Its a Long Road

 

In my earliest years I attended protestant churches. In the mid 1950s the church I was attending had a former government agent who performed an alter call. I answered and was baptized in the Spirit. My life has not been the same since. On the way home one day I had a voice say to me you will join the Catholic church. My reaction was surprise and tucked the thought away then I dismissed it. In the late 60's I had come home from work and was going to bed. As I lay there I had the feeling I was not alone. Someone besides my wife was in the room with me. I sat up in bed and there next to the bed was a figure, all in black, no features visible. I asked what it wanted. It said nothing but pointed at me. I laid back and closed my eyes in fear. Almost immediately I heard, saw and felt the loud words in brilliant  letters, glowing like nothing I have ever experienced, "DO YOU BELIEVE" I answered involuntarily "I BELIEVE". All this in brilliant, luminous marque like visible light. All of this never disturbed my dear wife sleeping next to me. After that, what was gibberish ran through my mind and was spoken. I was confused so I told my mother about what had happened. She gave several suppressed "Praise the Lords". Turns out she was part of the Charismatic movement and had been praying for me to be baptized. Shortly after that I joined the Catholic church. Imagine that! In the years that followed I quit a heavy smoking habit, Dropped a  borderline alcoholic habit, cleaned up a nasty explosive temper and cursing habit among other things. That does not make me perfect. Far from it! If anything it has left me vulnerable. If you think this is all made up, I assure you it isn't. There is far more to this life than most people are willing to share. This is a tiny bit of what being a Christian means. Much of it is not fun and games but some of it is praise worthy in the end. There are tears, both of joy and sorrow, loneliness, new friendships, broken friendships, persecution, sacrifices and any other experience you could name. I have been sharing the quest to know the loving God that loves and blesses me so completely, without compromise. I pray you get to know Him in a very personal way. Next week I will try to continue sharing what he has shown me and means to me.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love the Details".

Card Making

The next 2 cards are both 3d. Both are blank on the inside to allow for special greeting and wishes.

 There are 5 layers to the first card. The bush and stone patio are the base. The dog, and the general room are all one layer. The coat, cane and table are another layer. 

the tray, table napkin and news paper are the fourth layer. The plate and food are the last layer. All are raised up on thin sticky dots to give that 3d effect. I used a black peel and stick border. The red side panel is stash paper that is used to cover the blank white space. Unfortunately photos do not really show the dimensional effect. Of course the back is labeled.

This card opens up and down awning style. The inside is completely blank. It can be used however it is needed.

The next card is also 3d. 

This image already had a frame around it so did not need any embellishment. The back window with the outside view was the base. The room was the first raised layer. The side table and book/magazine rack was another layer. The chair, lamp and rug are a layer. The pillows on the chair are a layer. The dog sleeping on the rug is the last layer. This is a Christmas card but the plaid of the background makes the Merry Christmas hard to see. I used gold peel and stick to border the the card and give it interest. Of course the back is signed hard to read.

I apologize for not giving more information on the process of making the card. These cards are more jigsaw puzzle than actual craft cards. 

Thank you for at least giving these cards a look. 

May the good Lord bless you and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details".

Bible Versions

There is a dizzying number of translations for the bible. There are currently 900 English translations available ranging from word-for word to dynamic thought-for-thought versions. The number of languages it has been translated into is more than 3,500. I use 20+ versions as cross references in my studies. Why bother? The variability is interesting and provides a baseline to consider. Combine this with the experience of having attended many different churches gives a better understanding of what the beliefs of those institutions are.

This is a very short post this week. We have had many disruptions for health and other reasons. I will try to post something more in line with what this blog is all about, The Lord.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Card Making

 Today I am sharing two more cards. This was the second card created in this run. The lettering appears a bit tilted due to the card being slightly open.

The sentiment was stamped in blue ink . The wreath and ribbon bow were stamped and colored with Copics. The stamped image was actually a double stamped image so it gives the impression of seeing a blurred image.

