Got a call from the person that supplied the prunes – she wanted to warn Carla that there ‘might’ be some bugs.  It was nice of her to call, but we had already noticed...

We will get a few more boxes of peaches and pears so we have enough to get us through the winter.  Noticed that fresh tomatoes are 99 cents a pound on sale at the store, nice to have some really fresh straight from the garden.  Not sure how many pounds of tomatoes I processed last week to get my sauce, but it was probably 30 – 40 pounds.  Steven and Celinda and CeeCee will be down this weekend.  She wants to can some tomato products for their larder.

Looking out the window and it looks like we may have a storm, yet, tonight.  We had some rain drops earlier, just enough to mess up windshields, not enough to do any good.

Animals are starting to come inside now.  I was sitting in my chair last night and Ozzie jumped up into my lap.  A few minutes later Dotty joined us – she never does that – just needed some reassurance, I guess.

Blaze goes from jumpy one day, to fine (for him) the next.  Never can tell what causes it, but for the most part he is happy. 

Romans 15:5-7  Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:

⁶ That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

I was reading an article by Paul Estabrooks, a Christian author, this morning.  In it he talked about a lady who had been incarcerated for her faith.  She was housed in a cargo container with a number of women; 5 others were also Christians – also incarcerated for their faith.  Now you would think there would be rejoicing by Christians who are housed together for their faith.   

There wasn’t.  It seems each person was from a different denomination.  There was one very orthodox Christian who bristled at the others if they told jokes, she ended up turning her back on the others and didn’t speak to them.  She ate by herself and kept her own counsel.

Another wanted everyone to pray silently, while another wanted everyone to pray aloud.  There was dissension among them.

It is important to understand these six ladies were all of the belief that Jesus Christ was the Savior and in Him, and Him only was the path to God.  Yet, they had been raised in different denominations and had worshiped the Lord differently and they clung to those traditions.

They were all Christians and they were now together, in effect forming a new church body.  Eventually they came to the understanding that, for now, they must put aside differences in the manner of worship and encourage each other in the Lord.  He didn’t explain how they did it.

Christian Denominations differ in many ways.  But there is a base, that base, of course, is the acceptance of Christ and Christ only being the path to heaven.  How we worship, the manner in which we pray may be different, but the base is the same.

A very good friend of mine doesn’t always agree with my writings.  However, the fact that we are both Christians allows him to accept the differences and not condemn me for my differing beliefs. 

There are many issues that are dividing Christ’s church today – abortion, same sex marriage, the middle-east problems just to name the more obvious.  Unfortunately our differences are becoming major issues and the spreading of Christ’s Gospel is secondary.  Because of that we have allowed the government to dictate how God is perceived and where He is to be worshiped.

And satan is rubbing his hands in glee.

Our nation is much like that shipping container, granted a bit larger, but very similar.  We have a large number of people who are not Christians, housed with us that are.  There are a large number of denominations represented, but we focus on the differences and not on the fact we are brothers in Christ, HIS Church body.

There is division among non-Christians in how the country should be governed, and that division is growing in a vast void that is becoming dangerously close to being permanently growing larger.  Many Christians stand on one or the other side of the issues.  We advocate for one side or the other and there are times we are so diametrically opposed we forget that we are Christians.

AS Christians we must look at the violence, the poverty, the hatred that is becoming everyday life in millions of people and ask ourselves, why? 

The main reason is this country is turning away from God and His principles.  This country has never been perfect; there have always been times where it has done things that are opposed to what God would have us to do.  BUT, there used to be a desire to generally adhere to God’s principles, even if they stretched them a bit.  Today there isn’t even a pretense of listening to God, as a matter of fact there is movement, growing stronger all the time, to cast away those principles.

While we, as individuals, were pretty self-sufficient, we also helped each other in the time of trouble.  When a neighbor was in distress we were there to help them.  Today, most don’t even know who their neighbor is, let alone wanting to assist them.

We have given over our responsibility to help others to the government – which has taken God out of the picture and striving to keep Him from even being mentioned, which of course keeps Him from being consulted.

As Christians we need to put aside the difference in our beliefs and focus on Christ and His message.  If we are unified in our prayers for our nation, and purposely not try and tell God how He must deal with our nation, then we will see a revival and a turning back to God.

If we share our faith and love for Christ with others, then the Holy Spirit will use our witness to draw others to Christ.

If this country is going to return to God, then He must see those of us who love Him, pray and desire that change of heart in or nation. 

We are no different from Israel as they went through the dark times throughout the millenniums as documented by the Old Testament.  When they turned against God, He had to discipline and chastise them to make them understand they needed His love and grace. 

I believe we are seeing some of His discipline in our nation right now, and it will become worse if we cannot change the heart of our leaders and those that support them.

Let us, as Christians, focus on Christ, together and pray for our nation’s soul. 

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again