Darwin Awards - David Style

Not sure if you have ever heard of the "Darwin Awards" but they are typically awarded to people that do something really stupid during the year. I would recommend you look at them BUT there are some things on there that are not good in the eyes of the Lord so, I wouldn't.

Anyway, here is my submission for myself:

Yesterday I was kind and made some hard boiled eggs for my son, and one extra for me to enjoy. He was kind enough to peel them and then he put them in the Microwave to "warm" them a bit. When I went to take one he warned me and said "Daddy, be careful those are hot". To which I replied in a manly tone, "Don't worry, I won't get burned". Well, he was right, they were hot, even to the touch which I have rather hard fingertips so, that is saying a good bit.

So, in my wisdom I promptly walked over to the sink and proceeded to sprinkle some salt on this hot egg thinking that I would take a small bite and then blow on it so that I could cool it down a bit. So, I opened my mouth and proceeded to bite into this egg only to have it explode in my mouth, and I mean explode. It actually made a "BOOM" sound when it exploded. So, here I am standing at the sink with half an egg, a face that feels like I just got punched and a whole lot of egg yolk sprayed down the wall of the kitchen. In looking around I had egg yolk as far as 10 - 15 feet from where I stood and the pieces that were closer hit so hard that they were mashed into whatever they struck. Fortunately it was all in one direction so that the cleanup was reasonable.

So, lessons learned are as follows;

1. When my son tells me that something is hot, I need to listen.
2. When something is microwaved it needs to be punctured (yes, even when the shell is off)
3. Exploding eggs hurt your face, or in my case my lip (very thankful that it was only my lip)
4. Evolution really can't be true because I wouldn't be that stupid after millions and millions of years of evolving... :)

Hope you enjoy from my lessons learned.

David

The world

...is corrupt, it is deceitful and it is desirous of nothing less than your death. Spiritually. I have been very blessed with some things that the Lord has been teaching me but they are not at a point that I can share them fully as they are not worked through my heart yet however, I can share a little bit about some of the things that He has made clear to me.

In my previous post I commented about my experience in Seattle and I have had some other things that have added to this idea of being blind and not seeing. I am in the middle of reading a book to my family called "Henry and the Great Society". If you have never read it, you should, matter of fact I will send you my copy when I am complete if you are interested. The story is about a man, Henry, who lives a very quiet and peaceable life that in their understanding is that which is mentioned in 1 Timothy 6:6 "But godliness with contentment is great gain". The first part of the story is about this simple life that they lived but it rapidly turns as "progress" comes to their community. The picture that is painted by the changes that come in is very scary and really makes you start to think. The book is something that everyone should read, just to have a mirror held up to the ways and things of this world.

I am by no means promoting the ultra-simple lifestyle but I can say that we need to be very careful about the affects that things and goings to and fro have on our time and more importantly on our relationships. Most importantly we need to be careful about that one relationship with our Saviour which is, after all, most important. It is in that relationship where we are changed, it is in that relationship that we can learn of our Lord Jesus (take His yoke upon you and learn of Him...). Isn't that the desire that we should have, to become more like Him, Jesus? That can come through no other means than time with Him and I will say that all of hell stands against that. Everything in this world is meant to do all that it can to pull you away from Him. Much more on this at a later time but, to provide a quick thought, the very testimony of Jesus Christ, the Church, is what hangs in the balance. It can only be represented in fulness when it is represented by those that are truly being changed into His image. That can't happen unless there is a rich relationship where we are beholding Him.

Take some time today and weigh all things in the balance of that relationship with Jesus Christ and ask whether this thing, event, etc is something that is going to draw you closer to Him, to behold Him more clearly or is it going to pull you away. There really is nothing neutral. Don't believe the lie.

David

Seeing

So, what does "seeing" mean?

Matthew 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

I am in Seattle right now after spending a week at a the SQL Server PASS 2008 conference, away from my family, and I have to admit that I have seen many things over the last few days. Not in the sense of "seeing" things but having things revealed to me in a deeper way. The conference that I attended was for work purposes and it was for the most part very good, especially from the technical perspective. However, it is also very revealing to me just how far those things are away from Christ. You may not understand that, especially if you are not having to do many things with the world, but I can honestly see why there is not even a looking to God in the midst of this world. I had a 1.2 mile walk to and from the conference every day and if you have never been to Seattle, it is a really unique city with a mix of the "earthy" crowd, and the posh crowd, all mixed in with people that are poverty stricken and living on the streets. And here I am going about to this conference, in the midst of people that are only concerned about the stock market and making their server more reliable (if you don't understand that consider yourself blessed). I'm not trying to bring about an attitude of humanism but rather trying to paint a picture of why people don't think they have a need for God. The irony is, without their realizing this, the people that I was "mingling" with, were the ones who are in need, they are the poor, the blind, the lame the halt, the beggars so to speak and yet, they think they are doing great, especially when they compare themselves to those they see on the street. Ultimately my friends, the enemy has done a really good job of blinding people. There was no shortage whatsoever with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life eminating from the midst of this "congregation". Not in rampant open "sin" or I would have left but it was evident in all the fruit of their lives.

If you are reading this you may be saying, brother I know these things, why are you stating them. That may be true but I don't know that we see the stark reality of it or there would be some different fruit in our lives over these things. Just consider Abraham when God was preparing to send destruction to Sodom. The pleading that went on between Abraham and God. Are we pleading like that or are we too blind to the fact that destruction is going to come. I'm not trying to get everyone all "Ra Ra'd" up to go evangelize the world, I know that can be as much a work of the flesh as anything but I am asking what the fruit is in our lives in relation to the FACT that God is going to unleash judgment on the world in the future and most likely the near future.

I guess ultimately, I am really just thinking about what a strong contrast there is between what went on in the New Testament to what is seen today in "Christianity". A verse to consider as follows;

1 John 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.


So, having said all this, the reason why I am able to write so freely in this is that I honestly feel like it is for me. These are all the questions that God has been asking me all week. ...and I share it with you to ask yourself.

I apologize, this was not well thought out, just an outpouring of the heart.

David

Prayer Update

Thank you for praying! We have been really blessed with health, in that both I and Emma are feeling much better. Aside from feeling like I just ran a marathon with my muscles aching, I feel fine and Emma appears to be back to her normal energy level. Many blessings there.

In addition to that we also received news this morning that we are going to close on the house on October 9th. So, we are VERY thankful for that news and rejoicing that all this happened without us having to lift a finger toward getting this done. God has just continually showed us how much He desires to act on our behalf if we will only trust Him. Thank you Father!

We will keep you updated as things progress on this site.

Great blessings to you all as you abide in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

David

A Prayer request

Over the course of the past nine months we have used our blog to share many things. We have used it to share with you where we have come from carnally (our testimonies), where we were at in our journeys(our trip out west), we have shared things of a spiritual mind and where we are at physically.

So now I come to explain where we are and ask for your help and prayers... God’s word tells us in the book of JAMES that "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Hence my plea. We are currently all (all but me) sick with the stomach flu. David and Lee Anna are through with most of it, but now it is Emma and Dave's turn. Emma is young and resilient, Dave on the other hand is not doing well and on top of everything associated with the stomach flu he now has a fever.... So please pray in this regard for healing for everyone and that I will not get it. (Keep in mind that we are still in the camper)

Next... When we came back to NY we asked the LORD to be very clear with us. If HE wanted us here then HE had to give us a house. When we came back we looked at one house (It was a house that had much of what both of us was looking for) and made a non-contingent offer that was accepted. (The house had been on the market since May 2008) The people that are selling the house were attempting to purchase another home in Lockport, NY. Our closing date has now come and gone (should have been Sept. 23) and the sellers are still not ready. We have been told that there is now something that they need to "satisfy" with regards to the mortgage company they are using to purchase the house in Lockport. Here in lies the problem for us, (and again, keep in mind that we are still in the camper) The campground we are staying in as well as most of the campgrounds in the north east U.S. will close for the season on or around October 15, so we are running out of time. Tomorrow Dave will tell our attorney to give a "Time is of the Essence" Order, which means that the sellers will have 10 days to close or we retract our offer. This will put us at October 10th and give us 5 days to make a decision as to what we need to do. If this is the case please pray for us, pray that GOD will endow us with the Wisdom of Solomon.

The Lord has allowed for much improved communications with our oldest child Rachael and with my parents, and strangely I have received communication from Dave's biological Mother... (through no effort on our part) We also have very dear and precious friends and wish to be close to them as well. We want to be here! However if this is not where the LORD would have us then, as I am sure you will understand, we want to be in HIS will.

Please pray that the LORDS will be done. And peace!

Robin

Movie Review

Yes, I went to see a movie. At the theatre even. The movie we went to see as a family was called "Fireproof" (www.fireproofthemovie.com) and was the latest in the releases from the Kendrick brothers. We had seen the previews on the internet and were pretty excited as it deals with marriage which is in a sad state in the world and something that has become a huge problem in Christianity.

The writers and makers of the movie did a wonderful job presenting the problem and even better presenting the resolution. The best thing about all this was they dealt with another large issue directly, as a part of this movie which I won't give away as it is another cornerstone of the plot.

The real blessing to me about this movie was that there was a full theater (and I mean full - hardly a few seats empty) AND they presented the gospel relentlessly throughout the movie. The scene where the main character, Caleb, comes to Christ is such a beautiful portrayal of man that I was in awe. It truly was beautiful.

I would highly recommend people to see this movie, to support their efforts as long as they are glorifying Christ, and to encourage those that don't know the Lord to see this movie. You won't be disappointed.

David

Living water?

I have thought about this a good bit lately as this is a point that Jesus was sure to make on more than one occasion that there is living water available to us as His followers, that this living water will be available in bountiful supply and that it should be a fountain or a flow coming from within.

John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

In thinking about this the Lord pointed me to another point in Scripture, 1 John 2:6;

1 John 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

There is a key word in this verse and I believe more and more that this is the foundation of understanding 1 John, and that is the theme of abiding. The same holds true in the area of living water, as it has to come from a source and that source can only be found in the vine.

I think too often we explain away Scripture, say that is for the elite few, or that this is something that was only available for a certain time however, I hope that you would all agree with me that this is false. These are facts that Jesus was stating to all that would call on His name and follow Him.

I was reading this devotional from Oswald Chambers this morning and it really blessed as it touches on some things that the Lord has placed dearly in my heart. Please read as you see fit. http://www.myutmost.org/09/0907.html The important point that he makes is that this flow should be there and if not find out why. He also makes the point however that we may not always see it but "that it has started from the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but the steadfastly true to Jesus Christ".

Let us covet to find ourselves in that place that when our Lord comes by He doesn't find a tree empty of fruit that should be laden with figs. Remember, He stated that if we are to abide in Him that we would bring forth much fruit and that without Him we could do nothing.

I ask the same question that brother Chambers asked, is there something hindering that today? Let us check the flow and see what that may be. More on this later.....