Teresa brought some apples over that were getting a bit ripe, too ripe for others.  Carla ended up making apple butter out of them.  I can vaguely remember eating it before, but I don’t recall it being so sweet, it is basically apple preserves – or close enough – for those of you who haven’t had it.

Weather continues to be a factor in the garden, but thus far not negative, the cooler weather is allowing some of the squash to put on more fruit and it hasn’t hampered the tomatoes and peppers which will be used in abundance next weekend.

Animals continue staking out their sleeping posts inside the house, going from place to place to determine which suits them best.  Blaze gets a bit upset with them, but they don’t pay much attention to him.  His kennel is in the living room and they don’t bother him there.  He likes the couch and the small carpet runner in front of it.  From those spots he can see us working in the kitchen.  He has a good view of his yard, the garden and the driveway and when he sees something he doesn’t think belongs, he lets us know.  He enjoys his yard and is doing a pretty good job of keeping tabs on things without too much barking – although sometimes I have to call him in.

He chases the birds and we now have a squirrel, the cats haven’t caught yet, in the elm tree just outside the fence.  The neighbors have had to trap more raccoons but we haven’t seen any here, the deer though visit all of us – much to Blazes chagrin.   

I received the following in an e-mail, it says it was written by a sixth grade child, but I think it is more likely a compilation of things said by several children and/or by an adult(s) – the internet is not known for its accuracy.  I have a reason for passing it along this morning, besides the humor involved, and will discuss at the end.

A sixth grade child was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible. Here is what he wrote;

The Children's Bible in a Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, "The Lord thy God is one," but I think He must be a lot older than that.

Anyway, God said, "Give me a light!" and someone did.

Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden ... Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel. Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.

Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.

There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New Testament. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, "Close the door! Were you born in a barn?" It would be nice to say, ''As a matter of fact, I was.'')

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Republicans. Jesus also had twelve opossums.  The worst one was Judas Asparagus.  Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount. But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

The sad thing about this is it is pretty close to the truth.  So many people ‘think’ they know what the Word of God says, but don’t.  Or, they deliberately misinterpret for their own benefit. 

While it may be funny coming from the mouth of a child, it loses all humor when it comes from an adult.  We can gently correct a child and he will listen, but an adult is going to argue and often won’t even look it up – or allow us to show them the truth.  AND it is important that if we correct someone, we ourselves are not misinterpreting what the Bible says.

Many don’t actually read the Bible so they take other people’s word for what it says, and then quote from what they remember the other person said – and often times the first person was wrong and the second person didn’t even quote the first person correctly.

Then there are those that pick and choose verses with a preconceived plan – usually of attacking Christians and/or God’s Word.

2 Timothy 2:13 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

In today’s world there are many interpretations of the Bible, and some of them are written to express a point of view of a certain sect or dogma of an organization.  Most of my sources use the King James because it is considered the most accurate interpretation, although others are also very good – I don’t take chances, I stay with the King James.

There are so many things that are reported to be biblical, that are not.  I can remember my mother saying the bible says, “God helps that helps themselves.”  It isn’t in the bible.  However, I am sure a majority of those who have heard that saying, will say it comes from the Bible.

It is a saying that in many ways goes contrary to God’s Word, because it implies He will not care for us if we don’t deserve it.  While it is important that man works and doesn’t become a burden on his fellow citizens, there is nothing that implies God will take care of him and not others.  Indeed, part of the church’s responsibility is to take care of those that need care.  James 1:27 is just one example of our responsibilities to help those in need.

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Satan is very good at manipulating what God says to place a block between us and God – just ask Eve. 

With the social media, internet information from thousands of sites, the education and governmental institutes, the magazine, news columnists, TV writers and Movie scripts that are revising the Word of God to fit their own “world view” it is incumbent on us more than ever before to be able to rightly divide God’s Word.

God is depending on us. 

Later, Art :-)

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