Willa

Proverbs 17:25 NKJV A merry heart does good like medicine but a broken spirit dries the bones. 15:15 b But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast 15:13 A merry heart makes a cheerful continence. Our pastor frequently points out humor of Jesus, which is somewhat cultural and may be a little different than ours. His statement about a camel going through the eye of a needle is one, though I think it may have been referring to the sheep gate which was very low and small. Often it is the imagry that is used. Even some of the things he has the prophets do are oddly funny. Or having the Israelites circle Jerico 7 times and on the last blow trumpets and all! What a strange battle plan. How about Gideon and choosing 300 men who lapped water like a dog. There are others I can't think of right now but will add them as I do. I just can't help but think that God has a wild sense of humor.

I answered you question but you had no interest in hearing an answer. We have been through this same arguement presented in the same way before on this forum. The problem was that he wanted to convert the clear understanding of simple words to fit his strange doctrine. And he was not open to hearing the truth plainly stated in Scripture. This is a useless arguement and wrangling about words, which we are to avoid. 1 Tim. 6:3-5. So I do not wish to respond again. Willa

Matthew 28King James Version (KJV) 28 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. What does dawn here mean ? thanks Jn 20:1 ALT3 Now on the FIRST DAY BETWEEN THE SABBATHS Mary the Magdalene goes EARLY IN THE MORNING (THERE BEING YET DARKNESS) to the tomb and she sees the stone having been taken away from the tomb. Lk 24:1 Now on the FIRST DAY BETWEEN THE SABBATHS , AT EARLY DAWN they came to the tomb. Mk 16:1 -2 AND THE SABBATH HAVING PAST, Mary the Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that having come they should annoint Him. And VERY EARLY IN THE MORNING ON THE FIRST DAY BETWEEN THE SABBATHS THEY COME TO THE TOMB, THE SUN HAVING RISEN. Mt 28:1 Now AFTER THE SABBATHS, AT THE DAWNING INTO THE FIRST DAY BETWEEN THE SABBATHS, Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the grave. Now what do the words in capital letters mean to you? They seem explicitly clear to me, though some others have tried to construe them to mean something other than is clearly stated. ALT3 is The Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament, Third Edition, and is based on the best Majority Text. The one used by the KJV had not been comepletely translated I understand, and they had to use some Latin texts as well to complete it. Gary Zeola the translator of ALT3 is both native Greek and a student of New Testament Greek. He is also a born again believer who leans on the Holy Spirit to help him in his understanding of the Scriptures as well as his understanding of New Testament Greek. I highly respect this translation as well as Wuest's Expanded Translation which agrees with this understanding of the scriptures in question. I hope this helps to clear up your apparent confusion. Blessings, Willa

There will be sin in the melinnium when Christ reigns with a rod of iron, even though satan will be restrained till the end of it. Probably this is to show us all that even with perfect, strong government and without the influence of satan, man in himself will become prideful and sin. But at the end of the melinium when the new heavens and new earth are made, we will live eternally without sin.

Perhaps we are missing the most important part of this discussion on marriage: Both people need to be totally committed to Christ and believe that His word holds the answers to most problems. It also helps when both are determined from the beginning to make the marriage work and to make Christ the center of their marriage. So also repentance and apologies to our spouces needs to be an active part of a marriage. A time daily when you pray aloud together is a huge bonding experience in the lives of a couple. It takes time for a man to learn to live with his wife according to knowledge. Ous son and his wife went through 20 weeks of premarital counseling. Not only did it cover the usual problems that arise and that pastors end up counseling couples about, It also included discipling, homework and Bible study. His wife was a new christian--he had led her to the Lord a few months prior and she was from a pagan 1 parent environment, so the counseling was essential for both. Among other things discussed were the bibical needs of each. A woman needs to feel loved, protected and that she is prized and appreciated by her husband. A man needs to feel admired by his wife. And each needs to understand what the other person thinks is an expression of these things. So you can imagine how surprised I was to find out that at the top of the list of how hubby expreses love to me was printed "I let her eat onions"! We have found that small marriage retreats held by our church were exactly what you are hoping for in a church supporting new marriages. They were not long seminars but they did give us tools to understand each other and appreciate each other as well as to work out problems. I understand what you mean by churches becoming cold and detatched. Many churches have degenerated into being either that or else a country club, a social club. It is a sign that the believers have not continued to KEEP ON BEING FILLED with the Holy Spirit as the present progressive verb means in "do not be drunk with wine which is dissipation; but BE FILLED with the Spirit, speaking to one another is psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart to the Lord." Eph 5:18-19 NKJV Acts records multiple fillings of the Spirit in the apostles and others. This renewal of submission to God and asking Him to fill us should be ongoing in all our lives. Men's prayer groups can also serve the purpose of providing godly counsel and be a tool to nurture a newlywed. In the same vein an older woman from a woman's bible study can be a mentor to the wife. These are places where interpersonal supportive relationships are formed. Another place where men bond is work parties. You should look for a church that has these things or start them yourself. A good marriage takes a lot of work, determination to perservere, and help from God's word and His Spirit. But it is well worth it.

