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 |  This contains entries to Take up Your Cross, Space Blog, Blog City PF and BC of Friends |
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Created by the talented [Link To User poulynoe]")    I am officially back from my extended leave. During my absence I worked 10 hours per day ringing the bell for the Salvation Army Huntington Corps. I was a volunteer and often had the top kettle for the day so I raised a significant amount of money, though the corps still fell way short of its goal. I know my readers missed me when I was gone and I ask you to forgive me.  "Prompt: As we prepare to go into a new year and live out the last few days of this one, Let's think about where we are spiritually. Where are you in terms of your walk with God? Are you where you want to be, or does your relationship with God need improvement?"Ringing the bell for the Salvation Army both brought me closer to God and at the same time drew me away from God. It brought me closer because the whole time I rang I played Christian Christmas music in the background and sang carols such as "Silent Night", "Joy to the World", "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "O Come All Ye Faithful", "The First Noel" and others. I was told by most people that I have a beautiful singing voice. I sing deep, sort of a baritone. The women particularly loved my singing and a number of men told me that they admitted that I was good. Most of the people who complimented my singing backed up their compliments with a %5.00, $10.00, or $20.00 contribution to my kettle so it gave me a little more confidence in my ability to sing publicly. I was a little apprehensive about it because my commander at the Huntington Corps Salvation Army was a music major in college. One day I sang with a hastily assembled praise team at church. One of the younger men kept singing off key and off time and I commented to my commander that some members of the praise team had messed up. She said "Yes, some people think they can sing when they can't." That same night she invited the praise team to assemble and the young man whom I thought san off key and out of time was the first one she invited to join the evening's praise team. I was not invited. I took that to mean she thought I was the bad singer and have tried to quell my singing in church ever since. During the bell ringing I for some reason began singing when "Silent Night" came on the soundtrack. Donations to my kettle immediately began being big bills such as $20.00 bills and people gathered around listening to me sing. It took a few days but I figured out that I had misunderstood my commander and even if I had not misunderstood her, most people enjoy hearing me sing whether she does or not. So I plan to become a member of the now developing praise team at church. I am also going to do worship solos at church. I originally said that bell ringing had both drawn me closer to God and drew me away. That requires some explanation. I say it drew me closer because singing those old Christian Christmas carols also requires hearing the words in them. Songs such as "The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy" are so full of doctrine that they practically preach! The named song alone tells of how at least six different witnesses witnessed the birth of Jesus. Listening to these songs and singing them drastically increased my faith. On the other hand the long hours I worked weakened my body and my resolve to stay close to the Holy Spirit. I often found myself acting in ways that I normally would not act and treating people in ways I normally would not due to exhaustion and fatigue. I also failed to practice my spiritual disciplines such as prayer and bible reading because I found myself sleeping during the times I would normally do them. So I can say I both gained and slid backwards, if that makes sense. Happy New Year everybody. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.  I am back from my extended absence. I was ringing the bell for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign, which provides the funding for Salvation Army programming throughout the year. I thank (3010) for covering for me so I could work for this wonderful charity. As a note, I know that many of you heard the bad press the Salvation Army received and how an internal audit by the Army to determine if any of our policies were in anyway discriminatory was used by enemies of the Salvation Army to claim the Army demanded an apology from whites for being white.The Salvation Army did not ask whites to apologize for being white nor will they ever do so! The Salvation Army's policy is clear. We serve human needs without discrimination. I wanted to state that. Sorry for the rant. On the way back from the starbase where I was taking my extended leave for vocational purposes, I visited the home star of [user:tigger} who has dozens of planets in her system. One planet was
which is a cafe ran completely by felines. The service there is excellent. Stop by there and write about your visit in your blog today. I visited this cafe and while I am not a really big feline fan, I found the service to be excellent and the cuisine great! Princess Megan Rose GOT Fox   has talent that exudes from her very pores and a heart that is pure gold. Princess Megan Rose GOT Fox I love and appreciate you very much!Prompt |
| Hi Readers Well the kettle season for the Salvation Army is finished. That means that starting Monday, December 27, 2021 I should be back to blogging. I would like to send a special thank you to Princess Megan Rose GOT Fox and Marvelous Friend   who covered for me during my prolonged absence. I am exhausted physically as I have been working 16 hour days since early November without a break. It was work, come home sleep, and go back to work. I do not have a total but I believe I collected over $15,000.00 for the local corps, which helped provide Christmas this morning for nearly 3,000 families and will provide assistance to people throughout the year. Thank you to those who contributed to my kettles. |
| I wanted to let everybody know that I am still working. I am also actively seeking permanent employment. I was offered an interview for one job, but it would require me to drive 45 minutes each way to work. I am a peer support specialist with lots of education. I currently hold two associate degrees and a bachelors degree. I will soon have a second bachelor and am in my third year of an M.Div. program. Like many others, I want a specific type of job. I am too qualified to accept just anything. |
| I apologize to those who follow my blog. I have been absent for about a week. I am a soldier in the Salvation army huntington Corps. This is bellringing, red kettle season for us. We typically have between sixty and ninety people ringing beels. This year we only have 15 regular bellringers. That means I have been volunteering to ring bells myself. The hours are long, typically from 9:30AM to 7:30PM and I am always exhausted when I get home. I also work from 4:30am until 9:30am as floor leader here at the WV veterans Home. So I have no time to blog and probably will not have until after Christmas. I'm sorry, but my writing is a hobby, not a career. I have to reel in my priorities to give my attention to work. |
| Prompt: How has God blessed you recently? I don't think I can give a realistic answer to that. The reason I cannot is because God blesses me in thousands of ways every day. I have seen the dead raised to life. I have seen healing miracles. I have seen financial miracles. The ways are limitless so I cannot describe themm all. Prompt: Lizzie  writes about not being safe in
I don't believe it is safe to walk through dark allies at night. |
| "Prompt In what ways have you experienced the promise of seeing and experiencing God when your heart was pure before God? In what ways have you experienced a lack of intimacy with God when in sin or consumed with lesser things?" I think there is a common misconception that God does not see or associate with sin. Many people believe God leaves them when they mess up and that this creates a wall between God and themselves. I do not believe this is so. Yes. God abhors sin. Yes, sin disgusts God. However, I believe that when a believer sins, God is there with His arm around the believer, looking at the sin and asking the believer what they could have done differently. Hebrews 13:5 and at least 20 other scriptures promise us that God will never leave us. I believe God. rhymenreason writes
Why do you believe pride goes before a fall? Pride makes us arrogant. God brings us down to size. |
| "Prompt: James 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. If you are sick or afflicted write a prayer out to God. If you are merry and everything is going great, share a song or psalm. Do both if you would like." I praise God every day. The greatest thing that ever happened to me was when God sent His Son to die for me. The second greatest thing was when God asked me to commit to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ not only with my words, but with my actions. I am a soldier in the Salvation Army Huntington Corps, which means I signed a covenant not to do certain things and to do others. That was a life changing event for me. I act differently today because I am surrendered to the Holy Spirit. I love serving God. My worst day with God is ten thousand times better than my best day as a sinner. I just had the privilege of praying for a brother a few minutes ago. His foot was in severe pain. I prayed and he said "What in the world? The pain is gone!" That folks is God! God healed that man on the spot. Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy with Chris Pratt and found this planet
.Read this item: Write about this item in your Blog entry today." I agree that God loans us children and add that He also loans us everything else. Even the money we earn and the things we "own" are a loan from God. I have yet to see a U-Haul following a hearse! We come into this world with nothing and we take nothing with us. It is all God's. We just care for it for a while. |
First of all, let me say "Happy Veteran's Day" to all my brothers and sisters in arms!" "Prompt: Romans 10:9-10 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. What does it mean to believe in your heart?" In my opinion, it means to believe with all of your heart that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy with Buck Rogers and found this planet: Prosperous Snow celebrating  writing
I love metered poetry in any form. Ghazal poetry is very complex and I do not claim to be a judge of it. |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- I apologize for being AWOL for two days. I am a Salvation Army Bell Ringer this year on a volunteer basis, and I have worked for three days now. Image #2249882 over display limit. -?- Prompt "Romans 8:26-39: 26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What is the Lord saying to you through this Scripture passage, Romans 8:26-39?" This is a controversial scripture and scholars remain divided about its meaning. To some it backs the doctrine of "once saved, always saved." Others disagree. Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- "Today, on my way back from shore leave, I saw a star. Sophy  writes
To be honest, I can't walk in my blog. It is online and I am not Tron. However, if I could walk in my blog, I'd find some interesting themes. I never go back and read my old blogs, but I might just to find out where my head was. Image #2251074 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- |
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