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Created by the talented [Link To User poulynoe]")  }   Prompt: "Hello Everyone,Prompt, Saturday, November 28, 2020 Proverbs 3:25-28 Be Kind and Generous to Others. 25. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. 26. For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken. 27. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. 28. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give when thou hast it by thee." God is letting us know here that if we obey His will, He Himself will be our protection. Evil will not be able to overtake us for God is in our corner. There are of course some stipulations to this. We can't just live any old way we want. We have to live God's way. If somebody asks us for something and it is in our power to lend it we are to lend it. We keep no records and if we get it back we get it back. Otherwise, God will get even. We don't put somebody off if it is in our power to help them. We help them on the spot. This is God's way.  Today while on a routine mapping mission, we found Angelina Wilson   The port is
I have definitely been misjudged. I was hitching a ride through a town once many years ago. A sheriff's deputy pulled over and asked for my ID. I gave it to him and he ran it and left. After he pulled out he went down the street, did a u trun and came back. He jumped out with his shotgun trained on me and told me to get on the ground. He arrested me. I asked what was going on and he said I was wanted for half a dozen charges including robbery and murder. I knew he had the wrong person but I cooperated with him. He took me to the jail and put me in a holding cell. Fifteen minutes later he came back and apologized for arresting the wrong person. He said I fit the profile and my name was similar to the man they were looking for. He had misjudged me. "Prompt: Use these words in your post: fir tree, owl, snow, ornament, crystal, and clouds."I have a fir tree that I am using for a Christmas tree. I have an owl sitting on a branch of it. The snow is deep outside. I need to put another ornament or two on my tree. One ornament is pure crystal. There is a scene on the wall behind my tree covered with clouds. Prompt: "We're officially in holiday season. What are you doing differently than past years?"I am not doing anything for Christmas this year. I may go down to the Salvation Army and volunteer for a while. image:2187503-50%}        |
| } Hello Everyone, I hope your holiday was great! Prompt, Friday, November 27, 2020 TUYC Proverbs 3:21-24 Be kind and generous to others. 21. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: 22. So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. 23. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. 24. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Aren't these beautiful verses? What is God saying to you? God is saying that if we trust Him and walk in His ways we will always have peace of mind and will not have overwhelming fears and anxieties. Usually when I find myself anxious over something it is because I have walked away from God in some way. I may have forgotten something very basic such as forgetting that God is in control and that no matter how chaotic things around me may look, everything in God's world happens for a purpose. God uses all of it, my mistakes as well as my perfections to help me grow. I can be so far off base that I could never find my way back and God will use it to better me. The lesson may be not to do that again, but God uses it all. Wisdom is knowing that God is always in control. People ask me all the time how I can remain so calm when everything around me is falling apart. I often have a peace about me that is beyond understanding. Nothing rattles me. This is because the wisdom in me has taught me that God continues to be in control and that it will work out for the best. Even disasters help me grow spiritually. In fact, I invite suffering for I have found that humans are like plants. We need a huge helping of manure in our lives in order to grow. Today on the way back from our Thanksgiving break we encountered a star the captain has never seen before. It was (131) . We went down and explored a planet where revenge seems to be the name of the game. The port was
This brought the captain to ask the question "Why do some people seem so set on vengeance and getting "even" with others? There was a time when I lived to get even with others. I carried a million tons of resentment inside me. Little did I know at the time that the only person my resentments were hurting was me. The person I was angry with never gave the situation a second thought. They went through their life without ever thinking of me and they were on my mind all the time. Resentment is like dragging a huge ball and chain with us everywhere we go. The person we resent is going about their normal affairs never giving the situation a second thought. Our resentment does not punish them one bit but it certainly punishes ourselves. We ruminate about them and plot ways to harm them and to what ends? The best things we can do is just consider that they are sick individualls who do sick things and let it go at that. DEon't allow the anger to consume us. I have a sister who is still angry with me because I watched her son one night when he was an infant and he peed himself just before she picked him up. I did not have time to change his diaper. She got angry and has remained so over that for 25 years. I guarantee you I have lost no sleep over her anger. It only hurts her. Anger destroys relationships. It was meant for a short term emotion to give us adrenaline when we are in danger. It is not meant to be long-term. Let it go already! Prompt: “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” ~ Robert BraultLet's talk about the little things in your life so you can look back on them next year. It will be fun to see what actually became a bigger thing." I don't know about anybody else, but I consider COVID-19 and the 2020 election little things. Yes. The election made me a little nervous because I am a conservative Christian and wanted the lesser of the two evils to win. I felt that Trump is an idiot but that Joe Biden was far too liberal for me. Therefore I got into election fever with everybody else, especially on social media. However, in 2022 I am sure I will look back and realize that it was not as bad as I anticipated it to be. Besides, I feel that no matter who is in the White House, Jesus Christ is still on the throne of the Universe and ultimately nothing can happen unless Jesus permits it to happen. I may not understand why but by faith I trust Him. Prompt: "Do you watch television? What's more aggravating to you the commercials about insurance or the black Friday sales promotions?"I seldom watch television simply because of insurance commercials. I don't need to be reminded every five minutes that I am eligible or almost eligible for medicare. I probably won't accept medicare anyway because I have been considered disabled for years. I receive Medicaid which pays 100% of everything and I am also a veteran, which means I receive VA care at no cost to myself. If I went on Medicare I'd have to come up with 20% of the cost myself and I cannot afford that. Therefore I avoid the commercials by simply not watching television. I have cable because of my Internet. Where I live basic cable is free anyway. The Internet is at your own expense. I paid a huge payment of like $1,000.00 on my Internet bill out of my student loans and have not paid an Internet bill since. I check periodically and the amount of credit I have should keep my Internet on for at least nine more months. The cable is part of the package but I seldom watch it. I got a new flat-screen television given to me for Christmas last year and immediately bought an HDMI cable for it so I could use it as a large computer monitor. 99% of the time that is all it is used for. I may watch one hour of television every six months. I turn the television on until the insurance commercials start, which is usually almost immediastely, then I convert it back to the computer. image:2187503-50%} |
| } Happy Thanksgiving Everyone, Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving and everyone will be super busy, I wanted to wish everyone a great day! If you have a minute sometime tomorrow, let us know about your Thanksgiving Day. What you did to celebrate and how you gave thanks to our Great Creator. I hope you have a super day! I will be spending Thanksgiving doing most of my usual routine. I will spend the morning on WDC blogging and answering responses to blogs. Then I will go round up a few stragglers that my chapel sweep missed last night. The Chapel and I got together and bought some thank you cards for the staff here at the West Virginia Veterans Home. We know that there are always the complainers who say the veterans home doesn't do enough for them but for the most part people are grateful to the home. Chapel wanted to do something special for the staff so we bought a thank you card for each department and had them signed by all the willing veterans. It amounted to something like 80some signatures and I still have a few veterans that I have not seen yet and of course the few dissenters who would not be happy no matter what the home did for them. I think the home is great. They treat us well, feed us three meals per day, keep the place clean and safe, and go above and beyond in many ways. So Thanksgiving for me is going to be spent primarily giving back a little of what is given to me. Prompt: Today we are going to do dinner with one of our own. Queen Sharmelloween  is a member of the Space Blog crew and I do not recall having visited her home star. So we decided to do Thanksgiving there. The port
says thank you to the angels that guard us. When has an angel helped you? God has had angels protecting me all of my life. I have survived car wrecks that should have killed me. I have survived reactions that should have killed me. And I have survived overdoses that should have killed me. God was not done with me yet. "Prompt: Don't think of reasons to quit. Think of reasons to succeed. Use this line in your Blog entry today."Quitting is easy. As Jesus said though, any man who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back in regret does not belong plowing. Quitting is for those who do not wish to accomplish anything. image:2187503-50%} |
| } Prompt: "Hello All Wisdom played a dynamic part in the creation of the universe. By it, God changed chaos to order. So also wisdom can have a dynamic effect on human life Hello Everyone, Prompt Wednesday, November 25, 2020 Proverbs 3:17-20 17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. 19. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. 20. By His knowledge depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew. NOTES: from my Bible Tree of Life = a source of life (Gen.2:9; Rev. 2:7). Wisdom is a source of life to those who attain to her. Wisdom played a dynamic part in the creation of the universe. By it, God changed chaos to order. So also wisdom can have a dynamic effect on human life." God's wisdom can play a dynamic part in any life if we let it. Just remember that God is a real gentleman. He leaves where He is asked to leave and never goes to where He is not invited. If you don't want the wisdom of God He won't force it on you. "Prompt: Luke Skywalker and I cruised the galaxy and found this planet:
Write your views about this poem. This poem was restricted. The author's email was also restricted so I sent out another prompt. The prompt (2605) sent out last night went to a restricted item. I tried to contact the owner to have the restriction lifted but the owner's email is also restricted. Use this prompt instead: Star- Shadow Prowler-Spreading Love  port or planet {bitem:The prompt (2605) sent out last night went to a restricted item. I tried to contact the owner to have the restriction lifted but the owner's email is also restricted.Use this prompt instead: Star- (147) port or planet {bitem:2219851} 40 is a special number in the Bible. Do you have any clue as to why? I will have to do some research on this sometime. I am not exactly sure why God likes 40 but I know He did many things in the Bible in 40s. There were 40 days of the flood as Tina mentions here. There were a significant number of the forties. 3, 7, and 12 also hold special significance. Three is based on the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Atoms come in three parts for example. Humans are in three parts: body, spirit, and soul). So some numbers hold special significance in the Bible. I would have to research why. Prompt: "Please use these words in your entry today~ calm, dialogue, wall, chop, treaty and deadly. Have fun."We served Thanksgiving dinner last night at the Salvation Army Huntington Corps. It was supposed to start at 5:00 PM. People started crowding in at 2:00PM so we started serving at 2:30 to eliminate any crowds. We kept the people outside and served dinner drive-through style through a window with a Plexiglas shield so everybody would be safe. By 3:30 we served nearly 750 turkey dinner and ran out of turkey. So we heated beef stew and served another 325 servings of it. 975 meals in all. My advice to everybody was to remain calm.. Everybody would eat. There was plenty of dialogue between us and our suppliers. We were not going to build a wall of resentment by sending anyone away hungry. If we had to chop down a tree to roast weiners we would have done so. Our treaty with God and man is to serve others. We are in a deadly pandemic right now so we have to imprivise a little. "Prompt: What makes you unique as a blogger?"I don't consider myself unique as a blogger. I guess if anything made me different it would be that I own two forums and groups that blog on here
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| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- } Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2235060 over display limit. -?- Hi Everyone, Here is the prompt for Tuesday. Proverbs 3:13-16 Consider the Value of Wisdom 13. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. 14. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. 15. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. 16. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. Merchandise = Profit Rubies = coral Length of days = Long life Now to my question, is there anything else that you would like for us to study? Just let me know what interests you the most. I think wisdom and the attaining of wisdom should be the number one priority of every human being. If people spent more time on seeking wisdom and less time on killing themselves to "get ahead" the world would be a much better place. Martin Luther said humans were "homo incurvatus in se" a term her borrowed from Augustine of Hippo. It means "curved in on oneself" and basically refers to the fact that people are very self-centered. The fall of Adam turned the focus of man from God and others to a focus on self. Now everybody thinks the world revolves around them. If man could lose the self-centered attitus=de the world would be a blessed place. Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- Prompt: My cat Bella and I were cruising the galaxy and landed back on this planet:
Write your views about this poem. From my limited experience with mystical creatures I'd have to say one must be careful with pixies. They are said to be tricksters and mischievous little things. I wrote a short story, well a series of them for a magazine I once owned and there were pixies in it. The poor guy who was the main character never got ahead with them. He was doused with ice water once and I forget what all they did to him. I'll have to try to do a review of the poem above. I like poems and this one about a love lost musician was a good one. It flows well and isn't too long. I'll do a formal review hopefully. Right now I'm getting ready for work. I'm just checking in really fast for I know I won't have time to do so later. It's our Thanksgiving dinner at the Salvation Army Huntington Corps and as the Community Care Ministries Secretary (Community Chaplain) I need to be there. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: "Poetry is the mother-tongue of the human race." Johann Georg Hamann Use this quote to inspire your blog entry." Read Genesis 11 and it will tell you where languages mostly came from. Language however is a human thing. It is how humans communicate with each other. Poetry is a beautiful expression of language but I don't know that I would say it is the mother tongue. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: “Gratitude gets us in the habit of paying attention to the things going well in our lives.” Emiliana Simon-Thomas Can you name a few things that is going well with the world in general or in your life in particular?" Now this is a prompt I could run with. I am so grateful for so many things in my life. I am an honors student in graduate school and am grateful to be able to understand the material and learn it. I have a roof over my head and a job I love. My job is non-taxed and pays only a stipend so I am technically unemployed but it provides my room and board and for that I am grateful. My bills are paid way ahead and for that, I am also grateful. I am grateful for my faith most of all and for Jesus Christ who saved my soul. I don't have time or I'd go on and on. I am working today. Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2159373 over display limit. -?- Image #2164523 over display limit. -?- Image #2191828 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- } Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- We had a terrific service yesterday. Holy Spirit was present and I could tell the sermon was moving people. The music wasn't as good because the devil is still in the sound system, but we know what to do now. Chapel is definitely shaping up at the West Virginia Veterans Home. I think when the outside ministers are allowed to return that I will have them teach the Sunday school class and I will continue conducting the worship services after Sunday school. That way we can have it all. Image #2235060 over display limit. -?- Prompt: Hi all, Here is the prompt for Monday, November 23, 2020 Proverbs 3:11-12 11. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction: 12. For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth; even as a father, the son in whom he delighteth. Tell me what you think? What do these verses say to you? I hope your new week is good and your Thanksgiving lovely. If the Lord punishes or chastens, His punishments are never harsh. They are heartbreaking because He wants us to know we have done wrong. He wants us to repent. However, He is a loving father and will not punish us strongly. He does not want to harm us, only correct us. Yes His punishments can be severe if He so wishes. He has used man to punish man in the past and man used excessive force. The excessive force was not God ordained and in fact it brought God's condemnation on the one using it. I am not going to do the history lesson here but if anybody wishes to discuss this just ask me in the comments. I'll just say that God told Nebuchanezzar through the prophets that Nebuchadnezzar's treatment of Israel would be punished. King Nebuchadnezzar was God's instrument and went to extremes. God does correct us if we are wrong, usually gently but stronger each time He has to do so. He gets our attention. Dianne Lazy Writer Trying to turn "Lazy" into "Busy"! Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- Prompt: I was traveling the galaxy and came across this planet:
Have you ever gazed at the stars? What were your thoughts? Yes. I have gazed at the stars. I always wondered if there was other life out there or if man earth was it. I think with all the trillions of planets that exist in all the billions of galaxies they have identified that it would be safe to assume that we are not alone. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Describe the perfect autumn day." The perfect autumn day is a day like today. It is neither too hot nor too cold. The sun is shining and the weather is perfect. To be honest though, right now we could use some cold weather, even snow. It is deer season here and you cannot track nor chill a deer in warm weather. Snow makes blood easier to see. If you wound the poor thing you don't want it to suffer and some people depend on that meat. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: “Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness.” Kahlil Gibran What do you think about trees and how we needlessly waste paper?" My printer and I needlessly waste paper all the time. I forget to set it properly and mess up a print job constantly. Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2159373 over display limit. -?- Image #2164523 over display limit. -?- Image #2191828 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- } Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2235060 over display limit. -?- Tonight's prompt is a theological one. How would you explain the concept of "Trinity" to somebody who does not understand the Trinity? Does your denomination believe in Trinity? The short answer to this question is that I adhere to the following doctrine of the Salvation Army: "We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory." The long answer is that I believe there is one God consisting of three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe all three are eternal and have always existed and always will exist. I believe the Father is the Creator and Sustainer of all life. I believe the Son is begotten of the essence of the Father. This concept is hard to explain because the Father does not and never did cause the Son. The Son has always existed as a part of the Father. Begotten means that just as the Father is expressed by the radiance of His being so the Son is also expressed by that radiance. Holy Spirit is also expressed from that same radiance. All three are distinct persons holding distinct offices and yet all three are one. The best analogy I can use is myself. I am Marvin Schrebe AKA Chris Breva. I am three in one. I am Marvin Schrebe the personality, Marvin Schrebe the soul, and Marvin Schrebe the body. None of those three can be separated, yet each is clearly distinct and serves its own office. Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- oday, while cruising cyberspace in the galaxy WDC, we came upon a cute poem about a non-stoppable ram that left us all laughing, crying, and scratching our heads. The star was (3) and the port or planet rather, was
Tell us about your unstoppable moments. Have you ever felt like this ram? I laughed until I nearly cried reading this one. If anybody has ever been raised around cattle, sheep, or goats, they know that male sheep (rams) are called rams because they like to lower their heads and charge whatever is around them, using their horns to ram into it. I've seen people bend over in front of a ram and pay the price. The ram will not back away from such a target. The person may as well paint a bullseye there because they are getting head butted! I could just picture this ram taking on the 3,000 pound bull. In reality, I believe the ram would back off because of the massive size of the bull, but that is hard to predict. Sheep are not the most intelligent of animals. In fact, they are not very smart at all. In the Bible, when Jesus refers to people as His sheep He is saying that people are gullible and nead led. It is a term of endearment coming from Jesus but it is not a compliment. Humans are rational animals but we do some of the stupidest things. I can see me being like this ram. He did not have brains enough to know when he was in over his head and I often don't either. I can usually muddle through. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Use these words in your entry: yeast, time, stars, music, violin, and diamond." My mom used yeast all of the time. She made the best homemade bread anybody ever ate. She was one of the stars at her church when it came to baking and bake sales. The money they made selling her baked goods was music to the treasurer's ears because they did not make a lot in collections and tithes. Violin music played when she baked. She was certainly a diamond. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Theodore Roosevelt quote: "Believe you can and you're halfway there." Roosevelt spoke these words at his alma mater, Harvard, on June 28, 1905. Roosevelt said," Sometimes it's hard to see how things will get better, but it's important to have a vision for the future, so you can achieve your goals." Agree or disagree with Roosevelt. Do you think we all should be making plans or taking one day at a time because of Covid-19?" I agree with Roosevelt. COVID-19 hasn't stopped me or even slowed me down. Yes. I did have to shift gears a little bit. Prior to it I was working 40 hours per week as a volunteer at the Salvation Army Huntington Corps. Then COVID-19 shut down the facility I live in and I could not work. If I left I could not come back. So instead I enrolled in seminary and am maintaining a well above average grade there. My grades in undergraduate school would have been much higher had it not been for math. Even with math I graduated with a decent average hovering around 3.3. My average in seminary right now is 3.89 and if I get an A this last four weeks that average will increase to 3.92 or 3.95. So COVID-19 is not stopping me. Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2159373 over display limit. -?- Image #2164523 over display limit. -?- Image #2191828 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- } Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- I have some time on my hands all of a sudden. I was coughing yesterday and went to the doctor, certain that I had an upper respiratory infection. I get them every fall because I alternate between being too hot or too cold. Anyway, the doctor said "I can assure you that you do not have enough symptoms to call it COVID-19. However, since you do have a cough we are going to test you for COVID-19 and have you follow COVID-19 testing protocols, which means self-isolating for 48 hours while the test results are pending." So I am in COVID-19 jail temporarily because I have bronchitis. They started me on medication for what is really the problem while they prove that I do not have COVID-19. SO that means I get to spend excessive amounts of time working. I usually work alone anyway so other than closing my door for the temporary isolation, things are pretty much the way they were. The difference is that aside from answering a few questions from other students, which my Master's level classes require, I am done with my school work for the semester. So I have more time now. Look out blog! Image #2235060 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Hi All A little late with the prompt, but here it is. Proverbs 3:9 9. Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: 10. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. How do you think Thanksgiving might fit with these verses?" I believe Thanksgiving fits well with these verses because the verses indicate that God is the source of everything we have. Yes. People have to take part in God's plan of action. He has never simply rained fortune out of the air and He never will. However, He blesses the efforts of those who follow His will. I like to use myself as a prime example here. I was on a type of disability for years because I allowed myself to believe the lie that I was somehow incapable of holding a full-time position. The disability was my only source of income. When I moved here to the West Virginia Veterans Home I lost that source of income because you cannot receive it and live in an institutional setting. So I have not had a regular income in over a year. Yet there has never been a time throughout that year that I either had everything I could possibly need and want or I had money to get it. Right now I have twenty-one cents between poverty and I but all I would have to do is make a phone call and I would have some money in my pocket. My Internet bill is my only expense and it is paid ahead nearly one thousand dollars. I will not receive a bill from it until 2021 late in the year. My phone is also paid ahead until 2022. My needs are all met and I am in good financial shape even though I have not had a steady income in over a year. Yes. I am the floor leader of my floor here at the home. That position pays room and board plus a two dollar per hour stipend so I have 300 dollars per month coming in that way. That is supposed to pay on the fifteenth of each month. The reality is that we may go for two months without receiving it, however. We always get it but it is not reliable to arrive on time. So how do I make it? I make it because God blesses my efforts. Everything seems to fall in place almost magically. Yesterday for example, I was talking to the chaplain at the Woody Williams VA Medical Center. I was waiting for my ride home to show up and the man driving did not know I was waiting for him. I talked with the chaplain for awhile and "decided" to go outside and wait for my ride. I walked out the door half-an-hour before my ride's scheduled arrival time and saw my ride pulling up a half-an-hour early. Had the Lord not led me to go outside when I did my ride would have left and I would have been forced to take public transportation to get home. Some people would say that things like that are coincidences or luck. I know better. God protects me and blesses my life. I am so thankful for the Providence of God. He saved my soul through the spilled blood of His Son Jesus Christ thousands of years before I was born. He has saved my life miraculously by protecting me from my own foolishness and countless lethal overdoses when I was addicted. My normal routine back in those days was to take 25-35 capsules of diphenhydramine at one time. Doctors have told me numerous times that such high dosages should have killed me. Yet I did it hundreds, even thousands of times. God was watching out for me even then. Now that I am a Christian He watches out for me even more. I may be broke at the moment but I have a credit on my student account at university that will be transferring soon and my unreliable income should also be here any day now. If I need money I can borrow some to get me through. Right now I do not need anything. How does Thanksgiving fit with the scripture quoted? Thanksgiving fits because God blesses the believer's efforts and meets every need. Our very effort itself comes from the Providence of God because without His sustenance we would not exist. He sustains all things. I thank God for His maintaining the universe for me to live it. "Father God we approach your throne as unworthy creatures who deserve your wrath and not your love. Yet you do love us and gave your own Son so that we could be brought into fellowship with you. Therefore we humbly approach your throne to say Thank you for all you have done and all you continue to do. Words are inadequate to express the gratitude we feel. Let us express our gratitude by doing your will. In Jesus's name. Amen" Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "On a routine patrol through the gigantic galaxy of cyberspace called WDC, we came upon a star system the captain has encountered before. The star is 🐱 panther pwheeler  . The captain being the spiritually natured person that he is took a mission down to
I spoke about my spiritual beliefs in the entry for the day to
Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prpmpt: "The song is Grown Up Christmas List. Use this song to inspire your grown-up Christmas List." I always loved Amy Grant. I think she has the most beautiful natural singing voice and she is a very beautiful lady. I have never met her so I don't know how she is personally, but she looks and sounds wonderful. I know she is a Christian lady and that makes her even more attractive. As to the song, I too wish right would always win but the reality is that this is not going to happen. We live in an evil, fallen world. The prince of this world is Satan. God allows him to reign so that Satan can deceive those who choose to reject God's Son Jesus Christ and allow Satan to deceive them. In time God will throw Satan into everlasting chains and bind him deceiving anybody else. God knows when that time is. During meanwhile God allows Satan to sort out those who reject Jesus by deceiving them and causing all sorts of chaos. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "November 20, 1986 - The one billionth Little Golden Book was printed. The title was The Poky Little Puppy. What was your favorite Golden Book? Why?" I never had a favorite Little Golden Book. I was an avid reader and read everything I could lay my hands on. I read so many Little Golden Books that I lost count. I almost got to publish with Little Golden Books. Then the deal fell through because an arsonist burned my house down and destroyed the manuscript. I was angry but it is what it is. God has used that loss to make me into a preacher today and I am much more at peace as a chaplain than I ever was a writer. Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2159373 over display limit. -?- Image #2164523 over display limit. -?- Image #2191828 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- } Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2235060 over display limit. -?- It is almost Thanksgiving. What are you grateful for? I am first of all most grateful to my Master, King, and adopted Brother Jesus for giving His life for me and making me a joint-heir with Him to the throne of God. I want for nothing on this earth and desire nothing on this earth because I already own the earth and everything in it. I am King of the universe because my Father made me a joint-heir to his throne. The entire universe is mine. Why should I want a few things on this earth except the necessities of survival? Survival to me means another day to serve Jesus, my great Benefactor. Each day I am alive adds to my gratitude list. I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville WV where I earn my room by being a floor leader. I have the pleasure of serving these guys primarily as their chaplain. Chapel services are another source of gratitude for me. We hold chapel every Sunday but the core group that makes up the Chapel are my flock and my church that Jesus entrusted me with. I am pleased to see the services improve each week. I made arrangements with the Recreation Department to hold the Chapel in the big activity room as opposed to the chapel due to COVID-19. Doing so gives us access to the PowerPoint Projector and the sound system. Prior to this Chapel had no music because we had no way of playing it. Now I can download piano tracks for hymns on my phone and use Bluetooth to connect to the speaker system and use the PowerPoint projector for the words. The chapel is becoming a living thing around here and the guys are noticing the changes. I am grateful that Jesus opened these doors to let us grow. I am grateful to the West Virginia Veterans Home Activities Department for allowing us to use their space and their equipment to have a chapel. I am grateful to the WVVH Administration for allowing me to serve as chaplain and I am grateful to Regent University for teaching me how to serve as a chaplain. Most of all though I am grateful to Jesus Christ who forfeited His blood for me to become a chaplain. He knew eternally before I was born that I would get off to a slow start with a lot of stalls along the way, but that eventually, Holy Spirit was going to change me to my very core. I like who I am today and for that I am extremely grateful. Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "I was cruising through the WDC universe today and found a colorful planet that seems appropriate for this time of year in West Virginia anyway. The star is Solace.Bring  The planet or portfolio is
What is your opinion of autumn? Autumn was never my favorite season because it is always followed by winter. I dislike the cold but I deal with it. To be honest, I think I prefer the cold over the heat any more. I can breathe better in the cold and I can always put on more clothes. There are only so many to take off though. The main thing I like about summer is that the trees are green. In the winter the trees look dead. Winters go by so quickly anymore that I hardly notice them now. I mean yes. I notice when I am out in the cold but time-wise it seems the years fly by. 2020 just seems to have started yesterday and it will be over in less than sixty days! Even the pandemic did not slow it down much for me because I have worked straight through. I have served as a floor leader and chaplain here at home and I have been enrolled at Regent University the whole time. Time is zooming by. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Please, use these words in your blog enchance, marriage, subway, cultivate, reference, elegant, and outlet." I had to look up the word enchance. It turns out not to be a word at all but rather the title to a jazz album. I never listen to jazz. I just never developed a taste for it. I was raised on hymns and classic country with a smattering of soft rock/pop music. I never listened to jazz. I figure a marriage between a musician and a saxophone could be alright if the musician was good. The saxophone is an acquired taste and I never acquired it. Subway on the other hand is a taste I acquired quite some time ago. I just had Subway for dinner last night brought to me by Grubhub. Of course you're talking about the subway you ride. I used the subway a lot in Pittsburgh and other bigger cities when I lived there but we have none here. We do have buses that run once an hour but I try to avoid using those as they take forever. I do like to cultivate friendships though and feel that riding the bus can be a way to do that. In reference though, I usually stay home rather than take the bus. I am not so elegant as to have a vehicle. I would never be able to afford one anyway. My only outlet for travel is public transportation such as the subway or bus. The colors of the seats on the bus enchance my eyes. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: I enjoy fantasy literature very much because of all the reality it involves. Use this quote in your Blog entry today." If I am going to read fantasy literature it certainly will not be because of the reality in it. Fantasy to me is an esacape route from reality. Yes. A piece has to have a little reality in it to keep it grounded but I do not like a lot of reality. I don't watch reality television shows for the same reason. If I want drama I will start an argument. I don't want drama. I like things quiet and peaceful. Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- Image #2159373 over display limit. -?- Image #2164523 over display limit. -?- Image #2191828 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- } Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2235060 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord, and depart from evil. 8. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. According to my Bible, in these verses, health means healing, and navel means body. Please tell me what you think." God is telling us here that we all think we are smart. We try to lean on our little bit of knowledge instead of depending on the Source of all knowledge. One of the classes I will be taking in the future, probably next fall, is Cosmogony and Anthropology. This class discusses the origins of the universe and life as we know it. I thought I was going to take it this semester, but I ended taking Church History 505 instead. Prior to dropping Cosmogony and Anthropology this semester, I read most of my textbook for Cosmogony. I was blown away by the book. It left me with a deep feeling of ignorance. The more I learn the more I realize how little I actually know. God is the Source of all knowledge and He wants man to learn. In fact, I believe that any degree I earn now is only the beginning of what I will continue to learn in eternity. The question was posed the other day of what I believe heaven is going to be like. I do not know what heaven will look like. One thing I am certain of however, is that we will continue to learn in heaven. I believe stiing at Jesus's feet and learning from Him is going to be a huge part of heaven. The education I am receiving now in seminary is only a downpayment on the education I am going to receive in eternity. Everything God knows will be taught to me there and I am eager to learn it. I want to be like my Master and Brother Jesus. I want to learn everything He has to teach me. Even the word "everything" is inadequate because Jesus has infinite knowledge. The word "everything" implies that there is a limit to His knowledge but there is no limit. I'll use an analogy I like to use. Let's say the earth was a giant titanium ball bearing. Let's say an ant began to trudge around and around the face of the earth following the exact same path and it continued to walk in those exact same tracks until it began to wear a path into that ball bearing and in trillions of years it wore that path into a groove. How long would that take? I don't know but I do know that whatever amount of time passed would be nothing compared to eternity. Eternity has no end. Jesus's knowledge is like eternity. It has no end so we will never stop learning from Him. I love to learn. I love sitting under professors who know infinitely more about a subject than I do and learning that subject from them. The more I learn though the more I know I am ignorant. I am considered a professional in the field of Bible and I will one day be considered a professor in the field of Bible. At one point in my learning a college offered to give me a Ph.D. in Religion based on the amount of knowledge they knew I had accumulated. They required only that I take a few tests, give them copies of all certifications I had earned up to that point, pay an administrative fee, and write a dissertation. I declined it because at the time I had not yet completed my bachelor's degree and knew I would be missing out on a lot of general education materials. I do not necessarily like every topic but every topic is something new to learn and there is no excuse for ignorance if something can be learned. God wants us to learn and to continue to learn. When He placed Adam in the garden one of His first commands to Adam was to subdue the earth. Subdue here did not mean to conquer the earth, although man has essentially done that. Subdue here comes from the Hebrew word בראשית and means "have dominion over". In order to have dominion over something, we have to understand that something. If I am to have dominion over the material in my class I have to study that material and learn its ways. I have to think like it thinks. I have to master it. God wants each of us to master each and every detail of the universe. Our lives are only the beginnin g of this education. Our lives show us just how ignorant we truly are and we begin overcoming that ignorance by learning. In eternity we will continue to absorb Jesus's knowledge. Leaning not on mine understanding means admitting to God that I am truly ignorant and letting Him teach me. Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Buck Rogers and I were traveling the galaxy and found this planet:
What things make you wonder? I have to say that I love the prompts today for both Space Blog and Take up Your Cross! They are prompts I can write extensively about and now that I am awake and caught up on my other work, perhaps I can make my blog look like a blog instead of a short answer to a deep question. What things make me wonder? A lot of things make me wonder. I am a professional student, meaning I have spent most of my adult life in college because I have an insatiable love of learning. I am currently working on my Master of Divinity degree in the Chaplain's Track at Regent University, one of the premier seminaries in the world if not the very best seminary. I hold an academic associate degree in Dependency Disorder Technolgy from Mountain State College in Parkersburg WV and I attended Ohio Valley College also in Parkersburg WV where I majored in Psychology and Liberal Studies. I moved from Parkersburg to Huntington WV where I transferred all my credits to Marshall University and completed my bachelor's degree. I earned a Regent Bachelor of Arts degree or a BA in Liberal Arts if you prefer. I transferred that to Regent University where I hold a 3.89 GPA currently and plan to raise that to 3.92 in the coming month. I also am earning a second associate degree, this one in Divinity from Christian Leaders Institute in Spring Lake MI. All I have to do to earn it currently is pay the remainder of a small administrative fee. However, Christian Leaders Institute is in the process of upgrading their accreditation. That process will be completed by the beginning of the new year. Once they have the new accreditation the requirements for the associate of divinity and bachelor of divinity may change. If so I may be required to take some additional capstone courses to get the same degree. If so I plan to do so. You may wonder how I could be currently working on a Master of Divinity degree in one college when I have not yet earned my associate of divinity and bachelor of divinity at another college. I laugh at that irony myself at times but it is because I used my RBA to get into the M.Div. program. You can enter any field in graduate school with any bachelor's degree. My current bachelor happened to be perfect because it is a general degree covering most fields. The associate of divinity was started before I finished my RBA. Christian Leaders Institute did not have the same accreditation as most public universities. This is not to say that Christian Leaders Institute is not accredited nor does it say the degree from there isn't good. In fact, I know many ministers who hold degrees from there and I have found the curriculum to be solid. I just did not previously finish the degrees there because an opportunity came my way to attend a school that was much better