Sunday night Scott had an accident while kicking a ball in the basement. He broke his big toe and tore the bottom part of the toenail. Needless to say, he is in a lot of pain. He and mom went to the clinic yesterday, and Rosemary put his toe back into position and fixed his nail. There is a lot of bleeding though and he is in a lot of pain. Please pray for him.| Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. ~ Romans 12:1  | |||||
They huddled inside the room while hearing the screams of fellow Christians being butchered outside. Pastor Hendrick Pattiwael and his wife were helping to lead the Indonesian youth camp, and they felt responsible for the young people in their care. | |||||
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The camp had been a joyous time of spiritual growth and worship. Then they were attacked. When the radical Muslim mob surrounded the building where they hid, Pastor Pattiwael went outside. Distracting the bloodthirsty mob’s attention away from his wife and the young people, the pastor was attacked while the others escaped. “Jesus, help me.” They were his final words. Ugly wounds crisscrossed his torso and arms. In shock and anger, Mrs. Pattiwael cried out to only days before the attack. “If you love Jesus, but you love me or your family more, you are unworthy of Christ’s kingdom.” He told her that he was ready to die for Christ’s kingdom. She still works with her church in Indonesia. The advice that she would give Christians in free nations is simply this: “Seek God more earnestly, so that you can stand in the midst of more trouble.” | |||||
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We don’t have to go looking for trouble. It already has our address. Jesus often reminded his disciples that trials are part of daily living. Seeking God more earnestly does not mean seeking more trouble for our lives. No, the benefit of seeking a deeper relationship with God is to better prepare us for the inevitable. We don’t have a choice about what troubles come our way. However, we can choose to have a relationship with God that prepares us for trouble. Some trials may mean losing our lives for Christsake. Yet this is not the real sacrifice. The extreme sacrifice must come long before. We must sacrifice selfishness at every level in order to develop intimacy with God ahead of time. When we have sacrificed all to pursue a preeminent relationship with Christ, we will have already done the hardest part. | |||||
"The secret of my success? It is simple. It is found in the Bible, 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.'"
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" When I was still living behind the Iron Curtain, I had met a Russian captain. He loved God, he longed after God, but he had never seen a Bible. He had never attended religious services. He had no religious education, but he loved God without the slightest knowledge of Him.
" I read to him the Sermon on the Mount and the parables of Jesus. After hearing them, he danced around the room in rapturous joy, proclaiming, ‘What a wonderful beauty! How could I live without knowing this Christ?’ It was the first time that I saw someone jubilating in Christ.
" Then I made a mistake. I read to him the passion and crucifixion of Christ, without having prepared him for this. He had not expected it. When he heard how Christ was beaten, how He was crucified, and that in the end He died, he fell in an armchair and began to weep bitterly. He had believed in a Savior and now his Savior was dead!
" I looked at him and was ashamed that I had called myself a Christian and a pastor, a teacher of others. I had never shared the sufferings of Christ as this Russian officer now shared them. Looking at him was, for me, like seeing Mary Magdalene weeping at the foot of the cross or at the empty tomb.
" Then I read to him the story of the resurrection. When he heard this wonderful news, that the Savior arose from the tomb, he slapped his knees, and shouted for joy: ‘He is alive! He is alive!’ Again he danced around the room, overwhelmed with happiness.
" I said to him, ‘Let us pray.’
" He fell on his knees together with me. He did not know our holy phrases. His words of prayer were, ‘O God, what a fine chap You are! If I were You and You were me, I would never have forgiven You Your sins. But You are really a very nice chap! I love You with all my heart.’
" I think that all the angels in heaven stopped what they were doing to listen to this sublime prayer from this Russian officer. When this man received Christ, he knew he would immediately lose his position as an officer, that prison and perhaps death in jail would almost surely follow. He gladly paid the price. He was ready to lose everything."
Christine and I
Trying out the peppers in the Thai Restaurant
Pretty self-explanatory
I took a zillion (okay, 129), but I figured you didn't want to see that many pictures of the Chicago skyline/architecture. Although, if anyone from Judson is reading this, they are probably an architecture student...
