Good morning, et cetera, dear Reader, and welcome! This is the quietest part of the day, the wee hours before Dawn, as I sit here writing these words, the soft tapping-sound of typing and dull hum of a nearby refrigerator are the only detectable sounds right now. Today is like a full-circle day for me; Proverbs 17:3 is the first and so far only verse that I've ever had that rhema experience with, just months within my arrival at Fort Worth Teen Challenge more than thirty literal years ago; He told me then that He was about to send me through the fire; here's the verse, and it also happens to be from today's Proverb.
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| source page: https://authorterrigillespie.com/wisdoms-journey-proverbs-173/ |
So, taking a moment to isolate and ponder that single verse for a bit, it occurs to me that 'fire' may not be equivalent to 'easy circumstances' but is pointing more to submission to a purification process that literally burns out the worthless stuff. I've had that understanding since the words leapt out of the page at me on that cold January morning so long ago. In the intervening years, I've had all kinds of circumstances, from the easy to the very difficult including some that were even life-threatening, but He has been with me through it all, as I look back and can now see that it was especially during the darkest moments that He has, in fact, carried me Himself.
And, be encouraged, my dear Reader, because "God is not a respecter of persons" meaning that if He'll do that for me, then every single one of you can have that kind of forgiving, saving grace as well.
I sent the AI-assisted foundational requirements to my dear friend and mentor shortly after obtaining them yesterday; he responded from his personal email account, calling our foundational vision "solid" - which, from his wise, experienced soul is like the stamp of approval from Spiritual authority in my book. Since we do not yet have our Board to answer to, Larry is gladly and lovingly standing in the gap as that authority for this moment, as I pass these things through him to test the mettle and see if it's good and we can stand on it, or if it's bad and we need to regroup and rethink; so far, though, so good.
In order to get the AI to organize the concepts of our foundational truths, I articulated them myself to the AI program and the AI laid them out in a by-laws and declared code-of-ethics format; I appreciate the help with organizing of those challenging, though simple, concepts and will always freely share when and where I've used tools such as AI in the process of fleshing out my own concepts and ideas. So, no, although "AI is not king" there's no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater; I'm not afraid to use Google and am also, likewise, at least at this point, unafraid of AI as well (though I've learned the hard way to vet the results that AI provides, every time).
Additionally, I will gently offer that people who use AI themselves (for their avatars, in their kitchen appliances, in the AI enabled smart sunglasses given to loved ones as gifts) to probably not display obvious, naked hypocrisy by way of openly judging others for the precise and very same things that you're doing yourself; just sayin'. Nobody's perfect, but we also don't have to showcase our glaring hypocrisy from the mountaintops (or forum threads) either. 👍
Speaking of forums, today is supposed to be the day that zoka removes/deletes my massive, almost-15 year account on Fragrantica, the very last bit that will actualize my decision to lay that down in order to pick up what the Lord has placed before me, and I remain committed, by the grace of God. I love how He will never, ever ask us to do (a thing) without also giving us the grace that makes it possible. And, folks, maybe that's the 'big message' of this entire post.
Something funny that I noticed in the Word: there are many places where we (believers, really though humanity in general) are compared to sheep, and I believe - with God's eternal wit and sense of humor - that the comparison is far from accidental. Just look up "how intelligent are sheep?" and I think you'll see what I mean. They're not known for being over-brilliant or wise, let's just put it that way. And, the way God uses humor in Matthew to try and get us to see the vanity and uselessness of our own human hypocrisy, the comparison to sheep is intentional (and, further, it's funny! but, as always, only because it's true, and that applies to all of us because, no matter any of our supposed IQ, no human intellect can even hold a candle to the eternal, omniscient mind of God, and that fact alone should readily sober us from the temptation to be prideful in our minds, no matter how 'sharp' other people seem to think that we are or worse, how intelligent we think we are ourselves).
Something funny that I noticed in the Word: there are many places where we (believers, really though humanity in general) are compared to sheep, and I believe - with God's eternal wit and sense of humor - that the comparison is far from accidental. Just look up "how intelligent are sheep?" and I think you'll see what I mean. They're not known for being over-brilliant or wise, let's just put it that way. And, the way God uses humor in Matthew to try and get us to see the vanity and uselessness of our own human hypocrisy, the comparison to sheep is intentional (and, further, it's funny! but, as always, only because it's true, and that applies to all of us because, no matter any of our supposed IQ, no human intellect can even hold a candle to the eternal, omniscient mind of God, and that fact alone should readily sober us from the temptation to be prideful in our minds, no matter how 'sharp' other people seem to think that we are or worse, how intelligent we think we are ourselves).
Therefore, dear Reader, let's bring back this verse from yesterday's Proverb as our gentle reminder for today:
And, I'll leave you with this classic 90's Christian song, that continues to echo through my soul to this day, speaking of the dream of God's house and those we will have the honor of serving with love, honor, and dignity:
💘
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