If I'd Abandon...

"If I'd abandon all that seeks to make my faith informed and chic, could You, would You, show Yourself to me?"~ Nichole Nordeman~

If I abandon all that seeks to make my faith informed...I will definately end up off the path. Prayer, Bible reading, fellowship with other believers are vital parts in helping my faith to grow, as well as strengthening my walk with Jesus Christ - these are my life lines in this journey called life, and God has placed them as helps along the way.

To abandon something is to give up on it. If I give up on our life lines, my support is cut off and I will soon wither and fade - sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly; but regardless, my faith will fade. It is far too easy to walk in the ways of the world; the Bible tells us that bad company corrupts good character, and it will definatley do that. When good character is corrupted, it is usually because we are not in communion with God and we have abandoned those things which are important in our walk.

When I do abandon all that seeks to make my faith informed, it is a choice that I make, and usually the result of caving into temptation. I am faced with a choice - do I stick to the right thing, or do I give in and sin. Even in the midst of temptation, God offers help in overcoming what I am faced with. He does not want me to let go of my life lines.

But, even when that does happen - when I abandon all that seeks to make my faith informed - God still loves me. He loves all His children and wants to show Himself to us. In the midst of turmoil, pain and suffering, God will reveal Himself. He doesn't want us to give up on our faith, He doesn't want us to give in to the temptations, He doesn't want us to lose our faith.

In the midst of such a sinful world, God revealed Himself to mankind. He came as a man, as Jesus, to willingly go to the cross and die for our sins, to offer forgiveness. He conquored death so that we can have eternal life with Him.

Yes, when we abandon the things that seek to make our faith informed, God will still reveal Himself to us - but the choice is ours to make in whether or not we once again take up all that seeks to make our faith informed, or whether we continue to abandon these life lines.

For more takes on the above quote, visit Christine's blog, Fruit in Season.

They're At It Again...

Yeah...sounds to me like "they" are at it again. I was just checking my email, and it is on a news site - Canada.com. Anyway, in one of the news blurbs I saw this. Go read it. Briefly, a Canadian archaeologist (I think he's the guy who has the show on Vision TV called Naked Archaeologist; no he isn't actually naked - haven't figured out the title yet) who claims to have "rediscovered" the tomb that holds the family of Jesus - including his wife Mary Magdelene, His mother, possibly her brother, and Jesus' and Mary M's son, Judah!

Yeah...riding on the coattails of Da Vinci Code maybe? I'm just waiting for them to drag that FICTICIOUS story into this as proof that Mr. Brown's book really is true. No. It's not true. Neither is this claim.

I want someone to prove to me, with scripture, that Jesus and Mary Magdelene got married. I want them to prove to me, with scripture, that they had a son (or any children for that matter). I'll wait. Go on....prove it. What's that? You can't prove it? Well, I could have told you that - in fact I did (read back a few paragraphs). It can't be proven, because IT DID NOT HAPPEN!

Jesus did not get married. Yes, Jesus died - crucified on a cross - and yes, He was buried. Here's the thing. There would be no ossuary (a bone box). See, in those days the people would put the body in a tomb and cover it will lots of spices - about 75 pounds worth. Then, after a year, the family would go back to the tomb and collect the bones that were left and put them in an ossuary.

Here's the thing - Jesus was placed in a tomb with the spices, but when the women went back to finish preparing His body, it wasn't there. Jesus had risen from the dead! There would be absolutely no ossuary needed - ever. Jesus is alive in Heaven, and He has promised to come back again. Be ready. We don't know when He'll return, but He will.

Sure, those bone boxes are real. In fact, they could have held bones belonging to Mary, Mary Magdelen, and even other family members. But there's no way there is an ossuary that contained the bones of Jesus Christ - ever! I don't care what any archaeologist says.

People have been trying to disprove the Christian faith since it began. They can't do it. No matter how hard they try, they can not prove that Jesus' bones remained in the tomb, they can not prove that Jesus was married to Mary Magdelene (I'd like to know how that rumour got started...), or anyone for that matter, they can not prove that Christianity is based on a myth. They can try all they want to create an illusion that Christianity is not true, but they'll be wrong. The truth will be revealed, and as the scriptures say, "one day every knee will bow and one day every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."
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TGIW

Thank Goodness it's the weekend! I've been a little busy the last week or so, doing some studying and working towards finishing a book review. This past Thursday I had my midterm for Maritime History, and let me tell you, there was waaaayyyyy too many notes to have to study for this. I had 24 typed pages of class notes, 3 handwritten pages of class notes, 4 articles, nearly 150 pages of reading from the text book, plus info on 15 Fathers of Confederation - all of this to study for a midterm worth 15%.

I really don't think I did all that well on it, but I wrote for the entire time (70 minutes) and had about 6 pages. The last question I was running out of time so I didn't fare so well on that one. The other two I know I could have done much better on. I had the info in my head, but it was getting jumbled up and know I forgot to include things I should have. Oh well, can't do anything about that now.

This Tuesday I have to have my book review on the History of Prince Edward Island done. We were supposed to have it done for last Thursday, but we mentioned to the prof that it was the same day as the midterm and was rather hard to have to study AND work on a book review; thankfully, he was nice enough to change the due date. We also have to do a 5 minute presentation on the book in front of the class, and I have no idea how to do this - I mean, the stuff in this book I'm reading is basically what we have had in our class notes with a little more detail given. And let me tell ya, these details are none too exciting (insert sounds of loud snoring here)! Oh well, I'm sure I'll get through that too.

I haven't mentioned my flute practicing lately have I? Well, that is going pretty good. I'm learning the song Hungry, as well as a couple of other worship songs. Two of them are very easy and I can play those pretty well. For one of them (the name is escaping me at the moment), the teacher played the accoustic guitar while I played the flute, and it sounded great! I'm also learning I Love You, Lord and that is sounding good, but needs some practice. I got a music book with some hymns (not a hymnal) and chose to try Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee first. I've pretty much got that, but there is a CD with it that you can play while you do the flute solo part - I need to practice that. If there were some others that could play a little ensemble (for woodwind instruments) they could do the part from the CD instead of having to play the CD. But, for now I'll stick to learning to play with the CD. The song is a little fast, so I also need to work on that (at least when it's played on the CD). All in all, I am really enjoying the flute. I'm glad I started taking lessons!

Tomorrow at church we are having a missionary family in to speak. They have gone to our church in the past, but then changed to another one (I have no idea why, and it doesn't matter - there was nothing bad that caused them to change.) - this was before I started attending back in 2000. Anyway, they have been down in Indonesia for about 3 years I believe, and are now home for a bit. We've also got them booked to come to our midweek kids program to talk to the kids. That night we've also got games, crafts and snacks that are popular in Indonesia for the kids to do - it's a mission night. I hope the kids will enjoy this (most of the kids that come to the midweek program aren't churched kids)!

Anyway, not much to report at this time. I hope all your days are Christ filled!

"Those who read fast reap no more advantage than a bee would by only skimming over the surface of the flower, instead of waiting to penetrate into it, and extract its sweets."~ Madame Jeanne Guyon ~

"Those who read fast reap no more advantage..." Isn't that so true? When we read the Bible qickly without looking for meaning, do we really get anything from it? Probably not.

To understand the Bible and its passages, we need to dig deep to the treasure that is "buried" in and among the pages. The Bible is God's Word - full of wisdom, grace, peace, forgiveness, eternal life, and truth; this book is about our Salvation and the only one who can give it to us - Jesus the Christ! John 1:1 tells us "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (NASB). Isn't it amazing? The Bible is about Jesus from the very first words in Genesis, to the very last in Revelation.

Studying the Bible is a must for every Christian. Simply skimming over the top, letting the words flow by us will not help us to grow in our walk with Christ. It is so easy (and often tempting) to just sit and read just to say that we got our Bible reading done for the day. It takes more than a casual glance for God to reveal something He may want us to learn or remember. In all honesty, reading without searching for life application doesn't do much for us. We need to grow in our walk with the Lord, and part of that growth comes from a deeper reading of Scripture.

Part of deeper reading involves meditation. Now, the meditation I am referring to is not the meditation practiced in some cultures where one relaxes with closed eyes and has some sort of mantra to repeat. The meditation I refer to is in reference to a deeper thinking. When we meditate on Scripture, we think about it, mull it over, think how we can apply it to our daily life. This is what we do to help us grow in our walk.

I know I'm not perfect - I have been known to just skim and glance over the Bible. And to be honest, that does absolutely nothing for me. It almost leaves me feeling - empty. I walk away with nothing from that "reading". When I sit and read, digging deep, praying before I start (asking God to reveal something He wants me to know or be reminded of, etc.), meditating on the Word and how I can apply it to my life; when I live the Word, then I come away feeling more fulfilled. The struggle or temptation so many of us face is thinking that it's ok to just skim over what we are reading and count it as our time spent with God. I need to stop that - I need to take the time to get into the Bible, to really dig deep, and learn and grow with the Lord.

I am not only interested in the life application of the Bible. I'm interested in the who's, the why's, the how's, the when's, the where's...I like learning about the archealogy, the geography, the people and their customs, etc. I know that stuff isn't necessary to grow in my walk, but I enjoy that sort of thing none the less - and sometimes it can make the stories, etc. a little more interesting.

So, my prayer is that I will take the time I need to dig deeper into the Word, to not skim over the top, and use what I learn (what God reveals to me) to help my growth and walk as a Christian.

In Other Words...

