#but even so depending on how other things go... if national stuff goes down hill

[eleilinnrallin]

Me: Hey I'm trans.

People: Read The Bible

Me: only finding affirming things in bible study ... Yeah I'm doing that. I'm trans.

People: >:[

[tealin]

Basler to the Beardmore 1: You See a Plane, You Take It

As always, the original post is up at the official blog – the formatting definitely works there, if you are having issues with it here.

When planning my research trip with the Antarctic Artists & Writers Program, I had to make a wishlist of places to visit.  One of the more important ones was the Beardmore Glacier, the route by which Scott and his men climbed from the Ross Ice Shelf (or, as they called it, the Barrier) to the Polar Plateau.  It's one of the largest glaciers in the world, but is hardly visited anymore so is rarely photographed, and despite the blessing of Google Image Search, I had too poor a sense of it to draw a journey up or down it with any confidence.

Setting foot on the Beardmore turned out be prohibitively demanding, logistically, but there are regular LC-130 flights between McMurdo Station and the Pole which traverse the Beardmore en route.  The plan we made was for me to get on one of those, and snap as much as I could from one of the small windows as we flew.

November 2019 turned out to be a terrible time for Pole flights – if the weather was OK at Pole, there was a problem with the planes, or vice versa.  However, the weather delays worked in my favour, because they affected not only Pole flights, but one particular season-opening flight, which had been bumped so many times that it still hadn't gone when I turned up. That meant I could get a seat.

The big flights ffor the USAP’s operations in East Antarctica – cargo and passenger flights on/off continent, and to major stations like Pole and WAIS Divide – are handled by the New York Air National Guard, and their fleet of enormous military airplanes, namely a C-17 and small handful of LC-130 Hercules.  There are lots of smaller trips from McMurdo to satellite stations, and these are serviced by Kenn Borek Air, a Canadian company which operates out of Calgary, Alberta.  At the start of every season, they fly their fleet of Twin Otters and Baslers down the length of North and South America, then leapfrog depots down the Peninsula and thence to various hubs including McMurdo.  From there they move people and stuff where they need to go, and also restock those fuel depots.  There was one depot flight that remained to be done, and it happened to be to a cache near the base of the Beardmore, so they agreed to take me along.

I was not the only extra job tacked on to the flight. After depoting the fuel, we were to scout out a camp in the Transantarctic Mountains which had been in regular use until a some fierce winds a few years ago had scoured great furrows in the landing strip.  Was it landable again?  What state was the camp in?  We would find out.  They also wanted to scope out a historic site that left no physical trace, to get updated intel on its condition.  Then we would fly north again via the Beardmore and the coordinates for One Ton Depot.

As soon as the Basler had finished her more pressing engagements, we were put on alert for the depot run.  Everything in Antarctica is weather-dependent, and that can change on a dime, so one is always on standby.  Because they needed to make the most of the Basler's time, they would put two missions on for any given day, then the one with the best prospects would be activated.  For five days I was ready to go – breakfasted, fully suited up, lunch packed, ECW bag to hand – at 7 a.m., in case my flight was the one that was going.  Flight status would be announced on the screens at the entrance to the Galley.

For four mornings I joined the poor Thwaites Glacier team anxiously hanging on the screens – they were trying to get out to WAIS Divide (the high point of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, from which they would catch a flight to the Thwaites camp) where the weather had been abominable for a month.  One of those mornings my flight was activated and I got all the way out to the airfield only for it to be called off at the last minute because of a change in forecast for the depot site.  But finally, the fifth morning, it was all systems go!

There are two airfields that serve McMurdo: Phoenix, which is designed to take the massive C-17s on a packed snow runway where they can land with wheels, and Williams Field, of groomed snow, for ski'd aircraft.  The extra special thing about Williams Field is that it's more or less where Scott's 'Safety Camp' was located – so named because it was far enough onto the ice shelf not to break up and float out to sea – so the view to Ross Island from there would have been very familiar to our explorers.  On the day of my false start, while waiting to find out that the plane wasn't going after all, I got to take some good pictures of the view from there.  It was also a good day to get a sense of the 'bad light' that obliterated contrast on the snow and made navigation difficult:

The Sea Ice Incident took place between us and the conical hill to the left!  Wild!

Anyway, Try no. 5 was on a much nicer day.  Here is the magnificent bird with her spanking new paint job:

It was a funny experience – I mean, besides sharing the fuselage with many hundreds of gallons of flammable liquid – in that it was an island of Canada amidst all the Americans. The crew all lived in BC when they weren't in Antarctica, and next to my seat were the usual set of flight safety brochures, in English and French, just as if we were flying out of Calgary.

Our pilot was named Steve, and I learned from him that, if you're training to be a pilot in Canada, you have to do your qualifying hours in the North.  Most people put in their time and then get a comfortable job flying passengers between major southern cities, but Steve liked the North so much he stayed and stayed, until he got the job with Kenn Borek and ended up South.  As much as I feel obliged to make a facetious quip about my flammable fellow passengers, I can honestly say I have never felt safer in an airplane than this one.  This was just as well, as one of the first things we did once we were in the air was rather exciting.

The Basler is a workhorse, and one of the Antarctic planes (though I never found out if it was this one) had actually flown in WWII – they just keep going and going.  However, the hydraulics that lift the landing gear were designed to lift just the landing gear, not the landing gear plus 650-pound skis, so in order to get them up we had to lose some weight.  And we did this by climbing steeply up and then nose-diving, bringing us temporarily closer to zero G.  We had to do this every time we took off, and it took 2-3 goes to get the skis up successfully.  You'd expect someone with a history of nervous flying and a sensitivity to motion sickness to find this unpleasant, but it was just plain awesome.

This post is getting long already, so I will describe our errands in detail over the next two posts.  I really must take the time here, though, to give my regards to Kenn Borek Air. I don't think anyone in Canada knows how absolutely vital they are to everything that gets done in Antarctica; their vermillion planes keep camps supplied and people moving around, and are the everyday lifeblood of the continent, in the most literal circulatory sense.  Steve and the Basler may possibly have saved the Thwaites Glacier project this season – after a month of delays getting people and freight out to the field camps, it was reaching a point where they might have called off the massive international project for this year.  But they allocated the Basler to the WAIS flights and Steve landed it in conditions that the NYANG wouldn't – the Basler couldn't fly nearly as much cargo as a Herc, but they got enough out there that some work could begin.  I haven't seen this mentioned in any of the Thwaites coverage and I'm sure it hasn't been covered in Canada, but for a country that doesn't even have a national Antarctic program, they should be mighty proud of the central role their people play in making other countries' programs happen.

[dailyaudiobible]

11/03/DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 7:1-9:11, Hebrews 5:1-14, Psalms 105:1-15, Proverbs 26:28

Today is the 3rd day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is a joy and an honor and everything good to be here with you today as we move into the Scriptures and take the next step forward together. And it’s so good that we can be together today in God's word. So, let's set let's dive in. We’re reading from the Evangelical Heritage Version this week. Ezekiel chapters 7, 8, and 9 today.

Commentary:

Okay. The book of Proverbs today tells us that two things are not good things - a lying tongue and a smooth mouth. And, so, I suppose this is as good of a day as any to talk about what the Proverbs are talking about. And yeah, we…we can certainly look out…outward and see all this stuff but as is always the case once we identify it in the world what's going on then, we need to turn it back inward to discover whether we’re part of the noise, whether we’re part of the problem, or if we’re part of the solution. So, a lying tongue hates the one it crushes. So, what is a lying tongue? I mean, we could probably say that’s sort of self-evident. It's…it's the tongue that doesn’t speak what is true. But there are so many nuances to the way that we lie to each other aren't there? Like we sort of think that we’re telling the truth as long as we have some sort of morsel of truth in the thing that we are fabricating but we have a…we are like being deceptive. So, if we’re willing to embellish and puff up or the opposite, to diminish or crush down the truth, the actual truth, in order to manipulate somebody or in order to hide behind something and try to protect ourself from exposure then we’re not only gonna be crushing people, we’re gonna be doing it with hatred. That is a massive, massive thing to realize. If we’re gonna flatter, if we’re gonna manipulate, if we’re gonna nuance the things that we’re gonna say and they aren’t really what we mean in order to kinda like get close to somebody or get into somebody's life because they have something that we want or they have something that we need, that we think that we need, we need to get close to them, then it's going to cause a ruin everywhere ultimately because it's foundation is false. It's a lie. It's gonna crush. And there's something in me that’s saying stop. Like don't keep trying to reexplain this with…with other metaphors or analogies. Like this is enough. Its stark. A lying tongue hates those it crushes and a smooth mouth causes ruin. So, if that's you, then this is where the road is going. If that's not you, then this is what to avoid because it brings destruction.

Prayer:

Father, we come before You on this and it rings true and it's convicting, and it does penetrate. It makes us reflect. It makes us consider but the deeper that we consider the more we realize that our entire culture is based on this kind of sidestepping. We are a world of people so afraid of being exposed the truth of who we are that we do everything possible to nuance and to hide when we are all guilty. Like, were any of us, anybody to be fully exposed then we would be fearful of the judgment that would come against us, but we are all in the same boat. It would happen to anybody. And You have invited us into the light. You have essentially said, “that's the world. That's how it works. It's a system built in falseness and held captive by the author of deception and lies.” You have invited us to be free, to walk into the light, to be in the truth. And no matter what that may bring, to know that we don't have a divided heart or a divided mind. We don't always have to figure out which personality we have to put on depending on what circumstances we’re in. We just get to be who You made. This is freedom indeed, but it flies in the face of the structures of the world that we live in. And, so, living like this…well…it would indeed be living like You lived Jesus. It would look like You. And we can see the raging of the world against You. And, so, we scratch our heads because it doesn't make sense because freedom is available, but the system is so rigged against freedom that we find ourselves just trying to find ways to cope and manage when You are offering freedom, that we can live in the light, that we can live in the truth. So, come Holy Spirit and help us over these coming days as we meditate upon this, as we catch ourselves being false or as we become more and more aware of the falseness around us, as we begin to see it. We need Your help to navigate it. There’s no way we’ll be able to figure this out. So, come Holy Spirit we open ourselves to You, well up within. Lead and guide our steps, the thoughts and intents of our hearts. We pray in the mighty name, the victorious name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it's the website, it’s where you find out what's going on around here. And there’s always something or another going on around here.

Kind of have to be under a rock to not know that today is election day in the United States. Probably no matter where you are in the world. And, yeah, we’ve been on the radar kind of all year, with all kinds of stuff and Covid hasn't helped and there’s just a lot of swirl going on. And I make it a very, very specific, very intentional point to do what we do here, to take the rhythm of the Scriptures and let it be a part of our lives every day. And I feel like the Scriptures In our lives can comment on what's going on in our world better than me being some…just another noisemaker. So, I would like to give as simple, as trivial, as obvious of advice as I can give you. Maybe you’re one of the people who have already voted. Great. Awesome. If you’re going to the polls today, pray, listen, obey and then walk away in peace. There's nothing else to do here. I mean I've lived long enough that I've been through several elections and even from my youth I cannot think of an election where the rhetoric hasn’t amped up to the point where we are led to believe that what we are about to do is the most pivotal thing we have ever done in the nation's history, maybe in the history of all humanity. That's…that's not true. The most important thing we have ever done is to become a part of the family of God. We are a part of a kingdom that is upon this earth that spans and crosses every single border. This is our allegiance - the kingdom of God. And God will not be toppled my brothers and sisters over this or anything else. And, you know how this goes. This ends at some point and somebody is…is the winner and that's gonna leave about half the people bumbed and about half the people rejoicing. And we can all do what people do these days - get on the Internet and just start making noise, start sending out memes. Take all of the divisiveness that has been amped up this entire year and really live into it, like really live into it and make this country an “us versus them” understanding that we are making the body of Christ, then divided in “us versus them” because so many of us are believers who are completely and totally opposite in their political convictions. So, the last thing that I have to say isn’t my opinion, isn't anything to do with me other than it's my voice reminding you. We have a Savior. His name is Jesus. He loved us when we were still His enemy. He loved us as a people despite our animosity and he laid his life down that we might live. And just mere hours before He did that, He was sitting with his friends having his last meal. And at that last meal He said something that must reverberate through everything about our lives, including all of what happens today. He said a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you. So, friends it gets pretty simple then. When you pray and listen and obey and walk away in peace and love one another as we have been loved as we come out of this, the most divisive of all seasons that we experience as a nation every four years. If there...if there ever were a time to be a city on a hill, to be the salt of the earth, to be light in the darkness, to be the hands and feet of Jesus to love one another as we have been loved, well it that would be coming out of this wouldn’t it. And, so, let's walk through this day at peace loving one another as we have been loved.

And that's it for today, I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi everyone, this is Lisa the Encourager. I’m calling tonight to pray for our elderly parents or just our parents in general. I’ve certainly called in for our children many times, but I definitely want to focus on our parents today. I know Howard called in about his mom being in rehab and how difficult that was and how she looked very weak. And I just want to pray for him and his mom. And I have a similar situation with my dad going through that. So, I can empathize with your situation Howard. And also, Charlie called in about his parents and them being diagnosed with Covid. So, I want to also pray for his parents and anyone else out there that is going through a difficult time with their parent’s health and how stressful that can be and making a lot of hard decisions. And I’m just gonna pray that God is gonna guide us through those things and that they will be as peaceful and as comfortable as possible. So, let’s go to the Lord in prayer about all of our parents. And also, I wanted also to just say, I respectfully admire Brian for what he went through with his mom and continued to be a ministry to all of us. So, I just thank you again Brian for that because I know that had to be a hard time when you lost your mom. Dear God, I thank you so much for Pastor Brian and what he means to all of us and also thank you God for these…all of our parents Lord that are getting older in life. And I just pray God that your hand will be upon them, that they can recover, and you can comfort them where they need your comfort…

Hey DAB family this is Danny from Southern Oregon I wonder if you could please pray for my 15-year-old grandson Christopher and his friends. The other day these four friends skipped school and they were heading to one of the boy’s houses. And Christopher’s not allowed there. And anyway, shortly after he left school the school called my son and his mom, and they immediately began looking for him and texting him and calling him. And it appears that Christopher got a little bit worried that he was and I get into trouble so when he was about two blocks from this boy’s house he ended up going home to his mom’s and that was about 11 o’clock in the morning. And at 1230 the police were dispatched to a fatality. One of the…my grandsons’ best friends accidentally shot and killed one of the other boys and the third boy was standing right next to him and I’m sure is suffering a lot of PTSD from what he witnessed. And I know…I’m so thankful my grandson was not there but he’s so upset that he’s lost his best friend and they ended up arresting the boy for murder because some things just didn’t add up. And so please…please pray for Tony. He was the one standing next to him and ended up just covered head to toe in brain matter. It was point-blank. And…and pray for Dustin who’s been arrested for murder, that the truth come out and maybe they would all come to know the Lord through this. Thank you.

This is Kathy from Kentucky. I have a different kind of prayer request. I’m gonna take a test in martial arts specifically, Shaolin in two weeks. If I pass, I’ll be a 2nd degree brown belt and well on my way to black belt. When I was a girl growing up, I was not allowed to play team sports __ passed after I got out of high school. And I would’ve been good at some kind of sport. I trained on the swim team the summer before I graduated from high school and then after that I was too old. So, it’s important to me to be able to do something at my age, 67. So, please pray for my martial arts test Shaolin on the second Saturday of November the 14th.

Hi this is Julie from California I just started listening to the Daily Audio Bible about a week and a half ago. It was recommended through another podcast that I listen to and it has been up total and complete godsend. The last three years or so have been just really horrible. My marriage was almost at its end. My father-in-law passed away. We sold everything and moved out of state to take care of my mother-in-law at a very remote place where I had no support and found out she had Alzheimer’s and ended up staying for 2 ½ years when our plan was to stay a year. And then my dad passed away while we were gone, and my mom was diagnosed with leukemia. She’s in remission and doing phenomenally well praise God, but also there were issues with my son and now he no longer talks to us and I lost my job and we filed bankruptcy. Like, just thing piled on after thing piled on after thing and really kind of wrecked my relationship with God for a long time because I really couldn’t read my Bible, I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t do journaling. I mean I was on…I was on a regular track of reading the Bible in the year every year for like three or four years and then I just stopped. And this is miraculous because I actually am feeling like I’m getting the word in me and feeling more joy and I just am really thankful for you guys and I would just appreciate prayers where…where you feel like praying for me and a…a word. I’m happy to hear a word if you have a word for me because I need God so much right now. Thank you. God bless.

Hi family this is Peggy in California. And I, like so many of you, just absolutely love this community and appreciate it so much. It’s a place to share our deepest hurts and our joys and it’s just wonderful and I thank you all for participating and making it what it is. I’m calling today like many others who have called for my adult children. In particular one of my sons, he’s a twin, actually. I got a call from his twin yesterday telling me that his brother’s not doing well, he’s very depressed and seems to be disinterested in…in life, in not moving forward. Recently had a breakup with a girlfriend that I think what’s…he’s exhibiting is actually something that started before that. So, of course, I’m heartbroken and I worry about him. And he was raised in the church, but he doesn’t seem to have a very strong connection if any. So, I just pray that would lift Mason up in your prayers. And I thank you for doing that for me. Have a good day.

[kinfriday]

Wandering Hops: Epicenters and Fears

Fear makes things bigger in your mind than they are. This is especially true in my case taking that I have an anxiety condition. 

For me, there is very little chill, and every issue, even a perceived issue can become a massive crisis in my head in an instant.  This is one of the reasons I hike. Conquering miles and rough terrain, helps turn down the volume on all the static surging around and empowers me in my day to day. 

At least, that’s how it normally goes… 

Loowit Falls, at first, absolutely terrified me.  As said in previous blogs, research is the key to a good hike. Before I set out on a trail, I check reports, check what the forest service (State or National depending) has to say. I read reviews on All Trails… and consult guidebooks if I have them. 

Knowledge can make the difference between a great hike, and an utter disaster, so it helps to do your homework beforehand. 

Cliches seem to be multiplying today, so let’s move on, shall we? 

Selecting this hike, I knew it to be a challenge. It’s rated as hard, clocks in at a whopping 14 miles, and is a there-and-back-again hike. Any time spent going downhill in the beginning, means uphill at the end, and vice versa. As you can see from the altitude graph, this was going to make the end especially tough, but as I was reading, it wasn’t the physical challenge stressing me out, but the trail reports warning me of ledges with severe drops, gravelly sandy trails, and grueling up-hills that did. 

Still, I’d been feeling strong the last month, making miles, and conquering hikes. Long hikes are my thing (more to come on  that later) so a 14 miler seemed a logical next step.  

With my chest tingling with excitement and a touch of fear, I told my team… “I’m gonna do it.” Or as Maya would say… YEET. 

So now it was time for the research to really begin. I began looking at the topo maps, and followed the trail on google earth. I made my plans, talked to my husband, and began to get the logistics worked out.  

Saturday, 0430, I was up and getting ready for my biggest hike to date, and all the while I was doing final gear checks, looking at maps, all that fun stuff, my nervousness beginning to build.  

Then the husband woke up, around 630 as he often does before a hike, just to spend some time with me and said, in fearful tones.  

“Bun, I’m worried about this one.” 

I just smiled and said. “Me too, but I have fallbacks in place, and if it’s something I don’t think I can do, I’ll turn around and reassess.” 

Then, he rose, hugged me, and began pricing life insurance policies.

I shit you not… this happened. I’m about to leave on a massive, monster hike, INreach SOS beacon charged, maps printed out, checklist double checked, and I’m looking forward to a nice encouraging talk with my husband, and he leaves to check on life insurance policies. 

It’s moments like this that keep a marriage together, I tell you. 

Full of confidence, I set out on highway 504 towards Mt. St Helens, the Spirit Lake Highway, only to run into a very unusual type of traffic in Toutle Washington. 

Come to find out, there was a bike rally scheduled for the day of my hike, and there were hundreds of them on the side of the road, making their way to Johnston Ridge, the very same place I was going.

Now, I can almost hear you reading this, and shrugging, no big deal right? Well for most people that would be true, but for me, well… driving is something that makes me feel anxious, my mind likes to mess with me, and so for many years I didn’t. It’s only been recently after a lot of work and dedication that I’ve felt safe getting back behind the wheel again and now I had to deal with bikers everywhere, some of whom were so bold as to occupy the car lane, and refuse to yield. 

On top of this, the weather turned foggy as I entered what is colloquially known as Big Foot Country, so as the long and windy road took me towards the parking lot, I was feeling more, and more stressed. 

The day was beginning to feel cursed, my confidence was getting shakier by the moment, and I hadn’t even set out upon the trail yet.   

Finally arriving at Johnston Ridge, the trail head, almost 4000 feet in elevation, the fog was even thicker. I couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of me at any given time. Still, that was enough to sight the trail, and there were others there, getting ready for their own adventures. It was a motley mix of hikers, tourists and those waiting for the bikers to arrive as they picked their way up the road, but hey, at least there were porta-potties.  

 After taking a few centering breaths, and strapping on my gear,  I set off, hiking towards Boundary Trail, which would eventually take me to Loowit Falls. 

This entire section of Mt. St Helens is filled with history, making this trail an even bigger draw for me than others. Boundary Trail #1, was founded way back in the first decade of the US Forest Service. In 1911, Park Rangers rode horses from ridge to ridge, patrolling what was then the border of two national parks, Ranier and Columbia. 

Loowit Falls on the other hand, is of the newer type of history. After months of erupting back in 1980, one morning a 5.1 earthquake struck the already battered region, and an entire wall of Mt. St. Helen’s crater collapsed, and turned into a hellacious landslide, ultimately opping a peak before crashing into the valley below, inundating Spirit Lake.

Loowit Falls was one of the many new features that arose out of the cataclysm shaping the region, up on the mountain itself, directly in the path of the former landslide.  

First though, I had to get there, and the hike starts off easily enough. There’s an observation loop that lets out to the Boundary Trail, that’s made more for tourists than hikers, so the first little bit is paved. Soon though, it gives way to gravelly dirt before angling down zig zagging and switchbacking, but I’ve seen all that before. Been there done that.  

 And there’s another cliche… 

After about a mile and a half in, still wondering if I should really attempt to go for the falls, socked in by fog I came across a sign showing the trails in the area along with this picture… 

Nervously, I set out from there, heading towards my decision point. I could have gone left, or right. Left had an easier hike, that went up to a peak, ending at around 10 miles covered, with less elevation gain, but to my right, shrouded in fog and mystery, was the hike I came to conquer. 

