Again...

Here we go again!

lol

The flight was bound for Flint. None of the 40 passengers was injured.

This was a local news story. Take out the prepositional phrase and it reads, "None was injured." That's how I teach my daughter to find the mistakes--take out the unnecessary words and phrases.
Last night I had an MRI and the tech kept saying over and over, "You're doing real good." When you're in that little tube with all that banging and then the tech keeps saying the same grammatically incorrect statement, you tend to wonder what school he went to. I hope he paid more attention for his medical exams than he did for his English exams! lol I'm glad I did really well in my exam so it only took an hour...

PS (I'm not claiming perfection here, I just notice it all the time because I am teaching these things to my daughter.)

Phineas

I wonder if anyone knows who Phineas was.

When the Israelites were marrying foreign wives, God said for the judges to kill all the men who were doing so. I think it's in Judges 25. Anyway, when one man brought his "girlfriend" before the congregation, just to...ummm...show off his sin, Phineas rose up from the congregation and slew the man and the woman.

Out of all those people, he was the one who did what God wanted. Not the judges, not the priest but young (he was a grandson of Aaron, I think) man did it.

My mind keeps going to the fact that there was a whole congregation, and he was the only one who stood up, had zeal for the Lord. I suppose some in that situation may have thought it was the judges' job to do it, not theirs, and maybe that's why no one else stood up. Some might think he was overstepping his authority, but God said it was great and held off the punishment of Israel because of him.

The whole nation was preserved because of one young person's zeal. It was reckoned to him for righteousness to all generations. Ps. 106 3:4?

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Oh, Grammar...

As a homeschooler, I always seem to see grammar mistakes in the news. Yes, if I am watching the news, I verbally correct the anchor person, not to be rude, but to make sure my kids see the error. My hubby always says "seen" instead of "saw" and "saw" instead of "have seen", or just "seen" without the "have". lol I always say "may" instead of "could" and "could" instead of "may". Could you, may I, is what I have to constantly say to myself! lol It's terrible when your 8 year old corrects you. And then my daughter always says, "Mom, you're the teacher; you know everything!" (She's joking, of course!)

Anyway, I saw this online, on our local news website. Can you find the error?

Firefighters arrived at the 8-unit building around 7 p.m. to find flames engulfing the west end of the second-floor attic area, said 5th Battalion Chief Ralph Gallow. None of the occupants was injured and had already begun evacuating the building, he said.

Lazy

Lazy.
No, I'm not completely lazy, but there is definitly some laziness in me.
I spent an hour or so last night writing out all the verses I could find in regards to laziness. I thought that it was a good place for me to start.
Seems from what I read the lazy person is wasteful and makes tons of excuses not to do work and then complains when they don't have the fruit of their labor (that they didn't do). Yes, in ways that sounds like me. I'd rather not go into details of how it's like me, but it is. Not big issues, like getting up int he morning, but just not having my priorities in order, takes me away from the work God has set before me and I choose to spend my time doing other things. Then I tend to find myself complaining that other things are quite the way they should be, because I am choosing to do other things-not sinful things- just other things so the things I want to have done don't get done. Know what I mean?
For example, if I know I need to be spending more time in my schooling, but then decide the I need to clean up the copper legs of my living room table, I really am choosing to clean the table because I am tired of school work. Is this good? No, I don't think so. Of course, it all falls into I know what my attitude is when I choose to do the other things. I need to be diligent in the other things and then leave the non-important things for later.

Prov. 13:4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing but the soul of the diligent is made fat.

Prov. 20:4 The sluggard does not plow after the autumn so he begs during the harvest and has nothing.

Prov. 19:15 Laziness casts into a deep sleep and an idle man suffers harm.

Prov. 22:13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!"

I need to stop making excuses for my lack of desire to do the things I know I should. There's no lion out there, except myself and my fleshly desires.

I want joy, peace and contentment in all areas of my life. My heart feels heavy and I'm not sure why. But this seems like a good place to start.

My thoughts for the day

So, where is my thoughts today?
I went to bible study last night and as usual, had a great time. After leaving, I told my hubby if my pastor keeps using my name during study, people are going to think I'm the teacher's pet! lol

I don't think that's a bad thing, though. We have memory verses every week--two of them. It was mine and Craig's turn to say them, and after I said mine, I made a couple comments in regards to what I thought they meant and the Pastor, two weeks in a row, said the comments I made were good! Then Craig said his verse, and they waited for someone else to comment, but no one else raised their hand so I raised my hand and commented on his verse as well (this comment wasn't quite as good--I got corrected on something I said--I'm ok with that, though). No one else commented after me, other than the pastor.

Seems that rarely does anyone else say anything. Seems I am the only one who asks questions too. I mean, others do here and there, but it seems I am the one who asks the most. I can see people as looking down on me for it-- kind of like the kid in school who gets the most attention. I don't like it. It feels uncomfortable. I wish others would ask and maybe be more interested that they would comment or ask more questions...

I want to know things. I want to understand things. I want to grow. That's why God gave me leaders. So that they can help me do that. I'm not the smartest book on the shelf, lot of times I get rather dusty and I have to blow off my dust, shake it off a bit and pick myself up again. I feel lately that the cobwebs in my spiritual life need to be cleaned out. I need to get myself all ready for if Christ comes back today or tomorrow or whenever. I don't want to feel dirty (any more tan I have to) when He comes back.

I got some bible studies to help me, and I've been waking up earlier to get in some extra time during the day to do what I need to do. That's all I can do right now. *sigh* I just want to do better. I can always do better. His mercies are renewed every morning...

Why I don't do Christmas...

It's that time of year...
Last year, I didn't make mention of Christmas to you'all. I just hid away, letting you do your thing without me raining on anyone's parade. I know in my saying this, I'm not really stomping on toes, but some people I'm sure will see it that way. Everyone is entitled to do as they wish, I am not personally condemning anyone by what follows. I just saw on a couple blogs people saying why they do Christmas and so I thought I would share why I don't.

Feel free to leave comments, but please be nice to me. Last time I spoke up, I got 50 or more comments bashing me as a person without them even really knowing me. And like I said before, this is what I choose to do. We will each answer to Him for ourselves.

1. Christ never told me to. (I see the baby as the man who was only born to die...not a festive happy thing)
2. The three wise men is all messed up...(the bible never says how many and they came when He was two...If you will read Matthew 2:7-11carefully, you will see that the star led the wise men to Nazareth, not to the stable in Bethlehem where our Lord was born. Verse 9 tells us that they found Jesus in "the house" where He had lived with Mary and Joseph since He was 91 days old. (Luke 2:7, 21-39) This "house" was in Nazareth, the place where Joseph and Mary lived.
3. Christ was not born on December 25th. "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night."Luke 2:8.it is a well known fact that December is the rainy season in Palestine and the sheep were kept in the fold at that time of the year. The shepherds always corralled and brought their flocks from the mountain sides and fields not later than October l5th, to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed that date. So the birth of Christ could not have taken place at the end of December. Then, in the second chapter of Luke, you will find that at the birth of Christ every woman and child was to go to be taxed at the city where they were citizens. This could not have been in winter. Augustus, the king of Rome, would certainly not call for such a taxing in the depth of winter. Therefore, Christ could not have been born in December. Actually, Christ was most likely born some time in the first part of October. This is figured from the fact that His earthly ministry lasted 3 1/2 years, and He was crucified on the l4th day of Nisan which corresponds to our April. See John 19:31; Leviticus 23:5. If we go back 3 1/2 years to the time when Jesus was 30 years old (when He began His public ministry), we come to the month of October. This was probably the month when our blessed Lord was born into the world. (Of course, the date of Jesus' birth is not too important. The important thing is that He was born and that He died for our sins. We're not worshiping a helpless infant lying in a manger, but we're worshiping a risen and exalted Christ who has all power in heaven and in earth. Matthew 28:18.)
4. Christmas is of heathen origin. Christmas started w i t h the Sun worshipers in the t i m e of Nimrod, the man who built the Tower of Babel. Any reputable encyclopedia will tell you that our modern day Christmas customs came out of paganism. Encyclopedia Britannica has this to say: "Christmas (i.e., the Mass of Christ) was not among the earliest festivals of the church." Other encyclopedias say much more, but I am sparing you the reading! :)
   
5. Christmas is a Catholic holiday. Why should I steal Christmas from the Catholics? They got it from the pagans and I'm happy to let them keep it. Sometimes you hear the slogan, "Let's Put Christ Back Into Christmas." Well, how can you put Christ back into something when He was never there? History teaches that the Catholics invented Christmas to get the pagans into the church so they mixed their pagan ideas with Christ and this is what they got. (most of the traditions have pagan roots-- misiltoe, yule logs, stockings and the lump of coal, even the tree--especially the tree)
   
