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Our Daily Thread 8-31-13

Good Morning!

And Happy Saturday! 🙂

On this day in 1852 the first pre-stamped envelopes were created with legislation of the U.S. Congress.

In 1881 the first tennis championships in the U.S. were played.

In 1950 Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers hit four home runs in a single game off of four different pitchers.

In 1959 Sandy Koufax set a National League record by striking out 18 batters.

And in 1964 California officially became the most populated state in America.

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Quote of the Day

“People come out to see the players. When do you see a manager anyway? When he’s out on the field arguing with the umpires, making a fool of himself and you know you can’t win, and when he brings out the line-up card.”

Frank  Robinson

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Jerry Allison’s birthday is today. He was one of the Crickets.

It’s also Jeff Russo’s.

And Rudolph Schenker’s, so this one is loud.

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QoD? Anyone?

51 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-31-13”

  2. Good and happy Saturday morning!

    May you know the joy of the Lord this day.

    Maybe one day we need to have something like a scavenger hunt for the Lord’s blessings that we usually take for granted.

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  5. Yes, but here we are the rich and privileged. Even today in the pie crust class, it was me and one other ex-pat and the rest were nationals. I knew most and had taught their children. But I chose to make an apple pie because I love them and the store had apples. That is an imported item and something probably none of them can afford. We are so blessed.

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  6. Last night a performer named Nate Currin had a concert on the pavillion at my church. His story is that he grew up in a Christian home where they routinely read Pilgrim’s Progress. He descended into drugs and alcohol but found his way back. He said God found him and brought him back. He released a collection of songs based on Pilgrim’s Progress. He told the story throughout the concert. Here is one of the songs/
    Thoughts?

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  7. Jo, I was just thinking back to my homeschooing days and how I was so blessed by the used curriculum fairs. I could not afford to buy the new curriculum materials for a number of years but our son received a good education through used materials and what the county library had to offer. We had a good stock of paper and pens and even mechanical pencils. I think of some teachers who must teach with little in the way of supplies. Maybe they only have a stick and some sand to use like a blackboard. I had a dry erase board and markers that made math come alive for our son. Somehow writing the problems out big on the board helped get them in his brain better. Maybe it was the colorful markers that helped, too. Anyway, we were blessed.

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  8. Kim, that is an interesting song. It very much reminds me of Les Mis. The artist has a very good voice. I think the whole program that shows the progress of Pilgrim would have to be judged rather than just this one stand alone song. He does have a pretty creepy portrayal of evil and its allure.

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  9. Yes, but here we are the rich and privileged.

    Yes, we Americans are the rich and privileged in the world. If all those “poor” people complaining about not having $15 per hour minimum wage could be sent to Africa to see how impoverished the 3rd World is, then they would be satisfied with $7.50.

    And we Christians are the rich and privileged of the world because of the riches we have in Christ Jesus.

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  10. Good morning, Janice, Kim and Aj. Good evening, Jo. Becca slept all night last night in her own bed! Hooray for no nightmares and no pain in her ears! She voluntarily went to sleep around 8:00 and slept ’til 7:15. Now, she’s upstairs snuggling with Daddy. It’s their Saturday morning ritual. It does my heart good to know my little one is having some quality time with her Dad this morning, as she’s been missing him a lot since he’s been on jury duty. He’s been getting home around 9:00 b/c he’s been going to the office after jury duty to keep up with his work responsibilities. She’s usually in bed by 8:30, so many nights she’s in bed before he even gets home. The trial is supposed to be over next Wednesday. I think it will be, b/c the judge is Jewish and Thursday is some Jewish holiday. There is one witness left to be called for the defense on Tuesday and it should go into deliberations then. Hubby says everyone is really sick of the trial and he’s pretty sure they’ll be able to come to an agreement fairly quickly. Hubby has had such a good attitude about his civic duty — I’m afraid I would not have handled it quite as graciously.

    Janice: I like you idea of taking the time to acknowledge the Lord’s blessings in our lives. It is easy to take them for granted. When we say Becca’s prayers at night, we always thank the Lord for loving us, protecting us and providing for us, as well as for the gift of a Savior. But, we need to be more specific. I’m trying to get her to say more of the prayers herselff, so perhaps I could suggest she add a few things she’s thankful for each night.

