Category Archives: Health Maintenance

What I have learned over the years about how to maintain good health.

Update: Painting, Plodding, and Praying

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I am a retired painter, but people continue to call me for work—so I agree to do it. As long as I am able and willing I’ll do it. But I feel a bit weaker in body and mind. Much prayer is needed!

I’m reading more now. I like especially reading the short biographies of famous preachers—or should I say preachers that were great for God, like George Whitfield, Charles Simeon, and Christmas Evans (the one I read about today). This reading is a great encouragement to me and is a great supplement to the bible.

I am plodding along in my writing. I’m writing a book now on heaven. I have finished the outline; now I’m taking one point at a time and putting words on paper and then on the computer. Soon I will break it up into blogs so you all can see it before the book comes out.

I’m struggling with diabetes—trying to keep my blood sugar down. For someone who loves food (like me) that’s hard. I’m supposed to exercise everyday too. I’ve decided to walk everyday—about 2 miles. I don’t mind it. I use the time for prayer, meditation and also photography. The days here (in Minn.) are starting to get warmer so that will be good. And if it rains I’ll walk in the mall (not as good). Well, sighing off.

Ps. Prayers for Israel and Ukraine people. Always praying for Donald Trump—so unfair! Prayers for all people everywhere—to resist the temptation of the flesh and the evil world, until the Savior comes!

The Lord is Good

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I have been under some stress and depression lately, and have been praying for relief. I won’t give you all the details, but it has to do with my self-publishing—trying to get everything right.

Well, I believe the Lord had a hand in making me laugh through the newspaper comics today. Usually, out of the eight comics I read, one or two of them are funny. Today five of them were funny; one of them made me laugh out loud. It was the “Rhymes with Orange” strip. Anyway, these cows in the pasture had an emotional support animal with them: a chicken, a pig, a rabbit and a turtle!

Somehow I knew it was from the Lord. Who knew He would use comic strips to bring His grace to me. His ways are perfect and He knows what we need. Psalm 145: 8-9 says,

The Lord is gracious and merciful;

Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.

9 The Lord is good to all,

And His mercies are over all His works.

Self-awareness

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How is your self-awareness? Are you in tune with yourself? Sometimes we might be deceiving ourselves–really, lying to ourselves. And once we start down that road it’s hard to stop. We should not always try to convince ourselves that we are fine. Instead, you should ask, “How am I? Have I sinned lately? Am I pleasing God?

Always try to connect yourself to the truth and you will have a pleasant reward–if you decide to repent and follow the way of the Lord.

Source: The Dustin Comic

Struggles

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It seems that there are constant struggles going on in me. The struggle between the flesh and the spirit is foremost, and is present for every Christian. However, for one that has given into the flesh there is less of a struggle—Satan has him. So, I guess I can be glad, because a struggle indicates that I am still in the war and God is still using me. Nonetheless, I don’t care for the struggle, especially when I am losing the battle of the mind—letting impure thoughts take hold. I, and all of us, need to learn to shut off or put to death those impure thoughts and to think instead on things above where we indeed are seated with Christ—and we so anticipate our glory when we, in every way, are made like Him.

Similarly, there is also a struggle with my time—for the best use of it. And if this is achieved I think I will win more often in the struggle with the flesh; for what I do affects so much what I think. I recently have been listening to John MacArthur’s sermons in Revelations; and that I know is a better use of my time than TV.  I hope I can continue this habit. Not much TV is good. And there are other uses of time that are very good too, which I hope to start.

Thirly, there is a struggle with my diabetes diet. I need to keep my carbs down to have that desired blood sugar level. But I love fruit so much; and fruit, though healthy is full of sugar (carbs). So, I need to limit my fruit intake, and also other sweet foods and bread. I am not over weight, yet I am a diabetic. I hate it!

I am reading a biography on Martin Luther. Boy did he have some struggles. Yet he was courageous in the things he did—fighting against his flesh (with much fasting) and against the sins of the Catholic church. He was indeed a hero of the faith.

Update: The News

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News

The top of the news is the war in Israel. It seems that all nations are against what Israel is doing. I think the main reason why so many Palestinians are being killed is because Hamas is not letting them out and hiding behind them. It’s a shame. But most Palestinians, even those who are not tied to Hamas, are also against Israel. They have been trained from a child to hate the Jews.

I think the war is going well, and I wish the US and all other nations would let Israel alone and let them fight their own war. I know that if Trump were the Pres. He would support them in whatever they would want and also aid them.

I am most disappointed in the elite colleges like Harvard who aren’t doing one thing to put down the antisemitism and marches. They are getting a very bad reputation as being very liberal and anti-Jewish. Sad!

Both Biden and Trump are on the hot seat. Biden could be impeached for his criminal history—I hope. It’s a different story for Trump. He is wrongly judged for so many things. The New York AG is making it her amusement to get rid of Trump. I guess she is trying to build up her own image and popularity with the people. Sad.

Prophetic Horizons

In just the last few years Russia, Turkey and Iran are coming together and making plans to war together against Israel. This is exactly what the Bible says will happen in the last days (read Ezek. 38, 39). This latest Israel/Hamas war is also prophetic, because it is bringing out so much animosity against Israel. It is shocking to me how many are declaring their hatred against the Jews. It is Satanic. He is working hard to eliminate the Jews. But that won’t happen.

My Reading

I just finished reading about William Tyndale. What a brilliant and dedicated servant of God. Now I’m reading about Eric Liddell, a champion Olympic runner and a missionary to China (from 1923 to 1945). He was such a humble man. He ran for the Lord and used his running fame as a platform to evangelize the lost. He really cared nothing for his own fame; he did everything for the glory of God.

This and That

I’ve been feeling sickly—trying to exercise more and eat better. I didn’t feel like going to church, but I still wanted to and so I did. And it helped me. The fellowship with believers always lifts me up. Church is so necessary for these times (Heb. 10:24-25).

It’s rather warm here is MN—in the 40’s! and no snow. Very odd for Mn.

Life is Good

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In my last post I gave you all my complaints. This morning I have been thinking and feeling how good my life is—pretty good. I really have very little to complain about. I am well fed, feeling good, healthy. I have no debts, just day to day expenses. God is good!

The sun is shining, and I know that God has been merciful to me.

I am feeling more and more like writing my next book on heaven, and I have an idea for the outline. I think at this time in my life the best thing I can do is to think every day on heaven. Maybe that is why I feel so good today—because I have been reading about it—what it will be like.

Some people say that if you are too heavenly bound you are no earthly good. But I think that if you are too earthly bound you are no earthly good; for thinking on heaven is the best way for a Christian to feel good about life. Knowing where we are headed and knowing that it will be wonderful, tends to brighten ones day on earth and give him a motivation for living a holy life.

What’s on my Mind? Biden, Jim Jordan, Faith …

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First and foremost, on my mind is suspicion of Biden. I don’t trust him. He seems to be playing both sides. He says he is for Israel, but at the same time he is aiding Hamas and delaying Israel’s war effort. I think he is just trying to get votes from both sides. It is all political.

Second on my mind is why Jim Jordan is being stopped from being Speaker. I think he would make a very good speaker—but liberals won’t allow it. Do they know what they are doing?

Thirdly, and more personal, is my thoughts on the subject of obedience and faith. I give the credit to John MacArthur in his book, The Gospel According to Jesus. He points out that some say that obedience and faith should be regarded as separate, that obedience is works and should come after faith—something like that. But MacArthur makes the point that the two should always be together—as James points out, faith without works is dead.

And what is really coming to light for me now is that when we are disobedient to God, we are in sin; and so, this tells us that when we sin we are lacking in faith—or we are not trusting God. I know that we—even good Christians—will never be perfect in obedience and faith; but this is something we have to be constantly working on. I mean, we cannot let up in our effort to be holy and godly. And on the brighter side, when we are more obedient, God makes us happy (or joyful). And when we are obedient we have more hope and steadfastness and resilience in evil times. In short, obedience to God is the key to the victorious Christian life—because in our obedience we are trusting in Him.

Fourthly, as I trust and obey Him, I plod along with everything else. I have two books that I am editing. I am nursing a thing in my mouth called lichen planus (sort of a disease which apparently has no cure; but I am using mouth washes, aloe Vera gel and clove to try to get rid of it, or at least sooth it).

