6/30/04

 

I feel…desperate

I rather beany place would do.  I’m at work.

 

First of all Lord, I want to say I am sorry because I lack appreciation for the great job you have given me.  I just can’t see it.  I do recognize that this is a time for growth and maturity, but don’t you remember that I do a lousy growing job?  I am slow and self-absorbed (I’m sure you already knew that) and my understanding is equivalent to a teenager’s. Help me Lord because it can get worst, I want to make it through. I want to make you proud.  With no regrets. And thank you for my funny co-worker. It makes it a little easier to share my misery with him. Amen.

 

Today is my babies’ birthday.  They are officially four years old.  I am about to leave to their school birthday “party”.  I got them a cake and some candies for their friends.  They will also get a party at church tonight.  Yes, another cake and more candy.  It is not an easy job to be a mom, but of course I have to make it seam effortless and pleasurable.  Just like the job of being a wife.

 

Anyway, speaking about jobs, I need another one.  Because the one I currently have is driving me to the mountain of depression, pass the jungle of despair, to the home of insanity.  I just can’t seem to make my self work.  I do what I most, but nothing else.  And the else is just accumulating on my desk.  You see, I have the perfect situation for this to happen.  My boss is about 50 miles away at another office.  It may be three days before I hear anything from her or the rest of the team.  We don’t talk if we don’t have to.  This is fine.  It is not like I miss them or anything.  But our relationship has become insignificant and unnecessary, which adds to the depressive atmosphere that surrounds me. I am surrounded by meaningless numbers and invoices.  In a cube smaller than my bathroom and an office filled with empty cubes. The job isn’t bad, if you are an accountant. The money is not bad either.  I am just tired of filling, mailing, copying, processing endless invoices. I think my job is as exciting as transferring your last ten dollars from your savings to your checking account, when you know you already have an overdraft of $150 in your checking.  I know it’s weird, but it gives me the same feeling.

 

I keep thinking that if I actually worked and put more attention to what I am doing, instead of writing or surfing the web, I would probably enjoy it or endure it better. What if I treated this place like an experiment?  What if I became dedicated and started coming in with high power suits?  Work late, make lots of overtime? What if I made this place the ultimate job? What if this job is God’s test ground where He could see and decide, according to my performance, if I move forward to my dream job?  I wonder if this will be one of those things I’ll find out in heaven?

 

I wonder….

 

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6/24/04

I feel…sleepy, good

I rather beout side, enjoying the sun

 

Yesterday I went to church like every Wednesday night.  And like most nights my pastor gave a great message, titled: “Cleve until it leaves” (clever I know) It was about David and one of his three strongest and trust worthy warriors, Eleazar.  In this part of the story (2 Samuel 23: 9 and 10) Israel was to fight the Philistines and out of fear they retreated.  But not Eleazar, no, he stayed and fought, says the story. He fought so hard and faithfully that he became one with his sword.  (at this moment in the message I was picturing a Brad Pitt type of guy with his sword. Just like in the movie, Troy) Anyway, the point is that it says, “…he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword…” his hand froze to the sword…can you imagine.  He was so beyond tired, but he stayed and fought.  His sword became an extension of his arm. WOW, that is passion!!!

 

But my pastor continued (his point wasn’t the Brad Pitt look-a-like guy with a sword) to explained that Eleazar was so acquainted with his sword that it was part of him.  It was his weapon, his friend, his tool to achieve his goal.  That he probably took the time to polish it, oil it.  He probably slept with it next to him.  Carried it every where he went.  He got to know it, and depended on it for his life and the life of the ones he was protecting. Something we should do with our spiritual and life-saving weapon, the bible. It makes all the sense in the world to me.  We claim to believe it to be the word of God.  We proclaim to live by it.  We should be clinging to it for our lives.  And just like Eleazar, get to know it, learn how to use it, and cling to it for it will save our live.

 

The point of the message was not only about how we need to build a better relationship with this sword of two sharp edges, the bible, but that in our times of troubles, sickness, and desperation, we should cling to it, hold on to the promises in it until evil flees.  And it does. (I speak from experience)

 

 

Did you just hear God speak?

For the people that ask me, how does God talk to you?  Let me take the time to clear it out for you, now that I’ve got your attention.  TAKE NOTE: In order for you to hear God’s voice you have to first of all, believe He is God, just like you believe I am a person. Second, you have to believe he wrote or inspired selected humans to write His will, His feelings, and thoughts, the Bible. Just like you believe I was inspired to write the last two paragraphs you read.  And here is the tough third part; you need to believe that he loves you so much since the creation of the earth that he could not bare to stand and look at you while you self destroyed away from him. So as a solution he send His only son, Jesus Christ, as the ultimate sacrifice so you and Him could have a one-on-one relationship again.  Just like in the Garden of Eden. (well, without the jungle animals running around, and with clothing) there is more detail to that.  All good stuff.  But I’ll let you ask me about it, or better yet get your bible and read all about it.

 

BY THE WAY, Eleazar beat the crap out of the Philistines.  He won.!!! Or like the great books says…”the Lord brought about a great victory that day.  The troops(the Israelites) returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.  Like my friend would say, Sweet!!

 

 

6/19/04

I feel…loved, rested, hopeful

I want to be…at the beach

 

Yesterday Americans, together with the Johnson’s family, received the awful news that one more citizen died in the hands of terrorists.  Is like living 9-11 all over again, but one person at a time.  Executed, decapitated, slain, those are the descriptions we get of their deaths.  When I hear these things I can only think of their last minutes. Knowing that they are about to die.  That they are not going to see their families once again. I think of the pain they suffer, and the uncertainty of a certain death in the hands of evil strangers.   