known and had better accreditation. Now I have earned my bachelor and wanted to return to Christian Leaders to finish what I started. The prompt originally asked what makes me wonder. The short answer is that everything makes me wonder. I find that the more education I get the more obvious my ignorance becomes. While my specialty and my career choice is Bible, I love to learn about everything. My plan is to finish my M.Div. and then reapply to Marshall University to the Master of Social Work program. I love working with people. The M.Div. and the MSW are ideal ways to do that. Will I stop once I have these degrees? To be honest I seriously doubt that I will. It is likely that I will die sitting under a professor in some field. I do plan to at least earn a doctorate degree, probably in theology though it could well be in ministry or even social work. The fact is that I love to learn. I do not believe it is possible to have too much education. No matter how much a person learns the body of knowledge available to man leaves one totally ignorant in a lot of areas. What makes me wonder? I guess an insatiable love of learning makes me wonder! Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Good mashed potato is one of the great luxuries of life."~ Lindsey Bareham “Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.” ~ Jim Davis “Thanksgiving: Bringing out the best in family dysfunction since 1863.”~ Unknown Have fun using one of these quotes in your entry today." As you can see from the entries above to other prompts, I am in the mood to write blogs today. My muse struck with a vengeance. She has been on hiatus for quite awhile as I was focusing mainly on my college courses. I got my grade back on the big research assignments I did and they were all As. My last A was a 98%, which was a little low for me, but when I loaded my paper to Blackboard it screwed my formatting up slightly and it was set so that I could not resubmit it. I lost two points over the technical glitch but it is still a very high A. The remainder of my assignments are all submitted and awaiting grading. The class has twelve graded parts. I've gotten five of those grades back thus far and they are all 100% with the exception of the paper that got the 98%. If I literally failed the remaining sections the worst possible grade I could get is a C. Since the remaining sections are all very similar to what I got back thus far I anticipate all As on them. So now I can relax a little and allow my muse to focus on writing creatively as opposed to academically. At least I can until next semester since my remaining assignments have been completed. I still have to respond to some discussion boards and blogs that are upcoming in class, but not today. Today, I am able to write here. I disagree with Lindsey Bareham about mashed potatoes. We were so poor when I was growing up that potatoes were the biggest part of our diet. I guess I ate so many potatoes that I grew tired of them. Today I eat potatoes sparingly. We have a lot of mashed potatoes here at the West Virginia Veterans Home but I don't eat a lot of them. I guess it depends on whether or not I have gravy and what type of gravy it is. I love mashed potatoes and beef gravy or chicken gravy. Aside from that, keep the potatoes. I agree with Jim Davis and his way of serving vegetables. I could easily eat my weight in zucchini bread and I weigh a lot! I'm 275 pounds or about 124.738 kilos. That would be a lot of zucchini bread! However, I dearly love zucchini bread! I also love carrot cake. They serve carrot cake here quite often. I need to cut back on desserts because they are starting to catch up to me. I'm already outgrowing my pants. I told myself I wore a 42 waist. The truth is that I wear a 44 waist. I always found it odd that they don't make 23, 33, or 43 waists for men. It's either a size too big or a size too small. I prefer a size too big. I ordered a new pair of pants recently, that I am wearing now. They were a size small and the buckle cuts into me. Ouch! I have to agree with whoever the unknown writer was that said Thanksgiving brings out the best in family dysfunction really hit the nail on the head. My family never gets together for the holidays anymore or if they do they don't invite me. I was always the black sheep in my family because I chose a different path than most of my sibs. (I spent years living in apathy and drug addiction and never really contributed to the greater good. I think my siblings resented that and the rift it created won't heal). I am now contributing by working as a chaplain but they all live hours from me. If they get together, which I am sure they do, I am never told about it. I love my family and often long for fellowship with them but I have other families that I must tend to as well. WDC is my family, as is my church, and the home I live in. If I attended functions with my family of origin their resentments toward me would likely cause them pain. I don't want that for them. I just leave it alone. Before my parents passed I ate Thanksgiving with my parents and the whole family gathered in. Dysfunction was sometimes an understatement! I was always awed by the way my brothers would get into pissing contests about football though. It never failed that one of them would leave with their feathers ruffled because somebody teased them about their favorite college or NFL team. The fact of the matter is that no football team puts enough money in my pocket for me to sell the space in my head and ruminate about them all the time! Dysfunction at its best is worrying and arguing over the trivial. I always wondered how families functioned in which the members actually did play for opposing teams! Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: What character from a book would you like to meet and why?" Man! I have been a blogging fool today! I wonder if there is a word limit to blogs? If I were to meet a character from a book, I guess I would have to say Jesus. I will meet Him soon too. We all will! I hear that He is coming again real soon. I suggest the whole world prepare for His arrival. However, most will ignore the warning because it is easier to stay with the status quo. Humans don't like change, even if they know the change is for their ultimate good. Most people ignore Jesus because they are comfortable with sin and becoming a Christian means they might have to change some things. Nobody wants that. Jesus does not ask us to be normal though. He demands that we be a peculiar people, a royal priesthood as the Apostle Peter says. Jesus is coming soon. 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