Life's Ultimate Do-Over. 10 Commandments in the Old and New Testaments. Military K-9s. Update.

Life's Ultimate Do-Over 

“Where am I? Who am I? This isn’t the life I pictured for myself. I’m also pretty sure this isn’t the life that God wanted for me either.” Rehearsing every choice that has led you to this moment.
I’ve been there. I’ve looked around at my life and thought those thoughts. Those are not fun times, when I realized that I had let myself down, and I’d let God down.

Each day is a new opportunity to pray to God to help you make the right choices and to ask forgiveness for the wrong ones you’ve made.
The really good news is that you don’t have to stay there. You don’t have to stay in those moments where your life is in shambles and you feel alone. As Christians we have access to the ultimate do-over: repentance.

Getting real

Let’s get real about our lives and ourselves. How do we end up in those moments where we’ve taken a wrong turn in life and we’ve wandered further than we could have imagined? We get there because we’re human. Proverbs 14:12tells us that “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Without God we get hopelessly lost because we can’t see which way to go. We are told to follow our hearts, but problem with that is that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). We cannot do things just because they feel good, unless we are prepared to reap the consequences.

Just as God gave Adam and Eve a choice (a choice to obey Him or disobey Him), He has given us a choice:
God wants you to choose life—to choose Him—because He’s already chosen us, and He’s not letting us go. “The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God” (Psalms 14:2). And Jesus said, “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (John 4:23).
We’ve wandered away from God, and He’s there, waiting for us to return to Him, or maybe find Him for the first time. What does it mean to choose God? How do we do that?

The very first step is sometimes the hardest: Pray to God for forgiveness. Jesus spoke of this in a parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, drunkards, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14). This is the beginning of changing your life.

Turning to God is a process, but it always takes that first step. And every single day is a new opportunity to once again choose God and start anew. Each day is a new opportunity to pray to God to help you make the right choices and to ask forgiveness for the wrong ones you’ve made. It is never too late to start over.  It does mean that we can move forward. We can create a life that is beautiful to ourselves and pleasing to God.”
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More Canine soldiers:

He/she deserved it! Thank you for your service, sweet little doggie.
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Let's go for a walk they said.   It'll be fun they said.
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The sharp dried weeds/grass was probably hurting the dog's feet. He ain't heavy he's my brother!

Saw another picture where the human soldier was carrying his dog over burning hot sand.
If it's too hot or cold on the ground for you to go barefooted, it's too hot or cold for animals too.
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The 10 Commandments in the Old and New Testaments

“Jesus identifies faithful members of His Church as those “who keep the commandments of God” (Revelation 12:17). Some of the final words of the Bible and this revelation of Jesus Christ likewise state: “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14).
The 10 Commandments given by God in the Old Testament continue to be God’s expectations of Christians today. 
The following chart identifies references to the 10 Commandments in both the Old and New Testaments.
Old Testament
New Testament

First
Commandment
Exodus 20:3;  Deuteronomy 5:7
Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8; Revelation 14:7
Second
Commandment
Exodus 20:4-6;  Deuteronomy 5:8-10
Acts 15:20; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-20; Ephesians 5:5
Third
Commandment
Exodus 20:7;  Deuteronomy 5:11
Matthew 5:33-37; 1 Timothy 6:1; James 2:7
Fourth
Commandment
Exodus 20:8-11;  Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Luke 4:16; 23:55-56; Acts 17:1-2; 18:4; Hebrews 4:9; 1 John 2:6
Fifth
Commandment
Exodus 20:12;  Deuteronomy 5:16
Matthew 15:4-9; 19:19; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Romans 1:29-30; Ephesians 6:1-3
Sixth
Commandment
Exodus 20:13;  Deuteronomy 5:17
Matthew 5:21-22; 19:18; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Romans 1:29-30; 13:9
Seventh
Commandment
Exodus 20:14;  Deuteronomy 5:18
Matthew 5:27-28; 19:18; Mark 10:11-12, 19; Luke 16:18; 18:20; Romans 7:2-3;13:9
Eighth
Commandment
Exodus 20:15;  Deuteronomy 5:19
Matthew 19:18; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Romans 13:9; Ephesians 4:28; 1 Peter 4:15; Revelation 9:21
Ninth
Commandment
Exodus 20:16;  Deuteronomy 5:20
Matthew 19:18; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Acts 5:3-4; Romans 13:9; Ephesians 4:25
10th
Commandment
Exodus 20:17;  Deuteronomy 5:21
Luke 12:15; Romans 1:29; 7:7; 13:9; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3, 5

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Update:

Mostly my problem is getting decent help for the repairs and remodeling of the guest house. In what will be the new kitchen, the floor was floated and sanded, and the lino (sheet vinyl) is down, but it isn't cut to fit exactly yet. It is a white with pale gray marble pattern like 12 x 12" squares.   The windows that are coming out have had the outside vinyl siding and inside trim removed, and I just need the time and some competent help to get them out.  Then we can plywood that wall and replace the vinyl siding.  This wasn't done when that part of the building was moved from it's other location on the other side of town where it was in a really bad flood. It used to be a sun/plant room addition when it was there, and was mostly windows and skylights. Now those great big 5' x 5' single pane windows are coming out and just two double-paned windows are going in, so that wall will have to have plywood outside and insulation inside, where those windows were.

Computer, internet and phone problems plagued everyone here last week.  I had trouble using an old computer that kept on seizing up and wouldn't do right.  Then the computer guy at our church surprised me with my old computer rebuilt with solid state stuff inside it, and a genuine Windows 7. In my back-up computer and the one that he had loaned me it was just a revamped XP. This is my first day using it, and it is great. I can see pictures instead of empty squares and even look at the videos that I have to see for some of my work.  But I can't get OpenLiveWriter to work on it yet.

My new cat, Midnight Lace, Midi for short, who I now foster to keep Nala company is a very sweet old man.  He is playful, loving, and gentle so I think that they are going to be good friends.  At least she isn't pestering me to play with her all the time, though she still wants her 15 minutes of laser light play time last thing at night. That's fine with me, she is fun to watch.  Midi just looks at her like she's crazy, trying to catch that light that can never be caught!


The pastor's wife hasn't been to the church for the last three weeks,   She still had a drain and infection from her lymph node surgery.  So I was asked to ramrod the potluck each Sabbath, thankfully one of the elders, Gary, helped me each time.  We just have to get the crock pots a-warming, wash and get the salad set up.  The we make sure there is enough butter and seasoning on the garlic bread before it's put in the oven to warm. Then warm up anything else that needs to be warmed.  There isn't supposed to be any cooking on the Sabbath, so most items have been fixed or cooked the day before on Preparation Day.  It is always interesting to see what each person brings.  I took a beef stew and a fried cabbage/onion dish made with avocado oil, and Gary had brought a delicious salmon casserole. There was also lasagna, potato salad, a meat and rice dish, salsa, chips, cake, pie, brownies, and cookies.  There is always lots of food left over and it is taken by those who want it for themselves, or to donate.

We are still reading in Exodus, and it was 21:1-24:18 one week and this week it was 25:1-27:19.  As I was in the kitchen/dining hall for the Teachings, I couldn't look up the Bible verses, but it was uplifting to hear them.  One was about Troublesome Times, and this week it was about Prophesies.

For the last week the weather has ranged from below freezing to t-shirt weather, like today.