Monday, March 31, 2014

Los Angeles Times Quote Of The Day

Source: Wikipedia
 
I'm so fed up with the Moonbat Democrats that keep getting re-elected to Congress and the obviously out-of-touch populace that keep voting for them. However, I am starting to smell blood in the water concerning these very same re-elections.

        Quote of the day by Dianne Feinstein
 
Dianne Feinstein: "All vets are mentally ill in some way and government should prevent them from owning firearms."
 
Yep, she really said it on Thursday in a meeting in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the quote below from the LA Times is priceless. Sometimes even the L.A. Times gets it right.
 
Kurt Nimmo: "Senator Feinstein insults all U.S. Veterans as she flays about in a vain attempt to save her anti-firearms bill."
 
Quote of the Day from the Los Angeles Times:
 
"Frankly, I don't know what it is about California, but we seem to have a strange urge to elect really obnoxious women to high office. I'm not bragging, you understand, but no other state, including Maine, even comes close. When it comes to sending left-wing dingbats to Washington, we're Number One. There's no getting around the fact that the last time anyone saw the likes of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Maxine Waters, and Nancy Pelosi, they were stirring a cauldron when the curtain went up on 'Macbeth'. The four of them are like jackasses who happen to possess the gift of blab. You don't know if you should condemn them for their stupidity or simply marvel at their ability to form words."
 
Columnist Burt Prelutsky,
Los Angeles Times

This really made my day. It's looking very encouraging for a clean sweep in the Senate next November.
 
 

Part Eleven: Catching Supper at Little Jetties

As I stated in his first post, once weekly I plan to feature a guest writer, my husband. Since we have no children, he has been painstakingly writing down the stories of his childhood to share them with his then 9 year old niece. I wanted her to know what kind of childhood her beloved Uncle was able to enjoy. While enjoying them myself I thought these are so much fun to read, why not share them? So here are the short missives of his memories of growing up in wilds of Florida during the 1950's and 1960's. They're packed with misadventures, romance, and all the confusing things that can happen in our youth. Even though his hometown of Jacksonville is a big city with over a million residents now, during his childhood it was several small communities surrounded by countryside.

This is his story.

(Please note: None of the photos in this post are from our files. They are all from the internet.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Catching Supper at Little Jetties
by Steven R. Hudson

As I mentioned before, we are a family of fisherman and many of our happiest times revolved around weekend fishing trips. We could not afford the luxury of a boat but fortunately there were many great fishing spots that could be accessed from shore in Duval County. One of Dad's favorites was the Little Jetties as they were locally known. This was just off the Old Mayport Rd. at the confluence of the Intracoastal Waterway and the St. Johns River. Huge granite boulders had been placed here to prevent erosion and protect the river and waterway channels. On any pleasant weekend anglers would gather here upon the great rocks and cast their lines. Fishing from the rocks could be dangerous. The boulders were irregularly shaped and slippery. When you reached the top you could look down on the barnacle encrusted submersed embankment as it disappeared into the dark river water. I remember how eerily beautiful it all seemed. When I was younger I would spend most of my time chasing Fiddler Crabs on the muddy tidal flat behind the jetty or trying to catch tiny fish trapped in the many small pools left by an ebbing tide. When I was older Dad would let me fish with him on the rocks. It was glorious being high on the jetty wall with the wind from the nearby sea in our faces and the constant chatter of gulls overhead; my little brother chasing fish in the tidal pools behind us as I had once done.

