Covid is being mean in Sharing 517!

[Backseat Radio]

Rode my bicycle to Praise Team practice last night. Got there a little earlier than some of the others so I could get the ProPresenter and projectors running. Our alto got there, looked at me, and asked "where's your car?"

[MsJennJenn]

Cornbread is supposed to be sweet!! That's the best way to eat it. Slathered in butter or drowning in a bowl of milk. 

I don't even know what whop biscuits are....

I don't think I've had homemade cornbread ever either. I grew up on Jiffy lol

[Roscoe]

"Whop" biscuits, according to the Right Rev Jerry Clower, are biscuits in a can, because it sounded like a war on his street every morning with housewives "whopping" the can on the counter top to open them.

Been out and about today. Ready to go home, where I'll be up all night smoking meat...

[Backseat Radio]

"Whop" biscuits, according to the Right Rev Jerry Clower, are biscuits in a can, because it sounded like a war on his street every morning with housewives "whopping" the can on the counter top to open them.

My family calls those "idiot biscuits" cause any idiot can open a can.

[Roscoe]

Stayed up until 3 smoking meat. Burned the mess outta my left palm when the meat shifted and the boiling hot juice poured onto my hand. Fortunately, I was able to get it off my hand quick, and poured vinegar on it. Then treated it with aloe vera. Woke up this morning without blistering and little pain.
Completed the wedding and the birthday party.
 Tomorrow- church. Then Monday is mine...

[The Purple Fuzzy]

I'm glad you're ok, Roscoe. Burns are no fun.

[Lynx]

Duly noted that Bobby stays up until after midnight to smoke.

[Backseat Radio]

Duly noted that Bobby stays up until after midnight to smoke.

 

I'm on my own today running the sound booth/ProPresenter. Bro Joseph and his wife are out this weekend celebrating their wedding anniversary.

[Lynx]

ProPresenter has caused more ulcers in my church, I think, than spicy food. The sound booth people are always fretting over it and arguing with it.

[Backseat Radio]

ProPresenter has caused more ulcers in my church, I think, than spicy food. The sound booth people are always fretting over it and arguing with it.

I have more arguments with the apple mouse we have in the sound booth than anything else. If ProPresenter gives me fits I can call Pastor to help me figure it out since he's the one that got us into that system. This morning he had to sign into OBS for me so we could do our livestream since half of the congregation was out sick today.

[Roscoe]

My internet is giving me fits. We are SUPPOSED to be the fastest ethernet connected internet out there, but they sent a hotspot basically, with a mode that is Supposed to allow me to have it function as a router and use ethernet connections for the wifi. But no matter how I try, the ethernet connection fails, which means the church is using the hotspot- and with a metal roof- it no work. It's been dropping out mid sermon, and this morning I couldn't even get our monitor to connect.
Woke up at 4 this mornong with a thought for tonight. Have direction. Have scripture. Can't get notes together for love nor money. Usually when that happens it's all God. I'm a note using preacher so it always concerns me not having something to fall back and look at. But-follow Him.
I don't know where everyone was this morning. Wild to me how we can have 70 one service 25 the next, back to 40s and 50s the next and back to low 20s the next. Very annoying

[Lynx]

My internet is giving me fits. We are SUPPOSED to be the fastest ethernet connected internet out there, but they sent a hotspot basically, with a mode that is Supposed to allow me to have it function as a router and use ethernet connections for the wifi. But no matter how I try, the ethernet connection fails, which means the church is using the hotspot- and with a metal roof- it no work. It's been dropping out mid sermon, and this morning I couldn't even get our monitor to connect.

Who sold you that?

Didn't they do any testing before they left it, allegedly, running?

Find a nerd friend and get him to retrofit the system.

[MsJennJenn]

Anything that promises "fastest connection" is a scam.

[Nelle]

@Work.

Sleepy. It's been a very rough weekend.

Our nephew has been having some behavior events and tried to hurt himself and his parents Saturday night. This is not the first violent event. Anyway.. the cops were called and he was taken to the hospital for a psych hold. He was taken to Springfield IL (3 hours from here) to do a two week detox off of all his medications. (He has an array of medicines due to his ADD or adhd, plus just recently, he was actually prescribed lithium for his variety of medical/mental issues.) He's 12. I can't go into what all is going on, but he's a very tormented young kid. If as a UPC person can say.. "bisexual announcement" was the LEAST of what was said.. you know it's a LOT happening. He needs prayer very badly. He's had a rough life in his 12 years, and he's already started making bad choices - whether they were brought on by chemical/hormonal/medication issues, remains to be seen. I feel like he's got a lot of medical, mental, spiritual, and emotional issues that are making a 'perfect storm' of sorts. Hopefully this program is a good first step to a better life for him. (His mother and father are not married.. not that it matters, but there's been a long history of probably what should've been considered domestic abuse between the parents, as well as habitual drug use and abuse BEFORE even the marijuana was made legal in IL. Among other drugs and some that we will never know about.)

