Suuuuup!: April 2006

You have a fat IRA? that's hot!

I must admit, someone who is responsible with money is a top quality of mine.

ThisThing

My life

"After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again." - CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

"One of the greatest stresses in life is the stress of waiting for God." - Oswald Chambers

poo.

but there is hope!

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. ~Isaiah 43:18-19

don't let my past failures condemn me and keep me from hoping in God's redemption for me in the future. where my life was barren and empty, will be filled with His blessings, if only I can open my eyes.

I don't know...

"...We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." ...Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel... This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's.' ... 'You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.' "
from 2 chronicles 20

i try to fight too many of my own battles. i am a control freak. and i don't really have any good answers as to how to fix it besides "lose control". i am afraid that if i don't have control over something, it won't turn out the way i want it to. but really, when i do get something to go my way, it somehow blows up in my face... so, in the end, my way probably isn't the best way. God says "see, I told you so." what my flesh thinks it wants is at war with what deep down in my heart i know is what i should really want. it creates such a conflict of wills.

Paul says in romans 7: The law is good, then. The trouble is not with the law but with me, because I am sold into slavery, with sin as my master. I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can't help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want to, but I can't. When I want to do good, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it. It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

oh Paul, i totally understand! when am i ever going to get to a point when i feel like i'm winning the war at least a little bit?

Easter

IMG_2412
Originally uploaded by carlyf04.

Easter with the fam (minus Lindsay, who was conveniently struck with the flu. he, just kidding)

He is Risen!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!
-luke 24:1-6

Would you like fries with that?

http://echurch.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

I'm going to hell for this but I think it's funny...

Re: I watch too much (M)TV

I had a dream last night that I was on a bus (like, a yellow school bus) and Britt from 8th & Ocean was sitting across from me and I was all like "Oh my gosh I saw you in an ad today!" and she was like "No way!" and then we were like BFFs! I wish she was my friend... sigh.

in all seriousness, I did have that dream. and I do wish she was my friend. Then I could steer her away from the bad guys (aka "dogs" haha).

Politics and Religion

stumbled across this article... and i've been thinking a lot about this subject recently. Jesus didn't come with a political agenda, so why do Christians today feel burdened with political agendas? I have to include myself in that. I used to so proudly wave my flag as being conservative because that meant I was a Christian, but now I hesitate to advertise that. What does it matter, except to satisfy the curiousity of men as to which "side" I'm on?

The author says:

For example, some equate Christian cultural engagement primarily with political action or public policy influence. While impacting the political sphere with the gospel is part of the cultural mandate, political action alone is not only an unbiblical focus, but it will never succeed. Not only has history proven that fact, but the scriptures teach us that the only way to change a culture is to change the individuals in that culture. What is needed is a change of hearts and minds in terms of worldview. That radical change that is necessary in those areas can only be accomplished by the Spirit applying the gospel to hearts and minds. Political ideology and the gospel are separate things. It is the gospel that must and will affect political ideology.

"...we must remember that just because an idea is conservative does not necessarily make it biblical."

The apostle Paul gives us some serious and sobering words in Eph. 4:29-32. "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you."
When the bible says that "no corrupt word" is to proceed out of our mouths, there are no exceptions. When the bible says that we are to speak "what is good for necessary edification," that means that our words are to build others up and not tear them down. Note too that Paul says our words often are not what people deserve. Our words are to "impart grace to the hearers." We speak words they do not deserve.

I watch too much (M)TV

Today I was looking through all the ads in the Sunday paper, as I normally do, and when I was going through the JC Penney circular I saw a picture with 2 girls who look oddly like Britt and Heidi from 8th & Ocean... is it sad that I know that?

I'm not sure what to think...

http://www.slate.com/id/2139373/nav/tap1/

Hey, I have an idea - let's try to figure this whole God guy out by getting Him involved in a scientific study.
Maybe the reason prayers "weren't answered" is because God isn't out to save the world from disease and affliction, but from itself...

another interesting find: http://www.wral.com/family/8503574/detail.html

edit: about the whole testing God thing, that's kind of a sin, too: Deuteronomy 6:16 (New International Version) 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah.
Matthew 4:7 (New International Version) 7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"