Seasons Greetings: Remember it's the HOLYDAYS

Seasons Greetings to the international blogosphere. Yes, it is officially the Holidays. Halfway through Hanukkah, and only a few weeks away from Christmas, the fear of my job in retail and shopping in general arises . This stems from the fact that anyone who gets near a mall, shopping center, or store must suffer through the nonnegotiable traffic, lack of parking and reminder why angry people with credit cards should be locked up. The commercialism of this day is contagious as is the anger that permeates from the super shoppers, who have jumped into buying mode flocked to the malls and decided to put stuff and deals ahead of human life.

The retail industry has been trying to prepare for this season since before Thanksgiving, but you can never really be prepared. The economics of the U.S. being in the hole have caused the expected consumer expenses to be drastically lower then projected, but this small fact does not keep those loyal to the mistaken atmosphere of the season from spreading their dampening anger to the rest of us. I love Christmas. The celebration of Christs birth and the extra time with family, I even love the decorations and carols. I love these things ON CHRISTMAS. When you start hanging decorations and putting up Christmas Trees in October it gets a bit overwhelming. I know Christmas is coming. I love the meaning of the holiday but is it really necessary for every radio station and public venue to inundate me with a million different renditions of the same 5 songs I get tired of songs I once treasured.

Dr Seuss, not a real doctor, but a philosopher and child at heart and, embedded the necessities of life into his simple children's book. His book, "The Grinch who Stole Christmas," which has since been adapted to film, both animated and live action, is a simple social commentary on the over commercialism of Christmas. The Grinch is pushed away from Christmas because of the noise and attitudes of his neighbors, the Who. By the end the Grinch recognizes that it is not the commercialism that makes Christmas Christmas, but just the unnecessary outer shell. The commercialism of this month can turn a lot of us into Grinch's.

My father, when attending a elementary school concert, put it the best way. He said, Santa and presents and snow are nice but you must remember the CHRIST in Christmas. This season has been transformed into a time to buy presents for the family, but if presents are our focus the end result is not celebration but anger and stress. What we must remember is that the holidays are supposed to be HOLY DAYS. The true purpose of this season is to celebrate God miracles presented to man. Dec 25th is not a day to glorify our new stuff but rather the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, son of God.

So fellow holiday celebrators, as we shop for gifts and traverse the decorated streets remember that these days are not all about gifts and the newest coolest stuff its about the celebration of God and the miracles the he has presented us with. Take deep breaths and write IOU's it's better then killing the person in front of you.

Live Life, Love God
Happy Holidays

Jah Son

Ballin on a Budget

We'll its been a while since I posted last. A long while. I apologize. I have been busy with school and work and basically trying to stay alive. Any way I have discovered a new phrase that for those of us living paycheck to paycheck is incredibly relevant.

Ballin' on a Budget. It came up originally when I was commenting on a co-worker's work shoes, black leather, square toe, with rubber soles and extra cushion inside. It was then that he revealed to me that they were $20 from rack room shoes. Needless to say I was impressed. It was then that he told me and I quote:

"You should be. But it's only because I'm Ballin on a Budget."

He then told me that he lives on a very tight budget, as most students who work in retail do, and that he has a small allotment of cash for the frivolous things in life. He therefore in order to keep himself looking fresh to def without breaking the bank, he has to live on discounts and sales. This is what he calls Ballin' on a Budget.

I stole that phrase so fast it made his head spin. I think that this is a great way to describe those of us who are not breaking the bank on ridiculous expenditures, but can still keep our style and our lives in line. I encourage all of you out there in the blogosphere to use this phrase as much as possible. Let people know that yes you are bellow the poverty line, but you can still keep your family fed and yourself in line, without digging a debt hole. You are Ballin' on a Budget.


Peace Out.
Live Life, Love God.
Jahson

Note: It should be noted that since my adoption of Ballin on a Budget my co-worker has decided to copyright it. He says anyone who says it owe him at least a penny. But I wont tell if you dont.

My Title JAHSON

I recently spelled my email address for someone, J-A-H-S-O-N and received a very confused look, as one usually expects when your name is not commonly spelt with an H. It is a common question I get, so instead of getting a million emails about it I figured that I would just explain myself to the world.

Nas had an album when I was in high school called God’s Son. I read that title and although I listened to the album for weeks on end, I never understood how someone could call themselves “God’s Son,” I thought God only had one Son and that was Jesus. So this title seemed like blasphemy.

It was during my year of complete sobriety (October 2006 - October 2007), that I was drawn back to the church and reintegration into the body of Christ. I was introduced to a verse in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. He said: "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise" Gal 3:26.

I was inspired and instantly understood that Nas was not saying that he was Christ, but expressing that he was a devoted follower of Christ. I was inspired to let the world know of my devotion too. One of my greatest inspirations, Bob Marley, introduced me at a young age to a new name for God. He referred to the creator as Jah, which is short for Jehovah. So taking some inspiration from a Jamaica legend and some from one of the greats of Hip-Hop, my title was born. JahSon declares outright that I consider my self a child of God and want the world to know that I am a follower of Christ, but as a matter of coincidence it still sounded a lot like my birth name Jason. In Greek it means 'to heal' or 'healer and in Hebrew means 'the Lord is my salvation.’ So not only is it a blatant declaration of my Faith in God, but also can be interpreted as a declaration of my gratefulness to God for his saving GRACE and my desire to help heal souls.

New Medium

A man once told me that instead of shunning a new medium that has exploded on the scene you should accept that medium and try to embrace it. The blogosphere is that new medium for 2007 and this is my attempt to embrace it.

As a psychologist and a writer I know that it is beneficial to all people to express oneself as best you can, but my Jamaican upbringing encourages you to entrust your deepest thoughts only to yourself, and in the most dire of situations then maybe to extremely close family members. So in this an almost totally anonymous outlet of expression, I am in a sense, adopting you, the reader into my family. So my dear brothers and sisters, this, my little piece of the world wide web, is my inner thoughts expressed to those of you who are interested enough to read on. Welcome and check regularly for more thoughts on the abstract, arbitrary, emotional and intriguing.