Neighbor

Yep!

Yes it sure would, but in light of the interviewer and his desire to create controversy I don't think he would be the vehicle one might address. Plus right now there is I think much fear of job security within fema and government in general. Not a time to be sticking one's neck out and getting it lopped off by political appointees and office holders from all sides and places. say anything and one will find themselves under a subpoena to appear somewhere. having to hire attorneys, and losing time to evermore questions from people not trying to resolve an immediate crisis but instead to make longer term political talking points for "warfare" of the duopoly.

Spurgeon actually addressed that in a sermon, by asking of his regular attendees to give up their seat "ticket" to attend his packed worship services to someone else, and go visit/attend a less attended place of worship to encourage the pastor(s) there. I really thought reading through that service message to be a great uplift for me personally. All pastors overseers shepherds have need of encouragement as they strive to share of our Lord and savior Jesus, some doing so with great polish others working hard at it to be good messengers and servants.

Hi and Merry Christmas to you and yours, To my understanding, and I guess also personal experience too, it is not the uttering of a vain profanity, nor even a denial of our Lord nor God the Father, it is the denial of the Holy Spirit's explicit call to to an individual to turn about to repentance from Sin against God that is unforgivable. One cannot see nor understand the Godhead without the enlightening by God the Holy Spirit. Rejecting that specific call, not the general call which is seen in all that is nature, but the specific call (From the Holy Spirit) to repentance that leads to be indwelled with the enabling Spirit. That rejection is unforgivable. It negates any opportunity to know Jesus and the Father. For right now I'll leave it at that, -without Bible references as I am a bit filled up with tasks that need pondering upon and tending. I will say that in my own case after decades of encouragement from individuals I was challenged through an angel by the Holy Spirit to decide NOW or never. I decided yes, now! Couldn't hardly do anything else this side of sanity when faced with that specific call. To reject that would have been unpardonable for my grieving the Holy Spirit.

Ideas? Okay first I suggest not presuming there is a blanket "we". For there is not. Instead there is joy a peak of joy for a few, or even many. There is also a deep sadness for oh so many others. Christmas being a time period of many serious illnesses and way too many suicides. There is a vastness of extremes that comes about during time periods like Christmas season. What is good though is the extremes also provide benefit of awareness of our Lord that may be useful for enduring while here in the flesh. I do think that most everyone, and perhaps absolutely everyone, has a peak or crisis of emotion, high or low to deal with at Christmas, and that the word of God shared and lived, especially lived, does help many; not a collective we, but individually a me and or a you. Ideas? Okay, befriend and be a friend to someone, anyone, - but someone, starting at Christmas season perhaps. Do so without hammering that it is to push the message, instead be the message the gospel message of salvation restoration perfection that is in Christ Jesus . Start by first being friendly and becoming a friend. Don't be the door to door Bible salesman looking for commission on sales, the one that after a sale quickly moves along seeking yet another sale opportunity. In that vein is there someone that has been left behind so to speak? Why not repent of that which distances, and restore an old relationship if there is one to restore.

Is it a cross one worships? A cross is of course a symbol. There is one church locally that celebrates having the largest cross of all the churches in the area, it's multi story made of I beams. I mean it is really really big. It has a very large congregation too. Not especially rich in message each day, but hey not every church has a Spurgeon. I actually took down the entire steeple at the church where I was employed. It too was a multi story structure we called the giant pencil in the sky. It was near impossible to maintain and so we (I) decided it has to come down before we kill somebody on a windy day with it falling, again. Without any cross nor any steeple the twelve elders there share the word of God verse by verse every week and in fact daily, doing so in four languages to about 800 people, plus a radio program of Sunday sermons. I say that to emphasize it is not the building nor it's architectural features that calls out to a community, it is the Holy Spirit within all those individuals that gather at any facility of any kind that builds up a local body of Christ Jesus. Features and symbols may even inhibit and hinder rather than help or embellish. One local body here started in a strip mall store front and has grown, not for the facility they have, but by the message, the gospel message of Jesus being shared there that is found throughout the entirety of the Bible. They now have expanded to the entire strip mall, still with no cross, no steeple, just glass store front doors that open with welcoming attendees all celebrating the glory that is our Lord, doing so without even decent acoustics for song. I suggest it is most beneficial to not be making decisions about local bodies of Christ Jesus by the cross or a decorated tree, or creche, on and at their meeting places, but instead by praying for guidance of the Holy Spirit as one is praying to both receive the welcoming by the brothers and sisters that gather and pray there and to give a welcomed appreciation in return, all without regard to the physical structure where they may meet. To Paraphase an old Art Linkletter line -Some of the nicest Christians meet in the darnedest places.

