my careless contagion

"Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die." - Psalm 79:11 I want to relate what happened Wednesday night (Dec. 15). I consider this a testimony of God's power, protection, and love. It may frighten some readers. That is not my intention. Sometimes we have to see the power of the enemy and how God triumphs over it in order to deepen our faith. I praise God for His protection.  I was on day three of a fast to break whatever is preventing me from moving forward in multiple ways in my life. I was praying for victory. The day went well. My son was sick, so I spent the day watching TV with him. At one point we went for a walk, as it was 65 degrees but knew a storm was coming later. Everyone was in good spirits. My son was getting better and eating food like a horse. He took a bath, and then it was my turn.  I read my Bible (including Psalm 79) and another book while in the bath. Nothi...

Where are the ups? They are, seemingly, nonexistent. At least for me. It seems other people have their ups. Maybe I chisel away at the ups because I know the downs will be worse if I experience the ups to their fullness. By protecting myself from the fullness of the ups, the great disparity between the ups and the downs is not felt. Something like that. Anyway, here are a couple memes that pretty much sum up this blog.  Any retrospective is bound to be cringe-worthy. This one is especially so. Just think, when I get to heaven, I can replay my life. Won't that be fun! I think I'll hide when they're doing that. Is there a fast-forward button? I'm praying for that. Anyway, one thing is sure; it will all be over soon. Sooner if I get my prayers answered.  Life doesn't make any sense unless you understand the spiritual battle, the cosmic chess match, so to speak. Read Job if you want to see how God antagonizes and plays with the devil, motivating him at will to do God...

I'm tired. Yes, I've written an awful lot lately, so I'm tired of writing. I'll finish out my photo memories series and then probably take a break.  But my tiredness is something else, too. I've fought most of my life against what is now happening in my country and around the world. I am a warrior, but I don't wrestle with flesh and blood. It is a purely spiritual battle, though we see the effects of that battle in the physical realm. Right now, God's people are not winning the battle. Yes, some days offer good news. Most days, however, are a draining parade of bad news.  This battle will probably kill me eventually. I've begged God to give me strength and a reason to continue. That reason appears to be my son. I want to see him grow up and have children of his own. I want to grow old and die a natural death. I want the same for him. That's my prayer.  When a man becomes involved in spiritual warfare, the enemy never forgets. Though that man...

We all have those make-it-or-break-it-moments in life. For most of us, they pass without noticing because we did what we had to do. We made it. We did the right thing. Some of us can't seem to get it right, though. This is about those people. This is about me.  Some of us come pre-loaded with difficulties we have to unravel throughout our lives and make sense of. We're already two strikes down when we get up to bat. I consider this keeping things fair. There's something special about those of us who come from behind and (hopefully) win. It's the classic underdog theme. Underdogs make for happy endings. Life doesn't always give us happy endings, though. This is about those other endings. I'm one of those guys who came pre-loaded with trouble. When I think about my life, it's amazing that ANYTHING WENT RIGHT, as there were so many strikes against me. It's no wonder I've had so many dismal failures. The cards were stacked against me. It wasn...