Surf fishing at Mickler's Landing was another favored pass time. You could drive out onto the beach there from A1A and at low tide, drive on the hard packed sand as far as you wished. We had a most memorable weekend at Mickler's when I was ten. The Mealers joined us for an overnight surf fishing trip. A makeshift camp of beach blankets and folding chairs was set up on the beach above the high tide mark. Our moms had prepared enough sandwiches, snacks and drinks for the weekend. The only clothes we brought were the bathing suits we wore for it was summer and the night would be warm but made comfortable by a breeze off the Atlantic. Our dads got out their fishing rods and tackle boxes and walked along near the surf, looking for that "spot" where there was sure to be fish. We boys were sent on a mission to find Sand "Fleas", a mud dwelling crustacean that is excellent
bait for Pompano. After we had gathered enough Sand Fleas to satisfy our dads, we began exploring the sand dunes. They were remarkable in the evening light, starkly white against the dark Blue-Jack Oaks and Cabbage Palms that grew on their backsides and out to A1A. The dune tops were adorned with Sea Oats that swayed softly with the ocean breeze and White Morning Glories grew along the footpaths that led way to the beach. Later that night we laid on our backs in the wet sand and gazed up in wonder at the Milky Way and millions of stars that were now so easily seen against a black sky, unsullied by pollution from city lights. We scraped away wet sand and watched in amazement at the flash of tiny phosphorescent organisms hidden there and all the while the surf pounded relentlessly against the shore. Late in the evening a pickup truck drove up to our camp site. There were two men in the truck and our moms were frightened. They told us boys to run down the beach and fetch our dads. When our dads came up they walked over to the truck and we could hear angry words being exchanged. Thankfully, the two men drove away after this verbal outburst and we did not see them again. Morning came and it was time to pack up our stuff and head for home. It had been a great weekend even though the fishing had been poor. My friends and I were sad to leave. It had all been such fun.
 

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Grazin' In The Grass Is A Gas And Diggin' In The Soil Is A Toil

It's still a little chilly in SE Georgia for March almost April, but this is what we did today.

Started the vegetable garden!

Hubby planted Blue Lake Green Beans, Fordhook Lima Beans, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Straight Neck Yellow Squash and 6 Beef Stake Tomato plants. The garden should produce more this year because we spent more time preparing the soil with fertilizer and composed cow manure.

I also planted Giant Zinnia's next to the water hose, seeds left over from last year. So not only will there be food, there will be color.

Oh, and furry kids helped.

Sam (8 1/2 months)
"Throw it Mommy!? Huh? Would ya?!"

Jack (left) and Sam taking a breather from the
exhausting work of supervising a garden! *lol*

While Lucy, the one good dog, looks on ...

I'm also learning how to use my new Windows 8.1 HP Desktop computer. I finally gave up trying to "save" everything to an external hard drive. Starting over is just so much less drama.

I hope everyone had a lovely, happy Sunday. What did you do today?



Two Minutes With The Bible ~ Things New and Old

Things New and Old 

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

When our Lord had finished His familiar discourse on “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” He said:
“THEREFORE, EVERY SCRIBE WHICH IS INSTRUCTED UNTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE A MAN THAT IS AN HOUSEHOLDER, WHO BRINGS FORTH OUT OF HIS TREASURE THINGS NEW AND OLD” (Matt. 13:52).
A new era had just dawned in the world’s history. A new message was being proclaimed. John the Baptist had begun to cry: “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” and the Lord Jesus and the twelve had taken up the same message.

Some listened eagerly, others turned away — among them many of the scribes, the Bible teachers of the day. They did not welcome any new teaching. Yet Christ’s message of the kingdom in no way conflicted with the Old Testament Scriptures. Indeed, it was based on the Old Testament and confirmed by it. This is why our Lord reminded His hearers that the right kind of scribe would bring forth out of the treasure-house of Scripture, things both new and old.

How this lesson is needed today! Some cast away precious treasures out of the Bible, contending that they are old and out of date. Others, while clinging tenaciously to old truths, reject new light. While mere professors of religion too often cast aside old truths with the complaint that they are outworn, true possessors often reject new light simply because it is new. They vie with each other to be orthodox instead of vying to find more light from the unfathomable Word of God.

Is it possible that we have drained the Well of Scripture dry? Are there no more precious stones in that exhaustless Mine? Have any of us received all the light that shines from the Holy Bible?
Then, cost what it may, let us keep digging into the Scriptures, that as we minister to others we may bring forth out of the divine Treasure-house things both new and old.


To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Friday, March 28, 2014

For My Blogging Friends Up North #Spring

This is what we're seeing right now in Southeast Georgia.

