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   Prompt: "Use this line in your blog today, "Mama said, life is like a box of chocolates." but...it's your blog have fun..." I could be a smart aleck and say that Mama said life was like a box of chocolates, but I'm allergic to chocolate! I won't do that though. I'll just go back to the one who originally made the statement. Forrest Gump's mother was the one who told Forrest that "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." I have to agree with her. We never know what life will bring our way. We can have some pretty good guesses based on what we currently know, but we truly have no idea. One thing I do know however is that no matter what life brings my way God and I can handle it. With Him on my side there is nothing I can't handle. I like to compare life to being a passenger on an airplane. Passengers on airplanes don't beat down the door of the cockpit, demand a refund, and bailout if the plane hits turbulence at 30,000 feet. They may complain and they may even panic, but they don't quit flying. Life is the same way. God knows we are going to have some emotions if we encounter rough weather. If there is a tragedy in our family we will grieve. We will cry. We will be angry and very likely we will be asking "Where was God in all of this? Why did God allow this to happen?" All of those emotions are natural. God understands them. Remember that He was a man at one time living among men. He was a carpenter which means He had His share of smashed thumbs and splinters along the way. He knows suffering just as we know it, both physical and spiritual. We suffer spiritually when somebody wrongs us and we forgive them and once more extend trust, knowing that they will likely hurt us again. Jesus extended fellowship and trust to Judas even though He knew Judas would betray Him. We extend trust and forgive those we know are using us. Life is indeed like a box of chocolates and we never know what we're going to encounter in it. The one thing we do know in life is that God has it all under control. Even when the consequences of sin and the world's fallen state bring the storms of chaos and devastation into our lives we know that God has a reason for allowing it. We can trust the Pilot. Prompt: "Use a famous movie line in your blog today, but don't tell what movie it is."I don't really watch a lot of movies or television. I have way better and more important things to do with my time than that, such as this blog. My television is connected to my computer by HDMI cable and I use the television as my monitor. It is seldom ever used to watch shows or movies. When I am not writing in my blog I am writing in my journal or reading my textbooks. Today I will be doing a writing assignment for class next week. I do recall one famous line from a movie and I will use it to close this blog. As the actor said in the movie: "I'll be back." Prompt: "Take a look at this list of values: https://liveboldandbloom.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/400-personal-values-list...Pick your top ten values and rank them based on how important they are to you. Then, write about the values you chose and if any have changed throughout your life." First of all the above is not an exact quote of the prompt. The exact quote had a link it it that wouldn't work so I fixed the link. I think I have strived for all of these at some point in my life and still strive for them on a daily basis. It is really difficult to narrow the list down to any given ten. One that stuck out to me was "affluence". I don't know why it stuck out like it did. I think perhaps I was thinking of influence and it reminded me of it. I know that I hope and pray that my life has a positive influence on others. Jesus told His followers to let their light shine so that the world could see it. By light, of course, He was referring to the positive influence in their lives. I consider myself a disciple of Jesus and try to let my light shine. "E D U C A T I O N" is an important one to me. I hold an academic associate degree in dependency disorder technology from Mountain State College in Parkersburg WV, a Regents Bachelor of Arts degree from Marshall University in Huntington WV and a BA in Ministry from Christian leaders Institute in Spring Lake MI. I am now a Master of Divinity student at Regent University in Virginia Beach VA. So education is important to me. S E R V I C E is important to me as well. I believe Jesus called us all to serve one another freely. He made it clear that He had come not to be served but to serve and that we should do the same. S E L F L E S S N E S S is important to me because I want to be like Jesus. he put Himself at the very bottom of the list and served both God and man. L O V E is the driver of all the others. Love wants what is best for its object. R E A D I N E S S means that I am ready yo preach the gospel in everything I do. Sometimes I even use words to do so but usually I preach through my actions. W I S D O M is something that I have acquired through years of experience. H U M I L I T Y is a word that has taken on all the wrong definitions. Humility in Biblical terms means being open to being vulnerable to others. You allow them into yourself. D I S C E R N M E N T is important because if one is to give another comfort they have to be able to honestly identify and relate to the pain. C O N T R I B U T I O N is an important part of being human. It needs no definition but a point of clarification is that one contributes more than just money. D I V E R S I T Y is the last one I choose because life is missional. We need to get out of our little circles and experience life through the eyes of others. ** Image ID #20987118 Unavailable **   |
