A crazy cat story

     Movies like where the Red Ferns grow, Old Yeller, Black beauty, and Lassie and very dangerous. You see they get you distracted ,and then you lose all your common sense. It doesn't matter if the movie is about dogs, horses, or even a pig. The all start off the same. There is a little child.. Now this little child has a deep deep longing for a animal. Their longing is so deep that they are put into a pit of depression because of it. Then after watching their child suffer the parents give in and get the child a pet of their very own. Or as some say a "friend" this child went from being in a pit of depression to being in a pit of total heaven. Finally a pet of their own to have and hold for the rest of its dear life. Yeah!!! But that is just it you think it will end happily but it doesn't. It is always a bitter sweet ending. The pet always die and it is then the the child realizes that the death of the animal is not important, because all the year and happy memories that were spent with them is so much more greater then death.  Blaaa blaaa blaaa.. But yet every time I watch them I am in tears. Finding myself saying "Ohhhh... I wish I could love like that." But what these stories refuse to tell you is this little fact. In this world there are millions of dogs and cats. Millions! Out of all of them there are 25 that are as good as the ones in the movies. 25, yes that is it. You see you watch these movies then you go to the pet store and buy a dog and never once think about it being a bad dog, but before you take it in your arms it is already an "Old Dan" to you. Don't feel bad if you have fallen for this lie , because we have too. Which is why I am here now writing a story about a cat and a little girl.
It all started with this one time. This one time... Oh I remember it like it was yesterday. My father was gone visiting and when he got back he had with him a kitten. A kitten for my little sister. The joy filled my little sisters eyes as my father told her this little cat was her very own. You see this cat was already perfect. It was cute and it was hers so nothing else mattered. Never once did we think that perhaps this cat was not one of the 25 good cats. We were in love that was all that mattered. How we feel in love with her so fast blows me away even to this day. You see although we knew the box that was in my fathers hands had a cat inside of it we knew not what she looked liked.  Yet we knew she just had to be sooo cute.
From inside the box you could hear her banging around.She was fighting mad. She hissed and whacked the box each time one of us tried to bend down to let her out.
"Don't worry children she will calm down she is just scared." These were my fathers words. Then he very quickly opened the box and we sat and watched as this gray thing ran as fast as it could under the couch. That was all we seen of her for the first lets see 2 weeks. She was a kitten when we got her , but before we really seen her up close she was almost full grown. During this time  my 4 year old sister started to train her. How she did it I don't know. But soon this cat would come up to her and follow her around. Heart touching I know. Kidding kidding. Although my little sister could touch this cat we could not. This cat soon became a nightmare to all of us. It peed on everything. It would knock over the plants. It would wait for someone to go to the bathroom and then attack them. It was so bad that when we had people over and we seen them heading for the bathroom all of us would yell.
 "Watch out!!"
  Late at night you could hear the little kids cry because the cat decided that its toys were boring and that the kids face seemed much funner. The cat was named Katie, Katie the kitty. Katie the Kitty loved her cat tree that sat in the far corner of our living room. The corner that the kids are sent to when they disobey. The corner that is right next to the boys room. It has become so bad that when they are sent to the corner the scream not because they are in trouble but because they know if they make one little move that the cat dislikes she will jump on them with all her claws out. They try hard to avoid getting sent there.
We as a family are not evil. We are the kind that take in strays and give broken winged birds a real chance at life. But we have all decided that this cat better not have 9 lives. Mom has offered to shoot her. I have offered to give her swimming lessons down at the river. The little boys all want her to be an out door cat that gets lost. Even at one point my little sister told me that she wanted a "real cat." She pleading to me that if she could sell Katie she would buy a horse.  This may all sound bad to you that we could all hate her so much. But she is a rotten cat that has been rotten since day one.
  Chances have been given to her. Sometimes she will lay on the floor and look so peaceful. My little sister will come and nicely lay down next to her. Katie will even crawl into her lap then just when we think she has out grown her meanness. She will bite my little sisters face.
    While my parents were gone one time they kindly ask that I would try my best to make Katie an outside cat. As I watched them drive down our driveway and I thought to myself. "Wow they could have asked me something easier like learning how to fly or something." So all week I spent trying to get this cat outside. This is hard he the cat for one not always likes to even be touched plus when ever she sees you carrying her to a door she freaks out ripping your arm skin clean off. Need I say this was not going to be the way I got her out. So my clever mind decided that if we could just put her inside something and then take her outside and let her go it was bound to work. So this is the point when a person finds a box or a cat carrier. Not me I found a cooler. Don't judge me! I mean think about it, it has four sides and a bottom and a top. Works for me. So I found her some canned food and put it inside then all of us hid behind the counter and waited... and waited. Finally she got inside and my little brother ran over and closed the lid and we all danced around for 5 minutes singing and shouting.
   Katie did not like the idea of spending a night outside. All night she scratched at the door and meowed in anger. She somehow lived that night.But the next day we went on living our happy life and she went on doing whatever she wanted too do. Truthfully she never crossed my mind until I heard the rushing of 3 kids come running into the house screaming there is something dead outside. Now if you are around kids much you know that they have many types of screams. They have the sad and scared scream ,and they have a scream of gladness. Sadly to say the scream I heard at that moment was a scream of gladness. I on the other hand was having mix emotions about all this. For one I disliked the cat, but I also disliked dealing with anything dead. But since I knew the dead thing had to be dealt with I went out to take care of it. As I walked across my yard I couldn't help but hear the little's talking.
"Do you think it was really her!." One had said.
"We will see." The other one said skipping like we were going to get ice cream NOT going to bury a dead thing.
 When I got over there I took one look at the thing and knew it was not her. But I laughed pretty hard at my siblings as they walked home heads hanging low.
THEY SHOULD MAKE A MOVIE OUT OF THIS...
The cat lived and the children have not been attacked since she has been outside. She even seems to be nice now that she lives outside.

