A busy Friday

Today is Mr. Nicklebee’s birthday. We ran all over creation this morning and early afternoon to make sure all is ready for his birthday dessert tonight with family. We’re taking him his dinner in a half hour.

I dealt with some near road rage a little while ago. I won’t go into it except to say that people who carry chips on their shoulders ought to give the rest of us a break. Get over yourselves and show consideration to the other guy simply for the fact that he is a fellow human being!!!

This passage is relevant for me, in light of my recent nose dislocation:

1 John 4:7-8

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Well, I’ve got a dinner to make and deliver, a house to clean and a cake to bake. If you smell something yummy later, it’ll be Mr. Hotty’s birthday cake.

Happy Saturday!  [4-19-08 - Oops!  I meant Friday, but it seemed like Saturday all day yesterday for some reason.  It's amazing I got the day right in the title!]

For Rosie Posey

God cares when you hurt, baby girl.

Isaiah 61

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

5 Aliens will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.

7 Instead of their shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.

8 “For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.

9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”

10 I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations.

“Stop Test-Driving Your Girlfriend”

Kelsey posted a link and an excerpt to this outstanding article on finding “the one”.  It is written to young men, but, as Kelsey said, it applies to both men and women.  It is a great reminder to married men and women about our roles in marriage (givers rather than consumers).

Thanks for sharing that, Kelsey. 

Sunday, Feb 3, 2008

[I composed this yesterday but it didn't get posted.]

We had a great sermon this morning. Our pastor is out of town so another preacher took his place.

Visiting Pastor preached on Psalm 3. He spoke of God’s protection over his people. He read a poem about the account of King Hezekiah and Sennacherib of Assyria. It has been a long time since I’ve read that account in the Bible. I had forgotten about it. If you are interested in reading about the amazing show of God’s power as He saved King Hezekiah and His people from King Sennacherib of Assyria, you can find it beginning in Isaiah 36.

The poem Rev. Visiting Pastor read was by Lord George Gordon Byron:

The Destruction of Sennacherib 

  The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

  Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

  For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

  And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

  And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

  And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

	

“Where are they now?”

We had a guest speaker today at church because our pastor is out of town.  He shared this Voltaire (1694 – 1778) quote,

One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.

Interesting how things work out, isn’t it?