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"November 12, 2019"   Prompt: Veterans DayI am a veteran who lives at the West Virginia Veterans Home, which is an assisted living facility/domiciliary for veterans. I love the guys I live with and would argue or fight for any of them. They are some of the best people I have ever had the pleasure and privilege of meeting. They show their metal all the time. I served briefly in the US Army and was injured in basic training so I did not get to serve long. Most people tell me that serving at all was a big step, even if I was injured and discharged. I just know that I appreciate the veterans who sacrificed and really did serve. Today I serve in a different army. I am a soldier in the Salvation Army, an international evangelical organization. The idea for the Salvation Army is based on the fact that the Apostle Paul says that Christians are an army. The founder of the Salvation Army, General William Booth, was a Methodist minister in London England who began converting alcoholics on London's skid row. When he took the converts to his church, his church rejected them. General Booth then rented a hall and continued to preach to the alcoholics and continued to make converts. In time he asked his son what they were going to call their army of Salvationists. His son said "The Salvation Army" and the movement was born. To be a soldier in the Salvation Army one signs a covenant that you will behave a do certain things and abstain from others. For example you will value the sanctity of marriage and abstain from alcohol and intoxicating substances. I have been a soldier for nearly two years and it has changed my life.    {2187984-33%} |
| "November 6, 2019 late entry" Prompt: "Was there a time you wanted (or needed) to say something, but kept quiet?" I do that a lot. You see, I am a Christian. It is my duty as a sworn soldier of Jesus Christ to preach the gospel at every opportunity, yet there are times I do not do so because I feel it would be inappropriate to the conversation or context. As a soldier I should never worry about that. It's none of my business but I am always afraid I will look foolish. More than that, I don't want the church or God to look foolish.  |
| "November 5, 2019 Late entry" "Prompt: Use these words in your entry : herald, dawn, pivotal, light, and shadows." I am still hoping to win blogger of the week so I will be working toward that today. I herald a new day in my life. A day when I will spend many Saturdays catching up my blog. I work from dawn to dusk 5 days per week now and it is hard to find time to blog and catch some shut eye! It is pivotal for me to be working because I have been a full time student for a year and could not work. Now I am a part time student and full time staff! I see little light when I wake up because it is 0dark30 (0430) and the sun is not yet up. The shadows are still looming. Pray for me! Pray I become accustomed to the schedule. I didn't answer some prompts this week. I will be entering them late. I have been working all week. I work as floor leader at the West Virginia Veteran's Home where I also live and I work wearing multiple hats at Huntington Salvation Army, including community outreach coordinator, welcome sergeant, adult Sunday school teacher, peer support specialist, and men's club treasurer. I have put in nearly 35 volunteer hours this week as well as 8 hours paid and 12 hours at college. I have not had much time to do my blog and hope to catch up today. |
| {entry: "Prompt: November 9 to November 14 is the International Week of Science and Peace . How do you think technology affect international peace?" You asked that question early in the morning when the cogs of my brain haven't even started churning! I believe that technology has a profound effect on peace. The world avoided nuclear war because the country leaders all understood that pushing the button as it were was mass suicide. Even the radicals know better than to unleash technology because it may mushroom into something that nobody can win. I believe technology will someday turn on us however. I believe some self aware machine is going to come along who realizes just how flawed humans are and it is going to try to eliminate us.  Prompt: "What is the best book you have read lately? Is this an author you've read before? Do you tend to read everything an author has written if you like their work or is it a book by book basis?"I have been reading mostly my text books for college. No! I do not recommend them. I am a history buff but even my history book puts me to sleep! |
| "November 8, 2019" Prompt: "Write An Open Letter. It is “A Letter To My 16-Year-Old Self”. With this, think about all the things you'd tell your younger self to help them through the things you went through." I wouldn't do this even if I could. I like who I am today and if I did that I might change something and no longer be who I am. Sorry! I'll leave that one alone. |
| "November 4, 2019" :Prompt: What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen in November?" My bed is the most beautiful things I've seen. I started a new job and it limits the amount of time I get to sleep. I am the floor leader or what most colleges would refer to as a "resident assistant" here at the WV Veterans Home and I am working as a peer support specialist with the Salvation Army Huntington Corps Pathways of Hope program. Pathways of Hope is a groundbreaking effort on behalf of the Salvation Army to break the curse of generational poverty by meeting needs to end the cycle of poverty. There is an old proverb about the difference in giving a man a fish and teaching the man how to fish. We teach people to fish. It's just that I get up at 4:30AM and my body is not adjusted to it yet. |
