Saturday, August 30, 2008

Adam and Eve leave Eden

When I was 10 years old, Chester Kemper, the young senior past of our Nazarene mission church preached often that we should read our Bible daily. Thus I looked diligently through a catalogue and chose a Bible with references for my parents to purchase for me. Since that time I have purchased many Bibles, but that first one in the old King James version is still my favorite, because I learned to listen for the voice of God as I read daily through its pages.
Today I picked up this old Bible and found a favorite passage that I had not yet underlined.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7
Many say that God created the earth in 6 twenty-four hour cycles. Many say that Man evolved through a long process of life changes. Even though I believe in one of the Big Bang theories, and that man and woman was a separate experience from the animal kingdom, I don’t think you must believe this to have a right relationship with God. In all the confusion, the most important information is that God created the heavens and the earth and God breathed into man and gave him a soul. This breathing into man made him different from all the rest of God’s creation in this universe.
Man is a special creation with the gift of God’s breath and eternal life, whether with Him or elsewhere, commonly called Hell.
Even though God made man to till the earth in the garden of Eden, it was more than that reason that He created mankind. He made man with the idea of relationship and love, that evasive, relevant, most important word.
Can there be such a thing as love if there is no choice to walk away from that relationship? There cannot be love if there lacks choice to not love. Choice by its very nature means potential disaster, failure, and ruination of the original plan. By giving mankind choice, God is even greater and more powerful than if we just had one possible path of existence.
We do not have unlimited choice. There are natural laws to the universe, and there are laws to behavior. We can choose to not have a relationship with God, but the consequence is separation from Him. Who in his right mind would want this? And yet by our very behavior, we over and over again walk away from the One who loves us the most.
God gave Adam and Eve one rule to not eat of the Tree of Good and Evil. They disobeyed and sin entered the human race. Sin is ugly and heinous in the sight of God. It was so terrible that God Himself slew an animal to cover the newly discovered nakedness of Adam and Eve. Genesis 2:21
Eating the fruit of a tree doesn’t seem that terrible. However the consequences of that one act was the killing of an innocent animal and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden. No longer did Adam and Eve talk face to face with God in the cool of the evening.
Sin separates us from the true relationship with God for which we were intended. If you say that we were not born in sin, then why is it that we do not see God with our physical eyes and hear Him with our physical ears? We are born separate from Him. Unless something happens we are separate from God, hopelessly alone.
Before the Perfect Lamb of God, Jesus the Christ, an innocent, perfect animal was slain to cover the sin of man. Sin is so awful that blood is the only thing that can cover it in the sight of God.
Without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin. Hebrews 9:22, Leviticus 17:11.
Now Jesus, the Perfect Sacrifice, was offered for our sins. As we accept His atonement, we have a right relationship with Him and our sins are forgiven as we confess them. We can walk with Him in a spiritual way. In our souls we can hear Him calling to us. We have hope of eternal life with Him.
Ask God to forgive your sins through the gift of salvation offered by Jesus Christ. Walk with Him in prayer, by reading your Bible, and by your daily habits, both self and towards others. You will have difficulty in hearing Him because we can no longer hear Him with our mortal ears, but with our spiritual ones. We still want to do things our own way and not submit to the humble path that we must follow in order to follow God. Let us talk to one another in our struggles and offer encouragement to one another, because, after all, we really do need each other.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Listen for yourself about Obama and McCain

Last night both Obama and McCain were interviewed by Rick Warren at Saddleback Church. Many pointed questions were asked Obama and McCain separately and without hearing one another. As I began listening through the answers, I prayed for guidance to listen carefully without any preconceived decisions or bias.

Before you listen to my thoughts or to any other commentary, please LISTEN FOR YOURSELF to the answers given. I believe you will know for which candidate you should vote. Please follow the link to watch the interviews. There will be a brief laps between segments to load the data. Please allow 15 second commercial at the start of each interview. Video with Barak Obama and John McCain being interviewed by Rick Warren.


I was impressed with one candidate who did not fudge around with his answers, nor did he say the answers were difficult. There was a wealth of experience from which he could draw reflections and fantastic responses. The other, because there is very little background, did the fudging and actually gave cutsie answers, like, when answering to whom would you go for advise concerning guiding the USA, he said his grandmother. Shish!

Do you know the issues? Do you know what the Bible says, really says about abortion and same sex marriages? You'd better find out and adhere to what has worked over the course of history. God's Word is truth. If we want to safeguard our nation, we had better vote accordingly.

God bless America! This is the land of the free. It is wonderful, and a great privilege to express my opinion.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Bunnies On The Run



Because Larry and Curly need regular exercise to keep their tummies working properly, Jim and I move them to the carpet where they can do binkies, jumping straight up and down, and chase one another.

This video is the third take. It is difficult to catch any animal doing whatever is wanted on film. This little clip shows some adorable movement, chasing, binkies, and playing with the ball. No wonder we think they are so cute.

Like any pet, there are important things to remember. First, bunnies can get bugs in their fir if permitted to romp outside. Ours are indoor bunnies only. Any cage with a wire floor can hurt tender bunny feet. We have linoleum down and a relatively large enclosure for our bunnies. Carrots are not good for rabbits. Timothy hay is the number one safe food. Timothy pellets are a good secondary food. Occasional crasins and lettuce are nice treats. If food rules are not observed stasis can develop which is so serious that a bunny can die within a few hours.

Good news, bunnies are litter trained and rarely if ever have accidents.
Now go back and see again how cute my bunnies are.

Great Grandfather Humes

Great Grandfather Humes
Great Grandfather, Charles Humes, started the family interest in trucks. He is in the center of the picture and Great Grandmother, Eva Humes, is to the left of him.