General

We got the seeds, and have them in the starter box/greenhouse. Those little peat pellets must have some potent “kickstart” formula in them. Seemed like little sprouts were up in two days. When I plant seeds outside, it’s like it takes forever to get started in the sun. After the seedlings got too tall for the greenhouse cover, we moved them to the top of a bookshelf (to keep them away from our plant-eating cat (Jack). Needless to say, Jack found a way to get to the top of the bookcase and nibble off the tops of a lot of the seedlings.

He does that with other plants we bring in the house – better than a “brown thumb”. Even goes for the flowers that we put in vases in various places. Don’t know what it is with him – maybe he just likes green foods. Will have to get busy today and tomorrow putting together the planter boxes outside so we can transplant the veggies. Still have a ton of other yard work to do, and time is just flying by. Feel like the White Rabbit – “I’m late, I’m late…”

I am surprised that the Amaryllis is still blooming (Jack tried to eat that too), Even got so big that a stalk broke off, and we put it in water – and it just keeps on blooming. Those are some big beautiful flowers. Just have to keep the bulbs ready for next Christmas, and even buy some more.

The plants will survive, and if we stick to the Word, so will we. Even though James is writing to Christians who are being persecuted, he encourages them to stay true to the Word. Those who hold (keep on) the course get the prize at the end of the race (life). This is not a race to run against anyone else but myself. When we take our eyes off the target or finish line, we stray from the race. James in 1:12-19 reminds us that we control our eyes and thoughts. Lingering on what looks or feels good (or we think it will) distracts us from (tempts) and we lead ourselves astray.

Funny how we joke about “men never asking directions”, yet here we are people who will talk to almost anyone about almost anything, getting their opinions, but don’t have time to open the “map”. Take a look for yourself. Even if you are puzzled, read on, because somewhere on or in the “map” there is an explanation. James has some interesting stuff about “light” and “dark” – more about that another time. Just a thought – if “good” and “perfect” are from above (God), where does the other stuff come from?

Got tired of looking at the “european” date form, and finally found the place in the program that was doing that. Now looks more like we write dates in the U.S., but still need some more work – later for that. Also got the picture of one of the babies on the left. They are so cute, and we are not keeping either of them. Mom and Dad (Felix and Oscar) already have three more eggs in the nest, so maybe we’ll keep one from this (?? litter, herd, gaggle) whatever. They are so cute!

Another fix was to get rid of that blank entry that some how showed up on Feb 22nd. That is what happens when a “mad programmer” starts writing programs, and they generate files in the wrong place. Well, the programmer found his error and corrected it.

Although yesterday’s sermon got me looking in Nehemiah, decided to read through James. Have not done that in a long time. Also reading a book about the Reformation, so James kind of fits with that. Remember “Faith vs Works”? BTW, that was not where I started here – it begins at the beginning (Chapter 1, verse 1). Have to understand that James was writing to the “church” under persecution – they were scattered all around the Mediterranean (try spelling that without looking it up).

In some ways, it reminded me of Nehemiah going and finding the dispersed Jews and bringing them back, but here, it is different – he’s not calling them back.

There are some strange thoughts expressed by James (dichotomies) – especially in verse 9 and 10. Think about those words “humble” and “high position” or “glory in humiliation”. Not something that we would normally say or think, yet there they are. If anything, in these first eleven verses, the sticking point was in verses 6 and 7. Interesting that it is the “asking in faith” without doubting that gets the answer or prize. I’ll have to remember this verse when we get to James famous “faith without works…”