Purity Ball

My little girl is not so little any more... Friday night, Jim and Mikiah attended a purity ball for fathers (or moms) and daughters. I had the great pleasure of being a server during the dinner. The event was absolutely lovely and very heart-warming! They shared some laughs and some special moments. One of those moments included a covenant spoken and signed by each:

Father:
I will protect you from unqualified young men.
I will be diligent to lovingly guard you from even the presence of temptation.
I will teach you God's principles concerning life and marriage.
I will pray for you, seek for you, and commmunicate with you concerning God's choice of your life's partner.

Daughter:
I will accept your protection and keep myself pure for my husband.
I acknowledge that I am capable of being deceived, and will immediately come to you should any tempatation present itself.
I will listen and learn and wait for God's best for my life.
I will seek first the Kingdom of God, look foward to entering a betrothing relationship, and wait for your blessing before entering into marriage.

They had a wonderful dinner, great speakers, quiet time together and a blast dancing. Below are some pics of the big date...

Enjoying some daddy time!





















There is only one beautiful girl I will let dance with my man.

Okay, Jim will kill me for putting this here, but the chicken dance is always a hoot (squawk?)

Josh took some pics before the ball.

This is my favorite.

A beautiful girl on a beautiful day.




















She is a nature lover...




















Waiting for Prince Charming (no hurry)!

The Assailant

He's sneaky, this assailant that relentlessly stalks me, looking for opportunities to initiate an attack. In the old days, I used to accept his periodic attacks as normal. I would sense his presence and wait in dread as I anticipated the hours, days and sometimes even weeks in which I would become battered under his relentless blows. Time and wisdom have given me the much-needed weapons for a counter-attack against this dark foe. Now, when I sense the heavy cloud of hopelessness, helplessness or sadness that surround his barrage of poison arrows to my soul, I am -- though at times weak or slow to respond -- prepared.

My weapon? I Corinthian 4:7-8, is among the many in my arsenal. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you."

Another favorite is found in Ephesians 6, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God..."

And some artillery from Romans 8... "(vs 18)For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us... (vs 28) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose... (vs 31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? ... (vs 35-39) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

POW! BAM! WHACK!!! There, that should put him back in his place... :o)

Judson's First T-Ball Game

Before the game...

Ready to "pitch".

Here's the wind-up...

... and the pitch!

Last-minute instructions in the batter's box.

Swing, batter, swing!

Rounding first.










Resting for a moment on base.

Can't wait for next week! :o)

Thoughts on Life, Death and Eternity

Proverbs 24:11-12 "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?"

If you have read many entries of my blog, you probably know that I often "preach" to those who go by the name "Christian". I want preface this particular blog by saying that I preach to myself first and foremost. It has been a while since I've had an entry. It's spring, which has proven to be as busy a time of year as the Christmas season -- if not more so! In my busyness, these verses should cause me to stop dead in my tracks and evaluate...

Do I do everything I can to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain? Well, of course, if I saw someone in danger of dying, I would absolutely do anything in my power to rescue them! Wouldn't you? I would have to have a pretty severed conscience to stand idly by and watch another human die!

Reality check... I do have a severed conscience. I do come across dying people every day when I step out of my home. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. That means anyone who has ever broken God's law is being "drawn unto death" and are "ready to be slain". Romans 3:23 clearly states that all have sinned, and I think the truth of this verse is pretty evident! Man's struggle with sin is obvious even to my six-year-old, who made this statement not too long ago, "Mom, I just don't understand it. I asked Jesus to come into my heart, but I still keep sinning...." (Romans 7!) From birth until physical death, we struggle with sin. It is, unfortunately, human nature ever since Adam and Eve exercised their free will to disobey God.

What about that death? Don't we all die anyway? The death referenced in Romans 6:23, is far worse than any physical death. It is a spiritual death. It is eternal separation from our Creator God. I'm talking about being apart from the One Being who loves us more than mere mortals can comprehend. I'm speaking of the difference between an eternity with purpose, power and peace and an eternity in the tormenting darkness of fiery hell. Yes, I believe in heaven and hell. The Bible references hell (Hades) even more often than it references heaven. They are both very real and both very eternal states of existence.

According to these verses in Proverbs, the One who keeps my soul from hell, the One in whom I have trusted and who I claim is Lord of my life, considers (discerns, understands), the fact that I do not deliver those that are drawn unto death. He not only considers it, he gives back to me according to my works. My eternal destiny is fixed. I have trusted in the blood of Jesus as the payment for the penalty I deserve for my own sins (death). However, there is still much to be gained or lost in my eternal existence. I Corinthians 3:11-15 says, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."

So, I have to ask myself this question. In all my busyness, in all the works that I work every day, how much of that will withstand the test of eternity? How many of my efforts are geared toward rescuing my fellow man from spiritual death? Am I so self-focused that I am satisfied with knowing my soul is being safely kept? If I really believe the Bible is true, why doesn't this truth drive my actions? Consider, confess, change...

Forgiveness Revisited

Everyone has at least one person or group of people in their lives that have caused them deep pain. We all have to deal with this issue of forgiveness, and it is admittedly a tough issue. The problem with unforgiveness is that it holds us prisoner. We think our bitterness punishes the other person or protects us, when in reality we are greatly harmed. Sometimes we may truly desire to forgive and try to forgive, but the wounds are so deep that complete forgiveness seems impossible. Sometimes we may have to face that hurtful situation day in and day out, and just when we think we have reached forgiveness, something happens that reopens that old wound. These are real issues. I find myself struggling in this area at times. It bothers me that the well of bitterness and unforgiveness seems to go deep and have an endless supply! The deeper the heart issue, the deeper I must dip into God's Word...