I've been meaning to take part in CWO's "In Other Words" but I keep forgetting about it. I read one blogger's on the following quote, and it reminded me that I wanted to take part in IOW as well. I'm not even entirely sure that what I've said makes sense, or fits in with the quote, but here goes:

"We are urgent about the body; He is about the soul. We call for present comforts; He considers our everlasting rest. And therefore when He sends not the very things we ask, He hears us by sending greater than we can ask or think."~ Richard Cecil ~

So often we are concerned, as a society, with having the perfect body. But really, when you stop to think about it, the perfect body doesn't exist. If we had the perfect body, we wouldn't be concerned with losing "just 5 more" pounds; we wouldn't be concerned with having grey hair and needing to dye it; we wouldn't be concerned about our blemishes, the big feet, the small breasts, that bit (or lot) of cellulite that shows up on our thighs or our butts. If the perfect body image existed, there would be no need for airbrushing to be done on magazine photos.

Media has played into our fears of becoming old and/or ugly, and we devour it like that last piece of birthday cake. "Have the hair colour you've always wanted!", "Lose 10 pounds overnight!", "Get the man of your dreams by following our advice!"...the list goes on and on and on and on and...well, you get the picture. We will spend money on the latest issue of a woman's magazine that gives step by step advice on how to "improve" your body and your self-image, how to become "perfect". When we see the models and actresses who are rail thin and wear size zero clothes we think that is the image we need to be, that that is the image men desire.

Granted, it is one thing to desire to lose weight through diet and exercise in order to become healthy, but it is an entirely different ball game when it is done simply to look like the latest fashion model who, if she turns sideways, would probably disappear. I'm not trying to knock these women; but when the women who do not look like those on magazine covers are told they aren't "good enough, thin enough or pretty enough" (or made to feel this way) because they might be a little overweight or too short or too plain, then something is wrong.

God gave us each a temple to take care of - our bodies. By all means, lose the weight, start exercising, eat healthier - but do it for your health; do it for the right reasons. Don't deny yourself food - don't overboard and end up dangerously thin in order to fit society's standards. No, we are not of the world and we are not to live as the world lives.

Find it hard to lose weight? Is it difficult not to compare your looks with others? Feel like you just can't do it, you just can't take care of yourself? Does it seem impossible not to give into society's standards? There is One who can help you through it all, no matter what trouble you face. There is One who loves you so much and desires for you to be healthy, who loves you and your imperfect body - God.

God understands our desire to fit in, our desire to look good. But in the larger scheme of things, this really is not important. He has far better for us than a life of striving for perfection according to the world's standards. I think that He wants us to be healthy, but I also think He wants us to be satisfied with what we look like - I mean, afterall, He is the one who created us. Granted He didn't create us to be overweight (I fit this category myself) or under weight, because neither is healthy. I think if we focus on Jesus, and ask for His help in our struggles to become healthier, He will help us. I also believe that we need to be doing this for the right reasons - for health benefits, to please the Lord and NOT to please the world and those who think that size zero is perfection.

So do what you can (with God's help) to take care of the body He gave you; afterall, it's the only one you've got - at least here on earth.

Dreams

Yesterday evening, just after supper, I was a little tired and decided I needed a nap. I also had a dream...a weird dream; but I can't remember what it was about really, just a few little pieces.

In my dream, I was rebuking "demons" like has happened before in my dreams, and as usual I don't see anything. I just start yelling (or trying to yell), "I rebuke you in Jesus name!" and "At the name of Jesus you must leave!" So, in my dream I start doing this tentatively. My voice is a little weak and shakey, but I continue to rebuke. Then I "wake up".

It feels so real - I sense a "presence" of some sort, something not right, something bad, and I start rebuking. This time it's a little stronger, but my voice is still shakey, This time I also look to see what is "there"...nothing. But still, I feel like there is something there, so I continue rebuking...I then "wake up" again...it wasn't real that time, but also a dream.

Then, as I am waking up, I feel my blankets being pulled off me towards the bottom of the bed - nothing is there though, but I feel this presence and start rebuking. I'm looking right at the area where there should have been something or someone standing to pull off my blankets, but nothing. I tug on the blankets and it feels like wahtever is there is still pulling them in that direction. My voice is stronger this time and I yell out "I rebuke you in the name of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! You must leave because the Bible tells us that at His name you must leave! I rebuke you in Jesus name!" and said this several times.

Then, I wake up for real this time. What is weird is that in my dream, I was dreaming that I was dreaming that I was dreaming. I woke up from one dream but was still dreaming; then woke up but was still in the same dream, etc. until I finally woke up for real. This has never happened to me before. Weird.

I used to have lots of dreams that I was rebuking demons or something, but never saw them. I never wanted to see them (in dreams or in real life), nor do I want to now. I haven't had these rebuking dreams for a long time now - this is the first in at least a year I think (give or take a couple of months).

