1st CORINTHIANS ~Chapter 8

I was reading my Blog posts earlier this morning to refresh myself on things I posted, and to gauge my progress in my Widow’s Walk … when I realized I had not posted a ‘Thursday Bible Study’ post in about a month’s time!

WOW.

Where has time gone this month?

To recap the last posting: 1 Corinthians/Chapter 7 was about marital obligations and Paul’s view on abstinence- for those who can abstain.

Abstinence works for me in my present … so that is where I am in my new life.

That said; today’s Scripture study touches on a mature Believer’s responsibility to the weaker brothers and sisters in The Faith. Those of us who are more mature in the graces of Yeshua, are not to flaunt our freedoms. We are to always to respect the weaker among us, and to be patient and empathetic in their slow progress – to encourage their steady growth.

It can be very frustrating at times to consider others around us; but let us be faithful ambassadors of Yeshua, and bow to those who are weaker in the faith, whenever that necessity arises.

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1^st CORINTHIANS ~Chapter 8

Now, as to things sacrificed to idols, it is true that we all know something about it. But knowledge simply puffs one up, while love builds us all up. And when a man thinks that he knows a lot, he still has a lot to learn. But if he loves Elohei, he will have knowledge of Elohei.

In the matter of eating foods offered to idols, we know than an idol-god has no real existence in the world. Elohei exists, but there is no other god. Elohei is One.

It is true that men have supposed that there are so-called {gods} both in Heaven and on Earth: we hear of many such ‘gods’, and many such ‘lords’. But for us, there is only 1 God – Avinu Shebashamayim (our Heavenly Father), the source of all things and the goal of our life; and 1 Lord, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, through Whom all things is made and through Whom we live.

This knowledge of Elohei is not shared by everyone. Some, having been accustomed to idol worship, still regard this meat as food sacrificed to a ‘god’, and as they eat, this defiles their conscience, which is already weak. But food is not what commends us to Elohei. We have no advantage with Him by eating; and we do not fall short by abstaining. Only this: you must be careful that your own freedom in this matter does not somehow become a stumbling block to those who are weak.

Suppose someone weaker in the Faith should see you at a table in an idol’s temple; you understand, but might not they be encouraged, if their conscience is feeble, to eat food sacrificed to idols? By your example, then, you may bring spiritual destruction upon this weaker person – someone for whom Mashiach died to save. And when you sin like this against your brother or sister, and further weaken thier conscience, then you sin against Mashiach Himself.

For this reason your practice should be: if meat is the cause of my brother’s downfall, then I will never eat meat again, for fear that I might cause him to fall.

**CORINTHIANS 7: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2019/07/1st-corinthians-chapter-7.html

HE SAID, "I'D LIKE TO MAKE IT WITH YOU"

Marriage scared me.

Seriously.

I had never seen a happy ... or a successful marriage among my relatives - or parents' friends.

I was more than happy just to move in with Bob and start our lives that way.

But Bob would not go for that: HE INSISTED ON MARRIAGE.

For every objection I gave - he would say, "I believe we can make it Val. I'd like to make it happen with you."

This went on for months.

Every night before he walked me home to make my midnight curfew, we'd have the same discussion.

He eventually wore me down one hot summer night when we were walking Commerce after having pizza and a lager at Pietro's Pizza ;-)

He pulled me to a stop in front of Zale's Jeweler’s, and said, "I believe we can make it Val. I'd like to make it happen with you. Marry me and be the mother of my children."

He already trusted me with his son (I made sure Alex was always a part of our dates when Bob had him for visitation weekends).

What could I do?

I loved Bob.

If he truly believed we had a chance ... then I was persuaded too.

We went into Zale's and walked out with 2 plain gold wedding bands.

I was 17, and Bob was 24.

And we made it for 44 years.

Marrying him was the BEST thing Bob ever talked me into :-D

LOVE ALL AROUND ME

Your Love Is All Around

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xEEhzAh6n4)

I watered my garden beds from the rain barrels this afternoon; and burnt my exposed skin – it feels like it is STILL sizzling hours later.

While I was outside, I saw little mementos of love all around me; a tiny feather fluttering in the breeze, near a rain barrel on the side of the house near my planter boxes …

… and 3 stone hearts showing near the rain barrels on the opposite side of the house:

It was so hot this afternoon, that drawing a breath came close to searing my lungs; yet I saw love all around me today in my garden area ;-)

I love you, Babe.

