Well, at least there’s that...

I have to give kudos to my little sister, Mary. It can’t be easy having a sister named: Barjeana . Our names match our personalities perfectly. I usually say that she’s country and I’m rock and roll . She’s the one that’s lived in the same area since she went off to college. She’s the one who rules...The World; Super Wife, Super Mother, Super Organizer, she can leap  tall buildings in a single bound and arrange the furniture on the top floor while she’s at it. She either knows how to do things, knows who to ask, or where to find the information. Her and her wonderful husband have raised two exceptional young men.  They learned to drive tractors and they've always worked hard. They will both go far in life and I have to give my sister and brother in law a great deal of credit. They taught them to be self sufficient, to do whatever they did the best they knew how and to be ethical and courageous. She was tenacious. Her tenacity often showed up as determination. For example, ...

Xman used to tell the best jokes! He kept people laughing for hours. But there are two I remember about married people. The first one is about a preacher who did his job and preached for 15 minutes. The people loved him and hired him. The next week he did the same thing. All was right with the WORLD.  However a couple of Sundays later he preached for an hour and a half! The Deacons took him aside and said, "What happened?" To which the preacher replied, "I got my wife's dentures mixed up with mine this morning." Oh come on that's funny preacher humor. Then there's the one he told every year. "We've been married X number of years, but it only feel like X number of minutes...under water." People really laughed at that one. I laughed too. One final joke he loved to tell. A young preacher marries this beautiful woman that can sing and play the piano for church. They are the perfect couple. Years pass... one day he turns to his wife and says...

I grew up in a VERY Christian home. I mean my mom was so intent on playing the piano at church that the pastor had to beg her to go to the hospital when she was having me. I jokingly say that I was born under the piano. She just knew that she could finish the service.  Well  thank God for common sense. As I was growing up I admired my mothers ability to play the piano. I found out that while I was an infant she would put me under the piano while she played for the service.  Doomed from the start to be a musician! Thank God she didn’t milk cows or race cars, who knows what I would have become. Maybe the first cow baby or the first race car baby? I mean my mother is definitely committed to whatever she’s doing. Very project and purpose oriented. While growing up she used to sew our clothes, dresses, hats, coats, etc. SUPER MOM. Until one day... I’ll never forget it. She was sewing away and I was young enough to be home and hear her scream and tell me to go get...

“If you aren’t ready to be criticized by people, You’re not ready to be used by God.” Craig Groeschel. Wow, when I heard that I thought, "I can't handle it!" Then I realized, "Wait, that already happened!" People will only criticize you for doing two things: Something or Nothing. Yep, if you do something you will offend someone. Like if you write a blog about your life someone will get upset about it. Tada! If you don't do anything...you just sit around and exist...then you're lazy and worthless. Don't you ever want to look people in the eye and say, "WHAT?" Remember that old saying... "damned if you do, damned if you don't". It's true. Oh by the way...this message is brought to you by a mind that is being saved through knowing Christ. So, disclaimer...not perfect! Wow, now that we got that over with. I'm going to make you a promise. I will offend you. Will I do it intentionally, probably  not? Will I do it anyw...

Oh you think that’s funny do you? So do I. I’ll turn one year older when this is published. I have a new perspective and I thought I’d share it with you for my birthday.🎂 All of my life I thought birthdays were a secret. It was kind of like a game. If I didn’t tell you it was my birthday, but you remembered it... tada! You have proven that you love me. It’s funny how things sound when said aloud instead of just in your head. A birthday card doesn’t make me any more or any less loved by the one who made me in the first place. You don’t win a prize if someone remembers and it doesn’t make you less alive if someone forgets. So, for this.... insert number here...birthday... ha! I’m taking it back. This is my birthday! Wow! Mine!  God gave it to me! He gave me a life all those years ago today. He trusted me with it. He trusted me to find Him and then tell you about me finding Him. So, in order to honor the giver of all life and to celebrate the trust He has in me... let me tell...

