Being Healthy

The older we get the more we have to consider our health. In the last five years I have come down with congestive heart failure and blood clotting. I am not here to make people feel bad about getting older but we must do something to stay healthy. I currently take about eight pills a day for those things that will keep me feeling better. Also I am starting to do stretch exercises that I should have done when I was younger.

Another area for all of us to do is watch our weight. I know that I want to change my diet even more than I have. Not an easy task I have to say as well. There are so many temptations when it comes to eating. Much more than when I was a child that is for sure. We had no fast food stores in Gig Harbor and now we have at least half a dozen such places. I am working to eat less food as well as continuing to walk every day.

If you have young children or grandchild I would not only recommend that they spend as much time outside to get their exercise but you are out there with them as well. It is not like we have to do a lot of exercise but a half to an hour each day would be good for us all. Also when it does come to eating to cut down on desserts and other unhealthy foods; it doesn’t mean that you have to stop eating them all together however to do so less often and in smaller portions. What I try to do is when I buy a hamburger and fries to split it up. Other words I don’t eat it all in one serving. I save the remaining for later on in the day or for the next day. Not easy to do at all though. It is still tempting to eat all of it. All I know is that I have to persevere and that my eating habits will continue to improve. Depending on your weight it is good to stay where you are at if you are not over weight and if you are to lose the weight over a period of time. I see people who lose weight however they gain it back because they haven’t maintained their eating habits. I have heard that it is OK to eat smaller helpings more often in a day too. Buy some fruit like a banana or orange to have when you would eat a milkshake instead.

I know that our families will appreciate us improving our health and we will be able to do the things we are meant to do. We will be able to spend more hours doing what we are called to do in this life. Amen!

Weather Forecast

  I figure though I will continue to encourage everyone on life and the purpose we have in it to be a bit less serious. At least this is the way I think it should be. Occasionally I will still write seriously but not so often. I enjoy writing about my childhood to so I will write about that some as well as different places in Washington State and the Pacific Northwest.

A few days ago I was reading about the weather forecast in the local newspaper. They give the forecast for the next five days and often the weather doesn’t change a whole lot in the those five days whether it is winter when it rains a lot or the summer when the sun comes out and no rain happens. In the spring and fall there is a mixture of both. What I found interesting is that the forecast being shown can be the same for the five days but they use different words to describe the same thing. For example partly cloudy, partly sunny, cloudy with some rain and cloudy with a bit of rain; I am sure they mean the same thing but naming it different may make it seem different. Anyway I find it humorous to some degree. In fact last night on television the two news anchors laughed after the meteorologist gave the weather forecast that it all looked the same. So you see they agreed with me.

Onto other things on Thursday I went to a physical therapist because my back has been hurting along with my neck and arms. I feel like humpty dumpty that I need to be put back together again. The therapist checked me out and let me know my neck and back have a lot to do with my hips being out of joint so she gave me about ten stretching exercises to do at least twice a day along with moving my neck up and down along with sideways a few times a day. For my arms do some waving and massaging. It has been a couple days but I find to be good so far. My encouragement is that everyone should do some stretching everyday even if they feel totally fine. This looks like something I will have to do the rest of my life if I want to feel good all the time.  No pressure at all from me. A stretching joke by the way.

So now I wish everyone a wonderful weekend and don’t forget to relax. Go out and have yourself a good time. This is even true if you are planning to do shores around the house. Oh yes even if it is raining like it is doing here. Peace and Amen!

The Season of Lent

Many Christians during Lent decide to give up something like possibly a type of food or not watching television.

What I see the benefit is what you receive more than what you give up. The importance of Lent is to spend more time with God whether it is praying or reading more of the Bible. Also remembering what the season is leading to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What most people know whether Christian or not and that is Easter.

Personally I am trying to add and remove things in my life all year long however I think it is a good thing that Christians are doing something to help change their lives whether it is for the Lent season or for the rest of their lives.

On Thursday March 23 I went to a physical therapist because my body in many places seems to be falling apart. The therapist gave me several stretching exercises to do. I will be seeing her for a few weeks to see how things work out. I figure though these exercises I will do the rest of my life. The key is to continue on and never let up. I don’t want to be someone who walks or feels bad in my mid-seventies into eighties. My mother feels pretty good other than a few aliments in here nineties.

I want so much to keep a very simple lifestyle for the rest of my life that keeps me healthy so I can encourage others whether they are young or old. I will do the same with my mind as well as my body. It is a reason that it is important to meditate on a regular basis as well. We should be responsible with what we do as much as we can. Of course circumstances happen where it is hard to do though however whatever I can control I will. Many blessings to everyone and enjoy this time of the year. Amen!