I'm not rubbing it in. Really. Just thought everyone might want a different view other than snow.

This is one our neighbor's field of mustard. 

I never knew that mustard on the hoof looks so pretty.



I hope your views improve soon.

Have a great weekend folks!



Funny Friday ~ BoomBox by Dixon Diaz










Thursday, March 27, 2014

Throwback Thursday: Titusville, Florida in November 1962

I grew up in a sleepy little central Florida town of Titusville. It's a metropolis now but in the 1960’s many of our roads where still dirt. Garden Street was a cow path when I was a tot. My adopted parents owned about one acre of land planted with Orange Trees, Kumquats, Grapefruit and the like. When they left western Pennsylvania, they really went native.

 
This Polaroid was snapped in our mini orange grove during November of 1962. They are my adopted father’s grandparents, Charles Edward Ackman and Edna Bella Ehle Ackman, affectionately known by the family respectfully as “Da Da” and “Mum Mum”. I don't know how they got those titles, but it stuck all their lives.

My memories of “Da Da” are sporadic since he died within months of me losing my mother. I do remember fishing with Grandad in Florida. All my memories are of him with a fishing pole in his hand. In fact, he died pulling in a really big fish on the Indian River in December of 1966. Da Da let me taste my first beer when I was 8. He took me in my first, and only, parade ride on the volunteer fire truck and seemed a genuinely content sort of fellow. 

“Mum Mum” lived until April 1981 to the ripe old age of 84. Mum Mum was a real sweetheart. On Sunday’s, she made sure I attended the local Lutheran church, read the Bible with me, taught me how to crochet, and always treated me like family. She had a very quiet, gentle, "take life as it comes" demeanor. Everybody loved Mum Mum. She was a fine Christian woman and I miss her the most.

On a funny note, this is not a “throwback” but my husband shared this with me this evening and thought it would be good for a giggle. He found it at his Honda CB1100 Forum.

Aren't those Aussie's a hoot?! Or, as they call themselves, The Land of Oz. (How they came up with "Oz", I have no idea.) They have that typical English humor but act like Americans.

Have a great day folks!


Monday, March 24, 2014

Part Ten: Shootout At The OK Canal

As I stated in his first post, once weekly I plan to feature a guest writer, my husband. Since we have no children, he has been painstakingly writing down the stories of his childhood to share them with his then 9 year old niece. I wanted her to know what kind of childhood her beloved Uncle was able to enjoy. While enjoying them myself I thought these are so much fun to read, why not share them? So here are the short missives of his memories of growing up in wilds of Florida during the 1950's and 1960's. They're packed with misadventures, romance, and all the confusing things that can happen in our youth. Even though his hometown of Jacksonville is a big city with over a million residents now, during his childhood it was several small communities surrounded by countryside.

This is his story.

(Please note: None of the photos in this post are from our files. They are all from the internet.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Shootout At The OK Canal
by Steven R. Hudson

There were certain items in Grandma Cootie's house that were off limits to me and my cousins, Uncle Bill's guns. They were everywhere about the house. There was a revolver atop the dresser in Grandma's bedroom. A Winchester rifle was leaned in the corner of the living room and Uncle Bill's Walther pistol, a war souvenir, was often lying on a desk top. We youngsters were warned that these guns were always loaded and we were not to touch them. We never did for we feared the consequences. In order to satisfy our youthful curiosity, Uncle Bill took me and cousins Billy and Johnny down an old dirt road that followed one of the many local drainage canals. We were going shooting and were agog with excitement. We had never shot anything other than BB guns but now we would be handling and shooting real firearms. Uncle Bill stopped the car in a wooded place on the canal bank and went about setting up some old cans as targets.
 His old Winchester .22 rifle was taken out and it's safe operation explained to us. Soon we were taking turns enjoying the crack of the rifle and watching the cans topple.We shot the little rifle until our ears rang and, all too soon, it was time to leave. Before we left though, Uncle bill got out his .30-30 lever action Winchester to demonstrate the difference between this rifle and the little .22 we had been shooting. He told us to cover our ears and then fired at a small pine tree growing on the canal bank. CRACK-BOOM went the rifle and the tree seemed to explode at it's base and then topple over. We were dumbstruck. I now dreamed of having my own rifle and the fulfillment of that dream was not far off.