A Jesus Freak whose joy overflows is a puzzling thing to a watching world. But that’s not a bad thing. Let your light make ’em curious! Let people see your peace under pressure and wonder what your secret is. Maybe they’ll work up the courage to ask you about it. Joy in the midst of suffering always confounds those who don’t possess it.
One day, on the way to visit some friends, Englishman John Denley was stopped and searched by the authorities, who found his written confession of faith. Denley believed the church was built upon the apostles and prophets, with Christ as its head. He also believed that the present state of the church, the Church of England in the 1500s, was not part of this true Church. At that time, many of its teachings were contrary to the Bible.
For his beliefs he was turned over to a local government official, who turned him over to the bishop for questioning. Denley would not back down from his statement of faith, so he was condemned to die.
Within six weeks he was sent to the stake to be burned. When they lit the wood beneath him, Denley showed no fear. He cheerfully sang a psalm as the flames rose around him. One of his tormentors picked up a piece of wood and threw it at him, hitting him in the face. He hoped to anger or silence Denley, but Denley only responded, "Truly, you have spoiled a good old song." Then he spread his arms again and continued singing until he died.
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"Count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds."
Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:11-12 The Message
Another sixteenth-century Englishman also found a reason to rejoice through his hardships. And, like Denley, he was willing to give his life for the sake of the gospel.
John Bradford stood boldly before the Lord Chancellor. "I urge you," the young man said, "don’t condemn the innocent. If you believe I am guilty, you should pass sentence on me. If not, you should set me free."
Bradford, the well-loved pastor of St. Paul’s in London, was thrown into prison for his beliefs that differed from the state church during Queen Mary’s reign. While he was in prison, so many of his congregation came to visit him that he continued to preach twice a day. He also preached weekly to the other men in prison, the thieves and common criminals, exhorting them from the Word of God and often giving them money to buy food.
Bradford’s keepers trusted him so much that he was often allowed to leave the prison unescorted to visit sick members of his congregation. All he had to do was to promise that he would return by a certain hour. He was so careful about keeping his word that he was usually back well before his curfew.
After a year and a half, Bradford was offered a pardon if he would deny his beliefs, but he would not. Then after six more months in prison, the offer was repeated. Again he refused.
"John," his friends warned, "you need to do something to stall for more time. Ask to discuss your religious beliefs with Queen Mary’s learned men. That will take you out of immediate danger."
John replied, "If I did that, the people would think I have begun to doubt the doctrine I confess. I don’t doubt it at all."
"Then they will probably kill you very soon," his friends said sadly.
The very next day John was sentenced to death, and the keeper’s wife came to him with the news: "Tomorrow you will be burned."
Bradford looked to heaven and said, "I thank God for it. I have waited for this for a long time. Lord, make me worthy of this."
Hoping to keep the crowds from knowing what was going on, the guards transferred him to another prison in the middle of the night. But somehow the word got out, and a great multitude came to bid him farewell. Many wept openly as they prayed for him. Bradford, in return, gently said farewell and prayed for them and their future.
At 4 a.m. the next day, a large crowd had gathered at the place where Bradford was to be burned. Finally, at 9 a.m., an unusually large number of heavily armed men brought Bradford out to the stake. With him was John Leaf, a teenager, who also refused to deny his faith. Both men fell flat to the ground and prayed for an hour.
Bradford got up, kissed a piece of firewood, and then kissed the stake itself. In a loud voice he spoke to the crowd: "England, repent of your sins! Beware of idolatry. Beware of false teachers. See they don’t deceive you!" Then he forgave his persecutors and asked the crowd to pray with him.
Turning his head toward John Leaf, he said, "Be of good comfort, brother, for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord tonight!"
What is the difference between joy and happiness?
We are told in Nehemiah 8:10 that God’s joy is our strength. How can joy be strength when all around us is terror or sadness?
Can you tell what some of these pictures are?
I hope so! :)
So, what do you think?
These new things on my face
are so entiely different from my other ones!
The inside part is so cool! :)
Fake smile! 
