54 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-28-17”

  3. Kim is up at 5:30 her time.
    I have no idea about the cryptic comment.
    When I was working, I was up at 5:20 every morning. But I wouldn’t be on-line.
    I would be on the Beltway by 6:00.

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  5. It was Mr P’s birthday dinner. Youngest son and DIL came. One of his presents was a framed sonogram. Grandpa cried.
    Just last we I told him we needed to find a baby to borrow and spoil. 😉

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  8. I do have to say this. Five years ago Youngest Son was sleeping on his father’s sofa and lying to him about joining the Navy.
    Today he helps manage a marina and is responsible for expensive boats and these words passed his lips yesterday: I can’t do that. I have a baby on the way.
    Gives me hope for BG.
    Oh, were you waiting on an update?
    Well obviously they can’t come home the way they went. What with Texas having a hurricane and all. Gee Orge and I have told her she needs to take I 70 East and then I 65 South to home. It will take longer, but I 10 is flooded in Texas.
    I thought I was going to have to turn into a Crazed White Trash Mother last night. A woman who has a child BG’s age and has been a “friend” to all of them (I know she was buying them cigarettes) was all over FB last night worried about “her baby” getting home from Colorado and maybe having to go help get them home. I refrained from telling her “Listen up, buttercup. I am the one who went through 5 years of infertility to have her. I am the one who lived through the first year of colic and ear infections. I am the one who is her MOTHER and I am the one who will make sure she is safe and YOU need to BACK OFF (and there was another word in my mind I won’t repeat).
    Gee Orge told me to rise above it and let’s get OUR baby home safe.

    Liked by 5 people

  9. Beautiful header!

    It’s beginning to feel a lot like fall. We needed this cooler breezy weather after all the weather we suffered over the summer.

    I am going to be shopping for a refrigerator during the Labor Day sales. My brother sells kitchen appliances and can price match if it is the exact model/color/style/etc. Our refrigerator is still operational but is old and needs replacement before it totally leaves me in a bad and abrupt manner. I don’t want to have to beg a neighbor to use their freezer again while I search for a fridge. I do not want to deal with an ice maker. Does anyone have suggestions?

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  10. Here are a couple questions for you, from a friend who is still learning about faith & the Bible & such. (She is not a new believer – & she believes very strongly – but has been a lifelong Catholic, so there is a lot she wonders about.) I want to give her good answers to her questions, so I thought that before offering my own thoughts on these, I’d pass them by my fellow wanderers for your insight & wisdom, too.

    1. (This one has some “sub-questions”.) Do you use “God” or “Jesus” when you talk about or refer to Him? For example, would you say “God has done such-&-such in my life” or would you say “Jesus has done such-&-such in my life”?
    What is the difference?
    Are there times we should say “God” & other times we should say “Jesus”?
    If so, why?

    2. How would you explain the concept of “surrendering” or “committing” a person or situation to God?

    As I said, I have my own thoughts on these, but am interested in your input, too.

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  11. Kim, interestingly to me, we have always told the children we are fine with them having good relationships with their bio parents after they reach eighteen. Several of them have reached out to those bios, but none of them are still there. Because the children know who was really there for them and will be as long as time is given to do so. One boy leaves today for three weeks with his bio mom and her fiance. They bought him tickets to see them. I am hopeful for him but reminded him we will be here if it does not work out. Reminded him that expectations rarely meet reality, give it time, give them grace.

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  12. That header photo made me laugh. On a Monday yet. Very cute.

    Kizzie, I’m urging my recently-retired Catholic friend to sign up for BSF, she’s never “had the time” while she was teaching school, which I understand. But now … Maybe she won’t do it this year. But maybe next …

    I told her I thought she’d really like it (and I do think that).

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Sorry, sidetracked. The point being: children enjoy having adults give them what they want and don’t enjoy when those same people start telling them what to do. Those “helpers” and “friends” along the way tend to be outgrown after a while as the children grow up and realize those folks have really never grown up themselves.

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  14. Some years ago my friend was saying she didn’t know the Bible that well. I urged her to find some kind of class (since BSF was out with her working and family schedule). She signed up for a class at her church but it was all about what the Catholic church taught (she’s a lifelong Catholic and I can’t imagine her ever leaving that church, it’s ingrained in their Irish family which includes a sister or two). But she has demonstrated an openness to attending other churches when invited, one of her friends took her to John MacArthur’s church for Christmas one year (they live near there) and she also attended a Sunday evening service with me at my former Presbyterian church once.

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  16. Changing time zones is not for sissies! I got up at 9 this zone and was proud of myself since I went to bed at midnight.
    Now tomorrow morning I have to be at the clinic for lab work at 6am. Oh, my…

    Liked by 2 people

  17. Things were calm at the dog park last night, compared to the night before, Saturday, when there were more than 10 dogs there and among them was little Bruce, a wild cattle dog that is uncontrollable in his rough play.

    (There are two dogs named Bruce that come to the park, the other one is very large so he’s referred to as “Bruce Squared” by some of us.)

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  20. I was wondering where you were going with that statement Mumsee, but now I understand. What’s funny is this “friend/mother” has a daughter BG’s age who has seen that her mother isn’t a “mother”. I have told her that if she ever really needs someone to be an adult and help her out of anything to call me…but I don’t spread it all over FB. It is hard when the child is more mature than the parent and sometimes a young adult needs an older adult for guidance. And all of them know I wouldn’t buy them cigarettes or alcohol and they certainly couldn’t smoke a joint with me.

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  21. Karen, I use “Jesus”, “God” and “Lord” interchangeably. When someone says< "Thank you Jesus", he is referring to the intervention of God. It should not be an issue.

    The second question is more difficult and it deepens on the person's understanding.
    Some of us (myself) believe that God is interested in every phase of life. Therefore I have never "surrendered" anything because I believe He was in charge all the time.
    However. I understand the situation.
    When a person has done everything he possibly can d do, he "surrenders" the result to God.
    That means "I won't worry about it anymore". However, I suspect that this never really happens. Some thing we pray about and worry about forever.

    Liked by 3 people

  22. We have that challenge a lot around here. Sixteen year old is supposed to be off finding work to pay for his stuff but he spends his afternoons playing video games in somebody’s house. We have told him it is a bad idea and he did not stop, so finally told him not to go there again or we would disenroll him from school if we found out. The mom did not want him there but was not able to get him or her son to leave. He now goes to another home where he says the mom plays with them. Sad. But they just want to be friends with the boys……Did I say pathetic?

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  23. What I can’t understand is that people start smoking when they see so many advertisements helping people quit smoking.
    I told you before. In the AF, it would have been easy to pick up the habit. “Rest. Light them if you have them or can bum them”.
    The thing is, I saw so many of my buddies trying to stop.
    So I never picked it up.
    I have avoided much turmoil in my life from watching other people.

    Liked by 5 people

  25. “Peek-a-boo. I see you!” We know that game.

    BSF is good. I-70 is great.

    Refrigerators. 🙂

    Let me just say that according to MY brother and seconded by Mr. Energy Efficient who usually lives here, that a new refrigerator is going to be far more economical and better to own and use. Just a reminder when you blanch at the price.

    A freezer on the bottom is also more energy efficient, but make sure you get one with slide out drawers otherwise it’s a nightmare to find things. I personally prefer a top freezer so I can see better, but that’s not what we bought.

    I have a French door refrigerator which is perfect because the doors are smaller and that corner of my kitchen is a little tight. I’ve gotten use to it after four years; I’m not sure I care either way.

    I’m not going to tell you what kind I bought so as not to frighten you away . . . but we did purchase it at Sears on sale–which is going on this weekend, so hurry! 🙂

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  26. I noticed a new refrigerator showed up in our house a while back. It has the down under freezer and slide out drawers. It seems much more spacious and organized than the top of the unit freezer was. It has two doors, never had that before. The fridge, not the freezer. I like it.

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  27. We lost our internet for a while, and had to get a new modem.

    On Kizzie’s Questions:
    1. I’ve found that knowing the creeds on the Trinity and how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has helped me understand when it is more appropriate to say God or Jesus. I use the name of Jesus Christ when speaking of the Son’s specific role in salvation. For example, I speak specifically about Christ when speaking of Christians following their Lord, since he is the Head of the Church. When speaking of the general work of God in one’s life, however, it is accurate to speak of God, since Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work in unison in the believer’s life, just as in Creation, when the Word was with God and the Spirit of God moved over the waters.

    2. In my life among those who seemed to think that God could be manipulated to one’s benefit provided the right levers were pulled, ‘surrendering’ or ‘committing’ an issue or person to God was a prayer ritual to ensure God took care of a situation the way one thought it should be taken care of. I have since conclude that real surrendering of an issue to God is simply praying about it and then trusting that God will answer the prayer according to His will. That trust is based on what I know about the character of God, both the fact he cannot be manipulated by anything I do, and also that he is good. I cannot control most things in my life, not even my health, so it is a relief to leave it in the hands of my Creator, who is also my Saviour.

