To Be Entitled

NUTS!

2011-12-22T14:11:00.000-06:00

Yes that does describe my general sate of mind. However, this post is about delicious candied nuts. You know those nuts that have at the fair? The ones that you can smell from 10 booths away, immediately drawing you in but you pass up because you hate paying $7 for a little bag? Yea those. Well I needed stocking stuffers, and with no fairs around and being the poor recent college student I am (graduated 6 days ago I did) I decided to make my own. Here is the link for the recipe.

Bavarian Vanilla Almonds {Candied Nuts}

Yield: one pound candied nuts

Ingredients:

1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract if you are using regular granulated sugar instead of vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 pound almonds or pecans
3/4 cup of vanilla sugar (if you do have vanilla sugar, simply substitute regular granulated sugar)
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons of Vanilla Fleur de Sel (if you do not have Vanilla Fleur de Sel simply substitute fine grain sea salt)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine egg white, vanilla extract and water. Beat mixture until frothy. Stir in almonds and mix to coat.
3. Gently combine sugar, cinnamon, and sea salt and stir into almond mixture, thoroughly coating all nuts.
4. Evenly spread nuts onto prepared baking sheet and place into oven.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
6. When cool, pack in an airtight jar. They will keep at room temperature for about 2 weeks.

I used a mix of walnuts and almonds, they each provide something different in regards to flavor

I decided I needed coffee at this point. Katz Coffee is a local roasting company that I worked for a couple years ago that makes a great product.

This is what happens to your fine grain salt (or anything) when you have lots of humidity. YAY!

Spending money on quality spices is a must. Seriously buy them, your food will be so much better.

Even though I'm TECHNICALLY supposed to be egg free, meh. I haven't noticed any improvements. So yea I used the egg whites. I would think so long as you used finely ground flax, chia, or a commercial egg replacer it would still work, you just don't want lumps.

I wanted to add a little spice, but the Ancho Chili really didn't add any. However, it did add a very nice depth of flavor to the nuts. It wasn't so much an identifiable flavor, but it was more complex if that makes any sense.

I did some with the Ancho, and some without. My mother agreed that the ones with the Ancho were better. Interestingly though the sugar on the nuts with the added chili powder was more granular.

Mmmm... My favorite beverage besides water.

The finished product!

These are completely addicting and you should make some. NOW! I also tried making kettle corn. Lets just say it was not a shining success... There will be a few more Christmas tinkerings coming soon!

Put Put or Putt Putt?

2011-10-02T16:18:00.000-05:00

Do I even say anymore that I know its been awhile since I've posted? Or is it really just a waste of both our time? I'll let you decide.

So back in July we moved my brother up to Arkansas for him to start work on his PhD. After about 4 days of mostly spending time in his apt I got incredibly stir crazy. So I convinced/forced my family to take part in some extended out door activity. We found a putt putt course. Pictures follow.

My brother being ridiculous.

Same shot, two different focuses for those who can't tell hehe.

My amazing shoes :D

A fuzzy picture taken by someone else, yes I blame them.

So there are some aspects of my life that have been missed by all my readers. (right... I have readers, hah! :-p) I have been trying to think of a way to force myself to blog more. I think I am going to find a good cookbook and go through the whole thing. Maybe a recipe or two a week, with photos and perhaps recipes. Though I suppose would that count as me plagiarizing? hmm... Well at least notes and pictures, everybody loves pictures!

How We Should Work

2011-07-05T08:13:00.000-05:00

This is an excellent post from A Disciples Notebook on how we should be viewing our jobs, whether it is menial labor or running a Fortune 500 company. Let us not forget as well that our main purpose in whatever we do is to glorify the King of the Universe. So if for no other reason we should work our hardest and do our best. And thanks to a good friend for long ago sharing this site.

“Three men, all engaged at the same employment, were asked what they were doing. One said he was making five dollars a day. Another replied he was cutting stone. The third said he was building a cathedral. The difference was not in what they were actually doing, although, the spirit of the third might quite possibly have made him the more expert at his task. They were all earning the same wage; they were all cutting stone; but only one held it in his mind that he was helping build a great edifice. Life meant more to him than to his mates; he saw further and clearly. He had a vision of hope in his task.

The farmer may be only planting seed, but if he opens his eyes, he is feeding the world. The railroad man, the factory hand, the clerk in the store, likewise, are building their cathedrals. The investors in stocks and bonds, the executives of great corporations—they are building cathedrals likewise, if only they can catch the vision. The homemaker does not count the dollars she receives for her exertions. If she did, her life might be unhappy indeed.

The rest of us, the great and the humble, are thinking too much about such things as cutting stone and making profits. Stop! Realize the beauty of life. Stir up the hope that lies with you.”

The Omaha Bee Newspaper

Fill Me With Hope, August 1

Compiled by Paul M. Miller

Two Unrelated Thoughts

2011-06-28T06:10:00.000-05:00

During the sermon this morning the man preaching (not our regular pastor) encouraged us to read the rest of Colossians to gain a better understanding of the passage we were studying. He said it was only a few pages, and should not take much time at all to read it. This reminded me of something I have thought on before. I think frequently as Christians we treat the Bible differently than other books in regards to how much we read. We easily sit down and read 20 or 30 pages of a book, or an entire section of the newspaper, but gasp when we think about reading more than 2 or 3 chapters in God's Word. It is generally no more than 3 or 4 pages, ok fine sometimes it might even be 7 pages, but it is never much longer than what most people read in blog posts. I certainly agree that we should take Scripture seriously, and spend our time and meditate on it. I just wonder if we have gotten a skewed perspective on reading it, and look at it in an incorrect view.

Adam Clarke's commentary on Aaron interceding for the Isrealites after their grumbling against Moses. (Num 16:41-50)
If Aaron the high priest, with his censer and incense, could disarm the wrath of an insulted, angry Deity, so that a guilty people, who deserved nothing but destruction, should be spared; how much more effectual may we expect the great atonement to be which was made by the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Aaron was only the type!

It's ALIVE!

2011-06-26T08:48:00.000-05:00

So yes I've been absent, life has a way of getting in the way of blogging and other activities. As to life, it has been interesting and changing as of late. Things that in some ways I would not have preferred happening, but I think in the end are for the better, and if nothing else grow me in my sanctification. We are so often eager to let God be sovereign in things that we want to do, and I think even accept Him saying no in those things, but if it is something we most certainly don't want to happen, then we have a much harder time accepting God's providence. However, it is always for our better, even if it is not something we thought would ever happen, or want. (Which has me wondering lately about the sovereignty of God is unbelievers lives but thats for another day.) I am doing an internship at Luby's cafeteria this summer. It is going fairly well, I don't think its what I would want to do, but not a bad job.

I made yeast rolls this morning for breakfast, and was going to post pictures, but I can't find my camera cord, so... Maybe I'll post those later. For those of you who remember my allergies, yea... not sticking with those too well at the moment lol.

I thought I had more to say somewhere, but maybe it will reappear in my mind at some point, probably in the middle of church of course. Oh and no, my spelling and grammar has not gotten better since I last blogged. Sorry, but not really.

So stay tooned for more of something, assuming anyone reads this anymore... (yes I meant to put tooned)

Dog?

2011-03-22T19:52:00.000-05:00

As promised, though somewhat late *cough*, here are pictures of our new dog pumpkin.

She is a tad ridiculous, she enjoys eating kleenex, and if at all possible will climb in your lap...

It is also that lovely time of year where Bluebonnets bloom around campus. I'll try and get some pictures sometime soon. If you have never seen Bluebonnets, or are around campus but don't pass them, I feel immense sorrow for you.

Notes from Gospel Generosity

2011-03-05T07:35:00.000-06:00

I decided that I would post the outline, and my thoughts from the sermon "Gospel Generosity". I thought maybe those of you who don't have the time right now to listen to the sermon but still wanted to get the gist of it might be interested. And if not... Bake me cookies?

Gospel Generosity 2 Cor 8-9

9 Marks of Gospel Generosity

(My notes are in sub points)

Our Circumstances should not be the decisive factor in our giving. (8:1-6)
We are to excel in our giving (8:7-8)

We would never think twice about being called to grow in utterance, love, faith, etc. However, we never would consider that we should grow/excel in our giving, yet Paul is calling us to.

Our giving should never be separated from the Gospel. (8:9)

AKA our generosity should never be separated from the generosity of Christ
Even if Jesus did not die for us, simply that God created us, sustains us, and has gifted us with our money (and everything else), we should give.

Our giving should be according to our needs. (8:10-12)

Don't put yourself into debt by giving to the Church (or elsewhere). However, still have the willingness to give.

Our giving displays the glory of God. (8:13-15)
Our giving should be done wisely, and with accountability. (8:16-24)

We need to have wise people within the church who are responsible for the funds given, and they need to be held accountable.

God desires our giving to be done cheerfully (9:6,7)
We should give with expectation to gain a harvest (9:8-11)
Our generosity (or lack thereof) is an evidence of the state of our soul. (8:8, 9:12-15)

Certainly simply being generous (or any other good thing) does not grant salvation, but if it is absent in one who claims Christ, we need be deeply concerned.

Gospel Generosity

2011-03-02T22:05:00.000-06:00

So this was supposed to happen over a month ago... Whoops? I wish I could claim being so busy it was not possible to blog, but nope, just lax. Ah well, at least it's here now!

Way back yonder my pastor preached a fantastic sermon (well he always does, but that's besides the point) on what our approach, as Christians, should be to giving. He doesn't talk about what percentage, or how often, or any real specifics, which most people associate with sermons on giving. Instead, it is simply what God's Word has to say on the matter. Here is the link to our sermon archive, and search for Gospel Generosity. Hopefully tomorrow I will get around to posting my notes/outline for the sermon.

Oh, and I might even post pictures of our new crazy(ish) white lab named pumpkin (we didnt name her)

Worship and why it drives me nuts.

