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You own nothing, and neither do I. September 22,2024

  September, 22, 2024 Sunday Meditation You own nothing, and neither do I. The process of aging out of the system is filled with difficulties and irony.  The process starts way before it begins or so at times it seems.  Life is given to us, sometimes, I think grudgingly.  It is as if the angels know we have to do our tour of duty here on earth, for some reason known but to God. But there are things different between man and angels.  It seems that as soon as we are born, God starts the clock ticking in bits of code buried deep in our DNA.  The obituaries are clear that some are destined to leave life early, and some will be the last ones to be taken.  Death is so final and unstoppable; “... leaving 3 small children without a..., taken suddenly as he pulled up his socks....,  after an extended…, their battle has ended...., outlived 15 siblings....” .    We stop, but leave the motor running, to pay our respects, grieve our grief, and then we move on, for we must, as the world stops for no
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A tribute to my father, Lloyd D. Bowerman, who would have been 102 years old today, July 12th, 2024

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7/12/24 My Teacher, The musing of an old, slow learner. A tribute to my father, Lloyd D. Bowerman, who would have been 102 years old today, July 12th, 2024   I think one of the greatest gifts my father ever gave me was that he thought, “everyone can teach you something”, and that phrase peppered his father/son talks my whole life.  He came from an impoverished background and retained a special affection for the poor and undereducated, people you normally don’t consider having anything of value to teach “us”. That thought has stuck with me and I’ve tried to practice it, sometimes more successfully than others.  He used everyday examples like; A middle aged coal miner, disabled with black lung, can’t teach you how to maximize the depreciation of a fixed asset, but he can tell you how to stack your firewood so it blows clear of snowdrifts in the wintertime and isn’t sitting in mud in the springtime.  A father, holding three jobs, can give you pointers on how to feed three kids and two adu
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For Sunday, February 18th, 2024 Sunday Meditation

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For Sunday, February 18th, 2024 Sunday Meditation --When your diet is the bread of adversity and your drink is the water of affliction. Meditation on  Isaiah 30:20-21: "Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, "This is the way. Walk in it." A fellow believer who often finds themselves in the role of spiritual advisor to me offered a real gem as advice.  That advice was to, “ Whenever reading scripture, be especially attentive to words or verses that jump, or stand out at you, or cause you to pause in your reading ”, that this is often a way the Holy Spirit employs to bring our attention to a lesson to be learned, or a message from God that we need to be aware of.  So it was when I was reading in Isaiah chapter 30:20 and 21, "Though the
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I believe in God, so I spoke. 2/4/24

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 2/4/24 February 4th, 2024 Sunday Morning Meditation Finding your voice… My morning Bible Meditation found me reading II Corinthians Chapter 4 and my eyes fell on  “...I believed in God, so I spoke…(v13), and that kind of jumped out at me.  As I sat, I reflected on how that would apply to myself, a believer, and a person never short of words.  The older you get the more history you have to judge by, the truer the image fits reality.   My prayer journal shows bursts where my prayers lean heavily in one direction then in another,  a good indication my faith is not rooted and my spine weak and I am panicky as I try to control events.  But if one pulls back a bit, a longer trend shows a steady move in one direction.  Think of it as how a tree grows towards the light, the winds of the day may buffet, but overall the tree seeks the sun and as it matures it is less and less influenced by the winds… When I was younger, when I spoke my ego wrote the script and was prejudiced towards making sure
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In the twinkling of an eye 1/13/24

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  January 14th, 2024 Just like that Every once in a while you experience what is called a “teachable moment”.  A teachable moment is when you experience something that has a great lesson for life wrapped in it and that experience opens your eyes to that great truth, and here I might add, you learn the lesson by observation and enlightenment without always having to pay the costs of learning the lesson the hard way.  Here’s an example from my own life; When I was 16, I owned a Honda Sport motorcycle, and like any 16 year old male, I loved speed and the feel of acceleration.  Just top off the tank with pure testosterone, twist the throttle, and “let’er rip ‘til the valves floated out”- instant Nirvana!!  To make a long story short, one Saturday in I think September, I was working on tuning the engine and after making some adjustments, hopped on it and started to head out of town to see if it made any improvement.  Before I hit the edge of town I found myself behind a VW bug that insisted
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“Bettering Ourselves” Addendum .v3 Sunday Meditation 12/24/23

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  12/26/23 “Bettering Ourselves” Addendum .v3 Sunday Meditation While I was working on the concept of “bettering ourselves” I came across a song that fit the subject matter like a glove. Since the post was already getting too long, I withheld mentioning the song and filed it away for another day. The song seems so appropriate I’m posting it as an addendum to the Sunday post. The song is “In the Blood”, written by John Mayor, a prolific songwriter. The best cover of the song is by the acapella group, Home Free, was released in 2017. I strongly encourage you to listen to Home Free sing their cover here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1TqpH6PZBo Here’s the lyrics; Home Free -In the Blood How much of my Mother Has my Mother left in me How much of my love Will be insane to some degree What about this feeling That I'm never good enough Will it wash out in the water Or is it always in the blood How much of my Father Am I destined to become Will I dim the lights inside me Just to sat
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Sunday Meditation 12/24/23 -Addendum-v2

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 Sunday Meditation -Addendum-v2 Typical Extended Family Sunday’s (12/24/23) Meditation was about using the beginning of the new year as an opportunity to become a “better person”.  I think that it is an honorable goal that can be (and should be) pursued regardless of color, sex, or creed, rich or poor.  I posited that one of the better ways to do this was to look at family line history, looking at repeating behaviors, such as run-ins with the law, alcoholism, domestic violence, failed marriages.  When you find these types of events popping up generation after generation after generation in the family line, one has to ask; Is the family passing down the culture which in fact encourages these types of negative behaviors from one generation to the next?  I stated that these negative behaviors are not uncommon, but uncomfortable to talk about, and have historically been swept under the rug and either expunged from family oral history or glorified, thereby making each generation's failu
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