Good Evening All…

You may have noticed that I am not one to use my place here in Xangaland to speak of controversial things, and this is by intent and design, as I prefer for this to be a happy place for me.

So having said this, I hope that what I am about to present will not be construed as a rant or a place for others to vent about what they do or don’t like about the world around us.

Recently someone asked me about what I thought of the current events that have taken place this past week, and this is what I felt lead to share…

My Thoughts…

The events that have unfolded in our country this past week have, unfortunately, revealed just how we as a nation have fallen into moral decline. You see, it’s not just about politics, which to be honest, is not something I generally as a rule discuss, at least not in a public, written forum. No, it goes much beyond that. What we have witnessed is the ongoing fruits of a generation that cannot see beyond themselves, despite what they may say.

It’s not a matter of what various leaders and those hoping to be leaders have, or do not have. It’s not about what’s good for our country, both now and for future generations, it’s all about who is going to support me, and all the bad decisions I want to make (though we’d never admit that they are bad), because let’s face it, it’s more fun to be “bad”, and have someone, or more accurately a society, tell me it’s okay.

Please note, that in no way am I shining the spotlight on any particular people group.

What we are looking at here is again, society at large.

History has proved time and again that societies that place their wants and desires above others and decide to “live for the moment”, have always ended in spectacular fashion.

A nation that fails to acknowledge their Creator will soon be given over to their own designs and whims, and will surely collapse.

For those of you that have an understanding of Biblical prophecy, you will recall that the United States are not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. I am of the belief that there is a reason for that. In the book of Revelation when nations are mentioned, they are prominent ones. True, at the time Revelation was written, the United States did not exist. However, it is important to remember that Revelation is just that, a “revelation” of things to come at a certain point in the future. As much as it pains me to say this, it is my belief, and the belief of many biblical scholars that the reason for the United States’ lack of coverage there is because we will cease to be a nation of influence.

How can this be, and why will this happen???

Is this based solely on who we as a nation have elected as our leader???

Not necessarily.

Yes, as we have witnessed with Germany when Hitler was brought into power (and no, I am not comparing our President with Hitler) we saw what can happen though when a nation gets focused on the here and now, and does not plan for future generations, despite what claims are made to the contrary.

So let’s take a moment now and acknowledge the white elephants in the room.

Will the LGBT community be what brings down our nation? No!

Will the healthcare changes cause our downfall?? Nope.

If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler crash and burn, will that spell disaster for us??? It won’t help, but even that won’t do it.

How about illegal immigrants? Drugs?? Little men from Mars???

Again…No!!!

The simple answer is that we as a Nation have turned our backs on our Creator.

Contrary to popular belief, this nation really was founded on Christian principles.

Yes, the English settlers came here to escape religious persecution. But that does not mean that they were not God-fearing individuals. It was their hope and intent to establish a nation where they could choose to worship God in the way they saw best. And in addition to that, they also wanted it to be a place where people didn’t need to feel like they were being forced to worship, because you see, God is a God of Free Will, meaning that He would prefer to allow people to choose to serve and follow after Him. If He created man to serve Him like a bunch of robots, then He would not receive any glory, and would most likely have been unhappy with creation (this is just me thinking out loud on the last part of this).

While this past week has proved that there seems to be a slight majority of people in this land that tend to be quite liberal in their thinking and beliefs, it is no small matter that there are still a sizable number of God-fearing people in this land, and no doubt they are the ones that by their praying and serving, and just trying to be Jesus in front of a lost and dying world, that God has seen and decided to continue to pour out His blessing on our land.

In the book of Second Chronicles 7:14, it says, “If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land”. This needs to be the prayer of the godly of our fair land.

Now in closing, I would like to say one thing. This is in no way meant to pounce on any people types. You see, I have a number of people in my life that I call and consider, my friends, that fall under some of the labels mentioned. Gays, Liberals, non-Christians, people of other nationalities. I believe that God would have me treat all of them with respect and dignity, and I truly hope that I do. I mean, what kind of a friend would I be if I didn’t? And, how would they ever see Jesus in me if I didn’t???

