It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Anyone up for a round of golf or perhaps a kayak fishing trip? Those are a couple of my favorite hobbies, along with cooking, indoor gardening, and creating artwork using acrilic paint and oil pastels on a stretched canvas frame. As a kid, I used to be addicted to video games, especially on the Nintendo consoles. Although I’m almost fourty years old, I still enjoy playing, yet not 24/7 like back in the day. I’ve owned a small handyman business since 2010, went to school in 2014 to receive a class A CDL, and went back to school in 2020 to become a professionally certified home inspector. This year, I attended a real estate investment training course, and am working towards wholesaling properties to save people from bank forclosures. Last year I got into homebrewing Kombucha, and each batch is better than the last. Through trial and error I found that Newman’s Organic black and green Teas along with LaOberena unsmoked organic yerba mate plus golden sugar makes an excellent base that can be flavored with fresh produce for a healthy treat. My upbringing was pretty rough, and I’ve suffered from PTSD and anxious depression my entire life. As a teen and young adult I got into big trouble with the law three times over the course of twelve years, with court cases for concealed deadly weapons + drugs in high school 1st offense, dealing drugs while working at Kmart 2nd offense, and failure to stop for police signal 3rd offense. Had to do drug court as a minor, a prison boot camp program plus general population jail time, and lots of probation and a few trips to the violation of probation facility. While in the local department of corrections I met Jesus Christ in the spirit, and He literally changed me from a lost soul to a true believer. Even now, all these years later, I still love Him and follow His lead. Although I’m still far from perfect, God continues to work on me like a potter who turns a lump of clay into a vase. To finish the analogy, if I’m like a vase, then the Holy Spirit is the water, and Jesus is the beautiful rose that’s on display. He’s proven to me that He is always faithful, ever living, and has the power to save everyone who calls upon Him in sincerity. With so much hatred in this wicked world things can seem pretty bleak, yet love will prevail in the end, because God is Love and He’s already won the war by innocently dieing upon an old rugged cross for all of mankind, to pay our debts and set us free for all eternity. If you trust in Jesus, God will adopt you into our family and bless you with the greatest gift of all - salvation and everlasting life even after the first death. Everyone has to die once, yet the second death is the one that can be avoided. All we have to do is believe in Jesus and walk in love towards the people in our lives, whether they deserve it or not. Amen.