Le seguenti foto mostrano Hugh Laurie all’uscita dell’Ivy, un noto locale di Londra, con un evidente occhio nero.

Girano voci che se lo sia procurato durante un allenamento di pugilato a Los Angeles, sport molto amato da Laurie, anche se l’attore smentisce questa notizia e scherzando dice di aver sbattuto contro una porta.

Probabilmente ciò è dovuto al fatto che l’assicurazione non gli rimborserebbe il danno per lesioni da boxe.

Bueno primero que nada pensaras quien rayos es Greg Zeschuk, Bueno el simplemente es el co-fundador de Bioware y jefe del recién creado, grupo creativo de RPG/MMO de EA, así que simplemente es de los meros chonchos por parte de Bioware y como sabrás ahora parte de EA.

Pero basta de tanto rollo y vamos directo a lo importante en una entrevista que le realizo Joystiq.com, el cual lo primero en preguntarle fue, Dragon Age ha sido el primero juego que desarrollan para la consola de ps3 que nos puedes decir de este proceso a lo que él contesta:

Nos Asociamos con Edge of Reality, de modo que estábamos con persona que han tenido la experiencia y eso fue un proceso bueno ya que ellos sabían como hacerlo y bueno de ahí partimos para trabajar en equipo y así poder explotar todo el de la consola y yo diría que fue muy interesante y estimulante trabajar en otra consola y no solo en PC y Xbox 360.

También comento lo siguiente:

Tenemos a unas cuantas persona trabajando en casa (no se a que se refiera con eso, pero me supongo que se refiere a el desarrollo en la consola ps3 por su propia cuenta y no junto a Edge of Reality), Creemos que es una plataforma clave, así que obviamente estaremos trabajando de forma definitiva con el Ps3. Sabes no puedo decir nada acerca de Mass Effect en ese sentido pero ya sabes, lo puedo decir, Dragon Age y futuros juegos definitivamente llegaran al ps3. Fue genial pasar por la experiencia de hacer Dragon Age, y poder familiarizarse con todo el poder del ps3. Una vez más, cada plataforma es diferente, pero ahora creo que estamos en la posición de que el ps3 será el futuro inminente.

También otra de las preguntas que le hizo joystiq es. ¿Han hablado de Mass Effect para el Ps3? porque eso sería un problema ya que si mass effect será una trilogía ¿cual sería el principio en el ps3?.

Y dijo:

Nosotros no estamos hablando nada acerca de Mass Effect para Ps3, Yo no sé nada de eso! sería una locura hablar de eso, yo no sé nada.

También para finalizar dijo:

Que el desarrollo de Dragon Age para ps3 fue una experiencia tan positiva que utilizaran los recursos internos de ahora en adelante en el desarrollo de la consola.

Mi punto de vista es que esto es algo realmente bueno porque de ahora en adelante todos los nuevos juegos de Bioware estarán en Ps3 y mejor aun si son programados en la consola de Sony y con esto me quedo con la sensación de que pronto se anunciara el tan aclamado Mass Effect para Ps3 ya que Billy pago los millones por un beta que tendrán pronto los usuarios de Xbox 36o, o ustedes que opinan de todo esto que acaba de decir este señor?.

A también quería dejar en claro que todo esto es una traducción oficial por parte de mi y si quieren enterarse de todo solo denle clic en el link.

Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer for November 27th

Today is the 27th of November.  This is the Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer starter for today.  Today we are reading from the New International Version Bible.  We’ll begin today from Daniel 4:1-37. We will continue with 2 Peter 1:1-21, Psalms 119:97-112 and Proverbs 28:17-18.

Daniel 4:1-37

 ¹ King Nebuchadnezzar,
       To the peoples, nations and men of every language, who live in all the world:
       May you prosper greatly!

 ² It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.

 ³ How great are his signs,
       how mighty his wonders!
       His kingdom is an eternal kingdom;
       his dominion endures from generation to generation.

 ⁴ I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous. ⁵ I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in my bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me. ⁶ So I commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me to interpret the dream for me. ⁷ When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners came, I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me. ⁸ Finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him the dream. (He is called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him.)

 ⁹ I said, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream; interpret it for me. ¹⁰ These are the visions I saw while lying in my bed: I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. ¹¹ The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. ¹² Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, and the birds of the air lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed.

 ¹³ “In the visions I saw while lying in my bed, I looked, and there before me was a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. ¹⁴ He called in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. ¹⁵ But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field.
       ” ‘Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. ¹⁶ Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times pass by for him.

 ¹⁷ ” ‘The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.’

 ¹⁸ “This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means, for none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me. But you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”

 ¹⁹ Then Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its meaning alarm you.”
       Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries! ²⁰ The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, ²¹ with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air- ²² you, O king, are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth.

 ²³ “You, O king, saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump, bound with iron and bronze, in the grass of the field, while its roots remain in the ground. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven; let him live like the wild animals, until seven times pass by for him.’

 ²⁴ “This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king: ²⁵ You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. ²⁶ The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules. ²⁷ Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.”

 ²⁸ All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. ²⁹ Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, ³⁰ he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”

 ³¹ The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. ³² You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.”

 ³³ Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

 ³⁴ At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
       His dominion is an eternal dominion;
       his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

 ³⁵ All the peoples of the earth
       are regarded as nothing.
       He does as he pleases
       with the powers of heaven
       and the peoples of the earth.
       No one can hold back his hand
       or say to him: “What have you done?”

 ³⁶ At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. ³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

2 Peter 1:1-21¹Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
      To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

 2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

 ³His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 ⁵For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

 ¹⁰Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, ¹¹and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 ¹²So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. ¹³I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, ¹⁴because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. ¹⁵And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

 ¹⁶We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  ¹⁸We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

 ¹⁹And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ²⁰Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. ²¹For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Psalms 119:97-112 ⁹⁷ Oh, how I love your law!
       I meditate on it all day long.

 ⁹⁸ Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
       for they are ever with me.

 ⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers,
       for I meditate on your statutes.

 ¹⁰⁰ I have more understanding than the elders,
       for I obey your precepts.

 ¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from every evil path
       so that I might obey your word.

 ¹⁰² I have not departed from your laws,
       for you yourself have taught me.

 ¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste,
       sweeter than honey to my mouth!

 ¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts;
       therefore I hate every wrong path.

 ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet
       and a light for my path.

 ¹⁰⁶ I have taken an oath and confirmed it,
       that I will follow your righteous laws.

 ¹⁰⁷ I have suffered much;
       preserve my life, O LORD, according to your word.

 ¹⁰⁸ Accept, O LORD, the willing praise of my mouth,
       and teach me your laws.

 ¹⁰⁹ Though I constantly take my life in my hands,
       I will not forget your law.

 ¹¹⁰ The wicked have set a snare for me,
       but I have not strayed from your precepts.

 ¹¹¹ Your statutes are my heritage forever;
       they are the joy of my heart.

 ¹¹² My heart is set on keeping your decrees
       to the very end.

Proverbs 28:17-18

 17 A man tormented by the guilt of murder
       will be a fugitive till death;
       let no one support him.

 18 He whose walk is blameless is kept safe,
       but he whose ways are perverse will suddenly fall.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer

Thoughts from Prayer for November 27th Bible reading

The book of Daniel today; in beautiful fashion shows so much of what we have talked about all along, we are experiencing the invasion of a Kingdom, and the Bible shows it over and over and over again and we are a part of that.  We are a part of advancing the Kingdom of God; of course He’s all powerful, and can do whatever he wants, and He chooses to allow us to have a cosmic importance that is so great that only we can fill it?  I don’t fully understand; but I fully believe.

But here’s Nebuchadnezzar having all of these strange dreams and he has this dream that he is going to be sent crazy into the fields and eat grass like an animal, why?  Because he believed in his own strength, he believed he was all powerful, he was the ruler of the world at that time and what happened?  He’s up on top of his roof praising himself, glorying in all he’s done in his own strength and BAM, God shows up and God says from Heaven “Your Royal Authority has been taken from you, you will be driven away from people and you will live with the wild animals, you will eat grass like cattle.  Seven times will pass by for you and here’s the kicker; until you acknowledge that the Most High is Sovereign over the Kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes.  The invasion of the Kingdom; all through scripture, God invades Egypt, remember that?  In the book of Exodus which a couple of months we will be in again and see it for all it’s glory.  He invades the Kingdom, frees His people, He is all powerful and we have a part to play, and I’m desperate for that place, I want to live there.  I feel for the first time in my life that I live there, and you’re a large part of that, the Daily Audio Bible, seven times a week, has changed the way I look at everything, so thanks.  I’m glad we could be here today.

Prayer for November 27th

(Prayer) Jesus; we love You, we worship You, we understand that You are all powerful, we humble ourselves under Your mighty hand.  You are all there is; You are God of all, and the creator of all, and to have a relationship with You is beyond honor, it’s beyond words, it’s beyond anything that we can come up with to say to You, it’s beyond the weight of our lives, but yet You give us purpose.  God help us to remember that; help us not to forget in the business of the day how glorious You are, help us not to find ourselves on our own proverbial roofs, glorying in our own majesty, You are all powerful  and we humble ourselves before You.  In Jesus name we pray.  Amen.

Have a great day.  And I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Download today’s Podcast

Check out http://www.iCalendars.net  I am selling some inspirational items at a good price.  Thanks for taking a look. http://www.icalendars.net/inspirational.html

Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer for November 26th

Today is the 26th of November.  This is the Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer starter for today.  Today we are reading from the New International Reader’s Version Bible.  We’ll begin today from Daniel 2:24-3:30. We will continue with 1 Peter 4:7-5:14, Psalms 119:81-96 and Proverbs 28:15-16.

Daniel 2:24-3:30

 ²⁴ Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.”

 ²⁵ Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.”

 ²⁶ The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?”

 ²⁷ Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, ²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:

 ²⁹ “As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. ³⁰ As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.

 ³¹ “You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. ³² The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. ³⁴ While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

 ³⁶ “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. ³⁷ You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; ³⁸ in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

 ³⁹ “After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. ⁴⁰ Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. ⁴¹ Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. ⁴² As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³ And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

 ⁴⁴ “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
      ”The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.”

 ⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. ⁴⁷ The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”

 ⁴⁸ Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. ⁴⁹ Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.

 ¹ King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. ² He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. ³ So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it.

 ⁴ Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language: ⁵ As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. ⁶ Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”

 ⁷ Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

 ⁸ At this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews. ⁹ They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! ¹⁰ You have issued a decree, O king, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold, ¹¹ and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. ¹² But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, O king. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.”

 ¹³ Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, ¹⁴ and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? ¹⁵ Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”

 ¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

 ¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual ²⁰ and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. ²¹ So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. ²² The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, ²³ and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.

 ²⁴ Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”
      They replied, “Certainly, O king.”

 ²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

 ²⁶ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”
      So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, ²⁷ and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

 ²⁸ Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. ²⁹ Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”

 ³⁰ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

1 Peter 4:7-5:14⁷The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. ⁸Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. ¹¹If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

 ¹²Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. ¹⁵If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. ¹⁶However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. ¹⁷For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸And,
   ”If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
      what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

 ¹⁹So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

 ¹To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: ²Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; ³not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ⁴And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

 ⁵Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
   ”God opposes the proud
      but gives grace to the humble.” ⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

 ⁸Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

 ¹⁰And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ¹¹To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

 ¹²With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. ¹³She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. ¹⁴Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

Psalms 119:81-96 ⁸¹ My soul faints with longing for your salvation,
       but I have put my hope in your word.

 ⁸² My eyes fail, looking for your promise;
       I say, “When will you comfort me?”

 ⁸³ Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke,
       I do not forget your decrees.

 ⁸⁴ How long must your servant wait?
       When will you punish my persecutors?

 ⁸⁵ The arrogant dig pitfalls for me,
       contrary to your law.

 ⁸⁶ All your commands are trustworthy;
       help me, for men persecute me without cause.

 ⁸⁷ They almost wiped me from the earth,
       but I have not forsaken your precepts.

 ⁸⁸ Preserve my life according to your love,
       and I will obey the statutes of your mouth.

 ⁸⁹ Your word, O LORD, is eternal;
       it stands firm in the heavens.

 ⁹⁰ Your faithfulness continues through all generations;
       you established the earth, and it endures.

 ⁹¹ Your laws endure to this day,
       for all things serve you.

 ⁹² If your law had not been my delight,
       I would have perished in my affliction.

 ⁹³ I will never forget your precepts,
       for by them you have preserved my life.

 ⁹⁴ Save me, for I am yours;
       I have sought out your precepts.

 ⁹⁵ The wicked are waiting to destroy me,
       but I will ponder your statutes.

 ⁹⁶ To all perfection I see a limit;
       but your commands are boundless.

Proverbs 28:15-16

 ¹⁵ Like a roaring lion or a charging bear
       is a wicked man ruling over a helpless people.

 ¹⁶ A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment,
       but he who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long life.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer

Thoughts from Prayer for November 26th Bible reading

We covered some of my favorite parts of the Bible today in 1^st Peter.  Favorite is probably the wrong word; some of the scriptures that I have found that I absolutely must live by in the world that I live in, see our culture is all about what we as individuals can do, how far we can take something, it’s the American way.  Of course that’s our culture here; dream a dream and go get it, and it can be done, but what I have found in the Bible and as a person of faith is that that doesn’t work as a Christian too well.  It’s very very difficult to do a solo battle as a Christian; be self controlled and alert verse 8 said today; you’re enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, we as Christians we hear that all the time, in fact we have heard that verse to the point of cliché. 

