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THE DAY BEFORE THE FIRST LAST SUPPER

3/31/2021

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Jesus relaxes with Mary, Martha and Disciples.
On Wednesday of Holy Week, the day before the Last Supper and His late night arrest, Jesus rested because he was tired. He had arrived in Jerusalem on a Sunday in triumph, spent that afternoon visiting the Temple and was appalled at the carnival-like business activity he saw in the courtyard and departed visibly upset.  Then on Monday he returned to overturn the tables of the moneychangers before departing in a huff. He called it blasphemy against God's Holy Place, and shamed them.  On Tuesday, he returned again, this time to have a scholarly discussion of who He was and what He did in a way that amazed all of his knowledge, especially the rabbinical elders who had trouble believing that this lowly carpenter from Nazareth could have such a gift. But they had to admit He was brilliant, but they also knew then that He had to be destroyed for His impact clearly identified them to be what they truly were and they knew a plot had to be developed and very soon. The planning for His arrest and execution had already begun.

So, it was no wonder He needed a day of rest and it was decided to spend Wednesday in Bethany with friends Mary and Martha and His accompanying disciples. He  thereby escaped the search parties in Jerusalem that the rabbis sent out to find Him and arrest Him. They knew He was dangerous to their ambition and riches and that He could destroy their lifestyle, so the plot was underway. Bethany was the perfect place to go since it was nearby and not a place to attract attention.  Jesus knew and understood the importance of God's timelines. He was aware that His capture, arrest and ultimate death had to come around the Passover weekend.  That was His Father's wish. So, Jesus would spend the time with His close friends and disciples on what would be His last day of rest in this world, for things would ramp up quickly on the next evening back in Jerusalem. He made final spiritual and mental  preparations for the ordeal to come and He did so with love and grace. After all, He knew the event that was coming would be a horrible one, yet He also knew this was the ultimate reason for His being brought to earth: to die on Calvary's Cross.

Perhaps as we ourselves ponder this, we need to think  what it would feel like for us to be in His shoes on that day.  Could we handle the pressure? Honestly, no. Could we follow through if we thought there was a way to avoid the unbearable pain? Highly unlikely.  Would we feel ashamed if we didn't live up to what the Father expected of us?  Yes, but it likely wouldn't stop us from taking the easy way out if we could.

Now God understands these things; after all, He knows that we are made in His image, yet made with the gift of free will. And with Satan running loose on earth to tempt us, He also knows we will falter. One of the chief reasons for Jesus having lived as a man but also still being God is the the Savior represents the addition of forgiveness that mortals need if they are to be strong. The Old Testament, the precursor to the New Testament, provides the Law which dictates our rules on earth. But it was lacking something, and Jesus improved things dramatically by adding the concept of forgiveness,  where He introduced the ability for us to change and improve with practice and devotion and it is a huge blessing He has provided.  So,  don't be ashamed, for God knows that we mortal humans are weak, yet He still wants us to live our lives as Jesus did on earth.  And when we falter, Jesus is the One who forgives us if we believe and put our trust in Him. And the Holy Spirit, residing inside us, will lead us and guide us to Him. That gift of the Spirit, of course, only came later after His ascendance to heaven to reunite with the Father.  And that's what His life was all about. Jesus was all about LOVE, and that's why the Wednesday before His death carries such importance. He spent that day letting His most important followers know just how important love, devotion and forgiveness are.  And now we know.
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CHANGING PERSONAL FINANCES: WHAT'S NEW IN CRYPTOCURRENCY?

3/29/2021

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Bitcoin leads today, but what's next?
Cryptocurrency: a digital currency system that has no central mechanism with its data secured by the most advanced encryption technology in the world. It is not regulated, but allows each individual holding it to buy and sell items that accept it within nanoseconds. And yes, it confuses so many of us today, for we have grown set in our ways about how we handle our finances and just think such a product is too difficult and too confusing to even consider using. And I must confess that I felt that way until recently. It was the day that I received an offer which seemed like it must be too good to be true. It was an invitation to become involved with something new and I was about to just throw it away, but something told me to review it and I did. Well, it was so clearly and thoroughly laid out that it just made sense, so I used the link to join. Now you can certainly just ignore this post if you want because I guess you could call this an infomercial, but it is totally free, requires no obligation other than becoming a subscriber which actually provides a "starter" volume of their particular Q digital currency which will activate when the project is completed and goes live. The currency is digitally added to your new Q account and online almost immediately. And if you will take the time to review it, it makes total sense and addresses some of the big needs in a changing monetary system. 

