I Got a Blog Award!

I've received a blog award! Thanks to Renee over at Nay's Thoughts! Right now I'm just going to post the seven things that my readers don't know about me.

hmmm.

1. I used to be deathly afraid of heights of any kind. So I went and got a job that requires you to be up on steep roofs all the time :P Go figure!

2. I have really bad allergies to things. I was like off the charts when they tested me. But it actually doesn't affect me very much. Mostly I just have a stuffy nose and a little asthma, and occasionally a runny nose.

3. I love good coffee. Most of the time I would much rather go to Starbuck's than DQ or any other place.

4. I used to kinda be into hunting, but this year I haven't hunted once. Too busy with other things! One of the guys at work thinks I'm a traitor for that :D

5. I've done a little bit of just about everything and a lot of some things that have to do with building and finishing and remodeling a house. Framing, drywall, roofing, electrical, plumbing, flooring, trim work, windows, doors, furnace and duct installation, cabinets...

6. My personality is kinda calm and laid back for the most part (I think, sometimes it's hard to see who you are :D; correct me, my friends who personally know me, if that's not true), but can be intense and fun. Especially when I'm playing a competitive game; man, I really get into it sometimes :D

7. God has blessed me with many friends in the past year, who are a great encouragement to me! Together, we want to be a light in this world, showing the love of Christ to each other, so that maybe the world will see and desire what we have, and they never can.


Well, that's some about me! That was harder than I thought! It took me like half an hour to figure all these. Well, I'll hopefully get on here soon to write a little more. Have a happy New Year, everyone! Make it one that's pleasing to God!

It's Been So Long, I Fogot to Write a Title Here and had to Go Edit

Hey! Wow, it's been a while. It feels really good to be writing a blog post again. :) So much has happened since my last post! Man! I've got a new baby brother! His name is Justin Nicholas Wegner. I don't think I mentioned that in my last one. I don't think he was born yet! lol And he's almost three months old! Time flies, bigtime. But then some of that stuff I was writing about in my last post seems so far away now, it's crazy, but it wasn't actually that long ago. It's weird how life just moves on, and you get lost in time, and you take a look back and it's like, wow, that seems like forever ago but yet it seems like yesterday.

I don't even know where to start here! I want to say I'm gonna be posting more regularly, but it's all in how much spare time I have, which usually is very little. :D And we all know that just cuz I say that doesn't mean it'll happen. lol Everyone in my family's doing really well! Praise God for that! It's been a rough year for us, as most of you probably know. We were just looking back Thursday (Thanksgiving) over everything we have to be thankful for, and it's crazy what the Lord's given us. Even with Justin, He's been so faithful to keep Him as healthy as he could possibly be in the curcumstances he was in. It's a long story to go into that; maybe I wrote on that before, i don't remember! lol Maybe I'll write an update on him soon. But, He's given me a job, health, strength, a semi-smart mind ;), and second chances left and right! He's so merciful, guys. It's crazy. And not only is He merciful, He's loving and He's good and He's justice all at once, and so many other things. The thought popped into my head the other day, sparked by something a friend said, that every good character trait, whether it's grace or mercy or love or justice or any other thing that's good, if we want to know the definition of it, just look to Him! He takes all those things and blends them all into one perfect blend! Which we seem to have an impossibly hard time doing. I know, all that I said there is obvious. But think about it for a minute. It's powerful. Take time to know who He is, His character, His ways. That's the way to get discernment: when you know the character of Christ, that's when you can correctly discern truth from error when things are in the grey areas. That is, if you're looking to Him, and not just at what you want. That leads to a question I had posed to me this week, and I've really been thinking on it and asking a couple other people the same question. Are you seeking Christ's kingdom first? Is your life helping to bring His kingdom to this earth? It's a hard question. At least it was for me. Now, I'm not someone who thinks that unless you give up everything you have (I mean literally like sell everything, you now what I mean) then you're not living for Christ. Or you can't have a job and be saving money and looking to maybe have a family of your own someday if it's in His will for you, and that if you're doing that then you're not "giving it all." But, where's your heart. Especially you guys and girls who are around my age. What are you living for? Are you living for your future home? Or are you living for Christ, and a possible home of your own is something to look forward to and prepare for, but not to live for? Just some thoughts to be thinking on, if you want. :) It's crazy how we always have to be checking and double checking our motives for things. You know, most things that take me away from God are not necessarily sinful things in and of themselves. They're more things that are ok, but I take them, put them in the wrong place in my heart, have the wrong motives, or something like that, and before you know it you're over there, and God's over here. And that's why motives and the spirit of something is so important to me, because I think when there's a question on something, that's where you have to go for answers. And then that's where the discernment comes in. And man, do I need more of that. And it's a fine line to be drawn, because you can get too caught up in what the spirit of something is and lose track of what the Bible says. Or you can be a lawmaker and just make up rules left and right off of what you think the Bible says. But the happy medium is, I think, the happy medium, where you have a balance of both things. And there's a difference between discerning for your life or your family's life, and discerning for everyone else's life. lol Quite often, the second discerning becomes restricting to Christ and judgmental, and leads to unnecessary strife and division in His body. Yet again, a fine, fine line to be drawn, and I can't really see where it should be. I guess, that's what the Holy Spirit is for, right? To lead us when we face those impossibly fine lines!

