Anytime We Accept Less Than God's Best We Are Choosing to Be In A Prison of One's Own Making

In every situation regardless in business or our personal lives, we can accept the bondage of what other's press upon us that may be good for them to unload...but not in our best interest.

A true friend is one who not only seeks what is best for him or herself;f, but seeks what is pure, kind, generous for their friend as well.

The Carpenters Friend has been seeking for a very long time, ever since we received our non-profit status to implement Carpentry Vocational programs in male jails and prisons our country wide...

Not every dealer or salesman cares whether what they fanagle you to sign will meet your needs without confining one into a bondage that not only they may not be able to financially pay for...but does not even care that it has only one tiny window...that HIS light has nothing through which to shine!

I even said to our sales person who is an ordained permanent deacon....who I will not name him or the very large dealer he is employed at...

I said to him calling him by name as God calls each by name: ________  God's Holy Word would not
 say: ' "I WILL TURN YOUR DARKNESS TO LIGHT!" if there was not something about darkness...absence of light that would harm even kill us.'

The man did not even open the one and only small one foot by one foot square window.

But instead walking back through their main building as we were leaving....he had a sales manager trap us in and tried to close the sale on this dark very expensive trailer...over $22,000 while some smaller used motor homes with low miles cost only 2-3 thousand more.

Many have been thinking that I am greedy not accepting a trailer and pushing for a motor home.

But I am smart enough to know that a trailer which has no motor nor transmission need not cost so close to that which does.

I have been holding out waiting upon our dear Lord to show us HIS better one...each of us can choose HIS very best in every situation.

I thank God for the strength to endure the criticism of many...who some have not taken the time to see the entire picture, but have drawn conclusions....but we very soon will no longer be tenting in parks....but in time for our 15th Wedding Anniversary on May 30, 2012...barely a week....

Be using our tent as an extra screen room...and enjoying a bright light new trailer with many windows.

It has been promised to us by a very small dealer which we will have to travel a bit to...we go this afternoon... that he can finance it for us and he will himself install break controller, hitch, licenses...everything required and make it affordable for us.... only $250.00 a month.

So all of you who are reading I plead to you....never accept less than God's best regardless whose apple cart you upset.

Had I been silent as I had been instructed to be, I too would "Living in a Prison of My Own Making" today!

And so we will have the right equipment soon and very soon to travel in comfort, safety, and within HIS peace which surpasses all understanding as HE uses my husband William, The Carpenters Friend, to teach the prison inmates of non-violent crimes who have unfortunately not had proper guidance...

He will implement programs that these who can benefit from The Second Chance Act, for they are teachable just need someone to take the time & interest in them personally to present and show them in ways they can understand things that they can do, and excel and bless their communities with.

So right now you can make a difference...by contacting either of these bankers and making a Tax Deductible Donation towards what is required to get these programs implemented and inmates graduating with marketable skills and working in construction positions which we teamed with the Labor Department who will certify them.By your Donations you will be a major part in helping others not confine themselves in a Prison of Their Own Making!

Everyone is Either A Product Of or a Prisoner To Ones Own Choices

From the moment we wake and open our mouth for the first time in the morning, we set the mood that our entire day will follow.

If as soon as we open our eyes we choose to think about and grumble over a task or problem we must face...
We actually cause our day to be filled with tensions instead of accomplishments and our day wears us down brutally more than need be.

When we choose...and this is fundamental...the way we view anything and everything is a choice.
Some choose to see everything as half empty where others see a half full glass or cereal bowl as a blessing and a joy...for otherwise they would be hungrier than some who have eaten far more than they should...

We can choose to start our day with grumble....but this always brings the thunder and rumble of irratation in those subject to hear and endure your grumblings of complaints!

Though then you may faint when your complaints never cease but become an infectious disease that not even you can any longer control....

Faint not will thee when instead you choose peace...kind honeycomb words not just to and of others but to thyself.

More often or not those who get into trouble would have never in their life had a problem they could not solve...
Had they never in the first place ever allowed their mouth to be negative or critical for their first time.

We cannot choose in all circumstances...though even when things are simply dropped or forced upon us...we can choose to make them more difficult our easier...by carefully choosing the words we speak that could form a trap for ourselves from which there may be no way out.

So let us each from this moment on...choose not to bind ourselves within prisons of our own making which we will be held accountable for on the Last Day...

Rather let us speak honeycomb words that build fine character in all....both those we are speaking to and about...as well as ourselves...and speak no more harshness anywhere anytime...Instead ask God to place on our lips direction we may need to give another...but which is kind.

And thus you and I...and each and everyone who does...will with each kind, compassionate word...even compassionate correction...direction...will break chains that have bound all in the prisons of their own making.

Louisiana Incarcerated: Intro Video - Video | NOLA.com

Now after www.TheCarpentersFriend.com  on April 5, 2012 has presented to the State of Louisiana their Carpentry Vocational Programs designed specifically for teaching incarcerated men, truth of what drives prison systems is finally made public.

This decision to make public this that has been kept secret for decades and generations we believe is in hope that enough citizens will rise up in anger that next time funding for prison inmate programs is placed on a ballot for public vote...programs will not be voted down as in the past...  The vote will be FOR funding.

Fellow Americans do not be so naive as to think Louisiana is the only state where persons have found a way to profit upon anything and everything...including capturing and imprisoning men.

It really should not come as a complete shock since there does exist a segment of the world's population that thrives upon having power over others and exerting this power with force.

These folks who are often called: "Power Hungry" usually in their own hearts are very insecure.  They do not like who they are.  They were born to mothers & fathers who themselves were never loved nor treated kindly with dignity and respect.

Therefore they grow up into individuals who seek power over others in order to "like themselves" or to feel that they have respect or value.

With your financial support The Carpenters Friend a 501(C)(3) Non-Profit Public Charity  has the ability to turn around much of what is  finally been made public.

As published in yesterday's Times Picayune front page article about Angola...It is only the criminals who have committed the most violent of crimes and are doing life behind bars that are being taught anything.

Louisiana unlike other states at this time has used its parish jails (county facilities) to place its non-violent offenders who have been convicted and sentenced.

These are the individuals who have made their first poor choices whether shop lifting a pack of cigarettes, driving drunk...intoxicated...possibly even a teenager who while Mom & Dad were asleep took Mom or Dad's car keys and drove around the block before they had a learners permit and got caught.

These individuals who through no fault of their own, who lacked proper guidance, who had no one to take interest in them getting them involved learning something like carpentry to fill both their minds and their time creating structure in their lives as they build physical structures which they can turn into a business of their own....
These are the ones who need programs.

Programs should not be taken away from those doing life sentences...for not having programs within these penitentiaries would make violence and crime behind bars escalate.

It is simply not possible for human beings to be isolated and idle at all times.

Today all Americans and Louisianians can help change what you this week are just learning.  By your Tax Deductible Donations The Carpenters Friend will be able to begin implementing programs in parish jails across Louisiana.

All Iberia Bank and Fifth Third Bank locations are authorized to receive your Tax Deductible Contributions.

And by doing so you will be breaking the chains that bind us all into this prison of our making.

http://www.thecarpentersfriend.blogspot.com/



Louisiana Incarcerated: Intro Video - Video | NOLA.com

We Are all Products of or Prisoners to Our Own Choices!

We write our own lives to a greater degree than most realize each time we choose to be a blessing...or choose not...

But rather turn blind eyes to whom God places in our lives to bring Himself to us....

Do you return kindness and love of others who you think are "Below you" with wickedness spitting or arrogance?

Or do you simply turn away and try to pretend you did not see what I have seen through life through spiritual eyes that were physically blind...?  http://theeyeseyeshaveit.blogspot.com/

Funny peculiar...not funny HAHHHAAAAaaaHa...

We are happier & safer in a canvas tent eating peanut butter jelly sanwiches than fine dining with blood relatives who despise us for our sacrificial marriage for they have abused each other for over 50 years.  Never forgiving themselves or each other for "They simply cannot admitt any kind of fault"

And so they would rather eat their caviare...roast beef...and throw up due to their own self righteous anger than apologize, love, be loved and live peacefully...

How sad..but the Lord prophesied this.

The Lord came as a sign of contradiction...a stmbling block to most...I hope that you are not among these lost...for the Lord is coming VERY SOON!

Amen Amen Amen and Alleluia!

Those Who Live In Glass Menageries Should Never Throw Stones

All of us are either products of or prisoners to ones own choices.

Certainly each one of us sometimes are limited by circumstances out of our control.

People of Faith...Almighty GOD is never limited by our circumstances but only by our "stinky thinking" when we stand on our own understanding instead of HIS Heavenly Promises which are Amen Amen and Alleluia to each one who calls out to HIM crying out day and night till the dawn makes bright any darkness that tries to envelope us.

HE is the true vine.

HE is the author and finisher of our Faith.

When we find ourselves "trying" to do anything or to force something to work...
We are not in the flow of HIM for we are doing it, we are doing the heavy lifting...and HE will let you and I do it all if we take it upon ourselves.

It is better to instead not to criticize what we observe others working hard at to force into being;
But  rather be a living example of how to walk, run, have fun as we fly upon HIS wings....as HE gets everything done for us and through us....we simply obediently go along for HIS ride keeping HIM company...
Soothing HIS heart pangs over those who turn HIM down running so far from HIM that they hear not HIS heart sobbing and crying for all to return home to HIS heart that HE can heal them, mold them and fashion them that their joy may be complete and never sour.

