Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice

Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice. God watches over us and gives us rest at night and is eager for the morning when we awake to commune with us and have conversations with us. This is the romance that God has with us as pair figure skaters have on the ice, Exhilarating, Intoxicating, Mesmerizing. Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice.

Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice. Figure Skating and Ice Dancing are the most romantic sports in the world. The glistening of the ice that has just been resurfaced by the Zamboni. The crescendo of the music that the figure skaters choose to do their routine too. The single male or female skater that tells a story with their routine on the ice. The pair skaters that display some of the most incredible, lifts, spins, death spirals, jump combinations and so much more. God has that same type of romance with us. Book of Proverbs – Romance On the Ice. Check out my website

R = Russian Split – A split jump in which the skater performs a straddle position with the legs and the body forming a “v” shape. Many also touch their toes. http://www.wickipedia.com. A lot of times in life we feel like we are doing a Russian Split ourselves. We are being pulled in so many different directions between our work life, family life, and trying to find personal downtime for ourselves that we feel tired, burned out, and overwhelmed. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. – Lamentations 3:22-24. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint. – Isaiah 40:29-31. God is right there with you when you are doing your Russian Split. Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice.

O = Open Stroke – In ice dancing, a step that is started close to the skating foot that doesn’t cross in front or behind. http://www.wickipedia.com. There are times in life when we are in an Open Stroke. We find ourselves in a position where we are stuck in the middle. We are trying to forge forward and cannot, and then sometimes when it gets too hard we want to give up and pull back, but we cannot. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. – 1 Timothy 2:5. God is our man in the middle. He stands as a bridge for us, so we never need to fear the Open Stroke. Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice.

M = Mirror Skating – Two or more skaters skating in such a way that they are mirroring each other. The opposite of unison skating. http://www.wickipedia.com. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. – Genesis 1:27. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. – 2 Corinthians 3:18. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? – 1 Corinthians 3:16. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. – Isaiah 41:10. God is with you skating through life with you. Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice.

A = Axel Jump – The only jump counted as a jump element that starts from skating forward. An Axel jump has an extra half rotation (180 degrees), and as all jumps are landed with the skater gliding backward. It was named after Axel Paulsen. http://www.wickipedia.com. Sometimes in life, we are moving forward smoothly, and then suddenly, we run into Murphy’s law and that takes us backward. We need to remember that God is strategically orchestrating your steps as Joel Osteen says. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. – Jeremiah 29:11. Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice.

N = Nationals – A country’s national championships, used to decide their national champion. The highest-level competition on the national level. http://www.wickipedia.com. Whatever your passion is in life ultimately you will be on a national stage. Whether you are aiming to be a singer your national might be an American Idol try out. If the passion is to be in the New York City Ballet or to be one of the New York City Rockets dancers, you must have a tryout. A pianist, a sports figure in the majors, a bull rider, an equestrian, a ballroom dancer, a public speaker, or an author/writer and many more. These all require you to step out into the spotlight and let your vulnerability show. Remember, fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. – Isaiah 41:10. Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice.

C = Camel Spin – A spin position during which the free leg is extended in the air in an arabesque position parallel to the ice. http://www.wickipedia.com. The Camel Spin position in skating looks beautiful but no doubt it is an awkward position for the skater. Jesus, when he was here on earth, was also put in an awkward position when Satan followed him into the wilderness to tempt him for forty days. When Jesus stood his ground and told Satan to go away the angels came and ministered to Jesus. The angels were around the whole time but once Jesus had completed his awkward position they were able to minister to Jesus. There are times when we all will be in the Camel Spin position in life but remember, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. – Matthew 28:20. Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice.

E = Extension – The way a body part is held in a stretched position. http://www.wickipedia.com. There is a story called The Potter and The Clay. The story is told of a couple who went to England to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and shopped at a beautiful antique store. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially tea-cups, and so spotting an exceptional cup, they asked “May we see that? We’ve never seen a cup quite so beautiful.” As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the tea-cup spoke… “You don’t understand.” It said, “I have not always been a tea-cup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, don’t do that. I don’t like it! “Let me alone,” but he only smiled, and gently said; “Not yet!!” “Then, WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. “Stop it! I’m getting so dizzy! I’m going to be sick!” I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly; ‘Not yet.’ He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then…he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. “Help! Get me out of here!” ‘Not yet.’ When I thought I couldn’t bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! “Ah, this is much better,” I thought. But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. “Oh, please, Stop it! Stop it!” I cried. He only shook his head and said. “Not yet…” Then suddenly he put me back into the oven. Only it was not like the first time. This time it was twice as hot, and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged… I pleaded… I screamed…I cried… I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up and just then the door opened, and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering “What’s he going to do to me next?” An hour later he handed me a mirror and said, “Look at yourself.” And I did… I said, “That’s not me, that couldn’t be me. It’s beautiful. I’m beautiful!” Quietly he spoke: “I want you to remember, then,” he said, “I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you’d have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. “I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. “And if I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.” God is your extension who is shaping you towards victory! Book of Proverbs – Romance On The Ice. Check out my website

