About Me: I am a Born Again Christian, a Jesus Freak. I love my Lord above all else, and my deepest desire is to see everyone come to the knowledge of His love.
I am also the mother of 3 wonderful children. God has blessed my life so much with these kids.
My husband and I homeschool our children and plan to continue on through high school.
I wanted Ron Paul for President, and no matter who I vote for now I'll feel I'm settling for the lesser of two evils. Oh well... I'm glad my hope is not in politics.
Some of my earliest memories are of riding on the back of my daddy's motorcycle, thinking that I had the coolest dad in the whole world, and feeling the wind in my face and the winding of the road underneath me.
I continued to spend lots of time on the back of various motorcycles, and occasionally driving them myself, until meeting the man I would later marry. He doesn't like bikes... (something about almost being killed on one and spending weeks in the hospital and months in physical therapy before healing enough to not need a wheel chair...whatever!) So, I don't ride much anymore. But my husband is wonderful and well worth the trade-off.
Maybe when the kids are grown I'll get my own bike and ride around for fun... someday... :o)
Music: Jacob's Well, Switchfoot, Keith Green, Third Day, Mercy Me, Ray Boltz, DC Talk, The Beatles, John Denver, Elton John...etc
Tuesday, December 29, 2009, 07:55 PM PST
[General]
I first met my Father-in-law in 1990, I was dating my future husband and he brought me to meet his parents. I remember my thoughts that day...
I grew up in a family where we showed affection to each other, but not really to people we didn't know really well. If you came to our house, you would be greeted cordially, but not warmly. So I was unprepared for what happened when I met my husband's parents. I entered the door, was introduced, and both of his parents greeted me with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. My father-in-law also grabbed my arm and squeezed it in what I am sure he meant as a friendly gesture... he squeezed so tightly he left bruises where his fingers were. Both of my husband's parents treated me like a member of the family from the very start, they were great, but I found them a little overwhelming at first, their affectionate behavior would take some getting used to.
When my husband I were married, I was so glad to officially be a member of this loving family. I rarely ever really thought of my in-laws in the terms that many people think of in-laws, instead I felt like I had two sets of parents, and when my own mom passed away, I took great comfort in knowing that I still had my Mother-in-law, who, along with my Father-in-law, made me feel like I had been adopted by them.
My father-in-law was a no nonsense kind of guy, and while he showed physical affection readily, he didn't express his feelings in words. He wasn't the kind of guy to often say, "I love you", in fact I am not sure if I ever heard those words from him. But he showed his love every day. He always thought about how to help others. Whether that was by letting us rent a house for much less than he could have gotten from anyone else, building a fence in front of that house to give my first daughter a safe place to play, or giving my husband a riding lawn mower so that he could maintain the property we were blessed with by him and his brother. If I was to make a list of all the ways that man helped over the years, it would be incredibly long, I wonder if he knew just how much I appreciated him, how much I loved him.
He lived next door, and I remember how he would come up to our house, and rather than walking up the door and knocking, he would look into the windows to see if anyone was up and around. I would be walking through the house and catch sight of him out of the corner of my eye and be so startled. It used to drive me crazy. Now that he is gone I am saddened that it will never happen again.
He used to love to tease people, and always had a joking remark about things I would say. Sometimes I was irritated by that, but the other day as I was considering sharing with my mother-in-law my goals for the coming year, I forgot for just a minute that he was gone, and I imagined the things he might say. Then I remembered and knew I would give anything to hear him say them.
While he always had a joke to tell, he was never truly critical of me. Many times he stopped by when the house was a huge mess, but never did he say anything about it. He always seemed to overlook my faults, as if he couldn't see them. He would say that I was pretty, but not mention that I was obese. He would tell me I was doing a great job with my kids, but not mention that I couldn't seem to keep a clean house. He only mentioned the positive things to me, and never did anything that made me feel like less of a person.
Now he is gone, and I am wondering if he knew how much I loved him and appreciated all this about him. I know I told him that I loved him, but I don't think I ever sat down and had a heart to heart telling how much I appreciated him, telling him that I thought he was wonderful. I doubt he would have let me finish if I'd tried, because he really never would sit and listen to someone praise him, he would have shrugged it off and tried to make his good points seem insignificant.
Well, I know he is with the good Lord now, and I don't know if he can see us here on Earth or not, but I pray that somehow he knows how special he was to me, and how much I'll miss him.
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. 5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1 John 1, New King James Version)
Jesus always was and always will be. He is the Word of life (See JOHN 1:1 and JOHN 1:14) He is that eternal life who was with Father from all eternity, and was manifested in the flesh to us, in order to fulfill the law and take the consequences of our sin upon Himself, so that we can enter into His presence and have fellowship with Him and with each other as His children. Knowledge of what He has done for us will bring us to a point of true joy. However, many people gravely misunderstand exactly what He has done, and so misunderstand the nature of God.
Jesus revealed the nature of God, that there is no darkness in Him. That He is pure light, pure goodness, pure love. It is this purity, this holiness, that destroys what is ugly and evil in His presence. Light abolishes darkness, it eliminates it. We are full of all manner of sin and darkness, hatred, lust , and covetousness. If we try to claim otherwise, we are calling God a liar, and deceiving ourselves. So since we are full of darkness, we cannot enter into His full presence on our own. His absolute pure, unfiltered radiance, pure love, and pure beauty would destroy us. This is the reason for the cross of Christ.
The cross is perhaps one of the most misunderstood events in the Bible. Many people are under the impression that God the Father was so angry over our sin that He had to take it out on someone, and so He took it out Jesus in much the same manner as someone who is so angry at someone that they can only calm down enough to forgive if they first kick the dog to vent their anger. Yet God does not tell us to forgive that way, He does not tell us to forgive others by venting our anger on an innocent victim. Surely, God is not asking of us that which He is incapable of doing? No, this is a misunderstanding, not only of the cross, but of the very nature of God.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are ONE. Three persons, yet just one God, they are one in essence. This is a mystery which we can not fully understand, but which we must keep in mind to even begin to grasp what took place on the cross.
The cross is not an incident of God looking at our sin, and becoming so angry that He looked around, saw Jesus, and said, "Either you pay the price for these people or I will destroy them!" Jesus Himself is God (See COLOSSIANS 2:9), every bit as much as the Father and the Holy Spirit are God, the three persons of the trinity were in complete harmony when God decided to do this. So God did not look outside of Himself and find someone to "take it out on", rather God looked within Himself, to sacrifice of Himself, for our good.
Knowing that imperfect, sinful human beings full of darkness could not stand in the presence of His pure light, He made a way for our cleansing. And that way was a rending of the very heart of God. First, Jesus laid aside that glory, in order to walk among us, then when Jesus hanging on that cross, He said, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34)At that moment, the Father and the Son were were separated. The Godhead itself, until that point existing throughout eternity in perfect unity and harmony, in complete togetherness, was torn apart, and for the first time the Son knew what it was to separated from the the father. Just as all of us are born with a sinful nature, separated from being able to experience the full presence of God, unable to have fellowship with Him, so now the Son took our sin upon Himself, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that He became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, so for the first time He had the stench and filth of sin upon Himself, and the Father looked away. In that moment, violence was done not only to the Jesus, but against the Triune nature of God.
Exactly what happened is somewhat of a mystery beyond our comprehension, but we do know in that time, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are one, were torn apart from each other. Our language fails to express how this provided our cleansing, and our minds could not fully grasp it even words were found, but somehow this rending of god not only forgave our sin, but cleansed away the very stain of it from our souls so that we could enter into God's presence.
Just as our sin was placed on Jesus, destroyed on the cross, and then left behind in the grave when He rose again, His righteousness is placed upon us when we receive Him, this enables us to enter into the Holy light, the pure, full presence of God, and not be utterly destroyed.
Heaven is the place where we will experience the full pure, unfiltured presence of God, a place where no evil or sin exists, or can exist. It is pure light, pure joy, pure love.
Hell is the place for everything that cannot be in His presence. A place separated from God and His love. Hell is the absence of God and all that He is. No good thing exists there, no joy, no light, no love. Only hatred, sadness, pain, and utter loneliness and regret, there is nothing in hell that is in any way desirable. Yet people choose it.
There are only two options for the eternal soul, one is heaven, in Holy Presence of God, bearing the righteousness of Christ which has been given to us as a free gift, and the other is hell, apart from God and all that is good. When a person rejects God and His solution to the problem of sin, they are, by default, choosing hell. There is NO third option. It would be foolish for a cancer patient, after his doctor tells him that there is a cure, to become angry that there is only one cure available. The logical response would is to be overjoyed that one is available, and to take it without hesitation. Yet people reject Christ, and become angry that there is not another solution to the disease of sin.
There is no question that we have all sinned, the Bible is clear on that, and if we deny it we call God a liar. Through Christ, God offers forgiveness, He offers cleansing, He offers to cover us in His own righteousness since we have none of our own. We are offered this greatest gift, and the only question remaining is, will we accept it?
Lord, I thank You that You have shown me my own sin, and brought me to the point of being willing to confess it, and agree with you that I am a sinner incapable of cleansing myself. I thank You for the gift of salvation through Christ. I ask Lord, that if there are any who read this who do not know You, that you would use it to speak to them, and draw them to Yourself. Amen
Thanks for asking. We're on a roller coaster. Some days good and others not so good. Looking for more better days. You'd think we'd have more better days since we're into the 10 week of school but it seems that there are always things coming up.
How it going with ya'll?
Hi, I am new to this web site and saw your pics. I have a 7 year old son and 8 year old daughter. My daughter likes to draw, I'll have to show her your kids pics. They are really good. I joined here hoping to meet other HS families. We are from a small town in GA and there is not many HS families here.
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Thanks for asking. We're on a roller coaster. Some days good and others not so good. Looking for more better days. You'd think we'd have more better days since we're into the 10 week of school but it seems that there are always things coming up.
SueHow it going with ya'll?
Sue
08:13 PM PST