The gift that keeps on giving.....

I came home today after a LONG day in MODEM HELL thinking I would curl up in my recliner with a Corona and some chips and cheese dip. A tiny reward for not killing anyone at work nor throwing any computers through the service window. LOL...

I stopped at the Kangaroo Mart on Redbank and gave away some life blood to the great GAS gOD who immediately reduced my checking account by 21.01. Have you ever tried to stop one of those pumps right on the .00 mark? It is not as easy as it looks. At 21.01 I stopped and figured that if I run out of gas I can always leave the car on the side of the road and hitch a ride with someone else if I am out of money. It does not take long for that to happen does it? There is ALWAYS more month than there is pay check. Our cost of living continues to rise yet our wages remain the same or get smaller. Atleast that is how it has been working for me in the last 2 years. I try to console myself to the fact that atleast I am not in Iraq being bombed as I whine about this. LOL... I guess THAT could put things in perspective.

Oh yes, the GIFT that keeps on giving. I wandered over to my desk to put my laptop bag down and remove the extra weight of the key ring in my right hand. As I turned around to turn on our computer I noticed a familiar and disgusting smell. At about the same time my nose was curling inward I noticed that there was what appeared to be a "mud pie" sitting close to the computers in amongst several wires that run from this computer peripheral and that. Imagine my instant surprise, revolt and disgust that hit me all at the same time. I was like "and what the HE** is this kids?? Of course, that was pretty idiotic for me to ask that when my nose and eyes had already delivered the message to my brain that a COW had delivered an unwelcomed surprise to my computer area. OH MY GOSH....

As you can imagine my brain started looking for a culprit to pin this on as well as involuntary labor to ASSIST me in listening to my excessive belly aching as well as removal of the toxic waste dump. Kristina and Justin were the lucky participants in that game called "oh my gosh, its time to plug our nose and pick up the doo doo....." Yes, we bonded in this moment in more ways than one. I think that as I write this that my blood pressure is now returning to normal.

There are seveal reasons why this transpired today. Shall we examine them one by one?

A. Mother Moffitt flew the coop and went out of town to be at a weekend long crop
B. A typhoon of some type camped itself on top of Duck Ditch USA and unloaded untold amounts of water all day long therefore leaving the MUTTS to their own devices with regards to potty trips.
C. the Moffitt children have a problem understanding WHY we are taking the dogs out for a walk to begin with.

Now lets examine items A,B and C in more detail.

When Mother Moffitt flies the coop for whatever reason for whatever amount of time the environment of peace and tranquility and all sense of normalcy implodes in on itself. Regular routines, chores, and whatever else you want to call it begins to unravel at a high rate of speed. Its a good thing Katy does not leave for any EXTENDED length of time, she might come back to a huge gaping hole in the ground where the trailer used to sit.

When it rains buckets the dogs have a case of Parkinson disease and they forget that their daily duties have not been permanently put on pause. They eat drink and beg for more food from anything that has some and then do more and more of that until they are NEEDFUL of a trip outside. You guessed it. The containers are only so big. After a while when you put too much goo in the bottle something is bound to escape. :)

Kristina and Justin view taking the dogs outside as a drudgery which is entirely designed to punish them and rob them of an opportunity to otherwise have fun entertaining themselves with some other mindless activity. They forget how important it is that the exercise is one that is PRODUCTIVE with VISIBLE results. But DADDY, we DID take the dogs out. I always ask them, did you take them out for longer than 25 seconds this time or did you run them around the yard and bring them back inside thinking that something had escaped both hounds through the process of osmosis.... When I ask IF they SAW the dogs DO anything I always get this incredulous stare as if to say, OH you want is to WAIT for this process to happen even though the dogs think they have an ETERNITY for it to happen? You get the picture here. We beat the dogs for any unwelcomed treats left that we dont want so they in turn return the favor by becoming mindless blogs of hair, nails and teeth when they get outside knowing full well what is expected of them. When you try to manipulate them into moving the process along sometime in this millenium they look up at you as if saying " you KNOW you brought this upon yourself so do not EVEN start this whining crap with me."

Oh yes, back to MODEM HELL.... I think that HELL is going to be full of Microsoft Windows products and broken hardware parts for a typical IBM capatible computer. Today I think that I gained atleast one more grey hair.
Modem HELL opened up its gates wide at about 2:30 pm in one of our customers (Goodwill PC Recycling Center) came back with one of the prize computers he purchased from me last weekend. This was an IBM computer and the modem was not working. The customer told me it was not working because he could not get online. By this time in the day I was by myself in the service center and anyone else with half a brain had the good sense to jump in their cars, mopeds, bicycles, pogo sticks or flying carpets and long since left me in their vapor trail. So, here I am with my MR Customer Service hat on with the good intention of fixing this problem quickly.

I fired up the IBM which is loaded with ME (Microsoft Millenium) and went into the control panel looking for the modem icon to see what was ailing our "modulater/demodulator" device. When I arrived I found the modem sitting in his room quietly watching me approach not having a care in the world. When I clicked on the modem and went to the diagnostic tab I found that the modem was talking back to the given AT commands. At this point I am thinking "the modem works but the customer does not know how to configure his Internet Software DOH...." I hook up the phone line to the modem and guess what. The Internet software did not get a dial tone from the modem. The OS saw the modem but the modem apparently had its mouth wired shut because no dial tone from Ma bell was making a trip. At this point we are about 25 minutes into this quick fix.

When I realized that the modem was a deaf mute I pulled it out and started the nightmarish process of plugging in other modems and at the same time getting the computer on our local area network so I could visit my favorite place of all times " www.driversguide.com". Do you think that the NIC card in this IBM would cooperate or do you think I had to fight with that for ANOTHER 5 to 8 minutes ? You guessed it, whatever was ailing the modem had crept into the NIC. One new NIC later and 4 minutes of fussing and I had that IBM howling on our LAN. Three USED modems later and about 30 min I looked at the customer and said. If you want this to happen today BEFORE 6pm you will need to go to Wallyworld and buy a NEW modem, bring it back to me and I will THEN be able to get you out of the door within 10 min.

In 20 minutes my customer returned after swimming down Rivers Ave to Wally World and being 32.00 poorer handed me a brand new US Robotics Internnal V.92 modem. I again told him, you will be AMAZED at how fast this process is going to be and you will be on your way with a fully functional computer that will get you on the Internet. There is an unspoken rule when working on computers. NEVER replace an item and then put the lid on and screw it down. You will ALWAYS forget something and even if you dont the hardware KNOWS that it has a mind of its own and it will FORCE you to open the case up again anyway. You also NEVER brag to anyone about HOW easy this is going to be and how FAST you are going to have them out of the door. Just as soon as you do that you will have more distractions and problems than Carter has liver pills.

Anyway, the NEW modem installed, ME recognized the modem, gobbled up the appropriate driver off the CD ROM. When I go to the modem applet in control panel to do the diagnostics number there are two com ports but NO MODEM installed. I get an error message that says something to the affect that " the modem is not installed correctly and the inf file is corrupt. Please remove this modem and reinstall it again." I did that numerous times and finally just gave up on it thinking that this is a bad computer. I went into the sales room and grabbed one of the PII 300 mhz machines that was for sale and put the NEW modem in it thinking, something must be bogus with the IBM, I will just jam this card in here and have him out in another 10 min. NOT... Same process, same error message.
Can you believe that through this all I have not cursed once nor have I thrown the computer or MODEMS through the glass window of the service department. Can you believe that the customer lived out in Walterboro and had been up all night and decided to wait this entire time for me to fix his computer so he would not have to come back. He also never raised his voice nor did he once holler at me or the computer. Kuddos to this cool cat !!

It became painfully apparent to me that this was just NOT going to happen no matter how I held my mouth or howled at the moon. I finally grabbed the last good computer off the sale room floor and tested the modem in it which appeared to be working normally and told the customer that he was getting a FREE upgrade. He went from a PII 266 to a PII 333 with a bigger hard drive and more RAM. IF the modem works for him when he finally gets home then he will possibly be a happier camper. If NOT someone (probably me) will be praying to the modem midgets (wherever they reside) asking them to make this situation fix itself quickly BEFORE I go screaming out the back door of Goodwill. LOL....

Everest Home Edition

I thought you might find this application handy in the future. I use this on a daily basis in my job as a PC Technician at Goodwill. Check it out! Freeware!!

Everest Home Edition Software

The product is Everest Home Edition which is free. Download it, install it and check out all of the system information that it gives you. :)

In the past I used an application such as Aida32 which is from the same programmer that is now writing Everest products.

Enjoy

Kristina Lynn Moffitt and Superstars Concert

Last night we went to Sedgefield Intermediate School to watch the Super Stars perform their end of year concert.
Here are a couple of pictures of Kristina both on stage and with her music teacher.

http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt/Kristina/Kristinateach.jpg

http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt/Kristina/Kristinastage1.jpg

Jeremy Moffitt 2004 Senior Prom Pics

Here are some pictures of Jeremy and his date for the Terry High School Senior Prom that happened this month.

http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt/Jeremy/Jerandkacee2.jpg

Time marches on....

