Another Doctrine

Again, this is not ment to be serious. As far as I know the bible says nothing about guys wearing ties. The verses quoted in this section were completely taken out of context.



Trevor - A tie is a symbol of being held captive. Christ has released us from the yoke [which goes around one's neck - exactly like a tie] of sin. You see, ties are a symbol of being held captive to sin.

Elizabeth – we have now become slaves to righteousness so we are still slaves

Trevor - Yes, but
“For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:30
Obviously this can't be referring to a tie.

Elizabeth - We are to be slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:17) and the Greek word (δουλαγωγέω ) Paul uses there means “literally to lead into slavery,” or figuratively, relating to one’s physical body and bringing it under control. What does a tie do? It brings your body under control.

Trevor - Yes, a tie brings your body under control, but under what control? It brings it under the control of the sinful self who is willing to do anything, and I mean anything sinful to get rid of this tie. You see a tie brings a person under control, but it is the control of the sinful self.

Elizabeth –
1 Cor. 4:17
“For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, “ (eternal weight of glory=guys look good in ties)

2 Tim. 2:3
“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."

2 Tim. 2:8-10
“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”
If Paul endured chains, I’m pretty sure you can handle a tie.

Trevor - If forgetting where it's found but somewhere it says that when suffer you should make sure that you suffer because of Christ and not because of the wicked things that you have done. Since wearing a tie most definitely does not fall under suffering for Christ, it must fall under the category of wicked things.

A Gentleman's Conduct Toward Ladies.

My sister posted this on her blog, but I figured that since it was for guys I would post it here.

Gentlemen are at liberty to invite their lady friends to concerts, operas, balls, etc.,to call upon them at their homes, to ride and drive with them, and make themselves agreeable to all young ladies to whom their company is acceptable. In fact they are at liberty to accept invitations and give them ad libitum. As soon, however, as a young gentleman neglects all others, to devote himself to a single lady, he gives that lady reason to suppose that he is particularly attracted to her, and ma give her cause to believe that she is to become engaged to him,without telling her so. A gentleman who does not contemplate matrimony should not pay too exclusive attention to any one lady.1887

About the author

For my portfolio for Englis class I had to write an "about the author" page. This is what I wrote.

Trevor [last name] is a charming, handsome, brilliant young man who has soaring and adventurous plans for his future. He plans to hang loose at Whatcom Community College for a couple years while he takes several classes that will transfer over to his prestigious degree in architecture at Washington State University’s School of Architecture. There he will study architecture for what he feels is the rest of his life. After completing school he plans to get married, have 3.75 kids, buy a big house with a white picket fence and of course own a dog named Rover. But for right now Trevor lives with his father, mother, and two siblings in a small town named Bellingham, Washington. Before he dies he hopes to drive a car backwards at 100 mph, do a perfect captain jack impersonation, and see his mother bungee jump.

A Little Push From the Pundits

*America's Next Top Kitten*

So cute

Requirements for being a pastor at Silver Beach Community Church [this is just a joke by the way.]

Ok, so I need all of your guys’ help to make this as extremely accurate and complete as possible. So PLEASE comment for what I can add to this list. Thanks

1 Your oldest child must be a daughter

2 Your wife must have black hair.

3 You must be bald, balding, or graying

4 You must have a light, preferably white, car [I’m not sure of this, however. Is Pastor Lind’s car white?]

5 Must live in a two story house.

6 must have an occasionally rye sense of humor.

7 must have played Mega church-the game


So I really need your help to make this as complete as possible. [Again this is just a joke.]

My Song

Narnia remake, or satan worship?

I’ve been noticing that a lot of movies have been coming out lately that really resemble the Narnia series. The Spiderwick Chronicles. Bridge to Terabithia. The Golden Compass. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising. Besides a little magic, some of them seem pretty innocent. Others, such as Golden Compass, sound like devil worship. Now if you watched the trailer for the Golden Compass you probably think I’ve gone off my rocker. I mean come on, sure it has a little magic, but it’s pretty much an innocent movie right? Well read this quote from Philip Pullman, author of the book series that this movie was based on.

"if there is a God, and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put down and rebelled against. As you look back over the history of the Christian church, it's a record of terrible infamy and cruelty and persecution and tyranny. How they have the bloody nerve to go on Thought for the Day and tell us all to be good when, given the slightest chance, they'd be hanging the rest of us and flogging the homosexuals and persecuting the witches."

There are many parallels between Golden Compass and Narnia. Talking animals. A big scene having to do with a wardrobe. A figure that represents God. However while the God figure in Narnia is a loving, yet mighty character who is willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice to save his often disobedient children, the God presented in the Golden Compass is a tyrant who “needs” to be rebelled against. For writing a book that resembles Narnia in many ways, Pullman says that

I hate the Narnia books, and I hate them with a deep and bitter passion… with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a
falling-away.

Plugged in, a ministry of Focus on the family, describes the book series as…

…a series of fantasy novels aimed at children that loosely draws inspiration from John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost. This time around, however, "God" gets overthrown and the "Fall" becomes the source of humankind's redemption, not failure.

So what makes the movie seem almost demonic to me? Because witches as presented as the good guys, and every person in the movie has a soul in the form of an animal called a dæmon [pronounced demon]

I find it incredibly scary how innocently this movie is presented. By watching the trailer you would guess that this is just a narnia remake.

If you’re interested in watching the trailer here’s a youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj61Q5KPues&feature=related

If you want to read lugged in Magazines article on the movie
http://www.pluggedinonline.com/thisweekonly/a0003516.cfm

Adriane's song [second try]

An explanation

Ok so Mike’s and Mr. Sutherland’s songs were pathetic. Hay there aren’t a lot of me/dad songs out there are there was nothing good enough for Mikey, so I had to settle for the next best thing – Rascal Flats.

No, I did not forget Chris, but you’ll have to follow the link to get to his song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEPe4fZNf74

Adriane’s song is hopefully self explanatory

Yes Nicole and Dillon, your songs were meant to be a slam. [be happy I haven’t apologized about it… yet]

Mrs. Sutherlands song was just supposed to honoring of her job as a mother. It was better than the second chose for your song. That was the theme song to desperate house wives.

If you listened to all these Nicole I would be very impressed. I mean that would be 7 COUNTRY songs














Ps. Sorry about the slam Nicole and Dylan

Mike's song

Nicole's song

Mrs. Sutherland's song

Dylan's song

Mr. Sutherland's song

This was a tough one so I just picked a generic daddy song.

Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live

I don't like Obama, but it makes fun of Hillary and the other Democrats.

Love the Lord w/ Lincoln Brewster

Learning from others

What if someone were to believe everything presented to him? He would end up pretty confused. What if a man was building his house and took advice from everyone passing by. One person said to build a country-like wrap around porch. The builder built this. Another said the exterior walls should be contemporary. Make them out of a mixture of mettle, concrete and bricks. The builder built the walls in a contemporary style. Still another passer by told the builder that the interior should be styled like a Native American hut. Again, the builder built the interior to look like a Native American hut. Needless to say the builder’s house would look very odd. Probably no one would like it. You see the builder didn’t decipherer advice. He just took in everything that came along.

Up to this point I have mainly discussed this topic from the aspect of someone giving advice. However we must also look at this topic from the prospective of one who is receiving this advice. A student may be presented with all the right information that a parent, teacher, or book can give him, and yet if he lives life with a mindset of not believing anything, what good are all those resources to him? To refuse someone else’s advice is prideful. Take the classic example of the man refusing to stop for directions. What is he doing? He is refusing to take the advice of someone else. Why? He is being prideful. What will it cost him? Lost time. As teenagers our pride is put into overdrive. If we’re presented with a difficult math assignment, are we willing to go to a friend who is knowledgeable in math, or are we afraid to ask for help? What will we lose end up asking for help? We may end up being slightly embarrassed, but probably not as embarrassed as we would be if we got an f on the math test.

A good balance is where the parent or teacher realizes that sometimes, a person must learn things for himself. In addition, the other end of that is when the student realizes that sometimes he must let go of his pride, decipherer the information given to him, and realize that he cannot always discover everything for himself.

Learning from others part two

Every parent knows that children need to learn some things for themselves. A parent would be foolish to pick a baby up every time it falls. If the parent did this, the poor child would never learn to walk. The parent must let the child learn for himself. All the lectures in the world about the importance of money will do nothing for a child unless he is forced to make his own money.

Unfortunately some parents don’t realize that life is also to be learned. Everyone needs advise. Why should we travel a road someone else has traveled? Now if this is an exiting road, say learning to walk, there might be a difference, but letting teen try harmful drugs when the parent knows people who have gone down that road and discovered it to be harmful and dangerous, would be foolish. Abstinence from drugs is either avoiding harm or the avoidance of unnecessary time spent “experimenting” with that dark and slippery road called drugs. Learning to walk is a good thing. The baby will have to do this anyways. There is a difference in-between letting someone try something harmful and letting someone learn a necessary part of life that will end up being for their own good. Might the baby get slightly hurt when he falls? Possibly, but not nearly as much as he would if he tried going through life without knowing how to walk. The same is not true for trying drugs. The harm is not worth the outcome because no outcome from that scenario is good.

There must be a balance in-between letting a child learn life and letting him live life. To say that someone should learn everything by learning from others would be foolish. In many instances the person would never end up learning anything. But to say, question authority, would be foolish, too. Yes we should question the information given to us, but we shouldn’t try to always come up with that information on our own. However we should be open to other’s ideas, not in a believe anything that comes along sort of way, but in a discerning of the advice given us. We must always find a medium. Neither extreme is good.

The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture

Maze Master II

Accepting other's information - part one

I find that an unfortunate amount of people today are afraid to learn from the mistakes of others. We feel that we must learn for ourselves. Why is it that history is not looked on as an essential subject? It is an important subject because it can teach us valuable lessons about life. For instance, if we were to look back on all the problems that war has caused over the years and how it has accomplished practically nothing, wouldn’t we be more willing to avoid a war? This is not to say that I am a pacifist. There are sometimes reasons for war, namely self defense, but the majority of wars in this world’s history could have been avoided if people had of realized what the outcome would be-nothing. You see that’s what history is. It’s a looking into the future by means of the past. In essence, history is just repeated over and over again because we are unwilling to learn and move on.

Now if a scientist were to try to come up with a theory that someone else had already come up with, say how to make a light bulb, he would be foolish. He would be wise to study the research already done on light bulbs. He could question the theory itself, test it, and see if he can come up with a better way of doing it, but to spend time “discovering” something someone else has already discovered, is utterly pointless. It’s reliving history. When we are presented with evidence, but say we think that we must try everything out for ourselves, we deceive ourselves into thinking that we our discovering something new.

My new blog [I'll still mostly post here]

Most of you probably know I am a big Country music fan. I love country music, but I also prefer the lyrics of a Christian song. Fortunately there are a few songs that fit both those categories. I have made a collection of music videos to those songs on my new blog called Christian Country Music Musings. Click here.

Don't worry I will still post on here. Or should I say I will try to post on here. Man Life is so busy these days.

Life at Whatcom

I apologize for not posting in a while. I have been very busy with classes at Whatcom. They have all been going well. I like all my teachers except for maybe my English teacher, but since I’ve only had two English classes I shall not judge her to badly yet. However she will be making us write 6+ pages a week. For me that’s tough. I shall try to, maybe write some good posts for you all here soon. You may be wondering if I could maybe post some of my works from English on here. The answer is maybe, but I would have to edit the writing extensively seeing as they are responses to essays we read. However I will hopefully get something posted soon.

Just in case someone wanted to know, I am taking math 98, English 101, Art 112, and a weight training PE class.

Today I bough drawing supplies for my art class. I felt so stupid. The teacher gave us a list of what we needed, and even showed us examples of what we needed, but when I got to the store and saw shelves upon shelves of art supplies that looked a lot like what I needed, it got a bit overwhelming. Art seams like it will be a lot of fun though. During the quarter we’re supposed to draw 50 short drawings [15 minutes or less]. We will also have larger projects both in and out of class.

Doctrines that I've invented

I would first off like to say that I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS NOR DO I KNOW ANY CHRISTIAN WHO DOES!!! These verses were taken COMPLETELY out of context. THEY ARE NOT BIBLICAL AT ALL.



Heresy #1

Proverbs 14:9 Fools mock

Since we don’t want to be a fool, we shouldn’t mock.

Matthew 5:11"Blessed are you when people insult you

Since we wouldn’t want to withhold people’s blessings, we should insult as many people as possible.

However, we must be careful only to insult and not to mock, because we don’t want to be a fool



Heresy #2

Matthew 6:17-18 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting,

See it’s biblical, we should gel [put oil on] our hair. And to those who would say that we should only gel when we’re fasting, I strongly rebuke you. We must always gel our hair otherwise people would know we are fasting because we’re wearing gel.



Heresy #3

Job 15:14 What is man… born of woman, that he could be righteous?

Obviously this verse is saying that the fact that men are born from woman is what makes us unrighteous.



Some of you may have heard all of these before, but maybe some of you haven’t. Again, I would like to emphasize that there is NO Christian on the face of this planet that believes this. THIS IS TOTALLY MADE UP. The verses are COMPLETELY taken out of context.

A modern book of Amos

For three sins of Kim Jong-il of North Korea, even for four the Lord will not turn back his wrath. For he has oppressed his starving people, refusing to give them food and concentrating all his energy towards military power.

For three sins of China, even for four the Lord will not turn back his wrath. For they have killed innocent baby girls.

For three sins of Colombia, even for four the Lord will not turn back his wrath. For they have traded in harmful drugs for the sake of profit.

For three sins of Syria, even for four the Lord will not turn back his wrath. For they have harbored terrorists

For three sins of Cuba, even for four the Lord will not turn back his wrath. For they have oppressed the word of the Lord

For three sins of Iraq, even for four the Lord will not turn back his wrath. For they have broken their promises made to other nations

For three sins of Great Brittan, even for four the Lord will not turn back his wrath. For they have turned from their former faith and have chosen to follow other God’s or the God of science.

For three sins of the United States of America, even for four the Lord will not turn back his wrath. For they have…


1 not sought after God

2 they have tried to bar God from their public places

3 their churches have focused on attendance records rather than God’s word

4 other churches have chosen to hate the sinner instead of the sin

5 they have craved wealth

6 they have killed the unborn

7 they have committed disgusting sexual acts

Just like in the days of Amos, our earth is full of godless nations, but unfortunately the buck doesn’t stop their. Just like in the case of Amos, our nation, too, is ungodly. And just like in the days of Amos, we shouldn’t be to anxious for the Lord’s judgment on other nations, because our nations judgment will be coming.

Problems with Evolutions

When comparing evolution and creation we are confronted with, of course, many differences, but surprisingly there are also many likenesses. Both evolution and creation require either something to have been present for forever, or to have been made from nothing. According to creation, God has been around for forever. To believe in evolution, you must believe that the first cell was either around for forever, or suddenly existed [poof, it’s there]. Both creation and evolution require the believer to take a leap of faith to believe. As I have said, both beliefs require something to either have been around for forever, or to have appeared all of a sudden; aka, both beliefs believe in the supernatural/unscientific.

Creation can’t be proven wrong-you can’t prove there is no God. However you can prove that key factors of evolution don’t work. Creationists claim that an outside force, of which we can’t prove or disprove, formed life here on earth. Aka, this is something knew and untouchable to us. Evolutionists claim that things that were formerly disorderly, or even non existent, were made into something orderly. We scientifically know this to be impossible. So with evolution we know the evidence; we know it isn’t possible. With creation, we don’t have the evidence, therefore we can’t know either way.

There is no way to prove there is no God. God can be anywhere, and in anytime. There is no way for us to prove that God does not exist.

According to the theory of evolution, one species slowly formed into another species by process of mutation. When have we ever known mutations to be helpful? They aren’t; mutations are harmful not helpful. If animals really did evolve from one species to another, why aren’t there more “missing links?” Surely if something slowly mutated into something else, there would be loads of fossil evidence. However the facts say other wise. There have been very few fossils found of the missing links, and the ones that are found are all questionable.

In conclusion, we know evolution to not be possible. We don’t know creation to be impossible.

Mega churhc: the game

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Features
Imagine if you could create the church you wanted, any way you wanted. Put together a worship service exactly the way YOU want: hymns, no hymns, drums, no drums. Are you from Wisconsin, start Polka Mass! Start a building campaign, ask for donations. Be the next Joel Osteen as you play Mega Church.

Product Description

*Pastor a simulated church and create your own Christian empire

*Build a church from the ground up

*Hire and fire staff

*Deal with idiots, naive volunteers, and denominational egos

*Attract fickle unchurched people with Bingo, revival meetings or fasting--it is all up to you!

*Select a pre-loaded community

*Xurban or suburban church plant (for those who want it easy or just starting out) Or pastor an inner-city, multi-ethnic 80 year old church with 50 members and $1 million mortgage debt (for those who really want a challenge)

*Choose a denomination (Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal plus many more obscure factions) Or load a brand new emergent plug-in

*Take weekly offerings and go over budget

*Start your own radio or cable-access show

*Attend the latest conference to hone your skills

*Implement the latest ministry fad

*Review weekly attendance and giving records

*Earn points with God by winning souls for Christ

*With network play enabled, you can steal members from other churches and earn points just like you saved them yourself.

*The possibilities are endless! To grow your church, work on all the strategic variables,

*Write a mission statement

*Choose a logo

*Get a billboard

*Hire a professional musician

*Buy plasma television for your PowerPoint presentations

*Prayer, study and preparation get thrown in there too--and the mysterious (or fickle) will of God!

*Deal with real-life scenarios including,
-Troublesome board members
-Elderly donor who wants to buy a new organ
-A son starts using drugs
-Your trusted deacon sleeps with your secretary
-The city starts a construction in front of your building
-Offering stolen

Denominations and Bible colleges use it to prepare potential church planters or associate pastors. It is better than an internship! Do it all without a degree, license or even the Bible! Just like Joel Osteen

Click here to buy

New Get Smart Trailer starring Steve Carell

This so dumb, yet funny

God’s Marvelous Handiwork [part 3]

In this last post of this series, I would like to talk about how nature reminds us of God’s awesome power. Psalm 19:1 says The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. The revealing of God’s power through creation has two affects. One is to show the believer how awesome God is. The other is to show believers that there is a God. In Romans 1:18-20, Paul tells us that because of the magnitude of God’s creation, no one has a right not to believe in God.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For  since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

There is so much that just doesn’t make sense with the process of evolution. Look at the Ant Eater for example. The Ant Eater’s mouth isn’t made for eating anything but ants, yet there are no other animals with a mouth shaped like the ant eaters. How could the ant eater have evolved slowly? In the process of its mouth growing out, it would have lost the ability to eat normal food, and still not been able to eat ants. So if the Ant Eater were to have evolved slowly, at some time or other along the way it wouldn’t have been able to eat anything. Aka, it would have died out.

If nature has such a powerful role as to show men that there is a God, I would like to see more of this nature. Wouldn’t you?


Clearly there are more reasons that nature is important, but I don’t have time to cover them all. I would like to say real quickly that I am not an environmental whack job. Someday I’ll get around to posting my non-to-gratifying view of environmentalists, but that shall come another day. In ending, I would like to say that I encourage you to find some form of outside recreation. Whether it be hiking, biking, camping, or jogging, I think you’ll be amazed at the beauty of what God has created for you.

God’s Marvelous Handiwork [part two]

In America we suffer from obesity, and guessing from the amount of weight loss books in Christian stores, and weight loss programs on Christian TV, I’d say that Christians have succumb to this failing, too. While there are many other issues involved in this problem, one of the biggest is a laziness that causes young and old to stay inside, glued to their electrical devices of entertainment instead of being outside, enjoying quality time together as families. When most people think of exercise they think of going to the gym. They think they’re too busy to go outside, but if you read this series, I think you’ll be persuaded that there are enough benefits of outside exercise to make it worth your time.


I personally really love the outdoors. It amazes me to think that God loved us enough to create a beautiful world for us to live in. 3-d vision, color, shapes; these are just some of the amazing gifts that God has given us to brighten our world. It’s sad that we take these gifts for granted. Think of the mountains. What practical use do they have? Yes, during spring the snow melts, giving us water to drink, but couldn’t God have provided another way to get water? Yes, but he didn’t. He loves us and he wants us to have something beautiful to see. Why did God make flowers so beautiful? Why didn’t he make them brown or black or grey? He did it because he loves us, and wants to give us good things.

If You're Reading This

In Rememberance of 9/11

God’s Marvelous Handiwork [part 1]

Our family just got back from an awe-inspiring back packing trip on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. It was awesome to get out into God’s magnificent creation and see his wonderful handiwork. I’m amazed at how many believers don’t take the time to see the beauty of God’s creation. This is the first post in a series that I will be writing to encourage you to get out and see God’s creation first hand. God has given us such lavish blessings, and yet why don’t we take time to see them? Besides giving beauty to our eyes, God’s creation also gives us an opportunity both to exercise and to see into the magnificent character our powerful God.


This world has created a false sense of beauty. We’ve said that beauty is the sexy girl with tons of mascara, in a bikini, on a magazine, in the checkout line at the grocery store. While God has created humans, and thus they are a beautiful creation, our society has taken what was beautiful, altered it, and made something revolting - sin. This paragraph may seam WAY out of place from the rest of this series, but I just wanted to make a point that God’s beauty is far better than earthly, sinful, “beauty.” I would also like to add that getting into nature usually gets you, at least partially, away from the false “beauty” of this world. It’s great to be out in the wilderness, knowing that you’re away from the bustle of people. And where there are less people, there are less temptations from the opposite sex.

We Stand United

We remember the events of September 11th

We sympathize with those who are still hurting

We support our troops, protecting our nation

We understand the war on terror must be won

We stand united, or together we fall.

Photos from this summer

Here are some photos I took on our backpacking trip.

They're not that great. I think I'm a bit out of practice.

Camping

Tomorrow our family [except for mom] sets out for a 3-day camping trip on the Peninsula. This will be our first hike in trip. The hike is 2 miles to the ocean beach and then about another 2 miles to where we want to camp. Please pray for safety.

I have a post almost ready to go for when I get back so don’t get too impatient.

"This is good"

In her book Lessons for a Super Mom [my mom’s book, not mine], Helen Middlebrooke tells this story that a friend of hers shared in Sunday school. While it isn’t specifically Christian, it does effectively remind us of how God is sovereign and how he works everything out for the best.

A king had a loyal and faithful cupbearer. The king trusted him completely. The two were friends. But the cupbearer had an interesting habit. In the most dire of circumstances, his first response was always to say, “This is good.”


One day, the king had a black-powder rifle. The cupbearer loaded it incorrectly and when it fired, it blew off the king’s thumb. The cupbearer said, “This is good.” Enraged, the king threw his friend into the deepest dungeon.


A year later, the king was traveling in Africa when a tribe of man-eaters captured him. As he was about to be cooked, the tribe’s leader noticed he had no thumb. Because they would not eat anything imperfect, the king was released.

He hurried home and to the dungeon. He was filled with overwhelming thankfulness, for he realized that had he not lost his thumb, he would have lost his life. The king
released his friend and could not apologize enough for having imprisoned him.


All the cupbearer said was: “This is good; this is good.”


“How can you say that being locked in a dungeon was good?!” the king demanded.


“Sire,” the cupbearer said, “I am your cupbearer. I am always at your side. Had I not been in prison, I would have surely been with you when they discovered your thumb missing. I would have been eaten instead. So this is good.”

I’d like to just share a couple nuggets that stuck out to me today. The first is a poem by Fanny Crosby.

More like Jesus would I be, let my Savior dwell with me;
Fill my soul with peace and love—make me gentle as a dove;
More like Jesus, while I go, pilgrim in this world below;
Poor in spirit would I be; let my Savior dwell in me.
If He hears the raven’s cry, if His ever watchful eye
Marks the sparrows when they fall, surely He will hear my call:
He will teach me how to live, all my sinful thoughts forgive;
Pure in heart I still would be—let my Savior dwell in me.
More like Jesus when I pray, more like Jesus day by day,
May I rest me by His side, where the tranquil waters glide.
Born of Him through grace renewed, by His love my will subdued,
Rich in faith I still would be—let my Savior dwell in me.

The second nugget I actually found by listening to Steven Curtis Chapman explain story behind the song You Are Being Loved off his soon-to-be-released album This Moment.

Zephaniah 3:17 says The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

Isn’t it great to know that God rejoices over us?

Knowing God’s will

Most believers want to know what God’s will is for their lives. Believers study God’s word, pray, and seek godly council to understand the will of God. While these are all great things, Romans 12:2 says that too know God’s will, we must first have God renew our minds so that we no longer conform too this world’s way of thinking. Ephesians 4:17 says …walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding. When we go through life using our own “understanding,” and when we follow our own lusts, our path is darkened and we can no longer follow the path God has laid for us. However, if, before we seek God’s will, we seek the renewing of our mind, God promises that we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good pleasing and perfect will. Once we have experienced the renewing of our mind, we shouldn’t expect to magically know God’s will instantly. It takes work. We must pray, read God’s word and seek Godly council first. But since our minds have now been renewed, we will now know what is from of the pattern of this world, and what is from God.

Note: I don’t claim any expertise on knowing the will of God. This is just my findings from studying the bible.


Renewing of the mind

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Abstinence from the things of this world

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Godly council

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Finding God’s will

Steven Curtis Chapman Live Out Loud

Rockport update

Last week I had an amazing time with the C.E.F. team in Rockport, WA. We had 20 kids which, for a tiny town… err… village like Rockport is a lot. Monday and Tuesday it rained which made leading game time interesting with having 20 kids in the size of my living room [the chapel there is REALY small]. After the day camp everyday we would do yard work around the chapel for about an hour and a half. Then came supper and after supper, free time. That trip was so much fun.

Next week my family will be heading off for a vacation on the Olympic peninsula so I won’t be able to post then but I plan on getting a couple quality posts done before then.

Gone

This next week my C.E.F. team wil be doing a day camp in Rockport where we will be camping so I won't be around then. I hope to get some good posts in when I get back.

My Testimony

A perfect church attendance record. Knowledge of all the classic bible stories. Conservative parents and a conservative church that both taught me about God from the moment I took my first breathe. But sitting on the couch one day, I knew something was missing. I don’t remember a whole a lot about that day; I don’t even remember the year, though I do think I was about 7. However I do remember sitting, doing not much of anything, and feeling a sure, gripping feeling that I wasn’t whole and that I was separated forever from my creator because of my sin. I looked all around the house for my mom, but couldn’t find her. I remember being near tears by the time that I finally found her outside. I don’t remember my exact word, but I do know that that day I helplessly and joyfully accepted Jesus Christ as my savior and surrendered my life to him.

I was a good kid. I still had my perfect church record. I was obedient [most of the time.] I had my devotion time every day. But about a year ago I realized that my relationship with Jesus was not growing closer. I was satisfied with were I was in life. I had minimized my short comings. I didn’t have a real sudden conviction, but rather over a period over time God showed me that I needed to be constantly “excelling still more.” It’s not enough to read the bible and pray, you have to continually ask God to help you over come your struggles. I guess God is still showing me that.

My testimony isn’t one of someone who was on drugs, but it does have something in common with the drug addict turned Jesus addict – I’ve felt God’s call on my life – and that’s super cool. To know that God has called me, not in some weird, audible way, but in the gripping of the heart, is so cool. A few months ago, I would have told you I had no opinion on the Calvinism vs. Armenian issue [yes, even after pastor’s seemingly never ending series on the subject.] However God has shown me how cool a thing his election and calling is. Well that’s my testimony. What about your testimony? It may not be as cool as someone else’s, but remember, you were called by God. In the grand scope of God’s greatness, it doesn’t really matter what you were saved from, all that matters is where you are going from here.

The Birds trailer (Alfred Hitchcock)

At this moment in time

{9:30, August 9, 2007}

THE MARINERS ARE THE SOLE HOLDERS OF THE A.L. WILD CARD POSSITION!!!

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Busy

Two friends and I where standing in a small hardware store, on a hot day, in a little nothing of a town. We laid our purchases down on the counter and waited for them to be checked out. The cashier looked down at our purchases - a bungee cord, a role of fishing string, and two for sale signs - then looked back up and us, a confused and semi wary look in her eye. As she scanned and bagged the items, she asked, “so what are you boys selling?” “Nothing,” the reply. A moment’s silence. “You boys going fishing?” “Nope.” “Did you find everything you needed?” “No, but we were already told that you didn’t have any motion detecting noise makers.” By the time we left that store I think that poor checker was wondering whether to call the police or just look at the vandalism on tomorrow’s front page. Last week I had a great time with friends over at a music camp in eastern Washington. Besides learning lots of great music and hanging out together, we had fun terrorizing the other campers. Oh, don’t worry, we told the people in charge of the camp about our pranks before we did them. Not because we were worried that they wouldn’t be allowed, but because we wanted suggestions on how to make them better. So we hung wanted posters of the line dance caller all over the school. We bungee corded a guy’s door shut [we knew this guy fairly well] and then relentlessly rang his door bell; then we put up for sale signs on his camper. We also made plans to put beware of dog signs on the restroom doors, but never had time to go through with it.

I got to fiddle camp on Sunday, got home Thursday evening. Left for our churches’ family camp on Friday morning and got home Sunday afternoon just in time to have my Aunt and Uncle from Chicago over for supper. Then it was off bright and early Monday morning for work at C.E.F. I apologize that I haven’t posted here or commented on your guys’ bogs. I’ve just been super busy.

This week we’ve had a pretty big camp. I’m not sure what today’s [Tuesday] numbers were but I believe they were higher than the 65 yesterday. Today I had 18 kids on my team; half of them have no concept of obedience. It’s been very tough knowing how to get through to these kids. No form of discipline seems to work. We take away game time, snack time, video time, still they disobey. I feel like it’s turned into a war of me against the kids and that the kids aren’t really having fun because their always getting yelled at, but yet they’re not willing to change their ways. Please pray for wisdom for me and the other leaders to be able to get through to the kids and pray also for creativity in discipline.

Entering the Holy of Holies

Hebrews 10:19-22 therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Some people think that the New Testament portrays God as a much more reachable and down to earth God than the God of the Old testament. I Love how this verse uses Old Testament examples to remind us that God is just as powerful now as he was in the Old Testament, and yet God allows us to pray and commune with him. This passage is so awesome.

…we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place… the Holy of Holies was a place reserved only for priests; and only after they had been ceremonially cleaned. This awesome passage says that we can enter the Holy of Holy’s. All the ceremonial washing, all the set apart line of priesthood, all the special things that the priests would do has been replaced by one thing: Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus Christ we are able to enter into the Holly of holies: the throne room of God.

In the holy of Hollies is the Ark of the Covenant. The same ark that Uzzah reached out to steady, and was struck down by God. How amazing is it that we have access through Christ to this powerful God? I know you all know how awesome of a gift it is to pray to God, but I just love how this passage reminds me of just how amazing that gift is.

Christian comedian Rich Praytor, pledge of allegiance

Christian comedian Rich Praytor

Comic

Tuesday

Leader: ok kids, time to be quite

Kid: everybody be quite

Leader: kid, be quite

Kid: I am being quite

Leader: sssshhhh

Kid: I can be quite. See I’m quite. Aren’t I doing a good job?


