#come to jesus

[ae-cha08]

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Oooh, Barry... Hunger by name, hunger by nature.

[end0r4]

Wednesday, American Gods: Come to Jesus s01e08

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

Source

[arviyya]

hi hi hi i wanna know #25

*insert that smirking emoji you always use*

Oh, I love this one.

So, does everyone remember Tiger King? I swear this is going somewhere. If you haven’t seen it, I assume you at least know what it was about. 

It was quite the fascinating social experiment - I remember watching it, jaw hanging open, eyes wide because- 

Well, because-

Do you remember how obsessed Carol and Joe were over their own image, their “success”, their money, wealth, fame, etc.? Remember how the show was just as focused on that as they were? 

Remember how the show opened with Richard Kirkham on his journalistic goal to document the exotic animal trade and somehow got lost in the dramatics? Remember how he proved the theme of the show within minutes of the first episode? 

Carol, and Joe, and the audience at large proved the theme by being so focused on the soap opera, the drama, their image, their fame, their money, their success, that everyone forgot the reason they were there in the first place. Everyone forgot about the tigers. They were the whole point - the reason the documentary started. The whole theme of the show was the exploitation of animals for one's own gain. I thought it was a brilliant way to tell that story, because they showed the theme to us, and through us, they proved it.

At this point, you may be asking yourself, what this has to do with fanfiction? Well, I’ll tell ya. 

The minute you focus on your image, your money, your “success”, your drama, or your “fame” is the minute that fanfiction loses it’s integrity. The minute it becomes your brand, is the minute it loses it’s point. 

You might also be wondering ‘murph, what does this have to do with taking care of yourself in fandom spaces?’ well, i wrote a whole explanation but i might leave it up for interpretation. Just don’t be the Carol Baskin, or Joe Exotic of fandom. Don’t forget about the tigers, it’s the whole reason we are here. Fandom is much more enjoyable when you focus on the creativity and genuine friendships, if you care too much about your image - you will find friends who care about that too. And, trust me, you don't want friends who give a shit about your image.

I, of course, know that you @shoopsthereitis don't need to be told these things, but for anyone reading- thanks for coming to my ted talk. Also, sidenote - I love that I'm associated with that smirking emoji lol.

[crucifiedwithhim]

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Romans 10:4 [KJV])

[logankisseswade]

COME TO JESUS(Music Video)-Mindy Smith

[kamandzak]

Excerpt | A Many Splendored Thing

Context: in the Come to Jesus/all is lost chapter, protagonist Tim hears the truth about the night that changed both his and Lily’s lives and how their traumas are connected, unraveling as his mother reveals details of his injuries and why she  inadvertently caused him to be an unreliable narrator.

  “The call came through around midnight. I thought it was you calling on your drive back from the clinic but it wasn’t. Someone from Northwestern’s hospital was on the line and told me that there had been an accident on campus and they couldn’t ID the victim but my number was the most recent call. They asked me if I knew anyone who was supposed to be there that night and I told them. I told them my adult son was teaching a class.   “You were so cut up they didn’t know if you were you so they asked if I’d drive up and see for myself. It was on the road that the doctor called and read off a laundry list of things that were wrong. I even remember telling him to not say anymore because we couldn’t tell for sure and he said he had to because no matter who it was, I was going to see some horrific things.   “There were so many injuries, baby.” Mom hadn’t called me baby in so long. “I didn’t know what half of them meant and with each passing mile and vague explanation I felt like I was going to vomit. Over and over I repeated a mantra in my head: there’s no way it’s him. There’s no way it’s him, there’s no way it’s him… again and again. I would get to the hospital and meet the parents of the actual victim. I would console them as they learned of punctured lung and the closed brain injury and the whole left side of his torso being ripped open and his left arm, which was degloved, whatever that meant, and the blood loss and the-.” Mom choked on her tongue and this time I pulled her close to me. “And the ear that he could be losing and the eye that wasn’t much better and the cuts and the dents and the crushing reality that he had a five percent chance of making it through the night. It couldn’t be you,” she shook and I found myself having a difficult time keeping it together for her sake.   “You were in surgery for so long and when they brought you out I was waiting in the hallway and I had to come to terms with everything. It was like a sledgehammer to the chest. Beneath the sheets and the tubing and the gauze was my entire world. It was a nightmare. A crippling dream I couldn’t wake from.   “It was when you were rushed off at five in the morning; when you started choking and the blood…. My God the blood was everywhere and the room was thrown into madness. I’ll never forget being left at a set of swinging doors and a nurse with these… these big eyes and a beautiful hummingbird necklace sat me down and said she wanted to tell me what was happening. I remember asking her if you were going to make it and she wouldn’t answer me.”

  Lily once described what it was like to watch me look at myself in the mirror; the way her stomach would drop as my blank stare spoke more than any words could, the way I couldn’t tear my eyes from my reflection, how the tremors would start without me knowing. I hadn’t understood and thought I never would.

  That is, until I sat with my mother as she struggled to breathe.   “She told me that there was too much damage and they were going to take your lung out to give you a chance. She said you were bleeding internally and maybe they could hold it off long enough for you to start healing. And then she said she wasn’t sure if it was going to work. She told me when you got out, I needed to sit with you and tell you everything I wanted you to know. She held my hands and told me she had a young son and while she didn’t know what I was going through, she knew what she’d want to do if there was a chance he would never wake up. I asked her if she thought you’d make it off the table.”   “What did she say?”   “She slid closer to me and put an arm around me and asked me if I had anyone she could call to come be with me. My first thought was Maura but I knew Lily and Harrison were going out and she was going to be waiting at home for them to return. I figured I’d see her eventually but I needed to make sure you were alive first.”   “When did you go back to campus?” Mom inhaled deeply,   “A couple days later. I knew I needed to get home to pack an overnight bag and tell Maura what happened. The GPS took me past the school and suddenly I was parked in a lot near the site. The road had been cleared and the asphalt hosed down but it’s like I could smell the blood as I got out of the car. The world started to close in and I started walking fast, the world blurred and body in a conflicting state of needing to know who did had hurt you and wanting to wake up from what had to be a delusion or a fever dream.   “My phone beeped and I couldn’t stop shaking as I scrambled to see if it was the hospital. Maura’s name burned my eyes, asking me if I wanted to chat and that she had to tell me something. It hit me that I was going to have to explain the past few days not just to her but to the world and I couldn’t respond. I was floating out of my body, desperate to no longer feel. And-.” My own phone beeped and I threw myself across the couch in hopes that it was Lily. It was not.   “And what, Mom?”   “There was a camera on the building in front of me. I was staring straight into its lens. I don’t remember going into the building or talking to anyone or what I said or how I said it. The next memory was sitting in my car, a still image of the front of the car and a figure just behind. I knew it was you. I just… I knew.   “The license plate was one I had seen numerous times when visiting Maura. I drove home and showed up on her front porch with the picture ready. Her eyes were red and I thought maybe somehow, some way, she had heard but they weren’t red from sadness and she once again cried as we hugged tightly and she told me that… that….”   “That Lily was leaving. That they had been in Chicago,” I took Mom’s hands. “That Harrison had hit a deer and refused to pull over.” Lily had relayed the events of the evening to me many times though now they hit different. “That by the time they got home, she believed him. That she saw blood on the car the next morning. You didn’t want her to blame herself for possibly killing me. I get it.”

[aniah-who]

Sitting in the presence of the Lord with great company is a feeling so rich and so beautiful.

They stared back. (Assinie, Ivory Coast, 2019)

[nighthawkes]

I must sleep. Sleep is the mind-healer. Sleep is the big-life that brings total ability to fucking do anything. I will face my bed. I will permit the blankie to pass over me and snores to pass through me. And when sleep has gone past I will turn the outer eye to greet the new morning. When the sleep has gone there will be everything. Energy and will to live will remain.

[twilightstarflower]

I was born with dawn of spring Monday, March 25, 1985

I'll leave his fate to his boy.

[2sfa]

Why Must We Come To Jesus Just As We Are? https://www.upliftingchrist.net/why-must-we-come-to-jesus-just-as-we-are

If you sense your need and see your sinfulness - do not wait to make yourself better, thinking that you are not good enough to come to Christ.

[logankisseswade]

this is why I'm Pro Life people

Miracles can and will and do happen

Praise God for he/she is incredible

🌹🙏❤️

[princelyonsdivinewizdom1]

[potatofu-art]

"The Hermit stands alone on the top of a mountain. The snow-capped range symbolizes his spiritual mastery, growth, and accomplishment. He has chosen this path of self-discovery and, as a result, has reached a heightened state of awareness."