Teala's Corner "My Thoughts - Your Thoughts"

LECRAE - A RAPPER FOR THE LORD!

2011-12-31T13:17:00.001-05:00

It's Amazing

2011-12-21T01:26:00.002-05:00

I was on Youtube as usual and found this 12 yrs old boy singing to the Lord like he knew God personally. He touched my heart so that I listened to him sing for the next 4 hours. At first, I just listened to "Hallelujah" about 10 times before listening to his other songs. He has truly been blessed by God to minister the word in song. I truly pray that this world doesn't cause him to loose focus on what God has ordained for him to do and that's to bring He's people to a higher place of worship. I've watched a lot of his videos and see people screaming like they're crazy. People this is a time of worship....he is a worshiper of God, not "Michael Jackson" Don't get me wrong Michael is one of my favorite people and I listen to his old music all the time, but Jotta is not here to replace Michael. He's here calling the people back to worship. I watch some videos and only go into prayer that Jotta is protected, guarded, shield from those who will only see the dollar signs when they look at him. But if you haven't seen him you're missing God's gift to His people.. CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR HIM. PLEASE!

Living a Godly Life in an Ungodly World posted by Michael Youssef

2011-11-05T21:42:00.001-04:00

What does it take to live a godly life in an ungodly world? Many of us have asked ourselves this question repeatedly. The signatures of sin and evil are all around us. There has to be something more that we can do than to white-knuckle our way through temptation.

Simply put, our anchor is Jesus Christ. He is our only salvation from sin—the anchor of our souls (see Hebrews 6:19) that holds firm, especially when the storms of life threaten and when the enemy’s temptations blow hard against us.

Does this mean that we can escape the troubles of this world? No—but it does mean that we set the compass of our hearts on Christ. Then, when the aggressive winds and tumbling waves of temptation come, we will not be overwhelmed by them.

Jesus knew that we would face serious temptations and trials. The night of His arrest, He prayed for us: “[Father], my prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it” (John 17:15-16).

Living a godly life in an ungodly world is realizing that we do not belong to ourselves. As believers, we belong to Jesus Christ. He is the Shepherd of our souls, our loving Savior, and eternal Lord—and from a spiritual stand point, we do not belong to this world. Our heavenly Father has provided all that we need to live free of Satan’s temptations, tactics, lies, and snares.

We can begin living the godly life Christ has given us when we:

Have a heart focused and set on Christ. We do this by being committed to prayer and the study of God’s Word. We can’t set our hearts on Christ or learn to live godly lives unless we follow the instruction manual that God has given to us, and this is His Word—the Bible.

Refuse to get caught up in busywork, believing that we are pleasing to God. The greatest gift you can give the Lord is not a full schedule that includes one church meeting after another. Immorality can steal and rob us of a beautiful relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, but busyness will prevent us from getting to know God in a personal way. We should not allow anything we are doing for God to prevent us from being with God.

Realize that God loves us with an unconditional love. When we draw nearer and nearer to Christ, our desire to follow the way of temptation will fade. No one will ever care as much for us as the Savior does. Christ died so that we might have eternal life. His grace is a gift that cannot be purchased through good works or outstanding behavior. He loved us even before we were born, and He loves us now. We cannot earn His love, and we cannot lose it. When we yield to sin and sense that there is a distance between the Lord and us, it is not because His love for us has faded.

There are consequences to sin that are unavoidable, and one of these is that we sense God’s rebuke because we have grieved His Spirit. But when we pray and ask Him to forgive us, He does—and He restores our fellowship with Him because His love has the ability to cover a multitude of sins (see James 5:20).

Invest in our spiritual future. We are involved in a spiritual battle. Unseen forces wage war against us, but the ultimate victory is won in Christ. Only faith in Jesus Christ wins the battle. It is faith that is not compromised one day and forgotten the next. Instead, it is faith that is built and maintained through love and devotion to God’s Son.

If you are struggling against God’s will and plan for your life, stop. Ask Him to help you understand the depth of His love for you. When you do, you will find that God is giving you the ability you need to live a godly life in an ungodly world!

The News

2011-11-02T01:37:00.001-04:00

The Sell Side Of Investment Banking Slowly Being Dismantled

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A protester hurls a bottle outside Brussels-basedDexia bank. The bank will likely be nationalized and its assets divided up between three countries. Dexia's exposure to leveraged bets on southern Europe government bonds led to the crack up. The sell-side of the Western world's investment banks is slowly being dismantled.

In the war zone that is modern finance, the demise of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 was the shot heard ’round the world.

Three years later, and investment banks from New York to Brussels are still facing the same problems. The ultra leveraged model of sell side finance is dying. A growing number of traders are saying that it is time to bury it. Regulators are playing hardball, some say maybe too hard, in their effort to prevent future asset bubbles. In the process, jobs will be lost. Many bond traders will have to downsize. Individual lives will be changed, for better or for worse. Careers will be destroyed along with the very institutions that built them.

The dismantling work is not going to end in 2012. The deleveraging of investment banks is going to continue for “the rest of our adult lives”, says one managing director of a European headquartered investment bank that has watched its market cap collapse from around a billion to $200 million in a matter of two years.

In 2008 and 2009, Washington spent over $700 billion bailing out General Motors and many investment banks. But while GM is surviving, and paid off its debt last year, investment banks are still falling apart and will likely have to shed parts of their assets in order to stay in business.

“I get resumés from kids from NYU and Harvard that come in for internships and I tell them all: ‘run away as fast as you can’. This industry is fucking crap. It is never going to be the same. It can’t be,” a managing director at Nomura Securities told me recently. Nomura, a Japanese investment bank, is going to downsize hardcore. Entire departments will evaporate. The company posted its first quarterly loss in two and a half years on Tuesday because of the slump in investment banking revenues. As a result, top executives in Tokyo said Nomura will triple its cost-cutting target to $1.2 billion to cope with market conditions that were as tough as they were in 2008.

Ironically, outside Nomura’s World Financial Center office building is the construction site for the new Freedom Tower. It will stand at 1,776 feet tall, chosen as the year that marks the country’s independence, and should be completed by 2015. Hopefully, by then, the market would have recovered.

In that same city, MF Global filed for bankruptcy. Two hundred and fifty years ago, the company started out in the boring sugar trade, acting essentially as a middle man selling sugar from the source to the king of England. It survived stock market crashes and two World Wars. But it didn’t survive leverage and the European sovereign debt crisis. It’s one thing to buy bonds for $900 that end up being worth $700. It’s another thing to borrow 10 times the value of those bonds in order to buy them in the first place.

Over the last few months, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has reviewed MF Global’s holdings of European sovereign bonds and the sophisticated manner in which it was trading those bonds. Because of the risk factor involved with the ongoing tanking of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Greek bonds, FINRA qualified those bonds as non-sovereign, or basically equivalent to riskier corporate debt. They told MF Global that it needed more collateral to cover those bonds, and that’s when things went south for MF Global.

To make matters worse, a relative unknown player, Greenwich, Connecticut-based Interactive Brokers, was willing to buy out MF Global’s futures merchant and broker dealership until IB’s due diligence found a discrepancy in MF’s client accounts to the tune of $700 million. MF is now facing an investigation and IB backed out of the deal, leaving MF without a white knight. One trader told me that MF Global, with its 2,847 employees, will likely cease to exist in the next three weeks.

Eventually, MF Global’s clients will look elsewhere. Volume on the futures exchanges shrank by more than half because MF client speculators were out of the market, Barron’s reported.

Keep Your Weight Down

“I’m in the job market now and I’m focused on Asia and Latin America banks. They’ve been through this process already. You have to go where the money is and it is not here. My advice to the sell side is to keep your weight down and your hair dyed,” said the MF trader who could not be named.

The never-ending human need to find someone to blame has turned to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. It’s not the first time he was pointed out as the Alpha and the Omega of the 2008 financial crisis. Once known as the Oracle back in the late 1990s, Greenspan’s loose money policy is being blamed on the Street as the nicotine in the tobacco; as if no one really believed it could be that addictive.

