Saw the sunshine for a couple of minutes.  Temperature actually got up to 34, but dropping again, now it is 31.  I-84 is still closed between Hood River and Troutdale, along with a couple of hundred miles between Pendleton and Ontario.

With the freeway closed in the Gorge in Oregon, many people take Highway 14 that runs along the north side of the Gorge.  Not now, it too, is closed for about the same distance.

Emergency vehicles on emergencies can still get through of course, but I got to thinking about the employees at Bonneville Dam.  They can’t go home if they are working today, and their replacement can’t make it in.

They have to have, at the least, a skeleton crew to make sure the dam is operating as it should.  They have some food that can be used in an emergency, but would have to make sleeping arrangements off something other than what now resembles a bed because they don’t have cots, etc.

I am sure this has happened before, where both the freeway in Oregon and the highway in Washington are shut down, but I can’t remember it being like this since we have been up here – 50 years.

Just glad we have a bit of groceries put away.  Almost out of milk, but that isn’t a big thing.

------------------------

Genesis 2:15-17     And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

¹⁷ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened had Adam not partaken of the forbidden fruit.

Would he have been able to redeem Eve?

What would the world look like today?

Since every creature was told to be fruitful and multiply, there would have been a lot of humans and animals on earth.

Since before Adam sinned there was no death, would that have held true for all these thousands of years?

The only obligation Adam had was to keep the garden growing and healthy; weeding it, watering and fertilizing it and partaking of the many vegetables and fruits that grew there.

Since there would be no sickness we would not need doctors or medications.

Since there would be no crimes, then laws, police, courts, armies and anything else designed to protect humans would not be necessary.

The life would be ‘simple’ without stress, without the burden of having to work hard, worry about our children hoping we raised them correctly and they would always be safe from harm.

We would not have to worry about people going hungry or having to survive the cold or heat.

There would be no need for weapons or anything else to protect ourselves.

How much of modern technology we now have would be necessary, since most of it is not necessary, but more entertainment value?

If Adam had not sinned, would one of the children have submitted to satan’s wiles and ate the forbidden fruit?

If he had, would the world be as it is now, or would the rest of the family be able to redeem him?

All the world’s ills can be laid on the shoulders of Adam, or could it?

1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

It is so easy in today’s world to blame others for our troubles and not accept any contributing factors on our part.

It is the way I was raised, or the way society has treated me, or I just fell in with the wrong crowd, or I was tricked and the government should have done this or that.

But God deliberately gave man a free will.  We do not have to sin; sinning is our choice – as hard as that may be to accept.

Everything we do has consequences, either good or bad.  Sometimes it just happens and the best of intentions just didn’t work; but many times we make a choice we know is wrong – and then there is no excuse.

God does make a way for us and will not allow us to be tempted beyond our abilities. 

Sin is in the world.  But with a dedication to God, satan will have a very difficult time in trapping us where we feel we have no choice but to sin – either for our own enjoyment or to protect ourselves from something else we shouldn’t have done.

The Holy Spirit is within us, He will work with our conscience to keep us aware of satan’s wiles, it is up to us and our free will to listen and follow the Holy Spirit’s lead so not to sin.

It matters little what this world would look like if Adam had not sinned.  The facts are he did and we now live in a sinful world because of it.

There will come a time when all God had planned for this world, and for us, will come to fruition when He welcomes us to our new home in heaven.

Later, Art (-: