This is not (ok so it is) a forward!

I don't like to forward emails. But, there are times when you get a forward that you do want to share. I don't mind reading them, but I just don't like to forward them. Well, I got this forward today and instead of flooding email inboxes with it, I thought I would just post it on here. It's a good reminder of kind conduct and good advice. So if you don't like forwards or anything to do with them, skip this post; otherwise read and enjoy.

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR. When you say, "I love you," mean it.

FIVE. When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.

SIX.. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

**Editorial note added 1/6/08. As my friend John told me today, I ought to be a woman of my word. It's something that I indeed want to be! In order not to confuse people who think that I believe and go by everything written in this post, I would like to state plainly that I don't really think it's important to be engaged for at least six months before getting married. I think that shorter engagements (of 3 or 4 months) might be a better option. Now, I don't know for sure since I haven't gone through a wedding yet. I've heard of people being engaged for over two years and maybe it's not a bad idea for some folks. But, I just want to plainly say that not only do I not agree 100% with that statement, but I am not completely sure what the ideal length of time to be engaged is! - Oh, I'm also not sure I believe in love at first sight either. I think true love is much deeper than looks.

SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?"

FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN. Say "God bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson .

SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice .

TWENTY-ONE. Spend some time alone.

October Ladies Retreat

I had a great time at the Ladies Retreat this past weekend! We had times of fun, good discussion as well as good teaching and singing. I'm either great at condensing things down to a point of non-information or not very good at summarizing things down enough. (The condensing too much often is done to my family - So far all they got out of me about the Ladies retreat was that "it was good"). The too much or not short enough parts usually come when I start writing here. At least this way, those who don't want to hear about it, don't have to read it. It's almost 10, so I think I'll just use tonight's post to describe the first night.

I drove to Lake Martin with Tammy. I enjoyed the time to catch up on her life. Its fun to have the time to chat about the many aspects of life that she is going through as her kids get older. Hearing dreams and learning more about where people have been and desires they have for the future is neat. We enjoyed the short drive and got there in time to relax for a little bit before the first session entitled "Getting God."

Mary Heather was our speaker. She's an awesome mother of 9 kids who I've known for many many years. She had an American Girl doll club at here house while I was in high school which I helped out at since my sisters went to it one summer. Her family attends our church and I've gotten to know some of her children through AWANA and Sunday School classes there. Mary Heather teaches the ladies Sunday school class. Though I've never gone to the class, I've heard from others that it's an awesome class. For the first session, she spoke about some of the things that keep us from God: Wrong ideas about God, sin, the flesh, unforgiveness and self-centeredness.

She illustrated how sin and our reaction to sin can vary so drastically and have terrible consequences by having us look at the lives of both Saul and David. Both men sinned: Saul offered a sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel (1 Sam 15) and David sinned through adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11).

They both sinned, yet Saul responded by blaming the people and claiming to be doing what God said. Saul was so self centered that he even blamed Samuel for being the cause of his sin because he did not show up in time to make the sacrifice. Only when Saul heard that God had rejected him as king did Saul seem to maybe repent. Even then, it seems like he was only repenting for show, so that Samuel would honor him in front of the people.

David's reaction couldn't have been different. I look at David's sin and would tend to even consider it to be worse, yet through David's response, God forgave him. David immediately acknowledged that he had sinned against God. He didn't blame anyone else, but turned to God. The other example of David had to do with his desire to build a temple for God. He had the idea, yet it wasn't God's idea for David to do. Instead of being upset that God didn't want to honor him that way, David responds with humility and thanks God for his promise to establish David's kingdom forever.

Saul was self-centered, but David was God focused. Saul didn't want to wait on God's time-table, but David was glad to allow his son to have the honor of building the temple.

Which one more represents who you are?

After that session, we enjoyed refreshments and then Marilyn led us in some of her family's "crazy group games!" The pictures of Bibity Bibity Bop were a lot of fun to take as people had to think fast to act like an elephant, rabbit, or kamikaze. There was laughter all around as we tried to think quick and act crazy! Eventually the group game broke up and ten of us went to the cabin where we continued playing games until about midnight. We played a fun game of Taboo. It's amazing how quickly some words are gotten! Sometimes brains are linked in a crazy way. Soon it was time to get some sleep (as it is now!).

Friday Camping Countdown - 2 weeks!

Two weeks from today and we'll be camping! If you are camping with our group, you will probably be playing a lot of games. One of our group favorites is volleyball. Volleyball is a game that works well for a group that may keep changing as the game continues. Often we have a huge age range playing together. Usually there are a few children still learning to serve or to hit the ball. There is friendly competition as well as mercy for those who are still beginners.

We played night volleyball last time with a very hard battery lit up ball. Today, I found another cool volleyball that we will get to try out. It's lit by 4 glow sticks! So we won't have to mess with batteries. So, be ready for volleyball both day and night!

Groups of children always seem to have a game of Red Rover or tag in process. It's amazing that with all the games that are played, arguments or poor sportsmanship are very rare. It seems that everyone is just glad to be there having fun with one another.
Of course you can't run all day long. So, before too much time goes by, the cards come out. We play everything from Dutch Blitz to Phase 10 to spoons. We love to learn new games when camping and always have a great time teaching games to others. When you play games as a family, you get a little too used to each others strategy. Camping brings new people and new ideas to the games (not to mention new surroundings)!

