Poverty...In A Place That Is Green...and Humid

It is said that New Mexico is the poorest state in the nation currently, and with our university tuitions rising along with our temperatures, it is refreshing to see some sources that say New Hampshire is at the top. However, it might be nice to see some solutions for poor states. 1. Create jobs. 2. Raise the minimum wage. 3. Raise the Earned Income Tax Credit for people who do not have children. 4. Support pay equality and provide sick days. Vallas Rebecca and Melissa Boteach. "Top 10 Solutions to Cut Poverty and Grow the Middle Class" Moyers and Company http://billmoyers.com/2014/10/03/top-10-solutions-cut-poverty-grow-middle-class/ October 3 2014 Web 8 June 2017

Here is a picture of Catalina United Methodist Church in Tucson, Arizona, and a piece about giving. it is sometimes disconcerting that at my paradise, where the music calms me down and I started singing with the early birds, there are people that I respect that do not see my paradise, but a place of politics and fighting, and a leader with a power problem. Catalina has this to say about giving. "The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." And yet they use Scripture and talk about faithfulness, while they are just planning their church budget. I give because I love them dearly, not because of any politic....should I have been paying attention to the red tape?

GOING PUBLIC

Here is a quote from First United Methodist Church in Santa Barbara, California. The heart of our Christian faith is Christ’s ministry of outreaching love. We are all called to minister wherever Christ would have us work to heal and free others. United Methodists believe in God’s grace, which means the unearned and loving action of God in our daily lives

A new minister was assigned at my church, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where it is brown. he is extremely passionate about "Going Public--" doing church in a park, singing at the downtown Farmer's Market, etc. This is his passion, and my calling as a Christian is to take the gospel to all nations...and my question is...why have we not done this before? Why did St. Paul's wait for him to..."go public?"

BACKPACK PROGRAMS

This post is being handcrafted while on vacation in new Hampshire. It is difficult, with all the immigrants taking advantage of our borders, to know if I am being used. However, since this is a blog that specializes in good news, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed shopping for school supplies for someone who could not. It is difficult, though, because I will buy supplies for a stranger, but not lunch for someone who considers me a friend but complains about her kid when we hang out.

The Changing Face of Technology

Went to Best Buy today and was told that yes, CD players are fading out, in favor of digital music on flash drives. My new CD player is stuck, and so all my music is on a flash drive and plays perfectly. Should we avoid the change in technology? Is there anything we could do to slow it down? This was a question faced in Consumers and the law. Happy Summer from NH, and it is said that we might not have to do penance, as LSB is too busy. But he did have a new portrait up, and looks quite mature. We'll see how he feels when he gets to college. Having a cassette player in your car was once the height of sophistication. But now it would appear the future of listening to music on the road is to have no in-car machine at all, putting an end to scrabbling around the glove compartment for a new album to listen to. Ford has signalled that it is doing away with the CD players from its cars and wants drivers to access their libraries of digital music via the internet. Wallop, Harry. "Ford to Scrap CD Players in Cars" the Telegraphwww.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/8660870/Ford-to-scrap-CD-players-in-cars.html

CONTENTMENT IN METHODIST CHURCHES....AND NONE WILL BE PERFECT

Happy new Year everyone, and as I write this there is no public bus service in the City of las Cruces for new Years day...and it is cold. and I have taken to praying that God would have His way in church when I get there on Sunday morning...but someone told the associate minister last Sunday after his sermon that it was so nice to finally hear a good sermon (the pastor was on vacation) I cringed, but God loves these people more than I do. And we will see how things go after the youth lock-in on Friday... Contentment appears to be a value that most church members and congregations value above everything else. The Apostle Paul calls us to learn to be content with whatever comes our way in life. We are to be content when we have everything we want in life, and when we fail to have even the basic necessities of life.

PARENTS FORCING CHILDREN TO ATTEND YOUTH

Here is a picture of someone at Hampton United Methodist Church in Hampton, NH. As I write this it is thundering outside and I have just come from a meeting of youth parents and sponsors at which I learned that some parents that I respect force their children to come to youth. This is a blog that focuses on good news, so let me mention the feeling of this beautiful burden of wanting to flee the church grounds as fast as I can after the meeting is over, because soon the church will be silent. No fellowship and happy singing until next week. But I am thirty three years old. Out of my parents' house, and incidentally, they do not have a church home. Is this a question of forgiveness? of moving forward? but as to the question of fleeing the silence, when we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun.