7 Wonders

A friend passed this on to me today. Really worth a read!

A group of students were asked to list what they thought were the present "Seven Wonders of the World." Though there were some disagreements, the following received the most votes:

1. Egypt's Great Pyramids

2. Taj Mahal

3. Grand Canyon

4. Panama Canal

5. Empire State Building

6. St. Peter's Basilica

7. China's Great Wall

While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student had not finished her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many." The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help." The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the 'Seven Wonders of the World' are:

1. To See

2. To Hear

3. To Touch

4. To Taste

5. To Feel

6. To Laugh

7. And to Love."

The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly wondrous! A gentle reminder --that the most precious things in life cannot be built by hand or bought by man.

Beloved Disaster

There much to write . . . much to "spill" but little time right now. I am living these days in the dichotomy of one who is ever so unworthy of forgiveness, much less love, yet who is more than forgiven - even cherished. I don't even know how to express just how unworthy I am of all that God has bestowed on me. There is nothing - not one molecule, not one speck of a molecule, not one thought, not one dream, not one hope, not one . . . anything in me that is deserving of His kindness. Rather, all that I am - every ounce of me physically, mentally, emotionally, and any other way - every single part of who I am is worthy of judgement and more - of condemnation - of eternal damnation. This is who I am in this flesh.

And yet,

or rather, "But God" - - Who is this God who can see something as wretched and undeserving as me and choose to transform it into something beyond price? Knowing I would fight the transformation every inch of the way - yet He Chose Me. I can only weep at His mercy, at His grace, at the pouring out of His much desired and ever so undeserved love.

Look What I Found!!!

Free Reading! Pink, Piper, Spurgeon and TONS more! On-line books. Check it out :-D

Murphy's Law

That big heavy glider rocker I dragged upstairs began in a box. I got out my screwdriver, followed the instructions (aside from lack of muscular prowess, this is yet another proof that I am, indeed, female) and assembled my new all natural hard-wood glider rocker :-D

Not 10 minutes into enjoying the ease and comfort of my new posession, an essential portion of the beautiful hard-wood base . . .

split in half!!!!!!

Figures :-P

Why I should be married!! :-P

Because a Glider Rocker with Ottoman from WalMart is really heavy and dragging it through the gates and up the stairs to my apartment all by myself was a LOT of stinkin' hard work!!!

:-D

Teaching Our Children - Psalm 78

My Sunday School teacher touched on this chapter in his lesson this morning and when I turned to it to follow along, I realized I had quite a few notes scribbled on the page. In re-reading, I realized this is something I want to share.

These lessons are NOT just for those who have children, but also for those of us who have any influence whatsoever in the lives of little ones - and it's important stuff - after all - it's in God's Word :-)

What follows is only a brief summary and I encourage all who read to do their own more indepth study of these principles.

v. 1-3 "Give ear" "Incline your ear" - picture, if you will, the small Napoleon, speaking in hushed tones to his military commanders. To hear him, each has to bend over a bit, and "incline" his ear towards the speaker, paying utmost attention to his leader. So it is to be with us when God is teaching us. We must "incline our ears" to His Word - lean in close, focus on the words and ensure we fully understand what is being communicated.

v. 4 Why must we be so conscious of understanding God's teachings? Because we must be able to communicate them to others - and, in this case, not just any others, but those of the next generation. Verse 4 tells us What To Teach our children. Amazingly, it's not math, or english or science - it's HIStory.

I heard a speaker once commenting on how Sunday School teachers teach "Bible Stories". This is a really unhealthy and unsound view of the Scriptures. The Bible is a history book - it should be taught with even more authority than any of the lessons taught in "school". Too often the accounts in the Scriptures are percieved with far less value or even validity than the historical accounts preached in a public school. The Scriptures are more foundational and more trustworthy and unchangeable than 1+1=2! Ask yourself if you really believe that.

v. 7 Why are we to teach our children this God-focused history? "That they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; and may not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebelliouis generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful to God." Courageous men and women (heroes) are made by constant hammering of God's historical work in the Hebrew Scriptures and throughout our history.

