Church notes - May, June 2021

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Church notes - 27th June 2021

 27th June

Isaiah 32:9 - 20

Malachi 1, 2

There are going to be disappointments and setbacks.

Identifying what we need to change.

Confronting complacency.

Complacent about God's love.

vs 1:2

They were doubting God's love.

They were looking for something more.

1:5

See what God is doing. This is what God is doing. Look beyond your disappointment. See Jesus on the Cross, dying for your sins.

Complacent in worship.

vs 6 - 8

Disrespecting God.

Worship is about God and our love for Him.

Deuteronomy 15:21

Malachi 1:11

Has our worship and service of God become a tiresome burden?

We need to give God our best!

vs 14

Psalm 96:8, 9

Complacency in Marriage vows.

Malachi 2:11

Marriage is a covenant.

Deuteronomy 7:3

Malachi 2:!3

God is witness to the marriage covenant.

More than two people.

Divorce is "breaking faith" with your spouse.

We are God's property by creation.

God hates divorce.

Malachi 2:16

God Abhor's marital violence.

The desire for divorce is a spiritual problem.

We need to affirm and build the marital relationship.

Divorce and marital violence hinder our prayers

1 Peter 2:7

We should not be complacent. Marriage is a covenant, which reflects the covenant God has with us.

Cinderella (2015) review

 25.      Cinderella (2015)

A movie based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault, and Disney’s animated version from 1950. Overall it was similar to the animated version, but some improvements in the storyline and characterization were obvious.  8.18/10.

Mysteries of Lawndale - Esteem of the Investigator - Part 1

 

Mysteries of Lawndale 01: Esteem of the Investigator Part 1

Lawndale, MD

15 September 1997

A blue Lexus approached a suburban High School.

“Girls, I just want you to know your mother and I realize it's not easy moving to a whole new town -- especially for you, Daria, right?” Jake Morgendorffer asked.

 

In the back, his daughter Daria, asked “Did we move?”

 

“I'm just saying you don't make friends as easily as... uh, some people.”

 

Daria looked at her younger sister. “Quinn, for instance?”

 

“That's not what I meant... necessarily.” Jake turned the radio off. “The point is, the first day at a new school is bound to be difficult...”

 

Daria smirked and took out a device from one of her pockets. She pressed a couple of the buttons and the radio turned back on, with the volume increased. “Speak up, Dad! Can't hear you!”

 

“Uh, where was I?” Jake asked. He turned the radio off again. “Oh, yeah...”

 

 

Stacy Rowe saw noticed a cute, athletic, teen, with long red hair emerge from a Lexus wearing a stylish athletic outfit. “Hi! You're cool. What's your name?”

 

“Quinn Morgendorffer.”

 

“Cool name,” Stacy’s ... fellow Fashion Club member (and President), Sandi Griffin, said.

 

“Will you go out with me?” An instantly besmitten boy asked.

 

“Not right away, I’m going to take a while to settle in. Find all the clubs that I’d be interested in,” Quinn said.

 

Sandi took that as a cue. “Sandi Griffin, Fashion Club President. Your outfit is quite interesting.”

 

“Thanks,” Quinn said. Her voice then showed her interest. “Fashion Club, did you say? I’m in!”

 

“Cool!” Stacy said.

 

“Not right away, there is paperwork to fill out,” Sandi said.

 

“Can it be filled out in a day?” Quinn asked. “Best not to waste time.”

 

“Of course,” Sandi said, taken aback.

 

“Cool, see you later!” Quinn said as she continued towards the school.

Daria entered the school. Instantly she noticed many things that didn’t seem right. ‘Of course, Highland wasn’t ‘right’ either,’ she thought. Her trained investigator’s eye saw a great many security cameras along the length of the corridor she was entering. ‘There are at least eight. That’s overkill.’

Another thing was the prominence of the football team amongst the posters advertising the school’s clubs and sports teams. She touched a button in one of her pockets and slowly rotated as the camera hidden in one of her coat buttons took photos. ‘That’s a fifth of that film used,’ she thought when she was done. She then looked for the principal’s office where the new students were to report.

 

 

Daria and Quinn were not the only students to begin at Lawndale High that day. There were at least ten others. After signing them into the enrolment books as attending, Principal Angela Li lead them on a tour of the school.

