Today's Readings and Stuff -- Monday, 08 January 2018

Supposedly to be warmer today.  Certainly warmer than what we've seen for the last week or so.  Of course, that means it will snow some more:  sometimes it's actually too blasted cold to snow, so there's a not-so-sweet-spot where it's a bit less frigid and your "reward" is even more of that awful stuff called snow.  Sigh.
But yesterday was 64 seconds longer, the "day" portion I mean, than Saturday.  Today is to be 68 seconds longer than that.  Tomorrow another 71 seconds gained.  So we're making some progress.  One of the several awful things about living in this area at this time of year is that the sun goes down early and comes up late.  So, like yesterday, sunrise was not until 07:48, and sunset as 5:10 p.m.  For many years, I had to be at work at 07:30, meaning I was there by 07:10, heading to work in the dark, and leaving in the dark.  (And, all too often, left in the dark all day, but that is a separate issue).  I'd rather see sunrise at 05:10 and sunset around 8:45 p.m.  Year around.  But I don't get to vote on the matter.
So I have confidence that Spring will, eventually, arrive.  I just hate the knowledge of what we must endure until that point.  Oh, and the prediction is for a high of 54° on Thursday, then a "high" of 17° on Sunday. 
At least we shouldn't be "frozen in" as we were yesterday.  Yeah, I was able to go across the backyard once.  It seems that we aren't the only ones having gas line freezeups.  Wife's niece who lives next door woke yesterday to a house temperature in the 50''s no gas to the furnace or the gas range.  Had to have the gas company out on a Sunday morning.   We were spared that.  Now, she'd not had a problem until this last week when they moved her meter from the basement to an outdoor location.    Gets a freezeup a few days later, meaning water intruded into the natural gas line from the road to the house, and froze in the metter.  NOT happy!    Company HAD planned to show up today with lots of digging equipment and dig up the line between her house and our hovel, figuring that the cracked line had to be between us.  Now???  I guess we shall see.
And, in the meantime, we still have no water and the access is frozen due to the horrid temperatures we've been suffering.  Perhaps tomorrow things will have thawed enough that we can gain access and accurately assess what needs to be done.  Would be nice:  this business of hauling 5-gallon buckets of water for "flushing" purposes and every pitcher, bottle, and jar we have to get water for cooking and washing and such is, well, getting more than a bit old.  And making me feel old as well.  I worked hard for more than 40 years to avoid ending my days in conditions like this, and certainly intended much better for my One True Love.  So much for planning.
Going across the back yard in a few minutes to haul water.  But still better than hauling buckets from a muddy river, with the bucket on my head or with two of them suspended from a timber across my shoulders, things that are part of daily life in many parts of the world.  Today.  So, it's a blessing, believe it or not.




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The Old Testament reading for today is chapters 15 and 16 of the Genesis.
As is the case throughout Genesis, there are names and issues that are very much with us to this day.
For example, Abram, having been promised by the Lord, that he would have kids. looked at situation, saw that he was 86 or so and his wife, Sarai, wasn't far behind, and decided -- well, they both did -- to "help things along" rather than wait on the Lord.  So, in time, an alternative was found, and a child was born, Ishmael by name.  Not too many kids named Ishmael around, are there?  But Ishmael had kids in time.  Ishmael is the father of the Arabs.  Now do you see?  Disobedience has had LONG results, bad ones.  Right up to today.

Genesis  15

15:1		After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
15:2		And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
15:3		And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
15:4		And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
15:5		And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
15:6		And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
15:7		And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
15:8		And he said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
15:9		And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
15:10		And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
15:11		And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
15:12		And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
15:13		And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
15:14		And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15:15		And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
15:16		But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
15:17		And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
15:18		In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
15:19		The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
15:20		And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
15:21		And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Genesis  16

16:1		Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
16:2		And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
16:3		And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
16:4		And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
16:5		And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.
16:6		But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
16:7		And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
16:8		And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
16:9		And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
16:10		And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
16:11		And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
16:12		And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
16:13		And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
16:14		Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
16:15		And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16:16		And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

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Our reading in the Poetry section for the day is Psalm 6
Good words, and good memory verses here.


Psalms  6

1:1		Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
1:2		But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
1:3		And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
1:4		The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
1:5		Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
1:6		For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

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Our reading in the New Testament for today is chapter 6 in the Gospel of Matthew
More from the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew  6

6:1		Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
6:2		Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6:3		But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
6:4		That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
6:5		And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6:6		But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
6:7		But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
6:8		Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
6:9		After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
6:10		Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
6:11		Give us this day our daily bread.
6:12		And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
6:13		And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
6:14		For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
6:15		But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
6:16		Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6:17		But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
6:18		That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
6:19		Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
6:20		But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
6:21		For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
6:22		The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
6:23		But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
6:24		No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
6:25		Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
6:26		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?
6:27		Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
6:28		And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
6:29		And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
6:30		Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
6:31		Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
6:32		(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
6:33		But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
6:34		Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.