Making Life Work

February 17th, 2012

Hello again everyone, wherever you may be. Happy Friday and welcome back to the Weekend Bible Study. We're glad you could us be with us tonight. It's hard to believe how quickly the weeks are zooming by and it doesn't seem possible, but the Spring Holy Days are going to be here before you know it.

All is well here in East Texas. We actually experienced some cold winter weather early this week and we even saw a few snow flakes in Dallas Monday night. But, we ended up having a couple of days in the 70's plus a little rain. I guess it must be an unusual winter most everywhere.

I haven't seen Ron or Allie for awhile, but from what I hear Ron is making some good progress. Allie posted a very encouraging update at Caring Bridge a couple of days ago and said it's been a long, slow process, but she's really seeing many improvements in Ron. So that's good news! If you don't get those updates from Allie, you might want to go to Caring Bridge and read the most current note she posted.

Please continue to keep Ron and Allie in your prayers. Those prayers of the righteous avail much and Ron and Allie really do appreciate them. Allie has a pretty full plate and it's like having two full time jobs making sure she takes care of Ron's needs, in addition to her responsibilities here at CEM, and it's imperative she maintain her good health; so she's very appreciative of your prayers.

Well, we didn't receive any questions or comments this week so we'll get started where we left off right after this short break.

February 3rd, 2012

Hello everyone and welcome once again to Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. We're glad you downloaded us tonight.

I hope you all have had a good week. Once again, we've been enjoying unseasonably warm weather this week here in Texas. It's been in the 70's for most of the week and we may even get some more rain today, and we always appreciate the rain.

I got a short note from a listener in Costa Rica this week and she had this to say:

"Thank you for the first book of Micah tonight. I'm listening from the jungle hill country of east Costa Rica where my husband and I are wintering (when we aren't freezing in Alaska). I do hope Ron is doing better. Blessings and Shabbat Shalom, Linda Roth."

Thank you, Linda, great hearing from you, and from what I hear, Ron is doing a little better. It's been a long, slow recovery, but Ron is hanging in there and Allie is taking very good care of him. Be sure to keep them both in your prayers.

Last week we looked into the background of Micah and we got an idea of what all was going on in Judah and Israel during Micah's life and times. We also covered the first chapter. This week, we're going to cover chapter 2 and 3 and we'll begin right after this short break.

January 20th, 2012

Hello again everyone and welcome back to the Weekend Bible Study. We're happy you could join us tonight. I hope it's been a good week for you all. There's not much to report on this end of the bandwidth. Everyone and everything seems to be plugging right along.

It's been a pretty pleasant winter for us down here so far. There have been a few cold days and nights but we've had some unusually warm days, too. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you folks in western Washington and Oregon for that unprecedented snowfall. You all have really been hammered so far this winter and that's really unusual for those areas west of the Cascades, so hang in there. I just heard today that there's so much snow in parts of Alaska that they're canceling the Iditarod Dog Sled races. Who'd a thunk it?

Well, last week we finished the book of Amos and this week we're going to delve in to the shortest book in the Bible, the Book of Obadiah, and we'll do that right after this short break.

January 6th, 2012

Hello again everyone and welcome back to our Friday night Weekend Bible Study brought to you by Christian Educational Ministries. We're happy to have you with us again tonight.

I assume you all survived the festivities of these past few weeks? Now, our main thrust for the next 6 months, will be to make sure we put 2012 on the checks we write. Let's hope we all have a good year while we can because the ancient Mayan calendar says all things are coming to an end this year. I'm not sure why the Mayans have any credibility. They were unable to predict their own extinction back around 1300 when their entire civilization mysteriously disappeared. Given that track record, I think we can be reasonably confident that the world isn't going to end this year.

We're heading into the dead of winter now and I hope it's not too chilly where you are. It was in the 60's and 70's here this week, but that doesn't mean it couldn't freeze tonight; that's just the way it is here in Texas.

We've gotten some very nice emails from some of you folks all around the country. Paul up in the Portland, Oregon area, Don Spencer and his wife up in Washington State, Rufus and Debbie Young down in Alabama and Jon and Toni Coffee from Sulphur Springs here in Texas, all wrote to let us know how much they appreciate the Weekend Bible Study. Well, we appreciate all of you for being a part of this little get together. If it weren't for you all we wouldn't be doing this. So, many thanks for tuning in, or, downloading, as it were.

Toward the end of this Bible Study I played the audio portion of an excellent five minute seminar from Dennis Prager's Prager University. It's intended to be watched (instead of being listened to without the video) and I recommend you do so at this link to get the full impact:

http://www.prageruniversity.com/Political-Science/The-bigger-the-Government-the-smaller-the-citizen.html

Unfortunately the background music is a bit distracting when we played the audio. Still, if you can follow Prager's message, aside from the background music, I think you'll get a lot out of his message. Be sure to hit the above link at Prager University. He's got a lot of good stuff there.

Last week we finished chapter 5 of Amos, so tonight we'll dig into chapter 6, and we'll get started right after this short break.

December 23rd, 2011

Hello again everyone and welcome back to another edition of Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. We're glad you are with us tonight. If you're new to this Bible Study, we hope you'll enjoy it and will comeback for more next week.

It's probably Friday where you are, but it is Thursday here in Whitehouse, Texas. Things just move a little slower here. As of Wednesday of this week it's officially winter. We've had some chilly days and nights and some of the local weather gurus are telling us we might even get some snow flurries this weekend in north Texas; but a little snow might be nice for a change.

I haven't seen Ron or Allie Dart for a few weeks but I hear Ron is doing very well since he had his pacemaker put in several weeks ago. If you're not getting updates from time to time from Allie, you can go to Caring Bridge online and check out Ron's status. Here's the website address:

www.caringbridge.org/visit/rondart/guestbook

If you didn't get that you can copy and paste it from the introduction of this Bible Study which is posted at the Weekend Bible Study audio page.

Also I might mention that if you have a dial up connection that's slow to download this Bible Study, you have another option if you happen to have a smart phone. If you DO have a smart phone you can listen on your phone by going to the CEM website and clicking on the "listen" icon just like you do on your computer. Your phone shouldn't take so long to download. I've done that and some of my friends who live out in the country do that because they don't have a high speed internet connection. Try it out. You can listen wherever you want if your phone is getting a good signal. Don't you just love all the technology we have that enables us to be in touch and be informed. It's incredible!

Well, tonight we're going to get into the Book of Amos, and we'll do that right after this short break.