Grandma and Uncle Bill did not live in St. Lucie long when they decided to move to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Uncle Bill had been a plastering contractor for years but now dry wall was replacing plaster as the favored way to finish interior walls. Adobe style houses, common in New Mexico, required skilled plaster work. We would not see my Grandma or Uncle Bill for the next few years. They would hit on hard times in New Mexico and never recover the prosperity they had enjoyed in previous years. When they returned to Florida, they moved in with Gramoddy. Years later, they would homestead an island on the Indian River where many more great adventures awaited.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Two Minutes With The Bible ~ The Sins That Are Past

The Sins That Are Past 

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

In Chapter 3 of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans he declares that God has set forth Christ as a satisfaction for man’s sin and that redemption is obtained by faith in “His blood,” or His payment for sin at Calvary, entirely apart from works, religious or otherwise (Rom. 3:21-26).

But in this same passage he states that this “remission” concerns the “sins that are past” (Ver. 25). What does he mean by this? Some have taught from this verse that when a sinner turns to God for salvation all his sins are forgiven up to that time and now that he is saved he is henceforth responsible for himself. But this would mean that God saves men by His grace only to turn them over again to their own weak and sinful natures. If this were the case, the converted sinner would be lost again the same day, for what Christian believer is wholly free from sin?

Paul rather looks back here at past ages and declares that we now know and proclaim that men like Abel, Noah and Abraham, and also like Moses, David and Daniel (who lived under the Law) were actually saved by the redemption wrought by Christ, although Christ’s death was still future in their day. In other words, Christ died, not only for the sins which we have committed, but also for the “sins which are past.” The believers of past ages simply believed what God told them then, and God counted them righteous (Gen. 15:6) on the basis of Christ’s coming payment for sin.

We have the same truth set forth in Hebrews 9:15, where we are told that Christ’s death availed also “for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant,” i.e., the Law.
How blessed we are to live at a time when God’s plan of salvation has been fully revealed, and that we can now look to the Lord Jesus Christ and exclaim with Paul:
“He loved me, and gave Himself for me!” (Gal. 2:20).

To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Press Any Key To Continue #XP #Windows8


I must be a true Luddite because I hate change! A couple of days ago, I learned that starting April 8, 2014, Windows XP will no longer be supported by Microsoft.

Panic mode!

As usual, I must be the last person in America to know this! Our home currently uses three computers. Now I learn they need upgrading and/or replacing?! [Oh, boy, another expense ... sigh] I did try to update the computers on-line and the Microsoft website said, "Nah, girl, that ain't happenin'. You have to spend major bucks on new equipment." [lol] In actuality, it showed the "Your computer is not compatible for an upgrade." 

Well, La De Da!

I think I have a cheaper solution that buying a whole new system. The Dell Desktop here in my office still has a good monitor, keyboard, speakers and mouse. I can reuse them on a new tower.

Right?! 

Hope so because I'm going with that. For now. I'll also need to buy a separate floppy disk access (is that the right term?). So, after perusing the Wal-Mart website last night I happened on a refurbished HP 110-023wb Desktop with Windows 8, 8 GB, 1 TB Hard Drive, etc. for under $300 with a limited warranty. I made sure to read the reviews. According to the previous purchasers who posted, I can still use my "old" software programs. If I have to upgrade all those too, that will become costly.

But I still eventually need two small Laptops and/or Notebooks. I checked into a Tablet, but Husband said they are too hard to use with arthritic hands. Any suggestions or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Also, any suggestions on how to get rid of the old computers? I'd prefer them to be "scrubbed" for security and privacy reasons. And I don't like the thought of cluttering up the landfill with usable electronic equipment. 

I hope everyone has a happy (and cheaper) weekend.

