THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ACTS ~ Chapter 27

                                          

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ACTS ~ Chapter 27

And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they placed Paul, together with some other prisoners, in the care of a captain named Julius, a member of the imperial regiment. We went on board a ship from Adramyttium, which was about to sail along the coastal places of Asia Minor. And as we set out to sea, we had with us Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica. The next day we made a stop at Sidon. There Julius, who was kind to Paul, gave him leave to visit his friends and to refresh himself.

Then setting out again, we sailed along the south coast of Cyprus so as to avoid the contrary winds. And then, having crossed the sea along Cilicia and Pamphylia, we arrived at Myra in Lycia. There the captain discovered an Alexandrian ship that was bound for Italy, and transferred us to it. We sailed along slowly for several days and had difficulty reaching Cnidus. As the wind would not let us go on, we sailed along the south of Crete, passing Salome. And though hardly making any headway, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

Since much time has been lost, the fall festival was already over and navigation had become dangerous. Paul therefore gave warning. “Sirs,” he said, “it seems to me that this voyage will likely end in disaster and great loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also of our lives.” The captain, however, put his faith in the pilot and the owner of the ship rather than in what Paul had said. Furthermore, the harbor was not fit to winter in, so the great majority favored the idea of setting out to sea again, in hopes that they might possibly reach port and winter in Phoenix, a harbor in Crete facing northeast and southeast.

Then, when a gentle south wind started to blow, they supposed that their plan was favorable, so they weighed anchor and set sail, keeping close to the Cretan shore. But it was not long before a terrible gale, known as a north-easter, burst down upon them. The ship was caught in the grip of the wind and could not face it, hence we gave up and were driven before it. As we passed under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we managed with great difficulty to make the ship’s boat safe. They hoisted it up and then they bound ropes around the ship to brace it. But from fear that they would be thrown upon the Syrtis quicksands, they lowered the sail and let the ship drift.

The next day, as the ship was violently tossed about by the tempest, they began to throw the cargo overboard. And on the 3^rd day with their own hands they threw overboard the ship’s tackle. For many days we saw neither sun nor stars, and a great storm continues to bear down on us, so finally we lost all hope of being saved.

And when they had not food to eat for a long time, Paul stood among them and said, “Friends, truly you should have listened to me and not set sail from Crete to undergo this disaster and loss. But now I want to encourage you to be of good cheer, for there will not be any loss of life among you, but only the loss of the ship. For last night there stood by my side an angel from the God to whom I belong and whom I serve.  The angel said, ‘Paul! Don’t be afraid! You must appear before the emperor, and Elohei has given to you the lives of all your fellow voyagers.’ Therefore, cheer up men! I believe in Elohei, and that it will turn out exactly as it was told to me. We shall, however. Be shipwrecked on some island.”

On the 14^th night of the storm, as we were drifting about in the Adriatic Sea, the sailors about midnight began to suspect that land was near. By taking soundings they found the depth to be 120 feet. When they had gone a little further, they sounded again and found 90 feet. Then, fearing that we might be dashed against the rocky shore, they dropped 4 anchors from the stern and waited for dawn to come soon. The sailors were planning to abandon the ship. So, under pretense that they were going to drop anchors from the prow, they lowered the boat into the sea. Then Paul said to the captain and the soldiers, “These men must stay in the ship or you cannot be saved!” Then the sailors cut away the ropes of the boat and let it go.

Just before the break of day, Paul urged them all to eat some food. “Today is the 14^th day,” he said, “that you have not had time to eat because of your being on watch. I beg you, therefore, to take something to eat. You need it for your own safety. For not one of you will lose even a hair of his head.” Having said this, he too some bread, gave thanks to Elohim before the all, broke the bread and began to eat. All of them, then, much encouraged, helped themselves to food. There were, all told, 276 of us on the ship. When they had satisfied their hunger, they threw the supply of grain into the sea in order to lighten the ship.

When daylight came they could not recognize the land, but they spied a bay with a bench and resolved to run the ship ashore there if possible. So they cat away the anchors and left them in the sea. Then they loosened the ropes on the rudders, hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the shore. But they struck a shoal, made by 2 opposing sea currents, and the ship ran aground. The prow of the ship stuck fast and was immovable, but the stern broke up under the violent pounding of the waves. The soldiers had in mind to kill the prisoners, fearing that they would swim ashore and escape. But the captain wanted to save Paul and prevented them from carrying out their intentions. He ordered all who could swim to jump overboard and strike out for the shore. And as for the rest, some should use boards, and others should grab anything they could find on the ship. And in this way it came about that they all got safely to land.

