Freedom and Jeff

This is the kind of story you need when it seems like the world is spiraling out of control....

Not many people get a picture of this proud bird snuggled up next to them





Freedom and I have been together 11 years this summer.
She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings.
Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in 4
places.
She's my baby.

When Freedom came in she could not stand and both wings were broken. She was emaciated and covered in lice.
We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vets office.
From then on, I was always around her.
We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in.
I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay
there looking at me with those big brown eyes.
We also had to tube feed her for weeks.

This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand.
It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she
couldn't stand in a week.
You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning.
She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in
on that Thursday afternoon.
I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear.
I went immediately back to her cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle.
She was ready to live.
I was just about in tears by then.
That was a very good day.

We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington.
We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV. Miracle Pets even did a show about us.

In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo.
Lost the hair - the whole bit.
I missed a lot of work.
When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks.
Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer.
This happened time and time again.

Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving.
I went in for my last checkup.
I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant.
Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone.

So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk.
It was misty and cold.
I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the
hill.
I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew.
She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she
touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long.
That was a magic moment.
We have been soul mates ever since she came in.
This is a very special bird.

On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them.
I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he swore he could feel her power course through his body.
I have so many stories like that..

I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedom.







We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

The Grace of God

Grace can arrive like a trombone blast or glide in unannounced, unnoticed, and unprayed for.
It is God's greatest indication that he loves us and wants us to be united with him in every facet of our lives.
— from Burst



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Eternal Spirit

Eternal Spirit -- Earth-Maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver;
source of all that is and that shall be;
Father and Mother of us all.
Loving God, in whom is heaven.
The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
-- The New Zealand Prayer Book



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

The "Green Thing" ... B-)

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.
The woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store.
The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over.
So they really were recycled.
But they didn’t have the green thing back her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building.
They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.
But she’s right.
They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind.
They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room.
And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you.
When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn.
They used a push mower that ran on human power.
They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water.
They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But that old lady is right.
They didn’t have the green thing back in her day.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Isolation

If I feel isolated in AA, it is not something for which others are responsible.
It is something I've created by feeling I'm "different" in some way.
Today I practice just being another alcoholic in the worldwide Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.
- Daily Reflections, p. 58

I am unique, just like everyone else.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Ladder

No one who drank as I did wakes up on the edge of the abyss one morning
and says: Things look pretty scary; I think I'd better stop drinking before I fall in.
I was convinced I could go as far as I wanted, and then climb back out when it wasn't fun anymore.
What happened was, I found myself at the bottom of the canyon thinking I'd never see the sun again.
AA didn't pull me out of that hole.
It did give me the tools to construct a ladder, with Twelve Steps.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 316

I stood in the sunlight at last.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Growing Up

The ideas that got so deeply embedded in our lives during drinking do not all disappear quickly, as if by magic, the moment we start keeping the plug in the jug.
Our days of wine and "Sweet Adeline" may be gone, but the malady lingers on.
- Living Sober, p. 70

Maturity is the ability to make a decision and follow through.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Gateway

None of us can ever fathom the glories and the uncharted regions of the universe.
But we can live on earth and love one another.
We can let in the beginnings of concern, compassion, consideration, and watch ourselves grow.
With the tools and guideposts of Alcoholics Anonymous, we can learn a little of this precious gift -- our gateway to human spirituality.
- Came To Believe . . ., p. 120

The Three "C's" -- Concern, Compassion, Consideration.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

The Infused Light

The utter simplicity and obviousness of the infused light which contemplation pours into our soul suddenly awakens us to a new level of awareness.
We enter a region which we had never even suspected, and yet it is this new world which seems familiar and obvious.
-- Thomas Merton


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Faith

Deep down in every man, woman, and child is the fundamental idea of God.
It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there.
For faith in a Power greater than ourselves and miraculous demonstrations
of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 55

Breathe in faith, breathe out fear.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Belonging

There is no more aloneness, with that awful ache, so deep in the heart of every alcoholic that nothing, before, could ever reach it.
That ache is gone and never need return again.
Now there is a sense of belonging, of being wanted and needed and loved.
In return for a bottle and a hangover, we have been given the Keys of the Kingdom.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 276

I'm not alone anymore.




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Gift of Love

Leading a good moral life is not the cause of God's loving me,
but the consequence of God's loving me.
God's gift of love comes before my task of responding to it,
and not the other way around.
— from Friar Jack's Favorite Prayers



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

To Realize God

The success of your meditation will not be measured by the brilliant ideas you get or the great resolutions you make or the feelings and emotions that are produced in your interior senses.
You have only really meditated well when you have come, to some extent, to realize God.
Yet even that is not quite the thing.
-- Thomas Merton



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Blessed

Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy,
to follow but not imitate,
to praise but not flatter,
and to lead but not manipulate.
-- William Arthur Ward

Today I will have the courage to own the truth.




