Great friends with great Stories.

I was thinking this morning how fortunate I have been to have such great friends. Without naming names, here are a few,

One friend collects motorcycles, used pianos to refinish, cars, houses, and all other kinds of collectibles. This gentle man would give you the shirt off his back in a snowstorm. His kindness and generosity is unmatched and yet he goes pretty much unnoticed. I could go on forever, but I will leave that to another blog.

Another friend is a retired radio man. This guy has the best radio voice I have ever heard. He is an organist who has played just about any organ you can describe. Recently he received a Hammond Organ to put under his Betty Paige poster. He also has an old radio to remind him of his glory days. ( He doesn't need reminding, he is still in his glory days). He collects old ties and great stories. You could sit and listen to him forever.

I have just scratched the surface on just two of many great friends who have great stories. What binds us together? Besides the love of God, county, family and friends it is the interesting stories they share.

It's not surprising when you read in the paper that banks are now in trouble. This is one of the things that happens in a depression. It is no surprise that Detroit auto makers are losing money big time. This is due to mismanagement. When gas price were climbing, they were selling gas guzzlers. what really surprise me is that our leaders who have lead us down this path, are still in charge. They don't have to worry because they have their golden parachutes. Big business has slipped so much money into their pockets that retirement isn't a problem. Granholm is the worst governor since Miliken. Granholm is saving the state alot of money by riding the bus to work. What you don't see is the long line of car following her bus incase there is a problem.
There are alot of politicians posturing during these times, but not much being done.

You have to love persistence. Some friends of our bought a Rainbow Vacuum. To get the $400.00 worth of attachments for free she had to give 10 names and each of these names had to have a presentation. Years ago I purchased a Rainbow vacuum and had it for years until it was destroyed in the Midland flood. This vacuum cost over $1000.00 20 years ago so it is hard to believe how much it cost now. This was the best vacuum that I ever owned and believe it or not it was worth the money.
So this gal is coming over today to give us a presentation. We already told her we were not buying the vacuum. Even though we gave her 3 good reason as to why we don't need a vacuum, she still has to give the demonstration for our friends to be eligible to get their attachments for free. I thought the three reason were very good.

1- I already have a vacuum
2- I don't have the money for a vacuum
3- I don't have carpeting. ( hardwood floors )

I'm feeling little down. I was having a down day yesterday with minor angina problems. There's been a little stress around here lately. I tried to preach a sermon, or give a message at church last night. Don't try to do this after you have taken your cardiac meds. I could not concentrate. My mind was racing faster then my lips, and then my lips were moving faster then my mind. I went home last night and went to bed around 9:30 and didn't wake up until 10 this morning. For those of you that listened and didn't understand, you have my apology.

Bike time in Muskegon. Have you been listening to those great hogs. These magnificent steel horses make the ground tremble from vibration of all that horse power. Even when they are coasting, or at a stop, the riders still have to give it a little gas just in case the hard of hearing didn't hear them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against these riders of range and highway, and I don't mind sharing my city once a year with these "hell's angels wannabes", but when they decide to race down our street at 3 oclock in the morning, I get a little testy. So we replaced the Air Fair with the fireworks convention, which was replaced by the motorcycles. We love noise.
The first motorcycle was mentioned in the bible, when it said that "Joshua's triumph was heard through out the land". With 40,000 bikers in our tiny town, we will be rockin this weekend, and I hope there are no fault lines to disrupt.

As a parent I often wonder why my kids think I play favorites. Don't they realize I don't think that way? I have never thought of my kids on a grading scale. Maybe I should think that way and give them all a weekly rating. On a scale of 1 to 10 I will give a a score of........ Better luck next week.