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  11. Peter: It is sad that so much of the world lives in abject poverty. But, I don’t think you can compare being poor in Africa with being poor in America b/c they are two completely different cultures. I had to detour off a major freeway the other day due to a horrible wreck. The detour led me through the fifth ward of Houston. I hadn’t ever seen this particular section of the fifth ward. It is almost exclusively African American. It was unbelievable. The houses looked like they should be condemned. It was about 10:30 in the morning, and yet many people were sitting on their lawns drinking tall boys. I can’t imagine what it would be like to grow up in that environment. The people have quit trying. Four blocks away, still in the fifth ward, the population is primarily Hispanic. The houses are small (“shotgun shacks”) but well-kept, there isn’t trash everywhere and no one is sitting around idly. My best friend works in an elementary school in the fifth ward that is all Hispanic (there are two African-American children in the school–no Anglo’s). She said many of the parents are still married. They are trying. They still have hope. She told me a story of an eight year old boy at her school who never did his homework. He said he didn’t understand it and needed help. She told him to get his parents to help him in the evening. He said, “I ask my Dad to help me and he says he’s too busy drinking beer with his homies.” He went on to explain that his mom worked in the evenings, so she wasn’t available to help either. How tragic to be a child and need help only to discover none is there. Who could really imagine growing up in such an environment? Some of these kids have no parental support, no unconditional love, no sense of community (other than gangs). It is tragic.

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  12. The government model of building large complexes to house the poor seems to cause so many issues in LA, which is trying, to its credit, to move away from that now.

    We have numerous large housing campuses — several in my community, including one that is former WWII shipyard worker housing that’s been reused — that present problems not only for the surrounding communities but for families who are trying to raise their children right, only to find themselves stuck in these subsidized housing projects that have more than their share of gang and drug activity.

    One of our most notorious gangs in town carries the same name as the housing project in which they were founded.

    I’m up early, thanks to the cat and the heat. It’s still 80 degrees in my house this morning at 7 a.m., despite fans and a couple open windows.

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  13. Another Presby church, this one in Indiana, breaks with the mainline:

    http://theaquilareport.com/indiana-church-unilaterally-leaves-pcusa-for-epc-reaches-settlement-with-former-presbytery/

    “We wanted to be part of a denomination led by Scripture, Reformed in its doctrine and Presbyterian in polity. With the changes that have occurred in the (national) church, we don’t think the PCUSA is any longer any of those three,” said Horner, adding that the new Form of Government (nFOG) touts universalism that is not Reformed doctrine.

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  14. annms- I guess I should clarify. I wasn’t talking about the hard working poor (like the Hispanics you saw) who do their job and don’t complain when they don’t have the latest gadgets, etc. My point was that the American Welfare underclass (like the others you saw) complains about being too poor, so softhearted Liberals give them more tax money to maintain their lazy ways. And it’s not just blacks. I live in a rural area where most of the Welfare underclass is white, and they constantly get handouts. Many stop at the convenience store for their lottery tickets, cigarettes and beer after they get the handouts. Excuse me? They should be told to buy what they need (food, etc.) instead of the non-necessaries, not given the food when they could afford it.

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  15. My goal for today is to find the kitchen island and clear it. Write up my pitch for my WWI book–I’m at a conference in two weeks trying to convince someone that writing about Oswald Chambers is a good idea–and maybe, just maybe, vacuuming the floor. It must be under here somewhere! 🙂

    Oh, and NO dogs. 🙂

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  16. Good grief, we have the loudest gardening machinery ever going next door prompting much border collie activity and barking — and I have to keep the window open because it’s just too hot otherwise.

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  17. Peter: I agree with you that the system is broken and doing more harm than good. I don’t know what the answer is, but it seems silly to keep doing it the same way and expecting different results.

    We’re headed to the ranch in a couple of hours for the long weekend. Y’all be good!

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  18. I came across this in the comment section of an essay I read..

    “Do you know what the lake of fire is made of? The Greek word is theion or theio. Root word theo. Theo is Greek for God or divine. Theio is sulfer which was used by the ancient Greeks to purify and consecrate to the divine. Theioo is actually a Greek verb derived from theio/theion which Scott Liddell defines as ‘to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god.’ The people to whom the Book of Revelation was written would have read ‘lake of divine purification’ or something similar. There’s more to this issue than you are allowing for.”

    Does anyone know if this lady is accurate in her interpretation?

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  20. Worst neighbor ever award? Only if the house burns down.

    I promised my neighbors I’d double check to make sure she turned the stove off this morning after they left on a week-long getaway to the desert. But an hour later, completely preoccupied, I dashed off to my work assignment and later was halfway to the office on the freeway before remembering.

    Hoping the house is still there when I get home.

