Today is day 7 of my hospital stay. Now the docs say I can (maybe) go
home this coming Tuesday. My lungs are improved ...but my BP has been
through the sky. The doctors want to try yet one more pill for
Hypertension to try to get a grip on it. Today I finally got an order
for a shower. My plan is to get one after lunch today.
I have been uninspired to write. However a friend from online and I have been chatting up a storm via email and it is almost as good and cozy as a visit from her. She has made me smile when smiles have been hard to find.
As far as my diet here? do you believe I've been eating bacon? Salmon? Chicken? Honestly there are few vegan options. I decided rather than whining about it, I would instead take a break and revisit some favorites. Then by the time I return home I will be ready to once more eschew meats and pursue health via food. Although I have been eating quite a lot, I do not think I have gained all that much weight. I do not have the "no-neck" look i usually get...and my tummy, while bloated is not cutting off my breath and filling with gas pains like it normally would.
I have pretty much made up my mind to purchase an "Instant Pot" - a 7 function cooker that will eliminate some items in my kitchen like the slow cooker and the pressure cooker...and the steamers. It is not all that cheap but if it can once more make it possible for me to cook meals with very little effort and minimal clean up it should be worth its weight in gold.
I have been trying to keep up with my reading in Scripture. I'm attempting to read the entire Bible in 90 days. It's not a race but it is providing me with the panorama of events that make up God's Word. Right now I'm up to the book of Esther. I've never before really grasped the panorama of the Babylonian Captivity and how the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt. And the idiocy of the people who--with JOY---celebrate a godly king and eagerly worship Yahweh....only to once again, pitch that aside and the blessings that come with it and follow one corrupt king after another. Are we that two-faced? Am I? Do I pursue and then fritter away my faith lured by the "gods" of this corrupt society? What is acceptable worship.?
Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
These two verses --as much as any in Scripture show us what God wants of us and for us. These verses need some meditation. I want to integrate them into my life and heart. I want to see how living by these prescriptions will allow me to walk step by step with my Father and to honor him with my heart, life and mouth. How God wants us to value the things that are important to him and how it is only by doing this that He will bring us Peace and Joy in our worship and in our lives.
Lord keep me from the prostitution of faith that marked the Children of Israel. Help me to value my body and to willingly sacrifice it to you Does that mean to care for it in a way that speaks of worship...to OVER care for it? Or are we to respect it, to treat it with respect and then to offer it to God for his use and benefit.? Take it where he wants to take it. Feed it what he wants to feed it. To trust him with our health and sickness. TO keep it clean and respectable....yet not to worship it by lavishing expensive treatments , perfumes etc. There is a line we must walk ..A line of respect and gratitude for our body yet to hold it loosely and to take it where God wills it to go and to use it how he wants to use it.
And the verse in Micah shows us that we are to honor and respect kindness, honor justice and walk humbly with out God. Humility is of great value to our Lord....and in a society where Hubris is rampant it may feel hard to come by. And a humble lifestyle...What does that mean? Does it mean to go and join the Amish and be rid o f technology? While that may be of some benefit, I don't think it is what God was aiming for. I think to live humbly means to live within your means...Not to covet things the Lord has not seen fit with which to grace you. to hold loosely your possessions and to meet the needs of others when it is possible for you to do so. To live humbly means we do not believe that we are ENTITLED to have the latest, greatest toys. WE live with in our means with the things that God has graced us.
And we are to value justice...I believe that means not to join every manhunt seething with righteous indignation at the wrongs we believe have been perpetrated. I believe it means to work hard to bring to justice those who slaughter, martyr and maim the children of the King. It is to TREASURE these qualities because they are also treasures by our FATHER.
I have been uninspired to write. However a friend from online and I have been chatting up a storm via email and it is almost as good and cozy as a visit from her. She has made me smile when smiles have been hard to find.
As far as my diet here? do you believe I've been eating bacon? Salmon? Chicken? Honestly there are few vegan options. I decided rather than whining about it, I would instead take a break and revisit some favorites. Then by the time I return home I will be ready to once more eschew meats and pursue health via food. Although I have been eating quite a lot, I do not think I have gained all that much weight. I do not have the "no-neck" look i usually get...and my tummy, while bloated is not cutting off my breath and filling with gas pains like it normally would.
I have pretty much made up my mind to purchase an "Instant Pot" - a 7 function cooker that will eliminate some items in my kitchen like the slow cooker and the pressure cooker...and the steamers. It is not all that cheap but if it can once more make it possible for me to cook meals with very little effort and minimal clean up it should be worth its weight in gold.
I have been trying to keep up with my reading in Scripture. I'm attempting to read the entire Bible in 90 days. It's not a race but it is providing me with the panorama of events that make up God's Word. Right now I'm up to the book of Esther. I've never before really grasped the panorama of the Babylonian Captivity and how the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt. And the idiocy of the people who--with JOY---celebrate a godly king and eagerly worship Yahweh....only to once again, pitch that aside and the blessings that come with it and follow one corrupt king after another. Are we that two-faced? Am I? Do I pursue and then fritter away my faith lured by the "gods" of this corrupt society? What is acceptable worship.?
Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
These two verses --as much as any in Scripture show us what God wants of us and for us. These verses need some meditation. I want to integrate them into my life and heart. I want to see how living by these prescriptions will allow me to walk step by step with my Father and to honor him with my heart, life and mouth. How God wants us to value the things that are important to him and how it is only by doing this that He will bring us Peace and Joy in our worship and in our lives.
Lord keep me from the prostitution of faith that marked the Children of Israel. Help me to value my body and to willingly sacrifice it to you Does that mean to care for it in a way that speaks of worship...to OVER care for it? Or are we to respect it, to treat it with respect and then to offer it to God for his use and benefit.? Take it where he wants to take it. Feed it what he wants to feed it. To trust him with our health and sickness. TO keep it clean and respectable....yet not to worship it by lavishing expensive treatments , perfumes etc. There is a line we must walk ..A line of respect and gratitude for our body yet to hold it loosely and to take it where God wills it to go and to use it how he wants to use it.
And the verse in Micah shows us that we are to honor and respect kindness, honor justice and walk humbly with out God. Humility is of great value to our Lord....and in a society where Hubris is rampant it may feel hard to come by. And a humble lifestyle...What does that mean? Does it mean to go and join the Amish and be rid o f technology? While that may be of some benefit, I don't think it is what God was aiming for. I think to live humbly means to live within your means...Not to covet things the Lord has not seen fit with which to grace you. to hold loosely your possessions and to meet the needs of others when it is possible for you to do so. To live humbly means we do not believe that we are ENTITLED to have the latest, greatest toys. WE live with in our means with the things that God has graced us.
And we are to value justice...I believe that means not to join every manhunt seething with righteous indignation at the wrongs we believe have been perpetrated. I believe it means to work hard to bring to justice those who slaughter, martyr and maim the children of the King. It is to TREASURE these qualities because they are also treasures by our FATHER.
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