MYSTERIES AHEAD

Posted on August 11, 2017 by

explorers

Explorers delve deep

Into uncharted waters

Seeking excitement!

/https://ramblingsofawriter2016.com/2017/08/08/weekly-haiku-prompt-challenge-week-1-deep-water/

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DOES HEAVEN SOUND BORING TO YOU?

Posted on August 11, 2017 by

bored

A line from a song in my childhood:  “Heaven is a holy place, Filled with glory and with grace.  Sin can never enter in.”  Honest evaluation, now.  Does Heaven Sound Boring to You?  No sin, no fights, no dirty jokes, no sex,  no R-rated movies or books, no gossip, no bullying. No participation in such things nor even being entertained that way.

Things there will be true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good in action and in thought. And we will be spending lots of time just worshiping God, and singing about him.

Sounds pretty boring to me!  What’s the next choice?  Oh, really?  That’s not good; I guess Heaven will be better, but it still sounds boring.

insanitybytes2 deals with “garbage in, garbage out” in an excellent article.  Please go read it.  We have been brainwashed!

We have compromised standards of entertainment to the place that more filth is dished out for shock value to an audience that is no longer shocked at anything.  I ask, “How long has it been since you have seen anyone blush?”  I’m sure the kid who first stuck a porn picture in my face in high school got a kick out of my blush.  I remember how hard it was to act as though it didn’t bother me.  I wish I had slapped his face, but I didn’t.

Now it is near standard fare on television in our homes.  My little girls were watching children cartoons on my kindle.  I watched with them for a while, no problem.  They went on their way for something and I clicked a kiddie picture in the side bar.  Cartoon again.  A little girl playing in a little inflatable pool with a slide.  She ran around the slide to climb it.  While she was out of sight, a man (still cartoon) came along and urinated in the water.  She did not see him, but all the little ones watching the cartoon saw what happened.

True, none of that will be in Heaven.  Sounds boring, huh?  I’m not through but I’m quitting for today.  See you later.  Meanwhile, mull over my question a bit.  It might lead us to a little more understanding of sanctification.

 

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BOY SCOUT-like :D

Posted on August 10, 2017 by

biker

Remember yesterday when I said going to the blood clinic wouldn’t be too bad because I often meet some nice people.  Well, I guess God heard – and decided to surprise me!  On my way home I stopped for groceries…….

****************

I stood eyeing the groceries in my basket, trying to decide how to go about unloading them since they were in two boxes both of which were too heavy for me to lift.  So take out some of the items piece by piece seemed to be the most logical way.

The noisy sound of a motorcycle interrupted my thoughts. Shortly a muscled bearded man parked his bike and turned off the key.

“Hey, I need a Boy Scout or a biker to help me,” I called.

“Sure, what do you need?” he asked as he came my way.

He was no Boy Scout, but he had muscles and the manners of a Boy Scout.   And I made a ten minute friend.  Basket unloaded I told him he was welcome to the basket with its quarter in the slot.  He pointed out that he didn’t need the basket, he couldn’t carry much on his bike.  I laughingly told him he was welcome to the quarter anyway, so he took the basket to the storage place, retrieved the quarter, and gave me a friendly wave goodbye.

**********

I have found that the Aldi’s* parking lot is a most welcoming spot to give and receive a smile.  Someone generously pays a quarter for his basket deposit, when he unloads he offers the basket to whoever parks near him, and the sequence can go on – until someone decides he needs the quarter worse than he needs a friendly smile.  He retrieves the quarter deposit that someone else made and goes on his way – the old grouch!

*Aldi’s is a grocery story where you have to get your basket by putting a quarter in the slot to unleash it.  After you unload it, it can be taken back to the basket row where the link is inserted to lock in the basket and out pops a quarter as the returned deposit.

 

 

 

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SIMPLY LIVING – WONDERFUL!

Posted on August 9, 2017 by

child praying

THINKING SIMPLY OF SUCH A PROFOUND TRUTH

Mulling over the “breastplate of righteousness” that I wear and how it guards my heart. My mind slips to simple times – eight-year-old times. Do you remember? “Into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Come in today, come in to stay, come into my heart, Lord Jesus.” And he did—bringing with him my breastplate of righteousness!

Keeping it simple today.  I have to go to blood clinic – a regular practice, to have my INR checked.  No problem but it eats up half a day for me.  That I don’t like.  Glad I’m alive to do it, however.

I am starting a prayer group in my home in a couple weeks so I have to get with some dusting.  Also, I don’t like it, but I’m glad I’m alive to do it.

And then there are lots of things I like to do, like blogging and I am glad I’m alive to do it!  😀

On second thought going to the blood clinic is kinda fun, nice folks I meet.  And the dusting is kind of fun when I get to take off all the books and trinkets, clean them all up make them shine and put them back in nice new places.  Good day ahead!

 

 

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be holy

Posted on August 8, 2017 by

snow

Do you find it hard to “look like Jesus?”  Perhaps you have never met Jehovah-M’Kaddish, the God who sanctifies you.  You really do not have to work alone to clean up your messes and quit making more. Jesus lived the life on earth just as you do.  He knows what it is to be tempted as you are; he did not yield to temptation.   The same sacrificial blood that he gave to save you was also given to “sanctify” you.  Simply put, his blood paid the penalty for your past sins, and it paid for your sanctification – the ability to live pure lives.

Just as you believe him for salvation, you believe him for overcoming sin.  A few years ago, I served as a volunteer chaplain at the County jail. A newly-confessed Christian there asked our chaplain how he could know for sure that he had been saved. The chaplain replied, “give yourself a couple of weeks, and you will know” meaning if there is no change in your life then you’re not a Christian. That comes across as harsh and crude to most of us who have been bouncing around like rubber balls trying to answer how, who, when questions about sanctification and/or holy living. But if a sinner becomes a new creature (as the Bible says), surely his behavior and/or attitude toward his sinful nature will become apparent upon his becoming a holy child of a holy God.  

“Sanctify yourselves therefore and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you” (Lev. 20:7,8) and in the NT,       I Thes. 5:23,  Paul says “…the very God of peace, sanctify you holy…”   And the writer of Hebrews said, “Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate”  (13:12).  Jesus didn’t die to save you; he also died to sanctify you (change you).

Does it matter?  Hebrews 12:14b, says, “without holiness no one will see the Lord.”  As God speaks in Leviticus, he punctuates his commands throughout the book with the command to be holy.  Even saying, “Be holy as I am holy.” (Lev. 20:26, also I Peter 1:16)

 So how does this play out in my daily walk?   I have to practice my “NO” muscle.  My “NO” muscle?  I’ll tell you about it some day.  For the time being – you have to learn to say no to the sinful desires of the flesh.

 

 

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JUST AN ORDINARY GIRL

Posted on August 7, 2017 by

artist

With lady-like grace

She painted her pictures, with

a smudge on her face.

 

https://ronovanwrites.com/2017/08/07/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-161-paintedlady/

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MY STUNNING NAIL POLISH

Posted on August 6, 2017 by

red nails

I have another hospital story from 2013 to tell you about.  

After about 13 days in ICU, I had a new nurse who was having a bit of trouble getting my finger oxygen-reading-doomajigger to work. She commented that it must be because of my nail polish. I quickly told her the others had had no problem for 13 days so it must be something else.  I didn’t point out to her that it must be her fault, but I was willing to fight for my finger nails.

I didn’t want her to file off my bright red glittery nail polish. It was the only thing cosmetically about me that had lasted amid the dirty hair, no makeup, body odor.  I had been complimented on it by several nurses and I felt like it did show that once upon a time I had cared about my physical appearance.  Who knows, someone might identify me as the old woman with the stunning nail polish, not the old woman with the chin hairs.  😀

But I really didn’t think that was the best Christian witness I could leave.  Did I really want to be known as the woman with the bright red glittery nail polish?

I felt better when I got home and scanned through my hospital records. I found one that described me as well-developed female; another described me as a very pleasant 79 year old female. Very pleasant?  Oh, good. But not one description included the fact that I had beautiful finger nails!

Finger nail polish. In my background that would have been a mark of not being sanctified.  However, sanctification is not the color of one’s finger nails, but it might be the pride in one’s finger nails. Sanctification is not how I dress or wear my hair but it will probably influence my decision about how I dress or wear my hair. 

