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| Andromeda |
Self Will
Many of us quote Jesus and say to our Father, "Your will be done." But do we really mean it? Do we, instead, end up doing our own will anyway?
I needed to go to the grocery store yesterday, and had been putting it off for several days.
My wife and I went to Kroger a lot before she died, but she also went to Family Fare occasionally. She liked how FF was quiet and relaxed, ... and not busy. Apparently their prices are higher so fewer people shop there.
My wife died during the "plandemic" hysteria and Kroger (incorporated) played the hoax to the hilt. They shut off the bottled water station, pushed face-coverings and continually made announcements about the "virus" propaganda. I got tired of it and started going to Family Fare myself, just to get some peace. Kroger was also the place where my wife collapsed and where I had to go to retrieve our car.
It's been over four years since my wife departed, and I have shopped at both Family Fare and Kroger. Both were providing me with personalized coupons based on my previous purchases, which is pretty creepy if you think about it, but in the past few months FF stopped sending them.
I ran out of a certain type of sriracha sauce I had found at FF and have not been able to find it elsewhere, so yesterday I decided to go to FF to get my bottled water and groceries. I knew I had the Kroger coupons, but I left them at home. As I was getting ready to back the car out of the driveway, I struggled to remember I would be going to FF. I knew if I had proceeded without thinking my constantly-running intuition would have taken me to Kroger. I had to think about driving and making navigation decisions.
When I got to FF, I loaded up a shopping cart (trolley) with my nine empty gallon bottles and went into the store. When I got to the bottling station there was a notice taped to it saying it was out of order and apologizing for the inconvenience. I chuckled and realized I had been waived off of going to FF for a reason.
So, I wheeled my cart back to the car, reloaded the bottles and drove to Kroger. Once I was at Kroger, I obtained a cart, loaded it with my bottles and ... realized I did not have my Kroger coupons. Ugh.
I put the bottles back into the car, returned the cart to the parking lot livery and drove the half-mile back to my house, retrieved the coupons, and then proceeded to return to the store and go through the ritual with the bottles again.
Once inside the store, I started shopping for vegetables because they are just inside the door, and realized my bottles were still empty. My usual practice is to fill them first, but I had not done it at Kroger in quite some time so I was disorganized. My intuition and thinking processes were not meshing.
I should have gone to Kroger in the first place. My will was to go to FF, but The Spirit wanted me to go to Kroger. Why, I did not know, but I presumed He knew what He was doing.
I filled my jugs, got my groceries, went home, put things away, and then went to the coffee shop to say goodbye to a friend who is moving out of state. When I got home again, I took a nap.
Upon waking from the nap, I knew I was supposed to walk to my daughter's house and offer her my wife's patio furniture. I knew they would be there (both of them), and it was something I was supposed to do. (My girls are still not talking to me after four years, as I discussed in other posts.) It was clear to me it was the Father's will that I do that, and the interaction took place. I believe He prepared me to hear Him through my self-will experience regarding Family Fare and Kroger.
I did what I was led to do with my daughters and it is in God's hands now. I can move on.
This morning, I realized why I was supposed to go to Kroger and not Family Fare. This song was playing in Kroger as I shopped...
https://vinyldialogues.com/VinylDialoguesBlog/the-backstory-behind-the-hit-sara-smile-by-hall-oates/
... Another "wink".
All glory to God, as usual.
Root Beer
These irises were in the gardens around our house when we moved in during the Spring of 2006. At some point, I transplanted them to their current location.
Early on, my wife bent down and smelled one of them. She said they smelled like root beer.
She was right.
Some people call them "flags," which is probably because they are up around Flag Day, a week from tomorrow.
Spring is especially melancholy for me. Flowers. She loved them and the senses they invoked.
I miss her.
All glory to God.
Claimed
The Light shines in the dark, but The Darkness has not comprehended it.
All glory to The Father.
Patience
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| The Seven Virtues |
God promised Abram something...
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3 NIV)
Later...
The Lord said to Abram after Lot [his nephew] had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” (Genesis 13:14-17 NIV)
Abram remained childless, but God told him...
...a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:4-6 NIV)
But, Abram doubted, so God told him to prepare a particular animal sacrifice, something Abram would culturally understand. Then God caused him to fall into a deep sleep, and he said...
...“Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation1 your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:13-21 NIV)
Abram would always remember that experience. The carcasses would still have been there the next morning, so he would have known it had really happened.
But, Abram was impatient. He listened to his wife who told him to use her servant to produce a child. That resulted in problems, and a son named Ishmael.
Thirteen years later, God reminded Abram about the covenant and he changed Abram's name to Abraham, which means father of a multitude. He also said...
...“As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. (Genesis 17:15-22 NIV)
Isaac was born in God's timing.
God makes known the end from the beginning, but he doesn't tell us everything. He leaves out details for his reasons.
When God drops something into our lap we have been desperately yearning for, we may doubt. Perhaps it is too good to be true. Is it a trap? Are we being set up? Are we dreaming?
We need time to come to terms with reality, to figure things out and to let God teach us what he wants us to know. God also needs time to bring other people along, and to allow evil to reach its full measure so he can act.
Patience is a virtue. God develops it in those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
All glory to Him.
UPDATE, May 19, 2025...
1 This piqued my interest and I did a search of how long the Israelites were in Egypt. I knew it was around 400 years (due to a fun Bible-teaching game I experienced early in my faith walk), so "the fourth generation" seemed too short.
I like the conclusion of the linked article, which readers can contemplate for themselves.
Labels
Do we get labeled?
Are we told we are defective, that we are no good?
Do people tell us we are weird?
What if some people do not naturally fit into the "boxes" others want them to fit in?
What if a child's natural, God-given personality does not conform to the model The System requires?
Are the public schools designed to indoctrinate children to "sit down, shut up, and obey"?
Are those who will not or cannot do that shamed into compliance?
If shaming doesn't work, are they drugged into compliance?
The video says one in twenty (20) people "have ADHD". Some personality types are very rare compared to that...
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Are some of them seen as "weird"?
When we comprehend what is going on and who we are actually dealing with we can stand up and say, "No more."
All glory to God.
UPDATE, May 16, 2025...
Chose some different and additional words.
UPDATE, June 4, 2025...
The video says people "with ADHD" tend to be...
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| Curious |
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| Creative |
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| Enthusiastic |
Those are not signs of disease or abnormality. They are characteristics of personality.
I took a "test" to determine my "personality type," and found out I am "INTJ". That label stands for: Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging, and I believe it describes me very well. This helps me understand who I am and why I do what I do.
There is no wrong personality type; it's just how people are.
Here is a link to the test I took: https://www.humanmetrics.com/personality.
Here are some resources I used to learn about my personality type and those of people around me:
- https://typelogic.com/intj.html.
- https://personalitypage.com/html/INTJ.html.
- https://www.16personalities.com/intj-personality.
Typically, if I am in a group of 100 people, there might be one other INTJ like me. We are rare...
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So, what's your personality type??
UPDATE, June 10, 2025...
... And I'm not a pricker bush.
Tee hee. 😊
Commitment
People follow through on things they are serious about.
“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
“Which of the two did what his father wanted?” (Matthew 21:28-31 NIV)
All glory to God.
Choose
We can choose to move forward, starting right now.
We can choose to be with our Creator, or not.
We can choose to believe the one he has sent, or not.
We can choose to take the entire Book seriously, or not.
We can choose to worship the Creator, or created things.
We can choose what is real, or some cheap knock-off.
We can choose to respect true authority, or not.
We can choose to seek and cherish the truth, or not.
We can choose wisdom, or not.
We can choose the miraculous, or rely on what is fake.
We can choose to treat precious things with respect, or as common.
We can choose to rest, or be exhausted.
We can choose to honor our parents, or die young.
We can choose to protect the innocent, or be held accountable.
We can choose to seek due process and justice, or let evil run amok.
We can choose to govern ourselves, or let others enslave us.
We can choose to compare ourselves to Jesus, or think of our neighbor as livestock.
We can choose to treat others the way we want to be treated, or not.
We can choose to be a truthful witness, or corrupt justice.
We can choose to act in love, or be selfish.
We can choose to make a commitment, or die alone.
We can choose to run from sin, or embrace lies.
We can choose to change our ways, or be condemned.
We can choose to open our eyes, or remain blind.
We can choose to believe, or to die.
We can choose life, or death.
"It shall be life."
All glory to God.
UPDATE, 05/28/2025...
Interesting article:
Article 5376, International Public Notice: Into Plough Shares, May 28, 2025.
Playlist
Wicked Game, Chris Isaak
Teardrop, Massive Attack
Square One, Coldplay
White Shadows, Coldplay
A Message, Coldplay
Fix You, Coldplay
Speed of Sound, Coldplay
Low, Coldplay
Dancing with the Lights Out, Roxxpin
So in Love, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Ciant Hear It (Jungle Remix), Elliphant
No Fate Awaits Me, Sun Lux & Faux Fix
All glory to God.
Spirit
I ran across this short, repetitive video yesterday. It was embedded in an article lamenting the current overuse and misunderstanding of the word "quantum".
"Fifteen senses" was new to me.
Of course, I knew about the five physical senses. We "live in a body"...
The Body
- Sight
- Sound
- Smell
- Taste
- Touch
We "have a soul"...
The Soul
- Mind -- "Your mind: what you think."
- Will -- "Your will: your drive to act."
- Emotion -- "Your emotions: what you feel."
- Affection -- "Your affections: who you feel it for."
- Imagination -- "And your imagination: your ability to see what isn't visible yet."
We "are a spirit"...
The Spirit
- Prayer -- "Prayer: speaking truth to the divine."
- Praise -- "Praise: declaring truth to your reality."
- Worship -- "Worship: aligning with the highest version of yourself."
- Faith -- "Faith: belief beyond evidence."
- Meditation -- "And meditation: pure focus."
The video suggests "spirit" is the most important, and I agree. It says we are spirit, and I agree.
But, the things listed under spirit do not define existence, they define things we do. They are all actions.
Actions do not define us. Actions are what actors do. The root of those two words is "act".
The Greek word for actor is hypocrite.
The Book says we are made in the image of God (Genesis 9:6).
It says God is a spirit (John 4:24).
If God is a spirit, and we are made in God's image, then logically we must be a spirit, too. We are a spirit, which is what the video says.
God created our spirits to live with him, and he gave us the ability to choose to be with him. Unfortunately, the first man chose to go his own way and that messed up the entire creation. What if that had not happened? I wrote a fantasy about the first people doing the right thing: Standing Firm.
God's spirit exhibits these characteristics:
- love
- joy
- peace
- patience
- kindness
- goodness
- faithfulness
- gentleness
- self-control (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV 1984).
Those are "fruits". Just like a pear tree produces pears, God's spirit produces those kinds of results.
People can act in those ways some of the time, but can they do it all of the time? Can they naturally do it without thinking; are they always consistent? Or do they produce bad fruit? ...
- sexual immorality
- impurity and debauchery
- idolatry and witchcraft
- hatred
- discord
- jealousy
- fits of rage
- selfish ambition
- dissensions
- factions and envy
- drunkenness
- orgies, and the like (Galatians 5:19-21 NIV).
The Book says people who exhibit those manifestations will not be able to approach God.
Performing the actions attributed to the spirit's "senses" in the video has nothing to do with experiencing the traits produced by God's Holy Spirit living inside of us.
There is only one way to get there: Apprentice of Jesus.
All glory to God
UPDATE, May 16, 2025...
Some thoughts about the so-called "senses" of our Spirits mentioned in the video:
"Prayer: speaking truth to the divine."
God already knows the Truth. He is the Truth. He does not need our help.
"Praise: declaring truth to your reality."
Praising what or whom? Ourselves?
What is being declared as "true"? Is it really true and how do we know?
What exactly is our "reality"? Is our reality based on facts or fiction? Are we joyful or are we depressed? Our reality could be one of a plethora of vastly different states.
What does this statement really mean?
"Worship: aligning with the highest version of yourself."
We are wired to worship something, and this video is encouraging us to worship ourselves. Yeah, that's gonna work.
"Faith: belief beyond evidence."
My faith is based on evidence; it is based on truth and what I have actually observed. Believing in something without any evidence is simply foolishness.
"And meditation: pure focus."
Pure focus on what? Truth or lies? It matters.
In my opinion, these behaviors do not reveal anything to us, as actual senses do. They are attempts to find the Creator we are all wired to be with. They are gropes in the dark.
We must be "born from above" as described in John 3:3 in order to find God and see The Kingdom. Otherwise, we will not see anything.
Being "born" is something we cannot control. It just happens to us. God is the one who makes it happen.
But, we can ask Him to let us see the Kingdom. He will do it if we are serious.
Gum
The Wonder Years is one of my favorite TV shows. It is about reminiscences of life back around 1970 when a boy was in junior high and high school.
The fictional character, Kevin Arnold, would have been two years older than me. He had my math book and experienced many of the things I did at the time.
In one of the episodes, Frank and Denise, Kevin finds himself caught between a couple having relationship troubles, and both of them use him to eventually get back together again. At one point, Kevin experiences "the most voluptuous girl at McKinley High" apparently falling for him...
She kisses him in her car...
And transfers her chewing gum into his mouth...
Thrown out the window on September 8, 2024 ...
... and it's still there. I see it almost every day.
The Frank and Denise episode first aired on October 23, 1991.
That was exactly 33 years before my mom died.
Exactly.
My dad passed away almost twenty five (25) years ago, and Mom remarried a couple of years later. Her new husband took her to the Carolinas, a place she had always wanted to live. They enjoyed each other for eleven (11) years, and then he died. We brought her back to Midland to live, and after a couple of years she was baptized in the ocean and received the Holy Spirit.
Her wishes were to involve both of her husbands in her funeral arrangements. I had been thinking about going down to Matthews to make sure things are done right.
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| Source |
These things just amaze me. Like I said, ....
This is so much fun.
All glory to God.
DEAD
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| Click to enlarge. |
According to Roman Law, anything in all capital letters is either a slave or dead.
The Holy See and Roman Curia created the idea of corporations, and are therefore responsible for them all (AVR #1, the first of over 5000 articles and counting).
Effectively, all corporations are owned by the Pope.
"Non-profit organizations" are a form of corporation.
Institutional churches organized as "non-profits" are corporations and they are owned by the Pope, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
Roman.
Does your church have a sign out front, or on the building, that is in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS?
That means the institutional church you attend, are a member of, or work for, is DEAD and/or a SLAVE of the Pope.
It's right in front of you.
What does Jesus think about this?
All glory to God.
Required Work
The people asked Jesus...
“What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ... (John 6:28-30 NIV)
Jesus had just fed about 5000 men with five small barley loaves and two small fish. He had also just crossed to the other side of the lake without getting into a boat.
How should they have known God had sent Jesus?
Did they comprehend what he was talking about?
Did they do the work?
There is nothing new under the sun.
All glory to God.
Bobber
The first year I didn't think much about fishing. I spent a lot of time shooting baskets in the park across the street from my house.
Then one day when I was away from home, I noticed a fish. It was a very nice fish. I was intrigued.
I started to regularly go to the place where I had seen that beautiful fish, and I watched it for about a year. I wasn't really interested in actually fishing at that point, but my mind started to consider possibilities.
Then suddenly, I didn't see it anymore.
I thought about that particular fish a lot and tried to figure out why it was so interesting to me.
Then I saw another fish. It was similar, but of a different color. I only saw it once.
That experience got me interested in actually fishing. I acquired some fishing gear and cast my line into the water where I had seen the fishes. I watched my bobber.
Eventually I got some nibbles and thought I had a fish on my hook. I started to reel it in and felt some tugs. Then I saw the fish, but it spit out my hook.
I re-baited and recast. Almost immediately I got a strong hit. I snapped my rod back to set the hook and then began cranking the reel. The fish hardly resisted; it was as if it wanted to be caught.
It was a very nice fish and I pulled it ashore. I picked it up and it didn't struggle. Its mouth opened and shut and its gills fanned out and in as it tried to "breath" water, which wasn't there, of course. That fish definitely seemed to like being in my hands.
When I tried to remove the hook from its mouth, it started to squirm. It slipped out of my hands and bounced back into the water. I watched it swim away. What a disappointment.
That experience gave me confidence I am a fisherman. I actually caught a fish! Amazing. I can do this!
I cast my line out again, hoping to re-catch that same fish. It was a very, very nice fish. Quite young, but a "keeper" per the rules.
I waited and watched my bobber for a very long time. Nothing. I guess I scared it away.
I continue to fish and am enjoying it. Hadn't really done it much before. I go out every day and cast my line into the water. I know this is a good place to fish.
Recently, I saw some wavelet rings emanating from my bobber, so I think I've had some nibbles. I hope so. I'm getting hungry. I like fish.
We shall see what happens. God is faithful.
All glory to Him.
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