“Gosh, Daria, do you have to take notes now?” Quinn asked as they exited the door from the main block to the playing field.

 

“You know me, Quinn, insatiably curious,” Daria answered.

 

Quinn sighed. She knew that Daria could find a mystery anywhere.

 

 

Later they returned to the main administrative area of the school.

“As you can see, our Lawndale High students take great pride in their school. That's why you'll each be taking a small psychological exam to spot any little clouds on the horizon as you sail the student seas of Lawndale High,” Li said, saying the school’s name with reverence.

 

“S.O.S., girl overboard,” Daria said.

 

Quinn sighed.

 

 

A quarter of an hour later, the Morgendorffers were in the school counsellor’s office.

 

“Now, Quinn ... what do you see here?” Mrs. Margaret Manson said as she held up a picture.

 

“It's a picture of two people talking.”

 

“That's right. Can you make up a little story about what it is they're discussing?”

 

“They are talking about their activities after school, and whether they could find time to be together during their busy afternoon,” Quinn began...

 

Quinn finished five minutes later.

 

“Very good, Quinn! Now, Dora, let's see if you can make up a story as vivid as your sister's.”

 

“It's Daria.”

 

“'I’m sorry... Daria. What do you see in the picture, Dara?”

 

“Um... a herd of beautiful wild ponies running free across the plains.”

 

“Uh, there aren't any ponies. It's two people.”

 

“Last time I took one of these tests, they told me they were clouds. They said they could be whatever I wanted.”

 

“That's a different test, dear. In this test, they're people, and you tell me what they're discussing.”

 

“Oh ... I see, All right, then. It's a guy and a girl and they're discussing... why a herd of beautiful ponies that had been running free across the plains were now captured and held in a rodeo arena...” Daria smirked.

 

 

After the Psychological exam (by a quack, Daria suspected), the Morgendorffer siblings went to their classes. Daria went to history.

 

It was clearly American History. “Class, we have a new student joining us today. Please welcome Daria Morgendorffer. Daria, raise your hand, please.”

 

“Well, Daria! As long as you have your hand raised...” Mr. Anthony DeMartino chuckled evilly. “Last week we began a unit on westward expansion. Perhaps you feel it's unfair to be asked a question on your first day of class.”

 

“Excuse me?” Daria asked.

 

“Daria, can you concisely and unemotionally sum up for us the doctrine of Manifest Destiny?”

 

“Manifest Destiny was a slogan popular in the 1840s. It was used by people who claimed it was God's will for the U.S. to expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean. These people did not include many Mexicans, nor Native Americans.”

 

“Very good, Daria. Almost... suspiciously good. All right, class. Who can tell me which war Mainfest Destiny was used to justify?”

 

Daria watched as a teen in a football uniform answered the question with the name of a war over a century later. She took down the notes.

 

Football players unable to answer history questions properly.

 

A moment later followed by

 

Also applies to at least one cheerleader.

 

 

“Either someone gives me the answer, or I give you all double homework and a quiz tomorrow. I want a volunteer with the answer. Now!”

 

Daria raised her hand.

 

“Daria, stop showing off!”

 

‘Of course.’

 

 

The Morgendorffers were having dinner. “... so for now, I’m vice president of the Fashion Club, member of the Anime, Chess and French clubs and on the tennis and track teams and that’s it,” Quinn said. She lowered her voice. “They don’t have a sparring team, can you believe that?”

 

“Sounds like well-thought out decisions, honey,” Jake said.

 

“As long as you can join the pep squad and mathletics teams later – if you want. Never know how much we can handle till we try, though,” Helen Morgendorffer said.

 

“What about you, Daria? How was your first day?” Jake asked.

 

“There is no Mystery Club. Also, my history teacher hates me because I know all the answers, but there are some interesting idiots in my class.”

 

“That’s great!”

 

“Jake!”

 

“I mean..”

 

“Daria, your father's trying to tell you not to judge people until you know them. You're in a brand-new school in a brand-new town. You don't want it to be Highland all over again. As for the Mystery Club, perhaps you can make one?”

 

“Perhaps,” Daria said.

 

“Is that all?”

 

“It boils down to trust.”

 

“Exactly. It all boils down to trust. Show a little trust.” The phone rang and Helen answered it.