**ACTS 26: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-gospel-according-to-acts-chapter-26.html

HARD LESSONS

OMG ...

This is SO HARD!

So … I took care of most of the name changes the day before Christmas after Hub’s Death Certificate finally arrived; couldn’t do anything until then. Today I am still trying to switch everything into my name, and was totally unprepared for hidden transfer fees and delayed transfers - taking Hub's name off the house title/property tax is $46.00 ... not large, but when you don't have it, it IS a large sum. Ditto for the vehicle title transfer, which is $37.50: I hope and pray I will have these sums available the end of February to get it done. I thought that since both our names are on everything it would just be a simple procedure to pull his name and switch everything to my name only – but ((((NO))))!!!! – I have to also have the Titles on hand with Death certificate and Marriage License; WHO walks around with these things on their person? And then AARP has UPPED the Insurance costs to an additional $22/yr because now "there is only 1 driver instead of 2"; uuhh … oookaaay. Seems to me the price should go down since there is only 1 driver. Right? And the Bank wants me to WAIT 3 months - at least - to be sure "any forthcoming checks in his name can be cashed instead of held up if you do it now." I get it, kinda: but I just don't want to be dealing with grieving and crying anew for months on end when having to put things off.

I just want all of it o.v.e.r already! Losing him is hard enough without revisiting it again, and again, and again just to make the tax man happy. How can I move forward if I am kept in suspended limbo or am dragged backwards time and time again?

No one tells you these things beforehand so you are prepared. Hubs and I discussed life after death many times over the past decades, and he did everything he could to make sure I would not be left struggling if he went before me. I thought we had everything covered: apparently not. I hope there are no more sudden surprises.

It is hard to find them out unexpectedly when you are already dealing with so many other things you now have to do on your own :-(

VIEWS ON CREMATION

For years my husband and I debated and struggled with the topic of physical burial v.s. cremation, but 3 years ago we finally settled on cremation: it is cheaper and we could not find in the Scriptures ANY DIRECT FORBIDDANCE of cremation. People from Jewish and Christian background have their differences of opinions, but opinions are just that: o.p.i.n.i.o.n.s.

What sealed the deal for us was the fact that the process of cremation is by far less invasive and less expensive than the process of a physical body burial. We did not want an autopsy, and we did not want to donate our organs; these are things that we felt very strongly are unnecessary invasive practices that dishonor the body. Some disagree, but be that as it may, this is our viewpoint and we aren’t going to change it: when my husband recently passed from this life into the next, I was asked at his bedside if I wanted an autopsy, and I said, “No. We all know how and why he died – there is no point.” Then I was asked if I wanted to donate his organs; again, I said, “No. We believe our bodies were created for us specifically, and we believe in the resurrection of the dead … we want our organs to be buried with us.” Plus, my husband was 69 years old when he passed; his organs were pretty much worn out.

And we believe, according to our Faith, that when our physical body ceases to function as a living entity, our spirit (aka: soul) departs and is immediately in the presence of Adonai Yeshua. Scripture bears this belief out in Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 5:8, and & Isaiah 43:2. It is clear in Scripture that for Christians, death is NOT the end of our existence – death is merely the separation of body and soul, not the end of who we are or what we were created to be. Plus there are NO DIRECT SCRIPTURAL FORBIDDANCE concerning cremation, even though there ARE direct Scriptural references concerning the handling of a dead body.

In that understanding we made the decision to have our bodily remains cremated. So, while making funeral arrangements for my husband on the 14^th, I saw that it was so economical that I also made arrangements for MY OWN cremation and internment at a future date when Elohei calls my name – 2 for the price of 1 makes sense, and doing both also took the pressure off survivors so they don’t have to make a decision they don’t agree with, and their grief won’t be made more difficult. As of today, while I am typing this post, my children and grandchildren are not Christians … and they have no desire to become Christians: death hits them hard because they see death as a final farewell and the end of all existence. I, on the other hand, consider death a graduation and the beginning of real living. So I do not mourn as the world mourns.

