Joshua

I was commenting on a post "False Assumptions by IreneQ and decided I needed to blog my comment!

Have you seen the movie "Joshua"? It's based on the novels by Joseph Gizone. The premise is that a stranger moves into town and is able to bring the town together and make it a real community. Everyone wonders who this stranger is. It is a great movie, filled with wit and humor and heart-tugs. One scene sticks with me more than any other.

You see, this stranger is apparantly sent from God and the viewer wonders if he is an angel or Jesus himself. One night as he is walking around town, (now we know what he drives...he doesn't drive!) he comes upon a tent revival. Real live revival meeting! Tent and all, with a cross on top and everything! The preacher is dressed in a stereotypical evangelist shiny suit is ready to do some "healing". He walks to a girl in a wheelchair and amazingly after a tiny prayer she is healed and can walk. It's a "miracle"! Joshua is witnessing all this and when the tent is silent during corporate prayer, he approaches the stage and calls out to the preacher that "you don't need to do this." This is an interruption and distraction of course, and the preacher politely reprimands Joshua who continues on toward the stage.

As a Christian I struggle with being critical of others and very judgmental. I was waiting for Joshua to really let this "preacher" have it and tell him how it really is! I was really waiting to see what was going to happen next...

Joshua got close enough to the preacher to whisper to him..."I know you want to have the faith" and gently grabbed the man's hand to hold it. The preacher wasn't sure of what just happened, but his whole countenance began to change.

That grabbed me. I am so quick to look at another Christian and criticize their "false beliefs" and/or "teachings". I never thought about the fact that they could be seeking Him just as I am. While we do need to use discernment when we hear any teaching, we also need to listen and discern with love. Joshua knew the heart of the preacher, so in a way he did have an advantage, but it got me thinking...shouldn't I give the benefit of the doubt? I can't know a heart like Christ does, but if Christ lives within me...and I can learn to trust the Spirit, wouldn't that help me to know the heart of another?

I thought the preacher should have been scolded...Joshua held the man's hand and whispered to him in love.

I WANT TO BE LIKE THAT!

State of the Union

All have their own opinion. I have mine. I am thankful to have George W in the White House. Do I agree with everything he says/does? No, but I really believe he has in his mind and his heart what is best for this country and our people, and the world. I believe he does do his best to seek God's will and he does understand the responsibility he has leading this powerful nation. He understands that there are long-range consequences for each decision he makes, and I do not believe he makes any of them hastily.

What confirms this to me? Simply, the fact that he has lost so much popular opinion in the polls. Most of the time when God decides to move, it doesn't go over very well with the people involved. The economy is down, that is never popular. People are losing jobs, that is never popular. There is a grim possibility of war and that is definately not something America desires. I don't see our president bowing to the whims of what's popular. I don't see him worrying about what the liberals think. I don't see him trying to convince anyone to join him in his beliefs. I see him acting on his beliefs, even if it is not popular. I see him attempting to gain support, but whether or not he gets it, it doesn't change what is right, it doesn't change his decision. I admire that in our president.

Pray for our leaders. Pray for the world's leaders and all its peoples.

My Impact List

I have an "impact list". This is a list of a few people I know that are non-believers. One of these people is someone I see almost daily. I am not sure I know exactly where she is at spiritually, except that she is lost. She's a good person who seems easily swayed by any doctrine that "feels right". She doesn't consider herself "religious", but I do see her as somewhat "spiritual" although in a "new age" sort of way. She doesn't practice any sort of religion that I know of, she simply lives life. She knows my beliefs and she appreciates that I don't "preach" at her. She is very turned off by "street evangelism" as I'd call it...something really confrontational. She laughs off the gospel tracks that people occasionally leave in the store. I pray for her salvation.

I invite her to church every now and then and never really push the subject with her because it would turn her off completely. She is a person who likes to do good for other people. She donates money to charities and stuff, and is always talking about wanting to "make a difference in the world." At Christmas, our church took food to the needy and brought the people back to the church for a celebration...a party. I saw it as an opportunity to invite this person to come with me and I didn't even have to invite! As soon as I mentioned what it was we were going to be doing, she jumped at the chance to help! She came along, donated food, and sat next to me at the celebration which involved Chuch sharing the Christmas story and presenting the gospel! I was glowing inside and had to work to keep from exploding that she was hearing the gospel. After that, nothing much came of anything.

Today, I saw God work in awesome ways for my friend Katie who will most likely blog about that in the next couple of days, so I won't steal the thunder right now. It was awesome though and I shared it with this person on my impact list. She said "wow, that's some good karma!" and I chuckled and replied "no, not karma, God." and she then said "Oh yeah, you believe in God. It's easier for me to believe in karma."

Easier to believe in karma? What the heck does that mean? I didn't get a chance to ask her...but I will have to someday soon. She's moving in a few weeks! Easier to believe in karma?

