Just a guy on a Journey!

In awe my jaw drops serendipitously as my Pastor opens today’s message by stating, “Lately, I keep seeing the number 133.”  This prompting leads Pastor Nick to teach about Psalm 133 from the Old Testament of God’s written Word.

I nearly fall off my chair.  133 is a number that is near and dear to my heart in a way that no words can describe but I will attempt such measure in a future writing when the time is right.  I have only shared this “magic” number with a handful of people for it is too personal to write about publicly, but today I am compelled to share what I will call my lucky number (133) for simplicity sake.

As Pastor Nick says 133, I instinctively shout out from the last row in church. “That’s my number,” and he responds, Tim knows what I mean with numbers representing things.

I do know what he means.  I totally get it.  God speaks to us in a way that we get it.  He speaks our language and He speaks to our heart.  He speaks to us in a language we will understand.  Sometimes it is a puzzle and a mystery.  It makes for great conversation.

133 appears in my life every single day without fail as He confirms the word UNITY to me. The Bible says in Psalm 133, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”

After I shout out “That’s my number”, the young and brand-new first time Dad sitting in front of me turns around  with a proud smile only a new Dad can have and whispers, “Abigail was born at 1:33.”

Sometimes God whispers in our ear and sometimes He has to knock a more dense person over the head with a message such as myself.  It’s all good, I will take it anyway He gives it.

As I write this story, I open up the dashboard of my blog to begin writing this message and wouldn’t you know it, 133 is on top of the screen glaring in blue letters.  Apparently I have published 133 times at http://www.justaguyonajourney.com

Allow me to ask you, does God speak to you in numbers?  Care to share?  Post a comment or email me. For me, 133 is the form of a modern day angel.  May God release His angels and messages whole-heartedly upon you.  Just ask Him, see what happens and keep your ears and eyes open.  I love you.

Brinjoy?? You may ask what the heck is that?  Is there such a word?  I think not, it is a cheap rip-off of the word enjoy which is derived strategically from the word joy.

I fabricated the word in Jersey City style where the letter g gets dropped sometimes from the end of the word; for example, as said with an accent, bringin instead of the proper word bringing.

If you bring joy to someone you are practicing “brinjoy.”

Allow me to encourage you by inviting you to bring joy (brinjoy) to someone whether it be the next person you see in the street, at work, or at a mall as people shuffle briskly during the madness of this season; some completely stressed out just wanting to get home.  You can brinjoy fast and for free simply by flashing a peaceful and happy smile.

You can also brinjoy via a text, or a phone call to a long lost friend or distant family member.  Make the lost art of a phone call and simply let them know you are thinking of them.

How about the gift of an inexpensive poinsettia?  I recently brought a fire-engine red poinsettia to an elderly lady whom I met briefly only one time, it completely brightened her day and the thought of bringing her an unexpected gift brought her joy.  She could not believe the seasonal plant was for her.

The joy on her face was as if a squirrel found a pound of already shelled acorns at the bottom of a tree within a few feet of its nest.  I enjoyed this act of brinjoy before I even gave it a name.  I enjoyed her delighted reaction.  Now that I gave it a label, I will make it a point to brinjoy at least once a day.

Brinjoy.  I’d love to see it appear in the Webster Dictionary as a new and useful word.

Again, the next place you go…..brinjoy.  You will be happy you did.

Humidity registers at 100 percent on a New York State mountain on the dawn after thunder-storms broke the late night sky. Stickier than freshly-coated honey buns, we march through the forest with very little stopping along the way and with much huffing and puffing we finally reach the summit.   

Normally from this rocky mountainside you can see for miles and miles and on a clear day catch a slight glimpse of New York City but not today.

Today the mist is so thick, maybe we can see 200 feet beyond the cliff in the pure steam-filled skies as if the lake below is an overflowing boiling pot of water that blew its cover. 

Today, I cannot see the city but I do KNOW tall buildings are reaching for the sky this very moment. With amazing awe, I have experienced the breath-taking view from this vantage point on a number of occasions and I promise you NYC is still there.

But I can not see it. How do I know it is actually there? Well…sometimes we can see things and some days we can not.  

On days you can not see it does not mean the facts have changed, as mentioned, we know the city still stands tall across the cloudy skies. It is still there. 

I relate this to love in some degree. We may not always see it but it is still there. Some days your loved ones may not actively display loving actions or thoughts but that does not mean the love is not there, maybe you simply can not see it today because of a recent storm and on others days your heart swells up bigger than a canyon in Arizona. 

