Margo's Bible Verses June 21st

On this date, June 21st, Margo was reading in Luke 11:29-36 titled, "The Sign of Jonah" and in Ephesians 4:25-32 titled "Christian Living".

Margo didn't underline any verses in the Luke passage but she did under a sentence in the commentary. Before I quote the sentence we need some context.

In this passage in Luke Jesus was speaking to the crowds following Him and to the religious leaders of the day. Many of these people were looking for signs and miracles as proof that Jesus was who He said He was and many were entertained by such things. Jesus told them the only sign that would be given them was the sign of Jonah and the sign of the Queen of Sheba . Jonah preached to the Assyrians in Nineveh, who repented. The Queen of Sheba came to see Solomon and worship him. Jesus said the men of Nineveh will stand up and condemn His generation and His own people at the judgment, because Jesus said "a One greater than Jonah is here" and "a One greater than Solomon is here".

Here's what Margo underlined:

"Thus, God's chosen people made themselves more liable to judgment than either a notoriously wicked nation(Assyria) or a powerful pagan queen (Queen of Sheba)."


In the passage in Ephesians Margo underlined these verses:

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

This time last year, we had taken our friend Sandi Preston to the airport and Margo was undergoing another three day chemo treatment in Denver. She was so sweet during this time.

Margo's Bible Verses June 16th

On this date Margo was reading in Luke 10:1-24 titled Jesus Sends Out Seventy-two Disciples and Ephesians 3:8-13 titled Confidence Before God.

Margo didn't underline any verses but she did double underline one sentence in the commentary on the passage in Luke.

Some context...Jesus sent out seventy-two disciples two by two into the surrounding area to heal and cast out demons and announce the kingdom of heaven. They returned having done what He asked and they were elated. There are some tough sayings in these verses too, like the condemnation of the towns that rejected Jesus.

Here's what Margo double underlined:

"He brought them(the seventy-two He sent out) down to earth, however, by reminding them of their most important victory--that their names were registered among the citizens of heaven."

On this date last year, 2007, Margo's cousin Gene Troskey and two of his children, Brian and Matthew from North Carolina were visiting along with our friend Sandi Preston from Oregon. Sandi was helping Margo with her physical therapy and otherwise taking care of her.

Margo loved having friends and relatives visit. We were very hopeful during this time and though the chemo treatment was tough on her, she didn't let on.

Margo's Bible Verses June 14th

On this date, June 14th, Margo was reading in Luke 9:43-50 titled Servant hood Is the Measure of Greatness, and in Ephesians 2:14-22 titled Unity in Christ.

I'll need to provide some context...the passage in Luke describes three important events. The first one was Jesus' acknowledgment of His betrayal. The second was an argument among His disciples over which of them would be the greatest, to which Jesus declared that the greatest among the disciples would need to become the least. Lastly, the disciples found a man casting out demons in Jesus' name and asked Jesus if they should stop him since he wasn't one of them.

Margo double underlined this verse, verse fifty:
""Do not stop him (the one casting out demons in Jesus' name)," Jesus said, "for whoever is not against you is for you.""

Margo single underlined these sentences in the commentary on the Luke passage:

"When we seek honor and glory for ourselves, we can be assured that it is not true greatness that we will find, for true greatness is marked by genuine self-sacrifice and obedience to God--true greatness is in Christ likeness."


Margo also single underlined these sentences in the commentary on Ephesians:
"Fortunately, Christ has knocked down the barriers and unified all believers in one family. His cross should be the focus of our unity. The Holy Spirit helps us look beyond the barriers to the unity we are called to enjoy."

Margo's Bible Verses June 13th

On this date, June 13th, Margo was reading in Luke 9:37-43 and Ephesians 2:8-13.

She double underlined the following verses, Ephesians 2:8-10:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Margo's Bible Verses June 12th

On this date, June 12th, Margo was reading in Luke 9:28-36. These verses tell us about Jesus' transfiguration on a certain mountain, where Moses and Elijah appeared with Him. Jesus was accompanied by Peter, James, and John. God the Father spoke to the three disciples and told them Jesus was His son and told them to listen to Him.

