– Let’s get totally spontaneous here.
– I’ll try not to get too controversial.
– I’ve got some ‘Breaking News’ for you !
– I will soon be an Uncle for the first time ever !
– My sister-in-law is about 8 weeks pregnant !
– My nephew’s due date is on or around the 30TH of April in 2010.
– My brother turns 35-years-old 3 days after that.
– That should be the best birthday present ever !
– I hope to be in Allen Texas for his birth.
– I always remember when it’s the 17TH of the month.
– My cat Boots died 28 months ago today on the 17TH of May in 2007.
– For over a dozen years Boots was my best friend in the entire world.
– Boots was the only living creature at the time that truly loved me.
– Today is Constitution Day / Citizenship Day here in the U.S.A.
– If you are confused then check with the United States Constitution.
– If you are still confused then read the Bible.
– In fact start with the Bible – that way there should be no confusion.
– Apparently I can’t go more than a week without having a Carnival cruise booked.
– I just walked off of the Carnival Imagination last Friday morning.
– Tonight or tomorrow night I’m booking my next Carnival cruise.
– I will embark on it in just 149 days on the 13TH of February in 2010.
– It’ll be an 8-day cruise visiting Cozumel MX, Limon Costa Rica, y Colon Panama.
– I’ve never been to Costa Rica or Panama before.
– I’m sailing out of Port Everglades / Fort Lauderdale – another first.
– I’m already getting excited about it.
– Ela: I have a Doctor’s appointment on Monday morning to take my blood.
– They will analyze it to ensure that the Lipitor is doing its job.
– After that I’m checking in to the Cracker Barrel for a MASSIVE Brunch.
– Don’t forget about the weekly Disco party tomorrow night.
– I’ve got arguably the biggest Disco song in pop music history.
– It’s from three brothers out of the U.K.
– Be sure to grab your all-white leisure suit for the occasion.
– You won’t regret it pal.
Category: God
It’s in the lyrics:
This is it. Confidence is all I need.
This is how You’re going to save me from myself.
From all that fails.
I see You and me and everything in between.
And I know I’m wrong but You long to fuel the fire beneath these tired bones.
As I dance this road back to You.
A place of sweet escape I fell into.
My everything will always sing Your glory.
Progress. I confess is way overdue.
I get caught up in the things that I’ve held onto.
For too long I’ve been alone.
I’m stronger every step I take.
Back to You.
Run back to You.
A place of sweet escape I fell into.
A familiar taste that You have made inside this refuge I can’t create.
All back to You.
A place of sweet escape I fell into.
Your glory. Your glory.
Sing Hallelujah. I’ll forever sing to lift You up.
Sing Hallelujah. I’ll forever sing to lift You up.
You are my King.
You are my King …
– This morning I returned to Life Pointe Church following a two-week hiatus.
– I pulled off along the side of the road that is this journey to take a breather.
– Now I’m back on the main highway.
– I’m not quite at full cruising speed yet, but I’ll get there.
– It just felt totally right to be back in the action this morning.
– We had a special guest speaker lead our services this morning.
– He’s Pastor Nick Park of The Solid Rock Church in Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland.
– He’s been there since its creation 15 years ago in 1994.
– He was saved 13 years before that in 1981.
– He was previously a suicidal homeless drunk.
– God rescued him and pulled him out of the world of evil and darkness.
– There is a great cloud of witnesses that are cheering us on.
– The vast communion of saints are applauding.
– Now is not the time to turn on, tune in, and drop out.
– Don’t be a seasonal follower of God and then give up and run away.
– When the going gets tough – the tough get going – to God !
– There are sins that live within each and every one of us.
– None of us is pure.
– Don’t feed that sin, or it could overwhelm you.
– Starve that sin so that you don’t backslide to where you came from.
– Keep the faith.
Hebrews 11:36-40 (NLT, 2ND Ed.)
36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons.
37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated.
38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised.
40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.
