Categories
Misc

Theme Change… Change is Good

Happy 2023! Today is the first day of February.

This afternoon, I was consolidating several password lists into a main password list. I was testing old accounts and deleting ones no longer active.

When I arrived at my blog site, I did the usual updates and took a moment to look at the themes. I notice my theme didn’t port well to mobile devices. Ah, so “Theme shopping” began.

What you see now is the new theme. I hope you like it. I’m sure Papaw would have, lol.

Oh yeah… I’m still Taken, Not Stirred! My faith is stronger than ever!

Categories
Misc

2021 Almost Done

Let’s say COVID has caused me to be slow with updating my site… 😉

Much has happened over the past couple of years since I posted last in 2019; some of the bigger things…

  • Sold my Dad’s house in Virginia
    • This felt like a closing chapter of my life. This where I lived from October 1986 till May 1999, but with my parents gone, selling this home removed a major reason for me to have to go to VA.
  • Bought a used pool
    • 33×18 oval, and all the stuff that goes with it (electric service, chemicals, toys, deck, water bugs)
  • Helped my niece pass the 6th grade
    • COVID procrastination threatened failure, so a month of tough love yielded success
  • Politics… no comment
  • Switched employers
    • This felt like another chapter… as I was thinking this is my work home for the next 20/25 years

But…

On December 1st of this year, exactly 15 years to the day of my true repentance and faith, I submitted my first album of original music to the US Copyright Office.

Lord knows what will happen. But I pray my little light will shine forth BRIGHTLY for my Lord!

Categories
Misc

Dusting Off the Blog

Goodness, it has been a while!! I was compelled by the 10,000+ spam comments, which I accrued by neglecting to monitor my own blog, sigh 🙁

I do care, really. I’ll be sure to check in more regularly.

Categories
Latest

Mobile blog with Photo

So this Lord’s day I worked as a carpenter of sorts as He did. It is nearly a year since hurricane Irene flooded our basement. Look how there’s no carpet to get sopping wet the next time, heh heh…

20120722-214222.jpg

Categories
Latest

Mobile Posting, Oh Yeah Baby!

Hi!

Haitus affords me tinker time. See now, I can blog from my Blackberry or iPhone!

Rock on!

Categories
Sanctification

A Fresh View of the Light

Here lately, I have thought about the Light. I’ve coincidentally been exposed to the topic of the Light from my daily Bible study, devotional time, a MacArthur sermon, and singing in my head, “This little Light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…”

Frankly, I believe my thinking of the Light is a result of my not thinking about the Light. I mean, I live it, but I haven’t really consciously thought of it in a while. 

I am glad to be thinking of it now. And the following verses resonate in my inner man…

John 1:5
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 8:12
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world, He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Job 33:29-30
Behold, God works all these things, Twice, in fact, three times with a man, To bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

Ephesians 5:8-10
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

So what strikes me is that all my talking about Godly things is a form of light shining. My suggestions to my family to do right and tell the truth are a form of light shining. Could my texting “Jesus is Lord” to an iPhone App game opponent after beating them on a music game with various songs (but specifically death metal music in this case) be a form of light shining?

Lord, I pray that I grow even more in my comprehension of the light You’ve given me. Let me faithfully shine it brighter and brighter!

Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Peace,
Jim

Categories
Observation

Waiting on the Lord

Isaiah 40:31a
… they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength…

I tell my kids to wait all the time. Their eagerness and excitement mixed with anticipation is frequently tempered by my reminders to be patient. Soon, later, almost, in a little while, not yet…

What strikes me is the trust inherent in waiting. My kids don’t doubt that I will deliver. But they do become discontent with waiting, evidenced by their petitions turning to whining. And whining is selfish.

I see this in myself when I have to wait on the Lord. At first I am eager and excited, but then when the days and months and years drag on, I am tempted by discontentment because I become selfish. Yet, my trust in the Lord is settled; I trust Him with every aspect of my being.

Being sensitive to the sin of discontentment (for the Lord orders all my circumstances), my efforts to not sin in this way lead to a mental abandonment of the very thing I was eager towards in the first place. It seems to be a form of insulation towards the disappointment of the apparent delay of my God. Sadly, as a matter of consequence, the excitement fades away too.

It is like me saying, “Okay Lord, the ball is on Your side of the court. Wake me up when You decide to throw it back my way.”

And this lack of excitement tends towards the mundane which can lead to the temptation of self-pity.  But again, sensitive to the sin of self-pity, I keep active. I engage in a form of routine Bible study, devotional reading, mixed with some prayers.

This all makes for a strange spiritual exercise. I am not quite certain I know how to properly wait on the Lord. I don’t want to whine, I don’t want to be discontent, I don’t want to have a pity-party… and I have gotten better at fending off those sins (by the grace of God). I do want to be patient, long-suffering, persevering… but I also want to know how to conduct myself in the midst of it all.

All I know is to read and meditate on His word, pray more, and wait.

Then it happens… though I am waiting (with awkwardness) on the big things for God to affect for me, little things occur by His hand that stirs up my latent excitement… like waking up from drifting off right at the moment my Metrorail destination is reached. This is exciting!

You see, I pray (as a matter of routine) everyday, thanking God for bringing me home safely through my 3 hour commute. This morning, He truly ordered my steps (and confirmed my prayers) by waking me up at the precise moment I needed to be awake.

I thank the Lord for His intimate involvement in my affairs, despite my clumsiness with my inner man.

Oh Lord, teach me wait on you as I should!

