God's heart . . .

Scripture that reveal God's heart. Isaiah 45:22 "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else."

Lovely. . .

YouTube - Perahia - Beethoven Emperor (II. Adagio un poco mosso)

The one true constant. . .

So how do we control this increasingly out-of-control, interlinked world?

Trust will become the critical factor. Without the luxury of time, trust will be the new currency of our times, whether in news sources, economic systems, political figures, even spiritual leaders. As change accelerates, it will remain one true constant.
(Tom Hayes and Michael Malone, WSJ 9-09)

Paul to the Corinthians, "But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead" (II Corinthians 1:9).

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5).

The solution is redemption. . .

The Judeo-Christian viewpoint on man’s essential nature is that man is fallen: created by a good God to be by nature good, but given free will either to submit to the good or to choose evil. Having rejected the good for personal autonomy independent of God, the natural gravity of the soul is away from God, not toward Him. In God is an unspeakable and unimaginable goodness; in His rejection is the potential for equally unimaginable evil. The Judeo-Christian solution is redemption, not psychology; inner transformation, not social programs.

Cult of Death or Heart of Man | The Doctor Is In

All beauty is God's beauty. . .

YouTube - J.S. Bach - Air on the G String, Sergei Nakariakov

All truth is God's truth?

WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | Common grace

I have been trying to sort out this thinking since my daughter and her friends accept this in culture, music and life. They say if something is true or beautiful, even if the person who says it is not a believer, it still can be taken as truth as all truth is God's truth, all beauty is God's beauty.

BUT let's think about this.

Scripture says Satan is turned into an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14)... he surely appears beautiful to the outward eye, but is his beauty something we should gaze and appreciate? Of course not, we should discern his beauty is being used to entice us away from truth and God.

The verse being used to say all truth is God's truth is James 1:17,

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning".

I appreciate the skepticism of the commenter to the above article who said:

Be careful with truth.

And those who convey it.

And beware the hidden hook.

And the camouflaged poison.

And be careful with the truth.

Can anyone out there help me with this? Appreciate any thoughts.

"Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).

A Michiganian worth listening to. . .

On Uncommon Knowledge, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, the fourth-ranked Republican in the House, on what Republicans must not compromise away:

Our liberty is from God, not the government.

Our sovereignty is in our souls, not the soil.

Our security is from strength, not surrender.

Our prosperity is from the private sector, not the public sector.

And our truths are self evident, not relative.

A cardigan anyone?

If Lord Cardigan* had been the gambler and the Earl of Sandwich** was desirous of a jersey that buttoned up the front, why we'd all be eating cardigans and wearing sandwiches! : )


*Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan,(16 October 1797 – 28 March 1868) commanded the Light Brigade of the British Army during the Crimean War. The “cardigan”, a knitted waistcoat supposedly as worn by the earl on campaign, became fashionable and many were sold.

**The modern sandwich is possibly named after Lord Sandwich. It is said that he ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two pieces of bread during a card game. Because Montagu also happened to be the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, others began to order "the same as Sandwich!"

America and Food

Day-to-day experience tells me that while the lumbering results of having "way too much food" are more than visible in America, so is the cult of "way too much exercise." The buffed anorexic and the wobbling obese are the opposite ends of the bell-curve.

In the middle I see that most Americans are mindful of what they eat because they can afford to be. Making this possible is a system of food production and distribution that delivers such a wide-spectrum of food choice at cheap prices (organic, non-organic, and junk) to every niche of the landscape. Indeed, the system is so advanced and sophisticated that we have achieved a society in which one of the major problems among the poor that remain is obesity.

The American Argument @ AMERICAN DIGEST

Einstein and Faulkner

Einstein said the arrow of time flies in only one direction. Faulkner, being from Mississippi, understood the matter differently. He said the past is never dead; it’s not even past.

And who among us, offered the chance, would not relive the day or hour in which we first knew love, or made a choice that forever altered our future, negating a life we might have had? Such chances are rarely granted.

Memory and grief prove Faulkner right enough, but Einstein knew the finality of action.

The true discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart...

Neither the God of the Bible, nor His instructions in Scripture, nor the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is about fixing our daily mental, emotional, and behavioral problems.

