Snow Days

We are experiencing another snowy day - two in a row! The rains came this morning and froze onto everything. Before I left for work I decided to take the dogs out for a walk. It was still quite dark and we took off up Darling Hill Road. Sturm is still on a leash and did he take me for a WALK! It was more like a RUN! I don't know how a creature with 9 inch legs can move so fast. We have a little haulter for him and he pulls like a sled dog, trying to keep up with Ruger. It's so funny. Normally I don't like to have to leash the dogs on the hill, but we're trying to be sure Sturm is very used to being with us and listening to our commands, coming home the same way each time, etc. before we let him run off. He is so bold and inquisitive, I can imagine he'll get off on rabbit and squirrel trails quite easily. I thought no dog could love the snow as much as a lab, but Sturm equals Ruger's enthusiasm, perhaps surpasses it! Yesterday he leaped through the mounding snow and dug down with his nose, throwing snow in the air. He has no hair and tiny little feet - you'd think he'd freeze in a minute, but he really enjoys it.

Here are a few pics from our noon walk. We just got back from Mom's house and I figured they needed a little exercise before being shut up in the house again. As you can see, they got exercise!

 first comes the face-off

 Uh, oh - Here he comes!

 Okay Ruger, say "aaawwrrrgh!"

 Now Sturm, say "aaawwrrrgh!"

 Snow's a-flyin'

okay, "Retreat!"

You can't hear the snarling and growling going on here. I pretty much had to just keep snapping pictures and hope something happened when the camera went off. As you can see, Sturm's not afraid of Ruger. It was a good time in the snow.  It's nice because the temperatures are still low 30s, so not cold yet. There's a lull in the snow right now but it's supposed to continue till midnight. I love snow days. Though I have to work, it's right here in town, so that's nice.

Warm Thoughts on a Cold Day

Hello friends, As you can see I changed the format again - back to a more "normal" one. It's not exactly a winter scene but the colors are warm and might help to chase away the chill around us, reminding us of the days when we can walk through the fields of grass, pluck a piece of timothy and chew its end, extracting the soft flesh and juice from within. I look forward to timothy grass and clover nectar again. We barely have snow on our ground right now and yesterday I saw a small flock of robins fly in front of me. I'd like to think this means Spring, but they likely are a group of procrastinators, enjoying the first of the feeders being put back out on folk's porches!  Whatever the winter brings we will "rejoice and be glad in it".  

I have had more people come into the post office talking about "climate change". Do they not watch the news and the weather stats?  In 1996, last weekend, it was in the fifties.  And in 1958 (I think) we had very warm temps on that same weekend.  How short our memories are.  Our earth goes in cycles and the Lord has His hand on the whole thing.

This post will not be a long one but I wanted to keep in touch with everyone while I sit and sip my morning coffee.  Syd is off to work, lunch prep stuff put away and things are quiet in the house except for two dogs wrestling behind me. Oh the noises they make; growling and "snuffing" and an occasional "yip" from Ruger when Sturm bites his ear or lip too hard.  At twelve pounds, Sturm likes to think he's the boss but when it comes right down to it, not so. The other night the little one got out and took off down the road. Syd said, "Ruger, go get Sturm". He went down to him, barked a few times, turned and ran toward the house and Sturm was right on his heels - and through the door they came!

So, I am enjoying this quiet morning and getting ready to read for a while. The Spirit has been leading me and teaching me more about love toward Him. Yesterday I began thinking about how easy it is to get "caught up" in the technicalities of our salvation. By this I simply mean, the FACT that we've asked the Lord to save us, therefore He has; and the obligation we have toward Him because we are His children. There's nothing at all wrong with these things, but sometimes I wonder if they overshadow the fact of my need of being thankful for WHAT I've been forgiven of.  I received forgiveness for all my sin! - every sin I had done and every sin I will ever commit. It is so easy to get the cart before the horse in our christian lives. In the past I've gone about, doing good deeds and trying to be a good witness, dutifully reading my Bible and listening to good music. These are wonderful things, but I have caught myself focusing on the "legal" part of my salvation but forgetting to dwell on the "love" part. Perhaps others have not struggled with this, but I have, and I'm so thankful that the Lord is leading my heart through these scriptures that are helping me get my mind turned back to focusing on loving him, and not so much on my service and self. John 7:37, 38 say, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink...out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The following verse says that this is speaking about the "Spirit". The Holy Spirit will pour out of us when we thirst for and "drink" of the Lord. Like the woman who washed the Lord Jesus' feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head; I want to remember how much I have been forgiven for!

I'll go now. I hope you have a wonderful day. Come to the hill again. The road is not too icy and Syd keeps it plowed and sanded well.

Go to the Deeps

Go to the deeps of God's  promise;
There's wideness of meaning untold
in the promises given His people,
and the treasures they ever unfold!

Yesterday afternoon our church family studied about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life. When Jesus left this earth He promised to send a Comforter who would teach us and guide us into all truth. God's Word will never pass away and it has never been able to be destroyed because it is a living book; the actual word of God.  His promises will EVER UNFOLD, as the chorus above states. The Holy Spirit is the one who teaches us the truths contained in the Bible.

I am afraid of caves. I do not know whether it is the fact that they are underground, dark, or perhaps it's just the closed in space that bothers me. My brother, Kim, however simply loves to let himself down through a hole in the earth and crawl around to see where the tunnel will lead. He has convinced me once to go in with him. Once we left the first open space and crawled on hands and knees down a seven or eight foot tunnel, we stood up and could hop up into an open room, not high enough to actually stand but obviously many others had visited here there were several half-used candles to prove so. I actually enjoyed the fact that I got to visit that place. Had I only stayed on the other side of the sod, on the surface of the ground, I would not have known anything about what was down below its depths.

Our pastor posed a question yesterday to the effect that perhaps many christians do not even realize the constant involvement of the Holy Spirit's ministry on our lives. I read today out of I Thessalonians 5:23 which says "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This set my mind and heart to thinking on the depths of God and it brought to mind another verse from Romans 11:33 "O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past finding out!" The Bible says that God will "search us out" if we ask Him to (Psalm 139:23,24). He sanctifies us deeply, clear down into our soul (the dim regions of our personality that we cannot get at, nor develop). As we ask God to search us, He sanctifies (sets us apart) us too. Every little area of our "depths" need to be opened up to Him.

We are not to be leaving impressions of ourselves with others. We need to be leaving the impression that the Holy Spirit is having unhindered way "because the last abyss of his nature has been satisfied by Jesus. The only impression left by such a life is that of the strong, calm sanity that Our Lord gives to those who have been intimate with him." (a quote from O. Chambers)

Let's take some time to go to the deeps of God's promise today.