Of the Week

The words of this hymn were written by William Cowper and were published in 1779 in Olney Hymns.   This poem is a beautiful reminder of how God heals, comforts, cheers, saves, guides, and provides. Sometimes a light surprizes    The Christian while he sings ; It is the LORD who rises    With healing in His wings : When comforts are declining,    He grants the soul again A season of clear shining    To cheer it after rain. In holy contemplation,    We sweetly then pursue The theme of GOD'S salvation,    And find it ever new : Set free from present sorrow,    We cheerfully can say, Ee'n let th' unknown to-morrow    Bring with it what it may. It can bring with it nothing    But he will bear us thro' ; Who gives the lilies clothing    Will clothe His people too : Beneath the spreading heavens,    No creature but is fed ; And he who feeds the ravens, ...

Show: VeggieTales Episode:  "Madame Blueberry" Year: 1998 Words & Music: Phil Vischer Production, arrangment, performance: Kurt Heinecke "True simplicity begins when you learn to enjoy the amazing abundance of what is already yours." Thomas Kinkade

Online Bible is an app you can use for reading and studying God's Word. Many Bibles and religious resources are available for download. I find it helpful for looking up the Hebrew and Greek words of Scripture. Visit the links below if you would like the application on your iOS device, Android device, Mac, Windows computer, or Linux computer. iOS (App Store) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/online-bible/id689283051?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 Android (Google Play Store) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nl.cross_link.droid.olb Mac (macOS App Store) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/online-bible/id1008750651?mt=12&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 Windows  (website download or DVD) http://onlinebible.net/ Linux (DVD) http://onlinebible.net/mac-linux-information/ "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. ...

"Be Still, for the Presence of the Lord" was written by David Evans and published in the 1980s. I t is the United Kingdom's third favorite hymn a ccording to a 2013 poll conducted by the BBC program Songs of Praise.  The version in the video below is from The Hymns Album by the Huddersfield Choral Society, Joseph Cullen, and  Darius Battiwalla . The beautiful hymn tells of the awesome presence, glory, and power of God. " Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! " Psalm 46:10 NKJV

Composer: Tomaso Albinoni Concerto: Concerto a cinque Op. 9, No. 2 for Solo Oboe and Strings in D minor Collection: 12 Concerti a cinque Year published: 1722 "Albinoni was a composer of color and mastery." David Dubal

by Bliss Carman THERE is something in the autumn that is native to my blood— Touch of manner, hint of mood; And my heart is like a rhyme, With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time. The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry Of bugles going by. And my lonely spirit thrills To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills. There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir; We must rise and follow her, When from every hill of flame She calls and calls each vagabond by name. photo taken October 2012; light & size edited in Apple Photos in October 2018 "How beautifully the leaves grow old! How full of light and color are their last days!" John Burroughs  

by Jonathan Ashurst written October 2018 My Grandma Ashurst taught me To listen for the chords When playing the piano, When walking with the Lord. Some notes sound well together; Some chords have hints of strife. There's lots of life in music; There's music in each life. Here's what my Grandma taught me, The piano player from Wales: Look for the bigger picture, The story each song tells. Be mindful of the pattern, The sequence that unfolds; Awareness of this framework Will make your playing bold. Maintain a steady rhythm Through every changing mood; Bring joy to all who hear you Through each vicissitude. Find beauty in the thickness Of life's cacophony, And celebrate God's goodness In this grand symphony. When genius comes out clunky, Just laugh and keep your poise. Have fun while you are playing; Bring melody from noise. The key to making music, The secret to life's art, Is more than hitting notes right: It's playi...

This week's featured song is "She Waits," the title track of the Gray Havens' new 2018 album  She Waits.  "She" in the song is creation, and the song is based on the Romans 8 passage quoted at the end of this post. Dressed in chains, now she waits, lookin' back upon that day when the dawn first held its gaze upon the son and the daughter's face. But strange now it seems, like some dark and distant dream. Still she hopes and longs to be once again, and finally free. So she waits . . . She's seen empires come and go, watched the kingdom's children grow— sparks and embers far from home born to shine and to behold. 'Cause on her chain is a lock, and the key is the radiance she will see from the light that's gonna be cast from the sons and the daughters free. So she waits . . . She's a captive till she sees, by the Morning Light redeemed, sons and daughters. She waits . . . It's been a long time comi...