2011-01-24T17:38:00.000-06:00

Many of you out there who know me have most likely heard my short but heated rant on why I severely dislike, even despise, the use of the term worship leader. Before I begin I do want to say that this does not come from a hate of music. I love listening to it, I enjoy making it, I even enjoy studying it to some degree. Second of all I understand that this is strictly semantics for some people and they use it just as the most commonly used term, I don't mind that as much. However, there is still a problem I think that needs to be addressed in regards to this term. This term carries the connotation that music is the only part of our church service and lives that God sees as worship. It also says that because that music is "true" Worship, that it is more important than preaching, fellowship, or any other thing. Once again I want to say that I do love music, and I know that it is precious to God, but it is not all that Worship is.

First off, the meaning of the word Worship in Biblical terms: is to prostrate oneself in homage to something or someone. This definition does not really bring to mind singing or music. We see hands being lifted up in song, but never singing happening being prostrate. If any of you have any experience singing you know being bent over, or lying down does not really produce the best sound, or even is really possible.So the meaning of the word does not really lend itself to a definition of song, certainly not meaning singing only. As well there are 181 uses of the word Worship in the Bible according to BibleGateway. I know that most likely there are more uses, but I think this is a pretty good run at it. Some of them have a reference of singing as part of that usage, but not all. As well some of them (listed below)indicate other things as worship, specifically referring to bowing in worship, or list singing along with worship.

Judges 7:15

When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, "Arise, for the LORD has given the camp of Midian into your hands."

2 Chronicles 7:3

All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the LORD, saying, " Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting."

2 Chronicles 29:28

While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

2 Chronicles 29:30

Moreover, King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped.

Nehemiah 8:6

Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, " Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

Psalm 66:4

" All the earth will worship You,And will sing praises to You;They will sing praises to Your name." Selah.

Isaiah 19:21

Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it.

Matthew 4:9

and he said to Him, " All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me."

Matthew 14:33

And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "You are certainly God's Son!"

Romans 12:1

[ Dedicated Service ] Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

So looking at the word's definition and the use of it in the Bible I believe that while singing can be/is a part of Worship it is not all that worship is. Another part of this is the use of the term Worship Leader. As already discussed when applying the term Worship it gives an incorrect understand of what Worship is. So when Worship is put together with Leader it creates an incorrect impression that the music leader is the head of Worship. In the very least we should consider them on equal footing with the pastor, at most they should be considered lower than the pastor. Most certainly the music leader is important, don't get me wrong, but we must consider what our labels show to others.

As I said music is near and dear to my heart, and I know God loves it, and this is not coming from dislike of it. However, words and labels can be extremely powerful, and I believe we need to be careful with how we label and structure our churches. As I also said I know some people just use it as the most convenient label, but even to them I pray that you will search your heart and make sure you are no improperly weighing one part of worship over another.

Solo Deo Gloria

Are you ready to decrease in 2011?

2011-01-09T21:58:00.000-06:00

As promised, here is the sermon from last week. On the player look for Are you ready to decrease in 2011?. It should be at, or near the top, or you can search for it. This sermon is on Mark 6:14-29, which is on John the Baptist being executed by Herod Antipas. I really liked this sermon because it was a reminder to check who we are seeking to please in the upcoming year - ourselves or God. Also, as Christians on earth we sometimes "lose" in the worlds eyes, as John does here with the loss of his life. However, while we may "lose" here, we ultimately win in Heaven.

Would you like a tree with that quilt?

2011-01-08T22:38:00.000-06:00

So finally after two years my mother finished my graduation quilt! Now most of that time was because I never got around to going to the fabric store to pick out the backing I wanted. So it was my fault not hers, but I am very happy to have it! Sorry for the blurry pictures.

Aforementioned backing, tis a lovely plaid flannel. (The plaid is obvious... But I decided to mention it anyway :D)

Another of today's activities was doing some tree trimming. Or tree felling... By the way, if you are looking for extremely good exercise I would highly recommend splitting wood.

Tree.

I meant to post last weeks sermon from my church previously, but I somehow just never quite got around to it. Well I fully intend to tomorrow, yes when another one will be on the podcast as well, oh well. I would do it tonight, but I need to find my notes, and its past my bed time anyway.

Reverb10: Community

2011-01-06T15:43:00.000-06:00

Yes I do realize that it is now 2011, and all Reverb10 posts were supposed to be done by dec 31st 2010, but too bad, they aren't. I might be going back to do ones before this one, but this is the one that has been bouncing around my red frocked head so I'm doing this one.

Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

I "discovered" community in 2010 at our new church of Baptist Church of the Redeemer. At the end of 2009 for various reasons we (my family) decided to look for another church. We wound up at BCR, and started seriously attending in February or so. I feel at home here, I always miss it even if I'm gone for just one week, and there is a warmth and love from everyone that is amazing. It is far from a perfect church but I love it, and wouldn't give it up. It has been an amazing time, and I look forward to many more years there. (That's the answer to the second part) The people are truly caring, they are very real, and are truly concerned about how you are doing. Its a fantastic church, certainly not perfect as no church is, but I believe we are seeking after God in all we do. I would recommend it for anyone who is looking for a church.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-01T22:22:00.000-06:00

Christmas can be such an interesting time. We get together with family, exchange presents, eat lots of food, and should be celebrating the birth of the Son of the Most High. It should be a happy, joy filled time, bursting with thankfulness towards EL SHADDAI at the very least. Yet for so many people its an uncomfortable, semi-joyous time. You may or may not get what you want, you have to be civil towards your relatives (who you don't really like) and celebrating when Christ chose to bind Himself to a weak, human form is far from their minds.
I'm not sure what the point of all that was but there it is.

For me this Christmas (and every one preceding it) was a very good one. I started reading a book about church membership and discipline, which I am just barely in to but really looking forward to. I also received for Christmas the Johnathan Edwards Essential series, which I am also really looking forward to reading. I am also getting a new pair of cowboy boots which I really need. As well as several other good things, including the first CD from the Welcome Wagon. If you haven't heard them, you should go do that, NOW! Anyway, it was a good Christmas.

Another thing that made it a good time was that after Christmas, my dad, brother and I went down to my dad's cousins ranch to go hunting. Before anyone gets on me for hunting let me lay a few things out first. I hunt for meat, not for sport. We hunt so that we can have another source of meat. Also, killing one of God's creatures is not an easy thing to do. However, it is within our Biblical rights, and God provided His creatures to nourish us. I am thankful for what He has given, and it was a reminder that what He has given is precious, and that He has provided for us.

It was also a time to marvel at God's creation. If any of you have been to South Texas you know it that is a bleak, one might say even desolate place. At the same time it is amazing to look at the plants, and animals that God has designed to survive in such land. There are even small bits of color that God has made to brighten up everything else.We can choose to look at the world around us as mundane, or we can marvel at what God has created, even in the little things.

Here are a few photos from our trip. Some are from near my grandparents house.

We shall meet down the road.

P.S. My candy cane attacked me today. Watch out for them, they be deadly.

Humble Indie Bundle

2010-12-23T21:50:00.001-06:00

Well rather fittingly after reading about the Humble Indie Bundle on someone elses blog, I got it myself for Christmas from my cousin. For those of you who are not familiar with it. The bundle is a group of games from several different indie game developers to benefit charity. They are mostly different forms of puzzle/challenge games. One of the most fun is Braid, its basically a mixture of Mario, a jigsaw puzzle, and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Its highly amusing, the music is amazing, and basically it will eat your entire day if you're not careful. Than there is Osmos. You are an amoeba and your objective is to absorb as many other single cell life forms as possible. Its one of those games that frustrates you so much, and yet you must continue playing! Overall it is a really good deal, especially because you choose how much to give. So if you like puzzle/challenge games I would highly recommend it.

Edit: I should probably also mention that you have a little under 2 days at this point to purchase the bundle.

And as for Reverb10 Posts... Eh they're coming lol

Reverb10 Post 1: One Word

2010-12-19T22:24:00.000-06:00

Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

I think I would have to go with Change. No, that has nothing at all to do with our President, not that he has really changed much anyway.

There has been quite a bit of change this past year, all of it good, I think at least lol. We changed churches, my brother and I started a bakery, and of course school is always changing. I worked at Katz coffee, which was my first per say "factory" experience. Not exactly factory, but large scale, product production, without any real customer contact. It has been an interesting year, good, but interesting.

As to what word I would like to embody 2011? I think it would be faith. I know a dangerous thing to ask for lol. I'm not really just talking about general faith that God is in control, though I can also use a greater dose of that. But I want to have faith like a child, I want to have the faith that moves mountains. Faith that has rest in knowing that God will do what I ask in faith. Lord help my unbelief!

December random post

2010-12-17T10:27:00.000-06:00

So its time for my monthly blog post :D

This one is certainly a mishmash of random stuff, but those are the fun ones right?

Through someone elses blog I have been considering doing reverb10's month of reflection. Which being that it is the middle of the month I suppose I should get working on that if I am going to do it... I do think some of the prompts are rather silly, so I most likely won't be doing all of them, assuming I do any at all.

As well I plan on making myself a flannel sheet, which I'm sure many of my readers can attest that cold sheets are not welcome in the midst of winter.

I also intend to fix my moccasins before the school break ends. See picture below for reasons why.

We also intend on replacing our sliding glass doors on our back porch, as one of them pretty much refuses to open now. This will also involve building in a couple new windows, so that should be interesting and might even involve pictures!

I have also begun running everyday (not counting the weekend) 1. Because I need exercise, and 2 because I want a pair of these! *insert big grin*

The idea behind the shoes is to basically be running barefoot (when you have better balance and save more energy) but still have a bit of protection.

I also am trying making cookies with coconut sugar (insert your own picture) we shall see how those turn out.

Well thats it for now, we'll see how it all goes!

Man's Chief End.

