The water in the coffee’s hot.
The sand upon the beach is too.
When simple duty will not do
temptations offer what they’ve got.
So, should I stray or should I not?
A vortex has much snow to hurl.
With stormy wrath the wind will whirl
me where I do not want to go.
I see the signs. They tell me: “No.
Rejoice and stay. Let faith unfurl.”
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “whirl” to be used a C line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge.
Dale offers as a prompt “the cold light of day” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.
I am trying to learn Hebrew. I hope to get far enough to be able to read Genesis. I thought I knew the first verse already, but with a little exposure to what I don’t know even that verse remains a mystery.
בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃
Genesis 1:1 Bible Hub, Westminster Leningrad Codex
The first thing one needs to learn is the alef bet. Here’s a song to help with that which I found among the many helpful videos on the Hebrew with Mayim channel. One can also learn these letters from the Learn Hebrew With Daniel channel, and many other places. Although that eye makes me suspicious, I figure if I ever understand this video I would finally know the alef bet. I’m not there yet.
One approach to creation is to think of God creating the Hebrew language first and then using that language to speak reality into existence out of nothing. That seemed to be Rabbi Mordechai Kraft’s message. His talk fascinated me from the beginning to the abracadabra at the end.
Rabbi Michael Skobac goes into this in even more detail. Perhaps there is also a code in the Torah as Rabbi Moshe Zeldman suggests. All of these people have convinced me that Hebrew is a language set apart, a holy language, perhaps very close to the “Edenics” spoken in Eden according to Isaac Mozeson.
So I’m trying to learn Hebrew and combine whatever I might ultimately learn with a Christian perspective.
Love comes when the mountains ring
and valleys rise to roar.
They rang, I fear.
Oh, can’t you hear?
I love you more and more.
The prompt for Chel Owens’ A Mused Poetry Contest is to write “a funny love poem inside a greeting card”. Eugenia’s Weekly Prompt is “romance”. It is Valentine’s Day. I am only hoping the above is romantic and funny enough.
A very short story of mine, “Moon Walk”, was published in Whispers and Echoes. It also has a Valentine’s Day theme. I am grateful to the editor for selecting it.
Back in freezing Chicago as snow plows uncovered a buried street, Timothy learned at Headquarters that the raid in Miami killed his partner Bill. He delivered the zip file and reported the compromised safe house.
Timothy hoped Bill’s raid was successful, but he knew that any intel he’d receive should be viewed as psyops. Still, scraps of it might be true. From his back door to their communication system he identified and then disabled the assassin they hoped would take him out once he left the building.
Walking down the street with fresh snow falling Timothy smiled to think that those whiz kids at Headquarters wouldn’t believe how few bits he had to flip in that zip file to plow away their covers and expose them.
Denise offers the prompt word “plow” for this week’s Six Sentence Story. This story continues from Mark- Six Sentence Story. Next is Kaleidoscope – Six Sentence Story.
Around deception there is stealth.
It covers up the root word steal.
Deceivers hope we won’t reveal
that there is more than earthly health.
Behold the idol. See its wealth?
It rots. It burns. It turns to dust.
Without true change those dying must
resettle with the trash of hell.
Look down with dread. That dropping well
grows deep with lies betraying trust.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “steal” to be used in a B line of a décima for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge.
I was thinking of Revelation 21:8. The photos are an attempt to hint at what’s still available should one change one’s mind if one hasn’t already.
Dale offers the prompt “at night” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.
The above scene is taken from our balcony. Below is a street view in the same direction.
A very short story of mine, “Five Second Rule”, appeared in Whispers and Echoes. I am grateful to the editor for accepting it.
In the video below Spike Psarris presents his testimony of how he went from being an atheist believing in deep time evolution to becoming a Christian by first accepting creationism.
Which do you think is more likely? (1) The Big Bang, or (2) The Six 24-Hour Day Biblical Creation? Be honest.
Psarris originally thought the Big Bang also. After all, that’s what he was taught from an early age. But he no longer does. If you want to hear some of the details justifying his creationist position, here is a talk by him on distant starlight, a major challenge to both positions.
Some naturalists hope the Big Bang is true because it avoids a privileged center (Earth). They replace the Creator with a random supernatural explosion. Christians, however, are divided on whether they should compromise by incorporating the Big Bang in their understanding of reality, or not.
If they do, they compromise on Genesis (and Revelation). What they read in those books becomes mythology. If they don’t, they wonder if their position can be justified. Given explanations from people like Psarris and Russell Humphreys or those in the documentary Is Genesis History?, I think biblical creationism can be justified. That means there is no need to compromise.
Behold the snow. Behold the tree.
It’s getting old this mystery
of why stuff likes to stay so cold.
Away! Begone! Let spring unfold.
Eugenia offers “winter” for this week’s prompt.
From two used phones Timothy constructed one that could not be traced but could connect through the command center’s back door. He entered the passcode TheHappySpiderIsWatchingYOU.
Given the compromised safehouse, he got right to the point, “What was that all about?”
“You have the zip file, don’t you?”
Since he knew it would annoy them, Timothy said, “I also have the spider’s mark.”
Timothy waited until they blinked, “You wouldn’t dare.”
Denise offers the prompt word “mark” for this week’s Six Sentence Stories. This story continues from Ocean – Six Sentence Story.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 