Merry Christmas!

hey y'all! i would like to wish all of you my dear readers a happy, blessed and peaceful christmas. happy ... because it is the season to be one and everyone deserves to be whether your life the past year has been an unhappy episode of problems, trials and tribulations. blessed... because with all the unhappy moments of the past year, i feel that some of us, if not, most of us are still blessed in one way or the other. so, be blessed and stay blessed. peaceful... because some of us experienced storms, turmoils in our life the past year, this christmas season, i prayerfully hope, will be a season where we can all find peace... peace in our hearts, peace in our homes, peace in this world and peace with all the people around us. so have a MERRY CHRISTMAS y'all!!!

EXCHANGED VALUES Author Unknown

Here's something to think about. I got this from a dear friend and am posting it here for you my very dear readers...

An old proverb says that "The world is a net; the more we stir in it, the more we are entangled."

Max Lucado, a prominent author and minister, tells this story about a prank that occurred years ago: It seems a couple of prowlers broke into a department store in a large city. They successfully entered the store, stayed long enough to do what they came to do, and escaped unnoticed.

What is unusual about the story is what these fellows did. They took nothing. Absolutely nothing. No merchandise was stolen. No items were removed. But what they did do was ridiculous. Instead of stealing anything, they changed the cost of everything. Price tags were swapped. Values were exchanged. These clever pranksters took the tag off a $395.00 camera and stuck it on a $5.00 box of stationery. The $5.95 sticker on a paperback book was removed and placed on an outboard motor. They repriced everything in the store!

Crazy? You bet. But the craziest part of this story took place the next morning. The store opened as usual. Employees went to work. Customers began to shop. The place functioned as normal for four hours before anyone noticed what had happened. Four hours! Some people got some great bargains. Others got fleeced. For four solid hours no one noticed that the values had been swapped.

How Does This Apply to Our Lives?

As price tags were exchanged, valuable goods became cheap, and the cheap became valuable. This can happen to us. We exchange things that are important for those that, in comparison, are unimportant- the world honors success and hard work, so we devote ourselves to jobs we can't wait to retire from, while ignoring marriages that we entered in to for a lifetime; we seek clean, healthy homes, but let them become dumping grounds for the pollution contained in some television programs, movies and popular music; and, we want our children to have strong character traits like honesty and integrity, but spend far more time taking them to athletic events and other activities than tending to their spiritual and moral needs.

Yes, the world is a net; the more we stir in it, the more we are entangled. Seeking "happiness" and acceptance, we buy into the world's values and do what is popular. But if the world's values can produce true happiness, why is there a constant effort to create and promote new forms of amusement and entertainment?

Focus your time and attention on what is valuable to you. While doing so, put your spiritual needs at the top of the list. Nothing should come before your relationship with a man named Jesus. Even though he was dead, he is now alive, seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He understands, he knows, he cares. And he nourishes those who seek to be fed.

As Erwin Lutzer observed ...

If you are not nourished by the Bread from heaven, you will stuff yourself with crumbs from the world. Real nourishment comes only from Jesus Christ. You'll be eternally sorry if you exchange real nourishment for crumbs.

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36)

whose fault?

why is it that people tend to find fault in others... is it because people are naturally fault finder's or they just find fault for the heck of it. we sometimes would like to speak our minds, to tell the world how we feel, or simply how we are and how we do in our daily lives. seldom can you find someone that would be willing to listen, much less, sit down and talk about all these things. when you do something, or like when you say something that touches a nerve, why do people react so wildly? is it because that something that you said maybe the truth, and that knowing the truth hurts. has it ever occurred to you sometimes of how tired you are? of how sick you are with the way life is treating you? how you wished that your life was running the other way around? and how you wish there would be a surefire way to get out of these and fast. the only way that i do know, and is as surefire to workout is to come before JESUS, our Lord, our Savior and Redeemer. He alone heals, He alone forgives, purifies and blesses us whatever our life is turning out to be. so in this season of Christmas, let us all take time to reflect on our lives and our actions of the past year and take this opportune time to come before our Lord in reconciliation. it doesn't matter whether it's your fault or somebody else' . Merry Christmas y'all! God bless us.

busy bee!

hi y'all. i've been very busy of late, i can't find the time to abuse the pc and disrupt the lives of my blogger friends. this is the time of the year that is my business's peak season. just so you'll know, i am into the catering business and this is my hottest season relative to my business. so sorry, no new postings for the time being. i'll try and catch up with y'all next time. have a great weekend guys and gals! ciao!

Online Shopping Safety Guide by: Ian MacKenzie

Hello friends, here's something that is very important nowadays. And since its the season of giving and sharing, a lot of you folks might do your shopping online. Here are some safety guides for online shopping.

• Do not share your user names or passwords.
• Use only secure Internet browsers that allow secure transmission of data -look for the closed padlock symbol in the bottom right corner of your screen and the ‘https’ prefix in the website address line.
• Only give your credit card details when you initiate a purchase.
• Keep a record of your transactions, either by keeping your email confirmations or by writing down the confirmation numbers provided by the merchant.
• Carefully check each of your monthly credit card and bank statements and look for unauthorized purchases and withdrawals.
• Confirm the retailer’s delivery and return policies before you make a purchase.
• Never respond to an unsolicited email request for personal or account information, even if it appears to be from a trusted source.
• Never send payment information, including credit card numbers or bank account information by email.
• Educate yourself about online shopping and safety at http://www.visa.ca/en/personal/securewithvisa/shoppingtips.cfm.
• Choose difficult passwords. Avoid using ones that are easy to guess such as your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, or telephone number.

Happy shopping y'all! Merry Christmas!

How to Lose the Holiday Weight Gain

Hello y'all! been very busy of late trying to finish detailing the car of my father in law who just came out of the shop for a much needed body repair. for those who don't know, auto detailing is one of my hobbies. just love tinkering with the car and restoring everything to how it looked as it was when it got out of the factory. anyway, i am posting this as the start of the christmas season is finally here and with it comes parties, parties and parties to attend to. here's my two cents worth on how to lose that holiday weight gain.

1. Eat fruits and lots of vegetables. They'll give you more food for less calories.

2. Spice things up a little. A little salsa can add a lot of flavor to a baked potato and for fewer calories.

3. For sweets, grab a low-fat yogurt instead of ice cream.

4. Besides cutting on calories, a high fiber diet can help prevent cancer, heart disease and digestive illnesses.

5. And lastly, exercise. burn off that added weight by riding your bike or if your still up to it, do some push-ups and sit-ups. walking too can help you. start by going around the block and increase the distance as you feel getting stronger day by day. my advise: try to steer clear of those diet pills. its better to lose that added weight gain the natural way.

So happy eating y'all. let us also try to thank the Lord for blessings that came our way this christmas and for the whole year. and for those who may have a little to spare, share your blessings especially to those who may have nothing to eat this christmas. Merry Christmas y'all!