I can’t make those decisions for them, only they can. All I can do is love them and show them through example that God loves them, and He wants more than anything for them to come to know Him.

In the Book of Joshua, it says “Choose you this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Remember, I am no better than anyone else out there. All I know is that I have discovered what it means to live a life transformed by God’s wonderful grace, and you know what??? It’s a pretty good thing

May God continue to have mercy upon us, and show us His love, and may we as a Nation, see our need to acknowledge our Creator.

With Love,

-Richard.

So why the change in me, why the seemingly new found commitment to God??? Truth be told, it’s not that new. I’ve always desired to follow after God. Sadly, I haven’t always done the greatest job of it. You might ask, does this have anything to do with my sickness this year??? While it certainly helped open my eyes, I had decided to make a bigger and better commitment to God before I got sick.

What I have taken away from having been so sick is that life really is fragile, and God had final say, weather we like it or not.

There are lots of people that do not like the thought of not being in total control of their own lives. I too, don’t like not having control, but knowing that my life is in the hands of the One that created me brings me far more comfort than any thing or person or anything else ever could.

In case you haven’t noticed, the world around us isn’t getting any better, and it’s not going to. Regardless of whomever wins the Presidential race this fall, things are going to get worse, you can mark my words on that. How do I figure? Simple, God’s word says so.

Friends and family, please listen and try to understand: As much as it pains me to say this, and as much as it is going to hurt to hear, the party is over! What I mean is that the good old days of truly care free living have came to a close. NOW is the time to prepare! NOW is the time to consider where you stand with the Creator of the Universe! NOW is the time to tell others about Him! NOW is the time to turn to HIM!!! 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

There IS hope for us!!! God is still reaching out to us and is willing to accept anyone who comes to Him! Even though the world is getting worse, and the Enemy seems to have the upper hand, I promise you that he doesn’t!!! God is still in control.

All we have to do is ask and receive. Receive what He has for you. Receive His forgiveness. Receive His salvation!!!

I wouldn’t be much of a friend and family member if I didn’t share this with you all.

Love,
-Richard.

Hello Everyone!!!

Today is May 6th, known in the city of Tulsa, OK as Hanson Day, in honor of the hometown boys’ debut album, “Middle Of Nowhere”.

Now I know that you are probably asking “Why does he bring this up every year???”

Well, I’m glad you asked! You see, 1997 was a special year in my life. I had spent almost a year living with my grandparents in Michigan, and even though the year had been a blast in many ways, I found myself suffering from a good case of depression. However, one day in the spring, I awoke and realized that the depression had completely left me! At that point I began looking for things that were representative of the wonderfully happy mood I was in. It was about that time that while watching television I was flipping through the channels and paused when I heard this delightfully catchy little song, being sung by three boys. For some reason it just made my day! It was the start of a truly happy time in my young life, and that silly little song, and the album as a whole, served as the soundtrack to my life during that time. Life was good

Of course as I have shared many times in the past, I ran out to the record store in Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor on the 6th of May and acquired my copy of “Middle of Nowhere”, and I still have it to this day. I don’t play it as much as I used to, but that’s okay. I like to save it for those bright and sunny days when I can look back on the highlights of my younger years and smile.

Perhaps I will get it out today after church and put it in the car and give it a listen to.

I can’t believe it’s been fifteen years, it still seems like yesterday, where does the time go???

I tell you, I wish I could travel back in time to 1997 and start over, for not only would I still have my father and grandfather, but I would like to think that I would have made better decisions that would have very much benefited me today.

Coulda shoulda woulda…it doesn’t really matter, all I, or we for that matter, can do is continue to look forward, and never give up.

I wish I wasn’t so sick, but perhaps God has chosen to allow this to happen to help teach me how important it is that I stay close to Him, and strive to do all I can to serve Him.

So, as I sit here and look back on a pleasant memory, I will continue to keep on keeping on, and try to do all I can to serve the Lord, and thank Him for EVERY NEW DAY He blesses me with.

Oh, and if I could do it all over again, I’d still celebrate Hanson Day every year!!!

Have a Great Hanson Day!!! Enjoy it while you can, because before you know it, in an mmmbop it will be gone!!!