But devour is a shredding, a ripping, a tearing, a gutting, a dismembering, a strangling, a consuming mercilessly, that is you’re enemy, it’s not some pitch forked , horned red creature somewhere tempting you to have another piece of cake when you’re trying to be on a diet.  It’s a mortal enemy that wants you dead; and if not dead, contained, and I have just learned that as it is in the natural kingdom so it is in the Spirit.  If a pack of lions attacks a flock of Zebra who get’s killed?  The one that get’s separates from the pack; and that is how our Christian life is in my opinion because this is what I have learned to be true in my own life.  And that is why the community is so critical to my survival.

 It is you; along with the community I live in Nashville here that keep me a person of faith and awe; and this is how it works, and this is what we are to each other, and this is the crux of why I pound the fact that we are a community, even though we are virtual, and do everything I can think of to make that tangible and real, because we simply cannot survive alone.

Prayer for November 26th

(Prayer) So God; make this real to us; the weightiness of it, the fact that there is an enemy that is trying to tempt us to do wrong, that is trying to kill us, and take our eternal souls, and separate us from You forever.  So God we take the advice of Peter in Chapter 5 Verse 6 today and humble ourselves under Your almighty hand, that You may lift us up in due time.  And although we have a mortal enemy; we cast our anxiety on You, because You care for us, You are God and the Bible epically shows us that You will not allow anyone or anything to harm Your beloved.  You will wipe them out.  And so we humble ourselves under Your mighty Hand.  We hide in the shadow of Your wing, You are our Father, this is not what we deserve, but this is what You have offered and we say yes, of course, now help us live in it Lord.  We worship You; we praise Your mighty victorious name, the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Have a great day.  And I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Download today’s Podcast

Check out http://www.iCalendars.net  I am selling some inspirational items at a good price.  Thanks for taking a look. http://www.icalendars.net/inspirational.html

Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer for November 25th

Today is the 25th of November.  This is the Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer starter for today.  Today we are reading from the New International Reader’s Version Bible.  We’ll begin today from Daniel 1:1-2:23. We will continue with 1 Peter 3:8-4:6, Psalms 119:65-80 and Proverbs 28:14.

Daniel 1:1-2:23

 ¹ In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ² And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.

 ³ Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility- ⁴ young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. ⁵ The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.

 ⁶ Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. ⁷ The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

 ⁸ But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. ⁹ Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, ¹⁰ but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

 ¹¹ Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ¹² “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” ¹⁴ So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

 ¹⁵ At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. ¹⁶ So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

 ¹⁷ To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

 ¹⁸ At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹ The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. ²⁰ In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

 ²¹ And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

 ¹ In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. ² So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, ³ he said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means. “

 ⁴ Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.”

 ⁵ The king replied to the astrologers, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. ⁶ But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me.”

 ⁷ Once more they replied, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.”

 ⁸ Then the king answered, “I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: ⁹ If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me.”

 ¹⁰ The astrologers answered the king, “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. ¹¹ What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.”

 ¹² This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³ So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.

 ¹⁴ When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. ¹⁵ He asked the king’s officer, “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. ¹⁶ At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.

 ¹⁷ Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. ¹⁸ He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹ During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven ²⁰ and said:
       “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
       wisdom and power are his.

 ²¹ He changes times and seasons;
       he sets up kings and deposes them.
       He gives wisdom to the wise
       and knowledge to the discerning.

 ²² He reveals deep and hidden things;
       he knows what lies in darkness,
       and light dwells with him.

 ²³ I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers:
       You have given me wisdom and power,
       you have made known to me what we asked of you,
       you have made known to us the dream of the king.”

 ⁸Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. ⁹Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. ¹⁰For,
   ”Whoever would love life
      and see good days
   must keep his tongue from evil
      and his lips from deceitful speech.
 ¹¹He must turn from evil and do good;
      he must seek peace and pursue it.
 ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
      and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
   but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

 ¹³Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” ¹⁵But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, ¹⁹through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison ²⁰who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, ²¹and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

 ¹Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. ²As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. ³For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. ⁴They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. ⁵But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

 ⁶⁶ Teach me knowledge and good judgment,
       for I believe in your commands.

 ⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray,
       but now I obey your word.

 ⁶⁸ You are good, and what you do is good;
       teach me your decrees.

 ⁶⁹ Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies,
       I keep your precepts with all my heart.

 ⁷⁰ Their hearts are callous and unfeeling,
       but I delight in your law.

 ⁷¹ It was good for me to be afflicted
       so that I might learn your decrees.

 ⁷² The law from your mouth is more precious to me
       than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

⁷³ Your hands made me and formed me;
       give me understanding to learn your commands.

 ⁷⁴ May those who fear you rejoice when they see me,
       for I have put my hope in your word.

 ⁷⁵ I know, O LORD, that your laws are righteous,
       and in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

 ⁷⁶ May your unfailing love be my comfort,
       according to your promise to your servant.

 ⁷⁷ Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
       for your law is my delight.

 ⁷⁸ May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause;
       but I will meditate on your precepts.

 ⁷⁹ May those who fear you turn to me,
       those who understand your statutes.

 ⁸⁰ May my heart be blameless toward your decrees,
       that I may not be put to shame.

Proverbs 28:14

 ¹⁴ Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD,
       but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer

Prayer for November 25th

(Prayer) Oh Lord we do not want that to be spoken about us; that is not who we really are, because of who we are in You.  We want a soft heart of flesh; we invite You as spoken in the book of Ezekiel to remove from us a heart of stone, and replace it with a heart of flesh.  We love you God; You are the almighty, You are the one and we worship You.  God as we go into this week and forge ahead into the holiday season; we ask for Your help, we want to finish strong, we don’t want to lose sight from You.  We don’t want to find ourselves 100 miles away from You during the season that celebrates Your birth.  We want to walk in peace; and not chaos, we want to start next year, hand in hand, lock step, in a beautiful dance that is our relationship.  Help us do that God.  In Jesus name we pray.  Amen.

Have a great day.  And I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Download today’s Podcast

Check out http://www.iCalendars.net  I am selling some inspirational items at a good price.  Thanks for taking a look. http://www.icalendars.net/inspirational.html

.
Check out more Greg Williams’ photography here!

Well, in only a couple of days it will be Thanksgiving and we’ll be very aware of all of those things which we are thankful for. As I was searching for a quote to send out with my daily Bible reading email, I stumbled across a quote which really made me think.

“I had the blues because I had no shoes, until upon the street I met a man with no feet.” Ancient Persian Saying

Now that helps me and I hope it helps you today. You may have things going on in your life that you don’t understand. You may have experienced loss or pain and the holidays cause that pain to rise to the forefront of your mind. You may have gone through some traumatic issues concerning your finances, family or personal life. We can’t minimize this, but we must be able to look at those things which we do have. We have to allow ourselves to see our lives from a greater perspective.

God is there in the midst of your pain… your questions… your sadness. He is there even when we can’t ‘feel’ it or ’sense’ it. There’s a verse in the Bible that has helped me understand this. It’s found in the 38th Psalm and in the 18th verse…

“God is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

I want you to know that God is close to you today. And my prayer is that you will be able to see this today. Whether it is through something you read or the hug of a friend or an unexpected phone call… I pray that His love, grace and care for you will be overwhelmingly evident today.

GP

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer for November 24th

Today is the 24th of November.  This is the Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer starter for today.  Today we are reading from the Contemporary English Version Bible.  We’ll begin today from Ezekiel 47:1-48:35. We will continue with 1 Peter 2:11-3:7, Psalms 119:49-64 and Proverbs 28:12-13.

Ezekiel 47:1-48:35

 ¹The man took me back to the temple, where I saw a stream flowing from under the entrance. It began in the south part of the temple, where it ran past the altar and continued east through the courtyard.

    ²We walked out of the temple area through the north gate and went around to the east gate. I saw the small stream of water flowing east from the south side of the gate.

    ³The man walked east, then took out his measuring stick and measured five hundred sixty yards downstream. He told me to wade through the stream there, and the water came up to my ankles. ⁴Then he measured another five hundred sixty yards downstream, and told me to wade through it there. The water came up to my knees. Another five hundred sixty yards downstream the water came up to my waist. ⁵Another five hundred sixty yards downstream, the stream had become a river that could be crossed only by swimming. ⁶The man said, “Ezekiel, son of man, pay attention to what you’ve seen.”

   We walked to the riverbank, ⁷where I saw dozens of trees on each side. ⁸The man said:

   This water flows eastward to the Jordan River valley and empties into the Dead Sea, where it turns the salt water into fresh water. ⁹Wherever this water flows, there will be all kinds of animals and fish, because it will bring life and fresh water to the Dead Sea. ¹⁰From En-Gedi to Eneglaim, people will fish in the sea and dry their nets along the coast. There will be as many kinds of fish in the Dead Sea as there are in the Mediterranean Sea. ¹¹But the marshes along the shore will remain salty, so that people can use the salt from them.

    ¹²Fruit trees will grow all along this river and produce fresh fruit every month. The leaves will never dry out, because they will always have water from the stream that flows from the temple, and they will be used for healing people.

^13-14The LORD God said to the people of Israel:

   When the land is divided among the twelve tribes of Israel, the Joseph tribe  will receive two shares. Divide the land equally, because I promised your ancestors that this land would someday belong to their descendants. These are the borders of the land: ¹⁵The northern border will begin at the Mediterranean Sea, then continue eastward to Hethlon, to Lebo-Hamath, then across to Zedad, ¹⁶Berothah, and Sibraim, which is on the border between the two kingdoms of Damascus and Hamath. The border will end at Hazer-Hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. ¹⁷So the northern border will run between the Mediterranean Sea and Hazar-Enon, which is on the border between Damascus and Hamath. ¹⁸The eastern border will begin on the border between the two kingdoms of Hauran and Damascus. It will run south along the Jordan River, which separates the territories of Gilead and Israel, and it will end at the Dead Sea near the town of Tamar. ¹⁹The southern border will begin at Tamar, then run southwest to the springs near Meribath-Kadesh. It will continue along the Egyptian Gorge and will end at the Mediterranean Sea.

    ²⁰The western border will run north along the Mediterranean Sea to a point just west of Lebo-Hamath.

    ²¹That is the land to be divided among the tribes of Israel. ²²It will belong to the Israelites and to any foreigners living among them whose children were born in Israel. These foreigners must be treated like any other Israelite citizen, and they will receive ²³a share of the land given to the tribe where they live. I, the LORD God, have spoken.

^1-7Each tribe will receive a section of land that runs from the eastern border of Israel west to the Mediterranean Sea. The northern border of Israel will run along the towns of Hethlon and Lebo-Hamath, and will end at Hazar-Enon, which is on the border between the kingdoms of Damascus and Hamath. The tribes will receive their share of land in the following order, from north to south: Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, and Judah.

 ⁸South of Judah’s territory will be a special section of land. Its length will be eight miles, and its width will run from the eastern border of Israel west to the Mediterranean Sea. My temple will be located in this section of land.

    ⁹An area in the center of this land will belong to me. It will be eight miles long and six miles wide. ¹⁰I, the LORD, will give half of my sacred land to the priests. Their share will be eight miles long and three miles wide, and my temple will be right in the middle. ¹¹Only priests who are descendants of Zadok will receive a share of this sacred land, because they remained faithful to me when the Levites and the rest of the Israelites started sinning. ¹²The land belonging to the priests will be the most sacred area and will lie south of the area that belongs to the Levites.

    ¹³I will give the other half of my sacred land to the Levites. Their share will also be eight miles long and three miles wide, ¹⁴and they must never sell or trade any of this land–it is the best land and belongs to me.

    ¹⁵South of my sacred land will be a section eight miles long and two miles wide. It will not be sacred, but will belong to the people of Israel and will include the city of Jerusalem, together with its houses and pastureland. ¹⁶The city will be a square: Each side will be a mile and a half long, ¹⁷and an open area four hundred twenty feet wide will surround the city. ¹⁸The land on the east and west sides of the city limits will be farmland for the people of Jerusalem; both sections will be three miles long and two miles wide. ¹⁹People from the city will farm the land, no matter which tribe they belong to.

    ²⁰And so the center of this special section of land will be for my sacred land, as well as for the city and its property. The land will be a square, eight miles on each side.

    ²¹The regions east and west of this square of land will belong to the ruler of Israel. His property will run east to the Jordan River and west to the Mediterranean Sea. In the very center of his property will be my sacred land, as well as the temple, ²²together with the share belonging to the Levites and the city of Jerusalem. The northern border of the ruler’s property will be the land that belongs to Judah, and the southern border will be the land that belongs to Benjamin.

 ^23-27South of this special section will be the land that belongs to the rest of Israel’s tribes. Each tribe will receive a section of land that runs from the eastern border of Israel west to the Mediterranean Sea. The tribes will receive their share of land in the following order, from north to south: Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Gad.

    ²⁸Gad’s southern border is also the southern border of Israel. It will begin at the town of Tamar, then run southwest to the springs near Meribath-Kadesh. It will continue along the Egyptian Gorge and end at the Mediterranean Sea.

    ²⁹That’s how the land of Israel will be divided among the twelve tribes. I, the LORD God, have spoken.

 ^30-34The city of Jerusalem will have twelve gates, three on each of the four sides of the city wall. These gates will be named after the twelve tribes of Israel. The gates of Reuben, Judah, and Levi will be in the north; Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan will be in the east; Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun will be in the south; Gad, Asher, and Naphtali will be in the west. Each side of the city wall will be a mile and a half long, ³⁵and so the total length of the wall will be six miles. The new name of the city will be “The-LORD-Is-Here!”

1 Peter 2:11-3:7 ¹¹Dear friends, you are foreigners and strangers on this earth. So I beg you not to surrender to those desires that fight against you. ¹²Always let others see you behaving properly, even though they may still accuse you of doing wrong. Then on the day of judgment, they will honor God by telling the good things they saw you do.

    ¹³The Lord wants you to obey all human authorities, especially the Emperor, who rules over everyone. ¹⁴You must also obey governors, because they are sent by the Emperor to punish criminals and to praise good citizens. ¹⁵God wants you to silence stupid and ignorant people by doing right. ¹⁶You are free, but still you are God’s servants, and you must not use your freedom as an excuse for doing wrong. ¹⁷Respect everyone and show special love for God’s people. Honor God and respect the Emperor.

 ¹⁸Servants, you must obey your masters and always show respect to them. Do this, not only to those who are kind and thoughtful, but also to those who are cruel. ¹⁹God will bless you, even if others treat you unfairly for being loyal to him. ²⁰You don’t gain anything by being punished for some wrong you have done. But God will bless you, if you have to suffer for doing something good. ²¹After all, God chose you to suffer as you follow in the footsteps of Christ, who set an example by suffering for you.

    ²²Christ did not sin

   or ever tell a lie.

    ²³Although he was abused,

   he never tried to get even.

   And when he suffered,

   he made no threats.

   Instead, he had faith in God,

   who judges fairly.

    ²⁴Christ carried the burden

   of our sins.

   He was nailed to the cross,

   so that we would stop sinning

   and start living right.

   By his cuts and bruises

   you are healed.

    ²⁵You had wandered away

   like sheep.

   Now you have returned

   to the one

   who is your shepherd

   and protector.

 ¹If you are a wife, you must put your husband first. Even if he opposes our message, you will win him over by what you do. No one else will have to say anything to him, ²because he will see how you honor God and live a pure life. ³Don’t depend on things like fancy hairdos or gold jewelry or expensive clothes to make you look beautiful. ⁴Be beautiful in your heart by being gentle and quiet. This kind of beauty will last, and God considers it very special.

    ⁵Long ago those women who worshiped God and put their hope in him made themselves beautiful by putting their husbands first. ⁶For example, Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her true children, if you do right and don’t let anything frighten you.

    ⁷If you are a husband, you should be thoughtful of your wife. Treat her with honor, because she isn’t as strong as you are, and she shares with you in the gift of life. Then nothing will stand in the way of your prayers.

Psalms 119:49-64⁴⁹Don’t forget your promise

   to me, your servant.

   I depend on it.

    ⁵⁰When I am hurting,

   I find comfort in your promise

   that leads to life.

    ⁵¹Conceited people sneer at me,

   but I obey your Law.

    ⁵²I find true comfort, LORD,

   because your laws have stood

   the test of time.

    ⁵³I get furious when evil people

   turn against your Law.

    ⁵⁴No matter where I am,

   your teachings

   fill me with songs.

    ⁵⁵Even in the night

   I think about you, LORD,

   and I obey your Law.

    ⁵⁶You have blessed me

   because I have always followed

   your teachings.

    ⁵⁷You, LORD, are my choice,

   and I will obey you.

    ⁵⁸With all my heart

   I beg you to be kind to me,

   just as you have promised.

    ⁵⁹I pay careful attention

   as you lead me,

   and I follow closely.

    ⁶⁰As soon as you command,

   I do what you say.

    ⁶¹Evil people may set a trap,

   but I obey your Law.

    ⁶²Your laws are so fair

   that I wake up

   and praise you

   in the middle of the night.

    ⁶³I choose as my friends

   everyone who worships you

   and follows your teachings.

    ⁶⁴Our LORD, your love is seen

   all over the world.

   Teach me your laws.

Proverbs 28:12-13

¹²When an honest person wins,

   it’s time to celebrate;

   when crooks are in control,

   it’s best to hide.

    ¹³If you don’t confess your sins,

   you will be a failure.

   But God will be merciful

   if you confess your sins

   and give them up.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer

Prayer for November 24th

(Prayer) God; we come to You and thank You again for all that You are doing, we thank You for the season to celebrate You, we thank You for the coming weeks so we can close this year down and put it in the books of history.  Lord help us to reflect on the year and what You have done in our lives, help us to reflect our place in Your story, and focus us God on moving strong into the future, we love You God, thank You for this community God, thank You for allowing me to be a part of something so wonderful, so diverse, such a thing that cannot be bottled up and sold, something so organic and beautiful.  We love you God and we thank You for drawing us together, we worship You, what else is there to do?  What else is there to do but to love You?  We’re very grateful; and were very thankful in this season of Thanksgiving, we pray these things in Jesus name.  Amen.

Have a great day.  And I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Download today’s Podcast

Check out http://www.iCalendars.net  I am selling some inspirational items at a good price.  Thanks for taking a look. http://www.icalendars.net/inspirational.html

Mya finished this season of ”Dancing With The Stars” on top of leader board by scoring the most points from the judges for her final 3 dances performed for the championship round.

Mya, 800-VOTE4-11, 800-86834-11, and text 3411, finished tonight’s finale with a score of 27 out of 30, placing her two points ahead of Donny Osmond, and 11 points ahead of Kelly Osbourne,making her clearly the judges favorite for the evening.

Mya and her professional dance partner Dmitry Chaplin performed at a very high level this evening, as they have done throughout the competition. The only slight mistake that they made was in choosing a final freestyle dance from the Broadway play ”Hairspray” that apparently was a popular number for those who have seen the stage play.

I never saw that play, but I did see both versions of the movie, and their performance looked very good to me, and I was fully entertained. Apparently, the judges based their scores off of the Tony award-winning dancing that was in the Broadway play, as performed by the professional Broadway dancers.

I think that is a bit odd, to judge her performance against Broadway dancers,and not the rest of the competitors.I know she is good and all, but it looked to me like she was competing against Donny and Kelly, so that assessment was way off base, but…that is just me.

I think they were expecting something different, and forgot to judge the performance in front of them, and that is the problem with consistently being on top….people want to see you fall.

I admire Kelly and Donny,and wish them well, but it was irritating to hear Kelly complain and whine about Mya being a professional dancer, because if she was honest, she has an unfair advantage over Mya, which is that she comes with all of Ozzy Osbourne’s legion of fans, let alone her own from the ”Osbournes” MTV reality series, that was at one time the highest rated program on the cable network.

That all makes a difference because at this point in the season, it is not about dancing on ‘Dancing With The Stars’, but it all comes down to a popularity contest, and Ozzy has all the popularity in the entertainment business, and Kelly rides on his coat tails.

Donny Osmond has almost 5 decades of loyal fans that far out distances the small number of R and B fans that remain loyal to Mya, because in the R and B game, the fans like to tear down the singers once the hits stop coming, and loyalty is almost nonexistence.

The freestyle dance was as awesome as the rest of her performances, and do not let any negative spin on it fool you. If it comes down to dancing skill, then Mya would win hands down,….If it only was about dancing, but it is not.

It is a popularity contest, and the popularity is not based on the dancing performances on the show.

If it is all about dancing, then vote for team Mya and Dmitry, it is what would be fair.

The deal is this,Mya, as all the performers, are not trained ballroom dancers, so she is on the same level as Tom Delay in that area, and the whining by Kelly Osbourne is unfair,fake, and borders on lying. She was obviously trying to garner some sentimental votes from her dads fans, and at the same time, slamming Mya.

In doing this injustice to Mya, Kelly reminded me of her mother Sharon Osbourne’s tacky slamming of singer Susan Boyle’s looks, when she stated that …”Susan Boyle is a lovely lady who had been hit by the ugly stick”….

http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/sharon-osbourne-apologizes-for-insulting-susan-boyle-appearance–1017159.php

The haters are gathering to torpedo Mya’s championship, and she needs all of our support by calling or texting the numbers listed here in this article.

Call or text now, before it is too late, and let’s help her bring home the award she has earned, and deserves, if all things are fair.

Mya & Dmitry Chaplin-800-VOTE4-11–or—–800-86834-11—-text—-3411

No matter who wins, and I hope it is Mya, rest assured that I will continue to watch ‘DWTS’ because the producers provide some of the best entertainment on free TV, and the dancers are all drop dead gorgeous,….like Donny’s partner Kym Johnson who makes me want to visit Australia if she is representative of the women that come from there.

Click on these links to gauge the Love/Hate for Mya, and please….vote for her…

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gmOwX93uPf7WW6cSTCpGPOfjf9WwD9C5L24G0

http://www.examiner.com/x-10507-LA-Dancing-Examiners~y2009m11d23-Dancing-with-the-Stars-2009-cast-finals-Vote-for-Mya

http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/11/23/dwts-mya-kelly-donny-monday-finale/

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer for November 23rd

Today is the 23rd of November.  This is the Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer starter for today.  Today we are reading from the Contemporary English Version Bible.  We’ll begin today from Ezekiel 45:13-46:24. We will continue with 1:13-2:10, Psalms 119:33-48 and Proverbs 28:11.

Ezekiel 45:13-46:24

¹³Leaders of Israel, the people must bring you one sixtieth of their grain harvests as offerings to me. ¹⁴They will also bring one percent of their olive oil. These things will be measured according to the bath, and ten baths is the same as one homer or one cor. ¹⁵Finally, they must bring one sheep out of every two hundred from their flocks.

   These offerings will be used as grain sacrifices, as well as sacrifices to please me and those to ask my blessing. I, the LORD, will be pleased with these sacrifices and will forgive the sins of my people. ¹⁶The people of Israel will bring you these offerings. ¹⁷But during New Moon Festivals, Sabbath celebrations, and other religious feasts, you leaders will be responsible for providing animals for the sacrifices, as well as the grain and wine. All these will be used for the sacrifices for sin, the grain sacrifices, the sacrifices to please me, and those to ask my blessing. I will be pleased and will forgive the sins of my people.

 ¹⁸The LORD God said:

   On the first day of the first month, a young bull that has nothing wrong with it must be offered as a sacrifice to purify the temple. ¹⁹The priest will take some blood from this sacrifice and smear it on the doorposts of the temple, as well as on the four corners of the altar and on the doorposts of the gates that lead into the inner courtyard. ²⁰The same ceremony must also be done on the seventh day of the month, so that anyone who sins accidentally or without knowing it will be forgiven, and so that my temple will remain holy.

    ²¹Beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month, and continuing for seven days, everyone will celebrate Passover and eat bread made without yeast. ²²On the first day, the ruler will bring a bull to offer as a sacrifice for his sins and for the sins of the people. ²³Each day of the festival he is to bring seven bulls and seven rams as sacrifices to please me, and he must bring a goat as a sacrifice for sin. These animals must have nothing wrong with them. ²⁴He will also provide twenty pounds of grain and four quarts of olive oil to be offered with each bull and each ram. ²⁵The Festival of Shelters will begin on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and will continue for seven days. On each day of this festival, the ruler will provide the same number of animals that he did each day during Passover, as well as the same amount of grain and olive oil for the sacrifices.

 ¹The LORD said:

   The east gate of the inner courtyard must remain closed during the six working days of each week. But on the Sabbath and on the first day of the month, this gate will be opened. ²Israel’s ruler will go from the outer courtyard into the entrance room of this gate and stand in the doorway while the priest offers sacrifices to ask my blessing and sacrifices to please me. The ruler will bow with his face to the ground to show that he has worshiped me. Then he will leave, and the gate will remain open until evening. ³Each Sabbath and on the first day of each month, the people of Israel must also come to the east gate and worship me. ⁴On the Sabbath, the ruler will bring six lambs and one ram to be offered as sacrifices to please me. There must be nothing wrong with any of these animals. ⁵With the ram, he is to offer twenty pounds of grain, and with each of the lambs, he can offer as much as he wants. He must also offer four quarts of olive oil with every twenty pounds of grain.

    ⁶The ruler is to bring six lambs, a bull, and a ram to be offered as sacrifices at the New Moon Festival. There must be nothing wrong with any of these animals. ⁷With the bull and the ram, he is to offer twenty pounds of grain, and with each of the lambs, he can offer as much as he wants. He must also offer four quarts of olive oil with every twenty pounds of grain. ⁸The ruler must come through the entrance room of the east gate and leave the same way.

    ⁹When my people come to worship me during any festival, they must always leave by the opposite gate from which they came: Those who come in the north gate must leave by the south gate, and those who come in the south gate must leave by the north gate. ¹⁰Their ruler will come in at the same time they do and leave at the same time they leave.

    ¹¹At all other festivals and celebrations, twenty pounds of grain will be offered with a bull, and twenty pounds will be offered with a ram. The worshipers can offer as much grain as they want with each lamb. Four quarts of olive oil must be offered with every twenty pounds of grain.

    ¹²If the ruler voluntarily offers a sacrifice to please me or to ask my blessing, the east gate of the inner courtyard will be opened for him. He will offer his sacrifices just as he does on each Sabbath; then he will leave, and the gate will be closed.

    ¹³Each morning a year-old lamb that has nothing wrong with it must be offered as a sacrifice to please me. ¹⁴Along with it, three pounds of fine flour mixed with a quart of olive oil must be offered as a grain sacrifice. This law will never change– ¹⁵the lamb, the flour, and the olive oil will be offered to me every morning for all time.

 ¹⁶The LORD God said:

   If the ruler of Israel gives some of his land to one of his children, it will belong to the ruler’s child as part of the family property. ¹⁷But if the ruler gives some of his land to one of his servants, the land will belong to the servant until the Year of Celebration, when it will be returned to the ruler. Only the ruler’s children can keep what is given to them. ¹⁸The ruler must never abuse my people by taking land from them. Any land he gives his children must already belong to him.

