partsofspeaking

This is not meant at a snipe at our president.  However, Hope is based on the truth that God never changes.  Don't know if it's original, but it is sustaining me today.

Sunday Bible Study Lesson for June 26.  Background Reading:   Three times a year, according to the tradition and the book of Deuteronomy, the faithful Jewish people (I don’t know if they all did this) went to worship at Jerusalem.   It was a long trip in some ways, but fortunately Israel is not a really large place.   When they went on these pilgrimages, they would sing these psalms as the “ascending” up to Jerusalem and the temple.   Those three times a year were Pesach ( Passover, April ), Shavuot ( Weeks, late May or early June ), and Sukkot ( Tents or Booths, late September or early October ).   “They were well suited for being sung, by their poetic form and the sentiments they express. ‘They are characterized by brevity, by a key-word, by epanaphora [ i.e. , repetition], and by their epigrammatic style.... More than half of them are cheerful, and all of them hopeful.’" (quoted from Wikipedia, but original citat...

We now have two dogs.  The personality of the older dog has changed with the introduction of the mixed (read, at-least-part-pit-bull) puppy, a female.  It's amazing.  They are inseparable, although Buddy, the older one, occasionally wants a reprieve from Nala, the puppy, and will come in my room where I am working.  Nala wants to play all the time, and she can get pretty rough.  Interestingly, Buddy has become more muscular due to the rough play--he's bulking up (or hulking out).  Nala has not learned the potty training drill totally yet, although she will bark when she wants out.  I call her Princess Poops-a-lot; I am Princess Scoops-a-lot.  Because she's a puppy we are not sure of her personality yet; she has two modes, all-out enthusiastic crazy, and asleep.   Buddy, on the other hand, came to us with, and has developed, a larger range of facial expressions and personal traits.  Here are his ma...

Let’s remember it’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the third person of what we call the Trinity (only in linguistic formulas, not in reality, because there is no “order” or “hierarchy” in the Godhead). It’s not the fruit of our spirit, or spiritual expression.   So the whole basis of it is holiness, not power or personality. Second, it’s fruit, not fruits.   Not pears, apples, grapes, peaches,etc.   One fruit.   I interpret this as a package deal.   We want to separate them out and say, “I have one and not another,” but if the source is the Holy Spirit, then they all come together.   I would say this is true about a lot of spiritual truths—what we want to separate out, take “cafeteria style” for our own convenience—is meant to be all or nothing. Third, they aren’t about us and our personalities or our reputations.   A choleric person can have patience through the Holy Spirit.   A person who is naturally reti...

(This may be a repeat.)I know that got your attention.  Why is she of all people using that expression?  Well, for one thing, it reminds me of the first time my son, at three years old, cussed.  I laughed, but told him we didn’t talk that way (he had heard it on, of all things, Back to the Future ).  The topic of this blog is “what the hell is…”  or more correctly, what is hell?  Or Is hell? Nobody wants to talk about hell until someone famous denies there is one.  And recently it seems that Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Church and a great, but intense, communicator, is denying eternal punishment.  Actually, it seems that his publisher is trying to drum up business for his next book by implying he is a universalist, a person who believes everyone will eventually go to heaven no matter what his/her beliefs are. At the risk of being defamed, I will go on record.  I believe in Hell.  T...

Great article:  http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/june/culturalmedium.html

Continuation from last post. 3.1.4 My purpose in discussing this subject is to focus on how poor self-esteem affects your communication.   In fact, it underlies most of how you deal with other people.         1.   First, you will perceive others more negatively if you have a low self-esteem.           2.   Secondly, you will be more critical of other people and their motives.         3.   You will be less trusting.         4.   You will have trouble accepting criticism.         5.   Your communication will be characterized as defensive rather than supportive. Of course, this class is about business communication, so I am mostly interested in the last two, because they can inhibit your career and your company’s progress.   A person with a...

I will be posting lectures on this subject that I wrote for a business communication class.  I think they will be helpful. 3.1. Self-esteem and criticism 3.1.1What is self-esteem Self-concept – is usually defined as what you think about yourself.   If you were asked to give 20 answers to the following question, “I am ____,” you would answer with either progressive tense verbs (thinking, learning) indicating focus on behaviors, adjectives (attractive, intelligent) indicating description, or a noun (student, parent),indicating roles.   A self-concept is how you define yourself.   An adult should strive to have a realistic self-concept.   You will often be called upon to describe your strengths and weaknesses in terms of your position; you should have enough self-awareness to be able to do so.   You should also have a plan for improving upon your weaknesses.   Of course, weaknesses and strengths are relative. ...