The Bible Compass

February 2026

Chimney-cleaning!

Last week, a friend came over and disassembled the bottom and top of our 20-foot-high chimney. The fires had not been burning as brightly, so we thought soot and creosote might be the problem. Inside the stovepipe was about an inch (all around) of grey soot. “Not too bad,” our friend said. It seems that we are burning very dry wood, which creates hardly any creosote – that hard, tar-like substance that causes chimney fires.

My mother lived in Eastern Colorado and had an old pot-belly stove. When the wind blew, she couldn’t build a fire because the wind, dirty chimney, and age of the heating system sometimes resulted in a chimney fire. Scary! I’m so thankful for our new stove and clean chimney. Floyd wanted to clean the chimney himself, but I won’t allow him on the roof!

Fog & Frost & Bugs

While most of the country is hunkered down with abnormally freezing temperatures and lots of snow, we just have gray clouds and fog with a little snow on the tops of the hills around us. Although our hills are beautiful, there is also beauty in the tiny hoar frost crystals on our weeds. It hasn’t even been cold enough to kill off all the Western Conifer-seed bugs we had this past fall! They keep wandering across the inside of our windows, hoping to go outside. I kick them out! The weather is beautiful, but people are talking of a bad fire season.

Rose Publishing

For teaching my Bible class at the Home School Co-op, I found a beautiful, 19”X26” chart to help my students memorize all the books of the Bible. It’s printed by Rose Publishing and has reproduceable teaching materials on the back as well. If you teach the Bible or anything related to the Bible, you need to check out Rose Publishing for their beautiful charts, maps, graphs, timelines, and historical resources. I have used them for years.

New E-book Bible Study Coming

I do like to write, and I like to write fiction, but there are times when God’s word captivates me, and I just want to express that to everyone I know. As I mentioned a few months back, I have been studying Psalm 119, and I have finally finished. I have some editing to do, a few short articles to write, a couple illustrations to flesh out, and some layout issues to solve. After that, I think I will post it on our website as an E-book Bible study, for those who want to discover more about how God’s word benefits people.

Re-potting the Orchid

I was given an orchid last summer, and it was badly root-bound. Although there were new blossom buds coming, I decided it needed to be re-potted anyway. I found the orchid soil in the shed, pulled those poor, cramped roots from their confinement, gently untangled them, removed the old, slimy soil, and cut off blackened roots. Once in a bigger pot, it was easy to imagine that the plant was happier. Now, two weeks later, the blossoms have not fallen off and are getting bigger. There has to be a spiritual lesson here, but I’m not sure what it is!

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