Check Yo Sef, Befo You Wreck Yo Sef!!

Lately I've been able to discuss with several family, friends, and just people in general about their relationships. Some have said they're feeling great about where they're at with their significant other. Some are lying to their spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend by saying everything is fine. Some families are on the outs and some friends front up every time they talk to the other. All of the strife I've been through and I hear others going through can be diagnosed simply. People in this world are plain ole SELFISH. I've never realized how selfish people can actually be. I'm including myself when I say people. I was extremely selfish at one time. Only thinking about myself and what I thought I wanted. I quickly found out that I needed to use that emotion to get selfish with God. I needed to care about NOTHING else but him and getting my life back on track. I couldn't handle trying to aquire the coldness or the hard heartedness that I needed to keep my lifestyle ticking the way it was. It became physically impossible for me to live the way I was living. I've had the opportunity and the blessing to turn my life around and repair my life's mark. But none of it would have happened if I was right with Christ in the first place. The grass may be greener on the other side, but if you nurture your grass the way you should it will be just as green on your side. Because of my situations in life I've had the privilege to counsel several couples about their relationships and also just opportunities to share my life's journey to people hurting. The first thing I tell them is to get unselfish. If you think to yourself right this instant about something your wife does to frustrate you or your boyfriend or a friend or family member, I'd bet you 9 times out of 10 your own selfishness is the main culprit. I've heard lots of excuses and I've even given my own in my day, but selfishness leads to nothing but evil. There are so many evil people in this world and from my point of view it all stems from selfishness. I'm reminded quite often of the movie "The Color Purple" for a principle people tend to overlook. You see Albert (Danny Glover) did everything he could to make himself happy. He basically stole and settled for a wife in Celie (Whoopi Goldberg). During their marriage he beat her, he kept her sister from her, and he cheated on her. All to the glory of himself. Once Celie had enough she left him and told him "Until you do right by me everything you do is going to crumble." This principle is so true in everyday life. You hurt people you won't be blessed, you lie to people you won't be blessed, and if you don't know God you won't be blessed. You might find a bone or two along the way just like Albert did. But in the end all you'll find is sadness, hurt, and nothing is real. It's like ash. It's at your rock bottom you realize oh wait if I treat others the way I should I have peace and I'm happier. Just like Albert was after he made things right. He spent a lifetime trying to get that feeling but didn't get even close till he was unselfish and kind. I know most of this has been blunt and at times harsh so I wanna close with some encouragement. To those of you that are going through rough times right now. Please be uplifted in the fact that there's a God that loves you and sees you. He's felt your pain and has even felt just as weak as you feel. Ask for guidance ask for patience and ask for faith and hell give it to you. As a believer you've already won. Put God before others and others before yourself. Even when you wanna punch them in the throat. Oops that was outloud. :) I'm not a pastor or a counselor I'm just a man that sees what I see and says what I feel. Hopefully I helped some of you lay some stuff at the altar tonight. I know it's always a good recheck for me when I write my thoughts down. Please always keep my family in prayer.

TeAmo Amigos,

FlacoJake

"Sleep Control" Positive or Negitive??

Tonight I am puzzled by people's ability to fall asleep on a whim. You know that weird ability to lay your head down at any given moment and fall asleep. This concept does not seem normal. And naturally this scenario is on my mind on a school night and everyone has been in bed since 9:00pm. I know there are several factors that come into play when inducing sleep. This is what is so puzzling. Example 1: Being tired and sleepy. I only got 4 hours of sleep because this is the 2nd night this has puzzled me. So I was up thinking about why I was thinking and not sleeping. Example 2: Its a pretty average time of day for nocturnal rest. I'm aware giving my history as a so called night owl, that this comes into play. But really, I don't go to bed late every night. Especially if example 1 is a factor. Example 3 will be skipped because the number 3 and I are not friends and that's a whole other issue entirely. Moving on to example 4: given a proper sleeping atmosphere ie a warm bed, flannel pj pants, darkness etc....I'm still the type of person that has to make myself fall asleep. I am aware that napping is a different story for me. Given my years of having to wear a breathing machine anytime I sleep. This has trained my brain that when there is an absence of a slight hum from a machine blowing air into my nose that it's not time for sleeping. But here lies the interesting part I'm laying here in a sleeping atmosphere with my breathing machine on and I'm still not able to just fall asleep. This ability I will call "sleep control" is interesting. I don't know if this is a power of bad or good. I see pros and cons for this ability which I will state a few. No less then 2 no more then 4. Reason explained above. Pro analysis column will start with A. The atmosphere for your ability to fall sleep is irrelevant. You could fall asleep on a bed, on a sled, in a boat, with a goat, on a plane, or in a train, fall asleep on a chair, or at a fair, truly unfair that you could fall asleep anywhere. That tangent was brought to you by Dr. Seuss and again even a bedtime story did not help my "sleep control". Pro B. Being able to blame common functionAlity on your state of sleep. You know like I didn't see my son crawl into bed and kick you in the testicles because I was asleep. Or the ability to keep the concept of time right unless your counting the snooze button timer pushes. Blaming things on sleeping is a great indicator that you have the power of "sleep control". I will now touch on the cons column with con A. Falling asleep in random places by yourself. This is not at all safe or is it productive. If you were new to your "sleep control" powers you might fall asleep in a place you don't want to be found. Or you might fall asleep during an inconvient time. Such as sitting on the toilet in a restaurant. Bad time for a newbie to try out his power while taking a poo. Con B. Having to come up with intelligent answers to questions you said you were awake for, but havent a clue what the question was. This is a test of creativity, intelligence, and bluffing. I must say this part of the "sleep control" power is the most entertaining. This power I speak of I assure you I do not posess. Still analyzing if I even want this power. Now that we have discussed this in detail I'd like your thoughts and comments. For now I'm getting pretty sleepy and tired. Might try and have a conversation with a sleeping child to see if they'll remember talking to me in the morning. Here's to getting at least 4 hours tonight. Good luck to you nocturnal rest deficient people out there.

