Simple Thoughts Without Theology: James 1

I’m updating several old posts over the next month or so. While reading through some, I found my thoughts on the book of James when I studied it. I shared those thoughts way back when I shared a weekly Fruitful Friday post of what I learned that week.  When I read what I shared all those years ago, I knew I had to bring them up again. The thoughts are just that, simple. No theology, just thoughts from a simple gal trying to learn more from God’s word. If you’re like me, then you know sometimes it’s just the simple thoughts you need to hear from others.

Simple Thoughts Without Theology

 James 1:1-2   James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 

This is the day that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24) This verse is  easy to say and a song that is easy to sing, when you are living on the mountain top. But what about the valley I may face?  “Count it all joy” when ye fall into divers temptations~ That’s a big pill to swallow. Trying to have joy when our lives are in the middle of problems ~ it’s not easy. But knowing that I am a child of the King who will never leave me stranded in the middle of a mess, does make it a little easier to face those trials/testings . My God is in control on the days when I’m at the mountain top and He is still there when I’m in the valley. It is easier to face those kind of days knowing that He is right beside me.

James 1:3-4  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.But let patience have perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

In most things, I am a pretty patient person. I’ve been taught to never pray for patience because my faith is going to be tried some way. Having FAITH is a whole different story for me. This is something that I pray for daily. We face obstacles and people in our lives that will destroy our faith, it can be very discouraging. Because of this, I pray that I am not one of those who will destroy the faith of someone else. I want to be the one who encourages faith. Our family has gone through a lot over the past 5 years. No matter what, God has seen us through. Our needs have been met, we have not been left needing things. We have a vehicle to drive, a roof over our heads, clothes and shoes on our feet, and food on the table. What more do you really need? Most of the things that this world has to offer will come and go and some will be completely forgotten about. But God is always there to help me through.

 James 1:5-6  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 

I love knowing that the Lord is not going to say, “Why can’t you get this stuff through your head?” when I keep going to him for the same thing. Thankfully, we can go to Him and ask for wisdom and know that He is going to give it over and over.

 James 1:7-8  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

I want to be stable in my heart and mind. I want stability in my personal world around my family. If I don’t have faith that God will answer my prayers, why should I even ask? What is the point? God doesn’t have to do anything for me, but He wants to. He wants me to have faith in Him, knowing that He is going to answer my prayers whether the answer is what I want or not. I am so thankful for a God who loves me and wants to supply my needs and wants.

James 1:10-11 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. 

We are all the same in God’s eyes, no one is better than the other. It does not matter if we have all the money and power in the world or not, we are all going to have times that are tough but we are also going to have times when life is good. We need to remember what we are going through~ good or bad, it is only for a time.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

These trials that we are going through are temporary. In the end we are going to be able to hold our heads high and know that we came out on top ~ with the help of the Lord.

James 1:13-14   Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

It is my responsibility to stay close to God. When He is not near, that is my doing. I am the one who moved away from Him. The Lord does not tempt but he allows the opportunity to arise. It is my choice to either fall into the middle of a mess or to run as fast as I can to regain that closeness with the Lord.

James 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

It’s not a sin to be tempted. It’s a sin to act on the temptation. Potiphar’s wife tempted Joseph. Instead of acting on it, he fled from it.(Genesis 39:7-12) If we commit a sin, it didn’t just happen. There had to be previous thoughts regarding the sin.(Mark 7:21-23) And of course, if we act on the sin, there will be repercussions.

James 1:16-17 Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

I serve a God that is constant. What He says ~ goes. When He tells me His is going to do something, He doesn’t change His mind~ He does it. Unfortunately, I do not always stick to what I say or plan on doing. I need to be more like Him ~ unchanging.

James 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

This verse is a connecting verse and needs to be read with the past four or five verses. God created many beautiful things throughout the universe. Things that we are able to see, touch and love. But of all these things, we (humans) are the only creation that God purposely gave a soul to.We were created in His image. He wants us to be able to spend eternity with Him. We should give Him all the Glory and Honor that is due Him.

 James 1:19-20  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Be a listening person. Whether it be for God, a spouse, child or friend. Listening is a way of showing our love and being submissive to God and our husbands. We have two ears for hearing and one mouth for speaking; we should be listening two times more than speaking.

James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

Filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness are the things that are standing in the way of us hearing what the Lord has to say. Meekness is a spirit of compliance. ~ Ready to obey. The only way for us to succeed as a Christian is for us to put away these sins, repent and have an obedient spirit.

