Think About This before Voting…

I received this on an email group I am on.

Think About This Before You Vote …

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. — John Adams

If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. — Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. — Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. — Winston Churchill

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. — James Bovard

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. — P.J. O’Rourke

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. — Frederic Bastiat

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you!– Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. — Mark Twain

Talk is cheap…except when Congress does it. — Anonymous

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. –Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. — Edward Langley

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. — Thomas Jefferson

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. — Aesop

Some pretty wise thoughts.

-Tim

Are You Washed in the Blood?

ARE YOU WASHED IN THE BLOOD?

1.  Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?  Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

2.  Are you walking daily by the Saviour’s side?  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?  Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

3.  When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?  Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright, and be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

4.  Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,  And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;  There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean, O be washed in the blood of the Lamb.

refrain

Are you washed in the blood,  In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?  Are your garments spotless?  Are they white as snow?  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Elisha A. Hoffman, 1839-1929

-posted by Tim a. Blankenship, along the banks of Flat Creek.

“Fairest Lord Jesus”

Fairest Lord Jesus

1.  Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nations,  O Thou of God and man the Son;  Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.

2.  Fair are the meadows,  Fairer still the woodlands,  Robed in the blooming garb of spring;   Jesus is fairer,  Jesus is purer,  Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

3.  Fair is the sunshine, Fairer still the moonlight  And all the twinkling, starry host;  Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer  Than all the angels heaven can boast.  A-MEN.

From the German, Seventeenth Century

From Schlesische Volkslieder, 1842

Arr. by Richard S. Willis, 1819-1900

-posted by Tim A. Blankenship

Hymn – “O Safe to the Rock”

O SAFE TO THE ROCK

1.  O safe to the Rock that is higher than I,  My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly;  So sinful, so weary, Thine own would I be;  Thou blest “Rock of Ages,” I’m hiding in Thee.

refrain

Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee,  Thou blest “Rock of Ages,” I’m hiding in Thee.

2.  In the calm of the noontide, in the sorrow’s lone hour,  In times when temptation casts o’er me its power;  In the tempests of life, on its wide, heaving sea,  Thou blest “Rock of Ages,” I’m hiding in Thee.

3.  How oft in the conflict, when press’d by the foe,  I have fled to my refuge and breath’d out my woe;  How often, when trials like sea billows roll,  Have I hidden in Thee,  O Thou Rock of my soul.

William O. Cushing, 1823-1902

Ira D. Sankey, 1840-1908

Go and join your brothers and sisters in Christ worshipping the Lord in Spirit and in Truth today.

-Tim

Coldest Morning

Living in Southwest Missouri is a mystery when it comes to the weather.  In nearby Cassville the temp is showing at 19 degrees; hear at my house at 4 a.m. my thermometer showed 8 degrees…and it is still at 8 degrees.

Winter began officially on December 22, and we have had really nice temps for Christmas, and it began to change a bit on New Years day, getting cooler with wind.  The wind sure does not help any.  We had much colder days before the official start of Winter.

However, this morning is the coldest since the cool weather of Autumn and Winter began.  Our coldest; up until this morning was 12 degrees; but I do not remember what day.  I just remember it being that cold as I stepped out the door to go to work.

We live in a low spot next to the creek, and that probably has something to do with our temps being cooler than other places.  I still like living where I do very much.

I am thankful for my home and the land on which we live and are God’s stewards of.  He has blessed us immensely.

Come heat or cold I will praise the LORD.

-Tim

Eagle On the Hunt

On the afternoon of December 31 I took a walk along the banks of Flat Creek; from just below the old mill pond down around the bend, and then to the place where our family picnics and swims – the Swimming hole.

It was at the Swimming Hole that I sat down for a spell and just looked, watched, and listened for awhile.  I have enjoyed doing that along the creek since I was a boy old enough to venture away from the house; and maybe even before I was old enough.

As I was setting there a bald eagle came soaring near me over the still water of the hole and I assume was looking for his/her prey for food for the day.  I do not believe I was ever as close to a flying eagle as I was at that moment.  I have seen them in zoos sitting on logs for all the world to gauck at, and admire; but never had I been as close as I was at that time and place; while they were flying.

I watched as she/he soared, flapped wings, turned out over the land on the other side, and back over the water, and then flew on down the creek continuing its search.

A beautiful, majestic, bird.  Yet, “bird” for an eagle just seems so small a word.

Remember to go to church today and worship our Creator who has given us all things to enjoy and glorify His name.

-Tim

By the way… HAPPY NEW YEAR.