Taking up offense

This week has been a busy week. Let’s start with the basics: our kids’ schooling that my husband and I drive them to each weekday; my husband’s vehicle needed repair, so it was unusable in the garage for a few days; and our regular obligations at work and the organization I volunteer at. Then there were our son’s Civil Air Patrol meetings on Tuesday and Saturday.

Wednesday night my husband started to feel sick and we wondered if he was getting the H1N1 virus. It wasn’t the flu, because by Friday night he and I were in the emergency room while he was being treated for a painful infection. Saturday morning I drove my husband (who was on Vicodin and couldn’t drive) and my son to the Civil Air Patrol meeting an hour away from our home.

Our son has kept a 3.4+ GPA at school while taking on more and more responsibilities at Civil Air Patrol. He’s a leader and many of the other kids relate well to him and go to him for help. Chris has always had a helper’s attitude.

Knowing how Chris is and how his dad and I know most of what goes on in his life; that he does well in school, spends all his time (outside of C.A.P) with his family, how he aspires to do well and join the Marines someday, I took offense by his friend’s sudden announcement that he was restricted from spending time with Chris or contacting him anymore (for a month).

The thing that made me take offense wasn’t that Chris’ friend’s parents restricted their son from contacting our son at all during the next month. It was the statement that the parents made about our son, that they think Chris is “going down a bad road”.

What does this mean? Is it because we stopped attending the legalistic church their family attends? Is it because we don’t follow the same organizational teachings? Is it because our son wants to join the Marines? Is it because he has more independence than his friend? (which is funny, because my son is either at school with his sister, with us as a family, or serving his duties at C.A.P).

Their statement was offensive to me as a parent.

It began today when my son decided to walk to the church our family stopped attending. He’s still friends with a couple of the guys there, so he wanted to spend the Sunday there with his friend. My husband and I were at home with our daughter (incidentally, this is my husband and my 23rd wedding anniversary! YAY! for us!) Russell was still quite ill from his infection, so we made it a nice “at home” day for us.

After the church service, Chris and his friend took a walk — without letting his friend’s parents know — and the parents were quite upset they had to wait and didn’t know where they were. I would have been upset, too. It was a couple of hours later that his friend made one last contact in an email letting Chris know he wouldn’t be contacting him for a month. That’s also when we found out the parents were concerned Chris was “going on a bad road”.

I think my husband and I would know if Chris was going down a “bad road”. Believe me — I know what bad roads look like. Our son is not on one.

Really, the ones that ought to be concerned should be the young man’s parents. He expressed his feelings “quite well” how he felt, but I am grieved that they would have made such a statement about our son.

Maybe their rigid “organization’s” teachings are not as biblical or helpful as they may believe.

So, I have to make a choice whether to stay offended or just pray about it. I’m really getting tired of fighting with these idealogies that aren’t Scripture-based or the assumptions made about our family that aren’t based in reality.

It’s irritating. And insulting. I wish I had this whole “maturity in Christ” thing going well, but really, I ask, what are we not doing as parents that measures up to some of these people’s standards?

I guess I shouldn’t care what they think. But I do, because we were all in fellowship at one time. I just get the impression that the effect of the hofcc teachings and exclusivity is going to continue to rear its ugly head until more people are injured spiritually.

For the record: my husband and I are WELL-PLEASED with our son as well as our daughter and our other son, too. They are God’s gifts and are precious in His sight. They are independent, can THINK and reason through the Scriptures and present their defense of their beliefs at a secular community college, PRAISE GOD! Our oldest son can perform his service to OUR COUNTRY in a distant, dusty land and grow in the knowledge of God. Our daughter — our gentle, but EZER WARRIOR in the Word and spirit — is a well-grounded, beautiful, smart, God-honoring, talented and strong young woman, who truly makes me so glad to know her as my daughter and friend.

I will keep enjoying my children, even if our family doesn’t fit into the standards of some.

My new insulin pump

My new insulin pump arrived the other day and today I got my training on it at my physician’s office.

It’s a whole new approach to my insulin therapy and diabetes care. This is an exciting and encouraging time in my life. Yahoo!

Grace vs. Works

After listening to a sermon online full of works-based and man-made theology, my heart was grieved for the one preaching it and those who actually support and believe his message. So much emphasis on the actions, accomplishments and boasting of humans’ righteous acts, and so little spoken of the Living Savior Jesus. Before the sermon was even done, I could predict exactly what was going to be emphasized and even could recite some of the exact phrases used, because I’ve heard it so many times before.

However, now that this cult-of-personality preacher has culled his flock by marginializing those who don’t follow his ways of living, he’s become more emboldened to preach openly his beliefs that were there all along, and were subtly preached before. Those who tried to challenge his teachings left the church (though, some returned). Now he can start afresh without the hindrance of those who really weren’t “meant” to attend that particular local church. This is what happens when the Gospel of Grace is replaced with a works-based, Old Testament Law based message (and only the laws that they pick and choose to suit their interests). Take a look at this link about Christianized cult thinking here.

On Saturday night I had a wonderful experience of attending another different local church fellowship where the message was on Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest and Mediator (Hebrews chapter 4+). One of the ways I knew I had come out of some dark teachings was that I was filtering the preacher’s message with the filter of, “What’s he going to say about a woman’s role in sharing the Gospel?” And the answer was: Nothing. It wasn’t even on his radar. He never mentioned such a strange fixation on keeping women in the kitchen or following men’s leadership. The preacher in this other small fellowship I attended Saturday night emphasized the need that the “fields are white unto harvest”, and that we have an abundance of souls to meet their needs and show them the Savior. Not one word mentioned about how it’s a man’s responsibility to establish some “embassy” at home and wait for the world to come knocking on our door. Hmmmm, I started to notice that by the mere fact that I was filtering this man’s message whether he was going to emphasize some aspect of human flesh works and not on the finished Work of Christ confirmed for me, once again, that the teachings I had imbibed for years before were wrong and not the Gospel.

What a refreshing confirmation of the mercies of God this morning as well, when I received this devotion by C.H. Spurgeon in my inbox today. May God bring us Peace through Jesus Christ.
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“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” – Mark 16:16

Mr. MacDonald asked the inhabitants of the island of St. Kilda how a man must be saved. An old man replied, “We shall be saved if we repent, and forsake our sins, and turn to God.” “Yes,” said a middle-aged female, “and with a true heart too.” “Aye,” rejoined a third, “and with prayer”; and, added a fourth, “It must be the prayer of the heart.” “And we must be diligent too,” said a fifth, “in keeping the commandments.” Thus, each having contributed his mite, feeling that a very decent creed had been made up, they all looked and listened for the preacher’s approbation, but they had aroused his deepest pity.

The carnal mind always maps out for itself a way in which self can work and become great, but the Lord’s way is quite the reverse.

Believing and being baptized are no matters of merit to be gloried in-they are so simple that boasting is excluded, and free grace bears the palm. It may be that the reader is unsaved-what is the reason? Do you think the way of salvation as laid down in the text to be dubious? How can that be when God has pledged his own word for its certainty? Do you think it too easy? Why, then, do you not attend to it? Its ease leaves those without excuse who neglect it. To believe is simply to trust, to depend, to rely upon Christ Jesus. To be baptized is to submit to the ordinance which our Lord fulfilled at Jordan, to which the converted ones submitted at Pentecost, to which the jailer yielded obedience the very night of his conversion. The outward sign saves not, but it sets forth to us our death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus, and, like the Lord’s Supper, is not to be neglected. Reader, do you believe in Jesus? Then, dear friend, dismiss your fears, you shall be saved. Are you still an unbeliever, then remember there is but one door, and if you will not enter by it you will perish in your sins. – CH Spurgeon

Wild Horses

This was described as “hauntingly beautiful”.

Compelled by the love of Christ

“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead” – 2 Corinthians 5:14

[I just listened to this audio/video yesterday and was pondering that in my heart today before this encounter. God is good.]

She came out of nowhere, as I had just returned my shopping cart to the Walmart cart corral in the parking lot. I turned around to walk back to my car when the desperate-looking woman asked me for gas money for her and her male companion’s shabby old RV. With a quivering voice and yet a tearful bold plea, she gave some account that they couldn’t park their RV at the RV park because of some laws about the old ’70’s RV’s and needed gas money …. I didn’t know what to believe. Then I asked her where she was from, as I started to rummage through my purse for the little cash I had in there. I’m telling you she looked desperate, like someone hungry for food. Well, I found $4 and some change, so maybe I could give her $2 to cover the cost of the gas she said she needed (Oh no! WHAT was I THINKING?! I made a committment to myself and even taught my kids to NEVER feed an addict’s terrible habits of lying and drug and alcohol abuse. Well, she wasn’t technically homeless). That is when I really started to see such desperation on the woman’s face. I don’t know if it was because it really was because her RV needed $1.66 in gas or if she was jonesing for another fix of some sort. Something compelled me to give her the $2. Then I got into my car to head home.

That’s when God started to join in my conversation I was already having with myself in the car.

About halfway to the first stoplight it had occurred to me that I could have shared the Gospel with this desperate woman and her male companion. Or at least with just her. By the time I’d reached the light, I’d began to counter the thought in my head that I should go back and share the Gospel, and I told God, “Well, I’ll only go back if I have some Christian tract (literature explaining salvation through Jesus) to give them”. I was sort of wondering if I had any more in my purse, and by the time I’d left the first stoplight I had found one. It was an “Are you a good person?” tract, and inwardly I knew that was God telling me not to waste this opportunity. It wasn’t enough that I gave them money, for that was temporal. They needed, she needed to hear the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ and the hope He brings. So, in an act of faith, I turned in at the second light and went back to Walmart.

Pulling up next to their RV, I looked around to see if she was in the parking lot. They were both in the RV. I wrote my first name on the tract and got out of the car and approached their RV. After I knocked on the door the man put his head into the cab and was surprised to see me. I asked if I could talk with his friend and she came up to the front of the cab. I said with a nervous smile, “God wouldn’t let me go home until I asked you this: If you were to die today, would you go to Heaven? You don’t need to answer me now, I’d just like you to read this”. I handed her the tract and she thanked me with a smile. I said goodbye and got into my car to head home. This happened Sunday 13th 2009, 4pm. I pray God planted a seed of hope in these people today.

“And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again …. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:15, 17

See the post and video I got from my friend Patty on Extreme Evangelism here.

George Street Extreme Evangelism

George Street

HT: my friend Patty on Facebook

Adonai’s Rest

It was 1997 and that year was a pivotal time in our family’s lives. Our daughter, Jennifer, had gone to be with the Lord and we were in the process of looking for a home fellowship. In the midst of a lot of pain and looking for a place of worship and healing, we found a group of believers who were digging in to the Bible, intent in prayer and being vulnerable to sharing their hurts and triumphs with each other. The married couple that opened up their home for fellowship were a mature and loving retired couple. I say retired, but that only meant from their day jobs. These people were the most involved, yet rested Christians I’d ever met.

They preached Jesus. They lived a life of faith. They listened to that still, small voice of His Spirit, and went where God led them. This meant that when the Lord put on their hearts to start a ministry to the brokenhearted, they did it. They would gather together with the people the institutional churches rejected. While traveling in their RV across America they met people who were desperate for a touch from the Savior, and God would do a miracle, and give people hope. At least once it put them in the middle of a tornado’s path, yet God was with them and protected them.

When we met them in 1997, we needed healing and prayer. I was battling a serious stomach ailment for 5 years that was leaving me very ill. No prescription medicine, natural remedies, diet changes or stress reduction had done anything to alleviate my pain. So, in desperation I met some believers who knew this couple and they told me that the couple had a ministry of prayer, and that I should come to their home fellowship. So, my family did.

Not long after we had been attending, I shared my heart struggles and fears, and one night while in prayer with these dear saints, I felt the Lord pour His Love over me. I literally felt and knew I was loved by Jesus my God. I couldn’t understand it. I never got the impression of my healing had attachments of being “good enough” or the sense that I just needed to do anything to please Him. He simply poured His Love over me. The only literary way I could describe it would be the reference in Psalm 23:5 and James 5:14 about being anointed with oil. The dear wife prayed over me and gave me a prophesy: “These hands will heal”. I’ve never forgotten that and am looking to Jesus to see what He would have me do with that word of encouragement. I think there’s a lot to those words, and not just about physical healing.

