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 |  This contains entries to Take up Your Cross, Space Blog, Blog City PF and BC of Friends |
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Created by the talented [Link To User poulynoe]") "Prompt: Does God ever use people who do not worship Him to accomplish His purposes? If so, give examples."My belief is that yes He does. I think of Pharaoh and the way God used him to save the people from starvation. I think of Nebuchadnezzar and the way God used Him to bring repentance to Israel. I think of Cyrus and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. There are lots of examples.  I am cruising through the galaxy and found this planet: Prompt: Read this item:
I am content in the peace I found here on my lovely deserted island. Use this line in your Blog entry today. I was never content being alone. I get bored listening to my own thoughts. Perhaps it is because I was raised in a huge family, but I hate being alone. Prompt: "What's your favorite color and why?"Blue is my favorite color although I wear a lot of green. I am now Marshall University alumni and the school colors are green and white. Prompt: "What do you think is the key to networking as an author?I don't know that networking is as important as having lots of money to begin with. Networking helps with contacts, but if you have no money for marketing...     |
| Prompt: What does it mean for a Christian to "inherit the land?" It means that Christians will inherit eternal spiritual life. In our spiritual bodies, we will be with God. We won't wake up every morning sick with allergies or whatever other ailments we have like I do now. I love summertime but as I get older it gets rougher and rougher to survive it. I've been nauseous all morning from allergies and hay fever. Yoda and I were cruising the galaxy and found this planet.
Read the above item. Even though I'm not full Irish, I believe in the myths in a major way. I have to disagree on this one. I don't believe in leprechauns or luck. I'm a Christian. My faith does not allow me to believe in myths such as leprechauns or other pagan imagery. I do believe that others believe in them. "Who are you? said the Caterpillar.This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation, Alice replied rather shyly. I, I hardly know, sir, just at present- at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but now I think I must have changed several times since then." Lewis Carroll. Do you ever wonder who you are? Do you feel like Alice unsure as the day goes on? I'm writing my blog in spurts today. I lay down for awhile. I get up and write. I get sick and lay back down. And yes I feel like Alice some days. I don't know about 5 magical winds but passing gas is magical. It clears rooms. |
   Prompt: Today's star is the beautiful Rhoswen - Relentless Victory   The planet is
I wish my muse would return; Oh, I want to write something…" How about you? Do you want to write something? If so, have at it." I love acrostic poetry and acrostic poetry that moves my heart is even better. Rhoswen - Relentless Victory has written an acrostic about the struggles of writer's block. This is a problem I deal with all the time. I go through extended periods in which I write nothing. I write my blog during those times but nothing requiring a lot of imagination. I understand what the author here is going through and empathize on a deep level. I know she has struggled with a lot over the past several years and am proud to know her as a person. Prompt: "Which Bible version do you use? Are you a "strictly KJV believers or do you think all versions are alright?"I believe there are some translation errors in any version of the Bible except the original Hebrew/Greek/Aramaic Bible. I know some KJV users think it is blasphemy to say such a thing about the KJV, but it too is a translation. It is also not the first English translation and it depends a lot on former English translations. I want to learn to fluently read Hebrew and Greek but I doubt that will happen in this lifetime. In eternity though I will be an expert. Prompt: “We search for happiness everywhere, but we are like Tolstoy's fabled beggar who spent his life sitting on a pot of gold, under him the whole time. Your treasure--your perfection--is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the buy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart.”― Elizabeth GilbertWhat are your thoughts?" I think I agree that happiness is an inside job. The insides must be holy though. They must be surrendered to Jesus Christ who then gives contentment. We may not be happy but through faith we have serenity. "Prompt: When do you feel rushed?"All the time. |
Prompt: "Today the captain was at the helm. He's been taking some downtime for medical leave. Any way we were doing warp ten through the galaxy when a star came on the view screen that looked familiar. It was our own MirandaCookies COLLEGE SOON  .We took orbit around planet
"The anger is alive, and the fear, too. In the land of the free, will justice prevail?" What do you think?" I don't know if our nation will ever settle down unless it grows a backbone. We have let our young people go undisciplined all of their lives because you are not allowed to punish any more. We have not taught them good values because prayer and the pledge of allegiance were taken out of schools. We brought these problems on ourselves. Personally I think KKK and BLM should both be declared terrorist organizations.  Prompt: "In what ways are you tempted to be envious of those who appear to be successful while living ungodly lives?"There was a time when I was sorely tempted to shake my fist at God and say "Why?" Now I understand that success is not how much you have, it is what you do with what you do have. It is a spiritual thing. I can be poor and much more contented than most rich people. I hope this video works. It shows my point: "Prompt: All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. Winston ChurchillLet this quote inspire you blog entry." Churchill was a good leader. Without his leadership the world may well be a different place today. I agree with his judgment on this one too. "Prompt: At the end of the play Oedipus Rex, Oedipus blinds himself possibly out of guilt as he realizes he is the one who has bought ruin to Thebes. What do you think makes people punish themselves, knowingly or unknowingly? Is it always out of guilt feelings?"Guilt plays a role. I believe however that some people like being punished even if they won't admit it. |
