Proverbs 19:17 (New Living Translation)
17 If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord—
and he will repay you!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Mere Christianity....
C.S Lewis wrote this book. Chapter 7 is on forgiveness.
The message at church this morning was on forgiveness. I thought this was good enough to post about!
C.S Lewis was also an adult convert to Christianity, that is something I did not know.
7. Forgiveness
I said in a previous chapter that chastity was the most unpopular of
the Christian virtues. But I am not sure I was right I believe the one I
have to talk of today is even more unpopular: the Christian rule, "Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Because hi Christian morals "thy
neighbour" includes "thy enemy," and so we come up against this terrible
duty of forgiving our enemies. Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea,
until they have something to forgive, as we had during the war. And then, to
mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger. It is not
that people think this too high and difficult a virtue: it is that they
think it hateful and contemptible. "That sort of talk makes them sick," they
say. And half of you already want to ask me, "I wonder how you'd feel about
forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew?"
So do I. I wonder very much. Just as when Christianity tells me that I
must not deny my religion even to save myself from death by torture, I
wonder very much what I should do when it came to the point. I am not trying
to tell you in this book what I could do-I can do precious little-I am
telling you what Christianity is. I did not invent it. And there, right in
the middle of it, I find "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin
against us." There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered
forgiveness on any other terms. It is made perfectly dear that if we do not
forgive we shall not be forgiven. There are no two ways about it. What are
we to do?
It is going to be hard enough, anyway, but I think there are two things
we can do to make it easier. When you start mathematics you do not begin
with the calculus; you begin with simple addition. In the same way, if we
really want (but all depends on really wanting) to learn how to forgive,
perhaps we had better start with something easier than the Gestapo. One
might start with forgiving one's husband or wife, or parents or children, or
the nearest N.C.O., for something they have done or said in the last week.
That will probably keep us busy for the moment. And secondly, we might try
to understand exactly what loving your neighbour as yourself means. I have
to love him as I love myself. Well, how exactly do I love myself?
Now that I come to think of it, I have not exactly got a feeling of
fondness or affection for myself, and 1 do not even always enjoy my own
society. So apparently "Love your neighbour" does not mean "feel fond of
him" or "find him attractive." I ought to have seen that before, because, of
course, you cannot feel fond of a person by trying. Do 1 think well of
myself, think myself a nice chap? Well, I am afraid I sometimes do (and
those are, no doubt, my worst moments) but that is not why I love myself. In
fact it, is the other way round: my self-love makes me think myself nice,
but thinking myself nice is not why I love myself. So loving my enemies does
not apparently mean thinking them nice either. That is an enormous relief.
For a good many people imagine that forgiving your enemies means making out
that they are really not such bad fellows after all, when it is quite plain
that they are. Go a step further. In my most clear-sighted moments not only
do I not think myself a nice man, but I know that I am a very nasty one. I
can look at some of the things I have done with horror and loathing. So
apparently I am allowed to loathe and hate some of the things my enemies do.
Now that I come to think of it, I remember Christian teachers telling me
long ago that I must hate a bad man's actions, but not hate the bad man: or,
as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner.
For a long time I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting
distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But
years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been
doing this all my life-namely myself. However much I might dislike my own
cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been
the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the
things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to
find that I was the sort of man who did those things. Consequently,
Christianity does not want us to reduce by one atom the hatred we feel for
cruelty and treachery. We ought to hate them. Not one word of what we have
said about them needs to be unsaid. But it does want us to hate them in the
same way in which we hate things in ourselves: being sorry that the man
should have done such things, and hoping, if it is anyway possible, that
somehow, sometime, somewhere, he can be cured and made human again.
The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities
in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story
might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one's
first feeling, "Thank God, even they aren't quite so bad as that," or is it
a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first
story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies as bad as possible? If
it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which,
if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning
to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head,
later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as
black. Finally, we shall insist on seeing everything-God and our friends and
ourselves included-as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be
fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.
