Money, Victory Over $TUFFITI$

     

                 Are you overloaded with $tuff,  and $hort on Dollar$


                                           A Strategy For Debt Free Living.

      Most people I know can always use a few more dollars. The trick is knowing how to get them without giving up the ones you already have. A good way to really understand that is to spend a day at yard sales. Yard sales can be used as a tactic to get ahead if properly done.  Have you ever gone to yard sales with the strategy of getting stuff for your own yard sale?  Yes going to yard sales, to have a yard sale.  It is not as dumb as it sounds.  In fact it is a lot smarter than most people think.  To make my point I will give you two reasons it is a good thing to do.  You can sometimes buy brand new clothes with the tags still on them for pennies on the dollar.  Recently my daughter and I stopped at a  yard sale with a friend of hers.  She had just been evicted from her home.  She lost everything she owned in the process. Which is another story.  The point is about all the clothes she had, were the ones on her back.  Knowing she also had no money I told her I would lend, translated give, her some money to get some clothes.  That girl deserves a Masters Degree in Retail Therapy.  For about fourteen dollars she had five outfits including shoes.  One dress she bought still had the store tags on it.  A $38 dress for one dollar, with the store tags still on it.  It was nice. So were the shoes which also had the tag on them.  They cost a whopping fifty cents.  Those are the kinds of things you look for when shopping to have your own yard sale. Secondly it is an investment in yourself. Yes this takes a lot of time, but it keeps you from otherwise spending money.  Also it can be made to pay for itself.  

      How do you make it pay for itself?  Well the last time I went to recycle pop cans they were paying sixty cents a pound.  I crunch mine so I can get more in the bag. Then I reuse the bags as many times as I can.  Six big yard waste size bags can hold quite a bit.  The trick is waiting till you get  a good sized amount.  The more you have, the more they pay you.  A nickel a pound more adds up, but you have to have 300 pounds to get that nickel.  Also you can enlist friends and family to help you get more cans quicker.  It helps them as they do not have to haul them off.  I am sixty five and just converted to Social Security.  I had been on Disability for the last eight years after having the "Big One." The powers that be took my Commercial Driver's License because I had  a defibrillator put in me. Overnight I went from self employed, to unemployed.  I had to sell my truck and all my equipment which helped keep us going till we got my first check.  We went six months and never missed a payment by the Grace of God.  I can do most anything I could do before the heart attack just not as fast.  If I keep at it I get it done eventually.  It is just a matter of pacing myself.  How I got into recycling at this late stage in life is in another story on my blog called "From Trash to Treasures"  Recycling is nothing knew to me.  Having been technically dead, and then jump started, I guess even I am recycled.  My Dad got me my first paper route when I was eleven.  My parents grew up during the "Great Depression" and knew how to get every penny out of anything.  Shortly after starting my route I discovered if I asked my customers to keep their papers for me they would.  About once a month I would take my trusty wagon and make many trips around my paper route.  After collecting the papers I would stack them in the front of our garage till there were enough to fill my Dad's pickup truck.  It did not make a lot of money, but it taught me the value of keeping your eyes open for an opportunity to make a buck.  

     I did not grow up in the rich neighborhood, but it was not all bad.  One thing I remember from my youth in northern Indiana is going out to get a bucket of coal from the coal bin. Usually I did it early in the morning. Especially remember the mornings when it was covered with snow. That was one of my first chores that did not get me an allowance.  It was my "duty" to get up before school, haul in enough to heat the house till I got home from school. Water for bathing and doing dishes was heated in a big pot on top of the coal burning stove. We did have inside plumbing though.  I had friends who did not.  So we were not quite at the bottom of the food chain, but very close.  Really primitive is when you have to cut a hole in the ice on the lake. Then haul the water into the house and heat it.  Most Americans do not know how good they have it today.  Of course this is not an uphill, both ways in a blizzard, barefoot, four miles to school story.  Actually it was pretty flat and only 3.5 miles one way to the high school.  Which got interesting in cold weather.  We did not ride the bus to school like kids do now.  For some reason it is hard to keep on track this evening.  Guess my goal is to show I lived what I am preaching here.  It is not just something I am typing up to get attention.  

    Please forgive me the side trip down memory lane.  Will try to stay focused and make some points people will understand.  Hopefully they can get some benefit out of them. When I am shopping for stuff to sell myself, my goal is to get stuff for ten cents on the dollar or cheaper.  If you can get it that cheap you should be able to make some money on it.  However that is not always the case.  When I first started going to auctions I bought five couches for five dollars.  Man I thought I was going to get rich.  Well I got them all stacked in and on my pickup and hauled them to my shop.  About a year later I sold one for $10 and ended up burning the other four.  I doubled my money, but more than that I learned sometimes there is a reason stuff goes so cheap.  Nobody wants it.  In my many adventures at yard sales it is easy to see that people buy stuff they do not really need or want.  One of the biggest wastes of money is exercise equipment.  It is for me anyhow.  If I am going to exercise I want it to do something productive.  Not just waste my time. Mow the  yard, cut weeds, clean ditches, work in the garden or anything that produces some kind of benefit.  Buying exercise equipment is generally a waste of time.  This is an observation from eight years of running a second hand shop.  It has never been a real business, but it has been steady enough and busy enough to learn some things just do not sell.  At least not if you are intending to make money.  You want to keep turning your money over and not tie it up.  Sooner or later somebody may buy it, but my interest is not in warehousing stuff.  It is in making a little bit of money, into more money, so I can live at a little better.  At least at a little better than the standard of living I am able to live at on my disability.  We live comfortably and our retirement pays the bills and feeds us, but there is nothing left to do things we would like to do.  That is how most people learn to overcome STUFFITIS.  They realize making changes is the only way to get what they want in life.  Many people would be a lot better off if they learned to quit buying stuff they do not need.  Especially stuff they can get free like books. I have hundreds of thousands of books.  I just do not keep them at home.  In fact the place I keep them reminds me to put them back on the shelf so they do not clutter.  I even get new books by signing the want list.  Having a few like minded individuals as friends they keep their books in the same place.  They also sign the want list which helps get the book quicker. Time to get back on track.

     Many yard sales would be better off to take the stuff to Good Will or the Salvation Army and donate it.  Quite a few of the yard sales I go to are not worth the time it takes to get out of the car.  You can look at the stuff from the car and tell it belongs in the trash.  Many sales are nothing but clothes.  Those yard sales do not get much business from me.  I am a junk buyer.  You can make money on clothes, but like anything you have to know what people actually want.  At least what they will get up off their wallet for.  My goal is to get everything for ten cents on the dollar.  I would like to sell it for fifty cents on the dollar of its value.  However, even if I only get twenty cents on the dollar I have doubled my money.  Do that consistently and you should make some money.  When you are doing yard sales to make money you approach them with a whole different mindset than if you are buying for yourself.  Is it something people actually want?  Is it something people will actually buy? Also is it cheap enough that when I resell it I can actually hope to make some money on it?  Buying it and then finally getting rid of most of it as trash is not a wise investment.  This is something you need to treat as a serious business.  Done properly it may become a business and make you money. If nothing else it may get you a TV show.  There has been an explosion of shows on how to buy stuff and make money.  American Pickers, Junk Gypsies, Auction Hunters and Storage Wars are just a few.  Storage wars is based on real events.  I used to do it myself.  It is fun, but very competitive. It was never my intention to start a second hand business, but my four daughters probably saved my life by giving me a direction and some purpose. 

     It literally got dumped on me.  When my truck driving career was over the barn I used to park my truck in was sitting empty.  It is a very old 96 foot long barn.  Unless I find somebody with a need for a 112 year old horse stable with a loft that is 17 X 70 I am probably stuck with it.  It was originally the Monroe City Livery Stable. It still has the horse stalls along each side downstairs. That has proven to not be all bad.  My daughters asked if they could set up in my barn for the annual city wide yard sale.  As I was no longer using it for my truck I said okay.  Well a few weeks later I asked them when they were going to get "their stuff" out of "my barn."  It was then that they informed me it was now "my stuff."  Well I had a wood shop in the back and I pursued my hobby of making unique one of a kind bird houses and feeders. Which I sold on Ebay.  So I started a habit of setting a couple tables outside with stuff on them. People would stop and buy "stuff".  It still was not my goal to make it a business, but I could always use the few extra dollars.  With all the family having a place to get rid of used furniture, beds and whatever it did okay.  The barn is on the main highway through town which gets a lot of drive by traffic.  It is also zoned commercial which helps.

  About six months into "my business" my wife's cousin gave my youngest daughter a square hay baler.  She had a brain tumor, which she fought it for seven years.  People were donating things as part of a fund raiser for her. She went home to be with the Lord in August 2010.  Well I got tagged with the responsibility of selling it for her. A friend of ours told me to take it to the Amish auction near where we live.  They have one every Friday night. .  I had to have the baler there by noon he warned me if I wanted to get good money for it.  Then I had to set around till 8 PM to get my money after the auction was over.  Well I did and that was how I became to the proud owner of five couches.  From then on it was where I spent every Friday night for a long time.  Later I discovered Flea Markets, Farmers Markets and started going to yard sales as a business.  One thing led to another and my crafts became a full time business.  Or a better way to say it.  A full time social program.  To me it is not about making money.  It could be if someone was geared that way.  I buy broken furniture at the auctions usually for a $1 a piece, and then I fix it.  My goal is to simply give it to those who need it or sell it cheap enough to make a few dollars.  Then I can buy some more stuff to fix and sell.  It is nice to be able to help people that need help.  

      The nice thing about doing this is it does not take a ton of money to get started.  It is something you can do with the kids and family.  So you do not even need a baby sitter.  A car or pickup comes in handy, but if you have a gift of the gab you can even get around that obstacle.  Some cities control the amount or how often you can have a yard sale.  That is not a problem in most cases.   You can find a few friends to network with and to help each other. Having a buying partner is good also.  You can keep each other from buying on impulse.  The town I grew up in limits people to four yard sales a year.  That is okay because you want to get good stuff which means you need time for going to sales.  You want to become known for having good clean stuff an you will not have to advertise.  People will be looking for you and your bargains.  It is a business that will feed on itself and grow.  You may end up turning it into a an actual business.  Think long an  hard before you do.  Once you have a store.  You have to have set hours and getting out and doing yard sales may cut into your personal time. My sign says if the doors are open, I am open.  If they are closed I am closed.  That is the way it is.  Family comes first and it is a hobby not a business, at least for me.  It can become a very time consuming thing.  As you get braver and better you may build up some capital. Then you can get into doing something bigger like mowers, or cars and boats.  Or start doing specialty items like tools.  Eventually maybe even real estate.  Just staying with small items you can use the internet to pump your sales.  You can use Craigslist which is mostly free.  Then there is Etsy.com which is a nice site.  Finally if you find some serious collectibles you can try Ebay.  Check for local online outlets.  We have a county wide online yard sale where I live.  If they do not have one where you live, maybe that means you may have an opportunity to set one up.  Some of the ideas for doing these things are discussed in some of my other blogs.  Generally just type the word Money on my search bar. It will take you to other blogs of mine that deal with money issues.  Hope you enjoyed it and it helped in some way. 

Why America's Standard of Living Is Declining.

       Sometimes no matter how hard you work you never seem to get ahead.  There may be a reason for that. You are getting farther and farther behind.  It does not take rocket science to figure it out either. Back in the late 50' and early 60's when I entered the labor force the minimum wage was fifty cents an hour.  A bottle of pop or a candy bar out of a machine was a nickle.  Gas was an outrageous seventeen to eighteen cents a gallon.  Well today a pop or a candy bar is a dollar fifty out of a machine. The minimum wage in Indiana is $7.25 an hour.  Well if pop and candy bars have increased to thirty times their value and the minimum wage had kept pace the minimum wage would be $15 and hour.  The fact that it has not kept pace means your buying power has decreased so therefore your standard of living.  Just mention raising the minimum wage and the rich fat cats scream.  Manager's of small business scream there is no way they can afford to pay that kind of money.  Well I hate to say it but they have been ripped off just as much as the rest of us.

    On top of the above mentioned statistics the job market is in the tank and shows no sign of coming back anytime soon.  The cause of that problem has many sides.  Jobs being shipped overseas is only a small part of the problem.  The improvements in manufacturing and distribution with the invention of computers and robotics have decreased the demand for manual labor.  A robot in some instances can replace a hundred people. While only one or two people are needed to keep up a whole factory full of machines.  Those jobs are gone.  They are not coming back any time soon.

    Companies that benefited from the automation took all the increased profit from reduced labor cost and cut the labor force even more.  It did not matter to them that the laborers that produced the income for them to do that, were forced into unemployment.  The burden created by the layoffs and elimination of laborers was dumped on society. While the rich got richer.  Way back in 1998 the modernization was just taking off.  That is when capital gains taxes were drastically cut on those receiving excess profits.  One problem with cutting the capital gains tax was that it had been income to the government.  The second problem which we are seeing the effect of today is the rise in the national debt.  The two problems are related.  The politicians cut the tax, but they did not cut the government spending.  This whole thing can be traced back to a deal between Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich.  Clinton wanted affordable housing for the poor. While it was an admirable goal there was one problem with it.  It did not limit cost of the housing to a level which was within the poor persons budget.  Most bought way more house than they could really afford. Gingrich wanted more money for his wealthy friends. He wanted them to be able to keep more of their profits. They both got what they wanted on the backs of the average American.  The cost of these give away programs was not fully thought out.  Today we are seeing the effects of lack of foresight on their parts.

   Shortly after the above mentioned fiasco.  George W. Bush decided to cut the taxes on the wealthy.  At the same time starting two wars and providing virtually no means of funding them.  When combined with the capital gains cut and the failure to cut spending the fact the debt was going to go up was and is inevitable. You can not spend your way out of debt.  It is a basic fact of life.  It does not work for individuals and it does not work for nations.

    Today the sad state of the economy is being felt by many Americans.  The housing market has tanked and the price of housing is in free fall to a point where it should have stayed.  The Obama administration has tried to come up with all kinds of programs to save peoples homes.  He has done virtually nothing to create jobs so the ones who own the homes can afford to pay for them.  The fixes he has been advocating are just going to shove the problem down the road.  As citizens who have lost there jobs, due to the sad state of the economy, fall off of unemployment it will only get worse.  They will no longer be able to keep their homes.  The lack of jobs is the major cause of the whole problem.  So while Obama tries to save houses, the Republicans are refusing to raise taxes.  They do not want to take any of the money, they should never have given away in the first place, from their rich and powerful friends.  The rich do not feel obligated to give up anything.  It is theirs.  They got it and they have no intention of giving it back.

    So what is the solution to the problem.  Business and the wealthy investors who create inventions that eliminate jobs need to pay up.  They need to acknowledge their debt to the laboring class that made them their wealth and contribute to the cost of retraining labor.  Helping create a labor force that remains productive and supports the American economy.  Basically the same failure of the rich to reinvest in America is what led to the Great Depression way back when.  Only World War II created the demand to end the Great Depression.  The expansion of technology and increased standard of living pushed the economy for many years after the war.  While productivity is still rising, the advent of new fields of employment has diminished.  The only solution at this time is to weather the storm by starting programs to bring America's infrastructure into the 21st century.  Old fashioned manual labor can fill the gap. Spending money to create jobs that can be taxed.  Not giving it away for doing nothing. Sometimes it may be better to forego the 500,000 dollar street sweeping machine and employ 16 people for a year with the money.  This would also generate taxes to run the government.  The mechanical street sweeper may seem cheaper, but is it.  Especially if it displaces workers and puts a burden on society.

    What is the solution if you are a working class American.  It certainly is not waiting on the Federal Government to help you.  First you have to make every cut you can.  Reduce your need for cash and then create a way to generate your own income. Find a niche and fill it.  Whether it is mowing yards, landscaping or babysitting.  These are jobs and generate income.  Maybe not at the level one needs but they do offer a chance to hold on till you can find a better and more profitable niche.  Have a friend who has found a niche like that.   Support them and encourage them.   If the opportunity affords itself join them.  When you do have money to spend, do it in a way that stimulates your local economy.  Give a car wash certificate,  a gift certificate to a locally owned food outlet or business.  Do not wait on the government you will loose all you have and starve.  That is what people did during the great depression.

      It is not my goal to generate fear and panic, but this is just the beginning of a very long down turn if the government and politicians continue on their present course.  The definition of insanity is. "Doing the same thing over, and over and expecting a different result."  Well that is the political status in America today.  The two parties in power are concerned about only two things.  Staying in power and milking the cow for all they can get.  They do not care about the American people. That can be proven by looking at the deep south.   Supposedly the Republicans are all about big business.  They may be, but why are all those Republican states home of the lowest standards of living in America.  Because they are doing nothing for the working class Americans.

      So if you want change.  The kind that helps you, not the Obama kind.  You need to get with like minded individuals and vote in a third party candidate that stands for what you believe in.  If you can not find one start your own party.  It takes time but at least you will know you did not throw your vote away on a party that could care less about you and your needs.

     It would really make me happy if I was wrong about all this gloom and doom, but as a history buff and especially in the area of the Great Depression.  I do not think I am.  In fact I am seeing more and more things that say our government is making the very same mistakes it made back then.  The first being that they are saying. "It's not really that bad, it will get better in time."  It did not then and it will not now.  It was about 34 months from the high point to the low point in the Great Depression.  We have just passed that point and things are not getting better.  The stock market can find no traction.  A month or so ago it hit a high from the crash.  Then the last two weeks it has given up all the increase it made for the year.  When you look at the whole world and not just the U.S. economy, the writing is on the wall.

     In the recession of the early 80's people were stealing cattle right out of the farmer's fields so they could eat. It will not be long and I imagine we will be seeing that kind of thing again.  People will do what they think they have to, to survive.  Back in the Great Depression people still had morals and values.  That is something that is dying fast in America.  People think they are entitled to take what they want nowadays. It could get scary if it gets as bad as back then.  All that being said.  Good luck in whatever you decide to do to survive.  However do something, don't wait till it is to late.

Trucker Logic

 You can find other trucking related stories by simply typing, trucking, trucker or truck on the search                                                 bar at the top of my blog page
                                   
                                         Trucker Logic
                                         

       A while back I had the chance to revisit an area I went to originally in 1986, when I first started trucking over the road.  In the process I learned a couple things.  First get a new map.  Especially if the one you are using is almost 20 years old.  Things change.  The Atlas I had on this trip was new in 1997.  Add to that the couple years it takes to put a map together and this map was probably at least 18 years old. The cause of this adventure was to see if a road I went down way back when I started trucking was as bad as I remembered it.  It was, and maybe even worse than I remember it.  The sign below is the one on the road today.  When I did it back in 1986 it was a different sign.  Back then the sign said, "Not recommended for vehicles over 42 feet in length." My truck was right at 60 feet in length, but the trailer just happened to be 42 feet.

  

                                        

   

     Well first let me tell how I got to this point so you can understand my dilemma. I was driving a flatbed and had emptied out near Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  My dispatcher told me to go to Spruce Pine, North Carolina and get loaded.  He did not give me directions and that should have been my first tip off that I was being set up.  My company was a union company and paid on percentage of revenue.  Because of that the company reserved the right to route our trips to make sure we did not waste money.  They did not route me so I took out my trusty map and saw that U.S.421 seemed to be the shortest way to Spruce Pine. It was, and is till you get to Boone, NC. Then you take 321 south to Blowing Rock, North Carolina.  There you have to change to highway 221. When you do, the first thing you see as you turn onto the road is the sign pictured below.  At least today that is what it says.  That is not what it said 26 years ago.  Back then it said what I said earlier. The maximum recommended length was 42 feet, which just happened to be the length of my trailer.  That did not include the tractor.

   As most truckers would I consulted my Atlas.  That is when it got interesting. Via 221 the distance to my destination was 37 miles.  If I did not take route 221 I had to go down to Hickory, NC.  Then you had to go across I -40 to Asheville, NC.  Finally the detour went from Asheville to Spruce Pine.  The total distance was almost a 160 miles instead of 37 miles.  After considering all the facts I used some good ol' trucker logic.  It said not recommended.  It did not say you couldn’t go that way, like it does now.  I figured if I moved my trailer axles all the way forward I would not be that much over what they recommended.  So I slid the axles.  Surely it could not be that bad?

     And off I went.  A couple of miles into the trip,  after meeting myself coming and going, I started pondering the wisdom of my decision. It was extremely curvy.  I came to a sharp right hand curve.  I made several attempts to make the corner but every time I did my trailer tandems kept hitting a rock. It was not that big of a rock but I could not take the corner any wider.  It was several hundred feet down on the left side and several hundred feet up on the right.  I was at a point where I had an option.  Either back up around all the curves for 2 or 3 miles or drag the trailer over the rock.  Initially I tried to back up, but it was not going well.  Soon my frustration level reached its peak and I pulled the trailer till it went up over the rock.  As soon as I did two thoughts ran through my mind in quick succession. If there was another or worse situation ahead I could not back over that rock. The second was that short of using a crane there was no way to turn my truck around.  At this point I was committed for better or for worse.  If I did get stuck out here it was going to be a long, long walk to a telephone to call my company and admit my stupidity. 

      My next exciting event was meeting a car full of site seeing tourists.  The last thing they expected to see on that stretch of road was a big truck.  One car almost ran off the road trying to avoid me.  Because of the blind curves to the right I had to get in the left lane to get around them. This generated quite a bit of excitement both for them and me.  This road goes around the side of Grand Father Mountain.  Today this road can be avoided in a car by taking the Blue Ridge Parkway. While that is a good idea in most situations as it is a very is a pretty road. It is a scenic drive with many lookouts and small waterfalls and off limits to trucks.

  
      There were a few places where the cliff hangs out over the road like the one above, which I used for a fulcrum.  Had I been pulling a van trailer I would not have been able to get through the 30 some miles.  As it was, it was bad enough with a flatbed trailer. Several miles into the trip I came to a point in the road pictured above. There was no way to get wide enough to make the corner and after several attempts and getting my trailer only three quarters of the way through I did the only thing I could do at that point.  I used the side of the boulder for a pivot point to literally drag the trailer around the corner by making the tires slide on the pavement.  Not a normally accepted method of turning sharp corners.

     It took over three hours to go the 37 miles.  It was not much of a time savings and I doubt it saved much fuel either.  When I called dispatch after loading I started venting.  Soon I realized the dispatcher had the phone on intercom so the whole office could hear. They were getting a great laugh at my expense. Later I learned I was not the first and probably not the last driver that the dispatchers had played their little game with.  However I did learn something from it all. When I see a sign I know it is there for a reason.  Also when I see a sign for trucks in North Carolina I take it to heart.

 

    If you found this funny or interesting I have a couple more funnies on "how not to go down a hill" One is my 11/7/11 and happened in Arizona.   The other 4/12/12 happened in Vietnam with a load of bombs on my truck.  Thanks for taking the time to read it. The links to these stories are now on my home page. You can find many of my other trucking stories by simply typing truck or trucking on the search bar on my home page. 

Are We In The Last Generation?

    This Generation Shall Not Pass, 
                                 Until All These Things Shall Be Fulfilled
                           ( Are we that generation)

   The Bible states in Matthew 24:34 says, "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." As Jesus is the one who made that comment I certainly feel it is true.  The question I have and have discussed with many is,   What is a Generation.  Over the years I have heard 20 years, 30, 40, 70 and my preference which is 120 years.  Each has Biblical references to validate it.  The question is what does God have to say about it?  Which if any time frame does His Word reinforce. Many people tell me what does it matter? Why should I care?  Then they usually quote the Bible verse from Matthew 24:36. " Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the Angels of heaven, but my Father only." However he then goes on to describe what shall be happening at that time.  It evidently was important to Jesus.  We can know that by reading what he said..  Think about this.  Jesus was to die the next day.  He knew it was his last day, yet he took his time to give all kinds of warnings of what was to happen at the time of his return.   He did not spend it reminiscing about their time together or telling them of the wonderful times they would have in heaven later.  He spent that last day and that last time with his disciples warning them to prepare for what was to come.
      What is to come? Well you can read that in several of my earlier blogs that deal with things that could or might happen based on what the Bible says will happen.  However that is not the focus of this particular blog. My goal is to show that yes we do not know the hour or the day.  However Jesus made it clear that we would be able to tell from the events going on around us that we were in the "Time of the End."
    Matthew 24: 42-47 says " 42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man comes. 45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. 47Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods."
      Verse 46 makes clear there is a blessing for his servants who are prepared and ready at his coming. It is our duty to teach people to be looking up and ready.  Yet in many churches today the attitude is. I don't want to hear what all that end time mumbo jumbo says.  I just need to "Love Jesus" and I am covered.  Really?  Those who feel that way need to read Matthew 7:21-27. Jesus makes it clear it is not just about hearing his Word, but doing his Word.  He makes clear many will hear the Word, but they are not doing it.  Those who do that are lost.
     It is really easy to get sidetracked when you are dealing with things from the Bible.  The key is staying focused on God and on His Word.  It contains everything we need to know.  We just need to take time to search his Word.  By studying his Word I came to understand the time frames that represent a generation. Numbers 32:11 says, "None of the men that came up out of the land of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward,shall see the land."  So those twenty and under represent one generation. In verse 13 it says, that they wandered in the wilderness till all of the generation that rebelled died in the wilderness. So if you add forty to the twenty years that they already were we get two different numbers.  If they were twenty and wandered forty years that would mean those being sixty and less were a generation.  So the time frame of that generation could be considered forty years also.  All those born more than twenty years before leaving Egypt died in the wilderness.  So we have 20, 40, and 60 year time frames.
     Genesis offers us a different time frame, but it requires paying attention to what the Bible says. God told Abraham his seed would be sojourners in a land that is not theirs. That is in Genesis 15:13, but it also says they shall enter in, then they shall afflict them four hundred years.  When they first went into Egypt they were not afflicted.  It was after they had been there some time that they became afflicted.  Exodus 12:41 makes it clear they left Egypt 430 years later to the day from when they went in.  Remember they were to be afflicted 400 years.  God did not say how long they would be in Egypt directly.  What he did say in Genesis 15:16 was that they would be there till the fourth generation.  Well we have seen the numbers 20, 40, 60, and 70.  Well none of those numbers work if they were to be there for 400 years. Four times 70 equals a period of 280 years, which is far short of 400 years.  So we need another number that works.
     Well in Genesis 6:3 God said the days of man would be 120 years.  This number will work.  Four times the number 120 equals 480 years. So if they left Egypt at 430 years and wandered in the wilderness for another 40 years they entered the promised land after a period of 470 years.  That is inside the fourth generation guideline that God gave.  The question is which generational timeline did Jesus mean when he said all these things would come to pass in this generation.
     It is clear that he did not mean the generation he was talking to as he told his disciples in Matthew 24:2 that the temple would be torn down.  So he had to mean another time.  Well when the temple was torn down the nation of Israel was dispersed and left the land and Israel ceased to exist until the "Time of the Gentiles was fulfilled." which Luke 21:24 makes clear began when the temple was destroyed.  However when these prophecies begin to come to pass as it says in verse 28-31 we will know that the end is near.
     In Matthew 23 37-39 Jesus laments over Jerusalem and says he would have gathered them under his wings, but they will not see him again till they say "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." In Luke 21:29-31 it mentions when you see the "fig tree" putting forth it's leaves.  You will know it is near the time. Most scholars feel that prophecy was fulfilled when Israel became a nation again.  That was passed or allowed by the United Nations in November 1947.  So if you are using the 70 year generational sign we could expect the end around 2017.  However if you add 120 years, which God used to determine the generations of the Egyptian period,  to the 1947 return of Israel as a nation you are looking at the year 2067.  Many people do not know it, but Sir Issac Newton was a person who tried to determine the end time.  He came to the conclusion the end would be in 2062.  Which when you allow for the error in the Julian calendar it is pretty close to right.
    Just remember Jesus said when you see all these things starting to come to pass, it is a sign.  There are many signs mentioned in the Bible but a few have come to pass in the last few years.  Revelation 11 mentions and deals with the two witnesses to the end time.  It said clearly they would lay dead in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days and then they shall rise up.  What makes it pertinent to this day and time is that it says clearly the whole world will see it and exchange presents.  That could not have happened till the last twenty years or so.  It can happen now though.
    Let me give two more signs of the end times that are spoken of in the Bible that are in the process of fulfillment. In Daniel 12:4 it says many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased.  Well almost anybody has to admit there has been a knowledge explosion in the last seventy years.  Actually it started right before the time of Martin Luther in 1517.  In 1436-1440 the printing press was invented.  Suddenly the Word of God could quickly and easily be shared with the whole world.  It allowed God's Word to reach the uttermost (farthest) parts of the earth just as it was told by Jesus in Acts 1:8.  The explosion of knowledge did not mean the prophesy of traveling to and fro was fulfilled, but when a sailor named Columbus took Isaiah 40:22 to heart, believing it meant literally what it said.  He was able to convince King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that God's Word was true.  With their financial aid the farthest parts became accessible.  Other contemporaries of Martin Luther are noted for the explosion of knowledge, DaVinci, Michael Angelou, followed closely by Newton, Galileo, Sir Francis Drake and the explosion was underway.  It is just coming into its own in this day and age.
     There is a free book on my blog divided into seven parts.  It deals with the end time and will be the source for my next few blogs.  Hopefully I will be able to show how it also gives reference to sources of knowledge from the Bible that say we are in the end time.  Because of events in my life and in my past I felt and feel that I will be standing here on earth when the Lord returns in glory, but having been technically dead once already I realize that if I am or am not does not matter.  God's Word will be fulfilled either way.
    One of the few parts of the Left Behind story line that I agree with is that those of us still here on earth will go through a period of great tribulation before Christ's return.  If you read Matthew 24:29-31 you will come to understand that Jesus said there will be a period of "Great Tribulation" before his Angels return to gather the elect.  So those who are saying we are gone before the tribulation period are preaching a false doctrine.
It is also why we have to be prepared.  That is why he warned us.  So we can prepare for his coming, but also and mainly so we can share the promise of his coming with others.  How bad will it be.  Well Revelation  9:18 says a third part of mankind will be destroyed.  That is over 2 billion people in this day and age.  We have been warned to get ready.  If we are right with God, it does not matter if we go before, during or after the rapture.  We just know where we are going.  The Bible says the rain falls on the just and the unjust.  We will not be exempted because we are Christians, but we do know where we are going if we do not survive.  That is not the case for those who do not know Christ.  It is our duty to see that they do know him.  Let's get to work cause the time is short, either way.

2012,The Bible versus The Mayan Calendar, Points to Ponder

      Does the Bible validate Mayan Prophecy or is it the other way around.  If we just consider the actual and verifiable facts.  Most of what the Mayans say is going to happen does not disagree with the Bible. In the Book of Isaiah a lot of the things that are prophesied to happen are in total agreement with Mayan predictions. Verse one starts off saying.  Before I go any farther let me declare I am not an authority on the following issues.  However I find a lot of interesting, at least to me, coincidences about what the Bible says and what I hear people conjecturing about the Mayan prophecies.  To do this justice would take a book. My goal is to show what the Bible says will happen in the end time.
      "Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof."  That sounds bad enough, but from there on it just gets worse. It makes clear that the curse that shall happen will effect all mankind."  Verse 6 says that those that are left will be desolate and that the inhabitants of the earth will be burned and few men left.  The punishment comes because the people of the earth have transgressed God's laws, changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant.  You say what covenant?  Well just before I sat down at this keyboard I was watching television and they were arguing that same sex marriage was okay.  President Obama has finally said that he supports it.  That would not be that bad until you read Daniel 11:21-24 It says a leader shall enter peaceably taking the kingdom by flatteries,  and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers;  he shall work deceitfully and shall become strong with a small people.(Gays?)  That being said, this is not about the Antichrist.
       This is about the natural disasters that shall befall the earth in the end times.  It will be a time when the joy will leave the earth because of all the things befalling mankind.   In Isaiah 24 verse 19-20 says, "The earth is utterly(Webster's definition of utterly is totally) broken down, the earth is dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.  The earth shall move to and fro like a drunkard.  The sun and the moon shall be confounded. Revelation 6:12-17 proclaims there shall be a "great earthquake," the sun will be turned black and the moon will become like blood, every mountain and island will be moved out of their place.  It says the kings and mighty men shall hide themselves in the dens of the rocks and beg the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the day of God's wrath upon the earth.
                 As if the above is not bad enough in chapter sixteen things get much worse.  In verse eighteen it says, ' And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a "great earthquake," such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great."  That sounds like the biggest of the big ones. However that just adds to the destruction that happened back in chapter 6 where it implies a quarter of mankind was killed. That would be almost one and a half billion people.  That is a lot of dying. In Revelation 9:18 it says a third part of mankind was destroyed.  When you take away one and half billion that leaves roughly four and one half billion.  However at another point it says a third part of mankind will die.  That is another one and a half billion.  That means half of mankind on the earth today will have been destroyed.  That is hard to fathom My understanding of that destruction is that it was military in nature. Of course it could be some kind of natural disaster, but regardless that would be almost unimaginable.
     This is not the first mention of destruction of the earth. In Genesis 7:11 it says the fountains of the deep were broken open.  This contributed to the flood at Noah's time.   Job 41:31 says he makes the deep to boil like a pot, something man had no knowledge of till the last sixty years or so.  So much for the wonders of modern science.  The Bible talks of mountains under the deep(sea) and he stretches out the heavens like a curtain. It also says the heavens flee from the face of God.  Where have we heard that one before. Oh!Yes, the universe is expanding.  Modern science is mostly plagiarized from the Bible.  The knowledge has always been there. In Genesis 10:25 It says the earth was divided.  Earthquakes are mentioned a lot in the Bible.  If you get a Concordance you can look up each verse that uses the word.  Many events are related to or in the time of great earthquakes. So when the Bible talks of one greater than any man has experienced it means a big one.
      If you read my blog of 25 April 2012, America Under A Threat, Worse Than Katrina you will get a picture of one of the worst recorded earthquakes in American history.  The ones at  New Madrid, Missouri in 1811 and 1812 were so strong they rang church bells in Boston and cracked sidewalks in Washington, DC.  That quake caused much greater and broader damage than the one in San Francisco that is often mentioned as the "Big One"  The San Francisco quake was actually a small one by comparison.  The Bible says a far greater one is coming sooner or later. I can safely say that because we know about that one.
      Recently there has been a lot of discussion of "if" a pole shift could happen and what the consequences would be. Well scientists argue they can prove it has happened in the past.  They argue it has happened on a fairly frequent schedule. The following link is one small part of the puzzle, typing in pole shift on your search bar will bring up many theories on the issue.  You can learn a lot with a little research of the matter. http://www.naturalnews.com/030996_bird_deaths_pole_shift.html  The link I have enclosed mentions changing runway numbers.  Further research on my part makes me wonder if there is not more going on than is being admitted.   The magnetic pole over the last few hundred years was moving at the rate of one to two kilometers per year.  However in the 40's to the 50's the pace started picking up and now it is moving toward Russia at the rate of 45 to 50 kilometers per year.
      Why is that important?  Because it could mean a pole shift is imminent.  Many scientist argue that nothing will happen physically to the earth in event of a magnetic pole shift.  They say only the magnetic poles are effected,  that it will have no effect on the geographical poles.  The geographical poles represent an axis between the north and south polar axis around which the earth spins.  It is oriented in relation the the physical spinning of the earth.  The magnetic poles are not truly aligned with the geographical poles and tend to move on their own.  It is believed it moves because of shifts in the earths core.
       If you consider both scenarios you have to ask yourself who is right.  From my experience of playing with magnets I believe magnetic polar shifts will cause a lot of shifting in the earths crust.  Will it be a complete reversal of the physical earth.  I do not think so, but a major shift I do believe is likely.  If you look up and check into it you will find out there are hot spots on the earth's crust.  The two most known to Americans are the one at Yellowstone and the one that created the Hawaiian Islands.  Those spots have moved eastward at a fairly regular interval in a plainly seen direction.  If you take two magnets and try to push the like poles together the magnets will move a little at first.  As they get closer together there will be a sudden and violent shift away from each other.  If it happens on the small scale it makes sense it would happen on the large scale also.
     Why should a person care?  Well it is pretty simple, if a major shift happens and it forces a movement in the plates which make the tectonic mantle of the earth.  Something has to give. Something will give.  It will trigger major earthquakes not locally but world wide.  If it creates enough shifting and pressure on the Pacific plate I could see the earth breaking or tearing all along the trench which creates the Marianne's Trench. Of course there are other things that can effect this happening besides the magnetic pole shift.  When you consider water finds its own level.  That means if the ocean rises 2 feet because of global warming in rises 2 feet all over the world.  Not just along the coasts. That means that the Pacific plate has millions upon millions of tons more water bearing down on it.  Then you add the effect of the super high tides caused by the perigee full moon, which brings it to its closest point of the year and pulls even more millions of tons on to the Pacific plate.
      There is evidence for this theory.  Just as the mountains on America's west coast are being shoved up by the Pacific plate shoving under the North American plate.  While the North American plate is moving steadily westward the eastern Atlantic or European plate is being shoved east.  Which means they are both pushing at opposite ends of the Pacific plate.  As the western edge of the Pacific plate is being shoved under the eastern edge of the Asian plate it is creating the same kinds of mountain ridges to the west of the plate.  Looking at a relief map such as the one put out by National Geographic you can see the ridges being formed along the line of the Marianne's Islands and throughout the Philippine sea.  Proof that the Pacific plate has pushed under the Asian plate.  My theory is every so often the western edge of the Pacific plate breaks of the bottom of the Asian plate and makes a major shift along most of its length.  This is caused by the millions and millions of tons of pressure. ( I will be adding a graph to show what I am saying in the next couple weeks)
      This effect could trigger volcanic activity on a scale most people can not even comprehend and I personally do not want to comprehend.  It would create tsunami's that could literally kill easily a quarter of mankind if not more  of those living near the oceans and in close proximity to sea level.  Could Los Angeles slide into the ocean as has been predicted for years.  I do not know, but I do know the size of the tsunami's we would be talking about could destroy many countries very far inland.  I could see Florida being completely submerged as it sets so low to sea level.  The problem with it is that when it does happen.  It will be so sudden and so catastrophic that no one will be able to move to safety in time to avoid the consequences.
      The sad part is contrary to the concept of global warming which does happen every so often.  It is, in the realm of geological time, just a very brief period.  Then it starts sliding towards a global ice age again. My question is what causes this periodic warming.  It happens about every 125,000 years or so. Could it be caused by a minor shift in the earth orbit caused by the earths alignment with the Galactic Center, the sun and the other planets that causes an effect to the earth's orbit similar to the one that causes the moon to come closer to the earth on a regular basis.  It happens at an interval of 1 year, 1 month and 18 days.  The earth could have the same thing happening just over much longer spans of time.  Something is definitely happening as you will be able to see in the next few paragraphs.
     It is not my goal to preach gloom and doom.  My goal is to wake people up to the danger they are living in.  Prophecy is being fulfilled in our time.  Jesus said in Matthew 24 there would be wars, famine, pestilence and earthquakes and these are the beginnings of sorrows.  It says clearly that it should magnify into a period of tribulation.  Then immediately after the tribulation of the those days the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give its light. Could that be because of all the volcanic activity caused by the shifting and earthquakes.  In John 16:21 it compares the time to a woman in travail or labor.  Well when a woman goes into labor she has labor pains which start out mild and increase in intensity and duration.  You might find this information I have taken from a chart by the USGS interesting.  The following link will let you see the charts for yourselves if you question my numbers. The link is  http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/other/quake1.html  or just type in USGS earthquakes per year since 1970 and it will take you there.  Here is what I found interesting though
           
Total earthquakes per year world wide.  I stopped at 2010 as it was the last full year listed.
2002 - 1341
2003 - 1358
2004 - 1672
2005 - 1844
2006 - 1865
2007 - 2270
2008 - 1948
2009 - 2057
2010 - 2136

     What I find interesting is that the whole period since 1970 shows a steady increase.  It appears to be directly proportional to the increase of the magnetic pole shift and of course the melting glacial ice.  The melting ice shifts millions of tons of pressure from one plate to the other.  Is that a coincidence or an indicator that we should be looking for the poles to shift at some point in the near future.
     Another thing I learned in the course of my studies, which I alluded to earlier, was that their is a period of global warming roughly every 125,000 years.  They can verify this from ice core samples dating back almost a half million years.  It happens like clockwork.  It is followed by a very long period of global cooling.  The coincidence I find to that, is that as the earth completes a wobble on its axis every approximately 125,000 years.  The earth completes its circle of the astrological houses. Again coincidence or is there a relationship or cause and effect. The recent perigee moon, where the moon is closer to earth than normal made me wonder.  If the moon's orbit is not circular but a little oval, what if the earth's orbit of the sun is a little bit off of circular. This could be the cause of the periods of global warming. What I learnt from watching the program on global warming is that there are much longer periods of global cooling than warming.  Each global warming period happened after a rise from a very, very deep ice age.  So does the melting of all the ice allow the earth to move in way that causes the magnetic polar shift. Could the melting of the ice release pressure from the crust that allows the core to shift. We are talking in time periods that mankind can not comprehend as we have not been here long enough see the effects.  We have not been on earth long enough to make it through one whole cycle.  (Hopefully I will add a graph later to show what I am trying to explain)
     Maybe science needs to take a look at the whole cause and effect  thing.  The point I am trying to make is that maybe the Mayans were smarter and understood more that we are giving them credit for.  However our Biblical history goes back to the same time frame as the Mayan calendar.  About 5,000 to 6,000 years ago so maybe they actually validate each other.
     Jesus gave us signs of a time of the end.  It must have been for a reason.  It may be time to get right with God cause there are events coming that will effect all mankind.  If you have your eternal salvation taken care of it is not a problem.  If you don't though it could be a major problem.  As the Bible says, "The rain falls on the just and the unjust."  Jesus made that clear in one of his parables when spoke of a wall falling.  Just as Isaiah 30:25 talks of a great slaughter when the towers fall.  If you look in the Bible and study it.  Often high mountains means nations.  While rivers and streams of waters means understanding in God's Word.  In Verse 26 it talks of the light of the moon being increased like the sun, and light of to the sun shall be seven fold. In the day that the Lord shall heal the breach of his people.
     I like to let the Bible interpret the Bible and in Joesph's dream his father was like the sun and his mother like the moon and his brothers like the stars.  When I read the sun is darker, is it because the fathers are not teaching their children.  When the moon is turned to blood, could that be a reference to abortion.  Finally when the stars fail to shin, is it because they are not being taught and giver the light of understanding. Something to ponder anyhow.
     To me, I believe that just as it says in Daniel,  that knowledge shall be increased   I believe it is Biblical knowledge that shall be increased.   There will be increased understanding to those who believe.  So they can share and bring others to  know the Lord before that great and dreadful day  The Bible makes clear that the coming of the Lord is not until after that great and dreadful day.   So you can come to your own understanding, but I hope you are not like those mentioned in Micah 7:15-20.  "They shall lick the dust of the earth like a serpent; they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth; they shall be afraid of the Lord, our God, and shall fear because of him."  That is only verse 17 of Micah, you need to read the rest to get the whole understanding of what it says.  The Lord will complete what he has promised in his Word.  You can take it to the bank.   If you do not believe it, well my prayer for you then is may God have mercy on your soul.  If you have questions feel free to ask me and I will answer the ones I can.  The Bible says "his people" perish for a lack of knowledge.  So are those who survive the smarter ones who understood the warnings God was giving, or are they the unsaved that are left behind to endure the tribulation, which as I understand it is after all this chaos and turmoil.  A time of great darkness and torment.
    If you would take the time to read the last chapter in my book Further Down The Path, Part 7,which is at another location on this blog, just use the search bar.  It will explain why I think we are in the last days.  One thing I have also learnt since writing it is that our calendar is off by two years.  So instead of seventy years being October 2017 it would be October 2015.  Which does not leave time for the 42 months spoken of by Daniel, but God is the one who sets the day and time.  I am still not trying to set a date, just showing there is a pattern to the Bible and that I believe as it says, "I am the same, yesterday, today and forever."  God does not change what he has done, he will do.  He will reveal himself.  His Word says no man should be judged unless there are two witnesses.  Well I believe those two witnesses mentioned in Revelation are Enoch and Elijah for one good reason.  The Bible says, "Every man is appointed one time to die."  Those two left here and were spirited up to heaven without dying.  They have been witnessing how heaven operates for over 2000 years and when they come to tell mankind what is wrong.  They will have things to say mankind does not want to hear.  I am sure.  They will be killed for their testimony.  Then after three days they shall rise up and ascend into the heavens.  The Bible says the whole world will see it.  That is something that could not happen until just the last few  years.  However, now it can and sooner or later it will. Just as it could not have ended without Israel being a nation.  Which they are again after 2000 years, which fulfills many prophecies.
God is still unfolding his Word, just take the time to read it.

