Thou shalt not steal. – (Exodus 20:15)
MEDITATIONS FOR ELUL – DAY 19
Thou shalt not steal. – (Exodus 20:15)
Elul Meditations Day 18
“When you see injustice among the nations, you will find out that the root cause is covetousness.”
― (Sunday Adelaja, Insulted by Ungodliness: Raising a Generation of the Provoked in Every Nation)
Elul Meditations Day 17
“It is better to be divided by truth than united in error.” ― (Bruce Bickel)
Elul Meditations Day 16
“The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality.”
– (James A. Michener)
ELUL MEDITATION DAY 15
“Murder is always a mistake. One should never do anything they can’t talk about after dinner.” – (Oscar Wilde)
ELUL MEDITATIONS DAY 14
Honor your parents that your life may be long upon the land the LORD has given you.
Elul Meditations Day 13
“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.(Psalm 122:1)
ABSALOM’S PLAN TO BE KING
“When you hear the sound of the horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’”
ELUL DAY 12 MEDITATIONS
“Seek good, and not evil, that you may live…Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate…let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream!” – (Amos 5:14-15, 24).
ELUL DAY 11 MEDITATIONS
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” – (Corie ten Boom)
ELUL DAY TEN MEDITATIONS
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. – (Romans 12:1)
ELUL MEDITATIONS FOR DAY 9
2 Corinthians 11:14 – “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
ELUL MEDITATIONS AND PREPARATIONS
“Return, faithless Israel, declares Adonai I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares Adonai. I will not be angry forever.” – (Jeremiah 3:12)
ELUL – DAY SEVEN MEDITATIONS
“When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way. – (Wayne Dyer)
RELIGIOUS DECEPTION
“O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!” – (Walter Scott)
Elul Meditations for Day Six
“Every child has known God,
Not the God of names,
Not the God of don’ts,
Not the God who ever does anything weird,
But the God who knows only four words.
And keeps repeating them, saying:
‘Come dance with me, come dance.’”
— (Hafiz – translation by Daniel Ladinsky)
Elul – Day Five Meditation
“There are moments in history when a door for massive change opens, and great revolutions for good or evil spring up in the vacuum created by these openings. In these divine moments key men and women and even entire generations risk everything to become the hinge of history, the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing.” – (Rev. Lou Engle)
ELUL – MEDITATIONS FOR DAY FOUR
“Each of my days are miracles. I won’t waste my day; I won’t throw away a miracle.” – (Kelley Vicstrom)
ELUL DAY 2
“Like the flower of Aubiere; Help us make it through the day.” (Golden Choir of Aubiere – Alan Levi)
FLATTERY WILL TAKE YOU NOWHERE
“Popular culture is a place where pity is called compassion, flattery is called love, propaganda is called knowledge, tension is called peace, gossip is called news, and auto-tune is called singing.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy
ELUL 5786
“I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized – I was somebody.” – (Lily Tomlin)
GRANDPARENT’S CAMP SUMMER 2026
Children thrive when given the freedom to explore their own ideas and make their own plans, often leading to unexpected and delightful outcomes. Why does this surprise us?
ABSALOM’S TEST AND REBELLION
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and cursings; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” – (Deuteronomy 30:19)
DAVID’S MERCY TOWARD ABSALOM
I would say to my soul, O my soul, this is not the place of despair; this is not the time to despair in. As long as mine eyes can find a promise in the Bible, as long as there is a moment left me of breath or life in this world, so long will I wait or look for mercy, so long will I fight against unbelief and despair. – (John Bunyan)
GOD DEVISES A MEANS
For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him. – (2 Samuel 14:14)
ROSH CHODESH AV 2026
“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – (Isaiah 40:31)
BOUNDARIES
For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5)
TAMAR’S DISGRACE
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. – (Isiah 43: 1-2)
DECEPTIVE NAMES
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. – (2 Corinthians 10:5)
LIVING IN THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You. – (Psalm 51:10-19)
THOUGHTS FOR FATHER’S DAY – 2026
“To the world, you are a dad. But to our family, you are the world.” – (Unknown)
REBUKE FROM NATHAN
Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? (2 Samuel 12:9)
ROSH CHODESH TAMMUZ 5786
After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place. All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. – (Lamentations 1;3)
WHY IS TAMMUZ USED AS A NAME ON GOD’S CALENDAR?
“For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” – (Matthew 24:24)
THE TIME WHEN KINGS GO TO WAR
“David’s greatest failures came when he was at ease and not fulfilling his responsibilities. We must always be vigilant, ready to fight against temptation and to fulfill our calling.” – (Charles Stanley)
A REJECTION TO KINDNESS
“Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD do what seems good to him. – (2 Samuel 10:12.)
SIVAN 5786
“For they shall partake of the abundance of the seas and of treasures hidden in the sand.” —(Deuteronomy 33:19.)
KING DAVID WAS ORGANIZED
David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people. Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelek son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was secretary; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests. – (2 Samuel 8:15-18)
DEFEATING THE EDOMITES
“Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph…” – (Psalm 108:9-10)
EVERYTHING MOTHER’S DAY
“Youth fades, love droops, the leaves of friendship fall. A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” —(Oliver Wendell Holmes)
ARAMEANS ARE CONQUERED BY DAVID
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? – (Romans 8:31)
DAVID’S VICTORY OVER THE MOABITES
Zechariah 13:13 says, “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.”
VICTORIES OF DAVID
In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the control of the Philistines. – (2 Samuel 8:1)
THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. – (2 Samuel 7: 11-12)
IYAR 5786
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – (John 1:14)
MICHAL’S JEALOUSY
“He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings, you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” – (Psalm 91:4)
DAVID AND THE GENTILES
David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” – (2 Samuel 6:9)
THE UNTOLD STORY – IS IT TRUE?
“Truly I am your servant, Lord;
I serve you just as my mother did;
you have freed me from my chains.” – (Psalm 116:16)
DAVID’S SECOND ATTEMPT
A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah. You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. – (Psalm 63:1)
UNLEAVENED BREAD AND FRISTFRUITS 5786
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. / He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, / so that no one may boast in His presence. – (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)
MORE ON THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID
In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it— one from the house of David— one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness. – (Isaiah 16:5NIV)
THE ARK HAS A NEW HOME
Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. – (2 Samuel, Chapter 7)
THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID
After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, only then are the Kohathites to come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the tent of meeting. (Numbers 4:15)
PURIM 2026
This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah: This is what the LORD Almighty says: “See, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. – (Jeremiah 49:34)
DELIVERANCE FROM ENEMIES
So shall they fear the name of the LORD where the sun sets, and His glory where it rises. For He will come like a raging flood, driven by the breath of the LORD. – (Isaiah 59:19)
ROSH CHODESH ADAR 5786
So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. – (John 16:22)
EXPANDING THE ROYAL FAMILY
But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’ He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold. When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.… – (Deuteronomy 17:16-18.)
RULING GOD’S WAY
And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent men to David, with cedar-trees and woodworkers and stoneworkers: and they made David a house. – (2 Samuel 5:11)
CELEBRATING TU BISHVAT 2026
“Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind. And it was so. The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the third day.” – (Genesis 1:11-13)
CONQUERING JERUSALEM
“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth.” – (2 Samuel 7:8-9)
GOD IS HIDING IN SHEVAT
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice. – (Song of Solomon 2:9)
HAVE YOU READ EXODUS TO FREEDOM?
“Inside my heart I could hear God saying, “It is time for a new type of exodus to take place. This exodus will be a spiritual exodus. It will lead you beyond the physical to a spiritual place of true freedom.” – (Gail Landgraf)
PIVOTAL TURNING POINT FOR DAVID
“He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands, he led them.” – (Psalm 78:70-72)
A MURDER AND A CRIPPLED CHILD
“A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.” – (Proverbs 19:9)
THE KING RECLAIMS HIS WIFE
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – (John 16:33)
GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES OF 2025
“Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.” – (Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek)
DAVID KING OF JUDAH
“He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” – (Psalms 78:70-72)
KINGSHIP’S LAST REQUIREMENT FULFILLED
“Yes, it is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies.” – (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
HANUKKAH FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
“May your festive moments be filled with wonder, peace, and the love of our Messiah.” – (The IN SEASON Lifestyle Blog -2025)
DAVID LAMENTS THAT KING SAUL DIED
So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day. – (1 Samuel 31:6)
CHRISTIAN MEDITATIONS FOR HANUKKAH
“As long as Hanukkah is studied and remembered, Jews will not surrender to the night. The proper response, as Hanukkah teaches, is not to curse the darkness but to light a candle.” – (Irving Greenberg)
WHAT IS HANUKKAH’S MEANING FOR CHRISTIANS?
“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” — (Eleanor Roosevelt)
THE INCARNATION – GOD WITH US
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, God with us.” – (Matthew 1:23)
ADVENT VERSES HANUKKAH
“And just like that, like a simple neighborhood event, a miracle is taking place.” – (Mary Oliver)
THE NATURE OF THANKSGIVING
“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.” – Herman Melville
ROSH CHODESH KISLEV 5786
“Forever is not about expecting change, but about growing together through every season.” – (Rabbi Meni Even-Israel)
END OF 1 SAMUEL STUDY
“People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” – (1 Samuel 16:7)
THANKSGIVING 2025 IN AMERICA
“We are all Pilgrims on the same journey, but some Pilgrims have better road maps.” – ( Nelson DeMille)
WHAT ABOUT THOSE HEBREWS?
You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop with my God I can scale a wall. – (Psalm 18:28-29)
SAUL SEEKS THE WITCH OF ENDOR
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. – (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
PERSEVERANCE IN ADVERSITY
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.- (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)
TAKING SAUL’S SPEAR
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” (Psalm 23)
ROSH CHODESH CHESHVAN 5786
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.” – (2 Corinthians 2:14-17)
DAVID SPARES SAUL’S LIFE AGAIN
“Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” – (Matthew 9:13)
HAPPY FEAST OF TABERNACLES
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. – (Leviticus 23:33)
DAVID’S WIVES
An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. – (Proverbs 31:1-3)
TRUMPETS IN ABIGAIL AND DAVID’S STORY
“Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. – (Matthew 25:13)
KNOWLEDGE AND FEAR OF THE LORD
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – (Proverbs 1:7)
ABIGAIL’S GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” – (Hebrews 11:1-12)
MORE FACTS ABOUT ELUL
“Elul is the month of spiritual preparation for the High Holidays. The inner work of spiritual accountability and returning to one’s true essence (known as teshuvah, “repentance”) done during this month affects our capacity to stand before G‑d and draw down blessings for the coming year.” – (Melinda Mindy Ribner)
BUILDING A SPIRITUAL HOUSE IN ELUL
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy. You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.- (1 Corinthians 12:16-27)
ABIGAIL’S GIFT OF COUNSEL
“Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” – (Psalm 127:1)
THE WEDDING DAY IS COMING
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.” – (Revelation 19:7)
ABIGAIL’S GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING
“The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.” – (Proverbs 14:1)
FACING THE STORMS OF ELUL
“Having God in our lives doesn’t mean sailing through the sea with no storms. It means having a boat that no storm can sink.” – (Author unknown)
ELUL 5786
“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” – (Isaiah 57:15)
A TIME FOR MAKING ALL THINGS NEW
“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” – (Isaiah 30: 18)
THE WISDOM OF ABIGAIL
‘There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.’ – (Charles Dickens)
ARE YOU READY FOR TESHUVAH?
“Just as a fruit needs time to ripen, so too does a soul need time for teshuvah, a gradual turning back towards its source, becoming whole and flavorful.”
ABIGAIL
“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. (1 Peter 5:6)
NAVIGATING THE PARALLELS
“In Bible scholarship, parallelism may refer to interpreting scripture by scripture. The concept is related to the idea that Scripture is unified, which means it can be used to interpret itself since all Scripture provides a consistent vision.” – (Lynda Lyle)
WHAT IS TESHUVAH? (Definition One)
“Be gracious unto me, O God, according to Thy mercy, according to the multitude of Thy compassions, blot out my transgressions.” (David in Psalm 51:1)
GRANDPARENTS CAMP 2025
Each grandchild is like a star in the night, bringing light and joy to our lives.
DAVID MEETS ABIGAIL
“When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.” – (Abigail from 1 Samuel 25)
THE AMAZING MONTH OF AV
“You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,” – (Psalm 30:11)
KINGS WHO WERE CUT OFF
” And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself but for the people and he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week, He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. – (Daniel 9:26-27)
STARS, DAVID AND CAPRICORN
“God is Love.” (1 John 4:8)
PRAYER FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY
Return us to your purposes and your great glory.
THE STARS OF EN-GEDI
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. – (Jerimiah 1:5)
ROSH CHODESH TAMMUZ 5785
In the Hebrew month of Tammuz, I believe we are challenged to see things from a fresh perspective and embrace God’s vision. (Curt Landry Ministries)
RESPECTING THE LORD’S ANOINTED
And David arose and secretly severed the skirt of Saul’s coat. And it was afterwards that David’s heart smote him, for he had severed Saul’s skirt. And he said to his men, “The Lord forbid it for me, that I should do this thing to my lord, to the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth my hand upon him, for he is the Lord’s anointed.” – (1 Samuel 24:6-7)
SELAHAMMANHLEKOTH AND KEILAH
“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” – (Psalm 119:105)
Everything Father’s Day
“The value of a loving father has no price.”
FLAG DAY CELEBRATION
“The flag is how America signs her name.” (National Historic Park – Philadelphia)
FATHER’S DAY IN A FATHERLESS GENERATION
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. – (John 16:33)
LIFE IN THE STRONGHOLD
“But as for me, I am a leafy olive-tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.” -(Psalm 52:10.)
NOB AND GATH
That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: “‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?” – (1 Samuel 21:10-11)
EVERYTHING PENTECOST
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. – (Acts 2:2)
OMER COUNT – DAY 49
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” – (Revelation 19:7)
OMER COUNT – DAY 48
“Rule with the heart of a servant. Serve with the heart of a king.” – (Bill Johnson)
SIVAN 5785
“Open your heart to Me, My sister, My dove, My love, My perfection.” – (Song of Songs 5:2)
YOU ARE MY HIDING PLACE
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. – (Psalm 56;3)
OMER COUNT – DAY 47
“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of Jonas, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”” – (John 21:15-17)
OMER COUNT – DAY 46
My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me. – (Psalm 31:15)
OMER COUNT – DAY 45
“When we treat people merely as they are, they will remain as they are. ” – (Author Unknown)
OMER COUNT – DAY 44
“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. ” – (Micah 6:8)
EVERYTHING MEMORIAL DAY
“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and sheroes” — (Maya Angelou)
OMER COUNT – DAY 43
“Legacy is not what’s left tomorrow when you’re gone. It’s what you give, create, impact and contribute today while you’re here that then happens to live on.” – (Rasheed Ogunlaru)
OMER COUNT – DAY 42
“Wide open and unguarded stand our gates, And through them passes a wild motley throng. Men from Volga and Tartar step. Featureless figures from the Hoang-ho, Malayan, Scythian, Teuton, Kelt and Slav, Flying the Old World’s poverty and scorn; These bringing with them unknown gods and rites, Those tiger passions here to stretch their claws, In street and alley what strange tongues are these, Accents of menace in our ear, Voices that once the Tower of Babel knew. -THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, “UNGUARDED GATES,” 1882” – ( Neil Gaiman)
A MEMORIAL DAY POEM
“Each walked single file; into a blessed land where wars would be no more.” (Sheila Gail Landgraf)
OMER COUNT- DAY 41
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” – (John 10:10)
OMER COUNT – DAY 40
“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (Genesis 28:12)
SYMBOLISM OF 1 SAMUEL CHAPTER 20
“Hope is the anchor of our souls. I know of no one who is not in need of hope – young or old, strong or weak, rich or poor.” – (James E. Faust)
OMER COUNT – DAY 39
“The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.” – (Revelation 3:5)
OMER COUNT – DAY 38
“It is in the roots, not the branches, that a tree’s greatest strength lies.” – (Matshona Dhliwayo.)
OMER COUNT – DAY 37
“Conduct reveals character, and we best understand integrity when we see it lived out in a person’s life.” – (Charles H. Dyer, Character Counts)
OMER COUNT – DAY 36
“In the turbulence of this anxious and active world many people are leading uneventful, lonely lives. To them dreariness, not disaster, is the enemy. They seldom realize that on their steadfastness, on their ability to withstand the fatigue of dull repetitive work, and on their courage in meeting constant small adversities, depend in great measure the happiness and prosperity of the community as a whole. … The upward course of a nation’s history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.”
– (Queen Elizabeth II)
OMER COUNT- DAY 35
“These are the few ways we can practice humility: To speak as little as possible of one’s self. To mind one’s own business. Not to want to manage other people’s affairs. To avoid curiosity. To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully. To pass over the mistakes of others. To accept insults and injuries. To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked. To be kind and gentle even under provocation. Never to stand on one’s dignity. To choose always the hardest.”
― (Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living)
OMER COUNT – DAY 34
“You can have no greater sign of confirmed pride than when you think you are humble enough.” – (William Law)
OMER COUNT- DAY 33
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. – (Psalm 90:12)
OMER COUNT – DAY 32
“Don’t try to rush things: for the cup to run over, it must first be filled.” – (Antonio Machado)
OMER COUNT – DAY 31
“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”
― (Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays)
OMER COUNT- DAY 30
“I have been wandering to find him and my happiness is so great that it even weakens me like a wound. And this is the marvel of marvels, that he called me Beloved, me who am but as a dog.” – (C. S. Lewis, – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle)
OMER COUNT- DAY 29
“Humility is becoming a lost art, but it’s not difficult to practice. It means that you realize that others have been involved in your success.” –
– (Harvey Mackay.)
OMER COUNT- DAY 28
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.” – (Ernest Hemingway)
OMER COUNT- DAY 27
Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever. – (Psalm 136:26)
OMER COUNT- DAY 26
“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Malachi 6:8)
PROPHETS IN NAIOTH
“It was the entirely unexpected and sorely welcomed song of a single robin in the waking hours of a new morning that reminded me that this day will not be what I make it. Rather, it will be what I permit God to bring into it. And so my prayer is that my days will always be filled with robins.”
― (Craig D. Lounsbrough)
OMER COUNT – DAY 25
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
MAY IS MOTHER’S DAY MONTH – LET’S HELP MOM!
“Nothing is lost until your mother can’t find it.” – (Unknown)
MOTHER’S DAY IS COMING
“The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation.” — (James E. Faust)
A CAKE AND A TREE – (Part 2)
” If you don’t know history, you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.” (Michael Crichton)
OMER COUNT – DAY 24
“The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being that places harmony in one’s life.” – (Peace Pilgrim.)
