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   "Prompt: “Every day is a good day. There is something to learn, care and celebrate.”― Amit Ray, Walking the Path of Compassion What can you find to celebrate today?" If I have nothing else to celebrate, I celebrate the fact that God woke me up today. I could have died in my sleep, which is the way I hope to go. I just am in no hurry to get there. I like life because it gives me the chance to tell others about Jesus. It is also a chance to give a strong warning that COVID-19 is just the beginning. If the world does not repent we are going to face more disasters. People resent me saying that God causes or allows these disasters to get their attention. People who do that obviously do not know Old Testament history. God was constantly raising up armies to conquer other nations and sending plagues and famines and disasters upon the world. Now is no different. Man is more permissive now than we have ever been. We pass law after law legalizing and putting a state sanction on sin. As long as we do that we can expect to be hammered and hard. God is not going to be mocked. It doesn't matter whether anybody believes in Him or not. He is a just and holy God who wants a just and holy world. Like any good parent He is disciplining His children and no discipline is ever pleasant. If millions die they will die. He owns them anyway! The only choice is to repent. Repent or the disasters will keep coming! Prompt: "What inspires you about April?"Everything about April inspires me. I lived in Parkersburg WV and St. Mary's WV most of my life. April there was a time of renewal. Trees were usually beginning to show their first leaves. Life was starting to come out of its long winter slumber. Now I live in Barboursville WV, about 2 hours south of Parkersburg. April here sees the leaves fully in bloom and I love it. The weather is usually perfect with the exception of some cold or rainy days, but I have never seen snow here in April. Now it is nearly May and it's beautiful around here. If I knew how to do it I'd upload a picture from my cellphone and show you the view from my window. The green is sparkling and vivid. Life has returned to the dormant trees and it's beautiful. I want to go outside and play in the sun, but I have writing and other things to do. Prompt: "I will get tomorrow's prompt out early in the morning, promise!Every once in a while, more often maybe, depending on your location, power goes out. Do you have easy access to candles or flashlights? Do you know where they are? When was the last time you checked that your flashlight worked or that you had matches with the candles for when the lights go out? Describe where you keep them." I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville Wv. We have generators that automatically kick in if the power goes out. It usually acts like it was just a power surge or something. The lights barely flicker. I have a flashlight but have no idea where it is. Candles are not permitted here because they are a fire hazard.    |
| Prompt:"Tell us about what you always wanted to do if you had more time at home. Have you done, will you do it?" I haven't really been a homebody for the past few years. I spent years cooped up at home during my time as a drug addict. Now I want to leave home and spread my wings so to speak. I did hitchhike a lot back them but you can't do that anymore. I guess the cut of it is that I don't want to do anything at home. I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home now and home is a dorm room. Even under quarantine it is hard to keep me nailed down. I go out and sanitize rails in the hallways and staircases to have something to do. I will be staying home more in the future because I start graduate school at Regent University online in May. I will be on here most of the time then. In fact, I need to get some notebook paper so I can take notes. I have some ordered. It just has not arrived yet. Staying home and doing nothing is a scary proposition to me. Doing nothing is boring, particularly to somebody who is prescribed 60 mg of Adderal per day for narcolepsy.Without it I sleep all the time. On it I am a whirlwind constantly doing something. My usual routine though is to sanitize everything to keep my fellow veterans from getting sick. Believe me when I say the guys appreciate it. Many of them aren't in good enough shape to do it and some are simply lazy. The ones who cannot do it are all the time thanking me for doing so. I tell them to give the glory to Jesus because He is my motivator. I don't fear catching COVID-19 because I have a strong immune system and would barely get sick. I was one of the victims of the Hepatitis A scare locally a few years ago as were some other veterans. They were very ill from it and I did not even jaundice (yellow) from it. COVID-19 would probably not harm me, but I do not want to give it to others whom it could harm. |
| Prompt: "Use these random words: marine, damn, chauvinist, crew, sulfur,unfix, and edition in your post today." There are some words here that I do not use in my everyday language such as "damn". I will tell you though that God will damn sin to hell. A lot of people say "I can't believe in a God that will send anybody to hell. That is their choice. The fact of the matter is that God gave us all free will and He respects our decisions and choices. If we want to say He doesn't exist just because we see Him as a tyrant He will respect our choice. I respect people's choice to blast my blog as homophobic because I said that God calls homosexuality unnatural and sinful. Those are not my words. They are God's words. Read it for yourself in Romans 1. 