 ¹⁹The man who was showing me the temple then took me back to the inner courtyard. We walked to the south side of the courtyard and stopped at the door to the sacred rooms that belonged to the priests. He showed me more rooms at the western edge of the courtyard ²⁰and said, “These are the kitchens where the priests must boil the meat to be offered as sacrifices to make things right and as sacrifices for sin. They will also bake the grain for sacrifices in these kitchens. That way, these sacred offerings won’t have to be carried through the outer courtyard, where someone could accidentally touch them and be harmed.” ²¹We went back to the outer courtyard and walked past the four corners. ²²At each corner I saw a smaller courtyard, sixty-eight feet long and fifty feet wide. ²³Around the inside of these smaller courtyards was a low wall of stones, and against the wall were places to build fires. ²⁴The man said, “These are the kitchens where the temple workers will boil the meat that worshipers offer as sacrifices.”

 ¹³Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears. ¹⁴Behave like obedient children. Don’t let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be. ¹⁵Always live as God’s holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy. ¹⁶That’s why the Scriptures say, “I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.”

    ¹⁷You say that God is your Father, but God doesn’t have favorites! He judges all people by what they do. So you must honor God while you live as strangers here on earth. ¹⁸You were rescued ^[a] from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don’t last forever. ¹⁹You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb. ²⁰Christ was chosen even before the world was created, but because of you, he did not come until these last days. ²¹And when he did come, it was to lead you to have faith in God, who raised him from death and honored him in a glorious way. That’s why you have put your faith and hope in God. ²²You obeyed the truth, ^[b] and your souls were made pure. Now you sincerely love each other. But you must keep on loving with all your heart. ²³Do this because God has given you new birth by his message that lives on forever. ²⁴The Scriptures say, “Humans wither like grass,

   and their glory fades

   like wild flowers.

   Grass dries up,

   and flowers fall

   to the ground.

    ²⁵But what the Lord has said

   will stand forever.”

   Our good news to you is what the Lord has said.

 ¹Stop being hateful! Quit trying to fool people, and start being sincere. Don’t be jealous or say cruel things about others. ²Be like newborn babies who are thirsty for the pure spiritual milk that will help you grow and be saved. ³You have already found out how good the Lord really is.

    ⁴Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone that people have rejected, but which God has chosen and highly honored. ⁵And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house. You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices that please God. ⁶It is just as God says in the Scriptures,

   ”Look! I am placing in Zion

   a choice and precious

   cornerstone.

   No one who has faith

   in that one

   will be disappointed.”

    ⁷You are followers of the Lord, and that stone is precious to you. But it isn’t precious to those who refuse to follow him. They are the builders who tossed aside the stone that turned out to be the most important one of all. ⁸They disobeyed the message and stumbled and fell over that stone, because they were doomed.

    ⁹But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say,

    ¹⁰“Once you were nobody.

   Now you are God’s people.

   At one time no one

   had pity on you.

   Now God has treated you

   with kindness.

³³Point out your rules to me,

   and I won’t disobey

   even one of them.

    ³⁴Help me to understand your Law;

   I promise to obey it

   with all my heart.

    ³⁵Direct me by your commands!

   I love to do what you say.

    ³⁶Make me want to obey you,

   rather than to be rich.

    ³⁷Take away my foolish desires,

   and let me find life

   by walking with you.

    ³⁸I am your servant!

   Do for me what you promised

   to those who worship you.

    ³⁹Your wonderful teachings

   protect me from the insults

   that I hate so much.

    ⁴⁰I long for your teachings.

   Be true to yourself

   and let me live.

    ⁴¹Show me your love

   and save me, LORD,

   as you have promised.

    ⁴²Then I will have an answer

   for everyone

   who insults me

   for trusting your word.

    ⁴³I rely on your laws!

   Don’t take away my chance

   to speak your truth.

    ⁴⁴I will keep obeying your Law

   forever and ever.

    ⁴⁵I have gained perfect freedom

   by following your teachings,

    ⁴⁶and I trust them so much

   that I tell them to kings.

    ⁴⁷I love your commands!

   They bring me happiness.

    ⁴⁸I love and respect them

   and will keep them in mind.

Proverbs 28:11

¹¹The rich think highly

   of themselves,

   but anyone poor and sensible

   sees right through them.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer

Thoughts from Prayer for November 23rd Bible reading

Well the talk in 1^st Peter today about the cornerstone just took me back; it’s one of my favorite references because it is so important to my life, so important to who I have become over the last couple of years.  My Pastor; probably three years ago, predating the Daily Audio Bible by about two months spoke a message called cornerstone to capstone, actually a series of talks and they referenced this verse and he was applying it to life, the life of faith, long term, laying the cornerstone and being there to place the capstone, in other words not being a good starter, being a good finisher.  And that is so much the balance of life that I am trying to find, and that is what I am leading us into because I believe God is saying finish well, finish strong, and that is a hard thing to do because when I read the scriptures there are a lot of really great people who didn’t finish strong.  They did great things; but didn’t finish well, of course there are a lot of others that did, but I see that’s it’s a tough thing to do, and I think that’s for us, that’s for us as a community here, but it’s for you, and it’s for me as individuals.  Finish this year well.  The stress of the holidays does not have to consume your life, take you off your mission, family coming in that you would maybe rather not see, or that you can only take in small doses or that are coming from a far and that you’re looking forward to.  Any number of things could be a reality that is facing you this season.  Do not forget what you are here for.  Do not forget what this season is, finish well.

Prayer for November 23rd

(Prayer) Jesus we commend this season to you.  Life is about You and not us but we are so boldly reminded of that during the holiday season that is Christmas, this time where we celebrate Your birth, this time of ultra commercialism, where very very heartwarming memories come, but also chaos comes.  Help us God; speak to us, guide us with peace.  Grant us a perspective that we haven’t had in years gone by.  Let us go trough this season happily, in joyous celebration that You came and rescued us all.  We pray this in Your Holy and majestic name, Amen. 

Have a great day.  And I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Download today’s Podcast

Check out http://www.iCalendars.net  I am selling some inspirational items at a good price. Thanks for taking a look. http://www.icalendars.net/inspirational.html

Warning: long post ahead!

Yesterday was a fantastic day.

Greg and I woke up at 6:30–so much easier to get up early when there’s a puppy eager to lick your face off–and headed to center city to watch the Philadelphia Marathon.  We were at mile 6, so people still looked fresh and had their game faces on.  When we first arrived, the runners, as Greg noted, had zero body fat and looked like serious athletes.  As time went by, the crew became a little more motley, which was encouraging to me.  We saw a guy in a ballerina costume, a few jogglers, and this guy:

After an hour or so we headed home, changed into running gear, and set off for my favorite running spot in the greater Philadelphia area, Ridley Creek Park.  I love this park because I’ve been going there for about 5 years now, and it always reminds me of how far I’ve come.  The first time I went, my roommate invited me to go for a walk with her.  She told me it was a 3 mile walk, and I was game.  After a while, though, I began to think it was a really long 3 miles.  That’s when we checked the map and realized it was actually a 4.3 mile trail with a .3 mile walk to and from the parking lot–in other words, really about a 5 mile walk. We soldiered on, and the next day I was so sore I could hardly move.

After Greg and I got married, we would head over to the park and walk every once in a while, and I’d watch the people running by with a mixture of admiration and bewilderment.  It staggered my mind that people could really run the whole thing, especially considering that whichever way you cut the trail, there were serious inclines involved.  Either you had a really steep half mile at the beginning and then a gradual descent, or a 2.5 mile gradual incline and then a bit later a very steep descent.  At that point, just getting up the hill (we always did the steep half mile first) and walking the rest of the trail felt like a huge accomplishment for me.

A few years later, when I first began to try to run, I remember heading over to the park with some friends and embarrassedly telling them that I was going to try to “run” the last mile.  I would run a tenth of a mile and then walk a tenth, which was as much as I could attempt.  I did it, but I didn’t finish much ahead of my friends, and I felt so freakin’ silly to only be able to run a tenth of a mile at a time.  Greg did better, running the last two full miles, and I wondered amazedly whether one day he might be able to run the whole thing.  He thought maybe, if he worked on it.

Fast forward to this spring.  I had lost weight and was training for the Broad Street Run, a 10 miler.  I was super slow, but when I needed to to a 5 mile training run, we headed over to Ridley Creek once again.  It was more of a drive since we’d moved into the city, but I was excited to get back.  I had no illusions about running up the hill, but I thought I’d be able to do the rest.  And I did.  I couldn’t believe it–a few years back I couldn’t understand anyone running this route, and now I was doing it myself.  This wasn’t the longest of my training runs at all, but it was the one that had the most resonance for me.

Well, yesterday I slayed the dragon.  I ran the whole trail, including the half mile incline at the beginning.  I didn’t do it quickly, but I did it, dammit.  The rest of the run felt great–I’ve been on a treadmill for the last six months, so being outside on a gorgeous November day, knowing I’d already met my goal of getting up the hill, set me up for  a fantastic run.  I took in the blue sky, enjoyed knowing that my legs would get me to the end, and just ran.  It was probably the best (emotion-wise) run of my life, except perhaps for the Broad Street Run itself.

When we finished, we headed over to the cute little town we used to live and went straight to the Running Company store.  It was time to treat myself to new shoes.  Seriously, it was time.  Check out the before and after shots: (well, I guess technically it’s “new and old” shots):

I got the exact same shoe I had before, but you can see that 8 months of wear and tear renders them nearly unrecognizable.  (The newer ones are a different color, obviously).  These have worked really well for me (i.e. no sprained ankles) and I’m excited to break the new ones in.  I also picked up the Nike +, which I’m going to calibrate this afternoon and then go for a spin and test out the various applications.  I’m super excited to check out the various graphs and numbers, and hopefully to see some progress in terms of distance/speed.

And all this leads up to my big (qualified) announcement: I want to be IN the Philadelphia Marathon next year, not watching in the sidelines.  Now note the careful wording: I have not said that I WILL be running it, nor did I specify whether I want to run the full distance or the half.  I mean, clearly I want to run the full distance, but I don’t want to set myself up for failure so I’m leaving this open-ended.  I plan to do as much running as I can through the busy holiday season, then spend the spring training for the Broad Street Run again.  Barring any injuries or realizations that 10 miles is my limit, I’ll then start thinking about the marathon, picking a specific training plan, etc.  Greg seems kind of into the idea as well, which would make things much more fun.  Part of me thinks there’s no freakin’ way I could ever pull off such a feat, but then I remember my first time walking at Ridley Creek and I think, hmmm.  Maybe, just maybe, it’s possible.  So stay tuned!  I’m hoping to add another page to this site soon with some stats and charts, which will be fun for me and a good way to track progress.

This is long enough–thanks for reading.  One more picture and a hearty congrats to everyone who ran yesterday!

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer for November 22nd

Today is the 22nd of November.  This is the Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer starter for today.  Today we are reading from the Contemporary English Version Bible.  We’ll begin today from Ezekiel 44:1-45:12. We will continue with 1 Peter 1:1-12, Psalms 119:17-32 and Proverbs 28:8-10.

Ezekiel 44:1-45:12

 ¹The man took me back to the outer courtyard, near the east gate of the temple area. I saw that the doors to this gate were closed. ²The LORD said:

   I, the LORD God of Israel, came through this gate, so it must remain closed forever! No one must ever use it. ³The ruler of Israel may come here to eat a sacrificial meal that has been offered to me, but he must use only the entrance room of this gate.

 ⁴Then the man took me through the north gate to the front of the temple. I saw that the brightness of the LORD’s glory had filled the temple, and I immediately bowed with my face to the ground.

    ⁵The LORD said:

   Ezekiel, son of man, I am going to give you the laws for my temple. So pay attention and listen carefully to what kind of people are allowed to come in the temple, and what kind are not. ⁶Tell those rebellious people of Israel:

   I, the LORD God, command you to stop your evil ways! ⁷My temple has been disgraced, because you have let godless, stubborn foreigners come here when sacrifices are being offered to me. You have sinned and have broken our solemn agreement. ⁸Instead of following the proper ways to worship me, you have put foreigners in charge of worship at my temple.

    ⁹And so I, the LORD God, say that no godless foreigner who disobeys me will be allowed in my temple. This includes any foreigner living in Israel.

 ¹⁰Some of the Levites turned their backs on me and joined the other people of Israel in worshiping idols. So these Levites must be punished! ¹¹They will still be allowed to serve me as temple workers by guarding the gates and by killing the animals to be sacrificed and by helping the worshipers. ¹²But because these Levites served the people of Israel when they worshiped idols, I, the LORD God, promise that the Levites will be punished. They did not stop the Israelites from sinning, ¹³and now I will no longer let the Levites serve as my priests or come near anything sacred to me. They must suffer shame and disgrace for their disgusting sins. ¹⁴They will be responsible for all the hard work that must be done in the temple.

 ¹⁵The priests of the Levi tribe who are descendants of Zadok the priest were faithful to me, even when the rest of the Israelites turned away. And so, these priests will continue to serve as my priests and to offer the fat and the blood of sacrifices. ¹⁶They will come into my temple, where they will offer sacrifices at my altar and lead others in worship.

    ¹⁷When they come to the inner courtyard, they must wear their linen priestly clothes. My priests must never wear anything made of wool when they are on duty in this courtyard or in the temple. ¹⁸Even their turbans and underwear must be made of linen to keep my priests from sweating when they work. ¹⁹And before they leave to join the other people in the outer courtyard, they must take off their priestly clothes, then place them in the sacred rooms and put on their regular clothes. That way, no one will touch their sacred clothes and be harmed. ²⁰Priests must never shave their heads when they are mourning. But they must keep their hair properly trimmed and not let it grow too long. ²¹They must not drink wine before going to the inner courtyard.

    ²²A priest must not marry a divorced woman; he can marry only a virgin from Israel or the widow of another priest.

