How do you spell stressed?

Wow! Getting ready to leave has been crazy. We have so much to take! We ar so nervous and excited all at once. The new blog is up and running, so I will post most adoption information on that blog. But keep checking, I will put some adoption stuff on here too!

Brent may use this for a devotional blog while we are gone.
If you want to join him in this devotional, pick up A Call to Die by David Nasser. I think you can get it anywhere.
It's a great challenge to go deeper with God. Hope you choose to do the study.

Pray for us.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire

As you know I was reading the book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. I finished it a week or so ago. Brent has it now.
We have also enjoyed reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Radical by David Platt. Both of these books have the same message. But what I noticed about Jim Cymbala and his wife is that they have been living out what Francis Chan and David Platt talk about in their books for years and years! They have a firey love for Christ and follows Jesus' teachings in the Bible, not a five step program. They also has a sincere love for people to be changed by Jesus. Jim Cymbala is a humble man. This shows even through his writing. He is a man of prayer. When he prays, he obeys. He doesn't come up with 1000 excuses not to do what God asked of him, he just does it and trusts God through it all.

I also love that in this book he talks about the struggles and doubts along the way that he and his wife have faced. They are not super Christians, they have fears and sins like the rest of us, but they pray and obey and let God use their weaknesses and their love to display His glory.

We had a women's conference the church this weekend. Our speaker gave a definition of the word glory. She said glory means the exact or correct estimation of who God is. How am I showing God's glory each day in my life? How are you?

I encourage you to read the books above. But mostly model your life after Jesus. He is who the world needs anyway, not another program.

New Read

I am currently reading "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" by Jim Cymbala. I need this in my life.

Well I've been reading David Platt's new book, Radical.
You have got to read. He reminds me of Francis Chan and his book Crazy Love.

Did you know there are at least 4.5 billion people on the planet who do not know Jesus? Again that is 4.5 BILLION. We've got to work harder, Christians! Seriously is our pettiness really worth someone's eternity? There was music minister in the church I grew up in who used to say "it's all gonna burn." I love that quote and use it from time to time. Nothing will last, except a person's soul. Forever. Heaven or Hell.

The chapter in which I am currently reading deals with those who have never heard the name of Jesus and whether or not they will go heaven. Platt has great thoughts on this question.

He also talks about materialism and how we have Americanized Christianity. We sit in plush and polished, church buildings that cost millions of dollars and yet give only $5000 to a mission in Africa for clean water (which by the way is an illustration he uses - so I didn't just make that up).

God has blessed us so that we can use His blessings to bless others and for His glory.

He talks about the adoptions of his sons.

This is a summer must read. Enjoy!

www.radicalthebook.com

Pagan Christianity

Well I am on the 3rd chapter of this book. It's about the sermon, formation of it, and a few great orators. I've been reading this book for about a month now and it has been a very slow read.

I do not have the book in front of me right now, so I will not be able to put a few quotes that I thought were good. There are really interesting history bites in this book, such as pews. When they were first invented they were sold to families. Each family would sit and decorate their bench. No one else was allowed to sit there. It became almost a competition to see who could decorate their bench as the best with pillows, curtains, and such. It became a source that caused fighting between the church members. So finally they quite selling the pews and decorating and just had benches. I think that it is pretty funny that still today people have "their" pew or section, or side of the church that they always sit on and you better not sit in "their" seat. I guess that traditon has not completely died out.

Also Sunday night church. I have been in churches that have Sunday night church, churches that do not have it, or churches that just meet once a month on Sunday nights. I must tell you am a fan of either not having it at all or just meeting once a month. Viola and Barna point out that Sunday night meetings were first started by John Wesley, who lived in the 1800s, I think. When I read this I laughed and said "so it's your fault, thanks, John". Haha! (i don't mean any disrepect to Mr. Wesley.)

There are more history bites like these, such as how the steeple was invented, why churches have graveyards - this is really interesting, the architecture of the building, and even the definition of the word "church".

So far what I have gathered from the book so far is that our church is so completely rooted in tradition that sometimes we cannot tell the difference between following Christ and his commands or following tradition that someone began or took from someone else practices.

I hope to finish the book by March - so I have a lot of reading to do. Let me know if you have thoughts.

Pagan Christianity

Frank Viola and George Barna published a book called Pagan Christianity in 2007. This book does what it says on the cover - expores the roots of our church practices. Brent and I heard about this book from a friend. After hearing what David (who is in full-time ministry) had to say about the book, both Brent and I really wanted to read it. Brent has already read it and really enjoyed it. So now I get to read it. I'm really excited about it. Some of you know that around the same time we moved to Texas, I became really sick of "church". A few things happened in the church that Brent and I had just resigned from and in my home church. It was pretty - well, to put it nicely - I didn't care to have anything to do with church or the some of the people who call themselves Christians.

I know that you are probably thinking how terrible, how could she think that. But it was making me question some things like - why do we go to church 3 times a week - no where in the Bible does it say to meet Sunday morning, night or Wednesdays? Why do we sing 3 songs and sit down on the third? Or if you are considered a comtemporary church you might stand up the whole and time sing 4 or 5 songs, one will at least be what I have heard call a 7/11 song - meaning you sing the same 7 words over and over 11 times. And more questions about why do we do church like we do church. Besides the church is not a building, but people.

This really wound up to be a good thing for me for several reasons. For once I could honestly say that I understood why people who are not Christians do not want to have anything to do with Christianity. And why some Christians leave the church. Both will ask Why do Christians say they believe one way and act another? Why would you treat people this way? There is a bumper sticker that someone used in a lesson once, it says:

"I like your Christ,
I do not like your Christians,
They are not at all like your Christ."

Pretty good, huh?

Second, I came to realize that my questioning was more out of a wrong attitude/rebellion than it was earnestly wanting to know the answers to my questions. Basically a heart problem. It took me pretty much the whole first year and a half to work through my heart rebellion troubles. I know that for some seminary is a spiritual high, in my experience, my was not. Except for maybe the last semester I began changing.

These are a few reasons why I was excited when David told us about his book. I had finally gotten my heart straight, but I still wondered why do we do things the way we do them. This
book is more like a thesis, than a book. It all just history about where the church building comes from, why do most dress up to come to church, where pews and balconys came from, why there is a stage, what about choir robes and music ministers, tithing and minister salaries, etc., etc., etc. I love history (although I never would have admitted that in high school! haha!)

I have only read the 2 introductions written by the authors about why they wrote the book and the first chapter. I am about to being chapter 2 - it's about the church building. So I will let you know what I think. In the meantime you might check it out. All though beware- the book does come with a warning in the introduction.