Now a step further. Does loving your enemy mean not punishing him? No,
for loving myself does not mean that I ought not to subject myself to
punishment-even to death. If one had committed a murder, the right Christian
thing to do would be to give yourself up to the police and be hanged. It is,
therefore, in my opinion, perfectly right for a Christian judge to sentence
a man to death or a Christian soldier to kill an enemy. I always have
thought so, ever since I became a Christian, and long before the war, and I
still think so now that we are at peace. It is no good quoting "Thou shalt
not kill." There are two Greek words: the ordinary word to kill and the word
to murder. And when Christ quotes that commandment He uses the murder one in
all three accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And I am told there is the same
distinction in Hebrew. All killing is not murder any more than all sexual
intercourse is adultery. When soldiers came to St. John the Baptist asking
what to do, he never remotely suggested that they ought to leave the army:
nor did Christ when He met a Roman sergeant-major-what they called a
centurion. The idea of the knight-the Christian in arms for the defence of a
good cause-is one of the great Christian ideas. War is a dreadful thing, and
I can respect an honest pacifist, though I think he is entirely mistaken.
What I cannot understand is this sort of semipacifism you get nowadays which
gives people the idea that though you have to fight, you ought to do it with
a long face and as if you were ashamed of it. It is that feeling that robs
lots of magnificent young Christians in the Services of something they have
a right to, something which is the natural accompaniment of courage- a kind
of gaity and wholeheartedness.
I have often thought to myself how it would have been if, when I served
in the first world war, I and some young German had killed each other
simultaneously and found ourselves together a moment after death. I cannot
imagine that either of us would have felt any resentment or even any
embarrassment. I think we might have laughed over it.
I imagine somebody will say, "Well, if one is allowed to condemn the
enemy's acts, and punish him, and kill him, what difference is left between
Christian morality and the ordinary view?" All the difference in the world.
Remember, we Christians think man lives for ever. Therefore, what really
matters is those little marks or twists on the central, inside part of the
soul which are going to turn it, in the long run, into a heavenly or a
hellish creature. We may kill if necessary, but we must not hate and enjoy
hating. We may punish if necessary, but we must not enjoy it. In other
words, something inside us, the feeling of resentment, the feeling that
wants to get one's own back, must be simply killed. I do not mean that
anyone can decide this moment that he will never feel it any more. That is
not how things happen. I mean that every time it bobs its head up, day after
day, year after year, all our lives long, we must hit it on the head. It is
hard work, but the attempt is not impossible. Even while we kill and punish
we must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves- to wish that
he were not bad. to hope that he may, in this world or another, be cured: in
fact, to wish his good. That is what is meant in the Bible by loving him:
wishing his good, jot feeling fond of him nor saving he is nice when he is
not.
I admit that this means loving people who have nothing lovable about
them. But then, has oneself anything lovable about it? You love it simply
because it is yourself, God intends us to love all selves in the same way
and for the same reason: but He has given us the sum ready worked out on our
own case to show us how it works. We have then to go on and apply the rule
to all the other selves. Perhaps it makes it easier if we remember that that
is how He loves us. Not for any nice, attractive qualities we think we have,
but just because we are the things called selves. For really there is
nothing else in us to love: creatures like us who actually find hatred such
a pleasure that to give it up is like giving up beer or tobacco. ...
The message at church this morning was on forgiveness. I thought this was good enough to post about!
C.S Lewis was also an adult convert to Christianity, that is something I did not know.
7. Forgiveness
I said in a previous chapter that chastity was the most unpopular of
the Christian virtues. But I am not sure I was right I believe the one I
have to talk of today is even more unpopular: the Christian rule, "Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Because hi Christian morals "thy
neighbour" includes "thy enemy," and so we come up against this terrible
duty of forgiving our enemies. Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea,
until they have something to forgive, as we had during the war. And then, to
mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger. It is not
that people think this too high and difficult a virtue: it is that they
think it hateful and contemptible. "That sort of talk makes them sick," they
say. And half of you already want to ask me, "I wonder how you'd feel about
forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew?"
So do I. I wonder very much. Just as when Christianity tells me that I
must not deny my religion even to save myself from death by torture, I
wonder very much what I should do when it came to the point. I am not trying
to tell you in this book what I could do-I can do precious little-I am
telling you what Christianity is. I did not invent it. And there, right in
the middle of it, I find "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin
against us." There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered
forgiveness on any other terms. It is made perfectly dear that if we do not
forgive we shall not be forgiven. There are no two ways about it. What are
we to do?
It is going to be hard enough, anyway, but I think there are two things
we can do to make it easier. When you start mathematics you do not begin
with the calculus; you begin with simple addition. In the same way, if we
really want (but all depends on really wanting) to learn how to forgive,
perhaps we had better start with something easier than the Gestapo. One
might start with forgiving one's husband or wife, or parents or children, or
the nearest N.C.O., for something they have done or said in the last week.
