Blueskye2

Luring a minor son or daughter to a park via deception, including deceiving me, would put me over the edge. I'd be on the sneaky adult's doorstep asking them what the heck?!?! On the parenting side, I'd be conversing with the daughter, to get what is going on in the kid's head. How they feel, what they think they should do and/or say. Discussing the "event" that has caused all the hullabaloo, as to, what others might find right or wrong with it. Not prompting, but getting at where the kid is, and guiding them through any lingering negative emotions (mortified, anger, embarrassment, etc.) I'm sure, as a parent, you want to think it's all innocent. I'd say, mayyybeeee. But more likely it is teenage experimentation with exhibitionism. Same with the public handholding. Which is normal behavior for teenagers. But there is normal behavior caused by hormones and what is normal as accepted by you and/or the society to which she belongs. Including her religious society. So, another opportunity for teaching As to "back in the day" ideas. ha. The ward I was in, all the adults were in cahoots. Nothing could go on without one or more adults telling your parents, then, the parents corrected their own children. There is no way in heaven or earth my mother would have let me be seen in a swim suit, anywhere, but the pool or other water locations. It would have been a near death experience, if social media were around and I posted a video of myself in a swim suit.

There's a whole lot in between those two bookends.

Palm Sunday 2017, two bombs exploded in Egypt, one inside St. George’s Church in Tanta, and one just outside St. Mark’s in Alexandria wherein Pope Tawadros II was praying. At the Eve of Monday Pascha service, Fr. Boules George gave a most powerful and compelling sermon. http://www.copticdadandmom.com/fr-boules-george/

Coming from participating in our parishes RCIA for 8 years, anecdotally, convert loss happens in the first five years after baptism. Tonight, we will have a new group of newly baptized. By this time next year, I could wager half of the group will not be attending Mass every week. I read here and there what people think are the common reasons, but honestly, I think the overriding reason is the difficulty it is to be a devout Catholic in American society in general, and in Utah particularly. There is tremendous pressure on converts to "get over" their Catholic interests.

I built a FreeNAS server at home. It runs on FreeBSD. It's nice and zippy. Slow ubuntu usually is caused by slow disk and or not enough memory.... configure swap space is always the first thing to do.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Fwiw, I worked with a guy who did general conference translations. They received most of the talks a week before. There always seemed to be a straggler who didn't turn in their talk until the day before. He would translate the written talks beforehand, as preparation. During conference he would listen (audio only, no video) and translate as the person was speaking. When somone would ad lib, it would make it difficult to keep up. He said one time that he could not keep up, and just summarized a whole block of speaking as "all is well!".

Roasted Brussels sprouts are my fav. Making them tonight! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/67952/roasted-brussels-sprouts/

Oh I hear ya, sometimes I feel like parish shopping because the ministry I'm most involved in can get really frustrating at times. Other times it is rewarding, to witness God working in people's lives. But when I take it to God, I can only discern that I need to stay.

"Diedre and Laney Rob A Train" I wanted to see it because a) Sydney Freelander directed it b) it was filmed in Utah c) I heard it was appropriate for high school age...an indie film that isn't "scary", morally speaking What I liked: The kids who acted in it are adorable, their acting is really good (first timers as far as I know). The story is serious but portrayed with comedy. There is a touching ending, all family love, and stuff. What I didn't like, was the portrayal of criminal activity and a lotttt of lying coming from the kids, as cutesy.

Church shopping is not unheard of for Mormons. I have a family member who moved, specifically and only, to get out of the ward they were in. Their pastor (the Bishop) and the congregation were rather toxic towards their family. Church shopping happens among Catholics as well, in the form of parish hunting. Non-denominational folks stay within their church (church, as in religion), but will go church hunting, for a congregation and/or pastor that they approve of, or fit in with.

My dear parents are old. I mean very old. My mom paraphrases this, from Pres. Hinckley, often: I am fully aware that I am not a young man as I shoulder the responsibilities of this sacred office. Sister Hinckley and I are learning that the so-called golden years are laced with lead. ...but her paraphrasing is "these aren't the golden years, these are the lead years". Her sister, essentially starved herself to death, to exit this life, and my mom thought that was alright. What I try to convey to her, without being preachy to my parents (which I just can't do) is that God sees them, loves them, views them as possessing a divine dignity that is MORE present in their suffering, not absent. As Jesus suffered and died, the act of our salvation, so we can join our suffering and ultimately our death to his. For in dying He was raised and so we join Him in rising. She cant see this, her suffering is too great and it makes her feel that God has grown tired of her...or something like that. I would not be surprised if she prays for death, or even sadder, prays for the death of my dad. It saddens me, that they have lost hope.

Christian view is, that Jesus is stating that He is God, not that He is stating that He is the Father....that is, Trinitarian doctrines are revealed here. In addition to these verses, at verse 25 Jesus says "I told you"...where and when did he tell them and what did he tell them? The understanding is in John 8:25-30 where Jesus names Himself "I AM", which, is the Name Of God given to Moses. Blasphemy, indeed, to a disciple of Moses.

No, it is acknowledging that the Hebrews of the time, still struggled with following other so-called gods. THEY viewed them as real and their view of foreign gods as real is reflected in the language of the Psalms. It is the constant struggle, in the OT, until the Exile, at which point the People of Israel finally understand where God has been leading them...to Himself. And they finally speak in terms of One God, and no other...the old pagan gods become not-real to them.

Waiting on ERDs...it strikes me your post could possibly be one.

Welcome to the real world. The one we live in. The only world your children know. You must teach your children how to live in it. To love without condition yet be prudent with trust. To fill them full of hope, not fear.

I usually don't like flavored potato chips. I do like these. (BBQ is the worst.) but alas this salty crunchy deliciousness is off the food list. Fat content is just tooooooo high. What's unusual now are frozen berries blended with almond milk and a scoop of protein powder. Tastes like candy. Is neither salty or crunchy. ?

With UUs, maybe, maybe not. I knew UUs who were atheist, pagan and Christian. Each person having designed for themselves what those things meant to them. There being no doctrines or creeds, it's a loose bunch of people who are organized under humanists ideals.

Headphones with music. Stand. My work purchased us all desks that can be raised up and down, so sometimes I stand while working. Before that pepele were creative with empty boxes. Keep a water bottle at your desk and drink more water. Eat foods that contain less sugar and fats. Go for a 15 or 20 min. walk on your lunch break. BTW I read WoW, at first read, as World of Warcraft. ?

To me, Creation is profound and science prodding and poking at it, is just us, discovering what God has made. For the Big Bang in general, why not? God's Creation is continually unfolding, like a blooming flower, it grows and becomes what God intends it to be.

Reserve usage, for those whose posts are analogous to flipping the bird at me. Rarely needed, rarely used. When used, I figure it's better for both of us. ?

Good manners, being labeled PC, is sad, IMO. The SJWs are just bullies, with bad manners. Also, IMO.

"All cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness." —Tennessee Williams, died this day in 1983

I thought it looked rather staged, that is, Rubio throwing slow softballs and Tillerson responses correspondingly, soft.