Revealing God's Plan. Christmas Is NOT For Kids. What Do You Do With Your Time? Update.

For "Scripture Sunday":

Revealing God’s Plan.

Did you know that God has a set of holy days for you to be keeping—and that Christmas and Easter aren’t among them?

Largely ignored by the world, these holy days reveal the incredible plan of God and teach us what He has in store for every man, woman and child who has ever lived. This series of 10 short videos will explore that plan and what it means for you.

Discover the Feasts of the Lord Video Series

"God has a plan, and you’re part of it. Videos include “Revealing God’s Plan,” “Somewhere to Belong,” “Hope Remains” and “From Here to Eternity: The Journey of a Lifetime.”"

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Christmas Is Not for Kids

"When we really analyze Christmas traditions, we discover they teach children lessons that lead them in the wrong direction. Christmas traditions focus heavily on children, but they actually teach many negative character lessons. Discover why Christmas is bad for your kids
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Even though Christmas is technically celebrated on Dec. 25 by the majority of the world, people start preparing for it months in advance. Shortly after Thanksgiving children start sending letters off to Santa Claus, who also starts appearing in stores and malls. Parents start shopping for presents on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and may start setting up Christmas trees and lights around the same time. Most popular Christmas traditions revolve around children.

There are many problems with Christmas, which we explain in detail in many of our materials. But many people will counter those reasons with the excuse: “But it’s for the kids!”
Well, here is a proposition that may be surprising: Christmas is not for kids.
Christian parents should keep in mind the instruction to “train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6). When we really analyze Christmas traditions, we discover they teach children lessons that lead them in the wrong direction.  

Four reasons Christmas is not for kids

1. Christmas teaches children it’s okay to lie.

While children should be taught about the birth of Jesus Christ, it shouldn’t be taught alongside a holiday based on many lies about His birth. You can learn about those lies in our article “The Birth of Jesus.” Simply put, if children are taught about Christ’s birth from Christmas, they are being taught a totally inaccurate story of what really happened and when it happened!

But the facts of Christ’s birth aren’t the only lies surrounding Christmas. Christmas traditions emphasize the story of Santa who lives at the North Pole, of elves who make toys for him and of flying reindeer that help him deliver toys to the world’s children in a single night. These are all myths—lies!

Parents teach these lies while also expecting their children to be truthful. They fail to see that “harmless” lies teach children that some lies are acceptable. Instead of teaching myths, it’s much healthier for parents to teach what God says in His Word about lying and why it is forbidden in the 10 Commandments. When parents actively teach the values of truth and honesty, it doesn’t make sense to teach the various Christmas myths.

2. Christmas teaches children greed and selfishness.:

Complete article at: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/relationships/blog/christmas-is-not-for-kids/
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What Do You Do With All Your Time?

"Our time is our life, and how we spend it shapes our character, our happiness, our success and our future. How does God want us to spend our time?

We may not feel like it, but people today have more free time than ever before. For most of human history, people had to spend almost every waking moment providing food, clothing and shelter for themselves and their families. It is still that way in much of the world.

Yet, according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Labor, Americans over the age of 15 average more than five hours of free time a day. That’s almost a third of the time we’re awake! And, according to the same report, most of that unprecedented leisure time is used for entertainment: television, surfing the Web, video games and so on.

Free time: a blessing or a curse?

The way some people use their free time gets them into trouble. Geoffrey Chaucer, in the 14th century, is credited with being the first to say, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” The more modern expression that someone has “too much time on his hands” usually indicates he’s done or is going to do something stupid or wrong.

It’s important to carefully consider how we use our free time and on what we should spend it. Our lives are composed of time, so how we spend our time is how we spend our lives. How does our use of free time affect us? Are there leisure activities a Christian should avoid? Does the Bible give any guidance on how we should use our free time?

What entertains us, changes us"

More at: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/change/christian-conversion/what-do-you-do-with-all-your-time/

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Update:

With Jay working elsewhere most of the time, not much has been done to the repairs in the guest house.

My granddaughter, Michelle came to visit me on Friday evening and brought her lovely old Sheltie with her.  He was her late mother's dog, and he goes everywhere with Michelle.  It was good to see them again.

On Thursday and Friday I made a big dish of oven-roasted veggies and another dish of roasted zucchini and garlic for the church potluck.  The pastor's wife was all better so she took care of most of the potluck, but I still helped her.

The Bible readings were Gen.47:28-50:26, 1 Kings 2:1-12, Matt.8:5 and 2 Tim. 4:6-8.  The Teaching was about the Day of Yahweh (God), and how we should all be prepared.

This was the first Sabbath in three weeks that I had been able to stay in the chapel and hear the Teaching.  It is piped into the kitchen/dining hall, but someone always came in to help me and would start talking so I couldn't concentrate on it.

A guy who I have hired before helped me today and we pulled up parts of the floor in the guest house attic.  This is so that we can run another electrical circuit into the new kitchen.  There is an empty space in the breaker box, so that will be used.  Kitchens always need more than one circuit!!

With Live Writer not working, I am still writing there, but copying and pasting into Blogger.  I will be so glad to get my computer back, maybe I can use Open Live Writer then.  This back-up computer keeps on freezing up, though I have managed to list some stuff, and sold some items on eBay and Craigslist though, and that is mostly why I have a computer in the first place.
 

It was good to be working inside as it was raining all day.