This first post summarizes the results of my examinations of the lives of Noah and Job. Presented below are the results of my study of lives of Daniel the Prophet and John the Baptist.

• Daniel was a young man who was taken into captivity in Babylon. Chosen by God to be a prophet to the exiles, he was given the ability to interpret dreams and visions. Chosen to serve the king of Babylon because: (a) he was from noble Jewish lineage; and (b) he and his companions were deemed to be, what we would call today “the best and the brightest”. Young men who, because of their intelligence, it would be easy to teach them the ways of the nation where they now lived and they could be very useful to the ruler, in so many ways. Daniel proved to be so useful, that the king often called on him for advice and wisdom. His peers (other members of the king’s court; not his friends) became so jealous and envious of this special relationship, they plotted to have him killed. Alas! The evil plan backfired and those who would have killed Daniel, ended up the way they had hoped Daniel would end up. Daniel counseled 3 kings – Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus and Darius – but served only one God, faithfully, all the days of his life; even though he was a slave, a captive in a foreign land.

• John the Baptist, was the cousin of Jesus, a preacher who lived in the wilderness. He survived by eating locusts and wild honey. One wonders how he could appeal to anyone. The description of him sounds like a mad man. Yet he preached a message of repentance so powerful and convicting that many came to him to be baptized and begin a new life. He was not known for being politically correct. In fact his speech was so plain, it cost him his life. He spoke out publicly against the unlawful relationship between a political ruler who took his brother’s wife as his own. Though John had publicly condemned his relationship, the ruler himself respected John as a holy man. He imprisoned him but had no intentions of taking his life. The wife, on the other hand, wanted John the Baptist dead! She succeeded in getting what her heart desired. It’s a gruesome story. John the Baptist, this righteous man, was beheaded for speaking the truth. But not before he had accomplished his mission. His mission was point others to Jesus. He did that.

Hope you derive a benefit from this character study. I did.

Featured Image By Pieter Brueghel the Elder – Own work Yelkrokoyade Taken in 20/07/2013, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

I read biographies and study characters for the purposes of my personal development. Many of the people I choose to learn about are people mentioned in the Bible. People that we would likely know nothing about had they not been mentioned in the Bible because they are not written about in non-Biblical records. The starting point for this particular character study was a question.

• The prophets were regarded by the people as “holy” men of God. Ever wonder if there were people who the prophets thought were holy?

Based on my research I determined that there were four men honored by the holy men as holy men: Noah, Job, Daniel and John the Baptist.

A summary of my examinations of their lives will be presented in a 2-part post. This first post summarizes the results of my examinations of the lives of Noah and Job.

• The man named Noah in the Bible and the character depicted as Noah in the movie, Noah (2014), which starred Russell Crowe, did not resemble each other at all. In fact, the only thing in the movie that resembled the Bible record was the fact that there was an ark and there was a flood. Noah was a man of faith who preached a message, warning people of a global disaster. The only people who believed him were his wife, his sons and their wives. When the rain came down from the sky, no doubt many wished they had listened to words of that crazy old man. But it was too late!

• Job was actually described by his Creator as “an upright man, who fears God and shuns evil”.  The Bible record of his life tells of a man who had done nothing wrong, yet several calamities happened to him all in one day, including the loss of all of his children. That day of calamities was just the beginning of his sorrows. The things that happened to Job, had they happened to another, that person might have committed suicide or lived to curse God every day for the remainder of their lives. But Job remained faithful. Did he know what the end of the matter would be? It is clear that he did not. One must personally read his story to reach an understanding as to WHY, in the face of such grief and adversity and knowing that he had not sinned to provoke God’s wrath or judgement, why he chose to remain steadfast and devoted to God and not do as his wife urged him to do … “curse God and die!” For me?  There was a lot that Job did not know and/or understand.  But he held on to what he did know.  He knew that God was not his Adversary.
  

Related link:

Personal Development, Character Study and Biography | Persona Paper

During the time of 1^st century Christianity, when Gentiles were being accepted into the faith along with Jews who had accepted the gospel message, the Jews having become accustomed to their strict dietary laws and the Gentiles have their own “food ways”, a question came up about whether or not it was OK to eat certain foods.  One must eat!  But one does not want to commit a sin to eat.  It was a deeply religious matter for the faithful.

The matter was settled and the Christians were given instructions on what to do when food was offered to them. In a nutshell, ask God’s blessing for the food you’re about to receive, eat it, and ask no questions for your conscience sake.

Of course it’s not saying that we should not question what goes in our body. That would be ridiculous. Take the scripture in its context.

The advice from the apostles can be quickly summed up as follows:

• All food comes from the one true God. It’s meant to be a blessing, to nourish and strengthen our bodies. Thank Him and eat it!

That being said, having quickly perused a list of “bizarre ingredients” that are used in preparing certain foods, I’m thinking:

“Uuuggg!! Wish I had never seen this article because now it’s in my conscience. Sand in my chili???!!! Duck feathers in my apple pie??!!! I’m never going to look at certain foods the same way any more.”

10 Bizarre Ingredients in Delicious Foods

As if it wasn’t bad enough when I found out about the bull’s penis being prepared in a soup. Not meaning to offend anyone, because it was said this is considered a very exotic dish; however, if it were served to me, you would have to not tell me what is was, until I had finished eating.

You do not understand. I am a soup lover!! I love soups so much that I think people should have soup parties! Invite friends and family. Tell each guest to bring their favorite pot of soup. You supply the bread, rolls, butter, desserts and drinks. Make sure you plan the party for a really cold winter’s night. So! A soup with the main ingredient being penis and testicles? For me?  According to my conscience?  It’s too bizarre.  We all have our cultural differences and when it comes to food, most of us can see those differences very plainly.  It’s not a bad thing.  It’s just a different thing.

When it comes eating, I’m just not into – what in my mind would be viewed as “bizarre foods”. That’s why I could never watch that food show with Andrew Zimmern.  My conscience simply would not allow it.

Bizarre Foods Full Episodes

This list (below), although they use the word “bizarre” in the title – this is not my idea of bizarre foods. More like fun foods. Anybody want to try some Mountain Dew Cheetos?

10 bizarre foods you’ll only see in Japan

 
“I love soup” : glitter-graphics.com

My early attempts at affiliate marketing, D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) website building, blogging and other home business projects were so … ??? … amateur. Was going to say “futile” but since there were many benefits derived from these efforts even though several websites and blogs were trashed or deleted along the way, the time and energy expended was not a total waste. The learning exercises were fruitful, not futile.

Before even starting a blog, using generic search terms like “make money with your website”, found this wonderful resource.  What you can do with a website, you can do with your blog.  The link below was included in the results.

28 Ways to Make Money with Your Website | Daily Blog Tips

You know when you’ve visited a site way too many times because the site owner begins to talk to you like he knows you! 🙂  Daniel Scocco is based in Brazil, a country that is on my bucket list of “Places I’d Like to Visit But Probably Never Will”. He has been very kind and helpful. Because of his assistance, I was encouraged to continue my online endeavors. It is awesome to see that his blog is still going strong after all these years.

DBT (Daily Blog Tips) also has a sister site, DWT (Daily Writing Tips) that can improve your writing and speaking skills, and it’s fun! Here is an example of a fun but educational post.

6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know | Daily Writing Tips

Both of these blogs are invaluable.   GO Danny!!!

Additional links of interest:

• Podcast: How Daniel Scocco Launched A $10,000 A Month Membership Site
• Daniel Scocco Interview – Daily Blogging Tips To Help You Become A Better Blogger

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More Help For Newbie Bloggers?

• The information is out there but you have to go and get it. You must be patient, persistent and willing to teach yourself. But sometimes you might need to ask a question and you want to talk to a human being. Quora.com is where you go for answers. Join this Q&A community free and follow the topics for Blogging and Bloggers.

• One last thing!  Don’t forget about the forums right here at this site like Bloggers Hub.

How is that I am active on Google Plus? To my surprise, the Google developers invited me to the party. When Google Plus was in the “testing” phase, received an eMail – perhaps because my Gmail account had been set up for a while – don’t know why I was “chosen”, but they asked me to participate in the development process. Started with my profile. Didn’t know anything about the Business pages (now called “brand accounts”) at the time.

