As of 8:00 a.m. on this December 29th, 2016 there appears to be a list of 56 celebrity deaths that affected American culture over the years.  Most were known to me.  Some were aged and like all man kind they were destined to die sooner than later.  Others were young and they appeared to have full lives before them.  But one year ago, December 29, 2015 they each were here living, breathing functioning human beings.

I did not anticipate writing in my blog today about death.  This morning as I read the news, the Face Book feeds of friends who are mourning Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynold deaths, a mother/daughter passing just a day apart I have been thinking.  I have been thinking about life and about death for it comes to each of us.  I have lost several dear friends to death this year.    They were not celebrities who made the news but they were awesome special loved people. For me the news is not so grim, their time on earth is over but now they are in eternity, with The Lord.

As I look over the list of Who's Who, who have died in 2016, it is vast and it is profound as to the people that were impacted by a life or their lives.  We read of their accomplishments, their careers, their politics, their lifestyles, their.......  But for each person on 'the list', it is over here on earth.

Death makes each of us sad. I am sad for my friends are no longer part of my day to day life.  I am also sad by the mean quips from those who did not like a certain 'celebrity' and their deaths evoked ugly verbiage that served no purpose but to expose the ugly heart of the one speaking those words.

Death is not a period.  Death here on earth is a comma that leads us into eternity.  Many do not believe that there is one.  I for one do and most people if given time to reflect on their lives as they watch their lives ebb away get serious about eternity.  To have only this life and have nothing else, it is a bleak at best.

We may not like 'religion' I totally get that.  Religion is mans idea.  However, God and a relationship with Him our creator is His idea and not one to be messed with.  Your eternity rests on this fact!

My blog is not one read by many, if anyone.  However, as I write, I know that should I die now or tomorrow or ?, that I will be with God.   I just celebrated Christmas, the beginning of God making known to us humans that He desires to have a relationship with us forever.   Choosing to be a Christ follower is not a popular one.  People around the world are being murdered and tortured for this choice.   My life style choice, love for The Lord and announcing Jesus Christ as my savior (eternity outcome) are destained by many and mocked daily on social media, news and various forums of people saying what they think.   I can live with this.  I cannot die without this conviction!

I have made this choice because God drew us to Himself as He showed to me/us/you that we need Him to save us from our self destruction. Take note of how, many of our 'celebrities' actually died. Our decaying bodies alone and our inability to prolong a quality life should tell us that we are not in control!

If God were not real, personally involved in my life then I am one crazy old lady.  However, I know I am right and will die with my earthly death sentence, comma ushering me into Heaven.  I had to choose to accept God's terms but oh the peace that comes with that choice is amazing!

I did not want to make this blog any longer than it is.  I am going give a link to a passage of Scripture from a translation of the Bible, called the Message, it is just a bit easier to read in today's English.
The author, Paul, went to his earthly death by decapitation.  He could have renounced Jesus and His message and 'lived'  but because Paul knew it to be truth, he did not deny his belief.  Jesus changes lives.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015&version=MSG    

As I close I would love to know if you have read this blog, this passage of Scripture and what you have decided to do with it. 

December 27th

Today,  an Iconic personality died.  Carrie Fisher, known best at Princess Lea in Star Wars.  60!  A heart attack!  A heart attack on a plane as she was flying home!   Another singer of fame died this week, George Michael's, singer/song writer, rumors speculate it was a drug overdose of some kind. He was 53.  

As Americans we are not a culture that handles death well.  We are certain that there will be something that will prolong our lives or fix whatever is bothering us.  We are certain there is doctor, or  essential oil or food group to consume or to avoid that will make all things right again.  We tend to run from one fad to another to find that illusive 'fountain of youth' or perhaps better stated 'fountain of life'.   

My blog for this year is titled Route 66-The Sixty Sixth year.  As I type this, it is surreal, 66! I am 66, when did that happen?  I am still me with that 'old' number now assigned to my name, my drivers license, my now Medicare Card...I actually have a Medicare Card...Yikes, those are for people who are old!

One day I too will die.  Tonight?  Tomorrow?  30 years from now?  If we stop long enough to ponder those thoughts of life and death and what do our lives consist of it is sobering.  Did my tiny footprint on the earth make any difference at all?   I am not a 'star' whose face will be seen in movies for years to come.  I did not write music or make recordings for people to know my voice in the days ahead. 

Carrie Fisher's days were numbered by God.  Michael George's days were know by God as well.  If his death was due to some sort of abuse, it was not God's doing but He did know that he caused his days to be shortened by those choices.  My days too are numbered.   I am certain that I have more days behind me than I do ahead of me.  

"The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away." Psalm 90:10 (Bible) 

A quote that fits very well into this blog focus is this: 

"If you live every day as if it were your last, some day you will be right and those previous days would be rich and probably amazing." 

I am going to close this blog asking you to think about 'you'.  What is your relationship with God   Oh, not a religion.  Religions are of man.  God, the creator of life!  Seek Him while you can, He desires to be found.  Neither you nor I can know when our last day on earth will be but we can know that our last day on earth can be our first day with the Lord.  

I debated about sharing the rest of the Psalm I pulled from above, as I close out these thoughts.  I am going to end with these words from the Bible.   Carrie Fisher and Michael George did not know that this New Years was not going to include them.  You and I do not know that information either.  But eternity is important.    Embracing the gift of life is too.  

"So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Return, O Lord! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
 Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
 Let the favor^[ of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!"  Psalm 90:12-17

Christmas Eve Reflections

I have not blogged for months!  The Route 66 theme still works for me until May when the calendar shoots me into another year.   My Christmas eve morning is so very quiet and I am going to say peaceful.  In years past it would be crazy and chaotic, while I ratcheted up towards Christmas eve night and Christmas day.

The morning is so quite I can pull up my blog, write and reflect.  I love to write and reflect on all that life brings to me.  Every one should at the very least make notes of life events!  If we do not, we forget that we do have lives, in big or small ways we do influence and affect people!  

My blog silence is not due to lack of activities but the emotions that fuel my writing.

I have traveled the world this year, amazing and always blessed to realize all of the opportunities I have been given.  I have experienced and walked with the poorest of the poor.  I have feasted with those who appear to have it all.  The jetting around the world with back to back trips did suck a bit of life and energy out of me.  Hmmm?  However, I am gearing up to pack my bags again in 2017!!!!

As sit here quietly reflecting, I realize I have friends who have left earth since last Christmas Eve. They have left holes in the lives of their loved ones and friends.  Christmas will be sad, for their families and their friends (me),  as they are gone.   We will each leave one day and I ponder how vast of a hole will my life leave, have I made a positive difference in the lives of those I care about?

It is Christmas Eve morning.  Most of my 'to-do' lists are complete for this day.  Later,  I will go to church and focus on the whole reason we have this crazy, messy, awesome, delightful, over the top, busy, unrealistic holiday.  Christ's coming to earth as a baby!  Christ becoming like His creation to rescue us from the pit of hell, that we all, without being rescued,  propel ourselves towards.  

The account is a miracle and one of faith I hold to tightly.   It is one leap of faith to believe the Bible is God's message and word to mankind.  For some of you reading this, who scoff at the very thought of reading it, I challenge you to refute it!  Take the task on and decide for yourself the truth of it or not.  Do not allow others to do your thinking!!!!!   I can only share that God is real, He transformed and transforms my life.  Apart from Him nothing makes any sense or has meaning.  He is not a religion to me or a crutch but the very essence of life.  I am growing old and I will die and I will spend eternity, whole, new and with this Christ I celebrate today and tomorrow!

In Jesus' journey here on earth He shares the message below!  How abundant is your life?  Should you be one of my friends whose life ends yet this year, what does eternity hold for you?  

I hope your Christmas is more than Merry.  I pray it is one of humble, awestruck, awe that you have been gifted the forgiveness of the messes in your lives and eternity with the creator!
 

Cuba - God is Not Dead

 I must finishing unpacking this trip today!.   I am finishing it while sitting Lusaka, Zambia, as  another adventure unfolds tomorrow.  My mind cannot handle too many unpacked adventures.

It is impossible to do justice to this trip in words.  Emotions, smells, tastes and feelings are things that one sometimes has to experience on their own to grasp.  But to get something in writing will be good for me. 

The highlight for me on this trip to Cuba was visiting the churches!  Not a denomination but the church, being defined as a group of people who worship Jesus Christ.  As a follower of Jesus Christ my view of life is, it is very short here on earth and eternity is where I live forever.  I know that Jesus Christ, being a Christian, is not a popular subject these days (it never has been).  I know that my desire to follow Him is counter cultural here and many places in our world. However, He will not be ignored.  When humans are desperate they always reach out to something, someone greater than themselves.  If we are honest with our thoughts, each human knows deep down that we are not in control of anything in our lives, though we try desperately to do so.

Cubans  have lived in a communist country for 50 years.  At least two generations have been brainwashed into the teaching that there is no God.  Their parents, pastors and leaders have been persecuted because they remained true to Christ’s teachings.  But man cannot erase God or His work. No government can erase God.  It never works, He wins.

Oh, the old cars were and are fun and most definitely a highlight.  They are preserved because these were the ‘new’ cars when communism took over.  The cars at the time would be 'it' for many years. They were and still are in most cases,  all that they could have or obtain.   They were cared for, repaired, engines replaced and what was done out of necessity has made a trip to Cuba unique for the world.   The once magnificent architecture that has been neglected might one day get a restoration and I hope they do!  For now seeing these buildings is like an end of world movie.  It is sad and fascinating at the same time.  The tenacity of a group of people who live on the edge of poverty who still create beautiful music and art is also special.

But when all is said and done seeing the Church, alive, excited about their Lord was the pinnacle of the trip.   These Christ followers  are depending upon Him for their daily needs and not caring what the government thinks or does about shutting down the 'church'. This faith humbled and excited me beyond  words.
   

This young man was healed of life long epilepsy!

They danced unto the Lord.

I leave with this scripture and mandate for me and others, 

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...

Romans (Bible) 1:16

Cuba - The Culture

This post will be a shorter one tonight.  I have one more post after this and I will conclude my Cuba Blogs for this trip.  I do so hope I will do another this next year, there is so much to learn, to see and hopefully to give back to these beautiful people.

The Cuban people are highly educated.  Education is free.

 University is free but there are not the jobs or enticements to do more with what is learned.

English is the second language to know, then French. I saw two campuses for the University of Havana.  There may be more but one was  a beautiful building, well maintained and it appears it one time was a mansion.   Another is a beautiful structure that is centered in the middle of the city. (I think is the middle.)  So unlike 3rd world countries where poverty levels are high, and the people need to learn to get out their poverty, the Cuban's have knowledge but no way to utilize it.

Music, is amazing. There are street musicians that are magnificent.  They were many of these talented entertainers.

We attended a wonderful concert in Ceinfuegos.  The city in the main square has been restored to a magnificent city.  We were taken to a restored theater.  It reminded me of something from the early 1900's.  The wooden seats, the balcony's, the architecture and the art on the inside took us back to a time that is no more.  We were provided with a concert.  20 singers, acapella,  theater about 80+ degrees, the stage warmer and the performance outstanding.   I hope you can enjoy this very brief taste of our concert.


Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us. Martin Luther

Cubal (8) or Cuba vs the United States

I am in a time crunch to finish my Cuba blogs.  I leave for a different adventure on Saturday.  I must finish unpacking before I can repack for my next journey.  Today's blog is political. One cannot have come from Cuba, observe our holiday and not be affected.  I was!  I am!