This was the real moment of truth. All I had was my research that said it could be challenging. Some reported the height could be intimidating, others said it was merely tough. 

What should I do?

Taking a (figurative) leap of faith, I decided to for it, comforting myself with the idea that it was ok to turn back if things got to intense, and began to descend down the trail, and the mountain, making decent time. The pillowy shroud of fog continued to lay across the trail granting me no wider vista than 5 or 10 feet, but the path was wide, and  while I did get closer to edges I still had plenty of room.

Eventually things leveled out and I could tell I was in a valley as the fog slowly began to lift, and I’m thinking is that it? Really? 

From my perspective there had been nothing to be truly afraid of. The descent wasn’t especially challenging and I had felt safe the entire time.  Unlike the husband searching for life insurance, this buoyed my confidence, even though I had eleven miles still to go. With a bounce (hop?) in my step I set out, the fog continuing to lift, revealing more of the stark landscape around me. Black and red lava rocks dotted landscapes that were in some places sandy, other places akin to moonscape, sparkling with volcanic glass and in others, covered with thick shrub like trees, or coated in wildflowers of amazing colors. Chipmunks ran to and fro, eating flowers and wondering if I was going to feed them, while birds flew overhead. 

Then it happened. Suddenly the clouds broke and there was a literal mountain in front of me, emerging out of the fog like some giant from the dusty tomes of mythologies. Mt. St. Helens lay before me in all its majestic glory, and off in the distance, a light glinted off a fast moving waterfall surrounded by volcanic sand. 

That was my half way point, where I would turn around and come back, Loowit Falls. 

I stood there for a moment and took it all in. The vista before me left me awestruck by the power of nature. Then, taking a deep breath, I dug in my trekking poles and began to hike.

And hike…. 

Then hike some more… 

As I went traffic fell away to a few familiar faces, I’d pass them, then they’d pass me as we took alternating breaks, until finally around 2pm, I rounded a switchback, and heard for the first time the roar of a waterfall. 

There it was, right in front of me, the moment I had been waiting for. Loowit Falls, in all its splendor, flowed relentless down the mountain as the wind howled off the glaciers above, chilling the air to what felt like the mid to upper 40’s. 

Buttoning down my outer layer, I made my way to a flat spot, laid my pack out and had lunch, reveling in my victory only for my open pack to flop over and spill out on the ground, voiding its contents. I went from resting to scrambling as I dove for my glasses and meds, hoping they wouldn’t fall off the edge.

In some ways, it reminded me of the day so far, there was a sensation of “emotional breathing” to the experience, stress followed by periods of ease, akin to the contraction and relaxation of breathing. Up and down, in and out, oh shit to okay…

And this was the halfway point, soon I’d have to go back the way I came, picking my way back up the mountain I had descended to get back to the trailhead. The only difference being, was that now I knew the trail, I knew what to expect, so I hoisted my pack, tightened down my straps, took some water, and got back on the trail. 

My speed increased, as the air warmed and I left the slopes of St. Helens, making good time across the dramatically stark volcanic plains. Gradually, I began to feel  more accomplished than I had in a while and, by the time I had hit ten miles I was riding high. With four miles left to go I charged forward, eager for the challenge. 

Then I started to climb. All of the descent from the morning, had to be repeated, this time going up. This is where it got grueling, as if the trail was attempting to punish me for every step I made down upon it just a few hours before, but there was nothing else to do but push through it, keep pace, and enjoy the view as I ascended, granting me new perspective now that the fog was gone. 

There were places where it was quite steep, and the drops quite far, the morning’s fog had hid all that from me, but there was room, there was space, it was something to respect, but it wasn’t anything to fear.  

 All of that worry, all of that concern, and if I had let it stop me, I wouldn’t have been there. 

Humbled by that revelation, sore from the elevation I was having to make, and humbled by a day full of experiences, I pushed myself up the trail. Soon there was the last arcing climb, until I set my feet on the pavement of the observation trail yet again, and just beyond was the parking lot. 

Setting my gear in the well of the passenger seat, I popped an electrolyte tab into my water and watched it fizz as I nibbled a Clif bar, feeling like the master of my own little universe, resting from the exertion of the day. Once I had some time to recharge, I put the key in the ignition, put the car into drive, and had a major anxiety attack.  

The problem with anxiety attacks it that you know, rationally, everything is fine. The problem is your brain isn’t listening to reason. I worked through my coping skills, and tried to get myself centered, but nothing was working. I was exhausted from the hike, and the worries of the day, and it was all crashing in on me at once, amassing as a parade of my biggest fears, and inner demons within my mind. 

I made it about three miles before I had to pull over. I stopped in at  the Coldwater boat dock, the location of last week's hike, and took a few more deep breaths, walked around the car, and tried to get my  mind right. Finally I messaged my husband letting him know what was going on. 

Messages travel slower by satellite than text, and so I had some time to sit. I looked out on the parking lot, at the strange bathrooms that looked like forgotten temples, and it reminded me that I had hiked twelve miles last week, and today, I had hiked fourteen…  

That caused my brain to stop and pause for a moment, like rays of sunshine penetrating the gloom.

I had excelled through challenges, walked along ridges, and managed my water.  I was capable, I was competent, and I was ok.

In the face of this revelation, the anxiety began to let go, and a lightbulb went off in my head. I had a weapon now against it, a reminder, that I was stronger than I thought, and as the messages came back from my husband and other supportive folks, the anxiety withered away.

In spite of all of the difficulties of the day, I had made it, and now, all I had to do was drive home. Turning the car back on, and setting into drive, I carefully made my way out of the parking lot, already thinking of next week's adventure.

[allbeendonebefore]

Ref: Calgary / Calvin McCall

Cal’s comprehensive and updated bio since I keep meaning to publish it somewhere. Feel free to ask questions if there is anything you are curious about or want an explanation for. 

[2015 Visual Ref Sheet Here]

Last Update: May 23, 2018.

QUICK STATS

Name: Calgary

Human Name: Calvin ‘Cal’ (Brisebois) McCall

Gender: Male

Age: 140s

Human Age: Early 20s

Birthday: November 7, 1874

Nationality: Canadian

Ethnicity: White (Scottish, English)

Language: English

Religion: N/A (Raised Methodist/Protestant)

Other: Biggest city in Alberta, 4th in Canada

PHYSICAL STUFF

Height: 6′0″ (182 cm)

Body Type: Kind of hourglassy but gangly and thin. Sharp al dente noodle limbs but soft thighs/shoulders. Strong legs from speed skating.

Hair: Blonde - more saturated/golden than dirty. More pronounced waves than Ed. Just above shoulder length, bangs just below the top of his ears. Center part. Piece of hair sticks up at the front of his bangs from the part.  

Eyes: Light brown.

Skin: Whitey McWhiterson, freckles. (Tans ok in summer or burns to a crisp. Primarily Scottish. Any Blackfoot etc heritage isn’t immediately obvious on sight)

Details: Ski-jump nose.

“Default” Outfit: Salmon-pink collared shirt, red tie, dark jeans, flame cowboy boots, white cowboy hat, custom up-to-date Flames jersey (McCall, 75) on game days (or Whenever because he’s That Extra).

Everyday Clothing Style: Wild West Executive: expensive, leather, fleece, occasionally over the top and involving Cs or flames motifs. Bolo ties, belt buckles, hats, warm colours, Too Much Red. Oscillates from professional suits to mountain flannel, sometimes combines aesthetics poorly during Stampede.  

Other Notes: I tend to think of him in s-curves or flame shapes- soft curve, sharp point. Pointy curved nose, pointy chin.

---

- Grew up extremely quickly relative to his neighbours, Industrial revolution kid from the age of steam. Had two major growth spurts in the 1880s-90s, and the 1960s-70s. By the end of the 19th century, he was nearly as tall as Ed. The 70s involved puberty hitting him like a sledgehammer.

- Was a cute, well groomed and pudgy kid in his first decade. Extremely embarrassed of what a well-off childhood he had and likes to pretend he was a lot more wild west than he actually was. By the Depression, it was clear that he was going to be on the thinner side as he got older.

- His hair was short and usually styled carefully prior to the 70s. It was at its longest in the 90s. No idea if the sticky up hair actually represents anything- it was originally meant to be a nod to APH America, so maybe American Hill? Haha.

- Looks kind of dumb with a beard but goes through phases where he's determined to grow one.

- No known physical scars, tattoos, or piercings. Freckles on his face, shoulders, etc.

- In remarkable shape considering how much bad food he eats and how little he exercises and goes outside in his day to day life. Prefers the gym or weekend hiking/skiing in the mountains to literally any other form of physical activity aside from skating. If it's set up as a competition or an olympic event, however, he'll give it his all.

- Has flat feet, needs insoles in his shoes. Also has really smooth and powerful elbows.

PERSONALITY

- ESTJ "The Executive". Very good at organizing people and sticking to his guns, but can also be a bit too mathematical about things at times. Stickler for planning things out and following through. Really genuinely likes talking to other people and getting to know them, really giddy when he makes it into new social circles. Strong sense of justice and morality that he doesn't like to question.

- His mood literally changes with the weather. Generally he's a bit of a genki type and a go-getter, a people person, etc, but when the chinook wind comes in he does a 180 and becomes irritable and snappy. He also has a reputation for being one of the most stressed out cities in the country (which is why he only lets totally loose 10 days a year). However, he is calm and level headed in a crisis and very dependable.

- Tends to be really hot-headed, easily goaded, and a jealous type. A bit of a crybaby as well who needs extra reassurance, but always feels better afterwards. Also has TERRIBLE road rage.

- Basically thinks of himself as the main character in a national and at times even continental drama, pre-destined to be Amazing from birth. It's not exactly that he displays himself as egotistical, he just thinks he's worked really hard and deserves every good thing that comes his way. He just knew he was going to be a big city since he was a kid. Classic small town boy turned entitled white collar white boy who isn't exactly aware of how much has been handed to him, but doesn't mean harm by it.

- Has a carefully cultivated image and really concentrates on making good first impressions, but also is a very straightforward person. What you see is generally what you get with him, and he really wears his heart on his sleeve. Really doesn't appreciate people who are manipulative or don't say what they mean, but also the sort of person who doesn't want to show all his cards when he is making a bargain.

- Even though he was raised by penny-pinching Scotsmen and waxes poetic about fiscal conservatism, he's Extremely irresponsible with his money. You know how NHL players go grocery shopping on video for laughs because they have no idea how to budget or what to buy? He's like that. The sort of person who says "I spent THIS MUCH" where Ed is "I ONLY spent THIS MUCH!"

- Despite his image of being reckless and thoughtless, he puts a lot of work in when it matters and gets easily emotionally invested in projects and people. He's mostly reckless and thoughtless when it comes to himself, so while he looks quite established and firm he's still crumbling a bit on the inside from overwork and stress.

- Still does his best to project his relaxed and folksy small town side and knows that this makes people underestimate him to their disadvantage. Less embarrassed about his redneck character and more irritated that he's so easily brushed off by others because of his perceived social class.

- The heart of the tension between fiscal conservatism and social progressivism. Really traditional romantic white picket fence guy, but also someone who is really interested in change and new innovations.

- Has a lot of issues with his personal identity which he pretends is not based on tenuous stereotypes, constantly trying to figure out who he is and really plays up the cowboy identity to hide his lack of certainty and to have something constant to hold onto.

- Was the absolute Worst kid in school, really doesn't like doing what he is told and has no patience for academia. Math is the only discipline that makes sense to him (and even then he doesn't really think critically about math as a concept).

- Is extremely neat and organized. He doesn't mind getting dirty as long as he's squeaky clean immediately after.

RELATIONSHIPS

- His 'family' includes southern Alberta, that is, the former District of Alberta territory which more or less includes those on Treaty 7 territory (Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, etc). Also has a close relationship to those he shares a river with (Banff, Canmore, etc.) Lately however, the other municipalities have felt him growing distant and unfamiliar as he navigates not only being the biggest city in the province but one of the biggest cities nationally as well. Still largely the center of Albertan culture, tourism, and stereotypes in spite of this.

- Close to the municipalities who have since amalgamated, particularly Bowness [Caroline] who he visited frequently in his youth to ignore his problems and play with. They moved in together in the 60s. If he had a 2p, it would likely be Cochrane. Also close to Fort Macleod, who is like his older brother and fellow NWMP fort.

- Didn't really feel a strong kinship with the other western cities in his youth and still is on good and friendly terms if awkward around them. He and Regina would have shared NWMP history, and he tried to take the younger Saskatoon under his wing for all of two seconds before his apprentice surpassed him. Cal tends to have closer relationships with American cities (particularly in Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona etc.) than he does with cities in the other prairie provinces.

- Set his sights on Chicago before Winnipeg, but still maintains an admiration of Toronto and Montreal from a young age despite their complicated relationship. He and Vancouver are relatively close in age and the coast remains Cal's favourite vacation spot. Cal tries to hide his jealousy by being a bit overly friendly with him, but figures it's something that the rather isolated Van Man appreciates. Overall, he is EXTREMELY desperate to make the Big Three into the Elite Four, but has difficulty reading the atmosphere when it comes to them because he's a bit blinded by his ambition to get closer than a simple orbit. On the other hand, he's also the guy with the Let Those Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark bumper sticker and the Big Shots can really get on his nerves.

- Ed remains Cal's worst enemy and also his most steadfast friend. Cal has known him his entire life and can't imagine how difficult it would be to define himself without him, and the two have been known to wreak havoc fighting each other and bring the house down when they are working together. Cal often pretends that such a backwater and isolated city isn't enough to catch his attention, but Ed is probably the first thing keeping Cal from looking more nationally and more internationally outwards as he is the easier to provoke of the two by a narrow margin. The obsession with the other is completely mutual and very little of it is genuine hatred despite Calvin's easily produced list of victories and Ed's lower self esteem and reputation.

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS

- Despite not exercising enough, he loves all winter sports and hockey and speed skating in particular. In his youth, he played polo and croquet often. Always looking for ways to make these games either more extreme and full of stupid stunts or more silly (like human curling). Other outdoor sports he enjoys are quadding and dirt biking. Do Not mention the 1988 Winter Olympics because he will Not stop talking about them.

- Also super fond of horseback riding. And horses in general. And images of horses. And sculptures of horses. And carousels. Is really gutted that he can't keep a horse or a cow at home, so he goes out to Caro's or Bert's ranch when he wants to spend quality time with the animals. Animals are a sure fire way of calming him down. On a related note, he knows how to ride both Western and English style.

- Really into arts and music in particular, but has no sense of social class or refined taste. Really leans into the 'fake it til you make it' philosophy but also brutally honest about things he finds overrated. Likes paintings of dramatic mountain ranges and wild horses the most and has been known to try his hand at it once in a while. Also can play guitar and probably every marching band instrument. Fear the day he picks up bagpiping.

- Loves travelling when he can, not just for business deals. Owns a vacation home in Phoenix, Arizona, (a sister city) probably; also frequents Vegas and Mexico. Banff is a weekly destination for him.

- Learned the art of BBQ from the Americans. He is the Token Grill Dad. Come to think of it, he also loves golf and probably wearing socks and sandals too. Will absolutely judge a restaurant by the quality of the steak (and the person taking him to said restaurant too). His other favourite foods are ginger beef and prairie oysters. Apart from that, his taste in food is like giving an 8 year old unlimited access to a kitchen - 'let's deep fry a cockroach and cover it in powdered sugar and chocolate syrup, that will be great!!' 'What if we put clamato juice and vodka together?!'.

- Like Ed, also really fond of planes, trains, and automobiles. Unlike Ed, he can't stand cyclists and will choose a truck over a bike any day of the week. The newer, shinier and more features, the better.

- Loves anything involving betting and gambling, particularly against Ed. Tries to disguise his love of gambling with fancy adult words like 'real estate' and 'stocks' or whatever. It's probably his oldest and worst addiction. Also loves fairgrounds and carnival games even though they're rigged.

- Drinks a lot. Buys a lot of expensive whiskey and keeps a liquor cabinet in his office. It's his only other major vice- he really can't stand smoking and will get annoyed at people who do it near him.

- His hockey passion is still very strong, but he finds it less exciting when there's not a good rivalry and still has less going for him than Ed historically. Also really jealous of Ed's big dumb new arena for some stupid reason. Also a big fan of football. Wears his Flames jersey and puts flames motifs on everything a little too much.

- Loves fire in general, whether on the grill, a campfire, a romantic fireplace, or a Sunday drive out to Turner Valley to watch gas get lit on fire. It's only a little worrisome. 

- Has a lot of hobbies to cope with stress. Knitting is one of them. Exercise is another, if less used. Also doodles cartoons on his notes during meetings.

HISTORICAL STUFF

- Was 'born' or 'found' on the south side of the Bow River, near the confluence of the Elbow.

- Founded deep in Blackfoot Territory as a North West Mounted Police fort to stop American whiskey runners. Had quite a spoiled and sheltered childhood. Most of the "Wild West" era was already over by the time he was growing up, and the buffalo were already driven to near extinction.

- He comes from a very WASPy background, maybe knew some Gaelic back in the day and definitely had a good deal of exposure to Spanish from a young age. His German and Scandinavian languages are rather good and he's progressing pretty well with Mandarin and so on. He particularly struggles with French and indigenous languages. Cannot learn languages well in classroom settings and especially not when they're mandatory, just has to go out and speak it or listen on the radio at the very least.

- Was raised Methodist/Protestant but is relatively secular lately. Even so, listening to Bible Bill on the radio was his favourite activity during the Depression and it's stuck with him quite strongly. Religion has simply been replaced with the economy.

- Relative to Ed he is a bit more distant from his First Nations roots, having lived through the enforcement of segregation and the development of the reserve system during his childhood, but despite his awkwardness he is working to finally begin his own path to Reconciliation.

- Has always been traditionally right-wing, but also complicit in the inventions of many radical parties including Social Credit and the CCF (now NDP). He has developed a bit of a liberal heart lately compared to some of his neighbours.

- The 1980s was his "traumatic" decade, but his solution to any traumatic decade is to throw huge parties and spend money he doesn't have to pretend like it wasn't happening. Lost a lot of his strength early in the decade and became extremely resentful of the federal government, a resentment that had been percolating since Confederation.

- Historical roles include: the first incorporated city in the NWT, a center of Treaty 7 territory and the district of Alberta, training ground for pilots during the World Wars, heart of ranch land, the O&G industry, and the home of many business headquarters.

POSSESSIONS ETC.

- Lived in a sandstone house in his youth, recently bought a luxury penthouse overlooking the Saddledome and the Calgary tower, a short walk from Olympic Plaza. All leather/cowprint/wood furniture, bronze western sculptures, giant paintings of rocky mountain sky. Spends way more money to look rustic than necessary.

- His truck is red (to make it go faster), needs a step to get into, has Flames decals and flags and junk, and gets a lot of use to prove that he actually needs it (he doesn't). God, so much Flames and Stamps stuff.

- Got a business degree when they were super easy to get because why not, now boasts a lot about how it's such a commodity and he's a risk taker and blah blah blah to justify being a monkey of average intelligence who wears a suit. He's That Guy™ in all your Econ classes.

- Probably has a model trainset somewhere that he never lets Ed touch (at least not without meeting very specific criteria).

- A lasso. No reason. Just in case, you know?

- Probably has a hunting rifle that he's fully licensed to use, he just hates using it and keeps it on a wall for decoration because thinking about using it for hunting makes him cry (the other munis make fun of him a lot). Will shoot at targets or bottles, anything but animals.

- Has a chestnut coloured horse named Nellie- she either lives with Caro or with Bert. Has had Several horses over his lifetime and probably thousands of cows.

- Has. So Many. Boots. And Belt Buckles. And All That. You have No Idea. He has a separate walk in closet specifically for Stampede, probably.

- A Calgary White Hat, obviously, just for being him.

- Has a picture of himself as a kid riding a mountain goat. In the museum. No one can know.

OTHER STUFF

- Like Ed, spends the majority of his time working for the city. He suffers a lot when trying to please all the billionaires who keep trying to influence him (Ed on the other hand only has like one).

- Has some experience in trades, probably, but his history is in law enforcement and crunching numbers, cozying up to investors, lots of wining and dining, that sort of thing. He is the sheriff of his boardroom. Loves making slideshows.

- His middle name is Brisebois and he shrieks if you bring that up. Mac calls him Brisy to tease him.

- Prior to working for the city, he "worked" at Cochrane ranch. By "worked" I mean he "supervised" Bert and the gang of Americans and company that showed up on his doorstep; by "supervised" I mean he nearly missed tea time because he was busy learning gross habits from cowboys and drinking coffee with them and getting himself in trouble.

- Bisexual/Biromantic, attracted to both men and women with a preference for women, but his preference doesn't dictate who gets the high beams of his intense love-rays.

- Does not smoke tobacco, but will chew it on occasion (but he hates what it does to his teeth and prefers drinking).

- Has a relatively flat Americanized accent, says "yahoo!" constantly, and when he's out with his buds he just speaks like the guys from On the Bench. Uses increasingly dated/silly western slang (Well if That don’t take the rag off the bush!) when he’s annoyed with people or wants to give them a friendly tease.

- Suffers from migraines that are definitely caused by weather most of the time. He's still trying to learn how to recognize the signs in advance, but often wakes up with them.

[keywestlou]

THE INCREASED COST OF FOOD NOT WHAT YOU THINK

Most people think the incense in eh cost of food is because the supermarkets are ripping off the public. To a degree, yes. Not that much however in comparison to some other businesses/reasons..

Some find a way to benefit from a crisis such as the pandemic.

In this instance, food producers. Those who manufacture the canned goods, meats, and anything else sold in a supermarket.

Notice how certain food stuffs are absent for weeks on the shelves. The items always return. However at an increased price.

The producers have learned to play the gouging game.  They intentionally hold on to goods they produce so as to manipulate prices. The game again is to keep a product off the shelve for several weeks and then have it return at a higher price.

Then there is the cost of shipping/delivery of goods.

Shipping prices have gone out of sight! Which of course increases the final cost to the consumer.

Tucking rates have soared despite a demand below prior years.

Diesel #2 prices are up. Twenty percent from November 2020 through February 15, 2021. A big jump in a short period of time.

Crude oil is up 64 percent during the same time period. Wild!

