Personal Log 10.28.22

It's Friday, but it already feels like Friday of next week. My mom had a little emotional breakdown this week; she's been strong for a long time but her situation just momentarily overwhelmed her. God understands; He knows what & where our breaking points are. We as a family have only spoken the Word over her, nothing less. One thing I've learned over the years about faith is this: we reach up as far as we can & God makes up the difference, His arm is longer than ours…

So Elon Musk bought Twitter, I'm kinda-somewhat-slightly-halfway-more-than-encouraged-ecstatic-excited by this. Maybe now it will get back to being a pure digital town square instead of a censorship sledgehammer. My take on free speech is this: let people speak, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks so what they say reveals them to all. However, if someone has the power to silence someone else, that reveals volumes about them as well. I think I'll stick around Twitter a little longer now.

Speaking of censorship, I had to call out Wanda Alger out on Youtube recently. For the record, I really like Wanda Alger, she's a calm, solid Christian woman whom I've listened to for several years now, but she hopped on Youtube to complain about being censored on Facebook & the algorithms being messed with. Here's the thing about social media: you voluntarily use their platforms, you voluntarily submit yourself to their rules (their house, their rules) so you really have no right to whine & complain if they mess with you or “try to censor God's Word” as she put it. Simply leave, either find a platform where you are not censored (Gab & XAPiT come to mind) or create your own social media platform. I'm just tired of hearing people complain about censorship when they voluntarily submit themselves to being censored. Shake the dust from your sandals & move on.

So, here are some alternatives:

- for Youtube use Rumble, Bitchute, Odysee

- for Facebook use Gab, XAPiT, Parler, Telegram, Truth Social

- for Twitter use Mastodon (which I found out is the basis for both Gab & Truth Social)

I left Facebook a year ago because of censorship (& just general nonsense from people) & I haven't looked back...

This was week three for Men's Group+, our virtual mid-week meeting w/ the men & it went fairly well; I shared on both 2 Corinthians 5:21 "you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus" & tied it into Psalm 37:25 “I have never seen the righteous never forsaken nor his seed begging bread”. No matter what happens in the coming weeks/months, God takes care of His own & we can rest in that. Having God's peace when everything around you is falling apart draws people to Him.

For the Men's Group I use Jitsi Meet, it's been fantastic, laid out like Skype, just as stable & easy w/ no time limits. As I've said before, my family has been using Skype for years & a couple of years ago they rolled out “Meet Now”, it's integrated into Outlook & Windows 10/11, you can create a meeting, send out a link & anyone (with or without a Skype account) can join in via the link. If I'm online for any period of time, my Skype is open (web.skype.com) & I can easily be reached. For some reason, it seems people are using video chat/calling more than ever.

So this Sunday I kick off a seven part series for the men on Mordecai, how he raised & influenced Esther, different aspects of his life, etc & tying it into our Christian walk. I'll post the lessons here as well, it was an interesting study!

I leave you with this: Peter began to sink when he took his eyes off of Jesus [the Word made Flesh], we'll also sink if we take our eyes off of the [written] Word.

Anyway, I need to run, 'have to take advantage of this weather while it's still nice.