My grandmother passed away last week. She was a remarkable lady, someone who assured us of God's promises, experienced His peace, shared His joy, and lived His love. Today on this blog, I have included a portion of the apostle Paul's letter to the Corinthian church—because my grandmother demonstrated this "1 Corinthians 13 love." We thank God for the blessing that she was in our lives, and we look forward to the day when we will see her again. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, i...

Band: Midsummer Album: The Stories You Tell Year: 2017 There's a cold and sunny day captured in a photograph long gone. I can see it now; we were still deciding where we should call home. Taking in the city view and wandering what the coming months would bring, we turned our jacket collars up to keep us from the biting wind. Summer may be over, but September may yet have more sunny days. What we've had and what we've lost, remember through the music we've made. There's a cold and sunny day; it has left a picture in my mind. I can see it now anytime I choose to close my eyes. Something was moving over us, and we were at the start of something new. We sat with friends and strangers taking in the frozen sunshine view. Summer may be over, but September may yet have more sunny days. What we've had and what we've lost, remember through the music we play. Summer may be over, but September has more sunny days than June. Through the miles ...

"approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ" _______________________________________________________ Of the Week is six years old. This is its fifth theme verse.

I created this animation in fall 2014 for an IT class I took at Middle Georgia State College. The animation was created in Adobe Flash. It tells part of the true story of Jonah, as found in the Old Testament Scriptures. Enjoy! " Salvation is of the LORD. " Jonah 2:9

After this puppet show book talk, you might be inspired to read Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. "' I want to know what the Crocodile has for dinner!' . . .  'Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out.' " Rudyard Kipling

Artist: Original Jonathan Album: Oasis Year: 2011 originaljonathan.blogspot.com "Then [the Israelites]  came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. " Exodus 15:27 ESV

Words: William P. Merrill  Music: William H. Walter Singers: Oklahoma Christian University Recorded: October 18, 2013 Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things; Give heart and soul and mind and strength To serve the King of kings. Rise up, O men of God! His kingdom tarries long; Bring in the day of brotherhood, And end the night of wrong. Rise up, O men of God! The Church for you doth wait, Her strength unequal to her task; Rise up and make her great. Lift high the cross of Christ; Tread where His feet have trod; As brothers of the Son of man, Rise up, O men of God! listen here " Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. " 1 Corinthians 16:13 ESV

If you're planning to take a flight somewhere, I highly recommend using Google Flights to help. After you enter the locations and dates,  Google Flights will display a variety of options from various airlines . You can see results for round trip, one way, or multi-city. You can limit your search by the number of stops, airline, outbound and arrival times, connecting airports, and flight duration.  With the price graph, you can move your cursor along the bar chart to see the varying prices for the length of trip you want (e.g., 21 days). Once you've made a selection, Google will sometimes make suggestions in the results. For example, if it's cheaper to fly out a day earlier or to fly into a different airport from the one you selected, it will probably tell you that at the top of the results. You can also track prices for a specific date/location selection—if you want to get emails when there are significant price changes. Once you actually select a flight, return fli...

Artist: Josh Garrels Album: Love & War & the Sea in Between Year: 2011 Farther along, we'll know all about it. Farther along, we'll understand why. So cheer up my brothers; live in the sunshine. We'll understand this all by and by. Tempted and tried, I wondered why the good man dies, bad man thrives, and Jesus cries cause he loves 'em both. We're all cast-aways in need of rope, hangin' on by the last threads of our hope. In a house of mirror full of smoke, confusing illusions I've seen. But where did I go wrong? I sang along to every chorus of the song that the devil wrote like a piper at the gate, leading mice and men down to their fate. But some will courageously escape the seductive voice with a heart of faith while walkin' the line back home. There's so much more to life than we've been told. It's full of beauty that will unfold and shine like new-struck gold, my wayward son. The deadweight burden w...

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be. Those who are in the flesh can’t please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God...

1930 Uruguay 1934 Italy 1938 Italy 1950 Uruguay 1954 West Germany 1958 Brazil 1962 Brazil 1966 England 1970 Brazil 1974 West Germany 1978 Argentina 1982 Italy 1986 Argentina 1990 West Germany 1994 Brazil 1998 France 2002 Brazil 2006 Italy 2010 Spain 2014 Germany 2018 France "Since its modest beginnings in 1930, the World Cup has exploded in popularity, creating an international soccer community in a way that no other sport can match. " Matt Doeden