~ Ride Safe ~

Friday, March 21, 2014

Funny Friday ~ You Think English Is Easy? #Homographs

You Think English Is Easy?


Homographs are words of like spelling but with more than one meaning.
A  homograph that is also pronounced differently is a heteronym.

1)  The bandage was wound around the wound.

2)  The farm was used to produce produce.

3)  The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
 
4)  We must polish the Polish furniture.

5)  He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6)  The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7)  Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8)  A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9)  When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are animal organs. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?  Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. -  Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick'?



Thursday, March 20, 2014

Throwback Thursday: My 1979 Kawasaki KZ650


Welcome to my first attempt at Throwback Thursday.


Above is a photo of my sweet Hubby and me from the early 1980's. I was only 24 and Hubby was 32. I wish I was still that skinny! This is my first street legal motorcycle. It was a 1979 Kawasaki KZ 650 set up for touring with a Vetter Fairing, Bates Box, and King and Queen seats. It even had a homemade cruise control, of sorts. Since we both liked to ride, and neither cared to be a passenger, we would take turns up front. Because female riders where a rarity in the '80s, we sure got some amazed looks!

We had a lot of adventures on this bike. "They" say hindsight's 20/20 but I wish I could have kept it. I sold the bike when we bought our first house in October 1981.

This photo was snapped somewhere between Titusville and Jacksonville, Florida, along the I-95 corridor. We where freshly married and had been down to visit my Dad and step-mother in Titusville for the day. It is about a two hour trip one way, so, about half way back we had stopped at one of the rest areas to refresh ourselves. A kindly by-stander, now long forgotten, took the picture for us. I'm forever grateful to that man. Because of his kindness we still have a very happy memory memorialized forever on film.


Monday, March 17, 2014

Part Nine: The Birds, The Bees ... And The Honey

As I stated in his first post, once weekly I plan to feature a guest writer, my husband. Since we have no children, he has been painstakingly writing down the stories of his childhood to share them with his then 9 year old niece. I wanted her to know what kind of childhood her beloved Uncle was able to enjoy. While enjoying them myself I thought these are so much fun to read, why not share them? So here are the short missives of his memories of growing up in wilds of Florida during the 1950's and 1960's. They're packed with misadventures, romance, and all the confusing things that can happen in our youth. Even though his hometown of Jacksonville is a big city with over a million residents now, during his childhood it was several small communities surrounded by countryside.

This is his story.

(Please note: None of the photos in this post are from our files. They are all from the internet.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The Birds, The Bees ... And The Honey
by Steven R. Hudson

On a warm summer morning we boys, that being Ray, Jackie, Peanut and I,
were walking the trail from Sherwood Forest toward the Mealer house carrying bundles of Dog Fennel stalks we had cut to make a tepee. De-limbed Maple saplings had already been stacked at Ray and Jackie's backyard to make the tepee frame. The Dog Fennel stalks, feathery and green and wreaking of Chlorophyll, would be woven over the frame of Maple to form the walls of our "Injun" dwelling.

Along this path stood an old Bald Cypress. The tree was one that could not help but be noticed, standing alone now on dry ground that was once a shallow wetland and somehow having avoided the saws that felled it's companions. Like all members of it's kind, it was swollen at the
base with many "Cypress Knees" thrusting from the ground nearby. Something was different as we approached the tree this day. A steady buzzing sound from the tree caught our attention causing us to drop our bundles and investigate. There was a hole about six inches wide at the tree's base and a steady stream of Honey Bees flying in and out of the opening. We passed by this tree many times a week on our way to the forest and were surprised that the bees had escaped our notice until now. Being of an age famous for short attention spans, we forgot about tepee construction and set about investigating the beehive. 

