Obedience

 Chapter 4 of Deuteronomy and Moses is retelling the story of the Ten Commandments which God gave to the people of Israel to follow and in particular the first and second Commandments.

Chapter 5 of Deuteronomy  Moses knew he would not enter into the Promised Land and now as the time approached he repeated once again the commandments which must be kept at all times in all places through the generations beginning thus. 

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;  you shall have no other gods before[b] me. 

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 

Continuing to read and Chapter 9 details the consequences of rebelling against God. Moses again reminds the people of Israel that it is the wickedness of the nations that they are to displace because God is fulfilling his oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob their direct ancestors. All of the children of Israel are descendant of Jacob (God changed Jacob's name to Israel).  

These are stories I have heard and read so many times as a child and a young adult without really understanding I am thinking. At 80 plus I am reading once again the words of God as told by the writers of the Old Testament. As I looked at the news today there was an interesting article talking about "the Great Filter" and where Homo sapiens is with regard to existence in the universe. Scientists querying why we do not see other life forms like our own in the universe. Coming from a science background I am always mystified by stories like this as I always felt that the Bible clearly explained why we exist. To me it is a plausible story and the mystery that surrounds the first peoples of the world as told by word of mouth and later written down is exactly that a mystery to us that is solved as we read the words of the Bible. Belief in the Creator God has been for all time a lamp in the wilderness beckoning us back to the rules which God gave to the Israelis. The simplified story of Creation in Genesis was written to make us understand that we did have a beginning; the time frame totally unknown but is it something that can be reduced to a scientific explanation. Atheism is foreign to mankind as it blots out God and the words of our ancestors and must be avoided in my humble opinion. 

Yesterday I finished the cleaning and the basement is ready to go once again. Some shopping done and then a walk on the beach and kayaking completed the day. Dinner was late but greatly enjoyed as once again cold chicken and two salads to complete the meal. Summer is an interesting time with all the freshness around us. Because we live in a northern climate we really appreciate summer when it arrives although a lot of us have air conditioning which makes a huge difference. 

Solitaire puzzles to do. I did complete the Blake Newsletter yesterday and will submit it for review today.  

 

 

The beautiful world that the Creator God has given to us

 The last three chapters of Numbers organizes the Promised Land by Israeli tribes and includes the portion that lay outside of the Promised Land beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward. An interesting set of chapters as it is the final story of the first four books of the Bible talking about the family of Abraham, his son Isaac and his son Jacob's descendants whom God delivered from slavery in Egypt back to the Promised Land of their forefather Abraham. The Creator God has shown the world that He alone is the Creator and He continues to live amongst the Israeli people as said in Chapter 35, Verse 34: "You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell for I the Lord dwell among the Israelites."

 Deuteronomy is the next book of the Bible. The first chapter is a review of the happenings that caused the fourty years of living in the wilderness outside of the Promised Land. In the second chapter the land of Esau is ahead of them as the Israelites are living in the wilderness and God tells the Israelites to buy food and water from the descendants of Esau and to pass by them. As they continue in the wilderness the Israelities come to Moab but again they are to pass by as this belongs to the descendants of Lot given to them by God. Thirty eight years have passed in their travels in the wilderness and those who had disobeyed God were now dead and it is time once again for the Israelites to follow God's orders and return to the Promised Land. The review is very interesting and reading the Bible in this way one has a better picture than the daily readings. In my old age I am glad that I decided to re-read the Bible from beginning to end instead of just reading the Daily Bible Verse. 

The cleaning of the main floor was accomplished yesterday. Today is the basement and I shall soon set the Robot to its task of cleaning the rugs. This is still a warm spell and will likely last most of July if not all. July is our warmest month and the driest so I must water the tomato plants which are doing very well with fruit on them already. 

A walk on the beach last evening was most pleasant and it is the busiest that we have seen the beach thus far. It was very difficult to get a parking spot and one just appeared very luckily. We were rather late though as we had done some shopping. I needed a file box and file folders and that was accomplished. A cold dinner of salads (lettuce and broccoli with their extras folded into them) were delicious and cold chicken that we cooked yesterday and will last another day during this heat wave. 

Started a letter to my sister but did not complete it yesterday and will do that today. The time passes so quickly in the summer. 

Iran must not fire on the tankers and for that they have lost their right to ship oil once again. I agree with the Prime Minister on his statement. The NATO meeting sounds like it is going very well. The idea of NATO was totally defense against  aggression. Russia attacked Ukraine once again and killed people. Why do they not return to their borders of the 1990s which they agreed to. They have no right to attack the countries around them. They have plenty of land and there is no excuse for killing the peoples of Ukraine. They are satanists and not obeying the laws of God. 

