Celebrating Hannukah

Today was the last day of our Bible study on the Fruit of the Spirit, learning to live beyond our selves. This has been a wonderful ten weeks of looking at each of the nine qualities of the Spirit found in Galatians 5. At the end of the study we can summarize each of the fruit in this way:

1. Love never fails.
2. Joy cometh.
3. Peace rules.
4. Patience waits.
5. Kindness tenders.
6. Goodness does.
7. Faith fights.
8. Gentleness bows.
9. Self-control stops.

I have said before, and it bears repeating, that the most valuable lesson I learned is that I will never be able to exhibit those qualities in my own strength. They are qualities of the Spirit and as such can only be exercised by yielding to the Spirit. I am only a vessel through which God can communicate His character, so long as I am willing to yield.

Well, today, we celebrated our personal Hannukah. Hannukah is Hebrew for dedication. Paul informs us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that, once we have believed in Christ for eternal life, our body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit and is no longer ours. We do have a choice, however, in how we present that temple, whether to ourselves or to God. It is our desire, collectively as our study group, to dedicate our "temple" as a spiritual offering to God and to yield ourselves to the outflow of the fruit of the Spirit. May we now faithfully go forth and bear much fruit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Gal. 5:22-23 Amen.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Back in September the city crews were out on Vance Jackson, putting in sidewalks on both side of the street, from Wurzbach all the way to Jackson-Keller. We remarked at the time that this seemed very wasteful, as the curbs were very high and the sidewalks were certainly precluding any future widening of a very busy street. In fact, the curbs at the entrance to our neighborhood were dangerously high and threatened cars that turned the corner too sharply. But there was no stopping progress, especially when "stimulus dollars" were involved.

Just as the new walks were finished, and I'm saying immediately, like the very next day, the two-year South Texas drought broke and the heavens opened up and rain came down on Clearfield and Vance Jackson! And it rained and rained and on Sunday morning this is what we had to drive through to get out of our neighborhood.

About sixty feet to the left of our street there is a drainage ditch that collects and carries rain water from several subdivisions into a creek about a half-mile away. Before the sidewalks were put in, our rainwater naturally flowed in the direction of the ditch and we rarely had water built up this far. But now, thanks to our stimulus dollars, we not only had an artificial lake, but all the silt and sand from the construction. Once the water receded we had a mudflow!

Here is the city's solution to the overflow - a nice trench, aiming the water right into our street. I'm sure I was not alone, but I took lots of pictures and emailed them to our city councilman and asked what could be done. In just a day or so I looked down the street and observed about a dozen men all standing around the corner looking at the trench! Reminds me of the joke, "How many engineers does it take to change a light bulb?" I digress.

Here we are in the middle of November and two days ago I heard some major "construction noise" and looked out to see this:

Apparently the twelve men looking at the trench decided to do something about it! There is a large sign on Vance Jackson proclaiming this a $1,536,000 "pipe bursting" project! Oh my. All I know is that they have been ripping out all the sidewalks from our street to the top of the hill where the water used to run into the ditch. And they have now made a very deep trench which I assume will be fitted with some big pipes to carry the water somewhere.

Meanwhile, this is what we are left with today and just last night the weatherman predicted major rains and flooding for tomorrow and Friday! Just what we need. This project is problematic of so many things our government has been doing. They get some money to spend and jump into a project without looking past the completion to the consequences. Then the remedy becomes more costly than ever. Will we ever learn?

Four Weeks!

It's hard to believe that our little Andrew Graham is already four weeks old!

Although most of the time he is eating or sleeping, he's also beginning to be aware of his surroundings and will try to focus on whoever or whatever is near by.

After a satisfying meal there's nothing better than a good, long snooze

- for Andrew, Adrian and Mommy!

Fall Colors

It's here! The cool nights we've had for the last two weeks have caused some leaves to change color in our neighborhood! Of course, most of the trees in our neighborhood are Spanish oak and they don't change color. So when I walked up to the house this morning and saw the brilliant golden leaves on my Chinese Date tree, I got all excited. This is the most "color" I'll get.


Another indicator that Fall has arrived is the ripening of the berries on my holly bushes. The migrating birds are going to find these soon, and then they'll be gone. But they sure do bring some bright color into the flower beds.

As I looked around, though, I saw signs of confusion. After a long, hot and very dry summer, the rains came in September and October and caused much of the flora to think it was spring. So we have more flowers blooming now than we had all summer. I have several pink Gerbera daisies blooming by the mailbox.

Speaking of pink, this salvia has sweet, delicate little flowers dancing on the tips of its branches. I guess it really appreciates the warmth of the sun during the day, as well as all the rain we've been blessed with since September.

The orange lantana is also in bloom, right along side the crepe myrtles which have dropped their leaves already. It's been a very perplexing predicament for my plants.

Gentleness, the Eighth Quality

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23

I have so enjoyed getting deep into the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit over the last eight weeks. I feel as though we have walked through the catacombs of God's Word to discover and broaden the definitions of each of these words. Beyond definitions, though, I have discovered the source of the power to unleash these qualities in my life.

This week we looked at gentleness and examined three aspects found there: submission, humility, and teachability. We learned that gentleness, or meekness, is not the same as weakness. Rather, it is the power and strength created from submitting to God's will. One of the greatest examples of this kind of submission is found in the Apostle Paul, who changed from one who persecuted the church to a man who suffered persecution for his Savior.

We discovered that humility, according to examples from Scripture, is the "correct estimation of ourselves which results from a correct estimation of our God." John the Baptist was a great example of a man familiar with humility. From before his birth until his death at the hands of Herod, John knew that his ministry would never eclipse that of Jesus. His own assessment of himself is found in John 3:30 in which he says, "He must increase, and I must decrease."

Finally, we learned the third aspect of gentleness, which is teachability. One who had a teachable spirit was Apollos, a fervent disciple who was taught correct doctrine by Priscilla and Aquila in Acts 18. Another was David, who learned the hard way to read God's instructions before setting out to transport the holy ark of God. You can read about his experience in 1 Chron. 13. Sometimes we must face severe hardship when we resist constructive teaching.

Jesus presents us with the most valuable picture of gentleness as He washed the feet of His disciples the night before His death. His answer to Peter's boasting was gentle. And please note that He also washed the feet of His betrayer. At the end of the washing He said to them (and to us), "Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." (Italics are mine.) John 13:16-17.

Go forth and do likewise.

More Cuteness

Adrian was full of cuteness this morning. He watches Sesame Street every day and one of the programs was all about wearing hats. So Adrian was showing us how he puts on this hat and then just as quickly tears it off his head and slings it to the floor!

He was having a ball and had his Grandpa, especially, in stitches over his antics.

Look closely and you'll see he has just enjoyed a blueberry muffin. When he says "muffin" it sounds like he's saying "Murphy", so we told Graham he was saying "uh-hah muffin!"

(Uh-hah is his word for uncle.)

Oh, my goodness. How much cuteness can you take? I was snapping pictures so fast my camera finally said "busy" and told me to slow down! It was very hard to pick just three of the more than forty that I took. What fun!

Three Weeks Old Today

This face is a reflection of happiness and satisfaction!

Translated, that means a full tummy and a clean diaper.

Andrew is three weeks old today.