Every believer is a new creature in Christ, and his objective in life is to have Christ formed in him. That is the process of sanctification-being set apart from the ways, means, and lusts of the world to a life that is in submission to the Lord and in which choices are made that are pleasing to Him, the One with whom every true believer will spend eternity.

It's a growth process, which at times involves sufferings and trials that the Lord allows in our lives to help us depend upon Him and mature in our relationship with Him.

Those who function as counselors (biblical or otherwise) are erroneously involved in an activity that is primarily a function of the Spirit of Christ. He is our Counselor. More often than not, counselors supplant the Spirit of Christ as they try to do in the life of a believer what only God can do. It displaces the convicting, correcting, and comforting ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God as the only true "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). (From The Old Paths T. A. McMahon)

You think?

Man's day. . .

On Sept. 1, 1939, 70 years ago, the German Army crossed the Polish frontier. On Sept. 3, Britain declared war.

Six years later, 50 million Christians and Jews had perished. Britain was broken and bankrupt, Germany a smoldering ruin. Europe had served as the site of the most murderous combat known to man, and civilians had suffered worse horrors than the soldiers.

By May 1945, Red Army hordes occupied all the great capitals of Central Europe: Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Berlin. A hundred million Christians were under the heel of the most barbarous tyranny in history: the Bolshevik regime of the greatest terrorist of them all, Joseph Stalin.

"Wars and rumours of wars" (Matthew 24:6).

Today is man's day. Jesus Christ is rejected from this world, but He said He will return.

"Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in Thy sight. Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men" (Psalm 9:19.20).

Amen. Let it be so.

While the earth remaineth . . .

I trust in Nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility. Spring shall plant and Autumn garner to the ends of time.
- Robert Browning

"And God called the dry land Earth;...And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so" ( Genesis 1:11).

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22).

As the pressures of life lean in on us, we do not have to fret that the seedtime and harvest of our year will be disrupted. I believe the bonfires of ancient times were the superstitious caretaking of the people not taking any chances that the night would continue to grow longer, but that the daylight would return so they could plant and reap the harvest. This promise of God is indeed a stabilizing foundation to our year. We can forget about it, as we forget taking our next breath, -- God said it, and it will continue.

(Painting above is Breughel's Harvest)

Have I forgotten?

- If I can’t forgive then I have forgotten where I came from. I did not deserve to be forgiven by a Holy God, but I was.

- When I look with disdain at another person I have forgotten where I came from. That person is made in the image of God and deserves my respect.

- When I don’t accept another brother or sister I have forgotten that I was unacceptable to a Holy God. Jesus said you are acceptable because of Me. We must offer the same grace because of Jesus.

- When I can’t serve without expectation of personal return I have forgotten where I came from. If I remember where I came from I will serve because I am grateful for what Christ did for me.

- When I don’t give joyfully of my time and treasure I have forgotten where I came from. If you truly understand where you came from the natural response is to serve Him joyfully.

I don’t want to forget where I came from both as a person and as a child of God. My small town roots are a big part of who I am. And my encounter with grace at the foot of the Cross defines who I am spiritually. I pray that I will remember every day who I am and where Jesus brought me from.

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
--C. S. Lewis

(From Dave Burchett, World Magazine article.)

The greatest man. . .

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth. -Fyodor Dostoevsky, novelist (1821-1881)

Isaiah's portrait of Jesus Christ:

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief...surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows...He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53: 3,4,5).

Again the incomprehensible is realized:

"And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8).

Oh, what a Savior!
Oh, hallelujah!
He shed His lifeblood for me.

God walks with us . . .

God is present everywhere...an infinite God.

God is immense. Wherever God is, He is present in His fullness.

Whatever is happening in our life, He goes with us.

"He walks with me, and talks with me,
And tells me I am His own." (C. Austin Miles)

How can we comprehend these incomprehensible characteristics of God?

God has revealed Himself through the "things that are made" (Romans 1:20), through His Son, "God...spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things" (Hebrews 2:1), and by His Word, "after ye heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation (Ephesians 1:13).

God has not left us in the dark to walk alone and in ignorance.

Hallelujah!

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name" (Psalm 103:1).

I'd rather go hungry . . .

Pastor Alex Kurz:

You know what the problem of the God of the Christian Bible is in relationship to all the religions of the world? The religions of the world have the same concept of God that Satan does, so when the religious system starts talking about God, all they’re doing is repeating Satan’s concept of God—a God who always has his wishes satisfied, always gratified. If you study the religion of Islam, Allah gets whatever he wants.

The God of the Christian Bible says, I’d rather go hungry.

Jesus Christ answered Satan, saying, "But it is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeeth out of the mouth of God." Christ is demonstrating what Paul says in Philippians 2: "He made himself of no reputation."

God says, I’ll starve. What kind of God is that?! What kind of God says, I’d rather go hungry; I’d rather not be self-gratified?! And here’s the devil whose plan of rebellion is: Listen, God can have whatever He wants—He has a right to!

Jesus Christ, as the true God-man, is demonstrating something about the character which defies human logic.

(Thursday, August 27 - EVEN AN ATHEIST CAN'T HELP BUT LOVE A GOD LIKE THIS www.lisaleland.com)

Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon is a common name that applies to several different species of flowering plants that are highly valued throughout the world.

In Biblical origins it is a flower of uncertain identity translated as the Rose of Sharon in English language translations of the Bible. Etymologists have inconclusively linked the Biblical meaning 'bulb', and חמץ ḥāmaṣ, which is understood as meaning either 'pungent' or 'splendid'.

The name Rose of Sharon first appears in English in 1611 in the King James Version of the Bible, Song of Solomon 2:1, "I AM the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys."

It is commonly assumed by most people in Israel that, the Sharon plain being on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Biblical passage refers to this flower, pancratium maritimum, pictured above.

Battle is in the mind and heart. . .

Spiritual warfare is distorted in it's applications among Christians today. Spiritual warfare involves a legitimate doctrine or teaching of the scriptures perverted to such an extreme that it has become a tool of the adversary rather than the blessing God intended.

Ephesians 6:12 does say "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." You could call that spiritual warfare. But how do we wrestle against these demonic powers? Paul says to put on the whole armor of God, and none of it is offensive (Ephesians 6:11).

Paul says "...that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day" --not take the offensive against, but, "withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:13-17).

It doesn't say anything about shooting back darts.

The battle is really a battle in the mind and in the heart. It's a battle of the faith. II Corinthians 4:4 Paul says the god of this age has blinded the minds of those that believe not.

You don't combat that blinding by some prayer or binding Satan or binding spirits. You can only combat it with the truth of the gospel. It's the truth that sets people free. It's not some ritual or some technique that we adopt.

(From UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES with Dave Hunt.)

After this the judgment...

“I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.” —Clarence Darrow (1857–1938)

"...it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).

Anticipation . . .

of seeing my new grandDAUGHTER.

Around Christmastime.

It's a girl!

Barak

Ehud Barak is the Defense Minister of Israel. When I see his name my mind always goes to the Barak of the Bible who judged Israel with Deborah.

The second Judge of Israel was Ehud. So, this modern day Ehud Barak has the name of two judges. Today he is the Defense Minister of Israel and I wonder if he feels the pressure of living up to his name.

Never a more exciting story than that of Deborah, Barak and Jael. Read about them in Judges 4 and don't neglect the song of Deborah and Barak in chapter 5. It ends:

"So let all Thine enemies perish,O LORD: but let them that love Him (the LORD) be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.

And the land had rest forty years" (Judges 5:31).

There's a tiger on your tail. . .

There is an old story about two hikers who encounter a tiger. One says: There is no point in running because the tiger is faster than either of us. The other says: It is not about whether the tiger is faster than either of us. It is about whether I'm faster than you. And with that he runs away.

Understand the race we're running in this present evil age. Jesus Christ has won the victory over Satan, that roaring lion, but there is still a race for us to run as becometh saints of the Most High God.

So, run the race that God has put before us. He knows our limitations and has promised the conditions we face are such as are common to man.

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain" ( I Corinthians 9:24).

Run your race.

(There is a good sermon from our Pastor on our Standing (in Christ) vs. our State in this present life. I recommend it as we run the race set before us. 8/16/09 Sanctification Central: Paul's Prayers for the Thessalonians. Please go to: www.gracelifebiblechurch.com and click on Online Messages, then the title.)

Pride and Power

From the hard copy print of WST, August 22/23, 2009:

"Russia is obsessed with being recognized as a "Great Power." She has felt as one since the 17th century, after having conquered Siberia, but especially since her victory in World War II over Germany and the success in sending the first human into space."

But, Russia is in trouble:

"They have a shrinking population base, they have a withering economy, they have a banking sector that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years." (This from our Vice President Joe Biden).

A cornered bear is a dangerous bear.

Ezekiel 38 and 39 prophecies about a northern land, Magog, who comes south into the pleasant land (Israel) in the last days:

"And thou shalt come up against My people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes." (Ezekiel 38:16).

And Gog and Magog show up again at the end of the Millennium where they for the last time encompass the beloved city of Jerusalem (Revelation 20:8).

Whether this is modern Russia or another group of endtime alliances it is interesting to see how these things might come to pass and the nations involved.

Signs of the times...

Two news stories from the Wall Street Journal:

What the Hay!? In Texas, Giant Bales Go Missing

Seems Texas is in drought and the 1,700-pound bales of hay are being stolen...hay rustling.

And then this:

Bumper Cherry Crop Turns Sour
Tons of Unharvested Fruit Rots Under Government Program to Keep Prices Stable

In Traverse City, Michigan, the cherry capital of the world, farmers are filling the ditches with sour cherries. It seems a shame. The article says people are cutting desserts (cherry pie)as they are watching their calorie intake, and cutting down buying the dried cherries because of the expense, so the demand for the sour fruit is down.

I have always thought the life cycle of a farmer is the most stressful of all occupations. No rain breaks my heart every season. Too much rain breaks my heart as the fields are so sodden you can't get into them.

But if the weather is good and you have a good crop you then have to throw it out.

The faint of heart should not go into farming.

Schadenfreude

Dictionary: scha·den·freu·de (shäd'n-froi'də)

n. Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.

[German : Schaden, damage (from Middle High German schade, from Old High German scado) + Freude, joy (from Middle High German vreude, from Old High German frewida, from frō, happy).]

I see this word quite often in print and on the web. Just passing it along. I've been guilty of experiencing it, to my shame.

Peace in Israel

“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”
--Golda Meir, 4th Prime Minister of Israel
Golda Meir - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Time

What is time for?

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed...put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" (Romans 13:11,14).

Our salvation = Jesus Christ's coming is imminent

Imminent = adjective 1. likely to occur at any moment; impending: 2. projecting or leaning forward; overhanging.

Realize the value of the gospel,and project this knowledge in everything you do.

Affliction

Affliction, like the iron-smith, shapes as it smites.

-Christian Bovee, lawyer and author (1820-1904)

I can't get no satisfaction . . .

As far as I am concerned, it is just too easy to be "alienated," whatever historical era you were born into. Who feels completely comfortable on earth except for a well-loved child or well-stocked opium eater? (One Cosmos)

There is a dissatisfaction to our life only to be remedied by being in Christ.

"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Colossians 3:3,4).

Was made subject . . .

"For the creature was made subject to vanity" (Romans 8:20a KJV).

"For the creation was subjected to frustration" (NIV).

Vanity = Greek, mataiotes, meaning disappointing misery; folly.

Vanity is a reference to the curse of Genesis 3:14-19 and considers the whole thing as unnecessary. Creation did not actively participate in the Fall. The present sufferings of creation are the "birth pangs" of the new age to be born, the Millennium. From the Fall until now, creation has been groaning over pointlessness of having been made subject to a curse. It eagerly looks forward to the time when the curse will be lifted (vs. 19).

The heart is a lonely hunter . . .

"The chief mourner does not always attend the funeral." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Daily trudge in the dust. . .

How the higher flights of the soul manage the daily trudge in the dust.

How? With good-humor, deeply felt, and frankly understanding our plight.

Please read Romans 8:18 - 39.

