April 16, 2023 DDF Breathes New Life Post/YMCA song

 I went to a baseball game over the weekend. It still amazes me when the song YMCA plays age just doesn’t matter. Young and old come together to loudly sing and make the letters with their hands and arms. You can’t help getting swept away the beat and just the lifting of spirits the song requires. Hard to stay in a bad mood when that song is played.

Here is a bit of trivia.
1.Do you know what YMCA stands for?
Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)

2. Do you know who the audience the Village People were trying to reach?
Down and out city dwellers. The band’s front man, Victor Willis, based the lyrics on his own experiences and wanted to reach out to young urban Black youth. The band’s costumes also say all youth are welcome at the YMCA as it provides more than just a place to stay to get off the streets.

3. Do you know the meaning behind the lyrics?
First verse: if you are homeless and broke you have a place that will take you in to take care of your basic needs.
Second verse: the YMCA can help you get your life back on track so swallow your pride and come in to get help so you can fulfill your dreams.
Third verse: the people at YMCA have common lives who faced dire straits, depression, and just a feeling no one cared, but it is here you will find people who see you favorably and want to help you succeed.

4. Do you know how the YMCA dance came to be?
In 1979, the song was played on “American Bandstand”, and it was the audience that created the hand and arm letter moves to spell out YMCA. It stuck and has been one of the most iconic songs charted on billboard charts.

5. Do you know where the music video to YMCA was filmed?
It features a real YMCA branch in Manhattan, New York. It is the one that Village People’s Randy Jones (AKA Cowboy) frequented when he first came to Manhattan in the mid 70’s.

I thought about the YMCA song’s intention by uplifting young men and to empower them to take the control back so they can be successful in all areas of life. It was a great moment to sing out the lyrics and know it is a fun song with a powerful message. Discouragement can be overwhelming for young people. My podcast is about my week of listening to heart-broken displaced families. So many stressors and nowhere to take them. Resolution seems so far away or even impossible.

Like this song speaking to youth and their potential, I read the Apostle Paul’s advice to the young Timothy.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).

Enjoy the song and just listen to the lyrics to find so many nuggets of hope and value of our youth. Prayers for our children and how culture has warped so many aspects of their lives. May they find the love and communication they crave as I present some examples from my week on my pod cast.

 Prayers we become missionaries in the halls of government.

Politics matter “saying no to mastectomy or hormone therapy or questioning gender identity decisions is not neglect. Parents should have no say in their kids’ health.”

Washington Democrats passed a bill SB 5599 that states if a minor runs away form home, they can receive “gender affirming care” including surgeries without parental consent and without the state being compelled to tell the parents where their child is.

The compelling reasoning for the bill is to protect trans kids from abusive households. But there is NO requirement that abuse is even alleged.

They define another reason to keep this from parent is the youth is “seeking or receiving protected health care services.”

“Protected health care services” means gender affirming treatment as defined in RCW 74.09.675. This included facial feminization surgeries, breast reductions, or breast implants.

It is to the point that a parent even questioning your kid’s newly claimed identity is abusive.

Who is using kids to show how evolved they are on gender identity? Where will they be when a broken child is finally returned to the family? Where will they be if the child regrets the decisions that are now irreversible.

Virtue signaling = the earning of social currency  

Blessings to you all,

dreamsdontfade.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9OO0S5w2k

Be an informed citizen: Public Comment on Nevada Legislation Bills and Resolutions

 

“This is undeniably a nation settled by Christians and founded upon Judeo-Christian principles. But it’s undeniable that the culture has become hostile toward many of those principles. There was once a time when it was normal to profess Christianity and adhere to Christian morality. But like Daniel, we now live in a culture that demands us to compromise our principles.” Robert J. Pacienza

Politics needs Christianity and the Bible. Because without it, it is a godless pursuit.

NELIS

Here is the site to help you monitor and submit your public opinion on Assembly, Committee, and Senate Bills:

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/82nd2023/Bill/9889/Opinions

OR

Go to   https://www.leg.state.nv.us/

Click on NELIS. This will give you the NELIS Home Page.

The first thing you must do if you want to interact with NELIS is register/sign in. (See upper right corner of page.) You only register once and then sign in with your username and password.

Click on Legislation (upper left of page) and then click on All Bills and Resolutions.

In the box under the word Filters, type the bill number.  In this case SB131. Click on the box Apply Filters and bill number will appear below. Click on the bill number.This will take you to the Overview page for the bill.

Scroll to the bottom of the Overview page and click on Submit Opinion or View Opinion Stats. Select a position (Support, Opposition, or Neutral), enter your personal information requested and click on Submit.

****You can also track a bill-you get notices so you can monitor bills you are most interested in. The majority of people sign up for the free version.

You can now track Bill Draft Requests (BDRs), Bills (when available), and Budgets (when available) using your PLT account.

    https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/82nd2023/Subscriber/Home/NewSubscriber

 

 

 

April 7, 2023 DDF Breathes New Life Post/Easter and Resurrection Day

 I can’t take credit for this explanation as I have taken it from a very wise and valuable gem who is a retired teacher and wife of a pastor. I asked her if I could use it and she graciously said yes.

Why do we Christian’s hunt for Easter eggs? Many churches today offer the Easter egg hunt following their services that just honored the resurrection of Christ. I’ve been bothered by this, so I had to check it out…

The Orthodox Christian church in Mesopotamia in the early centuries would paint the eggs red for the blood of Christ and give them out on Easter, as the people had given up eggs for Lenten and it was a treat to be able to resume eating them.

Early Christian missionaries hid Easter eggs painted with biblical scenes for children to find. The children would find the Easter eggs and tell the story associated with the paintings. Therefore, early Easter egg hunts helped children learn about the significance of Easter.

One of the earliest Easter egg hunts that most resembles the modern Easter egg hunt can be traced to Martin Luther. Martin Luther was a key leader in the Protestant Reformation. During this time, men would hide eggs for women and children to find. The joy the women and children experienced as they found eggs mirrored the joy the women felt when they found Jesus’ tomb empty and realized He had risen.

Eggs represented rebirth and new life, just as knowing Christ is for the Believer. So… if the imagery presented by the egg is explained to children, then I am all for the Easter egg hunt. If the hunt is used as a drawing card to bring people to a social event, then I am not. Let’s teach our children what the egg hunt means— it can tell the story of Jesus and new birth and joy! It’s all about Jesus, people!

What does this weekend mean to you as it is resurrection Sunday? In my final testimony that is in my manuscript is one of healing. After all that was done, the courts completed their job. I found myself moving from one church to another. My mom was searching, and I was along on the journey. We went to a church where the women/girls couldn’t wear make-up and always in a dress even while swimming. They were very good to us. One of the days we were there my mom decided to get baptized and I am not sure if I was fully present for the decision to be baptized, but I was baptized the same day as my mother.

Here is the miracle part. I stood in the water physically injured. When he dunked me under, I know it was just a second, but time stood still under that water. The warmth surrounding me and not really hearing anything audible but just a feeling like there was someone under the water with me. Then as I came up from the water there were two hands reaching for me. Not behind me but in front of me. All I could see behind those hands was white and looking up not recognizable face. I am sure there were sounds all around me, but it was so silent, and I could make out was a gentle voice saying, “you are going to be alright.” Then I am back in real time with people praising and singing. When I did go back for a checkup I was healed.

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, on faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4: 4-6).

“Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).

“I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33).

The song I listened to over and over this week reached down deep into my inner soul. He laid down His life for me. No other can love me like Jesus. And “He knows my name.” Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Jimi Cravity bring these words to a crescendo of worship. Pour your heart out to Him as He walks with you and talks with you. Dear Jesus, You know my name and I thank you as I am your own.

Blessings to all,

Dreamsdontfade.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7owFiihXgg