Recapping 2021

 Well, we made it through the year 2021. It started out with a little outburst over the election; its severity depends on what propaganda pundit you listen to. 

After the Capitol riot and the ensuing battle as to the best course of action to battle the "Vid" and folks taking sides on the issue and now we're more divided than ever. 

Outside of the antics of capitol hill, both during and after the "riot," not much of anything of significance took place in the year. 

All things considered, I'll take a dull year over a turmoil year anytime.

Christmas: Christ's birth or conception?

Christmas is the time of year when we celebrate the birth of Christ. That's right, the conception is when one is truly born. I got this one article on the internet at (https://www.hbcusports.com/forums/threads/jesus-was-conceived-on-december-25-and-born-on-september-29.65588) but I can't locate the original source. If you can please do, I will give it its proper attribution.

God is about to make an announcement and give a message that the Prophecy of a coming Messiah is about to be fulfilled. So within this first chapter it is possible to fix the time of year that our Lord would be born. It is not up for argument as to that date, for it will be a set time that can be clearly traced, and this chapter will declare it exactly. This is why it is important to note "Of the course of Abia" [the eighth feast order], for this feast takes place during our June 13 through June 19 annually. This course was assigned to a Levitical priest, and that priest was Zacharias. Fix this date for we will find out that Zacharias was not at home but in the Temple far from home offering sacrifices during this time. So the angel came to Zacharias near the end of his time on duty at the Temple.

Remember that Zacharias was struck down and could no longer speak until after his son John the Baptist would be born. The reason that he was struck down was because he doubted that he and his wife could bear any child because of their age.

Luke 1:26 "And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,"

"Sixth month", now this marks another 30 days, and puts us at December 24th. Remember that the Jewish days starts at sundown the day prior, and runs to sundown the next day. So on the night of our 23rd, Gabriel was sent from God to Nazareth, of Galilee to the house of Mary. This visit was to inform Mary that she had been selected, special, a virgin to conceive and bear the coming Messiah. So it would be on December 25th [sundown of the 24th] that the Spirit would come and dwell with mankind. Our Lord Jesus Christ would be conceived.

The problem today is that mankind has become so twisted in thinking that many can't perceive the idea that the unborn is a human being, with soul and spirit, and thus by tradition that have tried to make the Scriptures fit to their traditions. However their traditions will make things happen that are completely out of season. So it was on this same day, December 25th that Mary conceives and runs to her cousin Elisabeth's home to tell her of what has just taken place. This is important to understand, and does not take away from the importance of Christmas, for this is the true time that God came to dwell with man, for the time of conception is the time the soul and spirit enters into the embryo within the womb.

By changing Christ's birth through man's tradition, he thinks that it makes abortion right, for he can then say, the soul and spirit enters the womb at birth. German law did all sorts of things with this tradition before the war, and in the end they eased their minds even to the killing of those born with physical problems, the mentally ill, the aged, and even to the point of genocide for the sake of a better life style. They were willing to give up the "sanctity of life" for the sake of their "quality of life" style. King Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun, that which has happened will happen again." And we see it coming true today in some of the laws in our land.

The birth of Christ was a perfect birth and would be nine month's to the day later, which would fall in September on the feast of Tabernacles.

Luke 1:36 "And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren."

Gabriel is still speaking to Mary, and notice that Elisabeth is the cousin of Mary. This is important to note that part of blood line is to the Levites, as Zacharias and Elisabeth were both of the lineage of Aaron. Mary had asked Gabriel how it would be possible for her to bear this child, and he is reminding her that Elisabeth is in the sixth months of Pregnancy with her child. Elisabeth was well known to be very old and far beyond child bearing years. This time of Mary's conception was six months after Elisabeth's conception with John, so this pinpoints the date of Christ's conception to be December 25th. This then would pinpoint Jesus actual birth to be in September on the feast of the tabernacles, as it was prophesied, and should be. This is pointed out in the Companion Bible in appendix 179.

So the other thing to think on, is how could Mary be a cousin to Elizabeth, a full blood Levite, and have her own parentage of the blood of Judah? We know that Mary's father was of the tribe of Judah, from the lineage given in Luke 3:23-38. However Mary's mother and Elizabeth's parent were both full blood Levites. So we see that Jesus lineage will be both of the lineage of Judah and David, as well as of Levi and Aaron. Paul even called our attention to Christ's lineage to the tribe of Aaron in Hebrews 5:6 when he said; "As He saith also in another place, "Thou art a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." Those with spiritual eyes can see how Jesus could be of both Levi and Judah; the priest line and the king line: Or the Aaron line and of the king line of David. "Melcha" means "king, and "sedec" [Zadok] the "Just"; even in the name brings the two tribes or lineages together.