Leverage is like that: an addiction. When there is no patience to make a million, you borrow 10 million and hope to eek out 10% to make that million in the markets. With interest rates declining throughout the 2000s, and a Western and Japanese unified monetary policy of easy money greasing the wheels, investors geared up into equities on margin. Ten percent gains weren’t that difficult. Margin debt increased. Regulations changed, making Wall Street more friendly to speculation. Books have been written about this. A forest full of articles have been published on this as well. While Main Street investors with a home brokerage account can buy on 1.5x margin, often required to deposit at least 50% of the price of the asset, investment banks were easily 40 times leveraged, borrowing on top of assets based on another asset based on another asset until it all gets to a point like it did in 2008, or again in 2011 Brussels, where Dexia Bank — bailed out three years ago — is on the verge of being nationalized. Dexia’s leverage was three times the size of the Belgium economy. It would take three Belgiums to pay for Dexia’s debt. That’s not unique. It would take an equal number of Frances to pay off Societe Generale’s debt. Dexia’s stock price was down 90% from its first bailout in 2008. Societe Generale, when it is not busy watching its traders go to jail, has to raise money. The market is not convinced it can do it sustainably, or long term. This is the sell-side universe. And it is zipping along into a black hole.

“I would not want to be on the sell side of this business,” says Paul Simon, chief investment office at Tactical Allocation Group, a $1.5 billion wealth management firm far from Wall Street in very unglamorous Birmingham, Michigan. “The financial services industry is over-brokered. The amount of capacity on the sell side does not reflect the demand. It is completely out of whack. The business is going to be very different five years from now,” he says.

Franchises will either shrink voluntarily or be forced to shrink.

In World Financial Center building 2, palm trees stand tall and warm. It’s a faux paradise. This isn’t Rio. This is New York City on a 55 degree day. A colder Hudson River flows about 200 yards from the atrium at WFC 2. The State of Liberty looks small in the distance. My Nomura director sips a Starbucks coffee and looks down at some clothing store. “The U.S. is all about the service industry. I guess it is better to lose your job in the financial services than in retail services,” he tells me. “I’ll be alright if I lose my job. I make three times what their managers make,” he says, pointing his chin towards the clothing store. “It’s getting much harder to make a living,” he says.

To some, these six and seven figure “fat cats” in the financial markets had it coming. Not only is the party over, but those outside of the business have been left picking up the broken bottles and stepping on the shards of glass, slicing themselves open without any health insurance to pay for the stitches. But to anyone who has any empathy, it is not hard to see that a man making $250,000 a year and a man making $50,000 a year are equally levered out beyond their means. The $250,000 a year junior bond trader lives in a home worth 8 times his salary just like the $50,000 a year UPS driver. Marriages crumble. Country club memberships are canceled. Kid’s have to go to state schools. They may be becoming more middle class, while the middle class may be becoming more poor. But just as the middle class lost manufacturing jobs, investment bankers are losing jobs on the sell side of the business, too. They are all climbing up a mudslide.

Sell Side or Buy Side?

The financial services industry also has the buy side. Mostly the realm ofmoney managers and registered investment advisers, so long as entrepreneurs need to manage risk, and retirees and rich people need to preserve capital, there will always be a buy side. Their money has to go somewhere, and someone will have to advise them what to do with it. It’s a slower road to high income for the financial services professional, and one with a much lower turnover rate so jobs are hard to find. But it is one sector of the business that some guys, including those from the imploding MF Global, are considering.

“The sell side is a frightening place to be,” says Michael Roche, 52, a senior vice president at MF Global in charge of emerging market fixed income strategy. I spoke to a small handful of MF Global traders off record. I asked Michael what he thought about the buy side because I know he used to work there around 20 years ago. He says it’s not as collegial, not as fast, but it is more stable and not out of the question for many of his colleagues, himself included. “It favors experience, a longer investment horizon, and likes people with a lot of history in the market.”

The buy side of the market has never been as flashy. But maybe less flash, more substance is what the industry needs. Less of “do everything” and more of “do less”, whereas doing less means you pick your market and your specialty and you stick with it. Revenues for trading is down, revenue from M&A is down. Why do both?

“From a business standpoint, if you’re living in a volatile market it is better to be in a more stable business that’s more concerned about the long term,” says David Donabedian, chief investment officer of Atlantic Trust, the $17.5 billion private wealth management firm of Invesco. “When our client’s portfolio’s go down, that doesn’t mean they are no longer high net worth individuals,” he says. Yet, from where he sits, the number of high net worth individuals in the U.S. isn’t going up. It’s stabilizing, and may be going down. The rich may be getting richer, but the U.S. is not creating a large number of rich people. “There is less wealth creation in the U.S. today,” Donabedian says.

Some might blame the investment bankers for that. One thing is for certain, many of them are paying the price for leveraged risk. When it comes to the financial service industry, the sell-side of the business is in a bear market for the foreseeable future because of that risk.

Last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that the roughly 5.7 million people working in financial services will grow 12% by 2018. That may very well be the case and the Liberty Tower owners are hoping for it so they can rent out the floors that are currently being erected a few blocks away from the Occupy Wall Street movement in Liberty Square. But what side of the business will grow? Regulatory service providers helping companies through the new, ever changing rules? The wealth management division of big emerging market banks? Or will the over-brokered investment banking market make a comeback in the next six years?

If you ask someone at Dexia, Societe Gerale, Nomura, MF Global and even brokers that I have spoken with at Gradual Investimentos in São Paulo, their mood soured in 2008 and hasn’t improved yet.

See: Getting Over Our Over Levered Selves–Forbes

MF Global Files For Bankruptcy After Bad Bets On European Debt–Bloomberg Businessweek

What Happened At MF Global–Reuters

Dexia Inches Towards Break-Up –Bloomberg

Societe Gerale Deleveraging To Meet Capital Ratio Targets–Wall Street Journal

UBS To Fire 3,500 In Investment Banking Unit–Business Insider

Nomura To Ax 5 Pct Of European Staff–Reuters

US Financial Services Industry–Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, July 2010

2011-10-15T15:08:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone,

Thank you for coming to my blog and I hope that you will enjoy what I've put together so far. Please come back and check me out every once in a while. I am putting new things on here every day. But my big production will begin in just 2 weeks. So please make sure you come back and see what the BIG PRODUCTION IS ALL ABOUT!

Take a look around. At the top are tabs that have different topics in them. They will light up when you move your mouse over them. There are videos, pictures, facts, my thoughts...everything and more to come.

Thank you again.....and please sign in to let me know you've been through. You are welcomed to leave any comments, suggestions, criticisms you like that will help me to improve on my site.

And as you can see I have an Amazon Store, the Christian book Store and also the Rushcard. Please when ever you want to order something I would appreciate it if you would order from my site. This is a way you can bless a sister! Love you and take care. And again thank you for coming.

Below are some pictures I thought were interesting. I'm a photographer or you might say a lover of God's creation, whether it's done by God himself or through man.

Retirement for Congress Is What?????

2011-10-01T10:18:00.001-04:00

Is it true that . . . Members of Congress do not pay into Social Security and when they retire they receive a pension equal to their congressional salary for the rest of their life?

The answer is no. All members of Congress pay Social Security taxes in the same amounts as they would if they were employed in the private sector at the same salary level. The amount of a congressional pension varies and depends on years of service, age at the time of retirement, and salary.

The facts: The confusion about Social Security probably results from the fact that before 1984, Senators and Representatives did not participate in the Social Security program. Like all federal government employees at that time, members of Congress were covered by a pension plan, called the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), that did not require payment of Social Security taxes and did not provide Social Security benefits. In 1983, Congress passed a law (P.L. 98-21) that required all federal employees first hired after 1983 to participate in Social Security. The law also required all members of Congress to participate in Social Security as of January 1, 1984, regardless of when they first entered Congress. Because the CSRS was not designed to coordinate with Social Security, Congress directed the development of a new retirement plan for federal employees, called the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), which does coordinate a federal pension with Social Security.

