NIPTO, Day 320 - Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve!

I'll give you a brief rundown of what's happened so far today and what will happen today. And then I'm going to post an excerpt from the Christmas story in the Bible.
So. Today. Got up, ate breakfast, got ready for the day, hung out and talked... chopped some onions. Went to lunch at Panera Bread (like we've done every year for the past 3 years!), went to Target to get eggs. Came home. The rest of the day will consist of baking and cooking. I'm speaking at GVUMC's Christmas Eve service at 4 o'clock. Just for about 2 minutes about Alpha. Then I'll come home... we'll probably eat dinner. Then head to the Christmas Eve service at our church. Then we'll come home, eat some shrimp cocktail and cookies/sweets, then we'll go to bed uncharacteristically early. So that's Christmas Eve in a nutshell.

I just read this story. And it's so awesome. I'll post the actual birth of Christ tomorrow. But this is today's section. Take the time to read it. It's completely worth it. Think about it too!


Luke 1:26-56
²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

 ²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

 ³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

 ³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

 ³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

 ³⁹ At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

Mary’s Song

 ⁴⁶ And Mary said:

   “My soul glorifies the Lord
 ⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
   of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
 ⁴⁹ for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
   holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him,
   from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
   he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones
   but has lifted up the humble.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things
   but has sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
   remembering to be merciful
⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants forever,
   just as he promised our ancestors.”

 ⁵⁶ Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

NIPTO, Day 276

mmmmm... today has been a good day.

Got up and rushed around. Went to school. Laughed a lot in Spanish... Let's just say that my teacher made a joke about CA's attempt to legalize marijuana... SO funny! Annnd thennn went to Study Hall and did bunches of school. Ate lunch (yummy Chinese food). Sat in on Mom's class and kinda got stuff done. Went to the Library and read and found some books. Now I need some time to read them! (One of the ones that I really want to read is Much Ado About Nothing... if only I can understand it... haha)
Came home... unloaded stuff... chillaxed and caught up on the blogs that I read... dried some dishes for Mom... and now I'm blogging. The last night of Alpha is tonight. Which is semi depressing. But I think they're starting something else up in a few weeks. Which could be fun. I don't know if I'll actually go, because I kinda need a break, but I might. I think I might be helping out with the next round of Alpha that they're planning on starting in January or February. Soooo yeah!
If I get this done and get the chapter of Uncle Tom's Cabin read that I need to read, I might paint a little bit. I've had this urge to paint. Maybe it's because I'm wearing the shirt that I wore the day that I did the breakout at IGNITE titled "Serving a Creative God through Art" or something like that. (I wasn't blogging then! SO WEIRD! I started blogging about a month and a half after IGNITE... interesting.) But yes, I've been feeling somewhat of a creative flair today and want to paint. I actually want to recreate the painting that I did at IGNITE during that session. It was sweet. I want to do it on canvas sometime so I can actually hang it up somewhere. That'd be sweet.

A'ight. NIPTO time!

Ecclesiastes 8:1-10

¹ Who is like the wise?
   Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
   and changes its hard appearance.

Wisdom... is... awesome. Wisdom changes a person. Not even just mentally. It can change a person's physical appearance. Apparently.

Obey the King

 ² Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. ³ Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. ⁴ Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

Obey the king's command... hm. This would have been interpreted as "obey the king that's ruling at the time." Now the "king" might be interpreted as Jesus? hm. Maybe we should just obey both! That makes things simple. (Or really complicated depending on how you look at it.) Why are we supposed to obey the king? Because "you took an oath before God." Hold to the things you say you're going to do. It's soooo important! 
Also, don't be in a hurry to leave the "king's" presence. Mmmmm. I want to sit in God's presence. Soak in the glory. The awesomeness of God. 
Don't stand up for a bad cause because the kings gonna do whatever the king wants to do. And since he's supreme ruler, who can ask him what he's doing. Because what you say doesn't really matter in the end.

 ⁵ Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
   and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. 

⁶ For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
   though a person may be weighed down by misery.

