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Bible Study and reading
OK, now for my thoughts from our Bible Study that us guys had on the Latah VBA!
Basically, most of the week was spent talking on the Joy of the Lord. It’s an amazing topic! The two
main passage that we used was “James 1:2-13″:
2 ¶ My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation,
10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.
11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
So here, James is talking about the Joy of the Lord. We are to be joyful in EVERYTHING, no matter if life
is good, or if life is bad. Specifically, we applied this to work/jobs, mainly of the volunteer or non-paid type.
Many of us go around grumbling that we have to do a certain chore, yet we are told to count EVERYTHING as joy.
But how can we do this? James gives us the answer in verse 5: “Ask of God”. One of the main reasons we
had this topic is because when we do our VBA’s, we have a lot of work projects that we do. We have a day off
(for fun), then a day with work projects, then the next day off, etc. Every other day.
So the conclusion we came to is this: it is an EXCELLENT daily routine, to as SOON as you wake up (before
you even read your Bible), and pray to God that He would FILL you with His joy. Pray that he would
fill you to overflowing, so that there would be no room for any type of sin to enter in. This includes anything,
discontent, strife, grumbling, lust, slander, backbiting, disobedience, bad attitudes, etc. So I have
been praying every morning for the joy of the Lord, and guess what??? IT WORKS! Last year, I didn’t have a very
good attitude about some of our work projects. This year, I was actually HAPPY to do them! The main difference? I prayed that the Lord would give me His joy, and to realize that I was working for Him. The work I was doing was directly benefiting His kingdom, and I was storing up for myself treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
So obviously I can’t completely replicate the Bible study…it was WAY better than just that, but hopefully I’ve got
you thinking! Hopefully you will try the Lord in this, and find it to be true.
The other thing I wanted to share was from my daily Bible reading. It was in 2 Kings 6 and 7.
I was struck while reading it, on how it applies to modern Christians today. In 2 Kings 6, the Arameans were
coming to attack Israel. Elisha and his servant were inside the city, looking down on the army. The servant
reminds me of modern Christians today…he was afraid, and didn’t trust properly in the Lord.
Verses 15-17:
15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
This is an AMAZING passage. I was deeply encouraged when reading this. To think, God surrounds us with protection on every side, and yet we still doubt His presence and power. We are SURROUNDED by hosts of angels, and God has control over everything.
The other thing I wanted to note, was in chapter 7, of the same book.
Verses 1-2a:
1 ¶ Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’”
2 So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the LORD would open the
floodgates of heaven, could this thing be?”
This also depicts much of the lack of faith that modern day Christians have. They put too little stock in what God can do! They reduce God to someone they flee to in time of DESPERATE need, but only as a soft blanket-type God, that will
comfort them. They do not really believe that they will be helped. What they fail to realize is that God is completely omnipotent, that is, all powerful. This also ties in with “ask and you shall receive”. I don’t take this to mean that if I pray “Oh dear God, please give me a Porsche or a Ferrari” that I will find one sitting at my doorstep the next day, but rather if I make my prayer requests as Jesus would, they will be granted. Wisdom, knowledge, strength, aid. Things like this we never believe God will really give, yet He is willing and ready to help us. The one condition? That we ask in (keyword here) FAITH. This ties back in with James 1:6-7.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 FOR LET NOT THAT MAN SUPPOSE THAT HE WILL RECEIVE ANYTHING FROM THE LORD;
God clearly says that if we do not ask in faith, we WILL NOT receive. This is something I am now encouraged to do.
Questions? Comments? Rebuttals? Rebukes?
Trip to Latah
Hey all! I just got back from an AMAZING trip to Latah Washington, for a VBA with our church! (VBA is our church’s name for VBS…the only difference is that instead of Vacation Bible SCHOOL it’s Vacation Bible ADVENTURE. Much more clever, wouldn’t you say? 
)
I had a GREAT time there, and also an amazing time of growing in the Lord.
The following is a list of things that we did, or that happened during our trip.
Sunday, Day 1: We left church at 8:00 a.m., and drove for about 6 hours until we reached Latah, Washington. There, we unpacked, and set up some carports that we use as tents for different outdoor activities. We also set up a volleyball net after dinner, and played a couple of games. The scenery is AMAZING in Latah…rolling green hills of grass and wheat.