Book of Proverbs – If You’re Going Through Hell Keep Going

Your boss asks you to work late. You miss your child’s school play. Your car breaks down on your way to work and needs to be towed. You forget to transfer funds to cover your cell phone bill and so the payment defaults and they suspend your service. The regular coffee shop that serves you your coffee every day makes the wrong order but, you need it anyway because you are making a presentation this morning at work and you need the pick me up. As you go through the revolving door of your office building it jams and once it starts to rotate again it jolts and spills coffee all over your business suit. You leave work early and go home to cook a special dinner for your child as an apology for missing the school play and the oven catches on fire and blows up. Book of Proverbs – If You’re Going Through Hell Keep Going. Check out my website

WHEN YOU’RE GOING THROUGH HELL KEEP GOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of us have had days like this at one point in our lives. You can either give up and think life is against you or, you can do like hockey players do when they get knocked down on the ice. They keep getting up time and time again. When faced with a challenge we can either wilt or rise above. Numerous biblical figures had tough days as well. Book of Proverbs – If you’re going through hell keep going. Check out my website

Job – lost his children, his wealth, his health, his livestock, and his crops. Job suffered tremendously but, in the end, God restored Job twice his original loss.

David – was anointed to be king by God but for several years of his life, he had to run for his life from King Saul. Eventually, David became Israel’s second and greatest king. Book of Proverbs – If you’re going through hell keep going.

Mary – was promised to Joseph in marriage at an early age. Mary’s claim of virginity caused her much stress once she was carrying the baby, Jesus. People looked at her differently, whispered, snickered, and stared at her. Mary, however, became the mother of mothers and one of the most prolific persons in the bible.

Joseph – was sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers. After he earned his master’s trust the lies of the master’s wife landed Joseph into prison. Joseph was able to interpret dreams and one day he interpreted a dream for someone who was also imprisoned and once released this man forgot his promise to Joseph to speak to the master to sing Joseph’s praises and promptly forgot about his promise for two years. When the master had a troubling dream, Joseph was remembered and was called before the master to interpret the dream. Once Joseph interpreted the dream for the master he was released from prison and became second in command behind the master. Joseph waited 13 years for his dream to come true.

There are a tremendous number of biblical figures that endured tough times but persevered and were rewarded by God. So, when you have those days that appear ready to destroy you remember the famous words of Winston Churchill, “When you’re going through hell keep going.” Book of Proverbs – If you’re going through hell keep going. Check out my website

Book of Proverbs- Dream Big

Book of Proverbs – Dream Big. Dream – a visionary; a strongly desired goal or purpose. Something that fully satisfies a wish. http://www.merriam-webster.com.

When we are young kids in school sometimes even as early as when we are in kindergarten the teacher asks us “what do we want to be when we grow up?” The regular answers range from a doctor, lawyer, teacher, ballerina, police officer, and firefighter. After mom and dad come into our room to kiss us goodnight we lay awake in bed staring up at the ceiling dreaming about what we said we wanted to become when we grow up. – Book of Proverbs – Dream Big. Check out my website

As we grow older and become adults the way for some of us becomes a winding road and, sometimes life gets in the way. The passion for our dreams lifts up, up and away just like the space shuttle when it leaves Kennedy Space Center. -Book of Proverbs – Dream Big.

Some of us, unfortunately, take those dreams with us to our graves. Others realize as long as you are still alive God has a purpose and a dream for you to fulfill and it doesn’t matter how old you are. Start today! – Book of Proverbs – Dream Big. Check out my website

Every four years we are fortunate to watch other’s dreams come to life with the Olympics. The 2018 Winter Olympics have come and gone and it was exciting to see the smiles on people’s faces and the stories behind their lives and what they had to overcome to be in the Olympics. The one theme that resonates with all of the participants is how grateful they are to be at the Olympics performing and living their dreams. – Book of Proverbs – Dream Big.

We were made in the image of God and God had dreams as well. This is documented in Genesis 1:1-31 and Genesis 2:1-25. – Book of Proverbs – Dream Big.

Genesis 1 King James Version (KJV)

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and overall the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you, it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Genesis 1:1-31

Genesis 2 King James Version (KJV)

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam, there was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

So Dream – Dream Big! Don’t take your dreams to your grave. Follow your bliss. – Book of Proverbs – Dream Big.

Congratulations to all of the medal winners from all of the countries represented in the 2018 Winter Olympics and a special congratulations to 17-year-old Red Gerard representing the United States who won the gold medal for snowboarding, and Shaun White who became the first snowboarder to win three gold medals at the Olympics. – Book of Proverbs – Dream Big.

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