Celtic Odyssey

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 (adapted): He told another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and planted in a field. 32 It’s the smallest of all seeds. But when it’s grown, it’s the largest of all vegetable plants. It becomes a tree so that the birds in the sky come and nest in its branches.” 33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through all the dough.” … “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that somebody hid in a field, which someone else found and covered up. Full of joy, the finder sold everything and bought that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. 46 When he found one very precious pearl, he went and sold all that he owned and bought it. 47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that people threw into the lake and gathered all kinds of fish. 48 When

Isaiah 55.6-11 (adapted): 6 Seek Yahweh when he can still be found;    call him while he’s near. 7 Let the wicked abandon their ways    and the sinful their schemes. Let them return to Yahweh so that he may have mercy on them,    to our God, because he’s generous with forgiveness. 8 My plans aren’t your plans, nor are your ways my ways, says Yahweh. 9 Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,    so are my ways higher than your ways,    and my plans than your plans. 10 Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky        and don’t return there without watering the earth,        making it conceive and yield plants        and providing seed to the sower and food to the eater, 11 so is my word that comes from my mouth;        it doesn’t return to me empty.        Instead, it does what I want,        and accomplishes what I intend. I can’t remember for certain, but I think it was Lorraine Boettner ’s book, The Reformed Doctrine of Predes

“I believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.” — C.S. Lewis In this series , I’ve been going through the steps of smoking a pipe (we’ll get to the theological part of this later on). The last two posts were all about procuring a pipe, the different parts of a pipe, and some tools you’ll need to smoke your pipe. This post is about what you put into your pipe — the tobacco. Like the previous article on the diversity of pipe shapes, there are a variety of tobaccos, too. Below is a list of some of the more common tobaccos you’ll encounter. A more comprehensive list can be found here . Virginia : By a wide margin, Virginias make up the bulk of most pipe tobacco today. It’s a naturally sweet tobacco that’s easy to light. However, Virginias can burn hot so s