Shippers, such as retailers and manufacturers shipping goods to the customer, have experienced a 20 percent hike from January 2020 through January 2021. The steepest increase since 2011!

Only a few examples contributing to increased transportation costs have been provided. The statistics/data involving the increases in various types of shipping were too much for me to understand. Wow! The only thing clear was that there is an increase in every area. Reasons generally different. My opinion is do not blame everything on the supermarket. They are responsible to some degree. The examples set forth herein are responsible to an even greater degree.

Texas. A disaster!

Hopefully Texas has learned a lesson. The lesson also is a warning to other states not to go the “independent” way Texas did.

There are two national grids. The East and the West. Then there is Texas standing alone. Texas knew how to provide power more efficiently and cheaper.

They bull shitted themselves.

If you are going to run your own business, it must be run properly to avoid something as has occurred in Texas.

Once set up, Texas failed to do the necessary to keep structures up to date and failed to pay attention to anticipated wild weather developments.

“Once in a hundred years” has become common in everything involving weather.

However, if you have a neoliberal austerity State which has spent 40 years deregulating and privatizing public infrastructures, and downsizing public service into incapability, you end up with a gigantic bad situation. A problem where people cannot depend on the State for water, food, and power during emergencies.

There are adverse weather events to prepare for. Texas did not prepare.

Set aside State damages for which Texas is responsible, most of which probably are not insured. Another way to save a buck.

Home owners and businesses normally are insure. I m confident many Texans are insured for the damages wrought by the snow and ice. Note however that insurance companies are a business. They claim they are available to protect their insureds. No! Most are corporations and worried more about their bottom lines.

So insurance policies are written with various exceptions. Happenings where coverage is excluded. Take for example water driven by wind. The insurance companies will play with that one big time. How about an act of God? Can one argue the cause of snow and ice other than an act of God. Insurance companies try and do.

There are numerous other examples. The poor homeowner and businessman is going to have a hard time getting paid actual damages incurred or getting paid at all.

And what of the time factor involved between the time the claim is made and the insurance company pays. Could be a year or two or more.

Billions of dollars are involved.

The news keeps saying Biden definitely is not in favor of an increase in the minimum wage to $15 in this stimulus package. I sense it is something he will consider at another time. Biden cannot be expected to do everything at one time.

Biden is in favor of a $15 minimum wage for federal employees. Evidence he is aware of the problem and is working on it.

Joseph Anthony Pizzo died recently. He was 88.

I first met Joe when I came to Key West some 30 years ago. He and his wife Beth wee already here. We became friends.

Joe was a happy person. Always a big smile when he saw you. Beth likewise very personable.

Joe was into things that grew from the ground. A botanist/horticulturalist.  He taught life science classes for 30 years at Chicago City College. In addition, he and Beth opened Floral Consultants, a business they were able to expand to multiple Chicago locations.

Rest in peace, Joe!

Key West has had many citizen who have been responsible for what Key West has become. Good, bad, or indifferent, Key West would not be what it is today without their genius and hard work.

One of those persons is David Wolkowsky. David died a few years ago.

On this day in 1967, David began construction of the Pier House Motel. On that Motel site, today’s Pier House sits. Developer over the years by David.

David was my friend. I unfortunately met him in his later years. I enjoyed his company. He was respectful to all. Everyone loved him.

Enjoy your day!

—

DAY 26…..Greece the First Time

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Key West Lou

Not easy to communicate via internet from the middle of the Aegean Sea. Equipment here all old. Connections not dependable. Things keep getting lost. I spend more time looking for lost material than writing.

None of the above is intended as a complaint. I expect no more nor no less from an island so remote as the one I am presently on. Amorgos. It is almost nowhere. Access is by boat only. The boat comes and goes. The boat arrives two times a week.

I share the preceding with you for a particular reason.

Recent blogs have contained many errors. Paragraphs repeated, misspelled words, capitalizations missing, etc. I cannot help it. I reach a point where I have spent 4 hours doing the blog, 2.5 of which were spent finding the blog when it has disappeared.

I reach a point where I say I must publish before I lose the blog in its entirety for good. So I publish. I must admit when I am at that point, I am also very tired and say screw it.

Forgive me. The substance is good, even though the form may be lacking on occasion.

Which brings me to my present abode. A small white cottage with blue trim. Trim includes windows, shutters and doors. Sitting about 12 feet from the ocean. Yesterday I described the area between me and the water as a road. I was mistaken. It is a stone foot path.

Amorgos is one of the far out of the Greek islands. Off the beaten path. Few visitors. Not on the tourist routes. No big fancy hotels. Nothing but you, a couple of neighbors, and God.

If 2,000 people live on this island, I would be shocked.

My little house sits at the end of the path previously described. After that, nothing but water.

Sunsets terrific. Like Key West. Across the water from me. Over the peak of a mountain. Glorious!

I bought a bottle of Beefeaters yesterday. Enjoyed a couple of drinks from my terrace watching the sunset.

I was shocked I could buy Beefeaters. It has been almost non existent at my previous stops. Not only was it available on Amorgos, it was also cheap. About half the cost compared to the U.S. I suspect it is the taxes. If the Greeks taxed alcohol as much as it is in the U.S., it would dramatically help their financial condition.

Cigarettes. I took 4 packs with me. I have been gone 2 days shy of four weeks. Just finished the fourth pack yesterday. I am not doing bad in smoking little. I know. I should not be at all.

I bought a pack yesterday. $4.10! No way in the U.S.A. Another example of where Greece might help alleviate its financial problem. Increase substantially the cigarette tax.

There is a Chora on Amorgos. You will recall there was one in Mykonos. Chora is also referred to as Hora. It means old place. The old places on most islands are federally protected in Greece. Much like our historical buildings.

The Chora here is a large number of buildings constructed during the middle ages. Most at least 1,000 years old. Typically Grecian. One to 3 stories. Small terraces. White. Blue trimming. Narrow walkway, 3-4 feet wide.

Whereas Mykonos’ Chora was full of people, stores, bars and restaurants, the one on Amorgos appeared deserted. I saw no more than a dozen visitors.

Every 200-300 feet there is a restaurant or coffee house. Few or no customers.

Stairs. To the sky! Just what I love! Steps everywhere. Up, up and more up! Each one a stress test for me.

Chora was six miles away. On the top of a hill. The cab ride was straight up. The return trip straight down. How these cars do it, I will never understand. I consider it physically impossible for a car to keep its wheels on the road under such conditions.

Somewhere along the way yesterday, I found out what the windmills were for. There are many here as on Mykonos.

Olives were and still are big. The windmills were used to crush the olives. Where there were vine yards, the grapes were likewise crushed by the windmills.

Last night the wind returned. Cold. Very cold. I had to wear a sweat shirt.

I had a late dinner. At Demetrius’. After dinner there the night before, I could eat nowhere else. I was not disappointed.

Eggplant is big here. I had a warm appetizer of eggplant, tomatoes and onions. All cut up and cooked together. To die for!

My entre surpassed everything! My friends in Utica will especially enjoy that which I am about to share. I had lamb chops. Thin. The bone intact, not cut from the chop’s body. Fatty and juicy.

Just like Pelletieri Joe’s.

I got up with the sun this morning. Walked down the road a bit to buy coffee, a loaf of hot bread and butter. Then back to the cottage and my terrace. I watched the sun and water move a bit. Nothing else.

A bit later I was playing around with my tablet. A very lovely young lady walked by. Ann. Swiss. 18. Blond hair. Trim body. White blouse. Short jeans.

We talked. She was back packing it. Was looking for a cheap place to stay. Elini’s was too expensive for her. She moved on to continue her quest.

By the way, I think Elini’s is dirt cheap. Everything on this island costs next to nothing. For example, my dinner last night cost 11 euros. About $14 American money. Tip built in. Tip is 16 per cent of a bill.

I had another visitor while sitting outside.

I heard clinging bells. Saw nothing. Got up and looked over the terrace wall. There were three ducks walking along. Each had a bell around its neck. Looked like a family. Two big ones, one little one. Obviously house pets out for a stroll.

I have no idea at this point what today will bring. Maybe a trip to the monastery. Maybe nothing.

Enjoy your day!

  THE INCREASED COST OF FOOD NOT WHAT YOU THINK was originally published on Key West Lou

[junker-town]

A Q&A with Bucks guard Pat Connaughton during quarantine

A Q&A with Pat Connaughton of the Milwaukee Bucks.

A Q&A with the Milwaukee Bucks guard as the NBA season has been paused indefinitely over the coronavirus pandemic.

Six weeks ago, Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton was coasting through the fifth year of his career as a rotation player on one of the best teams in NBA history. He’d just competed in the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest, and had a story about his real estate development company published in the New York Times.

Today, as Covid-19’s rampant sweep across the United States has placed the rest of the 2019-20 season in jeopardy, there’s a chance Connaughton — a free agent this offseason — has already played his last game with the Bucks.

Most people have been forced to adjust to a different lifestyle. That includes this 27-year-old NBA player who would otherwise be preparing for a playoff run, while fulfilling his second career in different ways than he currently can.

In a wide-ranging phone interview with SB Nation on Monday, Connaughton opened up about free agency, why it’s important for professional athletes to prepare for life after retirement, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee, the Netflix series Tiger King, and so much more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

SB NATION: I’ll begin with a question I find myself asking just about everyone I talk to these days: How are you staying safe? And, did you consider traveling home once the NBA allowed its players to do so, or just bunker down and stay put?

PAT CONNAUGHTON: I stayed in Milwaukee. I tried to look at it from a variety of different angles. For me, I’m from the Boston area and Massachusetts was arguably hit worse than the majority of other places, so going home didn’t really make sense for me, for my own health but also for the safety of my family.

We’re fortunate to be in the NBA. We might as well stay close to our team just in case, God forbid something does happen and we need access to doctors, we have team doctors. If we need access to food for some reason, the chefs are trying to help us out when they can. There’s different things that I think teams are doing to help their players that stick around.

I also wanted to do my best to stay in shape, and when the facility shut down I was able to work with some of our strength staff to get some free weights into my apartment, to get a bike, to at least have some workouts that I can do outside, running up hills near the lakefront where I live, things of that nature so that I can keep myself sane.

SB: What’s been the biggest difference for you, going from the 100 miles per hour schedule you were on as an in-season NBA player to just shutting everything down as quickly as you did?

PC: I really do believe it’s a simulation of retirement. Obviously guys still want to stay in shape and work out because basketball will be back at some point in time, but it is a mini simulation of it. Our working careers end by 35, 40, if you’re fortunate, so you’ve still got 35, 40 years of life, and what are you doing day in and day out?

For me, I love doing different things with real estate. I try to work with my best friend who’s our project manager who lives with me out here in Milwaukee, we’re working on ‘Hey, how can we grow the real estate company?’ It’s similar to what I do in basketball, learning from Giannis on a daily basis. How can I use the same competitive skill-set in the business world during this time off, because when the ball does stop bouncing I still want to have another successful career in another field.

SB: How about your daily schedule. I’m just curious how you’re filling spare time, being that I’m sure you have even more of it now with the season on hold.

PC: I wake up, I’ll scramble some eggs, cook some bacon, have a few pieces of toast, yogurt, smoothie, whatever it might be. I’ll then workout, whether it’s outside, inside, bike, weights, whatever I have access to, however creative I can be. By that time I’ll have lunch, and while I’m having lunch I’ll check my emails. I’ll check some of the work stuff I’m doing as far as the business outside of basketball for a few hours, do some stuff there.

By that time it’s probably dinnertime. We’ve been making dinner at home. Tacos. Homemade pizzas. Ramen noodles. We’re fortunate: My best friend’s fiancee also is with us and she’s a little bit more expertise in the kitchen than we are, but we’re learning.

At night, it’ll vary. Sometimes we’ll watch Billions. I’m a huge Billions fan. I’m catching up on it now because the new season is coming out in May. We checked out Tiger King. Some nights we’ll play video games. We’ll play NHL. I grew up with all hockey players. I was the only basketball player, so I didn’t have a choice on learning how to play hockey video games, now I actually enjoy it. Sometimes we’ll watch a movie. Sometimes I’ll read a book before bed. So I think it kind of varies depending the night, but before you know it, it’s 9, 10 o’clock, and if I want to try to continue to simulate what it’s going to be post retirement to get a feel for it, then I try my best to get to bed at a reasonable hour, get up in the morning and do it all again.

Photo by Michael J. LeBrecht II/NBAE via Getty Images

SB: I will never forgive myself if I don’t ask this super-serious followup question, but what were your thoughts on Tiger King?

PC: [Laughs] I was a huge fan of seeing the tigers, the lions, the ligers, the animals. Those things fascinate me. I used to watch The Lion Whisperer on Youtube. There’s this guy who is out with wild lions, in Africa or wherever they live, and he’ll just go up to them and they love him. So I’ve always been fascinated by the size of them, the size of their heads, the size of their paws. Actually the background on the lock screen on my phone is a lion. So I loved that.

As far as the personal life of my man Joe Exotic and some of the characters in it, I was a little bit puzzled. My facial reactions were a little bit, like, giggle-worthy, as my buddy and his fiancee said. They’d look at me when something was happening and I’d look at the screen like ‘what the heck is going on?’ Never in my life would I have sat down to watch that otherwise, so I think that’s all part of the experience. I’ll look back on this hopefully in five, 10 years and be like ‘Hey remember that pandemic we went through? Yeah, remember that show we watched with that guy who got put in jail, and there was that other lady who might’ve fed her husband to a tiger?’

SB: I could honestly ask you one million questions about Tiger King but I think it’s best for everyone if we move on to topics that actually matter. We don’t know when or if the season will come back, but how difficult do you think it’ll be to ramp your body back into game shape? There’s really nothing that can perfectly simulate what an NBA game is like. Does that concern you?

PC: Not for me, personally. I don’t think there’s any way to simulate game shape, but the ironic part about that is every offseason there’s also no way to simulate game shape, so in reality that’s not really a big difference, in my opinion. I’m more concerned about not having access to a gym. I can’t go into the facility. We’re not allowed to go into public gymnasiums. Unless you’re a guy who has a personal court in your house or live in nice weather and can shoot around in your driveway ... I’ve got a few balls in my house and I’m dribbling around but I’m sure the people below me and to the side of me aren’t thrilled about the dribbling that goes on at night, you know what I mean? I think that is something that will be on my radar as the season comes back around.

The in-shape thing, some of the workouts that I do, I’m laying on the ground dead afterwards. And as far as I’m concerned every time I’ve run up and down a court and played in a game I’ve never ended up laying on the ground in the locker room afterwards, like, purely exhausted. So I think the in-shape stuff, I can mitigate that worry, but I think the skill-related stuff, shooting, that’s something you’re gonna have to focus on a little bit more, pending when and if [the season] comes back.

SB: Is there anything the Bucks have communicated with you to try and combat that?

PC: When I think about what I can do, I think back to when I wasn’t in a gym every single day as a kid. We weren’t allowed to be. You had practice two, three, four times a week, depending on how many teams you were on. You weren’t necessarily in a basketball gym for hours upon hours every single day. Especially for me, playing baseball. I just think about the stuff that I used to do around the house. Dribble the ball around until my mom yelled at me. Lay in bed and shoot the ball up in the air, like you saw Pistol Pete do in that movie or whatever it was. Simple things like that to just keep your feel of the basketball at least somewhat normal.

SB: How did you find out the season was suspended and what was your first reaction?

PC: I was sitting in my apartment, actually just finished making tacos with my buddy and his fiancee. We were playing the Celtics the next day, and I was on League Pass waiting to watch the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Utah Jazz game. And it never came on. So we were like ‘when was the last time an NBA game didn’t tip off at tip-off time?’

So we went straight to Twitter, and for the next two hours we were watching Twitter as if it was the night of the NBA Draft, back when [Adrian Wojnarowski] used to drop the tweets before the draft picks came out. We might as well have thrown the Twitter feed of my phone up on the TV screen and just watched it that way because it was just fascinating.

I was just kind of like ‘this is wild.’ I didn’t think much about it at the start, as far as, this could end the season or anything that drastic. I was just like ‘wow this is having a serious effect on this one game.’ And then the Pelicans never even started their game and the Mavs finished their game, and we were supposed to play the next night? Will they [cancel] another game? The Celtics had just played the Jazz, so we kind of thought that our game wasn’t gonna last, but we didn’t get the official word for no shootaround until later on that night. And then we didn’t get the word about no games until the next day.

It was just kind of fascinating how quickly it unfolded, and how the NBA was ahead of everything. The NBA honestly set the precedent, in my opinion, for not just the rest of the sports world, but almost the rest of the world itself, to start taking this thing seriously.

SB: It’s hard to think about where we would be in this country had Rudy Gobert never tested positive, and we’re still so far behind.

PC: We’re far behind as far as the world is concerned. As a sports league, we were ahead of where the U.S. was, which is wild and scary to think about.

SB: Being part of such a special season with the Bucks, how often do you think about the possibility that the season is over, and how you might never get an opportunity to finish what you started? How difficult would that be, given all the hard work that was put in and what the expectations were?

PC: It’s tough because you look at it from a few different lenses. You think seasons like this don’t come along every year, so if it ends that’s gonna suck. To be honest. But when you look at it from the lens of an athlete you’re like we, as a team, are very good. What is preventing us from doing it again next year? Obviously we would be disappointed, we’re having a great year, etc. But maybe it just makes us hungrier next year. Maybe it’s fuel on the fire, as opposed to something else. Giannis will be a year older, a year more skilled. We’ll all be getting better. If you look at it that way you can throw some positive light to it.

The other light you look at it, just being open and honest, there are guys that are on contract years. There are guys that, I mean, personally I don’t have a technical contract for next year or anything. So you look at it like how does it affect free agency? How does it affect the salary cap? What does our team look like next year if the season were to end and not continue, and the playoffs weren’t to happen and there weren’t a champion to be crowned. I think all of those are unknown.

I could sit here for 24 straight hours and put down a sheet of paper, pros, cons, all these different scenarios, but I don’t think that does me any good. We don’t know. Nobody knows. The NBA is full of much smarter people than myself. Adam Silver is great. The owners are all very smart guys. The general managers are very smart guys. Obviously the player’s union, Michelle. Chris Paul. All them are very smart. I believe the best interest of as many players as possible and all the teams and the league itself will be what’s most important and what will be accomplished. So for me to worry about those sorts of things, sure, but at the same time it’s not gonna help me. I’m not gonna figure out, sitting in this apartment in the next month and a half, what the answers are.

Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

SB: I wanted to ask you about being a free agent this offseason, and, as you said, we don’t know what will happen to the cap but there’s a chance it drops, given the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that will be lost — which could limit the amount of money teams are able or willing to pay. Respective of your own situation, I’m sure you’ve thought about that, and then also the idea that you might’ve played your last game with the Bucks. How difficult is it to cope with such an uncertain future?

PC: I definitely think about it but in the most simplistic terms. That’s one of the reasons I’ve always made sure I do other things outside of basketball. I’m not saying it’s because my basketball career is about to end, I’m just saying my dream was always to play in the NBA. Would I like to make a lot of money playing in the NBA? Absolutely. But if the cap gets affected there’s nothing I can do about it.

I want to continue to play in the NBA. I want to continue to be part of the Milwaukee Bucks as a championship contender, and I want to continue to help my team eventually win a championship, two, three, four, whatever it is. What my contract looks like while I’m doing that? If it was more money and more guaranteed years, absolutely, I’d love that. But as long as I’m here, as long as I’m playing, as long as I’m doing my job to continue to be an NBA player, a dream that I wanted to accomplish since I was a kid, it’s quite possible I make more money outside of basketball than I do in basketball when it’s all said and done.

The way that I’m trying to set up the real estate venture, the way that I’m trying to set up business outside of basketball, with, hopefully the relationships that I’ve built and will continue to build while I’m involved in the NBA, hopefully there’s a career after basketball. Maybe it’ll definitely be real estate, but maybe there’s something else. Maybe there’s a consulting role. Maybe there’s a front office role. Maybe there’s a league role. Maybe there’s something else for me because I don’t put all my chips in one basket. I can only control what I can control but I think the way that I’m setting up my life will at least allow me to have some flexibility as far as making money in the future, and continuing to play in the NBA for, hopefully, 10, 15 years.

SB: How has this pandemic impacted Beach House LLC, your real estate development company?

PC: We have a few job sites here in Milwaukee, we’ve got one that’s still moving forward. We got permission from the city because it’s right next to another building so for safety reasons they want us to make sure we get the foundation in and get some things there so it’s not just sitting as an open hole throughout this time. So I try to go by it once a day.

The name [Beach House LLC] might be changing soon, but one of our goals with real estate development is to mitigate risk. We’re trying to find distressed properties, we’re trying to find land, we’re trying to find things that we can create value in. My dad is a general contractor, I’ve been around it. So it’s not your typical real estate investments where you’re just investing in a property and banking on everybody that’s paying rent to at least cover the mortgage and give you a little bit of a return. We’re doing that but we’re doing it after we’re developing, fixing up or renovating a property. So in reality we’re kind of on both sides. We’re creating value in the property so the appreciation grows quicker, faster, more. And then we’re holding onto the asset and trying to cash flow it so it’s also making some money year after year. But in the long term, in the 10-year window, in the 15-year window, that’s when it really starts to make money.

I think as a professional athlete, the reason others have gotten involved is because we’re fortunate to have another source of income. How do you use that income to set up another source of income when that other source of income falls off? Aka, when your career is over, is there a way to utilize the money you’ve made in this career to set up another, arguably equal or close to equal, source of income afterwards. I think that’s kind of our goal with this.

In the short term, does [coronavirus] have an effect? Yeah, potentially. Does it also have an effect where you’re able to buy some property because prices drop? Potentially. I don’t really know how it’s going to fully affect it but in general it continues to go up over long periods of time. I think that’s what gives us an advantage in that world.

SB: Why change the name?

PC: I want it to reflect the story behind it. Beach House was an LLC that my father had for a house that he did back in Florida, way back when. I’d like to put it in something that shows athletes in business, something that’s unique about this actual story, because at the end of the day, if I’m able to do what I want to do in the business world I think it will be a unique story.

My main goal is, after seeing the 30 for 30, Broke, to shed some light, get some professional athletes involved [or] give them advice even if they don’t want to be involved and kind of help change the stigma that professional athletes go broke after their careers because they don’t know how to manage their money during, and shortly after.

SB: Have other players reached out for advice or even made requests to get involved over the past few weeks?

PC: I’d say a few have. I wouldn’t say as many as you’d think with all the time on our hands, but that’s also partly because I haven’t reached out to anyone either. What I’d like to do during this time is really think about what is that next growth for the real estate development company. We have five to 10 [professional athletes] involved in a number of different projects that we’ve done, so those are great one-off projects.

What is the next growth for my company? Is it raising a fund, or getting a bunch of guys together at a certain dollar amount? Is it trying to incorporate the pro athletes that I have with some of the businessmen that I’ve known and put them together for a fund or partnership where there’s a surplus of money, and now I’m going out, developing, buying, doing different things so that when one of the players in the NBA comes to town to play the Milwaukee Bucks next year, they’re able to go by the job site that we’re doing, and they’re able to see how it’s being built. They can see it in person and say ‘Hey, I own that.”

What is that next growth step for the company? That’s kind of what I’ve been utilizing my time and energy on during this hiatus, and hopefully in the next week or two I’ll have that answer and I’ll start to put something together for it. I’ll start to reach out to some players, or field some calls from some players and try to start to make it a bigger operation. Make it a bigger business.

SB: Are you mainly focused on properties in Milwaukee or looking to expand in the future?

PC: Location is the most important thing in real estate, so I want to expand to different areas. It’s just going to depend on the location in those different areas. I have two buildings, one that’s being built and one that’s gonna start being built in a few months around Notre Dame. I obviously know that area really well. We were able to get locations that are right near campus. You can probably hit a driver off your porch to campus.

There could be some similar growth in the future for the company. Some of the projects [Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum] is involved in, there’s no reason we couldn’t do a similar model around Lehigh. He’s obviously the biggest name to come from Lehigh in the professional sports world, so there’s no reason we can’t do some of those things. Those are the business ideas I love thinking about. But in the short term it’s about areas that we know and areas we have influence in and can get to relatively easily. We’re not locked to one city, is the short version of that answer.

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

SB: Circling it back to your playing career now, you competed in your first NBA Slam Dunk contest at All-Star Weekend last month. What was going through your head when the judges gave you a 45 after your first dunk?

PC: Honestly, I was ... that’s a great question. I don’t think I was as appalled at the time as a lot of people that I know. Did I think it could’ve been a little higher? Absolutely. But I wasn’t necessarily outraged, like, I like to think I’m pretty realistic. I like to think I’m relatively humble. That was my first dunk in an NBA dunk contest ever in my life. I was happy that I got it down on the first try, pulled off the White Man Can’t Jump thing pretty well, and then been able to share that moment with [Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich] and Giannis and Khris [Middleton] and Thanasis [Antetokounmpo] and my teammates. I thought it was pretty cool, so I was less concerned about one of the eights that could’ve been a nine. And by one of them I mean the only eight that could’ve been a nine. But that’s neither here nor there.

SB: Speaking of Giannis, you’ve been his teammate for a while and have a good relationship with him. With his upcoming free agency being one of the larger stories in the sport, do you ever talk about whether he’ll stay or go, or does it not really come up?

PC: It’s something I would talk about with him. We’re close enough friends where we definitely could. And I think our team is so close and so great as far as talking about things other than basketball, and business, and world issues, social issues. Kyle Korver brings a great element to those sorts of things. I think we have a very close knit team in our locker room.

I think sometimes it gets brought up randomly in passing and things like that, but I think at the end of the day, for us, it’s not as big of a deal as it is for the rest of the world. Obviously the city of Milwaukee, the team, everyone wants Giannis to be here forever. But Giannis has put himself in a position to provide for his family from growing up with nothing in Greece, and I don’t think you can fault Giannis for whatever decision he ends up making, that he believes is the best decision for him, his family, the people who are closest to him.

I’ll support him regardless of what he does, and I think the entire team will support him regardless of what he does. I think we’re building something pretty cool in Milwaukee so that will play a role, but it’s his decision and all of us will support what he does, whenever that decision comes to light.

[cattlegroup0-blog]

New York City: United Nations New York

Overview and HistoryNew York was invented by time-traveling punks from across the galaxy so they could show up there in 1977, smash some guitars and then overdose on heroin to die in the East Village, according to prophecy.The historic origins of the city go back to long before the American Revolution. Let's take a quick look at what it is before we look at what it looks like in panoramas.New York City sits on the island of Manhattan. Manhattan, you will notice, is not only an island situated between two rivers perfect for easy transportation to the Atlantic Ocean -- it's also an Indian word!Like lots of New England states and towns, its lineage comes from the "Indians" who lived there first. White people learned those names and kept them, for example Massachusetts, Connecticut, Manhattan, Chesapeake. Go out to the small towns in the greater New York or Tri-State area and you'll find even more names like Massapequa, Hammonasset, Ronkonkoma, Montauk, Quinnipiac, etc. And of course Mohawk, which comes into play later around 1977.So, let's keep it sanitized for posterity. The white people came and the Indians left. How do you like that? Legend has it that white settlers bought the island of Manhattan for $26; obviously the contracting party on the other end had no idea what real estate connections were all about. Early pilgrims cited the Bible as their mandate for taking over what lands they found in "the new world". (They decided that, since "the Indians" had not subdued the land, it was free for the taking. File this away in the "karmic repurcussions" folder.)The point is, New York City sits on a bunch of islands. An archipelago, if you will. An island just off the coast of Europe, if you want to comment on how different NYC is from the rest of the United States. Bird's eye view: you've got Manhattan, Staten Island and Long Island, which hosts both Brooklyn and Queens.The south end of Manhattan is where New York City started. Once upon a time there were deer, owls, hawks and trees covering the entire island. Gradually it filled in with farms and, much later, low-income apartment buildings. Manhattan is now bridged to the western end of Long Island by the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg bridge and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. Take the Williamsburg bridge across from the east village to find where the artists went after the East Village got to be too. friggin. expensive. for. anybody. to. really. live. here. dammit. Go ahead!, check out the cost of living in New York yourself if you want.Anyway, as European settlers filled in the space, New York City grew up and took over the entire Hudson Bay area including Connecticut and New Jersey (Tri-State area).Contrary to intuitive belief, NYC is not the capital of New York State. Albany is the capital but nobody ever goes there except to do realllly big deals, so don't worry about it. New York's nickname is "The Empire State" and for all purposes, NYC is the jewel in the Empire's crown.Back to downtown in Tribeca (Triangle Below Canal Street) -- you will find two distinctly different layouts. One side of this southern tip of the island was built by the Dutch, the other half by the English.The Dutch side has twisting streets with lots of triangular central, um, squares that are hell on the novice bike messenger to find. The English side sports long avenues connecting evenly spaced parallel streets, a grid like what you see in midtown among the "number streets." What does that say about the worldview of these two groups at the time? See, already New York is intriguing. What else is going on there?Here are the essential neighborhoods to cover, if you want to have even the most awkwardly cursory view of the city. This is going from south to north. For scale, it's about five miles from the southern tip to the south edge of Central Park at 59th street.The financial district (Wall Street, etc), Tribeca, Chinatown.SoHo, Greenwich Village, East Village, Meat Packing District.Flatiron and Murray Hill merge upwards into Hell's Kitchen (best food in midtown), and Times Square and then Central Park.From there it's all Upper East Side and Upper West Side until you get to Spanish Harlem, Harlem, and The Bronx.Off to the East of Manhattan there's Brooklyn and Queens, both of which could take up a thousand pictures, and to the west side there's New Jersey. The East River and Hudson River border Manhattan to either side and if you can't figure out which side the Hudson is on, I can't help you.If you just go to New York City and eat one meal in each of the above neighborhoods, you will have done an excellent job of seeing what this megalopolis has to offer. Many people make the mistake of going to NYC for a week and spending five days in Times Square. Don't let this be you. You can find food from anywhere in the world in New York and it's a crime against modern civilization not to do so.Getting ThereOh boy. Three airports, which are all connected to a greater or lesser degree by taxi drivers who are completely cool and professional on the inside, and you can't tell that by looking. It's a yellow river of taxis but you are not at their mercy if you can afford a helicopter ride to where you're going! Ha ha! You can't! And get used to it!!!Everything about NYC is either a celebration of your wealth, or a celebration of not having any. Not to worry, there's an equal amount of fun to be had regardless of which end of the spectrum you're on. (That amount=MORE THAN YOU HAVE TIME FOR...)Okay, the airports are JFK (John F. Kennedy International), LaGuardia and Newark International. Getting between Manhattan and JFK airport usually means a private limousine or a taxi, because the public transportation is not so hot there. There is the Airtrain on the subway line that goes there, just make sure you get on the right train.LaGuardia airport is closer to the city center and you can get there on a bus without much trouble, if you have learned how to move around on the subway system and you don't mind standing on the street up in Harlem with all your stuff.Newark International Airport is the easiest to get to because you can take a train right from the subway system at 34th Street in Manhattan and get off inside the airport at your departure terminal, and it looks high-tech the whole way. Check here for prices and schedules.TransportationThe subway (MTA) is a great way to get around New York when you're on foot for day trips, commuting, whatever.The only caution is to remember that you can walk ten blocks a lot more easily than waiting underground. One ride costs $2 with the mandatory Metrocard. Tokens are in the museum now, next to the dinosaur teeth. No more tokens. Here's a subway map, have fun!People and CultureAre you kidding? People and Culture in New York might as well be "People and Culture of Planet Earth". Somebody from everywhere lives here and they all keep their native languages and recipes, then learn English so they can open a restaurant, all to YOUR benefit as soon as you figure out which neighborhood you want to go explore tonight.There are a few sayings about people in NYC. First, "people in new york are either 100% real or 100% fake." This might be true, depending who you ask.Second, "New Yorkers are the nicest people in the world.. you just have to force them to be nice." (because they're always in a hurry). This is definitely true.Culture here? You've got film, fashion, music, food, fine art, dance, theater, you name it. Every art form you can think of, including the art of making lots of money, is flaunted on the city streets. Also fun stuff like sex, drugs, arson, murder and stealing are thriving here at the apex of their popularity. Think class division and you'll be standing tip-toe on the ice berg's lurking point.Things to do & RecommendationsNo swimming buddy, not in the rivers. Check out the beaches on Long Island for that, get there by train LIRR. Robert Moses State Park is my recommendation.A great "new yorky" thing to do is to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and get an amazing view of the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn.There's really no way to encapsulate the life of this city in a few recommendations but I'll try.Grimaldi's Pizza in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood: Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Go there. Eat pizza. Die happy.3rd Ward Art Space for Brooklyn wareouse type parties and also studio space.In Times Square, take a bicycle taxi to get around, see things and hear a real insider's report on where to go not to get ripped off.Meat Packing District for nightlife, start here.Curry In A HurryMiss Mamie's Spoonbread TooIt's abominable how much I am leaving out. Please forgive me, New York!!! Text by Steve Smith.

Source: http://www.360cities.net/image/united-nations-new-york-new-york-city

[book-noteskt]

Sciptures

In times of need- Jesus may you be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Identity/Purpose:

“Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.” Matthew‬ ‭23:11-12‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” Matthew‬ ‭5:13-16‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” Matthew‬ ‭5:48‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Stay alert. This is hazardous work I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.” Matthew‬ ‭10:16‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge: “Don’t begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don’t try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.” Matthew‬ ‭10:5-8‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Who here qualifies for the job of overseeing the kitchen? A person the Master can depend on to feed the workers on time each day. Someone the Master can drop in on unannounced and always find him doing his job. A God-blessed man or woman, I tell you. It won’t be long before the Master will put this person in charge of the whole operation.” Matthew‬ ‭24:45-47‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” Matthew‬ ‭28:19-20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Peace:

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

For God did not give you a spirit of fear or timidity, but of power, and love, and of a sound mind.”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

“If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.” Matthew‬ ‭18:15-17‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.” Matthew‬ ‭10:28‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Love:

“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Colossians‬ ‭3:14-15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.” Colossians‬ ‭3:12-14‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Now the end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and disciplined for prayer. Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter‬ ‭4:7-11‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

“The whole point of what we’re urging is simply love —love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into cul-de-sacs of gossip. They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven’t the remotest idea of what they’re holding forth with such imposing eloquence.” 1 Timothy‬ ‭1:5-7‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.” Matthew‬ ‭5:38-42‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” I Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians‬ ‭4:1-3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Perspective:

“ 1-2 So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective” Colossians 3: 1-2

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” Matthew‬ ‭6:34‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” Matthew‬ ‭7:1, 3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works — this person will be blessed in what he does.” James‬ ‭1:23-25‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Faith/Endurance:

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Romans‬ ‭8:28-29‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James‬ ‭1:2-4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.” James‬ ‭1:2-8‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him and be firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world. Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little. The dominion belongs to Him forever. Amen.” 1 Peter‬ ‭5:8-11‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Overcoming Temptation/tests (flesh & earthly desires):

“5-8 And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk” Colossians 3: 5-8

“Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.” James‬ ‭1:19-21‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans‬ ‭8:6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Abstinence: “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Mark‬ ‭10:6-9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“When he came back to his disciples, he found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.” Matthew‬ ‭26:40-41‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Integrity:

“And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.” Matthew‬ ‭5:33-37‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.” Colossians‬ ‭3:9-11‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.” Ephesians 6:9-10

“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. “In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part. “When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint. If you ‘go into training’ inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn’t require attention-getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are doing; he’ll reward you well.” Matthew‬ ‭6:1, 6, 14-18‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Power/Protection:

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” Ephesians‬ ‭6:11-14, 16-18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Surrender:

“Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?” Matthew‬ ‭16:24-26‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Sermon on the mount: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for. “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family. “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.” Matthew‬ ‭5:3-12‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Prophecy:

“Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved. All during this time, the good news—the Message of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.” Matthew‬ ‭24:13-14‬ ‭MSG‬‬

[scarlet-shattering]

Tora

The first shard of Lacera is a place called Tora. The shard is Lacera’s version of the Prime Material Plane, that is, where most mundane and mortal beings exist. Its most notable feature is that it has the most natural barriers of any other continent, boasting not one, but two natural mountain ranges, and even a (relatively) large sea. Tora is home to most humans in Lacera. It consists of several city-states, which are listed below: Brinewater: A rough-and-tumble port town famous for its crime and piracy. However, most trade between Tora’s island nations and the mainland go through the city, so it has a prominent upper class. The most prominent member is the city’s elected mayor and unofficial crime boss, Edna VanLee, the Lady of Jade. Inspired by Rogueport from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and Bilgewater, from League of Legends Damaria: The largest city-state in Tora is also the most intimidating. It’s a massive and dense place, with its most notable feature being its great Fire Eternal, a huge brazier in the center of the city. The theocratic society claims that this fire was placed by the gods to give the city light and order, but it bears no marking from any deity known to Lacera. The city is ruled by its oppressive Consulate and its lead member, Archbishop Rolf, whose anti-mage and anti-nonhuman doctrines permeate the city. Inspired by Novigrad from the Witcher 3 and somewhat by Magic the Gathering’s Aether Revolt storyline The Isles of Sin: Far to the east of Tora’s Ancient Sea lies a location that officially does not exist. The Isles of Sin are the last remnants of a great island nation that existed before the Shattering. They lie at the very end of the continent, where a gigantic waterfall flows off the edge of the planet into nothingness. All that remains is a half-sunken castle that is likely crawling with undead when the players first visit it. The place is shrouded in a constant fog, and seems to radiate with a sedentary evil. Inspired by League Of Legends’ Shadow Isles The Triple Peaks: At the northernmost end of the continent lie three great mountains. Constantly swirling with blizzards, the peaks mark the end of civilization for many. For a few, though, life still yet thrives. Scattered barbarian tribes that all make up one greater society dot the peaks’ southern edge, and they surround the ruins of old monasteries long forgotten and abandoned. However, a few of the barbarian chiefs still summit the mountain every few years, as the ancient monks used to do as a pilgrimage. Inspired by: Literally the name from a name generator Worldsend: North of even the Triple Peaks, on their far side, lies a simple and small cluster of huts and igloos. The society itself is unassuming, but their tiny settlement surrounds a gigantic anchor for a gigantic chain. From the very summit of the Triple Peaks, one can see the great chain as it stretches from the surface of Tora all the way into the heavens, attached to the gigantic secondary planet known by select few. This captive planet is called Satellite, and its existence is one that the elders of Worldsend protect and keep secret. The gigantic Triple Peaks just barely block view of the Satellite from the rest of the continent, and the elders of Worldsend are told from birth that it is their duty to maintain that great secret. Inspired by: Mostly my idea but the planet-chained-to-planet thing is from Sonic CD (seriously) Littlewharf: This small southwestern trading town is on the very edge of the Ancient Sea, near the Erstall Plains. It’s a town known for its fine jewelry and simple, laid-back lifestyle. Inspired by: A player needed a place of origin lol

Iron Highlands: The second mountain range on Tora is to the far west. The only Dwarven stronghold on the continent, the Iron Highlands is a very regimented and orderly society. There are very few non-Dwarves that live there, and outsiders are rarely trusted. Every Dwarf on Tora can trace their lineage back to the Highlands if they go far back enough, and Highlands Dwarves are extensively proud of that. There are few other places on Tora where one can find a society with smiths as refined as those in the Highlands, so whenever its residents need something from the outside world (which is rare) they pay for it with beautifully crafted steel. Inspired by: Sooooort of the Lonely Mountain from LOTR but mostly just Standard Dwarf Stuff Vesura: Only recently has Vesura been anything other than just another city-state trying to get by. There was nothing too remarkable about the place until, as the story goes, two women, one in red, one in white, essentially waltzed their way into the city’s ruling class and eventually became its queens. Ever since their reign began, Vesura has prospered, though a murky cloud of darkness always seems to surround the city. Inspired by: Okay so I found the name “Vesura” on a name generator and figured I’d need it for player backstory but I didn’t, so I left it undeveloped until I randomly woke up at 3 AM one morning, grabbed my phone, and typed “Vesura has lesbian vampire queens” into a D&D document and then fell back asleep and that’s how this happened Ravenna: This city is recognizable from far off by its great ebony clock tower. Its current king, Darius Drake, has somewhat fashioned the city after his patron, the Raven Queen, but the city is far from evil. It feels more melancholy than it does morose. One of the more powerful mages on the continent, Lady Rosalind, lives in and maintains the clock tower. Inspired by: (barely) Twilight Town from Paper Mario TTYD, Big Ben in London, Castle Ravenloft from Curse of Strahd (literally just the name). Also Lady Rosalind is my self-insert character and she’s a trans lesbian oneiromancer aka Dream Witch Terrason Woods: The Terrason Woods are the only remaining druidic society on Tora. Depending on which set of players we’re using, they may or may not have burned down, but while they did exist, they were home to many elvish druids and rangers. They’re the only remaining druidic society on all of Lacera that practices turning its members into Wood Woads. Inspired by: Player’s idea, this was me talking him down from making a Wood Woad player character. It was atlas-prime, who I’m not gonna @ because he’s not supposed to see the rest of this post Scaov Pilajan: Another northern society of elves, but this one contrasts the Terrason Woods because it’s a refined and cultured city-state. Its nobility is rather famously wealthy, and it is a mostly self-sufficient nation. Its relationship with Ravenna has been tense recently, because the nobility married off a younger princess to its king, Darius Drakeand she died rather quickly after the birth of her only child, Jason Drake, who wants nothing to do with his mother’s nation. Inspired by: Player backstory city that I expanded on a lot, also Darius and his (still unnamed) wife had a happy and consensual marriage out of love, no bullshit arranged marriages here, Jason also doesn’t hate his mom’s legacy he just wants to adventure Ihr Atma and Ihr Atoll: Islands in-between the Isles of Sin and Brinewater. Underdeveloped at the moment, but inspired by Skellige from the Witcher 3 probably Closed Forest: Basically a “don’t walk to the edge of the continent” thing, so random assholes donn’t learn that the world was shattered. Inspired by: A Yugioh field spell (seriously look it up)

Divisum: Same thing as the Closed Forest but it’s a big fuckin’ canyon Erstall Plains: A sea of grass where a barbarian tribe roams and lives off the land. Inspired by: PC needed a place of origin and was lazy about it

Clearsky Hills: A small secluded set of hills where the party’s house currently is. It’s called Clearsky Hideout, which is inspired by a Skyrim mod of the same name. More detail on that later but I dare you to have a more #lit party hideout than this one

And that is Tora, the first continent of Lacera! Holy butts it has a lot of places. But yeah it’s mostly humans or less scary nonhuman races like elves, halflings, and gnomes, though it has scattered half-orcs, Goliaths, Dragonborn, and Tieflings. The most notable thing about the continent (other than Worldsend) is that the societies of Tora are mostly unaware of the Shattering, where other continents tell children about the event as a part of basic history instruction. Very few people on Tora know the world is wounded, and even fewer have traveled to the other shards. 

[3wishes-rpg]

Xia Catch-Up Q&A's

Follows are all of the backfill Xia Q&A questions, behind a cut as to not destroy anyone's feed.

• What is your character’s patronus?

Gan, her Chow Chow dog. Oh, you mean, he is real and is not a Patronus? EVEN BETTER. Xia will reward him for being so beautiful and handsome and loyal with tons of hugs and also leftover pork.

• How does your character react to sudden and unexpected hugs?

Like a lot of people, it depends on the context. She is used to catcalls and weird people propositioning her, so if she thinks you are a creep she will shriek and cry in public, and chances are the creep will get beaten up (the people in her neighborhood are quite fond of her, and will not abide by people who make her sad.).

If you are NOT a creep, and are perhaps a strong or beautiful or dashing or etc, it is not unlikely for Xia to accidentally swoon or ‘lose her footing’ around them.

If you are a friend she is going to hug you, a lot. She will cling off of you dramatically, like you are a tree in a windstorm. She wants cuddle puddles. She wants it now and will hug Gan if nobody else hugs her. The need for friendly touch is super real for her.

• What incredibly dorky thing does your character do while thinking that it’s actually super cool?

Xia………...makes fanart. She draws her favorite celebrities, usually musicians or actors, on little porcelain cups with very small brushes, and then coos over them. When she meets Sousuke she is going to cry because she left her cup of his at home, and would have loved to have his signature on it. Would he please sign this paper, and she'll just transpose it later?

If a crew of people went over to her house for tea, just saying, the tea cups might be a bit weird.

• What is the craziest thing your character has done?

Usually she is super-obedient when she is at a job, and will dutifully hang out with the servants in case her client needs a touch-up during the party. But there was one party she was at where her absolute favorite Selan singer was playing! So Xia did the most radical, face-changing makeover on herself she could manage, and snuck into the back of the party to see her idol sing. Xia’s worries and anxiety got the better of her about 20 minutes in and she snuck back, but she cried the rest of the night at home because she got to see her favorite!

• What are some of your character’s weaknesses?

Xia is super duper poor at introspection or self-evaluation. Because she thinks so poorly of her abilities, she is late in realizing how useful she could potentially be. She also frightens very easily, and right now is far more likely to be a liability than a help during tense times.

This all limits her creatively as well - she holds herself back from creating a lot of the colors and the art that really happens in her mind, because she thinks that people will find her strange. Xia will be really encouraged if Meilan ever brought back art from our world - out where Meilan lives, people make all sort of strange and wonderful art without reservation! There is even a place called “deviant art” that stores millions and millions of pieces of art for everyone in the world to see. Isn’t that splendid?

• What’s your character’s biggest secret?

This will be hard for her to articulate to the other Suzaku, but Xia really thinks the Governor of Hongnan, Tan Yawen, is a wonderful woman, and would not want to see her hurt. Even though Xia gets so nervous whenever she goes to the Governor’s mansion, Governor Tan has been nothing but kind and encouraging to Xia. There hasn’t been anyone in the world who makes Xia really feel like she can do anything. So even when it turns out that Governor Tan uses some less-than-noble governing techniques, Xia still would not abide by the Suzaku hurting her.

1) What parts of your character’s personality or livelihood do you think reflects their patron deity?

The cornerstone of Xia’s character is the word “passion”, specifically the passion you feel when you are honing a craft you really love. When thinking about Hotohori’s power to be good at any one thing, I had thought it would be ironic if the Hotohori’s chosen skill was a creative passion that would at least seem 100% useless in the context of a war and rebellion. It has to do with a lot of the stuff we deal with in real life - I am really passionate about writing, but it is ‘useless’ compared to the skills I have that pay the bills, so you almost feel guilty about your passion. I imagine the Suzaku-sponsored lesson behind Xia is - do what you love, and the rest will work itself out.

2) If your character could pick any Star Warrior to be based on their power, which one would the choose? (they can’t pick themselves if they ARE a Star Warrior, that’s CHEATING)

Without a question, Tokaki’s teleportation skills. The summer days in Rongyang are THE WORST and so sticky and makes her makeup all gross. If she could just BOOP from one place to another, it would be so cool! Plus she could just pop into whatever theater show or concert she wants to see!

3) If your character could live anywhere else in the Three Wishes world, where would they like to live?

Xia rather likes Selan, and really likes it whenever a wealthy patron takes her that way. The people are just so beautiful and elegant there, and she thinks the towers are so pretty. She loves looking at the rainforest during her train ride through. And those mecha polo athletes! Talk about HOT. She has probably actually fainted in the audience during a match.

• IF YOUR CHARACTER WERE AN ICE CREAM SUNDAE WHAT WOULD THEY BE? (damn you Sage)

Grilled peach sundaes with praline sauce - the kind with vanilla ice cream scooped into actual grilled peach halves. One of Xia’s family nicknames is Peach, so she needed to have a creative sort of peach sundae to go with it. http://sprinklesomefun.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Grilled-Peach-Sundaes-This-Sundae-is-to-die-for.-Topped-with-Buttle-Brickle-Ice-Cream-Prailine-Sauce-Whipped-Cream-Toasted-Pecans-and-a-Rainer-Cherry1.jpg

• Does your character have any guilty pleasures? (nipped this from Ingrid!)

Xia is exactly the kind of person who is like “you know what, I had a hard day, I’m going to treat myself!” EVERY SINGLE DAY. It is like she has to reward herself for surviving any given day. Xia’s obviously guilty indulgence is food - she loves custards and tarts and red bean paste treats the absolute best. Her second big indulgence is her rotating door of paramours - on a particularly hard day she might be desperate enough to go door-to-door between them until she finds one down for ‘comforting’ her.

The only indulgence she actually feels guilty about is her Secret Stash of makeup. A lot of the makeup she has was purchased, but there is a secret special stash that she has made herself. Like, grinding-her-own-minerals sort of making. But this hobby is expensive and time-consuming, and so the makeup she creates tends to be so Special that she almost never uses them. These include some unorthodox colors and mixes she is afraid to use because they are so weird, like a dark green lipstick with gold leaf flecks, or a neon yellow eyeshadow. But she loves them, they are her Precious.

• Hogwarts House. Not even a question. This is perhaps the most indulgent prompt of all. Everyone wants to know.

Hufflepuff. She likes the idea of living behind the kitchens. And Xia doesn’t realize it, but she is an incredibly hard worker, and has been her whole life. So she fits in well as a Hufflepuff.

• Likewise, what nation and bending style from Avatar fits them best? This one is indulging my own curiosity, and it kind of goes with the HP question!

This is hard, but I think she would be an Earth Bender artist. Oh shit, specifically, she is an Earth Bender who does the makeup for the Kyoshi Warriors.

• FINALLY, think of a time your character’s wants have conflicted with their needs, and do tell.

It hasn’t happened yet, but Xia actually doesn’t want to leave home to adventure around with Team Suzaku. Her life has been a bit of a whirlwind in the last year, but finally she is doing what she loves - instead of a shitty job, she has a great job that she manages herself, and the money to both continue her creative work as well as her mom and grandmother’s. Xia love Team Suzaku, but she is also afraid that she is going to suddenly lose everything she’s gained. And worse, what if her family gets hurt in the meantime? So that will be a hard deal for Xia - she needs to go traveling to protect Meilan, but she wants to just continue her life as it is.

Well, and the hardest part is going to be telling the Governor that she needs to take time off. The Governor may not accept her resignation, after all.

• What is your character’s favorite beverage?

There is a very new sort of tea in Hongnan now, white tea, and Xia totally loves it! She particularly loves white tea when it has floral infusions, like floating petals or rose water. Additionally, Xia really REALLY loves ice, and will drink just about anything that has an ice cube or two in it.

• How do they feel about alcohol and other mind-altering drugs?

Xia likes herself some alcohol, particularly the HARD STUFF. She dislikes sake and wine, and shoots straight towards hard-hitting drinks like baijiu (vodka) or peach liquor. She is more tolerant to alcohol than her sweet personality implies, and she gets rougher and more forward the more she drinks.

Drugs aren’t really her bag, but she sympathizes with people who go that way. It’s hard for Xia to resist the urge to drink more than she already does - day-to-day life is just so stressful, so she gets why people use drugs just to try to get away from it all. Specifically, I think Xia would be a good, non-judgmental friend for Yuhan to have regarding her drug use.

• What is your character’s preferred form of entertainment? e.g. radio, books, pooh sticks, destroying ant hills?

Xia loves her radio and would like to be buried with it when she dies. When she is at home, usually she is painting or practicing makeup, but she always has her radio running. Xia loves listening to radio dramas (to the point where she gets really pouty and sad if she has to miss an episode) and she loves listening to music. When Xia is outside, she loves playing with Gan, which is anything from throwing sticks to racing to just napping in the shade. She also gravitates towards street performers, and can sometimes spend hours watching people in the plaza perform.

• Is this character extroverted, introverted, or somewhere in between?

Xia leans very strongly towards extroversion. She really thrives around other people, and wants nothing more than to make the people around her happy. She is chatty and can effortlessly make small talk, and likes to gossip with her friends. Even in social situations that make her nervous, like doing the Governor’s makeup, Xia expresses her nervousness by chattering even more (the Governor must find Xia’s chattering endearing, or else she is very good at zoning out). Only in the absolute worst of her anxiety will Xia shut up completely.

• How do they deal with situations counter to their socialization preferences? i.e. how does your introverted character deal with crowds/social events; how does your extroverted character deal with solitude?

Xia is capable of being alone for hours at a time when she is working, but even then she likes to hear the voices on the radio while she works, or have Gan sitting on her feet. If she was REALLY alone, like “I have to walk a day alone in the countryside”, she would get freaked out and anxious, but also really jumpy and needy for socialization again. She would dive into the arms of the first familiar face she sees.

(If/when Xia starts wandering around with Team Suzaku, she is going to miss her friends and family at home very much. To their bewilderment, she’ll even be morose and quiet! It is going to take a little bit of time before Xia can think of them as a replacement family.)

Based on these suggestions, I want to hear about AT LEAST two times your character has been wrong (ha ha, only two?) in the past… or COULD be wrong in the future! How wrong? Anything from slightly wrong (”should’ve taken a left turn” ”okay so dolphins are mammals NOT fish”) to WHOLE WORLD VIEW WRONG.

You know that phrase, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take? Those are the kind of mistakes Xia tends to make.

1) In school, the only subject she was good at was calligraphy, and unsurprisingly she was REALLY good - some of her work is still at her public school as part of a student mural. She probably had teachers who tried to encourage her to keep up with calligraphy and even specialize in it in later school years - but Xia at the time was more concerned with making money to help out her family, and didn’t pursue calligraphy because she didn’t see how it could be lucrative. But she could have saved herself a few years of shitty retail had she continued study and taken a job as a transcriber.

2) Xia has made a few mistakes in her makeup artist career - even though her god power makes her really good at styling, it doesn’t make her immune to stupid mistakes. The worst was when a client was at a masquerade and instead of a cloth mask, Xia suggested a mask made of flower petals that would be glued directly onto the client’s face. While the flower mask ended up looking beautiful and stunning, at the end of the night Xia removed the petals to find her client’s face underneath bright red and swelling. Turns out her client was allergic to rice, and Xia uses rice-glue as her go-to adhesive. Xia cried and refunded her client and even though the client thought the stunning flower mask made up for the subsequent rash, Xia still feels horrible and any job she has done for this client afterwards has been at a deep discount.

[johnchiarello]

Kings 20

KINGS 20

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 [TODAY’S POST BEGINS HERE]

1Kings 20:11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.

Kings 20 videos-

https://youtu.be/Q9kMTGZGbAg

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhQkN3YrR5CnNEDzw

https://www.dropbox.com/s/feq1brdvfl1x0nh/2-22-18%20Kings%2020.mp4?dl=0

https://mega.nz/file/PSghja5D#tkHQLbpQDIhDxJ7jCugPqzAPMFOt1FfORdOIx5hZhVM

ON VIDEO .A ripped bible page .Billy Graham .Ahab- a profile .The wicked as God’s sword .Benhadad’s mistake .The unknown prophet .The army of 7 thousand- were they the remnant? .The 2 witnesses .Ahab and the young men route the enemy .Then it’s time to regroup .The God of the hills only? .The wounded prophet- a sign .In the house of my friends .Leadership principles

Amos 5:9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

TEACHING- [Past posts below] As this stage in the story of Ahab- we see a wicked king who was being manipulated by his wife- the famous Jezebel. We saw the showdown where God used his prophet to bring judgment against Israel- and we see in Ahab somewhat of a broken man.

Yet- the enemies of Israel make a mistake. Benhadad the king of Syria forms an ungodly alliance- he then comes against Ahab. Ahab seems to concede- and give up.

Then the Syrian king makes a mistake- he figures Ahab gave in so easily- he would push the limits. Then God does something- he uses the young men in Israel to route the enemy. Yes- even though God’s people were under judgment- and God used pagan nations to judge his own people- yet God also will defend his name.

Though Israel is under judgment- yet- they had a history with God. They were a mighty army in days gone by- and other nations learned this lesson the hard way. After the initial defeat of the Syrians- God tells Ahab to regroup- because he will be back.

Yes- in life- there will be times of great victory against great odds- and yet the battle is not over yet. The Syrians will come back and fight again- and will suffer another great defeat. There is an unknown prophet in this chapter who will carry out a special work- he will have one of his own brothers wound him- and he will disguise himself and bring a message to Ahab.

I used this [on video] as a type of Christ- who was wounded by his own friends- and they did not recognize him at his first appearing to Israel. Yet- like the prophet in this chapter- the ‘mask’ will be removed one day- and Israel will see the prophet who was wounded by his friends-

Zechariah 13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

I will add my past teaching below- but the practical principle for us is if we depend on God as we did at the start- then God will indeed come thru for us. God takes delight in delivering his people when they are outnumbered- this is a spiritual principle in scripture-

Joshua 23:10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.

He receives glory when just a few of his people can carry out the task against great odds. Yes- Ahab will still come under judgment from God- he will go down in history as a wicked king.

But this day the enemies of God learned a lesson- It was actually a proverb in the mouth of Ahab himself- 1Kings 20:11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.

Basically he told the Syrian king ‘Don’t count your chickens before they hatch’- Benhadad learned this lesson the hard way. Isaiah 54:16 [More verses below] Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

PAST POSTS [Past teaching I did that relates to this post- Kings 20- Verses below] KINGS- https://ccoutreach87.com/mark-links/ https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-kings/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/29/kings-2/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/12/kings-3/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/27/kings-4/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/04/kings-5/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/25/kings-6/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/17/kings-7/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/05/kings-8/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/18/kings-9/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/01/kings-10/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/22/kings-11/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/09/15/kings-12-3/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/10/19/kings-13-2/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/11/09/kings-14/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/12/06/kings-15/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/12/28/kings-16/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2018/01/17/kings-17/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2018/02/01/kings-18/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2018/02/15/kings-19/

(1071)1ST KINGS 20- Benhadad, king of Syria, besieges Israel and threatens Ahab ‘give me your gold, wives and kids’. Ahab was a demoralized man, his wife was already running the show, he relinquished any remnant of nobility years ago. He responds ‘sure, take it all. What do I care?’ So all goes well, Not! Benhadad says ‘one more thing, tomorrow my men will come and inspect your stuff, if they see anything else of value, they taking that too!’ So Ahab consults with his men, he tells them the situation and they decide to reject the final offer. The fight is on. Notice how the Lord sends Ahab true prophets who give him guidance along the way, it’s like the Lord was willing to allow Ahab some time to get things right. The false prophets are dead, Elijah rebuilt the altar, who knows, maybe God was giving Ahab a real chance at reform. So Ahab does okay, he has a few battles with Syria, and at the end he LETS THE WICKED ENEMY GO! God rebukes him for this thru a prophet. God basically says ‘look, I gave you a second chance. I had a task for you, your job was to recognize and eliminate the threats to my people’ what happened? I have noticed thru the years that leaders, good men, will often fall into mindsets that say ‘well, after all our goal is to succeed and be happy. Have good church attendance, good income. Why even bother dealing with stuff that’s wrong?’ There are times in church history where God is looking for reformers, men and women who are willing to take a stand and say ‘enough, this stuff has be going on for too long, we will have no more of it’ [doctrines and stuff that lead Gods people astray]. It seems as if Ahab was living for the day, willing to let the wicked king live another day. After all, what harm can it do? He disobeyed God, he was given a mandate to execute justice, he didn’t. God chose him to complete the task, not just survive. Ahab blew it big time. [parts] Mark 2 [North Bergen] POSTED BY CCOUTREACH87 ⋅ MARCH 2, 2017 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT WEDNESDAY 3-1-17 Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. https://youtu.be/_SRevM8Tcs4 MARK 2 https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/3-1-17-mark-2-north-bergen.zip https://youtu.be/4S5YHb2hea8 BURGER KING [Glenn] https://youtu.be/mij6WkuCllE MONKEY WITH 3 TAILS [Rick] ON VIDEO [Mark 2]- .91st. st. to park [Fairview- North Bergen] .Who can forgive sins but God? .Man healed .Why was Jesus with sinners? .Culture shock .New Wine [and skins] .Don’t pick the corn .Don’t you remember what David did? .The Sabbath was made for man- not the other way around .David and his men a type of Jesus and his men NEW- I taught on the first video [Mark 2] and spent a few hours with some of my friends. Glenn is homeless- and we have had some good talks. I share a little of his story on the short videos. On the teaching video I’ll try and add my past teaching on this chapter. I haven’t done a commentary on Mark’s gospel- and when I get back to Texas I might pick up on where I left off and make a complete study out of it. When I left the guys I thought of possibly doing a NYC video at midnight type of a thing- I’ve done those before- and you can see how the streets are always crowded in the ‘city that never sleeps’. But I’ll put that off for now. On today’s post/video I walked past the spot where I made some of my first teaching videos- in 2014- below are those videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSwvNQlFyuY %5BNorth Bergen- 2014] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SxYy2p1OX4 %5BNorth Bergen- 2014] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4VF0gOYw_k %5BNorth Bergen- 2015] PAST TEACHING- [verses below] Jesus talks about the story of king David found in Samuel- I taught that chapter before- 1st Samuel 21- here’s the link to my study [below I’ll paste the text to my commentary on the chapter] https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-samuel/ I mentioned these bible books on today’s video [Mark 2]- here are my studies on them- https://ccoutreach87.com/john-complete-links-added/ https://ccoutreach87.com/james-2015/ (905)SAMUEL 21- David is fleeing from Saul and he goes to the priest at Nob. The priest wonders what’s up. David tells him he is on a special assignment from the king and he and his men need food. The priest tells him the only food available is the consecrated bread that is only for God and the priesthood. David convinces the priest to let them eat and David asks ‘do you have any weapons here’. The priest says ‘I have the sword you used to kill the giant’ David says ‘great, that will work just fine’. Jesus used this story to describe himself and the disciples [Mark 2]. One day Jesus and the disciples were going thru the grain fields and the disciples picked the grain and ate it on the Sabbath. The Pharisees said ‘your disciples are breaking Gods law by picking it on the Sabbath’. Now, to be honest they were breaking the over extended ideas that the religious Pharisees came up with thru their legalism. But Jesus still used this example as a defense. He says ‘have you not read what David and his men did? They ate the ceremonial showbread that was not lawful, only the priests could eat it’. David and his men are a symbol of Jesus and his men. While it is true that the bread was only lawful for the priests, David is a king/priest who gets away with doing ‘priestly things’ because of his picture of Christ. Scripture says he put on an ephod [priestly garment] which only priests could do. David functioned before the open Ark in Jerusalem. He did things that other kings were punished for [Saul, Uzziah]. Jesus in essence was saying to the Pharisees ‘I am the new priest/king from which all future law and worship will be measured by. Me and my followers are not under the law, the law serves us’! In Christ we are free from the guilt of the law, we live above legalism and follow the master. David and his men were acting like priests and kings contrary to the economy of their day. David was a type of Jesus whose future priestly ministry would ‘out trump’ the law. [parts] https://youtu.be/psCMQgX_7v4 Samuel 21 https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/10-6-16-samuel-21.zip ON VIDEO- [Yes- I ‘Backslid’. I promised no more political stuff- but for the first 20 minutes of the video- I get into it. The last 10 minutes I do teach- and have some new notes below on that. I made this video a few days ago- before the latest ‘controversies’- the Hillary WikiLeaks and the Trump video. It really makes no difference- I’m simply dealing with media bias. Trying to show how the media decides what to focus on. Yet- the real important issues of our time are put on the back burner- and we do politics like a sport]. .Debates .Media bias .Clinton Foundation .Why no taxes? .Clintons health is a real issue .Why is she off the trail? .How did the Clintons get rich? .What about the server? .Why did CNN fire the doctor? .Google even manipulated the search results .Russia .Abortion .The sword came back NEW- David is on the run from King Saul. He shows up at the house of God and asks the priest for food. The priest is nervous- David is alone [not a full military back up] and something just doesn’t seem right. David assures the priest ‘look- I’m on a special mission for the king- it’s so secret I left quickly- didn’t even have time to take food or weapons’. Wow- this must be some mission? How about some lie. Yes- David is good at lots of stuff- and he lied great here. So- the priest gives David and his few men the Holy bread- which is only for the priests. Now- David is not from the priestly tribe- Levi- but from Judah. Ok- David takes the food and asks ‘do you have any weapons’? The priest says ‘only the sword- I mean it’s wrapped up in the back- we treat the thing like it’s holy’. Yes- the sword David used to cut the giants head off. I think David must have felt a little remorse here. The whole nation had that sword as a memento of David’s great victory over Goliath. He used the sword only one time- the day he cut the giants head off. After all- it was the giant’s sword. Now- he’s on the run from Saul- already made up some great lies- and the priest gives him the weapon he used in the past. When he trusted in the living God- against all odds- and was a righteous warrior. David takes the sword- goes to the Philistines- Huh? Yes- he flees to the enemy camp- and the king of Gath says ‘why did you bring this guy to me- isn’t he David the great warrior who killed us in the past’. Now- David seems to have been trying to get a job- you know- as a mercenary. He couldn’t fight for Saul-and that’s his greatest paying skill. But when the philistines recognize him- Well- what do you think David did? Maybe yelled out ‘yes- I’m the one who took the giants head off- and I still come to you in the name of the living God- and…’ Yeah- did he do that John? Well actually not. Instead- he started drooling at the mouth- and scribbling on the doors- you know- like he was nuts. ‘John- you shouldn’t joke about stuff like that’. I’m not! Go read it [below]. Yes- the great man after ‘God’s own heart’ was so afraid- he pretended he was nuts- and yes- the scheme worked- The king says ‘this guy’s not David- that great man of honor- he’s a nut’! Ahh- we see what fear can do to a man- even a great man. Yes- David is in a tough spot- His own king- Saul- is out to get him. His only option was to go work for the enemy- At least that’s what he thought. And then he not only acted like a nut- He lied to the priest too. He ate the bread that Jesus himself said was only for the priests 25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? 26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? Jesus. And he schemed his way into a corner. Does anything good come out of this at all? Yes- Jesus used this story- when defending himself and his disciples when they were accused of violating the law. 23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. 24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? 25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? 26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? 27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. And Jesus- who too was from the tribe of Judah- Superseded the Old Covenant law- He never broke it- but he ushered in a better covenant. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. Hebrews So David- on his bad day- actually glorified Jesus on his good day. And even in his failure- gave Jesus one of the greatest stories he could use to show his superiority over the Levitical priests. Yes- that Jesus and his men- just like David and his- did indeed have the right to do what they did. Because they were from a better tribe- The one that our Lord ‘sprang from’. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. Heb. 7:14 Amen. [this is a chapter from one of my little books- talked about wineskins] CHAPTER 8 ARE CHURCH BUILDINGS EVIL? [OR THE GUY WHO WANTED TO CAST DEMONS OUT OF ME!] Many years ago before I really understood the truths of ecclesia and the communal aspect of the church, I was introduced to the belief that the ‘church building’ itself was wrong. I don’t personally adhere to this belief, but let me share the story. While ministering as a new believer in Christ and learning ‘the ropes’ of ministry, I remember driving past a brother who was a street minister from Mexico. It was unusual in the way he was conducting his street meetings. He would get permission to use an empty lot and then set up actual church pews in the lot without walls or any type of cover over it [even if it rained!]. Well one day on my daily rounds of visiting people and witnessing for Jesus [because this is what ministers are supposed to do, right?] I stopped by this brother’s lot and figured I would bless him with some lunch and listen to him preach [I felt sorry for the brother because no one else was attending his meetings]. After he spoke I had a chance to fellowship with him. After hearing his thoughts I realized it was on purpose for him to have no walls or cover over the pews [these were actual church pews that were out there in the open!]. He shared with me the verse in Hebrews [13:10] where it says that those who worship at the sanctuary have no right to partake of the altar of Christ [the cross]. He saw this as meaning that all Christians who meet in buildings [the sanctuary] were lost! Well, even as a young believer in the lord I was smart enough to know that this verse had nothing to do with ‘church buildings’. I showed the brother that in context the verse simply meant that those Jews [remember who the book of Hebrews was written to] who were not willing to leave the old covenant system [the sanctuary] could not move on with the new covenant truth of Christ and his cross. The sanctuary represented the whole concept of law and Judaism. This verse had nothing to do about the inherent nature of church buildings! Buildings themselves are neutral ground; it’s the style of one person functioning [the pastor] at the expense of the rest of the body that I see as less than ideal. Well after seeing the obvious error of the way this brother was reading this verse, I began to ‘expound unto him the way of God more perfectly’. When he finally understood what I was saying [you could tell by the look in his eyes that he saw the truth] instead of repenting of his distorted view, he became irate and began to cast demons out of me [hey, I didn’t think there were any in me!]. The reason I share this example is because there are those in the house church movement, while not as extreme, seem to view the church building itself as an evil thing. My personal view is the church building can become a hindrance when we view it as part of a system that makes up ‘church’. We seem to see the whole concept of the church building and the pastor as the weekly speaker and all the other things associated around this structure [like tithing to the storehouse] as ‘the system’ that God instituted to carry out his work in the earth. Remember Gods inherent authority resides in no human system or mode of religious worship. His authority resides in the church, the actual people of God in any given community on earth. So if there are believers carrying out Gods purpose, whether they have the whole system that we deem ‘local church’ or not, is irrelevant. Remember what we said about Jesus and the 1st century religious mind? They were finding fault with Jesus and his disciples because they were not following the religious protocol of the day. When we embrace certain mindsets that see ‘local church’ as the limited system of Sunday worship and all the other usual things associated with it, what we’re unconsciously doing is vesting authority in a style, or form of religious worship while by-passing the true legitimacy of Gods people. Its not to say that Gods people who function in the whole system of Sunday church are illegitimate [that would be making the same mistake as the brother who wanted to cast the demons out of me!] but this shows us how we unconsciously make the same mistake as the 1st century Pharisee by seeing as illegitimate those who don’t follow certain protocols. It was a common thing during the 90’s to speak about the ‘changing of the wineskin’ in order to receive the new wine [the new move of God]. Many of theses thoughts were helpful in causing us to re-think the way we ‘do’ church. I also remember a common theme being ‘God wants to pour out his Spirit, but the wineskins are not ready’ in some of these examples the ministers actually meant that we don’t have big enough buildings to put all these new converts so God is ‘withholding the new wine until the new buildings go up’. At this point you should begin seeing how once again this is confusing the reality of Christian community with ‘the church building’. I find it interesting that the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost was not delayed because of the lack of facilities to put all the new converts in. Also the great missionary journeys of Paul were not delayed ‘until the new wineskins were in place’. This shows us how we’ve come to view the people of God as being dependent on the present system. Could it be that God withholds His Spirit because the ‘new wineskin’ could refer more to believers seeing themselves as the actual church that God wants to fill? If we are not rightly discerning Christ’s community as a self-sustaining society of people then the church really isn’t able to contain the new wine. If we are so limited in our thinking to view the new wineskin as larger facilities, as opposed to a rethinking of what it means to truly be Christ’s body, then maybe the holdup has more to do with a change in the way we view ‘church’ then it has to do with bigger church buildings! CHAPTER 9 WHAT IN THE WORLD IS ‘THE LOCAL CHURCH’? Growing up as a catholic boy [though not a good one] I remember when I came to know the lord I started reading through the bible and found how the bible contradicted many of the religious beliefs I held to as a boy [this is not to say Catholics are not Christian]. Later while attending a good Baptist church I naively believed that good Baptists must have it right because they do read the bible![parts] Here’s the whole book- https://ccoutreach87.com/further-talks-on-church-and-ministry/ [parts] There were Jews at the time of the first century who tried to ‘get along’ with Rome- and with the person in charge of their region [one of the sons of Herod the Great at the time of Christ]. These are referred to as Herodian’s in the bible. Some wanted a revolution to rid Rome from Jerusalem- these were the Zealots [one of Jesus disciples was in this group]. Some thought if they returned to a legalistic obeisance of the law- that this would bring in a deliverer- like the stories we read about in the Old testament- these were the Pharisees. And some took more of a political compromise- these were the Sadducees. Eventually a war with Rome would be fought [By the way- Josephus- the famous 1st century historian- fought on the side of the Jews in the war- and after Jerusalem was sacked in A.D. 70- he went to Rome and wrote his great works- thinking he would make a case for the Jewish people with the Romans. This is why we have his works today- which are very valuable to scholars]. NOTE- In time I’ll try and cover how we ‘got our bibles’ [called the Canon- meaning Rule/ Measurement]. Frankly- there is a lot of confusion in the general public about conspiracies [like the Catholic Church had some type of plot to keep certain books out]. Or stories about how the Church taught Mary Magdalene was a prostitute so they could discredit her. Actually- we read in the gospels that Jesus cast out ‘spirits’ from a woman who was probably living this type of life- And Jesus had a ministry to the down and out- it is indeed possible that Mary was one of these women- And if true- it would not demean her in any way- That’s how this tradition more than likely developed- But- we don’t know for sure. So a few years back the Church officially said ‘we don’t know’. Ok- Plot? [parts] Ok- the ruling empire at the time of Christ was Rome- just prior to the appearance of Jesus- the Roman Emperor- Caesar Augustus- consolidated the Roman Empire under his rule- Rome was ruled by a senate- some famous names from history were in it- Cicero being one. Caesar Augustus was the nephew of Julius Caesar- his real name was Octavian [Octavius]. After the death of Julius Caesar- there were some power struggles that took place- between some other famous people. Marc Antony being one of them [Cleopatra too- he was in love with the girl for sure]. Now- we read about Augustus in the New Testament- and we read in the book of Revelation about the Mark of the Beast- and that those who don’t worship- give homage to the Beast- they will be killed. So- Many Christians would be killed because they would refuse to give homage to Caesar Augustus [meaning son of the Divine]. ‘Wow- how did he get a name like that’ [there was more than one Caesar by the way- as well as more than one Herod- who did play a part in these power struggles- it can get confusing- even to me]. When Octavian defeated Marc Antony at Actium [32 BC]. Herod [The Great] had a problem- he had previously sided with Antony and found himself on the losing side. Yet he was smart- did some ‘brown nosing’ as we say-and patched things up. Herod had 3 sons- who would eventually take positions of authority in the Roman government at the time of Christ. Herod Antipas was over the region that we read about in the New Testament where Jesus did most of his ministry- Galilee. Ok- Octavian claimed deity because of a heavenly sign associated with his rise to power- and this is how he became called ‘Caesar Augustus’. He sort of saw himself as a ‘re-incarnate’- of his great uncle Julius Caesar. ‘John- what in the heck does this have to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls’. Ok- good question. The Jews had various responses to the empires that ruled over them during various times. Alexander the Great instituted Hellenization- a sort of cultural compromise over the people he conquered. They could keep their religious/cultural roots- but would be subservient to Alexander and Greek rule. Some Jewish people rejected any compromise- we call them the Essenes- they moved out of town- so to speak, and lived in what we refer to as the Qumran community. This was a few centuries before the time of Christ- and this was where the Dead Seas Scrolls were found in the 20th century. A Bedouin boy was looking for his goats- threw a rock in a cave right off the Dead Sea- and that’s how we found the scrolls. The scrolls might have been hidden there by the Essenes- Now- when my friends asked me about them- I told them that it’s been a while since I read up on any of this- but to the best of my memory the thing that made them significant was the fact that they were very old manuscripts- from the bible- and they backed up what we had had all along. I did read up this week- and basically had it right. The earliest Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament we had previously dated back to around 900- 1000 A.D. These manuscripts went back about 1000 years earlier- and they contained portions from almost every book of the Old testament- and some complete books. The only book missing was Esther. So- this was indeed a very significant find for scholars. But the Scrolls also contain some of the writings from the Essenes themselves- things we never had before- so this too was significant. There were Jews at the time of the first century who tried to ‘get along’ with Rome- and with the person in charge of their region [one of the sons of Herod the Great at the time of Christ]. These are referred to as Herodian’s in the bible. Some wanted a revolution to rid Rome from Jerusalem- these were the Zealots [one of Jesus disciples was in this group]. Some thought if they returned to a legalistic obeisance of the law- that this would bring in a deliverer- like the stories we read about in the Old testament- these were the Pharisees. And some took more of a political compromise- these were the Sadducees. Eventually a war with Rome would be fought [By the way- Josephus- the famous 1st century historian- fought on the side of the Jews in the war- and after Jerusalem was sacked in A.D. 70- he went to Rome and wrote his great works- thinking he would make a case for the Jewish people with the Romans. This is why we have his works today- which are very valuable to scholars]. NOTE- In time I’ll try and cover how we ‘got our bibles’ [called the Canon- meaning Rule/ Measurement]. Frankly- there is a lot of confusion in the general public about conspiracies [like the Catholic Church had some type of plot to keep certain books out]. Or stories about how the Church taught Mary Magdalene was a prostitute so they could discredit her. Actually- we read in the gospels that Jesus cast out ‘spirits’ from a woman who was probably living this type of life- And Jesus had a ministry to the down and out- it is indeed possible that Mary was one of these women- And if true- it would not demean her in any way- That’s how this tradition more than likely developed- But- we don’t know for sure. So a few years back the Church officially said ‘we don’t know’. Ok- Plot? No- just being careful. So there are other misguided beliefs like this- that sincere people have- and over time I hope to get to them. I’ll do one more in keeping with this post. I mentioned above that Caesar Augustus did indeed take the title of ‘son of God’. And some critics of the Church say ‘see- there were all types of religions that had Sons of God’. I watched one show a few years back- and it stated that these religions had ’12 disciples- a leader named Lord and Savior- and he healed and claimed to be God’s Son- and rose from the dead’. Ok- that show was ‘fibbing’ to put it lightly- they went too far [historically speaking] in trying to diminish the Christians claim of Christ by doing this. Now- is there some truth to this at all? Yes- like I just mentioned above- Octavian did indeed claim deity- a ‘son of god’. So- how do we explain this? In the book of Galatians the bible says ‘in the FULLNESS of times God sent forth his Son’. Jesus came at a set time in history- in fulfilment of the Jewish Prophets- to be who he was- and to do what he did. Now- this is not special pleading here- but I find it a masterpiece that God’s Son came at a time when the Roman Empire had one sitting on the throne- who too claimed deity. Yet Jesus was in a region of the lower class- his men were not highly educated- and his followers were people under oppression. Augustus lived in the wealthy and influential capital of ‘the world’- he had all you could ever ask for- he was worshiped as a god. Yet in 3 short centuries- one of the heirs of the empire- Constantine- would have an experience – not with a former Caesar- but with a vison of a Cross- He would convert to Christianity- and declare Christianity to be the religion of the realm. VERSES- Mark 2:1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. Mark 2:2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. Mark 2:3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. Mark 2:4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. Mark 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Mark 2:6 But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Mark 2:7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? Mark 2:8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Mark 2:9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? Mark 2:10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) Mark 2:11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. Mark 2:12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion. Mark 2:13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. Mark 2:14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. Mark 2:15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. Mark 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Mark 2:18 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? Mark 2:19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. Mark 2:20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. Mark 2:21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. Mark 2:22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. Mark 2:23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. Mark 2:24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? Mark 2:25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? Mark 2:26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Mark 2:28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. 1Samuel 21:1 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? 1Samuel 21:2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. 1Samuel 21:3 Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present. 1Samuel 21:4 And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. 1Samuel 21:5 And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. 1Samuel 21:6 So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. 1Samuel 21:7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. 1Samuel 21:8 And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste. 1Samuel 21:9 And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me. 1Samuel 21:10 And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 1Samuel 21:11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 1Samuel 21:12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 1Samuel 21:13 And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. 1Samuel 21:14 Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? 1Samuel 21:15 Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house? ________________________________________ 13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. James 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. John 20 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Matt. http://www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5?ref=bookmarks https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ4GsqTEVWRm0HxQTLsifvg

https://plus.google.com/108013627259688810902/posts https://vimeo.com/user37400385 john chiarello

VERSES [These are the verses I taught or quoted on the video- Kings 20- Links to all my sites below] Isaiah 33:20 Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

1Kings 20:1 And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. 1Kings 20:2 And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Benhadad, 1Kings 20:3 Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. 1Kings 20:4 And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have. 1Kings 20:5 And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children; 1Kings 20:6 Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away. 1Kings 20:7 Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not. 1Kings 20:8 And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent. 1Kings 20:9 Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again. 1Kings 20:10 And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. 1Kings 20:11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off. 1Kings 20:12 And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city. 1Kings 20:13 And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 1Kings 20:14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. 1Kings 20:15 Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand. 1Kings 20:16 And they went out at noon. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him. 1Kings 20:17 And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Benhadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria. 1Kings 20:18 And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive. 1Kings 20:19 So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them. 1Kings 20:20 And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen. 1Kings 20:21 And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter. 1Kings 20:22 And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. 1Kings 20:23 And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. 1Kings 20:24 And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms: 1Kings 20:25 And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so. 1Kings 20:26 And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Benhadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel. 1Kings 20:27 And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country. 1Kings 20:28 And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 1Kings 20:29 And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day. 1Kings 20:30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Benhadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber. 1Kings 20:31 And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life. 1Kings 20:32 So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother. 1Kings 20:33 Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Benhadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Benhadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. 1Kings 20:34 And Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away. 1Kings 20:35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him. 1Kings 20:36 Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him. 1Kings 20:37 Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him. 1Kings 20:38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face. 1Kings 20:39 And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver. 1Kings 20:40 And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it. 1Kings 20:41 And he hasted, and took the ashes away from his face; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets. 1Kings 20:42 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people. 1Kings 20:43 And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.

“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Luke 14:31 Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations 1 Peter 5:8 [Full Chapter] Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

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[allbeendonebefore]

What are your headcanons for British Columbia?

ok so disclaimer here is that i’m a fake british columbian even though i kind of sort of live there, i live on the island and the majority of my bc friends are from the coast and not the interior so most of what i can say about the interior is ‘i have driven through it a lot’ but i’ll do my best.

- on that subject bc is like… layers of depth that most people don’t see. lots of people just brush her off as a flaky ditz who is never paying attention to the rest of the country but i seriously feel she’s got a lot of Depth and a lot of spiky barbed inner monologues. She’s really geographically and emotionally impenetrable and doesn’t really let you in on what she is thinking or will do something unpredictable.

- like i don’t think people really get how contradictory bc is? its a climate of extremes that has a reputation for being mellow, its a place that is “liberal” where the Liberals are in reality worse than the alberta pcs (LOL WHAT AN ELECTION I TELL YOU), it’s a place that’s one of the resource-richest provinces in the country that makes it impossible for its own citizens to afford… etc. I think a lot about things like this when I think about how her personality works- she’s not necessarily finicky, she’s layered.

- bc has a reputation for being different than the rest of canada and its absolutely true. like as the second most western province we still tend to think of ab/sk and maybe mb depending on our mood as ‘western canada’ and bc as ‘and bc’. She’s the sort of person who Always goes her own way and makes her decisions on her own, she’s more outward looking than the others for sure.

- worst driver. Hands down. Terrible. everyone blames AB for it but it’s her, the only thing ralphie is worse at is parking. 

- if she can’t see the mountains she feels naked and exposed and can’t stay too far out of sight of the mountains or she goes Nuts

- she probably lives in a relatively modern and expensive house- everything is immaculate, she has a lot of interesting artefacts and souvenirs around her house, her garden is manicured and perfect and everything smells like cedar but it also gives you the distinct impression that no one actually lives there. Looks more like a gallery because she’s trying to support local (esp indigenous) artists. no basement. cute car port and shed rather than a garage.

- she finds emotional attachments really Difficult. like it’s just genuinely hard to tell whether she likes you or not because she can be kind of backhanded or condescending even when she’s expressing genuine fondness. She makes a huge deal about being a romantic place but doesn’t really fall for anyone easily, either she gets bored or she doesn’t want to lose a friendship or w/e

- like for someone who makes a big deal about being compassionate for animals and nature she really doesn’t feel that much compassion for people- or rather, when she does it’s not easy for her to express to them

- There’s an ongoing joke that BC stands for “Bring Cash” and its absolutely true. If you want a chance with her/to impress her you have to spend like you mean it. Its not that she’s high mainten- yes she is definitely high maintenance

- Makes a big deal out of being interesting and fun but when she’s at home alone she just sits around in her underwear under a huge pile of blankets/a snuggie and watches the Beachcombers. possibly while high.

- ‘is this matcha’ ‘does it have matcha in it’ [pouring sugar in her tea] ‘matcha is like… sooo good for you… i don’t even [pouring milk and honey in her tea] like this is just so refreshing you know [more sugar]

- you know that scene in scott pilgrim where ramona reads out her entire tea cupboard to him and some of them sound made up, that’s bc. come to think of it she really is a manic pixie dream girl but one who is merciless and apathetic and could probably easily wreck you

- tea snob, the sort of person who is like ‘coffee is like so bad for you it stresses you out man’ but also a coffee snob who can’t wake up in the morning without it so its a lose-lose situation for you

- definitely volunteered with greenpeace in the 70s lol

- ‘ya i live in vancouver’ - actually lives in like PoCoMo or whatever

- once called the spoiled child of confederation and she hasn’t let that go, she probably has it embossed on a trophy somewhere in her giant collection of trophies that she has on display in the fame gua of her perfect feng shui living room

- she only makes a big deal out of ‘canadian’ things when it makes her money, she actually feels very cut off from the rest of the country but will Always appear immediately when there is a competition of any kind because she’s The Best.

- grew up extremely fast. in my mind she represents ‘ (lower) mainland bc’ while the island i represent with victoria as shorthand- they had to move in together to save money and both of them really dragged their feet about it. She’s still kind of wary about the island ditching for independence again but doesn’t REALLY take it seriously. Is the youngest of the provinces but does her best not to act like it.

- actually super confrontational like she will be doing yoga on a rock as the tide is coming in and be One With The Universe and you could be walking past her and say ‘actually vancouver’s kind of overrated’ and she will dive in the ocean and rise out of the water covered in sea onions and seaweed and barnacles like a horror movie and be like “wHaT dId YoU SaY AbOuT mE!”

- exactly the sort of person to get a tattoo in another language that vaguely is correct but actually grammatically Off like… you grow up with people like Amor de Cosmos and this is what you get

- not actually gluten or lactose intolerant, just likes being morally superior (’and like… almond milk just tastes better yknow more wholesome’)

- that person who always ends up with people mooching off her or crashing at her place- she doesn’t actually mind too much, she’s just frustrated that people only seem to come bother her when it’s convenient for them. But she doesn’t like to admit when she’s feeling lonely so i mean… xD

- also really into ghosts and spooky things. she goes along with bert/yk to hunt sasquatsch and externally rolls her eyes the whole time but tbh she has honestly seen sasquatsch like 10 times and has all the blurry photos to prove it. Same with ogopogo. 

- goes into woowoo new age stores and spends hours looking at tarot decks and crystals and incense. judges you based on your astrological signs.

- has proposed moving in with kate like 3 times but gets rejected every time lmao

- firm believer that tea solves everything. emotionally compromised? hot leaf juice. emotionally compromised during summer? cold leaf juice. eat an entire fruit. eat ten fruits. decorate with kale. eat the decorative kale. got herbs? make rosemary tea. stain all your dishes yellow and make turmeric tea. literally down an entire jar of capers, idgaf. 

- she likes to make her backpack as heavy as she can, blast her own music so everyone can hear it, then schlep it all up a mountain. set everything down and turn it off, sit high up and alone with her little hibachi grill and eat salmon, watch the ravens. paint something on a giant leaf. smoke a joint. look at the ocean. whatever. 

- i think exercise is her replacement for emotionally connecting with people. she rides her bike white knuckled through the rain up a hill and loses feeling in her fingers and zooms back down. Pushes herself to adrenaline rush, always trying to get better, better. 

- i say a lot about her not really connecting with people but at the same time shes the sort of person that… when you’re in crisis mode and you’re under a literal or a figurative avalanche, she will spot you, grab you and pull you straight up out of it with one arm by the scruff of your neck. She’s actually really generous at heart but has just become kind of closed off after being taken advantage of too many times. Will take you home and dry you off and make a big meal for you and wait for you to tell her what’s wrong.

- I don’t know if she actually owns a boat-boat, but definitely kayaks a lot. long boards. surfs.  

- hates BC ferries with an unholy passion, like… that’s a way to trigger a rant right there

- slaps I

- her low tolerance for cold is exaggerated. her high tolerance for cold + wet should be Feared. 

- has her hidden rednecky side. makes a big deal out of being vegan and w/e but does go hunting and dirt biking once in a while, knows her way around a stick shift etc. Dunno if she really drives that much - probably has invested in electric cars before but kind of dissatisfied with how much she can actually do with them re: steep hills, roadtrips, etc. 

- has had to deal with a lot of paranoia, racism, etc in the past that she struggles to reconcile. really learning to take pride in herself again, i think she’s chinese/british, yeah but there’s also some first nations heritage too that factors into her mixed identity. 

- in official positions she might skip french and go straight to mandarin/canto if the job is bilingual, not that she doesnt like french she just Forgets xD. 

i feel like i’ve been talking all day so i’ll stop there but feel free to ask for elaboration or something i guess

[wayneooverton]

10 spots you can’t miss on Iceland’s South Coast

I’m Lisa from The Wandering Lens and I’m an Iceland addict.

If you could have a wish list of natural wonders to visit in your lifetime, you may well find them all located along Iceland’s South Coast.

From waterfalls to glaciers, volcanoes and rugged coastlines, Iceland is on everyone’s bucket list for a reason.

It’s spectacular.

Iceland has become one of the most popular places to visit and thanks to the increase in flights from the US, UK and Europe, it’s super easy to access provided the weather is playing in your favor.

The Do’s and Don’ts of an Iceland Road Trip

The wild conditions of this island nation can be unpredictable and like nothing you’ve ever seen before, but they’re usually followed by gorgeous light and a little magic. It’s a country where one minute can be a total blizzardy whiteout and the next rainbows or sparkling aurora.

Having visited Iceland three times now to compile content for my guide to Iceland’s Best Photography Locations, the first thing I recommend to anyone planning a trip there is this. Hire a car. Having wheels will allow you to see so much more and experience a real adventure as you cruise past epic scenery and stop whenever you like.

So, lets move on to the good stuff! Here are my picks for ten spots you can’t miss along the Iceland South Coast.

1. Seljalandfoss + Gljúfrabúi Waterfalls

As one of the first major natural beauties you’ll come across on the drive from Reykjavik, Seljalansfoss is one of the highlights on a trip to Iceland. At over 60m in height, the waterfall drops over a giant cave which you can walk behind in the right conditions and feel the intensity and power up close.  

As one of a series of waterfalls connected by a little walking path, if you stop here you need to wander to the left and see the others. At the end you may start to see people returning a little drenched and that’s because they’ve found Gljúfrabúi. Gljúfrabúi is hidden in a cylinder-live cave of mist which you can access by walking upstream into it’s watery lair.

Be sure to take a raincoat and waterproof camera because it’s well worth getting completely soaked to experience what it’s like inside the cave.

2. Skogafoss Waterfall

Rumored to be guarding treasure beneath its cascading veil, Skogafoss is my favorite of all the waterfalls in Iceland. There’s something so simple yet stunning about it’s formation, falling perfectly off the cliff which was once the coast of Iceland.

Skogafoss at sunrise, midday, sunset and under star filled skies is worth visiting but to avoid the crowds aim for either earlier or later. As an easy to access location it’s a hot spot for tour coaches on day trips so can fill up very quickly during the day.

One thing you need to do here is capture that classic shot standing beneath Skogafoss (see below) and then climb the 500+ stairs to a platform above. After your legs have recovered from the climb you can look down over the edge and watch as the thundering water tumbles down from the Skógá River.

3. Reynisfjara Beach

Where the rough seas of the northern Atlantic crash onto black volcanic shores. Reynisfjara Beach is one of the most photogenic along the south coast. The major drawcard here are the giant basalt cliffs stacked high on the shores and wrapping around the headland into Hálsanefshellir Cave.

While it may look photo worthy, and by all means it is, you need to be really weary of the sea on this beach. When you arrive, take a few moments just to watch as the monster waves creep up then appear to flip on top of themselves, doubling in size just before they crash against the sand. You’ll no doubt see at least one unsuspecting tourist get a little wetter than intended as it’s very dangerous to get too close to the water.

How not to blow all your money traveling in Iceland

On the other end of the beach you’ll find the Dyrhólaey Lighthouse which is another popular stop for people hoping to capture the immense scale of the beaches below. Accessing the lighthouse is actually by another road entirely though. Take Dyrhólavegur Rd to access the headland looking down over Reynisfjara Beach and also drive up to the lighthouse.

Sunrise overlooking Reynisjara is an incredible sight to witness!

4. Lómagnúpur

On the drive between Vik and Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon you’ll pass the mighty Lómagnúpur mountain. Sticking out with it’s steep ascent and rocky cliffs above the ring road, it’s worth stopping here for a picnic lunch to gaze at it’s glory.

If driving from Vik, there’s a small dirt track that leads from the ring road and there’s enough space for 2 or 3 cars to park and enjoy the area. There’s usually a very shallow pond that works perfectly for reflection photos due to it’s volcanic sand base.

The mountain is just under 700m tall and differs in appearance depending on whether you’re driving from east or west. You’ll find giant boulders scattered in the immediate area around the base of Mount Lómagnúpur, a little reminder that one can come crashing down at any moment!

5. Fjallsárlón Glacial Lagoon

While most people will keep driving straight for Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, there’s another beauty hidden barely 10km away.

The Fjallsárlón Glacial Lagoon is an impressive sight to witness. Walking up from the carpark you’ve got no idea what lies over the hill until you suddenly see the icebergs and giant glacier tongue appear. You can get up a little closer to the glacier here than at Jokulsarlon and it appears as though the glacier is rolling down the hill towards you, it’s an awe inspiring natural landscape!

6. Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon

There’s so many words that can be used to describe the beauty on display at Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. With the mighty Breiðamerkurjökull outlet glacier looming in the distance, it’s filled with chunky icebergs as they break off and float out to sea.

Arriving to Jokulsarlon is one of those jaw dropping moments where you’ll probably be a little lost for words. Or just be like me and repeat the word ‘wow’ over and over until someone slaps you.

Experiencing the magic of Jokulsarlon is one of the highlights of any trip to Iceland, regardless of the season you visit. In fact, when I visit, I opt to spend at least two to three days in the area just so I can spend as much time around the lagoon as possible.

You’ll find icebergs floating in the lagoon year-round and in summer it’s possible to take a boat ride and get up close to them. In the cooler months it’s a great place to wait in the darkness for aurora to dance above, or to just watch as seals play or get some sun while lying on the ice.

7. Diamond Beach

Just across the bridge from the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon is Diamond Beach. As the spot where all of those floating icebergs end up after being washed back to shore, it’s not hard to see how it got its name. At sunrise Diamond Beach is a photography hotspot with people arriving early to secure an iceberg to capture as the sun rises above the horizon.

It’s possible to arrive and there be no icebergs on the beach, it’s really up to nature and depends on how rough the seas are.

8. Vatnajokull Glacier

As Europe’s third largest glacier, Vatnajokull Glacier is immense in size. From the main ring road of Iceland you won’t see even 5% of it, in fact you’ll simply see the very edge as it crawls down the hill like frozen fingers.

In the winter months from roughly late November to early March, you can explore within the glacier into the ice caves beneath. Have a read of my post ‘Photographing Inside an Ice Cave of Vatnajokull Glacier’ for a series of photos and more details about caving.

Everything you need to know about visiting Iceland in winter

You’ll need to book a tour for this because the caves can collapse at any moment, but a local guide will know where and when to go for the best experience. Standing in a cave beneath ice that’s formed over centuries is a totally surreal experience. A little like what I imagine standing inside a beautiful freezer would look like…minus the ice cream.

9. Svínafellsjökull

Another one of Vatnajokull’s glacier tongues, Svínafellsjökull allows you to get up nice and close to see the cracks, crevices and colours of a glacier without needing hiking gear and crampons.

There’s a dirt road that leads toward the glacier from the ring road just after the turn to Skaftafell. It takes roughly five minutes to drive to the parking area due to some pretty giant pot holes but once you’re there, the glacier is staring right at you.

10. Stokksnes

Landscape photographers and horse riders flock to this beach that lies in a section of quiet coastline after the fishing town of Hofn.

With sharp ridges rising up from the ocean as waves roll in to black sandy shores, the scenery here is like stepping into a movie set. It’s dramatic, rugged and wild, all the good things about Iceland rolled into one location.

On the drive out to Stokksnes you’ll pass Iceland horses in paddocks so be sure to stop the car and meet them. The Icelandic horses are known for their friendliness and also their very stylish manes which look like they’ve all been to the salon for a little do.

To access the beach at Stokksnes you’ll need to pop in at the Viking Café and pay an entry fee which on my last visit was ISK 800. This fee goes towards upkeep of the private road, which in my opinion is well worth paying to access such an incredibly beautiful pocket of Icelandic magic.

If you’ve been to Iceland and have somewhere to add to the list, feel free to do so in the comments below and share your secret spot!

The post 10 spots you can’t miss on Iceland’s South Coast appeared first on Young Adventuress.

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[gossipnetwork-blog]

Are Weed Vape Pens Safe?

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/are-weed-vape-pens-safe/

Are Weed Vape Pens Safe?

In early 2014, I got my first weed-oil vape pen. It was elegant and silver, with a rechargeable battery that screwed into a transparent cartridge filled with amber-colored marijuana concentrate. I had never liked the feeling of vaporizing actual pot – it wasn’t strong enough, and usually just left me lightheaded – but an oil cartridge attached to an electronic cigarette was different. Each hit got me just as stoned as a puff off a joint, with none of the smoke. It was like a revelation.

I had tried marijuana concentrates before – a year before I got the pen, I “dabbed” some hash oil and got so messed up that I had to flake on plans with a new boyfriend, thus essentially ending the relationship – but this was different. It was just so darn convenient, and so discreet. Unlike pipes or blunts, a weed vape pen creates virtually no smell. Suddenly, I could sneak a few hits in the bathroom during a concert or comedy show, or quietly get high in the back of a bar while the rest of my friends downed shots. I started carrying the thing with me everywhere I went. Vape pens felt like the future.

At the same time, I felt suspicious about the stuff I was inhaling. What was in it? How was it made? It was almost impossible to find a working phone number or email address for any of the nascent companies making cannabis oil in California, so I went to weed festivals like Chalice and High Times cups to try to talk to the people who made and sold this stuff for a living. While stoners waited in line for free dabs, I would make my way to the back of a booth and try to figure out who was in charge. In this way, I initially spoke with over a dozen people who made cannabis oil for a living.

I learned that the majority of the vape pens on the market contained a type of concentrate known as butane hash oil (BHO), though stores were selling it under a variety of names. It had all been made in roughly the same way, though –by stuffing the pot that was too moldy or ugly or weak to sell into steel tubes or PVC pipe, fastening a filter to one end, and then releasing cans of lighter fluid to flow through the pipe, over the plant matter, in order to squeeze out every last drop of mind-altering THC. Some people had already started using advanced extraction equipment to make hash oil, but most self-styled “extract artists” were just doing this in their basements or backyards – a dangerous endeavor that’s led to hundreds of fires and explosions across the country in recent years. 

What dripped out at the end was a slab of bubbling oil that looked a lot like snot, which was then “purified” to some extent, perhaps by putting it into a vacuum oven, soaking it in ethanol, or – in more amateur cases – by throwing it in the freezer or over boiling water. Since all of this was (and for the most part still is) unregulated, the resulting product varies in consistency and appearance, depending on who made it and how. Pot shops and drug dealers started marketing butane hash oil based on its texture, as though each form was a different product. Soft, fudge-like hash oil was called “budder.” Brittle, glass-like stuff was deemed “shatter.” Golden powder-y clumps were called “crumble.” Pretty much anything thick and yellow was known as “wax.”

Cannabis concentrates come in a variety of consistencies. Vince Chandler/The Denver Post/Getty Images

When I started talking to scientists about what was actually in the concentrated marijuana that I was vaping, I quickly became alarmed. So many of the sick people and stoners I knew who used vape pens were convinced that vaping was safer than smoking. It felt easier on the lungs, at least, and seemed somehow less dangerous. But according to the handful of chemists who were familiar with the product, there were several reasons to be concerned.

“The market is flooded with substandard products that have questionable safety,” says Jahan Marcu, the Chief Scientific Officer at patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, and has a PhD in molecular pharmacology. “These companies are doing their safety testing on the public and their loved ones.” 

That being said, we have no idea how bad or how serious any of these health threats might be. Because cannabis is still federally illegal, and the only legal research that can happen with the plant must use low-quality pot from the University of Mississippi, there has been almost no solid research and no clinical trials about electronically vaping marijuana oil. All of the health data we have regarding the potentially dangerous byproducts of vaping relate to eating these chemicals or being exposed to them in a factory-like setting – not to heating them up with an electrical coil and taking them directly to the face. It’s possible that vaping known carcinogens is totally fine! But the contents of vape cartridges are barely monitored in most states, and what we do know is pretty concerning.

So now, the really scary stuff. First off, when vape pens first became popular, there was some concern around inhaling butane leftover after the extraction process. For cannabis oil companies, this was one of the easiest problems to fix: most residual butane can be removed in a vacuum oven, and a lot of legal states now limit the parts per million of butane that can remain in cannabis oil. Additionally, in the past few years, several vape companies shifted to using supercritical extraction machines that use CO2, instead of butane. This eliminated the second potential safety issue: the chemicals that get put into lighter fluid to help it flow through pumps. About one percent of lighter fluid is not actually butane, and some of those chemicals – including neopentane and hexane – are known to be harmful to human beings in certain concentrations.

Next, some scientists told me they were worried about cannabis oil containing concentrated cuticle waxes – the shiny layer of lipids on the outside of most plants. Smoking burns these away, but vaporizing does not, so experts like Steep Hill Lab’s Kymron deCesare have told me they worry about these waxes collecting in your lungs and forming granulomas that could later cause health problems. At this point, there’s only anecdotal evidence about what these lung problems might look like, and how bad the consequences could be, but a lot of cannabis extraction companies now remove the cuticle waxes from their oil in a process called winterization. Oil that has been winterized is less viscous than oil that still contains waxes.

A safe room for making live resin butane hash oil at a facility in Denver, Colorado. Vince Chandler/The Denver Post/Getty Images

But guess what? You can’t just look for vape pens with thinner oil, because if it’s not very viscous, there’s a good chance it’s been cut with some kind of additive or synthetic flavoring. Marcu wrote in 2015 about the potential dangers of proplyene glycol and polyethelyne glycol — two chemicals that get put into both nicotine and hash oil vape pens. A study from 2010 showed inhaling propylene glycol can exacerbate asthma and allergies, and multiple studies have shown that proplyene glycol and polyethelyne glycol break down into the carcinogens formaldehyde and acetaldehyde — especially when vaped at high temperatures.

In fact, the strength and heat of your vape pen battery seems to matter a great deal. A recent study from chemists at Portland State University found that the hotter that hash oil gets, the more carcinogens will be released.

Then there’s the question of what else was on that weed to begin with. The chemicals that farmers use on pot to eliminate mites and mold and mildew, and those that make their buds denser, are basically invisible but are known to kill brain cells and cause cancer. These pesticides and plant-growth regulators are on pretty much everything you’re smoking, but scientists suggest they are most harmful in higher concentrations – meaning pesticides on your pot are not as bad for you as pesticides in your concentrated cannabis oil. Again, California’s vape pens will not be fully “clean” for at least another year, and black market vape pens will never, ever be lab tested. Even in Oregon, which has the strictest set of pesticide regulations in the nation, a recent investigation showed that unclean products are slipping through the cracks and making it to dispensary shelves. It’s just impossible to test every single individual product before it gets to consumers.

I first published details about the safety issues with hash oil over two years ago, and I still get asked by strangers whether I myself use the stuff. The truth is I do – I have a vape pen in my purse right now. For a while, I tried to be vigilant about finding pesticide-free cannabis oil. Since I personally know a lot of farmers and vape pen manufacturers, this didn’t feel like it was going to be hard. All I had to do was find people that I trusted, who assured me there were no harmful chemicals in their products, and I would be set. Except that then an employee would leave a company I trusted – a company I had endorsed as safe to family and friends – and admit that after their former employer nearly lost tens of thousands of dollars worth of cannabis to mites or some other pest or problem, the supposedly “organic” company had coated rooms or greenhouses full of pot with nasty chemicals. This exact conversation has happened to me multiple times.

So guess what? Your vaping safety is a total crapshoot. You don’t know what’s in the oil you’re vaping, and you don’t know how it’s going to affect your health. But at this point, I’m of the opinion that if vaping works for you, then fuck it. Go ahead and vape. Certainly I am – and considering all that I know about what goes into the pens I see on the shelves at my local dispensary, that’s a little nuts. 

Then again, maybe this is all temporary. In a few years, we might have full legalization, input from federal agencies like the FDA and the EPA, and fully functioning regulatory systems that ensure safe vaping for all. Here’s hoping. 

See how everyone from Melissa Etheridge to the Marley family is getting in on the THC craze. Watch here.

Source link

[johnchiarello]

Kings 20

KINGS 20

1Kings 20:11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.

Kings 20

https://youtu.be/Q9kMTGZGbAg

https://vimeo.com/257884994

 [Testing new sites- these should be Kings 20]  https://app.box.com/s/fct96frdngbzxykeb7wy7j5y2sc4lz8z

https://ccoutreach87.wistia.com/medias/k5zi5euhsg

ON VIDEO

.A ripped bible page

.Billy Graham

.Ahab- a profile

.The wicked as God’s sword

.Benhadad’s mistake

.The unknown prophet

.The army of 7 thousand- were they the remnant?

.The 2 witnesses

.Ahab and the young men route the enemy

.Then it’s time to regroup

.The God of the hills only?

.The wounded prophet- a sign

.In the house of my friends

.Leadership principles

 OTHER VIDEOS

2-26-18 One https://youtu.be/a0dxi27SeD8

2-25-18 Update https://youtu.be/8VhbTy6MgT8

Pops https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YJJ5oYrVxye7HWuncOxgFLLh5UnVfJu2/view?usp=sharing

Bobby n Shakky https://vimeo.com/257217038

Galatians 5 https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMejbeju1g4BLexRc

Fatima [North Bergen] 2nd mile https://youtu.be/YcfnxpqOOo4

Hebrews 10 https://vimeo.com/257308593

Samuel  17 https://vimeo.com/257418316

Acts 2 https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMe74Uzp8M7zlLwek

Questions your afraid to ask https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XFFuL2hLYe8dKjc1wPXXnTLBbOu-PXbK/view?usp=sharing

2nd Samuel 21 [NYC view] https://youtu.be/ahBwNwiQ1s0

Isaiah 53 https://vimeo.com/257600595

Mountains [C.U.- Mass] https://vimeo.com/257807735

Protestant problem https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FG5O2zRg4FRGAXwQzh7uAmVI9aY9Ga0c/view?usp=sharing

Acts 2 https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMe74Uzp8M7zlLwek

Amos 5:9

That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

 NEW

As this stage in the story of Ahab- we see a wicked king who was being manipulated by his wife- the famous Jezebel.

We saw the showdown where God used his prophet to bring judgment against Israel- and we see in Ahab somewhat of a broken man.

 Yet- the enemies of Israel make a mistake.

Benhadad the king of Syria forms an ungodly alliance- he then comes against Ahab.

Ahab seems to concede- and give up.

 Then the Syrian king makes a mistake- he figures Ahab gave in so easily- he would push the limits.

Then God does something- he uses the young men in Israel to route the enemy.

Yes- even though God’s people were under judgment- and God used pagan nations to judge his own people- yet God also will defend his name.

 Though Israel is under judgment- yet- they had a history with God.

They were a mighty army in days gone by- and other nations learned this lesson the hard way.

After the initial defeat of the Syrians- God tells Ahab to regroup- because he will be back.

 Yes- in life- there will be times of great victory against great odds- and yet the battle is not over yet.

The Syrians will come back and fight again- and will suffer another great defeat.

There is an unknown prophet in this chapter who will carry out a special work- he will have one of his own brothers wound him- and he will disguise himself and bring a message to Ahab.

 I used this [on video] as a type of Christ- who was wounded by his own friends- and they did not recognize him at his first appearing to Israel.

Yet- like the prophet in this chapter- the ‘mask’ will be removed one day- and Israel will see the prophet who was wounded by his friends-

 Zechariah 13:6

And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

 I will add my past teaching below- but the practical principle for us is if we depend on God as we did at the start- then God will indeed come thru for us.

God takes delight in delivering his people when they are outnumbered- this is a spiritual principle in scripture-

 Joshua 23:10

One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.

 He receives glory when just a few of his people can carry out the task against great odds.

Yes- Ahab will still come under judgment from God- he will go down in history as a wicked king.

 But this day the enemies of God learned a lesson-

It was actually a proverb in the mouth of Ahab himself-

1Kings 20:11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.

 Basically he told the Syrian king ‘Don’t count your chickens before they hatch’-

Benhadad learned this lesson the hard way.

Isaiah 54:16 [More verses below]

Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

 PAST POSTS [Past teaching I did that relates to this post- Kings 20]

KINGS-

https://ccoutreach87.com/mark-links/

https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-kings/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/29/kings-2/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/12/kings-3/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/27/kings-4/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/04/kings-5/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/25/kings-6/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/17/kings-7/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/05/kings-8/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/18/kings-9/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/01/kings-10/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/22/kings-11/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/09/15/kings-12-3/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/10/19/kings-13-2/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/11/09/kings-14/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/12/06/kings-15/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/12/28/kings-16/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2018/01/17/kings-17/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2018/02/01/kings-18/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2018/02/15/kings-19/

(1071)1ST KINGS 20- Benhadad, king of Syria, besieges Israel and threatens Ahab ‘give me your gold, wives and kids’. Ahab was a demoralized man, his wife was already running the show, he relinquished any remnant of nobility years ago. He responds ‘sure, take it all. What do I care?’ So all goes well, Not! Benhadad says ‘one more thing, tomorrow my men will come and inspect your stuff, if they see anything else of value, they taking that too!’ So Ahab consults with his men, he tells them the situation and they decide to reject the final offer. The fight is on. Notice how the Lord sends Ahab true prophets who give him guidance along the way, it’s like the Lord was willing to allow Ahab some time to get things right. The false prophets are dead, Elijah rebuilt the altar, who knows, maybe God was giving Ahab a real chance at reform. So Ahab does okay, he has a few battles with Syria, and at the end he LETS THE WICKED ENEMY GO! God rebukes him for this thru a prophet. God basically says ‘look, I gave you a second chance. I had a task for you, your job was to recognize and eliminate the threats to my people’ what happened? I have noticed thru the years that leaders, good men, will often fall into mindsets that say ‘well, after all our goal is to succeed and be happy. Have good church attendance, good income. Why even bother dealing with stuff that’s wrong?’ There are times in church history where God is looking for reformers, men and women who are willing to take a stand and say ‘enough, this stuff has be going on for too long, we will have no more of it’ [doctrines and stuff that lead Gods people astray]. It seems as if Ahab was living for the day, willing to let the wicked king live another day. After all, what harm can it do? He disobeyed God, he was given a mandate to execute justice, he didn’t. God chose him to complete the task, not just survive. Ahab blew it big time.

