REFINEMENT ~SHABBAT SHALOM

Today was an interesting intro to the Shabbat.

There are people who enter your life space to create chaos in it: today was such a day – by the time I left the building and drove off, I was literally shaking. Sometimes it is very, very hard to maintain a Christian mindset and behave maturely: I was sorely tempted this morning to revert back to my 1970’s reactions … and subsequent actions.

‘But for the grace of God!’ was my mental mantra as I drove away.

The videos and pictures will highlight the gist of how the morning unfolded.

My whole life has been a “fight, or flight” scenario; I’ve always been of the mindset, “if it’s worth it, I’ll fight to the death for it”; and I can walk away if it’s a no-win situation. I don’t waste my time in dead-end causes. But this period of my life – this moment, this year – is a {‘be still and know that I am God’} type of unfolding: so, with that knowledge in the forefront of my thoughts in any given situation and circumstance, I can stand aside, and let Him deal with the situations.

I do not see the whole picture. I only see what is in front of me in the moment. God’s purposes are not always in sync with our wants, needs, or desires; so, I tread carefully when dealing with spiritual issues in my life.

I always want to be in God’s Will.

So, we’ll see where this situation goes from tonight – forward. I’m handing the situation to God … and if He hands it back to me, He will also gift me with the discernment and spiritual strength needed to accomplish the goal of His Will 😊

I reached my limit with carl & ruth.

carl and ruth's attitudes are running unchecked.

I do not kiss carl and ruth's feet; that automatically puts me on the outs with them, and they continually go after me, no matter what I say or do.

carl and ruth are in continual comparison marathons – the only time they smile is when they are being praised, coddled, and idolized. If they feel the limelight shifting, they get verbally combative.

I personally, do not understand the fascination with the narcissistic bossy twins!

It's a spiritual warfare thing ... and there is NO spiritual discernment at all, in that particular Body. carl and ruth, who behave like demigods, are single-handedly running people out of that Body - a once thriving Church has dwindled down to a handful. It's sad. It's spiritually criminal. Pardon the burp! I was upset, and that upset my stomach ;-)

Leadership is either not aware, totally bamboozled - or refusing to deal with - the obvious, and overwhelming ... egomania.

Perhaps the self-absorbed talking heads are part of my spiritual 'testing' period; it's not a comfy feeling.

All I know is that every run-in with the antagonistic, argumentative snakes, never ends well. For anyone.

There are some people who bring out the 'fight or flight' in me. From my point of view, fighting it out with these two isn't 'worth it' to me, personally.

One thing to consider, is that the unhappy interactions could be the draining of toxic dross, in this moment of God's refinement in MY life.

But right now, today, I am done dealing with those two energy vampires. Their spiritual attitudes aren't worth my engagement – on any level.

TAKE MY BREATH AWAY

I drove to Naselle this morning – I was missing my friends that way. I stopped at Baker’s Corner to top the tank off in case I needed a full tank to get me back home (I never know when a side-road excursion will take over 😉); I paid 35-cents/gal more than I would have downtown … but I was in a hurry to get to Naselle, so I forked the extra $$ out.

35-cents difference (more) at the Baker's Corner Gas Pumps.

I was glad I had a full tank when I aimed the Highlander north: there was road work all along the route ☹

The first road work crew was doing utility line maneuvers, in Skamokawa.

The second road crew was tearing the highway up from the lower end of the KM Mountain, to midway up the KM.

While I waited for the pilot truck, I gave a listen to the radio (for lack of anything else to do, for 5 minutes of wasting precious gas). The first piece of news I heard this morning was that Mr. Science himself has come down with covid: I would have laughed with satisfied glee, but that would have been mean-spirited. But I did think, “God will not be mocked”, and I think that’s an okay thought 😉

Feckless fauci, for years, has put himself above God … and everyone else … by claiming that he alone “is science”. Small stature fauci, has a little man complex, and used his nasal-twanged-whiney voice to bully his way through 2019, 2020, 2021; and was issuing new mandates as 2022 was being ushered in. The little man is the obamanite darling – more so since he has determined that all peoples except whites do not need to mask up, and will not be forced to get the vaccine (apparently covid only strikes white elitists with a supremacy bent …): in which case, fauci was bound to get ‘it’ since he fits the stereotype perfectly.

Perhaps he is unaware that he is ‘a white elitist’. obamanite devotees shuns mirrors, and create whole new identities with imagined skin tones, imagined genders, and imagined importance 😉

fauci looks like the little smart aleck kid on the Mad Magazine Covers.

fauci preached wearing masks (and quadrupled his own mask-ups when the cameras were rolling, and went bare-faced to fancy elite Suppers). He denied God, and proclaimed his own doctrine as “absolute”. His doctrine was “Listen to me because I know better than God, and more than you: wear masks forever, and get every vaccine I mandate or be ostracized, mocked, ridiculed, and called a domestic terrorist if you defy me. When you attack me in defiance, you are attacking science, itself: I am science.” I’d like to be a fly on his wall to know how he is dealing with the reality that he has finally caught the breath-stealing-virus he helped create and unleash on the world at large – with the help of his scientific pals in the secret warfare lab the US Government has stationed in China.

I’m actually glad he is infected (apparently his “one mask-two mask-three masks … four” mantra did not protect him): now the screaming banshee obamanite demonrats, can no longer claim that the spread of covid is the ‘fault of ignorant white Christians who refuse the masks and vaccine mandates.’ The godless vaccinated minions that have goose-stepped to-, and OD’d on demonrat mandates to mask-up and shoot up with a worthless vaccine based on a veterinarian vaccine for monkeys, IS GETTING SLAMMED WITH covid – and getting monkeypox BECAUSE OF THE VACCINE.

God won’t be mocked.

And, while waiting for the pilot truck to collect and guide us through the latest county roadwork jungle, I gave an ear to another bit of news: that the obamanite demonrats are quickly coming to the realization that fossil fuel is an absolute necessity in American life; nothing runs smoothly without it. Big rigs need diesel to transport merchandise (food, clothing, appliances, ect.) necessary for life sustenance: electric vehicles aren’t going to go the distance required to get this stuff to The People. And people in America are getting real tired of empty stores shelves, real fast. Ships that haul merchandise run on fossil fuel. Windmills being pushed heavily by obamanite demonrats actually operate using fossil fuels. Private jets and airliners that haul pampered political asses from point A to point B … and everywhere in between … run on fossil fuels – you are never going to see an EV airplane. Fossil fuels are here to stay; and the empty-headed DC obamanite parrots are coming to that cold, hard, f.a.c.t.

Reality bites.

If the celebrities, and political hacks want to use EV’s, that is their choice; but that choice should not be forced on the rest of us – we should be able to conduct our lives by our choice, also. And our choice is that America operates by and large by using fossil fuels.

'Green Energy' is a dead duck that won’t even float ...

These harebrained “ideals” are not really feasible for anyone living in the real world! The peter-pan-mentality-obamanite/demonrats live in never-neverland.

Reality won't be denied.

And they are currently being spanked soundly with hefty doses of Reality on all fronts, in the primary Elections. The message being transmitted to the DC talking heads is that Peter Pan is a fictional character, and Never-neverland does not exist.

Their breath is being taken away as The People vote against their rhetoric.

Continual road work ... it never ends.

Tearing the road up, on the KM.

I'll reroute my return trip back home.

The new blacktop patches are already buckling and slipping, on the KM!

Finally, I pulled into the driveway that always welcomes me, in Naselle 😊

It felt so good to be there, again! These ladies know me – some know me from before Bob … some know me after Bob; but they all know me; and I can be myself with them 😉

The friends who don't think I dress "too flashy"; have "too loud a voice!"; who understand my "twisted sense of humor" ...

Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, & Dionne Warwick – ’That’s What Friends Are For’ song: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfHAEQR24Zc)

Good strong coffee. Good strong hugs. Good strong convo. Good strong love that takes your breath away. In a good way. I’m so glad I was able to get to Naselle, this morning 😊

Leaving Naselle, I saw gas was posted at $5.89/gal. at Johnson’s One-Stop Shell Station in Naselle: 20-cents more than Baker’s Corner (which is on the out-skirts of Longview, and also 35-cents pricier than Safeway’s gas price, downtown) – I am thankful right now that I didn’t get that country home, I was angling for 😉 at these gas prices, I’d never be able to leave my driveway.

I am thankful Elohim knows what is best for me. His goodness towards me takes my breath away when I consider all the ways he has protected me throughout my life to date 😊

I also noticed, as I passed by Johnson’s, that the chip truck parked there was very recognizable.

Recognition: when you know that you k.n.o.w ...

So, I turned around at the High School … and backtracked for a closer look. YES – it was Bob’s truck! Not Bob’s personally: but the truck he drove for years when he worked for Lemmon’s Trucking.

The truck Bob drove before he retired - the sight of it, took my breath away.

And on the radio, the ‘Take My Breath Away’ song floated through the car on electrified airwaves. It was almost like the memory had been planned – truck and song dove-tailing; it was uncanny.

For 44 years, Bob and I enjoyed a breathless love affair. I miss him.

Berlin – ’Take My Breath Away’ song:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuaXcbzUd-o)

Other than seeing the Lemmon’s Truck, reliving memories … the rest of the drive home was lowkey. There was a short delay of road work on a short stretch of the Pe Ell, McDonald cutover road while County workers dug out ditches that had been filled with storm debris; this rainy season is raising hell all over three overlapping Counties. There has been months of road crew delays for one thing or another.

Road work, just out of Pe Ell; on the road homeward.

Pe Ell, McDonald Road.

Tonight, was another Jam Session in the country, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself 😊

The music is good, and the friends are fantastic!

And the pungent greenery that made my eyes happy and tickled my nostrils, did not steal my breath: I am still inhaler free.

I was blessed from the beginning of today, to the end of it 😉

2 CORINTHIANS ~ Chapter 13/Thursday Bible Study

 In this chapter, Paul threatens to be severe in his dealings with obstinate sinners among the Body of Believers in Corinth. He prays to Elohim on their behalf … and concludes his letter with both a goodbye, and a blessing.

**********

2 CORINTHIANS ~ Chapter 13

“This will be my third visit to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. When I was with you on my second visit, I forewarned those who had sinned – as well as the rest – that if I came again, I should not spare them; and though absent, I now repeat the warning in writing. I do this because you took for a proof that Christ speaks through me. There is no weakness in Him towards you, and He is powerful I you. Indeed, though He was crucified in weakness, yet He goes on living by *Elohei Ha’Elohim’s power. And likewise, since we are united with Him because of our weakness, we shall, as in your case, be alive with Him through ***Elohim’s power.

Examine yourselves to see if you have faith. Make sure of yourselves. Are you not conscious within you that ****Yeshua Ha’Mashiach is in you? Or are you backsliders (a gradual slipping back into old life patterns)? I trust that you will be convinced that we are not backsliders.

I pray Elohim that you will do no evil, although I do not imply that we have met the test. We want you to do what is right, even though we may appear to have failed. No, we cannot do anything against the Truth, but only for it. And we rejoice when we are weak, if only you are strong. And that is also what we pray for – that you may be made perfect.

