Son-shine on Your Shoulders

Good Son-Day Dead Eye Calamity Jo It's the Holy-Day Season For some of us, several events have started, passed, or are upcoming as we approach Easter.  As a reminder, here are a few of those events: Ash Wednesday 2/14.  It marks the start of the Lent season.  The ashes are symbolic of our mortality and the for repentance-----you know from "ashes to ashes and dust to dust" Lent (a 40-day season, 2/14 through 3/28, of renewing your commitment to God through various means including abstaining, fasting, praying, and praising) , theme - "Through the desert, God leads to freedom". Holy Week Palm Sunday - palm leaves were used to pave the way for Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.  Palm leaves signify goodness and triumph Holy Monday -  Jesus curses a fig tree, turns over tables in the Temple, and heals the blind and the lame.  Holy Tuesday -  the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other religious leaders attempt to entrap Jesus by challenging his beliefs while he teaches at th

Good Son-Day!!! Monsters Amongst us Choosy Bonds Part II: What you get from the Table and What You Bring I knew a person whose focus on friendship was an orbit.  Everyone on this planet was subject to her force and their rotation in life circled to her gravitational pull as she was the sun.  All about her.  There had to be something she gained from the relationship, some notorierity or acknowledgement from others that built her esteem.  If you did not do this continually, you were treated like a tax transaction, a write off. In contrast, I have seen an acquaintance, who was selfless, continually giving to people in circle, but often the brunt of being cruelly and selfishly used. Regarding friendship, Dad often told me, "Either they are going to impact you or you are going to impact them, choose wisely".  To add this, I would say,  "Find friends where you are equally beneficial to each other". Good friends will make you a better person. You will want to reciprocate. 

Good Son-Day!!!  Flow With Jo Choosy Bonds Part 1 I am about to navigate you through the adventure of choosing your friends using biblical passages as a guide.  The starting point will be with how Christ chose people to walk with Him on a daily basis.  Needless to say He chose an eclectic, motley crew, which included a hated tax collector, several poor stinky fishermen, a man who saw Christ perform multiple miracles (including raising people from the dead---but doubted Christ's resurrection, a loud boisterous man in need of anger management treatment, a hardline right wing zealous jew, a few family members, and a man He knew who would betray Him. We are all thinking; so, I will say it.  Do you really want to start with Christ?  How about starting with the feel good best friends examples like Joshua and Caleb, David and Nathan, Naomi and Ruth, or Paul and Mark?  Those are perfect examples.  Friendships are not perfect and can be wonky, just like relationships in families can be wonk

Good Son-Day!!! Tales of Jo, The Wonder Wife Episode 1: Big Joe Foiled Again! Beginning Bonds Last week, I attended our city’s volunteer appreciation function. I sat next to a guy, who volunteered to lead the soccer program only to get a credit as a community leader to use for his run for a state senate seat.  He is not well-liked.  His term as the soccer director was unsuccessful because he could not bring people together.  He was mean, selfish, condesendiing, adversarial, and controlling.  This behavior did not go unnoticed. News  spread that he was a jerk.  Voters gave him little love on election day.   This same guy has run for a school board and municipal positions as well with the same results.  Our soccer program has 900 kids.  Many of them also played in our football program.  Some of the parents reached out to me to work with this person to make the program successful.  I did and he declined my offers.  His refusal to work with anyone led to a community coup that removed him a