Today, I’m just feeling thankful.
I’m thankful for our Youth Group. Last night Ian (a co-leader) and I took a group of kids roller skating, don’t worry, I didn’t skate, I sat on the side lines in the “disabled” section. : )
It was so much fun! It was way out there, about an hour drive from us, but the car rides were fun and we just had a blast!
The best part of the night was how thankful the kids were. Everyone was so considerate, and they just kept thanking us for bringing them, and for organizing the event. It was absolutely delightful to hang out with this group of kids for the evening! They’re good kids!
I was sitting here just thinking about how thankfulness, expressed last night, is still making an impact on me today. A group of teens, with thankful hearts, have influenced me to have a thankful heart today.
A thankful heart makes a world of difference in ones day.
A thankful heart makes a merry heart.
Proverbs 15:13 A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Here’s a bit on a Merry Heart, I found it on www.Sermonindex.net, by A.B. Simpson.
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine
King Solomon left among his wise sayings a prescription for sick and sad hearts, and it is one that we can safely take. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Joy is the great restorer and healer. Gladness of spirit will bring health to the bones and vitality to the nerves when all other tonics fail and all other sedatives cease to quiet. Are you ill? Begin to rejoice in the Lord, and your bones will flourish like an herb, and your cheeks will glow with the bloom of health and freshness. Worry, fear, distrust, care-all are poisonous! joy is balm and healing, and if you will but rejoice, God will give power. He has commanded you to be glad and rejoice, and He never fails to sustain His children in keeping His commandments. Rejoice in the Lord always, He says. This means no matter how sad, how tempted, how sick, how suffering you are, rejoice in the Lord just where you are-and begin this moment. The joy of the Lord is the strength of our body, The gladness of Jesus, the balm for our pain, His life and His fullness, our fountain of healing, His joy, our elixir for body and brain.
Have a beautiful and thankful day, and may your heart be merry!
P.S. I'll have some photos of the evening on Facebook soon!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
I've been tagged
1) I HATE wearing matching pajamas. If I have a pajama “set” than I never wear both the top and bottom at the same time. I’d rather have them be the worst clashing items ever, than to have the top and bottom match.
2) Thanks to severe motion sickness and morning sickness, in my travels I have left a trail of vomit. Someday my claim to fame will be that I’ve thrown up on every continent. If I pinned all the places on a world map that I’ve vomited, you’d see markers running quite consistently along the Romanian and Hungarian countryside one in Heathrow, one in Milan, and all over the Dominican Republic. Not to mention all along the east coast of the US.
3) If you’re into the sibling placement personality traits, you’ll find me to be a very interesting/weird case. In my family there are 6 kids, as a way of keeping organized we have typically fallen into 1 of 3 sub divided categories; boys - girls, older half - younger half, and by twos (because children 1 and 2 are closer in age than 2 and 3, 2 and 3 are closer in age than 3 and 4...) So, being child # 3, depending on how you break it up, I am the first girl (with strong “oldest child” tendencies) I am the last of the older half (with many youngest child tendencies) and I belong in the second set of sibling pairs (therefore having extreme “middle child” tendencies.) Yeah, told you it was weird.
4) Sometimes, before I know it, I find myself pretending I’m in a movie or music video. Though it’s become less frequent the older I’ve gotten, at the age of 22 I still haven’t quit my imaginary acting career.
5) I make goals for myself, never intending on going anywhere with them. For instance, I have completed my goal of writing enough songs that I like, to put on an album. Yet would never even think about actually recording them. Now, I am currently working on a goal of writing 3 books, a novel, a children’s story and one that’s just filled with my thoughts on life, but don’t ever expect to see them published.
6) I only wash my hair every other day. My good hair days are the ones in between washings.
7) Someday, we’d like to live in a “community” of sorts. The town house next to ours is for sale, and we dream of buying ours and the one next to us, in order to have a good place to start this “commune.” It’s a perfect spot for a good group of Christians to live together, serving the hurting community around us. (Anyone interested?) ;-)
So, there it is, Not many of my faithful readers are bloggers, so if anyone wants to make a blog and start with this, be my guest! Just, consider yourself tagged.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Choose Glory
:: For the last couple of weeks, in Youth Group, we’ve been reading the book of Philippians. Last night, on a slight tangent and whim of my husband‘s, we began to discuss glory. Just figuring out what it looked like, what it was, what is glorious… one of the guys began to tell us about a discussion that he had with Mark a few nights ago when they were out taking a walk back behind my parents house. He didn’t say what they had been talking about, only that they were amazed at how everything they saw was declaring the glory of the Lord. There was a brilliant full moon illuminating wisps of clouds, and all the stars were shining they’re brightest, attempting to assist the moon. They went on describing the beautiful country night, noting that every blade of grass, and every leaf that was present was declaring Gods glory. Simply by being what it was meant to be, creation was glorifying God.
:: Glorifying God was on my mind this morning at about 10:30. We were driving in the car when Gideon, from the back seat exclaimed with great excitement “the MOON!” “No, it’s day time honey, the moon’s not out right now” I replied, “moon” he said again. I looked in the direction that he was pointing, and lo I beheld, the moon. It was no brighter than any of the puffs of clouds, and honestly, I’m surprised that he didn’t just pass it off as being a round cloud. But there it was, still declaring the glory of the Lord, along with the rest of the earth on this dazzling autumn morning.
Gideon is always so excited to see the moon, we say hello to it, we say goodnight to it, we sit outside under a blanket and point to the sky saying, “MOON! STARS! MOON! LOOK!” I’m not sure what it is about the moon that makes him so excited, but I just love to watch him delight in all of Gods creation.
:: God’s creation is something that no child can ignore, it is ingrained in them to delight in their surroundings. To examine bugs, and pick flowers, feel tree bark, admire color and dirt and the sky and wind. Gideon doesn’t have to be taught to enjoy these things. Yet, we have to be taught to acknowledge the creator of these things. As I see Gideon discovering the world that he’s exposed to, I am inclined to recognize Gods creation - my son. As I see Gideon, simply being what he was created to be, I am shown the glory of God. Gideon, being a child, is declaring to the world that Gods fame, His bigness, His splendor… is real! Just like the moon, by being the moon, declares the same.
:: In the “Weight of Glory” C.S. Lewis talks about the fact that humans are given the choice to glorify God or not. Unlike the rest of creation that simply has to be, in order to glorify the Creator. We are required to choose.
:: I exhort you to choose glory. Be who God has created you to be. Take a lesson from all of creation and in every moment of existence, declare the glory of our creator!
:: Glorifying God was on my mind this morning at about 10:30. We were driving in the car when Gideon, from the back seat exclaimed with great excitement “the MOON!” “No, it’s day time honey, the moon’s not out right now” I replied, “moon” he said again. I looked in the direction that he was pointing, and lo I beheld, the moon. It was no brighter than any of the puffs of clouds, and honestly, I’m surprised that he didn’t just pass it off as being a round cloud. But there it was, still declaring the glory of the Lord, along with the rest of the earth on this dazzling autumn morning.
Gideon is always so excited to see the moon, we say hello to it, we say goodnight to it, we sit outside under a blanket and point to the sky saying, “MOON! STARS! MOON! LOOK!” I’m not sure what it is about the moon that makes him so excited, but I just love to watch him delight in all of Gods creation.
:: God’s creation is something that no child can ignore, it is ingrained in them to delight in their surroundings. To examine bugs, and pick flowers, feel tree bark, admire color and dirt and the sky and wind. Gideon doesn’t have to be taught to enjoy these things. Yet, we have to be taught to acknowledge the creator of these things. As I see Gideon discovering the world that he’s exposed to, I am inclined to recognize Gods creation - my son. As I see Gideon, simply being what he was created to be, I am shown the glory of God. Gideon, being a child, is declaring to the world that Gods fame, His bigness, His splendor… is real! Just like the moon, by being the moon, declares the same.
:: In the “Weight of Glory” C.S. Lewis talks about the fact that humans are given the choice to glorify God or not. Unlike the rest of creation that simply has to be, in order to glorify the Creator. We are required to choose.
:: I exhort you to choose glory. Be who God has created you to be. Take a lesson from all of creation and in every moment of existence, declare the glory of our creator!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
On; domesticity and what it inspires in me
How fun it is to be domestic!