April 14th Jeremy turned 18

April 24th Jeremy goes to High School Prom

May 4th is Kristina's Birthday and she turns 12 this year

May 6th is Justin's Birthday and he turns 9

May 9th is Mothers Day

May 12th is a wedding aniversary for James & Gizmo.... (14 GLORIOUS years...)

May 21st Gizmo gets one year OLDER....

May 27th Jeremy graduates from Terry High School




I am sure that the women in my life will correct me if I just screwed up on those dates. The important thing is that these events are happening which is very cool. :) Gosh, I have an 18 year old graduating from high school. Does that mean that he will be graduating college, getting married and presenting me with grand children before I know it?
Yipes.....

Thanks to Happy Days and Special Times I will be able to fly to Houston Texas so I can drive to Richmond Texas and see Jeremy graduating in person. I am so excited about the possiblity coming to fruition. Thank you Happy Days and the businessman who made the funds available so I can do this. :)

I have been working 60 hours and 7 days per week for the last 2 to 3 weeks so I have been too busy to drivel in my favorite blog. I need to find the time to do it though since I enjoy doing it so much.... Thanks to US Security scheduling too many people down at Charleston County Office building I wound up taking yesterday off and going bowling on the last night of the winter bowling league at Marrington Lanes. This league is finally OVER!! Yeah, I am SO happy about that for sure. I think we wound up in 7th or 8th place.

Yes, on June 18th I will be joining the Travlers Bowling League which will be a summer league at the Royal Z Lanes in Goose Creek. I shall NOT bowl at Marrington Lanes on a league ever again. Why you ask? Its simple. They have synthetic lanes and for some reason I just can not bowl above a 130 average. I seem to do much better on traditional bowling surfaces. Last night I bowled a 122, 86 and 160. What in the world happened on the middle game?? Whoooo boy.... That gave me a whopping 122 average for the night.... Oh well...

I surprised myself by prying myself away from the computer, put on my walking shoes and took a stroll in the neighborhood. I walked 1.6 miles in 37 minutes which was a nice brisk pace for me. I even broke a sweat which is a good thing. Myself and about 6 other men over at Battle Plan Ministries are holding one another accountable to eat LESS and excercise MORE. That means that FAT BOY needs to eat LESS and exercise MORE starting today!!!
That also means 3 meals per day and NO SNACKS when I get home at 11:30 pm. It also means smaller portions.
I also need to get a new set of bathroom scales. I found a nice bathroom scale that will handle up to 400 lbs and costs 40 bucks. NO, I do not weigh 400 lbs. LOL.... I do weigh a tad over 300 though so that means I need scales that will tell me my true weight and not have to guess on our current scales that tend to spin like a propeller when I get on them.... LOL... Poor scales...

Speaking of propellers I am still trying to find a full time Information Technology job in the Charleston area. I am currently working part time as a PC tech at a Goodwill Industries Outlet store in Charleston to make some extra mula and to keep my skills better than dull while the search continues. This last week I saw 3 or 4 different positions in the Sunday paper. Hopefully I can land one of them and trade my Security uniform (gorilla suit) for civilian clothes and some ethernet connectivity. LOL...

Christian Question and Answer Epistles

Christian Question and Answer Epistles

We just celebrated Good Friday and Palm Sunday. Easter is on April 11, 2004 and as you know there will be people going to church on this day that do not choose to go to church any other day of the year. Why is Easter so important that people buy new clothes and go to church on this day? Perhaps buying clothes is not the issue but we all know that there are people that will go to church to show off their new duds. Well, anyway, Easter is coming and it is VERY significant to those of us that identify ourselves with Christ by saying HE IS the LORD of LORDS and KING of KINGS.

We have all asked the question. Should christians participate in pagan holidays such as Easter and Christmas or Halloween? This question was posed and answered and I thought the article was good enough to share with you.

When you click on the URL I posted above you will need to scroll down past the dialog box where you can ask a question. You will see a list of "past" questions posted. The question I am talking about is the FIRST question. Click on that link and you will be taken to that article. Thanks



God bless

Spring has sprung in Duck Ditch USA (quack quack)

Howdy from Duck Ditch USA where the trees are turning green and the
pollen (cough) is choking the life out of me. hahahahahah

For the last week I have been fighting a combination of allergies
and a head cold. How much fun this has been. NOT... I am ready to
be done with this thing..


Spring break is upon us and Kristina and Justin are off from school
which means that Katy is also taking a break. So, its almost as if
we are on vacation with everyone being at home at the same time.
Wahoooo.

I am still working Security Sunday through Wed and Goodwill Thursday
Friday and Saturday. I have my doubts with how long this Goodwill
gig is going to last so I am trying to work as many days as I can
with US Security so when the Goodwill gig finally dies all I will
have to do is get one more day back for my schedule with US
Security. So, I am working two part time jobs and Katy is working
her sub job for Berkeley county and we are surviving. I keep
reminding myself that while life sucks in general I have things to
be thankful for. Let me list them below so I can be reminded of
these POSITIVE things again...

Our family is together and healthy
We have a place to stay
We have food to eat
Our cars are still running and we can get around
We have a church home to attend who cares about us
We have a place to serve in our church home
We have an extended church and cypberspace family who cares about us
We have angel and sammy (family dogs) who bring us joy and happiness
We have our two birds who drive me crazy at times (LOL)


The bottom line is while it could be MUCH better for us it also
could be MUCH worse. I always try to remember the positive things in
life. God is the author of LIFE and while I have the ability to hear
my lungs draw in breath and feel the pulse of my heart beating I am
to be thankful for everything in my life, both good and bad. I am
reminded constantly that bad things do happen to good people. It is
so easy to get depressed about the garbage in our lives and if we
focus on those things all the time then we find ourselves deep in
the pit of depression and despondency. I know this because I
experience it.

I choose to live life above the levels of depression and despondency
that I speak of. I choose to focus on the positives and try to let
God handle the negative garbage in my life. I try to learn the
lessons that I am supposed to be learning and allow God to change my
heart and mind from the inside out. I know that through these things
in my life my faith is being tested and I am being molded more and
more into his image. Sometimes that molding requires trips to the
furnace where the garbage can be burned off and God can come shining
through to the surface. The furnace gets awfully hot and the heat
can be painful but in the end I know it is for my own good and that
God receives the glory , honor and praise that HE is worthy of.

My son Jeremy who will be 18 years old on April 14th is graduating
from high school this May and going off to college. Jeremy managed
to get some band scholarships which is going to help tremendously
with the financial side of things. I doubt that I will be able to
make the trip to Houston Texas on May 23rd to see Jeremy graduate
which really sucks. In order to get cheap tickets for the flight I
need to be buying those tickets last month. Oh well, he knows that I
love him and I try to reach out to him in e-mail and through e-
cards. This is an exciting time in his life and it is a shame that
I am not there to be a part of it.

God bless

The attack of the pollen

I am not sure if I am suffering from allergies, an ugly head cold or both. I do know that "pollen is in the air" since our vehicles now stay a bright yellow. Winter is officially gone yet it still remains a tad bit cool outside. I suppose that once Easter has come and gone this year that the warm weather will finally set in. I think that I am ready for the pollen to stop doing whatever it is doing and for the warm weather to arrive. I have had enough of this cold weather to last me the rest of this year.

I started a part time job with Goodwill last week. They were looking for a PC Technician that can work part time doing refurb/repair/service and sales. I work primarily on Saturday during the day doing sales and then a couple of two or three days during the week part time. The money is certainly better than my security job which is a huge boost to our budget which seems to stay in the red most of the time. Katy and I now have 3 jobs between us so hopefully we can manage to stay afloat from one 2 week period to the next. It is disheartening to get paid every two weeks and then be broke 6 days from the next payday. I know that we are probably not the only people that live from payday to payday. Actually, I would like to get back to that point where we can live from payday to payday. LOL....


I forgot to tell you how I found this job. I was working 7 am until 3pm last Saturday down at the County Office Building in Charleston and my co worker Jorge told me about how I could go to Goodwill on Rivers avenue and purchase parts for computers at a reasonable rate. I was looking for a pci video card for my kids game machine. The integrated sound card was a 1mb video card but that is not adequate to play most games. So, I headed down to the Goodwill and purchased a used video card for 5.00 and it works fine. I plugged it in and Windows 98 Operating System recognized the chipset and automagically installed the drivers for it. So, thanks to a tip from my co worker I found out that Goodwill is looking for a part time pc tech. I immediately went across the street and applied for the position and one week later I am working. Wahooooo! Well, maybe not all that excitement but atleast it is EXTRA income for the time being. I am not sure how long this position is going to last but I suppose as long as Goodwill keeps receiving computer donations I will have something to refurb/repair and sell. When that supply dries up I am sure that my part time job there will vanish.

If you go to Cooper River Bridge Run you will see that today is the day in 2004 when THOUSANDS of people run, jog or walk in the Cooper River Bridge run. This is an annual event that has been going on for 27 years. I thought about doing this the other day then I had a cool drink of water and the urge went away. hahahahaha However, I admire those people who are physically able and have the courage and stamina to enter the race and finish. I am thinking that there are some brothers from Kenya that enter this race every year and usually win. Does that really surprise us? LOL....

I am so excited that we lost an hour to day light savings time last night before I went to bed. Instead of it being 11:30 pm when I went to bed it was actually 12:30 am. Who in the world invented day light savings time anyway?
Daylight Savings Time. Well, I am glad that I just researched this website because now I REALIZE that I was not supposed to change the clocks until 2 am SUNDAY morning and not 11:30pm Friday night. DOH...... I just cheated myself of one hour unnecessarily. Whaaaaaaaaa. Yes, now I am changing back my clocks. BRB.... Thanks to blogging I realized my boo boo and now I fixed it back. Now, I wish I could go back to bed and get that hour back but of course I am wide awake now.

On April 14th Jeremy turns 18 and on April 24, 2004 my son Jeremy will be going to his senior prom and then on May 23rd he will be graduating from high school. Terry High SchoolIt is hard to believe that this much time has passed and Jeremy is going to be going off to college soon. From what I understand he was able to obtain some band scholarships which will help him financially which is a good thing. I believe that Jeremy's goal is to become a teacher and I am proud of that. If Jeremy does this then he will be following in his stepmothers footsteps.

Jesus Connect Ministries: People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care!

Jesus Connect Ministries: People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care!

Life with Christ and multiple Blogs

For now I think that I will utilize Life with Christ for a Jesus Connect Ministries Blog ONLY. I will do that for exposure to the christian community there. Hopefully some of those folks will check out what we are doing on our website and participate.

Until then I will do the personal weblog on Blogspot and Jesus Connect there. Who knows, I might play with having multiple blogs on blogger.com instead. Hopefully it will be a bit more seamless and less of a hassle. I certainly appreciate all of the hard work and effort that Jeremy has put in to that website for Christians to use.

Posting ONE MESSAGE to multiple Web Logs with w.bloggar

Do you feel like MY guinea pig YET?? LOL, you should.... Ok , I think I have this figured out even though I am not happy with the results. It appears that I can have multiple blogs on one service provider and I can post and publish to multiple blogs. However, it appears that I can NOT post a message to my blogspot & lifewithchrist Blog at the same time. I have to create the message, cut and paste it into memory, post and publish to one account and then change accounts and post to the other. I will demonstrate that in my next post so you can see what I mean jellybean...... :)

Ok, this is a test of the POST to MANY BLOGS utility in w.bloggar

I am experimenting with posting my blog to jcmoffitt.blogspot.com AND jcmoffitt.lifewithchrist.org

It appears that my blog on the Life with Christ blog mysteriously disappeared in the last 10 minutes so I am not sure what is up with that. Hummmmm... Hey, its my day off and I guess I figured this would be fun to play with.

I am also toying around with a new w.bloggar plugin for Windows Media Player that is supposed to allow YOU my reading audience to see WHAT Music CD that I am currently listening to on my computer here at home. Gosh, how is that going to work? This must work through the Microsoft (Mickeysoft) .net architecture somehow. Once I figure out HOW it works I will babble about it more in detail. For now I am just hopping into this baby and giving it a spin to see what will happen. hahahahaha NO, I do not read manuals. What fun is that??

Gosh, I think I finally figured out HOW to post and publish to multiple Web Logs using w.bloggar while I was writing this message. BTW, Jeremy from Life With Christ wrote me back after my pinging him about something. Jeremy's respons we very quick and polite and I am very thankful for that. Thanks Jeremy for your quick support.

Hummmmm what next. Oh yeah, I need to post this to multiple blogs and see if this baby will blow up or not...
hahahahahah

Life with Christ: Your Christian blog provider.

Life with Christ: Your Christian blog provider.

I found this web site today while searching for Christ centered Web Logs (Blogs) and this appears to be a very nice one. Apparently they offer you the ability to have a FREE Blog from their site which is nice. Since they host Blogs there will probably be a wide variety of blogs to read as well.
The fact that they use RSS also makes me very happy which means I can keep up any new changes via Blog Express. :) As far as that goes I have approximately 32 RSS feeds that I keep up with every day. I LOVE RSS , have I told you that? LOL....

God bless

How To Create a Basic RSS Feed : Introduction to RSS

How To Create a Basic RSS Feed : Introduction to RSS

This is an EXCELLENT website that provides some information on RSS for web masters. Enjoy!!

Off the deep end.....

Ok, I think it is finally official. I fell off the deep end today never to return. I finally understand why I keep having to toss the neighborhood cats out of the house when I open a window or a door. I understand now why they keep scratching at the door, meowing endlessly and hanging around at all hours of the day and night. The cats are hungry and they have decided that we are running a "kibbles & bits" kitchen for the neighborhood. If the word gets out that I did this we will be in deep trouble. I will have cats of all sizes, shapes and colors all the time. You might have to call me Mr. Meow... No, not the "cats meow" but MR Meow.... How about..... Yes, I finally fell off the deep end.
I noticed today that every time I moved and looked around our house several felines kept moving away from me. It was almost as if a magnet were sweeping small metal shavings around on the floor. I move three feet forward they move three feet back. I move 10 feet away from the food bowl they follow me as far as the food bowl. I thought it was an interesting experiment so I picked up the food bowl to see if they would follow me. No such luck. I was hoping I could put the food bowl on roller skates and tie it to the back of my car and have them all follow me down the street. I could not get that lucky now could I???

So, yes, after gazing into their starving little eyes I selected an old plastic cup and scooped out some food and put it on the back porch for the varmints to consume. EVERY fiber in my being was telling me to NOT do that but I did it anyway. Its almost as if there is a "Little BO Peep" person living in me that wants to come out and love all the animals. Did you see the movie with Eddie Murphy where he was Dr. Doolittle and he could understand what all the animals were saying and speak with them? You got it, I am married to one and the same. No, not Eddie Murphy but Dr. Doolittle nonetheless. I think that she has secretly been brain washing me over the last 14 years because if not I would have never committed this act of lunacy.

I had the insane urge to give them a bowl of water too. Oh my gosh.... NO WAY.... The next thing you know I will be going down to Bi Lo to buy the cute little felines their own individual pint of milk with matching plastic bowls and bibs. NOT and ABSOLUTELY NOT... They can find liquid somewhere else. I am NOT going to do it. NO, I am not going to do it. I REFUSE.....

Maybe I have missed my calling. I know that Katy has missed her calling with the way that she loves animals. We both need to open up our very own street rescue mission for animals. It is a good thing that we have not done that so far. We would run the SPCA out of business.

Gosh, now that I have that out of the way I feel better. It is a beautiful day today and I get to go to work in another 25 minutes. Wahoooo. We owe we owe off to work I go is my song that I sing as I pull out of the drive way each day. I need to find a better, newer more snazzier tune I think. After singing that one for about 20 times you get tired of it. I want to sing something along the lines of Hi ho, hi ho we won the lottery today!! I guess you have to play the lottery to win it huh?

Are you REALLY still reading this? hahahahahahaha

Google Search Results for James Moffitt

I was on Google this morning doing a search on some things. I did one on myself (James Moffitt) and I was the fourth entry from the top under authors with the name James Moffitt. You can see the link here...

This Christian Life

Now, what is funny about all of this is that I really do not view myself as an AUTHOR... I write for the fun of it, plain and simple. I do not write for what little money that I can make. I write because I like to write. I like to write when I am inspired to write. I like to write when I am passionate about something and want to share it with the world. My friend and editor told me once that writing is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. My friend is certainly correct. Writing can be a LOT of work. I love the inspiration and passion of writing but sometimes you can get bogged down in the mechanics of putting thoughts to paper. Making everything grammatically correct and doing the spell check etc.

This Christian Life is a wonderful web site filled with tons of talented authors who have take the time to share their talents with the world thanks to online publishing. Just think, 20 years ago, most of us writers would have NEVER had the exposure to the reader audience that we have today. Be sure to give this web site a visit and book mark it for return visits in the future.

God bless

Welcome to Mailblocks. The Mailblocks email service blocks spam email from your inbox and up to three other email accounts you choose

Welcome to Mailblocks. The Mailblocks email service blocks spam email from your inbox and up to three other email accounts you choose

I sent an e-mail today to somene who I have never sent an e-mail to. I received an e-mail back from this service asking me to use their authentication process to PROVE I was a human and not some e-mail script sending out spam. They provide a FREE service and their BASIC service seems reasonably priced. Only 9.95 per year to KEEP spam out of your inbox. Divide the number of spam emails you get by 10.00 and see how much you are paying to STOP spam. Anyway, you get the point... LOL...

On the lighter side of Duck Ditch USA

I am happy to report that our little kingdom at the bottom of the hill on Mapleridge drive is getting cleaner one trailer at a time. Last week I finished power washing two more trailers. Atleast it was not freezing outside when I worked on those two. I have one more trailer to do and then my power washing activities for 2004 should be complete. Spring is finally in the air and trees and flowers are beginning to bloom. I can not wait for WINTER to be FINISHED. I have had enough of this cold weather and the high electric bills. I hope that we can enjoy some moderate weather where we can throw open the windows and doors and let our homes air out and do some serious cleaning. GULP... Scratch the last thought, that is too much work. LOL... Airing out the houses though is a good idea.

In the last two weeks I have done much better with regards to my average. My league average is back up to 130 after bowling a 165 average last week and a 145 average last night. Wahooooo! Our team is in 9th place and after last night hopefully we have moved up to 8th place. I bowled 142 in both my first and second games last night and if I could have done that all three games I would have gotten a patch. Oh well.... What were the odds in that happening?

My job search for a BETTER job is still ongoing. I am sending out resumes and applications but nothing is happening for now. It appears that all doors are being shut with regards to better employment. I am thankful for the job I do have but I NEED to find something better. Something that pays more and has benefits. I told someone the other day that I would rather wear the uniform of a security OFFICER than of a jail trustee because of not paying my child support. Atleast in this situation I have the keys to the building and can come and go as I please. LOL... I found out the other day that in South Carolina that the maximum that they incarcerate someone for failure to pay child support is 1 year. It is a good thing for those inmates that they dont live in Texas. In Texas they throw you under the jail until you pay up. I heard the other day that a man was 4.00 short on his child support payment and the judge put him in jail. The man was working two jobs and trying to get caught up on his payments and he wound up in jail anyway. Now that is justice for you. Not only was he out of work and lost his jobs probably but now he is getting even further behind on his responsibility to pay. How is that justice? How does that solve the problem? I can tell that I need to stop this paragraph right here. LOL....

In memory of Marlin Maddoux & Larry Burkett

I found out yesterday that radio talk show host Marlin Maddoux passed away on March 4, 2004. You can view his memorial page on the Internet at the following link. In Memory of Marlin Maddoux

I was so sad to hear this news. In the bible the apostle Paul says to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord. When we die in Christ we graduate from this life into life eternal where we will spend eternity with Christ and worship and praise him for eternity. That is our Hope in that our redemption will come full circle and we will enjoy fellowship with our God forever. Nevertheless when someone that passes away that has made an impact on our lives like Marlin Maddoux it is natural to grieve for a period of time. Point of View is a Christian Radio Talk Show that has touched the lives of many people through the centuries. The following paragraphs can be found on the Point of View website about Marlin Maddoux and the show he hosted.

Marlin Maddoux is founder and president of International Christian Media and host of Point of View Radio Talk Show, as well as a noted journalist and author.

Point of View is a two-hour, issues-oriented talk radio program heard daily via satellite on more than 360 radio stations nationwide and around the world by shortwave. Maddoux, founder and host of the program for more than twenty years, covers from a conservative Christian perspective the full spectrum of issues and current events that affect our homes, beliefs, schools, government, churches and basic freedoms. In 1986, Maddoux was given the National Religious Broadcasters Award of Merit. In 1994 Christianity Today magazine called Point of View America's "most popular live Christian call-in show."

In 1985, Maddoux founded USA Radio Network, a for-profit company, which today is one of the nation's fastest-growing news radio networks with more than 1,300 affiliated radio stations across the nation. USA radio news is also carried worldwide on the Armed Forces Radio Service. USA Radio Network's broadcast center is in northwest Dallas; the network also has news stringers in 45 countries of the world. In 1994, the National Religious Broadcasters awarded the USA Radio Network its "Program Producer of the Year" Award.

Maddoux has been a frequent guest on national television and radio broadcasts including, "CBS Morning News," ABC's "Nightline," ABC's "Good Morning America," "CNN," "Focus on the Family," and many others. He has been an invited guest at the White House on several occasions, having met with both President Ronald Reagan and President George Bush. He is the author of several books, including America Betrayed, What Worries Parents Most, Free Speech or Propaganda? and A Christian Agenda: Game Plan for a New Era. His latest book is a novel, Seal of Gaia, published by Word. He is currently working on the sequel to Seal of Gaia.

Maddoux and his wife, Mary, have four grown children and ten grandchildren and reside near Dallas, Texas


Have you heard of Larry Burkett and Crown Financial Concepts? You can learn more about the ministry and life of Larry Burkett at the following link. Crown Financial Concepts The following paragraphs can be found on this website as well.

Larry Burkett

Following a long and courageous battle with cancer and heart disease, Larry Burkett completed his journey of serving the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth. Having battled cancer and heart attacks for the past several years, God called Larry into His presence at 3 am on July 4th.

To say that he will be missed is a huge understatement. Larry was truly loved by all those whose lives he touched; his family, his friends and his ministry partners. He lived a life of Christian kindness and genuine humility. He was always extraordinarily generous.

Steve Moore, Crown’s radio co-host who spent so much time with Larry, related something that revealed a great deal about Larry. He said that while answering callers’ questions during Crown’s Money Matters program, Larry’s compassion was so evident. Listeners could not see, but could feel, his concern and even his tears for them.

One of the central principles Larry taught is that we don’t really own things; we are simply stewards and managers of what God has entrusted to us. In Larry’s case, that included the ministry he founded.

In 1971, Larry gave his life to Jesus Christ and committed to follow wherever the Lord would lead and to boldly teach the life-changing truths of Scripture. And he did this with all his might.

Needless to say both of these men have done their part to reach out and touch the body of Christ in a special way through the ministries that God entrusted to them. They have certainly touched my life on many occasions and I join the rest of the body of Christ in honoring their lives and their obedience to the calling of Christ on their lives.
Join me as we pray for the continuance of each ministry as well as their families that have been left behind here on earth. We all know that we will be reunited one day on that glorious day when we leave this earth and re join our loved ones when the roll is called up yonder and we SHALL be THERE.

God bless

Chapter 40- Life Purpose Statement

Chapter 40 - Living with purpose is really the only way to live

Verse - For David…. Served the purpose of God in his own generation. Acts 13:36

Question - When will I take the time to write down my answers to life's five great questions? When will I put my purpose on paper?
What is a Life Purpose Statement?


A statement that:

points the direction of your life
defines success for you
clarifies your roles
expresses your shape



Life's Five greatest questions:

What will be the center of my life?

The center of my life will be for me and my house to serve the Lord. To be doers of the word and not mere spectators in the game of life. In order to keep the Lord at the center of our lives I have to keep myself from being distracted by the things of this world. The things of this world bring temporary pleasure and happiness but no lasting peace or purpose.


What will be the character of my life?

The following is my perception of the character attributes in my life as I understand myself.

Love - to truly love others we must be willing to serve them above ourselves. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. In the same way we should show love one to another through service. I sometimes love myself more than others because I can be selfish.

Joy - (cheerfulness, calm delight, gladness)- I struggle with joy during times of trouble. I am not always glad about trials or tribulation. I sometimes worry about things that I have no control over.

Peace- (quietness, rest) - Externally I appear to have it together or under control. Sometimes I struggle with the unfairness of my circumstances which causes me to have inner turmoil. Ultimately I find peace when I release it to God.

Patience- (forbearance or fortitude, longsuffering)- I have been learning patience the hard way. My nature is to be spontaneous and make gut feeling decisions on the fly. Through the consequences of these decisions I have made some mistakes and through those mistakes I am learning patience.

Kindness- this is not my strongest character attribute. I struggle with compassion and mercy and kindness

Goodness- (virtue or beneficence, benign, soft winning, tender either in temper or behavior) this one does not come easy to me either. It is easier for me to be critical and harsh than to be soft or tender. Maybe this is reflected in the struggles I have with having a relationship with my children.

Faithfulness- (credence, moral conviction, reliance upon Christ for salvation) on many occasions I have thought that being a Christian was more difficult than I could handle. I have wanted to take the road of least resistance. God has given me the grace to be an over comer.

Gentleness- (usefulness, moral excellence in character or demeanor, good or kind) I am as gentle as an 800 lb gorilla by nature. I have to work at this attribute.

Self Control - (temperance, not only abstinence from harmful drinks or food but control of the temper, the tongue, the desires, the passions for money or power)
Through Gods grace I am able to engage this most of the time.


What will be the contribution of my life?

I have been blessed to have been allowed to do the following in service for the kingdom.

Street ministry
Children church pastor
Evangelism Team
Royal Ambassador leader
Mens Fellowship Director
Sunday School teacher
Lay Minister preacher
Audio/video/sound
Internet Ministry
Freelance writing - Christ and family oriented


What will be the communication of my life?

Street ministry
Peaceful demonstrator at Abortion clinic
Working with homeless people
Preaching and teaching God's word


What will be the community of my life?

I find myself being the one to pursue others and engage them in relationships that are beyond superficial day to day chit chat. I have been accused of getting too close to people to quickly. I am supposedly too up front and personal in my approach with others. How else can I get to know people other than to discover who they are beyond the surface? I believe that my life should be transparent and an open book so that Christ in me can be glorified. That also means letting people see the good and the ugly. That means that I need to be open, honest and vulnerable. Most people do not return that level of fellowship. Most people do not trust others where they are willing to be vulnerable.



The following statements will be a part of my life purpose statement.

To serve God with all my mind heart and soul
To love my neighbor as myself
To allow the Lord to be MY LORD
To study Gods word and be a workman that needs not be ashamed and allow His word to change me from the inside out
To be an exemplary husband to Katy
To be a father who does not invoke wrath in my children
To be a father to my son and daughter who lives Jesus in front of them so that they can learn the character of God
To bring up my children in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ
To serve the community God has placed me in and point them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ
To define and exercise my SHAPE for ministry every day


My life purpose is to glorify Jesus Christ in my thoughts, actions and motivations. I will be successful in God's eyes when I place my life in his hands and allow him to mold me and shape me into his image. My role is to serve God , church and family before myself. My goal is to exercise the spiritual gifts and talents God has given me both in personal ministry and my mission to the world.





James Moffitt
http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt
moffittj@bellsouth.net

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PaypalWarning.com - Paypal Warning to Investors, Merchants, Customers and Users : fraud scam nightmare horror con lawsuit abuse steal theft

Gosh, this is scary.... I hope this never happens to you or me....

Day 40 of The 40 Days of Purpose Devotional book

I am on day 40 of the Order this book now and invest 40 days of your life 40 days of purpose devotional by Rick Warren

I can not tell you how blessed I am by having invested these last 40 days in this devotional study. I actually took a bit longer than 40 days to do this study. That is ok though, I believe that my doing it the way I did it did not take away from the message in the book. Now that I am finished I have some homework to do. There are some questions and/or drills in the book that I need to go investigate and spend time meditating and writing these things down. I am telling all of my friends and associates that I have contact with to get THE BOOK. Atleast one of my friends that I know DID actually get the book and is working through it. Praise God for that. I am so excited about it too. I am so convinced that this book is going to bless others that I am going to try and buy atleast one book per pay day to give away to someone that might need it or want it and can not afford it. Before I go any further with my thoughts below I want to say that I believe that this book is written to an audience of people that already know who Christ is and have embraced GRACE and are walking the walk of faith seeking Jesus Christ as Lord. That does not mean that a non believer could not SEE the character of God portrayed in this book. The book does not examine the consequences of NOT accepting Grace nor does it highlight the fact that we as believers were once sinners and that we are required to REPENT of our sins (change our minds and turn away from our old sin nature and life style) as an integral part of our salvation.

Where do I go with this now that I am done? I have been compelled to change things in my life. The question is WILL I CHANGE those things in my life that need to be changed? I will say that this book has certainly broadened my thinking with regards to my "views" on church tradition. There are biblical facts that we know because we have read, studied and meditated upon Gods word. Then there are traditional views that we hold because we were taught those things over the years without having investigated their validity for ourselves. These ideals or precepts have been engrained in us because of years of church practice and tradition. For instance the thought that we listen to Christian music at church and call it Worship music. The only way that we can tell that worship music is worship music is because of lyrics that give God praise , honor and glory. Without the words the music would be MUSIC. Another thing I learned is the difference between worship and ministry. I used to think that ministry equated to teaching bible studies , preaching or reaching out to the community. This book tells me that anything that I do that involves any type of spiritual fruit, spiritual gifts or natural talents for the betterment of the church and its people is ministry. Ministry is doing acts of service to the body of Christ. When I do those acts of service no matter what they are I am worshipping God through my deeds. This book has helped me to define and re discover my SHAPE for ministry.

Ok, that is all you are going to get from me on the "content" of this book for now. Now to switch gears for a bit with posing a question to meditate upon. How many bible studies, sermons or seminars do we need to attend to become more like Christ? Has our religion become the pursuit of knowledge or is it our acting out that which we already know to be truth? Is our religion and relationship with Christ emotionally driven where we must feel good in order to validate our faith and be obedient? We are ambassadors for Christ sent out into the world to preach the good news to the lost , sick and dying of this world. Jesus did not come into this world to save the religious people. Jesus came to this world to save the sick and dying people. Jesus knew that without him and his gift and ministry that we were doomed for eternal separation from God. Jesus Christ had a MISSION to fulfill and he fulfilled it when he died on the cross for the sins of mankind , past present and future. The bible clearly states that Gods mission should now be our mission. Instead of pursuing material wealth and being wealth builders we should be busy at being KINGDOM builders. I have been compelled to examine my purpose for living. It is NOT about me but it IS about God. It is not about the messenger it is about the MESSAGE. Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected to give us life. My purpose is not to just figure out HOW to pay the bills and live from one day at a time. Life is more than mere survival. God came that we might have ABUNDANT life and the only way we can have ABUNDANT LIFE is to fulfill Gods purposes in our lives.

I have to say that all of this is some what overwhelming to me. I look back at what I have read and am learning with regards to this book and I have to say that you should probably study and meditate on the book and its 1200 scripture references over a much longer time period than 40 days. I know people who are on their third reading and are still getting new nuggets of truth from it. Am I implying above that we should abandon our responsibilities of going to work and paying bills or take away quality time from our family responsibilities. No, I am certainly not saying that. One of the things that this book talks about at the very end is about prioritizing our lives in such a way that we remove the JUNK from our lives. Junk that has not eternal value and only momentary value for TODAY. We live in a feel good society and the world says if it FEELS good do it. As Christians we no longer do what FEELS good because we have been taught that our hearts are deceitfully wicked and that there are consequences for acting out to make our flesh happy when it wants to FEEL good. I am like you in that I have TIME that could be better prioritized and spent in ministry and worship. That means that I will need to change some habits and my thinking ABOUT those things.

You can follow my 40 Day journey as I discovered Gods Purpose for my life by reading my blog here. I published my devotional notes so that I could share what I am learning and now going to attempt to DO in my life. Please pray for me as I meditate and PURPOSE in my heart to CHANGE. Through the pain, onward to battle and victory!!!

God bless

HOW DIRTY IS IT?

I started to title this blog "Wet T Shirt Contest" but I did not want the server that this is sitting on to be overwhelmed to the point that my blog would no longer be available. Not only that but I was the only entry to the contest and quite naturally I did win. LOL....

Yes, I got wet but not for the sake of having a wet t shirt contest. I had a date witht he power washer thanks to yesterday being much warmer than the last time I did it. I almost froze off part of my rear end that day. It is amazing what one will do to fight off depression I guess....

Well, the OTHER side of the double wide is now clean. One side of my neighbors trailer is white again and not algae green. Wahooooo! I spent atleast 2 hours washing the deck between my place and "the other trailer". Did I tell you how horribly filthy it is? Every time it rains I kept slipping on something slick. That something is years and years of grime and dirt. I can actually see the original wood color now. I still need to figure out what chemical I will need to use to break the dirt up to make it EASIER to get it clean. You would think that the power washer would just knock it right off but alas it does not. I tried something my friend next door gave me and it just sat on top of the grime and did nothing other than make it wetter. I finally broke out the Clorox Bleach and that seemed to help a little bit.

Last night I out did myself on the bowling alley. Our team name is Four Play.... Alrighty then... How did we come up with that team name?? I will plead the fifth on that one folks... I bowled a 165 average last night. Wahooooo
My 180 game is the highest game yet for me at this bowling alley. Last week I bowled a whopping 121 average which is 7 pins BELOW my 128 average. Our team is in 10th place BEFORE last night but since we took three out of four games we should move up a notch or two.

Chapter 38 & 39

Chapter 38- The Great Commission is my commission


Verse to remember- Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind. Psalm 67:2

Question to consider - what steps can I take to prepare to go on a short term missions experience in the next year?

In reality that happening in the next year is slim to none. Once Katy and I have full time jobs with vacation time after one year of service then we could think about this.

Chapter 39- Blessed to be balanced

Verse to remember- life life with a due sense of responsibility, not as those that do not know the meaning of life but as those who do. Eph 5:15

Question to consider- Which of the 4 activities will I begin in order to stay on track and balance Gods five purposes in my life?

The 5 purposes were:

Practiced by the first Christians in Acts chapter 2
Explained by Paul in Ephesians 4
Modeled by Jesus in John 17
Summarized in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission by Jesus

Gods 5 purposes for your life are:

Love God with all your heart (worship)
Love your neighbor as yourself (ministry)
Go and make disciples (evangelism)
Baptize them into (fellowship)
Teach them to do all things (discipleship)


"A great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission will make you a great Christian"

Practice the following four habits

Talk it through with a spiritual partner or small group
Give yourself a regular spiritual check up
Write down your progress in a journal
Pass on what you learn to others


I need to start doing habits 1 and 3 on a regular basis. I already practice habits 2 and 4. I need to email Rick Warren at free@purposedrivenlife.com and ask for ALL of the free resources listed on page 324.

Chapter 37 - God wants to say something to the world through me

Verse to remember- be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, but do with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15-16

Question – as I reflect on my personal story, who does God want me to share it with?

“God has given me a life message to Share” This message has four parts

Testimony
Life lessons
Godly passions
Good news

Our testimony should contain four parts

What my life was like before I met Jesus
How I realized I needed Jesus
How I committed my life to Jesus
The difference Jesus has made in my life

Life lessons are lessons and insights you have learned about God, relationships, problems, temptations, and other aspects of life. Here are some questions I should answer.

What has God taught me from failure?
What has God taught me from lack of money?
What has God taught me from pain, sorrow or depression?
What has God taught me from disappointment?
What have I learned from my family, my church, my relationships, my small groups and my critics?

