Churches and Social Networking

(devotional I wrote for ABCRM on Jan. 24, 2011)

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. ... Is Christ divided?” – 1 Cor. 1:10 & 13

Do you know what social networking is? Do you have a Facebook account? Do you have a MySpace account?

These words may mean a lot to you, or they may sound like jibberish. However, they are words that are used (and sometimes over-used) in this technological age.

Facebook, MySpace, and other social network websites connect people who have lost connection or want an easy way to connect with each other. One website helps someone in South Africa learn more about and become friends with someone in Alaska. Another website allows friends from all around the country to know in almost instantly that a baby girl was born to Jack and Sue in Arizona at 7:25, and she was 6lbs 15oz. Yet on another website, a woman finds an old friend that she was mean to in high school and asks that friend to forgive her.

Since working in the ABCRM office, I have realized that the churches in our denomination have lost connection with each other. Pastors may be connected, but it is likely that people in their congregations do not know anyone else in the denomination. Very likely, they may not even know that their church is a part of a larger denomination.

With as many people connecting via social networking websites, where is the connection in our churches? Traditions and past conflicts seem to stand in the way of churches connecting to one another and learning from each other.

God can fill any hole, any gap, any chasm that has separated the churches and people in them from each other. God just has to be asked to work, and then allowed to do the work. Then connections can be made or restored and churches can share again. Old friends can find their long lost buddy and new friends can be found.

What is standing in your way? Do you know anyone that might deserve a connection from you? Look outside the walls of your church to the walls of another in the ABC. Find someone from a sister church and make a new friend, or rekindle an old friendship. You may be surprised what you learn.

Easter and weekly update

I hope everyone had a great Easter. We had an ok Easter. We gave the boys their Easter baskets in the morning before we went to church. They got a stuffed animal, some stacking cups, a pinwheel and a book. They are thoroughly entertained by the pinwheels. It is fun.

Well, not two seconds after I snapped this picture of Alex with his basket, I took the basket away and he threw up all over himself. I should have taken that as an omen not to go to church. But, alas, I trudged on, and we got ourselves to church. But as you can tell in the next picture, we had a little one that was not feeling well. The other two were on their way to not feeling good either.

Note Grant's extremely rosey cheeks. He didn't stay in the nursery at church because he was just NOT feeling well.

Well, it turns out that the boys all have a pretty good case of the croup! I took Alex in to the urgent care the other night because he was laboring to breath. He was put on some oxygen and watched for a while. They sent us home with some instructions on how to keep the coughing down and to watch out for dehydration. So far they are doing ok by not getting dehydrated, but that is about it. Here is a quick video I took of Alex at urgent care and sent to James. He was not a happy little boy most of that night.

On other, better news, Ethan has been developing into quite the little talker lately. As if we didn't know this was going to happen, since he hasn't really quit talking since we brought him home from the hospital. But now he is imitating. Watch this video. I was changing his diaper and we were watching some animal show. I roared at him, and he roared back. I had to get the camera, but had to be sly about shooting the video, since he usually stops what he is doing if the camera is out. Watch all the way to the end. He loves kissing noises, and he started imitating that too!

Best of all, the boys have all started saying "dada!" But, Alex and Grant only do it every once in a while, so it is hard to catch on video. Ethan, however, is saying it lots, BUT, it is only when his "dada" is around, so I think he knows what it means!! Here is a short snippet. (Note the coughing in the background. That is what we are dealing with right now!)

Well, I suppose I will go now. I HAVE to get some sleep before the boys wake up. I am exhausted and none of them have been sleeping through the night due to the coughing. I know it will get better, but I don't like them being sick AT ALL!! The days just drag and I am tired of grumpy, fussy, spitty babies. But then again, I wouldn't trade them for the world! Love to you all.

Happy Easter, but no pictures this time....

Happy Easter everyone!!! We are still alive, but just extremely busy. I am on my own with the boys officially now, so I am quite busy. Today, even though James was home, we had 2 sick little boys (Alex and Grant with fevers) that wanted nothing but to be cuddled, so we were juggling babies all day. We are exhausted, but we made it to church and home. We did get some pictures today and I have a few pictures and videos from the past week that will have to be uploaded eventually. I am not sure when that will be since I have a bunch to do, but I will work on it.

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Check back in a couple of days and I should have the next post up.

1.24.2010 Alex, Grant, and Ethan's Dedication at Church

Alex, Grant, and Ethan were dedicated at our church, Calvary Baptist Church, on January 24, 2010. They were dedicated by three of our pastors: Brian Henderson, Anne Jernberg, and our Pastor Emeritus Mary Hulst. Brian held Ethan, Anne held Alex, and Mary had Grant. The boys did fairly well during the dedication. Grant wanted nothing to do with Mary's prayer however. It was ok though. They got to meet quite a few of their new church family.


James and I took the boys to the front and had our parents come with us to be a part of it.

Other family that was at the dedication was Great-Grandpa Dickey, Aunt Marie, Uncle Doug, Aunt Kara (soon to be Doug's wife), Cousin Andrea and her boyfriend Jeremy. It was so nice to have so much family there to witness this wonderful day for us.

Here is Alex and Anne.


Grant did finally agree to be nice to Mary.


We took a bunch of pictures after the church service. Here is the Fischer family with the Fischer Grandparents.


A unique thing about my family is that we have been American Baptists for quite a few generations. Here is the 4 generations of American Baptists, with the current ABCRM president (Grandma Rigsby)!!


We had the boys passed around from lap to lap. Here is Great-Grandpa Dickey with the boys (Alex, Ethan, Grant).


He was cuddling with Alex between takes!


The boys with Grandma Fischer (Alex, Ethan, Grant).


The boys with Grandma Rigsby (Grant, Ethan, Alex).


The boys with Great-Aunt Mimi (Grant, Ethan, Alex).


Aunt Kara (Doug's fiance) got to cuddle a bunch with Alex. He fell asleep on her during the service.


Thank you to all who came to the service and/or watched the service online! We appreciate all the support that we are receiving for these boys. God knows that we need that circle of family and friends around us to keep us on the right track.

5month pictures (a couple of days late)

Guess who is 5 months old?? (Actually 5 months and week, but I'm a little busy so I didn't get this posted on the 12th.)

Can you guess which boy is which?? We made it tricky cause Ethan doesn't have his O's on because he was being tested that night and they all had just had baths.

I'm sure you can figure it out! First one is..... Second one is...... Third one is........... Well, you'll have to watch this video first before I tell you!

James and I wanted to eat dinner in peace, without babies crying, so we popped in a Baby Einstein video, not knowing exactly what the boys would do. This is what happened...

Ahhh... it was glorious silence for almost an hour! (we had 2 videos to watch)

Well, the boys are still getting over their colds. It is making them slightly fussy still. Grant was running a fever last Saturday, so we took him to the pedi. They couldn't find anything wrong, and they think the fever was probably from teething. We don't see any teeth, but they might be starting. Who knows. Let's just say that I am not looking forward to that stage at all.

