It is the first of June. I can hardly believe it. We have been a littler cooler on average this spring.
slip one of thirty-one
The sweet potato slip above is one of thirty one that I planted in the garden today. They have been “hardening off” outdoors during the day in 4″ pots of potting soil for a couple of weeks. I am able to plant them without disturbing the roots at all by this method.
The Mother Slip
The sweet potatoes in the plastic tub above produced all the slips that I potted up. The tub is setting on a heating mat (set for 80F) in the basement under a high intensity LED grow light. Some start sweet potato slips in a jar with the potato supported by toothpicks. I have had much better results with the tubers horizontal in a tub of garden soil.
When the slips get to around 4″ tall, twist them off of the parent. This year I placed some in water until they developed roots, then put them in pots. Others, I placed in the pots directly. The pots were all kept well watered by keeping them in restaurant bus tubs with an inch or so of water in the bottom. I couldn’t really tell the difference between the two methods. Next time, I think I will skip placing them in water first.
The ability to propagate these is a gift from God. I am grateful for all the plants that He created to be food for us! He is truly Jehovah Jireh, God our provider!
It seems in my life; I am often the beneficiary of the love and grace of others. Does it go without saying that I have unfathomably received of the love and grace of God? How can I let such a gift pass without a thank you?
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Romans 5
Thank you, Jesus!
The picture at the head of this post is of some garlic that I was gifted by my friend Cheryl last fall to plant in our garden. I harvested the results the middle of August. I needed a way to hang it to dry, as I understand one is supposed to do that.
That brings me to another gift that I was given. Another friend had an unsuccessful political campaign years back and had a lot of heavy wire sign frames, of the type that typically are used by stretching what is essentially a printed plastic bag over the frame, which is then poked in the ground. This friend figured since I was politically active, that I could make use of them. Frankly, political signs are always provided with new wires frames of one type or another. Still, I seem to have found a near endless array of things I could make from the heavy steel wire. Which brings me to this picture:
It occurred to me that if I had a really big heavy needle, I could use it to run a string though the stalks of the harvested garlic. So, with a bolt cutter I cut off a length of steel sign wire. I clamped it in a vise for my drill press and used a Dremel tool cut-off wheel and a steady hand to grind a slot through the wire, halfway on each side. I sharpened one end on my bench grinder and polished the rust off with a wire wheel. Viola! A needle!
And the result, hanging in the pole barn.
By the way, some pieces of that same sign wire became S-hooks to connect the string between some shelving units, via a simple loop tied on each end of the string.
The very presence of mature garlic from little cloves planted in the ground prior to winter is still one more example of my status as beneficiary.
26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; 27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. 28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. 29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. 30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? Mark 4
God made all these mysterious things to work according to His design to sustain and keep us. I am thankful to Him! Praise His holy name!
P.S. I have been pretty occupied with things this summer and posting here has certainly suffered. But all is well.
The sweet potato patch didn’t produce many extra-large ones this year. The plot these came from was about 15′ x 20′. They struggled to get going when they were planted in the spring. Our soil it heavier with clay than sweet potatoes like, even after some years of amendments. Quite a few of these grew in a horseshoe shape, or some other crazy bend, due to the difficulty of pushing through the soil. It doesn’t affect the taste of course, but they don’t look like the ones that are commercially grown in sandy loam.
Sweet Potato Harvest
We didn’t see many thirteen-line ground squirrels in the yard this summer. It turns out they were hiding under the foliage of the sweet potatoes, digging and having a feast. Hardly any of these escaped with no squirrel damage.
Squirrel Damage
We should be well fed too. We just have to not mind eating after the rodents.
Incidentally, the term grinny or grinnie seems to be a local name for these critters. I haven’t heard anyone who claims to know where the name originated.
Ground Squirrel Photo by Skyler Ewing on Pexels.com
The process takes about fifteen hours in this “commercial” dehydrator. Once sealed in a plastic bag these will keep an incredibly long time. This batch is about half done. Thank you, Jehovah Jireh, (God our Provider)!
Honeycrisp Blossoms 2023
Above is a shot of the honey crisp tree this spring. I have been picking apples off of this tree all season to prevent it from overloading the branches. The tree is about ten years old. This is the first season that we have really had a bumper crop.
Installment seven in a series on what the scripture has to say about healing.
I am grateful, Father, that we know exactly who You are by what is revealed in the words and in the person of Jesus!
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
This description of the deity of Jesus, as the express image of the Father, clearly stretches Meriam Webster’s second definition of heir to the n’th degree.
Remember the basic definition of the nucleus of an atom, made up of like charged particles? Do you remember that like charges repel one another? If you keep up with modern science, you may even have read about the so-called strong force that keeps the sub-atomic particles together that make up protons and neutrons, and the residual from this strong force that overcomes the natural repulsion of like-charged particles. (Fortunate for us!) I have not read anyone working in nuclear physics ask why these complicated things should be in the first place. Why should massless gluons act between quarks to make hadrons (protons and neutrons). Why should a residual force of these interactions be balanced to overcome the electrostatic repulsion of protons? Why do not oppositely charged electrons rush headlong into a collision with the nucleus? In Hebrews 1, we learn these things, and all else, are upheld by the word of his power.