| "November 2, 2019" "Prompt: November is Native American Heritage month. Please use the following quote as your inspiration. "Everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence." – Mourning Dove Salish" While I disagree with Native American spiritualism, I do agree with this quote. Somebody said once that truth can be found almost anywhere. It is true that we all serve some purpose. I don't believe there is any such thing as a wasted human being. Some humans make themselves into a waste, but we all have value and serve some purpose. My purpose right now is to be the floor leader of my domitory and to be a Salvation Army soldier and community outreach coordinator for my corps. I will also be working as a peer support specialist with the Salvation Army starting November 5, 2019 though I am already serving in that capacity unofficially. Our grand opening is November 5, 2019. I think it has actually been changed to November 6, 2019 to coincide with the first official day of our kettle season. This is red kettle season for the Salvation Army. Be sure to drop something in the kettles when you see the bell ringers this year! Trust me when I testify that 100% of your donations goes to help the needy. I would not wear the Salvation Army uniform if I did not believe it was 100% legitimate! I love serving others and I have a chance to do so all the time as a soldier in the Salvation Army. Mourning Dove is 100% right. We all have a purpose. Our purpose is to serve God and serve our fellow man. We also have a second purpose in life. Our purpose is to serve and to love Jesus Christ. God did not originally make man self-centered. Sin entered into the heart of Adam and self-centeredness became the nature of all men who followed. We were originally made flawless and innocent however. We served God and had direct fellowship with Him. Then Adam sinned and man fell. Jesus came as a human and died for us. If anybody does not know about Jesus Christ hit me up and I will tell you the greatest news you have never heard. Most people reading this have a passing knowledge of Jesus. Many do not have a personal relationship with Jesus or if they do it is not a kindled, on fire relationship. The love of Good reigns in my heart. I know this because I actively seek opportunities to give to others. I don't have much money but when I do have money I often give even that. What I give is my time and my service. I get up every morning looking for opportunities to serve. I became the floor leader or basically what colleges would call a resident assistant here on my floor at the West Virginia Veterans Home so I can have the opportunity to serve the men here. The job does pay $85.00 per month, but believe me there are much easier ways to earn a little cash. It requires me to get up at 0430 every morning to make rounds with the nurses at 0500. I also have the dubious honor of cleaning up any body fluids the guys spill if housekeeping is not available so it isn't worth the $85.00! What makes it worth it is that I get to serve. Jesus put me here to serve others. If I am not actively seeking a way to step outside oof myself and serve others then I am missing my purpose in life. Mourning Dove nailed it by saying our purpose is to serve. Mourning Dove added that every plant has a purpose and that there are herbs for healing. I will agree with that. I believe we have probably destroyed the cure for a lot of ailments with the rain forest we are destroying. Man is often his own worst enemy. Plants hold the key to many problems if we know where to look. Prompt: "When did you first know you were truly loved?"I know you are looking for a romantic answer to this prompt, but the answer you are going to get from me is going to be based on my faith. I am in love with Jesus Christ. I love Him intimately and I know that He loves me way more than I can ever possibly love Him. I know this because He chose to leave the glory and privilege of Heaven and the fellowship He had with the Trinity to become a baby, grow into a man, and die the death of crucifixion for me. I know He died for the entire human race but if I had been the only person whom it would save He still would have done so. Why? He would have done so because love compelled Him to do so. I didn't understand that love initially. I have grown to catch just a glimpse of it. I feel it every day in my heart. I serve as a soldier in the Salvation Army today. I serve because I have the heart of Jesus and that heart aches for the downtrodden, the lost, and the forsaken. Homeless people are a population I work with a lot. I wouldn't have it any other way. Getting up in the morning and putting on my uniform is a special time for me because the uniform means something to me. It makes me a part of a movement that started at the cross 2000 years ago. Yes. I know the Salvation Army itself was started in 1865 by William Booth. The benevolent side of the church was started at the cross though. It started actually in the Garden of Eden. The cross was the culmination of God's love for man. My prayer today is that God continues to feed His love to my heart and continues to let me express thst love to others. Next week I officially take my position as a peer support specialist/case manager with the Huntington WV corps of the Salvation Army in our Pathways of Hope center. Pathways of Hope is a center we built to help break the curse of generational poverty by helping individuals and families find housing and gainful employment. We will do that by meeting basic needs and arranging for education, training, and whatever is necessary to become independent and dependent on Jesus Christ. It is quite an undertaking and as far as I know the only program of its kind. I am elated and humbled to be part of it. I could not and would not be part of it if I had not been loved by Jesus first. Jesus is my best friend and my Master. I am happy to call Him "Master" even though slavery has such a negative connotation. I am happy to be a slave of Christ because whether we accept it or not we are all slaves. We are either slaves to Satan and sin or we are slaves to Christ and righteousness. There are no other ways. People can deny Christ if they want to. I did the research. I have checked out the sciences:physics, archaeology, astronomy, and many others and I am convinced that the one fact that history supports more than any other is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Romans witnessed it, Josephus mentioned it, and many other historical documents prove it to be true. Denial is a sure way to separate oneself from God. People will ask how a loving God could send anybody to hell. A loving God is not sending people to hell. A loving God sent His Son to die on a rugged cross so that nobody would suffer in hell. If anybody goes to Hell it is because they chose to go there by denying Jesus Christ and the resurrection! |
| "November 1, 2019" Prompt: "They say death comes in threes. For me this year I've lost three dear friends and my grandson. My question to you is: How often do things happen in your life in threes? Examples: three lucky card draws, three winning numbers in the lottery, three births or three deaths. Do you think there is something symbolic or magical about the number 3? Have you tried using it in your writing? https://www.copyblogger.com/rule-of-three/" Things do seem to happen in threes, which is symbolic of the triune God. I don't claim to understand nor will I try. I know by faith that God is three persons but one God. Aside from that three is not special.It has no magic power. Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- |
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