what I believe...............

I believe in Jesus Christ the son of the living God, that He was born of a virgin, that He came to this world to die for my sins to save my soul. I believe that He rose from the dead and returned to Heaven to make ready for the "believers" when they die.
The rest is gravy.
Was Mary a virgin? Yes she was, she was very young and God impregnated her. After Jesus birth I believe she was fully married to Joseph who raised her son Jesus as his own. They had other children.

I believe that God created the Heavens and the earth and everything out there, that space and time are limitless. That it is possible that other worlds exist but that at this time that is not our concern. We are here now to live and learn and find our way back to God. Nothing else matters. I believe in the big bang, yes. God used natural elements in creation. Maybe He has always been creating things for His pleasure. He is a Spirit but has made us in His image and so we too have a spirit/soul that is eternal. We were created for the earth and it is our home. We were never intended for "heaven". Man was made to live forever.
Why was it OK for the sons and daughters of Adam to marry each other? Because they were perfect, no illness or bad that could be transmitted by marrying each other. Restrictions came later when the race was no longer pure.

Before God created man He had already created a different world the spirit world. He created the Angels and other creatures that had different purposes. The Angels could later put on the guise of man and walk among them. When Lucifer the most beautiful of Gods creation wanted to be worshiped like God he rebelled and initiated a war in heaven. In the end the rebels were thrown out of heaven and incarcerated. Before that happened though they saw what God had created and wanted the women that they found beautiful and so they bred with them. Hybrids do not breed and so by doing this Lucifer thought to avoid the coming of Christ and mankind dying out. His fellow rebels mated with animals as well as humans and so "all flesh" was corrupted. This one can see in the Myths of the ancient races. Greek and Roman mythology. The 1/2 human half gods, the mythical beasts. All of that was a part of Lucifer's plan. God destroyed it all by the Universal flood. Most of the DNA was damaged by then though and most likely even Noah's family were infected because they no longer lived forever, God limited the life spans of man and beast. Giants were still born and existed after the flood as seen in David and Goliath and The Anglo Saxon Chronicles.

Did it take 7 days to create the world? Not exactly. There was no time then, time is a man made event. God created the basic world much as science predicts and He set the sun and moon and stars for a basic reason, to heat the earth (Sun), to set the seasons and to give light (moon) and guidance (stars).Each has a purpose.

Did dinosaurs and man walk the planet together? maybe, maybe not. The order of appearance works just as science believes. First life in the oceans and then the birds of the air and then the appearance of beasts on the earth. Each according to it's own kind. One did not ever become another species but those originals did change and adapt. A dog never became a cat and so on, but they did change and a lion and a tabby cat are one and the same.
The dinosaurs were large and when they died they fertilized the earth, I believe the earth was still changing at that time and maybe during the great flood the continents drifted apart. Did all the dino's die off at that time? Maybe not, maybe some of the smaller ones found refuge on the Arc, it was big enough. Was All creation destroyed? maybe not, maybe by the whole earth God meant the whole inhabited world we do not know. It does not matter but I am happy either way and curious.

God gave us a record of creation in order to follow the line of Christ who was to be mans salvation, not to answer every question we have. I know this much, that God does not change. Science is changeable as we learn more and yet nothing has never come up yet that makes any of what the Bible says untrue. Quite the opposite. When man went to the moon they found that the material there was great at reflecting light, and that was why the moon was set in the sky "The lesser light to rule the night".
When Adam sinned, disobeyed God, the rest of mankind would be effected by Adams decision. He chose Eve over what he knew God had told him. He not only tasted the fruit, he ate it and more. He was ashamed because he was naked. Before that man was a vegetarian, flesh was not eaten and it was God who shed the first blood to clothe Adam. God then restrict his life span. He also gave Adam hope, that some day God would send a redeemer. Also before the flood it had not yet rained upon the earth, a mist came down at night to water the land. Animals lived in peace with man and were companions to mankind. After the "fall" of Adam God had changed things, man had to work to keep the soil tilled, where there were no weeds, now thorns grew. I am pretty sure they kept to caves and began to build soon after that as the climate was not so agreeable. They wore skins. Death had entered the garden. The garden of Eden was closed off and man was no longer invited in.

Why could God not just start over? Because the Angels and other beings were watching Gods new creatures and with Lucifer they knew that if God did that then there would be no consequences for disobedience. Man was not a robot but free thinking, and God wanted obedience out of love. Adam messed up. The angels saw that and saw that God is just and gave Adams offspring hope. They were given time to find another way if that was what they wanted and through the years, centuries, they tried every form of government that man could imagine to replace God. So far we have had no success. We learn from our lives that we need God, that we can not govern ourselves. Now with Satan lose on the earth it gets worse and worse but God will not always wait. The day will come as He promised us that He will send His son back, not as a baby this time. No, as a warrior and He will win and reclaim the earth for God. Man will be saved. Not all but those who want to take God's side against evil and corruption. It won't be long now.................there may be many questions left unanswered but as I said in the beginning, all this is just gravy. If you simply believe that Christ is who He says He is and that He is the way back to God then you are saved.

Is there a heaven and hell?
Yes and no. Hell was created for the disobedient Angels, not for man. It was a place of detention and God says hell will be destroyed in the Lake of Fire. I do not believe people go there, I believe that if they finally reject God then they are destroyed eternally after they see their mistakes. Will good people go that route? Probably because good and bad do not enter into the equation really, its the acceptance of God or the rejection of God. Adam was not a bad person, he disobeyed God and was punished. When we do bad things we are punished that does not mean we deserve everlasting pain and suffering. If we are sorry we are forgiven, once we learn our errors and want to fix them God forgives us. Our salvation depends on one thing, accepting God, accepting Jesus. Adam did not go to hell. God gave him hope for his future and the future of his descendants. When we do bad things it effects our families and sometimes for generations to come. We create our own punishment here and now.

Will good people go to heaven are our loved ones in heaven? I do not believe so. They are simply dead awaiting the resurrection. For them though I am sure that has already happened because it is said that everything changes in a twinkling of the eye. If you have ever had anesthetic? you know that when you conk out and then wake up its as though no time has passed even though it could have been 8 hours. Well maybe death is like that, you may have been in the ground a thousand years but you open your eyes and it seems like seconds or the blink of your eye. Yet............and here is the good part, you are now whole again, whether in a physical or spiritual body I don't know. All I know is that we are made whole again. If you are not "saved" then you awake to judgement and you will know why and without a doubt that you missed the boat so to speak and that your punishment is just. That will simply be the end of you. The rest go on to eternity. Where? who knows, who knows what would have happened had Adam never "sinned" what was God's original plan for us? Yes to fill the earth and subdue it, and then what? would we explore new worlds beyond ours. Would we interact with the Angels? go on to other galaxy's be with God Himself? So much to explore and look forwards to if we have forever. I am sure God has a plan for us.

What IS heaven? Well it is described somewhat but is it a different dimension? Is it physical or is it spiritual? Maybe it's both. Apparently 144,000 Jewish people will go there and rule from there but what about the rest of us? I believe it will depend upon our life skills and desires and what God's plan for us is. I see it as the base where God is and people will have access to it and go back and forth like it's a capital city for the universe. Maybe we visit there when we want/need to and then go off on our journey elsewhere. Man needs a purpose to his life and so I can not see us just sitting around doing nothing. There will be a new heaven and new earth God says. The lion will lie down with the lamb and there will be no more wars, God will never again tolerate rebellion. He has nothing left to prove to anyone. Satan will never be able to say that man follows God because he has no choice, not ever again. All disagreements will be solved fair and square. One God, one ruler forever.

This is just what I believe at this moment in time, there will always be questions and my next attempt is going to be on what Jesus teaches us.
End of part one.

Old Age......................

How do people feel about age and getting old. I find it fascinating. Seeing my kids get old as though from a distance. Then I look in the mirror and see the older version of me. I wonder where the years have gone. Childhood once seemed to last forever, you so wanted to grow up by the time you reached 10 and knew there was more out there. Our parents seemed old but looking back they were only in their 20s or 30s and for me thinking the war was ancient history, where to them it took their youth. Ten years is nothing. So me at 10 thinking it was before my lifetime meant it was like 1066 and the Norman invasion, just as remote and just as relevant.

