This morning the rosy rays of the sun made Mt. Hood look like a candy cane mountain, however, Mt. Adams was covered in clouds so didn’t get to see it.  Deed says they have about a half inch and still falling up at her place, of course she is almost 2000 feet taller.

Later, as I was working at the kitchen sink I looked out and a bright yellow sun light was illuminating Cherry Heights, accentuated by the sky full of dark clouds above and the shadows of the lower part of the hill below – beautiful.

Carla took me to the doctor’s office this morning.  We were driving into the sun – the clouds were such that the sun was reflecting a mirror image of itself off of them and made it look like we actually had two suns.  Interesting, hadn’t seen that before.

Thanks to Teresa we got our snow tires on the Toyota.  They dropped it off at Nelson’s Tire and then went back for it a few hours later.  We are pretty well set up for snow, unless we have 3-4 feet of it – and that has happened in the past.  Those little guys do pretty well, especially with snow tires, in our neck of the woods.

We do have the ‘family’ pickup which is four wheel drive, so that should take care of the deeper snow.  I am not up to hand digging that ‘20 mile’ driveway (okay ‘slight’ exaggeration, but by the time we were done, it felt like it) like Steven and I used to do when we had a good snow, that was anywhere from 4 to 8 man hours depending on the depth from the night before.

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Romans 5:6-11 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

⁸ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

¹⁰ For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

¹¹ And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.  KJV

Every man or woman that puts on the uniform of a Military Organization, a Fire or Police department knows that at some time in their career they may have to sacrifice his/her life that someone else might live.

It isn’t something we dwell on, but it is something we train to protect ourselves from, to learn how to evaluate situations and form a plan to do the job without losing our life or having to take another’s.

That isn’t always possible, of course, some things happen in a split second and they can’t devise a plan for his/her protection, they have to lean on training and instinct as well as the tools of their trade to come out alive.

In most situations these people don’t know who it is they are saving, just that someone is in danger and they need to react.

However, with most, even if they do know, and felt the person they were saving was unworthy, they would still do all they could to protect that person.

The difference is, of course, that Christ died to save all; even the worse criminal can come to the cross and ask Christ for forgiveness.   And Christ saves them, it isn’t their bodies, but their very souls that He washes in His blood, although He can heal the body and the ravages of time that is inflicted on it by drugs, alcohol and other things.

Before we were saved, we were an enemy of God.  That is not something most people want to think about, very few of us would tell someone that we are an enemy of God – some pride themselves in it, but, most do not.

It didn’t matter that we went to a church, or lived our life the best we knew how, without the intervention of Christ, without our acceptance of His sacrifice, we were God’s enemy.

But, God knew that, He knew our heart, and still, He sent His Son to die for us, that we may be reconciled with Him.

¹⁰ For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

The person who accepts Christ becomes a new person, born afresh and free of sin.  God will place Him under His protective arm and draw him close to Him.

It may take a while for the Holy Spirit to guide the newly saved into the life he is now born into – satan doesn’t like losing and will do all he can to interfere with the growth of the new (and for that matter ‘old’) Christian.

But, when we relinquish self to God the Holy Spirit works within us and heals old wounds, builds up our self-confidence in Christ and makes us not only willing, but powerful servants of God.

I have seen/heard of some who have given their life for their son, daughter, wife or other close family member, but most of us would prefer not to.

Christ knew what was going to happen the night of His trial and crucifixion.  He would have prepared to have not gone through with it, but He chose to do what God, His and our Father told Him.

To give up our child so some heinous criminal might live is something that very few would do, most of us would say no.  But when God decided to create man, He also knew that in doing so man would sin – and He promised a Savior.

Jesus, His only Begotten Son, is that Savior.

We have no strength in and of ourselves, Oh, we can perform certain life functions and some are extremely good at those, but when it comes to satan and his minions, we just are not strong enough to resist him, and protect our souls, without Christ.

AND the beauty of it is, that while our physical strength goes away to a degree, even if we exercise daily, our spiritual strength is stronger as we serve Him.

We cannot wait until we are ‘good’ people, because we will never be good enough; it comes from God’s mercy and love for us, not anything we have done.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Amen!

Later, Art (-: