November, 2025

Good morning!

It’s 6am, and I can hardly believe it’s November already. A fire is crackling in our wood stove, my tea is steaming, the dog has been fed, and Floyd is still snoozing. I was up early to see if I could see the Orion meteors, but although the sky was dark and clear, I didn’t see any, and the cold forced me back inside.

Well, after many emails to Amazon.com, finally, this week, they have reinstated our account! Floyd has spent all of October diligently reformatting our books to a new Print-on-Demand company. It’s been a steep learning curve, and I find him often frustrated with having to learn this all over again – but differently. Our books all have new ISBN numbers for ordering, a few updates, and most of them have been given spiffy, new covers. As always, you can find information about our books on our website: www.thebiblecompass.com. Most are already available as e-books, and we will be featuring the new paperback editions as we approve the proofs.

In other news, Floyd and I finally went to the top of Glacier National Park – and we will never do it again! A friend drove us so that we could look around, but the sheer drops to the valleys hundreds of feet below us gave us both spells of dizziness. Floyd, who was in the back seat, was sitting as far away from the edge as possible and looking at the wall above us. I think we are getting too old for such adventures! The road is a marvel of engineering, carved from the granite face of the mountains back in the 1930’s. That line across the middle of the picture is the road we were on. The views were spectacular and made me want to sing, “How Great is Our God” until it echoed from peak to peak. We were also so thankful for our skillful and cheerful chauffeur who cared for us so well.

Classes at the homeschool co-op are going well. The students are respectful and cooperative, and they are all glad to be in our classes. Floyd is giving them skits to perform to learn bits of Egyptian and Chinese history. It’s challenging to cram 6000 years of history into 5 one-hour sessions! My Bible class is a delight. What a privilege to show these kids how to dig deeper into God’s Word!

Life at home chugs along. We are using the wood stove now, although it has not yet been that cold. It still takes some skill to not have a roomful of smoke on a day when the air is “heavy.” Our valley has had lots of rain (and “heavy” air), and all the wildfires in the region are finally out for the season. We did get some potatoes, although not as many as we would have liked. And I now have boxes of ripening tomatoes on my kitchen island to freeze as they finally turn deep red. Lots of spaghetti sauce potential! A friend asked to use part of our freezer for one of the elk she plans to kill. We told her the rent for the space was some yummy elk.

I haven’t worked on my novel much this month, but I have been working on Bible studies. Psalm 119, although long and (on the surface) repetitive, is a treasure trove of meditations on the beauty and usefulness of God’s Word. I am enjoying coming up with questions to help a reader go from a cursory reading to figuring out what the psalmist was trying to communicate. I’ll attach one section at the end of this letter.

Floyd has increased his efforts to get to know some of the unbelievers in our life. The conversations have been interesting, as he looks for opportunities to ask them if they would like to read the Bible one time with him. One gentleman refurbishes classic cars and then drives them to exhibitions around the state. Floyd has breakfast with him every Friday morning.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! For the whole month of October, we were inundated by swarms of Western Conifer-seed bugs. They are related to stink bugs – harmless, but annoying – but they smell like sour apple, which isn’t too bad, except it’s hard to get the smell off your hands. They found landing places on anything warm, and our house and windows were prime targets. Their tiny feet are like suction cups! Some of them managed to sneak into the house as well. We were relieved when flocks of birds, coming south from Canada, stopped by for a snack. I will be glad when we finally have a hard freeze.

Thanksgiving is, of course, coming up. We are so excited that Erich and family are planning a couple of days with us. Lots of time for conversation, good food, games and maybe a long walk. May your Thanksgiving time truly be one of thanksgiving to our generous heavenly Father. Thank you for your interest in our lives (and books).

With thankfulness to God for you, Christine

I REMEMBER WHAT I TOLD GOD PSALM 119:57-64: “My portion (are You)”

Read the whole section and then each verse and then answer the questions.

v. 57 What was a ‘portion’ back in the psalmist’s day? An inherited land allotment that had been in the family for generations. What would the psalmist mean by this first statement? How good are my promises? What does a promise indicate? 1. Desire to follow through 2. The decision of a moment

Therefore, I need to keep deciding. ‘Keep’= guard; protect

What promises have you made to God? What new decisions do you need to make to keep that promise to God?

v. 58 For what things do people seek? What does the psalmist seek? How can God grant favor?

Only by being gracious to us. In His Word He gives favor to those who seek Him. So, the psalmist is praying for something that God wants to give him. It is God’s will that people seek Him; therefore, God will grant him favor and grace. See John 4:24.

For which things do you find yourself seeking? How could you seek more fervently for God?

v. 59 What did the psalmist do? Why did he do that? Where did his feet take him?

Where are some places you don’t want your feet to take you because you know that would not be pleasing to God? How can you ‘turn your feet’ to God’s word?

v. 60 What did the psalmist do in this verse? What did this action prove?

It was evidence to God that he was seeking God’s favor.

What things interfere with you spending more time in God’s word? Can you set a reasonable goal to increase that time? Is there some time that could be won by reducing time spent on something not as worthwhile?

v. 61 What obstacles try to knock the psalmist off God’s path? Does he despair? What does he do instead?

What tends to knock you off God’s path? What memory devise could you use to remind yourself to stay on the path on which you want to walk?

v. 62 Why would he be up at midnight? What does he do while up or trying to go back to sleep? For what is he thankful?

What keeps you up at night? How can you focus your mind and heart on thinking about God’s word?

v. 63 Why is it important that the psalmist surround himself with others who are also in awe of God? What else to these companions do? Look back through the verses in this section. What have they promised? Where are their feet? How do we help them?

Who are your friends who love the Lord Jesus? Do you have good conversations with them, or only say ‘hi’ on Sunday mornings? How could you improve that so that you can encourage one another in your walk with the Lord? See Hebrews 10:24 and First Peter 4:10.

v. 64 How do we see the earth full of God’s lovingkindness? From what do even unbelievers benefit? See Matt. 5:45

What is the psalmist’s response? How does this relate to verse 58?

What is your response to God’s faithful love to you?

The Bible Compass

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