One might think Jesus therefore had His hands full with the many subatomic particles in the universe. But, no, He has time and inclination to speak to us. Do we have time to listen?
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Acts 10:38
Did you get that? Healing all. A-L-L. Did you recognize that what needed healing did not come from above?
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8
Jesus came to destroy that oppression (look back at Hebrews 1:3 for Jesus’ dealing with sin). Are we in Him? Are we walking according to His calling? Or are we habitually giving the enemy access to ourselves by going “our” own way?
For there is no respect of persons with God.
Romans 2:11
None of us is an exception in His sight. Salvation from sin and from sickness was purchased for all. The only caveat is God will not override our will. The choice remains with us. Do we continue with the deception proffered to Eve in the garden of Eden – has God really said? (Refer to Genesis 3.)
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:4-5
P.S. Lest I set off a firestorm of objections that personal sin is not the cause of all sickness, let me say that I recognize that is a true statement. Sickness was released into the “very good” creation by original sin, and some of it now propagates by what some would term “natural” means. Nonetheless, deception is the sole weapon of the enemy. If we listen to him, we cooperate with our own destruction (John 10:10). This is a sad state of affairs for the believer who could be set free by knowing and following the truth (John 8:32). No one besides us has control. Our “decider” is ours alone. It is my prayer that my readers will persist in the revealed word, discover their identity in Christ, and find power to put the enemy and his works to flight.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:1-5
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Revelation 13:16-18
I am going to assume, up front, that no reader will be unaware of the use of an executive order by the White House to direct the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) to create a so-called emergency temporary standard (ETS) to require all employers with more than 100 workers to show proof of vaccination or require masking and proof of negative weekly testing at the employee’s expense. If not, that ETS link will take you to the OSHA site.
I have been working to reconcile my understanding to properly address this threat to livelihood. One might think the answer is to go to work for a smaller enterprise, but the Executive Branch is signaling intent to extend to small business as well. The OSHA ETS is carefully written looking forward to that step. (One increment at a time, as always.)
You might ask, “Why have you cited the passage in Revelation 13 pertaining to the ‘mark of the beast’”? Do I think vaccine documentation fulfills the definition of the mark? No, I think it is apparently still short of the description laid out in Revelation. However, there are obvious components of that more intense scenario involved in this situation; prevention of trade (by deprivation of income), identification of individuals based on certain choices (impressed to make decisions contrary to the direction of God), and man as the apparent source, for starters.
I believe the current exercise has at least two purposes. The first is as a test: “If we run this up the flag pole, will the populace salute?” Failing the first test, the second purpose becomes more important – conditioning more people to incrementally surrender their personal sovereignty by continually elevating the level of coercion.
I work for an employer with a few thousand employees, so the first roll-out applies to me as it is now written. Employers are placed in an untenable position by prohibitive penalties for “violations”. An employer determined to resist on principle would be fined out of existence forthwith. Let us think about these penalties for a minute. In fact, let’s limit our gaze to the masking requirement for unvaccinated but weekly-tested employees. A single employee caught with only his nose uncovered could be considered in violation and subject the employer to a $13,653 penalty. Repeated or willful infractions have a 10X multiplier. Therefore, the second violation could cost the employer (who has been made responsible for enforcement) $136,530. That is for just one recalcitrant employee who – horrors, wanted to breathe better – out of potentially thousands. If this level of penalty is considered in conjunction with the near-real-time reporting requirement, one can easily see why an employer might start to use facial recognition/mask monitoring as a protection against this huge liability. What’s to recognize in a masked individual? Well, the forehead is visible. Hmmmm.
Because employers will be coerced (financially) to be agents of the government (OSHA), possible resistance will be mounted only by the individual. This is by design, of course. Imposing isolation has been the modus operandi for some time now. My belief is that these genetic therapies (propagandized as vaccines) are part of an evil affront to the created order. The gain-of-function manipulation that resulted in the virus itself is part of that. Sorry if you have taken the jab and that stance offends, but that is another entire discussion. So what about compliance with the smaller increment of masking-and-testing to keep working, buying groceries and utilities this winter?
The Holy Spirit handed me an epiphany a couple of days ago in the form of a question. Even if this tyrant’s edict via OSHA is merely a practice run in preparation for a time closer to the end or a diabolical barometer to determine if we are “there” yet, do I want to practice accepting a “precursor mark” to make it more likely that accepting the eventual “mark” will not look like a step too far?
I pray the ongoing legal challenges will prevail. God bless those who have started mounting them. I pray the courts are not all already too far around the bend. But a conviction has easily solidified in answering the Holy Spirit’s question to my own satisfaction. By the limitless grace of God, I am going to resist refuse with all that is within me by the power of God Almighty.
Lord, thank you that You are Jehovah-Jireh, God my Provider. In You I trust. I pray the ones implementing this evil will turn to You and repent. I pray the same for their abettors.
Missionary Sojourn 