    ²³Priests must teach my people the difference between what is sacred and what is ordinary, and between what is clean and what is unclean. ²⁴They will make decisions in difficult legal cases, according to my own laws. They must also observe the religious festivals my Law requires and must always respect the Sabbath.

    ²⁵Touching a dead body will make a person unclean. So a priest must not go near a dead body, unless it is one of his parents or children, or his brother or unmarried sister. ²⁶If a priest touches a dead body, he is unclean and must go through a ceremony to make himself clean. Then seven days later, ²⁷he must go to the inner courtyard of the temple and offer a sacrifice for sin. After that, he may once again serve as my priest. I, the LORD God, have spoken.

    ²⁸I myself will provide for my priests, and so they won’t receive any land of their own. ²⁹Instead, they will receive part of the grain sacrifices, as well as part of the sacrifices for sin and sacrifices to make things right. They will also be given everything in Israel that has been completely dedicated to me. ³⁰The first part of every harvest will belong to the priests. They will also receive part of all special gifts and offerings the Israelites bring to me. And whenever any of my people bake bread, they will give their first loaf as an offering to the priests, and I will bless the homes of the people when they do this. ³¹Priests must not eat any bird or animal that dies a natural death or that has been killed by a wild animal.

 ¹When the land of Israel is divided among the twelve tribes, you must set aside an area that will belong to me. This sacred area will be eight miles long and six miles wide. ²The temple will be on a piece of land eight hundred forty feet square, and the temple will be completely surrounded by an open space eighty-four feet wide. ^3-4I will give half of my sacred land, a section eight miles long and three miles wide, to the priests who serve in the temple. Their houses will be in this half, as well as my temple, which is the most sacred place of all.

    ⁵I will give the other half of my land to the Levites who work in my temple, and the towns where they will live will be there. ⁶Next to my sacred land will be an area eight miles long and two miles wide. This will belong to the people of Israel and will include the city of Jerusalem.

 ^7-8The regions west and east of my sacred land and the city of Jerusalem will belong to the ruler of Israel. He will be given the region between the western edge of my land and the Mediterranean Sea, and between the eastern edge of my land and the Jordan River. This will mean that the length of his property will be the same as the sections of land given to the tribes.

   This property will belong to every ruler of Israel, so they will always be fair to my people and will let them live peacefully in the land given to their tribes.

 ⁹The LORD God said:

   You leaders of Israel have robbed and cheated my people long enough! I want you to stop sinning and start doing what is right and fair. You must never again force my people off their own land. I, the LORD, have spoken.

    ¹⁰So from now on, you must use honest weights and measures. ¹¹The ephah will be the standard dry measure, and the bath will be the standard liquid measure. Their size will be based on the homer, which will equal ten ephahs or ten baths. ¹²The standard unit of weight will be the shekel. One shekel will equal twenty gerahs, and sixty shekels will equal one mina.

 ¹From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

   To God’s people who are scattered like foreigners in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

    ²God the Father decided to choose you as his people, and his Spirit has made you holy. You have obeyed Jesus Christ and are sprinkled with his blood. I pray that God will be kind to you and will keep on giving you peace!

 ³Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is so good, and by raising Jesus from death, he has given us new life and a hope that lives on. ⁴God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.

    ⁵You have faith in God, whose power will protect you until the last day. Then he will save you, just as he has always planned to do. ⁶On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. ⁷Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns. ⁸You have never seen Jesus, and you don’t see him now. But still you love him and have faith in him, and no words can tell how glad and happy ⁹you are to be saved. That’s why you have faith.

    ¹⁰Some prophets told how kind God would be to you, and they searched hard to find out more about the way you would be saved. ¹¹The Spirit of Christ was in them and was telling them how Christ would suffer and would then be given great honor. So they searched to find out exactly who Christ would be and when this would happen. ¹²But they were told that they were serving you and not themselves. They preached to you by the power of the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven. And their message was only for you, even though angels would like to know more about it.

¹⁷Treat me with kindness, LORD,

   so that I may live

   and do what you say.

    ¹⁸Open my mind

   and let me discover

   the wonders of your Law.

    ¹⁹I live here as a stranger.

   Don’t keep me from knowing

   your commands.

    ²⁰What I want most of all

   and at all times

   is to honor your laws.

    ²¹You punish those boastful,

   worthless nobodies

   who turn

   from your commands.

    ²²Don’t let them sneer

   and insult me

   for following you.

    ²³I keep thinking about

   your teachings, LORD,

   even if rulers plot

   against me.

    ²⁴Your laws are my greatest joy!

   I follow their advice.

    ²⁵I am at the point of death.

   Let your teachings

   breathe new life into me.

    ²⁶When I told you my troubles,

   you answered my prayers.

   Now teach me your laws.

    ²⁷Help me to understand

   your teachings,

   and I will think about

   your marvelous deeds.

    ²⁸I am overcome with sorrow.

   Encourage me,

   as you have promised to do.

    ²⁹Keep me from being deceitful,

   and be kind enough

   to teach me your Law.

    ³⁰I am determined to be faithful

   and to respect your laws.

    ³¹I follow your rules, LORD.

   Don’t let me be ashamed.

    ³²I am eager to learn all

   that you want me to do;

   help me to understand

   more and more.

Proverbs 28:8-10

⁸If you make money by charging

   high interest rates,

   you will lose it all to someone

   who cares for the poor.

    ⁹God cannot stand the prayers

   of anyone who disobeys

   his Law.

    ¹⁰By leading good people to sin,

   you dig a pit for yourself,

   but all who live right

   will have a bright future.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer

Prayer for November 22nd

(Prayer) Jesus we come to You today and we reflect on the Psalm, it reads like a prayer that any of us could utter, that any of us could pray to You.  And so we ask God; in the words of the psalm for Your help, for Your encouragement of course, we are determined to be faithful and to respect Your laws.  We will follow Your rules Lord; don’t let us be ashamed, we are eager to learn all that You want us to do, help us to understand more and more, this is the cry of our heart, this is why we meet here at this place in cyberspace I guess for lack of a better term, to glean, together in community, to hear from Your Lord, to hear Your words, reveal to us Your Holy Spirit, the contents of our day for starters, show us what You would like to see done, so that we don’t get lost in the business, accomplishing nothing.  And show us Lord how to finish well this year, how to be strong and help us encourage one another as You have outlined.  We love You God; we love You so much out of a heart of love.  We pray these things in Your victorious name, the mighty all powerful name of Jesus.  Amen. 

Have a great day.  And I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Download today’s Podcast

-TRAMA- 

Un vecchio amico ed ex-paziente di Wilson viene ricoverato nella clinica perché soffre di una paralisi al suo braccio destro. Nel frattempo, la Cuddy continua nella sua ricerca di una nuova casa.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer for November 21st

Today is the 21st of November.  This is the Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer starter for today.  Today we are reading from the Contemporary English Version Bible.  We’ll begin today from Ezekiel 42:1-43:27.  We will continue with James 5:1-20, Psalms 119:1-116 and Proverbs 28:6-7.

Ezekiel 42:1-43:27

 ^1-2After the man and I left the temple and walked back to the outer courtyard, he showed me a set of rooms on the north side of the west building. This set of rooms was one hundred seventy feet long and eighty-five feet wide. ³On one side of them was the thirty-four feet of open space that ran alongside the temple,  and on the other side was the sidewalk that circled the outer courtyard. The rooms were arranged in three levels ⁴with doors that opened toward the north, and in front of them was a walkway seventeen feet wide and one hundred seventy feet long. ⁵The rooms on the top level were narrower than those on the middle level, and the rooms on the middle level were narrower than those on the bottom level. ⁶The rooms on the bottom level supported those on the two upper levels, and so these rooms did not have columns like other buildings in the courtyard. ^7-8To the north was a privacy wall eighty-five feet long, ^9-10and at the east end of this wall was the door leading from the courtyard to these rooms. There was also a set of rooms on the south side of the west building. ¹¹These rooms were exactly like those on the north side, and they also had a walkway in front of them. ¹²The door to these rooms was at the east end of the wall that stood in front of them. ¹³The man then said to me:

   These rooms on the north and south sides of the temple are the sacred rooms where the LORD’s priests will eat the most holy offerings. These offerings include the grain sacrifices, the sacrifices for sin, and the sacrifices to make things right. ¹⁴When the priests are ready to leave the temple, they must go through these rooms before they return to the outer courtyard. They must leave their sacred clothes in these rooms and put on regular clothes before going anywhere near other people.

 ¹⁵After the man had finished measuring the buildings inside the temple area, he took me back through the east gate and measured the wall around this area. ¹⁶He used his measuring stick to measure the east side of this wall; it was eight hundred forty feet long. ^17-19Then he measured the north side, the south side, and the west side of the wall, and they were each eight hundred forty feet long, ²⁰and so the temple area was a perfect square. The wall around this area separated what was sacred from what was ordinary.

 ¹The man took me back to the east gate of the temple, ²where I saw the brightness of the glory of Israel’s God coming from the east. The sound I heard was as loud as ocean waves, and everything around was shining with the dazzling brightness of his glory. ³This vision was like the one I had seen when God came to destroy Jerusalem and like the one I had seen near the Chebar River.

   I immediately bowed with my face to the ground, ⁴and the LORD’s glory came through the east gate and into the temple. ⁵The LORD’s Spirit lifted me to my feet and carried me to the inner courtyard, where I saw that the LORD’s glory had filled the temple. ⁶The man was standing beside me, and I heard the LORD say from inside the temple: ⁷Ezekiel, son of man, this temple is my throne on earth. I will live here among the people of Israel forever. They and their kings will never again disgrace me by worshiping idols at local shrines or by setting up memorials to their dead kings. ⁸Israel’s kings built their palaces so close to my holy temple that only a wall separated them from me. Then these kings disgraced me with their evil ways, and in my fierce anger I destroyed them. ⁹But if the people and their kings stop worshiping other gods and tear down those memorials, I will live among them forever. ¹⁰The people of Israel must suffer shame for sinning against me, so tell them about my holy temple. Let them think about it, ¹¹then if they are truly sorry, describe for them the design and shape of the temple, the gates, the measurements, and how the buildings are arranged. Explain the regulations about worshiping there, then write down these things, so they can study and obey them.

    ¹²The temple area on my holy mountain must be kept sacred! This is the most important law about the temple.

gutter twenty inches wide and twenty inches deep, with a ten inch ledge on the outer rim. ^14-17The altar rested on a base and had three sections, each one of them square. The bottom section was twenty-seven feet on each side and three feet high. The middle section was twenty-four feet on each side and seven feet high, and it had a ten inch rim around its outer edge. The top section, which was twenty feet on each side and seven feet high, was the place where sacrifices were burned, and the four corners of the top section looked like the horns of a bull. The steps leading up to the altar were on the east side.

 ¹⁸The LORD God said:

   Ezekiel, son of man, after the altar is built, it must be dedicated by offering sacrifices on it and by splattering it with blood. Here is what you must do: ¹⁹The priests of the Levi tribe from the family of Zadok the priest are the only ones who may serve in my temple–this is my law. So give them a young bull to slaughter as a sacrifice for sin. ²⁰Take some of the animal’s blood and smear it on the four corners of the altar, some on the corners of the middle section, and some more on the rim around its edge. That will purify the altar and make it fit for offering sacrifices to me. ²¹Then take the body of the bull outside the temple area and burn it at the special place.

    ²²The next day, a goat that has nothing wrong with it must be offered as a sacrifice for sin. Purify the altar with its blood, just as you did with the blood of the bull. ²³Then choose a young bull and a young ram that have nothing wrong with them, ²⁴and bring them to my temple. The priests will sprinkle salt on them and offer them as sacrifices to please me. ²⁵Each day for the next seven days, you must offer a goat and a bull and a ram as sacrifices for sin. These animals must have nothing wrong with them. ²⁶The priests will purify the altar during those days, so that it will be acceptable to me and ready to use. ²⁷From then on, the priests will use this altar to offer sacrifices to please me and sacrifices to ask my blessing. Then I will be pleased with the people of Israel. I, the LORD God, have spoken

    ⁵While here on earth, you have thought only of filling your own stomachs and having a good time. But now you are like fat cattle on their way to be butchered. ⁶You have condemned and murdered innocent people, who couldn’t even fight back.

 ⁷My friends, be patient until the Lord returns. Think of farmers who wait patiently for the spring and summer rains to make their valuable crops grow. ⁸Be patient like those farmers and don’t give up. The Lord will soon be here! ⁹Don’t grumble about each other or you will be judged, and the judge is right outside the door.

    ¹⁰My friends, follow the example of the prophets who spoke for the Lord. They were patient, even when they had to suffer. ¹¹In fact, we praise the ones who endured the most. You remember how patient Job was and how the Lord finally helped him. The Lord did this because he is so merciful and kind.

    ¹²My friends, above all else, don’t take an oath. You must not swear by heaven or by earth or by anything else. “Yes” or “No” is all you need to say. If you say anything more, you will be condemned.

    ¹³If you are having trouble, you should pray. And if you are feeling good, you should sing praises. ¹⁴If you are sick, ask the church leaders to come and pray for you. Ask them to put olive oil on you in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵If you have faith when you pray for sick people, they will get well. The Lord will heal them, and if they have sinned, he will forgive them. ¹⁶If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot. ¹⁷Elijah was just as human as we are, and for three and a half years his prayers kept the rain from falling. ¹⁸But when he did pray for rain, it fell from the skies and made the crops grow.

    ¹⁹My friends, if any followers have wandered away from the truth, you should try to lead them back. ²⁰If you turn sinners from the wrong way, you will save them from death, and many of their sins will be forgiven.

