Status Report: March

Sitting…on the couch in the living room.

Eating…a bowl of raisin bran as a bedtime snack.

Dreading…this weekend’s time change. I don’t need it. Nobody needs it. Why mess with our circadian rhythms for nothing? Want more daylight? Get up earlier.

And think about this: Now that they’ve extended daylight savings time from the beginning of March thru the beginning of November, we spend more time on fake time than real time. We’re all living lies for eight months of the year.

Finished…phase 2 of my bathroom painting painting project. I painted the green cupboard white. Three coats, inside and out, because green paint doesn’t like to be covered. Phase 1 was painting the walls white, and phase 3 will be painting the rest of the trim white. I’m going to have me an all-white bathroom. 

Missing…the grandchildren. Two have their far away grandma visiting this week, and the other’s been sick, so I’ve not had them here for their weekly grandma visits. I used the extra time for the painting project, so it all worked out, but still, I’ve missed them.

Pleased…with youngest granddaughter’s new home. They are moving this week to a better house (Remember all their furnace problems?), with a better yard (It has grass.), in a better location (not a slum), at a better price. My granddaughter runs through the house with her arms in the air shouting, “New home!”

Reading…the same books as last month. But I’ve made progress in each one, so that’s something.

Counting…the weeks until garage sales start, the leaves are on the trees, and the garden is planted.

Hoping…your March brings you spring and my March doesn’t bring me snow. (I’ll have to wait until April or May for spring, I’m afraid.)

Saying…goodnight. 

Theological Term of the Week

Bread of Life Discourse
Jesus’ teaching discussion on the bread of life found in John 6:22-58.  

• From scripture, an excerpt the bread of life discourse:

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:47-51, ESV)

• From The God Who Is There by D. A. Carson:

Jesus says he is the Bread of Life and unless we eat him we will die. At a superficial level, the notion of eating Jesus might sound jolly close to cannibalism. Or those of us who are more religiously inclined might think, “Maybe it’s the sacrament of holy communion or something like that.” Originally, that was not what Jesus meant at all. We must not forget that in the ancient world just about everybody worked with their hand or on farms, so they were closer to nature than we are today… . [I]f you were to ask anybody in the first century where [food] came from, they would reply, “From plants, fish, and animals.” They have grown or caught this food themselves. So anybody in the first century knows that you live because the chicken died… . All of this organic material that we feed ourselves with—which we must have or we die—has given its life for us in substitution… .

Either you die or something else living dies so that you may live. Jesus picks up on that language and says, “Unless you eat my flesh, you will die. I die so that you may live.”

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Heidlberg Catechism

Question 26. What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth”?

Answer: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is in them, (a) and who likewise upholds and governs the m by his eternal counsel and providence,(b) is, for the sake of Christ his Son, my God and my Father. (c) I rely so entirely on him that I have no doubt that he will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body (d) and further, that he will make whatever adversity he sends me in this valley of tears turn out for my good, (e) for he is able to do it as Almighty God, (f) and willing to do it as a faithful Father. (g)

(Click through to see scriptural proofs.)

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