When G+ became “official” my profile was already there with that long number ID.  Since it was there, why remove it?

One day, after several months of being active on G+, opened my Gmail to find a communication stating that my custom URL was ready to be claimed. That was so flattering. Me? Granted a custom URL? Without even asking for it?? Angels must be watching over me!

Later on there was buzz about the pages which was cool because … why not? Had business pages on Facebook. The G+ pages are super easy to set up and you could directly link them to your website or blog. So I did!

A Google Plus profile and page are both good to have. Not either/or. Both help with professional and social networking, help with building your business brand, and help with getting found in organic search results.

My advice to anybody who has not done it yet?

• Plus your profile.
• Plus your business.

If you decide that it’s not for you, hit the DELETE button. Nothing is written in stone.

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Post published in response to an article by fellow blogger, Freya Yuki:

Do You Have A Google+ Profile Or Page?

Angel image credit:
glitter-graphics.com

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Helpful Links:

+GooglePlus Helper: The importance of your Google+ profile

+PlusYourBusiness:  A Complete Guide to Google+ Pages

Using the New Google Plus Collections Feature

Educated in American schools for my entire life. Learning about Mexico was not a part of the school curriculum. Did a quick study on my own and am happy to present my findings. Just an overview.

Don’t know much about the history of Mexico except for two nations – the Mayans and the Aztecs; and two men – Cortés and Pancho Villa.

What was taught about the aforementioned nations? Well! They were great!! Advanced civilizations. Outstanding architecture. Really good math skills. A calendar! Sounds impressive so far. Human sacrifices as a part of worship. Say what? Sorry. But … should one truly mourn that these “great” kingdoms were finally conquered?  ( My opinion. )

What lessons were learned about the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés? Time frame? 1500s. It was said that when he arrived in Mexico he took note of two things. One, there was gold; and two, the tribes were warring with each other. So he sat back and waited until they all but killed each other and whoever was left standing? Came in and knocked them down! Took over and claimed the country for Spain .

Have no appreciation for the so-called “art of war” but must admit … that was a smooth move.

As for the man Pancho Villa? He arrived on the scene in the 1900s. It depends on who tells his story or sings his song. Some count him as a bandit and an outlaw. Others laud him as a hero of the Mexican Revolution.

( My opinion. )
From my way long after the fact / backseat driver’s point of view? Looks like he always sided with the wrong person in charge, and made enemies when he should have been negotiating and compromising. His lack of diplomatic skills is what got him killed. He was assassinated in 1920. Mind you he had already retired and was no longer actively involved in the political “heat”. So what must one think? Gunned down by friend doing him a favor or an enemy returning a “favor”?

*** *** ***

That was then. This is NOW. All we ever hear on our news about Mexico is illegals coming across the U.S. border in the hope of a better life because drug cartels are warring on their side of the fence – roaming the streets, wreaking havoc and causing bloodshed, etc., etc. and the U.S. president will build a wall to stop them!

Sure can’t use the Cortés strategy and wait them out.
Americans can not afford to ignore Mexico. After all they are our next door neighbor.

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Biographical links:

• Hernán Cortés
• José Doroteo Arango Arámbula (aka Pancho Villa)

In the United States of America we have so much diversity in our people. The Native Americans were already here. Then people from everywhere else and made their home in this land. Not going to get into the details of U.S. history of how so many different people got here. The point is: We’re here!

Unfortunately, our American history books are very “selective” in retelling the stories of the American people.  In an effort to compensate for these serious “omissions”, somebody in the political arena (I guess but I don’t know who) decided to start dedicating certain months of the year to highlight the contributions of various groups of American citizens and honor their heritage.

As examples. For February, we have African-American History Month. For March, we have Irish-American Heritage Month. May is set aside for Asian-American Heritage. More specifically it is called Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

I did a little research and want to share these links of interest. They are really interesting.

History articles, to “add on” to what was left out of most of our school text books:

• Le, C.N. 2017. “The First Asian Americans“ Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. 8 May 2017.
• “Asian Americans Then and Now.“ Asia Society : Center for Global Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2017.

