Saturday, December 15, 2012

On Receiving


Last year Christmas came on a Sunday...and sitting in Church that Christmas listening to our pastor's sermon I was touched by the way children receive gifts. Yes, I know sometimes they can be greedy, and seem ungrateful, and they can be all too transparent when they don't like a gift. But I was struck by something else about their receiving I hadn't thought of before.

Our pastor talked about how the Shepherds came to Jesus with nothing...no gift in their hands like the wisemen who came later. He went on to say how we tend to have trouble receiving when we don't have anything to give back:  There's that awkward feeling when we are given a gift, and don't have one to give in return. But when we come to Jesus that's how we come...empty handed. And that's how he takes us.

As he spoke, I noticed the children sitting in the pew in front of me, and my own children beside me, and I thought of how they accept gifts. They accept them freely without any expectation that they should have anything to give back.  There's something very GOOD in that. I was reminded of the verse that said that if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, you have to become like a child.

"He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.  And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "
- Matthew 18: 2-4, NIV

That is the only way we can come to him, like a child.  Even the best we have could not "pay him back" for the gift he gave...so we come with nothing but gratitude in our hands...gratitude and repentance and trust.   And we receive the costly gift of salvation...and all the other numerous gifts He loves to give his children.



Shared On:   Throwback Thursday

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

New Blog Button - And a Short HTML Lesson.

I've been needing one of these for a while.  Finally got one!  Now, if you want to link to Waco Mom with a graphic, you can.  Just grab the link code in my sidebar or copy paste the code below!

Thought I'd color code it and take some time to let you know a little bit more about the code below so you can customize it if you want.


<a href="http://wacomom.blogspot.com"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S6IybzjSh0I/UOiQNeOZ4RI/AAAAAAAABuQ/gg1AdAsGcAg/s1600/WacoMom200.jpg" width="150" /></a>


OK, the red part is the part that makes it link to Waco Mom.  The green part is what makes the image show up.  The bolded parts are the URLS...the URL for Waco Mom in red bold, and the URL for the image in green bold.  The blue part is something you can use to change the size of the graphic.   You can change the number there to change the width.  The graphic by itself is 200 pixels wide...I don't suggest sizing it bigger than that since that could make it look bad (pixelized...like old computer graphics).  If you do need a larger graphic, you are welcomed to use the one below.  It's URL is listed right above it.  Just replace the image URL above (the one in green) with that one, and then use the width attribute to size it how you like.


 http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-phMa1sq8fvk/UOiSnB0U1qI/AAAAAAAABuk/zF7e2woWM8Y/s1600/WacoMomB.jpg




Why didn't I just use that one in the button code?  Bandwidth...and it takes longer to load. 


If you want to make it centered, just add center tags (in bold black).

<CENTER><a href="http://wacomom.blogspot.com"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S6IybzjSh0I/UOiQNeOZ4RI/AAAAAAAABuQ/gg1AdAsGcAg/s1600/WacoMom200.jpg" width="150" /></a></CENTER>


Not sure where or how to add  this code?  In blogger, you can make a HTML/Java Script section in your sidebar, and then just copy paste this here.  :-)

I am storing some other buttons from this blog, which you are also welcomed to share, here:


If you want to add that...here's the code (centered):

<CENTER><a href="http://wacomom.blogspot.com/2015/08/dining-deals-waco.html"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uFqJmCIIDN0/VfG_1MMDDNI/AAAAAAAAEI0/s1e4tW9x42A/s1600/WacoDiningDeals.jpg" width="150" /></a></CENTER>





If you want to add that...here's the code (centered):

<CENTER><a href="http://wacomom.blogspot.com/search/label/VBS%20Directory"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C1NtanHTgwk/U62cVrsqSrI/AAAAAAAAC2g/39M0_X99uoQ/s1600/WacoVBSguide.png" width="150" /></a></CENTER>








Monday, December 10, 2012

Hard Freeze Coming Tonight

Well, that's it.  I've been able to keep alive peppers, scarlet runner beans, a tomato plant with one lone tomato, and even my basil (though they've been kinda sorry looking) through temps down to 28 degrees, but it's getting down to 23 tonight so I think it's time to throw in the towel.  Time to pick that pack of peppers, grab that lone tomato off it's vine (luckily it's starting to turn pink, so I think it will ripen off the vine), and salvage what's left of the basil.  I don't hold out for these lasting much longer, and I need to make way for a spring crop anyways.