On the 10th Day of Christmas

my true love gave to me

ten lords a leaping...

...nine ladies dancing

eight maids a milking

seven swans a swimming

six geese a laying

FIIIIVE GOLDEN RIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGS

four colly birds

three French hens

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

The Lords a leaping turned out to be surprisingly difficult. Why would a Lord be leaping? What would he look like as he lept? Would he be holding a top hat and an umbrella? What kind of jump would it be? Is it a dignified leap? I know... silly questions! In the end I decided since yesterday's ladies were ballerinas that they should have a male dancer to accompany them. Well, that was easier said than done because I had a little trouble finding photos of male dancers jumping in the right kind of position. Most of the photos had them lifting girls in the air, etc. So... today's download has the guy in only one leaping pose, but a few color variations to spice it up. I hope you can find him useful. If for some reason you need a male ballet dancer and you would like him in a different leap you can send me a photo of a real male ballet dancer (no one else's graphic please) and I will make a different pose. I will only do this for free as long as the downloads are free - until 10 Jan 2011.

Ok, on to the good stuff. Ten fingers, ten toes, base ten ... since I've been living in Germany I have decided that the US and the United Kingdom should go ahead and adopt metric as their system. Base ten is SO much easier! Do you think God was thinking something similar when he gave out the commandments - one commandment per finger, right? Easy to remember! Easy to remember, but harder than you might think to keep... Let's look at them:

Exodus 20:3-

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.

Wow, what a list. We look at it and think, easy peasy. You may even think you're doing pretty good by this list. But God gave the law to show us how much we need a saviour. How we can't do it alone. Some of the really pious Jews thought they had it all together because they could follow all these plus the extra ones they added to the list (after the religious leaders finished with it there were 613 commandments!). But then Jesus came on the scene and said that not only did they have to obey them on the outside, but in their HEADS and their HEARTS too! And for the right reasons! Talk about raising the bar. So it's not enough to refrain from killing your boss. You can't fantasize about it either! How can we ever live up? Well, there is GOOD NEWS! Jesus came to free us from the punishment of the law! That doesn't mean we can go around breaking the law, it just means that through his sacrifice we don't have to be cut off from God if we miss a step. I could keep going about the significance and meanings and more... but I don't want to lose all my readers! So if you want to know more about the commandments, how Jesus fits in your life, or any of the other topics I've been writing about, please feel free to email me, or leave me your email in the comments. I would be happy to share more about the freedom that comes through knowing Jesus!

I hope you like the leaping lords and the Fair and Just Lord who they represent. You can grab them on 4shared or Box until 10 Jan 2011.