#earthmover is 1 year old now..

[kapturkaptur]

reduction linocut, 40x30 cm, edited slightly

happy one year anniversary

[bumpkinspice0]

No One Knows the Trouble, Honey, That We've Been Through 1/3

Logan Howlett/ Wolverine x Mutant!FemReader

Chapter Rating: Mature

Word Count: 6.2k

Summary: You're an X-Man... well, you used to be. You left years ago, and in the aftermath of an attack on X-Mansion, Charles has asked you back to help repair the damage to the estate. An easy job for an earthmover like yourself. Still, after years away from your old home, you feel like a stranger again. So much has changed and you're not sure where you fit in anymore. The newest X-Men member isn't helping your mood either. You're not sure where they found Logan, and you're still trying to figure out what to think of him. The mans barely said anything to you. He's not the typical stray Charles would take in, but then again, neither were you when he brought you here.

AN: Like everyone else, my Wolverine obsession has also re-awoken. So I made a quick little 3 part fic to cope with it. Let's see if I can rest now This leans into the movie-verse of the x-men (He's tall because Hugh Jackman is tall lol) but I think I wrote it in such a way that you can imagine it in whatever version of the x-men you like best. Warnings: Emotional baggage, fluff, angst, self-doubt, anger issues?, alcohol, getting drunk, flirting, Logan is drunk babysitter, this is a little corny but I don't care, eventual smut

Series Masterlist

Part 2. Part 3

AO3 if you prefer to read there

_______

Stepping on the soil of the Xavier estate felt odd in a way you hadn’t anticipated, like standing on hallowed ground you’re unworthy of being on. Funny, years ago you only knew it as home. Now you’re just a stranger to the rocks beneath your feet. Still, Charles asked you back. He asked for your help.

The grounds around X-Mansion were unrecognizable.

They were decimated in this latest attack. Storm assured you all the children got out safely, thank god. The estate took all the damage. The house had been rebuilt but the surrounding lands were… rough. Ripped-up roots and protruding rocks where gardens and trees once stood. The walls of the mansion were now bare of its usual sprawling ivy, freshly reconstructed for probably the dozenth time in its life— another failed attack from another ignorant enemy. 

You look at the destroyed earth around you, the real reason you were here. This is why he called you.

Soil, dirt, and rocks were where your powers lie. You could move the earth itself, sense the minerals beneath your feet, see the world around you through the touch of stone. Dozer your friends called you when you first came here— short for Bulldozer . You always hated it but it’s unfortunately the name that stuck. Now it’s just… part of you.

You weren’t the best student. You were angry when you came here at the ripe age of 13 after a rather unconventional childhood. Things were done to you you could never forgive. In a lot of ways, you were still angry. Used by the people you should have trusted most. Seen as less than human. A tool. A mutant. 

And that’s when Charles found you.

The Professor took you in when he had no obligation to— and you fought every step of the way. You realize now it was your fear acting out rather than anger. Still, you were an X-Man… for a while. You thought you found your place. It was a good few years but you wanted more. You wanted to prove the world wrong. Be more than just a mutant. People always say a life well lived is always the best revenge. That’s what you wanted, a good life you forged for yourself despite the world's hatred towards you— and you left the X-Men behind to do it.

Once an x-man, always an x-man, Charles told you the day you left. Maybe some part of that was true, but you didn’t feel like an X-man anymore. It was your own fault, really.

Months and years rolled on and picking up the phone just got harder and harder. Dropping by to say hello started feeling intrusive. And eventually, it just became easier to do nothing at all. 

You stopped trying, but so did they. 

No, that’s not true. Jean tried. Storm tried. A letter or two every year. Missed calls that never got returned. You don’t know why you did it… or didn’t do it. Maybe you thought it would hurt less if you just tried to close the book on that chapter of your life. Be a new person. Something without the X-Men. They didn’t need you anyway. 

Really, it was probably that same fear from your teen years rearing its ugly head. Still that afraid, angry little girl. 

But Charles called, and you answered, and now you’re here. You’re here to help them get back up. 

You became a landscaper when you went off to make a name for yourself. Dirt was all you understood, as sad as that sounds. Still, it was work that made you happy. Funny how you left because you didn’t want your mutation to define you.

Charles treated it professionally like any other client would. The man didn’t expect charity and agreed to your usual fee plus an extra 50% to redo the escape tunnels under the mansion. 

I can’t pick my home up and move it, but I do my best to keep people guessing about its secrets, was Charles's reasoning. 

It was a big job. It would take you 2 weeks at least. Hopefully finishing up just in time for the returning students. You’d already been here 3 days and the emotional exhaustion was getting to you more than anything.

There was no ‘bad blood’ here. You were welcomed back with a chorus of cheers and endless hugs. It was… nice. Really nice. You did miss it here, you missed your old friends. Still, you couldn’t shake this feeling of disassociation stirring in your stomach. Yes, this was your home— your friends— but you’d alienated yourself. They’ve been nothing but kind to you and you still feel like a stranger because you left. You left and stopped trying and you’re refusing to try even now.

 Why was this all so scary?

You're reshaping the east garden beds when you feel eyes on you for the dozenth time today. You turn to see him standing there on the 4th-floor balcony, overlooking the decimated gardens. 

Logan . 

You only met him a few days ago. The newest member of the X-Men. The Wolverine. You’d heard rumors about him before. Tales of the rage, someone more animal than man. You’re amazed Charles took in someone like him, but then again he took you in too. 

You’d said less than 3 words to each other since you returned. When Scott introduced you he only gave a curt nod and lurked back into whatever corner he was occupying. 

You noticed he liked to stay on the sidelines. Silently occupy space without participating. He was always there when you turned around— like a shadow. He liked watching you work, you think. You could sense him lingering outside of the tunnel entrance you started in the basement the other day. This is the 4th time you’ve caught him lingering today.

You give him a casual flip of the bird. He retreats back inside as soon as your eyes connect with his. 

Fucking creep. 

“Dozer!” Storm’s voice pulls you from your unplanned staring contest. 

She and Jean step down into the rocky pit that was slowly starting to resemble a 3 tiered garden. You’d been working on the tunnels below the house since you got here, this was your first day outside. Even an Earthmover needed sunlight every once in a while. You couldn’t punch out your slew of confusing feelings in a dark hole in the ground forever. 

Of course they’d ambush you as soon as you stepped outside. 

“We have a surprise for you,” Jean announces proudly. 

“What— Why?” is all you manage to say. 

Idiot. 

“What do you mean why?” Storm doesn’t hesitate to grab your wrist and march you out of your pit. “Come on, it’s up at the garage.”

You let them drag you there, reminding yourself that these are your friends. The ones that kept trying to let you in and you’ve been an elusive bitch to since you got here. 

Try. Just try a little. They want you here. They do. 

You’re guided, presumably to the garage, by Storm while Jean diligently holds her hands in front of your eyes. 

“Please tell me it’s a new car,” You joke trying to lighten the mood. “My truck’s getting old.”

“Pfft, we don’t have that much money,” Jean nudges you slightly before you all come to a halt. She removes her hands. 

It’s not a car. It’s flowers. 

They’re absolutely beautiful. Hundreds of them in nursery trays laid out in front of the garage doors. Young blossoms but still vibrant with rainbows of color. 

Despite your connection with the Earth you never had power over plants, but felt a kinship with them in a way. Both beings that thrived in the dirt was your best guess as to why. You could sense them, feel them in your own way. Your dorm was a practical jungle when you lived here. Hell, your apartment today still was. 

A closer glance at the small garden reveals something more.

“It’s all your favorites,” Storm confirms, reaching down between the rows, “The ones we could remember at least. You had so many.”

She pulls out a bouquet, a small collection of the surrounding flowers. They must have made it themselves. Ororo hands it to you, her smile warm but her eyes sad in a way.

“Guys, I…” you choke out, pushing back the stinging tears. 

“Your thoughts are very loud,” Jean strokes your shoulder, “The gardens are yours. A reflection of you… for the rest of us. This is your home, you get to leave your mark on it.”

“We’re happy you’re back,” Storm joins Jean in front of you, “We’re happy you're home.”

Wordlessly, you collapse into the two of them. You’d make an ass out of yourself if you tried to talk right now anyway. 

Of course Jean knew how you were feeling. Of course Storm probably had the idea for this corny grand gesture. Of course, they missed you. They’re your oldest friends. Your sisters. 

You’re home. This is okay. It’s all going to be okay. 

__________

The sun has nearly set when you hear the garage door open from a distance, a fight echoing from inside. 

“Logan, be reasonable!” You recognize Scott’s aggravated voice.

“You’re a goddamn coward,” the wolverine growls back. Jean informed you this is a regular occurrence between the two of them. You’re not surprised. Logan seemed difficult, to say the least. 

You’re halfway up to the garage before you realize what you’re doing. What are you doing? Are you really going to try to break up a flight or just get a better spot for eavesdropping? There’s the roar of a motorcycle engine before you have time to decide. 

“ Logan! ” Scott shouts one last time before Logan peels out of the garage— right through the rows of your flowers that rested there. 

“HEY!” you shout after him. It’s no use, of course. He doesn’t bother to stop, already past the front gate by the time you reach the driveway. 

Scotts stands there alone at the edge of the garage, his hand on his visor… contemplating. 

“You’d have one witness if you're thinking about murder,” you make your presence known as you crouch down amongst the now mangled corpses of your garden. 

Asshole.

“Shit,” Scott's posture drops, almost embarrassed. His demeanor had changed so much from that young man you knew. The leader of the X-Men, he took himself so seriously now. It was cute in a way only Scott Summers could pull off. 

“What an asshole,” you rescue a box of untouched daisies. At least some of it was salvageable. 

“You have no idea,” Scott joins you, finding what flowers could be saved, “I’m sorry. He’s… difficult.”

“What were you fighting about?” you dare to ask, more to distract yourself than anything. 

Scott hesitates before he answers. 

“We were attacked by an offshoot of the Trask Institute. Extremists we didn’t even know existed. They came out of nowhere, and they’re still out there,” You see him scowl, silently scolding himself for not knowing more as a leader. He’d do the same thing in training.

The person who always put the most pressure on Scott was never The Professor. It was just Scott.

“Anyway,” he continues, “We don’t have an exact location, but Logan wants to hunt them down. Take ‘em out at the source, ya know?”

“And you don’t wanna do that?”

“We’ve taken enough hits right now.” He adds a bushel of ivy to your pile, “Best to wait until we have our feet back under us… or if they provoke us again.”

“Wouldn’t be good to be caught with your pants down again, though.” It’s not your place to question him anymore, but you do it anyway. 

“We’re monitoring them. They’re not a treat right now,” he lets out a deep sigh, shoulders dropping, “But that’s not good enough for Logan. He doesn’t plan. Just wants to go in guns blazing.”

“Ah, wild-west style.”

 “Like I said… he’s difficult .”

“That seems like a nice way of saying an absolute dick .” you attempt to lighten the mood and simultaneously quell the anger stirring in your stomach. He’d ruined your gift, your welcome home present— and he probably didn’t even notice. 

“He is a dick. A big one,” Scott scoffs, gaze lingering over the vegetative carnage, “I’m sorry he did this because of me…”

“Acts of random dickishness are not your fault, Summers.” 

Scott actually smiles at that one. 

“Did you like it at least? The flowers? The girls were so excited about it. We all wanted you to… never mind. You– you get it.”

You look at the mismatched rescues you’ve already gathered in your hands. Thank god you still had the bouquet in your room at least. 

“Yeah, Scott. I loved them.”

He gives a reassuring nod. Scott wasn’t much for words. That’s okay, you didn’t expect him to be. Yes, he’s the leader but there’s still so much of that quiet boy you see in him. 

“Logan will probably be gone for the night. I’ll talk to him when he gets back. I’ll fix this, Doze.” Scott assures you, that leadership role dropping so easily into place. Charles made the right choice with him. 

“That’s okay, Scott. I’ll take care of it myself.”

__________

Scott was right, Logan doesn’t come back until the following afternoon. You’re on the mansion's north side with Charles, showing him your layout plans, when you hear the roar of that stupid bike again. 

“Sorry, Charles,” you quickly step away from your old mentor, “I have to handle something.” 

“I hope you won’t be ruining my grounds even further while you handle this,” Charles tuts disapprovingly, completely aware of Logan’s transgressions from the previous night. Being psychic, he was no doubt also completely aware of just how angry you were. Jean did say your thoughts are loud after all. Still, he lets you go without another word.

This guy had been nothing but a creep to you since you got here, stacking more anxiety on top of your already overflowing insecurities. Strutting around like he owned the place. Looking at you like a piece of meat. You’d seen too many men like him in your life. He needs to be knocked down a peg.

“Hey!” You have his attention as soon as he kills the engine. He rolls his eyes as he lazily tilts his head in your direction. 

