Morning Briefings

Above all we need, particularly as children, the reassuring presence of a visible community, an intimate group that enfolds us with understanding and love.

– Lewis Mumford from Dwight Currie’s
How We Behave at the Feast

Turning to the government instead of to God to be our provider in hard times only leads to slavery? Yes. The only reason government wants to be our provider is to also become our master.

– In circulation on the internet, including
Bob’s Blog @ Bobpearcy.com

(Gen 47:13) Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.

 (Gen 47:14) Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

 (Gen 47:15) When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone.”

 (Gen 47:16) Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is gone.”

 (Gen 47:17) So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.

 (Gen 47:18) When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our lands.

 (Gen 47:19) “Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

 (Gen 47:20) So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s.

 (Gen 47:21) As for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other.

 (Gen 47:22) Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.

 (Gen 47:23) Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land.

 (Gen 47:24) “At the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

 (Gen 47:25) So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

 (Gen 47:26) Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

 (Gen 47:27) Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.

So tell me why, the first to ask, is the last to give, every time. What you say and do not mean follow too close behind.

– Ben Harper
Diamonds on the Inside

In a world that applauds accomplishments and celebrity, it is easy to assume that God values us more highly when our ambitions and goals have been fulfilled. Thus, when we fail or are unsuccessful, we not only disappoint ourselves, but we may fear we have disappointed God.

– Karen Westerfield Tucker from
Strength for Service to God and Country

My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of sight. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

– Proverbs 3: 21, 24 from
Proverbs for Parenting

A candle throws its light into the darkness. In a nasty world, so shines the good deed. Make sure the fortune, that you seek, is the fortune you need.

– Ben Harper
Diamonds on the Inside

Those who have helped the poor the most have not been those who have gone around loudly expressing “compassion” for the poor, but those who found ways to make industry more productive and distribution more efficient, so that the poor of today can afford things that the affluent of yesterday could only dream about.

– Thomas Sowell
Grads, perform a true public service, The Orange Country Register

Be still and know that I am God.

– Psalms 46:10

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

– Proverbs 24:3-4