John 15

Nice stormy night. Love it when the wind blows strong and the trees dance to its music. Good time to do our hour.

15 “I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.”

Good old Jesus. Never really understood the interactive relationship between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Then again entire books of speculation are written about that. The Trinity is one of those concepts that doesn’t fit snuggly into human comprehension; it isn’t exactly something someone would come up with if they were making up a religion.

Nor is the idea of going up and standing in opposition to so many aspects of basic human behavior. We love sex and violence, and western civilization prior to Christ generally followed the ancient Greek ideal that might makes right. Covetousness, lying, stealing, etc are all in our nature. Young children even have to be taught not to do them.

Beautiful bolt of lightning. Nice. Being in the garage with the door open is nice tonight, despite Bill and Ted’s complaints.

It’s funny that Your way almost across the board goes against almost every instinct we have, and yet when we follow and hold true to it, all else equal it leads to happiness, success, and bringing light into the world. That’s all over the book of Proverbs.

Between self-control, delayed gratification, being conscientious of the future and following Your word, The only problems we have seem to stem from others not doing that stuff.

Living frugally, working hard, and making good decisions has let the folks get to where they are now. Considering they both grew up dirt poor and barely made ends meet even after they got married, That’s pretty much the way to go. An amazing example I could never live up to. So I don’t have what they have. And I never really will because it’s not mine. It’s yours. Every blessing I have from you. Every dollar I earn, every moment of good health.

Had viral encephalitis hit a few millimeters differently in 1992 I would be a paraplegic. Or dead.

it’s important to take stock of all the things I have to be grateful for from time to time, especially if I’ve been complaining a lot about a few things that I’m not happy with.

Like seriously let’s pull out the ledger and run the numbers of how much I get to complain.

Did the gym earlier tonight. Did a light night. 500 cal cardio, no weights. In and out. Might try going more often and having light nights in between heavy nights.

Friday nights are definitely gym nights. At least they’re not getting worse. I wouldn’t mind chatting with some of the people there, but everyone seems to be in their own headphone world. All the women are on alert for guys talking to them, which makes total sense.

Face it. I just got spoiled. Tonight makes it three months. Almost as long as the amount of time she was here. Feels three times as long. She never seemed to have an grasp of just how happy she made me being here.

Why couldn’t she have just left it off with the email asking for no further contact? Why did it have to get vicious? Yeah, I know. At least that part I’ve encountered enough in the past to know why.

She’s still deep in the subconscious; I fell asleep on the couch last night for a while and the dreams weren’t far behind. Forgot what they were quickly enough, but it is what it is and this too shall pass.

Mind drifts off so easily when I think about her. Need to work on that. John 15:15.

Friends with Jesus. Jesus who went back to heaven and left the Holy Spirit behind. Always pictured the Holy Spirit as the one I can just talk to. Nice to come across the first that gives that a little reinforcement even if it’s Jesus I’m talking to. I don’t know; what are you looking at me for? Lolz

18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you.”

Definitely feel this sometimes. Not enough to complain about living in this country at least. Not a lot of people take cheap pot shots at followers of Islam or Hinduism; sadly most of the ones who do claim to follow Christ.

I’ve never understood how people can be so angry at Christianity or Judaism for that matter. There’s so much goodness and giving, so many threads of our civilization we take for granted come from it. It’s really easy to grab a hold of some thing here or there and just rip it to pieces. Usually if it’s in the Bible it’s either missing the point or taken out of context.

Folks love their stumbling blocks though. I guess I can’t blame them to an extent; It’s natural to go after the things you disagree with rather than taking the time to gain the underlying foundations faith is built on first. Patience is a virtue. Our increasingly short attention spans make that really tough.

Not sure who the Counselor is in verse 26. Guess He’s talking about the Holy Spirit. Marked it to ask a question later.

Can’t help but find it interesting that I’m actually wanting faster change in my life. That might be a first, lolz. Well since I was a kid and wanted to be an adult because I had no idea what it was like to have to pay bills. 🤔

A lot’s going to be happening soon. Some of it might be good and some might be bad. The last three months have been an eternity.

Please help me keep my eyes on You. I’m getting your signals on Health. Just waiting to figure out a direction to go in, and to have a little extra money. I still have so much to pay down. Nothing I can’t handle though; knew summer was going to be tight. Grateful for a catastrophe safety net; tithing as much as I can each week.

Summer doldrums. But you can’t put a price on a warm, stormy night. The feeling of knowing you are slowly moving forward. Be patient. Most of the weight loss plateau is because your arms and legs are getting more muscular. Be conscientious.

I am getting closer to You. I ask for more focus. I’m smart enough to never pray for more patience. Oh that hurt… 😂

But yeah, I need more focus. maybe a nightly regimen or something. The hour a night is good but it’s being harder to stick to then I thought, mainly because my mind wonders. I don’t know.

Well now the storm has passed and it’s just light rain and crickets. And a couple of whining cats that went out here lolz

No idea where I’m going and I’m stumbling every day, but I’m so grateful for every Blessing. And I do feel things slowly moving in my life. Though I have no idea to what end. And I’m trying not going to leap ahead this time while seeing everything fall into place so perfectly.

That’s why you wanted me to read the book of Ezra. I get it now. I think a part of me always did. I guess it’s my job to make sure I never have to learn that lesson again. I could use some help with that too; still fundamentally an optimist. 😂

Thanks for everything, Lord.

And especially thanks for the cats.