morning and evening, today

I have wanted to get Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional for a long time now, but, as these things go, I forget or the timing doesn't work out with remembering and having the resources to get it. No matter, Biblegateway.com has heard my dilemma. I recently been using Biblegateway a lot for my Bible Study Fellowship homework. It has a gzillion translations of the Bible in various languages. Mostly, I use it to look up verses. BSF uses NIV version, so I use that when it refers to verses since the language can differ from the version I now use, ESV. Anyway, last night I was checking out the devotionals that they have before I went to bed and I was so happy when I found that they had Morning and Eveing. What a gift! Please check it out to refresh your time with the Lord.

Here is this morning's devotional:

"So walk ye in him."
Colossians 2:6

If we have received Christ himself in our inmost hearts, our new life will manifest its intimate acquaintance with him by a walk of faith in him. Walking implies action. Our religion is not to be confined to our closet; we must carry out into practical effect that which we believe. If a man walks in Christ, then he so acts as Christ would act; for Christ being in him, his hope, his love, his joy, his life, he is the reflex of the image of Jesus; and men say of that man, "He is like his Master; he lives like Jesus Christ." Walking signifies progress. "So walk ye in him"; proceed from grace to grace, run forward until you reach the uttermost degree of knowledge that a man can attain concerning our Beloved. Walking implies continuance. There must be a perpetual abiding in Christ. How many Christians think that in the morning and evening they ought to come into the company of Jesus, and may then give their hearts to the world all the day: but this is poor living; we should always be with him, treading in his steps and doing his will. Walking also implies habit. When we speak of a man's walk and conversation, we mean his habits, the constant tenor of his life. Now, if we sometimes enjoy Christ, and then forget him; sometimes call him ours, and anon lose our hold, that is not a habit; we do not walk in him. We must keep to him, cling to him, never let him go, but live and have our being in him. "As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him"; persevere in the same way in which ye have begun, and, as at the first Christ Jesus was the trust of your faith, the source of your life, the principle of your action, and the joy of your spirit, so let him be the same till life's end; the same when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and enter into the joy and the rest which remain for the people of God. O Holy Spirit, enable us to obey this heavenly precept.

Lord, please show me where in my life I am not acting in faith. Help me to remember the habitual and continuing aspects of walking in faith and how progress comes with those. Thank you, Jesus, that we do not walk alone, but that even the power to take one step forward is given to us by you, through your sweet grace. Amen.

My ABC Bible Verses

Here is a little treasure that we have recently been enjoying. I heard about this from one of my sisters-in-law. There is a verse for each letter and with that a small explanation of what it means, followed by a story that illustrates the verse in use. All the stories involve Missy or Bill, a sister and brother, who are learning what it means to follow the Lord with their lives. At the end of the story there is a couple of questions you could ask your kid. Then you are supposed to repeat the verse a few times and there is a suggested prayer topic.

After I read the first one to my older boys, to be honest, I thought they were going to think it was... uninteresting. Thankfully, they are not as cynical as me, who initially viewed it as kind of cheesy, though I didn't hint at this at all, waiting to see how they responded on their own. To my surprise, Luca loved it and asked to read more. I actually had to cut him off. He was even into repeating verses. We have memorized verses on our own, usually around meal time, but I didn't know that they actually liked to do that. Luca said, "This book is awesome." And when we prayed one night after reading it, he thanked God for "more verses". What?! Luca always, always surprises me. I couldn't even make this stuff up because I had no idea that kids would respond in these ways. Luca is exceptional in his love for learning and sensitive heart, though. Though I am not fooled into thinking that he doesn't say things to please me occasionally too.

Now, we have finished it, though, and the excitement has diminished. It went by too fast since I read at least two a day/night, usually more. I have started using these verses to put on our dining room wall for the boys to memorize though. They know A-D solid and seem to enjoy getting praise for it (duh). I know that just memorizing a verse will not transform their heart to repentance and trust in Jesus, but I do hope that by giving them scripture to "hide in their hearts", I am giving them a gift for the future and weapons to use when they engage in spiritual battle. So, whether your kids embrace this with the same enthusiasm or not, this is well worth the purchase; I highly recommend it.