“What, sweetheart?” his face is painted over with an arrogance that was just begging to be slapped off. 

You’ll happily oblige.

Kicking your heel into the dirt you send a wave through the ground. A small pillar of rock shoots up under the bike. It falls under the sudden jolt, and so does Logan along with it. The shock on his face was already worth it. 

“What the hell?!” He sneers as he crawls out from under the bike. 

“Why don’t you watch where you're driving next time, asshole,” You dare to take a step forward. He scrambles to his feet, a metallic ring following the movements. 

Ah, there they are— the infamous metal claws. Now these you’ve heard stories about.

“That is quite enough,” Charles rolls up behind you, “I will not have this boorish display of dominance on my property.” 

To his credit, Logan is the first one to drop his defenses. He sheaths his claws with an irritated shrug. 

“Don’t know what the hell I did for any of this crap,” He practically mumbles. You resist the urge to throw a pebble at his head. 

“You wrecked my garden!” You can practically feel the ground vibrating in your anger. 

Logan looks down at his feet, remnants of the flora he’d unknowingly destroyed still scattered across the dirt. 

“Hell of a place for a garden, toots,” he scoffs, kicking at the now withered flowers, “What you want an apology, then?”

You kick another small wave towards him. He catches himself on the shaking ground this time, only giving a scowl your way. 

“Enough!” Charles comes between you. “If you insist on behaving like children, then you will be treated like children.”

“He started it!” against your better judgment you mockingly point a finger at Logan. Charles only offers a disappointed shake of the head. 

Once a student, always a student. 

Charles addresses you first, “You have my permission to use school funds to purchase more garden supplies, and I apologize on behalf of my newest pupil since he seems to be incapable of doing it himself. They were a gift after all,” he turns to Logan, “And you will take her to get them.”

“No.”

“Absolutely not.”

Both you and Logan protest at the same time. 

“If you insist on protesting then I’d like to remind you I can always make you do it in different ways,” It’s an empty threat, of course. One of his favorite tactics to use. You remember him making the same kind to you when you were a student. He sighs before making his way back inside the mansion, “I will not have more petty rivalries in this house at a time like this. See it done… Today.”

You’re left alone together, both staring down at your feet like scolded children. Well into your adulthood you’re still finding ways to disappoint Charles Xavier. You’re ashamed you let your anger get the better of you again. You thought you were past this. Better than this.

Logan may have been an ass, but he was an X-man too. A friend of your friends. You didn’t even give him a chance to fix this before you came barreling in fists first. Still, you don’t really regret it either…

Fine.

With a deep sigh, you’re the first to concede.

“I have a truck.”

Logan hesitates for a moment before finally looking you in the eye. 

“I’ll drive.”

“Absolutely not.”

__________

The drive to the Westchester Greenhouse was tense and completely silent. Now he’s following three paces behind you like a giant angry shadow. The sweet grandmas perusing the hydrangeas take one look at him looming behind you and change rows. It’s hilarious if you're being honest. You’d cooled down over the drive, you’re not entirely sure he has. Every step he takes is tense, you can feel it through the damp concrete floor.

You wonder if he’s aware of how intimidating he is. He has to be. That or he truly didn’t care. From what little you knew about this man it’s probably a bit of both.

“I don’t get why we’re here,” his gruff voice surprises you, “Can’t you just… grow more?”

“I can’t grow things,” you respond, placing a tray of tiger lilies in your cart, “Just move dirt.”

He hums and looks away in response. This was getting painful. If Charles insisted on sending you both out on this stupid little team-building exercise then you might as well try a little… for Charles.

“I can’t grow plants but I can… feel them.” You continue. 

To your surprise, he actually responds. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Maybe ‘ I can kinda talk to pants’ isn’t the best icebreaker topic but it’s a start. You look around rows of greenery, your attention landing on a crudely drawn sign that reads ‘ Man-Eating Plants. ’ Perfect. Most basic nurseries never knew how to take care of carnivorous plants properly. 

“Here I’ll show you,” you walk over to the small section of venus fly traps. Your suspicions were correct. Brown-tipped leaves and shriveled black heads could be spotted on nearly every plant. They’d repotted them in all-purpose soil without a second thought.

“Don’t tell me you can talk to them.” Logan comes to stand next to you. 

“No, nothing like that. But look,” you point at the crisping leaves of one plant. “They’re over-fertilized. They get their nutrients from bugs, not the soil. They’re roots don’t like what’s in the dirt and I can… feel that. So then I talk to the dirt.” 

Logan raises an amused brow. You’re not entirely sure if it’s mocking or genuinely curious. 

“So whaddya do ‘bout that?” he probes. 

Curious it is. You take a quick glance around, making sure no one is close enough to see. Thankfully the massive scary man at your side and some towering majesty palms are enough cover for you. 

“We take out what they don’t like in the soil. And what’s soil and fertilizer but some specific minerals.”

You’d first gotten the idea when you’d heard Magneto could rip iron directly out of people's blood. If his powers could be so precise, why not yours? It took years to master. You practiced by dumping table salt on the yard and trying to only summon the granules to your hands.

Same concept here.

You hold your hand over the small carnivorous beasts, feeling the small pellets of fertilizer mixed into their soil. You can feel the specific minerals and separate them out. Steadily, tiny pellets hovered out of each pot in neat rows and gathered above your hand. Once gathered you clench your open palm into a fist, the pellets gathering into one solid rock the size of a golf ball. 

“There,” the mineral-dense rock drops into your hand, “Come back in a month and I guarantee these guys will be doing better.”

“Oh, I’m never coming back here,” despite the bitterness of his words, Logan says them with a smile. He’s teasing you. 

“Well then,” you turn to him and place the rock in his jacket’s breast pocket, “There, a little souvenir to remember your forced trip to the greenhouse for being a jerk.” 

You’re walking back to the cart before he has a chance to respond. The air feels lighter between the two of you now. You don’t like that you had to be the bigger person when he’s clearly been the one in the wrong but… it’s something, you guess. 

Your little demonstration reminds you that you need better-treated soil if you’re going to make these gardens work. The ground around the mansion was fine but they needed something ritcher to give the plants a good head start. You could mix the soil yourself from around the area but it was infinitely easier to get already prepared bags of it here. Just a few for the topsoil should be fine. Charles said this was all on him, after all. 

You stop in front of the stacked bags of various soil mixes. You reach for the general outdoor plant mix. Logan’s hand beats yours to the fuschia pink labeled bag, pulling it off the stack and tossing it over his shoulder. 

“How many?” he asks, emotionless. 

“Uh… let’s start with five?”

He grabs two more and effortlessly stacks them on his shoulder. He holds the other two in his free hand. He stands there holding over a hundred pounds of dirt like it’s nothing. 

“Okay, what next?”

The sun is starting to set when you make your way back to the manor. The air between the two of you is decidedly less tense but it’s still painfully silent. There was… progress made. You didn’t hate him anymore and hopefully he would treat your property with more care from now on. He tried, in the only way stoic men like him can. Not with words, but with small actions. Carrying bags of dirt for hours, shooing you away from loading the truck and doing it all himself, opening the car door for you. For some reason actually saying ‘sorry’ was always so much harder than just showing you he was sorry. 

You got it. Your father and brothers were the same. You wonder if he was a military man too. 

That doesn’t change the fact that you hadn’t apologized either. Yes, he’d wrong you first, but you provoked him without warning. Actions instead of just talking like an adult. Yeah, actions were always easy for people like you. 

And in your own fucked up little way, you’d made him the subject of your anxieties. He was new here, you’d made yourself an outcast. They all clearly adored him despite his rugged nature. Charles so clearly wanted to help this man who was too skittish to be helped. It reminded you of someone else…

You could extend the metaphorical olive branch. Offer something that resembled friendship. That’s why Charles sent you out here, but you’re going to do it your own way. 

Somewhere that holds a lot of memories is coming up on the right, and you could use a drink. The sudden turn off the road jolts Logan from his empty gazing out the window. 

“Jesus Christ, woman!” He reaches for the center console, shooting you a glare. You hold back a smile, “This isn’t the way back to the school.”

“We’re not going back to the school,” You pull into an all too familiar parking lot, a red neon sign already lit up reading ‘Stevie’s Bar ‘n’ Grill’ illuminates the windshield. You’d snuck over here at least a dozen times when you were in school.

“Let me buy you a drink.”

“What?” He smirks with a raise of the eyebrow. He does that a lot, you've noticed.

“Look, I—” You take a breath and shift the car into park. You can do this, it’s just words, “I wasn’t fair. You did a shitty thing, yeah, but you didn’t know. And I came at you with no explanation.”

“I’m used to it.” He shrugs jokingly, trying to lighten the mood you’ve suddenly soured. It works. You smile. 

“It’s… weird. Being back,” you’re grip on the wheel tightens ever so slightly in an attempt to ground yourself, “I don’t expect you to understand this, but it’s weird coming back to a place you called home and feeling like a stranger. Despite everything your friends are saying, you just feel wrong there. I tried to take my insecurities out on you Logan. I’m sorry.”

The bloated silence that settles between the two of you doesn’t help, but you can’t blame him. What was he supposed to say after you just bared part of your soul? You’re not expecting an apology but it hurts a little when he hops out of the truck. You’re about to yell after him when he rounds the front and comes to your door. He opens it and leans in closer than you’d like. 

“How about I buy you a drink then?” There’s that stupid smirk of his again, “You said it yourself, I did a shitty thing. You drug me out here to clean up my mess, wrecked your little welcome home present Jean wouldn’t shut up about. I owe you a drink, toots.”

He leans in a little closer. You can smell the cigar smoke on him, probably embedded into his clothes at this point. It’s not an apology. Not really.

It’s an olive branch. 

__________

It’s exactly the same. Old country on the jukebox, dirty floors, old tattooed lady bartenders that wouldn’t hesitate to knock someone out if they tried something. Funny how little hole-in-the-wall places like this never change. You’re grateful for it. 

You and Logan huddled into the farthest booth in the corner away from the commotion. His beer’s already half gone by the time you’re on your second sip. Somehow you’re not surprised. 

“How the hell did Charles get stuck with you?” You laugh as he wipes away the suds from his stubble. 

“Funny, I could ask you the same.”

You playfully kick him under the table and he thankfully laughs it off. He had a nice smile… you suppose. 

“He drug me in kicking and screaming,” You take another sip, glancing at the kitchen door in hopes the fries you ordered were coming. Logan leans forward, waiting for you to continue. “I… ran away from my birth family. Was on the streets for probably six months before he found me. I was thirteen.”

“That’s the most boring way to tell a probably good story I’ve ever heard,” He says before taking another gulp. 

“Oh, please tell me your life story then, Mr. Wolverine.” You cross your arms.

“Oh, we’d be here a while, Darlin’.”

Well… if he was asking about you. 

“I was born in Guam… I think. We moved almost every year. Mom died before I even had memories. Was brought up by a Colonel in the army and two brothers.”

“Military brat. Should have guessed.” You kick him under the table again, “Explains the temper too I guess.”

“Well, a military upbringing with a bunch of boys’ll do that.” 

When was the last time you told someone about your life? And why was it so easy to tell him? He holds your gaze for a moment and you feel your cheeks heat. 

“Why’d you run away then?” He asks. 

“Oh, you’re gonna need a lot more alcohol in me for that, fella.” you skillfully evade the question. Maybe it wasn’t so easy to tell him everything . 

“That can be arranged,” waves at the waitress, signaling for another round. You look at his practically empty mug and you're still practically full one— and still no fries. God help you. 

“Your turn,” you prompt him, “Tell me something about you.”

His posture tenses. 

“Not much to tell, sweetheart.”

“Where were you born?”

“Don’t remember.”

“Okay, where’d you grow up?”

“Same answer.”

“Did you—”

“Look,” he cuts you off, the wrinkles in his forehead deepening, “Like I said, it’s a long story… but I’m missing a lot of details. It’s not worth listening to, I promise.”

You suddenly feel bad for snooping so much. He had a boundary, and that was fine. Just because you were so keen on sharing doesn’t mean he has to be. 

The waitress delivers your next round along with a greasy basket of fries. Logan is the first to reach for one. 

“You said Chuck drug you in kicking and screaming?” His eyes soften again, “I guess he did with me too.”

He’s trying to be friendly. Trying to be a little gentler.

“Oh?” you gently prod him to continue. 

“I’m not…” he runs his hand through his pointed hair, “I wasn’t a good man… the parts I can remember. And Chuck gave me a chance. I don’t like it all the time… bein’ somewhere I don’t belong. I run. It’s what I do. But they keep havin’ me back. So… I get it.”

You suspect he hasn’t told anyone this, but he’s saying it to you. He chose you to trust for some reason. Your heart clenches. 

You thumb at the handle of your still mostly full beer next to another waiting one, unsure of how to continue. You both started with the heavy shit, so there was only one way to go now. You came here to clear the air… but you also came here to drink. You take the mug and raise it to Logan. 

