Boldly Going Forward!

I have come to the point in my life in which I need to reflect on the past but then to move on. I have been many things in my past. I have assisted my Father in his ministry. I have led the congregation and choir in singing. I have been on the radio and television doing voice overs and ministering to help the church. I have worked in many fields such as computer hardware, customer service, airline industry the financial industry but now I am at a point in my life in which I don't have the passion to do that anymore. I tire of the political head games that run amuck in the corporate world.

 I want the freedom to be and do as I see fit. 

Art has given me that freedom!

Now, I paint, I compose, I write, I can create! It's so wonderful to be free and I have my condolences to those that have not experienced this feeling as of yet.  It is so liberating to be able to just be yourself and no one else! 

• Isaiah 61:1 KJV

  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted , to proclaim liberty tothe captives , and the opening of the prison to them that are bound ;
  Read Isaiah 61 | View in parallel | Compare Translations| Interlinear view

• Luke 4:18 KJV

  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to thepoor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted , to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised ,
  Read Luke 4 | View in parallel | Compare Translations| Interlinear view

• 2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV

  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
  
  
  A lot of people don't really understand how liberating it is to help someone else! I guess in a way I'm still preaching good tidings unto people to let you know that there really is a better way to live. No, not the old way of, "I must be poor and lower then a toad to please God." I believe that God truly has our best interest at heart and he only wants the best for us! I have been a Christian since February 8th, 1968 3:45 p.m. and I have seen several things happen in my life. I have learned to wait on the Lord. I have learned that the request for patience truly brings tribulation but with that does come wisdom. Wisdom is simply the use of knowledge. Common sense! You can have all of the knowledge in the world but if you don't know how to use it or when to use it, it's just useless trivia!
  
  
  What is your passion? What have you always wanted to do and be? I remember as a child how that everyone thought that being the President of the United States would be the coolest job ever. 
  Now? Not so much!
  The very first thing that I had to do is to figure out not only who I was but what I liked and didn't like. What was I good at? There is a difference in what I can do and what I LOVE to do!
  So my question to you my friends is simple. What DO you LOVE to DO?
  Let me know when you come to a conclusion.
  
  

The Bridge in Eden Park.

If you are ever in the Cincinnati Area or if you live there I would highly recommend taking the drive up to Eden Park. There is so much to do there such as the Art Museum and Playhouse in the Park as well as to take of your shoes and drop your toes into the cool waters of Mirror lake. My favorite thing to do is to go a further on up the hill to a little lake that has a bridge so that one could walk around and see the trees, feed the mallards, have a picnic or just to look out across the Ohio river into Northern Kentucky. Such a beautiful site in the Spring.

It's always nice to reflect on ones life and to remember the good times as well as the no so good times. This keeps up balanced. Have you ever heard someone say, "I wish that we would only have sunny days!" Well, you could have those days if you moved to the Sahara Desert. It would be nice maybe for a day or two but pretty soon you would hear someone say, " Man, I wish that it would rain!" I guess that is what so nice about Cincinnati, because if you don't like the weather, stick around it will change shortly!

You have to take the good with the bad. Learn from your mistakes and never do those mistakes again. That is called wisdom. Life doesn't come with a Manual unless you count the Bible.

Of Course a lot of people don't put too much trust in the Bible. They say that it's too hard to understand and that the language is hard to follow.  What I don't understand is that my Grandmother Mary understood it perfectly and she read it every day. She taught a Sunday School class for thirty five years yet never finished fourth grade. I never heard her talk about going to a therapist nor worry about her weight.
She had a husband that was abusive but she never took him to divorce court or had him arrested she just prayed for him. I know that you won't believe this but this same man that use to beat her in his drunken stupor actually changed his ways and started going to Church. The same man who was feared for years in Booneville Kentucky as a moonshiner, bootlegger, gunman changed to become a law abiding citizen, farmer, and deacon in the First Baptist Church in Harrison, Ohio. In fact that same church started in his kitchen while he lived in Sunman, Indiana. When he died he was a pillar of the community and a loving husband and he too had become a student of this old Bible. Some times the old ways still work.