The Scorch Trials

So, I read the first of this series called Maze Runner and, surprisingly liked it. It was packed full of adventure and had a Lord of the Flies-type feel to it. I checked-out the second in the trilogy called The Scorch Trials and have to say, I just was not as interested in it. In fact, I kind of put it to the side and found that I never felt like picking it up again. Then it was due at the library and I didn't care that I had to turn it in unfinished. I can't put my finger on exactly what it was. The story actually was a little disturbing and kept being more complex without developing the characters or relationships. It was kind of like the show Lost, where you think you'll figure it out the more you get into it, but then you actually end up with more questions. However, in Lost (which Joe  and I have yet to finish actually!), characters' story lines were developed. And the questioning was more intriguing than annoying. Not to sound like a complete snoot, but I didn't feel connected to the characters in this series. Plus, I got tired of the gruesome, thriller sci-fi stuff. Sorry, James Dashner, I wouldn't recommend this.

aPAULed

The other night, Joe and I asked his brother, Tommy, if he wanted to watch the movie Paul, with us. I had put it on hold at the library who knows how long ago and had picked it up, thinking, "Oh yeah, this might be funny." After all, I enjoy the two main actors, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, from their past works:

Shaun of the Dead

and Hot Fuzz.

And Run, Fat Boy, Run wasn't too bad either.

Unfortunately, Paul, was possibly one of the most annoying and crass movies I have ever seen. I really don't watch a lot of "main stream" movies, unless you consider BBC dramas main stream (if you do, let's talk!), but I was really appalled (ha, ha) by the moronic and narrow-minded portrayal of Americans and Christians. The only characters that had any subtlety to them were the main characters, the British guys of course. If the other characters weren't swearing every other word, they were saying stupid, religious-bumper-sticker remarks, or were hicks in camouflage. Even Jason Bateman's character, a FBI agent, was over the top and unoriginal. This is Michael Bluth we're talking about! Not to mention, I was supposed to believe the "hero", Paul (the alien) was ultra-hip, super-intelligent and on and on... really, I couldn't take it. Also, between the all the cheap dialogue and outlandish "acting", they tried to throw in actual dramatic scenes... with an alien. Really, I should have just stopped watching it, but I felt obligated to finish it since we invited someone to watch it. Don't even think about wasting time on this movie to see if what I am saying is true. However, if you're looking for a decent laugh, maybe check out the other movies I mentioned. Though, now I'm pretty annoyed with those guys since they wrote the screenplay to Paul. What a disappointment... and I wasn't even expecting much.

Triple Ninja Power- Attack!

I don't know how we're all the sudden in November! I barely recall most of October and, no, not because I was drunk... because I wasn't. Those days are long gone, thank you very much. Seriously though, within the blink of an eye, Halloween was upon us and, of course, my plans were much bigger than my ability or time allowance. Thankfully, my mother-in-law was on board with my plan to unleash three dangerous, stealthy, sometimes disinterested, ninjas into the unsuspecting world.

Guess who was into it the most. Honestly, Luca has been wearing this a ton. I had him take it off for meals for obvious reasons. Then, at lunch he slipped getting on his chair and sort of fell down. I asked him if he was alright and he said while kind of chuckling, "Yeah, because ninjas aren't afraid of anything." 

Seriously, little guys, make an effort.

Now Tizzy is getting it.

Don't be fooled, Leo's weapons are his hands. Or, his deafening scream. Or, his adorableness. Yeah, he pulls you in with a cute face and shy act, stuns you with his loud, eardrum-shaking scream and then knocks you out with tiny fists of fury. Hiyah! Take that!

Don't even think about breaking into our house, yo. These guys are just waiting for the opportunity to ATTACK! (Add fighting sound effects here.)