Well those 35 cups of tomato puree, out of how many tomatoes I don’t know, was reduced down to 8 pints – 16 cups – of Pizza sauce, for canning.  AND for the 12 hours it was reducing it smelled great, tastes pretty good too.

So far I have 7 pints of pizza sauce canned – the other will go on a pizza sometime this weekend – 14 quarts of peaches with another 7 or so to can, today. 

When we buy canned peaches at the store there is one brand we usually get, have for several years.  I can remember telling Carla that the last few cans we opened had less peaches than before – one more way prices are going up, less product for the money.  There are plenty of peaches in our jars.

After the peaches will come the pears and then plums – with more of them coming; got a phone call from her supplier, more work.  It will be well worth it come this winter.

Not sure yet, but probably will do another 20 – 40 pounds of peaches, might have to buy more jars though. 

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

¹¹ Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Solomon was looking at all he had accomplished in life, the power, money, material wealth, the ability to do whatever he wished whenever he wanted – the wisdom God had given Him all the things that made up his life and he realized it was for nothing.  His soul was vexed and he grasped that what he had done would be left for someone else, and he didn’t even know if they could take care of it.

Without God, we are in the same place.  No matter how much we have accomplished, no matter how much we may have helped others it is nothing if it has not been done in the service of God, from a heart yielding to Him.

So much of our time is spent in making money to acquire ‘things.’  We focus on our jobs, on our desires for material wealth.  We want to do things that make us, and our families, happy and give us satisfaction, but we often fail to consider that it does not satisfy the soul.

We can and do look back and see things we have accomplished, things that have made a difference in the lives of others.  Much like the men and women portrayed in the play Ian was in who could point to a building and say ‘I built that’ we can feel pride in those accomplishments.

But in the end, what does it matter?  Life goes on, we own property, but it will soon pass on to others and they will make their own mark on it.  I used to tell my clients, after they sold their home, don’t go back.  Don’t go and see what the new owner has done.  He will make changes; and some of those changes will be to things that you took great pride in – and will be upset because they did so.  I spoke from the experience of me and my firm selling several hundred homes while I worked there.

One of the worse results of the teaching on the religion of evolution is that we have no spirit.  We came from nothing – and then somewhere along the line we ‘evolved’ into apes and now we are men.  But we are no better and have no more hope than the animals that live alongside us.  The only purpose in living is whatever we determine our purpose is – and once that is over there is no longer any purpose. 

Now, isn’t that exciting?

But, man yearns to satisfy the soul within, even though he may deny it.  The reasons there are so many different religions, so many false gods, is because man recognizes, consciously or not, that there is something out there greater than he.  He wants, nay, NEEDS to connect with Him.

What IS exciting is we have the answer to those yearning hearts.  I was listening to a man who said that Christianity is exclusive – as Christians we believe that only WE can get to heaven.  It is wrong for us to do that, he felt IF there was a God there were many paths to Him.  The answer given him was beautiful.

We are not exclusive.  ANYONE, EVERYONE can go to heaven.  It doesn’t matter what shade of skin you have, where you live, what you may have done.  It doesn’t matter if you are male or female, child or adult, fat or slim, wealthy or poor.  It doesn’t matter if you are married or single, tall or short.  It doesn’t matter if your body is not perfect, whether you are ill or in good health.  It doesn’t matter who your parents are, what your social status is, where you went to school, or where you worked.

ALL that matters is a belief in God, a belief that His Word is true and that His Son is Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins.  In believing those facts we have chosen to accept that we are sinners and that Christ died for our redemption – and then accept that redemption. 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.    Whosoever!   ALL, EVERYBODY.  You, me, the guy next door, up the street in the next town, county state country – everybody. 

Where is the exclusion?

1 John 3:1-3  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

² Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

³ And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Sons of God!  Us! 

We are the Sons of God, no longer are we spiritually orphaned waifs with no hope of redemption.  No longer do we have to walk in the chains of sins at the direction and manipulation of satan and his minions.

God in His grace and mercy has plucked us out of the mire and placed us on solid footing.  Our foundation is God through Christ, our lives have meaning; a purpose as we go about our daily chores. 

Sons of God!  My soul rejoices, my heart skips beats – no not my A-Fib – and my mind is lifted up. 

We were created in God’s image.  He wanted Adam and Eve to tend to the things of this earth.  Even after they sinned and He sent them out of the garden they were expected to work.  
 

But they were never without hope; He promised them that He would send a redeemer to make things right with Him once again.  Their life had meaning, as did the Jewish people through the ages.

Their hope was in a redeemer that would open the gates of heaven to their souls.  God has always been about hope for mankind.  He was upset with them and brought a flood to destroy all but Noah and his family, but he gave Noah hope.  He showed that in the instruction to bring all the animals on board; He intended for life to go on.

That hope rests in Jesus Christ. 

1 Peter 1:20-22   Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

²¹ Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

²² Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

AND we are the Sons of God!  Not us only, but all who believe on Him. 

The only exclusion to heaven is self-imposed by the person’s refusal to accept God’s Son on God’s terms.

Later, Art :-)

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