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Step One

When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned.
- As Bill Sees It, p. 2




Take a walk with God.
He will meet you at the Steps.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Adult Truths

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for
the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again...

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

22. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from
3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

24. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.
Ladies.....Quit Laughing.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Light And Love

Where is silence?
Where is solitude?
Where is Love?

Ultimately, these cannot be found anywhere except in the ground of our own being.
There, in the silent depths, there is no more distinction between the I and the Not-I.
There is perfect peace, because we are grounded in infinite creative and redemptive Love.
There we encounter God whom no eye can see...
-- Thomas Merton


Where there is no peace, there is no light and no Love.
-- Thomas Merton



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Seeds of Contemplation

It is God's love that speaks to me in the birds and streams but also behind the clamor of the city God speaks to me in His judgments, and all these things are seeds sent to me from His will.
-- Thomas Merton



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Mirror Image

My life was full of contradictions. . .
I would create with one hand and come along to destroy with the other.
I just could not stop snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
I looked together: up close, I was glued and taped together. . .
I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.
Horrified, I screamed out sobbing to God, "Save me from myself.
What is my problem?"
The room became very bright and I heard a powerful voice reverberate
in a loud whisper, "Alcoholism."
- The AA Grapevine, March 2011, pp. 40-41

The stillness of God speaks louder than a choir of voices.

H E L P = His Ever-Loving Presence.




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Imprints

I doubt very much there is a single one of us on our way through the years
who does not leave some faint imprint of his creative thinking, some meaningful expression, some inspired insight as an addition to our healing body of thought.
And each is the life-stuff of the AA program.
Ours is a living program.
- Thank You for Sharing, p. 200

It's never the geography of moving on land by miles that we find our answers,but the geography of the moves within our hearts and minds.


P R O G R A M =
Prayer, Recovery, Open-mindedness, Gratitude, Reality, Acceptance, Meetings.




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Divine Goodness

God has, so to speak, put something of the divine goodness in everything.
There are holy sparks in all created beings.
The human task is to see these things and to liberate the divine sparks in creation by praise, love, and joy.
-- The Springs of Contemplation: A Retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Prayer of Repentance

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance.

We know your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we've done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism.

We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us O God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you, to govern this great state.

Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your son, the living savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

-- Rev. Joe Wright
Central Christian Church


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Made a Decision

At first we "made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."
But as we progress in the God-oriented life, we come to know that "decision" has special meaning.
What we really gain is the knowledge -- not the hope or the conclusion
or the wish but the actual, intimate knowledge -- that we already are in the care of God whether we have made a decision or not and whether we understand Him or not.
- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 2], p. 81


Life will take on new meaning.


B I G B O O K = Believing In God Beats Our Old Knowledge.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Fear

At heart we had all been abnormally fearful.
It mattered little whether we had sat on the shore of life drinking ourselves into forgetfulness or had plunged recklessly and willfully beyond our depth and ability.
The result was the same -- all of us had nearly perished in a sea of alcohol.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 123-24


Situations I fear are rarely as bad as the fear itself.


F E A R = False Events Appearing Real.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Mercy

Chesed (mercy) is also fidelity, it is also strength.
It is the faithful, the indefectible mercy of God.
It is ultimate and unfailing because it is the power that binds one person to another, in a covenant of hearts.
It is the power that binds us to God because He has promised us mercy and will never fail in His promise.
-- Thomas Merton


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Stained Glass Window

People are like stained glass windows:
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is
revealed only if there is a light within.
-- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Keep Coming Back

F.I.N.E.
[I'm] Frustrated, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional

F.E.A.R.
Face Everything And Recover

N.U.T.S.
Not Using The Steps

E.G.O.
Edging God Out.

D.E.N.I.A.L.
Don't Even Notice I Am Lying.

H.A.L.T.
[Don't get too] Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired.

H.O.P.E.
Happy Our Program Exists

H.O.W.
Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness

S.P.O.N.S.O.R.
Sober Person Offering Newcomers Suggestions On Recovery.

G.O.D.
Good Orderly Direction

B.I.G. B.O.O.K.
Believing In God Beats Our Old Knowledge.

S.L.I.P.
Sobriety Losing Its Priority.

A.C.T.I.O.N.
Any Change To Improve Our Nature.

P.R.O.G.R.A.M.
People Relying On God Relaying A Message.