Blissful insignificance

As Wayne left this morning on his Harley cycle to witness his nephew's induction in the US Army near St. Louis, Missouri, all I'm accountable for are two dogs, two goldfish, one turtle, and one gerbil. Easy enough.

I'm not making the bed, vacuuming the carpet, cooking, weeding (okay, maybe a little if the humidity goes down) but otherwise nothing to try and stop the law of entropy from marching forward. Let it march for a few days unabated by me. It seems to be winning the battle more and more every year anyway.

I'm at liberty to stare into space for as long as I want, and I do want. I can think for a long as I want, and I want to think. It takes time to think, don't cha know?

I'm aware of my insignificance to the rest of the world, and I am relishing in it.

Except for Thursday when granddaughter Olivia is coming to spend the day with me. I'm including her in my reprieve from the world too, but we'll just experience it, not explain it. We will do whatever. I'm sure we'll put on some Sousa marches so she can practice twirling her baton for her daddy's football viewing season. And maybe watch Ice Age again, both sprawled in the giant beanbag chair and laughing from the depth of our bellies at the antics of Scrat, Manny, Sid and Diago. "Why does Diago want the baby?" Olivia asks. "Tigers are carnivorous," I say, hoping the truth of being carnivorous eludes her for a couple of years until she can better deal with the way of life on this earth.

It's a mood thing, this blissful insignificance. I am writing about it on a blog for people to read. How insignificant do I really want to be? Not much, apparently.

Sigh. But I am going to relish the time. Here's hoping you have some blissful insignificance time too.

Wheat and Tares

Good and evil grow up together and are bound in an equilibrium that cannot be sundered. The most we can do is try to tilt the equilibrium toward the good. -Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (1902-1983)

Mr. Hoffer's reasoning seems quite sanguine compared to what the Lord says about this evil age.

In His parable of the world system the Lord says:

"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn" (Matthew 13:25, 30).

It is essential that we are of the wheat variety and not of the tare. Our eternal destiny depends on it. We must do more than try to "tilt the equilibrium toward the good," we must see that Jesus alone is good and all our hope is vested in Him. He is the Resurrection and the Life, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Him.

When this essential step of faith in Jesus Christ is initiated, we then can do good because His goodness indwells us. It is natural for wheat to produce good as it dwells in the source of its growth. It should be just as natural for God's redeemed people to be as wheat in the world, abiding in Him, producing His good.

Tares beware! the time for the harvest is set.

Two more months...

Two more months to worry. That's what he said.

A son in Iraq. A son who is going to work with him when he gets home. A son who enjoys the Michigan winter, and hunting and fishing together with Dad.

God speed.

Geezerdom

The problem with government health systems is not that they pull the plug on Grandma. It's that Grandma has a hell of a time getting plugged in in the first place. The only way to "control costs" is to restrict access to treatment, and the easiest people to deny treatment to are the oldsters. Don't worry, it's all very scientific. In Britain, they use a "Quality-Adjusted Life Year" formula to decide that you don't really need that new knee because you're gonna die in a year or two, maybe a decade-and-a-half tops. So it's in the national interest for you to go around hobbling in pain rather than divert "finite resources" away from productive members of society to a useless old geezer like you. And you'd be surprised how quickly geezerdom kicks in: A couple of years back, some Quebec facilities were attributing death from hospital-contracted infection of anyone over 55 to "old age."
Mark Steyn: Unplugging Grandma isn't the problem | life, expectancy, health, say, good - Opinion - OCRegister.com.

Which is it?

"A government that is afraid of its citizens is a Democracy. Citizens afraid of government is tyranny!"-- Thomas Jefferson

Worthy goal. . .

I heard on R.C. Sproul radio program yesterday that Priscilla was in consideration of being a co-author of the Book of Hebrews.

I was stunned. I never considered the possibility. How great.

Encouragement to become a women of Priscella's stature is absent these days, and I suspect, even threatening perhaps, but it seems to me to be a goal worthy of every woman.

(Priscilla = Acts 18)

Love you, Jane...

"What dreadful hot weather we have!
It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."
- Jane Austen

Me too.

The Health Care Bill

John Lewis did the work of examining the health care bill. This is what would happen if implemented as written.
The Health Care Bill

Some reform is necessary. Tort reform seems to me to be the first item to tackle, but, of course, it is not "tackled" in this bill.

Well, give this a read...it should be enlightening to what is being debated.

Nature driven by a force outside nature...

The largely unheralded insight gained from the Human Genome Project completed in 2003, is that the DNA codes for the cell's building blocks, the information needed to build the rest of the creature, is seemingly, in large measure, absent.

Physician James Le Fanu writes in a fascinating new book, Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves (Pantheon):

The same master genes that cause a fly to have the form of a fly cause a mouse to have the form of a mouse. The physically encoded information to form that mouse, as opposed to that fly, isn't there. Instead, "It is as if the 'idea' of the fly (or any other organism) must somehow permeate the genome that gives rise to it."

Such an understanding, of nature driven by a force outside nature, was dominant in biology before Darwin. Baron Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) held that there was an unknown biological "formative impulse," an organizational principle of some kind that directed the formation of diverse kinds of life.

"O LORD, I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well" (Psalm 139:14).

Self ...

“O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!”

- Robbie Burns

A wise guy...

"A word to the wise is enough."- Miguel de Cervantes

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY

It is good to rub and polish your mind against that of others.
- Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)

I appreciate all my mind polishing friends. You know who you are.

The shark must swim...

The world is a shark and must always swim.

I recognize the charlatans that say the shark must stand still no matter how they tart up the presentation. Numbskull Canutes want to rule the world.

There can be dignity there, in a factory. If there is work that is not dignified I have not seen it. You must bring the dignity with you, as in all things. It will not be supplied to you. It cannot be taken from you if you will keep it.

Kenyon's Corn Meal Company. There is certainly, along with hard work and danger and a wage. Old Kenyon's Johnnycake Mill in Usquepaugh, Rhode Island. I used to visit the towns around there often in the summer. And the place is still there.

It's marvelous it's still there after centuries. The shark must swim. It does not devour all its young, though.

Posted by SippicanCottage at 9:10 AM"

Futility

When people used to conjure up an example of a man frazzled to within an inch of his life, they would refer to a one-armed paperhanger.

Zero at the bone ...

A narrow fellow in the grass
Occasionally rides;
You may have met him,---did you not,
His notice sudden is.

The grass divides as with a comb
A spotted shaft is seen;
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on.

He likes a boggy acre,
A floor too cool for corn.
Yet when a child, and barefoot,
I more than once, at morn,

Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash
Unbraiding in the sun,--
When, stooping to secure it,
It wrinkled, and was gone.

Several of nature's people
I know, and they know me;
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality;

But never met this fellow,
Attended or alone,
Without a tighter breathing,
And zero at the bone.

-Emily Dickinson

"...tighter breathing, and zero at the bone." Me too Emily having encountered my first snake of many years this season. I must always remember to wear gloves and shoes when outside! I must ALWAYS remember...

Our brain. . .

(Sir John Eccles, Nobel Prize for research on the brain.) He describes the brain as: 'A machine that a ghost can operate.' Your brain doesn't think; if it did we would be prisoners of our brain. Our brain is like a computer that we use. There's a ghost in the machine, as they say and the brain is like a computer that we use to interface with this space-time-matter continuum in which our bodies function.

The mind is not a disembodied brain in a vat of chemicals, as in some B-grade horror films. Transplanting a brain into a different body would not preserve the identity of the person. In the words of German neuro-philosopher Thomas Fuchs, "The brain is only an organ, and it is not the brain, but the organism or the living person that has conscious access to the world."

http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/8643/

The cast die...

Quoted from a letter from a Christian martyr in Zimbabwe, quoted in Brennan Manning's (1996) The Signature of Jesus:

I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit's power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made - I'm a disciple of his. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees and colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminance, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean in his presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions are few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go til he comes, give til I drop, preach til all know, and work til he stops me.

What counts?

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." - Albert Einstein

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

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.

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.

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

The Lords Supper

Question Box - The Lords Supper - posted by T B (biblestudytime) - tangle.com

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