Updates

OK, I do realize that 4 posts in one day is a bit excessive, but I thought it would be better to break them up a bit than to have one everlasting post. So now for some more current updates:

• this weekend through Monday highs did not make it out of the negatives! When I drove to work on Monday at 9 am the temperature was -15! It's a little warmer today (like +15) but is supposed to go back down by the weekend
• I was sick this weekend and did nothing for two days while it snowed and the temperature fell. The fever is gone, but I still have a monster cold
• The church is in the process of purchasing a trailer to place on our property to add more Sunday School room and a place for the youth to call their own
• While I was sick on Saturday and the temperature was plummeting, Michael went hunting. He stayed warm and brought home ducks, but he also slammed Haddie's tail in the truck door and now it's broken. We'll have to wait and see if she is ever able to wag it again :(
• And last but not least - Michael performed his first baptism! One of the kids in AWANA got saved and Michael did the baptism service at AWANA so all the kids could see.

Keep reading "previous" posts to see what else we've been up to this Fall.

I did it!

I got my deer! Her name was Jane (Doe, get it?) After we got back from vacation Michael and I went out one Saturday morning around 7 am and she was hanging in the garage by 10:30 am. That includes draging her back to the truck for about a mile.
For those of you unfamilliar with hunting photography, usually the gun is placed in the antlers of the dead animal while the hunter proudly holds up the head. We forgot the camera when we went hunting and Jane has no antlers, so. . . Anyway, if you're ever hungry for a Jane burger or some Jane steaks, come on over

Bishop Family Reunion

Here are some fun pictures from our family vacation at the cabin in North Carolina.

Sisters! (picture taken by the mother because Rosie (of Rosie's Cafe) did not seem like one of those friendly southern ladies who would be happy to take a picture for you !) :)

The Uncle Michael Home Gym!

Uncle Michael started a fun game with one neice and it turned into an all out balloon-sword battle!

More pictures to follow (sometime)

Our October Snow

What's that you say? It's December? Well, let's pretend that I've kept up with my blog a little better than I actually have and enjoy the pictures of snow. This was the earliest snow that I have seen. It was warm before the snow and after so even though it snowed over 2 feet much of it melted before it started sticking and it was all gone several days later. The pictures I've included are funny to me and show how unexpected this snow was.

The time change is killing me!

Here's what I think the deal is. I flew to the east coast on the Saturday of the time change - early morning flight and a time difference. Then I spent a week there on vacation - not a regular schedule and the time difference plus the days are longer down south. Now I'm back in Montana and recovering from the time difference and the early morning flight - but I wasn't prepared for the time change. Down south on vacation the sun was up and shining by 7 (I know this because the nieces were up by then) and it did seem to be getting dark earlier, but that's to be expected. Here at home, the sun is barely cracking the horizon by 7 and it is pitch-black dark by the time I get off work at 5:30! And the days are just going to get shorter and shorter for another 5 weeks or so. I hope I get used to it soon!

Back from Vacation

Thankfully, we don't need a vacation to recover from our vacation. We're getting some extra sleep to recover from the time change and the time difference and the early flight back, but other than that, we came back relaxed and ready to get back to business. What's the business we have to get back to?

• hunting - we have to stock the freezer for next year, send up a prayer if you will, we've got 2 weeks left
• church - music and AWANA and sermon and planning for Christmas and planning for next year
• pharmacy work - back to work, remembering what I knew before I left and learning more stuff

Also, pray for Phillip as he really was sick on vacation and the doctors are treating him for pneumonian (I actually spelled that right the first time!). Apparently, Aunt Christina also passed on the great car-sickness gene to her beautiful nieces and Anita and Phillip and to suffer through that on the way home. We love you all, and miss those we didn't get to see terribly!

Vacation

Well, I'm currently with almost everyone who reads this blog, but because my brother-in-law is making comments about how often I blog, I'm using his computer to for this post. We're in the "mountains" of North Carolina. I'm surrounded by family I haven't seen forever. My sisters and nieces that I haven't seen in two years, uncle I haven't seen since Michael and I got married and second cousins - well, I didn't know their husbands names or how many kids they had.

