#get used to different

[thatsastepladder]

The Chosen: includes a major character tied to one of the Apostles, yet never mentioned or even alluded to in the Gospels

me: somehow didn’t see the death flags flying

the character: dies

me:

[walkonthewater]

[nobrain-onlysteven]

forget zodiac signs… who’s your favorite disciple from The Chosen?

[peggy-sue-reads-a-book]

Anyway, I genuinely think that Jesus made Jonathan Van Ness to look exactly like him to make a point. Follow me for more things we can think about.

[tinamaetales]

I Have Called You By name

But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1

My relationship with God has been a recurring topic in this blog simply because my faith has its ups and downs and sometimes, I feel like I want to express what I'm feeling about it by writing on this blog. Writing, although I am mediocre at it, has become a hobby of mine. Ever since I was young, I always rely on writing an essay over various topics - before, I just find an extra notebook at home or a spare piece of paper and just write down whatever I want and then during college years I bought a journal and I became so active in writing on those mini journal notebooks then came adulthood which I discover blogging so this blog ended up being created. Although I'm not really active here (because of adulting, that's why), this blog is no stranger to my journey with God. I have written about my faith in God a few times in here, sometimes the ups and sometimes the downs. I can remember the last time I wrote something here, way back in 2022, a quite lengthy blog post about how I'm struggling with my faith (The title of that blog post is "O, Ye of Little Faith" and it was posted here on October 16, 2022). I wrote that in frustration. I was in so much pain when I was writing it. I feel like I was screaming at an empty sky and no one is listening. My heart is longing for that "being" who I used to believe in and yet I felt like he abandoned me. But there was a part of me that says "do not give up on your faith" so as I entered 2023, I made a promise to myself that I will work on my relationship with God and surprisingly, I did.

The church is a holy place for this is where the mass is being held, a place where people pray, to put it simply: God's Home. But here's the thing, for years I cannot find God in the Church. I tried personally visiting churches or even watching the mass online but I cannot find Him there. My flawed mind is already telling me that maybe there really is no God and I'm just stuck in the idea of Him. And that's how I started my 2023. Few days in to 2023 and I already lost faith. It was a rough patch but I just continued with life because what choice do I have left? In 2023, things were bad and some were good. I just simply exist and try my best to survive every day. Then one night, He found me. And with that I ended up with the realization that the reason why I cannot find God in churches is because He will be the one to find me...and He found me. And I guess it’s true what they always say, in God’s perfect timing things will be in their proper places. That night, my heart was ready for Him and that’s why He called me. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

It was just another night of scrolling on my phone and finding something to do because I don’t feel sleepy yet when I decided to watch something on Netflix. The funny thing is, I cannot find something interesting while browsing. I was about to just go back to twitter when I saw that there is a new show added on Netflix and the title was “The Chosen” and I don’t know what made me curious about it but I ended up clicking it anyway and watched it. I truthfully have no idea about this show and I did not even read it’s short description or watch the trailer available, I just decided to go for it….I have nothing else to do anyway. And then, I realized it was about the life of Jesus. At that moment, I already thought of not watching it anymore since I know about it anyway. I am familiar with Jesus because I was raised a Catholic and studied in Catholic schools from kindergarten to high school. I was telling myself, “I already know this, why bother watching?” But, I cannot truly bring myself to stop watching it because the show’s approach is different. It can make any viewer, regardless of religion, become interested. The show was not “preachy” at all. And then the first episode ended with the scene of Jesus telling Mary Magdalene the bible verse I put above this blog post, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” And at that moment, I felt chills in my body. It was as if God Himself is talking to me directly. It was at that moment I have realized God has found me and redeemed me.

Fast forward to today, a few minutes ago while I am working on this blog post I officially turned 28 and somehow, I don’t feel sad at all. For years, I wake up on my birthdays with a heavy heart; instead of celebrating, all I do on my birthday is be depressed. I even wished on my 27th birthday that I hope it was my last because I just cannot handle life anymore but look at me now, still here and I don’t have that heavy feeling in my heart. I guess it’s because God works on me through Jesus. I cannot fully describe it into words the impact that The Chosen had on me. And by reading the comments of other people who watched the show, we all feel that this show has become an avenue for people to become closer to God and for the non-believers who ended up believing, the show was a way for them to know God.

I guess what makes The Chosen different from all the other adaptations of the bible is the humanity it has. The Chosen put humanity in its character, especially in the apostles. Growing up and learning about these people from the bible has always made me feel so small. The people from the bible intimidates me because I feel like I’m too flawed to become a follower of Jesus but The Chosen has shown otherwise. The Chosen may have taken artistic liberty to show us Jesus’ life but it’s the way they put humanity in the characters that made people drawn to it. The way it shows that the apostles were just like us, they were humans too. And God through His Son Jesus, does not call the qualified for He qualifies the called. Jesus was sent here on Earth to bring salvation so that He may save us. And I am grateful for that night because I believe that God called me, chose me, and redeemed me. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

This will be a long journey for me. I know that there will come a time that I will still ask question, I might still stumble, I will still face challenges but this time, the load is not as heavy as before because now I am walking with Jesus. Before 2023 ends, I bought myself a bible. This is my first time buying a bible for myself and I am just excited to get to know God more.

