THIS WEEK I read a little bit in this wonderful book called "The Case for Christ," where a former atheist journalist goes to really knowledgable Christian professionals in many different fields and discovers the evidence for believing Jesus. He asks all the right really hard questions, and these guys give him a bunch of really good answers so that he discovers the reliability of the Bible (which is remarkably reliable even among ancient texts) as well as the explanations to many things which get us Christians confused alot of the time. Lee Strobel has several books, including "The Case for a Creator" (which I'm really excited about reading sometime) and "The Case for Faith," and I strongly recommend these books to you.
Please borrow books from me! I have so many books to recommend (see the section on the right) and I have a compulsive urge to lend them to you!
Anyway, I was reading in that book about a Jew named Louis S. Lapides who grew up thinking the New Testament was like a Nazi handbook and who hadn't a clue about the Messianic prophecies. After he'd read those prophecies he read the New Testament and was blown back by how well Jesus with them, and how he hadn't even known! Can I get an "amen?" Mr. Lapides aksed GOD to show him whether Jesus really is the Messiah, and he was assured. He has been saved and become a pastor! So I wanted to share this chapter with you which Mr. Lapides was particularly amazed by. It's Isaiah 53, I hope you know it. When you read it, think about Jesus and who He is, and what He is meant to do.
Isaiah 53:
"1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He shall; grow up before Him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised andrejected by men, a Man of great sorrows and acquainted with grief. As we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by GOD, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His striped we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare Hid generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And they made His grave with the wicked - but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteousness Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
Read it through. Amen, right? It was fun to type, too, let me tell you, because I got to look at it phrase by phrase. Those words are about Jesus, hundreds of years before He was born in this world! Isn't it great we have a copy of this? Imagine how confused the Jews must have been reading this before Jesus came. And many Jews and others have not a clue about this. If they don't believe us when we tell them about miracles, about the existence and goodness of GOD and about the ability of this one Son of GOD to wipe away our sins, I say we should try getting their attention by showing them this and the other prophesies. They're bound to say, "Woah, how did this get into the Old Testament? That sounds just like their Jesus, but it's a totally different time in history!" The New Testament includes so many allusions to the Old Testament, and I find a great number of them come from the writings of the prophet Isaiah. I read it and wonder what it was like for Isaiah to know He was prophesying the wondrous things that GOD would be doing to save His people - that's us! - from our own transgressions. What was it like to know these things and be the one to write it down for Him? I looked again at this chapter when I was doing my Purple Book lessons. I recommend this book to you: "The Purple Book: Biblical Foundations for Building Strong Disciples" by Broocks and Murrell. I'm doing this book with my Life Group (yay, I have a Life Group!) and this chapter explains how we sinners actually hide from GOD after we sin because we know we're guilty, and so He makes a covering for us by spilling the blood of something innocent, to save us. This He did with the troublesome two in the Garden, and this He did with us all by giving Jesus to "intercede" and to "bear our iniquities." I really love this passage, and I hope you all remember it too in this coming week and always.
May blessings and courage be with you from our Lord, every day we are in this world, and let's make the most of this time before He comes back, which could be any time or any decade!
Share your miracles, please! I'd love to hear about what GOD is teaching you, too!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Dan Wooly Survives the Haiti Earthquake
THIS WEEK I heard about a wonderful miracle, and you know what that means. I'm gonna tell you about it, so read it and then we'll give God the glory.
My TOK instructor Mrs. Hall told the class about something awesome that has happened to her family. Her niece's husband Dan Wooly was in Haiti working with Compassion International at the time of the earthquake, and for two days they had no idea what had happened to him. Trying to track him down, they learned that he had just gotten into the hotel when the earthquake happened! So that wasn't good news. They found Dan near an elevator in the hotel after he had been trapped for 65 hours. How he survived is rather amazing.
The Lord supplied Dan with a camera, an iPhone and a notebook. He lives in California, so he knows about aftershock and that he has to get to a safe place before that happens. But he realized his foot was stuck. The only way he could get to a safer place was by wrenching his foot out, doing painful damage to his leg. He then used his camera to find out how bad his injuries were: he was bleeding on the back of his head and had a gash in his poor leg. So he used a medical application on his iPhone to look up how to take care of his wounds! He patched his leg up with his shirt and his head with his sock. He also found out that he needed to set an alarm on his iPhone to go off every 20 minutes to keep himself from slipping into a coma. He remained trapped in there for those 65 hours writing notes to his family in his journal in case they didn't find him in time. Meanwhile his poor wife is scared to death back at home.
Dan had several people near him, and he had the chance to talk to them a bit about his faith in the Lord. Sure enough, some French volunteers got to him and have resored him to his family - alive!
Dan has been having surgery done on his badly injured leg.
Wow, what a miracle! And you know there are miracle stories happening in Haiti right now, every time somebody has survived. The Lord is very glorious, and He still works amazing miracles in people's lives. Hallelujah.
You can see a video of Dan Wooly talking about his story on Google if you look up his name with 'iPhone.'
Another amazing thing happening to me personally this week is my first meeting with my Life Group! With a few of the same girls who were at that slumber party I told you about, we're going through "The Purple Book" by Rice Broocks and Steve Murrell and talking to each other about it. I'm very excited about this new way the Lord is working in my life: He's led me to friends who are already like my sisters, because we are sisters in Christ. They want to do things together and pray together and support each other. Jesus is my best friend, and yet I don't think I've ever had many earthbound friends quite like these ones, and I'm very excited.
I'll close with an image Pastor Russ illustrated for us today. The process of God taking us to new and unfamiliar places is like a trapeze. First you're scared to grab the bar, but when you finally do you realize you survive. And you do it again and again, and it's exciting to be able to do it. But after a while you want to try something else, and God tells you to try jumping to the next bar. You can't do that without letting go of the first for a second, and even if you can grab it you can't hold onto both or you are in a very awkward situation. Pastor Russ encourages not to be afraid of the unfamiliar, for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). I don't know what you guys are dealing with, but I know that God keeps calling us to new things, and He only does it to make us live up to our potential, to strengthen our faith and to teach us new things. Maybe His leading me to these girls is something like that; it's new and it's an opportunity for alot of edification. But whatever it is He'll be calling me to make the jump to, I pray for the boldness to take the jump once I see it. The same I pray for you all. Amen.
My TOK instructor Mrs. Hall told the class about something awesome that has happened to her family. Her niece's husband Dan Wooly was in Haiti working with Compassion International at the time of the earthquake, and for two days they had no idea what had happened to him. Trying to track him down, they learned that he had just gotten into the hotel when the earthquake happened! So that wasn't good news. They found Dan near an elevator in the hotel after he had been trapped for 65 hours. How he survived is rather amazing.
The Lord supplied Dan with a camera, an iPhone and a notebook. He lives in California, so he knows about aftershock and that he has to get to a safe place before that happens. But he realized his foot was stuck. The only way he could get to a safer place was by wrenching his foot out, doing painful damage to his leg. He then used his camera to find out how bad his injuries were: he was bleeding on the back of his head and had a gash in his poor leg. So he used a medical application on his iPhone to look up how to take care of his wounds! He patched his leg up with his shirt and his head with his sock. He also found out that he needed to set an alarm on his iPhone to go off every 20 minutes to keep himself from slipping into a coma. He remained trapped in there for those 65 hours writing notes to his family in his journal in case they didn't find him in time. Meanwhile his poor wife is scared to death back at home.
Dan had several people near him, and he had the chance to talk to them a bit about his faith in the Lord. Sure enough, some French volunteers got to him and have resored him to his family - alive!
Dan has been having surgery done on his badly injured leg.
Wow, what a miracle! And you know there are miracle stories happening in Haiti right now, every time somebody has survived. The Lord is very glorious, and He still works amazing miracles in people's lives. Hallelujah.
You can see a video of Dan Wooly talking about his story on Google if you look up his name with 'iPhone.'