The Forgotten Urban Face

I am mindful of the sorrow and utter dismay of growing older. I think that every one wants to leave a legacy that they have been here on this planet and have done something with their life. For the past few months I have been painting this piece. It has been hard for me. I would paint a while then I would set it to the side. Too be truthful it's not a pretty painting nor is it meant to be. It is emotional at best. Last year I was in Cincinnati and I took a picture of this building. Let me rephrase that. I stood on the top of a parking lot building in downtown Cincinnati and started shooting with my camera as I panned around. I was not really aiming just shooting randomly. I went back to the studio and hooked my camera up to my Mac, (I love my Mac) and uploaded the pics that I had taken. I went thru the pics and deleted the ones that were out of focus or were crap and then I came to this one picture that intrigued me. I cropped it and to my surprise, I found a face! It was a building that was art deco yet when I cropped it there was two eyes where there were circles a nose made from a molding and a mouth where the dental molding was. There was a strand of hair where the downspout was and it seemed sad because where the pigeons had crapped it had run down as if it were weeping.

I'm sure that during it's hay day this building was really something to look at, with it's moldings and dentals. Alas it had been forgotten, abandoned and left to rot. I think, if a building that has had an investment of thousands of dollars has been abandoned what about our own people? 

What is the worth of a soul? Do we only care for people when they can produce or be of value? My mother in law was a beautiful soul. She was from Iceland and was very aristocratic. She knew the worth of a diamond simply by looking at it. Yet, when she was killed in an accident by the actions of a driver that did a U-turn, State Farm said that she wasn't worth as much because of her age. Had she been younger she would have fetched a better price! Seriously? That is how we judge our elderly? 

The knowledge and wisdom that they have to offer are boundless. If you have a Grandfather or a Grandmother or if you know someone that is over the age of fifty take the time to listen to their stories. It might save you some hard ache and you might even get a good laugh. Remember, one day you will be that old man or old woman watching the world get faster and faster.

Mahalo Hawaii

This is my latest painting called the "Tropical Cove". In 2009 I went on a cruise with Norwegian Cruise lines, with my wife, Sonia and my wonderful Mother, Jewel.

Of course this is after the passing of my father and so we took Mom to ease her pain. We went from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City and then to Honolulu by plane.  We then departed the Honolulu Harbor aboard the Pride Of America which is a beautiful ship with Norwegian, and awoke the next morning in Maui. Maui is amazing! The first day there we went on a dangerous excursion on the Road to Hana with our very talkative yet very knowledgeable guide "Surfin Sue." Sue knew everything about the Islands and the best surf places, the best places to picnic, the locals, the history and all about King Kameamea. She was wonderful! I highly recommend using a tour guide for driving this very treacherous stretch of road. 

The next day we stayed on the ship and just relaxed around the pool and enjoyed the rest of our evening by feasting and enjoying the comedy shows. We then allowed the ship to rock us asleep.

Next morning we awoke to the wonderful sight of the big Island at Hilo! Such a wonderful sight to see. In the far off distance I could see a wonderful sight. At first it looked like clouds but the clouds were going up instead off floating off. It was the steam of off the Volcano on the other side of the Island! Wow! That morning we went to a beautiful state park and enjoyed the jungle and beautiful flowers. I have never seen so many types of flora and botanical beauties in my days of living. Then on our way back we found out about HILO HATTIES! Hilo Hatties is a great place to purchase authentic Aloha Shirts and Mu'mus!

 http://www.hilohattie.com/aloha/ 

Yes, they may be a bit more expensive but they are made on the Island by Hawaiians. The Hawaiian people make their living selling these items. Now something to remember is that if you should go to a Luau, it is very important to know what a wonderful, spiritual and happy family event this is.

Luau's are very family oriented and the locals will dress in their own family color. Like my family dressed in Purple. It's like they color code their families which is good because at the Luau that we went to in Nawiliwili they fed over a thousand people. So if you have your family color coded it's easier to find them should your become separated.

By the way always have your camera ready for a shot. You never know when the opportunity will make itself available.

