At last, I’ve managed to get some sheep pics.  I’ve been meaning to for ages.  So as it happened, yesterday I had to take a drive in the countryside.

As I drove into this tiny village, I remembered one small farm that had nearly every farm animal you could think of.  I’d seen camels and donkeys there before, and that was what I was really interested in.  But seeing I couldn’t see any of those, I had to settle for the sheep and cow, and a horse or two in the background.

Where I live, we have mostly cattle, so sheep are a special treat for us.  So I am very pleased, even though I missed out on the camels.  They’ll have to wait another day.

And for now, some inspiration from the Bible….

Psalm 28:9, NKJ
Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance;
Shepherd them also,
And bear them up forever.

Psalm 95:6-8, NKJ
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice:
“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness.”

Psalm 100:3, NKJ
Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Psalm 107:41-42, NLT
(The Lord) rescues the poor from their distress
and increases their families like vast flocks of sheep.
The godly will see these things and be glad,
while the wicked are stricken silent.

Isaiah 40:10-11, NLT
Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in all his glorious power. He will rule with awesome strength. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

Isaiah 53:6, NLT
All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.

1 Peter 2:25, NLT
Once you were wandering like lost sheep. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.

Matthew 9:36, NLT
He felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 18:12-13, NLT
If a shepherd has one hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one? And if he finds it, he will surely rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away!

1 Peter 5:2-4
Care for the flock of God entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your good example. And when the head Shepherd comes, your reward will be a never-ending share in his glory and honor.

Hebrews 13:21b, NLT
Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting covenant, signed with his blood. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 7:16-17, NLT
They will never again be hungry or thirsty, and they will be fully protected from the scorching noontime heat. For the Lamb who stands in front of the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe away all their tears.”

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
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“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)
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Jesus said: “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
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God be merciful to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us,
That Your way may be known on the earth,
Your salvation among all nations.
(Psalm 67:1-2)

Oh, how we need the Lord’s favour at this time. With things as they are in the world… like fuel prices, and disasters, and wars, and injustice, and poverty, and …

I’m sure you can add many more!! If ever we needed God, we sure need Him now!!

And a hymn…

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Behold the islands with their kings,
And Europe her best tribute brings;
From north to south the princes meet,
To pay their homage at His feet.

There Persia, glorious to behold,
There India shines in eastern gold;
And barb’rous nations at His word
Submit, and bow, and own their Lord.

To Him shall endless prayer be made,
And praises throng to crown His head;
His Name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning sacrifice.

People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song;
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His Name.

Blessings abound wherever He reigns;
The prisoner leaps to lose his chains;
The weary find eternal rest,
And all the sons of want are blessed.

Where He displays His healing power,
Death and the curse are known no more:
In Him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.

Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honors to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud amen!

Great God, whose universal sway
The known and unknown worlds obey,
Now give the kingdom to Thy Son,
Extend His power, exalt His throne.

The scepter well becomes His hands;
All Heav’n submits to His commands;
His justice shall avenge the poor,
And pride and rage prevail no more.

With power He vindicates the just,
And treads th’oppressor in the dust:
His worship and His fear shall last
Till hours, and years, and time be past.

As rain on meadows newly mown,
So shall He send his influence down:
His grace on fainting souls distills,
Like heav’nly dew on thirsty hills.

The heathen lands, that lie beneath
The shades of overspreading death,
Revive at His first dawning light;
And deserts blossom at the sight.

The saints shall flourish in His days,
Dressed in the robes of joy and praise;
Peace, like a river, from His throne
Shall flow to nations yet unknown.

Isaac Watts

(Whew!! I never knew there we so many verses to that hymn!! I just finished singing it and I’m sung out!! )

Truly our God is GOOD!

Some words of Jesus:

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.  But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-47, NLT)

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Last Saturday, was glorious and sunny. It almost felt like spring. And it was looking that way too. Lots of flowers starting to bloom, and swarms of bees buzzing ’round.

Anyhow, after leaving the neighbours’ place, where I took heaps of Lavender Bee pics, I continued my walk. I was after photos to share on the 07/07/07 Flickr group. Well, I only got about half a block and spotted this huge wattle tree in full bloom. It had a few bees buzzing around in the fluffy yellow blossoms.

Bees in wattle are not easy to capture. They love to hide among the flowers, and the wattle trees are pretty dense creating a lot of shade, so the light is not real good unless you can capture the bees on the outside blossoms in the sun.

Consequently, my success rate wasn’t as high in the wattle as it was with the lavender and dandelions. But I’m pleased with what I ended up with. I do hope you like them.

Oh, and BTW, the wattle is one of my favourite flowers.

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Thank the Lord for garage sales. And isn’t it funny how one thing leads to another. Like divine chain reactions? Or as I heard someone say, “God’s fingerprints” on our everyday lives. I’ve been experiencing it a lot lately.

I ventured out for a walk on Saturday morning. It felt like spring! I wanted some pics for the 07/07/07 group in Flickr. And I need seven of them.

Well, I didn’t get past the front steps and I had to stop to take shots of a bee on the dandelions that I took the day before.

Well eventually, I start the walk and go two doors up. The neighbours were having a garage sale. And right at their front step is a lavender bush, and it was abuzz with bees. So I said excuse me, but I just need some pics.

Now if they hadn’t had their garage sale I wouldn’t have walk up to there front step and I wouldn’t have got this. And they had the garage sale because they had just sold their house. It had been on the market for quite a time. So if they hadn’t sold their house last week, they wouldn’t have had the garage sale….

Oh, BTW, I did buy 4 baskets off them too!!

This all reminds me of how interested our God is in our everyday lives. I find it amazing how He arranges our circumstances so that things dove-tail together. It tells me that He IS in control, and He does have a plan.

“I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:12, NLT)

READ MORE….

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Last Saturday morning, I set out for a walk to take some pics for 07/07/07.

Well, I only got as far as the front step and spotted a bee on a pair of dandy dandelions that I taken a photo of the day before.

So I spent ages on the ground at the bottom of the stairs before I ventured further. This buzzy bee was very obliging. I got sixteen good shots of him, plus the others that weren’t so good. I thanked him for the photo shoot. Then I moved on….

(Weary and foot-sore after the long trek in Noosa National Park!!)

My favourite footwear, summer and winter, is sandals. I just love the freedom of open shoes… love to be able to wiggle my toes. But is wasn’t until I was in a kindergarten class one day, that I realised how weathered they were. As the kids were seated on the floor to listen to the story, one little girl pipes up and says, “Hey, Miss! You’ve got OLD toes!!”

Which has made me rethink about my feet!! I do really need to give them more TLC (tender loving care)!! Give them a bit of moisturiser!!… and maybe a soothing foot bath! How lovely! Is that what will make my feet beautiful??

Really I don’t think so?? Not when I read this:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15b, ESV)

Yes, those feet that travel many miles to share the good news, that are calloused and worn…. they are the beautiful ones!!

… to show you how much God really cares!!

These are some little ones I found on a bush-walk yesterday.  They were so tiny on the bush, and very ordinary looking.  So much so, that it’s a wonder that anyone would ever notice them.

But yesterday, I went armed with my camera, and decided to take pics of just anything I saw, not matter whether it was appealing or not.  When I came home and downloaded the pics of these wee ones, I was so amazed at just how beautiful they were when blown up on the screen.

WOW!!  Fancy that!! The God of the entire universe should take the time for such a tiny flower!!… something that is here today and gone tomorrow!!  Yes, that is how BIG our God really is!!!!!

And if He has the time to care for such a delicate little flower, surely He will care for us!  Well, Jesus said so:

“If God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:30-34, NLT)