Louder Than the Voices

 I have to tell you, trying to write this Bible Study this morning is hard. What a sad week for our county. We don't really know what was going through this 22-year old's head when he shot and killed someone who was speaking what he believed. I have to admit, I don't watch a lot of influencers online, so I only knew the name from a few passing videos I saw on facebook, but Robert knew immediately. Robert is of the generation that given a tv show or given a youtube app, he will pick the app every time. He learns more there. Part of his own recovery is following several Christian influencers, and as he said in his own Facebook post, he didn't agree with everything Charlie Kirk said, but he respected how he truly showed Christ's love in his answers. Robert was impressed with the fact that Charlie could have a conversation and never lose his temper, he was definitely speaking in love.  I saw several Facebook posts that showed there were other people who were celebrating...

 Good morning! We have made it to another Saturday and I am thankful to be through this week. It has been a rough one just with trying to catch up at work from being gone and of course, starting the week with a holiday, those "Monday on Tuesday" things are always a bit much but there has been a lot accomplished this week, so I am good with having a day to switch gears. We have a big community block party up where I was raised tonight, and Robert and I have a Plasma donation planned this morning, so it is still a busy day, but still different focuses and that is a good thing. Today we are going to finish up talking about the relationship between faith and works. I wanted to single out these last two verses because there are two very big lessons here so here we go. James 2:25-26 25  In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?   26  As the body wit...

 Happy Saturday! I said we would spend a couple of weeks in James 2:14-24 and here is our second week. Thanks for being patient with the week off, Last Saturday morning started with leaving the RV a little before 5 and of course, ended with a balloon ride of a lifetime. 💓 I am going to stick a little better to our HEAR method this week. So, without further ado; James 2:14-24 14  What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?   15  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.   16  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?   17  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18  But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.   19 ...

 Happy Saturday! and Happy 58 years on this earth to me. I wish I felt better but I am grateful that God brought me home safe and I got to sleep in my own bed last night, even if it was with several needy cats. I wanted to run 3 mile this morning but I can tell you, that isn't going to happen. I have put in 36 miles this week and so with my head cold, or sinuses or whatever is going on, I am giving myself permission to just get the things done today I need to get done and doing a lot of resting in between. I don't remember being this tired in a long time. I came home with new insight on several tech issues and I have signed up for about 20 hours more classes that needs taken just to keep me caught up with what is going on in the world around us so I can keep my promise to my boss not to let us get behind in technology. This AI thing is the most double edged sword thing I have seen come out of progress in a long time and trying to learn how to use it to the fullest and at the sa...

Happy Saturday morning!  This week, we are finishing off the passage in James about treating everyone the same. As I said early on, this hits very close to home because of my job. I try to stay out of politics here, but when we started being told we could not discuss equity, it was a blow. I will be very frank. We see a lot of people in our offices that are beaten down by society, and that makes them beat up on themselves. Have you ever really thought about the fact that you not treating someone with the respect you would like to be treated with could be their final straw? We see so many suicides in school kids anymore. I remember the days very well of being made fun of at school, and being bullied. There were people who I think really lived to get to call me fatso. I had an escape though, I could come home and get away from it, I always hope people grow out of being that "better than you person" but unfortunately, you see some of their actions on Facebook and see them making...

Happy Saturday!  Hope you all had a wonderful week and are getting a good start to a wonderful weekend. It is a working day for us. I have things that need done around here, some things to help my mom with and some things at the office today and of course, all those Saturday things like cleaning house and groceries. Hopefully, the guys are going to get a new mailbox put up at Robert's as apparently, the mail lady refuses to deliver mail to the old one.  We are heading into a really busy month of August. I have important meetings on Monday and Tuesday, we are trying to do job interviews, I have a trip to Carlinville Wednesday and an outreach event Saturday. I leave, with Andrew in tow, next Sunday for a week of tech learning, home for a few days then go to the Lincoln Balloon festival, then home for a few days and head to Detroit for the National Community Action Partnership conference and by the time I get home, it will be Labor Day weekend and the month of August is gone. And...