The message

Tonight I went to hear Mark Driscoll , pastor of Mars Hill Church talk to students (and others) about Christ and the media. His talk was so rich - but here is one of his main points:
The message of theGospel never changes. How we present it, the means we use, should change, as we try to share it with people around us. Our goal should always, always be evangelism. He used I Corinthians 9:19
19Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
He gave us a lesson in history and how major inventions influenced the spread of the gospel (printing press, electricity, radio, tv, internet, etc.) He said that these things are all belong to God. It is how they are used that matters - use them to honor God.
He said, in everything you do, do it for God. Use every opportunity to share Jesus. Hell is hot. Forever without God is a long time. People need a savior. They need Jesus.
Finally, at the end of the day, at the end of your life, it doesn't matter how successful you are. It only matters how faithful to God you've been .

Count it all joy!

Tonight my friend and I went to a Bible study at a different church than the one we attend. I was excited to go, because the topic of the study is the book of Phillippians. I was scared to go because I had never been to the church before, and the only one I would know would be my friend.
There were 10 ladies in the group counting us, and they were so welcoming. There are women in all age groups, and in different placed in life. I am looking forward to going again and getting to know these ladies better.
I'm looking forward to learning more from God's Word too - learning about joy.

Rainy Day

I woke up this morning to the wonderful sound of rain on the roof.I love the sound of rain. I would have loved it even more if I could have snuggled in and stayed home.I would have slept in a little longer. Then I would have gotten up, put on some comfy sweats, made a cup of cocoa and settled in on the couch with a blanket, a book, and the TV remote. Later on I would have gotten dressed for outside and go for a walk - it smells so good outside when its raining. Soup for lunch, hotdish for supper. Time to scrapbook,or bake,or putz around the house. A perfect rainy day.
This morning, however, I woke up to the thought that I had forgotten to turn in the timecards for all the EA's at my school. Oh no! I hurried to get ready for work, drove through the rain, and got to work early. After my boss signed the timecards I needed to take them to the district office. Thankfully the rain had stopped and I was able to stay dry during my errand. The rain held off until after all the kids had gotten on their busses to go home - and then it poured. I got to drive home in the rain. I had a good day at work, and I'm very glad I have a job to go to. I just hope it rains sometime on my day off!

48 Hours

48 hours was how long I got to see Craig this past weekend. You can fit alot of things into 48 hours.
Craig didn't get home until late Friday night - basically just in time to go to bed. On Saturday morning he took me out for breakfast. I felt like we were on a date.
We puttered around the house for a little bit before he went to work on his truck. After a quick lunch on our deck we took off for a Truck Pull up near Mora. 3 of Craig's trucking friends were participating in the competition. It was a beautiful afternoon to be sitting outside. Craig's friend, Lonnie, took 2nd place.
After the truck pull we drove to the cabin by way of Aitkin. It was such a beautiful drive. The trees are beginning to turn. Craig and I enjoyed being together and experiencing the beginning of fall.
We got to the cabin (after dark)and we saw two deer in our yard. Craig chased them away because he doesn't want them to eat our bushes and trees.
Sunday morning we drove up to Remer to see our neighbors from home. They have a cabin up there. Again the drive was so pretty. Trees on both side of the road, just starting to show their fall colors. The sky was so blue, and the sun was warm. It was a great day to be together.
We had lunch at our friends'cabin and went for a ride on their 4-wheeler. After that it was time to head back to the cabin for an hour or two. We had supper with Craig's sister and her husband before heading home.
48 hours of making memories, of soaking up each other's company, talking and sharing our thoughts and our love, hoping to get filled up enough to make it through the week apart.

Birthday Boys

Today we went to visit our grandchildren (and our son and daughter-in-law!). Andrew had his birthday a couple of weeks ago, and Jake's birthday was last weekend so we went to celebrate with them. Jake just turned five and he's growing up so fast. He loves playing with his friends, and he loves to ride his bike.

Andrew is 2. He has really become a little boy - he is talking so much, and he wants to do everything his older brother and sister do. He got a train table for his birthday so we got him some accessory vehicles.

Happy Birthday Jake and Drew! We sure love you!

Give God your ordinary life

This morning I read Romans 12 in "The Message" version.
Romans 12:1,2 says -
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

and verses 6-8:
If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

It seems simple - but putting into practice is not so easy. So I'm going to start by just trying for today, to give Him each part of my day, to try to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and keep a smile on my face.

Keep reading the whole chapter of Romans 12. It's good stuff!

A God Thing

We have been working all summer on getting our roof and siding fixed since the hail storm hit our house Memorial weekend. The insurance company had been swamped with claims and was slow to come out and work on our claim. We finally got the settlement from them. Now we are working with a contractor to get the work done. We picked a company who had come out in June. They belong to the same small business group as our neighbor, and I liked them when I talked with them. But still I wondered if we were doing the right thing. Don, the sales manager, came out last Thursday night to start talking specifics. Craig couldn't be home to meet with him, and I started getting nervous about doing it by myself. I wondered if it waas wise to be alone in the house with him. But once Don got here, I felt comfortable talking with him. He brought good size samples of shingles, and color samples for siding. He went through the settlement from the insurance company and his estimate.
This weekend Craig and I went over the things Don had talked aout with me, and we made some decisions. We really want to get the roof done while it is still warm outside. So, Craig went back on the road and I called Don. He came out tonight to write up the contract for the roof replacement. And tonight I found out that, while I'm not absolutely sure if he's a Christian, at least he knows about God. He saw my Bible open on the dining room table and commented that he needs to get back to meditating on the Word. I showed him my devotional called Daily Bread, and he said his mom uses that for her devotions. He told me some about his family back in Virginia, and that his kids go to a Christian school. The whole conversation made me feel so much better about our decision to use his company.I am going to pray for his shoulder, which he injured again recently (he had rotator cuff surgery last spring), and pray for him and his family. He is here for 3 weeks at a time before going homr for a week. Finally, I am going to look for more opportunities to talk with him about God during this process of getting our house fixed.
Thank you, God,for providing someone I can feel okay about having here during this process of fixing our home.

Sanctuary - the cabin

This summer I was not able to be up at our cabin much, and you know, I almost got used to being home. I didn't pay any attention to the call of the cabin, the longing to be up there. Then Craig and I went up for Labor Day weekend. Craig stayed up there all week, working on his semi, while I came home to go to my job. I went back up to the cabin for last weekend.
Now the longing to be back up there is so strong I feel that I left part of me up there.
At the cabin we leave our worries behind. We soak up God's presence as we experience His beauty all around - from the breeze in the trees to the majesty of the bald eagle to the brilliance of the stars in the sky as we paddle out in the lake late at night. There is such peace in the quietness up there. Time seems to slow down.
And now that I am home, and back at work, I draw upon the memories of the weekend to keep that peace, that sense of God's presence, within me - until I can journey back up to the cabin again.

Are you sinking?

A new school year at a new school has begun. I have been at my new school for a month now, and I'm starting to know where things are, I can put faces together with names for the staff (I have a long ways to go with parents and students!), and I am feeling a bit more comfortable. It is amazing how it happens. I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, take one day at a time, concentrate on learning one task at a time, and pretty soon it all feels familiar. I just keep trusting God to help me through each day, one day at a time. If I look too far ahead I am overwhelmed. I guess that's similar to Peter when he tried to walk on water. As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus and kept putting one foot in front of the other, he was okay. But when he looked around, or looked down, he started sinking.
Do you feel overwhelmed, or feel like you're sinking? With your eyes on Jesus and only on Him, just keep taking one step at a time. He will hold you up.