Jim

Categories
Misc

Wickedness on Public Display

The rioting and looting in Oakland, California was pre-planned. The authorities also knew this, as their preparations (and the preparations of local businesses) occurred prior to a verdict being issued regarding this:

“A Los Angeles jury deliberated for about six hours over two days before reaching their decision about the shooting on a train platform in Oakland, indicating they deemed it a tragic accident rather than the intentional act of a rogue cop.

The defendant in the racially charged trial, Johannes Mehserle, 28, testified that he mistakenly drew his gun instead of his electric Taser and shot Oscar Grant, 22, while trying to subdue him during a confrontation on New Year’s Day 2009.” (from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66763A20100709)

Such a thing is an opportunity to live out rebellion and wickedness in public, in Oakland. But the striking thing to me is in addition to all this, there was the ever-flashing cameras and video. Journalists and reporters had cameras, bystanders had them, but even the rioters and looters had them!

“Dude, here I am kicking in a Foot Locker window right before I grab me a $100 pair of shoes!” To have the forethought to pack a camera in addition to spray paint and gasoline spray bottles, indicates something more sinister than mere frustration venting is at hand. Let’s do some evil tonight!

Psalm 92:7
…that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;

 

 

Peace,
Jim

Categories
Bible Study

A Look at Love Part 18 (Conclusion)

Good Morning Dear Readers, 

Today marks the last Wednesday in May. Likewise, today will be my last weekly message for a while. During this hiatus, let’s do some “housecleaning”… If you do not read these weekly emails and/ or wish to remove yourself from the email list, simply let me know and I will do so. On the flipside, if you know someone who wants to get future messages, let me know and I will add them.

Starting back in late January, we’ve taken a look at true love as defined in the Bible. For review, let me put forth the scripture covered since then…

1st Corinthians 13:4-7 (NKJV)
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Can you now see how love is so much more than an emotion and a feeling? True love transcends emotions and feelings… and even circumstances. The apostle Paul concurred about this love that comes from above…

Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What a magnificent thing God’s love is! It is any wonder Satan degrades and cheapens love to a self-centered animalistic impulse? True love draws people to the Lord, and the world system by Satan’s design obscures it by defining it as something else. Arrgg! 

Nevertheless…

1st Corinthians 13:8a
Love never fails.

Friends, “never” is a rather dogmatic word, wouldn’t you say? And it is true, for God is true. And if God is true, then what He says is true 😉 You can place all your everything on to this truth.

And when you finally come to Christ as a poor, wretched, and ungodly beggar, casting yourself before Him and His mercy in complete and total surrender… He will gather you into His divine love! His love for you and to you is everlasting!  It cannot end, because love never fails! How utterly senseless would it be to reject Almighty God’s lovingkindness.

To those of you who have God’s love poured into your hearts (Romans 5:5), let nothing hinder you from manifesting that love to those around you. Why do you suppose we’re still left on earth? Ha!

Our love demonstrated toward others is a primary way we breach hardened hearts. It is not that we have a hidden agenda, but that our very nature (regenerated) is to love others.

1st John 4:19
We love because He loved us first.

Well, it has been a privilege and delight to share my thoughts with you all. Please continue to read your Bible… everyday if possible! With love, I conclude for now, but keep you all in my thoughts and prayers.

**Comments/ questions/ testimonies/ objections most encouraged!

Dear Lord, thank you for this time to consider Your word and Your ways. May our thoughts, words, and deeds bring You glory… and glory to You alone. –Amen

Peace,
Jim

Categories
Bible Study

A Look at Love Part 17

Hi Again,

I hope everyone is doing well these days. Springtime (here lately) in the Northern Maryland area has seemed to be more like late February…. cold, windy and rainy. And whatever the weather may be like, we continue on with our routines and schedules anyway. We endure.

Guess what else endures? (You knew I’d go there, right?) 😉

1st Corinthians 13:7b
Love… endures all things.

Endurance is virtue. If you have endurance, you can complete a long distance run. If you have endurance, you can overcome obstacles that might block someone who does not have endurance.

Just now, (tangent alert) my mind thought of the word perseverance. Perseverance and endurance seem similar to me… Hmmm. Let’s look at Merriam-Webster:

Endurance-
the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially : the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity

Perseverance-
the action or condition or an instance of persevering  (doh… lemme get that one too)

Persevere-
to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement

So endurance looks to me to be an ability, and perseverance is an action.  Also endurance speaks to prolonged effort (doing something) and perseverance speaks to remaining despite opposition (holding fast). Maybe someone can do a word study on this…

In either case, I think the words come from the same idea of a determined willingness to accept suffering for a greater purpose. And who now comes to your mind? Is it not our Lord Jesus Christ?

Philippians 2:8
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This obedience to the point of death shows us Christ’s enduring love for God the Father and His sheep. His love was certainly a driving force…

Then think of all the misunderstanding, the rejection, the abandonment, the persecution, not to mention all the efforts of Satan against Him; and even Almighty God Himself pouring out judgment on Jesus when those three hours of darkness covered the land. Yet Christ still offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of His elect.

See how love endures all things?

Those whom Christ has called and redeemed and regenerated have a new nature within them. This very love that Christ demonstrates on the pages of scripture is also within His saints!

Romans 5:5b
God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Is your love enduring?

**Comments/ questions/ testimonies/ objections most encouraged!

Dear Lord, thank you for this time to consider Your word and Your ways. May our thoughts, words, and deeds bring You glory… and glory to You alone. –Amen

Peace,
Jim