I know that it's important to take care of your parents when they get older. My dad is approaching 70 this year, and a lot of people say that I am doing a wonderful thing by being close to him, including my oldest sister, who says she would have gone nuts living so close to him.

People in my church tell me I'm blessed to be so close to my dad.

But I tell you, living with him sometimes is like living in prison. I can't stand it at times, and I would just as soon abandon him to loneliness.....

This is real feelings. If you can't handle my pissed-off tones, feel free to read elsewhere. If he would stop correcting me for my business, the days would be much more pleasant. I don't like his racial talk either, but trying to change ANYONE is a fruitless exercise.

So while my church family and my immediate family think I'm doing the right and honorable thing, I'm pissed a lot of the time. YET, I DO LOVE HIM, AND I DO DESIRE FOR HIM TO BE BLESSED.

It's good to be having discourses with fellow bloggers again. I find people to be interesting.

I was soooooooooo burdened with my own problems that my health suffered--and I didn't even care for a long while.

but with spring came a fresh attitude. And I'm liking the Stream every day I've been on it.

I've been gone a long time.
As a song goes, it's "like I've Never Been Gone."

I've been away for a while not necessarily by choice this time. I felt like I was the only one to go to a knife fight without a knife:

My teeth, specifically 2 of them, "decided" to act up on me late this past week, and show themselves for what they were---all messed up. This occurred at the same time as the "DayQuil/NyQuil" cold I dealt with.

A tooth that requires a root canal speaks its own language:

Morning, noon, and night.

Fortunately I was able to go to the dentist today and have that root canal, which is no picnic either. The other tooth is "just" a crown, to be done next week.

Keltic-Hawkeye Man, a regular reader here, wrote what's in this message title in response to what I wrote about sin, salvation and Jesus Christ in my previous post. Keltic is a good-natured person and light-hearted in his words (he added smileys in his comment ) But I would like to address his ideas.

Sin is the breaking of God's laws, but God also commands that we obey the civil laws--the government. One of those laws is to not drive while intoxicated by alcohol (DUI). (The following is a hypothetical case.)

But that's OK. You only have a couple of drinks when you go out to the local pub. You only have to drive 3 or 4 miles to get home. And you only "overdo" it here and there. IT'S ONLY A LITTLE SIN ...............................

BUT THEN YOU GET PULLED OVER AND GET A DUI ARREST. Now your car insurance goes up, you have to go to court DUI school on a weekend morning, etc, etc, etc. Look how a "couple" of drinks at the bar can become a BIG sin.

Sin NEVER starts out big. A young child doesn't plan to become a murderer, thief, rapist or even a busybody in other people's affairs. It starts with "A little sin."

This is why, as a child of God, I repent quickly when I sin (which is often) so that the little sins don't become BIG.