James 1:22-24 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

The reflection in a mirror only shows the outward appearance of a person. We can fool everyone around us, but we can’t fool God. He knows whether or not we are really trying to live a Christian life, even if those around us can’t see the true us.

James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

 Are you listening? I’ve asked that question many times to former students and even my son. Has God had to ask me that question? Probably so. I know what it is like to see my son hear but not truly listen because he has not done something, that was instructed of him. It really bothers me, so I know that it really bothers the Lord when I do it to Him. I want to please the Lord, I want to be a doer, not just a hearer.

James 1: 26-27 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

 Oh, be careful little tongue what you say, for the Father up above, is looking down in love. My words are to be Christ honoring at all times. As a Christian, I have people waiting and watching for me to let my tongue slip, so they can point a finger. How embarrassing that is when it happens!

I hope you’ll join me next week as I continue to share more Simple Thoughts Without Theology from James chapter 2.

Pet Expenses: Four Easy Ways to Save Money

In forty something years, I’ve had many pets. All were outside pets and only my sweet Mikey has been a house member. When I think about those pets who brought happiness to my heart, Mikey is the only one who has had a special bond. I didn’t realize how much he would mean to me when we opened our home to him. Mikey is my baby.

Saving Money on Pet Expenses

Owning a pet is not something to take lightly. They depend on us, so we must be diligent in giving them proper care. Depending on what breed or type of animal you have, saving money will be needed. But you don’t have to break the bank when facing those pet expenses.

Anne from Anne’s Entitled Life shares 10 Ways to Save on Pet Medication

Make sure the vet will write prescriptions so you can purchase them elsewhere to save money. Double check if the prescription has a human equivalency. Both are something I’ve never considered until now.

Jess from You Brew My Tea shares Ways to Save on Pet Supplies

Making pet treats to save money is an awesome idea. Hopefully soon, I’ll be able to start back making my sweet Mikey’s treats again.

Dave Ramsey shares Pricey Pets: 4 Practical Ways to Save on Pet Care

Don’t forget your furry family member when setting up a budget. Including them is just as important.

We save on food by shopping at the feed store. Dog food is crazy! Some cause a dog to eat and poop more than others. When Mikey came home with us, a huge bag of a national brand came too. All I could think was “again?” several times a day. As soon as that bag ran out, we bought a trusted brand we used when raising beagles.

Even if your pet is on a special diet, price-check your favorite brand; you may save money shopping elsewhere. Don’t forget you can treat your little furry friend with fruits and vegetables.

Grooming and nail clipping is something I do for Mikey to save money. When we lived in Montana, I didn’t have to groom him as often as I do here. While it would be easier to send him to someone to deal with his little emotional issues of nail clipping, I just can’t do it. It’s cheaper for me to deal with his quirkiness.

These are just a few ways you can save money on your pets. Do you have any money saving secrets you’d be willing to share?

If you’ve missed them, you can find more ways we are saving money.

Joyfulness - 4 Certainties of God

Life is hard. But as a Christian, we should do our best to seek out being joyful even when life becomes hard to handle. There will be days when we won’t feel like it. There will be days when our world will be turned upside down. Those days will be hard to live joyfully.

Being joyful doesn’t mean we can’t be sad. Sadness is a natural emotion that comes with pain and suffering. If someone doesn’t feel a time of sadness, there is a real heart problem in them. But even in the times of sadness, we can still have joyfulness. Even Jesus had a moment of sadness (John 11:28-35)

We can have joyfulness at any time because of God.

Joyfulness - 4 Certainties of God

 He Cares for Us

  

God is attentive to us. He hears our cries; he knows our needs. God knows everything about us - the good and the ugly. (Psalm 18:6), (Psalm 22:24)

God assists us. We don’t have to travel this life alone. God is side by side with us. (Psalm 40:13) Psalm 46:1)  (Isaiah 40:28- 31) (Hebrews 4:16)

God adores us.  God loves us (Ephesians 2:2-4)

 He Carries Us

God is great. Because of his greatness, all of our problems are small. God is great, He is Almighty. There is nothing too big for Him. (Romans 4:21) (Ephesians 3:20) God is ABLE. He is able to do the impossible.

God picks us up with grace. He is loving and gentle. (Romans 5:20) (2 Corinthians 9:8)

He Corrects Us

He corrects us with a loving heart. (Psalm 40:2) He gives second chances. (Psalm 32:1-2)

 He Changes Us

Our worship changes. (Psalm 40:3) (Psalm 9:12) (Psalm 150:6)
Our walk changes. (Psalm 40:5)
Our witness changes. (Psalm 51:13)

No matter where you are today or what you're facing, stop and draw a line for your new beginning to be more joyful.