2010-11-17T18:47:00.002-06:00

"What is man's chief end? Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Enjoy Him forever. (From the Westminster confession of faith shorter catechism) It honestly sounds wonderful, but something I think all believers struggle with in one form or another. It is certainly something we should strive for as He is our end all, and without Him we cannot even exist. However, is that really part of our chief end? Is it our end all, our reason for existing? If this is man's main purpose in life, then in the end (after we die, and we are judged to either Heaven or Hell) we will accomplish this task no matter what. There are two sides of this though, from a believer’s perspective, and from a non-believers perspective.

For Believers: It could be easy to say that this is part of our main purpose. We should be enjoying Him, if for no other reason (and there are many more reasons than this alone) than He chooses to save us from death and damnation. We will also be doing this once we reach glory.

For Non-believers: We know they are glorifying God, at least indirectly in how we figure things. They are certainly not singing Him praises, or attributing good things to Him. However, at the very least when they reach Hell they will be glorifying Him by receiving the punishment that is their due and just reward. I think we can all agree though that there is very little of their enjoying God in Hell.

So then, how can part of man's chief end be to enjoy Him forever if it applies to everyone? I could accept this a bit more if it was only a Christian’s chief end, but as far as I know this was not the intention of the writers of the Westminster confession. Even still it would not sit well. Not to mention the passage the catechism uses to support this does not really speak to it in my opinion.

The verse they use to support it is Ps73:25, 26

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

I have two problems with this. 1. This is basically a hymn written to the Lord, not a command, not even a wise saying, like proverbs. Now I certainly understand that it is inspired, and most certainly should be what we desire but still, a bit weak for a command. 2. This is the psalmist saying what is his heart's desire, not necessarily a direct command, and certainly far from our ultimate purpose.

I just feel that while enjoying God is something we should do, it is not part of man's chief end. Though giving God the glory certainly is. :)

Any thoughts?

soli deo gloria

The chief end of brownies?

2010-11-10T21:10:00.000-06:00

Apparently it is to epically fail, well at least the eggless, gluten free kind. They have decided that they don't like butter and spit it out and are just a gooey mess. Evidence provided forthwith (and yes I know this is not the exactly correct usage but who care :D)

And yes that is a pool of butter...

Yea...

2010-11-03T17:39:00.000-05:00

So I thought of something to blog about the other day, and I then promptly forgot. Yea I guess I do need to blog about David Crowder hmm.... Well while that runs around my head, any requests/suggestions from the audience for a topic?

OREOS!

2010-10-25T19:12:00.000-05:00

So from one of my regular blogs I came across a recipe for GF oreos! The recipe be here, the original recipe from another blog from a book lol, is using reg flour, but they worked with it. Amazingly these taste like regular oreos, really even better.

Predestination number 2!

2010-10-10T18:32:00.000-05:00

^{Welcome to Predestination post numero dos! This is a list of scriptures that speak directly to predestination . This is certainly not an exhaustive list, its a compilation of verses from my churches statement of faith and verses that I know. If you have a verse you think would be good to add or a question about one, feel free to let me know. After reading through these I would recommend going back and reading my first post, and this one together so that you can see the whole vision.}

²⁵At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.

²⁶"Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
²⁷" All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
²⁸"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
²⁹"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
³⁰"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Matthew 11:25-28

⁴⁴"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

John 6:44

⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Acts 13:48

⁹And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent;
¹⁰for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city."
Acts 18:9-10

²⁸And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
²⁹For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
³⁰and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Rom 8:28-30

¹¹for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,
¹²it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER."
¹³Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED."
Rom 9:11-13

⁷What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened;
Rom 11:7

²⁷but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
²⁸and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,
²⁹so that no man may boast before God.
1 Cor 27-29

⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love
⁵He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
Eph 1:4-6

¹¹also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
Eph 1:11

⁴knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you;
⁵for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
1 Thess 1:4-5

¹³But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
2 Thess 2:13

⁹who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,
2 Tim 1:9

¹⁰For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.
2 Tim 2:10

⁴But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
⁵He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
Titus 3:4-5

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen
1 Peter 1:1

⁷It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
⁸All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
Rev 13:7-8

Fantastical Teaser!

2010-10-05T20:41:00.000-05:00

Overall Josh and I had a wonderful time at David Crowders Fantastical Church music conference. Sadly I do not have the time right at the moment to go into it at depth. However, you shall get a couple pics, and I'll do my best to get my main post up about it in the next few days.

Jars of Clay playing

David and I, sadly my eyes are half closed...

The Lite Brite board of the logo

Pictures!

2010-09-30T11:10:00.000-05:00

Well one picture actually. Josh and I leave for Waco today, hopefully it will be an educational and wonderful time.

And here is your picture! These are some little froggies I found around our house.

Predestination: Part 1

2010-09-16T21:44:00.000-05:00

As multiple of the TULIP points rely upon predestination as a basis I've decided to do a couple post on predestination.

First i'll began with more of a logic based argument.

The Bible says that man is totally depraved, that is, man is completely evil, and unable to save himself. Here is my link back to my Total Depravity post, but here are some other verses as well. Gen 6:9, Ps. 7:11, 10:41, 51:5, Rom 3:10-18, 5:10, 12, 6:23, 8:5-8, 14:23, 1 cor 2:12, Eph 2:1-3, 5, Col 1:21-22. This list comes from my churches statement of faith, and a few of the verses I don't think directly apply to total depravity, but I decided to include them because they apparently think they do. Also, a few of those verses (Rom 8:7b for example) also directly speak to election or predestination.

So on the basis that man is totally evil, and cannot save himself, how in the world can I save myself if I am unable to, and utterly unwilling to seek after good? Somewhat of a trite, and often used analogy is how can a dead man open a present? (Based of off the often used salvation as a gift analogy) Looking at Romans 3, it is said that NO man seeks after God. (10,11) So if we don't seek God, how can we seek, and receive salvation if we don't want it? Psalm 10:4 also speaks to this. 1 Cor 2:14 says that the ways of God are foolish to natural man. So why would I chase after something that I see as foolish? The second part of that verse says that even if man wanted to look into the ways of God, he cannot understand them. This is because to understand God, one needs a spiritual understanding, which can only come from an external force, not from ourselves before regeneration.

So basically to sum up, man is totally depraved, unable to seek after God, and have no desire to, and even if we wanted to, His ways are beyond our comprehension.

My 2nd post is going to be a list of the exact verses that speak to Predestination.

Embroidery Ideas

2010-09-07T11:07:00.000-05:00

So... I need embroidery ideas. I have a pillow case kit that I got a LONG time ago, and I figured why not go ahead and do it lol. Anyway, it has instructions on embroidering flowers on it, but I'm not really feeling that lol. So I need some ideas, thoughts anyone?

Fantastical!

2010-09-01T08:17:00.000-05:00

Is fantastical really a word? Well I think if it's not it should be.

At the end of September (yes I know its still a month away) a good friend and I will be going to Waco for David Crowder's fantastical church music conference. There are some speakers I'm really looking forward to, and some i'm not so much, but thats generally how it goes. It should be a really good time, if nothing else just for the two of us to get some really good fellowship in. I would appreciate prayer for safe travels, clarity of mind in determining what is good and what isnt, and for us just to have a blast. And yea I know its early, but its never too soon to get things started... :-p And who knows I might even blog about it afterward hehe.

Don't worry I will be putting up pictures of our trip to Austin soon, hopefully... Then again maybe you should be worried...

Pictues? WHAT!?

2010-08-20T06:30:00.000-05:00

Yes, yes, I know I've been very bad about pictures especially, not just posting. I'm sure you have noticed that my 365 project kinda died. Anyway, my family and I are goin to Austin this weekend, so y'all might just get some pictures. And if anyone knows of some really good places to eat, feel free to mention em.

TULIP Conclusion

2010-08-10T21:24:00.000-05:00

Yes yes I know, it's been incredibly too long since I've blogged, but such is life. I was actually somewhat reminded of this by someone completing my blog form, only the 3rd person lol.

I'm so weird because its fun, and being "normal" is incredibly boring. So I hope that answers your first question. As for Perseverance of the Saints I've actaully already done a post on that, here is the link to it. However, I also need to finish up my TULIP series which includes it, so hopefully my post will be informative, and maybe you'll find something of interest in the other ones.

So here we go.
Here is my introductory post to my series.
TULIP is an acrostic for the "Reformed" doctrines of:
Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints

I hope that my series (while perhaps being long in finishing lol) has been useful to my readers.

Psalm 23

2010-07-01T21:37:00.000-05:00

Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepperd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my sould.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for His names sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I shall fear no evil for you are with me;

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days fo my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

For some reason this really seemed to fit with the rainy day we have been having.

I read this to my uncle multiple times the last time he was in the hospital. It seemed to calm him, even in his subdued state. He is truly beside still waters now.

Took me long enough...

2010-06-29T20:34:00.000-05:00

Well I finally got around to making myself a formspring/formstack. For those of you who don't know what this is, they are a survey form run by the same company, just slightly different format. Well here it is, I would love to have every fill it out.

New and Interesting Experiance

2010-06-26T19:18:00.001-05:00

Well I had a very interesting experience at the farmers market today. A friend of one of the other vendors came up and asked me if I wanted to be a silent auction item. For those of you who don't quite get this, let me explain. There is a practice, generally for charities, where people will hold auctions of either guys or girls, and people bid on having a date with them. Basically it's a blind date on steroids. While I was extremely flattered by being asked to be one of the participants, I declined the invitation. I just thought there are those of you out there who would get a kick out of this, lol. Feel free to ask for further explanation if that didn't make sense.

Jesus and Animals

2010-06-18T20:16:00.000-05:00

I'm really not sure why I even thought about this the other day, but I did. I was wondering how animals reacted around Christ. As far as I am aware there are only two instances mentioned of Jesus around animals, the pigs that He sent the demons into, and then the donkey He rode into Jerusalem. However, these accounts really don't say anything about how the animals reacted to Christ. I was just wondering if animals reacted normally, or if they were extremely docile or something. Just random thought I had, any thoughts anyone?

