March 8, 2026 – Lent – God Among Us

God Among Us

Exodus 17:1-7 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

³ But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

⁵ The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Where did the Israelite community “set out from” (verse 1)?

What was missing at Rephidim (verse 1)?

Who did the Israelite people put “to the test” (verse 2)?

In your opinion, did the Israelite people really expect to “die of thirst” (verse 3)?

What did Moses think the people were “almost ready” to do (verse 4)?

What was Moses to take with him (verse 5)?

Who will stand with Moses when he strikes the rock (verse 6)?

Why was the place called “Massah and Meribah” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people relate to God?

Psalm 95 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
² Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.

³ For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶ Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
⁷ for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,
⁸ “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
    as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
⁹ where your ancestors tested me;
    they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
¹⁰ For forty years I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
    and they have not known my ways.’
¹¹ So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

How should we sing “to the Lord” (verse 1)?

How should we “come before him” (verse 2)?

What is “the Lord” (verse 3)?

Where are the “depths of the earth” (verse 4)?

Why is the sea His (verse 5)?

How should we worship (verse 6)?

What are “we” (verse 7)?

What should Israel not do as was done“at Meribah” (verse 8)?

What had Israel’s ancestors seen (verse 9)?

How long was the Lord “angry with that generation” (verse 10)?

What had the Lord declared (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people relate to God?

In your opinion, how is the Israelite question, “Is the Lord among us or not?” in Exodus 17:1-7 answered in Psalm 95?

John 4:5-(7-26)-42 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Who did Jesus ask to give him a drink (verse 7)?

Who did Jews not associate with (verse 9)?

What did Jesus tell the woman that He could give her (verse 10)?

Why was the woman skeptical (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why is the woman’s question the right question for her to ask (verse 12)?

Why will the one who “drinks the water” Jesus gives them not thirst again (verses 13 and 14)?

How does the woman’s question show that she does not understand what Jesus is offering (verse 15)?

How does Jesus move the woman on from thinking about well water (verse 16)?

What does Jesus reveal about the man the woman is currently with (verse 18)?

What does the woman understand about Jesus (verse 19)?

How does the woman try to put distance between herself and Jesus (verse 20)?

How does Jesus remove that distance (verse 21)?

What time “has now come” (verse 23)?

How must God be worshipped (verse 24)?

Who does the woman know is coming (verse 25)?

What does Jesus claim (verse 26)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people relate to God?

In your opinion, how does Jesus in John 4:7-26 provide the Samaritan woman the answer that the Israeltes were seeking in Exodus 17:1-7 when they tested God with, “Is the Lord among us or not?”?

In your opinion, how would you compare what the Israelite people in Psalm 95 “had seen” God do with what the Samaritan woman saw in John 4:7-16?

Romans 5:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

How do “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 1)?

What do we “boast in” (verse 2)?

What do we “glory in” (verse 3)?

Why does hope “not put us to shame” (verse 5)?

When did Christ “die for the ungodly” (verse 6)?

What will anyone “very rarely” do (verse 7)?

How does God demonstrate “his own love for us” (verse 8)?

What will those who are “justified by his blood” be saved from (verse 9)?

How are God’s enemies “reconciled to him” (verse 10)?

Who do Christians boast in through their “Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people relate to God?

In your opinion, how was the Lord providing water for those who were testing Him in Exodus 17:1-7 like Jesus dying for sinners in Romans 5:1-11?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 95 provide guidance to reconciled sinners as described in Romans 5:1-11 about how they should to respond to God?

In your opinion, how does Romans 5:1-11 help us understand Jesus’s offer of living water to the Samaritan woman of John 4:7-26?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Psalms, John, and Romans reveal to us about how God relates to people?

In your opinion, how do we see God among us today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

March 1, 2026 – Lent – Responding to God

Responding to God

Genesis 12:1-4 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

Where was Abram to leave (verse 1)?

Where was Abram to go (verse 1)?

What will the Lord make Abram into (verse 2)?

Who will God bless (verse 3)?

Who will be blessed through Abram (verse 3)?

What did Abram do (verse 4)?

How old was he when he did this (verse 4)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

Psalm 121 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

What will the psalmist do (verse 1)?

Where does his help come from (verse 2)?

What will the watcher not do (verse 3)?

What will the one who watches over Israel not do (verse 4)?

Who is the watcher (verse 5)?

When will the sun not “harm you” (verse 6)?

What will the Lord “watch over” (verse 7)?

How long will the Lord “watch over your coming and going” (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

In your opinion, how is the message of Psalm 121, a psalm that was sung as the people made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem, appropriate for Abram as he traveled to the promised land in Genesis 12:1-4?

John 3:1-17 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Who was Nicodemus (verse 1)?

What did Nicodemus know about Jesus (verse 2)?

What has to happen for someone to “see the kingdom of God” (verse 3)?

Why did Nicodemus think this was impossible (verse 4)?

What does the person who wants to enter the “kingdom of God” need to be born of (verse 5)?

Who “gives birth to spirit” (verse 6)?

What should not surprise Nicodemus (verse 7)?

Who can you not tell where they come from or where they are going (verse 8)?

What did Nicodemus ask (verse 9)?

What do we “speak of” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, how can Nicodemus believe Jesus when He speaks “of heavenly things” (verse 12)?

Who has “gone into heaven” (verse 13)?

What must happen to the “Son of Man” (verse 14)?

