The Love of God

We sang this song today.  Tim always commented on verse 3.  We will never be able to understand how much God loves us.  Even if you had an ocean full of ink and tried to explain God's love on a piece of paper as large as the sky, it couldn't be done!  You can't measure it.  It is unique to God.  It's everlasting.  It is a gift!  Thank You, heavenly Father, for Your gift!

The Love of God

by Frederick M. Lehman, 1917
har. by Claudia L. Mays, 1917

1.  The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain:
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

2.  When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

3.  Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

“Frederick Lehman tells us that verse 3 “had been found penciled on the wall of a patient’s room in an insane asylum after he had been carried to his grave.” While it is only supposition that he was the one who adapted the Jewish author’s poem to leave us these well-known lines, if the account is true it shows in any case that he highly esteemed the message.”

Whoever wrote verse 3 could NOT have been insane!  Read it again, carefully, to get the message!  God shows His love for us in big and small ways!........

God's love painted in this beautiful sunset Saturday evening.

 

God's love is shown in the special people He sends our way!
Spent Friday night with our wonderful friends, Carolyn and Julie.  Here we are enjoying a delicious meal of minestrone soup that Julie made!  It was so good that we had it again for supper!  YUM!

God's love shown in the beauty of this Zebra Swallowtail butterfly!  Isn't it just gorgeous!  I couldn't believe I was able to capture pictures of it in the yard!

Another beauty and a new bird for my photographing!  An Indigo Bunting!  How pretty!

New plant hanger and the petunias we got for half price!

Better view of how they are situated next to the deck.

Another new plant hanger used to hang another bird feeder.  Ilene and I are going to plant some vegetables in this box this week.

Our latest puzzle of a blue jay.  The background was a nightmare!  Trying each individual piece in each spot every time, unless it had a very unique shape!

Yellow irises are beautiful!

A strawberry bloom!

Thank You, LORD, for Your amazing love!

HUMMMMMMMMMER!

Today.
Headache.
Groceries.
Cloudy.
Bird watching.
Ilene's flowers.
Flowers on sale.
Puzzle.
BBN Radio.
Bedtime!

Well, the tree by the back door of the parsonage finally fell over, taking with it some of the living part.

Buttercups.  LOVE these happy, little yellow flowers!

Enjoying the weather in short sleeves!

It was pretty nice most of the day.  This afternoon got very cloudy, but the rain held off until almost dark.

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird

We bought these 2 hanging planters half price.  The petunias are not in bad shape at all.

These needed pruning badly, but we figured since the plants are healthy that we could revive them for more blooming by getting rid of the old blooms.  We shall see!

YES!  A hummer!  I made the nectar earlier in the week by boiling 4:1 water and sugar, let it cool and then filled the feeder.

Another bird watcher!

The petunias are up closer to the house, near the deck steps.

LOTS of irises!

LOVE bluebirds!

Yellow irises getting ready to burst into color!

Do you see the bee in the azaleas?

Thank You, LORD, for your blessings on us throughout the day!

Hand of Protection and God's Goodness

On Saturday Ilene and I went to some yard sales.  All we found were some gospel CDs and a pair of shoes.  We went to a late lunch at Subway before going to Food Lion and then home.  We sat out on the deck with some tea to relax and enjoy the beautiful day.  I took some pictures of the flowers.  Then I decided to pick up some limbs and move them from the yard.  Before we knew it, we were working in the flower beds.  We got the flower beds cleaned out, pruned and plucked.  After that we went inside and got our baths.  Then I did some laundry because I wanted to wear a dress on Sunday that I had found at the thrift.

After the baths were done, we began working on the puzzle we have going.  We began hearing a beep that sounded like something had a battery about to die.  We thought it was the phone, so Ilene brought it to the puzzle table after the second beep.  Lo and behold the third beep sounded but it wasn't coming from the phone.  It was the alarm system stating there was a power failure which caused the alarm not to work.  Ilene called them and after checking a few things was told there must be an electrical problem.  So we told them we would call her back after we did some checking around.  Besides the alarm not working, the ceiling lights in all of the bedrooms were not working and some of the outlets in the formal living room were not working.

The only thing we could think to do was contact Ilene's granddaughter so she could contact her fiancee and ask him to come if he could and figure out what the electrical problem might be.  He is an electrician apprentice.  He brought his tools and began the process of elimination.  To make a long story short, he found that some wires had gotten too hot in one of the bedroom ceiling light's wires and had burned.  I was the main junction and caused the other problems in the other rooms.  As soon as he cleaned that up he got the electricity working again!  YAY!!  Thanks so much, Joey!  We told him we would take him to dinner sometime!

The thing that was so scary (after all is said and done) is the burned wires.  The house could have been burned down if God had not had His hand of protection over us!  Thank You, LORD, for your hand of protection!

A spirea bush, or you may know it as a bridal veil bush

Here's a close up of the beautiful flower clusters

And here's an even closer view of the bee working the flowers.

Front flower bed

More flower bed

Beautiful azalea bush

A mocking bird was singing a wonderful song that I captured on video, but the video turned out to be too large to upload.

Beautiful irises in 3 colors........white...........

burgundy

purple

Pinks, or sweet williams (I believe)

more pinks, my favorite color!

The burned out light receptacle

This morning as we were getting ready for church, 4 deer came cautiously out of the trees lining the property.  The one leading the pack got away before I could get my camera ready.  These 3 stayed pretty close to one another!

Right after church this morning, we headed to East Bend for the viewing of Ilene's daughter's father-in-law.  We had lunch at her house before going to the viewing.  We left there in time to go straight to church for the evening service.  It was a very long day!  The funeral is at 11 a.m. tomorrow, so we will leave here around 9:30 to be there in plenty of time.

Even though it was a long day, it was a good day in God's house, beginning with the Sunday school hour.  Calvin finished up his teaching through the book of Philippians.  Here are some of the treasures brought to my attention from chapter 4 today:
Verse 11 says, "Not that I speak in respect of want:  for I have learned, in whatsoever state (situation) I am, therewith to be content."  Calvin told us that the word "content" meant to be joyfully and thankfully patient.  Forgive me, LORD, for being discontent so often!
Verse 13 tells me how I can be content in all things, "I can do all things (in the will of God) through Christ which strengtheneth me."
When Calvin read verse 14, "Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction." it caused me to remember how the church treated Tim during his 5-year battle with cancer.  They were very supportive!  They "allowed" him those times of sickness, which were very few until the last several months.  And when he was bad enough that he needed brain surgery, they allowed him to take the time to recoup.  But he ended up passing away 3 months to the day of the brain surgery.  And then the church paid for his burial.  They didn't have to do that, but they did and I will be eternally grateful!

During the morning worship hour, Bobby preached from Hosea 3, comparing the love Hosea had for his wife, Gomer, and the love God had for the children of Israel.  Even after Gomer became a prostitute, Hosea was willing to buy her back, just as God was willing to redeem Israel.  Just as He was willing to send His Son to die on the cross in my place.  I don't know why, but He did!  We just need to embrace God's grace!

Come, Ye Sinners!

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy
Weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready, stands to save you
Full of pity, love and power

CHORUS:

I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Savior
Oh, there are ten thousand charms

Come, ye thirsty, come and welcome
God's free bounty glorify
True belief and true repentance
Every grace that brings you nigh

Come, ye weary, heavy-laden
Lost and ruined by the fall
If you tarry 'til you're better
You will never come at all

On Sunday evenings, Bobby is going through the book of Revelation.  Tonight we were in chapter 3.  The one thing Bobby pointed out that I had never given any thought about was how verse 20 is talking about the church, not your heart.  "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."  You've seen the picture of Jesus standing at a door and knocking and you are the one who has to open the door to let Him into your heart.  But the book of Revelation is written to churches (3:6; 3:13; 3:22).  This verse is not trying to get someone to be trust Jesus for salvation.  God wants His churches to heed His warnings.

Yes, it was a great day!  Here's hoping you have a marvelous week!