MENU FOR A SWEET MOTHER’S DAY LUNCHEON
To the world you are a mother, but to your family you are the world.
OMER COUNT – DAY 23
“The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and they coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” – (Psalm 121:7-8)
CREATIVE GIFTS FOR MOTHER’S DAY
“Mother is a verb. It’s something you do. Not just who you are.”
(Cheryl Lacey Donovan)
FOR THE 30-SOMETHING MOM ON MOTHER’S DAY
“There is such a special sweetness in being able to participate in creation.” (Pamela S. Nadav)
RANDOM MOTHER’S DAY THOUGHTS
“Ma-ma does everything for the baby, who responds by saying Da-da first.” – (Mignon McLaughlin)
OMER COUNT – DAY 22
“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke? Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.… – (Isaiah 58:6-8)
OMER COUNT – DAY 21
“Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime.” – (Author Unknown)
OMER COUNT – DAY 20
“The holiest, most ordinary, and most necessary practice in the spiritual life is that of the Presence of God. It is to take delight in and become accustomed to His divine company, speaking humbly and conversing with Him all the time, at every moment.” — (Brother Lawrence in The Recollected Heart by Philip Zaleski)
SHOPPING HAS CHANGED
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – (Dr. Seuss)
OMER COUNT – DAY 19
“Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire.” – (William Penn)
DAVID’S WINDOW OF ESCAPE
“I trust in the Lord for protection. So why do you say to me, “Fly like a bird to the mountains for safety!” – (Psalm 11:1)
OMER COUNT – DAY 18
“Heroism is endurance for one moment more.” – (George F. Kennan.)
OMER COUNT- DAY 17
“Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win.” — (Max McKeown)
MONTH OF IYAR
“If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, I will not inflict any illness on you I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” – (Exodus 15:26)
OMER COUNT- DAY 16
“Compassion is the opposite of judgement.” – (Chris Jackson)
OMER COUNT – DAY 15
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ – (Matthew 25:40-45)
OMER COUNT – Day 14
My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe His reproof. – (Proverbs 3:11)
OMER COUNT – DAY 13
“God has equipped you to handle difficult things. In fact, He has already planted the seeds of discipline and self-control inside you. You just have to water those seeds with His Word to make them grow!” – (Joyce Meyer)
OMER COUNT- DAY 12
“Be humble in your confidence yet courageous in your character.” – (Melanie Koulouris.)
OMER COUNT- DAY 11
“The one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” – (Matthew 24:13)
OMER COUNT – DAY 10
“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” – (Isaiah 40:31)
OMER COUNT – DAY 9
Don’t ever look back; you are not going that way.
OMER COUNT- DAY 8
“For I have said, “Loving devotion is built up forever; in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.” You said, “I have made a covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant: ‘I will establish your offspring forever and build up your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah (Psalm 89:2-4)
OMER COUNT – DAY 7
“I think the best part of being a mom is when your little one looks up at you and just smiles and stares because they know you are their person. Like nobody else is as important as you. They know that you have them like nobody else ever will. The connection is indescribable.” – Unknown
OMER COUNT – DAY SIX
“Dance with me oh lover of my soul, to the Song of All Songs.” – ( song by Paul Wilbur, lyrics by John and Johanna Hall)
OMER COUNT – DAY FIVE
“Always stay humble and kind.” – (Tim McGraw)
DAVID MEETS GOLIATH
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—(Isaiah 11:1-2)
OMER COUNT – DAY FIVE
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” – (Luke 23:34)
FAVORITE UNLEAVENED BREAD RECIPES
You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.
(Exodus 23:15)
OMER COUNT – DAY FOUR
“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.” – (Maya Angelou)
OMER COUNT – DAY THREE
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – (Romans 5:8)
OMER COUNT – DAY TWO
“Only the disciplined are truly free.” – (Stephen Covey)
OMER COUNT – DAY ONE
“And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Shabbat, from the day that you bring the omer [offering] that is raised, seven complete weeks there shall be until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count fifty days – (Leviticus 23:15-16).
CHRISTIANS COUNTING THE OMER
“Let us spend one day as deliberately as nature, and not be thrown off track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails. Let us rise early and fast, or break fast, gently and without perturbation; let company come and let company go, let the bells ring and the children cry, – determine to make a day of it.” (Henry David Thoreau)
NIRTZAH
“Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else. I’ve felt that many times. My hope for all of us is that “the miles we go before we sleep” will be filled with all the feelings that come from deep caring – delight, sadness, joy, wisdom – and that in all the endings of our life, we will be able to see the new beginnings.”
― (Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember)
HALLEL
“And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They were holding harps from God, and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.” – (Revelation 15:2-4; The Song of Moses and The Lamb)
BARECH
“When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back. He praised God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.” –
(Luke 17:15)
TZAFUN
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world…. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:32-33, 58)
SHULCHAN ORECH
“We sometimes choose the most locked up, dark versions of the story, but what a good friend does is turn on the lights, open the window, and remind us that there are a whole lot of ways to tell the same story.” – (Shauna Niequist)
KORECH
“When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.” – (Shauna Niequist)
MAROR
“Joy in your heart is better than bitterness in your soul.”
― (Matshona Dhliwayo)
DAVID MEETS SAUL
“Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.” – (1 Samuel 16:23)
MATZAH
“Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” (John 20:27)
MOTZI
“You showed me that my past didn’t make me unworthy to receive the nearness of God in the elements. I could stand before the table of grace a whole person — deeply flawed and still incredibly valued, hand-made by a loving God” ― (Lenny Duncan, Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US)
RACHTZAH
In every generation, everyone is obligated to see themselves as though they personally left
Egypt.
THE FIFTEEN ELEMENTS OF PASSOVER – MAGGID
“When we leave the pen in His hands we will never be disappointed with the story of our lives.” ― (Eric Ludy, When God Writes Your Life Story)
URCHATZ
“Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from the God of his salvation.…” – (Psalm 24:3-5)
YACHATZ
“And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24)
KARPAS
“Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.”
― (Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass)
ELEMENTS OF A CHRISTIAN PASSOVER – KADESH
Let us raise our cups in gratitude to God that this call can still be heard in the land. Let us give thanks that the love of freedom still burns in the hearts of our fellowmen. Let us pray that the time be not distant when all the world will be liberated from cruelty, tyranny, oppression and war.”
― (Mordecai M. Kaplan, The New Haggadah For the Pesah Seder)
SAMUEL ANOINTS DAVID
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. but with righteousness he will judge the needy; with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked.” – (Isaiah 11:1)
UNLEAVENED BREAD IS PART OF THE COVENANT
“The greatest of all capabilities of a human being is to become born again.” ― (J.R. Rim)
ROSH CHODESH NISSAN
“The heavens will be happy and the earth will rejoice”
CLEANING UP FOR UNLEAVENED BREAD
“Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1 Corinthians. 5:7)
WHY WOULD CHRISTIANS KEEP UNLEAVENED BREAD?
“For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. Eat nothing made with yeast. Where ever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.” – (Words of God to Moses found in Exodus 12:19)
SAMPLE CHRISTIAN SEDER
Next Year In Jerusalem!
EXODUS TO FREEDOM IS HERE
“As I prayed for the future I could see that these concepts taken from the ancient exodus were the only way any would ever regain the right to live within the total freedom God has always intended for us to have.” (Gail Landgraf – Exodus To Freedom)
THE LORD REJECTS SAUL AS KING
“I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” (1 Samuel 15)
WELCOME SPRING
“Arise my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one. For now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have appeared in the countryside, the season of singing has come, and the cooing of the turtledoves is heard in our land.” (Song of Solomon – Chapter 2:10-12)
QUALIFICATIONS OF A GODLY KING
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – (John 16:33)
FUN AND EASY PURIM IDEAS
“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.” – (Esther 4:11)
SAUL’S PAGAN OATHS
After that Saul gave up the pursuit of the Philistines, who returned to their own territory. – (1 Samuel 14:46)
KEEPING TIME TO MATCH GOD’S TIME
The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. – (Leviticus 23:1)
ADAR FOR WRITERS
The path of life leads upward for the prudent to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead. – (Proverbs 15:24)
PURIM FOR EVERY GENERATION
Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. – (Rev 22:14)
FAITH OBEDIENCE AND CONFIDENCE
“Obedience is an act of faith; disobedience is the result of unbelief.” (Edwin Louis Cole)
A GOOD ARMOR BEARER
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” – (1 Corinthians 12:21)
IT IS ALMOST PURIM!
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” – (Esther 4:14)
THE GATHERING AT MICHMASH
And Saul was sitting on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men. Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. – (1 Samuel 14:2-3)
CELEBRATING THE TREES
“When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten.” ( LEVITICUS 19:23)
WHEN SAUL TURNED 30
“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your Kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of the people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” – ( Samuel in 1 Samuel 13:13-14)
SAMUEL CONFIRMS SAUL TO ISRAEL
“Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.” – (Samuel in 1 Samuel Chapter 12)
SHEVAT 2025
“New month, new intentions, new goals, new love, new light, and new beginnings.” – (April Mae Monterrosa)
TRAITS OF A GODLY KING
“You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 2:5:
SAUL RESCUES JABESH GILEAD
“No one will be put to death today, for this day the Lord has rescued Israel.” – (1 Samuel 11:13)
SAUL IS PUBLICLY PROCLAIMED KING OF ISRAEL
“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.” – (1 Samuel 10:18-19)
PONDERING THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES OF 2024
“I want to say all my life I was a bride married to amazement.” – (Mary Oliver)
TEVET 2025
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. – (Matthew 5:16)
TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS AND MORE
“Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.” – (Larry Wilde)
PURIFICATION AND THE ASHES OF THE RED HEIFER
“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” – (2 Corinthians 7:1)
SAUL’S THIRD SIGN
“…the prayer of Samuel was the conquering weapon, and Philistia crouched beneath its power. Oh you who know the power of prayer, write this on your banners, “So the Philistines were subdued.” – (Charles Spurgeon)
CELEBRATING A WHITE CHRISTMAS
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the one’s I used to know.” (From the song lyrics of “White Christmas)
WINTER
“What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” (John Steinbeck)
PLANNING A COZY CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER
“Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart…filled it, too, with melody that would last forever.” – ( Bess Streeter Aldrich)
SAUL KNOWS THE SECOND SIGN
Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine.” – (1 Samuel 10:3)
CHRISTMAS IS COMING
“This season called Christmas is only a time of remembering ALL of Jesus and His story, past, present and future and celebrating His Conception. We think a lot about the Annunciation and the journey of Mary as she Carried God inside her womb for nine months. What could be more of a miracle than that?? – (Gail Landgraf)
FAVORITE MAIN DISHES FOR CHRISTMAS
“The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture.”
― (Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto)
ON CHRISTMAS EVE
“O come, O come, Immanuel,and ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to you, O Israel.” – (JM Neale)
AS WE GO THROUGH THIS SEASON
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. – (James 1:27)
IDEAS FOR A CHRISTMAS DAY BRUNCH
“Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.” (G.K. Chesterton)
HEADING GOD’S SIGNS
“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” – (Isaiah 7:14)
THREE SIGNS FOR SAUL
Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance? – (1 Samuel 10:1)
ROSH CHODESH KISLEV
“God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to divide the day from the night; let them be for signs, seasons, days and years; and let them be for lights in the dome of the sky to give light to the earth”; and that is how it was.” – (Genesis 1:14)
STORIES WITHIN THE STORIES
“I’ll tell you a secret. Old storytellers never die. They disappear into their own story.” – Vera Nazarian, author
SAUL RECEIVES A MESSAGE
“About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.” – (1 Samuel 9:16)
TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING MEAL
“We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing; He chastens and hastens His will to make known; The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing; Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.”
(Author Unknown)
A CLASSIC TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING
Give Thanks To The Lord For He is Good. His Love Endures Forever. – (Psalm 107:1)
START A THANKSGIVING TRADITION
“Most seasonings are based on family tradition.” – (Wolfgang Puck)
THANKSGIVING ON THE FARM THEME
“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” – (Masanobu Fukuoka)
RECIPES FOR THANKSGIVING IN A TUSCAN VINEYARD
“The secret ingredient for all Tuscan and/or Thanksgivings anywhere; is LOVE.” (Gail Landgraf)
A NEW EBENEZER
“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us’ – (1 Samuel 7:12)
THANKSGIVING IN A TUSCAN VINEYARD
“When I tell people I was in Tuscany for Thanksgiving, their first question is – with a note of concern – “Did you have turkey?” – (Cameron Hewitt)
RECIPES FOR THANKSGIVING BY THE SEA
“It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich!” – (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
THANKSGIVING BY THE SEA
“There is one spectacle grander than the sea; that is the sky. There is one spectacle grander than the sky; that is the interior of the soul.” (Victor Hugo)
TWENTY YEARS LATER
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of God, I also will forget your children.” – (Hosea 4:6)
GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” – (Galatians 6:12)
SHEMINI ATZARET AND SIMCHAT TORAH
“On the eighth day you should hold a solemn gathering; you shall not work at your occupation.” – (Numbers 29:25)
AVOIDING EBENEZERS
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” (Albert Einstein)
FEAST OF TABERNACLES – DAY 7
“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” – (Isaiah 12:3)
DAY FIVE – THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. – (Revelation 12:3)
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES – DAY FOUR
“You shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of an etrog tree, the branches of date palms, twigs of myrtles and brook willows.” – (Leviticus 23:40.)
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES – DAY 3
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” -William Arthur Ward.
THERE IS NO GLORY
“Then she murmured “Name the child Ichabod, for Israel’s glory is gone.” -(1 Samuel 4:22)
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES – DAY 2
Leviticus 23:37
‘These are the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each day’s matter on its own day.” – (Leviticus 23:37)
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES – DAY ONE
“God is not looking for perfection, just availability.” – (Michael James King)
ENTERING INTO THE SEASON OF JOY
“Enter his gates with Thanksgiving; Come into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation. – (Psalm 100:4-5)
SAMUEL HEARS GOD’S VOICE
“I am going to do a shocking thing in Israel.” – (1 Samuel 3:11)
GOD BLESS NORTH CAROLINA
“Nothing could be finer than a trip to Carolina in the morning.” – song lyrics from Al Johnson, 1947)
SAMUEL’S FIRST OBEDIENCE
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ‘ – (2 Chrinicles 7:14)
YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER
“This is so typical of God’s Kingdom. The most beautiful things are the hidden things. You will not see them at first glance. They are the things you must learn to search for with all of your heart. God must lead you to them and God must reveal them to you. He will do that if you ask Him. ” – (Gail Landgraf)
ACACIA WOOD WITH GOLDEN OVERLAYS
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 18:3)
THE GLORIOUS FALL FEASTS OF GOD
Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” – (John 11:40)
CHANGES COME TO SHILOH
“I will honor only those who honor me, and I will despise those who despise me. ” – (2 Samuel 2:30)
THE RAM’S HORN – A FEAST OF TRUMPETS MEDITATION
Abraham answered “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went off together.” – (Genesis 22:8)
SAMUEL’S NEW LIFE
“Those who fight against the LORD shall be broken; He thunders against them from Heaven. He judges throughout the earth. He gives mighty strength to His King; and gives great glory to His anointed one.” – (1 Samuel 2:10)
REVIEW OF RACHEL HAUCK’S MEET ME AT THE STARLIGHT
“Did he tell you what I really wanted was a diamond ring?” She smiled softly. “But the Starlight is a marvelous substitute. Incomparable, really.” (Tuesday Knight from “Meet Me At The Starlight by Rachel Hauck)
A POEM FOR FALL
“It is the beginning of Fall.
I am completely in awe.” – (LIVING IN AWE from the poetry of Gail Landgraf)
THE SONG OF HANNAH’S HEART
“My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, my horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over my enemies; because I rejoice in your salvation.” – (Prayer of Hannah from The Book of Samuel)
CHINESE CHEESEBURGERS
This recipe gives a whole new meaning to “Let’s have cheeseburgers.”
WONDER OVER FEAR
You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord will keep me safe.” – (Psalm 4:7-8)
GOD ANSWERS HANNAH’S PRAYER
“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of The Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” – (Acts 2: 38-39)
WELCOME TO ELUL 2024
The Hebrew letters that make the word “Elul” aleph, lamed, vav and lamed, are an acronym for the phrase (from the biblical Song of Songs) ani l’dodi v’dodi li, which means “I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me.”
TEN WAYS TO PREPARE FOR FALL
“Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.” — (Faith Baldwin)
BEFORE YOU WERE BORN I KNEW YOU
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
REMEMBER TO PREPARE FOR TESHUVAH
Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips. – (Hosea 14:2)
SUMMARY OF OUR STUDY OF RUTH
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” – (1 John 4:8)
SUMMER OF 2024 NEWSLETTER for The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community
DON’T FORGET TO REMEMBER.
THE RIDDLE OF THE DEATH OF BOAZ
Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The LORD be with you!” “The LORD bless you!” they answered. (Ruth 2:4)
A HIGHER LOVE
“It has been said that coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.” – (Susan Curry)
THE GOD OF GREAT REVERSALS
“Entreat me not to leave thee,
And to return home from following after thee; For whither thou goest, I will go; And where thou lodgest, I will lodge; Thy people are my people, and thy God, my God. Where thou diest, will I die, and there be buried; May God do so to me, and more also,
If aught but death part thee and me.” – (Ruth)
GOD BLESSES RUTH AND BOAZ
“Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) So the guardian redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal. Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon.” – (Ruth 4:7-9)
SEEING THE SYMBOLISM IN THE STORY OF RUTH
“Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” – (Ruth 3:2-4)
DO YOU HAVE A KINSMAN REDEEMER?
If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. (Deuteronomy 25:5-6)
A KINSMAN REDEEMER
“I never make promises lightly, and there have been some I’ve broken, but I swear in the days still left, we will walk in fields of gold.” – (Sting – 1993 – Ten Summoner’s Tales album.)
BOOK SIGNING PARTY IN JUNE
“God had an exact plan in mind when He created us. He knew what He wanted from us the moment He put us all upon the earth. For the sake of all humanity, we much learn how this plan works best. Our lives must show others how to keep the treasured home we have been given away from the control of evil-minded men who wish to manipulate, change and destroy all that God created and called “good.”” (Quote from Exodus To Freedom by Gail Landgraf – Page 19)
BOAZ DISCOVERS RUTH
“You’ll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold.” – (Sting – from his song lyrics in Fields of Gold)
NAOMI GOES HOME AGAIN
“This was the only shame he felt. And this shame was so great in him that he wondered if all his life thereafter would be long enough to wash it out of his brain and blood and the last pollution of its loathsome taint. And yet, he would have it thought that he was bitter.” -(Thomas Wolfe – You Can’t Go Home Again)
EXODUS TO FREEDOM 2024 LAUNCH
“God has a Promised Land for all of us.” (Gail Landgraf author of EXODUS TO FREEDOM)
RUTH BURNS HER SHIPS
“Burn the ships. Cut the ties. Send the flame into the night. Say a prayer. Turn the tide. Dry your tears and wave goodbye. Step into a new day. We can rise up from the dust and walk away. We can dance upon a heartache, yeah, So light a torch, leave the port, burn the ship and don’t look back.” (Joel Smallbone, Luke Smallbone, Matt Hales, Seth Mosley of THE KING AND COUNTRY)
RUTH AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
“When “my God is king” married “pleasure” he stepped outside of the limits God had placed upon him. He sought his own pleasure before he sought his own God. We read in the New Testament that such are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. This is the spirit of the age and has been through the centuries. In the marriage of Elimelech to Naomi we have a picture of the fall of man.” – (Ray Stedman)
ORPHA AND RUTH
“Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” – (Psalms 37:3-5)
TWO SONS DECIDE TO MARRY
“A mother-in-law’s praise says more in a woman’s favor than anything else in the world.” – (Caroline Pafford Miller)
AFTER THE THIRD DAY RESURRECTION
“I’ve looked around enough to know that you’re the One I want to go through time with.” (Jim Croce – Time In A Bottle)
THINGS I HOPE MY FAMILY REMEMBERS ABOUT PASSOVER CELEBRATIONS
“ ‘These are the LORD’s appointed festivals, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The LORD’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present a food offering to the LORD. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.’ ” (- Lev. 23:4-8)
LOSING A BELOVED HUSBAND
“For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.” – (Isaiah 54:5)
A WOMAN NAMED NAOMI
“All virtuous women, like tortoises, carry their house on their heads, and their chapel in their heart, and their danger in their eye, and their souls in their hands, and God in all their actions.” – (Jeremy Taylor)
RESURRECTION DAY
“The cross, as poignant as it is, is understandable from a human perspective: an innocent man was murdered by crooked politicians and religious leaders. But the empty tomb– what can you say? Only a supernatural God could accomplish that. – (Jim Cymbala)
THE BOOK OF RUTH
“Sometimes the greatest love comes from unexpected places.” – (Ruth 1:16)
NOT YO MAMA’S BIBLE STUDY
“Who or what is your Pharaoh?” – (Exodus To Freedom by Gail Landgraf)
KEEPING THE SPRING HOLY DAYS
“Freedom is within our grasp, and Pesach reminds us that we need to reach.” — Rabbi Bradley
PREPARING FOR A CHRISTIAN PASSOVER- 2024
“Freedom is within our grasp, and Pesach reminds us that we need to reach.” — (Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson)
WHEN THE LOGIC FALLS OUT
“Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” – (Psalm 90:12)
WHO IS YOUR HAMAN?
“Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.” – (Esther 7:6)
FEBRUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER FOR The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“Whenever you eat and drink – Remember Me.” – (Jesus)
PRAYING LIKE ST. PATRICK
“I arise today through the strength of Heaven.” (St. Patrick)
HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE ST. PATRICK’S DAY THIS YEAR?
“There are only two kinds of people in the world, the Irish and those who wish they were.” (Old Irish Saying)
MY FAVORITE RECIPE FOR CORNED-BEEF AND CABBAGE
“Life is like a cup of tea; it is all in how you make it.” (Old Irish proverb)
WIVES FOR THE BENJAMITES
“So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man caught one of the women as she danced in the celebration and carried her off to be his wife. They returned to their own land, and they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.” – (Judges 21:23)
THE STORY OF ESTHER AND THE KING
(Esther 4:14) “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (NIV)
IF WE EVER NEEDED PURIM
” The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them. ” – (Esther 8:16-17)
FACING THE BROKEN COVENANT
“Settle this in your heart: Whether I am up or down, the Lord Jesus is the same. Whether I sing or sigh, the promise is true and the Promiser is faithful. Whether I stand on the summit or am hidden in the vale the covenant stands fast and everlasting love abides.” – (Charles Spergeon)
WHY WOULD A CHRISTIAN CELEBRATE PURIM?
“No matter how gloomy things seem, everything can turn around. Talking to God can turn things around. ” – (Rabbi Elchunon Tauber)
WHAT ABOUT THOSE BENJAMITES?
“Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together as one and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah. 2 The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, four hundred thousand men armed with swords. 3 (The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, “Tell us how this awful thing happened.” – (Exodus 20:1-3)
MEANING OF THE LEVITE AND HIS CONCUBINE
‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. – (Revelation Chapter Two)
THOUGHTS ABOUT PRESIDENT’S DAY IN 2024
“The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.” – (James Madison)
ADAR – MONTH OF JOY
“Don’t die with your music still in you.” – (Dr. Wayne Dyer)
ONE OF THE STRANGEST STORIES
When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!” – (Judges 19:29-30)
THE REAL MEANING BEHIND VALENTINE’S DAY
“All you need is love; but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” – (Charles M. Schulz)
JANUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER For The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“January is the quietest month in the garden. But just because it looks quiet doesn’t mean that nothing is happening.” — (Rosalie Muller Wright)
MEN PLAYING GOD
After they had taken Micah’s idols and his priest, they went to Laish, to a tranquil and unsuspecting people, and they struck them with their swords and burned down the city. – (Judges 18:27)
LOVELY THOUGHTS ABOUT VALENTINE’S DAY
“True love stories never have endings.” — (Richard Bach)
LIFE AFTER SAMSON
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD. – (Jeremiah 17:5)
GETTING OUR TIME ORGANIZED
“Time is what we want most, but… what we use worst.” – (William Penn)
THE SAD ENDING OF SAMSON’S STORY
“I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” – (NIV – Revelation 3:8-10)
KEEPING THOSE GREENS A LITTLE LONGER
“In every wood in every spring there is a different green.” – (J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings)
THERE WAS A PROSTITUTE IN GAZA
“If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and counsel, there is no telling how great a catastrophe shall come upon us and bury our glory in profound obscurity.” (Daniel Webster)
FROM THE JAWBONE OF A DONKEY
“With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.” – (Samson)
GETTING TIME ORGANIZED
“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.” ― (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince)
PLANNING AN ORGANIZED NEW YEAR
“Time is non-refundable; use it with intention.” – (Anonymous)
A COZY MOUNTAIN COTTAGE LOOK TO LAST UNTIL SPRING
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.” – (John Muir)
THE LAST EPIPHANY OF THE SEASON
“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” -( Ray Bradbury)
THE MAN FROM ISSACHAR – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 242
(Revelation 7:7) – “Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.”
FOLLOW THE STAR COOKIES
“Small lights have a way of being seen in a dark world.” – (Neal A. Maxwell)
SAMSON REFLECTS AMERICA
“The fact that a great many people believe something is no guarantee of its truth.” – (W. Somerset Maugham)
NEW YEAR’S MENU
“We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives…not looking for flaws, but for potential.” ― (Ellen Goodman)
December 2023 Newsletter for the IN SEASON Lifestyle Community
“So quiet and subtle is the beauty of December that escapes the notice of many people their whole lives through. Colour gives way to form: every branch distinct, in a delicate tracery against the sky.” – (Flora Thompson)
WATCH OUT FOR THE LITTLE FOXES
“With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps. With the jawbone of donkey I have slain 1,000 men.” – (Samson)
THOSE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES FOR 2023
“You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.” – (Nehemiah 9:8)
TEVET – KNOWING AND LIVING THE MONTH
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – (Soren Kierkegaard)
ADVENTURES OF THE 7TH JUDGE OF ISRAEL
“Temptations, when we meet them at first, are as the lion that reared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them.” – (John Bunyon)
SAMSON’S WEDDING PARTY
“Out of the eater, something to eat, out of the strong, something sweet.”
BEST BOOK GIFTS FOR CHRISTMAS
Oh wisdom of our God Most High, guiding creation with power and love, come to teach us the path of knowledge.
A CHRISTMAS STYLE FOR EVERYONE
“Christmas is a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart.” – (Freya Stark)
A BABY NAMED SAMSON
“For kids who grew up in the church, Samson was like a Marvel superhero.” – (Brooks Waldron)
THOUGHTS OF PEACE ON EARTH
“Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me
Let There Be Peace on Earth
The peace that was meant to be
With God as our Father
Brothers all are we
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With ev’ry step I take
Let this be my solemn vow
To take each moment and live
Each moment in peace eternally
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.” – (Sy and Jill Jackson Miller)
November 2023 Newsletter for The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” — Hamilton Wright Mabie
ABDON JUDGE OF ISRAEL
“The happiest life of individuals, and the happiest state of society, is that which affords the fewest remarkable events. To live in credit and quiet, to be peacefully useful to those around us, to possess a clear conscience; but, above all, and without which nothing can avail, to enjoy communion with God our Saviour while we live, and to die at peace with God and man, form the substance of all that a wise man can desire.” – (Matthew Henry)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
THE BEST APPLE PIE EVER
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” – (Carl Sagan)
MAKING SOME SWEET POTATOES (AND SOME GIFTS TOO)
“My dream is to become a farmer. Just a Bohemian guy pulling up his own sweet potatoes for dinner.” – (Larry Kravitz)
ELON JUDGE OF ISRAEL
“O God of harvest moons and campfire tales, O God of leaf piles for jumping and apple cider for sipping, O God of pumpkin pies with dollops of cream and the swirl of steam that rises from a cup of hot coffee in the cool morning, Be near.” – (Kayla Craig)
MIRACLES FROM GOD IN KISLEV
“You shall charge the sons of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.” – (Exodus 27:20 (NASB))
THANKSGIVING – THE WARM AND COZY SEASONAL LOOK
“Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.” – (Theodore Roosevelt)
OCTOBER 2023 NEWSLETTER FOR The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“Our house is flanked by mighty maples
that seem to shed their summer skin all at once, shaking off their leaves.” – (Kayla Craig)
IBZAN REIGNS AS JUDGE
“Our Lord has many weak children in his family, many dull pupils in his school, many raw soldiers in his army, many lame sheep in his flock. Yet he bears with them all, and casts none away. Happy is that Christian who has learned to do likewise with his brethren.” – (J. C. Ryle)
JEPHTHAH’S CIVIL WAR
“Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” – (Sy Miller and Jill Jackson)
HOW JEPHTHAH WAS LIKE ISHMAEL
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – (John 8:32)
QUIET WHISPERS OF CHESVAN
“On the other hand, what would a life look like if it were only about doing, with no emphasis on being? I would define “being” as those moments when you just “are.” You stop trying to accomplish long enough to appreciate what you have. It could be a long walk with a husband, or a moment in the playground with the children.” – (Shalvi Waldman)
WHATEVER THINGS ARE LOVELY
“We are cups constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” – (Ray Bradbury)
SHOULD CHRISTIANS KEEP HALLOWEEN?
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” – (Ephesians 5:11)
A JUDGE NAMED JEPHTHAH
“Each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.” – (Judges 11:40)
WHO IS SATAN?
“Halloween was confusing. All my life my parents said, ‘Never take candy from strangers.’ And then they dressed me up and said, ‘Go beg for it.’ I didn’t know what to do! I’d knock on people’s doors and go, ‘Trick or treat.’ ‘No thank you.'” (Rita Rudner)
THE HAUNTING SUBJECT OF HALLOWEEN
“Proof of our society’s decline is that Halloween has become a broad daylight event for many.” – (Robert Kirby)
OUT OF EGYPT
“I have forged many things that I believe to be things of great beauty. Yet if God is not a part of them, they are entirely counterfeit and I have been robbed blind by the work of my own hands.”
― (Craig D. Lounsbrough, Flecks of Gold on a Path of Stone: Simple Truths for Profound Living)
WHEN ISRAEL FORGETS GOD’S WAYS
“Come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” – (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Fall;10,000 REASONS TO CELEBRATE THE SEASON
In Autumn
by Winifred C. Marshall
They’re coming down in showers,
The leaves all gold and red;
They’re covering the little flowers,
And tucking them in bed
They’ve spread a fairy carpet
All up and down the street;
And when we skip along to school,
they rustle ‘neath our feet
FALL HAYSTACKS
“Autumn … the year’s last, loveliest smile.” — (William Cullen Bryant)
September 2023 Newsletter From The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.” – (Zechariah 14:16)
WHEN JAIR RULED ISRAEL
“Will you stay with me? Will you be my love, Among the fields of barley?
And you can tell the sun in his jealous sky, When we walked in fields of gold” – (Sting – from Ten Sommoner’s Tale)
REMEMBER TO KEEP THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
Deuteronomy 16:13-15; Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your Feast – you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the Feast of the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.
BUILDING A SUKKAH
“If you build it; he will come.” – (Ray Kensella played by Kevin Cosner in Field of Dreams.)
WHY FAST ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT?
In the split second after atonement; victory comes. (Gail Landgraf)
TOLA THE JUDGE FROM ISSACHAR
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” – (Matthew 25:21)
A REVIEW OF LEVITICUS 16 FOR THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
“Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth.” – ( Menachem Begin)
A CHRISTIAN OBSERVANCE OF THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to atone for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. – (Lev. 17:11)
WISHING YOU A SWEET YEAR
“The blessing over the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah refers to the mitzvah as ‘hearing the voice of the Shofar,’ but since that voice speaks without words, the message that is heard depends a great deal on who is doing the listening.”
— (Douglas Aronin)
DEATH AT THE HAND OF A WOMAN
“And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.” – (Revelation 18:14)
APPLES AND HONEY FOR THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS
“The blessing over the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah refers to the mitzvah as “hearing the voice of the Shofar.” but since that voice speaks without words, the measure that is heard depends a great deal on who is doing the listening.” – ( Douglas Aronin)
THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS OR YOM TERUAH
“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.'” (Leviticus 23:24-25)
Life With The Bramble
“The earth flourishes, or is overrun with noxious weeds and brambles, as we apply or withhold the cultivating hand. So fares it with the intellectual system of man.” – (Horace Mann)
August 2023 Newsletter for The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“Give them quality. That’s the best kind of advertising.” – (Milton Hershey)
TWO NEW DEVOTIONAL BOOKS FOR THE SEASON
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart. – (Helen Keller)
THE MEANING HIDING IN JOTHAM’S FABLE
“The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.” – (John Stott)
CHRISTIANS OBSERVING TESHUVAH
“Teshuvah is thus like a person on a journey who at some point decides to change direction. From that point on, his steps will be carrying him toward a different destination. The turn itself is accomplished in a second. Yet the new path, like the one abandoned, is long and arduous.”
― (Steinsaltz Adin)
OUR BEST TOOL FOR OBSERVING THE TEN DAYS OF AWE
“Set a goal so big you can’t achieve it until you grow into the person who can.” – (Author Unknown)
JOTHAM’S STORY
“But the olive tree answered, ‘Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?’” – (Judges 9:9)
OBSERVING GOD’S CALENDAR AND KEEPING THE SEASON OF ELUL
“I’m very proud to be “love-a-listic” instead of “legalistic.”
– (Gail Landgraf)
July 2023 Newsletter for The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“The summer looks out from her brazen tower, through the flashing bars of July.” – (Francis Thompson)
WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM GIDEON?
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands. – (Judges 7:19)
GIDEON’S AMAZING VICTORIES
“The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy.” – (Corrie Ten Boom)
TWO SONGS REVERSED
“And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: Many shall see it, and fear, And shall trust in the LORD.” – (Psalm 40:3)
TWO AMAZING WOMEN
“So may all your enemies perish, Lord!
But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.”
Then the land had peace forty years.
– (Judges 5:31)
POST PANDEMIC BOOK LAUNCH
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (II Timothy 4:2)
ONE MAN CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
“With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing to me to want to put a little bit of it back together.” – (Desmond Doss.)
EHUD WAS ONLY A SHADOW
On his robe and on his thigh he had this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. – (Revelation 19:16)
INDEPENDENCE DAY PRAYER
Rise up LORD!
JUNE 2023 NEWSLETTER For The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.” — (Maud Hart Lovelace)
CELEBRATING INDEPENDENCE
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” – (Nelson Mandela)
EHUD – SECOND JUDGE OF ISRAEL
“When God is asked: “Remember your great mercy and love,” he is being asked to act according to his character. When someone asks God to “remember not [my] sins,” he or she is asking that God would not act on what he knows. Therefore, to say that the Israelites “forgot” God is to say that they no longer were controlled by what they knew. We could put it another way. Though they knew who God was and what he wanted, those things were not real to them.” ― (Timothy J. Keller, Judges For You)
THE DAYS OF THE JUDGES BEGIN
“Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died. I will use them to test Israel and see if they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their ancestors did. – (Judges Chapter Two)
DAN AND THE CANAANITES
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” – (Revelation 21:8)
May 2023 Newsletter for The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“We roamed the fields and the riversides when we were young and gay. We chased the bees and plucked the flowers in the merry, merry month of May.” – (Stephen Foster)
WHAT’S IN YOUR GARDEN?
“Words will be forgotten. Friends will come and go. Civilizations will turn to dust. Heaven and Earth will pass away. But a brown paper sack of homegrown tomatoes will last for a thousand tomorrows, and then some. Because a tomato is tangible proof that God loves us.” – (Sean Dietrich/Homegrow Tomatoes.)
NAPHTALI AND THE CANAANITES
” If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 8: 19-20)
ASHER AND THE CANAANITES
There is a way which seems right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; And the end of that mirth is heaviness. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: And a good man shall be satisfied from himself. The simple believeth every word: But the prudent man looks well to his going. A wise man fears, and departs from evil: But the fool rages, and is confident. – (Proverbs 14:12-16)
ZEBULON AND THE CANAANITES
“Teach of faith to keep all the commandments of God, knowing that they are given to bless His children and bring them joy. Warn them that they will encounter people who pick which commandments they will keep and ignore others that they choose to break. I call this the cafeteria approach to obedience. This practice of picking and choosing will not work. It will lead to misery. To prepare to meet God, one keeps all of His commandments. It takes faith to obey them, and keeping His commandments will strengthen that faith.” ― (Russell M. Nelson, Accomplishing the Impossible: What God Does, What We Can Do)
THOSE UNCIRCUMCISED PHILISTINES
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” – (Romans 12:2)
MANASSEH AND THE CANAANITES
Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God. – (Deuteronomy 20:17-18)
March-April 2023 Newsletter for The IN SEASON Lifestyle Blog
“You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” – (Walter S. Hagan)
OTHER BATTLES FOR JUDAH
“Be as brave as a lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven. (Ancient Jewish Text)
OTHNIEL TAKES KIRIATH SEPHER
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” – (John 7:37)
STUDYING THE BOOK OF JUDGES
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. ” (I Corinthians 5:7-8)
A CONCLUSION THAT ISN’T AN ENDING
“Oh who will come and go with me? I am bound for The Promised Land!” – (Samuel Stennett 1727-1795)
LAST JOSHUA STUDY LESSON – APRIL 13
“You need to abolish anything in your relationships that isn’t right – in finances, friendships, activities, and in your house. God is going to stand with you until these borders are established for worshiping Him.” – (Candice Smithyman)
PASSOVER 2023 – AS CHRISTIANS
“How long will you let the devil feast on your freedom?” – (James Dee Clayton – Diary of an Aesthete)
JOSHUA’S FINAL TASK
“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” – (Joshua 24:14-15)
THE FIFTEEN ELEMENTS OF A CHRISTIAN PASSOVER
“The Exodus from Egypt occurs in every human being, in every ear, in every year, and in every day.” – (Rabbi Nachman of Breslev)
A WITNESS BETWEEN US
“It should be noted that people in the free market rarely bear false witness; integrity is the rule. The morning mile, phone calls, planes the airlines buy, autos by the millions – no one could list the instances – are as represented. We have daily, eloquent, enormous testimony that the Ten Commandments can be and are observed by fallible human beings. Contemporary politics is the most glaring of all exceptions.” – (Leonard Read)
THE GOD WHO ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES
“The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a wilderness.” – (Ellis Havelock)
ST. PATRICK’S DAY THOUGHTS
“May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of St. Patrick behold you.” – (An old Irish Blessing)
February 2023 Newsletter for The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“In the coldest February, as in every other month in every other year, the best thing to hold on to in this world is each other.” – (Linda Ellerbee)
WHY SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON TRIBES?
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” – (Genesis 12:2-3).
THE REST OF THE TRIBES INHERIT
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” – (Genesis 12:3)
BENJAMIN’S INHERITANCE
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, To Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever – Amen – (Ephesians 3:20, 21)
PRESIDENT’S DAY THOUGHTS
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” ― (Abraham Lincoln.)
GREAT THOUGHTS OF A PAST PRESIDENT
“Education is not the means of showing people how to get what they want. Education is an exercise by means of which enough men, it is hoped, will learn to want what is worth having.” – (President Ronald Reagan)
MOVING FROM GILGAL TO SHILOH
“If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.” – (Seth Godin)
THE OTHER HALF-TRIBE OF MANESSEH INHERITS
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” — (Thomas Jefferson)
January 2023 Newsletter for The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“New year—a new chapter, new verse, or just the same old story? Ultimately we write it. The choice is ours.” – (Alex Morritt)
FUN IDEA FOR VALENTINE’S DAY
“If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love.” — (Maya Angelou)
THE INHERITANCE OF JUDAH
“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” – (Revelation 22:17)
EARLY MORNING MOMENTS OF LIFE
“And this morning the thought of the miracle of life amidst it all grabbed me unexpectedly. As I watched the sun peak the sky Life formed a knot in my throat, and I cried. I cried mostly because of how it all comes together, piece by amazing wonderful piece like an artist brushing on stroke on top of surprising stroke then finishing with His signature.” (Gail Landgraf)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for December 2022
“December has the clarity, the simplicity, and the silence you need for the best FRESH START of your life.” – (Vivian Swift)
THE IN SEASON LIFESTYLE’S FAMILY TREE FOR FEBRUARY
“So come to the pond, or the river of your imagination, or the harbor of your longing, and put your lips to the world. And live your life.”
( Mary Oliver, Red Bird )
WHEN GOD IS FOR YOU
“The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD (Yahweh) is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.'” (Numbers 14:7-9)
OUR FAVORITE LEMON BLUEBERRY CAKE/OR CUPCAKES
“A party without cake is just a meeting.” – (Julia Child)
GETTING ORGANIZED
“I’m careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can strive for; perfection is God’s business.” – (Michael J. Fox)
CHOOSING A GREAT DAILY CALENDAR
“Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” (Richard Cushing)
HOW TO COME BEFORE GOD WITH THE HEART OF A CHILD
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Inheritance of the Half-Tribe of Manasseh
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both. And being one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
– (Robert Frost)
MOMENTUM
“… All we know Is that we are a little early, that today has that special, lapidary todayness that the sunlight reproduces faithfully in casting twig-shadows on blithe
sidewalks…”(John Ashbury)
LOVING THE JANUARY BLUES
“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!” – (Thomas Wentworth Higginson)
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A PERSONAL PLANNER
“Choose to focus your time, energy and conversation around people who inspire you, support you and help you to grow you into your happiest, strongest, wisest self.” – (Karen Salmansohn)
HEALTHY SMOOTHIES
Fill yourself with goodness. Have a Smoothie!
WHAT WOULD MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. THINK?
“If peace means a willingness to be exploited economically, dominated politically, humiliated and segregated, I don’t want peace. If peace means being complacently adjusted to a deadening status quo, I don’t want peace. If peace means keeping my mouth shut in the midst of injustice and evil, I don’t want it. Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but the existence of justice for all people.” – (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
REMEMBERING THE FOOTSTEPS OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
WINTER WHITES FOR STARTING A CLEAN NEW YEAR
“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is time for home.” – ( Edith Sitwell)
THE HEARTS OF LIONS
“Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” – (Revelation 5:5)
DELICIOUS SOUP RECIPES
“Go to the garden when you need to remember that everything is love.” – (William Wordsworth)
THE HEBRAIC MONTH OF SHEVAT
And out of the ground made
the Lord God every tree to
grow that is pleasant to the
sight, and good for food; the
tree of life also in the midst of
the garden, and the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. – – (Genesis 2:9)
LIVING IN A NAVY BLUE HOUSE FOR THE WINTER
“Blue, navy blue, I’m as blue as I can be. ‘Cause my steady boy said, “Ship ahoy” And joined the Navy.” (Popular song lyrics sung by Diane Renea called NAVY BLUE)
EPIPHANY – WATCHING FOR THE WISE MEN TO APPEAR
“Wise Men Still Seek Him”
GAD RECEIVED THEIR INHERITANCE
“Raiders shall raid Gad but he shall raid at their heels.” (Genesis 49:19)
GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES OF 2022
“Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.” – (Henri Frederic Amiel)
TAKING POSSESSION OF WHAT YOU POSSESS
“Even the poorest in Israel are looked upon as freemen who have lost their possessions, for they are the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” – (Akiva ben Joseph)
WILL YOU BE A JOSHUA?
“It’s a fact that sometimes we are called to leadership later in life. Other, more recent people of note who didn’t shine until their 60s (or well after) include folk artist Anna Mary Robertson Moses — known as Grandma Moses — who didn’t start painting until the age of 76, and James Parkinson, who identified Parkinson’s disease at age 62. His 1817 work titled “Shaking Palsy” is the foundation of our modern-day understanding of Parkinson’s disease.” – (Deirdre Reilly)
THE LAND SHALL REST FROM WAR
“So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war.” – (Joshua 11:23)
NOVEMBER 2022 NEWSLETTER FOR The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“My lovely November. Have you seen my heart, somewhere in your castle of yellow leaves?” – (from A Waltz for Zizi)
EVEN THE SUN AND MOON OBEY HIM
“So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel! ” – (Joshua 10:13-14)
SO MANY YEARS OF GOD’S GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES
“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” ― (C.S. Lewis)
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. – (Proverbs 3:5-6)
TURNING DEFEAT INTO VICTORY
“Outside of Christ, I am only a sinner, but in Christ, I am saved. Outside of Christ, I am empty; in Christ, I am full. Outside of Christ, I am weak; in Christ, I am strong. Outside of Christ, I cannot; in Christ, I am more than able. Outside of Christ, I have been defeated; in Christ, I am already victorious. How meaningful are the words, “in Christ.” – (Watchman Nee)
BLACK FRIDAY WITH THE GOOD SHEPHERD
“We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with Thanksgiving.” – (From Psalm 100 – A Psalm of Praise.)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE IS NOT ENOUGH
General Colin Powell’s Rules:
1. It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.
2. Get mad, then get over it.
3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
4. It can be done!
5. Be careful what you choose. You may get it.
6. Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.
7. You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours.
8. Check small things.
9. Share credit.
10. Remain calm. Be kind.
11. Have a vision. Be demanding.
12. Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.
13. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
WRATH OR MERCY?
“But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it.” (Joshua 6:18)
THOSE DEVOTED TO DESTRUCTION
(Joshua 7:10-13) – The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.
Newsletter for The IN SEASON Lifestyle for October 2022
“October is crisp days and cool nights, a time to curl up around the dancing flames and sink into a good book.” — (John Sinor)
A PLACE OF SAFETY
“Trust is believing “I will be safe with you”. Love is striving to keep the trust.”
― (Wordions)
WHAT HAPPENS TO PAGAN AND OCCULT NATIONS?
“Well I know you’ve heard about Joshua He was the son of Nun
He never stopped his work until
Until the work was done Up to the walls of Jericho He marched with spear in hand “Go blow them ram horns”, Joshua cried, “‘cos the battle is in my hands” – (Joshua Fought The Battle of Jericho by Hugh Laurie – 2nd verse)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for September 2022
“In every change, in every falling leaf there is some pain, some beauty. And that’s the way new leaves grow.” – (Amit Ray)
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES IS COMING!
“The celebrations of Sukkot teach us that there are two ways to live. You can live believing that nothing in your life is a miracle or you can live believing that everything in your life is a miracle.” – (Author unknown)
SIX DAYS OF MARCHING IN SILENCE
“If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change.” – (Richard J. Foster)
TAKING JERICHO
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. – (Ephesians 6:18)
TOOL FOR THE DAYS OF AWE
“This is the truth: You lose some things because you didn’t see the darkness rushing toward you. Some things disappear because it all snuck up on you so quickly and quietly, and you weren’t paying attention. Okay. But once in a while a loss is preventable. You can stop it. And if you don’t, you are to blame. The trick is knowing which is which.” ― (Lauren Fox, Days of Awe)
ELUL MEDITATION DAY 28
“Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ – (Revelation 19:8)
ELUL MEDITATIONS – DAY 27
“Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” – (Exodus 33:15)
ELUL MEDITATION DAY 26
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.”- (Psalm 23:5)
A VISITOR FROM HEAVEN
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
GOD IS ALWAYS JUST AND TRUE
“Justice delayed is justice denied.” – (William Edward Gladstone)
ELUL MEDITATIONS DAY 24
“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars”. – (Martin Luther)
ELUL MEDITATION DAY 23
“And one of the elders *said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.” – (Revelation 5:5)
ELUL MEDITATION DAY 22
“Who will not fear you, Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.” -(Revelation 15:4)
GOD IS LOVE
“Riches take wings, comforts vanish, hope withers away, but love stays with us. Love is God.” – (Lew Wallace)
FINDING MILK AND HONEY
For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord had sworn that He would not let them see the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. – (Joshua 5:6)
Elul Meditations Day 20
“Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation.” – (Henry Ward Beecher)
GILGAL TO GOLGOTHA
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:11-12)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for August 2022
Come and peek into what has been happening at The IN SEASON Lifestyle. We are reviewing August and previewing September. There are so many new and wonderful things to talk about!
ELUL DAY 8 MEDITATIONS
“Once you depart from the Ten Commandments as being the foundation of right and wrong, you are in a free fall.” – (Randall Terry)
THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF GILGAL
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5)
TWELVE STONES FROM THE JORDAN RIVER
That day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses. – (Joshua 4:14)
ELUL – MEDITATION FOR DAY THREE
Have you ever noticed how the THIRD DAY of anything is always very significant? – (Gail Landgraf)
ELUL – DAY ONE MEDITATION
Walking with God through the Hebraic Calendar with a Christian Heart
LOVING THE MONTH OF ELUL
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over; it became a butterfly.” (Chuang Tzu)
MORE ABOUT RAHAB
It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
– (Revelation 19:8)
MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT CROSSING THE JORDAN
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” – (Galatians 6:7)
CROSSING THE JORDAN
And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people. – (Joshua 3:6)
RAHAB AND GOD’S CHURCH
But Joshua had commanded the army – “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout!” – (Joshua 6:10)
BACK TO SCHOOL SNACKS
School days, school days; good old golden rule days.
FOLLOW UP ON “BEING SPIRITUALLY PREPARED”
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. – (Revelation 19:7)
GET YOUR PROVISIONS READY
So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’” – (Joshua 1:10-11)
FOLLOW UP FOR YESTERDAY’S LESSON
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” – (John 14:27)
DO NOT BE AFRAID, DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you where ever you go.” – (Joshua 1:9)
PROSPERITY AND SUCCESS
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ” – (Joshua 1:7-8)
BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS
“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.” – (Joshua 1:5)
Newsletter for June and July 2022
“A fallen leaf is nothing more than a summer’s wave goodbye.” – (author unknown)
I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU
“Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:4-5)
LEARNING HOW TO MOVE ON
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. (Joshua 1:1-4)
BLUE RIDGE GEORGIA FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY
“Blue Ridge is a hipster of a village where Appalachian roots branch out in all sorts of interesting directions.” – (Southern Living Magazine)
WHAT DOES INDEPENDENCE MEAN TO AMERICANS IN 2022?
“America, America, God shed His grace on Thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shinning sea.” – (From America The Beautiful)
INDEPENDENCE DAY IN A PANDEMIC – JULY 2020
“When life throws you a rainy day – just splash through the puddles!” – (author unknown)
A TIME TO MOURN
“Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice.
You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy” – (John 16:20).
BEACH THEMES OF SUMMER – THE ANCHOR
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.” – (Hebrews 6:19)
DO YOU FEEL THE NEED TO ESCAPE WITH A GOOD BOOK?
“True love, like any other strong and addicting drug, is boring – once the tale of encounter and discovery is told, kisses quickly grow stale and caresses tiresome…..except of course, to those who share the kisses, who give and take the caresses while every sound and color of the world seems to deepen and brighten around them. As with any other strong drug,true first love is really only interesting to those who have become its prisoners. And, as is true of any other strong and addicting drug, true first love is dangerous. – (Stephen King – Wizard and Glass)
THE SIGN OF THE SABBATH
“A world without a Sabbath would be like a man without a smile, like a summer without flowers, and like a homestead without a garden. It is the joyous day of the whole week.” — (Henry Ward Beecher)
A TRIBUTE TO MOSES
“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. (Hebrews 11:23-29)
DEFINITION OF A FATHER
“And he said
Let me tell you a secret about a father’s love
A secret that my daddy said was just between us
He said daddies don’t just love their children every now and then
It’s a love without end, amen
It’s a love without end, amen” – (Love Without End, sung by George Strait and written by Aaron Barker.)
A FATHER IS BORN
“My Father didn’t tell me how to live. He lived and let me watch him do it.” – (Clarence Budington Kelland
THREE GREAT BLOGS FOR FATHERS
“Being a great father is like shaving. No matter how good you shaved today, you have to do it again tomorrow.” (Reed Markham)
FATHER’S DAY GIFTS THAT DAD WILL LOVE
“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person; he believed in me.
(Jim Valvana)
FATHER’S DAY LOVES A PATRIOTIC THEME
“My father didn’t tell me how to live, he lived and let me watch him do it.” – (Clarence Budington Kelland)
JUNE’S FAMILY TREE for The IN SEASON Lifestyle
“Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.” – (Al Bernstein)
JOSHUA STUDY TO BEGIN
“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.” – (Joshua 1:5)
THE GOSPEL HIDDEN IN GENESIS (BOOKS ONE AND TWO)
” Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” – (Genesis 28:14)
VISITING WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA
So many movies and television series have been filmed here: “One Tree Hill,” “Dawson’s Creek,” “A Walk To Remember,” “Iron Man 3,” “Safe Haven,” “Stuck In Love” and “The Secret Life of Bees.” You can visit many film locations in or near this city.
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for May 2022
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – (Martin Luther King Jr.)
DAY 47 HOD OF MALCHUT
“A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.” – (Max Lucado)
SAYING GOODBYE TO MOSES
“Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” (Deuteronomy 34:10)
ASCENSION
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – (Jesus – John 16:33)
PENTECOST IS COMING
“In my beginning is my end. In succession houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended, Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass. Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires, Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth Which is already flesh, fur and faces, Bone of man and beast, cornstalk and leaf.” – (T.S. Elliot from East Coker)
REMEMBERING THE RITCHIE BOYS
“Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them—if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.”
― (J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye)
PENTECOST IN THE PARK
“Do not despise the small but significant symbolic act. God probably does not want you to reorganize the entire discipline or the entire world of your vocation overnight. Learn to be symbol-makers and story-tellers for the kingdom of God.” ― (N.T. Wright)
ARRIVING AT PENTECOST
“Without Pentecost the Christ-event – the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus – remains imprisoned in history as something to remember, think about and reflect on. The Spirit of Jesus comes to dwell within us, so that we can become living Christs here and now.” – (Henri Nouwen)
MOSES BLESSES ASHER
About Asher he said: “Most blessed of sons is Asher; let him be favored by his brothers, and let him bathe his feet in oil. The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, and your strength will equal your days. (Deuteronomy 33:24-25)
STORIES FROM THE VIETNAM WAR
Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America — not on the battlefields of Vietnam.
– (Marshall McLuhan)
FAVORITE MEMORIAL DAY STORIES
“We were preparing not peace only, but eternal peace. There was about us the halo of some divine mission. We were bent on doing great permanent noble things.” (Harold Nicolson – at Paris Peace Talks)
THE JOY OF GRANDPARENT’S CAMP
‘Grandchildren fill a space in your heart that you never knew was empty.’
SUMMER DECORATING WITH THE SHIPS OF THE SEA
“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by; And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking, And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking. – (From SEA FEVER by John Masefield from Poetry Foundation’s Collection)
MOSES BLESSES NEPHTALI
“Naphtali is abounding with the favor of the Lord and is full of his blessing; he will inherit southward to the lake.” – (Deuteronomy 33:23)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle NEWSLETTER FOR APRIL 2022
“They came on one of April’s most brilliant days–a day as sparkling as a newly-washed lemon…a day when even the shadows were a mélange of blue and orange and jade, like the shadows that poured from the tipsy brush of Monet.” – (Beverley Nichols)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle COMMUNITY STORE for June 2022
“Far up in the deep blue sky, Great white clouds are floating by; All the world is dressed in green; Many happy birds are seen, Roses bright and sunshine clear Show that lovely June is here.” — (F. G. Sanders)
MOSES BLESSES THE TRIBE OF DAN
“Dan is a lion’s cub, springing out of Bashan.” – (Deuteronomy 33:22.)
DERBY PARTY RECIPES
“A place where the windows clean the people.” – (Author Unknown)
DERBY DAY IS COMING
“A horse gallops with his lungs, perseveres with his heart and wins with his character.” – (Federico Tesio)
COCONUT – THE SUPERFOOD
“For I am coconut and the heart of me is sweeter than you know.” – (Nikki Grimes)
VISITING THE TROUT CAPITAL OF THE SOUTH
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity.” – (John Muir)
MOSES BLESSES GAD
And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” so she called his name Gad. – (Genesis 30:11)
SOME SPECIAL SPRINGTIME RECIPES
“I always wondered why the makers leave housekeeping and cooking out of their tales. Isn’t it what all the great wars and battles are fought for
so that at day’s end a family may eat together in a peaceful house?” – (Author: Ursula K. Le Guin)
WHY SOME CHRISTIANS COUNT THE DAYS
“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15-16)
MOSES BLESSES ZEBULUN AND ISSACHAR
“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach ― waiting for a gift from the sea.” ― (Anne Morrow Lindbergh)
LOVING THE GREENS OF SPRING
“For still there are so many things that I have never seen: in every wood in every spring there is a different green.” – ( J. R. R. Tolkien)
TAKING IN THE WHOLE PICTURE
“And know, of all the words I have found, kindness is the most powerful. It can transform the world. At the end of my days, the only thing I will regret in my life are times when I was unkind.” ― (Karyn D. Kedar, Omer: A Counting)
ORIGINATION OF EARLY FIRST FRUITS
“He is not here; He has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: The son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”
THE GIVING OF THE FIRST FRUITS OFFERINGS
“It was no accident, no coincidence, that the seasons came round and round year after year. It was the Lord speaking to us all and showing us over and over again the birth, life, death, and resurrection of his only begotten Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. It was like a best-loved story being told day after day with each sunrise and sunset, year after year with the seasons, down through the ages since time began.” (Francine Rivers)
MOSES BLESSES JOSEPH
“By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones. (Hebrews 11:22)
PASSOVER – IT CAN BE SIMPLE
“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” – (Matthew 6:26 KJV)
A PASSOVER MENU
“The cause of freedom and the cause of peace are bound together.” (Leon Blum)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for March 2022
“Just remember in the winter, far beneath the virgin snow lies the seed that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose. ” (From the song called The Rose by Bette Midler)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for May 2022
“The greatest treasures are those invisible to the eye but found by the heart.” – (Judy Garland.)
PASSOVER SEDERS CAN BE CREATIVE AND UPBEAT
“The message of Passover remains as powerful as ever. Freedom is not won in the battlefield but in the classroom and the home. Teach your children the history of freedom if you want them never to lose it.” – (Jonathan Sacks)
THE BLESSING OF BENJAMIN
“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. (Psalm 91:1-3)
MOSES BLESSES THE TRIBE OF LEVI
“And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;” (Numbers 3:12)
RESURRECTION AND JUBILEE ARE COMING
Count off seven Sabbath years – seven times seven years – so that the seven Sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of “the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all of its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you. (Leviticus 25:8-10)
OH BE HIS HELP AGAINST HIS FOES
And this he said about Judah: “Hear, Lord, the cry of Judah, bring him to his people. With his own hands he defends his cause. Oh, be his help against his foes!” (Deuteronomy 33:7)
PASSOVER WEEK – EXPLORING THE MEANINGS
“In life, we plant seeds everywhere we go. Some fall on fertile ground needing very little to grow. Some fall on rocky soil requiring a tad bit more loving care. While others fall in seemingly barren land and no matter what you do; it appears the seed is dead. Nevertheless, every seed planted will have a ripple effect. You could see it in the present or a time not seen yet.
So be wise about where you plant your seeds. Be very mindful of your actions & deeds. Negativity grows just as fast if not faster than positivism. Plant seeds of kindness, love and peace
And your harvest will be abundant living.” ― (Sanjo Jendayi)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for February 2022
I see children as kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you’re both breathless. They crash . . . You add a longer tail . . . You patch and comfort, adjust and teach. You watch them lifted by the wind and assure them that someday they’ll fly. –Erma Bombeck
PASSOVER
Exodus; Chapter 12; verse 24: “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, observe the ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when He struck down the Egyptians.”
DON’T MISS THE SALE
“There in that place, that invisible to us world, time goes on forever. God lives there; somewhere inside a place called eternity.” (Gail Landgraf – The Gospel Hidden in Genesis.)
LET REUBEN LIVE AND NOT DIE
“Let Reuben live and not die, nor his people be few.” – words of Moses (Deuteronomy 33:6)
MOSES BLESSES THE TRIBES
“And they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb….” (Revelation 15:3a)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for April 2022
“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” – (William Shakespeare)
SHOULD NON-JEWISH CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE PURIM?
“In Jewish history there are no coincidences.” (Elie Wiesel)
HAMANTASCHEN – COOKING AND LEARNING
” I am neither a buyer nor a seller of love.” (Queen Esther – One Night With The King)
DID LENT EVOLVE FROM PURIM?
“Our little systems have their day. They have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee and Thou O LORD are more than they.” – (Alfred Tennyson)
DEATH WITH A VIEW
“Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated.”” – (2 Maccabees 2:8 – Writings
From The Apocrypha)
Purim Party For Kids
“You are Esther now, a Persian star, and you will shine like the dawn in the King’s palace.” ― (Jill Eileen Smith, Star of Persia: Esther’s Story)
THE SONG OF MOSES
“Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.” ~ (Moses)
RETIREMENT IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
WHY PLACE SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON SEASONS?
“..but there never seems to be enough time to do the things we went to do once we find them..”.(Jim Croche – TIME IN A BOTTLE)
PRESIDENT’S DAY
“I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.” – (Woodrow Wilson)
PRESIDENT’S DAY PIE
“Deeds, not Words.” – (George Washington)
BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS
Be strong and courageous. – do not be afraid or terrified. (Deuteronomy 31:16)
GOD AND CANCEL CULTURE (Book Review)
“What a sad generation. In the olden days. We used to learn from our mistakes. These days you get canceled for your mistakes.”
― (De philosopher DJ Kyos)
BLOWING ROCK NORTH CAROLINA – A FUN PLACE TO BE IN THE WINTER
“Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me? Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?” (Walt Witman)
THE LOVE IS TREE
“Kids don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.” ~ (Jim Henson)
A ROMANTIC VALENTINE’S DINNER TO COOK AT HOME
“Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors – it’s how you combine them that sets you apart.” – (Wolfgang Puck)
LOVE IS A VERY HEALTHY EMOTION
“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.” — (Oscar Wilde)
HE WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU
“Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” – (Deuteronomy 31:6)
A ROMANTIC GET-AWAY WEEKEND AT GORHAM’S BLUFF
“Love is the food of life, travel is dessert.” – (Annonymous)
A RENEWED FOCUS ON HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
“Keep your vitality. All life without health is like a river without water.” – (Mainne Lagace)
REMOVING THE CLUTTER IS HEALTHIER
“A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.” – (Jim Watkins)
LIVING IN A FEBRUARY HOUSE
“In February there is everything to hope for and nothing to regret.” – (Patience Strong)
LEARNING FROM ISRAEL
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people; your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” – (Acts 2:17)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for January 2022
“The only thing we should scream into the world is love.” ― (Jill Telford)
ONE MORE WARNING
“There are moments in history when a door for massive change opens, and great revolutions for good or evil spring up in the vacuum created by these openings. In these divine moments key men and women and even entire generations risk everything to become the hinge of history, the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing.” – (Lou Engle)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle COMMUNITY STORE for March 2022
“March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes and a laugh in her voice.”
― Hal Borland
THE THINGS REVEALED
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” …- (Hebrews 10:26-31)
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE JOHN LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS ADVANCEMENT ACT
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed — we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
VISITING MCWANE CENTER
“Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.” (Diane Ackerman)
TERMS OF THE RENEWED COVENANT
“Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do.” (Deuteronomy 29:9)
FIGHTING COMPLACENCY
True prosperity is the knowledge of God lived out in our lives and the lives of our children and our grandchildren. In the end – that is all that matters!” – (Bunni Pounds)
WISEMEN – THE SONS OF ISSACHAR
“From Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command;”- (1 Chronicles 12:32)
THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES FOR 2021
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – (Nelson Mandela)
THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES OF 2020
It always seems impossible – until it is done! – (Nelson Mandela)
THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES OF 2019
“Miracles happen everyday, change your perception of what a miracle is and you’ll see them all around you.” – (Jon Bon Jovi)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for December 2021
“The color of springtime is in the flowers; the color of winter is in the imagination.” – (Terri Guillemets)
THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES OF 2018
“Where Are You Christmas?”
THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES FOR 2017
“Forever is composed of nows.” ― (Emily Dickinson)
RENEWING THE COVENANT WITH GOD
“I AM The LORD Your God.” – (Deuteronomy 29:6)
THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES FOR 2016
“When Henry Ford decided to produce his famous V-8 motor, he chose to build an engine with the entire eight cylinders cast in one block, and instructed his engineers to produce a design for the engine. The design was placed on paper, but the engineers agreed, to a man, that it was simply impossible to cast an eight-cylinder engine-block in one piece. Ford replied,”Produce it anyway.” ― (Henry Ford)
THE GLORIOUS-IMPOSSIBLES OF 2015
“Don’t believe in miracles – depend on them.” – (Lawrence J. Peter)
THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES OF 2014
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” ― (Shel Silverstein)
THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES OF 2013
“If nature has taught us anything it is that the impossible is probable” ― (Ilyas Kassam)
THE FOURTH SABBATH OF ADVENT – TRANSFORMATION
“Just remember, in the winter far beneath the frozen snow lies the seed that with the sun’s love, in the spring, becomes the rose.” (From The Rose)
BECOMING ONE WITH THE LAMPSTAND
“And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, The mystery of the seven stars which you have seen on My right hand and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are seven churches.” – (Revelation 1:12 and Revelation 1:20)
THE LIGHT THAT IS REAL MEDITATION -7th DAY OF HANUKKAH
“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” ( Leonard Cohen, Selected Poems, 1956-1968)
FOLLOWING THE TRUE LIGHT OF THE WORLD – A MEDITATION FOR THE SIXTH DAY OF A CHRISTIAN HANUKKAH
“No natural feelings are high or low, holy or unholy, in themselves. They are all holy when God’s hand is on the rein. They all go bad when they set up on their own and make themselves into false gods.” (C. S. Lewis)
ONE NATION UNDER GOD IN 2022
“If God is just; I tremble for my country.” – (Thomas Jefferson)
REMEMBER TO SHINE – A MEDITATION FOR THE FIFTH DAY OF A CHRISTIAN HANUKKAH
“When we have graciously endured every adversity, we become like a shining diamond.”
― (Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!)
TRUTH AND LIGHT – A MEDITATION FOR THE FOURTH DAY OF A CHRISTIAN HANUKKAH
“Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.”
― (Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart)
BECOMING A LIGHT-BEARER – DAY THREE OF HANUKKAH
“Little is much when God is in it.” (Judah the Maccabee)
MEDITATION FOR SECOND DAY OF A CHRISTIAN HANUKKAH
“Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
THE THIRD SABBATH OF ADVENT – JOY AND LOVE
“Joy to the world! The Lord has come! Let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room. Let Heaven and nature sing. Let Heaven an nature sing. ” – (From the popular carol called JOY TO THE WORLD)
A CHRISTIAN HANUKKAH MEDITATION BECOMING A LIGHT BEARER
“Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for November 2021
“I like spring, but it is too young. I like summer, but it is too proud. So I like best of all autumn, because its tone is mellower, its colors are richer, and it is tinged with a little sorrow. Its golden richness speaks not of the innocence of spring, nor the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and its content.” – (Lin Yutang)
A THING OF HORROR AND A BYWORD
“The sights you see will drive you mad. ” – (Deuteronomy Chapter 28)
PLANNING A GLORIOUS GREEN CHRISTMAS
“Freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin—inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night.” – (John J. Geddes)
Community Store for January 2022
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” ― (Edith Lovejoy Pierce)
THE SECOND SABBATH OF ADVENT – SEEKING AND PREPARING
O come, O come, Thou Lord of might, who to thy tribes on Sinai’s height in ancient times did’st give the Law. In cloud, and majesty and awe, Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel. Shall come to thee, O Israel. (John M. Neale and Henry S. Coffin.)
MY LAST NAVY BLUE CHRISTMAS
“Blue has no dimensions; it is beyond dimensions. – (Yves Klein)
CURSES FROM MAN’S PLANS; BLESSINGS FROM GOD’S PLANS
“Humility must now come to our aid, as we own the inherited sins of our Egyptian forefathers. We have been found guilty because our ancestors are charged with enslaving the Jewish people. We are committed to repent for the sins of the Egyptians. We are found guilty by reason of geography. This action is necessary for our deliverance. It is similar to the confession we made as sinners when we turned our lives over to Jesus in answer to the spiritual curse left to us from Adam and Eve.” – (Barbara Robinson Smith – Breaking The Curse of Racism From The Root)
THE BEAUTY OF A TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS
“A tradition is kept alive only by something being added to it.” – (Henry James)
THE FIRST SABBATH OF ADVENT – WAITING
“Just remember in the winter far beneath the virgin snow lies the seed that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose.” (Amanda McBroom)
A RED BIRD COUNTRY CHRISTMAS WE SHARED IN 2019
“Christened the Christmas bird for its spectacular red color, the cardinal has become a symbol of the beauty and warmth of the holiday season. A glimpse of this brilliant bird brings cheer, hope and inspiration on a gray, wintry day. As nature’s reminder for us to focus on our faith, the cardinal’s scarlet plumage represents the blood of Christ shed for the redemption of mankind.” – (From Bronners Christmas Wonderland, 25 Christmas Lane, Frankenmuth, Michigan.)
SMITTEN BEFORE YOUR ENEMIES
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” – (Sun Tzu, The Art of War)
THE YEAR WE HAD A BLUE CHRISTMAS
“Love came down at Christmas; love all lovely, love divine; love was born at Christmas, stars and angels gave the sign. “(Christina G Rossetti)
DEALING WITH THE “S” WORD – WHAT TO TELL YOUR KIDS ABOUT SANTA
“The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God’s giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves.” (St. Nicholas of Myra)
HOW GOD MAKES ALL THINGS NEW
(Esther 9:22 ) Because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
THE QUESTION ABOUT TREES
“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth. It will not return to me empty. Without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. “For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, and it will be a memorial to the LORD for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.” (Isaiah 55:11-12)
SCORCHING HEAT AND DRAUGHT
“God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.” – (John Muir)
JUST ONE LITTLE STAR
“Twinkle, twinkle Little Star; How I wonder what you are!”
THE SNOWFLAKE AND THE TREE
“I sing because I’m happy. I know my plan and I’ve done my part!” – (Sparky The Snowflake)
BOOK REVIEW OF THE CODE BREAKER BY WALTER ISAACSON
“We can begin by asking what type of world we want to leave for our children. Then we can feel our way together, step by step, preferably hand in hand.” (Walter Isaacson in the Epilogue of The Code Breaker.)
TOMATO AND SPINACH TORTE
“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” ― (Mark Twain)
A WASTING DISEASE
“And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.” – (Zechariah 14:12)
WHAT SHOULD HANUKKAH MEAN TO CHRISTIANS?
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:5)
BEST READING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THANKSGIVING SEASON
“Eucharisteo—thanksgiving—always precedes the miracle.”
― (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are)
HAPPY GLUTEN FREE RECIPES
“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.” – (Lionel Hampton)
GIVING THANKS FOR A COVENANT-KEEPING GOD
“Remember the quiet wonders. The world has more need of them than it has for warriors.” ― (Charles de Lint, Moonheart)
LEARNING HOW TO STEP INTO SHEMITA TIME
“For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.” (Exodus 23:10-11)
REBUKE IN EVERYTHING YOU DO
“And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins.” – (Leviticus 26:23-24)
CURSED IN COMING IN AND GOING OUT
“Write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.” – (Deuteronomy 11:21)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for October 2021
“And all at once summer collapsed into Fall.” – (Oscar Wilde)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for December 2021
“December’s wintery breath is already clouding the pond, frosting the pane, obscuring summer’s memory…”
― (John Geddes A Familiar Rain)
CURSED IS THE FRUIT OF YOUR WOMB
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. – (Psalm 139:13-16)
RECIPES FOR BLACKBERRIES
“Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry.”
(Robert Hass)
THE BLACKBERRY; THE BEST FRUIT OF THE EARTH
“Life was just a tire swing. ‘Jambalaya’ was the only song I could sing. Blackberry pickin’, eatin’ fried chicken, And I never knew a thing about pain. Life was just a tire swing.”
(Jimmy Buffett)
A POEM ABOUT HOME
“There is no place like home.” (Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.)
ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS – RUTH, THE WOMAN WHO FOUND ROMANCE IN A BARLEY FIELD
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people; and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
GOOD MUSIC CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE
“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” (Victor Hugo)
CURSED ARE YOUR BASKET AND YOUR KNEADNG TROUGH
You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land. (Deuteronomy 28:38-48)
HOMESTEAD HOLLOW IS BACK!
“Go back. Go back in time. Everyone’s life is a chain of memories. In each chain there are shining links, happenings where this element of wonder…was very strong. Why don’t you reach out and relive some of those memories? If you work at it, remembering the wonder can revive your ability to live life as it should be lived.” – (Arthur Gordon Webster)
MY ENCOUNTER WITH MONTREAT, NORTH CAROLINA
“The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” – (Billy Graham)
BEAUTIFUL OCTOBER DAYS AT OLD BAKER FARM
For everything there is a season….a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted. (Ecclesiastes 3:1a,2b)
CURSED IN THE CITY AND THE COUNTRY
“Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” (Psalm 137:7-)
THINKING OF SHEMITA
“‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.” – Leviticus 25:20-22
DELICIOUS MAIN DISHES FOR COOL FALL DAYS
“Fall is waiting on the wings, impatient to get going. She has a lot of work to do before it’s time for snowing.” – (Joanne Fuchs)
CURSES FOR DISOBEDIENCE
Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor. – (Jeremiah 49:22)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for September 2021
“The holy days are the best times to focus on real enthusiasm, the inner source that lightens and sanctifies our lives all year.” – (Martha Beck)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle COMMUNITY STORE for November 2021
“I can smell autumn dancing in the breeze. The sweet chill of pumpkin, and crisp sunburnt leaves.” – Ann Drake
GOD HONORS OBEDIENT COUNTRIES
“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” – (Matthew 24:12-13)
THE FRUIT OF YOUR WOMB WILL BE BLESSED
This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and raise My banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. – (Isaiah 49:22)
ISAAC’S SUKKAH
“Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.” – (Genesis 22:8)
JOSEPH’S SUKKAH
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” – (Genesis 50:20)
BLESSINGS FOR OBEDIENCE
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” – (Matthew 7:24-27)
ABRAHAM’S SUKKAH
” Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” – (Hebrews 10:23)
DAY OF AWE (8)
“We have to pray with our eyes on God – not on the difficulties.” – (Oswald Chambers)
JACOB’S SUKKAH
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. –
(John: 1:12-14)
DAYS OF AWE (9)
“To know a community is to know its food.” – (Gil Marks)
THE DAYS OF AWE (7)
“From every stormy wind that blows; From every swelling tide of woes, There is a calm, a sure retreat; ‘Tis found beneath The Mercy Seat. There is a place where Jesus sheds the oil of gladness on our heads. A place that all besides more sweet; it is the blood bought Mercy Seat.” – (Hugh Stowell – 1828)
DAYS OF AWE (6)
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord. – (Leviticus 23:26-27)
DAYS OF AWE (5)
“God uses no magic wand to simply wave bad things into nonexistence. The sins that he remits, he remits by making them his own and suffering them. The pain and heartaches that he relieves, he relieves by suffering them himself. These things can be shared and absorbed, but they cannot be simply wished or waved away. They must be suffered.”
― (Stephen E. Robinson, Believing Christ: The Parable of the Bicycle and Other Good News)
DAYS OF AWE (4) WHY FAST?
“Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.” – (Andy Murray)
ACKNOWLEDGING THE CURSES
“Every act of irreverence for life, every act which neglects life, which is indifferent to and wastes life, is a step towards the love of death. This choice man must make at every minute. Never were the consequences of the wrong choice as total and as irreversible as they are today. Never was the warning of the Bible so urgent: ‘I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life, that you and your children may live.'” – (Erich Fromm)
DAY OF AWE (3) – TRANSITION OF THE NATIONS
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. – (Revelation 20:11-15)
SALVATION-THE DAYS OF AWE(2)
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son and whosoever believes in Him will have everlasting life. – (John 3:16)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for August 2021
“Summer has always been good to me, even the bittersweet end, with the slanted yellow light.” – (Paul Monette)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for October 2021
“The heat of autumn is different from the heat of summer. One ripens the apples, the other turns them to cider.” – (Jane Hirshfield)
BENEATH THE TEREBINTH TREE
“Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.” (Galatians 4:28)
BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE
“In the valley of the giants where the stars and stripes explode, the peaches they were sweet and the milk and honey flowed.” – (Bob Dylan)
PERFECT GAME TIME FEAST FOR A CROWD
“Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.”
― Vince Lombardi Jr.
ELUL MEDITATION DAY 25
“This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.” – (John 6:50)
TWO MOUNTAINS AND A DEEP WELL
“Like the woman at the well, I was seeking for things that cannot satisfy. Then I heard my Savior speaking; draw from a well that never shall run dry!” – (lyrics from FILL MY CUP LORD by Jesse Dixon)
A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR FOLLOWERS OF JESUS
“Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom.” – (Luke 12:32)
Remember The Firstfruits Offerings
This day the LORD thy god hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments; thou shall keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. (Deuteronomy 26:16-17)
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FOREVER – MEDITATIONS FOR THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS
“Cause for the first time in forever there will be music, there will be light. For the first time in forever I’ll be dancing through the night!” (Anna from Frozen in the Coronation Song)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for July 2021
“I grew up in New York City, and I’ve got wonderful memories of the Fourth of July fireworks.” – (Jimmy Smits)
REMEMBER THE AMALEKITES
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” – (Isaiah 5:20)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for SEPTEMBER 2021
This is the perfect time to shop for the Fall Holy Days!
BE HONEST AND TRUTHFUL
“Honesty is the first chapter of the Book of Wisdom.” – (Thomas Jefferson)
AN EYE FOR AN EYE
“That old law about ‘an eye for any eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.” – (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
BRINGING THE BEACH INSIDE
“Why does the ocean rock the moon to sleep every night? So the sun will wake and kiss the beach.” (J. Henson)
IMPORTANCE OF A KINSMAN REDEEMER
“Zion shall be redeemed with justice,
And her penitents with righteousness.” – (Isaiah 1:27)
NURTURING THE SOUL
“By nurturing your soul you will be well on the way to nurturing your physical body.”
DO NOT MUZZLE YOUR OX
“There are two categories of people on earth:
1. Human beings.
2. HuMANE beings.”
― (Michael Bassey Johnson, Song of a Nature Lover)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for June 2021
“This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God.” ― (Frederick Douglass)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for August 2021
“To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall.” – (Ann Patchett)
SOLVING DISPUTES
(Matt. 25:40) – And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
JAZZ UP YOUR DAILY EXERCISE ROUTINES
“Take care of your body, It’s the only place you have to live.” (Jim Rohn)
HAVE YOU MET TUSCUMBIA, ALABAMA?
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – (Henry Miller)
CAN WE RETURN TO THE TRUE AMERICA?
?If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy and sick.” – (John Steinbeck)
BE HUMBLE AND KIND
“Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” – (Proverbs 31:19)
THE IN SEASON LIFESTYLE JULY FAMILY TREE
“O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O’er the land of the free
and the home of the brave?” – (Francis Scott Key)
TELLING TIME WITH GOD’S CALENDAR
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
WEEKLY SABBATHS AND HIGH SABBATHS – KEEPING SABBATH BEFORE GOD
“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” – (Psalm 122:1)
REGARDING MILLSTONES
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” (John 6:27)
THE NEWLY WEDS OF ISRAEL
(Ephesians 5:22-23)
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
FATHER’S DAY MENU SUGGESTIONS
“Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, story-tellers and singers of song.” (Pam Brown)
SHOULD AN ISRAELITE REMARRY?
“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” (Carl Bard)
SUMMER VEGETABLES FOR DINNER ON THE PORCH
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.? – (Cicero)
HEART FOR HOME
Home is where the story begins.
ICE CREAM RECIPES FOR HOT SUMMER DAYS
“Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.” – (Don Kardong”
GREAT SUMMER SALADS
“If a man prepares dinner for you and the salad contains three or more types of lettuce, he is serious.” (Rita Rudner)
MISCELLANEOUS LAWS OF ISRAEL’S CAMP
“I was glad when they said unto me; let us go into the house of The LORD.” – (Psalm 122:1)
The IN SEASON Newsletter for May 2021
“All things seem possible in May.”
— (Edwin Way Teale)
FATHER’S DAY DECORATING – THE HOUSE DOCTOR
“To her the name of father was another name for love.” (Fanny Fern – Fresh Leaves)
MARRIAGES THAT WERE FORBIDDEN TO ANCIENT ISRAEL
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.…”(Revelation 21:203)
WHEN MAN’S WAYS AND GOD’S WAY COLLIDE
“The garden, the land, and the temple did not prefigure a day when holiness no longer mattered. They pointed to the heavenly reality that has been our hope since Adam and Eve were barred from Paradise.” – (Kevin DeYoung)
KEEP THE FEAST OF WEEKS AND INGATHERING – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 194
These are the appointed feasts of Jehovah, holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons. (Lev. 23:4)
WHAT IS PENTECOST
“Bethlehem was God with us, Calvary was God for us, and Pentecost is God in us.” (Robert Baer)
EXPERIENCING PENTECOST IN A VINEYARD
“The word “Comforter” as applied to the Holy Spirit needs to be translated by some vigorous term. Literally, it means “with strength.” Jesus promised His followers that “The Strengthener” would be with them forever. This promise is no lullaby for the faint-hearted. It is a blood transfusion for courageous living.” – (E. Paul Hovey)
GOD CONFIRMS THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE AND MARRIAGE TO HIS PEOPLE
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. – (Revelation 19:8)
WAITING ON PENTECOST
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – (Acts 1:8)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for April 2021
“April showers bring May flowers” – (Thomas Tusser)
MOTHER’S DAY – 2018
“And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.” (Acts 16:14)
MAKE TASSELS ON THE CORNERS OF YOUR GARMENTS
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” – (1 Peter 2:9)
METAMORPHOSIS INTO MOTHER’S DAY 2017
“And mothers, they never stop believing in the miracle of metamorphosis. Because believing in the miracle of metamorphosis is the sum total of a mother’s job. The theological term for that is faith.” (Ann Voshkamp)
MOTHER’S DAY 2018
“Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.” – (George Eliot)
THE MOST EXCITING TWO MINUTES IN SPORTS
Keep calm and wear a fancy hat.
DO NOT MIX LINEN WITH WOOL
“Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” -(Psalm 100:3)
DO NOT PLOW WITH AN OX AND DONKEY YOKED TOGETHER
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart; and you will find rest.” (Jesus in Matthew 11:29)
ENJOYING THE ALABAMA OUTDOOR MARKETS
“Look at our farmers markets today, bursting with heritage breeds and heirloom varieties, foods that were once abundant when we were an agricultural nation, but that we have lost touch with. Bringing all these back helps us connect to our roots, our communities and helps us feed America the proper way.” (Jose Andres)
DO NOT PLANT TWO KINDS OF SEED IN YOUR VINEYARD
“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” – (Song of Solomon 2:15)
ב BETH – A HEART IS A HOUSE FOR GOD’S WORD
“If you have a heart that beats with passion for the task of making a house into a home, Elaine’s featured article brings forth some interesting points to consider. ” (Sheila Gail Landgraf – Editor, The IN SEASON Lifestyle)
PUT A PARAPET AROUND YOUR ROOF
“Right smack dab in the middle of town I’ve found a paradise that’s trouble proof (up on the roof)
And if this world starts getting you down There’s room enough for two up on the roof.” – (Lyrics from a song called UP ON THE ROOF by The Drifters.)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for March 2021
“Today is the day when bold kites fly, When cumulus clouds roar across the sky. When robins return, when children cheer, When light rain beckons spring to appear.”
― (Robert McCracken, Spring)
BE CAREFUL HOW YOU CARE FOR THE CREATURES OF THE EARTH – REFLECT YOUR FATHER’S LOVE TO YOU
Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get. – (H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for April 2021
“April is the kindest month. April gets you out of your head and out working in the garden.”
― (Marty Rubin)
GOD’S WAYS ARE HIGHER THAN MAN COULD EVER KNOW
“The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – ( from The Way of The Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman)
FINDING THE CALENDAR BEFORE PASSOVER
“Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)
WELCOME SPRING OF 2021
“Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems.” – (Rainer Maria Rilke)
HOW TO GET ALONG WITH YOUR NEIGHBOR; EVEN IF IT MEANS SPEAKING TRUTH IN LOVE
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,” – (Ephesians 4:15)
TELLING THE STORIES – NUMBERING OUR DAYS
Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
THE LITTLE CASE LAW THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
“If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.” – (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)
CLEANING FOR UNLEAVENED BREAD AND COVID-19
“Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while, so that we can see Life with a clearer view again.” – (Alex Tan)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for February 2021
“Groundhog found fog. New snows and blue toes. Fine and dandy for Valentine candy. Snow spittin’; if you’re not mitten-smitten, you’ll be frostbitten! By jing-y feels spring-y.” ― (The Old Farmer’s Almanac)
PREPARING ANOTHER PASSOVER SEDER DURING COVID-19
“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” (The Apostle Paul)
WHAT TO DO WITH REBELLIOUS SONS
“A king, realizing his incompetence, can either delegate or abdicate his duties. A father can do neither. If only sons could see the paradox, they would understand the dilemma.” – (Marlene Dietrich)
GIFTS FROM A PROMISE KEEPING GOD
“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” – (Luke 2:7)
SPRING BRINGS ROBIN’S EGG BLUES
“I am going to try to pay attention to the spring. I am going to look around at all the flowers, and look up at the hectic trees. I am going to close my eyes and listen.” (Anne Lamott)
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE
“If you fall in love because someone makes you laugh, what happens when you no longer find them funny? If you fall in love because someone is beautiful, what happens when that beauty fades? If you fall in love because someone can provide for you, what happens when they lose wealth? Real love defies all reasons. When you truly love someone, you do not look for reasons, you see beyond reasons.” – (Jefroy Hanson)
THE DEEPER QUESTIONS ABOUT ASH WEDNESDAY AND LENT AND ALL OTHER SUCH OBSERVANCES
“Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God’s sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God.” – (Thomas a Kempis)
TAKING CARE OF OUR HEARTS
“If you think the pursuit of good health is expensive and time consuming, try illness.” – (Lee Swanson)
THE PERFECT VALENTINE’S GIFT IDEA
“Lovers who read together – succeed together!” – (Gail Landgraf)
BE CAREFUL HOW YOU GUARD YOUR HEART
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”- (Proverbs 4:23)
FORGIVENESS FOR UNRESOLVED MURDERS
The future of our fragile, beautiful planet home is in our hands. As God’s family, we are stewards of God’s creation. We can be wantonly irresponsible, or we can be caring and compassionate. God says, “I have set before you life and death… Choose life.” – (Desmond Tutu)
FEBRUARY PRODUCTS FOR THE HOME
“Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.” – (Rumi)
ARE THE TREES PEOPLE THAT YOU SHOULD BESEIGE THEM?
“A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray.” – (From Trees by Joyce Kilmer)
FORMING ISRAEL’S FIRST MILITARY POWER
“If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel’”
― (Benjamin Netanyahu)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for January 2021
“Winter is not a season, it’s a celebration.” – (Animika Mishra)
SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES – THE TEN ORIGINAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED
(1 John 4:16) – We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
CITIES OF REFUGE – THEN AND NOW
“Sometimes solitude is a real heaven for the tired minds and a marvelous sanctuary for the wounded souls!” –
(― Mehmet Murat ildan)
I WILL SEND A GREAT PROPHET
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
WE MUST RETURN
And this theme really runs throughout the entire Bible. Theologians like to call this theme “the Great Reversal.” “The Great Reversal”: that in the end, God is going to turn things upside-down–or really, rightside-up–from the way they are now in the world. We find this idea in so many places in the Bible. For instance, Mary, in her Magnificat, says of God: “He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.” Both James and Peter, in their epistles, quote the same verse from Proverbs when they write: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”- (Rev. Charles Henrickson, Pastor at St. Matthews Lutheran Church, Bonne Terre, Missouri)
WE’VE A STORY TO TELL TO THE NATIONS
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He choose for His inheritance.” -(Ps. 33:12)
JUSTICE AND JUSTICE ALONE
Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you. (Deuteronomy 16:20)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for December 2020
“I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is — Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his To the Father through the features of men’s faces. (Gerard Manly Hopkins – When Kingfishers Catch Fire)
WHEN JUSTICE HAS BEEN PERVERTED
“How can a truly “free” state exist if the individual citizen is enslaved to the forceful will of individual or organized aggressors? It cannot.” – (Tiffany Madison)
LEARNING GOD’S WAY OF ADMINISTRATING JUSTICE
“Forgive us us our trespasses; as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Matthew 6:12)
ADVENT WREATHS – SHOULD CHRISTIANS USE THEM? – PIECES OF THE PUZZLE – QUESTIONS ABOUT CHRISTMAS SERIES
“The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before… .What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.” (Jan L. Richardson, Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas)
ARE YOU COOKING KETO THIS THANKSGIVING?
Ketosis: A metabolic state of being a fat-burning machine.
A TABLE FOR ALL SEASONS – THE HOUSE DOCTOR
“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.” – (Ruth Reichl)
OUR VERY FIRST PRODUCT – THE IN SEASON LIFESTYLE FAMILY TREE COLLECTIONS
“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.” -Alex Haley
KEEPING APPOINTED TIMES AND APPOINTING RIGHTEOUS JUDGES
For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. -(Psalms 22:28)
THANK YOU TO OUR VETERANS
“We climbed up through the moonbeams and observed the dance of lights.” (From Night
Flight by Gail Landgraf)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for November 2020
In November – “The fires burn
And the kettles sing, And earth sinks to rest Until next spring.” ― (Clyde Watson)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for NOVEMBER 2020
ENJOY AND BE THANKFUL FOR THE HARVEST BLESSINGS OF FALL
OBSERVE THE FEAST OF WEEKS
“Without Pentecost the Christ-event – the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus – remains imprisoned in history as something to remember, think about and reflect on. The Spirit of Jesus comes to dwell within us, so that we can become living Christs here and now.” (Henri Nouwen)
OBSERVE THE MONTH OF AVIV AND CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER
“Freedom is within our grasp, and Pesach reminds us that we need to reach.” — (Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson)
SOCIAL JUSTICE HISTORY AND THE PLIGHT OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN’S
“I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its buildings of concrete are, but rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man.” – ( Sun Bear, Chippewa)
HONORING GOD WITH THE FIRSTBORN
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me.” – (Exodus 13:1-2)
GOD’S VIEW OF SLAVERY
“Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.” – (George Gordon Byron)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for October 2020
“Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold. Her only leaf’s a flower; but only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf So Eden sank to grief So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.” – (Robert Frost)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for October 2020
“Autumn…the year’s last, loveliest smile.” – (John Howard Bryant)
THE SUKKAH OF MOSES
“That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them” – (Moses from God in Deuteronomy 30:20)
THE SUKKAH THAT JACOB BUILT
“This is what the LORD says: “‘I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents and have compassion on his dwellings; the city will be rebuilt on her ruins, and the palace will stand in its proper place.” (Jeremiah 30:18 NIV)
FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS
““Tolstoy said, “The antagonism between life and conscience may be removed in two ways: by a change of life or by a change of conscience.” Many of us have elected to adjust our consciences rather than our lives. Our powers of rationalization allow us to live in luxury and indifference while others, whom we could help if we chose to, go hungry, are abused and exploited, or go to Hell.””
― (Randy Alcorn, Managing God’s Money: A Biblical Guide)
TWO SILVER TRUMPETS
“Life is like a trumpet – if you don’t put anything into it, you don’t get anything out of it.” – (William Christopher Handy)
THEREFORE; LET US KEEP THE FEAST! – A CHRISTIAN CELEBRATION OF SUKKOT – SEASONS
‘Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. (Leviticus 23:40)
DIETARY LAWS AND FEAST DAYS
At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. (Daniel 1:15)
A CHRISTIAN OBSERVANCE OF YOM KIPPUR – THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
“Think of Yom Kippur as a lookout on the top of a mountain that you have been climbing all year. See your days and their moments spread out before you. Be willing to look now at this big picture of your life. Your ultimate goals. Your beliefs. See each person in your life as part of that picture. What lesson have they taught you even if you had to learn it through pain? What message is God sending you by putting this person in your life?” – (Sara Debbie Gutfreund)
THE COST OF IDOLATRY AND FALSE GODS
“Let no one in any way deceive you for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. – (2 Thessalonians 2:3.)
