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I am home from a four-day workweek. I’d like to tell you it was an easy time because I was blessed with Memorial Day off. For the most part, it was a breeze, but my dispatcher threw in a Philly run for Friday. That trip alone made it feel like a six-day workweek.
Besides the Philadelphia trip that chipped away at my soul, another thing has thrown me off balance since Monday. I didn’t feel quite right, and was certain the disease I have been cursed with, diverticulosis, was about to become diverticulitis. I did not want to let that happen. I would be forced to take awful antibiotics and miss work. Missing work equal missing money, so I had to soldier on. Instead of letting my disease get the better of me; I took a more holistic approach: I kept up my regiment of eating healthy high-fiber foods supplemented with fiber supplements. I tried to get extra sleep. I would think happy thoughts like I usually do, especially when I thought of whatever was transpiring among my insides. I would sometimes place my left hand on the lower left quadrant of my abdomen and imagine that healing light was penetrating to aid in the process. I will always fight to stay healthy, strong and positive, even when it is much easier to let myself fall victim to becoming sick. I’m happy to report my therapy seems to be working; I write you this Saturday morning feeling considerably better.
It was nice; however, to have what amounted to almost a four-day weekend last week. When you are away from home for so many days, it feels very good to be home. Any truck driver would tell you that they appreciate being at the house more than your average citizen who is home every single night (or day.)
When Tuesday arrived, it was time to enact my standard procedure of asking my wife if I really had to go off to work. The usual words flew out of my mouth like, “Do I have to?” “I’d much rather stay home and write, please let me stay.” The meanie that she is, I was given direct orders to leave; something about money needed to live flying out of her lips. Wouldn’t it be great, to stay at home and do the things we want to? I have not given up hope that one day that will be possible; however, this week, as next, I drive to work and pick up a big truck and go off in search of new adventures (and money.) It’s neither a bad life to live nor a terrible goal to walk towards.
Tuesday was a pleasant day buzzing around Baltimore and the DC beltway. The weather was good even though I felt like I was in a fog.
Wednesday brought two easy stops in Williamsport, Pa. It was a long day because I came back and made trails to Connecticut for Thursday’s deliveries. My first stop Thursday morning had a six to eight am delivery window. I was in town by eight Wednesday night but still, who likes to wake up that early? There was a silver lining; my second stop a mile away opened at ten in the morning.
You might be saying, “Jason, that’s not a silver lining. If you get done with your first stop at seven-thirty, there are two and one-half hours until your next stop opens their doors!” You would have a valid argument, but you cannot forget that I am a very skilled time filler-upper. Here was the plan: I would arrive at the first stop, unload 87 pieces of the world’s best furniture, then drive to a nearby truck stop. That facility happens to contain a Dunkin' Donuts store where I could score the finest coffee on the planet as well as a sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwich. (I told you I was eating healthy.) There would also be time to clean the bugs off my windshield, in case I wanted to take a picture through it. (While sitting still I might add.) So, that’s what I did.
I parked my beautiful rig in the lot. I then walked inside the building to wash my hands before ordering my healthy and delicious breakfast. On the way, I noticed a big red Volvo truck sitting on the scale, in the process of being weighed. It is because I am a man with a good eye that I noticed something else: It was piloted by a girl (a pretty one I might add.) It is not unusual to see women truckers on the road. I seem to remember the pretty ones more for some reason. (Okay, I’ll stop with the pretty girl talk. If my wife sees that I said that, she wouldn’t let me leave for work, and she’ll break my fingers, so I can’t write. That would be terrible.)
When I was coming out of the building, I held the door open for a girl walking in. I was certain she was the one I saw in the truck, and I noticed she had a young girl with her. She thanked me, I told her that she was welcome, and then I set sail for my coffee and nourishment fix. I took my food back to my truck and sat at the table to enjoy it in quiet solitude.
Looking through the windshield as I ate, I could see the big red Volvo. The mother/daughter team had returned to their truck, and mom was standing at the back of the trailer looking at the wheels, her scale report in her hands. She then got out her phone and made a call, tipping me off that everything was not all roses on their trip across the scale, and she needed advice. Whatever was in that trailer was likely heavy. The Department of Transportation has regulations that we have to abide by. There can only be so much weight on the front axle of the cab, the drive tires of the cab, and on the trailer axles. If there is too much weight on any one part of all three, things can be adjusted to make it legal. It often starts with sliding the wheels of the trailer front or back.
Watching them set my mind into the wonder mode. What a good lesson for her daughter in the mathematical conundrums of weight and balance. I wondered if her kid hopped on Facebook and made a status update that said something like, “We just picked up a load in Connecticut, and it’s too heavy. Mom can’t get the thing balanced right and it’s taking forever. Ugh.” She would be unlike most girls her age in saying something like that, that’s for darn sure.
I might also add that I do not know if I am correct to assume that mother/daughter was the relationship between these girls. They could have been sisters, friends, maybe even aunt/niece. Perhaps I should have asked them, but I was too scared. I’m a better writer than I am a smooth talker with the opposite sex. In addition to that, what if they had asked me for help with their truck-weight issues? I would have come off looking like an idiot. I hate when that happens.
It’s been a very long time since I put my truck on a scale. It’s very rare that it’s a necessity in the business of furniture. Fabric and wood are fairly light, and even if I completely removed the wheels of the trailer, it would still be legal. (Wait, maybe not. It might not roll so good and would probably throw off a lot of sparks.) Every once in a long while, I do pick up something heavy on the way home and have to make sure everything weighs well. The last time I did scale a load, I had a student with me, and I was not sure how to correct the problem. (Yes, you heard it all here: I am a healthy eater and a skilled teacher.) I did what Mom did; I picked up my phone and called my friend and mentor Gary for advice. We moved the wheels on the trailer in the correct direction; we re-weighed it, got it right, and drove on home.
In the end, it was my imagination that kept me from talking to them. I was even predicting the daughters Facebook status if I did talk to them and came off looking like a fool. “Mom still can’t get our weight issues fixed. A really handsome boy came to talk to us. We were hoping for help, but he was a complete moron. I’ve never seen a boy stammer and sweat so much.” That would have been horrific.
During my stay, I watched them go over the scale three times, including the first trip. To my relief, another trucker went to help them and advised them to change the length between truck and trailer. The nose of the trailer rests upon a pin, and that mechanism can be adjusted front or back. It seemed to be the magic factor for them, as they went and parked in a normal spot and seemed to be settled down for a bit.
Watching the adventures of those ladies made me wonder about a lot of things. I’ve witnessed lots of things on the road in my long and storied career. (Okay, it’s only been about eight years, but it’s always storied because I make it that way.) I think it was a neat thing to see. I wonder if the young lady enjoys riding around in the shotgun seat of a big rig. It has taught me you can learn a lot about our world and the people in it, more so than from the walls of a classroom. I also wondered why she wasn’t in school; perhaps she was home-schooled or in the midst of enjoying a “take your daughter to work” day. Most of all, I wondered if she was like me, and would really appreciate being home once she got there.
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Emma is a busy doctor who sets up a seemingly perfect arrangement when she offers her best friend Adam a relationship with one rule: No strings attached.
Ethiopia hyenas: Not biting the hand that feeds them
Youseff Mume Saleh's nightly feeding ritual, a tradition in his town of Harar, has become an attraction for tourists.
Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times
July 31, 2010
Reporting from Harar, Ethiopia — Here in this medieval city in eastern Ethiopia, the humans and the hyenas are living in peace.
The truce began two centuries ago (or so the story goes) during a time of great famine.
There was drought in the hills where the wildlife roamed, and hungry hyenas had sneaked into Harar and eaten people.
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Distressed, the town's Muslim saints convened a meeting on a nearby mountaintop. There, they devised a solution: The people would feed the hyenas porridge if the hyenas would stop their attacks.
The plan worked, and a strange, symbiotic relationship was born.
City leaders went on to create holes in the sand-colored stone walls that surround Harar to give the hyenas nightly access to the town's garbage. And in the 1960s, a farmer started feeding hyenas scraps of meat (goat, donkey, sometimes camel) to keep them away from his livestock.
That farmer was the first hyena man. Today the title belongs to Youseff Mume Saleh.
Lithe and quick, Saleh, who is unsure of when he was born but says he is in his early 50s, has high cheekbones, a pursed mouth and few words. He lives just outside the city walls, near an ancient Muslim shrine built around the trunk of a splendid fig tree. His home sits on an old landfill, the ground sparkling with shards of broken bottles.
Saleh's nightly feeding ritual has become an attraction for tourists, who hire guides to bring them here. He has grown accustomed to the flash of their cameras and the tips they slip him at the end of the night.
Although the money helps —Saleh has two wives and seven children to provide for —he insists that his custom is not motivated by profit. The hyenas have come to rely on him, he says, and he worries what might happen if he stops.
Across Africa, hyenas are reviled as baby snatchers and garbage scavengers, the villains of village folk tales.
But when they slink toward Saleh's house at dusk each night —green eyes gleaming, boxy jaws looking so eager to snap — Saleh calls to them.
"Funyamure," he coos."Tukwondilli."
When a stranger later asks why he has given the animals names, Saleh sighs.
"We are family," he says. "You have to understand."
Not far away, in the town of Maalka Raafu, the hyenas and the humans are at war.
After a band of the animals attacked livestock there this year, an angry rancher spiked a goat carcass with poison, killing the eight hyenas that ate from it.
Four days later, according to news reports, the surviving hyenas retaliated. In a rash of attacks, they killed one girl and injured three other children. The people of the town struck back, slaying several hyenas with axes.
Such violence is unheard of in Harar, where the hyena man's children laugh when asked whether they are afraid of the animals.
"The hyena is just like a dog," says 10-year-old Ajebbo.
"No," says her sister, Ardale, 14. "It is like a cat."
Last winter, an odd guest showed up at their home.
He was an Australian paleoanthropologist, and he wanted to know whether he could spend time with Saleh while conducting research for his PhD on the city's unusual social dynamic.
"I heard about this place in East Africa where hyenas walk the streets with impunity," Marcus Baynes-Rock, 42, says. "I had to see."
Since then, Baynes-Rock has grown close to the family. On many afternoons, he and Saleh can be found relaxing in the dark cool of the hyena man's one-room home. They lounge on pillows, talk about hyenas and chew khat, a local plant whose leaves provide a mild stimulant effect. (People in Harar like stimulants: The region's major export is coffee.)
"Their relationship is just like humans," Saleh says of the hyenas. "Some fear the other. Some respect the other. Also, they have leaders."
Baynes-Rock nods. "Some are aggressive and some are passive," he says. "Some are very bright; some are brave."
Over the course of eight months, Baynes-Rock has become a kind of hyena man himself.
Each night, once the hyenas have dined with Saleh, Baynes-Rock grabs his notebook, dons his night-vision goggles and follows the pack as it slinks through the town's narrow alleyways.
"They're fast," he says. And they can be devious. A few months ago, a hyena stole an expensive camera lens.
"Can you imagine the insurance claim?" he asks, laughing. "To their credit, the company paid it."
His obsession with the hyenas —not to mention his white skin, tall frame and fondness for leather motorcycle jackets —has made Baynes-Rock a curiosity in town. As he navigates the streets, striding by coffeehouses, through markets, past churches and mosques, he is frequently followed by groups of barefoot children shouting his name.
This month he married a local woman named Tikist. When they first met at a cafe, she spoke no English, and he had not yet begun learning her native Oromo tongue. He wooed her with photographs of hyenas.
Each year during the Muslim festival of Ashura, the city celebrates the hyena-human peace that the saints arranged many years ago.
On that morning, people leave porridge and butter for the hyenas at the many shrines that dot the town. The hyenas' reaction to the food is said to predict the new year.
If the hyenas clear their plates, the town should prepare for drought. If they spurn the porridge, danger is afoot. If they eat most of the food but leave some, the villagers can expect a prosperous year.
Baynes-Rock has spent some time with Saleh's competition, another resident who feeds a different pack of hyenas for an audience of tourists each night. But he dismisses him as "a businessman, not a hyena man."
Once, in the middle of the feeding, the other man answered a call on his cellphone. Baynes-Rock says he just doesn't respect the hyenas the way Saleh does.
Respect was a lesson Saleh learned early on. The hyena man bows his head to reveal a slug-like scar behind his right ear.
The attack happened when he was a boy. Saleh saw a hyena on his father's farm and he hit it with a stick. The hyena tore into him, fleeing only when Saleh's father came to his aid.
For millenniums, hyenas have been some of man's fiercest predators. Many of the earliest human fossils, including some discovered in Ethiopia's Awash river valley, have tooth marks that came from ancestors of hyenas.
"For millions of years we've been living alongside these animals and developing a fear of them as well," Baynes-Rock says. "You can see it in people's eyes when they see the hyenas at night. It's a primal fear."
So why not in Harar?
Abdul-Muheimen Nasser has some answers.
The city historian and overall eccentric (he's the only man in town who wears a backward baseball cap on his salt-and-pepper afro) says the hyena is "a transmitting station" that communicates news from the spirit world to humans.
He says that at the time Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I died while imprisoned in 1975, a woman who could communicate with the hyenas in town had predicted his death.
"The hyena is the go-between," Nasser, 69, says. "He is like the CNN or the BBC."
Saleh stabs a piece of camel meat and dangles it in the air. The hyenas skulk toward him. First one, then five, then 15.
He tells them to come. To stop biting. The first hyena lunges for the meat.
A Spanish tourist excitedly snaps photographs. A handful of local boys look on, snickering.
Saleh leaps around the yard flinging scraps into waiting mouths. He uses his body to block the aggressive hyenas so those that have not yet eaten can get their share. He teases the shy ones, forcing them to come close and pull the meat from his mouth.
When he's out of meat, the spectators shove off and the hyena man shoos the animals into the shadows to finish off their meal.
A call rings out from the nearby mosque, beckoning the faithful to evening prayer. Then all that is heard is the ring of cicadas and the crunch of bones.
Tree tips illuminated by low light, in contrast with the darker rushes on the opposite shore of Grey's Creek. The image is an inverted reflection.
Explored Dec. 15, 2007
Farewells and promises are so inseparably intertwined. Lost in relationship, one can scarcely tell them apart. I suppose it’s odd then that farewells sadden us so, while promises bring us joy. But perhaps this is easily known as departures are so often softened by promises of return.
Of course returns are promises kept.
I think it’s profound that not only do farewells contain promises, but are sometimes promises being kept. I really don’t think I can adequately express my thoughts here, but it occurs to me that so many promises made in the arriving are proven faithful in the leaving.
Somehow, for me, Dawns and Dusks, Sunrises and Sunsets, are quite the example of this. Sunsets are intensely beautiful, but they are farewells, every one of them. In fact, they are farewells to a promise made by the dawn. A promise of new mercies, fresh starts, light and life, that is framed and proven in the pensive contemplation of the beauty of sunset. The sunset provides the beautiful keeping of the promise and a moment for eucharistic delight and grateful reflection on the day that was given.
The sunset says farewell with a promise of dawn, and the delivery will be made in beauty equal to the promise.
Sunrise and Sunset
Farewells and promises,
but which is the promise,
and which, the farewell?
The Lord keeps watch over you as you go out and come in,
both now and forever.
I told him to leave..he said no. I grabbed his photo and ripped in it front of him..now do you believe me? I said..No! he said...I slept with my back turned..I hate him! I went to work, silence a knife between us..
A call, a delivery for you Sherilyn...a dozen roses...I'm sorry the card said..how can I resist...I won't say thank-you until later, make him sweat.
More marriages might survive if the partners realised that sometimes the better comes after the worse. ~Doug Larson
My story is fiction - honest.
for odc2 - Mended
QuoteoftheDay 'If love is one way, it is a punishment. If love is both ways, it is enjoyment.' - Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi
Love Design is a project that explores the multifaceted relationship between design and positive feelings such as affection, desire, pleasure and romance, but also jealousy, distance, separation or pain. Love Design the book presents a selection of unusual products, objects, graphics and textiles specifically designed to enhance (or distort) our pleasurable sense of togetherness in every possible and impossible way. Love Design the exhibition presents the works of 20 outstanding designers taken from the book. The selection includes new products, textiles, jewelry, lights, tableware and furniture that question the very meaning of the word 'love', the beginning and the ending of what binds us together and tears us apart.
Love Design by daab
ISBN: 978-3-86654-051-4
Format 22,5 x 22,5 cm
384 Pages Hardcover with linen
Release: April 2009
Text: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
ISBN:978-3-86654-051-4
Dish out the fine wine and soft sheets. This piece of Jewellery that doubles as a vibrator is going to make your toes curl up.
( I haven't change the color , its taken by my handphone camera. ; )
Don't know why the color is " so deep" ) 好像在光线弱时拍的话，拍出来的照片颜色会显得深色。
The camera was set at f22, 1/200th sec,ISO 100. One flash behind me, full power, zoom 105mm. Another flash camera left, 45 degree angle, 1/16th power, 105mm zoom
The Scriptures present us with a variety of visible images which signify the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. These signs include wind, fire, breath, and rivers of living waters. You and I have been called to experience the adventure of life in and with the Holy Spirit. We all need the Fire of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In fact, Ephesians 5:18 urges us to constantly be filled with the Spirit. If you are in a place of hunger for more, you will be blessed by this teaching entitled Fire of the Holy Spirit.
Signs of fire in Scripture signify in a special way God’s holy presence, power, and glory, as well as the purification and cleansing action of the Holy Spirit. Some examples include:
• The Burning Bush – Exodus 3
• The Pillar of Fire in the wilderness – Exodus 13:21-22
• The Consuming Fire on Mount Carmel – 1 Kings 18:17-40
• The Burning Coal that purified the lips of Isaiah the Prophet – Isaiah 6:6-7
• The Tongues of Fire at Pentecost – Acts 2:1-4
• God’s Consuming Fire in the new heavenly Jerusalem – Hebrews 12:22,28
The role of the Holy Spirit is not an ‘optional extra’ for Christians; He is the very essence of our relationship with the Father and the means to accomplish what we have been called to do. We have generations of people that don’t know what it means to experience the Holy Spirit, and that in itself is heart-breaking. However, ordinary people filled with Fire can make all the difference.
I feel it is right to show you this life changing teaching and pray that the principles expressed in the teaching will take root in your life. For over four decades we as a ministry have seen the Holy Spirit radically transform people’s lives, bodies, relationships and circumstances. We’ve seen millions set on Fire from above and we want to see that same Fire released in your life.
FIRE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”
So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. ”But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Exodus 3:1-4 & 10-12
YOUR WILDERNESS IN LIFE – THE PERFECT CONDITIONS TO CATCH FIRE
The first thing I want you to notice is the location where Moses encountered the Fire of God. I want you to notice that it doesn’t say that when Moses encountered the Fire he was lying next to a lush green pasture next to a cool bubbling brook of water surrounded by lilies. It doesn’t say that he encountered the Fire of God sitting in a 5-star resort getting massages. The Bible says that when Moses encountered the Fire of God he was in the desert.
In fact, let me take it one step further, the Bible actually says that Moses was on the backside of the desert when he encountered the Fire of God. Now, how many of you know that the desert is a dry place, the desert is a thirsty place, the desert is a lonely place. Yet, this is the place where God chose to reveal himself to Moses through this burning bush of fire.
We all go through times of difficulty, we all face trials. Maybe as you sit and read this teaching you don’t feel the presence of God, maybe you’re going through the most challenging wilderness experience you’ve ever experienced. I have good news for you; the dryer a piece of wood is, the quicker it catches on fire.
When the Lord Jesus began his public ministry, the first thing that John the Baptist said about him was:
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matthew 3:11 and Luke 3:16).
What does it mean to be baptized with the fire of God's Spirit?
When the Holy Spirit comes he sets our hearts on fire with the love of Jesus Christ. Paul the Apostle tells us that,
“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).
When we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, and pray for the Holy Spirit to be fully released in our lives, what happens – what does the Holy Spirit do?
• The Holy Spirit opens our ears to hear God’s voice – the Spirit enables God’s Word to come alive in us so that God’s word becomes a living and life-changing Word that is sharper than any two-edged sword – Paul the Apostle calls the Word of God the Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6).
• The Spirit opens our eyes to give us vision of what God is doing today in the Church, the world, and our personal lives. “Without vision the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18)
• The Spirit opens our minds to give us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of God and his ways (Isaiah 11:2). Jesus said the Holy Spirit will teach us the truth and help us remember all that Christ has taught (John 14:26; 16:13).
• The Spirit opens our tongues to praise God and to speak his word with faith, conviction, and boldness and to encourage the fainthearted, the hopeless, and the weak.
• The Spirit anoints our hands to bring blessing, healing, comfort, and help to others.
• The Spirit equips our feet with speed and haste to bring the good news of the Gospel to every neighbor near and far.
• The Holy Spirit purifies our hearts and minds and sets us on fire with the love of Christ.
When Jesus began his ministry, he was led by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the good news of the kingdom to every village, town, and region of Israel. The Spirit gave force or power to every word Jesus spoke. The Spirit revealed the thoughts and intention s of people’s hearts to Jesus. The Spirit empowered Jesus to perform signs and wonders and miracles, and power to free people from Satan’s oppression in their lives.
We are Christ’s body – members of his church on the earth. Jesus calls us to do the same works he did and he equips us with spiritual gifts to carry on the work which he began.
Saint Theresa of Avila (1515-1582) wrote:
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
Outpouring of the Holy Spirit today
Why is God pouring out his Holy Spirit today, with signs, healings, and spiritual gifts? I believe one reason is that the Gospel and the Christian people are under unprecedented attack today. We need spiritual power to counter this attack and to proclaim the Gospel in the joy and power of the Holy Spirit. The charismatic renewal is a key part of God’s work to renew, restore, and equip God’s people to stand strong in faith and courage, to persevere with unwavering hope, and to be on fire with the love of Christ. Our task is to make Jesus known and loved by all who will receive him and the good news of salvation he brings.