Case in point, I was coming back from breakfast and noticed several people looking and pointing at the water about 100 yards out. I went to the railing and looked. To my surprise, there was a pod of whales playing in the water just off of our starboard side! Now this was a bit odd since normally the whales are there from January thru February and then go to Alaska for cooler waters. This was in June in the heat of the summer but there they were! I took a few picks but nothing special. Just a couple of lumps in the water from my vantage point.

I went back to the cabin and saw this older lady oblivious to what was going on because she was smoking a cigarette and reading a romance novel.

I asked her if she knew about the whales that were playing off the starboard side. Without looking up she mumbled something about whales not being here at this time of the year.

I said, "Ma'am, I'm not from around here and I'm not the brightest person on the boat but what I'm looking at is some very big fish flopping around out there."

She put her book down, frowned at me and looked over her shoulder to get a glimpse of a whales tail flopping in the water. She caught her breath and said, "Christ! There are whales out there!" She then jumped up and beat me to the door of the ship to get her camera.

Then we went to Kona which is on the other side of the Island and normally it is very dry her according to our guide on the bus. It rained almost all day. We saw a little church that tell us John Wayne used in one of his South Pacific Movies. We wound our way thru the hills to see the Coffee Plantation of Kona. What a wonderful place to taste test coffee. It was a two story building in which the restrooms were downstairs in the "basement". Also down there was a man making rum cakes! They were smelling so good. I looked at him thru the screen door and enquired, "What are you making?" He replied, "Rum cakes!" I said, "Really?" He sayed, "Have you ever tasted Rum Cake?" I lied, "No." He game me two small rum cakes. The rum was dripping thru my fingers down to my elbows. I being the fluffy man that I am, took a bite and was transported to Nirvana! I went upstairs and Sonia looked at me and said,"What have you got and where did you get it!" She took a bite and her eyes got big as her desire overtook her will to be polite. I told her that a guy was making them down stairs. I must have said it loud enough because a few minutes later there was a lady hollering over the crowd that there are NO free rum cakes downstairs! Oops!

We then got back on the bus and went to a Refuge in Kona that was mysterious as it were beautiful. There we wondered thru the park taking pictures and seeing people from all of the world. There were people there from Japan, China, Germany, America it was wonderful just to be there enjoying the sites.

We made it back to the ship and pushed off that night. We then came to a place in our journey that was dark and yet thought provoking. It was about nine o'clock that night and the entertainment director invited us to the Port Side of the ship. The passengers lined the railings to get video or to get photo's of the volcano lava falling into the sea at night. You could smell the brimstone it was so hot. We were about  a quarter mile out yet we could see the lava flowing and bubbling. One could almost hear a pin drop because the crowd of people were hushed by the vastness of it all.

After passing that part of the voyage we went about our normal routines of going to the dinner clubs and enjoying dancing and karaoke. 

The next morning we awoke with the crow of a rooster! Yes, we were in Kuwaii.

A few years ago a typhoon blew thru and smashed all of the Chicken coops and the chickens ran wild. Now the are mostly feral chickens that run thru out the Island of Kuwaii. Kuwaii is beautiful with its high cliffs and beautiful coves. Here is where we enjoyed two beautiful days and our Luau. The Luau was such a wonderful experience with plenty of pig, poi, lomi lomi to eat along with the fire dancers and singing. It was a story of their family and how they traveled to Kuaii from Polleneesia because of love. It was a very moving experience. 

We returned to the ship and enjoyed the rest of the evening and awoke back in Honolulu, Oahu to finish the trip. Now for you golfers their is a golf package that is hard to beat so if you want to play some of the most beautiful golf resorts in the world this is the cruise to do it on.

www.ncl.com

Setting in the Sun

I took a photograph of a man setting by himself fishing at the Camp Earnst Lake in Burlington, Kentucky. This was in 2009 which was a tough year for everyone. The recession was at it's climax. My Father, the late Dr. Elmo Peters D.D. had concluded his time on this planet. My two dogs Butterscotch and Oreo had also left he planet to where ever little dogs go.

I loved this picture because of the timing of the setting of the sun and the patience of the old man that was fishing. He had been there several times and he might have had luck or not but he was still waiting for his time.