Verses for When You are Discouraged

Discouragement, we’ve all experienced it and it’s not enjoyable. It usually hits when we are overwhelmed with things going on in our life. These are the times when you feel like giving up, crawling in the bed and pulling the covers over your head. We’ve all been there and if we are not careful, this discouragement grows into a huge mess.

Do you know the signs of discouragement?

• Apathy – you’ve lost your passion for what you are doing

• Hopelessness – you no longer believe you’ll reach your goals

• Sleeplessness – you don’t sleep restfully

• Negative Thoughts – thoughts that go against the Bible

These are just four things to be aware of since there are many signs of discouragement. Everyone is different, so things may look differently for you.

Discouragement plays on our emotions and our body. In these times, we need to stop and focus on the One who can help us through it.

Seven Days of Scripture Writing

on When You are Discouraged

Now’s the time to rest in Jesus. He’s the One who will give us the grace we need to make it through. Matthew 11:28-30

The Lord goes throughout our days ahead of us. He knows what we will face and yet He never leaves our side. Deuteronomy 31:8

Jesus is the only peace we can have. He has overcome what happens in our life. John 16:33

The Lord knows when we need green pastures and still waters. We don’t have to face these moments alone, Jesus is there to comfort us. Psalm 23:1- 4

We serve the same God who raised Jesus from the dead. We can trust Him to heal this discouragement. 2 Corinthians 4:13-18

The Lord loves you and he will preserve you. Have courage that he will give you the strength you need. Psalm 31:23- 24

When we humble ourselves to God, he works on our behalf when we need him to. Cast your burdens on Jesus, he cares, understand and wants to help. I Peter 5:6-7

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History Learning at the Museum of Aviation

In April our family took a trip to Warner Robins, Georgia, to visit the Museum of Aviation. My son loves aviation history, so we knew we wanted to visit. We wanted to visit several times in past years, but we didn’t feel he was ready for a visit and appreciate all that he would see and learn. I’m so glad we waited because he truly enjoyed history learning at the museum.

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Located adjacent to Robins Air Force Base. The Museum of Aviation is on 51 acres with four buildings and boasts of having 85 historic U.S. Air Force aircraft, missiles, cockpits and award-winning exhibits. The Eagle building which is the main museum building and three hangars: Hangar 1 (Vietnam Era), Hangar 2 (Century of Flight), Hangar 3 (WWII-Scott Exhibit). Around the grounds are many aircraft you can view.

History Learning

Eagle Building

Contains exhibits of everything imaginable from uniforms to aircraft. There’s a large exhibit of the 14th Air Force Fighting Tigers and one for Georgia’s own Fighting Tiger, Brig. General Robert L. Scott. 

The nose art in this exhibit are panels from the C-141 at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, the “Boneyard”.

History Learning

Hangar 1

The aircraft and exhibits in this hangar are from the Vietnam era. An UH-1 “Huey” that was used by special forces in Vietnam is located here. There’s a Huey fuselage where visitors can climb into the cockpit.

 History Learning

Hangar 2

The upstairs of this hangar contains the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. You’ll find plaques and memorabilia of these noted men and women.

We found the plaque and exhibit for Major Damon “Rocky” Gause who’s family still lives not too far from us. I stumbled across his book after Christmas and bought it hoping to use it in our school. I couldn’t put it down! You’ll not want to miss The War Journal of Major Damon “Rocky” Gause.

Major Damon “Rocky” Gause, “A True American Hero”

Major General Frank O’Driscoll Hunter, “Georgia’s only WWI Ace”

Corporal Eugene Jaques Bullard – “The World’s First Black Military Pilot in WWI”

Jacqueline Cochran – “The Greatest Woman Pilot in History”

The Lockheed SR-71A is located in this hangar and it is stunning, for an aircraft.

The day we visited, a local school was preparing for their prom. (The museum offers event space rentals.)

History Learning

Hangar 3

This hangar is home to the Tuskegee Airmen and the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment & the Air Invasion of Normandy exhibits.

You’ll also find a future exhibit (at the time of this writing) of the B-29 Superfortress.

A B-17 ball turret. There’s reasons why they have height regulations for certain jobs in the Air Force. This turret shows just that.

