I'm ready to sign off. My goal is to tie up loose ends as time and inclination allow. In closing up shop, I've had opportunity to reflect on your important contributions to BiblicalScholarship.net. Here are a few of my meditations on this matter... --Your reading eyes at the onset of BiblicalScholarship.net encouraged me and impelled me to go on. --Your questions made me think and expound and record. --Your transformation gave me assurance that the job was done. You have prayed for me, warned me, listened to me, been a quiet example to me, and kept in contact with me through the years--and I appreciate all of it. Your first call to me came at a time when I needed it. I am not saying a permanent goodbye here, if you need to contact me, you know how to do it. These are uncertain times, but if we pray, God can give us space to work and give us relative peace in our days. Please copy the websites on hard drive and CD as a backup, if you can. Jesus-is-Lord.com is about 780MB at this time so it has to be zipped before putting on a CD. The Workes is resident on oldlandmarks.com, as I recall, please do not forget it or the oldlandmarks.com website. Please pray for the websites that God would keep them online and cause them to bring forth much fruit for him and our precious Saviour, Jesus. On a gardening note, shallots are like onions and grow like garlic (garlic is something I've had great success with). I think that shallots are easy to grow indoors too. I've planted some from the healthfood store (see Encyclopedia of Country Living). Shallots are perennials and bulb underground (plant high enough so that they do not rot from moisture). Potatoes, onions/shallots, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, beans (green as well as dried), sweet potatoes, greens, and herbs will make for good eating in addition to fruit trees and other crops. Study about the importance of crop rotation, tilling, land rest, etc. Enjoy the fruits of your labour and may your soul prosper. Mephibosheth *********** > I think and hope we will get to speak again, but if not, I will see you > when the Lord returns. May God bless you and your daughter so richly and > protect you!!! I hope that you will keep in contact with me. One just never knows what a day will bring. I will be online this week tying up the loose ends. > "...be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Amen. Mephibosheth ******** > Will you be offline > indefinitely after this week? Of a truth, that is my intention, no more checking emails, etc. I have had a flurry of activity in this past year--especially since around November 2009. Now I feel like I am ready to stop. It is tough to get my motor running to even make the remaining changes to the site that I have propped up on my improvised cardboard easel. I've put away a number of items that I wanted to upload. I think that there is now enough to help others to run. For my part, I want to be in my garden and working on projects, and on "my" peninsula having picnics with my daughter and organizing my house and exploring and everything else. For the past few years, I've had a saying, "You have to prepare yourself for a blessing." I said it when the studio was in constant disarray. We got it together, and lo and behold, God stopped by with blessings. Now I want to examine other areas of the house and streamline. God is a God of order and he keeps his house in order. It is no doubt that many animals die in the woods, but how often do you see a dead one there? They defacate and urinate but what do the woods smell like? Look how beautiful the woods are at all seasons! Fresh air sweeps through, leaves mulch and fertilize the ground, the animals look beautiful, not muddy and dirty. Things are in order. God is a God of order. I know what lies ahead for us in this world, I want to look around and organize and prepare more and more. Meanwhile, I want to make life pleasant for my little one and my family, where I can. > It may be that I will come offline soon as > well, I have complete peace when I think about that. I'm tired of spies having access to my life. I've gotten accustomed to using cash for my purchases but one day had to write a check. That caused a problem because I had not been in the system. I could hardly even sign my name in cursive. I had to wait until they could get approval. That pleased me. An FBI agent told my sister-in-law that Americans use too many credit cards and write too many checks. Coming offline...I don't want to give out a debit card number to a far away merchant. I'd rather spend dollars in my local economy. I don't want spies reading my emails and listening to my telephone conversations. I just want to be to myself and my very small circle that I CHOOSE to talk to. I want to study to be quiet and mind my own business which includes enjoying and teaching my little one. M