Walking with Charlie Sue

 

Charlie Sue is very active in the backyard. She tore open bags of wood mulch, which helped me cover the roses more. She loves to dig and to chew. When I go outside, she poses as the attack dog and jumps in the air for a chew on my forearms. 

My vegetable specialist suggested daily walks, which are easier than the high heat and humidity we had for the summer. Yesterday we walked to Bible John's house, so John invited us to sit a spell and visit with his wife Pat.

We discussed Super Large Print KJVs for people like us and smaller ones for women's prison groups and for kids. The smaller ones are about $4. Super Giant Print Bibles are around $15. 

AT&T was trying to boost the couple's phone costs even higher so I called Ozarks (a co-op) and worked on the problem. Pretty soon Ozarks had the high speed connection into the house. AT&T kept trying to bully their way back into the picture. I have experienced their charm more than once. I tell them, "Around here, AT&T is a warning label!" 

Charlie loves to kiss, so she had a lot of love for John and Pat.  We still talk about Sassy Sue, who discovered that food would be served and always looked for bones to enjoy.

We had a perfect day for an afternoon walk. We went to the end of the cul-de-sac, came back and walked over to Joye to see John and Pat. The air was cool and we were glad that NWA was far too dry and humid but better than the Southeast.

Porchi enjoys his finger-combed coat. If we work on both sides and his head, talking about how much Charlie loves him, he gently grabs me by the neck to be close. Little Dustmop, a tiny handful, uses Porchi so he can jump up and nibble on my fingers.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Trinity 18 - "He delivers us from the law, for when the law says, Love God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself, or thou wilt be damned, then I say, I cannot do it. Then Christ says: Come to me, take me and cling to me by faith; then you shall be rid of the law."

 

Luther's Sermons - Matthew 22:34-46.
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

30. But the law is known, when I learn from it that I am condemned, and see that there is neither hope nor comfort anywhere for me, and I cannot even help myself, but must have another one to deliver me. Then it is time that I look around for him who can help, and he is Christ Jesus, who for this purpose became man, and became like unto us, in order that he might help us out of the mire into which we are fallen. He loved God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself, and submitted his will to the will of his Father, fulfilled the law in every respect; this I could not do and yet I was required to do it. Therefore, he accepts him; and that which he fulfilled in the law, he offers me. He freely gives me his life with all his works, so that I can appropriate them to myself as a possession that is my own and is bestowed upon me as a free gift. He delivers us from the law, for when the law says, Love God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself, or thou wilt be damned, then I say, I cannot do it. Then Christ says: Come to me, take me and cling to me by faith; then you shall be rid of the law.

31. Now this is accomplished in the following manner: Christ has through his death secured for us the Holy Spirit; and he fulfills the law in us, and not we. For that Spirit, whom God sends into your heart for the sake of his Son, makes an entirely new man out of you, who does with joy and love from the heart everything the law requires, which before would have been impossible for you to do. This new man despises the present life, and desires to die, rejoices in all adversity, and submits himself wholly and entirely to the will of God. Whatever God does with him, is well pleasing to him. This Spirit you cannot merit yourself, but Christ has secured and merited it. When I believe from the heart that Christ did this for me, I receive also the same Holy Spirit that makes me an entirely new man. Then everything God commands is sweet, lovely and agreeable, and I do everything he desires of me; not in my own strength, but by the strength of him that is in me, as Paul says in Philippians, 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.”

32. But you must take heed, that you do not undertake to secure this faith in Jesus Christ by your own works or power, or that you think lightly about this matter; for it is impossible for the natural man; but the Holy Spirit must do it. Therefore beware of the preachers of self-righteousness, who simply blabber and say: We must do good works in order to be saved. But we say that faith alone is sufficient to this end. Our good works are for another purpose, namely, to prove our faith, as you have already frequently heard from me.

33. Now this is the purpose of the question the Lord put to the Pharisees:

What think ye of Christ; who is he and whose Son is he? But their answer, in that they say, He is the son of David, the Lord rejects and obscures their answer and refers to a passage from the Psalm, in order to leave them in doubt; so that no one is able to answer him a word.

34. However, when David calls Christ his Lord, in that he says in Psalm 110:1, “But the lord said unto my Lord, ‘Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool,’” it is to be understood that David speaks of him both as God and man, for according to the flesh alone he was the son of David. Paul also joins these two when he says in Romans 1:1-4: “I am called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, which he promised afore through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh; who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” But it is something to know that Christ is Lord; for this has might and power and is especially comforting in the time of affliction. But concerning this I have said more elsewhere and will therefore now close, and pray God for grace.