Homemade Potatoes

   Have you ever had fresh homemade mashed potatoes? I'm not talking Bob Evans or any store, I'm talking straight out of Mom or Grandma's kitchen made in front of you Mashed Potatoes.
    My mom makes the best mashed potatoes every Thanksgiving, they're rich in flavor and just straight up addicting. It usually doesn't last through the next day. The only downfall is they take time, a lot of it.

Parasites

Have you ever sat there and watched a mosquito suck out your blood? Or maybe a tick that locked itself onto your leg? They come quietly (long as the mosquito doesn't buzz next to your ear) and then they latch on you without anyone ever noticing, next thing you know you look down and there is this bloated insect full of your blood. Full of your life.

My Child Are You There?

There once was a new family that was just starting out on their own. The Couple had just had their first child and had moved into a new neighborhood in a small town. The Father beamed brightly at his new son as he dreamed of all the times they would spend together as he grew up, oh the things he would teach him!

The Cornmaze

Several years ago, and when I say that I mean when I was around 10 or so, our family was on one of our annual vacations to New York visiting family. It was in the fall and all the leaves were changing colors and the air was cool. This particular visit we had the awesome pleasure of getting to see pretty much all my cousins, particularly my Cousins Josiah and Nathan and their family. 

The Water Faucet

I was visiting with my accountability partner, about a month ago now, and I was bemoaning the fact that I just didn't seem to be coming up with any new blog ideas. In fact I had been feeling pretty dry for a while now with all the different roller coaster things that had been going on in my life. 

  His response to me was pretty simple, but it struck me upside the head a couple days later as I thought about it more. 

The Acorn

There once was a young man that had recently moved into a new home. He loved everything about his house and property except that he had no trees nearby to give him shade.
   One day he went out into the woods to find a plant near his home to provide himself some shade, as he walked he happened upon a small acorn. He picked it up and brought it home, and placed it into a small pot to let it start growing.

The Birthday Cake

There was a little boy not too long ago that had a birthday. He woke up excitedly knowing what the special day was and like all little boys knew that birthday's meant birthday cake. He eagerly ran into the kitchen where his mother was getting ready to mix his cake. 

   He pulled up a stool and looked over the counter top that was filled with the ingredients to make the cake. He looked at his mother and asked, "where's the cake?" his mother softly laughed and told him, "I have to mix these ingredients and then bake it together." The little boy following the logic that most little boys have responded, "Well cake is sweet and yummy, so are all these ingredients sweet and yummy too?"

Life Update

Hey Guys,
    I know I've been slacking a little on the blog lately. (okay let's be honest this blog almost doesn't exist anymore, and I know you've all been tearing out your hair because you haven't been getting your daily dose of Ryan's life lessons, no? oh.. )

Life has been keeping me pretty busy as of lately, putting in a lot of hours at work and procrastinating with everything else. (should do a post on that sometime soon.)

Keep me in prayers as I'm still in the midst of the testing phase for the Cincinnati FD and the next test is the Physical Agility testing.

Stay Patient! A new post is just around the corner, I just have to find some extra time to finish reading up for it and then I'll get to work on it soon as I can, consider this an accountability post. If you don't see a post by the end of this week you all better start messaging me and asking about it.

If you have any particular topics you would want me to cover feel free to leave a comment and I'll see what I can do. I'm getting ready to update the blog pages again so if you don't see another post for a while that's probably why, I'll be updating the style of my blog with an added section for Theological posts and then there will be my normal devotional side.
  This why I can alternate weeks and gives me more time to get content for either side.

Hope you all are doing well!

God Bless,
      Ryan

Working Out

A few weeks ago I made the decision I need to lose weight and get in shape. Not just for my career and stuff but also for my long term health. I've really applied myself to getting in shape and trying to work out everyday for at least an hour. I walked into the gym absolutely lost and having no idea what to do or how to do anything. But I figured out a couple of the machines and read how to use the dumbbells and proceeded to start my workout. Those first few days were terrible, my body hurt, I sweated so much I looked like I jumped in a pool, and really I felt like just quitting and leaving it be. But as I kept it up it slowly got easier.

Keeping the Watch

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There once were two young men back during the Roman Empire, their jobs were to patrol the walls of their small city and keep watch for any suspicious movement and upon sighting of an enemy force would sound the alarm to alert the city so everyone could get prepared.

 Day after day they would attend their training's and day after day their overseeing commander would remind them that they always much keep watch no matter how calm the times were. And indeed times were at a calm, there was a great peace through much of the Empire.

The Golf Game

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There once was a young man that decided one day he wanted to learn how to golf. He went out and bought himself a set of clubs and he bought a nice of pair of golfing gloves and shoes. The next day he went out to the local golfing club and started practicing. He swung his club as hard as he could and hit the ball with all his strength. He stood there for about an hour, his ball flying off to the left and right, his club digging into the ground but they just wouldn't fly straight down the course like he wanted them to.

Building the Campfire

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One year just a few weeks before Valentines day, there once was a Scout Leader that was trying to think of a fun way to teach them their lesson the next camp out. His boys were teenagers now and were getting to the point where they would begin starting their first relationships, he figured that since Valentines day was just around the corner it would be a good time to bring it up. 

As he sat down reviewing the material for the next camp out he realized that their next merit to work on was the Fire Merit. As he read through it he took particular notice of the different styles of campfires that the boys needed to build and how they had to build it. "ah," he thought, "there's an idea."

The Music of Sin

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There once was a young boy, he loved his music and he loved to sing. His Mother raised him up on the old Gospel songs and the Hymnal from church, she didn't really enjoy any of the other music that was more modern and as a result there wasn't much of it at all in their home. 

As the boy got older and began attending more youth events from his school and going out with his friends he began getting exposed to some of the music they listened to. At first the music he heard absolutely repulsed him, "this isn't music" he would say to himself, "It's nothing but noise." But he would tolerate it and quietly hum to himself so as not to bother his friends.

Who Needs to know?

~

"The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. "My head! My head! he said to his father. His father told a servant, 'Carry him to his mother.' After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.

She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return."

"Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath."

The Math Book

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There once was a young boy that had just started High-school, he was super excited and ready to start the new year. 

First day of school and he walked into his math class, took his seat and listened as the teacher began the introduction. 

"Welcome class, this year we're going to be covering Geometry and advanced Calculus,"

The boy slightly confused, was wondering what this was. He had heard some of the Seniors talk about that stuff, but he thought there was something before all that. Something called algebra and Algebra 2.

But he sat silent and listened for a bit, but as the class went on he was thoroughly confused.

Cleaning Off the Windshield

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I was on my way to church after shift this past Sunday, it started raining. Not hard full blown raining just yet, but by the look of the clouds I could see it would be coming down soon. But at the moment it was just sprinkling lightly.
As I was driving along I left the wipers off as the rain wasn't so bad that I couldn't see out the window, but as the sprinkling continued I finally decided to hit the wipers. After the wipers had gone through I suddenly just how unclear my view had been from all the debris and water. My view had been skewed the whole time when I thought it had been clear as day.

Growing past the Milk

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There once was a woman that had a child. She fed the child it's milk and through the months the child began to grow. When the child got a little older and it could start taking baby food, the mother went to the store and tried to feed the child some baby food. But the child refused, it would only take milk. The woman conceded to her child not wanting the child to starve, but as the child got older, all he would eat was milk.

The Rope and the Elephant

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There once was a small baby elephant that was captured by a a pair of men. The men then sold the elephant to a traveling circus, where they tied the baby elephant with a small rope to a small stake. At first the little elephant would pull at the rope and try to get away, but as the weeks went on the little elephant realized the rope was stronger then it and eventually stopped struggling against it.

The Lion Cub

*Word of caution: This post is going to be a little more mature than other posts I have done in the past, a little heavier topic. Also, the ending to the story may seem a little graphic to some, please skip over it if you are naturally weak in the stomach or have a vivid imagination.*

~

There once was a young man not too long ago that had recently come into a large sum of money due to a grandparent passing away. The young man who had a fancy for exotic pets and things of the like, went out and bought himself a baby lion.

 He absolutely loved the new addition to his home, it was soft and small and he played with it and fed it every day. He took care of it as many people take care of the family dog, gave it walks and so forth.

As time went on the cub began to grow and the man decided it was time to move it to an outdoor pen. It was about the size of a golden retriever now. He loved his baby lion, and despite his friends constant warnings of being careful and to remember it was still a wild animal, he continued to let it out and play with it.

The Junk Collector

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There was a man that had traveled for most his life. He had traveled from town to town, state to state, sometimes even a new country on occasion, but nothing had quite caught his interest long enough to stay. Finally came the day when he decided he would settle down.

  He stopped in the country side and found a house that was for rent, he called the number, met the owner and they discussed conditions and prices.

"I'll let you rent it, but you have to keep the place clean." 

The man agreed and shortly after moved in. 

One day the Owner of the house came by to chat for a bit. "I'll be heading out of town tomorrow," he said, "I have business to take care of a few states over. I expect you to keep the place clean even though I'm gone."