May 22, 2016

All for One

By Joe

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23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 3:23-29

When Jesus came to this earth he brought with him a new covenant. It was a covenant of more than just tolerance but of love, hope, peace, and unity. Nope where is that more parent and in the third chapter of Galatians. In this chapter Paul is talking about the division among the Galatian Christians. Some believe in circumcision and others do not, but there’s a stronger message year for us.

In Galatians 3:28, Paul says, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all you are one in Christ Jesus.” In my mind, we can extend this further there is no block of white there is no straight or gay and there is only those who believe in a the goodness of mankind and those who don’t.

If we believe in the goodness of mankind and then there is no division among us. We are all one. That oneness brings us all together. We are blessed Jesus does not see division. He only sees the love of mankind. He wants us to see the same thing: the goodness in others in the goodness in ourselves.

Once we quit seeing divisions in mankind, we will know the true meaning of the spirit of Jesus. We will know hope. We will know peace. We will know love. And we will know unity.

Leave a comment | posted in Religion

May 21, 2016

Moment of Zen: Spring 

By Joe


Spring does not come early in Vermont, but it seems to have finally arrived. Trees are finally starting to bud leaves and flowers can be seen growing.

Leave a comment | posted in Moment of Zen

May 20, 2016

The Three P’s

By Joe

Several people have sent me this video. They know that I have been dealing with grief since the passing of one of my closest friends. This was a message I needed to hear. I hope that if there are others who suffers from the loss of a loved one, then this message will help them too.

If this video doesn’t work, go to https://youtu.be/iqm-XEqpayc to see the video.

Leave a comment | posted in Miscellaneous

May 19, 2016

My Vermont Life

By Joe

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My life in Vermont is certainly not an exciting one. I love my apartment which is right in town: comfortable, spacious, and convenient to the post office and library. I’ve been to the library only once, preferring to read the books that I have first. Right now, I am reading Greg Herren’s The Orion Mask. If you are a long time reader of this blog, then you know that Greg Herren is one of my favorite authors.

My weekdays tend to consist of getting up, taking a shower and heading to my office. Usually, the first thing I do when I get to work is fix cup of coffee. When students are on campus and the campus eateries are open, I often eat at one of them for lunch. The staff tends to eat together which is nice; I never have liked eating alone.I guess that comes from my mama always cooking supper when I was growing up and we all sat down for meals together. How my mama worked a full time job and came home and cooked a full meal every night is beyond me. Most days when I get home from work, I cook a simple dinner for myself and usually watch Jeopardy. I rarely eat out, and almost never on weeknights. The only time I eat out is occasionally on the weekend, especially if I drive up to Burlington. One of my favorite local dishes, which is actually a Canadian dish, is called poutine. Poutine is French fries topped with cheese curds and smothered in gravy.  Everyone makes it differently, but with that set of ingredients, it’s hard to go wrong.

On Saturday, I do what shopping I need to get done, unless that shopping calls for Burlington, then I make trips to Burlington on Sundays. I don’t go to church every Sunday, but I do occasionally go. Just like eating out by myself, I am not a fan of going to church alone. Every other weekend or so, I take little road trips. One Saturday I drove down to see Dartmouth College. Another weekend I drove up to St. Albans. I am trying to explore more, but I’ll be honest, the roads in Vermont are a tad bit scary to me. Everywhere you go, you drive through mountains; sometimes there are even parts of the mountains sticking up in the median of the highway. I try to drive very carefully because accidents are common on these roads, but I do enjoy taking little road trips.

Work is going great. I have mentioned before that my predecessors had two very different ways of doing things. Some of their ways I have merged into mine, but mostly I established my own filing system and my own system of record keeping. If something were to happen to me, someone could easily step in and take my place. There should not be any problem knowing exactly where I am on different tasks because I keep up with everything on a workflow spreadsheet. It allows me to look up any interview and know exactly what needs to be done next. After my interview today, I will go in and update that system to reflect where I am currently.

So that is kind of an update on what life in Vermont is like. I miss my family, and I especially miss my cats, but after seven months, I’ve pretty well settled in. By the way, today marks my seventh month on the job. I’d say things are going well.

1 Comment | posted in Miscellaneous

May 18, 2016

Blogging

By Joe

Writing a blog each day is not an easy task, especially when you live a relatively boring life. I could talk about work, but quite frankly, yesterday was kind of boring and I left early. I actually had time I needed to take because I’d come in early on Monday to interview the general that I had scheduled and then I counted the tv show as work, because it was work related. By the way, the television show went really well, at least I think so, I haven’t seen it, nor do I plan to since it aired live. My interview with the general also went exceptionally well. After two and a half hours we’d only made it through Vietnam, so that interview will continue tomorrow. These are little snippets of excitement, if you can call it that, but mostly my life is rather mundane. 

I will keep blogging each day because I enjoy doing it and somehow, I always find something to say, even if it’s only a pretty picture. However, with this blog post, I think I have rambled along enough. I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

2 Comments | posted in Miscellaneous

May 17, 2016

Grief and Consolation 

By Joe
Grief
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 – 1861
I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless—
That only men incredulous of despair,
Half-taught in anguish, through the midnight air,
Beat upward to God’s throne in loud access
Of shrieking and reproach. Full desertness
In souls, as countries, lieth silent-bare
Under the blenching, vertical eye-glare
Of the absolute Heavens. Deep-hearted man, express
Grief for thy Dead in silence like to death;
Most like a monumental statue set
In everlasting watch and moveless woe,
Till itself crumble to the dust beneath!
Touch it! the marble eyelids are not wet—
If it could weep, it could arise and go.
Consolation
Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850 – 1894
Though he, that ever kind and true,
Kept stoutly step by step with you,
Your whole long, gusty lifetime through,
      Be gone a while before,
Be now a moment gone before,
Yet, doubt not, soon the seasons shall restore
      Your friend to you.
He has but turned the corner — still
He pushes on with right good will,
Through mire and marsh, by heugh and hill,
      That self-same arduous way —
That self-same upland, hopeful way,
That you and he through many a doubtful day
      Attempted still.
He is not dead, this friend — not dead,
But in the path we mortals tread
Got some few, trifling steps ahead
      And nearer to the end;
So that you too, once past the bend,
Shall meet again, as face to face, this friend
      You fancy dead.
Push gaily on, strong heart! The while
You travel forward mile by mile,
He loiters with a backward smile
      Till you can overtake,
And strains his eyes to search his wake,
Or whistling, as he sees you through the brake,
      Waits on a stile.

Leave a comment | posted in Poetry

May 15, 2016

The Unclouded Day

By Joe

THE UNCLOUDED DAY
Author: J. K. Alwood

O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,
O they tell me of a home far away;
O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day.

Refrain


O the land of cloudless day,
O the land of an unclouded day,
O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day.

O they tell me of a home where my friends have gone,
O they tell me of that land far away,
Where the tree of life in eternal bloom
Sheds its fragrance through the unclouded day.

Refrain

O they tell me of a King in His beauty there,
And they tell me that mine eyes shall behold
Where He sits on the throne that is whiter than snow,
In the city that is made of gold.

Refrain

O they tell me that He smiles on His children there,
And His smile drives their sorrows all away;
And they tell me that no tears ever come again
In that lovely land of unclouded day.

Refrain

This is one of my favorite hymns. I used to love leading this song when I was a song leader. As long as I got the “O” in the right key, then everyone would follow along. But I also love this song for its meaning in the hope that it provides.

In the first verse, the song tells us about a beautiful home where we all hope to be one day. It talks about a place where there are no clouds in the sky and there is only beautiful rays of sunshine that brightens our day. The second verse brings us even more hope. It’s a place where we can see our friends who have gone on before us and we can see family members who have going on before. It’s a place of eternal beauty and of eternal love.