Much Love To You All…

-Richard.

to anyone that might still come around here…

This past year has been one of the hardest I have ever had to go through.

I knew my dad wasn’t feeling well, and we all knew that something needed to be done. Unfortunately we didn’t find out how bad things were until it was too late. I lost my dad at the end of August, and I tell you it’s the worst feeling in the world.

Thankfully though, I know where he is, and that I will get to see him again one day.

Oh how I pray that this year will be better.

Be blessed my friends.

-Richard.

To those of you that might care, I say hello, I promise I haven’t forgotten any of you.

This morning I learned of something that well, frankly, I’m surprised it took this long to finally happen. I found out that Jennifer Freer, the one I was once certain, was The One, is engaged to be married, the date is September 30th in Erie, PA. And yes, the groom-to-be is the mailman.

The other night, for reasons I will never know, I had a dream that I was visiting friends in Pennsylvania. They lived out where they had a barn and some property. They had a number of other friends there, and as it turned out, the neighbors were having a gathering too. Well, one of the neighbor’s guests just happened to be Jennifer! It took all I had inside to get my nerve up to go up to her and introduce myself for the “first time”. Once she figured out who I was she went all snooty on my and tried to walk away quickly.

Perhaps it was for the best.

You would think that after almost five years, or a half of a decade, that I would have gotten over her, but I guess some things are just hard to let go of, especially when they meant so much.

Maybe this wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for the fact that all my closest friends have gotten married and started families, and basically have moved on with life, while I have remained behind wondering about what could have been…

I think a vacation would do me good, can’t wait till I can pack up my old Buick and take off somewhere, anywhere but here, and just relax

I hope all of you are well.

Love,

-Richard.

I think I have finally figured out what is wrong with me, and why I don’t say much anymore…

I fear that, deep inside, I must hate myself.

You see, I love life, and love living it, but I do better when I’m watching life from afar. What I mean by that is that I love watching life happen to those around me, and I love seeing good things happen for them, and I find myself wanting to help them have the best in life.  But when it comes to me, I find myself feeling as if I don’t deserve to have much in the way of happiness.  I also have found that lately I don’t like to see pics of myself, because I think I can’t stand to see myself in them, as in who am I to want to show myself to others???

I think this has been going on for a while, because when I was caught up in my “issues”, I think I did what I did so that others could use me for their gain and pleasure, but yet have no desire or concern for me. It must have been a way for me to punish myself.

So many times I want to come back here and participate and talk with you all again, but I keep having this fear that I have nothing worth saying.

I recently started talking to a lovely young lady that I met here in Xangaland several years ago. I really like talking to her, but I keep getting cold feet because I keep thinking that once she sees how flawed I am that she will reject me, like it has happened in the past.

I guess I just need to keep praying. I would ask you all to, but I just can’t get myself to ask.

But thank you for listening.

For what it’s worth, I still love you all.

-Richard.

Why do we do what we do???

I ask this because lately I have been talking to a few people about why we come to church, and why we follow after the things of God, and God Himself.

I am now the teen Sunday School teacher at my church, and I have three regular attenders and it seems that these three boys want to be somewhere, anywhere other than here. All they seem to care about is video games and in the case of one of them, girls. I try and try to discover what they want to hear about, what they want to learn, and all I get from them is “We’ve heard all the Bible stories over and over, we’re bored with them…”

So, in my on-going quest to try and capture their attention, I have spent money I didn’t have and bought some furniture and accessories for our Sunday School room/my new office, and I also bought some Rob Bell Nooma videos, with the hopes that they will get something of value from them, and perhaps spark some good discussions.

I keep trying to explain to them that living for God is not all about following a bunch of do’s and dont’s rules, but just being willing to at least, acknowledge Him in all we do in our lives.

This is really a work in progress here, but I’m going to close for now. If you might like to share any insights or such, I would certainly be grateful.

Thanks Again….

-Richard.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of Earth, will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace”

This is a line from an old hymn, that I have been thinking about a lot lately. You see, I have began to realize that as simple as this may seem, it is really quite profound, because it it so true, especially when we find ourselves struggling with sin.

I have come to find that when we place our eyes on ourselves, that is when we find ourselves most vulnerable to sin.

