ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
My front yard was covered with leaves before, but now they are gone. The side of the house has some, because I invited the neighbor's son-in-law to dump theirs there. I should have written, "They're always putting theirs there."
The soil devours leaves faster than anything else in Creation. We have put many sacks of wood mulch around roses in the front yard. None were left from last year. Ranger Bob delivered a load in his truck this year.
Earthworms and soil creatures love organic matter of all kinds. A heavy chunk of tree trunk will be softened by mold and eaten by earthworms and arthropods (joint footed). The activity of tiny animals draws birds and toads to the area, and they leave their deposits in the highly active bank called soil.
The Logos, the Son of God, executed the commands of God the Father during the Six Days of Creation (Genesis 1; John 1:3). Each living thing in the garden is engineered to do its job, which means making the top foot of soil a warehouse of moisture and creatures - living and dying to keep that top layer alive.
They say (and they are always half-right) that wood absorbs nitrogen, which hampers the soil's fertility. Yes, it binds nitrogen for its own use and gives it up again as rot takes place. The log that would have crushed feet - when dropped before - becomes a crumbling block, as light as balsa wood.
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| Enchanted Peace Rose |
Sunday was a perfect, sun-shining day, though the birds seemed a bit nervous. They not only have radar (in a manner of speaking) but also a great sensitivity to barometer readings.
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| The Clethra, known for its tiny bottle brush blooms, exudes a sweet and cinnamon fragrance, often by surprise. |
By afternoon, with no winds in sight, we could see that the brooding clouds were warning us. Sunday landscapers pruned trees and bushes. Sassy supervised while I began pouring wood mulch around the new and old rose bushes, with additional attention paid to the mature Clethra bushes - known as Summer-sweet and Sweet Spice. I call it the Cinnabon tree because the breeze will carry an enchanting aroma to visitors and workers alike, but not so early in the season.
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| Queen Elizabeth, developed by a Lutheran Creationist, is still on the throne as one of the best roses in the world. His other famous rose, Chrysler, has outlasted the car and corporation. |
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Bees love the way Bee Balm provides so much food while they are blooming. Hummers love them too. Tiny flowers have little glory for most people, but they make up for bloom size with their constant parade of airborne visits. |
The Military Gardening Group split after lunch to get things done before the predicted week of rain. The radar predicted a massive system moving west to east, starting in the wee hours of Monday.
I mulched the new roses, the mature Clethras, and the mature roses not appearing to have gone wild. (Scholars are divided until the wild bushes bloom dark red.) I filled several holes where the messy Spirea bushes were removed. Last of all, the Rugosa rose, known for its hardiness and big hips, got a new wooden floor. Rugosa roses are tough and tolerate drought, but they love attention for their fruit - the large, bright red pods known as hips. In theory, that is the only rose I let go to seed. Birds and squirrels enjoy the fruit (hips) and people make tea and Vitamin C tablets from them.
I am just a subordinate in gardening. The Thunderstorms of the Creator seem to say, "Step aside. I will water and fertilize the plants with water and usable nitrogen. I will wake up the sleeping plants and soften the soil for earthworms. All the soil creatures will multiply and hold that rain in their bodies as new generations form."
Isaiah 55: 6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
a - it shall not return unto me void,
b - but it shall accomplish that which I please,
c - and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
We are done with Vimeo. It shut down sound during the sermon. A reboot did not restore sound.
I hope to have the new system working soon.
Be not Thou far from me, O Lord: O my Strength, haste Thee to help me.
Save me from the lion’s mouth: and deliver me from the horns of the unicorns.
Psalm. My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why art Thou so far from helping Me?
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast sent Thy Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon Him our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross that all mankind should follow the example of His great humility, mercifully grant that we may both follow the example of His patience and also be made partakers of His resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.
Background
KJV Zechariah 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
The crowds saw a great religious leader with power over life and death. The Roman leaders feared the opposition of a king. The Jewish leaders, as recorded by John, feared they would lose everything - which is fact happened 40 years later. They plotted against Jesus and Lazarus, the well known man raised from the dead and proof of the divinity of Jesus.
KJV John 12: 13 - “Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
KJV Proverbs 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
I started the day with the new camera and its supposed mike, only the mike was not. After fussing around about the partial package, I began searching for an alternative. Yes, I can return the other one to that store.
A look around the Net showed me one that would work with our set up, and it could arrive on Sunday. No, not fast enough for Palm Sunday, but a good start on Holy Week.
I have gone from Kindergarten to high tech in a short period of time. Vimeo was a challenge for me at first.
