Mark Twain Wisdom

‎"When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now, and soon I shall be so [old] I cannot remember any but the things that never happened."

Mark Twain

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Dave Gibbons - Xealot(Trailer)

"God has not made me rich, but God has given me life, and that life is what I can give to people, and if I don't give my life to those people, there
is nothing else that's worthy of being given."

‎"Well, we're dead already, so we might as well give our lives for a just cause."
- That is, everybody will die. When will we stop being selfish? Nothing we take for ourselves lasts beyond our lifetime, no matter what. Everything we give to anybody else, however, can have lasting effects that we cannot comprehend, in our human condition.

Source Blog: davegibbons.tv/



Xealot(Full): http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=xealot&aq=0

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Prioritize Your Passion

Inspired by "This Is Why All Your Goals Are Bad For You" by Penelope Trunk.
"Start leading a conscious life" is key. I think the most important part of this post is Take action where your passion lives. However, what seems to be necessary to do that is to figure out what your passion(s) is(are). And what seems necessary to do that is to figure out what you enjoy doing as well as what is worth being passionate about. There are many, many things that we enjoy doing, but we unfortunately seem to enjoy entertaining ourselves the most. I think it is safe to say that the vast majority of the American population becomes passionate about goals that aim to allow them to entertain themselves and their family more.

Some good clean fun and relaxation is certainly imperative, and the amount of time needed is different for everybody. However, there has to be a cap on it, and leading one's life with that goal being the biggest is not very healthy. In fact that goal should be one of the smaller ones, if not the smallest.

I have "seem" in italics because in reality, entertaining ourselves has its uses, but it certainly doesn't do the job like maybe loving others or receiving love from others. What would be totally great would be to combine goals you are passionate about WITH goals to lift others up and help them reach their goals as well. In fact, over time I think we would find that the goals would not only merge smoothly, but they would begin to take on characteristics that don't reflect so much of the first set of goals. After all, doesn't helping other help us much more overall?

Related posts: "What the world needs now is love...", How Much Is Enough?

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Best Day of My Life!!

Okay it wasn't the best day of my life, but it was pretty darn wonderful. The only thing that has irritated me today is why I don't do this whenever I can! It's so incredibly fulfilling, satisfying, joyous, and beautiful! How can a person not praise the Ruler of this Earth out loud?!! I still can't quite grasp how wonderful I feel. I guess you're wondering what made the day so amazing(and it's hardly even over yet!):

Okay so I got up at 9:30. This is fairly late, but I still got so much done for others. Boy, God motivated me today! We got 4 or 5 inches overnight, and every time it snows I help a couple of older ladies who cannot shovel their driveways. I don't shovel the driveways though, I bring my snow blower :]. I still need shovels here and there though. So I went over to Mrs. Cox's house first. Mrs. Cox is such a kind lady. She loves to talk, and she's alone; so, I have to shut the snow blower down every time she comes out to take a peak at my work(really she wants to chat until she gets cold again). It's so nice. She's wise, and I can listen, nod and murmur in agreement, and put in my two cents here and there. She'll call me an angel a few times and shuffle back in(she has major back problems). Sometimes though, it's cute, she'll take her shovel and feebly move a few flakes around until I tell her she should let me do that.

I need to introduce Mrs. Cox's neighbor. She lives in a little, one-story duplex with a driveway which she shares with the other tenant. This driveway is tiny: Two car widths wide and two and a half car lengths long in front of two, side-by-side, one-car garages. Her neighbor is also older, but still very capable of snow blowing her own half of the driveway. The thing is, the neighbor doesn't have a snow blower. She often asks Mrs. Cox for hers, but when she uses it she only snow blows her half. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with Deloris Cox. Recently, Deloris told the neighbor that she couldn't use her snow blower(I hadn't come along yet; but i came that same day).

