Patricia's Principles for Living

I've always loved the story of the Prodigal Son. It's such a great story of restoration and forgiveness. Over the years I've thought of the miserable older brother. That older brother had such a feeling of superiority until he could not enjoy life. He was like the man in the Scripture who said I fast three times a week. I pray everyday. I give to the poor. I've done all the right things. The elder brother never considered that maybe something he was doing required his father to forgive him too. He was tight lipped, feeling superior, and doing his duty. He never showed or expressed hospitality to his friends. At night he was content to stew in his own self righteousness, never conversing with his father, never trying to find out what were his father's concerns. The older brother may have thought well I never went to a dance, never smoked a cigarette, never drank, never had sex outside of marriage,and never ran away and squandered my father's money. He was pretty

One Sunday morning as I stood in Timothy and Nancy's lush garden I looked at the fruit trees. There were plum trees with purple plums hanging with some laying on the ground. There were pear trees laden with small green pears. As I looked I remembered that in the garden of Eden God gave man a specific task. They were to take care of the garden. I wondered what it was like did taking care of the garden. When ripe food dropped and could not be eaten, did Adam take it to make a compost pile to prepare to use it again as fertilizer? Adam was the first organic gardener. It must have been a joy to take care of something God already planted. Adam was also the keeper of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam had choices. He could have decided on which tree or plant he would take care of on any given day. At the end of the day God would come and they would discuss plants, animals, marriage, and food. Or maybe they discussed heavenly things. Adam would walk with

Rahab was a woman of ill repute who lived on the wall in the soon to be destroyed city of Jericho. Joshua sent spies to Jericho to reconnoiter the land because Israel was going to launch an unusual offensive against it. Jericho's king heard of the Hebrew spies being in town. Tracking the spies' movements they determined that these men had gone into Rahab's house. Being a wily woman herself, Rahab had already hidden these men before the soldiers came to look for them. After the search party had left her house, at the peril of her own life Rahab agreed to help them escape. However, being the true entrepreneur that she was, she made a contract with the spies before they left. The binding visual element of the contract was the scarlet cord. Joshua 2: 12 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and

Health Professionals tell us there are some self examinations we should perform once a year. I believe there are some spiritual self examinations that we should do at least once a year, if not more frequently. I want to make sure that I'm examining myself to make sure I'm not taking my walk with Christ fo granted. At this Easter I am reminded of Judas. His is an example I do not want to follow. During one of my Bible readings I came across the passage about Judas dipping his hand in the bowl with Christ. To me, this is a passage mixed with strong emotions? Here is a person close enough to Christ to actually touch Jesus' hands in a bowl. Here’s a man who lived and traveled with Christ. How fearful and bone chilling is this warning? He saw Christ, touched Christ, lived with Christ, traveled with Christ, did miracles in Christ’s name. He saw the miracles, even performed some himself under Christ’s authority. Yet he did not commit himself to Christ. Less than 24 hours with his