Humility: Why It Matters. Do It With Your Might. Can We Eat To Starve Cancer?

Humility: Why It Matters

“Humility isn’t valued very highly today. But the Bible shows it’s not just a nice characteristic—it’s one that’s essential to please God.

Arrogance is certainly not among the most desirable characteristics in a person. People who are arrogant, full of themselves, and who deem themselves superior to others are so annoying. They’re condescending, selfish, egotistical and blind to the needs of others.

For many, the arrogance of others is an annoyance and source of frustration, but nothing more. Most would prefer that others not be arrogant, but society doesn’t really put a high value on its opposite—humility. The self-assured seem to succeed, while the humble get walked on.

A look at the Bible, however, shows that God places great emphasis on humility—and says some very condemning things about pride in all its forms.

God hates pride

“These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him,” begins the list of things that God absolutely hates. They are not things that annoy God, His pet peeves or a few minor frustrations. This is the list of things that God will not tolerate. The first thing on this list is “a proud look” (Proverbs 6:16-17).

God does more than hate pride. Pride is so offensive that He actually “resists the proud,” while, in contrast, He “gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

God also requires humility of those who choose to follow Him (Micah 6:8). It is on the humble one He will look, not the arrogant (Isaiah 66:2). The contrast is so strong that the Bible declares, “The LORD will destroy the house of the proud, but He will establish the boundary of the widow” (Proverbs 15:25). The possessions of the proud will be destroyed, while God will look after and protect the humble, such as widows.

Why are pride and humility such big deals to God?

Pride’s grand entrance

Humans generally see pride in others as an annoyance, but we have a hard time seeing it in ourselves. God sees pride for exactly what it is—a terrible instigator of evil.

The universe was originally ideal and full of peace. Everything was perfect. There was no strife, confusion, violence, evil or destruction.

Then things began to change. Gradually, one of God’s greatest angels started to think how great he was. The angel—the one often called Lucifer—began to think that he was even greater than God Himself. As his pride grew, he apparently corrupted a third of the other angels and staged a rebellion against the very God of heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Revelation 12:7-9). For more on how Lucifer became Satan, read “Satan: A Profile.”

Pride and the plan of God

To fully understand why God hates pride and esteems humility so much, it’s necessary to understand what God has planned for the human race. This physical life is not all there is—it’s a time to prepare for a limitless life dwelling in eternity.

Mankind was made with a purpose—the purpose of becoming sons and daughters of God Himself (2 Corinthians 6:18; Hebrews 2:10). Those who become children of God will be given awesome power.

That power can’t go to just anybody. God will only give it to those He trusts to use it wisely. If He gave that power to someone as arrogant as Satan, the potential for evil and destruction would be unimaginable.

It’s vital that we learn the lesson of humility now—in this physical life. Pride destroys, devastates and corrupts. It’s vital that we learn the lesson of humility now—in this physical life. Pride destroys, devastates and corrupts. No member of God’s family can possess pride. God doesn’t, and neither will His children.

For more on man’s purpose for life, read our article “Purpose of Life.”

God’s example

God is superior to mankind in every way imaginable. In spite of this, God loves us enough to deal with us and, more amazing still, is willing to share all that He is and all that He has with us.

When Jesus Christ was on the earth, He revealed to us the very mind of the Father (John 5:19). The example that Christ set was one of humility (Luke 22:27; John 13:1-16). Christ’s willingness to become human and sacrifice Himself for His creation was the supreme act of love and humility (Philippians 2:5-7).

How pride destroys

Pride is an overinflated sense of self-worth, or thinking that we are greater than we actually are. Pride occurs when our perspective becomes so skewed that we think we are superior to those around us. It destroys relationships and is the opposite of godly love.

Pride causes us to forget that the nations are a drop in the bucket compared to God (Isaiah 40:15). Pride makes us think that we do not need God. As man elevates himself, God eventually gets shoved out of the picture entirely (Romans 1:18-25).

Thinking that we don’t need God is one of the biggest mistakes we can make. Satan—the arrogant being who started all of the evil we see in the world—is still “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30). His goal is the utter destruction of every single human being in existence. The only way that we can prevent him from achieving that goal is to “submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8).

Pride’s ugly future

In the last days, before Christ’s return, pride will bring mankind to the brink of total destruction. The apostle Paul provided a list of the predominant characteristics that men and women will have in the end times, and it’s not a pretty list. The descriptions range from traitors to those without self-control to the haughty (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

These characteristics—including haughtiness or pride—will cause mankind to defy God. When He causes plagues to strike the earth for the purpose of bringing mankind to repentance, many will be too arrogant to turn to Him. They will grow angry and blaspheme God instead of humbly bending to His will (Revelation 16:9, 11, 21).

In the end, prideful men will be humbled, and Satan will be put away.

In the meantime, it is up to us to destroy the pride in our lives and develop the humility that was in the mind of Christ. If we are to be exalted as members of the family of God, then we must humble ourselves now (Luke 14:11). Humility matters that much.” From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/christian-living/humility/

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Do It With Your Might

Ecclesiastes 9:10

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

Solomon’s writings repeatedly encourage diligence and hard work as necessary ingredients of success. (For more on this, see our article “How to Be Successful.”) Here the wise king adds the perspective that this life is short, and so we must apply our full efforts now. This passage may have been on the apostle Paul’s mind when he wrote, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (Colossians 3:23).

Many churches dispute Solomon’s assertion that “the dead know nothing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) and that there is no knowledge or wisdom in the grave. The common teaching is that man has an immortal soul. But is this what the Bible teaches? For more on this, see our article “Immortal Soul.”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/do-it-with-your-might/

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Can We Eat To Starve Cancer?

^{Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Li may be referring, watch the above video. “So why should we care about blood vessels? Well, the human body is literally packed with them -- 60,000 miles worth in a typical adult. End to end, that would form a line that would circle the earth twice. The smallest blood vessels are called capillaries. We've got 19 billion of them in our bodies. And these are the vessels of life, and as I'll show you, they can also be the vessels of death. Now, the remarkable thing about blood vessels is that they have this ability to adapt to whatever environment they're growing in. For example, in the liver, they form channels to detoxify the blood; in the lungs, they line air sacs for gas exchange. In muscle, they corkscrew, so that muscles can contract without cutting off circulation. And in nerves, they course along like power lines, keeping those nerves alive.}

01:19

We get most of these blood vessels when we're actually still in the womb. And what that means is that as adults, blood vessels don't normally grow. Except in a few special circumstances. In women, blood vessels grow every month, to build the lining of the uterus. During pregnancy, they form the placenta, which connects mom and baby. And after injury, blood vessels actually have to grow under the scab in order to heal a wound. And this is actually what it looks like, hundreds of blood vessels, all growing toward the center of the wound.

