The hard little things.

When you think abt short verses that are hard to follow, Matthew 5:48 ranks pretty high. Three times in Leviticus, God says to be holy as He is holy. Praying for those who hate you and persecute is hard. I've included the greek just for my practice. You might recognize some words. ἀγαπήσεις from agape (if you want to know that form, its Second Person Future Active Indicative Singular, "you shall love";τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ὑμῶν the brothers of you (your brothers) from Adelphios -- brother like in philadelphia -- brotherly love).

43 Ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐρρέθη ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου καὶ μισήσεις τὸν ἐχθρόν σου. 44 ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑμῶν καὶ προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῶν διωκόντων ὑμᾶς, 45 ὅπως γένησθε υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ὅτι τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους. 46 ἐὰν γὰρ ἀγαπήσητε τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας ὑμᾶς, τίνα μισθὸν ἔχετε; οὐχὶ καὶ οἱ τελῶναι τὸ αὐτὸ ποιοῦσιν; 47 καὶ ἐὰν ἀσπάσησθε τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ὑμῶν μόνον, τί περισσὸν ποιεῖτε; οὐχὶ καὶ οἱ ἐθνικοὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ποιοῦσιν; 48 ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειος ἐστιν. τὸν πλησίον σου καὶ μισήσεις τὸν ἐχθρόν σου. 44 ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑμῶν καὶ προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῶν διωκόντων ὑμᾶς, 45 ὅπως γένησθε υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ὅτι τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους. 46 ἐὰν γὰρ ἀγαπήσητε τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας ὑμᾶς, τίνα μισθὸν ἔχετε; οὐχὶ καὶ οἱ τελῶναι τὸ αὐτὸ ποιοῦσιν; 47 καὶ ἐὰν ἀσπάσησθε τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ὑμῶν μόνον, τί περισσὸν ποιεῖτε; οὐχὶ καὶ οἱ ἐθνικοὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ποιοῦσιν; 48 ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειος ἐστιν.

43 You have heard it said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I say to you, Love the ones who hate you and pray for the ones who persecute you, 45 so that you maybe son of your Father who is in heaven, for he makes his sun to rise on the evil ones and the good ones and sends rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have; for even the tax collectors do that. 47 And if you greet your brothers, what more do you do than others; don't even the tax collectors do the same? 48 Therefore, you shall be perfect as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

The last 36 hours are not the norm in Abilene. It has rained almost constantly. We're not use to this much rain and I'm sure the folks West Texas Fair and Rodeo would be glad to see it end. But, the area needs the rain as moderate to severe drought conditions persist. So, I'm sorry the Fair and Rodeo is dampened by the rain but it's much need. Now, my grass cutter will need to see me this week as the grass and weeds are loving this.

Pre-OP is No-OP

Well, apparently the surgery center is not prepared for a man like me. That would be a man with a BMI of 50.8. My Orthopedic surgeon is a part-owner of this facility and knew the criteria and apparently he thought I'd slide through. It's not like he hasn't seen me LOL. So, now they have to get me into the outpatient surgery center at Hendrick Hospital. That will probably be two weeks.

Labor Day

It's Labor Day and I'm hoping not to labor. Vickie (of Gary and Vickie Ritter fame; they are the folks who kept my dog when I was gone for 6 months for work last year; my dog won't come home now, something abou 2500 acres on which to run and play,) is supposed to come over and help me get things ready for surgery. She will help me to do some cleaning that I can't do myself right now.

Other than that, I really don't have any other plans for the day. I have a good bit of reading to get done for my last class for my Master's. It's amazing how many things I can find to do rather than my school work. I hope the downtime from the surgery will help me get caught up and complete my school work. I have until November 1st to get everything in and the final exam returned.

Everybody, have a good day and be safe of the roads and if you drink, don't drive.

Forward thinking

I am contemplating my future. I pray that it's not in computers. I want to be out and more social and interacting with people not talking to my monitor. My knee injury is preventing me from pushing forward on my catering business. Initially, it is just going to be smoking meats and selling those. I really want to enter culinary school but not sure how with a day job that will happen. So, we'll just have to see where things go. Ideas? I'm always open.