Powerful words. If you obey the "king's" commandments, you will come to no harm. A wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. There is a right time and procedure for every matter Every single thing. That's an important thing for me to think about. Sometimes things have to wait. Sometimes you have to figure out how to do something. Even if a person is weighed down by misery, there's still a proper time and procedure for everything. ... I wonder why this "person" is weighted down by misery... and not some other... emotion. Maybe misery/sadness is an emotion that hinders the most. I don't know. 

 ⁷ Since no one knows the future,
   who can tell someone else what is to come?
⁸ As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
   so no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
   so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

No one knows what's going to happen in the future. That's for sure. Sooo no one can tell someone else what's going to happen. Because no one knows for sure. Because no one knows. 
No one has the power over the wind. No one can contain it. No one has power over the time of their death. In the same way that no one is discharged when there's a war going on, wickedness won't release those who participate in it. 

 ⁹ All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. ¹⁰ Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

As this person saw all these things, they applied them to their mind and to everything done on earth. 
Huh. There's a time when a person lords something over other people, but it hurts him. Huh. They also saw wicked people who used to come and go from holy places buried. Meaningless. Going to and from holy places is meaningless if you're just doing the actions for the praise and don't mean anything by it in your heart.



That's it for today!
Adios,

NIPTO, Day 269

Hey all!
Quick update on life: Yesterday was awesome! I did school in the morning, went to lunch with BK, Emily, Sam, and Matt. Sooo much fun! We laughed a lot. And had some serious conversation. 't was fantastic. Then I came home and did a little bit more school, called Lauren, called Kaytee, went to the park to see Kaytee and Jay-son, came home and got ready for dance (we didn't have Urban Vision because it was election day and the kids had the day off of school, hence no after school). Got ready for dance, went to Ballet (still had ballet, even though there was no after school!), went to Jazz and Modern. Came home. Blogged. Slept.

Got up this morning, got ready, went to Spanish (had funny convos about Napoleon Dynamite on the way to school), went to study hall, didn't get a whole lot done, ate lunch, sat in on Mom's class, cleaned up Mom's room, went to the library, went to the grocery store, saw my driving instructor (Tracey) at the grocery store, drove home, procrastinated, did more school, went to Alpha, came home and watched some of Survivor from two weeks ago, read a book while Mom did some stuff on her computer that I use about 90% of the time, and now I do be blogging.
So that's my update on life. In an almost-as-short-as-possible format. And now I go on to NIPTO because I need to get to bed. Even though it isn't that late. I still need to sleep because I'm still sick. Which stinks, but it's all okay. Because I'll get better eventually!

Ecclesiastes 4:13-16
 ¹³ Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning.


It's better to be wise and young than old and reckless. Although that seems obsolete. Usually the younguns are reckless and the "old people" are wise. But you get the occasional switch-a-roo. 
Meh. I'm "interpreting" this wrong. I think. 
It's better to be poor and young and wise than old a king(rich) and not be able to heed a warning. Take it how you want to. I'm no help right now! haha




¹⁴ The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom. ¹⁵ I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king’s successor. ¹⁶ There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.


Okay. Soooo the wise youthful person could've come from any situation. Everyone under the sun followed this person. They weren't high and mighty, just wise. This person ended up being the not-so-wise king's successor. The people that followed him didn't end. But the people who came later weren't happy with the wise, young guy? Weird. Or meaningless. Either way... weird. 




So now I head to bed. Because it's that time. (Yes, that was unusually short for me. I know. I'm not losing my mind! hahaha)
G'night people of the interwebz!

NIPTO, Day 262

Hey y'all!

Today was a good day. Got up (with a little bit of difficulty) and got ready. Went to Spanish class. Laughed. I love that class. Then I was in study hall with Joy and Julia. That was fun too... I got a little bit of stuff done. Then Philip and Sean came in and Philip, Julia, and Joy started to do Hebrew and I got my Geometry stuff mostly done. Then we ate lunch (outside because it was nice!) and then I sat in on Mom's  science class and tried to get stuff done and kind of failed. Then I went to the Library while Mom went to the grocery store. I got Physics done and got some books. Thennn I came home and caught up on blogs and did lit and then went to Alpha!

Alpha was good. We had lasagna for dinner (yum!) annd talked about "evangelism" per se. He never actually used the word "evangelism" which was interesting.