You Need No Man To Teach You

        Many years ago I had an experience that I value to this very day.  It permanently altered how I look at things when it comes to religion.  It taught me how to test the spirits.  There are a lot of confused and false doctrines out there in the world today.  Learning to discern what is of God and what is not of God is one of the hard things we must do as Christians.  The secret is to be thoroughly grounded in the Bible.  If it goes against the Bible, it is going against God.  There are a lot of awesome speakers who call themselves preachers yet have no true knowledge of the Bible.  They have "their" view of the Bible. Which is not necessarily the same thing.
       Being a trucker it was often my experience to attend church on the road.  When people asked me what church I attended I would say, "I attend the church of the eighty foot parking lot."  It was the truth.  When you drive a truck that is seventy-eight feet long you need a big parking lot.  Many times I would attend a church regardless of the denomination.  The criteria for me attending was a place to park.  As long as it is a Christian church it should be founded on Christ.  Even if it is not totally in line with the Word of God there will usually be at least a couple of people who have a relationship with Christ.  Over time I met some really interesting people in some pretty interesting ways. Spent New Years Eve one year in a parking lot in Madawaska, Maine with a couple feet of snow on the ground. It is about as far north as you can get in the continental part of the United States.  I was delivering air conditioners.  However as I learned these were not regular air conditioners.  These were a type that allowed them to recirculate the air so they could save energy by not heating the subzero air that was normal in winter for them.  The only place open in the whole town was a Subway sandwich shop.  I went in and ordered.  Just to make small talk I asked the guy working there if he knew of any churches in the area.  He looked at me funny, with a smile on his face, "Sure," he said stretching the word out into a statement. "there is one in the basement."  Because of the smile I thought he was kidding, but he assured me there was definitely a for real church in the basement.  After eating I wondered downstairs and sure enough there was a sign on the door.  It was a couple hours till meeting time.  So I went back to my truck.
        Sitting in the truck I was facing the door to the church.  To kill time I did paperwork and tidied up the sleeper area.  Finally I saw some people starting to filter into the "church."  I waited till a few minutes before service time and I wondered in.  The people were all very friendly.  The guys mostly had beards and the women all wore head coverings.  It was a different kind of meeting from any I was used to in my past.  They were focused on the end time message and it went on for a few hours.  After the service we all sat and talked and they shared some fliers with me that gave a rundown of what the church believed.  They were a very sincere and very nice bunch of people.  I would like to go back and see how they are doing sometime.  However not in the middle of winter.  It was a Spirit filled New Year's Eve.
       Over the next few months I attended several services. For some reason I kept running into a situation.  After the service the preacher would corner me and say.  "I perceive you are not filled with the holy spirit." Well it boiled down to the issue of tongues I discovered.  Following the Lord was not an issue for me.  I was sure I was where the Lord wanted me to be.  Doing what the Lord wanted me to do.  You would have to read my biography to understand why I am so confidant in saying that.  Anyhow after the third time it happened I took the matter to the Lord in prayer and told him to show me by his Word if I was not in the "Spirit." Well the next time I opened my Bible I turned to 1st John 2:26-27 and it set me at peace with myself, it reads,"26 These things have I written unto concerning them that seduce you. 27 But the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."  Reading that verse humbled me.  I had read it several times in the past, but I had not seen the meaning in it.  One of the next verses I turned to was Jeremiah 17:5 "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.  It seemed to me the Lord was confirming to me that I should not worry about what the preacher in the truck stop said.  When I read Matthew 24:4-5 I was convicted that I was right, "4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5. For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ and shall deceive many."  Suddenly I had peace in my heart in the situation.
     My life verse is Proverbs 3: 5-6, it was given to me and written in the back of the Bible presented to me after my baptism at Bible camp.  I did not always follow it, but I found it when I was at the lowest point in my life and it has guided my life every since.  At that low point I had nothing and I told the Lord.  As I have nothing I will tithe my time in your Word.  From that point on for years I spent two and a half hours a day in the Bible.  At first it was easy because I was unemployed, but when I started working it became harder, but I managed to get it done.  I broke it into three sessions, but they totaled at least two and a half hours.  That was a time when I really grew in the Lord and came to know he was guiding every step of my life.  My job was to search my heart and make sure I was actually listening to him and not myself or some outside source that would set me on the wrong path.
     The verses I have listed so far should guide anybody who is sincere in their walk and search for the Lord.   As my walk with the Lord progressed I found John 3:8 and it has guided my life pretty much since I found it.  Sometimes it makes me go in ways that I would not normally go.  A couple times because I followed it when it did not make sense it actually saved my life.  Those stories are to long to put in this piece, but if I get a message that anyone is interested in knowing how that happened I may share it latter.
     The final two verses I want to leave with anyone who is seeking the Lord in their life are really pretty simple but not applied by many people. The first is Hosea 4:6  "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shall be no priest to me: seeing thous hast forgotten the law of the thy God, I will also forget thy children"  That is a pretty heavy saying.  If you do not seek God he will turn his back on you.  He is not talking to the heathen in this case.  He is talking to those who profess to believe and follow him, but have no time for him or his Word and use their own misguided views to create their own concept of worship that they are comfortable with.
    This final verse is one that I have to constantly fight to obey.  However when you learn to walk in it and not use your own mind and just follow your heart where God leads you.  You will not go wrong.  It is hard because we try to do so many things on our own and don't let God get involved till we have no other way to turn and sometimes then it is to late.  Using this verse is what allows you to hear that small still voice and opens your eyes to see what you would not normally see. The verse is Matthew 7:7-8 all we need do is ask.  Jesus himself told us so.  It is reaffirmed in several places. Matthew 21:22, Luke 11:9-13, John 14: 12-21 and finally in John 16:23-30.  Getting a firm grip of those verses will help your walk with the Lord tremendously.  Also James 4:1-6 explains the cost of not getting it.  Just understand as it says in James 4-6 if you know the Word and apply it Satan will flee from you and has no power in your life.
    There is an old Indian proverb.  There are two wolves, one good and  one evil.  They are battling and the one that wins is the one you feed.  If you are not grounded in the Word and don't know how to defend yourself with the Word and build up your strength in it.  You will easily fall prey to the evil wolf, however, you can hold him at bay and defeat him if you pray.  Which do you want in your life and what happens is determined by your actions.  Are you the victim or the victor.
     

Money, Who Turned Off The Flow? How To Turn It On

       Sometimes it is hard to decide which direction to go and what to do.  Especially when you are going through major changes like losing a job, ending a relationship or even discovering that though you still have a job, it does not make you enough income to meet your needs or pay your bills.  Sooner or later something has to give. It has been my misfortune to be in that position several times in my life.  Especially the one where I was working my butt off, but still did not have enough to survive on.

       My solution when I found myself in that situation was usually to find a second job or if that did not work, create one. The double income would usually make it to where I could meet my needs.  However I am retired now and looking at the job market from the outside.  A couple things struck me as I have watched my grand kids enter the job market.  They are not getting a fair shake for a couple reasons.  First there are barely enough minimum wage jobs to  go around.  Not that a minimum wage job is something to aspire to. The second is that the minimum wage has not even come close to keeping up with the cost of living.  When I entered the job market the minimum wage was fifty cents and hour.  Yes I am old, seventy plus some.  If you think that is bad my grandfather told me back during the depression he worked 12 hours a day and 6 days a week, that is 72 hours, for the princely sum of $3.

     Time to get back on track.  At the same time that the minimum wage was fifty cents a bottle of pop was a nickel and you got two cents back when you took the bottle back.  Also a candy bar was a nickel.  They still had penny candy that was three pieces for a penny and best of all gas was only 17 to 19 cents a gallon.  Not so anymore.  Well with pop at a $!.50 a bottle, that is 30 times what it cost way back when.  If you figure in the deposits it would be even more.  Candy bars have done about the same amount of increase.  Gas has had the lowest increase with only costing 23 times what it cost in the late 50's or early 60's.  That means if the minimum wage had just stayed even it would be between $11.50 and hour and $15 an hour.

      The price of gas has kept pace with inflation.  The seventeen to nineteen cents it cost way back then was roughly 34% of the minimum hourly wage.  So at today's prices it is still close to 34% of what the minimum wage "should be."  Most other things that people buy in the course of life have also gone up many times what they cost way back when.  The new price of a car has gone from the $2700-$3000 range into the $35,000 to $45,000 dollar range.  Oh yes you can still buy the low end cars at lower prices, but even they are many times what the low end cars cost back then.

    What is sad is when you project the annual income levels of the minimum wage.  If you take the 40 hour week times 52 weeks per year.  The annual wage for a minimum wage worker back then was just a whopping $1040 dollars.  That is versus the present working minimum wage that would get you an annual salary of $15,040 per year.  While if adjusted to the rate of increase of the cost of living.  That wage would bring you $31,240.  Sounds incredible but what is considered a middle class wage today is in reality only a  minimum wage job.  My method for figuring this rate out is not very scientific.  Basically what I did was take what the buying power of my wage back then could buy and what it can buy now.  In other words an hours pay would buy me ten bottles of pop out of a machine.  The same pop today would cost $15 and the same for the candy bar.

        What does all that mean. It means the buying power of American wage and therefore the standard of living of the average American has diminished greatly.  It means the middle class wages have been diminished also.  Your labor does not get you the buying power it did back then.

       So when today's youth go to work they are only making twenty-five to thirty to percent of what my generation did.  So now they need two and a half jobs to just break even.   They can forget getting ahead.  That is why my grandchildren have been urged to get a good education or create their own job.  The odds of getting ahead on a minimum wage job are slim to none. Even if you are a master at managing your money.

      It is about knowing that when life gives you a bunch of lemons you learn to make lemonade.  Use what you have to work with to your advantage, especially your brain. I entered the work force in my early thirties.  Not that I was privileged or anything like that.  I just spent thirteen years of my life in the Army making up my mind what I wanted to do. The military taught me a lot of skills which I was able to translate into jobs in civilian life.  Just writing this blog is one example.  My last year in the Army was spent writing for the Command newspaper in Panama.  That job became available not because of my writing skills, but because my Commander saw some of my pictures displayed for a photo competition I entered and he liked them.  He needed a photo/journalist and I had half the skills which were learnt from my hobby.

     This story is not about me though.  It is about the American working class and the fact they are being bent over and having it stuck to them.  They in general do not even realize it.  The only way you are going to get ahead in the world we live in today is create your own job.  You have to figure out what level you want to live at and go for it to make that kind of money.  You say but I do not have the skills to do that.  Well you better learn to grab hold of the shirt tails of someone who does and be the ultimate good worker for them. Giving them a full hundred percent of your support.  Even entry level management jobs in today's market are really only at where the minimum wage "should be."

     The only and best way I know of to get ahead is to learn to let your money work for you.  Instead of you working for your money.  Basically it is learning to see opportunity when it knocks and taking full advantage of it.   When you get that tax return invest it.  You have to look for a "real deal."  What is a real deal, something you can buy for 10 to 20 percent of its actual value, OH YES, AND IS NOT HOT.  You can find the deals if you take the time to look.  They are out there.  Then advertise the item through some form of free advertising.  Something like Craigslist or if your town or county has one, an online yard sale site.  If you do it a few times and turn the profit back into the business it will not take long to get to where it actually makes you some income and an easier life.

     One bit of advice.  Do not use advertising media you have to pay for.  I use the local newspaper to go find yard sales and deals.  It costs as much as $40 to put an add in the paper.  Often times that is more than a lot of people make off their yard sale.  It is bad enough to sell stuff that you no longer need at a loss, but to make the loss even worse is sad.  I understand that things wear out and kids grow up, but often when I look at yard sales I see lots of stuff that people are selling that I am sure they bought it on a whim to start with.

      Another place to look around is for stores that have super clearance sales.  I do flea markets and farmers markets to sell stuff myself.  I generally enjoy it.  I have found that there are a couple of chain stores in my area that when they need to clear shelf space they sell stuff.  Brand new still in the box and at 10 to 20 percent of the marked value.  If I buy a $10 item for a $1 and sell it for $4 the person buying it gets a good deal and I am multiplying my money,  which means my money is working for me.  It is not rocket science but it works.

      Here is an example.  You see a deal on a riding mower for $200 and you know it costs way over a $1000 new.   So you buy it and sell it for say $500.   You just made $300 for a couple hours of wheeling and dealing.   That is what a minimum wage job pays for forty hours of work and you did not pay taxes on it.  Of course I advise you if you get into it big time to keep track and pay your taxes.   The government does not like getting ripped off.  That is their job.