Adoption

I have a simple question. How many of you are adopted? Do you know that if I asked that question in a classroom of 100 people, the likely hood is that 50 of those people will raise their hands. That is half the class! Half the class will raise their hand and state that they were adopted. I am adopted. I am adopted child. So, this subject is very important to me. It is important to me that all of you should understand what it means when a child is adopted. It is a subject that is very dear to me.
So, what is adoption?
Adoption is the legal and emotional acceptance into your family of a child not born to you. This child will have your name and the same legal rights as a child by birth. After the adoption is approved by the court, you will receive an official decree and a birth certificate with your name listed as the birth parent. It is now your responsibility to feed, clothe, house, and educate your adopted child. The adopted child should receive the same love and understanding as a child born to you.
Adoption has been going on for longer than, I think, most people realize. The first time America records it taking place as a legal act, was in 1851. Massachusetts passed the first modern adoption law, recognizing adoption as a social and legal operation based on child welfare rather than adult interests. Historians consider the 1851, Adoption of Children Act, an important turning point because it directed judges to ensure that adoption decrees were “fit and proper.” How this determination was to be made was left entirely to judicial discretion.
In the days of the bible, it talks about a brother stepping in and caring for his dead brother's family. This family now became his. Adoption is a big deal. Now, there are some who look down on it and say that it is not real. There are some who even say it is not a good thing, that it is too risky a thing to do. However, there are somethings that I would like to share with you. When a child is adopted by a family that does not share common blood running through their body the same as yours yet still choses to call you their child, when a mom and dad look at a child and fall in love with them and decide that this child will be theirs forever and ever, even though they may never be able to say where the scar on her left cheek came from or they may never understand why he is deathly afraid of water...these parents don't care where you came from, what you have seen or what you have heard. They want to love you and have you become their child. They want you to have a new life, a life where they will tell you things and show you things that you may never have been able to see or hear before. Sacrifice!
So, I know you are all thinking...why on earth is she giving us a history lesson about adoption during bible study?
This is my reason. I have one reason for doing so. Now, God may have more than one, but, I am telling you all this about adoptions so that you know and understand more deeply the love that God has shown you. Adoption is important to God.
" Now, when my time came and I placed my faith in Jesus, God instantly granted me a great salvation. He forgave me of all of my sins, past, present, and future. He made me His child, adopting me into His family. He gave me the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gives me God's power, who pours out God's love within my heart, and who tenderly communicates to my spirit that I am a child of God and an heir of eternal glory in heaven. In saving me , God also freed me from slavery to any and all my sins. I no longer have to sin again, for sin's mastery over me has been broken!"
Here are some verses I want to share with you. Colossians 2:13 , Psalm 103:12, Ephesians 1:5 , John 1:12 , Acts 1:8 , Ephesions 3:16 ,Ephesions 1:13-14, Romans 8:16-17 ,Romans 6:6-7-14
Any one that has placed their faith in Jesus has been adopted. Now, just because we are adopted doesn't mean that we live like we are. I know many people that have been adopted by loving families and yet they refuse to believe that they are loved and that they can live a different life. They think that at any moment their adoptive parents' love will end. They choose to live as orphans. There are people who have given their life to Christ. To Him they are His child, righteous before Him yet they choose not to live like that. They think that at any moment they will sin and that will be the deal breaker. They wait for that one unforgiveable sin that will seprate them from the love of their Father God. They remain the aloof orphan...distant and not trusting, waiting to be returned to the orphanage. I am going to tell you that it can't happen. You can't be unadopted. Once Christ adopts you you are given His name YOU ARE HIS CHILD FROM THEN UNTIL....FOREVER!!
Romans 8: 35
I understand more than most, that it is hard to change your thinking. It is hard to believe that nothing can change the way Christ looks at you. It is hard to go from the thinking that at any moment your are going to be cut off from His love to trusting and believing that what He says it real and true. But when you do, you will then start to look at the Gospel with truth and understanding. You will truly begin to see God's love for you.
I have something to ask of you. On a peice of paper I want you to write three things. I want you to write to God telling Him the ways you have been acting like an orphan and not His child. Then, I want you to hold onto that list and pray over it from time to time. I want you to notice that, when you are doubting and waiting for that final deal breaker, that you can pull out that list and say LIES!! I am a child of God and NOTHING, nothing can separate me from Him or from His love!

