Book Three Part One - Don't Turn Them Away

7-4-2013

A few years ago, on July 4th, I drove past the local Post Office and saw police cars and an ambulance. I also saw a lifeless body on the ground--a man dressed in blue jeans and a black t-shirt. He was a veteran. And he killed himself under the United States flag flying overhead. I will never lose that memory of such sadness and desperation. A lonely man I assume. Someone just looking for hope on this earth.

A few weeks ago at church, a visitor and his junior high age son were looking for the youth group. I walked out to the foyer, carefully closing the door as to not disturb the service, and spoke with him. He seemed nervous and his son barely looked up. I could tell they were hurting and new and alone.

The youth group was done for the summer, but I made conversation asking him where they were from and wanted them to feel welcome. Out of the sanctuary comes an older woman. She was abrupt.

"You people can't stand here and be talking. You're disturbing the service. Go outside."

She turned and went back into the sanctuary where everyone was all cozy and settled for the teaching. I gave the gentleman a brief hug and directed him to a seat.

My Italian/New York hate for injustice fumed over and I honestly would have liked to chew out that lady. I knew it was useless and I would appear the offender. How selfish, cruel, and unkind she was. How so "unlike" Jesus she had been.

I hoped the gentleman would come back that next Sunday.

Book three is titled A Heart Like His: Living God's Will for Your Life.

You find his will, understand his will, and then ... you have to live it. Never grow weary in doing good, putting yourself last, and passing out kindness to everyone you encounter.

Don't turn people away--welcome them in any state, any form, any position, and give them the best treatment you can muster up.

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?  James 2:1-4

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Book Three Thoughts

Weds.
6-26-2013

Yes, it has been awhile since I posted. Remember, life takes twisted turns for many of us. And some of us fall out of our seats as we hold on for the ride!

So I'm starting a new series of blog posts. Often, writers will "blog" a book their writing. I'm starting the third book in my non-fiction trilogy, A Heart Like Mine.

The first book is, A Heart Like Mine: Finding God's Will for Your Life.

Book two is, A Heart Like Yours: Understanding God's Will for Your Life.

Now, after recent life events, I'm embarking on the third book in the trilogy, A Heart Like His, Living God's Will for Your Life.

This will be the hardest to write, but after several years of engaging in physical, emotional, and spiritual battles, I'm ready to take the outline and fill in the blanks. This third book completes the journey to actually living God's will. I don't always accomplish this without continued battle of my own will, but I usually try again. Failure leads me to find out what I did wrong in the first place.

This new blog series will be the dumping grounds for book three's content. I hope you learn and feel free to comment. 8^)

Cindy

Visit me at http://www.cindyscinto.com

Save a Rabbit

Consumers will spend more than 17 BILLION dollars on Easter this year, and the Washington Post reported today that:

"Republicans started complaining about a notice that the White House Easter Egg Hunt could be canceled due to a potential government shutdown. The Obama administration has already come under GOP criticism for canceling White House tours due to the mandatory, across-the-board cuts known as sequestration." 

So what would Jesus think? He's the one who died in a painful, torturous manner. He's the one who rose. Isn't that what Easter's about? Instead of the real reason, it's merely candy, food, arguments, drunkenness, credit card debt, and all the other things that come with these Catholic Church holidays.

I think the Catholic Church should sequester Easter.

Save a rabbit--boycott Easter.

 [Disclaimer] This is not a slander on any religious beliefs. This is a rant against the machine. The retail driven fringe that creates lucrative profits based on the appeal of religious holidays.

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Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
~Pete Seeger

If you live in an area where it gets cold enough to plunge anything outside that's alive into a deep freeze, you know the appreciation of the first lively green shoot to appear from dark soil or the evidence of spring in a swollen bud on an apple tree.

There are people who love the four seasons: Spring's new birth, the steady heat of Summer, crisp goodbyes of Fall, and the sleepy cover of Winter. Other people crave the year round warmth where 65 degrees is sweater weather and others prefer the white tundras of Alaska where summer is a distant memory.

Each climate in any geographical location needs particular conditions to sustain life and flora. The north needs frigid winters to destroy etiological predators that have cocooned under hidden places so they can emerge in Spring and eat through the new life. The tropical south requires warmth all year and one hard frost can destroy crops and hopeful cana lilies ready to bloom.

