So apparently we now know why the gov't has been buying all those bullets...
wallacepolsom

oozey mess

@theartofmadeline
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Jules of Nature
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Peter Solarz
Claire Keane

Kaledo Art

No title available

Origami Around

★
Sweet Seals For You, Always

ellievsbear
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
taylor price

PR's Tumblrdome
KIROKAZE
h

❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
seen from United States
seen from Chile
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Lithuania
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Colombia

seen from Romania
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Russia

seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
@sojournerjourney
So apparently we now know why the gov't has been buying all those bullets...
It's Not About Comfort
“Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in your beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken.”
— Rich Mullins
Reblogged from: phil0kalia
In the Darkest Times...
"The darker the night, the brighter the stars, The deeper the grief, the closer is God!"
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
Reblogged from: orthodoxwayoflife
Don't Just Lay There, Get Up!
“It is no new thing to fall in the mire, but it is an evil thing to lie there fallen. Bravely return again to that place from whence thou camest: the Enemy mocked thee falling, but he shall know thee stronger in thy rising.”
— The Life of St. Mary the Harlot (via shortbreadsh)
Reblogged from: ruthtastic
Pray.
This will be a somber post. I would like to express my sincere condolences for those who were effected by the shooting in Colorado today. Many are hurting right now, trying to make sense of it all. We need to pray hard and long for these folks. This will be a turning point in their lives one way or another. It is also a time to remember to pray for our country, for the nations of the world... because this type of thing is running rampant throughout.
Pray that people may find comfort in Christ. Show those around you the love that Christ has shown you. People are hurting. People want love and to be shown love. Unfortunately we tend to be caught up in our political and religious views, our everyday living, jobs, family, etc... where we tend to forget about loving the people who need it.
We need to remember that Christ said:
"For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
Let us not forget these words. And lastly pray for the man who did the shooting... I don't know what evil was in his heart, or how it came to be there. He needs our prayers too. Maybe if someone would have reached out to him in love at some point before this happened, maybe this outcome would not have happened. I do not know.
O, Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner...
Peace to you all.
Hold on to Jesus
"Hold on to Jesus Tell Him about everything Your dreams and your troubles Pure hearts desire one thing And mine is to know You Mine is to break down And shatter to pieces And lose everything I've found I'm learning that nothing worth anything is cheap. I'm learning the path is thin and the grade is steep, And that the altars where we lay ourselves will crack when tested And that there's only one that turns our hearts to gold Hold on to Jesus Tell Him about everything Your dreams and your troubles Pure hearts desire one thing And mine is to know You Mine is to break down And shatter to pieces And lose everything I've found I'm finding that I'm not who I once thought I was I'm finding I'm powerless to obtain Your love And that the only gifts I bring to You are rags and failures And through a strange exchange You've made them myrrh and gold. Hold on to Jesus Tell Him about everything Your dreams and your troubles Pure hearts desire one thing And mine is to know You Mine is to break down And shatter to pieces And lose everything I've found"
-O.C. Supertones
Have Mercy on Me
O Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner...
The Wisdom of Bob Ross
True. This also goes for our faith, for our pursuit toward God.
Get Yourself in Order and Stop Whining.
“If you wish to be calm do not read rebellious books or pamphlets that mention Church matters, since you are not responsible for such serious affairs. You have need of books that will assist you in your repentance. If you want to help the Church, correct yourself and immediately amendment is made to a small part of the Church. Naturally, if everyone did this, then the Church would be put in order.”
- Elder Paisios the Athonite
Isn't that so true... This is wisdom I need to keep in mind myself.
Correction:
“The greatest single cause of Atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge these with their lips and walk out the door and deny it by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
—
dc Talk
Actually the quote is:
"The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
And was said by Brennan Manning. And was used by DC Talk on their "What if I Stumble" song.
What is a Hero?
"When the house fell asleep There was always a light And it fell from the page to the eyes Of an American boy
In a storybook land I could dream what I read When it went to my head I'd see I wanna be a hero
But the practical side Said the question was still When you grow up what will you be? I wanna be a hero
Hero It's a nice-boy notion that the real world's gonna destroy You know It's a Marvel comic book Saturday matinee fairytale, boy
Growing older you'll find That illusions are bought And the idol you thought you'd be Was just another zero
I wanna be a hero
Heroes died when the squealers bought 'em off Died when the dealers got 'em off Welcome to the "in it for the money as an idol" show
When they ain't as big as life When they ditch their second wife Where's the boy to go?
Gotta be a hero
Hero It's a nice-boy notion that the real world's gonna destroy You know It's a Marvel comic book Saturday matinee fairytale, boy
When the house fell asleep From a book I was led To a light that I never knew I wanna be your hero
And he spoke to my heart From the moment I prayed Here's a pattern I made for you I wanna be your hero"
Source: Hero by Steve Taylor
They are tools...
"Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly are not in themselves perfection, as we have said; they are its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is acquired through them. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our fasting, vigils, poverty, and reading of Scripture when we have not achieved the love of God and our fellow men. Whoever has achieved love has God within himself and his intellect is always with God."
- St. John Cassian
Reblogged from: Simply Orthodox
Marital Unity and the Worth of Children
"The union, the unity that is created between a man and a woman, in conjugal relations is no more powerfully expressed than in the birth of a child. And this is one of the chief ways that conjugal union promotes marital union and how marital relations serve to enhance and deepen the mutual love of husband and wife in the family; that when a child is born you actually see the continual perpetuation of the one-flesh union that is consecrated in the marital embrace, because there is a child before your eyes who literally is one flesh from two and will always stand as the witness and the representation of the marital unity." -Fr. Josiah Trenham of St. Andrew Antiochian Orthodox Church in Riverside, CA
*Icon is from Uncut Mountain Mountain Supply
Day One Hundred and Eighty-Six: July 5, 2012
Today's readings from the Orthodox Study Bible will be:
Esther 1 & 2
Psalms 6
Proverbs 1:16-19
Acts 13: 1-25
Excerpts that stood out to me:
"Now Esther had not revealed her heritage, just as Mordecai commanded her when she was with him, which is to fear God and keep His commandments, and Esther did not change her manner of life." - Esther 2:20
"Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled." -Psalm 6:3
Psalm 6 is a good passage for those who are hurting, who are depressed, and need to remember that God IS there.
"My son, do not lay hold of evil counsel, nor forsake the teaching of your youth and forget the divine covenant." -Proverbs 1:17
That is all for tonight. Peace to you all.
Please pray that I continue with this effort. I have let the muck of worldly distractions keep me from it.
Day One Hundred and Eighty-Five: July 4, 2012
Today's readings from the Orthodox Study Bible will be:
Judith 14-16
Psalms 5
Proverbs 1:11-15
Acts 12
Excerpts that stood out to me:
"For the mountains with the waters shall be shaken at their foundations, and at Your presence, the rocks shall be melted as beeswax. And yet You are merciful to those who fear You. For every sacrifice as a sweet-smelling offering is like nothing, and the fat in the whole burnt offering is like nothing to You; but he who fears the Lord is great in all things." -Judith 16:15-16
"But let all who hope in You be glad; they will greatly rejoice forever, for You will dwell in them; and all who love Your name will boast in You." -Psalm 5:12
"My son, do not let the ungodly lead you astray, and do not consent if they invite you saying, "Come with us; take part in bloddshed, and let us hide a righteous man in the earth unjustly; and let us swallow him, just as Hades does the living, and let us take away his remembrance from the earth; Let us seize his valuable property, and let us fill our houses with spoils; cast your lot with us and let us acquire a common bag; let there be one purse for us."" -Proberbs 1:11-15
As for Acts 12, It's a really neat account of Peter being saved from prison.. and one has to chuckle when his friends leave him standing outside because they don't believe it's him...
Peace to you all.
Please pray that I continue with this effort. I have let the muck of worldly distractions keep me from it.
Independence Day and Freedom in America
I've been noticing in the "blogosphere", particularly on tumblr, that there is a set of memes geared at The United States of America and her freedom. They have pictures which portray people displaying the flag, rubbing the flag on their buttocks, skateboarding through hallways while holding flags, and lots of bald Eagles in these posts.
The idea behind them seem to be like, "look at all the freedom we have here!" The truth is though one can say "what freedom?" There is not Liberty in the United States of America any longer. There hasn't been for a very long time. We have to pay for the privilege of owning property, even though the founders looked at that as a guaranteed right. We are told if we do not pay our taxes on our property that we can have it taken away from us by force. We are far from free.
This past week we had a Supreme Court Justice rule that the government can compel a citizen to do whatever they want that citizen to do just so long as it is called a tax. There is no end to what the government of the United States can do to it's citizens now. I'm afraid people don't realize this. The constitution has all been thrown out. The three branches of government put in place to check each other out, have finally worked together to bring on the beginnings of total tyranny.
We are not free in The United States of America any longer. This Independence Day will be a time, not to celebrate our freedoms, but to reflect on what it was like when we still had it... and to prepare ourselves for that 1000 years of darkness that one of our greatest Presidents talked about.
The plus side to this though is, that though we are finding out we are slaves in the system which is this world... we can find joy in knowing that we are free in Christ, and no man, no government can take that away.
Peace to you all.
Christianity and Marriage
I found this really neat resource about Christianity and Marriage. It is a series of lectures given by Fr. Josiah Trenham, pastor of St. Andrew Antiochan Orthodox Church in Riverside, California.
I listened to the first lecture which was titled: "Old Creation and New Creation: How the Gospel forms Monks and Married People." It had some really good thoughts and insights about what marriage is, and should be if one is in Christ.
Check it out here: The Christian Marriage and Family
Peace be with you all.