Dead Fish Swimming

If I had a theme....

2012-01-29T23:18:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed that sometimes your life has a theme?
This past week my life has had a major theme - patience and frustration.

Macguines did his science fair project on Determination and Frustration and I realized as I was reading his paper how much he learned about this topic.
He tested his drama group. Some kids were really gracious about helping out, they were kind and friendly - a couple of girls were very rude - they even intentionally filled out the survey incorrectly because they wanted to mess up his project - talk about frustration.
Thursday evening we had Bible study - it is a great study - we are talking about changing thinking to change outcomes. Hmm - right up my alley. The main point of the study is that our words and thoughts should be pleasing to God- but to get right words you have to have right thoughts - and right thoughts are harder than they sound. We let out 45 minutes late and I knew we still had to assemble a project board - frustration.

Winterjam started early, packed out, random stuff going wrong - major frustration

What is the point of all this? I thought I was done working on patience!!!

Mac's project was on Low Frustration Tolerance vs. High Frustration Tolerance. As Christians we should have a very high frustration tolerance because we should know that our Heavenly Father has things under control, but so often we let the little things drive us crazy!!! Things aren't always going to go my way - I don't have to be in control of the universe for the universe to be working alright =) Why? Because God is in control of the universe, and he has what is the very BEST in mind for me.

We stood at WinterJam for about 2 hours - it was uncomfortable - especially for us old people - but here are the comments I got from the kids:

That was AWESOME! Did you see that guy escape? it was soooo cool!, I really liked that speaker. There was a guy in a red shirt who got saved next to me - we gave him the book of John they were handing out - he was really happy. Best-Day-EVER!

What a difference a little perspective makes! Here is the best part -after standing for 2 hours we finally got really Really REALLY awesome FLOOR SEATS! We were literally close enough to the stage that you could almost have reached out and touched them. The kids were sooo happy - one of the older teens looked at me and said "Totally worth it!" and I sunderstood exactly what he meant.

Sometimes things don't go the way you wanted, or planned, or even would have liked - and then they go way better than you ever thought they would.
It is when I just sit back and enjoy the ride that God can work all things out to HIS glory =)

Awesome day yesterday
Amanda

Poems

2012-01-21T01:50:00.000-05:00

I would love to memorize, and have my children memorize, some poems - here are two of my favorites

Rudyard Kipling

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

The Highwayman

Alfred Noyes

PART ONE

THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—

'One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.'

He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonliglt, and galloped away to the West.

PART TWO

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching—
Marching—marching—
King George's men came matching, up to the old inn-door.

They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
'Now, keep good watch!' and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain .

Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!

Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.

He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat

And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Convention Time =)

2012-01-10T11:12:00.002-05:00

I must preface this blog post:
Please read the entire post. This post is about my personal experience - I am certain that it is not reflective of ALL people's experience. I am sure that you can still be a Bible believing, filled with the spirit, loving, wonderful, super home school mom extraordinaire - and go to the Cincy Convention. If you had a different experience and feel strongly about it - start a blog - and invite me to read it =)

In 2011 we went, for the first (and last) time ever, to the Cincinnati Home School Convention.

This convention is huge, it attracts all kinds of publishers - the vendor hall took 3 days to get through and we STILL didn't see it all. The sessions are also very big - some being held in auditoriums - this place literally hosts a vendor hall and a fully booked conference under the same roof (well actually several, within about a 1 block radius)
And that is where my praise for this event has to stop....

The sessions would be great, if you could get to them - crammed hallways and mile walks through strollers and crying babies is NOT my idea of a good time. The vendor hall would be wonderful - if you could get through it - too many vendors - and many of them are NOT selling curriculum with a Christian world view. Many speakers don't have a Christian world view either. The best sessions I went to last year were geared towards teens and focused on apologetics- and they were packed out (over 1000 people in one room) hot, crying babies everywhere. The only speaker I actually met was so arrogant I would never buy anything from him - literally made me forget all the good things he had previously said by the way he spoke to others and acted in the hotel.

Then the location - WOW - what a lovely place, minutes from the creation museum, the Cincy museums, the Cincy zoo (which is awesome) The speakers were spread out over 3 separate buildings making them impossible to find, and impossible to walk fast enough to go session to session. In addition the only restaurants in the area are bars -geared towards the REDS fans - and the convention was held on opening weekend - so prices were ridiculous! Our hotel stay for 3 nights was over 500 bucks! It's kinda hard to enjoy yourself, or buy curriculum, when you are paying that much money! We also paid $20 per day for parking, and drove to KY to get some reasonably priced dinner without being surrounded by drunks. I'm not a prude, but I really don't want to spend my evenings in a sports bar with 50 drunken Reds fans yelling at a TV.

I got to thinking about all this and remembered something a friend had told me - that convention is for profit. Makes sense, explains the crowded craziness, overbooked speakers, lack of the Word, they are there to make a buck - they are the Walmart of conventions.

So what is a homeschooling mom to do? Why not try the CHEO convention. I have been to 2 CHEO conventions, one in Cbus, and one in Akron and they are AMAZING!
The area is simply more affordable -for a 2 night hotel stay we paid about $150.00, there were restaurants in the area and close by that were also very reasonable.
Crying infants is just a reality - and is going to happen every once in a while (that baby gets hungry!) CHEO has a fairly strict no crying babies in the session rule -which is kindly enforced by monitors, and also has several nursing mother rooms that are convenient to the sessions. They also offer childcare for a small fee - something that you can not find elsewhere.
The vendor hall is comparable in size with one major exception - you won't find any wiccan herbalists selling their goods - they are decidedly Christian. Another great thing is because it isn't all about the money - the vendors aren't so focused on making a buck that they won't talk to you. Vendors are sincere AND friendly - and willing to explain their curriculum page by page if needed. I have had vendors at this show recommend OTHER curriculum based on what I told them about my family - they profited nothing (not on earth anyhow) referring me a few aisles over to one of their competitors.

Another great thing about CHEO's convention is the QUALITY of their speakers. No, they don't have 42 sessions going on all at once, each with a clever title, conveniently located withing 2 miles of the convention (HA!) They DO have a great variety of Christian speakers who will inspire you to bigger and better things in your home school! I can't remember the name of a single speaker I saw at the Cincy convention last year - but I can remember Voodie Baucham, Diana Warring, and Dianne Craft (which btw - google her if you have a kid with a learning issue or food issue - she is AWESOME!) which I saw over 2 years ago at a CHEO convention. Dianne Craft personally spoke to me about Mason and his learning issues - gave me FREE resources - and immensely helped my struggling learner - she was a real person -humble, caring, and a picture of Christian charity. I was amazed and refreshed by her willingness to personally help me - and not at a vendor booth - just one on one.

We also met homeschooling father of 6 and legal advocate for Ohio HSLDA member families, Mike Donnelly, who presented a session - from a Christian perspective - on legal issues facing homeschooling families in Ohio. He was also available for questions after his session and stayed for an additional 1/2 hour until every question (in about a 50 -75 person session) was answered.

Not only were the speakers knowledgeable and inspiring, they spoke my language - that is to say as a believer I didn't just need a word from another sales person promoting their curriculum, or suggesting the path to peace might be giving up on the whole idea of homeschooling, I needed a WORD, from THE WORD, and THE AUTHOR of THE WORD. I needed some refreshing from the fountain of life, and that is what we received.

CHEO holds a special place in my heart. Jeri Neese sat with me as I, a distraught mother, was convinced I was going to jail for withdrawing my student from school, and sh prayerfully guided me through a very difficult day and time in our lives. About a month later, we picked out our first curriculum at a CHEO convention. After 3 days of walking booth to booth, praying with vendors, and seeking God, we found the perfect fit for our family.

For us, the CHEO convention is the way to go - and we will never pay more for the lesser again. I feel foolish for being distracted by the shinny packaging of a for profit convention. Thank you CHEO for all you do and for hosting this BLESSING to our family, and to so many families like ours, THANK YOU!

To find out more about the upcoming 2012 CHEO Convention click here
To read about last years CHEO convention click here

Amanda

Couponing 101

2012-01-04T22:46:00.000-05:00

Well,
Someone said I should start a blog - hehehe - I already have a blog =)

Here are the coupon pointers I have - in order of importance

#1 Do not buy what you do not need unless it is free. There are tons of great deals out there - but if you go chasing every snappy coupon you will lose time and money. I used to coupon things that I wouldn't typically buy - and my family did not eat healthier, we did not really save any money, and it took a lot of time which was wasted in the end. When I first started couponing this was my mistake and I was discouraged by my lack of success.

#2 Determine how your family will eat regardless of coupons. We all have some standards of healthy foods. Decide BEFORE you find all the great deals that will tempt you away from your resolve what level of health you will need. Can I show you how to get name brand, kids will LOVE it, cereal for 50 cents a box, steadily - YES, will your family be better off? Maybe, maybe not.

REMEMBER, I said these are in order of importance - now for the tips =)

#3 - CLIP EVERYTHING on the day it comes out. Yes this will take about 30 minutes on a Sunday afternoon, but it will pay off. The reason for this is because there are some coupons (because of step 1 and 2) that you KNOW you will use - perhaps you know you could use 15 of these coupons - and if you clip on Sunday, then you can make a quck trip to the local gas station and get 15 more papers.
GET the advertiser - look through the ads and circle the good deals on the items that you would normally buy - then match your coupons to the good deals. You may find freebies =) Colgate toothpaste is ussually free at Krogers (get the smallest one) Cereal is ussually 50 cents at Giant Eagle. Price match P&G items from Walgreens and CVS at Walmart and use your coupons for the cheapest cleaning, deoderant, tp, and detergent.

#4 - Make a binder - use a 3 ring binder and the 9 card baseball holders or whatever you have handy that will work so that you can see the coupons you have available to use. Organize your coupons by date and type.

#5 Use the knowlegde of others - I use google reader to follow several blogs and coupon sites that update daily. Using google reader allows me to quickly scan through my subscriptions and see if there is anything I need. I typically scan through this once per day as I check email or get on facebook.

#6 Be a loyal customer - Pick a store you LOVE that has GREAT deals and shop there like CRAZY.
Kmart is my favorite 'wal-mart' type store. Their prices are very competative with Walmart and they offer a great rewards program. You get 10% of all purchases back on your card - sometimes more - watch the store ads (online or in the local paper) to pick up even more points on things like dog food, clothing, and office items.

Giant Eagle is my favorite gift card store - they give points based on how much you spend. When I buy books from Amazon - I get an Amazon GC - and rack up points. We get 30 gallons of FREE gas each month (fill up the car and fill up 3 gas cans as well.) I have saved over $1,000.00 this year in gas costs.
Giant Eagle is also my favorite couponing store - but this is because of my personal preferences for their produce, organic foods, and other great items. They also have the best 'check yourself out' and this allows me to take my time and get everything just right. Giant Eagle doubles coupons up to 99cents
Kroger and Meijer also double coupons up to 99cents have become very picky with coupons in the last year - and their self check out leaves a lot to be desired. I have had some negative experiences at these stores and I would not recommend them for regular shopping trips - but that being said they often have the BEST deals - if you can get them to do them.
Walmart will price match any competitor ad - this can be VERY useful - save gas - but we don't shop Walmart for reasons of conscience.
Carnival foods will accept coupons and regularly have the BEST prices on meats in Heath.
Aldi has good prices - but they typically do not beat out Walmart. I have seen several times when Kroger, Mejier, and other retailers consistently beat Aldi prices. Aldi has good prices consistently - but other retailers consitently beat them on certain items - including butter, cheese, cereal, milk, juice, bread, meats, rice, spagetti noodles, and canned goods.

These are the best tips I have right now - feel free to comment if you have a tip that has worked for you =)

Renew, Reuse, Recycle

2011-12-30T02:28:00.000-05:00

Three things I am doing as this year comes to a close and 2012 is upon us.

RENEW -
Taking time out to spend with my family, recharging and relaxing, and most of all renewing my mind with God's word.

REUSE -
Finding ways to repurpose some of my time - and belongings - purging the old and planting the new -could I be doing two things at once? Sure I can =)

RECYCLE -
All of Life is a Cycle - do not grow weary of doing good =) 2012 is going to be a banner year =)

Amanda

The Season of Giving

2011-12-20T15:56:00.000-05:00

During the rest of the year we give to those around us - we give our time, our talents, our energy, our money, everything we have. We give abundantly without complaint and without expecting payment. We have taught our children this same attitude -you give. Christ gave us so much - how can I not also give to others. This isn't an attitude reserved for one month of the year - it is an attitude of daily living, daily practice - until it becomes habit - until it becomes so ingrained that you don't know how else to be.

And it occured to me that as a mom and wife I have been seriously neglecting giving much at all to 3 or 4 people in my life. So as this season comes to a close I will be focusing more on giving to those who have supported me the most, everyday, all year long Those 4 guys who have sacrificed long hours of caring for others, lugging stuff to co-op, caring for other's children, caring for the needs of all those around us. They are my blessing and my crown, and I adore them =)

Blessings,
Amanda

Amazing Missionaries

2011-12-13T22:53:00.000-05:00

Being a missionary in Africa always seemed exotic and exciting to me - oh yeah, and you would be telling others about God too - so it would be all around GREAT. I have a cousin who is a missionary in Africa - and her stories sound sooo interesting and exotic and wonderful (except when she got malaria). I was able to go and BE a missionary a few years ago and it was very exotic and exciting and also kind of eye opening, perspective changing, revealing.

While I was in Africa we were able to go door to door a little bit and share the gospel, but for the most part we ministered to people who were already in the church - already connected with or seeking the Lord. We ran a VBS, we talked to a women's Bible study group, we went to baby dedications. We did normal stuff. And my cousin the missionary - the one with the exotic and exciting life - she homeschools 3 kids for a mission family - hmm - sounds sort of familiar - only she fights off large insects and butchers chickens while doing so. And the family there? They have jobs - they work in offices - they shuffle papers - they run administrative things.

More and more I realize that there isn't an exotic and exciting mission field that God has called me to - he has called me to THIS mission field - and it is just as good as any other! The problem is perspective.

Let's see if I can put this another way. When I was preparing to go to Kenya I wrote letters to my friends asking them to pray for me, asking them to pray God's protection over my life, asking them to pray that God would open doors for me to be able to share the Gospel, prayers all the time - that God would ordain the chance encounter, bless the ordinary, and reach the lost. I need those prayers as much today as I ever did in Kenya!! I need God to turn the odd circumstance into a blessing, I need God to bless the mundane in my life, to guide and affect the chance encounter.

I also put back a ton of money - I mean a TON! I wanted to make sure that if an emergency came up I would have everything I needed to handle it. It did not phase me in the least to pay dearly for a plane ticket, for shots, housing and food while I was there - heck I spent more on that trip than Drason earns in a month, and it didn't bother us at all - in fact we were HAPPY to spend it - because we knew it would be helping the kingdom. How is what I do today any different than what I did there? Shouldn't I be just as open to spending money now as I was then? If 50 bucks helps a support group operate more smoothly - should I cringe?

This is something that God has been saying to me a lot - this is my mission field. Do not disdain the ordinary or dread the everyday - your life is as exciting and exotic as you want it to be - you just need to see the fields that are before you rather than the ones half way around the world.

Goodnight,
Amanda

Our God is a devouring fire

2011-12-09T00:18:00.000-05:00

I was really bummed. I hate being sick! I hate having troubles - they wear me out! Then this is what God had to say to me today =) I had never read this in quite the same way before.

Hebrews 12: 18-29
¹⁸ You have not come to a physical mountain,^[h] to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. ¹⁹ For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. ²⁰ They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”^[i] ²¹ Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”^[j]
²² No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. ²³ You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. ²⁴ You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.
²⁵ Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! ²⁶ When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.”^[k] ²⁷ This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.
²⁸ Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. ²⁹ For our God is a devouring fire.

When I have fear instead of faith and doubt instead of hope, I need to remember this. I serve the risen Savior! He is all powerful, there is nothing too big for Him. God speaks and the earth crumbles - this is what I have heard from the heavenly messenger (the Holy Spirit) and from God's word. Let me not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.
Goodnight,
Amanda

To understand Grace....

2011-11-14T01:18:00.000-05:00

Several years ago I wrote a letter to a friend of mine as she was going on a retreat - I just happened to find it again when my computer data was transferred. It is amazing sometimes the things you find! I have edited it at the beginning, but I thought it was a very timely reminder in my own life =)

I am writing this letter to you as part of your walk. I hope that you are enjoying yourself and growing closer to the Lord during this time of respite. Sometimes a time away is exactly what we need.

=========================================================================

Several months ago I wrote something from a Max Lucado book on a small piece of paper and taped it to the mirror in my bathroom this is what it says:

God’s love never ceases, Never! Though we spurn him, ignore him, reject him, despise him, disobey him, He will not change!

Our evil can not diminish his love. Our goodness can not increase it.

Our faith does not earn it any more than our stupidity can jeopardize it.

God doesn’t love us less if we fail or more if we succeed.

God’s love never ceases!

One thing I think every Christian woman needs to understand right down to her core is how much God really loves us! As His creation we rejected him, abused him and ignored him – you did all of these things. If you think back over your life before you were a Christian you can recall times when god called out to you and you ignored His voice, times when you mocked Him, times when you rejected Him and anything He had to offer. He still loved you – despite all that – in spite of everything you have ever done – He loved you!

Not only did He love you, but when the time came for you to give your life to Him it was Him who chose you.

One of my very favorite verses in the Bible is this John 15:16

“¹⁶ You didn’t choose me. I chose you….”

I would like to say that I understood that verse since the day I became a Christian, but I did not. I wasn’t until I had to forgive someone, who did not chose me, that I understood that verse. I can not tell you how hard and how painful that was – but I can tell you that it made me understand just how much Christ loves me – and how deeply I had hurt him with my sin. In fact Ezekiel describes our sin in just these terms

Ezekiel 16:4-34

⁴ On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth. ⁵ No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.

⁶ “But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’ ⁷ And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked. ⁸ And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

⁹ “Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin. ¹⁰ I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather. ¹¹ I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces, ¹² a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head. ¹³ And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were! ¹⁴ Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Lord.

¹⁵ “But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. ¹⁶ You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen? ¹⁷ You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me! ¹⁸ You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them. ¹⁹ Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign Lord.

²⁰ “Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough? ²¹ Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols? ²²

²³ “What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, ²⁴ you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square. ²⁵ On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution. ²⁶ Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity. ²⁷ That is why I struck you with my fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct. ²⁸ You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied. ²⁹ You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia,^[a] the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.

³⁰ “What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign Lord, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute. ³¹ You build your pagan shrines on every street corner and your altars to idols in every square. In fact, you have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment. ³² Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband. ³³ Prostitutes charge for their services—but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you. ³⁴ So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you!

I want you to know God’s grace. Not just salvation – if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart you are saved – but many many many Christians struggle to understand grace. God loves you! Out of His great love for you He gave His son to die – even after you had been unfaithful, even after every sin, every short coming, every flaw – Jesus chose you.

Ephesians 2:1-10

¹ Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. ² You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.^[a] He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. ³ All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

⁴ But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, ⁵ that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) ⁶ For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. ⁷ So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. ¹⁰ For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Grace, He keeps no record of wrongs, He treats you as if you had never sinned, He gives you the same standing as He gives His Son. Grace recreates so that we can accomplish the good things God planned for us long ago – knowing we would sin, knowing we would fall – God planned only good things and has only goodness towards us – that is true Grace.

I love you my sister in Christ,

Amanda

Connect the dots =)

2011-10-25T00:22:00.001-04:00

Nehemiah Chapter 4
¹ ^[a]When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, ² and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?”
³ Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”
⁴ Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. ⁵ Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of^[b] the builders.
⁶ So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.
⁷ But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. ⁸ They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.
⁹ But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.
¹⁰ Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
¹¹ Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”
¹² Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”
¹³ Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. ¹⁴ After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
¹⁵ When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.
¹⁶ From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah ¹⁷ who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, ¹⁸ and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.
¹⁹ Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. ²⁰ Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!”
²¹ So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. ²² At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” ²³ Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.

1 Thesalonians 5
¹ Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, ² for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
⁴ But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. ⁵ You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. ⁶ So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. ⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 6
¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Faith

2011-10-10T00:37:00.001-04:00

Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. (Philippians 3:1-3, 9, 18-21 NLT)

God who is Holy

2011-10-04T00:22:00.002-04:00

Like lightening streaks the sky
You flash before my eyes
tho moment I can not regain
the image in my sight remains

When the darkness is closing in
You light up the sky once again
just a moment is all I need
to keep holding to what I can't see

Wholely broken, wholey free
This is Your power in me
No longer lonesome
No longer afraid,
You brought me out of the grave

And I fall at you feet
Lift my hands, trying to reach
the one.....the only.....
God who is Holy

You speak, the gound trembles
You move, the lost are redeemed
You reach, and I am humbled
by your endless love for me

Awesome power displayed for all to see
Following in faith, I will believe

Wholely broken, wholey free
This is Your power in me
No longer lonesome
No longer afraid,
You brought me out of the grave

And I fall at you feet
Lift my hands, trying to reach
the one.....the only.....
God who is Holy

Wholely broken, wholey free
This is Your power in me
No longer lonesome
No longer afraid,
You brought me out of the grave

And I fall at you feet
Lift my hands, trying to reach
the one.....the only.....
God who is Holy

School Daze

2011-09-02T15:20:00.001-04:00

It's almost that time again....

All of the textbooks are on the shelves, pencils are sharpened, folders are shiny and new....

It's the last hurrah of summer - Labor day weekend - a time to enjoy family and friends, and drink in the last few long hours of sun light =)

My very favorite song comes to mind....

Did you know.......

2011-07-14T15:54:00.001-04:00

*Have you ever been the subject of gossip? I have and I've been blown away by the scenarios that people can come up with. Wow! If it were left to gossips to write my story it would contain enough drama for a HBO series! Don't people get enough drama from TV already?

Who is a gossip? Popular definitions describe a gossip as a person that habitually shares information about others. Some definitions narrow it down to the revealing of personal information about others with malicious intent. I think we ought to regard idle words about others as gossip and subscribe to a wider definition. We do after all have to give account of our idle words (Matthew 12:36). Few would deny that unintentional harm has been caused often enough by an unguarded tongue. Gossip is just wrong whether or not malicious. Perhaps it might be wiser to simply think this - If we don't own the information, we have no business sharing it and in any case, the less we say the better. After all, the wisdom shared in Proverbs 10:19 (NASB) says:

When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable,
But he who restrains his lips is wise.

I am pretty sure everyone has experienced gossip coming back to them about themselves. When that happens, it is always tempting to correct the gossip, to identify the originator and to put them in their place. However, experience has taught me that the best course of action is more often than not to simply ignore it.

People gossip and there will always be gossip. If we try to run it down we will never find rest or peace. We can never put a stop to gossip because gossips, by their nature, just do not exercise restraint. I have grappled with this and realised that when I accept God's estimation of me, I stop worrying about what people say about me. I can't live life being worried about what people might think or say because it is exteeming the the praise of men, over the praise of God and creates in me a bondage of fear of men. (and women)

I am certainly not saying that we should live irresponsibly or disregard instruction, wisdom or correction. We should simply live our lives the best the Bible tells us how to. To love God, love people, submit appropriately, live humbly, and try not to cause others to stumble through our behaviour. We should just accept that people gossip and leave it to God justify us. We may have been wronged by gossip but we can trust God to defend our testimonies because He authors it. It is His good name that they slander, He will protect it! After all, God called us to be who we are. He has a destiny for us and He will guard us just as any parent guards their child against any harm, even from their siblings.

Which brings me to another disturbing observation, gossips are quite prevalent in church circles. I've heard them called 'confidants' and prayer partners, but I think it is simply because church is a contained community and it is a misunderstood subject. Someone new almost always gets gossiped about. Someone serving in ministry receives the same treatment. The more visible someone is the more likely there will be gossip about them. Sometimes, the better looking, rich or seemingly blessed individuals get talked about simply because there is underlying envy.
Gossips have a need to find out stuff about others so that they can work out their stories - which are always a mix of half-truths and lies. They are always curious and have a ready justification about why they need to have the information. They get a kick out of knowing something about someone else and letting others know they know something others don't. Perhaps having information about someone else makes the gossip feel important.

One tell-tale sign of a gossip is a person who fishes for information. Fishing comes so naturally to a gossip that they may not even know they are doing it. One favorite tactic is to say a few things that need to be clarified or corrected - it is an attempt to bait us into revealing more. A cunningly placed lie can be effective bait for more information. Another popular gambit is to lure us into false security by telling us they already know, so we would feel comfortable to elaborate and we unwittingly feed the gossip and confirm something they are fishing for. There are also other common guises, such as caring; of wanting to pray with us; or through gifts; invitations to fellowship; or even flattery. Seasoned gossips are skilled at making an interrogation seem like a visit to the spa. It could also be a direct offer to tell us something we don't know, baiting curiosity. There is more of course to a gossip's bag of tricks. Their tactics can be very subtle but we can learn to not take their bait and sidestep their advances.

When we are confronted by a gossiper fishing for information, perhaps we should simply refrain from explaining anything. Clarifying to a gossip is simply giving the gossiper material to gossip some more. Explaining to a gossip is enabling their problem - it is like giving drugs to a drug addict. Information is the gossip's drug. We shouldn't feed the monster or add fuel to the fire. Proverbs 26:20 (NIV) shares this wisdom:

Without wood a fire goes out;
without a gossip a quarrel dies down.

Without new information, gossip eventually dissipates. Gossips may make something up or suggest something dramatic or sensational but eventually the truth surfaces and the liar is revealed.

We will invariably come across a gossip trying to share information about others to us. Perhaps they are seeking allies; perhaps they are baiting us into enlarging their story. Maybe they are simply showing off what they know. Be as it may, we need to stop them and walk away. Proverbs 18:8 (NIV) warns us:

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
they go down to the inmost parts.

We need to be careful about receiving these "choice morsels". They are poison that corrupts our inmost parts - our hearts and minds. What goes into our innermost parts can end up defining us, like an 'inception' (intriguing movie). What is within us is what comes out of us (Matthew 12:33-35; James 3:9-12). We need to guard what we receive into our hearts for it is our wellspring of life. Solomon shares this wisdom in Proverbs 4:23 (NASB):

Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

Gossip is rot we shouldn't partake of. When confronted with gossip, we may need to assert we are not comfortable with the topic of conversation, change the subject or walk away. Perhaps we should just tell them to stop saying what they are saying immediately. We don't have to explain the truth or clarify, even if we are privy to better information. We can just tell them they are wrong, they don't know what they are saying and to stop. I know how hard this is from personal experience, not wanting to offend someone, and not wanting to be on the bad side of a gossip!

As highlighted above, it is probably not a good idea to give the gossip any new material. I have found it is better even if I just avoid a gossip altogether lest I inadvertently become an accessory after the fact by listening to gossip or unwittingly fuelling it. Proverbs 20:19 (NASB) provides clear instruction to avoid gossipers:

He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets,
Therefore do not associate with a gossip

We should note in this verse that no real distinction is made between the slanderer and the gossip. It is wise to avoid gossips. It safeguards our privacy because a gossiping 'friend' will invariably betray our confidence. They can't help it. Like any other stronghold or some sins, gossip is often a compulsion that may not be under the person's complete control. Gossips also tend to manipulate opinion about people around them and this is another reason why we must never subject ourselves to a gossip's agenda.

Of course, we ourselves would invariably be involved in some level of gossip at one time or other. I have. Let's turn the light upon ourselves for a moment... We may really have a problem with gossiping if we cannot wait to tell others something we have just found out about someone else. On the lesser scale perhaps, we may find ourselves inadvertently revealing information about others in the normal course of a conversation. The subject has nothing to do with us, it was not our business and yet we reveal that information. It could be about the most mundane things like who went where or did what. It could also be something someone has told us about themselves or even others. This may reveal we have an idle tongue. If we make a conscious effort to, there is a good chance we will catch ourselves involved in some level of gossiping, it may be idle words or something more chronic. We are all a work in progress after all.
Most gossips also happen to be busybodies. Interestingly, the Bible lumps busybodies together with thieves, murderers and evildoers. 1 Peter 4:15 (NKJV):

But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other peoples matters.

It would not be a stretch to put it this way - gossip is taking and giving away information that doesnt belong to us(stealing); it can be slander that kills another's character (murder); and it is evil.

In short, we should guards our tongues from idle speech and when we come across gossips, we should RUN in the other direction. We shouldn't feed a gossiper their "drug" and we need to let God work on the gossip in His time. If we can be secure about our position and God's estimation about us, what people may think or say about us doesn't actually matter. Perhaps the only time we should correct gossip is when it hurts our ministry or hinders our life. And when we do correct a gossip we should do it properly as prescribed in the Bible about confronting a brother or a sister. Having lived through this type of confrontation I must caution - do so only as instructed by the Holy Spirit, and not in your own desire to fix a situation. You will quickly find yourself at the mercy of a gossip if you do! The Bible is clear Matthew 7:6(NLT):

"Don't waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don't throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

If we can discipline ourselves into not seeking, contributing to or feeding gossip we can eventually get out of its bondage - gossip won't bother us. As it is often said - we cannot control what goes on around us but we can always control how we react. Let us instead cultivate our tongue for edification and receive Pauls exhortation in Ephesians 4:29 (NKJV):

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

So if we are going to say anything about others, let it be a testimony, let it be something good which edifies the hearer. Perhaps the old adage puts it most aptly - If you have nothing good to say about someone, say nothing.

Trusting Him,
Amanda

*portions of this blog entry have been adapted from Christianblog.net

What are you reading?

2011-07-04T18:45:00.000-04:00

Have you ever had a book litereally JUMP off the shelf at you? Just recently I was browsing online and I saw the title of a book that litereally jumped out at me. "When Godly people do ungodly things" I heard the Holy Spirit say to me - 'this is about that incident last December/January, you need to read that book'.

This book is about the seductive nature of sin and how a person who is walking with the Lord can fall into sin before they even realize what is happening. I can tell you that 6 or 8 months ago I would have laughed at that idea - I would have told you this was complete rhetoric, excusing the inexcusable and making an allowance for sin. I want to be clear that this book does not in any way excuse sin, make light of sin, or even imply that sin isn't grevious to us and to God. What this book is doing in my life is pointing out holes in my defenses and showing me how even someone who really desires to follow the Lord can make big mistakes and fall under attack and not realize, or recognize, their sin.

If you haven't read the book I would encourage you to read it - and if you have read it recently please feel free to comment here. If you know me, you know I really do not care for Beth Moore's teaching or writting style, so if I am recommending a Beth Moore book - maybe it is worth a look?

I have not read the whole book yet - I am about 1/3 of the way through it - but again, I would highly recommend this book to every believer.

Happy Independence Day,
Amanda

Three years ago....

2011-06-02T15:09:00.000-04:00

Where were you three years ago today?
I was staying at the Courtyard Marriot in Newark =)

I thought life would never be the same.
Our lives have been completely different since that day - three years ago yesterday, and they have been different, for the better.

So much has changed in these last three years, and it would take hours to write it all out - but some things have stayed the same - even gotten better over this time -and I am amazed and awed by how God works everything to good for those that love Him. Everything!

Still writing music - here is the latest

Sun was shining on your face when I saw you
and I knew that I would love you, ooohhh

Took my breath away from that first moment
and I felt it for the first time, like comin home

And it felt brand new, standin close to you

Like a flame in night
Like the sun burnin bright
just to touch you
just to find you

And I don't understand
Why you're holdin my hand
it's only, it's only faith
Can find a love like this

We were sittin there and you were cryin
and I knew that it was over

Took my breath away to hear you say it
and I felt it for the first time, like dyin slow

And you felt it too, sittin close to you

Like a flame in night
Like the sun burnin bright
just to touch you
just to see you

And I don't understand
Why you're holdin my hand
it's only faith, it's only faith
Holds onto love like this

Oh why? Is love a just feelin that comes and goes?
Or is it the hope in life that brings us close?
Can I chose to love you, even though, you hurt me so.

Sun was shining on your face when I saw you
and I knew that I would love you, ooohhh
Took my breath away from that first moment
and It felt like first time, like comin home

And we felt brand new, with the love we choose

Like a flame in night
Like the sun burnin bright
just to touch you
just to hold you

And I don't understand
Why you're holdin my hand
it's only faith, it's only faith
it's only faith, it's only faith
it's only faith, it's only faith
Can make a love that lasts

Faithful

2011-05-10T16:42:00.000-04:00

I had been talking to a friend of mine, we attend different churches, and the subject came up of people in church not agreeing on doctrinal things. The thing she mentioned was eternal security. Wow - out of no where - I know she is a believer, but I didn't know where she stood on this and I didn't want to offend her, so I said something like, ' I think all true Christians agree that our faith is about knowing and pleasing God and growing in a relationship with Him by serving Him and learning to lean on Him.' She agreed and that was that - she never did really say what she believed about eternal security.
A few days later I read Romans 3. I know I have read this several times, but it never quite hit me like it did a few days ago. I have included it and highlighted some things below.

Does it really make a difference if a Christian believes in eternal security? I think it really does. God is loving, faithful, and accepting. God NEVER leaves, NEVER forsakes, NEVER gives up on us. NEVER!!! Any other doctrine could lead to false conclusions about God. If God would leave us - how could we be sure he would ever be faithful at all, If God would forsake us -what would it take to anger God in that way, If God would give up on us - how could we know if we were in his good graces or abandonned?
But I think this is a bigger deal than that even. As a Christian I should pattern my actions after Christ - I should try to live up to His standard - I don't always - but I should be trying. If God wasn't always faithful - could I leave whenever I felt like it? If God did forsake, or turn his back on people, would it then be ok for me to turn my back on others? Would it be ok for me to leave if things got too hard, if someone ticked me off, if I felt that someone had hurt me and not really been repentant? Would it be ok to give up on someone who continued to sin? Are some sins worse than others?

Thinking this through I think it explains A LOT about why some Christians look just like the world. They do not know God's Love in their lives. They are living the same way the lost do. You hurt me, I leave or I hurt you back or both - is this how they see God!?!?!
How about a God that NEVER lets go - no matter how bad you are, no matter how many times you fail! What peace, what love, what restoration in their lives are missing because they believe that God would or could forsake them.
Drason said something in a Sunday School class a few years ago that cracked me up - but it is kind of a picture of who God really is. The ice breaker question asked "Are you a go with the flow kind of person, or are you an 'It's my way of the highway', type?"

His answer - It's my way or my way, nobody's leaving. =)

God never leaves, His Faithfulness is Forever, once you are His, you are His - He's not leaving =)

Romans 3
1 Then what’s the advantage of being a Jew? Is there any value in the ceremony of circumcision? 2 Yes, there are great benefits! Firstof all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God.^[a]³ True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful? ⁴ Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him,
“You will be proved right in what you say,
and you will win your case in court.”^[b]

¹⁰ As the Scriptures say,
“No one is righteous—
not even one.
¹¹ No one is truly wise;
no one is seeking God.
¹² All have turned away;
all have become useless.
No one does good,
not a single one.”^[d]
¹³ “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their tongues are filled with lies.”
“Snake venom drips from their lips.”^[e]
¹⁴ “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”^[f]
¹⁵ “They rush to commit murder.
¹⁶ Destruction and misery always follow them.
¹⁷ They don’t know where to find peace.”^[g]
¹⁸ “They have no fear of God at all.”^[h]
¹⁹ Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. ²⁰ For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
²¹ But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses^[i] and the prophets long ago. ²² We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
²³ For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. ²⁴ Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. ²⁵ For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, ²⁶ for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
²⁷ Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. ²⁸ So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
²⁹ After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. ³⁰ There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.^[j] ³¹ Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.

No more plastics

2011-05-02T00:50:00.000-04:00

I am really busy.

It's true - I try not to be, but sometimes (especially this time of year) I am SUPER busy. The last two weeks have been sort of a relief - I got to rest and recouperate and catch up on some things I had been meaning to follow up on.

One of those things is plastics

Last fall I had to have surgery, that I now believe was caused in part by over exposure to xenoestrogens - something that occurs in our diets without us even realizing it. The more I have studied this, the more I am convinced.

If you know me, you know I am a scientific kind of girl - show me the FACTS. You say it is dangerous? Fine, show me a double blind, peer reviewed study with some teeth and I will listen

Well.... here it is =(
http://lifewithoutplastic.com/en/component/content/article/1-latest-news/141-food-packaging-increases-exposure-to-bpa-and-key-phthalate-human-study.html

Here's another one - it's way worse
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.1003220

Short story - plastics touching things you ingest = BAD!

So we have spent the last week or so - de-plasticing our food. It has been really really difficult to do!

Some things I have learned :
Target sells cereal in a cardboard tube/box w/o plastic bags (and the interior cardboard is not the plastic sprayed shiny kind)
Oats come in cardboard as well
All bread comes in plastic - and baking bread is hard, and time consuming - I am thinking of scoping out some local bakerys and seeing if they will just hand me the bread, and not put it in a plastic bag.
All meat comes in plastic and freezer paper (the only stuff I can find) is now plastic coated - HELP!
We are looking for a farmer with a cow at the right age to butcher =) and I am looking for butcher paper.
Many things still come in glass jars!! Kroger and Giant Eagle both have great selections of this (Aldi has some good stuff too!)
You can get Milk in a glass jug at Ashery Farms =)

I promise we have not jumped off the deep end - we are trying this out for a while to see if we feel better =) And because we aren't wanting to ingest plastic.
Amanda

Accident

2011-04-20T14:09:00.000-04:00

So, you may have heard I was in a car accident yesterday afternoon - very scary.

We were in town for Mason's speech therapy, I had all three boys and Makanna with me. Since we had heard there would be storms, and Marshal needed some last minute Science Fair book, and Makanna LOVES the library, we decided to stop for a few minutes. Well, a few minutes turned into about an hour and when we left it was pouring rain. So I left 4 children huddled under the eaves of the Library while I ran to the car and pulled it up so that they could all get into the car without getting soaked.
They piled in, buckled everyone up, and off we went. We were on Brushy Fork, about 2 miles from home, and I came over a hill to see a Silver/Gray Ford F150 in our lane - and still coming!
I swerved into the grass, and thankfully they missed us, but that put us on a collision course with some phone poles, two or three veers on and off the road (thankfully no one was coming) and I could not get the car under control. It struck one of the three poles I was trying to miss - just behind the drivers door on the B -brace, snapped the pole into 4 peices, and we slip to a stop in the ditch.

Terrifying yes, sort of painful (for me) as I hit my head on the driver window, and my shoulder slammed into the other side of that B brace, dislocating it, but it could have been much worse.

When I think about this I am so thankful:
All the kids were buckled up and safe.
Because of the way they loaded in at the Library, they were all on the opposite side of the car from the impact
The Durango didn't roll or flip
We hit the only 4" wide spot on the entire side of the car that wouldn't wrap around that pole - it broke the pole instead!
No serious injuries.

So - while it stinks to be in a car wreak - Thank you Father for taking care of all of us!
They totalled the car today - no questions, just cut us the check on the spot. So we are now car shopping.
Please pray that we find something affordable and that my shoulder (and everywhere else) stop hurting =)
Thank you for all of your prayers and concern. We serve a MIGHTY GOD!
Amanda

Sunny Days

2011-04-14T23:54:00.000-04:00

I have had a really rough last few days, I mean really rough!

Last December I was really hurt by some people who I trusted, the events that led to that hurt were filled with turmoil and strife. I look at life the last week or so and I see some of the same things. It really bothers me, that is not a lesson I want to repeat, so how do you deal with angry people?

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up strife.

Romans 12:18 says ' If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.'

We’ve heard the saying 'put your best foot forward', and yet each one of us does our best in the best way we know how, right?

But here Paul is telling us that we must go beyond our best, we must take that extra step to reach a place where we can truly say “I’ve given it my best.”

For me, it’s hard to do live at peace 'as far as it depends on' me, because depending on the severity of an issue I won’t take that extra step. I will do the norm and say okay I did my best. But Paul is saying it is not enough for to just do the norm. I must stretch myself to the limit and once I’ve done that, then I can say I’ve done my best.

Sometimes our best is when we don’t have to put much effort into a thing. Our best becomes if someone rubs us the wrong way then they can forget about us taking that extra step, because we don’t think they deserve it after the way they acted with us.

(Praise God for going the extra step for me! In His great mercy and grace he delivered me, and forgave me EVERYTHING!)

It’s hard to live at peace with people, but Jesus can help me to live at peace with all men(and women!), if I allow the Holy Spirit to change my mind, I will see that when I do try to do my best, it far exceeds what I thought I could do! And it is a blessing to me!

Jesus knows that there are some people who will not allow me to live at peace with them, but that is in His hands - I am His child, His responsibility, He can handle it!
Goodnight,
Amanda

A Life of Humility

2011-03-31T23:31:00.000-04:00

Recently I spent the day with a good friend of mine and she told me something that shocked the socks off me.

When we were first getting to know each other I said something that was a bit rude to her. I didn't mean to be rude - but what I said hurt her feelings. She said that at first she was sort of angry with me, but after a few weeks she decided that no matter what she was going to be my friend.

That is amazing to me. I would hope that I would have the maturity to do that, but I am not sure that I would.
That is humility - that is real love applied to another person who is undeserving!
I have an issue with justice (which is really humility), I want to see justice win out. I want the truth to be known and it bothers me when it is not. In fact it bothers me greatly when I know that a liar got away with a lie, or a theif got away with stealing, a cheater cheated and didn't get caught, or a gossip was believed like they told the gospel truth. These things really get under my skin. Here is what my humble friend had to say to me:
John 1 says 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was with God..... and the Word was made flesh.....Jesus Christ.

Jesus was there are creation. He, as part of the Godhead, shaped the universe, created all things, and was worshipped endlessly.

But then Jesus, even though He was all powerful, mighty, magestic, clothed in glory, was born on earth. There is nothing quite as disusting as a birth. How humiliating it would be for Him to be born, how grevious to have someone change you, to fall and scrape your knee, to live on earth for 30 years as a man - how degrading that must have been for him. Everything He did was to serve me, and He did not complain, He did not cry out at the injustice of His situation - but instead said 'Thy will be done."

In the hours before Jesus' crusifiction Jesus, wearing a towel around His waist, washes the feet of the disciples - all 12 of them.
None will stay with Him
One will deny Him
One will doubt Him
One will betray Him

Still Jesus humbles himself even further to teach them about serving one another and Love.

Later, when the guards come to arrest him in the garden Jesus says "I AM" and they stumble back before Him, his creation obeys unwillingly, unknowingly, before God - and still he allows himself to be beaten and tourtured and humiliated to the point of death.

If Christ can suffer all of that for me, what right do I have to seek justice instead of humility?

She's right - I have no right.

Then she pointed out Psalms 73

73:1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them. [1]
11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength [2] of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

It isn't about me and everyone else and God, it is about me and God. I can live in love and humility with them, even when they are liars, cheaters, gossips and just plain sinners because I too have sinned and because in spite of that hurt love and humility have been applied to my life. I do not have to be a brute before God, I can instead be his child.

Thank you friend!

Amanda

Thank You

2011-03-19T01:34:00.000-04:00

Thank you God for a friend. She didn't have to be my friend - she went out of her way to be a friend.

Thank you God for a loving husband. Even after working all week, and teaching for 12 hours, and teaching another 12 tomorrow - he made time for me today.

Thank you God for your faithfulness to provide - In a time when so many are without work - You gave Drason a job in 10 weeks and filled 2 classes so that we could pay our bills

Thank you God for patient children with tender hearts - They try so hard, I am so impressed by them and amazed that you have grown them in the people they are.

Thank you God for a sister who gets me. It is hard ot think of her as an adult, but she proves it almost everyday.

Thank you God for small acts of kindness - They touch my heart and breathe life into my spirit - that You would think of me is amazing!

Thanks you God for our family - they are such a blessing to us.

Thank you God for friends who uplift and encourage, and words that bring joy and peace. Bless them, they chose humility to minister to me.

Father,
Thank you for all this and for everything else you are doing and have done in our lives.
Amen.

Amanda

Choice for the Special Cases

2011-02-16T14:25:00.000-05:00

Everyone is a special case. Let me tell you, I have sat across from liars who lied for a special reason, and drunks who drank for a special reason and they all said to me that they were the exception to the rule. The abuser who abused, the cheater who cheated, the liar who lied, the thief who stole, the gossip who back stabbed - all had a special reason why the rules should not apply to them.
NEWS FLASH - the rules still apply.

As a counselor I had a choice, I could allow myself to be sucked into their world by either commiserating with them; agree that they indeed were the special case, or confronting the absurd belief that had left them broken, humiliated, lonely, lost and generally in a heap of trouble, OR I could chose to have mercy, provide them with the tools that they needed to succeed. Many of my clients over the years were in severe legal trouble, many had been or were shortly headed to prison. They did not chose to seek counseling, most were one court order away from walking out the door and never looking back. If I treated them with indifference, they would never change; confront them with the truth and help them move beyond that, and they thank me even to this day. My choice made all the difference.

There is a thin line between confrontation which seeks justice, payment, and retribution and one that confronts in the hopes of them finding reconciliation and restoration.

Is it possible to desire justice and also desire reconciliation?

It is when you recognize your job as a counselor.  When you read the job description for counselor you will find that no where in that description is the word punish or judge. It was the judge in their case who determined their sentence, not I. My job was reconciliation, I had but to trust the judge and leave the punishment to the one in charge of punishment.

As a counselor, I learned to trust the judge. The judge did not call me and ask me what his discharge of the case should be. In fact, most of the time I was not ever consulted, simply a report submitted.
My report was spread out on a conference table somewhere next to dozens of other reports. There was a report from the jailer, the arresting officer, the accuser; there were reports and testimonials from the friends, the families and the accused loved ones, all of these had bearing on the sentence of the convicted, and my report was there among them.
Broken people sat in my office and begged me to write favorable reports; pretense was laid aside and hearts were poured out. 'PLEASE HAVE MERCY!' was uttered in a thousand different ways.
Mercy is easy, judgement is hard. I have the ability to have mercy, I do not have the ability to judge fairly, and I had to tell them, 'I am not the judge.' Shoulders slumped, faces wilted, hearts fell, it seemed there was no hope, no mercy to be had.

Reports numbering in the millions lay spread across the conference table of Heaven. God leaned in over them. He, knowing every word, every testimony, every crime, knew that The Law demanded justice. The verdict was clear and it didn't look pretty. But then God did something amazing. He turned to Jesus, who had also seen every report, and asked him to satisfy the Law, serve the sentence, pay the price.
Amazingly, Jesus agreed!

Where do the roads of justice and reconciliation meet? At the intersection of Love, on a cross.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2) Amazing how in that one verse both justice and reconciliation are satisfied through Christ's love.

The funny thing is - I am a special case, the rules no longer apply. If you know God, if you accept him as savior - YOU are a special case, too.
I don't have to judge - I can be the counselor, I can say 'Yes, Mercy is available.' (and now,I have bearing with the Judge!) All because of Christ. Rejoice! Heaven's Angels sing! There was a party in Heaven the day I accept Christ's work. They opened up the conference room, cleared off the table, broke out the bubbly, cut the cake and threw confetti! Praise JESUS! He did it again!

Now here comes the hard part, we can all appreciate mercy applies to our own lives. But can we apply mercy when it come to the lives of others?
There is another conference room table in the halls of every heart, and it is stacked high with reports.
'You were unfaithful', 'you cheated me', 'you stole from me', 'you lied to me', 'you stabbed me in the back'. Every reader has a choice. Clear the table and have a party, or re-read every word. Pour our mercy applied or dwell on every accusation. Chose love or allow bitterness and anger to rule the realm.

The Author of Mercy, is pretty clear on this one.
Romans 15:7-8 ⁷ Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. ⁸ Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors.

Colossians 3:12-14 ¹² Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³ Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.

Romans 12:9-18
9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Philippians 2: 1-4 1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

All Sunday school children know John 3:16, maybe we would do well to make sure they also learned 1John 3:16
¹⁶ We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.

We know this, we know we should forgive, but while most of us understand the part of me that says 'confront the absurd', we struggle with accepting whatever response is given in that confrontation.

'You're an abuser' met with 'she deserved it'
'You cheated' met with 'define cheat'
'You're a liar' met with 'no I'm not'
'You're a theif' met with 'I needed it'
'You're a gossip' met with 'I needed a confidant'

When this happens, as it invariably will, please take a page from the counselor book. Do not engage. Then take a page from the Good Book
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Romans 5:8
⁸ But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

And my all time favorite verse in the Bible John 15:16a "You didn’t choose me. I chose you"
The next time someone hurts you, offends you, or betrays you, and you find yourself at the cross roads of justice and reconciliation; hear the truth that you are dearly loved and chosen by God Himself....

.....and then remember that choice makes all the difference.

Trusting Him,
Amanda

Should I get a non-resident permit or an Ohio resident permit?

2011-01-22T01:43:00.000-05:00

Hot topic - Should I get a non-resident permit or an Ohio resident permit?

To answer this question lets say that, for arguments sake, you want to get a Florida, non-resident permit, since this is the most common scenario.

Current states who DO NOT accept a non-resident Florida liscense, but will accept an Ohio resident liscence are: Michigan, South Carolina, Nevada, and Minnesota.

States that will accept Florida non-resident, but not an Ohio resident are - Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

The problem with a non-resident permit is simple - more and more states are closing the loop hole of having a non-resident permit. It could be next year, or next month - but eventually states plan to phase out these non-resident permits. Since each state words their laws a little differently you may find yourself in a very sticky situation should you get pulled over as an Ohio resident, in another state with yet another states non-resident permit. Is this beginning to make sense? Can you imagine explaining that one to the over zealous trooper who pulled you over doing 68 in a 65?

Read what the Florida Dept of Agriculture and Consumer Services - DIVISION of LISCENSING has to say about it:
http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/news/concealed_carry.html

"ANSWERS TO COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT RECIPROCITY AND TRAVELING WITH A FIREARM
QUESTION 4. I have a Florida Concealed Weapon/Firearm License, but I am not a legal resident of Florida. Can I travel to the states that recognize Florida licenses and still carry a concealed weapon?
Most of the reciprocity states will honor Florida non-resident permits; however, authorities in a number of states have informed us that there are specific provisions in their laws that restrict the terms of their mutual recognition agreements ONLY to the LICENSED RESIDENTS of other states. Therefore, those individuals who hold Florida licenses but who are not residents of Florida cannot carry concealed weapons in these states.

BE ADVISED: Because gun laws are subject to change or different interpretation by state courts, we recommend that non-resident Florida licensees call or write licensing authorities in the states in which they will be traveling to obtain the latest information on this important topic."

I think that says it all folks. When you have a CHL or CWP or CCW from your state of residence you are protected by your states laws and reciprocity agreements, when you have a non-resident permit, you lose a measure of that protection.

A few years back they changed the renewal process in Ohio for a resident permit, it was a very small change indeed, but it was advertised in many local newspapers, on the 11 o'clock news and was widely known for months before the change took affect. Should their be a change in Florida law, will it be in the local newspaper? I don't think I want to chance that.

Finally beware of "in your home" or "3 hour course" advertisements. These are generally not a good idea for all of the reasons stated above and because they afford very little time to familiarize students with laws, firearms, and essential self protection and range time. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! My advice is to steer clear of these kinds of courses and stick with the tried and true.

For a list of Certified Instructors in the State of Ohio check out http://www.buckeyefirearms.com/

Free paintball

2010-12-11T23:47:00.001-05:00

http://thefreebieblogger.com/free-paintball-game-at-empire-paintball/

follow this link to another blog - click the links on that blog and you will be rerouted to the paintball site

Click the pic that says "Free Paintball" enter your email and hit enter. Then select "text" as your email format -they will email a coupon to play 1 session for free.

Video of the cutest puppies ever - You know you want one for Christmas!

2010-12-09T09:17:00.001-05:00

Here is a video of all the puppies - some are already claimed, but we still have several left and we will keep them until Christmas if you want to give one as a gift =) We will also provide 6 week shots for them on the week of December 19th

For Drason's friend Marshall at FM - here is a video of Mel and our youngest son Mason =)

My Favorite Blog

2010-12-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

I LOVE The Freebie Blogger you can get to her site by clicking this link http://thefreebieblogger.com/

Why do I LOVE Freebie Blogger - um, well, because every thing she blogs about is FREE!

So of the best Freebies I have received in the past year are:

Free subscription to Car and Driver - which I gave to Drason for Christmas last year - every month he gets the latest issue - no catch.

Free CSPAN "American Presidents Timeline" poster - seriously has every president, and all major US events and World events from 1775 - 2008. It has been a GREAT tool for teaching history!

Harley Davidson Motorcycle Poster - 3'x4' poster was a great gift for Macguines

A&E Monthly educational magazine AND "The Story of US" complete DVD set - WOW - these sold for $12.00 an episode - I got them FREE =)

Finally, weekly coupon deals - NO THINKING REQUIRED - it really does say "clip this coupon in this insert, take it to one of these stores and get your free stuff" I have received HUNDREDS of dollars in FREE and very cheap Groceries this year thanks to this!

So THANK YOU Freebie blogger! And to all of my friends in blog world - I would definitely check this one out!

Movie Event "THE CHILD"

2010-11-27T13:39:00.000-05:00

YIPEE!

Spring Hills Baptist Church will be showing "The Child" on Sunday November 28th at 6pm. Childcare will be provided for kids age birth- 5!
Come and join us for this event! Watch the trailer (right) and let your friends know!

Spring Hills Baptist Church
1820 Newark Granville Rd
Granville, OH

A documentary exploring the rights of parents in America - what they are, what they mean, and what should happen if they disappear. We are convinced that those who see this film will be compelled to respond to the desperate need to protect children by preserving parental rights through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Please join us for an eye opening evening for every parent.

♥ PUPPIES ♥

2010-11-22T21:27:00.000-05:00

Our Dog Midnight tricked us!! We did not think she would have her puppies so soon. The good news is they are healthy and happy, and will be looking for new homes the week of Christmas!

Girl- Sock or Sophie

Boy - Blue

Girl - I think we are keeping this little cutie - BlueBelle

Puppie Dog Pile

Girl - Arrow or Rogue

Girl - Midnight (the second) or Eclipse

Boy - Mel

Girl - Princess or Dot (she has a dot right on the crown of her head)

Mel is soooo sleepy

Girl- Maggie

They are soooooo cute. Born on November 7th, please contact us if you would like one. We will be providing 6 week shots and wormer.

Man's (or Woman's ) Best Friend

2010-10-23T16:46:00.001-04:00

We have some puppies coming – surprise! If you would like one they will be ready (12 weeks old) in February, maybe late January. If you are interested in a dog at all, please read – we will be providing 12-week shots for the puppies (given in our home) you should still take the puppy to the vet. After reading, if you are interested or know someone who might be – please post a comment.

Thanks,
Amanda

We are very careful about our dog, she is not fixed but we always keep her in the house when she is in heat – which is about 2x per year. She has had all of her shots; she is in good health and is 4 years old. She is a beautiful “Lab/Boston Dane” mix – she is not a big dog, about 35lbs – dainty like a Dane in her features, but much shorter, she is all black with a few white accents (nose, paws, star on chest) She is very loving and very smart. There is a pic in my scrolling pictures on the side of this blog, of Midnight with our oldest son, last year.
We have never formally trained her – but did all obedience at home. She is house broken; crate trained, sits, stays, stays off furniture (with reminders), comes when called (most of the time), fetches, and does not bark or howl. She is very loyal to our family –but friendly with strangers. She never bites or growls at people but she does not like us to be around other dogs. She loves and mothers/herds the 3 cats and the children at times, not overly bossy, but protective. She likes to keep herself clean and is not a smelly dog, except when she has been in water. She thinks it is funny to dump over her water bucket by carefully stepping her paw on the upper lip of the bucket until it dumps over. (She did this once in the house and was scolded and never did it again – now she only does it outside)

Many of you have heard about how she acted when the house burned down. She was tethered in the back yard (PRAISE THE LORD!) and was quite distraught; our neighbors came and took her into their home. When she saw us she was a very happy girl! Our neighbors kept her, in their home, for 3 weeks while we looked for a rental. (If that isn’t a testimony to a good dog, I don’t know what is!)

She came out to the rental on moving day and was watching us move everything in – we were EXAUSTED! Who buys a whole house full of furniture in a week? It was overwhelming! We finally sat down upstairs and she started barking downstairs (She never barks) I looked at Drason and said “something is wrong!” He tells her to be quiet, and she is for about 5 minutes, until she starts barking again. So we go downstairs to investigate – we were so tired we had left the basement door wide open. She was patiently standing guard until we came to shut it. Another time the boys left the garage door open, and the door from the garage into the house open. She stood guard overnight, did not go to her bed and her food and water was untouched. She had stayed up all night making sure we were safe.

Her baby daddy is a Rough Collie. We do not know the owners, as he got loose and was visiting here one day last month. He was friendly with the boys, but was not very clean. We don’t know for sure his breeding, but he looked like “Lassie”. Lassie was a Rough Collie. Below is an excerpt taken from a dog personality website:

“As a whole, the Rough Collie is a hardy, healthy breed. There traits are some of the most desired in the world among dog owners - they’re beautiful, intelligent, sensitive and easy to train, loyal, friendly, and very loving. They consider every one their friend and love all members of the family. Due to their sincere desire to please their master, they are one of the easiest breeds to housebreak and obedience train, making them great candidates for obedience competitions, working sports, and agility. They are very clean dogs, and, if given regular brushing, do not smell.

Under proper conditions, this breed is the ideal family pet. Train a collie, treat him with respect, and love him, and you will have a wonderful dog on your hands.”

Here is some info about Dane and Lab personalities as well.

“The Labrador Retriever is affectionate, loyal, and good natured. An excellent family pet, the Labrador is great with children and easy to train. Friendly and intelligent, this breed should never be aggressive. However, as a devoted family member, the Labrador is not happy when left alone for long periods or if kept confined. He needs daily contact with his people.

This dog is extremely active and has a high energy level. He needs lots of exercise and is, of course, particularly fond of water. A Lab will retrieve sticks from the water all day long!” (Our dog loves water!)

Danes

“Grooming requirements are minimal.
Strong, elegant, and well-muscled, this is nevertheless an affectionate, loyal, and gentle breed. He prefers to live with people and is not really happy living in a kennel. The Great Dane is lively and alert, yet patient with children. However, due to his great size, he should always be supervised with children.
The Great Dane is highly intelligent and trainable. As he is a sensitive breed, harsh training methods are inappropriate.” (This explains so much!)

Trailer for "The Child"

2010-10-14T12:12:00.000-04:00

You may notice a YouTube Video on the right - please click over and watch it. It is a trailer for the upcoming documentary "The Child". This explains why some parents see the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child as such a threat to the soverign right of a parent to raise their children.

There are people who believe that they are righteous in their beliefs about child rearing, and that all children should be raised by their standard. If we cooperate with them, we will have willing enslaved our children and all future generations to the indoctrination of whomever is in power.

It is up to parents to fight for the right to raise their own children, if you do not fight for their hearts and minds, your enemy will.

Sex -ed for your kindergartener or Jail - your choice!

2010-09-15T12:52:00.000-04:00

In 2006, parent David Parker insisted he would not leave his son’s elementary school until someone spoke to him about opting his kindergarten son out of offensive sexual material. Parker was arrested for trespassing and spent the night in jail. Further, the school refused to excuse his son from the class. The case of Parker v. Hurley ensued.

The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts in that case held that “Parents do have a fundamental right to raise their children. They are not required to abandon that responsibility to the state. [They] may send their children to a private school…. They may also educate their children at home.” In other words, the court outlined three options for parents: send your child to private school, teach them at home, or “abandon [your] responsibility to the state.”

The court further held that allowing students to opt out of offensive materials “might also undermine the [school’s] efforts to educate the remaining other students to understand” the subject being taught.

In 2008, the Supreme Court refused to grant review to this case, leaving the District Court’s decision to stand as precedent nationwide. Parents who believe they have a right to opt a child out of offensive material in the public school, therefore, should think again; the courts have already decided otherwise. (Read more on this case here.)

The proposed Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution will restore the responsibility of all government institutions (including public schools) to treat parental rights as a fundamental right. As a result, these rights will have to be respected even inside the school, and not evaporate at the front door.

Take action now to restore this and other reasonable rights of parents by signing the petition to support the Parental Rights Amendment.

Then, please pass this message along. You can forward this message, post this message to your Facebook account, or visit the message online here and use the "share" button to add it to virtually any social media site.

You've been tagged

2010-09-08T11:40:00.002-04:00

There is a blog I love to read called "Things and Stuff" it is written by a missionary who is currently in South America and occasionally she will have contests, give aways, and general blogging fun things to do - today she had this. You've been tagged - answer the questions below and then comment on her blog so that she knows who you are.
Btw - this is our last week before school starts - so I guess I will play =)

Name a book you could read over and over and why.
I could read, and have read, the Wheel of Time books repeatedly - they are interesting, adventurous, heroic, and complete fantasy - my kind of book =)

What is your favorite part of the day?
My favorite time of day is late afternoon, the kids are done with school work and playing, my husband is on his way home, the sun is shining in our front window and the world is just peaceful and perfect.

What was your favorite subject in school?
My favorite subject in school was always History- I still enjoy teaching this to my own children.

What is a Bible verse that has meant a lot to you recently?
Hosea 6:6:

I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.

What advise would you give a new mom?
It's ok to ask for help!

What was the last album you purchased?
HAHAHA - album, - I haven't bought anything lately - I would like the new Mercy Me Cd =)

What is one website that you like that others may not know about?
I LOVE theFreebieBlogger.com

Ok - Now it is your turn - can you answer all of these questions? Or even a few? If you want you can leave answers in the comments.

Not Just NewYork or California - this is happening in middle America!

2010-09-02T16:11:00.000-04:00

In April, 2002, Minnesota parents concerned about curriculum content in a freshman class at Big Lake High School were invited to sit in on the class and see the content for themselves. That is, until principal Darrel Easterly found out. Suddenly, the morning of their scheduled visits, several moms learned that they had been banned from the school due to “privacy laws.” Mary Stultz, one of the moms, was stunned. “I was in total shock and spent the morning talking to a lawyer,” Stultz told writer Laura Adelmann at the time. See Article Here

Another mom called Big Lake Superintendent Bob Lageson, who assured her it “should never happen again.” Yet, within weeks, the local school board was meeting to discuss adopting a policy requiring parents to make an appointment three days in advance of a visit, and granting to the principal wide discretion to prevent parents from entering the building even then.

After an unprecedented public outcry, the school board softened the three day requirement for parents of students to merely “as much advance notice as possible” – but they passed the new restriction. They even granted to the principal authority to detain unauthorized visitors until law enforcement arrives, citing criminal trespass laws.

Today, the current student handbook (pp.7-8) declares that “Big Lake High School does not allow students to bring guests or visitors to classes,” which includes parents. Even more importantly, the events that unfolded in Big Lake have played out numerous other times as well, throughout the country. And the courts have consistently upheld such decisions.

The proposed Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution can halt the erosion of parental rights nation-wide, and restore to parents the right to visit their child and see what is being taught. This will not allow individual parents to shape curriculum for an entire school, but it will allow any parent to remain informed of classroom content, and hopefully to opt their child out of material they find offensive.

Parental Rights isn't just a Homeschool issue - it is the heart of every Mom and Dad!

Please act to protect the right of concerned parents to monitor their child’s education. Sign the petition and get more information at ParentalRights.org.

"The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion." Edmond Burke - Patriot 1784

2010-08-25T13:14:00.000-04:00

I sign up for lots of teacher freebies online - one is a publication called "The Idea Book". It is put out by A&E, Lifetime, History Channel, and the Biography Channel. A- Why are television, for profit centers, putting out magazines for free - but only to teachers? Well, that answer is simple - to make money. B- What do these people think is worth being taught? I mean, I like A&E so - it is probably ok, Right?

The Fall 2010 issue - called "The History of Halloween" has some very interesting articles

Page 7 - The History Channel - appropriate for 6th graders and above - offers:
a spelling list - (deities, divination, Druid, effigy, pagan, pantheon, secular)
The history of the Celts and a "Druid" religion - Samhain
How the bad Christians spread God's word through Europe all but ending this pagan celebration
How some people still celebrate Samhain (true, they call themselves wiccans, amoung other things)

Page 17 - History International - appropriate for 8th graders and above - offers:
Clash of the "Gods"
Every mythical god, Greek, Roman or other legend is mentioned.
I was suprised last spring talking to my sister - just graduated from public school - about how much she knew about all of these myths - seems it is taught in high school these days.
Nothing about GOD.

History in Spanish -The Occult City
Um - the article is in Spanish - I think you can get the picture from the title.

Combine this with my previous post about sexuality and I think you begin to get the picture - but wait, there's more....

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found in Fields v. Palmdale School District “that the Meyer-Pierce right [of parents to direct the upbringing of their children] does not exist beyond the threshold of the school door.”

You read that right. Parental Rights “[do] not exist beyond the threshold of the school door.”

“We conclude that the parents are possessed of no constitutional right to prevent the public schools from providing information on the subject [of sexuality] to their students in any forum or manner they select”

Of course, most parents contend they don’t have a choice in where their children are schooled. Either economic constraints or personal circumstances leave them with no practical alternative to the local public school. And that leaves no parental rights at all.

I hear parents all the time say, my school is not like that, they are good and wholesome and apple pie and smiles. All I have to say to that is "Sure they are, but how do you know?" Quite frankly, they don't even have to tell you what they teach, and if they are nice now - how great for you. What if they decide to be not nice? How much warning do you think they will give you? Do you think they will send home a flyer that says "We plan on teaching your kids something, but we aren't going to tell you about it"?!?!?

I understand that homeschooling doesn't work for everyone, but how long will you be silent about these things? How long can we expect any dignity from our government if you won't stand up for your rights to parent your children? Parental Rights isn't a homeschool issue - it is an issue for every Mom and Dad out there.

Sign the petition here Learn more at http://www.parentalrights.org/

Shocking U.N. Efforts to Undermine Youth Morals

2010-08-18T18:37:00.000-04:00

During the last week, a well-respected leader in the pro-family movement, Terrence McKeegan, Vice President and Senior Counsel for C-FAM, shared with me his research about the UN’s latest efforts to attack the moral foundation of families and children. In the last week a major youth conference was held in Mexico which was aimed at creating a new declaration for youth to be enacted by the UN General Assembly in connection with the “International Year for Youth.”
One of the things called for in the proposed resolution is full access for all youth to “universal access to reproductive health.” These words are loaded with hidden meanings. However, McKeegan has unmasked these hidden meanings by gathering copies of UN brochures that it distributed at its youth conference in March, 2010. Actual sections from these brochures are at the bottom of the page **WARNING** THESE ARE EXPLICIT. The content of this material is shocking. It is not pornographic, but the behavior that it is encouraging is lewdness and immorality personified. I would strongly suggest that only parents look at this material. Here are just a few examples:

· Young people living with HIV have the right to sexual pleasure
· Some people have sex when they have been drinking alcohol or using drugs. This is your choice.
· There is no right or wrong way to have sex. Just have fun, explore and be yourself.
· Sexual and reproductive rights are recognized around the world as human rights.

Now you know the kinds of ideas that are offered when the UN calls for “safe sex education and awareness-raising activities among adolescents” (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2006, Concluding Observations, Lebanon).

There is already a political movement in the United States to offer these egregious forms of sex education without parental knowledge or review. But, if the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is adopted in the US, then the debate is over—we would be required to implement the kind of adolescent “health” education dictated by the UN.

We must preserve our families. We must preserve common sense and morality. We must preserve American self-government.

If you have already joined our efforts to stop the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child thanks so much. Would you continue to share this information with your friends as we build toward the next session of Congress? If you have not joined with us, Click here and do so today.

Thanks so much.
Michael Farris, J.D. Share This Email
President
Parentalrights.org

Parentalrights.org - Protecting Children by Empowering Parents --

2010-08-12T10:26:00.001-04:00

Parentalrights.org - Protecting Children by Empowering Parents --

Government intrusion has gotten bolder in recent years. You may recall that a father in Tennessee last year took his 13-year-old son to the doctor, and granted permission for the doctor to test his son for drug use. Yet, when the tests came back, the doctor refused to give the father the results, insisting he must have the son's permission to disclose that information. He cited federal HIPPA regulations as his reason for ignoring the parent's rights.

And the intrusion is likely to get worse. Several articles and a brand new book written by 20 American law professors urge the banning of all private and home schools in the U.S. in order to protect children from religious indoctrination by their parents. "Perhaps the more appropriate suggestion for our current educational dilemma is that public education should be mandatory and universal...." (Martha Albertson Fineman, What Is Right for Children?, page 237) “If the core principle in a parent's belief system is that there is only one immutable truth...many educational topics will be off limits. Such 'private truths' have no place in the public arena, including the public schools.” (Catherine J. Ross, “Fundamentalist Challenges to Core Democratic Values: Exit and Homeschooling”, page 8)

But we are not without hope. In fact, we are encouraged that we can halt this invasion of our families.

Over the last two years, we have gained 140 cosponsors of the Parental Rights Amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives, and 7 in the U.S. Senate, plus 31 senators opposing the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child through S.R. 519. We have made this tremendous progress with a relatively small list of petition signers for two reasons: first, we have some amazing allied organizations partnering with us to get this done. Second, you didn't just sign a petition and leave it alone. You signed up to call or write your lawmakers, and you have remained faithful to take action when my staff and I have asked it of you.

Together, we have done an amazing amount for such a small organization, but there is still a lot we need to do. We will have to ramp up our efforts if we are to succeed.

Please click the link above for the full story - and consider making a donation to this worthy cause. In my estimation, this organization is advancing the cause of Christ, by continuing to legally fight against religious persecution - right here in the USA.

Thanks,
Amanda

OHIO CCW CLASSES - GREAT FALL DEALS

2010-08-07T14:43:00.000-04:00

OHIO CCW CLASSES - GREAT FALL DEALS

August - coming up FAST

2010-07-13T11:37:00.000-04:00

Get Ready For August

My great-grandparents hailed from Maine, where they said there are two seasons – winter and August. (I’ve since been told about Mud Season, too.) The fact is, August is a special time of year for Parental Rights and the U.S. Congress, as well.

First, August is the time when parties prepare for general elections by deciding through primary elections which candidate they will back in November. They are looking for a winner – and so are we. We have put together a Parental Rights pledge which we are sending out to candidates to gauge their support for your parental rights. As we receive responses for a given race, we will begin to post these on the appropriate page of our States Watch section, ParentalRights.org/States. As an example, the congressional race for Kansas’ 3rd district will be posted today. If you can help us get pledges to the candidates in your area, please contact the Regional Coordinator listed on your state’s page (available by clicking on your state here).
Second, August is a quiet month in Washington – because your senators and congressman will be coming home to work in your state for the month. That makes it the ideal opportunity for you to meet with them face-to-face and encourage their support for what matters to you. This year, we would encourage congressmen to support HJ Res 42, the Parental Rights Amendment in the House. We ask you to encourage senators to support SJ Res. 16, the Parental Rights Amendment in the Senate, and to quickly cosponsor SR 519, a resolution that opposes U.S. ratification of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). (Talking points here and here.)

Third, August 2 will be the launch date for ads in our Declaration Campaign. We want to take out a newspaper ad in the state of any senator who will not cosponsor SR 519 to halt ratification of the CRC. This will require generous funding from our supporters, as ads can be expensive. Our hope, though, is to drive those who are undecided to make up their minds to defend US sovereignty and American parental rights.

Action Items

1. Contact you regional coordinator to get involved in sharing the PRA Pledge with candidates in your state. Visit ParentalRights.Org/States and click on your state to find that coordinator’s email address.

2. Contact your congressman’s and senators’ local offices for an appointment to speak with them during their August in-state period. Then, gather friends and family to support you, gather your facts, and urge your lawmakers to support parental rights legislation. You may want to contact your regional coordinator for support on this as well – and please let us know if you get an appointment.

3. Give generously to bring an SR 519 ad to your state on August 2.

August is almost here – let’s start now to make the most of it!

2010-06-29T10:57:00.000-04:00

The left is beginning to push to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The CRC leadership had a meeting with the White House.

They claim to have 60 willing votes and 13 undecided Senators.

A recent New York Times front page article inaccurately claimed that the US has not banned child soldiers, with the tag line: “we could accomplish this by ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.”

In the meantime, our effort to gain 34 votes against the treaty is making progress, but we have a long way to go.

Thanks to your calls, we currently have 22 co-sponsors of SR 519 which urges the rejection of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Our friends in the Senate tell us that they believe that a greater number of Senators would get on board if there were a deadline accompanied by public pressure.

We have created such a deadline. In early August, we intend to run ads in local papers in the states of every Senator who is not a co-sponsor of SR 519. These ads will:

Alert the public to the meaning of the CRC and the dangers it poses to our families and our nation;
Let the public know that their Senator is “undecided” on the CRC;
Ask the public to call their Senators to oppose the CRC.

These are large display ads and can cost between $2000 and $6000 depending on the circulation of the paper.

If you are willing to help us fund one or more ads in your state, will you please help us with the most generous donation possible right now so that we can order these ads in time?

If you live in a state where both Senators are already co-sponsors of SR 519, would you still help us place ads in other states by making a general donation to this effort?

We want to run these ads in as many newspapers as we can, depending on the funding we receive from this appeal.

Micah 6:3-9

2010-06-12T12:38:00.001-04:00

v3 - Oh my people, What have I done? What have I done to make you tired of Me?

I almost skipped doing a quiet time today, why? I thought "(insert idol here) is more important, I'll get to my quiet time in a minute" Some days that minute turns into an hours, and hours turn into a day - until at the end of the day when I lay down to sleep and I am finally quiet, I realize that I did not spend time with God. Other days I do a quiet time out of obligation - and I don't even realize that I did not spend time with God, until much later.
I pray "Lord forgive me for resenting the requests that you place on my time" only to correct it and pray "Lord forgive my foolish, resentful, prideful heart - I never should have thought of it as 'my' time in the first place"

"4 For I brought you out of Egypt

and redeemed you from slavery.
I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to help you.

5 Don’t you remember, my people,
how King Balak of Moab tried to have you cursed
and how Balaam son of Beor blessed you instead?
And remember your journey from Acacia Grove[a] to Gilgal,
when I, the Lord, did everything I could
to teach you about my faithfulness.”

6 What can we bring to the Lord?
What kind of offerings should we give him?
Should we bow before God
with offerings of yearling calves?

7 Should we offer him thousands of rams
and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
to pay for our sins?

8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.

WHY NOT???

2010-06-09T13:32:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the fine people at ParentalRights.org, here is the list of GOP Senators who have not signed on to Sen. DeMint’s resolution stating that it is the sense of the Senate for President Obama NOT to even submit the UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child.

AL Sen. Richard Shelby (334) 223-7303

AK Sen. Lisa Murkowski (907)-271-3735

FL Sen. George LeMieux (904)-398-8586

ID Sen. Mike Crapo (208)-334-1776

IN Sen. Richard Lugar (317) 226-5555

KS Sen. Sam Brownback (316) 264-8066

KS Sen. Pat Roberts (785) 295-2745

KY Sen. Mitch McConnell (502)-582-6304

LA Sen. David Vitter (225)-383-0331

ME Sen. Susan Collins (207) 622-8414

ME Sen. Olympia Snowe (207) 622-8292

MA Sen. Scott Brown (617) 565-3170

MS Sen. Thad Cochran (601)-965-4459

MO Sen. Chris Bond (573) 634-2488

NE Sen. Mike Johanns (402) 476-1400

NH Sen. Judd Gregg (603) 225-7115

OH Sen. George Voinovich (216) 522-7095

TN Sen. Lamar Alexander (615) 736-5129

TN Sen. Bob Corker (615)-279-8125

TX Sen. John Cornyn (713)-572-3337

UT Sen. Robert Bennett (801) 524-5933

UT Sen. Orrin Hatch (801) 524-4380

WY Sen. John Barrasso (307)-772-2451

WY Sen. Michael Enzi (307) 772-2477

What I want to know is: Why not? Many of those men and women are strong conservatives. So I place this as a public service and exhort readers in those states to call their offices. We do not need UN bureaucrats telling us what to do and we do not need kids suing their parents for making them go to church or because they searched their room. Our law is fine as it is. Call your senator today.

Here’s the text of the resolution. Here is the website for Parental Rights (founded by Michael Farris).

ELCC

2010-06-07T16:50:00.000-04:00

I am so excited about tonight!

I know, I know - it is just a teacher's meeting - but still.....

God has just blessed us and blessed us through this group and I am really looking forward to this again next year.

Smiles,
Amanda

Parental Rights Push - PASS THE WORD

2010-05-25T10:29:00.000-04:00

The last week or two have held some surprises and a lot of action in the struggle between international law and traditional American rights, including parental rights and even self-government. Because of your support beforehand and your cooperation since, we were able to act quickly to launch SR 519 and get 9 cosponsors on board in the first week. We cannot stop until we reach 34, so I urge you to call again this week, but I also salute you for your success thus far. We are also thrilled to report our second Democrat cosponsor of HJR 42, the Parental Rights Amendment - Rep. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana!

Some have asked if there is any use in calling if you (and we) know your senator will never sign on. The answer is, “Yes.” I know it is frustrating. But they are receiving a few calls from those special interest groups who support the CRC, so it is important that they hear from you as well. Your calls may cool their support of the treaty and cause them to question the wisdom of charging full-speed ahead in support of it. That may prove just what we need - to slow them down long enough to reach 34 cosponsors of SR 519 and halt the treaty.

Some of you have also been calling media hosts, trying to draw their attention to this vital conflict. If you haven’t yet, you can find a few suggested targets to call here.

But there is one more place to push the advantage that last week’s developments provides. All over America, people are fed up with the idea that international law will tell us how to run our country. Those who hear about the import of the Graham case get angry about it. This includes people near you, wherever you are. The Graham case, as terrible as it is for our constitutional republic, can be a powerful tool in convincing your friends and neighbors that we need to halt international law and support the Parental Rights Amendment. The claim that the PRA is “a solution in search of a problem” has never rung more hollow than it does right now. So tell people about it, then ask them to visit ParentalRights.org and sign the petition to stop the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Campaign 519 Update

Our quest for 519 donors to give $5.19 or more to halt the CRC is moving forward, thanks to you. But we still need more help. To date, we have had 215 donors. Can you make a small donation to push us to our goal? If you can afford to give a little more, special offers apply, including a Membership Kit for donors of $35 or more, and (this month only) a copy of Grover Norquist’s latest book along with an advanced Membership Kit for donors of $100 or more.

Support the Constitution Through Art

The deadline to enter Constituting America’s 9*17 arts contest is July 4. To find out more about this student competition, click here.

Join the Network

Click here to sign up for this weekly news-letter or action alerts if this email was for-warded to you.

Final Sermon in the Series

2010-05-24T13:48:00.000-04:00

So - here is the fianl sermon in the series I blogged about a couple of weeks ago - enjoy = )

http://www.springhillschurch.org/resources/sermons/have-you-forgiven----completely/

Books for sale

2010-05-18T17:17:00.002-04:00

I have the following books for sale - I, or my husband, will deliver to anywhere between Frazeysburg and Columbus.

Heritage Studies 2 Winning America (Working Together in the Colonies) $8.00
HERITAGE STUDIES 2 FOR CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS (STUDENT TESTS) 2ND ED. $8.00

Heritage Sudies 2 For Christian Schools: Winning America: Working Together in the colonies $8.00

EVERYTHING, HOME-BASED BUSINESS BOOK [Hardcover] by Savage, Jack $1.50

Nutrition for the Growing Years 2ed [Hardcover] by McWilliams, Margaret $5.00

Exploring Creation With Astronomy (Young Explorers) by Fulbright, Jeannie $24.00

Reading 1 Teacher's Edition [Spiral-bound] $13.00

Handwriting 2 for Christian Schools [Teacher's Edition] [Spiral-bound] $5.00

Spelling for Christian Schools 2 (Home Education Teacher's Edition) $5.00

Science for Christian Schools [Teacher's Edition] [Spiral-bound] $7.50

Science 2: Notebook Packet $19.00

Science 2 Tests Answer Key (Christian Schools) [Paperback] by BJU Press $6.00

You can email me at agsillin@yahoo.com or check out my online store at amazon

http://www.amazon.com/shops/agsill

BEST SERMON SERIES EVER

2010-05-16T11:55:00.005-04:00

Ok, so that is a big claim - but I think that if you listen to the whole series you will agree.

In the past 2 years I have personally dealt with more problems than I ever thought possible.

The house fire was just the beginning catalyst of some AMAZING things that God had and still has planned. God didn't just allow our house to burn down - He burned down every area of our lives to rejuvenate and re-cultivate our hearts. Sometimes the farmer burns off a field to get rid of the weeds and enrich the soil - I really believe that is what God has done in our lives.

I have shared this journey with some of my closest friends - they know by the changes they have seen in us - just how God has worked in our lives. I do not have the words to express the things that we have learned, or the space on this blog to write about every circumstance, every deliverance, and every blessing. BUT - the roots of what I can not articulate are in this sermon series. I am posting links below. I pray that you will listen with an open and receptive heart and mind and allow the Holy Spirit to have His way with you.

God bless the willing.
Amanda

Sermon 1 - God Leaves the Light on.

Sermon 2 - An Invitation to Intimacy

Sermon 3 - Breaking Free from Bitterness

Sermon 4 - He who Forgives First Wins

Sermon 5 - The Hardest Person to Forgive

There is one more - but I will not be able to post it until next week

Restoration

2010-05-06T12:54:00.000-04:00

I have been doing an online Bible Study this past month and I am really enjoying it. It has not replaced my quiet time, but it has been helping me to focus more on some specifics in my own life and walk with Christ.
Here is an excerpt from today.

"All New Testament churches had one thing in common: they had problems! In 1 Corinthians 1-4, Paul deals with divisions in the church. Now he focuses on serious moral problems in Corinth. Sexual immorality and drunkenness (chapter 5) during communion are not something we hope to find in church. But growing churches are not usually filled with mature Christians—they're a collection of sinners being saved.

Paul warns against deception because we're so easily deceived about this. After all, salvation is by grace, not by works, and Jesus came to save sinners. What does it matter if sinners keep on sinning? But such thinking overlooks the fact that a new life in Christ results in a new lifestyle (verse 11). Genuine salvation results in actually being saved from ongoing, habitual sin.

The sins listed referred to continuous lifestyles and practices, not to one-time mistakes. Paul's list is similar to the list of "works of the flesh" in Galatians 5:19-21 (and see also Ephesians 5:5). Both passages imply a persistence in fleshly living.

Today's teaching is that Christians are no longer who they used to be. Consider how the following passages confirm this truth:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. — Galatians 2:20

How does this passage confirm the truth that Christians are no longer who they used to be?
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. — Colossians 3:3-4
How does this passage confirm the truth that Christians are no longer who they used to be?

Amanda, let's look at the practical application of this teaching. We behave according to our nature. If we're sinners who are trying to be good, we will inevitably fall. But if we are saints who occasionally stumble and sin, then our nature is such that we hate sin, and our habitual pattern of life will be to walk in righteousness. Do you see the distinction?

Here are a few writings to help illustrate and solidify this truth. Please provide your comments about each:

The previous character of those who seem to have been converted was various. I could name many who have been turned from the paths of open sin and profligacy, and have found pardon and purity in the blood of the Lamb, and by the Spirit of our God; so that we can say to them, as Paul said to the Corinthians, "Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified." I often think, when conversing with some of these, that the change they have undergone might be enough to convince an atheist that there is a God, or an infidel that there is a Savior. — memoirs of McCheyne

What are your thoughts about this quote?

He puts them in mind what a change the gospel and grace of God had made in them: Such were some of you (verse 11), such notorious sinners as he had been reckoning up. The Greek word is tauta—such things were some of you, very monsters rather than men. Note, some that are eminently good after their conversion have been as remarkably wicked before. How glorious a change does grace make! It changes the vilest of men into saints and children of God. Such were some of you, but you are not what you were. You are washed, you are sanctified; you are justified in the name of Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Note, the wickedness of men before conversion is no bar to their regeneration and reconciliation to God. The blood of Christ, and the washing of regeneration, can purge away all guilt and defilement. Note, none are cleansed from the guilt of sin, and reconciled to God through Christ, but those who are also sanctified by His Spirit. All who are made righteous in the sight of God are made holy by the grace of God.

— Matthew Henry commentary

What are your thoughts about this quote?

Here are some scripture passages to consider

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. Later I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." And they praised God because of me. — Galatians 1:13-24

I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Romans 6:19-23"

What is restoration of the believer - well, in Sunday School 101 we learned that this means Christ regenerates Christians into new Creations - yep - that is part of it.

But what about a Christian who sins - what about a really big, ugly sin like adultery, homosexuality, abuse, lust, idolatry - does this passage also apply to these people? or are they forever the fallen, the exiled, the "sinners" among us? Can a Christian commit these sins? As a new creation is it possible that they could fall into this?
In a word - Yes, even a Christian can be deluded, misled and fooled by the devil and fall into some pretty bad sin. What is the difference? They won't be happy in it, it will tear them up inside - they will either learn to break free of this sin or they will live miserably - and that is where other Christians come into the picture.

Just as Christ restores us - and we ALL have our share of sins - We are to help to restore other believers, believers can have sin in their lives - in fact a believer who says they don't is a liar and suffering from the sin of pride ( so be sure to help them out by knocking them down a few pegs - he he he he - just kidding.)
My job, my mission in Christ's kingdom is to win souls to Christ - but then to work together with other believers to help them (and help me) to be restored.

I have rarely heard this taught in churches - more often I have been confronted with perfect facade believers - you never know anything is wrong until their kid runs away from home, they file for divorce, they drink/drug/gamble/lust/eat away everything good in their lives, - and then their lives are scarred - forever? They might think so because their false way of life is accepted and even condoned in many churches.
But no- not forever - because the same God who purchased them, refuses to let them go - and refuses to let them stay in misery - they are changed - many times it is the very tragedy they think will never pass that leads to a deeper understanding and relationship with Christ - and in the end "your joy will overflow." Does God remove the consequences of sin? No - but he removes the sting and stigma of rejection, and he molds even the worst of us into a beautiful new creature.

Watch this video

2010-05-04T12:05:00.002-04:00

Do the Homeschool Hustle

2010-04-27T12:20:00.000-04:00

Do you do the "Homeschool Hustle"?

You know - that end of the official school year, we've got to figure out curriculum, "we homeschool year round", go to homeschool fairs, meetings and practicums, test, portfolio review, submit paper work - review paper work and then submit it, round up the kids for 4-H - baseball - recitals - end of year projects and make one final push towards the "finish line."

Well let me invite you to stop it. - That's right - I said it! Get off the crazy train and come on over here for a minute, you can always go back to pulling you hair out if you like.

Do you remember those old tv's? The ones that were had a tube and a tuner? Sometimes, usually gradually over several days, they would become staticy. You wouldn't notice it at first - just a little fuzz once in a while, usually blamed on the weather. But over the course of several days the picture would just get worse and worse - until it looked like a snowstorm and all you could hear was that annoying white out buzz.
How did you fix it? Re-adjust your focus. Tune it back into the signal.

How do we cure, or prevent, this same white out buzz in our own lives? Tune back in to the signal.
Here are some verses for your tuning pleasure

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

2 Peter 1:3

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Matthew 11:28-30

"Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."

John 14:27

"I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid."

Maybe it is just me, but when I get stressed out - it is usually because I have stopped relying on the Lord to work things out - and have started trying to work them out for myself. - So my favorite homeschool verses of all.

Deuteronomy 11:18-2118 “So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.

Happy Homeschooling,
Amanda

AWESOME AUCTION - Don't Miss out!

2010-04-19T15:42:00.001-04:00

I know many of you are either in favor of the parental rights amendment, or would enjoy the items that are being auctions - there are several gift certificates and quality books and items for sale.

"Dear Champion of Parental Rights,
While many of you will not be able to attend our dinner tomorrow night, you can still take part in our fundraising efforts - and maybe find a bargain for yourself in the process!

Donors have made all kinds of items available for our Silent Auction, with proceeds going to support our efforts to secure the Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. These items will be available at http://www.32auctions.com/ and open for bid from 6:00 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday, April 20) through 10 p.m. Sunday, April 25. The online auction i.d. is ParentalRights and the password is amendment.

In addition, a few items are being reserved for our dinner guests tomorrow night - but any of these that are not sold will be added to the online site on Wednesday, so be sure to check back for these additional items. Auction winners will be notified Monday, April 26.

A pdf catalog of the auction items - including those not yet available online - is available from our website http://www.parentalrights.org/

Or, you can find the current items listed on the auction site when you're ready to place your bids.

Remember, all proceeds move us closer to securing the Parental Rights Amendment, and all of these items are available with opening bids at a small fraction of their market value. Books, art items, photography and other services, lodging - a wide variety of items and services are available.

Happy bidding, and thank you for supporting the Parental Rights Amendment!

Take your Parents to Court

2010-04-07T14:39:00.001-04:00

On April 1, the Islamic nation of Maldives proudly announced a breakthrough in long-stalled negotiations to create an international tribunal to receive complaints from individual children. For twenty years, internationalist efforts to create a new world tribunal for children to challenge the actions of their own governments have been thwarted by political division. But, after a month of negotiations led by Maldives a unanimous agreement was reached on the components for a new optional protocol to be added to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Maldives is a curious choice to lead negotiations on a human rights treaty. When Maldives signed and ratified the CRC in 1990-91, it boldly rejected any semblance of religious freedom—a central “right” in the CRC. The Maldivian reservation proclaims: “The Government of the Republic of Maldives expresses its reservation to paragraph 1 of article 14 of the said Convention on the Rights of the Child, since the Constitution and the Laws of the Republic of Maldives stipulate that all Maldivians should be Muslims.”

What will this new protocol accomplish? According to Miadhu, a Maldivian news agency, the “protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), will create a procedure whereby children who are being abused or their representatives (such as national child protection NGOS, lawyers, and doctors) could seek assistance from international human rights protection mechanisms when domestic institutions are failing to offer protection.” [Read the rest of the article.]

Action Item

This week, we urge you to get two postcards, address one to each of your senators, and send them a brief message along these lines:

Senator {Smith},

I oppose the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child because it will intrude on the sovereignty of my nation, my state, and my family. The proposed 3rd Optional Protocol now being written will only make matters worse. Please oppose this convention, and support the constitutional amendment (SJ Res.16) that will permanently end this threat.

Respectfully yours,
{signature, address, zip code}

To find your senators' contact information, visit parentalrights.org/States, click on your state, then click on your senators' names to visit their web pages. It will take these cards a few weeks to reach the Senate, but we are hopeful their arrival will coincide with the next stage in our efforts to defeat the CRC. (More details to come!)

Easter

2010-04-02T23:37:00.000-04:00

Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

David asks for a lot of stuff here:
teach me
cleanse me
wash me
let me hear joy and gladness
hide your face from my sins, blot out my iniquity
create a new heart in me
renew a steadfast spirit in me
restore to me the joy of salvation
grant me a willing spirit
save me from bloodguilt
open my lips

David know his only hope is God's complete mercy and transformation. David also knows that the only way this will happen is with a broken heartedness towards sin.

"True repentance has a distinct and constant reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you repent of sin without looking to Christ, away with your repentance. If you are so lamenting your sin as to forget the Savior, you have a need to begin all this work over again. Whenever we repent of sin, we must have one eye upon sin and another upon the cross; or, better still, let us have both eyes upon Christ, seeing our sin punished in him, and by no means let us look at sin except as we look at Jesus. A man may hate sin just as a murder hates the gallows but this does not prove repentance. If I hate sin because of the punishment, I have not repented of sin; I merely regret that God is just.
But if I can see sin as an offense against Jesus Christ, and loathe myself because I have wounded him, then I have a true brokenness of heart. If I see the Savior and believe that those thorns upon his head were put there by my sinful words; if I believe that those wounds in his heart were made by my heart-sins; if I believe that those wounds in his feet were made by my wandering steps, and that the wounds in his hands were made by my sinful deeds, then I repent after a right fashion. Only under the cross can you repent. Repentance elsewhere is remorse, which clings to the sin and only dreads the punishment. Let us then seek, under God, to have a hatred of sin caused by a sight of Christ's love.
When I sat on this platform on Monday night, and marked your sobs, in tears, and heard the suppressed sighs and groans of the great multitude then assembled, I could not but say. Behold! And yet it ought not to be a wonder, it ought not to be a strange thing for God’s people to be in earnest, or for sinners to feel brokenness of heart.
Psalm 51 is the photograph of a contrite spirit. Oh, let us seek after the like brokenness of heart, for however excellent our words may be, yet if the heart is not conscious of the blackness and hell-deservingness of sin, we cannot expect to find mercy with the Judge of all the earth. If the Lord will break your heart, consent to have it broken; asking that he may sanctify that brokenness of spirit to bring you in earnest to a savior, that you may yet be numbered with the righteous ones."
Charles Spurgeon

I never looked at a broken heart as a blessing - but I think that it must be, because if God will speak to me in this way it is only because He loves me and wants to restore me.

For this is what the high and lofty One says he who lives forever, whose name is holy: I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. — Isaiah 57:15

Happy Easter,
Amanda

Come near

2010-03-28T01:39:00.001-04:00

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. — James 4:8-10

God has always pursued me. I have never begun by pursuing Him. We love Him, because He first loved us. Repentance is much the same, I do not see, or chose not to see, my sin, until He reveals it to me. When He does, I am once again humbled and overawed at His immense mercy and grace and love towards me. I seek - He shows, I put forth the effort - He does all the work. It has always been this way, it will always be this way. My very best efforts on my own have been wasted years, it is only when I came to God and surrendered, that I have ever succeeded.

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. — Isaiah 55:6-7

Praise God! I can't wait for tomorrow =]
Amanda

Life without Credit

2010-03-20T02:07:00.000-04:00

I recently read that life without credit is much more expensive than life with credit - I beg to differ.   The article sited several reasons why having "good credit" is ultimately so important.

I'd like to start with what the creditors don't want you to know.

About 11% of people pay cash for cars - all kind of cars - it speads pretty evenly from clunkers to sweet rides. Drason and I paid cash for BOTH of our cars - we will never do it any other way. We have financed cars in the past - I regretted most of those deals - I never regretted paying cash.

About 40% of people buying second homes pay cash - I have often heard the argument that investing can earn more with that money than the mortgage payment - but if people who have the money to buy a second home are largely paying cash - I think that is a pretty clear testament to the truth.

According to the Fair Issac Corp about 1 in 5 adult Americans do not have or do not use credit.
As one of the 1 in 5 - I can safely say we get along just fine.

Now the Bible is pretty clear on credit - to read more click here http://www.gotquestions.org/money-debt.html

What most Christians say is - the Bible does discourage debt, but does not explicitly forbid it.
To look at that question I think you have to look at what your debt involves- for example

I go to the dealership to look at a car
I can not afford to pay cash for the car, so I have three choices -
A - get a loan and make monthly payments
B - Save up my money until I can get the car
C - buy a cheaper car that I can afford right now

Lets look at option A - this would require going to a bank, credit union or dealer and signing a contract to pay them X amount of dollars for X amount of time.
ALL CREDIT WORKS LIKE THIS - YOU HAVE TO SIGN ON THE LINE

So what does the Bible say about signing these contracts? Well the Bible does not say "contract"   in fact signing contracts is something fairly recent (last 500 years or so) but it does talk about covenants. The Hebrew term for covenant is berit, meaning “to bond or fetter.” It is translated into the Greek as syntheke, “binding together” (ever heard of legally binding) or diatheke, “will, testament.” In the Bible, then, a covenant is based upon mutual commitments. It typically involves promises, obligations, and rituals.

The Bible talks pretty plainly about making hasty oaths/vows/covenants.

http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Judges%2011.29-40 the story of Jephthah

Perhaps this is why Jesus gave a new commandment concerning vows.
"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No ,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one" (Matthew 5:33-37)."

and in James

James 5:12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your "Yes," be "Yes," and your "No," "No," lest you fall into judgment.

James 4:14 says we do not even know what will happen tomorrow

Jesus is being pretty clear - so I guess I am interpretting this to say that if you have to sign on the dotted line - it is probably a big no no.

Now that encompasses many more things than just credit.
For example - my cell phone - for which I signed a 1 year contract
my driver's liscence - I have to sign that I would obey all traffic laws and carry insurace
my insurance - contracted to pay every 6 months
my direct tv - 2 year agreement

Food for thought - I am totally off subject - Is it cheaper to live with or without credit?

A $10,000.00 car loan at 6% interest for 5 years costs the original 10k plus about $1600.00 plus origination fees, and any late fees, over the life of the loan
A $200,000.00 home loan at 6% interest for 30 years costs the original 200k plus $231,640.00 plus fees over the life of the loan
Most families carry between 2000.00 and 8000.00 in credit card debt - for most families this would take about 2 years to pay off - making minimum payments, and would cost about 30% more than the current balance.
Lets say you buy in store deals - 1 year same as cash. If you pay it off in the 1 year - good for you, but 80% of people do not pay anything in this time. After the time is up they are assessed intrest rates from 15-30%.

I guess the point is that if I really need something I need to save up to get it - not go into debt.

How long did it take to save for a car? About a year

Goodnight,
Amanda

Awesome Song

2010-03-18T14:45:00.001-04:00

Heard this song the other day - it is by Brandon Heath - I really like it - you can listen to it on his myspace page
He will be at Spirit Song this summer on July 10th at Kings Island ☺ (Hint Hint Drason ♥ )

http://www.myspace.com/brandonheath

Love is not proud

Love does not boast

Love after all

Matters the most

Love does not run

Love does not hide

Love does not keep

Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through

Love never fails you

Love will sustain

Love will provide

Love will not cease

At the end of time

Love will protect

Love always hopes

Love still believes

When you don’t

Love is the arms that are holding you

Love never fails you

When my heart won’t make a sound

When I can’t turn back around

When the sky is falling down

Nothing is greater than this

Greater than this

Love is right here

Love is alive

Love is the way

The truth the life

Love is the river than flows through

Love is the arms that are holding you

Love is the place you will fly to

Love never fails you

Are all Churches cults?

2010-03-13T23:51:00.000-05:00

One of my friends told me she believes all churches are like cults. In a way I agree that some churches are like cults. Church leaders who are dishonest with their congregations, who focus on creating a political hierarchy in a church, and who claim their version of the Bible is the truth, not what the Bible actually says - these are like cults.

But as I told her - there are cultish groups everywhere - heck the PTA at most middle schools meet half of the "cult criteria" - however I must agree there are some things that a church should not do.

“Characteristics Associated with Cultic Groups
Janja Lalich, Ph.D. & Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

Concerted efforts at influence and control lie at the core of cultic groups, programs, and relationships. Many members, former members, and supporters of cults are not fully aware of the extent to which members may have been manipulated, exploited, even abused. The following list of social-structural, social-psychological, and interpersonal behavioral patterns commonly found in cultic environments may be helpful in assessing a particular group or relationship.

Compare these patterns to the situation you were in (or in which you, a family member, or friend is currently involved). This list may help you determine if there is cause for concern. Bear in mind that this list is not meant to be a “cult scale” or a definitive checklist to determine if a specific group is a cult. This is not so much a diagnostic instrument as it is an analytical tool.”

‪ Cult - The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.

Church - Churches should not place hope for the future in a person, place or thing. Our hope is in Jesus Christ alone. (read 1 Peter 1)

Cult -‪ Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.

Church - Churches should not ridicule people for asking questions - "why are we doing this in this way? where is that found in scripture? How is this illustrated?" All are valid questions and all are good for growth, both of the asker and the askee. Jesus even encouraged questions. (read Mark 8)

Cult - The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel.

Church - Churches are not set up to tell people how to "think, act and feel" Churches have 2 purposes - A- evangelize B- Preach the Bible to the Believer. The teaching is up to the work of the Holy Spirit, not the pastor or even the lay leaders. Preach the word, explain the word - let God handle the rest. Most church people I know would disagree with this statement - however, by correcting how people think, act and feel - you treat the symptoms of the problem - the problem still remains that they are lost and dying and going to spend an eternity in Hell - even if they can make themselves "act" good when others can see. The bottom line – anyone can be pressured to conform to a group – God changes people. (read Matthew 7)

Cult‪ -The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members.

Church - Churches should not be elitists - Church members should have the attitude that they are no better than the worst sinner in the world, and no worse than Christ himself. (Read Ephesians 2)

Cult‪ -The leader is not accountable to any authorities, or removes themselves from accountability.

Church -Leaders should be held accountable to God's standards as outlined in the Bible. These standards are both moral and ethical, and widely accepted outside of the Church. (Titus 1)

Cult‪ -The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members' participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (for example, lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities).

Church - Jesus never taught that the ends justify the means – ever – (read Luke)

Cult‪ -The leadership induces feelings of shame in order to influence and/or control members. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.

Church - Shame, not repentance, is a tool of the enemy (read Revelation 12) Shaming should not be used to illicit a conversion or response. The Holy Spirit is our guide, and our intercessor. Repentance from sin is the personal resolution to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in bringing about positive personal change.

Cult‪ -The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.

Church - Membership means little, I once went to a church where the pastor said they had 4000 people on the rolls - only about 400 actually attended any Sunday - and only 200 regularly. The point -concern for attendance and membership is a sign that the hearts of the leaders are filled with pride and greed. A church leader's focus should be on winning souls to Christ and people experiencing a life changing conversion- that is the real measure of a Church.
Cult‪ -The group is preoccupied with getting money.

Church –Be wary of a church that always has another iron in the fire, another campaign for funds, another unpaid expense, or debt - this is a sure sign something is WAY WRONG! - Good Churches manage their money well, and don't constantly beg for bigger and bigger emergency or special donations, especially for donations relating to covering known expenses like keeping the electric paid, or covering salaries. Good churches also keep member’s giving a secret - meaning the leader doesn't announce that he is giving a certain amount of money, or that certain other members are giving certain amounts. (read Matthew 6)

Cult‪ -Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.

Church - Devoting time to God - Good. Devoting time to group - not necessarily good. If anyone tells you they are one and the same – BAD. Good Churches encourage their membership to be out in the community and have a normal life – outside – of church. This is overall better for the body of Christ – to be seen doing good things in the community, not just tied to what is often seen as a civil organization. Cults encourage dependence and use guilt, fear, and exclusion from the group as a means of controlling behavior.

Cult‪ -Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.

Church - A closed or even extremely cliquish group is never taught as a virtue in the Bible, it is, however; taught as what not to do. (read Luke 19)

Cult‪ -The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave (or even consider leaving) the group.

Church - There is always life outside of the Church - in fact that is where the focus should be - not focused in on group think projects, “how can we make this better”, but focused out on how can we make this world better - how can we bring as many souls to Christ as possible, how can we show God's love to everyone we meet. (read Acts)

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So for all the Jessica's in the world - not all Churches are cults - not all Church people are crazy, hateful, cliquish, mean, judgmental, or stupid.

Love you and still praying for you!

Goodnight
Amanda

A Look Back

2010-03-06T01:03:00.000-05:00

I have a private blog where I write out my quiet times. This has been a great help to me both to make time to do a quiet time, and to remind me of the things God has done in our lives.
Below is from 1 year ago today:

Saturday, March 7, 2009

A study of David

at 7:47 AM

After reading a few chapters in Ezekiel I just wasn't finding anything that spoke to me yesterday - so I started a bible study that I purchased last fall - Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed. It is by Prisilla Shirer, Kay Aurther, and Beth Moore. I'm not a big Beth Moore fan, but maybe this one will be Beth light.

Anyways,

Yesterday was about David's calling. I often need reminded of our calling as Christians - here are some highlights.

John 15:16 You did not chose me, but I chose you. - Very cool that this book would start off with that verse. God spoke to me through this verse very clearly when things were at their darkest and it kept me going, kept me wanting to try. With very few exceptions everyone I have ever known has betrayed my trust, and after counseling people you learn how evil people really can be, but God has never betrayed me- ever, He has always been faithful even when I was not, and He has never given up on me. "God chooses us so our confidence rests not in our faithfulness, but in His." *

Not only were we chosen, but we were chosen for a purpose - just as David was. David, chosen at age 15, looks back at his life with accomplishment in 1Chronicles 14:2 - at age 37. It was 22 years later.

Some of the character that God was trying to cultivate in David is revealed in 1 Samuel 24. David, a man after God's own heart shows he is not easily swayed by men, he is respectful of the authority placed over him, he speaks passionately and respectfully, he trusts he has God's protection, he is merciful, and he seeks a restored relationship with his fellow man. These are things God wants to cultivate in most every one's life. What can I do?

Trust God, Prioritize Quiet times, Pursue God's plan, and be Grateful.

Amanda

Greeting Cards

2010-03-03T12:48:00.000-05:00

Hello all homeschoolers,
If you are anything like me your day is always full -
A few weeks ago I was invited to a birthday party - totally last minute.
We had no card, no gift - quick solution was make a card and enclose money =]
Well here is a great site for kids cards. Fisher Price has print and color cards for all occations (even Easter!) So if you are in a jam, or just want to have a cute crd for grandma - click here.
or copy and paste this address in your browser.

http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=30&e=printcardlanding

Happy coloring,
Amanda

"The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"

2010-02-23T14:34:00.001-05:00

"The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"

The following is a letter to the Editor which appeared in the Cape May County (NJ) Herald Feb. 17. It is reprinted here with the permission of its author, Cathy Driscoll of Villas, NJ.

"To The Editor: “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world” wrote William Ross Wallace back in 1865. When committed, loving parents rock the cradle, freedom flourishes. When the state is allowed to rock that cradle, evil follows. Tyrants need thugs and wimps. This “ideal” population is produced by controlling the rearing of children. George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” illustrates the brutal way the sheep dog is robbed of her puppies. Once confiscated, the puppies become trained bullies and useful enforcers.

Hitler saw children as “clean slates” on which barbarism could be written, but only if they are removed from the influences of their parents. Kitty Werthmann, a living witness to life under the Nazi boot, describes how pre-Hitler Austria abounded with compassionate and respectful youth. Post Hitler brought hideous changes. Public school teachers encouraged the children to disregard their parents' “fuddy-duddy” ways. Mandatory Youth Day was designated on Sundays at the time of Catholic Mass. Parents who took their children to church instead of youth day faced capital punishment. By firmly holding the children in their hands, Nazis successfully paved the road to the Holocaust.

What has happened here in the last several decades? Parents are afraid to discipline their children in public. Records are withheld from parents because of “privacy rights.” My husband was at the doctor recently and he was not allowed to be in the examination room with our own child without a doctor or nurse present. We were at a swim meet back in November and parents were actually barred from going to the changing rooms with their own children. My husband and I questioned those in charge of the meet on this policy. These officials reasoned that children needed to learn to be on their own. These adults took it upon themselves to disregard the authority of the parents.

Step by step our government has morphed from respecting parents’ rights to dismantling them. Do you want this to continue turning from a snowball into an avalanche?

Let’s say that you think that you won’t be affected by this trend; you don’t plan to ever have children or you have raised your children and are done with this job. First of all, are you so bereft of compassion that you can stand by and allow your fellow citizens to face the forced loss of their children? Secondly, if society is full of parentless thugs, who do we think will come to our rescue when we are old and helpless?

The Parental Rights Amendment, if ratified, will seal protections for parents. It states the following: Section 1: The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right. Section 2: Neither the United States nor any state shall infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served. Section 3: No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article."

If you are no following this developing piece of legislation you can do so by clicking HERE

Myths Among Christians

2010-02-21T16:50:00.001-05:00

Myths Among Christians – 4; Guilt and Shame are Good for Me

Posted using ShareThis

Best Oatmeal Cookies EVER!

2010-02-20T21:24:00.000-05:00

This is the BEST oatmeal raisin cookie reciepe I have ever tried - THEY WERE GREAT!

Ingredients
(Whisk together and set aside)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Cream wet ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

Then stir in

3 cups oats (not instant)

1 1/2 cups raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Whisk dry ingredients; set aside.

Combine wet ingredients with a hand mixer on low.
To cream, increase speed to high and beat until fluffy and the color lightens. - Your beater shape will be left in the mixture and if you use a hand mixer you can actually feel it get lighter and easier to beat

With a wooden spoon stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until no flour is visible.
(Over mixing develops the gluten, making a tough cookie.)

Now stir in the oats and raisins with the wooden spoon.

Fill cookie scoop with dough. (Use a #40 cookie scoop; it measures 2 tablespoon of dough) Press against side of bowl, pulling up to level dough.

Drop 2-inches apart onto baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray.

Bake 11-13 minutes (on center rack), until golden, but still moist beneath cracks on top.

Remove from oven; let cookies sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

ENJOY!

Nutrition Facts
(according to Recipe Zaar)

Serving Size 1 cookies
Recipe makes 36 cookies

Calories 188
Total Fat 6.4g
Total Carbohydrate 30.3g
Dietary Fiber 1.8g

God doesn't make arbitrary rules!

2010-02-15T14:16:00.000-05:00

A lot of people talk about God as if He is the giant kill joy in the sky, making rules - not for our benefit but to hurt us, limit us, and just because he can.

Well obviously - I don't believe that, but there have been things over the years that I wondered "Why did you make that rule? It just doesn't make any sense to me at ALL, and while I try to obey - it is easier to disobey (I think) a rule that you don't understand - especially when so many teachers will teach "that rule doesn't apply anymore" (I guess they never read Malachi 3:6 6 “I am the Lord, and I do not change...") or they say "because God said so" because they don't understand it either.

So I learned something yesterday - the why behind a "rule" and that rule makes so much more sense to me - and I understand it, and can obey it completely =]

My mother is a nurse, she is a great nurse! She is also a Christian and having the scientific mind of a nurse she told us things that prove the Bible, and helped to instill the knowledge that God is fair and He doesn't just make up arbitrary rules. When I was a child she shared this with me -
Leviticus 12:1&3
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.
3 On the eighth day the boy’s foreskin must be circumcised.
Eeeeewww!
Why such an arbitrary rule?
Well, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics - it isn't really so arbitrary.
This process reduces infection. std's, cancer, and all kinds of other problems.
Alright - but why the 8th day? Why not the first day or on their first birthday?
Again the American Academy of Pediatrics points out that infections are most common and serious in the first few years of life - without antibiotics many babies would die - but why day 8?
Because by the 8th day your body has naturally developed Vitamin K

Today Vitamin K is given as a precaution as some infants are born with a deficiency. This can prevent blood from clotting and cause unexpected hemorrhaging. To be on the safe side, doctors give this booster to infants to prevent this from happening. (Read more at Suite101: Newborn Tests and Screenings: The Evaluation and Screening of Potential Newborn Health Risks http://infant-toddler-health.suite101.com/article.cfm/newborn_tests_and_screenings#ixzz0fd8Kx84w)

God doesn't make arbitrary rules.

So here are some - non arbitrary rules for you
Exodus 13
2 “Dedicate to me every firstborn among the Israelites. The first offspring to be born, of both humans and animals, belongs to me.”
12 you must present all firstborn sons and firstborn male animals to the Lord, for they belong to him. 13 A firstborn donkey may be bought back from the Lord by presenting a lamb or young goat in its place. But if you do not buy it back, you must break its neck. However, you must buy back every firstborn son.

14 “And in the future, your children will ask you, ‘What does all this mean?’ Then you will tell them, ‘With the power of his mighty hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, the place of our slavery. 15 Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, so the Lord killed all the firstborn males throughout the land of Egypt, both people and animals. That is why I now sacrifice all the firstborn males to the Lord—except that the firstborn sons are always bought back.’ 16 This ceremony will be like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. It is a reminder that the power of the Lord’s mighty hand brought us out of Egypt.”

(A brand - A mark - that sets all the Israelites apart from the rest of the world.)

Leviticus 23:9-10
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, 10 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest.

Let's skip ahead
John 1:29
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
1 Corinthians 15
20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

When we become Christians we are born again - we become sons and daughters of God.

Who was the first son of God? Jesus Christ Himself - and He was sacrificed - just as the Old Testament requires a first son to be. Jesus then is the firstborn among all Christians.

What does Jesus' death do for us?
Romans 8:1-4
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you[b] from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Jesus death removes the curse of sin - we are re-born - new creations in Christ - part of the lineage - the first born has been given, so the curse of sin is removed from the rest of the line - all Christians - and we are branded "PROPERTY OF GOD"

So back to the non-arbitrary rules -

Exodus 23:19
19 “As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the Lord your God.
and
Malachi 3:10
"10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.[a] Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 12 “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies."

Here it comes - Why? Why should I give a tithe (literally a tenth) of my hard earned money to a church? Can I give it to a poor person? Can I give it to some cause I like? I understand being grateful for all Christ has given me - but does it have to be 1/10? I have bills to pay - mouths to feed - surely God being loving and merciful understands that!

God does understand that - 100% - But Yes you have to give 1/10 and Yes you have to give it to the church/God - WHY? Because it removes the curse.

The Earth, since the days of Adam and Eve, has been under a curse - it has been under the curse of sin and it is ruled by Satan himself - look back at what obeying that Arbitrary rule about your sons did - it BRANDED them "GOD'S PROPERTY" God isn't the enemy here - Satan is - God WANTS to put HIS brand on ALL people - God wants everyone to be saved.

Here is the bad news
Malachi 1:14
14 “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations!

Malachi 3:8-9
8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!

“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’
“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me."

If you don't tithe - your stuff doesn't get branded "GOD'S" and so it is still under the curse - God doesn't protect your stuff, your money, your investments - because you won't let Him. Just like God doesn't arbitrarily save you - You have to accept the gift.

I know this is long - Part 2 is shorter. We have all read or heard - God loves a cheerful giver. I have often struggled with this. Sometimes you can obey what you see as an arbitrary rule - but it is often hard to be joyful about it. Understanding the curse helps - I don't think I will have a problem being a cheerful giver anymore - How can you be upset about removing the curse?

Amanda

Homeschool books for sale

2010-02-08T14:48:00.001-05:00

I have listed these books on Amazon as well so if you like you can order them through that website with a credit card. Some of the book pictures below say "click to see inside" you can do that on the Amazon site.

Here is the link to that site:

http://www.amazon.com/shops/agsill

I have the following books for sale and I will deliver them to you if you live in Newark, Heath, Licking Valley area or Granville - maybe other places too - just ask.
1.) Bob Jones Reading 1 Teachers Edition - this is a two book set and includes a CD Rom, I have not used the CD Rom - the books are in like new condition and have no writting, tears or creases - they are in very good condition. We purchased these items last year - New - from BJUPress.com, they are the latest edition. I am asking $35.00 for this set.

2.) I also have the 1st grade readers A-F these are also in like new condition, were purchased last year and are the newest edition - they have obviously been read but are free of any marks, tears or issues - the bindings are tight and they are in very nice shape. These readers are incremental - they start easy and get a little harder each lesson - they made reading a breeze for my first grader (Mason) last year. Each book is about 100 pages and include 15-20 individual stories. Some stories have comprehension questions at the end. While we used the reading work text, you really do not have to if you have both the teachers and the students books - I am asking $20.00 for this set of 6 student books - Sorry I can not split them up. If you want the teacher's books and the student books you can buy both sets for $50.00

3-9) I have several Bible Study books - These are geared towards elementary school aged kids - 1st -5th graders. These books are all in new condition (except John 1-10 which has the first 10 pages filled in) with tight binding, no marks, tears or creases. The excerpt from the book states "These Bible Studies are really fun! These Discover 4 Yourself Inductive Bible Studies for Kids - help you find out for yourself what the Bible is all about - and give you exciting ways to do it! These hands on books help teach the basic skills of Bible study and prepare for a lifetime of discovering God's word."

I really think you could use these books to teach a Sunday School Class, a Bible study class for kids or run an Awana type program. Each book is divided into chapters which are weeks - each book contains 6 weeks (5 days per week) of lessons, and each book is about 100-150 pages long. I am asking $8.00 each for them, except for the one that had a little writing - I would like $5.00 for that one.

Thanks for looking - you can email me at agsill@aol.com or leave comments here or check out my Amazon listings.

Thanks

Amanda

Staying Motivated to Homeschool

2010-01-24T22:50:00.000-05:00

This is the time of year when it is hard to stay motivated to homeschool.

It has been an especially rainy and somewhat gloomy day outside, it is winter and I think it got dark around 5:00pm? On top of that kids are somewhat out of the routine - only a few weeks out from Christmas and New Years - kids are hard to keep focused. Not only that, this is about the time of year when all those New Years Resolutions are nagging in the back of your brain. So what is a homeschool mom to do?

Here is some advice from a veteran Christian homeschooling friend of mine:

1. Stop with the "big goals" - broad goals are hard to define, hard to execute, and easy to beat yourself up over. Instead be steady. You already know the small steps it takes to get through a typical day - it isn't the grand gestures that are going to make homeschooling a success - it is the everyday, slow and steady routine that will get you to the ultimate goal - well schooled children.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

2. Focus on the positive - Can your child read well? or are they better at math? Praise the good subjects! Instead of being constantly critical of your students weaknesses - focus your energy instead on the subjects they are great at! Yes, you will have to teach that really hard subject, but don't make it the whole focus of any one day - or that day will be TERRIBLE, for both you and them. Try to tackle the hardest subjects in-between two favorites and refer back to the small steps - you can't learn math in one day - but you can discourage your child and create a wall of resistance in a single day.

Philippians 4

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

3. Take a day off once in a while - Public schools take 1 or 2 school days off every month. In January it is Martin Luther King Day, February is President's Day - some months there isn't a holiday at all, but school will still be out at least one day. These breaks are necessary to blow off steam and to keep you and your student fresh.

Ecclesiastes 3

13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

4. Keep to a routine - Aside from taking a day off once in a while it is important to keep to a daily routine. Your student needs a regular program so that they know what is expected of them, not only that but the teacher needs a routine, too. Why do I need a routine? Quite frankly there will be days when I do not feel like homeschooling - but having a routine will keeps me on auto pilot even on the days when I am tired, cranky, and just having an off day.

Proverbs 6

10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
Scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

5. Enlist some support - You know other homeschool moms, don't be embarrassed to reach out! You might find that they are struggling with the same issues you are - maybe they have some sage advice, and maybe they have a great coffee maker and a good ear - either way. You are not alone in this! Don't buy the lie that you have to be super mom, we are so much better when we stick together!

1 Thessalonians 5

10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Hang in there, You can do it!

Will we lose our right to parent our children?

2010-01-20T13:30:00.001-05:00

An Update from Michael Farris
19 January 2010

Dear Champion of Parental Rights,

In Minnesota, “Jaime” was shocked to learn she needed her 11-year-old daughter’s permission to access the daughter’s medical records or contact a physician about the girl’s health. The doctor hides behind a federal law as the justification for his action. “Lisa” in Colorado learned that “to protect the privacy” of a 9-year-old’s library records, government librarians refused to tell her what books her child had checked out (even though Lisa was being asked to pay the over-due book fine) – an experience shared by “Nicole” in Maryland.

These examples demonstrate the urgent need for the Parental Rights Amendment (PRA). Governments have an ever-increasing view of their power to deal directly with children in exclusion of the parent.

In the past year, we’ve seen the PRA introduced in both houses of Congress, securing 129 co-sponsors in the House and 6 in the U.S. Senate. We have built a grassroots network throughout the country that must continue to grow, fueling our support in Washington until the Amendment passes. We have communicated loudly to Ambassador Susan Rice and to the U.S. Senate that we do not want to see the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified. And we have built the behind-the-scenes infrastructure of our organization that has directed this growth and will see us through to ultimate victory.

All of this has been made possible by the generous support of donors willing to invest in this vital effort to preserve our children and their freedoms by enshrining our freedoms in the text of the Constitution.

Parents of 5-year-olds shouldn’t have to fight a doctor or dentist, because of federal privacy law, for the right to remain present while their child undergoes an examination or receives care. Yet we have received letters from “Megan” in California and from several others in different states who have faced just such a challenge.

Many others find educational freedom to be an even greater challenge. “Jenni and Dave” were frustrated when their Alabama school refused to move their son out of a classroom that contained a bully and an abusive teacher, even as their son’s school performance dropped. Sixteen-year-old “Kelly” in California was able to get a secret abortion because her public school released her without parental consent to have the procedure done. Mother “Monica” was shocked to learn about all of this when she accidentally received the bill.

Even home education is not without problems, as the “Nelson” family in New York learned. They were threatened with charges of educational neglect simply because they opted not to use the public school at all, though they followed the letter of the law to home educate their child from the very beginning.

If we are to protect these rights and see our success continue in 2010, we know we need to increase our reach. But reaching a wider audience will require more resources than we have had available so far. To meet this need, we are looking for members to support this vital effort.

Donors who give just $25 or more in 2010 will become official Parental Rights Members and receive two ParentalRights.Org decals and a pocket Constitution.

A Parental Rights Advocate is one who gives $100 or more in 2010. Advocates will receive an official PRO mug in recognition of your contribution.

Parental Rights Delegates give $500 or more over the course of the year, and will receive a bound portfolio embossed with the ParentalRights.org logo to show our appreciation.

Finally, Parental Rights Ambassadors are those who give $1000 or more in 2010. Ambassadors will receive, as a token of our appreciation, a bound portfolio embossed with the ParentalRights.Org logo and engraved with their name. Ambassadors will also be guaranteed a seat at our Victory Banquet when the Parental Rights Amendment is finally ratified in its thirty-eighth State, becoming a legal part of our Constitution.
These donations provide the funding to maintain and update our informative website; to send out email newsletters and alerts to more than 100,000 readers each week; to provide resources for local chapters and individual volunteers; to lobby Congress; to coordinate national lobby days and call-in days; to build relationships with and promote our cause among other national organizations; to spearhead Parental Rights resolutions at the State level; to provide up-to-date information and parental rights news from around the nation and around the world; and to provide the facilities and infrastructure necessary to support the only national parental rights organization in the country. No one else is doing what we do to halt ratification of the CRC and to preserve families by securing the Parental Rights Amendment.

Won’t you please click here and consider which one-time gift or monthly pledge is right for you? Our freedoms and those of future generations depend on your generosity and our mutual commitment to persevere until parental rights – and our children’s futures - are secure.

Thank you for all you have done and are doing to secure the Parental Rights Amendment. We thank you, too, for your generous consideration of this need. Together, we are protecting children by empowering parents to make the best, most loving decisions for their sakes.

Gratefully yours,

Michael P. Farris, J.D.
President, ParentalRights.org

If you have not yet signed the petition and joined the Parental Rights mailing list,
please click here to do so now.

Homeschoolers Unite - jk

2010-01-07T20:55:00.001-05:00

I am really blessed to be a part of an AWESOME homeschool co-op. I must say that there are several support groups in the area that offer "Mom's night out" and other group activites and general support, as good and needed as these are, this is not the same thing as a co-op.

A co-op is where homeschoolers come together to share their gifts and talents so that everyone in the group is blessed. Our co-op meets once per week and offers all the little extra things that are required by the state - like music, art, pe and fire prevention in the spring - and MANY more classes that you might just want a little help with. All of the teachers are moms - just like you - and anything offered is designed to supplement what you are doing at home.

So what is offered?

PE and Health Education - all ages
Mystery of History Vol 2 - 1st -4th grade
Mystery of History Vol 2 - 5th - 8th grade
Kids Chior - with service opportunity in the spring 1st -6th grade
Guitar lessons - all ages - cost $7.00 for a 1 hour group lesson (typically 4-5 people in a group)
Creative Witting - 4th -6th grade
IEW (English and compisition) 7th -9th grades
IEW (English and composition) 10th -12th grades
1st -3rd science - Astronomy Apologia
4th - 6th science - Swimming Creatures - Apologia
Physical Science - Apologia - 7th and 9th grades, possibly older kids too?
Spanish for jr high and high school age (some small cost - not sure exactly what)
Art - all ages
Preschool program that runs while the classes are running

Our co-op meets from 8:30am - 2:30pm.
We start with 1/2 hour devotional
then run 3 - 1 hour classes
followed by 1/2 hour lunch
and then 2 more 1 hour classes.

Anyone is welcome to attend, however teacher moms are required to agree with a statement of faith and must have pastoral and personal referrals.

I just can't say enough about what a BLESSING this has been to my family and how wonderful it has been to meet with like minded homeschoolers!!!

If you are interested in joining this group now is a great time because our second semester begins January 25th - classes will be at a great place to jump right in.
Joining the co-op costs $20.00 and a few classes ask that you purchase supplies.

One of my sons list of supplies for all classes included:
3 - 3 ring folders
loose leaf paper
pencils
colored pencils
crayons
markers
paintbrushes
ruler
2 old water bottles filled with beans or rice for weights
an old towel
2 books to be shared by 3 kids - 24.00 for both

If you are interested, or just want more information - email me agsillin@yahoo.com

Homeschoolers unite =)

Amanda

Happy New Year

2010-01-02T01:21:00.000-05:00

How fitting a quiet time for New Year's Day

James 2:
14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

Faith here I think it is talking about what I believe in my heart - actual faith - and how I let my beliefs become good intentions, and my good intentions become inaction, replaced by the business of the day, a moment of self indulgence, and an "I deserve it" attitude.

I was listening to Charles Stanley the other night talk about how Christians have perverted worship(worship being living a life focused on God's will and living every moment of every day to that end) to be all about themselves - I think that is the real trap - the "I deserve it" line. Self esteem replacing esteeming others more highly, self- reliance replacing dependence upon God's grace

18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.[f] Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”[g] He was even called the friend of God.[h] 24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.

This is a hard concept to grasp and I always had trouble with it until a few years ago. We don't earn our salvation - Ephesians 2 - and we are saved by grace - yet we do not sin so that grace may abound - Romans 8 - so then how does James jive with the rest of the Bible.
Surrender - what was the one thing that Abraham wanted more than anything else in the world? A son, yet when God asked he was willing to give that up, to please God - his actions were an outward reflection of an inward attitude of servanthood. Surrender is really really hard. I would like to believe that when I surrender something to God he will actually let me keep it anyways - like Abraham and Isaac - BUT in reality - surrender means I will let it go even if it is taken away, because it is what my God wants, my obedience, my surrender to His will in my life.

The cool part of all that is that I don't serve some sadistic jerk in the sky - I serve The One True God - and He wants what is ultimately best for me, by giving up I gain confidence, I gain clarity, I gain reliance on God, and God gives me more and more grace - to continue to grow and serve Him.

His grace allows me to come to Him, allows me to turn over any stronghold in my life, and gives me the strength and peace to keep going even though even the hardest times.

If that isn't cause for a Happy New Year - I don't know what is.
Thank you God for Your mercy and for Your unceasing goodness to me. I do not deserve it, I can not earn it - and You give it anyways.
Thank You.

John 19:17-27

2009-12-10T22:27:00.000-05:00

So they took Jesus away. 17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). 18 There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 And Pilate posted a sign over him that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.

21 Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’”

22 Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So that is what they did.

25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.

The priest had just finished saying that they have no king but Caesar and then turns around and says - "I am the king of the Jews" take the sign down.

Are you kidding me - I guess it just reveals the heart of this man - his entire plot was over his jealousy about Jesus - this man wanted the sole admiration and respect of people so much that he would kill to get it. I wonder if he knew that Jesus was the Son of God - I think that he had to have known, what a hypocrite.

Three things about this -
A - I think there are a lot of people who want admiration, respect and acceptance more than anything else on earth.

B- I don't want to be a hypocrite - I will say things like - those people judge me unfairly, and they are stuck up - but then I am judging their motives and avoid them so what does that make me? I once had a teacher tell me that you can not pretend to know another person's motives - to do so it to presume you are on the same level as God. Ouch.

C - The only way out of this is to be humble - it would be better to be an unappreciated servant, than the man who kneels at the altar thinking - I'm so glad I am not as bad as all these other sinners.

It is really hard for me to love people. I look at this passage and I think - how is it that you could command all of Heaven's armies - and give that up to live a poor humble life, because you love people so much. Then to have those same people beat you, spit on you and kill you out of jealousy for the crappy life you have now. That just demonstrates how much God loves me, that He would do that for me is beyond my understanding.
I think it is necessary to love people - but I also think it is necessary to be humble - love is a feeling - I think humility is the action. Sometimes you have to do something until you feel like it is the right thing - I think this is one of those things.

Amanda

Free Stuff

2009-12-09T12:44:00.000-05:00

I occationally visit a blog that offers freebies - they recently posted about two free audio books

Just an FYI

December’s free audio book download at SimplyAudioBooks is ”A Child’s Christmas” featuring five classic Christmas stories. The offer can be found here about halfway down the page.

ChristianAudio.com is offering a free download of the audio book “The Brother’s Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Use the coupon code DEC2009.

Just thought I would pass this along =]

White knuckles

2009-11-29T20:22:00.001-05:00

I am a White knuckle flyer - as a passenger on an airplane it means I am clinging to my seat for dear life.

Lets think about that for a second - is my strangle hold on the arm rest going to keep that plan in the sky? Is my terrified, jaw clenching, eyes squeezed shut expression going to help us get to our destination? Probably not- in fact it will probably just freak out the other passengers around me, they might even start to wonder if they should be holding on for dear life too.

If salvation is based on grace by faith - not of works (Ephesians 2:9) Then what about the rest of the ride - is it my job to keep the plane in the air? Is it my job to work work work to get to be a better person? Or is that sanctification also the act of Christ and all my working about as helpful as me clinging to the armrests in a 747?

I think it is a little bit of both - I have to have the desire, the willingness to surrender to Christ's will in my life - but after that point I do not think that it is my job to make a list of good goals, promises, and routines to keep me on my way to a front row seat in Heaven - I honestly think that is about as helpful as my white knuckles on an airplane - no help at all. Ephesians 2:10 says God saved me so that I could do the good things HE had planned for me long ago.

Ephesians is actually a really good book for this subject because it clearly illustrates the need to obey and the complete dependence on Christ that we have.

Ephesians 4:21-23
21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, -22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

My job is to let the Spirit work in my life. An ongoing remodel that is never quite finished - my job is not to keep all the things checked off my own personally satisfying, front row sitting, good rep building, redemption checklist - it is instead to surrender to, and completely focus on God's will.

Why do the apostle's lives look so amazing to us? How did they sit in jail cells and call for their manuscripts to finish a life's work? How did they endure beatings, sing while in chains, witness to jailers, encourage others and live lives worth our remembering?
The had surrendered to the purpose of God in their lives - not what they thought it should be, but what it was - and it completely transformed them -they did not rely on their own works, their own goody goody checklists, or their own ideas. Ephesians talks about one of the "checklist" goals of that time - circumcision - and Paul addresses it as completely unneeded and worthless.
So as I imagine Paul waiting in his cell to die, knowing the day comes soon, I do not hear him singing I wait for God - but I hear I wait with God. Waiting, with Him, for His plans to be accomplished. Paul is under no disillusion that his life is his own, or that his good goals will save him, instead he writes Ephesians 5:10 "Carefully determine what pleases the Lord" and 5:17 "Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do."

Admitting Sin -Surrendering to God's salvation
Accepting His purpose - Receiving His sustaining strength
Allowing Him to do all the work - Sanctification

Working on your own - eternity in hell
Picking "good" goals and working towards them - exaustion and exile
Working to be a "better" person (aka sinner) - wandering in the desert until you die

My death grip on the arm rest isn't going to help fly the plane, so maybe I better realize that I am a passenger - and let the Pilot worry about the flying.

Amanda

Charm is fleeting and beauty fades

2009-11-24T13:52:00.002-05:00

I read something this morning that turned my stomach - I thought - I can not be reading this right, there must be some mistake. But after further investigation I found there was no mistake, a "Christian" book teaching young women to focus on outward beauty, even body measurements and a caloric guide (with a few chapters at the end that throw in gossip and communication, conflict resolution via "breaking fellowship" - are you kidding me!!!)
A good Christian girl taught to live the lies of the world - that charm, poise, and body size can be used as power over other people. You will feel superior and look superior, so your ideas will be given more consideration and you will be able to bait a good husband. This book actually acknowledges that this is the way of the world "fair or unfair".
While I am not naive enough to believe that this is untrue - I thought we were supposed to be teaching our children to be Godly adults - to work at this so they will not stumble as we have- not how to water down truth with a way to wield power and fit in with the world. I was so disappointed when I read this - but on a good note - it explains so much!
I am not a mother of daughters, but I am a mother of sons - and I plan to buy that book and read it to them so that they know just what to watch out for and when to RUN the other way!!!!!

So this came to mind

10 Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
She is more precious than rubies.
11 Her husband can trust her,
and she will greatly enrich his life. (she is honest)
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life. (she is loyal)

13 She finds wool and flax
and busily spins it. (she looks for ways to serve)
14 She is like a merchant’s ship,
bringing her food from afar. (she is resourceful)
15 She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household
and plan the day’s work for her servant girls. (she is dedicated)

16 She goes to inspect a field and buys it;
with her earnings she plants a vineyard. (she is a good money manager)
17 She is energetic and strong,
a hard worker.
18 She makes sure her dealings are profitable;
her lamp burns late into the night. (she goes the extra mile)

19 Her hands are busy spinning thread,
her fingers twisting fiber. (she is always working for her family)
20 She extends a helping hand to the poor
and opens her arms to the needy. (she is merciful and generous)
21 She has no fear of winter for her household,
for everyone has warm clothes. (she is prepared)

22 She makes her own bedspreads. (she is industrious)
She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. ( she is like royalty, with all her hard work her husband adores her)
23 Her husband is well known at the city gates,
where he sits with the other civic leaders. (behind every good man....)
24 She makes belted linen garments
and sashes to sell to the merchants. (she is come up in the world, because of her dedication)

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity,
and she laughs without fear of the future.
26 When she speaks, her words are wise,
and she gives instructions with kindness.
27 She carefully watches everything in her household
and suffers nothing from laziness.

28 Her children stand and bless her.
Her husband praises her:
29 “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
but you surpass them all!”

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
31 Reward her for all she has done.
Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

Not once does this mention her "poise" or how she should cross her legs at the ankle, how she should have good posture, learn to speak enticements without being obvious, or focus her attention on beauty- there is however another section of Proverbs that does address this!

1) FLATTERY--She "flatters with her words" (Proverbs 2:16). "Her mouth is smoother than oil" (Proverbs 5:3). See also Proverbs 7:21; 6:24 and compare Proverbs 22:14. She uses "sweet talk." She draws people to herself with nice, inviting language. She has charm to her voice ( I am sure it is not deep or gravely- that was expressly mentioned in the book) and her words pull a man to herself as a magnet.

2) BEAUTY--This woman is outwardly beautiful (Proverbs 6:24-25). She is attractive to the eyes. While there is nothing wrong with dressing discreetly and attractively - there is something wrong with it if the motive is to attract and attain approval from men or from the world.
3) LOCATION--This woman knows where to locate herself so as to be most effective(see Proverbs 7:11-12). A skilled fisherman needs to know where to drop his line. To catch mice you need to know where to place the mousetrap. This woman knows where to place herself.
4) DECORATIONS--This woman knows how to decorate herself and her surroundings (Proverbs 7:10,16,17). She must look attractive, and this is done by clothes, perfumes, make-up, etc. All of this is done to draw attention to herself and wield power over others. In contrast, the believing woman is concerned about MODESTY (1 Timothy 2:9). She gives careful thought to what she should wear and how she should dress. She knows that she is not to be conformed to the world’s standards (Rom. 12:2), and must set aside many of the popular attitudes and fashions of the day. At the same time she ought to display good taste in the clothing she wears, not drawing attention to herself with extremism in either direction: The message that comes from the life and witness of a modest and humble believing woman is this: "Look at Christ living in me (Gal. 2:20). I belong to the Son of God." Such a woman is rare (Proverbs 31:10). On the other hand, by her attitudes, manipulations and dress (or lack of dress) the immodest, and haughty woman is saying, "Look at me! I am so much sweeter! Look at what I offer!"

5) ARRANGEMENTS--This woman tries to make all the necessary arrangements so that people will think they can spend time with her and get away with it. See Proverbs 7:14 and 7:19-20. This idea is something like this: "It’s all arranged. It’s all set up. No one will ever know that you were with me. You can do it and get away with it and you will not suffer any ill effects or bad consequences. Everything has been taken care of; there is nothing to worry about and there is no reason why you should not do this!"

6) THE FINAL INVITATION--See Proverbs 7:18,21 and Proverbs 9:16-17. By now she is irresistible. She has a man right where she wants him. Now she moves in for the kill!

Lord,
Please help the parents of this generation to see through the lies of the world and surround themselves with the Truth of Your Word. Please help us to not place our focus on manipulations and worldly power, beauty and charm - but on the things of Your world with Your perspective. Please guide Drason and I in raising sons who can see through the manipulations and poise of a girl whose heart has been deceived and help us to give them perspective so that they might live to glorify You. Amen

Relational

2009-11-20T01:13:00.001-05:00

I found this online tonight and thought I would share it. It is rare to find such a contrast from a Christian perspective and I was happy to see it. The Bible is a relational book - it is about God's relationship with me from the day of creation, until the "end of the age". The Bible addresses our relationships continually - in fact the two greatest commandments are relational "Love God, Love Others", The Bible covers relationships from every angle. Husbands and wives, parents and children, employer and employee, shepherd to sheep, peers, Christians, non- Christians, friends, enemies - YOU NAME IT - it is in there when it comes to our relationships. This was a good reminder for me, I hope it blesses and challenges you as well.

"There are many contrasts between healthy and unhealthy relationships. Taken together they chart a continuum between the secular model and the biblical model. Understanding these contrasts can help us understand how healthy relationships work – and how we can grow toward them as part of the recovery process.

A healthy heart can enter into healthy relationships. Healthy relationships are central to recovery from sin and shame. Recovery without healthy relationships only perpetuates the sinful self-obsession that led to a sin addiction in the first place. In recovery we must learn to shift our focus, thus becoming free to share intimacy with others.

A healthy heart involved in healthy relationships fosters the precise opposite of sin - it fosters genuine love and spiritual growth. Sin maintains a secret life marked by fear and control. Genuine love, on the other hand, is marked by openness, trust, and the freedom to give oneself to another.

"1. Reality vs. Fantasy. Healthy relationships are based in reality. Each person is aware of his own strengths and weaknesses. There is no need to hide or to try to fool the other. Each person is also aware of the other’s strengths and weaknesses. There is no need to pretend that problems don’t exist or to tiptoe around “unmentionable” areas. If the partner is weak in some area, he or she accepts it and helps accommodate or strengthen it.

Unhealthy relationships, by contrast, are based on fantasy. What could be or should be replaces what is. The elements of unreality become the focus. The relationship is built on a foundation that isn’t really there.

2. Completing vs. Finding Completion. In a healthy relationship, each person finds joy in sharing in the other person’s growth, in playing a role in “completing” the other.

In an unhealthy relationship the focus is on completing oneself. This selfish dynamic is at the heart of codependency. Too many people fling half a person into a relationship, expecting that it will be completed by the other. It never works. No one can ever meet such expectations. It is only a matter of time until substitutes are sought – either in the form of other relationships or in the form of dysfunctional and addictive behaviors.

3. Friendship vs. Victimization. A healthy relationship can be described as two good friends becoming better friends. The strongest and most successful relationships – even the most passionate and romantic marriages – have this kind of true friendship at the base. Where this base of true friendship is absent, the relationship is shallow and susceptible to being marked by victimization.

4. Sacrifice vs. Demand for Sacrifice. Few of the magazines that clutter the checkout counters of grocery stores publish articles extolling the joys of sacrifice. But no relationship can grow without it. Unfortunately, most of us are more accustomed to demanding sacrifice from our partner than to sacrificing our selves.

It’s one thing to love another when the going is easy. But character and depth are wrought in a relationship when love requires the surrender of preference and privilege. Nothing strengthens a relationship like sacrifice. Indeed, it often seems that the greater the sacrifice, the more thorough the death to self, the greater the potential for the relationship.

Our relationship with God requires sacrifice. His relationship with us required nothing less than the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ. Building a relationship – or restoring one that has been ravaged by the effects of sin – depends on the willingness of both parties to sacrifice for each other, without demanding anything in return.

5. Forgiveness vs. Resentment. Forgiveness is a miraculous gift between two people. A relationship flourishes when we are willing to forgive past hurts and disappointments. Refusing to forgive is like carrying around a garbage bag full of hurts of the past. Every time someone makes a mistake, we toss it into the bag and carry it with us forever.

There are no garbage bags in healthy relationships. Out of love, the partners take the hurt and disappointment of the past and burn it up in the flames of forgiveness. What greater gift can we give someone than to set them free from the weight of their mistakes? When we unlock others from a past they cannot correct, we free them to become all they can become, and we free our relationships to become all they can becomes as well.

6. Security vs. Fear. Security is a rare commodity in our world. Often people come from such insecure childhoods they can only hope that their adult life will include a relationship that allows them to rest in the arms of someone who really cares. So much of life is lived on the edge of risk, we feel an overwhelming need for at least one relationship to make us feel safe.

The Bible says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18). When we shift from trying to use others to satisfy our security needs to trying to meet the security needs of others, we find ourselves in a new dimension. We are focusing on their needs, not ours. We are filling their doubts and fears with the reassurance of our consistent behavior. We calm their fears by being reliable. We become, in a word, loving: other-focused and totally selfless. That is the kind of love that drives out fear and provides genuine security.

7. Vulnerability vs. Defensiveness. In a secure environment, a person is free to open up and be vulnerable. It is wonderful to be vulnerable, to do an emotional free fall and have someone there to catch you. That delightful taste of vulnerability enables you to open up even more, discover more about who you are, appreciate all the good that God has created in you.

In a relationship characterized by fear, just the opposite happens. There is a need to build up a wall of defensiveness. If you do not protect yourself, after all, you will be violated, robbed of your identity, controlled, or smothered. The dynamics of defensiveness lead to death rather than to life and growth.

8. Honesty vs. Deception. There is no way to build a lasting, healthy relationship on a foundation of dishonesty. Honesty must be at the core of a relationship; there is no substitute for it. It is fashionable in our day to paper over unpleasant truth. We deceive those we love, rationalizing that keeping secrets is really for their good."

Virtually all sin is maintained under the cover of some sort of deception, which eventually is woven into a vast tapestry of lies and cover-ups. Dishonesty is a very hard habit to break. One of the main functions of the Church is the accountability it provides, holding up the standard of open communication and truthfulness. Without accountability, trust and the restoration of intimacy in relationships is impossible.

Amanda

Respite often equals focus

2009-11-12T14:54:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it is good to have a period of respite, time to clear the mind and focus the heart on what is really important.

I have heard Pastor Noel use this illustration quite often -
Imagine a beautiful painting - if you focused in on a 1 inch square of that painting it might look like nothing - it might look like everything - but by keeping our focus on the entire painting you gain perspective. God's work is like a painting - we need to keep our focus large - not small.

Small perspective leads to narrow mindedness - singleness of purpose, but not in a good way. We need to watch out for this, and stop this from happening whenever we can.

For example - singleness of purpose says we need to clean the house. Yes we should keep neat and tidy homes - but what good does that do if you never mow the lawn?

People aren't going to come into your clean house, if they have to beat their way through the weeds to get there.

True purpose - God purpose - says, don't neglect the house - but don't neglect the yard either – in fact don't neglect the neighborhood, the city, the state, the country.

Would you visit a house at night in a criminal neighborhood? In a very dangerous city? In a communist state? Of course not!

By the way - who enjoys a clean house? The people who live there? or the people who need to live there but can't get past the weeds to get in the front door?
So then the question becomes how do you "mow the lawn"? How do you fix up your neighborhood? How do you clean up your city?

Ministry - pockets of Christians (some might even call them small groups) OUTSIDE of the house.

Homeschool co-ops
Community health clinics
Community help centers (heartbeats, look-up center)
Connecting with other like minded churches to offer Community Seminars
Kid focused community activities (VBS and Upwards)
Volunteering in shelters or jails
Back to School supplies and Christmas toy drives
Food drives
Community friendly lessons - sharing skills (music lessons, ballet, karate)

Some people will read this and completely agree and some will read this and completely disagree -

Is that because one is right and one is wrong? NOPE!

Is it because one is holy and one is not? NOPE!

Is it because one or both are the much dreaded "trouble-maker" ? NOPE!

It is because we each, every member of the body of Christ, have a specific and usable gift, and we see purpose in using our gifts - we will identify areas where our gifts would be useful.
People who focus on serving the inside of the church might have a gift that speaks to them in that way - they use it to serve inside the church walls.
People who focus more on serving outside of the church probably have a gift that they see as being most effective in that arena.
The problem comes when everyone either starts trying to, or allows themselves to be confined to use their gift in the same place - either in or out. You wind up with many people who want to serve and can't find a place where they fit, or many people who are unhealthy in "defending" their territory (that they call ministry) You create rivalry and strife ( imagine too many cats stuffed in a box.)
How do you fix this?

Generally people find other likeminded people, through the direction of the Holy Spirit, and they start a Work that glorifies God (not men.) They stop playing the lethal political games and they follow the beat of the Drummer, the beat of the moving, growing, living Christ.

The other part of a Spiritual gift is that it is needed, God didn't accidentally give you a sense of purpose, if you fail to use your gift, for any reason - even when it seems your talents are not wanted or appreciated - you defy God, and you live in constant sin. If you refuse another believer the chance to use their gifts - (aka - defend your territory) you sin, and you cause them to sin as well.

Respite often equals focus.

In case you didn't notice the comments are turned back on - and your comments will be posted (anonymous comments will not be accepted)

Dead peasants

2009-10-24T13:01:00.001-04:00

If you learned that 1 of 10 people in your circle would die this year, and you could even say which person specifically was likely die - What would you do?

I learned about something disgusting last night - it turned my stomach to hear it - it made me want to howl to the rafters about the injustice in the world!

This may not be news to most of you - but it was news to me - to learn that companies purchase life insurance on their employees. At first that doesn't sound too bad - I can see insuring the CEO of a blue chip company because his death could result in the loss of millions for that company - what I can't understand is why you would insure, without their knowledge or consent, someone who works in the wal-mart bakery, someone who sweeps floors for a living, someone who is the "rank and file" employee.

Why would you do this? To make a profit,

Every year a certain number of working people will die - if you look at how many people in your nationwide company died last year - then you can use a mathmatical equation to figure out how many people will most probably die this year - you can also factor in things like social station (a janitor vs a manager) who typically leads a healthier life, what employees have health insurance, the stress of a job - and so narrow down the pool of your employees to a smaller group contianing those most likely to die.
Lets say you did all this math and you came up with a group of 50,000 employees (out of 500,000 total employees )- that would most likely die in the next year, as a responsible citizen what would you do?
Would you
A- try to help these people by providing insurance, free medical clinics, doctors and nurses to talk to to try to help this person, maybe even a few more days of vacation time to spend with their families?
B - buy a $1,500,000.00 life insurance policy on them and do nothing

What is even more sickening if the fact that many of these companies may have even contributed to the death of their employee. If your employer requires you to work longer hours, more shifts, and piles more and more responsibility on you - all the while telling you that he knows 10 people who would love to have your job (this is happening to a friend of ours) and then you die of a heart attack - did that employer knowingly contribute to your death?
What if your employer refuses to offer health insurance, and knowing that people who do not have health insurance typically don't go to the doctor as often, even when they are sick - buys an insurance policy on you. That year catch the flu - and don't go to the doctor - and you die - did they knowingly act in an irresponsible manner which contributed to your death?

Why can't I buy insurance on someone else house? Because then I would have a vested interest in that person's house burning down - it would be to my gain if they lost their home.

Which employers bought policies on the lives of employees?

Because a company’s purchase of insurance policies is not a public record, it is virtually impossible to know every company that invested in policies on employees’ lives. These policies are termed "dead peasant" policies because they insure the "rank and file" not the company executives. If your employer is on the list below - don't worry, you can ask them if they have such a policy on you - but they do not have to answer - because insurance lobbiests have persuaded our congress to make such dealings strictly confidential - especially from the peasants.
The following companies are believed to have been the beneficiary of these types of life insurance policies on employees:

ADAC Laboratories

Advanced Telecommunication Corp.

Aeroquip Vickers Inc.

Alabama Power Co.

Alfa Corp.

Allegheny Technologies Inc.

Allergan Inc.

Allfirst Financial Inc.

Amegy Bank, N.A.

American Business Products, Inc.

American Electric Power

American Express Co.

American Greetings Corp.

American Management Systems Inc.

American Seafoods Group LLC

Ameritech Corp.

Amerus Group Co.

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

Appalachian Power Co.

Arch Chemical

Aristech Chemical Corp.

AT&T Communications

Atlantic Richfield Co.

Avery Dennison Corp

Avon Products Inc.

B. F. Goodrich Company

Ball Corporation

Bank Boston

Bank Of America

Bank One Corp.

Barnett Banks Inc.

Bassett Furniture Industries Inc.

Be Aerospace Inc.

Bear Stearns Companies

Bellsouth Corporation

Boise Cascade Corp.

Boston Company

Boston Federal

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

Camelot Music, Inc.

Carolina Power & Light Co.

Carpenter Technology Corp.

Catskill Financial Corp.

Central Power & Light Co.

Ch2m Hill Companies Ltd.

Charming Shoppes, Inc.

Checkfree Corp.

Chemical Banking Corporation

Citibank, N.A.

Citizens Bank

Clark Inc.

Clorox Company

CNF Inc.

Coca-Cola Company

Columbus Southern Power Co.

Commercial Intertech Corp.

Compass Bank (Florida & Alabama)

Computer Technology Associates Inc.

Consolidated Natural Gas Co.

Consolidated Rail Corporation

Cox Enterprises, Inc.

CTA Inc.

Cymer Inc.

Diamond Shamrock Inc.

Diebold Inc.

Dime Bancorp Inc.

Dow Chemical

Earle M. Jorgensen Co.

Eastman Kodak Company

Eaton Corp.

ECC Capital Corp.

Enserch Corp.

F&M Bancorp

FiberMark Inc.

Figgie International Inc.

Fina Oil & Chemical Company

First Bank System Inc.

First Commonwealth

First Midwest Bancorp Inc.

Fleet Bank

FleetBoston Financial Corp.

Flightsafety International Inc.

Frontier Bank

Fulton Financial Corp.

GATX Corporation

Georgia Power Co.

GNC Corp.

Great Plains Energy Inc.

GTE Corporation

Gulf Power Co.

HCR Manor Care Inc

Hechinger Company

Heritage Commerce Corp.

Herman Miller Inc.

Hershey Foods Corporation

Hillenbrand Industries, Inc.

Hosiery Corporation of America

Houghton Mifflin

Household Finance

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc.

Hughes Supply Inc

ICI Americas, Inc.

Idaho Power Company

IKON Office Solutions Inc.

Indiana Michigan Power Co.

Integra Bank Corp.

Intermark Inc.

Iowa First Bancshares Corp.

Iroquois Bancorp Inc.

J Jill Group Inc.

JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Kansas City Power & Light

Kansas Gas & Electric Co.

Keithley Instruments Inc.

Kentucky Power Co.

Keycorp Ohio

Kimberly Clark

Korn Ferry International

Laser Master Int’l. Inc.

Linens N Things Inc.

LKQ Corp.

Louisiana Pacific Corp.

Manor Care Inc.

Marriott International Inc.

McDonnell Douglas Corp.

Media General Inc.

Medicalcontrol Inc.

Menasha Corporation

MidAmerican Energy Co.

Miix Group Inc.

Mississippi Power Co.

MNC Financial Inc.

Mueller Industries Inc.

National City Corporation

NationsBank

Nestle Enterprises

Norfolk Southern Corp.

Norfolk Southern Railway Co.

Northern States Power Co.

Ohio Power Co.

Old National

Olin Corporation

Owens & Minor Inc.

PacifiCorp

Panera Bread Co.

Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company

Parker Hannifin Corp.

Penn Treaty American Corp.

Penns Woods Bancorp Inc.

Phibro Animal Health Corp.

Philipp Brothers Chemicals Inc.

Phoenix Companies Inc.

Pinnacle Financial Services Inc.

Portland General Electric

Potlatch Corporation

PPG Industries

Procter & Gamble Company

PSS World Medical Inc.

Public Service Co. of New Mexico

Public Service Co. of Oklahoma

Public Service Enterprise Group

Questech Inc.

R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company

Ruddick Corp.

Ryder System Inc.

Sallie Mae (Stud Ln Mktg Assoc.)

Savannah Electric & Power Co.

Sequa Corp.

Service Merchandise Co., Inc.

Shearson Mortgage

Sherwin-Williams

Sky Chefs

Smart & Final Inc.

Smith Barney

Sonoco Products Co.

Southwest Bank

Southwest Water Co.

Southwestern Bell Corp.

Southwestern Electric Power Co.

Southwestern Public Service Co.

Star Banc Corp.

Stauffer Management Company

Steelcase Inc.

Sturgis Bancorp Inc.

Summit Bank of N.J.

Swank, Inc.

Tellabs Inc.

Tenet Healthcare Corp.

Texas Eastern Transmission Corp.

Tompkins Trustco Inc.

TXU Corp.

TYCO International

UniFirst Corp.

Union Bank

United National Bancorp

Urocor Inc.

Vineyard National Bancorp

W. R. Grace & Company

Wachovia Corporation

Walgreen Company

Wal-Mart Stores

Walt Disney

Wang’s International, Inc.

Wells Fargo, N.A.

West Coast Bancorp

West Texas Utilities Co.

Westar Energy Inc.

Western Aire Chef Inc

Western Resources, Inc.

Westpoint Pepperell

Winn Dixie

Winnebago Industries Inc.

Woolworth Corporation

Xcel Energy Inc.

York Water Co.

Zale Corp.

****The contents of this blog are the writters opinion and may or may not be based on fact. Reading this blog is for enjoyment purposes only.

Off the Adult Menu

2009-10-12T21:05:00.000-04:00

We had Breakfast/Lunch at Bob Evans yesterday after church - it was packed out! So we finally get a table and of course everyone is starving, and the boys immediately begin to confer among themselves as to what to order. After several minutes of working out the details they present us with the plan - and it involves all three of them eating off the adult menu. As a mom- I really felt old at that moment - it is odd to think of my boys all being old enough to want to order off the adult menu. Since they were splitting a meal it was a bit cheaper, but it was still hard to hear that they wanted normal pancakes and not the cute little kids silver dollar ones with the whip cream smile. Anyways
This is reminding me of something else I heard lately - again and again I seem to hear this- so maybe it is what I need to hear.

From 3 verses - 3 steps to help focus on godly living
1 - What is your goal?
2 - How do you treat others?
3 - Who are you pleasing?

It helps to work these through and then work them backwards so let me give an example
Jill is 35 - married with 2 kids in school. She is a Christian.

Jill wants to get ahead - she has a good job and she wants to be sure to make a good impression on others so that she will be promoted - Her goal is - Get Promoted

She treats others in what she expects is a fair manner - if they can help her achieve her goal she is very friendly and outgoing, she will go out of her way to please her superiors and while she does not gossip, she uses office politics to get ahead as she can - she also avoids people who are unpopular for any reason - She treats others - With a singular purpose - in order to use them to accomplish her goal.

Jill spends time learning the likes and dislikes of her higher - ups and many hours working on special pet projects - Jill is pleasing Herself and Her employer

There is nothing wrong with Jill wanting to be promoted, doing a good job at work, even avoiding those who might stir up trouble - and there is nothing wrong with pleasing her employer or even herself. What should Jill's goal be?

Let me say here that this is just an example - only Christ knows what Jill - who is a fictitious person - should be setting her sights on - but to continue this example I'll work this out backwards.

God's plan for Jill starts with her family - Jill's husband feels like Jill has time for everyone but him. Jill's children go to church on Sunday - but during the week they are bombarded with secular images at school and at home. Because both Jill and her husband work they are both tired in the evenings and allow the kids to make their choices about many things because they are simply too tired to be involved any further in their children's lives. God wants Jill to serve her family - even though this is not what she wants for herself.

This will start with Jill pleasing God with her choices rather than herself or her boss at work - it may mean not being involved in the pet projects which will cause her to lose her popular status, and she may even become - gasp- one of those people who she would not have associated with before because she will not be popular - in fact people will probably say "What happened to Jill? She used to be such a go getter - it is such a pity."

But because of these small changes Jill begins to please God and winds up also pleasing her husband - who feels wanted and needed by her new attention and she pleases her children who are struggling to find themselves in a lost world. Jill - surprising even herself - finds that she is happy with the changes and pleases herself because of the new closeness with her husband and focus on her children.

Jill treats people better - she realizes that some of the people she was avoiding at work - are really a lot like her - many have similar views and are not popular because they have also made choices to put God's will first in their lives - this causes Jill to be more bold with her testimony - first with the other Christians she discovered and then with the very people she used to hold in such high regard. She never would have thought to share her faith with them before for fear of being shunned and labeled a trouble maker. She is actually treating everyone in her workplace better - because she is finally caring about their souls - more than her advancement.

Jill's goal changes - she no longer desires a promotion - instead she desires to do a good job at the job she has been given - she sees her job as more than the 9-5 at work - but also sees her job as a wife and mother as important. Jill is happier, and lives a more balanced, satisfying and God pleasing life.

Want to know what your goal is? What do you worry about, what is on your mind 3 or 4 times a day, what do you spend your time and money on? These are your goals even if they are not what you intended.

I tend to not have Jill's problem as Jill does - I can say - ____________________ is my goal and I can tell you how it was picked to please God - BUT

In truth a goal that I picked to please God might not be the goal that He has for me.

One recent idea was regarding Grandpa Keen possibly moving in with us - his health isn't the best and we would love to have him here. - This goal seems "good"

But talk it through

How will this affect how I treat people? It will most definitely affect relationships with our extended family - they may or may not approve - I will need to be able to treat them well, even if they do not treat me very nicely. We really should sit down with everyone and discuss this - not just us decide - that is how I would want to be treated. This will affect how I have time for Drason and the boys - if Grandpa needs care, I will be the one to provide it for the most part - it will affect everyday from homeschool to ball practices to date night.

Who does it please - It pleases Grandpa - he wants very much to live with family he is very lonely and he is having health problems. It pleases me - I feel as though I will be repaying an obligation to him - he cared for me - I should care for him. Does it please God? I didn't even think to ask - of course such a noble well intentioned goal would please God -right?

Some people won't fall into a Jill situation - they will fall into a good idea vs. a God idea - And the difference is life and death. A good idea says good works outweighing bad should attain heaven - but Christ says - none come to the Father except through me.

Harsh example - but very true - how many good people have good ideas, but no clue about Christ? It really brings back the point that the steps of a righteous man are directed by the Lord.

A good reminder for me.

Clarification

2009-09-17T23:14:00.001-04:00

First off,
If my previous post offended anyone - and someone emailed me so I know it did offend at least one person - I am sorry.

I really think this person misunderstood what I was saying, but perhaps I did not explain it well.
I think this person and their family exemplifies what Christian friendships should be. They do know what is going on in their friends lives, they do really care about each other, and they demonstrate that in how they treat people and care for people. While we might not agree on all the details - I do think your closest Christian friends should know more about you than surface stuff, they demonstrate that they care more about people than they do about popularity, politics, and superficial friendships. The point I was trying to make was that superficial friendships, where we as Christians do not speak with truth or love into each other's lives, are very hurtful to both participants - it results in an "I'm ok, you're ok." type of relationship - and then we are shocked when people fall into sin, or make mistakes that screw up their entire lives. Christian friends are very important to Drason and I, we have lived with Christian friends both ways superficially and with integrity) and we have felt very blessed to be able to make Christian friends who will speak the truth in love into our lives. Shutting down a facebook account doesn't mean we don't want friends - we just don't want most of our interaction with those friends to be through the internet. I have often heard "don't complain, change yourself." that is what is happening -sometimes that is scary for people, but change can be a very positive thing. These past 16 months have been FULL of changes - we have just started to go with the flow of the changes God is working in our lives, rather than trying to hold onto the things that we want. Sometimes people who change, or who implement changes, are viewed negatively because they are changing the status quo - but if we as Christians, or as a body of believers, refuse that change - where does that leave us?
Again, I am sorry if I offended - it was not my intention. God is still working on me, thank God for grace.
Amanda

More or less social networking

2009-09-12T11:56:00.001-04:00

You may have noticed that I have shut down my facebook and twitter pages - you may have gotten a de-friending message - so sorry! I don't want to de - friend anyone!!!!

Social networking is interesting - and an interesting term. It seems the more I socially network through sites like twitter, myspace, and facebook - the less I actually know my friends.

I seem to have a lot of casual friends - people who used to be termed acquaintances until the advent of such social networking, and very few of these people really want to be a true friend. The problem is that facebook and twitter are cheap substitutes for real friendship; they entice the participant to pretend that all of these other people actually care what is going on in their lives.

Compare it to casual sex. - Why don't we do this?

A- it is clearly against the Bible
B- it would really hurt our spouses
C - it would really hurt us.
Compare that to having facebook as your primary connection with "friends"

If you are a Christian I think it cheapens our relationships with each other - how can you disciple someone through facebook? Not all friendships are for that - can you be a facebook mentor? Not all friendships are for that either - Can you be a cyber shoulder to cry on? Maybe...

Which would you prefer a cyber shoulder or a real shoulder? Heck most of my friends on facebook lived less than 20 minutes from my house - if they need a shoulder to cry on I should go see them.
I think it really hurts our friends - our real friends, and our friendships if the primary way we communicate is facebook - facebook is public - everyone can see it - and there are some things that you just don't want to talk about there. And it is a little degrading to post your thoughts like a billboard looking for a friend for hire.

Lastly it hurts us - it hurts us because we begin to accept the cyber world as the real world, we begin to settle for an acquaintance type of friendship.
Here is my challenge to all you who are thinking I am nuts right now.

Answer the following about your closest friend

How much money do they make?

Are they or have they struggled financially?

When was the last time they got in a fight with their spouse?

What do they fear most in the world?

What do they hope for most?

What main thing do they struggle with every day?

What are the name and ages of their children?

When are their kids birthdays?

How are their kids doing in school?

When is their birthday? - without the facebook reminder!

What do they believe about heaven, hell, God, religion?

What foods do they make well?

Are they allergic to anything?

Do they talk to their mom?

Have you talked to them in the last 5 days?

What are the names of their pets?

What are the last three jobs they have held?

I propose this - if you can't answer these questions about your CLOSEST friends, they aren't really that close to you. In all honesty - I can't answer all of these about my closest friends - which says to me - I need to get busy working on my real friendships - not wasting my time on facebook.

So to all you who now think I am certifiable, see you in the real world =]

Amanda

Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Judas

2009-09-02T14:16:00.001-04:00

These four don't have a whole lot in common - except this passage of scripture

John 12
Jesus Anointed at Bethany

1 Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. 3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.

4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.

7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
9 When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. 10 Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, 11 for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.

Every church has these people in it - and every person has these personality traits - the ability to be any or all of these four people.

Every church has some Marys - they worship extravagantly - their gifts are generous and without thought for themselves, they don't just sing they worship, they don't just give, they give abundantly, they don't just follow Christ - the ooze Christ all the time. The go through life with one foot in Heaven, perched at the feet of Jesus, just praising Him. I have been a Mary before, I can think of times when I was able to give extravagantly, I can think of times when I was able to worship whole heartedly, everyone has the ability to be a Mary.
But people tend to disregard and dismiss the actions of a Mary as irrelevant or flighty.
Luke 10:38-42
38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”

41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

WOW - Is Jesus showing some favoritism towards Mary? No - He is simply saying that here and now I have come to meet with you, put aside your formalities and meet ME. Marys meet Jesus - we all need to be more like Mary

The second person in the story is Martha - Martha is again serving, Martha likes to serve. Churches need some Marthas - someone to listen to Bible verses on a Wednesday night, make sure 200 kids get a snack at VBS, organize visitation of Mondays, every church needs about a hundred Marthas just to keep the place running smoothly. Marthas might be a bit bold - but they make sure the budget is balanced, they make sure the thermostat is set correctly, and with out them the rest of the people would be running around like crazy people wondering how on earth one Martha could manage all this!!! I have been a Martha - I have cooked like crazy to see that a meal was served, bounced a baby so that others could enjoy a special service, I have managed more children than I could count with a soccer ball and a whistle, Marthas are needed, just as Marys are needed. People tend to over look the Martha, no one is going to pat you on the head for cleaning up after a party, they get little kudos, and are often ignored. Martha's tend to act without expecting reward. We all need to be a bit more like Martha.

Next is Lazarus - now he is kind of tricky, he isn't worshipping, he isn't working, he is witnessing. Lazarus has one heck of a testimony. What would you say is someone whom you had seen dead and buried came back to life, and said to believe in Christ - I would be believing!!!
I have been a Lazarus - every Christian alive has been a Lazarus - once you were dead, now you are alive, I have a story to tell, a witness, a testimony and it is uniquely mine. Better than that - I have used it to win people to the Lord - I have shared heart aches, trials, and testimony with people to persuade them to believe. Something I try to teach my boys - you may never be the smartest, the best looking, the best at anything - but Jesus called you - and gave you a story to share with the world. You once were lost and now are found, were blind but now you see - you are the dead come back to life - tell someone about it! Just as we need Mary and Martha, we need Lazarus. Lazarus gets painted today just like he did in his time - like a zealot. Every on fire for Jesus Lazarus I have ever met has been rejected by their church as a little too out there. We tend to roll our eyes and say "there goes so and so again" I need to be a bit more of a Lazarus - I just can't imagine him shutting up for anyone, The Pharisees plotted to kill him, I wonder if that made him laugh.

Lastly there is Judas, Judas is a thief. Judas is pious, he has the right answers, he definitely hangs with the right crowd, but he steals from them. Judas has a sour look on his face, as he rebukes the worshipping Mary - we could have given that money to the poor. Judas plays politics - his words sound sincere, but in his heart he has ulterior motives, he wants what he wants. Judas is put off because he can't take some of the money. That's all Judas does - he takes, and takes, and takes some more.
I have been a Judas - I have sat back and taken a break so that others could serve me, I have thought poorly of the actions of a Mary or a Martha because I thought their time or money could be spent better. I have rolled my eyes at a Lazarus or two. The truth is everyone has been a Judas at some point. Every church has some Judas' some people who only take and never give, some people playing politics at God's house, some people whose words sound sincere, but they lack the action to follow it up.

The point?
I need to be a bit more like Mary, more worshipful, more extravagant, I need to be a bit more like Martha, more willing to serve. more mindful of the needs of others, and I need to be a bit more like Lazarus, more willing to witness, more open to share my faith with others, and I need to be careful of the Judas - careful to keep a positive outlook, careful to be willing to give rather than take.

Amanda

**partially adapted from Cast of Characters by Max Lucado**

Matthew

2009-08-29T12:19:00.002-04:00

Today was about Matthew, the tax collector.

How was it Jesus just walked by and said come with me and Matthew came? Sometimes people are ready. I wonder how ready someone I meet today might be. I remember one day I shared my faith with a lady at the laundry mat - she was very receptive, she prayed to receive Christ - I had never met her before that day. Another time I was driving down the road and stopped to give a ride to an old client - she prayed too. I was shocked.

Jesus walked down the road and called Matthew. Matthew had a little bit of a problem - he was a tax collector. Slick, slimy, everything we hate about the worst upper class in our society, was embodied in Matthew. Jesus called him and his life changed.

Next is the party at Matthew's house. As a recent convert Matthew should have been doing what? I think at many churches we would say he should be in a Sunday school group, coming to church every week, working in the Nursery - serving us long time Christians. Jesus didn't think so, yes Matthew gave up everything for Jesus, he followed Jesus, he worked beside Jesus - but first he had a big party at his house and invited all of his sinner friends, and Jesus came to the party. I remember when we had some sinner friends over to the house - they dressed in tank tops, cussed and looked for a beer, our Christian friends were not impressed - in fact they were not comfortable and some refused to come back. We made a habit of inviting lost people to our home - I'm not sure how many have come to know Christ but I think they learned that Christians aren't all weirdos who only associate with each other. I think they learned that we love them and we still have our faith, and that our faith defines who we are. I know more than one has questioned us about our faith, what we believe, and have listened intently when we told them.
The Pharisees showed up to the party at Matthew's house - and Jesus is just sitting there eating - he isn't up on the table pounding the Torah, he is fellowshipping - and they begin to berate him. These guys are a club, no one is ever going to come to know Jesus through that club - oh, they are going to learn how to dress, how to walk, how to talk and sound religious, but they are never going to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Matthew - the sleazy tax collector - is well on his way to knowing Jesus. He knows the Jesus that loves people in spite of what they look like, what they have done in their lives, and what political party they affiliate with. Jesus taught more by sitting at the table and being a normal guy, than the pharisees ever taught.

What did people learn? They saw a tax collector living the good life off the backs of others, turn around, abandon everything he had worked so long for - and follow Jesus. That is the life changing testimony of the Holy Spirit.
What did his tax collecting buddies think the day after the party when Matthew told them he was going on the road to learn from Jesus? How did it change their lives? Did any of them decide to follow too? Did any of them say to themselves - "Let's see how long this lasts, let's see who Matt becomes, and then I'll decide" I'd bet money some of them did. Because Matthew followed Jesus he healed the sick, he cared for the poor, he shared the good news, and word got back to his town. Matthew's friends heard about his life, how did the Holy Spirit use that?
I can not refute a scientist who has years of education, or an intellectual who believes this life is all there is, but I can say - here is my life - if you like what you see, maybe you should try it.

Fear - ch-ch-ch -check it out

2009-08-23T20:48:00.001-04:00

***PAUSE THE MUSIC PLAYER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE***

Not in Polite Company

2009-08-16T14:53:00.002-04:00

I have always heard that there are three things that you should not talk about in polite company - religion, money and politics. Well, maybe this blog isn't for polite company today - so for the easily offended, please stop reading now.

We got into a discussion this morning about all three of these things in Connect group, it was an interesting group with several veiws expressed.

Not every christian is a republican. Personally I don't think it is anyone's business how I vote, unless I chose to share that, and people who do tell how they vote do so to influence others to agree with them and vote for their canidate. I have posted on this blog about canidates that I supported and my sole purpose in doing so was to persuade others to agree with me. I do believe that Christians should vote their morals and values - WHY? Because we want leaders in our government who will lead as Christians. I might be mistaken but I think I heard that government should stay out of legislating moral behavior - because that is the churches job. Why then should I vote my morals and values if I want the government to stay out of morality? What fickle people we are when we want the government to legislate on issues clearly defined in the Bible such as abortion or homosexuality and not on issues like provisions for the poor. You can't have your cake and eat it to, either you want the government to leave us alone, let each to his own devices and provision, OR you want government legislated morality. Personally I hear many Christians talking about our "founding fathers" like if they were alive today things would be different. Not hardly - the issue of their time was slavery - some held slaves, some did not - but their world view was slanted much more towards minimal government and oversite - and Thomas Jefferson did in fact write about his belief that as the President he would not interfere in the social issues or stances of a church. Should a leader be a Christian and refuse to legislate their morality on others? Or should leaders be permitted to legislate their views?

To refute some commonly held and very wrong misconceptions, not everyone who isn't a republican believes that you should kill babies, be homosexual, spend trillions of dollars on pointless bailouts to line your own pockets with a predictable economic crash and then create a so called "green" recovery. (Myself included)I don't really feel like I fit with democrats, republicans, or tea party protestors.

So what is the point of this? Connect group has talked about Socialism, Marxism, Theism - BUT - social responsibility towards others is biblical - it is not socialism, marxism, or any other "ism"- but it was the command of God to the Isrealites and it is the command of Christ to Christians. If you don't like that, take it up with Him, not me! Whole chapters of the Bible are dedicated to talking about taking care of the poor, infirm, jailed, widows, and orphans. (scroll down to see a complete list of scripture references - it is too long to post here!)

Fourth, if you do not work neither shall you eat, also in the Bible, and it can not be ignored. I am not advocating that people quit their jobs to live off other people. However, I am also not in the position to judge the substance of another man's servant. So if a person says they work, and they take advantage of my generosity, who do they sin against, me or God? Yet if I set myself up as their judge and value the quality/quanity of their work as compared to an earthly standard, and I am wrong(which as a human being I will be) who do I sin against, them or God? I really don't want to sin against God and be guilty of oppressing the poor. (see the consequences of that in the scriptures listed below)

Finally, what is given to others is known to God, He is the judge, not me. How I care for others, if I am generous or if I am selfish, if I am cheerful or if I am bitter, if I am concious of the suffering of others or if I am ambivilent - God is the judge. I personally can not justify spending or hoarding disposable income when I could be helping someone who is very much in need. Especially in these hard times we should be reacing out to each other with financial help when needed. If we re honest we can all think of one or two (or maybe more) people who are suffering through a hard time and have it a lot worse than we do. Giving to that person may not garner great earthly rewards, but the heavenly ones will be worth it.

2Corinthians 8:10-15
10 Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it. 11 Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have. 12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 13 Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. 14 Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal. 15 As the Scriptures say,

“Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over,
and those who gathered only a little had enough.”[d]

AND

Acts 5:1-11
1 But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. 2 He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”

5 As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. 6 Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.

7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?”

“Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.”

9 And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.”

10 Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.

(Their deaths were caused by their selfishness and lies, not by the fact that they sold the field - I would argue that they may have felt they probably should have given all the money - BUT - even worse, they just wanted to show off how good they were by giving. God - the true judge - saw all their actions and took care of business!)
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"Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan." Exodus 22:22
"Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits." Exodus 23:6
"During the seventh year, let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove." Exodus 23:11
"Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 19:10
"Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly." Leviticus 19:15
"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 23:22
"If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. . . . If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. . . . If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave." Leviticus 25:25, 35, 39
"If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption." Leviticus 25:47-48
"He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." Deuteronomy 10:18
"At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied." Deuteronomy 14:28-29
"However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you." Deuteronomy 15:4
"If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother." Deuteronomy 15:7
"Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near, so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin." Deuteronomy 15:9
"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deuteronomy 15:11
"Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns." Deuteronomy 24:14
"Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge." Deuteronomy 24:17
"When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow." Deuteronomy 24:19-21
"'Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow.' Then all the people shall say, Amen!'" Deuteronomy 27:19
"He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor." 1 Samuel 2:8
"as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor." Esther 9:22
"When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up and kills the poor and needy; in the night he steals forth like a thief." Job 24:14
"because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him." Job 29:12
"Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?" Job 30:25
"If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary." Job 31:16
"The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble." Psalm 9:9
"But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish." Psalm 9:18
" Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise, says the LORD, I will protect them from those who malign them. " Psalm 12:5
"You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge." Psalm 14:6
"This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles." Psalm 34:6
"My whole being will exclaim, Who is like you, 0 LORD? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them.'" Psalm 35:10
"The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright." Psalm 37:14
"Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay." Psalm 40:17
"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5
"Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, 0 God, you provided for the poor." Psalm 68:10
"The poor will see and be glad-- you who seek God, may your hearts live! The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people." Psalm 69:32-33
"Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD , do not delay." Psalm 70:5
"He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor." Psalm 72:4
"For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death." Psalm 72:12-13
"Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name." Psalm 74:21
"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4
"But he lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks." Psalm 107:41
"For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life from those who condemn him." Psalm 109:31
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor." Psalm 112:9
"He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;" Psalm 113:7
"I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food." Psalm 132:15
"I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy." Psalm 140:12
"He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free" Psalm 146:7
"The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked." Psalm 146:9
"I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy." Proverbs 13:23
"He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind to the needy." Proverbs 14:21
"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." Proverbs 14:31
"The LORD tears down the proud man's house but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact." Proverbs 15:25
"Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud." Proverbs 16:19
"He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished." Proverbs 17:5
"He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done." Proverbs 19:17
"If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered." Proverbs 21:13
"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." Proverbs 22:9
"He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich -- both come to poverty." Proverbs 22:16
"Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court." Proverbs 22:22
"A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops." Proverbs 28:3
"He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses." Proverbs 28:27
"The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern." Proverbs 29:7
"those whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth, the needy from among mankind." Proverbs 30:14
"Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:9
"She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy." Proverbs 31:20
"If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still." Ecclesiastes 5:8
"Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17
"The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?' declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty." Isaiah 3:14-15
"to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless." Isaiah 10:2
"With righteousness he will judge the needy; with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked." Isaiah 11:4
"The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety. But your root I will destroy by famine; it will slay your survivors." Isaiah 14:30
"You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall." Isaiah 25:4
"Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD ; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." Isaiah 29:19
"The scoundrel's methods are wicked, he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just." Isaiah 32:7
"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them." Isaiah 41:17
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?" Isaiah 58:6-7
"If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." Isaiah 58:10
"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." Isaiah 61:1
"On your clothes men find the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this you say I am innocent.'" Jeremiah 2:34
"I thought, These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.'" Jeremiah 5:4
"(They) have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor." Jeremiah 5:28
"if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm," Jeremiah 7:6
"This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place." Jeremiah 22:3
"'He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD." Jeremiah 22:16
"Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked." Jeremiah 20:13
"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." Ezekiel 16:49
"He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked." Ezekiel 18:7
"The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice." Ezekiel 22:29
"This is what the LORD says: For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.'" Amos 2:6-7
"Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, Bring us some drinks!'" Amos 4:1
"Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land." Amos 8:4
"Buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat." Amos 8:6
"Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other." Zechariah 7:10
" So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,' says the LORD Almighty." Malachi 3:5

"Jesus answered, If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'" Matthew 19:21
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." Matthew 25:35
"They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." Mark 12:40
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed." Luke 4:18
"So he replied to the messengers, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.'" Luke 7:22
"Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." Luke 12:33
"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind." Luke 14:13
"When Jesus heard this, he said to him, You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'" Luke 18:22
"Beware of the teachers of the law . . . They devour your widows' houses . . . Such men will be punished severely." Luke 20:46-47
"In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor." Acts 9:36
"Cornelius stared at him in fear. What is it, Lord?' he asked. The angel answered, Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.'" Acts 10:4
"After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings." Acts 24:17
"For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem." Romans 15:26
"All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." Galatians 2:10
"Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need." 1 Timothy 5:3
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
"Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, 'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man, 'You stand there' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated among yourselves and becomes judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?" James 2:2-6
"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:17-18

Dead Fish Swimming

2009-08-11T22:57:00.003-04:00

People have asked me repeatedly why this blog is called "dead fish swimming"

It is a long answer - so here goes nothing

About 2 years ago Randy Sparks, Ann Scarberry, Drason and I were discussing one of Noel's messages - it was a particularly good one, about going with God, and not always fighting for your own way.

At the time Drason and I had been struggling with the decision for me to quit my job, about our children being homeschooled or sent to private schools - and several other big decisions in our lives. As we stood there talking to friends I realized that the reason some of the decisions in my life were difficult to make had little to do with God's leading and more to do with me not really liking the direction He was going.

"Here is a trick question. Have you died yet? I am not talking about a near-death experience. I am talking about a theological statement made in the Bible and what it means. In short, if you are a Christian, you have died. Please consider the following Scriptures: "Now if we have died with Christ..." (Rom. 6:8); "If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world..." (Col. 2:20); "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3); "It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him" (2 Tim. 2:11).

Our death in Christ is a death to the old self, the old ways, the sinful life. It is a reality and a hope. It is truth as well as life. Jesus so completely represented us on the cross that, when He died, it is said that we died. This is why Paul says in Col. 3:5, "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry." You are to mentally reckon, intellectually acknowledge, meditate on, think in such a way as to consider yourselves dead to sin.

Of course, we Christians know that we struggle with sin, that it is not dead in us, that we fail, and continually come to the Lord Jesus and ask for forgiveness. We Christians know what we are inside. We know we are not perfect and that many of the thoughts of our mind would terribly embarrass and shame us if they were publicly spoken. Such is the reality of our fallen selves. Yet, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin. We are to think of ourselves as dead to sin.

The reason we can do this is because of Jesus and what He did on the cross. Only through Jesus can we be delivered from sin. Only through the shed blood of God the Son can our lives be made right before God the Father. The reality of the crucifixion and of Jesus' bearing our sins, all of them, in His body, is realized in the acknowledgement of our deadness to sin. This is an important truth that God wants us to understand. But, understanding it isn't enough. You must practice it. This does not mean, however, that you ignore your sins, or say you have none, or claim perfection. Rather, it is an admission that you are saved by the sacrifice of Jesus and that you are "in Christ" and reckoned as dead to sin because of Jesus. Your mind is an important battleground in the war of sanctification and it begins with your own death. If you are a Christian, then you have died to sin because of your relationship with Jesus. Therefore, consider yourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ. Turn from the deeds of the flesh and seek Jesus." (Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry)

And in the priceless words of Randy Sparks - "Even a dead fish can swim down stream"

That still makes me laugh!

Amanda

God answers prayers =]

2009-08-06T12:27:00.003-04:00

There have been several things I have been praying about and today I looked back though and found some awesome things that God has done in answering our prayers. I am just going to list them here. If you have a prayer that has been answered - feel free to leave it as a comment and I will publish it.

Mason's head looks healthy - he had a spot on his head for several months - it has finally cleared up =]
Diane's surgery went well - we were very concerned about her going under anesthesia because of her health - but she was just fine!
Aunt Alyce had her refrigerator and her well pump blow up on the same day - thank God she had both donated to her within about 24 hours - what would have cost thousands, only cost the gas to go pick things up.
Alyce also had a sick pony whom she had to take to rodeo - the pony did just fine and is feeling much better now
AND in all Alyce's and her families trips this summer - there have been no accidents and everyone has been safe - transporting horses is very dangerous - this is a major big deal that they have been protected!
Some friends of ours were going through a rough time - it seems that God has worked in their lives to heal them - both physically and spiritually - and bring them closer together
We have been and will continue to pray for a little girl whose eyes aren't so good - it seems her mother has to take her to the doctor fairly frequently - we asked about this a few weeks ago - and the mom said they have not had to go back to the doctor yet - so that is good - we will keep praying =]

There is more that I could put here - but some things are just personal, or maybe shouldn't be shared because we have not asked the person - but - if you have an answered prayer - feel free to leave it here.

Acts 2:46&47

They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Praise Prayer

2009-07-30T17:46:00.001-04:00

by Drason

1 Samuel 2

Hannah’s Prayer
My heart rejoices in the Lord;
In the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
For I delight in your deliverance.

There is no one holy like the Lord;
There is no one besides you;
There is no rock like our God. (Now I can’t get that song out of my head.)

Do not keep talking so proudly
Or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
For the Lord is a God who knows
And by Him deeds are weighed.

The bows of the warriors are broken,
But those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
But those who were hungry hunger no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
But she who has had many sons pines away.

The Lord brings death and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and raises up.
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
He humbles and He exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust and
Lifts the needy from the ash heap;
He seats them with princes
And has them inherit a throne of honor.

For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
Upon them He has set the world.
He will guard the feet of the saints,
But the wicked will be silenced in darkness.

It is not by strength that one prevails;
Those who oppose the Lord will be shattered.
He will thunder against them from heaven;
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

He will give strength to his King
And exalt the horn of His anointed.

Man, we just don’t pray like this anymore. When we pray we usually ask for something. We don’t just pray to praise. There is a paper in Billie’s class that says
C-confess
H-honor
A-ask
T-thank
I was always taught to thank first, then ask, then praise (honor), and to confess somewhere in there if needed. How about just praising? What if every time I called one of my friends it was to ask them for something? Never to just see how they were doing, or to tell them how much I liked them, but just to ask for something? Would they think I loved them? Would they think I cared about them? No. They would probably start wishing that I wouldn’t call. Thankfully God isn’t like that, but I bet He wishes we would just pray for Him every once in a while and not just pray to ask for things. Every once in a while, when everyone is out of the house or wrapped up doing their own things so they don’t interrupt me, I like to just sit down and talk to God about things, just like I would talk to a friend. Nothing necessarily about my life or what I should or shouldn’t do, just talk. About world events, things that are happening in my life, how He is doing, what He is thinking, etc… I am sure He dumbs down His end of the conversation for me, but I really like it. And I am sure He does too. I know this sounds a little feminine but I like to talk. I enjoy talking to Amanda, and Mac, and Marshal, and Mason, and Sam, and Fritz, and Michael, and my grandma, and God. It is nice to have that kind of relationship with Him that I can do that. I think He likes it too.

God, you are the God of justice;
You lift up the deserving and tear down the corrupt.
You are the only righteous judge.

You know everything and see every deed and intention.
Through your wisdom the earth was created. Through Your love are we made whole.
You know every act ever committed, and you lift up and tear down as You see fit.

You are the Lord Almighty. You are the Alpha and Omega. You are the redeemer.
You are.

You are an unblemished lamb and a roaring lion;
The Lord of all that was and is and ever will be.
You give and you take;
You are gentle and strong,
You are the best and see the worst.
Lord, You are my God.
Amen.