A Word to the Unwise

I went to a Billy Talent concert on Monday January 29th in Winnipeg and heard a band called Anti-Flag. Not only were they a shitty band in my opinion, but they were anti-George Bush. I have no problem with that however; I realized that when a shitty band wants to stay in the spotlight they have to find a niche. What better niche than being anti war!

Is George Bush evil? Inevitably he will be in the eyes of those who disagree with him, and for those people I would ask that they consider this. Had George Bush ignored these terrorist organizations (that may well be miles and miles from us) and ignored the threat that they pose not only to the US but to many other countries in the world, when the terrorists attacked on USA soil, who would the nation blame?

George W. Bush.

Was there weapons of mass destruction? Who cares? Did Saddam use hundreds of sprayer plains to kill 30,000 Kurds in the 1980’s. Your damn right he did, and for hate crimes like that he found himself at the end of a rope.

And for your information, a weapon of mass destruction can be as small as a bottle of Tylenol. The right virus in a bottle that small, if dumped into a water supply of a large city could kill everyone and anyone who drinks or even comes in contact with the water. And really, it’s not hard to hide a bottle of Tylenol somewhere in a huge country when you know that the weapons inspectors are on their way. But moving onward…

Is Saddam an evil dictator? You bet.

Was it our war? It had to be somebody’s.

Why??? Why did we start war over there? Everything was so peaceful in the USA?

Why? Because there are terrorists, not just Iraq terrorists, but global terrorists and with the technology and resources that are available to terrorist organizations today someone has to stand up and say

“Because you are a terrorist organization we will not allow you to have deadly weapons, nor will we tolerate your organization for hatred against peaceful mankind. Either disband or we will disarm you.”

That was and is the responsibility of the United Nations, however, they failed with regards to that task and President Bush picked up the slack and spoke out saying that our country will do its part to defend our earth against global terrorists. These terrorist organizations are formed by a united hatred for mankind and fueled by the evil intensions to cause harm to whomever they desire.

How do those in the spotlight try to sway you into believing that the fight against terrorism is pure evil?

Well… The band “Anti Flag” talks about A University professor who gave a lecture talking about how the war on terrorism is just an excuse by those in power to send the masses out to kill one another for the gain of the rich and powerful.

So… Is that statement true just because a university professor said it? Is he smarter than you?

No.

He may have more knowledge from books, but that makes him no more intelligent that you or I. Some teenagers are more intelligent that middle-aged people. Intelligence has nothing to do with age. Notice how the writer in the statement uses the phrase “kill each other” like the war is all about a president who likes to see killings to get rich and power. First of all its costing the US money and they gain no power from it. They freed Iraq and are handing their freedom back to them. Second “killing each other” is a statement given by a person whom I would label a simpleton. It implies that the specially trained soldiers sent over to destroy and bring down a terrorist organization are nothing more than a bunch of children in a useless schoolyard fight. That is disrespectful to the men and women that put their lives on the line to protect your country. For those of you who mock our soldiers I say have a little respect for those who allow you to keep your freedom, even when you mock there very purpose, they continue to protect your freedom you ignorant jack ass.

How else do those in the spotlight trick you?

Well with slogans like “Bush likes war”, “war is evil…”

Did you know that you have the freedom to live in a country that allows you your freedom of speech, the right to choose, and the right to live the way you want to live. How did your country maintain this freedom for YOU? It’s a 3 letter word. War. Our ancestors fought and some even died, they gave their lives to save this country to keep your freedom. Bush doesn’t like war or death any more than you or I do, but sometimes it is necessary to protect our freedom.

Rebel – Fight the authorities!!! My advice… make sure you have a good reason. If your reasoning is simply because “war is bad so Bush is bad”, that’s a pretty shallow view of the situation. It’s the simple minded people that come up with slogans like “war is bad so Bush is evil”. Obviously anyone who believes that the above statement is a relevant conclusion is not intelligent enough to realize that whether you agree or disagree with Bush, the situation is more complicated than just “War is bad so Bush is evil”.

Are you an idiot?

I hope not, so know what you believe and why even if you disagree with Bush. If you are going to speak out against something, you need to know the reasons why, otherwise you are just an ignorant lemming that will do what everyone else is doing.

Fight for something!!! – We all like to be on the side of something fighting for something or someone. Musicians these days are fighting Bush calling him a lover of war. However, Saddam killed literally thousands of people at the drop of a hat. He was such an evil man that he would stand on his front porch and shoot people for sport. Why not write songs that inspire us to stand up and fight for those people? Those people have been terrorized for years with no hope of peace or freedom. We only got a small taste with the 911 terrorism, and we were devastated, while entire countries have been ruled by terrorists and dictators for decades.

Is WAR evil? Maybe it’s not as evil as it is necessary to allow us to have all the freedoms that we enjoy. Consider that the “evil” lies in the hearts of the people who love evil and want to kill for pleasure.

Is it necessary? – After all, they weren’t over here bombing our buildings! Why is it any of our business?

Look at it this way, where there is an evil force in the world out to harm people, we need to step in and help if we can, not only for their benefit, but for ours as well. We are a human race, not an American race. If we let terrorism get out of hand, it may become more than we can handle in the future so we must handle it now. Terrorists don’t have any respect for any specific countries, not even their own. They send their own men to their death using them as suicide bombs and this is not to protect anything or anyone, but just because of their pure hatred and desire to kill.

Consider this also:

Bush had a choice, ignore the reality of the growth and gaining power of terrorism in Iraq and work on his career to increase his approval ratings, or go against the grain and stop this terrorist group before it gets so far out of hand that they become a global threat and go from country to country destroying lives and property. Those who have no respect for the human race need to be stopped.

Will it cost us?

Yes,

but what will it cost us later if we do nothing now?

This is your country, yes, but remember, this is your EARTH too, and we are going to have to protect it. If we have the means and the resources to protect it, then we have a responsibility to do just that.

Free as a Bird

I keep asking God when he will take away my weakness. But in the Bible, Paul asked the same thing of God. I often wondered if Paul felt the same way I did. Obsessing about how and when it would go away, why it was still there when his desire for it to be gone was so strong. But Gods answer to Paul was that His (Gods) grace was sufficient. God’s grace covered Paul’s imperfections and that was all that Paul needed.

I was living my life day to day just like every other day, and I don’t know why God chose this certain time, but He chose this specific moment to show me a picture of an open door on a bird cage with a bird in it facing away from the door. I didn’t even have to ask what it meant, because I knew that I was that caged bird that had been given his freedom with that open door, yet I remained in the cage. Why? That answer was even clearer, it was because I could not see the open door; I was facing the wrong way. My freedom was all dependant on seeing that open door and understanding that I could fly out at any time.

What did that symbolize? Again, I knew right away, I had not been reading The Bible, which shows us the way to the open door of freedom. I cannot be free if I don’t see the door. The Bible brings the message of my freedom to leave the things that bind me in the cage and fly out that wide open door behind me. And what is so interesting about Gods Word, is that I can read the words and gain knowledge of the stories, but if I ask God to reveal Himself to me through His Word, I will then gain the wisdom and the understanding that comes to me if want it. God even told us to ask for wisdom in James chapter 1.

What I realize now is that freedom does not always have to be a big casting out of demons, or a service where everyone prays for a person in a circle and that person starts screaming, bawling and basically flipping and or flopping all over the place, but I always assumed that was how you gained your freedom. Now I am not judging those who have had such experiences. But what I am saying here is that freedom does not need a dramatic output to happen or to be real. Your freedom is here already. To understand how freedom works, well, you will have to read the Bible.

LK 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,

LK 4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

I have but I know not what I have

I was reading Courtney's blog this afternoon (for some reason I always felt ‘this’ and ‘afternoon’ should be combined into one word… no? oh well) and it grabbed me and pulled me into itself, if that makes any sense. Sometimes your brain and your heart need to work together. In this instance, my heart was telling my brain that something was very wrong. Its not the first time my heart has brought this to my brains attention. It was the issue of self image. I will be honest; this issue floats through my mind and heart on a daily basis because I know that one of the big things that is destroying people from the inside out is poor self image.

I found it interesting that Courtney would blog on this as today I was sitting in class and as I looked over and saw 2 different girls, thoughts came to me on how the one girl would probably do anything to look like the other girl, and the other girl dresses the way she does because she feels it makes her more desirable to the other sex, or it gives her power or for whatever reasons. Poor self image is what it comes down to. And Courtney is right; it is very real in guys too. We compare ourselves to each other too, wishing we were in better shape, wanting to be a better provider, and be a self made man able to solve any and all the world’s problems.

Who am I? Why am I worth anything? These are questions that I believe we subconsciously ask ourselves everyday. And for whatever reasons, I believe many of us answer "I don't know", and when we answer this to ourselves, doubt, like a poison begins to weave itself into who we think we are as people. The truth about who we are becomes distorted; the truth is covered up with lies that are seemingly believable.

Let’s get down to the reality. Life, growing up, and learning/discovering who we are is not always going to turn out perfect. My life growing up had its good times and it had its absolutely horrible times. I did things I am proud of and things I am not proud of. I hurt people and people hurt me. Why? I am not sure, maybe because we don’t live in a perfect world. But through all of that I had major blows to my self esteem and I had people who helped build my self esteem, which I am grateful for. But in this instance, the bad outweighed the good. And there is no fault owing to anyone, though maybe for the people who beat me up for most of my school life, but there is no fault for those who didn’t bring encouragement to me, though I do believe encouragement brings out the life in us. Everyone in life is dealt a hand, some are much worse than mine was, some were thousands better than mine. But my self esteem was built and deteriorated as I became who I am today.

It is the way of the world. This is how self esteem will continue in the natural world without the intervention of Christ in our lives, the hand you are dealt will determine your self esteem. Now Christ in our lives does not guarantee that we will live a life having a positive strong self image, but it can. A car can get you to where you want to go, but not if you don’t learn how to use it and then use it. Much like the tools Christ has given us. We need to learn how to use them and then actually use them. The Bible can be used to level off the leg of a wobbly coffee table, it can be used as rolling papers for whatever you choose to smoke, it can be used to learn how to read, it can be used as a guideline and a teaching tool for our lives and, it can be used to bring you into a realization of the presence of God. There are many uses for the Bible, some are blasphemic (I think I made a word), and others can change the very person that you are, it all depends on how you use it.

Open up your eyes – The Thief comes to steal kill and destroy.
1. If you don’t believe that you are in serious self esteem trouble.
2. If you believe it but don’t realize how true and powerful that statement is, you are in just as much trouble.
This is an incredible revelation in case you didn’t see it! You can’t know how to defeat your enemy if you don’t know anything about him. This is a war to which you have inside information that will help you to win.

Breaking it down – Finding the truths in the scriptures takes time in learning how to think of all the possibilities in what God is saying to us, and not only that, a key element is asking God to reveal the truth in his word. Let’s look at the next part of this scripture – “But I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” Seems pretty basic and something I have always known. Jesus came to die on the cross for my sins so I could live life abundantly. Well yea, that’s the basics of it, but there are many truths in there. The one that gets me right in the heart today is this:

I am the “they” that Jesus died for.

It was his love for ME that brought him to death. And when I stop reading and I think for a second even, it makes me FEEL like I have a lot of worth. I FEEL valuable and that is important. The actions of my savior, the sacrifice to give me something I would other wise never have, makes me FEEL that I must be extremely special to Him. And that makes me think of a song that says “don’t you know I’ve always loved you, and I always will.” That makes me FEEL like God is speaking to me. I remember the encouragement given to me by different people and that makes me FEEL encouraged. Look at the chain of events that happened not just from reading Gods word, but from asking Him to show me what it is. We are emotional creatures and we need to feel love so we can know it. The Word backs it up as knowledge and something we can use as evidence, but I am beginning to understand that sometimes the words in the Bible are simply words until God reveals His love to us through The Holy Spirit so that we can experience the feeling of being loved. God is love on paper, but He is “love experienced” as well.

So that was a short lesson in not just reading Gods word, but also being in Gods word. Live and learn. But also in there, understand that bruised and beaten self esteems can be mended in powerful ways. God is the ultimate self esteem fix. It’s not a good idea to fixate or build our self esteem in another person like a husband or wife, I am sure it’s a cause of many divorces. Or even in an object. Everything on this earth is insufficient to build a self esteem in. Because everything on this earth will eventually let you down.

Hey in English please!!! – “Build a self esteem in God.” I hate it when preachers tell you something that sounds so profound, and it sounds so profound that you believe it without understanding it, and when you go home you have no idea how to do it because they neglected to mention about the process. They may as well have told you to learn the inner workings of the human anatomy (which I am doing right now).

I am no genius in France, but here is what I see, and I do want to explain it because I know that people have a hard time reading the scripture and getting something out of it. From that little scripture I read above, I began to feel and understand the love that Christ currently has for me, and that began to change the way I feel about myself. It came to me in a matter of seconds, the reality of his love. He began to transform me and my mind! Sometimes it takes longer, but the point is, the Bible is the input needed to build a proper foundational self esteem. Now perhaps you have trouble finding scripture to read everyday that will bring about change, maybe you have trouble getting to a deeper layer. I suggest you read the verse that I typed in this blog. Read it, see how I went a little deeper, then you try to go a little deeper. Ask God to take you a little deeper that the words on the page, because God is not trying to make this hard for you, but when we try a little we find A LOT of His truths. And once you are in the zone, it’s easier to stay there. You will see!
For more material on where to read go to church!!! Listen to the sermon take notes and practicing getting deeper there and at home later with your notes and the scriptures.

The deep is what is going to build you the self esteem that you were meant to have. The truth (Gods Word) uncovers the lies that are put into you through the outlets in this world.

Learning to swim in the deep end of Gods presence will create in you a desire to want more of Him for yourself.

God wouldn’t have given us His Word if He didn’t want us to read it and experience it.

Stealing gas is no longer petty Theft

Ok you have heard 2 scams for getting the gas price lowered, so let’s examine them for a minute, and then I will give you my opinions.

Scam 1: You don’t buy gas on a day that is agreed upon by millions of idiots that did not think this through.
Outcome
Service stations make a pile of money the day before the “don’t buy gas day” (DBGD) and the next day they make less. Now the day after the “Don’t buy gas day” service stations are leveling off to normal gas purchasing. Therefore the war against high prices is not affected. In short, Gas companies lost nothing. What they didn’t make on the DBGD they make the day before or the day after.

Scam 2: You decided to not buy gas from a specific gas station.
Outcome
Well first of all if you live in a local town like me, you first of all just hurt the pocket book of your local gas station owner. For me, that would be Kurt and Christine who own the Petro Canada here in Virden. They are probably the friendliest people I know in the gas biz. They are always nice and make sure you get everything you need, so why would I want to hurt their business? Second, lets say you buy all your gas at Esso and you boycott Petro Canada and Shell for example. Gas companies still make money you weirdo and they still set the prices! They just sell more of it to the Esso. And try to think this through ok, do you think Kurt at the Petro Canada in Virden sets the price for gas? If he did he would keep it the same as the shell and the Esso. Petro Canada won’t go broke from 1 day of low sales.

Bottom line, we need fuel. I drive to school 45 minutes there and 45 minutes back everyday. Do you think I like gas at $1.19 a liter? No I hate it, but I cannot force the hand of the oil companies. If they want to charge more, they will charge more.

Solution
I believe this is one solution. Don’t buy gas for an entire year. If you refuse to buy gas for an entire year, the gas companies will be forced to do something. Of course this e-mail will need to reach millions of people who will agree with me and take action, and since the other 2 scams didn’t work they probably won’t have much faith in this scam. Yes I said scam.

This is a scam, this will not work, obviously no one can not buy gas for an entire year and I don’t want to try this idea because I want to support my local gas station.. We need fuel. Lets face it, there are those who care, and those who don’t care enough to do something, that means there are people who will buy gas and complain, and there are people who will create scams to fight gas companies, but in turn will still buy gas and complain on top of it all.

If anything, the more complaining we do, the more they raise the gas price. So please leave it alone or do something constructive. The real solution is to cut down on fuel if you can, and to use alternative fuel sources when possible. You can make diesel fuel out of cooking oil! In fact some cities are giving grants to start factories to make diesel fuel out of used cooking oil as an alternative source of low cost fuel. Not only this, but this cooking oil blend is cleaner and more efficient than regular diesel fuel.

Think about this, we all have homes, let’s say we cut energy costs in our homes to compensate for the fuel we put into our cars. For example, you can buy energy efficient appliances, turn off lights when you aren’t using them, get a digital thermometer system that keeps the house warmer/cooler when you are at work at heats up/cools down (depending winter or summer) just before you come home. Check your furnace filters and change them often to allow better air flow. Use plastic window coverings to prevent heat from escaping in the winter. Buy those energy efficient light bulbs. They run low power and they are really bright. A 20 watt bulb is like as bright as a 50 watt regular bulb.

There are even wind sources that you can buy right at your own Canadian tire that harness the power of the wind to create electricity. There are solar panels as well, and yes these are costly, but crunch some numbers, maybe consider taking a loan out for some energy efficient solutions, you never know, it may save you money in the long run and your monthly payments might be less than what you are paying now. You could even put Styrofoam underneath the siding on your house if you are considering doing some exterior renovations, again, its costly upfront, but remember you are making an investment. Geo Thermal is defiantly the way to go if you are building a new home, please look into it, it is not much more costly and it is incredibly efficient.

So consider that if you cut out cost somewhere else in your budget, you can make way for high fuel prices. Not that I agree with the high cost of fuel, but these are some solutions that work to keep you within your budget.

Alrighty then...

Ok Kristin has broken me. It’s been a whiles since I last updated, and I have been away for a while. A lot has happened in the past while. Due to some of the eyes that will read this, I cannot, I will not get into some things that have happened. But some good things are happening. I am hoping I can get into school this fall. I want to take my bachelor of science in Psyc Nursing. Basically I will be a counselor in the hospital. I might work on my masters and then get my doctorate so I can be a doctor of mental health. My prayers are that I can get into some quick science courses so that I can get into this field. For those of you who think taking the hard courses in high school is useless because you will never use it... think again. Now come problematic areas for me. In high school I opted to take all the easy courses as I assumed I would never go to a college o university. Kind of the hippie mentality, fight the power!!! So now I need to get those courses!!! Frick!!! It will all work out.

Hmmm... What else, I have met some new friends, so that’s awesome. I am working on getting my book into stores, so far Coles is considering it. If you want a book please buy one!!!! Its really good and its only $10 plus $1.00 for shipping, you can pay by check, money order (which you buy at any post office), credit card, or you can even send cash in the mail (not highly recommended, but hey it’s an amazing book). Visit my website to pay by credit card or read my samples. www.tylerhay.com To pay by mail simply send a check, money order, or cash(if you dare) to Tyler Hay, Box 2585, Virden, MB R0M 2C0. Remember to send me your address so I can mail you the book. Yea this is shameless promotion, but it is a really good little book, and I know you will love it.

Oh I went to camp this last 2 weeks, awesome speakers, and awesome fellowship! I had a wonderful time and looking forward to next year.

God has been speaking to me about the power of asking Him for Joy, Wisdom and Faith and using them together. So I am working on a sermon, or blog or something. He has been opening my eyes to so many amazing things.

Missed ya all!

Ty

Follow Me

Sometimes great minds think alike and one person speaking their mind makes all the difference.

Tonight I was chattin on my laptop to some friends, staying inside trying to keep cool. It was a good night, had some friends over and did some fun stuff. But Cal came home and both of us being the tech geeks that we are, he went upstairs on his computer and I was in the living room with my new laptop (by the way if you ever have a problem with a product and you can’t get anywhere with the company, contact the better business bureau, they get results, they got me a brand new laptop). Anyways, Cal and I were talking on MSN, he had just been to the lake to check it out, and he was telling me about it. And immediately I thought about going for a swim, it was late, and those are the best times. So he asked if I wanted to go, and that’s all it took. It was lots of fun, I mean, its hard to get into the water under your shoulders, but once you do, its is so worth it. It was so humid and it was perfect! When the lightening came we decided it might be best to head in. I had a great time, and yea it’s nothing really absolutely incredible, but you know something, it’s those little things that make life fun. So go and do them, I know I am going to do that one more often. And you should come with me!

Thank You

I know I wrote a blog just yesterday, but I have more in my head and on my heart.

I love living on a kind of an "acreage" with my 2 brothers. Our house is awesome, we have a pool (thought is a little one) and even though it takes 2 hours to mow all the grass, I must say, it is beautiful. We are right on the edge of town, but it feels like the country more than anything.

I feel so thankful that we are able to live here. Its a beautiful spot, the house is big with lots of space, I have 4 tall windows in my bedroom that stretch down close to the floor right next to my bed, so when I wake up in the morning I can see the beauty that God has created. We pay almost nothing for rent, utilities are next to nothing, and on top of that we split it 3 ways and all 3 of us brothers get along basically all of the time. We have deer in our yard every few days and there are now 2 bunnies that I believe are living in our bushes. They are the cutest little guys you have ever seen and they came right up to the deck the other day. Maybe I will leave some carrots out for them?

So I have a lot to be thankful for today, so thank you God for animals in my yard, thanks for our awesome house, the huge yard and beautiful trees, for the big windows in my bedroom and thank you that it is nice, quiet and peaceful on our land!

What do you have to be thankful for today?