SEASONS - A SOUTHERN STYLE FATHER'S DAY GATHERING

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

June 19th will be a time to get the whole family together for Father's Day 2016.  We are blessed in that we will be spending the weekend with our daughter who lives in another state and bringing our grandson back home with us for a week of fun activities.  That also means all of the other three kids will be seeing my husband all of the next week too!  Large families are so much fun, the activities never end.  

This year will be very different for me.  My Father has a new residence in heaven; so I will not be able to physically to be with him.  He is still such a part of who I am, so I know he will be with me in spirit.  I will be cherishing all of the special memories I have of celebrating with him in the past, and I will be appreciating all of the wonderful fathers of relatives and friends that are still with us on planet earth.  

There are lots of new and almost new Dad's in our family circle this year, so that happy thought counters the sadness of missing my own Dad.  

It will be a great year to focus on honoring my own husband's great job of being an awesome father to our grown children, and a good time for honoring two of my favorite Dad's; the fathers of my two and one-half grand children!  We are so proud of our grandchildren, and so very proud of their Dads!  What a blessing it has been for us to have them in our family.  Words cannot express how perfect it feels.

It is also a very significant day for my own husband, since he is looking around and realizing the positive proof of all of his hard work and efforts over the years in raising four of the most wonderful kids on earth.  I want him to have a very special day full of blessings.  No one could have ever imagined a better father than he has been to our children.  I marvel at how they have all turned into great adults that care about God's Kingdom and the world around them.  Most of the credit goes to the excellent guidance they have received from their father.  I am grateful, and I know they are!

One of my favorite Father's Day memories is from a Sunday afternoon when my Dad was still living, when we celebrated a Southern Style Father's Day.  Here are the notes I penned from that memory when it was happening several years back.  I'll warn you, there is NOTHING healthy about this meal; but hey, we are celebrating, right?

I think it might have been Father's Day 2011:

 If we get everyone together in one place, then we won't have to go to so many places and we will all enjoy each other's company together for a longer time, right?  The more the merrier!  

I've called the kids and the parents.  I left out my red, white and blue decorations after Memorial Day because my Dad is a veteran, and he enjoys our country's colors, not to mention the fact that I won't have to redecorate for Independence Day!  It was great to have these decorations around to celebrate Flag Day too.  Somehow summer events just seem to coordinate without even trying hard.  I like for the atmosphere at home to be a lot less formal and very laid-back for summer, and all of this works well together.  I like to pretend we live in a beach cottage even though we are actually several hours from the sea; and I try to take full advantage of any outdoor activities I can make happen in the summer.  

Now it is time to focus on Father's Day.  I think we will go Southern Style.....

My husband likes to drink his coffee from these Christmas mugs all year - I've quit trying to change that!

 I feel strongly that our fathers deserve a place of honor.  They should have their own special day in which to be treated like kings.  

I've included a few candid photos of our family's Father's.  You will notice from most of these pics that they all have one great trait in common; they like to have fun and they like to make family memories!  Many of these pics are not from Father's Day, but just from times that they were very busy BEING fathers.

This year I plan to express our sentiments to the Dads by having an "after-church -southern-style-luncheon."  

I think "southern style" will definitely suit the mood and style of our Dads this year.   I've found a few great tried and true old southern recipes and put together the menu.   You will notice that many of the recipes use buttermilk.  This is because my Dad LOVES buttermilk.  He loves it so much that our kids have always teased him about it.  One year for Christmas they wrapped up a quart of buttermilk and gave it to him for a present because they said "there is nothing you would like better than this quart of buttermilk!"  They had to keep his gift in the refrigerator for a few days!  We have laughed about that day a lot over the years, and that is why I always try to chose a few "buttermilk" recipes for Father's Day. 

SOUTHERN STYLE FATHERS DAY MENU

Appetizers:  Cheese Truffles with a Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Tray

Drinks:  Tea/Water, Wine for the ladies and Elephant Beer for the guys. - (one of my husband's favorite flavors of beer), Sweet Tea, Lemonade and Cold Ice Water

Salads:  Watermelon Surprise AND Old South Potato Salad

Bread:  Homemade Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits with Gravy

Main Course:  Southern Fried Buttermilk Chicken

Side 1:  Carrot Souffle

Side 2:  Garden Fresh Baked Zucchini

Dessert: Strawberry Ice Box Cake AND Fig Cake With Buttermilk Glaze

CHEESE TRUFFLES

Apples, sliced

Pears, sliced

Grapes

1 cup bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled

Pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

4 teaspoons finely chopped onions

2 containers (4 oz.) Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese

8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened

Combine cream cheese, crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, onion, Worcestershire sauce and pepper in a bowl and beat with a mixer until well blended.  Cover and chill for several hours.  Roll the cheese mixture into round balls.  Roll the round balls in the crumbled bacon.  Serve on a platter of apple and pear slices with grapes surrounding it all. 

WATERMELON SURPRISE

1 pkg. baby lettuce, washed

6 cups watermelon, cubed without the seeds

1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup pepper jelly

1 Tablespoon lime juice

2 Tablespoons grated onion

In a bowl whisk together the rice wine vinegar, pepper, salt, pepper jelly, lime juice and grated onion.  Slowly pour the vegetable oil into this mixture. Stir well.   Add the baby lettuce and cubed watermelon to the mix and saturate well.  Cover and keep refrigerated until time to serve.  Remove to a serving platter.  After arranging on the platter, sprinkle with toasted pecans and crumbled Gorgonzola cheese.  This is very tasty and makes a lovely and colorful presentation.