The first painful lesson learned was that Honey Bees get highly irritated when you get too near their honey store. Pulling their barbed stingers from our tender young flesh convinced us that another approach was needed. Now it seems that at least one of us brigands had heard that smoke was like a drug to bees. Smoke would calm them, making them docile enough so that we might rob their honey supply without being stung. We began gathering some dry sticks and enough tender to make a small fire near the hive opening and dry leaves would make plenty of smoke to soothe the hive's protectors. A long sapling was cut and used to push the sticks and tender up to the opening which was less than a foot from ground level. Dried grass was wrapped around the pole's tip and lit to make a long "match" to get the sticks and tender burning. This actually worked as smoke drifted up and into the opening. We became emboldened and moved closer, throwing more sticks and leaves on the fire and fanning the smoke into the opening with a palmetto frond. The bees seemed confused and crawled around the opening, no longer flying aggressively toward us. Which of us would be brave (crazy) enough to reach in that opening and pull out the honey comb with it's sweet treasure?

If Peanut was known for anything it was impulsiveness. If you wished to see him do something risky or just plain stupid,  just dare him to do it. So we dared him and straight away, he reached into the hive opening, felt around for a moment, then pulled out a comb a foot long and dripping with honey. Jackie rushed home to fetch a bucket for the honey comb. The bucket was soon filled and raid over, we retired to a shady spot to enjoy our spoils. We cut the comb open and lapped up the honey like thirsty dogs. It was so sweet and delicious and, like dogs, we ate too much and got sick. The bees had gotten their revenge.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A Special Note For Today:
In case my readers haven't noticed,
I'm not much into celebrating holidays.
However, March 17th is a special day for us
because on this day 35 years ago
Sweetie and I had our First Date.
(And, yes, I wore green that day.) :)
We've been together as a couple ever since.
We always, always find some way to celebrate this day.
For everyone else, I hope your day is special too.
Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Saint Patty's Day!


Sunday, March 16, 2014

Two Minutes With The Bible ~ Grieve Not The Spirit

Grieve Not The Spirit 

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

The first lesson each believer in Christ should learn is that immediately upon believing he is given everlasting life. Referring to this fact Ephesians 1:13,14 says:
“In whom ye also trusted, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also having believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.”
Mark well, the believer is not sealed by the Holy Spirit, but “with” the Holy Spirit. The Spirit Himself is the seal. Every sincere believer in Christ, then, should rejoice in an accomplished redemption and rest in the fact that the Holy Spirit will keep him eternally safe.

But while we cannot lose the Holy Spirit we can, and often do, grieve the Holy Spirit, as we read in Eph. 4:30. This is why we are told in Rom. 8:26 that the Spirit “helpeth our infirmities” and makes intercession for us, that we might live lives which please and honor God.

The wonderful fact is, however, that “nothing,” not even an aggrieved Spirit shall “separate us from the love of God” (Rom. 8:38,39). Thus in the same breath with which the Apostle exhorts us not to grieve the Spirit he again reassures us that this same Spirit keeps us eternally safe:
“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).
Does this encourage careless living? Those who think so have missed the whole point of Paul’s appeal. The Apostle does not warn the believer that if he grieves the Spirit he will be lost. Rather, in grace he exhorts:
“Do not grieve the very Spirit who in mercy and love has sealed you as forever His own. Do not repay such love with such ingratitude.”

To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

A Hodge Podge Post With A Craft Idea

Hubby has finally returned from his central Florida trip to assist his recently widowed father prepare the house for sale.

Hubby's 2013 Honda CB100 in the
Bethel Primitive Baptist Church and Cemetery parking lot
Folkston, Charlton County, Georgia

What a job! He said there where multiple garbage bags of clothing, knick knacks, and just plain garbage to get rid of. He said they're still not finished. Makes me kind of thankful I stayed here. Less work and I get to sleep in my own bed. *smile* Now I understand that his father has major blockages in one or both of his legs and needs surgery. Poor man. When it rains it pours.

While perusing the Yahoo! News, which I try to do every evening, I noticed this interesting article titled "5 Things To Do With Old Sweaters".


They offered some really interesting ideas! From dog beds to pillow covers and purses, etc. I love this! I think that using old sweat shirts may work as well. Has anyone made any of these or anything similar? Please share. I enjoy "repurposing" old clothes and furniture.

Have a great evening folks!