The Land of Ozz

Update: September 7th was changed to 2 Kings. There is no 1 Kings 25.

A good friend recommended this schedule. It was published back in 1983 by Fullgrowth Ministries of Tulsa, OK. Here is how that publication recommends you use their schedule:

If you follow this plan devised by Fullgrowth Ministries of Tulsa, Oklahoma, you’ll read the New Testament through twice and the Old Testament once during the next 12 months.

The plan recommends that you do your reading at a specific quiet time each day. If you miss a day, continue with the current day’s reading and catch up when you have extra time. After you finish your day’s reading, mark off that day.

The Old Testament portions are presented as nearly as possible in chronological order. Passages from prophets are included in the historical narrative where they were given, they are often given in a single day’s reading.

You’ll encounter Psalms throughout the year. Frequently, a Psalm that fits a particular passage has been placed with that passage.

As you enter the New Testament, you’ll read Luke and Acts first, then the letters - with periodic passages from other Gospels - and, finally, Revelation. Thus, the story of the life of Christ is constantly related to your Christian life.

I want to add how very important it is that you follow the guidelines given to read the passages for the date given and catch up when you have time. I have tried reading catch up stuff before the current day’s reading after a family crisis took me away from reading for a couple of days and it just didn’t work.

I have provided here the reading for the month of July. The photocopy that I have says that this schedule is copyrighted by Fullgrowth Ministries, but it also says, “feel free to re-print this chart for use in your church, Sunday school, or just to give to friends.” You are my friend if you got this far into this post. I hope this blesses you as much as it has my wife and me. I do plan to post each month’s schedule from the chart before each month begins in the future.

You can listen to some of my readings from the Bible on The Living Bible page of this blog. Thanks for visiting.

The low country of South Carolina was threatened by Tropical Storm Ernesto today. The storm behaved pretty much as was predicted by the weather forecasters. It came across Florida and regained some strength in the Atlantic before making its way up towards the coast of the Carolinas. I live about 20 miles inland from downtown Charleston, SC. The storm seems to have decided to pass by Charleston for the most part and will likely move inland again near the SC/NC state line. Charleston and the surrounding area has received some moderate rainfall and some light winds.

The funny thing about this storm is how critical people can be over how the government reacted. For the most part this storm has been a non-event for the Charleston area, but the American Red Cross, local, and state emergency agencies have taken this storm seriously. The shelters where open in a timely manner and they even went as far as to offer a voluntary evacuation for some areas. That has sparked some criticism from local residents as reported by the local media. Some folks are saying that these agencies overreacted.

I say that the emergency response teams have done a fine job preparing for this storm. There is no way to know for sure if one of these storms will strengthen to hurricane strength and turn in on your town at the last minute. These folks have done a fine job of standing up shelters and preparing for the worse while hoping for the best. I commend these folks for a fine job. Thank God we can look at this storm as mostly a drill instead of a real emergency for the Charleston area.

Hi! My name is Robin McGee. I live in Upstate South Carolina with my husband, youngest child, a dog, a herd of cattle, chickens, goats, donkeys, cats…you get the idea. I’m 44 years old, and I have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. I am a Certified Family Herbalist, and I make my own medicine from plants…mostly whatever is growing wild here on the farm, along with a few friends I’ve planted.

I grew up loving to garden and loving nature. I remember “helping” my Granny to plant beans when I was 3 years old. She always kept a meticulous garden. She would get the soil ready, mark off rows with her hoe then dig the little holes where the seeds would go. After all the holes were dug she’d go down the row and drop a few seeds in each hole, not covering them until every hole cradled seeds. Observing this I decided (remember I was 3) that I would give Granny a hand. Without her realizing it I followed her down the row and covered the beans as she moved along. When she got to the end of the row she turned around to begin covering her seeds, but there were no seeds to be covered. I had already covered them. I was so proud! Now Granny wouldn’t have to spend her time going up that row one more time. She could move on to the next row and dig little holes to plant something else! Granny didn’t see my wonderful accomplishment as helpful. She began to yell, “Whadju do with my seeds? How’m I spose to know whar they at?” as she started toward me. Now, I had had my share of what that little 90-pound wildcat could do with a hickory switch, and I wasn’t wasting any time getting away from her. I ran as fast as my little legs would carry me to get as far away from that frantic woman as I could! I tried to explain that I was helping, but she just kept yelling. Finally, she turned away from me and went back to gardening, muttering to herself. Later on, my Papa got a good laugh when Granny told him how “helpful” I had been that day.

Looking back, I understand why Granny got so upset with me. I don’t think it was me covering her seeds that frustrated her. I believe she was more upset that she didn’t get to do it herself.

Now that I have my own grandchildren I want to pass along to them our family tradition of gardening and my love and respect for nature. As soon as Riley, my first grandchild, was born I began to introduce her to the outside world. I would tell her the names of flowers and birds, or hold a rose near her face so she could breathe in its sweet perfume. When she was around 3 years old I let her help me plant seeds and flowers. Now when she comes to visit Grandma we pick violets to make syrup and tincture, or blueberries for a snack, or we take a walk to visit the “weeds” that will be used for medicine. And she loves to help her mother in her garden, using the tools Grandma gave her to fit her little hands.

I think it’s working!

I want to introduce a very dear friend who will be joining me as a guest blogger. Robin McGee is a certified Certified Family Herbalist. She owns her own business Wild Earth Botanicals specializing in dietary supplements.

Robin and I have been great friends since we met in the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) International Honor Society in college about 10 years ago. She was the chapter president at Piedmont Technical College in Greenwood, SC back then. She helped me to become the first PTK Carolinas Regional President from Piedmont Technical College in 1997. It was that same year in my travels as Regional President that I met another member of Phi Theta Kappa from Summerville, SC named Sherry (now my wife of six years).

Robin and her family have been a huge pillar of support for my wife and I in recent years. Robin basically stepped in and ran our house for a while right after our son Caden was born. She has been referred to many times on Caden’s Page as Aunt Robin. She did an awesome job of keeping Riley on his normal routine as much as possible during Caden’s extended hospitalization right after his birth in 2004. She continued to train Riley based on the same principles that we were already following. She was an angel to us during those very difficult times.

I asked Robin several months ago if she would be interested in blogging on the subject that she knows best, nature. She loves many aspects associated with nature including camping, kayaking (paddling as she calls it), and hiking. But most of all, Robin loves gardening. She has finally given in and agreed to join me for a little blogging. I am going to start a new category for her stuff called “Nature”. So please join me in welcoming Robin McGee.

Everywhere I turn I see blog posts with YouTube clips in them. I am not a big TV or video fan now, but I gave in and took a look at YouTube. I even created an account to see how difficult it would be to share videos. I posted one video from my trip to Alaska last fall. I got to fly a SuperCub and I took a little bit of video during part of the flight, when I was not flying the plane of course.

The YouTube experience is okay as a viewer. There’s a lot of weird stuff out there. On the other hand, my experience as a YouTube broadcaster was very pleasant. There are lots of options for how to show your video.

Here is a clip of my first YouTube video broadcast:

I was recently part of a VIP tour of the Charleston Air Force Base (CAFB). Tours like this are intended to inform community leaders with the hope that they will spread the word to the local community about the missions of the CAFB and the positive impact the base has on the local area and the country. This trip took our group through some of the logistics services that supply airmen with the gear they need for war. The gear has improved by leaps and bounds in the past twenty years. That’s how long it has been since I was issued some of the same gear. We saw a working dog demonstration that offered us a close up look at some of the members of the CAFB security services group and the dogs they are responsible for as handlers. These dogs and their handlers often help the local law enforcement officials with searched that pertain to public safety. We then took a trip over to the shop where the parachutes and pallets get packed. These rigs are used to train local C-17 crews for combat and humanitarian aid air drops. These folks have been known to drop tanks out of the back of these planes from 500 feet above the ground. They also drop supplies and troops when called to do so. We ended our tour out on the flight line where we got to take a close look at a C-17. A crew including a pilot, co-pilot, and loadmaster met us by the plane. This three man team is all that is “required” to put this bird in the air. The crew was very friendly and patient with our slow moving and very inquisitive group.

I didn’t get to fly the USAF C-17, but I did get to hang out with some of the top notch personnel from the CAFB who fly and support the missions of these awesome aircraft. This was my second time touring the CAFB with a VIP group. The last time I got to do this was a few months before my son Caden was born. The first tour afforded me a opportunity to fly the full motion Boeing C-17 simulator with an instructor sitting next to me talking me through the take-off and landing(s). The “s” is for all you pilot types and frequent flyers who understand what I mean by one take-off and many landings. The instructor said the plane would have survived my landing in the real world, but the passengers would not have been happy with me. We also got to tour some of the maintenance facilities last time. The last trip also gave us a tour of the dormitories. The standard amenities for the nicer rooms has not changed much since I was in the Air Force back in the 80s. There are just more dorms with the nicer stuff now.

Go to the offical site of the Charleston Air Force Base to learn more.

***I have eBible.com invitations available. Read on for details.

I have been spending a little more time over at eBible.com lately. I got turned on to this awesome new online Bible study tool a few months ago by way of a DIGG post titled “Jesus Loves Web 2.0: eBible”. I dugg the story and blogged it on my Tech Land blog back in May. My buddy Trace saw my blog post and offered me an invite to eBible.com. Trace is the super geek network guru behind the scenes over at Seacoast Church. He wears many technical hats for Seacoast Church and still finds time to help keep folks like me informed about the cool stuff like eBible.com.

A few weeks ago I got an email from Geoff over at eBible.com. He said that he follows my blog from time to time and wanted to know if I had heard of eBible.com. I responded and told him that I had not only heard of their site but was already a user thanks to my friend Trace. I told Geoff that I have been planning to write a blog post on eBible for a while now. Geoff responded to me with a gracious number of invites that I could use to offer to you my readers when I did write a blog post about eBible.com. The eBbile.com site is still in BETA, but stands out as a new breed in the Bible study barn. The reason for the BETA is because the site is still under development so they are restricting the number of users for now.

I still use other online Bible resources, but eBible.com definitely has found its place in my Bible study tool kit. My favorite feature that is unique from other online Bible sites is the ability to bookmark verses with the option of adding custom tags and notes. I can also make my bookmarks visible to other users or keep them private. I have the ability to open two translations side by side for comparison. The number of available translations is limited compared to other popular Bible sites, but that is a minor shortcoming that I am sure will improve with time.

I have over a dozen invitations to eBible.com. I actually have twenty, but I want to save a handful for some folks in my Tuesday night Bible study. The rest of the invitations are being offered to you the readers of this blog. The invitations are on a first come first serve basis, and I am only asking for a little link love in return. If you have a blog or web site, I would appreciate a link to my blog and a link to the eBible.com blog (http://blog.ebible.com/). If you don’t have a blog or web site, then just leave me a comment or send me an email. I promise that I will not share or sell your email address. If you have your own blog and choose to track into this post, then please remember that my fine print will always apply. I moderate all trackbacks and comments. My email address is theozz{at}gmail{dot}com (of course you will need to replace the {at} and {dot} with the normal at and dot characters respectively).

It may take 24 hours or more to see your comment displayed and get your invitation out to you.

Updated:

A good friend recommended this schedule. It was published back in 1983 by Fullgrowth Ministries of Tulsa, OK. Here is how that publication recommends you use their schedule:

If you follow this plan devised by Fullgrowth Ministries of Tulsa, Oklahoma, you’ll read the New Testament through twice and the Old Testament once during the next 12 months.

The plan recommends that you do your reading at a specific quiet time each day. If you miss a day, continue with the current day’s reading and catch up when you have extra time. After you finish your day’s reading, mark off that day.

The Old Testament portions are presented as nearly as possible in chronological order. Passages from prophets are included in the historical narrative where they were given, they are often given in a single day’s reading.

You’ll encounter Psalms throughout the year. Frequently, a Psalm that fits a particular passage has been placed with that passage.

As you enter the New Testament, you’ll read Luke and Acts first, then the letters - with periodic passages from other Gospels - and, finally, Revelation. Thus, the story of the life of Christ is constantly related to your Christian life.

I want to add how very important it is that you follow the guidelines given to read the passages for the date given and catch up when you have time. I have tried reading catch up stuff before the current day’s reading after a family crisis took me away from reading for a couple of days and it just didn’t work.

I have provided here the reading for the month of July. The photocopy that I have says that this schedule is copyrighted by Fullgrowth Ministries, but it also says, “feel free to re-print this chart for use in your church, Sunday school, or just to give to friends.” You are my friend if you got this far into this post. I hope this blesses you as much as it has my wife and me. I do plan to post each month’s schedule from the chart before each month begins in the future.

You can listen to some of my readings from the Bible on The Living Bible page of this blog. Thanks for visiting.