Sunset Boulevard

Stopped at the Goodwill I visited Friday evening cause wanted to pick up some art I had seen which I thought would go good outside my apartment door. Not sure if that means I am addicted to Goodwill, but whatever. Actually found a really nice oil painting and some books to sell, so should come out even in the end. Anyway sunset was poppin' when I walked out of Goodwill and so caught a few good pics:

To make matters better, the full moon rising to the east was competing for my attention. I took a few pics of that but I need a real camera to abstract anything worth sharing. As I drove south on 23 I had to pull over cause the beauty to the west needed to be captured again:

After topping off at the 280 Wawa (and picking up a roast beef sub [I know I need help]), headed east on 280 into the perfect full moon. Pure beauty! Made me think about trying to catch the next full moon at Liberty State park as it rises above Manhattan's skyline. Of course with a real camera though. However, could actually be in Kenya, or on my way back, so, maybe October, if the planets align.

Peace, blessings and goodnight. Shalom.

Mount Zion? Haha

Well I must say this is a completely opposite piece than last night, and in fact quite a blessed afternoon and evening I'd like to share. Today being the last day of our usual summer program trips, I debated going for an oil change after dropping off the last of the kids. I was tired but decided if the Parkway north was light on traffic at that time of about 3pm, I would attempt the oil change I had planned this morning but botched when I took my own car and was not motivated to go back for the van. Traffic was light, and I took the chance, trusting it was the way the Lord was leading despite low energy levels.

Cruised up to the Wawa and filled up on gas and then cut over to 46 east to the Jiffy Lube. Kind of out of my way for an oil change, but this is where I felt the Lord leading. A little expensive at $39, but the knowledge and advice I was given there made it all worth it. I wanted to do an oil change because the check engine light came on the other day, and after my neighbor-mechanic cleared it, I realized emissions was past due since April. Oops. The van having nearly 100,000 miles has had a few glitches lately, no surprise, but one of them is the ODB hasn't been working properly and can't easily be read.

Well this is where the $39 started to pay off as the mechanic at Jiffy Lube informed me that Motor Vehicle will give you an automatic fail if they can't use the ODB. True or not, I was still going to try popping by Wayne's MVC just in case he was wrong and the van as able to pass. I also learned that apparently there is no grace period any more if a vehicle fails and is past due. But I still wanted to try.

However, he also suggested the simple solution that it could be a blown fuse disabling the ODB and I could google the vehicle model and location of the fuse. I almost ignored this advice thinking it too complicated at the moment but then paused for a second in a parking lot and googled "finding odb fuse", which turned out to be so simplistically profitable.

Right a way a youtube video came up by someone with a similar vehicle saying that if your cigarette lighter is not working then that could be the fuse that needs to be replaced. Bam, bing, boom! The left side cigarette lighter has not been working for I don't know how long. Then I started to wonder if I could just take a look under the hood and maybe run over to Autozone to pick up the fuse.

Fortune would have it that the cover to the fuse box was already loose, for it is such a pain to take off from a cold start. As I pulled off the cover, I had learned earlier that I needed to look for the fuse that said "cigar". Not only did I have a needle nose pliers handy for another van glitch, there was a 15 fuse spare on the inside of the fuse cover box. Was the original fuse even broken was the last question, and it was. The rest is history, as after replacing the fuse the cigarette lighter started working again. Praise the Lord!

The question remains if the ODB will work now too, but I believe it will. I attempted to have it inspected, but by that time (5pm) I had missed Motor Vehicle inspections by a half hour. Perhaps tomorrow morning. Maybe.

As fun as all this was, I decided that since I was so close to Jonathan Cahn's Beth Israel and was, and still is, Friday evening, that perhaps I could stop by for their service. Interestingly there have been other times with this exact opportunity but I was just not inclined. I was inclined tonight though, even feeling the Lord was leading me there for some reason.

Not really a surprise being led there, but I had some time to kill so I decided to stop by Kohl's off 23 north of 80. I did not find anything there but before I entered the store I saw the bumper sticker "This car climbed Mount Washington" and I wondered where this great mountain is, on the not too uncommon bumper sticker. I wanted to know.

Having left Kohl's and still time to spare, I continued north on 23 to the Goodwill not too far up the road. I soon found myself lost there and time quickly passing. And now here is where it becomes interesting in that I found a large coffee mug that said Mount Washington, New Hampshire. Finally! Knowledge! So sweet to the soul! And a mystery solved.

Well, I decided to pick up the mug for 50 cents, for how could I pass it up at that price. And aside from the great deal, I felt that God had a message for me, something I was not able to put my finger on just yet. Only an hour earlier I had really wondered where Mount Washington was and then bam, the answer:

But the story is not over yet. It was nearly eight  so I made my way down to Beth Israel. I was not really sure what to expect, but I was still feeling the leading of the Lord. It took me a minute to understand, but when I did I had to take a picture of the title of Jonathan Cahn's message:

Wow! I would have dismissed learning where Mount Washington is, but the knowledge gained was so quick that it baffled me. It was almost like I asked and instantly learned. And no google involved! I was just so blessed and encouraged this evening. I recorded the whole message and perhaps I'll be able to share it here sometime. In any case, this has been a very long and time consuming entry, so I'd really like to finish this up. In doing so I will leave you with one last beautiful image as I was walking out of Beth Israel:

God bless!

An Accident and Homicide

This is not a feel good article. You have been warned.

This morning was on the westside of Irvington, about 7:30am, when I caught this scene at Springfield Ave. and Sanford Ave.:

Can't say what transpired to cause this accident, but it did not look like there were any serious injuries, so at least there is that. Car appears to have struck the traffic light though, and I can only imagine the traffic jams this was about to create being that it was rush hour and there was no red, green or yellow.

What I am about to write about now is a bit more sad, having to do with a teenager who lost his life Sunday evening on 16th Street here in Newark. I happened to be listening to the police scanner when this happened so this is a bit personal. Happened to have business on that street today too so ran across these sights:

In this first one we see the appeal by authorities for help, a sign that can not be missed and sadly is not very unfamiliar here in Newark. Secondly we have the memorial:

I warned you this was not a feel good piece. The name is Ibn Abdul Walker and he was only 18 years old. Why?

Thou shalt not murder! It's one of  the ten commandments. Prayers for the family and that justice prevails, in Jesus name.

Check out this NJ.com article for more on this incident: 18-year-old killed in Newark shooting.

A Newark Sunset

Just wanted to share something beautiful that came out of Newark this evening:

Just Another Sunday Evening

Where the Lord leads, I shall follow! March marked 15 years here in Newark. Ups and downs! Didn't think I was going to be here this long, though not really sure what I expected at first. Took a little road trip tonight, first up to the Wawa off Route 280 about exit 1 and then to the Target on Route 46 a couple miles east of the Wawa.

Skinny, white girl named Alison was my cashier at Wawa and she was delighted to see there was still garlic bread offered for sale with their sub-sandwiches. (Yes I was picking up a roast beef.) She was really happy about the bread but I didn't really know how to respond. Haha.

From Wawa skipped north up to 46 and was on my way to Target unsure they would still be open. To my pleasure they were open to 11pm which gave me at least a good two hours to entertain myself there. Haha.

Oh what fun it was to check out the video game section. Smh. Still no Switch available. Demand too high and supply too low still for it to be found on a causal Sunday night glance. What I did find interesting were the video games that were out of stock, which led me to believe these are the games that might be worth playing/checking out.

Picked up no entertainment material but just some dish soap, sponges and post-it-notes. I took the plunge with the post-it-notes at $6.29 for the pack, but I have been craving them for awhile and have not wanted to settle on the cheaper ones, thinking the quality of adhesive might be lacking.

Not to my surprise or anything but I have already used the first post-it-note of the batch and written the name Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on it, having just watched two of her TED Talks which I also blogged here The danger of a single story TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and here We should all be feminists TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

I wasn't sure I'd be able to watch the feminists TED Talk one, which is the first one I watched, since I can be very picky about politics, but there was nothing she said that made me want to turn it off. Having survived that video just fine I noticed another TED Talk of hers, the Single Story one, which showed her wearing a head scarf that I rather liked. She is a good looking woman so the scarf just complimented her. I might have enjoyed Single Story more for several reasons, though I am finding it hard to articulate them. Perhaps the greatest reason being that through the first video I understood who she is, at least was given a glimpse, and could thus watch the second video with that understanding.

Anyway, before I watched Chimamanda, I watch a TED Talk by Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll called How I learned to read — and trade stocks — in prison.

That Ted Talk I found to be quite a pleasure too, in that I am quite familiar with the African American community here in Newark and enjoy the positive faith Curtis shares.

Alight I'm done, is nearly 1am. Good night and God bless!

Repeal Obamacare!

This morning read a headline about Nancy Pelosi asking if Republicans want to make America sick again. What joke! Nancy is just some kind of joke, to put it nicely. I don't understand sometimes why certain things find attention. Like Obama saying he could beat Trump if Obama could run again. This is not news, not even worth reporting because it is irrelevant. Even if Obama could beat Trump if he could have run again, which is not to say I agree Obama could beat Trump, it doesn't matter because Obama can't legally run again. So who cares?! Why keep it in the headlines or make it a headline at all. And thus Pelosi quote, to me it sounds like she just wants to create drama, the same woman who said we have to pass the Obamacare bill to know what is in it. Foolishness! You can't even fully read and understand a bill before it becomes law?! That is a crime against the American people!

Anyway I'm done. Peace out.

From Darkness to Light

It's been awhile since I read 50 pages of a book in one sitting, but last night was caught up reading Frank and Joan Testa's From Darkness to Light about a priest and nun who both became Born Again and left the Catholic Church and eventually married. I met them last year or so and ran up on their book several months ago and have been curious ever since.

When I was in Kenya last year I was finally able to visit their outreach thee, Harbingers, which I have heard about for years here at the House of Mercy Mission. It's quite a long and complicated story which I am sure I don't even know all the details, but some how the people who founded the Mission here in Newark also are affiliated in some way to Harbingers in Kenya.

Of all the ministries that I have visited in Kenya, I suppose Harbingers I found to be the most beautiful. The country, the land, just beautiful!

Anyway, was caught up last night reading Frank's testimony. I found it very interesting his perspective and experience with Catholicism but also his work here in New Jersey as a priest. I came here to Newark in 2002 so everything I know about this area and New Jersey prior 2002 obviously has to be second hand knowledge.

I scanned the rest of the book looking for information about Kenya and found a lot less than I thought I might, but for the time being my curiosity has been satisfied.

Do I want to leave this as just a book review? I don't know for sure if that's all I wanted to do when I started this post, but that is what this looks like it has become.

It's 1:45pm Wednesday, January 4, 2017, as I write these words, and the day is more than half over. Had made a few plans to workout at Retro Fitness and visit the post office and the such; so many little things to do. We are installing a new soundboard for our sound system on Friday and I have to run a ethernet wire from the front office to the soundroom. I need to also make a thank you Christmas video from our Christmas outreach.

Anyway I'm out. Peace.