Eowyn's Heart

Garnett Hill Luxury Spa & Health Sweepstakes

2011-08-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

Check it out :-) and enter for a chance to win :-) I did!

Long time no BLog!

2011-03-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Well, it's been eons since I've posted anything of any substance (not counting the great pics of my new niece just uploaded today!). I miss writing and, now that school is on hold for a bit, will make some time for it again.

Currently I'm at work on my lunch break so I'll make this post short - it's really more of a "Hi, I'm back" thing anyway :-)

So- a brief catch up on the Lord's work in my life . . .

Last summer I was asked to consider taking over or co-leading (with my mom) a ministry to single women at our church. It was a tough decision because I was about 1/2 way through with pursuing my Master's Degree and that is something I'm still VERY interested in completing. Also, the beautiful woman who had started this ministry left VERY BIG SHOES to fill . . . it was pretty intimidating!

There were some strains involved with school that had to be considered - money had gotten tight - school loans just weren't covering my basic expenses and the amount of the school loans themselves, of course, were getting kind of scary. Also, the classes I was taking were (1) not really related to anything I felt relevant to Biblical Counseling and (2) really tough - thus, hurting my GPA.

The big one there was Statistics. Oh My Heavens! I was never great at math anyway and this was just wrenching to do on-line. I probably would have done better in a classroom with that one but in the end, what do statistics really mean when you're one-on-one counseling anyway??? I mean really - the Bible applies - period. I don't know . . . I suppose there is some value in knowing which forms of therapy have worked best on average but the individual is not an average - I think choosing or designing a therapy should be first and foremost Holy Spirit led.

Anyway, all that to say, I was getting a bit frustrated with the "professional" over "Biblical" aspect of the counseling program I was pursuing. Add to that the fact that I had been working on my Master's degree for 18 months straight - without a break - and I was pretty ready to take some time off anyway.

After consulting with several wise counselors - some who knew me well, some who's basic wisdom I trusted well whether or not they knew me personally - and I came to the conclusion that, when faced with the question of whether to continue preparing for ministry or to jump into the ministry I was preparing for - it was time to jump :-)

So, now my mom and I co-lead God's Gals ministry at our church. God's Gals reaches out to all single women - whether never married or divorced or widowed or just attending alone. I was surprised to see how great the need was at our church! So many women longing for friendship and connection but unable to find it within the typical family/couple-oriented church. And these women are HUNGRY for the Word and minister to each other, the church body, and the community so beautifully!! They are a HUGE blessing in my life and my mom's too (my co-leader).

I'm not a perfect ministry leader by any means - in fact, this whole experience is very humbling. I see a MUCH greater need for prayer and daily study of God's Word (as opposed to the "Good Morning Lord" and 2 minute daily devotional He's usually lucky to get out of me). I am learning and growing as a result of this ministry involvement and I'm looking forward to seeing what the Lord will do with this ministry as I grow into a decent leader and as we all follow the Lord down this path.

Well, lunch break is up so that's it for now. Hopefully I'll post a lot more regularly now :-)

Till next time, keep livin' for the glory of our King!
Deb

Blessings

2011-03-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

My precious little niece. Born March 22nd at 8lbs 4 oz, 21" long! Our little Abrielle Christianna is a blessed addition to our family. Of course, all my nieces & nephews are precious and beloved, but Abrielle's the newest, so she gets special mention today :-)

To Dr. Meyer

2009-11-27T16:32:00.000-08:00

I had no way to respond to the comment you sent so am posting this note. Although I do not 100% agree with your concern that posting my mid-term responses is "unethical" (I'm sure lots of students share their papers with one another after their graded and these responses were posted after the mid-term grades were published), I did delete the post. I also don't really see how plagerism could be a concern. Nonetheless, I do wish to adhere to very high standards and, as the post did include test questions, it occurred to me that the teachers may use the same tests in succeeding semesters and making the questions potentially available to future students of those classes is probably not wise.

Thank you for voicing your concerns. My goal is only and always to honor the Lord and I wish to have "no appearance of evil" in these blog postings. I will avoid sharing test information in future.

**UPDATE** I would like to encourage all to read through the comments thread on this post. We have an edifying and educational discussion going! :-)

The Anxiety Cure: A Critique of Archibald Hart’s Body Systems Approach

2009-10-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

Personal Assessment
I agree that the competent Christian counselor “must have some familiarity with how to treat anxiety disorders” (Hawkins, n.d., slide 2). I also agree with the conceptual emphasis on recognizing the role and significance of biological influences on psychological challenges (n.d., slide 2). This fits well with my personal conviction that each client needs to be assessed as a whole person with all aspects of mind, body and spirit considered.

I did not personally see the need for understanding all the chemistry involved. Recognizing symptoms and understanding techniques for relieving anxiety do not require understanding what serotonin or benzodiazepines are or how they work. I did, however, appreciate the numerous self-treatment ideas that were presented and will likely incorporate some of those into my own lifestyle.

I also found the various “pull out” blocks of information (such as the Common Myths About Panic Attacks on p. 44) to be useful concise tools. I can see the value of putting together a few of these in “flier” format that could be made available to clients in the reception area of the office (with appropriate permissions and/or citations, of course). Since “anxiety is now the number one emotional problem of our day” (preface, p. v), there’s a good chance that each client at least knows of someone who suffers from anxiety related disorders. It’s good information to get out to the public as much as possible.

The most valuable portion of the book for me personally – both as an individual and as a future counselor – was the section on Christian Meditation. I agree that there is strong Biblical support for the practice of meditation (pp. 238-239). This is a technique that I will determine to learn and implement in my Christian walk and then incorporate into my therapeutic practice. I often refer to Proverbs 23:7, which affirms the concept that behavior is determined by thinking. As Christian meditation is an excellent tool for focusing thinking on God and His Word, I feel it will be a very useful tool for any client.

In summary, I agree with the basic precepts of the book – that biology and psychology are connected, that both must be considered in diagnosis and assessment, and that treatment should include both medical and psychological approaches. I disagree with the idea that the counselor or the client needs to understand the underlying chemistry on the biological/neurological side or how the medications work – that is what we have psychiatrists and physicians for. Most especially, I appreciate the numerous techniques presented that can be used either individually or in conjunction with therapy and the emphasis on personal responsibility for seeking help and making positive cognitive changes.

References

Hart, A. (1999). The anxiety cure: You can find emotional tranquillity[sic] and wholeness. Nashville, TN: Word Publishing.

Hawkins, R. (n.d.) [Speaker]. The anxiety cure: The contribution of Archibald Hart. Lynchburg, VA: Liberty University. (NOTE: this presentation is available only to students enrolled in L.U. counseling class COUN507_B01_200940)

The Bondage Breaker: A Critique of Neil Anderson's Supernatural Systems Approach

2009-10-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

Personal Assessment
I approached this book with skepticism. Many years ago I was exposed to Anderson's Victory Over Darkness and, though I can't remember any details about it, I remember feeling like he was looking to find demons under every rock and failing to hold individuals personally responsible for their choices. Since then I have not viewed him as a reliable source for instruction. I was pleasantly surprised to discover balanced and scripturally well-supported arguments presented in The Bondage Breaker (2000).

I appreciated his assertion that the material and immaterial are not divisible (p. 34). As human beings, our challenges are not physical or spiritual but both physical and spiritual. When I have a bad cold, it affects not only my sinuses but my cognition and emotions and, thereby, my ability and even my desire to pray or read Scripture. When counseling Christian clients, I need to be sure I am paying attention to the whole person - mind, body, emotions and spirit.

I also strongly support Anderson's focus on personal responsibility for right thinking. My grandfather strongly believed that the way we are raised has only as much affect on us as we choose to allow - there comes a time for each person when they are individually responsible for their choices, beliefs and behavior regardless of childhood experiences. God gave us the ability and the responsibility to cognitively assess our lives, to examine ourselves (reference 1 Corinthians 11:28, 2 Corinthians 13:5 and Galatians 6:4) so that we are without excuse when we come before His throne (reference Romans 1:20).

While I am in agreement with the majority of Anderson's (2000) concepts, I'm not comfortable with the formulaic steps as they are laid out in the book - both the seven "Steps to Freedom in Christ" (pp. 201-242) and the prayers for maintaining freedom in Christ (pp. 242-252). In the first place, it's simply too "rubber stamp" for my personality. People are too unique and individual and their personal challenges need to be handled according to their uniqueness and individuality. Second, I have never liked formula prayers. They feel too much like magic words to me. Prayer needs to come from the heart, not from a book.

This book was a good reminder that our battles are as much spiritual as they are physical and I believe that incorporating this belief into my therapeutic practice will benefit my clients and make me a better counselor. While it is unlikely I would walk a client through Anderson's (2000) seven steps, it is likely I will encourage prayers that affirm truth and renounce wrong thoughts, beliefs and behaviors that may have given place to demonic influence.

References

Anderson, N. (2000). The bondage breaker. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers.

Comparing And Contrasting Family Systems Models

2009-10-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

Summary

Both Wilson and Cloud & Townsend present models for change that are lifestyle oriented rather than "quick-fixes." Both deal with cognitive processes and require that the individual examine themselves, see the problem area, and apply biblical thinking to bring about positive change. I find these family systems models complimentary in their overall content.

I prefer the format and organization of Cloud & Townsend's book to that of Wilson. Cloud & Townsend presented a framework, addressed key issues and then provided clear solution-oriented direction but I felt that Wilson scattered these three aspects throughout her book.

Lastly, I feel Wilson's book provided a framework to help me better understand my dad, his challenges and how that has affected my development. Cloud & Townsend have provided an excellent framework for me to begin working more purposefully on making positive changes in myself that will benefit our relationship as well as other familial relationships where I have now identified boundary issues. The complimentary nature of these models provide both concepts and processes that will be incorporated into my personal counseling theory - such as personal responsibility, boundaries we need to place on ourselves, and the need to examine historical development to discover childhood choices that may be detrimental to adult life.

References

Cloud, H. & Townsend, J. (1999). Boundaries in marriage: Understanding the choices that make or break loving relationships. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Wilson, S. (2001). Hurt people, hurt people: Hope and healing for yourself and your relationships. Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.

A Critique of Sandra Wilson's Relationship Systems Model as Presented in Her Book Hurt People, Hurt People

2009-10-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

Conclusion
I appreciated much of this book as it is largely reflective of my own thinking in regards to parental influence of children. The focus is highly selective and, in my opinion, a little too focused on the extremes of sexual abuse - though that is understandable considering the authors' history. Nonetheless, there were solid, thought-provoking concepts presented that were largely supported in Scripture.

References

Wilson, S. (2001). Hurt people, hurt people. Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.

Conference Nuggets

2009-10-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

Just a few thoughts, quotes, concepts that meant something to me from this past weekend's Women of Faith conference :-)

One of my favorite speakers was Lisa Harper. As a single woman a couple of years older than me with an imperfect body like mine, she exuded beauty in buckets! Her sessions focused on Matthews account of the genealogy of Christ noting that it not only included women (unheard of in that culture) but that they were not perfect women (far worse in that culture). Tamar deceived and seduced her father-in-law and became pregnant by him; Rahab was a "card-carrying" prostitute; Ruth descended from Lot's lineage . . . a product of incest; Bathsheba was an adulteress. God wove these "wild women" into His Son's family tree - He *designed* that they should be part of His incarnate form's biological heritage. Wow. If them, why not me? (Jeremiah 1:29)

Shiela Walsh shared an amazing testimony that concluded with her finding herself in a place of humility asking, "How can I stand at the foot of the cross pointing my finger at anyone else?" Her journey of experiencing a serious betrayal of trust followed by God's call to forgive and His work to mature, strengthen and humble her through the process was humbling and inspiring. She directed us to Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God" and noted that the Hebrew word translated "Be still" more accurately translates to "Let go." I was challenged to look at so many hurts, strivings, failures and so forth in my life that I need to let go.

Lisa Welchel shared her story growing up as "Blair" on "The Facts of Life" TV series. The abuse (not sexual) was horrendous. No child should have to go through the public scrutiny of her weight like she did - but God allowed it and now her testimony brings healing to so many! While her entire story was a ministry to my heart, the nugget I took from it was 1st Corinthians 13:12a, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face" (NASB). I can relate to Lisa when she talks about looking in the mirror and seeing a failure - a big, fat, unattractive, worthless failure. But that is not what she was and it is not what I am - such thoughts are lies from the pit of hell meant to incapacitate us in the work God has set before us.

Lisa's story was echoed beautifully in a drama by Allison Allen. What an amazing dramatist! Her dialogue with her mirror struck home for me. Unfortunately there's really no way to capture the essence of her production, which was very powerful, with the written word.

Nicole C. Mullen, a singer, songwriter, dancer was fun to watch. Although her style of music isn't really my style, her heart was clearly sold out to Jesus! One thing she said that really caught my attention as she relayed the story of the hemorrhaging woman who was healed when she touched the hem of Christ's garment and then received love and acceptance when He turned to her and touched her heart: We need to stop coming after Him for what we can get and start coming before Him for what He wants to give. So true!

Marilyn Meberg was my least favorite speaker, but only because she included some crass sexually oriented jokes that I felt were inappropriate. Still, though, she had some good words of wisdom to share that impacted me: In our busy-ness we are often meeting the goals for life but missing the purpose for life. It is important to look at my life and assess - what am I bowed under the weight of? As a future Christian Counselor, these words of wisdom were important to me: Psychology can reveal; only God can heal - Knowing does not cure.

Some other tidbits I didn't get the speaker's name associated with in my jots & tiddles:

When we are feeling unworthy, look to John 3:16 for what God did; 1st John 1:9 for what we need to do; and John 1:12 for the result.

"You have never lived an unloved moment in your life!" (Now that is powerful!)

"You delight God's heart in a million ways" (quoting Max Lucado)

For bios on all the speakers, click here.

A Critique of Jay Adams' Biblical Counseling Theory and Process

2009-09-14T17:12:00.001-07:00

Conclusion
Adams focus on the primacy and sufficiency of Scripture must be appreciated and valued as a vital contribution to truly "Christian" counseling. His model of the therapeutic process is, however, severely limited in application and does not adequately account for a Biblical method of counseling the unredeemed. His emphasis on the goal and focus of change is also a worthy contribution and should be the focus of any truly Christian counselor but his assumptions regarding integration and cognition are invalid and Biblically unsupportable.

References

Adams, J. (1986). How to help people change: The four-step Biblical process. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Hawkins, R. (n.d.) [Speaker]. The contribution of Jay Adams. Lynchburg, VA: Liberty University.

The Counseling Models of Dr. Larry Crabb and Dr. Ron Hawkins: A Brief Critique

2009-09-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

Personal Evaluation
I am not impressed with Dr. Hawkins' model as I disagree with some key aspects of his Concentric Circles and I find it to be, overall, simplistic and seriously lacking in integration. Due to spatial considerations, I will focus only on my primary disagreement, which is with his understanding of the core self - specifically the manner in which he differentiates the regenerate and unregenerate. Scripture clearly tells us that, upon salvation, we become "a new creature; the old things passed away" (II Cor. 5:17, NASB, emphasis mine). This concept of being completely freed from or dead to sin is reiterated throughout Paul's writings (reference Rom. 6:4 and 7:6; I Cor. 5:7; Gal. 6:15; and Eph. 2:11-16 and 4:24). Thus, I disagree that regenerate individuals retain an "old sin nature" and are only different from unregenerate people because they have the addition of the Holy Spirit. They are different because they are re-born and have a new nature that is clean and holy and desires to follow God.

While the "Spoiling the Egyptians" integrative approach that Crabb claims to ascribe to is not overtly evident in his models, concepts or therapeutic process, he does offer some valuable truths that I wholeheartedly ascribe to. Crabb notes that "the primary problem with people today is misplaced dependency" (1977, p. 139). Biology and other external factors aside, I believe this is foundational concept for Christian counseling. Scripture tells us that God has "granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness" (II Peter 1:3, NASB). When our dependency for having our basic needs of security and significance is on anything other than the Lord God, we will have problems.

I also appreciated Crabb's inclusion of "the basic direction (heart)" as part of the human personality. For the unredeemed, this accounts for the sin nature which leads man naturally to oppose God. For the redeemed, it accounts for the new nature which leads man to naturally desire and obey God. This fits well with my understanding of the affects of salvation on the human self.

Overall I found myself more aligned with Dr. Crabb and his concepts than with Dr. Hawkins, especially as it applied to their models of human personality and the manner in which the redeemed are differentiated from the unredeemed. This was a key aspect for me in assessing these models. Dr. Crabb's model provides a better frame for expressing the transformation that salvation brings to a person's base nature.

References

Crabb, L. (1977). Effective Biblical counseling: A model for helping caring Christians become capable counselors. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Hawkins, R. (n.d.a.) [Speaker]. Effective Biblical counseling. Lynchburg, VA: Liberty University.

Hawkins, R. (n.d.b.) [Speaker]. Hawkins' model for guiding the counseling process. Lynchburg, VA: Liberty University.

A Word on Obama

2009-08-28T12:24:00.001-07:00

I'm not typically one to get involved in politics (except for voting my conscience) - nor is this meant to be a change in that personal policy (not that I have anything against it, it's just that I need to regulate it because of my own obsessive/compulsive tendencies . . . getting involved would open the door to politics taking over my life), HOWEVER, this letter came to me from my aunt and it confirms everything I've believed about Obama from the beginning. My aunt met the author of this article and the author is relaying 1st hand information and personal opinion. His credentials are detailed at the end.

I'm not putting this out there to open debate - it's just that I agree with it and it's important to me.

Is Obama a Muslim?
By
Avi Lipkin

There is a famous English saying: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I will never forget the appearance of then Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain who was confronted by this sweet American elderly woman who asked the senator what he thought about Obama's being a Muslim.

His answer was swift: "No, Madam, I do not believe he is a Muslim. He, himself has denied it."
After completing a two month lecture circuit in the U.S. and Canada, the first such lecture circuit since Obama's election victory, I felt the need to set the record straight with a few lines in this periodical.

In spite of a few muted accusations that Obama should not be president by virtue of the fact that he was born in Kenya and seems to not be able to provide a genuine birth certificate showing he is American born, there is no doubt that President Mubarak Hussein Obama is the son of a Sunni Muslim, and even the proud member of a Sunni Muslim tribe in Kenya, the same tribe that slaughtered tens of thousands of Kenyan Christians a few years ago.

According to the Islamic faith, if his father was a Muslim, so is the son, Obama.

There is no debate, either, that his white mother remarried a second husband, also a Sunni Muslim and lived with Obama in Indonesia for a number of years. Obama attended a Madrassa (Islamic school) until age 11 and attended the local mosque.

I think it was the Jesuit Priest Francis Xavier who said: "Give me a child until 10 and I will make him a man."

With a father and step-father who were both Muslims, and a school and religious system which raised him as a Muslim until 11, it would seem a shut and closed case that the president of the U.S. is a Muslim.

It is true that with his marriage to the future First Lady, Michelle, he began attending Rev. Jeremy Wright's black supremacist church and spent 20 years as a regular attendee on Sundays.

In his famous interview with George Stephanopoulos, he was referring to "his Muslim faith," but quickly corrected himself when Stephanopoulos interrupted him and said, "You mean, your Christian faith..." and Obama, said: "Yes, my Christian faith."

Now according to the Koran, in Sura IV entitled Women, verse 137, it says:"Those who accept the Faith (Islam) and then renounce it, who again embrace it and again deny it and grow in unbelief -- Allah will neither forgive them nor rightly guide them." (This means any Muslim who abandons Islam must be killed.)

There is also a term in Islam: Takiyah, which means permission to lie to the infidel for the purposes of Allah/Islam. In other words, it is permissible for a Muslim to attend a Christian church, pretend to be a Christian, only as a cover to achieve goals for the Muslim cause, such as to become president of the United States.

Now, let me go on record as praying for Barack Obama's long life. Indeed, New York Pastor David Wilkerson speaks in his prophecies of the cities in the U.S. going up in flames, a terrible scenario that would most definitely happen if anyone killed Obama, God-forbid.

Here are three radio broadcasts my wife, Rachel, intercepted at Kol Israel in the last few years:
1. Before Obama's election in November 2008: Saudi Radio: "We will have a Muslim in the White House in the 2008 elections...
2. After his election: Libyan Radio: Qaddafi: "Our man in the White House."
3. The Sunnis are having meetings to coordinate policy together with President Obama to first deal with the Shiite Iranian Ayatollah regime in Teheran which threatens all Sunnis in general as well as the Saudis in particular; and then to deal with the "fanatic" new Israeli government under second-time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

These are the three broadcasts I spoke about during my lectures in the U.S. and Canada during the period Feb-April 2009.

In addition, in a recent prayer breakfast in Washington, DC, everyone who spoke quoted the Bible. Obama quoted the Hadith (Islamic teachings not in the Koran).

I think Israel must be very concerned and so should the entire Christian world that the U.S. president is either a Muslim, or firmly in the Muslim camp. Indeed beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If the Muslims see him as a Muslim, then for all intents and purposes, he is a Muslim.

Whatever, if Mubarack Hussein Obama is a Muslim or self-proclaimed Christian, God's eyes are on every move America and the world make regarding Israel. Many Christians have said to me on my most recent lecture circuit that if Obama moves against Israel God's judgment on America will be a punishment on all Americans, Christians and Jews included.

It is indeed a time for Christian Revival for Israel's Survival! (The name of my second book).

The above article first appeared in Israel Today, June 01, 2009 and is reprinted with permission. Avi Lipkin ( pseudonym Victor Mordecai) Is a columnist for Israel Today, is a frequent guest on the Michael Medved and Michael Savage radio programs, and has appeared on hundreds of television and radio programs worldwide. He served in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) from February 1972 until January 1973 as IDF Spokesman for the Judea and Samaria Command under Lt.Col Rafael Horovitz. His IDF reserve duties included artillery reserves from 1973 to 1989 and as an officer in the IDF Spokesman’s Office from 1989 to 2001. He is the author of four books, and is a candidate for the Israeli Knesset elections at the head of a Judeo-Christian Bible Bloc party called “Gush Hatanakhi” in Hebrew. Avi has appeared in over five hundred churches and synagogues in the US, Canada, Mexico, UK, Norway, Finland, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece as well as in Israel. For more information visit: www.vicmord.com
Reprinted with permission from the Roseburg Beacon News, Vol.2- Issue 32 August 12, 2009

McMinn - 4-MAT

2009-08-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

McMinn, M. (1996). Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Concrete Response

Until a few months ago I was engaged in a weekly mentoring relationship with a high school senior from the church I was attending at that time. Through God's grace, I employed several of the techniques mentioned in this book and God used them to produce significant growth both in the young lady and in myself. One key ingredient in our mentoring relationship was prayer.

On many occasions I can remember struggling over and praying fervently about how to lovingly confront her regarding some behavioral issue only to have God beat me to the punch. In our next meeting or through a phone call between meetings, she would confess how God had convicted her and then detail her response to that conviction. Always the change was what I had been praying for or a better solution I had not considered. This greatly increased my belief in the power of prayer.

The use of scripture was also primary in our mentoring meetings. When we first started meeting I realized she had a very unhealthy sense of self. Because of unhealthy relationships with her brother, father and boyfriend, she felt helpless and unlovable. She believed she had to earn affection through meeting the demands of others. Through employing cognitive restructuring based on God's word (though I didn't know anything about "cognitive restructuring" at that time), she gradually developed a healthy sense of self and was able to take action to correct or positively affect her unhealthy relationships.

Reflection

While I really enjoyed this book and learned a great deal from it, there was one significant factor missing throughout. With all of the insightful questions posed and the wise cautions offered, there was not one mention of our need to be totally dependent on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Counselor was completely left out of the equation when it came to determining when/how to apply prayer, scripture, confrontation of sin, or a call to confession or forgiveness - yet this is His area of specialty. Quite honestly, I would have expected a book like this to be full of reference to the work of the Spirit.

On a more positive note, I greatly appreciated the section on redemption, specifically in reference to informed consent. Ethical issues are addressed throughout the book but the suggestion of including religious values in the informed-consent form will address many potential issues and may open "an opportunity for Christian truth to be incarnated in the therapy relationship" (p. 240).

Lastly, I appreciated the emphasis on the counselor's personal spiritual walk throughout the book. We must not ask our clients to do what we are unwilling to do ourselves. Each of these "religious techniques" is really a spiritual discipline and must never become routine. Our time in prayer must reflect a precious, intimate and personal connection with our Savior. Our time in His Word must come from a deep desire to know Him better. Our hearts must be humble before Him in confession of our own sin and our constant need of His strength and the leading of His Spirit. Our forgiveness of others must stem out of understanding what we have been forgiven.

Action
First and foremost, as with Ortberg's book, I see my need to step it up in regards to the spiritual disciplines mentioned. I believe McMinn is correct that, "the value of counseling interventions is found less in one's technical training and theoretical orientation than in one's character" (p. xi). This concept and others from this book and from Ortberg's book will become foundational to my personal theory of counseling and will be included in the personal theory paper I will be writing next week for another class.

The questions about what form of technique to apply to which client in which circumstances and whether this technique will establish a healthier sense of health or a healthier sense of need or a healing relationship will be incorporated as part of my personal therapeutic process. I believe these are important and useful questions that will help me be more discerning in the proper application of any technique, not just the religiously oriented ones.

Postmodern Approaches Critique

2009-08-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

Personal Perspective
These are both very intriguing therapies and I believe several aspects can be incorporated into an integrative approach. I can see several concepts and techniques which I will incorporate into my own approach though I cannot see myself taking any postmodern approach as my foundational therapeutic focus.
There are several things I appreciate about these therapeutic approaches. First, the concept of the therapist as expert in the process of change but "not knowing" in relation to the client. We really don't know the people who come into our office until we allow them to tell us who they are. At the same time, I don't agree that the client is always the expert on what their problem is - mankind is notorious in overlooking his own failings. I also disagree with the idea that all people are "healthy, competent, resourceful, and possess the ability to construct solutions." Those who do not know Christ are blind (Ps. 146:8; Matt. 15:14) and lack wisdom (Rom. 1:21-22). Those who do know Christ realize that it is only through the power of the Spirit that we can do or be anything of value (Phil. 4:13; Gal. 6:3).
I also appreciate the focus on solutions and the optimistic approach to change. The evident effectiveness of SFBT in treating domestic violence offenders (Corey, 2009, p. 402) is encouraging. I disagree with the concept of personifying the problem as I believe this tends to allow the client to deny responsibility for the choices they make that contribute to the development of the problem.

References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (8th ed.). USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Hinkley, P. (n.d.). Reality therapy presentation. Retrieved July 28, 2009 from http://www.liberty.edu/media/1413/COUN510/Postmodern_Approaches/index.html.

Feminist Therapy Critique

2009-08-06T17:19:00.000-07:00

Personal Evaluation
I must admit that just the title of this therapy triggers strong negative emotions for me. I believe that "feminism" has done much damage to women through the years under the guise of freeing them from male oppression. Nevertheless, I agree with Corey that feminist therapy has made a vital contribution to therapeutic practice by bringing awareness to the "impact of cultural context and multiple oppressions." It is essential that we recognize all aspects of diversity and how both we and our clients are influenced by societal norms in therapeutic practice. Failure to consider the whole person, in whole context, can result in failed treatment.
Regardless of its contributions, I cannot stand in agreement with the foundational concept that problems result from socially defined gender roles and oppression. While it is good to understand how society dictates gender roles and how oppression might influence the individual, this does not negate the individual's right and ability to make choices and their responsibility for the consequences of those choices. I also heartily disagree with efforts by practitioners of this therapy to oppose the concept of objective truth. Jesus said He alone is "the Truth" (John 14:6). Without Christ and His Word, we stand on shifting sands and are doomed to fall.

References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (8th ed.). USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Hinkley, P. (n.d.). Feminist therapy presentation. Retrieved July 28, 2009 from http://www.liberty.edu/media/1413/COUN510/Feminist_Therapy/index.html.

Ortberg - 4-MAT - - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING!

2009-07-29T15:31:00.001-07:00

Ortberg, J. (2002). The Life You've Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.

Concrete Response
Every chapter in this book confronted and encouraged me in some way. I related to so many of the examples used by the author and I felt grateful to know I am not alone in these struggles. Most powerful to me was the section about Mabel (pp. 22-25). Last week I had several "OFU" days - days when I just feel Old, Fat, and Ugly - which is unusual for me as I have become far more accepting of my single status in life, but last week was really hard. Additionally at that time, I was engaged in a blog communication defending my contention that, contrary to REBT theory, people "need" love and acceptance. Reading about Mabel really opened my eyes and convicted my heart of the petty, self-centered thinking I had been engaged in. Through Mabel's story, I realized that we really don't "need" human companionship or love or acceptance - all we really need - all I really need - is a deeply intimate relationship with my Lord.

A second section that struck home was the story of Hank, specifically as it related to the lack of expectation for change. My dad is a "Hank" and though I and others in our family still pray hopefully for change, I don't think any of us really expects it anymore. Through the years we have come to a complacent belief that "he is what he is" and we have forgotten that he was created to be so much more - that he is eternal splendor in the making. I needed this reminder.

Reflection
I appreciated every page and every section of this book. The only problem I have with it is that I think I will have to read it again and again until I get all the principles solidly planted in my brain. It is not a book of "do this for 5 minutes a day and you can be spiritual." Rather, it is a practical guide to a spiritual lifestyle. In fact, because of the negative "check it off the list" connotation associated with the word "discipline," the subtitle "spiritual disciplines for ordinary people" might have been better phrased, "aspects of a spiritual lifestyle for ordinary people."

Action
As a result of reading this book, I have several new perspectives on life and I believe a much better perspective of future clients. Through my education thus far, it has been emphasized (and rightly so) that, as Christians, we need to view our clients in the light of Scripture - the Imago Dei. Ortberg's quote of C.S. Lewis (p. 17) brings this to a whole new level for me. Clients are either "everlasting splendors" or "immortal horrors" in the making. It is my job to encourage transformation to the former from the latter. This is eternal work we are engaged in.

Before reading this book, I would have automatically encouraged my clients to a specific set of "spiritual disciplines" - i.e. read the Bible 5 minutes a day, pray 5 minutes a day, and so forth - the standard measurements for spirituality so popular in our religious culture today. Though these things are not wrong, per se, now I will be far more sensitive to my client's temperament, gifts and season of life and will endeavor to wisely help them to develop their own unique spiritual lifestyle.

On a personal level, I intend to incorporate every principle discussed in this book into my own life. There are so many valuable concepts and principles in this book that I believe will help me cease to measure my spiritual life by tasks and begin to see it grow through internal changes. I have some weeks coming up when I will not be taking classes and I am anxiously awaiting that time so I can re-read this book more slowly and begin to determinedly put into practice the principles and concepts therein!

Theory Critiques - General Info

2009-07-27T15:14:00.001-07:00

For anyone who opts to read my critiques, I just thought I should note, these are taken from "homework assignments" for classes I am taking toward my Master's degree in Professional Counseling through Liberty University on-line. This means I am limited to a certain amount of space and often only get to do a brief "just hit the basics" review - thorough reviews of these theories would be at least twice as long as they currently appear, and some quite a bit more. Additionally, please see the comments in the post titled "To Dr. Meyer" (NOV/DEC 2009) for an interesting and educational discussion on integrity in posting assignments.

I welcome feedback and discussion that is respectful and honoring to our Savior.

Reality Theory

2009-07-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

Personal Perspective
I am not comfortable with the over-emphasis on choice and responsibility in this theory. While I believe that individuals do make choices and that they should bear responsibility for the choices they make, not all mental illness can be attributed to personal poor choice. Cases of molestation, rape, child-abuse, elder-abuse and other such tragic events leave a client dealing with emotional and behavioral challenges resulting from not having any real choice in the matter. At the same time, I value the concept of dealing with the present and learning to make choices that positively influence the future. However, in cases such as those just mentioned, another therapeutic method would be better suited.

For clients who are looking for direction, I see great value in the WDEP system. I can see this being useful in career planning for high school graduates, evaluation of job offers or potential career changes, and even on a corporate level - helping executives decide what direction to take a company that is at a cross-road and then planning how to get there. Overall, I see reality therapy as somewhat limited. Nevertheless, both the counseling cycle and the WDEP system could be highly useful in specific situations.

References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (8th ed.). USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Hinkley, P. (n.d.). Reality therapy presentation. Retrieved July 23, 2009 from http://www.liberty.edu/media/1413/COUN510/Reality_Therapy/index.html.

Cognitive Behavioral Theory Critique

2009-07-26T22:05:00.000-07:00

Personal Evaluation
Overall, I appreciate the general direction of the cognitive behavioral theory as it is geared toward paying attention to one's own thought processes and the affect these have on our behavior. Proverbs 23:7 tells us that man is what he thinks, Philippians 4:8 goes into great detail about the things Christians should choose to dwell on, and 2 Corinthians 10:5 is clear in its instruction to take "every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (NASB). Biblically, it is clear that thinking is essential to behavior and it is controllable.
In regards to the specific approaches addressed herein I was drawn to many of the techniques but not impressed by the concepts behind many of those techniques. For example, REBT proposes that people do not "need" love and acceptance. Considering that God Himself said, "it is not good that man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18, NKJV), I have to disagree. I also disagree with the REBT view of the client/therapist relationship. However, the techniques used in REBT are something I am likely to incorporate into my own therapeutic practice.

References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (8th ed.). USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Hinkley, P. (n.d.). Cognitive behavior therapy presentation. Retrieved July 23, 2009 from http://www.liberty.edu/media/1413/COUN510/Cognitive_Behavior_Therapy/index.html.

Behavior Theory Critique

2009-07-20T01:29:00.000-07:00

Personal Perspective
Being, by nature, an organizer myself, the systematic and structured approach to assessment and treatment is appealing to me. However, I believe a great deal of flexibility is also needed as a structured and systematic approach may hinder some fruitful interaction. Additionally, while I have great respect for the empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of the techniques used and would be open to using these techniques myself (with proper training of course), I don't believe we can restrict our treatment options to only proven methods. As Christians, we must be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. What works for the majority may not work for the client in our office.
Thus, I disagree with the concept that technique is of greater importance than the client/therapist relationship and with the implied superiority of the therapist. It is essential that we know our clients and their challenges and respect their ability to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit to make desired changes in behavior. It is important to remember that our goal is to help the client become wholly who God designed them to be and that there may well be challenges and issues beyond the presenting problem to be dealt with. These will not be discovered if we simply address the current behavioral challenge without developing a deep and trusting relationship with the client.
I also disagree with the concept that behavior is a product of learning. While learning does play a significant role in behavior, I believe that it is what we choose to do with what we learn that determines behavior. Therefore, choice is the greater determining factor in behavior and client's can be held responsible for the choices they make and empowered to make better choices regardless of what they have learned.

References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (8th ed.). USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Hinkley, P. (n.d.). Behavior therapy presentation. Retrieved July 17, 2009 from http://www.liberty.edu/media/1413/COUN510/Behavior_Therapy/index.html.

Gestalt Theory Critique

2009-07-20T01:27:00.000-07:00

Personal Evaluation
The creative interaction of Gestalt therapy appeals to me. I like the experimental aspect and the applicability to group therapy. The focus on the present is also appealing as it allows for looking into the past for the purpose of bringing about change but does not dwell on the past. The apostle Paul tells us, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14, NASB). As Christians, I believe we should encourage our clients to "press on toward the goal" as well. Dwelling too long on the past is not productive.
I also appreciate that the therapist is fully engaged with the client in the therapeutic process and is alert to both verbal and non-verbal communications. I find the various types of talk described by Corey (2009) on pages 208-209, including "It talk," "You talk" and "Language that denies power" very useful and will make use of these in my own therapeutic practice. At the same time, I would extend my personal involvement with the client beyond the Gestalt framework of facilitator to include the role of teacher. Therapy is much like discipleship and, as such, there are times when teaching is necessary and beneficial for the client.
There are some aspects of Gestalt therapy that I would not incorporate. For instance, the idea that "it is important for clients to "be" as fully as possible in their current condition, rather than striving to become what they "should be"" (Corey, 2009, p. 201) does not appeal to me for several reasons: First, the Scriptures tell us specifically to move forward. In Philippians 3:13 Paul sets the example for us in "forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead." Second, there are some cases where this just really doesn't make sense - as with a sociopath or a schizophrenic or someone dealing with manic depression. Also, I personally feel the "why" question is the most important question for determining how to change the "what" and "how" of client behavior. I don't see how any real, positive, lasting change could be made without a good understanding of the motivations behind behavior.

References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (8th ed.). USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Hinkley, P. (n.d.). Gestalt therapy presentation. Retrieved July 17, 2009 from http://www.liberty.edu/media/1413/COUN510/Gestalt_Therapy/index.html.

Adlerian Theory Critique

2009-07-20T01:26:00.000-07:00

Personal Perspective
There is much in this theory that I appreciate and will likely incorporate into my own therapeutic concept and practice. First, the holistic view of the individual, "contending that people can only be understood as integrated and complete human beings" (Corey, 2009) is, in my opinion, essential to the therapeutic process. We do not exist in a vacuum and therefore cannot be properly understood without due consideration to all aspects of our existence that provide potential or actual impact on who we are both communally and individually.
I also appreciate the notion that behavior is purposeful and the emphasis on individual choice and responsibility. These concepts and the idea that "genetics and heredity are not as important as what we choose to do with the abilities and limitations we possess" (Corey, 2009), appeal to my western, individualistic mindset. Although I am a firm believer in the election of the those mercifully chosen by God for salvation, I also see that God has allowed man freedom to choose between right and wrong, good and evil, as demonstrated in Deuteronomy 30:19, Psalm 25:12, Proverbs 3:31, Isaiah 7:15, all of which speak specifically of human choice. Additionally, most of the entire New Testament is dedicated to calling believers to choose holiness over their old fleshly ways.
Along the same lines, I agree with the notion that internal determinants of behavior include values, beliefs, attitudes, goals, interests and an individual, subjective perception of reality. As noted in my comments about the Psychoanalytic Theory, the manner in which a man thinks determines who he is and we are not always aware of the unconscious thoughts that determine our choices and our behavior.

References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (8th ed.). USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Psychoanalytic Theory Critique

2009-07-20T01:24:00.000-07:00

Personal Evaluation
I appreciate the contribution of techniques for delving into the unconscious that this theory provides. Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV), describing the impact of the unconscious on behavior, states "as he thinks in his heart, so is he." Jeremiah 17:9 also notes that "the heart is deceitful" and John 5:39, Romans 12:3, 1 Corinthians 8:2 and 10:12, and James 1:26 each describe conditions where the conscious thoughts of man do not necessarily reflect reality. As we deal with clients and in self-analysis, it is important to recognize that there are likely issues that we may not even be aware of that are impacting our personality and behavior and we must strive to discover these issues so they can be addressed.
I disagree with the deterministic aspects of this theory as well as the man-centered focus. It is primarily biological and instinctual and fails to properly take into account the spiritual nature and free will of man. As with any theory that does not begin with a Biblical understanding of human nature, the keys to truly understanding humanity are missed leaving the therapist able to provide only temporary fixes and false hope. In my opinion, it is essential to take into consideration sin issues and the wisdom (or lack thereof) in choices made by the client when determining the source of challenges and unhealthy behavior.
As I develop my personal approach to therapeutic practice, I will likely incorporate the free-association technique and I will probably study the Ego-Defense Mechanisms as they seem reasonable observations of human behavior that do not contradict a Biblical understanding of man. I will probably not incorporate the therapist role as anonymous or detached. I am not convinced of its therapeutic value and it does not suit my personality. I am also unlikely to engage in dream analysis as I am not convinced of its value.

References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (8th ed.). USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Person-Centered Theory Critique

2009-07-20T01:22:00.000-07:00

Personal Perspective
I appreciate many aspects of this theory. In application to therapy between Christians it has some very positive factors. As God "has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (2 Peter 1:3, NASB), it is both biblical and wise to help clients discover their freedom, responsibility and capability (through the power of the Holy Spirit within them), to make positive changes in their lives. Of course, without the Holy Spirit only limited change is possible and this is one area where person-centered theory misses the mark. As with all humanistic concepts, the power and work of the Holy Spirit are not taken into consideration when it is the most important factor for successful client change.
I also appreciate the emphasis placed on the person of the therapist - that they should be congruent and able to truly empathize with the client. I feel these are essential qualities in the counseling process as they contribute to the formation of a positive client/therapist relationship. Above all other qualities, "the therapist's genuineness determines the power of the therapeutic relationship" (Corey, 2009). A client cannot trust someone they don't believe truly understands them and their challenge. Empathy communicates a depth of understanding and is essential for developing trust.
As a Christian, I understand it is far more essential that we encourage client's find God's unique way for them, rather than their own way, and that they test the path they discover against the principles of Scripture. I agree with Corey that a potential limitation to a student of the person-centered approach would be to neglect necessary challenging of the client. God calls us to confront sin (ref. Matthew 18:15-17) with gentleness and love. In helping the client to discover the right path for themselves, the Christian therapist must be able and willing to challenge clients when sinful habits or choices are made.

References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (8th ed.). USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Hinkley, P. (n.d.). Person-centered therapy presentation. Retrieved July 7, 2009 from http://www.liberty.edu/media/1413/COUN510/Person_Centered_Therapy/index.html.

Existential Theory Critique

2009-07-20T01:19:00.000-07:00

Personal Evaluation
In general, I really appreciate the concepts embraced by the existential theory. Man's freedom to choose, his ability to act, and his subsequent responsibility for the results of his choices and actions are important concepts to me. Irresponsibility as a base human response is traceable back to Adam and Eve when Eve blamed the serpent and Adam blamed Eve - though each had made the choice to eat the forbidden fruit. God laid the consequences squarely at Adam's feet when he pronounced with his judgment, "because you have done this" (Genesis 3:17).
At the same time, it may be that existential therapy takes responsibility a bit too far. There are times when men are not free and suffer the consequences of someone else's choices - such as prisoners of war (consider Auschwitz among others) or victims of violent crime. Additionally, sometimes natural occurrences take our choices from us, such as the widow grieving for the husband she lost to a long battle with cancer or the teenager paralyzed by an accident (such as Joni Erikson-Tada). The client suffering from these kinds of pain would not be likely to experience healing from existential theory based therapy.
I also deeply appreciate the high value this theory places on the therapist/client relationship and the idea that the therapeutic process is one in which therapist and client embark on a journey of self-discovery together. Respect and mutual faith play crucial roles in this relationship and lay the foundation for openly assessing life choices in ways the client may not have considered before. I believe it is also true that a truly involved therapist will learn and grow both personally and professionally as a result of each client relationship they experience.

References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (8th ed.). USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Hinkley, P. (n.d.). Existential therapy presentation. Retrieved July 7, 2009 from http://www.liberty.edu/media/1413/COUN510/Existential_Therapy/index.html.

Nouwen 4-MAT

2009-07-20T01:17:00.000-07:00

(I really did *not* like this book)

Nouwen, H. (1975). Reaching out: The three movements of the spiritual life. New York: Doubleday.

Concrete Response

In reading Nouwen's section regarding "The Avoidance of the Painful Void" (p. 26-29), I was again reminded of my own personal, consistent struggle to be O.K. with solitude and silence. At 44 years of age, I still sometimes find my singleness a source of great pain as I had imagined myself married with children many years ago. Occasionally, rather than face the pain and fear of loneliness, I overwhelm myself with projects and ministries. When there is not enough to do, I will absorb myself in a fictional book or meaningless television viewing. However, as I have matured, I have learned the value of allowing myself to "feel my own pain" (Nouwen, p. 27) and to take that pain before my Lord and sit at his feet in silence as he ministers comfort to my soul. In these times, the pain leads me into a more intimate relationship with my Savior.
More recently, I have been applying this concept in my relationship with my dad. Because he has his own deep hurts and loneliness, he often avoids them by verbal expressions of hostility. In the past, I have worked to avoid this pain by physically leaving the room and/or permitting anger to fester in my heart. Through Bible study, I have come to learn that I must be willing to embrace his pain as my own, just as I embrace the pain of my singleness, and allow it to drive me to the foot of the cross.

Reflection

I approached this book with great anticipation. It wasn't long before I was sorely disappointed and realized I needed to apply an attitude of rigorous discernment in the reading as it is full of mysticism and humanistic spiritualism rather than being solidly grounded in Biblical Christian spirituality. One example of this is found on page 88 where Nouwen states, "There are just as many ways to be a Christian as there are Christians" which is followed by subjecting doctrine to human potential and noting on page 89 that there are "many roads" to truth. Additionally, on page 72 Nouwen asserts that creating a free and friendly space is "the opening of an opportunity to others to find their God and their way."
Questions in Nouwen's reasoning were present throughout the reading but were most troubling and challenging in the closing section regarding prayer. I have to wonder if Nouwen didn't confuse the act of meditation with the act of prayer. Where is verbalization of praise and supplication and gratitude? Are these not key aspects as taught to us by the Lord Himself (reference Matthew 6:8-13 and Luke 11:2-4)? Additionally, Nouwen recommends a "spiritual guide" (pg. 137-138). I was saddened to discover he was referring to a human guide as opposed to our God-given guide, the Holy Spirit. While I recognize the value of a human mentor, one of the Holy Spirit's primary roles is intimate involvement in our prayers (Romans 8:26-27) - a fact Nouwen completely missed.

Action

Despite my overall disappointment with the book, there were some savory bits and pieces that I found useful and will incorporate into my daily life and therapeutic practice. Nouwen's reflection of the joy and privilege it is to be a member of the human race (pg. 42-44) and our responsibility as such was refreshing and inspiring. As a therapist, it is essential that we see the Imago Dei in ourselves, our peers and our clients.
As a therapist, there will be times when I need to educate my client on some life issue. During such times, it will be important for me to encourage my client to reflection that will lead to development of vision - theirs, not mine (Nouwen, pg. 90). My goal must not be to force change upon my clients but rather to offer my clients a free and safe place where change can take place (Nouwen, p. 71) where they can "sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances" (Nouwen, p. 72)
Lastly, I appreciated the acknowledgment that we are all in process, none of us whole and perfect, and yet it is in our imperfections that we are called to reach out to others. Our own struggles "can keep us humble by allowing us to offer our service to others, without being whole ourselves" (Nouwen, p. 71). I find great value in recognizing God's strength in my weakness and my prayer now reflects a cry for greater weakness so that His strength will be ever more present in my life.

Entwistle 4-MAT

2009-07-20T01:15:00.000-07:00

Entwistle, D. (2004). Integrative approaches to psychology and Christianity: An introduction to worldview issues, philosophical foundations, and models of integration. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers.

Concrete Response

In reviewing the history of Christianity and science as it played into the interaction of Christianity and psychology, Entwistle (2004) notes, "Owing to examples like Galileo, the church… is often portrayed as anti-scientific, stuck in its narrow-minded ecclesiastical view of reality in which any evidence that appears to be at odds with the prevailing view of scripture is simply dismissed" (p.25). The truly unfortunate thing is that Christians in general have brought this sentiment upon themselves by failing to use the intellect God gave us in correlation with our faith. Rather, faith has often been seen to trump reason without any consideration of how the two might actually work together.
This unreasonable hostility toward religion was brought home to me on a personal level during a class on Shakespeare at a local community college. The professor was overtly atheist and I was overtly (but not outspokenly) Christian, especially in my homework. Our interactions were congenial and respectful, but one day he responded to another student with the words "All Christians are morons!" I don't think he even realized the dichotomy of his words with the excellent interactions and grades he afforded me; it was simply ingrained in him to be anti-religious. Though I was not offended, I was certainly made vividly aware that we can expect nothing less than deeply ingrained hatred from a world that does not know God. As John 16:19 (NKJV) states, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, the world hates you."

Reflection

Entwistle takes a dim view of our ability to "know" without doubt. He states, "At best… we can be tentatively certain about our conclusions" (2004, p. 90). What about the work of the Holy Spirit? Throughout the entirety of the book and most obviously in this section, he fails to take into account that the Spirit of Truth lives within the redeemed and teaches us all things (John 14: 16-17, 26; also reference 2 Timothy 2:25; 1 John 2:3; 5:20; and 1 Corinthians 2:10-16). While the ability to truly "know" is restricted to those who have a personal relationship with Christ, nevertheless I believe it is biblically sound to state that if we are open to the Spirit of Truth we can know absolute truth about our God and about our world without doubt.
Entwistle also claims that, "God has given us two books, the book of His world and the book of His works" (2004, p. 275) and subtly implies that only when the two books are viewed as equal in authority will there be sufficient protection from error in our discoveries and conclusions. Where in Scripture does God allow for or endorse any source of truth apart from the Word of God? While I understand and agree with Entwistle's concerns that interpretation of scripture is often confused with the word of scripture (2004, p. 27), placing any source of knowledge above God's word is both unbiblical and unwise. The world around us is tainted by sin, the Word of God is not. It alone has been preserved by the Spirit as the source of knowledge that reliably reveals the truth of God to us (reference John 10:35b "the Scripture cannot be broken"; 2 Timothy 3:15-16; and Psalm 19:7-11).

Action

Despite my disagreement with Entwistle's "faithful reading" approach, the warnings for the "prima scriptura" approach are worth noting (2004, p. 274-275). Although I will always place God's written word in its rightful place of authority, I will work diligently to ensure I am not confusing the validity of interpretation with the authority of the written word. Proverbs 11:14 notes, "in the multitude of counselors there is safety." In addition to seeking out wise counsel, I will endeavor to diligently employ proper scientific methods in the discovery and verification of theories and will humbly submit findings for peer review. I will choose to present a humble, charitable and teachable spirit when confronted with disagreement and I will diligently work to consistently improve my relationship with Christ and seek the wisdom of the Spirit of Truth in all matters both personal and professional.
In a footnote, Entwistle (2004) states, "the chief difficulty [with integration]… is that few of us are adequately trained in both theology and psychology" (p. 5). My degree in Biblical Studies has provided foundational theological training and my current pursuit of formal education in Professional Counseling will lay the foundation for understanding psychology. I will seek to build on these foundations and continue learning in both areas through formal education, reading of theological and psychological publications, searching the scriptures and observing the world around me.

Learning

2009-04-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

I'm just taking a few minutes to process what I've been learning today. For those who don't know, I've begun classes toward a master's degree in professional counseling. I began classes in February and with working full time, looking for work, moving (which is why I was looking for work) and trying to keep up with two classes, there was *no* time for reflection and digestion - it was all about getting the projects done by the due date - and I wasn't 100% successful at that either!

Now that I'm no longer working and have been able to just about catch up with classes (3 more chapters to read and one short reply post and I'm all caught up for what's due this week), I have just a bit more flexibility with my time. So, I'm taking advantage of that today.

My reading today has centered around family systems and therapies. The book is Competent Christian Counseling, Volume One (2002). Dr. Timothy Clinton and Dr. George Ohlschlager are the executive editors. It is REALLY good stuff! HIGHLY recommended reading! Everything is solidly grounded in scripture and where they use secular information it is supplementary and evidentiary of Biblical principles and truths. Anyway here's some pieces I'd like to share:

"When marriages achieve the ideal of soul friendship, the mutual care they
provide affords the possibility of a constancy of soul care that is seldom
possible in other human relationships" (quoted from David Brenner, Strategic
Pastoral Counseling).

"Of all the needs (there are none imaginary) a lonely child has, the one
that must be satisfied if there is goint to be hope and a hope of wholeness, is
the unshaking need for an unshakeable God" (quoted from Maya Angelou, I Know
Why the Caged Bird Sings).

Please bear in mind that I am NOT a qualified therapist yet - this is just a student - and a first year student at that - "thinking out loud". I still have a lot of learning to do and could be way off base. These are just my personal assessments based on what I've learned so far.

Through my reading today about marital challenges and various therapies designed to address those challenges (from pre-marital counseling to marriage enhancement to interventions for marriages in serious trouble) and about family systems - the roles people play in family structures, the lies and myths we believe and promote to each other and the circular nature of dsysfunctionality, I've come to think that *most likely* the relationship between husband and wife is centrally causational to the majority of individual and family problems.

Brenner notes the concept of "soul care" within marriage. I think that it is ESSENTIAL that husbands and wives look FIRST to the SOUL care of their mate. Soul care - that's a concept that deserves some contemplation. It's not just making sure the standard perceived needs are met - it reaches farther - it is more intimate. It means caring for the inner life of your spouse - their need to feel fulfilled, their need to feel safe in sharing the deepest and darkest parts of themselves, their need to be encouraged and spurred on to good works, their need to speak the truth in LOVE (which sometimes means filtering what is said so as not to cause unnecessary harm) and to have the truth spoken in love to them so as to encourage positive change. The soul refers to the entirety of the person - more than what is seen or heard in the relationship, but down deep into that which no one but the spouse sees or hears - and, unless there is a strong sense of safety in the sharing, probably not even the spouse. It is the core of the being that needs to be cared for and is all too often neglected in the busy-ness of married life.

One of the concepts covered in today's reading involved the Identified Problem - a role typically assigned to a child - usually the oldest - by parents who have unresolved marital issues. The child becomes the "scapegoat" allowing the parents to unite in dealing with the problem child instead of dealing with their own marital challenges with one another. I think this probably happens in a lot of families. It is the easy way out.

In yesterday's reading I learned a great deal about marital therapy. I am now leaning toward the conviction that a healthy marriage starts with healthy premarital counseling and continues with REGULAR forays into therapy - whether through a bi-annual weekend marriage seminar or "check-ups" with a church counselor or whatever. I think having a neutral party involved is VERY useful as we are often blind to our own destructive thoughts and behaviors. Having someone else question the way things are done in our relationships forces us to step out of ourselves and see things in a different light - allowing us to resolve issues we may not have even realized existed.

Well, these are just some of my thoughts so far. On to the rest of the reading I need to get done today :-)

Vacation

2008-09-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it was fun ;-) Folks keep asking me what's the best thing about the trip and I really struggle with that answer. Being a perfectionist, I can tell you all the things that went wrong (and there's quite a list) but it really was a pretty cool trip. WAY too much driving, but the Wyndham resorts were really nice and we got in all the essentials - time at the beach, time with friends, all the essential rides and shows at the parks . . . except two, that is - we didn't get on Atlantis at Seaworld or Buzz Lightyear (I think that's what it's called) at CA Adventure - both were down when we finally got around to them . . . Oh well . . . good excuse for another trip :-)

Anyway, pics are on my facebook so anyone can check them out :-)

VACATION!!! :-)

2008-08-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

Yup! That's right! I'm finally going on a real, honest-to-God VACATION! Complete with theme parks and hotel stays! :-)

Now, I'm not the wealthiest woman in the world - after all, I do work for a church :-/ But God has been gracious in so many ways. About 2 1/2 years ago I had the opportunity to purchase a timeshare through WorldMark - giving me access to 4-5 star hotels all over the US. I've been able to use it to send my brother on a couple of weekend trips but this is the first time I've been able to use it for myself. So - housing for the vacation is taken care of :-) Nicely, I might add.

In addition, I was able to use my credits from WorldMark to purchase 2-day Disneyland Park Hopper tickets :-) One theme park, taken care of :-) Nicely, I might add.

Add a recent debt consolidation move I made that freed up a little extra each month to put in savings and closing out a stock account that I legally needed to close anyway and . . . wah lah - everything else is taken care of :-) Nicely, I might add.

So, for my friends who keep up on life's happenings through my blog, here's the itinerary:

Departing as early as possible Aug. 29th (I have to work 1/2 day so hopefully I can go in early and we can leave by 11 a.m.) and heading to Oceanside, CA - specifically Worldmark Oceanside Harbor (click here for a look-see). Dinner - probably at Applebees if we have the gift cards mom requested from the points she earned through her checking account (a nice meal taken care of - Nicely, I might add) :-) Walk on the beach, time to reflect, relax and enjoy LIFE :-)

August 30th we'll head to SeaWorld for the day - meeting my friend, Mary, from where I used to work. My folks will head off to visit my dad's sister and brother. We'll end the day around 7-8 pm and head to Indio CA. The closest resort I could get for the rest of the weekend - it's a little ways out, but things are still accessible :-) (click here for a look-see).

August 31st & September 1st are Disneyland days. Kristen (a young lady I mentor) has never been to SeaWorld OR Disneyland, so this will be totally awesome! I'm still hoping to meet up with Mark as he usually has an annual pass, but I haven't heard from him yet . . . .??? :-/ We have park-hopper passes so we'll also get to go to CA Adventures - which neither me nor my parents have ever been to either. Should be TONS of fun!

September 2nd we'll sleep in then pack our things and head home to get ready for real life again.

Yeah . . . I'm jazzed :-)

Anticipation

2008-08-13T11:45:00.000-07:00

For your encouragement today :-)

1st Thessalonians 4:14-17
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Are you ready??

Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Friendships

2008-07-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

So this last week has been all about friendships for me. Started out Sunday & Monday with a couple of pretty rough days - really struggling with the whole idea of probably having to face another move but no idea when or where at this point. I say "have to" knowing that it's an obligation I put on myself. I could choose not to . . . I think I would regret it though.

Anyway, one thing that made it tough was an uncertain potential relationship that showed (albeit weak) signs of possibly progressing. The person in question and I had a chat and now that question has been dealt with. It eases a lot of tension to know that friendship is all that's needed and wanted at this time. If I do have to pick up and go, I know I won't be walking away from something that could have been more - and that's a relief.

Another part of the struggle is the youth ministry I'm involved in. I feel like I'm really starting to get to know the kids - and I have a deep desire to impact their lives for Christ. I see so many hurting kids looking for direction, security and honest, heart-felt agape love. The challenge is that the more I invest, the harder it will be to leave if/when the time comes. But I don't know I will have to leave and I can't pull back from investing - I'm a bit obsessive that way - I'm either all in or not at all - and with this group, I'm definitely all in.

So, the first part of last week was a struggle - I really needed a friend - a hug - just to be held . . . I dearly missed my buddy Mark during this time. Usually it's me counseling him on challenges, but there've been times when I've really hurt and he's been there for me - he's probably the 2nd best friend I have. My brother, Dan, still has 1st place, but he's got his own challenges to deal with right now and needs me to be strong for him. Still, it was nice to hit a movie with him this last Sunday and our little chat over coffee was restorative.

Dan's looking at churches in New Jersey and Illinois . . . I really want him to get the church in Illinois . . . but I really don't want to go to Illinois . . . selfish? maybe. I think I'm just so tired of change and the constant need to adapt and adjust. We'll see where God lands Dan, then we'll see what mom & dad want to do, THEN I can start thinking about what I need to do. For now I'm here and that's all the light God has given me . . .

Then I got to spend some time with mom. She was more like the mom I used to have growing up and I was able to be her "little girl" and just spill. It was good to be the counselee and not the counselor. Not that she really had to counsel much - she just made a really great wall for me to bounce my issues off of. That time meant a lot to me and started the uphill swing for the rest of the week :-)

Anyway, after my rough start to last week and the neat talk with my mom, God gave me an opportunity to chat with another friend and clear away some mis-conceptions that had been hampering growth in our friendship. It's tough with guy/girl friendships - especially when you're both single. There's always opportunity to mis-read intentions ("is he/she just being friendly or does this indicate more?") into innocent actions. Add to that the rumors and speculations from other sources and a girl can get confused about where a friendship is or is not going. I'm so glad we talked. "Just Friends" works great for me. I'm glad to know how to interpret my friends actions and I'm so very glad he values our friendship as much as I do! :-)

Then tonight I had the opportunity to chat with another friend - a gal I've gotten to know through our bookstore ministry at the church and that I'm now working with in our youth group. We have a lot in common - we see many issues in the same way - it's good to know I'm not the only one concerned in certain areas and that we're both committed to praying about it and waiting on the Lord to show us what, if anything, we can do to address the challenges we see.

Wednesday night I'm meeting with one of the student leaders from our youth group. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with this young lady! :-) Thursday I've got dinner scheduled with my housemate followed by coffee with my sister-in-law. I've really neglected Suzy. In some ways it's been unavoidable - there's only so much of me to go around and when everybody wants/needs my time individually, well . . . something is gonna get missed or skipped. On the other hand, I realize that my priorities are just that - MY priorities - it's up to me to set them and to act on them - and I really haven't made her a priority. So I'll start working on that this week . . .

Friday I'm hoping will be coffee out with a fella from church. ;-) We're in that awkward part of the friendship where I don't know if it can/will blossom into more than a friendship. I'm not even certain whether I want it to or not - it throws a whole other facet into the move or not move question that will inevitably rear its ugly head. On the plus side, in previous conversations, he's indicated an interest in moving himself - and we seem to share the same interest in the type of environment we'd like to live in so . . . ????? For now, I'll manage this friendship as I do all my other guy friendships - he is my brother in Christ and I will treat him as such until the Lord makes it clear I should do otherwise.

Another little thing that I've gotten into recently is facebook. It's pretty nifty :-) I'm being re-connected with friends I haven't heard from in years :=) I really like it!

Speaking of which - time to go change the sprinklers on the lawn and check out facebook :-) Then it's time for bed!!

ministry, life, and other such stuff

2008-07-21T22:46:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting ride the last few months. With my brother leaving his position at the church we worked at - for very good reason, I should note - I'm now back in the familiar yet still undesirable position of being unsettled. Ughh. I long for roots - but God keeps re-planting me.

Some will say it's my own choice - and, yeah, that's true, but it's a choice to do what's right - or at least what I believe the Lord has called me to do. The move to AZ was a good one for me - I've grown a lot because of it and I have a MUCH clearer focus in regards to ministry. I've also begun to get my finances whipped back into shape. I know I don't "have" to move again - and I don't know that the Lord will require me to - I DO know that it is important to me to stay near my mom - wherever she is. The last 3 years apart were not good for her and I won't do that to her again unless the Lord requires it.

So - anyway, Limbo . . . not such a great place to be - and yet the best place. It is a constant reminder that the only constant, the only sure and settled and reliable thing in life is Christ. I need to be completely rooted and grounded in Him to survive this.

It hasn't been easy. But I know He has a purpose for it.

2:00 AM

2008-02-28T02:44:00.000-08:00

Yeah, up at 2:00 AM - what's up with that? I thought maybe I should just pray for a while, but my thoughts were kinda jumbled - still, did pray for some folks - the young lady I'm mentoring and a challenge she's going through along with the other folks involved in that challenge and a few other folks. But prayer didn't seem to be the reason I was awake - after about 45 minutes of tossing I realized I was in pain. I have a high tolerance so sometimes it doesn't register right away. Just some muscle pain - probably relating to the workout I started yesterday AM combined with some time in the pool using muscles I haven't worked on in a while. Anyway - took some Acetamenophen and tried to go back to sleep . . . obviously that didn't work. So, tried to decide if I should trim my nails and pick up my guitar or if I should blog for a bit. Obviously I made the quieter decision . . . not in the mood for noise.

So I checked out my friends blogs first - Josh & Mark's anyway - couldn't access Bonnie's without going back into my hotmail account to pull up the email that would remind me of my log in for that account. I miss those friends. Also discovered that the reason my buddy Mark hasn't responded to my post to his blog a couple of weeks ago is that the post evidently never got through . . . so I guess I need to email him instead. Should call . . . but it's 4 AM now, don't think he'd appreciate it.

The last couple of weeks were challenging but great - lots of hours at work - I think I've got about 3 days comp time coming. Took yesterday off to recoup a bit - got a bit snippy with mom the previous morning and realized the adrenaline I'd been running on had run out, leaving me a bit cranky. So I slept in (8:30!), had devotions with my mom out by the pool :-), then started in on Richard Simmon's "Sweatin' to the Oldies" excercise video. Got just past the "check your heart rate" section - right in the middle of the work out and my dad calls mom and asks her to come outside to the trash bin area and bring me with her . . . UGHH. Paused the video and thought "this better be good". . . it wasn't . . . he had discovered a TV and wanted to bring it in. My thoughts . . . (1) it was tossed for a reason; (2) we already have a TV in every room and another couple in storage, so what do we need this one for; (3) why does the world always have to revolve around HIM??????? I let myself mention to him that this had come right in the middle of my work out and he got upset with me - ???? - Like what I have going on has no value? Well, unfortunately, I should have known better - no one else has ever had any value to my dad - why should I expect it in this circumstance. Anyway - mulling it over I worked myself into quite a mini-rage . . . frankly, I'm ashamed of that - it did not honor God and I had just prayed that morning that I would use the time he'd given me that day to glorify him. Self-centered anger (i.e. dad intruding on *my* day) does not honor God. I stopped the excercise video and jumped in the shower - just a place to escape where he could not confront me and ask if I was upset - that would have been really bad. I worked through the anger in the shower - Had a good cry with God about it and realized that the anger came more from dad yet again displaying a devaluation of me as a person - this led to a bit of depression so I stayed in my room and cried for a bit before I was able to re-settle and re-establish the walls that protect me from his cruelty.

I was at a bit of an impass as to what to do next then. I needed a "day off" - - I needed some down time with no people to please and satisfy but by this time I realized I was not going to have the house to myself (as mom had indicated I would . . . they were going to go house hunting, supposedly . . . and then golfing). My aunt and uncle came and we had lunch then my uncle and dad went golfing - a nice respite except that my aunt stayed . . . she is one of the most negative people I know - EVERY topic is "poor me" and "look how bad he/she is". I HAD to get out of the house . . . but I had no idea where to go or what to do. As I was vacillating between options, I got a call - I invited the caller over and we went to the pool to hang out - best decision I'd made all day. This gal is the best - it's such a joy to watch the Lord grow her up into a godly young lady!

She's been taking flak for some tough decisions she's had to make from people who call themselves "friends" but who just don't understand. She's honest about where she made unwise choices and is really working toward maturity in Christ - she's such a blessing. I know I share more than I should with her about my challenges - but, as she says, it helps her learn. I told her of my morning and how I had failed with my attitude - she was a real encouragement. We played for a while - "giggled" like girls - then went in, showered & headed for Berean where we picked out a new study to start together. She really wants to learn - she is such a blessing!

Something that keeps running through my mind is a particular gentleman. He is one amazing man. I really wish he'd find me attractive. No, I don't think that's a possibility - and that's got me a little down - I really need to loose about 70 lbs. I put the weight on to fend off guys interested in only the physical - never meant to put on as much as I did, but, there it is. Now it's such a struggle to get it off - and sometimes I think - if it's meant to be, the weight won't be an issue . . . I have several friends who are far more overweight than me and God brought them men who love them just as they are - so, logically, the same could happen here - but I really can't imagine anyone - least of all someone as really neat as this fella finding this shell attractive in any way.

So, I'm dieting & exercising again. Probably not the right motivation, but I realized I don't want to look like a white snowball on my wedding day . . . if I ever get to have one. I also realized I've grown up a lot since I put on the weight - I don't think I'd fall for the same shallow relationships I had in the past . . . at least, I hope not . . . I'm still a "dumb female". Eve was easily decieved and she was "perfect" - so I wouldn't put anything out of the realm of possibility. Especially when I'm feeling especially needy for approval and affection.

My computer's been a pain lately . . . only 256 MB and creeps along terribly. It's got tons of memory - like 56G or so and it's been cleaned up and defragged, but it keeps wanting to download "updates" when I log into the internet . . . and I never stay on long enough for it to finish. Perhaps this is a good time to let it finish - - it's at 16% and it's been going for about an hour now . . . Of course I'm also typing here and downloading Yahoo Messenger.

Well, it's now 4:45 - my alarm goes off in 1/2 an hour to get up for work . . . today is going to be challenging - there's much to do and I'm finally starting to feel like maybe - just maybe - I could drift off. YM & "updates" are still downloading . . . updates are still at 16% - what a pain! Yahoo is at 72.

Maybe I'll see what job opportunities are out there. I love my work, but at 50 hours a week, my availability for one-on-one ministry is really limited. I'm toying with the idea of finding another regular 8-5 job that would give me weekends free . . . . At the same time, I really like the environment of working at the church. I dunno. More $$ would be useful too - and benefits (currently doing without). Maybe I'll do that while I wait for the updates to finish . . .

Has it been a whole year already???

2008-02-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

It has been about a year since my last post and so much has happened. I won't go into details because most of the folks who glance at this blog know the majority of the stuff. What I will do is a brief catch up with, what I hope will be, a glimpse of God's hand through all that has been.

About this time last year I got into a business venture - one of the best and worst decisions I've ever made. On the one hand, it was an amazing learning experience. Technically, I owned my own business and got to learn a lot about what goes into marketing products. I also learned a little about doing independent research before investing in something . . . In short, EcoQuest wasn't the great and awesome "earn thousands a month on part time without doing sales" that I was led to believe. It's marketed to dealers like me with the idea that if you just tell people you have it and what it's done for you, they'll want to buy it. That was wrong on so many levels.

In the end I was $2,500 in debt and sold the my inventory at cost to other dealers who had time and sales saavy to make it work for them. The rest went to friends at nearly cost. Don't get me wrong - it's a GREAT product. I have one of their air purifiers in my home and I LOVE it. My parents have one and my brother got them one for their car - this has completely eliminated a chronic cough my mother had for over a year that the doctors could not figure out. My brother has one in his home to and they love it.

The product is great - the sales . . . not so easy or so great. It required a lot more time and sales saavy than I had to give. End result, my credit took a nose dive and I will *finally* get myself back on track financially by the end of March THIS year. Ouch!

So, that's how I started last year. In May the Lord worked some details out so that I ended up leaving my beloved Dawson Company (good money, great benefits, amazing boss - Anyone who gets to work with them is definitely blessed) and California for a full time position at a church (survival level salary, no benefits, the boss situation is about equal) in Arizona. You see, I have the totally awesome opportunity to work at the same church where my brother is Worship Pastor :-). Worth the cost for sure! Though it brought challenges because of the financial situation.

Jumped out of the frying pan into the fryer on this one - most of my friends would tell you that when I worked at Dawson I worked "too much". Probably true - I'd put in an average of 45 hrs a week even though I was salaried and only had to put in 40. Then there was the church involvement so . . . I was pretty much "always busy". Now all my efforts go into the church and I work 50-60 hours a week on a regular basis (good excuse for not blogging???). It's tough, but it's rewarding too. Especially now as we're preparing for our bi-annual Missions Conference - MAN - this project is so overwhelming!!! The cool thing is, in the end when I look back at this, I'll see God's hand so clearly in each detail that freaks me out in the here & now. My faith has been stretched so much through my work at the church!

My sister-in-law, Suzy had her third child in November of last year. This is the first niece/nephew (in this case, nephew) I've ever been able to be around for right after the birth! I got to see Micah Nathaniel when he was only an hour old!!! I can't express in words how much of a blessing that was for me. My best friend, Donna discovered she was pregnant with her 3rd child shortly after I left CA. She's due next month and I'm so excited to see what the Lord will give her (it's a surprise!) Oh, and my close friends, David & Lela Verdugo had their first grandchild shortly after I moved away.

Well, mom's about got dinner ready so I'd best start closing this down. Which reminds me, I haven't really caught you up till I tell you my parents also had the opportunity to move to AZ last year - shortly after I moved out. For a little while we all lived with my brother, then I found a decent condo to rent and now my folks are living with me. They're hoping to recover from the moving costs and be able to find their own place within the next month or so. Much as I love them, it will be nice to have my own space again - it's been about 8 months since I came home to an empty house and I had kind of gotten used to that peace and quiet :-)

So that's about it for now. I'll try to keep up more now that life is settling down and I can choose to make the time.

Light Bearers

2007-02-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

I'm reading a book called "Birthright: Christian, Do you know who you really are?" by David Needham. I highly recommend it to anyone who seeks a better understanding of the Christian's relationship with his/her Lord.

In the family of Christ, it is sadly true that many amazing phrases no longer carry the impact rightly due them. Key among these, in my opinion, is the prhase "Born Again". We say it so often that we no longer stop to stand in awe of what that truly means. An alternate wording that may catch our minds attention a little better is "Regeneration." They both describe the same event in a Christian's life, but the term "Regeneration" has a way of making you stop and go "hmmmm".

This is what my mind stopped to do - to mull over the implications, ramifications & indescribable beauty of what it means to truly be regenerated by Christ.

Quoting Needham from his Birthright book:

"For it is God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be
made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from
us." (2 Cor 4:6-7).

One of the earliest writers on this passage, Chrysostom, the Golden Mouth
(AD 400), contrasted this passage with that moment in creation when God brought
light into existence:

"Indeed he said, 'let it be and it was:' but now he said nothing, but
himself became Light to us. For he said not, 'hath also now commanded,' but
'hath' himself 'shined.' . . . For seeing he had spoken many and great
things of the unspeakable glory, lest any should say, 'And how, enjoying so
great a glory remain we in a mortal body?' he saith, that this very thing is
indeed the chiefest marvel and a very great example of the power of God, that an earthen vessel hath been enabled to bear so great a brightness and to keep so high a treasure. And therefore as admiring this, he said, 'that the
exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not of ourselves.'"

God did not say, "Lets some light shine into David," No! "God himself
has shined in our hearts"! We are not only "children of the light," but we
are the people in whom God dwells as the light. Not a fading light as with
Moses, but a glory that transforms us "into the same image from one degree of
glory to another" (2 Corinthians 3:13-18).

All emphasis mine.

Did you see it? Did it grab you by the shoulders and shake you? If it didn't, then you missed something totally amazing and shocking and nearly unbelievable.

All too often, we who know Christ go on and live as if Christ is WITH us rather than IN us. There is a huge difference between the two. I still haven't got it completely but I feel as if I'm on the edge of a cliff. On the one hand, I believe I'm bound by the laws of gravity and stepping over the edge will, naturally, lead only to death. On the other hand, I've just been told by God Himself that He has made me different from the rest of the world and that, if I would just step off the edge, I would find I could FLY!

To grasp, even only at its basest level, the concept of God Himself residing in me - granting me the power to do ANYthing He desires - is thrilling and terrifying all at once.

To bring this (reluctantly) down to earth - to day-t0-day living is humbling, challenging, terrifying, encouraging, emboldening, and so much more that I cannot fully express. God calls us to be holy - to yield the members of our body to righteousness - to live in the freedom from sin that He died to give us, and He has "given us all things pertaining to life and godliness." See that? ALL things - we have EVERY thing we need to LIVE and to live GODLY - to live in constant and consistent obedience to Him.

I dunno about you, but I've gotta soak in that for a bit. I'll come back later to hit on the dichotomy this reality presents.

The BIG News! :-)

2007-02-23T20:43:00.000-08:00

I have recently started my own business!!!!

I am extremely excited about this since I've always wanted to run my own business. The Lord has brought circumstances into my life and the lives of my family that have made additional income really necessary - more than a raise at work could satisfy. This venture will allow me to financially maximize my time investment and provide me with the flexibility of working from home on my own schedule.

The name of my company is "Pure-N-Fresh" - I already have the DBA and I've filed for a re-sellers permit. Primarily I'll be retailing, though there's opportunities to bring others into the business if they find it's something they'd be interested in.

I’ll be working with a 20 year old top notch company by the name of EcoQuest International that’s leading the market in environmental products for home and business. I am officially an independent business owner! (See me grin!!) EcoQuest is a great company. They're all about “Healthy Living Technologies”. Their mission is: “To enhance and improve the quality of living indoors by providing products which bring safety, convenience, and beauty into the spaces where people spend their lives and to provide a real life-changing opportunity for anyone willing to work.”

EcoQuest manufactures and markets air purification systems for residential and light commercial applications as well as numerous other "healthy living" products including dust mite resistant bedding and whole-food nutritional products. Please feel free to take a look at my EcoQuest website (http://www.ecoquestintl.com/pure-n-fresh) to learn more. In fact, I'd love to have your feedback on the site design & content!

I got into this business cautiously - praying for wisdom about making the investment and testing the equipment in my own home first. I was pretty impressed with the quality! Our “space certified” Fresh Air purifier by EcoQuest is absolutely unique in the industry. It employs the same technology used to scrub the air in NASA spacecraft. After only 72 hours of using one of the Fresh Air purifiers, I noticed: A significant decrease in airborne particles floating around my apartment; A significant decrease in the amount of static electricity (for the first time since I got him, I can pet my long-haired cat without getting shocked!); and even with two cats in a little one-bedroom apartment, my home smells fresh and clean. I was genuinely impressed by the results after only a few days.

The big test for my purifier came last weekend when I was gone for four days and came home to a full litter box and some bananas that should've been eaten before I left. Having left the purifier on the lowest settings, I was sure I would open the door to an overwhelmingly nasty "rotten banana / gross litter box" odor. Amazingly, I was wrong!

I could use your help and support in two ways:
1. Please pray for me that I will use wisdom, discretion and good time management as I start up this business. I really want to honor God with this venture.
2. I am looking for a few people to test the technology for me, so that I can put together some testimonials regarding the experiences with the products. The company provides numerous testimonials, but I'd like something from folks I've actually met. If you know of anyone that has any of the following issues, please send them my way:

Breathing problems – allergies, asthma, sleep problems, snoring
Pet odor problems in the home
Mold or mildew problems
Home/office air quality issues

I will provide an air purifier for a 3-5 day period of time. All I ask in return is honest feedback.

Thank you in advance for helping. I can be reached at pure-n-fresh@hotmail.com

I'm Back :-)

2007-02-23T20:15:00.000-08:00

Wow! More than 2 months since I've been here. Life has kept me running and I'm afraid Blogging hasn't been on the top of my "to do" list.

Anywho, sitting here on hold with Time Warner . . . 3rd time I've called about the same stupid, simple issue - just want to set up the VM that comes with my phone service . . . The first time I called they said they had to transfer my call to "level 3" - after an hour on hold for "level 3" (whateve the heck that is), I had to leave, so hung up. Second time I called (last night), after a good 45 min or so on hold, actually talked to a "level 3" tech. He said he was getting an error message he didn't understand and would have to talk to his supervisor to get this figured out and would then call me back. . . which he never did. So here I am yet again . . . on hold for the infamously impossible to get ahold of "level 3" . . . . ughh.

There's all kinds of news to catch up on, but I don't want this to be a book so, in brief:

My brother Dan & his family are happily settling in to ministry in Arizona - not really looking forward to the heat of the summer, but content that they are where God wants them for the time being :-)

Mom & Dad have been through some tough times lately. Dad has been out of work since August - seems nobody out there is smart enough to realize what a great asset he'd be to any company. Either that or the Lord has closed their eyes to his value in order to allow this time of testing. Either way, there's a lot of employers out there missing out on a good thing :-P. The financial challenges they're facing have really helped us all to see who really loves them - and it's been a blessing to see folks around them stepping up to the challenge and lending a hand when they can :-)

Since he's evidently got the down time decided for him, dad elected to have some long-overdue surgery on his feet. He had the first one done a week or so ago and the next one will be done when he's able to walk on the first. They elongated his achilles tendon (I think that's what it is anyway - the muscle on the bottom of the foot that gives you the nice "arch" - his was terrible) and broke his toes to re-structure them. He's had problems with his feet all his life - I really hope this does the trick for him.

Mom's started leading a Bible Study group again :-) This is a huge blessing to me - teaching the Word of God is what my mom does best and I'm so glad to see her back in the position of mentor.

They are both trying to decide whether to follow Dan to AZ or find a way to survive where they're at.

Their situation has driven me to start a new venture which I'll post about next :-) Aside from that, things are pretty status-quo. Discipling is on hold for a little bit - my "disciplee", Bonnie, is taking some college classes and will be preparing to move in the next month or so and my new venture needs some intense personal attention. We'll still hold each other accountable to daily stuffs (reading, prayer, etc.) but we won't be meeting regularly for a while.

That's it for the basic catch up - the really BIG news will come in the next post :-)

Meditation Alphabet

2006-12-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

Bonnie and I are going through a book titled "Becoming a Woman Who Pleases God." I don't really agree with what the title implies, but that's a whole other topic for another time.

In the book, there's a section titled the "Meditation Alphabet" which takes each letter of the alphabet and lists a characteristic women should develop to make their home a welcoming environment. Each characteristic is followed by a brief description and a verse for meditation. As part of our homework assignment for this week, we are each selecting a letter to focus on during the day - the letter is to be chosen in the morning and the verse reviewed and we are focus on developing that characteristic during the day. We are then to BLog about the results of that focus at the end of each day.

Since we received this assignment on Wednesday, I'm a bit behind in my BLogging - so, here's a bit of "catch up" :-)

Wednesday:
The lettter for today was "A" for "Attitude". "Attitude sets the tone of your home environment. Keep yours positive - focus on Phil 4:8-9". Since I live alone, I applied this to my work environment for the day. I found I got a lot more accomplished and the attitudes of those around me were more positive. This was not a difficult one for me as work is generally a positive environment anyway, but meditating on the verse - taking every thought captive to the things that are true, honorable, right, lovely, pure, of good repute, things that are excellent and worthy of praise - this did require some effort. It was a good excercise :-)

Thursday:
The letter for today was "Q" - Bonnie picked it for me when I emailed her to ask that she pick a letter for me since I'd rushed out of the house without looking at the book and forgot to bring the book with me. . . . So it was suitable that she selected "Q" - "Quiet Time . . . a daily time of fellowship with your Lord. Psalm 119 teaches what God's Word will do for you." On this one I failed pretty badly. I let the busy-ness of life get in the way of spending time with my Lord and in His Word. I did better the next day.

Friday:
The letter for today was "D" for "Diligent." "Apply enthusiasm to your role as a Home Manager. Allow Proverbs 4:23 to guide you." Again, I applied this primarily to my work environment. It was easy to apply as we had a sales meeting followed by a potluck and it was my job to ensure the potluck got set up and ready to go. The previous day I had set up the decorations and, by applying diligence, the potluck went smoothly. A special blessing was in being able to cover the phones so the receptionist could actually participate - something she never gets to do during potlucks. I'm hoping this will help open the door to sharing Christ with her in more detail in the future.

Saturday:
The letter for today was "P" for "Plan Ahead." "It saves time, money, and energy. Focus on Proverbs 29:18." This was a good day for this letter - I really *needed* to implement it. Since I leave next weekend for vacation, I had much to plan ahead for and accomplish. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being total failure and 10 being exemplary success, I'd say I rated about a 6. Some of the challenges I faced were unexpected and far too time-consuming. Some of the wasted time was my own poor decision making, however, so I can't blame it all on "circumstances" :-P

Sunday:
Today's letter was "F" for "Festive Occasions." "Build an album of precious memories in your home by establishing traditions! Implement the practice of 'memorial stones' (Joshua 4:4-7)."
It's not gonna happen today. When I selected this verse this morning, my intention was to get out my scrapbooks and start placing all the things I have just thrown in there. It's not a total failure though. Just BLogging is a great way to set up a memorial stone. Someday I can look back at these words and be encouraged how God was working in my life. So, I'm not totally discouraged about it :-)

More tomorrow :-)

How long has it been?

2006-12-17T16:59:00.000-08:00

Once again, I turn around and it's been more than a month since my last post. Where does the time go?? Life has been busy but, as I told a friend recently, that's no excuse - we all have the same number of hours - the challenge is in what we choose to do with those hours.

I wish I could say I'd simply been putting those hours I could have spent blogging to a more productive use and there are times in the last several weeks when that would be very true - but there are also times (too many of them) when the almighty "boob tube" has been given the preference - and that is not a good thing.

So - what's God been doing in my life recently? A great deal - mostly just one blessing after another. He continually provides for my needs - even when I don't make the wisest choices with the resources He has already provided - His patience does not cease to amaze me.

The most major things that have happened in the last few weeks include the Christmas "Fiesta" party for my Fellowship Group from church, my brother's new ministry position, and the continuing drama in my sister's family. First, the Fiesta :-)

The party was tons of fun. I had the honor of helping out in little bits of the set up and clean up - it's such a joy to work with so many servant-hearted people! I also had the responsibility to create and run the game for the evening. Last year I had this responsibility for the first time and we did a carol contest that went over very well - so the pressure was on to equal, if not surpass, the "fun" level. I'm telling you - involving 200+ people in one organized game is not an easy task! We ended up with Jeopardy. I owe that idea entirely to the Holy Spirit and I'm grateful for it.

I used a PowerPoint presentation to duplicate the jeopardy board and I pulled Christmas-related trivia off the internet to formulate the questions. We divided the room into three sections and each section had 2 minutes to select a representative to play for them. Since we didn't have buzzers, we simply had each player take a turn and if they got the question right, they got the points, if they didn't, they didn't get the points (no deductions as I wanted the game to stay positive). During each players turn, once the question was asked, they got 15 seconds to listen to their section shouting out answers before they had to provide an answer - this kept everyone in the room involved, not just spectating :-)

It went over very well. It wasn't perfect - I had to make some judgement calls about the validity of responses and not everybody agreed with my decision - but in the end, all had fun and I ended up with the nickname "Alex" for the next couple of Sundays :-)

My brother is now the senior pastor of Worship Ministries. We are all very excited that he gets to follow his heart in music ministry and that the Lord has provided this position for him and his family. The church offers much more than their previous ministry (which was focused primarily on youth - something Dan *could* do, but was not his primary calling) - including a strong nursery program that will allow his wife to attend church services more regularly.

The church has three morning worship services and Dan will lead music for the first two (traditional and blended). The contemporary service will be led by one of the associate pastors of worship. I'm looking forward to visiting them during the Christmas/New Years holiday.

Originally, I planned to spend part of the holiday with my brother and part with my sister - but things came up that made it a better decision just to stay with my brother this time. My sister and I will take some time alone together sometime next year - she and I need some "just us" time to delve into some spiritual matters. I won't go into the detail of the drama their family is dealing with here - far too public - it would be indiscreet - but I will ask for prayer from any of my friends reading this as the situation *may* significantly impact my life. If so, I will need all the support I can get to manage the situation in wisdom.

So, that's about it for life. I have another post to do on a different topic so I'll close this one off for now. I should be more regular from this point forward :-)

Today

2006-11-02T19:17:00.000-08:00

Today I listened to a really neat CD from a group called "Eden's Bridge". You can sample some of their music here (http://www.worshipmusic.com/swd0197.html). I love Celtic music and theirs is some of the best Christ-focused Celtic music I've heard :-)

Today I'm doing laundry . . . or rather, the washer and dryer are "doing" the laundry - I just help the machines along a bit with clothes, soap and quarters :-P Makes me glad for the machines though. The stream and the rock just don't sound like fun to me . . . maybe I'm just lazy?

Today I caught up on reading my friends Blogs :-)

Today I finished one major project at work and came really close to completing another :-)

Today I made plans with friends to go to a play on Saturday :-) :-) We're gonna see "Catch Me If You Can sandwiched between Quiznos for lunch and something for dinner afterwards :-) We're also gonna go see some movie on Sunday afternoon. I forget which one.

Which reminds me . . . "Happy Feet" comes out on my birthday and with it - - - - the trailer for the next Harry Potter movie!!!! I'll go to the movie just for the trailer! :-)

The Kerry Tragedy

2006-11-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

The last few days have seen me experiencing a lot of anger. Righteous anger, I believe, at the coarse, calloused, thoughtless and slanderous words of Senator John Kerry. But his stupid "joke" (yeah, like I buy that!) is not the worst of it.

Kerry "apologized" - or so they say. But his apology was just another slam. He's sorry that we, the American people, are so stupid that we "misinterpreted" his comments! Adding insult to injury. Now it's not just the US Military that Kerry insults, it's the American people as a whole.

But that's not the worst of it.

I think the greatest insult is that Bush and the rest of the polical leadership - democrat & republican alike - ACCEPTED Kerry's "apology"!!!! WHAT????? Mind you, I'm a staunch Republican and I've always supported Bush. However, in not demanding that Kerry take full responsibility for his error (and that's putting it *very* nicely), the leaders of our political system, including Bush, have given legitimacy to his presumption that we're all pretty stupid.

The job of my elected leader is to protect me - as an American citizen and as an individual. That these leaders would let this (enter choice word here) get away with such a lame excuse for an apology is outrageous and I'm more offended by their acceptance of Kerry's apology than I am by Kerry's initial foolish comments. How the rest of the world must view this - and me by default - is humiliating.

But then . . .

Maybe they realized, as I do, that this sorry excuse for an "apology" is about the best we'll ever get out of this sorry excuse for a "man". He's NEVER apologized for calling good men like my dad - a Vietnam Vet - baby killers and rapists and a number of other far more terrible things. He has no respect for anyone in our military. I'd be hard-pressed to believe he has respect for anyone. The man is arrogant, self-righteous and flat-out evil.

One question I have - and if anyone out there can answer me, I'd sure love to hear it - is why anybody in the military - past or present - or anyone with a friend or loved one in the military - past or present - would support this guy? Veterans came out to support him in pretty good numbers in the last presidential run. WHY??? He thinks you're stupid!! He thinks you're baby-killers and rapists!! Why on earth would you lend your support to a creature like him??

More Blessings than I know what to do with!!

2006-11-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

So, to top it all off, my brother and his family will be moving to Arizona this month!! He's taken the position of Senior Worship Ministries Pastor at a church out there. (I don't know if that's the exact title, but it's probably a good substitute anyway).

The really huge benefit is that they'll only be a day drive away from me. This means MANY more opportunities for me to visit them and get to know my wonderful, sweet sister-in-law and my precious nephews better!! Not to mention seeing my best friend in the whole world a bit more often :-)

I'm so excited!!

I should be on my treadmill . . .

2006-11-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

But it's been so long since I wrote anything, I figured this was more needful at the moment :-) Besides, it's a great excuse to procrastinate :-)

Well, I've been absent because I've been moving. It was quite the experience. Of course I realize I'm not alone in this - nearly everyone has a tale or two about the challenges of moving - and most, I'm sure, are far more harrowing than mine. But this is my Blog and so I'm telling my story :-) Feel free to respond with your own anecdotes :-)

Long-whiney-story-short: All my planning was for naught. A full month ahead of time I set up everything - the address change, the phone, the basic cable (just the local channels), the internet, the volunteers, the truck, the day off to clean the new place so it would be ready to move into . . . I really thought it through and planned ahead every detail - researched the best prices and scheduled all the deliveries/installs, etc.

Without going into every boring detail, suffice to say that not one of these things happened as "I" planned for them to. And therein is the key . . . "I" planned. Now, I'm not saying I shouldn't have planned - that would be really dumb. I did what I needed and should have done. None of my efforts was in vain as they were the right thing to do at the time. No, the problem was not in the planning, the problem was in trusting the planning and allowing no room for God to do something different. So, I got to go to "God changes things" school :-)

In retrospect, I am so grateful God took me through that time. I came out of it a bit more humbled and really strenghthened in some relationships as I was *lovingly* chastised by some folks who cared enough to challenge my pity-party when it was all falling apart. And, in the end, every need has been taken care of. It wasn't even a really tough trial, but it was really beneficial!

One of the things I was soundly reminded of in this process is to stop and count my blessings. I thought I'd share a few (these are specifically move-related):

1. A treadmill - a really nice, decked out treadmill for about 1/2 of what it would normally cost - and because things didn't work out as I planned, I saved $75 in delivery fees!

2. Two beautiful kitty kats :-) I don't have to come home to an empty house anymore!!

3. Space! Lot's of it. It's not really usable yet as I've still got boxes occupying the living room, but I can see it all working out beautifully in the end :-)

4. A dining room table and chairs. A nice set too - solid oak wood with a removable leaf to size it down. It's in really nice condition and it only cost $100 AND it was delivered for free! This was the key piece of furniture as it was the primary reason I wanted to move up into a larger place. The studio suited my basic needs but did not allow enough room to host more than a couple of folks at a time - and I do so love to play the hostess! This new place will open doors to have friends over for lunch or dinner, Bible Studies, Game Nights or any number of other "several folks involved" events :-)

5. A sofa bed. This will allow me to house students looking into the Master's College or my brother when he comes to the Shepherd's Conference (unless he comes with his wife who is highly allergic to cats. . . ) or my parents if they decide to come down for a visit or any number of other possible overnight visitors. It opens the door to even more opportunities to excercise my love for hospitality.

6. A matching set of armchairs - free from a guy at work. He and his wife are buying new furniture. The set is in wonderful condition and the upholstery reflects the warm Victorian look I want to have.

7. A couple of wonderful lady friends who have a great eye for organizing and decorating!!! And they're both excited to help me put my home together and make it a warm, welcoming place!

Lastly - the $$ to do everything I really needed and most all of the things I really wanted to do in this move. God provided additional, unexpected funds to more than cover all the expenses involved in the move - including the unexpected ones arising out of the planning-gone-awry! And I can still afford to go home for Christmas :-)

Well, that's it for this post. I'll do a little more catching up in the next one and try to do better at keeping up from now on :-) Thanks for reading - I hope you are encouraged by the goodness of our Sovereign Lord and Savior - Jesus Christ. All praise, honor and glory to Him alone!

A Week of Blessings

2006-08-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

This week has been absolutely fabulous! Yes, there've been some challenges along the way, but even those moments have been blessings when the fruit of them was seen :-) Let's start back two Friday's ago.

Two Friday's ago I had the neatest opportunity to go with my dear friend Mark to a Theater in the Round!! We saw Arsenic & Old Lace! I've never seen the movie or read the play before so it was totally fresh and new for me. It was excellently acted and Mark and I laughed our head off! (but we didn't drink the wine . . .) ;-) Mark is wonderful company and makes for a great companion for these types of adventures. I am blessed to have such a wonderful friend and brother in the Lord.

Two Saturday's ago the Dinner For Eight event for our fellowship group at church was held. For those who don't know, that's were we divide up folks from our fellowship group into different homes for a potluck meal and an evening of getting to know one another. I got to go to Marina Del Ray. One of the other couples assigned to that host homes, Keith & Rita, met me at the church early that day so we could go enjoy a walk at the marina before the potluck. Our host couple, David & Devanee joined us for the walk and showed us around. It was a neat way to spend the afternoon. Both couples are wonderful and I was so grateful to have the opportunity to get to know them better!

After our tour at the marina, we went back to the house to await the other two couples assigned to David & Devanee then we had BBQ salmon & chicken (yes, I had a little of each!) and all kinds of other yummy foods. We topped it off with David's home-made vanilla icecream and fresh peaches!! YUMMMM. Then we all just sat around the table and talked. I learned that one of the "mild mannered" and more "mature" gentleman in our group was a licenced and practicing *race car driver*!! (shock!) and most shared their testimonies - which was a real blessing. Most of the group had come to Christ later in life and it was a blessing to hear how He had drawn them to Himself and of their total devotion to Him now :-)

Sunday was church - and it was, of course, really wonderful! I don't have my notes . . .(wonder where those went . . . ) but it was about our job as evangelists and I came away more convicted to be bold in my faith.

Monday was work and a huge blessing. Our email had been down since the previous Wednesday afternoon. For our company, "this is not good" does not come close to expressing the pressure this puts on me to get it fixed. This is HUGE for us. The Lord was gracious (as always) and the solution presented itself readily and before 10 a.m. everything was working as it should. :-)

In addition, one of the projects I was working on led to a need to include a co-worker in the process and the boss gave me permission to turn this project over to her and any other responsibility I felt could be transferred to her!!!! I've been hoping for this for a long time. My job started out Administrative but through the months and till now, 2+ years later, it has grown to include a great deal of marketing - to the point that I really felt my administrative duties were suffering because I just didn't have time to do both jobs. Being able to toss some adminstrative duties to someone else takes a load off my back and frees me to be more effective in the marketing end of things :-) <>

Tuesday I received a call from a friend that her father-in-law had passed away. I was able to re-arrange my discipleship meeting to Friday night and ended up spending Tuesday night with their family. I love these people! I was not really close to the father-in-law, though I had met him before strokes had made it necessary for him to be placed in a nursing home, but I did love him - mostly because I love his family, but also because, in some respects, he reminded me of my dad. The time with my friend and her family was such a blessing. It's interesting how you can go to minister and end up being ministered to. Their hearts and their faith in the perfect providence of God was so beautiful to see.

Wednesday I met with Angela - I'm doing some part-time accounting work for her. We sat and chatted for the longest time :-) Since we attend the same church, I wanted to get to know her on a more personal level, not just as part-time help. The fellowship was really sweet and Angela's spirited view of life and godliness was really encouraging :-) I think we really developed a bond there.

Thursday I was supposed to have dinner at my house with Stacy - a young lady from my fellowship group that I'm developing a friendship with. I realized that night that I had not yet gone to JC Penny (a good 30 minutes from my house) and purchased the wedding gift I needed for a wedding I was to attend Saturday morning! With Friday out of the question due to discipleship, I asked Stacy if she wouldn't mind having dinner at the mall - my treat, of course. She was such a trooper. After being on her feet *all* day (she's a baker, so that means ON her feet ALL day - like 10+ hours!!), she graciously went to Penny's with me. We found what I needed quickly - really, surprisingly so - and not only was it on sale at the display, but there was an additional discount at the cash register. I saved about 50%!! Then we went to Salt Creek Grille - someplace I've always wanted to try, but never had taken the time to. Now I know why . . . regular dinner plates *started* at around $20.00!! Fortunately, they also had very nice sandwich options for around $8 - much more reasonable! We had a good meal and, since I was on hyperdrive, Stacy was kind enough to let me ramble about things. I did settle down for part of the evening and she was able to share some stuff too :-) It was neat to spend some time with her.

Friday was discipleship and WOW - what a blessing!! This study is going to hone me as much, if not much more, than it does Bonnie! We're going through a book called "Becoming a Woman Who Pleases God" by Lisa Tatlock & Pat Ennis. We were in the first part of Chapter 1 and already I feel like I've discovered the mountain I'm climbing is at least 10 times higher than I originally thought it was! :-P Boy, have I got a long way to go in this sanctification process!

Saturday was the wedding of a couple from my fellowship group at church. The did some really neat things that I think I would incorporate if I were to ever marry. The most significant was right after the bride came forward - everyone standing, as is traditional. Normally, once the bride reaches the front the Pastor has everyone be seated. In this wedding, the Pastor asked that we all remain standing. He said that this couple had come together as believers, acknowledging that they are not to be unequally yoked. He asked them each to affirm a public confession of their faith in Christ - the pastor stated the profession, "Have you . . . as Savior and Lord" and they individually responed, "I have!". The gospel was clearly presented several times throughout the wedding ceremony. Since both the groom and bride have family members that do not know the Lord, many seeds were planted during the ceremony.

I headed to the reception afterwards, hoping to see the bride and groom before I had to take off - I deeply desired to attend the funeral for my friend's father-in-law. Long story short - too many conversations (all of which were a real blessing) led to leaving quite a bit later than I should. This followed by stopped traffic on the freeway made it clear I was not going to make it to the funeral - I'd have probably gotten there about the time they were all headed out. So I went home and spent some time in prayer for the family. I really think that's where God wanted me to be during that time anyway, and it was a precious time of lifting up my friends and those in their family that are unbelievers.

That evening I headed over to their house for the post-funeral meal and fellowship. That evening was a total blessing! My friend shared with me about the funeral - how the gospel had been clearly shared, ruffling the feathers of some of the unbelieving family, and seeds had obviously been planted. During the course of the evening, I was priviledged to watch the widow sharing from the Word of God with an unbelieving family member!!! What a joy to see the Lord's grace and mercy displayed by His children in this time that the world would consider so tragic and mournful. Yes, there was mourning. They already miss their father/husband - but with Christ we have a peace that passes understanding, and a joy that overflows even in the darkest of times because it is not born of our circumstances but of confidence in the sovereign timing and will of our loving and gracious Heavenly Father.

Today was a blessing both in the teaching at our fellowship group and in the main service. In our fellowship group we got to listen to our pastor's son-in-law teach on Judges 11 and how a godly person can confuse right and wrong. He defined the mistakes Jephthah made which led him to do wicked things thinking they were holy and right. In the main service, we had the pleasure of listening to guest teacher John Glass from Geneva. He spoke on three key decisions we can make that will lead to revival. Really good stuff which I'll blog about later and separately as this is already long enough :-)

Another blessing came to me today before church started. I have been praying about moving into a 1-bedroom apartment (right now I'm in a studio). I have been tossed about the additional expense - whether there would be a wiser place to spend the money. The increased rent wasn't really an issue - it would only be about $40 more than I'm currently spending - the challenge came in adding in utilities. These are currently included in my rent and I was concerned that adding utilities on top of additional rent would be unwise stewardship of what God has given me. On the flip side, I really can't do much ministry in a studio apartment.

There's no room to have a Bible Study meet or to have more than 2 or 3 guest at a time for meals or games or . . . . Game Night was often a bit crowded and challenging as I had no table on which my guests could put their dinner plates. I had talked it over with my mom and, since I could afford the additional rent and the utilities, though it would mean tightening the belt a bit, the ministry opportunities this would open up were viable places for the $$ to go. In additon, the place I want to move is about 15 minutes less driving time to work saving me around 1/2 hour each day. I decided to go forward with the move.

Because of the deposit requirements, I wasn't going to be able to afford the move in till the 15th of September - that put the manager of the complex in a bit of a bind as he knew the owners would not allow him to hold the apartment for that long. So, I told him not to hold it, that I'd call on the 15th and if it was still available we'd go from there.

This morning I bumped into the manager at church and he said he had a lot of applications and that he probably could not hold the apartment. . . . HOWEVER, he'd just been advised that morning of another apartment coming available that the timing works out perfect for! AND, it's bigger than the one I was originally hoping to get but still costs the same. AND, because it used to be a game room that they've converted into an apartment, the utilities are connected to the main building and INCLUDED in the rent!!!! :-) Watch me grin!!

Yes, this has been a week of blessing. Praise God for His gracious, kind hand on my life and my heart :-)

My Mommy is the greatest!

2006-08-13T15:40:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I lasso'd my mom into phone conversation lasting far too long for her schedule. I left her with 1/2 an hour to finish preparing for guests and get dressed for evening church and then get to church - which, I think, is at least 15 minutes away. She very graciously and even with great interest listened to me ramble on about all the wonderful things God had done in my life this week - without a single word of "hurry" till I'd talked myself out :-)

My mom's the best mom a girl could have!! :-)

The child inside

2006-08-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know if men can relate to this or not, but sometimes the challenges in life can be so overwhelming that the strong external person we present to the world just disappears - and all you are left with is the vulnerable child inside that suddenly feels alone and unprotected. That about describes the day I had today - and the way I felt by the end of it. Small, alone, vulnerable. It was one of those times when you just want to curl up in daddy's lap and let him gently brush the hair from your face, taking the cares of the day along with it.

I feel sorry for those in the world who face these moments without the Lord. Human father's can fill the gap for them, if they are fortunate to have such a dad - but most, whether Christian or not, don't have that kind of relationship with their dad, or, as in my case, they live to far away. You'll notice that one word I did not put in the first paragraph was "fear." Through the trial today, the Holy Spirit faithfully and constantly reminded me that although I "felt" alone, I was and am not truly so. And, although I truly was vulnerable (on an emotional level), my Heavenly Father was there to protect me. And, although I could not run to my earthly father - or indeed anyone else - I could rest where I was in the arms of my Loving Lord. It was such a comfort. How people face the trials of life without the Lord is beyond my ability to understand. Indeed, God must grant some special graces to even those who reject him, that they should find strength to endure in those times.

I've had the pleasure of listening to Michael Card's "Brother to Brother" album quite a bit recently. Although there are a couple of lines in a couple of songs that I disagree with on a theological basis, for the most part it is simply a worshipful, beautiful album.

I wish I could share all of his music here - each song on that album has such beautiful imagery and calls my heart to worship so strongly. You can sample the album here. Lyrics from a couple of the songs I especially love follow:

The Final Word

"You and me we use, so many clumsy words - the noise of what we often say is not worth being heard. When the Father's wisdom wanted to communicate His love, He spoke it in one final perfect Word.

He spoke the incarnation, and so was born the Son!
His final Word was Jesus, He needed no other one.
Spoke flesh and blood so He could bleed and make a way divine
And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine.

And so the light became alive and manna became man. Eternity stepped into time so we could understand!

He spoke the incarnation, and so was born the Son!
His final Word was Jesus, He needed no other one.
Spoke flesh and blood so He could bleed and make a way divine
And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine.

And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine.

You and me, we use so many clumsy words. The noise of what we often say is not worth being heard. When the Father's wisdom wanted to communicate His love, He spoke it in one final perfect Word."

Advent Suite

This song is sung with a great sense of anticipation and excitement - it's one of those you can't help but smile to :-)

"Can you believe in the miracle coming!? Can you believe it will take you away!? There will be living where once there was death! There will be new life in Jesus!

Can you believe there is charity coming! The only law known that we come to obey! There will be living where once there was death! There will be living in Jesus!

Can you believe that the eagle will fly with the dove??? Can you believe there's a rose in the raised fisted glove???

Hallelujah!! Hallelujah!! Hallelujah!! Hallelujah!!

So, Hear O Israel - your Savior is born to a young virgin child. Hear O Israel, all of mankind can be born in Him. All of mankind can be born in Him!

....

And we'll walk on the water with Him!! Messiah come surely and we will begin - to walk on the water with Him!

And we will be with Him

As the Father is with Him

As the Spirit is with Him

Meekly, lowly you come, born to the world in a stable. Come to the shepherds, come to the poor - He is surely exalted as our King of Kings - surely exalted as our King of Kings!!

And He will show forth the strength of His arm, He will scatter the pround in their own conceit. He will cast down the kings from their thrones and lift up the meek and the lowly - lift up the meek and the lowly.

And we'll walk on the water with Him!! Messiah come surely and we will begin - to walk on the water with Him!

And we will be with Him
As the Father is with Him
As the Spirit is with Him

Oh - He has come!! Messiah has Come!!! Messiah has COME!!!

Can you believe there is charity coming! The only law known that we come to obey! There will be living where once there was death! There will be living in Jesus!"

Now THAT's something to rejoice about :-)

Humble Pie

2006-07-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever, I've had to ask my Landlord to hold my rent check. I'll have to replace my tire and it's likely to be expensive. Since I haven't built back up my savings after Christmas & two visits from family members that involved some unexpected expenses, it has to come out of the regular budget - and there's very little room for it.

If I hadn't just been grocery shopping, I'd have simply skimped there, but it happened right after I finished shopping. So, after smilingly turning in my rent check this morning (not technically due till the 1st - and I'm never late), I had to ask tonight if they'd hold it till the 5th so my next check can fill in the difference between the rent and the cost of the tire :-(

Fortunately they have a "not overdue till after the 5th of the month" policy on rent payments - so I still won't be "late" by anyone's standards but my own - but I was feeling so good about always having my rent paid by the 1st.

Stuff

2006-07-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Prayer concerns:

My grand-niece, Lacey - that the Lord would place her in a home where she will be safe, cherished and, most importantly, raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

That I would be a good role model as I disciple my friend Bonnie and that this endeavor would be a fruitful one for both of us.

That God would provide for the needs of my family - spiritual, physical & financial.

For my friend, CR, who desperately needs salvation. Oh that he would know the joy and peace that I daily live in!!

Blessings:

New priorities :-) God has recently brought me to a place where I'm finally acting on what I've known for years. I'm looking forward to the growth that will naturally result :-)

Great sale at JC Penney - got some neat clothes for nephews Benjamin & Jonathan :-)

My car - and all the perks - like the roadside assistance program :-)

Utilities included in my rent :-) & A/C in 100+ degree temps!!

Good Books!! - Just finished "Twelve Extraordinary Women" by Dr. MacArthur and now I'm almost done with "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper :-) Really, really good stuff!!

Why I love my Mazda lease agreement

2006-07-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

Flat Tire . . . Free Roadside Assistance . . . actually, assistance at my apartment since I was able to nurse it home :-)

2006-07-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

READ:

Read this email first, then click to see the video... And you thought those people that set up roomfuls of dominos to knock over were amazing...

There are no computer graphics or digital tricks in the film. Everything you see really happened in real time exactly as you see it.

The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again. The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. By the time it was over, they were ready to change professions.

The film cost six million dollars and took three months to complete including full engineering of the sequence. In addition, it's two minutes long so every time Honda airs the film on British television, they're shelling out enough dough to keep any one of us in clover for a lifetime. However, it is fast becoming the most downloaded advertisement in internet history. Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free viewings" (Honda isn't paying a dime to have you watch this commercial!).

When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation - including the costs. There are six and only six hand-made Honda Accords in the world. To the horror of Honda engineers, the filmmakers disassembled two of them to make the film.

Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp, and complete Honda Accord) is parts from those two cars. The voiceover is Garrison Keillor. When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphics have gotten. They fell off their chairs when they found out it was for real.

Oh, and about those funky windshield wipers. On the new Accords, the windshield wipers apparently have water sensors and are designed to start wiping automatically as soon as they become wet. It looks a bit weird in the commercial.

NOW PLAY: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/honda.php

What have I to fear?

2006-07-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

"The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.

From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth;

He fashions thier hearts individually; He considers their works.

No King is saved by the multitude of an army;

A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.

A horse is a vain hope for safety;

Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,

On those who hope in His mercy,

To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the Lord;

He is our help and our shield"

Psalm 33:13-20

In Hebrew, the word "Selah" means "pause & consider". This passage had a lot of "selah" moments in it for me. A friend of mine was recently the victim of a vicious and nearly deadly attack. This friend is big and strong - not even close to the kind of person you would normally consider a victim - in fact, quite the opposite - you feel safer around him than you would around most anybody else. But there it is - he was made a victim - he was scared (and justly so!) and helpless to defend himself.

This Psalm was part of my regular reading today and, in the light of my friend's recent experience, really striking. Consider how the Psalmist (King David) builds the phrases to demonstrate the total and utter security we have in the Lord, and the total and utter fear we live in without Him. These are my "Selah" moments:

"The Lord looks from heaven" - He doesn't look around from an earthly perspective - He is not of earth! He is different. He is separate! He is superior.

"He sees all the sons of men" - He is fully aware of what's going on down here.

"He fashions their hearts individually" - This section jumps out at me more than any of the others. God is not just the creator of mankind - He is the creator of each man/woman individually. He created MY heart. He molded & fashioned it. Not just the muscle - the fleshly organ that pumps my blood - but, in the context of this passage, He fashioned my desires, my emphathy, my compasion, my passions - all that makes up WHO I am - which is so much more than WHAT I am.

"He considers their works" - "Consider" is a fascinating word in this context. It means, "To think carefully about; To think or deem to be; To form an opinion about; judge; To take into account; bear in mind; To esteem; regard; To look at thoughtfully" (www.dictionary.com). When God looks at the life of each individual on this planet, He considers their works! This God who is so far above the puny humanness of our race - who chooses, for His own purposes, to be aware of these creatures He has formed - takes time to think carefully about, to form an opinion about, to bear in mind, to take into account each and every thing each and every creature does. Now there's Selah moment!

"No King is saved . . . A mighty man is not delivered . . . A horse is a vain hope . . . " - Every earthly thing we put our trust in is untrustworthy. Every thing. Our own wit or strength - that of others - even that of thousands of others mightier and wiser than ourselves. What do we have to fear in this world if we are without God? EVERYTHING. Without God we would be justified in crawling into the smallest corner, screaming in terror at the world around us - for without God's good pleasure, we have NO safety.

"Behold" - I love that word. "Look" - "Lift up your eyes" - "See". It reminds me of the seen in Lord of the Rings - Return of the King - in the last battle, the good guys are vastly, outrageously outnumbered. Doomed. The bad guys are confident and cocky in their own strength. The "know" they have won and are relishing the fear in those about to be slaughtered (albeit courageous fear). Then, "Behold" the ground beneath them gave way and it was themselves who were doomed and slaughtered. In this same way - King David shows us our utter helplessness and weakness, then says "Behold". What a magnificent transitory word!!

"the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him . . ." - Here is our safety. Here is our confidence. Here is our courage. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" No one! We are utterly and totally secure in ANY circumstance if we belong to Christ. HE fashioned the hearts even of those who threaten us and HE CAN crush them with just a thought. In the midst of a raging flood, in a lonely hotel room with a strangers gun cocked & pointed at our head, in the hands of a terrorist with a blade to our throat - IF we belong to Christ - we are SECURE.

I do not mean that the flood will not drown us or the gun will not go off or the knife will not sever our head from our body. Avoiding death is not the security I'm talking about. Death is inevitable for ALL of us. None of us knows when it's coming - whether in old age going quietly in our sleep or at the slow and vicious hands of cancer or in the sudden unexpected tragedy of an accident or at the hands of someone evil and uncaring. How or when we die is not the issue. Death is a fact. Our security is not from death - our security is IN death.

For all men, God has appointed a time to die. What matters is not how or when we die, but what happens afterward - for all of us are eternal beings. The flesh passes away - that much is certain. The person goes on - that much is also certain. Those who are in Christ have nothing to fear in this process however and whenever it comes because we know we continue on in the presence of our Lord - in eternal blessedness and hope. So, what have I, the beloved child of the living God have to fear? NOTHING!

Those who do not belong to Christ however should fear death with every ounce of their being - for the eternity that awaits them holds far more terror than this world could ever expose them to, even at its absolute worst.

For those who do not know Christ - if you think you have no safety now, in this world, consider how it will be when God not only removes His hand of mercy completely (you are living in His mercy now, whether you acknowledge Him or not - the fact you are still breathing is evidence of that). Consider how, once that hand of mercy is removed, you then see His wrath poured out without the constraints of mercy. All your denial of Him, every act that spat in the face of His beloved Son who hung on the cross to bear your sin, all your self-conceit in the face of the Almighty God, every selfish act, every unkind word, every lustful thought, all of your rebellion - now YOU must pay for it. You would not accept His free gift - You would not bow the knee to the only One Who knows you more intimately than you know yourself and yet loved you enough to suffer and die for your sin - the only one who bled to redeem you though you were unworthy to be redeemed. So now, in death, YOU pay the penalty for every unholy thing about you - and that is everything. There is nothing in you worth redeeming - all you are is worthy of this great and terrible judgment - and now you will pay. For eternity.

Repent. Bow the knee to the God who wants to save you. Turn to Him and find true safety.

Mish-mash

2006-06-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

Things that bug me:

When I'm driving down the freeway, going the speedlimit, in the farthest right lane possible without having to hit my brakes for someone going slower than me - and with TWO open lanes to the right of me - and the guy behind me keeps tailgating, then backing off a little, then tailgating again - like he thinks I should be going faster. I just wanna yell "Go around, moron!!" But that wouldn't be polite, now would it :-)

When I'm listening to a radio program and the talk-show host invites folks with opposing opinions to call in and express their views - promising to be fair and hear them out - then, if they're not quick enough with something that will spark a debate, he hangs up on them!! Just as bad is when someone of some intelligence on the other side of the issue calls in and presents a reasonable, well-thought out perspective and the host doesn't even acknowledge that the guy had a point - even if it's a point reached by reasoning we (the host & I) totally disagree with! It especially bugs me when the host is someone who's opinions I agree with and who's reason I normally admire - like Frank Pastori.

The fly that's crawling on the INSIDE of the window screen in my apartment. (I don't have a fly-swatter). ohhh, he just did a fly-by! erghhh

Things that I cherish:

Time in the Word. More than ever these days I look forward to my mornings - I really don't want to face the day without at least a couple of minutes in prayer and reading a Psalm.

Time with friends. God has generously granted me friendships with some of the most amazing people! Mark, Konrad & Carol, Neil, Josh & Bonnie, David & Lela - just to name a few. My cup runneth over!

Rest. Mostly cuz I just don't get enough these days ;-P

My family. I have the greatest mom & dad. My brother is walking with the Lord and raising his two precious sons to do the same - and he married an amazing young lady who teaches her boys to smile :-) My sister means more to me than she understands - my heart yearns for her to know the relationship with Christ that I have. The same can be said of her husband and 4 children and various grandchildren. I pray often for their full and complete surrender to the Lordship of Christ.

Good books. Apart from the Bible, I'm enjoying some really wonderful texts. Just finishing up Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic - might finish it tonight :-)

Beautiful Music. Classical music just speaks to the sould differently than any other. Been listening to Bach lately - really relaxes & calms :-)

New Blogs

2006-06-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

I created three new blogs today!! "Why?" you ask? Well! Lemme tell ya!

The first is for work. I've been mentioning this to my boss over the past several months - that we should have a Blog for the Engineering community we serve - where we can post the technical articles that we publish and where we can recieve and respond to engineering questions.

Ric (my boss) is not all that familiar with Blogs, so hasn't really given me the go-ahead on it. Today, I took the initiative. I knew we were headed that way and I really felt that if he could SEE it, he'd like the idea. Plus, I realized there was a possibility that any reasonable name we might choose for the blog's web address might be taken if we didn't act soon. So I put one together.

I was glad I made this decision because I went through quite a variety of reasonable combinations of our company name and the word "engineer" before I came up with one that was good and not taken!! I made sure the site was as unavailable to the general public as possible, tossed in our most recent tech article, and sent my boss a note about what I'd done - including a link to the site.

Immediately after he saw it, he sent it off to our Manager of Engineering Services and our Exec. V.P. with the phrase "I think this is a great idea" and asked for their opinions :-) *happy dance* :-). The VP says it's a go and the MES will look at it tonight. I'm sure he'll agree it's a good communication tool and want to run with it :-)

The second & third blogs are for my brother's sons - Benjamin & Jonathan. Since I don't live close enough to develop a personal strong bond with them, I wanted to record for them how I view their growing up and things I would say/do if I were there and other words of encouragement and instruction as they grow up. Someday they'll be able to read them. . . . Of course, if I keep up with it, they'll have a novel to read before they're in kindergarten! :-)

I thought about putting blogs up for my other nephews and my niece. I may - but they're old enough by now that we can chat on the phone and they can read *this* blog for words of encouragement & instruction. I also thought about doing this for my grand-nephews & nieces - but that side of the family is so estranged that I don't even know all the names - much less ages or anything else about them. I love them because they're family, but their families haven't worked to keep me close to the kids like Benjamin & Jonathan's parents have.

For Fathers

2006-06-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

Remember, by a most solemn and sacred profession, you are "a man of God." You have a relation and a dignity to maintain; interests confided to your keeping, an honor entrusted to your hands, to which angels cannot aspire.... The thought [should]never be absent from you - "I am a Christian, a man of God, a follower of Christ, an heir of glory, a royal priest. So let me order my conversation that I do not compromise my dignity as a Christian, or dishonor my Father as His child."
- From "The Man of God: Spiritual Religion Explained and Enforced" (1863) by Octavius Winslow

If you are the head of a family, then you are to conside the several relationships yoiu have; and you should know, that in each one of them God has a special work for you to do, and that He expects your faithful behavior.... Concerning the spiritual state of his family; [a man] ought to be very diligent and cautious, doing his utmost both to increase faith where it is begun, and to begin it where it is not. Therefore, he must diligently and frequently bring before his family the things of God, from His Holy Word, in accordance with what is suitable for each person.
- From a sermon by John Bunyan entitled "Christian Family" (1674)

Bretheren, you are ordained of God to rule your own houses in His true fear, and according to His Word. Within your houses, I say, in some cases, you are bishops and kings; your wife, children, servants, and family are your bishopric and charge. Of you it shall be required how carefully and diligently you have instructed them in God's true knowledge, how you have studied to pant virtue in them, and [to] repress vice. And therefore I say, youi must make them partakers in reading, exhorting, and in making common prayers, which I would in every house were used once a day at least. But above all things, dear brethren, study to practice in life that which the Lord commands, and then be you assured that you shall never hear nor read the same without fruit.
- From "The Daily Exercise of God's Most Holy and Sacred Word" by John Knox

Let no huband nurse the notion that he has no responsibility for the happiness of his home beyond providing food and clothing and other comforts. His strong life should be the secure shelter beneath which his wife and children may safely abide. his haracter should be a continual revaling of the love and truth and holiness of God. He should live so that, seeing him day after day, his family shall learn to know the beauty of Christ. He is the priest of his house, and as such should both speak to God for his family and speak to them for God. Through him blessings should come to his home every day.
- From "Secrets of a Happy Home Life" (1894) by J.R. Miller

Oh

2006-06-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

That's why I'm tired . . . it's nearly 11:30pm - guess I'd better get some shut-eye! :-)

The Ugliness of Pride

2006-06-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

Ever notice how proud some humble people can be? Ever notice how proud you are of your own humility? Recently this has been an "in your face" issue for me. I'll say or do something that's quite in character with my "servant's heart" and immediately the Holy Spirit shows me the hidden motivation for my actions - always my own self- interest - even if I wasn't consciously aware of it at the time.

Game Night

2006-06-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight, like nearly every Saturday night, I had the priviledge & pleasure of gathering with friends for food & fun. Christian fellowship is so sweet. I thought I'd share this idea in case someone else out there likes the idea and wants to implement the same thing with his/her friends.

For over a year now, a small group of us (4 regulars and around 10 who show up occasionally) have gotten together every Saturday night for potluck and games. Each of us "regulars" trades off hosting the Game Night in our homes.

The "host" provides the main course and everyone else brings the extras - side dishes, drinks, dessert and so forth. The host chooses the game for the evening. We've played LOTR Monopoly, Mexican Train Dominos, Killer UNO (one of our favorites), Apples to Apples, and many more. We also alternate out some weekends as "Out Night" - when we all hit dinner and some activity together - miniature golf, a movie, bowling, a day at the beach, and so forth.

Except for Out Nights, we meet at 5:30 p.m., eat dinner and then break out the game. We try to wrap up by 10 so everyone can get home and get a decent nights sleep before church the next morning. Out Night times are determined according to the activity - usually movies are matinees to save $$ and we hit dinner after. Sometimes, if time permits, we'll head over to ice cream or Starbucks for a game of cards. Everyone is encouraged to bring friends.

Sometimes we get non-believers and it is a great opportunity to "lifestyle witness" as we live out our Christian relationships in front of them. Right now we have one Catholic young lady that comes occasionally. Please pray for Angelic's salvation.

Tonight we had tacos and played two new games I picked up on a whim . First we played Zathura. I loved the movie and the game is right in line with it. It's a bit juvenile, yes, but it was still fun . It was really short - only about a half hour. After one round of that, we broke out Pirates of the Caribbean - DVD Treasure Hunt. Now that was a great game! And I'm not just saying that because I won - which I did .

Truth - follow up

2006-06-10T12:19:00.000-07:00

Last year I wrote about something the pastor of my fellowship group said that disturbed me. (click on the title of this post to go to that entry). Since then I've thought about the issue, meditated on it, tried to reason it out or make excuses for what I believe to be very wrong theology.

Last Sunday one of the leaders in our church who was preaching in place of our pastor said the same thing - that God's love for his children can change. He, however clarified it just a little, stating that it was not God's saving love that changes. He didn't go into detail because the statement was only part of a point he was making on another topic.

So I've been thinking about it. I *know* God does not change. I know He will always love me - He loved me while I was still His enemy - before He brought me to faith - so I have no fear of loosing that. On the other hand, love is an emotion - and it, like all other emotions, can wax and wane and can be displayed in number of different ways depending on a variety of factors.

For example, there is one whom I dearly love - at one point, I thought we would be married. He did some things that changed my love for him. I still love him, but in a completely different way now - and now I know we will not ever marry - that romantic love for him no longer exists in my heart. But I still love him - as a brother, as a friend, as a precious child in the Lord.

Another example, I have/had (depending on how you look at it) a dear friend who married a girl I absolutely adore. We used to be very close, but there was an issue that came up between us. I did everything I could to set things straight, but they no longer choose to be in my company. I still love them both - dearly - but my love has changed from one which aggressively pursues keeping the relationship vital and growing, to one which accepts the barrier and waits and prays for the Lord to work toward the changes required for restoration.

So, I guess, to some extent, it's possible for God's love for me to change. I sent an email to my pastor today to ask for some teaching on this matter. I'll let you know what he says :-)

Words in Worship

2006-06-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

Music has always been important to me. I've heard it said, and can attest that, for me at least, it is "the language of the soul." I believe it's important - nay, essential - to think through the words of the songs we sing or listen to - because they are speaking to our inner being - to the deepest parts of us. And so I want to share with you a song that speaks to my soul - I urge you to think through each word carefully and to plumb the depths of the truths contained therein:

And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me - who caused His pain - For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

He left His Father's throne above. So free, so infinite His grace!
Emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam's helpless race.
'Tis mercy all, immense and free. For O, my God, it found out me!
Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray - I woke, the dungeon flamed with light!
My chains fell off! My heart was free!
I rose, went forth and followed Thee.
Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

No condemnation now I dread; Jesus and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine,
bold I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through Christ my own.
Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

(by Charles Wesley)

If you're not in awe of the Savior's work on our behalf - go back, read it again slowly and think about each phrase till you are struck by the weight of it.

Prayer

2006-06-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Something I've always struggled with, especially as a strong believer in the total sovereignty of God, is the purpose and power of prayer. I know the Scripture teaches it's required and that it has power, but I couldn't really see how that worked out logically, so it's been a struggle.

Today I finished a sermon series titled "Four Corners." The series looked at 4 essential aspects of a successful Christian life: Witnessing, Bible Study, Fellowship, Prayer. Each is more than worthy of a Blog entry, and I hope to do that soon, but tonight I want to focus on Prayer as that was most impactful.

Pastor Nelson took an unusual passage of Scripture to unlock the purpose and power of prayer - Genesis 18:17-33. Maybe it's looking at this subject from a fresh passage and perspective that really opened my eyes this time. I can't really re-type his whole message here - though I wish I could, it was so very very good! But I will give you the four points he brought out and how they impacted me.

1. Prayer does not bend the will of God, it is generated by the will of God. God knew from the beginning that He was going to Sodom & Gomorrah not only to judge the evil there, but also to rescue Lot and his family from the midst of it.

(Rabbit trail: It occurs to me as I'm writing this, that really, Lot was the only one of his family with any obvious sense of righteousness. Those that were saved with him were simply benefitting from God's mercy toward Lot. Much like the U.S. is blessed not because of its overwhelming godliness - duhh - but because God blesses and protects His children - the unbelieving are recipients of the overflow of God's grace and mercy poured out on the believing. . . .)

Anyway - the point is, God's will was not moved to save Lot by Abraham's prayer - rather, Abraham was moved to prayer by God's will to save Lot. It's interesting that Lot is the primary concern in this intercessory dialogue, but his name isn't mentioned once (more on that later).

2. Prayer should be persistent. Reference also the parable (can't recall the reference right now) of the neighbor pounding on the door till he gets what he's asking for. I like the way Tommy said it, God "delights" in persistent prayer. We should be like a dog with a bone - don't stop gnawing on it till it's done. Tommy said a true person of prayer is one who comes consistently and persistently before the Lord with a matter and doesn't let go of it till it is answered.

He also likened the person who prays occassionally or sporadically with someone who considers God as a genie - someone you come to only when you want something. That one left a few bruises on my heart for sure!

3. I'm not exactly sure what the title for this point was, but here's the gist: A person who knows the God of the Bible, knows how to pray. They may not always know *what* to pray, but the how will come naturally. Worship/Praise/Supplication will come from a heart that understands the character of God and will align itself to that reality.

The sequence goes like this: God determines something - God moves in the heart of His child to bring that Believer to prayer in this matter - the Believer prays with an intelligent understanding of God's character - God moves to accomplish His will - God is glorified by the participation of His child in accomplishing what He had determined to do.

This is really the point that got me. Did you catch that last line? "God is glorified by the participation of His child . . . ." When we do not pray, we rob God of glory due to Him! Herein lies the motivation for prayer - that we may humbly accept God's invitation to participate in the execution of His will in this world so that He might be more greatly glorified.

Throughout Scripture we are taught that we participate in God's dealings: "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it..." God elected, God called, God completes the sanctification process. We participate by answering that call and then through study of the Scriptures and application of its truths to our lives.

What an amazing God we serve! He is completely and totally sovereign, yet He chooses to allow us, the foolish and oft unfaithful, to work alongside Him in the accomplishment of His will!! Herein is the greater glory for Him - that He should condescend in such a way and that He would delight in doing so!

4. The last point was ever so comforting. Prayer is not dependent on the words of our mouth. Earlier I noted that Lot's name is not mentioned throughout this intercessory dialogue. The prayer of Abraham's heart - something too precious for him to speak outloud, is that Lot should be spared. God knew this going in to the conversation. Tommy referenced the passage (again I'm blank on the reference - sorry about that) where we are told the "Spirit intercedes for us with groanings".

The old saying "Be careful what you pray for - you just might get it" has, I believe, seeped into the common Christian concept of prayer. We feel we must watch our words ever so carefully - don't just pray that they'll be saved, pray that they'll be saved from their sin or God might just save them from bankruptcy or something instead! Sounds riddiculous, I know - and that example is a bit extreme - but I've heard this basic sentiment hundreds of times from Christians.

When we pray - as when Abraham prayed - God listens to our HEART. The Spirit brings before God the things we are not even sure how to express - and God hears those prayers - counts them as precious - and answers according to His sovereign will.

God is a good and kind and gracious and gentle and loving God. We are fortunate to serve such a Master :-)

Generational Blessings

2006-06-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

I have a cousin, about my age, who has a couple of boys, Andrew & Daniel, (not sure how old, but out of high school, I believe) who are ministering with their grandma &amp; grandpa in Tokyo this month! Andrew is keeping a running journal of their time there - complete with pictures. I encourage you to read - it's really wonderful to see young men serving the Lord from youth!! My cousin raised these kids right! ;-)

Here's the link: http://anamericanintokyo.blogspot.com/

My theological score :-)

2006-06-09T18:23:00.000-07:00

You scored as Reformed Evangelical. You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die.

Reformed Evangelical

96%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

75%

Fundamentalist

57%

Neo orthodox

57%

Emergent/Postmodern

46%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

36%

Classical Liberal

29%

Modern Liberal

Roman Catholic

What's your theological worldview?
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Israel

2006-05-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I finished the 18-CD series on Israel from Tom Nelson of Denton Bible Church. I gotta tell you - it's an eye-opener! It's truly amazing how the *whole* of the Good News and every foundational doctrine is so clearly laid out throughout the Old Testament. Just studying the Hebrew Scriptures one can clearly see election, salvation by grace ALONE, the sufficiency of Scripture, and so much more.

Another thing Tom expounded on was not just the repetitive nature of God's dealings with Israel - blessing - rebellion - judgement - repentance - blessing . . . but He also delved into the WHY - what the rebellion was, what particular rebellions brought on particular judgements. Moreover, he noted similarities in the rebellion of America - fortunately for us, God is amazingly patient. Judgement is coming, however. Most assuredly, if we do not turn our hearts toward Him.

He also brought it down to the individual - because how God deals with the nations is how God deals with individuals. His teaching has been emphasized by the teaching I've been getting at church recently too - the particular subject of Hell, Who's going there and Why. There are those - many, unfortuntately - who will in the day of judgement cry out, "Lord, Lord did we not do" this or that "in Your Name?" and He will say "Depart from Me, I never knew you!" Because it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. Moreover, He does not save just because someone "believes" in Him - "the demons also believe - and tremble." He saves because the faith He grants generates belief that results in SUBMISSION to Himself as LORD. This is taught from Genesis on.

Universal Studios

2006-05-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

I went with my buddy Mark today :-) Really fun. Tomorrow I get to go with my sister and her family :-) I'm gonna need to get back to work to recover from my "vacation"!! :-P

Oh, and . . . I really *hate* scarabs!!!!!

Car Alarms

2006-05-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

I really hate it when people set their car alarms and then don't pay attention to when they're going off . . .

Friends

2006-05-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

Friends are such a blessing! There's a group of us that gather weekly to potluck dinner and play games. Tonight was my turn to host, so everyone came here - what a great time we had! :-)

Additions

2006-05-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

My brother's wife delivered their second son, Jonathan Michael yesterday morning at 9:11 a.m. :-) 6 lbs 8 oz. 19 inches! Dan (my brother) says little Jonathan is a sweet, calm-natured little boy - sleeps a lot - which is good for tired mommy and daddy - and quite the change from their first baby, Benjamin, who rarely slept more than 3 hours at a time for months! Pics on my new nephew as soon as their available.

That same day at around 3:25 p.m. my good friend Bonnie delivered her second child - this one a girl - Charis Elizabeth :-) Bonnie's posted her announcement with pics: http://www.macroped.com/users/avallach/charis/.
Caution, the pics are not dial-up friendly, but she's a really beautiful little girl.

Things

2006-05-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

I've got about 1/2 an hour before the Season Finale of LOST - which I am anxiously awaiting - so I figured I'd share a few thoughts.

Thought 1: Erghh, the link to reply to my friend Mark's blog is not working for me again!!! Seems I'm the only one who has trouble with this . . . I think it's a conspiracy . . .

Thought 2: I'm t-i-r-e-d! I mean really, really tired....

Thought 3: Israel - wow! As noted in an earlier post, I'm listening to a tape series on the history of Israel. I thought there were only 16 CD's and was a little saddened this evening when I put #16 in the player - I really don't want the series to end - it's so rich. To my pleasant surprise, I was wrong - there are 18 tapes in the series :-) So another day or two of this rich feast await!

Thought 4: Mah Jong awaits. I downloaded a free version a little bit ago - I love this game. Think I'll play for a bit before LOST starts :-)

See ya :-)

Gas Mileage

2006-05-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

I'm getting 28 mpg! And that's mostly in-town driving. Considering that's the top efficiency for my vehicle, I'm pretty stoked about it :-)

Catching up

2006-05-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

I've used this title before - "Catching up" . . . seems to be the story of my life all too often :-) It's a hazard of keeping busy I suppose. Anywho - lots to catch up on. I've been wanting to post for a long time but I've had other priorities so this keeps getting put off. My dishes are done, my laundry is done (except for some ironing that can wait), I'm not having company today so the straightening up can wait, so I'm going to take some time to do a little sharing :-)

Life, in general, is going really well. God has blessed me in more ways than I can count. I have a great job - just finished the "re-design" of our company website. You can see it at www.dawsonco.com. The re-design that I did was all in the background coding - the actual look of the site is, for the most part, same as the original. We moved our hosting from the company that designed the site for us (www.ccsinteractive.com) to www.networksolutions.com. The problem was that the original site had a back-end database for managing changes I wanted to make. With the transfer over to network solutions, the backend had to go and I had to incorporate the information into the coding of each affected page (which was most of them). This was a really challenging process as I started out knowing absolutely nothing about HTML. I'm no expert yet, but I've learned enough to maintain our site and I'll be learning more as we make some additions, some improvements, and as we move towards e-commerce (possibly as soon as June/July!).

I have a great church too. Who could ask for anything more than to sit under the teaching of one of the greatest pastors of our day? But I get more - God is so very good! I have a wonderful Fellowship Group with so many opportunities to be involved in ministry - the thing I have to be careful with here is to not get too many irons in the fire. So often, if a need comes up and it's something I know I can technically do, I volunteer - not considering that I just don't really have the time and energy to do it. Being technically qualified doesn't mean we're always called to fill a need - I have to re-learn that lesson a bit too often :-P

Moreover, I get to hear sermons from other great pastors. This last week I have been absolutely entranced by a series on Israel by Pastor Tom Nelson of Denton Bible Church. It's a 16 sermon series and I'm on CD #9. Through this series, I am learning and being convinced of the amazing patience & mercy of a righteous and holy God. I am learning the consequences of disobedience - and the blessing of repentance. I am learning more about how God deals with the nations and with His people - how we, as gentiles, are blessed through the Jews. (By the way, I now know I'm a Japhethite!) The ultimate blessing, of course, is in Christ as our Savior and Lord, but there is much more. I encourage you to check out the site and this series.

So, down to the nitty gritty - what God has been teaching me these days. My last post, a couple of weeks ago, hinted at the work God is now doing in my life. I went to a retreat with my fellowship group from church at the end of last month. It was really wonderful. The facilities were beautiful, the view out my hotel room window was soothing and refreshing (a gardened waterfall), and the teaching was exactly what I needed at this time in my life. I probably wouldn't have gone if our worship team hadn't been scheduled to lead music during the retreat - financially it was a bit of a strain - but in the end, it was worth so much more than I was required to give for it! I am a different person today than I was the day I arrived at the hotel.

The teacher was Chris Peterson - a young associate pastor, graduate of The Master's Seminary, and full of the fire of God's Holy Spirit. His teaching was impassioned and totally Biblical. He taught on Wisdom. I don't have time right now to break down the overwhelming amount of information he provided, but the end result for me was a realization that I have slowly and surely been commiting spiritual suicide - and I didn't even know it. To "nutshell" it - I am a very independent, capable young woman. Some might even envy me as I pretty much "have it all together" and I have a really great life. The problem, however, is that I am independent and I perceive myself as capable. Now, if you're like most people, you really don't see the problem yet. So let me spell it out for you - If I am so capable, why do I need God? If I'm self-sufficient, self- sustaining, self-reliant - where is the need for God in my life??

For years I have struggled with developing a regular quiet time of prayer and Bible reading. I've always known I "should". I just never really had the motivation. I didn't see my NEED. Our speaker, Mr. Peterson, exposed my need. One example he gave will stay in my mind for forever: ***CAUTION: This is a bit graphic*** You know how an eskimo kills a wolf? They place a sharp blade in a block of ice and bury it in the ground. They layer a small amount of blood over the ice. The wolf comes and licks up the blood. In the process, the ice melts and the wolf, unknowingly, licks the knife. Pretty soon it's not the blood that the eskimomo laid down that the wolf is licking, it's his own. The wolf bleeds to death, drinking his own blood. In a spiritual sense, the gifts, skills and talents the Lord has given us or given us opportunity to learn can be like the blood the eskimo lays down. Ice is the deception of our hearts. Self is the knife in the ice. (my personal metaphoric correllations, not the speakers) When we are SELF-sufficient and SELF-reliant and SELF-confident and any other "SELF" thing you put in there, we become like the wolf licking up our own blood, spiritually speaking.

All we are, every good thing we have, every good thing we know, every good thing we can do, think or say comes ONLY from the Lord. It is not of ourselves! "I" am not generous, kind, intelligent, wise, capable, or any other good thing - only God is. As Paul said, ". . . nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me"! So now I see my need. I can only be righteous through Christ - through the knowledge of God - through TOTAL dependence on Him. I do not say that I have attained to this yet - only that the Lord has brought me understanding and is teaching my heart to learn dependence.

Here is where I now see the value of personal, daily time in the Word and in prayer. How can I depend on someone I don't know? The only way to know God is through His revelation of Himself in Scripture. Prayer is the conduit through which I confess my inability to know Him and to worship and serve Him as He ought to be worshiped and served. So often I have come to the Word not seeing the relevance of learning about one Biblical hero or another - and that's because my focus was wrong. I am learning to come to the Scripture to see God as the hero - to see Who He is through his work in the lives of these individuals. To hear His wisdom in the Proverbs and to see His greatness in the Psalms. Moses, Abraham, David, Daniel, Joseph - these are not the heros or the point of the stories that contain their names - GOD is the point! God is the hero! His character is revealed in His dealings with these men and with the wicked men we read about.

Here then is motivation - to learn about my God so that He might create in me a heart of righteous reverence and respect (a.k.a. "fear") for Him, so that I might grow in wisdom ("for the fear of the Lord is the begining of wisdom") and understanding, so that I might be totally dependent upon Him, seeing myself in a truer perspective to my God.

So, for the last two weeks, with the exception of only 1 day, I have spent daily time with the Lord in His Word. I'm not where I'd like to be on this yet - I'm too much of a night owl and I need to learn discipline in getting to bed at a reasonable hour so as to leave myself more than 5-10 minutes with the Lord in the mornings. I'd like to have a full 1/2 hour at least. This is my first goal. My prayer is simply this - that I would learn total dependence upon God - that He would expose the secret places where I am independent and self-reliant and root those out of my heart. I hope you will make that your prayer as well.

Psalm 100:5

2006-05-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

I spent some time this morning in Psalm 100 and meditated on the first part of verse 5, "For the Lord is good".

Recently I've come to realize that the reason I keep myself so busy (I've always got too many irons in the fire) is a gripping fear that, if I slow down, stop, and think, I will find only emptiness. This is a crippling fear and results from a deadly deception of my untrained heart.

In Psalm 5 I was reminded of the truth - that the Lord I serve is GOOD. Therefore I can trust Him and, if I will slow down, stop, and think, when the emptiness comes, I will find Him waiting in the void.

Patience, Iago!

2006-03-27T20:13:00.000-08:00

I've always considered myself a patient person - mostly because people used to tell me all the time just how patient I was. Looking back, I think I was more selfish than patient. The situations wherein I exhibited "patience" were situations in which restraint was required for self-preservation. Now, that's probably confusing to those of you who don't know me or how I grew up - but you'll just have to take my word for it ;-)

The more I am on my own, with no serious repercussions for not excercising patience, the less patient I seem to be - and the more God is reminding me of it. He allows or arranges trials in order to test us - that we might see the weaknesses He already knows are there. He brings trying people into our lives so we can excercise forgiveness and, yes, patience. He lets us get snarled up in traffic so we can excercise forgiveness and, yes, patience. He sets us in excellent working conditions - except for the fellow worker in our office that is constantly distracting - so we can excercise forgiveness and, yes, patience.

As I was writing I began to realize I had a theme going. It's not just patience, it's forgiveness too. Being willing to let go of perceived wrongs or petty annoyances. Guess I've got work to do there too.

I gotta tell ya - I'm sure looking forward to that resurrection day when the trump resounds and the dead in Christ rise and we who are alive meet them in the air to ever be with the Lord! That day when I will be perfectly forgiving and perfectly patient at all times. Imagine never being annoyed at anything. Never taking an unintended slight personally. Never getting *stuck* in traffic. Always knowing that where you are and what you are doing and even thinking is exactly where you are supposed to be and what you are supposed to be doing and thinking and that you are pleasing God at ALL times!!!! I, for one, can't wait! :-)

The Demons also believe - and tremble . . .

2006-03-27T19:37:00.000-08:00

So, what is it that makes the Christian's "belief" in God different from the Demon's belief? I think this is a crucial point for understanding true salvation. James 2:19 states, "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble!" Satan & his clan all know, and understand far better than you or I are able, the nature of Christ - His union with God the Father in diety, His incarnation, His sinless life, His selfless sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection. They, above all on this earth, *believe* the gospel. They know it is true beyond a shadow of a doubt. They witnessed it.

So - what does the Scripture really mean when it says in that famous John 3:16, "that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life"? There are a lot of folks out there who truly believe they are saved because they believe the facts of the gospel and they point to this verse as evidence of their salvation. They live their lives as "good" folks and one day, they will wake up in the throne-room of God and hear Him say, "Depart from Me, for I never knew you!" What an awful deception they are living in. What a terrible awakening it will be on that day.

Why won't their belief in "Jesus as personal Savior" save them? Because that's all He is to them - the one who took away their sins through His sacrifice. They neglect the greater and more important part of their salvation - Christ did not just die for our sins - He Rose to sit at the right hand of the Father. We cannot just accept Him as Savior, we must also bend the knee to serve Him as Lord.

This is what makes true Christian belief different from that of the demons. They refuse to bow the knee in submission and are, therefore, justly condemned. How can we expect it would be any different for us? Our belief must lead to a humbling of our hearts. He must be Master or He is not truly Savior.

James answered the question this way, "But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?" Man does not "want" to know - it means submission - it means allowing God to run our lives, to do with us as He pleases (as is His right). This does NOT mean that we work our way to heaven. That is not what James is gettting at. A person can do all kinds of good works and not be in submission to God (Matthew 7:21-23). And we know from other passages that salvation is solely by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8-9) and cannot be earned by good works. James is declaring a simple fact - that one who is truly redeemed and who has bowed the knee to Christ as Savior AND Lord, will *naturally* do good works. Good works do not prove true faith, but true faith will always result in good works.

I challenge you to examine yourself now - to see if you are truly in the faith. Are you wholly submitted to Christ as Lord? Do you obey and honor Him habitually? Now is the time of humbling - the time to completely submit. "Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart, and lean not to your own understanding: In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

Life Lessons

2006-03-27T19:23:00.000-08:00

So, the original intent of this BLog was to glorify God in proclaiming His work in my personal life. Busy-ness and distraction has resulted in some straying from that goal so it's time I got back to it.

I'm supposed to be at a women's fellowship meeting tonight. I fully intended to attend. I had one little task that I really needed to get done before heading off and figured that the 1/2 hour I had at home before the meeting started would be amply sufficient. I was wrong. So the meeting started 40 minutes ago and I'm just grabbing a bite of dinner. Clam Chowder :-) It was a ministry related task and the information I was working with was time-sensitive. I could have set it aside for this meeting, but I really felt it was important to get completed.

In part, I'm disappointed that I'm missing this meeting. I wanted to hear tonights speaker - she's in my shepherding group and she sits at my table for this women's fellowship group. I was very interested to hear what she would say - I think we are probably like-minded on many issues but we never have time to just sit and talk. Also, I kinda feel like I'm letting my table leader down. This group only meets once a month and I missed last month due to a sore throat.

On the other hand - my week is packed and having this time to BLog is a real blessing. So I am grateful that the Lord is the One who arranged my schedule this evening.

How do you love me? Let me test the ways . . .

2006-03-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Physical Touch
with a secondary love language being
Quality Time.

Complete set of results

Physical Touch:		9
Quality Time:		8
Words of Affirmation:		8
Acts of Service:		4
Receiving Gifts:		1

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

Supposing Severus . . .

2006-03-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe it's been over a month since I sat down to write. This one will be brief as I have other obligations this evening, but I'll catch up later this week.

For now - I wanted to share a Harry Potter theory that popped into my head as I was doing dishes this evening . . .

The caveat is that this is a fresh idea and I have not the slightest clue as to whether it's even possible.

What if Severus Snape were an unwilling horcrux for Voldemort? We know horcruxes can be living - though I'm not sure if they have to be willing or just how much power the piece of the soul would have over the occupant. The were some indications in Sorcerer's Stone that the individuals will is still somewhat their own.

What if Snape went to warn the Potters that Voldemort had found out about them. What if, for whatever reason, he arrived only in time to see Voldemort nearly destroyed by the backfiring curse that gave Harry his fame. What if, in his last moments, Voldemort saw Severus and split part of his soul into him?

Severus does have the ability to block his thoughts from others - evidently with a fair amount of ease - perhaps that skill is constantly being honed as he is on guard against the evil within?

This would most certainly answer the reason for Snapes hatred of Harry - in a way, Harry's to blame.

It's a thought. Maybe a foolish one, but there you have it :-)

New Experiences

2006-02-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

Hello all :-)

I'm sittin' here at the Holiday Inn in Skokie, IL & just had to take some time to fill you in on all the really cool blessings God has dumped on me this weekend :-) Mostly it's a lot of first time experiences - and since I love new experiences, I'm pretty much on cloud nine right now :-D

It started with my very first - ever - out of town "business" trip . . . and boy was it "out of *town*" :-) It's actually my 2nd trip to Chicago - the last time I was here was in '93 when I came for the Urbana Conference. The weather (though still icey cold) is much better this time.

On the flight here, both our (I'm traveling with a co-worker) first and connecting planes got delayed on the tarmac at their arrival gates - the gates we needed being occupied by other planes :-/ This kind of delay was also a first ever and since I was already on a bit of a natural "high" from being on my first ever business trip, I really didn't mind the delays at all :-)

When we got to Chicago I was thrilled to have my first ever cab ride - - though, thinking back, I think there was one time in 87 or so (when I was going to school in Virginia) that I took a cab from the airport to the college. But it was my first time in a Chicago cab :-)

Then we got to the hotel - click the link in the first line of this post to see where we're at - it's **really** nice! The evening concluded my first-ever hot tub experience with co-workers. Been in a hot tub before, but always & only with family or friends close enough to be called family. As I'm terribly self-conscious about exposing too much (yeah, I'm a bit of a prude), this was a big step for me. But we had fun and I didn't spout off about my insecurities and embarrass myself too badly.

Today was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! My co-workers (Tim & Lalap) and I rented a car and headed to Chicago to visit the Museum of Science & Industry. What an amazing place. We saw so many cool things - Networld put us in the shoes of "data" on the internet; the Fairy Castle was totally enchanting; Old Town Main Street offered up an amazing look at Chicago history - including a few minutes of an old Charlie Chaplin film in an old-fashioned theater.

The two best exibits included the U-505 Submarine & Robots Like Us. I'll save the best for last . . .

The submarine exibit was amazing. I learned so much about WWII that I never remembered (if it was ever taught) from high school history class. Those subs nearly cost us that war - our world would have been totally different if God hadn't stepped in and given one man a bright idea and then made that idea successful. You can read more about it here. We got to see the actual captured sub, but the best part was the way it was presented - all the history visually & audibly displayed really took you back to that era and brought home the serious ramifications of that weapon. In 1950 over 1,500 of our subs were taken out by these things - that's about 5 subs - and their crew - taken out each DAY!

It was a good history lesson and a reminder of why we must never forfeit the freedom so many have given their lives to protect.

OK, now to the best part of the museum visit - the Robots Like Us exhibit. Now, of course, being a sci-fi fan, you would expect I'd be excited about this exhibit - and I was - but I got a surprise I never would have expected. Aside from seeing actual Star Trek uniforms and even the Sentinel (really big!) from Matrix . . . I got to see . . . .

drum roll, please . . . .

Robbie the Robot - from Lost In Space!! My very first favorite science fiction program!!!! I've always loved that robot ("Danger, Will Robinson, Danger) and I have and autographed photo of Bill Mummy (Will Robinson) from the Babylon5 series. But to see the actuall Robbie was - - -beyond exciting. I can't quit smiling about it!! YES, he even SPOKE to us :-) - he was the "welcome committee" to the exhibit. This was not a guy in a suit - it was the actual robot. It was SO COOL!

Well, as if that wasn't enough (and it was more than enough), we went to dinner tonight at a restaurant recommended by one of our managment from work. He didn't warn us it was a "dress up" place and, since we went on our free day, we were all in jeans - but it was o.k. - they still treated us like royalty :-)

I HIGHLY recommend Myron & Phil Steakhouse. The decor is warm yet classy. The staff are professional yet friendly. The food is absolutely out of this world! Of course, it's pretty pricey too. One of my co-workers & I had the "special" and it turned out to be a $35 plate! Average price looked to be around $28-30. They served up liver pate, diced onions, fresh bread & a tray of pickled tomatoes, roasted bell pepper & cucumbers. I'd never had liver pate before and the waitress (I hesitate to call her that because it felt more like being taken care of than being waited on . . . more family-like) was very helpful in explaining the standard procedure for eating it - without a single ounce of condescension for our ignorance.

Yeah, I like liver pate - it was really good! As was my 18 oz T-Bone steak and my cream spinach. We topped it off by sharing a single slice of "death by chocolate" cake . . . oh, my, goodness! That HAD to have been sinful, it was SOOOOOOOOO good!

Well, that's my day so far. Now it's off to the hot tub again :-)

The Next "Survivor" Series

2006-02-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

*I, for one, LOVE this idea!* - - Though I doubt there'd be a surviving winner by the end of the show :-P

Six men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must
- take care of his 3 kids;
- keep his assigned house clean;
- correct all homework;
- complete science projects;
- cook;
- do laundry;
- and pay a list of "pretend" bills with not enough money.
- - In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment.

He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care (weekend, evening, on a holiday or right when they're about to leave for vacation).

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

There is only one TV between them, and a remote with dead batteries.

Each father will be required to know all of the words to every stupid song that comes on TV and the name of each and every character on cartoons.

The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, which they will apply to themselves either while driving or while making three lunches.

Each man will have to make an Indian hut model with six toothpicks, a tortilla and one marker; and get a 4 year old to eat a serving of peas.

Each man must adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep their nails polished and eyebrows groomed. The men must try to get through each day without snot, spit-up or barf on their clothing.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

He will need to read a book and then pray with the children each night without falling asleep, and then feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair each morning by 7:00. They must leave the home with no food on their face or clothes.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each man will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

They must clean up after their sick children at 2:00 a.m. and then spend the remainder of the day tending to that child and waiting on them hand and foot until they are better.

They must have a loving, age appropriate reply to, "You're not the boss of me".

The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years...eventually earning the right to be called Mother!

After you get done laughing, send this to as many females as you think will get a kick out of it and as many men as you think can handle it.

Tea

2006-01-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

Fresh mint tea made from freshly cut mint leaves grown right in my own apartment :-)

Yummmmm

Thoughts

2006-01-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a taste of what's been running through my mind recently:

Why do wives feel their husbands have to meet their needs? Wasn't it the woman who was created to be the "help" mate? Now, I'm not a wife so I'm not speaking from experience - though I don't think experience is the deciding factor in this matter. Seems to me the Scripture is pretty clear. Wives are to consider their husband more important than themselves - Phil. 2:3; submit to their husbands - Eph. 5:22; and excercise true agape love in their relationship - which happens to include suffering long, being kind, not seeking her own way, bearing all things, and more - I Cor. 13.

Yeah, there are Scriptures directing the husband to love his wife and live with her in an understanding manner and be the leader and so on, but if you're a wife, that's none of your business. That's God's business. Your responsibility is to do YOUR part - not to "encourage" him to do his part.

In general, seems to me, most wives ought to shut up and love more and expect less. Probably would result in happier, more responsive husbands. . . . just a thought . . .

Poland - Short Term Missions . . . . my next vacation???? Worth considering . . .

Our spiritual leaders deserve a LOT more respect than we give them. 1 Thess. 5:12-13, "But we request of you, bretheren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work..." Notes on this passage:
1. Paul doesn't give the leaders noted in this passage a title - indicating the work is more important than the title.
2. "diligently labor" - the greeek infers "work to exhaustion" Anyone who knows someone in ministry knows this is so very true.
3. "among you" - infers involved leadership, not detached.
4. "have charge over you in the Lord" - These are not self-appointed leaders, but those God has called to ministry.
5. "give you instruction" - to direct/correct/change the flock to holy living.
6. "esteem them" = obey them
7. "very highly" = exceedingly; superabundantly; overflowing
8. "in love" = "agape" - it's not a matter of personal liking, it's unconditional love; also indicates cultivating an intimate relationship with knowledge that leads to esteemed recognition.

How well do you know your spiritual leaders? How do you show your "high esteem" and appreciation of them?

That's all for now :-)

Husband 1.0

2006-01-26T08:33:00.000-08:00

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance - particularly in the flower and jewelery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0. and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes
the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed, Desperate

____________________________________

Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System! Please enter the command: "http: I Thought You Loved Me.htm" and try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, over use of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background, that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck
Tech Support

NBC cancels 'Book of Daniel'

2006-01-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

I received this email letter today - nice to have a little good news delivered :-)

Dear Deborah,

NBC's anti-Christian program The Book of Daniel has been cancelled! Your efforts, combined with those of hundreds of thousands of other AFA Online supporters, had an impact. NBC's decision to pull The Book of Daniel shows the power of the pocketbook. NBC didn't want to eat their economic losses. Had NBC not had to eat millions of dollars each time it aired, NBC would have kept The Book of Daniel on the air. Because of your efforts, the sponsors dropped the program. NBC then decided it didn't want to continue the fight. Even an impassioned plea by Daniel's producer Jack Kenny could not match your participation. "Ordinarily, I would never ask anyone to do this, but the AFA and bullies like them are hard at work to try and prevent you from seeing these beautiful shows, and that is censorship—pure and simple. And that is both un-Christian and un-American," Kenny wrote. His attitude is typical in today’s society. Non-Christians telling Christians what is Christian. People like Kenny don't want people like you to have a voice. They want to deny you the right to get involved. You are supposed to sit back and take the trash. And when you do speak up they call you names. This shows us that we don't have to simply sit back and take the trash, but we can get involved and fight back with our pocketbooks. I want to thank the 678,394 individuals who sent emails to NBC and the thousands who called and emailed their local affiliates. Thanks for caring enough to get involved!

Sincerely,

Don
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and ChairmanAmerican Family Association

Bountiful Blessings!

2006-01-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

To quote a well-known angel, "I bring you glad tidings of great joy!" Although my news is not nearly as wonderful as the birth of our Savior must have been - it's still pretty cool!

Dad got a job!

Not only did he get a job, but God gave him the best job I can imagine Dad ever wanting to have - here's the perks:

1. Stress free environment - the place he's working for is a family-owned business and they all seem to be pretty easy-going, kind folk!
2. Pay is sufficient to allow them to move out!! They're not rushing to it, of course, they want to find just the right place (I'm confident God already has their new home set aside!).
3. The company will pay for the fuel for his truck. Since they don't have a company truck to offer him, they figured this was fair :-) We'll take it!

And the best news . . . . drum roll please . . . . .

It's at a golf course - and, yeah, he gets as much free golf as he wants! :-) That's my dad's absolute favorite sport and this is the best excercise for him!!!

Dad's gonna be the guy that keeps everything running out there (no, I don't know the name of the place, sorry . . .) so he gets to use his mechanicing skills in an evironment he loves.

God is better than good - He's over-the-top awesome! Thank you, Lord, for your kindness and generosity!

Can You Pass??

2006-01-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

This was fun! Let me know what you score. I got 21 right :-P

Citizenship Test

Very interesting questions. How well would you do if you took a citizenship test? Try this one out - it is educational and fun. 24 out of 30 is considered a passing grade. It's reported 96% of all high school seniors FAILED this test ... and if that's not bad enough, 50%+ of all individuals over 50 did too! Now for the test ... Click on the link below.

www.toast.net/games/Independence/page1.asp

Fortunately the correct answers are given ... after you are graded.

Home From The Holidays

2006-01-08T17:21:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

There's tons to share, but I need to be brief tonight since I need to play catch-up on some website work for my brothers church - http://www.gracebiblecs.com/.

I learned so much on my "vacation." Life has really changed now that my earthly family has gone in such different directions. I never realized how much till this last Christmas. That was difficult for me as I'm not a creature who enjoys change - though change seems to be the one constant in life. It's a good thing, really - a sign of growth. Since God's character is really the only existing constant, change keeps us reliant on Him in so many ways.

Here's a taste of what God's been showing/teaching me since my last post:

Luke 15:11-32 (a.k.a. "The Prodigal Son") isn't really about the Prodigal son at all. Yeah, he's ONE of the key supporting characters, but the key figure is the FATHER. Read it through again and look for what the Father does. Dr. MacArthur recently did a few sermons on this parable that have really opened my eyes to what this parable reveals about the character of our Heavenly Father. Putting the story into it's historical context has given it whole new life and meaning for me. Everything the Father does demonstrates amazing humility, mercy, grace, kindness, and an indescribable, unashamed (or "shameful" according to the religious folk of that day) lavish love. I'll definitely be putting together a nice long post on this one - it's astounding!

I Thess. 5:8-11. It doesn't come out directly in the passage, but while discussing this in Bible Study I was struck with the correlation of spiritual warfare and physical warfare. Warriors through out history fight for many reasons, but generally it came down to loyalty to one's sovereign, protection of their honor, and - here's the clincher - protection of the warrior's own family. Why do we pray? Why do we arm ourselves with memorization of Scripture? Why do we obey the Word and confront sin & encourage one another? Why do we fight the good fight? Why are we not to be weary in well doing? Because we are protecting our family! Not our physical brothers & sisters - our Spiritual family. The church! When we fail to do all that the Lord has commanded, we weaken the defenses that protect our family against the enemy. Definite food for thought!

I Cor. 13:5 "Love. . . is not provoked. . . "
Pastor Tom Patton takes this little phrase apart in 3 astounding sermons - EVERYONE should listen to these! They are life-changing and relationship-changing. I'm considering writing out his sermons as posts they are SO convicting and challenging. Love is a VERB - and it's one that calls for total sacrifice of SELF! All of his sermons on this chapter are well worth listening to, but the one's on not being provoked and on forgiveness have struck me hardest.

Well, that's all I have time for right now. More in the days to come :-)

Political Humor

2005-12-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

Hurry

1- Go to www.google.com
2- Type in "french military victories" ...without the quotes.
3- Instead of hitting "Search" hit "I'm feeling Lucky" (the 2 boxes are side-by-side).
4- Tell your friends .....before the people at Google fix it!

Three Cheers for NARNIA!

2005-12-12T19:53:00.000-08:00

A great big KUDOS and THANK YOU to: Director, Andrew Adamson; Producers Mark Johnson, Cary Granat, Perry Moore, Douglas Gresham, and Joel Stillerman; and Writers Ann Peacock, Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely!

I've been in love with this story from childhood and was really afraid they'd slaughter a big screen production of it - but I was happily and overwhelmingly surprised by the absolutely amazing job they did! The cinematography, CGI, costuming, acting, and everything else that goes into making a movie, were done to excellence. Better yet, they really stuck to the story!! Much of it was practically word-for-word with the dialogue in the book.

And best of all, the person of Christ - His love, sacrifice, majesty, and power were beautifully portrayed in Aslan! The gospel was so clearly presented to "he who has ears to hear" and eyes to see.

Needless to say, I highly recommend it. I'm definitely going again. OH, and, don't forget the kleenex . . . you're gonna need it ;-)

Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire

2005-12-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I've seen the movie twice now - and read the book inbetween viewings. The first time I came away a very impressed with the graphics and somewhat content with how they squeezed in the necessary plot points from a 700+ page book into 2 1/2 hours. In truth, it is way too much story for so little time - it needed at least 3 hours to be done properly.

Last Sunday, after a very busy week and social obligations Friday night through late Sat night, I took Sunday afternoon off and just read. I re-read the balance of the book in one sitting (I had gotten about 100 pages or so into it over the course of the previous weeks). The following Monday, I went with my friend Mark to see the movie again.

This time I came away much more disappointed - primarily because there were things they changed they didn't HAVE to change and because the 2nd time through, the arguement of "not enough time" to include a lot of the stuff they left out, rang quite untrue.

***Caution - Spoilers!***

There were tons of places where they could have conserved time simply by following the book rather than changing things up to leave out "unnecessary" characters - like Dobby. I don't mind so much that they started Harry out with the dream at the Weasley's instead of at Privet drive - and they did a good job with the dream - I didn't mind them bringing Barty Crouch Jr. into the story at this point. I DO mind, however, that on their way to the Portkey, someone asks Mr. Weasley where they're going and he replies "No idea." He knew precisely where they were going and the change only serves to insult the intelligence of this character. Yeah, Mr. Weasely is a bit eccentric - but he's a smart man with a lot of inner strength that shows itself later on. There was simply no reason to demean his character in this way.

Putting the Weasley's in a different box from the Malfoys was also an unnecessary change - another way of demeaning Mr. Weasley. Yeah, they're poor - but the do have some friends in high places and, in the book, they had really decent seats thanks to those connections - - connections which are vital later on!

Leaving out Bill & Charlie was also not needed and Bill will be important in the next part of the story. Neither were essential to this story, but it wouldn't have hurt to introduce them here.

Leaving out the Veela was a big mistake, in my opinion. Without the explanation of the Veela, you miss a huge part of who Fleur is and why she affects the boys the way she does - - without this information (which is never introduced in any way in the movie), Ron's blurting out an invitation to the ball to Fleur makes no sense. We needed to know that part of her character.

Leaving the muggles out of the World Cup was also sad - especially when it came to the DeathEater scene. Again - the changes they made were not needed - they could have spent the same time on telling the story properly. They did not need to separate Harry from his friends, they did not need to wait till everything was destroyed to introduce the dark mark. It really would have been a much more intense and exciting scene if they'd stuck to the book.

I didn't mind that they left the whole S.P.E.W. subplot out - it really served no strong purpose even in the book. All that plot did was explain a bit more about the nature of house elves, which doesn't end up meaning much to the overall story in the end.

Pieces of the tournament were also changed without any obvious reason. Again, they were untrue to character. Dumbledore would never shove Harry like he did in the movie. He has always loved Harry like a son and KNOWS without having to ask that Harry is innocent of the charges brought against him. There is no doubt. I'm sure they were just trying to infuse intensity into the scene, but again - if they'd stuck with the book and let the characters be themselves - the same goal would have been accomplished and it would have been better.

When Hagrid introduces Harry to the dragons they are in cages rather than being wrangled - why? My guess is that they didn't want to have to do more CGI. . . it is a bit expensive. (more on that thought towards the end). And, again, we leave out Charlie who explains these are "nesting mothers" - an important aspect of the first task. Then they change the color and appearance of the horntail - to their detriment, I believe. The dragon described in the book is far scarrier than the one they portrayed.

They also changed the battle Harry fights with the first dragon. It's as if they felt the dragon was the most important part of this scene and that a theatrical display of this dragon was essential. If they'd done more with the four dragons hidden in the forest and portrayed the horntail as it was described, they would have gotten just as many ooh's and ahh's from the thrill seekers who don't care about story and just want to see cool things flying around. A crucial piece of the puzzle here is the escape of the dragon and the whole flying around destroying roof tops stuff. TOTALLY unnecessary! The way it was done in the book was wonderfully exciting and kept the characters IN CHARACTER - the "nesting" mother shouldn't have wanted to leave her egg; the adults and students should have been panicking (not just ducking) and probably trying to hide from an angry loose dragon! Again, would've been better and still within time to stick with the way it was written.

The second task was done much better - though again, there were several unecessary changes - including the appearance of the mer-village and, most notably, the mer-statue that the "hostages" were supposed to be tied to. Another cost-cutting measure??

The maze was also terribly dissappointing. This was the last, and should have been the most exciting task. If they'd stuck with the book, it would've been! As it was, it was just a lot of running away from bushes. They also changed who saved who before getting to the Tri-Wizard Cup and left out Harry's injury. Both of which lent to much better defining of Harry and Cedric's personalities. The way it was done in the movie, Cedric's character (throughout, though especially here at the end) is never developed sufficiently for the viewer to get attached to him, and thereby truly mourn and be angered by his senseless murder. Cedric's character is flat in the movie when he was so alive in the book - they really did him a disservice.

The revival of Voldemort and the return of his servants was, in all the really important aspects, really well done. There were some minor changes that, again, weren't needed, but they didn't hurt the scene or the characters at all. I do think that it would have been more heart-stopping and exciting to exit Harry as it occurred in the book - Voldemort came in much too late after Harry called for the portkey and escaped with Cedric's body.

The last gripe I'll mention is the setting up of Barty Crouch Jr's character. When he's defined in the movie is while Harry is in the pensieve. They deviate from the book to have Karkaroff accuse him - which isn't so bad, but when he reacts with violence, that is TOTALLY out of character. The key thing for character development of Crouch Sr. is the condemnation of his son who is terrified, proclaiming innocence, and pleading with his father. I felt it was a true disservice to his character and his dad's to not give them this relationship and show that he might have actually been innocent in the beginning. Azkaban changes people, and that's what happened to Barty Jr. It also leaves out the sacrifice his mother made. Not an important plot point, but an essential character point.

In Summary: They sacrificed character for theatrics and they sacrificed story for time they lost in emphasizing the theatrics. I think the reason they changed so many scenes was that to do it properly, though it could have been done in the same time-frame, would have cost more money. Perhaps they're getting a little greedy?? In so doing, they have betrayed their primary audience. We who have been faithful to read and watch the movies - we who have become fans - deserved a much better effort than this last movie demonstrated. It is not one I will go see again and I will purchase the DVD begrudgingly just to have it in my collection. Perhaps there will be an extended version that will fill in some of the missing pieces. I almost feel like it simply needs to be re-done.

"Christmas"/"Holiday" Rant

2005-12-09T17:57:00.000-08:00

O.K. Time to speak up on this cuz it finally hit home today. This whole deal about businesses opting to use the word "Holiday" (which actually refers to the whole season of holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years) in place of the word Christmas is out of hand and downright UNFAIR. They didn't replace "Thanksgiving" or "New Years", just "Christmas".

Now, here's why I'm really peeved about it tonight. At work, I sent out a notice about our upcoming "Christmas" Potluck. Later that day, I was cautioned that future emails about this event should refer to it as holiday. Now, the person advising me of this was NOT trying to be mean or judgemental - they are in a position that requires them to consider protecting the company and using the term "Christmas" when we know it may offend some of the folks in the company puts the company at a higher risk exposure for legal problems. I'm not upset with that person - in fact, I really like that person and I do agree it is probably better for the company that I be a little more politically correct.

Driving home tonight, it started bothering me that the same courtesy I'm asked to show to others is NOT reciprocated by those around me. There are two gentlemen who have desks in the same office as mine - one is always saying S--- and the other is always using far more foul language. Both of those guys and a couple from the warehouse and a couple from the inside sales desk freely discuss offensive acts and share offensive jokes within my hearing. All of these guys know these things offend me.

But I can't use the word "Christmas"?

How come CHRISTIANS are the ones who have to roll over and play dormat in EVERY aspect. Both in refraining from offending others while biting our tongues when others offend us! Foul language & "course jesting" flies through the airwaves at us everywhere we turn - on over-loud radios (they call it "music" which is an insult to the term), in everyday course language we have to overhear because we're in the same room and not deaf, on TV, in billboards glaringly posted so you can't help but see. But how dare WE use the phrase "Christmas"! ????????

The problem, of course, is not the word "Christmas" - it's just the first half of the word, "Christ". Any other word would never be questioned - but the name of Christ is powerful and the enemy is bent on wiping it from our mouth and mind. We MUST fight back. We must use the name of Christ in every possible situation - exalting the name of Christ and glorifying Christ at every opportunity. Sharing the gospel of Christ in casual conversation, speaking of the goodness of Christ, sharing the blessings Christ has poured out upon us, discussing how we depend on Christ in our times of trial.

I, for one, refuse to roll over and shut up. I'll respect the company, but I intend on finding creative ways to fight back - starting with a talk about fairness in regards to limitations on self-expression. If they limit my rights to avoid offending others, it should work the other way around as well. Too long have we been silent - time to Roar!

Which Hero Are You

2005-12-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

Fun little quiz - you should check it out :-)
Here's my results:

You scored as Lara Croft.

A thrill-seeking, slightly unscrupulous, tough-as-nails archaeologist, Lara Croft travels the world in search of ancient relics perhaps better left hidden. She packs two Colt .45s and has no fear of jumping off buildings, exploring creepy tombs, or taking on evil meglomaniacs bent on world domination.

Lara Croft 92%
Batman, the Dark Knight 79%
Maximus 75%
William Wallace 75%
Neo, the "One" 63%
The Terminator 54%
The Amazing Spider-Man 54%
Captain Jack Sparrow 54%
El Zorro 46%
Indiana Jones 46%
James Bond, Agent 007 42%

Christmas - This one's for my family

2005-11-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

I do have some more "spiritual" posts in process. If you don't know me well, this will seem like a pretty selfish post. Those who know me well will see that I am using this format only for practical purposes. Christmas is approaching and, though there is much to be said against the commercialism of it and the loss of the true meaning - that is not the purpose of this post. Since I am far apart from my family, I am going to use this particular space simply to communicate some needs that I have and some things that have caught my eye so that, come Christmas day, as the Lord provides, perhaps some of these needs/wants will be met. I believe this will help us all to be good stewards of the Lord's money :-)

Needs:

Clothing - most everything I have is pretty aged and is starting to fall apart.

I could use a couple more pair of jeans (I really like the St. Johns Bay style at JC Penney) and I am pretty desperate for some slacks - I only have two pair and one of those is corduroy with a bleached out part across the tummy that I always have to hide when I wear them :-P.

I could also use some nice blouses - most of what I have is a little too casual for work - speaking of which, some work outfits would be really useful (though I'm not real big on jackets - I have tons but don't tend to wear them).

I don't need sweaters and I don't really need skirts unless they come as part of a suit. And I really don't need coats or jackets of any sort.

I could use a new set of drinking glasses and/or juice glasses. I just broke another one last week :-( so I'm down to 3 glass glasses that match :-P and 2 plastic ones.

Wants:

Well, we all know the big one on this list ;-) So I won't mention that here as we all know that's up to God and not you or me :-)

Aside from that, here's some things that I would love to have in my home:

A guitar - I've had the urge to pick it up again :-)
Harry Potter and/or LOTR "Scene It" game :-)
Ivory wall stuffs - like candle holders or mirrors or other decoration.
Coffee Table (small but rectangular) - preferrably with drawers - storage is at a premium in my little studio apartment!

Colossians 1:13-20

2005-11-20T10:41:00.000-08:00

The sermon in Sunday School was from Col. 1:15-18. What follows is not that sermon, but what struck me as I was reading the passage before class started. I always try to read the passage ahead so I have a general idea of where we'll be going in the lesson - sometimes something new will jump out at me - this is one of those times.

Since we've been going through the book of Colossians, I went back to verse 9 to get the context for the days lesson and because verse 9 starts with "For" - which always references the previous text as the foundation for what follows - I went back to skim the beginning. These are my thoughts from this reading:

After greeting the church, Paul expresses how grateful he is to hear that the Colossian church is growing in the knowledge of God and expressing that outwardly to fellow believers (Ch.1, vs. 3-8). Because of this (note the "For" that begins verse 9), he has not ceased praying for their continued spiritual growth and the outward expression of that growth in their daily lives - that they would walk worthy, be fruitful, increase in the knowledge of God, be strengthened so that they might be more patient & longsuffering with joy (note again the word "for" in verse 11), and that they might give thanks to the Father.

This signals a transition in Paul's focus - from what he prays for to WHO he prays to. He lets the Colossians know what kind of growth he prays they will experience, ending that list with giving thanks. Paul prays that the Colossians will give thanks to God, then goes on to expound on God. The word "Father" comes up and Paul is driven to go deeper.

As a side note - isn't it interesting how our conversations can start out with a phrase or two of praise and quickly turn to requests, needs, earthly things, and so forth. Though I haven't researched it, my bet is that much of the NT writings are like Paul's in this passage (even if not, it's still an interesting correlation) that start out with prayer requests and "friendly commentary" and turn naturally to extolling God and Christ. Paul cannot write without exalting Christ. My bet is he couldn't have a casual conversation without exalting Christ. I am convicted that if my focus were constantly on the pre-eminence of Christ, as it ought to be, that all my conversations would ultimately turn toward exalting Christ.

Beginning with verse 12, Paul takes an in-depth look at who this "Father" is. Following are the verses, followed by the thoughts that struck me:

12. giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
13. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
14. in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
18. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
19. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
20. and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Why should the Colossians (and why should WE) give thanks to this Father? First, because He qualified us to join in receiving the inheritance that awaits "the saints in the light." That's a great phrase - saints in the light. It says volumes in so few words.

How did the Father qualify us? The second reason we should give thanks to the Father: He has delivered us. He took us out from under the power of darkness and put us under the power of "the Son of His love." Being a citizen of a kingdom makes you subject to the master of that kingdom. Being conveyed into the kingdom of Christ makes us His subjects. This gets into a whole other topic that I am preparing another post on - discussing the reality of the "death" of our sin "nature" - so I won't go into detail here except to say that this is only further evidence that sin has NO power over us. period. This verse is very clear - we have been delivered from the power of darkness and we are now under the authority and power of Christ.

As a subpoint to the deliverance we should be grateful for, is the redemption that brought about this deliverance, through the blood of Christ (v. 14). It is interesting to see the equality of redemption with the forgiveness of sin. One could say, "we have redemption (i.e. forgiveness of sin) . . ." I almost went back and re-wrote this paragraph because I'm uncomfortable with the use of the word "subpoint" in reference to redemption. But I can't. The grammatical outline of this text makes it a subpoint - even though it is key. Without redemption, there is no deliverance. The focus in this verse, however, is not on redemption - nor is it really even on deliverance - though those are essential elements. The focus in this verse begins on the word "He" then moves to "the Son of His love."

The Father begins as the focus of this passage as Paul takes us from giving thanks to the Father (v. 12), to a reason for that thanks - that He has (1)qualified us to partake in the inheritance, (2) He has delivered us from darkness, (3) He has conveyed us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. He then shifts focus to the Son, the means of that deliverance and and conveyance. Ultimately, the means by which we are qualified to partake in the inheritance.

Verses 15-18 are pure exaltation of the person of Christ. Christ is the means and the purpose of creation. Had you ever seen that? I hadn't - all of creation happened FOR Christ - not just by Him, not just through Him, but FOR Him. That's a good one to meditate on. What does it mean that all of creation occured FOR Christ? As part of that creation, created FOR Christ, how should I then live? What purpose does that lend to my life??? Amazing purpose, amazing preciousness and uniqueness as well.

I don't really need to go into each and every verse, though I would encourage you to go back and read them through slowly. Pause at each comma, at each period and consider what that tells you about God, about Christ, about who you are/should be in response to that knowledge - for it is by the TRUE knowledge of God (Father, Son & Spirit) that we mature and develop the strength we need to live righteously unto him (see my post on the defintion of "I" for more on that idea).

I hope this little study has encouraged your heart and turned on a few lightbulbs for you as well. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it :-)

A definition of "I" - musings

2005-11-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

I started this post over a month ago - looking into what makes up "I". This stems from the Paulline quandry of the Spirit vs the Flesh - Righteousness vs Sin. The key section of Scripture for this perusal is in Romans 7:14ff:

14. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
15. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
17. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
22. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
23. but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
24. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
25. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Gotta tell ya, this one's tough. Each time I think I've got it neatly figured out, some verse or idea comes to mind that throws a wrench in the works. The big question has to do with the flesh. I am not, nor will I ever be, Armenian in my theology - lets get that straight first. Now, the question comes as to the Flesh and sin. The verses above seems to indicate that sin dwells in the flesh - flesh in which we are confined.

Through other scriptures, this perception of self is upheld (as when Paul says "I buffet my body and make it my slave"). The flesh does not appear to be who we really are, but we are, nonetheless, responsible for the actions of the flesh.

Here are some quandries I face with this: v. 17 & 20 refer to "sin that dwells in me." This seems to correllate "me" (or "I") with the sinful flesh.

If sin is in the flesh - then what did Christ die to redeem? If it is not in the spirit, then the spirit had no need for redemption as it was not in sin. If it is in the flesh, what do we do with "Od things are passed away, behold all things have become new"?

These are not faith-breaking issues - they are just questions that, if answered, may help us better understand our relationship with God. For now, I view it thusly:

"I" am neither the flesh nor the mind, "I" am Spirit. Once "I" was dead, another "I" was alive and enslaved to sin - a willingk, even eager prisoner of the flesh that encases me. Then, God whispered my name and called the dead me to awaken (sort of like the Lazarus thing, only strictly in the spiritual sense). When I obeyed, the old me was killed. The new me - alive to righteousness - is imprisoned in, but not enslaved to this flesh, which is thoroughly infused with sin - so much so that, without sin, this flesh would not hold together (hence the new bodies in the rapture). The new me has as much, if not more, of a desire to do righteousness as the old, now dead me had to do evil.

Though imprisoned, I have been given the power to dominate my flesh and cause it to do righteousness (II Peter 1:3 "seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.).

**What follows just hit me as I was typing - this is new to me and really enlightening - dunno why I haven't seen it before!**

But note - that power comes "through the true knowledge of Him . . ." This is why prayer and study of the Scriptures is so essential. Without knowledge - TRUE knowledge of Him, we are too weak to master the flesh and its desires. The more true knowledge we have of our Lord, the stronger we are and the more able to "buffet my body and make it my slave" as Paul said. ** This is maturity **. Wow. Lightbulb just went on for me . . .

Would love to hear your thoughts on the matter!

Catching up - again :-)

2005-11-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been eons since I've posted - life has been wonderfully busy! Mostly with church stuff, which is a good kind of busy :-) Last month was extremely demanding with several Worship Team obligations (practices & leading worship for Sunday School and an additional event) and Bible Study, Game Nights, and a few other miscellaneous things. Just finding time to do laundry was a challenge :-P

One of the greatest things I got to do last month was hit Disneyland with some friends <>. (pictures will be posted, hopefully next week). One of my buddies, Mark, was a totally amazing guide. He really knew how to take advantage of the "fast pass" option. We got to go on every ride we were interested in - a couple of them twice!

The gang was kind enough to let me keep a family tradition (which was especially important to me as my family wasn't there) and hit StarTours first and last :-) It's still so cool . . . I just wish we'd actually GET to Endor one day! (derned pilot!) I think it would be totally fun to ride one of those speeders through the trees :-) . . . well, till the inevitable crash, that is.

The way-coolest new ride, in my humble opinion, is the Buzz Lightyear! We get to shoot the Evil Emperor Zurg and all his little minions!! Half-way through the game/ride I figured out we could turn our seats (a.k.a. "star cruisers") all the way around! It was SO Cool!!! First time out I racked up enough points to be a Pilot! (that's 3rd level out of 6 . . . or 7??). Second time out I had a chair to myself (they're made to seat two), so I grabbed the gun for the empty seat and competed against myself :-) I WON! and I lost :-( Either way, I still had a total blast! (pun intended).

We even went on autopia - which I'd never been on - at least not as an adult. We went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (twice), Indiana Jones <> (twice), Splash Mountain, Matterhorn, Winnie-the-Pooh (major scrunchies in the tiny seats!), and even rode the carousel (woulda been romantic, but without a hunny, it was just fun ). I had a beautiful mare decorated with mauve and blue. Her wild mane and tail whipped up by the wind as we flew around the world (in my ever so healthy imagination anyway ).

Oh, and, yeah, we did go on Space Mountain. Still a cool ride, but not really spiffed up enough to justify 2 years out of service. Much darker - which was really cool. Couldn't see your hand in front of your face unless the stars were being projected on to them. Kinda made me afraid to put my hands up though . . . not knowing where the structures were :-)

Things are slowing down a bit for this month, which is good because I *need* to do my Christmas shopping!! . . . and next month is going to be packed. I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year - I get to be with family AND I get snow!!! :-)

I was hoping to do all my gifts on a cash basis, thanks to a generous bonus from my boss - but I'm not terribly great with saving extra cash so I'm gonna have to do some on credit.

Spiritually, I like to think I'm growing - - I hope so anyway. I've been attending Bible Study (which I didn't do last year), and the monthly women's ministry group out of my Sunday School class (which I also skipped out on most of last year). We're studying Thessalonians in Bible Study, Philemon in the women's ministry meeting (3 months/lessons on "How To Study Your Bible" with Philemon as the sample text), and Colossians - which is a great tie-in to Philemon - in Sunday School. Our Senior Pastor is taking us through a lengthy, meaty, and beautiful exegesis of Luke. Lots of good stuff to absorb.

I know I need to write out some of what I've been learning - that's next on the list of "things to spend time on the computer doing."

I'm also involved in some ministry work this year - Worship Team for my Sunday School class is the biggest one. I've also been asked to help keep up the website for our church AWANA program - I look forward to getting started on that as soon as they send me the administrative info I need to access the site :-) My brother has also asked me to help with the Youth portion of his church's website. Again, as soon as I get the details, I'm really looking forward to digging in :-) It's really great to be able to use the skills I've learned out in the secular world to help accomplish things for the church :-)

Well, that's it for tonight I think. Disney pics & some sermon summaries coming soon :-)

Dentists

2005-10-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

Having had some really awful experiences with Dentists in past years, I've gotten into the habit of simply taking really good care of my teeth and only going to the Dentist office when there is a "need." (i.e., I don't go for regular teeth cleaning or annual exams). So far that's meant about 3 visits in the last 15 (or more?) years . . . the 3rd being yesterday.

A brief history to give you some perspective. When I was a child I had to have some major work done - to this day I don't really know what it is they were doing. It was like a scene out of an alien abduction movie. I would think it was just a nightmare if my mom didn't remember it as well. She remembers not being let in the room. I remember wanting her in the room and a black tarp placed over my mouth which was held open with some clamp thing and the tarp was used to hold the needles in place. I remember being terrified, I remember the needles hurting - alot - and I remember the doctors being angry and telling me to be quiet.

As an adult, about 10-ish years ago, I needed my wisdom teeth removed. The dentist who determined this was really nice, but he had to refer me to a surgeon to have the procedure done - all 4 teeth removed at once. I have a terrible fear of needles, had never had surgery on anything before, had never put under before, and never had an IV before. I got all these in one wack. I explained this to the doctor who seemed a little unsympathetic - he seemed to think I was being a little childish. It took them 3 tries to get the IV in - finally got a vein in the back of my hand - major ouch! When I came out of the drug-induced sleep I was sluggish and a little queasy - which, I think, was to be expected. The doctor & nurses were ready to go home. I was their last patient of the day and I'd taken entirely too long to wake up. He flat out told me that if I couldn't rouse myself enough to make it out of the building, he'd give me another shot (knowing I was terrified of needles)! This kicked in the adrenaline caused by fear and, with mom's helping arm, I staggered out of the office vowing never to visit a dentist again!

This past Monday, a piece of one of my molars broke off . . . a rather large piece. This was not unexpected as my fillings are all old and that particular tooth had a particularly large filling . . . plus, I like to crunch on the partially popped popcorn kernals - and we all know that's bad for teeth.

One of the guys at work recommended a dentist. As this particular co-worker can tend to be a whiner about anything that causes him the slightest discomfort, I figured there was a chance this doctor would be at least a little gentle.

I visited the dentist yesterday - and it was the best experience I've ever had with any physician of any sort! He wasn't really communicative - he was very focused on his work - but he was kind, and he did explain what I needed to know, and he was very, very gentle! I ended up needing a crown for the tooth. He explained what this meant. It took 3 shots, one in the roof of my mouth (ouch, but not overly much so) and after that I pretty much didn't feel a thing :-)

I have to go back in a couple of weeks to have the temporary crown replaced by a permanent porcelain one, but I have no fear of the impending procedure . . . in fact, I'm kinda looking forward to it :-) . . . that's partially because he said no needles would be required for this part of the process ;-)

So here's the conclusion. Fear must never be allowed to control our decisions. Our faith and trust must always rest in God to either keep us from harm or keep us through it. We must understand that our God is sovereign - only then can we take our childhood fears and find release from them in facing them through HIS strength.

Perhaps that seems a little disconnected from the dentist story, but it's not - it's the underlying lesson through it. I would not have been able to go to the dentist years ago to have my wisdom teeth removed if I did not trust God - it that case He carried me through the challenge. If I had let that experience deter me from trusting God in this most recent incident, I wouldn't have been able to have the positive experience of being protected.

All praise & honor & glory to HIM :-)

zero to 200!

2005-10-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

A couple had been debating the purchase of a new auto for weeks. He wanted a new truck she wanted a fast little sports-like car so she could zip through traffic around town. He would probably have settledon any beat up old truck, but everything she seemed to like was way out of their price range.

"Look!" she said. "I want something that goes from 0 to 200 in 4 seconds or less - And my birthday is coming up. You could surprise me."

For her birthday, he bought her a brand new bathroom scale.

Services are pending.

Truth

2005-10-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

This post may get me into some trouble, but it's weighing heavy on my heart today and I really must get it all on the table - or at least as much as I am able to for the moment.

This morning, a man that I have trusted to be a spiritual leader in my life said something that broke my heart - because it was not true - because it was not carefully handling the Word of God. Todays comment brought a fierce, violent upthrust of HUGE RED flags waving vigorously and my heart plumeted. As if this wasn't bad enough, it happened again, with a second individual - a man of God, whom I respect, totally denying what I have always considered an evident truth of Scripture and contradicting the teachings of the Senior Pastor in our church - openly - and only I spoke up against it - all others in the group swallowed these spoon-fed lies like honey.

My heart breaks at this.

Here is what was said. The first man, took us to Jude 20-21 as a reference verse for our study in Colossians, said (quoted as closely as possible but not verbatum), "People say when they sin, 'It's okay, God still loves me' - but that's not true. Here we are instructed to 'keep yourselves' in the love of God. . . If you sin, God does not love you - not in the same way."

This is a lie and a terrible misinterpretation of the Word.

Here is what the Scripture says about the love of God and sin: Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 8:29-39, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. . . . Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?. . . . For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, or any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Philippians 1:6, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

God's love is AGAPE love - unconditional, just like His grace and mercy - bestowed freely on those He has chosen. There is no "condition" upon which God can/will love me more or less. I did nothing to deserve His love in the first place and there is nothing I can do to temper it or change it or lessen it in any way. His love is freely and unreservedly and wholeheartedly poured out to me. Period.

Yes, sin, when I foolishly choose to indulge the flesh, creates a gap between me and my Lord. But it does not change His love for me in any way. Sin is a barrier I put up between God and I that hampers His hearing of my prayers - not because He loves me less or differently in my sin, but because the sin is such an offence that it receives His full attention first.

Consider what you do when you have a child that has asked for some bread - it's a legitimate request, breakfast was several hours ago and you know that child must be hungry - but that child has just drunk something you know to be deadly poison to her - something you had previously and frequently forbidden her to drink. What do you do first? Offer the bread?? NO! You get the kid's stomach pumped. Only when the life-threatening issue is taken care of do you hear the plea for a piece of bread. Sin is poison and dealing with it will always take priority for God in the lives of His beloved children. Does your love for that child change because she drank something you told her not too? God forbid it should be so!

What this man said about God's love being conditioned upon my sin or lack thereof, borders on works-based Christianity. Re-read the Romans 8:29-39 passage again - better yet, read the whole thing out of your own Bible. Then read Romans 8:1-10, "There is therefore NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit . . . But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness."

Works will not get you into heaven. IF you are His child - There was NOTHING in you or that you did that caused God to choose you and there is NOTHING you can do to cause Him to reject you. His work was *complete* on the cross - He is THE way, THE truth and THE life - no one comes to the Father but by Him.

Now, some will take this and say (as did the Romans) - so then, once we are saved we can sin all we want and our place in heaven is secure. Such a statement reveals a total lack of understanding about what salvation truly is. And this is where we get into what the other spiritual leader in my church said that broke my heart.

He said we have a "sin nature." I boldly spoke up and said, no, we only have one nature (refrencing II Cor 5:17), "old things have passed away; behold ALL things have become new" - when we sin it is because we have heeded the flesh, not because of a sin nature. I was immediately and decisively shut down with refrences to "imputed righteousness" and the self-evident battle we all face daily against sin. At that time, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the Scripture that commands a woman to be silent in the church (I Cor 14:34), so I held my tongue . . . and I wept.

Let's go back to II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." Then Romans 8. The whole chapter is well worth a read through, but I want to pull out verses 9 & 10, "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." If we also reference Romans 8:29-30 and then Romans 7:15-25 where Paul clearly shows us that our "nature" - the NEW nature of the Believer, is to desire to do righteousness, "with the mind I myself serve the law of God . . ." then we begin to see that a truly redeemed child of God, will not seek opportunity to sin banking on their eternal security in Christ. A truly redeemed child will SEEK - will DESIRE - will WORK to honor God in all things.

Will we continue to sin? Unfortunately, yes. Our flesh is still with us - it is part of us until we are changed either through death or through the rapture when Christ clothes us with incorruptible bodies. It is strong . . . and some might consider it the "sin nature." But it is no longer our nature - it is now a responsibility. A tool to mold us more into the image of Christ. Every time we come up against the desires of the flesh and choose righteousness, we affirm HIS work in our lives. Everytime we fail and follow the desires of the flesh, we are driven to our knees in humble repentance, and so doing, demonstrate the grace and mercy of our loving Lord to forgive, to teach, to strengthen and encourage. In this we say of our sin, with Paul, "But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find."

Here then is the glorious conclusion: I had nothing to do with my salvation. I have nothing to do with maintaining God's love for me. Moreover, I have nothing to do with growing in spritual maturity (Philippians 1:6). It is ALL of GOD and God ALONE. I have no glory to claim in the beginning, middle, or end of this process because it was and is not of me. Now, having been found a recipient of His gracious mercy, I strive ever more to honor Him in all that I think and say and do. Ever mindful that the flesh in which I dwell is in rebellion against Him, I constantly seek to know Him more - having my mind renewed (Ephesians 4:17-24, esp. v 23; Colossians 3:10; Romans 12:2) so that I might successfully run the race set before me - buffeting my flesh and making it my slave.

God begins the process. He makes the spirit of the believer alive to righteousness and, in so doing, sets in motion the natural processes that will accomplish His work - to perfect us into the image of His Son.

Will He Jump?

2005-10-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

This is a great blonde joke :-)

Homer, a handsome man, walked into a sports bar around 9:58 pm. He sat down next to this blonde at the bar and stared up at the TV. The 10:00 news was on.

The news crew was covering a story of a man on a ledge of a large building preparing to jump.The blonde looked at Homer and said, "Do you think he'll jump?"Homer says,"You know, I bet he will."The blonde replied, "Well, I bet he won't."

Homer placed $20 on the bar and said, "You're on!"Just as the blonde placed her money on the bar, the guy did a swan dive off of the building, falling to his death. The blonde was very upset and handed her $20 to Homer, saying, "Fair's fair. Here's your money."

Homer replied, "I can't take your money, I saw this earlier on the 5 o'clock news and knew he would jump."

The blonde replies, "I did too; but I didn't think he'd do it again."
Homer took the money.......

Benjamin

2005-10-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

I was on the phone with my mom today when she said "Oh, Look! Benjamin just took his first steps!!!" <> a few moments later she says, "I think he just said 'da-da'!" Sure enough, he got on the phone and said "da-da-da-da" :-D

Oh, how I wish I was there!!!!

(for those who don't know - Benjamin is my nephew, the first son of my brother, who is also my very best friend in the whole world - they live too far away to visit often and I miss them)