Easter Sunday

Today is Easter Sunday. It is one of two Christian holidays that many people go to church, even if they don't the rest of the year. Unfortunately, the true meaning for the celebration has become hidden in other activities.

For much of my life, Easter egg hunts and egg laying rabbits have been associated with Easter. It may be fun to watch kids run around and gather eggs in someone's house or lawn, but it has nothing to do with the holiday. Sadly, even the "church" has forgotten what we celebrate.

After three years of ministering, Jesus was betrayed by one of His disciples and arrested by the Jewish council. In an illegal trial, He was determined to be guilty of blasphemy in claiming Himself as God. Jesus had very clearly demonstrated He was the predicted Messiah to come and was God in flesh. However, He wasn't what the leaders wanted and was turned over to Pontius Pilate.

Pilate found no guilt in Jesus, nothing deserving of death, but he give in to the mob's demand and had Jesus crucified. He died on what's known as Good Friday, and rose again on Easter Sunday.

Studying the Old Testament, it clearly predicted Jesus' life, sacrifice, and resurrection. Jesus was the only good, or perfect, person that has ever lived. His death on the cross paid the debt for sin that no other person ever could. Now, all who repent from sin (lying, theft, hatred, lust, blasphemy, etc.) and trust in Jesus alone for salvation, not our works, will be saved. That is the clear message this world needs and should have been preached from every pulpit this Resurrection Sunday.

Unfortunately, Steven Furtick from Elevation Church, has been recorded as saying he will say nothing of the resurrection or Christ's blood shed for our sins. This has long been a group of people that call themselves a church, but isn't the case at all. Others include Bethel and Hillsong, groups that only teach a feel-good message and not from Scripture.

As you go through this day, be sure to remember why we celebrate and be sure to come to Christ for forgiveness while possible. This week, six people died in a bridge collapse just while doing their regular job. We never know when our time to leave this life will come, and we can't afford to wait or change the message.

Entertaining Week

Most of the time, I am content to entertain myself by watching videos online, reading, or playing a simulator of some sort. This week, I ventured out to other sources of entertainment.

Several years ago, a movie came out called "Genesis: Paradise Lost." It used computer generated content to depict creation week and had several interviews with creation scientists that covered scientific evidence as well as theological concerns. As a follow-up, the next movie is called "The Ark and the Darkness." It was in select theaters on March 20 and 21, I got tickets for the 21st.

My regular day-time caregiver was also interested in going, so she agreed to stay for the evening. At 4:20, when we're usually wrapping up for the day, we pulled out of the driveway and went to Des Moines. It has been years since I have been in a movie theater and, after finding supper, we were in our seats before 7:00.

Wheelchair spots haven't changed, I was still in the third row from the front. However, all the other chairs were leather recliners with elevating legs. It looked pretty comfortable as nearly every seat filled and the movie began. Sitting for the next two hours, it was fun seeing the big screen, but I froze in the cold theater, even with my coat over me.

It wasn't quite what I expected, but it was still good. The CGI was well utilized to depict possible life before the flood as well as some of the flood and ark. Dispersed amongst everything was again extensive discussion on scientific evidence for the global flood. It then transitioned into prophecy in the New Testament that used the flood as an example for future judgment. We were back home again by 10:30 and I was ready to get back in bed and warm-up under the blankets.

Last night, my parents and I went to a local high school play, "To Kill a Mockingbird." The classic book has been placed on the "do not read" shelf by some political groups as being racist. However, it's good to see the students, and our friend's son, depict the story on stage.

This week looks to be another busy one in the quad life with teaching and medical testing. Hopefully all goes well and I look forward to working with more kids.

Vacation Week

I have said before, I am primarily a home body. I am perfectly content to stay around the house or go to attractions and events nearby that don't require much travel. I do enjoy seeing new areas, but hotels are hard for me to use and managing caregivers while away is challenging. Therefore, I haven't been anywhere overnight since my last year at CHAMP Camp in 2019. My parents, however, do like going out on excursions.

This past week was spring break for many schools in the area. My college intern caregiver, Brenda, wasn't planning to do anything during break and volunteered to stay with me in the evenings if my parents wanted to get out. It may have taken 2-3 seconds for them to happily say yes, so my parents went out during spring break.

They left early Tuesday morning, before I got up, and returned Saturday afternoon less than 30 minutes before Brenda was scheduled to leave. That meant Brenda worked four evenings in a row as well as the regular ten-hour shift. This allowed me to have 24-hour care without my parents for over four-and-a-half days.

