You Get Social Media The Summer Before College​

Jenna asks the couple about their stance regarding social media and their children. “Our house rule is you get social media the summer before you go to college,” Joanna says.

Chip comments about how the kids aren’t exactly in agreement with no social media until they are 18. “But you can tell these kids want it before that…they wanted it at 12, 13, 14,” he says. Joanna tells TODAY that the kids do understand the heart of the rule.

The famous couple discusses the fact that all the kids’ friends seem to have social media and that having a no social media rule in that environment can be hard. However, as Joanna comments, “We can say you have these other things that are really great. Our life is a little different.”

It’s Better to Wait​

Taking the focus off of social media, even if everyone else around you is on it, and focusing on what you do have is a great idea. There is so much more to life than having your face in a phone. Making memories and having experiences outside of your phone makes for an ideal childhood.

Chip and Joanna then discuss how social media isn’t good for kids at an earlier age and that it is better to wait. Chip asks, “What benefits have we personally experienced…?” referring to his and Joanna’s use of it.

While they can admit that social media has helped their careers, Jenna comments that they are, in fact, adults, not kids, which makes a big difference.

Parents Need to Decide What to Do​

Continued below.

It's alright because every republican will become a millionaire and the manager of his own business.

Robert Hugh Benson’s 'Lord of the World' is a classic, trailblazing work of dystopian fiction that eerily foresees our own anti-Catholic times.

Everyone has heard of The Lord of the Rings, the fantasy epic by Tolkien. Some might have read the book. Others might only have seen the film adaptation by Peter Jackson, which is returning to movie theaters this month. But far fewer people will have heard of Lord of the World, a dystopian fantasy by Robert Hugh Benson, which is a literary classic that every Catholic should know.

Before we look at Lord of the World itself, let’s get to know the author, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, whose conversion to Catholicism in 1903 was almost as controversial as the earlier conversion of John Henry Newman.
The reason for the controversy was that Benson was the youngest son of E.W. Benson, who had been the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1882 until his death in 1896. The fact that the son of the leader of the worldwide Anglican communion had become a Catholic signaled that the Catholic Revival was gaining credence and momentum in the highest levels of British culture.

Continued below.

Let’s start with a simple fact: Man’s oldest and most persistent sin is idolatry. And if the human story teaches us anything, it’s that idolatry has an infinite wardrobe of disguises—and an endless number of victims. In the modern era, the go-to idol is the state, usually in the liturgical vestments of science.

The Third Reich euthanized some 300,000 mentally and physically disabled persons. Then it killed another 6 million Jews, Gypsies, social outcasts, and political prisoners in the name of Aryan racial superiority. The political heirs of Karl Marx (Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and others) murdered 25 million people in the Soviet bloc; 40 million in China; 2 million in a nation of just 7 million in Cambodia; and millions more elsewhere—all to create a new world and restart history from “Year Zero,” cleansed of any memory of the past, and based on a model of man as his own master; humanity as the real and only god.

The body count from the last hundred years is both well documented and painful to revisit. We’ve learned—or at least we think we’ve learned—an important lesson. And the lesson is this: Any political party or ideology that claims to create a new kind of man, a self-sustaining, self-redemptive humanity, is a fraud. It’s just the latest installment in a very old gnostic fairy tale. Gnosticism grew up alongside Christianity, sometimes intertwining with it; and the modern gnostic zealot, whether he calls himself a fascist, a Nazi, a Marxist, or even a certain brand of “progressive,” is never really irreligious. And he’s certainly not an “unbeliever,” even when he says he is. He’s a particular kind of believer; a man convinced he has the secret knowledge, the gnosis, that unlocks the power to fix a broken world. And he clings to that sacred knowledge just as religiously as any 14th century monk clung to his Bible.

The difference, of course, is that the God of the monk was—and is—true. The god of the gnostic isn’t. Each new version of the gnostic zealot dresses up his little godling in new language with new tools of coercion. But underneath, it’s always the same idolatrous lie. Man is not a god, and there’s no secret knowledge that can make him so.

Continued below.

Years ago, I received regular spiritual direction from a priest in residence at a nearby seminary. Being used to working with young men preparing for the priesthood, this veteran cleric pulled no punches when pushing people to lives of heroic virtue and holiness.

Every meeting I had with him, I walked away challenged, but I also walked away frequently confused.

“Just keep residing within the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” he often said.

For some reason, this completely perplexed me.

