Hot and Humid

We are having a bit of break in our hot weather today.  It's 84 currently, and feels like 91.  Not too bad.  This past week we have been in a hot and humid spell here in lower Michigan.  It was in the high 90's every day, with a three digit heat index.  So glad we did not have a camp going on...it would have been almost dangerous to be outside doing high energy activities.  I know we don't have it as bad as Oklahoma or St. Louis, but the fact that it stayed so hot for so long is what made some new records around here.  The week ahead should be just slightly cooler.  Good thing, as we do have a camp coming in from Chicago...about 225 campers.  For their sake, I hope it's not too wicked out there.   


I've been catching up at work this past week, with the granddaughters gone, and Family Camp being behind us.  By Friday afternoon I was just ready to get off the grounds.  Was going to visit a cousin in Hastings, but she had other plans.  I went out to lunch with a couple of friends, but then I didn't know what to do with my time.  I went into a few stores looking for a sweeper for my kitchen, but I just wasn't in the mood to shop or spend money.   "Stuff" almost gets to me sometimes...and the stores have way too much stuff!!


I took off driving, stopping by McDonald's to get an ice cream cone and a sweet tea.  I didn't go that far, but spent a couple of hours just meandering down some country roads.  Driving makes me sleepy, so I don't like to get too far from home.  If I could have done what I was in the mood to do...I would have found a motel on a beach and taken a good book to read...just spending a day or two in solitude.  When I got back that afternoon, I curled up on the couch with a book, and took a nice nap.  


Hubby and I spent Saturday cleaning the grounds and mowing, between rains, getting ready for the next camp coming in.  I also cleaned out my vehicle finally.  Been meaning to do that all summer.  I took the dogs for a golf cart ride...they love the wind blowing in their faces.  At one point we got caught in a down pour, and Miss Kefli looked over at me as if to say, "Mom, I'm getting wet over here....can't you see?"


Well, I've entered into Romans into my daily Bible reading, so I have some good scriptures to share from my Daily Devotions Journal.  Here's my weekly update:


The Word for You Today:


"Life Stabilizers":

• decisiveness - choose to serve the Lord
• faith - mediate on and live by God's Word
• submission - to the will of God
• self-sacrifice - give yourselves fully to God

"What Sank the Titanic?"

• they thought they were immune
• they were asleep at the wheel
• it wasn't one big thing, but a series of small things
• the problem that finally destroyed them was hidden out of sight beneath the water line
• no one is immune to failure - stay close to God

Psalm:

• But as for me, my contentment is not in wealth but in seeing you and knowing all is well between us.  And when I awake in heaven, I will be fully satisfied for I will see you face to face. (17:15)

Proverbs:

• Kindness makes a man attractive.  And it is better to be poor than dishonest.  Reverence for God gives life, happiness, and protection from harm.  (19:22-23)

2 Chronicles:

• ...If my people will humble themselves and pray, and search for me, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear them from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.  (7:14)

Romans

• So you see how it is:  my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin.  Oh, what a terrible predicament I am in!  Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature?  Thank God!  It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord.  He has set me free.  (7:25)
• So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus.  For the power of the life-giving Spirit -- and this power is mine through Christ Jesus -- has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death. (8:1-2)
• So now we can obey God's laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us.  Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God.  Following after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace, but following after the old nature leads to death, because the old sinful nature within us is against God.  It never did obey God's laws and it never will.  That's why those who are still under the control of their old sinful selves, bent on following their old evil desires, can never please God.  (8:4-8)
• You are controlled by your new nature if you have the Spirit of God living in you, (and remember that if anyone doesn't have the Spirit of Christ living in him, he is not a Christian at all.) (8:9)
• For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts, and tells us that we really are God's children..  And since we are his children, we will share his treasures -- for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too.  But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.  Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. (8:16-18)
• And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit in us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering.  We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us -- bodies that will never be sick again and will never die. (8:23)

So may we walk in the Spirit this week and defeat the enemy who wants to destroy us!  

Thank you, Father, for the gift of the Holy Spirit...may I listen intently and follow closely as you guide me through daily life.  I want to please you most of all!