How to make your life less complicated

For 56 years I lived my life in a fog. The fog of indecision. The fog of doubts. The fog of insecurity.Life was a blur, as I tried to maneuver my way through the many obstacles of survival in this complicated world that we live in. Although I had become a Christian I was still struggling to trust in God. I still didn't see the big picture. I still thought that I could manage my life, and worship the Lord at the same time.Hah! What a laugh. I was no better off than I was before. I was still thinking that I had all the answers. But luckily, I was going to a bible study and I found out about using the gifts that the Lord wants us to have. And the biggest gift of all is giving your heart and soul to Him and letting Him guide you. I'll grant you, it's the hardest thing to do, but wow, do you reap the benefits. When you give it up to the Lord, and you pray to Him to give you answers to your problems, He answers them. Every time. You just have to listen, and watch. Some times it may not be the answer that you want, But He will give you an answer every time. And what a relief it is. Having God in charge of all your decisions. Think that He would lead you astray? So do yourself a favor and give God a chance to make your life as easy as mine is!

God rules

it's been months since i have had time to ruminate. lately i have been looking back over my life and i realized that all the years that i attributed good luck or good fortune for the things i have accomplished, i was dead wrong.was it luck that landed me on an admirals' staff for my tour in the far east during the war? was it luck that landed me in key west for the remainder of my navy duty? i don't think so. was it luck that gave me the strength to overcome the horrible hangover i had when i took the firefighters exam? was it good fortune that i worked 31 years in the most dangerous profession and at almost 58 years old i can still function pretty darn good? i don't think so. it was all God. He has had His hand on me my entire life. and i can never thank Him enough. i can only hope that to be the best cheerleader for Him that i can. everything that i have, every day that i see my children and their successes, it is a tribute to Him. thank you God

I hate to say it but:

5 and a half yrs. ago i was faced with a decision. stay in the neighborhood i had lived in for 28 yrs. or move because the crime and drugs had gotten so bad. i chose to move because i was going to hurt someone and go to jail, or someone was going to hurt me. either way i was a loser. so i moved. i really hated moving as i had completely remodeled my home, the right way. my son insisted that we sell him the house, what person wouldn't want to move into their childhood home,especially when it didn't need a thing,so against our better wishes we sold it to him. now here it is 5 and a half years later and he just told me he is putting the house up for sale. what a shame! the house will be in someone else's possession for the first time since 1973.i just want to thank the drug dealers and the thugs and the hookers for uprooting all of us after close to 35 years

Maybe I'm crazy, but doesn't it seem kind of weird when the police think parking problems are more important than the drugs and the murders that are killing our great city? I read an editorial in the paper this morning about a policeman tagging about 15 cars for illegal parking on a street in Beechview the other day. When asked why this was a priority the police bureau said they were just answering a citizen complaint.The drug lords own the streets to the extent that it is unsafe to walk them and there is some numbskull so worried about parking that he felt justified taking the police from their jobs to write tickets! I'll bet this same person worries about global warming and trees and fur. Lord help us!!!!!! My mom used to say, too soon old, too late smart.

How did we get to this point?

We all read the newspapers and watch the news on tv, so we're all aware of the sad state of our country. Young men killing each other in horrifying numbers, more and more young folks are experimenting with deadly and highly addictive drugs, and sadly changing the course of their lives, forever. Entering into a life that is totally consumed with feeding their ever growing need for drugs, they will turn to absolutely anything to procure them. A good friend lost his daughter last year to drug addiction, while another friend battles to keep his daughter on methadone and out of the drug underworld. This is a huge problem, people. The neighborhood that I lived in for 28 years is unrecognizable 5 years after I moved. It has been completely taken over by the drug users and their suppliers. At any time of the day or night you can walk the main avenue and be accosted by dozens of prostitutes and drug dealers. It's like walking onto a hollywood movie studio. I can't believe how bad it is. There is no police presence visible, and very little pedestrian traffic. It's like the entire neighborhood is in it's death throes. And the city has to bear most of the blame for it. And the state the rest of it. And I guess the blame shouldn't stop there. Isn't it the federal governments' job to protect us? Why won't our politicians take guns off the street? Why don't they make owning a handgun illegal? It works in England. Even the police do not carry guns. But then again drug abuse is government sanctioned. Which when you think about it, kinda makes sense. If you can get your daily fix for free,there isn't any need for drug dealers , or drug turf wars, or guns and violence, or prostitution,or robbery. In this country the laws favor the criminals because they don't have rules they have to follow as to whom they can shoot.If they are in a situation where using a gun is necessary they are already doing something illegal, so what does it matter if they add a gun charge to their crime? But good Joe Citizen has a whole set of rules that he must follow if he is placed in a situation where deadly force is called for. If you are home and someone enters your home without your permission, even if he is armed and robbing you, you must warn him that you have a gun and tell him to leave and wait until your life is lethally threatened before you can use your weapon to defend your life and your belongings. Because if you don't ,you become the criminal. And heaven forbid, you shoot him outside of the rules that you must abide by,you will go to jail, and the criminal will own your home after he sues you in civil court. How about this one; you are walking down the street and you are accosted by a gang of thugs that are armed with knives that are intent on robbing you.You are carrying a gun and you have a permit to do so. You can pull out your gun and shoot them, right? Wrong! First, you must try and flee. Only when you are absolutely sure that your life is on the line, can you use your handgun. And this action is open to interpretation by the police and the district attorney. And if their opinion differs from yours, bingo, you are now a criminal. Sweet,huh? I could go on with scenerios all day. But the point that I am trying to make still remains; if no one has a gun all of this is moot. But our politicos aren't about to buck the powerful gun lobbyists in Washington. It would be political suicide. So the slaughter continues.Young men will continue to murder each other over drugs and drug turf. Young men that aren't old enough to know how precious life is. And young women will continue to become drug addicts, and turn to prostitution to support their addiction. And they too are too young to realize that they have changed their lives forever. God help us.....

More grumbles............

Friday was a sad day in my house. My Mr. Coffee maker died after 16 years of service. It was kinda like losing a good friend or a treasured pet. I'm sure that if there's an appliance heaven, it went straight there. Goodbye, old friend! Read in the paper the other day that "W" is going to try and tax the health benefits of those lucky folks that are fortunate enough to have good policies. Unfortunately I fall under this category. When I retired my health care was guaranteed until I turned 65, when medicare kicked in. Now "W" wants to tax anything over $12000 per year that your employer pays for your coverage. What I get out of this is that the poor with coverage will pay for the poor without coverage. Is it just me, or does it seem that the only ones losing are the poor? I went to work for the city, despite the poor pay, because of the benefits, and now it seems that I will be penalized once again. Thank God that the wealthy are still under "W's" protection and keep getting their tax breaks so they can keep creating minimum wage jobs to take the place of the decent manufacturing jobs that have been outsourced to some third world country. But I digress... it's not like this trend started 6 months ago. In the last 27 years we have had 8 years of a democratic president that didn't sell his soul to big money. The other 19 years of GOP presidents have set the labor movement back 40 years. Sad, sad, sad.

comments on our country

hello to anyone that reads this,if anyone ever does.i am retired, have , obviously too much free time on my hands, and i am also a total computer idiot with no typing skills whatsoever. but i am trying to learn. every time i turn the computer on it is an adventure on top of a comedy of errors. my grandchildren are more comfortable at this than i probably ever will be. its kinda like trying to program my dvd player. I never did program the vcr, and i probably will never figure out the dvd. at least i can play videos and cds , thank God for kids. I decided to create this blog to fill in the void of willing listeners when i retired from the fire dept. my wife and kids have no interest in my rantings as they live in the real world, with jobs and responsibilities. I hope that there are other people that share my sense of outrage and fear of the changes our nation and the world as a whole are going through. i was in the navy from 1968 thru 1972, and the pa. air national guard from 1981 thru 1985. I was a pittsburgh firefighter from 1974 thru 2005. i am married for 36 yrs to the most patient and loving woman a man could hope to find, and i have a daughter and 3 sons. i have 2 grandsons and 1 granddaughter that i am in charge of teaching all the annoying things that parents hope their kids never learn. where my domain once was burning buildings, i am now a domestic god.