I love bread.  Yeast bread.  The more yeast the better.  And it is certainly a Godly thing to eat, or there wouldn't be so much Godly stuff written about it.  Almost every time we see Jesus eating, or speaking, there is bread involved.

"Give us this day our daily bread..." Matthew 6:
"Jesus took the bread and broke it..."  Matthew 26:26
"I am the bread of life..."John 6:35,48
"Man shall not live by bread alone... "Matthew 4:4
"...the bread of God is He..."John 6:33
"...he took bread and gave thanks...Acts 27:35

And in the Old Testament, they regarded bread as a wonderful, pleasant, joyful food:
"Bread eaten in secret is pleasant..." Proverbs 9:17 )
"...go, eat your bread with joy..."Ec. 9:7   (I like this one.)

 And this next verse hints that I am going to get to eat bread forever in heaven. "...the blessed eat bread in the kingdom..." Luke 14:15  That is a wonderful expectation.

One of my earliest memories is of my grandmother making bread.  And the aroma still haunts my memory.  I never learned how--because I was surrounded by great bread and pie makers--why bother.  (I can't make a pie worth eating either.) I wish I had listened better. 

Both grandmothers had an ongoing argument over whether to use an egg or not.  As far as I was concerned, it was a moot point because both of them were experts at making yeast bread.

 Yum. 

We had an old hymns sing-a-long today at a covered dish luncheon at the church.  I am an alto, and in this day of no hymn books, no music score, and no four part expectations, I guess I am a dinosaur because I know how to harmonize.   I couldn't reach the soprano notes if I tried my hardest--so if I am going to sing, it has to be lower.

So the music director--sitting across the room--kept looking around the room--for whoever it was singing alto.  And when the hymn was over, he stood up, pointed a finger at me and said, (in front of 50 people) "Are you the one singing alto?  We need you in the choir."

To which I replied, "Yes, I am.  And no, I need another thing to do like a moose needs a hat-rack."   I figured that would end the matter.  But no, he needs an alto in the choir.  And didn't let it drop.   So I told him that my only claim to fame was not singing in a choir, but singing pop in a trio, and once, I sang back up for Earnest Tubbs."  My church music participation has always been to play the piano, not sing.

(For all you young ones out there, Ernest was one of the first country western singers.  Who wants a country-western-pop singer in the choir.  Evidently, this director does.

Spring is coming on.  I want to spend my time in the yard.  And teach a Bibld class.  And mentor these two women I have been assigned.  And write this blog.  And teach this special class coming up on Genesis.  Where in the world can I find time to sing in the choir?

Didn't I just write about this a few days ago?  About learning when to say, "No."  And yes, I know, we are supposed to pray about things like this.  Or use some wisdom.

Looks like I will finally be teaching a study on Genesis this summer.  The educational director of my church asked to review my teaching materials and I spent an hour going over them with him.  I am glad for the opportunity to do this again.  It gives me a chance to make closer relationships with people, and helps them to get to know me better.  Eventually I will be one of the gang.

My new Sunday morning class is good.  I have had three Sundays with them and all is going well.  I finally feel like I am doing something useful again.  And feel like  I am a part of something.  Moving is such an uprooting of your soul.  Everything and almost everyone that I knew is left behind.   I am trying very hard to make friends--it isn't easy.  Making acquaintances is easy.   Developing friends takes a lot of time.

But I can do it.  Not like the friends that I had in Pryor, however.  Carolyn, Sally, JoAnn, Becky B., Kathy, Judy, Kathleen, Anita and dozens of others.  They love me.  It takes time for people to love you.  I love them too.  And my son Scott.  And wife Stacy, their four children, spouses and grand-children.  So many people back there.

There is only one way to make a friend.  Love them.  If they can look over my faults I can certainly overlook theirs.  But I can't think of any faults any of my friends in Pryor have.  I miss them.  But things are good here in other ways.  "Don't be unhappy for what you don't have; be thankful for what you do have."

Paul said, "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."  And Janie says:  I learned all about that the first 7 years in the USMC with Ken.  We moved 11 times.  And had 4 children.  And I made 2 friends.

I can do this.  Compared to that 7 years, everything else is downhill sledding.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is called the chapter on faith.  If ever there was any doubt about what saves a person, this chapter puts it clearly--it is faith.  This chapter is the Hall of Fame of faith.

Those listed who were saved by faith are Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah,Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab the harlot, Gedeon, Barak, Samson, Jephthae, David, Samuel, and others.

Not sacrifices.  Not being good.  Not good works.  Not being born Jewish.  And not keeping the Law.  This chapter spells out how people in the Old Testament were saved.  By faith.

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." 

Long before the Messiah, people were saved by believing in what God had promised.  A Lamb.  Who would take away the sins of the earth.  Sacrifices were made to show how that would be done.  But back then, the sacrifice was good for only a year.  Sacrifices were given to remind them of the coming King.  The perfect Lamb.  The Messiah.   Now, through Christ, by His sacrifice, forgiveness is for eternity.  Someday, when I stand before God and am judged, Jesus will say, "Yes, she did that.  But I have paid the price for it."

"Greater love has no man than to lay down one's life for his friends..."John 15 :13

Some people think that believing without repentance is good enough.  Not so.  You aren't saved so that you can keep on sinning.  You are saved to grow more like Christ.  To love others more.  To change your life with His help.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit within you.

Check yourself.

I now have a raised garden bed.  "John" is my new handyman.  And he is a worker.  He tires me out just watching him.  He raised the bed high enough so that I don't have to bend over very far.  I don't bend very well any more.  I don't unbend very well anymore either.

And--I don't spend hardly anything on anything anymore.   All extra dollars go for "service."  The only thing I really need is for people to help me do all the things I think up to do.

I can't wait to get my hands in the dirt and stick seeds in the ground.  There isn't much sun anywhere in my yard, so God is going to have to do the rest.   I sat on the ground and pulled weeds yesterday while John worked. 

You remember how excited Morgan Freeman was in the Shawshank Redemption when he got out of prison and headed to Mexico to find "Andy Deframe."  Well, that is how excited I am about spring coming on.

I have never seen a winter like this one in Oklahoma.  It barely existed.  We set records for warm days in February.  All the daffodils are coming up, the azalea buds are ready to burst into bloom, and it isn't even March yet.  Maybe God is in as big a hurry for spring as I am.

I got a check from the electric company in Pryor.  Seems like I overpaid for years--they never told me.  It is going into my yard.  Choosing what to buy will be hard.  More azalea bushes for sure.  I hope they live.  The ground here isn't good azalea ground, so I will have to buy a ton of peat moss.

I'm so excited.  I just can't hide it... 

I haven't been this busy in years and years.  Yesterday morning, I taught a class at 8:00 at the church, ran home to let the dog out and went back and taught another class at 11:00.  I teach by asking questions--making sure I know the answers!!  Everyone participated.  Somewhere in the middle, I visited with the woman I am mentoring.  But I missed church in the process of all of that.  Not good.

When I got home, I grabbed something to eat and drove to Moore to my grandson's 1st birthday party.  And of course got lost.  They were working on the road and the turn had been changed.  I was an hour late.  I think I am not really up to everything I am trying to do.  The spring chicken in me may have clucked out. 

Sometimes we need to check our selves and make sure we aren't just running in circles.  And ask the question, "Is this something I really need to be doing."  Maybe we need to sincerely adopt the idea that we need a day to do nothing.  Maybe that is why God told us:  "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy."

That was one of the 10 commandments.  Maybe God puts a higher priority on resting than we do since resting was first observed by God himself.

Genesis 2:2-3 "And on the seventh day God...rested...from all his work...And God blessed it and sanctified it..."

I'm going to pull a Scarlett and think about that tomorrow.  Because I have to go to a breakfast at 9:30 with a group from church,  and the man who is going to plant shrubs for me is coming after that.  He is going to build me a raised bed for my garden.  I will sit and watch.  That ought to count.

There are a number of ways to find truth.  It depends on "Proof."  There are a number of ways to arrive at truth through proof.

1. Analytical or mathematical truth using a proven formula.  Remember the Pythagorean Theorem.
2. Logical truth.  If all birds have feathers, and a robin is a bird--then robins have feathers.
3. Sensory truth.  Touch, taste, sight, sound, smell.  Touch a hot stove and you will get burned.
4. Historical truth.  Established on a preponderance of evidence.  Not as reliable as other truths.
5. Elimination truth. I use this every morning when I solve the Sudoku puzzle.
6. Substitution truth.
7. Convergence truth.  When I taught Calculus, we were able to find the slope at a point on a curve.  You remember that a curve has no slope, but using "limits", you can find it at any point.  It goes something like this: if I step toward you and split the difference between us, then do it again and again, no matter how often I do that I will never really reach you.  But for all practical purposes the distance between us approaches zero.  Or, the "limit" of the distance between us approaches zero.
I love Calculus. But then, I love logic and "proofs."  I guess that's why I am a mathematician.

The proof that Jesus existed, that he lived, taught, was crucified, and rose again comes to us from a preponderance of evidence.  Historical evidence: gathered for around 5000 years.  Elimination truth: no one else has ever come close statistically to fulfilling 72 prophecies except Jesus.  Etc., etc.  If you carry that out to 72 places, not that many people have ever lived.  It is statistically amazing that Jesus met the qualifications.

But after you have accepted Him as the truth: God in man, the Son of God, or as Thomas said: "My Lord, and my God,"  something happens within.  You are changed.  His Spirit takes up residence with a broom and begins to sweep out all of that bitterness, hate, jealousy, spite, anger, and on and on.  You are never the same.  Peace begins to take over.  It is experiential truth.

I am not the same.  He has changed me.  Thank God.