God gave us such a beautiful world and my prayers are always that we can find peace in this world and live together as He commanded with love (respect) in our hearts for our neighbours.  

Solitaire puzzles are next.  

The commissioning of Joshua

 These chapters are very interesting in Numbers. Again women are mentioned as the only children of a line coming down from Joseph (Chapter 27) and the Lord has decreed that they should inherit their father's portion. God establishes the right heirs as sons and if no sons then daughters, and if no child then brothers and continuing back through the generations to establish the right heir. I never really understood burnt offerings before but the explanation in Chapter 28 is quite explicit and easily understood. These are pleasing offerings to God and in specific time frames, Sabbath offerings, monthly offerings, Passover offering, Festivals like the day of the first fruits. The idea of not working on the Sabbath at your occupations puzzled me as a child. For the burnt offerings it is mentioned that this is a pleasing odour to the Lord but not working is a holy convocation. A holy convocation is a sacred assembly or formal gathering of believers called together to worship God, for instruction or spiritual renewal. 

In the Christian world that I grew up in I was conflicted by this idea because people still did work and gradually it was defined as a needed service and so avoided conflicting with the holy convocation ideal. The Christian world has moved far away from that original concept of the holy convocation on the Sabbath (Chapter 28) (in the Christian world this is celebrated on Sunday for just the actual time of the service). I myself go to Church on Sunday with YouTube. I went through a period of time when I was nine and ten and found this idea of burnt offerings of animals that I saw on the farm and so many listed and I can see those reading now in Numbers. They were troublesome in my mind and I blocked out that idea of sacrificing animals and indeed refused to eat meat for a while. But hearing the stories of the First Nations and their thanks given to the animals which they ate was sort of a balm on that worrisome mind of mine. Moses is instructing the people of Israel because he knows he is not going into the Promised Land and must prepare them so that they continue to celebrate God as God has commanded. 

Packages mailed off to the Archives should arrive in the next week. The material that Edward carefully collected through the years can be useful to people researching the Kip/Kipp family name. He collected a lot of material in the United States where the Kip/Kipp families lived. Although I helped him to collect the material,  I did not absorb any of it particularly because I was not interested in genealogy but simply helping him with his collections. I do not know the Kipp families that he is related to and it just seemed practical to put it all in a repository where any of them can go and see it. At 80 my time is short ahead of me and I especially did not want to see any of it thrown away after all his work on it. 

Top floor cleaned yesterday and it is the main floor today. A huge amount of cardboard went out this week for the collection. We have replaced all of the drape rods and drapes in the house now pretty much. They were getting old and needed new ones. 

NATO will buy ten of the SAAB jets for reconnaissance which is good news as we had debated doing that as part of our fleet but really having them as NATO possessions is an advantage. Germany and France are very much moving to the forefront in NATO. France in particular is heavily armed and nuclear capable. The United Kingdom also increasing their military (they too are nuclear capable) and they too have an Arctic presence. I feel that NATO is progressing forward very quickly and in particular has command of the Arctic which is important as the ice melts. Canada will be part of that protection cover for the Arctic along with Norway, Sweden and Finland with Germany and France. The other countries in NATO are also committed but the heavy work will probably fall to the countries that neighbour on the Arctic plus France and Germany (and Denmark). We will hear at this meeting how much the United States will be involved I think as they too have an Arctic presence with Alaska. Greenland is also part of NATO and the protection plan but Greenland (protectorate of Denmark) has a very small population so need the support of the surrounding nations on the Arctic along with Denmark, Germany and France). I am sure we will hear quite a bit more on all of that. Russia continues to try and provoke NATO but NATO is a purely defensive organization. 

Russia still is living in the times of the 1800s with no concept of a world view that wants peace. I was pleased to see China say at the UN Security Meeting that it is time to wind down this war against Ukraine. Russia continues to murder the people of Ukraine and especially in Kyiv the capital. They are satanists. 

Probably not much work done today but time will tell.

Solitaire puzzles to do.  

 

 

Yes, the submarine purchase is moving forward

 Picking the proposal from German (and Norway as they also have the same subs) has a huge advantage for NATO and Canada. The crews of the three countries can train together and we are all part of NATO. We will be working together in the Arctic and having the same submarine is an enormous advantage. When I was a child Canada had the largest Navy of all the countries at the end of the Second World War and it continued thus for quite a while. London, Ontario was a military city with Wolsley Barracks being the home for the 1st and 2nd RCR and the 48th Highlanders. They were the largest employer in London when I was a child. We even had Sea Cadets along with Army and Air Force cadets for the young people looking towards being in the military or just for the training which is always excellent. 

Thank you Prime Minister Carney for pushing this ahead month after month. It has been such a long time coming as it was in the 1980s that proper expenditures were made for the military although there could have been more even back then. 

Also thankyou to Premier Ford and Premier Smith of Alberta for the announcement on the plans to have an Eastern oil Pipeline to Sarnia. It is really better than Thunder Bay and then by the St Lawrence Seaway as a pipeline is the safest and fastest way to move oil.  Oil refined once again in Sarnia after all these years is such a perfect idea. Probably it will be a bit before that happens but just talking about it is such a good start. 

Parcels mailed off to the Archives at Canada Post and just under $100 in total for the two boxes. Edward would be pleased that we remembered to do that. It took me a while to get it organized but I am back into that once again as the Allen box should go next week and then work on the Family photo binders (40 of them) down to six to eight and all of the pictures of Edward's nieces and their families will be removed, labeled and an index prepared as the girls were very young when we married and might not remember all of the events. 

Must get back to Chromosome 1 once again and see what I can come up with but busy right now on other things. In the winter I will have more time. 

 

Fourty years have passed in the wilderness

 A second census is taken as recorded in Numbers and the fourty years have passed and only Caleb and Joshua remain as recorded in the first census. Caleb and Joshua had been the spies sent out as two of the twelve members of the twelve tribes of Israel and they had properly recorded what they discovered. God said they would survive to enter into the Promised Land. Neither Moses nor Aaron will enter the Promised Land. I found this second census to be very interesting as daughters were mentioned as the heads of families within each of the tribes. The numbers of Israelis (descendants of Jacob whom God renamed Israel) is a very large number once again just as the first census was a large number. God continues to punish any turning away from Him. The Old Testament section of the Bible is so different from the New Testament. Rules are always needed but when the severity slows down the ability of Homo sapiens to survive in a hostile environment God saw the need for a change although I do not see yet the promise of a Messiah in all these writings God does find a way to alleviate His punishments so that the Israelis, His chosen people to let the world know that He was the Creator God and no one else, continue to survive and flourish. 

I am finding now that rereading the Bible was a path for me to follow at this time in order to better worship God the Creator. At every stage of one's life I have read the Bible but generally in the style of the readings that are set aside for each day since the presence of the World Wide Web in my life. Before that I read as the readings given to us by my Church but not with as much meaning for me as I am doing now reading the Bible from cover to cover.  In my youth when I read the Bible from cover to cover it was less focused and with less understanding. It is too long ago now to remember if I was successful in reading the entire book (I suspect I skipped parts here and there but I did read huge amounts at the time). 

 Yesterday saw us putting together the British Columbia Kipp material to send to the Archives. There are now two boxes (one banker box and one smaller Archival Box all wrapped up in brown paper and labeled which will go to the post office in the afternoon. It was an hour or so of wrapping up the boxes and finding a copy of The Kip Family of America by Frederick E Kip printed in 1928 that Edward had used for his research and added to quite a bit with a genealogical table that he produced in Legacy and is on his website. It has taken me a while to move to getting this done. It was one of his many mentions in those last years before he passed away. 

It keeps reminding me that I must keep my work organized and headed out the door once assembled in order to not be leaving loose ends. But COVID certainly complicated all of that and Edward had concentrated on some other work the last couple of years and I think had just forgotten his intentions with this material. 

Next up is the Allen family material that is mostly in one box and will get that mailed off to the Allen family that I met in 2019 on one of our last trips to his cousins that he had exchanged letters and information with over the numerous decades since he started into genealogy back in the early 1960s (sixty one years of doing genealogy!). 

Then the 40 plus binders of family pictures to reduce down to six to eight binders of purely family material to organize that material for our grandsons to have detailing Edward's life in particular from babyhood to the last set of pictures just before he passed away (mine tend to be electronic as my younger sister has all the originals). They include his many planned trips into the United States with a couple of organizations that he and George Anderson organized over a decade and a half  between the late 1990s up until 2012 I think most of this material has been given to the organizing groups for whom they arranged trips into the United States and in Ontario. 

Time to do the Solitaire puzzles.