posted by Michael on 07/1/08
There have been so many things going on here at the Staddon house that it has been impossible for me to get anything posted for a while. It seems too bad because those things would make great blog posts. We’ve been splitting bee hives, planting trees, harvesting honey, chipping branches, and all kinds of other interesting projects. I even had my first try at welding. It has been a lot of hard, sweat-dripping work. But what deserves a blog post the most is what our family read in Psalm 118 this morning, especially verses 19 through 23:
Verses 19-20: “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and will praise the Lord: this gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter.” Question:Who is “the door of the sheep” through which they enter into the fold?
Verse 21: “I will praise Thee: for Thou has heard me, and art become my Salvation.” Question: Who is our Salvation?
Verses 22-23: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” Question: Who is the Head that the builders rejected?
Verse 24: “This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Key question: What is “this” Day that the Lord has made?
Read the verses again. Verse 24 is just a continuation of the other verses. The gate, the salvation, and the stone are speaking of Christ. The Day in verse 24 is not ultimately speaking of any 12-hour or 24-hour period! This is speaking of Christ, the Eternal Day in which I will rejoice, beginning the moment that I made peace with God through the sacrifice of His Son. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” 1 Jn. 5:12. The water Christ gives is a well of water springing up unto 
everlasting life (Jn. 4:14). “For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” 2 Cor. 4:6. “The Lord is my light and my salvation” Ps. 27:1, “a light to lighten the gentiles” Luke 2:32, Is. 9:2, and Is. 49:6. According to Hebrews 4:8-10 this eternal day that lives within me is the Sabbath, the Day of rest. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Mt. 11:28. My temporal body may work and sweat, but how glorious it is to abide in the Rest of Jesus Christ forever! Woe to me if I attempt the labor of iniquity on this Day! Question: “And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the 
gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest” Heb. 3:18 – 4:3a.
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You can’t judge a book by its cover; well, you can’t judge a pumpkin by its shape either.
Some look at its shape and call it a gourd, but when you cut it open you see a solid orange neck and a hollow bulb full of seeds. We dry the seeds to plant in the spring or eat. Michael started growing these squash when he learned that they were sweet enough to eat raw. However, they are best when cooked and used in recipes which call for pumpkin. They make perfect pumpkin pies.
One squash goes a long way. I cut up one that was fourteen pounds last week and was able to can five quarts of pumpkin with three cups left over for soup! They also keep well in the cellar.
In all the pumpkin recipes posted, I have used this squash either fresh or canned. My latest experience with this delicious vegetable has been a pumpkin cake roll. This is a cake rolled up with cream 
cheese. This recipe is going to take some practice! Does anyone have any pointers about how to make a pumpkin roll? Mine tasted good but did not look “like the picture.” 
