So she's going to take her $325 calf, put $252 worth of milk into it (12 weeks x $3/day) and see if she can't sell it for about $1000 as a weaned calf that's halter trained. It lines up with what we sold our last calf for and if it works she'll just about double her money in 12 weeks. Y'all wish her luck!
If you want to know whether or not something is from God, take a look at the fruit. Is it giving joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, self-control?
Or is it causing anxiety, discouragement, anger, frustration, and leading you to sin?
Take a good hard look at the fruit, because the fruit never lies.
I was talking recently with someone who is at the apex of his field globally, and he told me Psalm 37:4 carried him through a season of chaos and disappointment. I went back and studied not just the verse but the two that follow, and I haven’t been the same since.
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
It says DELIGHT. Not obey, not tolerate, not fear. Basically enjoy.
That word changes everything. God isn’t after robotic compliance. He wants to be the center of gravity in your inner world. Not a side interest. Not a Sunday ritual. The thing your mind returns to when everything goes quiet.
But here’s the tension: how do you actually enjoy God?
We enjoy the things we enjoy cos we understand them. You can’t enjoy football if you don’t understand the point of the game. You can’t love someone deeply if you don’t know who they actually are or what moves them. The same applies to God. You start by understanding who He is and why He exists.
God didn’t create us out of loneliness or need. He existed in perfect, self-sufficient love before time began. Creation was overflow, not deficit. Which means His desire for you is based on communion. His purpose is to unite the world to Himself because in Him is the only source of actual life.
When God becomes what delights you, something both subtle and seismic happens: your desires change. Whatever delights you shapes what you love and what you chase. Anyone who’s ever been in love knows this instinctively.
So when the Psalm says He will give you the desires of your heart, it’s not promising to grant your current cravings. It’s saying He rewrites your appetite entirely. He plants His own longings inside you, for truth, depth, holiness, courage, love and then fulfills what He Himself planted. God never fails to accomplish His own desires.
That’s why verse 5 feels so dangerous:
“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will bring it to pass.”
We recoil from that line cos we think surrender means erasure, as if God wants to override who we are. But why would a God who was already complete need to dominate us?
Everything about His nature points the opposite direction; toward overwhelming, self-giving love. He is more sufficient in Himself than a father without children, yet He sustains us more faithfully than any earthly father ever could.
Our desires are often small and short-sighted, like a child demanding candy instead of dreaming of a future. We insist we know what we want. We’re adults with full agency. But God is infinitely greater, infinitely wiser, not just as a father compared to a child, but as the eternal architect of reality compared to one of His creations. He knows what will actually make us whole.
Now look how the passage ends:
“He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, and your justice like the noonday sun.”
It doesn’t say His righteousness. It says yours. He will vindicate you, reveal the truth about who you are, and set things right.
The sequence is crisp and beautiful. God captures your heart, redirects your path, then restores your name. And He does it emphatically; like the noonday sun. You can’t miss it. You can’t ignore it. You can’t pretend it’s not there.
My favorite bill of the day passes. HB396 allows small farms to process animals on site rather than mandating USDA facilities.
This eases the burden for farmers struggling to find butchers. It will make farm-to-table more affordable. MAHA
Why does God even want worship? Isn’t that… needy? I was rewatching The Chosen weeks ago, the scene with the Samaritan woman and that question wouldn’t leave me alone. Jesus says, “The Father is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.��� It hit me harder than usual. Almost made me teary.
And then an intrusive thought slid in: Why does He care so much about worship?
So I sat with it. And slowly, something started to untangle.
We live in a world obsessed with creators and ownership. Artists sign their paintings. Musicians copyright their songs. Companies defend their patents. Architects protect their signature designs. Not because they’re insecure. Because authorship matters.
We instinctively know that to erase an author’s name from their work is wrong, and to twist their creation beyond recognition is violation.
That clicked for me.
If flawed humans protect the integrity of what they make… how much more would the God who authored galaxies guard His?
Reality itself is His masterpiece. Every law of physics, every spark of beauty, every heartbeat, signed, authored, claimed.
So when Scripture calls God jealous, it’s not describing a fragile deity craving applause. It’s describing a Creator who refuses to let His signature be erased from what He made.
Not insecurity, integrity. Not ego, essence.
He is jealous for us, not of us. Because when creation forgets its Creator, everything breaks. Meaning unravels. Purpose distorts. Worship misfires.
God’s “jealousy” isn’t about Him needing attention. It’s about Him refusing to let us live on lies. He knows that life only works when it aligns with Truth. And He is that Truth.
So when Jesus says the Father is seeking worshipers, it’s not desperation. It’s love. It’s rescue. It’s the God who authored reality inviting us back into alignment with it.
Divine jealousy isn’t proof of God’s weakness. It’s proof of His love. A love that protects. A love that refuses to hand us over to counterfeits. A love that will not let His creation forget who made it.
The universe is a signed masterpiece. Erase the signature, and you erase meaning itself. God refuses to let that happen. That’s where I landed. And honestly? It made me worship more, not less.
Non-parents have NO IDEA the number of forms, cameras, and allergy lists going back decades that come with daycare.
If @nickshirleyy was wrong, thered be a MOUNTAIN of paperwork proving it and NPR would publish it in 30 seconds.
Instead, they're shooting the messenger.
NEW: MN Department of Children commissioner Tikki Brown claims the Quality Learing Center closed down last week, which explains why there were no children when Nick Shirley visited.
Today, however, the Quality Learing Center was packed with kids.
The New York Post reports the children were "trucked" in, with one local saying it was the first time they had seen kids go into the building.
They need to coordinate next time before they try to cover up a crime.
Extra-Biblical confirmation of Jesus — from a NON-Christian source.
Flavius Josephus (c. AD 93), a Jewish priest and historian writing for Romans, records Jesus in Antiquities of the Jews (18.3.3), known as the Testimonium Flavianum.
Scholars widely agree the core passage is authentic, with later Christian embellishments removed. The accepted core affirms:
• Jesus existed
• He was a teacher known for wisdom
• He was executed by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate
• His followers did not abandon him after his death
That’s a hostile, independent Jewish source confirming the basic Gospel outline — without relying on the New Testament at all.
This isn’t theology -> It’s history.
#HistoricalJesus #Josephus #AncientHistory