Sunday, October 28, 2001

 > > > >  court | 10/28/2001 11:38:47 PM | linky <

  Sorry for the lack of updates, all... I've been on the job hunt, so things have been a lil' wacky 'round here.

Got to see Timber tonight at my church. These guys are awesome... their concert experience is not about getting into the band and becoming a "fan" (though that is highly possible... the lead singer is kinda cute too :) but rather directing your attention upward, towards God, and focusing your worship onto Him through song. The songs are awesome and the "concert" seemed entirely too short... the mark of a good one in my opinion. I've mentioned this before, but if you see that these guys are coming to your area (check out their tour section), do yourself a favor and check them out! You will NOT regret it.

"The God of the heavens loves you... He welcomes you with open arms."

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    Sunday, October 21, 2001

 > > > >  court | 10/21/2001 05:45:29 PM | linky <

  Hey hey! Thanks for adding us, DYL! :D

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    Saturday, October 20, 2001

 > > > >  court | 10/20/2001 09:37:50 PM | linky <

  If you would pray for me and my future, I would really appreciate it.

My computer is back up and running after surviving a motherboard meltdown. Technology ain't pretty sometimes.. :)

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    Wednesday, October 17, 2001

 > > > >  laurel | 10/17/2001 09:46:49 PM | linky <

  I've been placed in two ministry roles recently that I feel completely inadequate in. It's very wierd because for the past couple of years I've been serving in roles I felt completely sufficient in; and now, now it's just like wandering around in a dark room. Apparently I'm doing OK, but it really doesn't feel that way. OY. But God is truly good all the time. Somehow this is preparing me for future. :)
"For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Phil. 2:13
I can't wait to look back on life and see how perfectly all this was arranged, though as i go through it chaos would seem a better name for it.

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 > > > >  court | 10/17/2001 05:54:44 PM | linky <

  Is it slightly disturbing that the Qur'an (Koran) states "Take not the Jews and Christians as friends... Slay the idolaters (non-Muslims) wherever ye find them... Fight against such... as believe not in Allah" (Surah 5:51, 9:5, 29, 41, etc., quoted in the Berean Call)?

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    Tuesday, October 16, 2001

 > > > >  court | 10/16/2001 07:33:26 PM | linky <

  Yes, we are in Washington! (State, that is..) Actually, other people used to post besides Laurel and I, but they moved away to college and kinda forgot about us, or something. You have to dig around in the archives to see what they had to say. :>

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 > > > >  court | 10/16/2001 07:14:53 PM | linky <

  My, how the time, it does fly. Sorry for the lack of updates the last 5 days; I've been dashing around like a chicken with my head cut off. The afore-mentioned "tongue thing" (as in, speaking in tongues) is coming soon; I'm still compiling notes. I added a new "stuff to buy" feature to the left column; it's full of things that mostly Laurel and I own and enjoy. Check it out if it interests you.

At church this last Sunday, a missionary from Spain spoke, and compared Christians today to the land he owns back in Spain. He said he loves the land, and loves that it's his, and loves the 250 olive trees that grow on it, but when time comes to harvest those olives, he really really doesn't like putting in all the time it takes to harvest the crop. It's hard work, but it's his land, and who else is going to harvest the olives? He said the church today is similar. We love being part of a church, and we love the things that come out of the church, but when time comes to do the work, we really really don't want to invest the extra time and effort it takes to get it done. He was saying the work is necessary, though, as it is with the olives, and when the work is done, there is such a sense of accomplishment... not to mention hearing your Father say "well done, good and faithful servant."

I'm off to Bible study. More coming soon! :)

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    Wednesday, October 10, 2001

 > > > >  laurel | 10/10/2001 06:38:06 PM | linky <

 

I am so cool.

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 > > > >  court | 10/10/2001 06:25:47 PM | linky <

  (Memo to self: write about the tongue thing later.) :D

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 > > > >  court | 10/10/2001 10:46:04 AM | linky <

  Pooey... I am less than cool. ;)

(Via a whole lot of others who have taken the quiz. :)

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 > > > >  court | 10/10/2001 12:50:43 AM | linky <

  An interesting thought struck me at college bible study tonight, when Ruth, one of the leaders, was talking about the marriage relationship and how it joins two different aspects of God's "personality:" nurturing in the woman, and "strength" and "stability" in the man, both of which are different charactaristics of God. It occured to me that, since we are created in God's image, if you take into account what she said, it's as if God "split" His image into two halves, male and female, each having different characteristics of His personality, and when they are joined in marriage, it's like making a complete bond, a complete "image." I've often heard that the marriage relationship is a parallel of God's unconditional love for us, and this thought coupled with what occured to me then struck me as very interesting.

Of course, there are some people (such as the apostle Paul) who God made complete outside of a marriage relationship, but you must admit, it's a fascinating thought.

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    Sunday, October 07, 2001

 > > > >  court | 10/7/2001 06:54:49 PM | linky <

  Today's sermon was about tithing. (is that how you spell it?) You know how sometimes the pastor is speaking, and you just know he's talking about you? Well... yeah. I need to start tithing again. :| He was talking about the blessings that are opened when you give to God what is already His, and how He has given us so much, and this is such a relatively small token in return... and it hit right to the heart. Ow. An arrow of truth.... they sting sometimes, but they're always for the better.

