Discouragement

Discouragement is a powerful emotion. If we are not careful, it can creep into every area of our minds and souls until nothing in life feels satisfying.

"Discouragement is like a cold - easy to catch, but much harder to get rid of."

A personal goal that I am currently working on is to try be thankful every day, and to bear in mind that I probably have it better than 99 percent of the people in this world. But of course that is not always easy! My hope is that this post will "encourage" - see what I did there? Eh? Eh? ;) I couldn't resist - even one person who reads it to try to remove discouragement from their hearts as well.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.

The following is a little story I heard on a Christian radio broadcast today. Later on when I came home, I looked it up online so I got it straight. This story illustrates a wise tidbit about discouragement.

--- Once upon a time it was announced that the devil was going out of business and would sell all his equipment and tools of the trade to whomever was willing to pay the price.

On the day of the big sale, all the devil's tools were attractively displayed. There was Envy, Jealousy, Hatred, Malice, Deceit, Sensuality, Pride, Idolatry, and other implements of evil on display. Each of the tools was marked with its own price tag.

Over in the corner by itself was a harmless-looking, wedge-shaped tool very much worn down, but still it bore a higher price than any of the others. Someone asked the devil what it was, and he answered, "That is Discouragement."  The next question came quickly: "And why is it priced so high even though it is plain to see that it is more worn than these others?"

"Because," replied the devil, "it is more useful to me than all the others. I can pry open and get into a man's heart with discouragement when I cannot get near him with any other tool. Once I get inside, I can use him in whatever way suits me best. It is worn well because I use it on everybody I can, and few people even know it belongs to me."

This tool was priced so high that no one could buy it, and to this day it has never been sold. It still belongs to the devil, and he still uses it on mankind. ---

-Author Unknown

Don't let the devil discourage you.

To view the related pastoral reading in its entirety, click here.

Air Conditioning ... Only Idiots Like Me Don't Have It

WANTED: WINDOW AIR CONDITIONING UNIT

My current apartment is the first place in my life where I've ever lived without A/C...and recently I remembered exactly why that is - because it sucks not to have air!!!

It is literally *91* degrees in here right now! :(

This afternoon, I got off my wallet and bought another fan, a stand-up oscillating one for the bedroom (we already have three ceiling fans and one window fan, but naturally this serves only to blow hot air around. Arg). I've been taking my new fan with me all over the house since it got it home, as if it were my pride and joy - the bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, you name it, haha. Although, I haven't yet brought it into the bathroom. But now that I think of it, I probably will have to bring it in there if I want to blow-dry or straighten my hair any time in the next three months, lol. Hey, it's a little less ghetto than turning the hair dryer on the "cool" setting and pointing it at my face, or going into the kitchen and just standing in front if the open freezer! ;)

So now, here I am, sitting around, two-feet in front of my fan, wearing next-to-nothing, sweating, and thinking about how hot I am, when I come to a conclusion.

I've decided, that air conditioning is one if those inventions, that, once it exists, you're sort of an idiot not to have it.

I'd go ahead and put it in the same category as sliced bread, light bulbs, microwave ovens and the internet... I mean seriously, now that these things exist - there is absolutely NO reason not to have them! And...I now decree air conditioning to be on that list. Central air, if you can get it, but if not, air of some sort should be required...like, by construction codes or in rental housing agreements, or something. Seriously! :)

Bottom line is ... I need a cooling unit in this house!!!

So - anybody have a window a/c unit they'd like taken off their hands??? :)

Things That Make You Say "Hmmm..." Part Deux

"We Make Your Floor Looks Like New!"

:-)

LOL

:-)

Things that make you say "Hmm..."

And here ladies and gentlemen we have the "Taco Place Steak House"

Good Deeds

I realize that much of the blogs I post are about annoying or strange things that happen to me or that I see around. Today I'd like to share something positive.

I remember back in the day when we were traveling back and forth to college in downstate Michigan, Lana used to pay for the car behind us when we'd cross the Mackinac bridge. People were always so appreciative, and I'm sure she got some good karma out of that, as well as just feeling good about making another person feel good. I always thought it was a pretty neat thing to do, anyway. :)

Well, somebody did a similar thing for me the other day, at a McDonald's drive thru.

So, to make a short story long:

A couple of days ago, I had a hankering for a soda as I was running around doing some errands. So I pulled in to the McDonald's off Clark and Ashland in Andersonville, which is a busy area, traffic-wise. Total cluster-bleep, actually, lol. You can enter the drive-thru from either side; either from Clark or Ashland (parallel streets), however that day the line was quite long and everyone in line was coming from the Clark side. There's more room on that side to form a line...on the Ashland side it is sort of an awkward angle to pull up to make an order.

Anyway as I pulled up, another guy had pulled in from the Ashland side. He was technically there before a lot of the people in front of me. But because he wasn't quite "in line," and it was taking forever, no one let him in when it really should have been his turn. Three cars went by without letting him in. I was only there to get a small Sprite; so I wasn't too excited to wait in line for ten minutes. But I was feeling nice and I know it is frustrating when no one lets you in. Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint - I've done the exact same thing as those other drivers did - thinking, "Hey, you're trying to creep in, and I don't feel like waiting behind another vehicle, so I'm just going to pretend you don't exist and stay bumper-to-bumper with the car in front of me." Anyone who drives in Chicago, or anywhere, really, has been ticked when they can't pull out into traffic because some jerk is too lazy to wait an extra five seconds or chance hitting the light up ahead. Anyway, I digress.

So I let the guy in. No big deal. I waved him by, he waved thanks, and that was the end of it, I thought. Happens every day in this city.

But I was wrong - when I got to the window, the cashier waved me by too, saying the person in the car ahead of me had already paid my bill.

So the extra two minutes I ended up waiting in line paid off - I got my Sprite for free. :)

Funny how sometimes it is the smallest act of kindness from another person that can really make our day. It only saved me a dollar, but I really enjoyed that Sprite. So, thanks Mr. McDonald's-drive-thru-bill-payer-man! :D You rock!