Last post for November (probably)

I like how they sound.

And these guys too.


What do you think?

Luke 10 (may possibly share some thoughts later, thus making this a blog...but for now, this is what I got.)

Luke 10 Jesus Sends Out His Disciples 1 The Lord now chose seventy-two* other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.2 These were his instructions to them: "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.3 Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.4 Don't take any money with you, nor a traveler's bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don't stop to greet anyone on the road. 5 "Whenever you enter someone's home, first say, 'May God's peace be on this house.'6 If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you.7 Don't move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay. 8 "If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you.9 Heal the sick, and tell them, 'The Kingdom of God is near you now.'10 But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say,11 'We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!'12 I assure you, even wicked Sodom will be better off than such a town on judgment day. 13 "What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse.14 Yes, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you.15 And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead.*" 16 Then he said to the disciples, "Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me." 17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, "Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!" 18 "Yes," he told them, "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.20 But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven." Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving 21 At that same time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and he said, "O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way. 22 "My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." 23 Then when they were alone, he turned to the disciples and said, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen.24 I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, but they didn't see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn't hear it." The Most Important Commandment 25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?" 27 The man answered, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"* 28 "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live!" 29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Parable of the Good Samaritan 30 Jesus replied with a story: "A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. 31 "By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by.32 A Temple assistant* walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. 33 "Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,* telling him, 'Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you the next time I'm here.' 36 "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?" Jesus asked. 37 The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy." Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same." Jesus Visits Martha and Mary 38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he taught.40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me." 41 But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details!42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her."
Footnotes:
10:1 Some manuscripts read seventy; also in 10:17.
10:15 Greek to Hades.
10:27 Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18.
10:32 Greek A Levite.
10:35 Greek two denarii. A denarius was equivalent to a laborer's full day's wage.

dreams are nice

I dreamed that I did an informal poll on here, trying to gauge the readership of the blog. Within seconds there were like 10 responses.

1. How lame that I am dreaming about my blog.
2. Even if there weren't 10 readers, I would still write...but it's nice to know if you have an audience.
3. In defense of 1, I did have a fever all day yesterday, and still have a higher than is normal for me temperature today. Could write it off as a hallucination (although the fever at its highest was 101.3 F, and I think it has to be a tad higher for hallucinations).

Thanksgiving comes early...metaphorically speaking.

I love Thanksgiving. It is easily my favorite holiday. Not a lot of controversy around Thanksgiving. Sharing a big meal with loved ones and being thankful are things that can and should happen all year round, but it is nice to have a specific day set apart specifically for that. I feel like I have blogged several times about my love for Thanksgiving, but cannot find it (perhaps was a list on another no-longer-existing-except-in-our-hearts website? I would link to it, but it no longer exists. Except within our hearts).

Anyway, that is not really what this post is about. It is about life. Right now in life, it feels like Thanksgiving. Lots of hustle and bustle. Lots of good food on my plate. Some food that only tastes good when eaten with other things, others that I would like more of, etc. I don't have time to blog, I don't have time to take or post a new picture (if I lived in a different time zone and under a less densely clouded sky, I might have pictures of shooting stars, but alas I don't even have that).

I just have time to sneak in this post, because even though the plate is full of good food, I like to make time for a blog here and there. I don't blog because it is trendy or because thousands of people read it...I actually like to do it. So consider this my ice cream for now. Something that is a treat for me, and something that I always have room for.

On an unrelated topic, here is a question, until next time:

Do you think that people who are night people can train themselves to be morning people? Or are they just fooling themselves? Is being a night person or a morning person something that is learned, or something that is innate?

Eureka?

I had the song about the steadfast love of the Lord never ceasing, so I thought I would look it up, since it's nice when you have Scripture in your head to just look it up and read what's around it. So here is this and a little more.

Lamentations 3:22-33

22 The faithful love of the LORD never ends!*
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!"

25 The LORD is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
26 So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the LORD.
27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age
to the yoke of his discipline:

28 Let them sit alone in silence
beneath the LORD's demands.
29 Let them lie face down in the dust,
for there may be hope at last.
30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them
and accept the insults of their enemies.

31 For no one is abandoned
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
33 For he does not enjoy hurting people
or causing them sorrow.


*3:22 As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads of the LORD keeps us from destruction.



I am most intrigued by verse 26. Is this salvation in the Christian way of thinking about it? Or is it more about salvation from your enemies, or from drama, or from inner-strife? Is it about trusting in the Lord's timing? (Sitting quietly and waiting?) Or is it about maybe the salvation of others that you are praying for? I don't know. It wasn't the verse I was looking for, but it is the one I found.

Getting lost in the tyranny of things

Ok ok. I know that there are better things to dream about. But here are three things that I would like. Someday.

A small house with porch that has wind chimes (the music of summer, in my opinion). We already have some wind chimes, in storage. So that's a good start.


Green doors (the outdoor part). Something about them is appealing to me.


Someday I hope that Steve works at a University that offers courses in ceramics/pottery/etc, and offers them to the spouse of the person working at said University for free. If it is something I truly love, I would go so far as to say I want my own kiln (after taking as many free classes as possible of course).

27

When I was younger than 8, I always dreamed of the day I would be 8. Eight seemed to be a good age. It probably was.

When I was younger than 27, I always felt like 27 was the age where one "arrived." Or, at least the age where I imagined that I would have "arrived."

Welp. I have 365 more days to arrive at something. (I've already made new year's resolutions and an independence day resolution this year..."the year of arrival" resolutions would just seem obnoxious, so I will just leave it as a vague "something" to arrive at for now).

I'm sure in 19 more years I will think that 27 is as young as 8 seems now.

3 similar pictures of the same bridge

Reflections of the way life used to be*

A fisherman reflects next to a reflected weeping willow.


A man checks his reflection next to a puddle.


Trees on the Danes River



My current reflection: I still need to read half of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus today, to keep up with my ambitions.

*I thought this would be an upbeat lyric to be the title of the post, but I looked up the actual lyrics to this song, and it is kind of depressing. Man those Supremes are like the opposite of a country singer...they can make any depressing lyrics sound upbeat and catchy.

Would you rather...

Really like the place you work, but really dislike your job,

or

Really like your job, but really dislike the place you work?