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>Proverbs 6:20-35

In Proverbs on April 30, 2008 by mstevensrev

>20 My son, keep your father’s commandment,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them on your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
24 to preserve you from the evil woman,
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,
but a married woman hunts down a precious life.
27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest
and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one walk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
none who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31 but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;
he will give all the goods of his house.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy makes a man furious,
and he will not spare when he takes revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation;
he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

Proverbs number one message, don’t be a fool (seek wisdom positively). Proverbs number two message, fools commit adultery. Every time I blog on this it is cause for my wife to check in with me and make sure I’m not giving in to temptation, no problem, these are good things to talk about. God promises us many good things, but we are continually reminded to be thankful and faithful with that we have been given. Husbands and wives are gifts of God to each other, and we should treasure each other!

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Articles

>My Grandfather Post #1

In family on April 29, 2008 by mstevensrev

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A little over six months ago my granddad, Bill Stevens died. It was right around the time of the birth of my second daughter and so I was unable to attend the funeral. The summer before his death I began asking my dad lots of questions about Granddad, and began to feel that we were a great deal alike, I’ll probably go into that conversation at some point with these post. This weekend as I was cleaning in my garage I found a story my Granddad’s neighbor had written about him that chronicled his career as a military pilot in WWII.

I wanted to share some of that story and some of the details as I have recently been think a lot about my Granddad.

Though my grandfather wanted to be a pilot before he entered the service he was in training to be an infantry officer. It wasn’t until his girlfriend, later my grandmother had a good friend who was the secretary to the head of Army personnel who would process the application for his transfer into the US Air Force. My Grandmother hooked him up! He began his training at Bennett Field, SC in 1943 as part of Class 44C. His flight training was conducted in a Boeing Stearman BT-17 biplane, a radial-engined, two-seat, dual-control airplane that has always been capable of aerobatics. Only 40% of the group that began training with him made it through, the other sixty were washouts.

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Articles

>Proverbs 6:12-19

In Proverbs on April 29, 2008 by mstevensrev

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12 A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet,
points with his finger,
14 with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.

Worthless. I normally do not think of people that way. Yet the Proverbs does. Those people who talk with crooked speech. They are trying to trick people, lame, it just messes up anything everyone’s trying to do. Wink with his eyes, now I wink at my daughters all the time. So I hope this doesn’t put me in the worthless category. Mine is an act of love and affection, theirs is a signal, pointing while planning evil. What happens to these folks? They get theirs.

Six things God hates, seven make the list complete:
1. Haughty eyes- arrogant, selfish vision…God likes people who look out for others because it is what he does.
2. Lying tongue- need I say more
3. Hands that shed innocent blood- I’ll only comment you had better be sure that they are not innocent if you choose to shed their blood
4. a heart that devises wicked plans
5. fee that hurry to run to evil- running isn’t enough you hurry to run
6. lying about what you saw to get someone else in trouble- destroys the fabric of society
7. one who starts fights with brothers- this makes me think about all the Christian’s I hate and how I need to respond to them.

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Articles

>Things that affect my blog

In blogging, work on April 24, 2008 by mstevensrev

>The number one factor that has been effecting my blogging is twitter. I used to feel that I had to write a few hundred words that would profoundly impact the world every day. Twitter has lead me to use my blog more for thoughts and in the moment comments. I’m not sure how helpful it is for me in my discipline of writing, which is supposed to prepare me to be the next great American writer, but it has influenced me.

Second is my iPhone. I now take an send pictures to my blog. This trend I really like. I never had the time to transfer images from my camera to my computer to my blog. Right from my phone works for me.

Third is change at work. Work has been pretty demanding. I don’t have the energy I had last year at this time. I wake up in the mornings and it is hard for me to get going. I’m less than two weeks away from a marathon and often that is just how my body reacts when I get close to race day. All the training has taken it toll. Also the weather in Seattle sucks. It has continued to be very cold and that has had an effect on me. I mention that under work because my office is very cold, I am still wearing Long John’s this week!

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Articles

>Proverbs 6:6-11

In Proverbs, work on April 23, 2008 by mstevensrev

>6 Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
7 Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.

Laziness will get you no where. Look at the ants, they bust their hump without anyone telling them what to do, just so they have something to eat. Nothing will send you to the poor house faster than laziness. Don’t be afraid of work, there is an aspect of it…even this side of heaven…that brings joy. Yes there is lots of BS, do what is in your power to eliminate that, pray about the BS out of your power, and throw yourself into things that satisfy you. Look at the people around you and think about how you can make them better. Trust that it will work out for your good.

That is currently what I need to remember. Again I had one year experience in my job and then our company was acquired. Everything changed, and I had to get to learning all over again. I spent four years learning how to write theology papers, now I have to learn what makes a good business case, and that is just one small example. In the midst of all that major movements are happening with an account I am involved with, so I am called to trust. Work hard at what is before me, try to make those around me look good, and trust that it will work out because God is in control.

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Articles

>Tastes like chicken

In Uncategorized on April 22, 2008 by mstevensrev

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>My two favorite words right now

In Uncategorized on April 21, 2008 by mstevensrev

>persnickety and runt

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>Makes me think my day is going well…

In work on April 18, 2008 by mstevensrev

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>Proverbs 6:1-5

In Proverbs, Theology on April 11, 2008 by mstevensrev

>6:1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
have given your pledge for a stranger,
2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and save yourself,
for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.
4 Give your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Be careful who you give your word to. When you make a promise make sure you know the person. This is a place I have to grow. I meet someone on the street and I am ready to pour everything I have to them. People from networking events are my best friend. This Proverb encourages us to run when we have made commitments to people we have shouldn’t.

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>Proverbs 5:15-23

In Proverbs on April 9, 2008 by mstevensrev

>15 Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your springs be scattered abroad,
streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated [4] always in her love.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? [5]
21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
and he ponders [6] all his paths.
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,
and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
23 He dies for lack of discipline,
and because of his great folly he is led astray.

I love this imagery of water from your own cistern. Water is life, it springs up freely, everyone has access, but when you have a spring for your family you take care of it. The relationship between a husband and a wife is life. Sure relationships even sexual relationships spring up freely all around, but those relationships should be valued. The way they these other relationships catch our eye is deceiving, even if we aren’t thinking with our minds, God is. He straightens us up when we go astray.

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