life. faithful.

In the Garden of Eden, God put everything in place to take care of His creation. He gave us the fruit of every tree except one--the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan knows Scripture, and he knows humanity. He twisted God's command, playing into the idea that God is keeping the good stuff from us and setting up a list of rules we have to follow. He preyed on human pride-- you are smart enough to decide right from wrong; you don't need God to tell you what to do. With the fruit from that first tree, sin entered the world. ...it all hinges on a tree. The blood poured from the raw, open flesh on Jesus' back and soaked into the wood of the cross that He was forced to carry to Golgotha. The sacrificial Lamb took on the weight of all the sins of mankind and carried that burden to a second tree. His death bridged the gap between humanity and God that had been created when sin entered the world. With His death on that tree, sin was paid for. ...it all hinges o...

Dogs are pretty incredible. It doesn't take much to make them happy--the smallest pat on the head, and they're good. Our two follow us everywhere, even when it is 95 degrees and sunny and they would be much more comfortable hanging out in the shade with the goats. They go blackberry picking with me, even though they don't eat blackberries. Stella is on my heels first thing in the morning when I go up to milk, and she follows me back to the barn every evening. Knute thinks the best place in the world is beside me. I don't have to convince them to follow. I don't have to tell them where I'm going or what my plan is. If I get on to them, they know they've done something wrong and want nothing more than to please me again. "Good dog" makes their day. They greet me with tails wagging every time I come home, no matter how much (or how little) time has passed. They would follow me into danger if I told them to, even though they wouldn't understan...