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  28. My Catholic friend (I’m referring to Renee-in-Minnesota, btw) has myriad health issues which would preclude her from being able to participate in something like BSF.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Roscuro – I’d never heard those words used that way (to manipulate God). I think of surrendering or committing something to God as an acknowledgement that I cannot (& should not try to) control a situation or person, leaving it/them in His hands, for His will to be done, & trusting He will do what is best. That is especially necessary when worrying about a situation or person.

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  30. An important part of that is giving up worrying about the situation or person. I’m working on that part, but I’m not so good at it. However, although there is still some worry left in me, I do feel much more at peace after surrendering something or someone to God.

    Now if I can only get to the point of doing it once & being done with it, rather than having to continuously surrender those things/people to Him.

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  31. The more you study God’s word, the more you will know when to use the name of each person of the Trinity. We are saved through Christ. Jesus walked on the earth and sits at the right hand of the Father. We pray with the help of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, to the Father.

    Are you talking about God’s activity in the OT or Jesus’ in the NT? Is something the work of the Holy Spirit? We should keep all that in mind. Having said that, God is our heavenly Father and is compassionate and gracious. He knows when we sincerely call on Him.

    As far as surrendering to God or to God’s purposes, that will happen more and more as we get to really know Him and trust Him. That is true in our human relationships, too.

    There is no substitute for this person reading the bible herself and taking advantage of a good basic bible study. If she is self-motivated, I would recommend a few and see what she might find suitable or fitting in her life/learning style. Otherwise, she may want to just keep reading, starting in the gospels.

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  34. Kizzie, the encouragement to ‘surrender’ something to God was invariably accompanied by an anecdote of how that person’s ‘surrender’ resulted in the issue being resolved. If the issue took a long time to resolve, the person usually came to a realization that they weren’t ‘surrendered’ enough and re-surrendered it all until the answer came through. That kind of message, repeated often enough, gives one the impression that ‘surrendering’ things to God (provided it is done properly) makes you more likely to get what you want from him.

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  35. I’ve been waiting for the course schedules and outlines to know what to expect this coming semester. I received the first of the course schedules today, and I’m scared. As you know, I’ve not had much of a chance to practice nursing skills, beyond the basics, for some years. In the clinical placement, they will be training us to do the most advanced of nursing skills. In twelve short weeks, I will need to go from nothing to everything.

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  36. The rise and fall of the Christian bookstore

    http://theweek.com/articles/720413/rise-fall-christian-bookstore

    _______________________________________

    … Christian kitsch can help retailers pay the rent. But the “trinketization of Christianity” has plastered a cheap face onto a rich religious movement with a more than 2,000-year history. Purging these items from the marketplace helps strip the consumerist veneer off the faith.

    The disappearance of Christian retailers will also likely improve the quality of religious books. Christian authors can no longer be the strongest voice in their small religious pond. Beating out the quarter’s best niche devotional will no longer suffice. Authors will now have to compete with Chabon and Patchett, Franzen and Friedman.

    “We’re seeing that the stiff competition in the general market requires that you publish Christian books with quality writing,” as Stan Jantz, head of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, notes. “Because the bar is being raised, there is a real desire among Christian publishers to find quality writing right now.” …
    ____________________________________________

    Liked by 2 people

  37. Yes, but . . .

    I’m going to try to convince my local secular bookstores they should stock my book. I guess I should start praying. 😦

    I agree on the need to improve the quality of the writing, but . . . size of platform always remains the deal changer. 😦

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  39. Thanks for tips on the refrigerators.

    I think surrendering to God is bowing to His sovereignty. It is recognizing that prayer is conversation He invites, but also, it is aacknowledging He gets final choice over what He wants to happen in any situation. We can give Him an earful of what we think, but He always has overide and veto power. We hope to learn His word well enough that we know how to pray within His will so He can answer favorably to our prayers. He is pleased with those who know His word well enough to ask rightly. He gives grace to those who are not to that point of spiritual maturity.

    Maybe look at points where all three, Father God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, are present in passages of the Bible with your friend so that will give her better understanding of their roles and when to use their names. At Jesus’ baptism, He was here on earth where He took action. The Father was waiting above to see what His child would do and He showed pleasure to see His Son honor Him by being a servant leader in showing an example of what His followers need to do to provide public testimony of their faith. The Holy Spirit played a background role, present on earth in an affirming or convicting manner of showing right and wrong moves, and being available to help with needs of the follower including carrying messages to the other two such as groaning out prayers in spiritual language only known in their realm. I hope that helps.