Woah, I got a little rambling there and jumping from one thing to the next. :D Sorry about that! Hope it all makes sense, though. You know what's really awesome? Getting Thursday off, working one day, and then having another two full days off! :) Very nice. Looking forward to this weekend, especially tomorrow! ;) Today should be really good, too.

Live for Him!

Hmmmm

Hey there!!! I'm back to the blogging world! Man I've been putting this post off for a while :) I had a really good trip down to Panama! Had an awesome time and really enjoyed it. But this post isn't about Panama. That is coming soon with pics and all! :D I just wanted to tell y'all some of what I've been thinking lately.

Have you ever noticed that the Lord doesn't really spell too much out in the New Testament? For example, He doesn't say, "Ok, when your parents think you should do one thing but you disagree and feel that I would want you to do this thing, this is what you do" or "This is the type of music that you should be listening to." I don't know about you, but I wish sometimes that the Lord would do that. I mean it would make this life so much easier! I'd have the answer to just about everything! He spells out the actual sins: lust, murder, fornication, stealing, etc. But He doesn't go much beyond that. He doesn't really show us the best things to do in our normal everyday situations that we face. He doesn't tell us, "If you do this it leads to this" or "If you really want to do what I would have you do in this situation, do this." He kinda did that in the Old Testament. Why doesn't He do that now?

Well, I've been thinking (I heard that shocked gasp!!! :D.) I think He doesn't lay it all out for us because He wants us to seek after the answers. His greatest desire is to have a personal, one-on-one, living relationship with you and with me and with every person in the world. He wants us seeking and searching after Him. If all we had to do was just look up a chapter and verse for every situation there wouldn't be too many minutes spent praying, asking Him His will. There wouldn't be too many minutes spent searching the Bible striving to learn the character of the Lord so that you can deal with situations that come up in the most pleasing way to Him. He doesn't want us obeying some dead laws that don't mean anything to us. He wants us to do things because we love Him and we're willing to spend the time to learn His will.

So having said all that, I need help! :) No. But I've run into things in the past and I've run into a few things again where it's like, "What do I do!" I have all these things that I have to make decisions on and I don't know what to do. I have to decide what's not only the good thing, what's the best? And many of the decisions that I make now will affect my future and my future family, if the Lord gives me one of those :) I whined to my uncle the other day, "How come almost all of the really important decisions in life you make at a time when you have the least wisdom?" He told me something that was really good. He said that the Lord gives us a way around that, if we choose to listen. One thing is our parents. If we are blessed to have parents who we can go to with problems then that's one way we can do it. Another is just older people in general. They've been through alot of it before and can give good advice. And then the most important thing of course is just going to the Lord with it, and asking "What would Jesus do?"

So having said all that, I still need help!! :D When it all comes down to it, I still have to be the one to make the decision. I have to take everything, all the advice, all my thoughts, and say, "Ok, this is what I think should be done." You know what I'm saying? And usually those decisions don't affect just me. That's what's really tough.

So can you guys be praying for me? I know I've messed up in the past and I know I'll mess up again; it's a good thing that the Lord and other people around me are patient!

Panama, Here I Come! :D

Hey guys! Well, I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd let you know what's going on. Tomorrow, I'm going to Panama on a missions trip! I meant to get on here and post about it a while ago, but time got away from me. So this will be a short post, because I have to get to bed. :D

I'm going with around 20 other people from all over the country, and we're going to Torti, Panama. There's a hospital being built there by Mission Clinics International. They have an on-site missionary there, and are planning on witnessing to the people who come to get treated. We aren't going to be helping build the actual hospital, but we'll be doing other things, like evangelism, building a house for the missionary, and clothing distribution. It's only a ten day trip, but hopefully they can be a productive ten days!

That's all I have time for now, but I plan on taking tons of pictures and writing a complete account of the trip when I get back. :) If you want to learn more about Mission Clinics, click here. You can learn more about the trip, and just about what they're doing down there.

Please keep me in your prayers! Please pray that the Lord will use this powerfully in my life, and that we'll have a safe time. :)

Thanks, and God bless!

P.S. Sorry about the weird text in the middle. I don't know what happened, and I don't have time to mess with it now. :D

It's Been a While :)

Last week was basically a spiritually wasted week for me. I accomplished almost nothing besides learned a couple of new songs on guitar. No insights into God's Word. No awesome times of worship. I wasted all my time fiddling around on the computer, playing my guitar more often than I should, and doing other things that I can't even remember and so must not have been very important. Sunday morning I was taking a shower and the Lord just really brought conviction. I thought back over the week and realized that I had hardly spent any time with Him. Well, unfortunately it didn't end there. We then went to the church meeting, and I did absolutely nothing there. No sharing with anyone, because I had nothing to share. No deep conversations, because I had not thought about too many deep things. All I did was have fun. It really hit home when one of the girls had to get a time of prayer among us going near the end of the day (now, before I get in trouble, there's nothing wrong with a girl doing that. :) But, it's like, where are us guys? The blame totally rests on me, because I'm the oldest guy there. That one of the girls feels like she has to take the lead to get things moving just shows a big time "drop of the ball" on my part. And even more importantly, it showed the state of my heart.