Hi, Disturbing how so? Nativity scenes are a distortion of the Christmas story are they not? One can call them a compression of events over a two year period of time I suppose. But wisemen bearing gifts coming to an animal feed trough to see a newborn babe-. If a tree is inviting, reminiscent of a time when family gathered sang (worship) made decorations together, even lighting candles, reading of the birth of Christ Jesus, might that not welcome strangers in to church in hope of some fellowship as well as lesson and worship too? Personally I do not get offended at what someone finds joyous to them. There are more than enough "Debbie Downer" things that people, male and female, inject as their sense of righteousness in order to reject what is joyous to others. Seems to me Christians can put more rules and restrictions on one another than Jesus ever did. Personally I don't see God as being a trickster, one to say "ah gotcha" you didn't know the origin of a similar pagan rite, you lose three merit points at the Bema Judgement. BUT BUT BUT never do an Easter Egg hunt, for psst that is a fertility ritual. And never even say Easter. There's way too many rules of man, seemingly mostly to choke the joy out of celebrating and worshiping in joy our Lord's awesome ministry and sacrifice made for us. Merry Christmas to one and all, may all freely enjoy it.

Yes! I am not always in the Spirit knowing not whether out of the body or not. I am under the Spirit's awakening and enlightenment to be aware of what my Lord Jesus will have of me daily (if I ask); but certainly there are high emotion moments as well as deep concentration quiet times too. And yes some slacker periods as well. Perhaps those are needed rest periods. Occasionally the Holy Spirit leads me into what I think of as a paralyzing near depressing times of repeating visions. Then the Spirit releases me into action to be taken. As I have shared so many times here as to bore even myself I have been turned about by the Holy Spirit in a rather confrontational way. I have been held down almost in a depressive state with, visions then led to up and move no less than three times some 2800 miles. All to do a little supportive task at a church with the gift of helps so that some ministry may function better. It is a high energy period of time for sure! Then there is a more reserved quiet time of reflection. To me it is like riding the back seat of an old family station wagon, facing backwards, never seeing where we are going , but always getting to look out back and see "wow look where we have just been". So yes that is the way the Holy Spirit works, on me and within me. Merry Christmas, be blessed of God and a blessing to God too.

catholic is universal, encompassing all Roman Catholic is not, it is exclusionary limited.

I am catholic. I am not Roman Catholic.

Most all, if not all, Christian Days of special celebration of our Lord Jesus are said to be born of pagan holidays. To what good intent becomes a question. As for myself; I can celebrate the incarnation of Jesus leading to his two year ministry towards providing salvation for those foreknown and predestined by God to be with them eternally, everyday; but sure enjoy the calendar events that do highlight what is truth of my salvation everyday. I do enjoy the celebrations and remembrance of what I consider to be prophetic fulfillments of high holy occasions of Hebrew/Jewish faith. The reveal of Jesus in events celebrated throughout the year every year. Calendar's themselves shift but the glory that is God is celebrated nonetheless. Pagan events not do not negate nor change the blessings of the holy occasions. I have had a pastor that celebrates his own birthday, and that of our Lord twice every year because his mother denied him that as a child. It is his way of making up for and healing a hurt. Celebrate when you want, as often as you want, in the way that you want- just be aware to be respectful of our Lord and to others who may celebrate in manner different from ones self. All in order to be example of loving God and loving one another.

“Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, neither in the age to come.”

"The King has come...will you bow your knee"....

A little more from The Theology of Christmas Philippians 2:5–11 Dec 20, 2009 ..."So the story of Christmas begins with the Son of God abandoning a sovereign position. Secondly, He accepted a slave’s place - He accepted a slave’s place. Back to verse 7, “taking the form of a slave.” It’s doulos, slave. There’s no such word as bondservant in the Greek, it’s the word for slave. He came down. How far down? He didn’t come from being the king of heaven to being a king of earth or a king of Israel. He will eventually be the King of kings and the King of Israel, but for this occasion in His incarnation, He came to be a slave. He took off the robes of majesty and put on the apron of a slave. This, of course, is what the Old Testament promises. Look at Isaiah, the last part of Isaiah, where the Messiah is designed to be the servant of the Lord - the servant of the Lord. He is called that again and again and again and again. He is a slave. He takes on the form of a slave. Here’s that word morphē again. He takes on the attributes, takes on the characteristics of a slave. He literally becomes a slave, a slave of God and a slave of sinners, if you will. He came not to be served, but to serve. “I am in the midst of you as one who serves,” Luke 22:27. The Son of man came not to be served, but to serve. And how? By giving His life. ".... The presentation maybe found in text and in video format online.

For a serious presentation in text and also in video regarding Christmas seek out online "The Theology of Christmas (Philippians 2:5-11)" From which this little excerpt comes; ..."That’s the real message of Christmas, that Jesus Christ is God and He is Lord. But let’s break that down a little bit and see the component parts. This paragraph really, in some ways, stands in unapproachable majesty. This is one of the pure jewels in the New Testament, its beauties, its depths are beyond human comprehension, and yet to understand it is necessary - at least to the degree that is possible by the aid of the blessed Holy Spirit. What this section explains to us is the condescension of the Son of God to come to earth, to die, and then to return in exaltation to glory. So again I say, it’s the theology of Christmas, it tells us what happened from the divine side of the story. And I want to just give you five simple steps by which we can walk through this tremendous portion of Scripture, and we’re just going to get a kind of a light view. I wish we could dig deeper, but that would take weeks and weeks and weeks to do. But for this morning, we’ll at least understand the reality of it, if not all of the potential elements that could be examined. Five steps as God enters the world - five steps as Jesus comes to Bethlehem. Number one, He abandoned a sovereign position - He abandoned a sovereign position. ".... I think you all might find this a good read if you look up the text, or take the time to watch the video presentation of it.

It is a good time (Season) to seek out online and enjoy playing this musical by Zola Levitt

So Cal to Vermont. Now that is an interesting choice! I would not have thought of Vermont. Why has it become your retirement destination goal? ???

Trying to stay all original with simply a patina. Maybe go for a clear coat finish to prevent further rust. soon I will be put in the barn to gather dust. My primary physician said I am ruining his analogy. For when people ask him about their aches and pains he has them look out the window down to theparking lot six floors below. He asks how many 1940's cars do you see out there? There comes a time that old parts just can't be replaced. Now if I show up at his offices in a 1940's car... He is a cool doctor, knows me and treats me like an old friend. He once spotted me at a restaurant some months after my first wife's death. He came over, talked awhile to see how I was doing, taking his own time away from his dining family to do so. God is kind in the many blessings of really good people he has shared to my benefit.

WIKI itself is just a collection of "opinions" on most everything.

Hi, My primary physician of over 30 years or so has expanded his practice, taking over the entire top floor of the building attached to a local large hospital. He has added staff including nurse practitioners and two more doctors. I can now get in the same day as I call, but if I need to see him personally I may need to wait a few days to a few weeks depending on the reason I want to see him. We have a large fire station in walking distance with paramedics, and ambulance service within 2 miles, a police station I could throw rocks a and hit- not that I would. There are urgent care places I could walk to if I had need, and two hospitals within five to twelve minutes drive time, another major cancer facility within fifteen minutes of my home. Can hardly ask for a better locale if one has need of medical care. Every kind of medical specialist one can think of is right here too. Plus alternative medical treatment facilities. It is really grand!- 'course the last diagnosis I got from my primary physician was "Bad parts". I have bad parts. Oh okay, is that all ? Phew, glad to hear that diagnosis. I though it might be something serious, but no I am just a junk parts pile.

Some of us predate boomers, but you don't hear much of us The Silent Generation. I remember the first Sambo at Santa Barbara, Calif. which also was the last one to close. I would walk up to Howard Johnson's window as an early teen to get fried clams at Greater Boston Mass.

Clothes lines (Sorry couldn't resist).

With over 310,000,000 E-bikes out there worldwide might that not be one heck of a lot of very hard to put out fires? And another 10,00,000 per year being sold.

Evidently there is a significant difference, as it is ev's that are catching fire for the most part and not small lithium battery powered tools. Personally I wouldn't be sleeping in a place that has a scooter battery charging up. Regardless, FUN VIDEO! Some assembly required LOL