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 |  This contains entries to Take up Your Cross, Space Blog, Blog City PF and BC of Friends |
"April 4, 2020"     Prompt: "As we're staying #SaferAtHome, I hope you're all staying hydrated- whether that be with water or other liquids! *Wink*How many cups/glasses/mugs/etc do you have at home? Which is your favorite, and why? Tell us about how you got it." Staying safe from COVID-19 may bring about my death from kidney failure. I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville WV. I have known for a long time now that I have stage three kidney failure. It worries me sometimes but they tell me I will be fine if I stay hydrated and away from caffeine. The kitchen here is closed between meals because they have a limited staff and have to sanitize between meals. This means I do not have access to the drinks I normally can get to. My only two options are fountain water or soda such as Mountain Dew, which is loaded with caffeine. I despise tap water. I was raised drinking unfiltered spring water and tap water tastes like bleach to me. Due to that I am limited to drinking Mountain Dew and what drinks I can get when the cafeteria is open. I think I have a solution though. The nurse's station has a fountain that uses the water in the upside down five gallon blue jugs. I love that water. I can handle drinking it so I may go down there once an hour and get a cup of that and chug it while it is cold. I am also going to invest in one of those coolers for myself and put it in my room. I'll pay for it in advance out of my student loans. Problem solved. If I continue drinking soda (what we call "pop" around here) I will worsen my kidney failure and eventually die from it. God tells us not to harm the temple, which is our body and I am harming mine. No more! "Prompt: Make a happy list with ten items."A lot of things make me happy. Let's see: 1. Jesus 2. Holy Spirit 3. God 4. God's word 5. Souls saved 6. Repentance 7. Writing 8. Studying 9. Serving and talking to innerlight   10. Sunshine I think what makes me happiest of all, aside from my relationship with the Lord, is studying and writing. I am a member of the
Something else that makes me happy is serving others. I have a class this semester which is teaching me how to administer and score a standardized test that reveals what your personality type is. It lists seven basic personality types including administrator, prophet or seer, (the books calls these "perceivers"), compassion, teacher, server, and two others that I can't recall. So far I have scored high as "perceiver" and "server", both being personality types that love to help others. I think I am a server though because I love to work. I am currently floor leader, chaplain, and temporary housekeeper here at the West Virginia Veterans Home. I do four Bible studies per week as well as doing the janitor's job during this lay off. By seven AM this morning I had 90% of the job done. I still need to take out trash and wipe some things down. The guys here love me because I am a go-getter. They know I love them and want to take care of them. One of the guys said this morning that he hoped they gave me a raise for getting up early and getting it done. He said it took someone special to get up at 5:30AM and clean the bathroom. It's just second nature to me. I don't want these guys getting sick. I guess I could put work, work, work on that list couldn't I? A lot of things make me happy though. It is really hard to narrow it down to a list of ten things. Jesus makes me happiest of all. There are times that I bubble over with His love. I am not the preachy type. I'd rather let Christian living do my preaching and I seem to be effective at it. I had one of the men here report an incident to me that made me feel very good. He said he overheard a conversation that a cranky old man here had with a new guy. The new guy had asked the cranky man what I was like as a chaplain. The cranky old man said "He loves with his whole heart. He bends over backwards to help others and would give the shirt off his back if he thought it would help somebody. A lot of the so-called Christians around here are hypocrites, but Marvin is the very picture of Jesus Christ at work in this place." I was floored because I did not realize I was making any impression at all, and this man told me he overheard one of the crankiest men in the place say that about me. I ask the man reporting it to me what he personally thought. he said "I concur with him. If you don't live and act like a Christian I don't know who does." I decided that day that I was not going to verbally preach Jesus. Instead I was going to model Jesus in all I do. That would not be possible if Holy Spirit did not guide me. I will tell you right now though that I call sin what it is: sin. I often get dogged because I say that COVID-19 is from God because He wants the world to repent. He wants the corporations and their shyster lawyers to quit figuring out ways to rip people off. He wants us to quit aborting babies because in His eyes abortion is murder. He wants Adam and Steve to quit getting married because homosexuality in His eyes is sin. America and other countries have legalized all these things and God did not authorize them. He calls them sin. If He says they are sin then I have to say they are sin. I know the Bible is a very old book. It was formed 2,000 years ago. Until God comes back and cancels it however, I as a Christian am obligated to obey it. It may not be politically correct and it may not read according to man's modern way of thinking but Jesus Christ does not change. He is the same today as He was ten thousand years ago. If my beliefs hurt somebody's feelings I don't apologize. Jesus does not change His mind about sin and neither can I. His message is clear: Repent or die in your sins. Prompt: "Tell us a funny story about an animal.|"You want a funny story about an animal. Okay. I'll tell you how smart my little dog Sandy was. She was a Pomeranian mix. She weighed maybe five pounds soaking wet. She could almost talk and I swear her expressions spoke volumes. One day I was arguing with my wife over something. I forget what it even was. Anyway the argument was escalating and getting very verbal. I told my wife I was not going to argue. I was going into the bedroom and lying down so I could calm down and then we would discuss it. I went in the bedroom and Sandy followed me. I lay down and she jumped up on the bed. Normally she would lie with her head face up on my shoulder but this day she jumped up onto my chest and gave me an evil, hurt look. I realized the look was saying "Dad, you are wrong about this and you know it. I'm ashamed of you." I immediately went to my wife, kissed her and apologized, telling her she was right. I went back in and laid down on the bed with Sandy in tow. She again jumped up on my chest and began licking my face as if to say "Good job Dad!" Dogs are very smart!     |
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