I have no idea what this means, if anything. As you might know from reading here, I have been faltering a little in my walk - not praying, not reading the bible...but since the new year, I've been reading the bible everyday (though I may have missed one day, but to my knowledge, I have read it everyday), and have been trying to improve in my prayer life again. It's still not up to where I have been in the past, on the same level; it's hard to get back to it when you've left it behind for awhile.

Anyway, maybe this dream is showing me that what I have been fearing (or might have been fearing) is really nothing to fear. In the dream it is like I stood up to the "demons" and faced them, only to find what I thought I was afraid of wasn't there and by calling on Jesus, I got through it. I don't know - I don't know how to interpret dreams, so it's just a thought.

I'm feeling a little better lately in my walk. I'm not where I want to be, not where I used to be, and I still feel so - inadequate I guess. I know I'll never be "good enough", but I know I can be better than I am right now...I'm probably not making sense. I do know that I need to work on my relationship with God and build it up. It's hard, and if it's important to me (it is) then I should be working on it - doing what I can with God's help to improve it. And I will; I'm working on it - slowly but surely.

My Story

C. H. Green over at Beneath the Ivy Wreath has started a meme. The idea is to be able to post your story/testimony in 100 words (it was actually her pastor's idea). The reason is because when you are trying to tell it to others, they don't always want to hear long drawn out and detailed accounts. I might add, that they also don't want to hear the "church speak" we tend to use - mainly because they might not understand it.

Anyway, she wanted the stories in her comment section so since she had tagged me, I posted mine. I'm going to post it here as well. I couldn't get it down past 109 words though, but I guess that isn't too bad.

So, I tag anyone who reads this and wants to take part. Also, if you have any further questions about my story/testimony feel free to ask.

Hmmm...100 words. Not sure if I can make it that short, but I'll try...ok, I'm back now with 109 words.

My Story

I knew Christ as a child and went to church until age 12. I have always believed Jesus is God’s Son who died on the cross for our sins. Eventually, I fell away from my faith, and by my mid-twenties I was on a path that was quickly leading to destruction. Amid the mental/emotional pain and turmoil I was experiencing, I called out to God for help. He heard me. But it took me eight years before I came back to Christ. That was seven years ago. It hasn’t been all peachy-keen along the way, but I know He is there for me and forgives me when I mess-up.

There's A Party On The Way

Check out the link over on my sidebar. Hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom, the party happens between March 2-9. You don't have to be a mom - all are welcome, and there will also be prizes offered.

This is a great way to "meet" new people, and visit their blogs. So, head on over (just click the button over on my sidebar) and sign up for the party!

I Have No Real Title For This Post

Well, I got my essay back this week - the one I was talking about in the previous post. I did ok on it; I got 80 (which is an A-). Our next one is due this coming week, and it is dealing with the Ark of the Covenant in 1 Chronicles, and we have to do the same thing - read the article, what is written in the commentary we have, and then find a point and discuss it. I hope this one will go a little better than the last one.

I'm am a lot busier this semester than I was last. I'm taking a history course, and there is a lot of reading for that because of a book review, the term paper, class readings, and a little research "project" (for lack of a better word) on one of the Father's of Confederation. My weekend will be busy with a lot of this as the Father of Confederation project as well as the outline and bibliography for the term paper are all due this Tuesday.

My walk with God has slowly been improving somewhat. I've been able to keep up with reading my Bible everyday, but to be honest, I haven't really had any "revelations". This is probably due to me not wanting to examine my life/situation and hear from God, or I'm afraid of what I'll find out or what He might have to say or want me to do. Part of it might be that I don't want to have to face my sin and have to repent...I know it's necessary, but you know how it is...you just want to move on.

My prayer life greatly needs to improve as well. I need to pray more often. I've been praying when I think of it, or when I hear that someone might need a prayer I'll say a quick one, but, in all honesty again, it is greatly lacking.

I'm hoping that getting back into one of the Biblical courses at school will help me get back into things. I'm enjoying the Post Exilic Writings class and the discussions that we are generating from reading 1 Chronicles. I've even had a bit of desire to get back into Hebrew again, so hopefully this will help with getting on track. I know I need more than just getting into a course to get back on track, but I'm hoping at the least that it will help head me in the right direction.

Anyway, I do feel like I'm getting back on the path though I am still confused with some areas of my life - like where or what I should be doing...but I guess we're all like that. I wonder if I'm just going through a growing phase...but then maybe I was just full of doubt and anger and wanted to do things my own way....rebelling or something. I don't know. I do know I'm still feeling stagnant, discontented, etc. It's slowly improving, so that's a start.

I know God is bigger than all things, and that I need to put Him in the #1 position and keep Him there. I need to put my focus back on Him, and then my spiritual life will improve :o).