Update Season VI - "A New Day Dawning"

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'm surprised Bushie hasn't made an announcement that he will suspend his diet today out of respect for the victims of the Boston marathon bombing.

Diet? What diet?    I'm trying to cut down, but I am not going to call it a diet.  Diet is too depressing of a word.

Your BMI is higher than your life expectancy. You ought to be depressed.

Not necessarily.  I am trying to change that, but I don't let it get me down.  If I become depressed about it, I will become even more unmotivated and quit trying and am almost guaranteed to exit stage right early.  It's concerning, but it's not depressing.  Plus, I take the Apostle Paul's advice that he gave on two occasions, "For to live is Christ, but to die is gain" and "Absent from the body is present with the Lord."  Note that I'm not ready to go home yet, but if the Lord calls me home for whatever reason, I won't hesitate (not that I'll have a choice.)

[Joe Biden 2020]

What a morbid way to think

It's not meant to be a morbid way of thinking, rather knowing that this life is not all there is.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Plus, I take the Apostle Paul's advice that he gave on two occasions, "For to live is Christ, but to die is gain" and "Absent from the body is present with the Lord."  Note that I'm not ready to go home yet, but if the Lord calls me home for whatever reason, I won't hesitate (not that I'll have a choice.)

You left out the part about the 70 virgins.

As a Christian, I don't believe there will be 70 virgins waiting on me.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'm surprised Bushie hasn't made an announcement that he will suspend his diet today out of respect for the victims of the Boston marathon bombing.

Diet? What diet?    I'm trying to cut down, but I am not going to call it a diet.  Diet is too depressing of a word.

Your BMI is higher than your life expectancy. You ought to be depressed.

Not necessarily.  I am trying to change that, but I don't let it get me down.  If I become depressed about it, I will become even more unmotivated and quit trying and am almost guaranteed to exit stage right early.  It's concerning, but it's not depressing.  Plus, I take the Apostle Paul's advice that he gave on two occasions, "For to live is Christ, but to die is gain" and "Absent from the body is present with the Lord."  Note that I'm not ready to go home yet, but if the Lord calls me home for whatever reason, I won't hesitate (not that I'll have a choice.)

You're twisting Paul's words.  It doesn't mean you shouldn't take care of yourself.  By your logic, suicide would be a good thing.

I never said you should purposefully hasten it, and yes, self control is one of the fruits of the spirit defined in Galatians 5:22-23.  I'm just saying if and when I am called home, it's time to go home.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Nobody is here forever. I wouldn't dwell too much on a statistical average. I would urge you to make the most of your time and to try to live a healthier life.

Absolutely.  That's what I intend to do.  I will not be perfect at it and there will be days that I slip up, some intentionally, some unintentionally.  The main thing I can do is try.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Nobody is here forever. I wouldn't dwell too much on a statistical average. I would urge you to make the most of your time and to try to live a healthier life.

Absolutely.  That's what I intend to do.  I will not be perfect at it and there will be days that I slip up, some intentionally, some unintentionally.  The main thing I can do is try.

So do it!  Start exercising and eating less.

I've already started doing the latter, still have yet to get started on the former.

[Joe Biden 2020]

The Compass Test this afternoon was the beginning of a new change, a new direction, a new career in my life! No more call centers, no more dead end trap jobs, I'm going for a brand new career. Today was also the beginning of another phase of my preparation for The Republic of Kenya!

[Joe Biden 2020]

Why is Bushie a Republican now?

I align more with the Massachusetts Republicans than I do the Democrats.  I'm still a Democrat in Oklahoma and after a few days, I will change my avatar back to D-Oklahoma.

lol. Really Bushie?

In case you haven't noticed, I'm not a liberal Democrat.  I have some liberal views, but for the most part, I am a conservative to moderate Democrat.  MA Dems are far too liberal for my taste, just like OK Reps are far too conservative for my taste.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Nobody is here forever. I wouldn't dwell too much on a statistical average. I would urge you to make the most of your time and to try to live a healthier life.