:: I think in my “nesting phase” I’m finding great joy in doing things a little more old fashioned. On Monday my mother in law came over to teach me how to make and can applesauce. As I mentioned before, she’s already taught me how to can peaches. Back in June my mom taught me how to make strawberry jam. It’s so much fun! Not just the canning process, but every time I look in the pantry I get excited about seeing food that I CANNED! Every time I open a new jar I am thrilled that I know exactly what’s in the jar, and am delighted that I did it, albeit with a little help.
:: I’m sure its very similar for other people, that as soon as autumn comes around you just start feeling like it’s time to work with yarn. It’s time to get out the knitting needles or crochet hooks and start projects. At first, just to get the creative juices flowing, I usually start with a very simple project, one that can be finished in a few hours. Today, I finished my first project, a 100% cotton wash clothes, I plan on making enough of these so that I can do away with sponges all together. You know, be a little more eco friendly.
:: It’s interesting, I find that as I work at becoming more “domestic“, my heart yearns more for becoming international. I know that somewhere down the line God will place my family on the missions field. Perhaps not for years on end, but potentially a few months at a time. As I try to become less acquainted with the modern conveniences of western culture, I am encouraged to find that I enjoy doing certain things in certain less “convenient “ ways. (Who knows, maybe I’m reading too many Amish themed books…) I guess what I’m saying is that these little steps that I’m taking, help me envision myself being a mom and wife in less developed countries. Don’t tell anyone, but, sometimes when I’m rinsing diapers to put in the washing machine, I start imagining myself standing outside with a bucket of water and some soap flakes, hand washing diapers. The front door of our little shack is propped open and I can smell some sort of stew cooking inside. I don’t know where we are, but the dirt is red and the trees are tall and tropical. Little brown children run around the yard playing with my little blondies, and I look up the road and see Mark walking along, just chatting with a few men, perhaps discussing something spiritual, or just talking about the weather. I feel the warm breeze and actually enjoy the earthy scent of the nearby farm animals and smoke from our neighbors cooking fires. I enjoy this scene, and wonder if I’ll ever be there in any other way apart from my imagination. I hope so. I want to be faithful in the ministries that God has placed us in now, so that we can be proven capable of other, perhaps tougher ministries later on. I want to serve our youth group the best we can, taking care of those kids as though they’re our own, on our week to clean the church I want to do the most thorough job possible, I want to be the most gracious neighbor we can be. I want to be faithful in the little, all of the little that there is everyday.
Wow, talk about the Ramblings of!
:: I think in my “nesting phase” I’m finding great joy in doing things a little more old fashioned. On Monday my mother in law came over to teach me how to make and can applesauce. As I mentioned before, she’s already taught me how to can peaches. Back in June my mom taught me how to make strawberry jam. It’s so much fun! Not just the canning process, but every time I look in the pantry I get excited about seeing food that I CANNED! Every time I open a new jar I am thrilled that I know exactly what’s in the jar, and am delighted that I did it, albeit with a little help.
:: I’m sure its very similar for other people, that as soon as autumn comes around you just start feeling like it’s time to work with yarn. It’s time to get out the knitting needles or crochet hooks and start projects. At first, just to get the creative juices flowing, I usually start with a very simple project, one that can be finished in a few hours. Today, I finished my first project, a 100% cotton wash clothes, I plan on making enough of these so that I can do away with sponges all together. You know, be a little more eco friendly.
:: It’s interesting, I find that as I work at becoming more “domestic“, my heart yearns more for becoming international. I know that somewhere down the line God will place my family on the missions field. Perhaps not for years on end, but potentially a few months at a time. As I try to become less acquainted with the modern conveniences of western culture, I am encouraged to find that I enjoy doing certain things in certain less “convenient “ ways. (Who knows, maybe I’m reading too many Amish themed books…) I guess what I’m saying is that these little steps that I’m taking, help me envision myself being a mom and wife in less developed countries. Don’t tell anyone, but, sometimes when I’m rinsing diapers to put in the washing machine, I start imagining myself standing outside with a bucket of water and some soap flakes, hand washing diapers. The front door of our little shack is propped open and I can smell some sort of stew cooking inside. I don’t know where we are, but the dirt is red and the trees are tall and tropical. Little brown children run around the yard playing with my little blondies, and I look up the road and see Mark walking along, just chatting with a few men, perhaps discussing something spiritual, or just talking about the weather. I feel the warm breeze and actually enjoy the earthy scent of the nearby farm animals and smoke from our neighbors cooking fires. I enjoy this scene, and wonder if I’ll ever be there in any other way apart from my imagination. I hope so. I want to be faithful in the ministries that God has placed us in now, so that we can be proven capable of other, perhaps tougher ministries later on. I want to serve our youth group the best we can, taking care of those kids as though they’re our own, on our week to clean the church I want to do the most thorough job possible, I want to be the most gracious neighbor we can be. I want to be faithful in the little, all of the little that there is everyday.
Wow, talk about the Ramblings of!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Welcome this is a townhouse, we have cluster flies alas...
One thing that happened in the month of September while I was absent from “The Ramblings Of” was an incredible infestation of fruit flies in our home. I suppose it started out as little fruit fly family finding a home full of comfort and bountiful food. This home, being our broken garbage disposal. They gathered inside when I wasn’t running the water, and when I was they would hover around the shadow box I have hanging on the wall above the sink. Over time these fruit flies started having babies, and their babies had babies, and before they knew it, the garbage disposal was just too tiny a home for all of them. So one branch of this family tree flew several feet north and found a lovely little spot in our pantry, one lonesome potato at the bottom of the potato tin. (that I of course didn’t remember) This fruit fly colony was really beginning to be a hassle for us. Of course, once these two areas were well settled, the younger and more adventurous little flies would seek out new frontiers, and travel over to Gideon’s highchair, where they could always find crumbs. Or they would venture upstairs to find a cereal bowl next to my bed (you know pregnant ladies and their late night snacks…) Before we knew it, we had a real problem on our hands, and to make matters worse, peaches were in season, and I had been planning ALL SUMMER to learn how to can peaches. So, on one of Marks days off, we headed over to a friends farm and picked LOTS of peaches. Peaches which sat on our dinning room table and counters for several days, while waiting to be canned. Our fruit flies were in peach heaven!
Enough was enough! I set out to annihilate this little settlement, and I would have no mercy!
I heard of a trick to get rid of fruit flies, “just set a glass of wine out on the counter over night , the flies will be attracted to the wine, then drown in it.” For any Ann Of Green Gables fans, I thought immediately of the mouse in the custard and thought, “hey, not a bad way to go… wine may be even more romantic than custard!” Seeing as how I had a bottle of cheap wine product that we wouldn’t drink and we had A LOT of flies, I set out a bowl of wine.
I heard of a trick to get rid of fruit flies, “just set a glass of wine out on the counter over night , the flies will be attracted to the wine, then drown in it.” For any Ann Of Green Gables fans, I thought immediately of the mouse in the custard and thought, “hey, not a bad way to go… wine may be even more romantic than custard!” Seeing as how I had a bottle of cheap wine product that we wouldn’t drink and we had A LOT of flies, I set out a bowl of wine.
Guess what, our fruit flies are gone!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Looks like I'm back
It’s been quite a while... almost a month.
Why haven’t I been around? I don’t know… I guess I just haven’t felt a blogging inspiration.
I’ve had plenty of other inspiration though, perhaps I just need to drift about from one creative project to another.
Here are a few examples of the things that have stolen my blogging time as of late: Seasonal decorating, (I LOVE autumn and find that my moms knack to seasonally decorate is inherent) sewing, (I’ve started making my own pre-folds) reading, (I just finished a series by Beverly Lewis, just silly Christian novels set in the Amish country of Lancaster PA, but my younger sister and I both read them so it’s fun to discuss the books) and reorganizing (I’m just trying to get everything in place for our new little baby to come)
Speaking of the baby, all is well. I’ve been given the liberty go about my normal activities again, and was told “at this point, you can afford some contractions.” So that’s a relief, I just don’t care for “taking it easy“ it’s not really my style.
I know some of you have heard of my quest to find a midwife that that will take me THIS pregnancy for a home birth, but alas, I have given up my search. I’ve been told that there is only one, possibly two midwives that will do home births in our area. I could only get the contact info for one of them, and she is too far away from where we live to come out for the birth. I did learn however that we have the best kind of health insurance for a home birth, so, perhaps for the next pregnancy we can get things rolling a little sooner, and find someone willing to come out. I spoke with my Dr. about how I was on a quest for a midwife, and she said she understood why I would be interested in a home birth and such a route. She also said that she wishes my first delivery went a little better than it did, don’t get me wrong, I thought over all my birth experience was GREAT, but my two qualms were 1.) the episiotomy given by a Dr. I had never met, and 2.) the occasional annoying night nurses that had a bee in their bonnet about everything. My Dr. said that out of all of the Dr.‘s that deliver at that hospital, I got the one who was least like a midwife in the fact that she was quick to intervene. She said that overall, every other Dr. in that practice is primarily anti intervention and strongly believes that some soft music and a change of position is better by any measure compared to an epidural or any other kind of intervention. I am confident that because of different circumstances with this pregnancy I will have a much better chance of having my Dr. or at least one that I’ve met, do the delivery.
Wow, this post is SO long already, and I haven’t even started writing about the things I had intended on writing. Oh well, I guess that’s for another day.
I think I will go eat some ice cream. : )
Why haven’t I been around? I don’t know… I guess I just haven’t felt a blogging inspiration.
I’ve had plenty of other inspiration though, perhaps I just need to drift about from one creative project to another.
Here are a few examples of the things that have stolen my blogging time as of late: Seasonal decorating, (I LOVE autumn and find that my moms knack to seasonally decorate is inherent) sewing, (I’ve started making my own pre-folds) reading, (I just finished a series by Beverly Lewis, just silly Christian novels set in the Amish country of Lancaster PA, but my younger sister and I both read them so it’s fun to discuss the books) and reorganizing (I’m just trying to get everything in place for our new little baby to come)
Speaking of the baby, all is well. I’ve been given the liberty go about my normal activities again, and was told “at this point, you can afford some contractions.” So that’s a relief, I just don’t care for “taking it easy“ it’s not really my style.
I know some of you have heard of my quest to find a midwife that that will take me THIS pregnancy for a home birth, but alas, I have given up my search. I’ve been told that there is only one, possibly two midwives that will do home births in our area. I could only get the contact info for one of them, and she is too far away from where we live to come out for the birth. I did learn however that we have the best kind of health insurance for a home birth, so, perhaps for the next pregnancy we can get things rolling a little sooner, and find someone willing to come out. I spoke with my Dr. about how I was on a quest for a midwife, and she said she understood why I would be interested in a home birth and such a route. She also said that she wishes my first delivery went a little better than it did, don’t get me wrong, I thought over all my birth experience was GREAT, but my two qualms were 1.) the episiotomy given by a Dr. I had never met, and 2.) the occasional annoying night nurses that had a bee in their bonnet about everything. My Dr. said that out of all of the Dr.‘s that deliver at that hospital, I got the one who was least like a midwife in the fact that she was quick to intervene. She said that overall, every other Dr. in that practice is primarily anti intervention and strongly believes that some soft music and a change of position is better by any measure compared to an epidural or any other kind of intervention. I am confident that because of different circumstances with this pregnancy I will have a much better chance of having my Dr. or at least one that I’ve met, do the delivery.
Wow, this post is SO long already, and I haven’t even started writing about the things I had intended on writing. Oh well, I guess that’s for another day.
I think I will go eat some ice cream. : )
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Fellow workers in Christ
“The fourth thing, which I suppose isn’t really just specific to Priscilla, but rather the early church as a whole, is there commonality. I know that in our recent attraction to the “hippie commune” we’ve earned ourselves some strange looks and a bit of a weirdo reputation. Which is partly why it’s been something we’ve kept on the down low, but we’ll let you know when we’ve transcended from closet communers (don’t worry, I didn’t say communists) to public communers. At any rate, I thought it was so cool that Priscilla and Aquila were tentmakers, and so was Paul, that’s their original purpose that they started living together, they worked on there common trade. They weren’t just doing “church ministry” all the time, but were using their skills to earn money for their ministry. I’ve read that from time to time, Paul would stick to one place for a while in order to make enough tents to sell and then use that money to keep him going in ministry, probably until he ran out of money and needed to sell more tents. Seriously, read about the financial state of the early church, it makes so much sense. It’s inspiring! (Maybe that will be my next topic of study to post up here?…)”
Like I said, we are NOT communists. Communism, like everything that has become evil, was invented by God, and Satan perverted it so that it became something that it ought not to be.
