Religion and Spirituality

The Cardinals Hatched!

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments

The Cardinals Hatched

Here’s a picture of the cardinals that hatched last week. They’ve actually grown enough now and left the nest, so I have put the net down over the blueberries. I think the birds have gotten some but it looks like there are still a lot left for the harvest.

I may have fussed a bit in my previous blog about them building the nest, but I actually thought it pretty neat. God’s creation is amazing.

“As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings,” Deuteronomy 32:11 NKJV

The mother eagle stirs up the nest to make it uncomfortable for the young ones to stay. But then she provides  the means and help for them to leave.  Like the mother eagle, God will provide the means for what He is telling us it’s time to do.

Previous Post:  http://iwasthinking.me/2012/05/12/those-crafty-cardinals/

Much Ado About Half of Nothing

/ Bill Jones / 4 Comments
Typebars in a 1920s typewriter

Typebars in a 1920s typewriter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the way we lost one of the spaces after a sentence. Back in high-school typing class (yes, it was many years ago), the teacher drilled into our heads that there should be two spaces after a typed sentence. “…type, type, type, type, type, period, space, space!”

However, now I have learned that only one space is needed. As I understand, it comes with the difference between using computers/printers and typewriters. The modern combination can separate the letters depending on their width, while the outdated typewriter takes up the same width with each letter. Thus, with the typewriter, to ensure a readable width at the ends and beginnings of sentences, two spaces were necessary.

Since a space is actually nothing, we can say that now we only need half as much nothing as we did before. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.

We often hear, and say, there’s nothing to watch on TV. Having half as much nothing to watch doesn’t solve any problems. “Nothing” is the common answer to the question “Whatcha doing?” Doing half as much nothing doesn’t seem to matter one way or the other.

Perhaps Shakespeare’s play will need to be renamed “Much Ado About Half of Nothing”. And, if we’re able to do a task quickly, it may be done in “half of nothing flat”.

You get the idea – losing a space doesn’t have much serious effect. It just requires some practice to get in the habit.

But, when considering “nothing” we are given some principles to follow:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV

Nothing should interrupt the peace of God within us. In everything that happens in life, which will include trials and tribulations, Christ Jesus is with us, and we should be ever thankful for His presence and power.

 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 1 Timothy 6:7 NKJV

We are not here to gather things for the sake of gathering things. (This is part of the passage including “the love of money is the root of all evil”.) Our pursuits should not be for things but, as verse 8 tells us, if we have food and clothing we should be content. Then, verse 11 spells out that our pursuits should be righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

We can pursue no thing, and we can be anxious about nothing (or half of nothing), and find the peace of God – but it’s only through His presence and power that we ever find that contentment that the human mind can’t understand.

Vidalia Sweet Onions and Grace Abounding

/ Bill Jones / 4 Comments
Vidalia Onions Ready For Harvest

Vidalia Onions Ready for Harvest

This is the field across the road from our house. It was a pasture for 20 or more years until early this year. They plowed it up, installed an irrigation pivot and planted Vidalia Sweet Onions. In this photo, they have been “undercut” to bring them out of the ground, and the roots and tops were cut off by hand. They’re ready to be put in bins, which are loaded by fork lifts onto tractor trailer rigs and shipped out. 

We didn’t count them, but the trucks were moving in and out for 3 or 4 days in order to get all the onions. We definitely could tell there was a field of onions laying there from the smell that came across when the wind blew our way.

Reminds me of the Israelites complaining that they had no onions like they had in Egypt. They were remembering some small things and forgetting their rescue from captivity. We can remember that even a field full of onions doesn’t compare to the freedom that Christ has won for us!  

“We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” Numbers 11:5 ESV

Helping “Young” Christians

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) logo

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Speed dating

  I tried a form of speed dating in Atlanta a few weeks ago (please keep reading, it’s not exactly what you think). I checked the “available” list and filled out my “matchmaking” schedule ahead of time as required. The room was filled with 40 or 50 tables. Each session gave 15 minutes at a table – time to present your good qualities and hear about the other’s activities and plans – then move on to another table.

            My first date was with the Corps of Engineers’ Mobile District (What? Surely, you didn’t think I was really speed dating!). We made introductions and a few seconds of small talk, then, jumped right in to the “date”. As the two representatives read our consulting engineering company’s capabilities statement, they quickly moved into the “it’s not you, but it’s me” speech – “sorry, we don’t purchase engineering services – they come through so and so.” But, they did regret the situation, and they committed to passing the information along to “so and so”. I thanked them for their time and help, and we pleasantly parted company.  

            The rest of the sessions throughout the day were a mixture of results. Some echoed the first one, some were moderately promising, and a few stood out as a good match worth pursuing.

The matchmaking sessions were part of a Small Business conference sponsored by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps, other government agencies like Homeland Security, and large (read that huge) prime contractors were looking for small businesses to help them out. The small businesses, like us, were looking for work.

Our company, and especially me, are newcomers to this government contracting – so far, not really sure we want to get heavily involved. There are so many buzz words and acronyms it sounds like gibberish at times. Finding the right person or people to talk with for help isn’t an obvious process.

Surprisingly, the fifteen minute sessions were helpful. At each one, I learned more. The people on the other side of the table were knowledgeable and wanted to help. They simplified terms, asked and answered questions for clarification, and took me a little farther on the journey toward understanding.

If we’re “experienced” Christians we should keep those thoughts in mind. We can ramble off into buzzwords (Christianese as it’s sometimes called) and provide confusion instead of help to those coming along behind us. Instead, we need to make sure they know we’re willing and able to assist them, and take time (even fifteen minutes is good) and ask and answer questions for clarification. Our responsibility is to use those fifteen minutes, not for speed dating, but to take them a little farther on the journey toward understanding.

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV