An interesting point of view

[MikeKle]

I was out today and ran into a fellow lawn care company owner who Ive not seen in awhile, I asked him how things were going, this year is his first in snow removal, he took out a loan to buy snow removal equipment for his truck and lined up quite a few customers and said he was excited to finally have a source of income in the winter, but we have only had 1" of snow so far! and it is almost the middle of January!!!now he is late on his monthly payment already, he said, My god I figured we would have had some snow by now!? and he brought up the point of back in august and Sept when it started to dry up, him and his wife got into it over money, he told her :Watch it is dry now but warm, but as soon as it gets cold and the grass stops growing we will get tons of rain, and he was right, that is exactly what happened!! he has been faithfully going to church for years, but now he said he stopped going, saying what should I go to church for and pray to a God who is basically screwing me with weather in his area of the country, but the people in the warmer areas of the US (Florida,california,georgia,etc.)consistently get perfect weather all year long? supposedly this all started when his wife asked him to stop complaining to her about the lack of rain and told him there is only one person who controls the weather...GOD, since then he has started to look into weather patterns in the area and come up with his current beliefs that this is all done on purpose! I was very suprised to hear all this from him but some of what he said made sense?! He and his wife have had it hard the past couple years, house foreclosed, repo'ed one of his trucks,marital issues,etc. I dont really agree with most of what he said but I did start to think about the different areas of the country, and it does seem that some areas are "treated" pretty good while some areas have it rough most of the time when it comes to the weather???all and all it was an interesting chat to say the least, I told him not to worry it will be spring before you know it! I dont think it helped him though!

[CrystalCreek]

This was an intresting reading. Much better than which mower should I buy.

I though about it. I too have felt like God has turned his back on me from time to time. It usually happens when things are not going well. I have used his name in vain when I hurt myself usually doing something stupid. I feel like all I do is give, give, give, and never get any return. But then I step back.
I have everything I NEED. I have a family that loves me. I am able to walk around and breath the free air. I dont have any reason to complain. I know that God has NEVER turned his back on me and I know he NEVER will. This does not mean that life will always be easy. This does not mean there wont be trials and hardships. God does everything for a reason.
I feel sorry for the owner you were talking too. It is hard to understand why these things happen. My pastor has said that when people turn their backs on God, he will break down their world until they turn and face him. Some people go through their entire lifes without God. I dont know how they do it. I wish there was an answer for his situation. Hopefully things will turn.
The more I find myself helping people and putting other first, the more my life seems rewarding. I will say a pray tonight for him and you. Dont turn on God. I have rambled enough here. Most of it was just unorganized thoughts, but there here now. God Bless and have a good night.

[HOOLIE]

I would blame geography. You know, the fact that he lives in Kentucky rather than, say, Vermont...North Dakota...Minnesota. That might have something to do with it!

[LawnTamer]

I would blame location more than God. Living in Kentucky and complaining to God about drought, heat, and not enough snow, is kinda like living in Green Bay and complaining to God about the cold. You are right, some areas of the country are more temperate than others. That is just how it is.

[Roger]

... he has been faithfully going to church for years, but now he said he stopped going, saying what should I go to church for and pray to a God who is basically screwing me with weather in his area of the country, but the people in the warmer areas of the US (Florida,california,georgia,etc.)consistently get perfect weather all year long? ...

One goes to church to give worship to God, not to get. Nobody with a right attitude goes to church, expecting a quid pro quo arrangement. Worship is all about giving, not about getting.

[hackitdown]

When a person starts blaming God for their failures at business, it says to me that they need to find a new way to earn a living. Considering that his house and truck were reposessed, I'd say that there is a bit more to the story than bad weather. Maybe a bad decision or two by this guy led to his long list of problems. For example, he had to borrow money to buy a plow (bad decison), and can't make the payment (bad planning, no savings).

Did God cause all his competitors to get repo'ed and have marital problems? I doubt it very much.

[KGR landscapeing]

Is first one was getting married ooo what a mistake:hammerhead: second was believeing in god. i am probably stirring the pot The whole belief system is a joke. Fact and details our where ur hope and dreams need to come from. U wont wake up feeling all warm and cozy in the morning but at least u wont be a fool. *trucewhiteflag*

[DoetschOutdoor]

Kentucky and snow....didnt know it snowed there and what he do, go out and buy fancy new equipment? I see used plows all the time for a few grand, some even less if you have the time to do a little work to them (which he probably had the time if he was soo slow). But hey, everyone has got to blame someone right? Its not his fault he got in over his head. Oh wait, yess the hell it is his fault!

[CrystalCreek]

One goes to church to give worship to God, not to get. Nobody with a right attitude goes to church, expecting a quid pro quo arrangement. Worship is all about giving, not about getting.

That is exactly right. It is better to give than to receive. Even though this is hard to do. It is human nature to want to receive.

Is first one was getting married ooo what a mistake:hammerhead: second was believeing in god. i am probably stirring the pot The whole belief system is a joke. Fact and details our where ur hope and dreams need to come from. U wont wake up feeling all warm and cozy in the morning but at least u wont be a fool. *trucewhiteflag*

Someone one told me I was a fool for believing in God, which he had his right to his opinion. He than started the whole evolution thing about how science has proven Darwin's theories. Too which I politely said, If we evolved from apes and monkeys, than how come their still around?:laugh::laugh: I am not trying to start a war. You have every right to believe or not believe what you want. That is what make America great.

Just to stir the pot a little also, what goes through your mind when you witness a sunrise over a mountain. It is so amazing and I feel that it is the hands of God that made it.

One last thought. I was talking to a doctor that was checking my ear for a possible infection. We somehow ended up talking about religion, think it was very close to Easter. He said that he was very active in his church. I jokingly said, I'm surprised a man with your education believes in God. He paused for a moment, than ask If I knew how many muscles were in the human ear. I said no. He responded with 106 (I think that is what he said). He looked at me and said there is no way evolution could be responsible for such craftsmanship. There must have been a higher power involved. Really makes you think.

Atheism is a non profit organization. :laugh:

[White Gardens]

I would blame geography. You know, the fact that he lives in Kentucky rather than, say, Vermont...North Dakota...Minnesota. That might have something to do with it!

I have to agree. Even up here in Central IL, we potentially can have winters with lots of snow, or none at all.

When I lived in Southern Il for 5 years, I only remembered one snow fall, and nobody had any plows around town. All the other times it was just Ice storms.

Even I know better with snow, unless you live in an area with Lake-effect snow, where you are almost guaranteed multiple snow falls, then I wouldn't take out large loans for equipment.

The guy should of did his homework, IE.. Business Plan.

[jaybow]

I was out today and ran into a fellow lawn care company owner who Ive not seen in awhile, I asked him how things were going, this year is his first in snow removal, he took out a loan to buy snow removal equipment for his truck and lined up quite a few customers and said he was excited to finally have a source of income in the winter, but we have only had 1" of snow so far! and it is almost the middle of January!!!now he is late on his monthly payment already, he said, My god I figured we would have had some snow by now!? and he brought up the point of back in august and Sept when it started to dry up, him and his wife got into it over money, he told her :Watch it is dry now but warm, but as soon as it gets cold and the grass stops growing we will get tons of rain, and he was right, that is exactly what happened!! he has been faithfully going to church for years, but now he said he stopped going, saying what should I go to church for and pray to a God who is basically screwing me with weather in his area of the country, but the people in the warmer areas of the US (Florida,california,georgia,etc.)consistently get perfect weather all year long? supposedly this all started when his wife asked him to stop complaining to her about the lack of rain and told him there is only one person who controls the weather...GOD, since then he has started to look into weather patterns in the area and come up with his current beliefs that this is all done on purpose! I was very suprised to hear all this from him but some of what he said made sense?! He and his wife have had it hard the past couple years, house foreclosed, repo'ed one of his trucks,marital issues,etc. I dont really agree with most of what he said but I did start to think about the different areas of the country, and it does seem that some areas are "treated" pretty good while some areas have it rough most of the time when it comes to the weather???all and all it was an interesting chat to say the least, I told him not to worry it will be spring before you know it! I dont think it helped him though!

