Decision about Voting

I still don't know who I'll be voting for in November.  But I have decided one thing: I'm not telling anybody.  No matter what choice I make, either
a) I will be ashamed of it, or
b) other people will say that I should be ashamed of it.

I remember my mom telling me not long ago that it's so different now.  Everybody talks openly of their political views.  She said that, in the 60s, you didn't even tell your husband or your parents or your kids how you were voting.  It was private.

So that's my voting decision for this year's presidential election.  It's private.
So don't ask.
And don't make ANY assumptions.

Never Taken Away

Sermon on Wednesday night was about the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10).  Pastor mentioned that many American Christians are afraid these days.  What if our church is taken from us?  What if persecution or martyrdom comes to our country as it has come to other nations?  What if the Church has to hide?  Will we still have God's word in a decade, or even just a few years?

Jesus' promise to Mary and Martha was that Mary had chosen to listen to God's word and "that will not be taken away from her."  This is a promise to us too, who cherish God's word and beg that we not lose His word and Spirit.  How will the Lord preserve His word and ensure that it is not taken from us?  We don't know.  But the promise remains true.

Picking Berries

I approach the berry canes with my empty bowl.  A robin flees.  "Hey, these are MY berries.  Not yours.  Stay away, birdie." 

Twenty minutes of plucking.  Then a squirrel in a nearby tree starts making a racket.  Now, I don't speak fluent Squirrel, but I'm confident that the speech the squirrel was giving me was identical to the earlier speech I was giving the robin.

Tough noogies.  I planted.  I water.  I weed.  (Well, sometimes I weed.)  I nab Japanese beetles to toss to their deaths in my soap-water bucket.  Let the squirrel be angry that I'm harvesting the berries before him. 

Mmmmm, raspberries on my granola.  Mmmmm.