So by the fact that these two were cousins tells us so much more than what appears on the surface.

Luke 1:39 "And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda;"

Mary went the same day that the angel Gabriel approached her, for this would be the day of conception. She went to her cousin Elisabeth's house.

Luke 1:40 "And entered in the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth."

Upon arrival she greeted her cousin.

Luke 1:41 "And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:"

The moment that Mary greeted Elisabeth, Elisabeth knew instantly that Mary had conceived the holy Child. The Holy Spirit entered into Elisabeth, and into the babe John the Baptist that was six months along in Elisabeth's womb. So when does the Spirit of God enter the babe? The soul and spirit of a child enters the embryo at conception; of course. This is our documentation that the soul of a child enters at conception, as Mary has just conceived, while John the Baptist is six months along, yet unborn in the womb and can sense the Holy Spirit's presence in the Christ Child just conceived.

Luke 1:44 "For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy."

So ask yourself, When does intelligence come into a child's mind? When can an unborn sense feelings, good or bad, love and joy. This verse documents that even an unborn child can sense the joy of the filling of the Holy Spirit. The Christ child was within Mary, and the Holy Spirit also filled both Elisabeth and John the Baptist, six months mature within Elisabeth's womb.

Luke 2:8 "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night."

It is important to notice that at the time of the birth of Christ, the time of year was a time when shepherds could stay in the field with their flocks. The sheep were not in the field on December 25, nor were shepherds out there keeping watch over them. This verse tells us that Christ was born at a time when shepherds could be in the field. This did not take place in the winter months, but at harvest time. We went over this in the first chapter as to the exact time our Lord Jesus Christ was born. The Companion Bible details the time of birth in Appendix 179, and documents Jesus birth to be at the "feast of Trumpets or Tabernacles", at the end of September, and circumcised on "the day of Atonement".

Muddled middle

 Are we ever going to reconcile our differences?  Is there a middle ground to be carved out? I believe the death of Bob Dole this week contains the answer.  He was the last of the middle-gound legislators. A few folks are trying to carve that out now, but in today's politics, the middle is wildly shifting from polar extremes so that middle ground can vary so much it can't even see a center.

When there is a tectonic plate shift, norms are challenging to recover. The left and the right sometimes even circle around and intersect.

But I believe the problem doesn't come from the well-thought-out paradigms—the ones borne out of reason and logic. Now it's just very uneducated and media indoctrinated babbling parrots that the average sheepole has slid and de-evolved into: a consumer of false narratives and a practitioner of doublethink. 

God help us navigate the malaise. 

Boomer's to tomber's

Yes, I am the quintessential baby boomer, born in 1951. We are now in our 60's and 70's at least most of us since the boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 by one definition. In my high school class of 1969, about 1/3 of our classmates have died. I got the news that a couple of my boomer Facebook friends are at death's door.  Mortality is looming on the boomers.

It's an excellent time to assess our life and be certain where we will spend eternity. It would be best if you had an exit strategy. I will live forever in God's presence in the eternal heaven. I know this because I have been born again from above. I repented of my sins and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He then gave me a deposit of this new life in the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead has made my born-dead human spirit alive by giving me the Holy Spirit of God at my salvation. 

We are facing our mortality as boomers and should be facing the certainty of demise. Indeed, we will face God Almighty. I want to be the messenger of hope for all who are now asking the question of where they are headed after this life. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. 

The Devil's in the Details

 The Bible states a little wisdom of Solomon worth taking note of:  

Song of Solomon 

2:15 Catch the foxes for us,

the little foxes

that spoil the vineyards,

for our vineyards are in blossom."

It is a must for small business owners to take this to heart. I have been dealing with some of the most unprofessional businesses lately, little things like not having a proper website, not answering their phones with their business name, and in a professional manner. Quite a few of those businesses use Gmail and other free email services; how cheap and tacky is that?

When you're starting a business, you can't get it right all the time. But you can make a conscious effort to evaluate and reassess what you're doing. Have some mentor or other trusted friend give you a review and get some outside eye's on all the little details of your venture.

I know it's your baby, your small enterprise, but you need to brush your ego aside. So it's that sometimes you can miss things and overlook some critical details. 

Beware the little foxes!

When you don't know

I was taken aback by a project that I began when I thought I had understood all the details and steps I was supposed to do. Then I got into it and realized how much I didn't know about the project that I was undertaking.

I am calling this the law of "you don't know what you don't know until you find out you don't know it" I think it probably has been a long-standing postulate and probably attributed to great thinkers like Socrates, Mark Twain, or Yogi Berra. 