Prayer

Do you know that Prayer is not simply something we are allow to do as a Christian; prayer is actually one of the great purposes for which God chose to save me. As Christ said, "I chose you... that whatever you ask of the Father in my name He may give to you." I am a chosen one of God , I was saved to pray, and whenever I come into God's presence to behold Him, worship Him, or ask Him anything, I am arriving at the pinnacle of God's saving purposes for me.God is radically committed to my life of prayer. He sent His son to die so that I can stand in front of Him in love. Through the cross I have found a way into His Holy Place. "Draw near," He say in Hebrew 10. "Pray without ceasing," He not only says this once but many times. How can it be that even though I know that Christ's flesh was torn for me so that I would be able to pray. And that even though He tells me to Pray always. I still find myself not allowed to pray.
The Bible serves as the sweetest invitation for us to pray when I preach it to myself each day I will learn more and more. Soon it will nurture within me a mighty impulse to come before God in Love, and do the praying I was elected to do.

Dear great God,
Would you please fill my mind with Wisdom. Would you allow my eyes to not look at lustful things but rather look at Pure and Righteous things..Would there be Peace and Kindness on my lips. Would your Love and Mercy be in my heart. Would my heart not want anything as much as I want you. Would my hands Work hard for you. Serving as you served. Would I walk in your Path. Would you make me know you more. Would you show me your heart regarding me.
I love you Lord Amen

Josh Turner "I am second"

I came across a blog that had a posting of Josh Turner on it. I was so encouraged after reading it I thought it was a grand idea to write one myself. I have always liked his music , but now I can enjoy it even more. Praising God for yet another man who is out there that is not afraid to love God. For a man who stands up for what he believes. (More of this interview can be read on www.JoshTurnerIamsecond.com )

I had a vision of this long, black shiny train…..

Singing country music, that’s what I’ve always dreamed of doing as a young boy. Growing up in South Carolina, it was out the ordinary to dream such a dream.

I haven’t always been the guy that walks into a room and automatically the attention is on me. I’m normally the guy that stands off in the corner. Singing allowed me to express myself in ways that I wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. I don’t feel like God called me to be a gospel singer. He didn’t call me to be a Christian singer, he called me to be a country singer, and I just happen to be a Christian.

The one thing that I had to overcome was negativity. The idea that dreams can’t really come true, I never wanted to believe in that.

I grew up in a little place called Hannah, South Carolina, a little farming community a long way from any kind of big city. The first real album I owned was Randy Travis’ Storms of Life, and that was the album that really made me start dreaming of the possibility of doing this for a living. I moved to Nashville in 1998 to get a record deal and try to get my foot in the door, and I didn’t really know what I was doing.

God inspired me to write “Long Black Train.” I wrote this song, by myself, in my apartment, and it came to me in a vision. It’s a vision of this long, black, beautiful, shiny train, and people are standing out to the sides of the track, watching this train go by, just craving to get on it. At the same time, they know that this train leads to destruction, it leads to emptiness, it leads to nowhere, but yet they still want to get on it. This train was a physical metaphor for temptation.

I wrote three verses and a chorus that night in my apartment, woke up the next morning, I wrote the fourth verse. And at that moment in time when I laid the pen down, I said nobody’s ever gonna want to hear this. It’s too old-fashioned, it’s too old-timey, it’s a gospel song. So this is probably not going to end up on one of my records in the future.

And a friend of mine walked in and she said, can I hear it? And I was like well, sure. I played it for her, and she said you need to play this for such and such, and so it just snowballed from there. I ended up playing it for recitals, and all kinds of stuff, did demos of it. A girl in my class heard it on that demo, played it for MCA, they heard it. This was the song I played first time on the Grand Ole Opry, and got two standing ovations and an encore– I was completely unknown to the audience that night. It became the title track of my first record, it became my first hit, it helped me sell a million copies of the first record. So there were a lot of people hearing this song, a lot of people being touched by this song.

That was the moment that I realized it’s not about the money, or the fame, or the glory. It’s about changing people, it’s about touching people and influencing people in a positive way, and so from that point on, that’s what I’ve tried to do.

(There’s a long, black train coming down the line, feeding off the souls that are lost and crying. Rails of sin, only evil remains, watch out brother for that long, black train. )

There’s no song that I can write, there’s no record that I can make that’s going to save me. I do need a savior.

(Look to the heavens, you can look to the skies, you can find redemption staring back into your eyes. There is protection, and there’s peace the same, burning your ticket for that long, black train.)

I’m thankful to have Jesus as my savior. My relationship with God has always been one to where I’m talking to him all day, every day, about anything and everything. It’s just a continuous ongoing conversation that I have with the Lord, and I feel like that’s brought me closer to Him. It helps me think through things clearly, I feel like it’s given me wisdom about other people, about myself, about the life that I live. Ultimately, I get my joy from Him, and always put Him first.

My name is Josh Turner, and I am second.

Listen for the stones to drop

So you know those times when you read the Bible and say nothing afterward?
Then you read the same thing 3 months later,and say "Wow that is a good message." But you never put it to use in your life. It forever remains only a good message.
Then you hear someone talking about the same verse and what they way makes you say, "This is so true.. Wow I never though of that.. I will remember that one!!" (But come on I give you one full week, two at tops and it is GONE.)
Then one night we read the same verses, and we start crying ,and thinking of all these things that we never thought of before. I call that the 2 by 4. Sometimes it is more painful then other times. But both are caused by us missing or choosing not to see what God was showing us the first time. All the pain we cause ourselves. (Silly sinners)
Well I will tell you my story of the 2 by 4 that just hit me aside my head. I did all the things that I listed above in that order even. The verses were John 8:1-11
It has always been one of my favorite stories in the Bible. But I never really took the time to study and pray about it. When God was opening the door for me to learn about it I was slamming it back in his face. But tonight God showed me it and for once I listened to him.

One of my friends and I were talking about her abuse(Sexual abuse) and how she was afraid that people would judge her if they knew. Although I wanted to tell her the nice comforting lie of

"No one will judge you." I couldn't do it.
Like I said it would be a lie. As we talked I listened to her share with me some lies she believed about the abuse. I watched her try her hardest to avoid there being anything to talk about.
There was the desire to cover it up like it was nothing.
There was the shame that she felt.
There was the desire in her heart to hide it from me and anyone else.
There was the desire to just tell someone and get it over with.
As I tried to comfort her and tell her the truth to those lies. I felt that her and me shared something. But it was more then that.
Oh could it be!!!?? that the verses that I had been pushing away had yet another lady that shared something else with us?

The Woman that was caught in adultery.
The picture of that story was the picture of ME. It was the picture of my friend too.
This woman was caught in the act of adultery. That is a little more then just her flirting. To me it means that is is not wearing anything ,or she is barely wearing anything.
Jesus is teaching in the temple. When all of a sudden the scribes and the Pharisees burst in.
(I'm trying to paint a picture for you.) So with them I imagine is a group of people.. They tell him everything that this women did. Then they remind Jesus that Mosses wrote that she should be stoned. "What do you say?'' they asked him. Nothing more was said. Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground. Meanwhile what is everyone else doing? What is the woman doing? I never thought about this before. But this really happened , and they were still there so what were they doing? I think the people that were gathered around the women were looking at her with judgement and disgust. I think they shook their heads in anger. I think with one hand they held the woman making sure she knew that she was about to be punished. And with their other hand I think it was tightly gripping the stone in which they intended to punish her with. The stone in which they would kill her with.
The woman, what do I think she was doing? I think she was scared. I think that was felt her sin. I think that felt her sin, and knew what it looked like. I think while all the people stood around her and casted their stares at her she could see very clearly what she looked liked ,and what she was.

Then Jesus spoke, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her."
Then once more He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
Silence filled the temple. Then the sound of the rocks hitting the ground. Then the woman felt the painful tight grips of the men that held her no more. Nothing but the foot steps of the people leaving could be herd. The woman watched as those who accused her left.
Did she feel freedom?
No, I think she was still scared. She had heard about Jesus. Wasn't he the son of God? Wasn't he the great teacher? Surly he would look up at her and see her and judge her? Kill her? Didn't she deserve it? Didn't she sin?
Jesus stood up and looked at her." Woman," the same name he called his own mother. Woman... Not whore, not unclean.
"Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?"
She whispered out "No man, Lord"
"Neither do I condemn thee: Go ,and sin no more."

Even though I was not caught in the act of sin neither my friend. We all three have been right where the woman was. I was her.. I was there only I begged please stone me...
But just as Jesus did with the Woman he did with me. He waited until everyone that accused me were gone. He and me were the only ones standing. Well I was on my face before him.
Then he said where is everyone? I looked around and I was free no one was there to judge me. I was clean. How did I get this clean! Then he said it is me that make you clean. Your judgement is gone because I stepped in front of you. The Father looks at me and sees me instead of you. I paid your price. Go and sin no more.

I think that it is beautiful how he waited until everyone else left. It was just him and her there. Because no matter what it is people judge us. But their judgement doesn't matter, Jesus's does. Jesus paid our price on the cross. So where ever you are today listen to the stones dropping around you ,watch as everyone walks away. And look up at Jesus and thank him. Don't be the one that is judging yourself either. Go and sin no more. Make the choice today to change. Jesus was enough for your sin once he forgives you , you are free to let the sin and the same go too.

Don't believe them!!!

I want to share with anyone who is going to read this a very important message. Mostly this is for girls and women, but hey it could fit just as well in a mans life too. What I'm going to say is a very simple fact -challenge, yet hardly anyone will be able to do it. Want to know what it is????
It is this.
Stop believing the lies that the world are telling you. I know it is hard in to today's world to figure out that almost everyone and thing around you wants to see you as less. It's hard when all your friends and the T.V tells you that you are not allowed to enjoy yourself.
I'm not talking about a be free, have fun, get drunk ,do drugs thing. I'm just a young lady who is tired of people going on diets and looking into the mirror and saying mean things about themselves. I'm tired of watching young people think they are less then they really are because they are not married. It's....... it's just silly. And trust me I know what I'm writing about because I do it too. We have all these people and things that expect us to be something that we are really not suppose to be. When God made us he did not want us to listen to "Glamor Girl." He had his own idea of what beauty and happiness looks like. But I don't even know if we know what his idea looks like anymore thanks to lies!!
Teens don't have sit at home and fry their brains with movies and Video games. They don't have to have the world think that the only thing they are good at is getting into trouble. I mean when the only thing your mommy and daddy expects you to do at 17 is make your bed that is sad. Horrible.
But yet we are not willing to show them that we can handle more then that.
So maybe your not lazy maybe you can handle making your bed ,and cleaning the house and make bread.
But are you the type of person who is never happy with yourself? When someone goes to take a picture do you turn away? Every morning do you look in the mirror and say how ugly you are? Does none of your clothes fit right? Do you think makeup makes you prettier? Do you think that acting a certain way will make you someone better?
I say yes to some of these. I live believing so many lies too. But why for what reason, tell me what does thinking you look fat bring you? Do you really want to be lazy everyday? Do you want to be the type of person that only will be happy when you are married? Or maybe only can really enjoy life when you have this job and this bill paid off? I'll answer for you.... NO NO NO!! No you want to learn to love what God has made you look like. You want to be helpful and busy. You want to be thankful ,and honestly happy right where you are now. I know I do.
Tonight I am doing laundry at 10 pm. I am blogging and I love it. I love that right now I can be honestly happy. Sure I want to be married and I have dreams other then these things, but that is not stopping me from being useful and happy right where I am.
Be who you really are. Maybe you need to change some things. But I'm sure when God created you he made somethings good in you... Just a thought.
So be challenged this week. Do what is good. Like what you look like. Laugh at who you are. Enjoy where you are.
For one week I challenge you to not think about being somewhere different or someone different. I challenge you to stop believing the lies!!