20 and following. I'm sure you liberals can find a Bible. You probably have one collecting dust someplace. They call me a chauvinist because I voice God's word. They say that "times have changed" and they believe that to mean that God's opinions need to change with the times. "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever", Hebrews 13. He is not going to change His mind and say "Well, I was condemning sin before it became politically correct to commit it, but I've changed my mind. You people go on and do whatever you want." Another fact is that just because somebody says that God does not exist because they have never seen Him does not mean it is true. I could say "I have never seen the ocean so I don't know if marine life exists." We all know that is a ludicrous statement just as saying God doesn't exist because you don't agree with His rulings is a ludicrous statement. God does exist and He will cast people into a lake of burning sulfur as a punishment for sin. You cannot unfix that once it has happened. Whether you want to be part of God's crew or part of a crew committing murders in abortion clinics is up to you. Just know that sin brings death. COVID-19 in my opinion is just the beginning of sorrows. Prosperity preachers and liberals preach peace when the Bible is clear that there is going to be no peace. The Bible has proven reliable for thousands of years and is just as applicable to life today as it was when it was written. Wake up people! There is no new edition condoning abortion, homosexuality, gossip, murder, theft, deceit, or any other sin! I know the liberals are going to say that this blog is homophobic and full of hate and venom. They always do because the fact is that sin hates exposure to the light. I want to clarify here and now. I LOVE HOMOSEXUALS. What I hate is the sin of homosexuality just as I hate gluttony, which I am often guilty of. None of us are perfect. If we were capable of being sinless then God would not have taken human form and died a human death on the cross for our sins. He did die though and He wants, no He demands that we repent. Prompt: "Staying at Home: Up We Go!Dig Deep. Share your best, most profound uplifting words of wisdom for those who have become disheartened and down." I wish I could give some words of encouragement, but the fact of the matter is that I do not see any of this ending well. The US Government is sending out stimulus money like it is confetti. The fact is that for each dollar they spend, they devalue the dollars in circulation a little more. I got my stimulus check and still have a portion of it left. I'm keeping that portion because I expect that $5.00 hamburger to go up to eight dollars in short order, if not higher. We will all need that stimulus money. The fact is however that if somebody wants a word of encouragement I can tell them what I do. I get my strength from Jesus Christ. I am disabled both by physical disabilities and mental disabilities. I have coronary artery disease, epilepsy, diabetes, traumatic brain injury from a skull fracture, and several other conditions including rheumatoid arthritis in my knee. Despite all of that I still manage to clean all the handrailing in this several hundred thousand feet compound. I sterilize the stairwells five days per week. Each stairwell has seven flights of steps minimum and there are nine such stairwells in the complex. I do them every day because I don't want my fellow veterans to get sick and possibly die. I don't worry about myself catching it because viruses don't seem to bother me very badly. I've had hepatitis A and all it did to me was ruin my appetite for a while. I even had parvovirus from working in a dog pound and it did not make me very sick. I don't worry about me. I love my fellow veterans though and will do everything in my power to keep them safe. I get my motivation and strength from my faith. I believe that Jesus Christ lives in me and I know that as the Apostle Paul put it in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." I do not believe this virus will go away for a while. I believe it is manmade at God's behest. God has always used man to bring man to repentance. In the Old Testament He used many nations to bring Israel to repentance. I believe He used the creators of COVID-19 to bring us to repentance. He is furious over sin. Yes I point out Obergefell VS Holmes and Roe VS Wade as two sins that God is angry with, but I single them out because they are state-sanctioned sins. Idolatry was the state-sanctioned sin in the Old Testament and the prophets preached about it more than they did any other sin, just as I will single out gay marriage and abortion as state-sanctioned sin. This does not mean that I hate homosexuals as I have been accused of. I love everybody, and that includes homosexuals. In fact I know and associate with many homosexuals. I just do not condone the sin of homosexuality and more than I condone my own sin of overeating. I will pray for the homosexual just as quickly as I pray for fellow gluttons. The fact is that we are all sinners. If we were not sinners Jesus would not have died for us. Since He died and raised from the dead three days later, He lives in my heart. He can live in yours too. If you want you can invite Him to do so right now. Just bow your head and talk to Him. He'll hear you. Romans tells us "For however calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved", Romans 10:13. Call upon Him and rely on His strength. He will provide just as He gives an old man with a heart condition, renal failure, high blood pressure, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, bi-polar disorder, and myriad other problems the strength to sanitize millions of square feet five days per week. Just pray. Here is a suggested prayer: "Father God, I know I am a sinner. I realize my sin is separating You and I. I ask you to forgive my sins God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. Help my belief to become stronger. Honor my feeble faith and help me believe. I repent of my sin God, knowing that I will not be perfect in this lifetime. I want to live for you and do your will. Come into my heart and be my Savior. In Jesus's name I pray. Amen." If you said that prayer and sincerely meant it then you are saved. The angels in heaven are celebrating over you right now! Send me an email and let me know so I can add you to my prayer list by name. "Prompt: Write about either a figurative mountain or a literal mountain."I live in West Virginia, which is the Mountain Sate. The fact of the matter is however, that we have no mountains in West Virginia if you go by the literal definition of a mountain. A mountain is defined as a hill that is at least 5,000 feet in height. The highest point we have in West Virginia is Hawk's Nest State Park and it tops out at 4, 280 feet. I guess the Mountain State has no mountains. Isn't that ironic? I have many figurative mountains in my life though. One figurative mountain God has placed in front of me is college. I graduated from Mountain State College in Parkersburg WV with an academic associate degree in Dependency Disorder Technology. Since Dependency Disorder Technology is a psychology field I transferred to Ohio Valley University in Parkersburg. many colleges would not accept my credits from Mountain State due to its accreditation. Ohio Valley College had formerly been accredited by the same body so they took a percentage of them. I eventually transferred from Ohio Valley University to Marshall University where I finished my baccalaureate program. I did not earn the psychology degree I started but instead used those credits toward my regent bachelor of arts degree. I graduated that program in December 2019. Now I am enrolled at Regent University in Virginia Beach VA in the Master of Divinity program, Chaplaincy Core. I will graduate hopefully in 2023. This is a mountain for me because I have traumatic brain injury. My skull was fractured and I had a compression fracture to the seventh cervical vertebra in my neck as a result of a car wreck. I was sitting at a stop sign when a man rear-ended me doing close to ninety. If I had not been wearing my seatbelt I would have been killed. The only reason I was not paralyzed as a result of the neck fracture is because there was no spinal cord involvement. Anyway, the head injury makes it difficult for me to learn certain things. I have to focus really hard and usually read the same thing several times for it to sink in. Graduate school will be a challenge to me so it is my figurative mountain. I know I can do this however because I have an ace in the hole. My ace is my friend Holy Spirit. He goes with me everywhere and has seen me through every situation we have ever encountered. If you read my previous post for the 30DBC you see that Holy Spirit gives me strength to do things that should be impossible for me. I climb and clean hundreds of steps on a daily basis. It is not my job to do so. I do it to keep the COVID-19 virus from killing some of the people I live with who have compromised immune systems. I love these guys and Christian love compels me to do the sterilizing daily. Today is Saturday so it won't be done today. Saturday and Sunday are my days off. Chances are good that I will go out later and do it anyway. I did last weekend as well and the one before that. It is a labor of love for me. image:2098718-33%} |
| Prompt: "Selfie — tell us what you love about yourself." I love that Jesus Christ lives in my soul. I love that people know that Jesus Christ is in my soul. I don't know how many of the people around here have commented about seeing Christ living in me. Believe me when I tell you that I was a scoundrel at one time. Then Jesus changed me. He wants to change us all into better people. Sin kills, maims, and destroys. It has no good results. Corporate sin has destroyed the value of the products we buy. Abortion kills thousands of innocents every year. Gay marriage is an affront to the God who said "Be prosperous and multiply exceedingly." Sin is just evil. No matter how you explain it or rationalize it, it is wrong and it is evil. Prompt: "Staying at Home: Merit MailPick one and write a letter (or note) to your: mail carrier, delivery person, local first line (emt, fire, police, hospital staff)" Dear First line of defense. Thank you for saving lives. You were underappreciated and overlooked. Now you're in the limelight. Prompt: "What were your three favorite children’s books when you were a kid?"I always liked biographies and read a ton of them as a child. I read extensively so it is hard to pinpoint any special read although "Robinson Crusoe" stands out in my mind as does "Wizard of Oz" and "A Tale of Two Cities." I did not read "Great Expectations" until college, but Charles Dickens is one of my favorite authors. ANNOUNCEMENT: I just opened my own blog. It is a Christian blog at https//:www.wordoflifechristianministrieschurch.com. Stop in and kick the tires a few times. |
| Prompt: "Staying at Home: Wall Talk These walls are made for talkin’! The popcorn’s poppin’ and we’re all rubbing our hands together in anticipation of what we’re about to read. We’re ready for the whole story, no matter how funny! Are ya ready, walls? Start talkin!" I don't know if the walls are interested in Biblical interpretation or not. That's what I'm reading now. Prompt: "Write a post inspired by the weather..."I can't really think of much. I've been working and I'm sweaty and hot. Perhaps a brief poem about winter weather will do the trick. The weather I speak of is not typical for my part of West Virginia but in the mountains it's common. Snow blowing atop the mountains Clouds billowing up its slopes The blizzard is howling on the peaks Storms like this are winter hazards Days on end perhaps for weeks. "Prompt: Discipline creates lifestyle. Use this phrase in your Blog entry today."I agree that discipline creates a lifestyle. I believe in the fact that some of God's greatest gifts are the hard times in our lives because hard times discipline us and make us into better people. Jesus did not have an easy life. Yes. He was the adopted son of a carpenter and carpenters and tradesmen were as close as His age could have to a middle class. Yet He suffered tremendously I am sure because He lived among men and was subjected to all the horrors of sin. We do not have to be sinners today. We can choose to live disciplined lives if we want. |
| "Prompt: Almost everyone is wearing some type of mask when they go out in public. Hove you seen any of the homemade masks? Have you seen any unusual or interesting masks? Describe them." The West Virginia National Guard is making masks for employees of the State of West Virginia and for first responders, nurses. and health care workers. The masks are designed with a dual filtering system and were originally designed by a college here in West Virginia and tested by other colleges here. They cover the mouth and nose much like a regular surgical mask, but have a special added filter. I'm sure they have shared the technology and others will be seeing them soon. I'm happy to say that something is working in West Virginia. While death tolls in surrounding states have reached into the hundreds, West Virginia so far has had only nine deaths. They expect that number to rise and as our governor Jim Justice said, the nine we lost were nine too many. We expect to be back to normal by the end of May. With a pandemic though you never know. My heart goes out to anybody who has suffered tragically over this. I spend a good bit of my time working with the housekeeping department here at the Veterans Home. In fact, the custodian for my floor came in today and had nothing to do because I had already finished it all. He went to another floor and worked. I figure that if my efforts help save somebody's life then it is well worth my time. I have seen some pretty bizarre masks though. They had one mask on Facebook that had what looked like lace webbing to holding it in place. Then I have seen people wearing bandanas, but I don't think that would work well. I did see one mask that looked like the person was wearing a gas mask. I believe that is overkill. Prompt: "Staying at Home: StorytimeWhich items in your home have a story of how they came to be there." Everything I'm my home has a story but my television has the fondest story of all. I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville WV. They purchase Christmas gifts every year. In September they asked me to give them a list of what I wanted for Christmas. I told them that all I wanted was a shirt, a pair of pants, and a pair of boots. When Christmas came I got all of that and a 39" flat screen television. Prompt: ""White lips, pale face, breathing in snow flakes" - These were the opening lyrics from the very first time most people heard an Ed Sheeran song, and since then he's gone from strength to strength!If you were writing a song lyric to show your strength what would it be?" If I were writing a song lyric to show my strength it would showcase my faith in Jesus Christ because He is my strength. People don't understand. The kingdom of God is an upside-down kingdom. What we humans view as weakness is actually a strength. Love is a strength. Faith is a strength. Willingness to serve is a strength. |
| Prompt: "Do you actually use all the rooms in your house all the time? For example, I have a formal living room I never use. Why do you think we build houses with unnecessary rooms? What if you were to re-purpose that room (or space)? Share your idea." I have a one-room cubicle that I live in. It's about the size of a dorm room. It's actually a two man room but I have it all to myself. I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home where I am the floor leader for Delta 2. That is the second floor of D building for you civilians. A floor leader is much like a residential assistant in a college dormitory. I am here to help the other veterans in any way I can. Today I am cleaning the bathrooms. I don't mind cleaning bathrooms or wiping down the stairwells. I am a server at heart so doing something I know may help somebody else is what I like doing best. I love serving disadvantaged populations and am working to obtain my peer recovery support Specialist certification here in West Virginia and my national peer support specialist certifications. I also love to guide people so I am working to earn my Master of Divinity degree so I can obtain my chaplain's license as well. My little cubicle is fine for me and I wouldn't have it any bigger. I have enough space for everything I need. It doesn't take a lot of room to relax or study, as any college student can attest. That's all the room I need. "Prompt: Write a short story or a poem about a Zonkey."I would but I don't know what it is. I guess maybe you're referring to me with my narcolepsy. I could go to sleep anywhere. I've even been known to go to sleep on my feet. It gets pretty bad if I don't take medication for it. I have probably seen a donkey or two in my lifetime. Narcolepsy can cause you to dream while you're wide awake and that leads to seeing some pretty wild stuff. They have a special term for those types of hallucinations but I forget what it is. I just know seeing zonkeys or anything else that isn't supposed to be there isn't fun. Prompt: "Tell us a funny story about an animal. Have fun, let your imagination sweep you away."I really know no funny stories about animals. My muse is on hiatus. However there is one I wrote once. Here is the link.
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| Prompt: Hello Everyone! We’ve all made it through another week of staying home in self isolation. I hope you find my 7 prompts interesting and fun and helpful in getting through this next week. 4/12 Staying at Home: Daydreaming The good the bad and the ugly things about your house have been getting on your last nerve. Today fate has smiled on you. You’re the recipient of a 1 or 2 room renovation on your favorite Home-Reno show. It will be at no cost to you and will (of course) be completed in an hour. Which show would it be? Which room (but not more than 2 ) would you redo? Smile for the cameras, and describe the experience. Well I'm smiling for the cameras, but they aren't doing any renovations to my house. I like it where I am and I'm perfectly happy with it. What they can do is give my renovation to a Salvation Army Corps somewhere. I'm sure they can use an upgrade, especially during this pandemic when they are giving out food faster than they can store it. Now if you really want something to blog about, let's talk about what happened on this day 2,020 years ago when Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty. Jesus rose from the dead just as He prophesied that He would do and just as the prophets predicted. He conquered death once and for all! |
| Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "How are you finding community in these locked-down days?" I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home, a domicile for veterans in Barboursville WV. We all stay six feet apart but aside from that not much has changed. Of course we stay here. We don't go anywhere but here. I haven't been to work in three weeks. I've been cooped up here at the home. However I have plenty to do here. I voluntarily wipe down every hand rail in the place throughout the day. That's a two hour job in itself. It keeps me busy and it keeps the virus under control. We have nobody here with it thus far and we hope to keep it that way. Today is my day off so I won't be wiping rails today. They will be done by somebody else. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Use the following words in your blog entry: tea, educate, flat, cap, allow, quirky, pipe, and deceive." I try to educate myself a little more all the time. I hold an academic associate degree from Mountain State College in Parkersburg WV and a regents bachelor of arts degree from Marshall University in Huntington WV. I am enrolled in the M. Div program at Regent University in Virginia Beach VA and will graduate from the in 2023. I plan for everybody to eventually address me as "Doctor" as I sit drinking my tea. I am in a flat spot right now because I am between semesters. I have my textbooks for next semester however and am getting a jump on the reading. I can't wait to wear my cap and gown. I hope you will allow me to share about it in the future. I'm sure some of this graduate stuff will seem a little quirky to you but that is expected, especially if you haven't been to college. I'll try to pipe down a little if I get too far out there or offend anyone. I don't mean to anger or deceive. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Easter is typically a church service and family gathering, maybe for some Easter Egg Hunts. Unfortunately, we are having to re-think our activities. I've heard some folks say they're scheduling make up days at a later point. What about you? How are you handling this holiday?" My church is not meeting. However I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home where I am the chaplain. The guys and I will meet tonight for Bible study, maintaining our distance from each other. Then we will hold chapel tomorrow. We are quarantined here on the hill as we call it and have been since early on. The chances of us catching it are slim. We don't leave the hill so we are safe with nobody coming in. It will be business as usual. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "How would eight year old you have reacted to being quarantined and kept out of school and society for so long?" I probably wouldn't have given it much thought. I grew up on a 198 acre farm in the middle of nowhere. Our nearest neighbor was 1 mile away. We didn't see a lot of people anyway. I seldom looked forward to school either so I wouldn't have given it a second thought. I'd have just gone and played or something. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Tell us a flash fiction story about a boy in a red hat." A boy in a red hat went down to the river to swim. The water was so muddy looking that he decided against it. He started back up the bank when he lost his footing. He rolled down the hill and splashed into the filthy river. He raised up spitting and sputtering with a fish in his hand. "Let me go," the fish called. "If you let me go I'll grant you three wishes." The boy let the fish go and went about his business. "I wish I had some dry clothes on," the boy said. Suddenly his clothes were dry. "Wow," thought the boy "the fish really did grant me three wishes. I wish I had more proof." A sign appeared in front of him. It told him he had one more wish. Now he knew for sure. What would he do with his third wish. He could wish for money, health, anything. He wished he could make up his mind! Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Write a post inspired by this word: moving" I always hated the task of moving. My ex-wife wanted to move every few months. It got rather tiring. I hated it. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- |
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