Bible Translations & Healthy Eating!

I just had to share this link with you all. It is the most common sense thing I have read about bible translations in a long time.

Bible Translations

Personally, although I do have my favorites (typically ones that use the Hebrew names in them), I like to read from several different ones. I like the different ways that things are worded. It sometimes helps me to understand more deeply what is written.

Of course, the best translation in the world won't do you any good if you don't read it! I hope you have one and are reading it. If you don't understand what you are reading, find one that you can! Ask a pastor for help. Find someone who does understand who can help you and who can answer your questions.

We must feed our bodies with good food and exercise them to be healthy and strong. In the same way, we must feed our spirits and minds with good "food" and exercise them to help them be healthy and strong in our faith and in our heart connection with our heavenly Abba/Father.

I confess that I don't read it nearly as much as I probably should. No, I don't think there is a set amount of time that should be spent on it. However, I notice another corollary to the physical body. If I don't eat, I start to grow weak and I don't feel well. If I don't read my bible...if I don't feed my spirit and soul from Yahweh God's Word...my faith starts to grow weak and I don't feel very well in my spirit and soul.

I also need to spend time listening as I read it...listening to what the Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit is telling me through His Written Word. I also need to listen to what He is telling me from His Spirit to mine throughout the day, even when I am not reading. Building and strengthening that heart connection is so key to my walk through this life. It is key to my faith. It is key to the love between Yahweh and me.

Birds on the Wing & Beauty in Ugliness!

These were a bit difficult to capture and are not the best, but I thought others might enjoy them anyway. If you click on the pictures they will enlarge. Your back space will take you back to the blog. The one large bird we most see on the wing here is the Turkey Vulture.

Now, the Turkey Vulture is one pretty ugly bird...although there may be some who disagree. It is very ungainly...and not very smart, either.

Here is a link to see what they look like.
http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/turkey-vulture.html

When they are on the wing, though, they are absolutely beautiful! They are so graceful. I keep hoping to see some close enough to get better pics. They sometimes just look like they are floating on air.















I find it interesting that something so ungainly, so unattractive can be so beautiful when it is lifted up in the air.

Isn't that a lot like people? Some people are very unattractive in their physical appearance. They are very ungainly in their personalities, or they lack social graces. Yet, when they are lifted up on the Holy Spirit and moving in His grace, they are very beautiful.

We tend to look on the outward appearance; but Yahweh God sees the heart. We need to ask Him for His eyes so that we can see the hearts of people, rather than the outward appearance only.

He makes all things beautiful. ALL things. There is no one who is ugly or ungainly in His eyes. He delights in using the very people that the world looks down on to do some of His greatest work!

Oh, if we would only have the hearts and eyes to see it! I hope that you have eyes to see the beauty in the people around you...no matter how unattractive or ungainly they may look on the outside.

Radical Faith & Miracles!

I want to be known for having radical faith. When I move away...or when I die...I want people to say that the two things that stood out to them about me were that I had radical faith and that I was loving. I don't, for a minute, believe I have a very good handle on either of those.

I really want to be loving, yet I know that I fall far short. My own stress levels often cause me to be oblivious to the opportunities to be loving. *sigh* I am thrilled when I have an opportunity, see it and actually act upon it. I pray for Yahweh/God to change me to be able to see more and to be able to act upon more.

As for radical faith, I want to believe even when no one around me believes...even when others say it just is not possible. I want to walk in the kind of faith that causes me to not be shaken by the things I see around me...like gas prices soaring on an already very tight budget. Nope...I want to continue to know that Yahweh is my provider and that He will make a way where there seems to be no way. I want to continue to see the miraculous ways that He does still intervene in the lives of us humans down here. I want to be known for having radical faith.

And yet, should it even be radical? I mean...seriously...shouldn't all of Yeshua's followers believe what He said, which would make it "normal" faith? If we cannot trust Yahweh/God for even one thing, can we trust Him for anything?

I know that I have to carefully study what He said. I see too many people taking a verse here and a verse there, out of context, and building whole theologies upon them. That is dangerous territory to be wandering in. Then, if the "theology" does not pan out it appears that it is Yahweh who is false rather than the teacher who is false, or incorrect, in their understanding.

There are few things that I will live and die on. Knowing Who the Creator is...well, that is one that I will live and die on. Yeshua's death AND resurrection for us...that I will live and die on. I believe Yeshua's words when He said that He is the way, the truth and the life and the only way to the Abba/Father. That is not religion talking...that is not "Christianity" talking...that is Yeshua talking...about Himself! I will live and die on that one. He said it...that settles it!

I want others to know that I love them...regardless of what they believe...regardless of whether they happen to believe the same way that I do. I also want them to know that it is because I love them that I have to tell them the truth. I cannot pretend to be something I am not...just to please them.

I live...I walk...I function...I accomplish all things in this life...for one reason only. That reason is Yahweh's Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit living within me. If it were not for Him living within me, I could not do a thing...period. It is as simple as that. There has simply been too much damage done. I have been told I am a walking miracle...and I am. I should not be alive. I should not be functioning. Yet, I am! It is solely by the grace of Yahweh...soley by the work of His Ruach/Spirit within me...soley by the work of Yeshua/Jesus in my life...that I am able to be here today, doing what I am doing. It is pretty amazing to me...very incredible!

So, here I sit in my little RV on the hillside thinking about what Yahweh has done in my life. I am feeling very grateful. I hope that you, too, have many things that you are grateful for. I hope, most of all, that you know Yahweh personally and have accepted Yeshua's free gift of forgiveness. I hope that His Ruach/Spirit dwells within you. I hope that you really KNOW how very blessed you are, regardless of your situation...regardless of your life pain...regardless of your life joys.

From us here to you there...Shalom and B'rakhot! (Wholeness, peace and blessings!)

Ice Dams and Frozen Hearts!

We have a whole routine we have to follow in the winter regarding our windows. This is a very old RV and it is made for warmer climes. It was also made before they started putting doublepaned windows in them. Even now, double-paned is only an option on a lot of RV's, not a standard. Or at least that is how it was a few years ago.

We use foil insulation sheets in the windows at night. They look like foil covered bubble wrap...the kind with the tiny bubbles. Cut to size, we put one up in each window. This makes a HUGE difference on the amount of heat we lose. Then we slide our curtain blankets over the two main side windows. Considering the size of the RV, these are big windows. The window on the couch side runs almost the length of the couch. The one across from it, behind me, is slightly smaller.

Even as I sit here, I can feel the cold air coming in from the one across from me where I have taken the foil back out of the window to let light in. Hmmm...light or heat. What a choice! I have not taken the one out of the window behind me yet...and I may not. I may leave it in, especially today, since I will be gone part of the day. In fact, when we go somewhere...on those very rare days that we do...we will often leave the foil in the windows to conserve energy. It is 18F out there right now and I have just shut the blanket curtain. I am thinking of putting the foil back in for awhile because of the cold. The condensation makes it hard to see much out of the window, but it is nice having the light. I also just turned the heater up. :P

On nights when it drops below freezing, taking off the foil insulation sheets can get very interesting. There is so much condensation that forms on the inside of the windows that the foil is often frozen to the window with bits of ice...or even a sheet of ice in the bottom part of the window. The fact that the ice can form is a testimony to how much heat the sheets are deflecting back into the RV. I have to very carefully peel the sheets off.

When it is not freezing, I simply pull the sheets off, wipe off the window sills and squeegie the condensation off the windows. The window frames are made of aluminum, so they act like heatsinks to the outside and the inside of the frames get very cold and condensation will often form on them, too.

When it is freezing, there is a whole other routine I must follow. First of all, the condensation has run into the little holes in the two ends of the window frame and frozen into ice dams. So, the water that would normally drain right out of the track is stuck. Well, if I don't get those holes thawed, the condensation on the windows, along with the melting ice, will overflow the tracks.

Along with that, the window is in two pieces...one stationary and one sliding. The sliding one is on the inside and the track gets very narrow between it and the inside wall of the track. During the night, enough condensation has formed and dripped down to make that little part of the track fill completely, or almost completely, with ice. So any water that drips down from the sliding window will automatically run right over the ice and onto the sill.

Thus starts a whole new routine for the winter. My son has a little experiment kit. OK...now you are probably thinking "huh? What on earth does THAT have to do with winter window routines?" Well...read on and learn! :) In that kit is a little plastic pipette. The first thing I do is fill a cup with very hot water and the pipette.

Now, the size of the plastic tube on the pipette just happens to be the perfect size to fit into the drain hole on the window frames, IF the hole is not dammed up with ice! Starting to get where I am going with this? I very carefully take a pipette filled with hot water and squirt it where the hole is. I keep doing this until I can stick the pipette into the hole. With each squirt, I can get it to go in farther and farther until the ice is melted through and the water can drain. This must be done immediately for the ice on the windows starts to melt as soon as I pull off the insulation sheet.

Immediately after that, I have to go take care of the ice dam on the sliding window side of the track. Again, the tube on the pipette is the perfect size for fitting along the track between the window and the inside wall of the track. Very slowly, I slide the pipette from the middle where the sliding window meets the stationary window toward the end of the sliding window, while gently squeezing out the hot water. I have to squeeze it fast enough to get it out while it is still hot, but slowly enough that it is not just running over the ice and onto the sill. It takes a little practice, but is not really hard to master. In fact, it is kind of fun! I get to be an adult who plays with water and ice! :)

The main thing is to NOT let the hot water touch the frozen glass! THAT would NOT be good!

I just keep sliding and squeezing the hot water into the track all along that side of the window track until the ice dam between the window and the track is completely melted. It takes a few minutes to do this as the pipette does not hold much water. Once the holes are unplugged and the track is clear, I can squeegie away and the water won't overflow. Although, I do have to squeegie slowly on the sliding window because the track on that side, being so narrow, can still only hold a certain amount of water at once.

So, there you have it...ice dams! But what about the frozen hearts? Well, this morning as I was working with the windows I thought about how this can be a parallel to spiritual life.

When the cold winter storms of life hit is my heart kept warm by the fire of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit)? Or am I allowing them to freeze His fire out of my heart? I know that, as I look back on my life, there are many times that I have allowed my heart to grow cold. Thankfully, and only by the grace of Yahweh, I don't think my heart has ever totally frozen. However, I DO know that He has had to warm up my cold heart many times over the years when I have allowed it to get cold due to anger, or frustration, or despair.

My abusers tried to freeze my heart toward God. But they never succeeded! I have always, since the time I was very young, had a heart for God. I was not always able to live it, but I strived for it. And He blessed me in it. Yet, there have been times when my heart grew cold...sometimes due to being blessed...sometimes due to being overwhelmed.

We each have those things that tend to make our hearts grow cold toward our heavenly Abba (Daddy). What is yours? Do you have so much that you don't feel a need for the fire anymore? Are you hurting so badly that, instead of running TO Him, you run FROM Him? Have those who call themselves by His name wounded you so deeply that you have forgotten that He is NOT those people? Whatever it is that temps you to let your heart freeze, please don't let it! Run from the temptation. Ask Him to put that fire back in your heart. And remember that this world is temporary. It is not all there is. And not everyone who calls themselves by His name... are really His!

Are YOU His? That is the key most important question you can ever ask yourself! The answer settles your destiny. Do you think you are His? Make sure! Sha'ul (Paul) wrote:

2Co 13:5 HNV
(5) Test your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don't you know as to your own selves, that Yeshua the Messiah is in you?--unless indeed you are disqualified.

If you are sure, rest in it, for Yeshua (Jesus) said:

Joh 6:37 All those who the Father gives me will come to me. Him who comes to me I will in no way throw out.
Joh 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
Joh 6:39 This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day.

And we have this promise, too, along with so many more!

Heb 7:25 Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.

I will try to write more about our day later...but for now...have a good day from all of us here in our Little RV on the Hillside!