The sentiment on the inside of the card was also stamped with blue ink. The corner decorations are "peal and stick" to give added interest.

The back of the card was personalized to indicate I was the creator of the card. I have done this with most of the cards created by me. Jill keeps asking me how many cards I made. 

This card is dimensional card. The background is a blue cardstock stamped with a dear and colored black with Copics. The tree trunks were fussy cut with an exacto knife. They were then attached to the background base with dimensional foam dots to give the 3d effect. The tree tops were also cut with an exacto knife and attached to the top of the tree line with the dimensional dots. The base of the card front was a problem because details were showing that should have been hidden. A second strip of the light green cardstock was cut and glued to the base and that was glued to the base to form the forest floor. The Chinses proverb was something left over from one of Jill's projects. The white die-cut pieces Were used to bracket the proverb.

The sentiment on the inside is from a sheet of clear acrylic with sentiments from an unknown source and glued inside the card.

The tag on the back.

This was not the best of the cards but I am sharing it anyway. It presented and myriad of problems to solve. I hope you like what was done.

Until next week, may the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Eternity

 Note: I have opened this site to anyone, blog owner or not, to be able to comment. Responsible, civil comments are accepted. I am sharing what I find to personally bring the scriptures alive and clarify my life experiences.  

In my studies there have been many surprises. I have been trying to see what the original texts say and what the words meant in that era to the people reading them. Sometimes it is a large difference from how we read the text today. One of the biggest surprises was the interpretation of words used in the original texts of scripture. [OLAM - meaning 'an age' or 'agelong'] There are other words that only appear a few times that I will not cover at this time. It turns out that the original meaning as understood by the authors was not a forever thing, eternal, but for a finite period of time. The ancients did not recognize infinity when creating the old or new testament. Instead they wrote in terms of periods of time, not always described in specific years or periods but indeterminate spans of finite time. This poses many problems such as the existence of eternal damnation. There are disagreements among different churches when it comes to this view of the scriptures. Since God created man to be subject to the imperfect world he lives in, why would he be judged as if he were immortal. Scriptures say God wants to forgive and welcome all into the family He created. The prodigal son comes to mind.(Luke 15:11-32) The father welcomed the prodigal son with tears and open arms. The son who stayed behind and did the fathers will was indignant of the father welcoming his son back home with a celebration is very much an example of the world today. If mankind is so lost why send Jesus Christ to be and example of the forgiveness of our father in heaven? The lack of eternal punishment in the old and new testament means that redemption is the way God our loving father is planning for His children to join Him. In the vision of Mary mother of Christ, when asked who will be saved she answered "Everyone." For years I have struggled with interpretations and teachings. I am now more convinced than ever that our God is a loving, forgiving father not a hateful, vengeful father bent on punishing his creation for faults that are a result of the world He created. It is apparent the suffering we go through in this world is redemptive and not a preemptive process to eternal hell fire. I welcome the troubles and tests of this life so that the next life will be with our father in heaven.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Card making

 Before I show any cards I would like to show my work area. It is somewhat organized but mostly a mess. There are years of collecting "stuff" to make cards within this mess. Jill has even more that she keeps adding to the piles. That said, here is the work area.

When I create cards I have no idea for the most part where everything comes from. It is a jumble of everything from images to sentiments to who knows what.

Now to the cards I want to share.

This is a step card. It does not have an inside to write a note. It folds flat and stands up like a easel when unfolded. The image is part of the jumble of images on the table. The sentiment, and side decorations are "peel and stick". The background is from our stash of unused paper.

This next card is the most recent creation.

The image was one the wife cut out but never used. The green border is a die cut made from scrap paper. The floral frame is a die cut from stash paper. It was also used on the inside to add interest. The corners outside and inside are "peel and stick". [note: these peel and sticks are no longer available. The Covid crisis helped to put these companies and many others out of business. Luckily we have a fair stock of them.]

That will do it for now. I will post more next week. I have more than sixty cards created so far. May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."