That will probably keep us busy for the moment. And secondly, we might try
to understand exactly what loving your neighbour as yourself means. I have
to love him as I love myself. Well, how exactly do I love myself?
Now that I come to think of it, I have not exactly got a feeling of
fondness or affection for myself, and 1 do not even always enjoy my own
society. So apparently "Love your neighbour" does not mean "feel fond of
him" or "find him attractive." I ought to have seen that before, because, of
course, you cannot feel fond of a person by trying. Do 1 think well of
myself, think myself a nice chap? Well, I am afraid I sometimes do (and
those are, no doubt, my worst moments) but that is not why I love myself. In
fact it, is the other way round: my self-love makes me think myself nice,
but thinking myself nice is not why I love myself. So loving my enemies does
not apparently mean thinking them nice either. That is an enormous relief.
For a good many people imagine that forgiving your enemies means making out
that they are really not such bad fellows after all, when it is quite plain
that they are. Go a step further. In my most clear-sighted moments not only
do I not think myself a nice man, but I know that I am a very nasty one. I
can look at some of the things I have done with horror and loathing. So
apparently I am allowed to loathe and hate some of the things my enemies do.
Now that I come to think of it, I remember Christian teachers telling me
long ago that I must hate a bad man's actions, but not hate the bad man: or,
as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner.
For a long time I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting
distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But
years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been
doing this all my life-namely myself. However much I might dislike my own
cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been
the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the
things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to
find that I was the sort of man who did those things. Consequently,
Christianity does not want us to reduce by one atom the hatred we feel for
cruelty and treachery. We ought to hate them. Not one word of what we have
said about them needs to be unsaid. But it does want us to hate them in the
same way in which we hate things in ourselves: being sorry that the man
should have done such things, and hoping, if it is anyway possible, that
somehow, sometime, somewhere, he can be cured and made human again.
The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities
in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story
might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one's
first feeling, "Thank God, even they aren't quite so bad as that," or is it
a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first
story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies as bad as possible? If
it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which,
if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning
to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head,
later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as
black. Finally, we shall insist on seeing everything-God and our friends and
ourselves included-as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be
fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.
Now a step further. Does loving your enemy mean not punishing him? No,
for loving myself does not mean that I ought not to subject myself to
punishment-even to death. If one had committed a murder, the right Christian
thing to do would be to give yourself up to the police and be hanged. It is,
therefore, in my opinion, perfectly right for a Christian judge to sentence
a man to death or a Christian soldier to kill an enemy. I always have
thought so, ever since I became a Christian, and long before the war, and I
still think so now that we are at peace. It is no good quoting "Thou shalt
not kill." There are two Greek words: the ordinary word to kill and the word
to murder. And when Christ quotes that commandment He uses the murder one in
all three accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And I am told there is the same
distinction in Hebrew. All killing is not murder any more than all sexual
intercourse is adultery. When soldiers came to St. John the Baptist asking
what to do, he never remotely suggested that they ought to leave the army:
nor did Christ when He met a Roman sergeant-major-what they called a
centurion. The idea of the knight-the Christian in arms for the defence of a
good cause-is one of the great Christian ideas. War is a dreadful thing, and
I can respect an honest pacifist, though I think he is entirely mistaken.
What I cannot understand is this sort of semipacifism you get nowadays which
gives people the idea that though you have to fight, you ought to do it with
a long face and as if you were ashamed of it. It is that feeling that robs
lots of magnificent young Christians in the Services of something they have
a right to, something which is the natural accompaniment of courage- a kind
of gaity and wholeheartedness.
I have often thought to myself how it would have been if, when I served
in the first world war, I and some young German had killed each other
simultaneously and found ourselves together a moment after death. I cannot
imagine that either of us would have felt any resentment or even any
embarrassment. I think we might have laughed over it.
I imagine somebody will say, "Well, if one is allowed to condemn the
enemy's acts, and punish him, and kill him, what difference is left between
Christian morality and the ordinary view?" All the difference in the world.
Remember, we Christians think man lives for ever. Therefore, what really
matters is those little marks or twists on the central, inside part of the
soul which are going to turn it, in the long run, into a heavenly or a
hellish creature. We may kill if necessary, but we must not hate and enjoy
hating. We may punish if necessary, but we must not enjoy it. In other
words, something inside us, the feeling of resentment, the feeling that
wants to get one's own back, must be simply killed. I do not mean that
anyone can decide this moment that he will never feel it any more. That is
not how things happen. I mean that every time it bobs its head up, day after
day, year after year, all our lives long, we must hit it on the head. It is
hard work, but the attempt is not impossible. Even while we kill and punish
we must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves- to wish that
he were not bad. to hope that he may, in this world or another, be cured: in
fact, to wish his good. That is what is meant in the Bible by loving him:
wishing his good, jot feeling fond of him nor saving he is nice when he is
not.
I admit that this means loving people who have nothing lovable about
them. But then, has oneself anything lovable about it? You love it simply
because it is yourself, God intends us to love all selves in the same way
and for the same reason: but He has given us the sum ready worked out on our
own case to show us how it works. We have then to go on and apply the rule
to all the other selves. Perhaps it makes it easier if we remember that that
is how He loves us. Not for any nice, attractive qualities we think we have,
but just because we are the things called selves. For really there is
nothing else in us to love: creatures like us who actually find hatred such
a pleasure that to give it up is like giving up beer or tobacco. ...
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thankful Thursday
Today Iris has chosen Rescue as our theme.
I looked up rescue in the dictionary and this is what I found. Does it sound familiar?? It is exactly what Jesus did for all of us!!
1. To set free, as from danger or imprisonment; save.
2. An act of rescuing; a deliverance.
Synonyms are: deliver, redeem, ransom, reclaim, save
Again this is exactly what Jesus did for each and every one of us. He rescued us for a life without God. He saved us!!!
The bible is also full of passages that refer to rescue.
Psalm 136:24
And rescued us from our enemies,For His mercy endures forever
Daniel 6:27
He delivers and rescues, And He works signs and wonders In heaven and on earth, Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
I have been rescued, have you??
Today I especially thankful for:
my family
my children
good friends
A friend, a baby and a wake....
Today I went to the wake of an eight month old baby. It was absolutely heartbreaking. I have been to many wakes and funerals but never in my life has one touched me as much as this one. It took my breath away.
My friend Diane, whom I have known for 28 years had to bury her grandchild today. She and her husband are broken people.
You see, eight years ago they lost their daughter. She was hit by a car and killed. She was 25 years old. Today she buried her eight month old Grandson.
How in the world do you make it through that?? HOW??
The worst part of it all aside from the death of this precious baby is that her very own son took the child's life, his very own baby. How do you reconcile THAT??
How do you go on loving a son that took the life of your grandson??
My heart aches for the whole family. The sibling, the mother, the uncles and aunts and grandparents. No parent should ever ever have to bury their own child.
And there is not one thing anyone can say that will make any of this better.
They are strong in their faith but my heart just aches for them.
I just pray for peace and comfort for them all. For God to just wrap them all in his arms and comfort them all.
Like her husband said, "it's a tough tough day."
Can you even imagine???
Matthew 19:14 (New International Version)
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
My friend Diane, whom I have known for 28 years had to bury her grandchild today. She and her husband are broken people.
You see, eight years ago they lost their daughter. She was hit by a car and killed. She was 25 years old. Today she buried her eight month old Grandson.
How in the world do you make it through that?? HOW??
The worst part of it all aside from the death of this precious baby is that her very own son took the child's life, his very own baby. How do you reconcile THAT??
How do you go on loving a son that took the life of your grandson??
My heart aches for the whole family. The sibling, the mother, the uncles and aunts and grandparents. No parent should ever ever have to bury their own child.
And there is not one thing anyone can say that will make any of this better.
They are strong in their faith but my heart just aches for them.
I just pray for peace and comfort for them all. For God to just wrap them all in his arms and comfort them all.
Like her husband said, "it's a tough tough day."
Can you even imagine???
Matthew 19:14 (New International Version)
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Memory Verse Week 34
Proverbs 18:5 (New King James Version)
5 It is not good to show partiality to the wicked,
Or to overthrow the righteous in judgment.
Proverbs 18:5 (New Living Translation)
5 It is not right to acquit the guilty
or deny justice to the innocent.
Proverbs 18:5 (New International Version)
5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked
or to deprive the innocent of justice.
I think it's interesting to see how the different versions of the same passage compare.
5 It is not good to show partiality to the wicked,
Or to overthrow the righteous in judgment.
Proverbs 18:5 (New Living Translation)
5 It is not right to acquit the guilty
or deny justice to the innocent.
Proverbs 18:5 (New International Version)
5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked
or to deprive the innocent of justice.
I think it's interesting to see how the different versions of the same passage compare.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Painted Doilies
This is one of my newest projects. It's called painted doilies.
The idea is, you use sewing thread, three strands at a time. As you crochet, you drop one strand of the starting color and pick up a new color, then you drop another strand of the starting color and pick up a second thread of the new color etc.
It sounded fun and looks even more fun to do. Some of the people on my crochet board have made painted doilies and they are beautiful. You can use virtually any doily pattern and modify it to use the thread.
The only other thing I have ever made with crochet thread is the leprosy bandage. I have no desire to work with crochet thread other than making the bandages.
I think this is going to be a fun project. It's just as expensive as yarn, and more actually since I need three spools of each color.
I am going to attempt to make the fan on the right hand side of the book.
I will post when it is finished, I am not sure when I will even start it since I am a bit behind on my crochet.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Thankful Thursday
Today Iris has chosen FRIENDS as the topic.
Friends are special people in our lives. We share so much together and we rely on our friends for many things in our lives.
Having just had a high school reunion, I reconnected with some friends from long ago and we had a lot of fun.
Some friends we have never even met. I know some people from the internet that I call friends, and I have never even met them!! But to me they are friends and I share with them just as if they were here.
We also all have a friend in Jesus. I know I can talk to Jesus about anything just as if I can talk to a friend sitting in front of me. And sometimes Jesus understands better than a friend!!
Proverbs 12:26 (New King James Version)
The righteous should choose his friends carefully,
For the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Ephesians 2:19-20
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone…
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Reunion....
Went to my high school reunion on Saturday night. My husband went with me this time. He didn't go to the last one since the little guy was just about six months old.
It was fun to see the people I went to high school with. And it was fun to see some people I went to elementary school with!!! I had never thought of that before but there are some people there that I have known for a very long time.
There was a long table and area that had year books, pictures, papers etc from our high school. That stuff was fun to see too.
There were three high schools in my town and ours shut down a few years after we all graduated. So there are only two now. But it seems as though people went to our high school from all over the city--which is weird.
We have about a dozen or so classmates that have died. Some from drugs and alcohol, some from car accidents, motorcycle accidents and illness.
There were also two professional football players from our class. As well as a Grammy winner for music. There is one guy and his wife that sell tea to restaurants, and at the farmers market and other places. We also have a classmate that committed a murder, right around the time we graduated. He joined our site, but has never showed up to a reunion, and he won't ever, since he is in jail for a life sentence. I'm not sure what other "famous" people there are.
Over all, the men haven't fared well in the aging department as well as the women. There were some women that really looked the same. Most of the men didn't and it was harder to figure out who was who most of the time.
Plus, the name tags with our pictures were printed pretty small. I mean we are all getting older. It was good for me to realize that I am not the only one that has issues seeing things. Lots of the people there had some of the same complaints.
There were a couple teachers there too this time. That was interesting.
And it was fun to reconnect with people who I had other things in common with. One classmates daughter dated my nephew for a while. And another classmates sister watched my daughter for years!!
We will have another reunion in five years, but there was some talk about having get togethers before that. I hope that happens because it sounds fun.
Over all it was a great evening!!
It was fun to see the people I went to high school with. And it was fun to see some people I went to elementary school with!!! I had never thought of that before but there are some people there that I have known for a very long time.
There was a long table and area that had year books, pictures, papers etc from our high school. That stuff was fun to see too.
There were three high schools in my town and ours shut down a few years after we all graduated. So there are only two now. But it seems as though people went to our high school from all over the city--which is weird.
We have about a dozen or so classmates that have died. Some from drugs and alcohol, some from car accidents, motorcycle accidents and illness.
There were also two professional football players from our class. As well as a Grammy winner for music. There is one guy and his wife that sell tea to restaurants, and at the farmers market and other places. We also have a classmate that committed a murder, right around the time we graduated. He joined our site, but has never showed up to a reunion, and he won't ever, since he is in jail for a life sentence. I'm not sure what other "famous" people there are.
Over all, the men haven't fared well in the aging department as well as the women. There were some women that really looked the same. Most of the men didn't and it was harder to figure out who was who most of the time.
Plus, the name tags with our pictures were printed pretty small. I mean we are all getting older. It was good for me to realize that I am not the only one that has issues seeing things. Lots of the people there had some of the same complaints.
There were a couple teachers there too this time. That was interesting.
And it was fun to reconnect with people who I had other things in common with. One classmates daughter dated my nephew for a while. And another classmates sister watched my daughter for years!!
We will have another reunion in five years, but there was some talk about having get togethers before that. I hope that happens because it sounds fun.
Over all it was a great evening!!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Memory Verse Week 33
Proverbs 17:27 (New International Version)
27 A man of knowledge uses words with restraint,
and a man of understanding is even-tempered.
27 A man of knowledge uses words with restraint,
and a man of understanding is even-tempered.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Thankful Thursday
Today Iris has chose HOPE for the theme.
There are a lot of verses in the bible about hope.
What would happen if a person had no hope at all?? I know there are people in this world without hope. That makes me sad to think of that. Without hope, what do we have??
I have hope in Christ. My hope is in Christ.
Pray for those with no hope. It seems so simple, and it is, but I know it helps.
Here is one definition of hope:
intransitive verb 1 : to cherish a desire with anticipation
2 archaic : trust
1 : to desire with expectation of obtainment
2 : to expect with confidence : trust
Psalm 31:24 (New King James Version)
24 Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the LORD.
Romans 8:24 (New King James Version)
24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?
1 Corinthians 13:13 (New King James Version)
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
An Anniversary..........
Today is the third anniversary of my blog.
It all really started with the Seven Things project. That was a yearlong project that I need to undertake yet again.
Now I mostly post about my charity crochet and Christian things, and biblical teachings and passages.
This year I started memorizing Proverbs with Bethany. This has been a blessing to me.
I never post any pictures of my family because I don't feel comfortable posting them on the internet and because my daughter is an adult and I would ask her permission before I posted a picture of her.
I have enjoyed having a place to post my thoughts, and my projects.
Thanks for reading my blog too!!
It all really started with the Seven Things project. That was a yearlong project that I need to undertake yet again.
Now I mostly post about my charity crochet and Christian things, and biblical teachings and passages.
This year I started memorizing Proverbs with Bethany. This has been a blessing to me.
I never post any pictures of my family because I don't feel comfortable posting them on the internet and because my daughter is an adult and I would ask her permission before I posted a picture of her.
I have enjoyed having a place to post my thoughts, and my projects.
Thanks for reading my blog too!!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Budget movie
The last one of the summer was today.
"Tale of Deveraux"
It was a cute movie, a tiny bit sad, but overall it was a good movie.
It makes me kind of sad that there aren't anymore movies this summer.
The little guy and I have had fun going to them. I hope they have some movies next summer too!!
"Tale of Deveraux"
It was a cute movie, a tiny bit sad, but overall it was a good movie.
It makes me kind of sad that there aren't anymore movies this summer.
The little guy and I have had fun going to them. I hope they have some movies next summer too!!
Monday, August 10, 2009
August
Seems we are finally getting summer here. It's been hot and humid.
My July wasn't as busy as my August is turning out to be.
The little guy recently finished T ball, he had a blast with it this year, and his last years coach said he saw a huge improvement with the little guy. He had a really good coach this year too, which helps.
He takes his last two week session of swim lessons the next two weeks. He is looking forward to that!!
The little guy is also starting all day every day kindergarten in September. He is really excited about that, as am I. Sort of. It will be an adjustment for all of us.
I've been mostly working on the last needlepoint chair cover for my mom. I started it July 16 and am hoping to be done with it by the end of August. That has meant no crocheting for me. I have a couple of baby blankets to make too. But they can wait.
I also have found a new crochet project that I am going to give a go on. It's different and interesting. I'll post more about that later.
My husband has been working a lot and there is more of that in the future. Part of it is him picking up some overtime, and part of it is just his work schedule.
I have a high school reunion coming up this weekend. It should be fun and interesting, my husband is coming with this time. Last time the little guy was just a small baby and so the husband stayed home with the little guy.
There are several church functions over this month as well that should be fun.
Then later in the month and into early September we have the State Fair!! We will be going again to that with the little guy and daughter, if she can make it.
The girl is doing well. Starting a new job here this week. She was over the other day and the little guy really has a lot of fun when she is here.
My mom is doing well and would like to take a trip back to her hometown again. And she is having cataract surgery this coming week and then later in August, since they only do one eye at a time.
My bible study resumes in September as well. I am excited for that and am curious to know what the studies will be this year. There have been a few suggestions, so I am sure over the next few weeks that we will decide. If you have any ideas, please leave a comment!!
The garden is doing very well and we are starting to get some yummy tomatoes and green peppers and cucumbers!! Fresh garden tomatoes are my favorite!!
I think that's all I have going on here..................
My July wasn't as busy as my August is turning out to be.
The little guy recently finished T ball, he had a blast with it this year, and his last years coach said he saw a huge improvement with the little guy. He had a really good coach this year too, which helps.
He takes his last two week session of swim lessons the next two weeks. He is looking forward to that!!
The little guy is also starting all day every day kindergarten in September. He is really excited about that, as am I. Sort of. It will be an adjustment for all of us.
I've been mostly working on the last needlepoint chair cover for my mom. I started it July 16 and am hoping to be done with it by the end of August. That has meant no crocheting for me. I have a couple of baby blankets to make too. But they can wait.
I also have found a new crochet project that I am going to give a go on. It's different and interesting. I'll post more about that later.
My husband has been working a lot and there is more of that in the future. Part of it is him picking up some overtime, and part of it is just his work schedule.
I have a high school reunion coming up this weekend. It should be fun and interesting, my husband is coming with this time. Last time the little guy was just a small baby and so the husband stayed home with the little guy.
There are several church functions over this month as well that should be fun.
Then later in the month and into early September we have the State Fair!! We will be going again to that with the little guy and daughter, if she can make it.
The girl is doing well. Starting a new job here this week. She was over the other day and the little guy really has a lot of fun when she is here.
My mom is doing well and would like to take a trip back to her hometown again. And she is having cataract surgery this coming week and then later in August, since they only do one eye at a time.
My bible study resumes in September as well. I am excited for that and am curious to know what the studies will be this year. There have been a few suggestions, so I am sure over the next few weeks that we will decide. If you have any ideas, please leave a comment!!
The garden is doing very well and we are starting to get some yummy tomatoes and green peppers and cucumbers!! Fresh garden tomatoes are my favorite!!
I think that's all I have going on here..................
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Memory Verse Week 32
Proverbs 17:14 (New Living Translation)
14 Starting a quarrel is like opening a floodgate,
so stop before a dispute breaks out.
14 Starting a quarrel is like opening a floodgate,
so stop before a dispute breaks out.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Thankful Thursday
Today Iris at Grace Alone has chosen Joy for our topic this week.
When I think of joy, I think of this song. It's one of my favorites.
The bible is full of passages about joy.
Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness
Psalm 126:5
Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
RIP Michael Speicher.............
I am so sad, yet relieved there is finally an answer. I have followed this story and what happened to Michael Speicher for years.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6736482.ece
The remains of the first American lost in the Gulf War have been found in Iraq, solving a mystery that has bedevilled the US military since his jet was shot down on the first night of the 1991 conflict.
The Pentagon announced yesterday that the remains of Navy Captain Michael “Scott” Speicher had been identified from bone fragments unearthed in the desert after two Iraqi civilians contacted Marines to say that they knew where he had been buried.
The discovery ends 18 years of uncertainty about the fate of Captain Speicher, who left behind a wife and two young children. The Pentagon initially declared him killed, but the lack of remains, and claims by some Iraqis to have seen him in captivity, led officials to change his status to “missing in action” and later “missing-captured”.
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq an entire military unit devoted its time to searching for the missing pilot. A series of false leads followed, including the discovery of what some believed were the initials “MSS” scratched into the wall of an Iraqi prison.
Related Links
* War on terror: Mystery grows over fate of lost Gulf war pilot
* Family racked by riddle of lost US pilot
* Initial clue to fate of missing pilot
It now appears that Captain Speicher was buried by nomadic Bedouin tribesmen close to where his F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet was shot down during a combat mission on January 17, 1991, the first night of Operation Desert Storm.
His aircraft crashed in a remote, uninhabited wasteland. It is believed that he was shot down by a missile fired from an Iraqi aircraft, most likely a MiG-25.
The Pentagon said that last month an Iraqi civilian provided new information, prompting US Marines stationed in the western province of Anbar to visit a location in the desert believed to be the crash site. He said that he knew of two other Iraqis who recalled a US jet crashing and the remains of the pilot being buried in the desert.
“One of these Iraqi citizens stated that they were present when Captain Speicher was found dead at the crash site by Bedouin and his remains buried,” the US Defense Department said in a statement. The military recovered bones and multiple skeletal fragments, which were flown back to the US. Captain Speicher was positively identified by matching a jawbone and dental records at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
Cindy Laquidara, a spokeswoman for the Speicher family in Florida, said: “The family’s proud of the way the Defense Department continued on with our request to not abandon the search. We will be bringing him home.” The Navy’s top uniformed officer praised the effort to determine Captain Speicher’s fate.
“Our Navy will never give up looking for a shipmate, regardless of how long or how difficult that search may be,” said Admiral Gary Roughead.
“We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Captain Speicher and his family for the sacrifice they have made for our nation and the example of strength they have set for all of us.”
Hours after his plane went down Dick Cheney, the Defense Secretary, went on television and announced that the US had suffered its first casualty of the war. But doubts grew over the years that he had actually died. When his crashed jet was found, his empty flight suit was still largely intact.
In 2005 the US military excavated a potential grave site in Baghdad, while several Iraqis said that they had seen a prisoner who looked like Captain Speicher in custody. Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi officials always denied any knowledge of what had happened to the pilot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6736482.ece
The remains of the first American lost in the Gulf War have been found in Iraq, solving a mystery that has bedevilled the US military since his jet was shot down on the first night of the 1991 conflict.
The Pentagon announced yesterday that the remains of Navy Captain Michael “Scott” Speicher had been identified from bone fragments unearthed in the desert after two Iraqi civilians contacted Marines to say that they knew where he had been buried.
The discovery ends 18 years of uncertainty about the fate of Captain Speicher, who left behind a wife and two young children. The Pentagon initially declared him killed, but the lack of remains, and claims by some Iraqis to have seen him in captivity, led officials to change his status to “missing in action” and later “missing-captured”.
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq an entire military unit devoted its time to searching for the missing pilot. A series of false leads followed, including the discovery of what some believed were the initials “MSS” scratched into the wall of an Iraqi prison.
Related Links
* War on terror: Mystery grows over fate of lost Gulf war pilot
* Family racked by riddle of lost US pilot
* Initial clue to fate of missing pilot
It now appears that Captain Speicher was buried by nomadic Bedouin tribesmen close to where his F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet was shot down during a combat mission on January 17, 1991, the first night of Operation Desert Storm.
His aircraft crashed in a remote, uninhabited wasteland. It is believed that he was shot down by a missile fired from an Iraqi aircraft, most likely a MiG-25.
The Pentagon said that last month an Iraqi civilian provided new information, prompting US Marines stationed in the western province of Anbar to visit a location in the desert believed to be the crash site. He said that he knew of two other Iraqis who recalled a US jet crashing and the remains of the pilot being buried in the desert.
“One of these Iraqi citizens stated that they were present when Captain Speicher was found dead at the crash site by Bedouin and his remains buried,” the US Defense Department said in a statement. The military recovered bones and multiple skeletal fragments, which were flown back to the US. Captain Speicher was positively identified by matching a jawbone and dental records at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
Cindy Laquidara, a spokeswoman for the Speicher family in Florida, said: “The family’s proud of the way the Defense Department continued on with our request to not abandon the search. We will be bringing him home.” The Navy’s top uniformed officer praised the effort to determine Captain Speicher’s fate.
“Our Navy will never give up looking for a shipmate, regardless of how long or how difficult that search may be,” said Admiral Gary Roughead.
“We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Captain Speicher and his family for the sacrifice they have made for our nation and the example of strength they have set for all of us.”
Hours after his plane went down Dick Cheney, the Defense Secretary, went on television and announced that the US had suffered its first casualty of the war. But doubts grew over the years that he had actually died. When his crashed jet was found, his empty flight suit was still largely intact.
In 2005 the US military excavated a potential grave site in Baghdad, while several Iraqis said that they had seen a prisoner who looked like Captain Speicher in custody. Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi officials always denied any knowledge of what had happened to the pilot.
Memory Verse Week 31
Proverbs 16:32 (New Living Translation)
32 Better to be patient than powerful;
better to have self-control than to conquer a city.
32 Better to be patient than powerful;
better to have self-control than to conquer a city.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