Keeping it skinny,

FlacoJake

Guys Night

Last night I got to spend about 4 hours just with Dallas. We had 2 missions going to the magic shop to spend his gift cards and going to the buckle. Watching my young magician in the magic shop was awesome. He was like a kid in the candy store. He had $80 to spend in there and he spent all but $5. It was neat to watch him talk to the sales guy cause I knew nothing and Dallas knew exactly what he was talking about. After almost an hour and a half we left with all his new tricks. He was excited and said he wished he could go there everyday.

After the magic shop we made our way to our second destination The Buckle. The young girl associate kept bringing me items to look at. I tried on a few shirts and decided on one. When checking out I used 2-$10 off cards that I had from purchasing a lot there. She wasn't too happy I wanted to use them. Reason being she doesn't get commission when I use those. After checking out I looked at Dallas and said she's not too happy with me. He asked why and I gave a quick explanation of commission. He then says so when she was bringing you stuff it was about money?? I said sort of, he says well that's kinda not cool. Then he said well at least she was Hubba Hubba and winks. So the moral of the story is as long as your pretty you can be mean. I guess I'll have to stick with being nice.

FlacoJake

30 And Still Rollin

Well today is a day that I'm very proud of. Today is not just another day. Today is a day where I'm reminded how big God is. 30 years ago today I was born into a loving family. A family that had no idea the struggles that would be ahead of them. Struggles both big and small, physical, financial, and emotional. We took them on and for the most part were successful in dealing with them. I don't know what kind of man I'd be without the struggles. I had an excellent dad to help shape me to be a provider and a good man. A great mom to teach me compassion, paitence, and how to love with all my heart. My brothers were an instrumental part of teaching me that true friendship is one of the most important things in life, just by being my best friends.

As I grew up God opened many doors for me. He allowed me accomplish so many things I never thought would be possible. The funny thing is if I didn't have muscular dystrophy all the good things in my life may not have been in my life. For these special reasons I'm grateful for MD. Without it I think my family would be differant, I wouldn't have met Candace, and in part I'd never have my children.

The struggles my own little family has had have been plenty, but again a good foundation has helped steer the ship. I have a strong woman in my life that has been through it all with me. She's a great teammate. She
helps shape a young girl into a woman and a boy into a man. I have a beautiful young lady in my life that reminds me everyday that strength can come in very small packages. She's a sassy young lady with a very big heart and I thank God for picking us to have her. God has also blessed me with a 9 year old boy who is becoming a young man quicker then I thought he would. He impresses me on a regular basis that loving someone is very easy. With each comment about his little girlfriend, his friends, or his family it shows me he has no condition to his love. I'm sure this will get him in trouble with the ladies, but I'll be there to help protect his heart.

I'm a firm believer that friendships are very important in life. In many cases friendships have saved me. I've made several friendships through an odd outlet. Poker has been a big part of my life for sometime now. Through poker I've made true friendships, influenced peoples lives, and in some aspects has taught me a lot about myself. Very odd that a game has been more a life tool to me then it has a game. I've always said that poker is a parallel to life. Playing poker has helped me play the game of life and living life has helped my poker game. I'll be playing both games as long as I can.

I just wanted to tell everyone thanks for the part you play in my life. I'm truly blessed with a great life. I would not change anything in the past. I'm thankful for everything that has been in my journey. I'm excited to see what Gods plan is for me in the years to come. Ill keep on keeping on no matter what. And I'll still try and live by my lifes motto "Teach By Living" I love you all and thanks for always being there for me.

Christian Poker

I wanted to write something that weighs heavy on me from time to time.
Being a Christian and playing poker. I wanted to explain my thoughts
on the subject. To my knowledge it doesn't really say anything
directly about gambling. But there are several warnings in the
scriptures. Most of the problems Christians have with gambling is
because it involves uncertain money.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people,
eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves
with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:10.

Every leisure activity is not a sin, but all sin is not clearly listed
in the Bible. Added to that, God doesn't just want us not to sin, but
he gives us an even higher goal. The Bible encourages us to consider
our activities in this way:

"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial.
"Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by
anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12

This verse appears again in 1 Corinthians 10:23, with the addition of
this idea: "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is
constructive." When an activity is not distinctly described as sin in
the Bible, we can ask ourselves these questions: "Is this activity
beneficial for me or will it become my master?? Will participation in
this activity be constructive or destructive to my Christian life and
witness??

The Bible does not explicitly say, "Thou shalt not play poker." Yet by
gaining a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures we have a trustworthy
guide for determining what pleases and displeases God.

Pleasing God isn't hard. He wants us to love him, and love others.
Playing poker can actually involve both of these. Loving God has
nothing to do with poker, tieing my shoes, eating an orange, or any
activity. So love God with your whole being. Loving others is often
hard at the table when they make a call for a one outer to come on the
river and it hits. I can honestly say many poker players are gonna be
disliked. But can you love people as Christ loved us and still give
them a hard time about their play?? I think the answer is yes, as long
as your not condemning his character. I also think God encourages
loving people through friendships. I have met and played poker with
thousands of people, and when that many people are put in your path
for a game I believe it's for a reason. God has blessed my life with
problems, and those hardships help others learn how I can glorify God
in hard times. I thank God for being able to minister through a game
and I hope I can continue. Remember being an influence to someones
eternal life can be as easy as being the small blind and talking about
your life to the big blind.

Keeping It Skinny,
FlacoJake

Milestone

Tomorrow holds a milestone in life. Tomorrow the first black president will be sworn into office. This is a bit scary and really cool too. I did not vote for Barack Obama, but I can honestly say since I can't change things I'm very excited about the change. Not sure if President Obama will change the economic reccession, or change the mind of all black men about committing a crime, or change Americas mind about Muslims. What I do know is President Obama has already been elected, will be sworn in, and will be the president for 4 years. Even if he changes nothing, I know I still believe in God, I still believe he provides for my needs, he still keeps me safe, and he's still above all men. Presidents are powerful men, and President Obama could result in being a great president who brought America great success. However, there isn't a president powerful enough to change the hearts of man. I am very proud to be an American and I will be saying a prayer of
thankfulness for our new president. You see I may vote one way but I embrace a certain amount of respect for any man in that position. Again God is always in control and it didn't matter if It was President Obama or President McCain my prayer would still be the same. I will pray for safety, guidance, paitence, and compassion for our new President.

Keeping It Skinny,
"Flaco" Jake

Black & White, Yin & Yang, Rich & Poor, Denna & Dallas

I like the idea of opposites. Things not meshing together because they are not meant to. This design created by God is for a reason. I am not one for questioning Gods design or his purpose for why things happen. However, I am one for admiring the creativeness of God's hand. I was a witness of something I was very blessed to see. It was Christmas eve and my family and I were at our home churches candle light service. When it came time to light each one of our candles we all did so and listened to the preachers inspirational words. The words were strong and meaningful, I was struck with emotion when I heard them. Nothing prepared me though for the affect it had on my children. I looked to my left at Dallas my 8 year old son with his lit candle in his little hand and crocodile tears in both eyes. My son was getting emotional after hearing the preacher talk about Christ being the light of our lives. How much Christ loves all of us. How we ourselves as
Christians can and should be a light for weaker people by showing them christ's love through our lives. After seeing this in my young sons eyes brought me to my knees emotionally. I felt joy that he can understand what it feels to get emotional. I felt convicted that I was being moved by a certain kind of service, rather then just being moved by God's presence in my life. I also had the privilege of feeling the great blessing of pride. Yes pride, pride that my son felt Gods presence in his own life. I am blessed everyday by my childrens differences. During my sons emotional time I glanced over at Denna. My beautiful 11 year old little girl was playing with the candle wax. She had no tears in her eyes and was wondering where we were having dinner that night. I'll be honest at first I was dissapointed that her reaction to the service wasn't emotional or moving to her at all. My thought was how could she not feel anything?? It only took me a several hours
to realize that by asking the question why didn't she feel anything I was actually asking God why did you make my kids different?? When I said that to myself I was mad that I could even think such a thing. You see I'm blessed that my children are so different. I want my kids to have their own minds, their own opinions, and have independent emotions. If I said why they are so different I question Gods plan for their lives. I think Gods plan for Dallas will allow his emotions of compassion and sensitivity to be used to help others. Denna's strong personality causes her to be tough skinned and a hard shell to crack, but will help others by showing strength. She will also need that tough skin to deal with issues in her life. I'm very happy with how Christ bring things to light when the time is right and your mind is wide open. Ironicly on Christmas eve God gave me a gift. It was the gift of seeing the beauty of my childrens differences. Publicly I just want
to say thank you God for our two children, I am truly amazed at your artist hand when I look at their faces.

Keeping It Skinny,
FlacoJake