Short and Sweet


I took the boys to church at Trinity Bible Church today. It was a nice, big, juicy steak. The Bible was preached... no bells or whistles, just truth. I liked it!

The message was from 2 Timothy 2:1-13.  My take-away:


  1. The Christian suffers while walking by faith following Christ like the soldier, the athlete and the farmer.
  2. The soldier must stay focused.  So must the Christian: eyes on the prize- Christ face to face!
  3. The athlete must know the rules to properly play the game.  Know God's spiritual "rules" so you won't be disqualified.  
  4. The farmer must be patient.  So must the Christian: years of investing your life with no results may be the case, but in the end, there will be a harvest that makes up for it all!


And there was desert too: A nice young family with kids my kids' age introduced themselves and their kids were very quick to say how much they loved the youth group and middle school Bible study on Wednesday nights.

We will go back next Sunday.

Hopefully the run of whatever has taken 2 out of 4 members of our household down with pneumonia is over!  Good riddance!  That was no fun.

When it's time to start thinking about what's best for mom and dad cause their health is failing or may begin failing soon... it's hard.  As far as I know I'm still 16 and my parents are still in their 30's.  I guess I need to face reality and start praying and thinking about these things.  Wish I lived closer to my parents so I could just be there.  It's hard.

I'm having the greatest fun making a variety of goat milk soaps!  No matter where this goes, I think I've got a hobby that won't be going away.  You know what you'll be getting from me for Christmas.

Well, better hit the hay.  Tomorrow I'm only a goat farmer for about an hour at sunrise before donning the nurse scrubs and heading into the hospital for a 12 hour, 9000 + step shift.


Quieted,
Sheila

Church Hunting Woes

It was a like a mini Pathway reunion this morning. I took my boys to worship and listen to our friend from our old church preach at Grace Bible Church of Phoenix today. I got the pleasure of hugging my pastor and friends I haven't seen in a month from Pathway. Miss them. A lot.

I've never been in the position I am right now- looking for a church.  I always sort of knew which church I belonged to by the name on the door.  At least that's been my experience for most of my life.  As a child it was the Church of Christ with my parents.  As a newly married adult I started attending a Calvary Chapel (big change from Church of Christ) and continued with Calvary Chapels until a few years ago.

The teaching gift I was blessed to learn under at Pathway is unmatched anywhere I've been.  And I kinda feel like I probably won't find another Pastor Craig anywhere.  And that's O.K. I guess.  I'm just kinda bummed about it.  I learned so much and unlearned a lot of fluff.

I've attended one baptist church and today's church since I began looking for a church a month ago.  The baptist church, after last Sunday, is out for me.  I can't do fluff.  I need Bible.  Not tid-bits, sugar coated with bells and whistles so that you are so distracted by the bells and whistles and sugar coating you can't really taste the, "pure milk of the word" anymore.

I enjoyed the teaching today very much!  But he's not the pastor there so we'll have to go back again and see.

Also, I have a problem with singing patriotic songs in church.  I don't know that I can do a good job of explaining why.

The whole religious-right-America-is-a-Christian-nation-and-we're-taking-her-back thing bothers me.  America is very blessed by God, but I don't believe her blessing is in correlation to her Christian-ness.  The kingdom of God is from every nation and tribe throughout the world.  No one country enjoys exclusivity with God. When I lament the state of our nation it's not because I think Barrak Obama is taking away what once was a godly nation and turning it into a godless one.  I lament because sin pervades and wrong is called right and right is called wrong and sooner or later it's going to have it's deadly effects on our nation.  I love America but I don't approve of her in many ways.  I love her, I want what's best for her and I grieve that she chooses a path that's destructive to our society.  But this has no bearing on my worship of God corporately.  Whether America is governed by  Judeo-Christian values or is an enemy of Judeo-Christian values, when I gather to sing praises to God and hear the preaching of God's word with other believers I want to do just that.  I don't want to mix in anything that looks or sounds like Christianity is American or America is Christianity.

O.K.  that's my church hunting woes for the week.



Quieted,
Sheila

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter." - Martin Luther King Jr.

I have been silent. And this post probably won't exactly be the voice heard round the world.  But in a society where social media is the public square I feel like I'm trying to hide in the shadows if I don't speak up even though I know speaking up will most likely get me rejection.

I have many dearly loved gay and lesbian friends and family. I just want to say I love you! My disagreement with the Supreme Court's views (and society in general) about marriage and homosexuality is because I have a love for you that I believe comes from God.  It's not bigotry.  It's not hate.   It's not fear.  It's not prejudice.  I disagree, but I love you.

I will listen to you and be your friend. I will never shun you because you embrace what I believe to be what's not right.  I know you are coming from a position of what you believe is right.  I too am coming from a position of what I believe is right.  I believe what is right is defined by God.  I believe he is the one who created marriage.  I believe he is the Creator of human sexuality and knows what's good and right for us.

I believe there was a real man named Jesus of Nazareth who walked our soil a couple thousand years ago. He was the only right man. I believe He was the only God-Man. I believe he is the only one who has the real right to say what's right and what's wrong.

He was, and is, a friend of sinners.

I too was a lover of my own version of sexuality and my own version of what is right once. But when I heard Christ's loving call to leave all that behind and follow him and I saw the love and the forgiveness and the offer of life in him that I could not resist.

And so I follow him. Not the culture. Not fear. Not prejudice. Not popular opinion. Not my own desires even. I follow the Friend of Sinners who calls us out of the tangled mess we weave of our lives into true freedom. True life. True love. True peace.

So I love you family and friends!  You know who you are. I really do love you with the love that the friend of sinners has loved me with. I love you and I call to you with him to leave what you define as right for what he defines as right. He is full of love and truth.

And if you find this to be bigotry or prejudice or hateful I would just ask, would you have coffee with me?  Would you sit down with me and listen, and let me listen to you, even though you don't agree with me?  Would you get to know me and see if my life is one that reflects the love I claim?

Quieted,
Sheila

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