Thinkin' 'bout "hinken"...

As we drove the 20 miles to Yeddo Baptist Church yesterday morning it was truly a "winter wonderland" of frost-covered trees and we marveled again at the handiwork of God in creation and preservation. And, since Mom/Mamaw/Mary K. and I strive this year in our private morning "quiet time" to read through the Bible, we each came to Genesis chapter 32 yesterday and discussed it together on the road. It's the record of Jacob returning with his family and possessions from Uncle Laban in Syria, and anticipating meeting his brother Esau. You will recall that Esau had threatened 20 years before to kill Jacob the next time they met! No doubt Jacob had other problems, but the fear of the approaching confrontation with Esau loomed large in his mindl Alone (verses 24-32), Jacob spent the night wrestling with the Lord and emerged victorious with a new name -- "Israel" (prince with God) -- a new glimpse of the Lord ("I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" ) -- and a new walk! In wrestling with the Lord, "Jacob's thigh was out of joint" and, as a result, "he halted upon his thigh"! In the German Bible it reads: "er hinkte an seiner Huefte!" "Hinken" means "to hobble, halt, limp." Dear readers, I totally emphasize and sympathize with ol' Jacob. Due to spinal stenosis and the degeneration of my right hip, especially the last year, I have been doing a lot of "hinken"! And, as this goes to press, I am scheduled for a visit with my cardiologist to seek clearance for hip replacement surgery, as I have a heart issue, then I see our orthopedic doctor on February 1 to make some definite plans. We need and ask the prayers of God's people, that the doctors may have wisdom and that the outcome will be greater (hopefully pain-free) mobility. Meantime, I get cranky with the discomfort and inconvenience of "hinken" on a cane or walker (pray for Mary K., too), but I'm trusting the Lord to do for me what he did for Jacob -- give me a fresh glimpse of His grace and goodness. Jacob concluded in v. 30: "...and my life is preserved!" In my old German Bible that reads "my soul is mended, or recovered!" Surely, we often enjoy physical healing, but in all our trials as believers we need the spiritual mending and healing, above all! Praise the Lord for Romans 8:28, but let's not forget His goal in all our testings, shown in verse 29, that we might be "conformed to the image of His Son"!

How To Eat A Pomegranate?

Before Christmas a retired nurse friend of ours here in the apartment building, conscious of eating healthy, gave us a pomegranate. We had seen this fruit many times at the supermarket, but somehow had never added it to our diet. So, we had to ask our nurse friend HOW to eat a pomegranate ... don't laugh, you probably haven't attacked one either! Simply stated, one is to cut off the "crown" of the fruit, then score the skin into sections, pulling it apart to expose the white flesh and then pop out the red seeds ... 613 of them according to rabbis as there are that many commandments in Judaism! We didn't count the seeds and didn't eat them right away, either, rather we put them in a covered plastic dish in the refrigerator. Guess we weren't sure how our colons would tolerate the seeds. Finally, ashamed that we were not showing thankfulness for such a gift, Mary K. set the rescued dish of seeds before me and I ate some. Believe me, they are delicious -- reddish juicy flesh around each one and the seed itself with a nutty flavor (tho we seniors have to chew and chew) and chock full of nutrients and antioxidants -- good for the heart, circulation and even prostate! Curious to learn more about this fruit, I "googled" the topic and found that our basic approach was right, but ... the best method was to score the fruit , then pop it open in a bowl of water, which allows the skin to stay on top and the seeds to sink to the bottom, ready for retrieval and consumption ... please don't slurp! In an earlier blog we described the Christmas goodies displayed at the Grimes Food Store in Wallace many years ago. Although Dad never stocked (or maybe heard of) pomegranates, a favorite fruit was the tangerine ... aromatic and juicy... and lots of seeds, but whoever advised eating the seeds? Why all this positive promotion of promegranates? Well, to me the enjoyment of this pretty, ruddy-red fruit (grown mainly in the Middle East, Israel, and here in California) is like reading the Bible. Dear reader, this is to encourage you to start today and read the Bible through, only 3 chapters or so per day, in this new year. They tell us the Bible is still a Best Seller, but I fear so many folks treat it the way I did the pomegranate -- nice to look AT, but seldom looked INTO and for many, never read THROUGH! Yes, like that fruit you will find that opening God's Word carefully, daily and sort of "under water" (asking help of the Holy Spirit) you will have lots of spiritually nourishing and truly profitable precepts and promises to munch on and assimilate. Like King David you will find, "How sweet are Thy Words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103). HAPPY NEW YEAR...as you squeeze

good things out of the Scriptures! P.S. Do a study in your Bible on the pomegranate, too!