Sunday School & yet another book...

Yesterday, I was a helper rather than the lead teacher for Sunday School.  The woman who was leading asked the kids to create a card or letter for somebody who had helped them at sometime or another.  I was happy that two of the girls gave their cards to me at the end of the session.  One of the girls wrote a very nice note to me and I was very touched that both girls thought so much of my efforts with their class.

It just goes to show that no matter what you're doing, you can be having an impact on another person.  Do your best to make sure that this impact is a positive one.

After Sunday School we stopped at Half Price Books and of course I had to purchase something.  I was excited to find a perfect hardcover copy of the book "The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, the Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ" by Robert Eisenman.  This book is a follow-up to Eisenman's book "James the Brother of Jesus; The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls".  I already have a copy of his first book and I started it a while back and have been trying to get back to it.  It's a bit of a daunting book though at nearly 1,000 pages, and not at all an easy read.

It is a fascinating topic though, and this is one time I really wish Jesse was still here, as I'd love to discuss this topic with him.  Jesse of course was a scholar concerning the "Dead Sea Scrolls", and spent part of his career working on translating them.

I finished a book last night and so tonight I will dive back into Eisenman's first book and try and drive my way all the way through both volumes.

Here is a link to the second book on Amazon: 

The New Testament Code

Saturday was my 55th birthday and I'll confess it was a bit depressing.  Turning 50 didn't bother me but for some reason 55 sounds so much older.  None-the-less, I've shook that feeling off and I'm readying myself for the next 55 years.  LOL

For my birthday Gail & Maddie gave me exactly what I asked for.  They took me to see 'Interstellar' at the IMAX and they gave me a new broiler pan for cooking chicken breasts or steaks in the oven.  I used the pan yesterday, and it was a big improvement over the old pan I've been using for years now.  After Christmas has passed, I'll put it through it's paces as I try and drop around 30 pounds of bodyweight before April comes around.

I must backup and say that if you haven't yet seen 'Interstellar'... GO!  It's a wonderful movie and to be completely honest it was this movie that lifted me out of my slump over my birthday's double digits.  Rarely do I see a movie that I would like to go see again in the theatre, but this is one that I would certainly like to see again on the big screen.  Again, if you haven't seen it yet... GO!!!

I need to get to work now so I'll just leave you all with a blessing for a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Don't forget to "Be A Blessing To Someone Today".

In God's Abundant & Unwavering Grace,

Roy

Edit to add:

Yesterday I did see once again my old friend Edsel.  Sadly, I could tell he had declined even more, since I saw him just the other day.  Please keep close in prayer Edsel and his family, as well as all of the following:

Lowell & Connie Surat - comfort and faith for entire family

Mary Alice Engleman - healing & recovery from broken hip

Don Fletcher - healing & recovery from stroke

Thank you!

Roy

Remembering my Late Mentor, the Rev. Dr. Jesse Brown:

Three years ago today, my mentor the Rev. Dr. Jesse Brown passed from this Earth.  

I was alone with him at the time in his room at the Hospice House.  As I sat at the foot of his bed praying over him, I heard his breathing change, and I looked up and watched him take his last several breaths in this world.  I took his hand for a moment, and then went out and told the nurses that I believed he was gone.

As the nurse checked his vitals, I knelt by the bed with his hand in mine and prayed a prayer of celebration for my beloved friend's birth into Heaven.  His family came and gave their respects, and then left again, to go home and mourn.  They were donating his body to science, and I suspect they couldn't bear to actually see the body taken away.

I sat alone again with Jesse, and waited until the University Med Center showed up to take him.  I watched them load him on the gurney, and followed them down the hall and out the door. Only after the door on the van closed and they pulled out of the parking lot did I go home.  

I had attended a conference on the 'Dead Sea Scrolls' with Jesse, and gone out to dinner with him only 10 days prior.  

Year 2 Remembrance
Year 1 Remembrance

I shall always miss my dear friend Jesse, but thankfully he left me with the memory of his friendship, as well his considerable guidance and direction in my faithwalk.  It was a rare honor and privilege to have the chance to study, and converse with somebody like Jesse, and I shall always cherish the friendship that we had in this world.  But I rest assured that someday, I will see him again in heaven, and we can pick up on some old and unfinished conversation, the only difference will be we'll actually fully know and understand the answers.

It is my confirmed conviction that even after a loved one has passed, we can maintain a relationship with them.  If we remember that individual and process our world through the influence that they had upon us, there can be no doubt that in some small way they are with us still.  In the last three years I've had countless conversations with Jesse concerning things that I have read and heard.  These conversations of course are mental exercises, and consist of me as I said, processing things that I encounter through the lens (the way that I see and understand the world) that Jesse helped me grind for my personal understanding of God and religion.

In all honesty, this is much the same as the way that we have a relationship with the risen Christ, with God, and with the Holy Spirit.  Let us always remember the set of lens that Christ prescribed for us are to "Love God", and to "Love our neighbor as ourselves".  If we always process life through these lens, we certainly will not stray far from Christ himself.

Please continue to pray for my friends Lowell & Connie and family (for comfort, strength & understanding), Edsel and family (for peace, strength & understanding), for the Hunzeker family (for peace), for my mother in law Mary (for healing & recovery), for my uncle Don (for healing & recovery) and remember to pray for yourself as well.  God Bless!

I'll just end this blog post with some random photos of my library.  Many of these books are ones that Jesse left to me after his death.  They are very precious to me and I shall cherish them for the remainder of my time in this world.

God's Absolute Love & Grace to you all.

In Christ,
Roy