We also took the boys out to their first "sit down" dinner (not a fast food restaurant) on Thursday of last week with Great-Aunt Mimi. Wow, what a production. I think every waiter/waitress came over to the table to gawk! At first most thought they were just twins cause Alex was in his carseat sleeping, but we soon had them all out feeding and people whispered to eachother! Yeah, it was fun.

Grandma Peggy and I went shopping for the boys' dedication outfits, and we found the CUTEST outfits at Sears! They will be wearing a pastel green dress shirt, black pants, a tie, and a black pinstriped vest on top! Oh they look SOOOOOOOO adorable in them. I have to tack up the pants, and taylor the vests for them, but they will look so good when Sunday rolls around.

We will have A LOT of family at their dedication. I am so excited. The boys will know that they are raised in a loving home that loves and worships the ONE TRUE GOD, and that his Son, Jesus, came to earth to save us all from our sins.

Ok, well, I'll tell you who is who now. 1st is Grant, then Ethan, then Alex. Aren't Ethan and Alex starting to look so much alike? I can easily tell them apart, but I can also see how if you don't know them as well as I do, you can get confused.(Especially when Ethan is without his o's.)

Well, I best get some sleep now. I have to clean house tomorrow before guests arrive! Goodnight to you.

Boy's Dedication will be Webcasted

For those of you that will not be able to be in Denver to attend the boys' dedication and want to see it, our church webcasts their services. You will be able to see the service live on Sunday morning (the 24th is the dedication date) at 11:00 MST. The website for the webcast is http://www.netcastvideo.com/cbcden_archive.htm.

If you are watching live you will have to click on the link "Click for LIVE webcast". It is on the left side of the screen.

If you are not able to watch live, you will be able to watch the service later on Sunday once it is posted on the webpage. It is usually available by 6pm MST.

Baby Dedication on Jan 24

Just thought I would let you all know that the boys are being dedicated at our church on Jan. 24th. We sure would love to see you there.

What a Roller-coaster Ride!!

So, I was totally excited for my growth check ultrasound Thursday. Everything on my side went really well. BP was good, weight gain was a bit on the high side but still good, and glucose/protein in the urine was negative. I am still without restrictions, which is a good thing. No bed rest yet.

The babies did fairly well. They all looked very good at first. Fluid levels were good, and they were all moving and kicking (they don't like to be poked and prodded.)

There is a slight problem with Baby C. He isn't growing as well as the twins. A month ago they were A-11 oz, B-12 oz, and C-8 oz. Thursday they were A-1lb 5oz, B-1 lb 7oz, and C-14oz. C was in the 9th percentile of where he should be. A month ago he was only 2 weeks behind his brothers in growth, and now he is 3 weeks behind.

The doctor, Dr. F just gave it to me straight. They are not sure why he isn't growing as well. She said it could be a couple things. It could be a placenta issue, where he isn't getting enough oxygen or something. It could also be a possibility of Downs (though he doesn't show signs of it any other way, such as the bridge of the nose, etc). They gave me the option of doing the amnio, but said that it could put everyone at risk for really premature birth. Plus, my nurse practitioner said unless we were planning on doing something (abort if the test is positive) then the amnio most likely isn't worth the risk. There may be the option of delivering early, if they have to, but only if it doesn't put A and B at risk.

James called our other doctor, Dr. P, today and he sounded WAY more optimistic that the other Dr. F. He said that he would almost completely rule out Downs and placenta problems because baby C is growing symmetrically. (Usually something like the stomach would be way off compared to everything else if that was the case.)

He didn't rule out possibly a genetic problem though. We haven't been able to get a good picture of C's heart yet (its hidden behind my belly button, and gets shadowed out) so there could possibly be a heart problem, which could make him small. He also said it could possibly be a different genetic issue, but those would have to be found out after ruling out the heart issues, and only through an amnio. He said the risk of the amnio isn't too bad since we are so far along (we will be 26 weeks at the next appointment). If the amnio does find something then, it may change the way they are treating me and all the babies.

James also asked Dr. P if there was a possibility that C was just small and behind the others, and he said that is very very likely and probably what is going on, but they just have to make sure on everything else.

So, I am feeling better today and we will be rescheduling our next appointment with him instead of Dr. F. Dr. P is the one we were referred there to anyway.

We are still needing all the prayers/thoughts/whatever that you can muster for my little guys in there. It was a hard Thursday but I have to trust that God is in control and He has a plan. Today is a new day, and we are all still doing well, so we just need C to grow! GROW C, GROW!!! (We do have a couple of ultrasound pictures of the three and profile of C-he was being very photogenic-so I will post those once I get them scanned in.)



Other than that, we had a great July 4th weekend. My parents stopped in town on their way back from California. I wish I could have been able to go, but alas, 3 babies keep me close to home. We hung out with my aunt, uncle and cousins on Friday and just chilled most of the weekend. Mom cleaned our loft for us, and now we have a nice big space for the babies to have tummy time, instead of having to move everything out of the living room downstairs for that.

We went to the fireworks on the 4th and sat fairly close. Actually, so close we had ashes and debris from the fireworks falling on us. It was very very fun though. My dad has some pictures of it that I will try to get and post soon.

The boys just jumped and kicked the entire time in my belly. I don't know if they didn't like it, or were kicking and dancing in approval. I am guessing they kept getting startled. It was fun to feel though.

My parents headed home Sunday morning and James and I went to church. I have found out that my voice has dropped almost a full octave, and I can no longer sing soprano, much less alto. Every hymn/praise song we sang I had to sing an octave lower. C below middle C is NO PROBLEM for me to hit right now. I am singing tenor with the best of them... I HOPE MY VOICE COMES BACK. I think it is probably all from the testosterone that is running through me right now from these boys!! :)


They loved hearing our pastor preach though. They were all awake at the same time and kicking and punching through the entire sermon. It was fun to see. Hopefully this is a sign that they will like sitting in church and listening!! :)

Well, I will wrap this up for now. I'll post pictures soon. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

The Rock & Worship Roadshow

This is coming to the Denver Coliseum on April 9. Tickets are $10 at the door and it is open/general seating!!!!! It is featuring MercyMe, Jeremy Camp, Hawk Nelson, Tenth Avenue North, and Addison Road!!!!

Get more info at http://therockandworshiproadshow.com/!!!

Robes or No Robes... What do you think?

When you walk into a church, do you pay attention to what the pastor and/or choir is wearing? Do you care if they are wearing robes or not? Is it important for you to have a church that has leaders wearing robes, or is that too much "pomp" for you?

We are having this debate in my church right now, and it is part of this "dreadful change" that is inevitable in every church... or is it?

Please let me know what your thoughts on robes in a church are. I want to hear from as many people as possible (especially on choirs wearing robes.)

I won't tell you my opinion yet... I want to hear what you have to say about it.

(4th posts today) Update on my weekend!!

So, I went to Gillette on Thursday night. I had to go pick up Jet from my aunt and uncle's house. He stayed there over Labor day while James and I were in ND. I was also recruited by Marie to work (aka score) the high school volleyball tournament that was held there all weekend.