 

“I hope that’s not the Italian or checkers clubs, badminton team or booster society again!” Quinn said.

 

“Hello? ... Yes. ... Uh, yes, she's my daughter.  ... I see. Listen, will this require any parent-teacher conferences or anything, and if so, is this the sort of thing my assistant can handle? ... Okay, great. Bye!” She hung up. “You girls took a psychological test at school today?”

 

“Yeah?” Quinn answered.

 

“Daria, they want you to take a special class for a few weeks, then they'll test you again.”

 

“Oh,” Quinn said.

 

“It seems she has low self-esteem,” Helen said.

 

“What?! That really stinks, Daria!” Jake said.

 

“Easy, Jake. Focus. We tell you over and over again that you're wonderful and you just... don't... get it!” Helen said, she slammed her fists on the table. “What's wrong with you?!”

 

“Don't worry. I don't have low self-esteem. It's a mistake,” Daria said.

 

“I’ll say!” Jake said.

 

“The school councillor is a quack. I have low esteem for people like her.”

 

“Now, Daria, how did you get that impression?”

 

Daria looked her mother in the eyes. “She kept mispronouncing my name.”

 

As her daughter walked off, Helen began to think about it.

 

 

Daria was out in the yard, taking notes when Quinn came out. “Starting your investigations already?” she asked.

 

“Yes, you did notice the irregularities at the school?”

 

“You mean all the cameras?”

 

“Not just the cameras, the prominence of the football team in the in-school advertisements,” Daria said.

 

Quinn thought for a moment. “You’re right.”

 

“Lawndale may not be the ordinary suburb that Mom thought it was.”

 

Untitled shortest crossover

 Sequel to an earlier one.

Quinn looked out at the City before her. "My family is in Florida, and I am in New York."

She turned around and said with more excitement. "My family is in Florida, and I am in New York!"

She wagged her eyebrows.

Untitled Shortest Emergency Crossover

 Angela Li activated the PA system. " In an unprecedented show of spine -- I mean, spite -- your teachers have announced a strike. However, school will continue just as before." She turned it off again.

"It just won't involve teachers." She pressed a different control on her desk. "Computer! Activate Emergency Educational Holograms!"

Ten figures formed in her office as if out of thin air. One of them stepped forward. "Please state the nature of the Educational Emergency."

Quinn's Code - Morgendorffers in the Woods - Part 1

 

Installment 9: Morgendorffers in the Woods

Thursday, February 8, 2006

Lawndale, MD

“Daddy, remember that tutoring you want me to take for Language Arts? It's going to be fifty dollars an hour,” Quinn Morgendorffer said.

“Fifty dollars an hour!” Her father, Jake, shouted.

Her mother, Helen, entered. “Well, I got the bad news from the peridontist, Six months, eight hundred dollars a month.”

“Eight hundred dollars a month?!”

Then Quinn's older sister, Daria, entered the kitchen. She placed the mail on the table. “Mail's here, did you know Congress still spends over two hundred and fifty billion dollars on the Miltary?”

“Two hundred and fifty billion a year?!” Jake ponded a fist on the table. “Damn it! That's it Daria! What am I made of, money?”

“Jake, were you listening? Daria said...” Helen interjected.

“Tutoring, dental work, Congress! I'm not a machine, damn it! I'm a man! For once in my stinkin' life, show me a little...” His rant stopped mid sentence as pain shot through one of his eyes. “Gah. Ah! Ah!” He held his eyes.

“Oh, Jakey, not again,” Helen said.

“It's my eye! Oh G. it's my eye!” Indeed a blood vessel had burst...

“Oh, no,” Daria said. “Get the camera,” she said to Quinn.

“You get it!” Quinn shot back.

“No camera, Daria,” Helen said. She sighed. “Remember what the doctor said the last time you burst a blood vessel?”

“Yeah, he said it would be two hundred dollars.”

Helen took Jake's hand in hers to reassure him. “Before that. He said that we need to cut down your stress and we're going camping like we used to before...” she looked and saw that her daughters were still in the room.

They both gave her a look as if saying “We're still in the room.'

“I'll take Friday off and we'll make a long weekend of it.”

“You're going to take the day off?” Daria asked.

“Daria, a healthy family comes before work, Always. Besides, I have some vacation time coming and Eric told me that if I don't use it, I loose it.” She pounded her fist on the table.

“Damn it. Those bastards aren't gonna take away my days! Come on, Jake. Let's find some painkillers.” She then lead him away.

“Don't worry about us Mom, we'll be fine home alone,” Quinn said.

“Maybe,” Daria said, wondering what Quinn was up to.

“Don't even bother, girls. You're coming with us.”

“Quinn pounded her fist on the table. “Damn it, Daria! You could have backed me up!” Then she left.

“Damn it, why would Quinn expect me to back her up?”

Later, Daria went over to her friend, Jane Lane's house. She told Jane, and Jennifer Burns about the camping trip.

“Guano see some gutsy climbing? Scaling the world's tallest pile of seagull droppings, next on Sick Sad World.”

“Let me get this straight,” Jane said. “You, Jake, Helen and the Geek Princess are going camping? As 'in the woods' camping?”

“I think that's the gist of it,” Jennifer said.

“I hope the raving envy won't effect our friendship,” Daria said.

“I do envy you,” Jane said.

“Then I'm afraid the fever has reached your brain, and you'll have to be destroyed,” Daria joked. Jennifer laughed.

Jane began to pack a suit case. “Do you know where I'll be this weekend? The Lane family reunion. Dozens of Lanes from all over the country converging in one midwestern split level to remind themselves why they scattered in the first place.

“Wow, I didn't think that your parents would be caught dead at something like that,” Daria said.

“Same here,” Jennifer said.

“They wouldn't. We're the black sheep of the family. We're only invited because hating us brings them all closer together. My parents are much too smart to fall for that trick.”

“I thought so,” Daria said.

“That's quite disfunctional,” Jennifer said with a shake of her head.

“It certainly is,” Jane said. “So they're sending me and Trent as their representatives.”

“You know, a weekend in the woods is starting to look pretty good.”

“A weekend on the world's tallest pile of seagull droppings is looking better,” Jane said.

Saturday February 10, 2006

The Morgendorffers arrived in a clearing with camping gear, having hiked to the location.

Jake was singing.

“Give my regards to Broadway.

Remember one to Harold's Square

Tell all the gang at 42 Street

That I'll soon be there...”

He then said. “Is this great or what? For the next 72 hours we're going to live off what nature sends our way.” He pointed. “See that stream? That's our drinking water! See those berries? That's our breakfast!”

“See that skeleton?” That's our future,” Daria said.

“There's no skeleton,” Quinn said.

“Made you look,” Daria said.

Quinn sighed...

–

“Total isolation,” Jake said.

“No phone, no fax, no email, no voicemail, no SMS, no way to contact the outside world! What a luxury,” Helen said.

“Tonight, we'll tell spooky stories around the campfire. Tomorrow, we'll hike till we drop!”

“Just like we used to.”

“Remember?”

“We were so relaxed in those days.”

Jake stood there reminicsing.

“Girls, doesn't all this beauty take you right out of yourselves?”

“Daria?” Helen asked.

“I'm think I'm getting a chill. If you don't mind, I'm gonna crawl back into myself for a while.”

“What about you, Quinn?”

“No phone or internet?”

Church notes - 13th June 2021

 13th June

Fear

- of COVID

- of anything

Prayer - that we can overcome our fears, including of COVID spreading in our community.

Nehemiah 3, 4

Fear - COVID infected vistors cause fear.

Fear in Jerusalem while Nehemiah oversees the rebuilding of the wall.

2.1 kilometres. 41 different sections delegated.

The Nobles who weren't working - there are always people like that.

Nine gates.

Sanballet and Tobias - They tried to undermine the confidence of the Jews.

vs 6

But morale can be fickle.

vs 7

Beginning with prayer, but following it up with practical activity.

Prayer and practical action aren't incompatable.

Exhausted workers.

vs 10

Fear was driving the exhaustion.

vs 11

Panic and fear were spreading, the perception of danger was derailing the project.

Response.

vs 13

Soldiers were posted at the vulnerable points.

Psalm 127

Conviction - The Holy Spirit says you have sinned.

Condemnation - Satan says you are worthless.

Ephesians 6:12

Nehemiah 6:16

Self interest motivated the enemies to oppose the Jews.

We need to reinforce and encourage each other to overcome fear.