On that account I now write this while I am away from you, so that, on arriving, I may not have to treat you harshly in accordance with the authority that Yeshua gave me. It was meant for building up … and not for tearing down. (vv. 1-10)

The Apostolic Farewell

Finally, brethren, goodbye: rejoice! Seek perfection, take courage, be of the same mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send you, their greeting. The grace of Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, the love of Elohei Ha’Elohim, and the communion of the *****Ruach Ha’Kodesh be with you all! Amen” (vv. 11-14)

 

*Christ (from the Hebrew word, Ha’Mashiach ישוע המשיח & the Greek word, Christos/khris-tos) = The Anointed, Yeshua the Messiah, in both languages.

**Elohei Ha’Elohim (Hebrew word: אֱלֹהֵי הָאֱלֹהִים) ) = God of gods; above all gods.

***Elohim (Hebrew: אֱלֹהִים, romanized: ʾĚlōhīm: [(eloˈ(h)im]) is a Hebrew word meaning "gods". Although the word is plural in form, in the Hebrew Bible it usually refers to a single deity “Behold, the Lord – the Lord is One”, particularly the God of Israel.

****Yeshua Ha’Mashiach = Jesus (Greek), the Messiah (Hebrew): “Mashiach” is simply the Hebrew word for “Messiah”, which means, the ‘Anointed One’. “Yeshua Ha’Mashiach” written out in Hebrew looks like this: ישוע המשיח.

*****Ruach Ha’Kodesh = In Hebrew, the Holy Spirit (רוח הקודש, ruach ha-kodesh) refers to the divine force, quality, and influence (aka, power) of God.

**2 CORINTHIANS 12: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2022/06/2-corinthians-chapter-12thursday-bible.html

I SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN BED

The alarm went off at 6 AM this morning – and I seriously considered texting the dentist office, and going back to bed. I was tired, despite turning in early last night to make sure I was alert for the early morning appointment. I hate going to the dentist; I especially hate the painful teeth cleaning process, and the after effects … but I want to keep my own teeth as long as I possibly can, so I bit the bullet and left the house in plenty of time to make the appointment.

It was not enough time.

First, I stopped at the Safeway Gas Station, to replace the gas I burned on my Saturday Daytrip to Mt. St. Helens. The terminals were full, so I sat and waited for 10 minutes before I could gas up.

Holding even for the time being; still irritating to pay nearly $50 for under half a tank of gas.

Then, when I arrived at my destination point (with some time to spare) – the building was fenced off: WTH So, I reached for the phone, called the number I have for the Dentist I use … and was given another address: back across town.

Apparently there had been a fire, and the business is “temporarily relocated” – temporarily, meaning they had been there for a whole year, and I had not been clued in: even though I had spoken to the talking head on the other end of the line for months setting this appointment up >:-P

Needless to say, I was not happy. I am not a morning person; when I have to be out and about early in the day, I want things to unfold smoothly without a lot of frustration.

I punched the new address into the GPS navigator app; and was led a looping chase through Longview that made no sense whatsoever. I finally pulled over, and called the dentist office again, asking for a physical landmark that I could see that would half-ass lead me to where the business was now housed. My ears were steaming and I was valiantly tamping my temper down when the receptionist said, “There really aren’t any landmarks that stand out – all the buildings are nondescript.” My tongue was bleeding as I bit it to keep from biting her head off. Finally, she said, “Look for the Daily News Building; that might help you.” OKAY … I know where that is – and if looks could kill, the Highlander’s GPS app would have been blown to smithereens.

I am not a morning person. I do not want to be dealing with frustrations before I am fully awake.

I finally reached the new locale – half an hour off schedule – walked into the office … and was told that the ‘temporary office situation’ has been divided into a downstairs office, and an upstairs office: “You’ll be seen upstairs: just walk around the building and up 2 flights of stairs – the door is clearly marked.”

((((Two flights of stairs?))))

I am 65 freaking years old, with a heart arrythmia. I turned my ankle on a hike Saturday afternoon – the last thing my healing ankle needed was a workout with 2 flights of stairs! I said, “You gotta be kidding me, right?” She was not kidding; she repeated herself.

