Biblical Women

As mentioned yesterday, here are some descriptions about each of the women in “The Extraordinary Mother” by John Macarthur.

Eve

• Mother, comforter, nurturer, & helper
• Deceived and cursed

Sarah

• Faithful, love for God & husband, hopeful
• Was also cruel

Hagar

• Trusts & obeys (initially)
• Didn’t nurture her sons faith
• Rejected God’s commands by taking an Egyptian wife for her son

Rebekah

• Kind service
• Believes God’s promises, but took matters into her own hands

Rachel & Leah

• Polygamy always causes trouble
• A legacy of faith was instilled in their children

Jochebed

• Entrusted her child to God’s care
• Hope, let Mose’s go twice

Deborah

• Wise & influential
• Obedience to God
• Mother to Israel
• Dealt with the world as it was, but instructed her Children about how it should be

Samson’s Mother

• Faithful & dedicated

Abigail

• Faithful in service
• Wise & humble

King Lemuel’s Mother

• If this is Solomon’s mother – teaches him about God’s wisdom

Mary – Jesus’ Mother

• Grace & courage
• Devoted & faithful

Mary – John Mark’s Mother

• Supporter of the church
• Supported her son through his troubles

Book Review: The Extraordinary Mother by John MacArthur

This is a nice quick read. Each chapter is only a few pages and focuses on a particular woman of the Bible. It makes for an excellent gift item for a “soon-to-be” mother. There isn’t a lot of theology, just examples of Biblical mothers living out their faithfulness. There is much to be learned from these women, both through their faithfulness and their times of trouble.

One interesting thing about this book, is the fact that some of these Mother’s are not well know to the average Christian. For example, I had never really thought about John Mark’s mother.

The book uses the following mothers as examples:
Eve
Sarah
Hagar
Rebekah
Rachel & Leah
Jochebed
Deborah
Samson’s Mother
Abigail
King Lemuel’s Mother
Mary – Jesus’ Mother
Mary – John Mark’s Mother

Can you think of the qualities of each of these Mothers?

Check back tomorrow for some summary thoughts about each.

New Dollars

Have you seen the new 3 dollar bills being printed?

I got my hands on a couple of them today, they are sure to be collector's item some day.

You can view them at the Slick website.

It is worth a laugh or two.

Wes

R or D?

The other day Hillary Clinton made some comments regarding cars and politics. She said in effect, use “R” to go in reverse and use “D” to go forward. The insinuation was that Republicans will take the country backward while the Democratic Party will move us forward. But what do you really get with “R” and “D”?

Do you want to move forward or go back?

“R”
Go back to family values
Go back to a smaller government
Go back to lower taxes
Go back to a free market with minimal government interference
Go back to a sense of community
Go back to religion and prayer in schools
Go back to the sanctity of marriage/life
Go back to the upholding the laws of immigration into the United States
Go back to being tough on crime

“D”
Move forward with higher taxes
Move forward with a larger government
Move forward with more regulation
Move forward with a hostile environment towards businesses
Move forward with higher costs of health care
Move forward with destroying family values
Move forward with killing babies in their mother’s womb
Move forward with increased rights for criminals
Move forward with the breakdown of society
Move forward with ignoring the laws of the United States

Again I ask, Do you want to move forward or go back?

Take me back, please!

Better Gas Mileage?

The theory is if you drive slower you will get better gas mileage. For the past month I decided to test this theory for myself.

Normal driving for me is around 65mph, but this often times requires speeding up to 70 to pass people going 60 because they speed up as you are trying to pass them. This type of driving averages about 25 mpg in my Subaru.

I made a conscious effort to not drive much over 60 mph for one full tank of gas. I found it difficult to maintain that speed. This type of driving did indeed yield about 1 more mpg for 26 mpg.

I then decided to do another test, this time setting cruise control for about 62mph. This yielded the best results, giving me an average of 26.5 mpg.

How much does it save?

As to be expected, driving slower saves no time at all.

Assume a 10 gallon tank:
At 25mpg the is a cost of $0.146 per mile.
At 26mpg the is a cost of $0.140 per mile.
At 26.5mpg the is a cost of $0.137 per mile.

For a total difference of $0.009 per mile. Over a years worth of driving (14,000 miles) that equates to a savings of $126.

Worth it? You decide.

For me, it was nice just setting the cruise control and not worrying about trying to pass everyone and then get back over in the right lane so others could pass me. I will probably stick with the 62 mph cruise control setting for a while and see what happens.

Gas Tax Holiday

I have some thoughts (are your surprised) on the proposed Gas Tax Holiday between Memorial Day and Labor Day this year.

If the tax passes the price of gas at the pump SHOULD drop slightly. However, who is to say the service stations will drop their price? They may want to pocket a little extra for themselves.

What happens after the initial drop of say 25 cents? The price of gas slowly creeps back up over the summer and then after labor day an immediate 25 cent hike!

An example:
The price of gas drops from $3.65 a gallon to $3.40 a gallon for Memorial Day. Over the summer the prices slowly creeps back to $3.60 a gallon and the day after Labor Day: $3.85!

How much would you save?
Let's assume the drop is 25 cents and you use 10 gallons a week over 14 weeks. That is a savings of $35! Big deal. That doesn't help much, it simply makes it look like the Congressmen are trying to do something....something to get themselves re-elected that is!

What can be done?
It all comes down to Supply and Demand. Increase the supply or decrease the demand to lower the price.

Letter to the Editor

Here is a letter I sent to the editor of Smart Money Magazine regarding an article in the May 2008 issue.

Very rarely do I agree with anyone on the Fed's actions. However, Roger Lowenstein has it right in the May 2008 issue of Smart Money. When will people learn, lower interest rates do not solve the problems. This is in fact how we got into this mess: cheap, easy credit!

The best thing that can happen for the economy is if some people do indeed lose their homes and some mortgage lenders take a loss. Then maybe people with think about their financial habits a little bit more the next time those rates entice them into a purchase they cannot afford. And just maybe those mortgage lenders won’t be so willing to lend to those people that cannot afford the loan knowing the consequences.

Just my thoughts.