A former Air Force One waiting to being restored. This plane is actually a VC-140B “Jetstar”. President Johnson preferred this plane when traveling to his home in Texas. When Johnson was on board, it was Air Force One.

The CH-21B was assigned to the Presidential fleet during the Kennedy era. This aircraft carried Bobby Kennedy from the Pentagon to Andrews Air Force Base to meet the flight carrying President Kennedy’s body from Dallas following his assassination.

Around the buildings are lots of aircraft you can check out.

Self-guided tours can take however long you want. We toured the main building and hangar 1 before heading to Chick-fil-A for lunch. We finished touring the other two hangars and grounds right up until to closing time. This is definitely an all day visit.

Guided tours are offered for groups of 15 or more with a small fee.

All buildings and aircraft are wheelchair accessible. The museum has wheelchairs available on a first come first serve basis.

Free Admission – although they do have a donation box.

Free Parking

Picnic tables are available

Hangars are just that. They are not built for staying cool even with the air conditioning on. If you are like me and suffer from carrying around an inner heater, then you’ll want to keep that in mind, because parts of those hangars are HOT.

This is one museum you DO NOT want to miss.

All in the Family: Getting Started in Genealogy

Are you a budding genealogist? Do you have a budding genealogist? You’ll want to read about Getting Starting in Family Genealogy. For homeschooling families, genealogy research would make a wonderful history project and even give your high schooler credit for their work.

I have a love for history and genealogy is at the top of my list. Family history tells the story of who you and your family are.

I didn’t realize when I first started researching I would be swept up into a massive history lesson about my ancestors. I am FAR FROM an experienced genealogist, but I have been researching my family and parts of my husband’s family for almost eighteen years. During those years, I’ve learned a lot.

Getting Started in Family Genealogy

Oral Research – Do this while the older generations are still here. This is critical because they may not be here that long. Ask questions, look through old photos, and preserve anything you can that will help in your research. Take notes on everything. (When I started out, I used a spiral notebook for each surname and I printed everything I found that was legitimate and placed in a folder.) Scan images, notes, certificates, anything you deem historical. If the older generation will allow it, record them telling what they remember. It’ll be nice to have a voice telling the stories for future generations.

You may want to look at How to Get the Most from Oral History

Don’t let your family’s history disappear with the loss of the older generation.

Start Slowly – While you are going to want to jump into the deep end, take it slowly because you will get sucked in and life will be put on hold while you are buried under a mountain of research. (Ask me how I know.) Start with one or the other of your parent’s family in the beginning, when you hit a brick wall, and you will, move to the other and work your way back.

Organize – Be organized with your information. I’ve moved on from printing things from the internet to keeping them in files. Each surname has a file and inside it, there are files for direct line head of households. I still use pencil and paper for things like leads and hints I need to research. Anytime, I add to those files; I make sure to back them up to a location like Dropbox. If you have physical documents, scan them into your computer and store the originals where they will be preserved.

Network – Places like Ancestry, Rootsweb, and Genealogy have forums where inquiries can be asked and answered. Genealogy has closed their forums to questions, but they have the option of leaving comments on posts. All you need to do is a search on either one and you’ll be bound to find what you are looking for, or someone who is looking also. Facebook has many genealogy groups. Of course, if you do an online search, you will find websites focused on surnames with the possible tie to the line you are looking for.

Genealogy Software – I’ve used several over the years. Family Tree Maker is the biggest expense I made for a software. When Ancestry stopped supporting it, I had to find something else. (But, Family Tree Maker is back and under new ownership) I fell in love with the ease of use from RootsMagic when FTM was dropped and wonder why I didn’t try them sooner. The one I disliked the most was MyHeritage. It wasn’t as easy to navigate and every time I turned on the computer; it had a nagging pop-up I had to click off. RootsMagic has their own Facebook Support Group.

You may want to look at The Best Genealogy Software.

I’m not one to spend a lot of money on a monthly subscription to Ancestry or Fold3. If your library offers the library edition to their members, use them. Just make sure you download everything you find related to your relative. You’ll not be able to access them outside the library.

Websites I use: 

Family Search – *Ancestry – Rootsweb –  *ScotlandsPeople – Genuki: UK and Ireland Genealogy – Find a Grave – The USGenWeb Project – Georgia’s Virtual Vault – Georgia American History and Genealogy – The National Park Service – The Civil War – The National Archives – *Fold3 Historical Military Records 

*paid services

Genealogy Bloggers I read:

Photo Detective – Genealogy’s Star – The Family Curator – The Heart and Craft of Life Writing 

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