My Faith View from Here - Daily readings and thoughts

Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year) 2 Kings 21:19-23:3, Ecclesiastes 5, Daniel 4:19-37, Philippians 1:21-2:18 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2021%3A19-23%3A3%2C%20Ecclesiastes%205%2C%20Daniel%204%3A19-37%2C%20Philippians%201%3A21-2%3A18&version=NASB1995 I Enjoy a Good Apple I am not a wealthy person but neither am I poor.  I have been gifted with some skills that I’ve been able to use to make every home we’ve owned comfortable.  Sylvia and I own 8 acres of land that is on the shore of the Bay of Fundy.  We have 2 vehicles, a 21 foot RV, a tractor and an awesome zero turn mower for cutting approximately 3 acres of grass.  We have enough money in investments to augment our government pensions and live comfortably.  I am very aware that there are many people who are much wealthier than I and there are very many people who do not have what we have. Having money is not bad in itself.  We do know that “the love of money is a root of all ...

Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year) 2 Kings 20:1-21:18, Ecclesiastes 4, Daniel 4:4-18, Philippians 1:1-20 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2020%3A1-21%3A18%2C%20Ecclesiastes%204%2C%20Daniel%204%3A4-18%2C%20Philippians%201%3A1-20&version=NASB1995 My Toys are Better My neighbour has a side by side ATV and many of the people I know also have a side by side.  I sure would like to have a side by side ATV.  My boss has a late model corvette and so does someone who lives just a half kilometer from my home.  I’d really like to have a Corvette.  Even better, a McLaren GTS.  If I get a better job, work lots of overtime and make lots of money, I can get a better side by side than my neighbour and a better sports car than my bosses Corvette.  My neighbours and my boss will be so envious. Ecclesiastes 4:4 says, “I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbour.  This too is v...

Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year) 2 Kings 19, Ecclesiastes 3, Daniel 3:19-4:3, Ephesians 6:10-24 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2019%2C%20Ecclesiastes%203%2C%20Daniel%203%3A19-4%3A3%2C%20Ephesians%206%3A10-24&version=NASB1995 A Time For … “There is an appointed time for everything.  There is time for every event under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). During my morning time of reading, writing and praying, I sit in a reclining chair on an angle towards the back patio door of our house.  Yesterday I looked out and it was sunny.  Today I am looking outside and it’s raining.  Yesterday, we went waterfalling and today I’m going to work in my attic.  There is a time for waterfalling and a time to stay inside and work in my attic.  I don’t control the timing for rain but both waterfalling and rain are good.   No matter what your take is on rain, or on waterfalling, one thing we can agree on is that time moves forward.   As I ...

Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year) 2 Kings 18, Ecclesiastes 2:12-26, Daniel 3:1-18, Ephesians 5:22-6:9 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2018%2C%20Ecclesiastes%202%3A12-26%2C%20Daniel%203%3A1-18%2C%20Ephesians%205%3A22-6%3A9&version=NASB1995 Jesus in the Weeds This may seem controversial but in my last few years of employment, 2015 - 2022, I worked for an Anabaptist Church.  One of the things I would often hear from our teaching pastor is the following quote.  I agree whole heartedly with this quote. “ We believe in the inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word of God, and his name is Jesus. ” To simplify my point, we often hear from both mainline and evangelical denominations that the Bible is inerrant and infallible.  The ideas behind those words are much older, but the terminology and the detailed theological formulations we use today developed much later.  I am not an apologist nor would I describe myself as a theologian, so if you are ques...

Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year) 2 Kings 17, Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, Daniel 2:36-49, Ephesians 5:1-21 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2017%2C%20Ecclesiastes%202%3A1-11%2C%20Daniel%202%3A36-49%2C%20Ephesians%205%3A1-21&version=NASB1995 More or Less “I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure.  So enjoy yourself.  And behold, it too was futility”” (Ecclesiastes 2:1) He explored alcohol, built houses, planted vineyards, made gardens and parks, ponds of water, possessed slaves, possessed large herds of livestock, collected silver and gold, had musicians to listen to, had many mistresses and became greater than all before him.  Anything he wanted he received.  Yet “all was vanity.”   I don’t know about you but I suspect you, the reader, are like me in some ways.  We have a nice property on the shore of the Bay of Fundy.  I would love to get the additional property on one side of us.  I would like to get a ...

Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year) 2 Kings 15:32-16:20, Ecclesiastes 1:12-18, Daniel 2:19-35, Ephesians 4 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2015%3A32-16%3A20%2C%20Ecclesiastes%201%3A12-18%2C%20Daniel%202%3A19-35%2C%20Ephesians%204&version=NASB1995 Truth Hurts “In much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain” (Ecclesiastes 1:18). This scripture really hit home to me today.  Particularly “increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.”   News is something that is intended to keep us informed on happenings here and around the world.  I tend to read the news on my News App on my phone.  I’m not big on listening to snippets of news in video form, I simply prefer to read.  It’s quieter too. I find as I’m reading news stories, I constantly have to have the filter on, determining what point of view the news article is being written from and whether the news is real news or simply opinion.  It can be...

Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year) 2 Kings 14:28-15:31, Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, Daniel 2:1-18, Ephesians 3 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2014%3A28-15%3A31%2C%20Ecclesiastes%201%3A1-11%2C%20Daniel%202%3A1-18%2C%20Ephesians%203&version=NASB1995 Resistance is Futile Have you ever wondered?  I have!  What’s the point of it all?  Those thoughts are quite depressing. As I’ve reached my mid 60s I find time turns faster and faster.  It seems just a few days back I was realizing we had reached the summer solstice and that just seemed a few days after Christmas.  Now we’re in the middle of September and almost halfway to the winter solstice.   Everything cycles.  The earth rotates daily and reveals night and day, the moon rotates once every 27.3 days and cycles through its phases every 29.5 days.  The earth, with its moon, cycles around the sun every 365 ¼ days.  It goes on and on.   Seasons change, water cycles ...