| Prompt: "What are you studying in your free time? Share your new knowledge with us." I am a student so I never study in my free time. I spend most of my work day studying. I am studying to be a chaplain. I am in the Master of Divinity program at Regent University. The classes I am taking right now are "Spiritual Formation 501" and "Graduate Foundations 500" and "Biblical Hermeneutics 600". Spiritual Formation is to help Christians become more mature Christians. As is the case with most college level classes it is geared toward younger people. I am 59 so I'm pretty much aware of my spiritual gifting, personality, etc. The class helps Christians identify where they are positioned in the body of Christ. I'm still learning a lot from reading the textbooks, but so far they seem to be agreeing with many of the things I have known for years. For example my textbook "Kingdom Living" written by a think tank called TASK or Theological and Cultural Thinkers says that the focus of the church has become altered from its original focus. Modern thinking is eschatalogical or end times thinking. We are so certain that the world is ending soon that our focus is on getting souls saved only. We fail to "disciple" those souls or teach them how to be apprentices of Jesus once they become saved. Instead they are often given some very brief instruction on spiritual disciplines (go to church, read your Bible, and pray) then stored in church somewhere. Church has become more about big crowds and buildings than it is about true Christian living. Then we wonder why so many Christians are viewed as having dual personalities: the personality that does the religious stuff a few times a week and the personality that is no different than the rest of the world. I agree with them 100% and have always agreed with them 100%. I have spent my entire life trying to figure out what the key to Christian living was. I knew in my heart that I was being exactly what I hated most: a hypocrite. I would go to church. I would pray and read my Bible. I would do all the religious stuff. Then I would live exactly like the rest of the world and feel guilty and condemned for doing so! I didn't have any idea how to practice Christianity. This went on for years and I must have rededicated my life to God and promised to do better a billion times. I was baptized at least a dozen times. I was trying to live the Christian life. Things got continually worse and I began using drugs. I used for decades taking amounts that were extremely toxic and lethal. My drug of choice was the antihistamine benadryl or diphenhydramine as it is called generically. I would take up to 3,000 mg of it at one time when the typical dose is 50 mg. At one point I was taking 3600 mg at one time just to keep from having a severe histamine reaction. There is no withdrawal to speak of but the body becomes accustomed to the large doses of the toxin and your natural resistance to allergens shuts down. Once the drug is stopped you feel like you have been put into a gas chamber and CS tear gas has been released. You have a severe attack of hay fever multiplied exponentially. I used the drug for decades but never really lost track of my religion. I went to church regularly and did all the right "religious stuff". I still had no idea how to be a Christian. Then I used for the last time on Sunday February 8, 2009. I don't recall what I used. I just know that the next day I went to a popular 12 step program and begged for what they had. A man took me under his wing and taught me what he had done to stay clean. He taught me how to work the 12 steps. By the time I was halfway through the steps I realized that the steps were all drawn from the Bible. They were Christian living wrapped up in a non-Christian package! They taught all of the principles of the Bible: faith, love, forgiveness, repentance, religion, character, dependence on Holy Spirit, everything. What is more the 12 step programs did not just tell you the things to do they actually showed you how to do them! At last I had found the key to practicing what I preached! I no longer attend 12 step programs but not a day goes by that I do not practice the 12 steps. Now I do them as a routine part of my Christian practices. The primary thing I learned from the 12 steps is total and complete reliance on Holy Spirit. Without His help and His power I could not possibly live the Christian walk. Christianity is an impossible on human effort. It is a partnership between humans and God. The textbooks I have been studying reiterate that fact. I have also been reading a textbook on Biblical Hermeneutics. Hermeneutics, which the spellchecker here does not recognize, is the art/science of Biblical Interpretation. Again the book taught what I had suspected all along. The Bible is a very old book or collection of writings composed thousands of years ago. In order to properly understand it we must throw out our modern biases and read and try to understand what the author who wrote it was saying and interpret what he was saying the same way the ones hearing it when it was published would have heard it. Where it says for example "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain" Deuteronomy 25: 4 repeated in I Timothy 5: 18 we have to understand what "treading out the grain" even means. Some people today have no idea about the culture or technology that was available to Moses who first wrote this passage. An ox was used to pull a wheel that rolled over and over wheat, barley and so forth to separate the grain from the shell. If we did not know that we may assume it means the ox (if we even know what an ox is) is walking loose in the wheat field and we are to let it run loose. The people of Moses day would have understood Moses to be saying that the ox should be permitted to eat as it pulls the wheel that grinds the grain. Graduate Foundations 500 is a class that teaches you how to be a graduate student. I had a similar class in junior college that taught good study habits, time management, etc. It was one of the best classes I ever had. For example it hammered home the idea that in order to properly learn material from class I would have to spend an average of three hours studying at home for every one hour I spent in class. If a class met twice a week, I would have to spend six additional hours studying the material for that class alone. Being a student is indeed a full time job. In graduate school you usually take two or no more than three classes at a time or 6-9 credit hours. For each online class the recommendation is to spend an additional 19 hours studying the material and completing assignments. Graduate Foundations is a writing intensive class and each student is required to write a term paper using the writing format of their profession of choice. I am a student in Regent University's School of Divinity. Scholars and researchers in this profession use Turabian format AKA Chicago format to write papers. Formats are very important because the papers you write use citations and material from research papers written by other professionals. If they are not given proper credit for the work one could be found guilty of plagiarism which is a crime and ethically just wrong. As writers we all understand copyright violations and being misquoted. Turabian Format, APA format, and MLA format make sure that people writing term papers in college are not found guilty of these violations. Graduate Foundations 500 teaches all new graduate students how to use the formats of their respective fields. I was basically a psychology student in my undergraduate career. Every paper I wrote used APA format. Most undergraduate professors allow students to use the formats of their respective majors, regardless which format the professor's field uses. I used APA all the way through. Now I have to learn Turabian. If I become a professor, which I hope to do eventually, I will also have to learn MLA. Graduate Foundations is about writing. Prompt: "Start your entry today with the words: “I used to believe...”I used to believe that living the Christian life was totally impossible. I didn't think anybody could do it. You see my mom had nine children so sometimes she would exaggerate things to keep us in line. When I became a Christian she made a statement to the effect that I had to be absolutely perfect from then on or I'd surely die and go to hell. I spent the next 20 or more years trying to live up to that ideal and falling well short of it. I lived in guilt and shame for the longest time because I had misinterpreted scripture just as my mother did. There is a passage in the King James Version of the Bible which literally reads "Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect...", Matthew 5:48. I misunderstood this scripture. I did not realize that in Elizabethan English or King James's terms, the word "perfect" had a different meaning than it has today. To the King James interpreters the Greek word "telios" which they translated as "perfect" means "mature". It did not have the same connotations as "perfect" does today. I thought Matthew 5: 48 meant that I was to be perfect and without sin. Of course I fell well short of that mark and kept beating myself over the head with the fact that I fell short. I didn't need to go to hell because emotionally I was already living there! This went on for decades until I broke down and told an elder in the church that there was just no way I could be a Christian. I was going to hell no matter what I did so I was just going to surrender to it and enjoy whatever debauchery I wanted to indulge in before I went. The old elder looked at me with compassion and asked "What makes you think you cannot live as a Christian no matter what you do?" I explained to him my interpretation of Matthew 5:48 and he nearly cried. After he composed himself he told me about the differences in Elizabethan English and modern English. I was relieved to find that I did not have to be sinless and God was not keeping a tally sheet of good VS bad as I had thought. It took a non-Christian or group of non-Christians to teach me the basics of Christian living. I was into drugs at the time and sought the aid of a popular 12 step program to quit them. A "sponsor" in the 12-step program, along with the whole group, taught me how to "work" or live the steps. It did not take me long to realize the principles of the 12-steps are all based on the Bible. I learned the steps and how to live them. One of the very first steps teaches total reliance on God. Since then God and I have walked hand-in-hand. Of course, I still fall way short of the mark and sin every day either by doing something I know is wrong or by not doing something I should. The difference is that now I know I will never be perfect in this lifetime. Instead I continually grow toward perfection. "Prompt: Endure and Let Go. Use these terms in your Blog entry today."As I was saying in the entry just prior to this, I had to learn to endure and let go of a lot of misconceptions and screwed up notions in my life before I could begin to trust Jesus and grow in the grace of Holy Spirit. I had some really wild ideas that nobody but God Himself could have lived up to. I set myself up for failure.I like the phrase "endure and let go." It reminds me of a slogan that was hammered into my head by 12-step text thumpers. That slogan was "Live and let live." What it came to mean to me was that I must live my life and let others live their lives. Often my life and that of others are going to overlap. Sometimes those overlaps are not positive, uplifting experiences. In fact, they often are not. Let's face it. Humans are self-centered creatures. We live in a fallen world that does not come anywhere close to the utopia that God created it to be. Sin entered God's utopia and man's focus was taken off of God and put on himself. This inward focus often means that people do each other harm. That harm may be intentional or it may simply be the result of the fallen state of the world. Either way life can be difficult. It gets even more difficult if I am unable to forgive and live suspecting everyone of everything. If I expect to be screwed over every time I turn around that is likely what I am going to get. I prefer to live in love. I try to extend trust to everybody and see the basic good in humanity and the world. I trust Holy Spirit and when the storms of life rage, I trust Him to get me through them. Nobody ever boards an airplane and then exits the plane if turbulence strikes and the ride gets bumpy. Instead they grit their teeth and allow the crew to fly the plane. So it is with life. I expect turbulence to come along. In fact, there are days when the "turbulence" is more like Hurricane Katrina. I don't exit the plane! I gri my teeth and trust my Pilot (Holy Spirit) to get me through it. He always does.  |
| "Prompt: Write an entry describing your perfect dream life." My perfect dream life is pretty much the life I have been living. It is a life of grace, love, mercy. and all other blessings found in Jesus Christ. It is a life of community and one of service. If I am not doing something to physically serve others then I am writing something or instructing in some way that will help. I believe service is the definition of love. It is love in action. Prompt: "Write about an object you own that has negligible monetary value, but is priceless to you."I had to ponder on this one for a moment or two, but then I came up with the perfect answer. I have a bamboo rod over here with a little hand at the end of it that I use for a back scratcher. I wouldn't take anything for it. It has no real monetary value. You can pick them up in a lot of novelty shops, but I have found mine to be priceless. I have a bad thyroid, which results in my getting patches of dry skin. Sometimes that dry skin is on my back and it drives me insane. I use to step outside and rub my back on the corner of the building because the bricks of the building have a flat edge. Then one of the guys here gave me the backscratcher I have because he had two in his room. It has been one of the best gifts I ever received. It's just a stick cut out of bamboo with a hand on the end. The total monetary value is probably $1.00 or less, but to me it is priceless. If it falls behind my nightstand or under my bed I go into panic mode thinking somebody took it. Of course, nobody took it. I simply misplaced it. I go bonkers without it though. Prompt: "Use humdrum, ample, enchanting,cooperate and platform in your entry today. Have fun!"There is usually nothing humdrum about my day.It starts at 0450 seven days per week for morning role call. Then I may or may not