Mat.24:6 And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars:see that your heart be not troubled...

So here we are a few days into 2020. Amazing! I remember being a kid and thinking the year 2000 would never come because it was just too far away. That goes to show how much I knew! I haven't written for a long time. That goes to show how much that I like to write. So to bring things up to date.

I spent my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving Day, with the missionaries that are here. It was really nice to see them all agin and to meet the new ones. Christmas was as usual. Not a lot happening there. And since the schools are on vacation until February, there wasn't anything happening there either. But I have spent more time learning Spanish. I've had a turnover with the students that come to my house. One of my girls that I've had for 4-5 years comes no more. She's getting ready to move to Choluteca with her family. I really do miss having her. However, the Lord has put a couple more in her place. My pastor who  knows some English is coming, and another lady who works for a German company is coming to increase her English because she's going to Germany next month for a conference. And a friend that teaches Spanish to foreign people that are here in HN for different reasons has started coming to increase her English. It's so funny because all of her foreign students can speak English.

I've started reading through the whole Bible again. I'm now in Jeremiah. I think that many who declare that we are Christians are in the same place as was the people in Jeremiah's day. We go to church, sing, and pray but not much is changing in our own hearts. Is the Lord our first love? Do we keep his commandments? So many here do not follow the commandment of tithing, healing, etc. They want financial blessings but they don't believe the promise that God gives with the commandment. And Hondurans as a whole hate reading. I'm amazed that the things I learned as a kid and take for granted is a thing unheard of here. All of God's commands come with a blessing and a condition for receiving that blessing. But people think as long as they go to church and hear the word everything is ok. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God said if we search for him, we will surely find him. But we don't want to search. We don't want to read his word. We would rather read other books about him. We want the pastor to tell us everything and he can't. He doesn't have the time and he isn't God. God wants a personal relationship with each one of us. I'm so thankful for his presence in my life. I'm so thankful that I'm never alone and I don't have to fear what's coming today or tomorrow because he is with me and will do whatever is needed. I'm so thankful that I know he is always watching me. His word says that his eyes are upon his people all the time. My heart breaks for those that don't realize this. They may be able to quote scripture perfectly, but at the same time not have that personal relationship.
And now with the things concerning the US and Iran. Jesus said there would be wars and rumors of war, afflictions and tribulations. He also said in the same breathe-let not your hearts be troubled because all these things must come to pass. So many here have so much fear all the time about everything. And now I hear they are afraid of World War 3! If so, what are the people going to do about it? The one thing for sure that we can do about it is to make sure that we are ready to meet the Lord. Now that scares a lot of people even Christians that I've talked to. Didn't Paul say to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord? And we sings songs about wanting to see him, yes? So what is the problem?  One big problem that I see is that no one wants to think or talk about dying even though the Bible says that we all will. Of course, most don't want to die, but that doesn't change the fact that we will. I went with my pastor's wife last week to pray for an elderly woman. And bless her heart, she's ready to go home! And you think, well she's lived her life, and that's true. But Psalms says that my times are in God's hands. I can't die until he says, "Come home." And you can't either. But we need to think about these things and be ready whenever. Anyway, the US and Iran. Appeasement is not peace. It's slavery. I thank God that the Iranian general was taken out. I pray for our servicemen and if it be their time, I pray that they are ready to meet the Lord. This world will never have true, total peace until Jesus comes. And He is our peace now. He promised his people peace in whatever circumstance  we find ourselves in. He is our protection, provider, healer, counselor, ever present help, and whatever else is needed in our life. God help President Trump and his cabinet to do what needs to be done for our country and our allies. And give thanks to the Lord that He is there to help our Christian brothers and sisters that are in Iran and the other countries that are in that region. In so many places the Bible tells us to give thanks for ALL things. Do we do it?
Grace and peace!

Just a thought

The other morning as I was reading my Bible, I looked up and saw a hummingbird outside my window feeding on the flowers of an aloe vera plant. I watched him for several minutes and began to think about the creation of this little fellow. How wonderful and perfect are the creations of God. I thought about the creation of man again. How God formed him out of the dust of the ground. Can you see this man lying on the ground formed of dirt? As little girls, some of us used to make pies from mud. Perfect little images of the real thing. So here lies this perfect form of the image of God. This clod of dirt; perfect in every detail inside and out but still just a big clod of dried dirt. And then God himself breathed into the nose of this big piece of dirt. And what happened? This dirt became flesh and blood! How did that happen? When you and I make something of dirt or metal or whatever, it remains what it is. We can't breathe real life into it. Even our babies have to take their first breath whether it happens automatically or the doctor breathes into it's mouth or nose. How awesome the true God really is! So as I was thinking about all of this, AI came to my mind. Who in the world would want artificial intelligence? Even the word artificial should make us turn away. But we so much want to be God and in control that we will do whatever it takes to be like Him even though we will never be able to be so as a human being. There is only ONE God. So men are desperately trying to make things that will obey whatever they say. How vain and arrogant! Anything that man makes needs maintenance. They break down and have to be repaired. So when this AI needs to be repaired, who is going to be the repairman? I personally don't want to give control of my life to these things. And the people that are trying to develop all these things with AI don't have perfect intelligence. They have faulty understanding in a lot of things. I used to hear that two heads are better than one. That may be true in many instances, but sometimes even the two are not perfect in their thinking. Think about the times that you listened to someone else who you thought knew more than you and it turned out to be the wrong thing to do. So now we turn our own minds and bodies over to something created by imperfect men? The original sin-I want to be God: I want to be in control of my life. We are on such a dangerous path. And we are so lazy! We want everything right now. We listen to the lies of the world. There are even people in the congress that are saying the world is going to end in 10 years. Really? Well if that's the case, we better be preparing ourselves to meet the real God because we cannot remove all the pollutions that we've made in ten years. And why are these AI people not studying how to remove and prevent all these pollutions if they are so intelligent? And who is in control of the  AI?  Men that produced them? So if we accept and use this AI in whatever state it be, are we not giving control of our very lives to whoever created it?