Our role in the charismatic renewal movement
We are first foremost disciples of Jesus – disciples who are personally committed to the Lord Jesus, to follow him and obey him and to submit to his word for our lives.
The Lord Jesus calls us to be servants just as he came "not to be served, but to serve." As his servants who use their gifts, talents, and time to generously and selflessly serve others to help them grow in faith, hope, and love. We use our gifts, not to build up ourselves, but to build up the body of Christ and to advance his mission in the world.
The charismatic renewal is a sign of what God is bringing about through the gift of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. It is a visible public sign of the Lord’s work of renewal in bringing people into a revitalized relationship with God and a sign of the unity he desires for all of his people. The Spirit unites, Satan divides. A true sign and fruit of charismatic renewal is love for our church – our church leaders and members, and for all believers who are brothers and sisters in Christ. A sign can’t do everything – but it can point to God and to the work of the Holy Spirit to renew the churches and to bring God’s people into greater unity and love for one another.
Some traps or pitfalls we must avoid
We don’t lead or serve to draw attention to ourselves, to gain esteem, praise, or applause. We serve in humility like John the Baptist who said, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Our reward comes from our Master Jesus Christ. He suffered abuse, mistreatment, and even rejection, and yet he loved his own to the very end (John 13:1), even those who rejected him and those who nailed him to the cross. Paul the Apostle said, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
THE FIRE COMES FIRST
The next thing I want you to notice about this story. This encounter Moses had was the precursor to Moses being sent to Pharaoh, and once Moses went to Pharaoh the greatest story of God’s deliverance and God’s supernatural power that has been recorded, possibly in history, began to unfold. It all started right there at that burning bush; and I see a principle here that is enduring. Before God sends you to Pharaoh, before God sends you to your destiny, before God sends you to do that thing that you were made to do, He is first going to send you to the Fire.
The Fire comes first, that encounter with the presence of God comes first. When Jesus was about to go to heaven He looked down at His disciples and He said I want you to go to Jerusalem, and what? Wait. I want you to go and wait. Now, think about this for a moment. These 12 men were the most experienced and educated and qualified men in things pertaining to Jesus Christ of anybody that has ever walked the earth. Who else got to spend 3 ½ years, every day and every night with Jesus? These men had a PhD in the Jesus Christ school of ministry. If they were alive today, I am sure that every denomination in the world would give them honorary credentials and I’m pretty sure that every Christian University would give them an honorary Doctorate. If ever anybody was qualified to go and preach about Jesus, it was those men. Yet, Jesus looked them square in the eye and said you’re not ready, go to Jerusalem and wait.
What did He say to wait for? It was the promise of the Father. Do you know what the promise of the Father was? It was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that those men, if they were really going to be able to make a difference in the world, they were going to need the power of the Holy Ghost.
I’m convinced that when it comes to the infilling of the Holy Spirit, one of the main ingredients, if not the main ingredient is hunger. Just hunger! You can have what you want, you can have as much of God as you desire. Do you want Him today? Are you hungry for Him today?
LASTING FIRE OF THE SPIRIT
In Exodus 3:3 when Moses saw the bush he turned aside to see why the bush wasn’t burnt. I want you to notice that it was not the fact that there was a burning bush that impressed Moses so much. A lot of people don’t understand this, they think that it was some unusual sight, some unusual phenomenon and that was the reason Moses thought it was so interesting.
The Bible doesn’t say that Moses was interested because a bush was burning. In fact, there are indeed bushes in the wilderness that spontaneously combust. I’m sure that Moses had seen plenty of them, he had lived there for 40 years. He was interested because a bush kept on burning. I imagine it happened like this. Maybe one day Moses was walking through the wilderness with his sheep, following behind him and he passed this particular spot and looked over to his left side and there he saw the burning bush and he thought to himself, very interesting, one of those burning bushes and he kept going. On his way home that night with the sheep still following behind, he passed that spot and he looked and he saw it was still burning, he said wow, that is the toughest wilderness bush I have ever seen in my whole life and he kept walking.
The next week, Moses was on his way back on that trail again and when he came to that spot he looked and he said I could have sworn that was the same tree that was burning this time last week, but that’s impossible all these bushes look the same, and he kept walking. That night on his way home he saw it again and it was still burning. By this point Moses was starting to get curious, maybe he took some rocks piled them on the path and he said next week when I come back on this way I’m going to check that bush and see what’s happened to it. So he went home.