The first mention of forgiveness in the Bible is in Genesis 50:17. As a brief background, Joseph was the youngest of 12 brothers. Joseph was favored by his father, and Joseph flaunted it a bit. His brothers were extremely jealous and eventually plotted to kill him. The oldest brother talked the others out of killing Joseph, and in the end they sold Joseph into slavery. Joseph ended up in Egypt in a series of unpleasant circumstances, but was faithful to God through it all. Finally, God elevated Joseph to the position of second in command under Pharaoh because God had given Joseph wisdom to interpret dreams and Pharaoh had had two very troubling dreams. Through the dreams, Joseph predicted seven good years of harvest and seven years of famine. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of preparing for the famine. During the famine, people from all over came to Egypt to buy food, including Joseph's brothers. Long story a bit shorter, Joseph's entire family ends up moving to Egypt, and years later when their father dies, Joseph's brothers are a little nervous that he will now seek revenge on them for all the evil they did. When Joseph realizes their fear, this is his response: "And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them."

What can I learn from this? Keys to forgiving:
1. Am I God that I can choose not to forgive?
2. God is in control of all my circumstances, even the ones that appear evil.
3. How I should respond out of forgiveness to those who hurt me.

I want to spend some time on the response. First, I should be willing to nourish them. The Hebrew word translated "nourish" means: to seize, contain, measure...to sustain, maintain, contain...to support, nourish... to endure...to be supplied. In other words, nourish is not necessarily an emotional response, but a calculated response – a choice to support and sustain.

My second response to should to comfort them, which means exactly what we think. Again, this is a choice, not necessarily an emotional response. Though, admittedly, emotions help in this regard!

Finally, I need to speak kindly unto them. This is where it gets interesting. Look at the definition of the Hebrew word translated "kindly": inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding, inner part, midst, heart (of man), soul, heart (of man), mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory. inclination, resolution, determination (of will), conscience, heart (of moral character), as seat of appetites, as seat of emotions and passions, as seat of courage.

Yes, nourishing, comforting and even words are all calculated responses and clear choices. There is a reason, though, that "words" was translated that way. You see, words are tricky. Yes, my words are my choice and come from my will, but ultimately, my words come from my heart. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus says, "...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Though forgiveness IS a choice, it cannot be feigned. It MUST be a heart understanding that I have no right to hold on to unforgiveness. Ephesians 4:32 puts it this way, "be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you." If I stop and truly consider my own need for forgiveness and the price Christ paid in order that I can be forgiven, it should melt away every hard place in my heart that wants to close against the possibility of forgiving and loving with the love of God.

If you read the joy blogs, you might remember in Psalms 51 that we have "inward parts" and "hidden parts" that we tend to purposely or inadvertently block off from God. I believe a vast majority of those "parts" have unforgiveness at their root. This is HUGE. If we can allow God to do His work in those areas and we choose to forgive from our hearts, we will experience healing and joy such as we have never known. This is what I seek. I pray you will as well.

Why Have You Done This?

"And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?" (Judges 2:1-2)

Translated -- I did what I said I would do, why didn't you? The bottom line is, God is faithful. Humans are not. We cannot be perfect because we still have our sin nature to contend with. I think the problem lies in the very obvious fact that most of us don't bother to contend with sin in our lives. We don't try to be different at all. We justify it in all kinds of ways, "I need to develop a relationship with them so I can witness to them...", "It may be a sex chat room but it is a perfect place to share Truth...", "I have liberty in Christ...", "I don't have that gift...", "I can't help it, it's just the way God made me...", "If that person wouldn't have done this to me...", etc. Jesus echoed God's desire for us to "make no league with the inhabitants of the land" when he prayed for us in John 17, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."

Many of us know God's truth, but knowing and living are two very different things. Knowledge alone guarantees we will still have to answer that haunting question, "Why have ye done this?" If we fail to allow the Truth to sanctify us -- separate us, make us different, desire a holy lifestyle -- we have missed the point. God is not interested in how much we know or even how much we help others along the way by sharing that knowledge with them. God is interested in our obedience. He wants us to pursue Him more than we pursue anything in life. He wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

This question strikes fear in my heart. Why doesn't the Truth impact my life more? Why doesn't it impact the average Christian's life more? Why have we made no difference between ourselves and the rest of the land? Why have we done this? May God in His great mercy deliver us from ourselves before we find ourselves unable to look into the eyes of the One Who gave His all for our salvation, unable to use our old standby answers when He queries, "Why have ye done this?"

Lesson from the Dog

This morning the neighbor's dog started barking. My dog, Gracie, not to be outdone, immediately started growling and doing her "pre-bark woofing" as she made her way to the window to see what all the commotion was about. I started to give Gracie my usual, "Dog, you don't even know what you're barking at...." speech, when I was suddenly struck with this amusing thought. (Well, it amused me anyway...) How often do we humans practice premature or misdirected barking?

Gracie, as it turned out, was joining the neighbor's dog in barking at the school bus -- not an unexpected visitor on the block. Gracie also barks at the daily visit from the mailman. It seems silly. You would think she would begin to expect the bus and the mailman to appear nearly daily at about the same time. For some reason, she thinks it is her duty to bark. I often wonder if she would bark to warn of real danger!

The human parallel can be made in many different walks of life -- professional, parental, educational -- but, I like to pick on Christians :o) It seems Christians often "bark up the wrong tree". We seem surprised at the actions of those who do not share our faith when in reality, they are just living out their lives in the most expected fashion. Why, then, do we carry on so? Did you know Jesus barked more at the religious folks than anyone else? Perhaps we should stop to investigate the things that make God bark before we join the masses in their paroxysmal barking...