In the Mind of Madness

Me and dad went camping last Friday. It was great…a great way to connect with each other and nature. Aside from the full-body mask of bug bites, it was awesome!

We don’t use tents or anything modern aside from the sleeping bags and pillows…just very old-fashioned ways of doing things. That’s what my family is notorious for and I love every minute of it. I hate pansies who have to have a tent or camper or whatever.

While I was there next to the stream, I thought of how perfect everything was….how the omission of every ounce of technology felt so right. I think it was more unsettling to come home where there’s electricity, phones, etc. I honestly felt like an alien when I came home…that with all this modernization that we have today we are infecting ourselves with so many needless things. I would be quite content living without electricity, without running water, without all of that!

I am the type of person who cannot comprehend how anyone needs more than 3 pairs of shoes, more than a couple pairs of pants and shirts, etc. I certainly cannot comprehend how anyone needs more than one phone, one house, one vehicle, etc. And cell phones and iPods and those kind of things? Complete garbage in my book. Don’t need them…

Ok…can you tell how utterly old fashioned I am? How old would you guess I am? 60 or older? Nope…try 30 years old. Yup…I never lived with anything expensive. I think the most expensive thing I ever bought was maybe $40. To me that’s a lot of money. Yes, I’m extremely poor. And how did I get this computer? It was given to me FREE.

I don’t believe in credit cards or anything like that, either. If it were up to me we’d go back to horses and buggies and trading and bartering.

I bought my bus ticket and I leave July 2nd. Wow…this is so final…yet so wonderful at the same time. I’m going to Mississippi to be with my fiancee. We not be very traditional, but we love each other.

I’ll be without a lot of things for awhile…like my computer! I’ll be offline probably for a few months…hopefully not too much longer than that. I’ve got so much to do, though. I gotta figure what I’m taking and all that. I know it’s just a matter of being better organized but it’s also a matter of living without certain things for awhile since I can only take so much with me on the bus.

When we come back up to meet dad is when I’ll get the bulk of my stuff…but I just have to wait. We don’t know when that’ll be, but hopefully it will be within 6 months. But it may be longer since Ron will be going back to work driving truck.

I’m excited about this…but I know I’ll be losing a lot like medical coverage and all that. They have a sliding fee in Mississippi, but no medical coverage for people like me. I’ll find something…eventually.

Prayer In Time of Trouble

Lord, in every need let me come to You with humble trust saying, “Jesus, help me.”
In all my doubts, perplexities, and temptations, Jesus, help me.
In hours of loneliness, weariness, and trials, Jesus, help me.
In the failure of my plans and hopes; in disappointments, troubles, and sorrows, Jesus, help me.
When others fail me and Your grace alone can assist me, help me.
When I throw myself on Your tender love as a father and savior, Jesus, help me.
When my heart is cast down by failure at seeing no good come from my efforts, Jesus, help me.
When I feel impatient and my cross irritates me, Jesus, help me.
When I am ill and my head and hands cannot work and I am lonely, Jesus, help me.
Always, always, in spite of weakness, falls, and shortcomings of every kind, Jesus, help me and never forsake me.
Amen.

Prayer For Inner Peace and Calm

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

Look Upon Us, O Lord

Look upon us, O Lord,
and let all the darkness of our souls
vanish before the beams of thy brightness.
Fill us with holy love,
and open to us the treasures of thy wisdom.
All our desire is known unto thee,
therefore perfect what thou hast begun,
and what thy Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer.
We seek thy face,
turn thy face unto us and show us thy glory.
Then shall our longing be satisfied,
and our peace shall be perfect.

St. Augustine