Depiction Of Garden of Eden

A friend sent me this video of a deer (wild animal) and a cat (domesticated animal) to show what the Garden of Eden might have been like as they lay down together.

The Blue Meanies

This was inspired by a post by Sherri, in which she talks about depression in her life.

I wanted to post this, but it was making me......depressed.

I was a normal child. I went to school every day. I did well in school. I even showed amazing talent in the arts - I could draw and paint by the time I got into Junior High, and by 8 years old I was already composing music. I had passion for life, and loved our life in our small town - 4H, and summer trips, and winter skiing, and playing down by the river in the summer.

My parents moved us out of our town that we loved into the city when I was 13. I was sad but not yet truly depressed. I had passion for my studies and for all the things offered in school - art and journalism classes.

Then, at the end of my senior year in High School, I was visited by manic-depression. All of the sudden I went off on a trip like an LSD trip, only without taking any drugs.

I turned my life over to Jesus. I began to read the Word Of God.

This began to build my life over. I studied God's word and memorized many passages. I still had trouble with manic-depression, but through the help of a faith healer, I was not put on any medication and I went on free of episodes for many years.

Then I drifted away from God and from His word. Depression set in and I turned to medication for help instead of God. Medication became my nemesis. I was now dependent on it, and when it caused ugly side effects, I couldn't get off of it. Going off it caused episodes of manic-depression.

Seeing how I was trapped in a cycle of dependency on medication, which was causing unbearable physical side effects, I turned once again to God for help.

I began again to study His word, and apply myself to read and meditate on it.

Now, after years of doing this, I notice great changes in my mental and emotional state.

I am so high most of the time that to try to go on anti-depressants causes me to become manic, because I am already so high.

The word of God elevates me and gives me strength. It gives me peace.

The doctors keep lowering my medication and I foresee going off it.

I have fallen in love with God's word lately, spending more time in it, absorbing and meditating on it, and speaking out loud the verses that have the most meaning for me.

This is my strength and my healing.

I still get down because of things that are truly depressing in the world, but find the strength to come out of it because of God and His word.

One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 15:16

Your words were found and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by Your name oh Lord God of hosts.

Here's your 'Awwwwwwwwww' for the day!

AND ONE MORE.............................The next picture will warm your heart

The Doberman is pregnant. The fireman had just saved her from a fire in her house,
rescuing her by carrying her out of the house into her front yard, then he continued to fight the fire.

When he finally got done putting the fire out,
he sat down to catch his breath and rest.

A photographer from the Charlotte , North Carolina
News- paper, noticed the dog in the distance looking at the fireman.

He saw the Doberman walking straight toward the firefighter
and wondered what she was going to do.

As he raised his camera, she came up to the tired man who had just saved her life
and the lives of her babies and kissed him just as the photographer snapped this photograph.

Have a great day!

Grandma's Apron

Do you remember making an apron in Home Ec?


I don't
think our kids know what an apron
is.
The
principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect
the dress underneath,because she only had a
few,it was easier to wash aprons than dresses
and they used less material, but along with
that, it served as a potholder
for
removing
hot pans from the oven.

It was
wonderful for drying children's tears, and on
occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty
ears.

From the
chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying
eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched
eggs to be finished in the warming
oven.

When
company came, those aprons were ideal hiding
places for shy kids.

And when
the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around
her arms.

Those big
old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent
over the hot wood stove.

Chips and
kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in
that apron.

From the
garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out
the hulls.

In the
fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that
had fallen from the trees.

When
unexpected company drove up the road, it was
surprising how much furniture that old apron
could dust in a matter of
seconds.

When
dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the
porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was
time to come in from the fields to
dinner.

It will be
a long time before someone invents something
that will replace that ' old-time apron' that
served so many purposes.

Send this
to those who would know (and love) the story
about Grandma's aprons.

REMEMBER:

Grandma
used to set her hot baked apple pies on the
window sill to cool.

Her
granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to
thaw.

They would
go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs
was on that apron.

P.S. I know
I never caught anything from grandma's
apron.

A Visit To The Badlands

First, a stop at my hometown, where I grew up in Minnesota.........
Here is the court house near our old house. We loved to visit here as kids. It housed real criminals. We would go and visit the lady who fed the criminals, and the jail.

Here was our favorite part - the theater only a block from our house. We could walk to see shows, and needed no supervision. We saw "To Sir With Love" and "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter," among others.

We had many fun hours playing down at the river that ran through our town, behind city hall.

This is the view that we had from the alley that ran between the laundry (left) and our house which used to be on the right, but is now an apartment building.

City Hall, which was designed to look like Independence Hall was right across the street from our house.

Now, in North Dakota, and the badlands, I am camped out in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. See, Sherri - I can camp too! But no showers, can you imagine?!!

This is just some of the wildlife that I saw there - wild horses! I also saw Bison - up close, and prairie dogs. There are over a hundred species of birds and over 500 species of plants in this park.

This is a taste of the town of Medora, nestled next to the park. It was founded by Marquis de Mores in 1883. Theodore Roosevelt came on the scene at exactly the same time. It still has a few of the historic buildings from the original period and is very quaint.

It's hard to capture the beauty of the park.

More beauty of the park - notice the red rocks similar to the Southwest. Here the area becomes more like Montana - dry and more desert-like. The weather is awesome.

The Teddy Bear

Did you know that the "Teddy Bear" is named after Theodore Roosevelt? I just found that out after visiting the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota - the Badlands of North Dakota. It is so beautiful there. (Pictures to follow.) I ask you - can you imagine living before the Teddy Bear? What would life have been like before the Teddy Bear?

And, I almost got to find out what life was like before showers, as there were no showers in the campground where I was staying. Now this girl loves to camp in a tent under the stars, but she has to have a shower every day!!!!!!!!!

So, I went looking and found one - in a city pool in the town of Medora next to the national park.

History of the Teddy Bear......from Wikipedia

The name Teddy Bear comes from former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, whose nickname was "Teddy". The name originated from an incident on a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino.

There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already shot something. A suite of Roosevelt's attendants, led by Holt Collier, cornered, clubbed, and tied an American Black Bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it. He refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike, but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery, and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902.

While the initial cartoon of an adult black bear lassoed by a white handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter.

Morris Michtom saw the drawing of Roosevelt and the bear cub and was inspired to create a new toy. He created a little stuffed bear cub and put it in his shop window with a sign that read "Teddy's bear," after sending the bear to Roosevelt and receiving permission to sell the bears. The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., which still exists today.

At the same time, in Germany the Steiff firm, unaware of Michtom's bear, produced a stuffed bear from Richard Steiff's designs. They exhibited the toy at the Leipzig Toy Fair in March 1903 and exported 3000 to the United States.

By 1906 manufacturers other than Michtom and Steiff had joined in and the craze for Teddy Bears was such that ladies carried them everywhere, children were photographed with them, and Roosevelt used one as a mascot in his bid for re-election.

YOU JUST CAN'T FIX STUPID!

What goes around comes around!

Did we elect these people?

'We had no idea anyone was buried there??????'

I didn't know we could choose.

This one says it all.

Please anyone, if you've seen this man.

What are the odds of that?

I would have guessed 20.

OK, that's just mean!

Good luck with that!

God's Story Of Eden

Genesis 2

¹ Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. ² And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
⁴ This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵ before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; ⁶ but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
⁷ And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Life in God’s Garden

⁸ The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
¹⁰ Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. ¹¹ The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
¹⁵ Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
¹⁸ And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” ¹⁹ Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
²¹ And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²² Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
²³ And Adam said:
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
²⁵ And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

545 People by Charley Reese

Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years, reporting on everything from sports to politics. From 1969-71, he worked as a campaign staffer for gubernatorial, senatorial and congressional races in several states. He was an editor, assistant to the publisher, and columnist for the Orlando Sentinel from 1971 to 2001. He now writes a syndicated column which is carried on LewRockwell.com. Reese served two years active duty in the U.S. Army as a tank gunner. THE 545 PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR AMERICA'S WOES BY CHARLEY REESE Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code. Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy. Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does. One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank. I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton- picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes. A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a SPEAKER, who stood up and criticized G.W. BUSH for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto. REPLACE THE SCOUNDRELS It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist. If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ. There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation" or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess.

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The Secret

In the little daily devotional "Daily Bread" there is a May 15th entry on The Secret.

It says, "If you believe Rhonda Byrne, author of the bestselling book The Secret, 'The shortcut to anything you want in your life is to be and feel happy now!' According to Byrne, this has to do with something called the law of attraction. If you think only about things that make you happy, she says, happy things will be attracted to you. Sounds easy enough.

However, the bible says that 'the secret' to life is something very different. It has to do with 'the law of the spirit of life' that sets us free from 'the law of sin and death' (Rom 8:2), not with the 'law of attraction.'

According to the apostle Paul, the most important thing to know is 'Jesus Christ and Him crucified' (1 Cor. 2:2). To those who are concerned with happiness now, this is indeed foolishness (v 14). They do not recognize the power of God in what appears to them as weakness.

The Lord created us with a desire to know what is secret. In His wisdom, He kept certain things hidden in mystery for a time (v. 7). But now, through His Holy Spirit, He has made them known. And the secret He reveals has nothing to do with having happy thoughts in order to obtain happy things; it has to do with having the mind of Jesus Christ (v. 16).

To know lasting happiness, we must get to know Jesus.

1 Corinthians 2: 6-16
⁶ We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nought:

⁷ but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory:

⁸ which none of the rulers of this world hath known: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory:

⁹ but as it is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And which entered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him.

¹⁰ But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

¹¹ For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God.

¹² But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God.

¹³ Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words.

¹⁴ Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.

¹⁵ But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man.

¹⁶ For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Go here to read a Berean review of the book.