The rain has been here for three weeks and it only stopped a few days in between. I've heard rumors that we've gotten 35 inches of rain in 6 months; 17 of those are for the month of September alone. I have to remember that there is sunshine on the other side of the clouds. The good side to this is that I can get a lot of housework accomplished.
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (He brought me out of my slavery to sin. Wow, what a gift.)
3 "You shall have no other gods before me. (Does that include football games and spending too much idol time watching the TV or on the computer?)
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments. (I guess this means I need to love the lord my God with all my heart, soul and mind. If I spend more time doing the things that will keep me from Him than being with Him, I had better get my priorities straight.)
7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. (OK, this should be straight forward, no using his name in vain.)
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (I think I can relate to this one, God wants to be appreciated for all he's done. It tells me if he rested, I need to rest in Him on His day.)
12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. (I have a great mom and dad so this one is close to my heart and they have made it easy for me to honor them.)
13 "You shall not murder. (No problem with this one, however, hate is the root of murder, so getting my heart right is important.)
14 "You shall not commit adultery. (I would think this would be obvious, but who am I to judge, he wrote it down for a reason.)
15 "You shall not steal. (If it doesn't belong to me, I don't take it. I can ask to use something but I should return it promptly after using it.)
16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. (No lying about others to make myself seem better than others.)
17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."(Keep my eyes on myself and be grateful for all God has given me.)
Building strong family life is always a priority in serving God.
The family is the oldest and most basic of human institutions. In both the Israelite culture of the Old Testament and the Hellenistic culture of the New Testament, the household might consist of parents and children, relatives from several generations, servants, and even friends, depending on the economic resources of the head of the family. The Bible stresses its importance as a spiritual unit and a training ground for mature adult character.
The Bible pictures a clear authority structure within the family, whereby the husband is to lead the wife and the parents are to lead the children. But just as all leadership should be a form of ministry rather than tyranny, so these domestic leadership roles must be fulfilled in love (Eph. 5:22- 6:4; Col. 3:18-21; 1 Pet. 3:1-7). The fourth commandment requires the head of the household to lead his whole family in Sabbath observance; the fifth requires children to respect and submit to their parents (Ex. 20:8-12; Eph. 6:1-3). Jesus Himself set an example in this as a child (Luke 2:51). Later, He fiercely opposed supposed gestures of piety that were really evasions of responsibility toward parents (Mark 7:8-13), and His own last act before death was to provide for His mother's future (John 1"9:25-27).
The family is to be a community of teaching and learning about God and godliness. Children must be instructed (Gen. 18:18, 19; Deut. 4:9; 6:8-8; 11:18-21; Provo 22:6; Eph. 6:4) and encouraged to use that instruction as a basis for their lives (Prov. 1:8; 6:20). Discipline should be used as a means of corrective training to lead children beyond childish folly to self-controlled wisdom (Prov. 13:24; 19:18; 22:15; 23:13, 14; 29:15, 17). Just as there is purposeful, loving discipline in God's family, (Prov. 3:11,12; Heb, 12:5-11), so there must be in the human family.
The family is meant to function as a spiritual unit. In the Old Testament, passover was a family observance (Ex. 12:3). Joshua set an example when he said, "as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Josh. 24:15). Households became the units of Christian commitment in New Testament times. (Acts 11:14; 16:15, 31-33; 1 Cor. 1: 16). The fitness of candidates for church office was assessed by observing whether they had led their own family well. (1' Tim. 3:4, 5, 12; Titus 1:6).
Late afternoon at the refuge. Beth spotted this gator close to shore. I think it had a nest and was keeping close watch. After reading information about nesting season.. it could be a possibility.During courtship, male alligators can be very aggressive toward other males or toward humans. Mated pairs are frequently seen swimming or sunning together by mid-May; the male is the larger of the two. By the end of June, the pair separates and the female assumes her exclusive duties of nest building and guarding.
An alligator nest is a pile of rotting grass, other vegetation and mud. The pile is 3 1/2 to 6 feet across and 1 to 2 feet high, sitting in a site 13 to 18 feet across that has been cleared of vegetation by the female. By the first week in July, she lays a clutch of 20 to 70 cylindrical eggs. The eggs are 3 to 3 1/2 inches long, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and are buried 3 to 14 inches deep in the nests. Incubation takes about 65 days.
The female alligator stays close to guard the eggs from raiding raccoons, skunks and opossums. After the eggs hatch in late summer, the pod of baby alligators will stay together through their first winter and often through their second winter as well. The mother alligator stays close to her pod of babies, protecting them from male alligators, herons and humans.
Baby alligators must feed themselves. They eat minnows crayfish, snails, insects and tadpoles. They grow 9 to 10 inches each year for the first five years. As they mature, their diet expands to include fish, turtles, snakes, frogs, waterfowl, wading birds, raccoons, carrion and just about anything they can catch. By six years of age, they are mature and ready to breed.
WARNING: A female alligator will protect her family. Never approach a pile of rotting grass. Never approach a pod of baby alligators.
Beth and I went to a marriage conference recently. The message was on love and respect based on Ephesians 5:33. The conference was jammed with information and the speakers delivered a message that is almost forgotten in today's society. Husbands should love their wives but wives should also respect their husbands. Say what? Yes, we've all heard the submission verses for our wives but they probably don't mean what you think. Respect plays an important role in a marital relationship. Statistics show that husbands would rather a wife that respects him over a wife that loves him. Both would be best but respect is preferred. The more he is respected, the more he loves his wife and the more he loves his wife the more she respects. It was a very profound and meaningful message. The conference was located in Cordova, TN at the infamous Bellvue Baptist church. We went with a few couples from our church and had an enjoyable weekend.
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