“To the class fuck ups then.”

__________

In retrospect, it probably wasn’t the best idea to buy you six drinks on a practically empty stomach. To be fair, you didn’t admit that you’d skipped lunch until drink four and by then the fries were gone and the kitchen was closed. Half a basket of fries wasn't a good substitute dinner, it turns out. Not so much a lightweight as just an idiot, but everyone’s a lightweight compared to Logan. Perk of a healing factor is he can sober up pretty damn quick when he needs to. Practically had to wrestle the keys out of your hands while you were stumbling your way back to the truck. 

Cute how you thought you could put up a fight. He carried you the rest of the way to the truck, you giggling the whole way. Funny how he didn’t really mind either. 

So used to drinking alone, he’d forgotten what it was like to do it with someone else. All the comradery that came with it and a few sloppy games of pool too. Kurt wasn’t much for booze, unfortunately. Hank, Jean, and Storm were always too damn busy to relax, and Scott… like hell he’d have a drink with Scott. 

But this was all your idea. You brought him to a shitty bar, shared a little bit yourself with him and now he was driving you home while you poorly slurred along with whatever was playing on the radio.

And he didn’t mind one bit. 

He didn’t know what to make of you when you first came. They all talked about you with such admiration whenever your name came up… which was all the damn time. You were quiet, skittish almost. Kept your nose down and got to work immediately. 

He recognized what you were doing right away. 

Logan understood what it was like to be part of something and feel like a stranger. Hell, that’s all he’d ever been. Just someone passing through until the X-Men. He’s still learning how to do it. Be part of something. He meant it when he said he wasn’t a good man, but he’s a better man than he was. He wouldn’t have that without Charles. 

And here you come, someone who had it all and left it behind just to try to be normal out in the world. The one thing people like you could never be. Yeah, he really got it.

You admitted you were an angry kid in your drunken ramblings. He has a hard time picturing you that way— a little rebel. You shied away from talking more about personal things. Your family and whatever the hell else that past life entailed. He didn’t pry, didn’t want to make you more uncomfortable than he already had. Instead, the conversation drifted into one of those that’s about everything and nothing at all. Just sharing drinks with a friend kind of conversation. 

He liked it… having someone to talk to. 

You’re finishing up belting Bohemian Raposesty when he finally pulls into the driveway of the mansion. 

“Shows over, rockstar,” he announces as he kills the engine. 

“Boooo!” You weakly protest as soon as the radio dies, “Killjoy!”

“That’s me,” he grumbles, getting out and walking over to your door. You slump out of the seat as soon as he opens it, “Come on, princess.” 

You’re slumped over, curled up into the flannel he offered as a blanket. He pulls you into his arms, deciding it’d be easier to just carry you straight to bed rather than herd you up the steps. God he hopes everyone’s gone to bed by now, otherwise he’s probably going to get an earful for getting their precious darling drunk. 

“You’re like the firemen… in those calendars…” you slur as he pushes through the front door, “Or a lumberjack. With those chops, you have to be a lumberjack.”

He holds back a laugh at your girlish ramblings. To his relief, no one is in the foyer. He quickly hikes up the stairs, squirming drunk girl in hand. You were already dozing off by the time he reached the top of the stairs. 

Thank god. 

“Whoa, deja vu,” you rub your hands down your face, “I feel like 'm 16 again. We did this all the time back ‘n the day.” 

“Yeah? Who carried you to bed then?” your door is in sight. 

“The Professor.” you jokingly wheeze out without hesitation. “Guy loves his brandy.”

“Mmm, I’m sure,” Logan scoots past your door, careful of your head. He lays you down on the bed gently, you don’t protest. He carefully unlaces your shoes while you squirm into the covers. 

“Y’know, yer nicer than I thought you’d be.” You can’t even keep your eyes open now. 

“That right?” Logan smiles to himself as he pulls one sneaker off. 

“Mmhmm,” you nod, nuzzling your head into the pillow, “Funny, I thought the Wolverine would be so scary.”

He cringes a little at your words. He won’t hold them against you, not in this state. 

“I’m very scary.”

You blow a raspberry before continuing, “No yer not! You're just a guy. A hunky, lumberjack guy who hates flowers.”

“I don’t hate flowers.”

“Right… just my flowers.”

“Yeah, just your flowers,” he pulls off the other shoe. Your feet immediately shoot up into the covers. He smooths a comforting hand over your hip. It makes him happier than it should when you don’t flinch away. 

“You need anything else, darlin’?”

“Stop doin’ that,” You groan into the pillow.

“Stop what?”

“Makin’ me blush with your dumb pet names.” You admit, “Stop it.”

He smiles to himself, a familiar warm feeling rising in his stomach. He’ll leave you be for tonight. Best to wait until you're sober to ask what you mean by that anyway, if only to watch you blush a little more. 

“I’ll leave you be then,” he almost feels regret when he stands off of the bed. Almost. You were drunk. Tired. There was nothing more to be said tonight. 

He drags your empty trash can over to the side of the bed, just in case, and fills a glass of water for you too. 

“I had fun tonight,” He says before walking towards the door. Your voice makes him pause.

“Logan?” you call out like a scolded child.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t actually hate my flowers, do you?”

“No, darlin’. I don’t hate your flowers.” 

He makes sure to turn off the light and close the door behind him. 

__________

[dailyaudiobible]

04/28/2021 DAB Transcript

Judges 8:18-9:21, Luke 23:44-24:12, Psalms 99:1-9, Proverbs 14:9-10

Today is the 28th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian still pretty much floating on cloud nine and enjoying that there's a new little princess in our family. So, China and Reagan are doing well and recovering. And sweet little Reagan, she is adjusting to a whole new way of being as she spends her second day, her second day with us outside of the womb. So, thank you for your continued prayers over China and ben and baby Reagan. Those of…of us who have experienced the coming, the arrival of children, then we understand that it's…it's a game changer, right? The page turns so quickly and all the sudden there's a whole new reality before us and it’s such a glorious beautiful, meaningful, purposeful time. And, so, thank you for your prayers over this little family as they begin to make these adjustments. And ss for all of us, we've gathered around this Global Campfire to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. I could just go off on many, many tangents just gushing. My heart is full right now with this arrival, but my heart is also full that we have gathered around this Global Campfire to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. For the last couple of days, we have been reading the story of the judge Gideon from the book of Judges. And we will continue with Gideon's story today from the book of Judges. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. Judges 8 verse 18 through nine verse 21.

Commentary:

Okay. So, it's pretty striking, jarring even, the magnitude of what we read in the Bible today. It’s like we’re reading this, and we read it and maybe some of these stories we know, or we’ve heard them many times. And, so, we read them but it's earth-shattering stuff, earthmoving stuff that we read about today. So, in the book of Judges we kinda reached the conclusion of the Gideon story. So, Gideon did lead the people to overcome the Midianites and brought peace to the land and they tried to make him king and he wouldn’t be King. And he was a judge for another 40 years and there was peace and then he dies. And then the level of injustice that follows this is staggering. So, Gideon has 70 sons. So, that's a lot of kids and probably they don't even all know each other but one of his sons, his name’s Abimelech and he's from a concubine that lives in Shechem. So, he would've definitely been considered kind of an outsider in the family, not really a true heir in the family. That’s how his other brothers would've looked at him. But once Gideon is dead he goes to his relatives in Shechem and is like, “do you want Gideon's sons ruling over you or do you want me?” Which…which eventually comes to the execution of the 70 other sons. Very tribal, very violent. I mean we can read it through our modern lenses and see the barbarity of it. And it's no less barbaric in a tribal time, but it is more common to attempt to completely and utterly wipe out your enemies by killing them and killing all of their heirs so that the very memory of them is lost so that somebody somewhere along the line can’t grow up and come kill you. But one of the sons escaped, Jotham, and eventually went up on Mount Gerizim. This is the amount of blessing by the way, the one that Moses spoke about, “go to mount Gerizim and recite the blessings of the covenant on Mount Ebal and recite the curses of the covenant…covenant. There…there like two mountains, to giant hills. I mean they’re mountains in that region, but they're not the kind of mountains we would consider the high mountains of the earth. But they’re two mountains and they sit between…well…Shechem is in the middle of them until this very day. Shechem, biblical Shechem, is called Nablus now but Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim are still there. So, Jotham confronts and then he runs for his life and as the story kinda draws to a close, we just see that the people after the judge Gideon dies they just go back and just slide away and go back to worshiping the baals, go back to doing what they think is right in their own eyes. This is the time that there in.

If we turn into the gospel of Luke, I mean the level of injustice at the execution of Jesus is like supreme over all because this is humanity putting God to death. I mean I know that's a jarring thing to think about, but that's what's happening. And, so, we see in the Old and the New Testaments supreme, like just how far humanity can go toward the way of injustice. Like, this is the outcome of just how deeply dark people can go. So, in both of those stories we could say like, there’s…these…this is the level of injustice that is hard to even fathom, but in the same reading today Jesus didn't stay dead. He rose from the dead. That's earthmoving stuff. Like, that's…that's what has landed our lives here today to be hearing this. This is the victory over the darkness. Jesus rising from the dead is essentially a rebirth into life. In fact, that’s not like a metaphor that I'm using, this is something that the apostle Paul will say, that Jesus is the first born into a new thing that God is doing upon the earth and Jesus is the first born into that new thing among many brethren to follow, which is us. I mean the resurrection is overwhelming to think about in the Bible, and we can see in the news, like when the new starts to spread among Jesus followers it…it's…it's unsettling, like this is impossible. Even though Jesus said this would happen, this is impossible. And yet, they very soon find out it's very possible and that affects their lives so profoundly that, although nobody wants to die, they have…they have lost…they’ve seen what's going to happen and they don't fear this and they're willing to give their lives for it, which they eventually do. So, as I was saying to us when we entered into like the garden of Gethsemane and the Last Supper and the arrest and we were moving into this territory gospel of Luke, I mentioned like, let's not blow by this. This is…this is that story. This is the story that changes everything. This is the story that has catapulted our lives to this moment. And, so, we certainly blow by the resurrection, we…we want to contemplate that and meditate upon it today and understand the implications of it in our faith today. This changes everything forever. That's not small. That's big.

Prayer:

Jesus, we thank You for Your life and for the example, for Your heart and Your compassion and Your kindness, Your willingness to rescue we who You love, even though we don't deserve Your love, even though we can't earn Your love. Even while we were Your enemies You still came for us. And it's…it’s just that kind of love, that kind of love is what reveals Your kingdom. And we confess that what we want to participate in that. We’re just not capable of that kind of selfless love without Your spirit within. So, come Holy Spirit and lead us on the pathways of love. Love conquers all, even death we are learning. And we learn from song of Solomon that love is stronger than death. And in our reading from the gospel of Luke You were dead and then You were alive. And we are invited into that story. So, come Holy Spirit Awaken us, that this might settle in the profoundness of it we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it’s where you find out what's going on around here.

And…well…what’s going on around you right now is the arrival of a new member of the family a new Daily Audio baby in our family. And, so, we are certainly thrilled and ecstatic about it and just that this is kind of our prayer request right now, is just the adjustment period and settling in and just all of the transition that goes into bringing a baby into the into the world and into a brand-new family. And, so, that's what's going on around here but everything else you can find out at dailyaudiobible.com.

The Community section, as I say often, is where the Prayer Wall lives and that is an always on and never off place to go. If…if you…if you want to pray or if you're in need of prayer, that's…that's the place to go. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if…if the mission here to…to keep reading God's word fresh every day and offering it to anyone who will listen to it, if that has landed in your life and has made a difference than thank you humbly, deeply, truly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button at the top, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today on Brian. I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

This message is for Alivia of New Mexico. I heard you say you wanted to hear from the community regarding how you might consider responding to a marriage proposal from a person you've been with for about three years. You mentioned being confused and having a hard time bringing yourself to break up. I hope you will recognize that confusion is a red flag. The enemy of your soul is the source of your confusion and he's come to steal, kill, and destroy. Being unequally yoked is about two in connection who have separate destinations. One honestly wants to go in one direction and the other honestly wants to go in a different direction. When they are yoked together at best they go in a compromised direction, neither going in the direction they wanted to go. That results in regret and mourning the loss of true life purpose. I encourage you to show your man respect and honor by allowing him to go in the direction of his choice. If he truly loves you, he will want you to live in your calling. I encourage you Alyvia, do not compromise truthfulness. Trust God's perfect plan for your life. His plans are always better than we know, and we will never regret trusting the one true God and savior. There is so much we don't know. Maybe your man will come to accept Jesus as a savior and Lord. Regardless of that, it is best not to foolishly rush in but rather wait on the Lord. God is truly good. Father I pray you give Alivia faith to believe your word and courage to follow your direction trusting your love for her and your most excellent perfect plans for her life in place of any other focus. Thank you for seeing us through Jesus loving us and receiving our prayers. We are your children saved and sanctified through Jesus alone. Amen.