 ¹Our LORD, you bless everyone   who lives right

   and obeys your Law.

    ²You bless all of those

   who follow your commands

   from deep in their hearts

    ³and who never do wrong

   or turn from you.

    ⁴You have ordered us always

   to obey your teachings;

    ⁵I don’t ever want to stray

   from your laws.

    ⁶Thinking about your commands

   will keep me from doing

   some foolish thing.

    ⁷I will do right and praise you

   by learning to respect

   your perfect laws.

    ⁸I will obey all of them!

   Don’t turn your back on me.

    ⁹Young people can live

   a clean life

   by obeying your word.

    ¹⁰I worship you

   with all my heart.

   Don’t let me walk away

   from your commands.

    ¹¹I treasure your word

   above all else;

   it keeps me from sinning

   against you.

    ¹²I praise you, LORD!

   Teach me your laws.

    ¹³With my own mouth,

   I tell others the laws

   that you have spoken.

    ¹⁴Obeying your instructions

   brings as much happiness

   as being rich.

    ¹⁵I will study your teachings

   and follow your footsteps.

    ¹⁶I will take pleasure

   in your laws

   and remember your words.

Proverbs 28:6-7

⁶It’s better to be poor

   and live right,

   than to be rich

   and dishonest.

    ⁷It makes good sense

   to obey the Law of God,

   but you disgrace your parents

   if you make friends

   with worthless nobodies.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer

Thoughts from Prayer for November 21st Bible reading

There were a lot of things that jumped at me today; this 840 foot square that is the temple; I don’t know, sometimes when I’m reading those dimensions I’m trying to picture them in my head, but I can’t quite get a context I guess, but today when I saw the square I began to see, wow this is like a thousand foot square, that’s big, that’s a big building.  That’s all I got there’s nothing spiritual there.  LOL. 

But I really did see James being his blunt self; be patient until the Lord returns and I like this, think of the farmers that wait patiently for the spring and the summer rains to make their valuable crops grow, because I believe we are in the season of harvest, and I don’t mean than in some mystical way.  Literally this is the season of harvest and it’s drawing to its close.  And we go into the winter months, so I believe this is our season of harvest too, it’s our invitation to gather, but it’s also an invitation to prepare.  It’s our invitation to finish well which is what I have been saying for the last month or more, encouraging us to look into that context how do we finish this year strong as opposed to in utter chaos through the holidays?  How do we enter this season of celebration for the birth of our Savior without going crazy?  And the shopping; and the family, and in every other possible way, how do we enjoy peacefully, steadfastly, what we are really here for, what the purpose really is and then go into the new year without thousands of dollars of more debt and on and on and on, how do we finish well?  And this is different for everyone; so I can’t sit here and say this is how you do it, I know that the Lord is giving me personally strategies in my life and in my world the way that I live to finish strong, so I can begin strong next year.  And so it is a seasonal thing and I think that is what James is alluding to, process, but you have to begin the process sometime, right?  It doesn’t just begin itself you must begin the process.  So if you haven’t; start now, today’s good, now is good, right now is good, start now. James says in once sentence he sort of sums it all up; if you are having trouble, you should pray.  I like that kind of stuff about James.  He’s pretty direct and I’m not a super direct person, but I can handle that, and I like that.  So; if you are having trouble; you should pray, and let’s do that.

Prayer for November 21st

(Prayer) Jesus; thank You, every day begins with a thank You, we are so grateful, we feel such a heart of gratitude towards You, for all that You’ve done and I know that “all that You’ve done” has become a cliché, but God when we think of all that You have done in our lives, it has great significance.  You are the King of Kings; and You are our leader, and we march at your command, and we are looking for your instructions.  Lord; reveal to us by the power of Your Holy Spirit how it is that we individually finish strong this year.  How do we do this God in our lives?  We invite You Holy Spirit into our lives; into every part of our lives, show us where we are to go, we love You Lord, we worship You, and we pray these things expecting that You’ve already begun to speak.  In Jesus name we pray.  Amen.

Have a great day.  And I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Download today’s Podcast

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer for November 20th

Today is the 20th of November.  This is the Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer starter for today.  Today we are reading from the Contemporary English Version Bible.  We’ll begin today from Ezekiel 40:28-41:26.  We will continue with James 4:1-17, Psalms 118:19-29 and Proverbs 28:3-5.

Ezekiel 40:28-41:26

 ²⁸We then went into the inner courtyard, through the gate on the south side of the temple. The man measured the gate, and it was the same size as the gates in the outer wall. ^29-30In fact, everything along the passageway was also the same size, including the guardrooms, the walls separating them, the entrance room at the far end, and the windows. This gate, like the others, was eighty-five feet long and forty-two feet wide. ³¹The entrance room of this gate faced the outer courtyard, and carvings of palm trees decorated the walls of the passageway. Eight steps led up to this gate.

    ³²Next, we went through the east gate to the inner courtyard. The man measured this gate, and it was the same size as the others. ³³The guardrooms, the walls separating them, and its entrance room had the same measurements as the other gates. The guardrooms and the entrance room had windows, and the gate was eighty-five feet long and forty-two feet wide. ³⁴The entrance room faced the outer courtyard, and the walls in the passageway were decorated with carvings of palm trees. Eight steps also led up to this gate.

    ³⁵Then the man took me to the north gate. He measured it, and it was the same size as the others, ³⁶including the guardrooms, the walls separating them, and the entrance room. There were also windows in this gate. It was eighty-five feet long and forty-two feet wide, ³⁷and like the other inner gates, its entrance room faced the outer courtyard, and its walls were decorated with carvings of palm trees. Eight steps also led up to this gate.

^38-39Inside the entrance room of the north gate, I saw four tables, two on each side of the room, where the animals to be sacrificed were killed. Just outside this room was a small building used for washing the animals before they were offered as sacrifices to please the LORD or sacrifices for sin or sacrifices to make things right. ⁴⁰Four more tables were in the outer courtyard, two on each side of the steps leading into the entrance room. ⁴¹So there was a total of eight tables, four inside and four outside, where the animals were killed, ^42-43and where the meat was placed until it was sacrificed on the altar. Next to the tables in the entrance room were four stone tables twenty inches high and thirty inches square; the equipment used for killing the animals was kept on top of these tables. All around the walls of this room was a three inch shelf.

⁴⁴The man then took me to the inner courtyard, where I saw two buildings, one beside the inner gate on the north and the other beside the inner gate on the south. ⁴⁵He said, “The building beside the north gate belongs to the priests who serve in the temple, ⁴⁶and the building beside the south gate belongs to those who serve at the altar. All of them are descendants of Zadok and are the only Levites allowed to serve as the LORD’s priests.”

 ⁴⁷Now the man measured the inner courtyard; it was one hundred seventy feet square. I also saw an altar in front of the temple.

    ⁴⁸We walked to the porch of the temple, and the man measured the doorway of the porch: It was twenty-four feet long, eight feet wide, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was five feet. ⁴⁹The porch itself was thirty-four feet by twenty feet, with steps leading up to it. There was a column on each side of these steps.

 ¹Next we went into the main room of the temple. The man measured the doorway of this room: It was ten feet wide,  ²seventeen feet long, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was eight feet. The main room itself was sixty-eight feet by thirty-four feet. ^3-4Then the man walked to the far end of the temple’s main room and said, “Beyond this doorway is the most holy place.” He first measured the doorway: It was three feet wide, ten feet long, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was twelve feet. Then he measured the most holy place, and it was thirty-four feet square.

 ⁵The man measured the wall of the temple, and it was ten feet thick. Storage rooms seven feet wide were built against the outside of the wall. ⁶There were three levels of rooms, with thirty rooms on each level, and they rested on ledges that were attached to the temple walls, so that nothing was built into the walls. ⁷The walls of the temple were thicker at the bottom than at the top, which meant that the storage rooms on the top level were wider than those on the bottom level. ^[l] Steps led from the bottom level, through the middle level, and into the top level. ⁸The temple rested on a stone base ten feet high, which also served as the foundation for the storage rooms. ⁹The outside walls of the storage rooms were eight feet thick; there was nothing between these walls ¹⁰and the nearest buildings thirty-four feet away. ¹¹One door led into the storage rooms on the north side of the temple, and another door led to those on the south side. The stone base extended eight feet beyond the outside wall of the storage rooms.

¹²I noticed another building: It faced the west end of the temple and was one hundred seventeen feet wide, one hundred fifty feet long, and had walls over eight feet thick.

    ¹³The man measured the length of the temple, and it was one hundred seventy feet. He then measured from the back wall of the temple, across the open space behind the temple, to the back wall of the west building; it was one hundred seventy feet. ¹⁴The distance across the front of the temple, including the open space on either side, was also one hundred seventy feet.

    ¹⁵Finally, the man measured the length of the west building, including the side rooms on each end, and it was also one hundred seventy feet.

   The inside walls of the temple’s porch and main room

 ¹⁶were paneled with wood all the way from the floor to the windows, while the doorways, the small windows, and the three side rooms were trimmed in wood. ¹⁷The paneling stopped just above the doorway. These walls were decorated ^18-20with carvings of winged creatures and had a carving of a palm tree between the creatures. Each winged creature had two faces: A human face looking at the palm tree on one side, and a lion’s face looking at the palm tree on the other side. These designs were carved into the paneling all the way around the two rooms. ²¹The doorframe to the temple’s main room was in the shape of a rectangle.

   In front of the doorway to the most holy place was something that looked like

 ²²a wooden altar. It was five feet high and four feet square, and its corners, its base, and its sides were made of wood. The man said, “This is a reminder that the LORD is constantly watching over his temple.”

 ²³Both the doorway to the main room of the temple and the doorway to the most holy place had two doors, ²⁴and each door had two sections that could fold open. ²⁵The doors to the main room were decorated with carvings of winged creatures and palm trees just like those on the walls, and there was a wooden covering over the porch just outside these doors. ²⁶The walls on each side of this porch had small windows and were also decorated with carvings of palm trees.

James 4:1-17 ¹Why do you fight and argue with each other? Isn’t it because you are full of selfish desires that fight to control your body? ²You want something you don’t have, and you will do anything to get it. You will even kill! But you still cannot get what you want, and you won’t get it by fighting and arguing. You should pray for it. ³Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons.

    ⁴You people aren’t faithful to God! Don’t you know that if you love the world, you are God’s enemies? And if you decide to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. ⁵Do you doubt the Scriptures that say, “God truly cares about the Spirit he has put in us”?  ⁶In fact, God treats us with even greater kindness, just as the Scriptures say, “God opposes everyone

   who is proud,

   but he is kind to everyone

   who is humble.”

    ⁷Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you. ⁸Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can’t make up your mind. ⁹Be sad and sorry and weep. Stop laughing and start crying. Be gloomy instead of glad. ¹⁰Be humble in the Lord’s presence, and he will honor you.

¹¹My friends, don’t say cruel things about others! If you do, or if you condemn others, you are condemning God’s Law. And if you condemn the Law, you put yourself above the Law and refuse to obey either it ¹²or God who gave it. God is our judge, and he can save or destroy us. What right do you have to condemn anyone?

¹³You should know better than to say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to the city. We will do business there for a year and make a lot of money!” ¹⁴What do you know about tomorrow? How can you be so sure about your life? It is nothing more than mist that appears for only a little while before it disappears. ¹⁵You should say, “If the Lord lets us live, we will do these things.” ¹⁶Yet you are stupid enough to brag, and it is wrong to be so proud. ¹⁷If you don’t do what you know is right, you have sinned.

Psalms 118:19-29¹⁹Open the gates of justice!

   I will enter and tell the LORD

   how thankful I am.

    ²⁰Here is the gate of the LORD!

   Everyone who does right

   may enter this gate.

    ²¹I praise the LORD

   for answering my prayers

   and saving me.

    ²²The stone that the builders

   tossed aside

   has now become

   the most important stone.

    ²³The LORD has done this,

   and it is amazing to us.

    ²⁴This day belongs to the LORD!

   Let’s celebrate

   and be glad today.

    ²⁵We’ll ask the LORD to save us!

   We’ll sincerely ask the LORD

   to let us win.

    ²⁶God bless the one who comes

   in the name of the LORD!

   We praise you from here

   in the house of the LORD.

    ²⁷The LORD is our God,

   and he has given us light!

   Start the celebration!

   March with palm branches

   all the way to the altar. ²⁸The LORD is my God!

   I will praise him and tell him

   how thankful I am.

    ²⁹Tell the LORD

   how thankful you are,

   because he is kind

   and always merciful.

Proverbs 28:3-5

³When someone poor takes over

   and mistreats the poor,

   it’s like a heavy rain

   destroying the crops.

    ⁴Lawbreakers praise criminals,

   but law-abiding citizens

   always oppose them.

    ⁵Criminals don’t know

   what justice means,

   but all who respect the LORD

   understand it completely.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer

Thoughts from Prayer for November 20th Bible reading

So Ezekiel is having a detailed vision to say the least; a temple that will be built, in all of it’s glory, and he is just visualizing it, at this point.  I think the thing that just jumped off the page for me today was just the last phrase; James is a very direct book, very pointed, which is fine.  But it kind of summed itself up in verse 17 today “¹⁷If you don’t do what you know is right, you have sinned.” It’s just kind of that simple; it’s not a complicated thing, do what you know is right and you know; I mean your heart does tell you, you have a sense if you slow down and listen of what you are to do.  God is not silent; He is not hidden, He is available to us.

Jill talks a lot when she does concerts about the presence, and not some mystical, I mean the closeness, the availability of God, and how she spent her life struggling through acceptance just believing that she had anything to offer.  She grew up feeling pretty much like she was maybe almost good; Good, but not quite good enough, so sort of secondary, kind of not quite there, but okay.  And she grew up feeling that that is pretty much how everyone, including God himself looked at her.  That every time she did something wrong that Jesus was crying, and this is something a lot of us have been taught through the years, so she felt like a disappointment all of the time, and that God would continually withdrawal, so she talks about parenting and the idea that okay, your kid’s coming home from school, and you get the idea that to teach them a lesson you are going to leave.  Maybe not far; maybe just down the street, but you’re going to get in the car and leave, and these little ones are going to come home and be scared to death, running all over the house looking for you; not knowing what to do.  And then a little later after you feel they have been scared literally out of their minds your going to show up and tell them see, this is what happens when you are bad.  This is not the way that God operates with his children, and so, he is available to us, and guiding us to all good things, He’s our Father.

Prayer for November 20th

(Prayer) And so; Father God, we come to You understanding what we are without You, we understand, but we embrace who we are in Christ and the love that You gave when You sent Your Son for us to rescue our hearts, to rescue us and completely change the entire playing field.  We are not who we were; we are something more, Your children, so guide us today Father, show us what is right.  Help us to know inside what is right that we will not sin against You, and guide us into all truth today, take us to where we are going God, take us to what we were born for, lead us to why we are here, so we can live the rich life which is our true destiny, what is the truth about us, as opposed to taking the time to try to get somewhere, anywhere, but not really knowing where that is.  God; we want to live purposeful lives and You have created us for a purpose, lead us there.  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Have a great day.  And I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Download today’s Podcast

Greg Wilson at the Tate Gallery spinnin some danceflo’ disco mayhem. Playlist after the break.

1. James Brown / the payback

2. Chakachas / jungle fever

3. Chairman Of The Board / finders keepers

4. David Bowie / fame

5. Eddie Kendricks / keep on truckin’

6. George McCrae / rock your baby

7. Stevie Wonder / superstition

8. Jimmy Castor Bunch / bertha butt boogie

9. Ohio Players / Fire

10.BT Express / do it (‘til you’re satisfied)

11.Jimmy Ruffin / tell me what you want

12.Shirley & Company / shame shame shame

13.Adriano Celentano / prisencolinensinainciusol

14.Earth Wind & Fire / shining star (live version)

15.Fatback Band / (are you ready) do the bus stop

16.Kool & The Gang / spirit of the boogie

17.Rufus Thomas / the funky bird

18.Act One / tom the peeper

19.Peoples Choice / do it anyway you wanna

20.Average White Band / pick up the pieces

21. Love Unlimited Orchestra / satin soul

22. KC & The Sunshine Band / get down tonight

23. War / me and baby brother

24. The Temptations / law of the land

25. The Commodores / machine gun

26. Manu Dibango / soul makossa

27. MFSB / sexy

28. Joe Simon / step by step

29. Detroit Emeralds / feel the need in me

30.Labelle / lady marmalade

31.Doobie Brothers / long train running

32.Creative Source / who is he and what is he to you

33.The Intruders / I’ll always love my mama

34.The Trammps / zing went the strings of my heart

35.Soul Searchers / blow your whistle

36.Crystal Grass / crystal world

37.The O’Jays / backstabbers

38.Isley Brothers / that lady

39.Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes / the love I lost

40.Gloria Gaynor / never can say goodbye

Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer for November 19th

Today is the 19th of November.  This is the Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer starter for today.  Today we are reading from the Contemporary English Version Bible.  We’ll begin today from Ezekiel 39:1-40:27.  We will continue with James 2:18-3:18, Psalms 118:1-18 and Proverbs 28:2.

Ezekiel 39:1-40:27

¹Ezekiel, son of man, condemn Gog and tell him:

   You are the ruler of Meshech and Tubal, but I, the LORD, am your enemy! ²I will turn you around and drag you from the north until you reach the mountains of Israel. ³I will knock the bow out of your left hand and the arrows out of your right hand, ⁴and you and your army will die on those mountains. Then birds and wild animals will eat the flesh ⁵of your dead bodies left lying in open fields. I, the LORD, have spoken.

    ⁶I will set fire to the land of Magog and to those nations along the seacoast that think they are so secure, and they will know that I am the LORD.

    ⁷My people Israel will know me, and they will no longer disgrace my holy name. Everyone on earth will know that I am the holy LORD God of Israel. ⁸The day is coming when these things will happen, just as I have promised.

    ⁹When that day comes, the people in the towns of Israel will collect the weapons of their dead enemies. They will use these shields, bows and arrows, spears, and clubs as firewood, and there will be enough to last for seven years. ¹⁰They will burn these weapons instead of gathering sticks or chopping down trees. That’s how the Israelites will take revenge on those who robbed and abused them. I, the LORD, have spoken.

¹¹After Gog has been destroyed, I will bury him and his army in Israel, in Travelers’  Valley, east of the Dead Sea. That graveyard will be so large that it will block the way of anyone who tries to walk through the valley, which will then be known as “The Valley of Gog’s Army.”  ¹²The Israelites will spend seven months burying dead bodies and cleaning up their land. ¹³Everyone will help with the burial, and they will be honored for this on the day the brightness of my glory is seen. ¹⁴After those seven months, the people will appoint a group of men to look for any dead bodies left unburied. This must be done for seven months to make sure that the land is no longer unclean. ¹⁵Whenever they find a human bone, they will set up a marker next to it. Then the gravediggers will bury it in “The Valley of Gog’s Army” ¹⁶near the town of “Gog’s Army.” After that, the land will be pure again. ¹⁷Ezekiel, son of man, I am going to hold a feast on Israel’s mountains and offer sacrifices there. So invite all the birds and wild animals to come from every direction and eat the meat of sacrifices and drink the blood. The birds and animals ¹⁸will feast on the bodies of warriors and foreign rulers that I will sacrifice like sheep, goats, and bulls. ¹⁹I want the birds and animals to eat until they are full and drink until they are drunk. ²⁰They will come to my table and stuff themselves with the flesh of horses and warriors of every kind. I, the LORD God, have spoken.

²¹When I punish the nations of the earth, they will see the brightness of my glory. ²²The people of Israel will know from then on that I am the LORD their God. ²³Foreign nations will realize that the Israelites were forced to leave their own land because they sinned against me. I turned my back on my people and let enemies attack and kill them. ²⁴Their lives were wicked and corrupt, and they deserved to be punished.

    ²⁵Now I will show mercy to the people of Israel and bring them back from the nations where they are living. They are Jacob’s descendants, so I will bless them and show that I am holy. ²⁶They will live safely in their own land, but will be ashamed when they remember their evil ways and how they disgraced me.  ²⁷Foreign nations will watch as I take the Israelites from enemy lands and bring them back home, and those nations will see that I am holy. ²⁸My people will realize that I, the LORD their God, sent them away as prisoners and now will bring them back to their own land. ²⁹Never again will I turn my back on the people of Israel, and my Spirit will live in them. I, the LORD, have spoken.

^1-2Twenty-five years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, and fourteen years after the Babylonians had captured Jerusalem, the LORD’s power took control of me on the tenth day of the first month.  The LORD showed me some visions in which I was carried to the top of a high mountain in Jerusalem. I looked to the south and saw what looked like a city full of buildings. ³In my vision the LORD took me closer, and I saw a man who was sparkling like polished bronze. He was standing near one of the gates and was holding a tape measure in one hand and a measuring stick in the other. ⁴The man said, “Ezekiel, son of man, pay close attention to everything I’m going to show you–that’s why you’ve been brought here. Listen carefully, because you must tell the people of Israel what you see.”

 ⁵The first thing I saw was an outer wall that completely surrounded the temple area. The man took his measuring stick, which was ten feet long, and measured the wall; it was ten feet high and ten feet thick. ^6-7Then he went to the east gate, where he walked up steps that led to a long passageway. On each side of this passageway were three guardrooms, which were ten feet square, and they were separated by walls over eight feet thick. The man measured the distance between the opening of the gate and the first guardroom, and it was ten feet, the thickness of the outer wall.

   At the far end of this passageway, I saw an entrance room that faced the courtyard of the temple itself. There was also a distance of ten feet between the last guardroom and the entrance room ^8-9at the end of the passageway. The man measured this room: It was thirteen feet from the doorway to the opposite wall, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was three feet.¹⁰The three guardrooms on each side of the passageway were the same size, and the walls that separated them were the same thickness.

    ¹¹Next, the man measured the width of the passageway, and it was twenty-two feet, but the two doors of the gate were only sixteen feet wide.  ¹²In front of the guardrooms, which were ten feet square, was a railing about twenty inches high and twenty inches thick. ¹³The man measured the distance from the back wall  of one of these rooms to the same spot in the room directly across the passageway, and it was forty-two feet. ¹⁴He measured the entrance room at the far end of the passageway, and it was thirty-four feet wide.  ¹⁵Finally, he measured the total length of the passageway, from the outer wall to the entrance room, and it was eighty-five feet. ¹⁶The three walls in the guardrooms had small windows in them, just like the ones in the entrance room. The walls along the passageway were decorated with carvings of palm trees.

¹⁷The man then led me through the passageway and into the outer courtyard of the temple, where I saw thirty rooms built around the outside of the courtyard. These side rooms were built against the outer wall, and in front of them was a sidewalk that circled the courtyard. ¹⁸This was known as the lower sidewalk, and it was eighty-five feet wide. ¹⁹I saw the gates that led to the inner courtyard of the temple and noticed that they were higher than those leading to the outer courtyard. The man measured the distance between the outer and inner gates, and it was one hundred seventy feet.   

²⁰Next, the man measured the north gate that led to the outer courtyard. ²¹This gate also had three guardrooms on each side of a passageway. The measurements of these rooms, the walls between them, and the entrance room at the far end of the passageway were exactly the same as those of the east gate. The north gate was also eighty-five feet long and forty-two feet wide, ²²and the windows, the entrance room, and the carvings of palm trees were just like those in the east gate. The entrance room also faced the courtyard of the temple and had seven steps leading up to it. ²³Directly across the outer courtyard was a gate that led to the inner courtyard, just as there was for the east gate. The man measured the distance between the outer and inner gate, and it was one hundred seventy feet.

 ²⁴The man then took me to the south gate. He measured the walls and the entrance room of this gate, and the measurements were exactly the same as those of the other two gates. ²⁵There were windows in the guardrooms of this gate and in the entrance room, just like the others, and this gate was also eighty-five feet long and forty-two feet wide. ²⁶Seven steps led up to the gate; the entrance room was at the far end of the passageway and faced the courtyard of the temple. Carvings of palm trees decorated the walls along the passageway. ²⁷And directly across the outer courtyard was a gate on the south side of the inner courtyard. The man measured the distance between the outer and inner gate, and it was also one hundred seventy feet.

James 2:18-3:18Suppose someone disagrees and says, “It is possible to have faith without doing kind deeds.”

¹⁸ I would answer, “Prove that you have faith without doing kind deeds, and I will prove that I have faith by doing them.” ¹⁹You surely believe there is only one God. That’s fine. Even demons believe this, and it makes them shake with fear.

    ²⁰Does some stupid person want proof that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹Well, our ancestor Abraham pleased God by putting his son Isaac on the altar to sacrifice him. ²²Now you see how Abraham’s faith and deeds worked together. He proved that his faith was real by what he did. ²³This is what the Scriptures mean by saying, “Abraham had faith in God, and God was pleased with him.” That’s how Abraham became God’s friend.

    ²⁴You can now see that we please God by what we do and not only by what we believe. ²⁵For example, Rahab had been a prostitute. But she pleased God when she welcomed the spies and sent them home by another way.

    ²⁶Anyone who doesn’t breathe is dead, and faith that doesn’t do anything is just as dead!

 ¹My friends, we should not all try to become teachers. In fact, teachers will be judged more strictly than others. ²All of us do many wrong things. But if you can control your tongue, you are mature and able to control your whole body.

    ³By putting a bit into the mouth of a horse, we can turn the horse in different directions. ⁴It takes strong winds to move a large sailing ship, but the captain uses only a small rudder to make it go in any direction. ⁵Our tongues are small too, and yet they brag about big things.

   It takes only a spark to start a forest fire! ⁶The tongue is like a spark. It is an evil power that dirties the rest of the body and sets a person’s entire life on fire with flames that come from hell itself. ⁷All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures can be tamed and have been tamed. ⁸But our tongues get out of control. They are restless and evil, and always spreading deadly poison.

    ^9-10My dear friends, with our tongues we speak both praises and curses. We praise our Lord and Father, and we curse people who were created to be like God, and this isn’t right. ¹¹Can clean water and dirty water both flow from the same spring? ¹²Can a fig tree produce olives or a grapevine produce figs? Does fresh water come from a well full of salt water?

¹³Are any of you wise or sensible? Then show it by living right and by being humble and wise in everything you do. ¹⁴But if your heart is full of bitter jealousy and selfishness, don’t brag or lie to cover up the truth. ¹⁵That kind of wisdom doesn’t come from above. It is earthly and selfish and comes from the devil himself. ¹⁶Whenever people are jealous or selfish, they cause trouble and do all sorts of cruel things. ¹⁷But the wisdom that comes from above leads us to be pure, friendly, gentle, sensible, kind, helpful, genuine, and sincere. ¹⁸When peacemakers plant seeds of peace, they will harvest justice.

Psalms 118:1-18 ¹Tell the LORD

  how thankful you are,

   because he is kind

   and always merciful.

    ²Let Israel shout,

   ”God is always merciful!”

    ³Let the family of Aaron

   the priest shout,

   ”God is always merciful!”

    ⁴Let every true worshiper

   of the LORD shout,

   ”God is always merciful!”

