Faith




Labels: Faith


Labels: Faith, nature, photography
Labels: Faith, New Mexico, photography

Labels: Faith, photography

Labels: Faith, Love Thursday



This is a very good question because it gets to the heart of our faith. The Bible makes it clear that there are two judgments in eternity, one for the saved, and another for the unsaved. The better known judgment is called the Great White Throne judgment and is the judgment at the end of all things. At this judgment the unbelieving world will be judged for their sins and their rejection of God and His rule over their lives. The judgment for the saved is called the Judgment Seat of Christ, or the judgment that Christ gives to His own. It can be found in 2nd Corinthians 5:10, and alluded to in 1st Corinthians 3:10-15. This is the only judgment that Christians will undergo, and it is not a punishment judgment. It is very important to understand that when Jesus died on the cross for sins, He died for ALL sins, for ALL time for ALL people. This is why Paul can say in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Or, as I like to paraphrase, “God is not mad at us anymore, forever.” To be “in Christ Jesus” does not mean you are in the top level of spirituality, but that you are in the Body of Christ, literally, that you are a Christian. All of our sins, past, present, and future, were paid for by the death of our Lord on the cross. As a result, we can NEVER be condemned again for our sins by God since that sin has already been condemned and punished. Sins we have yet to commit were already seen by God who is omniscient and knows all things past, present and future and were included in Jesus death. This is why the Bible says that God is “propitiated” or satisfied with the death of Jesus. His perfect life and death satisfied God’s righteous judgment against sin for all people everywhere. Since God has been propitiated, or satisfied, there is no longer any condemnation for those who have placed their faith in Jesus and what He did for them on the cross.
At the judgment seat of Christ we see that every Christian will be rewarded for their deeds, but those actions and deeds that were not good, or that appeared good but were done for improper and deceitful motivations, will be “burned up.” In other words, there will be no reward. We will not be judged, or punished for our sins, as those sins have already been punished on the cross. So the judgment of Christ for believers is a judgment of rewards. We will be rewarded for those things we have done which truly glorified Christ and honored Him. Some will reap much greater rewards, and some, quite frankly, will have little or even nothing to show for their lives, but their faith has still saved them. In short, your understanding of grace and forgiveness is rightly placed, and your peace is real and not imagined. I hope this helps. Blessings to you.
Labels: Book review, Faith
Today in church, we talked about the story of Samson. This is my blog post for the day!
Labels: Faith
Today in church, our intern talked about Snapshot Moments - these are times in our lives that are frozen in time and nothing afterwards is ever the same. Here is the link to the post I wrote for our church blog.
Labels: Faith
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Labels: Faith, Life, nature, photography



Labels: Faith, Friendship, photography, Thanks
Labels: Faith

Labels: Faith, photography
Labels: Faith

Labels: Faith

This past Friday afternoon, it started snowing profusely. We headed downtown to our Good Friday service in near whiteout conditions. A friend of mine at church said it reminded her that we have been washed whiter than snow - you gotta love that in a girl! She was trying to make the best of the situation.

I love how the 93 year old lady in this video talked to her mugger. Thanks to my cousin Jodi in California who sent me the link!
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Labels: Faith, Friendship
Photo taken yesterday behind our house
As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-- with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. Ps.103:15-18
For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." 1 Peter 1:24-25



Labels: Faith, photography, work

Labels: Faith, photography
I never jumped on the MP3 player bandwagon before, but this Christmas, John gave one to me. So now I'm cool. I put all 10 of my Fernando Ortega cd's on it along with some others of a more classical genre. It has been fun to listen to old favorites on random play as they greet me like old friends. When this old gem of a song by Third Day came on, I just said "ahhhhhhh":


Labels: Faith


The Queen Mother sent me a couple pictures of their trip to Pennsylvania. Evidentally, she & her friends decided to do the camo look.


It seems the theme of trees is running through my weekend. John & I came across a great tree sale so we got 4 Maple trees, 2 Pear trees and 2 Azalia bushes for our yard.





I was checking my e-mails after work, and a friend sent me a link to a blog of a friend of hers and told me to read it. I got so caught up in the story of the leap of faith this young couple took. As I was reading, my watch alarm went off signaling the usual time, 2:55, I pick up Maria from school and I left to pick her up. As I was sitting in the high school parking lot, I remembered that she is tutoring till 4:00 today.
Labels: Faith
For our Labor Day and first real week of school, we are back to having 4 kids for awhile. This time, however, is not so happy. Amy, who is a friend of Maria, is staying with us this week because her parents are traveling to Arkansas to consult with a doctor about stem cell treatment for her Dad's cancer. Please keep Jim in your prayers! Thanks.
The Lord is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

Labels: Faith, photography
Last week at work, I was given some different responsibilities that are in line with my "skill set" and I am excited about this. Our new executive director said he heard that I had an aptitude with numbers. Actually, it's more than an aptitude, it's more like a relationship with numbers. I love them all, they're like my little friends with their properties and their good looks. I like to watch them find their place in spreadsheets.
i thank you god for this most amazing day
for the leaping greenly spirit of trees and a blue true dream of sky
and for everything which is natural
which is infinite
which is yes!
–e.e. cummings
Labels: Faith, nature, photography

Today in church, Pastor Amy told us about this cool exercise she wanted us to try. After a prayer request was made, she asked for people to act it out. For instance, this is how it worked: After I suggested that we pray for a friend who was very nervous about her hip surgery, Amy asked for volunteers to play the person with the bad hip, her friend, the doctors, and 3 people to play God. These 3 got to wear white silk scarves to set them off and show His special presence. These volunteers all turned out to be very good actors showing how God was there around the friend, the surgeons, and the woman who played the person with the bad hip - she eventually walked out the back door into the sunshine with her hands spread high. And the actual lady with the bad hip was watching with tears streaming down her face. It was cool.
Labels: Faith
Mom & Dad came up yesterday from Ohio to go to the 150th anniversary of the Christian Reformed Church with John & I down at the Van Andel Arena this afternoon. It was most interesting having the Lord's Supper with 15,000 people! They did the opening and benediction in Dutch, but also in English, Korean, Spanish and Navajo since these languages are spoken in CRC churches in North America.
Labels: Faith
The other night, John read this Psalm after supper and we laughed as he coughed and burped and hiccuped through it. I guess he had just had a very satisfying supper. The combination of all of this reminded me of this poem by W.S. Merwin which is included here after the Psalm.
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Maria, as a freshman at South Christian, is taking Church History this semester, and one of their assignments is to visit a different church and write a report about it. Some of her friends were going to a Baptist church nearby, but we decided to go to St. John Chrysostom Russian Orthodox Church downtown. John dropped us off at the small white church in the middle of a downtown neighborhood this morning with nothing but a cell phone and a dollar bill in my pocket. The first person we met when we walked in the door was a 1960 graduate of South Christian and she made us feel welcome. She explained some things that were going on like how the priest was speaking in Russian at times because there were some actual Russian people there today.



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This weekend, John & I saw the DVD The Pursuit of Happyness. It was inspired by a true story as opposed to based on a true story or even just plain, a true story. In this movie, Will Smith played the lead character who truly worked hard for this fleeting thing called happiness. He endured great hardship to be a success, and when he finally reached his goal, there he was enjoying, for a brief time with his son, happiness.

Labels: Faith