O What a Wonderful, Wonderful Day...

O what a wonderful, wonderful day, day I will never forget;
After I'd wandered in darkness away, Jesus my Savior I met.
O what a tender, compassionate friend, He met the need of my heart;
Shadows dispelling, with joy I am telling, He made all the darkness depart.

Chorus
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul, (filled my soul)
When at the cross the Savior made me whole; (made me whole)
My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day,
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul! (filled my soul)

Born of the Spirit with life from above into God's family divine,
Justified fully thru Calvary's love, O what a standing is mine!
And the transaction so quickly was made, when as a sinner I came,
Took of the offer, of grace He did proffer, He saved me, O praise His dear name!

I have a future in heaven for sure there in those mansions sublime.
And it's because of that wonderful day, when at the cross I believed;
Riches eternal and blessings supernal, from His precious hand I received.

Today was a day full of delight and praise for us...Hannah and Josh were both baptized surrounded by family and close friends. Back on Jan 2, Josh committed his life to Christ, and Hannah did the same on July 4. I put their testimonies below...

 

 

 

 

Hannah---I was a good kid growing up in a Christian family. I knew that I was a sinner from going to church and reading the Bible. One night, I was praying for something to happen, and God answered. I started thinking more about God, and I wanted to believe in Him. So I prayed and asked God into my heart, and now I want to please Him. I try to be more like God and not be mean to Josh. I think more about God now and when I’m about to do something bad I pray and ask God to help me not do it.

Josh---My name is Josh Weber, and I’m nine years old. I was born in a Christian family. One night I was thinking about if I was going to go to heaven. Then I started crying and was going to wait till morning to talk to mommy and daddy. But, then I decided to go that night. Upstairs I talked to mommy and daddy about being a Christian. I need Jesus so that I won’t go to hell, and he would forgive my sins. We prayed and asked Jesus to accept me. Now Jesus is in my life and the Holy Spirit. I think about Him more and want to please him. I know that Jesus will always help me in hard situations. 

Even Donkeys Speak

This book has been what we've been reading for first thing in the morning "Bible time." It is a compilation of 19 stories about God's work in Asia through the Gospel for Asia ministry. They are a ministry we've supported for a long time both by sponsoring kids and missionaries and general needs. The book tells of how God does amazing things to further the spread of the gospel. There are many sad stories of persecution and many stories of people seeking help and having their prayers answered. I must say there is a small feeling of "health and wealth gospel" in the stories, but on the other hand, I know that God can miraculously heal/provide if/when He desires to. Overall it's an encouraging read of how many serious obstacles are overcome and how God has won people to Himself through a variety of means. 

deck demolition has begun...
before:
 

in progress:

 

 

 

Gifts 503 - 513

Watching a gorgeous sunset, writing out thankful things...good way to spend an evening.

503 - sermons that challenge you - Dave passed along this great sermon on missions by Platt

504 - good reminders

505 - wispy clouds

506 - overcoming crankiness
507 - tootsie rolls
508 - pastels of sunset
509 - patches of rainbow
510 - cherry pitting assembly line
511 - playing volleyball
512 - boys playing football
513 - water balloons

some more lake pics - these are from one of my favorite spots - Deer Point
 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't Escape, Engage

This last year or two have been ones of change in my mind. I'm looking at the world differently...at people differently in particular. God has been working in my heart to be diligent about engaging people at a spiritual level when the opportunities arise. For most of my adult life, I've worked towards surrounding myself with wonderful people...and I do have the most excellent friends. I've also worked towards escaping from the world as much as possible. That is good in many ways as there are truly many defiling things everywhere, but I've come to see that we aren't called to escape out of the world, but to engage the world for Christ. We all have a limited life span, and this life is the only time we'll be to proclaim the excellencies of our Savior to a lost and dying world. So, now, I'm looking for ways to seek out relationships where I can be a witness, even in some small way. Rather than escaping to my book in a public place, I can engage the person sitting near me. Rather than escaping to my friends at an event, I can engage someone I don't know. Rather than escaping to the comfort of my home and family, I can engage my neighbors. Living for Christ requires getting out of our comfortable, self-made, happy, tidy bubbles and getting into the uncomfortable, uncertain, sometimes scary, messy world.

As I've been working on this post, it occurred to me that I've also been focusing on engaging my Christian friends a lot more at a spiritual level. If our desire is truly to become more Christ-like and God-honoring, empty conversations about the weather and such aren't going to get you there. So not only do we need to be open and honest about our struggles and failures, but we also need to be ready to respond to others with spiritual truths...and that isn't always easy. Most of us have sins in our lives that we like pretty well, and we don't like someone pointing them out, but someone who truly loves you will be willing to say the hard truth while supporting and praying for you along the way.

I definitely still have a long way to go on both of these areas of engaging, but I'm thankful for God adjusting my mind set to live purposely for Him now rather than wishing I had done more looking back.

 

 

 

 

 

Yielding to the Spirit

I was reading tonight and wanted to share this good section:

I yield, Lord, to Your Spirit. I pray that He will fill me today and minister to me and through me. May He enlighten and nourish me through Your Word, strengthen my inner person, and fill my heart to overflowing with Your love. May He produce in me the very temperament of Jesus--His ways of thinking and behaving and reacting. Father, may this be especially true in my relationships--family and otherwise--in which I'm most prone to act and react in unloving ways.

---pg 74, 31 Days of Prayer

my cherry girl...we are blessed with two cherry trees at the cabin...yum!
 

 

 

 

 

Alexander the Great

We just finished reading what is probably my favorite living history book so far...Alexander the Great by Nikos Kazantzakis. It was originally written in Greek and then translated into English. I believe the reason I enjoyed it so much was because it stuck so closely to the historical character and gave a good storyline to make him and his exploits real. It wasn't a dry reading of facts, but a living reading of the life of an amazing figure. Reading this book gives you a wide breadth of knowledge of Alexander and clearly shows why he is called Alexander the Great. 

As with all historical novels, I have some level of concern about the veracity of the information. So, I looked him up on Wikipedia, and it appeared to be quite credibly written acknowledging most of the major occurrences in Alexander's life. There is no mention/allusion to his questionable sexual preferences which I appreciated (Wikipedia seemed to say that there is no concrete evidence of them historically anyways). One picture in the book is slightly questionable as it is a pencil drawing of the backside of Alexander as he tames Bucephalas in the nude. 

If you are doing this time period in history, I highly recommend you order this book or borrow it from me. I definitely have a substantially greater grasp of who Alexander was and the times he lived in. This book is not limited to children, but would be an excellent read for adults as well. 

the moon was huge on the 4th of July - seen off Dave's right shoulder
 

everyone cozied up
 

 

 

and we had a couple of fireworks to set off once we got back
 

Gifts 487 - 502

We are having the most tremendous lightening storm I think I've ever seen right now! It's been going on for at least an hour and has both heat lightening and streak lightening...amazing! What an incredible display of God's power and beauty...

487 - incredible lightening show

489 - fluffy little quail chicks

490 - watching fireworks from the boat

491 - seeing unexpected friends

492 - that God never changes

493 - studying scripture slowly

494 - delicious brunch

495 - completing deck plans

496 - boys engrossed in books

497 - girls engrossed in organizing 

498 - getting rid of a terribly pokey bush

499 - a bag of delicious cherries from a friend

500 - knowing this life isn't it

501 - knowing people going to the mission field

502 - easy dinners

getting read to leave for fireworks
 

 

 

 

Nothing Much

It's been a lovely day being at home and getting lots of random things done around the house. I'm not really feeling like writing much tonight, so just thought I'd share a couple of arbitrary thoughts...

First off, for the first time, I grilled corn on the cob. Maybe everyone else has already done that for years, but not me. We all (except Josh) were pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted. Basically, I hadn't wanted to boil water for corn this evening since the temp was around 100 so figured we could grill it. All I did was soak it in water for around 10 minutes, then place on a pretty hot grill (around 400) for about 30 min. turning every time I remembered. The amazing thing is that the husk and silk comes off really easy, and the corn was nice and yummy. Much simpler than boiling it on the stove.

Secondly, I am sad to say, but all those freezer meals my friend Heather and I made the other day have turned out pretty lousy. She has made two and I've made the other two and neither of us have wanted to make them again. So, hopefully you haven't already spent a day cutting and chopping like we did...I still want to do it again, but research out better recipes next time. Live and learn, I guess. We have, however, been enjoying the goodies. :)

Thirdly, here are some more pics from the lake...isn't my 4th of July girl cute?

 

the kids had a great time in the water...Evans especially seemed to enjoy it
 

 

 

The Lake

We've been gone these last couple of days enjoying Dave's birthday and the 4th of July up at the cabin. The weather was lovely and all of Dave's family were able to be up there. The cousins ran round and round, swam in the lake, ate tons of cherries, did some wake boarding, watched cartoons and enjoyed lots of food. The adults mostly relaxed although Dave Sr. and Susan always have some projects going on around there. I actually read a whole book, and we did my favorite lake activity - watched the fireworks from the boat. I'll post more pics over the next couple of days. I hope you've been having a great week as well. :)

Dave's bday breakfast with my folks before we went up to the lake

 

Birthday pie later on that night
 

relaxing in my favorite chair looking up at the beautiful sky
 

What I Want

I was having an argument in my mind last night...one side said, "I'd really like to have a big bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce on top." The other side responded, "You aren't really hungry and don't need to eat more junk anyways." Back and forth, back and forth. I then thought, "But, I really want a snack." And then this thought entered, "Who really cares what you want? You're not supposed to make choices based upon your wants, but based on what is right/best." That is a pivotal distinction for a Christian - the world tells us it's all about what we want - the Bible tells us it's all about pleasing God. True happiness is not found in fulfilling our every desire, but in submitting our desires to the One Who knows best. In the moment, self-gratification seems great...but in the long-run, self-discipline yields the greatest reward. Live for eternity...not for today.

fruit, anyone?

The Roman Mysteries

This series found it's way into our library bag as I was searching for additional living books on Rome. The stories are centered around a group of young friends as they try to solve various mysteries that come their way. The four friends are made up of a Roman girl, an African slave girl she purchased, a Jewish boy (whose family converted to Christianity and is persecuted for it), and a beggar boy. As you read through the story, you pick up bits and pieces of how Rome (and surrounding areas) was during the 70s-80s AD. This first story I read was a tad bit gruesome as it dealt with the mystery of who was decapitating dogs for the purpose of scaring people away from some gold...I think the author chose that route rather than having the troublemaker killing people. It doesn't appear that the rest of the series has that type of thing. One thing I particularly liked was the author addressed some bad choices the children made later on in the book. For example, they snuck out of the house and at the end of the book, it was made clear they shouldn't have done that. So, if you're looking for some overall fun reading for your kiddos with a bit of history mixed in, this series may work well for you.

doesn't this look yummy for breakfast?