01:53

So the body has the ability to regulate the amount of blood vessels that are present at any given time. It does this through an elaborate and elegant system of checks and balances, stimulators and inhibitors of angiogenesis, such that, when we need a brief burst of blood vessels, the body can do this by releasing stimulators, proteins called angiogenic factors, that act as natural fertilizer, and stimulate new blood vessels to sprout. When those excess vessels are no longer needed, the body prunes them back to baseline, using naturally-occurring inhibitors of angiogenesis. There are other situations where we start beneath the baseline, and we need to grow more blood vessels, just to get back to normal levels -- for example, after an injury -- and the body can do that too, but only to that normal level, that set point.

02:40

But what we now know, is that for a number of diseases, there are defects in the system, where the body can't prune back extra blood vessels, or can't grow enough new ones in the right place at the right time. And in these situations, angiogenesis is out of balance. And when angiogenesis is out of balance, a myriad of diseases result. For example, insufficient angiogenesis -- not enough blood vessels -- leads to wounds that don't heal, heart attacks, legs without circulation, death from stroke, nerve damage. And on the other end, excessive angiogenesis -- too many blood vessels -- drives disease, and we see this in cancer, blindness, arthritis, obesity, Alzheimer's disease. In total, there are more than 70 major diseases affecting more than a billion people worldwide, that all look on the surface to be different from one another, but all actually share abnormal angiogenesis as their common denominator. And this realization is allowing us to re-conceptualize the way that we actually approach these diseases, by controlling angiogenesis.

03:45

Now, I'm going to focus on cancer, because angiogenesis is a hallmark of cancer -- every type of cancer. So here we go. This is a tumor: dark, gray, ominous mass growing inside a brain. And under the microscope, you can see hundreds of these brown-stained blood vessels, capillaries that are feeding cancer cells, bringing oxygen and nutrients. But cancers don't start out like this, and in fact, cancers don't start out with a blood supply. They start out as small, microscopic nests of cells, that can only grow to one half a cubic millimeter in size. That's the tip of a ballpoint pen. Then they can't get any larger because they don't have a blood supply, so they don't have enough oxygen or nutrients.

04:28

In fact, we're probably forming these microscopic cancers all the time in our body. Autopsy studies from people who died in car accidents have shown that about 40 percent of women between the ages of 40 and 50 actually have microscopic cancers in their breasts. About 50 percent of men in their 50s and 60s have microscopic prostate cancers, and virtually 100 percent of us, by the time we reach our 70s, will have microscopic cancers growing in our thyroid. Yet, without a blood supply, most of these cancers will never become dangerous. Dr. Judah Folkman, who was my mentor and who was the pioneer of the angiogenesis field, once called this "cancer without disease."

05:14

So the body's ability to balance angiogenesis, when it's working properly, prevents blood vessels from feeding cancers. And this turns out to be one of our most important defense mechanisms against cancer. In fact, if you actually block angiogenesis and prevent blood vessels from ever reaching cancer cells, tumors simply can't grow up. But once angiogenesis occurs, cancers can grow exponentially. And this is actually how a cancer goes from being harmless, to being deadly. Cancer cells mutate, and they gain the ability to release lots of those angiogenic factors, natural fertilizer, that tip the balance in favor of blood vessels invading the cancer. And once those vessels invade the cancer, it can expand, it can invade local tissues, and the same vessels that are feeding tumors allow cancer cells to exit into the circulation as metastases. And unfortunately, this late stage of cancer is the one at which it's most likely to be diagnosed, when angiogenesis is already turned on, and cancer cells are growing like wild.

11:14

So to look for a way to prevent angiogenesis in cancer, I went back to look at cancer's causes. And what really intrigued me, was when I saw that diet accounts for 30 to 35 percent of environmentally-caused cancers. Now the obvious thing is to think about what we could remove from our diet, what to strip out, take away. But I actually took a completely opposite approach, and began asking: What could we be adding to our diet that's naturally antiangiogenic, and that could boost the body's defense system, and beat back those blood vessels that are feeding cancers? In other words, can we eat to starve cancer?”  

Excerpts from: https://www.ted.com/talks/william_li_can_we_eat_to_starve_cancer?

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50 Years After the Moon Landing: Are There Greater Leaps Yet to Come? New Study Says to Eat More Beans, Less Beef. Update.

For: ”Scripture Sunday”:

50 Years After the Moon Landing: Are There Greater Leaps Yet to Come?

“Half a century has passed since the first man stepped onto the surface of our moon. How did that event change the world, and what can we expect in the future?

Space travel has fired up our imaginations for many generations. The idea of traveling off this earth and visiting other places in space has been explored in many science fiction books, movies and television shows.

Many older adults today grew up watching space adventure on shows like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. Then came Star Trek and all the various spin-off shows and movies that have entertained and intrigued generations of fans. And the list could go on and on. This all illustrates the fascination human beings have with exploration of what’s “out there” in the vast reaches of space.

Baby steps into space

The first step toward traveling to other planetary bodies was to put a man on our own moon—in astronomical terms, a trip just “around the block.” Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, that was accomplished when astronauts from the Apollo 11 mission successfully landed a lunar module on the surface of the moon.

About six hours after the landing, mission commander Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface, something no human being had ever done before. At that moment he uttered the now famous line: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Twenty minutes later, pilot Buzz Aldrin joined him. They spent 21½ hours on the surface of the moon before taking off to rejoin the Columbia spacecraft for the return trip to earth.

Their feat accomplished a goal set by U.S. President John Kennedy eight years earlier—to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade.

Fifty years later it is a bit difficult to comprehend the degree of anxiety the nation felt as the Saturn V rocket blasted off the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The space program had suffered its share of mishaps, including the devastating Apollo 1 disaster that killed three astronauts just 2½ years earlier.

That anxiety was replaced by elation when the entire mission went off as planned, and the three astronauts (including Michael Collins, who stayed aboard Columbia) splashed down safely on earth after eight days in space.

The impact of the space race

The “giant leap for mankind” could hardly have been understood at that juncture. A barrier had been broken. No longer was space travel something relegated to science fiction. It was now a reality.

