Something Humorous

You might believe in courting if . . .

 . . .you talk about Josh Harris as if you know him personaly.

Excuses, Excuses!

Remember the song that use to be on the radio all the time? "Excuses, Excuses, we hear them every day. And the devil he'll supply them, if the church you'll stay away. . . " Well, unfortunatly, we find pleanty of excuses not to serve God even when we are at church. One of them that I've found myself using pretty often is, "Things are harder now then they use to be back then. We have so many more temptations and not enough Godly influence." It sounds great, but is it in the Bible? What scripture can I find to back that up? I did  find a place where Cain slew his brother. That was awful! It's one thing to kill someone who is your enemy or someone you don't know personally, but killing your only brother is pretty crucial! And what about the King committing adultery? Sounds like something that would go on today, doesn't it? Then I came across a place in the Bible where Sodomy was being lived very openly . . . probably just as bad as it is in Callifornia.

Last week I started reading The Pursuit of God (a gift from my great friend Katie!). In the preface A. W. Tozer writes, "Current evangelicalism has laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seem satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel . . . They minister constantly to believers who feel within their breasts a longing which their teaching simply does not satisfy." Remember, this was written in 1948, that's 62 years ago. How many of us have thought, "If I could have just lived 50 years ago I would be a better Christian"?

He went on to say, " . . . I wonder if there was ever a time when true spiritual worship was at a lower ebb. To great section of the Church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the "program." This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which now passes for worship among us."

 This world was in a horrible state 62 years ago, yet Christians still lived on strong. I'm sure that if I were to look hard enough I could find even older references to the wicked state of this world, wickedness that we are somehow convinced to believe only exsists in the twenty first centry. But the truth of the matter is this: Christians have been living in an evil world ever sence Eve took the first bite out of the fruit which came from the Tree of Good and Evil. The atmosphere in which we live in does not give us any reason to serve God with less vigor then the great Christians who served before us. May we all strive to be the best Christian that ever lived, in a time when it is need just as bad as it ever was.

My Latest Artical . . .

Being home schooled has given me a different out look on life and a different mind set that most people don't have. I believe that in more ways than one I can honestly say that "once a homeschooler, always a home schooler." Many times I have caught myself telling others, "We're homeschooled" or "I'm a homeschooler," when in all actuality I am no longer homeschooled or in any type of school period! I haven't been taught the three R's by my mother at home in 3 years and I definitely don't have any children of my own to teach, yet I still consider myself to be a homeschooler.

It's a title that I claim with pride. A title that I'm not ready to give up! Even though I'm not technically in school, I still enjoy learning. I may not have any desire to improve my mathematical skills, and learning to spell is an endless task that I don't know if I'll ever accomplish, but I like to learn anything about the human body, and I try to keep up my writing and grammar. Then sometime when I am baking cookies or cooking supper I am reminded of the days when such things were considered part of my schooling. (Home Ec. was always a favorite!)

Yes, I'm still a homeschooler. I can defend my belief in this way of teaching just as good as any homeschooler and I take every opportunity to tell others about my education and how I got it. I imagine when I have my own children I will unconsciously tell others that "I homeschool my children" even when they are too young to even talk. But I can't help it! I love the home schooling way!

Back to the Old Ways

As I'm sure you've noticed, my blog has taken on it's original form once again. This time I didn't change it just because I wanted a new look. This time there is a purpose for the new layout.

For the past 7 months I have not been my usual self and lets just say I like the old me better. I'm not just talking about my taste in blog templates, but every area of my life. I have become very selfish which lead to a lot of other things that aren't pretty or God honoring. Today I decided to step out on faith and change the way I have been acting and get back to where I use to be, closer to God. It seemed like a good idea to go back to my old blog design as a reminder of what the purpose of this blog was meant to be when I started it. Who knows, I may change it to something brighter and more cheery in the future, but for now I kind of like the old Scribe look.

Continuing Christmas Traditions

What do you do when you have . . .

M&M's and chocolate chips . . .

lots of decorator's icing . . .

and sprinkles????

You make Christmas cookies!

And lots of them!

Daddy was really proud of his cookies! : )

We all had a lot of fun carrying on this family tradition! And no matter what they say, my cookies look the best . . . even better than Ryan's! You can get the recipe at my mom's blog. They taste just as good as they look!

Merry Christmas!

His Ways: Part II

So here we are about to do something that seems impossible and unattractive in almost every way. We constantly ask God, "Are you sure? Am I hearing you right?" and every time God patiently answers, "Yes."


Now obeying God has become hard and it seems like we are going through a storm. Thankfully, the scripture doesn't stop at verse 9. Verse 10 says, "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it being forth the bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."



Now what does rain have to do with God's ways and man's ways? Why did God mention this next? I often wonder what man thought the first time it rained? (After the first rain that created the flood.) They might have thought that it was a nuisance, something that disrupted their work and caused their progress to be delayed. Maybe they had something outside that they didn't want to get wet and was now ruined. If it were up to man, (not knowing the bennefits of rain) he might wish it never happened again. But God's ways are not man's ways, neither are man's thoughts as God's thoughts. God knows we need rain, and even though we may not like it at the time, in the long run we will be glad it did rain because it brings forth new growth.



God's word is like the rain. We may not want it at times, but after the rain comes the buds, the seeds, and finally, the bread that we live by. Most of the time we can't see the whole picture. His thoughts are as high as the heavens and ours are so shallow! But God's word will always bring forth something good. It will always accomplish that which he pleases. It doesn't matter if we don't understand. It is so encouraging to be reminded that God's word will acomplish that which he pleases. It is almost as if God is saying, "Don't worry. It will work out just as I planned."

So we go on following his lead. We have faith. We trust.

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried; he is a buckler to all of those that trust in Him." II Samuel 22.31

His Ways: Part I

This is an artical that I wrote about 7 months ago but didn't know if I'd ever publish it. After reading it tonight I thought I'd change a few things and post it. This really encouraged me, I hope it encourages you too.



"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

Lately God has been showing me the meaning of this verse through circumstances in my life. So many times when we read verses such as this we tend to apply it to shallow things. For example, There was a time when I wanted a job working for a pediatric in a nearby town. The interview didn't go well and the doctor never called me back. While this seemed awful, I now realize that God had other plans for me and the place I am working at now is much better than the one I really wanted. I can see how my ways are not God's ways.

But that wasn't a hard test for me. Many people have to go months searching for a job and I can't say that I was exactly desperate for a job since I was still living at home and driving a car that is payed off. That was not an impossible situation.

What about the big things in life? Is this verse still true when it comes to life changing matters such as moving to a place that seems like the worst place in the whole world? (Just a side note: we are not moving and haven't even thought about moving! This is simply an example.) If God were to tell us to move far away from our family, our church, and the place we have lived all our life, to a town we aren't even interested in . . . what should our attitude be? Of course we would say, "Lord, this doesn't make sense! I can see no reason whatsoever why we should move! It just isn't realistic!" But God's word is still true. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways may ways, saith the LORD." After all, isn't this exactly what God told Abraham to do? I'm sure Abraham didn't understand why God wanted him to leave his home and family to go where God told him to. But he did it anyways.

Sometimes obeying God doesn't make any sense. In fact, it can seem embarrassing and impossible! But God is all wise and knows exactly what we need.

To be continued . . .

Desiring to do Right

Today while I was reading a blog I was very encouraged by this girls strong faith in God and strong convictions that she has. As I read post after post about the thoughts she had on serving God, praying, witnessing, and such, I was reminded once again of how far away from God I had gotten. In sadness I thought about how hard it is to get back to where I use to be, but I knew I couldn't blame it on God. Our LORD never makes it hard for us to come back, the hard part is giving up bad habits and start living a selfless life. Sin is fun for a season, but I have come to realize that even when the fun runs out, it's still hard to give up. Even if it is something as small as selfishness or using my time unwisely. I'm reminded of this verse and quote that everyone should live by.

"Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom." Proverbs 18:1

"Sometimes I do what I want to, but most of the time I do what I have to do." ~ Bro. Mark McGaughey

Introducing: My New Natural Salt Lamp

I'll admit it, I spend a lot of time on the internet. Whether it is at work requesting precertification on a patients stay, e-mailing my best friend, or jumping from blog to blog, I can always find something to do on the world wide web! I suppose if you were to compare the time I spend to other's time I might not come out to be so bad, but still every now and then I have to make myself cut back.

A few weeks ago mama sent me this link which identifies where radiation comes from and how it can hurt us. The computer, phone, and microwave are just a few that I simply can't avoid, so this solution sounded really good! Be sure to check the video out . . . it's really cool.

So I started the search for this natural salt lamp. Today while I was out doing some Christmas shopping with my brother Ryan I found it at Rite Aid! I was so pleased with my find!

Tomorrow I'm going to take it to work since that is where I spend most of my time around radioactive waves and if I notice a difference I might just buy one for home too. I think it's pretty cool! : )