I have failed at my job. My kids do NOT understand their own mother tongue... English. A simple request brings on a "I don't know what you mean!" type of response.
Please wash the dishes... brings "What ME wash dishes?? You don't mean the dishes on the kitchen counter? Me?? You mean someone else. I'll just go read a book!!"
Please bring down the books on poetry off the shelves upstairs... "Huh? What's that? Yeah, I know what a poem is, duh!! Yeah, I know what a book is. A book with poems in it? I don't think we have those. I don't know what you mean!"
I think I'm going nuts.
This is ridiculous!!
Feed the dog please... an hour later?
Did you feed the dog yet?
Oh, did you mean me? You looked at me when you asked but you didn't SAY MY NAME so I figured you didn't really mean me.
Was I this stunned as a child? No I didn't ask them that question.
They would tell everyone I said they were stunned. That they would remember!!
I'm going to pray now.
Should have done that before ranting!!!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Another Sunday towards peace?
This was another weird one for the record. I really want to remember the steps we are taking to get through this church mess.. for lack of a better word.
We went back to our church.
The pastor's message was great. He is in 2 Corinthians as opposed to our BRF 1 Corinthians.
The sermon was on chapter 2 dealing with forgiveness, repentance and restoration. How apropos. It was hard hitting but left us with what do we do if no repentance is offered. You can still forgive and not trust y'know. Forgiveness is what we are called to do. Trust without seeing repentance on the other side is just plain old stupid!! Yet, we can be nice at the same time.
To begin this little story with... I'm not a really touchy type of person. I like my space. If I give a hug its gotta mean that I am completely comfortable with someone and genuinely like and trust them. I very rarely have ever spontaneously hugged my mother. I will hug her because that is something she seems to need... but its not real natural. I don't hug men that aren't my husband... and hate it when men seem to think that touching someone else's wife IN ANY WAY... except a quick hand shake.... is appropriate. Dave had to speak to someone about that this winter. This other man hugs all the ladies and was shocked that I would find it offensive, but he was sensitive enough to know that I don't hate or even dislike him. It ended well.
I love to hug my children, on the other hand. Almost any child. Definitely my husband!!! The occasional friend on special occasions.... not many.
Therefore...
It nearly bowled me over when the woman who has been slandering us, whose husband told us royally off, who had us pretty near blacklisted, who caused all the problems for us in the church, who I most definitely do not trust and am NOT comfortable with... ran down from the choir and made a big show of giving me a hug during the handshake/welcome/family of God time.
Dave admits I looked as repulsed as I felt. It was like hugging a snake.... rephrase.. being hugged by a snake. I didn't hug her back.
This was not what I bargained for. Who hugs people they have seriously wronged?
This was not an apology.
Remember waaaay back in high school when some guy you weren't remotely interested in, but were nice to cuz you were nice to everyone (yeah..), asked you out and you got that queasy sick feeling in your stomach cuz you felt on the spot in a bad way?
That was this morning in church.
In front of everyone.
With my husband laughing.
When she left I could laugh too.
None of the kids got what we were laughing at and hate that Dave and I have our little private jokes.
Not that this is all out...
Nothing else can floor me at church now. I hope.
I can now naturally counter the "Oh, you're back. We thought we'd lost you." comments with a smile and a "Nope, we are still at the same address and phone number. Sorry we missed your call." without missing a beat.
We have an answering machine and call display.
There haven't been calls.
It sure ends the conversation quickly!
I hope that isn't mean. "The kids have grown so much!!" is another comment. Its been 2 months they haven't grown that much!!
I haven't noticed that any of the other kids in the church have changed so much so I'm assuming mine haven't either. They haven't changed hair colour or styles. Same wardrobes. Same faces. We still aren't ready for evening service. That used to be my fave. Testimony and sharing times are sweet fellowship times. This is where the 2 things I actually shared in the 2.5 years we were there were twisted completely around and thrown back in my face.
I am waiting for healing from the Lord from that one.
I don't usually share in public either. Its my private space issue. All those people hearing my private thoughts is intimidating.
Its much easier to just blog everything and then let half the world ... including complete strangers READ my private thoughts.
Yep, I'm not making sense anymore.
Blogging is done for the day.
G'night.
We went back to our church.
The pastor's message was great. He is in 2 Corinthians as opposed to our BRF 1 Corinthians.
The sermon was on chapter 2 dealing with forgiveness, repentance and restoration. How apropos. It was hard hitting but left us with what do we do if no repentance is offered. You can still forgive and not trust y'know. Forgiveness is what we are called to do. Trust without seeing repentance on the other side is just plain old stupid!! Yet, we can be nice at the same time.
To begin this little story with... I'm not a really touchy type of person. I like my space. If I give a hug its gotta mean that I am completely comfortable with someone and genuinely like and trust them. I very rarely have ever spontaneously hugged my mother. I will hug her because that is something she seems to need... but its not real natural. I don't hug men that aren't my husband... and hate it when men seem to think that touching someone else's wife IN ANY WAY... except a quick hand shake.... is appropriate. Dave had to speak to someone about that this winter. This other man hugs all the ladies and was shocked that I would find it offensive, but he was sensitive enough to know that I don't hate or even dislike him. It ended well.
I love to hug my children, on the other hand. Almost any child. Definitely my husband!!! The occasional friend on special occasions.... not many.
Therefore...
It nearly bowled me over when the woman who has been slandering us, whose husband told us royally off, who had us pretty near blacklisted, who caused all the problems for us in the church, who I most definitely do not trust and am NOT comfortable with... ran down from the choir and made a big show of giving me a hug during the handshake/welcome/family of God time.
Dave admits I looked as repulsed as I felt. It was like hugging a snake.... rephrase.. being hugged by a snake. I didn't hug her back.
This was not what I bargained for. Who hugs people they have seriously wronged?
This was not an apology.
Remember waaaay back in high school when some guy you weren't remotely interested in, but were nice to cuz you were nice to everyone (yeah..), asked you out and you got that queasy sick feeling in your stomach cuz you felt on the spot in a bad way?
That was this morning in church.
In front of everyone.
With my husband laughing.
When she left I could laugh too.
None of the kids got what we were laughing at and hate that Dave and I have our little private jokes.
Not that this is all out...
Nothing else can floor me at church now. I hope.
I can now naturally counter the "Oh, you're back. We thought we'd lost you." comments with a smile and a "Nope, we are still at the same address and phone number. Sorry we missed your call." without missing a beat.
We have an answering machine and call display.
There haven't been calls.
It sure ends the conversation quickly!
I hope that isn't mean. "The kids have grown so much!!" is another comment. Its been 2 months they haven't grown that much!!
I haven't noticed that any of the other kids in the church have changed so much so I'm assuming mine haven't either. They haven't changed hair colour or styles. Same wardrobes. Same faces. We still aren't ready for evening service. That used to be my fave. Testimony and sharing times are sweet fellowship times. This is where the 2 things I actually shared in the 2.5 years we were there were twisted completely around and thrown back in my face.
I am waiting for healing from the Lord from that one.
I don't usually share in public either. Its my private space issue. All those people hearing my private thoughts is intimidating.
Its much easier to just blog everything and then let half the world ... including complete strangers READ my private thoughts.
Yep, I'm not making sense anymore.
Blogging is done for the day.
G'night.
Friday, April 27, 2007
BRF -- 1 Corinthians 5-8
These are some tough chapters. Some of the issues here are heatedly disputed in the church and I have been called a legalist for going with some of it. I believe Paul is being extremely clear in these chapters of EXACTLY what he is speaking of. Those who say these are gray (or grey) areas are perhaps just looking to continue on with the status quo.
You can not act on 1 Cor 5-8 while still being tolerant of sin or politically correct. Its time to choose your side... or don't bother reading.
1 Corinthians 5:9-12 (New King James Version)
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?
We are to stay away from those who are sexually immoral and claim to be brothers. We aren't even to eat with them. (No pot lucks or home visits!!)
This is something "loving" Christians these days refuse to do. There is one "couple" at our church who are living together while waiting for each of their divorces to go through and then will get married and expect everyone to congratulate them... and people will!! They thought it would be wonderful to get to know Dave and I better and have invited us into their home for dinner. He is a Bible school/seminary graduate and happens to be familiar with this text. He is actually rather on the brilliant side. By getting us to eat with them we are also committing a sin. We declined the dinner invite. They are not upset as there are others who will go.
The general consensus to these type of situations is that in a few years everyone will forget that they had chosen this route and will just treat them as any other married couple in the church. In this case each of them has a daughter with the same name so there will always be questions from new people!!
The Bible says clearly... STAY AWAY!!!
We have no call to hold the world to our standard... that would be ridiculous!!! We need to be reaching out to those who are lost and in sexual sins.
We have every reason, even a mandate to recognize this in the brethren and expect them to wise up and be holy... not to make a mockery of God's holiness.... even if it isn't what the church people call "loving."
When you bring this up in your church.. and we must... and people say "We can't do anything. To not even eat with them is unloving." Tell them to take it up with God and His word... which is perfect and infallible!! What if some of these people are your best friends? Remember Jesus said He came not to bring peace but a sword. If we aren't willing to choose Him first, we show we hate Him and are friends of the world.
Also, those in sexual sins certainly know it and they KNOW there are always repercussions for the choices they make. We need to be wise enough to be able to judge these situations according to God's word.
In chapter 6 Paul is reminding us that we are going to be judging the world someday. We need to show discernment in judging now. Ch 6 vs 2b ".. are you not competent to judge trivial cases?" When Paul gives us an open and shut case for what we are to do, it should be a trivial matter to simply follow directions. Not even a lot of gray matter used here.
We also need to be able to judge disputes between the brethren. I love Ch 6 vs 5 probably because we have been looking for a wise person to help mediate the problems at the church and have come up pretty empty handed (though we may have found one this week, praise God!!)
"I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?"
Can we all hang down our heads and admit that this is true? Are we wise enough? By God's grace soon we will have a resounding "YES!!!" from some ladies who are taking God's word seriously! We need to be wise. Our men need to be wise, not just in their individual business worlds, but in the Word of God. We need men that can stand up and say "Enough!! This is wrong and this is why. You can't do this and claim to be a disciple of Christ!!"
Someone who actually gets vs 12 ""Everything is permissible for me" -- but not everything is beneficial."