But making that trip was not as simple as it appears in science fiction. Much of the technology required to safely put a man on the moon and bring him back had not existed even a decade earlier, so the pace of innovation and development was intense! And while human feet have not yet stepped on a planetary body beyond our moon, the effort at that time has had a profound impact on society.All this growth and development is a testament to the creativity and mental power God gave mankind.

Looking back at the leaps in technology, some estimate that the U.S. space program of the 1960s sped up major technological advancements by 10 to 20 years. In fact, the trickle-down effects of those efforts have led directly to many things we take for granted today, including cellular telephones, wireless equipment and technology, personal computers and tablet computers. While many of us remember when those things didn’t exist, today we find it hard to imagine living without them!

All this growth and development is a testament to the creativity and mental power God gave mankind. Our Creator gave us the ability to reason, plan, design and then implement those designs.

The Bible speaks about a “spirit in man” that God has given human beings that allows us to know “the things of a man” (1 Corinthians 2:11). It is this human spirit that sets us apart from all other life-forms and gives us the amazing mental abilities we have.

The dark side of human creativity

But we should never forget that there is also a dark side to the incredible creativity and power of the human mind.”       Continued at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/blog/50-years-after-the-moon-landing-are-there-greater-leaps-yet-to-come/?

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New Study Says to Eat More Beans, Less Beef

“Transformation to healthy diets by 2050 will require substantial dietary shifts. Global consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes will have to double, and consumption of foods such as red meat and sugar will have to be reduced by more than 50%. A diet rich in plant-based foods and with fewer animal source foods confers both improved health and environmental benefits.”
- Professor Walter Willett, MD Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

A recent report by the EAT-Lancet Commission, comprising of 37 leading scientists from 16 countries whose expertise range from human health, agriculture, political sciences and environmental sustainability, has found that “the global adoption of healthy diets from sustainable food systems would safeguard our planet and improve the health of billions.”
Here are a few excerpts from their report:

• Food is the single strongest lever to optimize human health and environmental sustainability on Earth.
• Unhealthy diets now pose a greater risk to morbidity and mortality than unsafe sex, alcohol, drug and tobacco use combined. Global food production threatens climate stability and ecosystem resilience and constitutes the single largest driver of environmental degradation and transgression of planetary boundaries. Taken together the outcome is dire. A radical transformation of the global food system is urgently needed. Without action, the world risks failing to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, and today’s children will inherit a planet that has been severely degraded and where much of the population will increasingly suffer from malnutrition and preventable disease.
• How food is produced, what is consumed, and how much is lost or wasted all heavily shape the health of both people and planet. The EAT-Lancet Commission presents an integrated global framework and for the first time, provides quantitative scientific targets for healthy diets and sustainable food production. The Commission shows that feeding 10 billion people a healthy diet within safe planetary boundaries for food production by 2050 is both possible and necessary.

This is not new information. Dr. McDougall has been lecturing on the importance of a starch-based diet, with the addition of fruits and vegetables and no added oils, for the sustainability of both optimal health and the planet, for over 45 years. The gravity of our situation can be remedied overnight by simply choosing the correct foods to eat that will allow both you and the planet to flourish. Allow us, in multiple languages, to show you the way…”  From:  https://mailchi.mp/drmcdougall.com/less-beef-more-beans?

Dr. McDougall's Color Picture Book

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Update.

Another week of moving, sorting and donating stuff.  When will it end?

The buyer of my house and mini-house called me and said that as there was no one living in the mini-house that he wanted to have a crew come in and sheetrock the utility room.  So we moved everything out of it into the greenhouse which has the closest outside door. When the crew arrived they said no, it was the green house that they were supposed to sheet rock and they put everything outside in the carports.  All higgledy-piggledy with no sense of order. They said “we will move it later”, but then they had to move something that they had put right in their own way.  No sense of O-H-I-O…Only Handle It Once.  So the next day Zack and I sorted and straightened it all out, and made pathways through it.  Most of it is supposed to be picked up tomorrow.

Yes, they sheet-rocked the green house, which only has a dirt floor and they didn’t even have an electrician wire it first, so they have a bare, dirt floor, in a room with no electric outlets or lights.  The Buyer is in California, so he doesn’t really know what is needed, I guess, but you would think that whoever is ramrodding the job would have caught that.

My son-in-law had booked last Thursday and Friday off from work a long time ago because he also had the Saturday off and had intended to move me then.  My daughter, Wendy, and I kept on telling him that he was jumping the gun, because I don’t even have the apartment yet, they are still working on it.  I might have some news about it on Tuesday.  Everything is wait and see.  Even the large pieces of furniture that I have for sale, I am waiting to see if they sell or I will be donating them at the last minute.

After all the toting things, and my friends and family picking up stuff this week, I was just too tired and worn out to cook anything for the church potluck. Each evening I was hardly able to walk and couldn’t wait for bedtime, but Friday was really tiring.

So I opened an enormous can of Peaches in Pear Juice and took some Brownies. There were plenty of other dishes so we had a good lunch. The Bible readings were Exo. 27:20-28:30, Hos. 1:4-9, Heb. 4:14-16 and all of Matt. 26. The Teaching was about Don’t Take God Lightly, Have Reverence and Fear. If you look at all the times God has destroyed a nation or batch of people because of their gross immorality, disobedience, or worshipping idols, it really makes you think that you had better mend your ways today! 

Starving Bees After Hurricane. A Halloween Story. Day of Atonement. Update.

For “Scripture Sunday”:

URGENT: Over a Billion Bees Starving After Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael decimated flowers and other bee food sources for miles along the Florida panhandle. Over a billion bees will starve to death if we don't act now. Join the #BillionBeeChallenge by making a donation today. 

The strongest storm to ever hit the Florida panhandle has left an ecological disaster in its wake. In addition to the homes and business the hurricane destroyed, Michael's 150 mile per hour winds ripped trees, bushes, and flowers from the ground. What's left is a true emergency for the state's bee population. With no natural food sources, a temporary replacement source is necessary to keep an estimated 50,000 colonies from starving and collapsing. Losing these bees would be a tragedy, and would permanently wreak havoc on our country's citrus supply.

GreaterGood.org is working with the Florida State Beekeepers Association and the Florida State Department of Agriculture to send in an emergency supply of sugar syrup to keep bee colonies sustained while bee forage material regrows, a process that is estimated to take at least a month. There are 5 tankers ready to be filled and dispatched, and the government is not providing funding for this mission. We need your help urgently.

You can help. Every dollar helps, and a gift of $15 will keep over a million bees (25 colonies) fed for a day. Your gift will go directly to providing food for bees before they starve — donate today.

100% of your Gift That Gives More™ donation will go as a charitable gift to GreaterGood.org. GreaterGood stores pay the credit card transaction fee, so every cent of your donation goes to charity.  

Choose Your Donation

$4 – Feed 1 Bee Colony for a Week $15 – Feed 25 Bee Colonies for a Day $45 – Feed 25 Bee Colonies for 3 Days – $100 Feeds 25 Bee Colonies for a Week

From: https://store.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/products/89217-urgent-save-millions-of-bees-after-hurricane-michael?

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A Halloween Story

Following is an imaginary dialogue on the reasons responsible people might wonder whether they should participate in the customs, and don the costumes, of Halloween.

000 PhotoDisc, Inc

Where did the strange customs of Halloween originate? How did such symbols as witches, ghosts, devils and monsters become associated with a supposedly religious holiday?

It’s Oct. 31. Daylight begins to surrender to dusky darkness. A biting wind blusters at windows. The doorbell rings in the home of a widowed grandmother. She swings open the door to two young children costumed as cheerful cartoon characters, each carrying a large paper shopping bag.

“Trick or treat!” they call out in unison with sweet voices through happy smiles as they extend their bags in eager anticipation. Their weary mother, standing several steps away, shivers against the wind and chill of the approaching darkness.

The neighborhood grandmother has nothing to contribute to the already-bulging bags, but she offers the trio some hot chocolate and a comfortable place to rest from the cold for a few minutes. They are puzzled by her lack of Halloween treats, but they gladly accept her offer to come inside and warm up. Neighborhood Grandmother: “Oh, you look so cold! This hot chocolate should warm you right up. I have to compliment you [she says to the children’s mother] on how responsible you seem about the children’s safety. It’s a good idea to accompany them. You can never know what dangers lurk even in this neighborhood.”

Mother of the children: “Oh, yes, I would never let them go out alone. The children don’t necessarily appreciate Mom’s watchful eye, but there are too many dangers to ignore. Children are harder for drivers to spot at this time of night, and there is also the worry of tampered candy and fruit. Even without those fears, it’s always a challenge to keep them from eating so many sweets that they get sick the next day.”

Grandmother: “Why, may I ask, did you choose those cartoon-character costumes instead of ghosts, goblins and such?”

Mother: “We don’t like the emphasis on death and violence, so we purposefully avoid those types of costumes. And we don’t want the children to remember this holiday as one in which acts of vandalism are considered fun. I have unpleasant childhood memories of children throwing rocks at cars and windows of houses, setting fires and deliberately terrorizing senior citizens.”

Grandmother: “It sounds like you’ve obviously given some thought to this.”

Mother: “Well, we go out of our way to make this a fun holiday for our children. Our goal is to fill their memories with good experiences. We are parents with high standards.

“May I ask you a question? You’re such a kind neighbor, always greeting my children cheerfully as they walk by your house on their way to and from school. I don’t know if you realize it, but you have a reputation as the neighborhood grandma.

“But you obviously haven’t decorated your home for Halloween, and you don’t have candy or treats for the children who come trick-or-treating. That seems out of character for you. Is there a reason?”

Grandmother: “I guess I must seem a bit different by not getting into the spirit of things on Halloween. I’d be happy to explain why. “My thinking is actually quite similar to yours. Like you, I’m troubled by the vandalism and violence associated with Halloween. More than once I have seen some of those acts aimed at senior citizens. Then there is the awful emphasis on death and dying and disembodied spirits.”

Mother: “Oh, I know. Some of the costumes I see, along with the horror movies aired on television this time of year, are downright repulsive. I don’t know why Halloween seems to give people an excuse to set aside their normal values and to revel in things they really don’t care for at other times. That’s why our family stays clear of the horror costumes and any association with death. We make Halloween a fun time.”

Grandmother: “I am all for making life fun for the children. But, even so, some years ago I made a decision to withdraw from Halloween activities. My personal conviction is that I could not dress up—pardon the pun—the traditions of something so truly wicked in its origins to make it into a children’s holiday.

“I thought long and hard about it, and it just doesn’t make sense. People who want to teach their children values like honesty, respect for others, kindness and generosity, and who want to instill in their children a positive outlook on life, take those same children and have them disguise themselves as the dead or as evil monsters or beings so they can go from house to house to ask for treats.

“I know that ‘trick-or-treat’ has a real catchy sound to it, but it doesn’t come from pleasant roots. It’s based on the idea that a mean trick will be played on you if you don’t give treats to any stranger who approaches you. Is it too harsh to say that taking treats with threats makes me think of a kind of extortion?

“I’m not trying to criticize you or hurt your feelings. You’re obviously a responsible mother. But this is a personal choice. I cannot in good conscience participate in something that runs so completely contrary to what I really would like to see for our children.”

Mother: “There’s no need to apologize. We’ve discussed these same things. Those are the very reasons we avoid the horrible costumes. But we chose to continue with the holiday because of its religious roots. You are so well informed that you must know the religious background of Halloween. Since it is closely allied with religion, we felt we could, as you put it, dress up this holiday in a way that would be in line with the values we want to instill in our children.” Grandmother: “Yes, I’m aware that Halloween comes from ‘All Saints’ Eve’ and that the word itself is an abbreviation of ‘hallowed evening.’ That fact also caused me to hang onto the holiday longer than I would have otherwise. I suspect that long ago religious people attempted to dress up an ugly, uncivilized and unchristian holiday, perhaps for the same reasons that we have been discussing—to try to make it acceptable.

“That rationale hasn’t been enough to convince me that Halloween was healthy for my family and community for two reasons. First, I learned that the word saint is used in the Bible simply to mean a believer, or member of the Church. There is no biblical example of celebrating one saint or believer above another and certainly no precedent for a holiday in honor of any supposed saint.

“The second reason—and I’ve really looked into this because I believe God and sincerely want His guidance—is that I’ve researched the history of people who honored God who were challenged with similar questions. When they came in contact with different cultures, they were confronted with unholy customs and holidays.

“How did they react? Did they dress up those offensive customs with customs of worship given them by God? I found the clearest possible answer in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 12. It’s found in the last four verses. In essence, God told the people not to attempt to make the unacceptable acceptable. Rather, they were to avoid evil and build their customs on a clean foundation.

“Once I read that, my mind was settled. From then on I determined to provide fun for my children and grandchildren—and the neighborhood children—in positive ways, steering clear of Halloween.”

Mother: “Well, you’ve really piqued my curiosity. Thanks for your kind hospitality and especially for your insight. It’s time for us to be on our way. It looks like I have some reading and thinking to do.”