[yes this scenario really happens]



I have to laugh at these kids other wise I’d start crying.

Monday, July 23

Today we had 29 kids so it was about the size of our last club, but it seamed a lot smaller because we had a lot larger facility. Today it rained, but the rest of the week it should be nice.

Two of the kids on our group had a very hard time with obeying. We would tell them to do something and they would just refuse to do it. Thank goodness they aren’t rowdy kids, but their disobedience is really bad. Now at club we have rewards for kids that behave and we told these two kids that they wouldn’t get the rewards if they didn’t shape up, but that didn’t work as an encouragement at all [and yes we didn’t give them the rewards]. Tomorrow we’ll have to try taking away such things as game time, snack time, and craft time. One of the hard things with one of the families that one of these kids comes from is that his parents are professing Christians, but they don’t walk with the Lord and they totally allow the kids to disobey at home. This same kid [Ben] prayed a sinner’s prayer last year at camp, and he knows all the fundamentals of the gospel, but for him to see his Christ-professing parents not walking with the Lord at home, he’s getting mixed messages. Please pray for Ben. [and for good weather.]

Thursday and Friday

Both days went fairly well. We had to play games inside though. Let me say that I have learned my lesson and never again will I give kids sponge swords while they’re inside.

I hate Wal-Mart haters

#1 Target isn’t that great

For all those who think Target is so much better than Wal-Mart - it isn’t. It’s all in what you pay for. Wal-Mart may have lower quality items, but they’re also less expensive. Target stores may be slightly cooler, but not all the time. I’ve seen nice Wal-Mart’s and I’ve seen trashy Target stores. As far as clothing goes, Wal-Mart so beets Target. The clothing at Wal-Mart is ten times better than that found at Target.


#2 Local businesses are not going to come to an end

There will always be people like my aunt who would rather die than walk into a Wal-Mart. True, local businesses are hurt buy nationwide chains, but think about it – say your local photo-shop looses money because Wal-Mart has a photo section. Well you may be loosing money, but you’re also saving money by shopping for your groceries at the Wal-Mart grocery centre. Now this doesn’t work in all cases, but just get my point that the economy is not going to come to an end when Wal-Mart moves into your town.


#3 politicians are so dumb [well obviously]

Politicians will do seemingly anything to stop Wal-Mart. In the county where I live, both the cities and the county have decided not to allow Wal-Mart to build here. So what is Wal-Mart planning on doing? Building on the reservation. Now our county will still have a Wal-Mart, but we won’t have the taxes from it. In addition to all this, we will have to pay to upgrade all the county roads out to the reservation. All of this is so stupid. Just let Wal-Mart build in town.

My heart Christ's home

Today on the way to our club Mrs. Finkbonner had all the missionaries read My Heart Christ’s Home by Robert Boyd Munger. I would greatly recommend it to anyone interested in a VERY short, but good book. In his book, Mr. Munger paints a picture of a house in our heart. This house in our heart has many rooms. In the Library of the house of your heart, is there any books, magazines, c.d.’s pictures ect. that Christ would not approve of? In the dining room, are there any desires that are maybe not necessarily sinful in themselves but cause you to stumble when you put these things in front of your relationship with Christ? How about the Living room? Are there any friendships that are not God honoring? Do you sit down and have your quite time with God every day? Every day, all the time, Jesus is waiting in the living room of your heart, ready to sit down and talk with you. Now we move to the work room. Are you using your skills to serve the Lord? Are there activities you do in the rec. room that you wouldn’t take Jesus too? Any bad parties or social events you attend? The bedroom. Do you have any improper relationships? How about the strong box? Do you keep the deed to your heart there or have you singed it over to Christ?


This is just a paraphrase of Mr. Monger’s great book. It deals so plainly with giving complete control of everything in your heart to God. Again, I would really recommend you buy this great little book. Is your heart Christ’s home?

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Today went pretty smooth. It rained all day so we had to do both game times inside, but game time actually went pretty well.

Tuesday, July 17

Today it rained. That made game time very interesting. The first game time we did some inside games. It was chaotic, but we survived it. The second game time we were able to play outside and that went much better. The rest of this week it’s supposed to rain so please ask god that 1 it wouldn’t rain or 2 I would have wisdom on what inside games we can play.

Monday, July 16

Today went very well. Last year at this church they only had 9 kids show up the first day and their peak day was in the low 20’s. This year we had 14 pre-registered kids but praise god he brought in 30. After having close to 90 last week, 30 seams like a relief, but like our director told us, we need to not get sloppy. Too negative things that happen with a small group.

1 Leaders start relying on themselves instead of God.

2 Leaders start talking amongst themselves and start ignoring the kids.

Please pray that neither of these things will happen.

Isn’t it so sad, though, that when God doesn’t give us an impossible seaming task, we tend to stop relying on him? We need to rely on God al the time. Not only in hard times, but also in good times.

Tonight we had another softball game. It was so much fun. We lost big time. However I thought our team played really well. We didn’t really make all that many errors, the other team just knew how to place the ball. I made my first non-single hit of the season. I actually got to third base. My family told me that I had an awful swing and I’m sure I did but I’m just glad to hit something besides a single. Though of course my other up to bad I struck out, but we will try not to dwell on that.

Prayer requests

1 Strength

Next week I have a club way out in Sumas. I will have to wake up very early. Please pray that God will give me strength.

Thursdays and Fridays are usually my hardest days; it’s getting late in the week which means I’m getting more tired and the kids start acting up more.



2 Health

Because I’m in charge of game time I have to do a lot of yelling. My throat is getting soar so please pray that it makes it through the summer.



3 Kids

Please pray for these kids. Many of them come from very rough homes. Please pray that these children would be receptive to the gospel.

Carrie Underwood - I'll Stand By You

Friday, July 13

I can summarize Friday in one word – Tired. It has been a long week. We were expecting 30-60 kids and instead we got 90. Praise the Lord that 90 kids heard about Christ [many had no idea what a Christian was before this week]. Having that many kids did provide a few problems though. The biggest one was that we didn’t have enough crafts. We came up with some other crafts, but the leaders had no idea what they were doing because they were learning how to do the craft along with the kids. Anyway this has been a fun week but I am very much enjoying my weekend.

Friday evening we went to a Mariners game. It was a blast; all except for the drive down that is. We got stuck in bad traffic and when traffic suddenly stopped the traffic behind us didn’t. To make matters scarier that vehicle that hit us was a motorcycle. We were in the left lane and he couldn’t stop so he tried to go onto the left shoulder but he hit the back left corner of our van first. I was sitting in the back seat and saw the guy coming and so when I heard the thump I thought “oh man there’s a dead guy splattered to the back of the van.” Luckily only the guys mirror hit our van and the guy, our car, and most of his bike was ok. However it was a very scary ordeal. Well the Mariners lost 6-3 but it was a fun game and there were a lot of people from church there.

I’ll try to post a real post sometime here.

Thursday, July 12

Thursday went good except for a very bad craft. When we had tried doing this craft in the past using glue sticks it hadn’t worked very well. So we tried using hot glue. Wow. It took FOREVORE. We got done with the first group [there are four] past the time we should have moved on to the next activity. Also, while we waited, we had had the other three groups play a game, but a breeze came up and blew all their [opened but not finished] crafts away. Our schedule for the rest of the day was very interesting. I am not a very flexible or spontaneous person so working in CEF this summer has been a stretch for me.

Wednesday, July 11

In western Washington 75 degrees is hot. So when it reached the 90’s on Wednesday we were very uncomfortable. Thankfully we kept everyone hydrated and no one had problems. That said, driving home I had to work up the courage to keep my hands on the steering wheel.

Tuesday July 10, 2007

Today was very hot. Please pray as we try to keep these kids hydrated throughout this week. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s. For Washington that’s super hot.

Please also pray for me as I’m leading games. I don’t know if it’s just imposible to please this many kids or if I’m having a realy hard time finding good games. If you have any suggestions for fun group games to play with kids please post your ideas.

Monday July 9

Today was our first day at this new church. When we have the kids first come in we have them fill out a little sheet that has some getting to know you stuff. There were so many kids that said they were not Christians. One girl in my group didn’t even know what a bible was. Please pray for these kids. A lot of them come from realy bad families. These families are not just unchurched but also many of them are single parent families. Many have parents that are drug atics. These kids are so hurting and in need of Jesus.


We have a TON of kids [82] and a tiny church; Thankfully we are able to go outside for a lot of the day.

Please pray for a kid that I talked to today at day camp. I believe his name was Dylan. I shared the plan of salvation and led him in a sinners prayer but he didn’t seam to sure. When I asked if he wanted Jesus to take his sins away he said I guess; he wasn’t very committal. I had asked Dylan when I first started talking with him if he had ever accepted Christ as his savior and he said no. But I later my instructor told me that he had also prayed last year. Please ask God to make himself real to Dylan and to help him see his need for a savior and to be assured that Jesus truly can take his sins away.

CEF Letter

This summer God has provided the opportunity for me to work with children through week-long day-camps which are a ministry of C.E.F. [Child Evangelism Fellowship]. I first heard about C.E.F. approximately two and a half years ago when some of the youth from our church talked about the work they had done through five-day clubs that summer. Then last summer I went to a training camp to train to work in several five-day clubs. This summer I will be working in six day-camps. Unlike five-day clubs, the day camps last all day and are in churches. Most of the day-camps will be in Whatcom County, but one will be in Rockport [Skagit County].


From April 9-13 I worked with about nine other youth at a training day-camp which was like a rehearsal only we had actual children present. At the training camp, we got to see what we would be doing this summer but in a simpler format. During the day-camps children will hear Bible stories, eat snacks, complete crafts, learn to witness to other children [while hearing the basics of the gospel themselves], listen to Adventures in Odyssey [our theme this year], and play lots of games. At the camps, I will be in charge of helping a group of children complete these activities and I will also have the opportunity to occasionally teach the Bible story and memory verse.


Even though it’s not always easy, I really enjoy working with children. Christ told us that a child’s trusting spirit is an example of what our faith should look like. Because children are more open to the gospel, children’s ministry is one of the most effective ministry fields. I believe that the teen-age years of my life are a great opportunity to serve the Lord because I have fewer responsibilities to tie me down.


I would greatly appreciate your prayers this summer. Some things that I would cherish your prayers in are


1 Stamina to work the whole summer
2 Patience towards the kids and other workers
3 Guidance for situations that arise
4 Submissiveness to the Lord and to my leaders


Please also pray that God would teach me to completely rely on him.