Saturday and Breakfast Out and a Funeral

I slept very well last night. I had had so much drainage the night before that I took an allergy pill last night and slept like a log. I don't like to take those allergy pills if I can keep from it because the antihistamines can cross the blood brain barrier and cause dementia. I sure don't need any dementia. My memory is already getting bad.

I got up at 5:30 this morning and got myself ready for the day. I did put on jeans and will change to dress pants later. I will leave for Brandon's funeral at about 12:30 since it is to be held at 2:00 in Edna and I will need to find the church. Elnora says it is down in Oklahoma. She is supposed to mark the way.

If you recall, Brandon died in September of a brain anurism. (That's not the correct spelling but spellcheck does not offer me the correct spelling.) Elnora had him cremated and is having his funeral in Edna at the same little church they had held her mother's services.

Bob came by at 6:50 and we went to breakfast at Eggberts. I had their Silver Dollar Breakfast with a short stack and a scrambled egg and two strips of bacon. It was good.  It is $7.21. Still that seems a lot for breakfast.

More later...

Friday and a Trip to Chanute

I didn't sleep all that well last night but I don't feel too bad. I got up at 4:45 after lying there for an hour.  I got myself ready for the day and took care of Missy's litter box and her treats. She is up on the daybed behind me asleep now.  She sleeps even more anymore. She will be 15 in March..if she makes it until March.

I went out to South Coffeyville first thing this morning and filled up my tank with gas. My three trips to Independence this week really depleted my gas. It's now $2.16.9 out there but it's over $2.25.9 here in Coffeyville.

I am supposed to be in Chanute by 11:00 but Gay lives about ten miles east of Chanute in the country. She and Tony have horses and mules. Adele, Gay's sister, wanted me to come about 11:00 because Tony leaves for his dialysis at 11:00. It's an hour to Chanute and another ten to twenty minutes out to Gay's home.

Bob has gone to Independence today. It's his sister's 93rd birthday. The family...what there is left of it will probably be there today. He may be late getting back. I will have lunch at Gay's and he will probably have lunch there at Betty's.

More later...I'd better leave.

I had great time at Gay's house and she is pretty much normal again. I only noticed that she told the same story three times but I didn't say anything about it.

We played dominoes all afternoon and had a very good chicken salad lunch with rolls and a pear salad.

I had a good time and Janet was there too and she and Adele and I played this game of "train" all afternoon. Kathy took Tony to his dialysis and then did some shopping. She is planning on going home this weekend. Adele is there and so is Janet.

I got home shortly after  4:00 PM.

 Bob will be over shortly to watch the news. I am tired but invigorated. I am so happy Gay seems to be improving so much.

More later....

After Bob left, I took my bath and Missy and I watched TV for awhile. I fell asleep so at 8:45, I just went on to bed. Shortly after, she joined me on the bed. 

Thursday and House Cleaning day

I slept well last night. Thank Goodness!

I cleaned all morning and also did my laundry. I got an awful lot done. 

Bob and I went to lunch at Kansas Buffet at noon. The meal was good. We decided to eat out each Thursday since Thursday is my cleaning day. 

I cleaned the apartment all afternoon too. I did the dusting.

About 3:00 or so, Juanita called. She thought I had got away with her house keys yesterday since she could not find them.  Of course, Juanita is also almost entirely blind. She had me look in my purse and the pocket of the jeans I wore yesterday. I knew I did not have them but she was also sure I did. I told her I would come back up to Independence and help her look. So, I drove back to Independence again and searched her house. Of course I did not find the keys.

I was driving back home when she called. She had lain down to take a nap and suddenly remembered that she had asked her stepson to come over this morning and check the antifreeze in her car. He did that and did not come into the house afterward. She called him and asked him to check his pockets for her house and car keys. Sure enough! He had them. He took them back over to her after I left. I got back home after 4:00.

What an exhausting day!

Tomorrow I will go to Chanute to see Gay. I talked to Adele, her sister, this afternoon and Gay has been much better.  She went to a chiropractor. It seemed to help a lot. In fact, just before I went to bed, Gay called to confirm that I was coming.

Bob A. came over at 5:00 to watch the news and after he left, I took my bath and lay on the sofa  with Missy and watched "This Old House" on PBS. About 9:00, I went to bed. I imagine Missy will come in shortly too.

