tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9689263539298235532024-03-13T12:23:08.295-07:00Eclectic JabberMy eclectic life and what I am learning as I live it. Join me? Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-11733104712218070892020-01-22T11:11:00.000-08:002020-03-01T10:10:52.734-08:00Living Thing<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Twelve degrees</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">and descending.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The cold is</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">a living thing.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Squeezing in</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">through tiny cracks.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Seeping through</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">closed window panes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Relentless.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Predatory.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Convincing me</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-7532856f-7fff-a5d3-0a5f-409aaca26a96"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">to become a</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">snowbird</span></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-51869898676560763662017-04-04T04:44:00.000-07:002017-04-04T04:44:28.800-07:00Did Congress Sell Our Privacy? <div class="MsoNormal">
Tuesday March 28<sup>th</sup>, 2017, you and I were sold out
by the United States House of Representatives. They passed legislation rolling
back rules set in 2015 by the Federal Communications Commission that prevented
internet service providers from selling your personal information. The Senate
had already passed their version on March 23<sup>rd</sup>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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What this means is your internet service provider can continue to sell
your private information. What information are they selling to third parties? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Web Browsing History<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Which apps you use – including frequency, length
of time per use, etc. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Location information<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->And more that the ISP’s won’t tell us and
congress didn’t bother to find out. (Can you believe that?)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The most egregious part of this is the internet service
providers don’t have to ask our permission to collect and sell our information.
<b>We have to ask them not to!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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I wanted to be fare about this issue and find out the
reasoning of those who voted for this rule change. I found one reason. The
argument goes: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Google, Facebook, YouTube, and others are already collecting and
selling your information and congress is just leveling the playing field for
internet service providers. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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This is a completely dishonest argument. If you are not
using Google to search, Google is not collecting your information. When you
leave Facebook or YouTube, they are not tracking you and collecting all the
data. You can choose to not use a specific application. You can choose to not
visit a specific website. What is nearly impossible to do is choose to not use
an internet service provider. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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If there is only one reason being spouted by the
politicians, industry representatives, and pundits and that reason is shown to
be false, than what other reason could our representatives and senators have
for giant corporations to be allowed to sell our private information without
our consent? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Theverge.com has one idea. If you would like to know how
much money your Representative or Senator was given by the telecommunications industry
(for their election campaigns, of course, nothing more. You believe that, don’t
you?), than you can find out <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15100620/congress-fcc-isp-web-browsing-privacy-fire-sale">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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There are still many unanswered questions regarding this
piece of legislation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h2>
<b>Priority<o:p></o:p></b></h2>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What process did the Republican leadership use to determine
the priority of this legislation? The Senate has so much going on, right now.
We are facing the Judge Neil Gorsuch appointment for Supreme Court Justice that
is turning into a partisan battle between the parties. In late April they will
have to decide whether or not to raise our national debt ceiling again. They
are neck deep in the investigations into the Russians influencing our national
elections last year. They have the investigation into President Trump’s
accusations of the Obama administration illegally surveilling the Trump
Presidential Campaign. We still don’t have a Secretary of Agriculture or a
Secretary of Labor. Add to all of this, nearly one hundred federal judgeships
to fill. And the President also wants them to begin the process for tax reform.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The House Intelligence Committee is also very busy with its
Keystone Cops version of the Russian Election Influencing investigation. The entire House of Representatives is busy as
well with very important measures to label North Korea a “State Sponsor of Terrorism”
(again), and Condemning North Korea for developing multiple intercontinental
ballistic missiles and “other purposes.” Don’t forget tax reform. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The point is, in the first one hundred days of a new
administration (always a hectic and chaotic time), why was this particular piece of legislation pushed to the
front of the line? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Are the internet service providers about to have a mass
layoff if they don’t get an infusion of cash? Are they in some sort of
financial trouble because the industry’s business model is unprofitable? Are
they unable to be profitable unless they are allowed to sell our private
information? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2016 AT&T’s revenues were up more than 22%. $40.5
billion. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Comcast had a Gross Profit of $51.96 billion in 2015. (2016
figures are not yet available)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Verizon says its total revenue for 2016 was $126 billion!
This is down from the year before, but their profits went up! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Time Warner’s total revenue was more than $29 billion
dollars. That is up more than $1 billion dollars over 2015's total revenues.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Obviously, the ISP’s are not in financial trouble and are
not in need of a “leveled playing field.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next, we will look at top receivers of campaign funding from
the telecom industry and which committees each of these top “earners” are members
of. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-16390603573088094512017-03-27T06:35:00.000-07:002017-03-29T13:43:46.044-07:00A Twenty-first Birthday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YAtXNvIKdpk/WNkPA_dQpNI/AAAAAAAAKYc/Lp_SLDZ5J_QhQyFkbXXrJyl9vog1eut8wCLcB/s1600/Kenzie%2B%2526%2BDad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YAtXNvIKdpk/WNkPA_dQpNI/AAAAAAAAKYc/Lp_SLDZ5J_QhQyFkbXXrJyl9vog1eut8wCLcB/s320/Kenzie%2B%2526%2BDad.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday was my daughter’s twenty-first birthday. She is my
middle child. This is not new territory for me. So, I was surprised when I woke
with every memory of her life rocketing Matrix-like through my brain all at
once. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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There was the night her mother and I made her. (That was
fun.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The night she was born. (Exhausting.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The night she woke me screaming because all the stuffed
animals in her room came alive in the middle of the night and wouldn’t let her
out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The time her baby brother threw up in her hair. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The day we had to explain to her we were holding her back in
first grade. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The day I realized she was having so many problems with the
other girls at school because she was the only one in her class who no longer
had the same body shape as the boys. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The struggling to understand her during her teenage years. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The day she came out to me at Chic-fil-a (hilarious) during
pride week.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The look on her face when I told her I’d already known for
two years and I loved her. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And dozens of others. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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For a moment I thought, “Wait, am I dying? And, if I am, why
is my daughter’s life flashing before me? Shouldn’t it be my own?” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iwb9QBKNRDw/WNkRQjCE_bI/AAAAAAAAKY8/Fwyb788-v603htuKl7OT-pEDR0a5W6QpACLcB/s1600/Kenzie%2BActress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iwb9QBKNRDw/WNkRQjCE_bI/AAAAAAAAKY8/Fwyb788-v603htuKl7OT-pEDR0a5W6QpACLcB/s320/Kenzie%2BActress.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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OK, that last part didn’t actually happen, but it
illustrates my point. My daughter’s life is not mine. The entire point for the
last twenty-five years has been to prepare her and her brothers to be able to live independently
of me – or anyone else for that matter. And yet, our lives are so intertwined,
in a small but significant way, her life is mine. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dXUj1cwaxIk/WNkRrHCGuSI/AAAAAAAAKZE/zab_jythTPsjV1KLk-x7MgPUTmqQ12yOgCLcB/s1600/Family%2BBikes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dXUj1cwaxIk/WNkRrHCGuSI/AAAAAAAAKZE/zab_jythTPsjV1KLk-x7MgPUTmqQ12yOgCLcB/s320/Family%2BBikes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve spent the bulk of my adult life focusing on helping my
kids become healthy, fulfilled adults. So much so, that when I look back on my
life it is filled with them. My kids are definitely not my entire life, but
they are the most important part of my life’s work. For someone who set out in
life to never have kids, I’m a little taken aback by this outcome. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>And I wouldn’t change it for anything.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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What about changing it to do it better? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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That question assumes I could. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don’t take that answer the wrong way. Everyone who knows me
knows I have to work hard to let go of the guilt I feel over the many ways I’ve
failed my children through the years. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve learned that from my mother – and, I’ve gotten pretty
damn good at it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know better than anyone I’ve been nowhere near the perfect
father. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R7UE8NyPTgE/WNkRGG0uBQI/AAAAAAAAKZI/gt_p6hRLrzkYIWiYnp5XusJHQNefdZhFQCEw/s1600/Kenzie%2BBeautiful.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R7UE8NyPTgE/WNkRGG0uBQI/AAAAAAAAKZI/gt_p6hRLrzkYIWiYnp5XusJHQNefdZhFQCEw/s320/Kenzie%2BBeautiful.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
At the same time, with the mind, character, and personality I have, as
well as, the upbringing, the time I had to devote to raising them, along with
the amount of time it took for me to grasp reality and learn how to ask better
questions, I’m not convinced I could have done any better.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have three great kids. None show any signs of becoming
icons of our culture. In fact, I tried to raise them to be exactly the
opposite. All three are flawed human beings. All three strive to be good at what
they do and to be even better people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They are starting life in a far better position than I did.
They will be far better spouses and parents than I’ve been – if they choose
that route. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have a musical body of work I can be proud of. I have a
growing written body of work I will be able to be proud of someday. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have a family body of work I can be even more proud of. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span id="goog_786636832"></span><span id="goog_786636833"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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</div>
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I am a blessed man. <o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-84fK0yIc-eA/WNkT3AybjHI/AAAAAAAAKZQ/4JUD5WPZqWEHCjcsj4I6DQ2ofdl-cxEpACLcB/s1600/Blue%2BHair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-84fK0yIc-eA/WNkT3AybjHI/AAAAAAAAKZQ/4JUD5WPZqWEHCjcsj4I6DQ2ofdl-cxEpACLcB/s320/Blue%2BHair.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-64365869655463903622017-03-20T05:29:00.000-07:002017-03-29T13:44:15.346-07:00Remodel<div class="MsoNormal">
Over spring break I remodeled my music studio. This is the
place I’ve written my last four CD’s and recorded the last two. In here, over
the past eleven years, I’ve taught hundreds of students to make music. It has
looked the same the entire time. I decided a face lift was in order. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1EYCzzw3kqE/WM_JgKotYBI/AAAAAAAAKRg/M45o9dVx2_Q-5B09iYcehZ3Uqdrq9UZTgCLcB/s1600/Old%2BStudio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1EYCzzw3kqE/WM_JgKotYBI/AAAAAAAAKRg/M45o9dVx2_Q-5B09iYcehZ3Uqdrq9UZTgCLcB/s320/Old%2BStudio.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I was working for other people, I’d heard that a simple
paint job or changing light fixtures was all it took to reinvigorate employees
with lagging motivation. I thought it was hogs wallow until, while working for
a Fortune 100 company that paid its employees next to nothing, I watched it
happen. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was amazed. None of us got a raise. They moved us from a
number of smaller offices into a bullpen full of cubicles. We all got “new”
desks and chairs. They were new to us, anyway. This was not a better work
environment by any means. More distractions, more oversite, less privacy. Yet,
we were all excited and productivity rose for a few months after we moved
across the hall. It was impressive. I’m not even sure the higher ups at the
company were aiming for the bump in productivity. It was just that the company
was growing so fast. We needed the extra space for all the new employees. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remodeling my studio was difficult work because I don’t
really know what I’m doing. But, it was a nice change of pace. It reminded me
of why I am so happy teaching music. Years of construction work was not only unfulfilling,
but incredibly hard on my body. My favorite thing about the drywall business is
that I am no longer involved in it! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although, I still remember driving my oldest son around
Omaha and pointing out buildings and homes I’d helped to build. I did feel a
strong sense of pride in the work I’d done. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Other Remodels<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I was twenty-four, I was involved in a multilevel
marketing company. My up line (the couple who recruited my wife and I into the
business) decided to get a large office just inside the 610 loop west in
Houston. I helped paint the new office. I didn’t feel the excitement or any
extra ownership in that office. Probably because I didn’t really work there. I’d
show up for the Tuesday night recruiting meetings and the Saturday morning
trainings, but I was rarely in the office. I was always out and about in
Houston, meeting new people, delivering product, coaching my downline and my
customers on how to get better results. That’s where I was happy, excited, and
engaged. Ultimately, it didn’t work out, but I had a good time while I was working the
business sixteen hours a day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At thirty-two, my last year in construction, I helped my
church remodel a new space they’d rented. It was an old building in Council
Bluffs, IA. At one point, we knocked out a wall to make the sanctuary space
bigger. The pastor had located the breaker box and turned off the power to all
the outlets. I was tearing out the wall. When I got to the wiring for the
outlets, I asked if he was sure the power was off. He assured me it was. I
tentatively tore out the wiring for the first outlet. All good. I began to work
more quickly. When I got to the third outlet, I grabbed the wiring and pulled
hard enough that my hand slipped to the end where the wires were exposed. I
large spark and a shooting pain emanated from the contact point. I’d burned the
pinky on my fretting hand pretty badly. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It turned out, the previous tenants had used the third outlet
for the copy machine and, instead of using a forty watt breaker they used two
twenties. You live. You get burned. You learn. I finished the remodel with a
badly burned hand. I didn’t even attend the first service. I never felt any
extra motivation or ownership there, either. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Back to the Studio<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>After: </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0DAaFVfQSIA/WM_JvHvu5_I/AAAAAAAAKRk/gJsSmaRtQPgWeY2rR-Cw08_gcPQH_3rQACLcB/s1600/New%2BStudio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0DAaFVfQSIA/WM_JvHvu5_I/AAAAAAAAKRk/gJsSmaRtQPgWeY2rR-Cw08_gcPQH_3rQACLcB/s320/New%2BStudio.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The space looks completely different. More vibrant. Larger.
I am looking forward to teaching here. I am looking forward to creating new
music here. I am interested to find out if the color I chose for the walls
really does improve the concentration of my students. That’s what the research
I found says the effect is supposed to be. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am more motivated by the facelift, but I did all the work and
made all the decisions. One would expect me to be excited. I am interested to
learn whether any of my students become more motivated by the new look of their
learning space. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-22826190827268862472017-03-06T05:06:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:50:33.526-07:00My Epiphany<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday, I sat down to write today’s article. This is the
week I scheduled to lay out President Trump’s plan to punish the poor. There is
more than enough material to prove this is the administration’s and Republican
congress’s plan. As I sat down to write, I felt an overwhelming urge to walk
away. Go work in the garden or play guitar or piano. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s when I had my latest epiphany. All this political
stuff is important and it’s depressing as hell. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve decided, for my own health and well-being, I need to
stick to my own wheelhouse. My purpose in life is two-fold: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Create as much beauty as I possibly can in this
world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ol>
<li>Draw the attention of others to all the beauty
and bliss I find already existing in this world.</li>
</ol>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Someone else is going to have to fight these political
fights. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m out. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is the first piece my self-redirectioning has produced:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1LGKOk69Ewc/WL1bDXK-gVI/AAAAAAAAKK8/ZS_L4S9iUyMvWSiLCOEYd-axqHIyMo5JACEw/s1600/IMG_20170306_064730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1LGKOk69Ewc/WL1bDXK-gVI/AAAAAAAAKK8/ZS_L4S9iUyMvWSiLCOEYd-axqHIyMo5JACEw/s320/IMG_20170306_064730.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<h1 align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<u>Safe<o:p></o:p></u></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sit peacefully on the front porch<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Safe from the early March rain<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gentle and cold<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It washes the pine pollen from<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the
trees<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the air<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Causing it to gather like greenish-yellow dirt<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in the
cracks in the sidewalks<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in the
gutters along the street sides<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The wind picks up<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Waving the pine boughs<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I imagine they are palms branches<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am Egyptian royalty<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Safe and wealthy on my front porch<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A solitary dove calls from a neighbor’s tree<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I am about to answer,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
preparing
to blow the avian call</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
through my hands<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another of its own kind responds<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
from
the southwest<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The wind calms<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The thunder fades to the southeast<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rain persists<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It sounds like bacon lightly frying<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As it collides with the earth<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each miniature impact <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reminds me of my safety<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I linger <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-19296817416308179702017-02-27T04:19:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:44:40.846-07:00What is the Earth's Intrinsic Value? or Exploit the Entropic Environment<div class="MsoNormal">
Last week’s article, Bully the Bad Guys, began a four part
series on President Trump’s unfolding agenda. If you haven’t already, you might
to read it before moving on to this week’s article. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the Trump administration’s first week they put a gag
order on all employees of the EPA and the Department of Agriculture. This order
prohibits all employees from communicating with the press or public, including
the use of social media. This includes all research scientists. As of February
26, 2017 this order has not been lifted. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Trump also signed executive orders authorizing the
immediate restarting of construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline and the
Keystone Pipeline. Both of these pipelines had been reluctantly stopped by
President Obama after unrelenting public pressure. President Trump obviously
felt none of that pressure. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The administration nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott
Pruitt to head the EPA. What are Mr. Pruitt’s qualifications to run the
Environmental Protection Agency? He sued the agency fourteen times in his
tenure as Oklahoma’s AG. Thirteen of these fourteen lawsuits were with oil and
gas companies as co-parties. These same co-parties also happened to be large
scale contributors to his election campaigns. A reported $300,000 in total.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His confirmation was pushed through the senate last week so
he could be confirmed before thousands of emails from his time as Oklahoma
Attorney General were released. This was done in spite of requests of democrat
senators to wait for the emails so a more informed decision could be made. These
emails subsequently revealed an extraordinarily close relationship with oil and
gas companies. He even copied and pasted an email from Devon Energy onto his
own letterhead and sent it as a complaint to the EPA he is now tasked to head. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He was found to again be copying and pasting language from
emails from lobby group American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers in a
complaint he filed with the EPA about ozone limits. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. Pruitt is on public record denying the science that
mercury “poses public health hazards.” It should be noted that while he was
Attorney General of Oklahoma the number of lakes in the state listed for
mercury contamination went from fourteen to forty. His contention during his
confirmation hearing that states should be setting and enforcing environmental
protection laws also needs to be pointed out. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is it Mr. Pruitt’s intent that the EPA allow states to deny
environmental science and allow their jurisdictions to become continually more
toxic? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am sure we won’t have to wait long to find out. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to Myron Ebell, who ran the EPA transition for the
new administration, the Trump administration is planning a one billion dollar
budget cut in the first physical year. The 2017 FY budget is $8.27 billion.
