THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

January 11, 2023

LIFE IN THE FOLD

I recently read a quote that said, "When the elderly die, a library is lost and volumes of wisdom and knowledge are gone."

I cannot tell you the number of times, since both of my parents have passed away, that my sisters and I have had questions that we have no answers to. Things that we either didn't think to ask them while they were living, or things that we have forgotten over the years.

Mama passed away when she was only 48 years old, so there are so many things that we didn't get a chance to sit down and talk to her about. My sisters only got to know her for a few short years as adult women, and I was still a teen when she died. There are so many questions and things we wish we knew about her childhood, about her life as a young married lady, her and my dad's life together; but they were things that as younger women, we didn't think about at the time or thought unimportant. Now, as we are all aging ourselves, we sense the importance and wish we had answers.

Daddy was 78 when he passed away, so we had many more years with him. Yet there are still times when we think of questions we wish we had of asked him..... things we wish we knew about his life growing up.... questions about gardening..... how to do things and advice.... Again, we either have forgotten the answers or didn't think to ask him when we had the opportunity. Now that time is gone and we'll never get it back.

Realizing how important that has been to us as we've gotten older, some of my sisters have written down stories and facts for their kids to have. Honestly, I'm not sure that all of their kids are at the point yet where they understand the gift that they've been given. They are still young adults, raising their own families, and they don't yet realize the importance of knowing about their parents history and hearing their stories and committing them to their heart and mind. Too often, that doesn't come until it's too late and the parent is no longer there to answer questions. Then begins those years of, "I wish I had of asked..... I wish I knew.... I wish I remembered what they had told me about.... I wish I had of written down...."

God understood the importance of passing down family history! He understood that people needed to be able to remember and read about past generations. They needed to read how He had worked in all types of situations to bring about miracles; as well as to bring punishment and judgement for sin. People forget and need to be reminded of what happened and what was said, as well as consequences of righteous living or sinful choices. So God ordained His Word!

He anointed men to record history about specific men and women, for all generations to read and learn from. He chose which stories to include in His Word. If everything had been written down that happened, or all writings of the prophets, or everything that Jesus did while on the earth, the world would not be able to contain all the books that it would fill. But God chose the people, the stories, the prophets, the psalms, the stories of Jesus, the teachings and letters of apostles, that He thought best. He didn't only choose the holiest of people, but included those who sinned and did evil. He included the good, the bad, the ugly, the miraculous, the praise, the evil and wickedness, the redemption, love stories, murder, a talking donkey, and everything in between!

God's Word has stories of every kind included in it! But there is something that we can learn from each one. The wild thing about the Bible is that it is alive! It is God-breathed! No matter how many times you read it, each time you will notice something new and fresh that you never noticed before. God reveals Himself over and over again in so many different ways, every single time you read His Word!

This past summer a group from our church read through the New Testament. There was something special about reading it through, within the space of a few months, without going back and forth between different books or between the Old and New Testaments. It helped us get the full picture of what each writer was saying and grasp the context much better. It was new and fresh and I learned so much; even though I became a christian over 50 years ago. I've read the Bible ever since I learned how to read and have been in church and heard it preached for all of my life. But each time I read from it, I see something new or understand something better or get a fresh perspective.

I have since began reading through the Old Testament and so far have read Psalms and just now finished Isaiah. Honestly, always before I thought, "Isaiah is so long and boring!" But reading it through this time has given me a new appreciation for the book and I have found so many treasures and nuggets of truth. I have enjoyed it thoroughly and have found scriptures that I've heard before, but had forgotten that they were written by Isaiah. The scriptures have come alive in my heart. That's not to say that I've understood everything that was written by Isaiah, but this time I've understood more than ever before and have such an appreciation for what God showed him and the words and visions given to him.

I encourage you to read the Word of God! If you don't understand the version that you are reading, don't be so stuck that it is the "only" translation that is right, that you refuse to change. Really, none of us have the original Greek or Hebrew translation that was written by the men of God. Find a good translation that you do understand and can benefit from. It's better to do that so that you can read and understand and enjoy reading the Bible, instead of struggling to comprehend and not reading it faithfully.

I grew up with the King James version. To this day, that is the version that I can best memorize scripture from. But there are so many things that I don't understand when reading that version and have a hard time comprehending. For my daily reading, I used the New Living Translation. Jon uses a different version, which better suits him. That's okay! The important thing is to read God's Word and learn from it and find out what God is saying to you!!

I also encourage you to read through one book of the Bible at a time; even if you're slow at it. It keeps things in perspective, that you don't really get when you jump from one passage of scripture to another. Ask God to speak to you through His Word, as you read, and to teach you and give you greater understanding.

Let's make this a year of deepening our relationship with God and allowing Him to speak to us through His Word and teach us, so we can grow spiritually and get to know our Father more and more each day.

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

If it has been a while since you've read in the Bible, or if you're just getting started, I suggest starting somewhere easier to read, like Luke or Mark. John, Matthew, and Genesis are also easier to follow than many of the other books.

Proverbs is a great book, but almost every verse is something valuable. Reading an entire chapter is a little overwhelming. I suggest reading a few verses at a time after reading a chapter or one story from Luke.

Psalms is also great, but I recommend reading about David first. He wrote most of the Psalms, so it helps to understand his life before reading his songs. For part of his life, he was a simple (and I suppose happy) shepherd. Then he served King Saul, and commonly ran from him for his life. Then he fought against King Saul. Then became king. As king, he had to fight many wars, rebuild the nation, run away from his son who wanted to kill him, etc. So many of the psalms are split between running for his life and praising God that his life hadn't been taken, yet. King David's story is told in I Samuel 16 through I Kings 2, I Chronicles 10 through 29. You can use Google or a Bible app to search for him.

If you want some more 'meat' in your reading, most of the rest of the Bible will do. If it gets too confusing, try another translation (The Passion translation is good and easier to follow), or try another book. Honestly, a lot of the Old Testament books get confusing unless you read about the same prophets or kings in other books to get a better picture of what was going on. So skipping around can be helpful. Or you can look up some references on the internet.

The important things are to keep reading, and make a good effort to understand what God is saying.

ON THE MENEWE:

Sausage and Peppers

Slice the kielbasa about 1/2 inch thick. Quarter the potatoes, if they are the small ones; otherwise cut into bite sized pieces.

Heat up about 1 Tablespoon of oil in a large skillet (wok also works well).

Add minced garlic (pick an amount to your liking) and kielbasa; sear the kielbasa.

Add other ingredients. Spice, to taste. Cover to cook potatoes, until tender; stirring occasionally so they won't stick and will cook more evenly.

Leftovers go great with eggs in a breakfast taco.

**Note: What I like about this recipe is that you can change it up to your liking! There is really no right or wrong way to make it. I had some little smokies that I needed to use up, so cut them in half; but you do need to stir more often because they are smaller so tend to brown more. I've used Cajun style andouille sausage. I've also replaced the sausage with shrimp, or added it in with the sausage.

I've also not had red potatoes and peeled and diced up russet potatoes. I prefer to dice my onion, instead of sliced.

I also can't eat bell peppers (they generally don't agree with my stomach!), so leave them out.

Spices I've used is salt, pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, ancho chili powder, dried parsley.... whatever I see in my cabinet that sounds good at the time.

This is a quick easy recipe that can be adjusted to what ingredients you have.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

I recently ran across a memory that I had written down from January 2017, that I had forgotten about.

I was babysitting two of my niece's children. Jax would have been 7 and Jovie would have been 3, at that time. I was doing some homeschool work with Jax, then he was teaching Jovie and they did a couple of pages in her book. He would point at things and ask her what color it was. He pointed at a color and she guessed purple. Jax said, "Good guess -- that's close! Can you say, 'Magenta'?" At 3 years of age, she did well to get the basic colors right, without being so specific!

It reminded me of my Granny Horton. She was a quilter and always had very specific colors for her fabrics. Nothing was ever red, blue green...... It was turquoise, magenta, teal.....

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

Faith doesn't always take you out of the problem; faith takes you through the problem.

Faith doesn't always take away the pain; faith gives you the ability to handle the pain.

Faith doesn't always take you out of the storm; faith calms you in the midst of the storm. - unknown

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org