Another amazing thing happening to me personally this week is my first meeting with my Life Group! With a few of the same girls who were at that slumber party I told you about, we're going through "The Purple Book" by Rice Broocks and Steve Murrell and talking to each other about it. I'm very excited about this new way the Lord is working in my life: He's led me to friends who are already like my sisters, because we are sisters in Christ. They want to do things together and pray together and support each other. Jesus is my best friend, and yet I don't think I've ever had many earthbound friends quite like these ones, and I'm very excited.
I'll close with an image Pastor Russ illustrated for us today. The process of God taking us to new and unfamiliar places is like a trapeze. First you're scared to grab the bar, but when you finally do you realize you survive. And you do it again and again, and it's exciting to be able to do it. But after a while you want to try something else, and God tells you to try jumping to the next bar. You can't do that without letting go of the first for a second, and even if you can grab it you can't hold onto both or you are in a very awkward situation. Pastor Russ encourages not to be afraid of the unfamiliar, for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). I don't know what you guys are dealing with, but I know that God keeps calling us to new things, and He only does it to make us live up to our potential, to strengthen our faith and to teach us new things. Maybe His leading me to these girls is something like that; it's new and it's an opportunity for alot of edification. But whatever it is He'll be calling me to make the jump to, I pray for the boldness to take the jump once I see it. The same I pray for you all. Amen.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Lots of Love
THIS WEEK was amazing. On Wednesday, to begin with, I met with my wonderful youth group for the first time this new year, and the Lord had a great message for Pastor Ryan to tell. Ryan described to us the true story of a lawyer whose life was so changed by the Holy Spirit coming upon his life that he lost his chronic fear of publicly expressing faith, and his whole family was converted to Christianity. He told us how we Christians tend to pray and pray for a worldwide revival and scarcely ever want to leave the boat and go walk on some waves. Jesus said, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)
This is the Great Commission directed to all Christians. We need to find the boldness to overcome the desire to stay safe in our blankets and warm some cold hearts lying slightly outside arm's reach. We can only find the boldness and endurance when we seek it from the Lord, who helps us by the Spirit, and we can therefore truly trust that Jesus is with us always, even to the end of the age (love that quote). He doesn't leave. He knows we need Him, and that's why He came (Now Isn't that the most glorious thing you've ever heard about?) So we prayed together, asking for the help of the Holy Spirit, that He might come on each of our lives and make us bold. Jesus is out there on those waves, and He's not sinking! He''s calling us out there, and it is our job to go. He knows it's hard, but what I've realized is that when we remember the strength and power of our God, our obstacles get smaller.
I left there with 5 names on paper in my pocket, to try to invite these people to church and get at least one to come with me. I also left with a paper about a 30-hour famine fundraiser, where I fast for 30 hours and other people donate money ($30 takes care of one hungry child for one month). If you're interested in donating, please tell me and I'll put you down for however much you feel inclined to give.
While I was there, Kelsey Saison invited me and my sister to a sleepover, and that's where I was yesterday. My sister went to a different party, but I stayed with those girls at the town center and played a scavenger hunt game, and ate ice cream, and later we went to Kelsey's house, and it was just a wonderful time. I feel like God answered the desire of my heart, because when I became distanced from a dear friend of mine I sometimes felt really lonely or awkward. This experience only brought me closer to my best friend for life, Jesus, and He has proceeded to bless me with sisters and brothers I didn't know I had. I've never had a real youth group before, and now that I do, I just want to get as much out of being with them as I can. I just want more of Jesus.
The sleepover was so fun that I got to sleep at about 3:00 and woke up at about 8:00, so I'm tired but I'm glad it's because I was at the first sleepover I've been to outside my family.
Today at church Pastor Russ was describing what a mistake it is to "withhold" those things with which we have the opportunity to bless other people. This is a wakeup call because I found myself at the end of the week having not invited a single one of the 5 names in my pocket, despite keeping the paper with me, and had asked for not a single donation to the 30-hour famine fundraiser. Once again I pray for the boldness to extend a helping hand or share a bit of this love that my life's been showered with. Once again I pray for the strength to keep that boldness day to day and week to week, and for the unselfishness not to think so much about me, and more about that image of Jesus commanding the Great Commission.