Acts 2:40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
The early church, in all her glory.
Mark 10:17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother."
20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
21Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
That passage can also be found in Luke 18.
I’ve briefly mentioned a book that we’ve read this year that’s called The irresistible Revolution, I highly recommend it, for us, it was life changing. There is an interesting point that Shane Claiborne (the author) made, he touched on the fact that the doctrine of being born again is not questioned by Christians, Jesus speaks of it once in John chapter 3, then it’s mentioned again in First Peter. Funny how we’ll make that doctrine, something we MUST follow as Christians, but look at selling all of our things to give to the poor as just a suggestion… they’re mentioned just as often, and arguably, taking the passage from Acts, the concept of commonality is mentioned more.
I like the idea of working side by side, for the same things, the same heart. Unity, like Jesus prayed that his bride would have.
I don’t agree with the welfare system. I know it’s helped lots of people before, but I think that the government is doing the job of the church. I think the church should be helping the lame, the crippled, the widow, and the orphan. I think that if as a church, meaning the whole body of Christ, globally, caught the vision of the early church, than there would be no need for our government to stand in place of what God’s people should be doing, and we would eliminate so many needs. I know I sound idealistic, but I’m talking about the Kingdom of God, His kingdom operates on a system I don’t understand, but, I think He can do it, if we become willing.
I feel like I have so much to say about this, and I’m sure that it will be something that I sprinkle around my blog from time to time. So, this is all for now.
But just think about how Paul mentioned Priscilla and Aquila as his fellow workers in Christ. Someday, I want to be spoken of that way, someday I want to have people that I can speak of that way. I want to be in a community of people where we can stand and work side by side, for the same things, the same goals, the same passion, and really see Gods kingdom come to earth and watch it grow. Doesn’t that sound thrilling?
Like I said, we are NOT communists. Communism, like everything that has become evil, was invented by God, and Satan perverted it so that it became something that it ought not to be.
Acts 2:40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
The early church, in all her glory.
Mark 10:17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother."
20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
21Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
That passage can also be found in Luke 18.
I’ve briefly mentioned a book that we’ve read this year that’s called The irresistible Revolution, I highly recommend it, for us, it was life changing. There is an interesting point that Shane Claiborne (the author) made, he touched on the fact that the doctrine of being born again is not questioned by Christians, Jesus speaks of it once in John chapter 3, then it’s mentioned again in First Peter. Funny how we’ll make that doctrine, something we MUST follow as Christians, but look at selling all of our things to give to the poor as just a suggestion… they’re mentioned just as often, and arguably, taking the passage from Acts, the concept of commonality is mentioned more.
I like the idea of working side by side, for the same things, the same heart. Unity, like Jesus prayed that his bride would have.
I don’t agree with the welfare system. I know it’s helped lots of people before, but I think that the government is doing the job of the church. I think the church should be helping the lame, the crippled, the widow, and the orphan. I think that if as a church, meaning the whole body of Christ, globally, caught the vision of the early church, than there would be no need for our government to stand in place of what God’s people should be doing, and we would eliminate so many needs. I know I sound idealistic, but I’m talking about the Kingdom of God, His kingdom operates on a system I don’t understand, but, I think He can do it, if we become willing.
I feel like I have so much to say about this, and I’m sure that it will be something that I sprinkle around my blog from time to time. So, this is all for now.
But just think about how Paul mentioned Priscilla and Aquila as his fellow workers in Christ. Someday, I want to be spoken of that way, someday I want to have people that I can speak of that way. I want to be in a community of people where we can stand and work side by side, for the same things, the same goals, the same passion, and really see Gods kingdom come to earth and watch it grow. Doesn’t that sound thrilling?
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