Let me end this blog post with another bible verse: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

X,

TinaMae

PS, I will write more blog posts about The Chosen (maybe I’ll do a recap each season)

[littlefankingdom]

Dick who climbed on anything as a child. Even in public, especially in public. The moment Bruce looks away, he is climbing something to get as high as possible. The first times, it gave Bruce an heart attack. Now, it's just a headache.

People pass by and ask if they should call the firefighters, and Bruce tiredly tell them "He is fine, he can get down on his own.", like people with cats.

Imagine, you're walking out of some building, only to see a 10 years old standing on top of a lamppost, having a discussion with his dad guardian at the bottom.

"Dick, get down."

"Make me."

"Get down or you're grounded."

[lonepower]

yes i Am paying real money to make you all look at our new dog. we've had her for 3 hours and if anything happened to her I'd kill everyone in this room and then myself. her name is Tater Tot

[balthazarslostlibrary]

Dan Piraro, Bizarro Comics 2006

[thedangerfloofhasreturned]

[thatsastepladder]

For as much as I love Marvel comics, I’ve never felt like the stereotypical comic book movie fan when watching MCU movies. There’s no getting excited over seeing any blorbos show up and speculating over what that might mean for future installments.

But I’ll be darned if that isn’t exactly what I do with The Chosen, even though I know exactly what will happen.

[character who was the recipient of one of Jesus’ miracles and isn’t even named in Scripture]: appears

Me: OMIGOSH IT’S THE CENTURION WHOM JESUS HEALS THE SERVANT OF IN MATTHEW 8! I LOVE THAT GUY!

[starscream-is-my-wife]

LL Megatron gets transported to the G1 cartoon (pre movie) guns don't kill anyone, everyone is more focused on their one liners then battle, wizards are real, days dont mean anything, what a silly universe

[nobrain-onlysteven]

Oh my gosh I just saw the chosen season 3 finale and I- I literally have no words.

!!!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!!! GO WATCH ALL OF CHOSEN SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND WHY IM CRYING MY EYES OUT

Mary and Matthew confiding in each other and being vulnerable and uplifting

The tension between Simon and John turning into brotherly love and care. (Also the fact that they’re my two favorite disciples having good emotional bonding on screen is just AHHH so wholesome and I love it so much)

Philip going absolutely crazy with guilt and Andrew trying his best to deal with it

Jesus healing the man’s infected leg and all the leaders just SITTING DOWN WAS ACTUALLY SO FUNNY TO ME

The feeding of the 5000 was- just wow

Mary, Zebedee and Salome confronting Eden

Yussif reading the Psalm!!!! The flashback to David!!!

And ohhhhhhh my gosh I can’t even describe how o felt during the walking on water. That’s been one of my favorite Bible stores for a long time and I even wrote a song based on it once. I kept imagining this scene in my head before I watched it but I couldn’t have imagined how powerful it was. Simon getting angry at Jesus, the cuts to Eden and the overlaying voices, the disciples begging Simon not to go, the INTENSE wait as Simon was plunged underwater, Jesus’s hand and the way he hugged Simon even after he had doubted, the “please don’t let go” “please don’t let him go”

Yeah I was sobbing in the theater

Oh man there’s so much that I haven’t even said but I just can’t do this finale justice with words and if I tried it would fill a novel and still wouldn’t live up to this. Just wow

[ogeneraloito]

interesting how fords been surrounded by triangles his entire life. looks like ford and bill were always doomed to meet each other

ford did seem to think that he is destined to be in gravity falls, destined to be part of greater things, and bill also thought he was "destined for so much more"

to quote on alex, "that's ford's great flaw, is arrogance. is he believes that there's special people, and everyone else. that human attachments are actually weaknesses. and the song and dance that he’s giving dipper right now, is the song and dance that he gave mcgucket, back when they were younger… ‘you and me are different, we’re better than everyone else. we have a path that no one else can understand, and only us can do this.’"

i think at some point bill really thought ford was the one that UNDERSTOOD him (well, ford did think "why did rudolph not simply kill the other reindeer? he shouldve burned his workshop to the ground"). some of his henchmaniacs didnt seem to actually like bill at all

quick edit for something ive found:

this is from "dreamscaperers", and apparently ford had been dreaming about the cipher wheel for weeks before he even found the cave. enough times that he was even able to perfectly draw the wheel on the journal. bill didnt even know about ford yet.

[lastoneout]

the whole guilt-tripping language in posts about important topics paired with how I'm still getting bitches in my notes talking about why it's actually good to tell "bad" people to kill themselves continues to prove to me that a lot of people have absolutely no concept of social justice or activism outside of assuming the worst of and then viciously attacking strangers on the internet