Tessa Masters is the winner. I will be telling her all my money saving secrets in regards to groceries. Since she is at home in Atlanta, we will be communicating all through email. I am thinking about saving these emails for later posts on my cheep skate label. Stay tuned....
Congrats to Tessa, don't forget to pay it forward.
I have been challenged by one of my friends from church to do this. Most of you have probably seen the movie, it was pretty good. Well, my friend is making me baked goods for no reason. Therefore, I need to pay that forward with something that I am good at.
Josh is always telling me that I should help other people out with this, so I guess now is the time. I am gifted in organization/order. So, the first person to comment on my blog will get my time to help them with organizing their home. Anything from clutter, to managing a budget, to cutting costs at the grocery store. You specify your need and we'll set up a date and time.
You might need to give me your email, if I don't have it, so that we can set something up.
OO and the last part, if you comment for my pay it forward, then you have to pay it forward yourself. Obviously, you don't have to organize someone, but whatever you are gifted at.
The Awareness of God's Wrath Makes Us Thankful for His Loving Act in Christ
"For if it had not been clearly stated that the wrath and vengeance of God and eternal death rested upon us, we would scarcely have recognized how miserable we would have been without God's mercy, and we would have underestimated the benefit of liberation."
God's Wrath Against Unrighteousness; His Love Precedes Our Reconciliation In Christ
"For God, who is the highest righteousness, cannot love the unrighteousness that he see in us all. All of us, therefore, have in ourselves something deserving of God's hatred. With regard to our corrupt nature and the wicked life that follows it, all of us surely displease God, are guilty in his sight, and are born to the damnation of hell. But because the Lord wills not to lose what is his in us, out of his own kindness he still finds something to love. However much we may be sinners by our own fault, we nevertheless remain his creatures. However much we have brought death upon ourselves, yet he has created us unto life. Thus he is moved by pure and freely given love of us to receive us into grace. Since there is a perpetual and irreconcilable disagreement between righteousness and unrighteousness, so long as we remain sinners he cannot receive us completely. Therefore, to take away all cause for enmity and to reconcile us utterly to himself, he wipes out all evil in us by the expiation set forth in the death of Christ; that we, who were previously unclean and impure, may show ourselves righteous and holy in his sight."
Christ Has Redeemed Us Through His Obedience, Which He Practiced Throughout His Life
"And here was no common evidence of his incomparable love toward us: to wrestle with terrible fear, and amid those cruel torments to cast off all concern for himself that he might provide for us. And we must hold fast to this: that no proper sacrifice to God could have been offered unless Christ disregarding his own feelings, subjected and yielded himself wholly to his Father's will."
The Condemnation of Jesus Through Pilate
"But when he was arraigned before the judgment seat [of Pilate] as a criminal, accused and pressed by testimony, and condemned by the mouth of the judge to die - we know by these proofs that he took the role of a guilty man and evildoer."
That guilty man was me.
I am trying to keep up with my husband with all the books he is reading. He reads a ton, for school of course, but still it is a ton of reading. Figured I can't let him intellectually and spiritually blow me by. Anyways, I just finished Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney. Here are some questions you might be asking:
1 - Who is Carolyn Mahaney?
A - I didn't know her before either, but in the book found out she is from Sarasota, FL. How crazy is that!
2 - Never heard of that book.
A - I hadn't either, but my trusty friend Lauren always gives me books for gifts.
I am trying not to absorb myself in only pregnancy and baby books. Well, this book was awesome, have I said that yet. Rocks you to your core, seriously. I challenge any woman out there to read this. Not a huge book. I read it at the gym on the bicycle and finished it within a few weeks. This will be one of those books that I will need to pick up probably every year or so and read again. What a spiritual awakening! My favorite chapter in this book was "The Delight of Loving My Husband." Talked about how easy it is for us to serve. Sometimes when people ask us for evidence of loving our husbands we always point to our service to him, which isn't bad we need to do that, but the to actually love with tenderness and passion is swept aside and forgotten.
Here is a quote from the book, "Our emotions are a warning system God graciously gave us to attract attention to the sin in our hearts. When we're not experiencing loving feelings toward our husbands, that's an alarm going off: ding, ding, ding. There may be sin that needs attention." OOO how true!
Man seriously ladies this book rocked my world. You have to get it! I could type quotes from it all day. If anybody wants to borrow mine they are welcome to it.
SHOUT OUT
I almost forgot to do this. This is a shout out to my friend Lauren Watson. Zach and Lauren always get us books for gifts. Just wanted you guys to know that we read them all. Over the years I think I count 7 books you have given me, this is number 6. I have one more to go. I am sure I will get it done in plenty of time for my birthday ;)!
I just saw a commercial for "The Holy Land Experience" in Orlando, FL. It's a theme park about Bible times sponsored by TBN. On the commercial they have a new feature - you can receive the Lord's Supper from an actor portraying Jesus. I have major problems with this. It entirely cheapens and devalues the meaning of the Lord's Supper. It's the same principle if you were to go get "baptized" in the Jordan River in actual Israel. You can do that. These are sacred ordinances set up by Jesus for the church. These people make a mockery of acts of worship that are to be holy and set apart. There are severe consequences set forth in the Word for people who don't take them seriously. This is totally ridiculous. If you or any of your friends or family decide to go support this place, really, think again and examine what's the real meaning behind the sacred things they commercialize. Men and women have given their lives simply for the chance to take communion or be baptized. This is a disgrace.
I just watched the opening of "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" (used to be Conan's show) via hulu.com. Pretty funny. I like Fallon. He was a little uncomfortable but he's really funny. Besides - his house band is THE ROOTS!! Sweet. I realize that most of you have no idea who The Roots are. They're amazing. Go check them out on YouTube if you are so inclined. He had some pretty good jokes about Obama (surprising). His best joke: "Microsoft is opening new stores to compete with Apple. They'll be just like the Apple Stores except the staff will freeze when you ask them a question." HAHA! Oh yeah - they slow jammed the news too. The Roots will make that show.
Why do I love Southern Seminary? Because I get to take classes from guys like Dr. Russell Moore. He's my ethics professor. You should all subscribe to his blog if you don't already. Here's an excerpt from his post today - I'll post a link to the whole thing at the bottom. Take the time to read it - especially the last sentence.
"Why does the seemingly godly church member in one of our congregations or parishes drive his pregnant teenage daughter to the nearest city under cover of darkness to obtain an abortion? Because, no matter how much he “votes his values,” when crisis hits, he wants his daughter to have a “normal” life. He is “pro-life,” with, as one feminist leader put it, three exceptions: rape, incest, and my situation.
Why do Christian parents, contra St. Paul’s clear admonition in 1 Corinthians 7, encourage their young adult children to delay marriage, sometimes for years past the time it would take to discern whether this union would be of the Lord? Why do we smilingly tell them to wait until they can “afford” it? It is because, to our shame, we deem fornication a less awful reality than financial hardship.
Why do our pastors and church leaders speak bluntly about homosexuality but not about divorce? Because, in many cases, they know the faces of the divorced people in the pews before them—and they fear losing the membership statistics or the revenue those faces represent.
Why do we speak endlessly about marital communication and “love languages” but never address the question of whether institutionalized day care is good for children, or for their parents? It’s because pastors know that couples would reply that they could never afford to live on the provision of the husband alone. And they’re almost always right—if living means living in the neighborhoods in which they now live with the technologies they now have. Why do we never ask whether it might be better to live in a one-bedroom apartment or a trailer park than to outsource the rearing of one’s children? It’s because the American way of life seems so normal to us that such things do not even seem to be options at all."
Why is Chic-fil-a so good? I want it for every meal it seems. They just built one close to us here in KY. They are few and far between. There are only 2 of them that we know of in Louisville. Every time we go they are packed, good for them. Isn't that just crazy. When ever we drive home, we end up driving forever starving, hoping that a Chic-fil-a will soon show up on a highway sign, but it rarely does. Sometimes we have to settle for dollar menu elsewhere. Which leads me to another question, why doesn't Chic-fil-a have a dollar menu? My only thought is that their food is so amazing people will pay more than a dollar to eat it. I know I will. Although I just wish it was a dollar than I might be able to eat more. I don't think there is anything on their menu I don't like. Which is a huge deal. I think Josh could go there and get me anything and I would be ecstatic over it. What do you think the teller would do if I said surprise me the next time I placed my order.
People here don't seem to know about their breakfast. Almost like an entirely new gospel we must spread. Good for us, I just got a coupon for free breakfast. Looks like they are trying to spread their gospel of amazing breakfast. Well, I already know about it and will gladly take the coupons to eat free. Maybe that is where I need to get my next part-time gig at, holy cow that would be awesome. That just came to me. Man, it is soooo good. Josh has caught me getting lunch there (which is a no-no, we're on a tight budget), I blame the baby. It is all baby SJ's fault, can't help it. So far I think it is working ;).
If I only had more free time - and photoshop - and more talent...
*Note - I don't like the word nugget, but I can't think of anything else. Morsel is way worse. Lump? Nub? Chunk? Hunk? Wad? I guess I'll stick with nugget.
Calvin on the on the hope of Christ from the Old Testament to the New...
"Accordingly, at the beginning when the promise of salvation was given to Adam [Gen. 3:15] it glowed like a feeble spark. Then, as it was added to, the light grew in fullness, breaking forth increasingly and shedding its radiance more widely. At last - when all the clouds were dispersed - Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, fully illuminated the whole earth [Mal. 4]."
-The Institutes of Christian Religion, Vol 1., page 446.
Amen to that.
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