To the sound of cicadas

To the sound of the cicadas this unusually cool (67ºF), clear morning, I'm writing an overdue article for a monthly that circulates among the Guarulhos churches, on the difference between the world and the church and the opposition the latter suffers for its commitment to God. Going from 1 John to Psalm 119. Maybe I'll use the material for my FMag editorial next week.

The Missus and The Maiden left yesterday on their way to a national ladies' meet at the Christian camp, several hundred expected as usual. So I'm left to fend for myself. (Any lunch offers out there?) Did I mention they took the car?

Three big things to write today. First one almost there.

Rain and sunshine together

One more exam of the second round done this morning, the little internal organ showed up as OK on the B&W screen. Come back in a year and drop some more money, says the nice doc with the clipped phrases. So how much of my fee went for the cute little stars on the ceiling that change colors?
 
Can't access sites on our paid server this morning. Have buzzed the Guy Who Cares for All Things Virtual.
 
Is the GA out yet? Any subscribers got their copy in the mail? Get our your highlighter pen, since you'll need it for my article. Even though it'll look strange with the whole article in yellow (or pink, whatever the color you use) highlight. My copy will likely take a while to arrive down here.
 
Ideas popping last night. Methinks most got jotted down. Now to see how many are practical.
 
Aunt Doris's condition improved yesterday, says a cousin. She's being treated for pneumonia. Waiting on more word.
 
No cold weather yet, but rain is in the forecast for Tues-Thurs. Yesterday morning on the way to church we had rain and sunshine at the same time. So the wipers were working while I wore my sunglasses. Strange sensation.
 
Probably not a bad metaphor for life, is it?

Email: restoration, links, support

Part of an email that I sent out this morning to a few folk ...

Restoration is a simple process. Find what the apostles, by Christ's authority, taught people to do, and do it that way again. —Cecil May Jr, GA
 
Feel free to use this or other items from QBT in your church bulletin or to post on Twitter or Facebook. Or to send to your friends by email, that 20th-Century form of communication.
 
Speaking of GA, be sure to read my article, "Christ, Prophet, Priest, King," in the August special issue, "Things Most Surely Believed."
 
You don't have to have a subscription or buy anything to read my article published on Biblical Notes, "Should Evangelism Make Mention of the Church?"

Then there is the recent poem, "To Be a Christian" on the Christian Poets site. The site is not yet fully functionally, but should be once the group posting feature is in place.
 
As well, you have the prayer-poem written this past Sunday on the Believing Prayer site, "Around Your Table."
 
If you'd like to follow most of my online writings without all the chatter, I've set up a Twitter account with links, added automatically. It's low-volume to point you in real time to my posts.
 
 
If you're not on the Twitter service, you can get SMS alerts whenever a link is posted to this account.
 
(My normal personal Twitter account is @jrmatheny.)
 
Finally, we ask your prayers as we seek to replace over $600 in monthly working funds that will be lost after this month.
 
Blessings on your day.

No mushroom farm here

The latest and greatest GoSpeak missions ministry report is now online here.

Another prayer is up, based upon (is it good to say, inspired by?) an eighth-century prayer by an unpronounceable name. (The whole line got linked, a bug in Posthaven, but the easier to click upon.)

Soon, as in today, maybe, another Corollaries segment on TFR. Keep clicking.

Say a prayer for a friend today who is facing a tough moment. All I can say.

The Maiden had an interview yesterday at a Big Name Company and goes back for another on Monday with the HR head. Looks like the Monday interview may be a formality to wrap things up before she's admitted to the position. Pray she'll get it if this will be good for her and good for the kingdom.

I thought I had plugged it here, but apparently not. Go read my article on Biblical Notes, "Should evangelism include mention of the church?" Phil Sanders said it was well written, so I guess I got a star.

I mentioned in my report (see first paragraph) that, inspired by (oops, prompted by, maybe?) a Mashable report on creative uses of Pinterest, I got creative with the board "Mission Needs." Perhaps the greatest inspiration were ... tires.

Also in said report, mentioned acima (pics on personal blog), we fixed — we hope — a bad leak problem in a wall of the house. Not mentioned in the report: we had mushrooms growing in the corner of our living room. But the idea of starting a profitable mushroom farm never occurred to us.

More protests today, I'm told, in town and across the country, a general strike of sorts. I've had my nose to the grindstone and cleaning up all the blood and cartilage from that that I hadn't heard until The Missus called to warn me this morning. The restaurant where I went for lunch was closed, presumably because of the demonstrations, so I did an about-face and munched on cheap Chinese. All is quiet around us here. Downtown and spots on the interstate Dutra are percolating, say reports.

Fault with us

People don't pray. At least, not online. I try not to reach any conclusions from the lack of growth of the Believing Prayer site. Hard to avoid, however. So let's assume the fault lies with us. We're not meeting needs of people who pray. How can we do better?

Major poem coming up tomorrow. The Missus loved it. Don't know how or where I'll post it. Maybe to the UPLift site. For sure to the UPLift email group. Be sure to get on that: uplift-join@associate.com.

Yesterday, I wrote a different kind of editorial. But I did write one. Haven't been as regular as I should have. Seems at times when I write, I'm on a different planet. Different continent, for sure.

I submitted a poem, after writing my editorial above, to Gospel Light Magazine. Want to submit another to Magnolia Messenger. Both have published works of mine. What else is out there?

Bulletin Gold has published another of my UPLift offerings in this month's issue.

I heard through the grape vine that Bulletin Digest published a devotional of mine from my personal blog. Certainly, it was pre-Matt era.

Gospel Advocate has an article of mine on "Christ, Prophet, Priest, King" in their special August issue. But you knew that already.

And how about my question above from the first paragraph? What say you?



Ten out of twelve

Over on my blog I mentioned, yesterday I think it was, that I had made up a new Daily Dozen list for myself. Today, so far, 10 out of 12. Not a bad number.

Lots of writing today, prayers, articles, reports, both in English and Portuguese. Check my blog, in the lower right column, for most of my English writings, "All He Wrote." That feed is incomplete and sometimes skippy. Has been hard to find a good one, but we make do.

Time for a movie with The Missus.


A writer's prayer

God of words and revelation, may someone be blessed today by what I write or have already written. Above all, may someone be led to you and your Word as I point to you.

May I never underestimate the power of words, nor the potency of holy Scripture, to change a life and redirect a soul toward its eternal destiny. May I speak with a view to how the hearer will understand and if he will perceive in my words the Spirit of Christ.

Great Sunday

Read Saturday's Corollaries segment on TFR: "Yet Another Blog Post." Don't miss yesterday's prayer poem, "Around the Table of the Lord." Also, last night was added a cool outline on 1 Thessalonians 5.12-18, that got enlarged from one in Portuguese being used in the Taubaté Bible study.

Lessee, I'm missing one or two others, but I don't remember them just now.

Great day yesterday with the saints in SJC and Taubaté. Last night, we ate pizza with Ricardo and family and a new family to Taubaté. We pray they will make a great addition to the work here, and that we may be able to encourage them.

Knowledge and prayer

Read my FMag editorial, "Who Are We, Really?" It will make some folk unhappy, but if I can shore up the faith of one or two, it'll be worth it.

Say amen to this short prayer, "To Touch a Soul." Might consider signing up, too (upper right column at link). Seems people aren't as interested in prayer as in other things. One man's impression, anyway. Would you agree?

(Comments are not yet functional on this service. Coming soon, we hope.)