This weekend I'm going to be at a Ladies Retreat with my church. So, the time is going to fly by and pretty soon the weeks will have passed, and we'll be camping once again!

Fireworks Video!

This fireworks video reminded me of the Hart family. Now, please don't take offense - I know that they have basically no similarities to the guys on the video, and that you are very safe with your fire works. In fact Joel is certified I think in doing fireworks and has done some very amazing fireworks displays. There was a time several years ago, either a July 4th or New Years, many people where at our house and fireworks seemed to be going crazy. It may just have been because I've never really been the one to set them off. But on that night, it did seem that there was very little order to all those fireworks. I was sure that someone would get hurt. Click here to enjoy the video!

Chuck E. Cheese Fun!

To celebrate Lucas's 5th Birthday tonight (and in fact all of his family's birthdays), we went to Chuck E. Cheese. Everyone had a lot of fun as you can see below. Going on a week night was perfect! The kids had a blast and so did the adults. We had fun just watching everyone enjoy themselves.

James 2 Summary

Those of you who read this blog may feel like I'm stuck on James! I'm actually using it for my morning devotions in addition to hearing it preached on Sunday nights. I like studying for myself the same passages that are preached - I tend to get more out of both that way! Anyway, this morning it was time to summarize James 2. So here it is:

Since you are believers in the Lord Jesus, don't show favoritism to the rich. It is evil to judge this way. God has actually chosen those who are poor by worldly standards to be rich in faith and be given the kingdom promised to those who love him. You insult the poor, yet it's the rich who exploit you, drag you to court, and slander Jesus' name. It's right to love your neighbor as yourself, but a sin to show favoritism. If a person obeys the entire law, except for one small part, he's guilty of breaking all of it because he is a lawbreaker. Behave as a person who will be judged by freedom giving law. Mercy always wins over judgment.

Is there any benefit to a person saying he has faith if he can't show it by his deeds? Is it possible for such a faith to save him? If you see someone without clothes or food and simply wish him the best, but do nothing to help - is it of any use? In that way, faith without actions is dead.

A person could say one person has faith, another deeds. Try to show your faith without deeds and I'll show you my faith by my deeds. Just as belief in one God is not sufficient for salvation (as proved by the demons), faith without deeds is pointless.

Foolish people! Would you like proof that faith without works is of no value? Look at Abraham. He is considered by us righteous because of his deed of offering Isaac on the alter. So his faith was made complete by his action. Abraham's belief was proved his action and so he was given righteousness because of his belief, and even called God's friend. Similarly, even Rahab was considered righteous for hiding the spies. Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.

Faith and Works

These notes are taken from Pastor Tony Butler's sermon on James 2 preached at Fountain of Grace on Sunday night September 23, 2007. I've added to them a little (specifically all the things that occurred in Abraham's life between the 1st and 2nd pronouncement of righteousness).

James begins this passage by asking a question:

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

Next he backs up his argument that both are needed with an illustration to show that faith is useless if there is nothing connected with it.

15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

There must be an integration of works with genuine faith (Rom 4, Gal 3:6-14, James 2)

Romans 4:11 He received the seal of righteousness he had by faith

Gal 3:6-14 The law represents you doing works, we receive salvation through faith not works

You might ask, Does a person have to ask Jesus into their life and only after a certain amount of good works over time are saved? Or is a person saved immediately?

The answer is that faith gives us salvation the moment we believe. Works are proof to others that we are saved. Works are not something that save us.

The passage continues with an illustration of Abraham.

19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

We must look in Gen 15:5-6 to see where Abraham was first counted righteous. In this passage, God appeared to him and promised him that he would have a son. Then we read in Gen 15:6 that "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Abraham was about 75 and this time, and because he believed that God could make his descendants like the stars, God counted him as righteousness.

Fast forward in time until Abraham was around 113. Abraham has gone through many things in this time period. He had Ishmael through Sarai's maidservant Hagar (at age 86), he received circumcision (at age 99) and had his name changed by God to Abraham, he spoke to the angles about Sodom and Gomorrah, he tried to trick the Abimelech king into thinking that his wife was only his sister, his promised son Isaac has been born (at age 100), and he was now being tested by God.

God told Abraham to take his "only son, Isaac, whom you love. . . Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering (Gen 22:2)". Abraham did what God said and actually tied up his son, laid him on the alter and took out a knife. The Lord appeared to him just before it was too late and told him to stop. He said (Gen 22:12), "Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Then he says (Gen 22:16-18) "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

This willingness to kill his only descendant linked by context his faith with an action. Hebrews 11:17-19 shows us that Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. His believe did not manifest until the trial of offering up Isaac This was the seal of his faith. It couldn't be shown unless the faith was genuine. Abraham found out through the trial what he really believed.

Gen 22:16. Because Abraham was willing to offer up Isaac, God said he would make his descendants like the stars. God promised him that same thing before in Gen 15. God knew what Abraham would do, so that's how he could say it in the past and in Gen 22:16 that is was because of his obedience (in time/space history). The reality and power of it are visible at that point of belief.

We also know that Rahab believed because we see what she did.

25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

In other passages, Paul is arguing from a point in time showing the process of salvation. We are saved at the moment we believed. Those who try to use this passage in James to show that works are required for salvation should think about whether that means that only 1 work is required every 35 years (as it was with Abraham)?

James is talking about practical salvation. Righteousness that accompanies genuine faith is seen through good works.