Whoops....

2010-06-16T21:09:00.000-05:00

Well I intended to blog about my first day at Katz coffee after my first day, monday night, but I was really tired. I then intended to do it yesterday after work, same situation... So here I am finally blogging about it on my third day. I started an internship with Katz coffee, a local coffee roaster, on Mon, learning to roast and all the other parts that go along with it, like packaging and such. I'm enjoying the roasting, its in a warehouse "outside" so its hot, and pretty dirty, but I enjoy doing it so it's really not that bad. So thats that, might take my camera one day and post some pics we'll see.

The Copper Hearth

2010-06-11T17:51:00.000-05:00

Well my brother and I decided to rename our Gluten Free bakery to "The Copper Hearth" and we finally have our website up here. We would love everyone to check it out, come visit us at one of our farmers markets, and any comment or questions are welcome. We also have a facebook fan page, and it would be great if y'all would fan us as well.

HTML

2010-05-27T13:07:00.000-05:00

My brother and I are looking to make a website for our Gluten Free baking business. Does anyone know of a good template site, and or a site that teaches HTML really well?

What is Beauty?

2010-05-24T21:27:00.000-05:00

What is beauty?

Over the past few hundred years our sense of what is attractive, and beautiful has been terribly warped. We are told that a crucifix suspended in a jar of urine, or a plain toilet in the middle of a blank room is art. Now I think quite a few people, even some non-believers, would say the first example is at the best in bad taste, and at worst terribly offensive, and sacriligious. But the second is, I think most people would say, at worst just odd. Yet, many of the intellectual and artistic "elite" give praise to these things, and many other weird, and extremely distasteful works of "art".

Most people agree when they see a piece by Rembrandt, Michaelangelo, or even Monet, that these are great works of art. How do we decide what is beautiful though? I'm mostly considering art, but this can apply to music, furniture, photography, and many other things. We can say, well its what is pleasing to the eye. But even though most people agree on some of the greats, like Rembrandt, there are also many who say that a red square on a white wall is art. Now, this may not be ugly or displeasing to the eye, but pardon me if I disagree with you that this is art. If we simply appeal to what we naturally feel is beautiful, we can go a short distance on this without too many road bumps. But we soon reach a toilet in the middle of an empty room, or paint randomly thrown at a canvas, and there we start to really disagree. Quite a few would say no to these, but then there are also those who say that this is true art. Another example from music is the "song" 4'33" by John Cage, who was a post-modern musician. 4'33" can be played by anyone, anywhere, with any instrument, and does not even require any noise. It can be complete silence, or the roaring of thousands of people. Certainly depending on what happens it could be very enjoyable, but just as easily be a waste of time. Can we truly call this "song" a piece of music? This is the same as art, most would probably look at least slightly askance at this, but there are others who have praised it in the past. We cannot simply appeal to what we feel is naturally right as I hope you see, so where then do we go?

There is also the issue of the paintings from several hundred years ago, that fit into the profile of what most agree is art. Pieces from some of the greats. They are not part of the modern movement, showing incomprehensible, random shapes, or disgusting images, or just splotches of color. However, they contain nudity ranging from not much, to everything (Michelangelo's King David). Now, I think that the human body is a wonderful work of art that God has sculpted. However, it is not something that is to be paraded to the world. I'm not even considering here the possible implications of these paintings in regards to temptation. So if a painting or carving contains nudity, or fairly severe immodesty, even if its "artistically" pleasing to the eye, in regards to composition, colors, and skill, is it really art, as it is showing something that God did not intend shown to the world?

Is it something that is totally subjective for each person? where each and every person is totally free to decide what they find beautiful, and no one else can encroach upon that? Yes, I understand and agree that there is a certain amount of personal preference in this topic, as there is in pretty much any topic. However, I don't think that this is totally subjective.

Unfortunately God's word does not lay all this out for us. We have no examples of art, and we really don't even have any guidelines along which to guide us. I certainly don't have much of an answer, which is why I'm writing this. I'm curious as to what others have to say, and I hope that there will be quite a few responses.

TULIP: Perseverance of the Saints

2010-05-17T16:18:00.000-05:00

Sorry it’s taken so long to get around to finishing my TULIP series, but here it is.

The last point of the TULIP is the doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints (PoS). This is the doctrine that once a believer is saved, neither their own power, nor the power of another, can cause that person to lose their salvation. If you believe in predestination, than it is rational to believe in PoS. Logically if you believe that you are brought to a saving faith by God’s will alone, how could you or another lose that salvation? However, I’m getting ahead of myself.

In this passage in John we have Christ clearly proclaiming that those whom the Father gives to His son (those predestined for salvation) will indeed be raised from the dead. We are also told that it is God’s will that those who believe will have eternal life.

John 6:37-40 (New American Standard Bible)

³⁷"⁽^A⁾All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

³⁸"For ⁽^B⁾I have come down from heaven, ⁽^C⁾not to do My own will, but ⁽^D⁾the will of Him who ⁽^E⁾sent Me.

³⁹"This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of ⁽^F⁾all that He has given Me I ⁽^G⁾lose nothing, but ⁽^H⁾raise it up on the last day.

⁴⁰"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who ⁽^I⁾beholds the Son and ⁽^J⁾believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will ⁽^K⁾raise him up on the last day."

The word for “no one” here means nothing, no one, not anything. NOTHING, not Satan, not death, not even some heinous sin can separate use from the love of God once we are saved.

John 10:28-29 (New American Standard Bible)

²⁸and I give ⁽^A⁾eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and ⁽^B⁾no one will snatch them out of My hand.
²⁹"^[^a^]My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

Here Paul is firmly convinced that NOTHING, not death, not Satan, NOTHING can separate believers from God. If not even Satan, death, or any other power on earth can separate us from God, how could our sin, once payed for, separate us from the love of God?

Romans 8

¹Therefore there is now no ⁽^A⁾condemnation for those who are ⁽^B⁾in ⁽^C⁾Christ Jesus.

³⁵Who will separate us from ⁽^V⁾the love of ^[^c^]Christ? Will ⁽^W⁾tribulation, or distress, or ⁽^X⁾persecution, or ⁽^Y⁾famine, or ⁽^Z⁾nakedness, or ⁽^AA⁾peril, or sword?
³⁶Just as it is written,
"⁽^AB⁾FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."
³⁷But in all these things we overwhelmingly ⁽^AC⁾conquer through ⁽^AD⁾Him who loved us.
³⁸For I am convinced that neither ⁽^AE⁾death, nor life, nor ⁽^AF⁾angels, nor principalities, nor ⁽^AG⁾things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from ⁽^AH⁾the love of God, which is ⁽^AI⁾in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul is telling the Corinthians here that Christ will sustain them as guiltless until He returns to this earth.

1 Corinthians 1:8-9 (New American Standard Bible)

⁸⁽^A⁾who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in ⁽^B⁾the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
⁹⁽^C⁾God is faithful, through whom you were ⁽^D⁾called into ⁽^E⁾fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is a very similar passage to the one in first Corinthians. Paul is speaking to the Philippians and telling them that God will finish the work He began in them at their conversion. Would Paul have told this to them if it was possible to lose their salvation by their or another’s actions?

Philippians 1:6 (New American Standard Bible)

⁶For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until ⁽^A⁾the day of Christ Jesus.

I hope that this has come across in a clear manner. Please feel free to make any comments, or ask any questions.

To Tinker or not to Tinker...

2010-05-11T13:14:00.000-05:00

So i've recently been thinking about making myself a formspring, or possibly adding a music player on my blog. What y'all think?

Tea Anyone?

2010-05-08T22:28:00.000-05:00

My brother had a catering event today and made tea, this is what is left over. It's a 6 gallon bucket full lol. Anyone for a cup of tea?

Really?

2010-05-06T20:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, really, I am trying my hand at embroidery. I already know how to sew, I figured why not this as well? :D Ok, well not totally lol, we purchased a learn to sew and such kit, WAY back, and I haven't finished it, so now I am. Maybe. Here is a beginning picture, and I'll post some work in progress, and finished pictures when I finish lol.

WEEEE!

2010-04-29T12:01:00.000-05:00

Well I went biking for the first time in quite awhile. Even though I'm tired, I feel really good at the same time.I think I might try and start doing it everyday for my exercise. I've been trying to run, but i'm not a great runner lol. Oh, I also saw a fairly large turtle in the bayou while I was riding, kinda interesting in the middle of the city. I would have taken a picture, but I have not been able to figure out the zoom on my phone cam... Anyway, just thought I would let y'all know... :-p Oh and does anyone's ears hurt when you exercise?

Berries!

2010-04-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

I went berry picking this morning with my mama, and a home school family from church. It was very enjoyable, and in some ways relaxing as well. Its kinda sad to think that so many people are detached from how their food gets to them. Granted yes, modern conveniences are a wonderful thing, and yes, its nice not having to grow all our own food. However, I think so many people just don't know how it happens, and the wonderful miracles God has put on this earth, and its a shame. Ah well, there goes my rant for the day lol.

It was a rather decent size field by the side of the road.

I realize this has nothing to do at all with berries lol. This is one of the entrances to Sienna Plantation, and those pink flowers just looked fake, even though I know they were not.

P.S. I'm going to try and finish my TULIP series soon, lol, people were SUPPOSED to respond to my downloads post but I guess no one cares...

[36/365]

2010-04-27T11:20:00.000-05:00

Well I just decided to post this on here as well as flickr to remind people to check my flickr... :-p

We try and wash ourselves of the deeds we've done, and the tales we've told, but we only come out dirty as before, if not filthier than we went in.

Is Downloading Wrong?

2010-04-13T18:03:00.000-05:00

I’ve been thinking about this for a very long time, and I have finally found a spot for it on my blog.

I think most people, if not everyone, reading this have either “illegally” downloaded a book, movie, video game, music, or numerous other things, or are familiar with the concept. For most people, this is either something they do relatively frequently, if not even an everyday occurrence. I wonder though, as Christians, should we be doing this, or is it breaking the 8^th commandment? We are clearly commanded not to steal (Ex 20:15), but is downloading music really stealing? You can make the argument that the laws regarding copyrights and such, are not valid as they are not drafted by Congress, and therefore outside the bounds of our government and null and void. You could also say that the laws prohibit copying for monetary gain, but allow copying if it will be given to friends or other for free. So we may be able to make an argument that legally downloading is completely fine, but what about looking at it from a more personal level. How would we feel if we worked hard on a book, spent a year, and a ton of money on making a movie, or spent a couple years producing a video game, and we are trying to make a living off of it, and someone goes and downloads it? (Sorry for the run on…) Would we be ok with it, or would we want to go and whack them on the head and get our money? I certainly don’t have the answer to the question; I can stand on either side of the fence, though I’m not entirely comfortable on either side.

So I would love to get a good discussion going on this topic. Also would it be ok to do, if I wouldn’t end up spending the money on it no matter what the price?

So to break it up into categories a bit, is it ok to download:

Books?

Movies? (this includes just watching them online, on an “illegitimate” website)

Games?

Music?

TV series?

I can’t really think of any others, though certainly feel free to add some. I’m really looking forward to the discussion.

Event

2010-04-09T23:55:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I am doing a major event at school, and I would appreciate prayer that the event wold run smoothly, and that I will have energy. Its going to be a long day, and I probably won't be home till 2am or so. So yes, prayer would be much appreciated.

10 Reasons the Ressurection Matters

2010-04-08T21:29:00.000-05:00

This was part of the sermon from this past Sunday. I was gonna add something to it, but I can't remember. If I do, i'll add it.

1. We are born again 1 Pet 1:3

2. We know God because of the resurrection. We are given the Holy Spirit.

3. Through the resurrection we are given the ability to repent of our sins. Acts 5:30-32

4. Our fear of death is radically changed. We should no longer fear death, for we have nothing to fear in the next life. Acts 7

5. The resurrection gives us freedom from the penalty and power of sin. Acts 13:38,39

6. The resurrection assures us that the Gospel is true, and that judgment will be dealt out for those who refuse to believe.

7. It is assurance of our justification before God. Rom 4:25

8. We are freed to pursue God. Col 3:1-4

9. We are able to battle sin Col 3:5

10. We are equipped with the very same power that raised Christ from the dead. Eph 1:19-21

Joshua Harris on Self-Control

2010-04-03T21:47:00.000-05:00

This is the intro to a sermon by Joshua Harris' on Self-Control, its very true, and very funny.

Touch of Gray [8/365]

2010-03-30T21:20:00.001-05:00

[8/365]

Touch of gray

Well I need some help on my titles lol. Anyway, my flickr widget is up now, and this will probably be my last 365 post on my blog, the rest will go up just on flickr. Though who knows.. :-p

[7/365]

2010-03-29T20:56:00.000-05:00

I have quite a few photos from today, but my non-existent editing skills cut down the useful photos greatly. No caption I could really think of.

[6/365] Swirly!

2010-03-28T20:38:00.000-05:00

Brownie batter, which then died when I did what I was told by the recipe. It said to put the pan in an ice bath, right out of the oven. That did NOT work well, the pan shattered, the brownies drowned, and there is now glass in our disposal. I am very sad...

[5/365]

2010-03-28T16:09:00.000-05:00

[5/365]

Yum? I don't have a caption lol

Yes, this was for saturday, long day working, and I forgot and I was tired so there.

Where Dreams Go to Die...

2010-03-26T21:57:00.001-05:00

[4/365]

Where dreams go to die...

Would the caption be better without the ... at the end? I decided to create a folder for my 365 pics, much easier to find now.

Life Springs Anew, 365

2010-03-25T16:19:00.000-05:00

Life Springs Anew

Not entirely happy with it, but not a ton of time today. [3/365]

Should We Capitalize?

2010-03-24T21:41:00.000-05:00

I'm reading through Institutes of Christian Religion by John Calvin, and I noticed that he does not capitalize "he" when referring to God. I've also noticed that the very reputable English standard version of the Bible also does not do this. The New American standard version, and I know others do capitalize "he", though I think that I've seen other versions that don't. Its always been my impression that you capitalize "he" in regards to God, in showing reverence to Him. That as He is God, He should always be shown the greatest respect. Yet, we have great men of the faith - I believe Mathew Henry also did not do this, though I would have to double check -, and also very respected translations of the Bible that do not capitalize the "he". So what do y'all think, is it not a big deal, or should we make a huge effort to always capitalize "he"? Also do y'all have any idea why people have not done it? I would like to hear y'all's opinions on the subject and look forward to the discussion.

I have so many things I want to blog about lol, oh well in time...

These feet will never run 365

2010-03-24T21:17:00.000-05:00

[2/365]

These feet will never run

And so it begins...

2010-03-23T21:11:00.002-05:00

Well this is my first 365 photo, though the question is, do I post it as 1 or post it as 82 (I think)? Also I'm not sure if I want to use flikr for it, as you have to have an account to comment, and they have an upload limit. I could use tumblr, though i dont know a lot about it, or does someone have another suggestion? Anyway here is the photo, i decided to make brownies, and i accidentally doubled the butter whoops... They turned out rather tasty though.
[1/365]

365 anyone?

2010-03-22T21:36:00.000-05:00

I'm sure at least some of you are familiar with a 365 photo project, generally flikr, or at least thats mostly where I've seen it. If its not obvious, the goal of the project is to take a picture everyday, and then post it along with a caption, or at least just the photo lol. Some I've seen are all self portraits, but bleh, I would get tired of that, not to mention they would probably quickly become all very similar... :-p So anyway, to the point of this post, do y'all think I should try and do it? Keep in mind my poor photography skills, non-existent skills with photo editing, and rather low creativity. Anyway, look forward to see what y'all say.

Bible Study Update, and Thought of the Day

2010-03-21T21:25:00.002-05:00

Well most of you know about my Bible study, and if you don't... Every other week I teach a college-ish age Bible Study at my house. Since awhile back I asked for advice and prayer, well at least prayer lol, about doing a Bible Study, I figured I should update y'all on how its doing. It's going rather well. I have about 10 to 15 people coming regularly. Everyone seems to be enjoying it, and learning from it. It has also been a blessing to me, and teaching and preparing has helped me grow in my walk with the Lord, and is preparing me for when I have a family one day and teach them. I appreciate your original prayers, and please continue to pray for it.

Thought for the Day*
Our pastor is going through Hosea right now at church, which is really cool, and chapter 5, verse 12, says that God will be like a moth to Ephraim. If you're not familiar with Hosea, it is all about Israel, and their whoring after other gods. This reference to a moth is God saying, that He will destroy what is precious to Israel, destroy their idols, and their places of worship, which were, in fact, where they used to worship Yahweh. Our pastor used it in another, interesting, way though. He pointed out that you can also think of it how, sometimes when your standing outside your front door saying goodnight to friends, moths are buzzing around in your face, sometimes even getting in your mouth or ear. The moths distract us from our conversation. This is when God puts hurdles in our way when we are going down a sinful path. These hurdles are to distract us, to knock us out of our revere, so we see that what we're doing is not good. I thought it was rather good, and interesting, hope you enjoyed my Thought for the Day.

*Titling this "Thought for the Day" in no way means I will post one everyday. Nor does it require me to post one everyday. If you are unhappy with this state of affairs maybe you should try and convince me to post everyday, or give me ideas of what I could post everyday,. If I did happen to post everyday, I in no way guarantee that it will be worth you reading.

P.S.
Today I am 20 and 1 month, feel free to send one month gifts :D

Oh noes!

2010-03-20T18:59:00.000-05:00

"Oh noes, we're drowning, save us!"

This pic better, or the first one?

Anyone know of a good site for looking up some good stretches, or exercises?

Shopping Trip Number One Down

2010-03-16T17:38:00.000-05:00

Well for Christmas my mama made (well kinda lol) me a quilt out of my old t-shirts from when i was a wee lad. But we still need to find the under fabric for it. We went to one fabric store, and I did figure out I probably want flannel, but we couldn't find exactly what I wanted. So if anyone knows of a good fabric store in town, I would appreciate it.

Today is the day!

2010-03-15T21:44:00.000-05:00

Well today my brother and I, along with a couple of friends, went down to Galveston for the day. I meant to take my camera and take some pictures, but I forgot. Camera not in hand, we walked around the Strand (why that name hmm?), and after attempting to go to Fuddruckers, which was closed, we ended up at Mediterranean Chef Restaurant. Food was rather tasty, but the service was absolutely HORRID. I won't go into details, just know that it was bad. We then found a book shop, bought a couple books, and then got back into our cars, and slowly made our way through the traffic to the beach. *Just heard a horrid pronunciation of incredulous on an audio book* We had a rather enjoyable time at the beach, just walked in the water a bit, no swimming. There is something truly enchanting about the beach/ocean. Well we then stopped at marble slab, and drove off into the sunset, yes we drove into the sunset, really.

I apologize for the lack of pictures.

Oh and on recommendation of a friend, i am listening to Harry Potter on tape. Rather enjoyable for fantasy, if you can get past a couple things.

Muahahaha...

2010-03-10T11:25:00.000-06:00

Well after going to extra help, and extreme fiddling, i finally got my reactions to work on my blog, yay!

TULIP: Irresitable Grace

2010-03-07T22:02:00.002-06:00

I’m going to start out with saying that this post on Irresistible Grace (IG) is going to be a bit different than my other posts. Irresistible Grace is the doctrine that someone cannot refuse God’s grace in their lives. If God chooses you as elect, you cannot reject salvation. There are no specific verses that speak on IG, but if you hold to either Total Depravity or Perseverance of the Saints, then you basically have to believe in Irresistible Grace.

