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[__ Prayer __] raked leaves with my dad

Christ_empowered

Christ_empowered

Member
It was great. I walked out on the front porch, ready to roll out, and my dad had a rake and some gloves on a small tree out front. He said if I wanted to help him rake, I could. So, I jumped at the chance. Now, I'm outta shape, so it wasn't easy (i know--get thee on a tread mill, fat boy!), but I enjoyed the time I spent with my dad.

Family stuff is going well over here. Last night, my dad invited me up to my parents' upstairs den to eat with them while they watched some random tv show, then CNN. It was great. My mama even made banana bread, which hasn't happened in years, plus a pot roast (notice how the sweet dish comes first).

Small stuff, I suppose, but at this point its --huge-- , for me at least. The Good Lord has made me a member of this family again, for the 1st time in over 10 years (!!!!!!!!). The mental health issues seem to be much, much better, too. Per Brother Mike's suggestion, I keep reminding myself: spirit of power, spirit of love, and spirit of a Sound Mind. Meds or no meds, I don't have to live in a constant state of "sickness" because I used to be a mentally unstable wretch.

So, filed this bad boy under "Praise Report" !
 
airdancer, I don't think I could deal with Illinois' weather, lol. I'm southern, born and raised.

Yeah, this is great stuff. I guess after you've been estranged from your family for 10+ years, you move back towards a meaningful relationship slowly, surely, doing what you can to make progress.

God is good!
 
Christ_empowered said:
airdancer, I don't think I could deal with Illinois' weather, lol. I'm southern, born and raised.

Yeah, this is great stuff. I guess after you've been estranged from your family for 10+ years, you move back towards a meaningful relationship slowly, surely, doing what you can to make progress.

God is good!
Click to expand...

You'd love Illinois weather! It's warming up currently, and a lot of the ice from the weekend is finally melting away. I figure by the time you & your Dad drove up here, the temps will be nicely above freezing so all the remaining leaves could be raked :shades
 
Christ_empowered said:
It was great. I walked out on the front porch, ready to roll out, and my dad had a rake and some gloves on a small tree out front. He said if I wanted to help him rake, I could. So, I jumped at the chance. Now, I'm outta shape, so it wasn't easy (i know--get thee on a tread mill, fat boy!), but I enjoyed the time I spent with my dad.

Family stuff is going well over here. Last night, my dad invited me up to my parents' upstairs den to eat with them while they watched some random tv show, then CNN. It was great. My mama even made banana bread, which hasn't happened in years, plus a pot roast (notice how the sweet dish comes first).

Small stuff, I suppose, but at this point its --huge-- , for me at least. The Good Lord has made me a member of this family again, for the 1st time in over 10 years (!!!!!!!!). The mental health issues seem to be much, much better, too. Per Brother Mike's suggestion, I keep reminding myself: spirit of power, spirit of love, and spirit of a Sound Mind. Meds or no meds, I don't have to live in a constant state of "sickness" because I used to be a mentally unstable wretch.

So, filed this bad boy under "Praise Report" !
Click to expand...
You just brightened my world. I am sooo happy for you CE. Jesus loves you and so do I. :hug
Although! ....
I am so envious, raking leaves at this time of the year while I am covered up in at least 2 ft. of snow.
 
thanks, everyone (special thanks to Deborah13 :)

The family goodness continues. Thing is, I'm beginning to realize that my people wanted their son, like he/I was before...life. I got too bogged down in psychobabble to see that this community is a sick community, and sick communities create sick people, more so than healthier communities. Its hard to explain...there's this band, Southern Culture on The Skids (SCOTS). I don't think they're all that popular now, but I think of their name when I think of this area, and a lot of other places in the south. Its as if some of the forms of southern culture remain, but they're dead. Hollow, dead, devoid of meaning or power. People say "yes sir" and "yes ma'am" and then go off and shoot heroin and knock girls up, no big thing. The crime rate around here is high, incarceration rates are high, teen pregnancy rates are high, on and on it goes.

Point is...I grew up in a place where I was made fun and tormented all the time, everywhere I went. In the 8th grade, even the teachers would pick on me, probably because my parents weren't yet in the "respectable" range and I was clearly queer and in honors+gifted classes, which is kind of "uppity" in and of itself, to be in those classes and come from a less than affluent family. --sigh--

I guess I'm saying that this world creates nasty, wretched people. Factor in my inborn sin nature, my sins, satan's work all over the place, and starting out as a homely, not heterosexual teenager, and I think you can see how things could easily go very wrong, very quickly. And they did. I did, actually.

I managed to get saved 4 years ago. I think it was a miracle--the defining moment and miracle of my life. Now, almost exactly 4 years in, I find that I"m physically healthy, much more "mentally stable," remarkably normal, surprisingly intelligent, and getting along quite well with my once-estranged family. This in a dude who was supposed to be "dead by 23," according to the experts 'round here. Sad thing is, they were right, and it wasn't just the counselors and the psychiatrists and all that; it was society, plus everything else (sin, satan, self, death, and the world). And it was sad, really. Sad for me, horrible and painful for my parents.

Now, things are soooo much better, its a transition from darkness to light. Not that being in the light is to be made perfect, or to live in a perfect situation, far from it, but...far, far, far less painful, better for all 3 of us, better all around.

My dad got my oil changed today. We used to go to WalMart, but they get crazy busy and are fairly slow, so we went to some oil change place, and then drove around for 45 minutes or so. Minimal conversation, but enough. I'm in the family now.

My dad's sister, my aunt, sent a Christmas card. It arrived today. Guess what? My name was on the envelope! Same thing when my great-aunt on that side of the family sent my parents a Christmas card. Now, --that's-- a big deal. See, the great aunt is loaded and she's one of the last of her generation in the family standing. Her husband, my dad's dad's brother, was a corporate big deal for decades, so now what she says matters in the family, and she says I'm in the family again, for the first time in over a decade. Yes!!! God is good!

As usual, I've rambled. Its just...God really is omnibenevolent. Neither Scripture nor theologians are/were playing about that one. I see that now, and I didn't before.

Thanks for reading all this, and praying for my family+me. I do my best to keep the people of CFnet up in prayer. The way I see it, God has us all here for His reasons. Plus, this is my "church family" for this season of my life. Long story behind all that, but I get fed and challenged and such here, and I don't get that elsewhere.

:) Happy Holidays.
 
Christ_empowered said:
It was great. I walked out on the front porch, ready to roll out, and my dad had a rake and some gloves on a small tree out front. He said if I wanted to help him rake, I could. So, I jumped at the chance. Now, I'm outta shape, so it wasn't easy (i know--get thee on a tread mill, fat boy!), but I enjoyed the time I spent with my dad.

Family stuff is going well over here. Last night, my dad invited me up to my parents' upstairs den to eat with them while they watched some random tv show, then CNN. It was great. My mama even made banana bread, which hasn't happened in years, plus a pot roast (notice how the sweet dish comes first).

Small stuff, I suppose, but at this point its --huge-- , for me at least. The Good Lord has made me a member of this family again, for the 1st time in over 10 years (!!!!!!!!). The mental health issues seem to be much, much better, too. Per Brother Mike's suggestion, I keep reminding myself: spirit of power, spirit of love, and spirit of a Sound Mind. Meds or no meds, I don't have to live in a constant state of "sickness" because I used to be a mentally unstable wretch.

So, filed this bad boy under "Praise Report" !
Click to expand...
For all the crap we Christians like to yak about (OSAS, etc.), THIS is what it's all about.
Sharing your joy today, good brother.
 
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Learn to change your oil. You might not save money but time will be saved. I do all my oil changes.I do way more then oil changes on my vehicles. I have one date set for my yota
Oil and filter is bought.
 
Christ_empowered said:
Its as if some of the forms of southern culture remain, but they're dead. Hollow, dead, devoid of meaning or power. People say "yes sir" and "yes ma'am" and then go off and shoot heroin and knock girls up, no big thing. The crime rate around here is high, incarceration rates are high, teen pregnancy rates are high, on and on it goes.
Click to expand...
We moved here to Tennessee in '06 when my son was 18, and this is the way my son describes it here in the Bible belt. He can't stand the hypocrisy.
 
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Jethro Bodine said:
//

We moved here to Tennessee in '06 when my son was 18, and this is the way my son describes it here in the Bible belt. He can't stand the hypocrisy.
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yeah...hypocrisy. Good word. I just see so much disintegration, violence, drug use, general immorality and nastiness, behind this crumbling facade of southern charm. Its crazy.
 
AirDancer said:
You'd love Illinois weather!
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Oh, yeah, he'll love it. :lol
I remember getting out of basic training in San Antonio, TX around December 8th, 1982 and getting shipped up to Rantoul, IL at Chanute AFB and it being 8°. I grew up around the Great Lakes, so it was not a surprise, but it was a wake up call after being in Texas for a couple of months. Did a lot of marching from the dorm to the hangers through lots of blowing snow, and ice cold air at six-o'-clock in the morning for the next two months.
 
Jethro Bodine said:
Oh, yeah, he'll love it. :lol
I remember getting out of basic training in San Antonio, TX around December 8th, 1982 and getting shipped up to Rantoul, IL at Chanute AFB and it being 8°. I grew up around the Great Lakes, so it was not a surprise, but it was a wake up call after being in Texas for a couple of months. Did a lot of marching from the dorm to the hangers through lots of blowing snow, and ice cold air at six-o'-clock in the morning for the next two months.
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They had you zumis march?
 
Jethro Bodine said:
Oh, yeah, he'll love it. :lol
I remember getting out of basic training in San Antonio, TX around December 8th, 1982 and getting shipped up to Rantoul, IL at Chanute AFB and it being 8°. I grew up around the Great Lakes, so it was not a surprise, but it was a wake up call after being in Texas for a couple of months. Did a lot of marching from the dorm to the hangers through lots of blowing snow, and ice cold air at six-o'-clock in the morning for the next two months.
Click to expand...

Chanute closed in the 90s. The Air Museum that was established closed this year past. A program called Lincoln's Challenge now fills some of the old dorms, but new ones are being built. White Hall is gone, as are several other buildings.

You are welcome to see for yourself ... no 8 degrees, blowing snow, and ice cold air in East Central Illinois currently!
 
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