In James 5:14 it reads “if any one is sick, let them call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord”. Well, the physical oil was applied to my forehead by this dear Christian couple, but the most amazing part was the feeling of being loved by Jesus. The merciful act on Jesus’ part was that He healed me from my debilitating ailment in that very moment. I’ve been stomach-ailment free ever since then. It was His Love that lifted me up and gave me the most to remember.

The couple and their family had to move to California, and we were brokenhearted. They bought a ranch and named it “Adonai’s Rest”. We visited them there and had sweet fellowship and have kept in contact over the years. I’m convinced that this couple, though they had no formal, institutional “church” building that they ministered in, were what the Bible describes as “elders” in the Body of Christ. Though they met for fellowship in various congregations at times, their primary ministry was among the marginialized and hurting, who had even been hurt by religious people. They held no titles and received no tithes for their work in the ministry. They opened a place of refuge in California for hurting people, some very sick from cancer and other ailments, and God would restore health while they stayed there.

It’s been on my heart to minister in the way this couple operate in their gifts from God. My husband and I have often discussed what that could look like, and I think God’s working that out even now in our everyday lives. The theme “Adonai’s Rest” is an apt description of our resting in Jesus’ finished work and trusting Him with the results.

ACORN and Corruption

Watch the videos in the links, and it will explain everything.

Glen Beck featured a young woman, Hannah, who posed as a prostitute at Baltimore’s ACORN facility to receive loan money as a “performance artist”. This undercover investigation was put on by a brave Christian young woman to expose the illegal and immoral practices of ACORN, which Obama participated in as a “community organizer”. ACORN is also receiving over $8 billion in federal stimulus funds.

Glen Beck’s link here.

The whole list of videos here.

Articles on ACORN here and at FOXnews.

A stack of books

Here are some of the books I’m currently reading. It’s taking me forever.

The list: TNIV, KJV, Priscilla’s Letter, The Holy Fire, Lost Women of the Bible, 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, The Prodigal God (excellent read), and Believers Church Bible Commentary on Ephesians (the ch. on The Household Code, pgs. 253-289, really explains the mutuality of marriage and the difficulties with Ephesians ch. 5 and 6).

What’s in your closet?

Have you seen the ads for the Wonder Hanger? It’s a great idea, but when I saw them at Fred Meyer I realized a more frugal alternative.

Plant hanger extenders are inexpensive and add organizational space to your closet. I found mine at Big Lots for $1.50. I also found 2 sets of the velvet covered hangers at Fred Meyer on clearance, so that was even more added savings.

Thermos Lunches

Isn’t the Barbie Thermos cute? The Arctic Zone stainless steel is slick, too. I just bought these small thermal containers in preparation for my son and daughter’s lunch, who are both attending their second year at a local community college for their high school and college credits. These Thermos’ just add more food options for their lunches, and are fairly compact.

When I was young, I had a Partridge Family, and a Bionic Woman metal lunchbox. The Thermos’, though, had plastic interiors and the milk that my mother thoughtfully poured in them in the morning was usually room temperature by the time it was lunch time.

Here are a few resources and recipes for Thermos lunches:

Lunch ideas

Thermos lunch recipes (pdf)

Lunch ideas from Mamapedia

More Thermos and lunch ideas from CheapCooking

Hot-packed lunch ideas

Paintings by a local artist

Take a look at this link to oil paintings of a local artist. I had the pleasure of meeting her at Birch Community Services and was inspired by her art to take up oil painting, too.

A link to her slideshow is here.

Was Junia really Joanna?

Romans 16:7 mentions Junia as “of note among the apostles”, and Luke 8:3 and chapter 24 mention Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, Chuza. Joanna was with the other women at the tomb after Jesus had resurrected. They were told by the angels to bring the Good News to the other apostles. John Chrysostom acknowledged Junia as an apostle. The following is something to consider:

“What does the Bible say? Paul calls Junia his kinsman and fellow prisoner. Like Paul, she had suffered persecution and imprisonment for the Gospel. Evidently, her ministry and faith were known even outside the church. Sometimes we forget what early Christians under the iron fist of pagan Rome had to suffer to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. For Junia and Andronicus (perhaps her husband), being an apostle wasn’t a matter of privilege, but prison.” Read the rest here

Acts 8:3-12 tells us that women were sent to prison along with the men. Maybe guilt by association or because the women, too, were preaching Jesus?

“being an apostle wasn’t a matter of privelege, but prison.“

About the Church: You’ve GOT to read this.

This post pretty much explains my thoughts as well.

Read Authoritarian Disaster. Thank you, Lin, for the exhortation of the Word.

Discussion on 1 Corinthians

This discussion is so needed:

“The quote in 1 Cor. 14:34, 35 is completely out of character and out of line with both verse 36 and the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 14 that appears before these two “out of place” verses. …. It just means that it was a quote that Paul felt needed to be quoted exactly as it was written so that he could properly refute the quote in the following verses (1 Cor. 14:36-40). If this is not a quote from the Corinthians, then what was Paul refuting in verse 36? How could Paul possibly have made so many commands for all of us to test and discern all things (including prophesying) and then turn around and say that women were not to test the prophesying? This would make God out to be one who contradicts His own word.”

There’s a quote from Warren Wiersbe as well:

“The mistake the Corinthians were making was to emphasize their own personal edification to the neglect of the church. They wanted to build themselves up, but they did not want to build up their fellow believers. This attitude, of course, not only hurt the other Christians, but it also hurt the believers who were practicing it. After all, if we are all members of the same body, the way we relate to the other members must ultimately affect us personally.” Read the rest here.

Which insulin pump should I choose?

Yesterday I had an appointment with my diabetes specialist. He is a very knowledgeable and personable physician who didn’t make me feel like a child(!) when he spoke with me about my diabetes care. He even started the consultation with a great icebreaker. As we we began to introduce ourselves he quickly remembered to go over to the sink and wash his hands (yes!) and said, “I don’t want you to catch what my last patient has — diabetes.” Har-har! I knew I might actually like my doctor, with his goofy sense of humor.

After I told him how difficult it was for me to maintain an exercise routine (because blood sugar levels are managed by physical activity as well as by eating a well-balanced diet) he recommended I switch to an insulin pump. I currently take 4 insulin injections a day, and could actually take more, but the actual trouble is maintaining tighter control on my blood sugar levels so that I avoid the highs and lows that seem to vary with schedules that aren’t as routine as I’d like. An insulin pump would deliver insulin throughout the day, much like a human pancreas does.

That’s what makes wearing a pump so appealing. Kind of like, “Just set it and forget it!” I’ve got a couple models to choose from, and if my health insurance picks up the cost I’ll be so happy! If anyone has any experience with insulin pumps, I’d love to know their opinion. Which insulin pump should I choose? The Medtronic pump or the Accu-Chek pump? The Medtronic is very integrated in its blood glucose monitoring, but the Accu-chek comes with a cool Palm Pilot to input BG values. Knowing how I can misplace things, though, I might just find that leaving my Palm upstairs while I’m sitting down to a meal and deciding how much insulin to program in my pump may be a tedious extra step.

I’m really hoping I can switch to an insulin pump. Which one should I choose? Medtronic or Accu-Chek?

Remembering those who serve

Remember Me

I talked with my son for the first time today since he was sent to serve in a far away country. He is in my thoughts and constant prayers.

Kim Komando has this video posted on her site, along with information on how people can support our troops who are serving overseas.

A new friend

As I listened to the voice of a young girl on the other end of the phone, my heart broke as she relayed a very painful past through tears. I had only briefly met her before and knew of her through other close associations, but her words of pain tore a hole in my heart. She shared with me some of the most difficult things, and I felt so completely dependent on God to help me give consolation to her. I wanted to just hug her through the phone, and we spoke for awhile as I knew God had introduced us to encourage each other. She hasn’t left my thoughts and prayers for days now.

John 14:12

To my surprise, I received this beautiful art and a handwritten note from her in the mail a day later. I realized that just listening to someone going through pain can make all the difference, and in this situation much of that difference was in my own heart. I needed this, too, and I had been asking God just that day how He wanted to use me for His people and for those who are hurting and need to meet Him. He just wanted me to listen.