What say you? Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace.......

02:47 - Tuesday, July 8, 2008 - comments {1} - post comment

ANY good ideas???

Ok, I am willing to hear ANY good ideas on how to cut my electric bill in half.
I thought about running and extension cord to my neighbors outside outlet.......but since that is dishonest, I guess I shouldn't do that!

Seriously though. I am so open to any ideas!!

Here's what I have on electric.
(2) 50 gallon water heaters.
Dehumidifyer
A/C (set at 80 degrees, and only runs when it's HOT. Has only ran 2-3 days in all of June)
Fridge, stove, microwave, washer, dishwasher, lights, freezer.
Ceiling fans

ok the ONLY thing that is ran off the propane is the heat, and the dryer.

I do appreciate any and all advice.
Thanks

08:50 - Monday, July 7, 2008 - comments {6} - post comment

What is the best way to dry Basil

08:47 - Monday, July 7, 2008 - comments {2} - post comment

My tomatoes.

08:26 - Monday, July 7, 2008 - comments {1} - post comment

Someone's gotta help me out on this one.................

08:15 - Monday, July 7, 2008 - comments {3} - post comment

Every American should stop and ponder this deeply...............

January 11, 1989

NOTE: This was President Reagan's formal goodbye to the nation after the completion of two terms in office.

This is the 34th time I'll speak to you from the Oval Office and the last. We've been together eight years now, and soon it'll be time for me to go. But before I do, I wanted to share some thoughts, some of which I've been saving for a long time.

It's been the honor of my life to be your president. So many of you have written the past few weeks to say thanks, but I could say as much to you. Nancy and I are grateful for the opportunity you gave us to serve.

One of the things about the presidency is that you're always somewhat apart. You spend a lot of time going by too fast in a car someone else is driving, and seeing the people through tinted glass--the parents holding up a child, and the wave you saw too late and couldn't return. And so many times I wanted to stop and reach out from behind the glass, and connect. Well, maybe I can do a little of that tonight.

People ask how I feel about leaving. And the fact is, "parting is such sweet sorrow." The sweet part is California, and the ranch and freedom. The sorrow -- the goodbyes, of course, and leaving this beautiful place.

You know, down the hall and up the stairs from this office is the part of the White House where the president and his family live. There are a few favorite windows I have up there that I like to stand and look out of early in the morning. The view is over the grounds here to the Washington Monument, and then the Mall and the Jefferson Memorial. But on mornings when the humidity is low, you can see past the Jefferson to the river, the Potomac, and the Virginia shore. Someone said that's the view Lincoln had when he saw the smoke rising from the Battle of Bull Run. I see more prosaic things: the grass on the banks, the morning traffic as people make their way to work, now and then a sailboat on the river.

I've been thinking a bit at that window. I've been reflecting on what the past eight years have meant and mean. And the image that comes to mind like a refrain is a nautical one--a small story about a big ship, and a refugee and a sailor. It was back in the early '80s, at the height of the boat people. And the sailor was hard at work on the carrier Midway, which was patrolling the South China Sea. The sailor, like most American servicemen, was young, smart, and fiercely observant. The crew spied on the horizon a leaky little boat. And crammed inside were refugees from Indochina hoping to get to America. The Midway sent a small launch to bring them to the ship and safety. As the refugees made their way through the choppy seas, one spied the sailor on deck and stood up and called out to him. He yelled, "Hello, American sailor. Hello, freedom man."

A small moment with a big meaning, a moment the sailor, who wrote it in a letter, couldn't get out of his mind. And when I saw it, neither could I. Because that's what it was to be an American in the 1980s. We stood, again, for freedom. I know we always have, but in the past few years the world again, and in a way, we ourselves rediscovered it.

It's been quite a journey this decade, and we held together through some stormy seas. And at the end, together, we are reaching our destination.

The fact is, from Grenada to the Washington and Moscow summits, from the recession of '81 to '82, to the expansion that began in late '82 and continues to this day, we've made a difference. The way I see it, there were two great triumphs, two things that I'm proudest of. One is the economic recovery, in which the people of America created--and filled--19 million new jobs. The other is the recovery of our morale. America is respected again in the world and looked to for leadership.

