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Morning Devotional...



Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.... And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. --1 John 2:15,17

Any appeal to the public in the name of Christ that rises no higher than an invitation to tranquillity must be recognized as mere humanism with a few words of Jesus thrown in to make it appear Christian....

Christ calls men to carry a cross; we call them to have fun in His name. He calls them to forsake the world; we assure them that if they but accept Jesus the world is their oyster. He calls them to suffer; we call them to enjoy all the bourgeois comforts modern civilization affords. He calls them to self-abnegation and death; we call them to spread themselves like green bay trees or perchance even to become stars in a pitiful fifth-rate religious zodiac. He calls them to holiness; we call them to a cheap and tawdry happiness that would have been rejected with scorn by the least of the Stoic philosophers....

We can afford to suffer now; we'll have a long eternity to enjoy ourselves. And our enjoyment will be valid and pure, for it will come in the right way at the right time.

Dr. Tozer in "Born After Midnight", pp. 141-142

"Lord, may I be faithful to call people to that which is important to You, at whatever cost. Thank You that 'we can afford to suffer now; we'll have a long eternity to enjoy ourselves.' Amen."

I covet your prayers today (Monday) as I travel north to Guelph.

Thanks so much

Voting has started for our Challenge entitled, "CHRISTMAS RED"

Please vote!!!

CLICK HERE

So right, too many groups have abandoned the truth in exchange for a good time. We need to study and teach the word of God.
The scripture  should make us examine ourself.

Hi everyone.  It is a beautiful sunny but chilly day here in Georgia.  I have been out all morning running errands, including getting a haircut and getting Pat's Christmas gift.  I think she will really like it as it came from the jewery store.  Today is our Monday men's luncheon and we are going to Olive Garden and then have a meeting tonight so this will have been a busy day. 

Last night we attended the Children's Christmas program and the Chancel Choir Cantata and both were really well done and enjoyable but was glad to get home as was tired. 

Stacey went back into the hospital yesterday afternoon as all of her counts were too high and she was becoming dehydrated.  Pat just talked with her and she will probably be there for a day or two.  The doctor told her she was so dehydrated that it is a good thing she came to the hospital when she did.  She is miserable. 

Keeper, nice to read your post.

Carol, I expect there are few families that haven't weathered some tough times but we grow from them and they help us earn the grey hair.    Glad it has warmed up out your way and hope the ice soon disappears. 

Janet, thanks for your comments regarding when I don't feel "up to par".  I happy to say that today and the last three days I have been back to par.  What type of pageant is Abby to be in next weekend?  I don't remember if you have already told us. 

Pat, thanks for the devotional thoughts.  This is something we all need to be reminded of on occasion but know we can look forward to the end of suffering when our time on earth is over.  Hope you had a and good safe trip back to Guelph.  I don't know how you keep up with two places. 

Hi, friends,

I'm a bit tired for practically no reason today - all I did was take someone to the doctor and wait 2.5 hours for time to leave and go back home.

It's so good to hear from all of you. Pat, be safe, and thank you for the good devotional.

Hi, Keeper. Glad to see you're with us now. God bless you.

Y'all have a good rest of the day.

Ruth Ann

Hi everyone.  It is early this morning but woke up early and decided to go ahead an get up.  I had a great day yesterday and hated to see it end as felt very good.  I wrote about my busy morning yesterday and we had a good lunch and a good meeting last night. 

Today I am putting some additional programs and files on Pat's computer related to her quilting.  I have a new project I would like to get started on later this morning that will take quite awhile as I have want to copy a large number of CD's I have to my computer so I can put them in GMusic and access them from anywhere.  This will not be difficult but will take a good number of hours.  I also need to make the recovery disks for this new computer and store them away.  I will probably attend a meeting at eleven this morning and that will comprise my day.  Pat plans a a trip to Walmart. 

Stacey sounded better last evening when she talked with Pat but is still in the hospital.  They had removed the insulin pump and she had been able to eat something and they had given her some morphine for the pain she is experiencing with her legs and her foot.  She hadn't been able to have pain medicine as it drove her blood pressure too low.

Ruth Ann, I always find it tiring to sit in a doctor's office or a hospital waiting room. Hope you had a good nights rest. 

Larry:  It must be so hard for Stacey to keep up her hydration, meds and all in her daily routine.  You mentioned getting up in the morning and I have a terrible habit of waking too early and just getting up to "get over it".  Wish it could be different but it is a habit.  What kind of quilting programs is Pat having on the computer? 

Janet:  Yes, everything thing we do, we should think about being grateful.  I was watching the horrible bombing in Syria and such a tragedy that these and so many in the world endure while we can go to the grocery store and gripe about such and such not being available. 

Today, a neighbor friend is coming home from back surgery and I am the back-up person to be over there as another friend intends to help but her husband is very weak right now.  Don and I will run errands early here today just in case we are needed this afternoon.  If you go to the Dollar store, gift cards only charge $1.  Two of the boys need the cards instead of sweaters, etc. 

It would certainly be nice to have more restful chairs, perhaps napping lounge chairs while waiting in dr's offices.   

Pat!  Praying for a safe trip for you!  Enjoy your winter wonderland.

Me again.  I had to stop back to share this short video.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200190687000105

Carol, Pat has EQ5, Blockbase, a lot of quilting videos from the internet and several other programs.  I have found a couple of things I could not install on the computer but they will play from disk still and one disc that I couldn't play either from the CD so we had to discard it. 

Quote from: Keeper on December 16, 2013, 11:19:57 AM
So right, too many groups have abandoned the truth in exchange for a good time. We need to study and teach the word of God.
The scripture  should make us examine ourself.

Thank you for this post, Keeper!  Yes, it is so true.  So many of our "churches" are simply places of entertainment and places for social gatherings instead of studying God's Holy Word.

Thank you for your prayers on my behalf yesterday.

That trip yesterday was horrendous at the end.  I almost thought I was going to have to stay in Springville, New York as the highway was deep with snow, no plows, and my windows just couldn't be kept clean! 

I'm glad I'm home.  Ontario was just so clear and now I'm happy to just stay here for awhile!

We had a foot of snow yesterday morning, it's still there and it's snowing again.  [attachimg=1]

Hi, friends,

I was out all morning with the man who has needed to ride with me. I think, though, that he's made other plans ongoing. That's fine with me. At least, I felt that I was serving the Lord by helping him out.

I had a wonderfully satisfying talk with my son who lives out of the country.  How MUCH God has answered prayer! He was asking for the traditional recipes for foods he really likes, and I learned that although they have rain today, he did not have a headache!

I also spoke with my trucker son, and he was fine - shuttling between Dallas, TX and a city in Mississippi. It will be good to see him when we have our family Christmas celebration this weekend.

How nice it was to see text messages flying back and forth as to who is to bring which dish to the gathering.

Well, must go and begin typing recipes!

Love to all,
Ruth Ann

Hi, friends,

I'm here a bit early today and a bit surprised that you've not been here to chat yet.

I've been sending old family recipes to my son who plans to cook Christmas dinner for his new family.

Y'all have a great rest of the day.

Ruth Ann

Hi, Ruth Ann!  I've been here "lurking", but mostly concerned with keeping the house warm and dry.  We've had about a foot and a half of snow since Saturday and I'm snowed in, and it hasn't warmed up to freezing in about a week.   But it's supposed to get a little milder by the weekend - even rain instead of snow. 

Hi everyone.  It has been a busy day and it is now after 5 pm so willl just check in this evening and be back early tomorrow as expect to be home all day.  This was our last Bible study until the after  the 1st of the year.  Our minister is going on vacation after Christmas for a few days although he told us today his wife will have shoulder surgery on Christmas Eve so they undoubtedly will be staying home.  After Bible study a few of us went to Dunkin' Donuts until noon and then to the Atlanta Bread Company for lunch.  I was almost 1:30 before we got home and I could rest for a couple of hours.  I am happy to say that Stacey was dismissed from the hospital yesterday afternoon late and went back to her apartment by ambulance.  Pat talked with her this morning and she sounded much better so hopefully will be up to enjoying Christmas.

Welcome Keeper!  I meant to say welcome in an earlier post but just plowed ahead with my silly news so please forgive and come and tell us a little about yourself. 

Great news that Stacey is out of the hospital and sounding better. 

Jeanne Lee:  That is a lot of snow and best to stay put in the house.  I hope you have all your needful things. 

Ruth Ann:  It is so sweet when the children ask for family recipes.  Worth all that effort!

I had a distraction today and happy to be of help to a neighbor/friend home from surgery.  She needed me much of the day for a few things like dressing & making breakfast & lunch then I read from 1 & 2 Peter, and from her daily devotions until she fell asleep.  That is much more important than house stuff. 