During part of this crisis, I spent Saturday evening cleaning the church since it was our weekend. It took me four hours due to having to clean it alone. Jeremy was with them at the hospital for at least 3 hours of that. I was physically very exhausted.. it's been SO hot and humid, plus I hadn't planned on being there so long, so I hadn't had supper or even that much to eat all day. I had to have Jeremy switch laundry over so we could go to bed at some point since our bedding was being washed. It was SOOO nice crawling into clean sheets tho. It was too warm to use my heated mattress pad. I was sad about that too lol.

[MsJennJenn]

Goodness Nelle that sounds awful. 

[Roscoe]

Nelle this stuff is more prevalent in youth,even church youth, than most of us have a clue about.
I and many other parents have battled things of this nature to varying degrees.
I know of at least three Godly, church attendees whose kids have been raised in church, kids who received the Holy Ghost and lived in a Christian Godly home and still acted out and battled it.
It's a spiritual attack on the home and on the church, and no one really understands until they have to fight it.
Some of it may be mental.... some of it due to medications as well....but I'm convinced that a large part of it stems from the spiritual  and the fact that due to the internet,  there are more pathways for perversion and more normalization of perversion than ever before.
And it doesn't matter how holy the parents are...the kids ultimately  make their own decisions  at some point. All you can do is pray, live a Godly example, and prolong the time for their decisions as long as possible.
Even though my direct experience  wasn't as bad as it could have been, I found myself lost as to how to respond. Too hard may alienate the one you live. Too soft and you are condoning.
It's rough to find a middle ground...
I'll be praying for the kids family and him.

So. Yesterday...preached heart out on desperation.
Today...chey and I went to Krogers. Thats about all productive I can claim other than throwing a roast in the smoker

[MsJennJenn]

In my experience it's also because it's not talked about at all. It's seen in such a bad dark light and we try to hide/push it away. So then those involved don't feel welcome anymore and that sets off a spiral that's even worse.

A LOT of my issues with the church stemmed from the fear of retribution and NEVER talking about ANY thing that I went thru or could have went thru out of fear of retribution. There is so much of a spotlight on what NOT to do instead of on what to do if you fail/fall.

[Lynx]

What if I stumble
What if I fall
What if I lose my step
And I make fools of us all
Would the love continue
If my walk became a crawl
What if I stumble
And what if I fall

[Roscoe]

Jenn you are right and in that sense it's more than just kids dealing with that. Grown adults deal with that too...
I've said it before- Sometimes I think Pentecostals are the only ones that kill our wounded instead of healing them.
Be the wounds self inflicted by bad choices or trauma from other issues, its still a wound and needs to be healed.
I know we can't heal everyone. And some don't want to be healed and hang on to their hurt like a prize bone. But there's alot of folks who messed up, or have issues- and instead of shining a path back, we dowse the lantern.
I was so encouraged to see Sis Mangun speak at BOTT about mental health...it too is something that has to be dealt with appropriately, not passed off as a lack of faith or of God.

[Nelle]

Exposure to the internet has been one of his issues. It's really easy these days to just let them have the access and not have to deal with the anger and all. It's so hard to monitor everything they watch and intake.

Jeremy got a phone call from the facility yesterday and got to talk to him for a little bit. You have to have a code word or they won't connect the call. That's the only way they can ensure who they're being allowed to speak to. Anywho, he's been being punched around by some of the older teens in the pod. He even got punched while on the phone with Jeremy. Thankfully we are 3 hours away one-way.. or his very angry uncle might have gotten into trouble himself. They are apparently understaffed and the patients are not being supervised as they should be. We were all angry by day-end. Hopefully on Wednesday, they can initiate his transfer back to Southern IL area.. probably to Cape. His mom and Jeremy both called the facility to ask that something be done for his safety. He hasn't slept because he's afraid his roommate (that doesn't like him) will do something to him in his sleep. As calm as I have the ability to be, if someone hurts him, they're going to have too many people to answer to on this kid's family for sure. We need prayers for safety and favor in getting his transfer.

I went last night and got the prep work for my crown that I had a root canal on last Monday. It was NOWHERE near as painful as the last prep I had, haha. I just am SOOO ready to be able to eat on both sides of my mouth. Food isn't very interesting when I can't fully enjoy the taste of it. I won't be going back for the real crown until the 25th. Two more weeks!

It stormed here half of the morning yesterday and then some of the evening. I slept thru the storms last night thankfully. Waking up tired tho.. not sure if it's the cloudy skies or what.

[Roscoe]

Went to defensive tactic class today. Came home and grilled a steak. Tomorrow will be busy city, and at some point I have to get a bible study together. Ready for the weekend. I'm hoping to get some more work on Sam done.

[The Purple Fuzzy]

Hubby's cell phone bit the dust today... with nothing backed up. It's been an interesting day.

[Lynx]

Uh oh. Even a nerd can't help you there.

How much did he lose?

[The Purple Fuzzy]

It's mostly contacts. Some I had but others I didn't. Oh, and a bunch of inspirational memes.

[MsJennJenn]

I would be lost if I lost everything LOL I do literally everything from my phone. Plus sooo many pics including my wedding pics.

It's sooooooooo gloomy here. Ugh. I need some sunshine.