                                                                           SOUTHERN STYLE BISCUITS

1/4 cup shortening
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
melted butter
Cut shortening into flour with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly.  Add buttermilk, stirring together until moistened.  Roll out dough 1/2 inch thick.  Cut with 2-inch round cutter.  Place on greased baking sheet.  Brush with melted butter.  Bake at 425 degrees for 14 minutes.  Serve with brown gravy if desired, as well as some homemade preserves.

SOUTHERN FRIED BUTTERMILK CHICKEN

(This takes 3 days if you do it right, and will feed about 10 people)

2-3 lb. fryers cut up into pieces

4 cups buttermilk

6 Tablespoons crushed garlic

6 Tablespoons onion flakes

1/3 cup parsley

1/3 cup thyme

1/3 cup tarragon

1 Teaspoon paprika

4 cups flour

1 Tablespoon pepper

6 cups vegetable shortening

Step 1 (first night) - Brine your chicken pieces in kosher salt and water overnight.

Step 2 (second night)- Soak the brinned chicken in mixture of buttermilk, garlic, onion flakes, parsley, thyme, tarragon and paprika overnight.

Step 3 (third night) - Drain chicken, leaving residue of spices on chicken.  Fill a paper sack full of the flour with a little pepper mixed in.  Put the chicken pieces in the large brown bag of flour and shake.  Let sit for five minutes then shake again.  Melt vegetable shortening into a large iron skillet.  Fry chicken until crispy and brown on both sides (about 20 minutes for each side).  Remove to a paper towel lined tray.  Cover tray, cool and refrigerate until next day. 

Step 4 - Wrap chicken in foil. Heat in the stove at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Remove, place in a decorative serving dish and serve while hot. 

CARROT SOUFFLE

2 pounds carrots, chopped

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

ground cinnamon

Boil carrots in water until tender.  Drain.  Mash carrots and butter.  Add sugar and eggs.  Beat at medium speed with electric mixer 2 minutes.  Stir in flour and baking powder.  Pour into greased baking dish.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour .

OLD SOUTH POTATO SALAD

4 pounds potatoes (unpeeled)

8 ounces sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons mustard

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 bunch chopped green onions

1/2 cup parsley

3 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Boil potatoes in large pot over medium high heat until tender.  Drain.  Cool.  Cut potatoes into thin slices.  Combine sour cream, Mayonnaise,mustard, salt and pepper.  Layer in a clear baking dish, potatoes, sour cream mix, green onions and parsley, layer same again.  Cover and chill 1 hour.  Sprinkle with bacon before serving. 

                                                    
                                                        STRAWBERRY STACK CAKE

2 Small Crates of Fresh Strawberries (washed and sliced, except leave some pretty ones whole too)

3 1/2 cups Whipped Cream

1/2 cup Confectioners Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 large box Graham Crackers

2 ounces Dark Chocolate (chopped fine)

Whip the whipping cream until it forms peaks.  Slowly mix in the confectioners sugar and vanilla.  Spread a thin layer of whipped cream in the bottom of a glass oblong baking dish.  Lay six whole graham crackers over this.  Spread a layer of strawberries over that.  Repeat this process until you have four layers of graham crackers.  Spread the last of  one-half of the whipped topping over the top layer and swirl with a spoon for decorative purposes.  You should have half of the whipped topping left over.  Heat it until bubbles form around the edges.  Remove from heat and drop in the chopped dark chocolate.  Stir together until chocolate is melted and well blended into a gouache.  Pour into a squeeze bottle and drizzle over cake.  Cover and refrigerate for six hours.  Garnish with fresh strawberries before serving. 

FIG CAKE WITH BUTTERMILK GLAZE

Ingredients For Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped fresh figs

1 cup chopped pecans

Ingredients for Glaze:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together first 7 ingredients.  Fold in eggs, oil and buttermilk.  Stir in vanilla.  Fold in figs and pecans.  Pour into a greased 13 x 9 inch pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes.  While cake is baking make a glaze by boiling all of the above glaze ingredients in a small saucepan for 3 minutes.  Pour over cake. 

You can rest assured that there will be no need for entertainment.  With this many fathers in one room, there will be lots of stories to share!

 

Happy Father's Day Dads!!!!!!

SEASONS - FLAG DAY - REMEMBERING BETSY ROSS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

June 14, 2016  is Flag Day.  So what does that mean to us? 

Do we Americans really know anything at all about the history of our flag? 

You know, we didn’t always have “Old Glory.”  In 1775 American ships in New England waters flew a flag with a green Pine Tree on a white background with an inscription that read “An Appeal To Heaven.” 

The Continental Navy had a red and white striped flag with a snake in the middle that said “Don’t tread on me.” 

There were many other flags being flaunted by many different groups.  The Sons of Liberty flew a red and white striped flag.  The New England flag could be seen in certain area of the country, and it displayed a green pine tree in the upper left corner (this area of the flag is called the canton) with red white and blue stripes.  The Forster flag displayed six small white stripes for a canton on a solid red background.

In January of 1776 the grand union flag in Continental colors was displayed on Prospect Hill.  The British Union Jack was in the canton and there were 13 alternate red and white stripes.  It is said that George Washington, himself, replaced this flag with the one commissioned to Besty Ross at a later date.  Prospect Hill, dominated the road from Charlestown and had great strategic importance in the Revolutionary War.   This place was known as the "Citadel"  The castle there, dedicated in 1903, is a monument commemorating the fortifications on top of this hill.  A tablet inside reads:  "This tablet is erected in memory of the soldiers of the Revolution and of the Civil War who encamped on Prospect Hill and of the banners under which they valiantly fought."

Too many flags were being flown by the American colonies.  It was confusing and dividing.  There needed to be one flag that everyone could rally around which represented the hearts and souls of the people now living in America. By this time four generations of families had grown up in the new country. 

Betsy Ross was born in 1752 in Philadelphia.  Her maiden name was Elizabeth Griscom.   She was the great granddaughter of a carpenter who had arrived in New Jersey from England in 1680.  Betsy, as she later came to be called, was one of 17 children born to her Quaker parents.  She attended Quaker school with her sisters and became a very good seamstress.  When she turned 17 her father apprenticed her out to become an upholsterer.  It was while she was in school that she fell in love with another apprentice named John Ross.  He was NOT a Quaker and her parents and religion forbid her to marry him.  She defied them in 1772 choosing to give up her family and religious belief in John’s favor.  It was quite the scandal in Philadelphia.  The Quakers as well as her immediate family completely cut all ties to her. 

John and Betsy, working completely alone with no outside help from those who were shunning them, opened up an upholstery shop that became famous in the area.  The thing that set them apart was Betsy’s marvelous skills as a seamstress.   It was during this time that the State of Pennsylvania commissioned Betsy and John to make the flags for their naval ships.  Betsy designed what is now known as The American Flag.

In 1776 at the start of the American Revolution, John Ross was killed in a gunpowder explosion.  Betsy acquired his property and kept up the upholstery business.  She worked day and night to fill the demands of the shop for orders of flags for Pennsylvania. After a year of being a widow, Betsy remarried.  Her new husband named Joseph Ashburn was a sailor.   In 1781 the ship he was on was captured by the British and he died in prison soon after.  Once again Betsy was a widow. 

In 1783 Betsy was remarried to a man named John Claypoole.  John had been a friend of Joseph’s and they were in prison together when Joseph died.  John, having escaped, delivered the news of Joseph’s death and his last endearing words to Betsy and that is how the two became acquainted.  John had spoken with Joseph when he was dying.  His last words were of his love for Betsy.  Joseph asked him to deliver his final words to Betsy as a personal favor from a friend.  Betsy had a long and happy marriage to John Claypoole.  It lasted for 34 years. 

In 1817 after a long time of disability, John died, leaving Betsy a widow for the third time. Finally, at the age of 84 Betsy Ross died too,leaving behind more than the simple legacy of a seamstress.  50 years after her death her grandson shared the story of how she sewed the first American flag:.

As the story goes, while Betsy was married to John Ross they were visited by President George Washington.  His visit seemed to have inspired Betsy's thinking in the sewing of the flag in June of 1776.  Harper’s Monthly picked up on Betsy’s grandson’s speech about his grandmother’s life and published the story in 1873.  Everyone across the country of America at that time loved and read Harper's Monthly.  That is how Betsy Ross became famous for making the first American flag, many long years after her death. 

Due to the fact that this story is a legend without proper documentation, many nay-sayers have tried to discredit the life work of this brave and courageous woman named Betsy Ross by denying that the story is true.  Even if she had not sewn the flag, Betsy Ross's legacy would stand as a prime example of what American women have endured throughout our nation’s history.  She stands for the decency of faithful marriage between a man and a women.  She stands for brave widows in the country that have used their skills and talents to raise and care for their children in extraordinary, unique and exemplary ways.  She stands for personal integrity and self education in every aspect of daily life.  She stands for hard work in the midst of constantly changing circumstances.  Let the nay-sayers be silent about Mrs. Ross and give her the national identity she deserves for the symbol of her life’s work!  She has made us proud! 

The National Historic Park in Philadelphia summed up the contribution of our flag being sewn by Betsy Ross in this way:   “Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. When we view the flag, we think of liberty, freedom, pride, and Betsy Ross. The American flag flies on the moon; sits atop Mount Everest, is hurling out in space. The flag is how America signs her name. It is no surprise that Betsy Ross has become one of the most cherished figures of American History.”

I can think of no greater way to describe the life of Betsy Ross and the contribution she made to America by giving us that beautiful flag we now call Old Glory.  We who are truly Americans at heart still display this flag in our homes and across the land. 

God bless America.  May she return to being faithful to The God who made her great; and may she return to the honor and glory that has long been represented by this flag that proclaims the liberty and freedom of one nation under God.

SEASONS - DAY 50 - ARRIVING AT PENTECOST

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Jesus knew that after His resurrection and ascension into heaven we would feel lost without Him.  The Holy Spirit resolved that problem, connecting heaven and earth, the Messiah and His Bride even when they were apart in time and space.

June 11 at sunset begins the time of Pentecost for those of us who follow the Hebrew calendar dates.

For 50 days now we have been counting from the days of the time of the offering of the omer, the first of our first crops for the year, counting from Passover to Pentecost just as God showed our ancient ancestors to do.  

In ancient times the offerings were only physical, but in today's world and in the time of our living, those who faithfully observe this traditional custom are offering up the best of the best of our spiritual AND physical offerings beginning during the week of Passover and observing the count of the days until Pentecost.  

We offer from what we have to offer to The One God of Heaven and Earth, the One who came down in the form of our Savior, Jesus Christ to save us from ourselves and we begin during these next 50 days to examine in a closer, more intimate way, how this works in our lives as we count up the time, waiting on God's greatest gift until The Son of God returns, the giving of God's Holy Spirit. 

We have been counting through seven weeks and seven holy Sabbaths, trying to open our eyes wider to the will of God in our daily lives.  Seven times seven days of counting from the time of the omer offering, just waiting to come to the day that God has appointed and made sacred which we now know as Pentecost, or as the faithful Jews call it; Shovout.  

Each day of the counting we have been studying the attributes of God and attempting to apply His goodness and the holy traits of His character to our lives in a daily, routine manner.  

We have been on yet another journey of considering and examining our lives before a Holy God, listening to God, thinking of the fact that He IS God and we are made from the dust of the earth, learning to live dependent and in awe of Him, and waiting on the day of celebrating the giving of The Torah first, then the completion and fulfillment of that by the giving of The Holy Spirit.

The first event gave us God's advice on the best ways to live.  We received the Torah containing The Ten Commandments of God.  The second event gave us God's solution to how mankind can achieve this.  We received abundant LIFE through the holy offering of Jesus Christ on a cross.  He died on what He created for the ones that He created and He rose to new life!  The greatest offering, given on Passover just as the story has always unfolded, brought it's fulfillment as an engagement gift on Pentecost!  His holy death and resurrection took away our guilt and inability to fulfil the first requirements and made the blessing abundant and possible for us!  It is only by these two precious gifts from our Beloved that we can do anything at all worthwhile on this earth.  

We have been counting and waiting and learning and growing all the while.  We have also been preparing our hearts for a wedding to the Son of The King!  Now we reach day 50.  We have reached the Day of the celebration of Pentecost!  It is just the same as becoming engaged officially and announcing the wedding plans to the world!  The Son of God has proclaimed His Beloved Bride; His one true holy church.  Those who have God's Holy Spirit living inside of their hearts and bodies belong to Him now.  He has officially proclaimed us as His own, and He will return for us one day to take us to The Marriage Supper of The Lamb.  The Passover is our way of rehearsing this moment.  We have all been schooled and are now simply like the ten virgins in the parable who were told to keep oil in their lamps and wait on the groom.  He is coming back for us!  We must be ready.    

Pentecost is a glorious day!  At first we received the law, then we received a gift from the one who has overcome the dependency we had on the law.  We have received a huge, loving package from heaven from our Groom!  He has sent us by special delivery a very special gift that will help to keep Him safely inside our hearts until the wedding feast.

Can you see the symbolism?  Those who count the days cannot help but see, it is hard to miss it when you are waiting on the times to be fulfilled.  Pentecost is full of symbolism.  We were told that Jesus asked his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait on that first Pentecost after the Ascension.  When the Holy Spirit came down from heaven men were filled with God's Presence from within and it appeared as if flames of fire were resting on their heads as they spoke the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all languages to all people groups.  This reversed the tower of Babel.  For the first time, everyone heard each other and understood without a language barrier!  It was the language of the heart of God speaking to those whom He loves very much! It was an amazing day!  A day we celebrate constantly, not just once a year, but a day definitely to be commemorated and exalted above all other ordinary days.   Many wear red on this day to remember the flaming tongues of fire.

Many people also relate the symbolism of a dove to the day of Pentecost.  Do you know why? 

When you release a dove it returns to its home; if it is at all possible the dove does not return ANYWHERE ELSE but home.  If it can't find home, the dove will always be seeking home.   

Remember the story of Noah, when he released the dove in order to search for land?  Perhaps Noah released the dove from the ark to see if it could find their old original home prior to the flood.  We don’t know how far away the ark landed from Noah’s old homestead.   When the dove could not find home, he returned to Noah.  Personally, I don't think God wanted Noah to find the old because He had made everything new.  Noah gently and lovingly took the dove back inside the ark and waited seven more days.
  

After Passover when we came to know and believe in how Christ died and was resurrected to new life, we also began to feel the change and renewal He brings to us.  It is our belief in his death and resurrection that makes this possible.  Like the dove; God’s Holy Spirit is always seeking a place to land inside our hearts.  He searches and searches until He finds it.  We begin to prepare for this by believing and repenting of our sins.  Our souls start to change, and begin to be renewed, like the land of the earth after the flood.  The first seven days are a time of considering what it means to change, to be renewed and refreshed by the power of  a Holy God. 
   

Noah knew that doves always return home.  This was just one of the reasons for sending out the dove from the ark, just as Jesus ascended into Heaven, yet through The Gift of God's Holy Spirit he remained at home with us.   

Another reason Noah had for using a dove was that he knew that the dove would always return for his mate, just as we know Jesus Christ will one day return for us and take us to that heavenly home that The Father has prepared for us.  

If the dove had found home; he would have returned for his mate to take her back home with him.    Not only would the dove return to the ark and Noah, but when Noah took the dove back inside the ark it would go straight to the cage of his mate and if the dove had found green food it would regurgitate a portion for her.  

In the second of the seven weeks we have realized that Christ our beloved is going to return for us, the church, His bride.   In our dwelling on this thought, we have begun to prepare; to do the things that brides do when they are waiting on their wedding.  Like the mate of Noah’s dove, we wait and count the days.  God is feeding us all the while on His Word, teaching us on our journey as we wait on our marriage to Christ.  


Doves will not touch unclean things.  They only eat the good green food preferably grown

from the best fruit trees of the land.  Noah could observe the dove feeding his mate and know if the dove had found dry land in the vicinity of home.   

Also Noah could tell after a while by the droppings of the dove if greenery had been eaten on the journey.  

So, when the dove returned Noah took it in and watched it as it flew back to it's mate.  Noah observed that the dove was not able to feed its mate indicating that it had not found enough green growing food in the land to eat and it was not yet time for Noah's family to step out of the ark onto their new life.  Noah waited patiently, as did the dove.  When Christ returns; what will he find on this earth?  Will it be ready? 

 In the third of the seven weeks we are still not yet ready for strong food.  We are still gaining the strength of believing and being cleansed from the inside out, still repenting, still longing for our mate to return to us.  On the third week we know we are halfway through the waiting and we must become more acutely prepared for the return.  We begin to ponder and think through the things that are most important for our upcoming marriage to The Lamb of God.

The old sages talk of how the earth grieved as the flood waters went down.  Legend has it that the earth was ashamed because it would not yet have crops grown when the appointed harvest times arrived for the next offerings to God.  The earth had to start anew with growing things.  When we give our hearts to Christ, we too have to start anew with a growing process.  It takes time, we must be patient and wait on God.  Fruitfulness does not come to one instantly after salvation; there is a process of sanctification involved in our growing in The LORD.  These fifty days that we count and wait remind us to be patient and keep pursuing the One we love with all our hearts.  Sanctification is a process.  We fall and we get up and we repent and we start over again and again.  The fifty days of counting remind us not to give up!
    

Noah saw the dove's mate that faithfully waited in the ark for the return of her beloved, and he saw the dove's mate's sure return with nourishment and strength and hope for the one he loved and cherished.   Noah knew the returning dove brought hope of home again.  
   
In the second month and the twenty seventh day of the month God spoke to Noah and said “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your son’s wives with you.”   And God told Noah to bring the animals out of the ark too.  They all came out and back onto the earth.   It was time!  New life was beginning!  

Today many in God's church are grieving.  Our hearts grieve because we are not yet ready for our groom.  Our hearts have to start anew with growing.  We have a growing process to go through in order to be ready.  We must start!  Time is passing.  Everyday is precious. 

The fourth, fifth and sixth weeks are huge growing times in our waiting on Pentecost to come.  We realize the urgency of time; just like a bride seeing the days of the calendar unfold.  In these times we experience the putting into practice of the things that God has shown us.  We can't just think it; we must be DOING!   Our hearts are getting stronger, more able to respond to God, ready to be filled in the seventh week with an extra blessing of God’s Holy Spirit.  

We have prayed for The Holy Spirit to come and on this very special day we receive that wedding gift that says, "keep this until I come for you, it is to remind you that I am close, that I am coming!  It is to help you know that you have My heart at all times, even when you are in the storm, even when the water is deep and you cannot walk on your own, even when you are not sure that the water is receding."  

Pentecost comes as a special wedding gift from our Groom in Heaven.   It is to encourage our hearts and make our lives better!   We come to it at the end of  the act of counting our days, hoping, studying the Word, having faith, waiting on God's timing.
  

When God sent out The Holy Spirit for the first time after the Resurrection on The Day of Pentecost, The Holy Spirit found God's followers very similar to a dove seeking his mate. The intention was to gather and eventually bring back home a whole and perfect bride for the Messiah.  This day from God, which He had appointed long ago was like sending out an invitation for mankind to come inside the ark of heaven and find rest with God forever. No need to worry.  We are safe until the flood is over.  No more tossing and turning through the seas of life and floods, but it was an offering of peace, a time for renewal!

Like Noah standing and waiting for the dove's return from the bow of the great ship, the Messiah would be waiting for the Bride in heaven.  The disciples were told to wait in Jerusalem, much like the dove's mate waiting faithfully in the ark.  Often in the refining work of God’s Holy Spirit a process of waiting is involved.  This is why we take the time to count the days!  We, like Noah, must be sensitive to this fact.  Noah had to wait patiently for seven more days before he sent out the dove again.  

Why seven more days?  

Why not eight, or nine or ten, or only one?  

Because; Noah was a faithful keeper of the Sabbath.  Every seventh day was a day of corporate worship, a time that Noah and his family set aside to spend with God.  They put aside their work and chores and they focused on God’s will for the next week of their lives.  Together they worshiped and rested and the animals rested and worshiped with them.   

As they rested, they listened to what God had to say to them without any worldly distractions.  This was a special set-aside time for seeking God’s face.  
To miss a Sabbath would be unthinkable to a man like Noah.  He understood that God had appointed sacred times and seasons.  He was always counting and waiting on the Seventh Day.  This is why many believe that the dove was being sent out on the Sabbath day, maybe as a type of thank offering from Noah to God and also a way of seeking an answer from Him on what to do next.  

Noah would make his offering and wait on God to answer.  This happened like clockwork, every seventh day.

The second time that Noah sent out the dove it came back again, but this time Noah saw the dove feed it's mate little green olive leaves by regurgitating his food and sharing a portion with his mate.  This strange process brings to mind a picture of a godly man who would never just hand his wife and children a bible and tell them to read it and understand it on their own.  He ingests the word into his soul and lives it out himself first, taking it into his own heart before giving it out to others.  He chews on it, digests it, and when the time is right, he pulls the nutrients out of it for his own family.  It is the same in sharing God's Holy Spirit with others.  The Spirit must first live inside of us before we have the ability to pass it on to others.    

I smile each time I think of this and remember that my granddaughter is named Olivia.  I have prayed for her from the time she lived inside her mother's womb, even before that, and her name is so symbolic of Pentecost and the receiving of God's Holy Spirit.  I know the root word "olive" means so much.  I am thankful that she was given this name.

This practice of feeding used by the returning dove to bring nourishment to his mate told Noah that there was dry land once more and that land contained olive leaves.

Olive leaves were such a wonderful sign!  To this day the people of God often go out during The Feast of Tabernacles and bring back olive branches to build the temporary shelters they inhabit for the feast.  They probably think of Noah and remember the faithful dove when they do this act.  These olive branches used for building during the feast days are symbolic of Jesus sending The Holy Spirit to dwell with us in the temporary shelters of our physical bodies until he could return to us again.  I love how the Holy Days of God are all interconnected with one another.  Passover leads to Pentecost and Pentecost is still celebrated in The Feast of Tabernacles at the end of the sacred year.  One lesson of God builds on the next.  God was so wise in teaching us these things this way; humans can be so forgetful, but when we live them out through celebrating these Holy Day, we remember!
  

Jesus knew that after His resurrection and ascension into heaven we would feel lost without Him.  The Holy Spirit resolved that problem, connecting heaven and earth, the Messiah and His Bride; even when they were apart in time and space.    They were always beloved to one another, connected in their hearts and souls.  It became official on Pentecost!  This is what is achieved by the gift of The Holy Spirit dwelling inside of each of God's children.  This Holy Spirit living inside of someone is how you will recognize them as a child of God.  The indwelling of The Holy Spirit is what causes people to be resurrected from their graves into new life in God's Kingdom.

When the Holy Spirit comes to us, our bodies become temporary shelters; little temples or tabernacles created and designed especially to house The Spirit of God; just as the ark was the temporary shelter of the dove and Noah.
  

How significant that the dove brought back an olive leaf to give to his mate who was faithfully waiting inside the ark, never doubting his return.  This is one reason why Olive oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.  It is always used for anointing people with the power and healing strength of God.

Many, many years later, after the flood of Noah, God gave his prophet Zechariah the ability to see into the future.  Zechariah spoke and wrote of two olive trees and olive oil and olive branches that he saw in visions from God.  His visions helped the church (the dove’s faithful waiting mate) to see and understand that Jesus (represented in our story by Noah) is the source of that great old Olive tree and through His Holy Spirit (represented by Noah's Dove) the golden oil of grace flows out to believers that keep their lamps burning and/or those who stay filled with God’s Holy Spirit.  

God's people, much like Noah as he prepared the great ark, must stay ready and be prepared for whatever God tells them to do and where ever God leads them to go.  This is true of the church now in this day and time more than it ever has been in His-Story (history.)

Noah witnessed God at work through the dove just as we witness God at work through His Holy Spirit.  

It must have been hard for the dove to leave his mate behind.  He must have wanted some way to comfort her as she rested and waited for him in the comfort of the ark.  Jesus must have felt the same as He left the earth full of his followers and returned to His Father to complete his purpose.  He gave us The Comforter, The Holy Spirit to help us while He was away from the earth.  The Holy Spirit is our connection to our Beloved, Christ.

The Olive branches symbolized hope of a better future and hope is always the beginning of a new and better life.  

Noah’s family had hope, but they were still inside the ark, so Noah waited seven more days and sent the dove out again seeking an answer from God on when to leave the ark.  This time the dove did not return.  This must have told Noah that the world was once again ready for habitation.  However, Noah and his family did not leave the ark until God said for them to leave.  Noah again waited seven more days. 

Are you prepared to leave the ark of this earth and meet your Bride Groom in heaven?  Are you ready, filled up with the oil of God's Holy Spirit?  If not, you simply need to ask of God and it will be given to you.  Hold up your clean and believing hands (cleaned from repentance and as an act of believing faith) and receive God's greatest gift into your life today.  This is the oil that never runs out.  All you have to do is ask with a true heart.  God is waiting on you to ask.  

With Pentecost accomplished, just like that new world that Noah's family stepped into, a whole new beginning comes to God’s church.   My favorite quote from the lips of Jesus is:  "I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW."

Praise to Almighty God for The Sacred Appointed Day of Pentecost!

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 123 DEAD LIVESTOCK BOILS AND A VERY BAD HAILSTORM

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Once again, God told Moses to take a message to Pharaoh.  God said to tell him “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.  If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, the hand of the LORD will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field – on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats.  But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt; that no animal belonging to the Israelite's will die.” 

God was not happy!  He was about to show the world WHO He was not happy with by making a distinction between the Israelites (who desired to worship Him) and the Egyptians who had turned to false, pagan gods and ways.  Not only was Pharaoh calling himself god and encouraging the people of Egypt to worship all kinds of other pagan false gods too; he was preventing the ones who wanted to worship the REAL God from worshiping Him in the way that He had commanded.  Pharaoh was being very selfish with his arrogance!  

God had been very patient with Pharaoh up to this point.  The REAL God is never arrogant or selfish, but He always considers the love of His people and his anger was righteous in that His people were not being treated fair.  This wasn't all about physical slavery; it was also very much about religious freedom of choice.  It was more about spiritual slavery than physical slavery.

Pharaoh was putting himself and his false gods above The One True God and His people.  The commandments had not been written down in stone yet; but they were already God's ways.  "Thou shalt have no other God's before me" and "Thou shalt keep the Sabbath holy" were being severely violated in a million different ways.  God was going to make this very plain before everything was over in his dealing with Pharaoh and Egypt.  Are you beginning to see how Pharaoh's rise to power had simply been God allowing it to happen so that He could show the entire universe who God is?   

Once again God set a time for these things He had proclaimed to happen.  Pharaoh could have changed his mind in plenty of time to stop it.  He had at least 24 hours to think it over and change.  Moses told Pharaoh that the plague would come “tomorrow.”  Pharaoh, as usual did not relent.

The next day the LORD sent the plague and all the livestock in the fields of Egypt died.

Still Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the people go to worship God in the wilderness.

What does it mean that God sent the Egyptians a plague involving livestock?  Well, the Egyptians worshiped most forms of livestock.  Can you see the pattern here?  They thought many of these animals were sacred, but they did not even consider that The One True God was sacred.

Once the Persians were victorious in a great battle against the Egyptians simply because they drove their sacred animals in front of them into the battle field.  The Egyptians would not fight for fear of harming the sacred animals!  This gave the Persians an easy win.  You would think that battle alone might have changed their way of thinking.  It did not.  The Egyptians just kept right on worshiping their false gods.   Hathor was the Egyptian cow-headed god that protected cattle herds.   Apis was an Egyptian bull god.    

So as these pitiful Egyptians were sitting around with their hard-hearted king after they had finished burying an unbelievable amount of their dead livestock; God spoke to Moses and Aaron again.  

God told Aaron to take hands full of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh.  It was to become fine dust that would scatter over the whole land of Egypt, and soon festering boils would begin to break out on the people and the animals that were left throughout the land.  

Moses and Aaron did exactly as God had said, they stood in front of Pharaoh and Moses tossed the soot into the air and soon festering boils broke out on all the people and animals.  Even Pharaoh’s famous magicians were covered with boils and they could not serve in their pagan temples or stand in front of Moses because of the boils.  

This time the scriptures say that the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not listen to Moses and Aaron.  It becomes so apparent that God was using Pharaoh, probably because of his horrid choices in lifestyle and his arrogance in saying he was god over all gods, to prove a very important point.  I think I get it; do you?  I don't think Pharaoh was getting it though!

So there was Pharaoh with a nation full of people covered in boils and a country full of dead animals.  They were all sick and they had no meat for their tables (if they ate meat, they probably only ate certain animals that were not considered sacred) and they had lost all of their basic modes of transportation. 

 Even worse, the animals that they worshiped were dying in the streets.  Who was going to protect them now?   Why were their gods dying?

Pharaoh did not seem to care as much for the people as he did about having his own way and being the only one in control  He still was not able to humble himself before God and do as God had said to do. 

But why boils?  What did they have to do with pagan gods being worshiped?  Well - when God told Moses to lift his hands toward the heavens and scatter the ashes, God was probably thinking of those false sky gods they worshiped; Horis, Shu, Isis and Nut.  It was the custom of their priests to scatter ashes from sacrifices as a sign of blessing.  I guess the land of Egypt was symbolic of their sacrifices and Moses was mimicking their priests; but this did not bring blessings at all; it brought boils!  God was showing the REAL blessings of worshiping these false gods.  

God spoke to Moses again and told him to get up early the next morning and go confront Pharaoh once more and say to him; “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews says:  'Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.  For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.,  But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.  You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go.  Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. Give an order to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.'"

I guess the only livestock that was left were chickens and pigs and any livestock that had not been out in the field when God had brought the plague on the other livestock earlier.  Of course the slaves were considered nothing less than livestock to the Egyptians.  So those officials who had learned to believe God brought all of their remaining livestock and their slaves inside.  Those who did not fear God did not worry about these new instructions to Pharaoh. 

Then the LORD said to Moses:  “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that the hail may fall all over Egypt – on people and on animals and on everything growing in the fields of Egypt."   

Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky and the LORD sent thunder and lightning and hail and the lightning flashed down to the ground.  It was the worst storm in Egypt since it had become a nation.  People and animals and all the vegetation were beat down into the ground by the pounding lightning and hail from this storm.  The flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley crop was almost ready to harvest in the fields and the flax was also already in bloom.  The wheat and spelt however, were not destroyed because they would not ripen until later in the year.   All the land and trees were stripped of their vegetation.  The goodness of the rich land was destroyed everywhere, except for the land of Goshen where God’s people were living.  They were safe from the storm and their crops were still in tact.  

Until now the desert land of Egypt had hardly known rain, much less hail or thunder and lightning.  They got their water for the land and crops from the river.  These Egyptians had probably never even seen hail or lightning.  Where were their sky gods who should be protecting them from such things falling from the sky?  Mim's party would not happen this year!  Would this open the eyes of Pharaoh? 

Mim was their false god of agriculture.  Before the coming of this plague the people  had been preparing for the annual festival for Mim where they offered sacrifices to him as their god of agriculture.  Where was he in all of this?  All of their ripening crops had been destroyed.  The Hebrews had not worshiped these Egyptian false gods and their crops were all still in place.  The Hebrews would have offerings to bring to their God when the time for their offerings came; if only Pharaoh would let them go out to do it.  Would this open Pharaoh's eyes?

For the first time, it did seem to have an affect on Pharaoh in which he recognized the One True God of the Hebrews.  When Pharaoh came out and saw the devastation to his land and his people he summoned Moses.  This time Pharaoh admitted that he had sinned.  He actually said to Moses and Aaron; “The LORD is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong.  Pray to the LORD, for we have had enough thunder and hail.  I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.” 

What an amazing break-through!   

But Moses still wasn’t so sure that Pharaoh would actually keep his word.  God had been talking to Moses and He had told him how Pharaoh would react.    

So Moses told Pharaoh when he left the city he would spread out his hands toward the LORD in prayer; and the thunder would stop and there will be no more hail, all so Pharaoh could know that the earth is the LORD’S.  But he also told Pharaoh that he knew he and his officials still did not fear the LORD God. 

Nevertheless;  Moses went out of the city and spread out his hands toward the LORD and the thunder and hail soon stopped.  The rain no longer poured down on the land.  When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again.  He and his officials hardened their hearts and Pharaoh did not let the Israelites go; just as the LORD had said to Moses.

I found it interesting that Moses even had to leave the city where Pharaoh lived in order to be heard by God.  Apparently, God turns a deaf ear to cities that are ruled by pagans!   

The worship in ancient Egypt was mostly polytheistic.  To better understand the plagues of Egypt it is helpful to understand the false pagan gods that Egypt worshiped, then begin to look closer at what God was showing them and us through all of the plagues. 

On first glance the worship of Egypt seemed like a very chaotic and unorganized religion with many, many gods, and it actually started out that way; but an order seemed to evolve in all of it when their own (made up) version of the telling of the story of creation came forth.

 

In the Egyptian version of the creation story there was only one ocean at the beginning of time.  From that ocean rose a god named Ra, who represented the sun.  Apparently Ra was hatched either from a flower or an egg that rose from the ocean.  (There are different conflicting stories about this.)  When Ra appeared as the sun on the surface of the water he brought forth four children, who were also gods.  They were the males, Shu and Geb and the females,  Tefnut and Nut.  Shu and Tefnut became the atmosphere and they stood on Geb who became the earth and Geb raised up Nut who became the sky.  Ra ruled over all.  

Geb and Nut had two sons, Set and Osiris.   Then Geb and Nut had two daughters; Isis and Nephthys.  Osiris married his sister ( Isis) and succeeded Ra on the throne as king over all the earth.  Set hated his brother, Osiris and he killed him. (Counterfeit story similar to Cain and Abel in the Bible.) Isis, with the help of one named Anubis, embalmed the body of Osiris and because he had helped Isis with this task Anubis became known as the god of embalming the dead.   

Isis resurrected Osiris with her powerful charms and he became the god of the netherworld (the land of the dead.)  Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis later defeated Set and became the god of the earth.  

And so the outrageous counterfeit stories continue through the generations of many false gods.  From these stories came the nine divinities called enneads and the triad consisting of a divine mother, father and son.  Every local temple in Egypt possessed its own local ennead and triad.  Of course the greatest ennead was that of Ra and his children and grandchildren.  These were worshiped at Heliopolis, the center for sun worship.  

You are possibly beginning to see a lot of resemblance here to the order of how God destined Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be the patriarchs of The Great Family of God.  These Egyptian false gods were all fake counter-versions of the ones with the REAL power from the REAL God.  They were fakes made up as imitations of what God had truly ordained and created when He first created the earth and mankind.     

In the Egyptian triads you can see the perversion and counterfeit of the True Holy Family of God and the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  

Some of the local gods were taken from ideas of other foreign deities or patterned after the animal gods of prehistoric  Africa.  Eventually all of these fused into one big religious picture in Egypt.  Among the more famous false gods were:  Amon, Thoth, Ptah, Khnemu and Hapi.  The famous false goddesses were Hathor, Mut, Neit and Skehet.  To make matters worse, these deities were sometimes confused with human beings who had been glorified after death.  These false gods had the abilities to change from god to human to god and back to humans or animals; whatever was most convenient at the time to achieve their purposes.  

During the 5^th Dynasty the Pharaohs began to claim their divinity among all of these.  All of the Pharaoh’s were known as the sons of Ra.  Minor false gods and demons took on a more local form and were worshiped in the temples along with the other gods.  All of these gods were depicted with human torsos and human or animal heads.  If the head was an animal, the animal usually expressed the characteristics of that god.  For example, RA had the head of a hawk and a hawk was sacred to him because of its swift flight across the sky.  Hathor was the goddess of love and laughter and she had the head of a cow.  The sacred animals were venerated by the Egyptians because of the gods they were associated with or attached to.  

The animals themselves were not actually worshiped until the 26^th Dynasty.  Each of these pagan gods had their own symbol.  Ra had the sun as his sybol and Ra was always the most important and the most consistently worshiped god.  Ra worship eventually evolved into the status of a state religion which governed over the people in the land.  Ra fused with Amon at one point becoming Ra-Amon  and was noted as the supreme god of the land of Egypt during that time.  

The Egyptians believed that the amulets and statutes they made protected them from both real and imagined powers from the underworld, both in life and after death.  They put these small statues inside their tombs when they died,  They kept them with them for protection and the statues were to serve for them in the afterlife.  The Egyptians believed there would be fields to tend to in the afterlife, and their statues were there to help them with the undesirable part of that work which they would not want to do.  So the theory seemed to be that the more you had of these little gods; the better off you were in the afterlife    They believed these little statues would somehow magically come alive in the afterlife and perform their chores for them.

No wonder God was angry enough to send plagues!  He was actually very merciful to the people of Egypt.  It would have been much easier to just wipe them off the map.  But God put object lessons into each plague, hoping to teach the Egyptians that He was the Only True God of Heaven and Earth.  Hopefully, even though the Egyptians did not learn this lesson; we who are reviewing the story will.

If you know what to look for in the modern world today; you can see all of these things of idol worship and pagan worship still being carried out, just in un-obvious and subtle ways.  It is right under our noses every day, but we have been so conditioned to this over millions of years; just as the people of Egypt were.  We do not even notice what is happening in front of our very faces when we see these things.  Like in Egypt, they have become a part of the culture.  

There is lots of false worship and lots of fake religion going on in America and in many other nations.  Will God be as generous and as merciful to us as He was to the ancient Egyptians?  After all, they had no examples to teach them.  We had them and their stories as our example.  What excuses do we have to offer?  We have all seen and heard these object lessons over and over.  

If you have ever attended a Passover Seder; you should understand all of the mysteries behind the plagues.  It is a standard part of the telling of the Passover every year.  There is more to tell later about this subject; but for now it is hard enough just to consider what must be going through the mind of God when He looks down on earth today and searches to see if there is anyone similar to Moses, that would be willing to honor His name and be true to worship Him and Him alone.  

One greater than Moses has come!  His name is Jesus.  Have we even listened to Him?

Time will give us these answers.  Lord have mercy on us!