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April 8 – …And I Did Some Writing, Too

rockyfort

Today was Sunday. All day. I got my devotional written before we left because I needed to attend the first service if I was going to worship. Then, I had parking lot duty. We have men who take turns being on the parking lot as a presence to deter bad people from thinking cars in the lot are easy targets. I get a lot of good exercise on those days. After that, I counted money as part of the finance committee. And, as Sundays go, I came home, ate lunch and then left almost immediately to go to the nursing home for the Bible Study. Then, came home for a partial time of relaxation, in time to get ready to head back to the church for our Financial Peace University Class. I’m excited to have co-coordinators working with me…they’re good as they showed tonight! Then it was home to cook dinner, clean dishes, and try to write. I was trying to write the devotional for the day I was missing, but had a lot of distractions. I still have a bit more to write tomorrow. I’m hoping to finish that early, and then begin editing the April part of the book. I really want to get caught up on the editing so I can have the devotional books through the end of June out in order!

Today’s Devotional (513 Words) – April 8 – The Weapon of Hatred 

With this full of a day, no other reading (other than the Bible)

Daily Work

April 7 – Scattered Priorities

rockyfort

Today was a day I touched on all the different areas that are important to me…well…except for one or two…. I began the day by working at a food pantry. I left the house before I did my devotional, so today’s devotional was late getting posted. At the food pantry I either help prepare bags of breakfast meat or do that and lead a devotional today. Today, someone from the church that does the pantry led it. I prefer that because it comes closer to where the people are. The cold (yes, I said the cold in South Texas in April) may have kept our numbers down lower than normal. I got home and worked through my devotional. Sometimes I struggle, like today, because the “through the Bible” program I’m using this year doesn’t jump around…so I’m getting all the gospels at the beginning of the year. I feel like I’m reading and writing about what I wrote about last month. In the middle of today’s writing, it was off to get coffee for my wife. I didn’t get it after the food pantry like I normally do because the local convenience stores were selling commemorative Selena cups. I couldn’t find a parking place, let alone imagine standing in line for that long for coffee!

Lunch today was targeted buying. A local 12-Step group with a strong Christian emphasis had a barbecue to raise funds. I’ve had many friends and family members who were friends of Bill W, and I appreciate this particular organization also. We ate barbecue for lunch! Then, it was off to our writers’ meeting – the first Saturday of the month. The only other person there today was the other leader. We talked for a while, then broke things up early. He always teaches me something when we talk! Then it was time to come home, and I tried to write, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open…so a quick nap. Errands, supper, and finally some editing happened after the nap. While editing, I realized that I had skipped a day of my devotionals. So, to finish that month off, I need to write a new one. Ah, this is the life!

Today’s devotional (543 Words) – April 7 – Let It Go….Let It Go (Yes, I did go there!)

Reading today – with everything else going on – it didn’t happen.

Daily Work

April 6 – Everybody Wants to Be a Superstar….

rockyfort

Today’s New Testament reading included a scene where Herod’s wondering who Jesus was. I focused on that, but also remembered that one of the networks had done a special presentation of “Jesus Christ Superstar” on Sunday night. Alice Cooper played Herod and did a great job….I saw just the clip of his performance first, it was research of course, and then, after finishing the devotional, I watched the whole presentation. The scenes with the betrayal, arrest, and then the denial were powerful. While officially set in ancient Jerusalem, there was a modern feeling to it and the arrest scene dealt with that. I caught something I hadn’t caught before. Judas is hassling Jesus about hanging around with Mary Magdalene because of her alleged status as a prostitute. Later, Caiaphas was talking to Judas about the silver he got for betraying Jesus. My paraphrase is “30 pieces of silver ain’t bad wages for one little kiss.” Yeah, let that sink in. By the way, Alice Cooper is a Christian, just in case you didn’t realize that. Superstar has one major weakness in the writing in that they leave out the resurrection. Some productions try to find ways to bring it in, but it’s hard to maintain that flow when it’s not in the script.

I had a few other errands to run today so my editing didn’t start until later in the day. My goal is to edit at least six days worth of devotionals every day to get caught up and on time. I barely finished my goal before midnight this night. I had to do a lot of reformulating and re-writing on some of the devotionals – not sure if that means I’m getting pickier as I edit, or if my writing was that incoherent on those days. I hope I improved things.

Today’s Devotional of 567 words – April 6 – “I’m Dying To Be Shown That You Are Not Just Any Man”

Reading didn’t happen today with everything else going on.

Daily Work

April 5 – Stayin’ Alive

rockyfort

Getting through today was an accomplishment. Some days the devotional thoughts seem to type themselves. Today was a struggle. I finally thought of something my wife said and had an idea to begin working with. A few Sundays ago, my wife had to miss church to travel to a conference. I wished her safe travels. She came back and wished me dangerous worship. I loved that idea. That thought came to mind as I was reading the Bible passage for about the fifth time seeking inspiration. Then, I had to hurry so I could get to my tutoring assignment on time. I started off running about 5 minutes late and ended up running about 15 minutes late. Came home for a touch of lunch about 3:00 (Tutoring runs across comfortable lunch hour.) Then, I sat down to plan meals for the rest of the week. I couldn’t think of anything. I stared at the computer. I finally gave up and played more Splatoon (see last night’s post). The title of this post is from a joke that my daughter and I share when she’s playing one of the scenarios. After a certain time, the most important part is staying alive. When she gets to that point, I tell her she needs to Bee Gee it. (If you’re a bit young, they have a song entitled “Stayin’ Alive.”) After dinner, which we ate out, we came home and I did my editing and then started writing this. I’m going back to editing my March and April Devotional book which got skipped due to technical difficulties around the time I needed to get it done.

Today’s Devotional (567 Words) – April 5 – Dangerous Worship Leads to Living Dangerously

Reading: Non-Fiction tonight – God Dreams – continuing.

Daily Work

April 4 – Finished

rockyfort

I got my devotional finished fairly early today – 514 words. I got some walking in early. Today was cold for April in South Texas…lower 60’s and wind…it’s a wet cold. Then, I mixed editing time and housework and finished the final 6 days worth of the May/June devotional book. I’m going to let it sit a day while I work on some other editing projects, then format it for paperback and eBook status. I got official news that my short story has been accepted for the local author anthology….a very patient editor/publisher. When I finished the editing….I took care of the dog. (Which is our way of saying, I didn’t do anything.) I did begin the process of learning to play Splatoon 2. I am not a gamer….just sayin’. My daughter enjoys laughing at me. Church tonight touched on one of the devotionals I had edited earlier today – different Scripture passage, but the same idea. Overall, it’s been a good day.

Today’s devotional: April 4 – Understanding Begins With God

Fiction reading today: Someday I’ll be Redeemed: Chronicles of Lorrek by Kelly Blanchard. Fantasy is not my preferred genre, but I’m enjoying this book.