We're having a great time hiking around and exploring the lake and making sure my nieces and nephews remember who I am after so long. I should be blogging more later this week. Tomorrow Michael will join us. Love you, babe.

Grilling

This may not seem like the time of year for this blog title, but let me tell you a story. Last Thursday, when the snow storm was approaching, we decided to have friends over for dinner on Friday. When I asked Michael what he wanted to do for dinner - he said he would grill! When I questioned him, he said all he had to do was "step outside the garage door, what's the big deal?"

If you think that's funny, keep listening! I went to work Friday morning and told this "funny" story to my co-workers and their response was a collective blank stare. They thought that there must be more to the story, because what's the big deal about grilling in the snow?

Here's to figuring out how to do everything in the snow :)

SNOW!?!

Yes. It's Saturday late afternoon and the snow started a little less than 48 hours ago. And it's supposed to continue for another 36 hours! This is the earliest snow that I've seen since I've lived up here. There are probably 8-10 inches at our house. In town, probably 6-8. And some of our friends that live on the top of a mountain are having to wade through thigh-high drifts (that's about 2 feet of snow!) Visibility isn't too great, so everything kind of looks like a greyscale picture. I love to watch it snow!

Hope my weather report helps you cool off :)

By the way, if you need some encouragement or are always up for some good Bible reading, read Colossians and focus on all the places that tell us what we've gained in Christ, as individuals and as the church. It's a sweet, sweet time.

Back from Beth

It was such a blessing to be able to attend Beth Moore's Living Proof Live event in Billings this past weekend. Besides all the spiritual stuff I learned, I also learned that she always teaches new material for a new event - she doesn't have a "talk" that gets recycled at every Living Proof Live event. This weekend we got to hear Beth teach on a passage she has never taught on before - it was great. Isaiah 32:1-8 and she made us memorize verse 8: "A noble man makes noble plans and by noble deeds he stands." (and yes, I did actually memorize it and type it from memory) We had seven ladies from our church attend plus 3 others that we brought along with us. I'm praying for God to continue to apply His Word to our lives and to work miracles in us through it.

Michael gave a sort of "State of the Church" address on Sunday. He discounted it as a real sermon, but some people said it was the best one he's ever preached. He shared with the church the vision God has given him for our church - basically glorifying God through evangelism and discipleship. He even gave us some sanctified numbers to reach for. We're not trying to become a mega-church, but our growth does need to have some way to be evaluated. Ready for the numbers? His God-given goal for salvations is 12 in 2009 and 16 in 2010! He said if there were two camps, one of which said "How are we supposed to do that?" and the other of which said "That's all?", he would be in both camps :) He added that he loves kids and wants them to come to know the Lord, but he is burdened for the majority of these salvations to be of unchurched adults from our community! And he's already taken steps personally to adjust his schedule so that he has more time and opportunity to be evangelistic in his life. Intentionally hunting with unbelievers and playing soccer on Sunday nights with unbelievers are two of them.

We ask for your prayers that God would be glorified in our church and in the community. And also that we would be able to withstand Satan's attacks (he is always busy against those who are following the Lord.) Thanks for all your love and support. We love you.

Back in the swing of things

Well, the weather has turned to more cool days than warm ones faster than I thought it would, but I do love seeing snow on the mountains. Michael took Haddie out hunting the other day and is ready for water fowl and big game seasons to open.

Last Saturday we had a block party to kick off AWANA. It was cold and rainy, so attendance wasn't as great as we would have liked, but everyone who came had lots of fun. Our first night of AWANA was good, as well. I am working with Sparkies (K-2) this year with their new material and am excited to spend more time with the kids I had in my Vacation Bible School class.

Beth Moore is in Billings and I'm excited to be taking 8 other ladies from our church this weekend. We are also starting to plan a craft-workshop-outreach-thing to see if it will give us the opportunity to reach some women from Columbus for Christ. Michael is planning a "Bless the Hunt" event for the opening of big game season. He is teaching "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" as a men's leadership development Sunday School while my Ladies Sunday School is working it way through "A Woman After God's Own Heart."

I'm looking forward to all that God has in store for us this Fall and hope that you will pray with us as we seek His direction for our family and in our church. We love you.