From: https://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/a-halloween-story

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How did Halloween come to be considered a "Christian" celebration?

“Does the Bible say anything about All Hallows' or All Saints' Day?

Originally Halloween was a pagan festival oriented around fire, the dead and the powers of darkness. How did it become accepted in the "Christian" world?

FamVeld/iStock/Thinkstock

Pagan festivals have had a curious way of worming their way into Christianity over the centuries.

Most people know that Halloween takes place on Oct. 31. Far fewer understand the connection between Halloween and the next day on the calendar, the festival of All Hallows’ or All Saints’ Day, celebrated by some churches and denominations Nov. 1.

One author concludes that All Saints’ Day was established to commemorate the saints and martyrs of the Roman Catholic Church and was first introduced in the seventh century (Man, Myth, and Magic, Vol. 1, 1983, p. 109). Oddly enough, history shows that Halloween—this ancient, thoroughly pagan holiday with its trappings of death and demonism—is inseparably tied to All Saints’ Day.  Continued at:

https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/how-did-halloween-come-to-be-considered-a-christian

For more understanding, please read the booklet Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Observe?

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Update:

It could have been a frustrating week without a vehicle, but I didn’t let it get to me.  The van spent nearly a week at the mechanics, they drove it around several times, and couldn’t find anything wrong with it, but the “battery” light was still on.   I had had it tested the Sunday before it broke down at O’Reilly’s and they said my alternator and everything was OK.  So Chris and I picked it up and I stopped at O’Reilly’s again.  Same person checked it, and everything checked out until it got to “Voltage Regulator, and it showed weak. They tried to sell me an alternator as the voltage regulators are inside the alternators now.  I was running on battery only, because it wasn’t charging, so I put a charger on it when I got it home.  I have a bad-looking negative battery cable and had ordered it before, but it never came in.  So I thought I had better start there.  If the cable is bad it won’t charge anyway.  Then found out that cable is part of the main wiring harness, and is no longer available.  

So I bought a work-around cable splicer with about 8” of cable with the terminal end and pigtails on it.  The retired mechanic down my road, the one with the bad back, said that he would install it, but he had a lot of trouble with it and ended up making up a cable and pigtail, but then couldn’t get the van to start. Yesterday, a friend brought a mechanic over here and he found out that it wasn’t grounded right, so the van is starting now as long as the battery is charged up, BUT I still need an alternator!  So I still can’t go very far. 

There was no cooking needed for the Day of Atonement on Friday as it was a fast day, so it was a lot easier getting into Lauri’s car without the big insulated bag of food.  Service started at 11 am as usual, but no potluck afterwards.  The Bible readings were Psa. 51, Lev. 16:1-34, Isa.57:14-58:14. and Heb. 9:1-14.  The Teaching was about Atonement:

noun

1. satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends.
2. (sometimes initial capital letter) Theology. the doctrine concerningthe reconciliation of God and humankind, especially as accomplished through the life, suffering, and death of Christ.

It is the most solemn of Holy Days when we should be fasting, repenting and asking forgiveness of sins.  The symbol of the “scapegoat” comes from The Day of Atonement.   The Day of Atonement and the Gospel  YouTube: https://youtu.be/VDoQ2TxgNdY 

A Chicken and Brown Rice Salad was made for the Sabbath.  I had made a salad because I hadn’t intended to go to the morning church, but visit some people with my friend and then go to the afternoon church with them.  It is easier to keep a cold dish cool with some dry ice than keeping a hot dish safe while my friend and I had the other visiting to do.  Then found out that they had to work, so I went to the morning church after all.  Hans was going to take me, then Lauri showed up so I went with her.

The Bible readings were Deut. 32:1-52, 2 Sam. 22:1-51, and Rom. 10:14-11:12 and the Teaching was about the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths.   Yes, I know, many have already celebrated this, but it depends which new moon they are using in their calculations.  We are starting it on the 24th. October, this Wednesday.

Happy Grandparents Day. How Will War End? One Cup of Water. Update.

For “Scripture Sunday”:

HAPPY GRANPARENTS’ DAY

Congress passed the legislation proclaiming the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents' Day in the U.S. and, on August 3, 1978, then-President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation.

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How Will War End?

“World War I, which ended a century ago, was so brutally horrifying that it was soon called “The War to End All Wars.” Yet it was anything but. It was followed a generation later by World War II, and countless wars since then. What is the root cause of war? Can mankind ever find peace?

God is not uninvolved or uncaring. He cares deeply about His creation, about His children of all nations and races.

British Army

British soldiers gather for a religous service near the front lines during World War I.

During World War I many German soldiers marched into war with their imperial motto Gott Mit Uns —“God With Us”—emblazoned on their helmets and belt buckles. Priests, pastors and chaplains on both sides encouraged the men to fight in their side’s righteous cause, proclaiming it was God’s will that they emerge victorious.

At home, the Anglican bishop of London, Arthur Winnington-Ingram, declared this “a holy war” and urged British soldiers to “kill Germans … not for the sake of killing, but to save the world, to kill the good as well as the bad, to kill the young as well as the old … As I have said a thousand times, I look upon it as a war for purity, I look upon everyone who died in it as a martyr” (quoted by Philip Jenkins, The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade, 2014, p. 71).

In Germany, pastor Dietrich Vorweck rewrote the Lord’s prayer to say:

Our Father, from the height of heaven,
Make haste to succor Thy German people.
Help us in the holy war …
Lead Thy German Reich to glorious victories.
Who will stand before the conquerors? …
Lord, Thy will be done! …
Smite the foe each day with death and tenfold woes …
Lead us not into the temptation
Of letting our wrath be too gentle
In carrying out Thy divine judgment. (quoted on p. 13)

Such pleas apparently went unanswered as millions died or were permanently maimed on muddy, bloody battlefields in four years of fighting during which the border barely moved.

“A striking commentary on the war was offered by Britain’s Harry Patch, the last soldier to have fought in the war’s trenches and who died in 2009 at the age of 111. He felt the war had not been worth a single life … He recalled seeing half-savage dogs fighting over biscuits taken from dead men’s pockets and wondering, ‘What are we doing that’s really any different? Two civilized nations, British and German, fighting for our lives.’ In summary, he commented, ‘What … we fought for, I now don’t know’” (pp. 2-3).

This is not to say that World War I was without result. Four empires fell, the world’s first communist state came into being, the world that existed before 1914 was destroyed and the stage was set for even greater carnage in the Second World War. One effect that continues to this day is that millions of people lost their faith in a God who could allow such indescribable suffering.

