The Feast

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For some reason  I decided to back into my driveway. Soon I found out why, for out of my car window I saw birds feeding on the Pyracantha berries. The berries are mildly poisonous but the birds love to eat them. It is usually later in the season that they feast on them. I suppose some are fermented, a little wine with the meal? One year a Robin crashed into our front room window, having eaten one too many fermented berries. The Robin is an easy going bird, sometimes they come quite close when they are walking on the ground. Speaking of feasts, It was at a wedding feast that Jesus turned water into wine.

Joh 2:7  Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 

Joh 2:8  And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. 

Joh 2:9  When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 

Joh 2:10  And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

The reason for feasting was the appearance  of the Cedar Waxwings. They come in flocks and often eat up most of the berries. This is a metaphor of the wedding feast in the Bible.

Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 

Mat 22:9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 

Mat 22:10  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 

I guess birds do not chew their food. They just gilp down berries as fast as they can; sort of like hungry hardworking brothers at the dinner table. 

Psa 107:5  Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 

Psa 107:6  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. 

What is a feast without a flock of feathered friends?

2Co 9:9  (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. 

2Co 9:10  Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) 

2Co 9:11  Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. 

Here is a classic view of the flighty Waxwing savoring a berry as if it were a sweet Maraschino cherry. Notice the yellow tipped tail? He is decked out in his wedding garment? 

A bird of another feather appears at the feast. He is a Northern Flicker Woodpecker. Their favorite food are insects and ants. Maybe there are ants in the tree or maybe he was just curious? Not everybody can enter the feast.

Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 

Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 

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Speckled

Later in the day I entered the park and had to stop and capture this image of the great bare oak trees and the cloud covered river. The color of the sky reminds me of an Ansco color film that I used in the 1950's. There was no better color than from Kodak's kodachrome slide film. The colors from these slides that were first made in the the 1930's have retained their true colors

over the years. Digital photos have replaced the old processes, but none were better than Kodachrome.

Clouds reflect in the pond. What a lovely day.

Psa 36:5  Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. 

Psa 36:6  Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. 

Psa 36:7  How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. . 

The lambs are being born in the farm near the park. This speckled one reminded me of the story of Jacob and his deal to keep all the speckled and spotted livestock from his father in law.

Gen 30:32  I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. 

So if I were spotted maybe I would not be suitable for a sacrifice for your sins in the Old Testament times? too bad; I have a tag on my ear to show that I have an owner who cares for me. This is somewhat like  humans who are chosen through Jesus and are sealed by the Holy Spirit, to show that they belong to God.

2Co 1:21  And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 

2Co 1:22  and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 

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A Month Before Spring

Downstream across from the river a tree is blooming with bright yellow flowers. Is it a locust tree?

Near bye  on my walk by the pond were the first  willow blooms. 

Eze 17:5  He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree. 

Looking closer I saw the Dutchman's pipe flower. These bloom from vines that climb the trees. It is host to the Dutchman vine swallowtail butterfly; a black butterfly.

The fallen Oak tree appears to be blocking the way. We sometimes have obstacles in our life blocking the way. We need to learn if these are by chance, a blocking from the devil, or a warning from God.  Sometimes the Lord blocks the way to change something in our life. The devil tries to block us from following God's will perfectly. Be strong and obey God.

Deu 17:20  That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. 

 I took a portable stool so that I could stop, rest and look around. I saw this merging together of the mighty oaks. We are to be one in spirit in Christ Jesus bearing up one another.

Php 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;  

 A gathering of gulls. These come every year at this time. the ocean is one hundred miles from here. With eyes on opposite sides of their heads, do they see a wide angle of view? One is looking up and another looking down, wait? which is looking up and which is looking down?  They are wonderfully made, so I am sure they are doing as they should. I am glad that our heart keeps beating, our breath keeps breathing, without our thinking about it. We are wonderfully made.

Psa 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 

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Snake Skin Story

An old tree has fallen and it looks so smooth.

 I saw something hanging from the tree that looked like snake skins.

A closer look and the snake skin was actually bark from the tree that had fallen  off and was snagged by broken branch pegs.

A section of the tree had what to me looked like a snakes image. The snake was not real, only an illusion. The snake in the Bible is a metaphor of the devil. Many consider the devil as only an illusion, a superstition, but he is real. He is a fallen spirit; the devil, lucifer, satan, the accuser, the deceiver. The devil appeared as a serpent in the garden of Eden. He caused Eve to doubt God's command.

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 

Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 

Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 

Sometimes things appear to be real that are unreal. This sky was real and unusual. It is good to enjoy God's creation and an imagination can allow us to look closer at things. The Bible is real truth. The answers to life are in this living word of God. Jesus has defeated the power of the serpent. Faith in Jesus Christ has freed us from sins power and made us members of the family of God. We shall live forever in the presence of our creator.

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