Today's Readings and Stuff -- Tuesday, 17 December 2013

getting down to it.  We now are down to two weeks left in this year.  2014 is not that far away.  I was born W-A-Y back in the 1900's, it's beginning to seem an impossible time ago.  Have seen quite a lot, sometimes, perhaps, too much.  Too much loss, too much death, too many funerals, too many friends lost, too many failures, too many dashed hopes, too many darkened windows, too much sorrow.

Yet I have also seen joy.  A new baby, a new Christian, a young couple in love, an old couple who have grown old together, a new day.  I have seen gratitude for rain after a long drought, a round of chemotherapy with a good outcome, a survival in the face of impossible odds.
And I have lived to see the difference between happiness and joy.  When I was much younger, there seemed to be no difference.  I was wrong.  The Lord has allowed me to live long enough to appreciate that and to appreciate Him more.  He is good.

The new year fast advancing is, of course, just an arbitrary mark on a stick.  The planets do not suddenly change their orbits as of 12:00:01 as the ball drops.  Yet it is useful to be able to periodically make an assessment of where we are, where we've been, and where we hope to be going.  More that 20 years ago, I began a new job with a firm - Rubbermaid -- that was heavily into the Franklin Planner system, now called Franklin Covey.  That system has you defining your goals and values, and then setting up plans with defined dates and shorter-term goals as a part of furthering those values and goals, both in one's business but also in one's private world.  Other systems exist, but I have been trying to follow that system. 

Today is supposed to be the day the retirement check hits the bank.  We'll verify that in a bit, if so, we have to get to the grocery (after swinging by the nearest of the nearby gas stations) to replenish a very bare pantry and refrigerator.  We had originally been under the impression two weeks ago that Dear Wife's Disability check would be hitting right now, after a delay of nearly two years we'd been informed that it was finally approved.  Now we are informed that determination of the AMOUNT may take another 60 days!  We need it right now.  But we have faith that the Lord will see us through, somehow.  This road gets bumpy some times.

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The Old Testament reading for the day is the book of Obadiah, just one chapter and short at that.

Obadiah 1

1	The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
2	Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.
3	The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
4	Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.
5	If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?
6	How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!
7	All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; that they eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
8	Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
9	And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
10	For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
11	In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
12	But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
13	Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;
14	Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.
15	For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
16	For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.
17	But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
18	And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.
19	And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
20	And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.
21	And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.

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The New Testament reading is chapter 8 of the Revelation

Revelation 8

1	And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
2	And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
3	And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4	And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
5	And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
6	And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
7	The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
8	And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9	And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10	And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11	And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
12	And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13	And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!