It was interesting. I must say that volleyball confuses me! When I learned how to play you had 6 people on the court and you rotated depending on side-outs and servers. If you wanted to, you could sub players in. Nowadays they have something that is called a "libero." I dont even know if I can explain what they do, other than run in and out like a sub, except you don't count it like a sub, and they can only go in for one person, and if they serve, they can only serve in that spot. It is extremely confusing! As a scorer you have to mark down everything they do and every time they go in and who they go in for, along with doing the regular subs and keeping track of side-outs and score!

I did that for 2 days!! Friday I got there at 8:00 am and didn't leave till 7:30 am. I had scored 12 games. 6 JV games (which are 2 matches a piece) and 6 Varsity games (best out of 3 matches- or games... i am never sure on which is which). Then on Saturday I got there at 8:30 am and left at 3. I had to drive back here to Denver that night. That was a LONG day. But Jet is back home and we are all good.

It was good to see my parents, Marie, and I got to see my friend Jami who is pregnant. (brandonandjamicone.blogspot.com). It was a quick trip, and I wish I could have gotten to see more people, but I had to be home for church on Sunday. I had to lead the praise songs and read scripture.

On Sunday we helped our friends move into their new house, behind our house. It was fun, and really not that hard. I usually hate moving myself, but I don't mind helping others move. I guess it is that I don't have to worry about putting stuff away!

Ok, so this is long enough... I'll let you read my other posts for today, so scroll down to find them! :o) I hope you are having a wonderful day!!

An Amazing Race.... Hebrews 12:1-3

I am finally caught up on sleep, I think. I just spent the last week of my life hiking around Quaker Ridge camp for the ABCRM's Front Range Camping. It was one of the best, and possibly most difficult, weeks of my life.

I suppose I will start on Day 1 and give you all details of the week that I can remember. This may be long, so if you have to come back and finish reading later, I'll understand.

Day 1 ..... Sunday, June 15.....

Jami, from Gillette,and I set out to leave my house at 8:30. We didn't get out of the house till 9:30. Our friends Mary and Mike, from Nebraska, had come to visit and we wanted to spend as much time as we could with them. James said that they didn't leave until noon, so it was a good thing we didn't wait till they left to leave for the camp.

Well, anyway, we set out on the road and Jami and I got into talking about something and I missed my turn in Colorado Springs to Woodland Park! :-S That was very frustrating. We had to take a 10 minute detour to get turned around and back on track. Anyway, we got to the camp about 11:00 and unloaded our belongings into our cabin. The cabins the elementary camp was in are actually big lodges. They have 8 rooms and 2 bathrooms with shower rooms. I got to have my own room (which later on I will tell you why that was a blessing.)

The stress began!

This was my first year coordinating camp and I really did not have a clue as to what I was to be doing. Well, I had somewhat of an idea, but I was very nervous when those kids started showing up. I got a phone call just as the kids started to show to tell me that one of my male counslors would not be there! Talk about starting the day out bad! So I had to assign my camp pastor as one of my male counselors. (In the end it worked but starting out I am sure he wasn't too happy.) I ended up having 25 2nd through 5th graders under my wing, with 8 counselors to help me. It was fun!!!

The campers got checked in, and dinner was served by the Quaker Ridge staff. Then we had to join the whole camp, which was all grades (2nd -12th) for a rules and expectations and a praise and worship time. That seemed to work well and then we had campfire. Oh those kids did not want to settle down! They were soooooooo hyper, and LOUD. I think my hearing is going to take a while to recover.

After campfire I had to leave camp and run into Woodland Park, which is only about 10 minutes away. I had forgotten to bring a bunch of stuff, so I just went down to get the stuff. That started my week off badly, because I didn't get back untill about 11:30 and didn't get to bed till 12:30. At 1:00 I heard a big thud and thought it was just something outside falling against the building.

Day 2 ...... Monday, June 16 .....

Rise and shine at 6:00 in the morning because the girls were up and loud by that time in the morning. I had a feeling this was going to be the death of me! The big thud I heard in the night was one of the girls falling out of bed. She landed on her knees, but just crawled back up into bed and went back to sleep. Strange, but glad she was ok.

I woke up this day a little more confident in my abilities as a coordinator. We had breakfast, then the campers went to clean their rooms in the cabins and the counselors and I had a staff meeting. We organized things for the day and decided on how activity rotation would work.

We then went to chapel, had a camp photo taken, and went to the athletic field to play games. OYE..... I found out just how out of shape I was. The kids were playing a couple of games and I decided that the counslors needed to join in and play with the kids. So, thanks to me, we played a game of capture the flag... Counselors v. kids. Dumb, dumb, dumb. There were 25 of them, and only 9 of us. You would think that would be even, but they are all used to running around like wild animals. We adults weren't in any shape to do that in the least.

They won!

My favorite time of the day was coming up after lunch! NAP TIME... or what they call FOYB (flat on your back). I was so tired from the lack of sleep the night before that I was looking forward to sleeping! Alas, that was to escape me. I wasn't paying attention to the time and only got back to my cabin to get about a 5 minute nap before the girls were up and were loud again. I really should have moved my room from the same side of the cabin as them, but that would have been the smart thing to do, and I wasn't thinking like that!

Activity time was next. I have to explain how this went. We had 3 girls "rooms" and 3 boys "rooms." So we paired off a boys room and a girls room for "family groups" for the week. This seemed to work really well and they got too know eachother well.

Unfortunatly since Pastor Alvin (camp pastor) had a group of boys so he really did not have much down time to plan for the lessons later in the day/week. So he asked me if I would take his boys and watch over them during activity time. I agreed and we started out swiming! That was a lot of fun. They have a really nice swimming pool at this camp. Then we had Canteen, or for those of you who know WYOBA, snack shack. Once done with that, one of the other counselors and I took the family group to the horses.

YEP... they have horses. The kids are so lucky that have so many activities to do. There a couple of girls decided that they didn't want to ride horses. I wanted to ride so bad, but they have a 250 weight limit. I knew that I was just a couple of pounds over, but I decided that I would be ok not going. A little disapointing, but I thought I could go back and take a short nap.

Didn't happen! I got sidetracked into talking to a couple of people, so I didn't get a nap. Once the kids got back from horses, we went to archery! Oh man, that was a lot of fun to see the kids do that. We had 2 boys cabins and a girls cabin (because of some mixup) but everyone got to shoot some! Even the counselors and I got to shot. The problem was that the bows were just a little too small so I couldn't get a full pull when I would go to shoot. We got to do 9 rounds. Out of those 9 rounds, I snapped myself 5 times with the string! It hurt SOOOOO BAD! It formed a welt and gave me a HUGE bruise on my arm for the rest of the week. It was ugly. The picture to the left was taken on Saturday after I got home, so if you can imagine, it looked a lot worse than that picture!

The kids had a great time. Only 1 of them were snapped by the string, and he only did it once. One of our girl counselors was the only one to get a bullseye the whole week! I was happy for her!

