Have I told you lately how much I love the church my family attends? I love it. I never thought I'd enjoy a mega-church (if this one qualifies as a mega-church), but now that I've figured out the ins and outs of First Christian, I love it. This has been an important year for me, spiritually. I came home to God after a long hiatus and am seeing things in a whole new light. Scriptures make more sense to me, and thanks to a funny pastor, the sermons are enjoyable and enlightening. That's not something I could say about the small congregation I used to attend.
Anyway, Craig preached a moving sermon today on moments that sort of freeze time; moments that are history-making, whether you realize it or not. And the birth of Jesus was the biggest of those moments. He really challenged us to use our imaginations and think about what it must have been like that night, when an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing God was born into a helpless, shivering baby on the floor of a stable.
Imagine the God that parted the seas, calmed the storms, brought the plagues wrapped in a scratchy blanket and laying in a feed trough.
Imagine that for an instant the doors between Heaven and Earth were torn open and God stepped through them, surrounded by the Heavenly Host.
Imagine the Angels crowding through those doors to see the miracle happen and then unable to contain themselves, singing to humble shepherds in the fields.
Imagine the thoughts going through the minds of the shepherds! "After waiting for thousands of years, He has arrived!"
I can't even begin to say it as eloquently as Craig did.
I was too busy crying to hear him LOL.
Now onto the prepping! I read a frightening article this afternoon about projected food shortages in 2010. Yes, we've all heard about the record-breaking crop harvests. But riddle me this Batman, how can it be a record-breaking year when half of the 'Bread Basket' states have been declared disaster areas? It's only a record-breaking harvest if you can get the harvest out of the field right? For instance, soy bean harvests. The first pic shows the major soy-producing counties, based on 2008 figures. The second pic shows counties declared a disaster area in 2009.
Notice anything? There's been an awful lot of disasters declared in America's soy producing areas. But everyone is still screaming 'record crops!' Even locally, we're hearing it. The farmer took a record corn harvest from the fields behind our house, but what they're not mentioning is that the corn is molding from the record cold and rainfall.
I don't know what it all means. I'm pretty certain someone is telling half-truths though. Either way, we're hedging our bet here at the Run. We'll be stocking up on essential items like wheat, corn, sugar, rice and dairy, just in case there IS a shortage and prices skyrocket. Having a full pantry is such a good defense against inflation...stock up while it's cheap, and use it when the prices go through the roof. So, we put together a decent-sized order through Emergency Essentials for grains and dairy, and I think I'm going to try PrepareCo. for dry corn and possibly a few other items. If PrepareCo. turns out to be a pleasant shopping experience, I'll be sure to post on it. It's always good to know who you can trust and who you should avoid, yes?
If you haven't started to stock up, why wait? Just one extra bag of rice, beans, pasta or sugar and you're already started! Buy what you use, store what you buy, eat what you store. How easy is that?
Next up: Seed orders for 2010!
Best wishes from the Run.
3 comments:
That's awesome, I'm so happy for you!
PS. Thanks for the tomato seeds, Kathy told me all about it!
I read the whole article on the soy crop. He seems to cite himself alot to support his position. Even he notes that corn and wheat are in abundance.
I honestly have difficulty understanding the impact a 30% drop in soy production would have. Yep, the countries that we are exporting to would have problems, and would likely dump the dollar to prop up their own currencies. But to what degree would that affect the dollar?
One to two percent, or fifteen to twenty percent? I just don't know.
I am so glad to here of your return to faith. Seeing scriptures come alive, in new ways, thru the Holy Spirit is fantastic, and amazing.
Also remember, we serve a God who gives us victory and reason to not fear, no matter what the times appear to show.
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