The third and fourth verse talk about God and all the beauty that he beholds. It describes heaven as a place where God has a throne that is whiter than snow and the city is made of gold. It also talks about how our smiles will drive away all the sorrows of this life.

This song has two particular meanings for me. It means that there is hope that one day I will see those I’ve lost again. And as someone who lives with depression and anxiety, there will be a day when the clouds of those dreadful maladies are washed away forever. It’s a place where I’ll be free of headaches and can enjoy eternity with my Lord and Savior.

As we contemplate the days of spring in the unclouded days that outnumber the cloudy ones, we can take comfort that God’s beauty is all around us.

Leave a comment | posted in Music, Religion

May 14, 2016

Moment of Zen: Cuddling

By Joe


I had a fabulous time last night at the LGBTQA Community Celebration. It was great fun going out with friends, meeting some new people, and just being with people like me.

Leave a comment | posted in Uncategorized

May 13, 2016

Pride Celebration

By Joe


I’m looking forward to having a good time tonight. The Pride Center of Vermont is hosting their 18th Annual LGBTQA Community Celebration to honor those who have made exceptional contributions to the LGBTQA community of Vermont. Along with two friends of mine, I will be going tonight. They will have Inspired food stations with tantalizing culinary delights by Vermont’s best chefs. Amazing auction items so you can bid on an experience. I plan to have a fabulous evening surrounded by LGBTQA community. The celebration is being held at the Echo Aquarium in Burlington and should be pretty fun. If it’s not, then we will just go out drinking instead, lol.

I’ve never been to an event like this before, and I have only ever been to one Pride event and that was a pride parade in Paris ten or so years ago. Pride in Paris is great because if you’ve ever seen French men, they have the best asses I’ve ever seen. Italy has the biggest dicks; France as the best asses. Just my personal observations anyway. I got a little off subject there. While this will be nothing like Paris Pride, I do expect to have fun and at least meet some new people.

Leave a comment | posted in Pride

May 12, 2016

Italy Finally Approves Same-Sex Civil Unions 

By Joe


Italy’s parliament approved same-sex civil unions and expanded rights to unmarried heterosexual couples on Wednesday after Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called a confidence vote to force the bill into law.

Italy is the last major Western country to legally recognize gay couples and an original draft law had to be heavily diluted due to divisions in Renzi’s ruling majority. The bill had faced stiff opposition from Catholic groups who said it went too far, while gay activists said it was too timid While parliament was voting, gay rights groups gathered outside with a banner reading: “This is just the beginning.”

“Today is a day of celebration in which Italy has taken a step forwards,” Renzi said in a radio interview after the legislation was approved. The 41-year-old premier promised to prioritize legislation for gay rights when he took office in early 2014, but the bill has proven to be one of the most contested of a raft of initiatives he has pushed through parliament. The bill, originally presented in 2013, cleared its final real hurdle earlier on Wednesday with the confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies, which passed it by 369 votes to 193. The chamber then rubber-stamped the bill with a final ballot.

“There is still a long way to go for full equality but this is an excellent starting point,” said Gabriele Piazzoni, president of gay rights group Arcigay. The bill gives gay couples the right to share a surname, draw on their partner’s pension when they die and inherit each other’s assets in the same way as married people.

As a member of Arcigay (I got my membership when I was in Italy because many gay clubs require it), I am very happy that Italy has moved this far. The Catholic Church is a major force in Italy and has been a major opponent to gay rights. Italy still has more to do, but this is a step in the right direction.

Now is there a handsome Italian man who’d like to marry me and bring me to Italy? I’m a great cook. I’m smart, a good conversationalist (once you get me going), know a little Italian, and would make a wonderful house-husband for the right man. I spent a month in Italy doing research a few years ago and have always wanted to go back. I’ve always said that I’d love to live in Italy.

Leave a comment | posted in News