Members of Congress are eligible for a pension at age 62 if they have completed at least five years of service. They are eligible for a pension at age 50 if they have completed 20 years of service, or at any age after completing 25 years of service. The amount of the pension depends on years of service and the average of the highest three years of salary. By law, the starting amount of a member’s retirement annuity may not exceed 80 percent of his or her final salary. As of October 1, 2000, the average annual pension for members of Congress who have retired under CSRS is $52,464, and $46,932 for retirees under FERS-only or both FERS/CSRS.

Read a report that provides more detail on retirement benefits for members of Congress.

Now we know why Congress is not worried about Social Security, I wouldn't be either if I had this kind of pension to look forward to. I believe as long as you've lasted 5 years in congress you will get SOMETHING, I take it whether or not you've made some kind of impact or not while there. Just 5 years.....5 years and you're set for life.

Another thought is that we work all our lives to get Social Security when we retire. We should be able to get it without any stipulations outside of age. The money that we're getting is money we've worked; for most of us very hard to put in there, yet when we get it we're governed by all these rules and regulations. The one main rule that we can't make over a certain amount of money otherwise our money is taken away or decreased. I don't believe this is fair at all, especially if what you are getting is not that much in the first place. Getting 1,000.00 a month is not going to allow you to live as they say "high on the hog". So with that we try to supplement it with something else "work" and we're penalized for it. SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT THIS. For one thing the thought of retiring means not to work anymore.....is that a reality to those who were unfortunate to work the low paying jobs. No it's not, so in our retirement; a place in our lives when were should be able to sit back and relax, maybe travel the world......we HAVE TO work!

So Congress, at least if we have to supplement our income to live a decent life put into to law that it's okay. Don't take away our hard earned money just because we don't want to live in complete poverty, because we want to enjoy the nice things in life too. LET US GET OUR SOCIAL SECURITY WITHOUT STIPULATIONS OR INCOME ADJUSTMENTS. What we've put in all our lives we should be able to get it out, period!

Oh! one other thing......is the saying that Congress can get both FERS/CSRS????? Was it really set up that you can collect both of those retirement plans? The MAIN QUESTIONS is really.....IS THAT RIGHT OR FAIR THAT YOU'RE ABLE TO DO IT? I know you've had to put out a lot of money and gone through a lot to get to be in Congress, but do we have to pay for it forever? You already get the nice salaries, housing allowances, perks in traveling, dining and whatever else you do before and after retirement; by which the cost of it rides the backs of the working class. So for our own retirement can you not ride our backs for how we want to live our lives after our so-called retirement?!

My graduation year - Small facts about 1976

2011-09-28T00:56:00.000-04:00

Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. . It was also the 1976th year of theCommon Era, the 976th year of the 2nd millennium, the 76th year of the 20th century - which is conventionally considered to have begun in 1901, and the 7th year of the 1970s - 1970 being the first of course. In Europe the summer of this year was particularly long, warm and dry.

Bill Gates...could he say it any nicer?!

2011-09-24T22:52:00.000-04:00

SOMETHING OUR KIDS / GRAND KIDS--ALL NEED TO UNDERSTAND!!
From ~ Bill Gates

This should be posted in every school or kid's bedroom. Love him or hate him , he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about eleven (11) things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world. Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it! Rule 2 : The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both. Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: They called it opportunity. Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were: So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.. Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMESas you want to get the right answer. *This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life. Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. *Do that on your own time. Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs. Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.. If you can read this... Thank a Teacher. If you can read this in English... Thank a Soldier! For life and everything else you have... Thank God!!

I totally agree with him. But we as parents also add to the equation when there's only one parent in the picture. It's difficult to raise a child much less children on your own. I have a 26yrs old daughter, and two sons 27 yrs old and my oldest is 32yrs old. And boy do I as a single parent ( ALL DECISIONS IN THEIR LIVES LEFT TOTALLY UP TO ME) see the mistakes I made. While bringing them up there is only one point of view being seen, which is not always the right way. It may be distorted because of ones own past experiences, whether that parent was brought up by a single parent. Whether the parent grew up in good or bad surroundings. These are all factors which determine if the next generation is going to be prepared to live a productive life or "just get by". And I mean not just get by in a job, but in life period. Has their potential as children been explored, reached or even recognized. I worried so much about my children and the crazy decisions I made at times. If their fathers where apart of their lives more than just dropping in every once in a while I know their lives would have been a little better. At least they would of had two parents making decisions on their behalf instead of one. Most of the time I was depressed and just getting by myself dealing with my own pain. I remember going to the school and asking them to counsel my son because I was going through a very bad divorce and I knew he was hurting....what did they do?????? put him in special education. Wow! now this is a boy who ranked #2 in comprehension and math in the state. Why did they feel he needed to be in a special class? Because I was not in the right frame of mind to ask these questions and they needed money for the district. At this time, the more special ed. children you had the more money the school district got. I thank God that by the time my daughter was in school I had gotten saved (gave my life to Christ Jesus) and I would listen to "Focus for the Family" everyday on how to raise my children. And they listened to it each night to learn how to be good children through "Space Odessey" which was a part of "Focus on the Family". I got all the music, videos and books for them and we learned together. But I wonder how mine and my children's lives would have turned out if God hadn't intervened. As in many children's lives parents do the best that they can....as did I, but one person is not enough. I see the outcome of it. My daughter is a little more rounded and secure because we started going to church and had my church family to help, suggest and share with me beside the help of "Focus on the Family". But the damage was done to my son's, I see my failure in preparing them or might I say not preparing them for the world. I see where the decisions I made were not the right decisions when it came to them. So yes the schools don't prepare them for the cold cruel world, but we as single parents don't either. If parents really are going to be parents.....even if they don't stay together as a couple, stay together as parents in the lives of the children you make. Be there for them, make decisions together regarding their lives, it is so important. And most importantly don't hold your children as hostage to get back at your ex., you're only hurting the child and causing a very important part of their lives to be missed. I had a distorted view on the world because my world as a child was distorted. My mother was a single mother who worked a lot to make ends meet which meant that I was left venerable to be prey upon. This too is why there should be two parents.....for the safety of your child.

So whether your child or children were made out of love or lust take good care of them. They did not ask to be here and are not responsible for your actions. Make sure that the person you give yourself to is someone you want to stay connected to the rest of your life. If you're not ready for children than don't do things that could possibly get you in that position. How many people have said "I can't get pregnant but got pregnant anyway" or "a condon is used but you get pregnant anyway". If it does happen.....be the best parents ever and if you don't know how "ask somebody" or listen to "Focus on the Family". Who knows you may be bringing into this world the next awesome teacher, doctor, lawyer, singer, preacher, kind person or President.

A 9 -11 blessing.

2011-09-19T23:43:00.000-04:00

A man from Norfolk , VA called a local radio station to share this on Sept 11th, 2003, TWO YEARS AFTER THE TRAGEDIES OF 9/11/2001.

His name was Robert Matthews. These are his words:

A few weeks before Sept. 11th, my wife and I found out we were going to have our first child. She planned a trip out to California to visit her sister. On our way to the airport, we prayed that God would grant my wife a safe trip and be with her. Shortly after I said 'amen,' we both heard a loud pop and the car shook violently. We had blown out a tire. I replaced the tire as quickly as I could, but we still missed her flight. Both very upset we drove home.

I received a call from my father who was retired NYFD. He asked what my wife 's flight number was, but I explained that we missed the flight.

My father informed me that her flight was the one that crashed into the southern tower. I was too shocked to speak. My father also had more news for me; he was going to help. 'This is not something I can't just sit by for. I have to do something.'

I was concerned for his safety, of course, but more because he had never given his life to Christ. After a brief debate, I knew his mind was made up. Before he got off of the phone, he said, 'take good care of my grandchild. Those were the last words I ever heard my father say. He died while helping in the rescue effort.

My joy that my prayer of safety for my wife had been answered quickly became anger. I was angry at God, at my father, and at myself. I had gone for nearly two years blaming God for taking my father away. My son would never know his grandfather, my father had never accepted Christ and I never got to say good-bye.

Then something happened. About two months ago, I was sitting at home with my wife and my son, when there was a knock on the door. I looked at my wife, but I could tell she wasn't expecting anyone. I opened the door to a couple with a small child.

The man looked at me and asked if my father's name was Jake Matthews. I told him it was. He quickly grabbed my hand and said, 'I never got the chance to meet your father, but it is an honor to meet his son.'

He explained to me that his wife had worked in theWorld Trade Center and had been caught inside after the attack. She was pregnant and had been caught under debris. He then explained that my father had been the one to find his wife and free her. My eyes welled up with tears as I thought of my father giving his life for � people like this. He then said, 'there is something else � you need to know.'

His wife then told me that as my father worked to free her, she talked to him and led him to Christ. I began sobbing at the news.

Now I know that when I get to Heaven, my father will be standing beside Jesus to welcome me, and that this family would be able to thank him themselves.

When their baby boy was born, they named him Jacob Matthew, in honor of the man who gave his life so that a mother and baby could live.

This story should help us to realize this: God is always in control.

We may not see the reason behind things, and we may never know this side of heaven, but God is ALWAYS in control.

Please take time to share this amazing story. You may never know the impact it may have on someone. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures Forever. Psalm 136:

Great Job Mr. President

2011-09-10T14:09:00.002-04:00

I love President Obama and am encouraged by his strength, endurance, stamina, bravery, ability to keep his composure under fire, his determination, his insight and everything else that helps him to do the great job that he's doing. He took on a big responsibility with a lot of large, hard, for the country life changing situations and worked to the best of his ability to fix them. With all the opposition he gets every day from those who are suppose to be there for the same reason he is.....do what's best for the American people and to keep our country great! With all that he had to deal with, the earthquakes, floods, oil spill, tsunami, bailouts, medicare and housing problems he has still stood strong. I know he had to only do it all through and with the grace and mercy of God. That's the only way anyone could have handled all that he's had to handle these past 3 years. My hat is off to you Mr. President and my prayers are always with you. And of course we can't forget the first lady Michelle who is an awesome person herself. She too, has taken her position as first lady well. Her own personal convictions has cause our country to want to be healthier, care for our children more, and want to dance more; which definitely relieves a lot of the stress. It's nice to see that in spite of your position you can still relate to the everyday person in sorry and in laughter. She's influencing those here and abroad for a better tomorrow for all. Hats off to you too first lady for a job well done by you.

The one thing I've noticed that all the presidents have in common is......they come in with jet black, brown, blonde hair and they leave with a head full of gray hair......What's that all about!?!?

MAY GOD CONTINUALLY BLESS AND KEEP PRESIDENT AND FIRST LADY BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA!

AND MAY THEY CONTINUE TO KEEP THEIR HANDS IN HIS HAND THAT HE WILL CONTINUE TO SEE THEM THROUGH.

2011-09-05T20:46:00.002-04:00

What a journey! What a journey! It's only just begun and I'm excited about the way the Lord has all ready shown up at service, during prayer, but most of all in my life. I'm ready for a significant change in my life....totally committed to the Lord. He's made a lot of promises in the bible that I want to see manifested in my life time, like my children serving Him. Our land being healed; and you know we need that right now more than anything. Our government is out of hand and the only way to put the pieces back together is if we do like the "Word" says: "If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, than I will hear from heaven and heal their land." Let us call out to God together that He may heal our land: the USA, our homes, our schools, our churches, our streets, our marriages, our children, but MOST OF ALL....OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!!!!!

As God brings understanding, revelation, wisdom or just plain old good sense to me I will be blogging them. Please note the tabs at the top of this insert, Words of Wisdom and Wisdom in Books that is where all the different blogs will be going so please feel free to roam. Thank you and God bless you!

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