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"November 19, 2018"     "Prompt Write a thank-you letter to God, Santa, Thanksgiving Turkey, Pilgrims, Indians, or anyone else you wish. Tell why you are thanking them and how much their support has helped you in your life."I thank God every day of my life even if it's only for waking me up. The Apostle Paul told us that we are to be thankful in everything. He set the bar pretty high by the example he set. You see when he told us to be thankful in everything he was in prison. Prisons in his time were dungeons where the prisoner would be chained to a wall and often go for days at a time without food and water. So if Paul could be thankful in those circumstances then it behooves us to be thankful in whatever circumstances we are in. Hardships are a gift. We never see them as such when we are in the midst of them but we always grow from them. Hardship to a human is like manure to a plant. We need a good size scoop to keep us growing! So I thank God everyday, especially for the trials. I usually tell Him that I'm not sure what He wants me to learn but I know He wants me to learn something. So I am thankful in all things. Now as far as thanking a turkey, I don't know if I want to do that. I'd feel like a bit of a hypocrite for saying "Thank you for allowing me to eat you Turkey." I'm sure that if the turkey had any other choice it would not be on the table! So I don't want to thank the turkey. However I will thank God for providing the turkey! I also thank the veterans I live with for providing me with freedom. All too often that is taken for granted. "Prompt: Write about forgiveness."What excellent blog prompts today! The blog prompts from both forums have been wonderful today! Forgiveness is an absolute must for us. Jesus tells us that forgiveness is a must as well. He says "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will forgive your trespasses. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive your trespasses," Matthew 6: 14-15. I know myself well enough to know that I am not perfect. I sin a lot. As a sinner I stand in need of God's forgiveness. Now I learn that forgiveness depends totally on my willingness to forgive others! Yes I forgive no matter what the offense is on the same conditions that God forgives me. God's conditions are simple: One must be truly repentant. Since I cannot judge the heart of another to determine if they are truly repentant or not, my duty is to forgive no matter what. I forgive as if my very soul depends on it because guess what? My soul does depend on it! I need God's forgiveness! Besides it is much easier to forgive people who have harmed me than it is to carry that many ton bag of grudges around with me. Many people cannot make progress in their lives because of all the garbage they choose to drag around with them. It's very tiring to carry all those grudges and grudges build walls that isolate us from others. So not only is it tiring but it's also very lonely. Some of the best friendships I have came to be because I made amends with another. I usually find that once I start forgiving and loving on people I find the same being returned. It's refreshing and invigorating. God knows that forgiveness helps us way more than the person being forgiven and that is why He commands us to forgive in order to be forgiven.    |
| "November 17, 2018" "Prompt: The holiday season is here. If you celebrate winter holidays, write something about the one that is your favorite. If you don't celebrate this time of year, write something about the favorite holiday you celebrate." I have long hated all holidays. They are an opportunity for people to get stupid and lazy and really serve little good. I realize that people need to let off a little steam but the ways we do so are counterproductive. God has holidays He wants us to celebrate and those holidays occur on the first day of every week when we observe the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Any other religious holiday is man made and actually prohibited by God's word. God says clearly that we are not to add anything to His word. Read Galatians 1: 8&9 and Revelation 22 for confirmation. Human holidays are not authorized by God. In fact most holidays were originally due to the Catholic church compromising with sin. The former pagans in the church wanted to revert to paganism because paganism celebrated the solstices and many other "feasts" that Christianity did not celebrate. Some such holidays were the winter solstice, which occurred the last week of December (Christmas) and the spring solstice (Easter). Halloween was another compromise. The former pagans in the church wanted to continue these feasts so Rome compromised and Christianized these celebrations. The winter solstice was used to celebrate the birth of Christ. (If one follows the stars formations and the first appearance of the special star announcing His birth the date would have been June 17, not December 25.) The spring solstice became a celebration of His resurrection (Easter), which is actually suppose to be remembered and celebrated each first day of the week or every Sunday. The fall solstice or celebration of the dead became Halloween. The list goes on. Some pagan celebrations that are a little more minor were turned into holidays celebrating saints such as Valentine's Day. The fact is that none of these celebrations are found in scripture because they are not authorized by scripture. Sure they are fun and most of us spend them with family. It doesn't hurt to take a break from time to time. I just think