The next week as he was passing he saw that pile of rocks on the path, it reminded him. Oh yes, that bush was burning here and when he approached it he looked to his left side. Surprise, surprise, the bush was still burning. Maybe, it was at that point that Moses decided to turn aside to see what was going on with this bush.
I remember, when I was first filled with the Holy Spirit as a teenager. Well my friend, that was over 20 years ago now, and I have good news for you. I’m burning brighter today than I was back then and I believe 20 years from now, I will be burning brighter than I am today. The Fire of the Holy Ghost never goes out! Somebody said, ‘How do you keep the Fire burning?’ That’s the wrong way round, the Fire keeps me burning.
The Lord saw that Moses turned aside, that’s when the Lord spoke to him. People ask me all the time about how I hear God’s voice? Notice that the burning bush didn’t start shouting to Moses as he was walking by on the path taking care of his sheep.
The Holy Spirit is patient; He can wait for a long time. What is He waiting for? He’s waiting for you to turn aside and listen. People ask me, why is it that I don’t hear the voice of God? I think most of the time the answer is very simple, you are not listening. If you don’t believe me, let me ask you a question, a little diagnostic. When was the last time you sat in a room for 20 minutes quietly, without the television on, without the radio on, without praise and worship music on, without your mobile phone, without Facebook, without e-mail, you turned everything off and you sat there and said Holy Spirit I have no other agenda, I’m just here to listen, I’m not even here to talk, I’m not here to fill your ears with all of my needs, I’m just here to listen? When was the last time you did that?
DISTINGUISHED BY THE SPIRIT
So Moses turned aside and the Lord spoke to him. Now, I don’t know how many bushes there are in the wilderness, I assume there are a lot. One thing I do know is that there was only one bush in the wilderness that caught Moses’ attention. It was the one bush that was burning with the presence of the living God.
What is the world looking for? Are they looking for us to build nicer buildings? Are they looking for us to have more eloquent preachers? Are they looking for us to have better music? Or better marketing programmes? What is it they want? What we think is relevant to the world is completely irrelevant. We have just begun to become like them, sound like them and act like them, we never confront them, we never offend them, we think that we will win them by looking like them. The church has thought that we can convince the world that they need what we have, by looking, just like they look.
I tell you what we need, Elijah the Prophet discovered it thousands of years ago, when the people of Israel were serving their false God named Baal. Elijah stood up and he said today we have got to make a choice. I say it to you, we have got to make a choice. If Baal is god serve him, if money is your god then serve it, if popularity and acceptance is your god give your life to that, if partying and pleasure is god then live for that, but if Jehovah is God, Elijah said, then serve Him! This was the test, Elijah knew his God and he knew that the authentic God would be able to demonstrate His power.
Elijah said, ‘meet me on top of the mountain, bring all of your 700 prophets and I will stand there as one lonely man representing Jehovah, and we will find out whose God is the true God. The prophets of Baal began to dance and sing, try to call down the fire, Elijah was falling asleep. Not even a puff of smoke from Baal’s alter. After a while Elijah stood up, he said, ‘guys I hate to interrupt it looks like you’re having lots of fun. Don’t worry, maybe Baal is locked in the bathroom - it’s okay. I understand how it is, these gods are unpredictable. Maybe he’s gone on vacation.’ Then Elijah said, ‘Gentlemen before it gets too late, before the sun goes down let me pray. I don’t need a long time, I don’t need to scream and shout, I don’t need to cut myself, all I need to do is speak to God because He’s living.’
Elijah prayed, ‘Lord hear me, let these people know that you are God and that You’ve turned their hearts back to you in the fire.’ The Bible says fire fell from heaven, it consumed the sacrifice and the wood and the stones, it even lit up the water in the trench. Our God is a consuming fire! The world is not looking for pyrotechnics, they are not looking for Rock-n-Roll music, they are not looking for great entertainment. What they are looking for is the reality, the demonstration of the power of God and when they see it they will fall on their faces as the children of Israel did and begin to declare the Lord, He is God.
WHAT ARE YOU BURNING FOR?
This burns in me, we need revival in this nation. We have generations of people that don’t know what it means to experience the Holy Ghost, and it breaks my heart.
Some of us are way too dignified. Often caring too much about what people think or about how we look. If you care more about how you look than receiving the Holy Ghost then you are not hungry, that’s all I can say. A hungry man doesn’t give a flying leap what anybody else thinks. A hungry man has one agenda, to get that food and when you’re hungry for the Holy Ghost everything else in your life will come second to that. You will desire Him more than the air you breathe, you will desire Him more than the food you eat, you will desire Him more than your dignity, you will desire Him more than your reputation, you will desire Him more than your ministry, you will desire Him more than anything!
