Dear Friend...

Congratulations, friend. I edited this several times because I keep having things to say that I want to express publicly.

Thank you for being a Conrad, partner in crime, shoulder, crutch, brother, father, uncle, and friend when I needed one. I know I can be the biggest pain the ass known to man, and you have been the brunt of all of my problems lately.  For that, I apologize.  Please know that I love you, and that God loves you.  Read here what Proverbs 12:26 says about finding friends, "One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor."  Friend, you have been a guide to me.  You have inspired me to not give up on music when I wanted to so badly for a while.

But Friend, friendship doesn't come without playful competitiveness.  Paul writes in Romans, "Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do one another in showing honor."

In my recent bouts of negativity, you have shown to me that even though I feel alone, you are with me always, just like Job's friends were with him when Satan did all those nasty things to him. "Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him."

I would sacrifice my life for you, Friend.  "Greater Love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)

You keep me strong. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." (Proverbs 27:17)

You are my brother. "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity" (Proverbs 17:17)

But Friend, remember that there is someone who loves you more than I, and that is God.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16).

Friend, in conclusion, I just want to let you know how much you warm the deepest cockles of my heart.  Missing you is going to bring about a great wretched pain deep in the bowels of my gut that will take a long time to heal.

I'm not going to say Goodbye because that implies that our relationship is over and done for.  Instead, I want to say this.  See ya in a few!!!!

___________________
After I posted this, I just so happen to look at the Bible verse in the lower left hand corner.  This is what it was.

I Had A Black Dog, And His Name Was Depression

I want each and every one of you to watch this.  I want you to watch this if you suffer from depression, know someone who has depression, or don't even know what depression is.  Thanks to my friend who shared this with me on Facebook.

Love Is....

A friend posted this on Facebook.

"The truth is that the more intimately you know someone, the more clearly you’ll see their flaws. That’s just the way it is. This is why marriages fail, why children are abandoned, why friendships don’t last. You might think you love someone until you see the way they act when they’re out of money or under pressure or hungry, for goodness’ sake."

This is important.

"Love is something different. Love is choosing to serve someone and be with someone in spite of their filthy heart. Love is patient and kind, love is deliberate. Love is hard. Love is pain and sacrifice, it’s seeing the darkness in another person and defying the impulse to jump ship."
– The Great Kamryn

“Are you listening to me? Really listening?”: Reading Log #3

[This paper was written for the Synoptic Gospels class at Capital University, where I am seeking a minor degree in religion.]
Jesse Harmon

RELIG 330

November 11, 2013

“Are You Listening To Me?  Really Listening?” Reading Log #3

            As promised in my last reading log, I was going to do this one by starting off by reading the Gospel of Luke.  I realized that as I read through the three gospels, I tended to write down more about what caught my eye when I first started reading the gospels, then when I finished reading them.  I wrote more about Matthew and Mark than I did about Luke.  So this time, I started with Luke.  My theory was proven again.  I wrote a lot about Luke and Matthew, but the page I reserved for writing notes about Mark is barren.

Close Reading: The Transfiguration

[This paper was written for the Synoptic Gospels class at Capital University, where I am seeking a minor degree in religion.]

Jesse Harmon

RELIG 330

October 28, 2013

The Transfiguration

            All three synoptic gospels have the account of Jesus’ transfiguration in them.  The Transfiguration was the point where Jesus literally “transformed” his image in front of Peter, John, and James.  For this analysis, I am using The Living Bible translation.  Later on in the paper, I will perform what Thomas Jefferson did and clip all three gospels apart, and put them together in the order I think would work the best as telling the story of the Transfiguration.