Make an impact in a person’s life for life.

April 12, 2015April 14, 2015 Ronovan Thoughts Belief, Bible, God, Jesus, Making an Impression, Philippians 2, Servant, Serving

Feeling awful is awful. I wasn’t doing a Sunday Thought today because of that reason. I’ve been feeling awfuler the past few days and progressively awfuler as the days pass. Yes, I know it’s not a word. It’s my writer’s prerogative angst at the moment. Bare with me. Yes, I said bare. You don’t want to know. And yes I am ignoring the people telling me to put my pants on. I have a blanket. I’m good.

What have you done that people will remember you for? Other than blogging without pants. Do you attempt to make an impression? Should you attempt to make a good impression? Does that mean you might do something that would make a bad impression?

You could carry this out with question after question, and sometime in the future I might do that in order to show you how my mad mind works. Today, I stopped with that question, although I can feel at least three more questions floating in that empty space up there, begging to seep out onto the page.

If you look at the Bible, we really aren’t to worry about making impressions, not ones to make ourselves look good. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,”~2 Philippians 2:3.

You can look at the world today and see the people doing things for themselves. They want to get people to like them. Sometimes they want the wrong people to like them. These people may be celebrities or your best friend.

What is the impression you get from them? I would dare say a negative impression, annoyed, a sense of queasiness at times at even the mention of their name. Some will say, “At least you know me.” “Bad press is better than no press at all.” I think we’ve all heard some variation of that. Let’s look at the rest of that sentence from Philippians. I just love how that guy cut a sentence up to make verses. “not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”~Philippians 2:4 Here, we see it’s not about us, but about others. Don’t mistake this for sticking your nose into another person’s business. I think too many Christians look at it that way.

As we mature, age, we are asked who are the positive influences on our lives. In our younger days they might be musicians, actors, or athletes. As we get older we turn to authors, poets, activists, spiritual leaders, historical figures. We turn to people that hold up over time.

If you ask me who is an influence in my life and I say Jesus, many of you would laugh or roll your eyes. But take a moment to think about this. When looking at the teachings of Jesus, the historical evidence of his existence and death, and lack of negative remarks against him in the historical record, you find a man who holds up like none other. Even if you don’t believe he was God here on earth, he was a man who held up as a man who walked the walk that he talked.

His followers fail every day but he didn’t. Ignore me, ignore Billy Graham, ignore the Pope, ignore all the religious, spiritual, world leaders and think about the teachings of a man who spoke about what so many people like to harp on about as universal truths and beliefs.

Don’t try to make a good impression. Try to be a good person, live right, don’t be selfish, be kind and concerned for the well being of others. That’s how to make an impression. And how to really do it, is by not even knowing you are doing it.

Am I kind and caring? I like to think I am at times. I don’t set out to do it. It’s not my purpose. I wake up and I just do what I do. My intent each day is not to do bad things. Perhaps that’s it. My focus each morning, during my quiet time as I focus my thoughts and my world, is to do good, to focus on good, and to move away from bad. I fail each day in some way, but I keep trying.

I’ll leave you with this passage from Philippians, without the verse numbers, I believe they detract from the understanding at times.

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.”

Bold emphasis mine.

Every knee will bow to a servant. Next time you are in a restaurant, kneel down in the aisle and bow to the one who serves you your food. Kneel down to the person who cleans the toilets in your workplace.

Jesus fed us the Spirit and cleaned up all our junk for us. All we need do is bow to him and acknowledge the truth. You don’t want to accept him? At least read and follow his teachings. Look at the Sermon on the Mount beginning in Matthew Chapter 5. As well as the rest of his actual words in the First four books of the New Testament. These are great words to live by.

The inspiration for this post came after I received a request from a former student for my address to send a high school graduation invitation to me. She is one of the loveliest young ladies you could ever know. That invitation came at just the right moment. As I had made an impression on her, so too had she on me, and through that, things work out for those “just the right moment” moments. I was about to give up on the A to Z blogging challenge, letting everything going on in my life get in the way and get me down. I was done with it, sick, tired. But I am going to try and push through another week and see what happens. A simple message and things change.

So this post is dedicated to that young lady. MB won’t be reading this but she’s out there somewhere, praising God right now in church. At least as I write this.

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Merry Easter and Happy New Life.

April 5, 2015April 5, 2015 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Easter, God, Jesus, Matthew 8, Resurrection, Salvation

I was thinking that a lot of people in the world like to argue about what day Jesus died.

I’ll basically give it to you straight. I don’t care what day it was, or how the days are counted or by what tradition. The point of the matter is, it happened. That’s my belief. The arguments will continue on until the end. Either our end or the real end.

Recently I’ve gone through some troubles. I’ve shared a bit about the recent health issue. It’s been a week since I got out of the hospital. I at least look better than before.

Although I look better than in the hospital, which I would hope anyone would, things are going to take several weeks, at least, to recover. Perhaps months. But I’m good. I’m accustomed to illnesses. I did almost give up on the A to Z Challenge but, here I am still writing. and doing my Sunday Thought. Which I need to get back to.

I guess all I really have to say about Easter is, it’s the reason Christmas came about. You know there really isn’t a known date for when Jesus was born. I sometimes wonder if it was around this time of year. The way God works, it wouldn’t surprise me. And if you think about it, what’s really the important day to remember? The birth or the resurrection? I like to go with Easter myself. That’s the whole reason Jesus showed up.

Whether you believe in Jesus or not, or God or not, just know there are things we all share. Beliefs. You may not realize it but we do. Jesus taught about those. It’s nice to have them written down to remind us every now and then. I always like to tell people even if you don’t believe, following what Jesus said can’t lead you wrong.

Everyone have a happy Easter. Eat some eggs. I have to hide some. “B” always makes me hide them as hard as I can. I have to take pictures to know where I put them. We lost a couple two years ago. I think a squirrel got ’em.

One last thing before I go. I’ve told this story before. but with Easter here ham is apparently part of the whole thing. Well a old pastor friend of mine liked to preach on this:

Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men

Matthew 8:28-34

²⁸When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. ²⁹“What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

³⁰Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

³²He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. ³³Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

My old pastor and friend told the story from the Bible and was very serious as he looked out over the congregation in church that Sunday and followed it up with “And that is the first known record of Deviled Ham in history.

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Christian Sex. Try it, you might like it.

March 15, 2015March 15, 2015 Ronovan Thoughts 1 Corinthians 6:12, Bible, Christian Sex, Christianity, God, Homosexuality, Marriage, Relationships, Sex

I’ve started today’s Thought several times and it has ended up on the topic of sex each time. The decision has been made to go ahead and begin with that as the topic.

The world has this view of Christian Sex as something that would resemble two butterflies passing gently by on a spring day with their wings barely touching and then flittering away in opposite directions to hide in shame due to their having made eye contact during the process.

Get two Christians together, married up, and you have the opportunity for the most passionate sex to ever have existed on the planet.

People can argue against that idea. Many do. I’m not denying that non Christians, married or not have great sex. But since this is my blog and my post I’m here to talk about Christian Sex.

Yes, you will have the embarrassed Christian Butterfly Sex. But then you have the Christian Sex that comes from this bond of trust. This trust that allows for anything and everything to be possible and nothing is off limits. It allows for unashamed joy in the exploration and the satisfaction of each other.Why? Because of that trust, that respect.

