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beardedmrbean · 6 months

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Weird question what is the importance of Jerusalem for Christians and Jews? Was Jerusalem the capital of ancient Israel and why Christians like the Templars wanted to retake it?

I got long, I'm gonna TL:DR; at the end ____________________

Jerusalem was the capital of the united kingdom of Israel, well after Saul at least David moved it there and Solomon built the temple there on the piece of land that is called "the temple mount" in English at least which is the single holiest site in Judaism, which if you speak to the remaining Samaritans you will hear different since they claim to be the ones following the true way and their capital was Samaria and their temple was on Mount Gerizim that was after the split of united Israel after the death of Solomon got Judea and Samaria.

Babylonians came in and destroyed and looted the first temple Solomon's Temple in in 587 BC, Assyrians had gotten Samaria and scattered it's people to the wing the best they could getting us The Ten Lost Tribes.

Eventually the Persian empire, (guys from the battle of Thermopylae aka 300 Spartan thing) KO'd the Babylonian empire and they were a lot nicer and also understood the politics of not getting in the way of local faiths because that's one of those things people will die for.

So Cyrus the Great gave his cup-bearer Nehemiah permission to go home and rebuild his city and its temple, so construction on the Second Temple started in 516 BC. (there's lots of extrabiblical stuff to back this up btw, in case you wondered it's not all just stuff from the Torah, names may be different that's fine tho) Ezekiel came in and rededicated it and began teaching "The Law ™" and over time it was expanded and eventually Herod the Great (same one from the Christmas story that killed all the babies looking for Jesus) got it all done and if we look at the timeline and that little bit of info about Herod we can see why Christians are so attached to the place too.

The Temple held the Holy of Holies, which is where the Ark of the Covenant (from Indiana Jones, lol) was kept had the original 10 commandment tablets a jar of mana and Aaron's staff in it and the actual location was considered the conduit between this world and the other, inelegant way to put it but still. It's where the high priest could go once a year and offer a sacrifice for the people, on Yom Kippur the holiest day in both Judaism and Samaratinsim (they agree mazel tov) I remember something about a rope being tied to their leg and they had to wear bells just in case they were "smited" and needed to be "removed" not sure how real that is.

With all of that it should be fairly simple to figure out why Jewish people are so attached to it, and the Jesus connection what with the whole bit about the money changers and flipping tables taking place in the courtyard of that temple, the whole last bit of each of the gospels starting well before the triumphal entrance on what Christians call Palm Sunday all the way through the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension that was all in and around Jerusalem.

Jews were ending their Passover Seder with L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim (Next year in Jerusalem) starting somewhere in the 1400's from what I can see as a wish to be able to go home and worship and fellowship in their own homeland among other reasons.

So here we have the previously mentioned Temple Mount

That bit where it says "Western Wall" is a remnant from the 2nd temple, Jesus touched that and may have taught while using it to shade himself it's all happened there.

The city is in the DNA of every Jewish person and by extension Christians though not as deeply ingrained.

Then we get to Islam, as you see in the image up there they built a mosque on top of the location for the Jewish Temple, it's how history works may have been some middle finger flipping when it happened but as history goes that's how a invading conquering force does thing, always have.

Dome of the rock there on the inside looks like this

The exposed bit there is goes by several names, "Foundation Stone" is one, it's believed by (some) Jews that this is the location where the Holy of Holies was/is and for Muslims it's where Muhammad ascended went on his "night journey" spoke directly to both Moses and Allah to get the law for Muslims some of it at least.

Spot under that rock is the "well of souls" bet you can guess what significance that has.

So bringing it all together and hitting the TL:DR at the same time. _____________________________-

TL:DR; all 3 Abrahamic faiths are very attached to the city of Jerusalem and its surrounding area because it plays a central part in the stories of them.

Jews were there first so they get the strongest claim imho but as it sits it is a holy and revered site for all 3 faiths because it's deeply connected to them all both physically and spiritually.

Slightly less holy to Muslims since their temple mount buildings are just the third most sacred place in Islam, but still dreadfully sacred. ______________

Sorry this was really long, hope it was slightly interesting at least if you read it, it's as accurate as I could make it without spending a lot more time fact checking myself too.

#anonymous

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slxyangel · 4 years

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Handcuffs (Duff McKagan x Reader)

Summary: Hii! I was wondering if you could write something about Duff and his girlfriend have been fighting on tour. Everyone is annoyed with the fighting, so Axl handcuffs them so they can’t run away and avoid their problems. Thanks. This was requested by @julessworldd and I finally had time to get round to writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Wordcount: 2.1k.

Warnings: Some swearing and that’s essentially it.

A/N: The name of the fic sucks super super bad, but I swear it’s funny; tell me your thoughts on it :) Also, get ready for a lot of Duff, bc all of my requests rn are about him. I might leap them with some other works I have in mind *wink, wink*.

REQUESTS ARE OPEN

Masterlist: https://slxyangel.tumblr.com/post/189625800403/masterlist

Waves.

The boat is drifting from side to side.

A lot of waves.

Like, a dangerously fucking lot of waves.

What the hell.

Wait, these are not waves.

This is you being carried around in God knows what to God knows where.

And now you are almost violently left (or, more accurately, thrown) in a bed. You open your eyes to see several arms, probably more than two, probably less than six, toying around your recently awakened figure. Seriously, what the fuck?

As you try your best to figure out what is going on, what was going on before you were tossed around under yet to clarify circumstances, and what apparently will still be going on for a while, you identify your captors by their features. Fibrous arms, tan skin, callous hands and a mop of dark curly hair? Pale, tattooed arms, twinky frame and red strands of straight hair? Obviously, it has to be them, it couldn’t be any other people on the planet.

And the milliseconds it takes for you to draw their names in your head are enough time for the skinny diabolic peanut to handcuff your right wrist. Then he backs off, along with his accomplice, just a few steps. Well, not that they have much more space to back off inside a tour bus.

Obviously, it has to be them. It has to be Axl and it has to be Slash. And it has to be the two of them together.

You turn your incandescent eyes from their main objective to the place where your no-longer-free-hand is tied to something else. And that something else turns out to be another hand. Another hand attached to Duff.

- OBVIOUSLY, I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL THE TWO OF YOU.

And this time you say it out loud.

Like, so damn out loud that your boyfriend, now turned into an annoying physical extension of your arm, wakes up from his most definitely no longer peaceful sleep. And when he does, since you are in a tour bus and the place is small and the space is used to the millimeter, he bumps his head against the cupboard strategically placed above him. His blow raises general laughter among his bandmates, who are all around to see the spectacle you two are surely about to give. And when you see Slash waving a tiny metallic key with a mischievous smile, your anger tells you that Mamma didn’t raise no disappointer.

