Colere Terra Mare Caelum - 400

Out of a box you say, or was it out of "The" box?  The first question would pertain to how i appear somedays after work, as in "Where did you climb out of?", while the second question is typical rhetoric for think tanks, generating of new concepts and ideas, solving problems that need new solutions.  What i have found in some of my most recent research is that most of the new ideas that are considered innovative and "out of the box" thinking, have all been used before.  Nothing new under the sun as Solomon wrote, but there are lessons to learn from the past and new applications of this knowledge into contemporary life.  The gap in generational knowledge tends to create an atmosphere of amnesia between the new and old generations.

Case in point is my recent searching for some guidelines and references for writing grants for our Prison Ministry group.  Much of the work and efforts have paralleled my work interests as they have developed over the years and i found an overall phrase that depicts the direction.  It is called permaculture and involves multiple interests to creation of a balanced coherent whole involving architecture, landscape, environment and planning.  This is nothing new and dates back to indigenous tribes being good stewards of the land.  Native American Indians were advanced in how they managed their natural resources to create a relationship with and through the natural world, a relationship of balance and respect not of control and dominance. 

i looked up a few latin phrases for the elements and culture.  The simple phrase that came forth translated is "To Cultivate, Earth, Sea, and Sky (or Heaven).  Some references came out of this that i've included below - one of scripture and the other of the sculptor's chisel. 

God Bless,

~ antbrother
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Revelation 14:14-20
Reaping the Earth’s Harvest
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Reaping the Grapes of Wrath
17 Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.” 19 So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.





_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/Caelum.htm

Latin caelum means both 'the heavens' (from the same root as 'celestial'), and 'sculptor's chisel', or burin; an engraving tool for metals. It is this instrument that La Caille had in mind when he named this constellation.

History
from Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, 1889, Richard H. Allen


Caelum or Scalptorium, the Burin or Graving Tool, sometimes incorrectly written Cela sculptoria, is the French Burin, the Italian Bulino, and the German Grabstichel.

It was formed by La Caille from stars between Columba and Eridanus, directly south of the Sceptrum Brandenburgicum; Gould now assigns to it twenty-eight components, of magnitudes from four to seven.

Burritt, in the early editions of his book, arbitrarily changed the name to Praxiteles, perhaps thinking thereby to avoid possible confusion with the constellation Sculptor.

Caelum comes to the meridian with the star Aldebaran on the 10th of January, and is entirely visible from the 40th parallel.

Blessings to You All - 396

i have been catching up on my hibernating since October when i first mentioned what a good idea that might be, wake up sometime in spring 2011... This may have something to do with quitting smoking – seven weeks now behind me and each day filled with no desire, more like a complete distaste for them.  i was thinking that at some point, the non-smoker stops counting and just stays confident in the fact that the addiction has been removed – stop counting and just be, i really feel like i am there – so i will. Make sense? :) The loss of this habit has created a void that feels like it may need to be replaced with something positive. Chocolate has helped but i was thinking more in terms of an activity, like working out again. Hmmm… Maybe some serious digging is in store for me in the coming year?


i have been fortunate that the Christmas celebrations inside and out, have woken me from my slumber so i might eat a bit more, snack on some great cookies and contemplate the deeper meanings of this Spirit walk that God has led me on while I sip on my own special coffee concoction. Although this season is obviously, and obliviously, lost in the commercial nature of buy, buy, buy, run, run, run,... we are often given these frequent opportunities to stop, pause and watch the snowflakes. Here in Mississippi we had a white Christmas for the first time since 1963. It really was a blessing to see those big flakes covering everything, softly floating down to settle in for the season. But these moments of silence and pause are precious and important. As Jesus said – “I am the silence and the much deeper silence.”  i pray that you have taken that moment in the silence with Him to find peace within. 


God Bless and Love to You All,

~antbrother

Psalm 23 - 390

1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.

3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell[a] in the house of the LORD
Forever.

The Journeyman = 387

Nice header.

So where are you headed?  I'm a Journeyman on my way to Heaven.  Actually it is already here - at hand.

i spent some time up on a scaffolding today finishing some exterior trim work.  i hadn't planned on becoming a carpenter growing up or even after moving to Mississippi, but that is one of the trades that i have been blessed to learn.  i tell clients that i drew buildings for 20+ years and learned how to detail them correctly and now i am blessed to be able to build and fix them with the knowledge gained over all those years designing and drawing.  Sure is different when you are working "full scale".  Vectors don't warp either and every component in the digital drawing is too scale - if drawn correctly.  In the real world we have moisture, heat, sunlight, the nature of materials, and an array of items and influences that take the straight lines in the structure and bend them.  This is where the tricks and the skills come in and if you spend some apprenticeship time under a master you will learn many.  i know a few.  A good painter always saves the job for a bad carpenter.  :) 

Now is the time of being a Journeyman for me.  It is a strange place and an awkward one where we are pushed forward out of our comfort zone, but armed with the confidence of using what we have been taught and that we have been taught right from wrong.  The Journeyman is not a Master but is given jobs that he will handle himself - jobs where the Master is not directly needed.  So the Journeyman is armed with all the knowledge of the Master, what has been taught so far, and has a certain number of skills which he has gained confidence in using over the time of preparation.  The Journeyman is in this awkward place because he has to learn to work on jobs by himself and is entrusted with this, he moves forward but the Master has already been sent ahead of him.  All eyes seem to be on him, and all around him want to see what this is all about.  "Let's see what he has been taught." is what they say.  They want the opportunity to see his work and judge.  If it is nothing worth noting, maybe lukewarm, they shrug their shoulders and go back to their realities.  Nothing has changed.