Well I pray for everybody in Haiti and all their families (I even have an instructor who suggested to my class that we ought to pray for Haiti if we're the "praying type." You know it's really bad there when you're hearing that at a public school). And I pray for you, dear reader, my friend, that you and I and all of us would gain and keep in our hearts a boldness from the Spirit to do something strangely, unusually loving, and to do something we didn't do yesterday. May the Lord help our faith to endure and grow. Amen.
This is the Great Commission directed to all Christians. We need to find the boldness to overcome the desire to stay safe in our blankets and warm some cold hearts lying slightly outside arm's reach. We can only find the boldness and endurance when we seek it from the Lord, who helps us by the Spirit, and we can therefore truly trust that Jesus is with us always, even to the end of the age (love that quote). He doesn't leave. He knows we need Him, and that's why He came (Now Isn't that the most glorious thing you've ever heard about?) So we prayed together, asking for the help of the Holy Spirit, that He might come on each of our lives and make us bold. Jesus is out there on those waves, and He's not sinking! He''s calling us out there, and it is our job to go. He knows it's hard, but what I've realized is that when we remember the strength and power of our God, our obstacles get smaller.
I left there with 5 names on paper in my pocket, to try to invite these people to church and get at least one to come with me. I also left with a paper about a 30-hour famine fundraiser, where I fast for 30 hours and other people donate money ($30 takes care of one hungry child for one month). If you're interested in donating, please tell me and I'll put you down for however much you feel inclined to give.
While I was there, Kelsey Saison invited me and my sister to a sleepover, and that's where I was yesterday. My sister went to a different party, but I stayed with those girls at the town center and played a scavenger hunt game, and ate ice cream, and later we went to Kelsey's house, and it was just a wonderful time. I feel like God answered the desire of my heart, because when I became distanced from a dear friend of mine I sometimes felt really lonely or awkward. This experience only brought me closer to my best friend for life, Jesus, and He has proceeded to bless me with sisters and brothers I didn't know I had. I've never had a real youth group before, and now that I do, I just want to get as much out of being with them as I can. I just want more of Jesus.
The sleepover was so fun that I got to sleep at about 3:00 and woke up at about 8:00, so I'm tired but I'm glad it's because I was at the first sleepover I've been to outside my family.
Today at church Pastor Russ was describing what a mistake it is to "withhold" those things with which we have the opportunity to bless other people. This is a wakeup call because I found myself at the end of the week having not invited a single one of the 5 names in my pocket, despite keeping the paper with me, and had asked for not a single donation to the 30-hour famine fundraiser. Once again I pray for the boldness to extend a helping hand or share a bit of this love that my life's been showered with. Once again I pray for the strength to keep that boldness day to day and week to week, and for the unselfishness not to think so much about me, and more about that image of Jesus commanding the Great Commission.
Well I pray for everybody in Haiti and all their families (I even have an instructor who suggested to my class that we ought to pray for Haiti if we're the "praying type." You know it's really bad there when you're hearing that at a public school). And I pray for you, dear reader, my friend, that you and I and all of us would gain and keep in our hearts a boldness from the Spirit to do something strangely, unusually loving, and to do something we didn't do yesterday. May the Lord help our faith to endure and grow. Amen.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
About the "Prosperity Gospel"
THIS WEEK I went to Youthquake Live at the Paxon Revival Center on Commonwealth Avenue, and that was wonderful. I went with beautiful Rina and her friend-boy Kenneth. I look forward to Youthquake every month because it is such a big, joyful congregation of Christian youths like me, and we all just want to sing and watch the skits and learn something. This Youthquake was about our rights to our faith, at school especially. For example, it was about how we can't be kept from praying or meeting, or saying the pledge of allegiance with "under God" in it.
