Purpose




Thoughts of a messed up Christian saved by God's grace





Wednesday, October 4, 2017

October smorgasbord of musings

 I have become a rather pathetic blogger. There for a while, I couldn't think of anything to blog about. Then I moved and was too busy for a few weeks. Things are finally settling down, so I am going to post some a blog post I started last month and never finished.


The bachelor pad    

 I have been in my new place a little over a month,  and I am loving it. It has been great to get everything out of storage and to find a place for it all. There were a few surprises as I found things I forgot I owned, and there were days I felt I worked from sunup to sundown cleaning and putting things in place, but I am finally there. And yes, I pretty much had enough stuff to fill a three bedroom house. I had to buy a dining room table and chairs, a dresser, and a few lamps.



Budgeting

  I have been adding up my expenses, and wondering if I can really make it..... but discovered I have a lot more left after bills than I expected. I will have to be more careful on how I spend money, and am considering the best way to budget. I pay everything online, so Dave Ramsey's envelope system wouldn't work too well for me.

Ellen

  A friend of mine shared something Ellen Degeneres did and was raving about how wonderful she was. Another friend commented that he loves her. I commented I'd rather have toothpicks shoved in my eyes than watch her, which they didn't agree with, to say the least.

 But here's the thing: both of these young men deal with same-sex attractions. Ellen is openly gay and seems to hate Christianity and conservatives. If these young men met Ellen and told her they are attracted to the same sex but are not giving in, she would mock them and hate them and the organization we all are part of.

 Should a Christian watch Ellen? And not just because she is gay, but because of what she stands for and endorses.

 Yes, she may be generous, but she isn't a good person.

 I have seen some of her show, and was not impressed. When I worked in the ER at work, she would come on the TV before I decided I had the right to change the channel. On a couple of occasions, she had a famous male celebrity on her show and made out with them, bringing the house down. I guess a lesbian making out with a guy is supposed to be funny.

 On another occasion, she had a nice looking guy remove her shirt and joined in the cat calls.

  Does this really sound like something a Christian should watch?

 I know. Nothing is taboo for Christians to watch anymore.

 But whether it be Ellen Degeneres or Brad Pitt, should Christians celebrate them and rave about how wonderful they are, when they are godless and fight against everything we believe? I don't believe so.

Mowing

  There is a lot of mowing to be done where I now reside. Thankfully, my sister and her husband have left their mowers for now. It took me over 2 hours on the riding mower, and then I had to do some trim mowing on top of that. Fortunately, the grass has been growing very slowly, and I mowed for the first time 3 weeks to the day after I moved.

The library

 I have wanted a room just for my books for a long time. That dream has finally come true, though all of my books don't fit in the library. There are 5 5-shelf bookcases that are almost full of fiction.... and I have a tote of books loaned out that I need to fit in there.....and 5 3-shelf bookcases that are mostly full of non-fiction, humor/joke books, devotionals, and Christmas. Add to that a 4-cube shelf that has my Bibles on it. The library has the 5 big bookcases, the cube shelf of Bibles, a 3-shelf bookcase with devotionals on, another 3-shelf bookcase with my Narnia books and other Narnia paraphernalia on, a recliner, and a small table with 2 chairs.







Doctor's visit

 I have diabetes type 2, and my triglycerides have also been too high lately. I had a doctor's appointment a few weeks ago and had blood work done prior to the appointment. I feared everything would be high, but everything was down. My weight was down 7 pounds, my A1C (sugar) was down, my triglycerides were down at least half of what they were, and my cholesterol was good. The doctor was happy and I was happy.

Vacuum cleaner

 Among the many things I bought when I moved was a vacuum cleaner. I had one, but it wasn't working well and the back wheels fell off of it. I started looking and researching what I could buy for not a ton of money, and found a Bisell vacuum cleaner at Walmart for $49.99. It is a bag-less one with attachments. I bought it, put it together, and have been very happy with it so far.



Shopping

 I am attempting to be a better shopper. I am buying as much as I can at stores like Aldi's, the Dollar General, and even the Dollar Tree. (why pay $3-$5 for what you can get for $1??)


Transubstantiation

 It used to be a popular belief among Catholics that when you take communion, the bread and wine (or grape juice for we who don't do alcohol) literally turned into the physical body and blood of Jesus. To my amazement, there are a lot of Catholics who still believe this. I find the idea very gross and far out. And it brings up an interesting question: if you regurgitate after communion, will you throw up body parts of Jesus, or will it magically turn back to bread and wine?

 I saw some Catholics trying to make a case for this belief by pointing out that Jesus said "this is my body and blood", not "this represents my body and blood." If you're going to make that case, then you also need to say Jesus is a literal door, rock, that God has feathers/wings, that God is a tower, etc.

 When you take communion, the bread and wine/grape juice stays in the form they were in when they entered your body. To believe otherwise is ludicrous.