Dinner time came and went, then we had worship and family groups. That gave me a little bit of free time. I just relaxed for the 30 minutes I had without kids. Then we hiked out to the outer campfire. This hike is about a 10 minute hike and none of us really knew where we were going. We just happened to take the correct turn at the fork in the road and came upon the campfire. It was so much fun.

We taught the kids the song "Children Go Where I Send Thee." It is a screaming song. Literally. The boys are on one side and the girls are on the other and they try to out scream each other. I figured with that, and a couple of other screaming songs (Little Red Wagon [more about this later]) they would not have voices the next day. I certainly wouldn't I thought. We tried to wear them out, but it just didn't seem to work. Dan and I stayed behind to put out the fire once the kids left. (Later I relized that just two of us was a REALLY dumb idea).

Joy of all joys... I got back to the cabin and was ready for bed by 10:30. All the girls were asleep so I crawled in bed and had the lights off by 10:45. I tossed and turned for a while, and was just on the verge of sleep, when I heard crying and shuffling around. I dismissed it as another girl falling out of her bed, when I got a knock on my door. UH OH... not good when you get a knock on the door. I got up and one of the girls had puked all over her bed and threw up a couple of times in the bathroom. EWWW! I hate puke. But the counselor, and CIT (counselor in training) got the stuff cleaned up and I took the girl to the nurses cabin.

Not thinking, was I, that the nurses would be sound asleep and I would not be able to wake them up by knocking on the door. Luckily, each coordinator had a walkie-talkie to connect to all the others and the camp director Mike. So I called Mike, told him my situation, and he called one of the nurses on the phone. She got up, let us in, we had to scrounge around to find some kind of blanket for the girl and eventually Mike gave up his sleeping bag for her to sleep on in the nurses cabin. (NOTE TO SELF FOR NEXT YEAR... bring extra bedding.)

I got back to my cabin at 1:00. Another late night.

Day 3 ..... Tuesday June 17.....

Again the early morning light came too soon and the girls were not exausted like I had hoped they would be! Up with the sun at 6:00. This week was not going by fast enough!

Breakfast, staff meeting, cabin cleanup. OH.... one thing I forgot to tell you. If you look at the map of QR you will see that there is something called the "Stairs O' Death." They are not kidding you when they call them that. Every time the girls had to go eat any meal, they had to go down them to get to the dining hall, and back up them to get the cabin. Down was not as bad as up. Over the week the girls ended up counting and there are between 55 to 58 steps (no one was certain.) However, these steps are not normal stairs. It is a set of stairs cut into the side of the mountain. It is about a 100 foot climb to the top and the stairs are NOT even. Some of them are as tall as my knees, some are just like regular steps. Needless to say, Stairs O Death is like the stair climber from hell! It killed. Every person who attempted to go up them, had to stop somewhere in the middle to catch their breath. Even the most in shape of the kids.

Anyway, at our staff meeting we decided to go for a hike that morning and do our worship somewhere along the hike. It ended up being about a 2 hour adventure. But it was just enough to give the kids a taste of what was to come on Thursday when we hiked to the top of Soldiers Peak! During our chapel time out on the trail, Pastor Alvin discussed with the kids what they should do when they feel like they want to quit the race. He told them to stop and pray, saying "HELP ME JESUS!" That little prayer became our motto for the rest of the week. We would say it when we needed just the littlest encouragement, or the most courage. It was one thing that the kids really took away from camp.

That afternoon I still did not get a nap. I had to go into town and take the girls sleeping back to the laundry mat to wash it so she would have something to sleep in. I also had to get the supplies for CAMP OLYMPICS! Oh, those of you who ever spent much time at WYOBA would know what that is!!! Jami and I planned out the games on our hike. I was soooo excited for the games. It really fit well into our theme of the week too.

I suppose I should explain. Our theme of the week was the Amazing Race, based on Hebrews 12:1-3. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." We talked about this race that each of us is running and did a lot of comparison to the Olympics coming up in August. Therefore, Camp Olympics, was perfect.

Needless to say, those of you who know what camp olympics is, you know that it is nothing like the REAL Olympics.

HEHEHEHEHEHE.... I was so excited for this night to come. We had a bunch of "games" planned. So after dinner the kids went on a hayride, we had chapel with a visit from the pastor and his puppet (I can't remember the puppets name) and family group times and then the games began!

We stared out with the most disgusting game of them all! The CHEERIO BLOW!!! Yep, I made them all do it too!! This game is where you have a cheerio, put it in one nostral, (yep part of the nose), close the other nostral with your finger, rare back, and blow. You try to shoot the Cheerio as far as possible. It was soooo disgusting!!! We had a couple of kids with some "danglers." Boogers that hung out their nose when they were done blowing! What a way to start of the night!

We continued with a game I called PUFFY TOP. Each team, we had 3 (family groups), got to choose 1 person to sit in the middle of the room. The rest of the team was split into two and part went to one side of the room, the rest stayed where they were. The person in the middle had a shower cap put on their head, and shaving cream all over the shower cap. The rest of the group had a bunch of Cheeto puffs (the balls) put in front of them. The object was to get as many cheeto puffs to stick on your person's head as possible in 1 minute. There were cheetos flying everywhere! It was so much fun to watch, but it made the biggest mess. We didn't have a broom so we just left the cheetos.

Next was the infamous LICK N STICK. The teams picked another person to be in the middle. This time they all had to gather round that person and lick LifeSavers and stick them to the persons face. After one minute the LifeSavers would be counted. It was gross, but the kids loved it!

I had no idea what to call the next game so I came up with the name THE NOSA YOLKA. You might be able to guess what it is. They had to get on their hands and knees and push an egg across the room without breaking it. The first team finished, or the last to break their egg, would win. One team broke their eggs pretty fast. The second team took a little longer in breaking their eggs (each team got 2 eggs). The third team won after the second team broke their last egg. One girl just did a face plant right into the egg. It was gross!!

The LAST game finally came about 9:00. I called it the OLYMPATHON. This one was the best game. We had prepared paper bags before hand with a food item in each bag. There was one bag per person. Each person on the team had to go pick up a bag, open it, and eat the food item that was inside as fast as possible. This is where I become cruel! Here is a list of the things that were in each bag (there were 10 bags).

2 Saltine Crackers

chocolate pudding

banana

5 Rollos

8 oz can of Seirra Mist

5 Oreos

Fruit by the Foot

Bag of M&M's

Popsicle

Packet of Kool-aid (unsweetened)(blue)

The kids were halarious. They had to show me their mouths before they could get back in line. I still cringe thinking about the Kool-aid. They made such sour faces, and their whole mouths turned blue! They loved it though. I could hardly calm them down when we finished the game. I think the adults were having more fun laughing at the kids then the kids were. We have some fun pictures of this, I just don't have them yet. I'll post some when I get them.

The kids got to bed about 10:00 that night and all of them passed out. They were sooo tired. I did to. I finally got to sleep before 11:00.

Day 4 ..... Wednesday, June 18 .....

