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Vision
(6 sections)

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Vision

This little clip oozes vision,
My grandfather, born in 1905, who farmed with horses as a young man
lived long enough to see men walk on the moon in 1969.
Let's explore how vision applies to regular life and to fatherhood.
VISION

Practical Understanding

We can't fix a problem we don't understand.
This may be something like launching a satellite into orbit
or getting both a 2nd-grader and a 9th-grader to school on time.

Facts need to be gathered and assembled into a logical flow 
before a solution can be conceived.

Learn how to gather the facts needed to make good decisions.
Math is a wonderful servant of truth, when properly used.


'walschaerts valve' for steam locomotive
the boiler is not pictured here.
so much vision, ingenuity and math here

Inventiveness

Most recurring problems have a solution.
Newbies often come to me for help with a carpentry problem.
I likely have a 40-year-old tool for that very problem.
The problem is often new...only to novices.

From cooking a pot roast to trouble-shooting a dead battery, 
a lot of 'new' problems can be solved by a conversation 
with someone with years of experience. 

Inventive-vision faces new problems
or looks for a better solution to an existing problem.

I remember when battery-operated screw guns were first marketed. 
I couldn't afford one,
so I cut the end off of a Phillips screwdriver and put it in my reversable electric drill.

Sure, I was just an imitator, but my life improved for it.
There is more than one layer of inventiveness.
This was a case of adapting what-I-had
to make up for what-I-couldn't-afford at the time.
Inventiveness.

Concessions

When trying to solve problems, one of the most variable factors is human will.
If we move from Atlanta to Minneapolis, for a new job,
we should expect to shovel snow in the winter.
So we buy a snow shovel, or we should.


But what if no one wants to go out in the cold and shovel the snow?
Sometimes we must make concessions to our surroundings
Snow is predictable, but snow shoveling must be learned.

And free-will can hate getting out on cold winter mornings.

Below is a piece about free will. This is important.
photo: a Mattel talking doll. Notice the pull string on her right hip.

Free Will

Selfishness prevents people from being all they should be.

Much human suffering is rooted in free will - human free will that is misused.
Yet free will is a chief ingredient in real love.
When I was young boy in the 1960's, little girls had dolls 
which would say various things, like, “I love you!”

Is a toy capable of love?
No.
Would a functional adult feel loved by such a doll?
No, love requires free will.

God created the human race for companionship with Himself.
God too, wants to be loved. He made us capable of loving Him and loving others.
But real love requires a free will, which also enables us to reject or harm others.

There is a spiritual law: If we have the free will to love, we also have the free will to hate. 
And the decision to misuse free will is the root of all sin and the cause of much pain.

So why does God allow us to use our free will negatively, if it hurts others?
Well...what are His options?
Even God has boundaries, which He sets for Himself.

If free will could be other-controlled, it wouldn't be free will.

Although God knows the future,
what should He do when he knows that one person is going to harm another person in some way?

What about an electric zap; a divine taser, perhaps?
That would be my choice, but it must not be God’s way.
God gave us the Golden Rule, a conscience, the Bible and His quiet voice.
He expects us to use all four.
History tells us that God often sits back,
and lets us experience the repercussions of our free wills, and the free wills of others.

The Bible says that Satan is a major source of the misuse of free will.

We misuse our freewill via things we are tempted about.
The Bible says we are tempted by the Devil, and by our own lusts.

Some people say the devil doesn’t exist.
Jesus said this about Satan in Luke 10:18:

       "He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions 
     and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, 
     but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus and the disciples believed that Satan and demons exist.
Satan is the author of human temptation.

Luciferians think that Satan is the Commander of Hell.
As I read it, when Satan is finally locked in Hell, he will not be Hell’s Commander,
he will be its chief prisoner.

What was Satan’s big sin? He wanted to live in God’s house but be in charge of his own life.

Notice: Eventually, everyone who tries to run their own life,
while depending on someone else for their existence, 
will revolt against their provider(s) and try to turn their providers into their slaves.

And this is what Lucifer-Satan tried.

Then why do we have a free will?
It is a necessary ingredient for love, for commitment, and for vision.

Consequences

A space launch with people on-board has many challenges.
And challenges bring consequences.

Attempting new things - can bring negative consequences.
We need to try to anticipate the negative possibilities 
and compensate for them the best we can.

When a boy learns to mow the grass, this is a good thing.
But a few flowers may be mowed over in the process - even with prior warnings.
This is part of the learning curve.

And learning to parent with no dad to show the way - can be dicey at times, 
but when fatherless men find themselves with children
they need to get busy 'being daddy'.

And understand that every new thing has a learning curve.
And the clash of free wills. 

In one space flight, Gemini III, 1965,
an astronaut smuggled on a corned beef sandwich, against NASA policy.
The astronaut said that the sandwich partly disintegrated,
and upon opening, bits of it floated around in the cabin for the rest of the flight.
This incident even prompted a Congressional investigation.

Consequences.
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