Author: RJ Walters

I am an Independent thinking, highly functional person who is deaf and has some unique views and challenges in life. Like all of us, I am a person who is composed of all my life experiences and that is what I write about here.
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Don’t Get Stuck – The Series…. Opening Remarks

RJ Walters

Several things have come together lately that take my focus to the decisions we make in our lives. With that in mind I am going to attempt a series of posts here at RJ’s Corner with the title above. Every day we make hundreds of choices in our lives.  Many of them are things like what to eat, or when to go to bed.  I think most of us are pretty good at making those daily decisions. But I am convinced that many, including myself, are not so good at some of the higher level ones. We just don’t spend … Continue reading Don’t Get Stuck – The Series…. Opening Remarks

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Inspiring Quotes….

RJ Walters

1)  We try to share our faith before we even have any.   I remember talking with a 13 year old girl who came to Chicago for a mission trip.  I asked her what she was doing.  She said, “I went downtown to evangelize the homeless!”  At first, I thought, “how sweet,” but then I thought, “how arrogant!”  First, why do we assume the homeless have no faith?  Second, most men and women on the streets have a lot MORE faith than you and I.  When was the last time we didn’t know where our next meal would come from? … Continue reading Inspiring Quotes….

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Cowboy Boots & Fire Codes….

RJ Walters

Texas has always prided itself on its free-market posture. It is the only state that does not require companies to contribute to workers’ compensation coverage. It boasts the largest city in the country, Houston, with no zoning laws. It does not have a state fire code, and it prohibits smaller counties from having such codes. Some Texas counties even cite the lack of local fire codes as a reason for companies to move there. But Texas has also had the nation’s highest number of workplace fatalities — more than 400 annually — for much of the past decade. Fires and … Continue reading Cowboy Boots & Fire Codes….

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Living Longer…

RJ Walters

I have come to a realization lately that these stories of all us old people living longer is a bunch of phooey. Here I am finishing up my second year of being on Medicare and when I read the obituaries in our local small town paper I see lots of people who are much younger than I am. That fact has kind of startled me and warned me that my years on this earth might be shorter than I have planned. You never know. At our ages if we show up in tomorrow’s obit it probably wouldn’t bring a big surprise … Continue reading Living Longer…

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He Told Us How To Do It……

RJ Walters

The Lord’s prayer is rightly the most spoken prayer in Christianity. But there are several statement in that prayer that are for the most part glossed over by many in the current day church.  One of the most obvious is “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  Here is what Martin Luther thought of these words: The good and gracious will of God is done even without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also. As expected, due to Luther’s extremely low image of self-worth … Continue reading He Told Us How To Do It……

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Planning…

RJ Walters

“Plans get you into things but you got to work your way out.” – Will Rogers, 25 June 1931 Be careful you might just get what you plan for. I seem to have to learn that lesson over and over again through my life. I am a planner to my soul. When I was six years old you could often find me out on the dewy grass on a summer night staring at the stars and wondering/planning what my future would look like.  And for the next sixty years I have continued to the same thing. In my very early … Continue reading Planning…

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We Have The Best Congress Ever…..

RJ Walters

“Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they do nothing, that don’t hurt anybody. It’s when they do something is when they become dangerous.” – Will Rogers, 22 November 1929 Maybe I am looking at the politics thing all wrong Will? As you say if our congress is doing nothing maybe that is a good thing. Maybe when they do things is when they get in trouble?  I know this is one of  your more popular quotes, but I kind of think you get it wrong in at least a couple of areas. When one small portion … Continue reading We Have The Best Congress Ever…..

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Thinking Long Term….

RJ Walters

The Post, according to its own announcement of its sale for $250 million, has suffered a 44 percent drop in operating revenue over the past six years. Like other once-prosperous big-city dailies, it has been wounded by the defection of readers and advertisers to Internet competitors. No major U.S. newspaper now claims to have a business model that would guarantee its survival, let alone its success long-term. But the “long-term” is where Bezos’ mind naturally likes to go, says Brad Stone, senior technology writer for Bloomberg Businessweek. Stone’s forthcoming book “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon” … Continue reading Thinking Long Term….

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Everything is Great Except…..

RJ Walters

Housing is coming back. Banks are lending again. Energy is booming. A prominent Democrat argues that the U.S. economy is finally coming back to life SOURCE: Is the U.S. Economy Coming Back to Life? – TIME. Everything is great again in the USA!  The stock markets are booming. Banks are as profitable as ever and are now lending again. All the economic indicators are rising.  These are joyful words for us liberals and dreaded ones for conservatives during a Democrat administration. Everything is great except for the fact that almost all of this prosperity is flowing into the hands of the … Continue reading Everything is Great Except…..

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Life’s Frustrations…

RJ Walters

I am a big fan of the TV show “Little People, Big World” about the Roloff family. The mother and father and one of the four children are dwarfs. I think I relate to them because I too face a daily handicap. I have watched the show since its origination I don’t know how many years ago. What brings this to mind is the latest episode of the family where they went on vacation in Costa Rica. During their trip Matt, the husband who has some pretty severe physical limitation, struggled to keep up with the family but often times … Continue reading Life’s Frustrations…

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Not That Much Different….