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  21. Donna, if you have keys to the house, check the entire house.
    I have friends who had a weird coincidence that cost them thousands of dollars.
    They went on a week long vacation.
    The valve in their toilet broke and the water started flowing.
    Ordinarily, the toilet bowl would fill, flush, and start filling again.
    It just happened that that bowl was stopped up. (I heard that explained and still don’t kow how that could happen without them knowing about it.)
    In any case, the toilet overflowed for a week. It ruined much of the floor and downstairs.

    Just check the entire house.

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  24. Michelle, I have been reading My Daily Bread, but just finished the issue and don’t have the next one, so went back to Oswald Chambers whom I hadn’t read in years.
    Wow, what a great reminder that our goal is holiness. Just what I needed to get my thinking in harmony with God’s.
    oh, I’m on Sept 1st over here 🙂

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  27. I went to a family get together at the beach today. One of my aunt’s had been going through some papers and brought me my dad’s voter registration from September of 1961.

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  28. Well, I realized I could look it up for myself. What I found is this…

    “Theion: brimstone,
    divine incense, because burning brimstone was regarded as having power to purify, and to ward off disease”

    But I’m not sure how to find out if this is indeed the word used in Revelation for the lake of fire.

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  30. Karen, any Greek word in the New Testament you want to know may be found here: http://www.blueletterbible.org

    For the phrase lake of fire, here is the Greek words used:
    Lake – Greek limne, meaning lake
    Fire – Greek pyr meaning fire

    The word the commenter is talking about is the Greek word for brimstone – ” These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Rev. 19:20). Strong’s has this to say about the word theion from the root theios (divine): ‘1) brimstone a) divine incense, because burning brimstone was regarded as having power to purify, and to ward off disease’
    The word is used just seven times in the NT:
    Luke 17:29
    Rev. 9:17 & 18
    Rev. 14:10
    Rev. 19:20
    Rev. 20:10
    Rev. 21:8
    All are references to punishment and torment. I’m not sure what kind of spin this commenter is trying to put on the use of the word, but if she is trying to say what I think she is trying to say – that hell isn’t as bad as people make out – I would recommend Hebrews 10:27 &12:29. There is a significance to brimstone being from the root ‘divine’. Those who reject Christ will experience God after death, but only through His ever-consuming wrath. As Hebrew 10:31 states, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”, if one is not covered by the blood of Christ.

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  32. Karen – Well, that would be contradicted by those very passages that use the word – “he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever…” (Rev. 14:10-11). Arguments like that of the commenter remind me of Peter’s description of those that “are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (II Peter 3:16)

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  33. OK, the neighbors’ house is still standing. I went over and all the oven dials are turned off. The toilet hasn’t overflowed. There appeared to be no other disasters in the making.

    I spent a little time with Dewey the cat and then left. But they said if I want to go hang out over there — even sleep overnight — I could since they leave the a/c on for the cat. 🙂 It was very nice in there.

    My house is sweltering, 88 degrees at almost 7 p.m.

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  34. We all are taking short videos now with the stories we cover. Usually mine are pretty decent.

    But one I took today (I didn’t realize the camera was on half the time) turned out so hilariously bad I figured I should share it. I already posted it on fb, adding the comment that this is why reporters aren’t always good video makers. 😉

    It’s the 3rd one down, the one that’s sideways. I was covering the final days of a 100-year-old bookstore in town that’s closing down. 😦

    Luckily, I took a couple other snippets that turned out ok.

    http://www.tout.com/m/nz6p9n

    I assume the link will work, but who knows.

    Long day — I also had to write a union story. Do you know how hard it is to get hold of people on a Saturday on a holiday weekend??

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  35. Well, I found and lost the top of the island three times today, but it’s clear now with only a vase of flowers in the middle!

    Puppy? It would be a Gordon Setter if I got another one, but at this point a stuffed one would be the best choice of all! 🙂

    Glad the book arrived, Peter.

    I Skyped with my young missionary friend who was in Sicily and is currently “out of the Euro zone” in Edinburgh, Scotland until mid-October when she can return to Sicily for three months. The visa issue has not changed and she is trying hard to remain optimistic. In our conversation, I mentioned that we don’t always know what God is doing in our lives but that does not mean He isn’t doing something.

    For example, when I started this year, I planned to finish writing my Civil War novel. But then this Oswald Chambers story slipped in and stole my interest and excitement. As a result, in this extremely stressful 8 months, I’ve been reading and researching Oswald Chambers–which has been of immense help to my spiritual and personal life.

    Indeed, I feel like I’ve quoted Chambers far more than Jesus, lately!

    Does that mean anything will come of this WWI novel?