It has been a busy time for me in various projects, which means I didn't do much out of the ordinary. However, it did allow me to bike five days in a row and be on "my own" again. Mom and I planned meals before she left so that Brenda and I mainly just needed to thaw frozen meat a few times and put together whatever was planned. Just the two of us didn't eat much, which made for plenty of leftover choices for Saturday night.

Brenda will be graduating soon and plans to return to her home in Arizona to continue her education. Therefore, these extended times of freedom will soon be gone again. I'm thankful for the time we do get and the relaxation it gives to everyone.

It looks like another busy week ahead which started by preaching this morning. The quad life continues through every day and I'm thankful for the blessings God has given.

What to Watch?

As I've grown in knowledge of God's Word, I pay closer attention to what I do and what I watch. Therefore, when I am flat and watching YouTube, I prioritize Christian teaching and apologetics. That doesn't mean I completely cut out items just for entertainment, but I don't make it the majority. This week has been a conundrum on what to watch and where to prioritize time.

First, Answers in Genesis has been having a conference in Australia called Living in Babylon. It is unique in that it is a four-day conference, but each day is in a different city. Each session is streamed live on YouTube for anyone to view, if you have the link. Watching the website as links change, I have three of the four sessions in my watch list, each four-hour session.

Second, Dr. John Macarthur's church, Grace Community Church in California, first had a conference for their international training followed by the Shepherd's Conference. As you may have guessed, these have also been streamed live on YouTube. The conference is for pastors and had an in-person audience of 5000 men from all over the US and several other countries.

Both sources are excellent for theological learning and preparing for preaching and evangelism in modern times. I have been rapidly building my watch list, but some of the teachings only stay available for a day. Therefore, I try to watch what I can while it's still listed. Between the two conferences, they have around 45 hours of viewing time.

Attending a pastor's or apologetics conference would be a great opportunity. Unfortunately, living the quad life makes it very challenging. I'm very thankful I can at least watch the same teaching that's available in person, but just not all at once.

Tonight, I am scheduled to preach at a local church, my first sermon since October. During that service, I had trouble remembering words and part of my message. It was only ten days after surgery, but I still have difficulty thinking clearly when speaking sometimes. I pray it goes well, but that will be next week's topic.

Picture Phone

In 2020, I did a challenge to include a picture with every post of the year. Looking back, I had fun with the project and thought I would try it again this year. As 2020 started, I didn't know how strange a year it would be and one we wouldn't forget. Hopefully this new challenge won't repeat the past, but time will tell. This week was one of small trial, but it isn't over yet.

Several years ago, I heard about a program through Medicaid called Safelink. If someone received Medicaid or SSI, they could get a cell phone and plan for free. I like the idea of free, and thought a phone could be useful, so I signed up. It was a very limited plan, allowing only 60 minutes of use per month, but it worked fine for my needs. Most months, I got in trouble for not using a single minute or text and had to remember to use it.

Every year or so, I would get an email asking to confirm my eligibility. I went through the hoops and everything went well. I even got a few phone upgrades over the years and now have a basic smart phone. Since more people were using phones in 2020, the monthly limits were increased and renewals were also put on hold. In the four years since, I still didn't get my regular renewal messages. However, I must have missed something.

Using a mouth stick means touch devices, such as smart phones, don't work for me. Therefore, I still use my phone very little. The only use it gets is for entertainment while biking (via caregiver's hands) and verifying codes on some accounts. This is when I noticed a problem.

A few weeks ago, I needed to verify with Amazon I live in the US so I can receive book royalties. In signing into my account, I chose to send a code to my phone. It never came, and further investigation found my service had ended on February 17. I didn't receive any letters or emails, it just stopped.

Web work has been very busy, along with other projects, and I didn't have much time to work on the problem. However, Friday afternoon, I went through several automated loops to try to see what happened and how to restore service. Getting something for free doesn't come with great customer service, but I finally found an actual human that mainly spoke English.

At some point, my service provider changed to another company. I found their online forms, submitted my information and even a copy of my Medicaid card. However, that still hasn't reactivated my account or been accepted as proof. Now, I hope I can get my number back and be able to access accounts again. Time will tell if that will happen or not.

Living the quad life has fun times, and this seems to be the current one. I'm thankful such programs exist, otherwise I would not bother to have a phone. Hopefully this week will resolve it and I'll be back to other tasks.