OF CHRISTIAN WOMEN

Writing for Income

2009-03-02T07:05:00.002-12:00

I have been working on writing and building websites as a way to earn money from home. So far, my progress has been very slow, but progress is progress.

I am still working full-time outside of the home but hope to stop within the next year. In the meantime I spend what little extra time I have trying to build up an online income, mostly passive.

My real dream would to be to spend more time building sites around theological and apologetic interests, but before I can do that, I need to have a supplemental income going. With the economy so sluggish, the potential doesn't seem to be as good, but I know God will take care of our needs no matter what.

I am looking forward to a less stressful lifestyle. Working with kids has become such a burden and I want to have alot more quality family time than we enjoy now. I am actually looking forward to see where things are headed and what God has planned for us.

Christian Work from Home

2008-10-03T09:55:00.003-12:00

The internet has really opened the doors for so many people to work from home. I come across many Christian moms who are able to stay home with their children, even homeschool, while still contributing to the family finances through online work.

There are many helpful work at home websites online, even some dedicated to Christians, but it is still difficult to find a good work from home opportunity. Often times it takes some trial and error to figure out what works for you. Look for opportunities that utilize your strengths and interests. If you try something which sounds profitable but you don't enjoy it also, you are very unlikely to be successful.

Christian women need to be careful to not get involved in activites that could compromise their beliefs. Even some basic online marketing is based on playing on people's emotions, so it is important to consider your integrity in all situations.

Updates on Christian Women

2008-09-13T13:59:00.004-12:00

The Christian Woman is being updated with a new blog for Christian women and new articles. The design has been changed a bit also to give a clean look.

The Christian work at home article page has been updated. Here are a few of the new articles:

Create Your Own Christian Based Home Business
Work From Home--Multiple Streams Of Income
Is Working at Home Right For You

I have also added a Squidoo page called Christian Women & Life to complement the website and do some networking.

I have not spent much time on The Christian Woman over the last three years but I am trying to put some effort in to it again. I hope that my efforts in adding content and the help of some other Christian women on the blog will revitalize the website.

I will use this blog to keep track of some of my progress.

Move Update

2007-07-14T00:13:00.000-12:00

I have most of my posts moved to the new blog. Now I am trying to move some of the more recent comments. I hope to have the new blog ready for publication this weekend.

A Break

2007-01-11T08:20:00.000-12:00

I'm taking a break from posting for awhile.

I have too much going on right now in my "real life".

Everything to Me

2007-01-03T05:50:00.000-12:00

I love these lyrics:

Everything To Me
By Avalon

I grew up in sunday school
I memorized the Golden rule
And how Jesus came to set the sinner free
I know the story inside out
I can tell you all about
The path that led Him up to Calvary
But ask me why He loves me
And I don't know what to say
But i'll never be the same
Because he changed my life when He became

Everything to me
He's more than a story
more than words on a page of history
He's the air that I breath
The water I thirst for
And the ground beneath my feet
He's everything, everything to me

We're living in uncertain times
And more and more I find that i'm aware
Of just how fragile life can be
I want to tell the world I found
A love that turned my life around
They need to know that they can taste and see
Now everyday I'm praying
Just to give my heart away
I want live for Jesus
So that someone else might see that he is

Everything to me
He's more than a story
more than words on a page of history
He's the air that I breath
The water I thirst for
And the ground beneath my feet
He's everything
And looking back over my life at the end
I'll go to meet you saying you've been

You're everything to me
You're more than a story
More than words on a page of history
You're everything to me
You're more than a story
More than words on a page of history
You're the air that I breath
The water I thirst for
And the ground beneath my feet
You're everything to me
Lord, you're everything to me

General Questions About Christian Bloggers

2006-10-23T05:43:00.000-12:00

Do you think Christian bloggers represent well the actual beliefs of the Christian population overall?

Or do you think that there seems to be a majority of one extreme over another? Or just extremes in general?

Do you think that most of the bloggers who identify themselves as Christians are doctrinally sound? Mature in their walk with Christ?

And if you answer, give me your definition of “Christian” first.

Dry Spells and Politics

2006-10-19T23:21:00.000-12:00

I am in another cycle of being unsure whether or not I want to continue blogging.

My struggle is that I enjoy blogging but I really don’t have the time for it. These last few weeks not blogging have been nice, no pressure to write nor distractions in thinking about what to write. But it is hard to just walk away. I guess I enjoy having a creative outlet.

Lately my posts seem to get people riled up which is fine although the negative comments are a bit tiring. I am hard-lined in my opinions but I am not sure whether that is “proper” or not.

I’ve tried to liven things up in my every day conversations. Yesterday I stated that I don’t believe a Christian can be a Democrat. Only two people heard the statement and there weren’t many waves from them, but I know it was still a bit of a taboo thing to say.

But there, I said it. Politics and Christianity – I am mixing them. You could even call me legalistic with that comment. It's a double whammy of sorts.

So don’t forget, vote Republican in November.

That’s all I have!

New Devotional Blog

2006-10-09T12:02:00.000-12:00

Check out the new group devotional Blog Laced with Grace.

This blog was started by my friend Iris and also features my favorite commenter and friend, Ellen.

I know these women both love the Lord so I can imagine that there will be some great content there. Be sure to stop by and leave an encouraging comment.

The Will to Blog

2006-10-05T09:48:00.000-12:00

I think I've lost the will to blog. At least temporarily.

I'm tired and my mind is blank.

I think I will take a little blogging vacation.

Chosen by God

2006-09-28T02:39:00.000-12:00

I finished reading Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul this past week (recommended by Michele). It is a very basic introduction to Calvinism and is written in a very easy to read fashion.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I am not sure where exactly I stand on Calvinism as I haven’t found much reason to decide one way or the other. But I find the insight that Calvinism provides into the characteristics of God and man very interesting. I think I will need to read more on the subject.

One thing that has stood out clearly to me lately as I read scripture is the role of God in every part of salvation. There is so much talk in the scriptures of election, predestination, calling, choosing, etc. I understand that the Arminian and Calvinist have different approaches to these terms, but I tend to think our limited minds have trouble understanding the workings of God in this area.

On this note, I was reading a transcript from MacArthur (who is a Calvinist) last night on predestination and salvation based on this verse:

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:30

I like the way MacArthur handled this verse and showed not only the assurance of salvation through God’s stepwise plan for us, but also elaborated on how God’s plan basically works for each individual. We are predestined, then called, then justified, then glorified. What God has started, God will finish.

Anyway, MacArthur went on to talk about the elect and the non-elect and I like one thing he said because it dealt a bit with some of the common hang-ups on the non-elect idea (predestined for destruction?). He basically said the non-elect were condemned for their non-belief because that is what scripture says, despite the fact that there seems to be a dissymmetry with that idea as compared to the work in the elect (being chosen and given the ability to follow God).

How can that be? It is one of those mysteries that our puny brains can’t comprehend according to MacArthur. I think a lot of scripture is clear, definitely the Gospel message. But I think it is sometimes easy to go with an interpretation that is comfortable (like the complete free will of man) rather than accept what the scripture actually says. And I think Calvinism makes people uncomfortable.

But I diverge. Back to Sproul…I enjoyed the book and would like to read more by Sproul. I think the one idea that stuck with me from the Calvinist point of view is the idea of man choosing to turn to God. Sproul makes the argument that we do that which we desire. Our desires determine our choices. With that in mind, why would a fallen man ever choose Christ unless God first gave him the desire. That makes sense to me.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the interplay between a sovereign God and a fallen man. I’m not quite ready to fully embrace Calvinism yet, but the one thing I can really appreciate about their viewpoint is the emphasis on the sovereignty of God. I just don’t think that God’s sovereignty can ever be overemphasized.

Young Assurance

2006-09-18T00:33:00.000-12:00

My four-year-old daughter learns a new verse each month in her class at church. They usually paraphrase it, but I recognized it immediately when she told me yesterday after church:

“Nothing can separate us from the love of God”

My little girl is learning about assurance!

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

Great Quote on Righteousness

2006-09-16T02:34:00.000-12:00

Ellen made a great comment in her post today, I had to share it:

Doing right does not equal being right. It’s progress; a step. But doing right, instead of making the heart change, only leads to morality, not righteousness. Following the right rules does not bring us closer to God. Coming closer to God brings us closer to following the right rules.

This difference should be understood by every believer!

Christian Women Bloggers

2006-09-10T07:21:00.000-12:00

Okay, I have my new template done.

I have also added to my website for Christian Women a list of Christian Women Bloggers (which right now is just me). My guess is that much of the traffic at my website are women not so familiar with the blog world, so this list will introduce some of the site visitors to Christian women who blog.

If you would like to join the list, send me an email and I'll send you the code to add the graphic below to your sidebar and then put you on the list.

Re-Vote

2006-09-07T05:57:00.000-12:00

Okay, I'm leaning towards layout #2, especially since I made some modifcations to the template. What do you think?

Layout 2.

A Note and A Vote

2006-09-06T06:21:00.000-12:00

A Note: I am on vacation from work this week which means I am at home trying to get some stuff done around the house. We have a few outdoor projects to finish up, but since it's been raining almost everyday, we are getting nowhere fast. There are plenty of indoor things to do, but since I am a procrastinator I give you:

A Vote: I've decided to change my blog template again. Why?

1. Because I can.
2. Because it is more fun than cleaning out the attic.
3. Because I want to be like Michele, Michele, Michele when I grow up.
4. Because I have been coveting Ellen's newer template.
5. Because I have temporary access to Photoshop.
6. Because I am hoping a flower theme will scare off Tony and his purgatory references (just kidding, Tony).

BUT, I have two different headers made up and can't decide. So please take a look at my two new layouts and tell me which you like best (leave a comment here): Layout 1 or Layout 2.

Since I am concentrating on home projects this week, posting will be light to non-existent. Do what you can to get by without me.

Home-brew Substitution

2006-09-03T04:54:00.000-12:00

Moonshadow made a comment on Michele’s blog that I must make my own beer because I use the word “home-brew” so much. Well she’s wrong. I don’t even drink anymore so except for an occasional fruit or veggie that is rotting away in my fridge, there is no alcohol being made in my home.

But she is right that I have been stuck with my description of “home-brew God” to describe the God of some people that is a creation of their own thoughts and feelings (instead of the one true God revealed through the Bible). So I will try to come up with some new descriptions for the home-brew God.

All I have so far is “homemade God” and “al a carte God”. Not terribly original.

Any ideas?

Universalism

2006-09-01T13:14:00.000-12:00

Since this “theology” is relatively new to me I thought I would share it.

From Wikipedia:

As noted above, in Christianity, Universalism, Universal reconciliation, or universal salvation, is the doctrine that all will be saved. Among theologians the doctrine is often referred to using the Greek word apocatastasis. The doctrine addresses the problem of Hell and notions of God's mercy and justice. Universalists contend that a loving God would not submit anyone, regardless of his or her sins or beliefs, to everlasting torment. Some also argue that eternal condemnation in Hell, an infinite punishment, is not proportionately just with any number of essentially finite sins.

This idea is obviously not biblical and a good example of extracting some verses out of the Bible and ignoring the rest. It separates salvation from faith in Jesus and denies that any will perish.

And yet we know:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:1-3

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matt 7:13-14

And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 'where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' Mark 9:47-48

This idea of universal salvation is not all that much different that the home-brew God I described in The Gospel According to Me. The idea has just been reinforced with some out of context bible quoting making it in my mind more grievous than the home-brew God.

Commenting

2006-08-27T22:58:00.000-12:00

I need to come up with a commenting policy but I am not in the mood for it right now. So let me just say this quickly.

I do not like to delete comments (unless there is foul language). If someone wants to disagree with me, that is fine, but I have lost my tolerance for personal attacks. This is what I need to define in a set of rules because it appears that some people don't understand what is an unfair personal comment.

That said, if you consider yourself a Christian, then act like one if you want to comment. Don't say things that may insult, hurt, or misrepresent a person because you are angry or frustrated with them.

If you are not a Christian, then please just try to be nice.

Going forward, I will delete any comments that I find overly insulting to me or to another commenter. No warnings. If you would like to make a point, keep out the personal stuff.

I am opening up comments on the most recent posts.

What Will You Do With Jesus?

2006-08-21T14:04:00.000-12:00

My friend at work is still “seeking” out the truth about God and asking good questions. She reminds me a lot of myself right before I was saved, having an almost insatiable curiosity about God. I feel very encouraged that God is working on her and it is a joy to talk with her about the Lord.

Being still at a intellectual/logical pursuit of faith, my friend has rightfully placed Jesus at the center of her quest. He is the one that can not be so easily dismissed. As C.S. Lewis so eloquently put it in his book Mere Christianity:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Jesus’ claims to be God can not be extracted from his teachings. Ultimately everyone needs to determine what they are going to do with Jesus. His existence in history is undeniable, so every person needs to decide whether he is a liar, a lunatic, or Lord.

If Jesus is indeed Lord, then his teachings need to be taken to heart. And let’s not deny that Jesus said some tough things:

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matt 7:13-14

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matt 7:21

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matt 10:32-34

Jesus is the Lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice. His death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins – he is our Savior because he has saved us from condemnation if only we will believe in him.

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. John 5:24

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” John 3:16-18

What will you do with Jesus?

Sola Scriptura ala Ellen

2006-08-20T23:12:00.000-12:00

I am really looking forward to doing some posts on Sola Scriptura as I think that topic is so important, but I have a few other posts to get to first. In the meantime, please visit Ellen's post on Sola Scriptura: The Authority of Scripture.

Challies also has a good article called Does Anyone Choose Hell?

When we speak of God's wrath coming on people rather than on the wicked, we invariably sense a oneness with them rather than with God. But this puts us in opposition to God and the righteousness of his ways.

Rectifying a Loving but Just God can be difficult for some people. This article helps explain the idea a bit better (the comment discussion is good also).

The Gospel According to Me, Part 3

2006-08-19T06:33:00.000-12:00

Okay, here is my nutshell explanation of God and his plan of salvation. I use this for someone who knows absolutely nothing about God or the Bible. Very simplistic, but it is a start.

An all-powerful, Holy, never-changing, perfect God created man. But man sinned against God (he violated God’s command – deliberate defiance) and caused a rift between himself and a Holy God. All men sin and fall short of the glory of God. Man has violated the commands of God and has incurred a penalty. This is because God is infinitely just. He could not just turn a blind eye to man’s sin (that would go against his nature), a price had to be paid.

But God knew that man could never pay the penalty for his sin. He knew that he would have to pay the penalty for man. So God sent his son, Jesus, to live a perfect, sin-free life and die in man’s place. Jesus took all the sins of men onto himself and died to pay the penalty for those sins. His sacrifice satisfied the wrath of a just God and was accepted as proven by his resurrection.

So all men have sinned and all deserve punishment, but Jesus has paid the debt for us. Salvation is Jesus saving us from the penalty of our own sin so that we can live eternally with God in heaven when we die. It is a free gift, we can not earn it ourselves, but we must accept the gift by believing and trusting in Jesus. We must repent of our sins and turn to God. If we do not accept Jesus’ gift of salvation, then we are still under the penalty of our sins.

There is a great analogy of the salvation plan and the justness of God in the book More than a Carpenter. Basically, a woman violates a traffic law and goes before the judge. The woman is found guilty of the violation and the judge fines her $100. But then the judge gets down from his bench, takes off his robe, and gives the woman $100 to pay for her fine. Why? Because the judge was her father. Because he is a judge, he had to fine his daughter for breaking the law. But as her father, he could pay the fine for her. Justice has been served and a father’s love for his daughter is revealed.

God IS a loving God. But he is more than just loving. He is also Holy and Just. Those attributes of God can not be excluded from our understanding of Him. Likewise, we are all sinners. We have all broken God's commands (check out just the 10 commandments) and our sins separate us from God. The only way to bridge the divide between our sinful nature and God's Holy nature is the cross of Christ.

To deny God’s salvation plan through Jesus is to either deny that you are a sinner before God and/or to deny that Jesus’ death was for a purpose. What are you going to do with Jesus?

The Gospel According to Me, Part 2

2006-08-17T23:35:00.000-12:00

I am always fascinated to hear non-believer’s description of “their God”. Often times these people have grown up in some sort of a church system, but have never met the one true God. Instead they have a God of their own creation who not so surprisingly, is a pretty easy-going guy. What I love to ask these people is “Where is your proof of that”?

Common sense should tell you that we can not all have our own made-up version of God. Certainly the various versions of “my God’ are going to conflict and how do you know who is right. There has to be some common source of the truth about God.

As I said previously, the version of the home-brew God that I see the most is a God who is all loving and lets all the good people into heaven. Sounds good, right? My questions is, where do you draw the line between good and bad? Hitler would be bad and Mother Theresa good, correct? Okay, that one was easy.

What about the person who cheats on their taxes? A career criminal who has stolen his whole life? How about the young man who got drunk at his 21st birthday party, drove himself home, and killed a family of four in a car accident along the way? How about the woman who after being beaten for 10 years by her husband, shot him so he would not beat her anymore? And what about her husband?

This is my issue. Deciding where the boundaries of good and bad are is not so easy. And the line would be drawn in different places depending on the person and the evidence presented (welcome to our judicial system). Now, maybe it is easy for God to decide knowing all the facts of a person’s life, but where does that leave us? How do we know when we have crossed the line then? Now we are playing by unknown rule-book – how is that fair?

I for one am happy that the decision between good and evil, between heaven or hell is not played out this way. What we have is a holy, righteous, just God who has a plan for the salvation of man (being saved from punishment) and has revealed that plan of salvation through the Bible (Jesus). We do not need to be confused as to what will happen to us when we die, we can KNOW how to have eternal life (be in heaven with God).

I will talk more about this plan in the next post.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

The Gospel According to Me

2006-08-14T10:34:00.000-12:00

For many years I believed in what I will call “The Gospel According to Me”. It was based on a general belief in a God with no real substance. He was the God of my own creation, a big teddy bear in the sky who let all the “good people” go to heaven. I believed that simply because it worked for me.

But during my late twenties I slowly became interested in the Bible. I bought a book from the bookstore bargain table which described some of the people in the Bible. At the same time TNT ran a few miniseries on some Bible stories while A&E had “Mysteries of the Bible” (which I don’t recommend now). As my interest continued to build (which was God calling me) I eventually attended church with my boyfriend at the time (now my husband) and we both accepted Christ as our Savior. The details are a bit blurry but I know that my transformation was sudden and dramatic, and I felt like a blind person who was suddenly given the gift of sight.

What I learned from the Bible those first few months after accepting Christ was that I now had a way to learn about God. He wasn’t that big teddy bear in the sky anymore, he was something much bigger and much better. He was the creator of the universe, yet he loved me and wanted to have a personal relationship with me. He was perfect and holy while I was sinner, yet he had a plan to take care of all that.

In my life I don’t run into too many atheists. Most of the people I know that aren’t believers have their own version of “The Gospel According to Me”. Usually their God is similar to what my God was before I was saved. The problem is, we can’t each have our own God. There either is a God or there isn’t. And if there is a God, then his characteristics can not be left to our own choosing. We must find the truth and not relying on what feels right.

So what I would like to do is share my knowledge of the one true God. The God that revealed himself to me through his Bible and has been faithful to me ever since. I think this will be a multi-part series, but I am sorta winging it right now.

I would like to start with my own version of what is God all about. Basically, what did Jesus do and why (a paraphrased version of the Gospel that I like to use to give people a starting point). From there I would like to move into the Gospel message directly from the Bible. And then I’m not sure where we will go from there – maybe talk about the Bible some more.

I have a lot of topics I would like to post on but as usual, time is a factor. I will eventually get to Sola Scriptura and also talk more about the doctrine of justification. And I would still like to do a post or two on Galatians. But for now I’d like to focus on the basics of the Gospel message and what it means to me. More to come.

Book Meme Followup

2006-08-14T04:06:00.000-12:00

This was interesting. This website did a survey of the recent book meme and listed books that were mentioned multiple times.

I got this meme from Michele who didn’t mention the original rules which included excluding the Bible, so my list was not only boring, but a rule breaker. That Michele is a troublemaker I tell you.

Anyway, the list reminded me of some of my favorite secular books and also a book that I had remembered making me cry as a kid, but couldn’t remember the title before.

My favorite secular book is Pride and Prejudice. My favorite Christian book is The Hiding Place. And the book that made me cry was Where the Red Fern Grows.

Check out the link above for the general consensus on books.

Book Meme

2006-08-12T08:43:00.000-12:00

Michele tagged me for a book meme. I think she will be highly disappointed:

One book that changed your life: The Bible

One book that you've read more than once: The Bible

One book you'd want on a desert island: The Bible

One book that made you laugh: pass

One book that made you cry: pass

One book that you wish had been written: How to Blog for a Living

One book you wish had never been written: I’m too chicken to say it.

One book that you are currently reading: Way of the Master

One book you've been meaning to read: The Knowledge of the Holy

Sorry Michele, I am boring. Actually, I have trouble finding time to read with young kids running around. Blogging doesn’t help.

What I like to do is buy books and hope that I will get to them someday. I have a very large collection of books I haven't read.

The Very Hairs of Your Head...

2006-08-08T04:24:00.000-12:00

I mentioned a few posts ago that I would try to do something silly to lighten the mood. Perhaps this story will suffice.

As best I can tell, I think I have some chapstick in my hair. I noticed at the end of last week that the hair on the top of my head felt weird, a little waxy. Since I get up fairly early I figured maybe I zoned out and didn’t rinse the conditioner out well or something. The next day I noticed it again so I started to suspect my new shampoo. I still didn’t think much of it as I had other things on my mind.

The following day my husband figured out that my four year old had gotten chapstick all over the bathroom. We still haven’t pieced together the whole crime scene, but I believe that she was trying to clean out the cap of the chapstick with her finger (since she likely jams the cap on without retracting the chapstick) and then tried to get it off her fingers with whatever was nearby.

Being the sleuth that I am, I took that newfound info and checked my comb. It appeared to have a bit of a wax on it, so I washed it and thought the mystery was solved. No more waxy head.

But I was wrong, I still have waxy hair although it is subsiding. My newest theory is that chapstick and hair are quite fond of each other. This morning I tried every shampoo in our shower along with the bar soap, and behold, the waxy hair remaineth.

Being also a resourceful girl, I decided to google “remove chapstick from hair” but I came up empty-handed. It appears I am the first person in history to have such a mishap. Don’t I feel lucky.

So that is my story. What can I say, motherhood isn’t always pretty.

Since the waxy feeling seems to be slowly going away, I think I’ll just wait it out. Time has a way of taking care of things like this. If things aren’t looking better by this weekend, I’ll have to pull out the big guns and call the prayer chain.

Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." Luke 18:27

A Hold on Discussions

2006-08-06T23:20:00.000-12:00

I am going to keep the comments closed for another day or two on the previous posts. There are one or two posts I need to make first before I am ready to start discussing the differences between Protestant and Catholic beliefs again and I am not sure when I will have time to get those posts written up.

In the meantime, I would encourage everyone to read a post Ellen made about Blogging With Gentleness and Respect. I thought it was a fabulous post and rules that I would certainly like to follow on this blog.

Comments are open here but no debating or discussion about the previous topics allowed. If you just want to say Hey, compliment Ellen’s post, or just say something in general that is fine. Anything that tries to start up the discussion again will be deleted.

Blessed Assurance

2006-08-06T05:50:00.000-12:00

Today at Church we sang Blessed Assurance by Fanny Crosby:

Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long;

Assurance = a state of mind in which one is free from doubt.

As I sang this song today, tears ran down my cheek. I was overcome with the enormity of the assurance I have in Jesus.

I am an heir of salvation, I am a purchase of God, I was born of His Spirit, I am washed in his blood.

Through my genuine faith in Jesus, I am justified before God. Jesus bore my sins on the cross and His righteousness has been imputed to me. God knew that I could never justify myself, so He did it for me, he paid the penalty once and for all.

I realize that there are many people who would be turned off by the debates this week on my blog. There were certainly parts which turned me off. But the truth is, after all of the discussion I am only clinging to the cross more and realizing how very blessed I am.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13

What A Long Strange Trip Its Been

2006-08-04T08:47:00.000-12:00

If you have been reading along with some of the discussion on this blog, you will understand the title. I think the storm has passed.

Two days ago I had about 10 different posts swirling around in my head. Today my brain is fried. In fact, I'm so tired that I keep staring at the word "fried" and wondering if the spelling is right. You know how sometimes a word just doesn't "look right"? Oh well, I'm too lazy to look it up.

I'm gonna take a little break and figure out what I would like to talk about next. These last few days have revealed some new areas of interest for me and I hope to have enough neurons left to create some posts around these areas.

Okay, I won't leave you hanging (as if you didn't already know), I will still be doing some posts on Sola Scriptura (scripture alone)and Sola Fide (faith alone). And hopefully a post on the book of Galatians. In between I'll try to do something stupid or embarassing so I can have a funny post to mix things up a bit. No promises though.

Who is Right? - Doctrine of Justification

2006-08-03T00:06:00.000-12:00

Call me slow (which some have already insinuated) but I think I finally understand the great divide between Catholicism and Protestantism. It is the doctrine of justification by grace.

This quote from CRI explains the difference well:

Justification, to evangelicals, means that God declares us righteous the instant you or I repent and receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior — and this, despite our sinfulness. Actually, it’s a singular event, something that is completed instantaneously. Catholics, on the other hand, understand justification to mean that God makes us righteous. It’s seen as a process whereby God gradually perfects us; and this is, incidentally, why Catholics believe that only in the end will believers be sure as to whether they’re truly justified or saved.

In addition, evangelicals believe in justification by faith alone. And by faith we mean not only knowledge and agreement, but also personal trust in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life. In sharp distinction, Catholics see faith as nothing more than passive agreement, which again is why they don’t believe in justification by faith alone. Catholics actually consider human works as vital elements in the process of justification. This is because they are held to be the result of God’s grace working through and perfecting believers.

Well, in sharp contrast to the evangelical belief that works are the fruits of justification, Catholics say that justification results from a combination of faith and works made possible by God’s grace.

For Evangelicals, salvation and justification occurs simultaneously upon accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and we can be assured of our heavenly destination. For Catholics, there is no assurance of their eternal destination. Big difference.

So. Who is right?

We can’t both be right, correct?

Because if the Catholics are right, then we Evangelicals may be in trouble. But if the Evangelicals are right, where does that leave the Catholics?

These are questions to think about. I will continue with this topic later.

A Sign for My Friend?

2006-07-31T12:58:00.000-12:00

Continuing the saga of Circumstances Converge, I had an exciting day.

This morning I went to work with the packet of information I wrote up on Mary doctrines along with The Case for Christ for my friend. I wasn't sure how I was going to present the stuff to her since we had our discussion last week and was afraid she may have forgotten.

When my friend stopped by to say hello, we discussed our weekends. Then she asked me how church was on Sunday and what was the message about. I told her and she asked a few questions seeming more interested than ever before. She then said to me "I took your advice and prayed directly to God this weekend". I said that was great and then told her I had a little present for her and gave her the book and the packet.

Tears immediately started to well up in her eyes and she said "I prayed last night for God to reveal the Truth to me, but I said I was confused so I asked for a sign". She didn't say it outright, but based on her response I think she got at least a partial sign this morning.

She was very excited about the book as we had discussed it previously and she said that she had been thinking about it. She was also happy for the Mary information I had written up for her although she had already done a bit of internet research herself and seemed to be doubting her original stance already.

What also struck me was the sequence of events. See, our original discussion happened on Wednesday when she challenged me for bibilical verses to refute her beliefs with regards to Mary. That evening I really wanted to get all the information together but I just didn't have the time to devote to it that evening or for the rest of the week. I decided I would work on it over the weekend and I stayed up late last night to finish.

I usually order all my books online, but I really felt like I needed to take this opportunity to give her The Case for Christ along with the information I had written up. I made a special trip to the bookstore to pick up the book so I would have it for her. And it all came together this morning - she was open and I was ready. Only God could have orchestrated that one!

What can I say but that I am so encouraged by our interaction today. She didn't seem ready to accept Christ just yet, but she was definitely interested and asking the right questions. And I am so proud of her for asking God to reveal the truth to her, what a great start. I will continue to pray that she will come to know Jesus as her Savior and thank him for allowing me to be involved in his awesome work.

If you can say a quick prayer for her I would appreciate it!

Sola Scriptura Prelude

2006-07-30T06:19:00.000-12:00

I keep getting sidetracked from my Sola Scriptura post so I will point you over to Ellen who is posting on Sola Scriptura on her site: Sola Scriptura - A History Lesson. She is using a booklet I believe by Dr. W. Robert Godfrey who also has an Article on Sola Scripura available online.

I am really feeling burdened to get myself better versed in the idea of Sola Scriptura and will be doing more study I hope over the next few months. I look forward to sharing what I learn here.

Michele has posted about a book she likes called The Battle Belongs to the Lord: The Power of Scripture for Defending Our Faith. Here is part of the description:

"This is the book to give to Christians who know in their heart of hearts that they ought to be involved in the business of defending the faith, but do not know how to proceed or have been scared off by the complex philosophical nature of apologetics. Oliphint demonstrates what we have really known all along: God intends for the regular Christian to do apologetics...Oliphint begins with an analogy between the Christian’s task of apologetics and the fight between David and Goliath. David fought a giant with whom he was utterly unprepared to deal, at least from a purely human vantage point. But David defeated Goliath because he knew that the battle belonged to the Lord."

That book sounds right up my alley (thanks, Michelle)!

Something funny happened today also. The man sitting next to my husband at church had a book with him called Scripture Alone" by Sproul. My husband elbowed me to take a look. There is just no hiding from this topic for me!

I made a lot of progress on my "packet" for my friend with verses to oppose some of the Marian doctrines in her church (which she can't seem to let go of). Now I just want to add a few clarifying verses about the importance of relying solely on Jesus - not sure the best verses to use for that without overwhelming her with information. I also picked up The Case for Christ for her and hope she reads it.

Circumstances Converge, Part 2

2006-07-28T14:00:00.000-12:00

(If you haven’t read Part 1 of this story, go back and start there.)

Hopefully what you were able to see from Part 1 was how the topic of Catholicism came at me from a few angles and I didn’t duck. I found the sequence of events interesting but it got a bit more interesting when the same topic came up in my real life (as opposed to my fake blogging life).

One of my friends at work is a cradle Catholic. She is not terribly religious or devout as far as being Catholic, but it is all she has ever known. A few months back upon learning that I am a non-Catholic Christian, she asked me a few questions about what exactly I believed (knowing basically nothing about Protestantism). Sometime later she asked me what my “religion’s” viewpoint was on Mary and from there we talked more about our own beliefs.

I won’t go into all the details now, but let’s just say I think it is highly unlikely that she is saved. At one point she said that she did believe in Jesus, but later balked when I said Jesus was the only way to heaven. She gave me the old “but what about the good people, I can’t believe God would send good people to hell” routine (“her God wouldn’t do that”). I asked her how she thought she could be a believer in Jesus if she didn’t believe the things he spoke. We went through some other apologetics-type stuff then the conversation ended.

Since that time, talk of religion was pretty much non-existent and I didn’t push it. But this week while I was discussing my issues with Catholicism on this blog (which came up by the circle of events I described in Part 1), what does my friend at work bring up but Mary! Why don’t we (Protestants) revere Mary? We debated whether or not Mary was worth such a high standing in the church and discussed some other differences between Catholics and Protestants, but Mary was the big one for her. She actually admitted that she has some issues with the Catholic Church, but she just doesn’t think she could be part of the Protestant religion because we don’t hold Mary in high enough regard.

Finally after much discussion she challenged me to provide her with bible verses to back up my opinion that Mary is not to be revered the way the Catholics revere her. What she didn’t know is that I have been having discussions about this very topic in my secret, fake blogging life and was more than up to the challenge. I am going to work on a little packet for her this weekend and pray that the verses I provide her cut through to her heart as scripture can. She goes hot and cold on me with this stuff so I’m not holding my breath but it is progress.

So while I said previously that I am sometimes apprehensive about saying that God was orchestrating certain circumstances in my life, this situation seems to have his Name all over it. I don’t know what will happen with my friend, but I am excited to be able to share my faith with her and pray for her (will you say a quick prayer for her also?).

Being critical of another faith, especially when talking to a person of that faith, can be difficult and can make you seem unloving, judgemental, holier-than-thou, a troublemaker, arguementative, etc. Maybe some people think that I discuss these more controversial topics for less than honorable reasons. But in these last few posts I have spoken what I believe to be the truth about the topic/circumstances that came my way with the same goal as always in faith matters - seeing the lost saved. If I had worried about how others may view me, I would have missed out.

Circumstances Converge, Part 1

2006-07-27T12:55:00.000-12:00

Contrary to what I said in my last post, there are times in my life where I can see occurrences building on each other which just have to be more than a coincident. In this case, it has to do with my recent posts on Catholicism.

Let me take you back to when this all started. A few months back I wrote a post called 50 Things About Me where I mentioned in one of the bullet points that I was a “recovering Catholic”. Elena happened to read that post while visiting for the first time and asked: “what is a recovering Catholic?”. It was like the shot heard around the world. Okay, it wasn’t that dramatic, but it did cause me to write a second post describing my upbringing in the Catholic Church called something ingenious like My Version of A Recovering Catholic. There was some minor discussion in the comments section of that post, but it got quiet quickly.

A couple of months later I read a post at Challies about Rome and The Beast of Revelation. I made some comments on that post back and forth with what seemed to be a Catholic apologetic. It was that thread which inspired my True or False Test post (defending the Bible as God’s one and only authoritative Word). Around that same time I received an email from Beth who stumbled upon my Recovering Catholic post and had a few comments about it, resulting in the Dialogue with A Catholic Posts (okay, I’m tired of linking-you're on your own). Are you still with me? I promise, I’m almost there.

Following the comments on the Dialogue posts, I wrote another post replying back and also posted a chart (because I came across it and thought it was informative) which compared the non-biblical traditions of Catholics, Mormons, and JWs. I was just about to move on to another topic when Elena suddenly appeared on the scene to rebut some of my comments on Catholicism and defend Marian doctrines (remember: her question is what spurred the Recovering Catholic post, which spurred Beth’s email, which started the whole discussion up again months later) Okay, we have come full circle. But since this post is already so long, I will have to make this a two part-er.

Are you disappointed you came this far for nothing? Sorry, Part 2 should be better. Maybe I should have opened with a joke?

(Seriously, is this terribly boring? I hate these kind of stories from other people)

Is it from God?

2006-07-26T23:53:00.000-12:00

I am not one of those people that claims just about everything that happens in my life is some sort of a sign from God. As I figure it, there are things that come from God, things that come from Satan and things that come from the good ole wildcard we call a fallen world. I am not saying that God isn’t sovereign over everything, I just don’t think that everything that happens in my life has some sort of hidden meaning from God.

Now, when things happen that seem to be indicating something more than everyday life, I still tread lightly. I remember when I was a new Christian and we were going to a very small church. I can’t remember exactly what happen (hope you weren’t expecting a good story) but our church was trying to do something that would help it grow and things just weren’t happening as expected. The verdict? Satan must be blocking our efforts.

I remember at the time thinking, how do you know that? What if God is blocking our efforts because he’s not happy with our actions or it’s not part of his will. Are we suppose to chalk up everything that seems bad to us as Satan and everything that seems good to us to God? That seemed too easy.

That particular incident happened many years ago but I must admit, my ability to determine God’s will (or God’s nudging) is no better today. I hear so many people talking about God’s will in their lives and how this or this happened and they knew to do that. And I hope that what they are discerning really is God’s will all the time. But I tend to be suspicious. Certainly they must be befuddled once in awhile. Certainly they must have followed a few rabbit trails.

So while I admire the people who seem to have such a solid faith that they can deem the twists and turns in life as from God or not, I am not there. I try not to say that a set of circumstances in my life are happening because God wants me to do THIS. Because not only could I be mistaking the push of God for something else, but I could get the THIS wrong. So I walk tentatively, pray about things, and try not to rush into anything. That may not be the best way to do it, but that is what works for me at the moment.

But what is funny is that my whole point of starting this post was to tell a story about some things happening in my life (and related to my blog) that I felt have been orchestrated by God for a purpose. Somehow though, I ended up writing a very loosely related post without even touching on the content of the post I intended to write. While I can’t be certain, I am going to chalk up this occurrence to my wandering mind that likes to go tangential (i.e the fallen world category).

I guess I’ll be back later to write the post I intended to write here. Unless I was wrong and this was God’s will and I’m not suppose to write that other post. Hmmm.

How to Increase Comment Counts

2006-07-25T05:13:00.000-12:00

Note to Self:
Make a post about another post that has 0 comments. Explain how the lack of comments is proof in your mind that the post was so well done it left people speechless. Within a few days, watch the comments go from 0 to 27 and disprove your theory. Ponder whether you should enjoy the comments or whether you should feel sad that your theory was disproven and what it all means.

I mentioned in my last post that we had a good discussion going in the Response to Comments – Catholicism post. There is also some discussion going on under the Extra-Biblical post that I wanted to point people to also as it is an older post that everyone may have missed. That comment section is dealing more specifically with the Marian doctrines of the Catholic Church and I think it is very interesting to understand why Protestants and Catholics disagree on these issues.

I think it is important to think through why we believe what we believe and try to make sure that our views are consistent with God’s ultimate truth. Unfortunately, God does not have his own website where we can access his FAQ page. But we do have something just as good and that is His Word (the Bible). It may not seem quite as straightforward as a FAQ, but the answers are there if we will just look.

May God bless our discussions and grant us all the wisdom to recognize His truth.

Still on the Horizon...

2006-07-24T13:08:00.000-12:00

Okay, my ever-impending Sola Scriptura post is still coming. I know I shouldn't keep saying that because I could be causing an artificial suspense which is sure to end in disappointment when I finally do that post, but it is weighing heavy on my mind so I feel the need to keep mentioning it.

Right now I'm a little busy with the Response to Comments-Catholicism, trying to defend why that is such a catchy title. It took me hours to come up with that title and I'm not going down without a fight.

Seriously, we have a nice discussion going on in the comments section of that post and it only reaffirms the reasons that I would like to do the Sola Scritura post. But please, prepare to be disappointed by the Sola Scriptura post because it will not be some academic tackling of the topic, just Carrie's thoughts on the matter and well, that can only get so exciting.

What I'm thinking about Today

2006-07-22T12:18:00.000-12:00

I am one of those people that needs to tackle a thought right when I have it or else I either forget or lose momentum. After I wrote the True or False Test post I had a comment by Alma opposing my stance on the Bible alone. That's a great topic and I would like to post more on it, but it feels like such a huge topic that I just can't seem to get myself to start writing. But I will, I promise.

Not that I think anyone out in cyberspace is losing sleep over the fact that I still haven't written that post I promised previously, but I say these things as more of a promise to myself and a "to do" list (so I don't forget - see my first sentence). At least I got the last post done which I had on my list for a few days.

And obviously I hit the ball out of the park on my last post as everyone who read it was so overwhelmed by it, they couldn't even make a comment. That's right. No matter how much I don't want to admit it, I like to get comments. So since some of what I consider to be my better posts often have NO comments, I have convinced myself that those are the times when people couldn't think of anything more to add. Even a "good post" just wouldn't do. If the Apostle Paul blogged, he would get zero comments in my mind.

So what we have here is one of my goofy posts. They pop up once in awhile when I feel the need to just have some fun. I know that I'm not funny, so don't feel the need to tell me that in the comments.

Back to our regular programming soon.

Response to Comments - Catholicism

2006-07-20T13:29:00.000-12:00

As promised, I want to address two of Beth’s comments on my Dialogue with a Catholic post and my Can Christian Women Not Debate post.

For brevity I am just going to post some excerpts that I wanted to respond to - you can see the full comments in the comments sections of those posts:

“I am perplexed why you put Catholics in the same boat as Mormons.”

That’s a fair statement. I wouldn’t place Catholics and Mormons in the same boat overall, but they do share a few extra-biblical similarities (see this chart) and they would both disagree with sola scriptura. The extra-biblical teachings are where I have a problem.

“Why do you focus on your doctrinal differences with Catholics and not differences you have with other Christian denominations?”

Because I grew up Catholic and most of my family is still Catholic, so I am just sticking with what I know and what I encounter in my everyday life. There are some Protestant denominations I would never join, but usually the core biblical doctrines are in place (at least on paper) so the differences are minor.

“Can we agree that you and I both embrace the Nicene Creed as the core of our Christian faith? or do you not accept this?”

Well, this one made me think. I do agree with the Nicene Creed but I certainly would not call it the core of my faith. The core of my faith is God’s Word (The Bible) and God’s Word alone. I guess I am not a big fan of creeds, even though they are a nice summary of the basic belief system. However, although we may agree on the Nicene creed, we do not agree on the Bible alone as our authority and that is where we diverge.

“I find too often with Christians of your perspective who have already decided that a Catholic can not be a Christian that there is not much listening going on.”

I am trying to listen and to be perfectly honest, our interactions do give me hope that salvation can occur through the Catholic church (remember, I have family there). And I don’t want to say that a Catholic can’t be a Christian, I just find it hard to understand how a saved person could remain in the Catholic church. Being a Christian is being a follower of Jesus, but the sacraments, the Pope, the priests, exaltation of Mary, praying to saints, “the one true church” idea– they all get in the way of a sole reliance on Jesus. I don’t agree that tradition is on par with God’s Word and I think the tradition is distracting from the core message of the Gospel.

“And in fact many of you feel that any Christian who recognizes the presence of Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church has sold out to something false.”

There seems to be a trend in some religious circles to accept everyone in a liberal sort of mindset. I think that is a cultural problem nowadays and I don’t agree with it.

“I also think at times we do need to set aside our doctrinal differences and try to "just get along", not because they are not important but because we fail to take a moment to recognize the presence of God in one another on our quest to filter out those who hold onto false doctrines.”

I agree, we should all try to get along. But I don’t think we can squelch the truth in such a process. If someone is holding to a false gospel, then what they have is not the presence of God, but something else. There is only one God, with one set of characteristics and one set of expectations of his children. I believe that the only way that we come to know the one true God is by the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Anything extra is distracting at a minimum, and damning at a maximum.

Along the way someone else commented that we shouldn’t judge other people’s salvation status. I disagree with that and was glad to read this article recently. Here's a quote from the post by Mark Dever:

"Sometimes I get the feeling that people think there's something wrong with questioning the reality of a profession of faith. It's legalistic, or judging, or holier than thou. Or something.

But if evangelists want to see lost sinners saved, and if evangelists know that we sinners can deceive ourselves, then it's not surprising that we want to try to make sure (with all appropriate qualifications about our limitedness) that conversions professed are conversions possessed."

I have a story to go along with that idea, but I’ll share that another time. I’m hoping to tackle my views on sola scriptura and some of the objections made by a Mormon commenter next.

Thanks again to Beth for all of her insightful comments!

Christian Women Bloggers

2006-07-18T23:35:00.000-12:00

I mentioned previously that I was looking for new blogs to read by Christian women. Now, there are lots of wonderful blogs written by Christian women out there, but I guess I have a certain type of content and personality in mind.

So far I have added just about anybody that comments here. My theory is, if you enjoy some of what I have to say then I’ll probably enjoy what you have to say. So if you read here but never comment, now is the time to say hello so I can visit your blog.

The second type of addition to my blogroll has been commenters on other sites that I enjoy. In a similar method to above, if we both like the same blog maybe we will like each other’s blog.

So, I thought I would share here some of the newer blogs that I am reading now. I use Bloglines to keep track of all my blogs. If you do not use Bloglines or some other type of aggregator to keep track of the blogs you read, you must. It saves a lot of time.

Let me first mention Michele as she has three separate blogs (she may even have more, but these are the ones I follow now). I also think she may qualify under my “feisty” category although she may not appreciate that:
Blogging Chicks
Reformed Chicks Blabbing
Life Under the Sun

The rest:
Reformed Mama
The Preacher’s Wife
Deo Volente
Reflections of the Times
Jamileigh.com

My other reads are listed in my sidebar.

Extra-Biblical Teaching

2006-07-17T23:01:00.000-12:00

I recently discovered Carm.org, an apologetics website that has some great articles. As I mentioned in a previous post, a Mormon commenter on my Bible Alone post left some objections to the idea of Sola Scriptura and I would like to address some of those thoughts in the future. I have also exchanged some pleasant emails with this person and have tried to learn a bit more about Mormonism. While doing so I came across Carm.org.

This comparison grid from Carm.org is a nice summary in my opinion of the extra-biblical teachings of Mormonism, Catholicism, and the Jehovah's Witnesses. I thought I would link to it here as I hope to touch on some of these points in my future post.

I find it interesting that faiths that hold onto some biblical teachings but veer off from the Bible alone as their sole authority, tend to veer off in similar directions. Especially with being lead by an earthly authority and being the one true church.

I also still need to address some of Beth's comments to my posts on Catholicism (which were basically our email exchange). I appreciate Beth taking the time to email me and comment further on some of the things I have said on this blog about Catholicism. Not that my viewpoint of the faith has changed, but she has made me think about how to approach my oppositions as it is never my intent to unnecessarily upset or offend someone. Thanks Beth.

Where Acknowledging Ends and Disowning Begins

2006-07-12T13:11:00.000-12:00

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." Matt 10:32-33

I remember reading the verses above not long after I became a Christian and feeling a bit anxious. Frankly, those verses still scare me today. How do we know the boundaries of “acknowledge” and “disown”?

As I mentioned in my previous post on Christian women debating, there seems to be a large proportion of Christian women online who prefer not to tangle with the tougher issues and prefer others not tangle with the tougher issues. I for one am not afraid to debate, or to point out the issues I see with certain religions or denominations. But am I wrong? Is it better to know in my heart that there are issues but keep quiet so as not to offend?

I remember a few years ago I was eating lunch at work with a few women in my group who I didn’t know very well. These women were also scientists and for some reason the topic of Intelligent Design came up. One of my colleagues made the comment that she couldn’t believe that there are people who don’t believe in evolution.

Now, I could have just sat there and said nothing and the conversation would have moved on. There was no direct attack against God, nothing obvious to defend. But I couldn’t just be silent. I simply said, “I don’t believe in evolution” and said something else that made it clear I was a Christian. I don’t remember what exactly happened after that but the direction of the conversation quickly changed.

So why did I speak up? It certainly wasn’t pride because when you tell a table full of scientists you don’t believe in evolution you might as well tell them what size straight-jacket you wear.

Did I do it so I could brag to the people at my church about it (and years later blog about it)? Nope, other than my husband no one has ever heard this story.

I did it because when something is said that is out of line with the truth of God, I simply feel the need to speak up. To just sit quietly and say nothing FOR ME would be like disowning Jesus. If I didn’t say something it would be to avoid conflict, embarrassment, not call attention to myself – it would be all about me.

So where does acknowledgment end and disowning begin? Obviously if I say I am a follower of Christ then I acknowledge Him and if I say I am not a follower of Christ then I disown Him. But what happens in between those two extremes? Do my actions on a day to day basis acknowledge or disown?

If I sit quietly and say nothing when I know that God is being misrepresented, am I acknowledging him or disowning Him? I think that idea is what summarizes my actions in the blogosphere. It is not my intent here to judge others or throw stones or prove that I am Queen of the Mountain. I simply talk about whatever happens to be on my mind and in line with what I know about God’s truths.

I felt the need to share this because I want people to understand why I say the things I say here. I don’t think Christianity is a spectator sport. My goal in life is not to have friends on earth, but to make sure my friends will be in heaven. The only way I know how to do that is to speak His Truth as best I can.

Blogger Stinks, Take a Number

2006-07-12T10:00:00.000-12:00

Okay, I just discovered some newer comments to some older posts because I happened to scroll down. Blogger is suppose to send me an email each time I have a new comment but that notification system stopped working for me a few months ago. I'm wondering if Wordpress would be better or if adding haloscan would help.

So I apologize to anyone who has made a comment and never heard back from me. Not that I respond to every comment, but if there is a question I try to respond.

Now, Beth has made 2 comments specifically about my posts on Catholicism that brought up some good points that I would like to address in a separate post. I'll do that when I can.

I also have meant to address some of Alma's comments on my Scripture alone post but haven't gotten to that yet.

I also exchanged an email with Alma that got more into Mormonism, I would like to talk about some of that also.

And, I am in the middle of a post (although I was interrupted and may have lost my steam and/or train of thought) which I would like to finish before I tackle any of the above.

Hence my title, take a number. If you have anything to say about moving to Wordpress or adding Haloscan, please leave me a comment. Eventually I'll see it :)

Finding Christ

2006-07-10T23:17:00.000-12:00

I'm on a mission to find some new blogs to read. I'm looking for women who love God and like to write about Him. Even better, women who are willing to get a bit fiesty in defending God and His Word.

So I've added a few new blogs to my bloglines account and will keep my fingers crossed. If you read here, please leave a comment so I can visit your own blog. If you have any suggestions for blogs that I may like, please leave a comment also.

I Changed My Template...

2006-07-09T12:56:00.000-12:00

...because I can.

And it's easier than moving furniture to get a new look.

And not as traumatizing for my husband as cutting my hair short.

I wasn't exactly looking for a fruit theme, but I liked the simplicity of this template - nice and crisp looking.

Came across this verse today:

The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned. Isa 9:2

I would love to have a template designed around that passage.

Can Christian Women Not Debate?

2006-07-07T07:29:00.000-12:00

I recently came upon a website for Christian women that was promoting a "blog carnival" (a carnival is a group of links to posts around a particular topic from various contributors), asking Christian women to submit posts on a particular subject. The submitted posts would be linked to from this website as long as the submission guidelines were met.

Sounded good until I came to the guidelines which basically stated that posts from blogs which tended toward controversy, slander or debate would not be accepted. Not just the carnival post itself, but the blog in general. That made my heart sink.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in blogging freedom and if someone wants to limit their carnival participants to red-haired Christian women with size 10 shoes, that is their choice. But having a carnival specifically for Christian women but not for Christian women who "debate" makes "debating" seem like a bad thing, especially when it's included with the word "slander". A Christian woman who slanders should be an oxymoron so I have to wonder what would be considered slander? Surely a Christian woman wouldn't knowingly slander someone. Has debating now reached the level of slander for Christian Women?

I guess I am a bit sensitive about this stuff as I tend to lean on the side of debate. I believe debate is a good thing and not something to be discouraged. Are any of us as Christian women so sure of our knowledge and opinions that there is no room for debate? Can we not discuss our differences and viewpoints without reaching the level of slander?

Okay, this rant may seem a little over the top based on one website's guidelines, but since I have been online this idea of debating being somehow taboo for Christian women seems to be quite prevalent. Too often with Christian women online I have seen truth hidden in the back room so as not to offend and all in the name of "grace". Grace is good, but not at the expense of truth.

It reminds me of Marla** (whose blog I can't even link to anymore because she has deleted it completely) who was pummeled when she dared to speak out about the issues of Mormons being considered as "Christians". This was a good Christian woman who brought important issues to the blogosphere but she no longer blogs. I think she has left a hole that I have yet to see filled by any other Christian woman. I miss Marla.

So, I guess I have pretty much disqualified myself from the carnival that doesn't accept debate. During my short time blogging I have had a few minor debates, but not because I had an intent to alienate or judge others. I simply speak the truth. And if I am in error, I hope my fellow Christian women will say so and not cower from a potential debate. There is no reason that debating in general should be a bad quality in a Christian woman. Has it come to that?

** As a side note, Marla's concern over Mormons identifying themselves as Christians was only further confirmed by some interesting posts and comments over at the ChoosingHome Blog.

The True or False Test - What is the Key?

2006-07-04T23:23:00.000-12:00

I would like to add some thoughts that I had after my email conversation with Beth (see Part 1 and Part 2) but I’m not in the mood right now. What was funny about the emails I received from Beth is that they came at the same time I had been exchanging some comments with a Catholic apologetic (which I didn’t even know existed before this) on this post at Challies. I then read this post and this post at Pyromaniacs, which really spoke to me.

I really have little interest in debating the issues I see In Roman Catholicism or Mormonism but yet I have managed to bring up both on this blog. I am not theologically-trained nor I am one of those people that can quote scripture well to make my points, so I feel like I’m not qualified to get into these debates. But I do have a good basis of biblical knowledge and (I think) the gift of discernment, so I know when something is amiss.

The issues I see with Mormonism, Catholicism, Jehovah Witness (ism?), and for the most any religion outside of biblical Christianity all boil down for the most part to The Bible. The latter groups do not consider the Bible the Word of God and former groups don’t believe the Bible is sufficient – they need to add to it (Book of Mormon, traditions, etc.).

Therefore, it seems to me there isn’t much point in arguing the small points. The argument needs to be around the sufficiency of scripture (Sola Scriptura). I can’t convince someone that their religion is incorrect because it does not keep with biblical truths if they either don’t believe in The Bible as the ultimate authority or they believe that they can add “truths” to the Bible based on things like tradition.

I find this idea comforting because I don’t want to spend my time researching other faiths so that I can argue against them. I want to know God’s Word so well that I can make a great argument for Him – the true Him. Which reminds me, Challies had another great post on identifying counterfeit money which ties in great with this idea of knowing the True to identify the False. I highly recommend it (be sure to read part 1 & 2) along with the posts I mentioned at Pyromaniacs.

Dialogue with a Catholic, Part 2

2006-07-02T22:33:00.000-12:00

This is the second part of my email conversation with Beth (see Part 1 below).

Here is Beth's reply to me:

Thank you for responding to my comment. You have difficult time believing that someone who knows the Word of God could be part of the Catholic Church and I have a difficult time understanding how someone who knows the Word of God could not be part of the Catholic Church

I went back and read the comments and was further saddened by the comment that made reference to "evangelicals who have sold out to ecumenism with Catholics". I have a great love for the Body Of Christ, all of it, everyone. Honestly, I hear it equally from both sides about who is right with God and who isn't. Should we only fellowship with someone who embraces every doctrine that we believe is biblical? Everyday a new denomination starts because Christians can not agree on doctrine, they believe they are interpreting scripture better than the last person.

I have always had a great love for unity in the Body of Christ and Jesus does too. In my state there is an Alliance of Christian churches that band together to pray and fight the evils of today (including the Catholic church) They embrace on statement of faith that they all agree on. When I was in college I lived in an evangelical household for 2 years, worked at a Baptist camp for 2 summers and even this week my kids will be going to Vacation Bible School at the local Christian Church. (We do have one at our own church also but the dates don’t work for us this year)

I am so sorry that when you were growing up being Catholic was a nominal thing for your family, it wasn't lived and embraced and the basic message of the gospel not heard. (From what you shared) The Catholic Church does not teach that you can punch in and out your time card every Sunday to get into Heaven, surely God knows the hearts of all. That type of attitude bothers me too. Faith is a grace and it is a mystery the way the Holy Spirit brings about conversion at different times in peoples lives, love your family and recognize God wherever He may be in their actions and lives and build on that and pray for them.

I grew up nominally Catholic too. My early faith formation did however lay a foundation that bore fruit when I became an adult and understood the gospel message. When I heard it I realized it had been what I was hearing every Sunday except now the veil was lifted, I recognized Jesus Christ present in Holy Communion.

I recently heard statistics that there is a high percentage of evangelical children not walking with the Lord when they leave home. It happens in all Christian denominations, kids growing up and not having the faith intimately lived and taught by their parents. As I have become more involved with other Christians I have come to realize that there are plenty of non-Catholic Christians (evangelicals, non-denominational etc) who have said their salvation prayer and may or may not go to church on Sunday and never get to know God either way. Initially this surprised me but now I understand that you can be a nominal evangelical too and never really know God, it is not just a Catholic thing.

It is most definitely not Catholic doctrine that no one can be saved outside of the Catholic Church. This is false. The Catechism states that in #818 to 821. "All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ: They therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church."

I can share with you my experience of God as a Catholic but I would rather stay away from Apologetics or debating specific doctrines. Not because I do not think it is important but rather because I am the mom of 3 smalls kids and find that draining and usually fruitless. I am well aware of Chick publications and similar publishers and have read them all. Jeff Cavins was a evangelical minister for 12 years prior to being a Catholic. He has a couple of excellent books. Also, www.catholic.com fully answers all questions/debates regarding the Catholic faith. No sense in repeating or hashing through what is already out there.

And here is my reply:

Thanks for your response and for sharing some of your background. I'm right there with you in not having the time or desire to debate apologetics when you have small children in the house. But I do enjoy talking and thinking about these kind of issues (in small doses) as I find it strengthens my own knowledge of the Word and my faith.

You are absolutely right, there are many nominal evangelicals also. I hope it doesn't appear that I am just picking on the Catholics as there are many Protestant denominations that have what I would consider major issues. But I do still disagree with many Catholic doctrines and have a "general distrust" based on my own upbringing and current experiences. It also seems that the Catholic doctrines change over time as I know that at some point in history the Catholic Church taught that no one could be saved outside the Church. When the doctrines seem to change over time, it is easy for someone who disagrees with Catholicism to bring up an issue with a particular doctrine that is quickly dismissed b/c the doctrine is no longer followed. That is where I tend to get frustrated.

I am glad that you have a relationship with the Lord and hope that your knowledge and love for the Lord can grow in the Church you are in. That would not have been possible for me in the Catholic Church but that is me. And thank you for sharing with me your opinions and experiences as a "mature" Catholic who has a different perspective than I have as a formally "nominal" Catholic. I still feel the same as when I wrote my original "Recovering Catholic" post but I am encouraged that there are women like you (and some others who commented previously) who are willing to discuss their faith without being defensive or antagonistic.

Beth gave me a few things to think about although as I said in my reply, my stance on the Catholic church is still the same. I will post some of my thoughts in another post.

Thanks to Beth for contacting me to give me her insight and for allowing me to post her emails!

Dialogue with a Catholic, Part 1

2006-06-30T05:18:00.000-12:00

Beth came across my post on being a Recovering Catholic recently and emailed me. She has been kind enough to allow me to post our conversation here:

Beth Said:

I was interested to read your recovering Catholic thread. I was saddened to see your conclusion that a Catholic can't possibly know Jesus Christ. In my travels I have found that there are as many nominal born again Christians as there are nominal Catholics.

I personally have found a depth and wisdom in the Catholic Church that I find no where else. It challenges me and leads me always to Jesus Christ. I am intrigued in recent years by hearing more and more testimonies of born again Christians who have embraced the Catholic Church. The "Surprised by Truth" book series documents many of these.

I have to admit though I hear plenty of Catholics who feel the need to place judgment on other Christian and their relationship with God. I get tired of hearing it from both sides. Let us recognize Jesus Christ where He is present.

Here was my reply to Beth:

Thank you for your comment. I had to go back and read my post to see what sentence you were referring to and maybe I could have stated my opinion better. It's not so much that I don't think a Catholic can know Jesus, but I have a difficult time believing that someone who knows the Word of God could be a part of the Catholic church. Maybe that is just semantics but I think that expresses how I feel just a bit better.

I have met a few Catholics since I've been blogging and am glad that there are at least a few who know biblical truths and understand their faith. My experience in general with Catholics (including my own family) is the type of attitude that going to church each Sunday is "good enough" to get you into heaven. That is the type of attitude that bothers me.

It breaks my heart that there may be people faithfully attending church each Sunday and yet never get to know God. I think it is abhorrent that people could be attending any church and not understand the Gospel message and that they will spend eternity in hell if they don't put their faith in Jesus (and that isn't just lip service, it's a total transformation). I see alot of that in the Catholic church but there are also some Protestant denominations that I am just as unhappy with.

You are right, we should be careful as Christians not to judge other people's relationship with God. But I would be neglecting my duties as a child of God if I did not try to correct others who I feel may not have a true relationship with Jesus and therefore are not saved. Besides, isn't part of the Catholic doctrine that no one can be saved outside of the Catholic church? Do you believe that? If so, that seems a more condemning statement against personal faith than anything I have said.

I will post Beth's followup reply and mine in my next post.

New Blogroll

2006-06-25T12:11:00.000-12:00

I decided to join some blogrolls for fun. Some of the blogging ladies out there make such cute graphics (like the one above).

I have zero artistic talent. My four year old already draws better than I can. Before she could draw she would ask me to draw pictures for her of certain people or animals. Stick people and unidentifiable blobs was about as good as it got.

I'm glad Proverbs 31 didn't mention some sort of artistic talent or I'd never be able to feel good about myself.

Okay, I'm not funny...

2006-06-23T12:45:00.000-12:00

Well I am afraid the humor in my last post was a flop. I tried to make a few jokes about my house and use some levity with regards to God’s will but it seems I came off badly. It was never my intention to say that the Lord has ever given me anything less than the best and far better than I ever deserve. Now I feel like a big whiny baby with an inappropriate sense of humor and an inability to communicate well in writing. Sorry!

I had alluded in a previous post that my humor was a tough blend with my faith and I think I have proven my point. Here is what I said:

“What am I trying to get at here? I don’t know! I feel like my funny side is struggling to get out but my humor is tough to blend with my faith. Humor is a big part of who I am, but it was cultivated before I knew Christ and is of the cynical - goof on other people - take-no prisoners kind of humor. I’m not sure I can find any middle ground.”

At least I get a few points for predicting the bad outcome.

Oh well, back to serious and opinionated.

Divine Renovation

2006-06-20T00:15:00.000-12:00

I took last week off from work to get some work done around the house. We bought our house about 10 months ago and I’m convinced that God pulled a fast one on us, somehow blinding us to the borderline dilapidation that we call a house. Okay, I’m exaggerating. It’s not dilapidated but it does need a lot of work.

Why would God have done this? I’m not sure but I think he wanted us in that house for some reason and as long as it was his will, I’m okay with it. I’d be better with it if he would miraculously part the wallpaper off my walls but so far no luck.

If I didn’t have two small kids, I think I could enjoy renovating our house. But I do have two small kids, so I’m not feeling the love. If having hatred in your heart is as good as murder, then I am guilty of murdering my kitchen. And my bathroom. And I’ve at least maimed by dining room.

There isn’t much I can do but just keep plugging along. But the chaos is making me a bit crazy. And with home renovation there is a lot of decision-making and money-spending, two things that aren’t even in the running for my top ten list of things I enjoy.

And to top it all off, my Dad is coming to visit for the weekend and nothing makes me more aware of the mess I live in then the presence of another person. But hey, why shouldn’t my Dad get to enjoy staring at the holes in the walls of my kitchen, or the partially-wallpapered/partially-bare-walled dining room, or the boxes of roman shades in the corner of the room that by the grace of God will someday be hung on the window? Who am I to deny him that pleasure?

So that is a little slice of my life today. Through the power of Christ living through me I am able to keep from pulling my hair out. Can I get an Amen?

Questions in Heaven

2006-06-07T03:21:00.000-12:00

We meet weekly with a smaller group from our church to fellowship and there is usually a topic for discussion led by someone in the group. Last night the icebreaker-type question was “What person from the Bible (other than Jesus) would you like to meet in heaven and what question would you ask them?"

Most of us could probably come up with a long list of questions for various people, so it was an interesting exercise. In fact, I like the question so much I think I may post some of my questions here from time to time when I’m low on content.

The question/person I thought of last night was Peter. I’ve written about Peter before and how I was touched that Paul records (1Cor 15:5) that Jesus visited Peter after his resurrection and prior to his appearance to the other disciples. This is just a few days after Peter’s denial of Jesus and the condemning call of the rooster.

So my question to Peter would be: “What did Jesus say to you in that private meeting after his resurrection?” After a major failure on Peter’s part and after so many failures in my own life, I’d love to know what Jesus had to say to Peter.

I'm Back (I Think)

2006-06-05T23:23:00.000-12:00

Well, I think I have decided to keep this blog going. I must admit though, it was nice to take a break. I had become too entrenched in the blogworld and was spending WAY too much time writing, reading, thinking about and commenting on blogs. It becomes a bit addictive and I’m glad I broke the cycle.

I haven’t decided what my format will be going forward as I really haven’t put much thought into it. I simply decided that I enjoy writing so I would like to continue. My posts will likely be more random and less frequent and be about whatever happens to be on my mind at the moment.

I feel like a heel now because I was contacted by Ciao My Bella (see my sidebar) for a free blog design, but I turned it down b/c I wasn’t sure at the time that I would continue this blog and didn’t want to waste the designer’s time. Oops. Perhaps I can still get something worked out. I'd love to have a design made up for my website for Christian women also.

During my absence I’ve been busy working around the house. We have a lot of fixing up to do around our place and at times it seems overwhelming, but I guess we’re slowly making progress. I’m taking a week off from work soon to get some more stuff done and can’t wait.

I’m sad to say that my walk with the Lord has not been the same for the past month or two. I seem to have stumbled at some point and now he seems somewhat distant. Perhaps there is some sin in my life that I need to uncover? I don’t know. I’m working on getting that figured out.

Glad to be back.

Decisions, Decisions...

2006-04-24T12:08:00.000-12:00

Well, after a few weeks off I still haven't decided whether to continue with this blog or not. I enjoy having a place to write down my thoughts, but I was spending way too much time on blogging (writing my own posts and reading others).

If I do continue to write here I think the format will be different. As much as I enjoy writing more devotional-like pieces, I'm just not a gifted writer than can bang those kinds of things out. So any future posts will be more random thoughts of a journaling sort.

Unfortunately, I just don't have the time right now in my life for blogging. But this blog does correlate nicely with my website which I am still committed to, so I hesitate to just walk away.

So the verdict is...I don't know.

(If I were better about seeking the Lord's guidance, maybe I would have an answer by now. )

Taking a Break

2006-03-27T12:39:00.000-12:00

After only 5 months of blogging I feel worn out. I started a blog to get some of my thoughts down in writing never realizing that the experience would take on a life of its own. I need to take a break and decide if and how I want blogging to fit into my life.

Marla has decided to quit blogging and most of her reasons for quitting are the same thoughts that have crossed my mind the last few days. Seeing those reasons written out so well by Marla has confirmed some things for me, so now I just need time to think those things through.

I'll be back once I've made some decisions.

Thank You Lord

2006-03-24T01:04:00.000-12:00

Things that I am thankful for today:

1. A Godly husband who loves the Lord as much as I do.
2. Beautiful, healthy children.
3. A bible-believing, spirit-filled Church where someone accepts Christ just about every week.
4. A job that pays the bills.
5. A Savior that died so I could be saved.

Free Blogger Templates

2006-03-19T12:49:00.000-12:00

Carol asked me about my blog template as she has a friend looked for something beyond the default template. Someone asked me this before so I thought I would just post a couple of sites that I have found that offer free blogger templates in case anyone else feels like redecorating.

http://bloggertemplatesbycaz.blogspot.com/
http://blog-templates.ravasthi.name/
http://www.pannasmontata-templates.net/?page_id=215

Not an exhaustive list but these were some sites I had bookmarked. There are usually instructions on the sites. If you know nothing about html it may be a little daunting to make the change yourself but it's not terribly difficult.

Along those lines, I've been thinking of changing my template to a less feminine look. I don't want to turn off any potential male readers when they see the blog name and then the womanly design. Unfortunately, I'm not ready to pay for my own template so I'll have to look over the freebies again.

Of Posts to Come

2006-03-19T06:46:00.000-12:00

Just a few random thoughts...

I changed the description of my blog from "The thoughts, struggles and opinions of one Christian woman" which had already been changed from my original " The thoughts of one Christian woman" to the new description of "One woman's walk with the Lord (stumbles included)".

I've been thinking a lot about why I blog and what purpose if any does it serve. Also, is the purpose worth the effort. Well, I don't have answers yet for all of those but I have come to realize that my purpose in writing here is to share my walk with the Lord. My first description sounded like it was too much about me when it's really about Him. As with anything on this blog, my description is subject to change without notice.

I'm hoping to add the remaining 49 points to my 99 Things About Me. My husband keeps asking me if I have finished this yet so clearly he would like to more about me also. I guess I really am an introvert.

I have some other post topics in mind including finishing my testimony but have been busy as usual. If only I could sleep less...

Which brings me back to organization. Still just a thought in progress but I will have to get there sooner or later or I'll lose what little sanity I have. I think I just came up with #51 for my list - I'm a procrastinator.

My Version of A Recovering Catholic

2006-03-17T00:02:00.000-12:00

I mentioned in my list of 50 Things About Me that I was a recovering Catholic. Someone asked me in the comments to that post what that term meant so I thought I would go ahead and make a full post since my answer is a bit too long for the comments section.

First, the commenter also mentioned reading the term “recovering Catholic” in a newspaper article so I can’t say my definition is necessarily the same as others. I would guess that there are people who grew up Catholic that now don’t believe in a God that may also call themselves “recovering Catholics”. That’s not my personal definition.

I grew up in a Catholic family. I went to church every Sunday with my parents, was baptized as a baby, did first communion, confirmation, CCD, etc. Once I went away to college I only went to mass maybe twice on my own (except summers when I was home with my family). After all those years of religion I knew nothing about God, other than he existed. I don’t even think my family owned a Bible. If we did I never saw it. The same goes for my extended family and all of my friends that were Catholic.

Around the age of 27 I started to get interested in the Bible. Not so much the book itself, but in some of the stories from the Old Testament. I won’t go into the details as I’m hoping to write up my testimony soon. Anyway, I decided to try going back to church but wanted to try a Protestant church as my boyfriend (now my husband) had grown up in a Protestant environment and his family seemed more in touch with the Bible. In that church I heard the Gospel and accepted Jesus as my Savior and my life changed in an instant.

I call myself a recovering Catholic because by the grace of God I was able to overcome my entrapment. I believe that Catholicism is a dead religion that fools people into thinking they are bound for heaven when most are not. I believe this because of my own experience growing up in the Catholic church and because of my continual interaction with my Catholic family members and friends.

Of course I’m speaking in very general terms here as I do not know anyone’s heart, but I’m going with the odds based on my experience. Of all my Catholic family and friends I don’t know one that could tell me the Gospel message. I don’t know one that reads their bible and most don’t even own one. But I know that they all think that they will be going to heaven upon death simply because they believe in the existence of God and attend mass weekly.

I really could go on and on but I’d rather stop here. If anyone would like to discuss this further or would like me to elaborate on something I’d be more than happy to do it in a separate post or in the comments. There are clear doctrinal problems with Catholicism beyond what I know in my heart to be true. I may bring that up in a later post.

If anyone reading this is Catholic, I hope I haven’t upset you too much by what I have said here, but I must be honest. I personally don’t believe that you can have a legitimate relationship with Jesus Christ and be a Catholic. There is too much disparity. That may sound harsh but I’m willing to say it because I believe it whole-heartedly and I don’t mess around when it comes to salvation.

It breaks my heart that there are people who seem to be trying to follow God and are being mislead into a false sense of security. Since I currently have family members lost in this trap, I tend to take a hard stance on this. This is also why I take a hard stance on other religions that are not pointing people to the one true God . I guess it’s part of my “recovery” program.

Here is an excellent resource that states this better than I have here: Are Some Roman Catholics Saved

You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

2006-03-12T13:32:00.000-12:00

I have been recollecting a bit lately about what my life looked like just after I was saved. It’s interesting to remember how some things in my life changed instantly and how other things were harder to change. I am certainly far from Christ-like, but like that old advertisement says, “I’ve come a long way, baby!”

While it’s nice to see that I am making progress in my walk with the Lord, albeit slower than I care to admit, I mostly like to look back on my walk because of the insight it provides. Why did I struggle with certain areas, why did I fail in others? What can I learn from the bumps in the road?

When I gave my life to Christ I was in my late-twenties. I was a fairly responsible adult with a good job and pretty normal life. Therefore my conversion didn’t require many drastic changes in my outward life.

I did however love to listen to Howard Stern on the radio. For those who are not familiar with Howard, he had a talk radio program in the mornings that was quite funny but contained a lot of obscene content. I had listened to Howard for years, and while I was never fond of the obscene stuff, there was a lot of comical material in between that I loved.

Once I became a Christian I started to feel a bit awkward about listening to Howard’s program, but I didn’t stop. I’d turn off the radio when the topics got too lewd and tune back in later. I would disapprove of some of the language and antics, but it was funny. As long as I disapproved of the bad stuff and didn’t let it tempt me somehow, why couldn’t I enjoy it?

Looking back I realized why I justified my position for so long. It was because I didn’t want to change. Listening to that radio show was something I enjoyed - it made me laugh every morning. I didn’t want to give that up. So for many months I never even thought through whether it was right or wrong (certainly never seeked God’s counsel) because I didn’t want the answer.

I have come a long way from those days but I still struggle with some of these kinds of issues. Being in the world but not of the world can be tough. For me, it’s a daily struggle. But I have learned to question my motives to ensure that I’m seeking God’s will and not my own. Over the years many of my past enjoyments have disappeared from my life. But what God has in store for me instead is so much better. Why would I resist?

Organization Meets Biblical Study

2006-03-12T09:49:00.000-12:00

I mentioned that I was ready to start instituting some order in my life. The first step was admitting I had a problem and needed to change. It’s now late on Sunday and I seem to have only moved into some sort of intent phase – probably doesn’t qualify as a step. I was hoping to have a plan drawn up before the end of the weekend but I just don’t see it happening at this point.

But I am serious about this plan. I will execute. Baby steps!

On a second note, I have finally taken the hint that I need to get serious about studying my bible. It’s been weighing on my mind and it keeps coming up in various ways. The Lord has infinite patience with me. If I had to keep after my own children as much as the Lord has to keep after me about some things, I’d go crazy.

Getting serious about my bible study is going to require some order in my life. Hmm…I see a connection.

Why do I mention all this? Because I believe these impending changes will be a large focus of this blog going forward with a sprinkling of random thoughts and opinions along the way.

I’m back to having a lot of posts stuck in my head that I just don’t have the time to post. Next week I’ll have blogger’s block. Oh well, keeps life interesting!

Murky Blogging for the Christian

2006-03-10T05:48:00.000-12:00

Okay, I’ve been mulling over this idea for a couple of weeks now and I’m finally gonna post on it. Most people will think I’m nuts, but that is okay. I have to at least share my concerns and then I can feel that I’ve done my part.

As a Christian I think it is always important to be careful who and what you associate with. Yes, I know I’m ending a sentence with a preposition but I don’t care – I have bigger fish to fry. I’m not saying you need to thoroughly evaluate everything you come into contact with before proceeding forward, but always keep your antennae up. If, as you are going along you start to sense something amiss, then stop and evaluate.

Bear with me. I really don’t want to go into specifics here of some actual examples I have seen where I believe this applies so this is difficult.

Let me try a strictly hypothetical example. Let’s say amongst the blogs I enjoy reading there is a blog by a secular mother who talks about mommy stuff. She has kids around my kid’s ages, she’s a bad cook like me, and she has a way of making me laugh and feel better about my less than stellar domestic skills. Everyday I look forward to reading posts by "mommy blogger".

Then one day I come across a piece of information that disturbs me about "mommy blogger". She’s pro-choice. In fact, she actually monetarily supports Planned Parenthood she’s so pro-choice. Okay, that upsets me for a few hours. But then I think - hey, I work and live among lots of pro-choice advocates, but I don’t stop interacting with them. So why should I let that keep me from not enjoying her blog. She doesn’t talk about pro-abortion stuff on her blog and that doesn’t detract from the wisdom and laughs I gain from her mothering antics. Reading someone’s blog isn’t necessarily an endorsement of what they do or believe outside of their writing. I’m mature enough to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Some time passes and I come across Heather’s blog post where she mentions that Clubmom.com is looking to PAY mothers who blog. Heather thinks this may be the start of a new trend of paid bloggers. That makes me think of my favorite "mommy blogger" - she writes great stuff, she deserves to get paid. Hopefully the traffic I sent her way (by linking to her, telling my friends) and the popularity she has gained will help her get the job…

But wait. What if she decides to donate part of her salary to Planned Parenthood? Could I now be partnering intentionally or unintentionally to abortion?? Am I willing to take that chance?

That may sound a bit far-fetched, but I hope you’ll think it over. Like I said in the beginning, if we stop to analyze everything we do in this fashion we would probably never leave the house. But if the information is suddenly right in front of you, take the time to actually seeks God’s will over it (through the scriptures, through prayer, through the counsel of others whom you trust). Don’t unintentionally partner yourself with people who are working against what is good in the sight of the Lord. And please don’t let your personal enjoyment of certain worldly things keep you from at least evaluating the things you do that may not be bringing glory to God.

Incognito Uncovered

2006-03-10T00:55:00.000-12:00

Okay, I’m over myself with all this “niche” business. Thanks for listening.

Sometimes I have so many things kicking around in my head that I go into autopilot and that’s when I get silly. Silly is not want I want to be here. Well, maybe silly once in awhile as sometimes life just gets too serious. But I am VERY serious about the Lord and that’s what I want to focus on here.

So we’re heading back to our normal programming for the most part, but I think I might try to get a little more personal. In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have any pictures of myself on here, heck I don’t even mention my name. I’m just some Christian girl out in Pennsylvania. The fact that I have a computer tells you I’m not Amish so you can narrow it down a little bit, but that’s still leaves you pretty much in the dark.

My point is that I HATE getting personal. The thought of putting my name and picture up on my blog would scare the daylights out of me. I’m just not a public person. I think it’s great that so many of you are the opposite (names, pictures, etc.).

Maybe I’m just a glutton for punishment but I feel the need to push past some of this. Maybe it’s because I enjoy the personal stuff I read at other people’s blogs and somehow it seems to enhance their writing – I don’t know. Don’t expect pictures or anything, but I may try to add some lists about myself like I’ve seen other people do. If my husband, who reads my blog, starts to goof on me then I will head back to reclusion. Ditto if the rest of you goof on me.

That’s all I have to say for now. Thanks to my 5 regular readers for hanging in there.

Too Slow?

2006-03-10T00:08:00.000-12:00

Does my blog seem to load too slow? It seems slow to me lately and if others notice I'll have to try and hunt down the problem. I'm one of those people that will just click right out of a site if I have to wait too long so my loading time here concerns me. Please let me know!

In Search Of...

2006-03-09T06:21:00.000-12:00

In my search for my niche in the blogosphere, I went and read over my old posts. If you don’t know what this “search” is about, scroll down to my last post and read – sorry, I’m too lazy to link there. Anyway, I’ve only had a blog for a few months so it was easy enough to skim through my old posts and see if a theme jumped out.

I won’t keep you in suspense, I found no theme. However as I read through some of my old posts I thought, “Darn girl, that was good”. Unfortunately the “0 comments” listed under those same posts begged to differ. Here lies the rub.

I may come out with what I think is a real killer post, but if there are no comments I feel like I flopped. If my post sends a ping but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? If that last joke makes no sense to my readers, is it funny?

What am I trying to get at here? I don’t know! I feel like my funny side is struggling to get out but my humor is tough to blend with my faith. Humor is a big part of who I am, but it was cultivated before I knew Christ and is of the cynical - goof on other people - take-no prisoners kind of humor. I’m not sure I can find any middle ground.

The second issue for me is that I started this blog to write out my deeper thoughts which focus around the Lord. While I love to laugh, I’m also very serious and love to meditate on all of the wonderful things I know and learn about God. So I enjoy writing more insightful, inspirational stuff also.

So I guess I’m back to square one with the whole niche-thing. Well, not quite. I did have some revelation from reading my old posts and thinking about things but I’ll stop here before someone sends me a therapy bill for having to read all this.

Reorganization Memo

2006-03-08T12:34:00.000-12:00

Last week I had more ideas than I had time to post on. Luckily I wrote them down or they would be long gone, but I just haven't had the motivation to write. I started one post but got tired halfway through and abandoned it for now.

I'm in the process of getting my life in order. Well, I'm really in just the planning stages but one of these days I'll finally pull the trigger. The problem is that I'm a procrastinator, something that was easy to get away with when it was just me and even me and my huband. Not so easy once you have kids. They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem...

Part of my reorganization is deciding where I want to take this blog. My "theme" seems to be whatever pops into my head on a given day and I feel like it is adding to my disorder. I enjoy writing but I feel like I need to have more direction and more personality with this blog. I'm still trying to find my niche. Anyone happen to see it go by?

My top priority in my life right now is finding more time with God. I've had such a yearning the last few months to learn more about the Lord and draw closer to Him. Establishing some order in my life will hopefully help me find that time I need. I also feel the need to simplify my life.

So that is my focus right now. Making God my top priority. Sounds so simple but seems so hard. I hate to admit that, but it's true.

Spectacles of Truth

2006-03-02T14:47:00.000-12:00

I remember as a child when I got my first pair of glasses. As we drove home from the Optometrist I looked out the window of the car and was amazed at how clear the world had become. I would slip the glasses down my nose and look at everything all blurry and then slide the glasses back up and everything would be clear again. For a child that was a pretty amazing discovery.

Fast forward many years to my late-twenties. I had just accepted Jesus as my Savior and like that car ride home as a child with my new pair of glasses, the world around me suddenly became clear. No longer was I seeing my surroundings through my own fuzzy vision but through God’s spectacles of truth.

But like a child with a new pair of glasses, sometimes I seemed to misplace my spectacles of truth. Although my vision was now clear, there were some things I didn’t want to see. Things about myself that would require me to change or to move out of my comfort zone. And there were even times that I felt like hiding my glasses because they made me look different than everyone else. But that didn’t last long.

Over time I learned to love my spectacles of truth more and more. Now I would never take them off because there is nothing worth seeing without them. And I have become so reliant on them that I would be absolutely blind without them. Every now and then I get a little smudge on my spectacles, but eventually I wipe the smudge off or someone wipes it off for me.

Without my spectacles of truth I hate to think of where I could have ended up. Blind, lost, wandering aimlessly like so many others. It makes me sad to see so many that are blind. Perhaps if I wonder around with my spectacles on, I can hope that the blind will see me and understand. But better yet, if I go to the blind and let them look through my spectacles of truth and see the clarity, maybe then they will want their own pair.

The Bible

2006-03-01T01:20:00.000-12:00

Have you ever heard the question (which comes in different forms) that asks “If you were stranded on an deserted island with just one book, what would it be?”?

Of course you probably know my answer: "The Bible".

But I’d like to change the question around and ask, “What would be your ultimate selfish fantasy?” to which my answer would be: "To be stranded on a deserted island with just my Bible".

Unfortunately I didn’t have time to submit a post for this week’s Carnival of Beauty hosted at Just Marla, but many other women have written about the favorite book we all have in common, The Bible. Stop by and see what they have to say.

Christian Thumb Wars?

2006-02-27T14:18:00.000-12:00

I moved to a new office today at work. As I was sifting through all my papers I found a print out of a Spiritual Gifts Test which I have mentioned here before. Since the topic of discernment has been discussed recently I started to read through the descriptions of the gifts to see if I could gain any wisdom.

I thought the descriptions were quite interesting as they paralleled some things I have said recently and I had to laugh when I read the description of my main gift as it fits me to a tee. I’d like to highlight two gifts in particular here: The Perceiver and The Encourager. I hope by looking at the differences between these two you can see how they could fall on opposite extremes on some issues. Yet God gave each of us our own gifts to be used in conjunction with other members of the body. (I list my own results at the end)

Descriptions Taken from www.gifttest.org:

The Perceiver
The first motivational gift in Romans 12 is the gift of perceiving. The Greek word for this gift is "propheteia". In scripture, we can see specific traits and behaviors of the gift of perceiving. They are: 1) the ability to interpret scripture, 2) to reveal information to others, and 3) an ability to speak the mind of God.

Perceivers have a keen sense of right and wrong. This is a form of discernment that we have seen in Christians and non-Christians alike. It is because of this sense of right and wrong that perceivers hold very high standards. They tend to be perfectionists because of their high standards and often become their own worst critics. In some cases, perceivers do not realize their gift and they can become very critical of other people or situations, which emerges as a pessimistic attitude.

The primary function of this gift is to reveal information the perceiver has discerned in a way that will help others. This information is not always positive and well received. As a result, perceivers sometimes appear direct, blunt, or inconsiderate of the feelings of others particularly when sharing this information with people possessing different motivational gifts. This is a classic case of the gift being misunderstood because their real intention is to help people.
In contrast, at times the primary function of the gift is not to reveal the information the perceiver has discerned – in these cases, God has allowed the perceiver to discern such things so they can pray about them. Often when people do not understand the purpose of this gift, they can feel (and become) judgmental instead of prayerful. Make no mistake about it, this information is purposefully shown to the perceiver for a reason!

The Encourager
The Greek root word for encouraging is "paraklesis". The scriptures show that the gift of encouragement will 1) edify and exhort 2) give peace to a troubled mind through speaking a message of encouragement and 3) bring joy and comfort.

Encouragers have the ability to call forth the best in others through encouragement and motivation. Thus naturally, people with the gift of encouragement feel comfortable around people and tend to have extraverted personalities. Anecdotal research shows that encouragers not only encourage others but also like to prescribe practical advice. Encouragers want to see people improve and succeed. They have an ability to bring new life to people who have lost their determination and feel burnt out.

Encouragers are good with every personality and gift. However, because encouragers are considerate of the feelings of others, they can easily be offended when people are not considerate toward them. Encouragers love to "fix" things and make the world a happier place!

Hmmm. “Perceivers sometimes appear direct, blunt, or inconsiderate of the feelings of others” while “Encouragers…can easily be offended when people are not considerate toward them”. So should the Perceiver not be so blunt or should the encourager not be so sensitive? I guess it depends on who you ask.

If you haven’t taken this test yourself, give it a try and find out which areas you are most gifted (you get a percentage for each of the 7 gifts). I found the descriptions very helpful in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of my own gifts and the gifts of others. Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries did a great series on the pros and cons of each spiritual gift recently but unfortunately the outlines don’t appear to be posted on their website (but I’m hoping they will show up).

My top gift was teaching and sounds just like me (some excerpts from www.gifttest.org):
“People with the gift of teaching are consummate debaters.”
“Teachers need to know the reasoning behind concepts or ideas. They do not take anything at face value. Teachers can appear argumentative while they are simply trying to gain further understanding.”

I do learn by debating as I need to understand the logic behind things before it sinks in for me. Some days I’m denser than others. I have also been misinterpreted as being argumentative so I have become a wee bit better at how I approach my “debates” (maybe I should change that "wee" to "teeny-tiny"...)

If you take the test stop back over and let me know your results!

When to Just Walk Away...

2006-02-24T05:48:00.000-12:00

Well, I wasn't expecting as much commentary on my previous post as I got. Clearly things have simmered down a bit but there are still opposing views. It was never my intent to mix things up any further or get into lengthy debates, but I have to tell you that I still have an uneasiness about the whole "dispute".

My original intent in writing my last post was primarily to defend Marla. I do not know Marla personally and I had only visited her site once or twice before this controversy, but I felt the need to stand up for her a bit anyway. My understanding of what she had said that started off the whole controversy, which was initially based only on reading other people's posts/comments in response to her posts, was not the same conclusion that I reached when I actually went through and read her posts myself. I felt that some of what she had said was misinterpreted and some of it blown a bit out of proportion so I felt the need to give my point of view on the whole thing.

That said, I still feel like some of the facts are being missed. Do I post again on the subject in hopes to find clarity or do I just walk away? That's what I have been struggling with. There have been times in my life where I have gotten into a debate with someone and finally had to just give up because it was clear that the other person and I were on two different wavelengths. They were arguing about why an orange is orange and I was arguing about why an apple is red. Those are the times it's just better to walk away.

I'm thinking this may be one of those times.

However I am struggling because I feel like in a way that I've backed down. In an attempt to keep peace, I have backed off a bit on my stance so as not to upset others. But sometimes the truth is upsetting.

I did go back and read through Marla's posts again - a print out of all of her posts - and went through it slowly, making notes. I do disagree with a few of her points but I agree with even more. I thought all of her posts were very well-written and well thought-out. Could she have said things in a more neutral manner so as not to upset other people? Sure. Does that then negate everything she said? I don't think so. There were alot of nuggets of truth in her posts and I am glad that she's willing to stand up for what she thinks is important.

So if you read this Marla, I still support you.

Sometimes Christians get stuck on the minutia and miss the big picture - it happens. Sometimes Christians disagree on the non-doctrinal stuff - that's okay. And some Christians duck the hard stuff while other Christians get tired of being politically-correct: I'm not sure which is worse.

But we are still one body and should treat each other with as much if not more dignity than we would treat someone outside the body.

And please, if your knowledge of Marla's stance on this issue is all second-hand, please read through all of her posts before deciding your opinion on what you think she has to say.

And if you think anything I have said thus far is unscriptural, please let me know.

My Thoughts on Mormons and Christians

2006-02-22T14:18:00.000-12:00

Apparently there was some controversy in the blog world recently, at least amongst a small group of Christian women bloggers. I came in to the whole business a bit late and in all honesty it’s really not that big of a deal, but it did get me thinking. So bear with me as I don’t think I have all the facts but I won’t let me stop from commenting anyway.

Here’s a recap for those who have no clue what I’m talking about. Recently a blog held an award contest looking for nominations for things like “best blog design” and “most inspiring blog” and some mom stuff. Anyone nominated could post a little button on their blog saying they were nominated and anyone could vote for their favorite blog in a particular category. I was nominated in one of the categories (and I’m pretty sure I know by who) and posted the button on my sidebar.

Now here is where I may be a little fuzzy on the details but I think the jist of it will suffice for what I have to say. I guess Marla made a post pointing out her observation that the majority of the blogs nominated for these awards were either Mormon or Christian. Strange bedfellows…but nothing overtly wrong with the whole thing, there were no prerequisites for the nominations with regards to religion. But Marla’s ensuing posts over her observation obviously upset some people and I guess some mud-slinging occurred, mostly at Marla.

My original tip-off to this whole mess was based on a post by one of my favorite bloggers - Carol at She Lives. Carol made a very thoughtful, gentle argument against there being any problem with being nominated in a blog contest alongside non-Christians. I don’t disagree with one thing she said. But when I went over to read Marla’s posts on the subject, I didn’t feel like she was saying that a Christian shouldn’t be in a blog contest with Mormons, she was just making an observation that the mix of Mormons and Christians together was a bit curious.

Now, Marla did go on to offer a discernment award for anyone that could pick out the Mormon vs Christian blogs. I think this tactic is what upset people the most, but I think her main point may have been missed. I believe her point was that there are many Mormons who could be mistaken as Christians based of the content their blogs (ie quotes from Christian authors). Lump Mormon and Christian blogs together in a contest and perhaps the line between the two becomes a bit more blurred for non-believers or less-mature believers.

Here’s where I think Marla got the short end of the stick. I think her observation is worth taking a look at, just as a point of caution. It is clear to me that Marla has the gift of discernment and one of the benefits of that gift is seeing trouble coming long before anyone else. That is also a downfall of the gift for the discerner as sometimes their distress calls are seen as judgemental or oversensitive. Discerners can seem like troublemakers or chicken littles and often don’t get any credit when their “prophesies” finally come to pass.

Now, am I convinced that the intermingling of Christian and Mormon bloggers is a sign of something bad to come? No. But I do think it’s something to be aware of and keep an eye on. Especially if Mormons are starting to call themselves “Christians”. Mormons are not Christians, they are a cult as Marla explained and if you don’t know much about them I suggest you read Marla’s posts. I wouldn’t want a seeker or immature Christian to think that there is any common ground between Christianity and Mormonism and personally, that has made me question my own involvement in the blogger contest run by a Mormon site.

But to be honest, I’m not sure what I think is right or wrong for me in this case, but it has helped me to make clear decisions about things I could run in to in the future. For one, I wouldn’t put a Mormon blog link on my sidebar. I wouldn’t want a visitor to think I support the Mormon religion in any shape or form. Jesus is the one and only way to heaven and any religion that says anything different is leading people astray and I can’t tolerate that. I’m sure there are some very lovely Mormon ladies who have blogs and I have nothing against them personally, but they have been deceived and I pray that they will be set free and turn to Christ.

Last point (I think). The one thing that I noticed about this controversy that breaks my heart was that some self-described Christians attacked Marla (I'm not talking about Carol's post here - Carol did a good job of expressing her differing opinion without attacking anyone). As I said, I really don’t believe Marla did anything wrong, but even if she did, her fellow sisters in Christ should not be saying bad things about her or posting nasty comments. If genuine reproof were warranted then it should have been done in a loving, gentle manner and best by private email. A differing opinion is certainly fair game for the public arena but it too should not be done in attack mode.

I was once part of an email group of Christian women and saw a similar type of attack happen when one member made a comment about how she disciplines her kids. Other members starting throwing around labels like "child abuse" and just belittled this mother. I was astonished. One of the things that became apparent to me was that anyone can call themselves a Christian – that doesn’t make it true. Christian women should never be associated with the words "cat fight".

Well, I think I hit all my main points. I don’t have any strong feelings about this whole issue, but I thought it was an interesting lesson on human nature, discernment, and the pitfalls of written communication. I think that a lot of what Marla had to say was simply misconstrued to be bigger and worst than it was intended to be. It was in my opinion an interesting observation that brought up some good thinking points for true believers.

Finally, I was reminded of these verses as I thought over all of this:

1Corinthians 10:18-33 (NIV)

Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

"Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."

If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God—even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

Switching Gears?

2006-02-19T08:19:00.000-12:00

I'd love to continue on the topic of the Christian's responsibility to the poor but as I did more research I realized that I need to spend alot more time studying the scripture and doing a more in-depth study on this topic. I have to say, I'm feeling a bit conflicted and confused by what I've come up with so far and need to take some time out to really delve into the issue.

I also haven't been "with it" enough to put together a coherent discussion. I wish I had the time to read and study my bible and write more about my thoughts, but all the other components of my life seem to keep me too busy. Something has to give.

So I think I'm gonna take a short break and try to get organized. I'm not sure yet if that means I won't write at all or a may just keep more of a journal of my day to day stuff. My original intent with this blog was to write inspirational content but I seem to have run out of steam after just a few months. Maybe it's time to switch gears?

A Christian's Obligation to the Poor Continued

2006-02-16T14:09:00.000-12:00

As I stated in my previous post, there are many verses that talk of “the poor”. Let’s look at a few more:

Proverbs 31:20
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

Acts 9:36
In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas ), who was always doing good and helping the poor.

Acts 10:4
The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.

Look how the people mentioned above were honored for their gifts to the poor.

Proverbs 31 is a very well-known verse that is used to exemplify the character of a Godly woman. Among those characteristics highlighted is the woman’s help to the needy and poor. In Acts we see a brief mention of a disciple named Tabitha whose claim to fame was her good works, specifically helping the poor.

Now look at Cornelius, a gentile who was singled out by the Lord to hear the gospel. His prayers and gifts to the poor were a memorial before God. These were actions that pleased the Lord.

Once again, I’m short on time so I’ll have to continue with this later. I’ll leave you all to start drawing your own conclusions. What is your memorial before God?

Bono, Africa and the Christian

2006-02-15T13:39:00.000-12:00

Carol at She Lives had some links about Bono from U2 on her blog that got me to thinking. I was hoping to spend some time developing this post more but I don’t see that happening in the near future, so in the interest of timeliness I’ll just say a few things.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of Bono but I did catch him on an interview a few months back on Fox News (maybe with Bill O’Reilly?) and was impressed with his eloquence and his passion for humanitarian work. Bono has a real heart for the continent of Africa and I appreciate his efforts to use his celebrity status to try and improve the situation there.

So I was interested to read the articles that Carol had linked to regarding Bono’s speech at The National Prayer Breakfast. In that speech Bono quoted some scripture (not sure that he is a believer, maybe still a seeker) and particularly mentioned how often the Bible speaks of poverty. I guess I was struck by this since this was a more recent revelation of my own in doing some research around giving. God has a lot to say about the poor, let’s take a look:

Leviticus 19:10
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 23:22
" '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 25:35
" '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

Deuteronomy 15:11
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.

Proverbs 14:31
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

Proverbs 17:5
He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 19:17
He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.

Proverbs 21:13
If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.

Proverbs 22:9
A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

I haven’t even made it out of the Old Testament, but in the interest of time I’ll continue with more verses in another post. Take my word for it, there are a lot of verses concerning the treatment of the poor.

The poverty, disease, and constant turmoil in Africa breaks my heart. It’s never seemed right to me that we in America can live in such luxury while other human beings in the world can live in such darkness. I’m glad that Bono mentioned in his speech the involvement of the church in this crisis and it’s convicted me to look for more ways to contribute.

But are we doing enough? This is something I’d like to explore a little more at a later date.

The Love in Food

2006-02-13T13:55:00.000-12:00

When I first saw the topic of this week’s Carnival of Beauty was “comfort food” I did not intend to submit a post. The reason I initially recoiled at this particular topic was the suggestion of posting a recipe to share. I do not like to cook nor am I any good at cooking, so it’s better that I not share any of my “recipes” (experiments). However, the topic made me think of my Grandmother who passed away recently, so I decided to write something in honor of her.

My Grandmother was a wonderful cook. Growing up we did not live terribly close to my Grandparents, but we did visit at Thanksgiving and Christmas when we were able to enjoy the wonderful meals my Grandmother would prepare. She never made anything terribly fancy, but it was delicious. And she made it all look easy. As someone who doesn’t cook well, I have really come to appreciate her cooking talents.

But it’s not really all about the food. It’s about the love behind the food. My Grandmother was a very family-oriented person who enjoyed showing her love through keeping her family well-fed. Being at my Grandparents house was like a never-ending feast, but there was also a very special quality to the food that I just can’t describe. You really could almost taste the love.

Of course, my Grandmother had many special qualities that I appreciate and remember her by. But it’s her cooking that I remember most fondly, maybe because of my own deficiency in that area. Unfortunately though, I never got any of her recipes. I did however find a recipe online for something she made at our holiday dinners so that will have to do. It’s not exactly comfort food, but it was simple enough that I was able to remember.

Pistachio Jello Salad:
1 (3 oz.) pkg. pistachio instant pudding
1 (8 oz.) container cool whip
1 large can crushed pineapple, with juice
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix together dry pudding mix and pineapple; fold in cool whip. Add nuts and stir. Must set 4 hours before serving.

I think this is one of the few things I actually helped make – four ingredients mixed together is just my speed. What can you say. It's easy, it's green-good for potlucks.

My Grandmother was a great woman, completely devoted to her family and very well-loved. While I may never be able to cook as well from her, I can still model her character in other ways. What will my grandchildren say about me? That’s something I need to work on.

The Body is Weak

2006-02-12T06:29:00.000-12:00

I have been suffering from some sort of a head cold for a week now which has kept me from posting. At least I'm hoping it's a cold. I've basically been suffering from a sinus-pressure-like headache but no other real symptoms.

I don't get headaches very often so I started getting a little paranoid that maybe I have an aneurysm or something as my biological aunt died from an aneurysm less than a year ago. Totally crazy, but I can't help myself sometimes. If it's God's will to take me, that's fine, but I have to pray to the contrary or I'm afraid my children will never wear matching clothes again. A little joke for my husband.

Anyway, I was looking at my blog traffic and after checking one of the links noticed that I was nominated at One Woman's World (along with many others) under the Most Inspiring category! I don't have too many regular readers but am very touched that someone would nominate me. Thank you. I also see that some of my favorite bloggers are over there, so check it out.

The Secret of Contentment

2006-02-08T00:50:00.000-12:00

I missed the deadline for the Carnival of Beauty this week as I’ve been keeping busy with other things. However, when I noticed that the topic was Contentment I decided to look up some verses quickly to see what the Bible had to say. Here’s what I found:

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

1 Timothy 6:5-7
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

Philippians 4:11-12
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Proverbs 19:23
The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

Job 36:11
If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.

As I read these words I felt convicted. I do not have the contentment that I should as a child of God. Not that I lust after riches or don’t appreciate the blessings the Lord has given me, but in my daily life I always seem to be waiting for things to get better. My life always feels like it’s in a transition and I never can settle in and get comfortable.

I realize now that it’s not the circumstances of my life that cause this discontentment, but my own choice not to rest in the Lord. Certainly my life is less chaotic than the Apostle Paul who was always on the move enduring beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, and imprisonments. And yet he had found “the secret” of being content in every situation (Phil 4:12). Now that I know the secret I hope that I can learn to be content also.

Christian Charities Continued

2006-02-06T13:03:00.000-12:00

Blogger must be having some difficulties as I received notification of 3 comments on my last post by email, the main post states there are 2 comments, but when you go to the comments section there is only 1 comment (it is Carol, but still). Hmmm.

Anyway, Vicki left a comment about CRI which I appreciated. I did some searching myself and wasn't happy with what I found, so I'm taking CRI off my list of favorite charities.

One of my family members sent me an email about donating to local homeless shelters but was unsure of any Christian affiliation. That got me to thinking about my own philosophy on giving which may not be popular.

I tend to only give to Christian organizations, at least planned giving. Yes, I'll throw a dollar into the fireman's boot at the intersection but in general I like to only give to Christian charities. The reason being that I believe the only true gift I can give someone is the gift of the Gospel. Without salvation, not much else matters.

I'm not saying that giving to non-Christian charities is wrong, it's just that I want as much of my giving as possible to go to furthering the kingdom of God. If I feel a burden to give to the homeless, then I try to find a Christian organization that will not only provide for the physical needs of the homeless but also for the spiritual. I do want to give to the poor and needy (as the Bible mandates), but I want the recipients of that giving to know that the care they receive is coming from the Lord so that they too can have the hope that is in Christ.

So that's my philosophy on giving. Just thought I would share.

Proverbs 19:17
"He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done."

Favorite Charities?

2006-02-02T13:33:00.000-12:00

My husband and I have some money set aside from some recent blessings that we want to give to some Christian charities/ministries. We already have money earmarked for our church as I believe that one's local church should be the first place you give, but this is some extra money that we would like to give to other causes. I thought it would be fun to hear from others about their favorite Christian charities. If you have any to recommend, please leave a comment.

One of my favorite charities is Compassion International. We have a compassion child that we support, but they always have needs for more support for unsponsored children and other projects. Children are such an important ministry, if you don't sponsor a child already, I highly recommend this organization.

One of my newer favorite charities is The Bible League. They pass out bibles throughout the world and what could be more important to spreading God's word than, well, spreading God's Word.

Other ministries I like are radio ministries which help encourage and edify fellow Christians. Some of my favorites are The Christian Research Institute (The Bible Answer Man), In Touch Ministries, and Focus on the Family. I also like the Prison Fellowship ministry (Chuck Colson/Breakpoint/Angeltree).

Those are some of my favorites but I’m always looking for new ministries. Sometimes it becomes a bit overwhelming because there are so many good organizations in need of funds, but there are only so many any one person can support. This is an area where I also think it is imperative to be a good steward when deciding where to give. Like the parable of the talents, we want to get the most return on our investment.

Please stop by the comments section and tell me about your favorite Christian charity.

Strength to the Weary

2006-02-01T14:09:00.000-12:00

Isaiah 40:28-31

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

I've been feeling weary lately. I needed these verses!

Having a Bad Week

2006-01-29T13:47:00.000-12:00

It’s been a busy week and I’ve been too busy to write. I really enjoy posting to my blog but it has to take a back seat to the more important things in life – my husband, my children, my job and most importantly, my God. I’ll pause for a moment to let my husband snicker as he sees himself in that list.

The truth is, the more important things in my life aren’t always the things I want to spend my time on. Sometimes I have to force myself to stay focused on the responsibilities to which the Lord has called me. Some days I am selfish and want to do the things I want to do. Some days I want to hide under the covers and hope no one can find me.

This week was a battle for me. The things I wanted to spend time on had to take second priority to the things I needed to spend time on. I spent my time on the right things, but I did them begrudgingly. That’s not glorifying God.

These are the times though that once I get past the rough spot, I am amazed by God’s grace. Despite my “bad attitude”, God’s love and mercy are still there for me.

I thank the Lord that he is faithful in all things. Even though I often fail my husband and children, the Lord never fails me. He loves me despite my imperfections. He understands my weaknesses and is willing and able to help me if I ask. He is never too busy for me.

Wanted: Christian Women

2006-01-25T13:35:00.000-12:00

From my website:

The Christian Woman is looking to showcase the writings of Christian women. This can be an article, a devotion, or even your testimony. You don't have to be a professional writer, just a woman who loves Jesus and wants to share that love through a written piece. If you are interested in being involved, please send an email with your piece to Carrie.

If you want more details, please email me. Any writings that are published on the website would contain a link to your own website or blog.

Serving a Need

2006-01-23T14:26:00.000-12:00

John 12:26
"Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."

In our church bulletin this past Sunday was a call for teachers and helpers with the children’s ministry. Since we are fairly new to the church, I have been thinking about a way to get more involved. The children’s ministry was certainly not first on my list as I’m just not a “kid-person”. However, I signed up anyway.

Am I a glutton for punishment? Not exactly.

The tough part about serving is thinking about the benefits of others over ourselves. While doing nursery duty or teaching the young children would not be my first choice for serving in the church, I felt it was important to offer my help where it was needed.

There are many duties that need to be fulfilled to run an effective church and sometimes that means people have to help out in areas not usually of their choosing. While it’s true that the Lord gave us each certain gifts to serve in his church, we can’t box ourselves in to only serving in those capacities. Sometimes we have to pitch in where there is a need.

5 Questions for Jesus

2006-01-22T23:58:00.000-12:00

Carol has a new meme at her site. I am generally not a fan of these, but this one was an interesting question so I thought I would give it a try.

List five questions you would like to ask Jesus when you get to heaven:

1. Who’s here?
2. Who’s not here?
3. What was your life like on earth for the first 33 years?
4. Can you explain the Trinity?
5. Did you like anything about being human?

Beyond questions, one of my biggest hopes when I get to heaven is to be able to watch replays of all the great events in history. Creation, Noah’s ark, Jesus’ ministry, you name it. That would be cool.

Through it All

2006-01-21T13:51:00.000-12:00

I'm not sure who wrote this song, I need to look it up. The last stanza is so great.

I've had many tears and sorrows, I've had questions for tomorrow;
There've been times I didn't know right from wrong,
But in every situation, God gave blessed consolation;
That my trials come, Only to make me strong.

Through it all, through it all,
Oh I've learned to trust in Jesus,
I've learned to trust in God.
Through it all, through it all
I've learned to depend on his Word.

I've been to lots of places, And I've seen a lot of faces
There've been times I felt so all alone
But in my lonely hours, Yes those precious lonely hours
Jesus let me know I was His own.

I thank God for the mountains, And I thank Him for the valleys
I thank Him for the storms, He brought me through
For if I'd never had a problem
I wouldn't know that He could solve them
I'd never know what Faith in God could do.

(Carol thought the artist was Ray Boltz and she was right. Thanks Carol!)

Blogger Block & Resources

2006-01-20T06:19:00.000-12:00

Since I seem to be suffering from blogger block, I thought I would just post a few resources today.

Dan has an excellent series posted at Cerulean Sanctum called “21 Steps to a 21st Century Church”. You may not agree with all he has to say, but it will give you some things to think about as a maturing Christian.

A few months back I stumbled across Ralph’s site Behind the Badge, and enjoyed reading some of his articles. Ralph has a great fervor for the Lord and his articles are very well-founded in scripture. I appreciate his hard-line stance on issues and his openness to share his testimony. More recently I started to read his Apologetics section which contains many questions he has received by email about Christianity and his responses back. Many of the emails are from non-believers (some quite hostile) so I have found his answers to some of the more common oppostion points very informative. I also greatly admire his devotion to take the time to thoroughly answer so many questions from complete strangers.

Nothing to Offer But Hope

2006-01-17T04:15:00.000-12:00

One of my coworkers has been going through a very difficult time. Her son has serious and multiple health issues, she’s getting a divorce, and she’s trying to juggle all this while working full-time (it’s actually more complicated than that but there is no point in going into details here). Her life has been such a struggle lately that I sometimes feel depressed for her.

Over the past few months I’ve tried to be a friend to her, offering her help, talking with her, visiting the hospital. I have given her lots of advice, helped her with some of her work, and tried to do as much for her as I can. But after awhile her problems became too big for me and I started to feel drained and overwhelmed. I wasn’t sure what else to do.

I finally realized that I couldn’t fix her problems, she had to do that on her own. That was a tough realization for me because as a child of God, I felt I had to do my all to support her. In her case though, she needed to step up and take responsibility for herself and try to get her life back on track. The day after coming to that conclusion I was very happy to see Carol’s post on a similar topic (my confirmation from the Lord that I was headed down the right track – don’t you love when he does that).

But the bigger realization that came to me after this whole ordeal is that I myself have nothing to offer someone except hope. I couldn’t fix my friend’s problems and I couldn’t take her sorrow away – all I could do for her is offer her the hope that is in knowing Jesus. He is the Counselor and the Great Physician. He may not choose to alleviate her problems, but he would certainly make the burden easier to bear.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Verbally Impaired

2006-01-16T05:59:00.000-12:00

Last night we met for a Discipleship class at our church. It’s a ten part series based on a study from Campus Crusade for Christ where we break up into small groups to discuss each chapter. After meeting with my group of three other women, I realized why I prefer to write. It’s because I can’t speak.

If you read enough of my blog posts, I think you would be surprised to meet me in person. I love to meditate on God’s words, study the scriptures and I really enjoying sharing my faith through writing. But a people-person I am not. I tend to be quiet and have a difficult time talking with people I don’t know well. It’s not that I don’t like people, I just have never felt very comfortable talking to strangers.

Now, I am not sure if I feel uncomfortable talking around people because I do not express myself well or I do not express myself well because I feel uncomfortable around people – a kind of chicken and egg conundrum. But last night while meeting with the other women, I was reminded that I am verbally-challenged. I did venture out to speak up as one of the women in my group admitted that she was still “seeking” and I wanted to share my own testimony. But once I had finished speaking I was wishing I could have frozen time for a few moments and written something up to just hand to her to read. Not that I think that I am some great writer, but I am much better at conveying my thoughts and feelings on paper than in words.

Not to be too hard on myself - I can speak and sometimes I can even say something coherent. But often times I feel like I am at a loss for a particular word or more often than not, my statement takes a turn to the left while my point took a turn to the right never to meet again.

But despite my shortcomings at all things verbal, I know that the Lord can use me anyway. One of the greatest prophets from the Old Testament was not gifted in speech and yet the Lord used him anyway:

Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." Exod 4:10-12

Clearly we all have our strengths and weaknesses but sometimes God doesn’t agree with our own self-assessments. If we try to limit our work for the Lord to what we think we are good at, we may miss out. So while I may prefer to communicate in writing, that isn’t always an option. Do I just not speak? Obviously not.

I’ll likely never become an eloquent speaker, but that’s okay. The Lord will be there to help me. I’ll seek his guidance in all my areas of weakness and not let my own insecurities keep me from testifying to His Glory.

Need More Time!

2006-01-14T07:52:00.000-12:00

I have so many different thoughts kicking around in my head, but I just don't have the time to sit down and write. At least I've organized enough to write a few thoughts out on a piece of paper by my bed. Maybe I can actually invest in a journal one of these days.

In addition to posting some thoughts here, I need to do some cleaning, cooking, painting, reading, shopping/returning and take care of the kids, of course. I'd also like to work on my website for Christian Women. Clearly I need to better organize my time and prioritize. My fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants life management system just isn't working for me.

Makes me really appreciate a God who can create a whole world in six days.

Blogger Tag

2006-01-13T06:15:00.000-12:00

Carol tagged me with this 2 thingy survey. If you knew me you would know that I’m totally not the type to do this kind of stuff, but since I dig Carol (especially her post today) I’ll be a good sport.

2 names you go by:
1. Mama
2. Carrie

2 parts of your heritage:
1. Mother
2. Father

2 things that scare you:
1. Flying
2. Spiders

2 of your everyday essentials:
1. Water
2. God

2 things you are wearing right now:
1. Jeans
2. Watch

2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
1. Humor
2. God

2 truths:
1. The Word.
2. Jesus is Lord.

2 of your favorite hobbies:
1. Blog/website
2. Reading

2 things you want really badly:
1. More time with God.
2. More time with my family.

2 places you want to go on vacation:
1. Anywhere
2. Wherever

2 things you want to do before you die:
1. Tell more people about Christ.
2. See my children follow the Lord.

2 ways that you are stereotypically a chick:
1. Moody
2. Indecisive

2 things you are thinking about now:
1. It’s almost the weekend.
2. I need to lose some weight.

2 stores you shop at:
1. Target
2. Walmart

2 people to tag:
1. I can’t do it. I was never the tag or chain mail type.
2. If you would like to be tagged, let me know.

Spiritual Gifts

2006-01-12T00:40:00.000-12:00

On Sunday evening I watched the In Touch Ministries show where Charles Stanley was doing a study on spiritual gifts. It was a very nice study as he was not only going over what the gift was, but how people with a certain gift can sometimes be misinterpreted. The particular show I watched was on the gift of prophecy and I was very surprised that I had a lot of the qualities of that gift. I guess my view of “prophecy” was more in the line of Old Testament prophets, but Charles Stanley presented it as a “perceiver” which I thought was interesting.

If you don’t know what your spiritual gifts are, you should check out this Spiritual Gifts Survey that was listed on the In Touch Ministries website. Only recently have I tried to figure out my gifts and this survey helped confirm some of my gifts, and give me some insights into what it all means. My top two were “The Perceiver” and “The Teacher”. Now I need to figure out how to best utilize my gifts!

Carnival of Beauty

2006-01-10T23:54:00.000-12:00

Carol of She Lives is hosting the Carnival of Beauty this week. The topic is the Beauty of Winter. Be sure to check out the writings of other Christian women bloggers.

Short Hiatus

2006-01-08T23:53:00.000-12:00

I’ve had to take a mini-hiatus as my arm has been bothering me. In my profession, there is the chance of repetitive motion injury and using the mouse can just inflame the situation so I’m trying to be careful. I’m hoping to write up something for The Carnival of Beauty this week. I also have two half-written posts saved away and one kicking around in my brain that I’d like to get posted. Things seem to be a bit slow on other blogs also, where is everybody?

Opposing the Truth

2006-01-05T00:52:00.000-12:00

It amazes me how hostile this world is to God. I know it shouldn’t, but it does.

If you’ve kept up with the news you’ve heard about the case in Dover, PA in which the school board had decided to present a small disclaimer during the teaching of evolution in science class. The disclaimer simply stated that evolution was a theory, not a fact and pointed the students to other resources including a book on Intelligent Design (ID).

Of course, a bunch of parents took the case to court and during re-elections a new school board was appointed that opposed the “mention” of ID. A court ruled it was unconstitutional and the board voted out the curriculum. Now the parents of Dover, PA can rest assured that their children won’t be exposed to the insidious idea that a loving Almighty God created us in his image but instead be taught (as fact) that we evolved from Apes.

But of course, we know this battle isn’t really about the merits of evolutionary theory. It’s about opposing God. God-haters have now found a way to publicize their opposition to Christianity through civil liberty cases in a nauseatingly liberal court system.

But the sad fact is that these people have no hope. They can kick God out of schools, strip his name from the Pledge of Allegiance, and even outlaw Christianity. But all of their opposition and seeming victories won’t change the one eternal truth. That Jesus is Lord.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phillipians 2:9-11

Isaiah 53

2006-01-04T13:55:00.000-12:00

I was looking through some verses and came across one of favorites, Isaiah 53:5. I laugh as I say that because I have so many "favorite" verses so it seems silly to even say it. Anyway, I just thought I would post all of Isaiah 53 as it's such an amazing prophecy of the Savior that was to come, and such a sweet summary of Jesus' sacrifice.

Isaiah 53

1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Looking for Balance

2006-01-03T23:46:00.000-12:00

Well, I wanted to write something today but I’m not sure what to say. I’m feeling a bit down today. I think it has something to do with coming back to work yesterday after two weeks off. Or maybe it’s just me.

Do you ever feel like you are in limbo? Like your life isn’t quite settled? I’ve been feeling like that for as long as I can remember and I always blamed it on my husband’s career as he was in a long drawn-out process of school, then internship – we moved to another state for awhile leaving behind a job I liked. Now we are back to PA, finally bought a home, and yet I still feel uneasy.

I wish my life could be simpler. I wish I could spend more time in God’s Word. I wish I didn’t have to worry about finances.

And yet, I know I need be thankful for the things I have and rely more on God. I guess I just have trouble finding the balance between pursuing God and staying afloat in this world. There must be a better way.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

2006-01-01T00:58:00.000-12:00

Back to my tribute to hymns. He's a beautiful one:

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Words: Isaac Watts
Music: Lowell Mason

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Of God and Penguins

2005-12-31T14:14:00.000-12:00

Our family recently watched the “March of the Penguins” on DVD. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the movie, it’s a documentary about the Emperor Penguins of Antarctica that travel great distances and survive harsh conditions to reproduce.

(Now stay with me, I will turn this into a faith-based message).

In fact, the penguins travel a huge distance inland to mate and produce one egg which is then left with the father to incubate while the mother returns to the ocean to eat as she is close to starvation (penguins live on fish and cannot eat when they are inland). From there the parents take turns caring for the chick while walking back and forth to the ocean to eat to stay alive and to feed their new chick. I don’t want to go into too many details, but let’s just say that the conditions are extremely harsh and some penguins don’t even make it through the process.

According to the movie, the area where the penguins breed and raise their chicks is an area of very thick ice which is protected from the constant breaking apart of the ice in that region. If they nested closer to the ocean (where they could feed) the eggs/chicks would likely not survive. The question I had to ask myself while I watched the movie is why would any animal chose such an existence?

From an evolutionary standpoint, why would an animal chose to evolve in such a harsh environment. Why not just stay where it is warm? How did the penguins figure out to travel so far to be able to reproduce successfully? Wouldn’t evolution choose the path of least resistance?

Of course, I know the answer. This whole complicated process and existence was God’s creation. And this isn’t an isolated story in the animal kingdom. There are all kinds of crazy, wonderful creatures out there that have unbelievable traits. Did it all happen by chance? I don’t think so.

As a biologist by training, I often have a front row seat to God’s amazing creation. What you see on the outside is pretty incredible, but if you look at the inner workings of biology, it’s absolutely amazing. But in this movie it doesn’t take a science degree to see the hand of God in orchestrating the complicated reproduction of Emperor penguins. Just some faith in an Almighty Creator.

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Romans 1:20