And I personally believe Elohei can raise a body reduced to ash as well, and as readily, as he can raise a body reduced to decayed sludge; for us, we began to view cremation as a valid Christian burial practice. And, for us, cremation also seems a more humane way of caring for the deceased than some of the death disposal practices of ancient days … or even current days in some ethnic cultures.

JESUS OF NAZARETH Full Movie HD - English

MOD ALIEN SLIPPERS

The weather outside looks worse than it actually is; it’s not really cold here – 49-degrees – but the continual falling rain and wind gusts blowing in off the river makes it seem bitterly cold.

Yesterday while it rained, I worked up a pair of Alien Slippers …

MOD Alien Sippers. FINISHED!

I like ‘em; and I think the recipient will too ;-)

Again I used the public domain Slipper Socks original pattern (http://www.knitting-crochet.com/crochet/slisoc.html) and tweaked it to fit the design I had in mind:

Marking facial feature dimensions

Mouth sl st in place

Eyes made separately and sewn into place.

After the head features were designed and sewn in place, I worked the body as directed in the original pattern. The first slipper took the longest because I was designing as I worked it up – the second slipper went much faster.

I am soooo thankful for these orders because they helped redirect my thoughts and kept me from slipping into crying jags.

Today I got busy and cooked 4 Dinner meals (5-Bean Soup, Meat Loaf, Spaghetti Sauce, & Tuna Noodle Casserole) to be divvied up between this week’s meals and leftovers frozen for future meals; I do this all the time, but the difference this time is that I am freezing 1 serving portions now, so they will go further (8 to 12 future meals now). I also went over the checkbook balance and the little savings I had squirreled away – squared those figures up with the Bills Tally January through February 2019 – and it looks like Elohim has been gracious to me :-) It appears that I will be able to skate through the next 60 days with little to no financial worries until the pitifully slashed Social Security check arrives the end of February … at least, THAT is WHEN I am hopeful it will arrive if there are no more unforeseen bureaucratic snags. When widows are dealing with all other death fallouts, they should not have to jump through government hoops or dodge government loopholes on top of everything else. But for now, it looks like I have ducked a well-aimed bullet and Elohei is watching out for me :-D

I will be able to “make it through December”, as well as January and February 2019.

Thank You, Yeshua!

INCONVIENCES

I woke up this morning thinking I would call Steele’s Chapel funeral home to find out if Hub’s cremation remains were ready to pick up; but while I was downing a 2^nd cup of coffee and working up the nerve to reach for the phone, they called me and informed me that the cremains, the Death Certificate, and the kids’ memory remains (to later be slipped into their own personal Urn Vials) were ready for pickup. So I called SIL and asked her to go with me. When we got there, the receptionist bagged up the container and said, “He had big bones … lots of density there.” I thought that was kinda insensitive, but yeah, he did have big bones: Hubs was 6’2” tall and built husky – solid as a rock. He did have big bones, He also had a big heart.

It was sad to see my gentle giant reduced to ashes stashed in a container no bigger than a teenager’s shoe box …

Later I had to go down to the Social Security Office to show the Death Certificate and Marriage License. ((((SURPRISE!)))) Hub’s benefits were cut 25%! I was NOT expecting THAT. The fella doing the subtraction was trying his best to be kind while doing an unkind activity (I actually felt sorry for him). He did what he could to give me every financial break allowed, including a pitiful widow’s portion (aka; “surviving spouse’s beneficiary), which allowed me a pitiable $25.80 addition to a drastically reduced income. And to add injury to insult, I was informed that I won’t receive a stipend from Social Security until the middle of February 2019 because I won’t turn 62 until December 29^th, 2018 … and “the office is backed up for the next 42 days” in which my claim will be reviewed and handled. This wonderful bit of bureaucratic news should tickle January’s bill collector’s funny bones :-(

I came home and refigured the family budget and I think I should be able to manage the bills and steer clear of the cat food isle if I am very, very frugal – I AM very, very frugal: every lose penny around our place already screams when I pinch it; now I will have to pinch until they are black and blue ;-) The kids are concerned and are being as helpful as they can be, but I really NEED to work this out on my own. I have to KNOW that I CAN DO this on my own. Hub’s always had confidence in me, so now ((((I)))) have to have confidence in me. I did take pictures of the ‘fridge, the freezer, and the cupboards … and sent them off to the kids and grandkids so they can see for themselves that I am eating healthy and there is not a can of cat food in ANY pictures.

