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Created by the talented [Link To User poulynoe]")  }   "Proverbs 11:25 says "A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water."What do you think this means?" In the Kingdom of God one finds that values are completely reversed from the way they are on Earth. God for example values humility where man values pride in oneself. The same is true of many other things in God's kingdom. For example, God does not give us anything that He expects us to keep. If He gives us wealth He expects us to give it all away. The more we give away the more He gives us to give away. I am that way with money. I am a student which means I do not have a full-time job. I do serve as chaplain and floor leader here at the West Virginia Veterans Home. The floor leader position pays $300.00 per month plus room and board. Aside from that I have no income. Out of that little bit of money though I loan people what I can. I never record the loans. One man has gotten up to one hundred dollars at a time from me. I loan it to him without writing it down. I have yet to miss it. God always sees to it that my needs are met and I have money in my pockets. It may not be much but I am seldom completely broke. The Salvation Army works on the same principle. They give away every dime they get yet they never do without. God always provides more to give away. Solomon is referring to the principle of keeping what you have by giving it away. He means that God rewards the generous by giving them, even more, to be generous with.  As I was cruising today I came upon a star.
Have you ever had a tickle in your throat? Tell us about it. The tickle in my throat usually tells me I am coming down with bronchitis. I live in the Ohio River Valley and during the winter we catch the Ohio Valley Crud which is a combination of allergies from smoke and upper respiratory infection/bronchitis. It's lovely. Prompt: "What were you feelings on today's chaos or attempted coo at the Capital Building in DC?"I prefer not to discuss politics. Since you brought it up I will say that I think the protesters were just trying to make themselves heard although they went about it wrong. When Black Lives Matter and Antifa were burning buildings down in Portland and other major cities I didn't hear near the outcry I've heard since a few hotheads trespassed at the Capitol! They didn't burn the building down like the BLM/Antifa crowd did. All they did that I can see is trespassed. In most places that is a 4th degree misdemeanor. BLM/Antifa committed randomn acts of outright terrorism so why not prosecute them? No. The protesters in Washington were from the wrong political party. They wanted to voice grievances that were denied at every other venue. Personally, I don't think it's over yet. "Prompt: What life events shaped you into the person you are today?"It took every event in my life to make me who I am today.        |
| } I am not Hindu. A popular Hindu belief here in West Virginia is that "What goes around comes around." Another expression tells us what "karma" is. Proverbs 11:31 says "If the righteous are repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner." How is it that even idolators seem to have a sense of justice? Idolators usually have a sense of revenge but even they have an inherent sense of right and wrong. Paul tells us in Romans 1-20-21 that the whole world is given an inherent sense of right and wrong. Man often uses this sense of right and wrong for selfish motives. We expect others to do for us yet we feel little or no obligation to do anything for others unless there is something in it for us. The Hindus believe in karma. They believe that everything we do has a direct repercussion on us. My grandfather always said that you get back what you dish out. This has nothing to do with karma and everything to do with humankind. People usually treat us exactly the way we treat them. If we treat them badly they respond in kind. Solomon is saying here that the righteous will begin to receive their reward here on earth. I began to receive mine the day I was born again because I receive Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit has slowly brought me along and today most everything I attempt works out well. Prompt: I was cruising the Galaxy with Luke Skywalker and we landed on this planet:
How do you feel about rewriting and editing your work? I may go back through and make a few obvious changes that need to be made, but I hate editing my own work. I hate knowing I made any mistakes. I am getting ready to do a major editing job here in a few days. I received a publishing offer yesterday in which the publisher wants to take a lot of my older published writings and combine the best parts of them into one book. That will mean I get to choose what parts go in the book and I get to change whatever I want to change about the originals. It is a self-publishing contract, which I am not crazy about. However, the materials going in the book will be materials that were traditionally published once but not well marketed. This company is going to aggressively market the new product, particularly in Europe which is where it is most marketable. "What's the first thing you can't wait to do after you have the vaccinations for Covid-19?"Burn all of my masks! "Prompt: "Three things will last forever-faith, hope and love-and the greatest of these is love." Write about this quote in your Blog entry today."1 Corinthians 13:13 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Love is indeed greater than faith and hope because true love causes both faith and hope. I have been preaching the gospel for years. It has always been my belief that God values the things we humans trivialize. We don't trivialize romantic love or family love but we do trivialize putting each other first. Love in it's truest sense is when we do the next right thing for the next right reason. |
| } What assurances can we get from this passage? What will the righteous escape? Christians escape the wrath of God. Prior to being saved we face eternal death and are subject to judgment. Once we are saved, however, we escape judgment and eternal death. All too often Christians think that being saved should save us from suffering. This simply is not the case. Suffering happens to everybody because we live in a fallen world. As dwellers in a fallen world, we are subjected to the world's laws. Even Jesus was subject to the world's laws. Jesus is the very begotten Son of God. Begotten does not mean that Jesus was ever born or that He came into existence by the will of God at some point in time. Begotten means that Jesus has always poured through the essence of God and existed as part of the essence of God. He is co-eternal with the Father and exists as the essence of the Father. In spite of this the Father made Jesus subject to the suffering of the world, even subject to the cruelest death the world has ever known...death by crucifixion and separation from the Father. God knows what death feels like because He suffered death through Jesus. God is not unaware of the suffering mankind goes through. This passage in Proverbs in no way says that we will not be subjected to suffering. It says we will escape judgment. In 2016 I lost my wife suddenly and unexpectedly. Within the next eighteen months I lost both my mother and my father. I moved out of the home I was buying and moved to another city where I became lonely, depressed, and lethargic. A worker at the VA Medical Center in that town suggested that I move to the West Virginia Veterans Home, where I now live. I had been here at the WVVH for about one month when I became a soldier in the Salvation Army Huntington Corps and was commissioned the Community Care Ministries Secretary for the corps. A Community Care Ministries Secretary is a chaplain. I became the chaplain of the West Virginia Veterans Home. A year after I became chaplain of the WVVH God's plan became clear to me. COVID-19 hit with a vengeance and the home was shut off from all outside visitors. Prior to my becoming chaplain all the ministers coming in were visitors. There was no staff chaplain. God used me to fulfill the role of chaplain. If my wife and mother were still living I would still be in the house I owned prior to my wife's death. My wife wanted the house and my mother encouraged me to stay in it no matter what. I would have been there and the WVVH right now would have no chapel services. As it is Chapel is going well at the WVVH. We expand our programming all the time and our membership is starting to grow. God knew what He was doing. He used my suffering to shape me and mold me into the chaplain I am today. "Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy with Buck Rogers and found this planet:
How do you feel about fast food? I love fast food but it doesn't like me. It makes me fat and it usually messes with my acid reflux disease. I eat a lot of it though. Some of the food they cook here at the West Virginia Veterans Home is fast food. For example, on Lord's Day evening's we often have chicken nuggets and French fries. So I can't say that I don't eat my share of fast food. My favorite fast food restaurant is Subway. I love a fresh deli sandwich. My favorite two sandwiches at Subway are Black Forest Ham and Grilled Chicken on nine-grain or wheat foot-long. I top them off with tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, pickles, a little salt, and either light mayo or chipotle sauce (or both) and get a Sprite or Mello-Yello. I'm in hog heaven. "Prompt: Use these words in your blog post: epiphany, sunshine, snow, chocolate, chicken, spring."I had an epiphany last night. It came to me in the blinding snow. Why do I put up with the cold? The south enjoys sunshine most of the time. I could raise a chicken or turkey and drink hot chocolate in the land of eternal spring. "Prompt: Ursula Le Guin says, “Begin your story with a voice. With a voice in the ear. That first page I wrote, which the novel progressed from, is simply Lavinia speaking to us — including me, apparently.”Have you ever heard your main character’s voice in your mind’s ear, so to speak? What was it like?" I can't say I ever experienced that. |
| } We have been in Proverbs 10 for the past few days. Today we will move ahead a little. Perhaps we will do a few proverbs out of one chapter each week for a while? Proverbs 11:12 says "A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue." I see this play out every day here at the veterans home and will be using this scripture to attempt to keep it in check. Some of the people here are very conservative, old school Christians who cannot tolerate anything that does not fit their preconceived notions. Those can be educated that their beliefs may be distorted. Then you have the die-hard conservatives whose minds are like Master Locks. Once they close you can't pry them open. One of the guys here seems to deliberately choose to pick fights with the guys he knows are ultra-liberal just to argue with them. I am going to present him with some of these scriptures and see if he curtails his behavior accordingly. There is no point in arguing about politics or religion. It only turns people off. We want to build relationships, not tear down people. Prompt: "I was cruising the galaxy with Yoda and we found this planet:
Do you ever feel like your life is on a Treadmill?" There has been a time or two I felt like that. I am a person who likes to stay active in my life. If I am not looking at deadlines and running an hour ahead of schedule or at minimum coming in just under the wire I am not happy. 17 and 18 hour days are the best for me. It keeps my mind occupied and my hands busy. I am just starting another semester of school this week and I have a ton of work to do in it. Much of the work I will not have the actual instructions for until the first day of the term, which is next Monday. In the meantime, I will knock out the first weeks reading assignment. I am also starting some other responsibilities. One of those is a peer support group for the veterans I live with. COVID-19 has us all couped up like everybody else and the stress level is high. I am starting a group called Vets for Vets which will meet once per week and be a general education/rap session just to let the guys vent. There will be an educational element with handouts as well. I have nine men currently interested and am signing up more guys every day. On top of this, I am also offering individual counseling to anybody who wants it. As an RBA in psychology and a certified peer support specialist and M.Div. student, I am qualified to offer counseling sessions. I am looking for a part-time position as a drug and alcohol counselor, either volunteer or paid. So yes, my treadmill keeps me busy but I would prefer to be busy as opposed to being bored. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: On the first Monday in 2021, I look forward to ..." Starting classes again at Regent University. I am an online student. Classes do not officially start until January 11, 2020 but the assignments typically become available on Blackboard about a week early. They are on Blackboard now. I try to knock out all of my writing assignments right away so that I can spend my time concentrating on lectures and reading assignments for the discussions. The writing assignments for this class will not be available until the first day of class though. I'm bummed over that but I have plenty to do. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants,” said Isaac Newton. On whose shoulders do you stand or who are some of the people who have influenced your life in a positive way?" Jesus Christ is my giant. He supports me and carries me through all sorts of troubles. He has never let me down nor will He ever do so. Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2159373 over display limit. -?- Image #2164523 over display limit. -?- Image #2191828 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- } Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Before I answer any prompt today I want to share a link a friend sent me. The link explains the Fibonacci sequence, also known as the Golden Ratio. The Fibonacci Sequence basically proves that everything in the universe, from numbers to the layout of stars and galaxies, follows very specific mathematical formulas that simply could not have happened by chance. Here is the video https://youtu.be/c8ccsE_IumM} . Image #2235060 over display limit. -?- Proverbs 10:4 says "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth." What do you think? Do diligent hands bring wealth? How? I have never seen anybody survive who did not have the means to care for themselves. I mean there are a few exceptions but most people who live any length of time can usually fend for themselves and must fend for themselves. There are a few that the rest of us take care such as the bottom-feeding scum suckers in Washington DC and a few others, but for the most part people work for honest pay. Those who do live good lives. Those who do not end up miserable or dead. Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- Today we cruised into familiar space and encountered a giant here on WDC. The star is (2351) and the planet is
  . . The author compares life and romance to a game of chess. Do you agree or disagree? Why? I think life is exactly like a chess game. Chess is a game of cutthroat strategy and cunning. It is a game of choices where one wrong choice can ruin you and the other person can see your strategy the whole time. Choosing anything in life affects the rest of life. The decision to accept or reject Jesus Christ has eternal consequences. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Holiday Leftovers. Do you have a humorous story about holiday leftovers? Does your family have a special recipe for holiday leftovers? Do you have a memory about holiday leftovers?" While it may not be a story about holiday left overs, I have a story about food.
Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Dickensian poverty tends to occur after Christmas in January. For it is then, with pockets empty, diary decimated and larder bare, that the general populace sinks into a collective pauper's hibernation until Valentine's Day.”~― Stewart Stafford Do you agree or disagree?" Agree. Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2159373 over display limit. -?- Image #2164523 over display limit. -?- Image #2191828 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- } Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2235060 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "As the sun sets on 2020 one final time, we find ourselves at the beginning of the individual proverbs of Solomon. Whether or not we study each individual proverb remains to be seen. I doubt that we do or we may spend more than a year in Proverbs alone. They do make good studies though so we will start with Proverbs 10:2 which says "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death" KJV. How does righteousness deliver from death? Remember, man's righteousness is as filthy rags to God." Man's righteousness does not deliver us from spiritual death. However, a person's righteousness can deliver them from a ton of troubles. I believe what Solomon is saying here is that our righteousness can keep us from getting into serious mischief and bringing trouble upon ourselves. As for the righteousness that delivers from spiritual death, we must depend upon Jesus Christ to provide that. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that our righteousness looks like filthy menstrual rags to God. Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 that we are all sinners and fall well short of the righteousness God expects. So we must depend on the Lamb of God whose blood makes us righteous. Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "As the sun back on Earth sets on the year 2020, we onboard the WDC Constitution are orbiting the planet
 .The specimen the landing party brought back asks "Why did God make people different colors?" Why do you think God made people different colors?" I don't know that God created us in different colors. I know that he created Adam and then let nature take its course. I personally think Adam and Eve were Black and then as man spread across the globe the different amounts of sunlight led to different adaptations in skin pigment. I believe God knew this and allowed nature to take its course. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Happy New Year!": Happy New Year and good riddance 2020. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "What New Year's tradition do you have? Is it a specific dish? Do you play board games? Watch sports games or the parades?" I usually write or work. Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2159373 over display limit. -?- Image #2164523 over display limit. -?- Image #2191828 over display limit. -?- |
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