rambling rosemarie

I have preconceived ideas about the way people should behave. It is because of this that I find myself in a constant state of disappointment, disbelief or downright disgust. Occasionally I am dumbfounded and rarer still delighted- but who rants about being delighted?  Not I. It seems the more age I pack on the weirder I become but it's coupled with a strange mellowing. Things that were of monumental importance to me once don't merit a blip on the radar screen of my life. Things that formerly would send me into verbal tirades now don't elicit an 'eh.    My annoyance radar has been calibrated to monitor different life obstacles. Age, some wisdom and a lot of sanctification have gone into this change. God's hammered me on His anvil over and over again and I am a better woman for it.  Despite my objections. Sometimes I let circumstances get the better of me and I react to life's challenges with emotion instead of faith.  I find it a most distasteful character fl...

As so many celebrate His resurrection, I thought I would list what I learned in my reading of Colossians. It seemed fitting. He is the visible image of God ( Col 1:15 ) He is agent of creation ( Col 1:16 ) He is the Sustainer (Col 1:17 ) He is the Head of the Church ( Col 1:18 ) He pleases the Father ( Col 1:19-20 ) He reconciles us through His death ( Col 1:21-22 ) He lives in us as our glory of hope ( Col 1:27 ) He is the source of all treasures ( Col 2:2-3 ) The world and its philosophies will not conform to Him so we should guard against them ( Col 2:8 ) We are alive in Him ( Col 2:11-13 ) We are saved from legalism and ritualism by Him (Col 2:16-23 ) He is our life ( Col 3:3 ) Because of Him, we can avoid immorality and serve Him as by being blessings to others. ( Col 3:5-14 ) We have the responsibility to know Him through the Scriptures and to counsel one another with the Word, demonstrate our gratitude to him by doing all things as in His name ( Col 3:16-17 )

Yesterday I was sound asleep in my recliner. I lost the battle to maintain consciousness while watching a documentary about Kindertransport. A lover of history, I was fascinated. I was also heavily medicated and the medication won. It was a gorgeous day. The young neighbor boy had come over to mow my lawn. The windows and doors were wide open. The birds were chirping. It was pure bliss. We knew we were going to have a weather change. Anytime you have weather in the 70s and a prediction of a drop to the 30s you can bet a severe thunderstorm will pop up. That's why I have a weather alert application on my too-smart-for-me-to-operate cell phone and a NOAA weather radio. There I was, sedated to the point of snoring and drooling, fully kicked back in my recliner and sleeping through not one but two blasts of the tornado siren. Forget the cell phone and NOAA radio. The tornado siren is about a quarter mile from my house and is the sort of alarm they used to warn people of air raids...

Going through my old books, papers and stuff. I am finding curious things. This particular one caught my attention and here it is: Duties and Responsibilities Bring Results. Romans 12-15 Romans 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, {which is} your spiritual service of worship. Presenting yourself to God results -> become a living, holy sacrifice that pleases Him. Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Transformed by a renewed mind results -> able to discover and display the will of God. Romans 12:6-8 6 And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, {let each exercise them accordingly} if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; ...

I used to have a sign in my locker at work that said, "Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." It was a bit of irony since I worked in an emergency dispatch center. It never ceased to amaze me the effort people would invest in making bad decisions; so bad that a call to 9-1-1 would become inevitable. I have a few hundred examples I could use but one particular incident comes to mind. It seems a homeowner decided that he didn't like the looks of the angled section of the stove pipe on his wood stove. Apparently it wasn't quite right and he didn't think it was safe so he removed the section he and went to the local hardware store to find a suitable replacement. Now most people would consider this laudable behavior and it would have been if there had not been a load of live coals and fresh logs in the wood stove. If you are like him and don't see a problem with this scenario, let me introduce you to what firefighters call the...