an update, an apology

 Gents,

First of all, I'd like to say that I'm sorry.  Life has been crazy around our place in the late Spring and thus far in the Summer.  Mostly good, generally headed in the right direction...but crazy, and busy.
Our family devotion time has often taken deep dives into discussion about the Scripture we're reading, and that = along with, you know, life - has slowed down our pace.  (we're just about to finish up 2 Kings)
So slow pace, along with the choice to stay present in (and give priority to) my people, has left me with less time (and certainly less brainpower, lol) to keep up with The Other Guys.

I'm sorry about that.

I will start publishing daily stuff again, and I'll also try to reach "back" and catch up on the reading assignments that I've missed.  (pretty much 2/3 of Psalms, and the first part of Proverbs, too)  There's good stuff in there, and if you have comments/questions, I want to provide the space for you to jump in there.
...it's just gonna take a while to catch up.  Life is just like that, isn't it?  Every so often, we need to take a look at things, assess what's going on, make sure what's important is still getting our attention, and then doing what we can to do well in what we have in front of us.

Let me encourage you to come back to what Yeshua/Jesus said when he was approached about how to make the most of the life we've been given.  His answer, here in Mark 12, was a reminder of what God's spokesman told His called-out, set-apart people:

• Come to the LORD with this mindset: "I'm gonna do whatever you want; just tell me what to do"  This is how we orient ourselves to him in love on his terms.  Making that commitment, and then following through (with his help, power, and provision, of course) is how we love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, strength.
• Next, Jesus told us to act in loving ways to our fellow man, just like we would hope and expect to be treated.  And again, this is not a vague, whatever-seems-like-love-to-me kind of thing.  The people he was addressing already knew, were already familiar with how the LORD defined being loving towards people - they knew what the Scriptures taught on this, and knew that loving each other and loving the LORD according to his instructions were the summary and application - not the replacement - of Scripture (what we have come to know as the "Old Testament".

Anyway, that's why we read the Bible, right?  To "hear" from the LORD about who he is, who we are, how to live with purpose and direction, how to be his set-apart, called-out people.

...and remember, even though we're all busy, and we can all get distracted, we're not alone.  If you belong to Him, if you've been adopted and redeemed by the same Father I have, if you've come out of the slavery of your past and are headed toward the future he's prepared to you, we're brothers, and we're in this together.

Hang in there.  I'm praying for you guys, and for your families.

- jeffrey