Life is a death sentence.
As much as I would like to forget it, that is the immovable truth.
By virtue of my existence as a human being, my body is condemned to perish.
Dust is what my fathers were formed from and it is what my body will become.
Though the soul saved by grace that my body houses will live forever, the house will crumble under the weight of living.
What is beyond death holds no terror.
 But there is a sense of trepidation about death.
The sense of the unknown.
Without faith, my body would collapse under the strain of my aching soul.
And yet, death is not a bogy to be frightened of.
It is the step the elect must take into eternity.
And when the sky is rent apart at the coming of Christ, there will be not more death.
There will be, for the believer, life eternal.
Life with no death sentence.

When I forget the Gospel

  Life is a hard and messy business. Oftentimes I let myself get locked down in the mundane duties of life just by the virtue of them being easier to cope with then the bigger picture. Then, other times I drown in the messy business of life. And when life is too hard I get angry and shake my clenched fists at God and ask why He lets these things happen to me. The truth of the matter is that these things happen to me because I let myself forget the gospel. I fall into the trap of sub-consciously thinking that life revolves around me. No, I would never admit to living like that, but when I am honest, I do.
  The gospel is what keeps my life going. Life is still flawed, but it the light of the gospel every scar my soul bears is a beautiful testimony to the grace of God. Everything I have done in this life merits the pain I suffer on this earth, and eternity in hell when this life is over. I should be separated from my just and holy Creator, but I am not.
  In the infiniteness of His love for me, Christ came to this earth, lived, died, and rose for my salvation. In His living, He fulfilled the law I never could. In His dying, He bore in my stead the punishment I justly deserve. And in His resurrection, He conquered death so it is no longer a terror, but the step into eternity with Him.
  So when life is hard, all I have to do is remember the gospel and the God for who's glory I am to live. Because in the light of God's grace, life is a gloriously beautiful thing. And when I am living for the glory of God, the pain is worth it.

What I did this week: Fall is Here

    Well, now that we have had the PBC Fall Festival, it is officially fall.

    On Sunday night I made pizza cake, which really needed more cheese.

 

   Tuesday my littlest siblings and I all hung out in my room and I read them a couple chapters of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. And they are really liking it.

 

   Wednesday I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast because it was cold outside.

 

     Then I took some cool pictures just because.

 

   Saturday I made biscotti with my little brother for his Sunday School party. Yeah, I don't know many seven-year-olds who like biscotti either.

 

   And then I made death brownies for the Fall Festival.

 

   Then my family and I went to the Fall Festival where I took some really lousy pictures.

 

  Then on Sunday I helped with Mrs. June's Sunday School party. These kids really are the best.

 

  And there's my week.

October 23rd in Black and White

  Just some pictures.

 

A Free Spirit or a Jesus Freak

  Like most believers, I make a concerted effort to be different from the world. But why? Why do I not live and dress like the world? Why do I not read their literature and watch and listen to their entertainment? I like to think I do it because I am honoring God with my life. But at the same time I spend considerably more time thinking about how others perceive me, than whether or not the people around me see Christ in me. At the end of the day, do I want to be a free-spirit or a Jesus-freak?  

  It is a hard thing to think about when I am honest with myself. Like most human beings, I tend to ere of the side of pride and self-obsession. Yeah, ouch.  When I die, I do not want people to remember me as a free spirit who did not care what others thought about her. I want people to remember me a girl who was so concerned with pleasing my God and Savior that no one and nothing else mattered in this life.

 

 

In Spite of my Goodness

  God does not need our goodness. While He requires it of us and it glorifies Him, He does not need it. In the Bible we do not read the stories of wonderful, super-saints. Instead the Bible recounts the lives of flawed, sinful people who were used by God in spite of their brokenness.
  This past week I read through the book of Joshua, and then yesterday we went over the story of Rahab and the spies in the Sunday school class I help teach. I always knew that Rahab was not the greatest woman in the world. Not only was she a Canaanite, she was also a prostitute. But for whatever reason, it struck me just how bad she was when I heard her occupation explained in 1st and 2nd grade terms. She worshiped false gods and caused discord in the marriages around her. Rahab was not necessarily the woman a body wants their daughter to emulate.
  And yet Rahab is counted as a hero in the Bible. She helped the Israelites when they came to spy out the land of Canaan and joined their nation once they achieved victory in the Battle of Jericho. She is one of the five women mentioned in the lineage of Christ. God used Rahab in spite of her sin, the same way He uses me regardless of the things I have done. God is perfect and holy. He does not need us to carry out His will, and chooses to anyways.

What I did this Week: Family Camp 2014

  So this past week I was out of town attending Family Camp, with my family of course. Who else would you got to Family camp with?

  On Monday my Dad made dinner. I am always glad that I stay busy when I go camping, especially while consuming calories like these.

 



  Then we when and watched the 'The Legend of El Socoh', a fun western musical based on the story of David and Goliath. The ALERT staff worked really hard the production and my hat is off to all of them.

 

  Tuesday morning started out with a sheepdog demonstration which was interesting to watch. I am thinking of buying a sheepdog to babysit my brothers.

 

  In the afternoon I took a couple of my brothers to make their stick horses for the rodeo the next day.

 

  Wednesday was the stick horse rodeo. My brothers who participated in the rodeo enjoyed it and everyone else enjoyed watching it.

 

  Thursday I ran my first official 5K. It was fun, though I did not eat the healthiest recovery snack.

 

  Then in the afternoon some of my brothers went for airplane rides. I did not care to go so I stayed on the ground and took pictures.

 

  Friday morning my whole family went to the rappelling tower and my Mom rappelled for the first time. I had been rappelling all week so I just took pictures of my family.

 

  Friday afternoon was lake day, so we watched canoe races and I tried to build a sandcastle with some friends. I had to leave before we finished though. After lake day we went home which is where I am now.

 

    And so went my week.