Something that happened to me a few years ago reflects some of this. It was back in 1981, and I was attending my first big economic summit, which was held that year in Canada. The meeting place rotates among the member countries. The opening meeting was a formal dinner for the heads of government of the seven industrialized nations. Now, I sat there like the new kid in school and listened, and it was all Francois this and Helmut that. They dropped titles and spoke to one another on a first-name basis. Well, at one point I sort of leaned in and said, "My name's Ron." Well, in that same year, we began the actions we felt would ignite an economic comeback--cut taxes and regulation, started to cut spending. And soon the recovery began.

Two years later another economic summit, with pretty much the same cast. At the big opening meeting we all got together, and all of a sudden, just for a moment, I saw that everyone was just sitting there looking at me. And one of them broke the silence. "Tell us about the American miracle," he said.

Well, back in 1980, when I was running for president, it was all so different. Some pundits said our programs would result in catastrophe. Our views on foreign affairs would cause war. Our plans for the economy would cause inflation to soar and bring about economic collapse. I even remember one highly respected economist saying, back in 1982, that "the engines of economic growth have shut down here, and they're likely to stay that way for years to come." Well, he and the other opinion leaders were wrong. The fact is, what they called "radical" was really "right." What they called "dangerous" was just "desperately needed."

And in all of that time I won a nickname, "The Great Communicator." But I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference: It was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn't spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation--from our experience, our wisdom, and our belief in principles that have guided us for two centuries. They called it the Reagan revolution. Well, I'll accept that, but for me it always seemed more like the great rediscovery, a rediscovery of our values and our common sense.

Common sense told us that when you put a big tax on something, the people will produce less of it. So, we cut the people's tax rates, and the people produced more than ever before. The economy bloomed like a plant that had been cut back and could now grow quicker and stronger. Our economic program brought about the longest peacetime expansion in our history: real family income up, the poverty rate down, entrepreneurship booming, and an explosion in research and new technology. We're exporting more than ever because American industry became more competitive and at the same time, we summoned the national will to knock down protectionist walls abroad instead of erecting them at home. Common sense also told us that to preserve the peace, we'd have to become strong again after years of weakness and confusion. So, we rebuilt our defenses, and this New Year we toasted the new peacefulness around the globe. Not only have the superpowers actually begun to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons--and hope for even more progress is bright--but the regional conflicts that rack the globe are also beginning to cease. The Persian Gulf is no longer a war zone. The Soviets are leaving Afghanistan. The Vietnamese are preparing to pull out of Cambodia, and an American-mediated accord will soon send 50,000 Cuban troops home from Angola.

The lesson of all this was, of course, that because we're a great nation, our challenges seem complex. It will always be this way. But as long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours. And something else we learned: Once you begin a great movement, there's no telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and instead, we changed a world.

Countries across the globe are turning to free markets and free speech and turning away from ideologies of the past. For them, the great rediscovery of the 1980s has been that, lo and behold, the moral way of government is the practical way of government: Democracy, the profoundly good, is also the profoundly productive.

When you've got to the point when you can celebrate the anniversaries of your 39th birthday, you can sit back sometimes, review your life, and see it flowing before you. For me there was a fork in the river, and it was right in the middle of my life. I never meant to go into politics. It wasn't my intention when I was young. But I was raised to believe you had to pay your way for the blessings bestowed on you. I was happy with my career in the entertainment world, but I ultimately went into politics because I wanted to protect something precious.

Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the people." "We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. "We the people" are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the people" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years.

But back in the 1960s, when I began, it seemed to me that we'd begun reversing the order of things--that through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the government was taking more of our money, more of our options, and more of our freedom. I went into politics in part to put up my hand and say, "Stop." I was a citizen politician, and it seemed the right thing for a citizen to do.

I think we have stopped a lot of what needed stopping. And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.

Nothing is less free than pure communism, and yet we have, the past few years, forged a satisfying new closeness with the Soviet Union. I've been asked if this isn't a gamble, and my answer is no because we're basing our actions not on words but deeds. The detente of the 1970s was based not on actions but promises. They'd promise to treat their own people and the people of the world better. But the gulag was still the gulag, and the state was still expansionist, and they still waged proxy wars in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Well, this time, so far, it's different. President Gorbachev has brought about some internal democratic reforms and begun the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He has also freed prisoners whose names I've given him every time we've met.

But life has a way of reminding you of big things through small incidents. Once, during the heady days of the Moscow summit, Nancy and I decided to break off from the entourage one afternoon to visit the shops on Arbat Street--that's a little street just off Moscow's main shopping area. Even though our visit was a surprise, every Russian there immediately recognized us and called out our names and reached for our hands. We were just about swept away by the warmth. You could almost feel the possibilities in all that joy. But within seconds, a KGB detail pushed their way toward us and began pushing and shoving the people in the crowd. It was an interesting moment. It reminded me that while the man on the street in the Soviet Union yearns for peace, the government is Communist. And those who run it are Communists, and that means we and they view such issues as freedom and human rights very differently.

We must keep up our guard, but we must also continue to work together to lessen and eliminate tension and mistrust. My view is that President Gorbachev is different from previous Soviet leaders. I think he knows some of the things wrong with his society and is trying to fix them. We wish him well. And we'll continue to work to make sure that the Soviet Union that eventually emerges from this process is a less threatening one. What it all boils down to is this. I want the new closeness to continue. And it will, as long as we make it clear that we will continue to act in a certain way as long as they continue to act in a helpful manner. If and when they don't, at first pull your punches. If they persist, pull the plug. It's still trust but verify. It's still play, but cut the cards. It's still watch closely. And don't be afraid to see what you see.

I've been asked if I have any regrets. Well, I do. The deficit is one. I've been talking a great deal about that lately, but tonight isn't for arguments. And I'm going to hold my tongue. But an observation: I've had my share of victories in the Congress, but what few people noticed is that I never won anything you didn't win for me. They never saw my troops, they never saw Reagan's regiments, the American people. You won every battle with every call you made and letter you wrote demanding action. Well, action is still needed. If we're to finish the job, Reagan's regiments will have to become the Bush brigades. Soon he'll be the chief, and he'll need you every bit as much as I did. Finally, there is a great tradition of warnings in presidential farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time. But oddly enough it starts with one of the things I'm proudest of in the past eight years: the resurgence of national pride that I called the new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much, and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.

An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family, you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed, you could get a sense of patriotism from popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-'60s

But now, we're about to enter the '90s, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom--freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection.

So, we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important: Why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, four years ago on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, I read a letter from a young woman writing of her late father, who'd fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, "We will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did." Well, let's help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual. And let me offer lesson No. 1 about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.

And that's about all I have to say tonight. Except for one thng. The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the "shining city upon a hill." The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free.

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.

And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that; after 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.

We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for eight years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger. We made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all.

And so, good-bye, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. ***

© 1989 Ronald Reagan

• Photo of Ronald Reagan courtesy of the The White House

COPYRIGHT © 2006 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.

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01:22 - Saturday, July 5, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

ALL of life's answers are in the book of Proverbs.......really!!

Again, I am reading this book.......... and I am compelled to seek out Scriptures......to support or refute what I have read. Funny, I keep coming back to 'sin'. That is the root. Emotions are just a symptom of sin. Sickness is the outward manifestation (not all cases :-) of sins mutilation of the body.

Proverbs 2

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

 2 turning your ear to wisdom
       and applying your heart to understanding,

 3 and if you call out for insight
       and cry aloud for understanding,

 4 and if you look for it as for silver
       and search for it as for hidden treasure,

Look at that word "if".Wisdom, Understanding. Ok, where do I find it. THE WORD, ok, I have 3 Bibles in the house (maybe more) Verse 5. Look for it like it's TREASURE. Have you ever looked for treasure? I have........God says "IF", If I do these things..............

 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
       and find the knowledge of God.

 6 For the LORD gives wisdom,
       and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

 7 He holds victory in store for the upright,
       he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

 8 for he guards the course of the just
       and protects the way of his faithful ones.

 9 Then you will understand what is right and just
       and fair—every good path.

 10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
       and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

 11 Discretion will protect you,
       and understanding will guard you.

OK IF I do the first part, my part, the seeking part THEN.....THEN.......THEN.......not the other way around. I must seek, THEN I will understand, and know. THEN He will give me wisdom. THEN He will be my shield. THEN He will guard, protect me. THEN I will understand, have wisdom, and knowledge. ONLY THEN, after I do the "if's". Only then.............

 12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
       from men whose words are perverse,

 13 who leave the straight paths
       to walk in dark ways,

 14 who delight in doing wrong
       and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,

 15 whose paths are crooked
       and who are devious in their ways.

