Who Will Miss You

I read an article recently about a church that did a survey. No big news there, many churches survey their members and community. This particular survey had an interesting question. They asked who and what people would miss most about the church if they were to cease to exist. The results caused the church staff and members to rethink who they were and what they were doing in the community.

It seems that most people in the community did not know what the church was doing in the community. Many did not know anyone who was a member of the church. Some did not even know the church existed. Those results should wake up any Christian in any church. Naturally I wondered what the answer to those questions would be if the church I am a part of were to survey our community.

But what I have really been wondering since I read the article has been, outside my immediate family, would anyone really miss Mac McFatter? What am I doing to make a difference in my small circle of influence? Will my questioning my purpose and actions really make a difference in tomorrow? Or even in today? Maybe these would be good questions to ask ourselves before we get dressed every day.

I know one other living being besides myself who would miss my wife Mary, her Chihuahua, Bear. The floor is Mary's bathroom was wet from a fresh mopping. She had to use "the boy's bathroom". Bear is fenced out of that section of the house. Bear suddenly sensed Mary was not close by. He went to living room and intently looked in her chair and on the couch where she lays when fibromyalgia takes her down. He then went to Mary's computer, back to her bedroom and bathroom and back to the living room.

He retraced his steps and looked puzzled. He even went to the pet door and sniffed all around the edge to see if she had some how squeezed through his door. I suppose he knew she had not left the house through normal means because he had not heard the door open or close. He then went to his bed close behind Mary's chair and lay down.
I sure would like to know what he was thinking.

Would Bear miss Mary more than Mary would miss Bear, I do not know, I only know they make a difference in each others lives. Who would you miss? Who would miss you? Why?

Nowhere anyone would want to be! Really?

Someone on a Yahoo List I belong to, shared that they lived in a town that was "nowhere close to anywhere anyone would like to be".

I thought how sad that some people can not enjoy where they are. This person lives in a city with a lot of history going back hundreds of years. I know of at least two historic cemeteries where one could spend a day in each to visit the graves of heroes of American history. There is a historic district with many older homes which have been converted into businesses and offices and a stroll down these streets are
walks through history.

This city is home to several museums. Admission is free to most of them although donations are gladly accepted. An aviation museum rivals the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC and there is another less than two hours away at an Air Force Base. There is a light house and two old forts dating back to the 1800's.

There are coffee houses, night clubs, fine restaurants, family restaurants, neighborhood restaurants, ethnic restaurants, chain restaurants, and naturally all the fast food places you can name. A person can purchase fresh seafood which spent the previous night swimming in the Gulf of Mexico to prepare your self or at any one of several local seafood restaurants. There is a cooperative health food store which in my opinion is second to none for hundreds of miles.

There are two large hospitals with fine reputations for treating a multitude of ailments. There are several institutions of higher learning with outstanding credentials. There are craft guilds, clubs and organizations for every hobby I can think of. White sand beaches are a very short drive away where a person can search for sea shells, walk on the beach, sun bathe, or swim pretty much year round.

I wonder if the place this person came from was also a nowhere, nothing to do kind of place like Pensacola? I'll just wager it is.

How much better our world would be if each one of us would enjoy what we have and where we are. Right now I am thinking of a man who lives by choice in Anapra Colonia, a slum of Juarez, Mexico, because he has chosen to make a difference among people who truly are "nowhere close to anywhere anyone would like to be". May God bless Fernando Maldonado this day.
Mac

Doing It Right

I must be doing some things right.
For instance this week:
I still have my part-time job.
I received a Valentine's card and gift from my wife of soon to be 52 years.
I exchanged comments and pokes with friends on Facebook.
I made comments to the group in a meeting this week and had several positive responses during the week and so far the only negative response was during the meeting.
I (we) received an invitation to assist again this year in the Alpaca shearing in Fairhope, not bad for a couple in their 70's.
I was able to again assist the leader of first grade RA's and the boys welcomed me back.
I had breakfast with two long time friends on Tuesday.
I had a friend email me the sonogram picture of a pregnancy test.
I count all of the above as blessings, so maybe I should change the title of this to weekly blessings.
What do you think?
Mac

23 DAYS

I commented last right after the election and have kept my thoughts to my self regarding our new president. No longer! 23 days since he was sworn in (even that was botched?)and I am about to explode if I do not let some steam off.

Can you believe this spending package the administration is ramming through congress? Every day the news reports tell us how bad the economy is getting. Every day they tell us more and more about what this spending bill has in it.

Guess what? Many people are frightened about what might happen if the market gets worse or if the auto industry fails or if the banking industry fails or if more people lose their jobs. The stock market is afraid of what the spending bill has in it and falls further even faster.

So the fix is in to destroy the free market economy America was built upon. Government will regulate every industry and business which it bails out and props up. Cap what the CEO's are allowed to make and the next step will be to cap what any business owner can make. Pass that thought on down the line until it reaches either you or your children.

They say the money (taxes) will come from the BIG corporations and the RICH people.
Wait, are these the same people who hire us common people to do the work? Will the BIG corporations and RICH people still have money to pay you and me? OH, I forgot, I am one of the RICH people. I have a job and WORK for a living, so I have to pay for the poor people who have not worked for several generations and the illegals who work, but are "off the books" and thus qualify for assistance.

Some call this spending bill the New New Deal. I remember the WPA and the CCC. Sure the WPA (we called them "we poke along" and some of the methods they developed for leaning on shovel handles are still practiced today) built roads, bridges, and dams. Sure the CCC planted trees and built state and national parks. They were both still functioning (I could not bring myself to say working) when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and real jobs in real industry opened up. I wonder who we should credit for ending the depression, Tojo or FDR?

Folks it was WWII that got us out of the depression, not government created jobs.
Not the government paying farmers to NOT grow crops which caused us to have to import instead of export food and fiber.

This spending plan which is coming just 23 days into the Obama administration will worsen the recession and eventually bring about another depression.

It looks like it is going to happen, so as a common little man I suppose I should say, "Go ahead and bring it on so we can begin to get it over with."

By the way, I didn't watch the town hall meetings he held this week. Did anyone hear a single intelligent question asked of the president. I only heard what the news reported and they were all gemme gemme questions. I understand that one of the questions came from a mother with a grown son. Neither of them has worked in 7 years
and they want the government to provide them their own place to cook and go to the bathroom.

Whew! Now I have to decide do I feel better for having let off steam or not? Right now I think not> Maybe next time I can be more positive. I really hope so. Maybe someone else can tell me something good about the current state of affairs in DC.
Mac