The title of this blog comes from the old TV show “ Different Strokes”. Frequently said by Gary Coleman. On the show  "Good Times".J.J. Walker would say.”.Dynomite!” Google it. Lol So, I've been thinking about this blog and I had all sorts of different titles come to my mind. In case you haven't noticed, I have a very interesting  mind...yep. I own it! It makes me happy, others, not so much sometimes, but that's okay. I wrote a previous blog about salvation and asking Jesus to come into a persons life. But I didn't mention the X factor. There are many X factors in this world. There's; generation X, X-mas (uh oh), Cross roads (X). X's are everywhere. Of course I use the word X-man. My X is literal and it keeps that person anonymous. But I forgot to mention the biggest X in the world! Sin! Oh no! Sin? Yep. You see, I thought about mentioning sin and repentance, but then I thought...oh why? Won't that turn people off from Jesus? Really? Really? ...

Some people are just a  “sucker for punishment“, or so I’ve heard it said. I guess that’s a way of explaining why people will make the same mistake over and over again. However, there is a flaw to that thinking. What if we do the same thing, but do it differently each time? Are we still a "sucker for punishment", or are we growing? So, here's a story of a time when I fell off my horse and you decide whether I was a "glutton for punishment" or did I gain something that can never be taken from me? I've never owned a horse in my entire life, but I've loved them beyond reason. Charlie was the last horse that I had the privilege to know. He was awesome! He was amazing! He was...as stubborn as a mule. There was this three mile trail ride and I wanted to go really bad, but I didn't have a horse. So, I was instructed that if I could get Charlie ridable I could go. Charlie was a cart horse and had raced in his earlier days of life, but at age 25 he ...

Spiritual warfare is the most worlds most ridiculous plan.  I mean, where else do you hear someone tell you to take authority, pick up your weapons and hide? In case you're not familiar with the term Spiritual Warfare, let me edumecate you. Have you ever felt like you were facing unreasonable circumstances? You were either overly tired or in a fog or all your "buttons" had been pushed? Have you been busy doing The Lord's work? Have you been setting people free from darkness by shining the Light of Jesus on them? Have you been taking care of others and helping the helpless? Well, the enemy doesn't like it! The Bible tells us that our warfare is not of this world, so surrendering to God in the midst of a battle makes no earthly sense. So, in case you are a new Christian, let me tell you how to surrender to God and how to pick up your weapons. You may not even know that you have weapons. Look up Ephesians chapter 6, this is where the Bible describes our weapons...

Just imagine. You’re driving down the road one day to check on a rental property. The divorce is over and you’re trying to getting up and go on with your life.   You wouldn’t even have to be on this road except your last tenant left the water on after they turned off the electricity. Ok. Hands raised. How many of you know that if it’s January and you’re moving out you should let the landlord know the day the heat is being turned off? Plus it’s probably a good idea to have the water turned off first. Yeah, I thought so.  Well, obviously this renter lacked the education or common sense or... just did not care. Either way I had to meet the plumber at the property to have the water turned off.  It had been a very long day and I was pretty tired. But grateful that this tenant had vacated the property. She didn’t seem to be respectful of me or the property and there were plenty of other people willing to take care of this home.  I laid down to take...

Living in the Midwest has taught me a very valuable lesson. How to manage time. Now, I don't mean how to manage my life, although I am working on that. But I mean time...as in clocks. Digital clocks are pretty much worthless here in Oklahoma. People joke about hating the time change. I have grown to hate setting the time...over and over and over...did I mention over again?  I get all the clocks to agree on the same time, then comes a thunder storm. Suddenly all the digital clocks decide it is 12:00. Why is 12:00 the default time? And is it the middle of the night (12:00), or the middle of the day (12:00)? I go to bed at night and all the clocks agree on the time. I get up and the digital ones are blinking in confusion even though the battery operated clocks have kept the time. Do you ever feel like that? Maybe you go to bed knowing who  you are, what your purpose is and what you need to do the next day, then in the middle of the night something changes and the world is...