Fan Fiction Update - The Grounded Geek

 The Grounded Geek

After a late return home one night, both of the Morgendorffer sisters find themselves grounded. But what does Quinn have planned?

Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6963544/7/Quinn-s-Code

Archive of Our Own: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31894825

Quinn's Code - Atlernapalooza Part 4

 

Quinn, Cindy, Kristen and Keith had left the diner behind. They saw the Tank on the side of the road. “Isn't that Daria?” Kristen asked.

“With Trent Lane?” Keith asked, curiosity showing in his voice.

“Well, she is friends with his younger sister,” Cindy pointed out.

“Don't worry, she can look after herself,” Quinn said.

“Jane and Jennifer may have gone for help,” Cindy said.

“I guess so,” Quinn said.

“I'll keep going then,” Keith decided after a few moments.

Daria listened to Trent play a G chord over and over. She glanced at his tattoo. “Um, nice tattoo. Tribal?”

“Maori. I copied it out of Tattoo World's international issue,” Trent said.

“Very graphic, and meaningful.”

“Yeah, it makes a statement. You know what it is?”

'I got a tattoo out of a magazine?' Daria thought.

“I got a tattoo out of a magazine,” Trent said, unknowingly echoing what she had thought. They both laughed.

“I guess it's better than trying to copy one off the TV.”

“Daria, do you ever feel like maybe you're wasting your life?”

“Only when I'm awake.”

“Like, no money, no job, you live with your parents, and you still can't play an open D tuning,” Trent said.

“Well, I haven't had those exact thoughts...”

“Maybe I will end up a townie doing Doors covers. I mean, who's to say, right?” Trent asked. He didn't know whether the Spiral would make it big, or not. Who could say?

Daria considered. “Umm, you know, Trent, it takes a lot of guts to go after a dream, especially when you know that failure can mean spending the rest of your life playing L.A. Woman... in public,” she said, her distaste for that song showing.

Trent thought for a moment. “Hmm, I guess.”

“And even if it doesn't work out, at least for now you're doing exactly what you want to.”

“Yeah, that's true.”

“A lot of people never even get that far.”

“I guess I'm not doing too bad. You know, Daria, sometimes it's hard to believe you're in high school.”

“I find the situation unbelievable myself.”

“You're pretty cool.”

“Thanks,” Daria said with a slight smile. She then noticed that Jane, Jennifer and Jesse were approaching.

“So?” Trent asked.

“There was nothing behind that wall but a cornfield, and the corn wasn't very helpful.”

“Helpful Corn! That's a cool name for the band,” Jesse suggested.

“I don't thnk so,” Jennifer murmured.

“Even better than Mystik Spiral, huh, Daria?”

'Maybe not,' Daria thought.

Keith, Kristen, Cindy and Quinn arrived at Alternapalooza. They could see that the concert had already started, and that the parking had spilled into a nearby field.

“We've missed the start!” Cindy said.

“I wasn't responsible for the traffic after Oakwood,” Keith explained.

“I guess there wasn't any other way,” Quinn said.

“I guess not,” Cindy said.

Church notes - 6th June 2021

 6th June

John 14:27

Nehemiah 1

Nehemiah 2:1 - 10

As the book of Nehemiah opens, Jerusalem is in trouble. Judah's enemies, the Samaritans, have prevented the Jews from repairing Jerusalem's broken-down defenses. All seems to be lost. But God has a plan.

Nehemiah prays every day.

vs 6

Nehemiah confesses his sins as well as those of his forefathers.

Nehemiah 1:8

Deuteronomy 30:1

Scattering as a result of disobedience.

Nehemiah 1:9

Deuteronomy 30:3

Gathering.

A God who scatters in judgement.

A God who gathers - for repentance.

The month of Nissan - Nehemiah prayed for four months.

2:3, 4

Nehemiah had the King's favour.

Short desparate prayers are fine, if they are preceded by consistent earnest prayer.

In those times when all seems to be lost God has a plan.

Nehemiah could have enjoyed a quiet and happy life in the palace, but he chose to step up. In times of frustration, trouble or loss, God might call on you to step up and take up action.

Nehemiah prays for months until it is time to bring the matter to the King. We must be diligent in prayer and be sensitive to God's leading.

A reversal of the Superpower's policies and be brought about by God to accomplish His plan.

Communion

Colossians