I was not walking in the Spirit. I was not seeking after Christ. I was doing the exact opposite.

Well, I was convicted. I felt really bad, and just kind of down. Isn't it cool how the Lord uses different things to speak to us and show us our shortcomings? Sunday, He used several different things to get my attention. It's pretty awesome. If it wasn't for the Holy Spirit, I'd be a for sure goner. :D "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6 Praise God for that! :) Here's the chorus to a song that just popped into my head.
Who knows how He'll get a hold of us?
Get our attention to prove He is enough?
He'll do, and He'll use whatever He wants to
To tell us, "I love you."
And sometimes, "Come back to me." (Final line is added by me :)

So, this week I've just been trying to get my priorities back where they should be: Christ first, family second, then things I want to do. So please keep me in your prayers everyone!! I really, really need them.

God bless you all, and keep your eyes on the goal! Don't get sidetracked!!

Slide Show of Jonathan

Here's a little slide show of Jonathan. It covers basically from his birth up until a month before his death. It's pretty long (6.5 min), but I hope you enjoy it, and I hope that you can see through these pics what a sweet little guy he was.


The first song is "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" by Fernando Ortega, and the second song is "My Life Is In Your Hands" by Kathy Troccoli.

Today, and James 4:8

It's here!! My next blog post! I did it.

Well, not tooooo much has happened today, besides the brakes on the work van went out for the second time in three days. The really amazing thing is that both times we were in the exact same place when it happened. Thank the Lord we didn't have to slam on our brakes either time!! :) Today was also Jason's fifth birthday. My dad's mom and dad (Omi and Opa) came over for the day, so we had a good visit with them. Jason got a fish tank, and tomorrow we're going to get him fish. I'm expecting it to be my fish tank in everything but name; you know, all the cleaning and stuff. But that's ok. I've been wanting a fish tank in our room for a while, and, looking at it on the bright side, I just got one without even having to pay for it! Man, what a deal!! I'm liking this better and better. :P

Lately I've really been thinking about James 4:8. "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." I don't know about you guys, but I often find myself praying ,"Lord, please just draw near to me. Make my relationship with You just so real, and make it what it should be." But, then I just kinda sit back and wait for it to happen. And it doesn't. And I find myself back where I was.

But (and I know this is obvious but sometimes I forget), that's not how it works. The Lord wants that true, living, personal relationship with us, but it doesn't just happen by us wanting it to happen. We have to seek after it. We have to "draw near to God." He will draw near to us. It's His promise. If there's something lacking there, it's totally, 100% our fault.

Paul Washer tells the story of how he just wanted God to be real to him. He would sit up for hours late at night and just pray and pray that the Lord would make Himself real. That went on for months before the Lord answered his prayer, and it was just amazing when He did.

Now, is that what we are all supposed to do? Of course not. But my point is that we have to seek whole-heartedly after the Lord. Not half-heartedly. And not just sitting around waiting for the Lord to draw close to us. And of course, our prayer is still, "Lord, I want my relationship with You to be so real. I want to be close to You ." But, that's not all that we do. We also seek to draw nigh to the Lord. And He will answer that prayer.

Finally, An Update

Well, I haven't kept my blog as updated as I wanted to, but I do have a couple of excuses :P I won't bore you with them, as it would probably just cause a rolling of the eyes or some other related thing.

For the first few days after Jonathan passed away, we were sooo busy it was crazy. At first it's like, "How can you prepare now for a funeral?" But really I think it's a blessing in disguise, because it makes you get up and get moving. If it wouldn't have been for that we easily could have just sat on the couch all day for half a week and just talked about what happened and stuff like that. But even though it's kinda heart breaking to prepare a funeral, it helped us to just realize that life has to go on, even if we don't want it to. Now, almost a week and a half later, life is pretty much back to normal on the surface. The Lord's really been doing a healing in our hearts. There's always that thing though, like when I come home from work and I almost expect to see Jonathan scooting towards me in his little walker. Or like when we were watching a movie and somebody sucked their breath in like Jonathan did when he was excited, and I looked over expecting to see him. Even though it brings some pain, I really don't ever want that to leave. I want to remember him always just as clearly as I do right now. I guess only time will tell if that will be.

The funeral was on Wednesday. We just held it in the cemetery. My dad led the service and did a great job, not so much because of how smooth everything went (even though it went really well), but because he spoke straight from his heart. We sang "It Is Well With My Soul" with Mr. Heyworth leading the singing. Then Dad opened it up to anyone else who wanted to speak, and a few other people spoke and just shared some things that they remembered about Jonathan and spoke some encouraging words. Then all of our church friends started singing this praise song that I foget the name to, but it really touched all of our hearts. Then my grandpa closed with a prayer.