Margo didn't underline any verses but she underlined the following part of the commentary on this section of scripture:

(double underline) => "Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain to show them who he really was--not just a great prophet, but God's own Son. Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, representing the Prophets, appeared with Jesus. (single underline)=> God's voice singled out Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah who possessed divine authority. The authority of Jesus (double underlined)=> superseded that of the Law and the Prophets (single underline)=> represented by Moses and Elijah, (double underlined) =>for Jesus is the fulfillment of both the Law and the Prophets."

Margo's Bible Verses June 11th

On this date, June 11th, Margo was reading in Luke 9:23-27, titled Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus. She underlined two sentences in the commentary on this section of scripture.

To provide some context here are three verses from this section (verses 23, 24, and 25):

"Then He (Jesus) said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"

The commentary for this section states:
"People are willing to pay a high price for something they value...There are at least three conditions that must be met by people who want to follow Jesus."

Margo double underlined the next sentence:

"They must be willing to deny self, to carry their crosses, and to give up control over their lives."

She single underlined this sentance:
"Anything less is superficial lip service."

The next section of scripture on this date is Ephesians 1:15-23, titled, Paul's Prayer for the Ephesians.

Margo double underlined one sentence in the commentary, but I'll need to give you some context. Paul, writing to the Ephesians, tells them he's hasn't stopped giving thanks for them and praying for them. He prays that God may give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know God better.

The commentary summarizes...the more we know Christ, the more we will be like Him.

The sentence Margo underlined is:

"Personal knowledge of Christ is life-changing!"

Margos' bible verses for June 10th

On this date, June 10th, Margo underlined these verses, Ephesians 1: 11-14.

She double underlined verses 11 and 12:

"In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory."

She single underlined verses 13 and fourteen:

"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of His glory."

Then, she underlined these sentences in the commentary:

"The Holy Spirit is God's guarantee to us that He will do what He has promised. He is like a down payment, a deposit, a validating signature on the contract. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is our assurance of eternal life with all its blessings. His power at work in us now is transforming our lives, and is a taste of the total change we will experience in eternity."

..."Think on these things".

Margos' bible verses for June 9th

On this date, June 9th, Margo underlined several sentences in the commentaries for two separate sections of verses. The first section is Luke 9:10-17, where Jesus feeds five thousand "men" with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Jesus had His disciples set the people down in groups of fifty. Then Jesus , looking up into heaven, gave thanks and "broke" the five loaves and two fish and gave the food to the disciples to distribute. Twelve baskets were filled with the left overs.

Here's the sentence Margo underlined for this section:

"Our sufficiency for all of life can be found in Jesus."

The next section of scripture is Ephesians 1:1-8
I'll quote the last two verses in this section to give context:
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

Margo double underlined this sentence:

"His death points to two wonderful truths--redemption and forgiveness."

She single underlined these sentences:

"Redemption was the price paid to gain freedom for a slave. Through His death, Jesus paid the price to release us from slavery to sin. Forgiveness was granted in Old Testament times on the basis of the shedding of animals' blood. Now we are forgiven on the basis of God's grace in the shedding of Jesus' blood, because he died as the perfect and final sacrifice for our sins. Grace is God's voluntary and loving favor given to those he saves. We can't earn it, nor do we deserve it. No religious or moral effort can gain it, for it comes only from God's mercy and love expressed in the death and resurrection of His Son for our redemption."

This time last year our friend Sandi Preston was staying with us, and what a blessing that was. Margo and Sandi were truly best friends. During this time Margo was still undergoing three day chemo treatments. Many days she wasn't feeling very well, but , never complaining, she didn't let on how bad she felt.

Where were you last year this time?

Margos' bible verses for June 7th

On this date, June 7th, Margo underlined verses in two different new testament books. The first one is Luke 8:56, and the other two are Galatians 6:1, 2.