In a true, loving Christian relationship the sky is the limit. The secret though is that true, loving Christian relationship. What does that mean? What is that made of? CAN it be achieved?

First of all, a relationship like that takes patience. Patience from the first moment the two meet and onward. You have to learn a lot about each other to discover if the two of you are meant to be. By this I mean you are to discuss almost every single topic. Some say, “Then why not have sex and see if you are the same there, or why not discuss sex before you get married to see if one likes to be tied up and the other is against it.”

Why? Because you don’t know. Until you are in that most amazing relationship of complete trust you don’t know what you are capable of.

People are reading this and thinking. “This guy has lost it. Christians aren’t supposed to do certain things sexually.”

You know, if you look in the Bible you will not find anywhere, it saying there is any kind of sex between husband and wife not allowed. What are the limits then? As long as it is just the two of them, the only limitation is will it in some way hurt the marriage.

How could a consensual act between husband and wife be considered harmful for the marriage? Some things may be physically dangerous, some things may be addictive. When the sex is the object of the marriage and not the spouse and the love of the marriage you have found the sex that should not occur.

The trust, the open and honest ability of each spouse to say no, that is what makes the ultimate Christian Sex possible. It may sound odd to you but some people may not like to have their back touched during sex. A difficult thing, yes, but when their back is touched it brings memories rushing back from being beaten as a child. The body, certain spots have the emotional memory that remains.

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.”~1 Corinthians 6:12

What is the significance of this verse from Paul? As a married couple you have the RIGHT to do any sexual act with each other, but it should be beneficial and it should not master you, control you, become your obsession.

Christan Sex. Try it, you might like it.

For a more weird moment in my thoughts about the subject you can click and read Sex and Hell: My Sunday Thoughts, Enter at Your Own Risk from back in September.

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Sincerity & Integrity in Blogging & Life

March 1, 2015March 1, 2015 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, God, Integrity, Scripture, Sincerity, Success, Tip, Tips

This is a rather unusual Thought this week. It rambled in my mind over so many areas that I decided to see how it rambled out in words. This will be about Blogging and about Life. For me the two are mostly the same. What dictates what appears on my blog is also what dictates my life.

The Reason

I don’t know about you, but I receive emails asking for tips on how to build a successful blog. They then go on to define successful by how to increase Followers, Likes, people to Comment on their blogs. Well they normally do it through the comment form on my About page but it shows up in my email.

Success is a term that is defined differently by each person. For some reason people think I have successful blog. I am not exactly sure why. I don’t know really what measures you would look at for that. And in all honesty, I don’t concern myself with it unless I am doing tips. It’s not something I think about every day. People don’t know my numbers so I suppose they have an impression of what they must be. If you have been following me long enough you will have noticed I don’t do Follower milestones any longer. It’s just not a thing. Perhaps I should do Comment milestones but I don’t think WordPress has those.

The Secret

Anyway, here is something people might find surprising that I have done. I don’t look at my stats any longer. Well, I did once this past Thursday because of a recent hashtag movement I started and wanted to see what happened, but that was more out of curiosity than hope or gauging success because the hashtag part is secondary to what I am doing on Wednesday.

How do I know if I am doing okay with my blog in regards to reader visits? I look at ‘Likes‘ and ‘Comments‘ IF I have a desire to know. And I notice in the notifications if I have people ‘Following‘.

What does this have to do with a Sunday Thought?

“In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.”~Titus2:7-8

How I write and what I write about I do with honesty, sincerity. I don’t do that intentionally most of the time. I write what I think and see what happens. If I have an opinion I write I will go and check some facts before I move on with it.

Sincerity

I can read a post by someone and tell if it’s sincere or not. Or I suppose I should say I can get a feel of sincerity or not.

How? Well there is something you have to consider, does the post match the personality that’s been displayed? There are some great posts out there but when I read them I can’t quite fall in to the grasp of them because it doesn’t fit with the regular content or the actions, or the comments of the person. There is just something missing.

Integrity

Another part mentioned above is integrity. There are just so many ways you can say something about blogging. It’s difficult to be original, however I don’t steal ideas. I experience the things I put out there and then write about them. In fact I intentionally don’t read the experts blog tips because I want to discover things on my own.

And if you really want to know the truth, those experts aren’t so expert at times. I like to give tips the real bloggers can do, not those with nothing but blogging to do in their lives.

I write novels, so I can’t blog all the time. It seems like I am around a lot but I’m not here as much as people think. Also with my health issues I am actually unconscious for more hours than I care to comment on.

Many people can read tips from me and know who wrote them when they are on another person’s blog. Imitation is not the highest form of flattery when it comes to things like that. At least not so much to me.

The Work

Sure, people notice I can write an article in 10 minutes and put out 20 of them in a day with no problem so they don’t think I work at it, the thoughts behind it.

I think all the time. It has taken time to develop my style and voice in my writing and although I don’t say anything to people that copy me, I still am not a big fan of the blatant copying. You know, if you do something, if you copy an idea, if you even copy phrasing, why not put a footnote in the post giving credit? I’ve done that. (Yeah, remember I was a History teacher that graded reports and gave a zero to a kid for taking a book and writing word for word. And yes, it was 40% of his grade.)

I wrote a poem once that was inspired by two other posts I had read. I gave the two bloggers credit and linked back to their blogs right at the beginning.

The Why

Why do people click Like or Comment on my things and perhaps not the copycat’s? Everyone that visits my blog knows that I put every ounce of heart into every sentence. Even if it might make me look bad or it means the reader doesn’t agree with me, they are fine with it because they KNOW I am for real. That’s the only reason I can think of.

Sincerity and Integrity goes a long way in your life. If you follow those two things it’s difficult to be spoken against. We all mess up, but we all should try to get back to the S&I in our lives.

I’ve messed up over time but I’m good now. I stick to what I am and don’t stray from it, even when people are angry at me for being the who I am now.

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Patience in Everything.

February 8, 2015 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Children, Friendship, God, Parenting, Patience, Paul the Apostle, Philippians 4, Scripture, Writing

There are a lot of things you cannot be taught in life. Okay, so that is an opinion of mine. I don’t think you can be taught talent. The talent that you have can be brought out of you, but if you don’t have that ability in you to begin with then you cannot eventually do it simply by someone showing you how.

You may be taught Algebra, but when you leave the classroom it is gone. You must constantly study it in order to pass the test.

There is one thing you can be taught.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.~Philippians 4:4-7

Patience can be taught. I recently had a conversation with a lady about how when writing a book you needed to be patient. You want to rush that book to an agent, a publisher or self-publish, but the truth is you need to be patient. You need to allow for that work to grow and mature. take your time to find everything that needs your attention. I compared it to raising a child.

You would not want your child to be set before the world weak because you did not have the patience to feed it properly because it didn’t want to eat what it needed. You would not put your child out there without the best you could give it. Even if that best is not as good as what someone else has it still is as good as they have. Keep that in mind. Your best is all you can do, therefore it is just as good as what anyone else does as their best.

We need patience in all parts of our lives. Especially with children. Our children are like little adults to us at times. We know how smart they are. We know what they know and are capable of. Then they do something that is, well frankly is very much a 6 year old thing to do.