Fall Has Come

Well, not really, but it's thinking about it. I see the cycle beginning. While Michael's parents were here, we had a 48 hour cool shot in the midst of days that reached the high 90s and maybe the 100s. Yesterday it was cool and cloudy and gray all day. This morning the temp in our house was 57! It's mid-80s now at 7pm, but windy and the wind is blowing around a few leaves already. I know the weather won't change permanently yet, but the hint of Fall is enough to make this Florida girl wonder if she's had enough warmth yet. Apparently the Farmer's Almanac, as well as some real-live farmers we know, think that Winter will come early this year and will be very cold and snowy. I don't really know how I feel about that. I actually have been disappointed with the lack of snow since I've move up here. On the other hand, and early, long, cold, hard Winter is not completely appealing, for some reason. I'm going to at least start praying that my flights out of Billings and back in from the family reunion will run smoothly. That's about all for now. Have a Happy Labor Day Weekend and try not to hate me too much for complaining about cooler weather as you sweat in the humid heat down south.
Love you all,
Christina

I didn't realize how long it had been. . .

until I saw that the date of my last post was August 4th! Sorry :(

Michael's parents and Grams came up for a week visit. We had a lot of fun. Grams was so fun. She kept saying "I wouln't take for that!" Meaning she wouldn't trade (the animal, dinner, view of the mountains, etc) for anything. She had a lot of fun and so did we.

Well, I've got to run to Praise Team practice, so I'll try to catch you up a little more later.

Prayer

God's been teaching me about prayer and pushing me toward prayer. Not just prayer for other people, although that is part of it. But the heart of prayer that seeks His will in every moment. For instance: I came down to church earlier that I needed to to prepare for Praise Team Practice and I asked God what He would have me do with that extra time. So, here I am writing to you about prayer.

In Sunday School we have started reading Elizabeth George's book "A Woman After God's Own Heart." In the first chapter she talks about "acknowledging God" in all situations - taking just a second in the midst of whatever the situation to check in with God and see what He would have me do. Even before we started this book God had started His work in me concerning prayer. I have been finding out that God is showing me things when I'm teaching other people that I hadn't considered or realised until they came out of my mouth. I confessed to everyone at the Women's Tea that I've been planning before I pray!

What a difference it has made to ask God how I should spend my time, who I should ask to help with certain things, even what words to use to share what He is doing in my life. I am beginning to enjoy one of the blessings Elizabeth talks about in her chapter on prayer - a deeper relationship with God. Watch out - here comes another instance of God teaching me as I type! It's kind of like human relationships - the people I feel closest to are the ones who I share the most of my life with, the ones who are intimately acquainted with even the most mundane decisions of my life. Somehow things aren't so mundane when God is involved in every decision and I can see Him working in even the smallest things.

A Little Bit About Me. . .

Name: Christina Marie Laird
I am: a pastor’s wife
I want: to be a prayer warrior
I have: more than I need and more than I deserve
I wish: ice cream were fat, sugar, and calorie free
I hate: cleaning my house, but I love it when it is clean. Speaking of which. . .
I miss: my family
I hear: the hum of the computer. If I were at home, I would hear the chimes my Mom gave me for my birthday along with birds and crickets
I wonder: about people
I am not: so good with Internet/computer technology
I always: try to avoid answering “always” and “never” questions. What if only one time it weren’t true?
I sing: along with praise CD’s in the car. Sometimes I get frustrated that the roof is too short for me to raise my hands, but since I’m driving that’s probably better anyway
I laugh: a lot with Michael
I cry: at sad TV commercials
I make: quilts
I write: prayer charts, so I don’t forget to pray for people
I regret: my rebellions
I need: more of Jesus
I am surrounded by: beauty! I try to make sure I don’t take my surroundings for granted.
I should: exercise more
I must: spend time with Jesus
I understand: that God’s ways are not my ways
I adore: my Lord
I listen: not as much as I should
I hope: in God. Not a wishing kind of hope, the knowing and waiting kind of hope
I dream: of being a mother
I celebrate: Michael!
I love: Michael!
I give: Michael! No, wait that doesn’t make any sense!
I tag: Aunt Kathy, Aunt Chrissy and. . .who else reads this blog?
(all you have to do is copy and paste this into your own blog, erase my answers, put in your own then post it) Check out my sister’s (Anita) answers on her blog. The link is to the left.

Hair, Cats and the Great Outdoors

So, here is the long awaited picture of my new hair. It actually looks different every day because I'm still trying to figure it out but, you get the idea











We also have some new members of our household. Meet Smith and Wesson. They are kittens right now so they have to be inside the house and get to know us and the area and grow up a bit before they can roam free. So how did I end up with cats, you ask? I hate them less than I hate mice :) They will be our rodent control in a few months. We haven't had any in the house, but they are in the garage, eww!






We celebrated my birthday on July 4th since I had the day off. We hiked a trail following a river called East Rosebud. Even though it is July, there is still snow in the mountains that is still melting off, this is called spring run-off. The picture to the left is not East Rosebud, it is spring run-off that is running across the trail! I realized another reason why I love Michael so much on this hike. My instinct was "this was as far as we can go and now it's time to turn back." My husband says "We can cross this!" So we did. Balancing on logs (I was thankful for my Montessori balance beam training) and hopping from stone to dry spot, we made it across! I love
the outdoors and spend much more time there than I ever thought I would. Michael takes me there and helps me go farther in the wilderness that I thought I could go. Thanks, Babe.
His adventurous spirit allowed us to see this! Isn't that amazing? The river isn't usually that big and rough, but all the extra water from the spring run-off dumping into the existing rivers has them running very high right now.

I hope you like all the pictures. I'll try to put more up more often now that I've figured out how.

Love you guys!

Locks of Love Strikes Again

You guessed it - I cut all my hair off again. As soon as I figure out how to fix it, I'll get some pictures up for you.

Our trip to Texas was fast but good. We got to see a lot of Michael's family in the short time we were there and we had a lot of fun.

When we got back Michael left with the youth to go on their mission trip, but he had to come home early. One of our church members lost her mother and Michael was called on to preach his first funeral. Thanks to the help of Pastor Roger and a lot of prayers, the family was really blessed by the service.

The church is now working on constructing our float for the Columbus Freedom Celebration Parade. The theme of the parade is thanking our troops, so we're pretty excited about that. On that same day, our youth will be joining in the community garage sale to raise money for their mission trip and other activities.

Michael has been getting into taking care of the yard. He set up the sprinkler system on it's automatic schedule and today we are weeding the flower beds and trying to plan what to do with the rest of the yard.

Perhaps this is the time to share my thoughts on being "green." I don't necessarily buy into "the whole world is coming to an end and it's all our fault." At the same time, we are called to be good stewards of the natural resources God has blessed us with (as well as the resources of money, time and talents.) That being said, I'm really more in touch with being green now that we live outside the city limits. My water comes from my ground and everything that goes down a sink or toilet ends up in my septic system or out in my drain field. So I guess that getting in touch with actual nature has gotten me in touch with my "green" self. We drive our own garbage to the dump, so I started separating out all my cardboard because they have a bin for it. There is no recycling for plastic here in Columbus but I've started saving all my milk jugs and driving them into Billings along with my plastic bags. (I wouldn't have so many of those if I could remember to bring my reuseable bags with me to the store, but I'm still working on that:)) Also, I'm making the move to chemical free cleaners. I've got to say that they are at least as good as the old standards, and in one case, much better. I hate Windex. I always have. Even their streak free stuff streaks and it makes me crazy! But I always thought that if the name brand stuff didn't work, what hope was there for generic stuff to work? Clorox has a new line of "green" products and their window cleaner doesn't streak!! I love it. Now, so as not to sound to high and mighty, I will share this very large inconsistency. Although I have become concerned about what I put down my drain because it ends up in my ground - we are trying to decide where to kill off the weeds in our yard and gravel driveway with poison that we will pray directly onto the ground. Oh well. I like the "green" stuff anyway and feel good about using it in my house.

That's probably more than you ever wanted to know about my thoughts on going "green." Anyway, I hope you all have a safe and happy Fourth of July. Remember to thank God for our freedoms and to thank our servicemen and women.

Bobcat, VBS and coming posts

Here's a quick one for those regular blog readers.

VBS was great. I had a lot of fun with the little kids and 2 or more kids from other classes came to know the Lord!

Sunday night we had some friends over to watch a soccer game and Michael called me downstairs to look at a bobcat that was looking in our window!! Michael went outside and whistled at it and it turned around and looked at Michael so he could take a couple of pictures. It was cool! I'll try to get him to post the pictures.

Coming posts that I've been thinking about but need a little time to think about in order to write: "Yada Yada" and being more green. Hope you're looking forward to them.

Well, we're off to Texas at 6am tomorrow to see Michael's family, especially his grandparents who aren't doing so well. Pray for safe travel and that we won't have plane troubles so we can make it back for church on Sunday.

Love you all,
Christina

Green

Well, it's been at least two weeks since I've been on here. We had a great time with my parents. It was so good just to BE around them, it had been awhile. God was also very gracious in the areas of weather and wildlife. We had beautiful, clear mild days to begin with. We were able to take Mom and Dad to the top of the hill and let them see two of our favorite mountain ranges, the Beartooth/Absarokas and the Crazies. Then when we went to Yellowstone National Park it was 30 degrees and snowed for most of 24 hours. It looked like a Christmas card and we saw almost every animal there was to see: elk, bison, bald eagle, grizzly bear, black bear, coyotes. . .I'm pretty sure there were more, but those are the really impressive ones.

Now they've been gone for more than a week and the countryside is really starting to green up. The snow we saw in the mountains was rain down where we live and the grass had already perked up before they left. We've had a little more rain since they left and now the trees are looking green, too. This past weekend through today the highs have been in the 80's and 90's, but tomorrow the high is in the 50's I think! Can you even believe it? 50 in the middle of May?

Last Friday Michael held his first outdoorsmen event. The guys had a lot of fun and most of the guys from the church came, but they were disappointed that only 3 men from the community were there. But, now they heard the gospel and now there are three more men to talk up the events for next time.

We are gearing up for VBS. This is the last week of school, next week is prep-week and then we're going to Outrigger Island the first week of June. I'm nervous and trying to get prepared to teach the kindergarten class - I've never taught a VBS class before let alone one so young, but I'll have a great helper in the Bridger, one of our youth. The youth are the helpers in all the classes so they can get prepared to teach the material for their mission trip two weeks later.

I think that's all to catch you up on. I love you all and I am now heading off to read your blogs and catch up on your lives for the past two weeks :)

I love Montana

I wanted to start off by saying that and here are some reasons why:
1. We have four seasons (not just summer and Christmas)
2. The pace of life is slower (even slower now that we live in the country). Maybe it's not slower, just more relaxed. Or maybe it's just me, maybe I've learned to relax. OK, enough soul-searching
3. I get to see snow-covered mountains on my way into town every day.
4. and other various reasons that I'm sure will come to me as soon as I'm done blogging.

All of that was to let you all know that I like our life and the work God has given us to do.

But, I miss my family. My parents are coming for a visit and will arrive next weekend and I can hardly wait! A whole ten days; it will be so wonderful.

On the other hand, I've been looking at my brother-in-law's blog (Phillip) and I am now officially in withdrawals from my nieces and nephews. It's been 1 1/2 years since I've seen any of them from either side of my family. I love to watch the kids at church and see the funny things they say and do and after we're here for a little while longer I'll be able to start seeing them grow up and I'm sad that I'm not getting to do that with my own family. I also can't hug my sisters when they have a bad day or just hang out with them.

Don't get too worried about me though, I have these (we'll call it homesick even though I don't miss the South at all) "homesick" episodes periodically. I can blog about it now because my Mom can't be too worried about hearing that I miss them since she's coming to see me :) I'm sure none of this "kid-missing" has anything to do with me not having any kids yet either, right?

Anyway, lets just turn this into an encouragement to love on your family whenever you may get the chance to see them. And if you see them a little more than you might like, try to think about what it would be like not to see them at all (be serious!)

I love you guys and miss you.

Spring - A Weather Rollercoaster

This time of year is what earns Montana the saying "If you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes, it will change." Two Mondays ago, it snowed 5 inches! It was not even freezing outside so it was almost melting off as fast as it was coming down, but it came down all day long. This provided much needed moisture. This past Wednesday night it rained for probably 2-3 hours! Again, much needed moisture, but in a very different form :) I've also now heard that it is supposed to get up to 70 degrees by Sunday! The clouds and wind toady are keeping me skeptical of this weather report, but we'll see. I'm planning on breaking out my flip-flops and capri pants for church if it does get that warm. As I wait for some of this moisture to start having its affect and turn things green around here, I'm wishing you all a beautiful and happy Spring.

Visiting In-Laws and Sunday School Lessons

As I write my second post in about a week, I'm really hoping that my loving aunts are giving as much flack to their own blogging-challenged daughters as they are to me :)

Well, I've got a busy week ahead. Micheal's parents are coming up at the end of the week. They are bringing Wanda's old car so they have something to drive when they come to visit and they will be here when Michael is presented with his preaching license. We are excited to be able to spend some time with them.

Also this week I'm going to be working to finish two Sunday School lessons in one so that for the rest of the year I will be teaching/outlining our Bible reading before it happens instead of afterward. I had thought of this a couple of times but not done anything about it, so God had one of my Sunday School ladies suggest it :) Isn't God good!

I now feel compelled to share with you a very interesting thing God has brought me to ponder through His word. In our Bible reading this week we started reading through Judges. Chapter 11 introduces us to Jephthah. Jephthah made a very unwise and rash promise to God and ended up sacrificing his own daughter in fulfillment of this promise (something that was expressly forbidden by God.) Reading this passage frustrates me because I wonder how someone could be so stupid. Two points: 1. It is amazing the things that don't seem wrong to us when we are far from the Lord. (or are mindlessly submerged in a culture that is far from the Lord) 2. I need to be careful not to commit myself to things without seeking the Lord's wisdom/leading in a matter first. I have several opportunities that have opened up for me this week. One is to enter the pharmacy tech training at the pharmacy where I work. This would usually be a two year degree but instead of paying for school I could get paid to work while I receive this training. The other opportunity is to be on the leadership team for the state women's ministries. How exciting! But I really want to know that either or both of these opportunities are what the Lord has for me now before I agree to either one.

Thanks for your prayers in this matter and your unending interest in our lives :)
We love you.

Gee, I Really Wish You Would Blog More

So, an unnamed aunt (who is not actually a blood relative) called me just to say "You need to blog more!" :) She's right. I'm working on working out my schedule. You see, I now work Monday through Wednesday. I'm still trying to figure out how I worked a full-time job and kept my house clean. Maybe it wasn't all that clean or maybe my house now is a lot bigger. Anyway, I haven't figured out a good schedule yet, but I'm trying. So, enough of excuses, on to the updates.

I am really liking my job at the pharmacy. As I alluded to before, three days a week is feeling like full-time to me. I have a great time while I'm at work, but when the end of Wednesday comes, I'm glad I don't have to come back again until Monday :) We are still keeping ourselves busy with working on the house. From the sound of it you'd think we live in a fixer-upper, but we don't. We're just busy making it our own.

I hope everyone had a very blessed Easter Sunday. We started ours off with an outdoor Sunrise Service. When the service was over, the temperature was 15 degrees!! My fingers and toes were the only things that got cold, though. It was a really great service in conjunction with two other churches in town. Afterwards, we had breakfast at the church and then continued with Sunday School and our regular Worship Service. Michael did his first Lord's Supper service yesterday and it was really great.

Although the temperatures from yesterday morning might look otherwise, we have actually been pretty warm here since the middle of February. Since the warm-up started so early, we thought it would get cold again before the warm weather stuck around, but it's not looking like it. We have our days here and there, but mostly the temperatures have been getting up to between 45 and 60 for the last six weeks (that's quite toasty for this time of year up here)! Michael's hoping the cold weather will peak it's head out again when my parents come to visit in April :) I was ready for the cold to stick around a little longer, but now that it's been on the way out for so long, I'm starting to get Spring fever :)

All in all, things are going quite well. We are looking forward to the presentation of Michael's preaching license, which will happen on April 6th. That Sunday Michael will also give a 100 days report of all that has happened since we got here and cast a vision for the next 100 days. Michael's parents will be joining us for that occasion, as well, so we should have a very fun and exciting day.

From the Pastor's Pen, March

Last month in our daily Bible reading schedule we read through the book of Leviticus. While it is not an easy one to stay with (lots of laws and sacrifices and stuff) there is an important picture that we should consider.

This picture comes from Leviticus 16 and the Day of Atonement. The priest was to take two goats for the sin offering; the first goat was sacrificed in the normal way and its blood sprinkled on the altar. With the second goat the priest was to lay both of his hands on its head and confess all of the sin of Israel, "and put them on the goat's head" (v. 21). Then he would drive the goat out into the wilderness and let it go, where it would "carry off on itself all their sins" (v. 22). This is where we get the term "scapegoat."

This is a great picture of what Christ has done for those who believe in Him.. "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 52:6b). Christ bore our sins on the cross. To "bear" sin means to be responsible for it, or to take the penalty for it. So Christ endured the consequences of our sin for us. The second part of the picture is this: "As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12). Like the "scapegoat," Jesus carried our sins far, far away from us and God remembers them no more.

This is just one of many beautiful pictures the Lord has given us in the Old Testament. I hope that you will consider this as you think about Easter!

Pastor Michael

From the Pastor's Pen, February

I'm going to start puting Michael's article from the church newsletter on the blog. Here goes:

"Hi there everyone! I hope that you took the opportunity to love and honor your spouse this month . . . and I'm not talking about Valentine's Day! Sure, Valentine's Day is the time when we buy flowers and chocolates and do special things for that special someone, and it is a good thing to celebrate. But God desires that we render love and honor to our spouse everyday, not just once a year. Ehpesians 5:33 says, "let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." God wants this to characterize our lives, that we consistently cherish our spouses and thereby stand out form the rest of the world. So, I hope you enjoyed Valentine's Day and did something special for your spouse, and then remembered to love and honor them the next day as well.
Pastor Michael."

Also, an update. I accepted a part-time position at the pharmacy here in Columbus. Next week we'll figure out a training schedule.

Thank You, Lord, for your continuous provision for us in the material as well as the spiritual things.

Happy Valentine's Day

My valentine is slowly recovering from the flu. He's actually doing pretty well, now. Last week at this time he had a temperature of 102!

I had a job interview yesterday. I haven't heard anything back yet, but I also haven't gotten a clear word from God yet on wether to take it or not, either. The prospect of starting a job with my house in its current condition put a little fear into me, though. So, I'm going to give another big push to try to make the house visitor ready.

Michael's choice for a Valentine's Day treat is Tres Leches, so I have to go home and cook. My choice? Take-out pizza :) I know, romantic, right? Now he has the job of coming up with a fun valentine activity. Fun, in this case, means cheap or free and he can't wear himself out and have a relapse of the flu. Here's hoping you have some Valentine's plans to look forward to.

Directions

Hello, all. I thought I'd try to give everyone a smile, if not a laugh, by showing you the directions we were given to the Super Bowl party we attended. I'll add explanatory comments in parenthasis.

East on Highway 10 to top of East Hill (there is no sign for "East Hill")
Turn left on Columbus-Molt Rd.
Follow road signs to stay on Columbus-Molt Rd. for 8 or 9 miles to Teeters Hill (this hill does have a sign)
You're Half Way!!!
Now we are going to count cattle guards
(Cattle guards are a series of metal rods stretching across the road with gaps in between making it hard for free range cattle to walk over them and escape)
There are 6 (cattle gurads) to count.
Oil Well Rd. is a half mile past the 6th cattle guard
Turn right on Oil Well Rd
Two cattle guards to go!!
After the 2nd, go 1/4 mile and turn right at 212 - OK Ranch
The blue house is it!
Make sure you have the following:
coat
spare tire
water and food supply
half tank of gas
compass
flashlight

Hope to see you for the game!!!!

P.S. Cell will only work on Teeters Hill.

!!!!!GO TO THE RESTROOM BEFORE YOU LEAVE TOWN!!!!!

What is cold?

We finally got some winter weather here in Montana! We got about 8 inches of snow over Saturday and Sunday. Both of our Moms wanted to know if we cancelled church. The Huttons, whose usually 30 minute drive into church took them 1 1/2 hours on Sunday would have been very disappointed if we weren't there for church! Our attendance was down a bit, but cold and snow don't stop us up here!

Monday the snow clouds cleared out, so thing got pretty cold. When we left Columbus at about 2:30 pm it was a balmy -4. We went to the state evangelism conference in Bozeman. That night in Bozeman the temperature dropped to -25! The coldest it ever got in Helena was around -15, so this is my new coldest temp :) You may not believe me and may roll your eyes, but not having humidity makes the cold much less cold, just like it makes hot much less hot.

Michael and I are full of ideas of things for the church to do to reach out to the community and get involved in the community, but we are having to hold ourselves back a bit. We don't want to overload the church and we want to make sure ALL the families are getting involved, not just the usuals. We are excited about what God is already doing and we are looking forward to having our first new membership class sometime soon.

We love you and are thankful for your love, support and prayers.

"It's been a long time" along with "The back-up singer" and "High-tech shepherds"

Well, folks, I'm sorry to have been so out of touch lately. Don't take it personally - we are actually out of touch in every way. Due to the quitting of a satellite TV employee which delayed our receiving service and the fact that we live 6 miles outside of a rural town and therefore don't receive a signal we can pick-up with bunny-ears, we haven't even watched the news since the beginning of December! We are also too far out of town for DSL, so we are using the library computers until we have the Internet hooked up at the church.

We are moved into our new house, though. Praise the Lord! We still have painting to do and because of that we still have picture-less walls. I'm going to be working on putting out some of the "pretties" that will make our house feel more like a home. Please pray for us and we discuss a land line with the previous owners and the telephone company. There is a "situation" and/but as this is a small town we don't want to start off on the wrong foot. Michael will be talking with the telephone company today to see what info we can find out and we will be meeting with the previous owner tomorrow.

Now on to the promised funny stories from our Christmas season at our new church.

"The back-up singer"
The church has been very excited that Michael has musical talent and they were happy to welcome me onto the praise team, as well. Michael sang a special one of the Sunday mornings before Christmas. I was his back-up singer. Seriously - it wasn't even a duet because I didn't sing half the time! So, after the service we were talking to people as they left and one family came up to us and told me (the back-up singer) what a wonderful voice I had. I don't say this to pat myself on the back, I just still can't get over it! Michael sang such a beautiful song, while he accompanied himself on the guitar, and I got the compliments! I said that I was just the back-up singer and they proceeded to tell Michael that he had a pretty good voice, too. Thank goodness my husband is humble, otherwise we might have had problems (and I wouldn't be sharing this story with you) :) We've been having lots of laughs.

"High-tech shepherds"
I've seen Christmas shows on TV where, in the children's Christmas play, all the kids come wearing their bathrobes with bath towels on their heads. I've never seen anything like that in person. Perhaps that's because I've never lived anywhere where children regularly have bathrobes - I guess it's cold enough here that that's a regular thing. I must admit that I've been using mine more and more. Anyway, at least half of the kids in our church's Chrismas play were wearing their own bathrobes for the performance. That's just some fun background info. On to the shepherds. There were several groups of shepherds divided by age and therefore ability. Some groups had lines to memorize and the 4-6-year-olds sang a song. They came up to the front of the stage while everyone else took their places around the manger, admiring the baby Jesus. Most of them stayed at the front singing the words to "Away in a Manger" while they were accompanied by the piano. But there were two who were no dummies. They put two and two together (that they were singing and that the praise team uses microphones on Sunday mornings when they sing) and started trying out the microphones that were lying to the side of the stage. They kept picking up one after the other, over and over again, in hopes that they would find one that was on and become the star of the evening. I thought that was pretty good for two 4-year-olds. I think at least one of my nieces might have been in that crew :)

The new year is here now. Michael challenged the church to commit to reading the Bible through this year (thanks Pastor Paul for the idea). The Women's Sunday School class has decided to be brave and try to accomplish this even with all their kids and their work so we will be studying on Sundays what we have been reading the past week. Please pray for us as we get settled into the church and learn all the things we don't know yet (like exactly what people have to do to become members). Please also pray that God will send to me the job He has picked out for me already and that we will have the patience and financial planning to wait!

We love you all, hope you were blessed as you celebrated Christ's birth, and pray that God will draw you closer to Himself in the new year.