10 JULY 2015 :: GOD's definition of success

I have been considering the Will of GOD in our lives and how it affects us, others, and the future of the world.  I guess my personal focus is Working Together, but the principles of GOD are the same for every person and every generation. 

I told someone today that

Working Together should have been a billion-dollar business

and helping lots of people all over the world by now. 

If I had just been able to secure start-up funding, or created enough sales to substitute for the lack of start-up funding, it would have been a different story.  When I first conceived Working Together, I knew Christians had to join together into ONE group, so I made it a global membership business.  In creating the foundations for Working Together, I had to pray for many years about how to structure the company to protect it for the future...about employees and wages and benefits...about how to care for those in the Body of Christ and those outside of it...and what kinds of things might be needed by Christians in the times leading up to the Antichrist.

I expected GOD to provide for its financial needs because my experiences had been in poverty, I wouldn't be able to raise start-up funds in a traditional way.  When grants didn't work out, I thought sales might be GOD's path to funding.  It has been 28 years since I sat down for six months and put my ideas on paper and incorporated Working Together in Oregon (USA).  GOD still hasn't provided the funds I need, and I'm not sure why.  I am way too old to do all the work necessary to start a business now, but even that can be overcome by hiring people to help. 

So much has happened in those 28 years, and the 12 before it -- when I was discovering the impacts of poverty on lives and was studying the Bible to find answers for myself and realized the people of GOD would be in really big trouble.



Right after I started writing this post, I decided to check my emails for a response from someone.  When I was done with that, I found a story about a huge and expensive property going up for sale.  It turned out to be a 20 acre property in the high-end area by Santa Barbara CA,  and was being listed for about 30 million dollars.  I took a break and went to see the photos.  :-)  While looking at these photos, I wondered if I would have chosen that direction if GOD had provided enough money to do so. 

When I created Working Together I made it a privately-owned corporation and issued the stock to myself as payment for all the years I had put into its creation, but the real reason I chose that format was to keep future people who might hate GOD and want to destroy what it was trying to do from taking over the company.  I had lived through Steve Jobs loss of Apple because of its investors and Board of Directors.  The End Times will be much worse.

As the only shareholder, I could have become very rich.  I had actually already thought through this issue.  I was putting my income level in GOD's Hands and going to be able to achieve another goal in the process.  The SEC, I had read, requires corporations that are profitable to distribute a minimum of 10% to shareholders.  My goal in life was to reach a point where I lived on the 10% tithe and gave the 90% to GOD's work. If it was a large amount, I could use the bulk of it for projects that would not fit into Working Together's formats.

All of this is leading up to the question ::   Would I be the same person today, have the same goals I have now, if I had found the start-up funding I was looking for, or won a big lottery prize, and started Working Together like a regular business -- or would I have been tempted to live big and then lost sight of the purpose of Working Together?  I like to imagine I would have done what I planned to do, but we don't really know until we actually face a situation.

I guess what I am leading up to is the reality that everything that happens in our lives has a purpose of some kind, we just don't always see it.  I look at real estate listings all the time.  Large pieces of land are mandatory to accomplish the goals of Working Together, but I don't need a big house just for myself.  When I see houses and land like the property I looked at, I wonder how they could be modified to meet the needs of a large group of people. 

We go though life and find our directions

in the events we encounter.

For a long time I have disagreed with the way the Bible story about the rich man has been preached.  The Bible doesn't tell us that he never did what Jesus told him to do, it just tells us that he went away in sorrow.  If someone told you to sell all that you own and give it to the poor, it might take you a little bit of time to work that out in your head and heart and life.  We have been taught that the rich young ruler is an example of putting money before GOD, but we don't really know what he did.

This is why it is important to study the Bible for yourself...you might see a different interpretation than what has been accepted in the past, and is taught as though GOD said it directly today.

The popular views of the End Times are hard to fight.  They are one reason, I think, that my efforts have been so thwarted, and Working Together is still waiting to be born.  Pray that GOD will release Working Together so I can see it begin to help many people, especially Christians.

9 JULY 2015 :: resting to recover

Been in bed most of the day, then I got up to do some deskwork.  Revised my budget form, created a new one, and am ready to go back to bed... still not feeling well.

I did make my Thankful post after checking on Facebook.

The rest will have to wait until tomorrow.
Pray for me.   Thanks.

8 JULY 2015 :: busy day...

I am so tired I can hardly stay up to write this...

I went to my favorite place today, twice!   I didn't mean to go to two Salvation Army Thrift Stores, but that is what happened... I think I ruined my budget again.  I need to figure this out, find a solution, get more income so I don't feel bad about spending small amounts of money for things I can use, and often need.

The heat was unbearable... I thought it was going to kill my poor little body, old body.  Somehow I made it home, took a shower immediately, and then rested.  I remember living in places of high humidity in the summer heat... that is really the definition of unbearable... I will say that I am exaggerating when compared to those places.

I have been writing about all this on Facebook, a few places there... but I do want to share that I found some wonderful things again.  I could have bought more if I had the energy...and money... and these are used items.  I love the search, and I love to find things that matter to me...things that are a treasure to me, I guess I should say.

There is now a stack of picture frames to fix up and fill with my artworks.  I hope to start posting them for sale by next week.  http://work2gather.etsy.com  Make sure you keep checking in.

Well... I need to go for the day.  I haven't seen the news, so I hope the world is still surviving.  I will be in better shape tomorrow...I hope to catch up with several of my blog efforts.  I will let you know what happens.

7 JULY 2015 :: Catching up with the news

Finding time to read is a big deal... there's so much of it to do...

• emails
• blogs
• letters
• newspapers
• magazines
• webpages
• Facebook
• Twitter
• books

I suppose the list could go on... work reading, fun reading, etc.  And then there's the news on TV, and listening to the radio.  It has always been a challenge for me to find the best way to keep track of what is going on in the world.  I don't know how other people do it, but I am way behind on my reading.  :-)

This morning I started going through some of the back newspapers I have collected to see what I missed.  Local news is probably as important as national and international news, but it has a different effect.  I want to know what kind of projects and activities are happening in the topics I like...and I also like to use the new items for research about costs for my future goals... building and land and labor expenses, I mean.  I see what the City thinks is important, and how different groups are trying to make the world do what they want.  I am always looking for items on homelessness, poverty, and food issues...and now I like to collect the items on crowdfunding.

Today I found articles on recapturing a part of the town that has been lost because of the natural process of city growth and poverty.  I am glad the group is focusing on home ownership over renting, but that isn't a guarantee the city won't want their land in the future.  I was thinking when I read the article that the theme of oppression might have some merit, but the fact of growth is that when a school or hospital needs to grow, it doesn't matter who is living around it, the land has to be acquired.

I think that is a reality of growth, but I also think that we can help each other through the process.  A long time back I was thinking about the need for a piece of land and how to solve the problem of buying it when someone else has been there a long time.  My view is that you help them get a better location and facilities, make it a benefit to move.  Changing locations for a business can destroy them if they don't have the community following to travel with them.  It is a very serious issue.  But cities change, the people change, the roads change, and sometimes you can't avoid it.

The goal of the organization I read about is to try to recapture the historical spaces they once owned and live in these spaces, as a people, again.  I think that is a great idea.  If they can keep the loans for the process of buying, and make sure the area is rebuilt as time goes along, it won't become a distressed poverty pocket that requires a lot of tax dollars to maintain.

I read a long, long time ago that redevelopment travels with the age of the buildings that already exist.  So what is often called gentrification is really a redevelopment and renewal issue.  The problem here is that the owners need to be able to keep their properties up to code, rebuilt by them, and whatever else is needed to keep from becoming dilapidated, which is often where the poor have to live.  It seems a lot of the issues that are present in this group's focus, in the history of the town, is that the poor are often renters and get displaced by the renewal process.

New building[s] cost more, so the loan payment rise[s], and old rents can't pay new loan payments.  I think the only way to deal with this is to own the land, carry the loan, and keep connected to the people who live there and are trying to make a better life.  I haven't found out if banks can flex like that -- they are very regulated for many reasons, but I think an organization could do that, and keep growing as the years go by.

This group, and Habitat for Humanity, don't seem to charge interest.  I know there must be a reason, and I bet it involves the government and regulations, but they can't grow their funds without increasing what they have...and I think it is right to have the recipients pay something for the help they are getting.  Since I found the verse in the Bible that says GOD charges 20% (flat fee, I think) when people borrow back their tithes, I have decided that a 20% loan fee would be fair.  I don't know if that is legal yet, but I'm working on that goal.

If you want to check on the group I have been talking about, they have a website.  I haven't checked it out yet, but you can do that for yourself.  I hope to contact them with my own ideas about poverty housing options and home ownership in the near future.  Building/creating 100 new homes for their people each year for the next ten years is a BIG goal... I hope they can do even more.

http://pcrihome.org
Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives
"Pathway 1000" is the project

This is in OREGON  (USA)

6 JULY 2015 :: Getting healthy

I was just at my Facebook page doing my "Thankful" post for today and I was (indirectly) sharing my focus on getting back to a better weight and learning more about being healthy.  I decided to record my weight every day and see if it helps my motivation to lose weight and eat less.  I know the heat has helped me to drink more water.

This weekend I spent a lot of time at some new websites I discovered (and now get email newsletters from.  :-)   One is heart.org, which is operated by the American Heart Association.  Today I signed up for their free emailed magazine and ordered some printed materials.

I haven't made it to WebMD yet... at least, not for a long search of their resources about my health needs.  I have been to the website via quick links from other places.  I vaguely remember going to check it out many years ago.  Now that I have health issues to research, and medications, I need to get over there.


Weight is a hard issue to deal with.  I have never been this heavy before (until my health issues prevented me from doing my normal activities).  I was almost this heavy once in my life, when I was pregnant with one of my sons.  It is a really difficult thing for me.  I like to be healthy, and active, and busy, and wear smaller clothes...

In my new quest for change, I am trying to find better recipes, better options for exercise, and better ideas about drinking more water. 

I am also thinking about taking my blood pressure myself... somehow.  I was thinking one of the new electronic ways to keep track of your heart rate might be good, too.

Smaller food portions is my main plan... with more fresh fruits and veggies.  My senior status seems to need some veggies to be cooked. And I'm learning ways to serve foods I haven't had before.  I have decided recipes for diabetes and vegans and vegetarians are good ideas.  Making food from scratch is good, too.  It reduces the chemicals and the calories... I think.

I was collecting what I could in my online searches.  Now I have to try out the recipes, read the articles, and see what happens.

I think I will do that tomorrow... I am really tired right now.     See you then.