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  40. Roscuro, on a similar note, I cannot remember how many times in my life I have heard people say, halfway tongue in cheek, don’t pray and ask God for patience, for more faith, etc., because He will answer it but He will answer it through suffering. They’re being sort of tongue in cheek, but they always pair it with a story like finding out two hours after the prayer that their two-year-old baby has leukemia, or four members of the family ending up in the hospital after an accident, or a house fire that destroys everything.

    And whenever I have started to pray for patience or whatever, I find myself being unable to pray with any passion, because from little up it has been impressed on me that you have to be naive to pray such a thing, because anyone who has been around the block a few times already knows how God will answer such a thing.

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  41. Sometimes I am in awe about how God works. Several years back I was trying to do Bible study with my former Catholic friend in CA. We first tried out a book on Hebrews. She could not get into it. I think it involved thoughts she found difficult to process with her Catholic background. We switched over to 40 Days to a Joy-Filled Life by Tommy Newberry. She loved that. I did, too. So today, as I go to follow one of the Georgia governor candidates who I saw speak last week, I found that he is President of the Tommy Newberry group. Now he definitely has my vote. Also, at another event I went to on Saturday, a PowerPoint presentation had photos of a lobby day at the capitol, and I am in a photo meeting that candidate who was and is currently a representative at the state level. I had no idea who he was when I met him.

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  42. Roscuro – I’ve actually had that kind of thing happen a couple times in my life, where I finally got around to surrendering the outcome of a situation to God, letting go of my own desired outcome, & within a short time, God resolved those situations in ways that relieved me greatly. But I am mature enough in my faith to know that that is not a formula, that sometimes the result will not be what we so hopefully desired.

    I do think, though, that sometimes God is waiting for us to let go of our desires, truly bow our will to His, before releasing what we had desired. Other times, His will may be very different from what we originally wanted, but we will have the peace to accept it.

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  44. Cheryl – Along with what you wrote, I have heard the idea that God may give us the opposite of what we pray for, so we’ll learn to rely on Him & Him only. For instance, rather than healing a husband or wife, God will let the spouse die to teach the other to fully rely upon Him. Or that God would let a family lose their home to teach them to trust in Him during that kind of upheaval.

    And yeah, I fight against that kind of thought.

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  45. Kizzie, I understand what you are saying, and I think that you are very mature in your faith. I would, however, give a little correction, or perhaps the word is nuance, to what you said about God wanting us to give up our desires. First of all, God delights in giving us good things (Matthew 7:7-11). Secondly, we are encouraged throughout Scripture to bring our requests to God and wait expectantly (Psalm 37:3-7). Third, we are cautioned against “will-worship”, “voluntary humility”, and other forms of legalistic practice that are used in place of walking in the Spirit of God to attain spiritual maturity (Colossians 2:18-23). Paul, in that last passage was speaking to an audience who would be familiar with the many cults that permeated the cosmopolitan Roman Empire, among them the Stoics, who, like the Buddhists, believed that the highest attainment one could reach was an elimination of all desire.

    God doesn’t command us to give up our desires. Rather, as we walk in obedience to him, he refines and purifies those desires, using them for good. I’ve sometimes thought it would be less painful if I could lose the desire to be married and have a family, but increasingly, though nothing has changed in my situation, I’ve come to see that desire as a gift from God. Though I may never marry or have children, my longing for marriage makes me treat other peoples’ marriages with care and concern, while my longing for children gives me delight in the children who are born to those close to me. It also spurs me on to examine my life, to make sure there is nothing in it that would be harmful to a marriage (I’m not perfect yet). To lose my desire, painful though it may be, would be to shut myself off from many other emotions worth feeling and thoughts worth thinking. It might be easier to be Stoical in the face of disappointment, but it is a numb ease of not caring, not the exhilarating ease that comes after having completed a difficult task.

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  46. Roscuro – Yes, I should have said that God wants us to give up our willfulness in those desires, to seek His will in those things, not our own.

    One example in my own life is that I greatly desire Chickadee to come back home, but I continue to surrender her to God, asking His will to be done in her life, wherever He wants to do it.