One thing to remember, above all else about your child, is they are the age they are for a reason. They are growing and maturing and no matter what WE think they can do, they are still children.

Friendships are the same way, relationships as well. Both are children that we know what they are capable of but with our being slowly developing them, we need to remember that in a relationship or friendship that is only two weeks old, there are going to be things that are going to be trying to us.

You know what your moods are. Your relationship person does not. You have to learn and you need to be patient.

Books, children, relationships, even your own new found hobbies all require patience. Maturity may never happen in some situations, but sometimes they won’t and weren’t meant to. Be patient and accept that relationship for what it is. And if your book doesn’t mature, be mature enough to recognize it and move on to another one until YOU are mature enough to come back to it and nurture it along to becoming that mature published novel.

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My Sunday Thought: The Year of Renewal

December 28, 2014December 28, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Christianity, Literature, Media, Music, New Year's Resolution, Romans 12, Scripture, Society

I believe I’ve spoken of a pastor friend of mine before who brought me fully into a love of studying the Bible. He has his own ministry now that he is retired in which he teaches Apologetics in Oklahoma. I greatly enjoy Apologetics as it goes so hand in hand with my love of History. One verse that is key to his ministry is;

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I wanted to share this verse with you today as the final My Sunday Thought of 2014. I would like for you to look around at the world today. Look at what is popular on television and in the various forms of media.

Now take Fifty Shades of Grey and give it to your 10 year old to read. I know many of you are likely thinking this book is for adults only. I slip into that vein of thought at times when I write some of my poetry not that there have been many that could not be shared and yes, even in a Romance I’ve written there are scenes that are a bit much at times, not yet published nor revised by me. But does it make it right? Does the fact of the existence of something in a society make it right?

We should be able to hold ourselves up proudly at any moment and look at people and say “Do not throw me in with the swine you have made yourself to be.”

There is truly nothing of this world, the popular world that I care to be a part of. What do I want filling my mind? Do I want negativity and hatred or positivity and encouragement? Do I want skewed views of every single moment of life that is played out and inflamed according to media direction for the purpose of ratings when they could be trying to help a situation or do I want that which will give me hope and give me the ability to love every creation of God on this planet as a creation of God regardless of my dislike for who or what they are? Do I want to be an instigator or a mediator?

People don’t agree with my ideas. They believe they are a bit extreme. I believe we should not fill our minds with the trash that music has become, the movies, the literature. Don’t get me wrong, I believe everyone has the choice to do as they wish. There are a lot of aspects of life that should be portrayed in literature but done wisely. I simply believe that I have the choice to not fill my mind with some of it. I even suggested to people at my church, in ministry leadership positions that we should try to not support industry that supports all of the things that are a negative influence. We should not buy our fuel from stores that sell pornography. All I received from that was a nodding of the head with the “but” look to it. How could we ever possibly do that?

I am aware of the things, I just choose not to fill my mind and life with them. As the new year approaches give the idea of renewing your mind a consideration. Fill your life, your mind with positives so you may be a positive influence. Introduce the idea to your friends and family as well. Don’t be down on someone when they do listen to something or watch something. You just choose not to participate. Have your own music with you, a book. Or be like me and carry earplugs everywhere and then you don’t have to listen to anything or anyone you don’t want to. Yes, I have a medical excuse but so do you. You don’t want to be filled by the ill.

What you eat fuels your body. If you feed it junk your body will quickly lose energy. It stands to reason you think what you fill your mind with. What do you what fueling your mind?

In closing I am making my 2015 The Year of Renewal. A renewal of focus on those things that are most important to me and most important to my future. If you choose to travel along with me perhaps you will see that renewal playing out here in the pages of Ronovan Writes.

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My Sunday Thought: The Gift of Christmas?

December 21, 2014December 21, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Christianity, Christmas, Cross, Easter, Faith, God, Jesus, Religion, Salvation

Oh my word. I tell you I had no idea what I would write about today for my Sunday Thought. I knew for those who might visit, a Christmas tale might be expected. Well, every day is Christmas for me so, my apologies for letting you down with something holiday oriented. But if you really want to have a bit of something Christmas then here you go.

A preacher and Christian Book Store filled the pulpit one Sunday evening since our pastor was out of town for the evening.

“Everybody, would you move forward to the edge of your seats for me?” he asked.

“Thank you. Now could you raise up your hand and say Amen?”

“Thank you, you may relax.” We all sat back in the pews with various people looking at each other strangely. Deacons were staring at deacons. I was smiling at the deacons, I was the Chairman of the Deacons at the time.

“You may all be wondering what that was about. I told the pastor I would have you all on the edge of your seats, raising your hands and saying amen before the end of the service. Now he owes me dinner.”

What’s that got to do with Christmas, right? Well this visiting preacher was a bit on the strange side. I mean cowboy boots, checkered shirt, jeans. Just saying the church wasn’t accustomed to that. I personally don’t care if the pastor is wearing shorts, Hawaiian shirt, and flip flops as long as he’s preaching the word of God and the Spirit is leading him. But he actually was a strange man. I spoke to him on several occasions after that in his store. I love books, sue me. No, don’t.

What he preached on that night left such an impression on me that I incorporated it into a Youth Lesson I taught one Wednesday night.

The Gift of Christmas is Easter

You know, a lot of people want to turn Christmas into just an economic boost. Some religions don’t even celebrate Christmas, and I mean the ones that believe in Jesus. I have a relative who doesn’t celebrate Christmas but sure does love getting a present to open. I really have no problem with any of the demoninations. Yes, I said demoninations. You see, man made the divisions. God is God. Jesus is Jesus. There you go. Dunk, sprinkle whatever. As long as they are believing in the true word of God, I’m good with it.

As you think about the baby Jesus all warm and happy in the manger, think of the bloodied and nude suffering Jesus on the cross dying for you. That little baby came here to end up like that so we could have Easter, salvation.

Part of the Trinity voluntarily came to earth in the form of an infant to live life as a human through all the sufferings of a human child and remain perfect throughout his life in order to be beaten, flogged, scourged, humiliated, crucified, murdered for us.

“Oh, but if he was God then he could be perfect” some try to say. Let me take a nail and pound it through your wrists with you knowing I intended to murder you and see if you would forgive me for it. Do you think it didn’t hurt Jesus? Do you think he didn’t feel pain? That little baby oh so cute and lovable died a murderous death. And here is something else to think about; for it to be the ultimate sacrifice for ALL of our sins, think about how badly and how horrible he must have been beaten even before getting to the cross.

I wasn’t going to talk about a Christmas related story today. I was actually going to talk about a verse I was given from Matthew, but as I began writing different words began to form on the screen and here we are. I love Christmas. I love the feelings it brings with family. It’s not the actual day of the birth of Christ but it’s nice to have a day to celebrate it. I think we should do it every day.

In the silence of that night long ago,

The son came to earth as a gift.

Celebrate the day in the way you like,

But always and every day his name uplift.

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My Sunday Thought: Love Never Fails

December 14, 2014December 14, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts 1 Corinthians 13:8, Bible, Love, Love never fails

What’s Ronovan Write’s favorite subject to write about? Himself. No, although I guess technically it is mostly all about me in some form or fashion. It is my blog after all. Writing? No, not that either. Poetry, nope, try again. Wait, that was three strikes.

I’ll give you a hint.

1 Corinthians 13:8

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

I know many of you guessed it already. Love. Ronovan loves love. Yes, Spring is in the air and all the bunnies are . . . wait, I almost went Warner Brothers cartoon there and it sho’ ain’t Spring up here in the wooly, well here in the South Eastern parts of the United States. My aching joints will testify in court to that. I think my left elbow is about to explode.

Why this verse today? Well, I am writing a book about love. No, seriously. I am actually writing a book on the topic of love. Non fiction and all. And then today I was given this verse to study and share. Not a man for believing in coincidences. Nope.

Basically the verse is saying that everything else we have, all the gifts, talents and even knowledge we have can end, be gone, done, over with, kaput but love will be there. God’s love will be there. Love will be there.

Most of you know my story. Concussion from a fall in my home. Retrograde amnesia, short term memory problems and all of that. I can’t do math to save my life now. Seriously. During the cognitive test I had to take there were times I would just see a math problem and look at the guy and say “nope”. I look at common things at times and have no idea what they are or perhaps how to use them. But I have a hi IQ, so don’t get any ideas.

Looking around I think we need to remember that. I take that love and dish it out. I share it. I give. I like to show the love. “SHOW ME THE LOVIN’!” I think that was really what Cuba Gooding Jr. was asking from Tom Cruise in that movie where he was completed. It wasn’t money. Cuba really wanted someone to commit to him. To show the love.

You know, we go through life and meet people and say “I love you”, “I’m in loooove with you.” Love does not fail. Love never fails. If that feeling, that person falls away, it wasn’t love. Not the love I am speaking of. You can love a friend, but that’s not the love I am speaking of. You can love someone a great deal up to the point of the love I am speaking of and THINK it is the love I am speaking of. People are often fooled by it.

I look at love that way. I love, I love hard. I am as they say, all in. I don’t go half way. I don’t know how.

Love never fails. That’s my Sunday Thought. In this day and age of crazy we need something to hang on to. I choose love. That’s my thought and the message I am sending out. The message I want known. Love never fails. Do you hear me out there? People fail. Love NEVER fails.

Much Love

Ronovan

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My Sunday Thought: Be quiet.

December 7, 2014December 7, 2014 Ronovan Inspiration & Motivation, Thoughts, Writing Anger, Be Quiet, Bible, Christianity, Cosby, Ferguson, Garner, God, Inspiration, James 1:19-22, Jesus, Motivation, Proverbs 17:28, Society

I always like to write my Sunday Thought about something to do with events that are happening in society today. The problem with that is the same things have been going on for weeks now and to be honest I have been attempting to avoid simply going off on a rant to say exactly what I think of the various situations. So far I’ve held my tongue and merely spoken in a somewhat neutral tone. Mostly because it would be such a long article that I know it would not be read and everyone has there opinions.

And they would be just that. Opinions. You can take two people and give them the exact same information and they will see something different. It all depends on your view of how things operate.

Why do I not give my full blown, knock down, in your face opinions on Ferguson, Cosby and Garner? Because it would be an opinion that, although not in the media and not sensationalized or used inflammatorially would still add fuel to a fire that no one can know 100% either way about. Don’t make assumptions about my opinion based on that statement. Why?

James 1:19-22
¹⁹My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ²¹Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

And if you don’t want to take the advice of the half brother of Jesus then take it from the wisest normal man that ever lived.

Proverbs 17:28
Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
and discerning if they hold their tongues.

I’ve taught my son one thing if nothing else. Keep quiet unless the teacher asks him the question or he’s certain of the answer being asked. You see kids just spout out an answer sometimes and look like they are crazy. We think it’s funny. Adults do it and we look foolish. That happens in every aspect of life.

Much Respect

Ronovan

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My Sunday Thought: Be slow and Do it, Don’t Spew it.

November 30, 2014November 30, 2014 Ronovan Writing Bible, Christianity, Inspiration, James 1:19-22, Life, Proverbs 10:19, Proverbs 17:28, Quick to Listen, Slow to Anger, Wise

Yes, Cat-Man is continuing his dedication to his Sunday Theeowwts. If some of you are wondering “How I Became Cat-Man” simply check yesterday’s article. I assure you it is more painful than it sounds.

You know, people like to take a look at someone and make a judgement. I don’t know what your opinions of me have been since my profile photo reveal, and to be honest it wouldn’t matter in regards to if I kept writing or not. No intent to offend just assuring you I am good with my appearance accept with the side effects of the Lyrica I am taking due to my Fibromyalgia, but I have taken extreme action to counter act that.

Some look at me and see the red hair and think I must have a short fuse, that I blow my top at the drop of a hat. Actually I tend to stay quiet and carry on as normal and let things just go away.

I have to say that the letter of James in the Bible is one of my favorites. You know that might surprise some but I like my verses to be straight forward and in my face. I love Jesus but sometimes you have to admit those parables just make your head hurt. Some of them I love but some of them I just have to think about a bit. I get them, but still. But if given the choice, I would take every one of those words attributed to Jesus and just go by them and be happy.

The book of James is attributed to the half brother of Jesus. That’s right the actual real brother of the Son. You know that had to be a tough act to follow. “Why can’t you be perfect like Jesus?” “Jesus never called me a camel’s behind.”

James 1:21-22
²¹Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Good one, right? Those are the two verses I received from my Bible verse generators. Now let me add in the verses before it.

¹⁹My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ²¹Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Yes, I like to give the verses that the following verses are “There For”. Touch of humor there and play on words but it’s true. When you see “therefore” in the Bible it’s “there for” a reason so back up if you jump in at a “therefore” spot.

Are these not amazing verses. Someone all trying to be smart might say that while I was being slow to anger they would kick my bee hind. It doesn’t say do not be aware, do not be prepared, it is saying do not be stupid. For the “smart” person, to be quick to anger and to attack a quiet person is to be “stupid”. You try to kick my bee hind and you might get stung.

Yesterday I could have reacted with quick anger and hurled a cat many yards away from me or into a wall. But my mind raced through several things in the span of seconds. My habit of being slow to anger came in handy. A 70 year old grandmother was not destroyed by a frightened cat and a frightened, and normally sweet cat is now spade and will no longer be attacked by every male cat that comes by nor will her brothers, Spunky being one of them, be attacked for being a male cat in her presence and thus competition.

Quick to listen and slow to anger. Another verse associated with these is;

Proverbs 10:19

Sin is not ended by multiplying words,
but the prudent hold their tongues.

And another;

Proverbs 17:28

Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
and discerning if they hold their tongues.

You have probably been in that situation where you are listening to two people or even just one person talking about some strange subject and you are sitting there quietly and intently paying attention. Then you are asked if you agree or your opinion. You sit silently trying to come up with something to say while keeping a straight and thoughtful expression. The people involved quickly begin to think you are wise in seeing something such as the weaknesses in their arguments that they had hoped would escape notice. I am not wise, I am just good at the straight face and an expression that apparently conveys “are you seriously trying to tell me that load”.

How can you apply these verses to life?

How can you not? You can see events on the news that would have been avoided if one or both parties involved had practiced what these words say. Quick words only cause problems. And that is not just in the areas of anger. This can even be in the area of the heart. Take everything possible slowly to be sure what is really is what it is.

I often say during my Sunday Thoughts that it doesn’t matter if you are a Christian or not, you can gain something from the words and apply them to your life. And for those who are Christians, I have a saying I used to use when speaking to youth;

Ronovan

Romans 1:16

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My Sunday Thought: Bill Cosby–Torn between Two Worlds

November 23, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Bill Cosby, Case, God, Guilt, Innocence, Judging, Law of the Land, Media

Bill Cosby.

A few weeks ago by putting that name at the top of my Sunday Thought would have made people think of something like, Fatherhood, Family, Morals. Now, if you have been following the news or haven’t been hiding in some Super Walmart fitting room you might have another thought about where I would go with it.

Just for a brief explanation:

A comic, who I had never heard of, decided to make as part of his routine or perhaps as a spur of the moment thing the bringing up an old case about Bill Cosby being accused of drugging a woman and then raping her. This was then caught by the media and things caught fire with women coming out saying Bill Cosby had done the same thing to them.

The case mentioned was settled out of court. Now before you decide that Cosby must be guilty if he did that, think about how you would fill if your entire life, entire sexual life were going to be exposed to the entire world during a trial. He might have went along with his attorney who came up with the idea. “Bill, a few thousand dollars or your name becoming a joke for a while? Take your pick.”

Or you might think, if the woman was really after justice she would not have settled out of court and wanted Bill Cosby found guilty. But then she might have gone along with her attorney in a similar situation as Cosby went through.

In the Bible they had Judges who would determine if you were guilty of something after hearing everything. Usually the offenses were settled between the two involved and often times no one ever even knew anything happened.

With the media today grabbing onto anything possible, especially if it would tear down a moral icon like Bill Cosby, we as people not even involved are making judgements in this situation for or against Cosby and the women coming forward.

From my understanding the limitations have passed for the trying of anything even if guilt is true.

My opinion:

Bill Cosby knows the truth and so does God. One day he will have to stand before God and give an account of all he has done. Bill Cosby is no saint. He cheated on his wife and had a child that he financially supported. She stayed with him after finding out. I look at his wife sitting beside him through a recent interview and her support of him and that says a lot to me. But it does not say he is innocent for certain.

I have no say in his guilt or innocence. Some reading this will say that I should rail against him with anger in defense of women since I claim to respect and cherish women so much. I do respect and cherish women, but I also respect and cherish the word of God. I only speak to build people up, not to tear them down. I don’t know all of the specifics and the supposed realities from both sides. This is not my case. There is no case actually. There are simply people saying things that can’t be proven or dis-proven after all these years. How can I make a judgement without knowing everything that needs to be known?

Corporations are cutting ties with Cosby left and right without even knowing any facts or hearing anything other than the media circus, afraid of the fallout.

I saw a clip from a morning panel type talk show where the issue was discussed and it was an interesting and disturbing piece. Some were attempting to be logical, so I thought, and then there was the side that seemed to automatically believe in Cosby’s guilt. Disturbing. Imagine if I met one of them and then months later came out and said they had done something to me, would there be an immediate thought of guilt then?

Well I have rambled a bit. I know this is a sensitive subject. As I say I am not saying Cosby did or did not do it. I am simply saying I don’t know, I don’t know facts, but God will sort it out since the Law of the Land, which we are supposed to follow according to the Bible did not find him guilty.

Yeah, we all have our opinions of it. Some are mixed, and that is probably the most accurate thing to say here. If not guilty then disgust at what is being done to him, if guilty then disgust at what he did. Torn. that’s the word, torn.

Much Respect

Ronovan

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Sunday Thought: Be Like a Child and Grow Up

November 16, 2014November 16, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Be like a child, Bible, Blog, Christianity, Encouragement, God, Jesus, Matthew 18, Stumble

You know when I started writing these Sunday Thoughts and agreeing with myself to use whatever verses came up in my Bible Verse Generator I knew it might be difficult at times. God likes to make me think real deep at times. I’ll just put it that way. Today I’m thinking deep.

I try to be good. I fail. I fail every day, in some way. Sure I might do good in this way one day but then the next day I blow it. I stumble. I try to be the good Christian, but I stumble. Yeah, I realize I will never be perfect here on earth. Only Jesus ever was. I wish all Christians realized that. I wish non-Christians realized Christians didn’t have to be perfect nor thought of ourselves as perfect. But hey, things are the way they are. Doesn’t mean we can’t change them. Maybe today you can help start some changing.

I’ll tell you how difficult today’s verses are for me to get just right in explaining. Or getting thoughts from. This is like my fourth or fifth version of this. I think part of the reason I’m having a problem is because I do a daily Christian study and I just did it right before this so I am in that same mind. So let me take a moment and get out of that mode of mind. (Yes, I am actually doing all of this as I do it.)

Do you remember what it was like to be a child? I’m not talking about playing in the yard or riding your bike. I’m talking about how you thought. How you felt. It’s almost impossible to capture that isn’t it. In today’s verses Jesus tells he disciples to do just that or they won’t get into Heaven. And then he gives a warning.

1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ²He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:5-6

⁵And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. ⁶“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea

You know the disciples always seemed to wonder who were going to be the big guys in heaven. And we only have some of the times they asked about it. Can you imagine how tiresome that must have gotten. Jesus having to repeat himself over and over? Well God did it all through the Old Testament, didn’t He?

Jesus basically tells them to be like children and depend on their Father, believe Him, follow Him, learn from Him, and give no thoughts of what greatness is.

People sometimes wonder about the whole drowning statement. What does Jesus mean by this? Think of it like this; you have a child and someone causes them to do something bad, say drugs, get drunk and I mean a child, a little kid. What would you do to that person?

How what Jesus is saying is it would be better for that person to have died from drowning rather than to have done something that would have caused him to face the anger and rage of the Father.

You force drugs in my son, and well . . . I’m a Christian, but I’m not perfect. I can imagine my rage at that. God’s rage would be so much more than that, beyond our imagining. And just think, my son is one of God’s children.

But well, I know what is going on for real. The enemy is at work. He is using others to make things happen. People aren’t born with their lives planned out to be this or that. Things happen along the way that make things turn out the way they do. I would like to say I could forgive anything. God gave everyone the chance at forgiveness.

I’m not God. I can forgive a lot of things in this world done by people because I know the truth of what’s behind it. But, it would be best that you strap a car around your neck and throw yourself in the ocean before I got to you.

For the enemies of Jesus, and really I can’t understand why anyone would not embrace his teachings and ideas, but for his enemies, your millstone is around your neck right now. Lucky you there is a sword that can cut it away. Some call it a tree, some a cross, some might see it as a sword.

I didn’t intend to get preachy today. I never do really. I have a site for a bit of the preachy, although I don’t really get preachy with it. (Why do I have Will Smith singing in my head?) But really today was about not caring about being the greatest in this or that. Be the best that you can be. Don’t worry about all of that glory stuff. Seriously, do your best. That’s what I tell my son. Do I want him to have A’s on his report card? Of course. But I tell him just to do his best. If I see him come home with a bad grade and I know he studied, I’m good with it. Bad grades happen. I mean you could ask ‘B’ that if he were on here.

Well that’s the end of this rambling nonsense today. Til next week, God bless you and pray daily. Start out your day with some quiet time with God to start that day off on the right foot. Trust me, it helps.