Always.

OX

DEMONCRAT DICTATORS RUNNING AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS

WOW.

This is scary.

That a political sector in society CAN FORCE A NEWSPAPER TO IT’S KNEES and demand the newspaper RECANT TRUTH & print THEIR BIAS is something a third world dictator does!

This is not the America I knew …

One political faction should NOT BE ABLE to force a newspaper to push their biases.

VITAMIN D DAY

Everything in my Bazaar Cache bins have been re-tagged.

And ... I had a heart-to-heart with my SIL, Merry, yesterday afternoon – and it actually turned into quite a nice visit for both of us after the air was cleared. So, we’ll see where it goes from here; I believe the general consensus was that we all love Bob, and his absence puts a huge hole in our lives – we HAVE GOT TO become a cohesive family unit, or we are all going to feel the bite.

Merry is going to take care of the Rosburg Hall stuff, while I deal with the Cemetery stuff on the 30th; she is picking up the tab too … didn’t know about that until she told me Sunday. But it is welcome. And I thanked her for her generosity. She’ll be there to greet people who may stop there for a pit-stop before finding their way to the Cemetery. In this way, she said, she will feel like she is doing something for Bob & me. And that WILL BE a big help; and I told her that I do appreciate her help in this way. I am sure I will be an emotional basket-case that day, so if she wants to deal with the crowd – I am happy to hand everyone off into her capable hands.

While I DO appreciate people’s help, I do not appreciate being told that I need to get out and do something to take my “mind off the situation” so I “don’t think so much”: that is offensive to me; and it is not helpful. I AM “getting out” – I am getting out quite a bit, actually. The problem IS … that I STILL HAVE TO COME HOME. I mean – I can’t stay gone! I have to eventually come home. And when I come home, Bob is not here. And THAT would be the case, NO MATTER what I do, where I go, or how busy I keep myself. Even if I relocated … I would STILL KNOW that Bob is no longer here, with me. So, getting out & doing things is not the problem. The problem is that Bob is not here – THAT is the “problem”. I can’t be busy enough to change the fact that Bob is not here – he will never be here again. Going for a drive, visiting with people, going to Fellowship Meets, going shopping … or even going for a walk … is NOT going to change my “situation”. And, I don’t dwell on “it”; but when I feel cornered, my mind does go TO Bob – because Bob never cornered me: and when I was put in a cornered position, Bob was my strength; Bob was my anchor. He would just open his arms, and hold me, and tell me it was okay … and that I would be okay. He calmed me down. And now, he’s no longer here. And NO amount of busyness, NO amount of getting out of the house, NO amount of letting my mind vegetate is going to change that. THAT is not going to change.

So, this afternoon; after laundry was done and the bread was baked and stored, I grabbed a hamburger at Baker’s Corner, and drove out to the Willow Grove river beach: where I ate, enjoyed watching people, and got my daily fix of vitamin D ;-)

Vitamin D is necessary for over-all health (https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/benefits-vitamin-d), and since I am letting the Bridge Program Insurance Plan expire in October; and I am avoiding doctors – I need ALL the help I can GET to maintain my health, and stay healthy.

So, off to the beach I went, since I can’t get to the mountains – where I’d rather be :-D

I ate Supper at Willow Grove river beach. I watched river traffic & people … and the cawing ravens watched me; hoping I’d be careless and they could make off with half my meal. LOL

Willow Grove was popular today; the temperature was 90-degrees, and the humidity was brutal.

We never let our kids swim in the Columbia River – some people do … but it wasn’t worth the risk to us. The Columbia is one of the most dangerous rivers in the world. Our kids all had swimming lessons, and they all swam like a fish; but when they swam, they either swam at the Town or City Pools – or they went to a back road swimming hole with us. People die every year at Willow Grove: we were not going to let our children be included in that watery death tally.

Heavy ship traffic is another reason we never let our kids swim here.

Things I brought home off the beach; while I walked it, and collected them …

While I sat and watched river traffic & ate; and, after Supper, walked the trails, and watched people; I also gave my thoughts free rein ...

Christians are the ONLY people who can grieve and rejoice at the same time. That may sound like an oxymoron – BUT – it actually makes sense. We grieve because we miss the physical presence of our loved ones, but we rejoice because we know their spirit is with the One Who loves us more than we can ever imagine. And we KNOW that we WILL SEE them someday: we do not mourn as the world mourns. We rejoice because we know we have hope – this life on Earth is not all there is; we KNOW we have MORE to look forward to after this life on Earth is wrapped up. Earth is just a stepping stone to something bigger and better. This life on Earth teaches us about the love of our Father … and about how much He loves us. And we rejoice that to be absent from the body is to be present with Yeshua! Life eternal – life unimaginable.

As humans, we still have emotions: we still sorrow – but we don’t sorrow to the point of losing our mind with grief: of being seriously depressed or discouraged. We sorrow because we love those that have gone on before us. We know that on this Earth, we WILL NEVER see them again. We’ll never touch them. We’ll never speak with them. We never hear their voice again. The life we knew together with them is now over. But we will see them again. We will see them again! Our lives will be different, but we will see them again; and we will rejoice with them in our new life. And THAT is something to look forward to ;-)

HALLOWEEN ALREADY!

I had to run into town to the Dollar Store for more poster board around 4 p.m.; then I hopped over to JoAnn’s to find a Gold Glitter Pen … and walked out $25 poorer when I didn’t find one: I bought a Letterboard & Letters instead – thinking about replacing my huge crocheted Frosty that I have been using the last 10 years as my Advertising draw:

HALLOWEEN ALREADY AT JOANN'S

LETTERBOARD & LETTERS for 'SOLO LOBO DESIGNS' SIGN

While waiting for traffic to move, a spiffed up young man (he looked like he was on his way to pick up his girl for a date) in the jeep alongside me had the radio blaring - so loud, MY car was actually pulsating - and a song came on that brought back memories of Bob and me, when we were young, and looking forward to a hot date on a hot summer night: and I instantly burst out in tears ... that's how it happens for me; quick and sudden when something triggers the nostalgic slideshow. One minute I am fine - the next, I am a teary mess of tangled emotions.

So, in an attempt to calm down and sooth my mind, I decided to go for a dike hike walk while I was in town; this time I chose the dike trail at 30^th ...

PICNIC TABLE IS SOMETHING NEW ...

And Cheryl called to ask if I wanted to go pick more blueberries with her and Mike tomorrow. YES, please!

Picking berries with them - and chatting with them - will be very welcome after the in-laws' upset the other day >:-P

The dike hike on 30^th was peaceful – and relatively quiet – I was the only one on the dike trail; until just before I reached the car on my backtracking return.

I think I might do more evening walks … it’s cooler; but I think I’ll wear shoes next time, instead of sandals: I got pebbly grit in my sandals, and that didn’t feel so good. But it was a nice walk; I’m glad I did it.

It was about a 45-minute walk ‘round trip.

I walk pretty fast - which makes my asthmatic lungs work harder than they should, so I hope I burned some calories too ;-)

MY BABY GAVE ME CIGARS

My ‘Baby’ (anyone remembering 1960’s lingo would get this), was 6’2” … so I called him Babe ;-)

My Grandfather Ball – my mother’s father – smoked fancy Cuban Cigars … and I loved the smell of them on him.

One time after we got married, some fella who worked with Bob came to work passing out cigars when his wife gave birth – Bob hated cigars, but he brought it home. When I was cleaning his lunch box to get it ready for the next day’s lunch, I saw the cigar and asked him about it. Bob said he took the cigar because the fella was so happy to be passing them out. I asked Bob if he was going to smoke it – Bob said, “No.”

So, I asked if I could.

Bob laughed.

He said the image of me smoking a stogie that was a long as his hand … and he had BIG HANDS … tickled his funny bone: but he gave it to me.

And laughed the entire time I smoked that thing down to nothing ;-)

I loved cigars; I loved the smell of them, and the taste of them.

Ever after that, when a fella was passing out cigars, Bob would get one and bring it home to me - presenting it with a flourish & a chuckle :-D

I sure MISS Bob.

I miss his twinkling eyes when he was giving me something that would guarantee pleasure for me; and a good night’s entertainment for him ;-)