Down from $10.3 billion in 2010. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we watch the dismantling of the EPA and other agencies in
the government by this administration, we need to ask ourselves some difficult
questions. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Does the earth from which we are formed and
sustained, our only home, have any value outside of profits corporations can
extract from it? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->How important is clean air, clean water, and
clean soil to me? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Am I willing to stand by and watch as
corporations collude with their political caddies in Washington to take us back to
the fifties, sixties, and seventies with burning rivers, toxic smog, poisoned
ground water, and subdivisions built on soil so fouled it causes cancer and
birth defects in the residents? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->At what point do we value the health and
vitality of flesh and blood humans, wildlife, and the ecosystem that makes life
possible over the profits of soulless and rapacious corporations?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his inaugural speech at the Environmental Protection
Agency, Mr. Pruitt called for civility. I wonder how long he expects us to
remain civil while he ignores and suppresses the environmental science and
insists on harming the population of the planet for the profit of his corporate
donors. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-67922442187414838002017-02-20T06:24:00.001-08:002017-03-29T13:45:08.650-07:00President Trump's Unfolding Agenda<div class="MsoNormal">
We are now one month into the presidency of Donald Trump. He
told us on Inauguration Day the time for talk was over and now it was time for
action. He has kept that promise. He has signed a minimum of twenty-five
executive orders to date. There is at least one more that is being talked about
being signed today or tomorrow. It is supposed to replace the one a lower court
put a stay on and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that lower court’s
ruling. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One month has passed and the President’s agenda is coming
into focus. So far, I can see four main parts:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b>1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Reward
the Rich</b> (gutting already weak regulations designed to prevent another
financial collapse like we had in 2008, Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs
employee and former George Soros employee, as Secretary of Treasury, and former
Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State – so much for draining the swamp,
eh?) <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b>2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Punish
the Poor</b> (repealing Obamacare, reducing block grants to states for
Medicaid, and beginning calls of “From Welfare to Work” and appointing Betsy
DeVos as Secretary of Education)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b>3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Exploit
the Environment</b> (gutting EPA regulations, appointing a man to head the EPA
who is opposed to its existence, and pushing through the Keystone and Dakota
Access pipelines over vehement resistance)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b>4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Bully the “Bad Guys”<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the next four weeks I will tackle each of these in
reverse order. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One thing before we start. I predicted four weeks ago, part
of the new administration’s plan to was to overwhelm the average person by
doing so much the work-a-day individual with a job, family, and other
obligations couldn’t possibly keep up with it all. This is a tried and proven
effective tactic used by many governments, including Clinton, Bush, and Obama.
It’s not just for dictators anymore. The administration has proven me correct
to this point, but I won’t be patting myself on the back anytime soon. I would
have much preferred to be wrong on this point. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Bully the Bad Guys<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Candidate Trump made this one crystal clear on the campaign
trail. Whether he was advocating torture of prisoners of war, promoting a
policy of war crimes such as, “going after the families of terrorists,” or
asking military consultants, “why do we have nuclear weapons if we aren’t going
to use them?”, he put us and the world on notice: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It
would be “Open Season” on bad guys in a Trump administration.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was funny right up until the moment Hillary Clinton
conceded the election to him. Now, we are getting a more precise definition of
what he means by “bad guys.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. Trump’s definition of bad guys includes all the undesirables
a reasonable person might expect. Terrorists, drug cartels, criminal gang
syndicates, and violent criminals who are also illegal aliens. A good list, so
far. It also appears bad guys include refugees from war torn regions, and any
media outlet that doesn’t simply regurgitate his preferred propaganda for the
day. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Trump seems intent on pursuing a scorched earth
policy with any dissenters. If you call him on clear fabrications and lies, you
suddenly become the liar. He doesn’t have to offer any coherent arguments or
facts proving you are the liar. He doesn’t have to present any facts proving he’s
telling the truth. He simply calls you dishonest over and over again and lets
his supporters do the rest. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whether beating people at his political rallies who disagree
with his proposed policies, cancelling subscriptions, or boycotting specific
retailers or news organizations, the President and his supporters intend to
silence through intimidation and bullying, both around the world and here at
home. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This bullying can be seen in how Mr. Trump cancels meetings
with heads of state who have signaled they will not be giving him what he
wants, such as the President of Mexico. It can be seen in his hanging up on the
Prime Minister of Australia. It can be seen in the aggressive, confrontational
style of his policy advisor Stephen Miller. It can be seen in the way he
constantly pulls unsuspecting individuals off balance when he shakes their
hands. (Rabbit trail: for a good laugh, check out the video of his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjcIIxHspv0" target="_blank">hand shake</a>
with Prime Minister Abe of Japan. The Prime Minister's response speaks volumes about how other world leaders experience President Trump.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One person who is conspicuously not on the list of Bad Guys
is a brutal dictator who murders journalists, assassinates or jails political opponents
and heads of state, and is hell bent on expansion of his own empire. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
You might want to think carefully, however, before
questioning the President on this matter. You might find yourself on that Bad
Guy list. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-80595978966233135762017-02-13T04:55:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:45:40.298-07:00The Secret PoetNo words would come this morning. It is a rare occurrence. So, here is part of a short story I am working on. I'd love to get some feedback from you.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fidgeting, Terri sat at her desk trying to write. The sun was
already up over the desert behind the little adobe house. Her desk faced out the
back window. She could see the desert becoming less still. She wanted to get
out there and walk through it. But, she still hadn’t written her poem for the
day. No walking until the poem was on paper. That was the rule. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Terri
had lived a life of very few rules. Almost none, in fact. This was a rule she
had decided was important, so she kept it as best she could. She had spent her
life exploring the world. Finding what she liked. That’s how she felt about
hiking in the desert. Like she was just finding what she liked. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As she
walked through the desert she could feel herself soaking up the life. Pulling
it from the sun, the sage brush, the undersized mesquite trees, and the
undersized deer. Even when she didn’t see them, she could feel the
rattlesnakes, coyotes, and the desert hairs. She’d gorge herself on the life
that flowed through them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the
evenings, sitting on the back porch with a cup of coffee, her guitar, and a
notebook, she’d savor the desert life she’d pulled into herself on the morning
hike. She imagined pulling it up to re-chew, like a cow with its cud. She’d
roll the life around inside of her, sending it to her limbs and bringing it
back again into her body before sending it even further. This time to her hands
and feet. Pulling it back in again to stir around inside her like a cake batter,
she’d send it to her fingers and toes. Finally, she’d send all that desert life
to her head where it would roll around like waves in the Pacific Ocean. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then
the ideas would come. She’d jot them down, so she could use them for the
morning poem. Only after the notes were safely ensconced in her notebook would
she begin to strum her steel string guitar. Singing old songs with her husky
voice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
singing and playing were like the poems – for her. She didn’t need anyone else
to hear her play and sing. She knew she was good, not great. She took pride in
being able to learn a song she liked or, even better, write a song she liked. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She
felt the same about her poems. She was working to become the best poet she
could be, not for others to admire, but because she enjoyed it. She also felt a
responsibility to whatever it was that gave her the abilities she had and
enjoyed so much. God, the universe, genes, it didn’t much matter to Terri. Her
main concern was to demonstrate her gratitude by being a good steward.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She
could feel the little desert dwelling warming under the strengthening sun.
Dispelling the desert night chill. She looked at her notes from the night
before. Still, nothing moved inside her. Nothing bubbled forth needing to
escape. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Often
the poems would spill forth, fully formed, like they’d been wombed up inside
her. The words, images, and metaphors would seem to have been nourished and
nurtured by the life she had soaked up the day before. Like an egg soaks up life
from a sperm cell and, feeds off the mother’s increased appetite until a completely
new and different life is molded within. Finally, this new life bursts into the
world. And all in just twenty-four hours. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But
today, no words, no images, no metaphors reveal themselves. Terri learned long
ago not to worry over these times. That lesson was learned when she was
trapping for a living in Alaska when she was a much younger woman. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Terri drove into King Salomon, Alaska the first week of
August. After storing her bags in her tiny cabin, she went straight to the
guide service office. She and her guide left the next morning. They didn’t seem
surprised at all when she showed up alone. The guide treated her like a one
hundred pound, eighteen year old girl showing up to hunt caribou was nothing
out of the ordinary. She liked that. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On day
three she killed her first caribou. They packed it back to the guide office.
The office sent it over to the butcher. Terri asked the woman at the office to
tell the butcher she wanted the hide. She and the guide went right back to the
bush. It took five days this time, but she got her second caribou. They
repeated the process one more time. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Terri
asked if there was a family or a tribe she could give the meat of the second
to. After delivering the meat, she asked if they had someone who could make her
a coat of the two caribou skins. The old woman they introduced her to made
Terri a coat and a pair of gloves. They were the most beautiful thing she’d
ever seen. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
following day she showed up back at the guide office and told them she was
ready to go to work. Ove the next three seasons they trained her as a hunting
and fishing guide. She worked hard and learned fast. The entire time she was
learning to be a guide she was also learning how to trap for pelts. After five
years of working as a guide she felt she’d learned enough and saved enough to
spend the winter trapping by herself. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She
made five grand her first year. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At twenty-six she felt like she’d found her calling. She
spent her summers guiding fishermen, August and September guiding hunts, and
winters trapping for furs. Terri didn’t think there was any way she could be
any happier. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
young woman lived this way for over a decade. The season become a liturgical
rhythm in her life. The Alaskan bush, her cathedral. Fish, hunt, trap, recover
and make repairs. It was a sacred circle she could count on. The challenges
were many, but understandable and solvable. She could see the progress of her
skills, her career, and her place in the small community. She never thought of her life as lonely.
