wait or work for. Christ already paid our admission, we entered his family forever when we choose to accept, believe and follow. …..Sorry, just some random thoughts….. But always remember, "His hands are holding you"

the smell of liberty.....

Our 4th of July fireworks program was postponed because of rain; postponed just one day though, so we, and just about everyone we know, went to them tonight. They seemed a bit shorter than usual, but then again, maybe distractions added to the decline in length….hmm, I don’t think that wording really makes sense, "added to the decline?".
While we sat engrossed in the thunderous display and works of fire art a skunk, evidently not as happy as us, went running by our group on the outskirts and into the packed parking lot full of onlooker and their vehicles. A few people ran for cover but the majority went on watching the fireworks and never noticing the proximity of that small but dreaded animal. I wonder if it didn’t find a safe haven under a lawn chair or by a car, not noticed again until perhaps the owners decided to leave, later on?