Who “may have eternal life in him” (verse 15)?

Why did God give “his one and only Son” (verse 16)?

What did God not “send his Son into the world to” do (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

In your opinion, how are the earthly transition of Abram to a new home in Genesis 12:1-4 and the process of entering the kingdom of heaven that Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus in John 3:1-17 similar?

In your opinion, how does John 3:1-17 answer Psalm 121’s question, “where does my help come from”?

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? ² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. ³ What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

⁴ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴ For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵ because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

How is Abraham described (verse 1)?

What would Abraham not have to boast about before God (verse 2)?

Why was it credited to Abraham “as righteousness” (verse 3)?

Who are wages an obligation to (verse 4)?

Whose “faith is credited as righteousness” (verse 5)?

How did “Abraham and his offspring” receive the promise that “he would be heir of the world” (verse 13)?

When does “faith” mean nothing (verse 14)?

What does the law bring (verse 15)?

Who are “Abraham’s offspring” that the promise comes to by faith (verse 16)?

What does God do (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

In your opinion, how does Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 help us understand what God meant by promising Abram “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” in Genesis 12:1-4?

In your opinion, how does Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 show fulfillment of the belief expressed in Psalm 121 that “my help comes from the Lord”?

In your opinion, how does John 3:1-17 help us understand the statement, “the God who gives life to the dead”, in Romans 4:1-5, 13-17?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, Psalms, John, and Romans reveal to us about the promises of God?

In your opinion, what should our response be to God today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

February 22, 2026 – Lent – Celebrating Righteousness

Celebrating Righteousness

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

3 ¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

What was “the man” to do (verse 15)?

Which tree could “the man” not eat from (verses 16 and 17)?

How is the serpent described (verse 1)?

What did the serpent ask the woman (verse 1)?

How was the woman’s answer different from the instruction (verse 17 then verses 2 and 3)?

What did the serpent tell the woman (verse 4)?

How did the serpent tell the woman she would be changed (verse 5)?

How did the fruit appear to the woman (verse 6)?

Who ate the fruit (verse 6)?

What happened when they ate it (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about gaining or losing righteousness?

Psalm 32 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Blessed is the one
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
² Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord does not count against them
    and in whose spirit is no deceit.

³ When I kept silent,
    my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
⁴ For day and night
    your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
    as in the heat of summer.

⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to you
    and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
    my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
    the guilt of my sin.

⁶ Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
    while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
    will not reach them.
⁷ You are my hiding place;
    you will protect me from trouble
    and surround me with songs of deliverance.

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
⁹ Do not be like the horse or the mule,
    which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
    or they will not come to you.
¹⁰ Many are the woes of the wicked,
    but the Lord’s unfailing love
    surrounds the one who trusts in him.

¹¹ Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;
    sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Who is “blessed” (verse 1)?

Who is also “blessed” (verse 2)?

What happened to David when he “kept silent” (verse 3)?

When was the Lord’s hand “heavy on” David (verse 4)?

What happened when David confessed his “transgressions to the Lord” (verse 5)?

When are the faithful to pray to the Lord (verse 6)?

What does the Lord surround David with (verse 7)?

How will David counsel the listeners (verse 8)?

Why should listeners not be “like the horse or the mule” (verse 9)?

What surrounds the one who trusts the Lord (verse 10)?

Who should “rejoice in the Lord” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about gaining or losing righteousness?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 32 show what the woman and the man could see when “the eyes of both of them were opened” in Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7”?

Matthew 4:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Why was Jesus “led by the Spirit into the wilderness” (verse 1)?

Why was Jesus hungry (verse 2)?

What did the tempter tell Jesus to do if He was “the Son of God” (verse 3)?

How did Jesus answer the tempter (verse 4)?

Where did the devil have Jesus stand (verse 5)?

Why was Jesus to throw Himself “down” (verse 6)?

How did Jesus answer (verse 7)?

What did the devil show Jesus (verse 8)?

What did the devil tell Jesus to do to receive all that He saw (verse 9)?

Why did Jesus send Satan away (verse 10)?

What happened when the devil left (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about gaining or losing righteousness?

In your opinion, how is Jesus different in Matthew 4:1-11 than Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7?

In your opinion, how does Matthew 4:1-11 show us “the Lord’s unfailing love” that David says in Psalm 32 surrounds those who trust in the Lord?

Romans 5:12-19 – New International Version (NIV)

¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

¹³ To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶ Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

¹⁸ Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Why did death come “to all people” (verse 12)?

What was in the world “before the law was given” (verse 13)?

What reigned “from the time of Adam to the time of Moses” even over those who did not break a commandment (verse 14)?

Who did “the gift that came by the grace of the one man” overflow to (verse 15)?

How many sins did the judgment follow (verse 16)?

What did the gift follow (verse 16)?

What does God give an “abundant provision” of (verse 17)?

What did “one righteous act” result in (verse 18)?

How were many “made sinners” (verse 19)?

How will many be “made righteous” (verse 19)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about gaining or losing righteousness?

In your opinion, how does Romans 5:12-19reveal the significance of what happened in Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7?

In your opinion, what does Romans 5:12-19 help us understand about the forgiveness that David sings about in Psalm 32?

In your opinion, what does Jesus’s resisting the temptations of Matthew 4:1-11 help us understand about the “gift of righteousness” discussed in Romans 5:12-19?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, Psalms, Matthew, and Romans teach to us about the consequences of sin?

In your opinion, how do we celebrate with David and “Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)