The Journeyman is poised and confident, though, and he has been taught patience and persistance.  Granted there were numerous chunks of skin and flesh that he lost in the learning process and there was of course the crushing of the ego when he first started, but these were just parts of the learning process and something that he would have never experienced if he never tried and didn't have the courage to step out in the first place.  So now is a time when his hands and work represent His hands and His Works.  The Journeyman knows that there are other apprectices coming up and he lends a hand and shares his knowledge and support while settling in on his job and his opportunity to learn and share and raise up the Master who taught him everything.  The Master chose the Journeyman because He saw something in him, a potential and purpose, a stuborn persistant perfectionist and a man that has a passion and love inside.  He saw something beyond the exterior, He saw and sees within.

The Master chose us first.   So where are you headed?

Love and Blessings in the name of Yeshua,

~ antbrother

385 - Very Much Alive

i smirk thinking about a local car dealer - Sam Stevens - in one of his commercials, climbing out of the trunk of a car and stating, "Hi, Sam Stevens here, and i'm not dead."  Such are the small town tv ads that show us a humorous side of our neighbors, just that touch of humanness that unites us.  Some days it may seem like we, as people united in this world together, are still locked in the trunk of the car. But we have a choice.   Let's chose to step out into the world for a while since you are reading this now and are very much alive and breathing.  Thanks to that first breath of Life that primed the pump for us all at birth.

This winter cold spell sure has sent many of us indoors to deal with the change in weather.  i pray for those that work outside in the elements everyday and those others that just have no shelter, or anything that we would call shelter.  Last year i was behind an industrial rip saw working indoors but not in a conditioned or heated space.  The wind was kept out by the metal building but that was about it.  This winter has been a bit different and i have been able to work in between the breaks in the weather.  Work has slowed considerably to just a couple days a week, so i have been forced to search for income in other areas, eat less and simpler meals and conserve.  Prayer is always the first step, in or out of season - in good and bad times, and i do know that any trying times are merely God strengthening our faith.  Whenever paying work has slowed in the past, God has placed a need to serve someone in my path, a definite ministry outlet.

i am not up on a scaffolding working on exterior trim today due to the freezing rain on the tail end of this arctic front.  i should be back up there tomorrow though - as the the ice thaws and the rain briefly subsides.  Prayers go out to the Salvation Army bell ringers all over the country.  You are continuing in a ministry outreach effort that God began in the heart of a man named William Booth.

http://www1.salvationarmy.org/heritage.nsf/0/c2af02232cb1f005802568cd0034a9fa?OpenDocument


Stay warm, be blessed.  Love,  ~antbrother

382 - Where Are You?

Proverbs 12:24-28

...

24 The hand of the diligent will rule,

But the lazy man will be put to forced labor.

25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression,
But a good word makes it glad.

26 The righteous should choose his friends carefully,
For the way of the wicked leads them astray.

27 The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting,
But diligence is man’s precious possession.

28 In the way of righteousness is life,
And in its pathway there is no death.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+12&version=NKJV

His garment is covered with dust - 380

LEAVE this chanting and singing and telling of beads Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!


He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and His garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like Him come down on the dusty soil!

Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our Master Himself has joyfully taken upon Him the bonds of creation; He is bound with us all for ever.

Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet Him and stand by Him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.

TAGORE

Wisdom and Purpose - 378

Reading Proverbs each day as a foundation
of my daily scriptures has really been a blessing and a love that i look forward to each morning.  True wisdom is readily available from the wisest man ever to have lived on the earth, and the wisest man that will ever live on the earth - King Solomon. 


1 Kings 3:6-14
And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.  Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.  And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.  Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

 The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.  Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice,  behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you.  And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days.  So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”


Your Wisdom for the Day -> Proverbs 8

Tornados - 377

i stayed up late last week on November 30 - the night of my last post.  This was the night that a 30 degree temperature change blew through on the winds, much like the one that came through last month - radar pic (typ.).  After the waves and waves of rain came through for most of the day, the higher winds began to kick in.   The siren went off sometime close to midnight and the winds died down to nothing - calm before the blowout.

After watching Dick Rice for a while (our local weather man), i realized that the worst of it had blown through and tomorrow was to be a day of cleanup.  Welcome to December.

Tornado Rips Through Monroe Co. Community
http://www.wcbi.com/article.php?subaction=showfull&id=1291158003&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&

This is a good opportunity to encourage people again to prepare your food storages and safe places and make sure you are well stocked in water, food and medical supplies.  Just in case the next tornado chooses a path that you happen to be on.

This storm created several tornados and the town of Becker, five miles from Amory, was hit.  There were about 20 houses totaled and a good deal of other damage.  Thankfully there was no loss of life. 

That concept of an earth home seems to make more and more sense these days.  Back to the drawing board.  :)