everyday services should be continued such as mail and business. If necessary show some real holiday spirit and hire extra staff. After all the holidays are about sacrifice so sacrifice some profit margin! Prompt: "What's your favorite holiday/ seasonal movie? Does it include a cherished tradition with family? What made it special for you?"Miracle on 34th Street is my favorite holiday movie followed by any version of Dicken's A Christmas Carole. These two have become classics that I watch every year if possible. I like all versions of the above, the older versions are my favorites. I like Dickens because he shows how a human heart can be changed, although he doesn't give God credit for that change. I like Miracle on 34th Street because the little guy or the underdog wins in this one. The corporation and the establishment try very hard to shaft the old man and he wins against all odds. These movies are classics. My least favorite story is a Christmas Story. I just never could get into it. Some of my new favorite classics are the Home Alone series. No matter how many times I see poor Marvin getting the snot beat out of him by a little kid I laugh my rear end off. Funny is funny and those movies are hilarious. |
| "November 16, 2018" Prompt: "On this day in 1959 "Sound of Music" musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II first opened at Lunt Fontanne Theater, NYC, for 1443 performances. What's your favorite scene or actor from this famous musical? Why? Was there a song that spoke to you?" I know nothing about the musical "The Sound of Music". Musicals were never something I liked so I wouldn't have gone if tickets were free. Prompt: "Do you agree or disagree? “A woman should be a wild one; always stomping on eggshells that everyone else tip-toed on.” -Kaitlin Foster What do you think Ms. Foster was suggesting a person should do?"I think she is saying women should assert themselves and I agree. I believe in the women's rights movement. I just don't like seeing people become so militant they push their agenda ahead of everything else. [image:2118746-33%} |
| "November 15, 2018" [image:1971183-25%} Prompt: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." With that in mind, what's beautiful to you?" Beauty to me is getting out of my room and enjoying life. I am a student at Marshall University and I am kept very busy. That is why this blog entry is a day late. I may continue to be consistently late with my entries because college has to be my priority currently. Blogging and writing have to go to the back burner though I will catch up as soon as I can. I do not want to give up my blog altogether. I believe Jesus Christ uses my blog to spread the gospel so I am unwilling to give it up. However I can only play catch up some days. "Prompt: "The world does not belong to us. We live within its borrowed spaces, in this brief moment in time, this present wrapped for us." What are your views about this?"I would have to agree. As a Christian my Bible teaches me that this world is not my home. I am only passing through it. I am a soldier stationed here doing spiritual warfare for the Holy Spirit. So yes this world is borrowed. {image:2098718-33%){image:2118746-33%} |
| "November 14, 2018" Prompt: "let's have a little fun with sci-fi . Our character lives in a world where every single person’s DNA is carefully genetically designed for something to help the community. Our main character despises what they were created for. This has never happened before. Have fun! " I know I am supposed to write a sci-fi here but it's three[thirty in the morning so I think I'll pass. However I recently read a Star Trek boook called "Eugenics Wars", which was the story of the Star Trek nemesis Khan. It told how genetic engineering had started out as a good cause and basically went south. One thing I know we will never figure out a way to engineer is human emotion. Pride is the root of many sins and it was pride that led to the Eugenics War in Star Trek. The sad thing is that I can see just how such a war could be a real possibility in human history. Man would rise up against man if one viewed the other as inferior. Look how many times it has happened without genetic engineering. Man is not meant to play God. The role is already taken. "Prompt: "I had always imagined Paradise as a kind of library." Do you agree with this? Write anything you want about this."I live at the West Virginia Veteran's Home in Barboursville WV. I once spent all of my time reading books. I read everything from Westerns to Science-fiction. I must have read 30 books during that time. I became so sick of reading that I felt like I would become physically ill if anybody suggested reading as something to do. So I went to college to finish my degree in hopes of going to work. I don't want to work because I need the money. I want to work to have something to do. Yes my paradise was a library but believe me it gets old really fast. So paradise would never again be a library to me. If heaven is a library then send me to the other place! |
| "November 12, 2018" "Prompt: The problems we face cannot be solved at the same level at which they were created. ~ Albert Einstein What's your take on this quote." I tend to agree. Most human problems are due to sin and sin cannot be resolved on the human level. Jesus Christ is the only solution to sin. I'm sure this wasn't what Einstein had in mind but it's my take on it. 'Prompt: What does the phrase “You are the Master of your own Destiny” mean to you? With the contradictory politics in every place on this world, family obligations and interferences, and life events that keep happening on their own, how is it possible for us to be masters of our own destinies?"All humans are created by God. The souls we now possess will return to God. God will judge us on whether we ever had a relationship with Jesus Christ. Those who did will go on to an eternal heaven and those who did not will go to eternal damnation. In this respect we are all masters of our own destinies. |