RESI? I did not know what HDMI cameras were. Since the camera must send video/audio on an integrated signal, I also had to convert the HDMI signal on its way to the hardware encoder (also new to me). From there it trips along at fiber optic speed and gets distributed on the blog page. That will be permanent front page viewing with provisions for storing previous videos.
We are on Vimeo for Palm Sunday. I am asking two of our leaders to monitor the sound for me and notify me on the cell phone if there is a major problem.
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| Banksy - Heaven's Gate. Bunyan's interpretation was a bit different. |
I remember a night at Walmart where the assistant manager said in the backroom, "That does it. No more deliveries." A few seconds later we heard the backup beeps and saw a semi slowly backing toward the door for deliveries.
Panicked, the assistant manager said, "No! We do not have another one on the schedule!" He did some immediate checking, whether the truck was lost, or the driver confused. No, the palettes had to be pulled off the truck by forklift and broken down on the carts which were used to place the canned and boxed food near the aisles for the night crew.
I expressed no desire to drive a forklift. "Do you want to learn how to fix the machine that binds the cardboard?" I said, "No."
"Why not?"
I said, "If I learned how, I would be called upon to fix it every time it jammed." The stocker who asked me about the machine was promoted to the night shift, which made him very happy.
Now Sassy is demanding her morning time, which includes a drive to the gym after a walk to Pat and John's house. Today will be a summer break before the next storm moves through.
I looked up Joel Fuhrman on Wikipedia, partly because Wiki causes some joking among us. I learned quickly in blogging that finding a good explanatory source for a given topic was going to have me combing through boring, academic journal articles or locked up precious articles. Wiki is fairly general and often has important footnote links to extra information. My defense in using Wiki is: "I start at Wiki and work toward the truth."
I finally looked him up, and the Wiki piece looks like it was funded by Brach's Candy, KFC, and the animal and factory oils aisle at Walmart. It is a seething, angry, here's-another-caustic attack article.
Admission #1 - All my life I knew nothing about nutrition, other than vitamins, proteins, etc.
Admission #2 - I ate what I wanted and never suffered from it, until my pancreas went beyond its 70 year warrantee.
In my own library, I opened a brand new copy of Eat To Live, by Furhman after I found my blood sugar (A1C) had reached higher than the previous year. I also knew - from decades of experience with a diabetic - that insulin is not an answer.
I thought the basic Fuhrman suggestions were quite good and sensible, not fanatical. To test them, I looked up those charts on the "nutritional benefits of..." for all those vegetables and fruits he praised and promoted. They come from various sources on the Internet, and they back up the wonder of vegetables and fruits, not to mention nuts and seeds.
The collection of healthy foods is so great that I can avoid what I do not like and enjoy much more of what I have always liked - asparagus, peas, beans, spinach, tomato (paste), onions, green peppers, oranges, prunes, and apples.
I followed the Furhman suggestions (the initial six week plan) and eliminated ice cream, all desserts, overuse of bread, and soda pop. I lost about 30 pounds and saw my blood pressure drop to normal, no longer using bp medicine. I replaced high fat, high sugar, high salt, high grease foods with greens, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. The fact is - the foods I favored left little room for nutritious food. Four fruits a day when I could have PBJs? One excludes the other.
I backslid a bit but still weigh every morning to avoid the "I can lose it again" excuse.
The healthiest plants for us defeat the major causes of illness, especially among the older ones among us, but also among the very young. I get sick when I see morbidly obese young children, because they will start paying the price very early. Arkansas is famous for sweet tea, gravy biscuits, and morbid obesity.
So here is a little test, reflecting my previous ignorance:
1. Why is spinach good to eat?
2. Why would anyone eat chickpeas?
The younger and ignorant blogger would say, "Spinach is fiber, and fiber is good for digestion, but why would anyone eat chickpeas?"
Spinach super-star status -
Chickpeas? You Must Be Kidding!
"Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, have been grown and eaten in Middle Eastern countries for thousands of years. Their nutty taste and grainy texture pair well with many other foods and ingredients. As a rich source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, chickpeas may offer a variety of health benefits, such as aiding weight management, improving digestion, and reducing your risk of disease. Additionally, this legume is high in protein and makes an excellent replacement for meat in many vegetarian and vegan dishes."
Nonetheless, another review found that those who ate at least 1 daily serving of legumes, such as chickpeas, lost 25% more weight than those who didn’t eat legumes."
Etc. etc.
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| This happy graduate of the Nutrition Academy will lead a healthier life, as long as the treats keep coming. |
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