Wednesday and Another Trip to Independence

I didn't get much sleep again last night. Too much stuff on my mind, I guess.

Anyhow I just got up shortly after 4:00. No sense just lying there mulling over everything in my mind.

I dressed and got ready for my day. I fed Missy and myself, cleaned out her litter box and sat down at the desktop computer to mull on it...hoping to get everything off my mind.

I will go to Independence again this morning to balance Juanita's checkbook and then take her to her doctor's appointment at 10:15. I may late getting back for lunch but lunch is a warmup anyhow. We will have the tuna noodle casserole again with the jello salad.

I finished off the dry cereal this morning and will start having oatmeal for breakfast now that it's getting cooler.  It was 35 degrees this morning. I was glad I wore my winter p.j.'s to bed last night. At least I was warm. I haven't yet turned on my furnace. I am trying to save the money for the electric bill. I am all electric here in this apartment.

I probably won't get back in time for game day today. Maybe I will just try to get some rest this afternoon instead.

I took Missy out for just a minute at 7:50. It was still 36 degrees out there..and obviously, she wanted right back in.  Missy does not like cold weather. But she had to find that out for herself.

Tuesday and Hair Day

I slept well last night. I did wake up at 12:30 but after going to the bathroom, I got back to sleep.

Missy didn't disturb my sleep as badly last night.

I will get my hair done at 9:00 this morning....thank goodness! It really needs help. It's  all out of shape.

I got up shortly before 5:00. I had my sleep out.  I have eaten and fed Missy too. Missy really appears to be slowing down. I hope she makes it to her 15th birthday in March. When it gets light, I will take her out for awhile. It's 50 degrees out there now. I hope it warms up a bit. She can't handle the cold.

I will get back shortly after 10:30 this morning. We will pick up Phyllis F at 11:30 for the Salvation Army salad luncheon. I have the tickets.

I don't have any other plans for today. I may vacuum out my car while I am in Independence this morning.

More later...

I didn't vacuum out the car. I just came on back home. I went by the ATM and got some money for the rest of the week.

The lunch was fine but it was soup instead of salads. They were all right but I was all set for many salads.  Still, we saw a lot of people we knew.

I took Bob and Phyllis F. home afterward. Bob was going to take a nap. Missy is taking a nap too...on the sofa.

I will read my Kindle this afternoon. More later...

I had an update for my laptop computer and when I updated it, it would no longer boot up.  I tried several times and the computer tried too but to no avail.  It was down for good. This probably had something to do with the twenty minute update from Microsoft last Thursday. After I finally got the update done, it would shut down instead of go to sleep. The tech said it was probably the update because they had had two other people with the same problem.

I e-mailed Keith about the latest problem and he said it was probably the hard drive and told me to send it to him and he would fix it. I packed it up in a box I had saved and took it to V & S Variety for pickup with UPS. I was too late for today and they will get it off tomorrow.  What a blessing to have an IT in the family. He hopes to be able to salvage the stuff in My Documents. I hope he can. I have back up on the desktop computer but had none on the laptop.

He will send it back to me...hopefully before my trip to Florida in November. I need it to pay my bills from there.  Maybe he will bring it Thanksgiving when he and Esther come.

Ah my! Always something! I had to go do the invocation for the City Commission meeting at 6:00. When I get home, I will take my bath and read until Missy and I go to bed at 9:00. 
 

Monday and Exercises

I  will pick up Bob for exercise class this morning.  He picked me up on Friday morning.

I slept well until about 2:00 and then Missy began her bath while lying on my legs. That woke me up. I put up with it for awhile but then I moved over and she stopped. It took me awhile to get back to sleep even at that. I don't mind her sleeping with me if she just doesn't disturb my sleep. After I finally got back to sleep, I ended up getting up close to 6:00.

I stayed up later last night to work on the December 3rd sermon. I will be gone to Ashley's college graduation in Georgia so Bob is going to deliver it for me. It's a communion sermon so it will be shorter then usual. He will get one of the others to serve the communion and another to take up the offering. He usually does that with the help of one of the children.

I have fed Missy and myself and am ready for the day. 

More later...

These are some photos my son-in-law and daughter brought me back from their cruise.

 I had quite a bit of glare from the flash and I don't know how to avoid that under the circumstances.