No climate is prefect and no season remains forever. Life is the same way. Maybe you're in a state of stasis and it's not the time for you to emerge from your cocoon or you may find yourself hurled ahead by a raging river, swollen by melting snows rolling down the mountains. No climate of life can be perfect and may never be the way you'd hoped for. You can't leave and move to a better climate. You either have to bundle up against the bitter cold, or endure the heat of angst. Adapt and grow no matter what season God has placed you in.



Bloom where you are.

I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

Ecclesiastes 3:10-14 (NIV)

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Lake Superior State University 2013 List of Banished Words

January 30, 2013

I'm late getting these posted, but here they are! This is the list!


FISCAL CLIFF

As one might expect, this phrase received the most nominations this year. If Congress acts to keep the country from tumbling over the cliff, LSSU believes this banishment should get some of the credit.

"(We’ve) lost sight of the metaphor and started to think it's a real place, like with the headline, 'Obama, Boehner meeting on fiscal cliff'." Barry Cochran, Portland, Ore.

KICK THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD

"I'm surprised it wasn't on your 2012 list -- were you just kicking the, um, phrase down the road to 2013?" ~T. Jones, Ann Arbor, Mich.

"I thought that perhaps you weren't ready to deal with it. You just kicked that can down the road." Rebecca Martz, Houston, Tex.

DOUBLE DOWN

"Over-used within the last year or so in politics." ~John Gates, Cumberland, Maine

JOB CREATORS/CREATION

"It implies supernatural powers -- such as the ability to change the weather or levitate. Most new jobs pay less than the lost jobs to ensure stratospheric CEO compensation and nice returns on investments. I respectfully propose a replacement term that is more accurate -- job depleters." ~Mark Dobias, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

PASSION/PASSIONATE

"Diabetes is not just Big Pharma's business, it's their passion! This or that actor is passionate! about some issue somewhere. A DC lobbyist is passionate! about passing (or blocking) some proposed law. My passion! is simple: Banish this phony-baloney word." ~George Alexander, Studio City, Calif.

YOLO

"Stands for 'You Only Live Once' and used by wannabe Twitter philosophers who think they've uncovered a deep secret of life. Also used as an excuse to do really stupid things, such as streaking at a baseball game with YOLO printed on one's chest. I only live once, so I'd prefer to be able to do it without ever seeing YOLO again." ~Brendan Cotter, Grosse Pte. Park, Mich.

"Used by teens everywhere to describe an action that is risky or unconventional, yet acceptable because 'you only live once.' Who lives more than once?" ~P.P., Los Angeles, Calif.

SPOILER ALERT

"Used as an obnoxious way to show one has trivial information and is about to use it, no matter what." ~Joseph Joly, Fremont, Calif.

BUCKET LIST

"The expression makes me cringe every time I hear it -- and we've been hearing it for several years. I'm surprised it isn't already in your master list. Let's emphasize life and what we do during it. It's such a grim way of looking at 'what I want to do,' and often it is in selfish terms." ~Shea Hoffmitz, Hamilton, Ont.

TRENDING

"A trend is something temporary, thank goodness; however, it is not a verb, and I'm tired of news stations telling me what trite 'news' is 'trending.'" ~Kyle Melton, White Lake, Mich.

BONELESS WINGS

"Can we just call them chicken (pieces)?" ~John McNamara, Lansing, Mich.

GURU

"Unless you're teaching transcendental meditation, Hinduism or Buddhism, please don't call yourself a guru just because you think you're an expert at something. It's silly and pretentious. Let other people call you that, if they must." ~Mitch Devine, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.

LSSU accepts nominations for the banished-words list throughout the year. To submit your nomination for the 2014 list, go to http://www.lssu.edu/banished/submit_word.php. Check out the compiled list to make sure your nomination hasn't already been banished!

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Lake Superior State University is Michigan's smallest public university with an enrollment of 3,000 students. It is known for its academic programs such as fisheries and wildlife management, engineering, nursing, criminal justice, fire science and business management. For admissions information, go to LSSU's admissions web site, www.lssu.edu/admissions.


LSSU accepts nominations for the banished-words list throughout the year. To submit your nomination for the 2014 list, go to http://www.lssu.edu/banished/submit_word.php. Check out the compiled list to make sure your nomination hasn't already been banished!


Visit me at http://www.cindyscinto.com