RJ Walters

We want an end to the culture wars. We want a truce between science and faith. We want to be known for what we stand for, not what we are against. We want to ask questions that don’t have predetermined answers. We want churches that emphasize an allegiance to the kingdom of God over an allegiance to a single political party or a single nation. We want to be challenged to live lives of holiness, not only when it comes to sex, but also when it comes to living simply, caring for the poor and oppressed, pursuing reconciliation, engaging in … Continue reading Not That Much Different….

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Peace Talks…

RJ Walters

What would happen if we spent as much money on seeking peace as we did going to war?  I suspect the cartoon would be much different. It would be a fleet of Maseratis on the Autobahn instead of what you see above. I don’t know if peace would actually happen even with this reversal but wouldn’t it be interesting to find out? Maybe we could say “if you don’t kill any of your neighbors outside your borders this year we will give you $80 billion” Even with that we would come out ahead….. Continue reading Peace Talks…

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God Knows More Than I Do…….

RJ Walters

Morf Morford considers himself a free-range Christian who is convinced that God expects far more of us than we can ever imagine, but somehow thinks God knows more than we do….. As he’s getting older, he finds himself less tolerant of pettiness and dairy products. SOURCE:  Morf Morford: It’s NOT the economy, stupid | Red Letter Christians. I am going to do a rare cross post here between two of my blogs. I am doing so because I think this post has a spiritual as well as general message. While the referenced source above is about life being more than just … Continue reading God Knows More Than I Do…….

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God Knows More Than I Do…..

RJ Walters

Morf Morford considers himself a free-range Christian who is convinced that God expects far more of us than we can ever imagine, but somehow thinks God knows more than we do….. As he’s getting older, he finds himself less tolerant of pettiness and dairy products. SOURCE:  Morf Morford: It’s NOT the economy, stupid | Red Letter Christians. I am going to do a rare cross post here between two of my blogs. I am doing so because I think this post has a spiritual as well as general message. While the referenced source above is about life being more than just … Continue reading God Knows More Than I Do…..

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Wouldn’t That Be Something….

RJ Walters

Pentagon officials say leaving zero troops in Afghanistan after 2014 would not be good strategy, but if Afghanistan doesn’t give US troops legal immunity, it’s the likeliest outcome. SOURCE: Leaving zero troops in Afghanistan? It’s a serious option, Pentagon says. – CSMonitor.com. Wouldn’t that be something. I think it would be a first in my lifetime that we didn’t leave soldiers after the battle is over.  We pay huge amounts of our taxes to keep our young kids in over a hundred countries throughout the world. For some reason we just can’t seem to get out completely when we get out. … Continue reading Wouldn’t That Be Something….

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Pray For….

RJ Walters

“Ok everyone, time for prayer requests…” I don’t know about you, but those times always unsettle me a bit. Not that I mind praying, but something just always seemed missing or “off.” It finally hit me, why are we just making prayer lists? When we say “pray for Tom who is sick” or “pray for Fred who lost his job” what are we actually asking God to do? Are we asking God to fix it? Are we asking for God to give us just what we wish would happen? What if we actually paused during “prayer request” time and asked … Continue reading Pray For….

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The Mob….

RJ Walters

At the center of this ring of geriatric mobsters is Bulger, 83, a still fierce figure despite the liver spots on his hands. Bulger is on trial in federal court for a string of crimes including 19 murders. Prosecutors say that some of his victims were strangled with those arthritic hands. Bulger’s trial has entered its third week with a series of senior citizens describing the criminal havoc and reign of fear his Winter Hill Gang wreaked all over Boston with the help of corrupt FBI officials Bulger trial is not just about organized crime and FBI corruption. It is … Continue reading The Mob….

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Voting Districts….

RJ Walters

During the last portion of my corporate life I was an IT guy. IT being information technology. For those of you who might not know what that is we basically, at least in my area, take data and turn it into information. The old saying goes “Drowning in data but starved for information”. If you want to get an idea of what that mean just Google about anything and watch thousands of hit come up. We IT guys took those thousands of hits and with some pretty sophisticated software narrowed it down to a handful. Now that you got an … Continue reading Voting Districts….

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Starry Eyed…

RJ Walters

I know many think of me as one of those starry eyed liberals who doesn’t have any sense of reality. With this post I will probably cement that vision with many of my more conservative friends. But what would happen if we just refused to be enemies with those our leaders dictated us to hate.  What would happen? Let’s look at maybe the worst leader in that regard in the twentieth century. What would have happened it the German people had refused to invade their neighbor in 1938? Would Hitler’s power have been erased? What would have happened if people … Continue reading Starry Eyed…

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Where Is God???

RJ Walters

“as we returned from work, we saw three gallows… The SS [guards] seemed more preoccupied, more worried, than usual. To hang a child in front of thousands of onlookers was not a small matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was pale, almost calm, but he was biting his lips as he stood in the shadow of the gallows… ‘Where is merciful God, where is He?’ someone behind me was asking. At the signal, the three chairs were tipped over… Then came the march past the victims. The two men were … Continue reading Where Is God???