Here is the larger one I have hanging on the wall of photos in my bedroom. I took this one at an angle so there would be no glare. 

This is the start of a home my younger son and his wife are going to build as soon as their Florida home sells.  They want to move to Tennessee to be near Ginger's grandchild when it's born. The baby is due in November. They will build a slightly smaller edition of this home. 

This is one that is going up now.

When we were in Springfield Missouri yesterday for the conference, the church there had a pumpkin sale going for their youth. Here is the front yard of the church with those pumpkins.

What a lot of pumpkins! And they had sold a lot of them!

More later...We did go to exercise class and afterward I went to Family Dollar and bought Missy's treats. That's the only place I can find them anymore. I also bought my contact cleaner and some photo frames for the photos John and Leslie brought me from their cruise.

Then I fixed a tuna noodle casserole for lunch. It has peas in it so Bob's salad was all we needed to go with it.

I took Missy out on the patio while the sun was shining out there and she ate some grass and lay for awhile in the grass.  I swept the leaves off the patio while she did that.

Missy and I laid down for awhile and took a short nap.

I also finished the sermon for Bob and printed it off.  He was going to take it after we watched the news this evening but he went off without it.

I will see him when I pick up Phyllis and him for lunch at the Salvation Army salad luncheon. Maybe he will take it then.

I will go to bed at 9:00 this evening.

Give From Our True Capacity

MATTHEW 22:15–22

“Give From Our True Capacity”

Tribute to Caesar

Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said.  And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”  They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”  And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.

Exploring the Scripture

In today’s passage, an unlikely coalition of Pharisees and Herodians try to force Jesus to answer a yes-or-no question: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (v. 17). No matter which response he chooses, Jesus will be in trouble. Rather than becoming entangled in their web of trickery, Jesus asks for a coin and shows it to them. “Whose head is this, and whose title?” (v. 20) he asks. When they respond that it is the emperor’s, Jesus declares, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (v. 21).

As onlookers to this exchange, it is important to move beyond the tendency to think this passage is only about politics and how Christians should interact with governments. While the story also shows Jesus’ ability to outwit the Pharisees’ malicious intent, we need to go deeper. Jesus is asking them, and us, to distinguish between a government’s jurisdiction and God’s jurisdiction. To whom do we belong? In whatever area we find ourselves—political, social, religious, or economic—we belong to God. All that we have and are comes from a response to a generous God.

Jesus’ response to them does not solve the problem, he simply moves the discussion to a different realm—God’s. 

Daily, we face the struggle of placing God at the center of our living, ahead of worldly priorities. Our call as disciples is to make God's priorities the priority of our lives. God generously gives to us the many blessings we have in our lives. We receive those blessings and respond with thanksgiving and service to others. Giving thanks for what we have, recognizing God’s presence in our lives and God’s blessings among us, helps us gain focus for what is important, the kingdom of God, where all are important.

Central Ideas

We all belong to God because some of God’s spirit is within each of us. That spirit urges us to do good, to be ethical and to do the right thing, not only for others, but also for our own best good.

All that we have and are actually comes from a loving God.  When faced with worldly priorities, disciples of Jesus are called to place God at the center of living—top priority! 

As we consider all that is God’s, our beautiful earth, the very universe we live in, the greatness of God’s generosity is so humbling that we should respond with thanksgiving and service to others as need arises. So let us ask ourselves, what actually takes precedence in our lives? 

For myself, I would have to say God’s spirit, which has attempted to guide my life..all my life,… my family, and my church. I haven’t always paid attention to that quiet wise spirit but as I get older, I have learned to pay more attention.  So how does being aware of God’s generosity influence my decisions..or does it?

I’ve shared my own testimony before but because it pertains to the theme this morning, I will share it again. 

Several years ago, when the World Church began to have problems meeting their annual budget, they asked each of us to consider giving 10% of our total income to the church…some locally, and some to the World Church. I didn’t think I could do that. I had always given 10% of what I had left after I paid my rent, utilities and groceries. But since I live on a limited income, I just didn’t think I could give 10% of that entire income. But I decided to try. 

At first it was a struggle and sometimes I asked Leslie to hold my check until my social security came in but as I learned to manage better, I found it was possible. (Sometimes I still ask Leslie to hold my check). 