I've run into a few people recently who subscribe to the "there is no absolute truth" method of thinking. It must be pointed out that to say that there's no absolute truth is like saying "there is only ONE absolute truth, and that is that there is no absolute truth." It's self-contradictory. If there really was no absolute truth, how would one discern right from wrong? What would make something "bad?" The argument is usually given that "what's right for you isn't right for me." Well... how about recent events as of late... were the attacks on America OK because "it was right for the terrorists?" Humanity has pretty unanimously agreed that what was done was indeed evil. But how could it be wrong if there was no standard for right and wrong?

The answer is, there IS a standard, there is a line in the sand, there is a boundary. There is a right, and there is a wrong. Absolute truths. They are all recorded and given to us in the Bible, God's revelation to mankind. He doesn't tell us everything, but He tells us what we need to know to live our lives... He tells us what is necessary.

If there were not this standard of absolute truth, we would be lost in the darkness, groping for answers and trying to make sense out of things - and nothing would make sense, nothing would conform to any sort of justice or righteousness. It only makes sense that there is an Absolute Truth, and it is readily available to us, if we search for it... "those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved."

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 > > > >  laurel | 10/7/2001 11:46:23 AM | linky <

  I got a new worship cd (waterdeep, they're way cool), it's been very much of a reassurance that no matter what I have or am lacking in life doesn't mean anything because He'll always be there, God will always love me. That's a really simple and basic thought but it's just plain blowing my mind right now.

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor poweres, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom. 8:38-39.

That is so cool.

Huh, we're (America) bombing Afganistan as I type. I don't even know what to say. I don't know if there is anything that can be said.

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    Saturday, October 06, 2001

 > > > >  court | 10/6/2001 11:02:03 PM | linky <

  Want to give a hearty reccomendation to a (kind of) local band, Timber, who are absolutely amazing as far as a worship experience goes. If you see a nearby city on their show list, I suggest checking them out. They're great guys who write great music, and you won't be disappointed. (They're coming to my church on the 28th - I'm pretty excited!) Laurel is a fan of theirs too; she had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the lead singer, Ryan, when he led worship at a camp this last summer.

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 > > > >  court | 10/6/2001 04:11:35 PM | linky <

  Installed some comment-y things! I'm using "the dreaded Reblogger" (according to Brandon :) but at least now you can say something if you feel like it.

Have been slightly busy this week... look for more updates soon, though. (Oh, and if you feel like it, drop some comments on any previous posts that stuck out to you... I'm truly curious about what you're thinking. :D)

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    Thursday, October 04, 2001

 > > > >  laurel | 10/4/2001 11:09:45 AM | linky <

  it is absolutely beautiful today. I've been thinking about blessing alot lately. Mostly about how we tend to interpret it, (nice things, talents etc.) and how God sees it. Right there is pretty much where i'm stuck. Too short sighted to get past things I suppose. :P

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    Wednesday, October 03, 2001

 > > > >  court | 10/3/2001 06:48:03 PM | linky <

  Hmm... I'd like to put comments on this page, but am completely clueless regarding them. What's a good service? Will it even work on a crappy free host such as mine? Please email me if you want to share your vast knowledge.. :)

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    Monday, October 01, 2001

 > > > >  court | 10/1/2001 11:26:43 PM | linky <

  Laurel and me at my birthday party:

Oh yes.. we are so charming. ;)

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 > > > >  court | 10/1/2001 07:36:42 PM | linky <

  This post was interesting to me, as I've noticed quite a few people in my own home church leaving to join the local Calvary Chapel. I've never really known what CC is all about, but the points Brandon raises are interesting (though I tend to be a fan of the NKJ/NAS versions of the Bible). My own church is an "independent bible" church (named - guess what? Independent Bible Church) affiliated with IFCA International. (Formerly "Independent Fundamental Churches of America" - the name change came about because, as they say on their website: "The members of the I.F.C.A. recognized that "fundamental" no longer communicated to our world what we were about (committed to a solidly Biblical ministry). It carried all the ideas associated with radical "fundamentalists" (hate, snake handling, etc.).")

I had actually been thinking about posting something regarding a new sort of classification for Christians, since there are sooo many denominations and therefore a lot of confusion. One could call themselves an "Independent Bible Christian" (or something not so weird-sounding) if they based their faith solidly on the Bible (without relying on outside traditions/sacraments/rites/etc.), if they believed the Bible to be the infalliable word of God, if they, by faith alone (no merit of their own), recieved Jesus Christ as their savior, etc. etc. (I like this statement of faith as far as basic beliefs go.) This idea has been mulling around in my head for awhile, and I don't know if it would go anywhere, but it would be a nice way to tell if someone believed the same things as you, be they a Baptist, Calvary Chapel-ite, or what-have-you.

I dunno. It's an idea. :)

"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction."--2 Timothy 4:2 (NAS)

From the mission statement of the Berean Call: "In Acts 17:10-11 we are told that the Bereans received what was being preached to them by the Apostle Paul and were commended because they "searched the scriptures daily" to see if those things were true. We exhort followers of Christ to emulate the Bereans as they seek biblical truth."

(hey... 10-1-01. That's a palindrome. :D)

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