Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Ancient Words

Tracie Miles

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1 (NIV)

It caught me off guard. While standing and singing praise and worship songs during our Sunday morning worship service, the choir began singing a song that I was not familiar with. It was called Ancient Words, written by Lynn DeShazo in 1999. As we came to the chorus of the song, each member of the choir held their Bibles up in the air, and within moments, scores of people in our congregation began lifting their Bibles to the heavens as they sang. The sight of all of those Bibles lifted high in the air, resting on the melodies of praise that were being sung to our God, literally took my breath away.

I began to consider the importance that we put o n ancient things. Antique furniture, our grandmother's fine china, estate jewelry, old pictures, and precious family heirlooms all come to mind. I began to wonder why these things are so important to us. Is it just because they are old and from another point in time? Is it because they belonged to people we love? Or is it our desire to simply have a piece of something that came into existence before we were born?

I believe that we not only long for antiques, or ancient things, but we often long for how things were in the ancient days. The days when morals were the driving force for how to live one's life. The days when God was an integral part of our education system, our workplace, and our communities. The days when we could speak of our faith without worrying about offending someone. The days when we could raise our children based on biblical principles without feeling like the minority. And the days when our country was founded on Jesus Christ, and proud of that found ational belief.

As time passes, things change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. But our hope lies in knowing that there is one thing never changes…God's Word and the truths that are found in His Word.

In ancient days, and today, the Bible invites us to discover the covenant relationship that the Lord desires to have with each of us. Through the words of those holy pages, we are taught how to live a life that pleases Him, and how to embrace His commandments for living. Through God's Word we learn how to deal with adversity and stand strong in the face of opposition and suffering. We find hope, grace, forgiveness, peace and purpose.

Those ancient Holy words give us the courage, freedom and strength to live in a world that may not value the most precious antique of all.

God's ancient words will never change, and our hearts do not have to change either if we hold tight to our faith. God's Word is timeless.

Just as the passing of time makes an antique even more valuable, the same goes for God's Word. Its value increases with each passing day, encourages every generation, and holds true to the end of time. It is our choice whether or not we will treasure God's Word in our hearts.

Dear Lord, build in me a hunger for Your Word that can only be met by spending time with You. Help me treasure the Bibles in my household more than any other items I own. Help me to pass down a passion for Your Word to my family and friends so that I can pass down the most valuable of all antiques. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

The lyrics of the song "Ancient Words":
Holy words long preserved for our walk in this world
They resound with God's own heart; O let the ancient words impart
Words of life, words of hope; Give us strength, help us cope

In this world where'er we roam, ancient words will guide us home
Holy words of our faith, handed down to this age
Came to us through sacrifice; O heed the faithful words o f Christ!
Martyrs' blood stains each page, they have died for this faith
Hear them cry through the years, "Heed these words and hold them dear!"

Chorus:
Ancient words, ever true
Changing me and changing you
We have come with open hearts
O let the ancient words impart

~♥ღ~

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Unconscious Mutterings

"Rules are, there are no rules." There are no right or wrong answers. Don't limit yourself to one word responses; just say everything that pops into your head!

  1. Lisa :: and Boo ... go together like peanut butter 'n jam!

  2. Hope :: Faith and Love. But the greatest of these is love.

  3. Irene :: My sister's middle name. Also a song I love by Toby Mac.

  4. Tony :: My oldest son. Charles Anthony Walden, aka: Tony

  5. Anna :: Anna bo bana, banana fana fo fana, fe fi fo mana, Anna!

  6. Dolly :: Carol Channing, singing Hello Dolly ... dang. I'm old.

  7. Laura :: , me, Nickson, plus Puett, Anderson, Denes, Willison, and Jandel. The 4 last Laura's I know at my church!

  8. Debbie :: Bilek. Aww, such a cut-up at camp! ha!

  9. Wilson :: Tom Hanks friend in the movie, Cast Away.

  10. Paula :: Oglesby. My neighbor. My friend and bunco buddy, too!

Get your muttering at: Unconscious Mutterings, and have some fun!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Friday Fill-In

And...here we go! Replace my bold words with YOUR words!

  1. Moving right along.

  2. BORN free.

  3. My best quality is that I love giving.

  4. Shut-up! Gimme all the details.

  5. In nearly 10 years, I could be a great grandmother.

  6. Chocolate is what I need right now!

  7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading my bookclub book, tomorrow my plans include seeing Emma 'n Landen and Sunday, I want to chillax!

You can get your 'Friday Fill-In' clicking on the title above or using the button in the left ♥FAVORITE SITES column. *or re-post in a comment below!*

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Cherry Angel Food Cake!

This is SO easy~! I made this for my BUNCO group at my house this past Friday and thought I'd share here since I posted it on my facebook -

Preheat oven to 350*

1 - box Betty Crocker Angel Food Cake Mix [add water only mix!]
1 - 20-24oz can of Cherry Pie Filling [Comstock brand makes a Lite for counting points on WW]

Simply mix the pie filling into the cake mix in a large bowl, pour/spoon into baking dish and bake per box directions!

You'll get what you see here: *place cursor over photo to read note!*

already getting fluffy!
must try a sample slice warm from the oven
mmm ... look at those juicy cherries!
Ya know you WANT it, so go make it!!
PLUS ... every good laides party MUST have a dose of chocolate!!

top this brownie pie with a scoop of your favorite ice-cream and be HAPPY~!

Thanks for letting ME share and for droppin by to peek~!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

INTERESTING HISTORY LESSON

Railroad tracks. This is fascinating. Be sure to read the final paragraph; your understanding of it will depend on the earlier part of the content.

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with it?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horse's asses.) Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRB's. The SRB's are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRB's would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRB's had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRB's had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything and CURRENT Horses Asses are controlling everything else.