I remember going on job interviews and being asked, "do you have any questions" and I couldn't think of any. That was until I got in my car on the way home, then suddenly I had a million questions. 

When I was a kid in the '50s, we didn't have access to the information that we do today. Since elders and authorities didn't incline to answer inquisitive kids when you ask a question, you usually answer, "what do I look like the public library?"

Our parents grew up with the frame of mind that you should take the initiative and find out the answers on your own. Sometimes this is effective; other times, it is just a misuse of time. Like in the famous short essay, SOURCE WIKIPEDIA - A Message to Garcia is a widely distributed essay written by Elbert Hubbard in 1899, expressing the value of individual initiative and conscientiousness in work. As its primary example, the essay uses a dramatized version of a daring escapade performed by an American soldier, 1st Lt. Andrew S. Rowan, just prior to the Spanish–American War. The essay describes Rowan carrying a message from President William McKinley to "Gen. Calixto García, a leader of the Cuban insurgents somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba—no one knew where". The essay contrasts Rowan's self-driven effort against "the imbecility of the average man—the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it".[1]: 17–18 

The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing- "Carry a message to Garcia!"

Well, in my humble opinion, the art of asking questions is certainly undervalued. 

Online credibility

 How can one acquire any degree of credibility in the digital space? There is so much noise and chatter online that it's hard to discern who is telling the truth. It's hard enough to read folks when you are face to face. 

I am involved in many online networking meetings, and they are getting to the point when I am tuning out because of all the claims and counterclaims folks have about their products and services. However, in physical meetings, sometimes it's more straightforward to spot the hucksters and liars.  Looking into someone's eyes with a ring light reflection in their eyes throws you off. 

In online meetings, it's next to impossible to read body language because of the physical restraints of sitting in front of a camera. As a result, you miss many clues that you can pick up or sense when you are physically in front of the person.

So until we can figure out a way to digitally discern, we will be even more prone to credibility issues. 

Why you need Your Office SOS

 Do you have a lot of work to do, but not enough time to get it all done?

No matter where your business is right now, it seems that everyone is racing to grow their businesses as quickly as they can. And for some, this means outsourcing tasks that don't directly contribute to revenue growth or building an online business empire. If that sounds like you then read on!

You’re busy. We get it! That’s why we created VA Services for Business Owners. Our Virtual Assistants will help you save time and money so that your business can grow without eating into your profit margin. Hire a Virtual Assistant and achieve more – so you can focus on what matters most.

First time with VAs? Need help expanding your existing office? We’ll show you how to use VA services to grow your business without sacrificing quality service or increasing overhead expenses.

Less tasks = freeing up time = increase in production level = higher revenue.

It's really that simple!

Desire: It’s simple – when you hire a VA from us, they become part of your team. They know how to manage the tasks that take up too much of your valuable time so that you can focus on what matters most – growing your business! With our services, you don’t have to worry about hiring an employee or outsourcing again because we handle everything for you. All at a fraction of the cost compared with hiring in-house staff or using other outsourced companies. Plus, our VAs are available whenever you need them for any emergency requests that may come up during off-hours or weekends! So, whether it’s making sure invoices go out on time every month or managing social media accounts while traveling abroad…we got this covered! No more worrying about keeping track of multiple projects and deadlines anymore - let us be the ones who keep track for you instead!

Virtual assistants can help with time-consuming tasks, chores, work, duties, activities. For example, they can make appointments for you or order products online. Great tasks for virtual assistants are repetitive tasks that happen on a regular basis.

Business owner, Megan Brown, told us that she found hours each day by allowing her VA to help to manage and organize her email inbox.

"I get hundreds of emails each day, for various things. My VA can help to read and filter those emails for me so that I don't have to spend the time doing that. She will forward all of my receipts and other transactions to my bookkeeper. If someone wants to book a meeting, she will check my calendar, coordinate it, and send reminder emails."

If you're interested in expanding your business but don't have the time, hiring a virtual social media assistant is an excellent option! They'll help you create engaging content for all of your platforms. Additionally, they can also assist with other tasks such as answering messages and responding to comments.

A VA can focus on the tasks that you might forget to do, like following up on emails. Although a virtual assistant can't replace you, they can help you stay organized. You can use them to keep track of your tasks and they have more focus, so they are better at remembering those follow-ups. They're also great at keeping up with correspondence. Megan told us that she loves to have her VAs do follow-ups.

"I frequently have to follow up with my clients regularly to get them to complete our action items. Instead of me trying to remember to follow up with them each week, and marking down what I still need from them, I have my VA do it for me."