I've heard people quote the everything is permissible for me phrase... how many of them know that Paul was quoting what the believers in Corinth were saying and HE wasn't saying it I'm not sure. Yes, we have freedom in Christ. Freedom from the law. Freedom for what we eat, etc...
God still has reasons for laying things out the way He did though and we really should pay attention. For instance, God forbade eating pigs. It is not absolutely permissible to eat pork in any form. This is definitely NOT a sin. However, it is really hard on your body. We don't eat pork because it literally makes us ill. Ever tried the pouring coke on the pork roast and see what happens?? Little worms will make their way out!!
I guess we do eat some pig. We do enjoy ham.
Just not pork roast, loin or chops.
Definitely not chops.
How bout the shellfish thing? Another no-no according to the OT law. Those creeping things that creep on the bottom of the sea (lobster, crab, etc..) feed on dead flesh. Yep, if another creature dies, they are the vultures of the sea. Remember the Swiss Air flight that crashed off the coast of NS a few years back? That was also a bumper year for lobster. No joke. Dave still eats it, I am thankfully allergic and don't offend anyone at the dinner table by just sticking with the allergen thing. No one who just paid $30 for lobster in a restaurant wants to be told that they are eating sea vultures.
Moving on. (Thank goodness?)
Chapter 7
No one likes discussing this chapter with me... especially those who are in or have been in divorce proceedings. I simply don't care what their station in life is.. If I'm asked I state what I believe to be true.
Before Paul gets in to talking about marriage and when its ok to let your spouse go (very few reasons I might add) he gives this disclaimer.
Please read carefully.
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 (New King James Version)
10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.
The Lord is commanding us not to divorce, but even if it happens (the next few verses say when it can happen with no guilt) we are to remain unmarried.
vs 39 states the ONLY exception to this rule... death of the spouse.
This corresponds exactly to what Jesus says in Luke.
Luke 16:18 (New King James Version)
18 “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.
I've been waiting for someone preaching on remarriage/adultery to connect these 2 verses. No one has while I've been sitting in the pew... but here ya go folks...
It doesn't matter if you do the divorcing or are on the receiving end of the divorce. If you remarry, you commit adultery. That is where the sin part comes in. Some reasons for divorce can leave you completely in the clear as far as sin goes, why mess it up by committing adultery afterwards?? Another marriage while the first spouse is alive is called adultery. Jesus said it. Paul (though not using the word adultery) makes it clear this is not to happen.
Chapter 8 and the weaker brother and I'm done.
Once again ... how did this get so long??
Vs 9 "Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak."
The youth pastor who has no problem with having a beer on the patio of the pub along the waterfront on a hot summer day.
The couple who make wine in their basement.
The woman who wears what she considers warm weather necessities such as tube tops and backless halters.
Camping every weekend in the summer so you become a 3 season church attender.
Are these sins? Probably not. Can they become a stumbling block for another and cause some to fall? Absolutely yes.
Lets just not go there.
There are so many really great things to do with the freedom we have in Christ.... like...
Actually visiting people on the Sabbath.
Resting when you can instead of having a prescribed day for it.
Speaking to others of different backgrounds and being allowed to go into their houses.
Not kissing your fingers to a wooden box every time you walk in and out of your house!!
Talking to God face to face.
Reading God's word and discussing it with fellow believers.
Having God speak directly to us as we open His word.
Having the Holy Spirit guide us to a divine appt with a stranger that changes your life.
Meeting strangers and finding them friends.
Having forgiveness from our sin and starting every day fresh.. and sometimes every minute!
Why go out of our way to do something that can cause a brother to fall?
That's my BRF for tonight. BRF could also stand for BRIEF... Not on this blog!!
Now I can read all of yours.... YEAH!!
You can not act on 1 Cor 5-8 while still being tolerant of sin or politically correct. Its time to choose your side... or don't bother reading.
1 Corinthians 5:9-12 (New King James Version)
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?
We are to stay away from those who are sexually immoral and claim to be brothers. We aren't even to eat with them. (No pot lucks or home visits!!)
This is something "loving" Christians these days refuse to do. There is one "couple" at our church who are living together while waiting for each of their divorces to go through and then will get married and expect everyone to congratulate them... and people will!! They thought it would be wonderful to get to know Dave and I better and have invited us into their home for dinner. He is a Bible school/seminary graduate and happens to be familiar with this text. He is actually rather on the brilliant side. By getting us to eat with them we are also committing a sin. We declined the dinner invite. They are not upset as there are others who will go.
The general consensus to these type of situations is that in a few years everyone will forget that they had chosen this route and will just treat them as any other married couple in the church. In this case each of them has a daughter with the same name so there will always be questions from new people!!
The Bible says clearly... STAY AWAY!!!
We have no call to hold the world to our standard... that would be ridiculous!!! We need to be reaching out to those who are lost and in sexual sins.
We have every reason, even a mandate to recognize this in the brethren and expect them to wise up and be holy... not to make a mockery of God's holiness.... even if it isn't what the church people call "loving."
When you bring this up in your church.. and we must... and people say "We can't do anything. To not even eat with them is unloving." Tell them to take it up with God and His word... which is perfect and infallible!! What if some of these people are your best friends? Remember Jesus said He came not to bring peace but a sword. If we aren't willing to choose Him first, we show we hate Him and are friends of the world.
Also, those in sexual sins certainly know it and they KNOW there are always repercussions for the choices they make. We need to be wise enough to be able to judge these situations according to God's word.
In chapter 6 Paul is reminding us that we are going to be judging the world someday. We need to show discernment in judging now. Ch 6 vs 2b ".. are you not competent to judge trivial cases?" When Paul gives us an open and shut case for what we are to do, it should be a trivial matter to simply follow directions. Not even a lot of gray matter used here.
We also need to be able to judge disputes between the brethren. I love Ch 6 vs 5 probably because we have been looking for a wise person to help mediate the problems at the church and have come up pretty empty handed (though we may have found one this week, praise God!!)
"I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?"
Can we all hang down our heads and admit that this is true? Are we wise enough? By God's grace soon we will have a resounding "YES!!!" from some ladies who are taking God's word seriously! We need to be wise. Our men need to be wise, not just in their individual business worlds, but in the Word of God. We need men that can stand up and say "Enough!! This is wrong and this is why. You can't do this and claim to be a disciple of Christ!!"
Someone who actually gets vs 12 ""Everything is permissible for me" -- but not everything is beneficial."
I've heard people quote the everything is permissible for me phrase... how many of them know that Paul was quoting what the believers in Corinth were saying and HE wasn't saying it I'm not sure. Yes, we have freedom in Christ. Freedom from the law. Freedom for what we eat, etc...
God still has reasons for laying things out the way He did though and we really should pay attention. For instance, God forbade eating pigs. It is not absolutely permissible to eat pork in any form. This is definitely NOT a sin. However, it is really hard on your body. We don't eat pork because it literally makes us ill. Ever tried the pouring coke on the pork roast and see what happens?? Little worms will make their way out!!
I guess we do eat some pig. We do enjoy ham.
Just not pork roast, loin or chops.
Definitely not chops.
How bout the shellfish thing? Another no-no according to the OT law. Those creeping things that creep on the bottom of the sea (lobster, crab, etc..) feed on dead flesh. Yep, if another creature dies, they are the vultures of the sea. Remember the Swiss Air flight that crashed off the coast of NS a few years back? That was also a bumper year for lobster. No joke. Dave still eats it, I am thankfully allergic and don't offend anyone at the dinner table by just sticking with the allergen thing. No one who just paid $30 for lobster in a restaurant wants to be told that they are eating sea vultures.
Moving on. (Thank goodness?)
Chapter 7
No one likes discussing this chapter with me... especially those who are in or have been in divorce proceedings. I simply don't care what their station in life is.. If I'm asked I state what I believe to be true.
Before Paul gets in to talking about marriage and when its ok to let your spouse go (very few reasons I might add) he gives this disclaimer.
Please read carefully.
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 (New King James Version)
10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.
The Lord is commanding us not to divorce, but even if it happens (the next few verses say when it can happen with no guilt) we are to remain unmarried.
vs 39 states the ONLY exception to this rule... death of the spouse.
This corresponds exactly to what Jesus says in Luke.
Luke 16:18 (New King James Version)
18 “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.
I've been waiting for someone preaching on remarriage/adultery to connect these 2 verses. No one has while I've been sitting in the pew... but here ya go folks...
It doesn't matter if you do the divorcing or are on the receiving end of the divorce. If you remarry, you commit adultery. That is where the sin part comes in. Some reasons for divorce can leave you completely in the clear as far as sin goes, why mess it up by committing adultery afterwards?? Another marriage while the first spouse is alive is called adultery. Jesus said it. Paul (though not using the word adultery) makes it clear this is not to happen.
Chapter 8 and the weaker brother and I'm done.
Once again ... how did this get so long??
Vs 9 "Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak."
The youth pastor who has no problem with having a beer on the patio of the pub along the waterfront on a hot summer day.
The couple who make wine in their basement.
The woman who wears what she considers warm weather necessities such as tube tops and backless halters.
Camping every weekend in the summer so you become a 3 season church attender.
Are these sins? Probably not. Can they become a stumbling block for another and cause some to fall? Absolutely yes.
Lets just not go there.
There are so many really great things to do with the freedom we have in Christ.... like...
Actually visiting people on the Sabbath.
Resting when you can instead of having a prescribed day for it.
Speaking to others of different backgrounds and being allowed to go into their houses.
Not kissing your fingers to a wooden box every time you walk in and out of your house!!
Talking to God face to face.
Reading God's word and discussing it with fellow believers.
Having God speak directly to us as we open His word.
Having the Holy Spirit guide us to a divine appt with a stranger that changes your life.
Meeting strangers and finding them friends.
Having forgiveness from our sin and starting every day fresh.. and sometimes every minute!
Why go out of our way to do something that can cause a brother to fall?
That's my BRF for tonight. BRF could also stand for BRIEF... Not on this blog!!
Now I can read all of yours.... YEAH!!
Ultimate Homeschool Conf
I am a new member of the Ultimate homeschool Conference and I'm lovin' it!!
For $25 American I can actually listen to many, many sessions on my own free time, read amazing articles, learn about new ways of teaching, get AMAZING free ebooks and treasures (even a lapbooking unit study on sled dogs the kids will love as they had their first sled dog ride ... mushing experience this winter) and lots more. There is still time to sign up if you are interested at Ultimate Homeschool Expo Ticket.
The $25 is if you sign up with a friend. Otherwise its $35. The site will be up indefinitely so you can have encouragement all year round.
I also found this article. I'd love to know what everyone thought of it.
Its a little long and a lot controversial and might just shake up one of our biggest "Traditions of man" beliefs that we have. Hope you are interested enough to take a look.
My BRF is gonna go on late when the kids are in bed.
I know I didn't BRF last week, I did read ch 1-4 several times though... more than I read the 5-8 that I will be posting on.. go figure!!
For $25 American I can actually listen to many, many sessions on my own free time, read amazing articles, learn about new ways of teaching, get AMAZING free ebooks and treasures (even a lapbooking unit study on sled dogs the kids will love as they had their first sled dog ride ... mushing experience this winter) and lots more. There is still time to sign up if you are interested at Ultimate Homeschool Expo Ticket.
The $25 is if you sign up with a friend. Otherwise its $35. The site will be up indefinitely so you can have encouragement all year round.
I also found this article. I'd love to know what everyone thought of it.
Its a little long and a lot controversial and might just shake up one of our biggest "Traditions of man" beliefs that we have. Hope you are interested enough to take a look.
My BRF is gonna go on late when the kids are in bed.
I know I didn't BRF last week, I did read ch 1-4 several times though... more than I read the 5-8 that I will be posting on.. go figure!!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
home again, home again, jiggety jig
Well, I'm back from the big city!!
Cities I should say... lots of buildings, more cars, parking garages that never end...
Ok, how many people when they travel actually get to have a really good tour of a parking garage?? Not many.
Ang not only showed me around the parking garage but showed me how to play a GREAT game of Scavenger Hunt meets the Amazing Race.
We got a clue... a partial clue... and a panic button for the car and off we went to discover... we can't read a ticket for the garage which apparently tells you where to go and Ang is as blind as a bat regarding the huge cement posts in the parking garage. But that's ok, cuz we got to play this neat new game and she did, after all, carry the big suitcase!!
Aunt Anne, Angela and I had the most amazing time at the Kay Arthur conf. It was so far beyond anything I've ever been to. I don't know enough Bible. Simple as that. I have some new precept studies for me, the kids... oh and a few for Dave. We can get more later.
Thanks to A. Anne for the complete works of John McArthur in a box... Logos for the computer which also has a complete pastoral reference library.
Dave is gonna be cookin' smart!!!
We will be switching our reading programs to precepts studies beginning almost immediately. I need to order a few more things. They have an amazing kids line already and they are, of course, pumping out more studies faster than you can blink.
They have 4 studies to do the book of Genesis, 3 on the book of John, a couple on Revelation.. more to come there.. Jonah, James, Who is God?, How to Study the Bible for kids, on and on...
As a homeschooling Mom I have the rare privilege of having my kids study well what is important. Some of the precept upon precept studies are of post university quality. In those studies the book of Rev. takes over 2 years to complete. This is an exhaustive study!!
Of course most of them won't take that long.
You can also get studies that are 20 min per day and then some that are 40 min a week... one lesson with no homework that are wonderful for Sunday School classes.
http://www.preceptministries.ca/
This is the link to find out more info.
I'm not making so much as a penny for this blurb!!! I think its important.
Time is short. We need to prioritize.
Other than that. I ate too much this weekend. Lots too much!! Way to many desserts and that's ok!! I'm home now... except Dave was getting food for the weekend. Way to many unhealthy snacks at my home right now. I'm gonna weigh a ton when I have this kid.
Gwen and Luke are doing great. We are going up for a birthday party this weekend and I will get to meet the little(?) guy!! I'm wondering if he's getting enough attention... first boy... 4 older sisters.... maybe!
Hopefully Gwen gets her turn to see the wee man!!
Dave has toddled off to bed...
I must go too.
Cities I should say... lots of buildings, more cars, parking garages that never end...
Ok, how many people when they travel actually get to have a really good tour of a parking garage?? Not many.
Ang not only showed me around the parking garage but showed me how to play a GREAT game of Scavenger Hunt meets the Amazing Race.
We got a clue... a partial clue... and a panic button for the car and off we went to discover... we can't read a ticket for the garage which apparently tells you where to go and Ang is as blind as a bat regarding the huge cement posts in the parking garage. But that's ok, cuz we got to play this neat new game and she did, after all, carry the big suitcase!!
Aunt Anne, Angela and I had the most amazing time at the Kay Arthur conf. It was so far beyond anything I've ever been to. I don't know enough Bible. Simple as that. I have some new precept studies for me, the kids... oh and a few for Dave. We can get more later.
Thanks to A. Anne for the complete works of John McArthur in a box... Logos for the computer which also has a complete pastoral reference library.
Dave is gonna be cookin' smart!!!
We will be switching our reading programs to precepts studies beginning almost immediately. I need to order a few more things. They have an amazing kids line already and they are, of course, pumping out more studies faster than you can blink.
They have 4 studies to do the book of Genesis, 3 on the book of John, a couple on Revelation.. more to come there.. Jonah, James, Who is God?, How to Study the Bible for kids, on and on...
As a homeschooling Mom I have the rare privilege of having my kids study well what is important. Some of the precept upon precept studies are of post university quality. In those studies the book of Rev. takes over 2 years to complete. This is an exhaustive study!!
Of course most of them won't take that long.
You can also get studies that are 20 min per day and then some that are 40 min a week... one lesson with no homework that are wonderful for Sunday School classes.
http://www.preceptministries.ca/
This is the link to find out more info.
I'm not making so much as a penny for this blurb!!! I think its important.
Time is short. We need to prioritize.
Other than that. I ate too much this weekend. Lots too much!! Way to many desserts and that's ok!! I'm home now... except Dave was getting food for the weekend. Way to many unhealthy snacks at my home right now. I'm gonna weigh a ton when I have this kid.
Gwen and Luke are doing great. We are going up for a birthday party this weekend and I will get to meet the little(?) guy!! I'm wondering if he's getting enough attention... first boy... 4 older sisters.... maybe!
Hopefully Gwen gets her turn to see the wee man!!
Dave has toddled off to bed...
I must go too.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
BRF Jonah and Kay Arthur
All I have to say about Jonah is that it really bothered me.
After Jonah did the rebellion thing and the near drowning thing he was miraculously saved AND KNEW IT. Then he did his little messenger thing and threw a sulk fit that was worthy of any middle schooler. No offense kids, you can't help puberty!
Was Jonah 12?
Did he really through a snit fit at God?
God really can use anyone!!
However, we just finished up the most wonderfully awesome precept study conference weekend with Kay Arthur where we studied Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation, Hosea, Isaiah and Zachariah. I can not describe to you how incredibly real those sessions were and how the Bible came alive.
I purchased some of the precept studies and will be praying for an opportunity to share the word with more people.
It was amazing the people that I met, the divine appointments God had in store for me and some of the wonderful women that facilitated the appts and encouraged me. I do NOT believe in coincidences... one woman met me who upon finding out I was from NB absolutely had to have me meet a woman she just met from Halifax, who just happened to be sitting in the same pew as me in this ginormous church, who also happened to be staying with friends in Guelph, who also just happened to be going through a horrific time at her church even though she and her husband are standing firmly on God's word, who just happened to know the new pastor at the church that has really hurt us this winter and could offer the most amazing encouragement to me and could also give a good character reference to Pastor Chris and Sandy about us.
Do you think this is a coincidence??
We met in Brampton where neither of us had even stopped in before.
This appt was definitely set up by God.
If anyone EVER has a chance to go to a Kay Arthur or precept seminar GO!!!
Do not hesitate.
If anyone is looking to get to know the Bible better, get yourself a good precept Bible study. They have them on about every book of the Bible in weekly SSchool type studies, Inductive 15 min per day studies, and lets get down and dirty into the word with our sleeves rolled up precept upon precept study.
The time we have is short.
We need to prioritize.
As Kay said, "Instead of fighting the war we are in we tend to stay home and weave daisy chains."
This woman is 73 years old and gives everything of herself to see that as many people as she can in countries all over the world learn the gospel of Jesus Christ.
She has written about 100 Bible studies and books, learned the Bible like no one else I've ever seen, constantly travels around encouraging others to study and share, gives her best to the people at the conferences (she spoke for a total of 7 hours today... at 73!) and more.
What are we doing for the Lord?
Where is our energy going?
What are we teaching our children?
As homeschooling moms is the Bible our primary focus?
Is the study of God's Word more important than Math, science, history??
Why are we buying readers and other books to learn reading from when we can teach them with God's word?
If the knowledge of God's word is the most important subject they can learn, do we show that with the amount of time we spend in the word daily with our children?
They have treasure seeking kids Bible studies for kids. They are amazing!!
They will also be what my kids will be doing for reading from now on. There are so many studies we will not run out.
My kids need to be ready for service.
So do I!
Watch out world... here we come!!!
After Jonah did the rebellion thing and the near drowning thing he was miraculously saved AND KNEW IT. Then he did his little messenger thing and threw a sulk fit that was worthy of any middle schooler. No offense kids, you can't help puberty!
Was Jonah 12?
Did he really through a snit fit at God?
God really can use anyone!!
However, we just finished up the most wonderfully awesome precept study conference weekend with Kay Arthur where we studied Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation, Hosea, Isaiah and Zachariah. I can not describe to you how incredibly real those sessions were and how the Bible came alive.
I purchased some of the precept studies and will be praying for an opportunity to share the word with more people.
It was amazing the people that I met, the divine appointments God had in store for me and some of the wonderful women that facilitated the appts and encouraged me. I do NOT believe in coincidences... one woman met me who upon finding out I was from NB absolutely had to have me meet a woman she just met from Halifax, who just happened to be sitting in the same pew as me in this ginormous church, who also happened to be staying with friends in Guelph, who also just happened to be going through a horrific time at her church even though she and her husband are standing firmly on God's word, who just happened to know the new pastor at the church that has really hurt us this winter and could offer the most amazing encouragement to me and could also give a good character reference to Pastor Chris and Sandy about us.
Do you think this is a coincidence??
We met in Brampton where neither of us had even stopped in before.
This appt was definitely set up by God.
If anyone EVER has a chance to go to a Kay Arthur or precept seminar GO!!!
Do not hesitate.
If anyone is looking to get to know the Bible better, get yourself a good precept Bible study. They have them on about every book of the Bible in weekly SSchool type studies, Inductive 15 min per day studies, and lets get down and dirty into the word with our sleeves rolled up precept upon precept study.
The time we have is short.
We need to prioritize.
As Kay said, "Instead of fighting the war we are in we tend to stay home and weave daisy chains."
This woman is 73 years old and gives everything of herself to see that as many people as she can in countries all over the world learn the gospel of Jesus Christ.
She has written about 100 Bible studies and books, learned the Bible like no one else I've ever seen, constantly travels around encouraging others to study and share, gives her best to the people at the conferences (she spoke for a total of 7 hours today... at 73!) and more.
What are we doing for the Lord?
Where is our energy going?
What are we teaching our children?
As homeschooling moms is the Bible our primary focus?
Is the study of God's Word more important than Math, science, history??
Why are we buying readers and other books to learn reading from when we can teach them with God's word?
If the knowledge of God's word is the most important subject they can learn, do we show that with the amount of time we spend in the word daily with our children?
They have treasure seeking kids Bible studies for kids. They are amazing!!
They will also be what my kids will be doing for reading from now on. There are so many studies we will not run out.
My kids need to be ready for service.
So do I!
Watch out world... here we come!!!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Welcome Baby Luke
Welcome to the world Baby Luke McQuarrie.
Luke Gordon was born today at 1:29 pm.
He is already half grown at an amazing 11 1bs 12.5 oz.
Can we say OUCH!!
Gwen and Luke are doing fine.
I can't wait to meet him!!!!
Make that he was born yesterday April 11th as I see it is past midnight!
Luke Gordon was born today at 1:29 pm.
He is already half grown at an amazing 11 1bs 12.5 oz.
Can we say OUCH!!
Gwen and Luke are doing fine.
I can't wait to meet him!!!!
Make that he was born yesterday April 11th as I see it is past midnight!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Don't even feel you need to read this... its really nothing!
3 more days until takeoff!!!!
Caitlyn and I just folded an enormous pile of laundry which everyone helped put away.
One load in the dryer, one in the washer and we are caught up until at least suppertime!!
Caitlyn is making lunch... she's sure I'm never gonna get to it.. it is 2:00 after all.
I think the kids will all be going outside after lunch.
Except for the ones that are going down down for a nap.
Courtney is sweeping.
Justin is sleeping.
Jack is happy squawking.
Lunch is ready.
This has been a productive day.. so far.
I'm even having time to blog about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!
Caitlyn and I just folded an enormous pile of laundry which everyone helped put away.
One load in the dryer, one in the washer and we are caught up until at least suppertime!!
Caitlyn is making lunch... she's sure I'm never gonna get to it.. it is 2:00 after all.
I think the kids will all be going outside after lunch.
Except for the ones that are going down down for a nap.
Courtney is sweeping.
Justin is sleeping.
Jack is happy squawking.
Lunch is ready.
This has been a productive day.. so far.
I'm even having time to blog about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Not yer typical Easter Sunday Morning
I really have to blog this Easter Sunday morning... when I should be in church... and am NOT!
You see, my boys have this tendency to dig big holes. I do not like this tendency at all. They are worse than the dog.
They dug a big hole in the driveway. I told them in no uncertain terms (insert yelling like a maniac) that this was dangerous and not in the least acceptable and they were to fill it in immediately.
They filled all right... with water.
This iced over and then snowed over and it appeared that the hole was taken care of.
Not.
Dave had taken the boys and Courtney to church in the car and I was going to follow a little bit later with the 2 girls that need to look perfect before they leave the house. I must admit they did look pretty good!!
We backed up the van and as I was about to go forwards the ice under the front wheel broke and down we went into the hole. That hole is pretty deep. The van is sitting on this sick little tilt and Caitlyn, Molly, Justin and I are not going to go anywhere!!
Molly and I have had our cry. She loves church. Easter morning happens to be my favourite service and we were not happy campers.
So we suck it up and decide to make our table beautiful and put together the most wonderful roast beef dinner that we can get up.
We even have Velveeta cheese to make sauce for the veggies... and new potatoes...
I wish church were closer so Dave could have come back to get us, but its 1/2 hour away and the service would be over before we got there.
I guess I should get the veggies prepared.
Happy, happy day!!
You see, my boys have this tendency to dig big holes. I do not like this tendency at all. They are worse than the dog.
They dug a big hole in the driveway. I told them in no uncertain terms (insert yelling like a maniac) that this was dangerous and not in the least acceptable and they were to fill it in immediately.
They filled all right... with water.
This iced over and then snowed over and it appeared that the hole was taken care of.
Not.
Dave had taken the boys and Courtney to church in the car and I was going to follow a little bit later with the 2 girls that need to look perfect before they leave the house. I must admit they did look pretty good!!
We backed up the van and as I was about to go forwards the ice under the front wheel broke and down we went into the hole. That hole is pretty deep. The van is sitting on this sick little tilt and Caitlyn, Molly, Justin and I are not going to go anywhere!!
Molly and I have had our cry. She loves church. Easter morning happens to be my favourite service and we were not happy campers.
So we suck it up and decide to make our table beautiful and put together the most wonderful roast beef dinner that we can get up.
We even have Velveeta cheese to make sauce for the veggies... and new potatoes...
I wish church were closer so Dave could have come back to get us, but its 1/2 hour away and the service would be over before we got there.
I guess I should get the veggies prepared.
Happy, happy day!!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
BRF -- Galatians
Nothing too earth shattering this week.
I really enjoyed Galatians.
I love the way Paul doesn't beat around the bush... he jumps right into why he's writing this letter.
Greetings, blah, blah, blah... vs 6 "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- (7) which is really no gospel at all."
Hi guys WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU THINKING?
vs 10 really sums up how Paul is. "Am I trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
I don't think anyone would accuse me to be a pleaser of men. I have plenty of problems, but I really could care less what anyone thinks of me. But I'm not so bold as Paul. He stood up to the core of Jesus' disciples, now the apostles. I love when he says that Peter was clearly in the wrong so he rebuked him in front of everyone. If you sin in front of everyone I guess being rebuked in front of all of them is fair. I just don't think I would ever do that!
The prophets of old rebuked in front of audiences.
Remember Nathan rebuking David about the Bathsheba/adultery/murder/cover up thing?
Maybe its loving to confront someone openly knowing they have 2 choices... hate you for life or repent publicly. Ouch.
Its so hard to not get caught up in the law. Freedom in Christ is a wonderful thing. Having the heart of Christ is a wonderful thing. Knowing the law helps to understand the holiness of God. The balance is being Christlike in His holiness and still free from the law. That is, for me anyway, a tough call sometimes.
I don't want to be burdened by a yoke of slavery, but what all is the law?
What are we free from? What about tithing? Is that part of the law? Is that still required today or is that the church trying to finance itself. If you are part of a home church do you still tithe? and to who? Is giving the way we are to go now? Does percentage matter? or does whatever we can give matter? Jesus said the woman with the 2 mites gave more than the Pharisees with their tithes. Did she give a tithe or what she had left from her meager store after she paid her rent and bought the groceries? Is all that she had everything until her next "paycheck" or all that she was ever going to have forever?
Sometimes all that I have is literally dumping out the change from my purse knowing that is it until the next pay... and it hasn't been a tithe. Thankfully we have had pay raises since. Where exactly is the freedom here?
Is it more important to give our tithe to the church for the newest gadgets they will be purchasing or to get christian curriculum for our kids to teach them at home? Does giving to registered charity make it a tithe and giving to an unregistered charity such as our homeschool make it not part of giving to the Lord.
Where does freedom come in and following the law go out?
I know that finances are not exactly what Paul is going with here, but this is the area of freedom vs the law that we keep struggling with. Everything we have is God's. We have a home to raise the children He gave us to raise, to offer hospitality to others in and to learn His word in. Our van is to not only schlepp our family around in, but to visit others and maybe even schlepp them around in. Everything we have is to be used for whatever purpose God has given them to us for. Most of all is to take care of and train our children to be warriors for His kingdom.
These are our busy at home with small children years which may not seem as productive as our get out and minister actively in the community years were (and will be again), but no less important. This is also the time when we have less money for tithing as the kids, bless their hearts, require a lot of upkeep!!
Freedom... law... freedom... law...
As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
This is the heart of the book. Chuck the law. Stop picking on the other believers... just do good to them... even the ones that are nasty to us.
Oh boy. That opens a new can of worms. What about those who have spent a good deal of the past year slandering us? What about the ones that have believed the slander and told us off and ignored us? How on earth do we do good to them?
Jumpins!! Wish I hadn't had that thought! Now I may have to go waaay outside my comfort zone and start actively loving some "enemies" that I don't even like.
I'm going to need some prayer for this one girls.
Did anyone notice this Bible just keeps getting sharper and sharper??
I really don't want to change... but how can I grow closer to the Lord and not change?
Ideas... anyone?
Did I say nothing too earth shattering this week? I feel like my world is about to be turned upside down.
I really enjoyed Galatians.
I love the way Paul doesn't beat around the bush... he jumps right into why he's writing this letter.
Greetings, blah, blah, blah... vs 6 "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- (7) which is really no gospel at all."
Hi guys WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU THINKING?
vs 10 really sums up how Paul is. "Am I trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
I don't think anyone would accuse me to be a pleaser of men. I have plenty of problems, but I really could care less what anyone thinks of me. But I'm not so bold as Paul. He stood up to the core of Jesus' disciples, now the apostles. I love when he says that Peter was clearly in the wrong so he rebuked him in front of everyone. If you sin in front of everyone I guess being rebuked in front of all of them is fair. I just don't think I would ever do that!
The prophets of old rebuked in front of audiences.
Remember Nathan rebuking David about the Bathsheba/adultery/murder/cover up thing?
Maybe its loving to confront someone openly knowing they have 2 choices... hate you for life or repent publicly. Ouch.
Its so hard to not get caught up in the law. Freedom in Christ is a wonderful thing. Having the heart of Christ is a wonderful thing. Knowing the law helps to understand the holiness of God. The balance is being Christlike in His holiness and still free from the law. That is, for me anyway, a tough call sometimes.
I don't want to be burdened by a yoke of slavery, but what all is the law?
What are we free from? What about tithing? Is that part of the law? Is that still required today or is that the church trying to finance itself. If you are part of a home church do you still tithe? and to who? Is giving the way we are to go now? Does percentage matter? or does whatever we can give matter? Jesus said the woman with the 2 mites gave more than the Pharisees with their tithes. Did she give a tithe or what she had left from her meager store after she paid her rent and bought the groceries? Is all that she had everything until her next "paycheck" or all that she was ever going to have forever?
Sometimes all that I have is literally dumping out the change from my purse knowing that is it until the next pay... and it hasn't been a tithe. Thankfully we have had pay raises since. Where exactly is the freedom here?
Is it more important to give our tithe to the church for the newest gadgets they will be purchasing or to get christian curriculum for our kids to teach them at home? Does giving to registered charity make it a tithe and giving to an unregistered charity such as our homeschool make it not part of giving to the Lord.
Where does freedom come in and following the law go out?
I know that finances are not exactly what Paul is going with here, but this is the area of freedom vs the law that we keep struggling with. Everything we have is God's. We have a home to raise the children He gave us to raise, to offer hospitality to others in and to learn His word in. Our van is to not only schlepp our family around in, but to visit others and maybe even schlepp them around in. Everything we have is to be used for whatever purpose God has given them to us for. Most of all is to take care of and train our children to be warriors for His kingdom.
These are our busy at home with small children years which may not seem as productive as our get out and minister actively in the community years were (and will be again), but no less important. This is also the time when we have less money for tithing as the kids, bless their hearts, require a lot of upkeep!!
Freedom... law... freedom... law...
As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
This is the heart of the book. Chuck the law. Stop picking on the other believers... just do good to them... even the ones that are nasty to us.
Oh boy. That opens a new can of worms. What about those who have spent a good deal of the past year slandering us? What about the ones that have believed the slander and told us off and ignored us? How on earth do we do good to them?
Jumpins!! Wish I hadn't had that thought! Now I may have to go waaay outside my comfort zone and start actively loving some "enemies" that I don't even like.
I'm going to need some prayer for this one girls.
Did anyone notice this Bible just keeps getting sharper and sharper??
I really don't want to change... but how can I grow closer to the Lord and not change?
Ideas... anyone?
Did I say nothing too earth shattering this week? I feel like my world is about to be turned upside down.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Just another Monday
Today we watched Dave sail into the bright gray yonder...
He's off to Chicago!!!
Thankfully the rain and snow held off until after the flight took off.
We were able to stay outside and wave as the plane took off and became a tiny speck in the sky.
Then, off to Wendy's for a drive through dinner and then to AWANA.
Last week Molly told her cubbies leaders that Mommy is having a baby and SHE is going to be the Mommy when its born.
The secret is out.
I am a surrogate mom for my 4 year old daughter.
She is "practising" with her dolls to feed it.
Yeah.
We have some interesting kids.
Everyone went to bed well tonight.
Even Justin only cried for a minute.
They all are hyped about our cleaning day tomorrow.
Whats up with that?
Matt has us on a schedule that he found in his reading book that has him sleeping for 9 hours, doing chores for 5 1/2 hours, eating for 2 hours, exercise for 2 hours, hunting relics for 2 hours, hunting and fishing... etc...
He's taking the hunting and fishing hours as free time.
Reading for 1 1/2 hours... that would be school work. If it goes over the 90 min he will take it from the choring hours.
He believes we all need to be up at 6am to take up our new lifestyle.
Oh yes, devotions after breakfast for 1/2 hour... "Do we have a bell? It would make it easier?"
Yesterday he grumbled about helping clean up for 15 min and he is now wondering how he can fill 5 1/2 hours with chores?? Think of the spit spot house I would have... inside and out.... if everyone did 5 1/2 hours of chores cheerfully every day.
Ok... I'll see how tomorrow goes. Even a few days of this could make a big difference!
I'd best get to bed and set the alarm for 7:30 am.
I refuse to get out of bed at 6am for no good reason.
Not only that..
Dave is calling me when he gets to his room tonight... er tomorrow morning between 1 and 2 am!! Hopefully I will answer the phone before it wakes all the kids!
g'night!
He's off to Chicago!!!
Thankfully the rain and snow held off until after the flight took off.
We were able to stay outside and wave as the plane took off and became a tiny speck in the sky.
Then, off to Wendy's for a drive through dinner and then to AWANA.
Last week Molly told her cubbies leaders that Mommy is having a baby and SHE is going to be the Mommy when its born.
The secret is out.
I am a surrogate mom for my 4 year old daughter.
She is "practising" with her dolls to feed it.
Yeah.
We have some interesting kids.
Everyone went to bed well tonight.
Even Justin only cried for a minute.
They all are hyped about our cleaning day tomorrow.
Whats up with that?
Matt has us on a schedule that he found in his reading book that has him sleeping for 9 hours, doing chores for 5 1/2 hours, eating for 2 hours, exercise for 2 hours, hunting relics for 2 hours, hunting and fishing... etc...
He's taking the hunting and fishing hours as free time.
Reading for 1 1/2 hours... that would be school work. If it goes over the 90 min he will take it from the choring hours.
He believes we all need to be up at 6am to take up our new lifestyle.
Oh yes, devotions after breakfast for 1/2 hour... "Do we have a bell? It would make it easier?"
Yesterday he grumbled about helping clean up for 15 min and he is now wondering how he can fill 5 1/2 hours with chores?? Think of the spit spot house I would have... inside and out.... if everyone did 5 1/2 hours of chores cheerfully every day.
Ok... I'll see how tomorrow goes. Even a few days of this could make a big difference!
I'd best get to bed and set the alarm for 7:30 am.
I refuse to get out of bed at 6am for no good reason.
Not only that..
Dave is calling me when he gets to his room tonight... er tomorrow morning between 1 and 2 am!! Hopefully I will answer the phone before it wakes all the kids!
g'night!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
BRF -- Joel
Joel is an interesting book, full of flavour and imagery. Its also a little scary and really exciting. It made me want to be Jewish and terrified to make the same mistakes the people of Israel made. It is both terrifying and wonderfully amazing to see how God has the control of the nations in His hands.
How often do I forget? How often do I just not see that God is in control? I go about life. I may even be praying that I will be obedient to the Lord and to be doing everything to His glory... but do I see Him at all? Do I see that he holds the nations in check, raises up and causes leaders to fall, blesses whom He will and punishes those who He loves and complacently ignore Him?
Nope. I alternate between "loving" Him by studying His word and praying and doing my best to live for Him, making "good" decisions and thinking I'm ok and... messing up... complaining, losing my cool... all of it, good and bad with not a true view of who God is.
There is no way to know all of who God is.
He is infinitely beyond the capabilities of my reasoning.
He is in charge of everything and everyone.... everyone on this planet... and those in the spiritual realm as well.
These Israelites forgot about God.
They were just like me, going about their daily business, doing the right things outwardly maybe, but not quite touching their hearts.
Ch 2 vs 13 says "Rend your hearts, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. (14) Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him -- a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God."
Lets take some time and interrupt our everyday lives.
Lets take some time and remember who God is.
Lets take some time to rend our hearts for our complacency towards our God.
Lets take some time to rejoice in the Lord our God.
Look who He is!!!
Look what He has done!!
In His great love, He shook them from their complacency. In His love, He utterly removed them from everything they knew to remind them who He is. To bring them back to fellowship... real fellowship with Himself.
Then... at the end... the blessings on those of the house of Israel. The amazing blessings that are still to come to them. I am a graft on the vine of the house of Israel. Do I deserve the amazing blessing showered upon the land and the people of Israel in the last days? No. I am not in the family line.. but I am adopted into the family.
Reading the end of Joel makes me want to relocate to Israel. I want to be there when their enemies are miraculously turned back and destroyed because of what they have done to the chosen ones of God.
There are amazing things in store both for the children of Israel and the children of God.
We need to wake up and take notice that our little worlds are not the end all and be all of God's plan.
We need to remember who God is... vast, unchanging, righteous, true, loving, forgiving, full of mercy, holy.
We need to remember what God is not... tolerant of sin, ok with being 2nd or later in our lives, complacent, politically correct or asleep.
We need to be watching what is happening in the middle east right now... and be praying for our prime minister as he stands up for Israel regardless of what the pundits in Ottawa are saying. Yes, we need to be a little bit political and pray for our nation. Will our nation be strong if we turn our backs on the chosen ones of God? No.
God is also in control of our nation. It will rise and fall because of the people of God in our land. Will we humble ourselves and pray? Will we take our responsibility to pray for our leaders seriously? Will we ask forgiveness for the sins of our nation? Do we? Are we teaching our children to?
How often do I forget? How often do I just not see that God is in control? I go about life. I may even be praying that I will be obedient to the Lord and to be doing everything to His glory... but do I see Him at all? Do I see that he holds the nations in check, raises up and causes leaders to fall, blesses whom He will and punishes those who He loves and complacently ignore Him?
Nope. I alternate between "loving" Him by studying His word and praying and doing my best to live for Him, making "good" decisions and thinking I'm ok and... messing up... complaining, losing my cool... all of it, good and bad with not a true view of who God is.
There is no way to know all of who God is.
He is infinitely beyond the capabilities of my reasoning.
He is in charge of everything and everyone.... everyone on this planet... and those in the spiritual realm as well.
These Israelites forgot about God.
They were just like me, going about their daily business, doing the right things outwardly maybe, but not quite touching their hearts.
Ch 2 vs 13 says "Rend your hearts, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. (14) Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him -- a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God."
Lets take some time and interrupt our everyday lives.
Lets take some time and remember who God is.
Lets take some time to rend our hearts for our complacency towards our God.
Lets take some time to rejoice in the Lord our God.
Look who He is!!!
Look what He has done!!
In His great love, He shook them from their complacency. In His love, He utterly removed them from everything they knew to remind them who He is. To bring them back to fellowship... real fellowship with Himself.
Then... at the end... the blessings on those of the house of Israel. The amazing blessings that are still to come to them. I am a graft on the vine of the house of Israel. Do I deserve the amazing blessing showered upon the land and the people of Israel in the last days? No. I am not in the family line.. but I am adopted into the family.
Reading the end of Joel makes me want to relocate to Israel. I want to be there when their enemies are miraculously turned back and destroyed because of what they have done to the chosen ones of God.
There are amazing things in store both for the children of Israel and the children of God.
We need to wake up and take notice that our little worlds are not the end all and be all of God's plan.
We need to remember who God is... vast, unchanging, righteous, true, loving, forgiving, full of mercy, holy.
We need to remember what God is not... tolerant of sin, ok with being 2nd or later in our lives, complacent, politically correct or asleep.
We need to be watching what is happening in the middle east right now... and be praying for our prime minister as he stands up for Israel regardless of what the pundits in Ottawa are saying. Yes, we need to be a little bit political and pray for our nation. Will our nation be strong if we turn our backs on the chosen ones of God? No.
God is also in control of our nation. It will rise and fall because of the people of God in our land. Will we humble ourselves and pray? Will we take our responsibility to pray for our leaders seriously? Will we ask forgiveness for the sins of our nation? Do we? Are we teaching our children to?
How Can I Keep From Singing??
Last night and this afternoon we did the run of the thrift stores. I really needed some new (to me) maternity clothes. Caitlyn was once again getting to tall for her britches and we love to not worry about how much something costs. If we love it... we buy it. I'm not going to go on about all the deals we got... except for the perfect maternity jeans that were in my size which NEVER happens and the sweet little tote bag for the Kay Arthur conference in less than 2 weeks from now!!!
The really cool thing happened on the way home. We were listening to our local Christian Radio station and Chris Tomlin's "How can I keep from singing" comes on. Justin starts singing along... in tune... not with words, just humming and aaaahing. It was so beautiful! We all just were in awe of our little 15 month old singing praises to God.
He kept on going with the other songs that came on and loved his little concert.
Most of the other kids sang before 2 (except Jack and Connor who danced to music, but didn't start singing until they were 3), but this is early for our family.
I can't help but be glad he's on key... at least we know he is really "singing" what he hears.
I'd better get these kids bathed so I can post my BRF, a day late again!!
The really cool thing happened on the way home. We were listening to our local Christian Radio station and Chris Tomlin's "How can I keep from singing" comes on. Justin starts singing along... in tune... not with words, just humming and aaaahing. It was so beautiful! We all just were in awe of our little 15 month old singing praises to God.
He kept on going with the other songs that came on and loved his little concert.
Most of the other kids sang before 2 (except Jack and Connor who danced to music, but didn't start singing until they were 3), but this is early for our family.
I can't help but be glad he's on key... at least we know he is really "singing" what he hears.
I'd better get these kids bathed so I can post my BRF, a day late again!!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Facing the Giants
I'm not usually a person to recommend movies. Quite frankly there aren't many out there worth recommending; however, we saw "Facing the Giants" this weekend and I'm recommending it. Not only was it entertaining, funny and enjoyable for the whole family, it was also a Christian movie with a wonderful message... NOTHING is impossible with God.
I love asking Molly (4), "What is impossible for God?" She answers with, "Nothing, coach!"
Don't ya want your kids to see the movie now?
Amazing... I had 3 paragraphs here that just disappeared...
The part of the movie that hit home to me was the story of 2 men who prayed for rain. They were in a drought and needed the rain for their crops. One man prayed and one prayed and then prepared his crops for the rain. Who expected God to answer.
I have been praying, but expecting God to say no.
Mark 11:24 says "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
I need to pray believing and prepare for rain.
This is what I did Friday night.
I prayed for a blessing and changed my attitude to excited anticipation.
What would God do? How would he move? What would happen in the morning?
First of all, my husband thought I needed a break and didn't wake me up in the morning.
I didn't get up until 11:45 am. For those of you who can't sleep in, borrow my babies for a few nights. You'll be amazed at their nocturnal prowess and sleep when you can!!
That would have been enough.
I was rested enough to be productive and enjoy playing skip-bo with the kids.
Then I got a phone call from Aunt Anne. Aunt Anne and Cousin Angela asked me if I wanted to come visit and attend a Kay Arthur conference with them next month in Ontario. Of course I would love to, but its not possible for me financially to do that... but Kay Arthur!! Angela knows Kay Arthur is one of those women who has taught me much about how much Christ loves me and pushed me to know God better... through her wonderful Bible studies! As I'm declining I'm dreaming inside of how wonderful it would be to just be able to fly up to visit for a few days... then Aunt Anne is still talking ... "and I'd pay for your plane ticket and get you into the conference. Ang and I are going and we just think it would be so much fun if you were there too." After discussing it with Dave, he realized he had nothing pressing at the office and could his work from home for a few days and I'M GOING!!!!
I'm so excited. God chooses to bless when we prepare our fields for his blessing. I was preparing for His grace to sustain me when things were tough... and He marvelously sent His sustaining grace down. Now I'm ready for a blessing.
Jack, Molly and Justin are playing sweetly after a little veggie tales marathon here. They are singing the SUV silly song and the Busy, busy song from Flibber-o-loo and I'm seeing the blessing there too.
Molly what is impossible for God? "Nothing, coach!!"
She is now singing "Every step I take ... sha na na naaa na na"
Life is good!
I love asking Molly (4), "What is impossible for God?" She answers with, "Nothing, coach!"
Don't ya want your kids to see the movie now?
Amazing... I had 3 paragraphs here that just disappeared...
The part of the movie that hit home to me was the story of 2 men who prayed for rain. They were in a drought and needed the rain for their crops. One man prayed and one prayed and then prepared his crops for the rain. Who expected God to answer.
I have been praying, but expecting God to say no.
Mark 11:24 says "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
I need to pray believing and prepare for rain.
This is what I did Friday night.
I prayed for a blessing and changed my attitude to excited anticipation.
What would God do? How would he move? What would happen in the morning?
First of all, my husband thought I needed a break and didn't wake me up in the morning.
I didn't get up until 11:45 am. For those of you who can't sleep in, borrow my babies for a few nights. You'll be amazed at their nocturnal prowess and sleep when you can!!
That would have been enough.
I was rested enough to be productive and enjoy playing skip-bo with the kids.
Then I got a phone call from Aunt Anne. Aunt Anne and Cousin Angela asked me if I wanted to come visit and attend a Kay Arthur conference with them next month in Ontario. Of course I would love to, but its not possible for me financially to do that... but Kay Arthur!! Angela knows Kay Arthur is one of those women who has taught me much about how much Christ loves me and pushed me to know God better... through her wonderful Bible studies! As I'm declining I'm dreaming inside of how wonderful it would be to just be able to fly up to visit for a few days... then Aunt Anne is still talking ... "and I'd pay for your plane ticket and get you into the conference. Ang and I are going and we just think it would be so much fun if you were there too." After discussing it with Dave, he realized he had nothing pressing at the office and could his work from home for a few days and I'M GOING!!!!
I'm so excited. God chooses to bless when we prepare our fields for his blessing. I was preparing for His grace to sustain me when things were tough... and He marvelously sent His sustaining grace down. Now I'm ready for a blessing.
Jack, Molly and Justin are playing sweetly after a little veggie tales marathon here. They are singing the SUV silly song and the Busy, busy song from Flibber-o-loo and I'm seeing the blessing there too.
Molly what is impossible for God? "Nothing, coach!!"
She is now singing "Every step I take ... sha na na naaa na na"
Life is good!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
BRF -- Mark 9-12
Have you ever tried to tell someone something that is important to you and they just aren't listening? This happened to me about a week ago. The first time I was interrupted, I figured she just didn't hear me. Since what I had to say was important I tried again. Again she looked everywhere but at me and changed the subject. The 3rd time I was quite bold... "Hey, are you listening to me? I have something to say here. ...." Again, blown off. I wasn't really thrilled, but figured she'd figure this out on her own. Someone else could tell her, or not I didn't care anymore.
How do you think Jesus felt. He had something weighing heavily on his mind. I'm finding it brought up purposefully to his disciples 4 times and then put in a parable for everyone. What did the disciples just not get?? Jesus was going to die, and then rise from the dead.
If my friend said that to me I'd be asking some questions? Did I hear that right? What can I do for you? Why is this happening? How do you know? Lots of good questions.
What do Jesus friends do? The first time Peter takes Him aside and rebukes Him for it.
The second time they didn't understand what He meant and were afraid to ask Him about it. Maybe because Jesus yelled at Peter the time before!! Maybe they didn't care enough.
Right after He told them the 3rd time, James and John asked Jesus for a favor they had no right to ask for. "Yeah, yeah, you're gonna' die. We get it. Can we sit beside you in Heaven?" These disciples are classy guys. Are they even listening??
Again He tries to tell them... Can you drink the cup I drink?? .... Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Are they cluing in yet that He's going to die?
I think the teachers of the law and the elders got it in chapter 12. Jesus gives a parable of the tenants and how the tenants killed off all of the vineyard owners servants and then even killed his son. They knew Jesus spoke the parable against them. They knew they were plotting to kill him even then.
I know there was a lot in these 4 chapters to talk about. There is giving all we have whether its a lot or a pittance to follow Christ. There is the loving God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and loving your neighbor as yourself. The importance of paying taxes and recognizing the authority of the government. How God hates divorce and remarriage after divorce is adultery. How Jesus loves children and we had better watch to make sure we aren't causing any to stumble (a message for mom's as we have what it takes to crush or encourage our children's spirits). Not to mention squabbling over who is better than who and what Jesus thinks of that.
I was mostly impressed though on our denseness as followers of Christ. Not to be mean, but do we pay attention enough to the words of our Lord? Is His message resonating within us or do we brush it off, argue with Christ, nod and agree without having a clue what He really is saying or just rush through what He says (Bible reading) so we can say what we have to say (prayer).
I have to say most of the time I'm like the disciples. I rush through my reading and then feel I can say what I have to say without even cluing in that this is GOD talking to me. Instead of listening to His voice properly I'm waiting for the lull in the conversation so I can put in my 2 cents worth. I'm an idiot. Look at all the valuable learning time I have callously tossed away.
It took a good friend (usually) being a rather poor friend (one day) and not paying one bit of attention to what I had to say at all to help me see me in this passage. I'm not one bit happy with myself.
I love the verse "Be still and know that I am God"
Maybe because I have a hard time being still this verse has seemed so beautiful and other worldly. I need to be still more. I think for awhile its OK to even pray less fervently and just listen. He knows my heart and needs. I don't mean quit praying altogether ... like I could if I tried!! Just relax and let His words sink in. Reading the same passage over and over is helping though.
On to chapters 13-16!!
How do you think Jesus felt. He had something weighing heavily on his mind. I'm finding it brought up purposefully to his disciples 4 times and then put in a parable for everyone. What did the disciples just not get?? Jesus was going to die, and then rise from the dead.