Hello daily audio Bible family from London this is Sarah from London and I'm here with my nephews. What's your name? Malachi. And how old are you? 6 years old. And what's your name? Simeon. And how old are you? 3. Yes. And I’ve…they’ve just listened to Ezekiel on the Daily Audio Bible family and they want to say hello to Ezekiel. Say hello to Ezekiel. Hello Ezekiel. How are you? How are you? And what do you think of the…his reading? It was really good and lovely. Yeah, Malachi really enjoys it…really enjoyed listening to the reading today. And, yeah, so…gonna say bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. I hope you're all doing well Daily Audio Bible family and stay blessed. Take care. Sarah from London.

Hey DABbers, this is Retaining Honor, and I am calling in this morning with prayers for Alavia from New Mexico. And your message just so touched my heart because that is…that is my story, and I am unequally yoked with my husband and it is the number one thing that I pray about because I am now raising our child and I feel like I am alone in my spiritual journey. And dear sister that choice is yours to make. You can have a good life with this man that you have chosen and that you described but if it is anything like my situation your entire life you may feel like you are having to choose between the man that you love and the God that you love and the God that you serve. And I…I have not always put my savior first. And I urge you to look at your eternity and to look at your heavenly Father and to put Him first in your life and to think about, that…that this will impact your future family. So, I am praying for you as you are deliberating on this decision. And I love you sister. And also, so many people prayed this morning for Ramona from California. And Ramona I am a 32-year-old with a 7-year-old son and your testimony, your prayer request so touched my heart that I am praying for you dear sister. I can see my son also telling me that it would be OK and giving that same advice. He and I are so very close. So, sister I am praying for healing for you, and I am believing in healing for you and...

Hi Alana from New Mexico. Hey this is also my first time calling __ and I'm in Germany. So, I understand what you're going through. I also myself just got out from a two-year relationship that was really confusing. And one thing that I will share with you is once you're confused, God is not an author of confusion. Even if you do not have the strength to do it, ask the Holy Spirit for help and trust me He will help you to make the very best decision and as a believer that’s a woman only a man that really loves God can love a believing woman. And, so, you have peace, so you are no longer in a state of confusion where you do not have peace of mind ask the Holy Spirit for help. And I go to God. Father, please help Your daughter make the right decision and help her to see what You are protecting her from and please give her peace of mind that passes all human understanding. I love you all this is also my first-time calling in. I really appreciate this program. You all have a beautiful day. Bye.

Hello everybody. Hey this is Anette Allison from Oklahoma City. It is so good to hear you guys. Let you know surgery on my foot went good. Not sure if I have more surgeries or buy more motorcycles the numbers are quite similar. So, anyways thank you all for…for your many thoughts and prayers from most people and Daysha and Sally. I love you two so much. Thank you. Getting ready to go on the 29th to go pick up my son Alex from Durango Colorado and I'm going to haul him from there to my house. I'm gonna clean up his legal work but he's doing super good, and he saved up all the money I mean in like record time to get all the legal stuff handled and he'll be free and clear real soon and I am so thrilled to have him home here just for even a little while. So, pray that everything goes well, the trip is non- eventful. And we're gonna bring our dog and we had to put a big dog down and it was just rough. So, anyways have a wonderful day everyone. Take care. Bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family I am about 3 1/2- or 4-year listener calling in from Chicago and requesting prayer. I…for two things. One, I'm faced with a pretty important and quite honestly really tough career decision and I could just use some prayer for clarity and guidance and…and faith and just again a really clear vision on the path that the…the Lord wants me to go as I make this decision. Secondly, just prayers for my son. He continues…he's 25 and continues grow into adulthood and is also being faced with some pretty important adult decisions and I just pray that he will also seek the guidance and confidence and…and clarity to make the best decisions for now and into his future. I really appreciate it and love you all and love this community. Thank you.

[sef1208-blog]

History of OPM(Original Pinoy Music)

Original Pilipino music, now more commonly termed original Pinoy music, original Philippine music or OPM, originally referred only to Philippine pop songs, particularly ballads, such as those popular after the collapse of its predecessor, the Manila Soundof the late 1970s. In the 1970s, popular artists were Nora Aunor, Pilita Corrales, Eddie Peregrina, Ramon Jacinto, Victor Wood, and Asin. The more major commercial Philippine pop music artists were Claire dela Fuente, Didith Reyes, Rico Puno, Ryan Cayabyab, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Hajji Alejandro, Rey Valera, Freddie Aguilar, Imelda Papin, Eva Eugenio, Marco Sison, Nonoy Zuniga, and many others. Between the 1980s and the 1990s, OPM was led by artists such as Regine Velasquez, APO Hiking Society, José Mari Chan, Janet Arnaiz, Dingdong Avanzado, Rodel Naval, Janno Gibbs, Ogie Alcasid, Joey Albert, Lilet, Martin Nievera, Manilyn Reynes, Lea Salonga, Raymond Lauchengco, JoAnne Lorenzana, Francis Magalona, Sharon Cuneta, Sheryl Cruz, Zsa Zsa Padilla, and Gary Valenciano, among many others. In the 1990s, famous artists included Eraserheads, Smokey Mountain, Rivermaya, Jaya, Donna Cruz, Jolina Magdangal, Jessa Zaragoza, Ariel Rivera, South Border, AfterImage, Side A, Andrew E., Lani Misalucha, Ella May Saison, Roselle Nava and Blakdyak, among many others. In the 2000s and the 2010s, leading OPM artists include Aiza Seguerra, Toni Gonzaga, Sarah Geronimo, Nina, Yeng Constantino, Spongecola, Christian Bautista, Charice, Jed Madela, Erik Santos, Parokya Ni Edgar, and Gloc-9, among many others. Underground bands emerged and along with them were their perceptions of idealism and self-expression. The famous lyricist of Circle's End, Geno Georsua landed on top as the melodramatic expressionist. Bassist Greg Soliman of UST Pendong grasps the title as the best bassist of underground music. From its origin, OPM has been centered in Manila, where Tagalog and English are the dominant languages. Other ethnolinguistic groups such as Visayan, Bikol and Kapampangan, despite making music in their native languages, have rarely been recognized as OPM. Unusual cases includr the Bisrock(Visayan rock music) song "Charing" by Davao band, 1017. Multiculturalism advocates and federalists often associate the discrepancy to the Tagalog-centric cultural hegemony of Manila. Having successfully created a subgenre of Philippine rock thatvthey called Bisrock, the Visayans, by far, have the biggest collection of modern music in their native language, with great contributions from Visayan bands Phylum and Missing Filemon. However, a band called Groupies' Panciteria that hails from Tacloban, a Winaray-speaking city, launched a free downloadable mp3 album on Soundclick.com in 2009 containing 13 Tagalog songs and only one very short song in the Cebuano language.[1] Following suit are the Kapampangans. The debut music video of "Oras" ("Time") by Tarlac City-based Kapampangan band Mernuts has penetrated MTV Pilipinas, making it the first ever Kapampangan music video to join the ranks of other mainstream Filipino music videos. RocKapampangan: The Birth of Philippine Kapampangan Rock, an album of modern remakes of Kapampangan folk extemporaneous songs by various Kapampangan bands was also launched last February 2008, which are regularly played via Kapampangan cable channel Infomax-8 and via one of Central Luzon's biggest FM radio stations, GVFM 99.1. Inspired by what the locals call "Kapampangan cultural renaissance", Angeles City-born balladeer Ronnie Liang rendered Kapampangan translations of some of his popular songs such as "Ayli" (Kapampangan version of "Ngiti"), and "Ika" (Kapampangan version of "Ikaw") for his repackaged album. Despite the growing clamor for non-Tagalog and non-English music and the greater representation of other Philippine languages, the local Philippine music industry, which is centered in Manila, is unforthcoming in venturing investments to other locations. Some of their major reasons include the language barrier, small market size, and socio-cultural emphasis away from regionalism in the Philippines. The country's first songwriting competition, Metro Manila Popular Music Festival, was first established in 1977 and launched by the Popular Music Foundation of the Philippines. The event featured many prominent singers and songwriters during its time. It was held annually for seven years until its discontinuation in 1985. It was later revived in 1996 as the "Metropop Song Festival", running for another seven years before being discontinued in 2003 due to the decline of its popularity.[2] Another variation of the festival had been established called the Himig Handog contest which began in 2000, operated by ABS-CBN Corporation and its subsidiary music label Star Records. Five competitions have been held so far starting in 2000 to 2003 and was eventually revived in 2013. Unlike its predecessors, the contest has different themes which reflect the type of song entries chosen as finalists each year.[3][4]In 2012, the Philippine Popular Music Festivalwas launched and is said to be inspired by the first songwriting competition.[5] Pop music OPM pop has been regularly showcased in the live band scene. Groups such as Neocolours, Side A, Introvoys, The Teeth, Yano, True Faith, Passage and Freestyle popularized songs that clearly reflect the sentimental character of OPM pop. In the new millennium up to the 2010s, famous Filipino pop music artists include Sarah Geronimo, Erik Santos, Yeng Constantino, and Christian Bautista, among many others. Choir music Choral music has become an important part of Philippine music culture. It dates back to the choirs of churches that sing during mass in the old days. In the middle of the 20th century, performing choral groups started to emerge and increasingly become popular as time goes by. Aside from churches, universities, schools and local communities have established choirs. Philippine choral arrangers like Robert Delgado, Fidel Calalang, Lucio San Pedro, Eudenice Palaruan among others have included in the vast repertoires of choirs beautiful arrangements of OPM, folk songs, patriotic songs, novelty songs, love songs, and even foreign songs. The Philippine Madrigal Singers (originally the University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers) is one of the most famous choral groups not only in the Philippines, but also worldwide. Winning international competitions, the group became one of the most formidable choral groups in the country. Other award-winning choral groups are the University of Santo Tomas Singers, the Philippine Meistersingers (Former Adventist University of the Philippines Ambassadors), the U.P. Singing Ambassadors and U.P. Concert Chorus, among others. Rock and blues The United States occupied the Islands in 1898 until 1946, and introduced American blues, folk music, R&B and rock & roll which became popular. In the late 1950s, native performers adapted Tagalog lyrics for North American rock & roll music, resulting in the seminal origins of Philippine rock. The most notable achievement in Philippine rock of the 1960s was the hit song "Killer Joe", which propelled the group Rocky Fellers, reaching number 16 on the American radio charts. Up until the 1970s, popular rock musicians began writing and producing in English. In the early 1970s, rock music began to be written using local languages, with bands like the Juan Dela Cruz Band being among the first popular bands to do so. Mixing Tagalog and English lyrics were also popularly used within the same song, in songs like "Ang Miss Universe Ng Buhay Ko" ("The Miss Universe of My Life") by the band Hotdog which helped innovate the Manila Sound. The mixing of the two languages (known as "Taglish"), while common in casual speech in the Philippines, was seen as a bold move, but the success of Taglish in popular songs, including Sharon Cuneta's first hit, "Mr. DJ", broke the barrier forevermore. Philippine rock musicians added folk musicand other influences, helping to lead to the 1978 breakthrough success of Freddie Aguilar. Aguilar's "Anak" ("Child"), his debut recording, is the most commercially successful Filipino recording, and was popular throughout Asia and Europe, and has been translated into numerous languages by singers worldwide. Asin also broke into the music scene in the same period, and were popular. Folk rock became the Philippine protest music of the 1980s, and Aguilar's "Bayan Ko" ("My Country") became popular as an anthemduring the 1986 EDSA Revolution. At the same time, a counterculture rejected the rise of politically focused lyrics. In Manila, a punk rock scene developed, led by bands like Betrayed, The Jerks, Urban Bandits, and Contras. The influence of new wave was also felt during these years, spearheaded by The Dawn. The 1990s saw the emergence of Eraserheads, considered by many Philippine nationals as the number one group in the Philippine recording scene. In the wake of their success was the emergence of a string of influential Filipino rock bands such as Yano, Siakol, Parokya ni Edgar and Rivermaya, each of which mixes the influence of a variety of rock subgenres into their style. Filipino rock has also developed to include some hard rock, heavy metal and alternative rock such as Razorback, Wolfgang, Greyhoundz, Slapshock, Queso, Bamboo, Franco, Urbandub and the progressive bands Paradigm, Fuseboxx, Earthmover and Eternal Now. Rock festivals have emerged through the recent years and it has been an annual event for some of the rock/metal enthusiasts. One big event is the Pulp Summer Slam wherein local rock/metal bands and international bands such as Lamb of God, Anthrax, Death Angel and Arch Enemy have performed.[6] The neo-traditional genre in Filipino music is also gaining popularity, with artists such as Joey Ayala, Grace Nono, Bayang Barrios, Cocojam and Pinikpikan reaping relative commercial success while utilizing the traditional musical sounds of many indigenous tribes in the Philippines. Earth music Another genre that utilizes traditional instruments and found objects in primal compositions. Earth music recordings came out in 1994 under Backdoor Records.A series of albums have been recorded and released by Ambahayan Productions like Kubing Album, Chants Album, Kudyapi Album, Kulintang Album, Gabbang Album, Gangsa Album and Native Flutes Album. Airborne music A kind of music popularized by local musicians which is unrehearsed and played in public. Hip-hop Filipino hip-hop is hip hop music performed by musicians of Filipino descent, both in the Philippines and overseas, especially by Filipino-Americans. The Philippines is known to have had the first hip-hop music scene in Asia since the early 1980s, largely due to the country's historical connections with the United States where hip-hop originated. Rap music released in the Philippines has appeared in different languages such as Tagalog, Chavacano, Cebuano, Ilocano and English. In the Philippines, Francis M, Gloc-9and Andrew E. are cited as the most influential rappers in the country, being the first to release mainstream rap albums. Program music Unlike pure music which has no reference in the real world and no story component, program music is instrumental music that may tell a story with explicit episodes, reveal facets of a character, place or occasion, or imitate the sounds of the world. Sometimes this may take the form of a verbal explanation of the "story" or "program" of the piece. The term was invented by composer Franz Liszt, who understood program music to involve a program external to the music that set the parameters and the form in which the musical piece unfolds. Other genres A number of other genres are growing in popularity in the Philippine music scene, including a number of alternative groups and tribal bands promoting cultural awareness of the Philippine Islands. Likewise, jazz has experienced a resurgence in popularity. Initial impetus was provided by W.D.O.U.J.I. (Witch Doctors of Underground Jazz Improvisation) with their award-winning independent release "Ground Zero" distributed by the now defunct N/A Records in 2002 and the Tots Tolentino-led Buhay jazz quartet in the year before that. This opened up the way for later attempts most notable of which is the Filipino jazz supergroup Johnny Alegre Affinity, releasing its eponymous debut album in 2005 under London-based Candid Records. Mon David has also made the rounds of the Las Vegas music circuit. Among the female performers, Mishka Adams has been the most prominent. A recent development is the fusion of spoken-word and jazz and also with rock, chiefly attributed to Radioactive Sago Project. Other notable names of late are Bob Aves with his ethno-infused jazz, The Jazz Volunteers and Akasha which have anchored the now legendary underground jazz jams at Freedom Bar for almost half of the 11 years of its existence. Today, underground jazz jams are now held in a bar called TAGO jazz bar which is located at Main Avenue, Cubao. Newer jazz groups emerged in the local jazz scene namely Swingster Syndicate pioneering in the post-bop and modern trad jazz, and Camerata Jazz known for their Filipino jazz arrangements and sound. Bossa nova and Latino music has been popular since the 1970s. Performers like Annie Brazil were active in the 1970s, while more recently, Sitti has been earning rave reviews for her bossa nova covers of popular songs. While there has long been a flourishing underground reggae and ska scene, particularly in Baguio City, it is only recently that the genres have been accepted in the mainstream. Acts like Brownman Revival, Put3ska, Roots Revival of Cebu and The Brown Outfit Bureau of Tarlac City have been instrumental in popularizing what is called "Island Riddims". There is also a burgeoning mod revival, spearheaded by Juan Pablo Dream and a large indie pop scene. Electronic music began in the mid-1990s in the Manila underground spearheaded by luminaries like Manolet Dario of the Consortium. In 2010, local artists started to create electropop songs themselves. As of now, most electronic songs are used in commercials. The only radio station so far that purely plays electronic music is 107.9 U Radio. 2010s also began the rise of indie electronic producers and artists with the likes of Somedaydream, CRWN, NINNO, Kidthrones, and Jess Connelly. Source:Wikia