If we are all totally depraved, then we would all reject God’s “gift” of life. There would not be a single person who would accept. So then IG must be true, or there would be no Christians. If Christ only died for certain people, and not the entire world, than those who are called (not the general command, but the application of Christ’s blood to someone) must believe or they invalidate Christ’s death.

Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-06T17:39:00.000-06:00

So Thursday night/Friday morning, after Bible Study, a friend, my brother and I went and saw Alice in Wonderland at midnight, it was terribly fun lol. Its a rather good movie, and it's worth seeing. Here are some pictures...

My friend helped me put together my costume for the evening, and this is her wanting to remove my head...

My brother was rather silly, and did not dress up for the evening...

Somewhat serious...

Not at all serious. See if you can find the subtle difference between the two photos, other than how we stand and that we're smiling.

Oh Dear...

2010-03-03T08:44:00.000-06:00

Well so I'm drinking coffee again hehe, you may be wondering why... Well i know from previous experiance that coffee, in moderation, doesn't really affect my stomach. Also, my mother pointed out to me this morning that there are more and more people talking about how a lot of people with wheat gluten problems, also have problems with corn gluten. So starting tomorrow, or friday, I will be relinquishing my tasty hold upon corn, and we'll see if that helps any. That I will need more prayer in than coffee, because that cuts my food options down majorly. Well so here goes another of my food journeys, we shall see where it takes me, don't worry, you'll be getting updates... :-p

Oh and if your wondering why I haven't made my next TULIP post yet, its because its rather finicky, but soon I promise... *soon is a relative term*

Books Suggestions

2010-02-28T14:41:00.000-06:00

So I want to start reading more, and not that I can't just wander through the aisles of Half Price or the library, and pick up what strikes my fancy, nut I would like a wee bit of guidance. So if y'all have any suggestions for good books, i'm thinking more fiction, but I'll think about all, please let me know. If for some odd reason you are ashamed of your reading list hehe, emailing me or facebook or something is ok too.
Thanks in advance!

PS
Hopefully later this afternoon or tomorrow I will have up my next TULIP post, for those of you who eagerly await it, along with working on my Bible study lesson and trying not to feel like I've been run over by a truck.

Oeufs a la neige, aka Poached Meringues

2010-02-27T18:29:00.000-06:00

I found this recipe through a friends blog, who had it from another blog... It looked rather tasty, so I tried it. As anticipated, it twas rather tasty, though the sauce is very sweet, though that might be just cause I had to mess with things a bit... *Insert Side Note* Is "cause" a legitimate word? *End Side Note* The recipe is here, if you would like to try your hand at these tasty, and yet slightly annoying poofie things.If anyone has made these, or something similar, and has advice please give it.

Bad egg, yummy!

First attempt at doing the meringues, as i'm sure some of you can tell it started to break...

AND it really broke now... I did cook some of them but they were sad indeed.

Second attempt, YAY!!!! it worked, mostly lol, it was not quite as firm as the recipe said it was supposed to be, but idk lol. I think I should have tried whisking the first batch more after adding the sugar and such, but such is life.

Cooking los meringues... It had lots of fun boiling up and being a pain...

The meringues after having been cooked. NOT what they are supposed to look like, but tasty still.

The sauce!

Cooking the sauce!

Sauce in bowls

Finished product

Finished product from a different angle...

So there you have it, poofy things in sauce!

So some of you know I have stomach pain problems that I STILL have not figured out what causes it, even after 2 years of trying different things. So even though I've done it before, I think I'm going to try and not drink coffee for a week or so, doing only tea. So I would much appreciate prayers to be able to stick to it.

Crash Hot Orange Potatoes

2010-02-23T20:57:00.007-06:00

This is a recipe I found from a dutch food blog I read. Its for potatoes that are topped with a butter, orange zest, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper mix. It came out really well, though I was rather curious when I saw it. The orange is just strong enough to be there, but light enough to not taste like you're eating an orange. It adds a very nice, light, refreshing flavor to the potatoes. I would recommend boiling the potatoes, instead of baking, which I did. I used russets, cause thats what we had :-p, i would probably use a potato that had a thinner skin though. The potatoes were a bit hard to crush well, but they worked well enough.

Anyway here is the link to the recipe, hope y'all enjoy.

BUTTER!!!

Empty bowl after have made the butter mixture.

Empty tray?

Whole potatoes!

Crushed potatoes!

In the oven! :-p

The end result

Politics and a Husbands Authority

2010-02-23T08:31:00.003-06:00

Oh lookie another post that isn't part of the TULIP series... Don't be alarmed if you are anxiously awaiting the next post in that series (doesn't seem to be that there is anyone), it will be along soon.

So being that election season is once again here I was thinking. If a husband and wife want to vote for different candidates, and there is not a huge moral stance at stake, and the husband does not mind his wife voting for someone else. If she does vote for someone else, is she undermining her husbands authority? Since she is working against him. Thoughts?

I realize my grammar is terrible, but you'll get over it... :-p

Benjy's Birthday Dinner

2010-02-21T18:20:00.013-06:00

We went to Benjy's for my 20th birthday dinner, was a good choice hehe. Really good food, bit on the expensive side, but worth it in my opinion. Sorry for the poor pics though.

Appetizer they set out, yes its empty.. :-p, cheddar biscuits (couldn't eat those), some flat bread (couldn't eat that either), and some sugar crusted cranberries and mixed nuts, those were really good, could eat those all day :D

What i got, roasted chicken (from a local farm) with some pretty good cheese grits and shrimp (meh :-p), pretty tasty cept for the shrimp.

Shrimp tamale my mama had. Not a huge fan of shrimp but not bad... :-p

Spinach risotto, my brother got, nice flavor, spinach flavor was over powering.

Beef Arepa's that my dad had. Shredded beef on corn cakes, they were pretty good.

This *was* lol a coffee creme brulee, forgot to take a pic lol, had a very nice, strong coffee flavor.

V-day pics

2010-02-17T09:09:00.008-06:00

The church we will most likely be going to once we decide for sure (yes we are looking), had a guys serving girls valentines day thing last sunday night, and they asked if we wanted to come, so we did. Here are a few of the pics I took.

TULIP: Limited Atonement

2010-02-11T18:53:00.000-06:00

Limited atonement is probably one of the most misunderstood parts of the TULIP. It’s complex, and yet at the same time very simple. Limited Atonement is the doctrine that while Christ’s death would have covered all of humanity’s sin, it only covered the sins of those who believe and are saved. Christ’s blood is sufficient to cover sin, and His death does cover the sins of those who believe. If Christ died for everyone, then their sins would be covered, and everyone would be saved, but we know that is not true. If you want to say though, that Christ died for everyone, but each person can choose whether to accept His death or not, then Christ died in vain because it was not needed for some people. Also, the power of His death is decreased, because it can be as easily brushed aside as a spider web. In Mathew 26:28, Christ died for the “many”, not for all. John 10:11-15 speaks of how Christ died for His sheep. We know from other passages that the sheep are His children, and unbelievers are called goats. (Mat 25:31-34) In the High Priestly Prayer (John 17, a fantastic passage) Jesus prays for those whom His Father has given Him, and not for the world (John 17:9). In Isaiah the prophecy speaks of Christ dying for many, not all (53:12).

TULIP: Unconditional Election

2010-01-24T19:03:00.004-06:00

The next point in TULIP is Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election is the doctrine that God's basis of saving individuals is not based on any merit of the individual, or based on any particular people group. (Eph. 1:4-8; Rom. 9:11)

TULIP: Total Depravity

2010-01-19T20:29:00.001-06:00

Total depravity is the doctrine that Man is totally corrupt after the fall. Every single part of us, heart, mind, soul, and body are 100% corrupt, there is absolutely no goodness left in us. No man searches after God, not even a little, nor is there any righteousness to be found in us. (Rom 3:9-18) Our hearts before regeneration are dark, evil things, from which nothing good can come. (Mark 7:21-23) Our heart is also sick, and is said to be “more deceitful than all else”. (Jer 17:9) Unregenerate man is slave to sin, and can obey no other. (Rom 6:16-20) Before God changes us, we think the things of God silly, and frequently even idiotic, we are totally unable to comprehend God and His ways. (1 Cor 2:14) We were dead in our sin and children of wrath, unwilling and unable to come to God. (Eph 2:1,3)

TULIP: Introduction

2010-01-12T08:26:00.002-06:00

As I've been talking to people and just thinking about it, I believe that there are quite a few people who do not understand the TULIP or that it is indeed based on Biblical evidence. So my endeavor over the next couple weeks will be to explain each point, and to give the Biblical reasons behind each one.

So starting out for those of you who still don't know what I'm talking about lol. TULIP is also known as the five points of Calvinism, it's an acrostic for five very important Biblical principles: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints. I would also like to point out that while I consider myself a Calvinist on many things, I fully understand that John Calvin was simply a man, and as such was a complete sinner. While this is so, I also believe he taught many good, Biblical things, I only follow those principles which are Biblical. While Calvin did believe in infant baptism or paedobaptism, I do not because I believe that the Bible teaches otherwise. I do my best though to search out all my beliefs in the Bible, and ascertain whether they are correct or not. Therefore I believe that the TULIP, while it is a man Organized concept, it is 100% Biblical.