Well I just love God, you know? And I had such a wonderful time singing with Rina and a few hundred other youthful Christians, especially the Revelation Song. Oh, to get the chance to sing that song at the top of your lungs while hundreds of others do the same, next to the people you love, and keep singing so that there is no fear time will run out - that makes for quite an amazing experience. I'll remember that for a long time, I think.
Today Pastor Russ was talking about how there is no being lukewarm with God, and how the worst thing we can do as Christians is to live like that doesn't mean anything. He also said something interesting that kind of fits into what I want to share today. God doesn't fit into our lives. That means that we can't just make room for Him in one place and try to keep things how we want them. He says that once we're following Jesus He's going to "keep making us uncomfortable" and push us to further limits, just to help us grow.
This week I learned about something called the "prosperity gospel" in a magazine article, and then read about something similar in my history textbook. It's a wonder I didn't hear about this before: apparently many Christians, especially in America, have developed the idea that monetary, material wealth is necessarily and exclusively the result of real Christian faith, and that if you do not receive back material wealth for your labors/donations, you must not be a real Christian. What? I really can't help but asking. Somebody comment if I'm wrong, but from what I have read of the Bible, God has much more to offer than money alone, and He does not only bless us in cold cash. We are servants, and we are children, but we aren't really employees. That metaphor doesn't really work. That would suggest that we gain salvation by our merits, or that money is a sign of salvation, or that we can be fired if somebody better comes along. But no, He is patient with our shortcomings and just in His judgement. He sees our hearts and who we really are, loves righteousness and hates unrighteousness. We don't get fired for failing once.
According to the "prosperity gospel," if a Christian hopes for something (for example, a house was a common want for the people interviewed in the article I read) if they keep praying about it and tithing they will necessarily gain that house. Maybe they will! God provides, indeed. And He is good, this is absolutely true! He keeps His promises, for sure. But who are we to decide that He will bless us in the way we expect? The Jews expected the Messiah to come as an evidently glorious King on a cloud, so they were not looking when Jesus appeared from a tiny town, a carpenter who was born in a manger to an ordinary girl. But He did come, and He is a King who will come again on clouds with great glory. God fulfills promises and needs, just not always in the way we expect. According to the "prosperity gospel," which is alarmingly widespread in our nation from what I read, if you "sew" a little money by donating to the church and tithing (good things to do!) that money is coming back to you a hundredfold from somewhere else as God's gift to you. One pastor even predicts exactly that if you donate $100, you will get $10,000 for it. Oh, dear, what about Luke 12:20-21, which says "But God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?" So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward GOD." And Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not lay up for youselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for youselves treasures in Heaven, where neither rust not moth destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." thus Jesus sent His disciples out with not much in their hands, just what they needed, and they were to trust, as we are to trust, that God is going to take care of them of way or another. Let's remember, too, the woman who gave two mites as her offering. Jesus was happy about this not because of the money but because she cared to give it, since it was all she had to give. We never hear about her again: maybe God did lead her to more money in return for her gift, He certainly can. Or maybe she went her way wealthier in spirit becuase she had demonstrated an act of unselfishness, "out of her poverty."
Certainly God can bless us with money and things, but He is the God who gives and takes away. It is not our place to decide we deserve something and hang our faith on whether God decides what we want is what we need. Father knows best! See, He knows what we need, Luke 12:29-31, "And do not worry about what you should eat of what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you."
I have learned something. I have learned that we all want things, and we all need things, and we all try to get the things we want, because we think we need them. But only God sees all the things we all need, and He can supply for our needs better than we can. That's why He sent Jesus - we need a Savior, and we can't save ourselves, so He made a way for us to be saved. But He doesn't always work how we expect Him to, or even when. We can absolutely trust Him to fulfill His promises, but just because we decide the way or time frame in which we want Him to fulfill them does not mean He doesn't fulfill His promises if we are wrong. Sometimes we have to face hard times, and sometimes He takes something so He can give us something better. But He works, and we need to quit focusing on what we want Him to do for us and remember what He has already done, and be thankful, and in turn praise Him with our lives out of love and gratitude.
Please comment, or share something God is teaching you if you want to. Love to hear it.
Well I just love God, you know? And I had such a wonderful time singing with Rina and a few hundred other youthful Christians, especially the Revelation Song. Oh, to get the chance to sing that song at the top of your lungs while hundreds of others do the same, next to the people you love, and keep singing so that there is no fear time will run out - that makes for quite an amazing experience. I'll remember that for a long time, I think.
Today Pastor Russ was talking about how there is no being lukewarm with God, and how the worst thing we can do as Christians is to live like that doesn't mean anything. He also said something interesting that kind of fits into what I want to share today. God doesn't fit into our lives. That means that we can't just make room for Him in one place and try to keep things how we want them. He says that once we're following Jesus He's going to "keep making us uncomfortable" and push us to further limits, just to help us grow.
This week I learned about something called the "prosperity gospel" in a magazine article, and then read about something similar in my history textbook. It's a wonder I didn't hear about this before: apparently many Christians, especially in America, have developed the idea that monetary, material wealth is necessarily and exclusively the result of real Christian faith, and that if you do not receive back material wealth for your labors/donations, you must not be a real Christian. What? I really can't help but asking. Somebody comment if I'm wrong, but from what I have read of the Bible, God has much more to offer than money alone, and He does not only bless us in cold cash. We are servants, and we are children, but we aren't really employees. That metaphor doesn't really work. That would suggest that we gain salvation by our merits, or that money is a sign of salvation, or that we can be fired if somebody better comes along. But no, He is patient with our shortcomings and just in His judgement. He sees our hearts and who we really are, loves righteousness and hates unrighteousness. We don't get fired for failing once.
According to the "prosperity gospel," if a Christian hopes for something (for example, a house was a common want for the people interviewed in the article I read) if they keep praying about it and tithing they will necessarily gain that house. Maybe they will! God provides, indeed. And He is good, this is absolutely true! He keeps His promises, for sure. But who are we to decide that He will bless us in the way we expect? The Jews expected the Messiah to come as an evidently glorious King on a cloud, so they were not looking when Jesus appeared from a tiny town, a carpenter who was born in a manger to an ordinary girl. But He did come, and He is a King who will come again on clouds with great glory. God fulfills promises and needs, just not always in the way we expect. According to the "prosperity gospel," which is alarmingly widespread in our nation from what I read, if you "sew" a little money by donating to the church and tithing (good things to do!) that money is coming back to you a hundredfold from somewhere else as God's gift to you. One pastor even predicts exactly that if you donate $100, you will get $10,000 for it. Oh, dear, what about Luke 12:20-21, which says "But God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?" So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward GOD." And Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not lay up for youselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for youselves treasures in Heaven, where neither rust not moth destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." thus Jesus sent His disciples out with not much in their hands, just what they needed, and they were to trust, as we are to trust, that God is going to take care of them of way or another. Let's remember, too, the woman who gave two mites as her offering. Jesus was happy about this not because of the money but because she cared to give it, since it was all she had to give. We never hear about her again: maybe God did lead her to more money in return for her gift, He certainly can. Or maybe she went her way wealthier in spirit becuase she had demonstrated an act of unselfishness, "out of her poverty."
Certainly God can bless us with money and things, but He is the God who gives and takes away. It is not our place to decide we deserve something and hang our faith on whether God decides what we want is what we need. Father knows best! See, He knows what we need, Luke 12:29-31, "And do not worry about what you should eat of what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you."
I have learned something. I have learned that we all want things, and we all need things, and we all try to get the things we want, because we think we need them. But only God sees all the things we all need, and He can supply for our needs better than we can. That's why He sent Jesus - we need a Savior, and we can't save ourselves, so He made a way for us to be saved. But He doesn't always work how we expect Him to, or even when. We can absolutely trust Him to fulfill His promises, but just because we decide the way or time frame in which we want Him to fulfill them does not mean He doesn't fulfill His promises if we are wrong. Sometimes we have to face hard times, and sometimes He takes something so He can give us something better. But He works, and we need to quit focusing on what we want Him to do for us and remember what He has already done, and be thankful, and in turn praise Him with our lives out of love and gratitude.
Please comment, or share something God is teaching you if you want to. Love to hear it.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
A Trip to Savannah, Georgia
THIS WEEK a whole new year started! We have a whole new year, and thank the Lord. On new year's day my family and I left for Savannah, Georgia, and what do you know? God is there, too.
This week I was juggling alot of homework. I have a science fair due tomorrow that I just finished on this lovely Sunday evening, and I've got several other things happening, too. Although I otherwise should be doing my history reading, I'm blogging to you today because it is Sunday, a special day, and though I unfortunately missed church today I feel that I should make time to do something for God. This is something I do on Sunday (and sometimes Wednesday).
We left for Savannah in the afternoon, not too long before the sun went down. In the car we listened to Owl City (I like "Meteor Shower," and I suggest it to you) and afterward Casting Crowns (my current favorite band, I recommend "The Altar and the Door" CD). To my left the sky is a marvelous rainbow into the western horizon, and before too long there is to my right a yellow-gold moon, 2 times the size the moon usually is, rising. I must have spent 30 minutes just staring into the moon and the sky as it rose so slowly I couldn't see it move at all. I saw the moon on one side of the big, dark blue clouds and waited to see it on the other end as the car moved. I saw it reflect on otherwise invisible ponds, to music, my favorite kind of music. That's something the Lord made, right there. and when I see something like that I wonder how anyone doesn't know there is a God.
Anyway, that evening we found our hotel, which had a fireplace, and left to eat at Bennigans, which is closed in Jacksonville. Then we had a fire in the fireplace and went to bed.
In the morning we enjoyed the hotel's breakfast (I even had some oatmeal with blueberries and nuts. I don't like oatmeal, but they told me it would be good for my throat.). We then went to enjoy the artsy, historical, beautiful city of Savannah with its amazing churches and oak trees, and statues and carriages. It was amazingly cold, especially walking near the river against the wind. But it's just so beautiful.
So after our tour we drove around to find a church we could visit, and we found the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, the most marvelous cathedral I've ever been inside. I didn't know these things existed outside Europe. There was a marvelous Nativity scene and a fountain of Holy Water. I was particularly interested in the stained glass windows because I'm thinking of going into stained glass, if that is what God is wanting me to do. It was interesting for me because I'm not Catholic, so my formerly-Catholic mother was able to tell me a few interesting things about this denomination that I was not familiar with before. We then went across the street and got coffee, and trekked among the oaks and old houses back to our car.
Later we went to the fresh Market. There's one thing I met with that I wanted to tell you about: I tried some wonderful orange juice that was, like, all orange. I tried it and thought of the verse, "Taste and see that the LORD is good." God made oranges, you know, and they are better for you than Cheeze-its (why do they have to taste so good?) or donuts. He made food that is good for us, because He cares about us - us! - and He wants us to be healthy and eat things like oranges. I just had to mention that because, well, I tasted that juice and I saw that the LORD is good, indeed.
Cheese, Sophie it's just some orange juice. I know! But it was startlingly good orange juice, and it just goes to show that messages are everywhere.
Then I got to eat blue cheese potato salad and a cookie and watch TV with my family by the fire, and after breakfast in the morning we left for Jacksonville. I've been having stomach pains, but maybe that's a good thing because I was feeling tired and sorry enough for myself that I was not doing homework in the car at the time when Keith Urban's song about faith, "You're Not Alone Tonight," came up on our CD. It was at this time that we passed on a highway a lawn of pine trees. A few of the trees I saw were not bigger in diameter than a saucer. HERE is what got me, friend! These thin little trees were, what, thirty, forty feet tall? And they stood! These trees were once little seeds that came off of other pine trees. And here they have shot up into the air and they stand. How do they do that? How, other than by the well-thought Design God put into them, and put them into?
I remarked once to my friend Katie over the Facebook chat, how remarkable it is that pine trees stand, though the wind blows and blows, and they sway and bend, and they just stand and age. This reminded me of that.
