It's so great to be back at my desk working on my blog rather than "worrying" about the financial paperwork! The top of my desk is visible although some of my peripheral areas have gotten some junque stacked on them. It is a simple matter now to get those things put away, or sorted, as the case might be. For example, the box with the church papers in needs to be sorted, filed, disposed of, or whatever they require, but for now, they are "organized" into a box and off my desk!
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Twila called early this a.m. to tell me that Mark called from Orlando last night, reporting that the parent of a couple St. Johns kids had had a house fire recently, In searching the Internet, area newspapers and TV stations, I find nothing at all about this fire. I wish I could ask Mark myself where this information came from, if it's something he saw on facebook or myspace or whatever. This woman is a photographer and I'd hate to think she lost her home and her livelihood in one fell swoop. Later I call Twila and ask her if she can find out more from her grandson and get him to name his sources.
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With the New Year comes the return to Bible study at Victory, sans Justin as he has a class on Thursday mornings. Kelly T. came from Good Shepherd, too, and we should have called each other about this last night to ride share, right? I'd spoken with Justin on the ride over to Victory but had to leave him with an unfinished conversation as I had another call coming in which I had to take. After I got to Bible class, I quickly sent a text message to him saying I'd meet him at the restaurant at the Town Center Mall. I sat there awhile at the Mall, snug and warm in my car, with the sun shining brightly on me, waiting for him to show up. Judy R. had recommended a wonderful book to me which I thought I'd get at Barnes and Noble but she told me it was most likely only available through the Synod publishing house. Oh well, she probably saved me a bunch of money by not going into the bookstore!!! Justin sent me a text saying he didn't see my message until after he was home and we decided I'd just head to my house and not have lunch after all. He said he was taking care of laundry, but he also let slip that his two newest editions of "Smallville" had some yesterday and I suspect he'd rather have stayed home until his next class to watch "Smallville", rather than making small talk!!!
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Wow, though, did he miss a fantastic Bible class this morning! I wish I'd had my laptop with me there as I'd have written about it as it was happening. The subject today as we study "Heroes and Heroines of the Bible" was David. The lesson began just after Saul killed himself and David asked the Lord where he should go and what he should do when he gets there. The application was making sure we remember to go straight to the Lord when we have decisions and questions in our lives, how we should maintain our focus, keeping the Lord and His Word foremost.
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We also discussed the influences around us that attempt to keep us from God, and even God from us, the distractions the world throws in our way, etc. Who are those we consider to be heroes these days? People in uniform, of course. But are they soldier uniforms? Police uniforms? Fireman uniforms? Nope, they are sports people very often, whom people will describe as being their hero, or to whom they look up. This affects the amounts of money these people earn, when wwaayy back when, the professional teams were first catching on, the players earned about the same as common laborers. Now, crowds part when a famous person (actor, sports figures, celebrity) comes through, people tearing their clothes off in response to seeing their heroes, their idols.
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Pastor Hoyer mentioned, as I have often (ahem, ahem), how our nation is becoming more and more like ancient Rome, an empire that had it all, and yet, from the outside in, was destroyed by the very successes it celebrated. The Goths were able to march right in and take Rome down while the citizens were being "entertained" in the arena by the gladiators. Interesting. Of course, I personally enjoy watching football on Sundays, but, again of course, after church. Sports were only one example used as a "diversion", but was helpful in making the point today because of the BIG game tonight between the Gators and Sooners. I truly enjoy hearing Pastor make the appropriate comparisons between the foolishness of the Israelites and the foolishness of our present day society. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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We were encouraged to not sit around wringing our hands, but make a more profound effort to live in accordance to what is God-pleasing, watching over our families to make sure they remain faithful and diligent, especially when it comes to what's going to take place in our nation in the near future. Nationalised medicine, removing personal responsibility for our lives, becoming people, like the Israelites, waiting for their Bread King. Pastor recently completed a personal study that talked about how in the 1850's, when evolution was "accepted" as a science, situational ethics was coming to the forefront, and continues now to permeate our thinking, through the media and our government schools, medicine, and so on. Wow, powerful stuff, good food for thought! Justin would have loved being in this class today, except for the part about "worshipping" the football stars!!!!
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