 By the way, several centuries ago this belief caused Catholics to be thought of as cannibals.

St Joseph    

  Speaking of weird things some Catholics believe, this is up there in the weird and superstition category: I learned when I worked at a Christian bookstore that some Catholics believe if you bury a statue of St Joseph in your yard, you will sell your house. The store carried some Catholic items, but not statues of any saint. I had one lady ask for a St Joseph statue, and when I told her we didn't carry them, she wailed "how am I going to sell my house then?! I replied with "pray..... that worked for us". :)

Fall

  I love Fall. The cooler temps, the colors, the pumpkin everything...... but I'd love it a lot more if it was not followed by winter. Nothing good ever comes after a fall......


Work

 My job has been frustrating lately. Fellow employees from other departments are mad because we don't do some things they think we should do. Many don't like the wage we get paid - when the job was up for bids, it gave the pay level for the job, and it varies on experience and other things the exact amount.

 Someone I consider a friend harraunged me for close to 30 minutes on why my department should do something they do, and gave his many opionions on our department. I have come to the conclusion to make everyone happy at the hospital, we would do what we do for free, we would be at the hospital 24/7, we would work all holidays, and we would do everything at the hospital except operate on people. Slight sarcasm used.

The Calvinist movie

  It seems totally weird to me to make a movie about something I believe to be so opposite of what the Bible says, and that has such a warped view of God... but they did it. A friend posted this:
he #calvinistmovie was AMAZING. Even when going through TULIP, the Lord showing us again and again, His GREAT love wherein He loved us.

 I wanted to ask how the un-chosen would feel about NOT being loved and chosen by God........ I don't think they'd be so happy about it.







RINOS

  The term RINO has been thrown around derisively for a while now. It means someone who is a Republican In Name Only, and is aimed at Republicans who don't line up with Republican values.

 I've been thinking about this for a while now, and I have decided to take on the term RINO for myself. After the way my party voted this past election, and after the way Republican politicians act,  I don't want to identify as a Republican...... so I am a Republican In Name Only. I'm still considering changing to being an Independent.

Pumpkin everything     

 I love pumpkin, and am not one of those people who seem to dread pumpkin everything this time of year. I'm looking forward to it: pumpkin rolls, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars.....I'm all over pumpkin stuff like Michelle Obama is all over fried foods....



Black lives matter     

 I have addressed this before, but it amazes me how many Christians are so quick to condemn the white hate groups, yet give a free pass to the black hate groups like black lives matters and the black panthers....if you are OK with the black hate groups, you are OK with racism. You just are against any aimed at black people. Any racism is wrong, and any true Christian will condemn hate and racism from any group, no matter their color.

Society of rudeness

 So many people have lost common courtesy and being polite. Too many people don't say please and thank-you, and are demanding and rude. A friend of mine works in housekeeping at the hospital where I work, and she gets frustrated when she is cleaning the restrooms in the main lobby. People demand she step aside and let them use the restroom instead of them going further down the hall to use a different restroom. I deal with the nicest people, and the rudest people. Some are so thankful for help, and others seem to feel they deserve it and have no need to be nice and say thank-you.

My stereo    

 I bought a Sony stereo around 20 years ago that has served me well. It has a 5-disc changer and a dual tape deck. It sits on a sub woofer and has surround sound. When I bought it at Best Buy, they didn't have any speakers for it, so they upgraded and gave me 200 watt speakers for a 100 watt stereo. The system has sat unused at my parents when I lived there, and when I hooked it  up, I discovered most of it doesn't work. The surround sound doesn't work. The remote doesn't work. The tape decks do not work, and the CD player/changer does not work. I have it hooked up to my computer and TV screen, and it has awesome sound to listen to music and watch DVDs through the computer.... but I am wondering if I need to move on and get a different one. It seems kind of silly to keep a stereo that I am only basically using for the speakers. The thing is, if I do buy another stereo, I'd want to use the same speakers. These speakers are epic :)

Update: I thought I had the CD player fixed... it will actually play CDs now, but they skip and start over. And yes, I tried cleaning the lens with a cleaner.

Visits from friends

  My best friend is coming to visit me for a few days Oct 19-23, and I have been looking forward to it. He lives 400 miles away, and I don't get to see him often. I found out last week that I will get to see he and more of his family the week before. They are going on vacation and stopping off here Thursday the 12th to see my place. Steven will spend the night here, then we will join his other family members in Sugarcreek, OH for a few hours before they go home.

CD

  The Gaither Vocal Band has just come out with a new CD, and I am really liking it. The last one they did was OK, and had a few great songs on, but isn't one I listen to often. This one is much better.



Cooking

 I am doing my own cooking now, which is challenging and fun. Sometimes Google is no help, so I call Mom. She can be better than Google :)

 And that is all for now.






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