How to Make Fleece Mittens
April 20th, 2008The question has been raised as to how to make fleece mittens. Here are a couple links to online patterns and instructions.
Mittens in June, July and August
April 18th, 2008Yes. Mittens during the hottest part of the year. And in April, May and September, too. That’s when mittens are being created by members and friends of the Native American Support group, of which I am a member. This is a great group of people who support the Native Americans on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. We are a group of people who want to make a difference in the lives of the people who live there. You can learn more about our ongoing projects at Helping Hearts for Cheyenne River.
The mittnz challenge started in March and continues until the last week of September when we will all send mittnz in one big blitz. If you clicked on the above link, you discovered the mittnz roolz and also the fact that there will be prizes There are a lot of knitters working up a blizzard of mittnz, but there are those of us who don’t particularly like to knit those thumbed creatures. Never fear! Crocheting and sewing are included in the game. I’m planning on stitching up some fleece mittnz. There are some who have left me in the dust, but I’m not out to win a prize. I just want to help keep some hands warm next winter in the bitter cold that is characteristic of South Dakota. Every pair counts, but we really want the count to be huge.
There’s not many of us in this group, but we have learned that only a handful of people with huge hearts can make a difference. An good example of this is the March totals of what was sent to the rez. Are you ready for this? This is what 14 people sent last month.
Household stuff
17 afghans/quilts/blankets
2 air fresheners
1 sippy cup
Personal care
23 toothbrushes
1 toothpaste
1 small shampoo
8 lip balm
10 packs feminine hygiene
5 bars soap
18 makeup
1 makeup kit
Clothing
114 pairs of socks/slippers/booties/tights
32 hats
22 pairs mittens/gloves
4 dresses
10 onesies
10 sweaters/sweatshirts
2 pairs leggings
1 pair pants/jeans
1 shirt
1 coat
1 shawl/ Poncho
2 underwear
School Supplies
144 pencils
5 packages loose-leaf notebook paper.
Food
2 boxes tea bags
3 spices
Sewing and crafts
1 package trim
4 skeins yarn
Treats and toys
kite with string
2 stuffed animals
2 books
103 hair doo dads
1 toy vehicle car
3 jump ropes
Misc.
322 diapers
46 packs of seeds
1 purse
6 egg dying kits
2 Magnet frames
Gently used
1 pr. boots
9 pants
5 pjs/sleepers
2 sweaters/sweatshirts
3 shirts
Take a look at some of the mittnz that a few of the knitters have already created. Lizzie and Marella are a couple in the race and have posted pictures of some beautiful mittnz on their blogs. Doesn’t that just make you want to whip out some mittens to help keep both small and large hands warm? Open up your heart and join us in this challenge.
Save on Postage
April 18th, 2008You’ve probably heard about the new postal service charges which go into effect on May 12th. USPS just did this a year ago. Hopefully, we won’t have to go through this every year. For now we have a couple ways to save on both present and future postage. A lot of our bill payments are now done online or by phone, but for some things we still need the stamped envelopes. It’s especially nice to send a greeting card or personal letter for special occasions or just because. It’s also necessary for bill paying at the companies who do not have electronic payment options. I like to do as much business as I can locally. Many of these establishments aren’t set up for anything except checks or credit cards. I’ve learned the hard way that the credit card option is a bad choice.
Since everyone needs to have some stamps on hand, go out now and buy some Forever stamps. While you’re at the post office, look over the priority mail offerings. I’ve been using the flat rate priority for several years now and have saved a bundle by sending heavier items to charities and family in other states. A built in bonus with priority mail is the time factor. It gets there faster than first class and much faster than the “slow boat to China” rate.
The flat rate priority items include an envelope 12.5″ x 9.5″ for $4.60. The flat rate boxes come in 2 shapes. The 12.625″ x 11.875″ x 3.375″ is shaped like a large shirt box. Don’t you just love those measurements? Couldn’t USPS just round them up? It’s possible to send 21 paperbacks, 2 tins of smoked oysters, a card and have room left for something small tucked in. The other is 11″ x 8.5″ x 5.5″ and is shaped like a large shoe box. You can load it with a lot of heavy cookbooks to send to your son, the chef. The good part is that no matter how heavy you load them, they always cost $8.95.
Yesterday during a visit to the neighborhood post office I picked up some of the new, larger flat rate boxes. These are 12″ x 12″ x 5.5.” You can send these new ones for $12.95. All the prices quoted are for sending within the U.S. But there’s a bonus to these new boxes. If you’re sending to a loved one stationed outside the U.S., they can be sent to any APO/FPO address for $10.95. I can hardly wait to see how much I can load into one of these puppies.
Another way to save with USPS is to use the online services. You can receive up to 10% discounts on your postage. So, way are you waiting? Join me in buying up those Forever stamps and loading the boxes to get sent out before the May 12 price increase.
What Do I Do About All These People?
April 17th, 2008
I’ve been reading more from The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel. If seems as if one can get into an incredible amount of trouble with the people encountered while traveling. It does not seem implausible that one can be in the wrong place at the wrong time and end up in the midst of a riot. There’s so many of them going on around the world these days.
So here I am peacefully walking through Tiananmen Square and the students decide to riot again. How am I going to get out of this mess? Advice for this is “Plan to leave the country quickly.” I would like to, but how do I get out of the middle of this riot so that I can leave the country? I’m getting advice here that assumes I’m in my hotel room rather than in the midst of this riot. I’m being told to wear muted tones. Well too late. Spring’s in the air so I decided to wear my Hawaiian shirt out on my stroll through the square. I’m advised to exit through windows, vents, the roof or where ever I can to avoid the mobs and gunfire. Hello! I’m in the middle of the mob and here come the military with their guns and other weapons that could injure me big time! Also, I should leave as a group. How does a solitary tourist morph into a group? How about this next tidbit? Do not run as walking is harder for the eye to detect. Also, running may generate excitement. I don’t think there can be any more excitement generated among this mob. They’re already at fever pitch and running around like crazy. I’m not sure I can walk. I want to run. The adrenalin is already running high, and besides, I now need to find a bathroom or I’m going to pee my pants. That’s called FEAR!
This book tells me if I need to travel by car that I should be prepared for evasive maneuvers. I also know what to do now if my car is hit by a Molotov cocktail. Well, I’m not in a car. I’m still on foot here in this square which I now wish I had decided not to visit. What if one of those cocktails hits my body instead of the car I wish I had at the moment? I think I may need a good strong cocktail to drink right now, but no one seems interested enough to hand me one in all this bedlam. “Get to an embassy or to the airport as soon as possible.” I wish I could. GET ME OUT OF THIS MOB! Oh, Shit! Now some of them have grabbed me and have decided to hold me hostage.
That’s okay. The next section is about how to survive a hostage situation. I wonder if they’ll let me use the bathroom? First piece of advice – stay calm. Okay, okay. I’m calm now. This book also reminds me that hostage takers are extremely nervous and scared. More than me? If shots are fired I’m supposed to keep my head down and drop to the floor. No problem there. That gun is pointed at me. I think I will drop without any effort on my part. No sudden or suspicious moves such as trying to hide your wallet, passport or belongings. They already have my wallet, passport and contents of my backpack (which has already been tossed out the window of a speeding car). Comply with all demands. No problem there. Never look at a terrorist directly. They’re terrorists? I thought they were angry, crazed students. The blindfold takes care of this. “Carefully observe the characteristics and behavior of the terrorists.” I just told you I have a blindfold on! Be more observant here. “If a rescue team enters, get down and stay still.” How am I going to know if the people storming through the door are part of a rescue team? I still have that scratchy blindfold on. Does this mean I don’t get to go to the bathroom yet?
I’m skipping the section on how to pass a bribe. These people already took everything I own. Same goes for how to foil a scam artist. I no longer have anything to scam.
Okay, the rescue squad is through the door and apparently the terrorists are dead or vaporized. Someone’s removing my blindfold. Holey, Moley! I’ve been rescued by aliens who want to abduct me. No problem. What does my handy, dandy little book tell me about how to get out of this one? “Do not panic.” Don’t worry. Fear has me paralysed. “Control your thoughts.” Is this some kind of cruel joke? My thoughts are controlling me. There’s only one thought running through my mind right now. Enquiring minds want to know. Are you sure you want to know what that one thought is? You asked for it. “Now I’ve really got to pee!” Then I’m supposed to resist verbally. How about this? “I will not go with you unless you let me go to the bathroom first.” Next thing on the list is to resist mentally by putting myself in a protective shield of white light or a safe place. I’m going to my safe place, my sunny island with all the gentle breezes. Next I’m told to resist physically. I don’t have to. I just peed my pants and ET’s leaving in disgust.
Paper or Plastic?
April 16th, 2008That’s a question we hear a lot when we’re out shopping for groceries. Increasingly, the reply is, “Neither. I have my own cloth bags.” The groceries are hopping on the bandwagon with this and selling reusable bags. I do most of my shopping at Publix as it’s just a few blocks from my home. They not only sell the cloth bags, but also have recycling bins set up outside the store. Included there are a couple that recycle items that aren’t handled by our county recycling service. This includes plastic bags and Styrofoam egg cartons. I’m going to have to ask if they accept other items of Styrofoam. As hard as I try, I can’t seem to avoid all of it. It invades my home. One of my downfalls is Chinese take out which mostly does not include styro unless you buy something such as sweet and sour or lemon chicken. I always receive the sauce in cute little styro containers that I neither need, nor want. I know I need to just cut down on the Chinese. We’ve been buying it once a week lately which is just too often. Bad for both the attempts at frugality and the environment.
I read a good article yesterday at beingfrugal.net. Tightwad Tuesday: Go Paperless! I read it again today along with the comments. There are some very helpful suggestions with comments about reducing both the paper and plastic in our lives. Check out this posting by Lynnae and come back and tell me what you think about the subject.
Downgrading Your Lifestyle
April 16th, 2008I just read a post over at LivingAlmostLarge about downgrading your lifestyle. Have you been thinking about doing this? It could be for a variety of reasons – becoming more frugal so that you can pay off that mountain of debt, becoming more aware of the impact your lifestyle has on the environment, nearing retirement, choosing a simpler lifestyle in order to spend more time traveling, or just wanting to get rid of stuff that’s dragging you down and eating up time spent cleaning and/or working more to maintain it instead of doing the things you really want to do.
What are your reasons for choosing a simpler, more frugal lifestyle? I’m doing it for all the above reasons. It started with just trying to eliminate the debt created by a lot of unwise decisions over the years. Now it’s creeping into every facet of my life. I’m becoming more environmentally aware and have started to focus on trying to let less plastic into my life and recycling all the items that my county has the capability to handle. I’ve discovered that it’s much more now than years ago when I first became aware of the need to recycle. Back then it was basically glass and aluminum cans.
I, hopefully, am nearing retirement in a few years. First, the debt has to go so that I can maintain that debt free lifestyle that I crave. Once that is accomplished I will budget for traveling. I miss that part of my life. I used to work on ships and that travel bug persists.
If I get rid of some of my “stuff,” then I will be able to spend less time cleaning it, shuffling it around, organizing it and letting it drag me down in spirits. I started on the “get it out the door” project when my mother died and I helped sort out, distribute and get rid of my mother’s belongings. I learned a lot about my mother then. She was a secret pack rat! I’ve had to fight pack rat tendencies all my life, but I had no idea my mother was anything like me in regards to “stuff.” She had the talent to hide it and pack it in the littlest places. It still blows my mind when I think about how much I moved out of some really small areas of her home. That was when I decided my kids were going to start inheriting early. That way they can use what they love and pass on what they don’t. And I don’t have to dust it!
I am having a problem letting some of this stuff go. Is it because I love it so much, you ask? No. Is it because I need it all? No. Is it because I think I need to keep it because I might need it in the future? No. I’m trusting God to meet my needs. He always has. There’s no reason for him to stop now. The reason is that I have so much talent. I’m extremely talented at procrastination. And part of that is because of my talent of becoming sidetracked. I am just such an all around talented person! 😀 Heaven help me lose some of that talent. Actually, I am being helped by FlyLady, but that is another post. Who or what is helping you downgrade/downsize your life?
Who Wanted A Makeover?
April 16th, 2008Remember last Tuesday I told you that Tiffany at Snapshots of Life was celebrating her one year blogoversary with a giveaway? She was having her first giveaway as part of her celebration. In conjunction with Revka at RS Designs, she gave away a $60 credit at RS Designs to be used for a blog makeover.
I WON! I WON! Aren’t giveaways wonderful? Expect to see some changes around here soon. They won’t be major, but will be what I had envisioned when I started sunnyislandbreezes.com.
Now that puts a smile on my face and I hope on yours, as well.
Living Out God’s Will
April 15th, 2008It’a April 15th, but this has nothing to do with taxes! It is time for the Non~FIRST blog tour!(Join our alliance! Check out Non~Fiction in Rather Short Takes. Every 15th, we will featuring an author and his/her latest non~fiction book’s FIRST chapter!
The feature author is:
and his book:
A Handbook for Discovering God’s Will
NavPress Publishing Group (March 26, 2008)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
GORDON JACKSON is a professor of communication studies at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. He has worked at Whitworth as a journalism professor and college administrator since 1983. Originally from South Africa, where he worked as a journalist, he is a frequent speaker for churches and other groups. Dr. Jackson has spoken to scores of church, Sunday school, educational, and civic groups on a wide range of topics. In the past few years, he has also served as a consultant for church groups and Christian educational institutions in Uganda, Lebanon and Egypt.He is also the author of:
Destination Unknown
Never Scratch a Tiger with a Short Stick and Other Quotes for Leaders
AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:
Introduction Choosing Well: Living Out God’s Will
Most of the time in our attempt to follow Christ, we already know perfectly well what God’s will is and what He expects of us. It is to continue the work He’s already given us, precisely where we are, according to the guidelines for godly living we know from Scripture.
But there come moments when we face major decisions, crossroads in our journey where the signposts aren’t as legible or well-lit as we would like. We face hard choices. Should I attend this college or that one? Should I switch jobs? Am I truly being called to full-time ministry, or am I just bored with my current vocation? Is this the person God would have me marry? Should I move to a new city or stay put?
Some decisions we’ve anticipated for a long while, for example what to do upon graduating from college. Others are thrust upon us suddenly, perhaps an opportunity that comes out of the blue. Yet others can brew or stew slowly over time, such as a growing sense of disillusionment and frustration with our current job.
Situations like these ultimately demand some kind of decision. Assuming we seek to honor God in all areas of our lives—education, family life, career, ministry—we want to make a godly choice. But how? Clearly, guidance is a difficult area for Christians.
Scores of books on the topic have appeared over the past several decades demonstrating the ongoing quest for counsel on this issue. This book is intended to assist you in thinking through questions about guidance more incisively and, if you heed the shared wisdom handed down from two thousand years of our faith, to help you make wiser, more thoughtful, and more godly choices. The generalizations presented here are distilled from the wisdom of numerous thoughtful writers on this topic. In essence, the thoughts in this book are not new. The hope, however, is that their presentation and format will make these ideas more accessible and easier to understand and apply in your life. (A note on citations: For the most part, I’ve tried to avoid cluttering your reading by limiting the endnotes to some lesser-known authors for whom you may want to know the source.)
It’s plain that those who follow Christ could use ongoing help in this area. “In our quest for God’s guidance,” said J. I. Packer, British theologian and scholar, “we become our own worst enemies, and our mistakes attest to our nuttiness in this area.” This book is an attempt to head off some of those self-defeating tendencies and minimize the nuttiness. In doing so, this book differs from other writings on guidance in two ways. The first is its emphasis. This volume assumes what other authors carefully and painstakingly identify: the ample scriptural evidence that God guides those who genuinely seek His will and that He desires only the best for His children. So the assumption here is that you don’t need to be persuaded that God is both able and eager to guide us.
The second difference lies in this book’s approach. Most other books on this subject offer systematic, chapter-length expositions on the nature of guidance and its relationship to vital living as a Christian. By contrast, the approach here is far more hands-on, identifying practical problem areas, possible stumbling blocks, areas of confusion, and any other aspects of guidance that can lead to confusion and mistakes. What follows is a series of thoughts on topics about guidance. Each topic, summarized as a principle or key concept, serves as a stepping-stone through what often can be a mental and spiritual swamp for Christians seeking God’s will and direction.
All the topics are built around a foundational section called The Big Five—and Beyond. This is the assumption repeated by many writers that guidance is normally the product of five elements:
1. Scriptural guidelines
2. Prayer
3. The advice of other Christians
4. The circumstances we face
5. A sense of inner peace about our decision
It is typically the combination of these five ingredients that helps lead us toward sound, godly decisions.
Something else that holds together the sixty-two principles in this book is the understanding that guidance is a process that involves carefully thinking through and incorporating The Big Five, as well as other issues pertinent to your situation. Following this introduction is A Guidance Road Map—a set of common questions about guidance, along with the topics that are likely to help you most with each question. Please read The Big Five—and Beyond before dipping into other topics. Without the context it provides, the other sections will be less helpful.
The sixty-two topics, and the principles on which they are based, are presented as generalizations. As such, they need to be seen as part of the broader whole. What’s more, these principles don’t have to be read in order. After reading The Big Five, feel free to browse through the book and pick and choose among the issues that most interest you. Or you can scan the alphabetical list of topics at the back of the book and find subjects of particular concern to you.As you read the pages ahead, please be aware of the following assumptions that are woven through the array of principles:
? You take seriously your commitment to follow Christ and seek to live a God-pleasing life. In other words, you earnestly seek God’s will for your life, not His seal of approval for what you plan to do anyway.
? You take seriously the authority of Scripture and are willing to apply its guidelines to all areas of your life.
? You already are convinced that God is able and willing to guide you in all aspects of your walk with Him, and you accept that He will do so on His terms and with His timing.
? You take seriously your God-given ability to think through whatever guidance issues you face.
It’s important to note a truly astonishing fact: We claim as part of our faith not only that the Lord of the universe sent His Son to die for us and redeem us from our sins but also that His interest and love for us continue day by day. Like the most loving of parents, God Himself seeks to guide and direct every facet of our lives.
Two reality checks also need mentioning. The first is that living our lives in a God-directed manner is never easy. Living as we do with a sinful nature, it is extremely difficult to do what we know we should and to avoid what we know we shouldn’t do. Paul said, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). If living the day-by-day dimension of following Christ is difficult, it’s no easier when we face those extraordinary moments when tough choices must be made. Søren Kierkegaard, nineteenth-century Danish philosopher and theologian, said, “It is perfectly true, as philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But . . . it must be lived forwards.”
As we grapple with trying to understand God’s guidance in our lives, we often recognize His leading only as we look back. But we must make difficult choices while living life in forward mode. No book on guidance can completely answer anyone’s questions; we each need to answer those ourselves. The ideas outlined in this book are only tools, and they are worthless apart from your commitment to seeking God’s will and your willingness to struggle through issues.
The second reality worth noting concerns our limitations in understanding how God moves in our lives. It is the height of presumption to think that any book can prescribe how God may choose to reveal Himself to us. The only absolute we can be sure of in this regard is that God will not guide us in a way that is contrary to His nature.
A final thought on how God directs our lives: While those who follow Christ agree that God is keenly interested in our lives, they differ on the degree to which He has a “perfect plan” mapped out for each of us. Some contend that God has a carefully worked-out blueprint for our lives: His guidance helps us discover that perfect will, and His Holy Spirit helps us live it out. Other Christians see this approach as artificially narrow. God, they believe, is not boxed into some lockstep, foreordained approach to how our lives unfold. God’s grace, power, and imagination surely transcend whatever mistakes we make or sins we commit, which would presumably otherwise relegate us to a “second best” plan. Rather, God is always able to offer constant, uninhibited love and direction, regardless of how far we might have fallen from His standards in the past.
If the issue of a “perfect plan” is important to you, understand that the bias of this book is clearly toward the latter position. God’s boundless grace in dealing with us makes Him love us no less when we choose something other than His best at any given moment. Yes, God’s discipline may follow our poor choices. But for the Christian who is wholeheartedly seeking God’s will, He presents us with far more of a buffet table of legitimate options than some stiflingly healthy yet tasteless diet. A. W. Tozer, a well-known teacher and writer, said, “The man or woman who is wholly or joyously surrendered to Christ can’t make a wrong choice—any choice will be the right one.”
That remark captures the spirit with which this book is written: that ours is a God of freedom whose guidance we can seek with confidence and enthusiasm. He’s a God of infinite love who enthusiastically champions our case and seeks our best. He is the architect wanting to help us build holy lives, lived to the full (see John 10:10). Yet we sometimes regard Him as the county planning officer who’s looking for every weakness in our plans, smugly catching yet another way we’ve fallen short of the building code. God is not a stickler; rather, He’s the architect who brings our possibilities to reality for our benefit and for His pleasure.
This book is an attempt to assist you as you invite God, the ultimate architect, to help you build your life in keeping with His overall design to make us holy persons. From the foundations to the finishing touches, He is eager to help at each step. The pages that follow are intended to help you build your own house of faith that shall last through eternity.
1
The Big Five—and Beyond
Every quest for guidance should be shaped by scriptural guidelines, prayer, the advice of other Christians, the circumstances we face, and an overall sense that this course is what God wants.
It’s the big picture that counts. A recurring theme found in books on guidance is that you need to look at the big picture as a whole when making major decisions concerning God’s will. Far from basing our decision entirely on a chance remark made in last Sunday’s sermon or on an obscure verse in 2 Kings, God expects us to use all the vehicles He’s made available for our decision making. That’s why it’s important to consider each of The Big Five factors and see how they mesh together as we consider our decision. Again, these five factors are:
1. Scriptural guidelines
2. Prayer
3. The advice of other Christians
4. The circumstances we face
5. A sense of inner peace about our decision
Until you’ve got a thumbs-up on each of the five, you’re probably not ready to make a decision. If, for example, you’re seriously considering a career change, but your spouse or closest friends are advising you against it, you need to check your thinking. Or if you’ve been invited to go on a short-term mission trip and the first four points check out just fine, yet you’ve still got a nagging feeling that something isn’t right, once again it may be best to hold off on your decision and give it further thought.If you were leaving later today for a trip abroad, you’d make sure you’d taken care of your passport, airline ticket, health insurance, luggage, and spending money. If you were heading for the airport and realized you’d left your passport at home, it’s unlikely you would keep going and say, “Well, four out of five isn’t bad.”
Similarly, you’re probably asking for trouble by heading into a decision without a check mark against each of The Big Five. Is it possible that the advice from your spouse or friends is wrong, or that you’re confusing a lack of inner peace about a decision with plain old nervousness? Of course. The point here isn’t that missing one of these five checkpoints means you shouldn’t go ahead; it simply means there’s a warning light on the dashboard and you’re well advised to take a second look at what’s happening. Or, to switch metaphors, if these five principles don’t line up neatly like lights on a runway, you need to question seriously whether you’re ready to come in for a landing.
Sometimes those landing lights don’t line up neatly, or one warning light keeps flickering on the dash—and yet a major decision still looms. Remember, guidance is seldom a simple, clear-cut process. The words of C. S. Lewis provide a helpful reminder of the many ways God can speak to us: “I don’t doubt that the Holy Spirit guides your decisions from within when you make them with the intention of pleasing God. The error would be to think that he speaks only within, whereas in reality he speaks also through Scripture, the church, Christian friends, books, etc.”
Because working toward the decisions God would have us make can be complex and can lead to ambiguous answers, it’s necessary to dig deeper into our understanding of The Big Five. The separate entries of The Big Five are not of equal importance. The simple flowchart that follows shows that scriptural principles are the starting point. But they’re only the starting point. Each of these five principles merits careful attention. The next step is to examine any of the five elements that merits special attention in your situation. (These topics are addressed in the pages that follow.) Alternatively, you may want to turn directly to other individual topics that speak to your needs. The Guidance Road Map on page 17 will help you do that.
Please check out Non~Fiction in Rather Short Takes. You may see a book that you would like to help promote.
Home Maintenance
April 14th, 2008I’ve been away from my island all day today as I’ve been doing maintenance on my computer. Fun things like downloading, deleting, rearranging, scanning and all that kind of stuff to get my computer speed up. I hope to be back again later tonight after I finish cleaning up the machine.
By Streams of Water
April 12th, 2008Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers: but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 1
New Revised Standard Version