6. Even the name "Christmass" is an abomination to the Lord. Christmass is a combination of two words, "Christ" and "Mass." Christ is the divine title of our Lord. "Mass" is from the Roman Catholic sacrament of the mass. Certainly born-again Christians shouldn't have anything to do with masses. The mass is a Roman Catholic invention. The mass is a prayer that is read or sung for the soul of a dead person.
7. Christmas is of the world. We are commanded in I John 2: 15, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." One fact alone proves to me that Christmas is not of God. It is this: The world which hates Christ and His blood atonement for sin makes more fuss about Christmas than any other holiday. Now , just think, if December 25th were really the birthday of Jesus, don't you know that the world would have nothing to do with it?
8. Now the tree...The Christmas tree is condemned by the Bible. "Learn not the way of the Heathen . . . For the customs of that people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not . . . But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities . . ." Jeremiah 10: 2-4, 10. Here you have a perfect description of the Christmas tree, called by God "the way of the heathen." We are commanded not to learn that way or follow it. It is also viewed in this passage as idolatry. The fifth verse says that these trees cannot speak - cannot walk - must be carried. Some people misread this to make it say there is no harm in having a Christmas tree, but that is not what it says at all. Rather, the prophet Jeremiah tells us that it is vanity and foolishness and says "learn not the way of the heathen." Some people will stay up all night to work on an old dead tree. They'll trim it all up, and stand off a little ways and admire their handiwork. Some of you will sit up all night and look at that old Christmas tree. I'd like to leave this little thought with you. Did you know that the green tree is mentioned 14 times in the Bible, and in every instance it is linked with idolatry. There isn't one place in the Bible where God commends the use of the evergreen in connection with true worship.
9. When people exchange gifts, they're not bringing them to Christ; they're giving them to one another. You have got to keep a list of the people who sent you presents last year and each year your list grows longer and longer, and before long you're in such a heavy debt buying Christmas presents that you've got to start saving money right after one Christmas in order to buy presents for the next Christmas. Beloved, I can't understand why anyone would went to be in bondage to such an expensive custom. Jesus is supposed to be the cause of Christmas, and yet people give their gifts to everybody but Jesus.

   Perhaps some of you are asking, "Didn't the Wise Men give gifts to Jesus?" They certainly did, but they didn't give them to one another. And their gifts were not birthday gifts because the Wise Men did not come to visit Jesus until he was nearly two years old.

10. The name Santa Claus is a corruption of the name Saint Nicholas who is none other than Old Nick, the Devil. And yet thousands of parents will encourage their children to write to dear old St. Nick or dear Santa. Now if you're a Christian, you should be ashamed of yourself if you lie to your children by telling them that there is a Santa Claus. Through the year you punish your children for lying, and then you turn right around and lie yourself by telling your children that there is a Santa Claus. Is it any wonder when they grow up and learn the truth that they begin to believe that God is a myth too?

    The Bible says in Colossians 3: 9, "Lie not one to another." We are commanded in Ephesians 4:25, "...to put away lying, and to speak every man truth with his neighbor

11. Finally, I don't celebrate Christmas because God's Word absolutely forbids the (spiritual ) observance of any holy days in this dispensation of grace.

    "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." Galatians 4:10-11.

    That sounds like the observance of Christmas, doesn't it? Here the Apostle Paul absolutely forbids the ( spiritual ) observing of days, months and seasons. To the Christian there are no special holy days. Every day should be alike, holy unto the Lord. If you are a Scriptural believer you will not "esteem one day above another." Romans 14:5. If you are truly saved, you will remember the birth, the life, the death, the burial and the resurrection of your wonderful Savior 365 days a year. Yes, I am glad to serve a real and a living Christ who lives all year round. Let us as born-again Christians use our money this season of the year, not for foolish and unnecessary presents, but to spread the Gospel message to this lost and dying world.

I choose to teach my children the truth about Christmas. God's Word says ( Ephesians 6:4) to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and why should we dishonor the name of Christ in such manner under the pretense of showing the children a good time? There are 364 more days in the year during which we can give gifts to our children. Trust me, my kids aren't missing a thing!

Most of this info comes from Charles Half and the Christian Jew Foundation