Much Respect

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Sunday Thought: Feed them Love.

November 9, 2014November 8, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Arrested, Bible, Feeding the Homeless, Fort Lauderdale, God, Homeless, Love, Loving, Matthew 22, Motivational, Neighbor

For those of you not usually into reading my Sunday Thought, I encourage you to do so today because this one is about an article I read that . . . wow, I can’t even explain how whacked it is. Yes, I said whacked.

I normally use the Word of God for the Sunday Thought but today I am going to at least begin somewhere else. Who knows where it will lead. There will probably be some verses by the end but let’s start off with a bit about the article I read.

Fort Lauderdale, FL. What do you think of when you see those words? Beaches? Yeah. Homeless people? No. People getting arrested for feeding homeless people? No.

Unfortunately those answers are actually all ‘Yeah’.

This past week two pastors and a 90 year old man were arrested for feeding the homeless. Later in the week three more people, including a 17 year old were arrested. The last three might have been partially a protest action but they were still feeding the homeless.

I’ll be fair and give the cities’ response to all of the uproar going on.

“Contrary to reports, the city of Fort Lauderdale is not banning groups from feeding the homeless. We have established an outdoor food distribution ordinance to ensure the health, safety and welfare of our community. The ordinance does not prohibit feeding the homeless; it regulates the activity in order to ensure it is carried out in an appropriate, organized, clean and healthy manner.

While the ordinance regulates outdoor food distribution, it permits indoor food distribution to take place at houses of worship throughout the city. By allowing houses of worship to conduct this activity, the city is actually increasing the number of locations where the homeless can properly receive this service.”

So why am I writing about this? It would seem that from the cities response they have reasonable reasons. I admittedly thought of safety for the homeless if people tried to do things to the food they gave. The 90 year old man had been feeding them for 20 years.

Another thing is, most houses of worship would be open to feeding the homeless already and have a program in place if they wanted to have one. What has really happened is the decrease of locations by LIMITING them. I know my own church used to be the location for a program that fed the hungry and did other things and we also had our own food pantry where the hungry could come and get food. But we now donate to a collective location for people to go to. It does make it more available, perhaps, based on hours they are opened. I don’t really know.

Some homeless cannot go to places for help. Some have illnesses. Some have mental conditions that might make it difficult to be around people or large groups of people or approaching strangers. There is a mistrust, a feeling perhaps at times of not wanting it to be known to a lot of people that they are homeless. If I were homeless I would have problems right now with all of my medical problems walking the length of a football field.

How do these people get help? I guess with the new ordinance they don’t. But they will. How can you keep someone from sharing a meal with another person? “Hey, brother, have a sandwich with me.”

After 20 years, I imagine some of those homeless people consider that 90 year old man as a friend. Can you not eat with a friend? Can you not help a friend?

A verse does come to mind. It’s one even those that have never opened a Bible will know.

Matthew 22:39

³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

What the city is saying is, we love you but only if you come to a place we designate as a place we can show you we love you. Sorry Mayor, we know you are now homeless but we can’t give you this order of fries from McDonald’s because you aren’t at a designated area.

Yeah, I don’t want the homeless to be sick from bad food. Maybe that is why the ordinance was made or maybe it was created to discourage the homeless in their city. “You can’t get food easy here, so move on to another city that will help you easier cause your presence is discouraging the tourist trade.”

Whatever the reason, the results are not right. Those people are still hungry and there are still plenty to be fed. Unless you want to start running buses around your city, you might want to reconsider your idea.

Well, that’s about all this week. So what’s my Sunday Thought today? I think Jesus said it pretty well. “Love your neighbor as yourself.“

Much Respect, Praying for You All

Ronovan

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My Sunday Thought: For Others

November 2, 2014November 2, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts, Writing Bible, Christianity, God, Jesus, Philippians, Sunday

Philippians is one of my favorite writings of the Bible. I know many refer to them as books of the Bible, but they were letters and essays when first written and only became ‘books’ after being bound together in a book called the Bible.

No, I am not going to make a big deal about semantics today, it’s just one of my little quirks. That and the numbered verses and the chapter divisions. I really just enjoy the words in the original flow, without man’s interruptions. Man can mess up some beautiful things, you know?

But Philippians has some of my favorite sentences in it. One of them is one of the first I ever referred to as a life ‘verse’.

Philippians 1:19

“Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, ¹⁹for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.”

Whatever is happening to me, I count as something I can use to make me stronger in my relationship with God and make me a better person overall moving forward each day. It might be a good fortune or a day of body ravaging pain but through each I move forward with the one constant in my life. And I use all for my betterment.

But that sentence is not what was given today for me to think about and ponder upon. No, I was given instead;

Philippians 2:3

“¹Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

I found the sentence today interesting. I’m not overly sure why. Okay, perhaps I do know why.

Think about it like this. Say you go on vacation and you have to leave your house and expensive things behind but you are the only one you can count on, the only one you can trust. Would you actually be able to relax on vacation or even take that vacation?

Now think about if your neighbors cared about you, watched out for you and each other, each others property and safety. Would you be able to go on vacation and relax?

Yes, I know what most people think of when they read the verse. We are supposed to put other people before us as Christ put others before himself. But there are many benefits even before we get to heaven we can receive if we all just did as this verse said.

I like to think I consider others before I do myself at times. No, I am sure I don’t all the time. Just wanted to say that before anyone decided to think I was being all braggadocious or something. I know I care about my blogs and my writing and the happiness of those of you reading what I write. But I do sometimes put things on delay to help here and there. Why do I do that?

I do some things around Blog World that people would ask to be paid for. You know what? I enjoy doing the things I do. I rarely, if ever have said no to helping someone. Why? In all honesty, I’ve never thought to say no. Maybe afterwards or in the middle of something that is taxing during a fibro flare, I might get that “I so regret saying yes” feeling, but the person’s happiness makes it better.

Don’t do things for others for recognition. I haven’t told you what I’ve done or for whom. Anything I’ve ever written with someone I’ve not wanted my name there but it’s been pretty much insisted upon at times. I like just helping and seeing the person get good results . . . if they do. Most of the time I really don’t do that much except just spark an idea.

Anyway. Help others. Put others needs before your own. It sounds like a big thing but it isn’t always. If you’re a boss, stand up for your employees. I did that when I was a boss. I ended up being stabbed in the back by one of those I stood up for time and again, but here I am . . . doing what I love most, writing. All works out for my deliverance.

Until Next Thoughtday,

Ronovan

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My Sunday Thought: Freedom . . . but from what?

October 26, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Bible Verse, Christianity, Freedom, God, Jesus, Pain, Scripture

It’s a rough Sunday morning today. The old body is not cooperating. Got one of them flares going today, well the past few it I am to be honest. I wasn’t going to do my Sunday Thought today but I needed a bit of the Word.

I was hoping God would say something like, “I shall taketh your paineth awayeth righteth noweth.” You know someday I’ll know what his voice really sounds like, as in the actual sound of it. I see his ‘voice’ all around me at work, so to speak.

So what verses did I get today from the websites I like to use to give me a bit of variety to my Bible studies?

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.-2 Corinthians 3:17

At first, if you don’t really read much of the Bible it doesn’t say much to you, but for me it did . . . after a moment. For me the Spirit is inside of me. The Spirit sets us free from a lot of things.