Does God care how we dress?  Yes, he does.  This is what the Bible says:  “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” Col. 3:12. I’m being a bit tricky, aren’t I?  It would be so much easier if “being holy” were a matter of what color dress or shirt to wear.  But it’s not, so….

Sanctification?  What is that?  In my words, it means set aside and prepared for some holy purpose.  

Next post on this matter introduces you to Jehovah-M’Kaddish, the God who sanctifies.

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TOO MANY, TOO MUCH

Posted on August 5, 2017 by

books

After 12 days in ICU with no bath, no head wash, the doctor said they were moving me to the Step Down Unit where I would be bathing every day. He said he did not want me to use the same wash cloth to wash all my body – use one on the incision, toss it down and then use another. I assumed another or two for the rest of my body, wouldn’t you?

The day did come, and I was helped into a stall, water turned on. Ah, good! But wait, the nurse reached in with a handful (probably 7 to 9) washcloths which she draped on the rail water raining down on them. Hold it. What in the world do I do with seven or more washcloths. Don’t even think I have that many body parts. 

Made me think of five fork place dinner settings. Then you can also buy up to about 12 specialized forks! I guess I must not be couth!  I have no idea what they all mean!

And speaking of having too much of something, I’m adrift in too many books.  Decided to really clean my book shelves and do a bit of evaluating about what to do with the books.  I’ve been on e-bay to see if I have a gold mine among them.  So far not so much.  Most are about eight dollars or less; several are around twenty dollars; a few surprises – even fifty or sixty.  But I remember those e-bay people are trying to sell for that, not necessarily selling them!

Makes me think of Jesus saying for us not to be taken by surfeiting. Surfeiting – being filled to excess. I am soon going to be writing about JEHOVAH M’KADDISH (God who sanctifies). I am hesitant to do so because I am not great on theological debates. I just want to present some things in a common sense, down home way that I think makes sanctification easier to understand.  

So I’m asking for you to join me in seeking to find what God wants when he says for us to be holy as he is holy. One of those issues is to make some sacrifice of even okay things like too many washcloths, too many forks and too many books.

One of the “breaks-my-heart” scriptures is Hosea 12:6 “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.”

Join me in learning more about JEHOVAH M’KADDISH.

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GRANDMA’S BONNET

Posted on August 4, 2017 by

grandma's bonnett

“Did you get my bonnet?’  Grandma asked.  I assured her I did.  “Do you wear it?” she continued.

“Now what do I say,” I think to myself.

“Why no, Grandma, I put it on the wall for decoration.  It fits in my room that I have decorated with my old- time keepsakes.”

“Well you need to wear it when you go in the sun,” she insisted.

I filed her advice right along with her dire predictions about how I was going to ruin my electric skillet if I washed it in the dishwater.  I respected her diligence in cleaning and scrubbing the big old pots and pans she used to cook for fifty to eighty “broom corn Johnnies” as we called the transient workers who came to harvest the fall crops.  An electric skillet was not in her expertise.

 And the bonnet was quite appropriate for her to wear in her garden on the farm.  But me?  A city girl.  A educated woman with a career.  Me?  I had a choice about the amount of time I spent in the sun.  And my choice was to not do so!  Besides I looked so funny in that bonnet.

I have not worn the bonnet.  I left it on the wall for many years.  It is now in my trunk of memories.  When I wrote Granddad’s Tears I show her wearing her bonnet.  And it makes me see a side of my grandma I never knew existed.  She was creative; she was an artist in a very special way!

Look this bonnet over well.  Because you have probably never seen one like it.  I have searched online with google and Pinterest but cannot find one.  If per chance you find one, ask if it was made by an old woman in Baca County, Colorado.  It probably was.  My aunt, her daughter, said she believed Grandma made up the idea of using that broom corn straw to provide the stiffness necessary for this type sun bonnet.  Not many new ideas under the sun but it seems like my grandma had one.

******************

Mine does not have a label in it, but I think somebody in the family got labels for her to put in some.   I’m not sure.

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SURVIVAL BY INSTINCT

Posted on August 2, 2017 by

ants

Underground army.

No party to idleness;

Troops savor team work.

 

Synonym for enjoy: savor            Ronovan writes haiku challenge

RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #160 Party&Enjoy

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