more proverbs

"By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for"
-16:6a

whose steadfast love? Christ's!
whose faithfulness? Christ's!!


:o)

in proverbs

"One who is wise is cautious/fears the Lord and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless"

Lord help me to be wise. Help me not to be reckless and careless in my choices and actions. Lord, I need you to help me to turn from sin and temptations to sin. Help me to turn to you, Lord. May my life honor you.

"Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly"

Lord, help me to display the fruit of the spirit. Help me to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and able exercise self-control. Help me to be patient with others - help me to esteem others more highly than myself.

Harold Camping

I was just thinking that there are a lot of people who sold all their possessions, emptied their savings and quit their jobs thinking that the rapture was imminent. Although this entire Judgment Day ordeal has been a source of:

1. FRUSTRATION for anyone with a bible that has matthew 24:36
2. Jokes for the CDC amongst MANY others
3. Annoyance for people who just didn't want to hear it
4. and a whole bunch of other things

we must not forget that real lives has been destroyed as a result of this.

This is a ministry opportunity.

Lord, please give the body hearts and minds to serve the misled by meeting their physical needs and by showing them their need for spiritual truth. Lord, open the eyes of the blinded. Lord, please give believers forgiving hearts and please remove any bitterness that may have grown because of disagreement over scripture.


edit:
Just saw this video - VERY encouraging:

Why is Gas so expensive?

just in case you haven't given this much consideration. When we had $4 gas in 2008, barrels were $147. We have $4 gas in 2011 and barrels are in the high $90s low $100. What has changed?

Is all of this due to political unrest? I doubt it.

People speak about gas prices as though they are linearly correlated to the barrel price of crude oil, but this is either not the case, or someone in the value chain is charging a premium and extracting more than their fair share.

all signs (esp this grilling of oil company execs on capital hill) point to the exxons and BPs of the world.

How did she afford it?

A friend of mine who works in a hospital recently had to tend to a lady who checked herself in using a "medicaid/healthplus/healthfirst/neighborhood card". The kicker is that the lady had Louis Vuitton and Prada purses, a bulova watch and jimmy choo shoes. Combined, those things could run upwards of $3,000.

The question that we all ask when we see such things is HOW CAN THEY AFFORD IT? Here's my list of potential explanations:


1. Sugar Daddies
2. All-cash jobs + tax fraud
3. Illegal all-cash jobs (which automatically includes tax fraud)

4. Lots of kids - the more kids you have, the more eligible you become for government assistance (some ppl may have something really negative to say about this, but society is better off if we provide some measure of support to even the most irresponsible of baby makers)

5. Theft (people steal from retail ALL the time - there's a reason why there is so much money to be made in the security, security device & shrinkage prevention business)

6. Employed as a gopher for a major fashion magazine/photographer. All the money in the fashion industry goes to designers/creatives and people on top - everyone on the bottom gets paid peanuts and those on the very bottom don't always get insurance with their peanuts...but a lot of ppl on the bottom get occasional swag.

7. Dressing to attract sugar daddies (women are more likely to pick up sugar daddies if they dress the part...it's kinda like working as a level 1 employee, but realizing that you wont get to level 2 without dressing like a level 2 dresses). The only reason that i know this is b/c a lot of my friends from undergrad went into ibanking and they often get invited to parties where there is no shortage of very elegant looking women who have NO discernible source of income - this is the case for ibankers, professional athletes, drug dealers and other kinds of very wealthy ppl

8. this is getting kinda long.

Reading

been reading this book for quite some time. The men at my church are reading it in men's groups and the ladies, fresh from finishing Piper's "When I don't desire God" are about to start it. This book is awesome. Tim Chester does an awesome job providing insight into the human condition through a biblical lens. Here's some puritan quoting from one of his end of the chapter "reflections" that i found particularly helpful.

1. The pleasure of sin
temptation: Look at my smiling face, and listen to my charming voice. Here is pleasure to be enjoyed. Who can stay away from such delights?
The believer: The pleasures of sin are real, but so are the pangs of conscience...The pleasures of sin are real, but pleasing God is much sweeter.

2. The secrecy of sin
temptation: This sin will never disgrace you in public because no one will ever find out.
The believer: Can you find somewhere without the presence of God for me to sin?

4. The smallness of sin
temptation: It's only a little thing, a small matter, a trifle. Who else would worry about such a trivial thing?
The believer: Is the majesty of heaven a small matter too? If i commit this sin, I would offend and wrong a great God. Is there any little hell [for] little sinners? Great wrath awaits those the world thinks are little sinners...why should i be unfaithful toward God for such a trifle?

5. The grace of God
temptation: God will pass over this as a weakness. He wont make a big deal of it.
The believer: Where do i find a promise of mercy to presumptuous sinners? How can i abuse such a good God? Shall i take God's glorious mercy and make it a reason to sin? Shall i wrong him because [he is] good?

6. The example of others
temptation: Better people than you have sinned in this way. And plenty of people have been restored after committing this sin.
The believer: God didn't record the examples of good people sinning for me to copy, but to warn me. Am i willing to felt for sin?

still in the psalms

Because the Lord is my portion, i needn't settle for lesser things. Namely, sin. I need not sin, because I have a faithful God, sufficient grace and new mercies every morning.