I am also reading two books; the one I mentioned by MacArthur, and a book by Bill O’Reilly, Killing the Witches. This book falls in line with the one I just read, Mayflower. The Mayflower arrived in 1620 and the witches tragedy occurred later at about 1680. I say tragedy because they were killing girls that weren’t witches at all. They were just suspected of being witches. It was much like the Catholic inquisition—burning Christians alive. Terrible!

My blogging has slowed down, but now that I am not working much, I will try to pick it up again.

New Covid Wave Coming

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Whether it is coming or not, we know now what to do. We know that masking does not help, nor does any more shots. I think the best thing to do is let ourselves get it so we can get some immunity. I think it is also wish to just go about our normal way of life and refuse to be afraid–refuse the lock downs…if possible. At any rate, I will go about my normal business and will not just stay in my apartment. Being out in the fresh air is the best things we can do anyway.

Here is an article.

HERE WE GO: WHO Sounds Alarm Over New Covid Wave Coming This Winter

By Cristina Laila Sep. 7, 2023 12:23 pm

It must be election season!

It is all hands on deck right now to bring back Covid mandates. Mask mandates are slowly making a comeback in schools across the country. Joe Biden recently announced he will be wearing a face mask since Dr. Jill supposedly tested positive for Covid.

Los Angeles County may bring back mask mandates due to the new Covid variants BA.286 and EG.5 New Yorkers were told to mask up over the Labor Day weekend.

The World Health Organization sounded the alarm over a new wave of Covid.

“We continue to see concerning trends for COVID-19 ahead of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere,” WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said Wednesday at a press conference.

Read Entire Article

Update: It’s update time

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I’ve been struggling again with my perfection thing. Lately it’s been with my latest book publishing project—with getting the book cover perfect, centered. Now I’m trying decide whether I will just leave it, or send it back to the printer and try again. I will take another day or two to make my decision. But I just hate to be delayed again. This is why I hate publishing—delay, delay, delay. My painting is somewhat the same. I mean, I am a perfectionist on that too. I don’t want to see any mistakes. Oh, I long for my perfect, redeemed body when I shall see Him face to face and be like Him.

It’s Monday—new beginnings. A day when I like to read the comic Garfield. A day to be lazy and need my coffee. Laughing helps. I also have found some help this morning reading an article in the sports section of the newspaper about how my baseball team did. I enjoy reading how our newest pitcher, Keuchel, did—so encouraging to hear his positive words as to how he went about his pitching.

I’ve been reading the book Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick. There is so much in this book that I didn’t know about how or country got started. There was so much tragedy and death that I had no idea about. And most people know hardly anything about what is called King Philip’s war in 1675-1676. This war, the English against the Indians, was so very brutal—even worse than the Civil War, but thank God it was short. This was all before the better things happened—like the writing of the Constitution, etc. But overall, our country still was born of much blood and strife and prayer.

And now it seems that our country is on the edge of great disaster and ruin. Much prayer is needed. We need to turn to 2 Chron. 7:14, to find the promise of God if we will pray. We who are Christians need to pray.

Things to stay away from:

  • All new age rainbow stuff.
  • AI-Jesus. If asked about this, point them to the true Jesus in the Gospels.
  • AI-bible. It is false.

Inspired By The Things That I Relate To

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I usually get a newspaper everyday before I go to breakfast. There isn’t much that I am interested in—except the comics and sports. For comics, Garfield is good—I can relate to his attitude, especially on Mondays. There is usually always something I like in the sports pages. It is so inspiring to read about players who are on the mend from an injury or from a slump. Today I read an article on the wrestler Gable Stevenson—how good he is doing. I can relate to him because I was a wrestler in high school, and I know what it takes to be a good wrestler. Then I also read about the Minnesota Twins baseball player Max Kepler, how he is coming back from a slump and about some very positive things Byron Buxton said about him.

Baseball it seems is mostly a mental game and thinking positively about ourselves. And it’s about the little things, like seeing the ball and hitting the ball…See the ball, hit the ball!

In many ways that’s life. It’s all about whether we see the ball of life clearly. If we don’t we will strike out every time. Life is also about picking ourselves up when we are down, and having the positive attitude and vision that we are going to get back in the game and do well.

And I love to see how all the players are doing better because they have been talking to each other and encouraging each other. And that is so necessary for all of us. No one is an island. We all need each other.