| "November 12, 2018" "Prompt: Innumerable mythologies of the world resemble each other as the dialects of a single language. ~ Joseph Campbell What do you think?" I think that whether you believe the Biblical account of the Tower of Babel or not, it stands to reason to believe that man shared a common language at some point in history and that all languages sprang from common roots. It is also reasonable to assume that many of the stories handed down would share similarities because many of them have the same origins. Get a group of people together, say 100 people, and divide them into four equal groups. Whisper the same story to one person in each group and have them whisper it to another. See if the story told by the 100th person in each group is not altered but similar to the original. |
| "November 10, 2018" Prompt: "Sunday is Veteran's Day, let's honor the men and women who have served by mentioning either someone you know personally or a poem, a simple thank you letter, it's your blog you know what will work the best.{ Thank you to all the men and women who have served or are serving./b}" I live at the West Virginia Veteran's Home, where I am the chaplain. I live with 85 other veterans who are all heroes in my eyes. These guys are the family that I don't have outside of here. Yes I have blood family but haven't talked to most of them in years. The veterans here I talk to everyday. I have developed lasting friendships with many of them. Yes I will celebrate Veteran's Day. I will spend it with my family of veterans! "Prompt: November 10 is National Forget-Me-Not Day. Use this day or the flower to inspire your blog entry."I don't know a whole lot about forget-me-nots. My wife's favorite flowers were roses so I didn't buy much else. I have bought forget-me-nots but I have forgotten what they even look like. I guess I can't help a whole lot. |
| "November 9, 2018" Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Bill Bryson says,"Dictionaries are sometimes remarkably out of step with the rest of the world on certain matters of usage and orthography." Do you agree or disagree with his assessment . What's your favorite go to Webster or Oxford?" I seldom use a dictionary. For one thing have a pretty extensive vocabulary and don't need one. When I was in jr high one of my professors made us all copy words and definitions out of a dictionary. I remember hating it but I am now so glad I did it. I learned a ton of my vocabulary that way. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "What's the difference between an ordinal number and a cardinal number?" I honestly have no clue! I am not a math major nor would I ever dream of being a math major. I suck at math. Now if you ask me to explain a Bible passage to you we can talk because the Bible is my field of expertise. I am also a psychology major so I know Skinner, Piaget, Freud, Maslow, Rogers, Bradshaw, and a number of others in both counseling and learning theories. When it comes to math however I am deplorable. I couldn't tell you the difference between an integer and a sum. Sorry. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- |
| "November 8, 2018" Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- [image:1971183-33%} Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Let's talk about the approaching holiday season, do you have family traditions, social commitments or do you do your best to avoid it all because of the commercialized aspect?" I use to avoid the holidays like a plague because the holidays, with the exception of Thanksgiving, are basically Catholic compromises with paganism. Christmas for instance has been celebrated for several thousand years as the winter solstice. Believers felt that their idol died in December and that was why everything was so bleak and the days so short. The sun was dying. Therefore their worship at the winter solstice encouraged the god and it came back. When Christianity came on the scene these celebrations stopped. People who were pagan wanted to revert to paganism due to their wishes to continue the celebrations. Who doesn't like a feast? So the church created a special mass called the Christ Mass, which has since become Christmas. Therefore I don't like Christmas but my church has outvoted me. My church, the Salvation Army, also depends on Christmas as most of our funding for social programs comes from the red kettles, which actually start tomorrow! So go out and stuff your spare change in a kettle and I promise not to be too hard on Christmas. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: "Books are the movies of the mind." Sue Grafton Do you agree with this quote?" The short answer would be yes. I agree. The reason I agree is because when I read I escape to whatever scene is taking place as I read. I feel the characters feelings and see the world through their eyes. Some may call that the practice of empathy but to me it is just the experience unfolding as the author describes it. So yes, books are the movies of the mind, particularly the author's mind. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- |
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