Today's Readings and Stuff -- Sunday, 26 January, 2014

welcome the day.
Dear Wife remains very very sick.  We never heard a single word back from the dentist office Thursday.   The health plan through Medicaid does not take effect for her until a week from yesterday.   She has a plain Medicaid card but we've not found a local urgent care operation that will accept it, and it seems likely that I will be hauling her to an Emergency Room today unless she turns a corner.
Meanwhile, we are still down to $16 and some loose change to last us until February 20.  We're about out of bread and butter, out of eggs, and the only milk is some powdered in a pack in the cupboard.  We are now nearly three months waiting for the Disability check that was approved back in the first part of NOVEMBER.  I have to hang onto a couple dollars for a co-pay for doctor/dentist visits for her.  The primary care physician we've arranged has an intake appointment for us on the 17th, so I have to hold onto a couple bucks for that, and for any meds that might be prescribed by the dentist or the doctor.  She had a few antibiotics hidden away and we've been feeding them to her, but she's in a lot of pain and feels lousy.  And there's not much I can to to help -- miracles are well beyond my pay grade and it's hard to see those you love in pain.
If the Disability check should miraculously appear, that would be a big help.  If she should begin to recover, that would be a prayer answered.  Both would be nice.  And if that could be accompanied by a call Monday morning to a opening at the dentist's office the same day, that would be wonderful.. We really do need some things to break for us.

And not just us.  Beloved Older Daughter called half a dozen times yesterday.  She's been through a lot.  She's got a teaching job in central Oklahoma, living in an apartment there, while her husband is still living in their house in western Arkansas, several hours away.  She's been sick for most of the last two months - spent the Thanksgiving week with an emergency gall bladder operation.  Fighting pneuomonia, sinus infections, respiratory infections, and asthma since.  In and out of Urgent Care near her, and missing a LOT of days at work, which is not what you want.  If and when they can sell their house, his employer will make it possible for him to move up with her and work out of that area.  Which would be good for both of them.

And then there is the weather.  Depending upon which forecast you believe, Tuesday's HIGH temperature is expected to be a max of +5 degrees or as low as -2.  And that is, as I said, the high.  Lows over the next few days are expected to be as cold as -10 or so.  I am so ready for Spring.  And we're still in January.  February in this part of the country is generally as cold, or colder, than January.  Would be nice to have some days above freezing, for Pete sake.  I miss southern weather.  I had to go out yesterday and shovel our walkways twice, and it really needs to be done again.  Had not shoveled snow since around February of 1992.  Didn't miss the matter, either.

And I need to find a job pretty soon.  Between my retirement check, and the Disability checks she's been promised, we can get by so long as no major problems appear.  But even then, it's skating on thin ice.  I had planned to remain in the work force for at least another four or five years, which would have left us in much better shape.  The events of last year or so, particularly the vile and despicable Obamacare, in conjunction with Wife's health issues and truly ghastly working conditions where I was working, combined to make this appear to be the least bad option.  And we believed, and still believe, that the Lord has a mission for us here.  So, while it's a bumpy ride and has some very real problems, we believe He will get us through.  The how and when, not seen yet.

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The Old Testament reading for the day is chapters 11 and 12 of the Exodus.  This is a tough yet very important passage.  This is the Passover, the night the Lord struck down the firstborn throughout Egypt.  Except among the Israelites who had the blood on the doorpost.  We too are under the Blood.  This was a figure of what was to come, but it was and remains remembered.  And the Passover is celebrated to this day.  Will be on April 14-22 of 2014, with Easter on the 20th of April.

Exodus 11

1	The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely.
2	“Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.”
3	And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.
4	So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt,
5	“‘and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.
6	“‘There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.
7	“‘But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’
8	“And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.
9	Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”
10	Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

Exodus 12

1	The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
2	“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.
3	“Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.
4	“And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
5	“Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,
6	“and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
7	“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
8	“They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9	“Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
10	“And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
11	“In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
12	“For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
13	“The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
14	“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
15	“Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
16	“On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you.
17	“And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.
18	“In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
19	“For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.
20	“You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”
21	Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.
22	“Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
23	“For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
24	“You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.
25	“And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.
26	“And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’
27	“you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
28	Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
29	At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.
30	And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
31	Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said.
32	“Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
33	The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.”
34	So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.
35	The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.
36	And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
37	And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.
38	A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.
39	And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
40	The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.
41	At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
42	It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
43	And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,
44	“but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him.
45	“No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it.
46	“It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
47	“All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
48	“If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
49	“There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”
50	All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
51	And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

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The New Testament reading is verses 21-35 of Matthew 18.

Matthew 18:21-35

21	Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
22	Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23	“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
24	“When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25	“And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26	“So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
27	“And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
28	“But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’
29	“So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
30	“He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
31	“When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
32	“Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33	“‘And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
34	“And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
35	“So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”