If my friend said that to me I'd be asking some questions? Did I hear that right? What can I do for you? Why is this happening? How do you know? Lots of good questions.
What do Jesus friends do? The first time Peter takes Him aside and rebukes Him for it.
The second time they didn't understand what He meant and were afraid to ask Him about it. Maybe because Jesus yelled at Peter the time before!! Maybe they didn't care enough.
Right after He told them the 3rd time, James and John asked Jesus for a favor they had no right to ask for. "Yeah, yeah, you're gonna' die. We get it. Can we sit beside you in Heaven?" These disciples are classy guys. Are they even listening??
Again He tries to tell them... Can you drink the cup I drink?? .... Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Are they cluing in yet that He's going to die?
I think the teachers of the law and the elders got it in chapter 12. Jesus gives a parable of the tenants and how the tenants killed off all of the vineyard owners servants and then even killed his son. They knew Jesus spoke the parable against them. They knew they were plotting to kill him even then.
I know there was a lot in these 4 chapters to talk about. There is giving all we have whether its a lot or a pittance to follow Christ. There is the loving God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and loving your neighbor as yourself. The importance of paying taxes and recognizing the authority of the government. How God hates divorce and remarriage after divorce is adultery. How Jesus loves children and we had better watch to make sure we aren't causing any to stumble (a message for mom's as we have what it takes to crush or encourage our children's spirits). Not to mention squabbling over who is better than who and what Jesus thinks of that.
I was mostly impressed though on our denseness as followers of Christ. Not to be mean, but do we pay attention enough to the words of our Lord? Is His message resonating within us or do we brush it off, argue with Christ, nod and agree without having a clue what He really is saying or just rush through what He says (Bible reading) so we can say what we have to say (prayer).
I have to say most of the time I'm like the disciples. I rush through my reading and then feel I can say what I have to say without even cluing in that this is GOD talking to me. Instead of listening to His voice properly I'm waiting for the lull in the conversation so I can put in my 2 cents worth. I'm an idiot. Look at all the valuable learning time I have callously tossed away.
It took a good friend (usually) being a rather poor friend (one day) and not paying one bit of attention to what I had to say at all to help me see me in this passage. I'm not one bit happy with myself.
I love the verse "Be still and know that I am God"
Maybe because I have a hard time being still this verse has seemed so beautiful and other worldly. I need to be still more. I think for awhile its OK to even pray less fervently and just listen. He knows my heart and needs. I don't mean quit praying altogether ... like I could if I tried!! Just relax and let His words sink in. Reading the same passage over and over is helping though.
On to chapters 13-16!!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Amy's survey
Every now and then I feel the need to complete a survey. I have no idea who Amy is, but I'm hoping this will help her!! I found this on Shannon's blog. I don't know Shannon very well either.. never in person or even on the phone... but I do know Shannon's sister and brother-in-law!!
How long have you been married?
15 1/2 years
How long did you and your spouse really know each other before you married?
6 months
Looking back, how prepared do you feel you were for marriage?
almost enough... not quite
If you have kids, how long did you wait before starting your family?
We didn't really wait. We wanted them whenever God wanted us to have them. Caitlyn was born 2 1/2 years after we were married. We had a miscarriage when we were married 14 months... on Christmas Day... in Calgary when our family was in the Maritimes... hard year.
How many children do you have and what are their ages?
We are expecting #8 in July. Caitlyn is 13 next month, Matt is 10, Connor is 9 today!!, Courtney is 7, Molly 4, Jack is 3 and Justin is 14 months.
What challenges have you faced at this stage in your marriage?
We have both babies and puberty here. I'm tired and they aren't. We are always looking for Christian friends that believe the Bible is the final authority and not our feelings. Much tougher challenge than we thought especially when our kids are reaching the ages where they are interested in other views outside our family.
If you have kids, has your relationship changed since you've added them to your family?
yes
If so, in what way(s)?
We have a real need to work together for our family. When we don't spend the time we need together WITHOUT THE KIDS we work at cross purposes at times which can cause real stress.
What resources or support systems do you have that benefit your marriage?
I read a lot. I depend on women such as Elizabeth George, Anne Ortlund and Nancy Leigh DeMoss for their wisdom, honesty and at times a good kick in the behind... all from the pages of their well written books. I have been longing for a wise Titus 2 lady to mentor me for years and never found one. Someday I hope to be a good resource or support for another young struggling mom... or more!
The Bible of course is the best resource I have. If I can be the wife the Bible has outlined for me, life would be so much better. When I am struggling to make myself my husbands Holy Spirit, I make a mess of things. Being the "weaker" vessel is a wondrous blessing for my husband, children and myself.
What advice do you have for young couples contemplating marriage and starting a family?
First of all, make your relationship with the Lord your highest priority. Being married is tough. Everyone else seems to think they know what is best for your family when the simple fact is God is leading different families in different ways. Seek the Lord together. You may think that you will automatically want to pray and search the scriptures together always, but you have no idea how Satan will try to destroy your marriage. Its work. Nothing is automatic except sin and selfish behaviour... even yours. Take responsibility for your faults and let the Holy Spirit work in your spouse to lead them to take responsibility for theirs.
AND THE BIGGY......What is/are the biggest need(s) that you have as a husband/wife at this stage in your marriage? If you can only take the time to answer ONE question, please answer the last one!
The biggest need we have at this stage in our married lives is to commit to prayer and Bible study together. My husband even went out and bought a special book for us to do about 3 months ago and we have never opened it together. It is tough to find the time... this has been the hardest winter we have had on many, many levels... and we both want to. We just have to get together and do it.
Ok, that was really honest and who knows who is going to read this!
My husband will for one thing... Hi D!!
Hope this helps Amy.
I should check your blog to see if you are a christian... this may be drivel to you if you aren't.
Oh well, you ask strangers for help... sometimes you get drivel, sometimes gold.
How long have you been married?
15 1/2 years
How long did you and your spouse really know each other before you married?
6 months
Looking back, how prepared do you feel you were for marriage?
almost enough... not quite
If you have kids, how long did you wait before starting your family?
We didn't really wait. We wanted them whenever God wanted us to have them. Caitlyn was born 2 1/2 years after we were married. We had a miscarriage when we were married 14 months... on Christmas Day... in Calgary when our family was in the Maritimes... hard year.
How many children do you have and what are their ages?
We are expecting #8 in July. Caitlyn is 13 next month, Matt is 10, Connor is 9 today!!, Courtney is 7, Molly 4, Jack is 3 and Justin is 14 months.
What challenges have you faced at this stage in your marriage?
We have both babies and puberty here. I'm tired and they aren't. We are always looking for Christian friends that believe the Bible is the final authority and not our feelings. Much tougher challenge than we thought especially when our kids are reaching the ages where they are interested in other views outside our family.
If you have kids, has your relationship changed since you've added them to your family?
yes
If so, in what way(s)?
We have a real need to work together for our family. When we don't spend the time we need together WITHOUT THE KIDS we work at cross purposes at times which can cause real stress.
What resources or support systems do you have that benefit your marriage?
I read a lot. I depend on women such as Elizabeth George, Anne Ortlund and Nancy Leigh DeMoss for their wisdom, honesty and at times a good kick in the behind... all from the pages of their well written books. I have been longing for a wise Titus 2 lady to mentor me for years and never found one. Someday I hope to be a good resource or support for another young struggling mom... or more!
The Bible of course is the best resource I have. If I can be the wife the Bible has outlined for me, life would be so much better. When I am struggling to make myself my husbands Holy Spirit, I make a mess of things. Being the "weaker" vessel is a wondrous blessing for my husband, children and myself.
What advice do you have for young couples contemplating marriage and starting a family?
First of all, make your relationship with the Lord your highest priority. Being married is tough. Everyone else seems to think they know what is best for your family when the simple fact is God is leading different families in different ways. Seek the Lord together. You may think that you will automatically want to pray and search the scriptures together always, but you have no idea how Satan will try to destroy your marriage. Its work. Nothing is automatic except sin and selfish behaviour... even yours. Take responsibility for your faults and let the Holy Spirit work in your spouse to lead them to take responsibility for theirs.
AND THE BIGGY......What is/are the biggest need(s) that you have as a husband/wife at this stage in your marriage? If you can only take the time to answer ONE question, please answer the last one!
The biggest need we have at this stage in our married lives is to commit to prayer and Bible study together. My husband even went out and bought a special book for us to do about 3 months ago and we have never opened it together. It is tough to find the time... this has been the hardest winter we have had on many, many levels... and we both want to. We just have to get together and do it.
Ok, that was really honest and who knows who is going to read this!
My husband will for one thing... Hi D!!
Hope this helps Amy.
I should check your blog to see if you are a christian... this may be drivel to you if you aren't.
Oh well, you ask strangers for help... sometimes you get drivel, sometimes gold.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Happy 9th birthday Connor
Happy Birthday to Connor!! He's 9!!
He is also wonderful enough to put his party off until next weekend when (as he puts it) we'll have some time for him. His big gift of the day is no schoolwork and he's quite thrilled with that.
BRF-- Mark 5-8
Once again... late... sorry.
What struck me most about this passage was the many times that people were amazed at what Christ was doing. He did many, many miracles in this passage. Demons cast out, blind see, dead brought to life, crowds fed, water walked on, etc...
Everyone was amazed, and rightly so.
After healings and demons cast out and the dead raised Jesus goes home for a visit and HE was amazed at their lack of faith. They didn't even have faith that Jesus could do for them what He was doing for everyone else. Sad. These were the people He would have most loved to help. His lifelong friends and family and they wouldn't be helped.
I love that the disciples didn't get it when Jesus fed the 5000, so He repeated the miracle and they still didn't get it. Do I get what Jesus really wanted us to know? I can see His loving care for our needs and we don't need to worry. I also see the foreshadowing to His death. His body broken for us is more than "just" the body. After being broken it becomes sustenance for all with more left over for others. There is no end to His salvation.
Is there more? Most likely.
How wild to see your friend come running over the water!! No wonder Peter is finally at the point where He knows for sure who Jesus is, the Christ, the Son of God! The disciples have been there for the whole ride and are now ready for this amazing truth. This is no ordinary man, its God.
The graveyard, demon, dead raising thing is still really creepy for me. This is the part of Jesus that I fear... not afraid of mind you, awesome fear. This is the stuff that is so far outside the realm of my experience that I like to gloss over it. I have never liked scary stuff and shun occult activities... Christ just fights it... and wins every time. Creepy, but ultra cool and totally powerful.
