The Sun Comes Up, It's a New Day Dawning

Sunrise, October 17 2012

'The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning

It's time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name'

'You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger

Your name is great, and Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name'

Early Morning, October 16, 2012

'And on that day when my strength is failing

The end draws near and my time has come

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years and then forevermore

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name'

From Nehemiah 8

'On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak til noon ... And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law...Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people lifted their hands and responded, 'Amen! Amen!' Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground...

'Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, 'This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep' For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

Nehemiah said, 'go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.'

***

So I was thinking about that this morning, and what an amazing thing it is that, in spite of our sin, we can have total forgiveness, be totally cleansed and free and GUILTLESS before God because Jesus willingly took the punishment for our sin and gave us His perfect righteousness in return.

But for some who've never known that forgiveness, guilt is something that clings to us, burdens us, stifles us, binds us. When the children of Israel were read the Law, they realized their sinfulness and the sinfulness of their fathers. They mourned. They wept. But they were told to grieve no longer, go out and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks...for 'the joy of the Lord is your strength.'

There is nothing like having one's sins forgiven, to have a clean slate, no lingering guilt, because Jesus paid for it all at the Cross. And 'there is no other name under Heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.' It's only Jesus. 

There is freedom in Christ. And when I'm tempted to fall into a pit of guilt, I remember that Jesus paid for that guilt. Then he took his cloak of righteousness and wrapped me up in it.

Romans 8:31

'If God be for us, who can be against us?'

Mine is to cling to Him and rejoice and celebrate, for the joy of the Lord is my strength!

***

You may not be familiar with the song I've been quoting.  We've been singing it in church lately, and I love the message. If you have a minute, be sure to play the YouTube clip to hear it. It just might make it to your 'favorites' list.

***

'Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name

Lord, I'll worship Your holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name

I'll worship Your holy name.'

Little Clown - and Fourth of July

Lost

When our younger daughter, now married and mother of Henry, was probably five years old, she wanted to dress up like a clown. We found the  brightly-colored wrap and the red, floppy hat. Then I painted her face. When we had completed the costume, she wanted to see herself in the mirror.

As you can see from the photo above, once she saw her reflection, she was not happy, but became worried that she had been completely transformed and wouldn't be able to get back to her normal self. It was a sad and sweet moment when we saw that look on her face. This was not a happy clown.

You'll be happy to know that she did find her former self, grew up, got married, and gave birth to her own child, who will probably never be dressed as a clown.

The Little Fam Today

***

Changing the subject, do you have big plans for the Fourth? With the devastating wildfires out west leaving hundreds homeless and the huge storms in the East leaving many without power for days,  I'm thinking that this Independence Day may be a sombre occasion for many. With the hot, dry weather conditions, some communities are canceling fireworks altogether.

Kevin and I plan to have a picnic and go with friends to a small, local fireworks display (unless it's canceled). Kevin always makes a huge brown paper bagful of popcorn for the event, and we usually take strawberry Twizzlers and bottled water. When we still drove the Big Blue Truck, we would put our lawn chairs in the back of the truck and sit up there to watch the fireworks. Yes, it's very redneck and it was lots of fun! I don't know if the kids ever watched the fireworks, but they definitely kept their eyes on the dwindling Twizzler supply.

Unlike Big City fireworks displays, the fireworks in our small town are mostly shot off one at a time until toward the end when they extravagantly set off several in quick succession, usually ending with the U.S. flag emblazoned and sputtering against the black sky.

Then we drive home and try to get our terrified dogs on lead so they can go outdoors to do their business  between loud bangs, sizzles, and pops of neighborhood fireworks.

Poor dogs. They hate freedom and independence.

***

Mandarin Orange Spice

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Is it a Fluke? I don't think so.

 cartoon credit Atlantic Council

Can you believe the outcome of that contraception vote??? On February 23, Sandra Fluke spoke to a Democratic hearing spearheaded by Nancy Pelosi.  Why? She was lobbying for free birth control (after all, her friends are spending $1000 a year for birth control and how can they possibly afford that? - um, they're attending a Catholic school that costs $45,000 a year.)  I think it's very disingenuous for her to suggest that she and her friends don't have access to cheaper contraception, unless she's lumping abortion in with 'contraception.'

From CNSNews.com:

“Democrats are prepared to hear from a single witness today, a Georgetown Law student, Sandra Fluke, to testify before the committee,” Pelosi said in her opening remarks.“We are proud to bring Sandra before our Steering and Policy Committee to deliver the testimony she was denied last week, to stand firm in the cause of women’s health -- to no longer be held silent. Sandra is a bold and passionate leader for young women and all women, at Georgetown and across the country. She understands that this issue that we’re discussing is a matter of women’s health, plain and simple.'

"Pelosi noted that Fluke has been active in the battle against human trafficking and domestic violence, and she also served as the president and secretary of a “reproductive justice” group at Georgetown Law School. At Thursday’s staged hearing, Fluke said she chose to go to law school at Georgetown because it offers a quality education, but she also expected the school to accommodate students who do not share the Catholic belief that contraceptives, abortifacients, and sterilization are immoral."

Why?? Why would she think that?


The young woman is a 'reproductive justice' activist, the perfect person for the Dark Side to use to pit Republicans (that wealthy, greedy, uncaring, selfish lot) against the Democrats (the poor and downtrodden, whose main concern are the even poorer and more downtrodden). Yeah, right. The truly downtrodden here are the American taxpayers -  the ever-more-burdened, shrinking percentage of people in this country who are actually working and contributing to the money pot from whence all the free goodies are supposed to flow. Of course, that's after we pay to bail out Europe and fund wars around the globe.

Contrary to what Ms. Pelosi and her ilk are suggesting, no one is trying to ban contraception. But why on earth should someone else be responsible to pay for it? Or a Catholic university? Or their insurance company?  Barbara Boxer had a chart of all the other things that those nasty Republicans were going to take away from poor women as well. She made the leap (Is there any logic left in this country?) that because Republicans don't want the American taxpayer to pay for contraception, they won't want to pay for the health needs of a diabetic woman.  She lumped all issues that could possibly pertain to women into one category. How do they get away with tactics like this? It's absolutely ridiculous, but they can be very loud and very persistent. And pretty soon, if you don't agree with them, you've fallen short of their approval - and who can possibly live with that? Who dares actually exercise common sense.

I believe that Ms. Fluke should be renamed Ms. Plant. This was an obvious move on the part of the left to try to ensure that ObamaCare is securely ensconced. Women's reproductive rights, of course. How clever. And portray as a villain everyone who doesn't think the taxpayer should pay for contraception.

In this country, more than ever, voters seem to vote for the person who promises them more free stuff.   It's just way too tempting for many people, to let the 'government' do their thinking for them, to provide for them, rather than taking responsibility for their own lives. Do they realize that 'the government' is their taxpaying neighbor who is being robbed of his income?

With every little bit of our lives that we give up to Washington control, the liberty that this country was known for, that many have died to secure and preserve, is being eroded away...rapidly.

I don't think we want to see where it will end.

Freedom

Romans 8:2  'For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.'

John 8:36   Jesus said, 'If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.'

We only find true freedom when we turn from our sin, to the Savior.