Helping People grow!
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt.
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Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
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The MATRIX refers to the systems and structures in society that keep us bound to the traditional ways of living and working.
These systems can include societal norms, cultural expectations, educational institutions, and corporate structures that often prioritize profit over people. Essentially, the MATRIX is the status quo that many people feel trapped in, making it difficult to break free and live life on their own terms.
– Osama Shbbir.
If we hear the word of God and all that wise advice and then we ignore that advice and do the opposite we are likened to a foolish person – or simply a fool.
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Matthew Chapter 7, verses 26-27:
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
I had this image in my head of an angel with wings and he was reaching down to take the hand of a woman who was slipping to fall to a long painful future.
The angel tries to take the person’s hand but she says firmly, “No, I can do this myself!” and he says to her, “You don’t understand. I have wings and I can lift you to other places, to safely and you can start all over again.”
But she says, “No, I am fine really I am.”
She is confident in herself against the forces of life. She is far too stubborn and proud to believe in the forces of darkness.
The angel looks at her and is getting a bit frustrated because all he wants to do is help her and save her a lot of heartache, pain and misery. “What you are going to do is fall. You are at a great height, I know I have flown down there and seen the rocky barren slope and you will slowly be torn to pieces as you fall, hit the ground and roll for a great distance until finally into eternal darkness in the pits of Hell. Many have fallen before you and have suffered a great fate.”
She looks at him and is grateful for his concern. “I see that you really care and that is wonderful. I appreciate that, I really do. But you must understand I have been through life. I know the pains. I didn’t get where I am today from just letting any stranger help me. I can do this…!
He stares at her and says, “You will regret not listening to my advice. I have been there before. I can help you.” He says this slowly trying to gain her confidence and he reaches down for her hand.
She sees what he is doing and smiling to him, she lets go of her hold. He calls out to her, “Just call for me and I will lift you to safety!”
Now at first as everyone knows the fast lane seems like fun times. She flies through the air and thinks, “Huh, he thinks that he has wings. Man, he should see how this gal can fly.”
Time goes by and wham she finally hits the ground on a slope and she starts to roll. “Oh, ok. I wasn’t expecting this.” she says as her life starts to spin at first slowly out of control. She realises that things have gone too far and she cannot gain control anymore. She wonders about the Angel but she has her pride you know.
Some time goes by and then the smooth ground is gone and small stones appear. She bears the bumps and her skin hardens and she gains tough worry lines and grits her teeth to carry on.
Some time later and the stones are now bigger and sharper.
“This is something else.” she says to herself and she grunts once again from the pain. She thinks about the Angel and she knows that she can call him and he will appear to help her. She knows that he will keep his word and that he is trustworthy. But her skin is toughening and she feels that this obstacle could disappear soon. And… she has her pride.
Finally she is hitting some large rocks and is being bounded from one place to another. She has the cuts and bruises and the pain and suffering but on and on she goes. She has her pride and she isn’t going to call on him for help.
Finally ahead she glimpses something dark.
Oh there it is, it is a cave. Black and intense. Hold it! She wonders, “Hmm, maybe I could ask that Angel for some help. I don’t really like the looks of this at all.”
But now she is spinning at great speed because the angle of the slope has increased. It seemed as if it was designed to stop people trying to ever be able to stop from bursting into that eternal darkness once they reached this point in their life.
Pride and stubbornness grow in her heart.
She feels tough now. She has seen it all. She took her share. She knows it all in her opinion.
She laughs and soon enough she is hurdling through the darkness to eternal suffering and never to return.
The Angel watches, sadly he lets out a long slow painful sigh. All he did was care and now he feels a great loss as once again another one bites the dust.
The Bible is a book of ancient text and along with many other books written over time they share the will to help us live good decent kind loving lives. The Bible explains many things and the foolish laugh and walk away to their own destruction.
Proverbs Chapter 13, verse 13: Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.
Those who follow God are taught to love and respect God’s Word. This is the wise thing to do. With great respect for God and His commandments we are taught to follow God.
Those who despise God and His Word will come to know the error of their ways. The sad thing is that many will come to troubled times but still will refuse to believe even while they carry the scars of their foolishness of the past.
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All the best from
James M Sandbrook.
December 17, 2012.
If you don’t know me then,
Don’t Judge me!.
If you listen to others and haven’t talked to me then,
Don’t Judge me!
If you listen to rumors and haven’t asked me about them then,
Don’t Judge me!
If you have never felt my pain or wiped away my tears then,
Don’t Judge me!
If you have never stood beside me in my years then,
Don’t Judge me, because you don’t know me.
If you are not God then
Don’t Judge me!
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I will only give God that right to judge me because God is Just and will judge me right!
Hopefully then the two of us will meet, we will know of our regrets, we will wish for more understanding, and cry over the love we never shared, and start all over again.
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Because if we really got to know one another without judgments and such, we would find that we are travelers on the same planet trying to survive. We will find that we are searching for understanding and acceptance and for love, and that we both want happiness, and to find the joy of living.
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Why not throw away our judgments, and lets be friends now!
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All the best from
James M Sandbrook.
Your dreams can come to you, but they can come with a price.
And that price is that “you have to get behind your dreams and give them the push that they need to become true”.
Your dreams will become so real that one day you will touch them in your heart and they will lift your soul to spiritual places that you have never been to before and never seen.
“It is you that makes the difference. It is you that must try”
No one else can make your dreams come true for you.
Only you and your courage can do that!
All the best from
James M Sandbrook.
November 10, 2013.
Our life is a prison when we are so worried about what other people will think of a choice that we want to make that is deep in our heart. What a sad thing that we let other peoples opinions and fear of what they think ,destroy our innermost heartfelt dreams.
How could a person love themself when they toss aside their dreams for other people’s nonsense.
All the best from
James M Sandbrook.
November 1, 2013.
We can have many people around us and yet feel very lonely, that is a sad way to live.
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If I’ve learned anything from life, it’s that sometimes, the darkest times can bring us to the brightest places.
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I’ve learned that the most toxic people can teach us the most important lessons; that our most painful struggles can grant us the most necessary growth; and that the most heartbreaking losses of friendship and love can make room for the most wonderful people.
I’ve learned that what seems like a curse in the moment can actually be a blessing, and that what seems like the end of the road is actually just the discovery that we are meant to travel down a different path.
I’ve learned that no matter how difficult things seem, there is always hope.
And I’ve learned that no matter how powerless we feel or how horrible things seem, we can’t give up. We have to keep going.
Even when it’s scary, even when all of our strength seems gone, we have to keep picking ourselves back up and moving forward, because whatever we’re battling in the moment, it will pass, and we will make it through.
We’ve made it this far. We can make it through whatever comes next.
– Daniell Koepke.