Isn't that really what we are doing? We are waiting for our time in the sun. Life is sure a mystery. We are born into this life as innocent as snow. We grow, we experience pain and happiness as we journey on this planet. What do we do with all of the knowledge and wisdom that we gain? Do we share it? Do we keep it in our hearts and minds like a vault? 

Hopefully we make an imprint on someone to do better. Hopefully we are like a ripple in a pond and we spread love and joy wherever we may go. I would like to hope that I have inspired someone to reach beyond and achieve their dreams.

Yesterday a man made an offer to purchase this painting of mine. It wasn't for as much as I would have liked to get but it was almost like a gift for he is now setting in the sunset of his life. I hope that he enjoys  the painting for the rest of his days.

Give the World a Smile!

You know, I think that the best thing that God gave us was a smile. There is so much that you can tell about a person who smiles. You can tell if a person is real or fake by their smile. Sometimes that is all a person can give you is their smile. It's hard to argue or debate with a person if they smile. I think that was one of the things that was great about Mohammed Ali was that he would smile at people when they fought him!

Smiling changes things. Did you know that it takes less muscles to smile then to frown? No wonder people come home tired at night! They are frustrated with their job, their family, their life and it shows on their faces! They go home and they can't eat or sleep or maybe they do eat because of their stress and unhappiness. The world is full of people that are so unhappy and they show it on their face. They wear their lives on their face.

There is a song that I use to love to hear. It goes something like, "Take that frown off your face put a smile in it's place. Let your personality unfurl! Loosen up, Start to sing your a child of the KING! Now go out and face the World!

Any time that I go out into the community, I try to put my best foot forward and show people kindness. I'm a real person, giving people my gift which is my smile. I try treating people like I want to be treated.

You don't have to be cheesy. Just be nice. Just be friendly. It will open doors for you in ways that will surprise you.

Winters that come and go.

Well, this winter is my 49th winter that I have seen come and go. So many hate winter but to me it's a part of life. You have to take it as it comes. I have seen good winters and I have seen hard winters. I believe that you have to treat winter like you would life. You must prepare for it. Have you had the antifreeze changed in the car? Have you checked the tires on the car? Did you put your safety and emergency kit in the car? Do you have a blanket? Do you have a tow rope or chain in the trunk? Maybe a shovel to dig out of the snow? Same as with life. Have you kissed your wife today and told her that you love her? (Or your husband) Have you hugged your kids today? Have you patted the dog or kitty on the head or scratched them behind the ears?

I think that sometimes we should take the time to reflect. Are we ready for the next step in our lives? What is our next step? What is our next project? Where is our next trip? Who will we meet today? Who can we influence? How can we make humanity and the world better?
I don't know about you but I tire of the status quo. I want to reach higher! I want to be a better husband! I want to be a better Father! A better man!
When I step into that Winter of Separation I want people to know that I was here and that I was a good man. That I cared. If you think about it that is really what death is. It is a portal that separates us from those that have gone on. I do believe that what we do and the choices that we make determine our destination thru that portal. Some believe that we come back as someone else or as something else. I am not of that thought. I don't believe that I have been any where else then where that I have been. I do believe that where I am going is unfathomable to the human mind. I am very excited and am not afraid of that moment when it comes.

My Father saw it and tried his best to describe it to me but he didn't have the vocabulary to explain it to me. I am reminded of the words, "Eye hath not seen , nor ear heard , neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." 


Yes, I believe in a God. I believe that he has always been. I have felt him in his greatness. Now you may not and that is fine. It is not for me to judge you. He is my creator, God, King and my loyalties are unto him. Now I am not the type of Christian that rails against people. I live my life and hopefully someone can see my little light shine.
Well my friends, I hope that you enjoyed our little walk today thru the winter. If you should ever have a question that maybe I can help with let me know. I'm not a Dear Abby but I will give you a straight answer. Remember if it's a Biblical question, I will give you a Biblical Answer. 
Keep in mind that I'm NOT a religious man but I am spiritual. There is a difference. Even Jesus Christ himself didn't like religion and religion didn't like him either.