I stayed behind alone to watch the guys bury the coffin. It was kinda weird to hear them talk. They talked about burying people just like I would talk about putting steel on a roof or something. I guess that's their job and you kind of get used to it after a while.

Afterwards everyone went to our house for lunch. We had a good time of fellowship, and all of us younger people had a really good talk. I think all of our close friends were there, and alot of our relatives. To bad we weren't all gathered for a happier occasion!

We still don't know why Jonathan died. There was nothing visually wrong with any parts of his little body. They're running tests now to see if they can find out what happened.

It's just amazing to see all the people who have written us cards or gave us money or food and sent flowers. One of the most awesome things about this is to see God's people come together and support us, many of whom we don't even personally know! We really appreciate all the love and support that everyone's shown, and all the comments that have been left on here and on my brother's blog. It's such a comfort and encouragement to hear and see all of this.

I hope to write a post soon on what the Lord's been showing me lately. We know what usually happens when I say that though!!! Haha. Maybe I'll prove myself wrong!?

God bless all of you!!!!

Jonathan

Hi everyone. Very early this morning, my little brother Jonathan died. We don't know why. It's just unbelievable. This coming Wednesday was his first birthday. Yesterday morning he was just as happy as can be. He was just the most perfect baby I think I've ever seen. He almost never cried, was just about always happy, and was just like a normal baby up until yesterday evening. Then he got a high fever, so mom gave him tylenol. He threw up quite a bit, but since he was little he's always done that so we weren't that concerned. Katie went and laid down with him to put him to sleep, and he just went right off. So later my mom got in bed and and a little past midnight he threw up a little again. He was also going diarrhea. So dad went all the way to the closest 24 hour Meijer (which is like a 30 min. one way drive) to get some Pedialite. Mom stayed here and took care of him, and he seemed to be getting better. Mom got up to change him and noticed that he was breathing a little heavy, but just thought that that was because he had a fever (he had been like that before when he had a fever.) So mom went and laid him down and laid down next to him like she always does. His eyes got fixed a little, and mom waved her hand in front of his face and called his name; he looked down at her, and then did his little look up at the bottle thing he did when he wanted some. So mom gave him his bottle and stroked his back, and his breathing started to slow down and he fell asleep. So mom was thinking that he was getting better, and she dozed off. When dad got back 15 min. later, he saw Jonathan and mom laying there on the bed just like they always do. Dad was thinking, "Good. He must be doing better." So dad got ready to lay down in bed and noticed that his eyes were half open. That was kind of weird, but sometimes Jason sleeps like that too, so that didn't make him too concerned. Then he put some stuff away, and when he came back in, he was like, "He's laying there way too still." So then dad kind of checked him and found out that there was no heartbeat and that he wasn't breathing. Right away he woke mom up and called emergency. Mom tried to get him back, but he wasn't responding. Then dad started giving him CPR at the emergency guys directions (over the phone). Mom ran into our room in hysterics and said "Jonathan's dead! Jonathan's dead! You guys have to pray." I was already awake when she came in and I got this sick feeling right away. I prayed for probably about 5-10 min. When the ambulance got here, I immediately got dressed and followed the paramedics into mom and dad's room where Dad had Jonathan on the floor and was still working on him. The paramedic immediately took him out to the ambulance and they started working on him. They kept at it for about 15-20 min. and then mom and dad went to the hospital. They could not get any heartbeat going and and never got his breathing going, and when they got to the hospital he was officially pronounced dead. I hadn't cried up to then, but I did when dad called and told me that. It's like I held out hope until the last second, and then that was it.

I can't even really get it through my mind. He was so healthy! So much fun! We all loved him sooo much, especially after what we went through before with his kidneys. He was such a joy to us. And, even better than all that, the Lord had worked a miracle in him. He was a living testimony to the power of God.

A detective came and interviewed me, asking for my side of the story and everyone's ages. So I gave him all the info he asked for, and then he came in and took pictures of the living room and mom and dad's room. So if you guys can just pray that that would go ok, we'd really appreciate it. Those things can be scary sometimes, but we've got nothing to hide.

After the detective left I picked up mom and dad from the hospital. I got to hold Jonathan one last time. Besides his skin color, he was so cute that you could almost believe that he was alive, just asleep. He was still our little Jonathan. But when I kissed him, he was so cold and his skin had turned a reddy-purple. It's just unbelievable; I can't get my mind around it.

So somehow we have to set up funeral arrangements. We don't know what we're going to do with that. How do you go pick out things for him to be buried in, when just yesterday he was so normal, sweet, and lovable? Sometimes he was just so sweet I would just give him such a squeeze hug that he'd grunt :D Now it's hard to believe that he's gone.

I just want to tell you all how much we appreciate all of you who have called and prayed for us, and even brought dinners. Like I said in my previous post (though that was in happier times!!), you guys are such awesome brothers and sisters in Christ! We've had so many offers of help we don't know what to do :) I love you all.

My mom is pregnant right now, and in her second trimester. She's had some problems with this pregnancy, but she was basically back to normal before this. If you could please just pray that she will stay healthy through all this and that everything will turn out ok with this baby.

