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Photo courtesy of Barb Miller.Thank you.

I know, I know! What’s so serene about a tobacco store? I gave up smoking robust Churchill’s a few years ago. I cannot say that I instantly agree with the name Serenity Tobacco and Gift Shop for a cigar shop but the word serenity in blood-red letters captures my attention.

A positive-thinking Facebook friend posted this morning a picture of a fun, joy-riding, bright-yellow New Jersey Jeep with the word SERENITY pasted on the hood in purple letters.  She received it as her message for the day.

justanswerOptimistically staking out her claim for the day with the message of serenity, my thoughts are maybe I will also get a glimpse of a serene surrounding on my journey today.  Maybe serenity will be served and the word will fit for the day.  Instead, an hour later I receive an email from a company called Just Answer. The subject reads, “Serenity now.”

Now the word “Serenity” has my attention. I Google serenity and it leads me to what is called the “The Serenity Prayer.”

The prayer is: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”

I ask God is this the serenity you want to give me today?  Is it the serenity prayer you want to show me?  If so, please show me the word serenity so the message is clear to me.   Sure enough there it is, within a minute after my prayer a tall sign overlooks Route 23. Serenity Tobacco Gift Shop.  Yes, I asked for it and found the word 1,000 feet later along a bustling New Jersey Highway.

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The Serenity Prayer teaches me how to handle the message I received in a harrowing dream I had last night.   What happened in the dream is happening in real-life and it is beyond my control.  Not even Superman can change it.  I just need to accept it.

When I asked the Lord what is He saying to me with this message, the verse I drew said, “The Lord will give strength unto his people and the Lord will bless his people with peace.” Psalm 29:11

Psalm 29:11

Psalm 29:11 from an 😯 yr. old box of verses.

Serenity is peace and God delivers on His promises.  Keep the cigar. Just give me the strength, my camera, my listening ears, an open heart, and a tranquil setting where I can observe peaceful waters.  He delivered.  God granted me serenity today in more than one way with a peaceful pond that reflects draping deciduous trees in full summer bloom.

How about you?  Are you anxiously holding onto something that you cannot change? Do yourself a favor.  Accept it. Acceptance may be harder than thrusting 500 pounds of barbel-strapped iron into the air but the Lord will give you strength and you will be BLESSED with peace(Remember Psalm 29:11) and peace my friends is where the real action is.

I don’t know If Serenity Tobacco Shop sells peace-pipes or not but God’s peace is free and unlike Cheech and Chong’s skit and the peace-pipe’s contents it doesn’t go “Up in smoke.”

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Timothy S. | 5 Comments

It’s Still Life

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Timothy S.

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Standing peacefully with no protest three people willing to share alternatives to abortion gather on the corner of a parking lot leading to an abortion clinic. My car shouts a quick Beep! Beep! as the volunteers receive a thumb’s up from “Just a guy on a journey.”

They return smiles to me and I am thinking how can I encourage these people. Maybe I will walk up to them give them some words of reassurance and offer to pray with them. Of course, this is just a thought in my head as I proceed to my own Doctor appointment.

Walking up the same flight of steps that yields a hidden yet obvious happy face that prompted my story “One more smile”, http://wp.me/p2JvaQ-5j I find a business card on the ground a few feet away from the smiley face. The name of the business is Still Life Taxidermy.

Still Life??? I can’t help but see the words still life. The words nearly jump off the business card. Yes it is still life, thinking of the babies….of course it is!

I take my seat at the doctor’s office, feeling like I need to pray with those people on the corner, encourage them, and pray with them for the unborn babies. So I do.

As I approach the woman, she is graciously sharing information with a young man named Jonathan through the descended window of his pick-up truck.

I wait roadside for a moment as the truck pulls away hopefully with a potentially changed heart for its driver. The woman tells me Jonathan is interested in what she had to say. So with her and her associate we pray for Jonathan’s unborn baby on a Texas street-corner.

My urgent request is that you may pray for the unborn babies that are facing an uncomfortable and unfair abortion. I can be descriptive with my writing at times but I am going to be non graphically polite here and leave it at that. Please pray for this particular precious baby as well and his or her protection.

The card I found says Still Life and on my personal card it says Experience Life. Please pray that Jonathan’s baby gets to Experience Life and enjoy the journey that we were all graciously and lovingly granted.

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This is not a political essay or an intent to infringe on anybody’s rights on either side. I do know for the next nine months this unborn baby will receive prayer from me although I will never know the results of my prayer in this particular situation, at least not on this side of life.

I do believe if I ever meet someone twenty years or so from now born in Dallas in the first half of 2014 and I learn their father’s name is Jonathan, I know I will project a smile wider than the great state of Texas itself and that is nearly 1,000 miles wide. Please pray my friends. Please pray now.

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The Golden-Tablet

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Timothy S.

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Have you been let down? Either by yourself or someone else. Perhaps a dream shattered before your very eyes.

It’s ok. It really is. Your well-meaning friends may say do not dwell on it yet that is like saying do not look at the white-elephant in the room. They simply can not relate to your pain.

Does replacing the letdown with gratitude actually change those hurtful negative feelings? Many say yes it does, but how?

We’ve all heard gratitude is an attitude. Gratitude is also a delightful virtue as refreshing as absorbing the sounds of misty waterfalls while smiling graciously with someone you love dearly and enjoy a tasty peanut-butter sandwich made with love. I enjoy rushing waterfalls and I love smiling so sign me up for this gratitude thing. I tested it and I find it works!

How is this peace-giving quality (gratitude) helpful during a season of disappointment and tricky trials? The answer is simple. Being grateful focuses on the “positive” and shows you all the prized and precious things currently in your life while eliminating room in your mind of the things you do not have and may never have.

Gleefully focus on the good. In the past, I drafted my top-ten list of things I am grateful for. Unfortunately the list tends to get buried along with more than 3,500 notes in my virtual notepad rendering it bootless.

The problem with such lists are they are cold and dry and have no real life in them anyway. In David Letterman style, the “top-ten” list fades quicker than store-bought cut flowers void of any fresh water and a vase left in a parked Texas car with the windows sealed on a blazing hot summer day.

On my journey I discovered a new technique and it is not simply “count your blessings” and jot them down. Visualizing your blessings is much more powerful. The magic key is in VISUALATION.

Let’ call it the “Golden-Tablet.”

Now picture this. This iPad-type tablet is neither silver, white or black, it is as golden as a break of day New Jersey sunrise and it is imaginary. Everybody owns one. This “Golden-Tablet” exists only when your eyes are closed and you replace the image of the Apple on it with a bright image of what you are most grateful for today.

The image implanted in this 24-karat gold frame is a vivid picture
displaying one really good-thing currently in your life and is joyfully personal to you. You already own and treasure this one-thing and you love having it.

Close your eyes and see this glittering “Golden-Tablet” inside your focused forehead. What is dashing across the colorful screen? Imagine it, bring it to the front of your mind. Don’t make a wish-list here, place that one really good-thing that you are thankful for inside the frame.

Do you see it? I know you do. Now smile and thank God for it with a deep joyful sigh of relief. I trust your sincere smile is expressing this real-life gracious moment of gratitude.

This quick turn-around of nonproductive disappointment and my desire to help others that took their lumps along the way prompted me to write this powerful recipe today. Let’s always be happy!

The calmness from this exercise feels awesome, doesn’t it? The disappointment fades away with Letterman’s list. Hopefully you shifted gears and feel good when focusing on your “Golden-Tablet.” Do you hear the waterfalls cascading at full-force? Are you in a state of euphoria? I am! God bless peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches.

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God and a turtle.

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Timothy S.

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Check out this perfectly designed well-camouflaged turtle. Do you see the letters GOD engraved in it or perhaps autographed by its Maker the way a “high-end” designer brands an item with a hand-stamped custom made imprint?

At first I missed it, and then came back to the image a few minutes later and it popped out at me. If you do not see it, look again. It’s there, I promise.

The message for me at first glance of this turtle is nothing, no effect, nada. It’s just a turtle a child-hood friend posted on my Facebook wall. I did not see God in it, however when I look again I see God’s handprint on this creature carrying the name of God Himself.

This teaches me at first-look we may not see God in everyday circumstances that are right in front of us but when we look again, we can see God has His hand in it.

On a personal level, at first glance I did not see why my California “calling/journey” has been delayed but with a second glance it pops out at me.

I need to spend the summer in New Jersey with my children as my youngest one gets a permit to drive a car any day now. I will never have the opportunity again to share in that milestone life-experience of my son grabbing the wheel for the first time and him saying hand me the keys Dad. Soon enough in Harry Chapin style he will say “See you later can I have them please?”

We don’t always see God’s hand right away but when we dig a little deeper we see God acting in our life when we rely on Him for guidance. God knows my son and I need this time together more than I need time in a different State right now as He leads me to an auspicious Jersey summer.

God is hidden in this turtle.
When God is hidden it leaves us nothing to believe in. I want to believe even when I do not see Him. Bruce Springsteen was on to something when he wrote “Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe.”

My reason for believing is because God’s handprint is everywhere and I know He is present. The problem is you may miss Him if you do not look for Him. Do you see God on the turtle? The message is, if at first you do not see God in it, look again. Do you see God in “everyday” things as simple as a turtle? Do tell.

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One More Smile Please

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Timothy S.

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Walk up these concrete stairs with me in a Dallas office park.
Look at this blah-colored dismal wall standing bare, absent from any graffiti. Is there a message in these textured walls for you? My guess is no. Not for you.

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Earlier in the day I read a worksheet of good things to do throughout the day, line item 5 pops out of my head for it said make 33 people smile today. The problem is I need a smile myself after a bleak phone call from an old friend.

Yesterday a stranger through the Internet randomly brings to my attention an article written by me eight months ago, called “Worry and a smile.” The article states when you see a smile after a moment of sadness you will know it is for you.

Appreciating the reminder I reread my own article. Turns out I needed it for myself once again which is why it was placed before the eyes of the author.

My guess is you didn’t see the smile in the empty staircase. Look again, look down at the center wall roughly 12 inches off the ground. Do you see what I see now? Imprinted into the texture is a perfectly-shaped happy face.

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I wanted to make sure I was not stretching a story and not seeing things for the rest of the wall stands completely naked of any obtrusions. Flagging down a passerby, I ask him, “What is that in the wall?” He quickly responds it is a face, a smiley face.

That well alert guy has been coming up those same flight of steps for multiple years and never saw it. I know it hangs there for me to see.

A smile abounds, not only suspended on a stucco wall but on this guy on a journey. Now the hallway flashes two smiling faces as I photograph the implanted never-ending happy face.

I am not sure how a smiley face found itself on a Texas exterior wall. I believe I know why I was the one to find it. Because I needed it.

Finding it made it real easy for me to make 31 more people smile throughout the day. Remember? My list called for 33. I smiled myself and found many more. I only need one more smile to complete my daily task of 33. How about it? Can you be that one? Smile! Please? Pretty please. I only need one more. Thank you. 🙂 Back at you.

Come on people now. Smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another right now.

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Fly Like an Eagle

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Timothy S.

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“Come dance in the west-wind and touch over the mountain-tops, sail over the canyons, reach for the heavens and hope for the future and all that we can be and not what we are.”

I wish I wrote those words but John Denver beat me to it in his song the Eagle and the Hawk. Listening to his powerful strum of those six strings vibrating so loudly through my ear-phones bring those words to temporal life. The music is moving in a way where one can not help but be energized and lifted up.

Could you imagine soaring in the west-winds over the mountain-tops taking in vistas that are more breathtaking than a scuba-diver while dusting the ocean’s floor realizes he only has three gusts of earth-filled air left?

I want this. I want to see what the eagle sees. I want to Fly Like an Eagle, sharing the same want Steve Miller makes himself most notably vocal about.

But how? How can I experience this freedom, a flight with so much to see and take in? Natural landscapes have always imprinted my heart with an appreciation for God’s artistic abilities that causes many a person to set up an easel among such a view, spending countless-hours and getting lost in beautiful creations cast throughout this perfectly made round globe we exist on.

I want to soar like an eagle…and I can. I don’t want to miss a beat. I do not want to exhaust and faint on my journey.

We can all soar with the strength of an eagle and reach for the heavens. The Maker of these vast landscapes promises this to us.

The words inscribed in Isaiah 40:31
Are:

“But those that wait on The Lord
Shall renew their strength,
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”

Ok, so what do I to receive this promise I am excited to breath in and act out ? The answer is in the verse itself. Wait upon The Lord.

Waiting is not something an over-confident fool like myself does well. When I want something, I go after it whole-heartedly causing impatience to breed within me creating an internal-weakness.

Thankfully, during this impatient stage, God leads me with great promise to my favorite verse in the Bible, Isaiah 40:31 where I am reminded to wait on the Lord to receive such a great reward of tireless strength. Being self-reliant often ends in strong men falling as it knowingly says in verse 30. Thank God there will me no more falling for me.  I choose to wait and avoid the fall.

Are you waiting for the open-freedom a soaring eagle reflects so eloquently ? Keep waiting. The eagle couldn’t see what it sees from day one. The eagle had to wait for the God-created lift beneath its wings and after waiting it takes in the freedom of sailing high over the canyons with great hope of what lies ahead of him.

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The eagle soars high effortlessly for an extended period of time and on a moments notice quickly descending it powerfully scales the waters of a rapidly running stream that flows a strong current and plucks his tasty catch out of the water.

Endurance doesn’t come from a tough-guy attitude. It comes by waiting. Waiting upon The Lord gives us strength to run and not be weary.

Do you want to fly with me flapping wings of great strength? Let’s wait together. Let’s wait patiently upon the One that gives us breath and the lift for all of us to fly high with great endurance.
With renewed stamina I am choosing to wait. Are you willing to wait?

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A Left Handed Hero

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Timothy S.

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On a Texas walk with Texie a red hand waves hello atop a Colorado brewery bottle-cap. Being left handed myself it piques my interest why this little piece of tin carrying the name Left Handed Brewery is named after what early European generations deemed us South-Paws as diabolical, sinister people born of the devil himself.

A quick Google search educates me this brewery on a river near a scenic valley in the colorful state John Denver sang so passionately about in his song Rocky Mountain High is named after Chief Nowit which means left hand in the Arapoho Native American language.

The entrepreneurs of this micro-brewery chose to honor the peace-seeking Chief that was slaughtered along with 180 Native Americans by the white man in 1862 while standing peacefully with his arms folded trying to communicate a message of peace with quote, “The Settlers”, unquote the settlers.

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I imagine the brave Chief was left handed for that was his name.

Red blood runs through my Native-American roots. I traced one of my ancestors back to the 1600’s. This many times over Great Grandfather of mine bore the name Kozy-Night. I guess his name explains it all.

What would you want your name to be if you were born of Native American culture? My uncles tease me and call me “Smiley Eyes” although my cheerful eyes see myself being named Love-Soul.

Why Love-Soul? Because my soul is filled with love, faith, and hope with the greatest of these being love. Yes…..love. Have I told you lately I love you?

My hat is off to Left Hand Brewing Company. Honoring such a peaceful red blooded man is a classy, caring, and commendable act to Chief Left Hand’s bold character.

Left Hand, you are my hero.

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Happy Birthday Y’all!

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Timothy S.

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An involuntary cry and a breath of fresh- air. It is the day of your birth. The ones that love you welcome you into their world and the world at large.

They celebrate. Maybe even smoke a cigar with your name on it or at least your gender. You have been given life. Praise The Lord!!
The years go on and the celebrations continue once a year with much fan-fare, Carvel ice-cream cake, balloons with your loved ones singing to you. You feel special this one day a year, don’t you?
Well…isn’t every morning we wake up our birthday? We are born into a new day and the conscience world as we drift away from dream land.
We are given birth each new day. So we should be made to feel special every day by our friends and loved ones. The challenge is, how practical is it to eat ice-cream cake every day before an unhealthy inflated-number stares back at you from the much hated scale?
Real life and reality sets in and people are not treated like the birthday boy/girl and that celebrated-person every single day, not even in the imaginative fairy-tales where they live happily ever after. Oh well, at least we get that one day a year.
Wait! I do know someone that celebrates you on a daily basis. No, it is not your earthly father. He is the Father of all creation. Of course I am referring to God.
God loves us more than we can imagine. He created us and He doesn’t make any mistakes. He may not be blowing out the candles with us everyday and granting us our selfish wishes but He does make us feel special.
When you can grasp just how much God actually loves you, you will feel celebrated, approved, and you know how “good” you really are. Knowing that you are good makes a constant celebration of joy that can only be injected in us from the love of Christ.
You will recognize the celebration when receiving His love.

I love God because He first loved me. He sacrificed His son Jesus for me and I never really understood how much He loves me until it was revealed to me this year. He loves us more than you know.

God loves you and all of His children. He wants us to celebrate each other and love one another as if we are all siblings. Even when you don’t feel love from mankind, you can experience this love, peace, and joy that are gifts of the Holy Spirit.

When these gifts surface from your mind, body, and soul on a daily basis know that you are being celebrated on a daily basis by your creator.

Turn to God, ask Him to tell you the truth. Seek His Kingdom and live His celebration. Happy birthday my friends.

Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the music…

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