The oddest thing is that when people say “Asian-American”, they (“they” as in “me and a few other ignorant Americans”) tend to think Chinese, Japanese, Korean and/or Vietnamese. From what I understand, India is in Asia. But for some reason, we never tend to think of Americans who are from India or have Indian (not Native American) descent. And the Pakistani folks are completely out of the loop. Also, Filipinos are included in this grouping but we usually don’t think of them either. Probably because some of them have Spanish-sounding names. (I said “probably”.) The article link below clarified some of my confusion as to the citizens who comprise this diverse group.  Although the map of Asia (featured image) found at Wikimedia Commons still has me somewhat befuddled.  (O.o)

Additional Reading:

• Progress 2050. “Race and Ethnicity : Who Are Asian Americans?“ Center for American Progress. N.p., 18 Apr. 2015. Web. 8 May 2017.

Did you know?

“Asian Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the U.S, with Asians now making up the largest share of recent immigrants.”

• Quote Source: Piccorossi, Michael. “The Rise of Asian Americans.“ Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. N.p., 18 June 2012. Web. 08 May 2017.

I want to take this opportunity to honor my fellow Americans of Asian / Pacific heritage and to let them know that their contributions to the building of this nation are appreciated; not just during the month of May.

If you consider yourself to be of Asian / Pacific – American heritage, it would be wonderful to hear from you and to know how you are celebrating your heritage during the month of May.

Image Credits: By Cacahuate, adapted by Peter Fitzgerald, Globe-trotter, Joelf, Texugo, Piet-c and Bennylin. (Own work based on the blank world map) [CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons ; US flag found at glitter-graphics.com

There was once a time when I used to share links from a publication called “RealClear Politics” to my Facebook timeline. Not because I agreed with them, although sometimes I did agree with their thoughts, opinions, and perspectives. I believe the article writers did their research and intelligently presented the facts. There is no requirement that you have to agree with what they wrote!  It’s good to hear differing points of view.

I stopped sharing the RCP links to my profile timeline because instead of people responding and leaving their comments at the article, they started yelling and screaming at me! If I had the time to engage them in discussion I might have responded back. But I was busy!

Besides. It’s just politics! 🙂

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Almost every day I go through my Facebook memories . It’s hard to believe I’ve had an account for over 5 years. The memories remind me of how things change and how nothing has changed. Here is a link (below) from a post published in 2013.

• Why Hasn’t the FBI Learned to Stop Terrorists?

I’m sharing it because it relates to a short post I published in 2015 (“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – Death or Life (In Prison)?”) and because I want to keep it as an historical reference. This article has that “point the finger of blame” tone to it, describing the “mayhem” that happens in Washington, D.C. when tragedies that occur in a U.S. city that shock the whole nation.  To me, this a question that should be answered with a another question.

• Why didn’t somebody STOP Sargon?

People always want to point the finger of blame at somebody or some institution when bad things happen.  Why should I be any different?  I reached back into the historical records of ancient Akkad, found this guy’s name and I’ve been blaming him for everything ever since!

Whatever happens it’s Sargon’s fault!  (Or if it’s a natural disaster, then I blame global warming.)

In psychology, this is what is called my “defense mechanism”.  It protects my mental state, takes the heat, pressure and tension out of the blame game and makes it not so serious, giving me time to … pause … breathe … and review news reports and other relevant material, and try to make sense out of what really did happen. 

When horrific things happen, the obvious question is “Could it have been prevented?”  There are times when someone is surely to blame, must shoulder their responsibility, and be held accountable.  But not all the time.  Sometimes even though people do everything in their power to try to prevent a tragic event, it still happens.  When tragic events occur, we all need to have real clear minds and only inject politics into the situation if and when it has relevancy.  Quite frankly, even though I no longer post their links to my social media profile,  I think “RealClear Politics” is an excellent publication and lives up to its name.

Everybody know who dat, who dat? I-Z-Z-Y *

Those were the song lyrics rolling around in my brain as I painstakingly searched YouTube for music from my childhood that did not sound anything like that!!

* In the midst of my frustration and confusion, my husband corrected me and said: “Her name is IGGY!”

I thought to myself: ‘Not IZZY?? Ooops! My bad!’ 

No wonder I wasn’t getting anywhere with my search.  (O.o)

Iggy Azalea got some people angry. They seem to think she’s a fake RAPPER. A white girl from Australia? Those who disapprove of her say she can’t be real! (Whatever!)

She has other people who apparently support her, like J-Lo, who asked her to collaborate. Why not? Jennifer Lopez is driven and her business and financial philosophy is obvious. She’ll make a buck whenever and wherever with whoever. (Whatever!)

I am not a fan of Ms. Iggy. I don’t keep up with her, so it makes no difference to me.  I’m just glad that my husband corrected me on the name.  🙂

Both Izzy and Iggy are unusual names. Never heard the name “Iggy” until Ms. Azalea hit the rap music scene. Can’t explain it, but for some reason I misspelled that simple 4-letter name by replacing the two Gs with two Zs; only to discover that “Izzy” is also the name of a fairly popular singer in the music industry.

This are just interesting tidbits about the name “Izzy” and “Iggy”.

 

“Izzy” can be a name for a girl or a boy; and it has 3 different meanings in three different languages.

• Old Greek meaning: gift of Isis
• Spanish, English: emerald
• Hebrew: God is perfection; God is my oath

Source: babynamespedia.com

 

According to that same source, “Iggy” is a boy’s name; a nickname for Ignatius.

Anyway … back to what this post is really about. This name confusion all started because I was searching YouTube for a song that I heard often during my childhood years but not so much in my later or adult years. In the process of searching for the song I found a songstress named Izzy; NOT Iggy.

She is into classical music; NOT rap music. The song from my childhood that I was searching for is: “Finlandia – Be Still My Soul”. Managed to locate two music videos. Izzy performing a solo in one video; and a beautiful choir singing the song in another video. I prefer the choral version as opposed to Izzy’s solo. Seems like the instruments or the orchestra are drowning out her voice. Sharing the links, if you want to listen.

• Izzy – Be Still My Soul     https://youtu.be/9-18JPEtfvQ

• Exultate Singers Be Still My Soul     https://youtu.be/snGEoVfUGuQ

Not sharing the link to the Iggy (not Izzy) Azalea video with the song lyrics mentioned above because: (1) explicit lyrics and (2) I don’t really like the song.  Apologies if I have offended any Iggy Azalea fans.  We all have different musical tastes and songs that touch us in a certain way.  You can not possibly imagine how delighted I was to find “Finlandia”.

Sharing these wacky thoughts of mine. Hoping you don’t run away from me even though I speak my mind which is often … kind of weird, strange and Krazee with a capital “K”!

OK So! It’s the year 2017 and it’s spring time here in Austin, Texas, and I never know what kind of weather to expect each day. When we moved to this city in 1998, people use to describe the weather as “climatically perfect”. The weather was terrific!

My kids have grown accustomed to my standard excuse that I use to point the finger of blame at … everything!

If something happens, no matter what … I say:

• “IDK!  I blame global warming. Whatever!”

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Most of you know I believe/read the Bible a lot and as a result, my rationale and reasoning or explanations may come across to others as somewhat “peculiar”. Like this particular thought.

THOUGHT: Suppose global warming is actually global returning?

Follow my thought process (if you can).

According to the Bible, when the earth was first created, Adam and Eve used to walk around in their birthday suits. Naked! The reason they were given clothes didn’t have anything to do with a change in the weather.  Also, Noah preaching about a coming flood was disregarded by the masses because … Why?  Because it had never rained before! Water had never come down from the sky! It would take faith to believe such a thing could happen.

So if, in the beginning, man and woman were able to walk around au naturel, that must mean that the weather was terrific! All the time! Everywhere on planet earth!!

Today it like 79 degrees in Austin, Texas but the day is over.  Earlier this morning it felt a little chilly. Yesterday the heat from the sun was beating me down!

• Maybe global warming is not disastrous.
• Maybe it’s a good thing.
• Maybe … ? Our weather is just going back to the way it was in the beginning.
• Maybe … global warming is actually global returning.  (O.o)

JAOOMPT! Just another one of my peculiar thoughts.

glitter-graphics.com

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands