A Little R & R

I recently returned from an amazing trip with my husband...I will share a few photos in this posting, maybe to go into more detail at a future date...or maybe not, God knows :)

This was taken at a rest stop, we did quite a bit of driving, it was good to get out and stretch our legs...

...it was a huge rest stop,

and the view was spectacular;

we were somewhere between Phoenix and Flagstaff...

these images don't do it justice

I don't know those people, 

they just happened to get in my shot...

the cacti are just beginning to blossom

I can only imagine how beautiful the desert will be

in a week or two...

Our little road trip was so amazing, we decided on the spur of the moment to go west, and it was so wonderful! I only wish we could do it more often...but oh so thankful we could do it at all...

Well, that's all I have time for today :)  <3

The Problem with Atheists...

https://www.recruiter.com/i/how-to-control-for-me-and-against-me-thoughts/

A few weeks ago I began reading a book...for me this is a tough assignment on several levels...The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky is translated from Russian to English (the version I'm reading is supposed to be one of the better ones, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volkhonsky) so perhaps part of the problem is the fact that words often do not translate directly from one language to another and often make for tedious reading. Another problem is the Christianity that is presented in the novel is Russian Orthodox, similar to Eastern Orthodox, it is very different from the Christianity we experience in the west. I go several days at a time in avoiding the reading of it, so after these weeks I'm only at the halfway point, sigh and groan. I hadn't heard or known anything about this story or it's author, I saw it on our bookshelf (my husband purchased it a couple of years ago) and decided to dive in. Interestingly the topic of what atheists believe and think are explored in this story and the hero of this story struggles with these amoral people from the context of his Russian Orthodox beliefs. Although I have encountered these (atheistic) beliefs before, and not just from atheists, but directly from my own mistaken and fallen understanding of what I wanted to believe prior to being saved...encountering them in this story is timely, considering the recent events and my own struggles with the blasphemous utterings from "former Christians turned atheists". I hope to give a blogpost or two in the future (after finishing this drudgery of a book reading) to explore a few things that come up in this assignment....in the meantime, I share a debate that I enjoyed between an atheist and a Christian:


Dinesh D'Souza: "It's not an intellectual revolt, it IS a moral revolt"

Spring!

Today I had to do a couple of errands so I took a walk and went downtown...and on the way I saw

crocuses!

and

a nice scene for a future needlepoint project? maybe...

and a reminder....

the beauty of the day was offset 

by

this reminder

that this world is cursed with 

death

and

corruption

and then in my own garden...

yellow crocuses

I hope I have purple ones also...

I planted bulbs last fall...

they were a mix of yellow, purple and white...

these are the first to bloom! 

I love them <3

There have been a few things that have been heavy on my mind and heart, but I am still ruminating

over them, perhaps they will be the subject of a post in the near future. In the meantime 

I'll be thankful for these blessings and reminders, and will pray about the other things....

The Gospel

 http://tractleague.com/tracts/the-gospel--good-news/

 

What is the gospel?

According to the Strong's the word that has been translated "gospel" is from the Greek word meaning "good message" ...I've always seen it translated as "good news"...

The gospel is the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that provides full and free deliverance from the power and penalty of sin according to the grace of God alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Why is this such wonderful news?

You and everyone else have been born with a fatal condition. This condition is called sin. Why is this condition so serious? Because God is sinless and hates sin, for sin is rebellion against His perfect and righteous standard. And your sinful actions makes you an enemy of God (Romans 3:23; James 4:4). God made man imperishable, in His own image (Genesis 1:27). He made man so that he may have continual fellowship with Him. But when sin came, the intimate fellowship between man and God changed.

 http://www.gospeloutreach.net/gospel.html

Things can be faked. We are all wicked, self-serving, self-loving above all others...we want to think that we are "good", but the truth is when push comes to shove, we will shove those who shove us and shove harder. Many times we see those who have a form of godliness yet deny His power (2 Timothy 3:5), and Jesus said they are difficult to tell apart without having His discernment, and even then, only after the wheat (true) and tares (false) grow into maturity (Matthew 13), because while these are yet immature they look very much alike....it is only after they bear fruit that we can see the difference.True godliness truly and honestly (perfectly? no, only God is perfect) loves others more than self. None of us have it truly....unless we have the Spirit of God making that true in our lives.

The word "gospel" first shows up in scripture here:


 Matthew 4:23-25  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.   And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.  And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan. (KJV)

This is really the first time that I'm noticing that this good news went out beyond the borders of Israel during the time of Christ's ministry on earth....

Anyway, the good news is that we were doomed to hell, doomed in our sin, forever outcast from the presence of a holy and righteous God. The good news (gospel) is that God is merciful. He made a way out of this mess through the shedding of His Son's blood as payment for the ransom that needed to be paid for our transgressions.

When I watch the Investigative Discovery channel, the family of victims which were raped, tortured, and/or murdered are relieved when the perpetrator of the crimes is apprehended and sentenced to his just punishment. While he is not yet found, they worry that justice will not be served. But we fail to realize that because of our sinful nature we are all guilty before the perfect law that God demands to be able to stand in His presence. While we yet love sin (and face it we all do, it is part of our fallen human nature to love sin...even if it seems that we only love minor sins to a small degree, we are guilty to the full extent of the law), we do not want to stand in the presence of a holy God. I know that prior to being saved I hated anyone who told me the truth about my sin. Therefore how could I  stand before a perfectly holy God who would see every glaring but secret sin I ever committed that went without His punishment?....however He provided His Son to pay that debt! That's good news! It is like getting a reprieve from the governor while on death row.

A day or two ago DebbieLynne touched on the topic of "the gospel" while I was considering doing a post about it. She has some beautiful insights on this subject. Do take a look and meditate further on this blessed gift of God:

http://debsheadstick.blogspot.ca/2015/03/why-did-he-do-that.html