Absolutely.  That's what I intend to do.  I will not be perfect at it and there will be days that I slip up, some intentionally, some unintentionally.  The main thing I can do is try.

So do it!  Start exercising and eating less.

I've already started doing the latter, still have yet to get started on the former.

Did you walk today?

Just a little around campus in the 30 minutes that I was waiting for the counselor to get back from lunch.  I didn't have my phone with me as they weren't allowed in the testing room.

[Joe Biden 2020]

You need to get some good music and you won't be able to help not wanting to run or dance, pal. That's where your real problem lies!

Who do you think you are? BRTD?

[Joe Biden 2020]

You need to get some good music and you won't be able to help not wanting to run or dance, pal. That's where your real problem lies!

Who do you think you are? BRTD?

I am not advocating you listen to that filth/shouting he calls music. Don't worry.

Ha

[Joe Biden 2020]

I just got confirmation that our travel agent is working on the tickets to Kenya as we speak.  We should have them in the next few days either this week or early next week at the latest.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Nobody is here forever. I wouldn't dwell too much on a statistical average. I would urge you to make the most of your time and to try to live a healthier life.

Absolutely.  That's what I intend to do.  I will not be perfect at it and there will be days that I slip up, some intentionally, some unintentionally.  The main thing I can do is try.

So do it!  Start exercising and eating less.

I've already started doing the latter, still have yet to get started on the former.

Did you walk today?

Just a little around campus in the 30 minutes that I was waiting for the counselor to get back from lunch.  I didn't have my phone with me as they weren't allowed in the testing room.

So why didn't you do any other walking?

I got caught up, as most Americans, in the coverage of the Boston Bombings.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Why is Bushie a Republican now?

I align more with the Massachusetts Republicans than I do the Democrats.  I'm still a Democrat in Oklahoma and after a few days, I will change my avatar back to D-Oklahoma.

lol. Really Bushie?

In case you haven't noticed, I'm not a liberal Democrat.  I have some liberal views, but for the most part, I am a conservative to moderate Democrat.  MA Dems are far too liberal for my taste, just like OK Reps are far too conservative for my taste.

So you're playing petty politics with something that's supposedly a tribute to people who've died or been maimed, got it.

No, that's not my intention at all.

[Joe Biden 2020]

It looks like our most probable airports this time will either be OKC to Chicago to Brussels to Rwanda to Nairobi; OKC to Chicago to Qatar to Nairobi; OKC to Houston to Washington to Brussels to Rwanda to Nairobi; OKC to Newark to Brussels to Rwanda to Nairobi; or Oklahoma City to Newark to Zurich to Nairobi.

[Joe Biden 2020]

The weird part is, there is talk of going on June 21 instead of June 20. Doing that would go from OKC to Chicago to Brussels to Rwanda to Nairobi, but with a 23 hour layover in Chicago and a 22 1/2 layover in Brussels for a 63 1/2 hour trip!! Very likely not going to happen.

If we left on June 19, we'd still be looking at a 21 1/2 hour layover in Chicago and shorter layovers in Brussels and Rwanda for a 46 hour trip...

We don't want to be spending all our time in the airports!!!

[Joe Biden 2020]

I've got a feeling though that the travel agent will steer us around Rwanda if at all possible.

[Joe Biden 2020]

There's an image of a cat that I'd normally post after reading something like that, but the rules on profanity prohibit me from doing so...

Is it Tard the Grumpy Cat, or another feline?

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'm still not clear on what Bushie plans to do in Africa. As far as I can tell he doesn't have particular skill that will be helpful to the Africans. I like the idea of helping people, but I don't see how him flying all the way around the world does anything. Also, he's going in the summer? That should be hilarious without a/c.

Remember, while we have summer, Kisumu has winter.  My Kenya coordinator who is a native said its quite a bit cooler and rainier in June than in March (the beginning of their Autumn), so it should be better than it was last March.  Last March it was consistently 90 degrees during the day, bright sunshine, very humid because of Lake Victoria and being just 10 minutes south of the Equator.