But God is not uninvolved or uncaring. He cares deeply about His creation, about His children of all nations and races. One of the Bible’s best-loved passages tells us, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

And God will bring about offering the opportunity for salvation to all mankind—just not in the way most people expect. As explained in this issue, God is not offering salvation to the entire world now. Nor is He trying to end human suffering now. He knows that human beings the world over must learn some very painful lessons before being willing to admit that “the way of peace they have not known” (Romans 3:17, quoting Isaiah 59:8).

Why do we not know the way to peace? Because “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 16:25). The way that seems right to our thinking has led to generations of bloody wars in which we have learned to kill each other in increasingly efficient ways!

But it will not always be this way. As also explained in this issue, a time is coming in which Jesus Christ, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, “shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people …” (Isaiah 2:4). As a result, “… they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (same verse).

This is describing the coming Kingdom of God—the same Kingdom for which Christ tells us to pray, “Your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10). We hope you’ll join us in that prayer.  From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-magazine/how-will-war-end

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One Cup of Water

An Amazing Fact: “Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary-General, was the founder of the Global AIDS and Health Fund to support developing countries in their struggle to care for hurting people. He was born on April 8, 1938, and currently serves as a Ghanaian diplomat. In his effort to raise global awareness on how people live in the world, he has presented incredible statistics from the United Nations Human Development Report.

These numbers really put into perspective how we live in America!
• Four percent of the 225 richest men’s wealth could provide for the entire globe: basic education, basic health care, adequate food, clean water, and safe sewers.
• Americans spend $8 billion a year on cosmetics—$2 billion more than the estimated total needed to provide basic education for everyone in the world.
• Americans each consume an average of 260 pounds of meat a year. In Bangladesh, the average is 6.5 pounds.
• The world’s 225 richest individuals, of whom 60 are Americans, have a combined wealth of over $1 trillion—equal to the annual income of the poorest 47 percent of the entire world’s population.
• Europeans spend $11 billion a year on ice cream—$2 billion more than the estimated annual total needed to provide clean water and safe sewers for the world’s population.
• The three richest people in the world have assets that exceed the combined gross domestic product of the 48 least-developed countries.
• The richest fifth of the world’s people consumes 86 percent of all goods and services, while the poorest fifth consumes just 1.3 percent. Indeed, the richest fifth consumes 45 percent of all meat and fish, 58 percent of all energy used, 84 percent of all paper, has 74 percent of all telephone lines, and owns 87 percent of all vehicles.
Annan encourages us to not look at faceless statistics, but think of the condition of how many people in our world truly live. When we consider the world’s consumption bill of $24 trillion a year, the numbers seem overwhelming.

Yet, in God’s eyes, even a cup of cold water given to a thirsty child is not beneath His notice.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Mark 9:41

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Update.

Zack and I got some more shelves ready for the mini-house, some were sanded, some were stained, and some Zilzed.   The electrician mounted the mast, ran the wires up to the weatherhead and mounted the new outdoor breaker box on the side of the mini-house.  Now the light company has to come to transfer the juice from the pole to the new mast.  Then I found out that it costs more for the electrician to come and connect the mini-house to the new wires.  Oh, The Joys Of Ownership!

Chris, my sweet neighbor took me for my eye exam, thank goodness, because I know I couldn’t have driven home after they dilated my eyes.  In fact it took a couple of days to really get over that, but my eyes are troublesome anyway.  Their office is going to let me know when they can schedule my eye surgery.  I didn’t really need anything, but I drove to the store on Friday, just to make sure that my eyes would be OK for the trip to church on Saturday.

Some organic cooked cut up chicken breast was defrosted, and a white sauce made with green olives, pimentos, celery, onions, any seasonings that looked good, and a pot full of spaghetti pasta cooked, and there was Chicken Spaghetti for the church pot luck.

The Bible readings were Deut. 11:26-16:17, Isa. 54:11-55:5, John 7:37-52 and 1 John 4:1-6.  The Teaching was about “Teachableness”,  or having humility and willingness to learn and be receptive to receive the Word.

It is still hot, but it seems to be a little cooler each day.

Meat Consumption Is Destroying Planet. Bananas. Update.

For Scripture Sunday:

Meat Consumption Is Destroying Planet, Says New Study

“Scientists say livestock production has 'major negative effects on the environment'”

Cows on a feedlot being raised for beef.

Cattle used for beef are commonly fattened up in feedlots, which force animals to live in filthy, overcrowded conditions, and consume inappropriate feed that causes health problems. They are subjected to painful mutilations without painkillers, including “branding,” which scorches third-degree burns into the animals’ flesh; castration; and de-horning, which is the removal of sensitive, nerve-filledhorns.

Eating meat has a number of negative side effects

Eating meat has a substantial effect on people's health, and livestock production can have major negative effects on the environment, according to new research published today in the journal Science.

The data shows that average per capita consumption - as well as total consumption amount - are rising as a result of the growing global population and increasing average incomes. While consumption of many meats has fallen in the UK over recent years, it is rising is countries like China.

Scientists have labeled this a worry, with review co-author Prof Tim Key - an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford - telling The Guardian: "What's happening is a big concern and if meat consumption goes up further it's going to be massively more so. On a broad level you can say that eating substantial amounts of meat is bad for the environment."

Health

Speaking about health, the study says: "In high-income Western countries, large prospective studies and meta-analyses generally show that total mortality rates are modestly higher in participants who have high intakes of red and processed meat. The strongest evidence of a specific adverse effect is the increased risk of colorectal cancer with high intakes of processed meat."

Going on to discuss the impact of animal agriculture on the planet, it adds: "Meat production is the single most important source of methane, which has a relatively high warming potential but a low half-life in the environment compared with that of CO2. Careful management of grassland systems can contribute to carbon storage, but the net benefits are likely to be relatively modest.

"Agriculture uses more freshwater than any other human activity, with nearly a third required for livestock, so meat production in water-stressed areas is a major competitor with other uses of water, including that required to maintain natural ecosystems."

Intakes of certain types of meat are linked with increased incidences of some cancers

Stimulating change

While the health and environmental impacts of meat consumption need to be considered, more evidence is needed, more 'effectiveness of different interventions to influence food selection' is needed, says the report.

While Governments use economic arguments to shape food policy, 'there is less agreement over the degree to which the state should use health, environmental, or animal welfare considerations to control the supply of meat through interventions that affect the production, sale, processing, and distribution of meat and meat products or the price to the consumer' say scientists.

The report adds: "Policy-makers are increasingly grappling with the economic, health, and environmental consequences of rising meat consumption. It is not clear the degree to which policy-makers have the societal license to intervene to influence meat consumption, and if they do, what interventions might be effective. These issues are particularly complex given the multiple narratives about eating meat that influence everyone’s behavior."  From: https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/meat-consumption-destroying-planet-new-study       

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Bananas  

An Amazing Fact: “Bananas are a fruity miracle. They are colorful, nutritious, not to mention the amusing shape is easy to hold, peel, and eat. Bananas also contain three natural sugars—sucrose, fructose, and glucose—combined with a healthy dose of fiber. When a hungry person eats a banana they receive an almost instant and sustained boost of vigor. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. This is why bananas are the favorite fruit of Olympic athletes.

In fact, compared to an apple, a banana has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of most affordable fruits around. So maybe it's time to change that well-known proverb to "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

Studies have shown that bananas can also help overcome or prevent a substantial array of illnesses and conditions ranging from depression, heartburn, and anemia, to stroke and morning sickness. Around the world different parts of the banana plant are used for clothing, paper, and tableware, and the skin of the banana is used to heal everything from insect bites to warts. Indeed, the banana appears almost perfectly designed for human consumption and distribution. It is difficult to conceive of a more practical blueprint for the ideal fruit.

Have you noticed the banana has no seeds? Amazingly the banana is a mutant; it is the result of the cross pollination of two almost inedible Asian fruits. The banana is a freakish genetic amalgamation; one that has survived through the centuries due to the sustained intervention of diligent humans. These fragile fruits can only be cloned from suckering shoots and cuttings taken from the underground stem of existing plants.

Over time, Arab traders carried the new wonder fruit to Africa, and Spanish conquistadors brought them to the Americas.
So if you have ever pictured Adam and Eve savoring bananas in the Garden of Eden you better think again. Bananas only happen through man participating with God’s creation.

This is also true regarding the fruit of the Spirit. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). I wonder what types of fruit will be on the tree of life in heaven.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:2

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Update.   

Well, not really one, as not much has been done around here.  Just the usual mowing, weedwhacking, raking and everyday stuff.  A few more boxes of stuff sorted out to donate the next time I go to Conroe.

I was taking my computer to a gentleman from our church for him to fix the noisy fan in it.  I had to do an emergency stop on the way, it slid forward and banged against something else in my van.  When I got there, the fan was no longer noisy!  Easy fix!

An electrician man, and I will not call him a gentleman, came to look at the open ground in the mini-house.  I don’t want to be around him again, but he said that I need a new breaker box outside.  So I will have to find someone more respectful to do the work.  I wish we had an elecrician in our church!

As I still had 3 lb of that cooked ground beef in my freezer, the Pastor’s wife and I decided, well, she did, that it should be made into a Shepherd’s Pie for the Sabbath potluck.   So, on Friday, I defrosted the meat, reheated it in some Bisto gravy, separated the meat from the gravy, and mashed some potatoes.   But couldn’t assemble it until I got to the church because I didn’t have a big enough pan.  

Now usually, after I have mashed the potatoes, I use the hand masher to pick up the potatoes, bit by bit, to plop them over the meat.  It seems to keep them airy and light, so I did all that at the church, after adding a few peas and sliced carrots to the meat for color.  As you know, I am from the land of Mashed Potatoes and Shepherd’s Pie, Britain, and it never seems to taste right unless it is made with Bisto Gravy Powder from Britain, which I had.  Then the gravy was kept warm in a little crockpot, because if you have too much gravy the potatoes get soggy.   It was very good, according to the people at church.  There was also lasagne, a great big brisket, and lots of veggies, cakes and cookies.  I think the Sabbath is a ‘cheat day’ for all of us! 

The Bible readings were Deut. 3:23-7:11, Isa. 40:1-26, Mat. 23:31_30, and Mark 12:28-34.  The Teaching was about ‘Spiritual Surgery’, how it is painful, but healing.

Well,  I wish I could park my van in the shade at church, but it is too far to carry everything.  It is August, so we are having 100° days.

Thanksgiving, Christmas—and Greed. Thanks For The Bees! Prayer.. With Thanksgiving. Update.

For “Scripture Sunday”, Just after Thanksgiving Day:

Thanksgiving, Christmas—and Greed

“So, I can’t help but wonder, Am I the only person struck by this? I’m talking about the paradox of this time of the year, the approximately one month from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I just find it amazing!

Here’s what I’m talking about: the fourth Thursday in November, the wonderful national holiday celebrated in the United States of America—Thanksgiving Day. What’s it all about? Gratitude, thankfulness, acknowledgement of divine blessing.

Here’s what President Abraham Lincoln, sometimes referred to as the father of the Thanksgiving holiday, proclaimed back in 1863:

“The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. … No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”

He then went on to “set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” He recommended “offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings.”

Isn’t that wonderful? Gratitude. Humility. Recognition of God’s merciful blessings and favor. Never mind that for far too many Americans in the 150 years since that proclamation, Thanksgiving Day has devolved into little more than “turkey day,” or a day to watch football. At least it started out right, as a day of thanksgiving.

But then the paradox. This year it didn’t even wait till “Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving. For many retail establishments, it began on Thanksgiving Day itself: “Buy, buy, buy!” “Grab, grab, grab!” “Get, get, get!” Okay, so maybe it’s just because I’m a little older and bothered more by these things. Or maybe it actually is even more crass, even more aggressive this year. But this annual orgy of greed and grab seems to be more offensive and unpleasant this year even more than usual.

An example: At a Wal-Mart store in Elkin, North Carolina, fights broke out as one crazed shopper violently grabbed and shoved in a frantic consumerist push. For what? A TV set! And it didn’t even wait till the day after Thanksgiving. It was Thanksgiving night!  And this is about gratitude?

And so it goes on, just as it does every year, for one whole unpleasant month. Spend, spend and more spend. Stuff, stuff and more stuff. Grab and grab and grab—even with a little violence, if necessary. And for what? A day that supposedly commemorates the birth of the Savior of humanity, the One who gave His life for all humankind.

Leave aside for the moment the fact that Christmas isn’t even mentioned in the Bible. Leave aside the fact that it has pre-Christian origins. Leave aside the fact that it’s really a pagan festivity, baptized under the banner of Christ.

Leave all that aside, and you’re still left with that grotesque contradiction, a month ending in a holiday that supposedly epitomizes the Christian way of life, but that really seems to culminate four weeks of greed and coveting. How sad!

