Greetings—on another clear cold frosty morning.
I plan to enter that environment soon with Tazzy and do our little walk/jog excursion.
We’re really bummed with Tazzy right now. Thano caught him yesterday in the chicken house eating eggs. Phooey! That may be a difficult behavior to break. He definitely has a naughty streak. His love and loyalty toward his masters is not so refined as to prevent wayward wandering and disobedience. But what can we say?—he’s a dog! (That prompts me to ask what’s our excuse for wandering and disobedience?)
My sawmill suffered a breakdown on Friday—a blown out bandwheel bearing. I’m waiting for the part to arrive so I can repair it and get it back up and running. Maybe today.
Have a blessed day. Love and prayers. Ray.
It sure didn’t take long for me to become ignited with inspiration as I began this reading in The Passion Translation. This first verse explodes like fireworks with a fresh flash of meaning. My response is one of resonating affirmation—“Of course! Bingo! Yes! That’s it! There’s the key to living! How could it be stated more concisely and profoundly?!” Indeed, the recipe for success in life is here made so clear and simple—even though the performance thereof is not so simple and easy—since everyone still has to grapple with the ugly residual reality of the NATURAL SIN NATURE. But loving God/Christ passionately—at least choosing to WANT to—is that essential disposition of the human heart that EMPOWERS—even FORCES—one to seek to please God by obeying His Word/commands. It cannot be otherwise.
Allow me to draw from some of my own experience. As a young guy I admit that I was quite paranoid concerning the phenomenon of “falling in love.” I experienced some early unbecoming struggle with a broken heart that seemed almost inevitable. Besides that, I had a hard time finding any demonstrations of truly attractive marriage relationships that were free of conflict. I kind of viewed “falling in love” as too big a risk. In the course of our early relationship, I gave Becki fits, mainly because I was so resistant to the “fall,” for fear of plunging ahead on the basis of temporal emotion. And my emotions were very unstable. But when I finally came to recognize that true and lasting love was not just an emotion but a deliberate and ongoing CHOICE, I finally made a CHOICE to permit the “fall”—and I think I fell hard—at least that CHOICE is validated by our present tally of nearly 51 years together.
Prior to our marriage in 1967 soon after our college graduation, we had to temporarily live separated. No cell phones in that day—no computers, emails, texting, etc. We mainly had to resort to “snail mail.” We exchanged hand-written letters nearly every day. I was in the Post Office several times each day. I was now focused and passionate with a singular object—Becki. To be “chasing” other girls at that point was absolutely unconscionable—that would be a rotten violation of this prized relationship! All the gorgeous alternatives held zero attraction. I had “fallen” in love!
I hope my little story offer valid support to the importance and urgency of choosing to passionately love God/Christ. That choice EMPOWERS me to please Him—to do His will and comply with His purposes—while not choosing makes those objectives impossible.