Abiding in God

I recently watched the documentary “ Divided ” by the Leclerc Brothers and promoted by the National Center for Family Integrated Churches. The following are some of my thoughts concerning this film. I’m going to start off with the concerns and disagreements I had with the film. I found parts of the film highly ironic and actually contradictory. It was stated and inferred several times throughout the film that the purpose of youth ministry was to draw kids’ hearts away from their parents and to usurp the parent’s role in raising and discipling their kids. What was ironic was that most of the youth pastors they interviewed said the exact opposite. They stated that it was their desire and intent to work alongside the parents and support and uphold what the parents are teaching. They didn’t want to take the parent’s roles or the parent’s place in these kid’s hearts. I’m surprised that such a blatant contradiction was allowed to remain in the film.

One of the ways I like to study the Bible is to take a passage or verse and try to dig in and pull it apart. I love it when preachers/teachers go back to the original Hebrew and Greek words because there is such depth and significance there that is sometimes lost in translation. I try to do that on my own as much as I'm able - which isn't a whole lot since I'm illiterate in both languages. Still, I do find some rewarding things by at least trying to dig deep. I like to go through a passage word by word with a word study book and dictionary to look up the definitions for each word and the grammatical construct of each word. Then, I like to re-write the passage in my own words based on what I've learned. Sometimes it ends up basically the same - but sometimes I discover "hidden treasures". The following verse is one I found some "hidden treasures" in. "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:

In a day where compromise and "tolerance" reign - where absolutes and "only ways" are despised - where humanism is the way to go and man's opinions and preferences are "god" - we need to stand firm on truth and the authority of God's Word in all things and in all areas of life. Second, a high view of Scripture must accept the accuracy and inerrancy of the Bible. After all, if the Bible is God’s inspired Word in every part (meaning that He is the author), then it must also be truthful in every part (including passages regarding science and history) because He is a God of truth (cf.Titus 1:2; Heb 6:17-18). Thus, the Scriptures can be wholly trusted because they come from a God who can be wholly trusted. This means that Genesis should be believed when it states that the world was created in seven days. It means that Adam should be accepted as a real human being, that the Flood was a global event, that Sodom and Gomorrah were literally destroye

Now, if I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained, without asking any individual , the means for establishing and carrying on an Orphan House: there would be something which, with the Lord’s blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, … but still the first and primary object of the work was (and still is), that God might be magnified by the fact, that the Orphans under my care are provided all they need, only by prayer and faith , without any one being asked by me or my fellow-labourers, whereby it may be seen, that God is FAITHFUL STILL, AND HEARS PRAYERS STILL. The above is a quote from George Mueller's autobiography "A Million and a Half in Answer to Prayer". (pg. 81 to be precise, emphasis is original) George Mueller was a man of great, abiding, unshakable faith in God. It amazes me how his faith remained so strong in the midst of all the many and varied trials his ministry went through. What a godly legacy he has le

"My life has been hidden with Christ (the left hand) in God the Father (the right hand). Nothing can touch my life that has not been allowed to touch my life by passing through both the Son and the Father. Nothing, then, is going to happen to me by accident, nothing that is outside of my loving Father's control. He who spoke the worlds into existence exercises the same power in keeping me safe in His love." James R. White

[The following is an article I wrote on the Intelligent Design movement for an apologetics class I took a year and a half ago.] There is a movement in the science world today that is gaining much attention and press. Intelligent Design (hereafter referred to as ID) has an appealing name to those of us who believe the Bible is God’s Word and take Genesis as a literal historical account. Yet, many of us don’t really know much about it other than what we hear from the secular media. What should we know about ID? Is it just a new name for Biblical creationism? In this article I’d like to give you a brief overview of the good and bad aspects of this movement and how we, as Bible-believing Christians, should view and act towards it. The Discovery Institute, a home for the ID movement, describes ID as such – “ The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process su

If you came into our living room you would see a sofa table layered with picture frames. Nothing too out of the ordinary there. But you would also see 2 figurines of Disney characters, Woody and Jessie. (why those in particular is another story for another day) They look a little out of place with the beautiful furniture, frames and photographs. But they hold deep significance for me. I found the second piece on a recent trip to the mall. Naturally, I had to peek into the Disney store. While browsing around, a small snow globe caught my eye. I was simply drawn to it and couldn't stop staring at it. I noticed something that seemed unusual to me in my limited snow globe knowledge. The main characters were separated. Snow globes that I normally see have the main characters together inside the globe. But this one was different. Woody was inside the snow globe that rested on top of an old TV set while Jessie sat next to it and gazed inside. And I realized something while loo

I love quotes. I love collecting them, writing them down, and re-reading them from time to time. I found this quote in a book I just finished. I found it to be not only excellent, but quite challenging and convicting as well. "If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of Heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper, who did his job well.'" - Martin Luther King "Who did his job well." Is that not our goal to hear this? "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." (Matt. 25:21)

Namely: Books. Thanks to my friend Rachel for the inspiration to get back to reading! She recently mentioned a challenge to read 2 books per month. I haven't decided whether I will hold myself to that particularly, but I do plan to start reading more. I don't want to keep wasting time on the computer and facebook when I could be spending my time more profitably. I actually have a books-to-read list that I started about a year ago. 23 books and 4 booklets have already been checked off! (though granted, 2 books were checked off incomplete because I simply couldn't wade through any more of them) I probably have just as many more on my list - and I'm constantly adding to it! I'm now working on finishing some of the books I've already started. I almost always am in the middle of at least a half dozen books. Variety is the spice of life, right?! Here's some of the books I recently finished or am trying to finish soon: The Six Days of Genesis by Paul Tay

I find it interesting that I work so much with children and love it, since I'm terrified of being a parent one day and raising them. Having the responsibility of guiding not only a child's education, life skills, and behavior but also their soul is such a weighty, dread-inducing responsibility. Knowing how to bring up a child biblically - to know and fear the Lord and follow Him all their lives - to guide and discipline in a way that points their hearts to God - what a heavy burden and a high calling. While I sense that to an extent working in childcare (though many times I'm just trying to maintain control over the chaos!), having children only a few hours at a time - I'm just like a sub off the bench who comes in the game for a few minutes to relieve the starters - I don't have that responsibility constantly surrounding me. Sometimes I sit and think about what it would be like to have that responsibility full-time. There was something that came to mind that I

I've been listening to a song called "Heaven Song" recently. It's become one of my favorites. Part of the chorus says, "I can't wait to join the angels and sing my Heaven song." I got to thinking about that... I know angels have particular praises they sing - you can find it all throughout Scripture. And there's particular praises that all the saints gone before us resound collectively in Heaven. But I wonder if we each individually will have a personal anthem of praise - a Heaven song - based on how God has worked and what He has done for each of us personally? We'll see God's had in our lives - every aspect - so clearly there. It's such a neat thought to me. I wonder what Daniel's Heaven song sounds like? I wonder what my own Heaven song will be. It's kind of cool to think about. You wrote a letter and You signed your name I read every word of it page by page You said that You'd be coming, coming for me soon Oh my

Here it is. My first post on my own blog. Feels kind of weird. I've been thinking about getting a blog for awhile now but just recently decided to take the plunge. Here's some of the things I've been mulling over posting about - *Thoughts on Scriptures I've read *Favorite songs *Topics I have a passion for or take an interest in *Random fun things that catch my eye *Musings over life's lessons That's why I said this is for "wandering ponderings" in my sidebar... I imagine this will be full of random thoughts until I can sort out exactly where I want to focus most. So here goes another crazy adventure in my life! :)