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woo hoo! Another day of vacation Bible school passed without me checking out the cookies down in the kitchen. This ... a Very Good Thing.
We had more than 240 kids here yesterday, and today is usually the biggest attendance day. (hopefully ... they'll all eat MANY cookies). :)
It's also the day where they have a verse to recite, and for every person they say it to, they get a signature on their paper; for every signature, they get points for their team. I'm getting MANY visitors to my office already.
Lifted weights last night, and swam for a bit. Kept tracking things on the pocket pc. And this morning was a pound less than yesterday!
I was reading in Genesis, about Joseph, and noticed that twice his coat is left behind, and used in a deception ... first his coat of many colors is stained with blood, and used to convince his father he was dead. Then Potiphar's wife keeps the coat Joseph left behind when he fled her seduction and uses it as "proof" he tried to rape her. Haven't come up with any devotional thoughts as a result of these deceptive coats ... but maybe Carol will leave something clever in the "comments" area. :)
Trinka
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1 comment:
Lol...
First, I wanted to share about the cookies. If you stay away from sugar long enough, you will eventually find that your body and mind have cultivated an aversion to anything with sugar in it. I've struggled off and on my whole life with sugar cravings. There have been times when I've stayed away from sugar for long enough periods of time that I've actually been repulsed at the very thought of ingesting something with sugar. Refined sugar is, after all, a very toxic substance.
And the more you introduce your body to healthy food, to real food (as opposed to processed), the more your body will actually start to create signals that will tell your mind what the body is actually needing, and you will find that you're starting to crave healthier foods.
Like there are times when I have a really strong craving for green vegetables, or leafy greens, or carrots, or different fruits. There are times when it seems I can't get enough of these. There are times when I want fish - especially salmon. There are times when I really start to get a hankering for hormone-free poultry and even beef.
I find that when I don't take the time to eat right, I start craving junk again, and then I have to start over retraining my body and mind to function properly and crave the right things again.
I was always slim - in fact, too slim as a kid. However, when I went through substance abuse recovery in my late 20's, I gained enough weight to be twice my normal size. I couldn't get over how exhausting it was carrying around the extra weight!
How I decided to handle it was to gradually re-introduce myself to a healthy diet. It took about 3 years to lose the extra weight this way. It was a slow but steady decline in shedding the excess pounds, but it's been nearly 10 years since getting back to my normal size, and I've kept the weight off, and it's been no problem keepig it off.
The coat...I did just have this thought: a coat is essentially a mantle. We see a mantle given from Elijah to Elisha, and with it, a double portion of the Spirit of the Lord.
In both cases, the coat that was taken from Joseph represented the favor of God that was on his life. First, his father gave him a special coat, and he was highly favored among all the sons of Israel. Then, his master gave him his clothing - and plenty of favor to go with it.
Twice, the devil tried to steal that mantle that Joseph was endued with and corrupt it, and, if it were possible, to abort the plan and purpose of God for his life. But that plan and purpose of God could not be stopped and could not be frustrated - no matter how many times the devil tried to take that mantle of favor.
It may have looked as though those mantles were the means by which God was going to move Joseph into that place of authority where, ultimately, God wanted him.
It seems that God gave Joseph the ability to remain steadfast in who he was, his internal character, and even though his covering could be stolen from him, his mantle, as it were, his character could not - the character that God had given him along with the mantle.
And this thought just occurred to me also: The 1st coat was given to him by his father - the one whom God chose to bring forth the people of His inheritance. The 2nd coat was given by his master - who was no lightweight in his own right. In both cases, it looked as though Joseph was well on his way to greatness - and, yes, without question, God intended for him to come into greatness.
Even though God can have a hand in some of the things that come our way via man, it can happen that we look to man and not to God to get where we're we know we're supposed to go if we're not careful. Perhaps God was also doing a work inside Joseph to wean him of relying on man and to train him to rely solely on Him. Just a thought...
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