Day 4... Oops

 Day 4 on day 9. But I'm still here! Todays topic, context. I hear alot of people that will use a verse to support their view whether it is correct or not, and it grates on me when it is used so far out of context that it doesn't even make sense or apply to the subject at hand. We all know the most famous one, "judge not, lest ye be judged." To clarify, the actual verse is found in Matthew 7:1, and it must be read along with the following 2 verses. Matthew 7:1-3 says “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"
The point here is righteous judgement. John 7:24 says "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” And as christians we are to be held accountable to one another, so we judge those inside the church body but we cannot condemn. To condemn is to lay out punishment. THAT is God's territory. Deuteronomy 32:35 "Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly."
We need to be careful that what we say lines up with God's word or people will be deceived.
But the new favorite verse for people to misuse is 1 Samuel 15:23. I had to block a local pastor recently for going off on me when I asked him to biblically answer for his misrepresentation of this verse. First he claimed that bitterness is deception and that rebellion is witchcraft. When confronted with context he changed his tune and backtracked then insulted me and refused to answer my questions. The New living translation says it pretty well without misunderstanding or at least we hope. "We need to be careful that what we say lines up with God's word or people will be deceived. But the new favorite verse for people to misuse is 1 Samuel 15:23. I had to block a local pastor recently for going off on me when I asked him to biblically answer for his misrepresentation of this verse. First he claimed that bitterness is deception and that rebellion is witchcraft. When confronted with context he changed his tune and backtracked then insulted me and refused to answer my questions. The New living translation says it pretty well without misunderstanding or at least we hope. "We need to be careful that what we say lines up with God's word or people will be deceived. But the new favorite verse for people to misuse is 1 Samuel 15:23. I had to block a local pastor recently for going off on me when I asked him to biblically answer for his misrepresentation of this verse. First he claimed that bitterness is deception and that rebellion is witchcraft. When confronted with context he changed his tune and backtracked then insulted me and refused to answer my questions. The New living translation says it pretty well without misunderstanding or at least we hope. "We need to be careful that what we say lines up with God's word or people will be deceived. But the new favorite verse for people to misuse is 1 Samuel 15:23. I had to block a local pastor recently for going off on me when I asked him to biblically answer for his misrepresentation of this verse. First he claimed that bitterness is deception and that rebellion is witchcraft. When confronted with context he changed his tune and backtracked then insulted me and refused to answer my questions. The New living translation says it pretty well without misunderstanding or at least we hope. "
We need to be careful that what we say lines up with God's word or people will be deceived. But the new favorite verse for people to misuse is 1 Samuel 15:23. I had to block a local pastor recently for going off on me when I asked him to biblically answer for his misrepresentation of this verse. First he claimed that bitterness is deception and that rebellion is witchcraft. When confronted with context he changed his tune and backtracked then insulted me and refused to answer my questions. The New living translation says it pretty well without misunderstanding or at least we hope. "Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.". Meaning, they are equally sinful, not they are the same sin. No wonder people get confused and reject the scriptures, because people that are in the position to teach are doing so wrongfully and deliberately ignoring any biblical correction. People, if you are going to quote scripture, please make sure you know what you are saying. That pastor is responsible for leading many people in this city wrongly, and this is how false prophets are born. Leaders like these are accountable to God for those they lead astray. Does scripture not say to study to show yourself approved? I myself would never wish to use scripture if it was in any way self serving or misused so as to mislead others or myself.

Day 3...Distracted

It's the 6th of the month and I am just sitting down to write a third entry. This doesn't look good, I am already behind after starting late. But I'm still here. I've been somewhat distracted. I meant to sit down earlier but my girl had her friends over and between teenagers playing rock band full blast and other chores, I haven't been able to think straight much less form complete sentences and write comprehensibly lol. I showed up to bible study this morning thinking today we met in the morning instead of our usual afternoon. Even though I was told more than once that next week is the week we meet in the morning and I have the dates in an email. I could read it three times in a  row and still forget what day and what time. Fortunately I didn't go ring the doorbell upon arriving and seeing no one there I sat for a minute or 2 before I realized my mistake. Well, that was not as embarrassing as it could have been. Last night I was frustrated trying to get to the other bible study, the world seemed to conspire against me to get me to not be able to go. I was blocked in by a homeless guys cart in the middle of the road when he was across the complex picking garbage. A driver cut me off, my maps wouldn't work so I had no idea where to go, the line at Tim's was a mile long and the rattle on the car would not leave me alone for 3 seconds, and I was cut off again by another driver. And my sister wanted to text and chat, she was in the hospital again. It was after I pulled over in a store parking lot to try to take a minute to vent and calm down that I finally realized that I didn't even have bible study that night, or the week after. All that frustration for nothing. Or was God trying to tell me something, maybe, but I probably wasn't listening anyways.Ironically enough, our study Thursdays is on the Holy Spirit and today we were talking about how to recognize Him.Distractions come in so many forms. It is sooooo easy for me to get side tracked.Sometimes the devil is subtle sometimes he's outright bold. And it could be hours before I even recognize it's happening. I am working on that. My biggest downfall is technology. I get the feeling that might be my next addiction to tackle but let's just not think about that right now lol. I am learning that when I do have a moment of clarity that I have to get motivated pretty darn fast and get something done because who knows when it will pass and for how long. It might seem simple to most, but it is a challenge for me. Finding that sweet spot where I have 1- clarity of thought, 2- motivation, 3- energy and time, and 4- physical strength now that, is the ultimate challenge. This is a goal for time management. More than writing a list. Because I have hundreds of lists that never get done; they're pretty much useless. So here I am writing day 3 on day 6, and trying to think ahead but let's be honest, I will likely finish this and stare at the wall for an hour or so before I decide to go to bed and feel guilty again because I got nothing else done. This is one step forward. And as long as I don't take a step back, one step forward is progress, right?  

Day 2, In the News....

Ok I held back all day but I need to write about this topic. So the hot news of the entertainment circles today is Kim Kardashians robbery in Paris. Now, I'm not a Kardashian fan. I don't recall ever having seen their shows, and I am not a Kanye fan. But the reactions of people on the social pages reporting this story are out of this world insane.
Does noone have any shred of common sense anymore? Yes, she is a celebrity. Yes, she is uber rich. Yes, she is in the spotlight and she loves the attention and she has too much money for her own good and she makes stupid choices. But noone deserves to be a victim of a violent crime. Who cares how much money she has, this isn't about money. And if that is what you focus on, you have a very narrow viewpoint of the whole situation.
Some of the comments I have seen and been given include.. "Good for her", "It's about time she got a dose of real life", "she was asking for it", "she deserved everything she gets", "She should have been shot", "Kill the B***", "karma strikes", "Who cares", and "It happens every day to innocent people". Among scores of other unmentionable replies I won't repeat here.
 Let me say something. It's one thing to play the victim. But it's another side of the coin to blame the victim. ESPECIALLY because of the type of person they might be. There's plenty of hate to go around for the Kardashians, I get it. But regardless of what you think of people in their personal life, noone deserves that. How cold do you have to be to wish harm on another person?
And it happens all the time so who cares? Mentioning other peoples instances is somehow going to downplay hers? She is a human being. She did not ask for it. Yet here they are saying "She shouldn't be flaunting her 5 million dollar ring on snapchat then posting where she is staying, she's just asking for it". Would you say that to a rape victim too? "she was dressed like a whore, she deserved to get raped, serves her right for flaunting herself.". Why is this any different? Because she's a celebrity? Because she is hated? Because she is rich? Because you hate everything about her or are jealous of her somehow? THINK about it, really people.
Who is anyone to decide what life is valuable and which ones aren't? Who is anyone to say who deserves what "karma"?  Yes, horrible things happen all the time to many different people. And not all of them are loved and adored. But that never makes it right for them to be a target. What part of human decency has left this world that mankind would begin to think this sort of attitude is okay or acceptable? It's disgusting to see the hate people have and throw around TBH. And so many self proclaimed religious people that have this hate in them too. They have Jesus posts all over their facebook then go on a news page and say things like "kill the B***". No wonder people are confused when it comes to telling people about Jesus!
If it were you, I tell them, or your family, you would be singing a different tune that's for sure. You'd be crying bloody murder and suing the pants off the entire country of France for doing you wrong. But Kim, she's a fair target. And let's just say that Kanye, as much as HE is hated right now too, was a great support to his wife. He dropped everything in a hot second to be there for Kim. He left in the middle of a concert and travelled across the world to be there for her and he brought her home. Those complaining that she just "up and left the country", have obviously not be througha traumatizing experience where at the end of the day all you want in the world is to just go home. And all you can come up with is to shame her for not sticking around because that somehow implies her guilt? I lost confidence in humanity over this one again, deplorable.
I was going to touch on another subject but this is enough for me today lol. All I can leave you with is "There, but for the grace of God, go you..."  

Another Chance

So today is Oct 2nd. And I am a day late starting, forgive me. I was away all day yesterday and most of today and was afraid I had missed my chance but here I am and although I might not get as much done as many I will still fight my way through to get as much done as I can this year. I have no theme or idea what I am doing but this is my outlet so I will just forge ahead and if you follow great if not, good luck on your endeavors. Feel free to leave comments and lead me to your links as well. Ok so.  It was a busy weekend. Between an information meeting Friday night and then a memorial and a symposium Saturday and church today, yes, today is still Sunday whew lol. A little bit about me, I am 42 and have FASD and ADHD and depression so half the time my brain isn't working and the other half it's half working so staying in a straight line can be difficult for me but I will try lol.I guess I just keep adding the new days links to my landing page or main blog on here? I'm still trying to figure that out so that's how I will do it for now.  Todays message at church was actually a great encouragement. The symposium yesterday was a meeting of christians and muslims, it was at a local mosque here in the city and the topic was salvation, discussed from both a christian and muslim viewpoint. It was interesting to hear for sure. Personally, in terms of debate I considered it rather weak. But I have to remind myself that debate wasn't really the point. The main focus was that with the forum we got the chance to get the gospel preached to some muslim people that otherwise might not have had the opportunity to hear it, and we got to do it on their grounds, in their place of worship. As far as I know it's a first for Calgary? I have talked to many people and debated many topics in various religions but youtube videos are alot different than in person. And I wasn't involved I just sat back and watched and listened and took notes. But the message this morning was given by the man that came from Toronto to give the christian representation in the symposium. And part of that was about persecution. It brought me back to my youtube days and of all the discussions and debates I have had with atheists and muslims and the reactions I recieved from various groups of people. I've been called every name in the book, and a few new ones. I've had videos made mocking me and degrading me, I've been virtually spat on and threatened, and harrassed in real life because of that. Some of the things at the time shocked me and some downright disgusted me and offended me. Looking back I can see just with a better perspective how that hate of me was not of me but of the God I spoke of, the God I brought with me. Somewhere along the line I lost my confidence and stopped doing the videos and I didn't realise just how God had been using that venue in youtube. I was surprised to see just how many people the whole thing was completely new to as well.  Alot of the information given over the weekend I already knew from my youtube days and dealings, but I discovered many did not know some of these things. We tend to get caught up in our own little bubble with blinders on. We believe what we are taught and what we know is right but we have no clue as to what others really believe, only that they do not believe as us. It is important to get out of our comfort zone. I mean, we can't stay in a closet and hide and expect the message to get out there, if we don't do it how can we assume that others will? And, it's not our light to hide we are just vessels.Anyways I'm going off track. I just found it encouraging and it confirmed to me that I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing and it is awesome how God uses us to get His message out there in spite of ourselves.He also talked about salt and light which I found fascinating. I might share that tomorrow if I remember. But at least now I have a starting point for this year and we'll see if I make it past the 8 days of last year LOL. 

Welcome to 31 Days of Being Me

31 days of commitment to blogging every day. This is where I begin. I'm not a pro blogger, I have no fancy words or format. Last year I made it 8 days. This year I will do better. I'll still do random topics, I have no theme or set line to follow again. But that's ok. One foot in front of the other. Welcome to my crazy life, well, at least 31 days of it. Transparency and honesty are core here. I don't have a specific audience in mind, but for whoever lands on my pages, my prayer is that at least one of my posts will leave you inspired or thoughtful.  Links will be posted for each separate article to this post so you can find them all easily right here.  Feel free to comment, give advice, share your own 31 day links. I'm looking forward to sharing with you all and seeing what everyone has to offer. Thanks for following me, and enjoy. ~Chelle~ 

Day 1-  Another Chance

Day 2 -   In The News

Day 3 - Distracted

Day 4 -        Oops