This brings to mind the saying “The Truth shall set you free.” The origin of that is Jesus talking about his being the Truth and those who know him and follow him will be set free. Free of what? Free of the consequences of all we’ve done here on earth when we pass on. Oh sure, we won’t get everything we could have in Heaven, all the rewards set aside for us, but as long as I get there, I’m good.

Maybe a better explanation is that we are free from being under the rule of sin. See, I’m not under that rule any longer. Sure, I will have to answer for things but as Mark Lowry said it “Sure Beats Hell”.

So what does that verse do for me in the middle of a Fribromyalgia Flare? It lets me know that eventually I’ll have a healthy and pain free existence down the line.

Along with this verse I received;

“And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”-1 John 4:21

When you have the Spirit inside of you and you have Jesus, and I mean for real, not just saying you’re a Christian, trust me there are a lot of Play-Christians out there, but when you are for real, then realize it’s easy to love your brother and sister. This doesn’t just mean your relatives. And by loving people it sure does take a lot of that pain of hating off of your body, your heart. The stress of hanging onto that grudge or that whatever goes away.

This even reminds me of something I wrote about where a celebrity said a few things recently about a, well I’ll call us civilians, but anyway, if the celebrity just took a step back then it would have been realized there was no reason for the reaction.

That Spirit frees you up from a lot of things, but you have to be active with it. Don’t just think because you walked an aisle or whatever to get saved one Sunday means you are automatically changed into a better person than you were. It’s the first step.

I was saved for a long time before I think I could really call myself a Christian. Things changed for me after that. Not everything, I still messed up because I was a dumb human. Still am one actually. Still mess up actually. But I at least am aware of what my mess ups are.

Do any of these verses take my pain away or cure me? No. But studying the Word does make one feel better about where we are and the future. You see, I know things may look bad, and I try to help and do the best I can while I am here, but I know that down the line I will be just fine. After all I’m a foreigner here in this land. My home is another place.

Well that’s about it for me today. I know it was a bit disjointed today, but I’m good with it.

Much Respect

Ronovan

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Romans 1:16

My Sunday Thought: Racing is a problem.

October 19, 2014October 19, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Christianity, God, Race, Sunday Thought

Racing is a problem.

I’m not certain if I’ve ever shared this story with you, but I’ll share it again anyway. Having a memory problem can be a problem. It can get you down at times not knowing things you should know. Then there is me. Yeah, you just know I’ll have some fun with this.

I had to go to the doctor for one of my visits to see how I was doing with everything. Well, they had changed locations and the hospital they were primarily affiliated with so that meant paperwork. As the paperwork was being filled out, the first line of defense came over. (The first line of defense is the lady at the counter who gives you the paperwork, answers the phones, and basically says you cannot talk to a doctor unless you are dead.) First Life of Defense (FLoD) is not always the most cheerful or dare I say nicest.

So she comes up and I can’t help it.

“Can I put ‘I’ or ‘N’ for race?” I asked.

FLoD stares at me oddly. I must not look Indian or Nicaraguan. “Why ‘I’ or ‘N’?” Asked FloD.

“Well I prefer Indy car but I’ll put NASCAR if you insist.”

“Why don’t you just put ‘C’,” she said with a bit of a smirk.

Mistake. I looked around, leaned in and stage whispered for the whole office to hear. “But, I’m not Chinese.”

I know, I was bad. It isn’t my fault that the elderly man sitting near me decided to do the same thing when she came over to him.

As you might can tell my ‘racing’ problem is this, there are no ‘races’. You see as far as I am concerned I go with the Bible. One man plus one woman equals one human race. We might have set ourselves apart early on based on certain things like preferences of being a hunter or farmer.

As time went on people that were in a group started looking a certain way. But really going back to the Bible there aren’t really a lot of difficulties in how things came about. You have the Tower of Babel for one.

But I also look at things like Abraham when his children not by his wife were sent away to the various four winds basically. Each group that went out had the same physical characteristics in them so as time went on, guess what happened. You ended up with a people group looking a certain way.

Now we have the ‘whites’ and the ‘blacks’. I find this one interesting. As a fair skinned man can you guess where I would want to live? The hot places where I would burn in an hour or less, or the cooler less sunny places where I would be more comfortable and safer?

Scientists say I’m a mutant. I have red hair and blue eyes, that makes me a mutant, one of the rarest combinations on earth. They call those living in Europe with fair hair and skin and eye coloring mutations. I call it “Dude, that’s where we wanted to go.”

If there were not air conditioning do you think the divisions would be as prevalent as they once were?

Race in the Bible was never an issue to God. He only had issues with those that did not believe in Him. He didn’t want the Hebrews to marry with those who worshiped idols. Worship God and things were cool.

I’ve written this past week about racial discussions of late. I recognize there are physical characteristics used to divide people. That is a given that I do not deny. I do have a problem with ‘race’. I have a problem with the politicalization of ‘race’ to basically continue divisions for election purposes.

You know, if we ignored politics, some evolutionary scientists and some, I hate to say it, religious nuts we would all be a lot better off and start noticing our similarities as a human race and there would be less and less to notice that really isn’t different at all.

Much Respect

Ronovan

Sunday Thought-Be Content.

October 12, 2014October 12, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Debt, Friendship, God, Jesus, Needs, Wants

There are a lot of things that we want. How many things do we need?

I sit back and look at the need situation of the house at times and wonder, literally, how did the needs get to this level. There are difficult decisions to be made in life. Wants and needs are big decisions.

^“11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹²I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”-Philippians 4:11-13

^“7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”-1 Timothy 6:7-8

Financially we want a lot. We say we don’t but our lifestyles contradict, even for those who live at the lower range of lifestyles. The Bible also says not to ever owe anyone anything. When you owe you put yourself in a position of weakness, for one. But also you put yourself in a position of putting your beliefs or ideals in jeopardy.

What do we need?

Food, clothing and shelter? Thoughts are running through minds at this time about needing a job to have those things. Yes, you need a job. What job do you need? How much food and clothing do you need? How much shelter do you need? What job are you too good for?

I ran into the problem when job searching of being over qualified for everything. I simply wanted a job that would make ends meet. I knew what needs there were, but they were more than the needs I should have had. We say we live at our bare minimum, but do we all do that?

What do we need?

Friendship? There is only one friend we ever can have that will never do anything against us. Why then do we mourn not having friends? Why then do we fall into friendships that are not good for us?

It’s not about what we need any longer. It’s about what we want. I’ve slowly come to a realization of returning to need in aspects of my life. Imagine the satisfaction. Imagine the relief from a great deal of mental and emotional grief and pain. I enjoy the friendships I have. I am now very selective in those I hold close to.

One thing to learn about friendships is to let them be friendships. You don’t have to make them be these soul bonding experiences. Be friends. Enjoy them. Enjoy them for what they are and for the time you have them. No, I am not saying count on them no longer being a friend. I am simply saying enjoy being in the moment.

Wants and needs. Two very difficult words to differentiate when you make those difficult decisions.

We all need to be content with what we need. It would make the whole world a lot better off.

Have a Blessed Week

Ronovan

A spark enflames. My Sunday Thought for Today.

