Gospel of John, Chapter 17, Verse 21, New Living Translation, "I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me."

Well, well, here we are again. Same station, and as one young man told me recently when I asked how Church was going, he responded, "Same old same old." That surprised me, but, we can get into a pattern of going through the motions if we are not careful. I don't want that to happen here at the ole blogger ranch, therefore, let me see what I can do to stir the pot on this day, Thursday, October 29, 2025. If we aren't careful we can easily misunderstand each other. That happened to me recently when I was busy teaching the Sunday morning Bible lesson. I saw the wife on the back row and I thought maybe I had missed the time because she scratched her throat and I thought she was giving me the cut off sign. I closed out quickly and we had prayer and got out on time, for a change. Just joking about that one but it does remind us of how important our communication is, one with the other. An important emphasis on our Lord's prayer as recorded in the Gospel of John, Chapter 17, has to do with unity. The Greek word implies a oneness but not exactly the same in each personal identity. We are different. Each of us are. To have the unity Jesus prayed that we would have, we need a God-infused unity based on our shared faith in Christ. This is challenging to us because our old-man nature is still warring against the Truth within us. (Romans 7:22-25)  Personal preferences, strong personalities, and other characteristics end up, at times, creating misunderstandings that bring division between local Church believers one against the other. The earthly half brother of Jesus, James, had his thoughts on disconnects within the local body, "my brothers, it ought not to be so". (James 3:10, somewhat out of context but very appropriate in addressing the lack of unity among believers.) Okay. You theologians can send me your corrections and be aware that I am easy to agree that I might just be wrong, however, my point is still an important one. Jesus wanted those who represent Him to be distinguished by our love for each other. (John 13:35) Sometimes things that divide are so insignificant it almost seems like someone scratching their throat as opposed to a cut off signal. I wrote this because I do know one particular person who concerns and they need to hear it, that would be none other than: "Me, Myself, and I". We all can do better in pursuing unity, fellowship, caring, and, love, one for another. Beginning with me. Help us Lord, Amen.

I am adamant. I do not watch the Hallmark Channel. I have taken the red-neck pledge on that one. However, some of the Korean Dramas we watch, with subtitles, are pretty much the same, but, I can still say I do not watch the Hallmark Channel. Not even the Christmas stories they play. I'll be the first to admit my man card is hanging by a thread.  

The K-Dramas I like are in the ancient historical settings where there are lots of arrows flying, swords flashing, spears hurling, and even hand to hand knife fighting. If that was an American story, it would be called red meat. At the same time we enjoy watching these foreign stories, without commercials, some dubbed in English, and others with subtitles. That yields better viewing for us. We think many of these shows have better actors, but, it could be the absence of commercials that really causes us to watch them. Recently, we had some fraudulent activity on our bank card and our card had to be reissued. Meanwhile, many of our auto payment recipients did not get paid. When that happens service is cancelled. It is. It really is. Since we watch a lot of programming on YouTube our service reverted to the version with commercials. Wow! After several years of going without commercials and suddenly being inundated with them, we got that fixed in a hurry. We did. We really did. The current rule permits 12 to 20 minutes of commercials per broadcast hour. See what I'm talking about? Here's the funny part. Eventually, we will watch a compilation of commercials deemed to be the funniest. Go figure. Now you know. Have a great day and may God bless each one, real good! Amen.