Those behind  bars whether State or Federal Prisons are often freer than those free in society but live in a "Glass Menagerie Walls" which they have bound themselves up with their sins that may not break any laws that get them arrested, prosecuted and convicted.

But just the same their guilt of holding others bound up by their unforgiveness does not harm they who they refuse to forgive, but themselves they knot up with anger, resentment and hate in that "Prison of One's Own Making."

So lets you & I on purpose choose to look for souls...new friends within our own neighborhoods and streets that we walk and roam....

Folks who have never met Our Lord, the only Good Shepherd of us all....
Folks who I have described here who know not how to forgive or to love...
Lets you & I become Living Eucharist to them...

Let Jesus Himself shine though our hearts with our compassionate words....words of compassion heal body mind and soul while harshness dries the bones causing arthritis and sickness of all kinds.

You and I seek this day new brothers and sisters to love their way to Jesus and Jesus will continue to fill us more and more.

Amen Amen Amen and Alleluia!

We Are a Product of or a Prisoner to Our Own Choices... Though We Should Always Give Others and Ourselves The Opportunity to Make New and Better Choices!

Everyone at some point in their lives have made choices they later regretted that they had made.

While some learned young how to make wise choices in many to most areas of life;
Others had no one to teach them wrong from right.

Some simply had not only an absent father and or mother...
They had not even a teacher or mentor who took interest in them personally...
Some of these had not the mental capacity to learn by traditional means.

Not all human beings were created with the same kind of ability.
Some very capable sons may never be the next Hemingway or Einstein...
However they can learn to use tools such as a skill saw,  a hammer, and chisel...and
Become a master builder.

The Second Chance Act has opened the door for us to teach The Carpentry Trade in male jails and prisons.
These men who simply lacked direction in their lives...when given the right opportunity...be taught and followed by The Carpenter's Friend...

They will become Tax Paying Role Model Citizens in their communities.  And the high cost states are paying to house them in "For Profit Prisons" because there is such a high arrest rate of non-violent crime such as drugs...

County, State & Federal Jails & Prisons are over crowded. 

Our Programs you can read more about at: http://www.thecarpentersfriend.com/  and at

http://www.thecarpentersfriend.blogspot.com/  There is Bank info how you can make your Tax Deductible to make these things happen.

As these men, former inmates are successful in jobs we teamed with The Labor Department who Certifies them as Apprentices in jobs we with Job Link help them find...and we The Carpenter's Friend follows them as mentors to ensure their success.

Their success means your Tax Dollars will then be better spent.

And this shall improve our economy by having more Tax Dollars available to be spent on things that improve life for all families and communities.

Those Who Live In Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones!

I am finding it spiritually intriguing how so many folks seek their fortunes for themselves...and part of their journey to the top...to be the best.... requires knocking others of the block!

Those who have plenty just cannot get enough...
They have more money and stuff than they could ever use or spend in their lives themselves...
Yet they are miserable inside their hearts...

Because they traded their piety, humility, and purity.... for power and control and pomp.

When anyone gets to the top by knocking others down and off..... crushing them beneath their feet with arrogance...

Their time is short for those who are proud and thinketh too much of themselves...will always be humbled by GOD who uses the poor and lowly who love and seek HIM with a sincere heart.

Grand Central Station New York paved with golden walls..and granite floors...  Statues of Angels and heavenly creatures...The builders who built this must have been Faithful...

For how else could any human being design and create such beauty....

How did the hearts and spirits of those who enter and exist change so drastically from February 2, 1913 when it had its Grand Opening!

Today folks who enter and exist at high speed and capacity...seeking not the better and best part GOD offers each....what one can only have within relationship to HE.

But rather they trade themselves...their very souls for material wealth and riches....
I wonder had Adam & Eve not eaten the forbiden apple of
"The Tree of Knowledge?"

Would we have ever seen Saks Fith Avenue, Macy's, Bloomingdale's....or Mercy me...Sears Roebuck
K-Mart or Wal-Mart come into being?

For had here never been that first bite into the forbidin would Adam or Eve or their chlidren or great grand children... ever noticed that they were naked?

Everything they could have ever wanted or needed was placed into the garden with them.
Would they have ever covered themselves with fig leaves sewn...

A predicessor of Midland Cotton, McCall's Pattern Books....and Miliken Fabrics and their forgotten competitors long gone...

None of these shall stop the storms... The storms GOD have through history used to cleanse the land of all the self seekers..caught up in glass menageries ....the wicked who chose the wrong path...now struck down and hung by the very stones they earlier flang!

EstherStephanada!