52 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-5-18”

  2. This is our first day back to school. We were supposed to go back Wednesday but cold weather changed plans. So what do I do for a one day week? I think I’ll tell them about Three Kings’ Day.

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  4. Good Morning Everyone. It has been a busy first week of the year. While I haven’t commented much, I have read a few things.
    I was Christened at 3 months. I have my christening gown hanging in a closet. BG was christened in it and it is just waiting on another baby. Perhaps Miss March will be.
    Although I attended an Independent Methodist Church and school when I was younger (K-11, then I rebelled) they were overtaken by Baptists and people from Bob Jones University, so I was immersed when I was 12. I am pretty much covered, because when I was 29 the priest in my Episcopal church told me “It’s time you go through Confirmation”. I assured him I was covered. God and I were on good terms. He told me that didn’t matter. I needed to understand the church, its doctrine, and know what the Statement of Faith meant. So I did that too.
    When BG was born he also explained that my christening an infant we make them a member of the family of God. He explained it by using the example of adoption. At a time in the future (usually around 12 or so) that child who was “adopted” makes the choice to remain in the family by confirmation. BG refused to go through confirmation.
    She tells me she is an atheist, to which I reply, “Absolutely NOT. You are NOT an atheist because I know for a fact you were prayed into existence. The MOST I will accept is agnostic”.
    She will come around eventually, because all of you a praying for her to do so and “ya’ll ain’t the onless ones I got doing so”.

    Middle Son arrived last night. I stumbled into the kitchen this morning, only to find that he had fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room. He got up and went to the bedroom. He seems a little more mature this trip. I hope so. I think he will be 30 in May. He will be going to school in the Spring to become a recruiter.

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  5. Anyone got any ideas for a January flower arrangement. It is such a bleak month. I need a centerpiece for the Art Center tonight and then I will use it tomorrow night as well.

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  6. Good morning all! I’ve really enjoyed the conversation on baptism. For a few days I was knocked out with a stomach bug, so I’m still catching up on the threads. Have a great day. :–)

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  8. Art center, couldn’t you use colorful paint brushes or something like?

    This isn’t my gift either. 🙂

    While my family–which spent the first week at the beach–is fine, lung issues are cropping up here in Sonoma County in an ugly way three months after the October events. Doctors are thinking they’re a reaction to breathing all the chemicals that went up into the air when everything burned down.

    I’m still trying to understand how marble countertops burned but will let that be a mystery.

    Anyway, those microscopic particles have been in the air and we’ve had little rain to clean them. Several people I know are hacking and struggling with what seems like a cold but doesn’t go away and often ends up in pneumonia.

    Is that the flu or the particulates?

    I also realized the other day that a woman we know gave birth three days into the October events. The baby is healthy and fine, but then I think about the particulates he’s breathed since birth and it makes me uneasy. I don’t know why God thought he should be born three weeks early.

    Even in my own case–and I was gone for nearly two weeks–my energy levels are not what they used to be, I walk slower, I dance slower and I go to bed tired and sleep harder for longer periods of time.

    I’m three months older, of course, but the difference feels marked to me.

    Down in southern California, most of the wildfires burned vegetation. Vegetation burned here, of course, but a lot of houses close together. Troubling.

    Meanwhile, the first house to be rebuilt started yesterday in Coffey Park–the middle class neighborhood where 1300 homes burned. I drove Stargazer to the airport through Fountaingrove the other night–black and bleak, few lights and no people. It started to drizzle on my way back and I could smell smoke again.

    Interesting times.

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  9. Good morning! When I think of flowers in January Amaryllis comes to mind…and paperwhites. I usually force an Amaryllis bulb so that it blooms at Christmas but failed to do so this year. I absolutely love the simple statement of the flower.
    It has been interesting to read the differing views on baptism. I was sprinkled as a child in the Methodist church. Upon dying to self and asking Christ to be Lord of my life, I was dunked in a little Baptist church in Myrtle Beach…. 😊

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  11. NancyJIll. for years we would attend FBC Myrtle Beach one Sunday every spring.
    The same pastor and music director have been there all this time.
    We won’t be going there this year.

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  14. Michelle, I am sure there will be long term effects from the fires. Think of the first responders and 9/11. I would think the CDC would want to get ahead of whatever is going to happen and send specialists there NOW

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  16. Yay, Kim is back.

    January. Not my favorite month either. Nor is February.