It is true that people will look at you and look down their nose and say it’s one of those crazy Pentecostals. Oh my friend, don’t worry, I’ll tell you what you do, let that unbelieving sceptic go to a football game. You follow that unbelieving mocker down to the stadium and watch as their team score the goal that wins the game in overtime. Then you will make a discovery, everybody burns! Some people burn for sports, some people burn for money, some people burn for popularity and power and sex and style and fashion. But everybody burns for something. The difference between us and them is that we burn for something that matters!
Yours in the harvest,
Evangelist Daniel Kolenda
He liked me and I liked him - but not in that way 'cause I liked S (being pursued by B) who liked me too but couldn't get over me going out with his roommate D who was angry at me for not liking him like S but consoled himself with Sh.
To say nothing of the sub plots.
I'm really happy here because at the end of this extended party I'm going to Ireland and leaving all this crap behind. : )
The party was originally my goodbye party but got co-opted by Vegetable (John - nice guy) who renamed it Vegetable's 1976 Bi-Centennial Boogie. It lasted four days.
And that 's the name of my new set.
I have a little bit of a love and hate relationship with technology. On the one side I am so thankful what is possible today. We can be in contact with my family overseas in ways that weren't possible years ago. Then again technology is everywhere, it can be addicting and suck the life out of you. Im happy I can teach them the responsibilities that come with all of it.
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When a girl thinks of her future with her boyfriend, it is normal. But, when the boy thinks about his future with his girlfriend, he is serious.
A small window to scrap means this page might be recreated. The journaling came easy - but the layout was a struggle in my hurry. Here is is:“There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well.” Nicholas Sparks- "A Walk to Remember"
This quote has grabbed me since I first found it. I avoided "A Walk to Remember" knowing that it would trigger so many emotions due to my work in family support at St. Jude. When I finally watched it- because Randy had it on and it sucked me in- I was amazed at the beauty of the story and the healing beyond the grief. It is a gem.
We were never promised that this life would be easy. It has great joys and great sorrows and the normal days in between are taken for granted.
As I see this picture and think of the relationships that have made me who I am today- my sister April stands out. Because of her, I learned to share...to draw a line in the stand and stand behind it...to think outside of the box...to embrace art...to love out loud...and to give in to an occasional impulse. She taught me that real love and "you drive me nuts" can co-exist. We learned to fight fair, forgive and move on as only siblings can. We shared genetics, family culture and childhood.
I haven't yet written the story of her death...not yet - but when asked to respond to "what is an important relationship in your life" I realized I haven't made a page like this about her. You don't get over grief- you get through it. In some ways, I miss her more now than I did when it first happened. She was serving in the Air Force at Kadena in Okinawa. I was a young mother and wife in 1996. I remember thinking with her impending marriage we would have that in common. I was looking ahead and not grasping all that was in the here and now.
To live fully each day, laugh often and hold those you treasure close is a choice...a goal...a way to live...today...not tomorrow...or next week. I am so grateful I had a sister for 28 years. I am even more grateful that we have eternity ahead.
My husband will laugh when he reads this because she was not "St. April" by any means- but love remembers the good and not the struggles. I am so grateful the last words we spoke to each other were- "I love you - see you soon." For her...it will be in a blink...for me a little longer. Until that day...I will hold tight to the memories and live fully as she would expect us to do- with joy and a happy heart.
February 5, 2013
PEARL HARBOR (July 13, 2016) U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy observes a mass casualty drill with Commander U.S. 3rd Fleet Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, Commander Vice Combined Coalition Task Force Humanitarian Aid Disaster Relief (CCTF HADR), Rear Admiral Koji Manabe, and Deputy, Vice CCTF HADR Capt. David Miller during a visit to a HADR command center as part of exercise Rim of the Pacific 2016. Twenty-six nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 30 to Aug. 4, in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2016 is the 25th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Antonio Turretto Ramos)
Relationships are hard.
Bobcats at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
I must like the Desert Museum. I managed to mostly fill a memory card in two hours on Wednesday May 4th.
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Love her for being such amazing doll.
Hate her for making me became so addicted to her.
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Dion --- Volks SD Tae 2nd on SDgrG body
PEARL HARBOR (July 12, 2016) Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Ashley Brockman mans the rails of the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) as the ship gets underway to conduct maritime exercises with partner nations for Rim of the Pacific 2016. Twenty-six nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 30 to Aug. 4, in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2016 is the 25th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kyle Hafer/Released)