October 5, 2014October 4, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Christianity, God, Hebrews, Judged, Paul, Philippians, Sunday

^“4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell”.-John 3:4-6

This passage is one that is used often about what trouble our words can cause. This is the message given most often from the pulpit about these words.

As we all know, I am a bit different. I look at this and say “So with my words I can spread a fire of encouragement and love.”

Some see my words of encouragement and even my “Much Respect & Love” as a means to another end. They think I am after something. Of course I am. I want to encourage people. I don’t use those words unless I mean them. I respect everyone until they give me a reason not to. I love everyone regardless. Yeah, I know, “Ooooo, the Christian loves everyone, even the murderers.” Well, yeah. I’ve written about that before. I love God’s creation, I just don’t love what the creation does . . . and it went on from there to explain more but I’m not getting into that today. But I don’t throw the L word around much. For one thing I know people take it the wrong way.

Well, I’ll tell you this. Call me different. I got no problem with it. Don’t judge me just because you have experiences with others. And finally . . .

Use your words to start a fire. Spark encouragement everywhere. Spark love everywhere. Spark friendship everywhere. Spark trust everywhere.

Much Respect and Love

Ronovan

Forgiveness? Can you do it?

September 7, 2014September 7, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, David, Forgiveness, Jesus, Psalms, Stripper

Life can be rough. And that’s when people are nice. It really doesn’t help when the unpleasant people get involved in it. I used to work with this lady in a warehouse back when I was in my first years of college. We didn’t really have much to do with one another. As far as my journals say, I’m not even sure if we spoke much. We just didn’t have a reason to.

She was very pretty, seemed nice and sweet. She never bothered anyone and did her job the best she could. The problem was she was honest. Honesty a problem? It’s put me in tough spots before. But still you need to be honest, right?

It turned out this young lady, actually older than I was at the time, had once been an exotic dancer, a stripper. She had given up that life to come and work in a warehouse sewing. To me it seemed like she was trying to make her life better. Imagine the amount of money she had been making.

You know we probably all think it’s easy to be a dancer like that and just make money thrown at you. I think it’s probably difficult to get up there and do that knowing there might be some men out there that might get to aggressive either inside the club or outside.

Now you are thinking, “She shouldn’t be dancing like that if she doesn’t want the attention.” I guess being alone, with a baby, and no high school diploma and desperate didn’t have anything to do with her decision. I suppose feeding that innocent baby, the child of a waste of life male sperm donor, didn’t come to her mind as she got up there each time and did what she did. I guess she just liked to dance naked in front of drunk men.

She didn’t last long at the warehouse. She lasted longer naked with drunk men than she did with a group of women sewers.

Once it was discovered what she had done prior to working there it was all down hill and out the door. The men were nice enough. Oddly they just acted normal. We didn’t have a reason to be around her much. I did as I was a jack of all trades. I did everything there was from the point of unloading the boxes of uniforms off the trucks, to the loading the finished uniforms back on the trucks, and yes, that included sewing and embroidery.

I learned a lot there. It was my first real job. The first place I discovered what treating a woman should be like form seeing how badly some of the women were treated.

Psalms 103

⁹He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹²as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

What is David saying here? For our sins to be removed and forgiven there had to be a sacrifice, and that was Him. I know some people get a little confused about the Trinity, but Jesus was an aspect of God, one of the three. And Jesus came to earth to take on our sins because God does not always accuse, or harbor his anger forever, nor does he treat up as our sins deserve.

Jesus says to forgive or we will be judged just as harshly as we didn’t forgive. That’s a paraphrase but that’s what it says. I have a friend who has an interesting past. Although that past is something they don’t deny but instead use to attempt to reach and help others, people use it negatively and for selfish reasons. There is no forgiveness and recognition of what is being done. They simply see the past and live in it instead of seeing the present and seeing what is being done with the past.

Forgiveness. It’s a tough one but not really. I always say that as I believe that we are all God’s creations that we were all MEANT to do good in our lives. But through various things throughout history things have turned out the way they are. A child grows up to be a dictator, but was raised from birth to be one. A woman ends up being a stripper, but wasn’t raised from birth to be one.

Yeah, I am able to see the sin from the sinner. Is it easy? No. Do I like it? No. Does it make my life easier to think that humans aren’t born to be murdering rapists? Yes. If I had to attempt to come up with some psychological answer for every single problem everyone has I would die in moments from overload.

You don’t have to agree with me. I’m good with it. Everyone can be as they like as long as they don’t harm others. If we all did that, we would all be better off.

The title asks can you forgive. You don’ t have to. Forgiveness has already been given. We should just learn to follow a great example.

Much Respect

Ronovan

Women are NOT to be Silent in the Church.

July 6, 2014July 6, 2014 Ronovan Thoughts Bible, Blogs, Christianity, Inspiration, Preaching, Scripture, Sunday, Sunday Thoughts, Women, Women in the Church

I read my computer. That may seem like an odd way to start an article and an even odder thing to actually do. But I read the things I have written before. One note mentions an Arizona preacher who used scripture to say women are to be silent in the church and that meant not even to say Amen. This was from back in March of this year, 2014.

Let’s just say things inside of me went–

And that’s now. Just imagine what I must have felt to make a note of it!

^“34Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. ³⁵If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.”-1 Corinthians 14:34-35

Women are NOT to be Silent in the Church

by: Ronovan

To read the scripture that . . . preacher . . . points to you would say, well he’s just doing what the Bible says. This is the problem with many preachers today. They read but do not know. First I have to explain something to you. There are preachers and their are pastors. Preachers just get up and preach at you.

Pastors take time and make the effort to tend to the church members.

“¹Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ²Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. ⁴For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.”-Romans 13:1-5

Some may wonder about why certain leaders are in power, but then again look at how the Jews were put under the yolk of others. There is a reason. Often times it is to make us stronger with God. But I digress. Perhaps that will be a point for another article another day. But I don’t put scripture out there in part, I like to put parts that pertain to the scripture I want to discuss so you see the context of it. I don’t pick and choose.

What this passage says, from Paul who also wrote Corinthians is that we are to follow the laws of the land in order that no one may say anything against us that we are rebellious or anything and thus we may continue to live and believe as we like.

What the Arizona pastor apparently does not do when he reads the Bible is look at historical context. In the times in which the scriptures were written it was illegal for women to speak in public gatherings. That is why the scripture says what it does. Paul and scripture were not against women speaking or even being leaders in the church as Paul mentions Phoebe as a deacon of the church which means she worked with the elders of the church in an important role. Even if some question exactly what her role was, they cannot deny her importance in the church.

Paul also, in the same chapter, refers to Priscilla as a co-worker in Christ Jesus.

I listen to preachers preach and I have this alarm that goes off when something doesn’t sound right. I also do a lot of studying on my own. I actually take out the chapter and scripture number references/divisions of the books of the Bible and read them as originally written in order to not read them in a way that man has decided they should be divided up, instead of how God had his handpicked scribes put them to parchment.

Romans, one of the more controversial books and actually one of the most misquoted and misused books, has a very different message than some realize when read as a letter or essay and not with chapter breaks that make you stop and dwell on things where God did not mean for you to, but a man wanted you to because that’s how he thought. The actual real messages are more obvious than you would ever imagine.

Much Respect

Ronovan

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