    March holds the promise of spring to come, though, so once we get through these 2 months we’ll all be better.

    I am dragging this morning, had to let Cowboy out at 1:30 a.m. for bathroom break, he’s been needing those. And I feel like I could go back to bed and sleep for several more hours, but it’s not an option.

    In a discussion with Dog Park Guy about oil vs. water based paint. Oil-based can’t be purchased here in California but he says one can get it in Arizona. I guess it’s better, will last longer, but is forbidden in our state for reasons I’m not sure about. But is it illegal to use? I don’t know.

    This has felt like a very long week — even though it was a “short” (4-day) week for us.

    Everyone survive the East Coast storm?

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  18. Kim, the thought of a tiered cupcake holder with small pots of African violets came to mind. I guess I am remembering a bleak January when I was in my twenties and I found that an African violet I was trying to grow from a cutting had new life beginning. It really lifted my spirits to see that. Also, blue and white are used a lot in January. Blue and white African violets? Or maybe little snowmen holding sweet bouquets?

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  19. After midnight last night I posted about the “more water means one has been baptized more thoroughly” argument, and I won’t repeat all of what I said, but I would encourage those who have heard that the very word “baptism” means “immersion” to read the link.

    The efficacy of a symbol is not affected by the thoroughness of it. Scripture doesn’t tell us the “proper” mode of baptism, and I have a hunch none of us will be considered to have flunked the course by getting too much or too little water on us. It isn’t about the amount of water.

    BTW, I made the assertion [earlier] that it is a Baptist belief that the word itself means only “immersion” and that I have heard otherwise, so I thought I should follow up on that. Here is a good source, looking at not only the word but the biblical history of baptism (the Old Testament background). I learned a few things myself: http://www.opc.org/new_horizons/NH00/0007b.html

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  21. Kim, can you ever go wrong with magnolias? I love the cones with the bright red seeds—but I have no idea where you could find them this time of year.

    When we bought our house a few years ago, there was a small magnolia tree in the yard at the back side of the house near the property line. I was so excited to think I could have magnolia leaves at Christmas! We closed on the house and moved our things in, and eventually I thought to go out and look at the tree. I couldn’t find it anywhere. And then I looked down, and there was the stump—sawed off right at ground level. I was so disappointed. No magnolias for me unless I buy them. :–/

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  22. I noticed the biggest passenger jet had to land at an alternate airport and the people had to walk through freezing temperatures because the plane was too big for the gates. I hope they were dressed for the weather and not as I have seen so many dressed on planes before. And I hope they were thanking God and pilots and airport personnel for a safe landing.

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  23. Oh Debra, why in the world would they have cut down your tree? I agree, Magnolias are wonderful!
    I have watched the jaw dropping footage of the storms in the east….the ocean waters coming inland and freezing cars on the roads? How I pray everyone can find safety in midst of this storm…
    Chas, do you keep in touch with the folk at FBC in Myrtle Beach? When we went for our visit a couple of years ago we had the most difficult time finding the church! Everything had changed so much in the 30 some years since we had left….so many beach wear shoppes and new eateries around there!

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  25. NancyJ
    No. We only visited once a year. Some recognized us, but there was no fellowship.’
    Our tradition was to leave church and go to Brookgreen Gardens for lunch. I liked the shrimp and grits they made.

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  26. A magnolia tree has been located in the back yard of a friend’s across the street neighbor. They are in the Netherlands, so they will never miss the leaves I steal—plus they like me.

    I have a large magnolia wreath I am going to put in the center of the table. I have some silver ribbon and I am off to find some bloomers soon. The floral type not the “un-mentionables” type

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  27. Just in from a walk in glorious pouring rain. It was sheer bliss to step into a steamy shower afterwards and now I’m preparing a cup of tea, a gas fire and a long cozy afternoon editing a manuscript in a nearby chair.

    I love today. 🙂

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  28. Nearly the whole month of November was dreary and cloudy here, and I needed something to brighten things up. Then I checked out a home-decorating book from the library, and yellow, yellow, yellow seemed to pop off every page it appeared. Boy, did that look cheery.

    Soon after finishing the book, I jumped in the car and took myself to Hobby Lobby, determined to walk the whole store and find something yellow to buy.

    I found a few items I considered, but this is what won my heart:

    https://www.hobbylobby.com/Floral-Wedding/Bushes-Garlands/Floral/Yellow-Sunflower-Bush/p/4546

    Yeah, I know, fake flowers (something another home-decorating book I’d read at a different time said never to buy — I say, never say never), but they were 50% off, and cheer up the whole upstairs as they sit in a vase on my dining room table, their dark faces and bright yellow petals smiling back at me. 🙂

    A whole winter of cheer for less than $5.00. I’ll take it. 🙂

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  29. 6 Arrows, I have bought cheap potted flowers on a whim for about the same reason. I know I won’t keep it alive long term, and I don’t care. But if I can have a live, pretty plant in my kitchen for a month for $4 or $6, it’s a steal. After a while I might figure the flowers aren’t as fresh, and I’ll throw it in the trash rather than planting it in the garden . . . but for a few weeks it gave me color and life.

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  30. Oh, I want to walk in the 🌧 ☔️ rain. Maybe next week …

    I bought a couple realistic-looking poinsettias (a couple real ones, too) on sale before Christmas and I’m keeping them around.

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  31. Flowers last about a week at my house. The lay of our land (lots of woods and hills) and the surrounding area, along with the way our house is situated on our property (and with the attached garage on the south side — what were those people who built this house thinking?), means little natural light inside our house for most of the day, especially this time of year.

    Our surroundings provide a great assist to my remarkable ability to kill real houseplants. 😛 Fake is the way to go for me. 😉

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  33. My favorite part of my favorite movie!

    Mr. Family Accountained determined it was too expensive to run the gas fireplace for a long time, so I got an hour in front of it, along with the alleged “kitten” stretched out and taking up an entire cushion on the couch!

    Still editing on this overcast day, however, and still happy. 🙂

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  34. In the winter especially I purchase a market bundle of flowers at the grocery store…4 bucks well spent in my estimation 💐
    I have African violets in pots on the sill above the kitchen sink…I have orchids sitting on the window wall in our bathroom…and I have houseplants such as a jade plant, and pathos plants in the family and living rooms. Oh…and an ivy in the dining room….all of those are rather easy peasy plants to keep alive 😊 We need snow…just sayin’…..

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  36. Hubby used to (hasn’t for the last two years) ride the MS-150 bicycle ride the first weekend in June and for years, it was out of Washington College in Chestertown. There is an LCMS church across from the college and I and the boys would join him for the weekend and attend church there. We kidded that we attended that church “regularly.”

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  38. Donna, it may cost money just to use a gas fireplace but it costs more for wood unless you cut your own.
    And in H’ville, Elvera usedto get up about 5: a.m. in the winter and go in and turn on the gas with the push of a button. It was cheaper than heating the entire house for that time.
    i.e. It costs less than the alternative. And it was a pleasant fire.
    In Annandale, we had a log burning fireplace. We used it for the first few years, but it takes lots of doing to haul in logs, start and nurture a fire. And I found that I was always poking around in it. It fell into disuse.

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  39. When we lived in town we had a wood burning fireplace…I love the sounds and smells of the burning wood…and we could roast marshmallows too!! One downside to the wood burning fireplace was that our daughter who suffered from asthma could not be anywhere near that room. Now we have a gas fireplace…we have had some issues with clogged thermo somethings a couple times…meaning the switch on the wall wouldn’t turn it on. Right now we are having to open the bottom and tap on a thingamajig to get the logs to light…mostly we just don’t use it.

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  40. Well, I’m not mumsee. And it would be a shame to cut down my Charlie Brown tree after I’ve spent so many months watering it. Not much wood there anyway. The huge trees in back would be too much for me. (But did you know that “lumberjack” and “newspaper journalist” now continually vie for first place on the “worst jobs” list put out every year? Just think, I could be both!)

    But they sell the clean-burning logs at the supermarket (they even had the kind that snap and crackle) so I’d just pick up one of those from time to time, I went through maybe 3 a year at most. They were easy, didn’t need tending & were predictably “out” in about 3 hours, just right for an evening at home if I wasn’t going to bed too early.

    But yeah, for convenience a gas fireplace probably makes a lot more sense these days.

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  42. Well, we just got pushed off the deep end again and it will be sink or swim for the rest of the semester. Sometimes I wonder why I’m putting myself through all this, but there must be a reason, considering all the Lord has brought me through wild adventures and hairbreadth escapes with health problems, and finances, and a strike… Still nothing about how those pesky clinical hours will be made up, and if it doesn’t get resolved soon, I will have to settle for doing the remote clinical placement in the autumn, which means I would not be finished by December. I was honest about why not going through the summer wasn’t a good idea for me today to a teacher involved in the placement program. The reason is that my registration with the regulating body will become a problem if I either do not finish by the end of this year or do not work as a nurse somewhere in the course of this year, since if one doesn’t work as a nurse for three years one has to go into what is called the non-practicing class. I could see from the horrified and somewhat overwhelmed look on my teacher’s face that she suddenly realized just how much damage that strike did to some students.

    I see the baptism question is still in play. I have a brief reply to the immersion question and that is merely that Baptists are not the only denomination who believe the word means immersion. There is a reason why Eastern Orthodox churches fully dunk their babies when baptizing them. Incidentally, the Orthodox churches use the Byzantine rite, which was in Greek as the Roman rite was in Latin, so they probably have a pretty good grasp of the etymology and connotation of baptizo. So, you have paedobaptists who practice sprinkling and paedobaptists who practice immersion, and credobaptists who practice immersion and I’ve even heard of some credobaptists sprinkling. It is really a mix and match as regard both method of baptism and age of baptized.

    I just find it interesting that archeological findings, such as this ancient baptistery from Roman era North Africa, indicates the early church practiced immersion for adults: https://www.gettyimages.ca/license/479633615.

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  43. By the way, the subject of baby dedication as a substitute for infant baptism came up earlier and I meant to address it. In both churches I attend baby dedication is definitely not a substitute for infant baptism, since it is really a charge to the parents to raise the child in the nurture of the Lord and to the congregation to be a witness to the child and a help to the parents, and completely leaves the question of the child’s salvation in the hands of the Lord. That being said, although the churches I attend now practice it, my mother told me that she never witnessed such baby dedications when she grew up in a Baptist church in the 1950s and that my parents did not do such a formal dedication with my siblings or I in the 1980s. So baby dedication seems a fairly new innovation in Baptist circles, possibly learned from the non-denominational churches who seek to accommodate all comers or perhaps even from the Free Presbyterians of Ulster, who blended Baptist and Presbyterian baptism practices and who had considerable influence on the Independent Fundamentalist Baptists of North America through their founder, a certain Ian Paisley. It is probably a bit of both, as the church I attend in the city is technically a non-denominational church and my family church was formerly associated with the Independent movement.

    My father was born into the United Church of Canada, a former Methodist denomination even more liberal than the United Methodists of the U.S. He was baptized as an infant, but as he himself has said, that was utterly meaningless to him in the very nominal Christian atmosphere in which he grew up (I’ve had contact with that atmosphere and it is so nominal as to be more deist than theist even – United Church ministers have been known to declare themselves atheists and still remain minsters in the church), so when he came to Christ in his late twenties, it seemed only right to him to be baptized again.

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  44. Our power bill last month was 70 dollars. We are holding out breath on the gas bill but as I type this I am on the
    Floor in front of the fireplace with my bare feet propped on the heart and toasty warm.

    Flower situation took a drastic turn with eucalyptus and curly twigs. Will try to take photos tomorrow’s

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  45. Wow, I’d love a $70 power bill. Ours run about $200 and when running the oil furnace it’s about $400 of oil per month. That’s why we usually use the wood furnace, but since husband has not been feeling well, we’ve only used it when the oil side was broken (it was fixed today – yay!)

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  46. My friend’s power bill was $700 for both of the last 2 months!! They’re looking at alternate heat. The purchased the house last spring and this is their first winter in it with just electric baseboard heaters.

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  47. I don’t think we’ve ever had an electric bill below $100, even when it’s not winter or air-conditioning weather.

    Kare, what is your gravatar?

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  49. A border collie in need of a job — and some sheep or cats to herd! Or maybe this is his vacation activity. So funny.

    My combined water-electric power bill is usually $250+ for two months. Gas bill really spikes during late fall/winter months when I start using the heater again. During the summer, it’s next to nothing.

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  51. My gas bill was $114 last month. It will be at least double that this time.
    It is 16 degrees outside, much warmer than yesterday but still COLD.
    I’m just thankful that it’s warm (72) in here. 🙂

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  52. It seems those talking heads don’t realize that the reason most people voted for Trump is tha the ain’t Hillary.
    The same thing will happened if they run Pocahontas next time.

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