We made it home from our travels in time for a snowy Valentine’s Day. It’s beautiful, especially since Monday is our normal day off each week, and we can spend a bit of time recovering from planes, trains, and automobiles!
Today is writing day, but I woke up this morning exhausted with a bit of an uphappy stomach. What to write about when your brain is sludgy? So instead of fully developing any specific topic, I’ll invite you into a bit of the way my brain works!
So many questions . . .
I am forever wondering. What is this? Why is that? How does it work?
Here are just a few wonderings that popped in my mind today:
First: at the moment, I’m drinking Bigelow tea. Lemon Ginger with Probiotics, to be exact. I made it with boiling water as instructed. Just hold on a minute, how do probiotics survive boiling water in order to do me any good???
Answer, thanks to Nutrition Over Easy: The strain of probiotics in this tea is Bacillus coagulans, which is able to survive both boiling water and stomach acid. Who knew??
Second: our evergreen bushes are weighed down under a blanket of snow again. Someone mentioned that it’s bad to shake the snow off. Is that true???
Answer, thanks to New England Living: It depends. First off, you have to know what kind of bushes you’ve got, because that determines how flexible the branches are as well as how well they recover from a heavy snowfall. Second, is it cold enough for the branches to have become brittle from freezing? If so, shaking the snow off could snap the branches off as well.
If you must clear the snow off, it’s best to sweep the branches up with a broom or pole to knock the snow off, starting at the top and working downward (sounds complicated, I know). I think we’ll be letting nature do its own work out there today.
Third: why are Noah’s sons not listed in birth order? Check out Genesis 7:13, 9:18, and 10:1 for example. Ham is the youngest, but is listed between Shem and Japheth.
Answer: I don’t know. Do you have a clue? I’d love to hear your insight! This question has a few different possible partial answers, but my curiosity has not been fully satiated with any of them. Yet.
So many answers . . .
Ever since I learned about online research using key words in college (quite a number of years ago, let me tell you!), I have been drawn to finding answers. Source qualifications are just as important as the answers they give!
Going to an arborist for answers about probiotics would be ridiculous. Going to my doctor for answers about tree care would be just as silly.
I do hope you spend some time each day reading your love letter from God. He has so much to speak to your heart! But sometimes questions pop up and call for answers.
When you have questions about the Bible and how to put it into practice, where do you go? I know this may be difficult to hear, but Google is not really the expert when it comes to true answers about faith for the follower of Christ. Look carefully at the site offering the answer. Are they qualified to speak to the issue? If so, after seeing what they have to say, look for confirmation from another qualified expert in the field.
You can also search sites dedicated to sharing biblical resources, such as word definitions based on original languages, commentaries by well-known biblical scholars, and cross-references within the biblical text.
Here are just a few sites to get you started on your quest for answers:
Biblehub.com (minimal ads!): very thorough study resources, including original language dictionaries and commentaries on every passage. Biblehub provides 23 different versions to read.
Bible.com (no ads!): the Bible in over 1600 languages and 2400 versions (many available via audio), along with countless different reading and devotional plans to explore.
Biblestudytools.com: Quite a number of ads. Resources include commentaries, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and historical sources.
What’s your answer?
Do you have a favorite online resource that you rely on for answers to your faith questions? If so, share with the rest of us!
Lauri Hawley 