One of the problems with people is they think they are doing something for God by going to church. Church is a place to worship and be spiritually fed. Jesus and all of the great men in the bible went through hardships. Being a christian doesn't mean your life will be a cake walk.This life and this world is not the place to store up treasure.If a person could actually see what things in their life they have done for God it wouldn't be much.I wonder how faithful this man is in giving back to God.But this situation is different because usually men turn to God in hard times and ignore him in good times. I don't want to be far from God during times like this. For anyone who doesn't know Jesus as their savior confess you are a sinner and ask him to forgive you and come into your heart and you will be saved. Know the truth (Jesus) and the truth will make you free. He whom the son sets free is free indeed!:):)

[jaybow]

Is first one was getting married ooo what a mistake:hammerhead: second was believeing in god. i am probably stirring the pot The whole belief system is a joke. Fact and details our where ur hope and dreams need to come from. U wont wake up feeling all warm and cozy in the morning but at least u wont be a fool. *trucewhiteflag*

The Bible says the fool has said in his heart there is no God.:waving:

[DuallyVette]

It's better to remain silent, and be thought a fool,
then to speak, and remove all doubt. :)


I think "worship" is a dirty word.
A fool and his money are soon parted.




jus ramblin

[Roger]

...

I think "worship" is a dirty word.


...

What is the object(s) of your worship? Everybody has one, or more. Nobody is exempt.

jaybow has it right, reread his post (#11).

[hseeder]

Wow this is amazing. It is odd how when things don;t seem to work as we think they should osme feel that God is to blame, I wonder how they feel when things are really going well and all fall right into place, like when your firend first started out, and he was able to buy his home, and his equipment and obtain customers and make a living that apparently showed a fair if not good profit magin so he could obtain all the luxuries he has had.

I will give you an example. I have been a paramedic for many years. I lost one of my sons when he was 3 months 16 days, and I was the first one to work on him. I went through an unbelievable amount of anger and hate, more than anyone could imagine. Chris had truly gone through hell, had surgery twice before he was born and then immediately within minutes of being born.

All the way though the troubles prior to his birth I kept praying and praying that he would be ok, and be able to live a normal life, that prayer was answered and granted. I never specified how long he would be able to live, just aht he would be able to live. All the specialist we dealt with had given him a 65% mortality rate prior to being born, let alone surviving birth itself.

NOw when he did die, I can;t begin to describe how I hurt, and still do today, but here is my point. I never asked God to let Chris grow old, I never put a time frame in my prayers, and I was granted that prayer. That little boyt taught me more lessons in his time here than I have learned in the remainder of my almost 37 years. We all have a purpose here, and when we achieve hose we move onto the next level. Chris' was to teach me to slow down, to show me what life really is. I used to work constantly never made the events with the kids, I felt there would always be more. Well long and short of it, I still work as much as possible, but I don;t care what it is, I am there now, from the soccer games to the big school events. God never turned his back on me, it was when things went to hell that He was there, it was especially then that He never turned His back on me, rather supported me and carried me through it, there is no other explanation. Possibly something your friend needs to read is the poem footprints, it sums it all up if you have an open mind.

Encourage your friend to look to God for help, to ask for His help, but when he does receive it and he will, Constantly remind him to be thankful, and just say thank you, that is all it takes, a whole 5 seconds out of your day to just say thank you, for all the miraculous things you receive, from the sun coming up in the morning to success on any level.

Now I am not a church going man, as we all have money problems and the Catholic Church up here seems just interested in obtaining more of the money that none of us have. You don;t have to go to Church to believe in God, nor do you have to go to Church to love Him either. I have seen more than my share of horrific events in my career, and as you have read above, dealt with some of my own. I don't blame God for the hard times, I thank Him for the support and success of getting through it, and for the lessons learned.

[Marcos]

I was out today and ran into a fellow lawn care company owner who Ive not seen in awhile, I asked him how things were going, this year is his first in snow removal, he took out a loan to buy snow removal equipment for his truck and lined up quite a few customers and said he was excited to finally have a source of income in the winter, but we have only had 1" of snow so far! and it is almost the middle of January!!!now he is late on his monthly payment already!

From my experience in working with recovering AA folks, etc...this guy sounds like a poster child for a person who's currently on the wrong cocktail of anti-depressants and/or mood stabilizers.

[uniquechev]

Yaa i agree ... Getting married , stupid thing to do in the first place ! My gf wants me to marry her and i said hells no. I'm married to my company and thats how its going to sstay so if she dont like it theres the door . PEACE OUT ! and the fact that the guy was complaining about god not giving him a good hand in weather where he lives ... pack your S$%t and move to somewhere that he thinks is a better place to run a business. We all have hard times ! get over it and have a drink or two and go to bed and wake up to give the hand that was givin to you the best you can and move on.