I'm amazed that the Pharisees dare to test Jesus. How blind could they be? They just out and out refuse to see the truth and are missing out on soooo much. They could be chatting with Jesus and getting the answers to the questions they have always had. They could be healed and have family members healed. They could be fed in soul and body, but they refuse. They would rather be empty and unfulfilled than admit they were speaking to God. And they called Him unclean!!! ai-yi-yi!!
Whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit His soul?
Back to priorities again. I am so struggling with this. The more I am desperate to have my priorities straight the harder this road is. This must be of extreme importance as I am feeling the battle between my old nature and new one constantly lately.
I often wonder why God allows the struggle. I want to lose my life for the gospel but my life just won't die for the gospel. I know what I mean even if no one else does. This is not literal, I'm not suicidal... I just want it to be easy. I want the old man to stop breathing completely so I can do what I want... be faithful to the word and to prayer.
What struck me most about this passage was the many times that people were amazed at what Christ was doing. He did many, many miracles in this passage. Demons cast out, blind see, dead brought to life, crowds fed, water walked on, etc...
Everyone was amazed, and rightly so.
After healings and demons cast out and the dead raised Jesus goes home for a visit and HE was amazed at their lack of faith. They didn't even have faith that Jesus could do for them what He was doing for everyone else. Sad. These were the people He would have most loved to help. His lifelong friends and family and they wouldn't be helped.
I love that the disciples didn't get it when Jesus fed the 5000, so He repeated the miracle and they still didn't get it. Do I get what Jesus really wanted us to know? I can see His loving care for our needs and we don't need to worry. I also see the foreshadowing to His death. His body broken for us is more than "just" the body. After being broken it becomes sustenance for all with more left over for others. There is no end to His salvation.
Is there more? Most likely.
How wild to see your friend come running over the water!! No wonder Peter is finally at the point where He knows for sure who Jesus is, the Christ, the Son of God! The disciples have been there for the whole ride and are now ready for this amazing truth. This is no ordinary man, its God.
The graveyard, demon, dead raising thing is still really creepy for me. This is the part of Jesus that I fear... not afraid of mind you, awesome fear. This is the stuff that is so far outside the realm of my experience that I like to gloss over it. I have never liked scary stuff and shun occult activities... Christ just fights it... and wins every time. Creepy, but ultra cool and totally powerful.
I'm amazed that the Pharisees dare to test Jesus. How blind could they be? They just out and out refuse to see the truth and are missing out on soooo much. They could be chatting with Jesus and getting the answers to the questions they have always had. They could be healed and have family members healed. They could be fed in soul and body, but they refuse. They would rather be empty and unfulfilled than admit they were speaking to God. And they called Him unclean!!! ai-yi-yi!!
Whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit His soul?
Back to priorities again. I am so struggling with this. The more I am desperate to have my priorities straight the harder this road is. This must be of extreme importance as I am feeling the battle between my old nature and new one constantly lately.
I often wonder why God allows the struggle. I want to lose my life for the gospel but my life just won't die for the gospel. I know what I mean even if no one else does. This is not literal, I'm not suicidal... I just want it to be easy. I want the old man to stop breathing completely so I can do what I want... be faithful to the word and to prayer.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Mice again
We have a mouse in the ceiling over the computer. I hate the scrabbly scratching sound. We have 2 cats!!!! You'd think they would at least react to the noise.... since the kids have been watching Cinderella, and think this is great! They actually would like to dress the horrid things.
I'm not too thrilled with cats either.
We have them to kill mice... we live in the country so mice are a fact of life... but those cats sure aren't worth their salt. They do kill the mice outside.. I guess inside must be a refuge.
Caitlyn is talking to Gramma (my mom) who was given 2 big bags of dress clothes for Caitlyn. Mom wanted to know when we are going down... she asks me at least every week and I keep telling her not until May. She says that asking doesn't hurt (just drives me crazy). I asked her when she was coming up with the clothes and that annoyed her. She is busy y'know... I do know and so am I. Now Caitlyn is asking over and over when Gramma is coming up... I hope Gramma sees how annoying it is and stops asking me!!
I should ask Mom to send the stuff with Jodie.
I'm not too thrilled with cats either.
We have them to kill mice... we live in the country so mice are a fact of life... but those cats sure aren't worth their salt. They do kill the mice outside.. I guess inside must be a refuge.
Caitlyn is talking to Gramma (my mom) who was given 2 big bags of dress clothes for Caitlyn. Mom wanted to know when we are going down... she asks me at least every week and I keep telling her not until May. She says that asking doesn't hurt (just drives me crazy). I asked her when she was coming up with the clothes and that annoyed her. She is busy y'know... I do know and so am I. Now Caitlyn is asking over and over when Gramma is coming up... I hope Gramma sees how annoying it is and stops asking me!!
I should ask Mom to send the stuff with Jodie.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
If you want to know, just read
My husband is on the roof again!!
This is a scary time for me as the boy has a definite tendancy to fall. The snow up there is melting though and being blocked by more snow so its leaking through the porch roof. There will be some roofing done this summer!!
The snow is coming off well and I have the curtains open to save my DH in case of a fall!!
Molly and Jack are "resting", the older 4 are outside and Justin is playing at my feet. I love moments like this... quiet and happy!!!
I am soooo disappointed today. I really loved the Wesleyan church, the people, the service, the worship...
We had the pastor in yesterday.
We had 3 main issues that we cannot back down from...
- the foundation of the church as laid out in Timothy and Titus
- remarriage of believers after divorce
- women in the pulpit/deacons
We believe if the church is set up properly (as Paul so painstakingly spells out in his letters to the new pastors Timothy and Titus) many of the problems in the church will be taken care of by the godly men who are in charge.
There will never be a problem with watering down the word so it is more palatable to the masses.
It is clear throughout scripture that if a person is divorced they are not to remarry as long as the other is still alive. Too many scriptures back this up to mention... I am not interested in a debate!!!
It is also clear that it is abominable for a woman to be in authority over a man... again not open for discussion ... that is how it is worded in scripture!
This pastor feels that all these things are ok and that God's grace will cover it all. The apostle Paul would have more than a few words for that attitude.
Yes, God's grace covers any and all sin, but how can we choose to ignore what God says in His word?
Romans 6:1 "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"
Can we join a church who believes in easy believism and just trust that God's grace will cover it? No. We need to belong to a body of believers who can look at God's word and say... "God says it. I believe it. That settles it." not "Yes, God says THAT but I believe....."
This really hurts as the people in this church are so wonderful! Will we ever find a church for us? Spirit and truth. Not one without the other. Love, grace, truth, freedom and joy!
Obedience is freedom. Truth is joy. Christ is love and grace.
How horrible to miss out on freedom because the word is not enough.
Dave will be calling more churches this week.
Most of em have the gospel down pat. Ok, we're saved now, let's go a little deeper!!!
Matt and the kid across the street are keeping an eye on Dave. The shoveling has stopped. Hopefully its done and the ladder can go away until summertime!
Justin has taken off.
Dave might be able (most likely can) to get permission to do his work from home. He does all his work on the internet and telephone anyway. There is money alloted from his dept to pay for his office space at work. If we can finish the house and sell it we can move.... anywhere with good internet access. He should be getting a raise soon too.
If anyone out there knows of a good, Bible BELIEVING, soldier equipping church out there. Give us a shout!!
I think there is a new one in Quispamsis that is really good, but that would mean going back to Quispam which is becoming very expensive. We'd really like to live where its not so pricey!!
Oh great, Matt's on his way up the ladder!! I'm just not going to look!!!
This is a scary time for me as the boy has a definite tendancy to fall. The snow up there is melting though and being blocked by more snow so its leaking through the porch roof. There will be some roofing done this summer!!
The snow is coming off well and I have the curtains open to save my DH in case of a fall!!
Molly and Jack are "resting", the older 4 are outside and Justin is playing at my feet. I love moments like this... quiet and happy!!!
I am soooo disappointed today. I really loved the Wesleyan church, the people, the service, the worship...
We had the pastor in yesterday.
We had 3 main issues that we cannot back down from...
- the foundation of the church as laid out in Timothy and Titus
- remarriage of believers after divorce
- women in the pulpit/deacons
We believe if the church is set up properly (as Paul so painstakingly spells out in his letters to the new pastors Timothy and Titus) many of the problems in the church will be taken care of by the godly men who are in charge.
There will never be a problem with watering down the word so it is more palatable to the masses.
It is clear throughout scripture that if a person is divorced they are not to remarry as long as the other is still alive. Too many scriptures back this up to mention... I am not interested in a debate!!!
It is also clear that it is abominable for a woman to be in authority over a man... again not open for discussion ... that is how it is worded in scripture!
This pastor feels that all these things are ok and that God's grace will cover it all. The apostle Paul would have more than a few words for that attitude.
Yes, God's grace covers any and all sin, but how can we choose to ignore what God says in His word?
Romans 6:1 "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"
Can we join a church who believes in easy believism and just trust that God's grace will cover it? No. We need to belong to a body of believers who can look at God's word and say... "God says it. I believe it. That settles it." not "Yes, God says THAT but I believe....."
This really hurts as the people in this church are so wonderful! Will we ever find a church for us? Spirit and truth. Not one without the other. Love, grace, truth, freedom and joy!
Obedience is freedom. Truth is joy. Christ is love and grace.
How horrible to miss out on freedom because the word is not enough.
Dave will be calling more churches this week.
Most of em have the gospel down pat. Ok, we're saved now, let's go a little deeper!!!
Matt and the kid across the street are keeping an eye on Dave. The shoveling has stopped. Hopefully its done and the ladder can go away until summertime!
Justin has taken off.
Dave might be able (most likely can) to get permission to do his work from home. He does all his work on the internet and telephone anyway. There is money alloted from his dept to pay for his office space at work. If we can finish the house and sell it we can move.... anywhere with good internet access. He should be getting a raise soon too.
If anyone out there knows of a good, Bible BELIEVING, soldier equipping church out there. Give us a shout!!
I think there is a new one in Quispamsis that is really good, but that would mean going back to Quispam which is becoming very expensive. We'd really like to live where its not so pricey!!
Oh great, Matt's on his way up the ladder!! I'm just not going to look!!!
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