THIS IS A SHOUT OUT TO THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY HATCHER!! THANK YOU FOR BEING WHAT BEST FRIENDS ARE MADE OF: VIRTUE, PATIENCE, FUN, CREATIVITY, LAUGHTER, JOY, LOVE, HUMBLENESS, TENDERNESS, BEAUTY...
I LOVE YOU!!

Open Heart Surgery

I am deep in thought tonight... thinking about beauty and how it is defined. I have about a million things I would like to study in the Bible. The Bible guides me and defines my thoughts and outlook on life... for example, I am not through studying about Hell. My father gave me a chapter from C.S.Lewis's "The Problem of Pain" entitled Hell and I read Lewis's thoughts... interesting. My heart was captured by the ending paragraph where Lewis says, "In all discussions of Hell we should keep steadily before our eyes the possible damnation, not of our enemies nor our friends (since both these disturb the reason) but of ourselves. This chapter is not about your wife or son, nor about Nero or Judas Iscariot, it is about you and me."
But it is not Hell that I want to discuss tonight... I am thinking about wanting to "be someone else". I admire a lot of people and often find myself wishing I were more like "her". Mainly it is the spiritual qualities or personality traits that capture my attention rather than physical looks (but I am not above that either). A close and very dear friend of mine (shout-out to Kelli Burrier) said in an observation she once made, "In our culture, especially as women, we compare and contrast every part of our body with that of what we see next to us, on television, or in a magazine. We have come to believe that beauty is in the shape of our thighs, the tanness of our skin, the thinness in our waist... The one thing our culture never teaches us is the beauty of what is inside of us: the heart." How sad, yet, right KB is in saying that. I am bombarded daily in my job with fashion and style. Yet, where can I find the bombarding message that my heart needs help?
Where is the fashion spread in my magazine for hearts like that of Amy Carmichael, Ann Haseltine Judson, Ruth and Esther? Hmm... It is up to us as Christians to encourage one another to not praise "on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).
How often have I sized someone up and cried out to the Lord for a heart like this person or faith like another? Wouldn't my time have been better spent in prayer for my heart to continue being completed (Philippians 1:6) as my heart until the day of Christ? It is good to have people as mentors but still, there is an ultimate Mentor. God sent Jesus not only to stand in the gap we created in sin but also to be an example of how our lives should be lived while we are on earth. When was the last time I read about Jesus and thought, "Man, I wish I was more patient like Jesus" and even though that is true... I don't catch myself saying that nearly as often as I think, "I wish I could help people like so-and-so"... BLAH!!
Today I was reading Titus... and I came across Paul's "guidelines" for someone who is to be above reproach. Oh, how that is the cry of my heart. So I journaled the following:
*I want to be above reproach! LORD, I want to be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. LORD, I will hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that I may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine... Oh LORD, let us work on making my life more disciplined. LORD, mold me into a Titus woman.*
Won't you join me? Instead of plastic surgery for the thighs, lips, and body that is temporary, let us look into heart surgery... for the heart that looks for something eternal.
Oh, LORD come!

Going back...

So, I am going back to a previous post where I asked, "Can there be salvation without a belief in hell?"... (i'll wait for you to scroll down)
...
I looked into it myself and before I start reporting on my thoughts I have a question... okay, don't roll your eyes at me, but is the Bible written in Greek? So if I ask where can i find the original meaning to a couple of words, would that be Greek? Just wondering because I came across two different words for hell: Gehenna and Tartarus (any help is appreciated but I would like to know where to find the answer instead of just the answer itself... ya know, teaching the girl to fish instead of feeding her for a day kind of thing)

Alright, so I looked into salvation for my answers. The Bible is clear that there is no salvation apart from Christ. It's also clear that we are all sinners, there was and is no one that has lived a life without sin, except Christ. Romans 6:23 says "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". So salvation or life is a gift to us but it must be received through Christ... okay, so that still works for the man I was talking with because he believes in Jesus Christ and believes that salvation is through Him. The problem lies in whether you have to believe in hell or not...

MIND YOU!!! I am NOT trying to figure this man's salvation out, nor am I judging his soul. I was just faced with a question and I am interested in investigating it for myself. I am not condemning this man soul.

Matthew 10:28 says that we should not fear those who can kill the body but "rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell". So the way that I took that verse was that there is still a battle being waged for our souls. Ephesians talks about the armor of God (chapter 6)... which seems odd that we would need armor if we were not called to use it. Also, the Bible is our only weapon of offense. The rest of our armor is defensive. Hmmm.... so someone is attacking us. So there are still demonic presences in the world... so where do they reside or dwell or where will they be sent at the end of the "last battle"?
One person asked, how can you appreciate and "understand" the salvation of God if you don't realize what you have been saved from?
Hm, good thought. Anyway, this is just the beginning. Any additions would be nice (esp. with the Greek findings)... I welcome any questions, concerns or comments.

Drum Roll Please.....

Crazy, isn't it? That three days ago, Lenora Daye was just a name and an ultrasound scratchy photo?
Watching the birth of my neice, I have been examining the way the Lord works. And I would just like to say that there is NO ONE like Him, no God that could create and design the human like He does. If I tried I could come up with maybe five different varities of a human, but seeing Lenora I realize how intricately we are woven and designed with the very fingers of God. WELCOME TO THE WORLD, LENORA DAYE!! I pray that you would fall more and more in love with your Creator as you grow in age and beauty.

Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you. If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Question and reminder

I don't have much time to write... but I wanted to remind myself of this question...
Can there be salvation without belief in hell? I know a man who is a believer but while talking to him he mentioned in passing, "I don't believe in hell." To which I replied, " Wait, you don't believe in hell?"
Basically, he believes that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He went to hell where he set all the "prisoners" free. I didn't know exactly how to respond and will be writing him a letter but I just wanted to post this as sort of a reminder... I welcome all your thoughts.

Bravo! Bravo!

Two thumbs up, Nickel Creek!! Two thumbs up!!
Chris Thile looks worried here, but really he shouldn't be worried as he sits in the studio while recording "Why Should the Fire Die?"
I bought the Nickel Creek's newest cd, "Why Should the Fire Die?" today and have been listening to it, continually throughout my day. I am way impressed and no, Jordan, it's not because I have a teeny music crush on Chris Thile (who doesn't? he's amazing on the mandolin). Who cares about that? The truth is that this piece is a break-through, in my opinion for Nickel Creek. You never know what to expect one piece to the next. It's flavorful and inventive. Sara Watkins's voice really pushes through her previous experiences with NC, no joke. The girl sounds unbelievable. I especially like her on the song, "Anthony" which is number 9 on the cd. This is a cd to blast on the car stereo with the windows down.

Nickel Creek's opening song, "When in Rome" is the best thing I've heard in a long time... they even stomp along with the music to keep the beat, which my father tells me is an old Apalachian tradition. It has my feet stomping and body swinging as I move around the room. There is more I could tell you about this cd, but why listen to me yammering on when you can listen to this instead. This is for sure a crowd pleaser.

I guarantee your toes will be tapping and your fingers strumming the "air guitar" along with this intense cd.

For more information, visit Nickel Creek's website at http://www.nickelcreek.com

*Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind*

*Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind*
What does it mean to be tried and tested by the Lord? And can I truly be tested by "fire" and found faithful? I love 1 Peter 1:6-7 which says, *In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.*
This is huge for me, because it not only says that there will be trials but also how we should conduct our behavior as Christians. It's a healthy sort of weight on my heart though because I can not say I have been persecuted and tried as the saints who have come before me have... (not being popular doesn't hold a candle to being eaten by lions)
I went for a prayer walk this morning, just seeking some time to be alone with the Lord... and I realized that I am trying to "bargain" with the Lord. I say, "I will do this, if You do this for me" and that made me really sad. It should be out of a thankful heart that I serve God for He has done so much for me already... ya know? Saving me from hell and eternal condemnation. Yet, here I am wheelin' and dealin'... how sad!!
I am in this "transition" period of my life, where I am no longer a student but have not yet begun my "job". (I am fundraising full-time to go to Tokyo Japan for two-three years as a missionary to college students) So I am kind of in this "pause" place in my life. I don't really like it but instead of resenting it I want to learn from it. I don't want to waste this time and I don't want to miss the opportunity to grow in the Lord. Hence, the name of my blog... Psalm 26:2, *Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind*
Lord, test my heart and draw me to You that I will love and follow you with an undivided heart. Not my will but Yours done in my life, here on earth as it is in Heaven...(Psalm 86:11 and Matthew 6:9-13)