1. I embarked on my Carnival Imagination cruise at precisely 12:18 PM EDT on Labor Day – Monday September 07TH 2009. It occurred to me as I was arriving at the Port Of Miami that this was the first time in over 6 years that I had embarked on a cruise from there despite going on 5 cruises since then. Since 2004 I’ve embarked on cruises out of Jacksonville, Honolulu, Tampa, Rome Italy, and New Orleans. This was my first cruise out of Miami since Memorial Day Weekend of 2003 when I was last on the Carnival Imagination. The unique footnote here is that I was last at the Port Of Miami less than two years ago in November of 2007 when I disembarked from the Carnival Freedom – the Mediterranean / Transatlantic cruise that originated out of Rome Italy. Nevertheless the Port Of Miami has sure changed a lot since my last embarkation over 6 years ago. They have parking garages there now (instead of only surface parking).
2. The Carnival Imagination is my adopted home cruise ship because it was my very first Carnival cruise ship (exactly 10 years ago this past Labor Day Weekend). It’s also the cruise ship that I’ve been on more than any other (thrice now). As I stepped back on to the Imagination it felt like homecoming at sea for me. It was great to be back with the fun ship that started it all. She’s aged quite well over the past 14 years. A couple of years ago she received a multi-million-dollar renovation, so she looks fresh and new again. If there is an area where she is showing her age it’s the loud engine at times that tends to vibrate some of the decks above it. I got to take a real nice extremely exclusive (there were only 16 of us) and extensive (3½-hour) ‘behind-the-fun’ tour of the non-public areas of the ship during the final full day. It was easily the highlight of the entire cruise !
3. I’ve got to admit it. I ate MASSIVE quantities of food during this cruise – and most of it was real good too. Out of a possible 12 main meals (from Monday Lunch through Friday Breakfast) I enjoyed 11 of them. I missed one meal – Breakfast on Thursday. By that morning I was feeling rather bloated. I may have eaten more food during the course of this 92-hour cruise than during any other 92-hour time-span in modern history, but I also got FAR more exercise during the cruise than I typically do during any given week. It was pretty much walk here – walk there – walk everywhere. Walk up. Walk down. Walk inside. Walk outside. My leg and calf muscles are probably twice as big now than they used to be. The proof is in the weight. I barely gained a couple of pounds since before the cruise.
4. This was my very first cruise in my 18-year cruising history that I did not go with family or friends, I did not meet up with any friends, and I was not part of any organized (or unorganized) group. This cruise was all me. I did my own thing when I felt like it. I slept. I awoke. I showered. I ate. I walked. I shopped. I played. I went to shows. I arrived. I departed. I did it all – at my pace – in my time. The ‘me’ time away from television, radio, computer, Internet, and telephone was truly precious. As much fun as I enjoyed on the fun ship I hope that I get to share the enjoyment with someone else on my next cruise – which will probably be within the next 6 months. If not then I shall do it all over again – all by myself. I use that phrase loosely, for when there’s 3,000+ other cruisers around I’m not really all by myself.
5. Bill W. has his friends that regularly meet as part of the typical daily schedule on the Carnival fun ships. So does Dorothy. But I wondered on this cruise why ‘Friends Of God’ don’t have an organized time and meeting place on the schedule. That would definitely be a meeting that I would have attended. A meet and greet with those fellow cruisers who truly believe in Him. What a concept. I think that I may have to write the Carnival Corporation a letter with such a suggestion. What could be the worst response possible ? No – because an organized religious group would be too controversial at sea ?
6. If the 3½-hour tour of the ship was the highlight of the cruise then the runner-up highlight was the return approach to the Port Of Miami on the final morning. Never before had I seen such a beautiful sight. On all of my previous cruises back to Miami arrival occurred during the wee early morning hours (3 to 5 AM). You basically woke-up early (while it was still dark outside), and you were already sitting still at the Port. It was very impersonal, and it was a rather raw ending to an otherwise wonderful cruise. It was a different story on the final morning of this cruise. At precisely 6 AM the Carnival Imagination actually passed Homestead about 30 miles to the east (at 80.0° west longitude) at about 19 knots per hour (22 MPH). Incidentally the Atlantic Ocean there is roughly 480 feet deep. About an hour later we came in for our final approach past South Beach as I gazed at the beautiful Miami skyline in front of me and the bright sunrise behind me while I tweeted my thoughts. It was the perfect ending to a perfect cruise !
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