The Journey

Do you want to know who one of my favorite women of the Bible is? No, it's not Mary. Or Esther. Give up? It's Deborah. Bet you didn't guess her! You may be wondering what this has to do with the title of this post. I admit, Deborah isn't a very talked about woman and there's not much known about her, but there's not much that we know about encouraging the boys in our lives to become men either. If you were to ask just me and me alone how to do this, I would have to tell you that I honestly don't know. But Deborah does. Let's take a look at what we do know about our dear Deborah: She lived in a time when everyone around her was doing anything but what God had commanded them. (Judges 4:1) She was being plagued by an enemy nation that seemed like all it wanted to do was pick on her people. (Judges 4:2,3) She was in an unusual position of authority (that most women in that time period did not have) as a prophetess and judge. Everyone and anyone w...

Whew! It's been a long time since I've written anything on here other than that little advertisement for the Living On The Edge sermon. And I think by now I owe you guys an update. So here it goes! The first camp we took part in this summer was the camp for people with disabilities. It was so  much fun seeing some old friends and getting to know new ones. All of the people who came as participants- or campers- were Romanian, but out of the leaders and volunteers we had a little bit of diversity. There were three girls from Ukraine who all spoke Romanian, several people from Britain (most of whom were Scottish and only spoke a little Romanian), and the Luse family minus Rebecca (from America, in case you didn't know, and all speaking Romanian fairly well). Since there were so many people who didn't speak Romanian, Kenneth and I did more translating than I think we have ever done in our lives. Alyssa, mom, and dad would be able to say the same thing except they were ...

Just a few minutes ago I listened to a message in Chip Ingram's God As He Longs For You To See Him  called Is Your God Too Small? Part 2. And I was blown away. I've been a Christian for close to ten years now. You'd think my view of God would be better than most. But... to be honest... the "test" that Chip gives at the end of the message cut me to the heart. At best, I could probably give myself a six in each category. Don't think that I don't see God and don't have a pretty good idea who He is. But do I really have that, "Wow...", blown away feeling when I think of Him? Do I think of Him that much- in all His intricacies and not in basic brush strokes? And can others SEE that? Chip has convicted me today to spend more time- 180 seconds precisely- before I pray just pondering who God is. Just to sit there and meditate on His awesomeness. So I have a challenge for you, too, but you had better act fast because I don't know how...

Emotions. Fear. Joy. Hatred. Euphoria. Anger. Love. Loneliness. These are all only a few examples of the many complex entities that we package into one tiny word- emotions. Sometimes they seem to live and breathe of their own volition. One will grab us, shake us, try and control us. And then in the next minute it will disappear as quickly as it came and another will pop up in its place. In today's society, the subject of emotions is something many Christians have a strong opinion about. They read a passage from Scripture that says, "Fear not," so they believe that all fear is wrong. Others read that "God is love" and latch onto that, believing that we are to love, love, love people to the point of accepting everything about them- including their sins that they refuse to change. I'm just going to say it right now: Christians need to stop seeing emotions at black and white (i.e.- all good or all bad). They need to take a good long look at not only w...

Pride. It's the bane of our existence. No, I'm not talking about patriotic or paternal pride. I'm talking about the silent and deadly type. The kind that causes so much trouble. "Trouble?" you may ask, "What trouble?" Let's think for a moment. What was the first sin? No, not the first sin that man committed, but the other one. The Bible says: "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' -Isaiah 14:12-14 I would argue that the first sin was committed by Satan. He thought he could be god better than God. What do we call that? Pride. Now, I would also argue that there are two main types of pride. ...

Written by Rebecca L. Will increased DVR use cut into TV advertising revenue? The more people use their DVR the greater the negative affect is on the TV advertising revenue. With each new generation comes a lack of patience, especially when it comes to their entertainment. People used to enjoy watching commercials as well as shows because it opened their eyes to the many new products that had just entered the market. Now that we have the internet with search engines and store fliers with lists of products people feel that commercials are unnecessary and only cut into their entertainment time. This impatience with TV advertisements causes people to DVR their shows so that they can watch them unhindered by constant 15 min. breaks. Even if this seems like a plus to most of us we rarely realize just how big of an affect we have on the businesses who advertise and on the TV channels that broadcast the commercials. Businesses pay a lot of money in order to advertise their...

In my previous post Prince Charming: Real or Pretender , we discussed what a princess looks for in a prince. We made the point that sometimes it's hard to tell the real thing from a royal pretender. Well, today we are going to turn the tables. We're going to take a good look at ourselves and determine if we are a Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. You all remember the stories, right? In Sleeping Beauty  the princess is fated to prick her finger on a spindle and die on her eighteenth birthday. But one of her fairy godmothers changes the curse so that she actually falls asleep for a hundred years before her prince comes to wake her up. The second story, Snow White , is about a beautiful girl who incurs the wrath of her stepmother and has to flee for her life. She runs as far as she can until she discovers a little hut where seven dwarfs live and she offers to clean and cook for them. After spending many days there, she is tricked and killed by her stepmother. However, a prince...