That is how it is with God’s love. Some days His love manifests itself so powerfully, the joyful experience offers more peace in five minutes than one may get in three full days of peace, love, and music in Woodstock, NY. 

On others days maybe it can not be seen but it is still there. He promises us throughout the scriptures and He showed His love to the world via a sacrifice (to end all sacrifices) so we can experience His love.

God’s love is always there. His written Word (The Bible) says seek me and you will find me and God is love. My take on that is seek God and you will find love. I know I did, Praise the Good Lord! 

For me, I would not want to take this journey any other way than finding true-love. A love that never ends and never fails and as I just noticed on my shirt in the enclosed picture, a love that lasts Forever and Forever is a long time. Amen!! 

Out for a walk in the crisp soft rain a small shiny piece of metal lies face up in the street.  
So what’s the big deal,there’s a dime on the ground? For me the big deal is I met this guy in San Francisco recently and he finds a dime on the ground every single day for the last 12 years. He is the epitome of a free spirit. He says he sold his company, sold his BMW, and sold his jet-ski and moved to Hawaii where he earns $50 a week creating some sort of green sustainable ecosystems. 

After my trip home from San Francisco I was chatting with a friend when she asked me what am I going to write about next, I tell her, “While in California, I met a guy named Ocean and he finds a dime on the ground every single day and there may be a story I can write about him finding a dime everyday, I just don’t know what the message is yet.”
Sure enough as I speak these words, FDR’s Presidential head lies face up on the sidewalk. There it is. A dime laying in the street, (talk about timing).

I find a dime here and there every once in a while, but tonight when I stumbled across a dime on a late night summer-stroll through the gentle misty rain it begs me to ask the question what does this mean? 
I still do not know the answer but I find it remarkable that I came across the dime as I was telling a friend the story about this guy I met in San Fran finding a dime everyday. 
Ocean finds spiritual significance in finding a ten cent piece, for me, I think it may symbolize God will always provide for me financially. 
I have become Facebook friends with Ocean and of course when I found the dime I messaged him a picture of the dime I found in the street, his typed reply is, 

“that is so kewl,,, try to remember what you were thinking about at the time,,, thats what i do,,,, try to find the spiritual meaning to it,,,,,,, haaa now you have your own collection !!!! you are on your spiritual journey!!!!on step everyday !!!! aloha!!!”
What was I thinking when I found the dime?? Well, the fact is I was thinking about Ocean at that very moment and thinking about “writing” a story about him.  

I will take Ocean’s advice and try to find the spiritual meaning to all this..
Ha, I think it just hit me. When speaking to Ocean in California, he was convinced that I am to be a writer. Afterall, Ocean’s real name is Jeremiah and Jeremiah is an Old Testament prophet and my favorite verse comes from that book.
What if I am to write and God is telling me to spend more time doing it and the rest will fall into place? That could be delightfully cool.
Unlike Ocean, I don’t have a BMW to give up and I don’t have a jet-ski to sell and I’m not ready to plant plantations in Hawaii for $50.00 a week but I do know God provides for His children and from here on in every time I find a dime in the street I will be reminded of Ocean’s message.  
Angels deliver messages and Ocean conveyed a message to me, maybe Ocean is an angel. 
I don’t know for sure but until I do, In Harry Chapin style, I will stuff the bill (or in this case-a dime) in my shirt and I will pray for Ocean with every dime I find.  Care to join me?  

When you find a dime, say a quick prayer for Ocean.  He will be forever blessed. 

I spent a lot of mental energy recently pondering what great life event I should embrace as I turn 50 tomorrow.  At best I get another 50 years here.  I want to enter my 50’s with a full heart yet an open heart, full of vigor, drenched in wisdom, filled with love, gentleness, and kindness yet be a warrior when needed.

Walking past an aluminum shiny pull-off soda can tab recently, I thought it would make a fun picture for I have a newly developed interest in photography. The tab although old, was in intact even though these were not used on beverage cans since I was a teenager in the early ‘80s.  It sat on the ground in great condition probably being unearthed recently with all the spring rain.

Broken in two pieces lies the tab in the wet street the next day.  Oh well!  So much for my fun picture of the unbroken ring.

Today while winding down my 40’s and taking photos down at the local river, a shiny tab reflects through the clear streaming fresh waters.  Of course it is another soda tab and it is not broken, lying peacefully in the river-bed all in one piece as posing for a photo.

The tab serves as a metaphor for me. If it could talk, I think it would say….  “You missed the first picture Tim but as you enter stage 2 of life, here is a second chance to take your shot.  Do it now before I get carried away forever in the waters.  Do it now, tomorrow I can be broken in two pieces like the first tab you found. You procrastinated and that picture is gone.  Take your shot now. Do it now.”