Big Blessing, Small Prayer

I was blessed at church today when Chuck prayed for the other churches who were having services. He prayed that their worship would glorify God and that hearts would be transformed. In a day where mentalities include "my church is bigger than your church" it was humbling to hear a simple prayer that was so purposeful. Hearts are transformed during worship. Hearts are transformed by the Spirit of God that lives in a great many churches. We should pray for each other more.

Evil Returning

Author: Katie

First of all, I want to thank those who shared there awesome comments and offered such great insight on the temptation of Lucifer. Now I have something else to share. Before continuing I would like to warn all brain bleeders that you might need to have your emergency medical kit handy.

I know that angels are created to worship God. I may be wrong here because I don't have my Bible at hand but from what I understand, angels don't have the freedom to choose right or wrong. They were created to worship God and if they don't they fall and that's it. This is why angels can't receive salvation. They were created to worship and serve God alone. This is why when the fall.......it's the end of the story for them! There's no going back because there is no redemption for the angels. Now, as far as evil in heaven........

If nobody tempted Lucifer and it was something that just came from within, something internal, if this is true then God can not destroy all evil. Just as it came from nothing in Lucifer, what's to stop it from coming back in some other self righteous vain angel after all evil is destroyed? I'm not being critical. This is just another ponderable! I can't wait to hear your response! I love seeing numbers in the comment section!!!!!!!!

Cheerful Giving

Author: Katie

I love my Father. He is wonderful, loving, more than anything I can put into words....He just.......IS! I have been in a situation of financial need and I have been anticipating what God will do through it all. However, it came to the issue of paying tithes on some left over scholarship funds from school. I take advantage of this during the semester to help with expenses since I am schooling and parenting full time and not available for a full time job. With the child support checks, and some help from one of my precious gifts from God (Sue), I managed to get by. Now that the child support isn't coming in anymore, I thought it wise to stretch the left over scholarship money as far as possible. I was struggling because I really wanted to pay tithes but by not paying tithes, maybe that would free Sue up a little on the financial end. I have been praying about it.

Today, for some reason, the church passed around the collection basket (this is not a regular practice at our church). I felt that I should at least give something back to the Provider in my life. When I did, immediately after the service, another precious sister in my church gave me a card. It was a beautiful card that brought tears to my eyes. Especially when I saw that it contained a check that was over and beyond the gift I had put in the collection basket. As if it weren't enough that I had Godbumps during worship and was blessed by many spontaneous acts of worship today. What an awesome message about Looney Bird churches (That's another blog! LOL). I AM SO BLESSED! I don't know why God has put me in Northbrook or why He has blessed our church with so many wise and gifted teachers. I don't know why our body is there but every member of the body DOES have a part and every part fits. Only God can do something like that! Wooohoooo! I praise His holy, beautiful, wonderful, magnificent awesome name!

Secularization

Author: Katie

I am currently enrolled in a secular college. Through out the past few semesters I have had to hear over and over how we can't discuss things from a religious perspective. We have to see things from a "Literary" point of view. I am being taught about evolution by a man who graduated from a baptist seminary! To hear biology taught as "these are the facts and this is the way it is" drives me crazy. All of science is based on theories. Even facts are never absolute. For instance if you see a wall and the color is blue....under a microscope that may not be the color at all. It's all a matter of which way the light is bending and the kind of lighting in the room. What if the wall looks white and you put a black light bulb in a room....the color is different then. The only absolute is God He never changes. He is, always has been and always will be God, and He is the one who is spoken of as a "belief" or "idea" or a "philosophy" or simply, an "opinion" that I am not allowed to share in class. Why is it that the secular world has the right to teach me things that go against my beliefs but I am not allowed to take a stand for what I believe in? I get so sick of it.

Why do I have to dish out oodles of cash to go to a private Christian school to be taught Truth? Why can't Truth just be taught in secular schools? It really bothers me when I'm in my biology class and I'm being told that I evolved from an ape as if I really did! I am forced to sit back and accept that point of view. I sit there and think about how I'm being taught lies. I have to take tests and answer multiple choice questions about science and if I write down what I believe to be true.........it's wrong. So, I have to take what I am taught (that I believe is a lie) and pretend that I believe it.

Last semester I had to give a persuasion speech on cloning. One person......ONE... in our group would not speak against it so the entire group decided that we would pretend that we support it even though 3 out of 4 of us didn't. So, I had the biggest part of the speech and I had to persuade people that cloning was ethical. IT'S NOT ETHICAL AT ALL AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED! IT'S ABOMINABLE!!!!! I hated it but yet, in order to get where I have to go to get my degree, I am forced to play their game their way. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that soon I will attend a Christian college to finish getting my degree. Then, I will be able to counteract all that I have been forced to do in school. I am cooperating now......but God's day will come. He is equipping me to teach Truth, and I will do my best to undo the injustice that has been done to me since I began college. I just can't wait until it's my turn.