2010-01-11T08:16:00.002-06:00

A few days ago I visited Catalina Coffee shop with a friend, which is considered one of the best indie coffee shops in Houston, if not also the US. Most of you know I LOVE coffee, its a passion for me, well I had really been wanting to go to Catalina but had just never made it over there. Well I finally did and it was awesome. Their espresso which I tried was the best I have ever had, it was a bit acidic for my taste, but it nicely coated my tongue, and the flavor was full bodied without being overwhelming. We also got to try chemex pot brewing there too, we were both really excited to try it, and it produced a really clean but tasty cup of coffee. The atmosphere was really nice also, well mostly at least lol, some of their pictures they had on the wall could have been changed but thats to be expected at an indie place. Also there are not many electrical plugs to be had, but that is a minor issue. They also roast their own beans, so if you're really into local its a good place to go. I would definitely recomend visiting it if you like coffee, its on Washington just east of sawyer street.

Hope you enjoy

Coffee!

2009-12-09T08:35:00.003-06:00

As many of you know I'm a bit of a coffee geek, well I was wondering the other day, why do most people drink coffee? Is it more for the flavor or just for the caffeine buzz? Well I have created a survey to that extent :D So here it is, let me know if y'all think I could add more questions or jsut change it around a bit.

The silence of the blogger...

2009-12-07T22:00:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the silence lately guys, been busy and been lazy lol. I will hopefully be getting a post up in the next few days about coffee, or maybe about something else. I realize i can just spell check this lol but how do you spell beginning?

Anyway, maybe tomorrow.

The Salvation of Infants

2009-09-29T19:56:00.003-05:00

I've pondered this before and I decided to put it forth to all of y'all. Do unborns (you could also possibly include very young infants) if they die go to heaven or hell? After a couple days I will post what I believe.

In Christ,
Daniel

How far do we go...

2009-09-20T21:37:00.003-05:00

I have had the conversation with friends about companies that support any practice that we have a problem with, and how much should we buy from them. We try and stay away from them when we can, but it's not always possible. So I was wondering how much should we try and boycott a company over an issue, what issues should those be, and when do we say "its their choice to sin and not ours, and its not a big deal to buy from them"? Issues could be, abortion, homosexual marriage, support of a political candidate, environmental issues, or all sorts of things, basically anything that you feel is wrong.

Thoughts?
Daniel

P.S.
I edited the wording of my post on the advice of my mother.

Peace through the Word

2009-09-05T21:44:00.004-05:00

We are at my grandparents this weekend in Corpus Christi (just a random fact :D), and I realized something as a read Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges this evening. I realized that when I not only read my Bible but also read a "Biblical" book, one that talks about some Biblical issue I'm sure you know what I mean lol, or take part in a Bible study of some kind, I'm much more at peace, and can handle things better. When I don't get this time in, this includes only reading my Bible and nothing else, I find myself struggling with a lot more things and life is just harder. As I think back over much of my summer this was also true when I was on vacation and spent much of my time, or at least some of it, doing these kind of things, I was very much at peace, and life was "easier". I'm gonna be paying attention to it as I go on the next few weeks to see if this is really true or not, but based on current evidence it is. Just a random thing I thought y'all might find interesting, and something to contemplate in your own life, it would be interesting to know if this is true in you're lives too. I guess I would also ask that people would pray for me to be able to find the time to read more during my week, and actually do it too lol.

Christ's servant,
Daniel

Prayer and Wisdom

2009-09-02T09:01:00.003-05:00

My mom suggested as an idea and something to pray about, that I start an on campus Bible study. The Bible study I go to now is on thursday nights and by then I am really tired and it keeps me up late. There are also no good Bible studies on campus, the one i go to is done by an HBU professor at his home. I would really appreciate y'all praying over the issue, and if anyone has any advice from you or someone you know about it, I would appreciate (yes I know I'm repeating the word lol) it.

For any foodies out there...

2009-08-27T08:14:00.003-05:00

If you love food, then you will absolutely melt thinking about eating some of these things. And for any of you who have or choose to eat GF, this blog is for you.

Enjoy!

Ah, a schedule once again!

2009-08-25T08:19:00.003-05:00

Well school has started once again, 15 hours of deliciousness. I'm glad to be honest, I like school, generally, planned my schedule so i can do some ministry with some friends. Its also nice having a set schedule again, makes my life a bit easier. It should be nice, hopefully I'll have a more meaningful blog post soon.

To be a Peasent and Pure or to be Cultered and Damned?

2009-08-11T12:12:00.004-05:00

As some of you are very aware since you went, I went to the fine arts museum last week, (I think it was last week...) and we saw many, many naked or semi-naked statues and paintings. For me at least they did not provide a stumbling block, but they were disturbing in a way. It made me wonder, is there a real problem with these pictures? Any Christian and even most unbelievers would immediately say that porn is bad, or at least shouldn't be set up in a public place. Are these really any different from porn? If they aren't, then why do we have them up for public display, or go to a place that shows them? Most people would say that viewing art is good, and it helps us grow academically and such, but is it worth being "cultured" and yet damning ourselves? I know if that is the choice I would rather be but a mere peasant, and yet be pure. I don't really know the answers, or haven't decided yet at least lol, thoughts?

Striving to serve the Lord in all I do,
Daniel

The Quest for a Template!

2009-08-10T10:40:00.004-05:00

As I'm sure some of you have noticed my template is different. I am trying out some different ones over the next few days, so if y'all could vote and/or leave comments, I would appreciate it. :)

If you miss a day, here are links to the current templates I'm considering. Oh and if anyone has a template they would like to suggest please do. Specifically space, night time, or fantasy/foresty ones. The names are the names of the templates, and what they will be on the poll I am putting up.

Aspire/Parchment
Outside Our Window
This Beating Heart
The Drawn Eclipse

Modesty, or the Lack Thereof...

2009-08-02T21:34:00.001-05:00

I know for some of you this will be old hat, though it is never bad to restudy things. Our society today, well really every society throughout history, has an extreme problem with dressing in a tempting way. You go to the mall or practically anywhere else, churches seems to be worse at times even, you are inundated with skin everywhere. Mini-skirts, short shorts, tight t-shirts, low cut shirts, short shirts, really tight pants (though I do wonder how they get them on...) and a lot of other stuff. It seems females in our society are trying to sell themselves as sexual objects, or if they aren't they want to make it seem like they are. To a degree i expect this from unbelievers, though it is sad, it does not "phase" me. What makes me truly sad is when Christians, and even fairly conservative homeschoolers seem to have no qualms on this. We are commanded in the Bible to not cause our brothers (and sisters) to stumble/sin. (1st Cor 8:9) Now I will caution here that yes there is personal freedom, that isn't a huge issue here but I will address it later on. Some of you girls know some of you may not, guys are very visual, we are made that way, it's a good thing. The problem is that because of sin this is tainted, and it can be "used correctly" in marriage but outside of marriage sin causes problems. Guys lust (well everyone does), it is sadly true, and when a girl dresses immodestly (we'll get to what that is later)it creates an environment that is conducive to that lust. I'm not saying a girl causes the guy to lust, but girls have a responsibility to protect their brothers from it, and I believe you will be held responsible by God for it. I also want to point out that there are girls who struggle with it, and yea you probably don't want to think about it, but it's true. I wonder why so many christian girls seem to have no idea what is going on, I have talked to multiple girls who didn't know any better until I asked them to dress more modestly. Are fathers and brothers just not man enough to be honest with their wives/daughters/sisters? Are they trying to deceive themselves and others, and make it seem like they don't have this problem? Or do they just not care... I will call any guy out who says they don't struggle with lust at all, it may not be with girls, maybe it's emotional and not physical lust, but everyone does. I challenge any guy who reads this and is not being honest with themselves, or have a close female relative or friend who needs to dress better. Man up (I know it's a terrible cliche but there it is), the Bible calls us to be men of God, this is part of it, sometimes we are called to do hard things but it's worth it.

Everyone has a different opinion on what is modest and what isn't. Though there are some fairly general things that most people agree on. Some people are more conservative in this than others, the specifics are between you, your spiritual authority (dad, husband, maybe someone else depending on the circumstance), and God. Some people don't think pants can be modest, much less shorts, and some people have no problem with them, thats one of the big ones people feel strongly about. But some general stuff, with skirts not much above the knee, a little is fine but not more than a few inches, same thing applies to shorts. Low cut shirts are a big one, not much lower than your shoulders, sometimes its ok if you have another shirt underneath, but just be careful not to wear something that really draws the eye to your chest. No tank tops, even if it's not technically one be careful on how much shoulder area is getting shown. Try and keep any part of your bra hidden, i understand straps sometimes go where they aren't supposed to but depending on the shirt your wearing it won't show... ;)On shirts also be careful of how easily they ride up and expose your back, that's a big one.

This one just drives me up the wall, girls would you wear just your underwear out in public, especially around a guy you like? Because that is basically what you are doing when you wear a bikini, it isn't any different.

Those are just some general guidelines, a great resource is the modestly survey that the Harris brothers did. Some of the comments on there I do disagree with but it has some good stuff.

I also want to make a point about guy modesty, I don't know how much it affects girls, so if any of you ladies want to say something... Guys just like girls do have responsibility in this too. It may not be such a big deal, but I do know some girls who struggle with it. Pants need to be pulled up, just like girls shouldn't be showing off their underwear, neither should guys. Don't take off your shirt around girls, I don't period. Just like a girl taking off hers isn't good, the same applies for guys.

Something else I want to point out is that even if you dress modestly but you still flirt and act like you're ready to jump in bed with someone you are still immodest. Modesty is both physical and spiritual/mental, so be aware of how you act towards people. Treat them as the brothers and sisters they are.

I hope this is all clear, and if anyone has anything to add please go for it. :) And if the girls could comment too on guys modesty, and what that looks like I would appreciate it.
A slave of Christ,
Daniel

*Thanks to Josh for looking it all over for me*

GF CROISSANTS!!!!

2009-08-01T22:07:00.006-05:00

As my family can attest to one of the big things i have missed since going gluten free is croissants. I discovered a recipe for them the other day, and though they are not exactly like regular ones they are quite good. Here is the link for the recipe

Here are some pictures, sorry for the poor lighting.

The Awesomeness of Whiteboards

2009-07-30T08:33:00.001-05:00

For some odd reason I love whiteboards, especially when they are being cleaned off. The ones that come almost perfectly clean are the bestest. It just makes me happy to see a whiteboard come perfectly clean. They are also just so useful, being able to draw and write anything you want, and with a swipe start over, they’re awesome. :D
I’m weird, I know :D

The End of an Era, or perhaps only the Begining

2009-07-27T08:03:00.002-05:00

As I'm sure some of you are aware Sarah Palin officially resigned from the governorship of Alaska yesterday. Some are saying that she will try for higher office in upcoming races. If this is true I wonder if her opponents will try and use her resignation against her, but I suppose only time will tell. I'm kinda happy about it to be honest, well only if she actually stays at home and takes care of her family... It twill be interesting to see how politics works out for her in the future...

Biblical Schooling, What Is Required?

2009-07-21T08:23:00.002-05:00

Is it a sin to not homeschool or send your child to a Christian school? Parents are commanded in the Bible to raise up their children in the way they should go. If we send our kids to a public school, or perhaps better to say, to any school that does not teach from a Biblical perspective, is that a sin? Are parents shirking their responsibility if they do this? I don’t know the answer to this question. I hope we can get a good discussion going, I’m throwing it out there to get y’alls thoughts. I was reading a blog this morning and the question popped into my head.

Hope y’all have lots of thoughts on it.
Daniel

WORD!

2009-07-20T12:29:00.001-05:00

I have discovered something truly awesome on word 2007. You can make table of contents, footnotes, automatic citations and all sorts of wonderful things. I shall henceforth put foot notes in everything… :D Just thought I would share my discovery :D

"I am the bread of life" Are you willing?

2009-07-19T21:18:00.004-05:00

Before I get to the main point of my post I wanted to point out something kinda ironic in John chapter 6 (which my post is on...). After the feast of the 5000, Christ goes to Capernaum and the Jews follow Him there. He speaks here of Him being the bread of life, and He tells them that if they wish to follow Him they must eat of this bread. It is kinda ironic because verse 66 of chapter 6 (666 :-p) says "As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore." I know that verse numbers are not specifically inspired but it's funny that 6:66 talks about how many people stop following Christ.

Anyway to the main body of the post. Is this discourse Christ speaks of Himself being "the bread of life" (Jh 6:48B). In the following verses He speaks of us having to eat His flesh and drink His blood to receive eternal life.

48 "I am the bread of life.
49 "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 "This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51"I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."
52 Then the Jews {began} to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us {His} flesh to eat?”
53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
54"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
56"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”
57"As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.
58"This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever

Are you willing to do this?

Now He does not really mean eat His physical flesh, certainly now we do not have that ability, and the Bible prohibits cannibalism. What it means is having Him as our very life, the thing which sustains us. You must eat and drink to live, it's fact, food and drink keeps us going, it gives life. If you don't believe me try going with out for a day or two, not gonna go well... So in much the same way if we desire to have eternal life we must partake of Christ. He must be our food, our center, what we strive for everyday, we must always be seeking to give Him glory. Scripture speaks everywhere about Christ/God as our center, do we seek to glorify Him in everything we do, even in eating and drinking? That is what it means to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood.

So I ask again, are you willing?

The time value of money...

2009-07-15T18:09:00.000-05:00

I love how I frequently say at the beginning of my posts “as some of you know” or some variation thereof, but it’s true so… :D As some of you know I am taking classes at HCC this summer, one of them being microeconomics. I like economics, it’s something I know a fair amount about, and therefore I am kinda bored. The chapter we just read and what my professor said is the most important (I would probably agree) is about supply and demand. I’m hoping I will learn something from this class, maybe I will, maybe I won’t. I suppose this counts as learning, I don’t know lol, but my prof pointed out that demand is not quantity, it is a function of price and demand. Maybe y’all just learned something… If so YAY, if not go read a book… :-p
Goodbye now…
Daniel

The cake does not lie! Except that it is a lie...

2009-07-14T11:12:00.003-05:00

I'm sure many of you know who the Duggar family is, if not please listen to this important announcement. :-p They are a family that live in AR, and they currently have 18 kids, the oldest of which is married. They have a show on TLC called "18 kids and counting", I was watching one of them the other night and found out about a new concept. A gender party. The episode was about Josh (the oldest) and Anna (his wife, duh) and their soon to be born baby. They were trying to figure out how they were going to fairly tell everyone the sex of the baby, without someone feeling left out. They were told of the concept of a gender party. This being that you send the results of the ultrasound to a baker, and they then color the inside of the cake pink or blue (depending on the sex...) and then you have a giant party and slice the cake, and everyone gets to find out together. Side note, it was/is a girl, but thats not the point of this post... :-p Now most of you know that I am majoring in Hotel and Restaurant Management, so any strange concepts like this grab my attention. So anyway thought I would let y'all know, and if anyone knows more about these, or has attended one let me know!

Daniel

John and the Great Button-Pusher of the Pharisees

2009-07-12T14:39:00.002-05:00

Greetings once again from the land of the hot and muggy,

As some of you know I was at camp for three weeks volunteering,it's a christian camp, and the program is a teen program. We read through all of the Gospel of John in three weeks. It is a truly awesome book, (well obviously the whole Bible is but still :D), it lays out what we as humans are afflicted with (sin) and what is the ONLY cure. Saint Augustine said that John is shallow enough for a child not to drown in but deep enough for an elephant to swim in. John also uses very black and white language, he has no qualms about throwing hard punches, but he readily gives the remedy for our situation. Some of you may be wondering what exactly I mean since quite a bit is the words of Jesus, and that is true. What I mean is that John does not compromise the words of Christ. John also does not compromise the words of those who bore witness to Christ and what He did. As for the title of the post... Jesus really does push the pharisees buttons the whole time. In John 5, Christ tells them that Moses is the one who condemns the pharisees. Which if you understand them at all, Moses to them was basically the pope, he was THE person. So Christ said that their idol was the one who would send them to hell. There is also the instance where Christ heals the blind man, Christ is not specifically talking to them here but it ends up the same. The blind man, when he is questioned by the pharisees after his healing, basically mocks them when he asks them how a sinner could perform all these things that Christ does. I just find it really funny, and then you have Christ disappear when the pharisees are trying to catch Him before His hour has come. It is also a reminder of the AWESOME power of God, i'll be doing a post kinda related to that later...

Anyway, hope that makes sense, i still have a cold and therefore i'm still kinda out of it...

Daniel

Our Societal Affair with Divorce

2009-06-15T10:06:00.013-05:00

I just finished reading The Divorce Dilemma by John MacArthur, it is an incredibly good book, and fully explains when divorce and remarriage are allowed. I would also recommend reading this book with What he must be if he wants to marry my daughter by Voddie Bauchem, Bauchem's book is about what the requirements the Bible sets out for a husband, as I said in a previous post I think it's a must read. So anyway what this post is about.

One thing I found very interesting is that the Pharisees views on divorce were much the same to what our society believes today. By the more liberal camp it was considered grounds for divorce even if your wife so much as burned the bread, or similar trivial things. So long as she was given a certificate of divorce it was ok in that societies eyes. The Pharisees had taken an allowance by Moses, turned it into a command (if a wife commits adultery you must divorce her) and completely twisted what was said to allow them to divorce even for ridiculous things. This view is so very similar to our society today. People seek divorces when they get bored with each other, find out they are not "compatible", or such silly things. There is also a complete misunderstanding of what love really means, thus creating even more divorces.

MacArthur states that except for adultery (can fit multiple things) divorce is not allowed, this is not just his belief it is what the Bible says. Now I figure some of you are going to say what about extreme violence, alcoholism or similar things. He says that no, this does not count, Christ clearly states that the ONLY reason for divorce is adultery. (Matthew 5) He also comments it is NOT a command to divorce if adultery occurred, it is allowed. God still abhors divorce, but in the case of adultery it is allowed. MacArthur also comments that divorce is only a measure of last resort, if the spouse repents we are called forgive them. But if they are unrepentant we are ALLOWED to divorce them.

I would also like to just throw out there that when you think about how many times a day we sin against God, how can we hold someones sins against us? Now granted we are, supposed to at least, repent of our sins, and God did divorce Israel for a time but He did take them back. I'm not saying its wrong to divorce for adultery, because clearly it is permissible, but I think we have to think about our actions before we take such a drastic measure.

I hope that this is clear, and maybe at least sparks comments if not debate, I like people saying things :D
Daniel

New Layout

2009-06-13T21:39:00.002-05:00

As I'm sure you all can tell I have a new template for my blog. My mother was complaining about the white and black being hard to read. I also agree it can be hard on the eyes. So I decided to try a different one, I like something like this. Kinda an old letter or parchment feel, though my heading not lining up correctly is annoying me. I would appreciate anyone's comments on the new template, also if anyone knows of a smiler template or just another cool template please let me know.

The necesity for the Man to provide

2009-06-12T23:31:00.005-05:00

Greetings once again my fellow bloggers,

I have been wondering recently about if there is any specific verse to say that the man is to be the main provider for his family. I realize that there are multiple common sense and Biblical reasons for the woman not to be the main provider. Such as if she got pregnant, possible leadership issues stemming from her making the majority or all of the income, and also the woman being called to first and foremost take care of her family before anything else. Genesis 3:17, 18 is also used "Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; " It is more of an inference than a direct command for the man to be the main provider. Since the woman was cursed with pain in child birth (the proceeding verses), the realm of the home, man has the curse of the ground yielding naught but thorns and thistles. I finally found a verse yesterday that is a direct command for the man to provide for his family. I found it while reading What he must be if he wants to marry my daughter by Voddie Baucham, it is a truly excellent book for both guys and girls. The verse is 1st Tim 5:8 "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." It was nice to find a verse that finally stated it out right. I just thought I would put this out there, if anyone knows of any other verses or has comments please go for it.

In His Service,
Daniel