    I don’t know. I just need to follow in the way God is leading me. Perhaps the only reason I’ve got this story idea is to be sustained during this period in my life. I don’t think so, but if that turns out to be the only reason I’ve been working on this novel, then so be it. It’s been helpful and I’m grateful.

    She’s had to move 9 times since the start of the year. She’s weary and would like to know what her future holds and in that not knowing, other impatience is rising. She’s 32. She’d like to be married and have a family, but she’s in this strange holding spot. How can she even raise support if she can’t answer the question of what her Italian ministry (which she’s been preparing for for 10 years) is?

    Who knows what God will do tomorrow? Not me. Not H. Not you. All we can do is walk in the way He has prepared for us, with hearts, eyes and ears open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

    We found a house, bought it and moved in 11 days. When God moves, he really moves. We just need to make sure we’re moving with him. 🙂

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  36. And another thing. In our conversation, I used Kim as an example of the Lord at work. She lost her job in early July.

    That meant she was available to help Mumsee.

    Mr. P was able to calm her that she didn’t have to worry about finding a job immediately.

    We had an email exchange during that time. While writing back to Kim, this “sense”, this “idea” came over me–that maybe this was just a resting time Kim needed. She hadn’t had a honeymoon, life had been crazy since they’d married. Maybe the Lord was giving her a resting time and wouldn’t she rather accept it, believing he’d provide a job at the right time, instead of fretting away this time of rest?

    Even as I typed it–remember, I was in the middle of my own housing nightmare– I thought, maybe this applies to me, too?

    I let go of the worry and decided to savor and appreciate all my family under one roof.

    Kim got a job pretty soon thereafter. I found a house pretty soon thereafter.

    Thanks be to God that He works in his mysterious ways to meet needs we may not even know we need. Kim can tell you her end of the story, but on my end, this was a wonderful testament to God at work when we least expect him, in ways we cannot begin to guess at, for purposes only He knows.

    Thanks be to God, again! 🙂

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  39. Actually Bob, I am in Papua New Guinea, north of Australia. And, yes, we have lots of zucchini in the market. But I will probably splurge on apples when I want a pie. I took my pie to the Highlands prayer time today to share. They were very appreciative of the treat. And there are some pieces left for me. 🙂

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  40. Bob, Aji suun and I are the ones in Africa. The women here do grow some zucchini in their market gardens, so it is available in season. Just about any type of garden vegetable is available in season here, but apples do not grow in this warm climate (the trees need a period of frost and dormancy), so any apples we get are imported and we can only find them in the city.

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  41. Michelle brings up a good point. Most of you have been through my struggles with me over the past few years. Many of you have given me advice and for the most part I have taken it.
    Losing what I thought was my dream job was devastating. Friday at lunch with another agent who had worked on the team in the past she told me there was another side to the situation. It was a financial decision. The team leader shifts with the wind on whatever is the latest things to catch his attention and in hiring the virtual assistant he had some to do most of my job for a whole lot less. I was outsourced to the Phillipines.

    All that to say this…Sometimes we don’t realize how much stress we are under until we are removed from the stressful situation and can take a breath. I remember my time at Mumsee’s as being the most stress free week I had experienced in the past 8-10 years. BG was with me. I was 4 hours from a major city. I didn’t have any responsibilities except to make sure the children were fed. Don’t tell Mumsee but it was almost like a vacation for me.

    God does know what He is up to in our lives. We just need to take a deep breath and let God do what He is going to do. It generally terns out better than whe we try to take control.

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  42. Today’s sermon was preached by Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi from Uganda. It was on the NEED to pray. Not your typical sermon of the “power of prayer”. While he was actively the Archbishop for 9 years he and his wife prayed every Friday night from 9 pm to 6 am. At least I think that is the time in which they did it. He had the most lovely accent and I was distracted in just listening to his voice as well as his message.

    We sang in Swahili today:
    Yesu ni wangu
    Yesu ni wangu
    wawuzima wamilele
    (Jesus is mine forever and ever)

    Eyawe Eyawa

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  44. Love that Karen…….heavy burdens on my heart his weekend….friends and family…my cousin and his wife just retired and moved to Belize…they just moved into their condo on Friday….that night she passed away…heart attack….she was only a couple years older than me….he is devastated….my heart aches for him….they were so in love after 40 years of marriage…and yes….they both were in love with and served our Lord Jesus….

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  45. “They were so in love after 40 years of marriage…” What a lovely thought.
    Mr. P came to me this afternoon after church with some concerns. I told him that I could admit to a lot of faults but I just couldn’t take more more criticism of my parenting abilitles. Later he came to me in the kitchen to assure me that he loved me and wanted to grow old with me.

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