So, I was thinking...

Appearance

Happy FriYAY ​

Sad for a Moment ​

A sadness came over me this morning. I was actually brought to tears. It was somewhat out of nowhere, actually. Perhaps how happy I've been lately has been hiding something deep down that finally bubbled up...hehehe Well, I immediately started to pray and talk to Jesus when I started to cry. It didn't take long for His Peace to comfort my soul and then I suddenly found myself doing some Bible research on a few topics. So, what began as sadness turned into Joy. And it set a momentum for the rest of the day. It turned out to be a fantastic Friday...hehehe

Painting Contest Results ​

The results are in! I had entered my painting in the art context at work the other day. My work received 1 vote...LOL And it wasn't me...LOL I voted for a different painting that caught my attention. I have no idea who voted for mine. But I'm so grateful. The winning painting had 67 votes. I didn't vote for the winner, though. I think the one I voted for had like 8 votes or something. It was so fun to be a part of the contest and to see my painting displayed on the internal website. I'm glad I did it. I'm mostly glad because the painting needed to exist. But it was also fun to see it along side all of the other works that also needed to exist. Congratulations to everyone who participated!

North Carolina ​

My plans for the North Carolina trip are coming together. As I said the other day, I'm planning to go to Disney with Dan and Corban next Friday. It's Corban's birthday. It will be fun to celebrate it with him at Disney World...hehehe After that, I'll start my drive up to NC. I may stay in northern Florida or southern Georgia. I'll finish my drive to Durham Saturday morning/afternoon.

I'm staying in a little duplex home in Durham, NC, from the 17th to the 24th. I'm driving home on the 24th. I'll be working Monday through Wednesday that week. When I arrive in Durham and unload my car, I'll probably go to Sprouts to get some groceries for the week. Throughout that week, I'll be checking out some parks and gardens in the area. Weather-wise, it's suppose to be similar to Florida...LOL

Thursday and/or Friday, I'll probably spend some time with Tyrese. She lives relatively close to where I'll be staying in another city. We are going to discuss details on Monday. One idea is to go to one of the lighthouses on the coast. I've been there before and hope we do go. It's so beautiful over there. We may end up going to the mountains too. It will be so nice to experiencing different types of environments all in one state...hehehe Like California, North Carolina is such a beautiful state.

Nemo's Dreamscapes ​

This week, I've been enjoying something called Nemo's Dreamscapes. It's a YouTube channel that features vintage music playing with nature sounds and cute little animated paintings. It's soothing to have them playing on my TV as I work. It helps to drown out the background noises of apartment living...hehehe Any of those sounds that I hear while Nemo's is playing just sort of blend in with Nemo's. So they are no longer distracting. Thank you, Chérie, for introducing me to this wonderful channel. Here is a short list of my favorites from this week:

Ministry and Church ​

Something I've been contemplating lately is what sort of ministry work God might be calling me to. I still don't have any real answers I understand, but it has been fun thinking and praying about it...hehehe One idea I've considered is building a community for prayer. That's what I did 25 years ago. A lot has changed with technology since then. It might be something I could see myself working on again.

I'm also thinking and praying about church. Right now, I'm sort of in a limbo. I've been virtually attending New Day Christian Church out of Port Charlotte, FL. I'm not sure it's where I'll land, though. I'm thinking virtual church is the best for me right now. I just need to find where God is calling me to go.

I'm a little concerned about where to tithe. Before now, it was clear that I'd give my first fruits to where I was being fed. But since I don't have a home right now, I'm praying about where they should go now. I'd don't feel strongly about giving it to New Day. This was a pay week. I ended up tossing it in a savings account for now with a memo to indicate it is for tithing. It's another thing I need to figure out...LOL

Writing ​

I've been juggling some writing projects. I have a feeling a few books will come out of this soon. At least one by the end of the year; which is pretty exciting. I ran across a tool I may look into trying called Writebook. It's a way for me to build and publish my library on my website. It will require me to set it up myself on my own server. It was built by some folks I've known of for quite some time in my industry. It isn't design for the average writer. But it is designed for software engineers like myself who also write...hehehe I think they built it for their technical documentation. But it also works really well for any style of literature. It might be a nice tool for my work.

I'm also thinking about looking into writing prompts. I gave Chérie a book of writing prompts for her birthday. I should have gotten myself a copy too...LOL I enjoy writing so much that I think it would be fun to use prompts when I'm not otherwise inspired. I've also considered journal prompts. I've enjoyed journaling with the daily devotional so much that I'd love to write in this journal every day. But I'm not always inspired to write. That's okay, of course. But it would fun to pull out a journal prompt from time to time and write based on that inspiration. I remember how great it was to write for 21 days straight in January during the fasting and prayer thing at church. So, I've been considering looking into journal prompts...hehehe

Conclusion ​

I'm not always good at wrapping up these journal entries...hehehe I suppose I don't have to wrap them up...LOL But I'm a writer and often feel as though I need to summarize or make some final statement. How about...

The End