“ A mans heart determines his speech”

“Your life message includes the good news. The good news is that when we trust Gods grace to save us through what Jesus did, our sins are forgiven, we get a purpose for living, and we are promised a future home in heaven.”

“I must learn to love lost people the way God does”






God made me to be

A member of His family
A model of his character
A magnifier of His glory
A minister of His grace
A messenger of His Good News to others

“That is why spreading the good news is so important; you only have a short time to share your life message and fulfill your mission.”

WOW and DOUBLE WOW!!!

To answer the question for this chapter God wants me to share my life story with everyone. I should share my personal story with both believers and non believers. Different people will relate to the different life stories and lessons and hopefully Christ will be glorified and others will experience a measure of HOPE and healing as they see Christ in the midst of my life experiences. I am motivated to buy some gospel tracts and copies of this book to pass on to everyone in my life.


James Moffitt
http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt
moffittj@bellsouth.net

Chapter 36- I was made for a MISSION

Chapter 36- I was made for a mission

Verse to remember- Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matt 28:19,20

Question to consider- what fears have kept me from fulfilling the mission God gave me to accomplish? What keeps me from telling others the good news?

Give the right opportunity and timing I have no fears about sharing with others who Jesus is to me. On page 286 the book states “to fulfill your mission will require that you abandon your agenda and accept Gods agenda for your life”

So that brings me to this question. What is my agenda? I sometimes think that my agenda is to survive life from one day to the next. How much time is consumed by pursuing a paycheck so I can pay the never ending flow of bills. Bills are like washing clothes. Once you start the cycle you never seem to stop. You start out in this process by controlling the process but after awhile the process can take on a life of its own and begin to control you. I owe I owe off to work I go is my motto every time I head out the door to work. The pursuit of money so I can keep my head above water is a large portion of my agenda. The bible states that if my faith is the size of a mustard seed that I can move mountains. How much faith do I have for God to meet my needs when I spend most of my waking hours working for a paycheck. Instead of being a kingdom builder I am doing everything I can to maintain a certain level of existence. Poor financial decisions and unfortunate circumstances has me in this place. To be a good steward I must work so that through me with Gods provision I can provide for my family.

The second question that comes to mind is this. I have people in my neighborhood on my street that I do not know. Am I lazy? Perhaps I am just too wrapped up in my agenda. I need to figure out how to simplify the tasks in my life and free up more time to fulfill Gods agenda. What is God blessing in the community I live in? How will I ever know if I don’t take the time to look around and ask God to show me?

The other thing that might keep me from sharing the good news is my natural desire to hide the things in my life that would affect the integrity of the gospel. It is one thing to be an effective speaker or be able to present the facts. It is another thing to be able to speak Gods word with integrity and power and confidence. Paul could say “ Do as I do” with regards to being the example of a Godly man. I know that there are moments in my life that reflect my humanity and sinful nature. When those things come into the light it damages my testimony of who Jesus is to me. How can I share the good news to a non believer when I have moments when I am a bad ambassador for Christ? I know that in my weakness HE is strong. What about the times that I chose to willfully sin and deny the power of God in my life? How much integrity will my testimony be then?



James Moffitt
http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt
moffittj@bellsouth.net

Job Search and Career Resources, Find a job and apply with one click

Job Search and Career Resources, Find a job and apply with one click

My friend Patty shared this with me the other day and I finally got around to checking it out. Very nice website for those of us looking for a job.

Thanks Patty

What's up with blogging, and why should you care? - TechUpdate - ZDNet

What's up with blogging, and why should you care? - TechUpdate - ZDNet

Occam Razor

I know, I know. Some of you are saying "ok, what the heck is a Occam Razor", never heard of dat bwand at Wallyworld.....

Pronunciation: 'ä-k&mz-
Function: noun
Etymology: William of Occam
: a scientific and philosophic rule that entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily which is interpreted as requiring that the simplest of competing theories be preferred to the more complex or that explanations of unknown phenomena be sought first in terms of known quantities

Define par si mo ny

I invited some folks to join my Tribe.net tribe and someone responded with this word in a sentence.

"You know the need for parsimony in my life" I thought to myself, people in Goose Creek SC do not use BIG words like dat. I dont even know whatz dat meanz.... Lucky for me Websters Online helped me wit it.


Main Entry: par si mo ny
Pronunciation: 'pär-s&-"mO-nE
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English parcimony, from Latin parsimonia, from parsus, past participle of parcere to spare
1 a : the quality of being careful with money or resources : THRIFT b : the quality or state of being stingy
2 : economy in the use of means to an end; especially : economy of explanation in conformity with Occam's razor

The Purpose Driven Life - Chapters 30 -35

Chapter 30- I was shaped for serving God

Verse to remember - God works through different men in different ways, but is the same God who achieves his purpose through them all. 1 Cor 12:6

Question to consider- In what way can I see myself passionately serving others and loving it?

How God shapes me for ministry:

Spiritual gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experience

“Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others”

I love people and I thrive on interacting with them in a real way. I am not a social butterfly and I do not care about small talk or superficial chit chat. I love to talk about matters of the heart. I am compelled to know people for who they are. I like to find ways to connect to others so I can share my faith. I love to tell people about who Jesus is to me. I would love to help lead new Christians into a deeper understanding of discipleship and how to walk the walk. I love to preach and teach Gods word and encourage others.


Chapter 31- Nobody can be like me

Verse to remember- God has given each of you some special abilities, be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others Gods many kinds of blessings 1 Peter 4:10

Question to consider- What God given ability or personal experience can I offer to my church?

According to the book I have been shaped by the following experiences

Family
Educational
Vocational
Spiritual
Ministry
Painful

I love to encourage people. I am an extrovert and I thrive on human contact. I love to communicate with people both in person as well as through the written word. I like to write short stories and articles about those things that are near and dear to my heart. I feel compelled to be transparent in my writing as I share the events of my life with others. I want people to know who Jesus is and how he is changing me from the inside. I want to teach others what I have learned through experiences and reading Gods word. I have a natural attraction towards computer technology and electronics. I love photography and capturing moments on film.


Chapter 32- God deserves my best

Verse to remember- do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth 2 Tim 2:15

Question to consider- How can I make the best use of what God has given me?

I need to prioritize my time more efficiently and find opportunities of service. I need to learn how to take what I already know and walk ti out in my life in practical ways. I need to ask God to open up doors of opportunity where I can use my spiritual gifts , abilities and experiences to minister to the needs of others. I need to stop comparing my life and ministry to other people and run the race that God has enabled me to run.

Chapter 33- I serve God by serving others

Verse to remember- If you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers; you shall surely be rewarded Matt 10:42

Question to consider - which of the 6 characteristics of real servants offers the greatest challenge to me?


“We serve God by serving others”

“God shaped you for service, not for self centeredness”

“You can tell what they are by what they do”

The six characteristics of a servant are

Available to serve
Pay attention to needs
Do the best with what you have
Do every task with equal dedication
Faithful to ministry
Maintain a low profile

Being available to serve is probably the number one problem out of all 6 characteristics. If I were honest with myself I would admit that there are times that I struggle with each of these characteristics.

I live in a materialistic world that determines my value and identity by what I own and what I am able to do. You are someone if you live there, drive that and belong to this organization and have this amount of wealth. We are constantly bombarded by marketing of all types that tells us that we need all sorts of junk. Our wants have destroyed our perception of real needs and therefore we spend most of our time pursuing things, wealth and status. I can not serve God as much as I should because of bad financial decisions, debt, poor time management and the pursuit to be entertained during what little free time I do have.

On page 259 of this book there is a quote by John Wesley and it says the following

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can” John Wesley

OUCH and double OUCH… That hurts

That means that I should pursue opportunities to do good and serve others every opportunity I get. Serving others will never be convenient or fun until God changes our hearts and gives us the desire to serve others above our own needs and happiness. Instead of looking for one opportunity per day to be good to someone I should never stop looking to serve others.

Chapter 34- To be a servant I must think like a servant

Verse to remember- your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus Phillipians 2:5

Question to consider - Am I usually more concerned about being served or finding ways to serve others?

If a need crosses my path that I can meet I usually do what I can. Do I go out of my way or inconvenience myself to see or find needs? The answer to that is no. I need to be more sensitive to others needs and be more willing to make myself available to meet some of those needs.

“Service starts in your mind”

“servants think more about others than about themselves”

“servants think like stewards, not owners”

“servants think about their work, not what others are doing”

“servants base their identity in Christ”

“servants think of ministry as opportunity , not an obligation”


Chapter 35- God works best when I admit my weaknesses

Verse to remember- My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness 2 Cor 12:9a

Question to consider- Am I limiting Gods power in my life by trying to hide my weaknesses? What do I need to be honest about in order to help others?

Yes, I am sure that I sometimes limit Gods power in my life. I am proud and sometimes arrogant. At times in my life I have been told this and my defense was that I am not arrogant but self confident. I am just very confident in my abilities.
When does self confidence turn into pride and arrogance? Can one be self confident and humble at the same time? At a very early age I rebelled against my parents authority and excessive abusive behavior towards me . I went out into the world determined to escape the abuse and do things “my way”. Life taught me some very hard lessons and I quickly realized that my parents did posses a certain amount of worldly wisdom that I if I had followed it some of my lifes lessons might not have been so painful.