Sorry this is so long. Thanks for reading it though. I had a lot I wanted to say. I'll try to keep everyone updated! They're doing tests on him right now to try to see what happened. I'm planning on posting all the pictures that I took of Jonathan on Twitpic, at least one every day, starting with the most recent. Click here to go to my twitter. I might even make a little slideshow for my blog.

May God bless and keep all of you!

I don't know what to put here.....

Well, it's pretty early in the morning, and everyone else is in bed. I'm up and bored because I had to milk the cow. So I got 6 hours of sleep last night, 6 hours the night before, and maybe 7 the night before that. And work has been pretty physical the past few days. So I'm a little tired.

Last night we had our Friday night meeting, but only my uncle and aunt and a couple other friends came. We had a good time of sharing and singing. We sang the song "Am I a Soldier of the Cross". We used to sing that song like crazy but hadn't sung it in a loooong time, and the words really touched me. That song is talking about some of the same things that I've been thinking about lately, and it's almost like I could have wrote it (if I had that talent :). If you've never heard of it, I think it's in most hymnals, and it might be worth your checking out.

My mom and dad took Jonathan down to the hospital the other day, and we got absolutely great news. They did a urine test, and he had NO protein in his urine. That's awesome!! The doctor's don't know what to say about it, besides they've never seen somebody with that problem just get better. And they're good doctors and know what they're talking about. But we know what to say: Praise God! :) Jonathan's doing so much better it's amazing. He's still a little behind for his age, but he's really catching up, and he's just really happy and way more active. Thanks to all of you who prayed for Jonathan! You are awesome brothers and sisters in Christ.

May God bless your day! (by the way, it's no longer early :)

Check This Out!

Hey! I've posted two days in a row! I'm on a roll!! JK. I watched this movie on tangle a few days ago. It’s great. The guy who’s teaching is Paul Washer, and he’s talking to a group of about five thousand youth. It’s just over 45 minutes long and isn't the whole thing, but it’s worth it if you have a bit. It's really convicting and caused me to take a close look at myself. Hopefully it does the same for you! You can get the whole message on a dvd from heartcry missions; that's what I plan on doing. Here's the link : http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=19fd9c84c942a08316e0

God Bless!

A Little Sobering, but Please Still Read

Last Wednesday I was driving home from a job that I had just completed. I was in my uncle's work van, and had to drop it off at their house. As I was driving, I noticed some flashing lights up ahead. It was right at the intersection of the road I was on (Shepherd) and the road I was going to turn on (M-90). Well, when I got closer I could see that they had everything blocked off, so I had to turn around.

Yesterday, my uncle asked me if I remembered that accident. I told him I did. He had found out what happened. A lady had stopped at the stop sign at the end of Shepherd road, getting ready to turn onto M-90. M-90 does not have a stop sign. Well she didn't see the motorcycle. She turned out right in front of him. The guy ended up in the ditch. He made it to the hospital, but while there, he died. He was nineteen.

A couple of months ago, just a few miles from our old house, four teenagers were stopped at a stoplight, waiting to turn left. It was dark out, but not too late, and they were going to get some pizza. Suddenly one of the cars coming from their right lost control and headed straight at them. The lady inside was drunk, and all of the teens were killed.

These are tragic, but true, stories. They have impressed on me just how fragile this life really is. I've often been at those same intersections in the same position as those people. We're all young people, and I know for me it often seems like I've got almost my whole life ahead of me. Dying is for old people. Now in my head I know that's not true, but that's often what I feel like in my heart. And you know what, I could have a long life in front of me. But I also could die today. And the thing is, you can't just say I'll be careful and that's that. None of the people in those stories were doing anything wrong. They were all young, and I'm sure not expecting their life on earth to end. They were just living out their day, and someone else made a big mistake. It could have been me. Or it could have been you.

We really need to make our calling and election sure. We who are being saved cannot afford to get lax in our faith. And to those who are not saved, this is one area where you cannot afford to be wrong.

You never know when your time will come, and when it does, where will you be? Are you sure? Because your eternity depends on it.

God bless you all, and keep pressing on.

In Christ our King!

A New Post, and It's a Movie!!!

I've updated my blog!!! I can hear you all cheering now :) Well, we made this movie a couple of months ago, but never put it on because we had dial-up. Now we've got high speed, so here it is. We made it one Saturday afternoon when we were bored. My sisters said that they wanted me to tell you all that this is really not how it is at our house :) It's a large file, so I'm not sure how quick it will load. If it's too slow, comment on it and I'll decrease the file size. I hope you enjoy and that this gives you a good laugh :)

God Bless!

Found: Wallet

I found my wallet. Or should I say, my wallet found me. In searching for it a month-and-a-half-ago (or whenever it was), Amy and I searched my car thoroughly twice, and I did by myself once. So the other day, I got into my car to go milk the cow, and I looked down at my gearshift. My wallet was sitting right there! It was impossible for me to miss it the night before if it had somehow vibrated out while I was driving. So, I've come up with two possibilities: one, God worked a total miracle: or two, someone found it, saw my address on my license and returned it to my car late at night without telling me. Either way, it sure is an answer to prayer that it is found (with everything in it by the way ;).