I was already familiar with the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the image of Divine Mercy popularized by St. Faustina. Still, whenever I tried to figure out how to reside within the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I couldn’t understand what Father meant.

Home Enthronement​

Continued below.

Example: Mr. Mueller, what did the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 United States election clearly show?


Neither confirmation of, nor vindication from. In this case, the only thing clearly seen is like all the rest of today’s watershed of doublespeak, that in the end, they were no better than the 2-year long phantom villain they sought.


Open to all insight, thanks!

Your Math doesn't add up. Where's the majority?

If you abide in Jesus, the Paraclete won't move out.

After the last supper, Jesus told his disciples in (Berean Standard Bible) John 14:

16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate [Paraclete] to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.

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There was an intended forever-permanency about the Paraclete.

The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides [G3306] with you and will be in you.

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Strong's Greek: 3306. μένω (menó) — 118 Occurrences

BDAG:
① remain, stay, intr.
ⓐ a pers. or thing remains where he, she, or it is.
α. of a location stay, oft. in the special sense live, dwell, lodge ⓑ a pers. or thing continues in the same state
② to continue to exist, remain, last, persist, continue to live

The Spirit of truth refers to the Paraclete, the special function of the Holy Spirit that dwells in a believer's human spirit as a spiritual reality. G3306-abide-dwell carried a strong sense of continuation and permanency.

ESV John 14:

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells [G3306] in me does his works.

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Paul used a different Greek verb in Romans 8:

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells [G3611] in you [plural]. Anyone [singular] who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

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Strong's Greek: 3611. οἰκέω (oikeó) — 9 Occurrences

BDAG οἰκέω:
① to reside in a place, live, dwell

Paul continued:

10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells [G3611] in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells [G1774] in you.

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Strong's Greek: 1774. ἐνοικέω (enoikeó) — 5 Occurrences

HELPS Word-studies:

1774 enoikéō (from 1722 /en "in," intensifying 3611 /oikéō, "dwell" at home, in one's personal residence) – properly, dwelling in a state (condition), i.e. at home; to inhabit ("in-habit") as one's personal residence (abiding indwelling).

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1 Corinthians 3:

16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells [G3611] in you?

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1 Corinthians 6:

17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

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The Paraclete/Holy Spirit connects with the human spirit tentacularly as a oneness spiritual reality. It is a branching out of the Spirit. It is an abiding/dwelling connection.

Ephesians 3:

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

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i.e., the Paraclete

17 so that Christ may dwell [G2730] in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love.

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Strong's Greek: 2730. κατοικέω (katoikeó) — 45 Occurrences

HELPS Word-studies:

2730 katoikéō (from 2596 /katá, "down, according to," intensifying 3611 /oikéō, "dwell, reside") – properly, settle down as a permanent resident, i.e. in a fixed (permanent) dwelling place as one's personal residence; (figuratively) "to be exactly at home."
[The force of the prefix (2596 /katá) suggests "down to the finest, exact details."]

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Besides G3306-abide-dwell used by Jesus, there were three Greek words for to dwell used by Paul:

1. G3611-οἰκέω, to dwell
2. G1774-ἐνοικέω, to dwell in, an intensification of οἰκέω
3. G2730-κατοικέω, to dwell down, to settle down, another intensification of οἰκέω

God's Spirit dwells/resides in every one of us, individually and collectively. When a person is born again, or born from above, or born of the Spirit, the Paraclete takes up residence in him.

Does the Paraclete dwell in you permanently?

Yes, after I was born of the Paraclete, naturally, my human spirit started to grow in the Holy Spirit. The bond of abiding is growing stronger and stronger. I have no intention of disconnecting this bond. For some believers, that may not be the case. Every branch in Christ that does not bear fruit the Father takes away.

See also Will the Paraclete vacate his dwelling in a believer?

Jehovah Rapha, we pray you will provide healing for StillGods and that the scan will come up clean, in the Name of Jesus. Amen and Amen.

While we are alive,

1. lovingly tell them about Jesus,
2. pray for their salvation,
3. trust in God that, in the end, he will do what is righteous concerning them.

When I have done the above, I feel peaceful.

You can't enjoy heaven if you don't trust God to do the right things. I trust God will do the right things for non-believers. I know that I will enjoy heaven, Isaiah 65:

17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

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Revelation 21:

4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

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See also

• Worries about the new heaven and earth?
• Does the Bible teach conscious torment over an infinite period of time?