[newstfionline]

How to Steal a River

By Rollo Romig, NY Times magazine, March 1, 2017

Several years ago, I took a journey with my wife and baby daughter to my mother-in-law’s childhood home, a forest village in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala. As any Keralite will tell you, Kerala is the lushest, most watery corner of India, a skinny coastal strip where hundreds of tributaries merge into broad, winding rivers before finally flowing into the Arabian Sea. My mother-in-law’s village is named Manimala, for the river that provides its reason for being.

My wife spent her childhood summers in Manimala, and all her stories seemed to center on the river: the old stone steps that villagers descended to board a ferry or take a bath; the neighbors fishing or washing elephants; the flotillas of flowers that drifted downstream after monsoon gales. I’d been cultivating a fantasy that our own daughter would spend her summers on these banks. But when we arrived in Manimala, I was shocked: The great river had become a trickle. In a few places it had pooled into puddles big enough for people to wash their clothes. Otherwise it was barren, the stone steps now leading to a gouged-out ravine of pale boulders baking in the sun.

“What happened to the river?” I asked.

“Sand mafia,” my wife’s cousin Thambichan answered.

The Manimala, Thambichan explained, once had a sandy riverbed that in some places was 30 feet deep. The sand acted as an aquifer, regulating the river’s flow. But sand is also a crucial ingredient in concrete, and India is urbanizing at a speed and scale virtually unmatched by any country in history. Apartment towers, highways, bridges, skyscrapers, metros, dams: Each of them swallows unimaginable helpings of sand. It could line the rivers, or it could form the cities that were rising everywhere alongside them, but it could not do both at once.

“No one listened when we warned of the dangers of sand mining,” my wife’s uncle Shaji told me. With nearly all the sand removed from the river, the water table had dropped for miles around. When the monsoons came, the water whooshed away as quickly as the rain fell. The ordinary wells ran dry, so people drilled tube wells deep into the earth; now some of those were running dry, too. The local rice paddies were long gone. Along the river’s route, several major bridges faced collapse, because the loss of sand had weakened their foundations.

When Indians use the term “sand mafia,” they’re talking about the whole range of people who profit from illegal sand mining: the local laborers; the budding capitalists who own the trucks and earthmovers; the genuine mobsters who, in some places, organize the miners and offer extra muscle; the suppliers who act as middlemen between the mafias and the real estate developers; the police and officials who take bribes from any or all of the above. And the politicians--sometimes, it’s rumored, even chief ministers of major states--who take their cut and maybe even run sand-mining operations of their own. The McKinsey Global Institute calculated that the hundreds of millions of Indians migrating from villages to cities require up to a billion square yards of new real estate development annually. Current construction, according to one estimate, already draws more than 800 million tons of sand every year, mostly from India’s waterways. Though no reliable numbers are available, all the people I spoke to in India assumed that much of it is taken illegally.

As I came to know Manimala, it became clear that the river had mostly been mined by the villagers themselves. You could see the evidence in many of the new houses nestled among the rubber trees and coconut palms. Some were made of concrete, large and sprawling and brightly colored: pink, neon yellow, fire-engine red. A few had heaps of sand out front to be used for concrete or plastering for new wings and other renovations.

One evening, I sat with Saji P. Thomas, a slender, energetic former sand miner with a small mustache, in front of his new house. He told me he started sand mining around 2002, to raise money for a new business. (He now runs a small cosmetics factory.) It was possible then to mine sand legally, but Thomas, like many others, didn’t bother with hard-to-obtain permits at first; he mined only at night to evade the police. They worked in groups of four or more, he said. Some would pilot the rowboat and the others would dive as deep as 15 feet to fill their baskets with sand.

At the river’s edge, another team would load the sand into a truck. Sometimes, Thomas said, the truck driver would get a call that the police were on their way, and they’d scramble to finish loading the truck and flee; any bribes the authorities might demand could cut deep into their margins. “There are policemen who have built beautiful houses thanks to sand mining,” he said. His previous job, at a bank, paid 400 rupees a day, roughly $5. A good night’s work mining sand earned him 2,000 rupees. So Thomas kept at it. “To distract myself, I’d fantasize that I was a businessman in a nice car.”

The work did sound terribly dangerous. But the most striking detail in Thomas’s story was not about the mining itself, but about the attitude of his neighbors who lived at the river’s edge. Back when there was plenty of sand, trucks came day and night to load up at the river. But to get access they usually had to cut across the property of the town’s riverfront homeowners, most of whom would collect a toll of 150 rupees from each truck that passed. Now that sand mining has wiped out the groundwater, those same homeowners have to hire different trucks--tankers--to bring them drinking water, at more than 1,200 rupees a trip. The sand was gone, and gone with it were the river, the groundwater and even the tolls.

[curiouskarenscapers2017]

Volume Four – November 2004

 INDEX:

Massage 6/11 Earthquakes Mon 8/11 – 12:00pm. Wed 10/11 – 11am  and Thurs 11/11 at about 10:15am Puli  and Chin-Jing 21/11 Alexander – the movie 27/11

Well what do I tell you about the massage! Devine! Needed! Painful! Stunning! All in one! I was as stiff after as if I have been to a gym session for the first time in years! But, distressed and feeling as if, if I don’t get a bed now I’ll pass out on the pavement, oh wait, there are no pavements! It was very professional and beautifully done up inside. All Japanesey looking, with sliding doors of a dark mahogany looking wood. In the little rooms it was tranquil, exactly the right temperature and the lighting was low. The wall paper was on the one wall you face as you walk in with a small flower decoration in the centre…very Feng Shui. The girl who did the massage was called Mary and had just come back from Canada in Vancouver after 5 years. She could speak English well and with not too much effort. The mood music in the background was of forest sounds and birds chirping…..peaceful!!! Good bye!! They did various little Chinese traditional things like getting rid of the bad Chi and replacing it with good Chi…..thanks for that! They scrape the bad chi out of your back with a wooden comb like instrument and then replaced it with what felt like a wooden rolling pin on fire, it smelt good, like a fragrant burning wood. What a treat! Definitely worth it!

The weekend was gone in a second as Monday dawned, I don’t do 1 day weekends too well, I now realized….once again. Monday night, while reading my book at about 12pm, I felt the room move! And no, the book wasn’t that riveting! I jumped up and ran to the TV room where Ryno was lying watching TV. And then the usual question was asked….”Did you feel that?” the room still swayed a while and was quiet. It obviously took me a while to sleep after that but eventually Tuesday arrived. The days are blurring into one another and Wednesday morning, I don’t have class and was flueish. I decided not to go swimming and instead read my book a while. At 11am, I’m sure it’s on a timer, the room moved! I was first not too sure whether it actually did or not….that’s the problem with earthquakes…you get used to them. The next one was on the Wednesday at about 10:15am. Ok so now they have had their chances and can’t do it again until at least next year!!!! Fair?? After that everything felt like an earthquake! The cat bumping the bed, the wind blowing into the room moving the curtains etc. etc. etc. Apparently the first one we felt was a 6.6 in the same general area as the first one a few weeks ago, then the 2nd was 6 and the 3rd trailed off and nobody even new about it!

So, I got the flue and the feelings of the earthmoving just got worse! But at least now I’ll be desensitized by the time a big one hits! Anyway, we started planning our weekend outing to a place called Puli and Ching-Jing. The best part about things like this is that you are always surprised, you never expect anything so you’re never disappointed! Cool!!! I was running low on funds but the Chinese teachers insisted and they were driving us there in their cars. Monica and Winnie pitched up with their respective cars and we were off!

First we stopped off at Puli, the liquor tasting would be happening here. The whole shop was decorated in clay vases that are used to store Sake and other liquor, including their wines. Huge clay pots adorned the outside wall as we entered the warehouse looking building.

More like a Makro or Hyper looking place. The bottles were so ornate and beautifully painted or glass worked that you would buy the drink just for the bottle!!! We tasted some Sake and it immediately brought back memories of a certain Mampoer evening!!! Sake will not be one of my drinks here..thanks!!

Anyway, we moved around in side along with the hordes of touristy Chinese and finally made our way to the wine vinegar bar/counter. Now I don’t know if you remember I bought a bottle of honey vinegar at Sun Moon Lake and these were the same types. No honey through but apple, peach and berry. So we bought some of that in a stunning packaging with a glass in the middle, like when you buy Jack Daniels in a promotional pack and get the whisky glasses included. Wanted to send it home, but it weighs too much, will try again later!!! We had a peanut ice cream and were on our way to Cing Jing.

Well, if you’ve been to Europe and the Alps…this is what it looks like at Cing Jing!!! Set deeply in the mountains after a horrendous climb up the mountains at an angle of note! More like driving up the old pass to Nelspruit, heavy ups and tight turns with Kamakaze pilots flying down hill on your side!!! No fancy railings and ropes to keep you from plummeting 1000m’s down the cliff side! Nice!!! And as we climbed the last curve with a beautiful backdrop of a lake shimmering in the noon sky we saw the little town nestled in on the top of the mountain. What a sight!

Swiss type buildings and guest houses adorned the twisting road into the town. The winter has started up here and the typical yellow dried grass was all over. Would be stunning to come and see this place in Summer time when all is green and lush! The most beautiful buildings and houses with huge windows and colorful walls with the typical Swiss dark wood crisscrossing. After much driving up and down the streets trying to find parking we parked and walked a while. Fresh mountain air…..weird! We eventually ended up at a little mall with food shops and curio shops and a Starbucks…it was freezing and we all went straight for the Starbucks….1 coffee of the day Grande please! Cream and sugar!! Delish! Took some photo’s…like typical tourists and got everybody involved. We were 8 girls and the guys just lined up to help! Nice! At some stage we even had a golden Labrador puppy between us for the owner to take a picture…we’ll send him the bill later.

On our way back to the car we stopped at a fruit stand that had the most unusual looking fruit. It looks like a tomato, feels like and apple, with the same skin but with a peachy interior that tastes like nothing you’ve ever tasted before in a fruit! Sweet and absolutely divine! We got some of that of course!

The lights were on in all the places and shops and it took on a totally different feeling, holidaying in the mountains….we’ll be back! The guest houses with the huge windows glowed golden into the darkening indigo sky. The mountain just outside the Starbucks had a Cape Town feel to it as the pink clouds flowed down over the top towards us…ah yes!!! This is the life!!!

I at least got a picture of a Chinese sheep…and you know what I could tell he was Chinese……something in the eyes……

hat a day, back to smoggy Chang Hua and another week of hard work and naughty children. Funny how they become more naughty as you become more nostalgic and more irritated…hmmmm.

So our next little outing was Alexander. Well, let’s start with the cinema…impressive from the outside, very much like ours from the street and that’s it! They have the little box office out side, like in the old days. No snack counters to get smarties, nuts or popcorn! Walk up the stairs and find your seat relatively easily. Melissa was surprised to see that the seating is fixed. I told her we also work that way. Canada doesn’t and it causes endless irritation….you know!!! Anyway, got our seats and sat down pushing the seat down from the up position…..like in the old days…did I mention that? They were narrow, pleather and deep, if you had someone too tall you wouldn’t see a thing! Otherwise quite comfortable and tolerable. The movie started and the lights didn’t dim all the way, the side aisle lights stayed on for the people wanting to go to the loo etc Ok no problem there I’ll get used to that. The ads rolled in all in Chinese and that’s where the difference started dawning. I nearly felt like I was home. The movie was excellent but the seats told me it was a 3hour movie!!!! Cell phones rang, people answered etc. A bit out of the ordinary as we were past this stage in SA already. But in all, the movie was a definite must again soon….National Treasure is coming out on the 12/17 and we’ll be seeing that! The prices were a tad steep and  a ticket sets you back NT 220 = R44 but as you go outside you get a free bee of 3 tickets for the next new release which was Polar Express in our case…yeah!! Anyway, because it’s only NT100 – R20 it will be worth seeing even if it’s not your favourite type movie…but Polar Express looks excellent, so there’s no loss there!!!

Well that’s me for this boring month, next month we have a few things lined up as in a tour to Taipei, Xmas in Taiwan, a birthday party and a computer faire!!!!! Will let you know what happened there!!!!

  Taiwan Times vol 4 Volume Four – November 2004  INDEX:

[dailyaudiobible]

02/28/2018 DAB Transcript

Leviticus 22:21-23:44, Mark 9:30-10:12, Psalms 44:1-7, Proverbs 10:19

Today is the 28th day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it's great to be here with you today from the holy city of Jerusalem. We arrived in the evening last night and it's an early day and a long one for us today. But we'll talk about all of that in just a little bit. We’ve kind of rounded the corner and have reached our final destination, which will be in and around Jerusalem. At least that's where we’ll be calling home base until the end of our pilgrimage this year. And it's great to be back here. But let me not get ahead of myself and talk about all that. Let’s get into the Scriptures for today. We've been reading from the Modern English Version this week, which is what we will continue to do, even as we continue to move around the land of the Bible here in Israel. Of course, in the Old Testament, in the book of Leviticus, we're reading the statutes, ordinances, laws that are to shape and form this new people who,, of course, have been brought out of slavery in Egypt in epic fashion and now they’re being shaped and formed into a culture and a people, but with one purpose in mind, that they be holy as God is holy. And so, we pick up with that story. Leviticus chapter 22 verse 17 through 23 verse 44 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You again for Your word and we thank You again for the reminder that what we say matters, that our realities are being created by our words and that matters. And us paying attention to what's coming out of our mouth matters. And we take that to heart today as we live into this day and invite Your Holy Spirit's to speak to us about that and continually remind us to take a beat, to take a pause before we start just saying words because they matter. Come Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. So, man, this is the point in the trip where my brain is turning into mush because we…so much…so much to drink and it's a firehose experience, without a doubt. So, yesterday in the morning we packed up all of our stuff put everything back on the buses and left the Sea of Galilee and the Galilee region itself, drove down along the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee before heading west and leaving it behind. And our first stop was to travel through the Jezreel Valley all the way to Harr Megiddo, also known as Armageddon. And the ancient ruins of the city of Megiddo still exist and we took some time there to look at them. Megiddo was a city right along the ancient trade route between Egypt and all of the lands beyond here to the north and east. So, it was an important city to control because if you control that then you kind of control a lot of the trade route coming through the area. So, it has had a long history of conquest and battle. And, of course, it sits in a valley that's pretty famous, the valley of Armageddon. So, we looked at the ruins of Megiddo and were able to go down into the water cisterns, the water tunnels and cisterns  that were carved out. It's pretty amazing when you can see that and realize, talking 3000 years ago, and we’re not talking about bulldozers and cranes and, you know, backhoes and all kinds of earthmoving equipment and engineering. We’re talking about a long, long time ago. And, so, the ingenuity is pretty remarkable. And, so, around the ruins you see how people lived, look out across the valley, and then down into the tunnels we went. And it’s not that…I mean you have to climb down in there on stairs…but it's not too long of a of a walk, but it's a remarkable one just to understand that the way that this got here was by people and hard work a long, long, long time ago. And then it was kind of…it's been a little bit rainy…off and on. And, so, we get a little tiny bit rained on, not bad at all, but we are thinking about Mt. Carmel and if it's going to be cloudy up there, and if it’s going to rainy up there. And, so, we did a little switcheroo and had an early lunch, allowing the morning showers to kind of blow through before heading up Mt. Carmel. And Mt Carmel is famous for a showdown between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal and Asherah in which fire comes down from heaven. We haven’t gotten to all this. We’ll get to it when we get to the book of Kings, books of Kings. But fire comes down from heaven, people return to God, the prophets of Baal meet an end they weren’t planning on, but idol worship isn’t something…worshiping anything else besides God, turning your heart in worship to any other God is not something that God tolerates well because it pulls us away from our true identity, which is to be in union together with Him. And, so, that’s happened p on Mt Carmel. So, we opened the Scriptures and read that story and then just discussed what happened next, because Elijah got to see the power of God and then he got up, you know, he got a nasty note from the Queen named Jezebel, that she was going to kill him. And he took off and ran. And, you know, just, when you're here you’re beginning to understand the context that he left Mt Carmel up in the in the north and ran all the way to Beersheba in the South where we started and then all the way down into the desert where we were at the at the Red Sea and then off deep into the Sinai Peninsula to the mountain of God. So, a long, long, long way. And God comes to him on the mountain and says, what are you doing here? And that's a poignant question. Because the same kinds of things do happen in our lives. We see God move, we feel him moving in our lives, we see things happening in our lives, and then we that nasty note. Right? Some social media posts on something or another to sideswipe us. And off on the run we go. And then God comes and says, what are you doing here? So, we considered that as we considered, right, you know, that we were right there, where this happened. And then we were able to go up to this little observatory and look out over the vast Valley of Armageddon and take some pictures and just contemplate where we were in Scripture, where we were in the Bible, what was happening before moving on. And next stop was to take us all the way west to the border of the Mediterranean Sea, to the ancient Roman city of Caesarea Mayor Timo, which was kind of a jewel of the Galilee or the jewel of Israel for the Roman culture, the Roman empire period in this land. And the ruins are exquisite. You kind of get a sense of maybe what this would've been like. And it's pretty magnificent to say the least. And it allowed us the opportunity to touch the book of acts. The Caesarea Mayor Timo's is where the apostle Paul was imprisoned for a couple of years after being arrested in Jerusalem and avoiding an assassination attempt. Of course, I’m a little ahead of where we are in the Scriptures right now, because, at least in the New Testament, we’re in the gospel of Mark, but we we’ll eventually get to the book of Acts and begin to understand the apostle Paul's influence in the early church. And it’s from Caesarea Mayor Timo's that the apostle Paul appealed to Caesar and sailed for Rome. So, we were able to touch that piece and that portion of time, a piece of Scripture. And that wasn’t our final stop for the day then, but it's about a two hour drive from there up to Jerusalem. So, we settled in and began the long journey up, up, up, up to Jerusalem, where we ended our day as it was just getting dark. And lots of naps were taken, but coming into Jerusalem always, reinvigorates everything. And, so, some dinner, some fellowship, and then an early early morning this morning because we’ll…it has to be…because we’ll start our day up on the Temple Mount. And, so, we have to get in line and all of that a bit early. But we’ll talk about what we do today, tomorrow, because it's hard to talk about things you're going to do before you've done them, but it's going to be a great day around Jerusalem today, intersecting the Jesus story here, some of the things and places here. And probably it's best that we do this now, while we have the adrenaline rush of just arriving in the holy city. So, looking forward to that. Thank you for your prayers as we continue this journey for the next few days.

And man here we are guys. Last day of February, which means that we are concluding two months together on our journey through the Scriptures this year. So, we’re 1/6 of the way through the Bible. And just want to say, well done on that. The rhythm continues as we continue to press into it and God continues to speak to us through his word. So, well done.

If want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can certainly do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that's on the homepage. And, you know, I run out of words and ways to express gratitude. The reality is the reality. We what we do because we do it together. That had always been the case around here. So, thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996, Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian, a tired Brian, but Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Joey from Missouri it is 4:38 here on a very cold day. I want…here…on February the 23rd, 2018. I just want to sing a little song here before I start. These songs are some of my mom’s songs that she sang on the piano for many years. So, here goes. [singing] Who is likened to the oh Lord among God’s. Who is likened to the glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders, who is likened to the? [singing stops]. Oh…oh…praise the Lord…praise the Lord. Candace from Oregon you are on my mind today. And I just wanted to say I love you. And when your husband passed away almost a year ago today I was in Kuwait. I was in Kuwait at that time and I just remember coming home to my dorm after work that day and was just so, so sad about that. So, Lord God, just be with Candace from Oregon today. And, so, Lord God, we just thank you for Candace and also thank you for Brian. And I love you all. Take care. Okay. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye.

Hi, this is Melody from Canada. It is February 24th and I have so much joy hearing Brian talk about the group and Israel going into the Jordan River and leaving everything behind. And I can almost he feel the cold water myself in my heart, imagination, spirit. Just bless you, all who made that commitment. And may you find strength to continue in that and to stand that and that for the Lord is with you. I have Psalm 35:27 on my heart. It says, let them shout for joy and be glad. His favor my righteous cause. Yes, let them say continually, the Lord be magnified with pleasure and the prosperity of his servant. And thinking of Rachel a first-time caller who struggling with depression and OCD. And Rachel, the Lord has pleasure in your prosperity, His pleasure in your health. And whatever road it takes to get there he is with you always. Bless you. Bye.

Hi friends this is Lisa the encourager and I hope everybody that’s in Israel is having a wonderful blessed time and a safe trip. I’m praying for you. I just wanted to read something I thought was encouraging tonight called A Cut Above. And it says, the word holy means to separate. The ancestry of return can be traced back to the ancient word which means to cut. To be holy then is to be cut above the norm, superior extraordinary. The holy one dwells on a different level than the rest of us. What frightens us does not frighten Him. What troubles us does not trouble Him. When you set your sights on our God you focus on one a cut above. Any storm life may bring, you will find peace in Him. And also Psalm 46:10 says, be still and know that I am God. So, I hope that’s encouraging to you tonight. And with that, I also wanted to pray some prayers for some folks. I wanted to pray for Lydia from Indiana. She had called in about her daughter Suzy E. and she was just wanting her to obey God and not take on the ways of the world. So, I want to pray for Suzy E., Lydia’s daughter. And also just wanted to just say thank you to Michelle…oh…excuse me…I’m sorry…Monica from Kentucky for her prayers. There always so sweet Monica and I just appreciate all of your…the times you call in and the different things that your praying about and just want to let you know it’s very encouraging. And lastly, I just want to pray for Diane in Ohio. She has a son that’s taking drugs and a grandson as well. And they really need help in turning their life around and she feels like they’ve really changed a great...