If you’re looking for a way to free up your time so that you can focus on revenue-generating activities, an assistant might be the answer. We have lots of experience hiring and managing assistants who are highly trained in all sorts of administrative tasks. Get started by calling us today for a consultation!

Is your business stealing from you?

You may be a solopreneur and the only one running your business, yet your business could still be stealing from you. How, you might ask? That can't happen since I am the only one in charge. 

Well, here's how. If your business is stealing time from your spouse, children, and even your personal life, your business is stealing from you. 

Your business is taking from the people and things you love; it may be stealing from you. One definition  Merriam Webster uses for stealing is: to appropriate to oneself or beyond one's proper share: make oneself the focus of....

If you can't spend time with your spouse because of your business demands, the business is sealing from your spouse. Likewise, when your business takes time from your self-care or your children, the business is taking what doesn't belong to it.

You say you are only borrowing those things, and they can be paid back when your business takes off. That is disingenuous. No one knows what the future holds. Time is not to be bargained with. 

Our business model is designed to give you time. We are the security guard in loss prevention. We keep your business from stealing from you.

Interactive blog post

Have we achieved national "doublethink"? You know the Orwellian concept that the totalitarian state mechanisms get you to hold two contradicting options in your thinking process and see them both as correct or valid. 

I see this everywhere today. It might be because I'm actively looking for it. So I am asking the question, "where do you see doublethink?" Would you please provide some examples? 

Propaganda proliferation

Propaganda is filling the airwaves, everywhere there is news broadcast, whether over the Internet, AM/FM TV radio wave airwaves, or cellphone signals, it doesn't matter which vehicle it is; it's filled with lies, distortion, and half-truths. There is some truth but very little, and it's now being throttled, banned, and censored.

Did you know that in the book of Genesis in the Bible, God pronounced all days good except the second day in the creation account? 

Genesis 1:6-8 ESV

6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse[a] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." 7 And God made[b] the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven.[c] And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

It may be that in that expanse is where Satan dwells. You know the person in that expanse, don't you? The expanse is the air.

Ephesians 2:2

in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

Well, if you have half a brain, you know that when government, big corporations, and big tech get on the propaganda wagon, it's like living in a totalitarian state. Pravda, Goebles, and Orwell would be blushing at the blatant propaganda mill the U.S. elites are putting out. 

We have met the enemy before, and he is defeated. So when and where is the only question. 

Dress for the virtual office

 We work from our home office. As Virtual Assistants, we have the luxury of not having to travel to the office. We have a garden room we turned into a fantastic workspace. 

We have always done in the home workspace is that we dress like we are going to the office. Both my wife and I don't feel comfortable in workout clothes or sweats. We work better when we dress professionally. I believe it has a subliminal effect on the level and quality of our work. 

I am a firm believer in the adage that you can only work to your appearance level unless you are one of those super geeks that never see the light of day and prefer to look like subterranean nerdy creature. That being said, you are dressing for success because that's the cultural norm.

Gentlemanly behavior and etiquette.

Here I will define gentleman in a generic sense. So yes, ladies, you can self-identify as a gentleman  (in this context) and still be a lady and a female as God made you. 

Polite and civil behavior seems to be out of fashion today. However, I don't know precisely when manners became passe. 

An especially disturbing trend is the common acceptance of profanity. Not only is it unbecoming, it just shows a lack of intelligence as well as good breeding. 

Rudeness is rampant in 2021. That can't be a good thing for our society. 

I grew up in Appalachia in a small industrial area it wasn't around a very sophisticated society. However, we were instilled with rudimentary manners. Howbeit we were not well-bred in the customs of polite society.

I am reading about and studying gentlemanly manners and hope to be a polished gentleman someday. But, in the meantime, I'll stick to being a nice reformed red-neck.

October is here.

 October is one of my favorite months. I grew up in central Pennsylvania, and it was so beautiful when the leaves changed color. The mountains turned into a blazing glory of orange, reds, and assorted other fall colors.

There was always a chill in the air, and pumpkins and apple cider were the seasonal traditions. As a kid in the 50's Halloween and trick-or-treating were a kid's sweet delight.

One of the reasons I moved from North Texas to Missouri was to have the pleasure of seeing fall colors. I am getting in the mood for a cold snap. I do love four seasons and fall most of all, especially October. 

When society breaks down

I assert that we are at the breaking point of our current social structure. Listen, and one can see the hate and vitriol been spawn from the media. Look around at the protests and gatherings that are becoming more violent. Check the hate on social media (even if the moderators see the hate in a biased way). 