Now I'm home. And I watched Survivor. Annnnnd am now watching Chuck from Monday.

So now I watch Chuck and chill until it's over and then I do NIPTO.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
¹² I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! ¹⁴ I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.


A'ight. The person writing this was the king of Jerusalem. At some point. This person was devoted to studying and exploring and learning. Gaining wisdom. Then he says something that I find somewhat peculiar. "What a heavy burden God has laid on men!" Jesus said "My yolk is easy and my burden is light" Matthew 11:30. Hm. 
But the author goes on to point out that everything that they've seen is meaningless. Like chasing the wind. Which is pretty pointless.


 ¹⁵ What is twisted cannot be straightened;
       what is lacking cannot be counted.
Things that are twisted (people, for instance, maybe?) can't be made straight. You can't count what you don't have. Interesting. 



 ¹⁶ I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge." ¹⁷ Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
This person thought, "I've gained more wisdom than anyone who has ever ruled over Jerusalem before me! I've experienced so much wisdom and knowledge."
Then the applied themself to their understanding and realized that even their wisdom was like chasing after the wind. Lots of wind chasing going on here!


 ¹⁸ For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
       the more knowledge, the more grief.

With much wisdom comes much sorrow. The more knowledge you have, the more grief.

I'll call that a true story. Tonight at Alpha, Nicky Gumbel who does the videos was saying that 15 million people will die this year because of preventable diseases. That knowledge brings me grief. Knowing that so many people will die needlessly. Sad stuff.

This verse also reminds me of "With great power comes great responsibility." NO clue who said it. Could probably Google it and find about 10 different answers. But I'll do it anyways, just for grins. If you really want to find it out, read this. I don't feel like actually reading it because it's kind of late, but if you really want to know the origin of that quote, go right ahead and read it! haha (I didn't actually realize that that quote is from Spider-Man! Yay me for being "uncultured" or something like that!)

Alrighty. Sooo I think I've established that Ecclesiastes is interesting. And now is the part where I go to bed. 

So goodnight my readers. Y'all are awesome. Don't forget it!

Much internet love&hugs,

NIPTO, Day 256

Hi.

I'm tired today.

Alpha was good yesterday. We talked about satan's schemes. And how to combat them with the armor of God. I think next week will focus more on the armor of God.

I stood around and talked to Don and Keith after because Erin had to talk to Pastor Jennifer about something and Erin's my ride home, soo yeah. That was kind of fun. They're funny guys.
Came home, watched the very end of Survivor, watched Monday's Chuck and then went to bed. It was GREAT!
I slept for... 9 1/2 hours. Gloooorious. I love sleep. It was good.
Got up, ate breakfast, and did school. Watched Pushing Daisies (Season 2, Ep. 1) during lunch. Did the ACT drill... and now I'm blogging. And listening to Dave Ramsey. Yaaaay! I babysit in about an hour... sooo NIPTO.

Hosea 11:1-11
¹ "When Israel was a child, I loved him,
       and out of Egypt I called my son.


This chapter is about God's love for Israel. 
When Israel was young, God loved them. He called them out of Egypt and claimed them as his family.


 ² But the more I called Israel,
       the further they went from me.
       They sacrificed to the Baals
       and they burned incense to images.
 ³ It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
       taking them by the arms;
       but they did not realize
       it was I who healed them.
 ⁴ I led them with cords of human kindness,
       with ties of love;
       I lifted the yoke from their neck
       and bent down to feed them.

The more God called them, though, the more they pulled away from God. 
He taught Ephraim to walk. Like a parent teaches a baby. Ephraim didn't realize that God healed them, that he "led them with cords of human kindness." He lifted a yoke from their neck and fed them himself.
Ungrateful little wretches. (Aren't we ungrateful little wretches too, though? Yeah. We are.)


 ⁵ "Will they not return to Egypt
       and will not Assyria rule over them
       because they refuse to repent?
 ⁶ Swords will flash in their cities,
       will destroy the bars of their gates
       and put an end to their plans.
 ⁷ My people are determined to turn from me.
       Even if they call to the Most High,
       he will by no means exalt them.


Because they refused to repent of their sins, they would return to Egypt and be ruled over by Assyria. Swords would put an end to their plans. 
They were determined to turn and run from God. Even if they called on God, he wouldn't  honor them. By no means.


 ⁸ "How can I give you up, Ephraim?
       How can I hand you over, Israel?
       How can I treat you like Admah?
       How can I make you like Zeboiim?
       My heart is changed within me;
       all my compassion is aroused.

God asks how he could give up Ephraim and hand them over to Israel, treat them like Admah, or make them like Zeboiim.
God was all about carrying out his wrath against them, but he changed and was compassionate.


 ⁹ I will not carry out my fierce anger,
       nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.
       For I am God, and not man—
       the Holy One among you.
       I will not come in wrath. 


God wouldn't carry out his anger against Ephraim. Because he was God, and not man, the only holy hone in their midst, he wouldn't come in wrath. Exciting! haha




 ¹⁰ They will follow the LORD;
       he will roar like a lion.
       When he roars,
       his children will come trembling from the west.
 ¹¹ They will come trembling
       like birds from Egypt,
       like doves from Assyria.
       I will settle them in their homes,"
       declares the LORD.

The nations would follow the LORD. He will roar like a lion (ASLAN! YEAH BUDDY!). And when he roars, his children will come to him, trembling. Like birds from Egypt or doves from Assyria. They be settled in their homes by God.

Amazing. Well... It's almost time for me to go babysit... soooo I'll be back tomorrow! More from Hosea comin' your way :)

Have a good one! (Even if it did just start to rain where I am...)

Catching up

Hey allll!

I didn't have time to blog about my day yesterday, so I'm going to use this post to do that and blog about today! So:

Tuesday morning I got up and did some school. Then I went driving for 2 hours. In-car! YAY. I'm glad to get it done...
It went well. I didn't do anything stupid. I just drove. Drove to East Canton via back roads... drove in a square on one way streets... drove back to Green.

Thennnn when I got home I ate lunch because I was hungry. (I got home at about 11:30.) And I watched the season premier of Chuck. FANNNNtastick. With a K. YES. That good.

Then I did more school. Annnnd then went to Urban Vision. Was in the gym, reading, and art. I also determined that I'm going to start helping with the ballet class that is from 6-7 on Tuesdays. So that should be fun.
Annnnd then we came home for a brief bit. And then I went to dance for 2 hours! Jazz was good... it's still hard. I'm still getting used to it. More jumps. Lots more sharp. But it's fun!
Annnnd we fixed a little bit of the dance that we started last week. And did a couple of combinations that were sweet.
Then I came home, blogged really quick, took a shower, and went to sleep.

Woke up this morning (Yes, I did feel like P. Diddy. Whatever that means =P)
Got ready. Went to school. Had Spanish class. Got minorly freaked about the test that we had. Took the test. Got a good grade. Was in study hall for a while and got very little done. Annnd then ate lunch with Mom and sat in on her class. Cleaned up. Came home. Did Geometry. Did Physics and listened to Dave Ramsey. (LOVE HIM) annnnd then went to Alpha!

We had baked potatoes for dinner. Yum. :D
Annd talked about faith.
This is the guy who does the videos. He has a great accent.


I love our group. Still. We're starting to open up a little more... people are starting to talk a little more... express their opinions.
It's good. :)

Came home, watched last week's episode of Survivor, am doing this and am now watching this week's episode of Survivor. My dad's amazing (It's been over for an hour and we're watching it. And no, we don't have DVR.)

And now I'm going to skip over to a NIPTO post :D

NIPTO, Day 220

My web browser is wonky today. Everything's really small. =/

Anyways... in other news... my legs hurt. Because of dance. Of course. Stairs are difficult to do... but I can do it with a little moaning and groaning.

School was good. I don't remember (off the top of my head) what we learned in Spanish...
I got a lot done in study hall. Which can always be iffy. But I got stuff done. YAY! Then it was lunch time... then I got to sit in on Mom's class and do my Lit homework... Cleaned up Mom's room (tables back into the closet, chairs in their places for Sunday) and went to the library and bank... then home. Listened to Dave Ramsey for a long time :) He's awesome!

