Monday, July 27, 2009

The cross...

God grades on the Cross, not the curve.

Paul said this to the Ephesians:

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Ephesians 2:4-5 KJV).

The cross of himself...

When you understand what you see, you will no longer be children. You will know that life is pain, that each of us hangs always upon the cross of himself. And when you know that this is true of every man, woman and child on earth, you will be wiser.

-Whittaker Chambers

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Happy Birthday, Ana!

30 years ago today my daughter was born.

As the family tradition we will have a cousins party and shivaree her into adulthood.

At her birth she arrived awake and ready to go.

She loved dog, her gerbils, bunnies, friends, food, brother, her Daddy and Mom.

She loved life.

She skipped up the steps of the bus that carried her to kindergarten.

She skipped across the platform to receive her college diploma.

She is just like that.

She will never skip out of our hearts.

Recession proof. . .

In the Book of Romans are listed all the things we have for free: renewing of our minds, gifts of the Spirit, brotherly love, zeal, rejoicing, hope, patience—and that’s just in a few verses of Chapter 12.

All “without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1).

Recession-proof.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The moon landing and Vietnam

Exceptional men at exceptional times--please read:
Editorials: A different take on moon landing

My husband, Wayne, was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for his service beyond the call of duty during the Viet Nam war. His character continues on today in the way he runs his company and respects the people he is in contact with.

With faithful men like these, I stand proud.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Dire Straits



Jewish Feasts or holidays

The ninth of Av ends a three-week season of mourning called Bein Ha'm'tarim . This term means "between the straits" or "dire straits." This commences on the 17th of Tammuz ( July 9 in 2009) which commemorates the sacking of Jerusalem by the Romans. However, priests, Levites and soldiers held out on Temple Mount for three weeks - until 9th Av (July 30 in 2009).

NASA - Total Solar Eclipse of 2009 July 22

Remember why God created the sun, moon and stars:

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Genesis 1:14).

July 9, 2009 = 17 Tamuz 5769

July 22, 2009 = 1 Av 5769 - solar eclipse

July 30, 2009 = 9 Av 5769

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Jesus, God's Son, took my place

I was guilty with nothing to say
And they were coming to take me away
But then a voice from Heaven was heard
It said "Let Him go and take me instead"

I should have been crucified
I should have suffered and died
I should have hung on the cross in disgrace
But Jesus, God's Son, took my place.

Crowns of thorns,
the spear deep in His side
And the pain it should have been mine
The rusty nails were meant for me
Oh yet Christ took them and let me go free.

I should have been crucified
I should have suffered and died
I should have hung on the cross in disgrace
But Jesus, God's Son, took my place

YouTube - I Should Have Been Crucified

Cynical Twain

Mark Twain once said something like this... "Suppose you were a politician. And then suppose you were an idiot. But I repeat myself..."

Building the Third Temple



The Temple Institute, known in Hebrew as Machon HaMikdash (Hebrew: מכון המקדש), is an organization in Israel focusing on the controversial endeavor of re-establishing the Third Temple. Its long-term aim is to build the third Jewish temple on the Temple Mount, on the site currently occupied by the Dome of the Rock, and to reinstate sacrificial worship. It aspires to reach this goal through the study of Temple construction and ritual.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Paradox (Pair of ducks.)



The ability to obey is a gift, but one that I can choose to accept or reject.

I bear the consequences of my choice.

It is a paradox.

I acknowledge that “it is God which worketh in (me) to will and to do of His good pleasure”, but I must still “work out (my) own salvation with fear and trembling”(Philippians 2:13,14).

God’s ways are marvelous.

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."(Romans 11:33-36).

Christ alone...

"Therefore as by the offence of one (Adam) judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one (Jesus Christ) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life" (Romans 5:18).

It is so hard for people to believe that God would do this and it would be a free gift.

In our pride we do not want to accept something for nothing; we do not want to admit we are unable to help ourselves. We want somehow to merit salvation -- but God says salvation is a free gift.

If I offer you a gift worth a hundred million dollars, and you insist on paying me a penny, you have insulted me, you have devalued the gift.

Anyone that tries to pay for the gift of salvation, bought with the blood of Christ, insults God.

All religions are an attempt to somehow pay for this gift. All religions are men getting involved in God's gift. It is a denial that Christ alone could do it, and that Christ paid the penalty in full.

Christ alone = free gift unto justification of life.

YouTube - Travis Cottrell - In Christ Alone: "Travis Cottrell - In Christ Alone"

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Monday, July 13, 2009

Divine love . . .


"Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned" (Song of Solomon 8:7 KJV).

Many waters, or floods cannot extinguish God's love which is pictured as "coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame" in verse six.

cannot quench = earthly things cannot destroy that which is divine.

"Many waters cannot quench the flame of love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man tried to buy it with everything he owned, he couldn't do it" (TLB).

Can't buy me love...Beatles

"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Holy Ghost

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is given so that "we ordinary mortals can become, in a measure, what Jesus himself was: part of God's future arriving in the present; a place where heaven and earth meet; the means of God's kingdom going ahead".

The Spirit is given so that we might "share in the life and continuing work of Jesus himself," and "to begin the work of making God's future real in the present." This Spirit "comes to us from that new world, the world waiting to be born," so that to live as a Christian is "to live by the rules of God's future world, even as we are continuing to live within the present one." Which is why Paul "speaks of the Spirit as the guarantee or down-payment of what is to come." He actually uses the Greek word for "engagement ring," as "a sign in the present for what is to come in the future."
One Cosmos: Timelessness Takes Time

Olivia, our 3 1/2 year old grand-daughter, told me about the Holy Ghost today...we were talking about Jesus being with His Father in heaven for real, but He lives in us too. She then spoke of the Holy Ghost living in us.

Mom and Dad or church-school is doing a great job.

Rainbow

You know when you empty the rug shampooer and see all the dirty (filthy) water...and you go ewwwwwwww! Well, now you can vacuum and have the same experience. Never heard of a Rainbow vacuum? Neither did I until a friend dropped off his for me to try.Sad. That's what it was when I pulled off the cover and saw all Bailee's (Pembroke Corgi) hair and the filthy water...ewwwwwww! And this from a freshly vacuumed carpet that I had just done with my vacuum.

Rainbow, series E...Google it...they won't give you a price, but I know it is pricy...$1,500.00 range, I think.But maybe you suffer from allergies...this might be just the cleaning vacuum you really, really need...so, putting this information out for you.The vacuum uses water in a lower tank...my friend put in a bit of Pine-Sol with the water...then just vacuum. No wet floor, but dirt and hair get sucked into the water...and the air is Pine-Sol fresh. Ahhhhh!

Friday, July 10, 2009

John Calvin 500th


I'd wish him a happy birthday, except that:

1) He probably wouldn't want that; and,

2) My wishes have no effect on whether his birthday would be happy; if God predestined him to have a happy birthday today, then he will be happy, no matter what, and if God predestined it to be dour, austere, and a wee bit racked with guilt - quite likely for a Calvinist - then it will be the worst day ever and wishing him a happy birthday would be blasphemous as directly contrary to God's will...

This is supposed to be a little bit of a joke, or a simplification of Calvinism, if you will. To read a bit of indepth thinking on Calvin go to the link below.

Marvin Olasky offers Three Cheers for John Calvin.

WORLD Magazine | Community | Blog Archive | Liberty’s champion

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Fish & Chips


Down is Up, Unfair is Fair and Ignorance is Bliss by Victoria Jackson:

I woke up in the middle of the night and realized the trick.

You see, evil doesn’t just show up. It disguises itself as something nice; so you’ll let it in.

It tricks you.

Murdering babies is called Pro-Choice.

Unfair Censorship is called The Fairness Doctrine.

Outlandish Taxes and the Death of Freedom is called Cap & Trade.

Sounds like Fish & Chips.

L.:

Isaiah the prophet has some strong words about "straight talkin'"...

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:18-25). Read the whole reference and be thankful that we are living in the age of God's grace, when He is holding back His wrath, and that we are not Israel, (His people) in Isaiah's time.

But, don't be ignorant, as Paul says, there is a time of judgment coming on the evils of this world, "wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God" (Romans 2:5).

How grateful, and with my inner-man bowed, I am to our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself the wrath of a just God, at the cross, so I do not have to suffer this wrath.

I rejoice in 2 Cor. 5:21, "For He (God the Father) made Him (God the Son, Jesus Christ) to be sin for us (me and you too), who knew no sin (the only totally righteous man); that we (me and you) might be made the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus Christ)".

And every heart in Christ responds with great joy, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name" (Psalm 103:1).

Monday, July 6, 2009

Marvelled = v., be moved by wonder...

Love the ones you can. Touch the ones you can reach. Let the others go. Like that wise man who could perform no miracles in Nazareth.

"And He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief" (Mark 6: 5).

Fulness of joy...


"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16:11).

Jesus Christ today is seated at God's right hand where there is fullness of joy. He is our forerunner, and all His people who trust in Him follow Him through His death and resurrection into God's own presence.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

True patriotism

From John Newton's Letters:

When our Lord Jesus was upon earth, He refused to get involved in disputes or politics, "Friend, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?" Luke 12:14. "My kingdom is not of this world! If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight!" John 18:36. God's children belong to a kingdom which is not of this world; they are strangers and pilgrims upon earth, and a part of their Scriptural character is, that they are the "quiet in the land." Psalm 35:19.

Satan has many contrivances to amuse people, and to divert their thoughts from their real danger!

My prayer to God is--that He may induce you to employ the talents He has given you, in pointing out sin as the great cause and source of every existing evil; and to engage those who love and fear Him, to sigh and cry for our abounding abominations, and to stand in the breach, by prayer, that God's wrath may yet be averted, and our national mercies prolonged!

This, I think, is true patriotism--the best way in which people in private life may serve their country.

I consider the ungodly as saws and hammers in the hand of the Lord. So far as they are His instruments, they will succeed--but not an inch further! Their wrath shall praise Him, and be subservient to His designs!

If our lot is so cast that we can exercise our ministry free from stripes, fines, imprisonments, and death--it is more than the gospel has promised to us! If Christians were quiet when under the cruel governments of Nero and other wicked persecutors, when they were hunted down like wild beasts--then we ought to be not only quiet but very thankful now! It was then accounted an honor to suffer for Christ and the 'offence of the cross'!

Those are to be greatly pitied, who boast of their 'liberty'--and yet they do not consider that they are in the most deplorable bondage as the slaves of sin and Satan, under the curse of God's law and His eternal wrath! Oh! for a voice to reach their hearts, that they may know their true and dreadful state--and seek deliverance from their horrific thraldom! May you and I labor to direct them to the one thing, which is absolutely needful, and abundantly sufficient.

How crucial then, is it for me--to be found watching, with my lamp burning, diligently engaged in my proper calling! For the Lord has not called me to set governments right--but to preach the gospel, to proclaim the glory of His name, and to endeavor to win souls! "Let the dead bury their own dead--but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God!" Luke 9:60. Happy is that servant, whom his Master finds so doing, when He returns!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Israel



Israel's symbol: The Burning Bush (Exodus 3:1-6)



Israel is the major topic of Bible prophecy, mentioned more than 2,900 times, nearly twice as many times as her Messiah. Without Israel there would be no Messiah and no salvation for anyone, Jew or Gentile.

Irises



Vincent VanGogh