And I have to lean on Elohei a little more: He is ALWAYS available to lend an ear, to listen to my cries, to put up my tears in a bottle, and to support me when I am too weak to stand. He won’t rage at me out of helpless frustration, treat me like I am dense, or make me feel like an imposition. People are human; and humans will behave like humans.

I can’t help the timing of Hub’s death (holiday season); it was and IS “inconvenient” – neither one of us saw August coming down the pike; we certainly did not expect him to die at Christmas time and throw an unwelcome warp into everyone’s lives. Inconvenient things happen at inconvenient times … THAT is what MAKES them inconvenient. I, like everyone else dealing with this death, has BEEN inconvenienced. I do NOT want to be another inconvenience: I don’t know what I will do, but I do KNOW that I WILL DO what needs to be done; and Yeshua will help me figure that out.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday ... not.

MOVING FORWARD

Tuesday of this week my pink Christmas Catcus began to bloom and that bit of cheerfulness catapulted me into moving forward – that brilliant burst of color gave me a nudge to get on with a purpose and a goal; this is what Hub’s would have wanted: he would not have wanted me to shroud myself in mourning misery and despondency as most think I should. He is not dead … he is alive, and more alive than he has ever been! All that took place in OHSU last Friday – on that final day of his life here on Earth – was that he shed that ravished body that housed his spirit. Now his spirit will live on forever throughout eternity. And so I am getting busy with getting on with my life until I join him there ;-)

I did a couple decorations … nothing fancy, just enough to be festive:

The candles in my windows this year remind me that we are to be a light to the world ... Hubs never ceased witnessing to those who attended him in the hospitals, or to those that visited him. He believed that even if he was not healed, his testimony was supposed to be given/heard. He truly believed that whether he got yet another reprieve, or whether he left his body, “maybe I’m going through this because someone needs to hear my testimony about God’s love and faithfulness”. With every breath he took and expelled, he talked about God. He was a light to the world – and I believe that light will continue to go forward in the lives of the people he ministered to before Yeshua gathered his spirit home.

Christmas Ivy Basket

Hanging Christmas Ivy

Kitchen tinsel garland along archway leading to Dining Room

Dining Room tinsel garland along archway leading to kitchen

Tinsel garland running along hallway leading to back rooms. Same tinsel garland runs along the LV archways. I like tinsel garlands at Christmas time, but it is getting very hard to find locally.

I received some Christmas orders (Thank Elohim! I needed those to redirect my thoughts) that I started working on and finished in record time; now that I am the only one in the house, I can work for hours on end with very little breaks ….

MOD Santa Hat ready for pick up – started late in the evening Monday, and finished the next afternoon.

I worked 2 adult sized (XL/male) Slipper Socks Tuesday – just standard; nothing fancy – so no pictures of those;LOL. But these cute little slipper socks for a child were fun to work up ;-)

MOD Pikachu Slipper pair ready for pick up – I started these yesterday morning and finished around 9 p.m. last night

I went online and looked at some pictures of the Pokemon Pikachu figure, and added those features to the original ‘Unisex Slipper Sock’ pattern I found online a few years ago. I only took time away from working on them to get another cup of coffee and eat a few sandwiches now and then. I like the way they turned out, and I think the recipient of these slippers will too :-D

Started MOD Pikachu Slippers yesterday – face in place

Stripes along the side ...

Ears designed, worked up, and sewn on. Back closed up.

Finished slipper.

And I went into town this afternoon to do some grocery shopping … all the way into town, not just to Wal*Mart a few blocks away from home. It went better than anticipated and I even figured out how to work the car heater … don’t laugh! It was a big moment for me ;-) I have driven this car a lot, but basically Hubs did the driving since he retired, and I never paid attention to the little details. Now I HAVE TO … so I will. I only had one weepy moment when I stopped at AT/T and had Hubs & 1 phone removed from the account: I was fine until he was deleted, and then the tears came and rolled down my face before I could stop them.

One step at a time.

But at least I AM moving forward. I know some people who have stopped in their tracks when a death hits them where they live – I refuse to let that happen to me: that is not living, and we are meant to live until we are called home. I can … and will … live alone, but I will not become a mourning zombie.