Varied Intrests

Today as I was leaving the library, looking at my stack of books and videos, I thought about how much you can tell about a person by the books they are reading. As varied as our books are, so are the topics of conversation around here. Today alone we have covered a number of topics, such as how to honor our Lord and Savior through the holidays, what names should we address God by, how should we use the Jewish Holy days in our Christian life, to Lindsay's friend having a "Peter" costume made by his mother and sister for the opening of "Narnia", and camping.

I'm thankful that the Lord has given us various interests and is leading us on a pathway of discovery of Him in all of these things. It is such a joy to search His word on so many different issues to see what He says to them all. One of the harder things is separating our emotional feelings on a subject and just listening to His word on them. Lindsay has been discussing Christmas on her blog, and we have been having many discussions on it here at home. Lindsay visits a message board by the Ludys and the conversation there has become very heated in reference to what the Scriptures don't say about Christmas. Lindsay has even been described as "Scrooge" because of her views(anyone who knows her would say that's not the case).

I hope the Lord continues to teach me for the rest of my life. I want to always be curious about what He has to say on a subject and not ever feel that I have the answer until I have thoroughly researched what He has to say about it. I also pray that I will allow His Word to teach me and guide me, not letting my emoitions on a topic sway what I do.

Here is the list of the varied things I checked out today. This is in no way an endorsement of these books; I haven't read them as of yet. The way I research something is to have many books on the subject to see what different authors have to say on the topic. If you were to see me in deep Bible study, you would probably find me at the table with several translations of the Bible, a Topical Bible, Matthew Henry's Commentary, a Strongs Concordance and The Complete Word Study New Testament, by Spiros Zodhiates all spread out. That's just my own way of searching something out.

A Family Haggadah in Every Generation (Julie, you will have to help me with this one!), by Shoshana Silberman

The Jewish Holidays, by Michael Strassford

Jewish Festivals, by Saviour Pirotta

Menorahs, Mezuzuas and Other Jewish Symbols, by Miriam Chaikin

Wonders and Miracles, by Eric A Kimmel

Milk and Honey: A Year of Jewish Holidsays, by Jane Yolen

The Tapestry of Jewish Time, by Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin

Hanukkah: The Family Guide to Spiritual Celebration, by Dr. Ron Wolfson

The Jewish Festivals, by Hayyim Schauss

The New Jewish Wedding, by Anita Diamant

Feed Your Family for $12.00 a Day, by Rhonda Barfield

Making and Keeeping Creative Journals, by Suzanne Tourtillott

Throne, Dominations, by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh

Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries videos: Have His Carcase and Gaudy Night (Thanks for the recommendation, Carmon!)

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and The Foggy Mountain Boys: The Complete Mercury Sessions cd

E-mail Problems

I was just made aware, tonight, that the e-mail address linked from this site is an old one of mine that has been out of service for several months. If anyone has tried to e-mail me and I haven't replied, that is why. If you have sent me an e-mail through this site, please re-send it as I would love to hear from you. I pray that I haven't inadvertently offended anyone by not replying. Please forgive the inconvenience of this oversight.

Do unto others

In our family we have what is referred to as our #1 rule. It it the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." When I am talking to the girls about a behavior issue, it is amazing that nearly every time we come back to this rule. Whether it is talking ugly, being selfish, hitting (yes, my girls do occasionally hit each other), or disobedience to me, it all comes back to this rule. My desire is that my girls will grow up to consider their actions and words in relation to others. When the scriptures talking about denying ourselves, that is in part what it is referring to. There are many times that we could justify our actions, calling it righteous indignation or some other euphamism, when in reality it is just sin. At this time of year people tend to be more easily offended because of their busyness. When you are at a register and things are taking longer than you would like, or the cashier makes a mistake, stop and think about this rule. How would you like someone to respond to you?

I remember reading an Isabella Alden book that begins with a brother challenging his unsaved sister to apply the golden rule to her life. It was a very difficult thing for the sister causing her to want to give up many times. It is also difficult for those of us who are believers. I pray that you will examine your life as I am mine, to see if there are areas in which you should be applying this rule to your life more often.

Posting

It is obvious that I have not been posting very regularly. I often justify this by saying, "I'm too busy," or "I don't have much to say." I'm going to try to change that and not let these two thoughts keep me from writing. I need to recognize that something that may seem small to me may be the very thing that someone else needs to hear. So I'm going to try to be more diligent in my writing. I may write several smaller things on a daily basis as opposed to writing fewer long articles. I'll just have to see where the Lord takes me in this journey and what His plan is for it all.

Ponderings

I have had several things I have been pondering lately. I am still trying to work them out and find scriptural proofs for some of them. I will list some of them here, and would appreciate it if you would post any comments you may have on any of the topics.

--pastors--- the need or not for them in a small homechurch. What was their exact role in the first century church

--authority in the church--- who has it, and how much. Do people today too willingly follow a man and give him authority over them as opposed to the true and only priest of the church--- Christ

--false teachers--- at what point is someone classified a false teacher? Knowing we are all imperfect, but isn't ther some line they can cross? What is it? Scripture is clear that we are to avoid these.

--Lord's supper--- how are we to observe this in light of the New Testament?

This list is in no way complete! But it will suffice for now. Please share your thoughts or scriptures.

Some of these issues seem to have contradictory answers in the scriptures. We know that God is not a God of contradictions, but of order. He never changes; He's the same today as yesterday. So, how do we settle the seeming contradictions? There is a quote by Spurgeon that helps me greatly. I guess if he couldn't reconcile all of scripture, I shouldn't feel so bad.

Spurgeon said:

That God predestines, and that man is responsible, are two things that few can see. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is just the fault of our weak judgment. Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other. These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring. (New Park Street Pulpit, 4:337)

Wonderful Weather

Today a cold front moved in and the temperature is down to 55 degrees F here in Houston. What a blessed relief from the heat it is. The high today was in the upper 80's. For our Northern friends, it seems unbelievable, I'm sure.

I'd say that we are settling back in after our camping trip and Gene's Bootcamp, but truth be known, it won't slow down until after January. I know it slows down for most people after December, but our anniversary is Dec 31st, Lindsay's birthday is Jan 16th and mine is Jan 25th, so that makes our January just as busy as November and December.

Our camping trip was great, as the weather was perfect. The campground we went to was beautiful, and I really loved watching the trees changing colors. We did have some obnoxious crows who felt it their duty to wake us all at 6:30am. They would sit in the trees about 15 feet off the ground cawing to each other until about 6:45, just long enough that you were so awake that you couldn't go back to sleep. We went on hikes every day we were there except Sunday. Some of them were pretty easy, and on others you felt like you should be a mountain goat. On Saturday night I learned a new game, Spoons. If you've never played it, it's lots of fun. We had 23 people playing in 3 groups at one large table. We had a lot of fun laughing and joking as we played. There was also the terrifying experience of me making the toilet explode. Let me explain; one of the toilets had been having problems with the water continuing to run, and one of the park rangers had taken the lid off and propped it on the tank leaning against the wall. Well, at some point I moved, the lid went crashing to the floor, severing the water line. Suddenly there was a fountain of water coming out of the floor spraying me. Me, the woman in the stall next to me and Lindsay came crashing out trying to get out of the way. I was laughing hysterically! I tend to do that in situations like these. I did find out later that you could hear the crashing of the lid for a very long way. Of course, the story made its way through the camp that I was the woman who broke the bathroom.

Gene had an awesome time at bootcamp, I am hoping he will update his blog this week with info on it. There are many great stories and God is to be glorified in all that happened.

While he was away the girls and I were busy bees. We moved every piece of furniture in my room and re-arranged it. I love the new set up and our bedroom/ home office is much nicer and roomier with this arrangement. I also took the time to organize our closet and de-clutter. Hopefully, this will all work toward helping me to be a better manager of my home.

International Readers

I have had a strange occurance that I don't understand in relationship to my blog. I have had many readers from various countries such as India, Germany, UK, Canada, Macedonia, Latvia, Egypt, and Khabrovsic, Russian Federation. The thing I don't understand about these visitors, and the thing they have in common, is they have all done searches on Google or MSN on my first name, Lora. Does that name have some international meaning I don't know about? It's not even as though it's spelled the "normal" way. If you are an international reader, please enlighten me as to why people are searching that name all over the world.

I pray that what I'm writing may in some small way impact these readers and that they may hear of the saving grace of Christ through these meager efforts.

What we're up to

We are all scurrying around here like squirrels trying to get ready for our camping trip. We will be camping with 10 other families, about which the girls are quite excited. We will be going to Bastrop State Park in the Hill Country of Texas. The pictures we have seen of it are beautiful, and we expect the trees to be in their radiant fall colors. We will leave on Thursday and return this Sunday.

Next Thursday, Gene will be going to Evangelism Bootcamp
and will be gone for four days. He's very excited about the trip. Be praying that the Lord will use it as a time of encouragement for him. Also pray for the people that he will be encountering; many of them will be college students at the University of Texas.

I have several entries I'm working on, but they are longer and I will post them when I get back. I will also post pictures from the camping trip and other things as I am able.

How do you esteem your salvation?

This last weekend we had an international day with the Pedersen family. This is something their family has done for many years, and this is the second time they have been kind enough to invite us to join them. In preperation, we spend time studying the selected country, this year it was Tanzania, and we prepare native food. Studying Tanzania has been very eye opening, and I have really enjoyed it. It also gave me a little glimpse into what Dr. Black and his wife Becky Lynn will experience when they go to Ethiopia. You can read more about their upcoming trip here. When thinking about these countries and many around the globe where there is persecution for aligning yourself with Christ, I think of a quote by Thomas Paine, "That which we gain too easily, we esteem too lightly." Christ shed his blood equally for all who are His, so in that sense, the grace that we have wasn't gained easily. But in America, being a Christian will not cost us our lives, nor do we suffer persecution(I don't consider the little ridicule we get to be true persecution). When thinking of our liberty, I think of the man in Ethiopia that Dr. Black met whose 8 year old daughter had been murdered, decapitated, and thrown in the river, all because he was a Christian. That is what I would deem true persecution. The truth of the matter is that the believers in the countries where persecution is rampant appreciate their salvation much more than the average believer in America. They are willing to put their lives on the line to tell others about the saving grace of Christ. Most believers in America never share their faith; the statistic is that less than 2% of professing Christians regularly share their faith. Why is it that in America where we have the freedom to say what we wish, many Christians wish to keep thier mouths closed? I believe the answer lies in the quote by Thomas Paine.