Iowa Transplant via Semi-Sunny California

A friend sent this poem to me tonight ... she is born and raised in the area and probably feels significantly superior to this California transplant when it comes to snow and ice -- I, however, take my dog out in sub-zero temperatures (he wears boots and I do wear a hat now that it is below zero outdoors) and shovel snow (usually with gloves on). I just wanted to share this little piece of Iowa philosophy with you all because although some of us CHOOSE to live here in Iowa because of the people, the beauty and the peacefulness, some of us are obviously STUCK! LOL

Winter time in Iowa!

It's winter time in Iowa
And the gentle breezes blow

Seventy miles an hour

At twenty-five below.

Oh, how I love Iowa
When the snow's up to your butt
You take a breath of winter

And your nose gets frozen shut.

Yes, the weather here is wonderful

So I guess I'll hang around

I could never leave Iowa
'Cause I'm frozen to the ground!

Takes Faith ....

Someone told me yesterday it takes a lot of faith to believe in reincarnation .. it took me a minute to digest that, but then I realized how true it is. There just isn't any proof, nothing that can lead you to actually see that has happened anywhere. One person told me that a person had a birthmark where they had been shot in a previous life ... so it follows that most people were shot/stabbed or otherwise wounded in a previous life if this "logic" is to be followed, since science will tell you most people have some sort of birthmark --

This was included as part of my education this past weekend -- three other morsels thrown out for me to chew on were "sure, God is real, but He didn't create all this" (with a sweep of the arm to indicate ? what ? the world I assume) -- followed closely by -- "yeah, God is real but the Bible is just made up stuff " at which point I was hit with "someone had to make God, so who did that?" .... all put into perspective with the comment that Jesus was just "some guy" .... So maybe that tells you what my weekend was like and why I am about to get crazed here ...

I am 61 years old and although I was not raised in church or as a Christian other than the occasional trip to Mass from birth to ten years and then joining the Baptist church my best friend went to -- I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not believe there was one true and righteous God who created the world and everything in it. Not when that same friend - the most devout person I have even known, was killed in a fiery crash before she was 16 and I was 12, not when my father, my only link to sanity died at 43 when I was only 13 -- It was God I spoke to, yelled at and cried out to. I cannot think of a time in my life when Jesus was not the Christ child born on what we refer to as Christmas to become the saviour of the world, dieing in agony on the cross, spike, tree (depending on your belief system) to set us free from sin and death.

Nope, not when I studied witchcraft, nor when I read of reincarnation and the chance to mess up yet another life and another until I got "something" right (of course, you have no way of knowing what that "something" is), not when I looked at the Scientology group (ME? my own god? YIKES) not when I read with the Jehovah Witnesses and not even when I spent 90% of my time, drinking, gambling and partying -- I ALWAYS knew God was there, Jesus was crying for my sin and my life here was limited only by my own lack of commitment.

OK, you get it -- there were many things, people and beliefs I looked into on my way to handing it all to my Lord and Saviour -- but not once did I ever decide some accident happened in the outer reaches that caused the thousands of colors of green in the leaves, the millions of twinkling lights in the sky, the amazing animals who roam our world ... Nor have I ever equated myself to some slimy one-cell organism or amoeba slithering out of a pond and sprouting legs -- not to mention a jillion other cells, brains, reproductive organs which just happen to be male and female and work together perfectly to build another accidental being. And if we did come from primates, why are there still so many of them in the world?

In addition, the Bible, although penned (not written) in later years by man, was given to us through righteous beings by God, handed down through stories and text to show our history and give us laws and limits. The tougher laws of the Old Testament gave way to the Love One Another law of Jesus time. This is not to say the laws changed ... you do not kill when you love, you honor your parents when you love, you do not take what is not yours with love in your heart, etc ... same rules apply, just stated in a more user friendly way. There are no contradictions in the Word of God.

God opens our eyes to view, understand and apply scripture to our lives. No one has read Ezekiel in the past few months without seeing the wars going on, the election, the turns our world is taking ... It was written way before our time, but there it is, all laid out for anyone to see. It is relevant today.

It isn't just history, it is HIS Story. I cannot fathom how anyone can wake up every day and look outside at the lawn, the leaves, the animals and the humans, the amazing one-of-a-kind snowflakes and not believe a God of infinite wisdom and power built this world regardless of who or what they want to put their faith in.