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  48. I think one element of putting it into God’s hands is accepting when or how He answers. Roscuro has given an example of continuing to desire to be married, though without knowing how exactly God will use that desire in full in her life–He may or may not bring her a mate. I had the same desire–to marry and have children. I accepted that I might not get that desire. “Ah, but God did give you marriage and stepchildren, so see?” However, if I had continued to hold onto “it has to be in my way,” I would have struggled with taking on someone else’s children already more than half grown. In fact, I recently heard a woman who is now in her late forties and still asking God to give her children . . . but sometimes His answer is “no” to biological children. Maybe He wants to have her love nieces and nephews, children at church, orphans, or even younger women at church.

    When women from my church came a couple of months ago to help me paint the bathroom, I got talking about how my desires for children were not meant the way I had expected, but that the relationship with the girls is sweeter than I ever imagined possible. And one of them said that I’m an excellent example of contentment, and the other agreed. Well, that brought two emotions to me. One was gratitude because I think that contentment is one of the most important, and one of the most neglected, of biblical virtues, and I’ve long wanted it to be something deeply evident in my life. (In reality, I still complain far too much.) But the other thought was that I’m actually expressing something that is a great blessing–I am not “merely” content that I have two stepdaughters, I’m blown away with joy at God’s good gift of these girls.

    But I don’t think I would have gotten as far as gratitude, contentment, and joy without accepting God’s sovereignty and submitting to the reality that He might not bring me a husband and children, and it would still be “good” if He did not. If I were still clinging to my own personal dream, the different reality might seem pale and second-rate.

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  49. We had a real ‘holiday’ day, today. Husband and I took the dogs to the beach and just sat and enjoyed the beautiful lake and scenery. Then we drove up the parkway to get some lunch and along the way we saw a large elk with beautiful antlers, and a huge black bear. Our front brakes squeal a bit and when we slowed down to watch the elk the brakes squealed and the elk answered back!

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  52. Here’s a report from a friend of a friend in Houston. I’m flabbergasted the mayor didn’t start evacuations. Someone told me he thought it impossible to move 5 million people out of the area, so he didn’t even try. Can this be possible?

    Anyway, here’s this woman’s story:

    Friends and family…this is our latest update: fire dept came in boats to evacuate everyone on our street. They pounded on every door and told us this was the only rescue, and 5-7 ft of water was coming. So in the pouring rain we waded in water up to our chests with neighbors, dogs and cats to climb on rescue boats, that took us to a parking lot (at the corner of Dairy Ashford and Briar Patch) to wait for a bus that never came!

    A wonderful young man in a “monster” truck saw us all standing seemingly stranded, and shuffled us a truckload at a time to the local Westside high school shelter.They were wonderful with towels, dry clothes and warm food. Our 2 yorkies were wet, shaking and disoriented and 2 young volunteers wrapped then in dry towels and loved on them.

    We were blessed while at the same time trying to get out heads and hearts around this whole experience 💙

    The next step was for everyone to get on buses to go George Brown Convention Center (Red Cross headquarters)… However we got a call from our son,Josh, who was on his way from San Antonio to rescue us! ❤❤

    Josh is navigating his way here around closed and flooded roads!
    He is another HUGE blessing 💙💙
    We will be in San Antonio for awhile…to
    rest, regroup and discover our next step.
    We will wait abit to deal with our home.
    In the meantime “We will wait upon the Lord
    to renew our strength…and to direct our path”
    Thank you all for your prayers! ❤❤❤

    Liked by 7 people

  53. What’s the latest on Ann? Miguel has a sister in Houston, who is alright.

    Just a quick update. We have been so busy since we got home. Have been rearranging things and making room for the wheelchair etc. All we did this summer was work, so things have been neglected. Trying to play catch up. Have hauled so many things to the dump. It’s amazing how you can let go of “things” when you have “someone”.

    My friend, Beth, came by and helped me put up 2 1/2 boxes of peaches. I had ordered them before the accident, and they came the day we got home. She also helped me move furniture around in my living room. God has blessed me with really, great friends.

    Miguel gets a little stronger each day. He is able to move his left leg independently, but still needs his right leg moved any time he tries to readjust in bed. He has the getting out of bed onto the potty chair down, but still has to have help to get back into bed. The wheelchair is a process. He did sit up for a couple of hours yesterday. It makes his feet swell, even though his legs are elevated. I ordered him a big recliner, if it ever comes in. It should elevate the legs, and he can sit up, or lie down. I will be glad when it comes, as it will give him more freedom. We go back to Odessa on Thursday to get his staples out and for follow up. His incisions are not draining any more, so that is a positive. I have been trying to load him up on bone broth and other good nutrition. His blood sugar is doing great at home.

    Prayers for arrow #2.

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