Bible Study was held at the Hogan’s house, for us guys. We all went outside, and sat around a bonfire. Ryan Hogan (an AWESOME guy there that I met last year, who JUST got out of Marine boot camp) was there with us, and made the fire the MAN way. He put some sticks and logs on the fire pit (one of the large metal ones), then threw about a pint of diesel fuel on the fire. 
The fire went about 20 feet into the air! Oh yeah. 
There was also a nice sunset, of which I got several cool pictures.
Monday, Day 2: Today was the first day of actual VBA. The theme today was “You are a precious jewel to God”. We had 48 children today, which is very good for Latah. It’s not a very large town, so kids also came from surrounding towns. The way we have things set up, the kids show up at 8:45 a.m., and the VBA starts at 9:00. We have several different rotations…first is large group, where they learn the song and verse of the day, and hear the Bible story for the day. Next came crafts, followed by Bible Study, games, snacks, Heroes of the Faith (basically a story about some famous person that relates to the theme of the day…today’s was on Amy Carmichael, who saw the children in India as God’s precious jewels), then finally, another large group where they review the song and verse, and get to see an awesome skit. The skit is always the best part, because our church has so many people who are great actors. They make them really funny, yet with great points.
Today was also one of our free days after VBA (we have one day free, the next is a work day, next day free, etc.), so we went into Couer de Alene Idaho, and set up a volleyball net at a park, played some volleyball, walked through the town, etc.
We had a Bible Study every night (except for one, where it was so late that we just had to have our guys prayer time by itself. Normally we have a 45 minute Bible Study, and then another 20-30 minutes of Bible Study). It was awesome again.
Tuesday, Day 3: Today was the second day of VBA, and the theme was “You can know what is Right and what is Wrong”. The Heroes story was about “Eric Liddell, who followed his convictions, and wouldn’t run in the Olympics because he believed it to be wrong to participate on Sunday. The kids were amazing the whole week…last year they were a LOT more rowdy, and hard to control, but they were ALMOST as good as gold this year! ESPECIALLY for 7-10 year old boys!!! Today was our work day, so after the VBA, we ate lunch, then went into town to the local rest home, and visited for about 25 minutes with some of the seniors. Me and another guy had an older gentleman who was really nice, but who would repeate EVERYTHING you would say, sometimes with a rather humorous answer. Here’s a sample convo, with actual responses.
Me: Did you ever live on a farm?
Senior: Did I ever live on a farm yes I lived on a farm.
Me: That’s cool! I have a friend who enjoys farming. Did you have cows?
Senior: Did I have cows yes I had cows.
Friend: Did you have any other animals?
Senior: Did I have any other animals pigs.
(he always said the question like a statement, and tacked his answer on the end).
…
Me: Were you ever married?
Senior: Was I ever married yes I was married.
Me: Oh! Who were you married to?
Senior: Who was I married to my grandpa. ( 
I don’t think this is what he meant…:))
Friend: [trying REALLY hard to stop laughing under his breath] Oh? How many kids did you have?
LOL. We were trying to figure out what in the world the guy was talking about…but I think at that point he didn’t understand us.
After the rest home, we went to do different jobs in groups. Me and a couple of other guys went to the Hogans house, and cut/laid dripline for their farm. We met back at the church at around 6 PM for dinner, then went back to our normal houses we were staying att (all of the guys were staying at the Pfaffs)
Wednesday, Day 4: Today’s theme was “You can be sure you are going to heaven”. This was a great day, as it was the gospel story. The day went well, and I think a lot of the kids got it. (One middle school girl later wrote a tearjerker letter to her leader, telling her how grateful she was that we came, because now she can truly know that she is going to heaven, and that Jesus loves her, etc. It made EVERYONE’S day.).
Today was also a free day, so after lunch, people went to one of three activities. There was boardgames/outdoor games at one house, horseback riding at another, and firearm shooting at the Pfaffs. Guess where I went? Yep…shooting. It was great. I did it last year, and it was just as fun this year. We had several different rifles to choose from: There was a .223 Remington, a 30-06, an OLD flintlock rifle, a Kalashnikov, and a semiautomatic AK-47. The AK-47 was the best, because you could rapid-fire it, and shoot about about 5-6 rounds per second.