    ⁵When I was really hurting,

   I prayed to the LORD.

   He answered my prayer,

   and took my worries away.

    ⁶The LORD is on my side,

   and I am not afraid

   of what others can do to me.

    ⁷With the LORD on my side,

   I will defeat all

   of my hateful enemies.

    ⁸It is better to trust the LORD

   for protection

   than to trust anyone else,

    ⁹including strong leaders.

    ¹⁰Nations surrounded me,

   but I got rid of them

   by the power of the LORD.

    ¹¹They attacked from all sides,

   but I got rid of them

   by the power of the LORD.

    ¹²They swarmed around like bees,

   but by the power of the LORD,

   I got rid of them

   and their fiery sting.

    ¹³Their attacks were so fierce

   that I nearly fell,

   but the LORD helped me.

    ¹⁴My power and my strength

   come from the LORD,

   and he has saved me.

    ¹⁵From the tents of God’s people

   come shouts of victory:

   ”The LORD is powerful!

    ¹⁶With his mighty arm

   the LORD wins victories!

   The LORD is powerful!”

    ¹⁷And so my life is safe,

   and I will live to tell

   what the LORD has done.

    ¹⁸He punished me terribly,

   but he did not let death

   lay its hands on me.

Proverbs 28:2

²In time of civil war

   there are many leaders,

   but a sensible leader

   restores law and order.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer

I enjoyed the Psalms today over and over; God is always merciful, and by the power of the Lord, both of those things are required for us to get anywhere, and so that’s a Psalm that is in my life, I wish I knew the melody because it rings true.  James is a direct person; and he speaks about our tongue and it’s power, very eloquently, but very directly.  And you know the Proverbs do the same thing over and over and over it’s woven as a theme throughout the Bible that it matters greatly what we say, it matters greatly even to the control of our own body, it matters greatly if our tongue is out of control everything is out of whack and we are in an absolute tailspin.  So to the discipline of ourselves even is controlled in part by our tongue and what we say.

Prayer for November 19th

(Prayer) So God we know; we know we’ve said lots of things that we probably shouldn’t have said.  Not the things that we have spoken to You or that we have spoken from our hearts authentically, no matter what kind of emotion there packed with, but the frivolous things, the things that are out of control, the things that lead us in a mind set that eventually pulls our bodies and our whole frame of reference in a direction we shouldn’t go, and then we find a day wasted, spiraling downward, because of something we spoke out as truth, in anger or whatever, and set the agenda for the day.  Forgive us God for allowing our tongues to dictate what the Holy Spirit is rightfully to order in the Kingdom is to govern.  Help us remember God to remember that when we think about things and the way we speak out at things, is a powerful thing, You’ve said the power of life and death is in the tongue.

What You are saying is there is incredible force in the spoken word; amazing power, and this is not a concept or something that is metaphoric, this is real, we speak and things are created.  Which is what You did and You created us in Your image.  Help us to understand God the things that we say for good and for evil are aligning us first of all with what we say, but are also incredibly powerful.  So; we speak of Your goodness, we speak of Your mercy, we speak of Your power, You are the greatest, we worship You, we bow before You, we honor You, we cherish You God, and we thank You for the many blessings of our lives.  In Jesus name we pray.  Amen.

Have a great day.  And I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Download today’s Podcast

Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer for November 18th

Today is the 18th of November.  This is the Daily Bible Reading, thoughts, and prayer starter for today.  Today we are reading from the New Living Translation Version Bible.  We’ll begin today from Ezekiel 37:1-38:23.  We will continue with James 1:19-2:17, Psalms 117:1-2 and Proverbs 28:1.

Ezekiel 37:1-38:23

 ¹Some time later, I felt the LORD’s power take control of me, and his Spirit carried me to a valley full of bones. ²The LORD showed me all around, and everywhere I looked I saw bones that were dried out. ³He said, “Ezekiel, son of man, can these bones come back to life?”

   I replied, “LORD God, only you can answer that.”

    ⁴He then told me to say:

   Dry bones, listen to what the LORD is saying to you, ⁵“I, the LORD God, will put breath in you, and once again you will live. ⁶I will wrap you with muscles and skin and breathe life into you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”

    ⁷I did what the LORD said, but before I finished speaking, I heard a rattling noise. The bones were coming together! ⁸I saw muscles and skin cover the bones, but they had no life in them.

    ⁹The LORD said:

   Ezekiel, now say to the wind, “The LORD God commands you to blow from every direction and to breathe life into these dead bodies, so they can live again.” ¹⁰As soon as I said this, the wind blew among the bodies, and they came back to life! They all stood up, and there were enough to make a large army.

    ¹¹The LORD said:

   Ezekiel, the people of Israel are like dead bones. They complain that they are dried up and that they have no hope for the future. ¹²So tell them, “I, the LORD God, promise to open your graves and set you free. I will bring you back to Israel, ¹³and when that happens, you will realize that I am the LORD. ¹⁴My Spirit will give you breath, and you will live again. I will bring you home, and you will know that I have kept my promise. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

 ¹⁵The LORD said:

    ¹⁶Ezekiel, son of man, get a stick and write on it, “The kingdom of Judah.” Then get another stick and write on it, “The kingdom of Israel.” ¹⁷Hold these two sticks end to end, so they look like one stick. ¹⁸And when your people ask you what this means, ¹⁹tell them that I, the LORD, will join together the stick of Israel and the stick of Judah. I will hold them in my hand, and they will become one. ²⁰Hold these two sticks where they can be seen by everyone ²¹and then say:

   I, the LORD God, will gather the people of Israel and bring them home from the foreign nations where they now live. ²²I will make them into one nation and let them once again live in the land of Israel. Only one king will rule them, and they will never again be divided into two nations. ²³They will no longer worship idols and do things that make them unacceptable to me. I will wash away their sin and make them clean, and I will protect them from everything that makes them unclean. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

    ^24-25Their king will always come from the family of my servant King David and will care for them like a shepherd. The people of Israel will faithfully obey my laws. They and their descendants will live in the land I gave my servant Jacob, just as their ancestors did. ²⁶I solemnly promise to bless the people of Israel with unending peace. I will protect them and let them become a powerful nation. My temple will stand in Israel for all time, ²⁷and I will live among my people and be their God. ²⁸Every nation on earth will know that my temple is in Israel and that I have chosen the Israelites to be my people.

 ¹The LORD said:

    ²Ezekiel, son of man, condemn Gog, that wicked ruler of the kingdoms of Meshech and Tubal in the land of Magog. Tell him:

    ³I, the LORD God, am your enemy, ⁴and I will make you powerless! I will put a hook in your jaw and drag away both you and your large army. You command cavalry troops that wear heavy armor and carry shields and swords. ⁵Your army includes soldiers from Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya, ⁶as well as from Gomer and Beth-Togarmah in the north. Your army is enormous! ⁷So keep your troops prepared to fight, ⁸because in a few years, I will command you to invade Israel, a country that was ruined by war. It was deserted for a long time, but its people have returned from the foreign nations where they once lived. The Israelites now live in peace in the mountains of their own land. ⁹But you and your army will attack them like a fierce thunderstorm and surround them like a cloud.

    ¹⁰When that day comes, I know that you will have an evil plan ¹¹to take advantage of Israel, that weak and peaceful country where people live safely inside towns that have no walls or gates or locks. ¹²You will rob the people in towns that were once a pile of rubble. These people lived as prisoners in foreign nations, but they have returned to Israel, the most important place in the world, and they own livestock and property. ¹³The people of Sheba and Dedan, along with merchants from villages in southern Spain, will be your allies. They will want some of the silver and gold, as well as the livestock and property that your army takes from Israel. ¹⁴I, the LORD God, know that when you see my people Israel living in peace, ¹⁵you will lead your powerful cavalry from your kingdom in the north. ¹⁶You will attack my people like a storm-cloud that covers their land. I will let you invade my country Israel, so that every nation on earth will know that I, the LORD, am holy.

 ¹⁷The LORD said to Gog:

   Long ago, I had my prophets warn the people of Israel that someday I would send an enemy to attack them. You, Gog, are that enemy, and that day is coming. ¹⁸When you invade Israel, I will become furious, ¹⁹and in my anger I will send a terrible earthquake to shake Israel. ²⁰Every living thing on earth will tremble in fear of me–every fish and bird, every wild animal and reptile, and every human. Mountains will crumble, cliffs will fall, and cities will collapse. ²¹I, the LORD, will make the mountains of Israel turn against you. Your troops will be so terrified that they will attack each other. ²²I will strike you with diseases and punish you with death. You and your army will be pounded with rainstorms, hailstones, and burning sulfur. ²³I will do these things to show the world that I, the LORD, am holy.

James 1:19-2:17 ¹⁹My dear friends, you should be quick to listen and slow to speak or to get angry. ²⁰If you are angry, you cannot do any of the good things that God wants done. ²¹You must stop doing anything immoral or evil. Instead be humble and accept the message that is planted in you to save you.

    ²²Obey God’s message! Don’t fool yourselves by just listening to it. ²³If you hear the message and don’t obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror ²⁴and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. ²⁵But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don’t just hear and forget.

    ²⁶If you think you are being religious, but can’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and everything you do is useless. ²⁷Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.

 ¹My friends, if you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you won’t treat some people better than others. ²Suppose a rich person wearing fancy clothes and a gold ring comes to one of your meetings. And suppose a poor person dressed in worn-out clothes also comes. ³You must not give the best seat to the one in fancy clothes and tell the one who is poor to stand at the side or sit on the floor. ⁴That is the same as saying that some people are better than others, and you would be acting like a crooked judge.

    ⁵My dear friends, pay attention. God has given a lot of faith to the poor people in this world. He has also promised them a share in his kingdom that he will give to everyone who loves him. ⁶You mistreat the poor. But isn’t it the rich who boss you around and drag you off to court? ⁷Aren’t they the ones who make fun of your Lord?

    ⁸You will do all right, if you obey the most important law in the Scriptures. It is the law that commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves. ⁹But if you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong, and the Scriptures teach that you have sinned. ¹⁰If you obey every law except one, you are still guilty of breaking them all. ¹¹The same God who told us to be faithful in marriage also told us not to murder. So even if you are faithful in marriage, but murder someone, you still have broken God’s Law.

    ¹²Speak and act like people who will be judged by the law that sets us free. ¹³Do this, because on the day of judgment there will be no pity for those who have not had pity on others. But even in judgment, God is merciful!

 ¹⁴My friends, what good is it to say you have faith, when you don’t do anything to show that you really do have faith? Can that kind of faith save you? ¹⁵If you know someone who doesn’t have any clothes or food, ¹⁶you shouldn’t just say, “I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat.” What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help? ¹⁷Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!

Psalms 117:1-2 ¹All of you nations,

   come praise the LORD!

   Let everyone praise him.

    ²His love for us is wonderful;

   his faithfulness never ends.

   Shout praises to the LORD!

Proverbs 28:1

¹Wicked people run away

   when no one chases them,

   but those who live right

   are as brave as lions.

Daily Bible Reading, Thoughts, and a prayer

Prayer for November 18th

(Prayer) Thank You Jesus for all You have done in our lives of course.  Thank You for giving us these words that are so alive and so pertinent, so available to where we live now.  Thank You for the book of James and it’s clarity; it’s cutting through the fog of the way to look at things.  God we invite You into our lives this coming week.  Give us the ability to see the pile of dry bones as an army as the Prophet Ezekiel spoke of.  Dry and brittle bones that You have placed muscle into and blood and veins and skin over.  This is what happens God as we come’ as wiped out, worn out people who have gone their own way and we return to You as bones.  We turn to Your Word and You reclaim us and rebuild us, and renew a right Spirit in us.  And we stand up as an army; the army of God, and we take our place in Your story.  Thank You for allowing this to be.  We love You God, You are awesome.  We pray these things in Jesus name.  Amen.

Have a great day.  And I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Download today’s Podcast

Despite being the #1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, Oden hasn’t quite lived up to the hype.  He has suffered a bunch of injuries that have left him sitting on the bench.  In 2007 Oden made an appearance at the Topps booth during The National and people were lined up to see him.  Topps even put together a reception where collectors could pay $1,000.00 to meet Oden and receive some exclusive stuff.  This card was one of the promos you would receive if you attended the reception.  These can be picked up for around $75.00 to $100.00.  His collectors haven’t given up on him yet.

I’m excited to share some of my favorite images from Atarah and Greg’s engagement session! I had a wonderful time with these lovebirds frolicking around the Strip District, despite the less-than-stellar Pittsburgh temperatures.

Gotta love a little graffiti wall

It’s easy to see the special connection these two have, particularly in the loving gaze they share in this next shot. I just love it when couples warm up enough to share it with me!

The buildings in the strip district are so cool, I had to include this next one in a couple of pics…

Does this building look familiar? Atarah saw some photos from Megan and Allyn’s engagement session and loved the images taken in the strip district, so we decided to do something similar for her own shoot…

I think these last two are two of my favorites from the session. Check out the devilish look these guys are giving each other…

…and then of course gotta love Greg checking out Atarah in this last one! Hot!

Atarah and Greg, I’m looking forward to shooting your wedding in April!!

Until then… friends and family of the bride and groom can access all of the images from the engagement session here. All prints are 50% off for the first week, in this case until next Tuesday evening, December 1. (You will see the discounted rates directly in the price list online when you attempt to buy an individual image. After December 1, the rates will automatically return to their normal level.) If you have any questions, just let me know, using the contact form on my website. Enjoy!

“Sex Tips for Men?”
“Yes, distribute that widely. All IQ staff.”
“I think you already have enough kids.”