TWENTY
SEVENTEEN
PART 34
Hello folks,
It is now the 26th of August and Jeff is back in hospital on a feeding drip.
Monday 28th - AA start new regime: switching power off at 10am until 1pm
0n at 1 to 2pm and
off again till 4 pm
Our rent includes water and light so this is theft. Saturdays and Sundays when they are both at home there is no load shedding.
Monday 4th September- power goes off at
1.40pm -
Jeff is still waiting for his operation to clear obstruction in stomach. He has been in back in the hospital and has had no food for 10 days. He us on a feeding drip . He is over 6 foot tall and now weighs 53 kilos. Apparently a bed has now been booked for him in I.C.U. for Thursday 7th. He is only allowed to drink water. His stomach is gnawing from hunger.
Tuesday 5th - power goes off at 10am as usual but comes back on at 12.30pm
7th Thursday - Jeff has his operation early in the morning - he phones me in the afternoon - he is back in his ward - not I.C.U.
He now has to lie on his back, and finds it difficult to sleep in that position. He is not allowed to drin water until Sunday 10th . Relieves his thirst with ice.
Saturday 9th - Jeff is now allowed to drink water.
Sunday 10th - Jeff can now eat soft foods, like oats, mash, mince and yogurt.
Monday - Jeff is going home today.
Tuesday 12th - It is Andy's 63rd birthday. Danny has been gone three months today - the pain is very raw and I am very weepy. The day starts off badly. After doing all my technical stuff , like blogs, daily WhatsApps etc I go back to sleep and wake up at 10.55am. Power is off and I presume that it went off as usual at 10am. It could have been earlier because it has happened previously on a number of occasions that it was switched off at 9.30am.
Power does not come back on at 1pm as expected, we wait another fifteen minutes to no avail. Ruth gets dressed and goes to the AA abode and is informed that they have run out of prepaid units
She WhatsApps Mr A. but receives no reply. At approximately 1.30pm she WhatsApps Mrs A and fifteen minutes later is informed that she did tell her husband to buy prepaid - she is so sorry. Mrs A arrives home at 3.25pm but only puts the power back on at 3.50pm . This is really not funny.
We have been without power all day. I could not wash dishes as we had switched the geyser off yesterday at 9am (complying with saving power)
So no hot water and no power to boil the kettle.
Also because of no power there is also no water in the taps. The borehole pump does not work when the power is off. The battery in my tablet is flat, my computer's battery hasn't worked for almost a year. I can only use it when plugged into a power socket. No cooking. No TV. Just have to lie and look at the walls.
I also note that one of the other tenant's by the name of Willem, has vacated his cottage - there are no curtains on the windows and it is empty of furniture. Charmaine tells me Willem left at the end of last month.
Wednesday 13th - 10.55am power is still on. Ruth will get local paper this afternoon and we are trusting God to provide us with other living arrangements. Living here is unbearable.
Found this wonderful comforting verse
The peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Phillipians 4:7
next post 10th December
MY FAVORITE PSALMS
PART 89
Thy testimonies are wonderful,
Therefore my soul observes them
The unfolding of Thy words gives
light
It gives understanding to the simple
I opened my mouth wide and panted
For I longed for Thy commandments
Turn to me and be gracious to me
After Thy manner with those who
love Thy Name
Establish my footsteps in Thy Word
And do not let any iniquity have
dominion over me.
Redeem me from the oppression of
man
That I may keep Thy precepts
Make Thy face shine upon Thy
servant
And teach me Thy statutes
My eyes shed streams of water
Because they do not keep Thy
Law.
Righteous art Thou, O Lord,
And upright are Thy judgments
Thou has commanded Thy
testimonies in righteousness
And exceeding faithfulness
My zeal has consumed me
Because my adversaries have
forgotten Thy words.
Thy word is very pure
Therefore Thy servant loves it
I am small and despised
Yet I do not forget Thy precepts
Thy righteousness is an
everlasting righteousness
And Thy Law is truth
Doubt and anguish have come
upon me
Yet Thy commandments are my
delight
Thy testimonies are righteous
forever
Give me understanding that I
may live
next post 8th December
PRAISE
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in the sanctuary,
Praise Him in His mighty expanse
Praise Him for His mighty deeds
Praise Him according to His
excellent greatness.
