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.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
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
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
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