our response to Paris et al. said better ..

I guess what I'm trying to say is this

Some folk just know how to say it
Kudos, ryan ..

" they have guns, but we have flowers .. "

it's crazy ..
wanton destruction of human life
for what ??
Allah said
apocalpyse

..

sound familiar ?

Left Behind
" better get saved now.. the Rapture is coming, and you don't want to be here when the Tribulation happens "
" the roman catholic church is the Antichrist !"
" the Muslim religion is the Antichrist !"

Y2k
people, as in christians, selling their properties, withdrawing their savings, buying food and weapons and making plans to hide in these mountains or those valleys because the year 2,000 is the dawn of the End Times

..

apocalypse
the end of the world
directed by Allah/God

..

fear

..

i sit in this here coffee shop and listen to ' the good ol' boys ' back there talking paris/isis/whatdowedonow

one bush talks restricting refugee imports to 'christians'
one carrot wants everybody dead or gone - wipe them out !

and, Godhelpme, one 'christian' leader cracker, trying hard to walk in the boots of his father, wants all muslims banned from this 'ere country

`|`

let's see
any ol' person can walk into a walmart or a homedepot, buy the makings for a homemade boom, drive into Anytown or Anycity in Anystate and blow the hell out of whatever and whoever anytime
..
or walk into a Anychurch and kill 9
or into Anyschool
..

it's the Injuns!
it's the English!
it's the damned Union/Confederate!
it's the Commies!
it's the Nazis!
it's the KKK!
it's the Muslims!
it's Saddam!
it's ..

..

somehow we forget that the good ol' usa has earned a bad bad rep in this world, and absolutely deservedly so
somehow we forget that christianity has killed more people in the name of their God than most
..
some old proverb about when you live in a glass house you shouldn't be tossin' rocks

and then we walk around like we be pure and righteous and above it all ..
damned liars that we are
pushing the indigenous before-we-were-here people back and back and killing them off 'cause they jes won't lissen, tow the damn line
stepping all over black people, chattel, like you can own a person, kinda like a cow or a chicken
hunting them down and stringing them up
nothin' but animals!
.. and we're still struggling with that
and with secondclass wimin an' asians an' mexicans and them damn homos and ..

`|`

my mind has been running, sometimes in circles, sometimes away, sometimes just wanting to shutdown, block it all out, pretend this just ain't happening

God! what's going on?
can't You do something?
people are dying
innocent people
children!
heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllp !!

`|`

and then i remember .. God has done something
and it's big .. huge!
God stepped in
Godself
and started a whole new thing by a man named Jesus ..
and they killed him for it
guns blazing, hateteeth bared ..

God sent flowers and we stepped all over them

and Jesus said something very interesting
   while he was hanging naked on a pole on the interstate
he said " Father .. forgive them; they don't know what they're doing "
they don't understand what they're doing
forgive them

and a few peasants somehow walked away and began a movement that was supposed to, as in, the plan is, change the world
change the world
a new world
a different world is in view
a world where lions and lambs play ball, sickness and death gone (read about them in history books), guns melted-down and made into golf clubs and basketball hoops ..
like that
.. where have all the flowers gone

..

somehow .. we ruined it
we made a bloody mess of it all
killing in God's name
overrunning countries so we could rape their women and steal their wealth, and their souls
wiping out entire civilizations wholesale ............

sound familiar ?

and we fly a christian flag and a national flag sidebyside, in 'church'
like ' we christians '
like God really gives a rip about our country, our politics, our thievery, our abuse, our wicked ways ..

really ..

..

this isn't at all a bashing party - i accuse myself of that often enough
it's just that, hey, a spade is a spade
so when someone raises a bloody hand to point a finger at a bloody hand ..

it's simply this: never ever forget who i am
what part I played in it all
who i give my allegiance to
who i admit as my authority

`|`

if i claim the name of Jesus, then i need to be like Jesus
i need to know Jesus
what he thinks
what he likes
what he dislikes
what kind of a person he is
and i need to do that
i need to be that

..

i don't have answers for the politicians or the preacher people
i couldn't be either .. don't have the wherewithal, the wisdom or the guts

all i know is this
somehow i have to speak peace into the air
somehow i have to bring hope
somehow there needs to be a smile, a word of encouragement, an ear that listens intently, an extended hand
a willingness to help
flowers
in Jesus' name

i can't offer advice
just me

i don't presume to know what should be done with isis
i don't know

all i know is
' they have guns, but we have flowers '
a father's words in the mouth of his son
in the face of the mass of mess in the aftermath of reckless wanton wickedness and death and destruction

..

a wisened statement ..
" darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that;
hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that "
and flowers ..

..

all i know is that ' blessed are the peacemakers .. they will be called children of God '

all i know is that the farthest extent of Jesus' teaching and example is
love your enemy

craziest thing!
the most unnatural thing i can think of
'cause my intestinal reaction is to hurt back, defend, overpower
show the bastards !

i'll not soon forget backintheday when i had this most unJesuslike thought that somebody ought to takeout saddam ( influenced in my naivete by the american fox ), and somebody said .. " pray for him "

..
you can love your friend and your family .. that ain't nuthin' 'cause they love you right back
the thing is to love those that hate you
love the ones that despise you for who you are
love the person that abuses you
that curses you
and pray for them

..

and then
turn the cheek

and pick a flower
or a handfull
and decorate somebody's day

another goodread on enabling ..

this too speaks ..

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/28/my-heroin-addict-friend-when-shelly-starts-using-again-i-will-be-there-for-her-chris-arnade?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

goodread follow-up on enabling ..

I had a difficult time with yesterday's post .. it wasn't the runofthemill take on stuff, and caused me to consider long and hard whether my feelings were valid ..

a friend posted the following article on FB today
it speaks to similar


http://www.craiggreenfield.com/blog/deserving#.VjeEO2ZNRtp.facebook

'enabling' the downandout ..

a decade or so ago, while walking to work, i passed a man sleeping in an alley
it was 7-something
he was covered with a split-open cardboard box
his visible legs were bare, pieces of cardboard tied to his feet - his shoes

i paused ..

walked on

`|`

somehow i couldn't get this man out of my mind

`|`

some days earlier i had passed an alley and seen a woman sitting there, rifling through her bundle ..
i stopped and asked her if i could help in any way
shockingly she seemed angry at the thought, told me she didn't want anything from me ..
i couldn't figure that out
thought on it over and over
why ?

perhaps that had some effect on my reticence to approach the cardboard man

..

i closed the store, put an 'i'll be back shortly' notice on the glass door, and went looking for him
i found him still there ..
i bought him (and me) something to eat
and we talked

he was an intelligent person, apparently ran some sort of construction business that failed
he lost his wife and child - she kicked him out when he turned to alcohol

..

i took him to main street, into a shoe shop
immediately the looks
when i realized the disruption it was causing to the workers, i approached one of them and said i wanted to buy the man a pair of shoes
they said he couldn't be in there
(ok, he smelled bad, and looked very rough, so i understand the attitude)
we moved outside the door to the sidewalk and tried shoes
he chose a pair of construction boots

..

the next day i took him some of my own clothes

..

he came around to the store occasionally over the next few days
and then i didn't see him for a while
and when i did there were no boots ..
he said they had been stolen

..

i know he was still drinking

i continued to get him food and occasionally gave him money
although i figured he was probably using it to buy liquor
..

i was of mixed mind
was i helping or hurting my friend ?

..
.

was i 'enabling' him ??

`|`

that wasn't the first time i dealt with that
but this one really brought it home somehow

what was my response to be as a Christian
more specifically, and more pertinently to me, what should i do as a Jesusperson ??
how would Jesus deal with it ?

..

that think has dogged me since then
followed me around like i follow my self

people holding a sign at intersections
or sitting on the sidewalk

..

i did come to a position
i was going to help any way i could, whether that was buying food or clothes or giving them money
and i was going to leave the sorting-out to God

sometimes i would say something like ' i give you this in Jesus' name ', or ' God bless you ' and shake their hand
i guess i was trying to put a divine spin on it in their mind .. maybe that would make them think twice about spending the money on alcohol or drugs ..
and then i stopped with that attitude too; i simply blessed them .. period .. in God's name
and prayed for them as i walked away

..

God will deal with me on that someday, one way or the other
but .. my conscience is clear, for whatever that's worth

..

it's getting colder
and the thought of people sleeping in the street in the cold and the rain and the snow is again creeping up on me ..
that's my hallow e'en

i remember opening the doors and the street people walking in at 4 a.m.
serving them hot breakfast and a chance to sleep in peace

some were using before they came in
some had been drinking ..
most were dirty
bag-eyed
clutching their life in a backpack like it was their very life
everyone needed to use the bathroom .. some used it to clean-up ..
   cleaning the bathroom afterwards was always a test of my intestinal fortitudinosity .. really

i knew they would be back on the street today/tonight
knew they would be panhandling
some stealing
some using
scratching-out survive another day
eat bathroom clothing shower? shave? feminine needs?

... . .  .   . what do i do ?

was i enabling them in their drug use and alcoholism when i offered them food ?
after all, if they got free food they could use any money they had for using ..

`|`

this wasn't supposed to be a long-winded blog, but it's a serious matter for many, and i needed to lay a groundwork, a basis for the think, a you-follow-me-in so you can personalize it
you have to come to a decision for yourself ..

`|`

thing is
i keep hearing i'm enabling them

enabling

i wonder .. ... .

when a person has to sleep curled up under a hedge or in some darkened alley or under a parked truck or out in the woods ..
every night looking for a 'safe' place
where do i get off judging that person for needing to use to make it through the night and face the next day in the face of ridicule disgust berate get-a-job-you-bum get-out-of-here no-you-can't-use-the-bathroom ..

if it was me lying there afraid that someone would beat the crap out of me and steal my life .. every night
or rape me
if it was me facing 'decent' people every day with no sense of self-respect left
   that long gone with the repeated ridicule
   i'm now an unhuman human
   a worthless scumbag
..

`|`

i'm left with this ..

when i think of what i think and do and say
when i consider that i am quite the sinner
when i toss my self in the ring of life and watch me there in all my unGodliness
when i consider that i am an affront to God in the many many ways i am an affront to God
when i look at me
and then i consider God ..

when i think about God being there for me and meeting my needs every day
i don't have to sleep outdoors or scrounge for food or look for a toilet or beg
when i reflect on the fact that God still looks out for me
   and still loves me
in the midst of the me that i glaringly am
that Jesus washes MY feet ..

is God enabling me

??