lay back down for a while. A lot of times I will get up and journal for a little bit. Yesterday I wrote ten pages in my journal. Today I may write ten more or I may not write another for a week. After that I start my blog, which some of you may or may not find humdrum. I give myself ample time to write it because I only type with two or three fingers. I type very slowly. I took two typing classes in college but never did figure out how to get my speed up very much. I find typing and writing enchanting though and spend a lot of time doing so. If I could get my fingers to cooperate I'd be a lot faster than I am. I also think I need a better desk than I have. I use a mess hall table for a writing platform and it doesn't do my arms and wrists much good, especially with a straight chair. |
| "Prompt: Cinco de Mayo: Do you celebrate it? Do you know the story behind it? Do you find it to be a fun holiday, and why do you think it is more popular in the United States than in Mexico?" I've heard of Cinco de Mayo but I don't celebrate it. It is Mexican Independence Day I believe. It would be similar to the Fourth of July celebration. I think it is celebrated in the US because people in the US are party animals. We would celebrate the grand reopening of Mt. Vesuvius if there was one because we like to party. Cinco de Mayo doesn't mean anything in my opinion. It is merely an excuse. The Mexicans don't celebrate it because they lack the nationalism so prevalent in the USA. We're a proud, cocky people. We are very patriotic, where I don't think Mexicans have such a sense of national identity. Most countries don't. Prompt: "Find a local news story that makes you feel something. Share the story along with your opinion on it in your blog."In order to do that, I would have to watch the local news and I personally could not care less about the talking heads and their opinions. It has been a long time since news reporters stuck to the facts and simply reported the news. Around here there isn't too much happening anyway. Most of the time the news is about the weather and my bones tell me all I need to know about the weather. If my right-hand hurts during the winter it is going to snow. If my knee hurts anytime, it is probably going to rain. If my bones aren't hurting clear weather and warm temperatures are coming. I did see one news story that captured my attention. There was a fire in town and a man and three children were killed in it. My heart goes out to the family and to the firefighters/first responders who were on the scene and made the discovery. The news reported that and for once all they reported was what was known of it. They did not blabber on for five minutes with somebody's "expert opinion" trying to tell me what I should or should not think. I will watch news that simply reports the facts if it is anything important. The local news is usually not much more than a weather forecast and traffic report. If you watch the first five minutes you catch everything important. The rest is perhaps the latest city council zoning meeting or something that means nothing to me. The world opinion I absolutely won't watch. With the world news you have to pick a side because you know the biased reporting is only going to be the reporter hosting a panel of so-called experts either supporting your opinion or telling you how stupid you are for believing it. I ignore the world news altogether for that very reason. The days of Walter Kronkite are over. He would just report the facts and let you figure out what you wanted to do with the information. "Prompt: Use these words in your blog entry: rain, clouds, valley, taco, turkey, smartphone, and wind."It is supposed to rain here today. So it is funny that the blog prompt would be about rain. Of course it is still early May so we have some lingering April weather (rain) hanging around. The clouds are usually fluffy and white this time of year in an endless blue sky, but if it rains they will be gray and hazy. The sun will still manage to peek through and it's likely a rainbow will appear. They're frequent this time of year. I can always see the fog gathering in the valley below us on summer days and sometimes during the winter as well. The facility I live in is at the top of a hill overlooking the remainder of the town. It can be a spectacular view at times. I particularly love the view in the summertime because the hills around us are all green and beautiful. On holidays they will line our driveway with American flags, about 25 of them, and set against the backdrop of the green hillsides it is breathtaking. More than likely though I will have a taco for lunch today. After all it is Cinco de Mayo and this place, like most others in America, does not miss an opportunity to celebrate. We especially don't miss an opportunity to eat and who doesn't like Mexican food? I haven't seen the menu so I don't know, but I suspect we will have tacos for lunch or supper. I may take mine and sit at the picnic table so I can enjoy the pitter-patter of the rain on the tin roof. It will be my luck that they will fool me and serve turkey for