Solitary and satisfying was how she would describe it. Besides, every guide
assignment she was meeting new people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then
the letter came from her cousin, Fernando. Her parents were both getting older
and needed help. It was becoming difficult to get out to the homestead often
enough to make sure they were OK. Would she be willing to come home and help? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of
course she would. Terri didn’t even consider it a sacrifice. It was just the
way life worked. They had given her life, raised her, and helped her become the
woman she was. Now it was time for her to return the favor. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was
difficult saying goodbye to her friends and way of life in Alaska. It was the
first time she’d cried in five years. She’d been out on a hunt. The dirt gave
way under her while she was walking a short ridgeline. She fell and rolled a
hundred feet or more before being stopped by a boulder in the middle of the
hill. She cut her leg badly. She had to stop to make camp, disinfect the wound,
and stitch herself up before they could continue. The client had been a proper
Texas gentleman and offered to go back to the office, but she refused. They
lost half a day, but she made sure the client filled their tag.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Terri
sold all her traps and her snow machine. She made arrangements with the one
real estate office within fifty miles to rent her place out for her. She gave
her truck to a family she knew could use it and headed to Anchorage to buy a
plane ticket to Phoenix. Then a bus ride to Santa Fe. Fernando picked her up. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
heat was far worse than she remembered. She’d spent nearly the same amount of
time living in the arctic cold of Alaska as she’d lived in the desert. Living
in the shadow of the last ice age for half her life had disoriented her from
the heat. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-85715437381217361832017-02-09T03:00:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:46:13.215-07:00Uncle Jim<div class="MsoNormal">
My uncle Jim died last week. He was in Panama. He got the
travel gene from my grandparents. He seemed a perpetual motion machine his
entire life. He fell from his scooter and cut his arm. He didn’t have it looked
at, apparently trusting his body to do what it always did – recover. After a
few days there was obviously something wrong and a neighbor or the family he
was renting from (details are a bit fuzzy) took him to the local clinic. The
clinic sent him immediately to the hospital in Chiriquí, but it was already too
late. He died of the infection. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One thing everyone agrees on about Uncle Jim – he <i>lived</i>. To learn of his life ending from
a simple cut that went septic is strange. I still have not found what feel like
the correct words to describe my feelings. They will come in time. I hope. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When he was a kid, he was caught raising a chicken in his
bedroom when, one early morning, the chicken revealed itself to be a rooster. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a teen, he was found to be selling golf balls for
twenty-five cents apiece to golfers who had lost theirs on the course. Eventually,
someone figured out he was in fact “ransoming” their own balls back to them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He was shipped out to Viet Nam in 1967. I was born in May of
1968. The winter before I was born our grandmother asked our mother to name me
after him. He hadn’t written home in many months. She was certain he wasn’t
coming back at all. My mother refused. I think her superstition overcame her
great desire to please her parents. She had a deep fear of naming her baby
after a newly dead relative. Also, she had a deep, irrational fear that, if she
named me James, her baby brother really would be dead. She just couldn’t do it.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I was christened Dean Ronald and Uncle Jimmy came home a
few months later. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had intermittent contact through the years. When I was
ten or so, he brought his speed boat to the family camping trip in Virginia.
When I tried to ski behind it, he accelerated like I was one of the teenagers
and not the fifty pound wisp I was. The powerful engine pulled me up out of the
water and the tips of my skis under. I did a flip and landed on my back,
knocking the wind out of me. My family being who we were, I wasn’t allowed out
of the water. I skied behind his speed boat, but I don’t remember it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Was I concussed? Maybe,
I doubt it. If I was, it was not my first or last concussion, so it mattered
little in the grand scheme of things. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At another family camping trip at the same campground, I was
probably fifteen. I demonstrated I had no concept of discretion or decorum. As
he and some of the older cousins sat around the fire, I asked him if I could
buy some pot from him. He was visibly shocked. After a few seconds of
calculation, he recovered and demonstrated why he was everyone’s favorite
uncle. He said, “I won’t sell you any, but I’ll give you some.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He gave me a little baggie of roaches and dried leaves. One
of my cousins and I smoked it all that night. I remember being really high and
then going to sleep. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the past week I’ve been privileged to learn a few more
stories from other cousins. He went home to the Lehigh Valley a few years ago
and settled down in the same house he grew up in. I am a little envious of my
cousins who got to spend more time with him. Their kids got to know him, as
well. Lots of laughter. Plenty more craziness I hadn’t known about. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We only saw each other a couple of times in our lives after
that. We were both busy running around this vast country of ours. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Uncle Jim was always thinking outside the box of normal. Even
spending winters in Panama because it was warm and inexpensive. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He lived his life as a creative force. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hope he enjoyed it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rest of us did. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-50490091631315961162017-02-06T05:40:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:47:08.497-07:00Daymare<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a great weekend. I built another garden box in the
backyard. We are going to be overflowing with fresh vegetables for the next
seven or eight months. I was able to sit out by the fire pit three nights in a
row. I wrote five new poems. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rick Bass’ book “In a Little While” arrived in the mail on
Sunday afternoon. In anticipation of the new book’s arrival, I reread “The Sky,
The Stars, The Wilderness.” I am always captivated by the poetry of his prose
and how he is able to make the surrounding environment a participating
character in the story. He may or may not be a genius, but he is brilliant and highly
skilled at what he does. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I heartily recommend all his writing, but it is his fiction that
is strikingly beautiful to the point it sticks with you. Like peanut butter
sticks to the inside of your mouth and you can taste it long after you’ve
eaten, so his words stick to the inside of your mind and heart. Often, this
stickiness manifests itself in outward fashion. You may find yourself searching
out solitary places in nature, or wandering outside at night just to look up
and ponder the infinite beauty. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Start with “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Watch-Stories-Norton-Paperback-Fiction/dp/039331135X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486387630&sr=1-1&keywords=rick+bass+the+watch" target="_blank">The Watc</a>h” and “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hermits-Story-Stories-Rick-Bass/dp/0618380442/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486387702&sr=1-1&keywords=rick+bass+the+hermit+story" target="_blank">The Hermit's Story</a>.” Before you
finish these two, you’ll be hooked and you’ll find yourself building your own
Rick Bass library. Enjoy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, onto what is going on in my eclectically jabbering
brain…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have this recurring daymare. It can’t be called a
nightmare because I am fully awake when it happens. I don’t like “waking
nightmare” because it is inaccurate and doesn’t convey my participation. And we
do participate in our day dreams, whether or not we realize it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I guess you could say I go into one of my creative trances
and that would most definitely be true. But, daymare is the most accurate and
conveys the sense of it succinctly. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I was saying, I have this recurring daymare where the
earth is a sentient being. In this scenario humans are not the pinnacle of
creation, but resemble more the bacterial communities we now know are living
within our own bodies. The earth is going about the living of its life.
Creating, growing, and changing with age. Maturing into a personality that respects
and nurtures life as best it can. It also has an evolutionary need to propagate
its own species. It seems the earth has
only recently become aware of our existence in its biological systems. We have
multiplied out of control to the point of becoming a sickness within the earth.
Her immune system is now beginning to engage us. She is developing antibodies
to defend herself and her vital organs. She sees us as an invading pathogen,
like the Bubonic Plague, and is responding appropriately. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We must mutate and become beneficial bacteria if we are to
survive as a species. I am not certain we can transform fast enough. I’m not
even certain most of us care to. We see ourselves more like the parasite, the <i>liver fluke</i>. The liver fluke is a flat
worm type parasite that lives in snail slime. When ants ingest the snail slime
the liver fluke burrows into the ant’s brain. It then takes over the controls. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The liver fluke’s entire goal is to have the ant be its Uber
driver. The ant’s sole purpose for existence is to take the liver fluke to its
preferred host – one with a liver. Thus its name. This worm allows the ant to behave normally
while there is no preferred host in the vicinity. But, when a preferred host is
near, the liver fluke takes over the controls and directs the ant to station
itself in the perfect place to be eaten by the preferred host. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my weird daymare, I am always concerned that we are
acting like the liver fluke, but the earth is far more evolved than our
species. We believe the earth is here for us to subdue, exploit, and, once we
have used it up, dispose of as we leap to a new host, but the earth is far more
evolved than we are or can conceive of and it knows how to deal with parasites.
I fear the earth is about to take a heavy dose of antibiotics genetically
engineered to target <i>Homo sapiens sapiens</i>.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Will we mutate in time? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is where my daymare always ends. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
See you Thursday. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-90391666043616371062017-02-02T03:00:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:47:59.517-07:00The Race Against Running Out<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyone who has read my writing for any amount of time knows
I have a fascination with futurists and those at the foremost edges of our
technological development. Whether it is growing new organs, creating
prosthetic limbs, genetic engineering to prevent and cure disease, a transition
to sustainable energy, transhumanism (humans merging with technology; as in
incorporating technology into their own bodies), or a hundred other astonishing
breakthroughs of science, I am easily taken in and my imagination runs away
from me. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve written extensively on the subject. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve recently discovered there is another group of
scientists, engineers, and researchers who are working to help humanity with an
entirely different future. This movement’s most common name is Peak Oil.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before you go running off, understand, I’m not talking about
the folks who make the straight to Netflix documentaries telling you to stop
paying your bills and find a “bugout” shelter in the wilderness because the oil
is running out next month and the world will be plunged into a Mad Maxian
dystopia by 2030. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m talking about real scientists, engineers, and
researchers. Serious, sober folks. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These folks research how much oil we are using daily, how
much is being discovered each year, how much is being extracted and at what cost
from existing wells. Which techniques, regulations, taxes, and natural
obstacles are being imposed worldwide. These folks also study which of these
are being removed and for which reasons. Such as political, corporate, populace,
and personal profit. There are more factors to account for than I can list or
know of. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most of these folks believe we have already passed the point
of peak oil production across the globe. According to this theory, we will be
producing less and dirtier oil each year until eventually it is simply too
expensive to produce. Then a long regression back to a preindustrial life for
humanity. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How long will this take? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Right now, authors like <a href="http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">John Michael Greer</a> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Long-Descent-Users-Guide-Industrial/dp/0865716099/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485955413&sr=1-1&keywords=the+long+descent+john+michael+greer" target="_blank">The LongDescent</a>) say two to three hundred years. According to this theory, oil becomes
more and more scarce, making other sources of energy less affordable. Which
other sources of energy specifically? All of them. To greater or lesser
extents, solar, wind, coal, geothermal, nuclear, and hydro-electric energy all
require oil to create and maintain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we deplete the planet’s oil reserves, all these other
technologies become more expensive as well. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Peak Oil theorists maintain, Futurism and the Oil Robber
Barons (my term, not theirs) are in a race. The futurists are coming up with
solutions as fast as they possibly can. The oil companies are pumping petroleum
out of the earth as fast as their machines can bear. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the futurists are losing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main reason the futurists are losing this race against
running out is because of us. We are burning, using, and discarding every
petroleum derived product they come up with faster than they can come up with
them. We resist every regulation on how much energy an individual or population
is allowed to use. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We refuse to be made uncomfortable in any way. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Price of gasoline too high? We make our politicians pay a
price for it. Let the price get beyond a certain pain point and our politicians
begin losing elections. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our favorite exotic fruit is not in season? We chew on the
grocery store manager’s ear so she knows to have it in stock next week. If she
doesn’t, the luxury grocery store down the street will. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See or hear a Public Service Announcement advocating turning
our furnace down and putting on a sweatshirt? Or, turning up the setting on our
air conditioning and wearing less? Who is the government or anyone else to tell
me what to do in my own home? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On and on it goes, right? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We all do it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And that’s the problem. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
None of us wants to be the first to unilaterally go without.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The peak oil theorists aren’t all that concerned about it
though. They say we will all begin to get priced out of our energy in the next
decade anyway. The choice to self-regulate will be taken away from us by the
natural market forces of supply and demand. (You don’t really believe the
government is going to allow its bomber and fighter planes, warships, tanks,
rockets, etcetera to not have enough fuel so you can be comfortable, do you?)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Will the futurists win the race against us and the oil
companies? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Will we plunge ourselves into a new dark age? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Will the futurists figure it out and deliver on the promise
of a glorious future where humans tap into the unlimited resources of the
universe and we spread out into the stars in magical journeys even Gene
Roddenberry, Isaac Asimov, and George Lucas couldn’t come up with while being
aided by the most powerful psychedelic substances known to man? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have no idea. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I do know it is always prudent to pay attention and try to
be prepared for as many possible outcomes as we can. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-67044324574026240882017-01-30T03:56:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:48:16.007-07:00Saucer-Shaped Moon<h4>
A saucer-shaped moon waits below<br />A tenuously connected<br />Mars and Venus<br />Asking to be<br />Filled with the heavenly nectar<br />As the three float horizon-ward<br />Disappearing while the night is<br />Still beginning</h4>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-85013807490491216092017-01-27T05:13:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:48:41.207-07:00YOU Are the Republic<div class="MsoNormal">
We are finally at the end of President Trump’s first week in
office. It has been a hectic week to say the least. In his inaugural address,
the new president said the time for talk is over and it is now “time for
action.” He has been true to his word. It is difficult, not just for the
average citizen, but even for the news media to keep up. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. Trump’s first executive order marked the official U.S.
withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement. I wrote about that
briefly<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=968926353929823553#editor/target=post;postID=1521153453615662094;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=postname"> here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Among the highlights of the other EO’s are reinstating the “Mexico
City” abortion rule, implementing much of what he’s promised to do on border
security and immigration, providing “relief” from Obamacare regulations, issuing
a freeze on all regulations created by agencies of the federal government,
implementing a federal hiring freeze, restarting construction of the XL
pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline, expediting environmental reviews of
infrastructure projects, creating a new rule requiring any pipelines built in
the U.S. to be built with U.S. made steel and other metal products, and ordering
a streamlining of the federal manufacturing regulations for U.S. manufacturers.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This adds up to Mr. Trump wanting to get moving quickly on
infrastructure projects to get American workers back to work rebuilding America’s
crumbling infrastructure. It won’t solve all of our earning problems, but every
little bit helps. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t have time to go through each one of these executive
orders, nor do I have any delusions you would sit and read all of it, so I will
focus on a couple and give you an overall assessment of where we are and where
we are headed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<b>Pipelines</b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Obama wanted these pipelines to be built. He did
not cancel them, he delayed them so he didn’t have to deal with the political
fallout. Hillary Clinton’s position was “whatever I have to tell you to get
elected.” Bernie Sanders stood alone in the presidential candidate field in opposition
to these pipelines. They both became a working reality the moment the polls
closed on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. If you were against these pipelines,
understand, no matter who won in November, you lost this battle the moment
Bernie Sanders was mathematically eliminated in the Democratic Primaries. Blame
the DNC and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll say this and move on. ALL pipelines leak. The Native
American tribes believe their water supply will be at least tainted if we build
the Dakota Access Pipeline. They deserve to be negotiated with as a sovereign
nation or, at least, a state in the union. This has not happened. As usual with
the U.S., the First Peoples are treated as less than second class citizens. This
is how the U.S. government treats all those with less power than itself – and this
behavior does not change whether Democrats, Republicans, or Whigs, or Federalists
are heading up the government. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<b>Border Security and
Immigration</b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Easily the most impactful thing President Trump has done in
his first week is the combination of two executive orders: one to build the
wall along the southern border and another on far reaching immigration
policies. Among bullet points in the second order are<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Hiring 5,000 additional border patrol agents</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">10,000 new immigration officers</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Creation of new detention facilities</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Ending the “Catch and Release” policy and
replacing it with “Catch, detain, and deport.”</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Denying federal funds to sanctuary cities and “jurisdictions”
(a new word we haven’t seen much of, at first blush, it appears to be a stab at
denying entire states federal funds unless they cooperate with the President’s
agenda)</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The action also orders the Department of
Homeland Security to create and maintain a list of “sanctuary jurisdictions.”</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The office of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement to create an Office of Victims of Crimes Committed by Removable
Aliens. (An ominous name, no?) This office will be compiling lists of crimes
committed by immigrants. One can only assume these lists will be studied to
help officials decide specific countries from which to block, reduce, or only
allow super select immigrants. It also says in the order these lists are for
the purpose of “better informing the public regarding safety threats associated
with sanctuary jurisdictions.” (A thinly veiled threat. This list will very
soon be turned into a propaganda tool to disrupt tourism and commercial
investment in these “sanctuary jurisdictions.” Why would you visit or expand
your business in a place that is so unsafe? The goal is obviously to force
compliance by using internal “economic sanctions” against these places. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have to point out at this point, had the administrations
of the past ten presidents or so simply enforced the immigration laws on the
books, we would not be in the position of having to decipher whether this
authoritarian president believes his actions are for the good of the nation or
if he has more nefarious motives. In short, we did this to ourselves. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<b>Hope</b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In President Obama’s first ten days he signed nine executive
orders. President Trump has signed twelve. This number may actually be thirteen,
but it is difficult to get clear information at this point. He was scheduled to
sign an EO ordering an investigation into his fictitious voter fraud claims yesterday
afternoon, but the signing was postponed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bottom line, President Trump is not that far ahead of where
President Obama was at this point in his presidency. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, one of the first EO’s President Obama signed was the
order to close Guantanamo Bay Prison in Cuba. Eight years later it is still
open. The President is not a king. Just because he orders something to happen
does not mean it is feasible or doable. The wall may indeed get built. If it
does, it will have little effect on illegal immigration. The more stringent
steps in the accompanying order will have far more effect. Building the wall
will create a few decent paying jobs for a few American workers for a few
years. If we decide we don’t like it, we can always take it down once the Trump
Presidency is over. Creating a few more temporary jobs? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’ve had megalomaniac authoritarian presidents before. In
the sixties and early seventies we had one who was a Democrat (Johnson) and one
who was a Republican (Nixon) consecutively. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>And we are still here
as a sovereign and a free nation. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Republic is bigger than one man. It is definitely bigger
than <i>this</i> one man, no matter how many
times he tries to conflate himself with the nation. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Keep in mind: <b>YOU are
the Republic.</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-15211534536156620942017-01-26T04:40:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:49:39.661-07:00Happier Things<div class="MsoNormal">
I said on Tuesday I’d write about happier things today, so
here you go. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have had wonderfully moderate temperatures here in
Houston for the last ten days or so. We have not used the heat or the air
conditioning in our home for at least that many days now. The ten day forecast calls for
sunny or partly cloudy and mild temperatures through next Saturday, as well.
Reminds me of living in California. A little. California has better beaches, a
better ocean, and MOUNTAINS. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll be on the back patio by the fire pit nearly every
evening for the next ten days. Lady Dog will be with me. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am the most content and enjoying my life more than at any
other time I can remember. My life is <i>really</i>
good, right now. I am enjoying my work. I find true fulfillment in giving people the lifelong gift of being able to make music for themselves. My kids are all in good places in their lives.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>I am taking the time to
revel in that goodness. </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thank you for being a part of it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I will have a much longer piece either later today or tomorrow with my take on the President's first hectic week. Hint: He said in his inaugural address it was "time for action" and he wasn't kidding. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See you tomorrow. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-79003349201410218652017-01-24T05:41:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:50:59.618-07:00President Trump's Combative Inaugural Weekend<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn’t get a post out yesterday because I couldn’t decide
what to focus on. This morning I realized <i>that</i>
is exactly what I need to write about. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The reason I had so much trouble deciding what to write
about yesterday is because, for three days, we were inundated with lies, half-truths,
conflations, misrepresentations, and outright propaganda. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before I go any further, I want to say: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ALL
GOVERNMENTS LIE<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is a part of governing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ALL
POLITICIANS LIE<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They cannot get elected or even inspire confidence
otherwise. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bush and Obama administrations both employed the
strategy of hiding their lies. I’ll let you decide who did the better job. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Trump seems to be employing the strategy of the
Clinton, Nixon, and Johnson administrations. This strategy is to overwhelm the
public with so many lies of varying types it wears the public out. The
overwhelm strategy erodes the resistance of everyday people who are working to
take care of their families. This erosion happens quickly, like a mudslide in a
California rain storm. Soon, the only resistors left are the most radical.
Because these folks are so far outside the mainstream of the “Average American”
they are easily dismissed and marginalized by the government propaganda machine
and their sometimes willing, sometimes unwitting accomplices. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I will be delighted to be proven wrong on this, but, if the
first weekend is any indicator, we are in for an exhausting four to eight
years. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p>**************************</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<h3>
<o:p>Important Happenings</o:p></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Besides the U.S. continuing its 220 year streak of peaceful
transitions of power, some other significant events happened this weekend. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Trump’s first executive order was to withdraw the
U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement. This is exceptionally
good news for the American worker. This agreement, while possibly shoring up
U.S. influence in Asia, would have our workers degraded by even more
competition with fifty cent per hour laborers and three hundred dollar per
month knowledge based workers with no protections from our government. U.S.
wages have been depressed for far too long by these types of agreements. The
only people enriched by these types of agreements are large, multinational
corporations. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A record number of people marched in protest on Saturday
against President Trump and in favor of women’s rights. This number is nearly
equal to the number of popular votes he lost by in the general election. I find
that an interesting coincidence. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, the U.S. military carried out drone bombings in
Yemen on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as President Trump wasted no time
getting to work trying to fulfill his promise to “eradicate extremist Islamic
terrorism from the face of the earth.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I searched again this morning and could find no U.S.
Congressional authorization for the U.S. military to be conducting war in
Yemen. Our president, neither Obama nor Trump, have any authorization to be
conducting war on Yemeni soil. Still, I see almost no news coverage of this. No
outcries from the leaders of either party. No grass roots uprisings. The
American people seem content to allow our presidents to illegally use our
military to eliminate those they don’t like in other sovereign nations while
killing more civilians than combatants - as long as they are “keeping us safe”
here at home. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll be back to writing about happier things on Thursday. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-68682824818051668882017-01-19T13:47:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:51:44.302-07:00Negative and Positive Liberties<div class="MsoNormal">
I am currently reading “Escape from Freedom” by Erich Fromm.
He published this book in 1941. Which means he wrote it in the years leading up
to and the first horrific years of World War II. As you may have already
guessed, Dr. Fromm was desperately trying to figure out how the most
“civilized” place the planet had ever known (Europe) had lost its collective sanity and
decided absolute destruction and the murder of tens of millions was the
solution to all their problems. What made the situation even more maddening for
him was the necessity of the “II” designation. This was the second time in
fewer than fifty years his neighbors had chosen this “solution.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His conclusions and arguments are compelling. I will be
unpacking them more next week because they have a laser focused relevance to
our circumstances today. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Fromm believed we modern humans have a habit of celebrating our negative
freedoms as individuals and stopping short of their true purpose of existing:
the freedom <i>to become</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An example of this might be free speech. The Constitution of
the United States outlines our right to freedom of expression and hampers the
ability of the government or other authorities to infringe upon it. We
celebrate and defend our right to think, read, write, and speak what we will.
Fromm argued the vast majority of the population of free societies stop there.
He wanted to encourage us to go past negative liberty of freedom from regulation
and embrace the positive freedom of learning how to think rigorously and
independently. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He believed our lack of initiative in this area makes us
easy prey for advertisers and propagandists alike. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Henry Ford is quoted as saying: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thinking is the hardest work there is,
which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I find it interesting a man who so prided himself on his
ability to think was bamboozled so easily by the anti-Semite propaganda of his
day, but, on this quote, I think Erich Fromm would have agreed with him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fromm was concerned, as many are today, our inability to
think well combined with our vast scientific knowledge brings many to despair.
This despair is induced by cynicism and lack of belief in any personal
significance, or meaning. This again creates a susceptibility to advertisers
and propagandists. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what was his solution? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Surprisingly, Fromm offered the same treatment as Jung:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Acknowledge
and face your fears of insignificance, separation from the whole of humanity
and society, and lack of purpose and feelings of powerlessness. Once you have
dealt with these insecurities you will be empowered to embrace your freedom to
become. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, being a psychoanalyst, Fromm, as well as Jung,
wanted you to go through this process with an analyst to assist you. But, this
is expensive and takes years, at best. Psychoanalysis is not an option for the
average person in the United States of America. If Dr. Fromm’s solution is the
correct one, and I have a hunch it is, the majority of us will have to go it
alone. Which brings us right back to the heart of the problem, doesn’t it? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What do you think? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you agree with Erich Fromm? Does our lack of critical
thinking skills make us susceptible to advertisers and propagandists to use as
they will? Do you see signs of this in your community, church, government? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you see authoritarianism around the world or in your own
country treating the masses as “prey” or a means to their own personal ends? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tell me in the comments below. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you like this blog, please recommend, share, and
subscribe. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, invite your friends. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">Thanks</span>Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-5157991393404596192017-01-18T03:53:00.005-08:002017-03-29T13:52:07.250-07:00Sacredness of Mountain Solitude<br />
The title poem from my upcoming collection:<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
There is something sacred about<br />
mountain solitude.<br />A life wholly other than<br />
the one we live below.</h3>
<h3>
<br />Is it the proximity to the heavens<br />
or the heavenly nearness of<br />
nature,<br />
or quiet,<br />
or a more peaceful rhythm to live by?</h3>
<h3>
<br /><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span>The answers to these questions are
beyond me.<br /><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span>As beyond me as the mountains
themselves<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">.</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-37868822698247012782017-01-16T07:08:00.002-08:002017-03-29T13:52:45.485-07:00A Carless Life?<div class="MsoNormal">
In June of 2016 I began simplifying my life. Some would say
my life was already simple and I’d agree. When compared to the typical American
life of hustle and rush, scrape and scramble, my life was already simple. At
the same time, I had far too much “stuff.” Junk drawers filled with scraps of
this and that, “just in case” I or the kids needed it someday. An attic and a garage full of things I hadn't used in years and had no plans on using anytime soon. Cleaning,
arranging, organizing, and searching through all this stuff wastes enormous
amounts of time and energy. The older I get the less I have of either. I sold,
gave, and threw away books, clothes, dishes, weights, tools, and much more.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I still have way too much stuff. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am planning another purge soon. That one will be far more
emotionally draining. I’ve already gotten rid of most of what I didn’t care about.
What is left is different. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll write about that when I go through it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This past week I was ready to take my vehicle in for an oil
change. A couple of days before I took it in the Check Engine light came on. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Uh, oh. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The local shop did the oil change and ran diagnostics. They
came back with an estimate of $2300. The vehicle is a 2007 Saturn VUE. 4
cylinders. Over 230,000 miles. The Kelly Blue Book website says it will trade
in for under $1000. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
$2300 is far better than a new car payment for the next four
to five years, but I took this as an opportunity to explore my options for an
even more simplified life. Can I live a carless existence? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am currently looking into a combination of Amazon Prime
Pantry and a grocery delivery service my local grocery store is using. If I
miscalculate and run out of something important before it is time for my next
delivery, there is the mountain bike option. According to Google Maps the
grocery store is only 1.3 miles away. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe, with a bit of careful planning, I can avoid
needing to use the bicycle option in all but the most extreme circumstances
such as, bad storms.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I currently have to drive one day per week for work. This
drive is about two miles each way. I could use a soft guitar case with backpack
straps to carry my guitar and papers I need as I ride the bike back and forth.
I would have to come up with a different option June through September. Folks
don’t want me showing up at their house to teach them music when I am all
sweaty and stinky. Also, this option needs to be available to me on days like
today when Houston’s skies open up and pour for hours on end. Will Uber or a
taxi work? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next hurtle is bank deposits. The majority of my
students still pay tuition with checks. I can make another and regular pushes
to convert folks over to PayPal or other electronic options, but, for the
foreseeable future, there are going to be folks who can’t or won’t use online
payment methods. I have to accommodate them. To do this I’ll be making at least
two trips to the bank each month. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, I need a plan for when I want to go camping and
hiking and for the few times per year I need to get into Houston proper. For
these times I can rent a vehicle for a reasonable rate. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are other factors to consider, but these are the major
concerns and I believe I can manage them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The great thing about this is I can test it – even long
term, if I like – with my vehicle parked in my driveway. I don’t have to commit
to anything until I am absolutely sure. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>By simplifying my life I am giving myself more time to
consider the life I want.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The more time I give myself to think about my life, the more
I become aware of my questions changing. For instance, this question changed
from, “How can I maintain my highly convenient and expensive car lifestyle?” to
“Which lifestyle serves me?” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>As the months go by the small changes are bestowing upon me
a vastly more fulfilling life</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll take it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I want to hear from you. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Are you currently simplifying or making other changes? If so, what prompted you to begin making those changes? Do you see anything I missed I need to consider? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you are enjoying this blog, please follow, comment, recommend and share it with your friends. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See you Thursday. </div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-89428826061512037862017-01-12T03:00:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:54:04.367-07:00How I Could Have Saved Time and Pain<div class="MsoNormal">
To fully understand this post, first read <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=968926353929823553#editor/target=post;postID=6825529496187704081;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname">Learning to Do Life Well</a>. My post from 1/9/2017. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It turns out some accomplished philosophers and
psychologists have written about what I was going through in my twenties and
early thirties. First, I had to do the work of living the ancient Greek maxim: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Know Thyself<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ancient Greeks claimed they got it from the even more
ancient Egyptians. Had you asked me during the nearly two decades I was trying
to figure all this stuff out, I would have said it was probably Shakespeare. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I was learning about myself, I was also engaging in what
Nietzsche called “The Will to Power” and what Jung called “Individuation.” Had
I been exposed to these things before or during these particular struggles, I
might have been far less concerned about why I didn’t seem to fit anywhere and never
being satisfied as a joiner or a follower. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The process of learning who we are is often uncomfortable.
Jung encourages us to confront and acknowledge our darker sides and to neither
be ashamed or afraid of them. Nietzsche admonishes us to revel in the pain of
the struggle. To see it as an opportunity to show the strength of our internal
metal. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All through my mid- and late-twenties I had this recurring
vision in my mind. I’d be working a job I hated for three to six months,
falling farther and farther behind financially the entire time. I’d be working
so hard to conform to what “god,” my church leaders, and society expected of
me. And I’d be growing more and more miserable. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I could see this “other” me inside myself. He was nearly
naked. Long hair, dirty. Aggressive. I had him in a cell of stone and ancient
iron bars. There was a single, bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling that was
always swinging side to side so no one could ever get a good look at his face. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I knew I had him caged, but any moment he was going to trick
me into letting him out again so he could destroy the nice, sanitized, middle
class life I was struggling to create. Complete with the two car garage and the
white picket fence. Even though I didn’t want any of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was terrified of this other me and I knew I had no real
power over him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Had I been exposed to Nietzsche, Jung, and others, I might
have learned this is normal. Instead of keeping this other me caged, I needed
to learn to compromise with him and figure out how the two of us could live
together in this one body and enjoy it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was perfectly fine that I wasn’t cut out to live the
Monday through Friday life of modern Americans. Jung calls it the “average
ideal.” I wasn’t designed to help fulfill the corporation’s vision, or the
pastor’s vision, or anybody else’s vision. I was supposed to be finding and
creating my own unique path. And I wasn’t supposed to be fighting my path,
avoiding my path, or being ashamed of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On his debut EP, singer songwriter Joe Pug has a line I
love: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’d rather be
nobody’s man than somebody’s child<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is how young Joe expressed his struggle of finding his
unique path in life. I think he summed it well. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In trying desperately through my twenties and early thirties
to conform to the jobholder lifestyle of the masses, I was literally harming
myself and my family. It wasn’t who I was or who was designed to become. When I
finally gave myself permission to accept myself as an artist I began the
process of self actuation and my life began to get better. It was a painfully
slow process, but it has made an enormous difference in every area of my life:
mental, physical, emotional, financial, social, and career. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Life as an individual is good. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-68255294961877040812017-01-09T04:26:00.000-08:002017-03-29T13:55:42.522-07:00Learning to Do Life Well<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">When I was thirty I met a
cousin on my father’s side of the family. He’s about a decade older than me. We
discovered quickly the differences between us were vast and probably too
difficult to overcome for there to be any kind of friendship between us. He
grew up in the family business. I took it up out of desperation. He was an
artist. I was a guy who was there to get paid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">What was the family business?
Drywall. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Hanging, taping, floating,
and finishing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">He was great. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">My skills were </span>passable<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> –
mostly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">We were both doing work for
the same company. He was an hourly employee and a highly valued one at that. I
was a subcontractor. The lowest one on the totem pole. Right where I belonged. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">He’d show up at 7 am and work
until at least 3:30 pm Monday through Friday. I’d get there shortly after nine
and work until six or so. This habit quickly got in his craw. He took me to lunch
so he could explain life to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“You know, there’s a reason
school hours are from 7:30 am to 3 in the afternoon,” he informed me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yeah, why’s that?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“It’s so that you learn to be
disciplined and show up to work on time every day.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Sounded more like programming
to me. I didn’t want to do what everybody else was doing. I could see the value
in it, but the trade-off didn’t seem worth it. And I definitely didn’t want to
continue working in construction the rest of my life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I knew he was trying to help
me, but I couldn’t stop myself. “So, my showing up every day at 9 and staying
longer than most isn’t disciplined?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">We had a short conversation
about conforming to norms and expectations, but it didn’t take. Just like the
hundred or so other conversations, consultations, and commands of this type
that came before it from bosses, managers, sergeants, captains, and teachers.
It wasn’t so much that I was rebellious, which I was until I was about
twenty-one, but I was just never able to fit into the work-a-day lifestyle I
was being encouraged to adopt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">My entire adult life I hated
sitting in traffic with everyone else every morning and evening, traveling to
and from jobs I either hated or could barely stand, just so I could get
paychecks at or below subsistence levels. I simply wasn’t cut out for it. I got
called things like, “lazy,” “flakey,” “flighty,” “weird,” and numerous other
derogatories I feel no need to mention. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In my work-a-day life,
whether in the military, on a construction site, or in the offices of a Fortune
100 company, I always felt out of place. I knew nothing was going to feel like
being on stage. There’s just nothing else like it in the world. I also knew
most of the rest of life was supposed to be enjoyable, as well. The problem was
all other work felt as though it was making withdrawals from my life’s accounts
and the meager paychecks at the end of the pay period never balanced the books.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">When I got a chance to teach
music to supplement my income and then make a fulltime livelihood, it was like
coming home to a warm, welcoming house in the middle of a windy Nebraska
winter. Don’t misunderstand. I still have to make sacrifices and compromises
with my work, but they easily balance out with the rest of my life. I don’t
wake up every day excited about work, but I do most days. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border: none; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Finding what I’m good at and
how to make a life with it took a long time. Mainly because I was distracted by
what others were telling me I was supposed to do with my life and what advertisers
and MTV had trained me to want as a musician. It took years of doing things that
took from the quality of my life before I became brave enough to be creative
and do something that enhanced and added to the value of my life and to the
lives of others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">These days I try not to waste
time wishing I’d gotten up the courage to do it earlier. I try to be thankful
every day I get to build my life around teaching people in my community to have
fun and make music. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I don't know if I am doing life well, yet, but I do know I am getting better. </span></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-56936342385368282712014-11-24T07:00:00.003-08:002014-11-24T07:00:27.860-08:00<h2>
<br /></h2>
<h2>
<br /></h2>
<h2>
The View From Here has moved to <a href="http://www.singleparentsanity.com/">SingleParentSanity.com</a>. Please join us there! </h2>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-69812992521370433272014-08-01T05:07:00.000-07:002014-08-01T07:41:57.394-07:00The Signs of the TimesIn Matthew 16:1-3 we read:<br />
<br />
One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus' claims by asking him to show them a miraculous sign from heaven. He replied, "You know the saying, 'Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow, red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.' You are good at reading the weather signs in the sky, but you can't read the obvious signs of the times!<br />
NLT<br />
<br />
I would not be surprised if the Lord were to show up tomorrow and tell most of us, believers and non-believers alike, the exact same thing.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Change</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
We are in the midst of a global upheaval. Everything seems to be changing faster than our minds and wisdom can keep up. The world seems to be finding a "new" unsolvable problem every week. Are we on the brink of planetary self-destruction? Is World War III on our doorstep? Are we in the End Times? I have to admit, when it comes to these questions, I am as clueless as anyone else. One thing seems to be clear. Only the "good guys" appear to be without vision. It looks like the bad actors of the world know exactly what they want and how they intend to make it happen. The leaders in the free, democratic world appear to be lost in a cloud of unknowing.<br />
<br />
While all of this is happening it is easy to get caught up in the panic of it all. It is easy to turn to worldly philosophies and tactics to protect our family and what is ours. Whether what we believe is ours and what we are trying to protect is property or more ethereal concepts such as "rights" doesn't much matter. As believers, we are required to go about it according to the principles the Lord lays out in His Word. No matter how good the outcome we pursue it will be less than worthless if we go about achieving it in the wrong way.<br />
<br />
<b><u>The Joseph Principle</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
This brings me to the Joseph Principle. Joseph's story in the Bible kicks into high gear in Genesis chapter 37 when he begins to have prophetic dreams. The Joseph Principle begins in Genesis 41. Pharaoh has a couple of nightmares. He knew they were important, but could not figure out why or what, if anything, they meant. Pharaoh's wine aficionado tells him about Joseph's gift for interpreting dreams. Pharaoh sends for Joseph. God gives Joseph the interpretation <i>and</i> and word of wisdom for the solution. Pharaoh appoints Joseph over the national project that is the result of this encounter.<br />
<br />
This is the Joseph Principle.<br />
<br />
God revealed a coming catastrophe for Egypt and the surrounding regions. He also gave Joseph and Pharaoh the solution to save thousands if not more than a million lives. Joseph was given the authority to implement the plan. He gathered the resources, put the delivery systems in place and when the cataclysm hit, he launched the solution into the marketplace.<br />
<br />
We say we serve the same God as Joseph. Do we believe it? Pharaoh had an encounter with God. Joseph relied on the Holy Spirit to interpret the encounter and give a solution. The solution was practical. It did not rely on the miraculous, but on the pragmatic. Today we might call it 'saving for a rainy day." In this case it was "saving for no rainy days," but I am sure you get it.<br />
<br />
We can read the signs of the times we are in. We know trouble is not around the corner. Trouble is here. Very bad things are around the corner. If we believe this, than isn't it time we add to our prayers for mercy, a few prayers for solutions to the coming problems?<br />
<br />
"But you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the foundation of your holy faith. And continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy Spirit. Live in such a way that God's love can bless you as you wait for the eternal life that our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you. Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. There are still others to whom you need to show mercy, but be careful that you aren't contaminated by their sins."<br />
Jude 20 - 23 NLTDean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-39495857916442666202013-01-03T08:52:00.004-08:002013-01-03T08:52:56.323-08:00Fundamental Change<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ve
already mentioned that there was a fundamental change within the makeup of humans.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God’s
testimony of Adam and Eve at the dawn of creation is this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“And they were
both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Genesis
2:25<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They were
not ashamed in their relationship with each other. They were not ashamed in
their relationship with their environment. They were not ashamed in their
relationship with God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They knew no shame.</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unfortunately,
that soon changed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Then the
eyes of both of them were opened, and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves coverings. And when they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in
the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then the
LORD called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So he said, “I
heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid
myself.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
Genesis
3:9-10<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They were
ashamed of their nakedness and covered themselves up. And they were afraid of
God’s voice and hid themselves from His presence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Warning – Rabbit Trail Ahead</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have heard
preached and taught, more times than I care to remember, that God cannot stand
sin and won’t allow sin in His presence. Another take is that sin, and
therefore sinful man, cannot be in God’s holy Presence. As I read Genesis 3 and 4 I find both beliefs
utterly false. God comes looking for Adam and Eve after they have sinned. In
chapter four, Cain has just murdered Able and God initiates a conversation with
him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God is not
concerned about being tainted by our sin. The answer is always to run <i>to</i> Him when we’ve sinned – not away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Back on the Main Trail</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The twins,
Shame and Fear, ran rampant in my family growing up. What about yours? These
two states of being are the cause and perpetuators of untold suffering in each
of our lives and the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thankfully
God has a solution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">John’s Obsession<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Apostle
John seems to be obsessed with the book of Genesis in his writings. It might be
that, because he had to memorize the entire book as a child, God easily spoke
to John through the book of Genesis. I don’t know. I do know that Genesis is a
theme in John’s gospel and all of I John.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In John
chapter one, the apostle revisits Genesis chapter one and gives us an “addendum”
that </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">wasn't</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> available when Moses first wrote what the Holy Spirit taught him about
the beginning of the earth. He tells us that all of those words “God said” to
accomplish creation were, in actuality, Jesus. Jesus is the Word of God that
created the world. (See John 1:1-14)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In I John,
the Apostle of Love takes us back to Genesis chapters two and three. He wants
our “joy to be full”. (I John 1:4)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He tells us,
“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And
if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only but also for the whole world.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> I
John 2:1-2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He tells us
how we can stay away from sin:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“But the
anointing which you have received form Him abides in you, and you do not need
that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all
things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will
abide in Him.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> I
John 2:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is clearly the indwelling Spirit of God. This is the
Spirit of Truth’s primary vocation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all
things that I said to you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
John 14:26<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> The anointing comes
from the Holy Spirit.( See 61:1; Luke 4:14-15; Acts 10:38 as just the
beginning).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And what is the result of our allowing the Holy Spirit to
teach us how to walk in holiness?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He
appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
I John 2:28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We return to being
unashamed before God. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is there any greater peace than being confident and unashamed
in God’s presence? If there is, I have not experienced it to this point in my
life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In I John chapter two he lets us in on a little secret. The secret
to obeying God’s commands is: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Love</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then, he reminds us, this is what Jesus taught. The two
greatest commandments are: Love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 257.5pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Love
God with all your heart, mind, and strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 257.5pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Love
your neighbor as yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then in I John chapter four he tells us something revolutionary:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.
<b>God is love</b>, and he who abides in
love abides in God, and God in him.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
I John 4:16<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God <i>is</i> love. When we
live the lifestyle of love we live the lifestyle of God. We enter into the God
community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And what happens when we learn to live a lifestyle of love? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have
boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear
involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect involves. We love
Him because He first loved us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A lifestyle of love
frees us from fear</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The problems created in Genesis that cause us to run from
God, Shame and Fear, are nullified by love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is the indwelling
Holy Spirit Who teaches us to live our lives loving God and our fellow man in
such a way that it fulfills the law of God . <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This lifestyle is true
freedom. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God calls this
lifestyle “eternal life”. </span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Are you living eternal life today?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Prayer:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Holy Spirit, teach us to love today. Teach us to
love in deed and in truth (I John 3:18). I ask you to guide us into all truth
in loving God with all of our heart, mind, and strength and loving our
neighbors as ourselves. Lord, enlighten our minds and hearts to be able to live
Your message of love. And set us free from all shame and fear. Restore us to
love, boldness, and confidence in Your presence. In Jesus’ name I ask, Amen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-72663162322225662872013-01-02T04:45:00.001-08:002013-01-02T04:45:30.349-08:00Holiness and the indwelling Holy Spirit<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Romans 8:1-11</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk
according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what
the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled
in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For those
who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be
carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law
of God, nor indeed can be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So then,
those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but
in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does
not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body
is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if
the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised
Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit
who dwells in you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is a
lot here so; I will attempt a simple summary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since the fall, sin has enjoyed a
comfy home in mankind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We were incapable of living by God’s
law because sin had enslaved us from within.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By His victorious, sinless life,
Jesus condemned the sin that lives inside of mankind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He did this to set us free from indwelling
sin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our freedom from sin is lived out by submitting
to or following the Holy Spirit Who lives within us once we have put our faith
in Jesus. God calls this freedom “life”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The natural progression of the life
the Spirit gives to our spirits is to spread into our souls and bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Fall</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At the fall
there was a fundamental change within mankind. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then God
said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; “<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is the
last time that we are ever talked about as being in God’s likeness. We are
still in His image but, we are not like Him. We hear David’s lament and determination to be
like God in Psalm 17:15:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“As for me,
I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in
Your likeness.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">John picks
up on this theme in I John 3:2-3:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Beloved,
now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be,
but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as
He is pure.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And this is
exactly where Paul is taking us:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Romans 8:29<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“For whom He
foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might
be the firstborn among many brethren.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">John also
ends up here:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I John 4:17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Love has
been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment;
because as He is, so are we in this world.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the
benefits of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the gradual restoration of our
“likeness” of God on the inside. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">James tells
us, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot
be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” James 1:13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God the Holy Spirit is never tempted
by any evil or sin – and He lives inside of every believer in Jesus Christ. </span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This truth
reveals the possibility for every one of us to enjoy an “interior revolution”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We have the
opportunity to learn how to live like God the Son lived on this earth. Right
here, right now, among our family and friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We can live
in such a way that when our co-workers and neighbors stand before the Lord He
can say, “If </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">you've</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> seen My people, </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">you've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> seen Me.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because of the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit it is possible for us to live our lives free from the influence of sin. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And this is just the beginning. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968926353929823553.post-37063405113791530932012-12-22T06:03:00.000-08:002012-12-22T06:03:26.061-08:00The Holy Spirit and Family<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Then Peter
said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are
afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Acts
2:38-39<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first
thing God instituted for mankind on the earth is the family: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“So God
created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and
female He created them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Genesis
1:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first
thing God blessed on the earth is the family:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Then God blessed them, and God said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it;”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Genesis
1:28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God is one
and He designed the marriage relationship for oneness: Genesis 2:24; Eph.
5:30-32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first
thing on earth affected by sin was the family: Gen. 3:16<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first murder
was committed within the family (Gen. 4:8)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When God
called Abram, He told him, “In you all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Genesis
12:3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God placed families in the center of the Ten Commandments: Ex. 20:12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Three of the
Ten Commandments involve family: Ex. 20:12, 14, 17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The entire
Old Testament and the four Gospels are the story of Abraham’s family as they
walk with God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The last
thing God says to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament is about family: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Malachi
4:5-6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The evidence
is overwhelming – <b>God’s heart is for
families.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It should be
no surprise to us that God places such great importance on the family. The
family is the most basic unit of society. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And this
brings us back to our foundational passage. (Acts 2:38-39)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Holy
Spirit arrives and the first thing He announces through Peter is “I am here for
your families.” (Acts 2:11; 38-39)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God wants to
heal planet earth. It is only logical that He would want to begin the
restoration of all things with the family. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God’s
primary means of revealing Himself to humanity is a family: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is a
mystery that we don’t quite understand but, family is how God has chosen to
reveal Himself to us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Family is
the place of primary formation of character, beliefs, morality, values,
communication skills, reasoning abilities, and much, much more. And the Holy
Spirit wants to invade, permeate, heal, and transform it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are two
more reasons God is so obsessed with indwelling families. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
first family devastated by sin was not Adam’s. It was God’s. Remember Luke
3:38? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “…Adam, the son of God.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
family that paid the highest price for sin is God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> John
3:16<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God’s answer
for the families of the world is His indwelling Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If anyone
can fix, heal and bless the families of the earth it is God. He has been doing
this perfectly for a long time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> He can be trusted with my family.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> He can be
trusted with your family. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I wonder if
<i>we will choose to trust Him today</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A prayer:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Father God, today I trust you with my
family. I invite you to invade us with Your Holy Spirit. Come and fill my
family with Your presence today. Guide us and direct us how to relate with each
other in ways that will make You feel welcome and comfortable. Make us Your
permanent home. I surrender control of my family to Your Fatherhood. Come and
order our family relationships and our home with and for Your presence. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Dean Kroseczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635249998774675355noreply@blogger.com0