Learn To Forgive Yourself

If God has forgiven you your past, you have no right to continue clinging to it.
—   Alex Rebello
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On This Day In:
2019	I Walk Faster (Too)
2018	Modern Day Behaviour
2017	On Misogynist Tweets From #DumbDonald
2016	Cowboy Boots & Missing Teeth
	Or Electricity
2015	Oh, To Be Vulnerable
2014	Neglected Horror
2013	The Price Of Illusions
2012	Once Again
2011	And The “Market” Isn’t Always Right

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Know Love

The best way to know God is to love many things.
—   Vincent Van Gogh
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On This Day In:
2019	Spoiler Alert
2018	Tic-Toc
2017	Explaining Working Class Support For Donald
2016	Not In My Experience
2015	Effort
2014	Honest Wants
2013	Faith, n.
2012	Surprise Me
2011	Confused With Truth

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Neither Alone, Nor Lonely

In America, all most of us are being asked to do is stay home, sit on our butts and watch television.  Why are folks acting like this is this so difficult a request?
Happy Easter, everyone!!  Christ is Risen!!  My God counts the insects, the birds, the plants, the fish, the animals and the grains of sand.  And if you are not a Christian, then stay safe anyway.  If you are reading this, know that you and yours are in my prayers and in my positive thoughts…  Namaste!
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On This Day In:
2019	That’s Why It’s Called Faith
2018	So We Agree, #45 Is Dumb – Too
2017	The Morality Of Spying
2016	He Doesn’t Remind Me Of Me
	The First Rule
2015	Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow
	The Man Without Fear
2014	I Blame Robocop
2013	Future Trustees
2012	Praise Not The Day…
2011	Educated Living

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The Burden Of Faith

Those who never rebelled against God or at some point in their lives shaken their fists in the face of heaven, have never encountered God at all.
—  Catherine Marshall
We cannot bear to regard ourselves simply as playthings of blind chance; we cannot admit to feeling ourselves abandoned.
—  Ugo Betti
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On This Day In:
2019	Are Your Dogs Barking?
	Dangerous Waistcoats
2018	And 40+ Years Later?
2017	He Is Alone
2016	Compensation
2015	Charlie Redux
2014	The Crux
2013	Erosion And Rechannelling
	Alliance, n.
2012	How Many Thought… (One I Know Of)
	Choices And Decisions
2011	Speed Spoils
	Simply Intended
2010	A Second 4 Hour Jog

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Word Up

‘In the beginning was the Word’.  I have taken as my text this evening the almighty Word itself.  Now get this: ‘There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.’  Amen, brothers and sisters, Amen.  And the riddle of the Word, ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  Now what do you suppose old John meant by that?  That cat was a preacher, and, well, you know how it is with preachers; he had something big on his mind.  Oh my, it was big; it was the Truth, and it was heavy, and old John hurried to set it down.  And in his hurry he said too much.  ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’  It was the Truth, all right, but it was more than the Truth.  The Truth was overgrown with fat, and the fat was God.  The fat was John’s God, and God stood between John and the Truth.  Old John, see, he got up one morning and caught sight of the Truth.  It must have been like a bolt of lightning, and the sight of it made him blind.  And for a moment the vision burned on the back of his eyes, and he knew what it was. In that instant he saw something he had never seen before and would never see again.  That was the instant of revelation, inspiration, Truth.  And old John, he must have fallen down on his knees.  Man, he must have been shaking and laughing and crying and yelling and praying – all at the same time – and he must have been drunk and delirious with the Truth.  You see, he had lived all his life waiting for that one moment, and it came, and it took him by surprise, and it was gone.  And he said, ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  And man, right then and there he should have stopped.  There was nothing more to say, but he went on.  He had said all there was to say, everything, but he went on.  ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  Brothers and sisters, that was the Truth, the whole of it, the essential and eternal Truth, the bone and blood and muscle of the Truth.  But he went on, old John, because he was a preacher.  The perfect vision faded from his mind, and he went on.  The instant passed, and then he had nothing but a memory.  He was desperate and confused, and in his confusion he stumbled and went on.  ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’  He went on to talk about Jews and Jerusalem, Levites and Pharisees, Moses and Philip and Andrew and Peter.  Don’t you see?  Old John had to go on.  That cat had a whole lot at stake.  He couldn’t let the Truth alone.  He couldn’t see that he had come to the end of the Truth, and he went on.  He tried to make it bigger and better than it was, but instead he only demeaned and encumbered it.  He made it soft and big with fat.  He was a preacher, and he made a complex sentence of the Truth, two sentences, three, a paragraph.  He made a sermon and theology of the Truth.  He imposed his idea of God upon the everlasting Truth.  ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  And that is all there was, and it was enough.
—  Navarre Scott Momaday
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On This Day In:
2018	But Much Is Worth Learning
2017	Mr. President, About Global Warming
2016	Starting To Stumble
2015	Begin Combat
	I Am A Runner
2014	Just Dig ‘N It, Why?
2013	Additions
	The Object Of Instruction
2012	Telling Her
2011	On Torture

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Yet We Should Keep Trying

The author of this poem [the book of Job] is a profound philosopher with a superb command of language and an exquisite sense of natural beauty.  But the astonishing thing about the book of Job is that everyone who reads it comes to a somewhat different conclusion.   Job makes us vividly aware of the paradoxes in one of life’s ultimate questions —  why do we suffer pain?  —  but he doesn’t solve the problem.  He merely demonstrates that there are no easy answers.
This is similar to one of the principal discoveries of computer science, namely that some problems are inherently so complex that they can’t possibly be solved in a finite number of steps.  We must learn to face the fact that an intellectual approach will not lead to an understanding of the cosmos; we can’t transcend our limitations.  Yet we should keep trying.  We should question authority and be aware that the traditional wisdom of religious orthodoxy might be mistaken.  This book says that after an honest search, like job’s, we’ll learn to trust God’s fairness  —  even though some good men suffer, even though some wicked men prosper, even though religion itself remains a mystery.
—  Donald E. Knuth
From his book:  “3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated“
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On This Day In:
2018	Let Us Dare
2017	Two Good To Be Real
	Secrets
2016	Learning Subtle Differences
2015	Dog Eat Dog World?
2014	And Sometimes Blogs About It
2013	Outside-In
2012	They Are All Perfect
2011	Delegation – The “How-To’s”
2009	Diet Update and Other Bits & Bobs…

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Transfiguration

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.
—  Mahatma Gandhi
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On This Day In:
2018	2018 Mid-Terms
	Praying For A Blue Tsunami Election
2017	Islam Is Not The Enemy
2016	A Checkered Past, A Checkered Future
2015	Preferences
2014	Have You Taken The Pledge?
2013	Nurture Tolerance
2012	Election Day – Please Hear What I’m Not Saying
2011	Mostly Strange, Always Blue
	What Is It You Want?
2010	MSNBC, Bring Back Keith !!!
	Value..
	Worse Still…
	Afraid So…
	Making It
	Don’t Jump Small
	Time
	Push!!
	I’m Still Here… (A Message To Keith Olbermann)
	Choose
	Not Yet…
	Mean Too
	Still Building (and Planning)
	Hangin’ High
	Always…

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Sometimes I Still Have Trouble Sleeping

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones.  And when you have finished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.  God is awake.
—  Victor Hugo
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On This Day In:
2018	And Flights Of Fancy
	Dodgers Lose 2nd Consecutive World Series!!
2017	By Their Acts Thy Shall Know Them
2016	Remembering
2015	One
2014	Sure Experiments And Demonstrated Arguments
2013	Irrational Complacency
2012	Why Criticize?
	Giants Sweep 2012 World Series With Game 4 Win (4 To 3)!!!
2011	Saying Just Enough
2010	Giants Win Game 2 Shutout of Rangers – 9 to 0!!!

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Can I Get A Witness?

To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda or even stirring people up, but in being a living mystery;  It means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.
—  Dorothy Day
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On This Day In:
2018	I’d Still Like To Try It Out
2017	In Every Thing
2016	Future Halo
2015	The Hard Way Every Time
2014	Indispensable Wits
2013	I’d Like To
2012	2012 National League Champions – San Francisco Giants!!
	2nd Viewing – No Change
	Light Shining Out of Darkness
2011	Just Kickin It
	Are These The “Real” Protectors Of America’s Constitution?
2010	Giants Advance To 2010 World Series!!!

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Courage And Patience

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones.  And when you have finished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.  God is awake.
—  Victor Hugo
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On This Day In:
2018	Push The Envelope
2017	Ents
2016	Are You Sure?
2015	Distracted
2014	What It Takes
2013	We Are
2012	Utopian
2011	Seen Any Black Swans Lately?

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Beyond All Reason

God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.
—  Dag Hammarskjold
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On This Day In:
2018	Daydreams And Wanna-Be’s
	Or Work For #45
2017	Summer Pale
2016	Ain’t It Funny
2015	At Both Ends
2014	Whiner(s)
2013	Just Passing Through
2012	Dog-gone Heaven
2011	Occasional, Sad Results

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Don’t Forget: Fire Burns

When men have harnessed the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, they will harness for God the energies of love, and then for the second time in the history of this world, man will have discovered Fire.
—  Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
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On This Day In:
2018	Especially In The Middle East
2017	A Good Local
2016	Life Unlimited
2015	Still Trying
2014	Destiny, n.
2013	No Apologies
2012	Utterly Convinced
2011	A Key To Effectiveness

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I Am Doubtful

I believe in saints as I believe in sanctity.  I believe in miracles as I believe in God, who can suspend the laws of His own making.  But I believe, too, that the hand of God writes plainly and simply, for all men of good will to read.  I am doubtful of His presence in confusion and conflicting voices.
―  Morris L. West
From his book:  “The Devil’s Advocate“
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On This Day In:
2018	True Measures
2017	Hoping For Tapes
	In It Now
2016	On Viewing This Mudball
2015	It Takes A Village
2014	In God’s Eyes
2013	We Root For Ourselves
2012	Like A Shark
2011	Discernible Virtue

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That’s Why It’s Called Faith

In spite of all the yearnings of men, no one can produce a single fact or reason to support belief in God and in personal immortality.
—  Clarence Darrow
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On This Day In:
2018	So We Agree, #45 Is Dumb – Too
2017	The Morality Of Spying
2016	He Doesn’t Remind Me Of Me
	The First Rule
2015	Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow
	The Man Without Fear
2014	I Blame Robocop
2013	Future Trustees
2012	Praise Not The Day…
2011	Educated Living

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The Importance Of A Deadline

“An Interview With God”  (2018)  —  movie review
Today’s review is for the “religious” movie which ran in theaters for three days last year and which is currently appearing on Netflix:  “An Interview With God” starring David Strathairn as God and Brenton Thwaites as a religious reporter / journalist Paul Asher who works at a non-sectarian newspaper.  The other main characters are:  Yael Grobglas as Paul’s estranged wife: Sarah Asher, Charlbi Dean as Sarah’s sister (Paul’s sister-in-law): Grace, and Hill Harper as Paul’s boss: Gary.  Paul is suffering a crisis in faith after having spent an extended period in Afghanistan covering the war while embedded with combat troops.  Paul is contacted and agrees to three half-hour interviews with someone who represents himself to be God.  The “GOD”.  The interview sessions are to be conducted over three days and at locations specified by God.
The movie was sponsored by a conservative Christian who also paid to have the movie released nation-wide in a limited number of theaters – hence the limited three day run.  Now, I did not know anything about the sponsor until after I’d seen the film and was doing research prior to writing this review.  I gather both factors (limited release and sponsorship) contributed to the fact there were very few reviews of the film by “mainstream” film reviewers.  I saw the movie preview last year, but never got to see the film in the cinema.  When I saw it was running on Netflix, I thought I’d give it a look-see because I like spiritual films as long as they don’t try to beat me over the head with religion.  This movie is definitively Judeo-Christian biased, but it is surprisingly more philosophical than “religious”.  That is, it raises philosophical issues about God and the real world, but it doesn’t really try to convert you Christianity (which surprised me a little).
Of the cast, Strathairn is relatively well known actor (Best Actor Oscar nomination for his Edward Murrow role in “Good Night, and Good Luck“.  I have also seen and enjoyed his performances in numerous other roles in films and on TV.  Thwaites is an Orlando Bloom look-alike, whom I gather is coming up through the Hollywood ranks as a heart-throb.  I know Harper from his TV role in the series: “The Good Doctor” – and I like him in that series.  The two females are (were) unknown to me.  I felt all five actors gave very creditable performances in their respective roles.
It is difficult to say too much about the movie because to do so would be to give away plot twists and the movie has only recently come onto Netflix so it would be unfair to spoil the movie given its very limited release.  I will say it is a movie you have to both watch and listen to.  The few reviews I have seen seemed (to me) to miss a number of points which explained / clarified other portions of the movie.  Basically, they said: “What was this or that about?”  My response: “Did you watch the movie?”
So, is this a great movie?  No, but it is thought provoking.  Is it well written, acted, shot?  Yes.  Yes.  And, yes.  Is it a religious experience in and of itself?  Give me a break…  It’s just a movie.  Do I intend to watch it again?  Yes, as a matter of fact I do intend to and I’ve already spoken to two family members about it (recommending it to them).
Final recommendation:  Strong recommendation.  I like Strathairn’s acting and he’s good in this role.  I like thought provoking movies and this is one of those (for me anyway).  I tend to enjoy movies about faith and humanity and this deals with both.  At only about ninety minutes, this movie was actually a better investment in faith than attending Mass today.  As sacrilegious as that may sound, I can (in my own defense) only offer a poem excerpt:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
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Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
From the poem: “Light Shining Out of Darkness“, by William Cowper
You can find the entire poem here.
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On This Day In:
2018	History Will Judge Harshly
	Father Time, Perhaps?
2017	Odds Are
2016	Prayer, Too
2015	History, n.
2014	See It Sometime
2013	Precious Friend
2012	It Couldn’t Be Done
	Feeling Surrounded?
2011	Surprise!

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