a new favorite

I have a new favorite lunch food.

It might look like your ordinary peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but don't be fooled by its appearance. That might be peanut butter, but it isn't jelly that is in that sandwich. It is a wonderful substance called nutella©. The label describes it as "The original, creamy, chocolaty spread."

Basically, if you make a peanut butter and nutella sandwich, it tastes like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup©. I wasn't for sure about the chocolate on the bread at first, but it is wonderful.

In my house I call it the Peanut Butter Cup Sandwich.

I don't know why I am sharing this with you, but hey... its a blog and people have shared much more pointless information than this!

My Brother

Alright. I need to tell you a story.

I already told everyone that I know in the flesh, but my blogging friends, I am sure, would like to hear this as well.

I was coming home from school last Thursday. It was just me and the boys in the truck, and we were delving into some deep conversation... as boys in pickup trucks tend to do. We were discussing what it means to be saved, and my five-year-old was asking all of the questions, trying to wrap his mind around it.

In the process of trying to explain this miracle, I merged into the story of Nicodemus, when he came to see Jesus at night. My oldest, had been quiet through most of this, but when I mentioned that Nicodemus had been confused about the "being born again" part, Number One says, "... I am not confused anymore."

"No, you're not." I responded. "You have understood this stuff for quite a while haven't you?"

And he has. He has been able to answer all of the questions for a long time. This has been the trouble for me though. There have been so many times that I have talked with him about this topic, and he has understood every word (he's very bright), but when it came to the question of whether or not that was for him... It was always a steadfast "no." Always said with a very stone-faced expression. No emotion.

I have said for the last few years that Number One wasn't going to get saved until he wanted to. There wasn't a soul that was going to talk him into it. Including me. And even though I didn't even realize I was doing it, I think that I was hoping that I could say just the right thing, or just the right word-sequence, or just the right thought-concoction to get him to choose God. To choose Christ!

I finally gave up. I knew that it had to be a work of God.

So, there we were in the pickup truck, when Number One says, "Daddy, when we get home, I need to get saved."

There it was. The moment I had been waiting for. I waited until I got home and pulled him in my room real quick, just to ask him what was different this time. His exact words were, "Well Daddy, when you were talking in the truck, God just spoke to my heart." It wasn't me. It was HIM. I can't tell you the joy that I was experiencing at that moment.

We went out in the living room with the mommy, and after a few questions that I already knew that he knew, I said, "Well Son, this is between you and God. I am just going to sit here and listen in."

It was the most amazing prayer that I have ever heard. It was heartfelt and unscripted. He prayed from the heart. And my emotionless little boy began to tremble and cry as he told God he was a sinner... that he needed a savior. I hate to admit it, but my eyes are welling up just thinking about it.

It was a great moment, a moment that I will never forget.

He immediately began to show the first fruits of true salvation by spending the next hour on the phone trying to call everyone he knew. He started with the two women that have prayed for him (probably more than I have): my mom and my wife's mom. They were both thrilled.



I share all of this with you because it is a true praise. I have asked God so many times to save him. I would easily give up anything for the salvation of my children, and have offered my life to God more than once for that very thing. (Which I noticed that my wife said the same thing on her blog.)

So, for those of you who are my true brothers in Christ, I wanted to let you know that you now have another new brother.

To God be all the Glory!

show me your faith (2)

I have heard many people recently, with their warm fuzzy feelings, use phrases like, you know its "...the time to show our faith in Jesus as Lord." They say it so casually and flippantly. It rolls off their tongues or clicks off their fingers as they type it on their blogs or their e-mails. The question I have is this... Do you even know what you are talking about?

James, the brother of Jesus, started his walk on the earth with no faith in Christ. He may have thought that he had faith in God, but as Christ walked this earth, it was put to the test. He didn't believe in God's living word.

After Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected, James became a believer. He became a prominent leader in the church, and wrote the book of James. You will be hard-pressed to find another book that pictures faith the way James does. He says things like this, "What good does it do to say that you have faith if you don't have any deeds? Can that kind of faith even save you?" It is of course a rhetorical question. The obvious answer is NO.

Real faith is an action producing thing. You can't have real faith without deeds.

Consider the words of James a few verses later. "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that --- and shudder!"

I would like to point out that the word "believe" is that same word that is found in John 3:16. It is the greek word pisteuos. It means, adherence to or commitment to.

He goes on to say, "You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?"

I used to get confused about this verse. It seemed almost contradictory to the passages in Romans that talk about how Abraham was considered righteous by his faith, yet here it is talking about how he was considered righteous by his deeds. To understand this, you need to understand that the deeds were deeds of faith. Abraham was doing what God said. That's faith.

We have the same option. God still tells us stuff. We can go to the scriptures and find His words for every area of life.

• You have kids? Are you bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?
• You have enemies? Are you loving them? Do you know what love means?
• You have an unrepentant spouse? Are you still following in love? Are you doing what it says in I Cor. 13? Are you bearing all things? Are you believing all things? Are you hoping all things? Are you enduring all things?
• Are you in a trial? (Who could say "no?") Are you showing joy? Are you exhibiting patience? Or are you just fed up and you are aiming for what you want?
• You overloaded at work? Are you trusting God that He will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able to handle?

Just like Abraham, God gives us great opportunities to show that real faith.

There are some who, instead of showing genuine faith by doing the deeds of God, will set their sights on what they want and aggressively pursue it. The sad (and appalling) thing is when a person has set their heart on their own selfish desires and in their pursuit will justify their efforts as faith.

"I am doing _____________..." or "I am going for _____________... and I have faith that God will give me what I want."

I hope you can say as James says, "Show me your faith without deeds (of God) and I will show you my faith by what I do."

(All of the James quotes come from James 2:14-26)

Huckabee

I thought that this was really good. Very interesting ideas being presented.



(Thanks to Rick)

Through the Bible

Somebody already beat me to this idea, but I am going to go for it anyway.

I have never done the 'read through the Bible in a year' thing. I have wanted to, have never gotten around to it, but I am going for it this year. I am using the ESV's site to tackle this. I subscribed to their One Year Tract plan through Google Reader, that way it is dropped to me on a daily basis, and I don't feel like anything is lost by reading it electronically.

I started on January 1st, and the first week has gone really well. I am really hoping to be consistent with this, not so that I can say that I did it, but because I believe that God's word is what it says that it is. I believe that it is living and powerful. I believe that it is sharper than any two-edged sword. I believe that it will pierce me. So, I read it, and I want to read all of it this year.

But back to my idea...

I thought the other day that I should randomly post some thoughts here from my Bible reading, and then I read this post, and I found out that I wasn't the only one with this idea. Well, even though I can't claim the idea as my own, I am still going to try to do it.

I am going to post a short thought here, just to get started:

Part of the reading is taking me through Ezra. I just finished teaching through some ancient history at school, so the story is also familiar from the secular standpoint. We looked at the Babylonian Empire and the Persian Empire, and it was interesting studying that in History because I had heard the Bible stories many times.

On January 3rd, I got to one section that talked about the rebuilding of the temple(Ezra 3), and I thought that the response of the people was very interesting. The people who had been there before the captivity wept when they saw the foundations of the new temples. It didn't compare to the one they had known. The younger generation rejoiced when they saw the new temple. They rejoiced that God had brought them there and that His house was being rebuilt. The author of Ezra points out that it was hard to discern between the rejoicing and the weeping, it was so loud.

What a memorable event. I am sure that day stuck out in the minds of those people for the rest of their lives.

10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

“For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”

And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

It made me wonder at the Christian Church today. We rejoice in the good things that are happening. We rejoice in the Biblical teaching and the worship. We rejoice in the love that is shown by the church to the world. ...and we should. We should rejoice in the good that God does. But...

But I wonder if the first century church would rejoice with us, or maybe they would weep.

I Won!

Susan Wise Bauer writes history books. She is very good at it. The school I am at uses her books titled, The Story of the World for several of their history courses.

I read her blog as well. It is titled The History of the (Whole) World.

I was going through my Google Reader to see if anyone had posted any New Years posts, and I ran across hers. Her family had been watching the Twilight Zone Marathon that plays every New Years on the SciFi Channel. In her last picture you could see the TV and she says that the first person who could identify the episode would get a free autographed book.

I knew it.

Now I am getting a book!

Autographed!

She gave me the option of which book I could get. I chose the book titled The Well Educated Mind. I had been wanting to get that book anyway, but now I am getting it free.

Show me your Faith

Have you ever heard anyone talk about showing faith like it is some sort of fuzzy feeling they get. Some hard circumstances come along, and they want to move on, but they don't want to completely expose their lack of concern for God's ways, so they begin talking about having faith in "all of this." They speak of it like it is the thing that helps them to keep a stiff upper lip.

James says that faith is shown in good deeds. Faith is demonstrated in action. You can say that you have faith all you want, but if you don't have any works, HA! That isn't real faith at all. It is some sort of distorted dead faith. Faith is not keeping a smile on your face and hoping for the best. It is actually Loving your enemies. (That is following the true definition of Love. Not just some sort of feeling, but acting for their good.) It is being patient towards people. It is showing kindness towards all. True faith produces aggressive good works.

Sometimes people talk about their faith as their ability to see that something good will happen. The misquote the Bible and talk about how God works things for good. What they really mean is that they are hoping that God will get His act together and give them something that they think is good. God is going to work it all out. God will give them the husband they want or the kids they want or the car they want or the life they want.

The "good" that God is working out in your life is to make you more like Christ. So, to "show our faith" is not some inward feeling but an outward expression. It is patience for God's work. It is meekness and kindness. It is suffering for the sake of Christ. It is those who are pure in heart.

Forget the old ways that you were doing things. The ways of selfishness and show that you actually do have faith by participating in God's Kingdom.

Sorry for the rant. It was poorly put together, but it has been on my mind all day.