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Interesting reading today with lessons to be gleaned :heartbeat:

Genesis 20 :heartbeat: :rose: :rose:

''Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For awhile he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife sarah, ''She is my sister.''
Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. '' (1-2)
:rose: :rose: :rose:

''But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him,
''You are as good as dead because the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.'' (3) :rose: :rose:

''Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, ''Lord, will you
destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister''
and didn't she also say, ''He is my brother? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.'' (4-5) :rose: :rose:

''Then God said to him in the dream, ''Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die.'' (6-7) :rose:

''Early the next morning Abimelech summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid.'' (8) :rose: :rose:

''Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said: ''What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done.'' And Abimelech asked Abraham, ''What was your reason for doing this?'' (10) :rose: :rose:

''Abraham replied, ''I said to myself, ''There surely is no fear of God in this place, and will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of mt father though not of my mother; and she became my wife.'' and so Abraham explained his actions.... :rose:

it is interesting to me how Abimelech wasn't condemned by God for taking sarah as he didn't know the circumstances but would have brought great tragedy upon his household had he not done the right thing after he learned what the right thing to do actually was. It reminds me of my own father who used to tell us when we were children that people do as they know to do and when they know better then they do better. It gave him a kind of unusual compassion to view things--and people-- this way. I have thought of that so often over the years and used it in my own life to evaluate many things.... :rose:

Have a wonderful evening friends. It seems to be monsoon season here at the top of the world with no end in sight until maybe saturday--but--the ducks are happy. Love to you all :heartbeat:
:boat: :surfsup: :rainbow: :fishsmilie: :fishing: if only I had a little duck :love:

Top of the world? Oh yeah, I forgot! The world ends at the US border! :drinking:

How do you like the smidgen (of Gen. 20:7) quoted in the WT? "Keep living." Wow! talk about overstating the drama. No wonder the brotherhood is being told to consider the context, depending on whose context it is (backed by WT material of course, which is as important to JW's as the apostolic fathers are to catholics.)

Thanks again to you and Willa for having the discipline in keeping this up. We all need our daily reminders.

:thumbup:sw

Hi Smoldering--I liked that too ''keep living'' --message loud and clear
:love: ...and it is the top of the world to us here because everywhere we go from here is down--we go ''downstate'' --or ''down there''--
even ''down south'' and folks downstate from here call us ''up home '' or ''up north'' so it has become ''the top of the world.'' :love: --not the end of the world even tho technically the bus stops here unless you want to escape across the canadian border--and if folks think the border patrol are tough in arizona they never met border patrol at the maine/canadian border--or vice versa-- they aren't fooling around.......:heartbeat: