Where I Am From Meme

I am from sagebrush, pungent and dusty. I am from mountains, granite graven. Dry hot summers, praying for rain. Rainshadow side of the mountains. I am from unlocked front doors, and roaming down by the river that runs through town. I am from exploring hills and whatever might be around the bend.

I am from a mother who grew up in the middle of the desert after moving to Nevada during the Depression. Her first bedroom in Nevada was the back of a Pierce Arrow. My mother was a WAC stationed in Germany after WWII. She relished the time she spent skiing in Switzerland, drinking beer in Germany, and buying clothes in Paris. I am from a mother who married a fellow soldier only to endure abuse. I am from a mother who refused an abortion and had me and was beaten for it. I am from a mother who gathered her husband’s first two children from his previous marriage and my older brother and me, and rode a train to Nevada from New Jersey to escape further beatings. I was a year old. She told my half-brother and half-sister that soon they would see the mighty Humboldt River. When they first spotted the trickly, tumbleweed choked, alkali, sluggish river they were stymied. The mighty Humboldt? My mother responded that she didn’t bother to tell them whether it was mighty big or mighty small.

I am from a step-father who came from southern France. He is Basque. He came to America to be a sheepherder. He moved to Winnemucca Nevada and became a miner. I am from parents who lived in tiny mining towns trickling down from the border of Oregon and through the middle of the desert. Nevada tourism now proudly markets this area as the outback of America. I am from a step-father who could string together long swearing tirades in Basque. I am from parents who eventually moved to Reno and started a landscaping business and worked in casinos. I am from a step-father who once smuggled Jewish refugees from France over the Pyrenees into Spain. I have a step-father who spent time in a Spanish prison for smuggling.

I am from political arguments about the Kennedy’s, drunken fights late at night, while I cowered in my bed. I am from the reputation of the “bad kids” on the block. I am from the most beautiful yard in the neighborhood. Bachelor Buttons, Hollyhocks, Marigolds, Roses, Cosmos, Sweet Williams, Canterbury Bells, and projectile missiles for cars, cherry tomatoes. I am from the interior of our home looking like a superfund disaster site.

I am from moving to a valley north of town, my mother pleased that it overlooked Peavine Mountain. I am from our home being the hub of all friends, who came to party. I am from a mother who smoked pot with my brother and me, and who thought she should have lived in our era. I am a middle child with one older brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister. I am the only Christian and the only one who doesn’t smoke. My mother is a voracious reader and so is my older brother and me. I am from a mother who allowed me to hitchhike to California when I was sixteen. I am from a home that took in hitchhikers. Two guys from Australia stayed a month. I am from a mother who has an overactive imagination. She tells about the time that Willie Nelson came and partied at our house. We heated with a wood-burning stove. My mother plied us with homemade bread, home-canned vegetables, jams and jellies, and savory pots of soup and stews. My father always carved a cross in a loaf of French bread. The basques are mostly catholic.

I am from being afraid of my abusive step-father to standing up to him and finally leaving home when I was sixteen. I am from having my first child at eighteen. Slightly one year later, I was a single mother, working as a hotel maid. I am from parents who decided to divorce. No more late night drunken fights.

My step-father and mother are now 80 and 81. I cannot remember my real father. I last saw him when I was only one year old.

God chose me when I was twenty-one. I had spent time seeking “spirituality” and had run the gamet of every new age trend that came down the turnpike. I never found my “guru” though. By grace I learned to forgive the past and love again as I grew in my understanding of Christ. Of course, there is so much more I can write about my own family. That is for another post. God is the potter and I am the clay. I am still being formed in a vessel for His glory.

My Daughter's Friend

Last night I received bad news.

My daughter became pregnant in her senior year of high school a few years ago. She had a very kind and loving friend named Carl. Carl helped my daughter through some rough moments of her pregnancy. When she had extreme morning sickness, he held her hair back while she threw up. He comforted her and was by her side for most of her pregnancy. He professed his love for her and his willingness to take care of her when the dad seemed to be out of the picture. Later the father decided he wanted to be a part of my daughter's life and take care of her and the baby. Carl was hurt and was not around much after that.