It is the 4th of July.  In the US this is our Independence Day celebration.  We celebrate that we are the land of the Free and the Brave.  At one time that was true.  Today, I wonder if next year at this time if we will still be that country.  Because, it is our day for remembering our past I am going to take a different approach on my unpacking.  Our freedoms are at great risk and we have to just look at Cuba to see where we are heading. 

At one time the Cuban Flag stood for: The Blue Stripes, the three districts of colonial Cuba.
The White Stripes,  the purity of the patriotic cause.  The White Star, Cuba's Independence and Freedom.  The Red Triangle, equality, strength and constancy.  The flag remains, the original sentiments do not.  May 20, 1849.

Communism/Socialism a grand ideological structure has ruined a beautiful country.  The people are poor and looking for something more.  The promises that the Government will care for you, 'just let us think for you', 'let us tell you what you can grow and where you can sell it', has gone bust, big time.   Cubans want our freedoms! 

The cities reminded me of the end of the world movies we have all seen.  The once magnificent buildings are shells that are run down and rotting. The Cubans have free health care, a cry many Americans scream for.  It sounds great but the Cubans have no medicine.  Everyone is given food vouchers and food is 'equally' distributed but they are hungry.  Everyone has free education and their education is good but there is no place to use it.  The Cubans desire freedom to work and to choose what they do with their lives.  Their is no equality.  The leaders remain rich and the people have nothing. 
 
I watch our political rhetoric, the citizens want free...., the politicians tell us they will give it to us.  Someone (government should take care of me/us).  Along with demands of entitlements, we are choosing to reject a moral code determined by God. That code that kept life in balance  is now being mocked and scorned.  With out a moral code evil reigns.  Corruption and evil has always been a part of any government but we as a country agreed on a moral code that helped to reign in that evil.  It wasn't perfect, but it provided hope and justice based on truth.

My visit to Cuba opened my eyes anew that apart from a group of people who fear and love God, revere His commandments and honor them there will be no peace.  Evil men and women will jockey for power in the name of helping people or controlling people.  They join an elite club that benefits them for the moment.  Money and power becomes their God.  It matters not the philosophy. 

I am grateful for the 10's of thousands of Cubans who have learned that when there is no money, no jobs, no medicine, no hope there is hope in knowing Jesus.  They have risked a great deal to shift to this thinking.  But to see their joy, their peace and hope tells me again that this world is not my home, their  home but eternity with God, the Lord Jesus Christ will become the residence to be desired.

Some who read this will not like my sentiments.  This I know for certain that apart from God neither country has any hope.   Apart from knowing God evil will continue to wreak havoc in our lives.  The freedoms I grew up will disappear and I might even have to die for my faith.  

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/corrupts.html

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/corrupts.html

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/corrupts.html

 "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." 

Lord Acton - 1894

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Mark 8:36 (Bible)  

Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best. Edward Abbey
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/corrupts.html

Cuba - 7

  Several weeks have passed since my last Cuba blog. Life can get in the way of taking time to be quiet, to write, to think but I am grateful for my life.   Because I am blessed to travel and see the real world on so many levels, to complain of mine is to throw back into the face of God the blessings He has bestowed upon me.  I have hundreds of blessings!

I must complete my Cuba blog so as not to forget the details of this experience.  I plan to return to Cuba again,  but the next adventure will be different.  A different outlook, traveling with different people and hopefully seeing different places but it will be different.  One can never replicate a past experience,  so one must savor each one.  Ponder what you learn.  Think about who you saw, what you saw and did it shape or change your thinking or your life.

I am a follower of Jesus Christ.  That claim is not one that seems to be popular just now.  Perhaps it has never been.  I claim no religion but a relationship with God the creator.  However, He changed my life, my out look, my desire to serve Him and to love people.  These loving, caring 'things', I cannot do apart from Him helping me. Popular or not, He is not to be avoided or ignored. He makes radical changes in peoples lives, mine.

I share this viewpoint for my Cuba experience is filtered through that lens.  Those traveling on our ship had different excursions to choose from.  We had a few tourist events that were fabulous but the best excursions were to the churches.  Yes, churches.  Church and Communism seem to not go together.   Communism demands that there is no God.  Communism seeks to crush and destroy all evidence that He does not exist.  The irony of this is that no one can remove God.  He is God. I love this fact. 

When Castro came into power he allowed some of the church buildings to remain but punished those who worshiped in them.  Pastors and priests were killed or sent to hard labor camps.  When the USSR and Cuba had a 'friendship' and the church was still trying to exist, they required people to work and go to school 7 days a week, so they could not worship.   That did not work, people just worshiped at night, at great risk and after long hard days of work.  God cannot be squelched.

I could spend hours sharing stories that were recounted to us. These stories have caused me to reflect on my own life and my commitment to my Lord.

The experience I want to focus on in this blog post happened because in a country where people have nothing extra, this venue thrives.  This place was sparse but amazing. Few of us would be grateful for this particular building but it is a treasure and blessing!   This facility was not run by the government but by the church.  It was an assisted living home.  It was simple, it was clean and those who lived there were 'just' old. They needed care.  The care givers gave of their time because of their love for Jesus.  It was that plain and that simple.   When the government can't help or won't,  I loved that church stepped in to do what churches have done for years, care for the needy.  This very sparse, humble, old building was a sanctuary for a class of people that no one could help.   This was luxury and care in the name of Jesus.

I end this blog, humbled once again. 

Sleeping resident

 

Cuban Rehab Center

Common Area

I found my spot

Cuba 6

Havana 2nd day packed with so much emotion!  We went to church(s).  Now for many of you that would seem like the last thing you would do on a vacation.  Church, vacation the two just don't mesh for most folks.  We went to a home for seniors.  Oh my, another place not on your average vacation spot to see, list.  Can I tell you right now, these visits were the highlight of my trip!

A block or two off the main Old Havana, show place, by the port, by the beautiful old cars, by the stately square and the fort lies the heart of the city.  We come upon once beautiful old buildings that are now slums.  Clothes and bedding hang from balcony's after they have been hand washed. They are rags for the most part by our standards.   People standing around with nothing to do but watch the world go by.  There appears to be no purpose other than to get through another day.

So why come into this part of town?

Why church?  We could have taken different tours to see what cultural things are still available to the Cuban people, if you can afford to pay for them.   I could have repeated the previous day and peaked into alleys and doorways and slowly savored a little better quality of life.   So again, why church?  

 "Cuban's won't really worship that imaginary God rather, than the real god of Govt. ....". Castro   

For 50+ years he has stood by this mantra.  He has and does marginalize religion.  Persecution is focused on those who want to worship.    The degree of persecution varies but it is an ever present cloud over the people. It remains pervasive.

Guess what?  He was wrong.  Wrong in a big way!  The real God, the creator of life, our Savior Jesus Christ, is so alive among the Cuban's it is forceful and compelling. 

The church was hated and a threat, as it is in all Communist governments.  Persecution was horrible for those who defied the government.  However, he allowed the buildings to remain.   Within those buildings an incredible movement has taken over Cuba.  Not a religion but a true relationship with God through Jesus Christ.   No shame, no fear just a grateful awe in whom the only hope of man kind is to be found.   Church. Most are small house churches (next blog story) where, space is tight, no frills abound but where they long to be.    Church going has its price but it is not a deterrent, it a driving force for these people. 

We experienced church too.  I have never come to a worship time so quickly as I did here.  Immediately, I knew that God was here among us.  We came as guests and left as friends.  We sang together, prayed together and felt what the true family of Christ followers was going to be like in heaven.