03/01/2023

 Lets start off March right

1 Peter 1:21 (ESV) who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

02/26/2023

 I liked this one from Mass this morning.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentlenesses, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.

02/23/2023

 

Isaiah 40:30-31 (NIV)​

30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Hanging out with my Middle son

 Monday the 20th I met my middle son, Thomas, at the Barnes and Noble on the other side of town.  It is kind of a middle point between our homes.  I ran across a book on Apostle Paul on the bargain shelf and also a good version of Marcus Aurelias.  As we were talking and using our smartphones to make us smarter in our choices we got into a discussion on Stoics and were trying to see if there were any books on the earliest Stoics.   There were Seneca, Aurelias, Cicero, and Epictetus.  I did not see any that would be more recent now anything in between.   So my son grabs the one on Epictetus and one on Aristotle.  

As we were making our final selection a little girl about 7 or 8 had been sitting looking at a book with her mom on a nearby bench they have there, she got up and came over to us.  She excused herself politely for bothering us, but she wanted to know if the name we had been talking about were "New Pokemon".

I do not know for sure how Thomas felt but if his reaction is any indication he felt it was as funny as I did as we both were chuckling.  Then Thomas had the best comeback ever: "No they are not, but should be. These dead guys have been causing Choas for centuries".   That is when we heard the mom start laughing.  The young girl went back and sat down. The mom, she smile and flashed us a thumbs-up.

Not a few days later in reflection, I can see how those names sound more like Pokemon names than philosophers.   Sometimes it just takes the young to remind us, that not everything is serious, there has to be fun and games or life gets boring.

02/20/2023

 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,  II Peter 1:3 (ESV)

02/16/2023

 Zephaniah 3:17 (NRSA) The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing

02/08/2023

 James 1:5  (NIV)

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

Be a better You

 Remember that the original purpose of the Churches founded for those following Jesus the Christ was not meant to control people's lives or their actions.  They were meant to further the teaching of Jesus the Prophet and Rabbi so that those that understood would be a better person.  The priest, minister, or Rabbis were meant to be a guide to help you to find your way in his teachings, not there to tell you what to believe or not believe, who to like or dislike, who to consider a sinner or holy, but for you to find the love harmony and compassion Jesus preached, to guide you to be a better you.

02/07/2023

 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--

22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:21-26 (ESV)

02/06/2023

 25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:25-29 (NIV)

He gets it

 Here is a Pope that gets it and truly believes in what Jesus taught and not some political agenda

Speaking to reporters after visiting South Sudan, the Pope said such laws were a sin and "an injustice".

He added people with "homosexual tendencies" are children of God and should be welcomed by their churches.

His comments were backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland.

A little humor for the day.

On the sixth day of creation, God created the land animals and humans

When God got to day 6 of creation he created the Dog. He told the dog I want you to sit on the front porch, to bark at everybody that goes by and I will give you 20 years of life. The Dog goes that is a long time to be barking how about I just do this for ten years and give the rest back. God said okay.

God next created the Monkey. He said to the monkey to entertain the people, make them laugh, and I will give you 20 years of life. The monkey responded that is a long time to be entertaining upright primates. How about I do it for ten years and give you ten years back? God said okay.

God now moved on and created the Cow. He said to the cow go into the fields, and labor under the sun. Give man milk, calves, and meat and I will give you 60 years of life. The cow said that is way too long to labor like that, how about we make it just 20 years and I will give you 40 back. God said okay.

God next created man. God told man to go play, make merry and be happy, I will give you 20 years of life. Man said that’s not enough. Man said how about you give me back the 40 years the cow did not want, the 10 from the monkey it gave back, and ten from the dog. God said okay.

Now you know why the first 20 years of our lives are spent playing and making merry, then the next 40 years we work like a cow laboring in the fields, the next ten years are spent entertaining our grandkids like a monkey, and the last ten we sit on the porch barking at everybody, like the dog.