- GIVE ME THAT KEY.

You sit up and stretch your free arm towards the guitarist, but he doesn't give you enough time and immediately puts the key in his mouth, just enough to bite it with his front teeth and show you what he is doing. He can’t hide his smile, or he doesn’t want to. He finally closes his lips around the metallic thingy and it disappears from your view. He hasn’t swallowed it. He hasn’t swallowed it, right??? I mean, he might have, cause it’s Slash. But holy shit tell me he hasn’t.

- This last week with you has been a fucking nightmare -- Axl speaks with voice clear as a day, he is enjoying. Thoughts of the cruelest methods of revenge start pacing your head --, and for “you” I mean you two lovebirds. What are you? Fifteen years old? You can’t be running around yelling at each other, then go with the silent treatment and then come to the rest of us bitching about how the other has pissed your ass so much, this has to end. And since some of these cowards -- now he points at the members of the band who are not handcuffed to your wrist -- were brave enough to complain the same way I am doing right now but not enough to put an end to it, I took matters into my own hands. Well, yours, more exactly. And I’m not gonna take the cuffs off until you talk it out and solve your problems like the adults you clearly aren’t.

- Oh, now that’s surprising -- your answer comes off bitter -- I didn’t know the “adult” way to solve things involved handcuffs.

- Well, you can take them off now because I don’t need this shit to talk to my girlfriend -- Duff finally opens his mouth. He sits up in the bed, right beside you, not that he has many more options. His free hand is covering the spot of his head he just hit with the furniture --. Though now that I mention it, maybe she does.

- Excuse me??? So I am the one running from the problem here??

- See? I told you all she was bitchy.

- YOU TOLD THEM I’M BITCHY?

- Yes he did -- Slash answers your question before Duff has time to, but his words sound weird.Good thing he mustn’t have swallowed the key.

- Slash, we’re trying to solve a problem here -- Steven adds, also looking at the panorama -- so shut the fuck up.

- Sorry mate, she asked.

- Well, sorry to break it up to you but I’m not the one who’s ignoring her boyfriend here, in fact it’s pretty much the other way around -- your intervention is directed to the general public, since they seem to be so aware of the issue because of someone’s loose tongue. But that someone takes the hint.

- So now I am ignoring you???

- No, now you aren’t ignoring me because you have a fucking handcuff and you can’t run from me like you usually do.

- Oh my god, do I run from you??? -- Duff sounds genuinely shocked. This bastard knows how to play his part in front of the guys, but it won’t wash, not with you.

- No he doesn’t -- Steven adds, always being the advocate for love.

- Yes he does -- that’s Slash, always being the advocate for chaos.

- SLASH!

Now he doesn’t even bother to defend himself, he did it on purpose, he is fucking enjoying. Lowkey, you find that funny, but he obviously hasn’t contributed to the plot for the sake of a solution, but for the sake of drama. I mean, the guy is only missing a bowl of popcorn and the 3D glasses. On the other end of the spectrum there’s Izzy, who hasn’t opened his mouth a single time and looks like and unbothered wine aunt. Like, literally, he has a glass of wine in his hand. And now returning to the point that keeps us here…

- I don’t run from you, babe.

- Ooohhh don’t use the babe card on me right now because we are arguing and I might as well stab you in the eye, Duff.

- Jeeeeeesus, I don’t run from you -- the bassist backs off before your eyes start going up in flames --, I don’t know, I have stuff to do. But you can always talk to me.

- No. I can’t because YOU NEVER HAVE TIME.

- BECAUSE I’M ON TOUR!!!

- OH so since you’re on tour you don’t have time to talk to your girlfriend but you do have time to fuck her??? -- There is a general snort. Well, at least no word from Slash, which is kinda disappointing.

- Holy shit -- Duff has opened his eyes so much it looks like they are gonna jump from his skull and leave the place rolling -- don’t give these fuckers one more thing to pry about because. They. Clearly. Don’t. Need. It. -- He shots deadly glares to each of his bandmates.

- Well, you were the one telling them I am bitchy. For which, by the way, you also have time.

- Jesus Christ how the hell did I think this was a good idea????? -- Axl starts regretting having put handcuffs on both of you, and you don’t blame him.

- Then take off the cuffs -- you suggest, slyly.

- Slash won’t give me the key.

- I wouldn’t have worded it better than that -- the guitarist finally puts the key out of his mouth, but he doesn’t give it away. It must be tiring to try to intervene in someone else’s argument while trying not to choke on metal.

- Then this is what you get for being such a brat -- now Duff is the one calling him out. Good, at least there is one thing you two agree on --. Now, honey, I’m sorry. I never meant to ignore you, but I didn’t notice you were upset about it or anything until this past week. I know things shouldn’t have escalated the way they did, I guess I was just overwhelmed by everything and I ended up projecting stuff into us two.

- Duff… -- that was so sweet. You actually never thought he would back off so easily, especially since you had been so picky with each other for some time now. -- It’s fair, I’m not mad at you. Actually that’s on me, because I am the one who hasn’t been clear about her feelings lately. I don’t know, I have been feeling a bit off, but I never got round to talk to you about it, because I see you have so much going on around, and so much to do, and so much pressure, but at the same time you are living your dream and you look happy and you deserve to enjoy it. I really didn’t want to be the one to pop the bubble worrying you with my stuff, and I just thought it would eventually vanish. But it didn’t, and I made you pay for something you are not to blame for.

- Babe -- he uses the word with feet of lead this time, just in case your reaction to it resembles the one you had before. But no, now he can definitely use the babe card -- please, I need you to know that you can always talk to me about anything. Always. No matter what. That’s what I’m here for. -- now his handcuffed hand holds yours, and his other hand travels to your cheek. The touch is so tender, so concerned that you can’t help but lean into it and close your eyes for a moment. You hadn’t realized until now how much you had missed that. -- But I need you to tell me, please. I can’t guess what’s going on out of the blue, so please, please, always tell me. I really don’t want us arguing like this again, especially if it has a solution, so let’s communicate from now on. Okay?

You nod against his hand. In the end, it turns out that you only needed to talk, to have a conversation instead of throwing things at each other to see who hits harder. In almost perfect synchronization with each other, you two lean in for a hug. Well, better said, a semi-hug, because let’s not forget that you are handcuffed and basically can’t move your arms. But who cares? You love him so much you feel your heart is gonna burst out at any moment and, now that you finally have him around you, you don’t understand how you were able to live without it for a WHOLE ENTIRE WEEK. Insane.

From your place between Duff’s hair and the scent of his neck, you hear Steven saying “Told ya. Pay me” and Slash responding with a huff, before he slaps what you presume is a banknote in what you presume is the drummer’s hand. So the fuckers have been betting on whether you would or wouldn’t fix things.

- So you fuckers have been betting on whether we would or wouldn’t fix things? -- Duff reads your mind and speaks your words as you two separate from each other. He shakes his head and smiles -- That’s really really ugly, and you really really never disappoint.

- Thanks dude! -- Steven smiles back and Slash doesn’t seem to have anything else to say now that he has a lighter wallet. He even gave the key to Axl -- I just believe in love.

Duff moves his hand up and exposes it along with yours so that Axl can unlock the cuffs. Instead, the vocalist hands him the key and says “You’ve earned it”. Your boyfriend takes the metallic piece and frees your wrist before he frees his. Then, he grabs the handcuffs and the key, he puts them in his back pocket and, winking at you, says:

- If any of you was expecting to have these back, they can go choke on a fork. They are mine, now. For the inconvenience and for the celebration.

#duff mckagan #duff #duff mckagan imagine #duff mckagan x reader #duff mckagan fluff #duff mckagan fanfiction #oneshot #one shot #duff mckagan one shot #guns n roses imagine #guns n roses x reader #guns n roses #gnr #gnr fanfiction #gnr x reader #fluff

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sincerelyreidburke · 4 years

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Omg can I please have a fic where Quinn (possibly backed by all of SMH) absolutely throws down N*te. And then maybe comforts a Sad Nando bc nando is Soft and needles all the cuddles and support

Okay, this has been in popular demand for quite some time now. It may be 1:31 AM, but I’m counting this as a little birthday present for Nando.

Set during Quinn’s summer in Arizona. :D

One of the first steps of taking your boyfriend home for the summer is showing him around.

For the past six days, that’s what Nando has taken it upon himself to do. He can’t believe, actually, that he and Quinn have been home from school for an entire week already— well, a week tomorrow, but still— and yet here they are, arrived at the last day of Nando’s extensive tour of the Phoenix metro area. They’ve spaced it out— something one day, something another— like dinner at Tio’s one night, an afternoon meeting his best friends from home, showing Quinn his childhood rink.

He’s satisfied with his own performance as a tour guide, but tomorrow means his first shift at Tio’s restaurant, which means that summer job season is really beginning. Which, like, obviously he and Quinn can still hang out— they’re living under the same roof; and if it’s not Mama or one of the girls, Quinn is the first person he sees every morning. It’s just that once he has a summer job schedule, their days won’t be entirely their own anymore.

For Quinn, he knows, that might be a little weird, at least for these first three weeks until Gabi and Rosa get out of school. Once they’re done, the summer theatre stuff starts up, and Quinn is getting paid to do that, so he’ll have something to do.

In the meantime, though, Nando knows he brought things with him. Like his knitting stuff. And a few books. And his camera.

And until tomorrow, the time is still theirs.

“Okay, my love,” Quinn says, at the kitchen table, over his toast and eggs. The morning is all theirs; Mama is at work, so once they got the twins out the door and onto the bus, Nando made him breakfast. “What’s on the agenda today?”

Nando grins at him. “Oh, you’re curious?”

He shrugs. “In a way.” He’s wearing a baggy KMH shirt tucked into his pajama bottoms, and he hasn’t even done his hair yet. Nando lives for seeing him like this— his obsessively proper boyfriend, who won’t be caught dead in jeans outside of a party, in his pajamas in his family’s kitchen.

It has been six days, and having Quinn at home has given him enough fuel for domestic daydreaming to last a lifetime.

It’s going to be a good summer.

“Well, I saved a good thing for last,” Nando tells him, reaching for his hand across the table. “We’re going to the beach.”

Quinn raises his eyebrows, skeptical. “In Arizona.”

“Yes,” he chirps back, because two can play at this game. “I’m driving you eight hours south to the ocean. Do you have your passport?” Quinn laughs a little, and he adds, “No, baby, the beach by the river. There’s a little park there. We can sit by the water in the sun.”

“Ooh.” Quinn smiles. “That sounds lovely.”

“But first,” he adds, squeezing his hand. “I’m taking you to my favorite Starbucks.”

Quinn cocks his head, with amusement in his smile now. “You have a favorite Starbucks?”

“You don’t have a favorite Starbucks?” he replies.

“I…” He trails off a little. “I can’t say I do, actually.”

“Well, I’ll educate you.” He brings his hand to his face, kisses it, and says, “Maybe this one will become your favorite.”

Quinn’s smile is the cutest shit he has ever seen. “Maybe so.”

In the truck, on the way there, Quinn is watching out the window. “So why is it your favorite?”

“Huh?”

“The Starbucks.” He looks to him across the console. “Why is it your favorite?”

“Oh.” Nando grins. “Well, okay. It’s, like, classic Arizona architecture, and—”

“Wait, you like it because of the architecture?” Quinn chuckles a little. “Are you Ben?”

“Jesus, baby, are you chirping me?” Nando jostles his arm, and Quinn laughs. “You’re a regular KMH member. I’m impressed.”

Quinn shrugs. “I suppose you’re finally rubbing off on me.”

“Wow.” Nando loves his boyfriend. “I’m honored. But FYI, I was only starting with the reasons I liked it.”

“Okay, continue, then.”

“Okay, so it has a lot of really nice outdoor seating.” Nando pauses. “It’s, like, near a shopping center, but it’s separate from the rest of the stores, so it’s not just some ugly spot. They always have the good cake pops, and plus, the manager is cool. They have blue hair and they wear a bunch of pride pins on their apron.”

“Okay.” Quinn nods, as Nando watches him process. Or at least sort of watches him, because he is, technically, still driving a vehicle, cute as the boy in the passenger’s seat may be. “That does sound like a good Starbucks.” He pauses. “What do you mean by the good cake pops?”

“Lemon ones,” he replies. “And chocolate. And, during Pride month, rainbow.”

“Oh my goodness.” Quinn closes his eyes, like he’s having a moment. “Now I’m craving a cake pop.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re on our way there,” Nando replies, and he laughs.

It only takes a few more minutes to arrive. The parking lot is sort of crowded, but it doesn’t look like a mob scene, which is nice. Nando sees an empty table for two under a palm tree on the patio that has their name on it.

“Here we are,” he remarks, parking the truck across the lot from the door. “Our cake pops await.”

Quinn puts on his sunglasses. Their lenses are rose-gold and circular, and he looks criminally adorable in them. And also kind of super hot. That’s the thing about Quinn. He’s the cutest thing in the world and he’s also the source of literally all of Nando’s thirst. And he can turn on a dime. “I’m ready,” he tells him, combing back his hair. Already, with the past week in the sun, it’s gone a little lighter blond on the top. “I’ll have you know, my expectations are extremely high.”

“Oh, this won’t disappoint you,” Nando assures him. “I promise.”

They walk hand-in-hand across the parking lot, and Nando grabs the door for him. Inside is sweet air-conditioned bliss, and it smells like fresh-roasted coffee beans and the bakery case. Nando hasn’t been in here since Christmas break, and it’s been too long.

There’s a small line, but it won’t take more than a few minutes to get to the register. He tries to see who’s working, in case it’s Shai, but he can’t get a good look at the cashier, and there’s no sign of their blue mohawk among the baristas making the drinks.

Shai is actually, like, thirty, and possibly married, but they memorized his drink order in high school and always complimented him on his pride shirts, so they’re one of those older queer people Nando has just imprinted on. And, okay, yeah. He was totally excited to bring his boyfriend in here to meet them. It’s the little things.

Going around town with Quinn is like showing him off, and he has never been happier.

As they get in line, Quinn wraps his hand around his elbow, leaning into him. “It smells good in here,” he hums, with his head against his shoulder.

“I told you,” Nando replies, kissing his temple. “This is a magical place.”

He checks his phone, briefly, while they wait in line; he hasn’t actually looked at it since he woke up this morning. He has a few Snapchats in the cricket group chat, plus one from Nursey (he and Dex just got engaged, which, !!!!!!), and a separate text from Rhodey (it looks like he sent him a TikTok; Rhodey is obsessed with TikTok). He opens the cricket group, turns his front camera on, and snaps a selfie. Quinn is smiling with his cheek against his shoulder, and he himself looks like a little bit of a meme, but Quinn looks cute, so he saves it before he types the caption (coffee run y’all want anything) and sends it through.

In exactly twenty seconds, Rhodey replies. It’s a picture of himself in his work uniform— he delivers pizzas in Providence— and he’s flashing a peace sign at the camera. His hair is in a pink, blue, and yellow striped scrunchie. ya get me an americano. also yall are gay

Quinn snickers. “Well, I would sure hope so, Ben.”

Nando pockets his phone and hooks his arm around his neck. “Super gay.”

Quinn leans into his shoulder. “Mm.” He nods. “The gayest.”

They move forward a spot in line, then another. In fact, they move forward three entire spots without incident. Quinn is humming some showtune— it’s from Spring Awakening; he recognizes it— and Nando is keeping his eyes peeled for Shai, or at least someone he knows. Look at me! I’m in love and I’m happy.

But then God says, be careful what you wish for.

Because as they move into the spot where they’re up next to order, he catches the sound of the cashier’s voice. “... and can I get a name for the order?”

All of the life leaves Nando’s body.

“Holly? Great.” The voice is nasally, and a little artificially cheerful. He hasn’t heard it— outside of a few drunk voicemails— in over two years, but it evokes a visceral reaction in him. He feels sick, all of a sudden. “That’ll be right up.”

He must be tense all of a sudden, because Quinn peers up at him. “Sebastián?” he asks, and what a difference between two voices. “Are you alright?”

He tries to take a deep breath. “I, um.” He pauses. “I think we have to leave.”

“Next customer, please?”

“Leave?” Quinn squints. “But we’re next!”

The people in front of them step to the side counter, and Nando sputters too long. “We, uh—”

But when the way is clear, it’s too late. “Sebby!”

Nando wants to die.

“Holy shit!” Nate has a different haircut, and a Starbucks apron, but otherwise he’s the same— the same pasty pale skin, the same bony stature, the same face so easily twisted into a scowl. Right now, though, he’s smiling, which, honestly, is an expression that looks alien on him, based on Nando’s memory. “You didn’t tell me you were home from school!”

What he wants to say is, Nate, why the fuck would I tell you I was home from school, but what he does say is, “Uh, hi.”

He is going to cringe himself to death. He’s been home for no less than six days, and he is already running into his ex with his boyfriend.

When did he start working here?

“It’s been forever!” As Nate keeps on this weirdly cordial tangent, Nando feels Quinn still next to him. Quinn knows vaguely what Nate looks like, but what he knows better is the way he used to act, and the fact that he used to call him Sebby. Also, he’s wearing a nametag. And Nando feels as stiff as a board. “How’ve you been?”

Very carefully, Quinn unwinds his arm from his, and takes a firm, obvious grip on his hand.

“Jeez, I keep trying to reach out to you,” Nate continues, like they’re old friends running into each other, and not exes with a toxic history. “We really should catch up sometime, now that you’re in town.”

Nando takes a long breath, like it’ll fix the tension in his chest. He squeezes at Quinn’s hand, which helps a little. Quinn leads when they step up to the counter, and he inhales like he wants to order, but Nate is still fucking going. “Who’s your friend?” he asks.

“Boyfriend,” Quinn blurts, in his I’m pissed and I mean business voice, which, thank God for this boy. “I’m his boyfriend.”

Nate raises his eyebrows a little, looking at Quinn like he’s a five-year-old having a tantrum. “Oh,” he says, shrugging. “My bad. Although, I should’ve known.” Nate’s eyes dart to him for a second, and Nando wants to scrub himself clean of that gaze. “He tends to go for the little guys,” Nate continues, to Quinn, gesturing between the two of them like he’s comparing their heights. Then he shrugs again. “Gotta balance it out, y’know?”

Nando’s stomach turns. It stings, so much, and as soon as this is out of Nate’s mouth he feels Quinn squeeze his hand so hard it’s like he intends to break bones. He squeezes right back, and God, he knows it’s cruel and unnecessary and shouldn’t bother him, and it’s been almost three fucking years since he had to deal with Nate, but it still hurts. It hurts just as much as every comment like that did from him. It sends him back to memories of hating and second-guessing himself, and he just. He feels so fucking humiliated.

Quinn takes a very long breath, his eyes on Nate, while he digests this, and then he says, “Can I get a peach green tea, please.” He pauses, still squeezing the circulation out of his hand, and it is the only thing keeping Nando from tearing up. Which is pathetic. But he’s just. It hurts. “And he’ll have a—”

“Mocha frappe. Yeah. I know.” Nate chuckles a little, already grabbing a cup. “Extra whip, right?”