[parts]

Mark 2 [North Bergen]

POSTED BY CCOUTREACH87 ⋅ MARCH 2, 2017 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

WEDNESDAY 3-1-17 Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. https://youtu.be/_SRevM8Tcs4 MARK 2 https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/3-1-17-mark-2-north-bergen.zip https://youtu.be/4S5YHb2hea8 BURGER KING [Glenn] https://youtu.be/mij6WkuCllE MONKEY WITH 3 TAILS [Rick] ON VIDEO [Mark 2]- .91st. st. to park [Fairview- North Bergen] .Who can forgive sins but God? .Man healed .Why was Jesus with sinners? .Culture shock .New Wine [and skins] .Don’t pick the corn .Don’t you remember what David did? .The Sabbath was made for man- not the other way around .David and his men a type of Jesus and his men NEW- I taught on the first video [Mark 2] and spent a few hours with some of my friends. Glenn is homeless- and we have had some good talks. I share a little of his story on the short videos. On the teaching video I’ll try and add my past teaching on this chapter. I haven’t done a commentary on Mark’s gospel- and when I get back to Texas I might pick up on where I left off and make a complete study out of it. When I left the guys I thought of possibly doing a NYC video at midnight type of a thing- I’ve done those before- and you can see how the streets are always crowded in the ‘city that never sleeps’. But I’ll put that off for now. On today’s post/video I walked past the spot where I made some of my first teaching videos- in 2014- below are those videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSwvNQlFyuY [North Bergen- 2014] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SxYy2p1OX4 [North Bergen- 2014] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4VF0gOYw_k [North Bergen- 2015] PAST TEACHING- [verses below] Jesus talks about the story of king David found in Samuel- I taught that chapter before- 1st Samuel 21- here’s the link to my study [below I’ll paste the text to my commentary on the chapter] https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-samuel/ I mentioned these bible books on today’s video [Mark 2]- here are my studies on them- https://ccoutreach87.com/john-complete-links-added/ https://ccoutreach87.com/james-2015/ (905)SAMUEL 21- David is fleeing from Saul and he goes to the priest at Nob. The priest wonders what’s up. David tells him he is on a special assignment from the king and he and his men need food. The priest tells him the only food available is the consecrated bread that is only for God and the priesthood. David convinces the priest to let them eat and David asks ‘do you have any weapons here’. The priest says ‘I have the sword you used to kill the giant’ David says ‘great, that will work just fine’. Jesus used this story to describe himself and the disciples [Mark 2]. One day Jesus and the disciples were going thru the grain fields and the disciples picked the grain and ate it on the Sabbath. The Pharisees said ‘your disciples are breaking Gods law by picking it on the Sabbath’. Now, to be honest they were breaking the over extended ideas that the religious Pharisees came up with thru their legalism. But Jesus still used this example as a defense. He says ‘have you not read what David and his men did? They ate the ceremonial showbread that was not lawful, only the priests could eat it’. David and his men are a symbol of Jesus and his men. While it is true that the bread was only lawful for the priests, David is a king/priest who gets away with doing ‘priestly things’ because of his picture of Christ. Scripture says he put on an ephod [priestly garment] which only priests could do. David functioned before the open Ark in Jerusalem. He did things that other kings were punished for [Saul, Uzziah]. Jesus in essence was saying to the Pharisees ‘I am the new priest/king from which all future law and worship will be measured by. Me and my followers are not under the law, the law serves us’! In Christ we are free from the guilt of the law, we live above legalism and follow the master. David and his men were acting like priests and kings contrary to the economy of their day. David was a type of Jesus whose future priestly ministry would ‘out trump’ the law. [parts] https://youtu.be/psCMQgX_7v4 Samuel 21 https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/10-6-16-samuel-21.zip ON VIDEO- [Yes- I ‘Backslid’. I promised no more political stuff- but for the first 20 minutes of the video- I get into it. The last 10 minutes I do teach- and have some new notes below on that. I made this video a few days ago- before the latest ‘controversies’- the Hillary WikiLeaks and the Trump video. It really makes no difference- I’m simply dealing with media bias. Trying to show how the media decides what to focus on. Yet- the real important issues of our time are put on the back burner- and we do politics like a sport]. .Debates .Media bias .Clinton Foundation .Why no taxes? .Clintons health is a real issue .Why is she off the trail? .How did the Clintons get rich? .What about the server? .Why did CNN fire the doctor? .Google even manipulated the search results .Russia .Abortion .The sword came back NEW- David is on the run from King Saul. He shows up at the house of God and asks the priest for food. The priest is nervous- David is alone [not a full military back up] and something just doesn’t seem right. David assures the priest ‘look- I’m on a special mission for the king- it’s so secret I left quickly- didn’t even have time to take food or weapons’. Wow- this must be some mission? How about some lie. Yes- David is good at lots of stuff- and he lied great here. So- the priest gives David and his few men the Holy bread- which is only for the priests. Now- David is not from the priestly tribe- Levi- but from Judah. Ok- David takes the food and asks ‘do you have any weapons’? The priest says ‘only the sword- I mean it’s wrapped up in the back- we treat the thing like it’s holy’. Yes- the sword David used to cut the giants head off. I think David must have felt a little remorse here. The whole nation had that sword as a memento of David’s great victory over Goliath. He used the sword only one time- the day he cut the giants head off. After all- it was the giant’s sword. Now- he’s on the run from Saul- already made up some great lies- and the priest gives him the weapon he used in the past. When he trusted in the living God- against all odds- and was a righteous warrior. David takes the sword- goes to the Philistines- Huh? Yes- he flees to the enemy camp- and the king of Gath says ‘why did you bring this guy to me- isn’t he David the great warrior who killed us in the past’. Now- David seems to have been trying to get a job- you know- as a mercenary. He couldn’t fight for Saul-and that’s his greatest paying skill. But when the philistines recognize him- Well- what do you think David did? Maybe yelled out ‘yes- I’m the one who took the giants head off- and I still come to you in the name of the living God- and…’ Yeah- did he do that John? Well actually not. Instead- he started drooling at the mouth- and scribbling on the doors- you know- like he was nuts. ‘John- you shouldn’t joke about stuff like that’. I’m not! Go read it [below]. Yes- the great man after ‘God’s own heart’ was so afraid- he pretended he was nuts- and yes- the scheme worked- The king says ‘this guy’s not David- that great man of honor- he’s a nut’! Ahh- we see what fear can do to a man- even a great man. Yes- David is in a tough spot- His own king- Saul- is out to get him. His only option was to go work for the enemy- At least that’s what he thought. And then he not only acted like a nut- He lied to the priest too. He ate the bread that Jesus himself said was only for the priests 25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? 26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? Jesus.

And he schemed his way into a corner. Does anything good come out of this at all? Yes- Jesus used this story- when defending himself and his disciples when they were accused of violating the law. 23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. 24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? 25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? 26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? 27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

And Jesus- who too was from the tribe of Judah- Superseded the Old Covenant law- He never broke it- but he ushered in a better covenant. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. Hebrews So David- on his bad day- actually glorified Jesus on his good day. And even in his failure- gave Jesus one of the greatest stories he could use to show his superiority over the Levitical priests. Yes- that Jesus and his men- just like David and his- did indeed have the right to do what they did. Because they were from a better tribe- The one that our Lord ‘sprang from’. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. Heb. 7:14 Amen. [this is a chapter from one of my little books- talked about wineskins] CHAPTER 8

ARE CHURCH BUILDINGS EVIL? [OR THE GUY WHO WANTED TO CAST DEMONS OUT OF ME!]

Many years ago before I really understood the truths of ecclesia and the communal aspect of the church, I was introduced to the belief that the ‘church building’ itself was wrong. I don’t personally adhere to this belief, but let me share the story. While ministering as a new believer in Christ and learning ‘the ropes’ of ministry, I remember driving past a brother who was a street minister from Mexico. It was unusual in the way he was conducting his street meetings. He would get permission to use an empty lot and then set up actual church pews in the lot without walls or any type of cover over it [even if it rained!]. Well one day on my daily rounds of visiting people and witnessing for Jesus [because this is what ministers are supposed to do, right?] I stopped by this brother’s lot and figured I would bless him with some lunch and listen to him preach [I felt sorry for the brother because no one else was attending his meetings]. After he spoke I had a chance to fellowship with him. After hearing his thoughts I realized it was on purpose for him to have no walls or cover over the pews [these were actual church pews that were out there in the open!].

He shared with me the verse in Hebrews [13:10] where it says that those who worship at the sanctuary have no right to partake of the altar of Christ [the cross]. He saw this as meaning that all Christians who meet in buildings [the sanctuary] were lost! Well, even as a young believer in the lord I was smart enough to know that this verse had nothing to do with ‘church buildings’. I showed the brother that in context the verse simply meant that those Jews [remember who the book of Hebrews was written to] who were not willing to leave the old covenant system [the sanctuary] could not move on with the new covenant truth of Christ and his cross. The sanctuary represented the whole concept of law and Judaism. This verse had nothing to do about the inherent nature of church buildings! Buildings themselves are neutral ground; it’s the style of one person functioning [the pastor] at the expense of the rest of the body that I see as less than ideal.

Well after seeing the obvious error of the way this brother was reading this verse, I began to ‘expound unto him the way of God more perfectly’. When he finally understood what I was saying [you could tell by the look in his eyes that he saw the truth] instead of repenting of his distorted view, he became irate and began to cast demons out of me [hey, I didn’t think there were any in me!]. The reason I share this example is because there are those in the house church movement, while not as extreme, seem to view the church building itself as an evil thing.

My personal view is the church building can become a hindrance when we view it as part of a system that makes up ‘church’. We seem to see the whole concept of the church building and the pastor as the weekly speaker and all the other things associated around this structure [like tithing to the storehouse] as ‘the system’ that God instituted to carry out his work in the earth. Remember Gods inherent authority resides in no human system or mode of religious worship. His authority resides in the church, the actual people of God in any given community on earth. So if there are believers carrying out Gods purpose, whether they have the whole system that we deem ‘local church’ or not, is irrelevant. Remember what we said about Jesus and the 1st century religious mind? They were finding fault with Jesus and his disciples because they were not following the religious protocol of the day. When we embrace certain mindsets that see ‘local church’ as the limited system of Sunday worship and all the other usual things associated with it, what we’re unconsciously doing is vesting authority in a style, or form of religious worship while by-passing the true legitimacy of Gods people. Its not to say that Gods people who function in the whole system of Sunday church are illegitimate [that would be making the same mistake as the brother who wanted to cast the demons out of me!] but this shows us how we unconsciously make the same mistake as the 1st century Pharisee by seeing as illegitimate those who don’t follow certain protocols.

It was a common thing during the 90’s to speak about the ‘changing of the wineskin’ in order to receive the new wine [the new move of God]. Many of theses thoughts were helpful in causing us to re-think the way we ‘do’ church. I also remember a common theme being ‘God wants to pour out his Spirit, but the wineskins are not ready’ in some of these examples the ministers actually meant that we don’t have big enough buildings to put all these new converts so God is ‘withholding the new wine until the new buildings go up’. At this point you should begin seeing how once again this is confusing the reality of Christian community with ‘the church building’. I find it interesting that the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost was not delayed because of the lack of facilities to put all the new converts in.

Also the great missionary journeys of Paul were not delayed ‘until the new wineskins were in place’. This shows us how we’ve come to view the people of God as being dependent on the present system. Could it be that God withholds His Spirit because the ‘new wineskin’ could refer more to believers seeing themselves as the actual church that God wants to fill? If we are not rightly discerning Christ’s community as a self-sustaining society of people then the church really isn’t able to contain the new wine. If we are so limited in our thinking to view the new wineskin as larger facilities, as opposed to a rethinking of what it means to truly be Christ’s body, then maybe the holdup has more to do with a change in the way we view ‘church’ then it has to do with bigger church buildings!

CHAPTER 9

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS ‘THE LOCAL CHURCH’?

Growing up as a catholic boy [though not a good one] I remember when I came to know the lord I started reading through the bible and found how the bible contradicted many of the religious beliefs I held to as a boy [this is not to say Catholics are not Christian]. Later while attending a good Baptist church I naively believed that good Baptists must have it right because they do read the bible![parts] Here’s the whole book- https://ccoutreach87.com/further-talks-on-church-and-ministry/ [parts] There were Jews at the time of the first century who tried to ‘get along’ with Rome- and with the person in charge of their region [one of the sons of Herod the Great at the time of Christ]. These are referred to as Herodian’s in the bible. Some wanted a revolution to rid Rome from Jerusalem- these were the Zealots [one of Jesus disciples was in this group]. Some thought if they returned to a legalistic obeisance of the law- that this would bring in a deliverer- like the stories we read about in the Old testament- these were the Pharisees. And some took more of a political compromise- these were the Sadducees. Eventually a war with Rome would be fought [By the way- Josephus- the famous 1st century historian- fought on the side of the Jews in the war- and after Jerusalem was sacked in A.D. 70- he went to Rome and wrote his great works- thinking he would make a case for the Jewish people with the Romans. This is why we have his works today- which are very valuable to scholars]. NOTE- In time I’ll try and cover how we ‘got our bibles’ [called the Canon- meaning Rule/ Measurement]. Frankly- there is a lot of confusion in the general public about conspiracies [like the Catholic Church had some type of plot to keep certain books out]. Or stories about how the Church taught Mary Magdalene was a prostitute so they could discredit her. Actually- we read in the gospels that Jesus cast out ‘spirits’ from a woman who was probably living this type of life- And Jesus had a ministry to the down and out- it is indeed possible that Mary was one of these women- And if true- it would not demean her in any way- That’s how this tradition more than likely developed- But- we don’t know for sure. So a few years back the Church officially said ‘we don’t know’. Ok- Plot? [parts] Ok- the ruling empire at the time of Christ was Rome- just prior to the appearance of Jesus- the Roman Emperor- Caesar Augustus- consolidated the Roman Empire under his rule- Rome was ruled by a senate- some famous names from history were in it- Cicero being one. Caesar Augustus was the nephew of Julius Caesar- his real name was Octavian [Octavius]. After the death of Julius Caesar- there were some power struggles that took place- between some other famous people. Marc Antony being one of them [Cleopatra too- he was in love with the girl for sure]. Now- we read about Augustus in the New Testament- and we read in the book of Revelation about the Mark of the Beast- and that those who don’t worship- give homage to the Beast- they will be killed. So- Many Christians would be killed because they would refuse to give homage to Caesar Augustus [meaning son of the Divine]. ‘Wow- how did he get a name like that’ [there was more than one Caesar by the way- as well as more than one Herod- who did play a part in these power struggles- it can get confusing- even to me]. When Octavian defeated Marc Antony at Actium [32 BC]. Herod [The Great] had a problem- he had previously sided with Antony and found himself on the losing side. Yet he was smart- did some ‘brown nosing’ as we say-and patched things up. Herod had 3 sons- who would eventually take positions of authority in the Roman government at the time of Christ. Herod Antipas was over the region that we read about in the New Testament where Jesus did most of his ministry- Galilee. Ok- Octavian claimed deity because of a heavenly sign associated with his rise to power- and this is how he became called ‘Caesar Augustus’. He sort of saw himself as a ‘re-incarnate’- of his great uncle Julius Caesar. ‘John- what in the heck does this have to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls’. Ok- good question. The Jews had various responses to the empires that ruled over them during various times. Alexander the Great instituted Hellenization- a sort of cultural compromise over the people he conquered. They could keep their religious/cultural roots- but would be subservient to Alexander and Greek rule. Some Jewish people rejected any compromise- we call them the Essenes- they moved out of town- so to speak, and lived in what we refer to as the Qumran community. This was a few centuries before the time of Christ- and this was where the Dead Seas Scrolls were found in the 20th century. A Bedouin boy was looking for his goats- threw a rock in a cave right off the Dead Sea- and that’s how we found the scrolls. The scrolls might have been hidden there by the Essenes- Now- when my friends asked me about them- I told them that it’s been a while since I read up on any of this- but to the best of my memory the thing that made them significant was the fact that they were very old manuscripts- from the bible- and they backed up what we had had all along. I did read up this week- and basically had it right. The earliest Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament we had previously dated back to around 900- 1000 A.D. These manuscripts went back about 1000 years earlier- and they contained portions from almost every book of the Old testament- and some complete books. The only book missing was Esther. So- this was indeed a very significant find for scholars. But the Scrolls also contain some of the writings from the Essenes themselves- things we never had before- so this too was significant. There were Jews at the time of the first century who tried to ‘get along’ with Rome- and with the person in charge of their region [one of the sons of Herod the Great at the time of Christ]. These are referred to as Herodian’s in the bible. Some wanted a revolution to rid Rome from Jerusalem- these were the Zealots [one of Jesus disciples was in this group]. Some thought if they returned to a legalistic obeisance of the law- that this would bring in a deliverer- like the stories we read about in the Old testament- these were the Pharisees. And some took more of a political compromise- these were the Sadducees. Eventually a war with Rome would be fought [By the way- Josephus- the famous 1st century historian- fought on the side of the Jews in the war- and after Jerusalem was sacked in A.D. 70- he went to Rome and wrote his great works- thinking he would make a case for the Jewish people with the Romans. This is why we have his works today- which are very valuable to scholars]. NOTE- In time I’ll try and cover how we ‘got our bibles’ [called the Canon- meaning Rule/ Measurement]. Frankly- there is a lot of confusion in the general public about conspiracies [like the Catholic Church had some type of plot to keep certain books out]. Or stories about how the Church taught Mary Magdalene was a prostitute so they could discredit her. Actually- we read in the gospels that Jesus cast out ‘spirits’ from a woman who was probably living this type of life- And Jesus had a ministry to the down and out- it is indeed possible that Mary was one of these women- And if true- it would not demean her in any way- That’s how this tradition more than likely developed- But- we don’t know for sure. So a few years back the Church officially said ‘we don’t know’. Ok- Plot? No- just being careful. So there are other misguided beliefs like this- that sincere people have- and over time I hope to get to them. I’ll do one more in keeping with this post. I mentioned above that Caesar Augustus did indeed take the title of ‘son of God’. And some critics of the Church say ‘see- there were all types of religions that had Sons of God’. I watched one show a few years back- and it stated that these religions had ’12 disciples- a leader named Lord and Savior- and he healed and claimed to be God’s Son- and rose from the dead’. Ok- that show was ‘fibbing’ to put it lightly- they went too far [historically speaking] in trying to diminish the Christians claim of Christ by doing this. Now- is there some truth to this at all? Yes- like I just mentioned above- Octavian did indeed claim deity- a ‘son of god’. So- how do we explain this? In the book of Galatians the bible says ‘in the FULLNESS of times God sent forth his Son’. Jesus came at a set time in history- in fulfilment of the Jewish Prophets- to be who he was- and to do what he did. Now- this is not special pleading here- but I find it a masterpiece that God’s Son came at a time when the Roman Empire had one sitting on the throne- who too claimed deity. Yet Jesus was in a region of the lower class- his men were not highly educated- and his followers were people under oppression. Augustus lived in the wealthy and influential capital of ‘the world’- he had all you could ever ask for- he was worshiped as a god. Yet in 3 short centuries- one of the heirs of the empire- Constantine- would have an experience – not with a former Caesar- but with a vison of a Cross- He would convert to Christianity- and declare Christianity to be the religion of the realm.

VERSES- Mark 2:1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. Mark 2:2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. Mark 2:3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. Mark 2:4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. Mark 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Mark 2:6 But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Mark 2:7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? Mark 2:8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Mark 2:9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? Mark 2:10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) Mark 2:11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. Mark 2:12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion. Mark 2:13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. Mark 2:14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. Mark 2:15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. Mark 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Mark 2:18 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? Mark 2:19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. Mark 2:20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. Mark 2:21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. Mark 2:22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. Mark 2:23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. Mark 2:24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? Mark 2:25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? Mark 2:26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Mark 2:28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. 1Samuel 21:1 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? 1Samuel 21:2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. 1Samuel 21:3 Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present. 1Samuel 21:4 And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. 1Samuel 21:5 And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. 1Samuel 21:6 So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. 1Samuel 21:7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. 1Samuel 21:8 And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste. 1Samuel 21:9 And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me. 1Samuel 21:10 And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 1Samuel 21:11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 1Samuel 21:12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 1Samuel 21:13 And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. 1Samuel 21:14 Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? 1Samuel 21:15 Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house? ________________________________________ 13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. James 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. John 20 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Matt.

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 VERSES [These are the verses I taught or quoted on the video- Kings 20]

Isaiah 33:20

Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

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 1Kings 20:1 And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.

1Kings 20:2 And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Benhadad,

1Kings 20:3 Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.

1Kings 20:4 And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.

1Kings 20:5 And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;

1Kings 20:6 Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.

1Kings 20:7 Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not.

1Kings 20:8 And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent.

1Kings 20:9 Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.

1Kings 20:10 And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me.

1Kings 20:11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.

1Kings 20:12 And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city.

1Kings 20:13 And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

1Kings 20:14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou.

1Kings 20:15 Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.

1Kings 20:16 And they went out at noon. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.

1Kings 20:17 And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Benhadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.

1Kings 20:18 And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.

1Kings 20:19 So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them.

1Kings 20:20 And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen.

1Kings 20:21 And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

1Kings 20:22 And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.

1Kings 20:23 And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

1Kings 20:24 And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms:

1Kings 20:25 And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so.

1Kings 20:26 And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Benhadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.

1Kings 20:27 And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.

1Kings 20:28 And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

1Kings 20:29 And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.

1Kings 20:30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Benhadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

1Kings 20:31 And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.

1Kings 20:32 So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother.

1Kings 20:33 Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Benhadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Benhadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.

1Kings 20:34 And Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.

1Kings 20:35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him.

1Kings 20:36 Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.

1Kings 20:37 Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him.

1Kings 20:38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.

1Kings 20:39 And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver.

1Kings 20:40 And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.

1Kings 20:41 And he hasted, and took the ashes away from his face; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.

1Kings 20:42 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.

1Kings 20:43 And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.

 "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won't he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

Luke 14:31

Zechariah 12:10

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

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1 Peter 5:8 [Full Chapter]

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

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Thanks- John.