 

I think of their families, their wives, their mothers, sisters, the children. Their pain most be incredibly numbing. Knowing they are so far away and can’t help their loved ones. Knowing that the life of their father or husband is in the hands of ignorant people fighting for power. They plead for mercy because they think these people have hearts. But, terrorist don’t know what mercy is. They feed on fear. They are trained to not care. They see human lives as weapons. Death is a tool to get their point across.  THEY DON’T CARE.

 

They don’t care if he was a good father, they don’t care he was a loving husband.  They don’t care if he used to call every night from where ever he was to see how you are doing and tell his mom he was okay. They don’t care if he had the best barbecues on his block or that he was a major fan of the Red Sox.  To the terrorist, to the Iraqis, and sadly enough, to the American government they are just a casualty of war. No one is willing to negotiate to save a life.

 

We plead for mercy because we are not used to witnessing such things. We are not trained like they are to kill or be killed in the name of our believes. They truly believe that that is the purpose for their lives. We are not, yet, desensitized to public abuse and murder. We’ve live under the spell of working hard in the pursue of “happiness”.  We hold dreams of wealth, health, and love dear to our hearts.  And we continue to spend our time and money in entertaining ourselves with large budget movies and not real-reality shows.

 

We are the greatest country in the world, but we live disconnected to it. And that is the reason why they hate us. They envy us. And their hate is so strong that they are willing to kill in any manner, way or time. Frightening, I know.

 

If I would have a chance to speak, knowing that they were listening, I would not ask for mercy.  I would not speak to the captors; I would speak to the prisoner.  I would tell him how much he is loved and missed.  I would tell him we are praying for him.  I would let him know how much he is appreciated and remembered by all the lives he touched.  And finally I would ask him to seek the face of God in his agony.  That He is listening, and will stand with him until the end.

 

Prayer:  Lord have mercy.  You died for us on Calvary so we may know God.  You will was for us to know God’s truth, His love, His peace, His Holiness.  Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

QUESTION

 

6/19/04

 

Will there ever be peace? No.  As my co-worker says, “a peaceful and happy world would be boring.” That may be true in the sense that there would not be much to do or fix or brake. But is our desire to be entertained by troubles so costly to those who really need peace, not only in the world but also in their personal lives? Isn’t it self shish to think only of our view of the world while there are children being abused, and families dying of starvation?  Or are we able to desire troubles to be entertained because what we call trouble is our endless to-do lists and the at all time access devices that filled our lives with meaning less time “saving” gadgets. It is all in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

 

Prayer:  Jesus help us escape from our worst enemy, ourselves.  Help us to listen to good, help us recognized your gifts, your blessings that are all around us. I ask for comfort for the Johnson’s family and for wisdom for our government.  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

 

6/18/04
I feel…
good
I wish I was…
home

 

My first actual entry in two months. Yeah!!  I used to have another web journal, but the address was too difficult to recommend to any one, so I changed.  Let’s see if I could commit to writing more often.  I have always enjoyed writing down my thoughts and experiences. Of course, that often involved a notebook and a pen.  (Remember them? Back in my school days, 1994, that was all we used.)  Now they are fancy tools we use when we want to make someone feel special, for “personal” notes.  However, thanks to technology and my dear co-worker, Steve, I found a new place to write and share…the web. It is not as personal and private, but I think in this age of “Sex in the City” and “Along Came Polly” there is not much you can classified as private.

 

Anyway, this morning I finally felt good after a whole week of mood swings, cookie inhaling, and carb cravings. I don’t know what was going on, but for the last four days I just couldn’t stop eating.  As a result I was extremely tired and grumpy.

 

So yesterday I decided     that it was all the junk I was eating and I just stop.  I came back to my low carbs ways, exercised, and I now feel better. I feel lighter and with more energy. If I would just stick to my diet I would loose all this excess weight I am carrying.  

 

I am in the Atkins diet.  I have been for the last four plus months. Well, on and off. (more on than off) I tell you, this diet is wonderful.  You could loose up to one pound a day. It does work, if you stick to it.  If you cheat, once your system is clean, you’ll feel it immediately.  You’ll feel tired until your body gets back to normal, which usually takes 48 hours. (At least) My husband already lost 10 lbs in the two weeks he has been on it.  He is really strong and persistent.  Like I used to be four months ago when I started.  The key to this diet is that even after you clean yourself of these “bad” carbs, in your mind you still want to eat that piece of cake.  Or drink that orange flavor soda.  And let us not talk about the fact that most fruits are off limit.  And I love fruits.

 

So I began a search for a middle ground after falling and getting back up again. (13 times to be exact) I visited many diet sites and stopped at the Zone diet one. (Which is by the way is very famous because of my friend Jennifer Aniston, the luckiest woman on the planet as I dearly call her)  The Zone diet is very similar to the Atkins and The South Beach diet in that you need to eliminate “bad” carbs, consume more lean protein and vegetables in order to achieve a healthy and lean body. - By the way, I would like to clarify that the South Beach diet is only an illegal copy of the Atkins diet. (a note for those who don’t know) The Zone methods Continues…You measure your food intake with your hands, and fruits are aloud. I like the sound of that!!! But if you are familiar with the “I want it my way and now” epidemic, I had a little problem with the fact that they do not promise a quick fix to my over weight dilemma.  I want to loose weight this weekend.  All 90 pounds. The Zone is a great way to live to keep the weight on check once you lost it. But I need something fast and precise, that can give me extraordinary results, fast.  Until I find something better, Atkins will continue to be my path to achieve my weight loss goals.  Maybe what I need to keep motivated is a support group.  Maybe, I need to make a combination of all diets and call it “the do it your way, fast” diet.  Another great idea, I’ll get right it!!!

 

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