 16 It will save you also from the adulteress,
       from the wayward wife with her seductive words,

 17 who has left the partner of her youth
       and ignored the covenant she made before God. 

 18 For her house leads down to death
       and her paths to the spirits of the dead.

 19 None who go to her return
       or attain the paths of life.

 20 Thus you will walk in the ways of good men
       and keep to the paths of the righteous.

 21 For the upright will live in the land,
       and the blameless will remain in it;

 22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
       and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

Sin in verses 12-22. Peversion, walking in darkness, delight in sin, rejoice in evil, crooked paths, devious ways, adultery.

Delights in sin (gossip, slander,attracting the attention of other men,)

Rejoices in Evil (watching a movie or TV program Jesus would never watch and getting excited when the "bad guy gets his".) Reading People magazine and getting your emotions all stirred up there. Slandering a neighbor....

Crooked paths, devious ways? Manipulation in the form of pouting, tempertantrums, silent treatment, using your body to get what you want, Putting thoughts into others heads to get them to think the way you think. Lying.

All of these 'sins' can make me sick.

Sleeplessness, headaches, acid reflux, indigestion, irritable bowel, ulcers, unexplained aches and pains, blurred vision, panic attacks.And more!

Any of these 'symptoms' can lead to greater problems, cancer, high blood pressure, heart attack. It's like leaving an infection untreated. It starts off small, but could grow so much that you can loose a whole leg, or your life.

Sin, is the infection.

I have to rid myself of the sin......then the symptoms will go too!!

08:04 - Thursday, July 3, 2008 - comments {1} - post comment

SIn is the problem, duh

So I am reading this book....... Now I am searching the Scriptures. I have read the first chapter of the book..and the first Scripture that popped into my head was this. My thoughts are in blue. It's long........but.............

1 Samuel 25

David, Nabal and Abigai

1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Emotion, sadness.Then David moved down into the Desert of Maon.

4  While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.

5  So he sent ten young men and said to them, "Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: 'Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!

 7 " 'Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my young men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.' "Ok, David, he's got hungry troops. I know when I am hungry, I can go for happy to crazy in about 0.2 seconds. David is doing what he can to feed his hungry men.

 9 When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David's name. Then they waited.

10  Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?"Ok, well, Nabal lives up to the description of himself. Everyone knows who David is. He is being a smarty pants. Then he accuses (falsely I might add) Then he displays his greed and selfishness. Yep, Nabal is full of ugliness.

 12 David's men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word.

13  David said to his men, "Put on your swords!" So they put on their swords, and David put on his. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.WHOOOAA gross over reaction here!! But, again, hot anger and an empty belly will cause you to say and do some crazy things.

14 One of the servants told Nabal's wife Abigail: "David sent messengers from the desert to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us all the time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him."Ok, Nabal's servant: (A) He knows first hand Nabal's a bad dude, he's his servant. (B) He tells Abigail the TRUTH about David.(C) He knows that bad things are about to happen. Nabal is wicked, David is ticked off.  

18 Abigail lost no time. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she told her servants, "Go on ahead; I'll follow you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them.

21 David had just said, "It's been useless—all my watching over this fellow's property in the desert so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. 22 be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!" May God deal with David,WHOOOOOAAA David. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. Hot temper.......with a long burn. David stayed very very angry for a long time. This was not a 20 min ride.

 23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said: "My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 25 May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my master sent.

 26 "Now since the LORD has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend to harm my master be like Nabal. 27 And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who follow you. 28 Please forgive your servant's offense, for the LORD will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the LORD's battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live. 29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 30 When the LORD has done for my master every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him leader over Israel, 31 my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the LORD has brought my master success, remember your servant."Abigail! She is humble, she is generous, she is appreciative, she has a true, servants heart. 

 32 David said to Abigail, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. 34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak."

 35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, "Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request."AHHHHHHHH but even hot tempered David, is teachable.

 36 When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until daybreak. 37 Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died."Like that of a king" hmmmmm rich foods, guttonous behavior, drunk. I am SURE this is not the first time Nabal has done this :-). "His heart failed"...........He's mean, surly, a smart aleic, selfish, greedy, fraud, (banquet LIKE a king) and now he's had heart failure. 10 days later, he's dead. He rotted himself, from the inside, out.