Funny can also mean peculiar. We don't have to agree to be in fellowship. Fellowship is produced by God living in us. I have never said that people cannot become apostate. But neither do I believe that a person needs to be saved every week or so since the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from sin when we are walking in the light and are in fellowship with God and other believers who dwell in the light. I understand that you don't believe OSAS...But I am also convinced that God is much more patient with us than some people think He is. I don't believe OSAS in the terms that you seem to understand it either, so I am puzzeled that you seem to want to argue with me.. I said that there may be some truth there just as there is some truth in holiness theology. There are good things I have learned from both. It may be that when they are taken to extreme that they come close to error. I was merely extending good will and fellowship to you. I felt rebuked for doing so, Was I being presumtious? Willa

Post number 82 was what I was referring to. I don't usually direct to anyone in particular but to the general conversation. Sorry, I was just hasseling you. But I do believe that the truth may lie somewhere between the two views. Man has responsibility to choose. But in the end, God is soverign and even uses our choices though they may be wrong. Wasn't Bathsheba in the linage of Jesus? In the same vein, Jacob said you meant it for evil but God meant it for good, referring to when he was sold into slavery by his brothers. Yes, it is possible to walk away from every temptation. Jesus did it and is without sin. But I don't think any man has done it since then. God has made ways of escape and in theory we may be able, but man is frail in himself and must lean on God's strength. Man is still inconsistant. When we compare ourselves with the perfection of Christ, no man has achieved that kind of perfection here on earth because we are not God. We may overcome one bad habit but we always find that there are other areas of our lives that need to change. That is why we are told that we are being changed from glory to glory. We do not hear the Father clearly all the time and only say the things we hear Him say, or do only the things He tells us to do, as Jesus did. This is perfection. Our God is so amazing! I long for the day that we will all be so in sync with Him. Meanwhile we are stuck with each other as we are. We are told to forbear one another in love, even if we do have funny ideas and different understanding of Scripture. Blessings, and here is where I would post a big grin with lots of hugs but my pad in incapable of carying on like that. Willa

Man, you didn't listen to me, either. Perhaps the people that think they need to get saved again each time they deliberately sin are also wrong. The verse in Hebrews 10:26 that states "If we sin willfully" speaking of deliberate sin, is in the progressive tense. It means if we go on sinning, or if we continually are sinning willfully. Those who commit a deliberate sin does not have to get saved again. It means the person has to confess his sin to be forgiven and cleansed from unrighteousness. 1 John 1: 5-9 He has broken fellowship with God and needs to be restored just like having a fight with your wife means you need to confess your error and ask for her forgiveness. It does not mean you get divorsed every time you have a fight and then have to remarry. God does chasten those he loves as sons. He scourges us but we are still sons, and it yields the peacable fruit of righteousness. Sins that are not deliberate are continually cleanses by the blood of Jesus as we have fellowship with God and other Christians and are walking in the light. The confession part in 1 John 1:5-9 is for the deliberate sins. The Hebrews 10:26 passage is referring to those who in the end commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the unforgivable sin. These are apostate Christians. God keeps those who want to be saved. The ones who ignore the conviction of sin or who continue to sin defiantly even after being chastened by God, and go their own way, are lost but it may take years. Look how many centuries it took for God to divorse Israel. He is very patient with us and waits with open arms for the prodigals to return. Those who think they need to be saved again each time they deliberately sin may think our God is a hard God as did the man who buried his talents. This is a false concept of God as is the concept that God will keep people who no longer want to be kept, or that He permissibly allows people to sin without repentance. He does give us free will. But ignoring the Holy Spirit hardens hearts so that eventually they don't care if they are saved. Yet from God's perspective, He forsees those who will endure to the end and has chosen them whom He forknew. Being outside of our perspective of time, He sees the end from the beginning. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end. Heb.3:14 So perhaps OSAS is slightly closer to the truth than you think. Blessings, Willa

You're right, it is different. But you're ignoring the obvious. One cannot escape the pollutions of the world without faith in Christ Jesus. 2 Peter 2:20 Wuest Expanded Translation For if, having escaped the polutions of the world through an EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in these moreover again being entangled, they have been overcome with the result that they are in a state of subjection, the last things have become to them worse than the first ones;---

I believe something between the two. In several places we are told that those who make sin a lifestyle will not inherit the kingdom of God. It is possible to so harden ones heart to the Holy Spirit's call to repentance that we never return to the Lord. I believe that the Lord keeps all who want to be kept, but that we can be so hardened by the deceitfulness of sin that we no longer care or want to be saved. And if we do that till death we shall be lost.. However, being in rebellion for a few weeks in not a lifestyle. We are told in Hebrews 3 & 4, Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as they did in the wilderness. This means that there remains room for repentance as long as we still hear His voice. If we no longer can hear God's voice because we are so hardened, that person is in real trouble. I doubt that the person who has fully surrendered his life to God will ever reach this point. It is the person who has only surrendered those areas that he know he needs help in, who fool themselves to believe that some portions of the Bible don't apply to them that remain in danger. Those who are deceived into thinking that it is ok to be cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorerers, idolaters, liars, adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, revilers, extortioners, unclean, lewd, haters, those who practice being contentious, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissentions, herecies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries. Those who continue to practice these things till they can no longer hear God's voice that shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. These things are lifestyles that continue for many months or even years becoming progressively worse as the person continutes to harden their hearts to the Holy Spirit till the person scorns the blood of Christ and scorns the Holy Spirit of grace. This is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. It is not the commission of one rebellious sin, though the downward spiral may start with that if the person does not repent. As long as a person is walking in the light the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from all sin. But if he does sin willfully, if he confesses his sin, God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse from all unrighteousness. We cannot put a time limit on God's grace. As long as there remains a today and the person can still hear God's voice, he is still able to repent and is still in a state of grace. I know of a church that told a lady in a nursing home who had not been able to attend a mid week service that she needed to be saved again. Sorry, folks, that is a lie and in itself scorns the blood of Christ to say such a thing. God's grace extends much much farther than some give Him credit for. Those who sin willfully will be soundly chastised and scourged by the Living God. They don't just get away with sinning. God has His own ways of humbling us and keeping us. Only the most calloused and the sons of perdition, are lost, and then it is their decision, not God's. Just my opinion. Love, Willa

You can understand who Jesus was as a human by starting to read in Genesis as you have done. But to understand Christians you need to start reading in Matthew, about 2/3 the way through the Bible. This is where it starts talking about Jesus' birth, life and teachings. The old testament explains who the Jews are and Jesus was born Jewish. The new testament tells about the beliefs of Christians.. So, it makes more sense to me to start reading in Matthew. The book of John tells who Jesus claimed to be. Then go back and start reading in Genesis afterward and read it clear through, because you get more meaning out of the New testament the next time you read it, after reading the old testament. Genuine Christians believe that the Bible is the Word of God, directly inspired by God the Holy Spirit. So a person who quotes the Bible is not expressing his own opinion, but the opinion of his Creator. We believe that God is eternal. He existed before creation, and will always exist.. In Genesis He tells Moses His name is "I AM". It means the state of being, eternally existing One. Jesus claims to be I AM in the book of John. That is why the Jews tried to stone Him to death. God is in 3 persons but exists as one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No one can adiquitly understand this concept. You will never understand Christians unless you also get to know our God.. You can ask God, (if there is a God) to reveal Himself to you personally. His revelation will never contradict the Bible but will be better understood by the Bible. All of us who are Christians have had our lives changed dramaticly by receiving our God into our lives. Many have died rather than renounce our God because our lives were not worth living by comparison before we asked Him to be our Director and final Authority, our Savior and Lord. We believe that Jesus purchased us from the clutches of satan by dying on the cross for our sins. We care for you because we understand how much God loves you and to what lengths He went to, to save all of us. And His love lives in us. I hope this might help to give you a place to start. But the fact is that I know men who became pastors who could not understand genuine Christians either. They themselves had never come to personally know our God. So they didn't understand the Bible and they didn't understand us by their own admission. And it is God's desire for us to personally and intimately know Him. The main thing that is needed to to that is HUMILITY. I want to thank you for you quest to better understand us, and am praying that God enable you to do this. Willa

Perhaps great wisdom is needed in choosing a good college or U. I know of one private liberal arts college that has an excellent reputation, but they have a required course in humanities in which the professor announces to the class that if they are still a professing Christian by the time they finish the class, they will be not pass the class.. I know several people who are no longer serving the Lord after attending there. So caution and wisdom are needed as to choosing a good one. You might talk to Christians who have attended them recently. Some people are able to give the answers the course requires and hide their own opinions. While some people have the ability to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves, I wouldn't be able to keep my opinions to myself. Thankfully I attended a public college and didn't face that delemma. Fourty years ago some institutions still encouraged us to think independantly. Today I would not be politically correct and would face a lot of opposition. But somebody has to do it and challange others with the truth. It is a lonely road. Some students here on Worthy have told of having a really tough time. So you would have to be able to keep that which is good and leave the rest in the garbage. Paul was apparently familiar with the Greek religions and philosophers as well as being highly schooled in the Jewish faith. He was able to use this in reaching a variety of people of different backgrounds. He said he became a Jew when talking to the Jews and a gentile when talking to the heathen, so that some might be saved. He was also persecuted. But he knew the Lord beyond any doubt and counted knowing Him of greatest value. So a lot depends on you and how heavily you lean on the Lord.

I just want to comment, more as an informational thing. There is a teaching which has been going around, which uses the term 'root of bitterness' as a bludgeoning tool against Christians. If someone disagrees with a theology, they are said to have a 'root of bitterness' to embarras them into silence, or alienate them. If a person is upset about an injustice, they are said to have a 'root of bitterness'. If a person identifies leadership especially, or something wrong, they are said to have a root of bitterness. Just be aware that the terminology 'root of bitterness' is used by some in a very manipulative and hurtful way, so often, that it has become their tool and catch phrase used to silence and marginalize others. On the otherhand, can a person who was wronged, become angry? Of course. It is a natural reaction. But if they hold onto that anger, not turning the situation over to God, then that anger starts to effect them in such a way, they become in bondage to that anger. That is true. However, not forgiving, and not releasing that anger, is not the unforgivable sin. It makes the person involved less happy and with less joy, so less effective, but again, in light of Jesus death for all sins, unforgiveness is not an unforgivable sin. Lack of forgiveness, is tied to the Day of Atonement in the Mosaic covenant, but that is quite different then what we have received in the New Covenant. Thank you quints, I was not aware of this use of the phrase now days. My root of bitterness was a self diagnosis which referred to what occurred in 1970 when I realized I could not forgive people who threatened and ridiculed me simply for being a Christian. But it went much deeper. For the prior 15 years I had lived in this unforgiving bitterness and I don't even know when it began. But all during the years since I was first saved, the people who I found to be the most antagonizing were those who self righteously condemned others while they themselves were cold and unforgiving. Much later I realized that God was using them to show me my own attitudes and behavior. THE THINGS THAT IRRITATE ME MOST IN OTHERS ARE USUALLY THE SINS I AM BLIND TO IN MYSELF. Seeing my kids mirror my various sinful attitudes was one of the hard ones as well. But today I am thankful for God having placed these people in my life because I am now set free to have compassion on them. I know how miserable they are. I was saved in my early teens, around the 7th-8th grade. Having repented of outward sins I didn't even understand that God wanted to change my whole nature and that He Himself wanted to live in me and through me almost as He had in Jesus. I didn't understand how He was working to bring this about or why He kept bringing these abrasive people into my life. He was doing it to show me myself. So I fell on my face before Him once again in repentance and asked Him to make me the person He wanted to be and to fill me with His Spirit. This "second blessing" totally changed my Christian walk because I learned how to hear God's voice and walk in the Spirit. Having begun int the Spirit I had been trying to live the Christian life by self effort. God's transformation has been a slow process. Like John the Baptist said, I must decrease that He might increase. So I wasn't trying to bludgeon anybody and I apologize if anyone took it that way. And it was directed toward the topic rather than toward individuals who posted here. The less that the sins of others bother me, the more they are being replaced by God's grace and love for them in my own life. That is probably what the verse meant by "lest anyone fall short of the grace of God". Not so much saving grace, but fall short of the grace He extends to all of us to enable us to forbear one another in love. Grace is unmerited favor. We need to be filled with Gods loving grace and patience with each other as He changes all of us from glory to glory. We are to hate evil. We are not to hate the people who are ensnared it or even condemn them. We are to pity them. For while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Romans. Matt.5:44 NKJV: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;" And when we can't do it, God is able to make us both to will and to do for His good pleasure. So ask Him for both the will and His power to do His will and to extend grace to others who are hard to love. Blessings, Willa

Pursue peace with all men, and holiness without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any ROOT OF BITTERNESS springing up cause trouble, and BY THIS MANY BECOME DEFILED; Hebrews 12:14-15 NKJV When we cannot forgive in our own strength, and we know we are lost because God said : for if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive you your trespasses. Then we must ask God to fill us with His loving forgiveness which hung on that cross saying "father, forgive them, they know not what they do." Ask God to forgive you for your own sinfulness and fill you with His Spirit and give you the power to obey Him because you can't do it in your own strength. I say this in all humility because I found it the only way out of my own bitterness and hatred. It doesn't destroy the people we can't forgive. It destroys us. Somewhere the Bible also warns us against taking up the offences of others; I can't find it right now. But it is a good practice. When our unforgiveness becomes a root of bitterness it hurts the people we love the most. It taints every aspect of our lives and chokes out our love. Our cause may be very righteous; it is still wrong to hold blame and bitterness. Sometimes the righteous bitterness we have is worse in God's eyes than the original evil we condemn, though that seems hard to imagine. We fail to realize how evil our own sinful nature is and to what lengths God went to redeem us. We don't deserve His mercy either. We don't deserve His love. But He does it for that very reason. God came not for the righteous but for sinners.

Every year our pastor gives a "prophecy update" and it will probably occur next wednesday. Last year so much had been happening that he only could use the last 3 months of the year and it was still very long. 10 years ago not nearly as many scriptures had been fulfilled in a year's time. So the very rapidity of events fullfilling scripture is alarming as well as exciting. I have also been watching for the Ezekiel 38 war. But I am also still praying for loved ones' hearts to be softened so that they may respond to the loveing call of God. This is the first year that all the nations mentioned in Ezekial 38 are alligned against Israel now that Turkey has joined them. It is exciting to see prophecy fullfilled before our eyes. It is not so good to see the USA being taken out of the picture thanks to our current leadership. But even that fulfills prophecy since Israel must stand alone In the end times so that only God comes to her rescue. I sometimes want to yell at the peace negotiators that continually give back the strategic territory Israel needs for her defence. The muslim nations have never followed through with even their vague promises while Israel repeatedly makes concrete concessions. I can't believe that American Jews still back Obama since he financially supports and arms her enemies. But then he also told Christianity Today that he is a Christian and that this has totally changed his life. His actions do not support that claim either nor do the continual lies he tells. But I know many Christians that still support him and believe his "confession of faith". It is easy to see how the future antichrist will deceive even the elect. In the Ezekiel 38 war there is so much fighting going on among themselves in Syria that they are relatively ineffective against Israel as I remember, just as many factions including Iranian backed rebels are fighting against the government at this time. But I get confused between this war and the Great Trib first 3.5 years war. Last year it was revealed that Israel has huge oil and natural gas resourses and that Turkey wanted a cut in the pipeline that was to be built to Cyprus and Europe. This would destroy Russia's market for the same products and is further antigonizing both countries. This happened last year. Our pastor believes that the EZ 38 war precedes the great tribulation. Prophecy remains a little confusing to me. But China is also building a road to Iran, which would fit into the prophecy of armies from the east coming against Israel during the great trib. It continually amazes me that satan goes to the trouble of causing such hatred of Jews and the Christians who seek to live godly lives in Christ Jesus.. But even this hatred confirms the validity of Scripture prophecy. Certainly the times of the gentiles is drawing to a close as the Gospel is being preached to nearly all nations.

Yes God does do miracles today. The greatest miracle of all is the forgiveness of sin and the new life of Him being born in us. Jesus did one miracle in the Bible just to prove He had the power to forgive sin. In Jesus' day He fed the thousands both in Israel and among the gentiles, and people started following Him around for a free meal. So He stopped doing it. God often does miracles in nations like India where the Gospel is not often heard and the people are desperately poor and in need. His heart of compassion has not changed. It is our hearts that become calloused where we have come to think we know more than God or that we have no need of Him. Sometimes people try to manipulate God as though they were in control instead of bowing to Him as Lord of creation. They want to see Him work miracles as if they just want Him to entertain them. Where does it say, I piped but You did not dance?. We still tend to think that God should jump through our hoops. That is not acknowledging Him as God Who does as He pleases. Jesus healed 10 lepers and told them to go to the priest to be declared clean. They all had free will. Only one came back and fell at His feet and worshipped Him in thanksgiving. They all had been healed but only one CHOSE to believe that He is the Messiah. Jesus then made him whole, which means his sins were also forgiven I would think.

I know of strong Christians that have read the holy books of other faiths so thay they could witness better to these people that they knew or were going to as missionaries. But on the other had we are told to be innocent of evil. So I would never read a satanic bible to be able to witness to satinists. Most people just need to know the truth. No place else will you find a God of love who came to us to forgive sin. I also learned a little bit about other religions--just enough to know I didn't really want to know any more. Knowing that many buddahs are demons is enough to make me not want to go there. We are told as much in the Bible, however, that the power behind idols is demonic. Knowing that most other religions are of fear and hatred is also pretty much a downer. And that many religions are an attempt to escape life instead of embracing the fullness of life? We really do stand apart.

I think some expressions come under the category of colloquial expressions or exclamations that have no ill meaning by the speaker. But often other people say it is wrong because it is a substitution for something that everyone recognizes as derogatory or even sacred. If the speaker does not use it as derogatory and the the words themselves are not profane or sacred, personally I think it is wrong to heap that condemnation on the speaker. I grew up hearing son of a gun a lot, and nothing derogatory was meant by it. It was an expression of amazement. In the 50s people did not use much profanity and I didn't know what most of it meant if I did hear it. It was against the law to use it back then. But I did hear a lot of the stuff that was acceptable for use in the comic strips in those days, such as gee as when Pracilla would say gee I'm glad we married him! When I became an adult there was always someone who would tell me that I was using the Lord's name in vain by saying gee. Sorry, folks, but that doesn't fly with me. If I didn't say the word, I didn't say it, and I wasn't trying to substitute something else, either. Of course, there is always the chance that someday God will convict me of using these words and I will have to appologize to you all. Meanwhile He must have other prioities He is working on in my life that are much worse in His eyes if He hasn't addressed it in 55 years. Now at our house we have dogs that eavesdrop on our conversations. So: The s word is squirrel The f word is food The g word is go (for a walk or a ride) The c word is cat The d word is dog While they understand at least 60 words that they respond to with body language or barking, these elicit the most excited reactions. These are definitely substitutions for other things that we are trying to avoid saying. But that is not true about other words I may say for emphasis. Holy mackerel! I get so tired over the fuss about words. If I ever should cuss or use profanity, you will definitely know it. The one time 40 years ago that I did use the other s word was when I had stepped in a pile of fresh dog feces with my bare foot. My hubby came running into the room with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open, which tells you how frequently I use such a word. Just don't tell me that balogna is profanity because that would be a bunch of balogna. Mutter mutter.

Day after the night before. Sure glad I watched Christmas Vacation. 6 of the family sat staring at their phones and texting each other! I couldn't believe that they could not put them down for family fellowship. I finally announced that I had been waiting for some prayer time. I was the only one who prayed, which was unusual. We have rarely had such dischord and I was a not totally innocent for being irritated with them. Did not say anything but my face probably smiled less than usual. We normally have a lot of fun visiting. But I did remember Vacation and how the holidays never meet our dreams and expectation because we are a bunch of weird imperfect people. And I was again thankful for the dumb movie and how God has used it in my life. He is so good, and more patient with His kids than I am. Prime rib was good on Christmas Day, and it was a good day. Some of us with health issues were ready for a nap afterwards. Blessings, Willa

You will probably all think I am awful, but I watch that movie Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase each year to remind myself that our families have some real characters (probably us) and it won't be perfect and go the way we expected. Our hopes and dreams for the day may go awry. The prayers won't be perfect. The decorations may fail. The 2 small dogs will be a nuscence. There may be some strange presents. Everything can get chaotic with kids chasing dogs and limited seating for 14 people. Fortunately there will be no drugs or aclohol, just pie tonight. But we can all get together to remember Christ's birth. So our sons and their families will be with us tonight. Tomarrow we plan to be with oldest son and family for dinner in a smaller home with 2 large dogs in our midst. Younger son will be with his wife's family. This will be the first year that everyones hearts are tender toward Christ if not filled with His Presence. So it will not be as tense as our memories of past Christmases. We will leave the Christmas Eve service to the more daring and hardy. It is held in the Church's amphatheater with a huge bonfire. But we are not well enough go down the many steps in the dark and weather the freezing temperatures. So we will celebrate with family. We don't think there will be a white Christmas this year since a Chinook (warm) wind came yesterday with 58 F degree gusts. Today will make the low 40s. But I did watch White Christmas last night because I like Bing Crosby and Danny Kay. Christmas blessings: Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the City of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: you will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Glory to God in the highest, And peace, good will toward men! Luke 2 10-14 NKJV in part. Love, Willa

I have to agree that carrying the cross starts with nevertheless not my will be done but thine. We bend to do God's will though it be painful and humiliating, and possible leading to death. We become dispised and forsaken of man, often losing our relationships with family members and close friends. It hurts, yet we know that we cannot live without Jesus in our lives. So He is worth it all. We also lost relationships on both sides of our families, were ridiculed and threatened by family members. My best friends cut ties. My hubby was disinherited and barely tollerated. Only one of his family keeps in touch. 4 of mine send Christmas cards. I was reported at work at they placed a camera on me to record any inpropriety, including proselatizing. So I didn't bring up my faith till they asked and they always did. Then I urged them to received Christ and go to the church of their choice. Our cross is the cost of true discipleship and walking in the Spirit. Even religious Christians accuse us falsely, which hurts when we considered them our friends. But we remember that Jesus was also accused falsely and was tried illegally. Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, Who, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb. 12:2 NKJV

Often when I think I failed in the trial or testing, God was doing something entirely different than I thought He was teaching me. Once when I told Him that, the Still Small Voice whispered: You endured and are still faithful, aren't you? So we may be completely in error when judging ourselves. God sees you through blood colored glasses which obliderate you sinfulness and failures. While we are to inspect our lives when we go to communion, living in introspection or self condemnation is not good. And it is only God who can judge us correctly. We are all growing from glory to glory till others see more of Christ and less of ourselves in us. David, the adulterer and murderer, was a man after God's own heart. God doen't look for a person who is perfect, but one who is available, willing, and who humbly trusts in God to accomplish His task. He is made perfect in our weaknesses, not our strengths.

The only people who are counted worthy by God are those who have received Jesus Christ into their lives. They have repented of their sins and lean wholy on the perfection of Jesus, who is totally sinless; when He went to the cross and took our imperfection and sin on Himself, he paid for our ransom by dying in our place. But he bestowed His perfect righteousness on us, which is placed on our account. So God finds us to be righteous because of what Jesus has done. We are then born again of and sealed by the Holly Spirit; God writes our names in the Lamb's book of life. Nothing we can do will earn or add to our salvation. But we do want to bring glory to His name by living a life worthy of our calling. We give our lives to Him. We read His word daily so that we can grow to think about things the way God does. Slowly we learn to act more like Jesus, to love like He does and to forgive the way He does.

My dad had some Christian training but when he hit college he renouced it in favor of philosophy. But he retained Christian values and was a giving caring man all his life. He testafied to seeing God in nature. He believed Jesus was a good man and that all roads lead to heaven. Dad loved to debate for the sake of debating. He would also pick my brain for my opinions. He demonstrated Godly love for me even though he was not a Christian. I trusted him and looked up to him and my mom. It was supposed to be a modern democratic family and we voted on things like vactions. However, dad always had the last word. Then he was taken seriously ill and was in the hospital for months. It was devastating to see him so frail. I never heard him sing or whistle around the house again. He was in constant pain, but he eventually was able to walk with a cane and return to work part time. The hardest thing was how much his personality changed. He became stern and overly restrictive when I should have been allowed more autonomy, and he did not allow me to participate in normal activities for a high school senior. I now realize how hard it is to let go of teen agers that we truly enjoy. My mom worked late hours to try to make up for lost income, so our relationship suffered as a result--not bad, just more distant. She and my grandma were Christians but in those days it was a private matter. Grandma had mentioned how much she loved the psalms and I had to be quiet while she read. My mom taught Sunday School and they were active in church, but she rarely mentioned Jesus and never said what being a Christian meant to her. Occasionally she mentioned having had a "mountain top experience" once when she went to church camp, but I had no idea what that meant. So I never felt free to share with them either. The only religious guidance she gave me when I told her I had learned that salvation was by faith alone in Lutheran confirmation was that "you still have to be good". To me that meant that I still had to be good enough to go to heaven. So I was back in bondage again. I wish that she had felt freer to share her faith with me. I wish that she had time to study the Bible with me. All I had learned in Sunday school were simple Bible stories. When I was older the Bible was never studied in Sunday School or church. I could not understand the sermons which my mom said were very logical. It was not edifying till I was a senior when I heard the youth pastor preach the way of salvation for the first time. I had received Christ 4 years earlier so it was too little too late. When I was 18 she allowed me to leave that church and join the Lutheran church. 10 years later my mom died of an unexpected heart attack and his life became even more difficult. Our life consisted of traveling several hours each week end to help care for him so that he could live at home, and that with our very active 3 year old and a new born. We later took him on vacations with us but we would leave him at a motel while we camped. My husband received Christ in 1974 Dad received Christ 3 years later after I gave him a book by Frances Schaefer. He died a year after that.

At age 4 I stated it was impossible for Jesus to rise from the dead. So while I attended Sunday school in a liberal church, I was not a believer and stopped going after the 3rd grade. Around the 7th grade God revealed Himself to me in a thunder storm. It was beautiful and wild. I prayed a God, if there is a God, type of prayer and He answered it repeatedly each time I asked Him to turn off the street lights. After He had done this 18 out of 20 times I figured it was beyond the laws of probability, that there is a God who heard me personally. In the year that followed He convicted me of sin and I was led to make restitution and tell others I had asked God to forgive me. I then bought a New Testament and read it from cover to cover. I sought out a church where the sermons were helpful and attended alone. But there was no teaching of basic beliefs or discipling. Though caught in the false idea of salvation by trying to be good enough to go to heaven, I was baptized by immersion in 1960, By attending confirmation instruction the Lutheran Church I learned the fundamentals of salvation by grace through faith, the trinity, the attributes of God. It was another 8 years before I fully surrendered my life to God via a Campus Crusade for Christ bible study. That is where I learned to walk in the Spirit, was filled to overflowing and was discipled. God started using me and I saw Him do miracles that had no human explanation till I gave Him all my doubts and questioning.. I knew that God's word was true because he confirmed it before my eyes. But the greatest miracle of all is a changed life after a person gives it to God. While I had a relationship with God prior to 1970, I thought the word lord was just a title like Lord Baltimore. So I had been like a foolish Galatian who, having begun in the Spirit, was trying to be made perfect by the flesh or self effort. Gal. 3:3 God is so faithful to open our eyes to His truth and bring us the teaching we need.