I have been working full tilt on a final paper today for my Biblical Hermeneutics class. I just finished it. Now I am completely done for the semester. I'm running a little late on my blog today. Image #2227287 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: I am cruising the universe and find this planet:
Read the above item. They are giving us blessings even though humans in the world cannot see the angels, we are happy for all of our blessings. Use the above line in your Blog entry today." I definitely believe in angels. In fact, I don't know if it was sleep paralysis like somebody reported, or if I was having a vision, but I awoke the other night with an angel and a demon struggling over me. I had dreamed that I had died of a stroke and the angel was telling the demon that the demon could not touch me. After the angel struggled with the demon for just a moment I woke completely up. I prayed, thanking God for allowing the angel to care for me. I will always pray and say thank you in advance when I go to sleep and thank you when I awake because I know an angel watches over me when I sleep. Image #2225754 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: What significant sacrifice have you made in your life and in what ways did God prove more valuable than that sacrifice?" I gave up a house to pursue a career I thought God was calling me into. I was wrong. God did not call me to the job I thought He had called me to, but pursuing it led me to the Veterans Home. Within two months of moving to the Veterans Home I was a soldier in the Salvation Army and a local commissioned Officer of the same. I was also enrolled at Marshall University finishing up my RBA. I just found out today that I may only need one more class to have a second bachelor's degree and I am working toward my M. Div. at Regent University. God had plans in moving me to give up the house! Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: “Sacred space is not just an external place. It is an internal place as well.” ― Mat Auryn Use this quote to inspire your blog entry." I would have to agree. I believe the heart is the most sacred place we humans have, especially for those of us who believe. The heart after all is the throne of God. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: William Butler Yeats defined symbols as “images that are living souls.” Can you think of and talk about a few symbols in your culture or in your life that you hold dear that might fit Yeats’s definition?" I want to say "Yes, the cross", but I won't. I try not to venerate anything but Jesus. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2222769 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #2225754 over display limit. -?- Image #2227280 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: “Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .” ― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves Is there some one in your life that you've had that what, you, too moment with and when you thought it happen only to yourself? Share something special about that relationship." I can't think of any single person this has happened with, but I can think of thousands of people throughout my lifetime. The one thing I have determined is that I am not all that unique. There are a lot of times that I feel that what I am going through is a unique event, but I always come to find out that it is not. Ecclesiastes 1:9 says there is nothing new under the sun. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Today is Culinarians Day. This is the day to celebrated cooks, both professional and amateur. Write a tribute to someone in your life who cooks." I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville WV. The food here is usually good. A lot of the guys complain about it. I guess they never ate a C-ration. I mean why would a soldier have eaten a C-ration or an Meal Ready to Eat (MRE)? It doesn't figure for people to complain about the cooking here. The spaghetti we had the other night was as good as my mom made and she made delicious spaghetti. I've even gone to her house special to have her cook it. She was a good cook. Image #2225754 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "God has brought me through so much that I can never recount all the miraculous things He has done for me. He has delivered me from drug addiction, overdoses, car wrecks, and countless other things. Share a few of the miracles He has done in your life." As I said in the prompt, I have survived numerous things that should have killed me. After I posted the prompt last night I stayed up for an online meeting with one of my professors. I forgot to take my night medicine, which means I had nightmares through the night. I have always heard that if you die in a dream you will also die in real life. If that is true I survived a nightmare because I died in my nightmare. In the dream, I had an aneurysm and I remember the doctor saying "He's dying." The next thing I knew I was standing before God. God was sending me a message in my dreams. It terrified me even though I am a Christian. God is a terrifying individual. He wanted me to know what it felt like to be judged and condemned. When it happened I remember screaming "No, no! Please, Lord!" Then I woke up partway and an angel was fighting with a demon for me. The angel told me "God wanted you to see what the lost are going to face. Now God says to wake up. You are saved and will remain saved if you are faithful." It took me twenty minutes to get over the terror. The nurse here said it was "sleep paralysis" related to my narcolepsy. I know it was terrifying but I survived what we are not supposed to survive. Image #2227287 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "I was cruising the galaxy and found this planet. Read this
Without the words that form my dreams and impulse themselves upon my hand, I am nothing. Use this line in your Blog entry today." It's odd that you would bring dreams to the table as a prompt. I had either a dream or a vision or a hallucination due to sleep paralysis last night that terrified me. I take a stimulant in the morning to keep me awake and sleeping medication at night to put me completely under. If I don't I have nightmares. I got sidetracked last night and by the time I remembered my sleeping medication, it was too late to take it. I had nightmares. I wrote about it in the prompt before this one. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2222769 over display limit. -?- |
 Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2225754 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Use this opening as inspiration.for your blog post... these.little known life hacks have made my life easier." The life hack that has made my life much easier, aside from my faith in Jesus Christ, has been a quote on page 417 of the Big Book. (1) It says “And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation-some fact of life-unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is suppose to be at this moment.” Image #2227287 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Captain Kirk and I were space trucking through the galaxy and found the planet:
by innerlight  Read the above item and choose a quote and write about it. She has some good quotes to choose from. I chose to write on the first quote I came to which was "There is no reason today cannot be the best day of my life." I agree 100%. I believe life is exactly what we make it. If we want to be miserable we can be miserable. On the other hand, we can choose to have a positive attitude and even the bad things can be tolerable. I recently had a swollen kidney. I was hospitalized because my kidney was about to rupture. The nurses were so proud of me there. They kept asking why I wasn't complaining and moaning about the pain. One nurse said that I had the highest tolerance for pain of any man she had ever seen. She said most men would be lying in the fetal position screaming from pain. I told her I was okay because the pain was what it was. They did keep it under control but even had they not my answer would have been the same. It hurt! Yes, the pain was almost unbearable. However, I chose not to be miserable so I was not miserable. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Use your favorite song title to inspire your entry today. There are a ton of songs I like. I don't have a favorite. You'll have to ask me something else. I like Classic Country, anything with lots of steel guitar, Amazing Grace, The Old Rugged Cross, old hymns, contemporary Christian, so I have no favorite. Image #2226644 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "In a boook review of "Destroyer of the Gods: Distinctiveness in the Roman World."An author asks "Why should students of world Christianity in the twenty-first century pay any attention to the study of the first three centuries of European Christian history? Since that is an excellent question I will ask you the same thing. Why should we learn early church history?" I think the primary reason we should learn early church history is to learn their strengths and weaknesses. We can see what they did right and repeat it and what they did wrong and avoid it. I guess I probably should have clarified that early church history means 200AD and later. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2222769 over display limit. -?- 1. William Wilson, Alcoholics Anonymous, (New York, NY.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services), 2001 |
| Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2225754 over display limit. -?- Image #2227280 over display limit. -?- } I was flying through the galaxy with Chewbecca, C3PO and RD2. We found this planet: (1049) A Dear Friend of mine. Read this item:
Prompt: "There is no love sincerer than the love of food." George Bernard Shaw Let's write about food today. I think putting food in our writing is a great idea. It touches a part of human lives that everybody can relate to. While they may not like the particular food we use, everybody can relate to eating and feeling full and satisfied. I think it's a great idea. I also think it's a great idea to be careful what we consume. I have learned the hard way that too many soft drinks can harm you. I have had kidney stones and kidney failure from drinking them and now I am dehydrated from drinking them. I'm going to the store in a little bit and buying a bunch of powdered drink mixes to flavor water and that is what I am going to begin drinking. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Sorry, a close friend of mine died last night from covid. Posting a prompt was the last thing on my mind. How are you staying sane with the numbers increasing daily? My friend was only 50 years old but Covid-19 took him. He didn't have pre-existing anything. I don't know about you but it's getting to be too real. Do you have words of wisdom for us to keep our sanity?" I am so sorry to hear about your friend. I know it is tough to watch a loved one die of a horrible disease. The only consolation we can get is that perhaps their death served some greater good. I know that doesn't take away the grief or the pain. We can only pray for a cure from COVID-19. I know they are suppose to be working on a vaccine. My heart goes out to you at this time of loss. Just know that you have friends here who love you and support you. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "A cup of tea is a cup of peace." What is a cup of peace for you?" It depends on the cup of tea. A cup of Earl Grey is a swashbuckling ride through the English countryside. A cup of chamomile tea is a good nights sleep and stress relief. A cup of pekoe black and orange is a drink of Lipton. It depends on the tea. Image #2227277 over display limit. -?- %} Prompt: "People will make statements like "The man upstairs" and "The Big Guy". Do you feel these references disrespect God? Why or why not?" I have made these comments myself on occasion, but am going to try to stop doing so. I have come to believe they disrespect God. I believe that because first of all they downgrade God. God is not a man. Jesus is human and Jesus is God. My church believes He is 100% human and at the same time 100% God. He was born that way. God however is triune. This means there are three people but one God. Downgrading God to "the man upstairs" disrespects Him. I will be more aware of that sin from now on. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2222769 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #2225754 over display limit. -?- Image #2224458 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: "The business of life is the acquisition of memories." Carson, Downton Abbey Season 6 Use this quote in your Blog entry today." I agree that part of the business of life is the acquisition of memories. On the other hand I know that the real business of life is furthering the kingdom of God. God did not originally create the world to be the mess that it is today. He created it so that humans could be in fellowship with him. He wants humans to enjoy the spirit of community He enjoys with the Son and Holy Spirit. Thus He created us to be in fellowship with Him. Then the fall of man set all of that wrong. Man's focus became inward instead of outward. We became self-serving and self-centered. Now God has made provision of our restoration and our business is to restore relationships in the kingdom of God. If we make a few memories along the way it's an added benefit. Image #2225754 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: What is our purpose? Why did God create us?" The theology behind the reason for our creation, in my opinion, lies rooted in the theology of God as Trinity. While the Bible never overtly says so it is implied that man was created to be in fellowship with God. I believe God is three persons and yet one God. This doctrine of the Trinity is hard for humans to understand and many flat reject it. Yet it is an intricate part of my faith. I believe God served the different aspects of Himself in a community of love in eternity before creation. This love was so incredible and so giving that He wanted somebody to share it with. He created the angels but that still was not enough. He decided to create man and allow man to share in his love and glory. Man was to share in this community of eternal love and service to one another. Then the fall caused our focus to become inward or as Sir Thomas Aquinas put it "homo incurvatus". We became focused on self. Image #2224458 over display limit. -?- "I was cruising the galaxy and found this planet
Read the above item about America. The Land of the Free! The home that I love! Write about America today. Be nice." I agree with Lisa. I love America but lately, she worries me. I'm afraid it may take a war on our own soil before we get this mess straightened out. I hope it doesn't. We have groups like the KKK and BLM that are nothing short of terrorist organizations fighting for stupidity and splitting hairs. For the KKK I say Jesus was Black you morons. He certainly was Jewish and at the very least very dark-skinned. As for BLM, I will say "All lives matter you morons. If you all can quit rioting may be some of the people you kill with COVID-19 will live. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2222769 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2224458 over display limit. -?- Image #2225754 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Write about a strange experience that you've had - one that can't be explained rationally." My ex-wife and I lived in a house in Ohio. One night we came home and I suddenly saw in my mind that a little boy named "Joey" had drowned in a small pool of water in our basement. This had been years before we moved in. I saw that he was wearing an off-white t-shirt with yellow, blue, and red pins strips and a pair of powder blue shorts. I saw his tombstone in my mind and knew exactly where he was buried. The next day I took my wife to the cemetery. We came in from the back way so all the stones faced away from us. I took her straight to his stone and on it was a six-year-old boy's picture wearing the clothes I described. We looked up his death certificate: he had drowned. It later turned out he had been murdered. Image #2227274 over display limit. -?- The prompt today comes from the star Koyel~writing again The planet is
She said she is battling an incurable illness. The prompt says "I am absolutely alone in this world with no one to empathize my sorrow." As a therapist and chaplain by profession, my heart goes out to her. Can we give her some love? Remember, affiliated reviews get credited. As a therapist in the helping fields and as a chaplain my heart goes out to anybody who is depressed or struggling with illness. I wish there were some way I could take it away for them but the world we live in will not allow that to happen. All we can do is actively listen and support each other as we struggle forward with our lives. My wish for this writer and my hope is that by the time we do these blogs and reviews she is feeling much better. I want her to know that somebody does care about her. She is not alone and we will be here for her. Image #2227275 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Give a testimony of a miracle Jesus has worked in your life." The biggest miracle Jesus worked in my life was taking a sinner bound to split hell wide open and turning him into a seminary student at one of the most prestigious universities in the country and a chaplain of the West Virginia Veterans Home. I was addicted to drugs twelve years ago and virtually worthless to anybody. Then Jesus turned me completely around and put me on the right track. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: When you revise a piece, what are the steps you take, and where do you stop? Do you stop when you think you are making things worse instead of improving them or when you are sick of working on the piece or when you think you’ve done the best and this is it?" I seldom revise. When I do I find I end up rewriting the whole thing and make as many mistakes in the second one as I do the first. It gets quite frustrating. So I try not to make revisions. I do occasionally correct a grammar mistake but that is about it. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2222769 over display limit. -?- |
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