 39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Praise be to the LORD, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal's wrongdoing down on his own head." David let vengenance be the Lords. David was ready to go take matters into his own hands.........but because of one person's level head, David did not sin greatly.
      Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. 40 His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, "David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife."

 41 She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, "Here is your maidservant, ready to serve you and wash the feet of my master's servants." 42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five maids, went with David's messengers and became his wife. 43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. 44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

So sin is the root, the emotion that you see is a result of that sin. Nabal was mean, surly. So you see his sin of greed, false accusing, gluttony, drunkenness, wickedness is the root. What comes out of this mans mouth is the manifestation of that sin. David's sin was his hot temper. He was ready to slaughter all of the men that belonged to Nabal.

It's not the 'emotions' that kill us. They are just the symptom of the real disease. Sin.

Like a child with a high fever due to an infection, raunchy emotions are the symptom of sin.

Sin is the problem.

Ok, I get that.

07:24 - Wednesday, July 2, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

So I am reading this book...........

07:56 - Tuesday, July 1, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

I did it.........I went into 'the belly of the beast'..........

07:33 - Monday, June 30, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Faith

08:32 - Sunday, June 29, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Things are looking better............

08:26 - Sunday, June 29, 2008 - comments {1} - post comment

My diseased garden in photos...........I am in mourning!!!!

This is my funky tomato leaves.......Extension office said: Too much water, and possible bacteria from the dead leaves that I mulched into the soil.


And this is my egg plant. The leaf is YELLOW Again.....extension office said too much water. Dig down 2-3 inches to see how moist THAT soil is......don't base it on the topsoil that is dry and cracked.


This is my basil. It SMELLS WONDERFUL when you pick it but the leaves are YELLOW and have this brown crunchy stuff on it Again, bacteria and too much water.


This is my green peppers....YELLOW leaves, brown spots Too much water. The excess water drains the soil of nitrogen. He told me to give them a 'N' cocktail to boost the soil.


And this is my poor cilantro. It's a brownish rust color and it stinks when you rub your fingers on it. This is the bacteria and too much water......and lack of N. He also said I should NOT have put lime in my garden, as the soil has plenty of alkaline in it. When I soil tested, my tester thing said I was low............but.............I think the leaves I 'imported' into my garden may be the culprit. My gf gave me 8-10 bags of leaves........from untreated trees, falling onto untreated lawn.........but from a total different part of the county.
DUH DUH DUH.
Live and learn!!


H E L P!!!!!!

08:36 - Monday, June 23, 2008 - comments {2} - post comment

Tomatoes with brown crunchy spots.....and many other questions???

05:53 - Sunday, June 22, 2008 - comments {2} - post comment

DRILL HERE...DRILL NOW....PAY LESS

11:41 - Friday, June 20, 2008 - comments {1} - post comment

SERVICE OF PASSIONATE DEVOTION

"Lovest thou Me? . . . Feed My sheep." John 21:16

Jesus did not say - Make converts to your way of thinking, but look after My sheep, see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Me.

We count as service what we do in the way of Christian work; Jesus Christ calls service what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on adherence to a belief or a creed. "If any man come to Me and hate not . . . , he cannot be My disciple." There is no argument and no compulsion, but simply - If you would be My disciple, you must be devoted to Me. A man touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says - "Now I see Who Jesus is," and that is the source of devotion.

To-day we have substituted credal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many are devoted to causes and so few devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is a source of deep offense to the educated mind of to-day that does not want Him in any other way than as a Comrade.

Our Lord's first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men; the saving of men was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father.

If I am devoted to the cause of humanity only, I will soon be exhausted and come to the place where my love will falter; but if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though men treat me as a door-mat.

The secret of a disciple's life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of the life is its unobtrusiveness. It is like a corn of wheat, which falls into the ground and dies, but presently it will spring up and alter the whole landscape (John 12:24).

"Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, June 19, 2008"

08:19 - Thursday, June 19, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

One of God's Great DON'TS !!!

"Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil doing." Psalm 37:8 (R.V.)

Fretting means getting out at elbows mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say "Fret not," but a very different thing to have such a disposition that you find yourself able not to fret. It sounds so easy to talk about "resting in the Lord" and "waiting patiently for Him" until the nest is upset - until we live, as so many are doing, in tumult and anguish, is it possible then to rest in the Lord? If this "don't" does not work there, it will work nowhere. This "don't" must work in days of perplexity as well as in days of peace, or it never will work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work in anyone else's case. Resting in the Lord does not depend on external circumstances at all, but on your relationship to God Himself.