I received Deloris' information and called her to tell her I could clear her driveway free of charge. She was ecstatic and I went right over(she only lives about 10 miles away). I got there and the very irritated Mrs. Cox told me what had happened. Later, when she saw me doing the entire driveway, she asked me why i was doing hers(she is still a very kind lady, she was just insulted and angry). I told her that I just thought it was the right thing to do. I could tell that she agreed, but hesitantly said "Well, okay". So i finished up and went home.

A couple days later I was back, she was snowbound again and couldn't even get to her mailbox(If I was lonely and in my house all day the mail would be a pretty big deal to me too). So, once again I cleared the whole driveway. This time, though, the neighbor's middle-aged kids showed up just as I finished. I smiled and greeted them, wondering if they knew of the dispute. They smiled back(sheepishly :]) and went inside. A few times went by, and a couple of times I couldn't do the neighbor's half because cars were parked in it. Then i wasn't there for a couple of weeks. Mrs. Cox thought I went back in school and didn't call me for help. Also, there wasn't an especially large snowfall, so I thought that maybe she didn't call because she didn't need it, so I didn't call(shame on me).

Anyway, I went over today and saw plenty of snow on the little driveway. The wind was blowing across the driveways so that I needed to start on Mrs. Cox's side. I was about 15 minutes into the job when the neighbor began shouting at me. "Blow it the other way! What are you doing? Blow it the other way!" She had a very angry look on her face. I looked up, pulled down my scarf, and said "Oh I'll do your side too, don't worr-" She yelled, "Well I can't afford to pay you, blow it the other way!" before I could finish. I said "You don't have to pay me anything"(of course I wasn't charging Mrs. Cox either). She had hardly let me finish when she repeated "I can't afford pa--oh...", and walked back inside. Boy, I tell ya, I smiled so big inside. Not because I won a battle or anything, but I could tell how bad she immediately felt. It was wonderful! I smiled and was even happier to do her side, too.

Luckily, my technique brought me over to her side before her 4 grand kids hopped off of a school bus(I was surprised they had school). I watched them gazing at the pure, beautifully white snow and then stomping in the parts I hadn't done yet. They were ushered in by their grandmother. Once they were inside she came up to me to apologize about yelling. I just felt so happy. I was so glad she felt better; I could tell that she did. She even told me that if she could afford to pay me she would. I was touched, and all the more happy! I finished up that drive so quick after that! I even did the road in front of their house! I said bye to Mrs. Cox and drove off with a huge bubble of joy inside of me. I couldn't help but yell inside my car! "Woooooo! I love you God!" I slid around a couple of corners and out of the subdivision, on my way to my next errand.

I wasn't going to Mr.s Briggs' house, I'm doing her's tomorrow. I needed to stop by Wal-Mart for some deodorant and razors, so I headed over there. I had a huge smile on my face (I couldn't help it) and said "Hey!" towards everyone and only smiled bigger when they smiled back! I was walking so fast, hardly able to control myself.

I was driving towards my next destination when I realized I wasn't even a mile from my Aunt and Uncle's house. I turned onto their street in just a few moments and was super glad to find the driveway void of cars, but full of snow! 3 of their 4 kids are at their Universities, my Aunt was teaching at the moment, my Uncle was working, and the 4th kid was also at school. I hopped out, pulled the snow blower out of the trunk and whisked around the driveway, sidewalk, and front step. I kept imagining the look on their faces when they would pull in tonight! They would be overjoyed that they didn't have to come home from work and do it(their driveway isn't huge, but it's not tiny). I gathered up my things and drove off, silently wishing that they wouldn't pass me on an early trip home or something.

Next I headed to Waubonsee, the community college I attend, to pick up some books and supplies from the bookstore for my brother. I received a generous scholarship from AT&T, whom my dad works for. The scholarship is good for tuition and/or other school-related costs. I got all of my books($400+) and then got my brother the 5 subject notebook and 2 folders he asked for. I then proceeded to pick out 2 more folders, 4 Lefty notebooks(he's left-handed), and a nice black portfolio(he's a business major), and 4 sweet .05 mechanical pencils(the ones with the super good, twisty erasers that last forever). I was so excited!! I couldn't wait to see his face! The total was $500+ and I still have a couple hundred more on the scholarship(it's $750 per semester)! So if he or a friend needs anything, I can get it for them!