Thanks to the school of hard knocks I learned at a very young age to be a survivor.
My support system most of the time was me, I and myself. I did not have a close relationship with a parent figure, mentor or friend who could speak truth into my life , give me guidance or allow me to be vulnerable to them. My nature was and still is to some degree to just “handle it” myself. I want people to think that “everything is under control”. I sometimes think that if I were to be vulnerable to people that I would be viewed as a “whiner”, “weakling” or “cry baby” that needs to just “suck it up”. It is easier for me to communicate my true feelings and struggles in writing than it is for me to be vulnerable to the fellowship of believers I go to church with.

I suppose that because I do not share with others the things that go on in my heart that they assume all is well and therefore they do not need to pursue me in an effort to connect with me. I am task and results oriented and when the feedback level is low or non existent I become discouraged and find it difficult to pursue moments of connectivity with other people. I wonder how many people feel the same way as I do? Ships passing in the night with no apparent problems or needs…..


James Moffitt
http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt
moffittj@bellsouth.net

The Purpose Driven Life Chatpers 27,28 & 29

Chapter 27- There is always a way out

Verse to remember- God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can not stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give into it. 1 Cor 10:13

Question to consider- who could I ask to be a spiritual partner to help me defeat a persistent temptation by praying for me?

According to this chapter defeating temptation takes these steps:

Refocus your attention on something else
Reveal your struggle to a godly friend or support group
Resist the devil
Realize your vulnerability

I have several people in my life who I am accountable to and who are willing to pray for any needs in my life. My wife is the first and foremost accountability partner since she is the closest to me and knows me better than most people.

Chapter 28- There are no shortcuts to maturity

Verse to remember- God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again. Phillipians 1:6

Question to consider- In what area of my spiritual growth do I need to be more patient and persistent?

I need to be less fearful of loss. In this chapter it states “ There is no growth without change; there is no change without fear or loss; and there is no loss without pain. “ This reminds me of one of my favorite sayings. “Through the pain onward to battle and victory.” I need to start a notebook or journal of lessons learned. I love to write anyway so this should not be difficult for me to start.

I need to be more patient with myself. I am my worst judge.


Chapter 29- Service is not optional

Verse to remember - For we are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Question to consider- What is holding me back from accepting Gods call to serve him?


This chapter tells us the following truths

You were created to serve God
You were saved to serve God
You were called to serve God
You are commanded to serve God

“Impression without expression causes depression”

The only thing that is hindering me with regards to service is the amount of time I would like spend doing it. With regards to my local congregation I wish I were in a position to do more than I am able to do. I wish I had more avenues of ministry. It seems that the larger the congregation the more opportunities to serve.



James Moffitt
http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt
moffittj@bellsouth.net

The Purpose Driven Life Devotional Chapters 24-26

The Purpose Drive Life - Day 24,25 &26

Chapter 24 -The truth transforms us


Verse to remember - If you continue in my word, then are you disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:31-32

Question to consider- what has God already told me in his word that I have not started yet?


The following quotes in this chapter stand out to me.

"The truth transforms us"

"Gods word generates life, creates faith, produces change, frightens the devil, causes miracles, heals hurts, builds character, transforms circumstances, imparts joy, overcomes adversity, defeats temptation, infuses hope, releases power, cleanses our minds, brings things into being, and guarantees our future forever"

"We cannot live without the word of God"

"Never take the word of God for granted"


Abiding in Gods word includes these activities



I must ACCEPT its authority
I must ASSIMILATE its truth
I must APPLY its principles



"Memorizing Bible verses helps resist temptation, make wise decisions, reduce stress, build confidence, offer good advice and enables me to share my faith with others."

"The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable! Gods word exposes our motives, points out our faults, rebukes our sin, and expects us to change"

"The bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives"

To answer the question for this chapter will require brutal honesty. I have spent most of my time after spiritual rebirth gaining knowledge about God and his word. I have spent countless hours on intense bible study and preparation to teach what I have learned about Gods word to others. However I have not applied everything learned in practical ways to my life.

I guess that if I were honest I would have to say that I have practiced "sporadic obedience." Perhaps I could further define it as periods of being on a spiritual rollercoaster. On page 187 it says "many of our troubles occur because we base our choices on unreliable authorities: culture, tradition, reason and emotion." Our sin nature automatically engages all of these authorities if we are not careful. I have fallen victim to all four of these at different times in my life. Here are some action items I need to take.

I will read Gods word every day and not when I feel like it or when it is convenient

I will practice better self control with regards to being a good steward with my finances.

I will actively pursue opportunities to serve my immediate family, my church body and the community God placed me in.

I will purpose in my heart to find the good in people I meet and leave their problems and faults with God.

I will purpose to connect with other men in my community for the purpose of developing relationships so that we can grow in grace and spiritual maturity together.

I will purpose in my heart to renew my mind and heart through Gods word instead of trying to find multiple ways to be entertained and just burn empty time.

Chapter 25- There is a purpose behind every problem

Verse to remember- And we know that in all things God works for the good of those that love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Question to consider- What problem in my life has caused the greatest growth in me?


The following quotes in this chapter stood out for me.

"If you look at the world, you will be distressed. If you look at within, you will be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you will be at rest! Your focus will determine your feelings"

"Character building is a slow process"


I have had 3 major events in my life that have caused the most spiritual growth.


Event one happened when I was just 3 or 4 months old in Christ. I was a fire insurance Christian and I only called upon God when I was in trouble. I called Jesus savior but he was not the Lord of all. I lived life with me being in the center of the throne room of my heart and not God. I spent 45 days in a street rescue mission called The Star of Hope Mission where God got my undivided attention.

Event TWO happened when I experienced a divorce from my first wife and separation from the family I loved. I was devastated, angry, bitter and resentful towards my ex wife, her family and God. One of the things that I learned was that it takes 2 people to experience divorce and I had to recognize my participation in both conscious and unconscious sin that helped to destroy the relationship. I also experienced the pain and anxiety of separation from the two people that I loved with every fiber of my being. I learned during this time that God is always there and is able to comfort, strengthen and heal when no one else is.

Event 3 is when we lost our daughter Jessica to cancer. The most difficult part of this loss was to realize that Jessica was not ours. Jessica is Gods child. God allows us to experience the lives of children and to manage their day to day details. We are able to enjoy the many joys and trails that they face. We are reminded of our parent child relationship with God as we attempt to be Godly parents to our children. Our humanity is reflected back to us from our children as constant reminders of our need for humility and a real connection with our creator.

Chapter 26- Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.

Verse to remember- God blesses the people who patiently endure testing. Afterwards they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him James 1:12

Question to consider - What Christ like character quality can I develop by defeating the most common temptation I face?


The following quotes stood out for me in this chapter.

"God develops real peace within us, not by making things go the way we planned, but by allowing times of chaos and confusion"

"We learn real peace by choosing to trust God in circumstances in which we are tempted to worry or be afraid."

"We learn real peace by choosing to trust God in circumstances in which we are tempted to worry or be afraid"

I keep coming back to the theme with regards to my response to tests in my life. I always want for life to be smooth sailing. Why me Lord and what have I done to deserve this situation or these circumstances are questions I always seem to ask. I believe that ultimately I tend to do what is right with regards to being faithful and enduring hardship. My problem is I start out acting surprised at the circumstances of a situation and spend my initial moments mentally reacting to it as if the situation is not fair. Nothing in life is fair. We live in a fallen world and bad things happen to good people just as good things happen to bad people.

Sometimes I react wrong emotionally to circumstances and make poor choices. I can truly say that I am learning what it means to have peace and joy in the midst of trials in my life.




James Moffitt
http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt
moffittj@bellsouth.net

Living in the shadow of a stupid ground hog....

Who started listening to ground hogs with regards to predicting our weather anyway? The ground hog saw his shadow the other day and I guess that means 6 more weeks of winter weather. Did anyone think about relocating the ground hog to another part of the globe where the sun would be directly on top of his little noggin and therefore would be NO shadow? Sheesh... Yes, I did think about taking OUT the ground hog but resisted any excessive excitement about that option just in case our friends from PETA were reading my drivel.... LOL. Like they would be reading MY blog.... NOT....

This weekend downtown Charleston was in full swing with visitors from who knows where. I have not seen that many umbrellas this side of Niagra Falls. I am wondering IF these people who visited our fine city decided to visit BECAUSE of the 2 day rain storms or IF they were locked into the visit because of having planned their weekend jaunt to our fine city months ago? Either way, I hope that they re think their planning strategies for next year and NOT visit us in the midst of the winter months. Dont get me wrong, Charleston certainly has its fair share of tourist trap goodies to visit and remove your disposable income from your possesion. I am hoping that because they are able to do this so effectively (like most tourist traps) that someone in city hall will think about fixing some of the pot holes and streets in our fine city. GASP.... Imagine that thought...

Luckily for me I was able to observe the happenings all around me at work from the vantage point of my favorite parking garage. Cough.... It is amazing to me how many people look at things from a horizontal view point. It seems as if no one ever looks up past the second story of any dwelling. Well, at least they don't until the passing pigeon deposits a prize on their noggins. If that happens DO NOT look up because the pigeons fly in numbers and if they are all on the same schedule you may get more than you bargained for.