TRAVELING TO THE PLACE WHERE GOD PUTS HIS NAME
“One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” (The Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.)
THE COMPASSION OF GOD – AN ELUL MEDITATION
And now these three remain; faith, hope and love. But the greatest os these is love. – (1 Corinthians 13:13)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for SEPTEMBER 2020
“All at once, summer collapsed into fall”. – (Oscar Wilde)
BLESSINGS AND CURSES
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse – the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. – (Deuteronomy 10:23
A DIFFERENT TYPE OF LABOR DAY TRAVEL
“To travel is to live.” (Hans Christian Anderson”
OBEDIENCE, HUMILITY AND FAITHFULNESS
“Humility is the essence of love and intelligence; it is not an achievement.” – (J. Krishnamurti)
FOR SUCH A TIME A THIS
“And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible disease of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.” – (Deuteronomy 7:15)
REMIND YOUR CHILDREN
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” – (Proverbs 22:6)
REMEMBER GOD NEEDS LOVE TOO
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” – (Matthew 25:40)
REMEMBER TO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS
” Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.” – (Deuteronomy 11:1)
MOSES WARNS OF OBEDIENCE
I will remember the deeds of the Lord; Yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.” – (Psalm 77:11)
DID YOU FAST?
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 16:19-20)
REMEMBERING THE HOLOCAUST – THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
“The lessons of the Holocaust are searingly relevant to this day. Seventy-five years after the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, hatred and intolerance still lurk in the human heart, still tells new lies, adopts new disguises, and still seeks new victims.” (Britain’s Prince Charles)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for July 2020
“Celebrate Summer – Sun drenched days and starlit nights .” – (Gooseberry Patch)
MOSES PLEADS WITH GOD TO CROSS OVER
“From a distance the world looks blue and green And the snow capped mountains white. From a distance the ocean meets the stream and the eagle takes to flight.” (Song lyrics written by Julie Gold; made popular later by Bette Midler.)
FOR THOSE WHO OVERCOME
“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. – (Revelation 2:7)
THREE WAYS TO CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE DAY NEAR BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA IN 2018
Freedom’s natal day is here.
Fire the guns and shout for freedom,
See the flag above unfurled!
Hail the stars and stripes forever,
Dearest flag in all the world.
~Florence A. Jones
INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS OF 2019
“America, the Beautiful, God shed His grace on thee!”
WHICH GENERATION ARE WE GOING TO BE?
Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR LOVE
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord. We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord. And we pray that our unity will one day be restored. And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, Yeah they’ll know we are Christians by our love. (Fr. Peter Scholtes – 1960)
FORMING CITIES OF REFUGE
You are my hiding place
You always fill my heart
With songs of deliverance
Whenever I am afraid
I will trust in You
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for June 2020
“The moon tells the sky. The sky tells the sea. The sea tells the tide, and the tide tells me. – (Lemn Sissay)
PROVISIONS FOR THE LEVITES IN THE PROMISED LAND
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:19)
DIVIDING THE INHERITANCE AMONG THE PEOPLE
“Take courage. We walk in the wilderness today and in the Promised Land tomorrow.” – (Dwight L. Moody)
WHEN YOU CROSS THE JORDAN
“When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all of their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all of their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. ” (Numbers 33:51-53)
WHEN YOU SUDDENLY BECOME THE ENEMY – SOCIAL JUSTICE HISTORY
“We have no one to go to for help. Not even a church. Anything goes, now that our President Roosevelt signed the order to get rid of us. How can he do this to his own citizens? No lawyer has the courage to defend us. Caucasian friends stay away for fear of being labeled “Jap lovers.” There’s not a more lonely feeling than to be banished by my own country. There’s no place to go.”
― ( Kiyo Sato, Kiyo’s Story: A Japanese-American Family’s Quest for the American Dream)
WHEN YOU SETTLE FOR LESS THAN GOD’S BEST
“Leaders don’t settle for less. When you do so, you rob humanity of what you are supposed to deliver!”
― (Israelmore Ayivor, Leaders’ Watchwords)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for APRIL 2020
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.” – (James Baldwin)
BATTLE BEFORE THE CROSSING
“It is not the cause for which men took up arms that makes a victory more just or less, it is the order that is established when arms have been laid down.” – (Simone Weil)
RUNNING FOR THE ROSES
“This is the day for anyone involved with horse. The dream is to win the Kentucky Derby, because there’s nothing like it.”
— (Billy Turner, trainer)
REMEMBER TO KEEP YOUR VOWS
“Broken vows are like broken mirrors. They leave those who held to them bleeding and staring at fractured images of themselves. (pg. 161)”
― (Richard Paul Evans, Promise Me)
FINDING PURPOSE IN THE HOLY DAY OFFERINGS
Exodus 23:19 – For the three annual festivals, Moses tells the people, “The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.”
SOCIAL JUSTICE HISTORY – THE GREAT DEPRESSION
“In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice…the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.” (President Franklin Delano Roosevelt – 10-2-32)
MOSES FINISHES HIS WORK
“But now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes, for my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him.” – (Moses)
SOCIAL JUSTICE HISTORY AND THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL
“First off, you will not find a foundational book from, say, the 1930s, called The Cultural Marxism Manifesto. Maybe the best we can say is that cultural Marxism, for lack of a better term, is essentially, and very simply, Marxism applied to cultural goals. To repeat: Marxism applied to cultural goals. This is distinguished from the classical Marxism applied to economics or class goals. It is Marxist theory affixed to culture, and thus referred to commonly and understandably as “cultural Marxism.” – (Paul Kengor.)
REDEMPTION AND THE FIRST BORN
“For my own part, I have been wont to converse with poverty; and however disagreeable a companion she may be thought to be by the affluent and luxurious, who were never acquainted with her, I can live happily with her the remainder of my life if I can thereby contribute to the redemption of my country.” – (Samuel Adams)
ZELOPHEDHAD’S DAUGHTERS AND US
In my daughter’s eyes
I can see the future
A reflection of who I am
And what we’ll be
And though she’ll grow and someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I’m gone
I hope you’ll see
How happy she made me
For I’ll be there
In my daughter’s eyes”
― Martina Mcbride
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for March 2020
“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”
― (Charles Dickens, Great Expectations)
HOW ISRAEL’S LUST CAME AGAINST THEM
“Be sure your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23)
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND WORLD WAR ONE
“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” (Ernest Hemingway – 1946)
MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT BALAAM
” How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!” (Numbers 23:8-10)
THE DAY GOD USED A DONKEY TO BRING A BLESSING TO ISRAEL
“I had a professor one time… He said, ‘Class, you will forget almost everything I will teach you in here, so please remember this: that God spoke to Balaam through his ass, and He has been speaking through asses ever since. So, if God should choose to speak through you, you need not think too highly of yourself. And, if on meeting someone, right away you recognize what they are, listen to them anyway. ” –
(Rich Mullins)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for February 2020
“Keep your faith in beautiful things; in the sun when it is hidden, in the Spring when it is gone.” – (Roy R. Gibson)
THE VAST HISTORY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
““You ask a question that philosophers argue over,” Chiron had said. “He is worth more to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else’s friend and brother. So which life is more important?” We had been silent. We were fourteen, and these things were too hard for us. Now that we are twenty-seven, they still feel too hard.”- (Madeline Miller – The Song of Achilles)
DEFEATING THE AMORITES
“But we have overthrown them; Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have demolished them as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba.” (Numbers 21:30)
A WELL AND A SONG
“Spring up, O well! Sing about it, about the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people sank—
the nobles with scepters and staffs.” (Numbers 21:17-18)
THE FAITHFUL MOVE FORWARD
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved.” – (Ephesians 2:4-5)
SAYING GOODBYE TO MIRIAM AND AARON
“You did not trust in me.” – (Numbers 20:12)
THINKING ABOUT HEART HEALTH
“Obedience is the true holocaust which we sacrifice to God on the altar of our hearts.” – (Philip Neri)
TRUE JUSTICE BEGINS WITH GOD’S PROPER ORDER
“Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” – (Cornel Wast)
IS SOCIAL JUSTICE USEFUL OR HARMFUL TO SOCIETY?
“You may be poor, but important; uneducated, but wise; lowly, but noble; simple, but insightful; and ordinary, but great.” – ( Matshaua Dhilwayo)
HOW DO WE DEFINE SOCIAL JUSTICE
“I have come to feel strongly that the greatest service I can still render to my fellowman would be that I could make the speakers and writers among them thoroughly ashamed to ever again to employ the term “social justice.” – (Frederick Hayck)
WHAT IS TRUE SOCIAL JUSTICE?
“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” – (Aldous Huxley)
GOD CLARIFIES HIS LEADERS
“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” – (Henry Kissinger)
WHEN AARON’S ROD PRODUCED FRUIT
When on the morrow Moses went into the tent of the testimony, behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and ripened almonds’ (Num. 17:8).
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for December 2019
“I heard a bird sing in the dark of December. A magical thing. And sweet to remember. We are nearer to Spring than we were in September. I heard a bird sing in the dark of December.”
― (Oliver Herford)
OVER-CONFIDENCE IS A VERY BAD THING
“Often God will send us what we need in a package we don’t want. Why? To let us know He’s God and we cannot second-guess Him. We cannot search for answers merely with our heads; we must seek Him and His provision with our hearts. Scripture cannot be interpreted from our limited human mental understanding. There must be a breath of the Spirit of God. He alone gives wise counsel and correct application.”
― (John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: The Essential Virtue for Receiving God’s Blessings)
The IN SEASON Community Store for January 2020
“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.” — (Anton Chekhov)
WISE MEN RESPECT GODLY LEADERSHIP
“We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.” – (Donald Trump)
A PLAN FOR MAKING 2020 A PERFECT YEAR
“New year—a new chapter, new verse, or just the same old story? Ultimately we write it. The choice is ours.” — (Alex Morritt)
HOW GOD WANTS US TO REMEMBER HIS LAWS
“May God’s grace be upon this shawl…warming, comforting, enfolding and embracing.
May this mantle be a safe haven… a sacred place of security and well-being…sustaining and embracing in good times as well as difficult ones.
May the one who receives this shawl be cradled in hope, kept in joy, graced with peace, and wrapped in love. Blessed Be!” – (Prayer Of Blessing (blessing for a completed shawl) By: Janet Severi Bristow – 2000)
JUDGEMENT DAY WILL COME
“Every day is Judgement Day. Always has been. Always will be.” – (Tom Robbins)
FIRST FRUITS OFFERINGS ARE VERY IMPORTANT
‘Your offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat.” – (Numbers 18:27)
GOOD LAWS AND SACRIFICE
“True love is selfless. It is prepared to sacrifice.” – (Sadhu Vaswani)
OBEDIENCE IS EVERYTHING
“Obeying from love is better than to obey from fear.” – (Rashi)
HELPING KIDS UNDERSTAND TORAH
“Train up a child in the way he should go and even when he is old he will not depart from it.” – (Proverbs 22:6)
RECEIVING A FORTY YEAR SENTENCE
“In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.”
– (Charles A. Lindbergh-Aviator)
THANKSGIVING WARDROBE UPDATE
Just a little t-shirt suggestion to make your Thanksgiving fun even more fun.
THE SINS OF THE FATHERS
“Not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times – not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. ” (Numbers 14:23)
VETERAN’S DAY AND THE SWORD IN THE STONE
“A legend is sung, of when England was young and knights were brave and bold. The good King had died and no one could decide who was rightful heir to the throne. It seemed that the land would be torn by war or saved by a miracle alone. And that miracle appeared in London town: The Sword In The Stone.” – (Author Unknown)
GRASSHOPPERS AMONG GIANTS
“Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death.” — (James F. Byrnes)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for October 2019
“Once I came to October; now I never want to leave.” – (Gail Landgraf)
NEVER SPEAK AGAINST GOD’S HUMBLE SERVANTS
“When I run in Ethiopia, I look out and see eucalyptus trees and rivers.” – (Haile Gebrselassie)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for October 2019
Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile. – (William Cullen Bryant)
THOSE QUAIL ARE TASTY; BUT THEY ARE POISON
“There is lust and then there is love. They are related, but still very different things. To indulge in one requires little but honeyed speech and a change of clothes; to obtain the other, by contrast, a man must give up his rib. In return, his woman will undo the sin of Eve, and bring him back into Paradise.”
– (Ann Fortier)
COUNTLESS THOUSANDS; EVIDENCE OF A PROMISE FULFILLED
“I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,” – (Genesis 26:4)
LEAVING SINAI
“God is not merely at your fingertips but within your grasp. Live each day like a child digging through an antique treasure chest rifling for the next discovery. Open your arms and your eyes to the God who stands in plain sight and works miracles in your midst. Look for him in your workdays and weekends, in your meeting-filled Mondays and your lazy Saturdays. Search for him in the snowy sunsets and Sabbaths, seasons of Lent and sitting at your table. Pray for—and expect—wonder. For when you search for God, you will discover him.” –
(Margaret Feinberg)
The IN SEASON Community Store for September through October
“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
― (Lauren DeStefano, Wither)
REVIEW FOR THE DAY OF ATONEMENT – THE MERCY SEAT – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 158
“There is a place where Jesus sheds the oil of gladness on our heads.”
(Hugh Stowell – “At Your Mercy Seat” 1828)
KEEPING GOD’S APPOINTED TIMES EVEN IN THE WILDERNESS
The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’S love is with those who fear him and his righteousness with their children’s children. (Psalm 103:15-17 – a Psalm of David)
SETTING THE LEVITES APART FOR SERVICE TO GOD
“The Korahites, were in charge of the work of the service, guardians of the thresholds of the tent, as their ancestors had been in charge of the camp of the Lord, guardians of the entrance.” – (1 Chronicles 9:19b)
LIGHTING THE LAMPS OF THE TABERNACLE
“I am the vine; you are the branches.” – (John 15:1)
HIDDEN TRUTH IN NUMBERS CHAPTER SEVEN
‘The entire world is God’s message of love to us. Yom Kippur is the time when we are most open to receive this message’ – (Rabbi Noah Weinberg)
TESHUVAH – A SERIES OF ELUL MEDITATIONS-
“Why do we fall? Because we do not realize how easy repentance is.”
(Orot Hateshuvah)
UNDERSTANDING WHY CONSECRATION IS SO IMPORTANT TO GOD
“The lack of demonstration in the Church is connected to the lack of consecration.” – (Jerimiah Johnson)
VISITING THE FLOWERS OF AUBIERE
“Dawn to dusk, they only turn up to heaven where God lives,
Every face a separate light
Reflections of the love He gives.” -(Allen Levi – The Golden Choir of Abiere)
THE ART OF LIVING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE AFTER AGE 50
“The body is like a piano, and happiness is like music. It is needful to have the instrument in good order.” (Henry Ward Beecher)
THE MEMORY HOUSE BY RACHEL HAUCK – A BOOK REVIEW
“Family is whoever fits into your heart.” (Rachel Hauck – The Memory House)
THE LORD LIFT UP HIS COUNTENANCE UPON YOU AND GIVE YOU PEACE
“The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” (Numbers Chapter 6)
THE LORD MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON YOU
THE LORD MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON YOU Today we want to look into the second part of the Aaronic Blessing the part that says; “ The LORD make his face to shine upon you.” INTRODUCTION Welcome to the COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY which we hold on this blog every Thursday. We are slowly…
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RECEIVING THE AARONIC BLESSINGS OF GOD
“The Lord bless you and keep you.” – (Numbers 6:24)
June to July 2019 NEWSLETTER
“A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.”
-(Washington Irving)
WAS JESUS EVER UNDER A NAZARITE VOW?
“Love is not about how much you say “I love you” but how much you prove it is true.” – (Author unknown)
TAKING VOWS FOR SKIPPING WINE
” All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.” (The Book of Numbers)
THE VOW OF THE NAZARITE
All of the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD. – (Numbers 6:8)
THAT JEALOUS HUSBAND IN NUMBERS FIVE AND THE GREAT APOSTASY
Saying, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” – (Jesus)
NUMBERS CHAPTER FIVE
“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’ They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” (Jesus – Matthew 15:7-9)
THE WOMAN AT THE WELL IN RELATION TO NUMBERS FIVE
“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” – (The Woman At The Well; John 4:29)
WHO IS THE WOMAN IN THE BASKET?- COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 261
“The world is full of genies waiting to grant your wishes.” – (Percy Ross)
A TEST OF LOYALTY – A FLYING SCROLL AND A WOMAN HIDING INSIDE A BASKET – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 260
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” – (Revelation 12:11)
TIME TO DO IT SCARED!!!
The IN SEASON Lifestyle’s BOOK OF THE MONTH
TIME TO DO IT SCARE
TEST FOR ADULTERY AND THE GOLDEN CALF STORY
“What is adultery, at its heart, once you get past the sex part? It’s fundamentally the human will to eat the forbidden fruit, to choose what one wants instead of what God wants and to tear apart what God has joined together. There’s a reason that adultery was a capital offense in the Old Testament: God hates it.” – (CHARLES ERLANDSON)
TEST FOR A WIFE ACCUSED OF ADULTERY – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 258
“But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding; he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.” – (PROVERBS 6:32)
SOME FEATURED PRODUCTS AND MOTHER’S DAY GIFT IDEAS
“I went window shopping today! I bought four windows.” – (Tommy Cooper)
MY FAVORITE RECIPES FOR THE RUN FOR THE ROSES
“You can’t win the Kentucky Derby unless you’re a thoroughbred.” – (Joe Torre)
LET’S GET A HAT AND GO TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY
“When you touch the dirt on the tract you have the feeling, at that moment, that you are on the center stage of the universe.” – (Steve Cauthen, Jockey of Affirmed who won the Triple Crown in 1978)
The IN SEASON April 2019 Newsletter
April showers bring May flowers.