Then I stopped by the gas station, filled up the car(it was empty) and made sure the gas can I had in the trunk and the snow blower were topped off and headed on home to write this! In a few moments I'm heading to the bank to cash all sorts of bills and coins that I raised for the local food pantry(which reminds me, a family I know wrote a $100 check and put it in the bottle. I also know that they CANNOT afford that. I'll have to thank them in person. I'm excited about that too.)! Then I'm going to take all of this energy and go to open gym(we're getting ready for the upcoming alumni basketball tournament) and have a heck of a lot of fun! What a day!!! Oh it feels so wonderful to help other people!

I know a lot of this sounds like I'm just proud to be doing these things, but it's not that. And I want to share this on here to show others just how amazing it is. What I have to do now is continue this behavior, make it a habit. Volunteer, people! If you do already, keep it up! Help others, even if it's just snow removal for those unable to do it. You would not believe how grateful these ladies are. They feel so unsafe not being able to get out, and nobody helps them! there are young and able neighbors all around them who just don't get the job done. Mrs. Briggs often mentions how she has grown to hate the snow. That is so sad! I can't blame her, but God didn't make snow to be a nuisance! He made it to give the season of Jesus' birth a pure, clean, beautiful look. Plus, these lonely ladies have company every time I help them out. And I love being with them! It's so wonderful.

There are so many opportunities to show love to others. As I have said in other posts, everybody could use extra love in their lives, so we MUST give it! It is hardly a sacrifice! I never feel this incredible looking after myself all day! No matter how well I do on a test or how much money I make in a day, I NEVER feel like this! I want to encourage you all to go out and do things. Anything. When I got up at 9:30 I was feeling a little selfish(I hadn't gotten into bed until about 4AM, my fault anyway). But I knew that I really wanted to help out. And now look where I am! Make the initial sacrifice, and you'll get back a million times more.
Luke 6:31
"Do unto others as you would have them do for you."
Luke 6:38
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap."

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How Much Is Enough?

Inspired by/copied from Waving or Drowning?

Get The Giving Tree At Amazon.com
or read it in video on YouTube.com.
"And so the boy gathered her apples...
cut off her branches...
cut down her trunk...
and the tree was happy...
'I have nothing left to give...I am sorry...
[But] an old stump is good for sitting and resting.
come, boy, sit down.
Sit down and rest.'
And the boy did.
And the tree was happy."
How can we know if we are giving enough? C.S. Lewis has the perfect answer to this universal question:

"I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am
afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other
words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc. is
up to the standard among those with the same income as our own, we are
probably giving away too little…. There ought to be things we should
like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditures exclude them."
- C.S. Lewis -
On the other side of the coin, how can we know if we are giving too much? Oh that's simple: it's impossible to give too much. Unless of course you think Jesus, the epitome of love, gave too much. The work of loving others is never finished, and why would we want it to be? How in the world would we be fulfilled if we could not love others? If we all were perfect, we would be like God, Himself. So, since we're not, we all need love all of the time, and God sure wants to see us dole it out. So if none of us are perfect, and the job of loving sacrifice is never done, then how can we ever give too much of anything?

It is humbling to consider whether or not I give enough. I have to admit that I do not. I know, I just said that nobody ever can; so, I also have to admit that I hardly TRY hard enough. That is the real question. Whether or not we TRY too much.

Are people in need around you? Could you do a little more of something, anything, to help them out?

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"What the world needs now is love..."

A recent post on Notes to Self has called to mind (although it should always be there) the fact that love heals everything. Love even keeps things from needing healing. Love does everything we want it to, when you and I show it, at least. If we don't we had better hope that others are, or we'll be about smooshed pretty quickly. What I'm saying is that if people aren't helping other people, if there are no relationships in which we can lean on others (literally or figuratively), then what do we have? Kids have to lean on parents, friends, grandparents, teachers, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers. Parents have to lean on spouses, parents, friends, coworkers, teachers, babysitters, mail deliverers. And each group named has to lean on a million others.

(If you have your sound up, "Give Me Your Eyes" on my playlist would go great with this post. Of course, "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers does too, but that's not on my playlist lol.)

Unfortunately, not everyone has enough people to lean on. In fact almost nobody does. The world isn't perfect, but you know what, all that means is that we have work to do. People out there need to be picked up. Yeah I know, YOU need help too. "Who's gonna pick me up," you're probably thinking. Well, if you're thinking that, you probably don't have enough love in your life. How does it feel? I guarantee that once we all start worrying about others, we'll find that the loads and loads of problems we once had seem like nothing. Probably because they're mostly gone.

We'll always have problems; nobody is perfect. Together, however, is the only way we'll ever be even close to perfect. I think we all can admit that we can't do everything on our own. So, if you were standing in a room with me and everyone else, and everybody admitted at the same time that we need help, wouldn't you want to help the people next to you?

Plus, there's always the God who sent Mr. Jesus who never stopped talking about love. We can always lean on him; I think he knows a thing or two that might help.

Love is where it's at, right?

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Christmastime Is Here!!

You know what song I keep wanting to sing? "Christmastime is here!!" from A Charlie Brown Christmas! Today I went out in our yard and clipped various evergreen branches for my mom's annual vase arrangements. Oh the smells! The crisp, chilly air (don't worry i was bundled up), my cat chasing nothing through piles of dry leaves, the evergreen branches, Christmas is coming!!! Oh I can't wait! The other day my mom and I hopped on amazon.com and bought our favorite version of A Christmas Carol (with Alastair Sim, the old school one). I haven't seen it in a while, but we both agreed that it should be part of our collection.

And yesterday I woke up to see little patches of snow on the ground! Oh that was enjoyable; that means sledding seasons is near! Except, I don't like it when it snows a bit and then melts. Or if it is too cold to melt it just sits on the ground and you can still see the grass. And my mom made backlawa yesterday! She only makes that for the holidays. It's an Arabic dessert, similar to backlava. Sweet and salty and cardaminy, mmmm. I love the Christmas season, I love people, and I love Jesus.

What do you find yourself looking forward to when the Christmas season is approaching?

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To Live Is To Love

My high school science and math teacher died yesterday. She had gotten in a car accident a couple of weeks ago and was reportedly recovering nicely. Her son, who flew in to visit her in the hospital, even went home because she was doing so well. I have not heard why yet, but she passed yesterday morning. I will miss her, that is certain. She was a great teacher, and I am very critical of teachers. She taught me a lot that the curriculum did not require her to. She was a wonderful woman.

It reminds me of the summer of 2006, though. A 15 year-old friend of mine died that June. Many of my friends who knew him, and I, were on a mision trip in Oklahoma when we heard about it. We were singing "Blessed Be Your Name" by Matt Redman before we got the news. Ironically, some lyrics in the song are, "You give and take away, you give and take away, but my heart will choose to say 'Lord blessed be Your name!'" The following is the second half of a paper I have just finished writing. It is long, but it tells how Stan died, and my many thoughts on the matter of life and death.


To Live Is To Love The music faded and more eyes started to open and peek at the rest of the room. The song stopped, and I watched the screen for the next song sheet to go up. Five, ten, then thirty seconds went by. The next sheet should have been put up. I craned my neck to see if anyone was bending over the old projector. More of the kids began to peer up at the front. Then, the door to the front right corner of the room opened, and Doug followed Tom as they slowly made their way to front and center. Then Tom very kindly said, “Could everyone please sit down where they are.” At first, I thought, “Oh, they just have something to tell us, no big deal.” Tom did not usually speak that kindly; though, and we still had another song to sing. He also kept looking down, and Doug would not stop biting his lip. I could not help but think, “Why is a forty year old man biting his lip with such a troubled look on his face? What could be bothering him that much?” Something did not feel right when Tom began, “Kids, everyone”, he paused, “Doug just received a phone call from someone back in Big Rock. I’m not sure which of you knew him, but Stan Janik is dead. We’re not sure how.” “What?” was all I could think, at first. I soon realized that I was not dreaming. However, I had never experienced the death of anyone very close to me; I took a long time to make sense of what I just heard.

I was with him at a birthday party only days before the trip. We talked and played volleyball in Cassie’s back yard; he was laughing and being awesome as usual. Stan was not my best friend, but I knew him fairly well. He was also younger than I was, but I respected him above my other peers. I admired the way he cared for everyone, regardless of his or her “coolness” rank. We all identified kids who were overweight or had poor socializing skills, but Stan actually talked with them. In my eyes then, he acted as if they were as good as the rest of us; he was just being nice. In his mind, I am sure now that he was not pretending that they were equal. When I did not understand just how equal we all are, Stan set a great example. He easily fit in every “clique”, but could not have cared less if none existed. The cynical notion that he was “too happy” was the only negative attribute anybody could claim that Stan had. His words during conversations or in P.E. were positive and encouraging, especially when others failed to be. “Hey you can’t get ‘em all!” he would say when he saw that someone was embarrassed after making a mistake, or “That’s alright, mine was way worse than that!” Unfortunately, I did not appreciate his value until he was gone.

My eyes sank with a puzzled thought, “He’s…dead?” I did not understand it. I could not grasp the idea. I searched for some sort of answer. Instead, the overhead bulb blew, and along with it went any chance at rationality. Now the only light that was coming into the room was through the open door. The adults told small groups to split off into the other rooms to pray, but I did not want to go out there yet. Thankfully, my group was in this room. Still in utter disbelief, I lapsed into another dimension. My brain was nearly jammed, hardly capable of focusing. I lifted my heavy limbs and slogged towards the wall opposite the exit. I collapsed onto the swamp-colored carpet under the big windows. The brick sent a cool chill down my back. It woke me up a little. I turned my head to the right and noticed that I was several feet away from my group, but I stayed against the wall.

I stared down at the floor with my eyebrows furrowed. I tried to think logically. “Okay Stan is dead. But…why? He was such a good kid. I mean I know people always say that, but he was! He made everybody smile. He was always laughing, or playing some fun game, or making somebody feel better. What good is he dead? This doesn’t make any sense. His parents must be devastated. Why would this happen? He’ll miss the rest of his life. All of the people he knew will have to go on without him. I’ll never talk to him again.”

I found out why people cry when someone close to them dies. The injustice was overwhelming. I could not handle the fact that so many bad things would happen because of this. I thought about how people could become depressed. Mr. and Mrs. Janik would be heartbroken, their only son, and a huge part of their lives, was gone forever. I could not see how it was fair, why it should happen, so I cried. When I heard the news, my eyes had sunk in blank sadness. Now, I was miserable about everything. My heart sank to the floor, and my face fell into my hands. I cried and cried and cried. I was so distraught I could hardly focus on what exactly was so sad anymore. It was all just bad, bad, bad. “Nothing good can come from this,” I kept thinking. Every time I recalled a reason for my crying, I cried even harder. I imagined Stan’s parents sitting side-by-side on his empty bed, weeping. I thought about Ryan, Stan’s best friend since their early childhood. Whom would he hang out with after school everyday? I became overwhelmed with grief for Stan, others, and myself. I fell into a stupor as my heart sank through the carpet, through the concrete even, and the tears kept rushing down between silent sobs. I felt so bad it seemed as if the world was over. I thought nothing could be done to fix this upheaval in my heart.

I cried for about two hours, and I was exhausted. I did not think I could cry any more. I overheard the group to my right talking about how he died. By that time, they had received more information. They said he had just come back from the gym and went to his room. His parents said nothing out of the ordinary happened. He said “Hey” to them and went to put his bag down. His dad, Stan Sr., went in to ask him how his workout went and found him laying on the bed, Stan’s his heart had stopped. He was born with an enlarged heart, and nobody ever knew. I felt like crying again, but I could not any more. My head was so gloomy with depressing thoughts. My eyes were open, but they were cast downward and out of focus. I imagined his dad going in to see him, expecting to see him sitting on his bed and looking up to smile at him when he walked in. Instead, he saw him laying to his side with an expressionless face. This was his only son.

I thought about how young he was, how quickly it happened. He was so healthy. I cannot ever remember him being sick. When he had his shirt off for soccer practice, it was obvious that he was in great physical shape. He also ran harder and longer than anyone; nobody could match him. I found myself sometimes observing that he went unnecessarily fast towards the ball because he would overrun it. That is just how much energy he had. He never wanted to stop either. He was never glad that a long grueling practice had ended; he made jokes about running another perimeter. Everyone else moaned and trudged to the parking lot.

Nobody could have predicted that the most energetic, positive kid in school would go so quickly and so soon. “Oh man,” I thought, “If Stan could go so suddenly, I could too. I’ve always heard that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, I guess it’s really true.” I was shocked. The only way I could express this new feeling was with a wide-eyed “Whoa.” “I could die on the way home…man, I might not even wake up tomorrow…” This was big. I was not ready to go. “No way, I don’t want to die yet. I don’t even know if I’ll make it into Heaven.” I was not a horrible kid, but I sure was not as loving as Stan had been. Then, it came to me: “All I need to do…is obey God. All He wants us to do is love the people around us and give him praise. Life is just that simple.” The guilt made sense now. It was God’s way of letting me know that I hurt someone. All of my past feelings of remorse and regret flooded into focus. I did start crying again, but because I was ashamed. I realized how selfish I was. I had wounded so many people. I was mortified. I definitely needed to make some changes. I broke down and told Him how sorry I was for everything, all of my cruel words and deceitful actions. I stopped crying. “That’s it!” I nearly exclaimed aloud. “That’s why Jesus is our savior. I’ll always be imperfect. As hard as I try from now on, I’ll never be able to do everything that God wants me to do and not do everything he doesn’t. But that’s okay, because Jesus died so that we can always be forgiven. I just have to believe. Well I believe!” I told God that I would try my hardest to do what is good. I told Him that I wanted to put my focus on Him and other people. I realized that He just wants us to be happy; so, if I do what he says, then I will be happy, and I will be helping the people around me to be happy too. Because of Stan’s death, I realized that I needed to change.

Life had meaning now; it is more than “me, me, me”. Through Stan, God taught me to obey Him. In the same moment, when Stan’s heart stopped beating, true life passed into mine. Stan’s passing showed me that we are here for a time, we love and do what we are meant to do, and we leave. I do not know how long I will be here for, so I must act each day as if it is my last. Yes, it was unfortunate that Stan had to leave so many people behind, but it was his time. He did what he was made to do, and he did it well. God felt that Stan deserved to come home to Heaven. I see this now. To this day, I am inspired by the death of my friend, Stan Janik. “You give and take away!” The words from the worship song came true. His physical end sparked a spiritual beginning for me. After that trip, I discovered my favorite Bible verse: “All things work for the good of those who love God” (Romans 8:28). Stan’s life and death gave me hope in a more rewarding life through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. I am now motivated to humbly love others which also makes God happy. I will strive to be a better person for others’ sake until the end of my life. Some day, because Stan did his job, I hope to reside in Heaven.


What do you think?

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