I Wish I Had This Dad!

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I love the father in this video clip, 
getting up on stage to comfort his terrified daughter, 
dancing ballet alongside her.
Makes me smile and makes my heart ache a little
for the kind of father I never had.  I would have loved to be that little girl, reaching up to hold her daddy's hand, having a father who would do anything for you.

 Whoever you are, dad in the video, you're doing it right!

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

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I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
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Though they have eyes, they will not see

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[I originally posted this on one of my other blogs , Oct. 2021] So   according to this article , it appears that scientists have found evidence of the type of biblical destruction that happened to Sodom.  They say they found a town that was destroyed by a blast of heat so hot that it pretty much melted everything.  They say that there's no earthly natural heat source that could do this, so they speculate that it must have been an asteroid that exploded over the town, melting everything.  Oh, and they speculate that the reason no one lived there afterward was that the asteroid impact might have brought over so much salt from the nearby Dead Sea that nothing could grow.  This, they say, must be what inspired people to make up the story of Sodom in the Bible. But I say that here's your "asteroid," scientists: "The Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the Lord out of the heavens.  Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, incl...
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Why Is It So Hard For Calvinists To Get Free From Calvinism?

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This was originally on the end of my post "If Calvinism is true, then God is a liar."   But I think it deserves its own post (I recently updated it a little bit, March 2021): I read something once about how very few people end up freeing themselves from the clutches of Calvinism because of the strong hold it has on people.  I think this is partly because ... 1.   We (I am talking as if I were a Calvinist here) would have to admit that we were misunderstanding Scripture this whole time, and no one wants to admit they could be wrong. 2.   Calvinism appeals to us prideful intellectuals.  (And prideful intellectuals have the greatest aversion to admitting we could be wrong.)  It makes us feel special, like we alone understand the "deeper, hidden meanings of Scripture," while the simple-minded Christians can't understand it.  Calvinism (with all of its contradictions, word play, round-about reasoning, and multiple layers of meaning for verses) gives u...
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When Things Don't Turn Out The Way You Wanted (repost)

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(A repost from my other blog, Love, Heal Me , one of the last posts I wrote there, dated August 2017.  Updated slightly.) What happens when you’ve poured your heart and soul into something you thought God wanted you to do … and yet it doesn’t work out, maybe it even made things worse?   What do you do then? Throughout the past 5 years (up till August 2017), I have been posting things on-line on my blogs.   In the beginning, I felt like God wanted me to do it.   I believed that I had words of wisdom and truth and encouragement to share.   I really wanted to use my story to help others, to bring people closer together and closer to God, to make people feel less alone in their struggles and pain, and to bring glory to God’s name. But I can probably count on one, maybe two, hands how many page-views my blogs get in any given week.   (Thank you to anyone who has visited.   I noticed every time you did.   And it meant a lot to me.)   But...
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Jill 4 Today: Around the world in 80 breads

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While researching bread-baking around the world, I stumbled on this YouTube channel -  Jill 4 Today  - and I just have to say that I'm really enjoying her.  A lot of fun to watch.  And I love when older women do videos like these because it feels very homey, very grandmotherly.    I'm especially interested in her new series "Around the world in 80 breads."  And I love it that she makes some of these breads for the first time on camera, leaving in the doubts and mistakes and all.  Amusing and charming. Anyway, I'd love for her to actually do all 80 breads, but she doesn't think she'll get to them all.  So if anyone else is interested in this too, support her channel and send her some comments to encourage her to actually do all 80.  It'd be fun to see. Here are the three breads she's done so far: #1 No-knead French bread #2 Icelandic Rye Bread  (just listening to their reactions as they eat it makes me want to try it too) #3 German B...
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Many are Called, Few are Chosen (Tony Evans' Interpretation)

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 There are some verses in the Bible that will always be confusing and cause disagreement.  And the "many are called/invited, few are chosen" verse is one of them. Matthew 22:1-14:   "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.  He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.... So his servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.  'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.  Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 'For many are invited, but few are chosen.'" Some people th...
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Just Testing Subscription Link

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I just added a subscription link to this blog, under the heading, but I had no idea what I was doing.  I just kept clicking on things and following links until something happened.  So I am in the process right now of seeing if it works or not.  If it doesn't work, I will try to find a friend to help me fix it soon, if I can. And if this does work, just know that even after writing and publishing posts, I go back sometimes to edit, correct, or update them.  So what I first publish may end up being more of a "rough draft."  I like to keep tinkering with what I write.   FYI:  I only added a subscription button to 3 of my blogs: My Crazy Faith, Anti-Calvinist Rant, and Heather's Garden and Home.  These are the only ones I continue to add posts to.   The Heather's Garden and Home blog contains posts on life issues in general, recipes, garden stuff, family stuff, pictures, and my social/political thoughts, etc.  But only a few posts...
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Some Interesting Articles

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  I stumbled across these interesting articles today.  Passing them on to you for your reading pleasure: "'I am so sorry': Naomi Wolf apologizes to conservatives for believing mainstream Jan. 6 narrative" "Secret Pfizer & Government documents reveal COVID Vaccination has caused Antibody-Dependent Enhancement, V-AED, and AIDS resulting in millions 'dying suddenly'"   The looming reckoning for COVID tyrants A fun, catchy, new song:  Trump Won   (but I don't foresee him winning in 2024)   [Four sources for more world news headlines like the above:  Tracking the Birth Pangs - News and Links (trackingbibleprophecy.org) Rapture Ready News - End Times News Stories and Headlines Natural Health News and Scientific Discoveries - Natural News.com ]
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This One's For You! (A Christmas Sermon)

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Did you ever listen to a sermon where you felt as if God was saying "This one's for you"?  I've never looked up Willow Creek sermons before, but for some reason I decided to watch one yesterday.  And you know what?  This one was meant for me.  It really hit me in the heart.  Watch it; it's good.  In fact, I couldn't stop thinking about it all day and into the night.  (Skip to the 35-minute mark to start the sermon.) "Christmas at the movies: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (December 18, 2022)" (Willow Creek Huntley YouTube channel) Merry Christmas, Everyone! [FYI: I've written before about how I disagree with woman being head pastors.  And it seems that, at Willow, the head pastor is a man but there are several teaching pastors under him, including women.  To me, that's a gray area.  And I'm not sure yet what I think of it.  But  since it doesn't break my hardline, definitive "no woman head pastor" rule , I've decided to ...
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Christian Testimony: Jen - "Why I Am A Christian (Former Atheist)"

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Jen is a relatively new believer (about 2 years), currently living in South Korea.  In her 17-minute testimony ( "Why I Am A Christian: Former Atheist Conversion Story" ), she shares with us how she started out life as an atheist, with basically no one ever talking to her about God or the Gospel, how she lacked love and a good family, how she was filled with depression and loneliness, wondering why she was even here and wishing she wasn't anymore.   And then, out of nowhere, even though she had no real knowledge of Him and no one to show her the way, God reached out and touched her and called her to Him.  And it changed her life.     Thank you, Jen, for sharing your story.  May God bless you and guide you on your walk with Him as you get to know Him and His Word more and more.
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