This morning I let myself sleep in some. We didn't have to be at breakfast till 8:00 so I let myself sleep till 7:30. I just covered my head and let the girls and their counselors do whatever. I wanted to sleep.

Breakfast came and went, as did staff meeting. Unfortunatly, Dan had to leave that day, so I had to take over watching his boys during activity time. Luckily it was family groups for activities and I had paired Dan with Jami. Therefor I was with someone I could relate to more! We did morning worship and then we had activity time for the morning. We were assigned to play frisbee golf, mini golf, and volleyball for 1/2 hour rotations.

The first 1/2 hour went off without a hitch. We played volleyball with our group. Our next rotation was to the Frisbee Golf. This is where the "fun" started. We had just started the first hole and were working on moving our frisbees to the hole, when Jami yells to me "JESS, WE HAVE A BEAR!" All the kids point, and I look, and indeed, we do have a bear. A smallish, cub. Where is the momma? went through my mind. I FREAKED. I called on the walkie to the other coordinators and Mike and they said to go to the Canteen and have all the kids go too. So we, walked/ran to the Canteen and I gathered all the other kids up into the building too. I then assigned a counselor to come up with some games for the kids to do while I figured out what was going on.

The QR camp staff went looking for the bear, but never found it! That frustrated me. This "cub" was the size of my kids. I didn't want them getting hurt. That took up most of my morning. Later on I found out that just after I called the other coordinators, the Middle School camp saw Momma bear walking along in front of them when they were at chapel. TWO BEARS... TWO BEARS. One small and one big. Keep the kids calm and keep the kids close. No going out late at night alone!

No nap again. I was too hyped up from seeing the bear and figuring out what to do with the kids. They were told that they could not be in groups less than 3, and that they must be within sight of their counslors, or a counselor, at all times!

After nap time, we had crafts. I stayed in the cabin and decided that hour was a great time for me to take a nap. Oh, what sweet relief. I got a nap, finally. It felt sooooo good. I decided to skip canteen too. I let Jami take charge of the canteen money and stayed in bed. The kids then got canteen, and then split up for activities. I didn't have to worry about Dan's boys during this activity time because they weren't going in family groups this time.

I am glad I got that nap. I would have probably had a breakdown because I was so tired, had I not gotten the nap.

We did dinner, then we had chapel. Pastor Alvin had invited another puppet, P.J. to join us for Chapel. She was voiced by Annie Wamberg. She was halarious and did a great teaching time with the kids about Noah's Ark. After chapel we watched the movie "Evan Almighty." Then everyone was to break out into their family groups and discuss the movie, and how it related to our theme. I was sceptical of the movie. Never seeing it, I was nervous that it would be nasty to Christianity and the story of Noah. I was very surpised that it did a fairly good job of depicting the story and being very kid friendly.

I gave a bunch of the counselors a break during the movie. They could go an do what they needed, or wanted to do, during the movie, but had to be back before it was done. During that time, James came to camp to take Dan's place. Once the movie was over he joined his group and it was lit he had been there all week from that point on.

I realized as I laid down that There would be no more campfires in the outer campfire, with me and 1 other person staying back alone to put the fire out!!! The bear came from that direction. I was not going to be going out there again!!! :)

Day 5 ..... Thursday, June 19 .....

The week is almost over! I was excited, yet disapointed all the same. I was becoming more and more unpatient as the week continued and I think it was just the lack of sleep. We woke up to trash cans all over camp dumped over. Booboo (as we had dubbed the cub) and possibly Yogi (as we dubbed the momma) had been back overnight. They made a mess of the camp.

This day we decided was the day to tackle Soldiers Peak. This hike was up the mountain the "easy" way. HA! We left at 9:45 and did not get to the top till 11:30. 2 hours. We did have to wait a couple of times for kids and counselors to catch up. I was the encourager the whole way up. Now, I am not in the best shape of my life, but when I need to have energy, such as throughout the whole week, I am really really good at pretending that I have energy. Therefore my body believes it and I really do have energy. Kinda backwords thinking, but it works. Those stragglers on the hike up really did not like me by the end of the day!

We got to the top and the view was just gorgeous. Here are some pictures....

Oh, to be on top of that mountain. It was wonderful. Then we had to come down. It didn't take us nearly as long to get down, but it did take us about 45 minutes. We had lunch in a meadow at the base of the mountain the went straight back to the cabins for FOYB. Then we had canteen... I finally got to have canteen time! Then we all went swimming. It was a great way to chill after our long hike.

We got to have dinner outside the canteen again (we did it on Wednesday too, that is why the bears came back). It was pretty good food. The kids then went to the chapel and got to enjoy a concert. I, had to run into town again. This time to get some stuff for the male counselors to prank the boys with. I'll get to that in a bit.

I got back and we built a campfire in the canteen (there is a fireplace) and roasted marshmellows and had S'mores. It was really nice, but the whole time I was thinkng to myself, we need to be making lots of noise so the bears don't come back!! So, we had fun, the kids were so wound up that the boys were literally just running in circles yelling and screaming. I told the counselors that if they could calm them down before bed, good luck!

Needless to say, they werent going to calm the boys down. Here is a little background. Earlier in the day, I guess the boys were sitting on their porch to their lodge and this huge beatle with huge long antenas landed next to one of the boys. They all got up and started screaming and running away from it. THOSE BOYS ARE SCARED OF BUGS! So I was asked to pick up some gummy worms and bears while I was in town. During S'mores time, the counselors went and put the gummy stuff in the boys' sleeping bags. Cruel, I know.

Anyway, I guess before they went to bed, they had a talk that they all needed to be in "God's Army." Not sure where it came from, but it worked to keep them all off their beds before the time came. On the count of three, all three rooms shut off their lights and the boys crawled in bed. The room with the youngest boys had a little boy said to his counselor Ben, "Um..... Ben.... there is something in my bed." Ben then asked "What is it?" The boy answered, about crying, "I don't know but it is squishy...." Ben then leans over, asked him if he is ok, lets just him know its a prank, then yells, "BUG INVASION!" I guess all the boys jumped up and freaked till the lights were turned on and they found out it was gummy worms and bears.

I guess it was halarious. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall. Of course, guess who the counselors blamed it on! ME... Oh well, I had my own tricks up my sleve. I had a little pow-wow with the female counselors in my room before bedtime. It was the only semi-quiet place, and it didn't smell really bad (I'll explain in a sec.) So we planned that at 5:30 on Friday morning we would wake up all the girls and go over and sing the "Little Red Wagon" song to the boys and wake them up! The thing you have to understand though is that this song starts out quiet and as you continue on to "Second Verse, same as the first, a little bit louder, and a little bit worse" you obviously get louder and louder till you are screaming. We also added the little touch of pounding on the side of their building too! I'll get to all that in the next segment.

So we told the girls to get good sleep and be prepared to wake up early. They loved the idea.

As for the stinky rooms. Our lodge did not have screens on the windows, therefore, when we were out of the cabin, we tried not to leave the windows open (ie booboo and yogi). So, all their wet and stinky clothes from the week just festered. Oh man, you would walk into one of the girls rooms and it would be like hitting a wall. OH... it was bad. My room had a screen on the window so I could leave it open. It was nice, so therefore, when the counselors couldn't take the stinch or noise anymore they would come into my room.

Jami and Maida (one of the other female counselors) and just left my room and shut the lights off, when Jami and I heard the garbage can on our front porch go over. We both got out of bead and snuck to the front door to look out. There was Booboo digging in the trash. We had a ball on our porch too and he started playing with it. He bounced it a bit, the it started rolling towards him and he ran off. It was so cute, if it wasn't so dangerous.

Day 6 ..... Friday June 20 .....

5:30 am came way too early, but we all woke up. We trudged across camp, very quietly, surprisingly, and woke the boys with the Little Red Wagon song. They were not happy with us at breakfast. I got scowls and frowns. I was even called a hypocrite. They said that I was the hypocrite for telling them to get a good night's sleep them waking them up "in the middle of it." I just laughed it off.

Chapel and family times took up much of the morning. I didn't attend those because I was preparing for our game time after those. The kids were rounded up onto the athletic field and played capture the flag, boys v. girls. They loved that since the boys wanted to get the girls back for that morning.

Then I brought them all towards the main area of camp where we had set up kiddy pools with a bunch of water ballons. The counslors all took one and saved it till the end. They were going to ambush me! I only got a bit of water on my shoes and legs, so they failed. But oh, how they wanted too get me!

Alas, lunch came and went. So did nap time. I didn't get a nap that day either. I stuck around cleaning up the different things that I needed to. The kids went to activities. This time they got to do Bungee swing, crafts, or horses. The I went out to the bungee swing during the last hour of activities. It looked like so much fun! The problem is that it really is for kids under about 120 pounds. So, no bungee swing for me! However, I did get to launch a couple of kids. Here are a few of the pictures of it.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of me launching. But this last picture kinda gives you an idea. Really, to launch these kids, you have to be pretty big yourself! It was fun. All the kids got to do it, and even our CIT's got to do it. I really think that WYOBA needs to put this up! They could really use something fun like this!

So, anyway, after dinner we did our Talent show. A couple of the kids sang. Some did skits (which they made up on their own and were kinda confusing) and some did skits which a lot of us know so well. I was the person "Centi" peed on. The counselors did the "is it time yet" skit, where they all ask is it time yet, down the line. No is the reply, until the certain time, and then we all uncrossed our legs one way, and crossed them the other. The last skit we did was a skit with two of the male counselors and I. It was the grossest skit! I came up on stage with some peanut butter, jelly, and bread. Sat down to start to make a sandwhich, because I was starving! The two guys come joggin in, dripping with sweat, and decide that they stink and need some deoderant. One of them loves using peanut butter as deoderant and the other loves using jelly. If you look at the picture above, the guy in the camoflage shirt was one of the guys. So, they use up the peanut butter and jelly I was going to use to make my sandwhich. Oh well, I say, and take a peice of bread and wipe some jelly off the underarms of one, and peanut butter off the underarms of the other. Then i stick the two peices together and take a big bite!

The kids went NUTS!! EWWWW! GROSS!!! DISGUSTING!!! YOU DIDN'T JUST DO THAT DID YOU?!!!! Then I stopped chewing, and pulled a peice of armpit hair out of my teeth!! That made them go over worse. I had one girl gagging, and one just rolled over on the floor and wouldn't look up!! It was great! See if you can figure out my secret!! :) I then took a second bite. I had so much fun. We then rapped up the talent show and went to the Canteen for Rootbeer, marshmellows, goldfish, and a T-shirt signing. As quickly as they were grossed out by me, they were chowing down on the goldfish.

It was still really light out when all the T-shirts were signed, so I told the counselors to go hide around the camp and we would send the kids in groups to find them. Not the smartest thing to do. Just as I was quieting the kids to get them into groups to go out, one of them points out the bear, walking along, abut 100 feet from the Canteen where we were. Crud.... another plan ruined. However, how was I to get ahold of the counselors!! Two of them came running back into the Canteen, they had seen the bear. They called the other counselors cell phones and got them to come back. We came up with some other "indoor" games to play and make lots of noise with the scare off the bears. That wore the kids and adults out and we sent them back to their cabins early to get packed up. The girls all walked back together in a line sing Little Red Wagon at the top of their lungs.

Once in the cabin, the girls knew that the boys most likely would retaliate, and they filled their water bottles and put them in the hall so if the boys did, they would be ready. Needless to say, I had to approve of what the boys were doing, so I knew that they were going to come over at 4:30 in the morning. I told the 3 counselors to wake up at 4:20, open their windows (so the noise would be loud) and come into my room. We then all went to bed.

Day 7 ..... Saturday June 21.....

My alarm went off at 4:20. I got up, put my sweatshirt on, and waited for the counselors to come into my room. The 4 of us snuck out the back door of the cabin, which convenietly was in my room, and walked very closely together to the Canteen. We had decided that the 4 of us would jump out and scare the boys on their way back to their cabin, since they had to go right by the Canteen. We sat and watched them make the girls get up. A couple of girls came outside and started to spray water on the boys, but the boys were prepared. They had a 5 gallon bucket full of water! 2 girls got wet!

They took about 5 minutes to make sure all the girls were up and then headed back towards their cabin. We came running out of the Canteen with our hands up going "roarrrrrr" like a bear. A couple of boys screamed and tried to run. The rest weren't fazed. It was fun. We then went back and went to sleep for a couple more hours.

The last breakfast came and went, and we did a small get together before everyone was to leave. We all said our goodbyes and Jami and I drove home.

I didn't get a nap taken, but I did sleep well that night. I was glad that camp was so much fun. There are somethings that I would like to change if I coordinate again next year, but that will be for another post. This one is long enough!

Update on Sunday School

So, we went to Sunday school this past Sunday. James wasn't going to go, but the church announced our pastor candidate last week and he felt he needed to be there in case there were questions. Well, we went.

The discussion started out standard, with the opinion that we need to love everyone and that God loves every one! I agreed. However, the discussion started to peak up when someone suggested that we do not need to "evangelize." We should not try and convert people to Christianity. I sat and listened for a while. Trying to get a grip on what I wanted to say. But James jumped in first. He asked the people what they felt about Missionaries. The person said that if a missionary is going out to help build houses and help people that way, but if they are going to try and convert people, then they should not go!


WHAT?????!!!!!!??????


Ok, so I had to sit and listen for a while longer to understand where the person was coming from. They still didn't make sense, but I let a couple of others (including James) argue.


Then the topic of universalist vs. dualist views came up. Here is my understanding of them both. As a universalist, a person believes that all people go to Heaven, no matter what. A dualist believes that there is Heaven and Hell and that only those "saved" will go to Heaven. Everyone else is condemned to Hell. (As you have probably guessed, I am a dualist, and may in our class are universalists).


So, going back to the topic of living our lives as good people (from a previous post), a bunch of people in class started saying that the dualist view is a "FUNDAMENTALIST" view! (Am I a fundamentalist? Seriously?) I had to sit there and gawk. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Just because I believed what the Bible taught, meant that James, a couple of others in the class, and I are all fundamentalists. Oh boy. Do we have our work cut out for us!


Well, I finally had to speak up! I said that being a dualist is NOT bad. I am not a fundamentalist. Just because I believe that some people are going to Heaven and some people are going to Hell does not mean that I do not try and love every one of my neighbors (i.e. everyone I come into contact with.) Granted, I do not know what God is thinking, or do I even have a small incling of His power. All I know is that I need to follow the Bible and what it directs me to do with my life.


Now that I said that, we got back on to the topic of missionaries and conversion. (For some reason there are a couple of words that some people in the class think are "bad words." They are conversion, evangelical, evangelize--any of those--, fundamental, and a couple of others I can think of right now.) Anyway, the couple of people said that they don't think they need to worry about where people go when they die. They are just going to live good lives and if those people want to know, then they will tell them, but they don't care about converting them.


I then said, well, if you are going to live a "good life" you need to live it intentionally. You need to live with the intent to lead people to Christ, because that is what the Bible says to do. Matthew 28:16-20

"Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had
directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And
Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the
end of the age."

I laid it out this way. We are called by God to believe in Christ. Christ calls us to live a life centered on Him. We, therefore, try to live as much of a good life as possible, so people will see that we are authintic, so they can wonder why, and then they will ask, and then they will want to know Christ! Does that make sense??


I think I got my point across, and I was backed up by a few people. I tried to agree to disagree with these people, but it is very hard for me to do, when I know I have been called by Christ to "Make disciples of all nations."


I had to leave before the class was over (because of choir), but I wasn't overly frustrated. I actually didn't leave with high blood pressure, but I did speak my mind, so did James. I am still concerned for a few people and for this class, but all we can do is keep working at it and keep praying that God will use us

Inspirational quote

As I have been working today, I realized I really really like this quote. It is from one of the pastors in the ABCRM Region, Rev. DeWayne Moore, of Macedonia Baptist Church. He wrote a devotional for the Region last week and this is the quote I pulled out of the devotional. Think about it...

"In the midst of their deepest depression, people of faith have found that
their one consolation is this: that God is in charge, and regardless of what
afflicts us in this life, our ultimate destiny is in God’s hands."

Update on Heaven & Hell vs nothing??

Sorry, this is a bit of rant/rave, but it gets better towards the end. I promise!

Sunday James and I decided to attend Sunday School (well, I told James we were going to attend.) Anyway, they were continuing to talk about the book, If God is Love (I'm going to refer to it as IGL). So, the class started out fine. Somehow they veered off onto the topic of politics, but eventually came back. I just sat and listened to the conversation for the right time to chime in. I am not sure what sparked me to start speaking, but I rebutted someone by saying something along the lines of "how can every person go to heaven if there are no consequences to actions?" James then chimed in and we started to say that belief in Christ is the only way to Heaven.

Oh no, though, that was not good enough! THE BOOK (IGL... not the Bible mind you) says that Christ isn't the ONLY way! WHAT???!!!!???? (it gets better) In the book IGL the author points out that the Bible says that Christ contradicts Himself in Luke and John as to the way of Salvation! WHAT!!!????!??!??!? I asked them to read me the passage in the book again...

Luke 10:25-28 is what they quoted. "On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

Then they quoted John 3:16 (but i'll expand it to 3:10-21) "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

Ok... granted... I can see the assumed contradiction here. But a person has to read these two passages in different contexts and with a mind of faith. The Luke passage says to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind." Ok... I can do that! But the Lord, MY GOD, includes the TRINITY. Therefore, Christ, is my God. (He is not the Father, but He is the Son, the Savior!!) Jesus stated that He is the only way to Heaven. John 14:6 "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

When Christ stated that we should follow the law of "Loving God and loving our neighbors" he did not say not to believe in Him. Loving God includes believing that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins, so we may have eternal life to be with our Father in Heaven and worship Him FOREVER! What is your opinion on this "contradiction controversy?"

I wish I could speak as well or as much as I can write, and have enough time to express what I want to say. But alas, speaking when I am frustrated is a stumbling block for me. I tried to say these things, but I was interrupted and shot down fairly quickly.

The next conundrum that came up, was "If God doesn't let everyone in to Heaven, how can He disown his own children?" The example that was gave was this... If you were a parent, could you end your relationship with your child for doing something wrong? A bunch of people around the room piped in and said that they couldn't and therefore, how could God. I, then opened my big mouth! I said, "Then you mean to tell me, that if your child kicks, punches you, verbally abuses you, and spits on you every single day, you would not tell that child to stop? And if they didn't stop, once you have told them to stop consistently, you wouldn't have to remove yourself from that toxic relationship? You could still love that child, but you don't have to accept their actions."

Oh man, that seemed to set a couple of people off. I had to admit that I couldn't be sure I could do it, but most likely I would be able to. My theory is, you can still love that child, and not accept their actions. They can "repent" (keyword) and say they are sorry and follow in the rules of the house, and then I would have a relationship with them. But if they never repented, I could not say that I could ever have a relationship with them.

The thing is God is so much more than we are. I am sure He does not like the sins we do every single day! That is why He tells us to repent, believe, and then we can have eternal life with Him.
Some in the class did admit that they could not say one way or the other if they would do that with their children, but some in the class said they would never do that. I just didn't know how to respond. What is your response? What would you do? I know that we have no idea what God would do, but what do you think about what you have been taught about God and what He would do?

So, one other topic that was brought up was the fact that there are a lot of people out there that live very "righteous" (not in a Christian way) lives. One example given was, this person has this great friend who is Buddhist. This friend has taught this person more about spirituality than this person has learned in many years of going to church.

I did not have any comment at the time, but I came up with something during church. (I truly was listening, but something the pastor said made me think of a point I wanted to make.) I wrote down my comment on an insert in our bulletin. I said that, I don't care about what other people think and teach on their way to "eternal whatever." Some people may be good, and may do good things, but our works are not what grant us eternal life! Our believe in God, and that God sent Jesus, His son, to die on the cross so we have eternal life, is the basis of OUR/MY faith. If every person has eternal life, what are we here for? Why is there the church? Didn't Christ tell us to "go and make disciples of all nations?" (Matt. 28:19). If everyone is to go to Heaven, then why would have God sent Jesus to earth? If everyone, and anyone can go to Heaven, Jesus' death was in vain.

Needless to say, I am very passionate about this subject! I do believe that God can make exceptions in any case He wants to. But, I do think that we need to follow the WORD OF GOD, and therefore we do not have to count on God making an exception for us. God created us to live our lives in love. That was stated over and over again in this class. I MUST agree with that. But I have to say, I can love, God can love, but we do not have to accept actions for which God has said are evil/bad/wrong.