I remember clearly telling my Dad to forget the dang war, it was all "before the war this, or before the war that............" They marked time by that dang war. How naive I was, of course they did, it was the major thing in their lives. When I think back my generation of post war babies saw so much change. I thought my parents generation did but really no, not as much as mine has. In my life remembering my Uncle Ray's first car and it being one that you cranked the engine from outside before driving it..........and the springs could not have been great if he had to wear a crash helmet haha.


My granddad leaning on the gate of 785 Dunstable Rd and taking car numbers. Maybe 3 or 4 an hour in those days. I would sit on the wall with him and just sit, nothing happening there..............
I left school just after my 15th birthday and worked at AC Delco, key punching. Punch cards for the computer all done by hand. I have talked about this before. The huge jump in computer science and technology during the passing years since then.

The air transport. Planes have gone from props started much like Rays car, to the war time planes like the Spitfire to the now abandoned supersonic jets and space travel. All within a lifetime.
I was talking to Liz yesterday via our computers, my laptop and her IPad. We remember when I first came to the States and we would have to book a call to England and wait for the operator to connect us. There was a huge cable that went under the sea. When the weather was bad it crackled and one could imagine the cable swaying on the ocean floor. When one person spoke the other had to wait until they were done before a reply as there was a delay as you often saw with foreign correspondents on TV. Now its all bounced off a satellite, now I can sit in my living room and talk face to face with Liz in England.
We have phones that we can do just about as much on them as the main frame of the old computers could do, all within the palm of my hand. Isn't technology great? we watch our movies on TV instead of at the theater although we can still do that if you can afford to do it.

When we first came to Michigan we got my first phone and it was on a "party line". That meant that our number was shared with two or more other house holds. That was a pain you never knew who was listening. My Parents did not ever have a phone until I left England so when I wanted to use one we would walk down to the village to do that.

When I lived in the village we would shop for groceries every day, we did not have a fridge so the milk was delivered daily, as was bread. The shops closed 1/2 day Thursday so they would open Saturday mornings now that women went outside the home to work. Everything shut on Sundays. Fridays were the day the ladies would give their lists for pick up or delivery on Saturday for the weekend. I loved helping mum do that when she worked at a grocery store. I would go after school and help sometimes.

Edna and I were talking the other day. Why did we get down on hands and knees and scrub the floors? Often they were concrete in the kitchen, at least our houses on Bidwell Hill were in the first days there. Ladies also scrubbed the front step. WHY? Did no one have a mop? I actually do not think they did, the only ones I recall were industrial.

Mum's house eventually got red Marley tile and that was polished with a red wax. Rub on, rub off. Elbow grease. The front step got a coat of red on it too. When Gerry and I were first married and lived in Bedford there was an Italian lady next door. Didn't speak English so we would just smile. She washing the front path to the road and me scrubbing my steps. Why? Why? Why? ..........it was not like we needed stuff to do. All my laundry was done in the bath tub upstairs. Backbreaking when pregnant. Especially as it had to be then taken downstairs to go outside and hang on the line to dry.

We had a coal fire in the front room and that came in very handy the first winter when first the gas company and then the electric company went on strike. I learned to cook on the coal fire. Nothing like toast done over the fire. Or a baked potato cooked in the ashes, soup cooked over the flame.

When I was still at home my Dad had a work shed. He would mend his own shoes, darn his own socks and I learned how to darn as well. We have become a throw away society now, nothing is mended it is trashed. We are wasteful now and polluters we see the Oceans floating with plastic garbage and the damage to the sea life. We have cloned and messed with our foods and now nothing is real or good anymore. We don't want blemished fruit and so things are sprayed with chemicals and the earth is poisoned. The natural minerals that we need to exist are depleted or dead from the poisons we replace them with, so we take pills.

Pills to combat what the food does to our bodies and what we ourselves have done. Because of the technology we sit in front of screens and ooh and ah over the beautiful things we see. There was a time when we would walk freely over the hills, fields and woodlands and see those things up close as well as get the exercise our bodies crave. Now we get fat and sick and our food does not nourish us any more. We have given up our freedom and replaced it with what?
We used to walk down to the shops every day and our kids got "fresh air". We would either bung them up the garden to get a breath of fresh air or leave them outside the shop as we did our errands.