For pistols, we had seven .32 caliber sidearms, a flintlock pistol, a 9mm pistol, and a .40 caliber. I shot every weapon mentioned except for the flintlocks, and the 30-06. It was a blast (LITERALLY. ).
Afterwards, we played a HILARIOUS game of volleyball…it was basically a no-scored, ALMOST rule-less game. NOTHING was out of bounds, and the point of the game was basically to keep the ball in play. The ball could go over or under the net, and each team could touch the ball as many times as they wanted, as could a single player. The only rule was that the ball could only bounce once on the ground, otherwise it would have to be restarted. We started keeping track of how many hits we could get without breaking that rule, and we reached our record at 93. It was so funny, because we used a superlarge foam ball, and people kept getting hit in the face (we had about 30 people playing).
Thursday, Day 5: Today’s theme was “Your life has purpose”. The Heroes story was about Svea Flood, a missionary who reached just one boy before she died, but the boy reached an entire tribe. We filled up a bucket with water for game time…and when I saw the water, I almost choked. See the next picture…this is tap water…NOTHING added!
It was also a work day today, so me, my sister, and another guy went to a park and stained the wood on the entire big toy in the park for the town. That was actually pretty fun. Other groups had other jobs.
Friday, Day 6: Today, was the last day of VBA. The theme was “You can make a difference in the world”. The Heroes story was about Rochunga Pudaite, who was a boy who was sent by his father to a school over the mountains to learn to translate the Bible into their language. After VBA, there was a picnic, and many farewells to the kids (some of them tearful). We then packed up all of our things, and left at around 3:00 p.m. On the ride home, we stopped at a gas station, and I found something that made my eyes do this:
A 32oz can of Monster Energy drink! The thing was MASSIVE! I couldn’t let that opportunity slip by without being able to say I did it, so I bought it, and shared it with a couple people in the car. The problem was, we all got on a caffeine high, and we were all laughing almost the ENTIRE car ride. It was a fun car ride back though.
We “rowed” out the window of the car during the trip (for those of you who haven’t seen/done this, it’s where one person on each side of the car rolls down their window, and acts as if they are rowing the car along the street. It’s HILARIOUS to watch other drivers’ expressions. As soon as the car starts getting closer, you row faster, and it looks HILARIOUS. )
Anyway…that brings us to now! I’m back! So if you took the time to read this, you will know what an amazing trip it was. I can never explain how great an impact it had on my life…but it was great. Thank you all for your prayers! I am SO looking forward to our next outreach to Waldport, Oregon, which is next month!!!
Circle Shirt
I made a Ted Dekker circle logo shirt, if you want to order it, go to the link below!
http://www.zazzle.com/circle_logo_shirt-235299356223792831
Weather
Today the weather perked up just a little bit…it’s been looking rather bleak for the past several weeks. Rain, rain, and more rain. The news said that this was Washington’s second coldest year in it’s HISTORY so far! We’ve only had about 27 days over 70 degrees. If this is a screen test for summer…
I’m not complaining though…those in Indiana are having a much worse time. Flooding is wreaking havoc there, whereas here, it’s just an annoyance. We will keep them in prayer.
Banking
I type this as I am standing here at my station at work. It’s been a medium-slow day so far…but it might not be later on.
One thing comes to mind as I deal with the different customers that come in. If you ever go to a bank, any bank, that has automated dispensing systems (i.e. they don’t have cash drawers)…DON’T, please don’t…deposit loose coin to make a deposit “even”!!! Customers come in with a check for $90.03, and then deposit $0.97 to make it $91! We have to put this coin in an envelope, and drop it down a slot…which sometimes causes the envelope to break open, because of the weight of the coin. So PLEASE! No loose coin in the envelope. Or slugs. No slugs. We don’t appreciate that too much. Just thought I’d let you know, in case you were thinking of doing that.
Hello world!
Hello! Thanks for taking valuable time out of your day to read the random scribblings of a half-demented maniac. But then again…aren’t we all?
This is my “Hello world” post…a signal flare, if you will, that I am indeed still alive and well. Beyond that…not sure what else it’s supposed to mean. Not too sure the world cares that I’m here…but I’m not aiming to please the world.
I’m here to change it.
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