Which brings me to my next point. (I know this is long, but I need to get this out.) A couple of people in the class asked the question "What is wrong? How can we, since we are not God, know what is wrong?" James brought up the 10 Commandments! These things are WRONG. (This is what Exodus 20:1-17 says)

And God spoke all these words:
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
"You shall have no other gods before me.
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand of those who love me and keep my commandments.
"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
"You shall not murder.
"You shall not commit adultery.
"You shall not steal.
"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

I believe that doing those things are wrong. Do you? These are the guides to figure out what is wrong and what is right in God's eyes. Am I correct in that assumption?

Now there are a lot of things that individual churches/denominations have declared wrong, that may not be wrong in other churches/denominations. I think this is where LOVE comes in. I may believe that something someone is doing is wrong, and they may think it is right. We both may have scripture to back up our views. I do not have to agree with that person that they are right, but I do HAVE to love that person! God is the one who judges. I have been called not to judge. (See Matthew 7:1-5) All I can do for the person I disagree with is share my perspective, let them share theirs, listen, love, and pray that God's will is done in my heart and in that persons heart!

We are called to love God and our neighbors. We are also called to do so much more.

I want to ask you, do you believe in Christ? Do you believe God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for YOU? If you do, I pray that you are preaching and teaching to as many souls as you can reach.

If this is the first time you have heard of Christ, knowing more is easy. Ask God to open your heart and your mind to His word. Ask Christ to come into your heart and seek Him out. Get yourself a Bible and read it. Find a church where you can express your beliefs, and yet be challenged to find the truth in the Word.

I know this took a quirky turn towards the end, but I know there is some reason for this. Some reason for the questions. I am being tested so my faith can become stronger!

By the way, I found all my Bible quotes at http://www.biblegateway.com/. I also found some references in the Bible about Hell and the Devil... Hell (Luke 16:23; Matt 5:22,29, 30; Mark 9:43,45,47; 2Peter 2:4) Devil/Satan (Job [throughout the book]; Zach. 3:1; Luke 4:1-13; Matt 13:39; John 6:70 & 13:27; 2 Thes 2:9; 1 Tim 5:15; Rev. 12:9)

Let me know what you think.... Leave a comment or email me. Thanks.

More thoughts on Where I think the church will be in twenty + years...

I recieved this comment on my previous post "Where I think the church will be in twenty + years..." and I just had to write my comments on it. I know I am sort of rambling here, but I have a lot of questions and a lot to discuss. Please join me in this discussion. I would love to hear what everyone thinks.

Krismisstree posted...

“Interesting...what's your take on the Hebrews 10:25 verse, then? Don't give up
meeting together as some are in the habit of doing? Do you think that command is
'covered' by meeting in small weekly groups, and not getting direct food from a
church service preaching the Word? Just curious on your take on Hebrews 10:25
and how it relates to your post.”

Hebrews 10:25 says "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (NIV)

I am not suggesting that all meeting together will be stopped by what the future has in store. Today I was talking to a professor from Central Baptist Theological Seminary and he was saying that “home churches” have been on the rise. They are the people who don’t find the conventional church appealing to them, so they have a church in a more comfortable setting. That is a lot of what I mean by small family groups/Bible studies.

Church doesn't necessarily have to be a structured, liturgical style. As long as people are coming together to worship God, does He really care how it is done? Granted, there will be those that will only get their spiritual “food” from what they listen to on their I-Pods or what-have-you. If those people are to truly live in the Word of God, they will understand that fellowship is an important part of being a Christian.

They will need to have someone to bounce questions off of. However, like we are doing here, they may still not come face to face. I think eventually if they understand, and are reached out to by those that are a part of a community (whether bigger or smaller), they will join a community and have that fellowship.

I do believe that each person needs to have a day of rest. How that person chooses to rest is a part of their own lifestyle. Each person is different. In this day of age, not every person has the liberty to be off of work on Sundays. Therefore the church needs to be flexible with how they offer that fellowship to individuals. If that means that the only time someone can join in some kind of worship is with a small group, at least they are in fellowship and worshiping a God who knows all and understands.

Does that make any sense? Does it matter if someone is hearing the word through preaching or discussion? Can a discussion take place of a sermon? What do traditional sermons do for you? Do you really come away from a traditional sermon every week wanting to implement everything you just heard into your daily life? If you had to choose, which would you prefer as a worship setting... the traditional church or small family style discussion group worship?

Let me know what you think.

Where I think the church will be in twenty + years...

I must say, looking at my church today and looking at where I think it will be in the next twenty years, I don't see it being at all the same.

With the advent of webcast ministries, and the ever popular I-Pod, I think the Church is going to have to figure out how to reach those of this technology savvy world. We are a society of constant motion and multi-tasking. Churches may find they have members who want to listen to the weekly sermon while riding mass transit to and from work. In the working world it is also a known fact that the younger generation has strong ties to family. We’re seeing more and more where families spend their weekends together, not in church. Making church services available anytime will provide the desired spiritual lessons people are seeking on their terms not on the terms of the church. Along with this, churches need to be open to giving up the traditional Sunday morning worship for a more family friendly evening session

The "old" way is dying, and that may be bad or it may be good. There will still be those who will need to attend a church in a "church building" but I see more people getting their spiritual fulfillment over the internet. Churches are going to have to start sharing their buildings, or selling them to move to smaller, more environmentally friendly buildings, so they have less to maintain on their own. They will not always have the monetary funds to keep a church building up and running. Churches will have to choose between having a great, nice, huge, archaic building, and having a meaningful and productive ministry to the world. Christians will have to figure out how to reach the world and those who are lost through alternate means.

The sense of community that a church provides will have to be broken down into smaller groups. I don’t see the huge gatherings of people coming together but a couple of times a year (i.e. Christmas, Easter, and a couple of other special days.) Sermons are going to have to be extremely relevant to a person’s everyday life, or they will get bored and go someplace else for advice. Small “family” group Bible studies focused on relevant issues may be the main source of religion for many people.

Pastors may have to change tactics in the way they work. Bi-vocational pastors may become the norm. If the church as we know it now still exists, the standard sermon will have to be altered to a way that makes people think and want to come back that next week to hear more (Isn’t that the ultimate challenge now?!)

People are less and less willing to give up their money to an entity in which they don’t feel connected closely to. Church giving is down in almost every single church in the United States. However, when a crisis comes along, people will give up their Starbucks for a week to help out. For example, when the tsunami hit on Dec. 26, 2005 in South Asia, churches came together and gave millions upon millions of dollars to the cause. When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, churches gathered together money, manpower, and supplies and contributed to that cause. Mission opportunities will need to be available for people to attend. This will need to be spearheaded by mission-minded people. Churches will have to be willing to reach out to other churches and become communities with other churches to make these options viable.

As for mega-churches... I think the gigantic, make-me-feel-good, not have to think because I am being told what to think, churches are going the way of the smaller Bible studies and smaller, more connected churches. However, each church has to find its niche market (to use business terms) and appeal to the people that will support it. Each age group and ethnic group will have to be satisfied and that means each church will have to be different. Churches will have to understand that they can’t reach everyone, but they can help those people they don’t appeal to find a church that does appeal to them. Therefore, churches need to be connected to one another through the wider church community.