The first verse will require some context. It concerns Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead. The story is that Jairus', a "ruler" of the local synagogue came to Jesus and fell at his feet and begged Jesus to come to his house and heal is only daughter, who was about twelve years old.
Before Jesus could get to Jairus' house, his daughter died, but Jesus went to Jairus' house anyway. Jesus took Peter, John, and James in with Him. Jesus found friends of the family wailing and mourning for the little girl and he told them to stop, because she was not dead but only sleeping. They laughed at Jesus.
Jesus "took her by the hand and said, "My child, get up!" Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat." The underlined verse is this: "Her parents were astonished, but He ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened."

In the commentary she underlined this sentence:
"Jesus once again demonstrated his great power by raising Jairus' daughter from the dead."

The other two underlined verses are, Galatians6:1, 2:

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

On this date, June 6th, Margo underlined Galatians 5:22-23:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

Also underlined in the commentary for this date:

"The Spirit produces character traits, not specific actions. We can't go out and do these things in our own power, and we can't obtain them by working to get them. If we want the fruit of the Spirit to develop in our lives, we must recognize that all of these characteristics are found in Christ. Thus the way to grow in them is to join our lives to His. We must know Him, love Him, remember Him, imitate Him. The result will be that we will fulfill the intended purpose of the Law--to love God and man."

Last year at this time we were preparing for another trip to Denver to receive chemo treatment from Dr. Arenson.

We left Pueblo around noon and stopped and ate at Olive Garden, then spent the night at the Town Place Suites in Denver. The treatment was on the 7th. Margo received intra venous treatment and had blood work. She handled all this so very well.

After the chemo treatment Margo wanted to go to Sweet Tomatoes for Dinner...she loved that place. It was good just to be with her.

Second note on Margos Bible Verses

as a prelude to sending out the first installment of
margo's underlined verses i wanted to send little
ditty.

there is a "sticky note" that margo had attached to
the front cover of "The One Year" bible she used as
her devotional.

the sticky is divided into three sections.  it's about
a 3 in. by 3 in. sticky, and it's a light blue color.
it appears to be fairly old.  she had written these
three sentences, separated by a line she drew between
them.  this is kind of how they appear, in her own
hand writing, quotes are mine:

"What is buried alive never dies."
_________________________________
"Unresolved hurt has power over us"
__________________________________
"Make Right choices while you're still hurting."
______________________________________________

in a couple days you'll get another installment, then
there won't be one until the first week in june.

this time last year, we had just come back from
another round of chemo in denver.

First Note on Margos Bible Verses

some of you know this, but i'm sure most don't know
that margo used the NIV one year new testament as a
devotional.  she found it to be easy to read and
understand and it has daily commentary and life
application suggestions.

this version is organized to take the reader through
the new testament in a year.  it also provides verses
from proverbs.

margo had gone through, i.e., worn out, at least one
of these.  she, being so practical, always bought the
paperback version.  i haven't found the old original
ones (haven't been strong enough to go through all her
things yet), but i still have the latest one she used
for her daily devotions.  it's still sitting on the
kitchen table and i still pick it up and read it too.

in it she underlined certain verses.  not every day,
mind you, just certain days.  i know she was still
using it last year as much as she could.  remember, we
were in denver a lot of the year for treatment and for
some emergency situations, like the time she had
seizures, or when she had blot clots, or when she was
having bad reactions to the chemo...and she never
complained, not once.  try to imagine that.

so there were many days she didn't underline any
verses.  i remember so vividly, before she had cancer,
when we lived in california, i would come home from
work or perhaps on weekends, when i was working around
the house, and find her reading this bible, always at
the kitchen counter or table or bar, and almost always
in the late morning.  i know this was her daily
routine.

i am going to start sending to everyone on this email
list the verses, chronologically, that she underlined.
you'll be blessed.

try to remember where you were on these dates last
year, or the year before, and try to remember where
she was, and what she was doing.

you know she loved you all so very much.

if you don't want to receive these, please send me an
email message and i'll take you off the list.  if you
know someone who would like to be on the list, send me
their email address and i'll add them.

if i do find the old bible i'll go through that one
too, but the last time i saw it, it was falling apart.

God still loves us.