rachman-unprecedented

So what is this going to be? A little bit of everything I think. Maybe that's it. What I'm thinking. What I'm believing. I hope what I'm knowing. And why would anyone care what I think I know? There's no reason in the world that you should. But then why are you here? Cuz you have to be somewhere I suppose. I've never been here before. I may not be back. I might get too busy to care; time is short. That's fine. Nobody can deal with it all at once. There is a lot to deal with.

: Name: rachman; Location: The Great Plains, United States

I try not to take myself too seriously, but I know I have far too much. So I'm trying to learn how to laugh again, as I had forgotted for a while there. Also I'm relearning to enjoy life; you know, like when we were kids. The biggest challenge ahead is learning how to love God with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. This one is not really that hard when you know the truth. But along with it comes learning to love others as I love myself, and that one is, as they say, "a horse of a whole different color." I think I need to learn to love myself a little more, but the problem may be that I know all these facts about me. Sometimes the facts are simply wrong or they are just stuck in the past. I'm trying to get my facts to line up with the truth. As someone once asked a great man, "what is truth?" If he had only known.

View my complete profile

rachman's weblog

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Origins

I read this the other day, and while I doubt that it is really true, I did find it amusing:
.
As most of you know, New Orleans residents are challenged often with the task of tracing home titles back potentially hundreds of years. With a community rich with history stretching back over two centuries, houses have been passed along through generations of family, making it quite difficult to establish ownership. Thus a New Orleans attorney, who sought an FHA loan for a client, wrote to the government agency. He was told the loan would be granted, if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down.

After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply: "Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."

Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows: "Your letter regarding title in Case No. 189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 194 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased, by the U.S. , from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application.

For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Isabella.

The good queen, Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus’ expedition.

Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana. God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back, to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it AND the FHA.
.

I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our damn loan?"

The loan was approved.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Monday's Blessing!

The power of one sentence!

God is going to shift things around for you today and let things work in your favor.

Meditate it--believe it.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Awww--How Sweet

When I first read this one night, I thought, "Awww, how sweet." I posted it immediately and reread it the next day and thought, "How maudlin." It may all depend on your state of mind when you read it. Judge for your self:

THE POSTAL SERVICE NO ONE HEARS ABOUT

Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to Heaven, God would recognize her. She dictated and I wrote:

Dear God,

Will you please take special care of our dog, Abbey? She died yesterday and is in heaven. We miss her very much. We are happy that you let us have her as our dog even though she got sick. I hope that you will play with her. She liked to play with balls and swim before she got sick. I am sending some pictures of her so that when you see her in heaven you will know she is our special dog. But I really do miss her.

Love,

Meredith Claire

P.S. Mommy wrote the words after I told them to her.

We put that in an envelope with two pictures of Abbey, and addressed it to God in Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith stuck some stamps on the front (because, as she said, it may take lots of stamps to get a letter all the way to heaven) and that afternoon I let her drop it into the letter box at the post office.

For a few days, she would ask if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had. Yesterday there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch. Curious, I went to look at it. It had a gold star card on the front that said "To Meredith" in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith took it in and opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers, "When a Pet Dies". Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God, in its opened envelope (which was marked Return to Sender: Insufficient address). On the opposite page, one of the pictures of Abbey was taped under the words "For Meredith" we turned to the back cover, and there was the other picture of Abbey, and this handwritten note on pink paper:

Dear Meredith,

I know that you will be happy to know that Abbey arrived safely and soundly in Heaven! Having the pictures you sent to me was such a big help. I recognized Abbey right away. You know, Meredith, she isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me--just like she stays in your heart--young and running and playing. Abbey loved being your dog, you know.

Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets! So I can't keep your beautiful letter. I am sending it to you with the pictures so that you will have this book to keep and remember Abbey. One of my angels is taking care of this for me. I hope the little book helps. Thank you for the beautiful letter. Thank your mother for sending it. What a wonderful mother you have! I picked her especially for you. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much.

By the way, I am in heaven but wherever there is love, I am there also.

Love,

God

& the special angel who wrote this after God told her the words.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

If Cell Phones Were Bibles...

A friend of mine, a lady of intelligence and spiritual discernment, shared this with me today, and I thought that I would share it with the rest of you.

She was wondering what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?

"Huh?" I thought. "You mean like dropping it on hard floors or forgetting where we set it down the last time?"
.
Well no, but what if we carried our Bible, like our cell phone, around in our purses or pockets?
.
What if we flipped through it several times a day? Or several times an hour?
.
What if we turned back to go get it when we go off with out it?
.
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
.
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
.
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
.
What if we used it when we traveled?
.
What if we used it in case of emergency?

What if we considered it the most important thing we carried?

"Hmmm? This is something to make you go...uh....where is my Bible?"
.
Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.
.

"Wow--you're right. I never thought of that."

Makes you stop and think "where are my priorities?"
.
"And no dropped calls!"

~ rachman

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Old Geezers?

This is one of those things I got in the email, and since it was right after the fourth, I decided to pass it along. My apologies if you have already read it.

"Old Geezers" - slang for elderly men - are easy to spot.

At sporting events, during the playing of the National Anthem, they hold their caps over their hearts and sing without embarrassment. They know the words and believe in them.

They remember World War I, the Depression, the Second World War, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Normandy, and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age, the Korean War, The Cold War, The Jet age, and the Moon Landing, not to mention Vietnam.

If you bump into an Old Geezer on the sidewalk, he'll apologize; pass an Old Geezer on the street, he'll nod or tip his cap to a lady.

Old Geezers trust strangers and are courtly to women. They hold the door open for the next person and always, when walking, make sure the lady is on the inside for protection.

Old Geezers are embarrassed if someone curses in front of women and children, and they don't like violence and filth on TV and in the movies.

Old Geezers have moral courage. Old Geezers seldom brag unless it's about their grandchildren in Little League or music recitals.

It's the Old Geezers who know our great country is protected, not just by politicians or police, but mainly by the young men and women in the military serving their country in foreign lands; just as they did, without a thought, except to do a good job, the best you can, and to get back home to their loved ones.

This country needs Old Geezers with their decent values and commonsense. We need them now more than ever!

Thank God for Old Geezers.

.
~happy 07-07-07

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Happy Fourth of July, America

freefoto.com