I've been pretty busy lately (that's why this is my first post in ten days :). But I'm going to try and get on here within the next few days and write a longer post about some of the things God has shown me lately.

God Bless!

Tagged!

I’ve been tagged by Kevin and Joshua! Sorry this is so late everyone! I really didn't have time to do any blogging this week. Here are my answers and the people I tag.

A movie I watched: No recent new movie.

A moment I will always remember: The camp at the Cooper’s, and my first ski trip.

A new skill I acquired: I’ve learned many new skills associated with work (drywalling, shingling, metal roofing, some electrical), and I’ve become better on the guitar.

A lesson I learned: I’ve learned (and still am learning) to give my future to the Lord, to follow whatever path He may have in store for me.

A new place I visited this year: Nowhere out of state, but I went to Caberfae (I hope that’s how it’s spelled).

A book I read: Journey of the Heart
An inspiring verse or quote:

All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

Psalm 25:10

Here are the rules:
1. Fill in your memories of 2008.
2. Link my blog to yours.
3. Tag others and comment on their blog so they know they've been tagged.

I don’t know anyone who hasn't already been tagged! So if you want to get in on this and I don't know you, go right ahead.

No Title for This One!

To start this post off, I need to explain something that has been brought to my attention by my little brother (I'll let you guess who that is). I realize that the stuffed animal is actually Winnie-the-Pooh. The reason Jason was calling it "Wilburbeast" was because Sarah sometimes plays that he is Wilbur from Charlotte's Web. Just wanted to clear up any misunderstandings!

Anyways, I've been pretty busy lately. Right now my uncle and I are drywalling the living room and kitchen in one of his houses. Pretty soon we'll start building the cabinets for the kitchen, which I'm looking forward to doing. Any time I could find to get online during the week I spent laughing about the new posts about "The Prank" (sorry JJ!), and reading other people's blogs.

We're still hacking over here. Last night, Sarah threw up from coughing twice, and Jason almost did once. Jonathan is coughing, too, but he's not throwing up from it. Us older ones (Katie and up) are just coughing a little, but the little ones are kind of keeping us from doing anything, because my parents don't want to spread it. So, no hockey this weekend either. :(

Here's a couple of pictures from bygone years around our home.


Dad and Jason with some awesome hair. 2005



Sarah doing some chin-ups. 2004

And here's a few from more modern times.


All of us. From left and back row: Jonathan, Kevin, Amy, me, Mom, Dad. Front row: Katie, Jason, Sarah.




Mom and Dad's last anniversary (you'd be shocked at what goes on around here ;).

I've been reading in Philippians, and I've really been getting alot out of it. There's so many things in that book that we can apply to our lives. At the beginning of chapter two, Paul talks about selfishness and selflessness. He says in verses 3 and 4, "Do not do anything from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." That's really key to treating others the way we should. Paul continues, "Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus," and then goes on to list what the Lord gave up to save us, and what He did for us when He was on earth. Paul is showing Christ for what He was: the perfect example of selflessness.
When I read those verses, it struck me how far I fall short of what I should be. To often I'm looking out for my own interests and not those of others. Much too often I do things out of selfishness: for example, deciding not to play something with Sarah and Jason because Kevin wants to do something that will be alot more fun for me. So with the Lord's help, I'll continue to press on and work out my many flaws that unfortunately often don't leave easily.

Press On, Keep the Faith, and God Bless You All!

A Few Pictures and More

Here are a few pictures that we took today. We didn't do to much; kind of just hung out and rested. Normally we would have played hockey, but we're a little sick, so no exertion to that extent.

Here's a picture of Jason with "Wilburbeast". My dad and I both told him it's "Wildebeest", but he still wants to say it his way.
Amy and Jonathan. For whatever reason, Jonathan likes to lay like this. He really likes it if you pat him on the back.
Sarah taking a nap. Most of us did a little bit of that today!

President Obama has lifted the ban on funding of overseas abortions. So now, our money that we work hard for will be paying for women in other countries to kill their babies. The biggest problem is that many Christians don’t really care! Sure they say they do; but they knew he said he would do this, yet they went and voted him in anyways. He’s getting ready to pass the Freedom of Choice Act, too, which will do away with any of the state’s restrictions on abortion. They care more about their wallets and what a person looks and talks like than what he will do to the morals of this country. This shows where the heart of much of the American church is.

Pray for our country, everyone! And even more importantly, pray for the Christians in this country who are being caught up in this world!

Eternity and Pressing On

Do you realize that we will never die? I will live forever. You will live forever. Think about it for a minute. Yes, your earthly body will die; but you, you as who you are will live on forever.

For example, if I’m driving tomorrow and am killed instantly in an accident, my physical body will die, but I will just fall asleep. Me, who I am, will continue to live. It will just feel like I’m in a deep sleep. My next conscious thought will be in heaven. But that thought will be just as much my thought with me thinking them as my thoughts that I’m having right now. I’ll be just as much me as I am right now (just in a perfected and much better form of me.:)) The only difference is I will be in heaven, not here on earth.

I hope that made sense. My uncle and I were talking about this yesterday and he expressed the opinion that having this knowledge in your heart is one of the fundamentals of Christianity. The more I think about it, the more I agree. If we see with our hearts, not just with our heads, how temporary and short life is, and how eternal we are, then we will really begin to see things in their true light. It really puts things into perspective.

The other day we were reading as a family in Philippians 3:13-16, and I read it again today. “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet (“it” referring to the resurrection from the dead); but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.”

Paul is saying that he does not just sit back and have the attitude that he’s all set, he’s a Christian and will be resurrected in the last days. No, his attitude is that he has not yet attained it. Not looking back at all, he presses on towards the prize of life eternal with Christ. And then he says that all who are perfect should have that attitude (I think he means by perfect those who are washed clean by the blood so that we appear perfect before God.) Next he says that if anyone does not have this attitude in every part of his life, God will reveal it to him. He then tells us to keep living in the same way that got us to where we are.

That, I think, is crucial to our walk with Christ. We cannot let ourselves get comfortable and content with where we are. We cannot have the attitude of, “Well, I’m saved, and I’m going to heaven if I try or not.” No, we should be constantly searching, seeking, testing ourselves to see if we are in the faith. If the Lord will cut off a natural branch, how much more a branch that has been grafted on?! The Lord cannot stand the lukewarm, the people who profess to follow Him but really put forth almost no effort. We must keep pressing on toward the crown, and not have a lukewarm attitude.

Now, having said all that, I don’t think we need to be in doubt for our whole entire lives as to whether we are saved. I believe that you will know in your heart if you are truly saved. The Lord will not hide the knowledge of that from you. But what I’m saying is that we should not grow lukewarm and apathetic towards our walk with Him, or content and comfortable with where we are. We must keep pressing on and never give up in our fight.

God bless you all!

How Can I Keep From Singing?

I got my license today! Thank the Lord! It’s definitely a load off my mind. Thanks to all of you who prayed that it would come in time. So, barring any other accidents, this Thursday I will be taking the electrical union entrance test. Please pray for me!

On the way home from work today, I was listening to Christian radio. One of the guys talking read Romans 8:37, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” When I got home I looked it up in the Bible. What Paul is saying we overwhelmingly conquer is explained in verse 35. They are tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and the sword. Isn’t it great that through Jesus we can “overwhelmingly conquer” these things! We don’t need to just hope that we can withstand them; we can be “more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (as the KJV puts it.) I’ve read and heard this many times before, but this really gave me encouragement today.

I love the words to the song below. It’s a great praise song and covers a lot of what the Lord does for us. We never can say enough, His love is so amazing. It’s great to know that He’s always there for me, even “in the darkest night.” And then in the end, I’ll get to “sing with the angels and the saints around the throne!”

How Can I Keep From Singing by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman

There is an endless song echoes in my soul,
I hear the music ring;
And though the storms may come,
To the Rock I cling.

How can I keep from singing your praise?
How can I ever say enough; how amazing is Your love.
How can I keep from shouting Your name?
I know I am loved by the King, and it makes my heart want to sing.

I will lift my eyes in the darkest night,
For I know my Savior lives;
And I will walk with You, knowing You’ll see me through,
And sing the songs You give.

How can I keep from singing your praise?
How can I ever say enough; how amazing is Your love.
How can I keep from shouting Your name?
I know I am loved by the King, and it makes my heart want to sing.

I can sing in the troubled times, sing when I win;
I can sing when I lose my step and fall down again;
I can sing cause You pick me up, sing cause You’re there;
I can sing cause You hear me, Lord, when I call to You in prayer;
I can sing with my last breath, sing for I know
That I’ll sing with the angels and the saints around the throne.

Keep the Faith!

Walking in the Spirit

I was reading in Galatians 5:16-25 a bit ago. I'm not going to write the whole thing down here, but I think it'd be worthwhile to read. I'll just post a few of my thoughts.

I was struck while reading this how many of the deeds of the flesh I have in my life compared to the fruits of the Spirit. I mean when you read it and compare the two, it's amazing how far I fall short of perfection and how much of my flesh is still a part of me. Outbursts of anger? Disputes? Dissensions? These are all things that Paul says we cannot practice but which I and I think many others struggle with. Isn't it great and wonderful that God is patient and merciful with us! If it wasn't for Jesus' blood, I'd sure be a goner!

Then I looked at the fruits of the Spirit. Love? Patience? Kindness? How much of these do I really have? Definitely not as much as I should.

Verses 16 and 17 say, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." For whatever reason (the Lord?), those verses just really made sense to me right then, even though I'd read them several times before, and it has totally revolutionized the way I look at my life and overcoming my character flaws. Before I would kind of just concentrate on not doing this one thing (talking disrespectfully, impatience, etc.). But after reading those two verses, I think the way we are supposed to be is just totally sold out for Him. Think about it. If everything I do, think, and say is for Jesus, if I am constantly walking in the Spirit, not only will I not have any room in my life for the deeds of the flesh, I will be doing the fruits of the Spirit at the same time. You get two in one. But, it's also the other way around. If I'm fulfilling my flesh, I can't have the fruits of the Spirit.

