Happy Thanksgiving

Bo & I are getting ready to drive to Tyler tomorrow to have lots of good food and fellowship with my family. We will have the meal on Friday instead of Thursday so we will be driving tomorrow. At least there won't be much traffic on the highways. Yea! After eating and visiting all day on Friday, we will head out Saturday morning to Austin to visit Jocelyne for a couple of days. Really looking forward to seeing her, too.

Cody, Jenny & Corbin are going to Dalhart for Thanksgiving with her folks, and Mason, Jocelyne & Whitney are going to Stanton to be with their maternal grandparents. Jocelyne is going home on Friday to be there on Saturday when we get to Austin.

Well, that's it for us. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

THE STRENGTH OF SIN IS THE LAW

1 Cor. 15:56, 57
Robert Hawker
(1753-1827)

"The strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."–1 Cor. xv. 56, 57.

Pause, my soul, over this solemn, but yet sweet verse. "The strength of sin is the law." Doth sin derive strength from the law? Yes, for the motions of sin, which is in our members, gather strength from the precepts in God's holy law, just as pent-up waters, that are increasing from various sources, will swell and rage the more because they are restrained. And this is what the apostle means, when he saith, "Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence." For the mass of indwelling corruption is stirred up, and excited into action by the law. The Lord, in rich mercy, teaching us by this very process; that so totally corrupt is our nature, that we do not know the whole workings of sin, until, by the holiness of his commandment, we are led to see, and feel a disposition to break it; like the first transgressors in the garden of Eden, who lusted to eat of the forbidden fruit, because it was forbidden, so that the very precepts of God, by the sin of our nature, become the means of giving strength to that sin of our nature. The law of God, in this instance, acts upon the heart, as when the gardener's spade uncovers the surface of the earth, and the worms, which before lay concealed, appear. The worms were there before; but. they did not appear before. In like manner, the law turns up the heart, and then appears the sin which, though there before, lay undiscovered. Is this thy case, my soul? And dost thou still carry, about with thee such a body of sin and death-! Well might Paul call it the mystery of iniquity; and well might Paul, from his deeper knowledge in the anatomy of the heart, cry out so greatly under the burden of it. Oh precious, precious, precious Lamb of God! how little understood, and less regarded, even by those that know somewhat of thee in the riches and greatness of thy salvation, is it considered, in ten thousand instances which pass away in the gulph of forgetfulness over our unthinking minds. Lord, give me to see and feel, yet more and more, that in myself I am virtually all sin. And, Oh Lord, give me to see and feel, yet more and more, that thou, and thou alone, art my righteousness. And let the apostle's hymn of praise be henceforth daily and hourly mine" Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ"

From THE POOR MAN'S MORNING AND EVENING PORTIONS

THAT WILL BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY

Exodus 34:7
Robert Hawker
(1753-1827)

"That will by no means clear the guilty,"–Exod. 34:7.

Pause, my soul, over these solemn words! Will not Jehovah clear the guilty? And art thou not guilty? How then wilt thou come before God, either now or hereafter? Hearken, my soul, to what thy God hath also said; "deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom." Oh! soul-reviving, soulcomforting words! yes, Jesus became my surety, took my guilt, and bought me out of the hands of law and justice. God hath not therefore cleared the guilty, without taking ample satisfaction on the person of the sinner's surety. Hence now the double claim of justice and grace demands the sinner's pardon. Here then, my soul, rest thy present and thine everlasting plea. Keep up a daily and hourly remembrance of it at the mercy seat. While Jesus lives, and lives there as thine advocate, never doubt thy acceptance in the beloved: guilty as thou art in thyself, yet spotless in him. The same God which made thy Jesus to be sin for thee, who knew no sin, makes thee the righteousness of God in him.

I Believe This:

I defy anyone to find a solitary text of Scripture in the New Testament that uses the law to motivate, inspire, regulate, and even guide the believer. Believers are motivated by love, inspired by gratitude, regulated by grace, and guided by the Holy Spirit. The whole Word of God, the complete revelation of His will, is our law. Our lives are governed by love, not by fear. We walk by faith, not by legislation. We walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh (Romans 8:9-14; Galatians 3:3).

- Scott Richardson

AMEN.

Happy Birthday Cody!

Today was Cody's 30th birthday. THIRTY!? Really?? ---So hard to believe.

We made our annual trip to the Big Texan and it was lots of fun.


Cody & Mason had their annual pepper stand-off. Those were some HOT peppers and I think it was a tie this year.



We all had our picture taken with Corbin in the big chair.







Here's Corbin sitting down to eat the 72 oz steak.






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Bo & I had a couple of visitors this past weekend. Mary Helen and John were here, and we were so glad they came to visit. We had Cody, Jenny & Corbin over on Friday night for a cookout. Saturday morning we went to watch Corbin play football. Saturday afternoon we walked 6 miles to the Lighthouse and back in Palo Duro Canyon. We had a great time there even though I fell down and got a big scrape down my arm. Ouch! Then Saturday night we went out to eat and Mary Ellen and I got a haircut at the mall. After that we went home and went to bed. We were so tired from the walking 6 miles. Sunday morning they loaded up and headed back to Tyler.

Here are pictures:




























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In the Knoxville airport

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