This summer (winter), I will be going down there to just minister to the children and the orphans and love on them.  I am going to school this fall to develop skills and a trade that would be useful in both America and Kenya and that being architecture.  I would just have to learn Kenyan building codes.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'm still not clear on what Bushie plans to do in Africa. As far as I can tell he doesn't have particular skill that will be helpful to the Africans. I like the idea of helping people, but I don't see how him flying all the way around the world does anything. Also, he's going in the summer? That should be hilarious without a/c.

He's going down there to "plant churches".

Correct, my main mission is to plant churches, but to support myself financially, I will be going into architecture.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I will be going down there to just minister to the children and the orphans and love on them.  I am going to school this fall to develop skills and a trade that would be useful in both America and Kenya and that being architecture.  I would just have to learn Kenyan building codes.

There's no shortage of manpower there, Bushie, just white-folks cash.  I honestly believe you'd be doing them a much bigger favor to go pursue money somewhere else (say Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan - both have highly paid 'teaching' positions), and send money to Kenya.  It would probably just get stolen mostly, but at least it has some potential to be of use, unlike your good self.

This is unfortunately true. There are Kenyans who have been trained in architecture and who know the community and needs there who are likely unemployed in their fields because of lack of capital or investment. Africa is a net exporter of human capital in the form of educated people seeking better opportunities elsewhere, like doctors and nurses trained in English-speaking countries who then travel to the UK or Canada to work.

Kenya doesn't need Americans to provide the work they can provide. Kenyans need the resources to do it themselves, or the education to gain those skills.

It doesn't mean I should stay home.  I am called by God to minister to the people of Kenya and East Africa and it would be wrong to ignore that calling acting like I know more than He does.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'm not saying He endorses my decision.  Quite the contrary, I've signed on to His decision.  If it were my decision, I would be staying home and trying to work.  Since God is in charge, not me, I have to do what He tells me.  It makes even more sense to follow His direction since He bought me with a price, the price of His only Son's blood.  There is no greater love than laying down one's life for his friends and even enemies.  Since He bought me with His blood, I have no choice but to obey Him.

This makes no sense to non-Christians, I get that, and it is foolishness to non-Christians, but it doesn't make it any less true.

I will admit I'm not the best at following God's commands and listening to His teaching or even recognizing His calls.  However, I do know without a shadow of a doubt that this calling to move to Kenya is from Him, not from myself.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'm not saying He endorses my decision.  Quite the contrary, I've signed on to His decision.  If it were my decision, I would be staying home and trying to work.  Since God is in charge, not me, I have to do what He tells me.  It makes even more sense to follow His direction since He bought me with a price, the price of His only Son's blood.  There is no greater love than laying down one's life for his friends and even enemies.  Since He bought me with His blood, I have no choice but to obey Him.

This makes no sense to non-Christians, I get that, and it is foolishness to non-Christians, but it doesn't make it any less true.

I will admit I'm not the best at following God's commands and listening to His teaching or even recognizing His calls.  However, I do know without a shadow of a doubt that this calling to move to Kenya is from Him, not from myself.

I highly doubt that this is truly his will.  I think it's your will, and you're using God as an excuse to pursue it so much.

You are free to be wrong.  I know what I experienced 13 months ago and it is unmistakable.  I've asked God several times that if this is not His will that He would take the desire away.  He has not taken away the desire and in fact the desires have only grown.

Do you not think I could be called to foreign missions?  People are called all the time.  It's not like I'm the first one to ever be called.

I could well be wrong, myself, but based on everything that has happened the past 13+ months, I seriously doubt it.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I am not going to respond to posts that are trying to get me to doubt what I have been called to and are designed to get me to stay home.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I will be going down there to just minister to the children and the orphans and love on them.

Can you elaborate on the above without being too graphic?

Please tell me you've heard of the term "love on somebody."  It doesn't mean anything graphic, it means tending to their needs physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally.