Hi, everybody, and a very Happy Easter to you, wherever you may be...
I am The Mad Macedonian! Writer, Blogger, Poet, Humorist, Photographer, Cat Lover, and more!
All around the world, today, in the Western, free, nations, people of the Christian faith, those strong in their faith, and those re-building the strength they once had, joyously stand up to proclaim..."HE HAS RISEN!", and prepare, next month, to celebrate the 400th Birthday of The King James Bible, all the while knowing that there are others, of their faith, in other parts of the world, who are not free to celebrate their faith.
I grew up around a Pentecostal Church, and around Southern Baptists, in the 70's & 80's, watched Jerry Falwell almost every Sunday, and even read Oral Roberts, and took some classes in college, but have only been to church on Sunday twice since my Mom died in 1990.
Once on a Genealogy Expedition when I sat thru an Orthodox Church Service unable understand a damn thing that was happening, and the other time, more recent, when I traipsed around the block to the Chrystal Cathedral, and sat thru 2 sermons, the Hour of Power with Schuller Sr., and the follow-up by his son. ;-D
Aside from reading a History of Christianity, and watching, and re-watching, all my favorite Life of Christ Hollywood Blockbusters, that was it.
Guess it was enough to keep me strong through all that has happened, good, and bad, the last 20 years.
That and that no doubt Mom was always leaving Post-It Notes on God's To-Do List Chalkboard...reminding him to look in on her complex, only, son, once a week. ;-D
As readers of this blog know I've been unemployed since the end of August, & while blogging here, and at Meowsings, by Nikita & Elvira continue, I've been taking some computer classes, reading some books and, on faith, bought a ticket to the Blog Paws Pet Blogger Convention this coming August, and last week became one of the first to join the Blog Paws Community website.
The books I've read gave me a lot to think about, but something in the most recent book that I finished reading, a couple of weeks ago, really affected me.
It said:
"Make sure you are doing work that touches your soul and releases a peace not experienced by those trapped in meaningless jobs.
This is a process of releasing that unique genius, purpose, mission, or calling that only you have been placed on earth to fullfill.
Don't ignore that task. Don't compromise what you have the ability and the passion to do. Be relentless in your pursuit --clarify the "What", and the "How to" will begin to appear."
I was standing at a crowded bus stop, in Santa Ana, when I read those words in No More Dreaded Mondays, by Dan Miller, and tears began to stream down my face.
In 2002 I became a Blogger, with my Cat Nikita as my occasional co-blogger. ;-D
In 2003 I began one of the first bike blogs in the USA, The Cycling Dude.
Of these 2 passions I thought, then, that the bike blog was the one that was going to take me for a ride.
While it had many successes, and I met many amazing people, it had few readers, and so I closed it last summer to little notice.
It was ahead of its time, and then got left behind when everyone else caught up. ;-D
Meanwhile, Nikita quit so much napping, and snoozing, and by 2005-7 began to blog more, and discovered he was not alone.
As his involvment in the emerging Cat Blogging Community grew I closed my first blog, in October 2007, and began this one, with him as a far more active co-blogger. ;-D
A passion, with a take on Cat Blogging that was, and is, unique, and with a purpose, was making a name for itself, and had a small following.
So, in January 2010, I finally wised-up, and gave him his own blog, Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat. 2010 was a difficult, yet, amazing, year. Even as I had a seizure, and recovered, and became unemployed, Meowsings grew, and we rescued a Kitten (Elvira) to eventually add to its cast.. It has a tiny, but supportive, audience, that will only grow, I believe, as time goes on. Just as some of my own blogging has caught the attention of some rather famous folks in, and out of, blogging, over the years, so has the work of Nikita, and now Elvira. ;-D A few days after I read that passage in the book things began to change in my life (4/17), in ways I barely have a grasp on at the moment, but have me at once excited, and scared to death, as several events that can't be co-incidental have occurred (One person told me "Things happen for a reason" -- Must be why little Elvira showed up on my doorstep...a 2nd floor apartment, mind you, and after midnight when I came home from work. ;-D ). I can't say more, except to say I, and Nikita, may be looking for a Sponsor for my trip to the Blog Paws Convention... and to quote some thoughts by a dear friend who has known, and encouraged, me since the year, or so, before I took up blogging... His Easter Weekend "Sermon" included the following: To such an extent that he was becoming more popular than I was. ;-D
God ain't finished with any of us yet!
When in doubt just start something.
Take real action.
Don't be afraid of making mistakes. ( Somethig about Erasers, and Delete Keys ;-D ).
Stay focused on what is needed & wanted.
Never question whether you can do something!
Do not question your own ability, or even see the project as a "Challenge".
Just make a plan, and do it!
Correct booboo's along the way.
Don't blame yourself, or your abilities, if you fail.
DO -- Put yourself out there, make mistakes, correct, and refocus, keep moving, and moving. Doing, and doing.
We're all works in progress. We gotta keep moving.
Now! Right this very minute! Action!
AND when you make your 1st Billion...remember your friends! ;-D
Another friend who has also been there all these years said: "You never know where a path leads until you take it."
The path that Nikita & I have taken since I introduced him online, as a joke on an old Time Online Message Board, a few months after I adopted him, and when I first got a computer, in 1998, has been a long, and interesting one., and things are about to get more interesting in ways I'd never dreamed of.
I don't know where it will all lead, but...God willing, and I handle myself well, the future looks bright, and interesting, and hopeful.
As I told my friends:
"The last few days I've been thinking about all this, and it feels right.
I need to focus on the future, and what next, what do I need to research, and
learn, and do.
Look at all that I've managed to accomplish somehow, over the last 13 years.
Often scared, but still determined to learn, and do.
This can't be any different, just new."
Wish me luck! ;-D
Go for it, they can't kill you, they can't eat you, and they can't send you to Vietnam.
I wish you all the best as you move forward my friend.
Posted by: GM Roper | April 25, 2011 at 07:43 AM