MEET THE MERARITES – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 256
“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” – (Ephesians 4: 14-16)
MEET THE KOHATHS
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
— (Exodus 25:8)
MEET THE GERSHONITES – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 254
“Spiritual friendship is eagerly helping one another know, serve, love and resemble God in deeper and deeper ways.” – (Tim Keller)
A THIRD LAYER OF RAM SKIN DYED RED
And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’ skins. – (Exodus 26:14)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Family Tree- April 2019
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; (2 Timothy 3:16)
FIRST-BORN SONS AND REDEMPTION – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 253
Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me. -(Exodus 13:2)
REDEMPTION OF THE FIRST BORN – COME AS A CHILD LESSON 252
Then you shall say to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I said to you, let My son go, that he may serve Me; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.” – (Exodus 4:22-23)
LOVING ALL OF THE YELLOWS OF SPRING
“The day the LORD created “hope” was probably the same day He created “spring.” (Bernard Williams)
THE PLACE FOR LEVI – COME AS A CHILD LESSON 251
“Torah is not education, it’s transformation.” – (Rebbitzen Dena Weinberg)
ABIDAN – GOD IS MY JUDGE – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 250
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.” – Genesis 49:27
CELEBRATING PURIM FEBRUARY 2019
“Life is short – buy the shoes!”
HOW THE TRIBES OF EPHRAIM AND MANESSEH WERE DIFFERENT – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 249
“Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” (Genesis 48:16)
GOD IS MY REWARD – COME AS A CHILD LESSON 248
“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)
COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 104 – ISRAEL BLESSES JOSEPH, EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH
“Joseph is an example of true patience and endurance in the plan of God. From the moment we are conceived in the womb, our destiny is being shaped by God the Father. From the life of Joseph we can learn what it is to suffer for God, what it is to truly die to self and the blessing that God bestows upon those who lay down their lives in service to Him and the resurrection power of new beginnings that only God can bring to pass by and through His Spirit of grace.”
― (Paddick Van Zyl)
MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION AND YOGA – PART SEVEN
“Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else.: – (Charles Spurgeon)
GOD HAS HEARD – COME AS A CHILD LESSON 247
“Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.” – (Isaiah 65:24)
GOD HAS ADDED – LESSON 246 – COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY
“We, too, will have fellowship with the sublime if we know how to be perfectly obedient to the Word of the Lord.” ― (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Being God’s Friend)
MY PEACE IS GOD – COME AS A CHILD LESSON 245
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.” – (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
GOD BRINGS HIS ORDER TO HIS PEOPLE – COME AS A CHILD LESSON 244
For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? – (Psalm 18:31)
ELIAB SON OF HELON – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 243
“They draw from the abundance of the seas, and the hidden treasures of the sand.” – (Deut. 33:18-19)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for December 2018
“How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” – (Dr. Seuss)
MY GOD IS A ROCK – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 240
“The meaning in life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” (Pablo Picasso)
STAND AND BE COUNTED – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 239
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” – (Ephesians 6:13)
I’M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas; just like the ones I used to know. Where the treetops glisten and the children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow.”
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Newsletter for November 2018
“Over the river and through the woods, trot fast my dapple gray. Spring over the ground like a hunting hound On this Thanksgiving Day, Hey!
Over the river and through the woods now Grandmother’s face I spy. Hurrah for the fun, Is the pudding done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie.”
– (English folksong, It’s Raining, It’s Pouring)
NUMBERING THE PEOPLE AND TAKING A CENSUS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 238
“God is not a human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” – (Numbers 23:19)
WRAPPING UP THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 237
“Entering the house of God to dwell with God, beholding, glorifying and enjoying him eternally, I suggest, is the story of the Bible, the plot that makes sense of the various acts, persons and places of its pages, the deepest context for its doctrines.” – ( L. Michael Morales, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?: A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus)
COLUMBIANA, ALABAMA – THE SMALL TOWN THAT DREAMS BIG
“A small town is a place where there’s no place to go where you shouldn’t.” – (Burt Bacharach)
THE REWARD FOR DISOBEDIENCE – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 236
“One nation under God indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” (The Original Pledge of Allegiance)
OBEDIENCE BRINGS BLESSINGS FROM GOD – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 235
“Obedience is an act of faith; disobedience is the result of unbelief.” – (Edwin Louis Cole)
SLAVERY – DID GOD ACTUALLY CONDONE IT? COME AS A CHILD LESSON 234
“While we see the course of the final abolition of human slavery is onward, & we give it the aid of our prayers & all justifiable means in our power, we must leave the progress as well as the result in his hands who sees the end; who chooses to work by slow influences; & with whom two thousand years are but as a single day. ” – (Robert E. Lee)
MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION AND YOGA – ARTICLE FIVE – ARE THEY CHRISTIAN PRACTICES?
“All the secrets in the world worth knowing are hiding within plain sight.” – (Robin Sloan)
THE YEAR OF JUBILEE – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 233
“And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” – (Leviticus 25:10) Note: This scripture is where America found the message inscribed upon the face of the Liberty bell. It was fifty years to the date of its use that the crack formed in the bell and it could no longer be rung or heard in the land.
MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION AND YOGA – ARTICLE FOUR – IF IT FEELS GOOD SHOULD I DO IT?
“About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.” – (Ernest Hemingway)
SHEMITAH AND ISAIAH 61 – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 232
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness. —ISAIAH 5:20”
MINDFULNESS – DOES IT REALLY MATTER? – ARTICLE THREE IN A SERIES ABOUT MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION AND YOGA
“Your life is like a coin. You can spend it anyway you want, but only once. Make sure you invest it and don’t waste it. Invest it in something that matters to you and matters for eternity.” – (Tony Evens)
SHEMITAH – THE SABBATH YEAR – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON – 231
“Shmita (alternatively spelled shemitah, shemitta, or shmitah)—the sabbatical year, or seventh (sheviit)year—is a biblical prescription for and inoculation against environmental and social problems, including habitat destruction, hunger, overwork, soil-nutrient loss, unabated growth, wealth gaps, and the disconnects between people and their food and people and the Earth.” – (David Krantz)
MINDFULNESS AND ABSOLUTES – ARTICLE TWO ABOUT MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION AND YOGA
So maybe you already know your true identity. Perhaps you found Jesus Christ years ago and have placed Him in the High Priest’s position as LORD of all of your life and you have proclaimed that He is the lover of your soul. Isn’t it good to understand who you are and where you belong? HOW’S YOUR LIFE GOING? Just…
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HAS WINNIE THE POOH BECOME A SOCIALIST? – A STRANGE LOOK AT THE MOVIE CALLED CHRISTOPHER ROBIN
“But I’ve wandered much further today than I should
And I can’t seem to find my way back to the wood.” (House At Pooh Corner – Loggins and Messina)
BLASPHEMY AND HOW GOD JUDGES IT – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 230
“Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret – it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed; but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. (Psalm 37:8-9)
MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION AND YOGA IN LIGHT OF 2 TIMOTHY 4:2
“This above all: to thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man.” (Shakespeare)
THE BREAD OF HEAVEN – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 229
“Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” – (Jesus) ( John 4:35)
GATHERING OLIVE OIL FOR THE LAMPS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 228
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
WHEN GOD PLANS A DIFFERENT EVENT THAN YOURS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 228
“For the fruit always works – it must work – but it does not work happily for any who pluck it at their own will.” – (Asland from THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW)
MOSES RECEIVES THE CALENDAR OF GOD
“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them. ” – (Isaiah 11:6)
WE ARE ALL JUST DISABLED PRIESTS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 226
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (Corinthians 13:12 KJV)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community NEWSLETTER For AUGUST 2018
“August rushes by like desert rainfall,
A flood of frenzied upheaval,
Expected,
But still catching me unprepared.
Like a match-flame
Bursting on the scene,
Heat and haze of crimson sunsets.
Like a dream
Of moon and dark barely recalled,
A moment,
Shadows caught in a blink.
Like a quick kiss;
One wishes for more
But it suddenly turns to leave,
Dragging summer away.”
– (Elizabeth Maua Taylor)
The IN SEASON Community Store for August
Help the economy grow; go shopping!
A PEOPLE MADE READY – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 226
“Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.” – (Lou Holtz)
THE FIRST OF TWO NOSTALGIC MOVIES OF AUGUST – PEN ART
“Nothing is so sexy on a man as talent.” – (Joan Plowright)
BE HOLY – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 225
Be dogmatically true, obstinately holy, immovably honest, desperately kind, fixed upright.” – (Charles Spurgeon)
THOU SHALT NOT MURDER – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 146
“The most loving parents and relatives commit murder with smiles on their faces. They force us to destroy the person we really are: a subtle kind of murder.” (Jim Morrison)
WORK – SIX DAYS SHALT THOU LABOR – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 144
“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.” – (Robert Collier)
HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 145
“A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone.” – (Billy Graham)
THOU SHALT NOT LIE – THE NINTH COMMANDMENT
“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.” (Blaise Pascal)
MINDFULNESS – ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE
“The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another.” (John Komfield)
UNLAWFUL SEXUAL RELATIONS AND THE CONSEQUENCES, COME AS A CHILD, LESSON 224
“Honesty is the first chapter in the Book of Wisdom.” (Thomas Jefferson)
DRINKING BLOOD AND WORSHIPING GOATS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 223
STRANGE HAPPENINGS IN THE DESERT The next chapter of Leviticus is worded a bit strange for most people’s modern-day thinking. It basically says: “Don’t eat blood” and “Don’t worship goat-idols out in the open fields.” Can you imagine? What kind of crazy subject is this? Well; it may not be as far-fetched as you might think. We are going to…
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The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for July 2018
“It is just an ADD TO CART kind of day!” (unknown)
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT AS SPELLED OUT IN LEVITICUS 16 – COME AS A CHILD LESSON 222
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to atone for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. (Leviticus 17;11)
DISOBEDIENCE; THE REAL PROBLEM OF MOLD – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 221
“God has always worked wonders through his prophets to increase the faith of His chosen people or to correct their disobedience.” (Mother Angelica)
WHEN LEPERS ARE HEALED – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 220
“Loneliness is the leprosy of the modern world.” – (Mother Teresa)
VISITING THE BIRMINGHAM ZOO – SUMMER FUN FOR KIDS SERIES – OH THE PLACES WE SHOULD GO
“Roar and Slither; Squawk and Coo; Things are happening at the Zoo!” (Author Unknown)
FROM UGLY MOLD TO BEAUTIFUL SCARS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 220
“There is something beautiful about our scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with.” – (Harry Crew)
HOW GOD TREATS SKIN DISEASES – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 219
“Saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.” – (Exodus 15:26)
THE IN SEASON LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER FOR JUNE 2018
“If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.” (Bernard Williams)
STORIES FROM JOANNA AND CHIP GAINES – REVIEWING THEIR BOOKS
“When we were dating, I would pick these blooms from Magnolia trees. So when we had the opportunity and were trying to figure out what to name her little boutique, Magnolia Market just stood out to us.” (Chip Gaines)
WHEN NEW SINNERS ARRIVE IN SMALL PACKAGES – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 218
“A baby is a blank check made payable to the human race.” (Barbara Christine Seifert)
EAT YOUR HEART OUT LADIES; I FOUND HIM FIRST
“A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life.” (Coco Chanel)
DIETARY LAWS – WHY CAN’T WE BE MORE LIKE JESUS? COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 217
“It is easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet.” (Margaret Mead)
WHEN AARON LISTENED BETTER THAN MOSES – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 216
“It is not so much adverse events that make you anxious as it is your thoughts about those events. Your mind engages in efforts to take control of a situation, to bring about the result you desire. Your thoughts close in on the problem like ravenous wolves. Determined to make things go your way, you forget that I am in charge of your life.” (Sara Young – Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace In His Presence)
YOU ARE THE ANOINTED ONES – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 215
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
THEY DID IT THEIR WAY – COME AS A CHILD LESSON 214
“The devil only bothers to counterfeit that which is real and a threat to his kingdom.” (Frank Viola)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for May 2018
“We are all mortal until the first kiss and the second glass of wine.” (Eduardo Galeano)
Shop The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store
“Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking ad.” (James C. Penney)
FOLLOWING GOD INTO ETERNITY – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 213
“ Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” (Kahlil Gibran)
SEVEN DAYS OF PRIESTLY SANCTIFICATION – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 212
“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
CAN ONE LITTLE BOOK HELP YOU FIND TRUE HAPPINESS?
“I think most of us want to go to heaven though not necessarily right now. But we all need to get ready for the trip – and Anthony DeStefano’s book is like a Fodor’s Guide for just that purpose. It is a wonderful road map for people who want to be happy in this life, and at the same time prepare for ultimate happiness in the life to come. ” – (Mike Huckabee – Former Governor of Arkansas)
RITUALS OF ORDINATION THEN AND NOW – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 211
“Now this I know: The LORD gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand.” (Psalm 20:6)
THE MOM SURVEY
“Motherhood – all love begins and ends there.” (Robert Browning)
AGAIN GOD REMINDS US OF THE IMPORTANCE OF ORDINATION AND CONSECRATION – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 210
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9
WHO WILL BE IN THE WINNER’S CIRCLE AT KENTUCKY DERBY 2018?
“I heard Sham’s hooves disappear behind me… And then, there was nothing. All I could hear was Secretariat’s breathing and his hooves hitting the ground. It was very quiet.” – (Ron Turcotte – Jockey of Riva Ridge, 1972 Derby Winner & Secretariat, 1973 Triple Crown Winner)
LEARNING ENDURANCE FROM PAUL; APOSTLE OF CHRIST
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2; The Apostle Paul)
HOW THE SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS TEACH US THE WORK OF CHRIST – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 209
“God works single-mindedly throughout the ages to restore lost humanity to Himself.” – (Alice C. Lindsley)
SIN OFFERINGS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 208
“The face is the mirror of the mind, and the eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart.” (St. Jerome)
THE GRAIN OFFERING – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 207
“Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24) (ESV)
HOLY FIRE FOR THE BURNT ALTAR – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 206
“Fire doesn’t fall on empty altars. There has to be a sacrifice on the altar for the fire to fall. If you want the fire of God, you must become the fuel of God.” (Tommy Tenney)
LIVING GUILT-FREE – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 204
“Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is the most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrong doing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.” (Aldous Huxley; Brave New World)
UNINTENTIONAL SINS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 203
“The seven sins are: Wealth without work. Pleasure without conscience. Knowledge without character. Commerce without morality. Science without humanity. Worship without sacrifice. Politics without principle.” – Frederick Lewis Donaldson (1925)
CELEBRATING THE PEACE OFFERINGS IN A MEAL AT GOD’S TABLE – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 202
“Jerusalem (1804) And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England’s mountains green And was the holy lamb of God On England’s pleasant pastures seen And did the countenance divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills And was Jerusalem builded here Among those dark Satanic mills Bring me my bow of burning gold Bring me my arrows of desire Bring me my spears o’clouds unfold Bring me my chariot of fire I will not cease from mental fight Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand ‘Til we have built Jerusalem In England’s green and pleasant land” (William Blake)
SEASONS HOLIDAYS AND HOLY DAYS
“The holiest of holidays are those kept by ourselves in silence and apart; the secret anniversaries of the heart.” – (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
GRAIN OFFERINGS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 200
“No person was ever honored for what he received; he was honored for what he gave.” – (Calvin Coolidge)
BEGINNING TO STUDY LEVITICUS – BURNT OFFERINGS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 199
“It is possible to give without loving, but it is impossible to love without giving.” – (Richard Braunstein)
A SUMMARY OF CONSTRUCTING THE WILDERNESS TABERNACLE – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 198
“The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a Wilderness.” – (Havelock Ellis)
The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for January 2018
“Go for the moon. If you don’t get it, you’ll still be heading for a star. Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of the creative effort.” – (Franklin Delano Roosevelt)
IS YOUR FACE GLOWING? COME AS A CHILD LESSON 197
“The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart.” – ( St. Jerome)
REQUIREMENTS OF A PERFECT OFFERING – COME AS A CHILD LESSON 195
“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:26
THE IMPORTANCE OF REDEMPTION – COME AS A CHILD LESSON 192
“At some point you will meet my imperfections. Will you leave or will you stay for my redemption?” (Shanna Rodriguez)
IF YOU LOVE ME; KEEP MY COVENANT – COME AS A CHILD; LESSON 185
“God is our Father; we are his children. He has brought us into his covenant, and it is our privilege to go on from wisdom to wisdom, from intelligence to intelligence, from understanding of one principle to that of another, to go forward and progress in the development of truth until we can comprehend God. For we are his children, we are his sons and daughters, and he is our father.” — (John Taylor)
THE LORD IS A JEALOUS GOD – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 184
“For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession.” (Psalm 135:4)
WHEN GOD PASSES BY THE CLEFT OF THE ROCK – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 183
“He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life with the depths of His love
And covers me there with His hand”
(Fanny Crosby – 1890)
SHOW ME YOUR GLORY! – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 182
“The deepest passion of the heart of Jesus was not the saving of men, but the glory of God; and then the saving of men, because that is for the glory of God. – G. Campbell Morgan”
I AM MY BELOVED AND MY BELOVED IS MINE – MEDITATIONS OF ELUL- MEDITATION 4
“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.” (Song 2:4)
THE ANOINTING OIL – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 174
CREATING THE ANOINTING OIL Today we come to a discussion in which God instructs Moses about creating and using the sacred anointing oil for the tabernacle. INTRODUCTION Welcome to Lesson 174 of our ongoing on-line chronological bible study called COME AS A CHILD. Today we are studying a passage found in Exodus, Chapter 30. If you missed the previous lesson…
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THE ATONEMENT MONEY – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 172
“Having “descended below all things,” He comprehends, perfectly and personally, the full range of human suffering! A spiritual sung in yesteryear has an especially moving and insightful line: “Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen, nobody knows but Jesus.” Truly, Jesus was exquisitely “acquainted with grief,” as no one else.” (Neal A. Maxwell)
THE BELT – THE DRESS CODE OF GOD SERIES (PART FIVE) COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 169
“I am the way, the “truth” and the life.” (John 14:16)
THE TURBAN AND THE CROWN – THE DRESS CODE OF GOD SERIES (PART FOUR) COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 168
“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD.” (Song of Solomon 8:6)
THE ROBE – THE DRESS CODE OF GOD (PART 3) – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 167
“There is in souls a sympathy with sounds: And as the mind is pitch’d the ear is pleased With melting airs, or martial, brisk or grave; Some chord in unison with what we hear Is touch’d within us, and the heart replies.” (William Cowper)
TEN CURTAINS OF FINE WHITE LINEN
It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. – (Revelation 19:8)
JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER For The IN SEASON Lifestyle
FAVORITE QUOTE FOR MAY: “I measure success by how many people love me. And the best way to be loved is to be loveable.”
(Warren Buffett)
WHY I WRITE “AN APPLE A DAY” TOPICS
“When the roots are deep there is no reason to fear the wind.” (African Proverb)
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