This new and developing crypto-like currency is called Q because it is the brainchild of Initiative Q, the organization to which subscribers become a member. But, before going in to that, I want to briefly discuss cryptocurrency in general since many of you, like I recently was myself, are completely unknowledgeable of what it is, why it is needed and why it is, indeed,  one of the waves of of our financial future. It is a natural financial tool to grow and prosper since our current dollar system is falling apart due to inflation which has brought it down to a level where if we continue to rely on it, we will be flat broke. Ever since gold was removed as the backing for the dollar, dollars have over and over invaded the money volume, thus driving prices up. Anybody remember during the Carter Administration when mortgage loans were almost unattainable at eighteen percent? Well, with multi-trillion expenditure bill currently popular in the Biden years, the bottom must be soon to fall out. How many of you know that the Federal Reserve isn't an American bank system at all, but instead a private bank owing its allegiance to the Rothschild banking family which has it tentacles into all of the worldwide national network. By controlling these bank that have no real backing, they inflate money with the charges they pass on to you in the name of fees and interest rates. So, the little guy becomes their slave while the big international bankers become our master and things keep getting more out of reach until we today find ourselves borderline into bankrupt as a society. 

There is a lot of talk about gold coming back into vogue as a backer of the currency and that would do much to help, but using it as a currency is hampered by it size and volume and the time it would take to transfer this real property to complete the transaction. And precious metals. But their values are held down to their subjection to regulations, yet the regulations work the their disadvantage by the way their real value is held artificially low by the big banks. How? By allowing to short trade in real assets by borrowing asset by loan on paper while being allowed to play the market as if it was the actual commodity. Other parties are not allowed to do that, but Congress gave the banks the special privilege to have that unfair trading advantage. Kind of like how Congress also exempted itself from insider trading preclusion. Conspiracy theories anyone?

But if we have Bitcoin and other successful cryptos to choose from as an alternative to tradition, why create another system and what is the advantage? The reason lies in ease of operation, a better way to create the initial group to participate under market conditions. and lower cost which comes from competition. Bitcoin was developed in 2008 and released into the market the following year.  The value of one unit of Bitcoin has gone from $1 pegged one to one to the dollar back then to over $58000 today. Just think if you had been and owner of one Bitcoin back then, today it would be worth the huge number cited. And if you had 20 bitcoins then, today you would be a millionaire. Now that, my friends, is the way to tackle inflation and many are moving to it for just that reason and if they got in at the right time, the champagne must be flying, unless you might refer good old Southern sweet iced tea.

The advantage to Q is it will be cheaper, but should rise quite rapidly, but  then, of course, it is also subject to swing patterns, up and down. But using my own experience the potential is quite amazing, for as I said Bitcoin had gone from $1 to $50,000, so what if Q when it goes live merely goes from $1 to $10, which should be highly likely, today my account value would 170,950. Simply WOW! Plus with the added ease of use, it would be much simpler to use, affording us the opportunity to literally have our own bank, posting transactions in nanoseconds like a speed demon of a PayPal account with self-reliance and no regulation. Now, that would truly be cool.

So, I wrote this blog today for Initiative Q is a great tool for learning the system and actually participate from the start, and reap the rewards. Why does it cost no money? Well, it does more than that, for a new subscriber receives at last check over $11800 in Q credits based on 1 to 1 with the dollar and all for just signing up and being accepted by invite.. And you can stop right there or you can carry on and receive many opportunities to earn more Qs from your efforts, and you have absolutely nothing to lose. So, go to the Q and claim your stake. Just copy and paste this link and you will be set when you accept the invite, join and submit. Don't procrastinate, do it today. Copy and paste the link to on your browser and accept the invite that is the link, and I will welcome you in. Contact me on this site so I will know who you are for I only see your name, but not an email or other link to make contact.


Here is my invite link: https://initiativeq.com/invite/X15Z7ncqN




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SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN: How Many Seconds are Left?

3/28/2021

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So many seconds, but is it enough?
Time. There are so many years, months, days, hours and seconds in the average human body, but is it enough? That's a question we all must face sooner or later and, of course, the closer we get to our likely mortality it takes on a much stronger meaning.  But even then, sadly, many of us just put it off without really considering the consequences of what that means.  I am talking about the decision to commit our hearts and lives to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and offer for life everlasting if only we confess our sins and accept His offer for forgiveness by believing  in Christ, our redeemer, as our Lord through faith and faith alone. And what is the result of we refuse to do this and just put it off? We put ourselves in a position where we might seal our fate in a bad way spiritually and lose our chance for redemption and eternal life.  We must decide and act before human life ends. After that, it is just too late.

Let's take a look at the time we have on earth from the perspective of a much broader spectrum of measurement. If we are now 40 and we use a ball park estimate of say a life span of 38 more years  or 456 months, or 13724 days, 329376 hours, or 19,762,560 minutes to live, those numbers can be very deceiving, and so we allow ourselves to be deceived by saying well, if we have a problem with needing to change our lifestyle to meet God's wishes, we have plenty of time and we go on about our way living in sin. And remember, we also can justify that by saying what we are doing wrong is really no big deal, so we just put our concerns away and continue our wayward ways.

Case in point: Me. Back when I was forty I looked at the numbers above and while I attended church and even taught Sunday school, I was not much better. Oh, I put on the outward appearance, but with my busy work schedule and ambition, I could departmentalize things and justify my very existence and, even then, I figured I had time to make amends later and I just kept on trucking.  It took getting older for me to finally face the truth of my mortality, and while I am still a sinner today, I try much harder to avoid those things which cause us to stray from the Right and the True. But like all of us who whether we admit it or not are all sinners, I have a much clearer understanding of what is expected of me and I owe that all to faith and the discernment it has over time provided me. That comes from practice by reading the Bible, praying and joining in fellowship with others of like faith.

And let's even take look at a simple example, yet in its simplicity it makes things clearer.  I think of this because of the time and season of the year and it is about the month of April which is on the horizon and will be here in just a few days.  We all know, or at least most of us do, the old saying: April showers bring May flowers and, indeed, that is more often the case than not. But it isn't for sure, far from it, and I remember when I moved to Florida those April showers didn't come at all and we were under fire threat through April and even most of May. It made me realize that only God knows at any specific time what will take place since he knows everything. Each day when we awaken and begin our schedule for the day, we could drive to work and find ourselves in a fatal accident. We could have a massive heart attack walking down the street. I have even heard the stories of people chatting in the living room when a plane crashed into the house and killed them. Unexpected is so often the way our death comes that we must consider such things in making decisions.

So, the point I have to make is this. Regardless of our age, health and so many other things, we have no possible way of knowing when our death will come and if we wish to see heaven, we must make our choice before we open death's door. This means don't delay, tackle the issue today and realize that if we want eternity, we must accept our Savior on faith and faith alone as being the one and only Christ, and place Him second to none in our hearts, our thoughts and our actions. If we do this sincerely, we will never have to worry about life, for upon earthly death we will inherit a place at His table in heaven and we will bask in a new life with no pain, no suffering and only goodness and light. And no one can make the decision for us, for we must make it ourselves using our own free will. What am I suggesting? I am suggesting that we make that correct decision and opt for the Lord.  What say you?

Dear Lord, We praise you for all of your greatness and the love and grace you show us every day. You are our Creator and King and we ask that you help us to live for you and in a way that is pleasing to you for as long as we breathe.  Amen.



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After a Long Break I am Back: GOOD MORNING, FRIENDS!

3/27/2021

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Good morning, my good friends and readers.  I must apologize to you for I have been remiss on my blogging for a number of weeks but it was necessary. And while I wish I could say that I am a great writer and was on a sabbatical or something similar, I can not. No, the actions around me and some things I needed to do to just keep hanging on for better times, were sometimes so troubling that I avoided the blogs. I just couldn't get in the mood. Now many of you who faithfully read my works might be surprised to learn that I am not always in a most positive mood. I get comments on some of my short bits on social media asking me how I stay so upbeat. But the truth is, I am like everyone else and I have dark days as well as the good ones, but after this recent absence, I decided to do what I always do on my morning welcome posts on social media, just buck up and force myself back to the blogs. And yes, it always works, so here I am. 

Okay, so what message do I want to give today on my first day back. Well, it's quite simple and it's quite simple. Keep hope alive. Yes, keep hope alive, for with hope we can have the energy to do great things. Without it, we are reduced to a shell of ourselves. And real hope comes from God and with what we good Americans face today, we need God more than any other being for He is the answer man and the only one who can really solve these problems and make us as a people of God whole again. And what could be more be better to visualize hope than a picture of the beautiful sea, peaceful and calm, after a terrible storm? For me, a beach lover, nothing could.