Praise Him with the trumpet sound,
Praise Him with the harp and lyre,
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing,
Praise Him with stringed instruments
and pipe
Praise Him with loud cymbals,
Praise Him with resounding cymbals
Let everything that has breath
praise the Lord!
Blessed be the Lord, my Rock,
Sing to the Lord a new song
and His praise be in the
congregation of His godly ones.
Let Israel be glad in His Maker
Let the sons of Zion rejoice in
their King
Let them praise His Name with
dancing
Let them sing praises to Him
with timbrel and lyre
For the Lord takes pleasure in
His people,
He will beautify the afflicted ones
with salvation.
Let the godly ones exult in glory
Let them sing for joy on their beds
Let the high praises of God be in
their mouth
Praise the Lord!
I will extol Thee, my God, my King
and I will bless Thy Name forever
and ever.
Great is the Lord and highly to be
praised
and His greatness is unsearchable
One generation shall praise Thy
works to another
and shall declare Thy mighty acts
On the glorious splendor of Thy
Majesty
and on Thy wonderful works will
meditate
and men shall speak of the power
of Thy awesome acts.
and will tell of Thy greatness
They shall eagerly utter the
memory of Thy abundant goodness.
and shall shout joyfully of Thy
righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and merciful
Slow to anger and great in loving-
kindness
The Lord is good to all
and His mercies are over all
His works.
All Thy works shall give thanks
to Thee.
And Thy godly ones shall bless
Thee.
They shall speak of the glory
of Thy kingdom.
And talk of Thy power.
To make known to the sons
of men
Thy mighty acts
And the glory of the majesty
of Thy kingdom.
Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom.
and Thy dominion endures over all
generations.
next post 8th December
IS JESUS COMING BACK?
PART ONE
(copied from
Y-Jesus.com)
Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus took His disciples to the Mount of Olives, where He was lifted up into the clouds, out of their sight. While they were gazing up in bewilderment two men in white apparel
(angels) told them:
"Men of Galilee, why are you
standing here staring at the sky?
Jesus has been taken away
from you into heaven. And
someday, just as you saw Him go,
He will return."
These angels weren't saying anything new, they were merely confirming
Jesus' clear promise that He would return some day in power, glory, and judgement.
Broken Promise?
It has been nearly 2,000 years since Jesus left earth, and many wonder
why He has taken so long to return.
In his book "Why I am not a
Christian," Betrand Russell accused Jesus of breaking His promise to
return.
Russell argues that Jesus couldn't
have been "all wise" if He broke such
an important promise. He certainly couldn't have been God as He
claimed so frequently. Is it possible
that Russell is right about Jesus breaking His promise?
The apostle Peter,
predicted that scoffers
like Russell point to
Jesus' delay as a
broken promise.
He writes:
"First I want to remind you that in the last
days there will be scoffers who will laugh at the truth and will do every
evil thing they desire. This will be their argument, 'Jesus promised to come back, did He? Then where is He?
Why as far back as anyone can
remember, everything has remained
the same since the world was first created?'
Perhaps Russell and other scoffers should have looked closer at Peter's words, as well as what Jesus said
about the timing of His return, and
the events that would precede it .
Jesus did say that, although no man would know the exact timing of His return, certain clues would tell us
that it is drawing near.
Additionally, the Old Testament prophets and Jesus' apostles also provide insight about what the world scene will look like just prior to the
return of Jesus Christ. Let's look
briefly at a few of these clues to the general timing of Jesus' return.
next post 6th December
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 62
(Mark Cahill's Book)
Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house,
thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife,
nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is
thy neighbour's
(Exodus 20:17)
Coveting - desiring something that is not
rightfully ours - opens up the floodgates
for so many sins in our lifetime. We covet
something before we steal, we covet
someone before we commit adultery. We
covet something and are tempted to
disobey our parents or the law of the land
to get it.
