How Could She Have Known?

 She sat and marveled at the newborn child that she had brought into the world. Her pains of childbirth had now been replaced with the joy and wonder of a newborn son.

She realized from his conception that he was no ordinary child ...He was a child of promise, a child of prophecy. Many of her family and friends believed the child had been conceived in immorality. There were ugly rumors circulating, but she knew, better than anyone, the truth about his conception. Her husband had been so kind. He knew the child was not his, yet he had received the same revelation from the angel that she had received and he believed the angel's words and took her to be his wife and protected her from the cruelty of those who did not believe; He had taken the responsibility of raising this child as his own.

As she sat watching over her newborn son sleeping in the manger, she couldn't help but wonder what the future held for him. She knew that he was the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One for which her people had been waiting. Was he to be a great general who would deliver her people from the Roman occupation? Was He to be the king who would restore the glory of Israel as it was in the days of David and Solomon? What was the destiny of this child of promise that she had miraculously conceived and brought into the world?

How could she have known what was awaiting him in just a few short years. How could she have known that before his thirty-fourth birthday he would be the victim of a cruel injustice perpetrated by her own people?

How could she have known that someday, not more than five miles from where she had given birth to her son, she would have to watch helplessly as he would be condemned as a criminal and executed on a Roman cross?

How could she have known that all of this was a part of God's plan from the beginning? How could she have known that she had given birth to the Lamb of God? How could she have known that the blood of her own son would be shed to pay the debt for the sins of the whole world, including her own?

As she sat watching her newborn son, how could she have known?

-By Wendell Ingram, December,2006

Pencil Cob or Cob Pencil????

Last year we raised pencil cob corn in our garden.  It is the kind of corn that shoe peg corn comes from.  That is why the cob is so tiny after the corn is dried and removed.  (This kind of corn makes great corn meal.) 

Bobby gets the idea that he can put pencil lead inside and make pencils out of them.  Great idea because it is great to write with...doesn't slip in your fingers like slick ball points do.  He has made five so far for special people...The one in the picture is mine!  (smile) 

However, he can only get about a 2 inch piece of pencil lead in it because of breakage.  So they are mostly for display. Our son wants him to find narrow ball point pen cartridges that will fit in the narrow space in the cob.  The pith is not very big so it will have to be a very thin one.  If he is successful in that endeavor, he will make some for auctioning off at our family reunion in September.

Note:  Three days later....Bobby finally found a cartridge (Bic) that fits inside the corn cob and he has made 3 ink pen cobs.  So neat!  I knew he could do it!

My Great Grandfather's Family.

Back: Clarence Scott (My Dad's Dad)  and Great Aunt Ida, Left:Great Uncle Jake, Gr Grandpa Richard Young Scott, holding Great Uncle Fred, Great Aunt Nena (Benena) , Great Grandma Sarah Elizabeth (McElroy) Scott, holding Great Aunt Eunice,  Great Aunt Ruby,

The tallest boy in the back is my dad's dad.  My dad's grandfather in the picture died later in the year this was taken.  My great grandmother ran a boarding house later and a girl named Alice Cullifer and her dad, Thomas Cullifer and her brother Ben stayed in that boarding house.  That is how she met and married that tall boy (Clarence Scott) on the back row. 

My grandmother Alice's husband, Clarence, died two years before I was born. She helped my dad raise us three kids, ages 8, 5 and 3,  after our mother died.  She lived with us part of the time while we were growing up...and sometimes we lived with her, but most of the time I remember it was just us three kids and our dad.

Great Aunt Ruby...she didn't out-grow that expression. She is the one on the far right of the picture. 2nd oldest daughter.

Great Aunt Nena (Benena)  The little girl standing between great grandpa and great grandma. 

Great Great Aunt Frances McElroy

So Sorry...my other blog, "On The Other Hand" became corrupted when I placed Javanoid on it.  I can't find access to anything on it except the Javanoid square...and it doesn't have anything on it to click on. The Javanoid site may have had a bug, so I de-activated the blog and restored my computer this morning.   

http://lifeconnections.blogstream.com/

Secondary blog: http://againstthecurrent.blogstream.com/