Am I the only one? No, I’m really glad that I’m not. Most of my friends are aware of the non-biblical roots of Christmas, and they do their best to avoid all the commercialism and ugliness of a celebration that has become little more than one giant retail binge.

We invite you to consider the true way of life—one of selflessness and outgoing concern, not of grab and greed—described in the pages of your Bible.   For Life, Hope & Truth, I’m Ralph Levy.”       From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/speaking-of/thanksgiving-christmas-and-greed/

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Thanks To The Bees, Food for All

         

An Amazing Fact: “Bees are very social insects, and mutual feeding seems to be the order of their existence. The workers feed the helpless queen, who cannot feed herself. They feed the drones and, of course, they feed the young. They seem to actually enjoy this social act. One bee always seems ready to feed another bee, even if that bee is from a different colony.

The bee has been aptly described as busy. To produce one tablespoon of honey for our toast, the little bee makes 4,200 trips to flowers. A worker bee will fly as far as eight miles in search of nectar. He makes about 10 trips a day to the fields, each trip lasting 20 minutes and covering 400 flowers. To produce just one pound of clover honey, the bee must visit 56,000 clover heads. Since each head has 60 flower tubes, a total of 3,360,000 visits are necessary. In the end, that worker bee will have flown the equivalent of three times around the world. And they never sleep!

The impact of the honeybee on your food goes beyond honey. This little wonder of God’s creation is responsible for 80 percent of all insect pollination; if it didn’t do its job it would significantly decrease the yield of fruits and vegetables.

Psalm 145 is a song of praise to the Creator. “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3). As we look at the amazing honeybee, we can join David in saying, “I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works” (v. 5). When we consider the immense number of flowers it takes to make one pound of honey, it seems an impossibility, yet the Bible says, “The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (v. 15, 16).     Thank God for the honeybee!”   
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
Give us day by day our daily bread. Luke 11:3

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Continue Earnestly in Prayer … With Thanksgiving

Colossians 4:2

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. …

The apostle Paul strongly connects prayer with thanksgiving in several other memorable passages:

• “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).
• “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
• “Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).

For more about prayer and thankfulness, see “How to Pray” and “In Everything Give Thanks.”

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Update.

We never know when we will have a sudden freeze at night, (we have already had one short 29 deg. temperature that crept up on us) so Zack and I readied the aloe vera plants for winter.  We covered up the long, long trough of them that are planted next to the hedge where they share the same underground watering system.   Then we moved all the many pots of aloe into the green house.  This year I haven’t been advertising the aloe like I should because of spending so much time working on the mini-house, so I have more pots than usual.

The county, or whoever, finally replaced the yellow caution traffic light on my corner, that the posts had became uprooted during Hurricane Harvey,  or there was so much rain that the poles just fell over.  Now it is slung from the tall main electric line poles and for the first time we have a street light at this junction.  Now the mini-house back door is always illuminated, so I don’t have to leave that porch light on any more. 

My foster-cat “Puddin” never did warm up to the kittens who were here for Thanksgiving week.  She didn’t want anything to do with them. They were so sweet, purring when held, and I taught them some “Catiquette”, like not darting through doors, and not getting on tables or coutertops.  They were picked up this morning and taken back to the Cat Habitat at Petco, awaiting forever homes.  I have some of their “playthings” picked up, like torn up newspaper, little boxes that they batted around, and the cat toys, but they preferred to play with the things that they found.  Just like kids would rather play with the box than the item that came in it.  I miss them, but I am glad that they are gone, too.  Little “Tux” was a little harum-scarum, and a bundle of energy, a little too much for me, he will do well with some kids.  “Marble” was more sedate and loving, more my kind of cat.

Jay seems to be doing alright with his sobriety, so I let him work in the mini-house, but I still have to watch him like a hawk.  He nearly cut the hole for the kitchen sink right over the sidewall of the cabinet, I stopped him after about 6 inches were cut, the sink will cover it, but Zack will have to caulk the cut to make it waterproof.  Jay installed the light over the kitchen sink, then he cut and installed the frame for the little bathroom door between my bedroom and bathroom, and the rest of the wall’s trim.  He fixed a bad spot on the drop-down-door-ramp on the lawn mower shed and has been helping quite a bit.

Jay was still staying sober, and went to church with me on the Sabbath.  I told him that he is a “non-drinker”, and he needs to remember that.  At church they were so pleased to see him again, and Gary, one of the elders, complimented him right from the pulpit. 

The Bible readings were Gen. 25:19-28:9, Mal. 1:1-2:7, and Rom. 9:1-31, mostly about Esau and Jacob.  The Teaching was about Overshadowing Providence and the Almighty Guardian.

There was a great big turkey for our Thanksgiving Dinner at church.  It had been deep-fried for an hour, but when we cut into it, the dark meat was still red, so everyone had to eat around the edges.  I had made Quinoa Dressing, made with white quinoa, celery, onions, garlic, carrots, butternut squash and seasonings.  (There was another stuffing there, but it just seemed like soggy bread to me, and I don’t eat regular bread or cornbread.  Regular bread, because it isn’t made of flour anymore, just fillers, and “enriched” toxic chemicals.  Cornbread, because most corn is genetically modified with Round-Up,  unless you buy organic.)  I also made Roasted Cauliflower with black quinoa, feta and finely chopped nuts.  I also took a jar of my Homemade Cranberry Sauce, which I had strained all the skins out, (that took the most time), and I took a little crockpot of Chicken Gravy.   There was Potato Salad and Coleslaw, veggies, green salad, and several pies, homemade pumpkin and homemade apple, and some store-bought pies, too.  There was a big cake, and a pie that no-one touched, so they were frozen for another time.   

The turkey meat was divvied up and sent home with different people, but I was given the task of making the big turkey remains into bone broth.  They all know that I will bring them something good made with the broth.  It was so big that Zack had to help me break it in half this morning before I could cook it.  One half in the slow cooker, and the other half in a pressure cooker.

When I left the church my van did the same old ‘not starting thing’…no noise, just nothing.  The guys at church fiddled and fussed with it, cut and spliced wires to the Neutral Safety Switch but it still wouldn’t start, not even with jumper cables.  Finally, Gary happened to touch the steering wheel tilt handle, and it started, so there must be a problem in the steering column.

While Jay was visiting his Mom in the hospital this morning, Zack and I were sanding, caulking and Kilzing the new wall between the bedroom and living room in the mini-house, and it should be ready for paint the next working day.