I think it's that simple. Just live our lives for Him, totally, all day, every day, and everything else will fall into place. Of course we will still face temptation, but, as long as we don't give into it, I believe it's appeal will grow less and less the closer we get to Him.

You guys might know all this, and it might seem obvious; but it has so changed me, I had to write about it. Not only has it helped me to have some victory over sin, it has also drawn me into a much deeper walk with Jesus.

Keep the Faith!

Is God Showing Me Something?

Here's my longest post to date. It took me twice as long as it should have (hey, I can look on the bright side: I only had to backspace every 4 words this time {believe it or not, that's an improvement.}) Hope you don't fall asleep reading this!

As some of you know, I've been trying to become part of the electrical union down in Detroit. They have a list of requirements to be accepted, one of them being either proof of high school graduation or a GED. I ran into some problems because I was homeschooled, for they wouldn't accept my parents saying that I completed everything I had to for a public school graduation as proof. So my neighbor, who was once part of the union and knew the director, called the director and asked him about it. The director took some personal interest in me, and said that if I went and got my GED he would personally make sure I got set up to take the test as soon as possible. So I took the GED tests in mid-December.

Jump to last Monday afternoon. I was leaving work and felt in my back pocket for my wallet. It wasn't there. I wasn't that concerned at first, because alot of times I leave it in my car when I'm working. But when I got to my car, my wallet wasn't in there either. Then I was a bit concerned. I searched my car from top to bottom while my uncle searched his work van to see if I left it in there. But both searches turned up nothing. Now I was worried. I called home to see if it was there, but nobody could find it. So I drove home, and that evening Amy, Mom, and I searched the whole entire house. Still no wallet. Of course, the concern was not for the wallet, but for the driver's license that was in it. I tried to remember what I had last done with it, but I couldn't. After searching everywhere I could think of in the house twice and my car once more, I decided to kind of sit back and wait for it to turn up like things have a tendency to do.

Jump to Thursday. My wallet still hadn't shown up (and with it my license). That day in the mail, I got my results back for the GED. I called Mr. Polulak (the director of the union) and told him. He asked me if I could personally bring in the transcript the next day and give it to him, and he would make sure that I was signed up for the test to be taken on January 22. So I told him I would.

Now yesterday (Friday). As my wallet still hadn't shown up, I decided I'd better get a new license. So on the way to see Mr. Polulak, I stopped at a secretary of state office and ordered a new one. The meeting with him went very well, and he got me set up for a test date right there. With the official letter showing the test date, he gave me a little booklet showing what I will need for the test.

When I got in my car, I opened the booklet and glanced at what was inside. Most of it was stuff I'd already been told, but then I saw a list of what I needed to bring on testing day in order to be tested. In bold letters it said "Your driver's license (photo ID)." Then below it, this phrase: "No ID, no test, no exceptions."

So now it's Saturday, I still don't have a photo license, I still can't remember what I did with it, and I'm sitting here wondering what I should be thinking. Is the Lord trying to tell me something here? I've been praying that if this is not the way He wants me to go that He would show me. Is this His way of showing me, or is my losing my license right now just a coincidence?

The last thing I want to do is jump to conclusions, but this definitely has me asking some questions. My new license may or may not get here in time according to the time given by the secretary of state. I'm not afraid to give this up and do something else; my only regret would be the time that my neighbor and Mr. Polulak have personally put into making sure I can make it. So I guess I will devote more prayer to this, and wait and see if I find my current license or get my new one in time for the test.

Keep the Faith, Brothers and Sisters!

Update

All right. Here's my second and long put off post. Part of the reason this is so long coming is that our internet was down Saturday and Sunday (that's what I tell myself anyways). New Year's Day we went bowling with my dad's side. The battery level on our camera was low, so we only got like 5 pictures. Here's a couple of blurry pictures of Jason. I scored my highest game ever of 155, but my next two games just barely squeaked over 100. Oh well. Maybe I'll do better next time.

Saturday, Kev and I went over the Cooper's to go on what we've been told was a very dangerous canoe trip down the Black River at night. We stuffed the Cooper's van with the canoe and all our stuff, piled in, and with Mr. Cooper at the wheel drove down to the river launch in Croswell. As soon as we pulled down the street the launch was on, we saw that the gate was closed. When we got closer we saw why. The river was flooded into the parking lot and frozen over. After we finished teasing Ryan for calling us to go canoing in a frozen river, we went back to the Cooper's and played some Settlers of Catan, did some finger jousting, and talked. So we still had a really good time, and probably a safer time. We'll have to try that canoing at night again, just maybe when the river is flowing.

I've been puzzling over Romans 7:14-21. I don't think it means what it seems to be saying, but I can't figure out what else it could be. If you have any insight on what Paul means there, you can leave a comment if you'd like.

I'm looking forward to my second skiing trip with the Heyworths, Bendixens, and I'm not sure who else yet. Hopefully I'll only fall a dozen times this time.

All right. It's quarter to ten, and I've gotta work tomorrow. I'd better hit the hay.

Keep the Faith, Brothers and Sisters!