Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday. 31 August 2017 very slightly modified

VERY late today on this.  I woke up this morning with quite a lot in mind, and some things that I wanted to say, but they just were not quite "there".  During the day, they -- these things -- drew off and left me hanging.  Perhaps a wiser person would have a better handle on things, and perhaps these things just aren't quite "ripe" yet.  Not certain.

We stayed around the house today, she's apparently into a "flare", the accepted term in the field for when one's autoimmune disease(s) pop up and make themselves more known than at other times.  I'd feared what was going on was a recurrence of the nasty sinus-infection-verging-on-pneumonia that she'd just come out of, but she believes it's a lupus flare.  She wants to try to restart her weekly Humira injections tomorrow, so we shall see.

As a few people know, while I was born not too far from where I'm sitting now, I never ever felt it to be "home" in the way that normal people apparently do. I may be colorblind in that spectrum or it may be one of my numerous character defects / weirdnesses.  Don't know.  While I lived a few hundred miles from here in my very early 20's, I didn't really care for that place either.  So when circumstances combined to take us -- me and the family -- far out of the area for 22 years, I felt better.  And, for about the first time in my life, I felt happy about where I was.  When circumstances combined to bring us back to the general area, that left.

And yet .....  as I told our church back there when they had a bit of a going-away service for us, I felt that the move here was not a retreat, but an advance on where we were supposed to be.  Not a retreat in defeat.  I have occasionally lost a bit of that attitude and determination, but it is still there.  The Lord knows full well where we are, and I am convinced that this is part of His plan and will.  Yes, it can be very comforting to be living in the "Bible Belt" regions of the country, which is by no means descriptive of where we now reside.  Anything but, though there are parts of the country where that is even less the case.  But if we were still there, to a great extent we'd simply be lolling around, enjoying the fruits of other people's efforts at outreach and evangelism.  And, most likely, not contributing very much to the advance of the Kingdom.  It's taking me a while, too long really, to even begin to understand that.
I don't know, yet, what I am supposed to be doing in that effort.  I am not a particularly pastoral person, though while in the role I did try to carry out the duties of a deacon.  I am not a evangelist type, never have been.  So I'm not sure what the role and responsibilities are for me.  But I believe firmly that the Lord has something in mind, He never makes mistakes.
The first step is to commit fully to follow His lead and will.  That is a lot like signing a blank check, something that most of us are understandably reluctant to do, having been let down by those humans we once thought trustworthy.  And, yes, following Him can be an adventure.  The history is pretty clear on that at least.
So we shall see.  Lots of inward gazing right now.

And we are winding down the last hours of August.  Lord willing, in a few hours we will have entered into the month of September.  There are those who love Autumn.  I am not one of them, and have never been.  Living in the deep South, it wasn't so bad, because the Winter season following was also not so bad.  Here, particularly given the predictions of the bitterly cold and severe winter season advancing on us, it's bad.  REAL bad.  Too bad Global Warming is utter nonsense, one of history's biggest frauds and lies.  Hard to be charitable about it when the temperature is -15°F, the water pipes are frozen, the door may be frozen shut (we had that a few times the winter before last), and the gas and electric companies are threatening to turn the services off for non-payment.  Which we've gotten VERY close to several times.
So that is also on my mind.  Shouldn't be, probably, but it is.

===============================================
==================================================

The Old Testament reading for the day (and, again, sorry for the late hour) is Psalms 145. 146., and 147.  (Incidentally, tomorrow is schedule to be the final episode in the year's passage through the Psalms)

Psalm 145

1 I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. 2 Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. 5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. 6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. 7 They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. 8 The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. 9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. 10 All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; 12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. 13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. 14 The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. 15 The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. 16 Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. 18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. 19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. 20 The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. 21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Psalm 146

1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. 2 While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. 3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. 4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. 5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: 6 Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever: 7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners: 8 The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous: 9 The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down. 10 The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.

Psalm 147

1 Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. 2 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. 3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. 4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. 6 The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground. 7 Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: 8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. 9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. 10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. 11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. 12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. 13 For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee. 14 He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat. 15 He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly. 16 He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. 17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold? 18 He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow. 19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.

.

========================================
==============================================

The New Testament passage is verses 1-15 of chapter 11 of 1st Corinthians.
Paul makes a statement in verse 1 that I would fear to make.  And yet ...  if people want to know what Jesus is like, they should be able to look at us and  to see Him.  That's rather scary, and I know that I fall far short on that.  Yet that is our "reasonable service".
Much of the rest of this is also tricky.  I can't remember the last time that I hear sermons and lessons on these subjects.  Land mines and quicksand there.


I Corinthians 11:1-15

1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. 3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. 5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. 6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. 7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. 8 For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man. 9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. 10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. 12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. 13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? 14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? 15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.