Mid-Week Update and Some Details about Jesus You Don’t Want to Ignore

Well, good evening! It’s Thursday around 6:30 p.m. as I start to type this. It’s been very busy this week as I’ve worked about 11 hours a day (not including the commute) – leaving the house about 6 and getting home about 6 or later. The car issues continued. Got the car back and it began leaking oil so it went back in the shop. I have driven four vehicles in the course of a week and my stuff and George’s were across the four of them at various times (our RAV4, Mom’s Hyundai car, my Chevy Equinox car, George’s Honda Accord car). I left my backpack at Mom’s once, and we temporarily lost the extra garage door opener, but many times panicked if we had the right keys, wallets handy, and so forth. I have my car back and all is well except it kinda smells like oil after a while. George said to give it a couple of more days because they probably spilled oil in there and it’s on the engine or something.

Quarter end? Well I started the week with 27 returns to do and as of Wednesday night (present time as I type this) I only have 8 to do and they should be easy ones. I had to throw many many hours at it – going in early and staying late to get through with payroll so I could get to the returns. It’s been a weird month and time was not on my side. But I have worked like a dog to get it done. And I have been exhausted every night to the point of almost not being able to think or move and my arm is giving me fits. I am almost to the point of having it x-rayed but will wait and see if it calms down when I’m working a normal schedule and not overusing it. There are some knots on my arm and I’m hoping it’s just built up muscle from being the dominant arm and not anything like tumors. The left arm doesn’t have them. :-O. They have been there a while but my arm is hurting me now – oh – and I also hit my elbow at some point and it hurts too – but it had been about two weeks since I hit it – I don’t even remember where and what I was doing, but I guess it’s just the overuse making it go haywire. Still here I sit typing. So obviously not too bad for that. I think the quarter end is just exacerbating it all but I do need to let the doc take a look at this in July if I do not go before then, or keep feeling bad and having pain.

But at least quarter end is narrowing down and the 8 returns should be manageable. I have all the hard ones done. And this time I was afraid I’d not finish, so I began with the highest earnings, highest taxes, and paid those first and then worked my way down. That way whatever was left undone would be minimum in fines and or interest charges hopefully. But we are getting close to just having ZERO filed returns for states that are open and just no one in them anymore. Sometimes it is easier to keep a state open and file ZERO than to close the account and have to start it again if another sales person or driver is hired or something.

I’ve still been doing my devotionals even though I’ve not blogged much. And I do have a special entry to do for today’s blog. Not much interesting to report with me, and so I have some notes I’ve written for future blog posts. I started to call these “canned posts” but then is it proper to call God’s word canned? Probably not. As the blog post I want to do are notes I took and saved for a blog post when I didn’t have anything else to write about. Not that I want to give God the back seat on my blog, it’s just that my blog was really meant to be a “reality blog” of sorts. And I am spiritual so I will share things here and there. And I’m being called to share this with you today. So I am.

Back when I read the gospels….Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John

Within the last couple of years, I was being led to read the gospels again and when I got through I asked myself what I had learned and what Jesus wanted to me to learn from Him while reading. I made some notes. Here they are. I hope if you have not read the gospels through that you will do so as it follows Jesus’ time here on earth, and his interactions with others, and in following God’s will, and eventually leading up to his death and resurrection. It shows the relationships He had with His disciples, His relationship with God, His conversations with sinners, and his views on faith, believe, and life. Please find a corner, some coffee or glass of wine, and give it a refreshing read and take notes on what your take aways are. Note how Jesus Himself will speak to you through the pages. I’m not kidding. When you open your heart, and listen, you will be attended to and will find many answers.

What I learned about Jesus by reading the Gospels.…You don’t want to ignore this!

• Jesus spoke right on point. I mean – no nonsense. He said what He meant and meant what He said. He wasn’t rude. He was just truthful and got to the point.
• Of course I would notice this one, lol —–> He was worried about others eating. He ate meals with others before and after certain events, He fed crowds. He not only was worried about the spiritual feeding but made sure those He was around were fed. I love that about Jesus. He helped his disciples catch food (fish), He fed multitudes who came to listen to the word, He had the Last Supper, He fed His disciples breakfast on the beach after his resurrection, He ate with His friends at their houses, and even turned water into wine.
• He healed anytime there was faith. A guy on a mat that couldn’t get near Him but believed in his heart, a women who touched the hem of His garment who believe He could heal her.
• He questioned people’s faith. Oh gosh. Maybe we should start questioning our own faith and the faith of others? You take your eyes off him in the storm you start to sink. You fear man and deny him 3 times and get your ear cut off. You disbelieve and get your head cut off. :-O Not that fear should drive our belief, but faith should drive our belief. A child like faith, one that does not have to see to believe. I got on an airplane at 16 not really understanding they could crash. My fear came later and I could not get on an airplane. I finally did because of my faith- and the spiritual experiences I now undergo when I’m on a plane (because I pray and tell God how beautiful His creation is and how peaceful it is up in the sky). Still without faith, you should have fear because it is not going to end well if not. Just being like Jesus here and scooting on to the point.
• He sought out quiet time. And time with God. Peace, strategy, planning, plotting, listening, intense, sweating – to the point of blood prayers. Time alone with God to regroup, fight it out, figure out what’s right – (take this cup from me —but Your Will be done).
• He spoke in parables. He gave alternate or similar stories so others would understand and get the big picture by speaking in their terms and literally on their turf.
• He knew God’s plan and stuck to it. He was without sin. Although we are told we cannot be without sin which is why He died for our sinful nature because we could never be free from sin. No more animal sacrifices and rituals to go through as they did in old times now -as He paid the ultimate price for what we could never do, opening up eternal life for those that believe and follow His Will. Death has no sting for those that believe.
• He taught. He shared what He knew. He gave instruction and truth.
• He taught others to teach as well.
• He put God’s business above family. This is hard. This gets personal. I can remember my Mom being so upset with Him because he was gone all the time doing church work (God’s work, trying to reach others, teach others, bus ministry, children’s ministry, open Bible studies with others in their homes, teaching others to teach, starting a church in North Carolina and doing ministry there.) Meanwhile Mom was left to bring us up and deal with the things at home. I see both their sides, but….who can argue with “I must be about my Father’s business” as Jesus told his mother when she finally found him in the city around the age of 12 I think – asking him where he’d been? And those Mary versus Martha stories will get you every time. Those household chores need to be done but God’s word needs to be heard. It’s a battle that continues today.
• He hung out with sinners – not to do what they did, but to teach them. And you know, when someone is at their lowest point in life, do they not sometimes listen? It’s not going to be the proud ones high on life I have found. Is it? They might be sinners too, but God seemed to find the right crowd ripe for His message. No doubt he didn’t have to look far. He often just handled things as he came upon them. The woman at the well? Yeah, He knew all about her. He knew she’d be ripe for His word. And while other’s condemned her, He had compassion and love for her soul. He did not cast her out as a lost cause. He gave her hope. And probably eternal life.
• He resurrected from the dead. Brings life to death. And the great thing about that is that if we believe in Him, so will we!

I hope you read that and let me know if you did. I believe and I’m so grateful to the one that makes Life possible. Please go back and read the Gospels again in the New Testament and make a list of the things that you saw Jesus do and what was He trying to teach us? And You? What does He say to you?

I’ll be back in a day or two! I’m packed for Knoxville. Sortof. We will be winding down the week in the next couple of days. I’m feeling less stress tonight knowing the quarter end is going to all work out.