It is Presidents Day and most Government Employees are enjoying a day AWAY from their cubicle prisons. Wahoooo! What a deal. If you are lucky you are getting paid for being off today as well. This is my regular day off so I am off regardless of what President we are honoring or what ground hogs see when they look at the ground. The kids just got back from the Dentist in Mt Pleasant and got their teeth cleaned. I guess I will need sun glasses now to see their beautiful smiles. I am on Day 29 of my 40 days of purpose (porpoise) devotional study by Rick Warren.

The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church are two indespensible books for your library so if you don't have them rush right over to your nearest Christian Bookstore URL and get them. Experiencing God Day by Day is another book that has the same theme. Both authors , Blackaby and Warren have Southern Baptist Convention backgrounds if you are interested in that type of trivia. I have encouraged several friends to get this book and engage in working through the 40 days. One friend told me that she has had the book in her posession but has not chosen to do anything other than collect dust with it. Another friend is just starting the book and is beginning to work through the contents. Did I say that this book is not intended to make your comfortable or help you to stay wrapped up in your current security blanket? This book is not light reading either. You will either love this book or you will hate it. The book will challenge you to examine your views about a lot of different things with regards to your faith. Are you ready for that? Are you ready for change? Change means sacrifice and loss and therefore sometimes pain. Do you have some extra Excedrin in the medicine closet? If you do, it wont help. The Holy Spirit will be the only one that can administer healing with regards to the change and pain I am talking about. I wish you Jesus should you undertake this study. Get a pen, journal notepad and a nice cup of coffee and get started.

I am currently working on growing the membership of Jesus Connect Ministries BBS Jesus Connect Ministries BBS We have gone from 5 members to 16 members in the last 4 to 6 weeks. I can not tell you how excited about that I am. Well, yes, actually I can tell you. I am absolutely happy about it. We are paying an ISP to Co-host our server on their Internet backbone so we need to start using it for the glory of God.... If we are not then we are not being good stewards of what God has given us. Click on over to this location and see what is going on. Jump right in and tell us who you are and how you found us. You will be able to READ as a guest but you will need to sign up for an account to post a message so as soon as I see you requesting access I will process your account.

I hope you have a wonderful week! Keep Jesus Christ number ONE in your life. Its all about God, not about me...

God bless

How bad can my bowling get ??

My AVERAGE is going backwards instead of FORWARD. Sigh.... Yes, I NEED, I WANT a wha whaa whaaambulance....
I am seriously thinking about doing something else on Monday nights. I can barely break a score of 100 for the last two weeks. My last game was the BEST game tonight and it was a whopping 112! Cough..... GAG.... I am feeling ill....

What can I do that does not require hand eye coordination ? I need to take a cannon with me next week OR a broom stick handle so I can lash two bowling balls together. I might hit the head pin that way. LOL....

40 Days of Purpose Chapters 20 -23

Day 20- Relationships are always worth restoring

Verse to remember-Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody. Romans 12:18

Question to consider- Who do I need to restore a broken relationship with today?


Regarding the true definition of a broken relationship I can think of several.

Mother- unable to reconcile, tried several years and failed
Sister- lifestyle justification issues
Jeremy - time
Creditors - need to pay off debt



My father died in 1990 of cancer. Shortly before his death I attempted to make some type of amends with our shattered relationship. I wont go into all the gory details but I will say that we were never close to one another. As for my mother I spent between 2 to 3 years trying to reconcile our relationship. My mother and father adopted my sister and I. Both parents were strict disciplinarians and my sister and I both rebelled. As young adults our parents chose to disown us. We did not meet their standards of perfection. I spent a lot of time in the late 90's trying to reconcile my relationship with my mother. All my mother was willing to do was to regurgitate every single mistake that I have ever made and reinforce in her mind why I was not worthy of her time nor was she interested in knowing her grandchildren.

My sister Tanya who is 2 years older than me has her fair share of broken relationships, emotional baggage and problems. My sister moved to Canton Ohio many years ago and because of that we have not been very close. My sister revealed to me that she has been engaged in a homosexual lifestyle and expected me to affirm her and encourage her choices. Because I did not do that our relationship was strained to the point that we did not talk for several years. In the last couple of years I have managed to make a trip to Canton Ohio and spend some time with my sister trying to encourage her to make some tough decisions.

My son Jeremy who lives near Houston Texas will be 18 years old this year. We are not as close as I would like to be and part of that reason is because I have failed to stay close to him. In August of 1997 my family and I moved from Houston Texas to Atlanta Georgia. My moving made any type of close relationship almost impossible for us to maintain. Before our move our relationship was not the closest in the world but it was easier and more convenient for Jeremy and I to spend time together when I lived in the same city as him. I have been told that my moving away and taking contract jobs that kept me away from him reflected my lack of concern for his feelings. So, I guess that I have done some damage. I hope that it is not permanent and when Jeremy becomes an adult that he will be able to choose to reach out to me more than he has in the last 17 years.

My creditors would love for me to reconcile my relationships with them. We owe, we owe, off to work we go. How many of us sing that song because we are up to our eyeballs in debt. I am not stranger to debt and thanks to bankruptcy and a divorce my credit has been screwed up for years. I have also made some bad decisions after the bankruptcy that has not helped me either with regards to credit.

Chapter 21- It is my responsibility to protect the unity of the church

Verse to remember - Let us concentrate on the things which make for harmony and the growth of our fellowship together. Romans 14:19

Question to consider- what am I personally doing to protect unity in my church family right now?



I am remaining faithful and committed to the church body and the ministry that goes on within the body of Christ there. On page 161 we are instructed to "focus on what we have in common, not our differences". "We should value and enjoy those differences, not merely tolerate them."

On page 162 we see the following principle. "Be realistic in your expectations". "once you discover what God intends real fellowship to be it is easy to become discouraged by the gap between the IDEAL and the REAL in your church". "Yet we must passionately love the church in spite of its imperfections."

Having read this chapter I am reminded of two things. If I ever want the "ideal" fellowship to happen I will need to exemplify what "real" fellowship is through my actions. The second thing I have learned is that I need to constantly remind myself that everyone is on a unique path of their own and for me to expect them to understand and grasp the things I do is unrealistic. I wonder how many of my brothers or sisters in the Lord think the same thing of me? Gosh, why doesn't James get it?? Instead of focusing on the future of "real" fellowship at Grace Fellowship I need to find a way to focus on those things that we as a body of Christ DO have in common now and build on that. The following commands are excellent suggestions to protect unity in our church. " Choose to encourage rather than criticize". "Refuse to listen to gossip". "Practice Gods method for conflict resolution" "Support your pastor and leaders".


Chapter 22 - I was created to become like Christ

Verse to remember - As the spirit of the Lord works within us , we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more. 2 Corinthians 3:18b

Question to consider - In what area of my life do I need to ask for the spirits power to be like Christ today?


The following statements are important to me in this chapter.

"every time you forget that character is one of Gods purposes for your ulife, you will become frustrated by your circumstances"


"life is supposed to be difficult ! It is what enables us to grow"


I need to learn how to welcome and embrace difficult circumstances in my life. I am like most people in that I do not cherish conflicts but would rather life to be hassle free and smooth sailing. I want my needs met but I also desire to have those things that I see others have. Lately I have found myself envious of people who appear to have extremely stable lives. That is my perception from where I am standing. Those people are those who have been able to keep a job for longer than 2 years, have a home they are purchasing, drive new cars etc. I realize that jealousy and envy is sin and I also acknowledge that some folks have made wise choices in their life that enables them to have certain things and enjoy certain activities and social status. I am reminded today that perhaps I do not see what goes on behind the perception I have with regards to stability in the lives of others. Maybe those people struggle in other areas of their lives that I can not see. Maybe their struggles in the areas of life that they are in are those character building blocks that Christ is using to bring them into likeness with him.

I need to take my eyes off of other people and their circumstances and outward appearances and stop comparing my life with theirs. I need to focus on my own life struggles and learn those lessons and character building that I can receive as I am going through them. I need to quit asking "Why me Lord" and "why cant I have a break just for a little bit" and "why do I have to go through long periods of intense battle and struggle". I need to learn to be thankful for God placing his grace and mercy on my life and caring enough about me to lead me through the trials and tribulations of daily sanctification. I am reminded of Christ praying in the garden knowing what was ahead of him. He asked God to remove the cup from him if at all possible but nevertheless that His will be done on earth and not his own. As I whine and moan and complain that life is so tough I am sinning against God. I need the Holy Spirit to give me the strength to perceive life as a character building and as a challenge to be obedient and make the right choices.

I also need assistance in the area of being servant. I need to learn how to seek out the needs of others and do whatever I am able to do to minister to them. I need to be more selfless and self seeking.

What COLOR will this font be?

It seems as if a LOT of the text is RED for some reason. I usually like to use RED to highlight a specific point or hot topic within my writing. I certainly do NOT like to use RED for the main color though. Hummmmm... Lets see what happens to this text...