Today's Readings and Stuff -- Saturday, 23 November 2013

this is brief.
We will be in a deep freeze here for the next week:  lows in the teens and highs in the mid-30's,, if  that.  Dear Wife was still sick yesterday, cousin brought over some supplies for her breathing machine that were some help with the asthma attack she was having, and that has been some help.  Not a huge help, but some.  Dear Elder daughter has been sick all week herself:  ended up in the ER Thursday night, has an inflammation in the intercostal muscles that has not helped the semi-chronic pleurisy or the flu she's been having.  Her husband works out of town, but made it in last night to help take care of her.  So it's been a challenge around here.

Old Testament reading - chapters 29, 30, 31 in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 29

1	In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2	Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
3	Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
4	But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.
5	And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.
6	And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7	When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
8	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.
9	And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
10	Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.
11	No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
12	And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
13	Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:
14	And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
15	It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
16	And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
17	And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18	Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:
19	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.
20	I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.
21	In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 30

1	The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2	Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day!
3	For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.
4	And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.
5	Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.
6	Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.
7	And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted.
8	And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.
9	In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh.
10	Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.
11	He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.
12	And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it.
13	Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.
14	And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No.
15	And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.
16	And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily.
17	The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity.
18	At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.
19	Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
20	And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21	Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
22	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.
23	And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
24	And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.
25	But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.
26	And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 31

1	And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2	Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
3	Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
4	The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.
5	Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.
6	All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
7	Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.
8	The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.
9	I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
10	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
11	I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
12	And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
13	Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:
14	To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.
15	Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
16	I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
17	They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
18	To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

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New Testament reading  --- James chapter 5

James 5

1	Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2	Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3	Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4	Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5	Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6	Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
7	Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8	Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
9	Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
10	Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
11	Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
12	But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
13	Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14	Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15	And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16	Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17	Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18	And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19	Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20	Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Today's Readings and Stuff -- Friday, 22 November 2013

Dear Wife is still sick.  Basically been in bed for most of the last week.  She was able to get up and out of the house Tuesday as we hit the grocery stores when my retirement check hit the bank - we were not quite out of food but pretty close to it.  So we have stuff we can make.  Dear Wife's birthday is this coming week, and Beloved Younger Daughter sent a birthday present that arrived early, marvelous collection of teas from Teavana and some associated strainer and related stuff.  Has come in very handy during this illness.  Perhaps today will be better for her.  Hoping she avoids the annual episode of pneumonia.  Normally, I would by now have taken her to a local "urgent care clinic", a.k.a. known as "Doc in a box" place, but lacking any money or insurance coverage, it's not an available option. Thanks for nothing, Obamacare.  I see that my former co-workers are learning they are being dumped on the "exchanges" as their up-to-now coverage is no longer deemed acceptable by the fascisti in D.C., and are not at all happy about it.  Looks like I left about in time.

The morning Old Testament reading is chapters 27 and 28 in Ezekiel.  Don't think you'd find one of our latter-day "TV preachers" coming out with messages like this, no matter how needed.

Ezekiel 27

1	The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2	Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;
3	And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
4	Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
5	They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
6	Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim.
7	Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.
8	The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
9	The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.
10	They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.
11	The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.
12	Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.
13	Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.
14	They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.
15	The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.
16	Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.
17	Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.
18	Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.
19	Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.
20	Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots.
21	Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.
22	The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.
23	Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
24	These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
25	The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
26	Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.
27	Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.
28	The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.
29	And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land;
30	And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:
31	And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
32	And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?
33	When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
34	In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall.
35	All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance.
36	The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.

Ezekiel 28

1	The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2	Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
3	Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
4	With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
5	By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
6	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
7	Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
8	They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
9	Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
10	Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
11	Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
12	Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13	Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14	Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15	Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16	By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17	Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18	Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19	All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
20	Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21	Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,
22	And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
23	For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
24	And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
25	Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
26	And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.

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The New Testament passage is James chapter 4.  This is a section with particular meaning for me.  Right after the Lord got a hold of me, I had an hour-long commute every day, and had begun listening to a radio program called "Radio Bible Class":.  They spent WEEKS on this passage, and it's worth it.  So it means a lot to me.

James 4

1	From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2	Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3	Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4	Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5	Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6	But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7	Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8	Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9	Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10	Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
11	Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12	There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
13	Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14	Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15	For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16	But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
17	Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin

Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 21 November, 2013

Dear Wife is still very ill.  Still no word from the appropriate office(s) about her application for Social Seccurity Disability status.  This has been going on for more than a year in two states.  She's legally blind (cataracts and glaucoma and bodies in the retina as a result of Plaquenil prescribed for the lupus), advanced lupus and related autoimmune disease, and a host of other things.  We could REALLY use the money.  She's also made application for Medicaid coverage, not only based upon the above, but we are also now well within the income guidelines.  And she's running low on the meds that keep her alive and the wallet's pretty thin.  Obamacare has worsened all of this, I recently got confirmation that the coverage we had when I was working will no longer be available, being cancelled as a result of Obamacare in that state.  Thanks a bunch, liberals.  For nothing.
A bit warmer than it was yesterday, but a cold rain still.  I'd hoped to do some outside work on the place today, but it's too cold for these old bones.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit better.  I hope so.  Sunday's HIGH temp is supposed to be in the 20's.

Today's Old Testament reading - Ezekiel 24-25-26

Ezekiel 24

1	Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2	Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.
3	And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it:
4	Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.
5	Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.
6	Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
7	For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
8	That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.
9	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.
10	Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
11	Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.
12	She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
13	In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.
14	I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.
15	Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
16	Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.
17	Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
18	So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
19	And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?
20	Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21	Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.
22	And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
23	And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
24	Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
25	Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,
26	That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears?
27	In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 25

1	The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2	Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them;
3	And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;
4	Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.
5	And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
6	For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;
7	Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
8	Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen;
9	Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim,
10	Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations.
11	And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
12	Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;
13	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.
14	And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.
15	Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred;
16	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.
17	And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.

Ezekiel 26

1	And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2	Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:
3	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
4	And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
5	It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.
6	And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7	For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.
8	He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.
9	And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
10	By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.
11	With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.
12	And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.
13	And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
14	And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
15	Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
16	Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.
17	And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!
18	Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.
19	For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;
20	When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
21	I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.

The New Testament reading is James chapter 3

James 3

1	My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
2	For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
3	Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
4	Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
5	Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
6	And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
7	For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
8	But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9	Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
10	Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
11	Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
12	Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
13	Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
14	But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15	This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16	For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17	But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18	And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Today's Readings and Stuff -- Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Long day.  We ran all over creation yesterday replenishing the bare cupboard and refrigerator.  The result was that Dear Wife is sick as a dog all day long.  Flu, lupus flare, asthma attack, high fever, chills, body aches, sinus trouble, the whole thing.
I spent some time on phone conference with an executive recruiter, they have something at an operation near Pittsburgh, might be a good fit and pays a LOT, about twice what I was making before this retirement stuff, but it's also more than an hour's commute each way.  I just don't think I can do that, might actually be better off taking a part-time position -- if one can be found -- close to home.  Save wear and tear on me and on our only vehicle (with 200,000 miles showing on the odometer) and keeps me close if Dear Wife is having problems.  So we're still looking around though there is a real and significant need for income.

The Old Testament reading on today's calendar is chapters 22 and 23 of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 22

1	Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2	Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.
3	Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
4	Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
5	Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.
6	Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood.
7	In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
8	Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.
9	In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.
10	In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.
11	And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.
12	In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.
13	Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.
14	Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
15	And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
16	And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
17	And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18	Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.
19	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
20	As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.
21	Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst therof.
22	As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.
23	And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
24	Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
25	There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.
26	Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27	Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
28	And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.
29	The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
30	And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
31	Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 23

1	The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2	Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
3	And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.
4	And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.
5	And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,
6	Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
7	Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.
8	Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.
9	Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
10	These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.
11	And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.
12	She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.
13	Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,
14	And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,
15	Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:
16	And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.
17	And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.
18	So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.
19	Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
20	For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21	Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.
22	Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;
23	The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.
24	And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.
25	And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.
26	They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.
27	Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.
28	For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated:
29	And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
30	I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.
31	Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.
32	Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.
33	Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
34	Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
35	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
36	The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;
37	That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.
38	Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.
39	For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house.
40	And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments,
41	And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.
42	And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
43	Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?
44	Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women.
45	And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
46	For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled.
47	And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.
48	Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.
49	And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

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The New Testament reading is chapter 2 of James.

James 2

1	My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2	For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
3	And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
4	Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
5	Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
6	But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
7	Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
8	If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
9	But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
10	For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
11	For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
12	So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
13	For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
14	What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15	If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16	And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17	Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18	Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19	Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20	But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21	Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22	Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23	And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24	Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25	Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26	For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.