So on this Satuday morning and every day, praise God, praise Him for all that He does and is doing. Honor Him and then pour out your soul to Him. We are His sheep, His earthly children and He wants to hear from us and chat about what we are going through and, don't worry, your prayers don't have to be constricted by format, but they do need to start with praise. Now, your prayers can be in the form of a conversation with Him and actually He very much enjoys that. Oh, He already knows all about you and what you have done, but He wants to hear it from you.  And whatever you do and however you do it, pray to Him daily, as often as you like, for it keeps you close to Him and He longs for it just like any good father wants to talk with His daughters and Sons. And God wants us all to be happy knowing that we have someone much greater than us who created us, wants us to live in His image and is very pleased when we do.

So, be blessed, be thankful and have a loving Spirit within you and go in peace today and enjoy. It's Saturday, so have a great day. And God will smile down on you.
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SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN: The Precious Nature of Life

3/7/2021

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Renewal of a Crape Myrtle in Spring.
Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
                                                  - Genesis 2:7 (ESV)


Life. Just think about the word and what it means. Even when we think about the word we are part of very life itself, for life is our existence and all that we learn through experience over time and what we do in our make-up that constitutes our very life itself.  We take it for granted and fail often to remember that it is God who made us, made in His image by Him wanting us to live like He wishes and yet we constantly fail to do just that. And why do we fail?  We fail because we are mortal beings, made in the image of God but made in a most imperfect world where we will, regardless of how hard we try, fail in many of our efforts and only our faith  in God can help us recover.

Now recovering from failure with the help of God is quite masterful and special, for when be belief in His Son, our Savior, by faith and faith alone, we are granted His gift of forgiveness and given entry into God's Kingdom while yet on this earth. And then on death, we go to be with the Son in His Father's House, which in heaven itself. Oh, the glory that will be if we can just make it and so, that is our challenge. We must maintain our belief and use it to live as He asks, with the principal result being to love ourselves and therein love our fellow man (and woman) unconditionally, with forgiveness built into our hearts to use toward others. That's not always easy, but it is our requirement and the reward we will receive is the Heavenly Home with a new body which has no pain or suffering and into a joyful eternity. What could be better and how can I know?

The answer to that question is really quite simple. Nothing could be better for God's best works are things which are beyond our full expectations, but let's just say that when we inherit the Kingdom we will know what it is like to be the richest person on earth, for nothing we have experienced can compare. And the knowing part, well, we just have to accept it by faith since that is what provides us Jesus' salvation in the first place. But perhaps looking around us at God's nature can give us some clues, for they are every present and here are a few example. 

How about earth's clock in action, the day beginning with the morning sunshine and ending with the sunset amid glorious color and beauty? How about the majesty of birth and the beginnings of a new baby's life with a make-up requiring the master engineer to design such a life, as well as the lives of all the lives of the many different species of animals and also even plant life? All are intricate and amazing, yet each one is different from one another, designed specifically for the lifestyle they are too fulfill. And if you would like one more, how about the elements and seasons (rain, snow, heat cold and even sunshine) and the  specific purpose each one fulfills? These all provide clear evidence of God's existence and our purpose if we just open our eyes and ears and see and listen in conjunction with the Good Book and prayer.

Let me provide one more point, this one coming from the plant world, to hopefully even make my point clearer.  Look at the picture at the beginning of this blog and it will tell something clearly. It is of a much maligned crape myrtle, cut low so many times it looks like a gnarly old dead bush, but no, it is a crape myrtle and it shown signs of life as spring nears.  It is found on our farm and it was planted when we moved here over fifteen years ago. It is found next to the gate to our pasture through which have come many horses at least twice a year all of that time. It was what was originally a bearer of plants to keep the horses from crashing into the fence due to their anxiousness awaiting meal time and it worked perfectly. But over the years the horses have broken branches, eaten its flowers until I just cut it low, hence, its current appearance. And despite all that abuse, the old crape myrtle just before spring each year comes back to life. And the small, fresh growth in the picture is representative of a plant's rejuvenation into new life. 

Jesus Christ offers us that very opportunity if only we accept His promise. And while we must always be thankful for the gift of human, mortal life, we should strive diligently for that permanent life as well. What an added gift He offers us. So, be thankful and pray. l That is my message today.

Dear Lord, We thank you for the gift of life and also for the opportunity to extend that life into eternity. We know we are unworthy, but we love and appreciate your grace and will redouble our efforts to make ourselves worthy of that love and grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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    ABOUT ME

    Hi, I'm James, a writer who studies nature,  animals and all things created by God. I also write from time to time about what I think God expects of us.  I would love to hear your thoughts on these subjects. I hope you enjoy my comments.

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