I took the picture.  I got a SECOND CHANCE!

I often hear a cliché people say…’God is a God of second chances.’  I do not know exactly what that means but I do hope to enjoy the sounds of waves crashing, birds chirping in the rain forest, raindrops  falling as I walk hand in hand with the woman that walks with me into eternity and God pours His grace out on me.

I am ready to hear her heart beat speed up as I pull her near.  This is phase 2 of life for both of us and there are seas to be traveled, rivers to be walked, oceans to be swum in and skies to rocket across.  I hope to see as many shooting stars as I have over the last few years.

Some of the best and most important things happened to me in Stage 1 of life and I am forever grateful and thankful for those of you that were/are a part of that and I pray for those continued blessings into Stage 2.

More peace, love, and understanding are coming my way.  It will be more than just an Elvis Costello song.  Being well grounded in my faith, I trust a new maturity is unfolding for me.

As I mature, I hope to stay forever young.  I hope my spirit remains youthful and I never stop laughing.  I want my heart to always radiate joy and my baby-face never to lose a smile.  I will continue dancing even though I can look like a lanky fool sometimes.  Who cares? Life is to be lived. No one is watching anyway.

I am ready to rock.  I enter my 50’s with great optimism.  As a 50 year old friend whom I have known since High-School tells me, “50 is a very strong solid age.”  I like that. It sounds grown-up.  Other friends say age is just a number.  As I say goodbye to my 40’s, 50 is a number I am ready for.  Come on 50. I am ready for you.  I welcome my old friends to come with me and I look forward to all the new people I will meet.  Are you with me?

Patience, we all need it. 

When in need God always delivers when we ask Him.

He doesn’t always give us what we want when we want it but as Mick Jagger says, “You just might find you get what you need.”

I needed to be reminded today about waiting. Facebook has that new feature offering to post a memory of a previous post. 

Today’s memory is a brief story I wrote about patience as sung by the one and only Bono. See story Story on Patience….

Once I post a story I tend to not reread unless someone brings it to my attention.

My post about patience 2 years ago is right on with today’s need. I would not change a single word.  

Furthermore as I went to write what I am writing now, a poem came up on my screen that pertains to waiting, this also was written two years ago.  

The untitled writing from my notes reads: 

“The forsythia are in bloom reminding me it is worth the wait,

the forsythia are in bloom reminding me He is never late.

Releasing thoughts of rhyme, 

seasoning all things in His time

Yellow brushing as forth comes the sun,

constantly reminding me His work is already done

Thank you Jesus! ”

So the point of my story is God reaches us and delivers our every need when we reach out in prayer. He is always talking.  Listening is key. 

For me, right now I need to continue my journey in patience and if I may be bold enough to ask for my first prayer request publicly, I do ask that you pray for my patience (and that I wait patiently on God) and if you have a prayer request please feel free to post your request in the comment section or email me at justaguyonajourney@yahoo.com

Thanks for the prayer and thanks for reading. 

Lake Arenal in Costa Rica

What do you want? What do you really want? Do you really want it? I mean not like you have to have it and if you don’t get it you feel like a fish without gills, but you really want and desire it.

Is your soul guiding you to want it? Are you afraid to want it because you may not get it? Let’s face it, no one likes disappointment.

What if God wants you to have it too? Do you we really know what God wants us to have? Doesn’t He give us certain desires?

Yes, I believe He does. The key is to line those desires (wants) up with God’s will for your life.
If the want and His will diametrically oppose each other, they self-destruct and then you will not want it anymore anyway.

If your deepest want is your biggest dream, bring the power of God to make it come true. In fact, it is true already. You just have to live as if it happened while exercising the wisdom the good Lord endowed upon us.

Make sure your wants line up with His desires for His children. Commit to it if you know it is right and it creates mutual blessing and watch it unfold in His timing.

It says in the book of wisdom (Proverbs) the desire of the righteous will be granted, Proverbs 10:24.

Ask God if it is not His will for you to have such a desire or want, ask Him to remove it from your heart and have it wash away faster than a smashed bag of crackers washes away when opened and tossed into the surf.

If it is good you will have it. If you do not get it you’ll be shown why it would not have been good for you.

Don’t be shy, don’t be afraid. Be bold. Ask for it. Get ready for it. Embrace it, bury fear. Allow faith to make it happen.

Be patient. If it is worth having, it is worth waiting for.

photographed by LPS.

“Your love is like radiance diamonds.”  We just filled up my daughter’s car with gas and as the car starts, those words come over the air waves on New Jersey’s 99.1.  We both smiled as the song came on and she said now you have to write your diamond story tonight.  I shared this same story with her today verbally and it goes like this…

A friend of mine last week reminded me of one of my canned sayings back in the day when we sold real estate together. “Stick with me and you will be wearing diamonds.”  Yes, I used to say that as a cocky 20 year old kid.  It was all in good fun though and effective salespeople need to feel good about themselves with an air of confidence.

The next day a surprise visit from another friend that I worked with in the mid 80’s, chuckling he asks me, “Swartzteen, do you remember when you used to always say, “Stick with me and you will be wearing diamonds.”  Well of course I do.

Pulling a pack of matches out of my winter coat the same week, a diamond logo is displayed with the word diamond prominently written across it. I think there may be a message centered on diamonds.

A short while later at my Church, I reach in the box of K-Cups and the brand pops out at me….Double Diamond.

The next morning, I see a billboard promoting diamonds.  Later in the day, I receive an email referencing diamonds.  With no fianceé on the horizon I am not in the market for a glitzy rock yet diamonds are coming at me everywhere I turn.

The word diamond radiates in my mind.  Maybe this is the answer to a prayer I have. I have been asking God recently how He sees me.  Does He see me as a colorless piece of carbon, formed and made stone-hard and beautiful under great pressure?   Maybe He is getting me ready for my bride, perhaps I should be saving for that flawless stone. Again, with no fianceé in sight, I think it is the former thought of how He sees me.

Surely I can be reading into things and simply focused on diamonds because some old friends brought up my classic one-liner so I take it up in prayer with the Lord.

I ask God if He is speaking to me about a diamond to be clear and let me know.  I want to know God is speaking if it is in fact God surrounding me with diamonds. I specifically request from God, if you are telling me something about diamonds please bring it up at my home-group tonight (Bible-Study).

We are studying creation in my Bible Study and the story of Adam and Eve.  How can diamonds come up during a discussion about the Garden of Eden?  Very unlikely so if it does, I will know God is speaking to me with something related to diamonds.

Sure enough, during the lesson, the lady next to me asks the leader a question and asks did you hear the song ……? With an enthused reply a melodic voice sings, “Your love is like radiance diamonds.”  Bingo, there I have it.  I know God is speaking diamonds to me.  God did exactly what I asked Him to do.

I was hoping to get an answer of some sort in my spirit as I waited 10 minutes on a dark cloudy night outside of my car after the meeting. Looking up into the late night sky there is a diamond suspended in the sky.  It is a star.  There is only one visible star in the sky.  Shining bright and brilliant in the Northern sky is a solitaire diamond dispersing light over my path looking over me with a twinkle.

Diamonds are the most precious and valuable gemstones on Earth.  At times I am guilty of selling myself short and although I appear ‘full of myself”, I have questioned my own self-worth when things go wrong.  I will never question my self-worth again, regardless of all the wins and losses along the journey. I now know the answer.  I am a diamond.

I do not say this in a proud or pompous way but in a humble way I confidently assert I am a diamond.  We are all diamonds for we are all beautiful, precious, and extremely valuable.

God sees me as diamond.  Jesus is my rock.  Diamonds are rocks.  Jesus’s love is like a radiant diamond. Diamonds reflect back what is in front of them.  Through God’s radiance I am a bright and brilliant diamond.  Talk about having something worth its weight in gold. We are worth more than that.  I am over 200 pounds in carats cut by the Master Himself.

I hope to reflect all facets of God’s beauty, love, faithfulness and goodness.

The scriptures say in Isaiah 62 “For the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”

Wow!  God rejoicing over me?  I am just a guy on a journey yet He rejoices over me??  Yes He does.  He shows me I am as precious and as valuable as the most prized of all prized jewels.  I love it.  I believe He sees a diamond when He sees me!

As for the bride, I trust God is working on me to be the unselfish and loving Godly man she deserves.  God will awaken this lovely lady when we are both ready.  In the meantime, I will keep saving for that weighty stone perfect in cut, color, clarity.

Now the double diamond makes sense to me, it just came to me as I close this story for now.  This lovely women sent from heaven gets a double diamond.  She gets a diamond for her hand and she gets the diamond writing this story.

I do not say that in a cocky or self-inflating tone.  I am thrilled to be who I am and I am a diamond.  I am keeping the diamond matchbook until I strike the perfect match.  My diamond match and we will one day light the unity candle.  Thank you Lord for making us diamonds.