My daughter called me last night to tell me that Carl had committed suicide. I am so sad that someone could come to such a place of despair. My three children are all saddened greatly by this news. I pray that God would use this for his glory somehow in the lives of his friends and family. My daughter went to visit the parents today, and they told her that Carl committed suicide over a relationship with a girl. How empty, lonely, and hopeless the world is without a relationship with Christ.

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 6/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Mission Work Synthesized by Other Religions

I read recently of various Christian groups that believe we need to "take back" that which was stolen by pagan cultures. Certain groups believe that some of those places are the "high places" where worship of other gods were practiced. Anyone who has read the Old Testament knows that God wanted all of the high places destroyed. Interestingly enough, blending the "high places" into Christianity these days, is becoming more and more common. Here is an excerpt of an article about mission work in Japan.

Inclusive Evangelism - Part 3
In the Video, God’s Fingerprints in Japan, Daniel Kikawa makes use of high towers as worship places for the true God, the Japanese tea ceremony as communion and even shows a Buddha on a cross as being a worship object of Christians (really Catholics). The video is filled with Japanese/Buddhist symbols, rituals and traditions that would certainly stretch one’s credulity.

He lifted quotes from their context in Shintoism and the Bible and has come up with his own unique interpretation. Kikawa is obviously “contextualizing” a pagan belief system. He is using their religious traditions and symbols, as “redemptive analogies” to “Christianize” Shintoism. Even the name of God has been changed to that of their deities – Amenominakanushi is considered valid! I have rarely seen anyone go this far off in their Bible interpretation and research of other religions, all with the intent to fulfill his agenda of redeeming a culture.

You can read the rest of the article, plus parts one and two

here

Oral Roberts Comics. Really!!!

While trying to figure out who did a cartoon posted at Pyromaniacs. I researched Google and came across pics of old Oral Roberts comics. Interesting eh? I'm not sure the lady looks healed and happy though.

Easter Rabbit Disappears!

Just in case you wanted to know what happened to the Easter rabbit. It's all good.

Calvary's Anthem

There is power in the blood of Calvary
to destroy sins more than can be counted
even by one from the choir of heaven.
Thou hast given me a hill-side spring
that washes clear and white,
and I go as a sinner to its waters,
bathing without hindrance in its crystal streams.
At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones,
and ample blessings that last forever;
The blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace
with never any diminishing of its fullness
as thirsty ones without number drink of it. excerpted from The Valley of Vision

Spurgeon on Christ's Resurrection

In the resurrection of Christ, as in our salvation, nothing short of a divine power was put forth. What shall we say of those who think that conversion is the work of the free will of individuals, and is due to improving one's own disposition? When we can see the dead rise from the grave by their own power, then we can expect to see ungodly sinners of their own free will turning to Christ. It isn't the word preached, nor the word read in itself; all life-giving power proceeds fromt the Holy Spirit. This power was irresistible. All the soldiers and the high priests could not keep the body of Christ in the tomb; death itself could not hold Jesus in its bonds: this is how irresistible the power put forth in the believer is when one is raised to newness of life.

An Easter Quote to Ponder

I saw this great quote by Tim Keller here, at Sowers Corner

"The gospel is that I am far worse than I imagine and simultaneously more loved and accepted by God than I even dared hope for - because of Jesus death for me." Tim Keller

Can You Bind the Beautiful Pleiades? Words by Spurgeon on God's Sovereignty

Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Job 38:31

If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show us how puny we are. We can't move the least of all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as one of the beams of the morning. We speak of power, but the heavens laugh us to scorn. When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal joy we can't restrain their influences, and when Orion reigns in a higher place, and the year is bound in winter's fetters, we can't relax the icy bands. The seasons revolve according to the divine appointment, neither can the whole human race effect a change therein. Lord, what is mankind?

In the spiritual, as in the natural world, humanity's power is limited on all hands. When the Holy Spirit sheds abroad His delights in the soul, none can disturb; all the cunning and malice of humankind are ineffectual to suppress the genial life-giving power of the Comforter. When He deigns to visit a church and revive it, the most inveterate enemies can't resist the good work; they may ridicule it, but they can no more restrain it than they can push back the spring when the Pleiades rule the hour. God wills it, and so it must be. On the other hand, if the Lord in sovereignty, or in justice, binds us up so that our soul is in soul bondage, who can give us liberty? He alone can remove the winter of spiritual death from an individual or a people. he looses the bands of Orion, and no one but He. What a blessing it is that He can do it. O that He would perform the wonder tonight. Lord, end my winter, and let my spring begin. I cannot with all my longings raise my soul out of her death and dullness, but all things are possible with You. I need celestial influences, the clear shinings of Your love, the beams of Your grace, the light of Your contenance, these are the Pleiades to me. I suffer a great deal from sin and temptation, these are my wintry signs, my terrible Orion. Lord, work wonders in me, and for me. Amen.

Insight Into Methods of Change in the Church

Check out this radio program that explains some of the methods used in the Church today to facillitate change and transformation. Slice of Laodicea, Diaprax in a Box

Bear's Eye View of the World

Check here for a very cool "critter cam" of a grizzly cub.

HT: Challies

God Is At The Center by John Samson

My husband pointed me to this great article over at Reformation Blog by John Samson

The 16th Century was famous for at least two monumental events: The Protestant Reformation and the Copernican Revolution. No doubt, you have heard of the Reformation when men such as Martin Luther, were raised up by God to bring the one true biblical Gospel back to the Church. That's what this blog is all about. With the Reformers of old and with Scripture alone as our sure foundation, we affirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone — for the glory of God alone.

In 1543, Nicolas Copernicus published his treatise De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (The Revolution of Celestial Spheres) where a new view of the world was presented: the heliocentric (sun central) model. Before Copernicus, people believed that the earth was the very center of the Universe.

You can read more of the article here

Quote of the Day

I heard this today on the radio.

The righteousness of Christ in our lives is a passive rather than an active righteousness. It is not based on something WE achieve but is based on the righteousness of Christ achieved in us.

Sorry, did not hear the source.

An Article by Al Mohler on Educational Options

Secular Chaos or Christian Truth, Educational Options

Cataloging campus outrages must be a time-consuming task, but The Collegiate Network has been doing this for some years. The Collegiate Network encourages conservative student journalists and monitors the atrocities on America's college and university campuses. Evidently, there is enough nonsense on America's campuses to keep this group busy. You can read the rest of the article here.

Advertisement in the Sacred Sandwich

This is way funny!

Discernment in the Church by John MacArthur

This is an excellent article by John MacArthur on the lack of discernment in the Church

Discernment: Spiritual Survival for a Church in Crisis

Introduction


The conquering of the city of Troy is one of the famous stories of ancient history. Greek soldiers had laid siege to the city for over ten years, but were unable to conquer it. In exasperation Ulysses, a brilliant strategist, decided to have a large wooden horse built and left outside the city walls as a supposed gift to the unconquerable Trojans. The Greeks then sailed away in apparent defeat. The curious and proud Trojans brought the wooden horse inside their fortified walls. That night Greek soldiers hidden inside the horse crept out and opened the city gates to let their fellow soldiers into the city. The soldiers massacred the inhabitants, looted the city, and then burned it to the ground. Ever since, the Trojan horse has been a symbol of infiltration and deception.


Throughout its history, the church has embraced many Trojan horses. Satan has effectively used enemies disguised as gifts to lure people away from the truth of God into destructive error. Today's church is in a particularly severe state of confusion. That should be no surprise, for the apostle Paul said, "In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power" (2 Tim. 3:1-5). The apostle Peter echoed that truth: "There will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words" (2 Pet. 2:1-3).


Today's church is like the religious leaders of Jesus' day, who could tell the difference between superficial things like pleasant and stormy weather, but not between truth and error (Matt. 16:1-3). So many churches have relinquished biblical ethics and doctrine, a deep reverence and worship of God, repentance over sin, humility toward God and fellow believers, and a profound understanding of God's character and work. All that has resulted in a low-level commitment to holy living.

Continue reading here