God bless you bro

David Hunter said:

Oh the chapters in our lives that will be written. When one chapter ends another one starts. Today's devotional I talk about a scripture verse that really struck me as I'm about to close a chapter in my life and start a new one...
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Awesome

In James 2:14, we read of one who says/claims he has faith but has no works (to evidence his claim). That is not genuine faith, but a bare profession of faith. So, when James asks, "Can that faith save him?" he is saying nothing against genuine faith, but only against an empty profession of faith/dead faith. So, James does not teach that we are saved "by" works. His concern is to show the reality of the faith professed by the individual (James 2:18) and demonstrate that the faith claimed (James 2:14) by the individual is genuine.

In regard to "faith without works is dead," James does not mean that faith is dead until it produces works and then it becomes a living faith or that works are the source of life in faith. That would be like saying that a tree is dead until it produces fruit and then it becomes a living tree, and the fruit is the source of life in the tree. James is simply saying faith that is not accompanied by evidential works demonstrates that it's dead. Again, if someone merely says-claims they have faith, but lack resulting evidential works, then they demonstrate that they have an empty profession of faith/dead faith and not authentic faith. (James 2:14)

In regard to James 2:24, James is not using the word "justified" here to mean "accounted as righteous" but is shown to be righteous. James is discussing the evidence of faith (says-claims to have faith but has no works/I will show you my faith by my works - James 2:14-18) and not the initial act of being accounted as righteous with God. (Romans 4:2-3)

Matthew 7:21 - Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Notice in verse 22 that these many people trusted in their works for salvation and not in Christ alone. Jesus never knew them which means they were never saved. (vs. 23)

John 6:40 - For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. That is the will of the Father unto salvation. Sadly, many people "add" works to the gospel and end up trusting in their works/performance/external obedience etc.. for salvation instead of by faith trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. (Ephesians 2:8,9)

1 Corinthians 1:18 - For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

An Original Work / July 4, 2018

Where He leads me I must follow,
Follow Him where’er He goes,
Through the mountains, through the valleys.
Where that is, He only knows.

Walking with me ev’ry hour,
Gently guiding me each day,
Teaching me to always listen
When He speaks, and shows the way.

It may be to show some kindness
To someone who needs His grace,
Or it may be just to listen
To a hurting soul today;

Show compassion, understanding,
Always lend a helping hand,
Show affection, give attention,
Help a hurting heart to mend;

Share the gospel, tell of Jesus,
Who died on a cruel tree.
Tell how their sins he did pardon,
So that they could be set free;

Be like Jesus, care for others,
Speak the Words of Truth to them.
Lay your lives down on His altar,
Holy, pleasing unto Him;

Willing now to be mistreated,
Share in Jesus’ sufferings,
Persecuted for the gospel,
Wait for our returning King.

Sometimes our bodies get tired and need rest. Other times our spirits get tired and need to be refreshed, i.e. our emotions sometimes get drained, or even our spiritual lives might feel like something is missing.

Sometimes it is because we lack true Christian fellowship with the Body of Christ, and therefore we are not getting the encouragement from others that we need. Or it can be because the body of those professing faith in Jesus Christ has been rejecting, mocking, ostracizing and/or marginalizing us, instead.

There can also be times when we are under serious attack from our enemy Satan or when our brothers and sisters in Christ (or professing Christians only) attack us at every turn, or else they ignore, avoid, and snub us. Or it can be that we face much resistance when we share the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is at those times when we need our spirits refreshed and our souls revived.

For me, my times alone with my Lord in prayer and in his word refresh my spirit, as well as does listening to and/or singing songs of worship and praise to my Lord, or songs of encouragement, hope, healing and leading in the ways of the Lord.

And other times God sends along an encourager at just the right time to give me what I need in order to help me keep going. The Holy Spirit is the best encourager I know. He is the motivating force in my life which keeps me pressing on even in the face of many difficulties and persecutions.

Refresh My Spirit, Lord

An Original Work / August 8, 2011
Based off of Psalm 51 & Matthew 11:28-30

Refresh my spirit, Lord.
Revive my heart today.
Move me to serve You,
Lord in all I do and say.
Be my heart’s one desire;
my spirit set on fire
In pure devotion, Lord,
to love you and obey.

Create within me, Lord,
a pure heart, this I pray,
So I can worship You
and yield to You always.
May all Your love and pow’r
be lived in me, I pray,
So I might love as You;
be Your witness today.

Jesus says, “Come to me
all you with heavy hearts,
And find in me your peace,
and give to me your all.
My yoke is light to bear,
‘cause I paid for your sin,
So you might be set free,
and purified within.”

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Those of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ in truth and in righteousness, who have died with Christ to sin, and who have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness, should also be those who are walking according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. And we should be those who love the Word of God and who desire to walk in his ways and in his truth and righteousness. And it should grieve us to see so much of what is presently going on in the name of Christ, and in the name of his gospel of salvation.

For so much of what are called “churches” today are human-based businesses being marketed to the world just like any other businesses, with the intended goal to attract the ungodly of the world to their gatherings. And so they alter (and dilute) the character of God/Christ and of his church, and they alter the message of the gospel of Christ by teaching Scriptures out of context and by twisting them to say what they do not teach in context. And so many of them are refusing to listen to the truth of God’s word, for it is opposed to the way in which they choose to live their lives.

For so many of what are called “churches”, at least from a leadership standpoint, are giving their people, particularly the wanderers, permission to keep on living in sin, in self-indulgence and immorality, practicing what is dishonorable, corrupt, vile, immoral, wicked, depraved, and dishonest. For they are coddling them in their sins and teaching a diluted and altered gospel which does not demand death to sin and living to God and to his righteousness. So they help the self-addicted to excuse away their dishonorable, vile, immoral, wicked, and depraved life choices.

Now, if you are someone who loves the Lord and the truth of his word, and so you are also someone who grieves over the sinful condition of today’s church here in America (and perhaps is like this in other nations), and so you are also someone who speaks out the truth of God’s word, and who exposes the fruitless deeds of darkness, don’t be surprised if church leaders do not support you at all or even if they reject you and cast you aside and don’t want you to be part of their fellowships. For so many today are supporting the sinfully addicted, so they will not support you.

And, thus, the selfish and the self-indulgent, who are wanderers, are given permission to go from bad to worse and to return to where they were before they made professions of faith in Jesus Christ. And now their past has become their present and their future. For they are being given permission to remain in the flesh, to do what the old man sinful nature dictates, and to lose all sense of conscience and morality and propriety. So many are now engaged in the unthinkable, with no one to stop them. But they are being assured of their salvation and eternal life with God.

But the leaders (pastors, elders, etc.) of many of these “churches” are listening to and are following the lies of the enemy of our souls, and they are not listening and are not willing to listen to the truth. But they are engaged in altering the character of God and of his church and of his gospel message to make them more acceptable and attractive to the ungodly of the world who they want to attract to their gatherings. They are those who are saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace, and who are putting “Band-Aids” over serious sin wounds. And so the sinfully addicted continue on in sin.

Now, not every church congregation and/or pastor is like this, but many are, probably the majority are, from what I have witnessed, heard, and read about and observed and experienced. And I have experienced a lot! And I have heard and read much! And I would say that this represents the majority of what is out there called “church” here in America today. For so many are now following marketing 101 over and above the Scriptures, and they are more concerned with attracting the world to their gatherings than they are with saving people’s souls from sinful addiction and from hell.

But all of us who delight in the Word of the Lord, and who desire to obey our Lord’s commandments (New Covenant), and who grieve over the sinful condition of today’s modern market-driven “churches,” and over the lives which are being destroyed by the lies of Satan, are to keep on following the Lord. We are to keep on speaking the truth of the gospel and calling for people to repent of their sins and to obey the Lord, even if we are rebuked and attacked and rejected, in return, and even if we are thought evil of while the wicked continue to go from bad to worse. We must stay the course!

To Be Like Him

An Original Work / March 16, 2014
Based off Scripture

Crucified you are with Jesus.
To be like Him, oh, you’ll be,
Because He died at Calv’ry,
So from sin you’d be free.
Oh, what joy He brings into your life,
Giving life with Him endlessly.

Oh, what plans He has for your life.
Share the gospel faithfully.
Show the people He loves them.
Now His witness you’ll be.
Tell the world of sin about Jesus,
How He died for them on a tree.

Purifying hearts, He saves them,
Who believe on Christ, God’s Son.
Turning now from their idols,
New lives they have begun.
Jesus saves from sin; we’re forgiven.
Over sin, the vict’ry He won!

When He comes again to take us
To be with Him evermore,
There will be no more crying.
Gladness will be in store.
Heavens joys will now overtake us:
We’ll be with our Lord evermore.

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When this word is used in other ancient Greek texts, it's used to refer to an animal that is harmless, not aggressive or venemous (but not tame, necessarily). So maybe even "harmless" might be an appropriate translation.

Nietzsche believed Jesus and early Christians were "idiots". He meant somebody that was simple, a dreamer, naive.. I think this has a grain of truth. So you can see what he detested: the Christian view that being inoffensive and gentle was virtuous. You can see that kind of virtue in the lives of people like the St. Francis of Assisi, the Anabaptists, the Quakers, the Shakers, Fred Rogers (the TV personality who did shows for kids on public television), etc. It's not servile humility, though, Nietzsche was wrong. It's somebody that sees into another world, better and more beautiful than this one, and wants to live in that world, in this life. Such is the stuff of great artists and poets, as well as idealists and mystics.

FireDragon76 said:

I actually monitored my visceral fat levels using an infrared device and I concluded it was a waste of time and money. Visceral fat tends to track along with total body fat, more or less. But if you have to have an objective measurement to go by in making a crude estimate, a tape measure is far simpler and cheaper. Ideally, you want your waistline to be less than half your height.

Losing visceral fat is simply a matter of being in a caloric deficit. Not eating junk food and eating a diet high in fiber will help alot in cutting excess calories out of the diet, and it will be far healthier than trying to rely upon the thermic effects of a high protein diet, which are really quite modest in comparison.

Whether you sprint or engage in walking doesn't really make alot of difference in the end, in terms of weight loss. While sprinting does burn more calories per hour, in reality most people will simply eat more or reduce the amount of overall activity they do in a day in compensation. People should chose a form of exercise that they genuinely enjoy doing and that doesn't cause excessive stress. Excessive stress, including from over-exercise, is detrimental to both body composition and long term health.

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I go by tape measure too.

Sprinting, I probably won't strongly recommend it. You can skip it, no problem. I only found it ever useful to maximize your V02max which isn't critically important unless you're racing.

There are better, safer, and possibly easier workouts that helps burn even more fat. Slowly walking up a treadmill with a steep incline hands-free , not holding on to a railing an hour a day has way better fat burning potential and carries very little risk of hurting your leg joints (unless you have leg problems to begin with). This may sound hard but is really mostly about doing it at the right posture and muscle recruitment. In other words, technique rather than sheer strength and muscular endurance. Done right, it stays within Zone 2.

You're right about fiber. I found oatmeal the best to stay satiated for longer. Calorie restriction, true, just make sure you're getting enough electrolytes. Not getting enough electrolytes can be problem to those restricting calories. It can cause weakness / fatigue, poor quality sleep, poor recovery, may even trigger hunger (makes it harder to restrict calories), etc.

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Bro. We are not gonna go here about this passage from Revelation. This is not a sub-forum to be trashing the Catholic faith. I do not agree with everything from the RCC, but I am a Catholic myself. Rome is not Babylon, and please do not make this comparison again.

Instead of thinking about the end times (even though we might be close to the end times), how about we focus (both Catholic and Protestant) on solving issues such as homelessness and climate change?

RileyG said:

if someone calls someone else a bigot, they’re usually pointing the finger right back at themselves

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Exactly. Look at the much touted {tolerance} they were asking for originally now…Where is it?

Wolseley said:

St. Anthony of the Desert, you who fled the madness of the world, and sought the solitude of the wilderness in order to devote yourself entirely to Christ alone: as we navigate through the increasing madness of our century, and we view the spiritual destruction wrought upon us by those who should be shepherding and protecting our immortal souls, we beseech you, through Our Lady the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the angels of God, and all the holy saints throughout the ages, pray for us.

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St. Anthony of the Desert, along with St. Athanasius his biographer and upholder of orthodoxy, are heros of the first rank. We are blessed to be able to seek their intercession and follow the life they modeled. They are more relevant now than they ever have been. Ora pro nobis.

Gary O' said:

Late spring is so glorious
The garden is coming alive

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and a freshening of blossoms

Makes for a blessed Sabbath


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I like it. I used to have a slide of three yellow rises I took back in the 80s. One of my favorite photos ever,

The juveniles were taken into custody and charged with misdemeanor battery. . .
"I was out on the date with my husband, and they dragged my dress on the ground, and they said, like, ‘We own the street. You can’t just walk around prancing in your little dress.’

We have to put wokeness aside, we are losing our country. They should be charged with felony hate crimes. Black on white crimes should be treated the same as white on black crimes.