Faith Revolution

Busiest time of year, no doubt.  Now that I have the first degree under my belt, it is time to work on ordination.  I am in the midst of writing my positional papers.  I am just finishing one entitled Christ Our Savior.  It is a pretty simple essay to write.  But it is rather time consuming to be constantly looking up Biblical references and making sure that my hermeneutics are accurate as, at some point, I will have to defend my positions before the Licensing, Ordination and Consecration Council.  I have to say, even though I have understood the workings of God’s plan of salvation, I am always amazed at the ingenuity of it.

“20 For no one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it. 21 But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight – not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. 22 We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. 23 For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. 25 For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. 26 And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”  (Romans 3, NLT)

It funny that we make this church/religion thing so difficult when really it’s all about Jesus and trusting Him with our lives.  Yet in the simplicity is a complexity that only God could conceive.  If you haven’t already, just trust Him with your life.  Listen to Him.  Cultivate a relationship with Him like you would a friend.  Forget all the religious gobledegook and find new life with the living God.  He wants to remake you into who He originally intended you to be.  He wants to take away your guilt and give you a clean slate.

This week is our Community Vacation Bible School.  It is a really great concept for our town.  Six local churches pool their resources and workers and really go all out .  I think that there were  137 kids registered as of today. 

I am not going to go into everything else that is going on, but mid-June to mid-August is always extremely busy and then there are the incidental ministries that crop up in amongst all the extras and the normals and everything tends to get pretty hectic.  But that’s ok.  I am certainly not complaining. 

Why complain when I get to be in the midst of everything God is doing here?  Why, I would call that a privilege, wouldn’t you?  And working He has been!

Family is doing well.  Benny (the dog) had some difficulty this evening.  He had a seizure, so we took him to the vet. and $117.00 later were taking him home with really no clue as to why.  I felt so bad for him, but I felt even worse for Bethany.  They are best buds and she has such a tender heart.  In my fundy days, I would have thought it silly to pray for an animal.  But, hey, we Christians like to promote the fact that God cares about all the details in our lives.  Benny is certainly a detail in our family.  So if you don’t think it too silly, pray for Ben and Bethany.  If you do think it silly to pray for a dog, then just pray for Bethany.  Ben will forgive you.  He’s that way.  Just sayin’ (I have no idea what that’s about, but I notice the gg’s using it a lot lately.  Don’t bother to tell me, ladies.  I think it may be one of those things that I am just better off not knowing.

Hi to mom, dad, Ronnie, Kim, Patti, Sandi, Chris, Kellie, Val, Lonnie and all you other regulars out there.