Not a whole lot has happened today... I talked to Katie for like, 5 minutes. I think she's calling right now. Yup! Mom's talking to her now.

Alpha was tonight... I love it there. I really like the guy who is on the video. He's funny. And has a great British accent. (Kind of like Philip's... but Philip's is fake. And he talks like that because he wants to. And it's funny because his mom is normal... but he is sooo strange. haha)
And our group is super eclectic. The student, an engineer, a couple of home makers, a retired engineer, a musician who originally is from Denmark, a social worker, a security guy who wants to be a police officer who is the group's theologian, a stone worker, a gal who works at a gun shop, a stay at home mom (I think), a cancer researcher, and a gal who works for First Energy.
I love it. I love it SO MUCH. They're awesome.

I talked to Anna Jam for a while tonight. She sent me the best message ever. I think it's going to be permanently "unread" so I can make it read and then make in "unread" again. So I read it every day. It's that good. God sends the thing you need to hear right when you need to hear it. And tonight was that night. I love that girl so much&am so thankful that we clicked at LT :) I hope I get to see her IRL soon!

And on a completely different note, I just walked down the stairs and thought there was another stair. Guess who almost slid into the front door? You guessed right! ME! =P

And I guess I'll finish Acts now?

Acts 28:17-30
¹⁷Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: "My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. ¹⁹But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—not that I had any charge to bring against my own people. ²⁰For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain."

This is interesting. Paul gets all the Jewish leaders together and talks to them. He tells them how he was arrested and tried and how they wanted to release him and then how the Jews protested and how Paul appealed to Caesar, not that he needed to. But he wanted to talk to the leaders about the hope that he had. The hope that lead him to be bound in chains.

I pray that I'm fervent enough with my faith that I feel compelled to tell everyone I meet. Every person I come into contact with about the hope that I have.

Hope-v. archaic To place trust in; rely

Expectancy and longing are the suggested synonyms. 

The thing I place my trust in. The thing I long for. 

I feel like God is speaking volumes to me tonight. It's amazing. (and this is only the first 4 verses! Whew!)

 ²¹They replied, "We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. ²²But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect."

They hadn't really heard anything about him... none of the brothers in Judea had heard anything bad about him. But they still wanted to hear what he had to say because people everywhere were talking about "this sect." 

Little did they know that that sect would be one of the biggest things in the world...

²³They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. ²⁴Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.

They set a date for Paul to tell them what this was all about. And a ton of people came. And from morning till evening he told them and declared to them the Kingdom of God. He told them about Jesus. He told them about how Jesus is the person that Moses&the Prophets talked about.

Some of them were convinced and believed, others were not convinced.

²⁵They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet:
 ²⁶" 'Go to this people and say,
   "You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
      you will be ever seeing but never perceiving."
 ²⁷For this people's heart has become calloused;
      they hardly hear with their ears,
      and they have closed their eyes.
   Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
      hear with their ears,
      understand with their hearts
   and turn, and I would heal them.'

 ²⁸"Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"

They disagreed about what Paul said. WOW. That's uh... not surprising. But Paul quoted one of the Prophets (Isaiah) who was extremely well known to the Jews. They would've known their old testament. And to apply something to them was totally new.

The idea that they would see constantly but never actually perceiving. Hearing but never understanding. It makes you wonder how many times we've seen things that are from God and that are ordained by God that we never actually see or understand...

Isaiah said that the people had become calloused. They had been rubbed so much that it became hard. They barely listened with their ears and saw with their eyes. If they had seen and heard and had turned their hearts to God he would heal them.

We're hurting. But we've become so calloused and hardened that we don't want to turn to God for help. But if we would just soften our hearts for a second we would see and hear all that God has for us and he will heal us.

God's salvation was sent to the Gentiles because they will listen. 

 ³⁰For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. ³¹Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul stayed in his rented house for two years and welcomed everyone who came to him. He told everyone, boldly and without hinderance, the kingdom of God and taught about Jesus. 

Amazing.

I just learned a lot. I think a lot of what I just typed was speaking to myself... if it helps someone else, that's fantastic.
I'm going to go to bed... and I'm going to be praying like crazy. Prayer is something that is too often overlooked in my life.

This is what I'm singing as I go to bed tonight...