I had to buy a car. And then I found I needed a hearing aid. I took a part time job and paid double on my car to pay it off early. That helped.  With the extra funds, I was then able to pay off the hearing aid. I found that gave me $300 more extra each month. As long as I was able to withstand the temptation to spend my money unnecessarily, I was able to pay the full tithe.  

I think that’s the trick really. We all spend money that is really not necessary. Sometimes these purchases are simply luxuries. 

The church is very important to me and if anything happened to my World Church, I don’t know where I would go.  I hold some unorthodox beliefs. And most churches would not tolerate that. My church is different. They are tolerant of person's different beliefs. 

They have a policy called “Faithful Disagreement” which says a person who faithfully disagrees is welcome to share about the church position with which he or she disagrees. The intent of the sharing is to improve the overall faithful response of the church to God’s intended direction without classifying those of us with different beliefs as unfaithful.

I am sure God doesn’t care what beliefs I hold. God knows that none of us really know very much of anything about our God for sure.  We are all on a journey of discovery. The really important thing to do is to search out and try to live the message of Jesus. 

But the church works hard to assist those who are in disaster with their recoveries. As floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey began to recede in and around Houston, Texas, …ministry and assistance was being provided by the World Church and local congregations to displaced members.

The church has committed initial amounts from the Worldwide Mission Tithes budget for immediate Texas Flood Relief aid. They are hoping to receive additional funds from additional earmarked contributions, to be used as needs are identified.

Contributions received will be used for Texas Flood Relief efforts or if financial need is exceeded will then go to Worldwide Mission Tithes where aid will be drawn for any number of future disaster relief efforts. 

Then, just as the church had responded to the need of victims of the Texas disaster, Hurricane Irma hit the islands off the coast of Florida and later even Florida.  The church has responded to that need as well.  

Also Community of Christ is assisting members in the area of Biratnagar, Nepal, after deadly monsoon rains and subsequent flooding hit that region.

Initial funds from the Worldwide Mission Budget have been provided to Nepal for food, water, and temporary shelter for about 105 families. Ram Maharjan, financial officer for the Nepal Mission Center, reports that thankfully floodwaters have receded but anticipates additional funds will be needed to rebuild or fix damaged homes and for ongoing food, water, and clothing needs.

We can support these sorts of relief efforts now through eTithing.

We also may contribute by writing Nepal Flood Relief, Texas flooding or Hurricane Irma relief or other hurricane assistance on the right side of our offering envelopes. 

More information will be coming about online giving for other disasters .

These designated funds received will go to any of these or other designated needs. Additional funds received will be used either for these relief efforts as needed or will go to Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Please continue to uphold the people of Texas, Florida, the islands off the Florida coast and Nepal in your prayers.

These are just some of the disaster needs the church is currently meeting.  But the financial need is ongoing as disasters occur. The church has members in over 50 countries and attempts to respond to the needs of each in any disaster.  

A statement recently released on www.CofChrist.org explains the urgent need for giving, specifically to Worldwide Mission Tithes. President Steve Veazey reminds Community of Christ members that "sharing for the common good is the spirit of God's kingdom."

He emphasizes that $14.9 million in tithing is still needed by the end of 2017 to meet the Worldwide Mission budget. Without that amount, ministries and staff could be cut.

Church President Veazey points to eTithing, which enables recurring electronic payments. "I invite you to experience the joy of the spiritual practice of generosity," he says. 

So as you can see, regular tithing and offerings are very necessary if we want to keep the church solvent.  I urge each member to tithe regularly and if possible, to tithe a tenth of their income. Let us all try to give from our true capacity. 

Sunday and a Sermon

I slept well last night...thank goodness. I did get up shortly before 5:00 but I had my sleep out and I had a lot to do this morning and today. I will bake my coffeecake this morning for the Church School class. Then I have the sermon too. After that, we will eat out somewhere...probably "Just Us".

When I get home I will do my newsletters and then just rest. That will feel good.

Missy had wet on the bathroom floor several times missing the litter box while I was gone and it took two old towels to clean it up. Then I took 409 to it too. Luckily I had washed and dried the old towels before I left. I don't know why Bob didn't see that mess. It was all around the litter box. She must have missed the box several times. Thank goodness for a tile floor!

It's 5:15 so I had better get dressed.