Quinn bristles, face flushing, and finally, Nando finds his voice. “Actually,” he says, “no.” Because even though that was what he was going to order, he doesn’t want to give Nate the satisfaction of thinking he still knows him that well. His Starbucks order may be the same, but there’s so much about him that’s changed since Nate knew him. So much about him that’s better now. Without him. He orders his second favorite. “An iced vanilla latte.” And then, because even though he really doesn’t feel like being polite to him, he feels like Mama might manifest in this Starbucks and kick his ass if he doesn’t say it, he adds, “Please.”

“Hm, my mistake,” Nate says, with a shrug, as he’s writing on the two cups. “I guess you’re a new man, Sebby. We really should catch up.” Quinn’s death grip intensifies, because he knows how much Nando cannot stand being called that. He brings his other hand back to wrap around his elbow, too, like he’s being protective, and Nando has never been more grateful for him.

“Anyway, that’ll be right up.” Nate looks so unbothered, just the way he always did, years ago, when he’d make a comment that left Nando’s self-esteem reeling for days afterward. “I guess I don’t really need your name for the order, huh?”

He’s writing on the cup, and Nando can’t see— or just doesn’t want to— but Quinn must be able to, because he says, “His name is Sebastián.”

Nate raises his eyebrows. “Ooh, feisty.” And of course Quinn sounds mad— but Nate making fun of him will do nothing but add more fuel to the fire. Nate looks to him, past Quinn entirely, and adds, “Does he speak for you all the time like this, or—?”

Nando wants to melt into the floor. “Just give us our total, Nate,” he says, because the faster they can get out of here, the better. Quinn is bristling next to him, but stays quiet.

Nate sighs, shrugs a little, and punches into the cash register. “If you say so,” he says, then announces, “6.23.”

And he thinks that’s going to be the end, but then, as he’s handing over his card, Nate keeps fucking talking. “Oh!” he says, still all faux-fake. “Sebby, you should take him to the lake. Remember, when we’d go down there in high school?”

Quinn’s grip on him tightens. This transaction cannot process fast enough. “We had a lot of fun,” Nate says, like he’s reminiscing. “Always did. It’s a shame; I feel like we never really had closure.”

Finally, finally, after what feels like a million years, he hands his card back, and Nando pockets it in a hurry. “C’mon,” he says to Quinn, because he cannot stand here for one more second, and as they walk away, Nate calls after them.

“Hey, give me a shout sometime!” He’s doing the fake-smile thing again. “We should really hang out, now that you’re in town again.”

Nando squeezes his eyes shut and takes a tight breath; he didn’t realize it before, but it’s hard to breathe. He feels sick and humiliated and awful, and when they’re far enough away to be out of earshot, he looks to Quinn and whispers, “Baby, I am so sorry.”

Quinn is surprisingly calm, at least in comparison to his clear irritation at the register. He shakes his head and rubs his arm with the free hand that’s not holding his. “Don’t apologize,” he says. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“But I just—” He wants to melt. “I had no idea he started working here; I haven’t even seen him since before freshman year, and it just— like, it figures, right—”

“Sebastián,” Quinn says, and his even voice pulls Nando out of his head. “I’m going to get our drinks, and then we can get out of here, okay?”

Nando lets all his breath out at once, then nods. “I— yeah. Okay. That’s— perfect. I’m sorry, baby.”

“Do not be sorry.” Quinn rises on tiptoe and kisses his cheek. “None of that was your fault.”

Quinn seems surprisingly collected for someone who was just ignored and insulted a minute ago, and Nando has this feeling, somewhere in the back of his mind, that he’s planning something, some kind of revenge— but what could he do, with Nate just working?

They station themselves against the wall by the pick-up counter, and it isn’t lost on Nando how touchy Quinn is being— not that they’d hold back in public for any reason in general, but he’s definitely going the extra mile right now, rubbing the inside of his elbow and leaning his head on his shoulder and holding his hand all at once. Not only is the touch grounding; Nando is also fully aware that Quinn is trying to rub it in Nate’s face should he glance over from his spot behind the counter.

Which, good. Let him fucking stare if he wants to. Nando hasn’t felt that humiliated in a long time.

And he hates that he let it hurt him, that one stupid comment— but it was such a reminder of worse times, times when he’d have to process things like that from the person who was supposed to be his partner all the time, and it was just. It was always hard, and it was always awful, and being with Quinn has helped him work so much on all of that. Quinn taught him, so early on, that he deserved better. Everything with Quinn is better.

He just focuses on holding Quinn’s hand for a minute, until Nate puts their drinks out at the pick-up counter. “Stay here, honey,” Quinn tells him, squeezing his hand before he unwinds his fingers from it. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Nando replies, and watches him go.

Quinn squares his shoulders, takes a short breath, and walks to the counter. Nando is suddenly very aware that something might be about to happen. He leans against the wall and listens in, as he watches Quinn take the two drinks from across the counter.

He’s right. Quinn looks Nate dead in the eye and says, “Hi, could I just remind you of something?”

Oh my God. Nando widens his eyes. Is Quinn about to chew him out?

Nate says nothing, but looks unamused, and Quinn continues. “You broke up with him,” Nando hears him say. “After you cheated on him, by the way. Just in case you forgot.” Nate raises his eyebrows, but stays silent. Quinn is reeling now, and there’s no stopping him. “And I happen to know an awful lot about the way you treated him, and how much that hurt him, so don’t you dare try to act so friendly, like you didn’t break him.” Nando is frozen in place, as Quinn picks up both of the drinks. “He owes you nothing. He clearly does not want to reconnect with you, and I sure as hell wouldn’t want to do that either with someone who did nothing but make me feel awful about myself for two years.” Quinn isn’t even making a scene— the only reason Nando can hear what he’s saying is because he’s not standing that far away— but Jesus Christ, if this isn’t the most satisfying thing to witness in the world. Nate is red in the face and absolutely silent, and Quinn is staring daggers at him; if looks could kill, he’d be dead on sight. “If you wanted to be his friend, maybe you shouldn’t have stomped all over his heart.”

Nando cannot believe his ears.

“And,” Quinn adds, like it’s the end of a big monologue, “I’m going to need two straws.”

Nando is so in love with this boy.

He watches, trying not to smile or even laugh, as Nate fumbles into the thing of straws and shoves two in Quinn’s direction. Quinn takes them, flashes a big, stage smile, and says, “Thank you!” before he turns and walks back in Nando’s direction.

