Those Exceptions of Life

2 Kings 5:1–14

Is your life happy . . . except for one thing? Perhaps you enjoy a loving marriage, a beautiful home and financial ease . . . except you suffer from infertility. Maybe you have graduated with a master’s degree, founded a business and are in top physical condition . . . except your parents are getting divorced. If you compiled a list of all the positives in your life, what would you include? I have great friends; I’m an accomplished pianist; I’ve inherited a green thumb. But what disrupts your sense of well-being? All of us possess at least one “except” that gets in the way of our happiness.
An unnamed slave girl experienced some poignant “excepts” in her young life. She was one of God’s chosen people. She had faith in God . . . except she was a captive of war in a foreign land. The good news: She found herself in the household of a commander of the army.

Surprised By God

Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn

READ: Ephesians 3:14-21

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. —Ephesians 3:20

After 10 years of renting in a charming location, we discovered that our landlord suddenly needed to sell the house. I asked God to change the circumstances and make it possible for my wife and me to stay in this place we’d made home, where we’d watched our children grow up. But God said no.

When it comes to my needs, I worry that I’m asking for the wrong thing or that I’m not worthy of the request I’m making. But God’s no doesn’t need to shake our faith when we’re grounded—surrounded I like to say—in His love. In Ephesians 3, Paul understood that those who know the love of Christ intimately (vv.16-17) can trust God to have a loving reason for saying no.

Sarah’s Tent

“Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” — Genesis 24:67

The Torah portion for this week, Chayei Sarah, is from Genesis 23:1–25:18 and 1 Kings 1:1–31.

Nothing can replace the loss of a loved one. But it’s common to feel some degree of comfort when a new love is found – like a new spouse, friend, or baby. So it’s not surprising, Scripture tells us, that “Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” after he married Rebekah. However, the Sages tell us that Isaac was comforted by much more than the love of his wife. With Rebekah’s entrance into Isaac’s tent, a part of Sarah returned, too.

If Shared Housework Brings About Divorce, You Need To Pick Better

by Laura Donovan

If you’re a lifelong clean freak like me, you believe that your living space can never remain immaculate for too long — and that you prefer to clean things your way. That could help explain the fact that couples who share housework are more likely to split up, according to new research, and prompt partners to only have one person fulfill such duties.

The research, which was compiled into a study titled “Equality in the Home,” reveals that the divorce rate is higher among couples who divide household chores than among those where the lady takes care of pretty much everything.

1st Corinthians 13... for Moms

BY GINA

If I live in a house that is spotless, perfectly in order, and people are not free to LIVE because my home is more important than my family, I have not love. I have kept a house. I have not made a home.

If I spend an exorbitant amount of money on decorations, and care more about the appearance of my house than the atmosphere of my home, I have not love. My children have learned materialism, not godliness.

If I try to control my husband, responding in irritation to him and finding only fault in him...and I do not seek to build him up, I have not love. My children have learned to disrespect their father, not to honor him.

You Make Me Laugh : Putting the Cat Out

A couple is going out for an evening on the town.

When they are almost ready to go, the wife tells her husband not to forget to put out the cat. However, after a Taxi arrives and as they go out the door the cat darts back in the house.

Not wanting the cat shut in the house while they are out the husband goes back in to get the cat as the wife goes and gets in the cab.

The wife not wanting it known that the house will be empty while they are out explains to the cab driver, "He is just going upstairs to say good-bye to mother."

A short time later the husband comes down and gets in the cab. He says, "Sorry it took so long but the stupid old thing was under the bed and I had to poke her with a coat hanger!" 

*Thanks to Pastor Tim for this joke!* cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh  http://www.crosswalkmail.com/ViewMessage.do?a=view&m=pmmlvjlhq&r=qndgwmggpdgh&s=ojfrzmtlrfrtqlvkgncsctmqjggqfwtczzv