   Hi Gordon her.  I am sorry that it has been so long since I have been on C.P.     I have had to do a lot of trips for Noreen to the physio and her right knee that had to have the second surgery has just not been good.   She is going for a second opinion on Jan. 6th and we value all your prayers.  But some other new's today she was at the doctor office for her eye and she has a  detached retina and has to have surgery tomorrow and also my oldest brother arrives from Glasgow Scotland tomorrow and that is in Buffalo N. York so we have to be in Hamilton Ontario for 9 00 a.m. and she may get her surgery later that day then we figure it will be a very long day.   Lot's of coffee.   I will try to let you all know how it goes.   God's richest blessing's..   Gordon and Noreen.

Hi everyone.  The sun is just now coming up and it should be a truly delightful day.  I will make a quick trip to the post office in about 30 minutes to mail my SIL's Christmas gift, which finally got delivered yesterday.  As far as I know that will be it for today.  I am going to start on my new project I have in mind involving a lot of CD's of speeches that I have.  I want to get them on my computer and then uploaded to Google Music so I can listen to them anywhere from my phone or iPad.  This will also protect them from lose.  It will be time-consuming but not difficult.  I spoke with Stacey late yesterday afternoon and she had experienced a really good day where she wasn't in pain and said she had felt human again. 

Jeanne, I hope you aren't frozen into an ice cube from all that cold weather.

Ruth Ann, it must be such a relief for you to know your son is feeling so much better and that he wants your recipes and will be preparing the Christmas dinner for his family. 

Pat, sure glad you made it safely home through that horrendous weather.

Hi, friends,

It certainly kept me from feeling lonely here in our space when I read your messages.

Today has been a quiet day, with plans for considerable busy-ness tomorrow with finalizing plans for Christmas gathering with children, grands, and great grands on Sunday.

I'll be scanning some things today, and otherwise giving the apartment a bit of love.

Y'all have a good rest of the day.

Ruth Ann

Hello everyone. I hope you are all ready for Christmas, we are having an early Christmas on Sunday with all of Keith's boys and their wife and girlfriends. We are doing brunch for them late Sunday morning. I am making a crockpot breakfast casserole. The recipe sounds good I hope it turns out as good as it looked in the picture.  I assume we are still going to California and Gilbert's house for Christmas. That was the original plan  but knowing those kids it could change anytime. The only acceptable change in my opinion would be for them to come here to Oregon. They have not been here even once since I moved here in 2009.

There are a few (very few) Christmas ads on TV that I like.  But I find most of them are either tasteless or downright stupid.  And now Kmart has two that are truly awful and one that is so offensive and insulting that it actually riles my temper.  I am so insulted by this ad that I have written to Kmart informing them that this particular ad has lost them a customer and I will not purchase another item from them.  I don't expect it to make a difference - I suppose most of the population thinks it's funny and I'm sure my absence will have no effect on their net profit.  But I don't think it's funny and just had to get it off my chest.

Hi everyone.  We have an overcast day today as it gets ready for rain tomorrow.  However, it is suppose to warm up to about 70 so that will be nice.  I went to coffee yesterday and that was about it.  Pat got most of the Christmas gifts wrapped and ready to take downtown.  She will be gone for awhile this morning and eat lunch with friends but I plan on staying home the rest of the day.  I have already been to coffee at the Senior Center.

Ruth Ann, will all your family be coming to your place or will you be having the family gathering at one of your children's homes?

Marilyn, It sounds like you will be having two family gatherings for Christmas and sure hope all the plans work out for you and you can go to California as planned.  Unfortunately, we have no control over what others do so stay flexible.    Your crockpot breakfast casserole sounds like it should be good from your description. 

Jeanne, if we don't speak up to the merchants they will never know how we feel and if enough customers let stores know of their discontent it can have an effect on their advertising. 

Jeanne:  Atta Girl for writing to K-Mart.  That ad just disgusts me as well.  Tastless plus.  I always like the Clydedale horse ads - don't use the product.

The title to our car was mailed  from this city to us last week and never arrived - we may be grounded here at home - have to have a title search now and things move slow in that area.  There are hefty fines after Jan. 1st

It is 15* outside and we need to run errands plus buy some more food as Sunday some neighbors are coming over _ cannot feed them the dribs and drabs of what we have been using to clear the fridge. 

Gordon:  Hello and Merry Christmas to you and Noreen.  By now she may have already had her eye surgery and I pray all went really well for her.  Enjoy your visit with her brother from Scotland. 

time for me to run errands = there is just a light snow outside.  Overcast and snowing. 

