Thoughts for the Week

Al Moak · August 08, 2010, 05:25:25 PM

Our God is exactly as the Bible says He is.

From Our Forums

Prayer and Praise Thanks for visiting this area of our site to share prayer requests and items for praise!

Morning Devotional...

Psalm 53

This psalm is exactly like Psalm 14, except that the Hebrew word for "God" is different in verse 2. In Psalm 14, the word was "Jehovah," meaning "the covenant Lord" of Israel. In that psalm the verse read, "God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek the covenant Lord." Here it reads, " . . . who seek God." The question of Psalm 14 was whether anyone was seeking Israel's Covenant Lord. The question here is whether anyone is even seeking the one true God. The answer is still "no."

We could paraphrase, "Not only are there very few Christians out there in the world, but there are very, very few who even consider the possibility of a God at all."

It's not a happy theme. It seems reasonable that this portion of the psalm would be sung in a very minor key, possibly with accompanying dissonance. It's a dismal picture of dismal world, a world of total unbelief, a world that hates believers and seeks to be rid of them!

The results of such a world are predictable. The song has to say about it, "They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity. There is none who does good!" It reads the way the headlines of our modern newspapers should read if they were entirely truthful! It's a prediction from ancient times of the development of human depravity in our own day, with all the rampant political corruption, all the demands for homosexual "rights," all the schoolground shootings, and all the releases of dangerous criminals from prison to prey upon society again and again.!

Our own prayers should echo those of Israel: "Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When God brings back the captivity of His people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!" If you can tolerate the evil that surrounds the people of God in our day, if you can simply ignore the corruption that has been foisted upon God's good creation, if you can easily ignore the rebellion against God's rule that is all around you - without crying out a prayer like this one for the return of Christ, for release and relief from the rebellion of this world against God - then perhaps He isn't your God at all!

But if He is our God, then should we not sing this prayer in its minor key and plead for the soon return of the Lord of righteousness?

But we have a better way . . .

Jesus, Your Blood and Righteousness
(Click to hear music)

Author: Nicolaus L. von Zinzendorf, 1700-1760
Trans. By John Wesley, 1703-1791
Musician: William Gardiner's Sacred Melodies, 1815

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God;
for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Isaiah 61:10

Jesus, your blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
Mid flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in that great day,
Cleansed and redeemed, no debt to pay;
For by your cross absolved I am
From sin and guilt, from fear and shame.

Lord, I believe your precious blood,
Which at the mercy seat of God
Pleads for the captivesâ€™ liberty,
Was also shed in love for me.

Lord, I believe, were sinners more
Than sands upon the ocean shore,
You have for all a ransom paid,
For all a full atonement made.

When from the dust of death I rise
To claim my mansion in the skies,
This then shall be my only plea:
Christ Jesus lived and died for me.

Then shall I praise you and adore
Your blessed name forevermore,
Who once, for me and all you made,
An everlasting ransom paid.

Carol · August 08, 2010, 06:45:13 PM

Al: Thanks for the song - the piano music sounded familiar when I heard it. Yes, too much is tolerated and accepted in so many churches. Love the sinner, hate the sin.

Carol · August 08, 2010, 06:48:45 PM

One of our sons recently told us that he won't go to a Best Buy store anymore because they won't have Christmas in their word but that the word Holiday is used.

Al Moak · August 08, 2010, 07:25:34 PM

And if they won't even use the word "Christmas" (which is the name for a Roman Catholic special mass day), what would they do with the words "Christ's birth?" Surely they would ban that! But if they were words from the Koran, they'd probably accept them.

Janet · August 09, 2010, 06:43:51 AM

Thanks, Al. I do have other keyboards, but this is my laptop giving th trouble. I'm off to work, back later.

Larry Hanna · August 09, 2010, 11:00:02 AM

Hi everyone. It wasn't quite as hot here this morning and think the humidity is down. However, by afternoon suppose to be up to about 94. The only thing on my schedule today is to attend my Monday men's luncheon. We are going to the fairly new Asian buffet that has about 6 different long food bars. I have to be really careful not to eat too much.