In the Muskegon Chronicle, in the letters to the editor section, a man bring up a very valuable point. The Government likes to play with numbers so that things don't look so bad. His example was the unemployment figures. According to statistics Muskegons unemployment is around 8%. The true number is around 30%. The government does not count those who's benefits have run out and still do not have a job. They also do not count the ones who don't qualify for unemployment because their past employers refuse to let them collect unemployment by trumping up false charges to avoid paying. If you want the real number, it is closer to 50%. Teenagers who have never had a job and are unsuccessful in searching for their first job, those who have chosen to go on welfare as a last resort, those who have become disabled and are going through years of paperwork to get disability, small business owners who have lost their business and don't qualify for unemployment, and of course our convicts who lost their jobs because they were bad. Let's not even mention the jobs loses if our troops come home.
The government speaks of the strain on Social Security because of the retirement of the baby boomers. What they fail to mention is that there should be an abundance of jobs with all these baby boomers retiring. Where are these jobs? Mexico, India, Pakistan, and anywhere you have cheap labor. Why are we still calling this a recession?

Why do young people think that other people would babysit their kids when ever it suit them. Just drop the kids off and don't even pay to sit their kids. Like we have nothing better to do then watch their kids. The reason that they are pawning them off is because they can't stand the fact that they are parents and with that comes limited freedom. My father had always told me that he loved his grandchildren but was not a babysitter, he was their grandfather. When our kids were young, we paid to have babysitters come to our house, we didn't just drop them on others. Now that our kids are old enough to be on their own, what make them and their friends think that we want to watch their kids in our free time. I guess the word "sucker" is still printed on my forehead.

Haven't talked much about the weather lately. The weather has been very nice and not too hot, not too cold, not too wet and not too dry. So much for the weather.

A lot of people are having a hard time with the economy in the state that it is in. With Michigan being one of the hardest hit states, this state continues to find way to hurt it own. The biggest of all jokes is the no fault insurance. The poor person who can only have basic coverage on their car get screwed while the person who is better off, can afford full coverage, they get the advantage. Even when you are not at fault, you only get the coverage that your insurance dictates. You can try to get your deductable from the other drivers insurance, up to $500.00.

I read in the paper on Sunday that bill collectors were going into people accounts and taking their Social Security to pay for what they owe. This is illegal unless it is child support or owed money to the Government. The banks are allowing this to happen because some judge has signed a paper that let them collect their money. The banks can't refuse a Judges order even if it is not legal. Some poor person who relies on their SSI check can fight this and win in court, providing they do not lose everything and starve to death during this long process. Once again no fault hurts the needy.

When you think you have it bad there are many who are worse off. Have wonderful week and may God bless you as much as he has blessed us.

Looking for a mate? Priest, 79, has advice
Mormon facing discipline for shirtless calendar
Town split over teacher accused of preaching

These are the three top religious stories in the United States. First of all you have a 79 year old priest with dating advice. I'll bet they are lined up at his back door. His best advice would have to be, "stay away from little boys". the second story is a Mormon man going shirtless on a calender. Well at least its not the catholic priest going shirtless. Then you have a teacher accused of preaching. I thought that was all that teachers did was preach.

Lets not talk about the good works that these people do, lets pick them apart because of their beliefs.

A few entries ago I ranted about the Zondervan lawsuit. Now I have read where a man is suing his church because they failed to catch him while he was"filled with the spirit". I think it is time we do like the Jewish faith does, a rabbinical court. All church and religious maters are handled first by this court. The worst part about this is that it is Christians vs. Christians. If this man was a true believer in the gifts of the spirit, why wasn't he healed by his church?

Well here another fine how do you do. Lindsey, driving the Stratus, had backed out of the driveway and was getting ready to pull away when the old man across the street throws his car in reverse and plows into the back of the Stratus. 3/4ths of the rear bumper panel is crushed into the trunk. Everyone is ok and he admit ts it was his fault and even the police came and did a report and agreed it was his fault. The only problem is that Michigan has this no fault insurance,so each persons own insurance company pays the bill. One month ago I reduced my insurance to PL&PD to save money. The insurance adjuster is coming today, but I pretty sure that I'm screwed. I will now have to find away to fix it up with little cash.