Hi, friends,

I overslept this morning. The alarm went off at 8 am. I didn't "go off" until 9:45! It's a good thing y'all didn't get in my way this morning. After a very quick shower, it took me 30 minutes to get my brace and boot plus clothing on. So, I was so rattled by all this hurrying, I gave myself my insulin shot and got my meds for the day, then hurried out the door - no mousse in my hair, no partial plates, etc. It's a wonder I DID have my purse and keys!

Arrived 5 minutes late to the foot doctor, which put me at the end of the lineup for the morning's doctor visits. Subsequent x-rays show the following: there's an odd formation on the metatarsal bone leading to the big toe (is this some type of spur or is it a tumor?? question for next visit), the ruptured tendon will never be better and it's the one that keeps my foot from rolling to the outside, and the bone isn't healed up yet.

So, wear both boot and brace for 2 weeks. Graduate to shoe and brace. Next visit is near end of January. Another question is should I resign myself to always wearing that brace? If so, and if it might prevent an ankle break or other problems, most certainly I'm willing to do that.

Then, ate lunch with friends. Hurried to Wal Mart to get great grands' presents. Then scurried in to a nice Ruby Tuesdays restaurant (I guess you could call it kind of a "fern bar" restaurant) that has a WONDERFUL salad bar for dinner with my brother and his wife from Ohio. Of course, part of the discussion was about children and grands and great grands. I phoned my son overseas and they got to speak with him. Then, they're just going onto Medicare, so we discussed options there, as well.

Afterward, I was really tired and glad to get home.

Y'all have a good rest of the day.

Ruth Ann

Ruth Ann, I got tired and out of breath just reading about your day!  I hope today will be less hectic!   

Our colder than frigid and below average temperatures are now rising rapidly to above average, and rain is in store for the next two or three days.   Over a foot of snow melting plus heavy rain...  did someone say flooding?  Then back into the freeze and who knows what to follow that.  These northern winters do provide a lot of variety.   

Hi everyone.  It is dreary looking outside but not very cold and only a slight chance of rain before tonight.  I am back from coffee and plan on staying home the rest of the day.  At the time  Our DIL was admitted back into the hospital yesterday as she went from 104 pounds down to 93 pounds in two weeks.  She was suppose to be putting on weight.  She may also be suffering with the flu or the symptoms may relate to her other problems due to the gastric bypass.  They plan on putting in a feeding tube.  I have no idea how long she may be in the hospital.  Obviously our plans for Christmas may have to be changed although we will still be going down to be with Stacey and have our gift exchange and dinner with her. 

Carol, you have to wonder when the dealer sent in the paperwork on your new car.  I got the title back from the State on the PT Cruiser last week, probably about 10 days after licensing it and paying the taxes.  Are you all headed back to Arizona in the new year?

Ruth Ann, sorry you didn't get better news regarding the problem with your foot and learning some of it will never be better.  Think acceptance and just take things one day at a time.  That doctor's office is really punctual on appointment as usually they won't call you to see the doctor until well after your appointment time.  We have two Ruby Tuesday's fairly close to us and visit them occasionally.   

Jeanne, glad you are getting a reprieve from the frigid temps but flooding doesn't sound very good.  I am so glad we don't live in an area subject to flooding. 

Hi Folks. Home for holidays. Got home last night and will be here till after New Years. Got up this am too see a lot of snow on the ground. So have to go out in a bit and fire up the snow blower and clear the drive way and sidewalk. The joys of living in  the North. stopped at the car wash on my way home last night and cleared about an inch of ice off the front of my truck last night. Had a great but rushed trip down to Virginia and North Carolina this week but all ran well. My truck is running better than it has in a long while. We seem to have all those computer issues resolved finally. one has to love computers until something goes wrong and then they can become very taxing on ones patience. Maybe the that is the modern way to teach us patience. Any way gong to run for now. Being home for a while will be able to do some more posting over next couple of weeks. So stay tuned folks more to come. Stay safe everyone and remember the reason for the season.

John, good to know you're home for at least a little while - I'm sure Judy is happy!      There was a nail-biter on the local news last week.  A state trooper was killed in an accident that involved a tractor-trailer.  Of course no one was identified at first and all they had to say about the truck driver was "a man 65 years old, from Ontario, Canada."  Not knowing your age but knowing you're getting ready to retire...  well I'm sure you can imagine how I watched the news, holding my breath, until they finally gave his name.  (And just so you know -  it wasn't you!    )