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!