For me personally, I find that my “issues” in life give me the most trouble when I feel like I’m all alone, and it’s just all about me at a given moment.

Have any of you ever heard of the acronym “JOY”? It stands for Jesus, Others, and You.  It was told to me that in order to live a truly fulfilling life, we must live with these things in this order, and I believe it.  By making our main focus on Jesus first, it will help us to be able to love others, and then when we start to look at ourselves, our problems won’t seem so big. And if they do start to seem to be growing, all we need to do is re-focus on Jesus, and ask Him for help, and everything will fall back into place, and the things that get in the way of us truly living a victorious life, will begin to fade away.

So what are your thoughts on this??? I’d love to hear.

Your Friend,

-Richard.

Tonight finds me here at home alone, mourning the loss of an Uncle.

Uncle Ronnie was the next to the last of my grandparent’s five children. A bit of a black sheep, he was the one you could always count on for a laugh in any situation. He loved life, and he loved his family. This summer he and Aunt Kim would have been married thirty years. I remember being at the wedding, even though I was so young. A year later Heather was born. I remember getting to hold her as a baby, now she has three of her own. A couple of years later Amanda came along. Amanda was always a bit of a tomboy, and loved spending time with her dad, doing the things that he loved doing. Both girls loved there dad so much.

When Uncle Ronnie was thirty-three, he had his first of several heart attacks, and by thirty-four he had endured the shear misery of having his bowels rupture as well. We almost lost him then, but he was a fighter, and pulled through, but after all was said and done, he only had I believe it was 20% of his heart that was left working. This was in late 1990, and through it all he went on to have a blast throughout the Nineties. That’s not to say that all was perfect, but some great memories of family gatherings and watching the girls grow up were made. As we crossed into the next decade, we got to see him walk Heather down the aisle for her first chance at marriage. This past decade saw Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Kim become the grandparents of four little boys.

We knew that after the heart attack that happened almost five years ago that Uncle Ronnie was finally starting to tire. Thankfully though it was during this time that Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Kim decided to make things right with God.

Little did we know what was to be around the corner…cancer.

When he was diagnosed he was already at stage four, and was given six months to two years to live, that was over three years ago I believe. Through it all God was faithful, and honored the prayers of a faithful and loving sister, among others, and gave Ronnie a reasonably good life. But the time had finally come, when his body just couldn’t keep up. By Christmas day he was in the hospital, where he remained until this evening, when God decided that he had suffered enough, and called him home to be in His presence.

Think about it…Uncle Ronnie, right now, is in the actual presence of the Great and Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, and our Heavenly Father, rejoicing in that he has been healed.

It is my prayer that if you who might be reading this has never given much thought to God, and where you stand with Him, that you would, and make sure that things are right between you and Him, so that when your time comes, you will be able to do as my Uncle Ronnie has, and be able to stand in the presence of the Almighty.

“And I’ll see you, when I get home, in the sweet by and by,  and we’ll walk along the streets of gold, with angels by our side. And time will have no meaning there, in the land of no goodbyes, oh it’s good to know, so good to know, that I’ll see you, when I get home….”

In Honor Of My Uncle, Ronnie Jessee, 1956-2010

Love Always,

-Richard.

So am I the only one that feels as if this coming decade is not as big of a deal as decades past have been??? I mean, after the big event that was 2000, how will the Teens compare???

I remember where I was on this evening ten years ago…I was working for a car dealer in Grayling, Michigan and that night I stayed after and shampooed the interior of a 1988 Ford Taurus for one of the managers. I was there till about 10:30, and was actually having a good time, the radio was playing a New Years party type thingy, so it was all good.

It’s so hard to believe that ten years have flown past! I mean, I have been back in Michigan ten years, it seems like yesterday that I was living in Florida.

Anyways, I wonder what the next decade will hold??? Will I find a someone special??? Will I find that promising career??? Will I be able to fulfill the calling that I like to believe that is on my life???  Lots of questions, lots of hope.

I truly hope that the coming year and decade brings lots of blessings to each of you.

Here’s to the next ten years…

With Love,
Your Friend Always,

-Richard.