Hand-me Down Dreams

Rev. Paul Abernathy, reflects experiences of his youth in this poem.
Hand-me down dreams 

Hand-me down dreams are like that
big overcoat with the sleeves too long,
or those old shoes that don’t fit.
Hand-me down dreams are like that
blue denim shirt sewn on the side.
I would never wear that kinda thing.
Hand-me down dreams are good
enough for you, but not me, it seems.

I don’t want any of your hand-me down dreams.
I’m a person who can discover what I can be.
I don’t want to be a prisoner of your faded
memory, or of what you could never be.
Hand-me down dreams are like that
big overcoat with the sleeves too long,
or those old shoes that don’t fit.
Hand-me down dreams are like that
blue denim shirt sewn on the side.
I would never wear that kinda thing.
Hand-me down dreams are good
enough for you, but not me, it seems.

I don’t want any of your hand-me down dreams.
Don’t you know I have eyes that can clearly see?
Just let me live up to my possibilities.
I will not be a part of any calculated scheme.
Hand-me down dreams are like that
big overcoat with the sleeves too long,
or those old shoes that don’t fit.
Hand-me down dreams are like that
blue denim shirt sewn on the side.
I would never wear that kind of thing.
Hand-me down dreams are good
enough for you, but not me, it seems.

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All you need of love

John Lennon was and continues to be a controversial figure, and his message, :” All You Need Is Love,” is an echo of a message from another man who lived 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ.  There is no comparison of the two lives, but the concept of respecting diversity is just as strong.

This message is not reflected in the current events and issues concerning America.  We have a diversity education program at our church for our youth and for our adults, too. Those who believe in true diversity are optimistic about our future. According to a Creed for Optimists by Christian D. Larsen, one of the statements goes something like this: we should think only of the best, work for only the best and expect the best.
What is happening now is the worst. There are three decisive issues that are being fought in the courts and protested in the streets.

The first guess would be racism, but that is on the back burner.  Topping the list is the fight over gay marriage in California, a state which paves the way for the rest of America in many ways. Some judges are for it, and some are against it. Even the judges can’t agree.  The issue of immigration, especially along the southern border, even has legal Mexican–Americans paranoid in Arizona.  Does a local police department have the same authority as federal agents in controlling the flow of immigrants into this country, many of whom came here legally under a temporary Visa system but ended up staying.

A third issue is the proposed multi-cultural center  to be built on private property near the site of the Twin Towers Ground Zero in New York.  Our president has supported the group’s right to build the temple on freedom of religion expressed in the U.S. Constitution.  It can’t be any worse than the legal strip clubs in the area, based on moral issues.  Politicians from Washington, D.C. and elsewhere are challenging Obama’s position, which is part of his oath as President.  Some conservative opponents are comparing the building to the infiltration of the Nazis in this country, but who are the real Nazis in this controversy?  Who is against the religious tolerance and diversity? What examples of this attitude are being show our youth when these and the two aforementioned issues are hot topics burning the cable pundit news shows?

All we need is love. These three issues, and a few others, have lingering economic and social integrity consequences not fully explored, however another thing to consider is how are other countries viewing us with a hypocritical message of respecting diversity.

Peace be you with always,

Rev. Paul Abernathy

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” -2 Peter 1:2

Contact Paul Abernathy at paulabernathy@gmail.com.

Want to know more about the members of Lambda Sigma Chi? Click here to meet the members of the unofficial fraternity.

Meditation

Brother Adrian Parker started going to this Yoga class for more exercise and he found more than that.
Meditation 

Be one with the minds.
Leave your body to the world.

With the Knowledge, the universe
becomes one simple equation
and your soul is renewed.
When you return to the regular
routines of your life, you will
do more than cope; you will
be a success.

Hear Elias Tobias read poems from the Love Note collection, and download the podcasts

No need for “official English language”

Language is the art of communication, especially in a societal sense.  This country has been created and grown on the diversity of thoughts, ideals, and language.  As a result the way the people talk in New Hampshire do not communicate the same way as people do in New Orleans, and there are a variety of other regional accents just as distinctive in other parts to this country.

Since the mid-1980’s, a conservative political effort has grown to legislate English as the official national language.  Those who believe this think that a collective use of foreign languages in the USA hurts rather than helping immigrants, and the cost of printing signs and documents in various languages is a waste of tax money. This “Official English” bill H.R. 997 would eliminate publishing official publications other in than a “standard” English. With more than 33 million foreign-born people in this country, communication is crucial for all segments of society.

It is important to note here, as a man with a formal education and as a writer, a command of the written and spoken English is imperative for success in a general sense, and on a regional or national scale.  English is a standard of business for the world, but realize English is a changing language influence heavily by foreign influences and cultures. Through a strong diversity emerges an even stronger unity of conversation and sharing of ideas.

Any effort to legislate an “official” language for this country would be denial of everything this country stands for, and such an “official” conservative movement could lead to an “official religion” here.  One language does not fit all, even if the waistband has enough elastic to expand from sea to shining sea.

Peace be you with always,

Rev. Paul Abernathy

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” -2 Peter 1:2

Contact Paul Abernathy at paulabernathy@gmail.com.

Want to know more about the members of Lambda Sigma Chi? Click here to meet the members of the unofficial fraternity.

Cheap Information

Rev. Paul Abernathy, one of the more outspoken members of the unofficial fraternity, uses his religious training to make a personal statement.

Cheap Information
Adam looked around paradise,
and he was at wonder and peace.
Then he saw other animals had a mate,
and then God blessed him with Eve.
On a bright day, she saw a snake
coiled on a limb of low tree.
It said she could have knowledge
of the world, and the price was
discounted, practically free.
All she had to do was take a bite
from an apple from this one tree.
She asked Adam, and God had warned
him, saying, “All you need is me.”
Eve was hungry, and in the middle
of the night she got a bite of
an apple when Adam was asleep.
In the morning, they realized they
were naked and gathered some leaves
to cover parts of their body that
other animals showed naturally.
Even with knowledge and power,
people can easily be deceived,
especially when the drive for
this information can exceed
the paradise that we have
already existing under our feet.

Have you read the childrens story, The Peasant Princess? It is in English, French, Spanish, German, and Arabic.

Am I Worthy?

Am I worthy of being the recipient of God’s love through Jesus Christ?   This may seem a silly question a minister of all people should ask himself, but it truly an important question all of us have to answer.

I heard the line “Am I Worthy?” in a Western movie with Lee Marvin about a group of Americans who are hired by an American railroad mogul to retrieve his kidnapped wife from a Mexican renegade. In this scene, a Mexican farmer, who is helping the Americans in a foreign land, is approached by the Mexican renegade and his band of “bad guys.”  The Americans, with their weapons ready to fire from a train car, watch as the man directs the Mexican bandits away from the Americans.  For his efforts, he is beaten and trampled by horses of the bandits as they ride away.  With the “bad guys” out of the scene, the Mexican man struggles to stand with his arms straight out from his body like a cross facing the Americans and asks, “Am I worthy?”  With the magic of Hollywood, the man recovers quickly in a few scenes later and helps the Americans with their task at hand.

This was good stage directing.  Paul, in his writings to encourage the early Christians, wonders if he is worthy. Very knowledgeable about the Jewish traditions when employed by the Romans, he committed many sins against Christians to say the least. With his conversion, he became a new person, and worked to make God’s kingdom a reality for others.  As a minister, I have to be humble enough to ask the same questions Paul did of his life. The call to be a minister, and a minister for children, was a difficult decision to make in a way because, like Paul, I had to become a new person worthy of the post.
In His ministry, Jesus had parables that often put the Pharisees in a bad light, such as the one about the Pharisee and the tax collector. Even back then, tax collectors had a bad reputation, but Jesus said the worse of the two was the Pharisee, the one who knew God’s law and taught it to the Jews.

That man had status, power, and wealth, but it was an earthly rank. The fact that Jesus said he was the Son of God made the Pharisees even more angry or jealous, and clearing the Temple of sinful people didn’t help their view of Him. The kingdom Jesus proclaims is not here on earth.  It is in Heaven.

Modern religious leaders have fallen from grace for their sins because the power of God they felt initially in their work became a power they perceived as their own. They were not worthy, just as the Pharisee.  In my work, I sometimes struggle to meet the needs of my family, the church, and the youth I serve all at the same time. Wild horses can knock me down, and I want to be able to stand up, with my arms straight out, and ask the Lord, “Am I Worthy?”

Peace be you with always,

Rev. Paul Abernathy

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” -2 Peter 1:2

Contact Paul Abernathy at paulabernathy@gmail.com.

Want to know more about the members of Lambda Sigma Chi? Click here to meet the members of the unofficial fraternity.

Open Gates

Brother Bill Kelso may be revealing a secret here or maybe he just watch one of those loves story movies with his wife and got inspired. He didn’t say when the sent the poem to me.
Open Gates
There was a certain look in your eyes
When I first saw your face,
It was just a meeting, but I felt, for
some reason, like it was a date.
I listened to your words, and knew
I had met you 20 years too late.
By then I had decided to love
Another and make her my mate.
Meeting you then was the devil
Working or the tempting of Fate.
It might be a missed opportunity,
But feelings for you flood the gates
That held back the fears I had
Because I never wanted to be alone.

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Rent-A Friend?

I can appreciate the ingenuity, creative imagination and the entrepreneurship of those reinventing the limits of the Internet and its programs; however, one of the hottest topics on Google is a Rent-A-Friend website for those with low-friend-count on their Facebook or other social network page.

It’s not a dating or escort service, and that’s good. However, people who don’t have enough “friends” connected to their account can enter any zip code in the USA or Canada and find those who will sell their relationship.  People who want the “friends,” have to become members, and that’s where they pay before connecting to the new group of acquaintances.

The Rent-A-Friend site reportedly has 100,000 hits a month, claims 200,000 members, and it has only been around for six months. Here come the knock-offs, and the trend is here to stay for a while.

Some of the youth I work with have tried this new-fangled thing, and results have been mixed. I have encouraged them to avoid this web site and others like them. It’s not that I’m an old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud, but I believe friends are friends, and it’s not hard to make friends for most people.  If you have to rent them for what every reason, something’s not right. It’s also against what God has taught us, too.

I once gave a friend in my young life a quarter if he would not tell a certain girl in school that I liked her.  This was when 25 cents could by 25 pieces of bubble gum. He took the money and promptly told the certain female of my interests the next day.  How much would he have taken? I don’t know. How much would others charge to be a friend of a stranger? I don’t know.  I do know that Jesus taught us to be fishers of men, to spread the word of an everlasting life, and we should help strangers in need of help.

Does help include renting friends to be popular on a social website?   I don’t think so.  An article on the topic suggested some practical uses of the Rent-a-friend website, such as a person new to a city looking for someone to show them the town, but that could be a bad situation, too.  One-one one talking is the real answer to finding a friend, and that includes a prayer every now and then to Jesus.

Peace be you with always,

Rev. Paul Abernathy

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” -2 Peter 1:2

Contact Paul Abernathy at paulabernathy@gmail.com.

Want to know more about the members of Lambda Sigma Chi? Click here to meet the members of the unofficial fraternity.

Childhood Revisited

This the debut poem by the newest Lambda Sigma Chi brother, Levi Jacobs, and it just happens to fit the theme of this month.  For more information on Jacobs, go to this month’s World of Words Newsletter, the Exponet.

Childhood revisited

A tear appears on my face,
and another.
I can’t go back to when I was
a child, not so long ago.
The time has passed quickly.
Now I have things to do, and
places to be because more
is expected of me with my
new responsibilities
I wanted to hurry to be grown up,
I but I don’t know why.

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Summer time is busy time

For teachers, summer is usually a time to get a break from the routines involved with their jobs. As the school teachers wound down the second semester, I was gearing up for this summer to prepare for educational and Christian programs for nearly 300 young people from ages 4 to 18 who are an important part of our church ministry. Now that August is here already, the school year will start soon as I am finishing the last weeks of a few projects. I’m also working with a few non-profits organizations and larger businesses to help with new programs to assist our youth in school.

The summer has gone fast, and I was personally involved in two of the programs my staff and I organized for this summer.  I was a counselor at a traditional summer church camp with activities and campfires so I could have some time with my teenage son.  Besides looking after him, I had others to look after and I had my share of bee stings and loose baby teeth. I also took part in a week-long “camp” of sorts which came about with a partnership with a local restaurant association and several prominent eateries.  It was a cooking course aimed at preparing more healthy meals for lower costs than eating out, and I had my daughter along with me for this experience.

Beyond the usual trips during all the summer camps to the zoo and the museums, we had different programs to help teenagers raise their own children as they learned to appreciate their role in caring for God’s children.  We also had computer camps so our youth can properly benefit from the many options developing from the Internet, especially the social media.

With the summer disappearing before my eyes, our staff is getting school supplies gathered to stuff into backpacks for more than 500 children, mostly from our church.  We seem to fight the recovering economy when it comes to getting donations from people and businesses; however, we always get what we need and sometimes more, thanks to our Lord. Also, our push to restock our food pantry for hungry children has taken an extra meaning on my part after the class I had this summer.

Serving Jesus never ends, and He gives us challenges we can handle with the help of those around us. We just have to open our eyes and see.

Peace be you with always,

Rev. Paul Abernathy

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” -2 Peter 1:2

Contact Paul Abernathy at paulabernathy@gmail.com.

Want to know more about the members of Lambda Sigma Chi? Click here to meet the members of the unofficial fraternity.