The way is clear

by chuckofish

Well, we finally got some rain after about a month without any and the storm was quite a whopper! But much needed and appreciated.

In other news, a 2,554-pound pumpkin won the record as the heaviest pumpkin in U.S. history! The super squash was grown near Buffalo, New York, this year. But wait! Just one week later, a new pumpkin king was crowned. A 2,560-pound pumpkin won a contest in Northern California, beating the first squash by six pounds. Who knew the competition was so fierce?

This article about the sin of contempt is very pertinent these days. It is a sin I grapple with daily. “But contempt is the silent killer of Christian charity. It has no place in the heart of a follower of Jesus.”

I had lunch the other day with two friends who are 93 and 82. We jokingly agreed that we are all very thankful to wake up every morning and know what day it is. But a lot of people forget that God commands us to be thankful: give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) As Darryl Dash writes, “To refuse to give thanks to God is, in some sense, the essence of sin, one of the greatest problems plaguing humanity (Romans 1: 21). Acknowledging God and giving thanks to him is no trifling matter.”

So may the Lord make me truly thankful for the big things (family, health, home, church) and for the smaller things, such as:

  • a house full of books and movies…
  • the internet, which can be a blessing. I stumbled upon this on the desiringGod website…
  • our memories

And a poem by Wendell Berry:

And, finally, a toast to Angela Lansbury who has died at age 96. I think I’ll watch either The World of Henry Orient (1964) or The Court Jester (1955)–both great favorites of mine in which she appeared.

(The pumpkin photo is from the WORLD News Group.)