lunch instead of tacos. If so I guess I could use my Galaxy X smartphone to order pizza or something. Part of the quarantine has been lifted on us. We are now permitted to leave the facility for a limited number of hours per day, and we can order meals for delivery now. Before deliveries were not allowed. I personally think the wind of change has blown. Some think we will go back to "business as usual" once this pandemic is over, but I think it has made some significant changes that will remain in place. I would be surprised if it is not recommended that we wear masks, sanitize our hands, and practice social distancing even after the pandemic. I mean these are not bad ideas. my niece had leukemia and the chemotherapy had her immune system very compromised. She could not hug or anything. Social distancing and the practices we have now could still save lives even during non-pandemic times. I'd say the wind is definitely shifting toward that. |
| "Prompt: With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. Eleanor Roosevelt Let this quote inspire your blog entry today." I would have to agree with Eleanor. Every new day presents new opportunities to grow and expand as human beings. It also gives us new opportunities to create. I do this blog everyday. It gives me a way to get my brain functioning for the day. I also keep a personal website, which is a Christian blog. I am revamping it all the time. When I first wrote it I went about it all wrong and homosexuals and other minorities felt attacked by it. I took that page down and rewrote it so that it is much more inviting and loving. I realized that what I was doing before wasn't working. I had basically meant to point out man's lax, laizze-faire attitude toward sin and instead came across as condescending and bigoted. That was not my intention. I took all of that down and rewrote the entire page. I would love to have some feedback. It is located at https://www.wordoflifechristianministries.com. I am going to do some more work on my church website today. Watch for updates daily. I bought a one-year subscription to w wordpress blog and will be adding new stuff daily. I think this was similar to what Eleanor had in mind when she said "With a new day comes new strength and new thoughts." Of course she did not have my website in mind. The Internet did not exist when she said those words. What she had in mind was that each day we are given a new slate to do with what we want. I choose to use my new slate to be creative and preach the message of Jesus Christ. Like everybody, I make a lot of mistakes and have to fine tune my thoughts. Sometimes a rough draft gets posted when it shouldn't and I have to fine tune that. Usually though I try to take a positive approach to life and approach each new day as a new opportunity to excel. "Prompt: Which fictional character would be the scariest and which would be the most boring to meet in real life, for you? Tell us about them."I think the scariest fictional character to meet in real life would be somebody like Michael from the Halloween series or Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street or Jason from Friday the 13th. Those guys were real psychos. Of course I also don't think I'd want to encounter Joker from Batman or any other of the bad guys. They play their roles and I guess we need them to give life balance, but keep them distant from me. I don't need their negativity in my life. As to the most boring person to meet, that would have to be Don Juan or some of those other romanticized characters. Romance plays it's part in life but I am not a hopeless romantic. I forget birthdays, anniversaries, etc all the time. Holidays are nothing special to me. Christmas of course is special but that is about the extent of my holidays. Prompt: "Describe your cooking or baking ability. What was the last thing you cooked/baked that you we’re proud of? Are you a recipe-follower or freestyle?"(There is no apostrophe in "were".) The last thing I cooked that I was really proud of was Thanksgiving Dinner several years ago. I went all out and made everything one could possibly want. If anybody left hungry it was their own fault. The food was delicious and plentiful, even if I do say so myself. The one thing my mom insisted on was that her boys know how to cook. She always said she wanted us to be able to cook in case we married wives that didn't know how or were too lazy to do so. She would pull us off our work outside to teach us how to cook and do other such tasks, most of which are purely common sense to begin with. I am able to cook anything and I do not necessarily follow recipes. I guess we all use recipes since there are always certain ingredients we include, but I seldom measure anything. I'll add until I think it is enough, taste it to see, and add more if needed. I don't think there is anything I cannot cook. I currently live at the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville WV and they do all the cooking here. I seldom complain because the food is usually good. It usually is pretty close to anything you would get in a deli or restaurant. I don't think I could beat it if I tried so I eat it. I really wouldn't have another choice though because I am unemployed and have no income other than the floor leader position and pay they give me. It is only $2.00 per hour for five hours per day. That doesn't amount to a whole lot of cash. However I also consider the free room and board they give me part of my pay. If you calculate the worth of the average rent in these parts it is roughly $1,000.00 per month. Then if you calculate the value of three meals per day from a deli, it adds another $20.00 per day. When you add all of that together the average of my pay goes up tremendously. I figure I earn roughly $14.00 per hour, which is much better than most. So I gladly accept the $2.00 per hour stipend I receive and do extra work around here to see to it that I earn my keep. I go out every day and sanitize door facings, handrails, and stairwells throughout the building because I get paid to do so in my opinion. Every time I close the door to my private room or eat a meal I figure I am being paid. It may not be cash but it has just as much value. In answer to the prompt, I am an excellent cook because I was taught to be a good cook. I don't cook currently but that could change and it is nice to know that I can if I need to. |
| Prompt: "What do you do you relax and unwind in the evening? Paint us a picture of your ideal relaxation." That is an excellent question. You see I have narcolepsy, a neurological disorder that causes me to fall asleep easily. I can literally go to sleep on my feet. So I take Adderall to keep me awake. Due to my body chemistry and tolerance, I take the maximum dose of Adderall during the day. It does a wonderful job of keeping me awake, but there are times when it over does its job and keeps me awake when I need to be sleeping. To compensate I take a sleeping medication called ambien. I take it at eight PM and go to bed. I put on my CPAP mask (yes I also have sleep apnea) and curl up with a good book. I have been reading my college textbooks recently. I am a graduate student so the topics are things that interest me. I'll read for about an hour as the ambien begins to work. Then when I begin to relax, I will put the book down, turn off my light and pray for awhile. Sometimes I don't finish praying because I will wake up and it's 4:50Am and time to work. I am the floor leader of floor D-2 of the West Virginia Veterans Home. One of my responsibilities is to do morning rounds with the night nurse, who does bed checks and role call. After that I go back to bed for a while or simply start my day. I take my first dose of medication at 6:00Am so I often simply stay up. I do my blogging in the morning and prepare for the day. Starting Monday May 11, 2020 I will be in graduate school at Regent University in Virginia Beach VA, where I am an online Master of Divinity (seminary) student in the chaplain's concentration. I enjoy counseling and serving others and feel Jesus has called me to do spiritual counseling. I know some don't believe in Jesus or they have no relationship with Him. I do and I want to please Him with my life. His presence and blessings are the most real thing in my life. Today is Sunday so I will be teaching Sunday school and conducting chapel services today. Don't worry. We practice social distancing in chapel and everybody wears masks. We are being very careful with COVID-19 in the vicinity. There are only four or five who attend chapel so we meet in my room, which is bigger than the chapel. We spread chairs six to eight feet apart and don't shake hands or anything. Tonight when I go to bed I will again do my routine and relax myself to sleep. |
| Prompt: "What one fictional character would most like to meet and talk to? Why? What would you like to ask?" If I could meet any fictional character, it would be "Pip" from "Great Expectations". I would have to ask him if he was out of his mind for not taking the fortune offered to him. If I read the ending to the story properly he turned it down because of his shady benefactor. To be honest though I would have taken it. Of course I live in a lot more permissive age and in our culture you don't question where money comes from. I suppose that if I knew 100% certain that money I was receiving was blood money I would turn it down as well though. I think Pip considered the money he was getting blood money and the idea did not sit well with his conscience. I really don't blame him, but he could have been set for life. I would also like to meet Superman. I would have to ask him why he doesn't put Lex Luthor some place where he can't escape. I know he broke out of every prison he was ever in so why didn't Superman do away with him? Surely having somebody murder as many people as Lex did would call for the death penalty? Just do away with the clown and get it over with. "Prompt: The Flowers of May."The flowers of May in West Virginia are one of my favorite sights. The first flowers that come up around here are usually the ones Mom always called "Easter Lillies". The fact of the matter is that they are not a Lilly at all but that was what she always called them. They can be either yellow or white and usually grow wild. I have seen whole hillsides or fields covered with them. According to the Internet they are actually daffodils. I just know they are the first flowers to break into bloom in the spring and they last a couple of months. Here is a picture. ** Image ID #2220886 Unavailable ** There are lots of other flowers that bloom in spring, and May is usually the month they all become the most plentiful. The dreaded dandelion comes out and is a very pretty flower in a sense. Violets are out as are clovers and other flowers. Bluebonnets grow. Everything grows in May. The skies are usually blue with fluffy white clouds that look like you could walk on them. Nature comes alive. May flowers blooming and growing Mother nature her beauty showing Life shows no sign of slowing May is beautiful in my knowing. Blooming trees and birthing fawn Birds laying and hatching eggs at dawn People mowing and trimming lawns Winter stifling sleepy yawns. May showing nature at her best Slowly putting winter to rest Doing this all at God's behest Sun now sinking in the west. Slowly things will come to life Winter cold has lost its knife Sun shining ending all strife I sit and watch it with my wife. Prompt: "Finish this line : One of us is lying and one of us in next...."Ah, a prompt I could do just about anything with. Unfortunately, I have some other things I have to do so I can't take the time to do much with it. I am reading a textbook for college and learning a lot from it. It is about Biblical hermeneutics or if you will, the art of interpreting the Bible. I have always known for example that the words "Take up your cross and follow me", had a whole lot different meaning to the disciples who heard it than it does to us. To us it means "Be willing to endure persecution for my sake." To the disciples it meant "Give your very lives in the most horrendous way known to man for the sake of the gospel." So yes, "One of us is lying and one of us in next" week's class is going to have his homework done before the class even starts. |
| Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Do you have a green thumb? Share some gardening tips. Or some gardening mishaps!" I suppose I have a green thumb. The last garden I raised was years ago. I ended up having to abandon it because my family moved and I moved with them. I was just a lad at the time. However I had taken a spade and dug up a garden space, The soil was extremely rich because their was decomposing wood in the ground there. The soil was practically black it was so rich. My neighbors all came in an harvested the stuff I planted. They ate off of it all winter that year. I find that I do better at human relationships than I do with plants though. I try to actively listen when people are talking. I give compassion where compassion is due but I also give a kick in the rump if needed. Of course I won't physically kick anybody, but figuratively speaking some need a swift kick to get their brains started. I view humans as having a lot in common with plants though. Like a plant we grow best in the valleys of life. Nobody likes those valleys because most of us aren't masochists, but the valleys are good for us. We do our best growing under fire. Any farmer knows that if you want to farm you need valley soil. It is richer and has a better water supply. Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Tell us something uplifting! We need good news now more than ever. What is something positive that happened or is about to happen in your life? What has made you smile recently?" It may not work for everybody but what makes me smile is my faith. I feel the presence of Jesus Christ in my life on a daily basis. I have found that with Jesus at my side there is no mountain I can't climb. All of my battles are won before I get there. Yes. I still put in the effort. God has never worked in a vacuum. He has always used man to accomplish His bidding. I suspect he will continue to do so. However my faith is strong. I believe there is plenty of historical evidence to support that Jesus rose from the dead. I believe there is plenty of evidence that God's word, written by over forty people over a 1600 period is flawless and timeless. Yes. My faith puts a bounce in my step and a smile on my face. It is what keeps me going every day. Holy Spirit gives me the energy and the motivation to want to volunteer to sanitize everything throughout this pandemic. I have some help with the job I do, but for the most part I do it alone. I do it because the love of God burns in my heart. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "What is the first thing you see in the morning? Is it the last thing you see at night?" The first thing I see in the morning is the darkness of my room. I get up at 0450 every morning because I do rounds with the nurses to do bed checks. The last thing I see at night is darkness because my room is typically dark. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- |
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