Happy Sad

Rom 12:15 "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn."

Same event, as long as you know the person that died is in heaven in glory. But they will be missed.

Titus 3:7 "so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."

Tis the Season

Well, it does seem to be a season where things become very busy. This morning I had my quiet time and saw that it had been over a week since I had it. I also thought about how I haven't been doing well with my scripture intake. Anyone else having trouble keeping their priorities straight?

So now I'm going to try and get back to spending time with God and His word. Things have been busy with Christmas parties and also a few times of me being sick which wasn't pleasant.

Hope everyone is having a good time this Christmas season. For some deeper thought, why do we celebrate Christmas or birthdays in general? I haven't researched it much, but it isn't from the Bible that I've seen. Going through the gospels this month looking at the Christmas stories. Read Mark 1 this morning and that is what made me wonder about celebrating Christmas.

Going Along

Things are cruising along. Trying to keep the good habits, but continue to focus on the purpose. Instead of being bogged down by having a "chore" to do, I remember that having order is pleasing to God. Taking care of the blessings He has given is important. Though I think we have too much stuff and could do better with what He has given. That is an area that still needs improving, but things are going well. It is a process, and for now I feel I'm making progress.

Observe

Ephesians 5:15-16

Not Mine

So tonight I heard something interesting. The concept is that we become too attached to things that we wrongfully consider ours. For example, if a child has a plate we call it "their" plate, or they call it "my" plate. But it is really their parents plate.

The point is that this world is not our home. As Christians we have a future/eternal home. We take possession of things that are really just on loan from God and belong to Him. We say my house or my car, but really we should probably just be saying the house and the car. These things are God's. Yes, we are responsible for them, they are on loan to us so we are to take care of them, but we are to seek God's interests, and not our own. We should not live to pay the mortgage. Matthew 6:33, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

Makes me wonder how much stuff I have that I shouldn't. Do I spend too much time maintaining things of no eternal worth? I think so, but other things such as a vehicle are useful to transport me, and the house to live in is needed too. Not sure about this computer, but it serves as a good means of communication.

Just something I wanted to share. Hope you guys like reading my posts. I would like to post more often, but struggle with finding the time. Maybe blogging isn't even a good use of my time, maybe I should do it less, but I think it helps sort out some of my thoughts. I enjoy thinking out loud.

Still learning

Eternal Perspective
This is what I've been looking at this week for DFL. Matthew 6:33 is the memory verse, but you need the verses before it to understand what "these things" are. Luke 6:20-24 I believe is the passage we are looking at. I think this has really helped me to endure the difficulty of getting a driver's license. I think without studying this so recently I would have been annoyed by the tag agency server crashing when I try to renew my license.

Bike Care
I do not maintain my bike properly. I need to invest in some cleaner/lubricant for my bike and be better about it. Probably should do something for my car too, it is more expensive though.

Bike clothing
I'm still trying to figure out why my arms get so hot and sweaty. my hands get cold, but that is fixed with heavy gloves, my torso has the wind to cool it off, but my arms just sit there being hot. Maybe I just need to not wear the long sleeve under the jacket. I think this stuff will be worked out over time.

Marriage
I can do better. It sounds better in my head. Let me try rephrasing that... "I can do more for my marriage." That sounds better right? My marriage is great, but it can still be improved. I think a lot of that requires the eternal perspective. I need to focus on what really counts. Let the little things go, but also do little things that help. Maybe a better way to say that is to deny myself. Luke 9:23-24

Blogging
Somewhat fun, but hard to fit into the schedule. I think doing themes is a good motivation to make posts, but just doing random things like this is harder. Hopefully I can pick a theme soon and get in a good routine. I like blogging because it provides an opportunity to think things out and reflect.

Time
So much time, yet it is so easily lost. Lost may not be the best word. Maybe wasted. Time is so easily wasted.

Perspective

So for DFL we are looking at having an eternal perspective. This is really interesting when looking at Luke 6:20-26. My first thought is how comfortable life is for me, and how that could work against me, but at the same time it isn't. It is about what we pursue. Matt 6 should go along with this. In Matt 6:33 we see that God will meet our needs if we seek Him.

Short term goals

Well, Julie has a short term goal to lose 5 lbs before Christmas. This is great, I'm so glad she is actually making goals for herself. I'm going to join her in her fitness, not the losing of 5 lbs. I would rather gain weight, but I could use the training and exercise.

Unfortunately this reminds me of my goal of memorizing scripture which I have already got messed up with. I think that is my biggest problem with the holidays. It messes up any routines I have.

Last time I was working on:
Judgement, Romans 14:12
"So then, each of us is to give an account of himself to God." Rom 14:12

Yeah yeah, I know it is easy, but it is on the list. It just gets balanced out by the new one.

Matthew 28: 18-20
"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'" Matt 28:18-20

Now that is going to be much harder. So now I have some more motivation to spiritually exercise since Julie is wanting to physically. I just don't want to fail at my job as being priest to my family. I think this is one area where most men fall short. But reading Romans 14:12 you really don't want to have to stand before God and give an account of how you were too busy with hobbies/entertainment to train your family.

Faith and Works

James chapter 2 of course.  

As I though over this chapter of scripture it started to make since.  Works is the natural outflow of faith.  So we shouldn't have to truly strive for good works, it should be a natural outpouring of our faith.  

Faith without works is dead.  What is the point?  To bring glory to God.  Does faith without works bring glory to God?  I would say no.  Possibly even worse than that.  Faith without works may be considered a disgrace to God.  Jesus Christ transforms lives.  If you don't have works then you are not letting God work in Your life.  

So how do you increase Your good works?  Maybe by increasing Your faith.  First you need to be involved and not isolated.  You need to have opportunities, and take them.  Short term missions are wonderful.  Raising kids in the love of Christ is incredible.  But if you have faith in Christ, and understand that He is in control then wouldn't you naturally want to serve Him and do things for the God of the universe?  He is God!  What is more important than serving Him?

Freedom

1 Corithians 10: 23 says, "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.  All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

But often times verse 24 is left out.  "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor."

I'm not sure how many times I have used verse 23 to excuse some sort of behavior or action.  If other people have a concern/problem with something then maybe it shouldn't be excused so easily.  Especially if that person is also a believer.  Christians are supposed to be different, there is something magnetic about a new life in Christ, and they need to see that.  

So the question may be if verse 23 is still true.  Yes it is, but take into account how things are veiwed by others. 

Trying to establish a routine

The good news is that time isn't flying by real quick and I get to enjoy the kids while they are young.  The bad news is that time isn't flying by real quick and the nights aren't a restful as the once were.  

Over the past couple weeks I've learned just how much my hobbies cut into the limited time I have.  I like to play video games, and played a lot that first week Katie was around.  We had plenty of help people brought us food (and still do), and I only worked half days.  But the next week I worked a full week and what a difference that makes.  So I think I need to reexamine how I spend my time.  That week I really didn't play much at all with my video games.  Which is ok.  I enjoy my games, but they aren't fullfilling.  This week I'm trying to increase how much reading I do.  There are so many good books I already have and want to read.  Last Friday we finished reading through the ESV Bible, so now we are reading through a narrated chronological bible.  I can't remember what version, but I think NIV.  

But is reading books all that important?  I say no.  I try to spend more time with my son during the day and he goes to bed around 8, so that is when I take time to read.  Last night was great, Julie had the TV off so I read some with her and I enjoyed it.  The house just feels so much more peaceful without the TV.

Big or Little Problem

Two days ago my palm pilot wouldn't turn on. Well, this is an unusual problem, so I did what I had to do and pressed the reset button in the back. Pressing the button had the wonderful result of turning on the unit, but with it I lost all my data. I mean all my data, except for the date, somehow it remembered it was Aug 13th. As a result, this loss of data was an inconvenience, but not really a big one. I knew I hadn't backed up my palm in several weeks, so that was a disappointment, but still nothing really big. But for some people I could see them reacting horribly. They would think this was some really big problem, but I just can't see why. It is annoying yes, but not a real issue. The PDA is a convenience, and you can live without it. Just like a cell phone, people seem way too attached to them.

On a completely separate note my health is fine, apparently my past illness caused my stomach acid to act up but I have some meds to take care of that, and I'm doing well.