Zondervan publishing is being sued. The suit states that Zondervan has misinterpreted the bible. Wow, what hole did this nut crawl out of. Let see..... the Bible, probably the most misinterpreted book ever published and one company is being sued. Let's line up all the preachers, teachers, scholars, authors, and TV Evangelist and sue them. My Lord, the book of Revelations alone could keep the courts tied up forever. The bible has been re translated so many times, and in so many languages that there is bound to be misinterpretations. This one nut is zeroing in on one verse about homosexuals. This individual is trying to promote a homosexual cause where non exist. If you feel that your church is misquoting the Bible, try to change it or go to another church. If you feel that the new translation is inaccurate, go back to the other one. It is not the Bible that you serve, but it should be your God. God knows whats in your heart and that is between your maker and you. By the way, which translation is right, Greek, Jewish, Roman, Hebrew or the King James.
This nut hand writes this suit, just like writing on a napkin, and wants to be taken seriously. The news media jumps on this like it is news worthy. Let's just go back and ban books in general. Let's put everything on tape and CDs so people won't be hurt by the written word. Give this guy a box a crayons and let him write more suits. Better yet, let him translate the bible into a version that the nutcakes of the world can rally around. He can write Genesis in blue, Exodus in red and so on.
What is next? Can we sue the people who print dictionaries?

Another week has past. Summer celebration is over as is Rothbury Music Festival. Why do they always put these on the same weekend. When the Air Fair was here, it would be on the same week as Summer Celebration. I'm sure it is decided by the same people who let the Fireworks Convention leave town and are trying to move the Clipper out of Muskegon. I look at all the vacant land around Muskegon Lake and see the possibility of growth and the chance to draw more people to Muskegon in a way that doesn't sell our souls (casino's). On the issue of casino's, If we do allow casinos. why just the Indians. These American Indians who want to save their lands, will turn around an deface it with casinos and rape the streams with gill net fishing. Not all Indians are like that, but the ones that are give the others a bad reputation.
On a different subject, the depression, or should I say recession. Prices keep rising, and salaries and jobs are going south. GM is the first to say that they will stop making big trucks and Gas guzzling SUV"S and put more emphasis on smaller cars with better gas millage. They has to loose billions of dollars and years of research to come to this conclusion? The Big 3 lost their short to foreign automobiles because of pure greed and the inability to think ahead. Let's make sure that their CEO's get huge bonuses and golden parachutes for retirement.
How about our presidential candidates, or as I like to say, "The Mr. America popularity contest". The best person isn't elected, but the most popular or the one with the most money. Both candidate are so under qualified for the job it's no wonder the economy is in such bad shape. We need scholars, not war hero's. We need intelligence, not rhetoric. We need action, not hot air. We need to set qualification for the presidency, not just popularity or party affiliation. The day we start doing that is the day we stop having clowns like Bush, Chaney, Clinton,Gore, and all the other clowns that have tried to be President. Big business and oil do run the country and are fronted by these clowns. What a sad state of affairs we have.

The great experiment has failed. The minute Cody's mom got here she slipped out and got high. She has said it is not our business what she does and she is no longer here. She called a cab and left. Please give a prayer for her and her addictions. Also say a prayer for Cody as this has been tough on him. While his Mom was here she continually lied, got high, got sick, brought drugs into the house in a effort to sell them. I guess no good deed goes unpunished.

Today starts the great experiment. We will pick up Cody's Mom for her short stay with us. I am hoping and praying that this will go well and as anticipated. This I believe is the border between Christian caring and be made a fool of. Since I have made a fool of myself in the past, I guess I could catch up on some christian caring.

What keeps me going is the small acts of kindness I see everyday from others. Most of these acts of kindness are from people who really can't afford it. I see the greed from rich and see what it does to everyone else. There are alot of people getting rich off the backs of the poor and struggling. These people have the right to make money and God bless them for their ability to do so. They also can give donations,(tax deductions). I read in the paper where a CEO of a company was given a 5.3 Million dollar bonus for settling a strike. The conditions of the settlement where that the workers took pay cuts and a reduction in their insurance. I keep remembering the passage in the bible where God says, " What you do unto the least of these, you do unto me."