2 Chr 17: 1-11

The reign of Jehoshaphat (which probably was started at the final two years of Asa's life) took full control. He wanted to follow the Lord since he was living during the better times of harmony with his father and the Lord. His first order was to fortify the cities against any attack from the Israelites. He knew that the latter years of his father's reign was a start to a bad path. As a result, he cut down the Asherah poles and idols that started to pop up during the past few years.  His goal was to make Judah "idol free". He sent out his officers and teachers of the Law to reinforce the Lord in their lives. As a result, the neighboring countries feared the Lord and left them alone. Some of the Philistines even brought silver as homage to Judah as well as the Arabs giving them livestock.  To the north was King Ahab who still worshipped idols and thus was a threat to Judah.

It was good to read how Jehoshaphat saw and how he carried out the ways of the Lord. It probably pained him to see the direction that the nation was heading under Asa's last years and knew what had to be done and did it. Looking forward to reading further...

First day at work seemed ok and rather painless especially since I had no systems problems. Still tough to get to sleep at night and am going to drag today. I don't want to rely on sleeping pills to get past the jetlag though. Still deciding as to doing both trips in Sept. Heard some startling news about a break-in in my neighborhood and took some steps to prevent it in my home. Maybe I am over-cautious but that's my nature as a father, husband and home-owner. Hopefully, it gets resolved soon. Hopefully no one was hurt and this was an isolated incident.

Prayers still for Arnie's family as they prepare to lay to rest his dad. I know the feelings that they must be going through since we had to so the same for our dads even though it was decades ago.

Praise for today: I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Psalm 104: 33