Coveting involves craving to get life's
possessions or life's circumstances - success, marriage, fame, - in a wrong way.
Advertisers work on people's hopes and desires to get the to buy a product. If that hope is awakened in people they may begin coveting -being envious or jealous of what others have. The wrong next step is taking what you want, rather than earning or doing without. We slap God in the face and display disatisfaction over what He has decided to give us. God is looking at your heart.
Have you ever in your life broken this Commandment?
God tells us :
But we are all as an unclean thing , abd all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; and we do all fade as a leaf;
and our iniquities, like the wind, have
taken us away.
(Isaiah 64:6)
Our sin has become a
stench to God. We are
all unclean. We could do
millions of good deeds,
but they do not have the
power to wipe away one
sin from our life.
Jerry Springer once said: "A lot of people are to heaven. Why Because if I go then everybody goes.
Springer may want to joke about it, but it is not a joke. By saying this, he reveals that at least he knows that most people
think that God's standard for going to heaven is that you have to be good - but he isn't taking that standard seriously.
And now you know that standard, and the question to ask yourself is ; How do I measure up?
Mark Twain said it wasn't the part of the Bible he didn't understand, but the part that he did understand, that troubled him the most!
What a statement! None of us knows everything about God's Word. But when each of us looks at the Ten Commandments, God's Law, we find it most troubling, that even if we have broken just one of them, it is just as though we had broken all of them.
What? Is that true?
Here is what God has said about it:
......whosoever shall keep the whole Law !and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)
Another point that may surprise you is that being religious, or doing good works, or being an active member of a congregation or denomination, or contributing to good causes has zero impact on whether or not we get into heaven.
Here is what Jesus said about that;
Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father Which is in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? And in Thy Name hath cast out devils? And in Thy Name done many wonderful works?
And then I will profess unto them . I never knew you: depart from Me you who work iniquity?
(Matthew 7: 21-23)
If being religious won't help us, what will? That passage from the Bible lets us know that hell is going to catch many people by surprise. Will you be one of those people?
Our search for eternal truth is getting closer and closer to finding the right answer,
next post 30th November
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 61
(Mark Cahill's Book)
Ninth Commandment
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
(Exodus 20:16)
A headline in the Chicago Sun-Times read
"The truth is -Everybody Lies!"
Is that true?
Some people claim that they have told "only white lies." But I really don't think God is impressed with the colour of our lies.
Our entire justice system is based on the premis that witnesses "will tell the truth - the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Perjury, which is lying in court, is a felony for good reason.
How can there be justice when the truth isn't known?
Our survey found that 91% of all Americans admit to lying on a regular basis. Some may insist that they haven't lied - just stretched the truth a little. But how far do we have to stretch the truth before it becomes a lie?
Leaving out part of the truth to benefit ourselves is also lying. We also lie when know untruth is being told and we just let it stand. And telling even one makes us liars. In a teen survey conducted in 2000, seven out of ten students admitted to cheating on a test within the last month. In essence they lied by making it appear that they knew the information they wrote on the test.
Sometimes we lie because we think it is
easier than telling the truth. We think. But what does God think of lying?
But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21: 8)
One of the things I realized as I went through the Ten Commandments, is that God takes sin much more seriously than I do.
Jesus said: But I say unto you, every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
For by thy words thou shall be justified , and by thy words thou shalt be condemned
(Matthew 12:36-37)
Every idle word we speak will be held against us on Judgement Day. If idle words are to be judged what about cruel words? Profane words? Blasphemous words?
The Bible tells us to keep our speech simple, and clear and honest
But let your communication be, yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh
of evil.
( Matthew 5:37 )
In the Bible one eyewitness could not convict someone of a crime. The witness might be lying or mistaken.
So two or three witnesses were required
in order to convict a person.
And here is something even more interesting;
If someone was given the death penalty - usually death by stoning - do you know who had to throw the first stones? The eyewitnesses! Why? To discourage witnesses from lying. God knew when He gave this law,
that people who might be willing to lie about someone, - out of envy or revenge or for money, - would not be willing to stand face to face with them and throw a stone at their head, in an effort to kill them.