Fussing always ends in sin. We imagine that a little anxiety and worry are an indication of how really wise we are; it is much more an indication of how really wicked we are. Fretting springs from a determination to get our own way. Our Lord never worried and He was never anxious, because He was not "out" to realize His own ideas; He was "out" to realize God's ideas. Fretting is wicked if you are a child of God.

Have you been bolstering up that stupid soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God? Put all "supposing" on one side and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about that thing. All our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God.

Oswald Chambers: My Utmost for His Highest

Big fat eye opener for me. I was reading this the other night and about fell out of bed.

My oldest gets on me ALL the time for fretting..........funny enough, this entry? It's on her birthday, July 4th!!

03:00 - Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - comments {2} - post comment

Jesus Loves the little children....................

08:33 - Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Hearing from Horton or the Word of God?

Wingclips.com reports that the top movie clip download by pastors for use in their sermons is from Horton Hears a Who—that has been the top clip every week for the last three months. Dr. Seuss is apparently growing in popularity as sermon fodder. The thrilling true stories from Holy Scripture are no longer enough to hold even adult attention in church, but Dr. Seuss evidently meets the need.

Our family attended a Thanksgiving eve service at a local church one year. We were visitors, and we appreciated the readings, the Thanksgiving hymns and the prayer. The church was heavily attended by faculty from the denomination’s local college and seminary, and the place was full that night. The pastor finally ascended the very large pulpit, looked out into the audience with the intense glare of someone with a serious message to proclaim. A hush fell over the congregation. He gripped the sides of the pulpit. His opening words were:

“I do not like
green eggs
and ham!

I do not like them,
Sam-I-am.

You do not like them.
So you say.
Try them! Try them!
And you may.
Try them and you may, I say.

Sam!
If you will let me be,
I will try them.
You will see.

Say!
I like green eggs and ham!
I do! I like them, Sam-I-am!
And I would eat them in a boat.
And I would eat them with a goat…”

The theme of the ten-minute crowd-pleaser message was  “taste and see that the Lord is good. If you avoid God like green eggs and ham, you’ll never know what you’re missing. Give God a taste.”

An exit sign never looked as good as it did that night.

Are there moral lessons in many fairy tales and stories? Of course. But when did church become a place for “moral lessons?” We have the whole counsel of God in our hands, the inerrant, powerful, authoritative Word of God, preserved down through the ages by God’s sovereign hand and the faithfulness of those who paid many times with their own blood. Why is that precious book not sufficient?

Why? Because nobody wants rich meat any longer. They want to be entertained and regaled with childish cartoons. They want to see movie clips of Spiderman, The Hulk, Sex in the City, and whatever other garbage the world is doling out. They want cute moral lessons from dancing vegetables on Sunday morning, not the true meat of the Word for grown-ups in Christ. With the persecution of believers that is coming to the West, Horton Hears a Who is not going to cut it. Interviewing Richard Wurmbrand and Christo Kulichev, two pastors who suffered incredible torture and imprisonment in Romania and Bulgaria, it was clear to me that their knowledge of the Word was what got them through their suffering. The promises of God provide the only key to escaping the dungeon of despair in our own lives.

Let those who want silly elephants teaching them on Sunday morning carry on with their cartoons. But let those who desire a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ feed deeply from the true meat of the Word. It alone can sustain us in the one true faith.

08:06 - Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - comments {2} - post comment

What I do to extend my tomato growing season, and increase production

Ok, this is your average joe tomato plant. It's about 10 inches tall. See ALL the dark thick green leaves (with no flowers)???


This is a "sucker". A big, thick, dark green leaf, that has no flowers on it. It sucks the life out of the plant, so I take scissors and snip them off where the stem comes out of the main part of the tomato plant.


This is the same plant. Looks naked. But it's not!


This is my tomato patch.Somewhere between 80-100 tomato plants. I am hoping that I will can enough to last me all winter this year!!

I trim my tomatoes once a week. It's amazing how fast the suckers grow, and how much life they drain the life out of the fruit. By removing the thick dark leaves that produce no flowers or fruit, I am redirecting all that nourishment to the fruit!!

HTH

02:50 - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - comments {4} - post comment