Yes we can travel the world now by plane, or train or car and get to fabulous places a lot easier than ever before but............there is still a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Only a choice few can make to any extent, but it is at least something we can do if we have the means. People work more hours, women have taken over the jobs and yet still do not get paid as much as most men. They forget that although at one time men were considered the bread winner that is no longer so. Unfortunately I think. I do believe that family life is the less because the women work, but once the war was over and the men came home, the women did not want to give the freedom up again. They saw that there was so much more for them to be and do. Women's Liberation. A double edged sword.
The morals and the ability to have it all, and yet still have a family, that has not yet quite been reconciled as is seen in the troubled children in the world today.

I remember the first smallpox vaccines, most people of my generation have a round dimpled scar on the top of their arms. I don't mine was done by Dr Miller and I will never forget it. He had a green door to his surgery in the village that I became quite well acquainted with. I held on to the door nob as though my life depended on it. He broke a test tube, scrapped the skin off my arm and blew in the vaccine, scrapped it again to make it sink in I guess and I was now upon my knees still holding the door nob and he holding my by my arm. The good thing though was Polio was not yet a shot but some crap on a sugar cube that I did not mind one bit. We all knew about Polio and there were a couple of unfortunate children in the village. We knew not to go near stagnant water only moving streams and we certainly did not avoid those or the Blue Waters or chalk pits.

Electricity came to the village and the gas lights were replaced I was about 4 years old at a guess, old enough to remember but not old enough to realize the implication. Also when the telegraph poles were replaced by telephone poles and I would call them telegraph poles long after that was a thing of the past.
I am sure if I had time I could remember many more things but for now that's it folks that's all I got
Sharing with Make it pretty Monday at the dedicated house

A Day out in March................

Today we went for a drive. It was Gabby and Cooper today. Cooper did really well, he usually gets bored. We began by going to Empire to the beach. There is a nice playground there and most of the things are permanent so there were things to do. The swings are taken down for the winter but the other things were all there, one reason I chose that park. Also so I could take pictures of the beach. The snow is almost gone, just the solid ice left now. The workers are working on cleaning up for Spring by the look of things. Anyway, Cooper was lucky to find another little boy already playing there.

The beach was deserted. I didn't want to walk because it was still a bit hazardous with the ice.


I went across the road to take some pictures of the lake it was so pretty all iced over. The dock put away for Winter. I love this time of year.There was a man walking his dogs, well actually his
sons dogs they are Labradoodles and were adorably playfull and friendly.

We talked for a time, he was from Empire but spent a great amount of time in the UK and particularly Scotland and so we had a lot to talk about. The dogs played around us and were just so cute.
The lake was frozen but was lovely. Cooper was still having fun at the playground. I love the red shrubbery.


Deer tracks

When we left we stopped in the store and got a slice of Pizza and chips and cookies. We were hungry and the Pizza was great.
From there we went to the Dune climb and Cooper climbed to the top.


We went off to Glen Haven next to see what that beach was like. Oh how lovely not to see the hoards of people. It is so good to see empty roads and empty beaches. It was quite warm really 35 degrees. It sounds cold but with no wind and the sun being out it was nice. Glen Haven had very little snow left




We went on to Port Oneida to see what that beach was like.Naturally little boys have to throw the stones back into the water


We checked out the Beavers work and Cooper learned how they build their dens





Look at the teeth marks.

I finally got to stop at one of the farms I have wanted to explore for awhile.

I believe it is the Lehr farm, the barn is gorgeous

Come warmer weather I would like to walk in the fields in the back.
After we had finished exploring best we could, it is a gorgeous house and looked like they are renovating it, hopefully they will open it up at some point I would love to see inside
Anyway we wanted to go to Leland beach. There were a few people looking for Blue Stones. Seems people go all year. Why not, we do. Loads of stones on the beach and I did find some nice Blues.
Golly my back was sore, it seems to remember from the year before. By then Cooper had his coat off and was playing in the sand



so that was about the end of a lovely day out at the beginning of March. The weather was great, the sun bright and quite warm all considered. So home it was, I would think Cooper will sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is Saturday and I think Tristen will be here for the afternoon. We may go up to the lighthouse at Northport if it's nice again. Should be pretty up there.
All for today.