Well, God answered my prayer: He led my family safely to Savannah and back and He led me through this science fair so that I can get through this week.
Happy new year to you, friend. Please post and share the miracles you've seen happen this week!
This week I was juggling alot of homework. I have a science fair due tomorrow that I just finished on this lovely Sunday evening, and I've got several other things happening, too. Although I otherwise should be doing my history reading, I'm blogging to you today because it is Sunday, a special day, and though I unfortunately missed church today I feel that I should make time to do something for God. This is something I do on Sunday (and sometimes Wednesday).
We left for Savannah in the afternoon, not too long before the sun went down. In the car we listened to Owl City (I like "Meteor Shower," and I suggest it to you) and afterward Casting Crowns (my current favorite band, I recommend "The Altar and the Door" CD). To my left the sky is a marvelous rainbow into the western horizon, and before too long there is to my right a yellow-gold moon, 2 times the size the moon usually is, rising. I must have spent 30 minutes just staring into the moon and the sky as it rose so slowly I couldn't see it move at all. I saw the moon on one side of the big, dark blue clouds and waited to see it on the other end as the car moved. I saw it reflect on otherwise invisible ponds, to music, my favorite kind of music. That's something the Lord made, right there. and when I see something like that I wonder how anyone doesn't know there is a God.
Anyway, that evening we found our hotel, which had a fireplace, and left to eat at Bennigans, which is closed in Jacksonville. Then we had a fire in the fireplace and went to bed.
In the morning we enjoyed the hotel's breakfast (I even had some oatmeal with blueberries and nuts. I don't like oatmeal, but they told me it would be good for my throat.). We then went to enjoy the artsy, historical, beautiful city of Savannah with its amazing churches and oak trees, and statues and carriages. It was amazingly cold, especially walking near the river against the wind. But it's just so beautiful.
So after our tour we drove around to find a church we could visit, and we found the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, the most marvelous cathedral I've ever been inside. I didn't know these things existed outside Europe. There was a marvelous Nativity scene and a fountain of Holy Water. I was particularly interested in the stained glass windows because I'm thinking of going into stained glass, if that is what God is wanting me to do. It was interesting for me because I'm not Catholic, so my formerly-Catholic mother was able to tell me a few interesting things about this denomination that I was not familiar with before. We then went across the street and got coffee, and trekked among the oaks and old houses back to our car.
Later we went to the fresh Market. There's one thing I met with that I wanted to tell you about: I tried some wonderful orange juice that was, like, all orange. I tried it and thought of the verse, "Taste and see that the LORD is good." God made oranges, you know, and they are better for you than Cheeze-its (why do they have to taste so good?) or donuts. He made food that is good for us, because He cares about us - us! - and He wants us to be healthy and eat things like oranges. I just had to mention that because, well, I tasted that juice and I saw that the LORD is good, indeed.
Cheese, Sophie it's just some orange juice. I know! But it was startlingly good orange juice, and it just goes to show that messages are everywhere.
Then I got to eat blue cheese potato salad and a cookie and watch TV with my family by the fire, and after breakfast in the morning we left for Jacksonville. I've been having stomach pains, but maybe that's a good thing because I was feeling tired and sorry enough for myself that I was not doing homework in the car at the time when Keith Urban's song about faith, "You're Not Alone Tonight," came up on our CD. It was at this time that we passed on a highway a lawn of pine trees. A few of the trees I saw were not bigger in diameter than a saucer. HERE is what got me, friend! These thin little trees were, what, thirty, forty feet tall? And they stood! These trees were once little seeds that came off of other pine trees. And here they have shot up into the air and they stand. How do they do that? How, other than by the well-thought Design God put into them, and put them into?
I remarked once to my friend Katie over the Facebook chat, how remarkable it is that pine trees stand, though the wind blows and blows, and they sway and bend, and they just stand and age. This reminded me of that.
Well, God answered my prayer: He led my family safely to Savannah and back and He led me through this science fair so that I can get through this week.
Happy new year to you, friend. Please post and share the miracles you've seen happen this week!
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