He Daily Audio Bible this is Paul from Houston. And I’ve called to pray for Curtis from Cali. I think your sons name was Kingston. And you were mentioning that he is dealing with a lot of anxiety depression sort of things, but he’s only eight. And I just want to pray. I struggled with a lot of anxiety growing up and different things. And Lord…let’s go to God right now. Thank you Jesus. I ask that You will be with Kingston Lord I thank You Lord that You protect his mind Lord, that You would guide him around with Your Angels. I thank You Lord that his mind would be centered on You. I thank You Lord that no weapon formed against him can prosper. And I thank You Lord that those thoughts that try to bombard him, those thoughts to try to create anxiety, that those thoughts have to go in the name of Jesus. And I thank You Lord for peace over the house, over Kingston, peace when he sleeps, peace when he rises. Lord I thank You Lord that You would help them to, you know, explore the things that an eight-year-old boy would love to do. Lord I thank You Lord that You would give him the outlets, the hobbies, the things that You want him to work with Lord. And I thank You Lord for developing him. And that You have something special for Kingston Lord, a special future for him Lord, like scouting with different things Lord, that You know, You know Kingston Lord. And I thank You Lord, You know, the way You made him and what purpose You made him for and I thank You Lord that when his family draws closer to You Lord that You would reveal what Your will is and that You would open a door for them, but I thank You Lord for peace in their home and peace in his mind and peace as he sleeps in Jesus name. Daily Audio Bible have a great day. It’s Paul from Houston. Bye.

Hey, I need you guys to pray for me. I’ve been walking with Jesus for a long time now and I was involved in a lot of pornography and masturbation before I knew him and even in the years since. the struggle has been real. It’s not all the time. There is victory sometimes, sometimes for long stretches, but it’s been going into my marriage. My wife new about them. But we have kids now and I’m working harder than ever and she works harder than ever looking after them. And it’s gotten to a point where I don’t want to talk about with her anymore and burden her mostly. And sometimes I feel like I’m screwed up in other ways so much that I can’t even talk to her anymore and it’s probably unfair, but I know I need to confess out to my brothers and sisters. Today’s reading in the Old Testament about skin disease and mildew. I skipped it. I just fast-forwarded. And then Brian talked about how that was sort of the heart of the message and how it has to do with the heart of me. And I can’t let stuff grow in the dark anymore. So, pray for me family. Bring it to the high priest so he can bring into His father. Thanks guys. I love you. Bye.

[dailyaudiobible]

8/11/2017 DAB Transcript

Nehemiah 1:1-3:14; 1 Corinthians 7:1-24; Psalms 31:19-24; Proverbs 21:4

Today is the 11th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today. And as we are take the next up forward in the adventure that we are on, following the pathway that leads through the scriptures in a year, we have now come to a new book in the Old Testament, the book of Nehemiah. And the book of Nehemiah is one of the books of history in the bible, as the bible is kind of grouped. And it’s going to up, pretty much, where we left off with Ezra. And Christian tradition offers that Ezra is likely the author of Ezra and Nehemiah because they were at one time a single text. But Nehemiah was a real person. He was a Jewish exile in Persia and he hears of what's going on with the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. And Nehemiah is high ranking. He’s a direct servant to the king and he has a passion to rebuild the wall. So, he knows his brethren have returned from exile and of begun to rebuild the temple but he gets a passion in his heart to rebuild the wall protecting Jerusalem because he sees that the temple is the heart of the Jewish culture but he also sees that there's nothing to protect it. And, so, his heart moves in that direction, to rebuild the wall, which presents many metaphors for our lives right there. Nehemiah faces all kinds of opposition but he’s perseverant. He’s smart. We’re going to see this. It’s a great book. He remains single minded. He remains committed. He remains tenacious. Not to mention that he has completely put himself out there. He is utterly dependent on God. These are all things required for a successful life of faith. So, the wall is rebuilt in record time. Nehemiah returns to Persia and he is able to come back a couple years later only to find a strong wall and an incredibly weak people. And, so, he then sets about the task of restoring Israel to its glory before the Lord, which brings about revival in the land, repentance through the reading of the law, of the Hebrew story. So, Nehemiah isn't just a great story or piece of history. It full of metaphor for our lives and we will certainly find ourselves in its pages. And, so, with that we begin Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 14. And we’re reading from the Good News translation this week.

Commentary:

Ok. The book of Nehemiah is a place that we land each year and I love coming to this oasis. Because we’ve been moving through…ya know…a lot of kings…and goings on…and exile…and destruction…and…being carried off…and being returned…and just a lot of that for quite a while and it's very important. And then then we get Ezra and we see that God does not forget and He brings his people back. And they begin to rebuild the temple because where else would they start. I mean, the restoration of the temple is more than a symbol to them. It's the restoration of the heart of the people and the connection to God. So, that's where they would start. But when we get to Nehemiah this really interesting thing that happens because it really shows us God's call and then a person, kind of, discerning that call, preparing for that call, leaping into that call but soberly and truly counting the cost of leadership and then beginning to work. So, we just read the story but Nehemiah is the cup bearer to the king. So, he has access to the emperor of Persia every day but he’s a Hebrew and he knows that many exiles have returned to Jerusalem. And, so, he’s trying to keep in touch with that story but they're a long way from Jerusalem. And, so, you know, he just takes the news as it comes and what he finds out is that it's pretty hard going. The city of Jerusalem was completely destroyed when the Babylonians took over. So, the people have gone back and its rubble. So, it's all just been knocked down. It's burned up. Everything is destroyed. So, they’ve kind of got to wade through, find the remnants of the temple, kind of figure out how to go from there and this is a very, very tedious, kind of, earthmoving kind of thing where allot of things have to be moved out of the way. And, so, Nehemiah’s hearing this. It’s tough going. And he realizes that the temple is being rebuilt and there's nothing to protect it and that really, really, sinks into his heart. That really, really affects him on an emotional level, that the temple of the most high God is standing within the rubble of a city that was utterly destroyed because the people rejected and walked away from their God and brought these things upon themselves. But now God is giving an opportunity for restoration. And the restoration is happening but everyone is exposed. Even the temple is exposed. There’s nothing to protect it and that bothers him. And, so, he begins to fast and he begins to pray and he begins to kind of move into this desire that is emerging in him. He wants to see the wall of Jerusalem rebuilt so that Gods temple is protected and revered and honored. And, so, he begins to get this desire but the way that he focuses that energy isn't into drawing up all the plans that he’s going to do and the team he needs assemble and the way they need to plan this. What he does is, he begins to intercede diligently for the people in the place that he is going to go, should God allow him to press into this desire in rebuilding the wall. So, his heart is in intercession to God for the people that are there doing the work on the temple. Four months later…alright this is burning inside Nehemiah…its four months later that he finally has the opportunity to tell the emperor what’s going on inside of his heart. And the emperor, four months later, agrees to let him go and rebuild. And he does. But he goes prepared. The emperor's willing to send him a guard along that path, which is a long way. He takes it. He’s also given the ability to reach out for supplies that he’s going to need including the supplies that it's going to take to create a dwelling for himself. So, he plans to plant himself there during this work even though he’s going to be summoned back to Persia. He’s making preparations for what he’s going to need to do this job. He’s got the paperwork that he needs. Right? All the building permits, as it were. He’s got everything that he needs to give to all of those who are in authority governing the place of Jerusalem. And then he goes and makes the trip and he arrives and he makes the connections that he needs to make but he doesn't, you know, go through the broken gates among the rubble following pathways that have been built just to get around to try to find leaders to try to get up on a large rock and declare, I Nehemiah am here. He’s totally, completely, low key. He comes in and gets some rest and begins to observe. He has a burning passion but he’s just observing the lay of the land. And, so, as he’s observing the people and the lay of the land and the destruction of Jerusalem, the purpose, the passion that he has is for the wall. And so, he sneaks out at night when no one knows, takes a couple people with him, and walks around the broken down walls of the city, surveying everything. Before he invites any other voices into the mix, anything like that, he goes out and systematically surveys everything that's going to need to be done before he makes any kind of announcement about why he’s there. So, he arrives and sees, actually, what has to be done, assesses the situation before he says anything. This is so helpful because this pattern, this model can be used in just about any situation in our lives. It’s not magic. Right? I mean, it's not magic. Like he’s not going to have any problems. As we will see, he’s going to have to face plenty of obstacles. The difference is he’s prepared for them. He knows exactly what's going on. He’s totally not making this up as he goes. Allot times when we feel that call, that passion rise up in us, that God is introducing us or inviting us into a new season, and there’s going to be some new things and we begin to think about it and dream about it get more excited about it and we can't wait and then we just go. But Nehemiah took months, he took a long, long time. Not only did he take months to intercede for the people in Jerusalem, it took him months to get to Jerusalem. So, there's a lot of prayer and preparation that went into this before he even left Persia. And as we will see, this posture of leadership that Nehemiah exhibits is necessary. It’s what's going to help lead this thing forward.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for another day in Your word. And as we approach the book of Nehemiah, we invite Your Holy Spirit because it truly is helpful and practical in our lives. I mean, every page of Your word is practical and helpful to our lives and some things deal with what's going on inside of us and other things give us common, solid, true advice about how to approach life on planet earth, walking with You, following You and what You lead us into. And, so, Nehemiah is such a book. And, so, come Holy Spirit, as we work our way through it. We ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what's going on around here. So, be sure to check and out.

I mentioned yesterday that the Sneezing Jesus films and the leader's guide are all available for download in the Daily Audio Bible shop as well as the Sneezing Jesus medallion that so many of you have been asking about. It is now available in the Daily Audio Bible shop as well. So, be sure to check into that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link. It’s on homepage. Thank you for your partnership, truly, humbly, honestly. Thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right hand corner or if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill TN 37174.

And of course, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hi Daily Audio Bible. It’s Margo from Australia. It’s, actually, kind of my first call. I did call last week but had a really bad line and you really couldn’t understand it. I only found out about DAB a few weeks ago I have instantly loved it. I know I’ve got limited time, so I want to get straight to the point because I feel so desperate for prayer right now. My 20-year-old son, his name is Elliot, he was in very bad car crash nearly four months ago and I nearly lost him. He was on a comma in ICU and then in hospital for about a month. He is recovering incredibly well, thanks be to God and many, many, many people praying for him. But for the last two years he’s been in a toxic relationship with a girl who is really bad for him. We have prayed and prayed and prayed about this relationship and since his accident she’s only gotten worse. She has been so nasty and has caused him and half of his family so much pain and suffering. And now she’s almost effectively turned him against us. Elliot is blind to her manipulations and he seems to be under her power. He’s angry at me. He’s very cold towards me. After nearly losing him to death I now feel so rejected by him. Would you please pray for him? I feel so desperate. His anger towards me is so painful and all I ever did was love him. Please pray that he’ll see the truth and the truth will set him free and that the stronghold will be broken in his life. And please pray that God will give me strength to bear what I need to bear. Thank you for praying and God bless you all.

Good afternoon Daily Audio Bible family. This is Lee from New Jersey. Today is August 7th. Yes. And it is a rainy, rainy Monday. And I’m on my way back home from work and just wanted to call in and thank you doctor Jordan. I am sorry that I couldn’t meet up with man. I hope you had a great time on your birthday and down here at East Side Heights, which is a great place to be during the summer time. So, blessings to you and your family. Also, just wanted to call and thank all of you that are continuously praying for my family, for myself, my salvation, the salvation of my family. I also wanted to mention that I share a birthday with a twin sister. Her name is Dianna. And she’s lost. She’s been lost for a few years now. She’s lost her two children. She’s addicted to drugs. She’s actually selling herself. And I haven’t seen her for over two years. And no one knows her whereabouts. So, family, please pray for my sister. Pray for Dianna. Please pray for God’s intervention, that she’ll seek help, that she’ll look to get better and forget about any mistakes that she made. And, you know, coming to God. That’s what it’s all about. So, just asking for our prayer warriors, our friends and family that’s out there just to pray on our behalf our intercession. I just want to say that I love you all and I’ll be calling back soon.

Hi. This is Ola from Athens calling. I had a leading from God to do this for a while now but I was basically feeling uncomfortable about it but I still need to obey. So, here goes. It’s about giving to the Daily Audio Bible. I’ve been a one-and-a-half-year listener and a couple of months ago God led me to start to give to this ministry because, I mean, it’s doing awesome things in my life and your life as well. I struggled because of financial obligations with the family, with kids, with work, and all of that. And God laid in my heart to give part of my tithe to this ministry because, the truth is, this ministry saved me even more than my home church because I listen on a daily basis I get prayers, I get commentary from Brian. I mean, it’s almost like church in the house for me. And this was the revelation that God gave me concerning the Daily Audio Bible. So, I committed to God to give a portion of my tithe to this ministry. So, I don’t know who this is for. I don’t know who really wants to support this ministry and is struggling financially and thinks, ‘oh where  am I going to get the money from’. This is what God asked me to do. I have done it. And it’s my job to obey. It’s His job to turn the hearts of men to listen and be convicted as well. But please, please, there are many, many, ways - many ways God will lead you to give if you have a heart to give. Thank you and God bless.

Hey family. This is Pastor Gene from Bradenton, Florida. I love you very much. I’m returning from the airport from dropping Pastor John, who is going for major surgery in San Diego. I pray that you guys will help me pray for him, that everything will go according to the Lord’s will and that He will keep my husband safe and that the surgery will be a success. And I just want to pray with you guys now. Let’s pray. Father, I thank You very much for my brothers and sisters, whom I love very much. I want to testify to Your goodness and greatness during our youth camp. You worked mightily and we are so grateful to You Father. We also recognize the attacks of the enemy that have followed after the camp, an expected strategy from the enemy. But we declare that no weapon forced against us will prosper and we are more than conquerors in Your name. Father, thank You for affirming the word that You have started in each one of those young people as we continue our work with them as the months go by. Father, I want to thank you for my sister, Sharon, from California, I believe. She’s an older lady. She says she has struggled with depression most of her life and she says that she’s given up. But she hasn’t because she was motivated enough to reach out to us for prayer and that shows that she has hope. She has hope that prayer works. And, so, we come before You and we call upon Your name on behalf of our sister and we pray for a miracle, for a breakthrough in her life, for flesh and bones brothers and sisters that can surround her and be arms and legs for our sister. In Jesus’ name, Father, I pray for my brother David from Kansas and I continue to believe that You are going to lift him up and give him the strength to get up and fight for what You’ve already given him.        

My name is Laurie in Los Angeles. God led me to the Daily Audio Bible in January after I received divorce papers from my husband of 33 years. This ministry has nourished, strengthened, encouraged, and helped me grow in the Lord. Even though finances are tight, I felt led by God to give monthly donations to this ministry and I encourage all listening to do the same. I’m grateful for all that have called in asking for prayer and to those who have blessed us with encouragement and prayers. A big thanks to Sandy in New Hampshire for calling in and praying for marriages. When my husband told me he was filing for divorce I fervently prayed for God to move mountains in our relationship and for restoration of our marriage. But I was soon convicted to change my prayers. I stopped telling God what mountains to move and I let Him show me what needed to be restored. I laid the desires of my heart at the foot of the cross so that I can be receptive to what God was wanting to do in my life. I began to focus my prayers on healing and restoring my relationship with God. I cannot hope to have healthy relationship with others if I don't have a healthy relationship of God first. I pray that as we listen to God’s word being read and the insight shared by Brian, we will come to a place of surrender, forgiveness, healing, and complete trust in the works God is doing in our lives. Thanks to all in this community for being used by God to help each other walk through the painful seasons of our lives.

[dailyaudiobible]

06/04/2019 DAB Transcript

2 Samuel 22:1-23:23, Acts 2:1-47, Psalms 122:1-9, Proverbs 16:19-20

Today is the 4th day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a pleasure, it is an honor, it is the joy to come around the global campfire together with you and spend some time stepping away like we do every day from whatever's going on and just orient ourselves to God through His word. So, that's exactly what we’ll do. We have been spending time moving through David's story, King David, in the book of second Samuel, and we have just begun the book of Acts yesterday as we move forward into this story of the formation of the church and what happened right after Jesus ministry. So, we’ll get to that in a minute, but first second Samuel chapter 22 verse 1 through 23 verse 23. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in the book of acts today we witnessed earthmoving monumental things, right, Pentecost the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the church. So, Jesus followers had been praying together and waiting in one place, and according to tradition, this place is the same upper room where Jesus enjoyed His last supper. And the promised Holy Spirit fell upon them with the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and tongs or flames of fire over their heads and those present were given the ability speak in other languages. And then there were pilgrims from all over the known world. And if this upper room is the same upper room then it was on Mount Zion. And, so, pilgrims from all over the world would've been around and they heard the testimony of God's kindness spoken in their native tongue, which caused an incredible stir because these people were Galilean and how could they speak all these different languages and communicate so clearly? But Pentecost in the book of Acts gives us the first clue that the gospel was something that was to be spread throughout the entire world. It wasn't to be exclusive. It was to be spread to every nation and tongue. So, like, in this day and age we can say, “yeah, dah, like, of course, that's exactly…isn’t that one of the great missions of our faith?” But what this would mean at that time, like at this flashpoint, the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and God's goodness being spoken in all these other tongues, what this is gonna ultimately mean is gonna cause an incredible amount of controversy among the early church. And we’ll get to that as we journey through the book of Acts and into the letters of Paul. We’ll see all of this very clearly. The confusion triggered by the many tongues being spoken caused hearers to marvel but it caused others to scoff and accuse Jesus followers of being drunk. And this revealed the way that the message of hope in Jesus would continue to be opposed. So, as it was for Jesus, so it will be for the early believers and so it still is today. So, Peter gives this first recorded mass introduction to the gospel of Jesus and 3000 people believed and were baptized as a result. And, so, we can immediately see the change in Peter after having gone through Jesus death and burial and resurrection and ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit. He's transformed and 3000 people, according to the book of Acts, were baptized into the faith that day. And, so, many scholars concluded that the only place, anywhere around there, anywhere even around Jerusalem for the most part, anyplace that many people could have been baptized would've been the mikvah or the ritual cleansing baths found at the temple complex. And the ruins of some of those mikvah are still there, just below the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as well as the southern steps that would've led into the temple place that Jesus would have taught, a place that Jesus would have walked. And, so, it is known to be the birthplace of the church, a place we visit when we go to Jerusalem each year. So, our time in Acts today was the flashpoint that began what we know as Christianity, right? People were not known as Christians at first. This term would be actually a Gentile term that will be coined in Antioch once the gospel began to spread out but the story that we read from Acts today is the origin story of the church that collected itself around the teachings and ministry and belief in Jesus and it's the same Holy Spirit that leads and guides us. And we’re on the same mission to bring light and good news. So, we have clearly moved out of the Gospels and clearly moved into the book of Acts, but now what we are reading is the story of the early church and its mission. It connects the dots to us because it is the same church and we are on the same mission. So, we may be reading the stories of those who have gone before us in earlier times, but we are now reading our own story and we are to collaborate in this story with the same Holy Spirit.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. We can often read these stories and their magnificence, and we read them as the exceptions to the rule, we read them as like something that You did that was magical at a time long ago and we would sure love to see that again, we would sure love to see Your power poured out again as if those things have passed away as if You were a different Holy Spirit as if Your power has diminished since then. Forgive us for this. You are the Spirit of truth and You have been sent by our Savior to advocate for us, to comfort us, to lead us into all truth, to lead us deeper into Jesus, to reveal the narrow path that leads to life. So, come Holy Spirit, even as we read of the stories of the origin of the faith we invite You to renew us in our faith today. Come Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and, of course, that’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

And we mentioned, we announced yesterday the global campfires coming back together for 2019 at the family reunion 2019. It was a tradition that we began last year and had a blast at the Family Reunion and so we’ve just decided to do it again, but we needed to find a place to have a little more access, a little more people. It sold out last year so quickly. And, so, we went and searched. We found a great camp up on the lake, not too far from the airport, not too far from Nashville, very very convenient, wonderful place to stay, wonderful place to play. It's going to be amazing. And, so, the Family Reunion for 2019 will take place August 31st through September 2nd 2019, which is Labor Day weekend here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. If you're staying on site the cost will depend on, you know, what kind of accommodations that you want. So, check them all out. We recommend everybody comes. Stay together, play together be together, eat together, get to know each other, like deepen the relationships with people that you may have been praying for and only know by voice for years. Make those connections and your brothers and sisters who are going through the Scriptures with you, have them in your life. This is this is what community and family is all about. So yeah, we recommend you come and hang out and stay and check all that. If you’re staying off site, the cost is $55 per person. It includes two evening meals, plus our time together in the evening as well as use of the grounds, which are spectacular. If you’re staying on site, there are a number of options. You just gotta check it out. It’s gonna be a blast. You can find out about the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion 2019 at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. And based on the fact that we've only announced it once, looks like we’re gonna have a good time, a lot of you want to come, and we’re so excited to host you just have a wonderful time together in community here in the rolling hills of Tennessee where we spend our lives.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. The link is on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that is it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi DABbers, my name is Anna and I listen on a regular basis and this morning I was listening, and I heard Norman call into the prayer line and he was calling to encourage Christine who had been separated from her husband and Norman gave the testimony of how his own wife had prayed for the restoration of their marriage. And Norman and Christine I was so moved by both of you and both of your situations because my birthday, my 40th birthday, is in six days and I have not been married yet, but I have been praying for my husband since I was even a little girl. I remember being five years old and one day to be married and imagining my husband and talking to God about what it would be like to be a wife and a mother. And I know that it’s how has designed me, and I’ve kept myself pure and I’ve prayed and I’ve journaled to my husband and written him letters and I know that God is faithful. Even this morning, today’s the 2nd of June, even this this morning we heard the Scripture from Psalms that says I gave my burdens to the Lord, I carried my situation to the Lord and he answered me and I believe that God is gonna answer me but would you all pray with me for my husband that this would be the year that we come together and start building the kingdom of God together. Pray for my husband. Whether he knows the Lord or not, I know that God has given me word that he’s gonna love the Lord. I ask that you would pray for him, that he would come quickly, and that no weapon formed against our marriage would prosper. I have full faith in God’s good answer me. Thank you.

Hello dearest DAB family, this is Lori formally from North Carolina now I’m from all over the place. Recently we sold our house and all our stuff and bought a truck and an Airstream, and we’ve name them Stanley and Living Stream and now my husband John and my cat Rosie and actually our cat Rosie are traveling all over North America. So, we know God is up to something with this whole new adventure, but we just don’t know really much at all. So, we would really appreciate your prayers for our safety and that we would definitely follow the Spirits leading for navigation in the earthly and heavenly realms and that God would give us eyes to see and ears to hear what He would want us to do and accomplish for His kingdom purposes while we’re on this new adventure. And even more importantly than that, I just want to say how important it is for us, especially now that we’re on the road to know that we’re part of such an amazing extensive family and we’re so grateful for this podcast and grateful for the Hardin family. But more importantly than anything we’ve already asked, I want to just ask you to pray for my sister Sheila. She’s been suffering from a degenerative spine issue for much of her life and lately it has been slowly stealing her mobility to the point where it’s getting very scary. And I just pray that you will join me in praying for her divine healing, just as God killed my brain heal ocular tumor back in 1982. And more important than her physical healing I want to pray and ask you to pray with us that she would come to know and love Jesus. That’s my heart cry. So, thank you so much for your fervent and effectual prayers my dear family. And also want to give a shout out to Angel in California…

Hey DAB family, this is blessed like me here. I want to share a message about God’s power. In Psalm 22 I was reading and at the end it said, “and I will praise and worship God’s power.” I was just thinking on how much influence that could do to our faith if we were to praise God’s power, if we were to just really, really understand that once we praise God’s power God can never get smaller to us, He can only get to get to us. God is a powerful God but how often do we praise His power. Praise God’s power so when you’re walking through the Valley or you’re walking through a dark spot in life you can know, you can have a light that will light up and say, “I serve a God that is powerful, I serve a God is able, I serve a God that’s with me and works through me and is a powerful God”. And once that happens, oh my goodness, it’s like dynamite, it’s more than dynamite because we serve a God that is powerful. Blessed like me coming here with a message of power, God’s power. Praise His power, but I’m also thanking every one of you for your prayers, for your love that you do for one another, that is a powerful thing to do as well. Love you guys, love you Brian and Jill for this awesome memory…ministry…I always get that wrong. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Blind Tony for mentioning my name and bringing me up often. I’m listening at times but not always. Love you and thank you for this ministry Brian.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family, this is Jordan from Georgia. I haven’t called in a while. I called in about some health issues and my horse dying. I wanted to give an update. My health issues are still very prevalent. I think that’s the right word __ but I just felt like I needed to call in today. I’ve felt like this for a while and I don’t know why but I feel like there’s somebody out there who needs intense prayer, very intense prayer. I’ve been trying to think of the words to say but I just can’t think of it. But if you’re listening, God will put this on your heart and He will let you know that this is for you. I pray that you will stay strong in what you’re going through, that you will know that no matter who you think is not there, God is there for you, and no matter how hard people may try to tear you down, there is no tearing down a stronghold that is made with God. If you guys could keep me in your prayers that would be amazing. I just wanted to let you guys know how, despite the amount of tension I have in my day-to-day life, I turn this on every night and I feel an intense amount of joy for the last seven minutes whenever everybody’s praying. I feel like I’m constantly being prayed over even though none of it is for me necessarily. And it’s just amazing to see this kind of family come together. So, I pray you all have an amazing and wonderful day.