The fake smile turns self-satisfied in a second flat, as he meets Nando’s eyes again. Nando is still kind of frozen, but he wants to kiss him, right in the middle of Starbucks.

All he can say is, “Baby.”

Quinn is all smiles. He looks the way he does when he comes out of the stage door after a great show. “Ready to go, honey?”

“Am I ever,” Nando says, and they join hands again as they head for the door. He’s not sure if Quinn knows that he heard what he said. “That… was kind of the most satisfying thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life.”

“Oh,” Quinn replies as he sticks his straw into his iced tea, “trust me, Sebastián. It’s the most satisfying thing I’ve done as long as I can remember.” He pauses, as he takes a sip, and then adds, “I’ve been wanting to do that for longer than I can even say.”

“It was hot,” he says, because, well, it was. “And just… jeez, I— maybe something good did come out of this situation.”

“Of course it did,” Quinn replies. His smile is kind of maniacal, and Nando is into it. “I got to have the confrontation of my dreams, and I got an iced tea.” He holds up his drink. “Cheers!”

Nando bumps his vanilla coffee against it and laughs. “Cheers, baby.”

Quinn squeezes his hand. They walk back outside into the summer day, and Nando doesn’t look back.

Not even a glance.

#crickets #nandoooooooo #mini quinny #quindo #fuck n*te hours #ficlet #mel writes

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cookinguptales · 6 years

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As an addendum to that last post, my parents are pretty okay, but while I was growing up, they were trying to unlearn a lot of that stuff themselves. They grew up in an environment even more batshit insane than mine. Honestly, sometimes they still say things that absolutely take my breath away when it comes to being judgmental over sex and sexuality, but they definitely try hard, especially my mom. My life would be much more difficult if they were like the rest of our family. I don’t want to make it seem like everyone was completely awful, even though my parents were definitely uh. Not always supportive or progressive in their statements while I was younger.

Their parents, though, jesus christ. And all my aunts and uncles... Most of my cousins...

(cut for some uh. some shit.)

Like the family’s largely from, like, Virginia/Carolinas/Tennessee/Maryland, I grew up in rural Ohio, North Carolina, and then lower central Florida (which is very old and conservative)... They’re very conservative areas. I honestly don’t think I even met an openly queer person until I was in like 8th grade, when I started going to an art school and started meeting the “artsier” people. No one talked about it when I was little, except for vaguely disparaging terms I didn’t understand. The best you’d get is basically, like, “well, people shouldn’t hurt them, but why do they have to be so loud about their weird relationships and their ‘rights’, isn’t not being attacked enough?” And the worst was uh. A lot worse.

(My grandfather was a comic book artist who went viral online because he was so fucking homophobic. It’s bad when he makes my grandmother look mild by comparison -- like, this is the lady who boycotted Disney because they hire gay people.)

Growing up where I did, it’s not like... It’s not like oh, everyone’s talking about how all gays should die 24/7. It’s just this ever-present background hum of religion and disparaging of “liberal political correctness” and talking about queer people in hushed tones like their existence is a dirty word. It’s being told that they’re very progressive compared to the rest of their congregation! They love the sinner, but hate the sin! They just keep going to all the gay people they know and telling them they should be asexual or try conversion therapy because they love them and it’d be such a shame if they rotted in Hell for eternity. It’s not like they want gay people dead like their friends do. They’re so progressive.

It’s just this absolutely oppressive knowledge in the back of your head. And the worst part is that for so much of my life, I believed them. When you grow up in an environment with fairly limited internet and media intake and everyone has very similar political beliefs, well. They tell you something is true and you believe them. I didn’t get my own laptop until I was about 18 years old. I wasn’t allowed to use my parents’ computer without extensive blocks until I was like 13 or 14, and even then, it’s not like I knew what to search for. My science teacher taught us to be critical of climate change research, for god’s sake. So I believed them.

Funny story. You know how I collect tarot decks now, right? lmao I was taught to be so scared of them when I was a kid. Not just by the uber religious ones, either! Even the moderate ones! Straight-up “this is witchcraft, you’re playing with dangerous forces, you’re letting Satan in”, etc. My first semester of college, my roommate pulled out her tarot deck to play with her friends and I LEFT THE ROOM. Like this was a thing. And then I kind of accidentally fell into all the religion and witchcraft classes and the rest is history. (I’d been interested in ancient religions before then, and also historical magic, and my parents were kind of :/ about that sometimes. Myths were fine as long as I knew they were False Stories, but the occult stuff, hmmm. They were a lot more :/ when I came home like Hard Agnostic lmao. They let me keep doing it, though, bless them.)

College was great because I finally got alternative history and politics and I learned how much bullshit I’d been taught, but I mean. It’s not like it was perfect. Before my classes even started, I tried to make friends with some lesbians who were already active in our school’s LGBT house and they were talking the usual biphobic shit. You know, you can’t trust them, they’ll cheat on you, they’re only interested in men, they only experiment in college and then marry the nearest dick, etc. So I guess. That was kind of a wake-up call. I always assumed that as soon as I got away from my family and Florida, everything would be fine and I could find a group where everyone would accept me. Easier said than done, I guess. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that all the letters of whatever word salad we’re using today all shit on each other all the time. And that’s exhausting.

Anyway, I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again. The hardest part about growing up religious is even figuring out what to ask about once you get out. Once you realize that you’ve been lied to, like... What else was a lie? How deep does this go? What should I even be questioning? This natural history thing was wrong, what about this other thing? Was this historical fact a lie? Holy shit, there was an entire civil rights movement for PWD? Like how do you even google Stonewall if you’ve never heard the name?

idk. I mostly started this post bc I realized I made it sound like my entire family was All Homophobia And Sexphobia All The Time, but like. I guess it was (and still is) like that with my extended family, but it wasn’t always like that with my parents. Don’t get me wrong, they were super clear that they did not want me to be gay and they didn’t believe gay people deserved the same rights as straight people, but they also told me that I didn’t have to be as freaked out about sex as my grandmother. (They told me that I should enjoy sex -- but only after I was married! To a man! I’d dated a long time! To have any other sex is to devalue it and disrespect myself and I’d get divorced and probably die in a ditch or something. Of AIDS. The fun is a pleasant side effect of making babies, okay?? So in other words, they were like 1000% better than my grandmother!!!) I think dad had a gay friend when I was little, but he never talked about her to me until I was an adult. So again. 1000% better than my grandmother.

They’ve uh. They’ve improved. They don’t tell me that I need to beware of bisexual people anymore, which is uh. Great. They are all in favor of marriage equality now. They have come around to me being queer. Mom especially is really, really trying, which I appreciate. She just grew up in a radically Christian environment (like as in she had to listen to Donny Osmond in secret bc her mom said it was devil music) and she had to do a lot of unlearning herself for her own mental health.

....seriously tho guys I have family members who like. think it’s ungodly to cut their hair and wear makeup. I GOT THOSE.

#just me #.#..#...#....#cw:#homophobia #sexism #a fundie upbringing will honestly fuck you up so hard #I can't express how weird and insular it was #I don't think I met an atheist until I was in middle school and I couldn't get my head around it #even my parents were the type to think that atheists couldn't have any moral grounding so like. yikes.#though as I've gotten older and talked to my mom more the more I realized she wasn't exactly a True Believer like dad was

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dailyaudiobible · 6 years

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12/20/2017 DAB Transcript

Haggai 1:1-19, Revelations 11:1-19, Psalms 139:1-24, Proverbs 30:15-16

Today is the 20th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you in this middle of Christmas week. So, it's good to be taking the next step forward toward Christmas, but it's also good to be here together as a community taking the next step forward through the Scriptures. And, in the Old Testament, we have one more book that we will read in one day. And this will be the last time we read a book in a single day for this year. And this is the book of Haggai. So, let’s get our bearings as we move into this last book that will read in one day.

Haggai:

Israel was carried away in exile by the Babylonians, which we looked at extensively as we went through that territory in the Old Testament earlier. It was a terrible time for them, great sorrow, perhaps the lowest moment for the children of Israel in all of the Bible. About 540 BC, Cyrus, the king of Persia, then invaded and conquered Babylon. And in 538 BC or thereabouts, a couple of years later, he issued a decree allowing native Israelites to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple and worship their God and rebuild their culture. This was, obviously, a great day of liberation for God's people. And the book of Haggai comes about 18 years into that process. So, they’re set free, they're able to go home, they're able to rebuild, and now we’re 18 years later. And it's a snapshot that's immensely relevant to us today because it takes a hard look at motivations. And through the prophetic words of Haggai, God challenges his people about what matters most to them. And God also offers hopeful promises to those who will take courage even though they've grown weary because of the realization that Jerusalem and the Temple, for all of their building, it may never be rebuilt to the splendor that Solomon had built it. And Haggai invites us all to turn the spotlight on ourselves and see whether it's God's work or our own satisfaction that we hold highest in our lives. And it invites us to put on our big boy pants or our big girl pants in the face of discouragement, knowing that God is supremely faithful and sovereign. Once the light of truth comes crashing into our lives it invites us to repent and live pure lives and it shows us that we can live courageously for God, building his kingdom because He's always with us. He is ever present, regardless of circumstance. Circumstance has nothing to do with His presence. We are secure. And as we’re faithful to God, He is faithful to us. And, so, we begin. Haggai chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 23. And we’re reading from the Names of God Bible this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we need to talk about the book of Haggai for a second because we only have one day with his book and there's so much for us to consider. This parallels our lives in so many ways. So, what we’ve got going on here is that the children of Israel had been taken into exile. And we read through all of this in great detail, all the warnings and prophecies coming up to it and then the happening of it. And there were two exiles. Right? So, we had the splitting of the kingdoms immediately following Solomon's reign - the northern and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom was carried into exile by the Assyrians and the southern kingdom was carried into exile and conquest by the Babylonians. And that was not a good time for any of them. The northern tribes, the 10 tribes of the north, disappeared and the remaining tribes carried into Babylon, well, they were Babylonian exiles. But then Babylon was conquered by the Persians and the Hebrews were allowed to leave exile and return to their homeland and try to reestablish themselves and their worship. So, I mean, what joy in that. And we read of what joy in that, that this could happen, but it was problematic. There were all kinds of issues. And we read a lot about that when reading through Ezra and Nehemiah. And now we’re 18 years into this thing and people are spending their time and their focus and their energy on building their life while the temple remains incomplete. And they’re experiencing hardship in drought and in lack. So, they’re working so hard to survive and all of their energy is being put into their own well-being and their own lives while the temple remains incomplete. So, basically, the people have gone through a long stretch, over 100 year stretch, well over 100 year stretch, of this kind of devastation in the northern and southern kingdoms. And then they’re liberated. Their prayers are answered. God lets them go back home. God lets them start over. And what they start over on is what's going to make them the most fulfilled, they think. Their focus has moved from rebuilding the temple and the walls to their own life. And the parallels to our own life just become immediately apparent. We go through our own seasons that feel like exile. We’re constantly in lockstep with God praying for deliverance. Then it comes and what do we do? Usually, we, briefly, are very, very grateful and continue on in that blessing, but things start going pretty good and we start focusing on our own lives, forgetting that we were liberated for a reason and there is unfinished work, unfinished inside ourselves and unfinished in the world. But we’re so busy and so overcommitted to our own lives that we forget all about it. We forget all about the kingdom that's happening in and among us and focus solely on ourselves. We forget that we are the temple and we ignore what's going on inside of us because we’re too busy trying to order our exterior world and it leads us back into drought and lack. And then we’re working so very, very hard to maintain the status quo that all we’re doing is surviving. In the story told in the book of Haggai, the people that lost their center and we see where it led them to. We also see that as they regained their equilibrium the promises of restoration abound. So, we are ultimately invited to consider where we have truly placed our faith, where our hope truly lies.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into those contemplations, because the truth is that we find ourselves in this book. This looks more like us more than we would care to admit. And we see very clearly that when You are no longer the object of our devotion and affection, we’re leading ourselves into drought and lack and confusion. And, so, we turn our heart, our devotion, our affection upon You. Right now, we reach to You like children and invite Your Holy Spirit to show us the ways that we’re doing this. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray 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. And obviously we’re in Christmas week. I mean, I guess that’s not technically true, because Christmas is technically next week, but we’re sort of in the countdown for the final days and during Christmas week and have had some announcements to make.

So, China came on yesterday and we announced Daily Audio Bible Chronological, that we’re so excited about. That will begin on January 1st. China is about to finish her ninth year, seven days a week reading the Bible out loud. She began with Daily Audio Bible Kids and then moved to Daily Audio Bible Teen and is now not a teen and is moving into Daily Audio Bible Chronological, where a community will form around the chronological reading of the Bible. And I mentioned that that will be in the new app and the new web player. So, I have a couple more announcements for today.

Tonight, we will be launching the new Daily Audio Bible web player. And the web player and the new app, they are linked together on the same system. So, they do all the same things. For example, once you are logged in and, logging into the web app or the web player is just your…if you've ever done anything on the Daily Audio Bible website you have an account and so you just login. And if you've never been on the Daily Audio Bible website, you just make an account. And the reason for the account is so that the system could do with the system does, which is, when you listen to a day it just makes a checkbox for you, automatically. This is a day you’ve listened to. Or, if you want to create a journal entry, because you can journal on the web player and the app. If you want to write down some thoughts from any given day or every day, then it saves it to your own unique account. Or if you star something, you’re like, I don't want to forget this day, this day meant something to me, and you put a star on it, and you go back through the year and look at the places that you’ve stared. It can remember that. It can remember that it’s you. So, those of you who listen on the web player every day, it's going to be all new tomorrow. And those of you who are kind of wanting a sneak peek to see what the new app is going to be like, you’ll be able to do that tomorrow. You just go to dailyaudiobible.com and scroll down just a tiny bit, just to like the little second module and you'll see ‘web player’. And you click that and it launches the web player. So, we will be rolling that out and getting it into place tonight. And, so, tomorrow it’ll be the new web player. And we’ll get that in place. The new Daily Audio Bible apps for Android and Apple are submitted. And, so, we’re just waiting. It's especially more stringent process to move through the Apple approval process for apps. And we’re just praying for that to go through smoothly. They will be shutting down for the holidays too. So, we’re just kind of praying that maybe this could get through the approval process before the weekend. If not, then probably sometime next week unless we were run into some issues that we’re not aware of. So, let’s be praying about that. There’s just a number of things that are happening right now that as a community we need to remember in our thoughts and prayers. And that is the covering over the launch of Daily Audio Bible Chronological, the rollout of the new web player, and then the rollout of the new Daily Audio Bible app. So, thank you for your prayers over all of these things.

The other thing that we have to announce today is, Daily Audio Bible family Christmas will show up right along with your Daily Audio Bible tomorrow. And the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas is kind of our annual, virtual, Christmas party, our opportunity to get together and just talk about the year and move through the Christmas story while hearing all of the voices of the community and all of the wishes from around the world for the new year for the joy of the season that we’re in. And it's always a beautiful thing and it's always a time that we reveal and we talk about the word, the word that comes over each year. It becomes kind of the NorthStar and the focus in the Scriptures. And, so, we’ll be talking about that on Daily Audio Bible family Christmas. So, that will show up along with the Daily Audio Bible tomorrow.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we move into the last days of the year, then we all thank you profoundly and humbly for your partnership. There is a link. It’s on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. 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 I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports:

Hi friends. This is Gloria in New York City. It is Saturday, December 16th. I just listened to the podcast and the message afterwards. I wanted to encourage us all to or wanted to all join together to pray for, as Brian said at the end there, may we all stand with a cloud of witnesses that we brought. May God use us all to reach other people, to bring, that when we stand at the throne, that we’ll be standing there with witness for the people that we did. Some maybe we hope we affected and influenced for Christ…with Christ message…with his love, and some of them that we didn’t even know, that we just came across and influenced. So, my prayer and wish her Christmas for always is that we would just be seeing…I’m praying that we see in the new year our loved ones coming to the Lord. We have so many. We all have loved ones who don’t want to hear anything about it. Then around now…especially Christmas time…it’s hard because you just want to celebrate Jesus and it becomes about so many other things. So, I’m lifting up my own family members, my brothers, my mother, my daughter, her boyfriend, as well as your family members, loved ones, children, siblings, and…I don’t know if I’m out of time…I didn’t time this one, but I also want to specifically pray for Eunice from Jersey, just overwhelmed with this discovery of cancer. And Eunice, your very special in my prayers today. Alright…and I will speak to you all soon. God bless you.

Hello saints. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy New Years. I'm calling today…and I hope I’m not stepping over bounds here…but I’m calling for a dear sister of our Daily Audio Bible group. Her name is Tony and she’s from Toledo. And this week she got a call that no mother should get. Her youngest, who just turned 21, overdosed and we’re having the funeral on Tuesday. Saints, I would just really appreciate you covering this whole family. Tony is real solid in her faith, but this can rock you. And her kids are struggling with it. And it’s just such a sad thing. My heart is broken for her. So, I would ask right now that you would just, please, continue to pray for her through the year, through the years, and join me in prayer right now. Heavenly Father, I just come to You right now, Lord, I ask You give her strength, I ask Lord that you give her peace, I ask that You comfort her Lord, and I ask that You just lift her up Lord, high above this, Lord, and I ask that You cover her family Lord and show them that this was not You, it was the enemy, and he is a defeated soul…even though it doesn’t look like it right now. We ask it all in Jesus’ name. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you Daily Audio Bible. You mean the world to me. God bless you. Bye.

Hey this call is for…I think you said brother your name was Keith…it might have been Pete, I’m not sure. I didn’t here you say where you were from but you are having a super hard time and really stressing and said that you were trapped in your own mind. I just want you to know brother, you’re not alone, we’re praying for you and we love you and just hold close to God man. He’s there and He’s got you. And keep us updated and just let it all out. Alright? I love all you guys and I’m praying for you and I’m also praying for that Christian Academy that needs $100,000 and a new place to go. I’m praying for that. I love you guys. I’m praying for everyone and I’ll talk to you later. Oh…and…the wifey and I are doing great. Thanks for your prayers and thanks for praying for my family. All is going great. So, praise God. Thank you.

A Christmas Poem Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house Praises were coming out of everyone's mouth Our faith had been built up step by step with great care Because every step along the way God's grace and mercy were there Moms no longer here and neither is dad But both of them were responsible for the great faith that I’ve had Looking intently to the father above Who gave his only begotten son as the ultimate act of unmerited love And now here I sit in eager anticipation Of the upcoming Christmas day with great expectation Eager and ready to lift up my voice With the voices of all men let the whole world rejoice Peace on the earth to all men of good will Our savior has come all prophesy to fulfill Giving us the victory, the power to win Over Satan, the world, and the darkness of sin Things are not great but thanks to Jesus our future is bright Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night [email protected]. I’d like to give a shout out to Victoria S. and Viola. Haven't heard from you lately either. Miss the sound of your voices. And Pelham, hang in there brother. You can make it if you try. __ family stone that one. It’s true. Yup. If you don’t give out and you don’t give up, and you don’t give in God will strengthen you. Okay, and once again, my love to the Hardin family for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all. Merry Christmas.

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