Dad, when I meet you in Heaven, you must tell me about it!

Dad, I want to know so bad how you encounter with Jesus was! What did He say to you, how did He receive you, what did He do? Did you recognize Him at first glance, or did you know it was Him because He ran to you, or perhaps you recognized Him because you felt an overwhelming love, the one we told to you so much, and perhaps you thought: "He, for sure, got to be Jesus!" When I meet you in Heaven, you must tell me about it!

I want to know, dad, how Jesus wiped away your tears. Did He do it with His hands, did he have a handkerchief, or maybe He dried them off with His clothes while He hugged you? What were you thinking at that moment? "Oh, I'm getting Jesus' clothes dirty with my tears and mucus. What a shame!" Or perhaps that kind of shame He also took away on the cross! Perhaps there is not even snots in Heaven! Maybe there are snots in Heaven, but Jesus didn't care about it because for Him, even though you were almost 94 years old, you are still His baby! When I meet you in Heaven, you must tell me about it!

I want know why you were crying! I don't ask if you cried or not when you met Jesus because I'm sure of that. Was His overwhelming presence full of love which here on earth makes us cry, and you have felt it there for the first time? Was it because you felt how every drop of condemnation left your being? Maybe you don't know why and you didn't even mind asking because you just wanted to enjoy that moment. I've never seen you cried (my mom has), and much less crying as a child. What a moving scene! Imagining it makes me cry! I hope somebody recorded it! =) When I meet you in Heaven, you must tell me about it!

How does feel to feel NOTHING bad? How does it feel to feel no more condemnation or guilt of any kind? What does it feel like to have no regrets about anything whatsoever? How does it feel to have NO sadness, NO anger, NO anguish, No worry? How does it feel to not have any physical pain at all? What did you feel when all of that left your being? Was it gradual or instantaneous? And, were you being filled at the same time with that fullness of joy that exists in His presence, which here on earth we can enjoy in part, but there in Heaven we can only imagine what it will be like! When I meet you in Heaven, you must tell me about it!

Dad, do you miss? Do you miss me? Do you miss mom, my siblings, friends, loved ones? Do you miss the house? Do you miss work? Do you miss the park? Is there such a feeling over there in Heaven, or even the feeling of missing someone cannot dwell next His presence? When I meet you in Heaven, you must tell me about it!

How does it feel to be reunited with with your loved ones that here on earth you said good bye to? What did you feel when you saw my meemaw Delia, your dad, the uncles, aunts, relatives and friends who got there before you? The Bible says that we'll have new bodies, so I wonder, did you recognize them, did they recognize you, did Jesus help you with that, or were there angels commissioned for that job? When I meet you in Heaven, you must tell me about it!

When I meet you in Heaven, will you recognize me? Will you be waiting for me at the side of Jesus?

I love you dad.

The willpower to decide better

You: what you are today, the way you think, the way you decide, the expectations and dreams you have, the discouragement or courage you feel, how negative or positive you are, etc., it's the result of ALL YOUR DECISIONS you've made in all your life. So, if you don't like what you are, change your decisions.

Do not expect that you're going to be different tomorrow if you keep doing today the same as always. Do not expect that you're going to change a lot tomorrow if you haven't changed much your decisions today. It's nonsense to expect a different tomorrow doing exactly the same today.

Many people complain about their lives. When you talk to them you'll always hear them to cite their list of all the people and situations responsible of why they are how they are. Everybody is responsible: the government, the economy, the family they grew up with, the boss they had, etc. Everybody BUT THEM. They don't realize that they were the ones that allowed to be as they are.

So that, IF YOU WANT TO BE DIFFERENT, START TO DECIDE DIFFERENTLY.

But, that's the problem. That is not that easy.

If you say to the person that want to loose some weight: "The solution is very simple: Just eat healthy," most likely his face will tell you sarcastically: "What's your secret to be that intelligent?" And this is because we normally do know what to do and what not to do, the real problem is that we don't do it because we don't have the willpower to do it.

I'm going to give you a tip which I assure you it'll help you: THE PRINCIPAL REASON FOR WHICH WE MAKE WRONG DECISIONS IS BECAUSE WE FILL OURSELVES WITH BAD THINGS. This is not the only reason, but it's by far the main one.

What you allow to enter in you, it'll come out of you.

If it came out of you, it's because it was in you.

Randomly pick a month of your life, examine it and realize how much time you spent with friends that are not good influence, how much time you watched TV, listened to radio or were on internet, filling yourself whether with bad things or with things that just not to help you to get to your goal. What do you do in your free time? What do you think when you are alone? All of this is of what you're actually filling yourself. This is your true influence.

"¡But this friend or this TV program is not bad at all!" Maybe that's right, but many times it's not about the bad thing we do, but the good thing we don't do. Ask yourself: Does this friend or this TV program (or whatever) help me to go to where I want? If the answer is NO, then the only thing it does is wasting your time. You are filling yourself with leisure.

So then, this is the tip: Don't worry so much for deciding differently, but for changing your influences, because when you change what influences you, then you'll eventually be changing the bad decisions you make.

Change your friendships, quit going to that place, stop watching that TV, radio or internet show, spend less time doing that that you know doesn't contribute to reach your dreams, read more books, go to seminars, take classes. This is starting to decide differently. This is filling yourself with good stuff which will give the willpower to decide correctly.

Assisting to a church and be part of it, maybe is the best decision you can make in this regard. You won't find people that love God, that encourage you to be better, that teach you the Word of God, that lift you up when you need it, etc., as much as in church. Get involve more and more in your local church and you will see that little by little your life will change to the better!

Hope it helps!

Don't criticize your spouse. Highlighting the good things is better!

Point out the good things to others as you want others to point out your good things." That would be the Golden Rule paraphrased.

Who doesn't like others to point out one's good things? I think that everybody likes it! The problem is that we normally criticize more than to point the good things out.

Most people focus on effectiveness, and they think that by criticizing, telling somebody off and just pointing out the problem, they make that the problem to be corrected. Big mistake!

The husband focuses on the problem when he says to his wife: "Why are you late all the time! I'm sick and tired that the house is a mess! You just demand things from me all the time!", etc. And the wife focuses on the problem when she says to her husband: "You never pay attention to me! You are good for nothing! You're not romantic at all!", etc.

Are those problems for real? Yes, they are. Do they have to be solved? Yer, they do. But that's not the way.

Maybe your spouse isn't good doing that because that's not his/her natural ability, maybe nobody taught him/her or maybe she/he lacks motivation. Regardless the cause, pointing out the bad things won't help him/her to change.

When you highlight a text in a book, what is the first thing you see next time you open that book in that page? The first thing you see is what you highlighted! It happen the same with your spouse. If you just highlight his/her bad things, the first thing you'll see in him/her will be the bad things! But, if you highlight her/his good things, the first things you'll see in him/her will be the good things!

So then, if you learn to focus on your spouse's good things rather than the bad things, and then you highlight those good things rather than the bad things, soon you will be enjoying a very much better marriage!

Constantly tell your spouse the good things he/she does! Don't wait for him/her to do a big feat for doing it! HIGHLIGHT TO HIM/HER THE LITTLE THINGS THAT HE/SHE DOES WELL ON A DAYLI BASIS! That's the best way to help him/her to change!

"Your food is so delicious! You're so neat! You clean so good! I'm so glad you've got home! You're so beautiful! I just love watching you playing with the kids! Thank you for being with me! You're a great man! You're a great woman! Thanks for exerting yourself for us!", etc. And if you say these things publicly, oh yeah!, get ready for a good reward!

Of course that you can apply this principle with your friends, employees, coworkers, etc. Get the habit of adding with your words value and life to the people around you. Make them feel good around you.

Hope this helped you!

Gadol's Nugget: The Face in the Mount

Has anyone noted that face in the mount which is in the book cover of the novel "Gadol, en Busca de la Verdad - El Descenso"? Well, if you hasn't, now you have!

In one chapter of the novel I tell how a witness of a slaughter had the impression that even the mountains around him were sad because of the blood that the land received.

That part of the book came to my mind when the book cover's designer, José Aljovín, unintentionally made that in the mount appears a face. When I saw that, I told immediately: "That face is sooo cool! Please, emphasize that face!"