Dumpster diving…

 Dumpster diving…

God chose yesterday to bring me back to some of my roots, “dumpster diving”….

You have to realize, growing up, we lived on ranches which had their own trash pile…but we had very little trash…no plastic, no paper, a few tin cans, very few glass jars( we reused the canning jars) the barn had a barrel for  used hay wire and later, string… we had wood stoves where we  burned the paper…we didn’t live in the Middle Ages, but things have changed in 70 years here in the US…new products…

We had open dumps, people put “good stuff “ along the edge in case  someone else could use it…there were “farm “ sales when the farm was being sold…not garage sales like we have today…

We had less stuff and we made do…

Anyway, some of my children, in college, did dumpster diving. In fact there were people who checked the dorm dumpsters regularly , picking up useable items to sell later to new students…enterprising…

My dad collected tin cans when California started recycling aluminum…some family still does…and so it goes…

I have had two family members minister to people who live in the dumps of two different countries….

So, Yesterday a friend wanted what was filling a dumpster, so here are two 70+ women dumpster diving…I had to laugh the whole time…”what goes around, comes around “…but, it was profitable.

“One man’s trash is another’s treasure”still holds…even worldwide…

We aren’t trash to God…He made a way to redeem us…giving us new life…new purpose…

Thank YOU….

Psalm 103:1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Redeemed…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_82cISZdFg

 

Psalm 20

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

Psalm 20:1-6, the “mays”….

God uses repeated words, themes, etc…this one is the “mays”…

If we put our names into the “you”…what a blessing…He is speaking to each of us…

1. May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;

2. may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

3. May he send you help from the sanctuary
    and grant you support from Zion.

4. May he remember all your sacrifices
    and accept your burnt offerings.

5. May he give you the desire of your heart
    and make all your plans succeed.

6. May we shout for joy over your victory
    and lift up our banners in the name of our God.

7. May the Lord grant all your requests.

6 Now this I know:
    The Lord gives victory to his anointed.
He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary
    with the victorious power of his right hand.

Extra….

Psalm 91:14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;

Psalm 3: 4 I call out to the Lord,
    and he answers me from his holy mountain.
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

Psalm 21:2 You have granted him his heart’s desire
    and have not withheld the request of his lips.

Psalm 20: 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Thank YOU…

Psalm 20 song…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_2vcFdAsUk

Hebrew version…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k3iNvfVgts

 Day 8…. There is no place like home….click, click…there is no place like home….

We had an amazing breakfast with family before leaving to drive home…three of my nieces and their father,my husband’s brother….catching up, laughter,history….

Then off across central Oregon, on a windy clear day…

It is not often you can see all of the  Oregon snow mountains, but yesterday we could ..so we started out by Mount Hood several days ago and ended up seeing it from a distance…beautiful….

Family, friends, sightseeing…a great combination…in a few days while the world around us went on …I barely watched the news until yesterday morning…then is was a praise time in Washington D.C. with the special day of “Rededicate 250” on the Mall…praise music, Christian speakers, families, etc. gathering, not protesting or complaining, but praising God…what a way to start the week…

Oh, that we could come together in peace, working things out in a civilized manner, with concern and care for one another instead of   

Violence and chaos…giving dignity to all…

Thank you for sharing my little trip…my pictures …my life for a week…t has been a blessing to me….

1 Chronicales 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Thank YOU…

If my people…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g08ZUz6ifTE

Day 7…over the mountains and through the trees…

 Day 7….over the mountains and through the trees….

Yesterday we crossed over the mountains and into the trees of western central Oregon to, the beginning of today’s journey across the high desert …and home…

Rainy, snowy, windy, beautiful, cool, warm…we have had it all…

God has given us so much variety, beauty…brilliant greens, blues, seas, flowers, People, foods, homes of all sizes, landscapes…you name it…his handiwork is all around us all the time…friends, family…

“Let us rejoice and be glad!”….

“And He saw that it was good….”

Of course there are the hard things as well…everyone has a story or life they maybe living…but, He is there as well…

“I am with you always…I will never leave you for forsake you…”

The resurrection of spring with its newness of life reminds us that we have made it through the winter and new life has come…

John 11: 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in (adheres to, trusts in, relies on) Me [as Savior] will live even if he dies; 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me [as Savior] will never die. Do you believe this?” 

Thank YOU…

Light of the world…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cLhaZIBSpo

 I hope I didn’t bore you with my fun road-trip…God has lessons in everything we do…we just need to look and acknowledge his “fingerprints” on our lives….