It was raining, and there was no stair cover. And to top it off, the stairs were the carpeted see-though design some idiot thought was cute in the 1970’s. I looked at the thread-worn stairs and thought again of canceling the appointment: the need to keep my teeth override that justifiable thought. I hunched into the driving rain and climbed the stairs, praying to God I would not get dizzy and fall down them after the appointment. I have inner ear issues (all my life; docs call it ‘swimmer’s ear syndrome’) that cause vertigo when I look down: ladders and stairs that clearly show the cement platforms between flights … and the sidewalk beyond that, are not friendly aides: they are dizzying.

When I finally climbed the last stair and entered the office, a mask was ceremoniously flung in my direction: and my last nerve was seriously being poked – I flung it back, snapping that I couldn’t wear a mask, especially after climbing two flights of stairs with weak lungs and a misbehaving heartbeat.

I was politely (truth spoken about this exchange) told to wait outside: “Rules are rules; no exceptions.”

Waiting ‘outside' under a plexiglass balconied enclosure; at least I would not get soaked while I cooled my heels.

It would have been nice to have been clued in about the relocation; that would have spared me a lot of unnecessary morning stress.

The morning mood I was in.

Aimless GPS, 26 ct. stairs, & being treated like a maskless leper.

Monday, today, sucked: and it sucked waaay before the dental sucking apparatus was placed in my mouth.

I should have stayed in bed.

Once I was allowed back into the building, I have to admit the person who worked on my teeth behaved like a decent human being, and I relaxed as we joked while she worked. I was told I’d need to come back for two more appointments – I was also told I will need at least one crown replacement, and a back tooth pulled: I nodded my head while $$$$ wove in and out of my unsaid thoughts. Then, I paid my bill; apologized to the woman whose head I earlier bit off in frustration (the woman was forgiving and even graciously – or perhaps in self-defense 😉 – set up my next appointment in the office downstairs: whatever her reason, I am thankful); and mentally prepared myself to deal with the stairs.

Old building in shabby condition & open stairways; amps the vertigo feeling.

I didn’t fall down the stairs. Thank You, attending Guardian Angel 😊

Driving homeward via Nichols Boulevard, lakeside; I noticed a huge limb had broken off an overhanging tree branch and was spilling the street.

Wind shattered tree limb; Nichol's Blvd - lower end.

Carefully skirting around the greenery overflow, the talking head on the radio waves, announced that a flood warning had been issued for the Columbia River areas: Longview is one of those areas. So, I drove out to Willow Grove, to check things out before parking at home.

I also took a look at the Viewing Platform, newly built at the Park, there.

Flood Warnings for Columbia River: https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Forecasters-issue-flood-watch-for-Columbia-River-17237735.php

I'm not seeing a clear and present 'flood danger!'

Obviously, the waterline was higher yesterday; close to the trail I walk, here.

Viewing Area completed, at Willow Grove Park.

Columbia River Commerce Plaque.

Columbia River route to the Pacific Ocean Plaque.

Columbia River lapping hungrily at Willow Grove beachfront.

By then, the Novocaine had worn off and my numbed teeth nerves were coming alive with a vengeance – my lip was also smarting; it was swollen and hurting more than the torturing teeth cleaning I had undergone for two hours.

Swollen, very sore lip.

Very raw; very s.o.r.e.; it will be further irritated Friday morning. OUCH!

I was also fighting nausea – a side effect of the Novocaine shots (I had had 5 of them – two along the bottom teeth, and three along the upper teeth).

Novocaine injections feel like liquid fire when injected into my mouth, and I’m nauseous (sometimes I have vomit come up in the back of my throat – d.i.s.g.u.s.t.i.n.g.) for about 24 hours. I am told this reaction is rare … I don’t know about that; all I know is what happens to me.

I’m going to do nothing more tonight, except flop into Bob’s recliner; and mindlessly vegetate the rest of the evening, willing the pain and nausea away.

I should have stayed in bed this morning …

I go back again Friday, for more oral torture ;-)