Families, friends, and co-workers try to maintain civility, but it's an uneasy peace and a shaky truce. Churches are divided internally and externally. Secular organizations maintain an unstated ceasefire, but it is only a comment away from being fractured. 

One can walk into a public space and see the divide between the masked and unmasked as they glare at each other. That is, if you live in a place without a mandate. But, if masks are mandated, the hostility gets suppressed and it seethes under the surface. 

Bumper stickers expressing viewpoints can often lead to folks flipping the bird or honking and gesturing at the offending driver. Likewise, neighborhood yard signs that state political or religious views are often the source of fights, displays of rage and anger, and sometimes vandalism.

The fabric that is holding society together is stretched to the tearing point. It may not take much before things decline into civil war or chaos. 

Then anarchy becomes the dictatorship and tyranny of the strongest survivor to reclaim some sense of order before everyone is destroyed. 

The breakdown is inevitable and is just a matter of time. 

God Wins!

When we read the last headline on the last day of human history, it will read "God Wins!" I believe this not because I feel it: not because science tells me. I believe this because God has told us in His Word to us. 

No matter what side of escatology you come down to, it all ends with a big "W" for God. So let's occupy until He comes. We need to stay on mission, preach the gospel, and love our fellow believers. We are called to give a good testimony to those outside the church. We are to give of our time and life to pay it forward. A man is no fool who gives away that which he cannot keep and invests it in a place where he can't lose. 

So, then if God wins in the end, all I can say is (only boomers get this): Mad Mag's prophet Alfred E. Neuman  "What me worry?"

Do you think Jesus will spike the football? 

New stages

I turned 70 on Sunday. Wow! I remember as a kid listening to the song "Old Friends" by Simon and Garfunkle, the poignant words struck me, "how strange it must be to be seventy". Well, I am there now.

I feel great. I hit the gym a couple of times a week. I have some askes and pains but nothing major. My body takes a lot longer to heal when I do strain a muscle but I expected that, My mind is pretty sharp. I do daily brain game exercises that work different parts of the brain. 

I try to learn new skills every day. I am learning to touch type and reading regularly, to name a few. 

Now, is a time to make a final lap around the track. I want to finish the race strong. I pray like Apostle Paul.

II Timothy 4:6-8 NKJV

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

I want to finish strong and engaged in the fight. It looks like I am at the right stage of history to be in a fight.

Lies

 There are a lot of lies and liars out there nowadays. I don't know if it's gotten worse or that we see it now and can expose it more on the internet and social media. 

It seems like facts and truth are becoming a scarce commodity. 

Twisting the truth and shades of the facts seem to be normative. I don't know why but even product reviews need to be run through a fake detector  https://www.fakespot.com/analyzer. 

There used to be a joke about how you can tell a salesman is lying to you: his lips are moving. That can be said of doctors, politicians (of course), news media talking heads, and (sadly) an SBC president and pastor. 

Jesus said in John 8:32, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  We need that more than we ever did. 

Overwhelmed

 In today's rapidly changing world I feel overwhelmed. The faster I learn some new technology the more stuff comes down the pike. I feel like a hamster on a treadmill that just keeps speeding up,.

I just wonder if we humans have a breaking point. 

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Fundamentally business hasn't changed in my lifetime. Oh, sure, the products and services have evolved, but business books of the '50s are still relevant when it comes to the fundamentals. 

Have a great product at a reasonable price and treat people fairly. It is simple and straightforward. Don't overcomplicate things.

Advertising, prospecting, marketing, sales, etc., haven't changed fundamentally except in the avenues or type of venues that are used to transmit the message. 

Trust issues

 I have severe trust issues. If you don't believe me ask my wife. 

Growing up, I was betrayed by parents, siblings, coaches, teachers, and just about everyone I ever knew. I know this is common by a lot of folks in this fallen world. But at various critical times, I was brutally betrayed by people in my life. I have forgiven those folks, and I moved on the best I could. 

But now, in the world of fake news and false information, it is getting me to fall back into my mistrust of everything and everybody. 

The only thing I trust in is the Word of God as it is written in the Bible. I could justify this trust anytime you want to contact me. However, I am not going to get into that here on this blog. 

But outside of that, everyone short of the Divine is subject to my mistrust. I don't even trust myself. 

How can I function then? Well, it's because I always assume the worst and live my life with my eyes wide open. 

Some glaring things I mistrust (in no particular order):

• the media
• entertainers, politicians, and athletes opinions
• gas station sushi 
• my government
• the CDC
• The U.N.
• T.V. preachers
• commercials
• salespeople 
• Nigerian Prince's email 
• Public school teachers
• College professor's 
• Facebook administrator's
• Google