S.T.E.P.S.
Solutions To Every Problem Sober

K.I.S.S.
Keep It Simple, Sweetheart


-- from "Keep Coming Back Gift Book" by Meiji Stewart



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Tolerance

Honesty with ourselves and others gets us sober,
but it is tolerance that keeps us that way.
- As Bill Sees It, p. 312

Patience, tolerance, understanding and love are the watchwords.


P U T = Patience, Understanding, Tolerance.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Perspective

The course ahead began to look easier.
For we had started to get perspective on ourselves, which is another way of saying that we were gaining in humility.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 47-48

My perspective will change my perception.
My perception will change my experience.
My experience is my life.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Willingness

A beginning, even the smallest, is all that is needed.
Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more.
Though self-will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will always respond the moment we again pick up the key of willingness.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 35



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Public-Sector Union ... B-)

Top ten ways to tell if you might be a member of a public-sector union

By David Letterman

10.) You take a week off to protest in Wisconsin and your office runs better.

9.) On a snow day when they say “non-essential” people should stay home you know who they mean.

8.) You get paid twice as much as a private sector person doing the same job but make up the difference by doing half as much work.

7.) It takes longer to fire you than the average killer spends on death row.

6.) The worse you do your job, the more your boss avoids you.

5.) You think the French are working themselves to death.

4.) You know by having a copy of the Holy Koran on your desk your job is 100% safe.

3.) You spend more time at protest marches than at church.

2.) You have a Democratic congressman’s lips permanently attached to your butt.

1.) You pay more in union dues than you do for your healthcare insurance.

Pretty Good Investment ... B-)

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you will have $49.00 today!

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you will have $33.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you will have $0.00 today.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you will have received a $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the 401-Keg.

A recent study found that the average American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means that, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon!

Makes you damned proud to be an American!!!

New Moments

You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. -- Job 11:16

I can try to make some new moments to remember.
I don't need to look back anymore.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Recognition

Wouldn't you rather recognize that you have a health condition which can be successfully treated, rather than spend a lot of time miserably worrying about what's wrong with you?
We have found this is a better-looking, better feeling picture of ourselves than the old gloomy selves we used to be.
It is truer, too.
We know.
The proof of it is in the way we feel, act, and think -- now.
- Living Sober, p. 10


I would rather go through life sober, believing I am an alcoholic,
than go through life drunk, trying to convince myself that I am not



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Step One

My life continues to unfold with divine care and direction.
Step One, in which I admitted I was powerless over alcohol, that my life had become unmanageable, takes on more meaning for me -- one day at a time -- in the life-saving, life-giving Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.
- Daily Reflections, p. 17

The express elevator to sobriety doesn't work -- please use the Steps.

S T E P S = Solutions Through Each Positive Step.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Greet All Of Nature

First thing in the morning, before you meet or greet anyone, remember to greet all of nature, all visible and invisible creatures.
Say to them: "I am grateful for your work, I love you and want to be in harmony with you!"
At this very moment, in response to your greeting, all of nature will open to you and send you energy for the entire day.
-- Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov, Prosveta Publishing



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Connected

A friend of mine told me about going to see the Statue of Liberty on a field trip with his grammar school class.
He said that as they walked up the long spiral staircase, they all held hands in a line.
He couldn't see the person at the beginning or the end of the line, but he felt safe.
He knew he was connected to the rest of his schoolmates.
That's the way it is in AA.
We can't see the people at the beginning of the line or the end of the line.
But we know they're there -- and we know we're safe.
- Thanks For Sharing, p. 194

Take the first step in faith.
You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Pure Hope

We are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope.
For when our hope is pure, it no longer trusts exclusively in human and visible means, nor rests in any visible end.
He who hopes in God trusts God, Whom he never sees, to bring him to the possession of things that are beyond imagination.
-- Thomas Merton




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Media ... The Danger

History again tells us that we must be so very careful not to let those who manage the news that Americans receive not deceive us.

The mantra that our efforts in defense of  America, including the Global War on Terror (GWOT), with major campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also around the world, is just.

We might question how the war is being fought, but we must not let the media, and those who seek to weaken America’s exceptionalismcarry the day.

From soldier that that served in Vietnam:

We were winning and all of us that were there knew it to one degree or another. Cronkite was ever so subtle in his undermining of the American will - just as the majority of the media are today in their unrelenting disdain for American exceptionalism.

Many of us who served in the war still say, "we were winning when I was there!" and I guess we were right.  Case closed. General VoNguyen Giap. General Giap was a brilliant, highly respected leader of the North Vietnam military. The following quote is from his memoirs currently found in the Vietnam war memorial in Hanoi : 'What we still don't understand is why you Americans stopped the bombing of Hanoi . You had us on the ropes. If you had pressed us a little harder, just for another day or two, we were ready to surrender! It was the same at the battle of TET. You defeated us! We knew it, and we thought you knew it. But we were elated to notice your media was helping us. They were causing more disruption in America than we could in the battlefields. We were ready to surrender. You had won!' General Giap has published his memoirs and confirmed what most Americans knew. The Vietnam war was not lost in Vietnam -- it was lost at home. The same slippery slope, sponsored by the US media, is currently underway. It exposes the enormous power of a biased media to cut out the heart and will of the American public. A truism worthy of note:  Do not fear the enemy, for they can take only your life.  Fear the media,  for they will destroy your honor.

Rights

I realized for the first time that as a practicing alcoholic, I had no rights.
Society can do anything it chooses to do with me when I am drunk, and I can't lift a finger to stop it, for I forfeit my rights through the simple expedient of becoming a menace to myself and the people around me.
With deep shame came the knowledge too that I had lived with no sense of social obligation nor had I known the meaning of moral responsibility to my fellow men.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 549

It's not your fault, but it is your responsibility.




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Solution

There is a solution.
Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation.
But we saw that it really worked in others.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 25

The solution is simple.
The solution is spiritual.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Emptiness

Emptiness given to Christ becomes life-giving;
emptiness without Christ leads to despair and hopelessness.
Emptiness given to Christ allows us to finally be filled!
— from Spirituality You Can Live With



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Opportunity

The God I thought had judged and damned me had done nothing of the sort.
He had been listening, and in His own good time His answer came.
His answer was threefold; the opportunity for a life of sobriety; Twelve Steps to practice, in order to attain and maintain that life of sobriety; fellowship within the program, ever ready to sustain and help me each twenty-four-hour day. . .
I must consider it as a gift of opportunity.
- Came To Believe . . ., p. 11

I listen for direction now.




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Straight & Narrow Path

Only the Lord can enable us to do battle successfully;
only he can bind up our wounds and heal our battle scars.
True joy and peace are on the straight and narrow path that Jesus shows us.
— from Spirituality You Can Live With





We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

The Power To Let Go

Courage: The power to let go of the familiar. --Raymond Lindquist

We feel like we're stuck in the middle between yesterday and tomorrow.
We are.
It's a place called today.

Living in the present is a courageous act.
Today we can be brave and face what each day brings with courage and the knowledge that we are doing the right thing for ourselves.

Today, let me have the courage to believe that the best is yet to come.
-- from Our Best Days by Nancy Hull-Mast



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

O God, I Wish To Be Fully What I Am

O God, I wish to be just what I am for along as you so will; I am aware of an evil strain deep within me.

That strain spawns egotism, infidelity and hostility, leading to moodiness, laziness, and self-indulgence.

I wish to be fully what I am.

For, I know that you are all powerful and could change me in a instant.

Yet, at the same time, you are infinitely loving and offer me whatever is for my best.

I have total trust in you.

You are all powerful and you love me! Amen.


"There is no prayer more beautiful, more pleasing or more powerful in God's eye than this simple prayer. It is the fiat of the Father. In a special way, it supplements the "Our Father," which Christ taught."
-- Father Jacques Bunel, O.C.D., a Discalced Carmelite priest from France who was a renowned preacher and retreat master (1945)




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Integrity

If we are fooling ourselves, a competent adviser can see this quickly.
And, as he guides us out of our fantasies, we are surprised to find that we have few of the usual urges to defend ourselves against unpleasant truths.
In no other way can fear, pride, and ignorance be so readily melted.
After a time, we realize that we are standing firm on a brand-new foundation for integrity.
-- The Language of the Heart, p. 264


I cannot mend if I bend the truth.


W I S D O M = When Into Self, Discover Our Motives.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Hear Our Call

Father, your love never fails.
Hear our call.
Keep us from danger and provide for all our needs.
Amen.




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Humility

Brokenness enables us to truly be humble,
which in turn enables us to look for help.
Christ said that the meek shall inherit the earth and
that he came to call sinners, not the righteous.
— from Spirituality You Can Live With




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Turning It Over

Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower.
We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God's intention for us.
... Step Three opens the door.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 40

I can't do His will my way.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)

How The Computer Began ... B-)

This was long before Al Gore!

A revelation with an Incredibly Big Message (IBM):

Well, you might have thought that you knew how the Internet started, but here's the TRUE story ....

In ancient Israel , it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg.
Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband: "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said: "How, dear?"

And Dot replied: "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for
sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price.

And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighboring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP)

But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted - for insider trading.

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung.

They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land.

And indeed did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say: "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."

And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known. He said: "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied: "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."
"YAHOO," said Abraham.
And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside.
It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE)

And that is how it all began.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.
... B-)