Tell Everyone

[i]

[ii]

1 Chronicles 16:8

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

⁸ Praise the Lord
    and pray in his name!
Tell everyone
    what he has done.

My cousin, Jason, sent me a Facebook Portal. It uses WiFi to place calls. If the other party also has a Portal, then we can see each other in high resolution. I was delighted. The first thing I did was call Jason and thank him. He came through beautifully and it was a delight to see him while we were chatting.

Then I called my brother, Jason had also given him a Portal. So we chatted. He lives less than 10 miles away, by freeway. This is way more convenient than driving approximately a half hour by freeway  to see him. Then I saw t hat our friends in Madagascar were on line on their computer. So I called them. Poor guys! Pam was awake but still in bed, Gideon was in the shower. It was 6:00 a.m. there. We had a good chat, because Portal will also use a smart phone and the camera on the smart phone. I told them about my Portal and they were duly impressed. The Portal responds to voice commands, all I have to do is say, “Hey Portal, call Pam!” and it does it. I can say, “Hey Portal, Go to sleep!” and it turns itself off. Ah! But it is only asleep, not off. Because if I say “Hey Portal, wake up!” It’s immediately awake and ready for action.

In the Sixty’s slang that’s real cool! I enjoy telling people about it. God healed me from the very deadly West Nile Virus and I also enjoy telling people I meet what God has done for me. Some will ask what treatment there is for West Nile Virus. As far as I know there is no treatment for it. The hospital I was in kept me alive for three weeks, feeding me at times by IV. It took them three weeks to determine it was WNV for starters. I spent another 5 weeks in rehab, gaining the use of my body and mind again. I had two friends that it killed. I’m not sure why God chose to save me and neither of them. God never explains His reasons.

May I remember to always “Praise the Lord…and tell everyone what He has done!” Thank You Jesus

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[i] https://www.pocket-lint.com/smart-home/reviews/facebook/149010-facebook-portal-review-smart-display-alexa

[ii] https://www.tomsguide.com/us/facebook-portal,review-5945.html

Green Earth and Creation Stamps

Isaiah 45:18

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

¹⁸ The Lord created the heavens.
    God formed the earth and made it.
    He set it up.
    He did not create it to be empty
        but formed it to be inhabited.

This is what the Lord says:

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

 On July 24, 2016, I went down to the Quality Anaheim Sunday Stamp Show. Claude Abraham waved at me and said he had some things he thought I might be interested in. He knows more about stamps than anyone else I know, and I sat down at his booth to see what he had to offer this time. One of these was a stack of souvenir sheets.

This Palau sheet immediately caught my attention. Initially I decided I wouldn’t buy it. I don’t collect Palau, an tiny island east of the Philippines and north of Papua New Guinea. But I do collect some topics, like Mathematicians on Stamps, Giraffes on Stamps for Sylvia, Famous Writers, and so on. So I bought this one and have included a copy of it.

I wondered if Palau was peopled by Adventists who celebrate creation every Sabbath. Did they urge the country to issue a beautiful issue honoring the creation and its Creator? Looking on Wikipedia, I saw that Adventists constitute a mere 5.3% of the population, whereas other Christians constitute over 75%. This stamp issue is rather a part of the great green earth movement that encourages humans to treat our planet with respect.

A couple months ago Sylvia and I returned home from a road trip back east to North Carolina. During that trip, we drove through vast stretches of hot desert where we encountered some amazingly powerful rain and hail storms. Vast prairies contrasted with the might Rocky Mountains that were visible for miles. We crossed beautiful rivers, wide enough and deep enough to allow ocean going vessels on them. Wild donkeys, buffalo, prong horn antelope, coyotes, and big horn sheep, all seeking to live out their own lives, graced our travels. We became almost claustrophobic as we pushed through the seemingly endless eastern deciduous forest where our horizons were less than 100 feet (30m) on either side of us.

Such marvelous and varied scenery and views we experienced, each special in its own way! Throughout our journey, we were often conscious of the mighty Creator who prepared all this for us and all others to enjoy.

Thank you, Lord, for creating a beautiful planet and placing us on it to cultivate and preserve it. Thank you, Jesus, for becoming human and living on earth with us to guide and save us.

#CREATION, #CALIFORNIA, #IA, #SOUVENIRSHEETS,  #STAMPS,  #STAMPSHOWS, #GRATITUDE, #PALAU, #GREEN, #ADVENTISTS, #CHRISTIANS, #ANAHEIM

When we lose good things

Job 1:21

Good News Translation (GNT)

²¹ He said, “I was born with nothing, and I will die with nothing. The Lord gave, and now he has taken away. May his name be praised!”

Cleo, our half Alsatian half black Labrador, and I take a walk out into the desert hills every night before we go to bed. We’ve done this for over fourteen years now. She runs, chases the occasional coyote, and uses the desert as her personal toilet. She looks forward to this with eager anticipation every evening.

Some years ago Karen moved into a house on the corner we go by every evening. She often sat out on her tiny patio in the evening. Every evening that she was out there she had a few treats that she gave to Cleo. She kissed and welcomed her, and Cleo loved it. I told Karen, “It’s all cupboard love,” but she loved it−as did Cleo. On the nights that Karen wasn’t there, Cleo still studied the patio carefully, hoping that Karen would suddenly appear. If I didn’t happen to have her leash on her, Cleo would race over and inspect the patio carefully, undoubtedly hoping that Karen would appear or that she might have abandoned a treat there.

This autumn Karen bought a house in a different part of the city. Her move to this permanent address doesn’t faze Cleo’s eager searching for Karen and the former treats she used to receive. I’ve explained to the new residents of that home the reason for Cleo’s sudden appearance on their patio. So they tolerate her quick inspection very graciously.

Every time I watch Cleo’s vain excitement, I’m reminded that everything that I regard as precious will eventually be taken away, including life itself.

Thank You gracious Lord for all You do for me. When these are taken away, may I respond with the gratitude of Job, “May Your Name be praised!”