Yesterday morning, before church, I was able to do the restore to factory condition of our daughter's computer that had a miserable virus attack. Then yesterday afternoon and this morning I am working on getting various programs uninstalled and installed. I didn't have a firewall on it so put that on plus various spyware and malware type programs that will hopefully prevent this from happening again. I am also installing a few other programs that she might need.

Janet, it sounds like there is a problem with the keyboard contacts on your laptop keyboard. They can get stuck so that they don't work. Has it been a year since you got that computer? If not, it should still be under warranty. It doesn't sound like a software problem but rather a hardware problem.

Al, thanks for the fine devotional for this week and the hymn.

Time to get back to the other computer project.

shutterbugmom · August 09, 2010, 01:52:43 PM

Hello all,
I haven't been on here in a while. I've been having issues from computer, to eyesight, to vacation, to just being plain busy. I hope you're all doing well. We"re about to start our 16th. year of homeschooling. My youngest is starting 11th. grade. The planning keeps me busy this time of year. My oldest daughter's full length movie premieres in two weeks, and we are all very excited about that. You can read more about the movie and view the trailers here...http://www.freewebs.com/akbproductions/onmyown.htm

My eyes continue to make photography more difficult for me, especially the outdoor which is what I love! The need to upgrade my equipment to make focusing and other issues easier for me grows more and more immediate, but the finances just aren't there right now. Please continue to pray for me.

That's it for now, I suppose. Take care, friends. Blessings, Kathleen

Carol · August 09, 2010, 06:03:14 PM

Kathleen: The movie has to be a hit - it my birthday! Nice pictures of everyone. You are so positive and a roll model for someone facing adversity - hugs to you & prayers as well.

Larry: That Asian buffet sounds really good to me right now since I haven't planned "What's for dinner?".

Marilyn: I see that the Random Image shows Bebe at 9 years of age - Is she slowing down a bit? One of our daughter's dogs (Gigi) has a blood disorder of some type that is making her really destructive when she has never been - hyper too. It is so strange & she is hard to live with right now. I hope they find out what is wrong.

We are watching weather - must go to a store & everyday is a wild storm in the afternoon. Heavy rain & hail. Oh, Colorado. The mornings are beautiful but then, be aware.

Marilyn · August 09, 2010, 09:31:02 PM

Bebe is slowing down a little bit but not much. She goes to bed by herself around 6:30

I went to the doctor today everything is fine I have my Mammo the 19th and don't go back to see him for a year unless something comes up. He changed my inhaler again this time to Spireva which is once per day.

JudyB · August 09, 2010, 09:39:17 PM

I'm Home......so are John and Kassie.

We had a wonderful time, vacationing and with Pat. She has taught me a lot.

We are tired, and looking forward to our beds.

Have a great evening/night I will read all the posts tomorrow!

Etta Sue · August 09, 2010, 10:21:19 PM

Busy day! Just got here home from Guild. Great time.

Diane came at 8:30am to work on the photos for the church. We had lunch and finally got done around 3pm. 14 hours of work and 124 photos. But we are done. Then I was at Kitty's at 4pm to go out to eat and then to Guild.

I hope to go swimming tomorrow.

(^)^(^)(^)^(^)(^)^(^)(^)^(^)(^)^(^)(^)^(^)(^)^(^)(^)^(

Ruth Ann Bice · August 10, 2010, 12:37:07 AM

Hi, friends, I'm peeking in and leaving a "placemarker" for me. Tomorrow's a really busy day, so will return as quickly as I can.

Much love to all.

Ruth Ann

Janet · August 10, 2010, 12:13:45 PM

Yawn....I am so sleepy. Very little sleep last night, up early to work, now I am home again. This is the pits! I will try to avoid taking a nap today and see if that helps. Phooey.

Judy, the only thing I see wrong with yours and Pat's visit is, it was too short!

Must go, still have sticky keys!

Etta Sue · August 10, 2010, 03:32:12 PM

Whew! Photo Guild was great...what awesome photos.

I forgot to tell you that our Sunday sermon was on Heaven. No one knows what heaven will be like or what it looks like...we just know we want to go there and know we won't be disappointed. Rev. Steve said when you look at a sunset or sunrise and think how awesome, spectacular, colorful, amazing and beautiful it is, to remember that is the bottom side of Heaven. We can't imagine what the other side of the sunset or sunrise could possibly be but we just know it will be more perfect than that sunrise or sunset! WOW!

This morning, I got routine things done and went swimming by myself. I swam 36 laps...900 yards. No walking laps. Then since I am always hungry after swimming I went to McD's and then to WalMart for cat food and some items for this weekend's family get-together and Euchre at Ivalou's next Tuesday.

I have showered and gotten the chlorine out of my hair and body. Now doing some laundry...seems like I just did laundry!

It has been rumbling thunder all day but no rain yet. 94° though! And always humid in Indiana. Glad I am in for the day!

@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@

JudyB · August 10, 2010, 08:17:13 PM

You are right it was too short. I may be going back down around the middle of September, that is IF Pat is up north!

Ruth · August 10, 2010, 09:08:06 PM

I had a busy day but not too much accomplished. I went to the sewing store and found out that my serger is no longer on the market it seems another company bought them out. I have to return next week to check on getting repairs when the store owners return from France.

I visited with Sue at her place of employment as it was on part of my travels long enough to say hello and be on my way. Earlier I had baked blueberry muffins, again on my way home I dropped a couple off for my aunt to enjoy oh yes I must say the Sue got some as well.

Hello to everyone Ruth

JudyB · August 10, 2010, 11:47:17 PM

A question for the photographers out there. Why is it when you crop a picture it goes out of focus?

Had a busy day, to 2 different local towns, and back home. Kass and I enjoyed our travels. It was blistering hot with the humidity, so Kass went for a quick dip in the river.

Home for a quiet evening, and computer work to be done. Heading to bed with a good book soon.

Ruth Ann Bice · August 10, 2010, 11:53:26 PM

Hey, friends, I'm in and mighty tired tonight.

I played piano and sang for the devotions service downstairs, which took up the morning. Then back to my apartment to get a form from the internet and print it out. NATURALLY

the printer got a page stuck, so that took extra time and concentration. Finally got it fixed well enough to print just the pages I need to send in.

Ate a quick refrigerator-review meal, then took a blind friend to the eye doctor. Since she goes to work at 6:30 am, she's ready for her supper much earlier than I am. That precipitated a stop by a nice hamburger place.

Brought her home, filled out that form, called the office and learned I can scan it and attach the scan to an email, thus keeping me from having to take it to the office.

Next, learned that the Rx had finally been okayed by my doctor, so drove 10 miles to the pharmacy to pick it up.

Then, hurried to our seniors' bible study at church.

Now, I'm here with y'all. whew!

Y'all have a great rest, and then a wonderful day tomorrow.

Ruth Ann

JudyB · August 10, 2010, 11:59:01 PM

Ruth Ann You are retired you are supposed to slow down??? I know dad always said her was busier after her retired. He wondered how he found time to work!

VisualCatalyst · August 11, 2010, 02:03:59 AM

Judy B - The only thing I can come up with at the moment as to why when you crop a photo, it loses focus is that it might be losing quality. If you crop a photo to a really small portion (for example, you take a picture of a lion that's far away and then just crop the image to look at the eye) and try to make it large, in some cases (depending on the amount of megapixels and how large you are wanting the shot), the photo will look pixelated or out of focus in some ways. I might be barking up the wrong tree, so I apologize if I didn't help much!

As for my week, it's been rather exciting. I just joined this forum, which I was so thankful to find! I've been on the phone quite a bit with my college in an attempt to sort out some financial aid issues. I just finished reading the book Isolation by Travis Thrasher and I've started a new book. My husband and I have started a bible study in John as of yesterday and that's going well.
However, things are really starting to pick up. Last year we (husband and myself) hosted an event called The Cross Valley Revolution (a 5-day revival) that was really hard on us financially and in some ways, spiritually. We're thinking about doing it again this year, but we only have til next month (the event is in November) to raise the funds, set up all the bands and book speakers. It's a bit rough, but I'm sure things will pull through! We had Seventh Day Slumber as one of our bands last year and the lead singer, Joseph Rojas, had an AMAZING testimony and around 300 - 400 people were saved that evening. If you haven't heard of him or his testimony, I highly recommend looking it up

JudyB · August 11, 2010, 12:20:52 PM

VisualCatalyst, I was wondering about that. Yet some of our photographers can do that kind of crop and not loose the focus. Mystery to me!

Got to go out and pick beans again! Getting weary of beans!

Etta Sue · August 11, 2010, 01:20:59 PM

I have probably spent 12 hours out of the last 20 hours working on the pictures for the 150th Celebration at church. At 2am I finally conquered a 'movie'. Then up at 8am and made a Power Point Presentation that can be loaded right into Sunday Plus which is our projector program at church. I saved it as a Presentation, not a Slide Show. But Sunday Plus kept saying it was not a .ppt file. I finally renamed it to xxxxxx.ppt and it worked!! I have the movies on CD's and the Presentations (one is 6.35 minutes, the other is 8.44minutes) on Flash...and a folder with photos on them that could be played as a Slide Show also. Covered all bases.

Then today, I went to the bank and took my cans to fill with gas for the mowers! Two mowers now! And I topped the car tank also. Then I decided to have pizza at Pizza King. The sky was black to the northwest and lightening and just as I opened the car door to go into Pizza King, the sky opened! Looked like Niagara Falls out there! But it stopped raining before I left and the sun is shining now!!

That's my day. A great day so far and I am praying that you all have a great day also!

^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+

Janet · August 11, 2010, 02:51:32 PM

Hello, friends! Hey! I took a leaf from Etta Sue's book, did a system restore back to about 10 days ago, and it seems to have remedied the skipping letters problem! Praise God! That makes me happy. Now I can chatter away at you. (Doesn't that make your day? )

This is a great day for me. I was SO happy to not have to be up and out and at work by 6 AM. I got up a bit after 6, went for a mile walk while it was nice and cool, home to watch Joyce Meyer, then stripped the bed; did three loads of laundry; put the hem back in a pair of Darrel's dress pants (been procrastinating on that!) helped Darrel try to start the big compressor he used to fill scuba tanks, then helped him get it pulled out and hitched to the pickup, so he could take it to town for repairs; then helped him get it backed back into place when he got back. Went into my crafting/painting room and made several cards, got all clothes folded, hung, and put away. And just generally enjoyed being HOME. And that was all before noon!

I stopped by here to greet all of you, now I am off to see what else I can get into today!

JudyB · August 11, 2010, 03:45:39 PM

Jeanne managed to get on line today. Check the link in Prayer and Praise. Also she posted in the challenge. It will take her a bit to get back to full strength. Lets continue to pray for full strength.

Peas are half picked, and there are 6 1/2 rows of beans to get to. Boy is it ever hot out there. Kass is working on yellow beans.... we are about beaned out. it is only half the job, the picking. then comes the cleaning and freezing.

Must go.

Larry Hanna · August 11, 2010, 07:10:26 PM

Hi everyone. I haven't had time to visit here for a couple of days.

Yesterday I had a commitment that took up the morning and then headed to our daughter's apartment. The batteries in her wheelchair were failing after four months. I had to remove them and take them to Batteries Plus to be checked, which showed they were failing. They had a one year replacement warranty so they gave me to two new batteries. I hurried back to her apartment and installed them. The only problem I had was getting up from having to be on the floor to work on the wheelchair. Getting old! I then headed home and got here about 6 pm, took a quick shower, ate dinner and we headed out to pick up friends to go to another friend's home to play dominos. Needless to say I was really tired by the time we got home.

Today we resumed our Wednesday morning Bible study with our pastor, where we started the study of the Gospel of John. We then went to Dunkin' Donuts and at noon to the nearly restaurant for lunch. I left from there and went to my dental appointment and had two teeth filled, which took about 90 minutes. Stopped at the library for a few minutes and came home and took a short nap. Now I have to leave in about 10 minutes to go to choir practice. Sure hope tomorrow is a quieter day.

Pat saw the dentist yesterday and had her teeth cleaned and learned she has an abscessed tooth that she needs to have removed as soon as possible. So we see the dental specialist tomorrow about that. This is going to be another year of large dental bills.

Janet, I remember hearing of another situation where a restore corrected a keyboard problem. In fact, think I had that happen one time where the keys produced the wrong letters. However, didn't think of that as a solution until you mentioned it. Glad it corrected the problem and you can now type away.

Read all the messages but not time to comment to everyone tonight. Headed off to choir.

Ruth · August 11, 2010, 07:50:32 PM

It seems that everyone had a much busier day than I had although hubby and I went to 3 different towns but the one farthest away was the one we had to go to the others we stopped for a short visit as they were on our way home. We took 2 different routes taking note of the mileage and when we checked only l mile difference, so now we know.

Judy: Beans and more beans is a bother but think ahead to the winter. We have a little patch and we are enjoying them very much. We also had a tomatoe from our garden this evening for dinner.

The update notices will not leave me alone so the best solution is to finish here and return tomorrow. Have a wonderful evening.

JudyB · August 11, 2010, 10:21:26 PM

Ruth I have 75 bags of beans in the freezer...with a lot more coming!

This has been another sweltering day. Working in the garden was brutal. Ohh to be back at Sabal Beach!

Heading to bed
See y'all tomorrow

Ruth Ann Bice · August 11, 2010, 10:23:48 PM

Hi, friends, Isn't it great that we can welcome a NEW FRIEND! VisualCatalyst, this is a wonderful group. Oh, hes, while we have that cuppa each day with friends, we also consume totally calorie-free concoctions that in real life would be forbidden.

Jeanne, it's so good to begin hearing your voice again. Still praying for you as you recover.

It's been another of those busy days, pant, pant, so, tomorrow's gonna be a "me" day. I hope to do absolutely NOTHING!

G'nite, friends,

Ruth Ann

JudyB · August 12, 2010, 08:37:22 AM

How can hope for the future help me live today?

What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.

Romans 8:18-25 NLT

"Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will have eternal life."
Matthew 19:29 NLT

Facing trials
We have strength and courage to face the trials of this life because we can look beyond them to the glory that God has in store for us. We know the sacrifices we make now will be rewarded by God.

Etta Sue · August 12, 2010, 09:47:55 AM

When in doubt, restore the system! That seems to be the fix. It works but it doesn't let you know what was wrong so if it is your doing, you may do it again.

Today is my class lunch....we are going to Art's Pizza where they have a buffet. Art's Pizza was the first pizza pie place in our area way back in the '50's! So good and one bite told me, 'Yes, this is Art's pizza!'

Tomorrow Kitty and I are planning on leaving real early for the State Fair. I have no idea when I will be back but if I am back in time, I want to mow the grass since Saturday is our family outing back in the woods! So I probably won't be on CP tomorrow!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Christian Photographers Community

News:

Random Image

Mini Challenge Winners

Today's Verse

Links

Site Menu

Shoutbox

Thoughts for the Week

Al Moak

Carol

Carol

Al Moak

Janet

Larry Hanna

shutterbugmom

Carol

Marilyn

JudyB

Etta Sue

Ruth Ann Bice

Janet

Etta Sue

JudyB

Ruth

JudyB

Ruth Ann Bice

JudyB

VisualCatalyst

JudyB

Etta Sue

Janet

JudyB

Larry Hanna

Ruth

JudyB

Ruth Ann Bice

JudyB

Etta Sue