And if they threw the stone half-heartedly, or seemed ashamed when they confronted the accused, then their testimony against the condemned person, would be brought into question, and the false accuser might find
himself facing execution for attempted murder.
God wanted true judgment not false. How are your words going to stack up on judgment day?
God's Word warns us:
..... behold ye have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out ( Numbers 32:23).
We often think we can hide our sin, but our sins will certainly find us out. Everything is laid bare before the eyes of Almighty God.
Neither is there any creature that is not
manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes with Whom we have to do.
(Hebrews 4:13)
George O'Leary, former football coach at Georgia Tech, was offered his "dream job," : head coach at the University of Notre Dame. You could see how excited he was by the look on his face at his press conference.
Someone from his hometown wanted to write a positive piece on him for the local paper. So the reporter got his resume, started looking things up, and found a couple of discrepancies about his education.
It turned out that O'Leary had fudged
resume early in his career to get acoaching job, and had never changed it. By thetime the storm reached its peak just six days later, he resigned - due to something on a resume from thirty years earlier.
Time does not forgive sin. We like to think it does, but it doesn't. If George had corrected the lies he would have been fine.
Is there a way for us to correct our sins before God? Since we just read Revelation 21:8, which says that " all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone," we need to know if there is a way to correct our lies before then.
Charles Spurgeon, the great nineteenth-century preacher, who, by the age of twenty-one, was the most popular preacher in London, and preached to thousands every Sunday, for more than forty years said:
The very least offence against God is so intolerable, that if hellfire were to be put out, one sin would kindle it again.
God takes sin very seriously. Do you?
Ask yourself this question: have I ever told one lie in my entire life? If I have
that makes me a liar in the eyes of Almighty God.
next post 28th November
TWENTY SEVENTEEN
PART 33
Hello Folks,
It is now 7th August - Ruth goes to town to exchange wrong wiring for our solar system, at Builder's Warehouse. She also collects and takes medication to Natie who is in bed with flu
My eyes are a bit better today. More tests for Jeff today - he is on a drip for feeding purposes and another drip for medication.
Ruth has been having difficulty in giving
Sally her insulin injections. She to have two a day and I think her neck is very sore because that is where she gets injected and so she now wants to bite.
8th - More tests for Jeff.
9th - Jeff is now allowed to eat soft foods, lile oats and yoghurt - he still brings some of it up.
10th - Jeff can go home today if he manages to keep food in his stomach.
11th - Friday - Jeff goes home today - he is not allowed to drink any alcohol.
12th - Today Danny has been gone two months - the pain is still unbearable . I don't know how I would ever have got through this excruciating time without the help of God.
The power also still goes off daily. Late afternoon bi-polar rears its ugly head once more. Very nasty
13th - Amanda pays us a visit - she is really comical, you just cannot help laughing when she is around. Today I managed to do two new blogs. I have no energy and have to force myself.
14th August - Monday - Worked on my blog again today managed to complete one and a half posts.
Charmaine doesn't want any food today she is fasting.
15th I sleep all day.
16th - Marieta's 75th birthday today - I phone her and she is well. I sleep all day again. Escom power goes off at 10pm
17th - The power is still
off - Ruth charges my
tablet on solar. 5pm
power is still off.- while
writing this line power
tries to come on twice but just flickers. Now the water is also off as the pump for the water needs electricity and the emergency tank has now run dry.
18th Friday - power is still off - Ruth goes to town for water, gas and petrol for our generator. The power line is down on Beulah property. Power comes back on a 3pm, just after we connect the generator. The power was off for 41 hours.
Very unpleasant, uncomfortable week.
Trust in the Lord and don't despair
He is a friend so true.
No matter what your troubles are
Jesus will see you through
Sing when the day is bright
Sing through the darkest night
Every day, all the way
Let us sing, sing, sing.
Power off again 5pm - use generator again. Power comes on at 8.15pm - power had now been off for 44 hours in the period 16th to 18th.
next post 3rd December
TWENTY 