I couldn’t help but show these miniature ducks…their beaks are about 1/4 inch long, so tiny and cute..

Day 6….land of milk and honey…

 Day 6…land of milk and honey….

No sightseeing yesterday, people day…

We went to the “Market of Choice” for dinner. A favorite…long aisles of various foods, salads, hot dishes, various cultures, etc…aptly named….I wish I had one close to my home…

We are so blessed as a nation to have so many choices…I feel at times like this is the land of milk and honey that God promised the Israelites coming g out of slavery in Egypt…

This trip we have traveled through all kind of agriculture that feeds so many…seafood, cattle, game hunting, fruits and vegetables of all kinds, wineries, canola oil, honey just to name a few…

Where I live it is fruits, potatoes, grains, onions, grapes, dairies, etc…

Another state maybe more minerals, gravel, etc…

 But, so much…Not all nations have that…

Plus, freedom to worship God…abundantly…not all nations have that…

I realize the following was written for the Israelites, but the principles are the same for us now…following Him is imperative…

Thank YOU….

Deuteronomy 11:8 “Therefore, you shall keep all the commandments which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land which you are crossing over [the Jordan] to possess; 9 so that you may live long on the land which the Lord swore (solemnly promised) to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land [of great abundance,] flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot like a garden of vegetables. 11 But the land into which you are about to cross to possess, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12 a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

13 “It shall come about, if you listen obediently and pay attention to My commandments which I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul [your choices, your thoughts, your whole being]— 14 that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early [fall] rain and the late [spring] rain, so that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your [olive] oil. 15 And He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16 Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away [from the Lord] and serve other gods and worship them, 17 or [else] the Lord’s anger will be kindled and burn against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the land will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

18 “Therefore, you shall impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul, and tie them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead. 19 You shall teach them [diligently] to your children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths], speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. 22 For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in all His ways and to hold tightly to Him—

26 “Behold, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse— 27 the blessing, if you listen to and obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not listen to and obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following (acknowledging, worshiping) other gods which you have not known.

29 “It shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land which you are entering to possess, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Are they not across the Jordan, west of the road, toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? 31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it, 32 and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.

This land….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q7PULELvok

(I realize this song isn’t a hymn or praise song, just a folk tune, but it kept coming to mind)…

Day 5…power…

 Day 5… power….

Tidal pools…

The ocean….

The lighthouse….

The gravesite…

The broken highway …

You know , we can’t make real tidal pools that continue to live…we can’t make an ocean…we can’t make the crumble like earthquakes ….we can’t stop death…

The lighthouse was the only manmade thing of these pictures and all the materials and talent were not manmade either….

God made them all including the power over death through faith in Jesus Christ…

Genesis 1: 20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm and abundantly produce living creatures, and let birds soar above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” 21 God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good and He affirmed and sustained it. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

Revelations 16: 18 And there were flashes of lightning and loud rumblings and peals of thunder; and there was a massive earthquake—nothing like it has ever occurred since mankind originated on the earth, so severe and far-reaching was that earthquake. 

Ecclesiastes 8:8a There is no man who has power and authority over the wind to restrain the wind,
Nor does he have authority over the day of death;

James 4: 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy [the one God who has the absolute power of life and death]; but who are you to [hypocritically or self-righteously] pass judgment on your neighbor?

Jesus is our light…the light of the World…

John 8: 12 Once more Jesus addressed the crowd. He said, “I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” 

Thank YOU…. 

Day 4…

 Day 4….

Provision of food…

Friendship…

Roads…

The ocean…

That was day 4…

Provision…honey, mustard, fish….

Roads…crowded roads …to the beach…

The ocean…the Pacific…dividing the land, the water and the heavens…

Proverbs 24:13 
My son, eat honey, because it is good,
And the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.

Proverbs 17: 17a A friend loves at all times….

Genesis 1: 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse [of the sky] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters [below the expanse] from the waters [above the expanse].” 7 And God made the expanse [of sky] and separated the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so [just as He commanded]. 8 God called the expanse [of sky] heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place [of standing, pooling together], and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that this was good (pleasing, useful) and He affirmed and sustained it. 11 So God said, “Let the earth sprout [tender] vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to (limited to, consistent with) their kind, whose seed is in them upon the earth”; and it was so. 12 The earth sprouted and abundantly produced vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, according to their kind; and God saw that it was good and He affirmed and sustained it. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

Thank YOU…