How Are You? How Was Your Day? (Tell Us What Happened And What's On Your Mind.)

It's thursday,
today has been interesting.
I did get a call that we've been waiting on for a very long while (scheduling for medical related stuff) and that was unexpected (and I must say I was excited- hey, doesn't take much to make me happy, and don't we all want a happy mama? )
I remembered to pray before reacting to a child's um "problem" and that truly did make a big difference. If not in that situation, at least in how I moved forward with things, which helped me A LOT.
It's getting late and I still need to make dinner, but at least there is dinner to make and my kids are getting better at being grateful for that (even on nights when it comes even later than now).

How was your day?

And may I ask, what was this scrumptious new dinner that you were able to try?

Yesterday and today was chores around the house with cleaning and organizing everything in the house and outside. Vacuumed the cars and i gave my father and kids a haircut.
Because i know them, i charged them only $100.
Took my mother to the hospital for her scheduled visit today, also did some bloodwork myself and then in the afternoon was doing some road test driving with my kids.
Food and coffee in-between at restaurants.
Also, i have mentioned that i do go to Protestant churches.
This one here did a 'Worship under the stars" service which one of my wife's friends told us.
I'm not sure exactly where this Protestant church fits in denominations because they don't have church artwork like Catholics or Orthodox, but the priest does wear a robe which is non-typical for most Protestant churches that i've seen. Maybe they are a hybrid, i didn't get a chance to do a whole tour inside because it was late a night.
They play the guitar, sing songs and read the Bible outside of the church during the service which starts at sunset.
Playing the guitar is also not something a Catholic church does typically. They have a choir instead.
Very nice atmosphere and you feel the Spirit being under the stars at night.

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After my conversion I visited a number of different churches and one of the Catholic churches I went to in my neighbourhood did have modern praise and worship with a few people leading, off to the side (not front and center like many prottie churches) one playing guitar. I actually remembered the guitarist guy from some 12 step program or another (probably AA). Lutherans wear the robes and all that jazz, and possibly Anglicans too. I never stuck around those churches long as they were too Catholic for me LOL. You have had a very busy day!!!

Well, to me as an outside observer everything falls under some flavor of Protestant and i also remember your article from a year ago that there aren't thousands of Protestant denominations but more like close to 50 or maybe 100.
But the thing is, when i visit these places i treat people as individuals first and based on that you have an idea of the crowd.
For example one guy told me once that the Planet Earth had "bowels" and that's where actual Hell is.
I was like oooooookay buddy.
But there's always nice people too like with every group.
I did a search for Lutherans and Anglicans and you are right, they do wear robes which closely resemble Catholics.
Despite all these changes and details that may be very obvious to you, i don't personally see them and I'd like to treat them as fellow Christians first.

One guy was adamant that hell was under France.

Yes, I have heard of that bowels idea. One guy was adamant that hell was under France. LOL. Anyways, that particular Catholic church holds a very dear place in my heart, because of an elderly priest that was visiting and listening to confessions one of the days I happened by. It was a Saturday, and when he heard me say it had been 33 years since my last confession, he asked me to wait until he was finished, after which we went into a back room (now now, nothing shady going on there heh) and we spoke to each other for well over half an hour, probably 45 minutes. It was just before my conversion. He was so kind. I even returned trying to find him but to no avail. Perhaps he was one of those angels. And I do not say that about not sticking around Lutheran or Anglican churches to be offensive. It's just that my upbringing was Catholic, and I departed that as a teen and have no zero zip nada desire to return to it. The Lutheran church I attended was mostly for a wedding where the couple had sort of enlisted me to be their photographer. I'd had no contact with Lutherans prior to that, and I found the service and garb and all that interesting, and of course I do understand that Luther did not protest the garb but only the abuses of the church, mostly indulgences, and kicked against anything that denied the Grace of God which Catholicism very much does with all its legalism. So Anglicans and Lutherans very much follow the same liturgical outline for the year which many others do also even if more loosely.

Hell is under France eh?
Very beautiful story about that elderly priest and you are right, some people come our way at certain moments like angels.
I think that if you treat people as individuals first and not as an institution you will find that most of their "walls" drop down and they don't become legalistic. I mean some are, very hardcore, but most seem to drop the walls.
For example i went to an Egyptian Orthodox Church once and the first thing that the priest at the door told me "Sorry but you can't have communion because you're not Egyptian".
Now, any typical Protestant American would be angry and outraged by this statement, but i smiled and i told him "I don't want your communion, i am here because i saw your church on a dream and i'd like to pray".
He was taken back by this statement and immediately dropped his "walls" and said "oh okay, maybe i can talk to the head priest and make an exception for you". lol

Did you? Heh. I wondered the same when I attended the (Catholic) funeral service for one of our very long-time professional photographers. A few of us (probably most) went from the lab and I did decide to have communion with them. I don't think anyone else did, and nobody tried to stop me LOL. Then I was the only one to go to the reception that followed. I wasn't sure if I would because I did not know exactly where it was, but someone who overheard my dilemma was kind enough to give me easy-to-follow directions and I ended up sitting with them in the hall. Such good fortune! They were very amiable (we shared all kinds of stories with each other which was lovely considering we were total strangers just hours earlier) and more than that, the owners of the bakery that had supplied all the desserts, so when I left, they made sure I had lots to take home with me hee hee.

That's amazing right there and it does show that on a personal level people don't hide behind an institution.

The Egyptian church did make an exception for me and i attended their Sunday service twice and they wanted to give me the Eucharist. The head priest met me and my wife and we even took a picture with them. But i told them (since it was the height of Covid back then) that i didn't want to take anything and i just wanted to pray at their church for a couple of weeks on a quiet day since i felt called to their church by a dream.
It's in this church where i experienced a miracle on a quiet Wednesday afternoon while i was praying and both my wife an i saw an angel in a very bright light.
I am glad that my wife saw it too, not to confirm that i wasn't crazy, but because God allowed her to see it.

I keep in touch with the priest over text and i even make small donations to them, but when you follow God you will find Him in the most unlikely places usually.
This is why i love to hear about miracles especially when they happen under tragedies such as war, earthquakes, diseases etc.

You know, all that (the funeral) was a few years ago (pre-covid) and in trying to better remember the church part I do recall that an usher or someone did waylay me as I went to partake of the Lord's supper just to make sure that I knew what was going on and that it was not just for anyone and everyone and that I was just going along for whatever reason without full knowledge. They had a bouncer!!! LOL. But I only had to let them know I was a Christian and then they let me pass, and they probably only asked because it was obviously my first (and only) time being there. So really it was no big deal. It was a church you might like because although I say Catholic it had a very old-world feel and hence Coptic sense to it being that it was Portuguese. And the bakery was a Portuguese bakery also. Lots of Portuguese people! And I knew nobody except the two sons whom I barely saw at all...

Any who, that is so cool that you and your wife had an other worldly vision! In a church
no less. Did anything happen following that? Like, was it a harbinger of some type?

That was actually a response to a prayer for healing of a family member. So, i cried, we both cried, and the healing happened a week after.
When i pray for others, i ask God to give them a sign or a miracle. I don't want anymore signs or miracles. I had 3 major ones in my life. I thank God for giving me these blessings but i also ask God to give blessings to others in the shape of a miracle.
Especially those who hate God. They need Him more. Those are the people who have the best testimonies too.
In the Arab forum, i even posted a clip of a Muslim whose testimony i found very touching. I think you saw it too.

I have also been to a Portuguese church by the way and we are going to a monastery which i think is primarily Portuguese.
When we go there, i might post some pictures on that church art thread.

Very beautiful story about that elderly priest and you are right, some people come our way at certain moments like angels.

Well, i managed to get another day on the water since the weather was 80 degrees today.
Tomorrow, we go for a bike ride God willing.
How are you all doing?

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Hell is under France eh?
Very beautiful story about that elderly priest and you are right, some people come our way at certain moments like angels.
I think that if you treat people as individuals first and not as an institution you will find that most of their "walls" drop down and they don't become legalistic. I mean some are, very hardcore, but most seem to drop the walls.
For example i went to an Egyptian Orthodox Church once and the first thing that the priest at the door told me "Sorry but you can't have communion because you're not Egyptian".
Now, any typical Protestant American would be angry and outraged by this statement, but i smiled and i told him "I don't want your communion, i am here because i saw your church on a dream and i'd like to pray".
He was taken back by this statement and immediately dropped his "walls" and said "oh okay, maybe i can talk to the head priest and make an exception for you". lol

He had maps and everything .