What's really interesting - and somewhat frightening - is that almost the entire rest of this chapter - verses 9-64 (56 verses!) are dedicated to what happens when we DON'T teach our children the things that God commands. It's a frightening account of rebellion and judgement culminating with, "The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not given in marriage. Thier priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation." Even those closest to them did not mourn their loss.

Let us preserve our children from this - any child we are able to influence must be taught the truth of the Word - the History of God's work in this world - "That they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments."

"Perspective Shapers"

Following are bits from a sermon I heard from Pastor Bill Shannon, FaithBuilders, Grace Community Church.

"[King] David was a man under authority, therefore he was fit to have authority."

"God's least is greater than man's greatest."

"There's nothing about the infinite God that comes short of awesome."

The Way of Love (1 Cor. 13)

Yesterday I listened to the first 4 of these sermons (click on title to link to downloads). It has really - REALLY affected my understanding of what it means to truly love someone.

I don't think I've ever heard 1 Cor. 13 exposited before and Tom does a superb job of bringing it home. By setting this passage in the light of it's historical and cultural background (which I'd never heard before) the letter comes alive with new depth and profound impact. I encourage ALL to take time to listen to these valuable, "perspective shaping" sermons.

Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

I'm beginning to realize this is an essential subject for study and understanding. More-so than(though not to the exclusion of) any other doctrine - or so I'm beginning to think. Here's why.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. (1 John 4:7-11)

Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

What has occurred to me is the need to examine our behaviour in the light of 1 Cor. 13 for two very important reasons: (1) To see if we are indeed in the faith. "He who does not love does not know God." and (2) to see if we are in obedience to Christ as our Lord.

As I listened to the first 4 sermons, and as I listen to the rest of them, I choose to search my heart in regards to my treatment of my Savior and my attitude towards those who have injured me in some way. It's easy to love those who love us - who encourage and motivate and strengthen us - but those who have treated us poorly - whether out of ignorance or selfishness or malice - are a different story. We MUST love and we must love Biblically. That requires a deeper look into the best exposition of what Biblical love is - 1 Cor. 13.

I encourage you to listen to those sermons. Reading the passage is an excellent place to start, but, honestly, it has become so familiar that without a fresh look, the impact and depth of the message can easily be missed.

Single for Service

Click on the title to this post and you'll be taken to where you can download a really down-to-earth, Biblically sound, realistic look at what it means to be a single Christian.

This is good listening even for marrieds to relate better to the singles around them.

Look for the sermon dated 4/22/05 titled "The Single Issue in 3D"

Mental War

It has been a tiring week. Not for lack of sleep, but for the constant struggle I've faced. I feel battle-weary and I haven't even (to my knowledge anyway) been on the front lines. My battle has been, mostly, with myself. As James says, "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from desires for pleasure that war in your members?"(1:4) and Galatians 5:17, "For the flesh lusts agains the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things you wish."

Recently I've had cause to count my losses - some for the sake of the cross - most just because that's how life in this imperfect world is. The latter are the one's that hurt the worst. No details here because it's nobody's business but mine and God's. Suffice to say I am tired of being strong - of taking the wounds and carrying on like a good soldier - of silent forgiveness that does not require the other person to come face to face with the pain they cause - of having no one to turn to when I hurt - always being the shoulder that gets cried on and not having another's for my own tears.

And this "hurt" I regret - because it is selfish and ungrateful. God has given me so much and I am foolish to dwell on the little inconveniences of personal insult and being misunderstood. How much more have I oft insulted and misunderstood my Savior? Yet His love for me and His acceptance of me endure. It is, indeed, amazing grace!

Christian Hedonism in it's purest form

What follows are pieces of what I've been reading in John Piper's book "Don't Waste Your Life." I hope you find it as encouraging and challenging as I have.

Quoting Jonathan Edwards:

• Resolution #22: 'Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.'

"This last resolution (#22) may strike us as blatantly self-centered, even dangerous, if we do not understand the deep connection in Edward's mind between the glory of th God and the happiness of Christians. The violence he hd in mind was what Jesus meant when he said in essence, "Better to gouge out your eye to kill lust and go to heaven than to make peace with sin and go to hell." (Matthew 5:29). And with regard to seeking his own happiness, keep in mind that Edwards was absolutely convinced that being happy in God was the way we glorify him. This was the reason we were created. Delighting in God was not a mere preference or option in life; it was our joyful duty and should be the single passion of our lives. Therefore, to resolve to maximize his happiness in God was to resolve to show him more glorious than all other sources of happiness. Seeking happiness in God and glorifying God were the same."

Again, quoting Edwards:

• "The godly are designed for unknown and inconceivable happiness."
• "This glory of God, therefore, [consists] in the creature's admiring and rejoicing [and] exulting in the manifestation of His beauty and excellency . . ."

"When I saw this, I knew, at last, what a wasted life would be and how to avoid it.

"God created me - and you - to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion - namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. Enjoying and displaying are both crucial. If we try to display the excellence of God without joy in it, we will display a shell of hypocrisy and create scorn or legalism. But if we claim to enjoy his excellence and do not display it for others to see and admire, we deceive ourselves, because the mark of God-enthralled joy is to overflow and expand by extending itself into the hearts of others. The wasted life is the life without a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all people."

"We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life."

"Love is doing what is best for someone. But making self the object of our highest affections is not best for us. It is, in fact, a lethal distraction. We were made to see and savor God - and savoring him, to be supremely satisfied, and thus spread in all the world the worth of his presence."

"When we embrace Christ, we embrace God. We see and savor God's glory. There is no savoring of God's glory if we do not see it in Christ. This is the only window through which a sinner may see the face of God and not be incinerated."

Funny!

Here's a cute joke a friend shared with me today :-)

An old farmer had a pond in the South Forty. He didn't go out there much cuz it was a long walk. But he had some peach trees near the pond and figured they would be ripe this time of the year, so he grabbed a 5 gallon bucket and headed for the pond one afternoon.

As he neared the water he could hear giggling and squealing and noticed a bunch of naked women frollicking in the pond. When he got closer they all headed to the deep end of the pond.

They yelled at him that they weren't coming out until he left.

He replied he wasn't there to watch them skinnydip or see them naked.
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He was there to feed the alligator...............

Dodgers

Went to the Dodgers vs. Mets game with my Sunday School class this last Friday :-) I'm not really much of a baseball "fan" - but I do enjoy a live game. This one was really great. Most of our group were Dodger fans, but some are from the NY area and were far more interested in seeing the Mets win - which led to some fun rivalry :-)

The game was tied 3-3 at the close of the first inning. Then the Mets broke ahead for a while, then the Dodgers caught up by the 8th inning (7th or 8th, I think). Anyway, by the 9th inning it was tied 6-6. Met up at the top of the 9th and it was pretty much 3 up - 3 down. Dodgers up and in no time, the bases were loaded with 2 outs against the Dodgers. Bradley got up to bat - he's got good overalls and we'd expect him to do well, but all evening he'd been doing really poorly - starting with hitting the ball short and low in the 1st inning so that he AND they guy they had on 1st got out :-P do-do brain!

So, Bradley's up, bottom of the 9th, tied score, 2 outs, bases loaded - and all he has to get is ONE runner home . . . and what does he do???? Pop fly to left field - which, of course is caught! Leaving us tied at the top of the 10th!!! Aaarrghhh - the tension was thick!

The Dodger's pitcher did his job well yet again - 3 up - 3 down. Dodgers take the plate. We get no one on base and 2 outs. Dunno what the coach was thinking, but he put up Navarro - a guy who'd never hit a home run in his major league career - really unimpressive stats - no reason to think we had a hope this side of the kingdom with him at bat. I figured the Dodgers had given up by putting this guy up to bat.

Boy, was I wrong! Two (or three??) swings in, Navarro hits his very first major league home run!!! Bottom of the 10th, and this "nobody" WINS the game!!!!! Wooo Hooo!!! :-) There was MUCH rejoicing :-)

It was a *great* game! It was so intriguing I totally forgot to buy any popcorn - well, intriguing and I was in the middle of the row so never saw the soda or popcorn guy till it was too late :-P

The moral of the story is two-fold: (1) There are more important things than soda & popcorn, and (2) Past successes don't mean you'll never fail and past failures don't mean you'll never succeed.

"Perspective Shapers"

My cousin, Jeremy, and I were chatting tonight and I shared a thought-provoking quote with him. He shared another good one back and said these were good "perspective shapers." I liked that phrase and had the idea that I might periodically post some "Perspective Shapers" for your consideration.

This first quote is from Jeremy, though he claims no authorship - says he got it elsewhere. Nonetheless, I first heard it from him, so he's the one who gets the kudo's this time ;-)

"Life really has little to do with anything but perspective.

Your perspective in life shapes everything you do."

Following is the quote that started this whole new idea:

"The venerable dead ar waiting in my library

to entertain me and relieve me

from the nonsense of surviving mortals."

Samuel Davies, c1700's

And the quote Jeremy shared back:

"The graveyard is full

of indispensable men."

unknown

That's it for tonight. Stay tuned for more "Perspective Shapers" :-)

Loss and Perspective

Tonight I write with tears in my eyes, having just read of the incredible losses a faithful and precious Pastor has endured over the past few weeks. Dr. MacArthur writes of loosing one close friend or family member after another since going on summer break. He and his sweet wife had intended this break, after so many years of service, "to just enjoy life together for a while. . ." But God had other plans for them. Eight personal losses, including four members of one family they are close to and Dr. MacArthurs own father, and another 4 losses experienced by close personal friends of theirs, and another loss to a family they were priviledged to meet over the summer. Thirteen losses in all that have touched the life and wrenched the heart of this dear man and his family - and another looms at the door as a close friend of theirs suffers from a terminal illness.

And what is his response?? This is what brings tears to my eyes - He says,

"We have not lost our joy, nor are we discouraged. Rather, we are energized about the work the Lord has given us, to prepare people for death! I am not sure what the rest of our little break holds, but Patricia and I have been faced with shattering and unavoidable reminders of the brevity of life and the importance of investing all we are and have in that which is eternal."

And death becomes real to me and I have to ask - Lord, how do I get through to them? To my sister? to my nephews? to my neighbor? I want to take this letter over to my neighbors right now and ask them to read it, then give them the gospel and call them to repentance! But they are not home right now . . . and I'm terrified I'll loose the courage brought on by this emotion before I see them again. I don't know what to do about my sister - she believes she is saved, but my heart cries in fear that it's only a head acknowledgement of who Christ is and not a heart submission to Him - the Demons also believe, and tremble - that kind of "faith" won't save her. My nephews are so angry with "God" and have grown up around such mediocre Christianity - they "tune out" everytime someone mentions the name of the Lord without using it as a swear word. How, how HOW can we get through to them??? And how can I go to work tomorrow, move among the walking dead, and not cry out in agony at the condemnation awaiting them?

My heart breaks tonight, and it drives me to tears and to prayer. My solace comes in the doctrine of election - but not so that it alleviates my need to testify. I pray God will not let this fire die - that I will be more bold than ever before. I've always been very open about my faith at work - I've also been very diplomatic - and that has made my witnessing weak. God, let me speak boldly of your truth - cause me to risk disapproval and offense without fear and yet with wisdom that Your Name may not be evil spoken of.

Busy Couple of Weeks!

Well, things have been rolling along - sometimes at a rather alarming pace! Work has me stretched a little too think for my liking. I can get it all done - I just can't get it all done well. Quality in my work is very important to me, so this causes me some distress. I know I'm going to need to talk to the boss about it yet - but we've both been so busy!

Outside of work I have been busy with church & social activities. Put the final touches on the Dinners For Eight event for our Sunday School class and managed some details for the Game Night I wasn't going to get to attend and for the trip to the Renaissance Faire I had planned for the weekend.

Friday night found me at the movies - I took myself to The Island. It didn't get great reviews by the critics, so I figured it was probably a decent movie ;-) I did enjoy it. Nothing real deep or intriguing - lots of action and a simple but (in my scifi oriented mind) fairly believable plot. It was just what I needed after a really long week!

I got to the theater too early to go in, but not early enough to eat dinner anywhere, so I browsed a local bookstore and picked up another one of Dean Koontz' books, "The Taking." That little activity took up just the right amount of time so I headed for the theater, bought my ticket, then bought a personal pizza, large popcorn (WAY too much popcorn!), diet soda (I know: too little, too late), and some peanut M&M's for dessert. I ended up tossing almost all the popcorn - I think I would've had leftovers if I'd only purchased a small :-P This is what happen when women don't have the masculine voice of reason to guide them through emotion-based decisions! :-)

Saturday was bill paying, shopping for the potluck event I was attending, and then fixing the side-dish I was to take to that event. I knew the host of the party was providing an Armenian main dish, so I wanted to do an Armenian side-dish. I found the simplest recipe I could find - one that had ingredients I recognized, even if I'd never worked with them before. Settled on Eggplant Casserole. I've never made anything Armenian and I've never cooked with Eggplant. Really interesting stuff :-P Anyway, I quadrupled the amount of garlic the recipe called for (it really looked like way too little for the amount of food in the pot), guessed on a couple of other ingredients - and actually ended up with a fairly pleasant dish to take. I think it still could have used more garlic but no one complained :-)

Sunday, I got up early to head to the Renaissance Faire. I was to meet my friend (Mary) at her house at 9:00. . . . Well, . . . after nearly reaching the US/Mexico border - yes, I could see it from the "Last US Exit" (which I took, panicking). No big deal for many people to get that close to Mexico . . . but I've never been to the border before and having gotten there meant that somehow, somewhere, I'd missed my exit!

The short end of the story is that I did find my friends house - about an hour and a half late - and I learned not to trust mapquest directions. The exit Mapquest told me to take off the freeway did not exist! :-P At least getting lost was not *entirely* my fault! :-)

The Faire was really great. I think I would have liked to see some of the shows - but it was really hot out and I was already pretty red (no, of course I didn't put any sunscreen on!). Mary and her mom were ready to go, so that really turned out to be the best way to go. The fact that my burn got worse the next couple of days really confirmed that :-P

Mary and I kicked back at her place for the afternoon and talked about Harry Potter :-) We're both really into the books (her a *little* more than me) so it was fun discussing possibilities for the next book and the whys and wherefores of the last 6, especially after the revelations in Book 6 :-) We (mostly Mary, but I did help a little) made dinner - shrimp pesto pasta!! and tomato slices and garlic bread :-) Yummmmmmm. (as the child inside me says "Mary makes me seafood for dinner - Mary is a gooooooood friend!!!) :-D

Got home 9:30ish - traffic on the way home was pretty icky. Read my new book for about 20 minutes then crashed for the night. This is really important. You see, I read just enough of the book to make me want to pick it up again Monday night - but not enough to realize how addictive it would be . . . . When 2:00 a.m. Tuesday rolled around, I put the book down out of sheer discipline - - I still wasn't sleepy and the book was really, really intriguing!! Up at 5 the next morning didn't work, so I reset the alarm for 6 . . . there went my work out . . . again. Tuesday night I came right home, quickly fixed dinner, then finished the darned book!!! Done by 8:50 p.m., I went right to bed to make up for the previous night :-) 5 a.m. didn't work again - reset to 6 . . . again . . . :-P

And here we are at today. I worked out in the warehouse all day to day. I had some new shelves brought in for my marketing materials and, having discovered a load of unused marketing stuffs (pens, posters, shirts, you name it!) in a back closet upstairs, I was determined to consolidate and organize. So that's what I did yesterday afternoon and today :-) Got done by 4:15 p.m. and it really feels good to know exactly what we have in our marketing inventory :-) I love organization . . . :-)

And now I think I'll go have a bowl of vanilla icecream with hot fudge topping and see what's on the boob-tube :-)

Good Words

I just finished reading a post at another BLog and wanted to recommend it to all of you. It's all about a passion for the unadulterated truth of the Word of God. The article is titled "An Older Entry".

Mr. Hicks, I commend you for speaking out and for speaking well!

http://jhicks.blogplot.com/