Guest Backyard

It's not that i've run out of interesting photo ops at my own backyard, but i wanted to share with you Larry and Lisa's unique backyard. They also host each Sunday afternoon an exciting and intense 3-hour Bible study in their cozy I.B. home, replete with delicious Filipino fixin's from their kitchen, recliner chairs, thick blankets...even your own house slippers!

This semester, we are studying in this 3-in-1 course, Creation and the Hebrew Patriarchs (Genesis and Job); The Life of CHRIST -- Part I (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John); Doctrines of GOD and the Bible -- via satellite courses from Faith Bible Institute, with Pastor John T. Yates.

This is what makes their backyard unique -- they have chickens for pets! Along with their two dogs Bambi and Itim.

Lisa blessed me with these organic eggs -- which will be breakfast to fuel me before Zumba Fitness tomorrow. But i had to get off the thought that i'll be feasting on the chickens' "kidnapped" newborns! (Lisa said a mommy chicken actually tried to hide her eggs from her by half-burying them in the dirt.)

Why is it that when we make pets of animals, our hearts get twisted into such convoluted emotionalism? Is it because GOD's ultimate character is Infinite Love and we are but exhibiting His nature for we were created in His image?

So GOD created man in His own image; in the image of GOD He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27)

Reality or Unreality -- Truth or Untruth?

66% of "Reality"...

100% "Reality"...

33% of "Unreality"...

100% "Unreality"...

100% "Reality"...

The photo's true orientation is the 100% Reality above. It's a reflection (of a table laden with spider plants), in a large puddle of water inside a wheelbarrow half-filled with wet mud.

Our minds are so indoctrinated with family history, cultural environment, 12 years of worldly education (more or less), personal experiences, hereditary traits, chosen preferences, etc., that sometimes we believe something to be real or true, yet because of our ingrained life education, we are fooled into believing this or that Unreality or untruth as the genuine Reality or real truth.

Discerning reality in the photos above is child's play -- but in discerning GOD's Reality, one needs to be partnered with His SPIRIT...in CHRIST.

ODDs 'n' EnDs NiCkNacKs

If there's no more space for nicknacks in the house, there are plenty of empty "shelves" out in my backyard. Mom's house is a typical Filipino home -- nicknacks on every shelf available. Guess who has to do the dusting!?!

A miniature planter...maybe Uncle will use it to plant some Chia Pet seeds.

More odds 'n' ends that we just couldn't bear to throw away.

The way that i got cured of my inherited "packrat" mentality was to backpack Southeast Asia (many years ago) with just two carry-on backpacks and live out of those two bags for two months. But i was such a fitness fanatic during that time that i actually brought two 4-pound hand weights, which i hefted up and down as we drove around Bali! (On another trip, i even climbed up and down the highest ruins in Tikal (in Guatemala) two times...in the heat of mid-day, just to get my daily workout...i was mental! i'm more sane now...i just do Zumba con Arleen.)

LAVA Lamp Bromeliads

At our Bible study Wednesday morning, Pat (our "mother hen") gave away some prizes...and Carmen was blessed with a lava lamp!

i looked in my backyard today, hunting for something cool to share...and i got some "lava lamps" too!

Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

The best prize of all, the brightest lamp which dispels any darkness and shadows in my life is GOD's Word...His Instruction Manual -- the Holy BIBLE.

Garden Bulletin Board

This bulletin board in my backyard is decorated with "i hollah for a dollah -- or two!" bargains and freebies from the ShoppE at Rose's...

This gauzy butterfly attached to the Welcome sign (though i did add a few touches of my own)...

These typical Filipino farming scenes...

And these seaside scenes of the Philippines...

Even the multi-colored fish on the board were some others' cast-offs. It's true -- what may be some one's junk may be someone else's treasure.

Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be. (Matthew 6:20-21)

Real treasures aren't those bought at Harrods London exclusive department store, or at an antique shop, or even at the PBS' Antique Road Show . True treasures are priceless and heavenly -- a merciful and forgiving heart, helping hands, a loving spirit...

Please donate. ALL funds will go towards the Naselesele Village school children in Taveuni, Fiji. VINAKA VAKA LEVU!

Kitsch

Kitsch (English pronunciation: kich) is a German word denoting art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. (Wikipedia)

Excessively garish or sentimental art; usually considered in bad taste...something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often of poor quality. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Who cares -- it's my backyard...

King Solomon wrote... There is no end of opinions ready to be expressed. Studying them can go on forever and become very exhausting! (Ecclesiastes 12:12)

It's TIME! 2010 -- It's Time!

IT'S TIME! It's time to move out of our self-made prisons. It's time to go beyond the sheltered enclosure of our creature comforts. It's time to do the work that GOD has intentioned for each and every created creature here on earth.

It's time to plant so that we may join GOD in the harvest. IT'S TIME!

Pastor Jim Baize of Midway Church said, "It's time! It is time to quit playing church; it is time to grow up; it is time to win the lost to CHRIST; it is time to get victory in our habits, it is time to be who GOD created us to be...it is way past time...!

Then an angel came from the Temple and called out in a loud voice to the One sitting on the cloud, "Use the sickle, for the time has come for You to harvest; the crop is ripe on the earth." (Revelation 14:15)

KING Fisher -- MAN of John 14:6

Illusion -- something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality.

Delusion -- a false belief or opinion that is firmly held.

99.99999% truth -- is still a lie in GOD's sight.

100% Truth -- JESUS -- I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)

RAIN...i like it!

i like the rain. i like how it washes the dust off the flowers and oranges... (i've told Mom to fertilize this orange tree with my ashes when i've gone on to Heaven!

i like what the Psalmist wrote about his desire to know GOD... i reach out for You. i thirst for You as parched land thirsts for rain. (Psalm 143:3)

i like the raindrops sparkling on these kalamansi fruits...ready for kalamansi-ade. Mom's tree is laden with these sour fruits almost year round! (Citrofortunella microcarpa, lemoncito, or calamansi is native to the Philippines.)

For the winter is past, and the rain is over and gone. (Song of Solomon 2:11) Well...maybe for today anyway.

STILL Hangin' IN!

We had fierce winds last night...gusts of rain blasted against the window glass, the wind howled through the vents -- whistling like some movie soundtrack from Wuthering Heights!

These bromeliads hung in there, despite the whipping they received from the raging wind that tore through this area during the dark hours...

When i see GOD's creation being so persistent and tenacious at hanging on to dear life, i'm encouraged. Life is not without the occasional buffeting storm or raging wind...but with CHRIST as my Rock, i can stand firmly on the solid ground that He shields me from the worst blows and that He hides me under His wing as He walks with me through the gauntlet of life's trials.

And i know that Spring always arrives...with delicious colors! These bromeliads await for that coming season of bursting hues...with more patience than me!

There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4)

Wet BACKYARD Beauties

The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of our GOD stands forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

A voice said, "Shout!" i asked, "What should i shout?" "Shout that people are like the grass that dies away. Their beauty fades as quickly as the beauty of flowers in a field." (Isaiah 40:6)

And if GOD cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? (Luke 12:28)

SPRING Not Yet Sprung

Backyard neighbor's lemons...ours for the picking. Was it Charlie Brown who was always given lemons in his cartoon life? Yet somehow, he made lemonade from the many lemons that feisty Lucy always threw at him.

Uncle Ric's sayote...also called sechium edule (its scientific name), merliton, tayota, choko, chocho, chow-chow, christophene, alligator pear, chayote, vegetable pear. This two-month old plant has yet to mature, but it will begin to bear fruit around April-May, and continue to bear much fruit in the summer months ahead. This is a typical Filipino vegetable, usually cooked in a soup with meat; but i've also grown it in Lagiloa, our bush farm in Taveuni, Fiji.

Mom and Uncle's vegetable patch in hiatus, already cultivated with manure. Today, the stormy weather is bringing much rain which will mix the dirt and manure, readying the soil for the seeds to be sown soon.

Do not be deceived, GOD is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the SPIRIT will of the SPIRIT reap everlasting life. (Galatians 6:7-8)

i see GOD's Word illustrated in His creation. When Mom sows the ampalaya (momordica charantia linn or bitter melon) seeds, she will harvest the fruit of the ampalaya...for whatever she sows, that she will also reap.

Bubblehead's Point of View

Bubblehead is at the top left (he -- or she -- is orange and white), the one with the biggest head!

Rainy afternoon in sunny San Diego...

Bubblehead, on this rainy day said, "HEY, GUYS! Did you hear WHAT that woman inside the house just say? She said, "Oh NO! My fish are getting wet!" Duhhh!!!