Give Up

What does giving up mean to you? I believe it depends on what you are talking about.

I am a competitive person when it comes to playing a sport so in that area giving up would never be an option to me though I do believe in team work. Other words in a team sport no matter how we are doing whether winning or losing we must work to accomplish the outcome we want which of course is winning.

If you are in a leadership I believe giving up as in your position is very important. Similar to playing a sport team work comes before anything else. Often teams fall apart especially at the top because the person in charge forgets it is not about him or her but about the team. Giving up your personal ambitions and desires are important. The leader must get the point across to the team that each member must put his personal ways aside for the team. This goes to if you are mentoring someone else as well.

I have found in some cases that the person in charge has a way they have done things in the past and they have a new team still believing every circumstance it will work and doesn’t necessary happen. You have to look at each member of team.

Another area is if you have become a member of a team and you no longer the leader it is important to put your ego aside. In fact this is the most important thing we all must give up is our ego. It is never about us no matter the situation. Not an easy thing to do however success happens only if we can put our self out of the equation. I have known those who have left situations that they were asked to take a lower position because of their ego. Remember that we have something to contribute even when we are no longer in charge. So give up what has been successful because in the future you will have more success.

Spring Arrival

Here in the northwest everyone is looking forward to spring because it has been a cold and wet winter. February and March have been record months far as rain goes.

We didn’t have much snow except in some areas west and north of my home town of Gig Harbor. The temperatures have been in the 30s and 40s instead of being down in the 20s. So not too bad as far as I am concerned; however we have had a lot of wind that has lowered the wind chill factor.

What I believe the problem has been in February and March is that we have had most days where it has been cloudy instead of sunny.  The last couple weeks the sun came out a couple times and then the rain would return. Even when it doesn’t rain we see a lot of cloudy days. It is a way for people to get depressed. Since I am a native I have been accustomed of this weather happening almost every year. In fact what hasn’t made me happy is that we haven’t had a lot of snow except in the mountains. When I was a kid we had snow a few times a year with four or five inches at least and occasionally ten inches.

Portland, Oregon did have a pretty good amount of snow this year. In fact in February they had around twenty inches of snow. It is unusual because twenty inches of snow happens about every twenty years. The last few years Portland has had more snow than we have. I figure the reason is that we are planted between two mountains ranges with the Cascades on the east and the Olympics on the west while Portland only has the Cascades. Whether I am right or not they do get more snow than we do.

The positive side though is both the Cascades and Olympics have had more snow this winter than they have the last few years. There has been concern about the lack of precipitation but this year they have recovered. Also lets those who like to ski the opportunity to do so.

Most of our rain comes down from Alaska and British Columbia or comes over from Hawaii as well. Once in a while we get rain coming up from California but that happens very seldom.

On the positive side with spring coming we should start seeing the sun more frequently which is a very good thing. What I do like living here in the northwest we do have all four seasons instead of just a couple like some places do. Although we haven’t had cold winters in my definition we have spring, summer and fall as well. I do look forward to seeing the sun for a few days in a row at least. Let’s come soon please or if not snow you can still come for us too.

It’s Life

 We all know that life has its ups and downs. At times it is not fair either. There are those whose lives are cut off before getting started while others live a long life.

What we can do is the best no matter what comes our way. We have tests and trials that generally are to build character in us. For some of us we pass with flying colors while others fail miserably. Those who are the ones that fail the deal what we do next with our lives? The importance to get back up and move on in our lives; it is not where we are right now it is where we are going and how we finish the race. Life is a marathon we just don’t know when it will be finished.

Along the road we face many troubles and great victories as well. All we can do is live today for what this time is and learn the lessons toward tomorrow. Although the times can be tough we must smile and persevere. Other people are counting on finishing the race strong. Love, hope and faith should be are greatest strengths especially love. In the end it is these three things that make life worth living.

Going Wild

One of the worship songs at church on Sunday had the words going wild in the lyrics; made me think about saying something about it.

Often when we participate or we are fans of a particular sport or team we go wild or celebrate the victory. We may go to church or a religious institution or nothing at all in that matter however we only celebrate on Sunday if at all.

The lyrics of this song begins with come let me in. I wonder how many of us let God in on Sundays only and the other six days of the week we do our own thing. God isn’t even in our thoughts the other days except Sunday or in another way we have put him in a box.

It looks to me in this song the songwriter is saying that God wants us to allow him into our hearts and for many of us out of the box.

We allow God to be who he is and wants to be in our lives by living in our hearts we can have a wild life. Not only can we be excited when our favorite teams win we can be excited a lot of the time. We can so be that our lives will never be the same again.

You see God has given each of us free will so he will only enter in if we give him permission to do so. Although he loves us a whole lot he will not interfere in our lives unless we ask him to do so. Often we talk to God when things are going wrong and we want him to fix them. So let’s go wild and see what God can do in our lives every day and not just on Sundays. He may surprise us a lot and the thing is we will benefit from him being with us every day. Who better to have on our side than the creator and ruler of the universe. Something for all of us to think about that is for sure. Amen!

Thinking Positive

I am sure that most people are like me where it is not always easy to think positive all the time.  Even when I know that I have a purpose and destiny in this life doesn’t mean that I will be positive and happy all the time.

Being positive and happy are both choices we make despite the circumstances in our life but again it is not easy to decide to do so. I know that I try to be often as possible but again not easy to do all the time.

Here in Western Washington we have had rain almost every day for two months. On Thursday we had a nice day where the sun came out. It seemed like it was a while since the last time saw rain and I am sure it has been. The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s weather station said that they had just over thirty-six inches of rain from October 1 till March 15. That comes to five and half months for their normal rain fall. February usually has little rainfall had a record for the month of over ten inches. The previous high was two inches so you see what we had to deal with. Other than Thursday it had rained every day in March. I am sure it will be another record month. Sunday and Monday is expected to be sunny and then rain will come back again for the next three days at least. We always hear about a five-day weather forecast.

Since I am a native of Western Washington I am quite used to a lot of rain however so little sunshine the last five and a half months it can make us feel depressed. In fact talking with a lot of people there is a lot of depressed people around here. I try to be as positive that I can be but not easy for sure.

I believe it takes faith and hope to stay positive as long as we can. Throwing love in the equation is a good thing too. Since we are at our yearly rain fall in six months we should start seeing the sun more on a regular basis. Also it happened October 2015 through March 2016 where we met our yearly rainfall and we had only a little more rain from April 2016 through September 2016. So history shows that we should feel positive about rainfall for spring and summer.

Last couple years we had high temperatures in spring and summer which can make us feel good however I am a person who enjoys the temperatures to be normal. It has to do being fair-skinned and living here.

Anyway whether the weather is good or bad I will try being as positive as I can be. You like me writing whether and weather together. Ha ha.  Being positive is not only good for ourselves but our family and friends along with others we run into. Smiling will help us go along ways too. When you wake up in the morning lie there for a few minutes and meditate with positive thoughts.

At The Ocean

                                      Clam diggers on the Washington Coast what a memory

I am not sure about a lot of people however I am sure there have been others who have felt or had similar experience as I have going to the ocean.

As a young person before my teenage years when my family would go to the ocean I thought that God’s spirit or maybe he lived or spent time there. I did not know him at that age other than he was the one that created me and every other human. It wasn’t just the ocean I felt the same when going to the mountains as well.

I am not sure whether my feelings were because there was some awesome about the ocean and the mountains but there was a difference that I felt than living my life in Gig Harbor, Washington. There was something about roaring waves or when it was quiet. Nothing that was the same in my regular daily life and it seemed that I could talk to God in either place. The only other times were in my bed ready to go to sleep. Now that I am older I still feel that those times were special to me.

The Pacific Ocean on the Washington Coast was about two and half hours to drive by car. I remember the first time when my parents, brothers and I went to the ocean. We dug for clams and then cooked them at fire place. I enjoyed so much going after the clams. I wasn’t a big fan in eating clams but since I felt that digging them gave me excitement I had to eat them too.

Another experience going to the ocean that I remember was when my Boy Scout troop took one of our fifty mile hikes in August the end was right there at the ocean. Most of the hike was through the Olympic Mountains however seeing the ocean was a thrill in a couple ways. I knew the hike was at its end and I would hear the spirit of God hoping to words from him. At that point I was at the end of a tired hike and my feet were aching too. I was so happy not to take another step and seeing my mother along with other parents picking us up to return home.  I still wondered why I would go on those hiking trips other than I was with close friends. It meant to that summer was almost over and time to get back to school. Still nothing better than going to the ocean unless it is visiting the mountains too.   

One Word

 You may wonder what I am saying about one word. I believe that we can encourage and build others up with one word spoken in the same way we can tear down someone by speaking a negative word into their lives.

I expect over and over again I will speak one word that can help others to become the person that they were expected before even being born. Today’s word is one of those kinds of words. So here we go. I want you to know that you’re “special”. What that means is that you were created and born unique so makes you very special indeed. Out of the millions of people born and living there is no one like you before and there will not be another after. You are a unique person so you are special. You may look like one of your parents but your personality and gifting is all you.

What I would like you to do today if the opportunity comes up and you are smiling let other people know that you are special. Also let them know that they are special to. Nothing better to know we are unique and special. Let your wife and children know the same thing too.

Have a wonderful day and weekend. Let it be special in every way. God bless you Amen!   

Travel to Canada

There is something I really like about traveling. I have had to admit that I haven’t done as much as I have liked to do. I hope in the future to be part of my purpose and destiny. I know that sounds weird but true at the same time.

If you go back and read one of my early posts you will find that when I was twelve years old our family spends the summer traveling through all of Canada and eastern United States. It was an experience I have never forgotten. My mother grew up in Edmonton, Alberta so most of my relatives on her side of the family live in Canada and my sister Barb has lived a lot of her life in Quebec and works in Ottawa, Ontario.

I would love to travel again to the places we saw that summer when I was twelve. I am sure my perspective would be different than I was back then. We made stops in every province of Canada including all those on the east coast like Nova Scotia and Prince Edwards Island. My mother’s mother grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia while my grandfather was in Montreal. They met in Alberta. My grandfather was a banker while my grandmother was a school teacher. She was asked to come out West to be a teacher. I have only been to Edmonton once and that was as a little child. It would be really nice to go visit to see where my mother and her siblings grew up.

Although it would be nice to see the snow of winter in Edmonton it gets quite cold that time of the year so I most likely visit in late spring, summer or early fall.

A great route is to travel along the Trans-Canada. You can visit all the major cities like Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.  I would love to spend time on Vancouver Island. I was talking with a friend the other day where we agreed it would be easy to spend a couple months on the Island if the time was available.  If you are fishermen there are a lot of nice places to fish. You will find a lot of people traveling with their motor homes. What a life I have to say.

I believe that the United States has the most beautiful national anthem in the world however Canada’s is a very close second. When I hear either one tears sometimes comes to me. I am not familiar with the other nation anthems however I would like to listen to them. I am sure they are all very beautiful as well. There is nothing like being proud of where we were born even though the country may be far from being perfect.

Oh Canada I look forward to seeing your beauty once again in the near future. If my plans work out I hope to visit in August or September. I will see my cousins in British Columbia and smell that great fresh air and look forward to meet people on the journey. Travel you indeed to be part of my destiny.

Being One Together

When a team in any sport become champions it means that not only are they really good but they have a spirit of being one together.

Although we haven’t met I believe that all of us here have the same spirit. We may have a different purpose and destiny we have the same spirit to press on to meet what we want to accomplish just like any championship team.

Some of us may be mentors while others are managers where we work but we want to lift up those that are around us. We want others to be successful in whatever they are into. You may be a player on a team where you are just one of the guys however you see yourself going further. The important part is accomplishing your purpose and destiny along with making sure those around you does the same.

The important thing is to be the best that you can be however making sure those you encourage will be even better. So many people feel that they have to get where they want to be by jumping through many hoops. In our case is to forget what want and making sure others get where they need to be. We are successful because those around us are successful. It all has to do with our attitude much as anything. In the end it has to be denying our self for the better good. We are a team of champions who know what they want and the same spirit to get there. Hooray!  

Building Ourselves Up

Since this year I have dedicated to pressing on toward the goal an important part is building me up. To become the person I want to be in the end I must give positive reinforcement in whom I am and who I can become as well.

Over many years others along with myself I have thought that I could not do a lot of things. I had nothing to offer others and the world along with myself. It is easy to be convinced when you hear negative words that your life is going to be about. Other words I accepted what I believed.

I have to say that there is a ways to go in building myself up into what I believe I can be however I know to that will happen. A key is for me to believe those closest to me in what they say. I have to let it go over and over again in my mind that my purpose on this earth is for noble purposes. I am here for more than my own good comfort and action but for others too.

No matter what you have gone through in your life believe those closest to you have said about yourself.  Don’t believe the negative things people may say about you. If you need positive reinforcement look for others that will give it to you. Most of all believe those who speak positive words into your life and give your mind exercises saying over and over again that you are important and special.

Those who you speak to in the future will appreciate who you have become and the positive words that you speak over their lives; press on to meeting your goals.