It's been a day that I seem to have been spinning my wheels! At least that is what it feels like, but looking back over the day I think I've managed to accomplish something. Just not as much as I would have liked. For one thing, Kristen and I slept in this morning since she didn't have school. So that was already a late start to the day. I'm sure Darrell had been working at least two hours before we even got out of bed. How is that for being spoiled. :-) We don't do this every day, so why not? It was a school holiday after all. Kristen won't be working as many hours this week at Sobey's as she usually does. A new Save-On-Foods has opened close to Kyle's place and that isn't too far from the Sobey's. They expect their business to go down and don't want to lay anyone off so have cut every one's hours. I don't think Kristen minds too much. With school, soccer and everything else she does, it will be more restful for her to have fewer hours at work. And I could always find lots for her to do here if she were so inclined or tells me she is "bored". She knows better than to say that though. :-) It's too bad though if some of their full-time employees get cut back. I hope that doesn't happen to anyone.

I was reading over the notes Jordy brought home from church yesterday. What a good reminder that our salvation is not because of any good things we might do. Sometimes I think we can all fall into the trap where we think the more things we do, the more God will be pleased with us. I don't know why we do that though because we know we can't earn God's favor. Our salvation is a gift of grace through faith in Jesus. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). I also read further and see that if we grew up in a Christian home then we shouldn't become comfortable with that. Not that I grew up in a truly Christian home, but I do know people who have and who do seem to rely more on their heritage than they do on Jesus. What is that illustration that just because you are in church all your life doesn't make you a Christian any more than being in a garage makes you a car or something like that. But it's true. You hear people all the time say they have been Christians "all their life". This could mean that they were very young and can't really remember a time when they didn't follow the Lord, but often there are others that when you inquire further it turns out they have never personalized their belief in God and turned from their sins and have not depended on Jesus alone to forgive them and give them eternal life. They might say they are Christians, but they don't truly believe John 14:6: "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). No one likes to say it because they might be accused of being arrogant, but we didn't say it, Jesus did...and in more verses than just this one. Anyways, I am getting on a bit of a tangent here. Tomorrow I do not plan to be spinning my wheels because I won't be doing any more sleeping in. That really did put me behind today! It's still early in the week though so lots of time to catch up on what does need to be done and ignore what isn't all that important. :-)

It's been a busy few days here. But alas, the weekend is winding down. I expect things will be more routine tomorrow for the start of Darrell's work week. The soccer team lost two games in the tournament and tied one. Then won their first regular season game this afternoon. So I think the tournament was some good practice for the girls, especially with such a large team this year. There has been less playing time with more girls on the team. Darrell and Darren have them entered in four tournaments rather than the usual two. So many girls requested to come back from last years roster. The director told Darrell she had to turn down some requests after a certain number because the team was already full. It's a good group of girls again this time and they seem to get along well together for the most part. So that is always nice if Darrell and Darren are not having to put out any fires! Darrell's experience has been that girls teams are a whole different matter to coach than what some boys teams were that he coached.

We did make it to Bible study last night. We started on a study in Isaiah. The turnout seems larger than last year and seems we are off to a good start with this study. Jordy went back to the Bible school this afternoon after he got home from church. It doesn't seem like he was home long at all and already the school break is over. The next time he comes home will be for Christmas. He let me know that the youth pastor has already asked him to lead the youth Sunday school for two Sundays when he's back home. I think that is nice Jordy can give that a try and help in that way when he's back home. It will certainly be good experience. I don't know if he will use what is already planned or if he will come up with something himself. Darrell, Kristen and I didn't make it to church today at all. Kristen was in her tournament game. I really don't like to miss church, but Darrell says I am being too legalistic if I am concerned about missing one week of church. Perhaps he is right. And I guess it would be different if we made missing church a habit. But usually we only miss church if we are on vacation in the summer and occasionally for a tournament. At least Jordy brought the sermon outline home and we can listen online later on.

Tomorrow Kristen starts a week long break from school. It was disappointing she and Jordy didn't have the same week off this year for their break. Last year they quite enjoyed being off at the same time. But Jordy's school break seemed to be a bit earlier this year than previously. It will be good to have Kristen home and hopefully away from H1N1 exposure! That really is going through the schools and it turned into a big smozzle here with the vaccinations so she can't even get her shot right now. Neither can Darrell. I've had mine so if I do get H1N1 then I don't think it should be as bad as what it would be if you had no shot. I was sitting beside someone at soccer on Friday night and she was coughing all over the place and I was trying not to breath in any air around me! lol. And sure enough, today her husband told me she is sick in bed. It may not be H1N1, but with so much of it around then likely it is. My shot was in the 10-14 day range that was listed on my information sheet. Even though the health nurse told me about 5 days for the immunity. So much conflicting info. I wonder which it is? My shot would only have been day 11 on Friday...I guess time will tell. And after all it's in the Lord's control. Well that is all for now. I had just finished cooking supper for us all and now Darrell, Kyle and Kristen are watching a hockey game. I think I'm going to tidy up Jordy's room while they are all doing that. Then it will be ready for the next time he comes home.

Yeah! We got Darrell's car back yesterday. $450.00 later. I guess that is not as bad as it could be, but this is certainly turning out to be an expensive couple of weeks. What with my computer dying two weeks ago and now the car. These things happen though and at least it was just a spark plug that was misfiring that was making all the noise. And a few other things. The noise is gone now and the car is running much smoother. We have never had a car make an engine rattle like that before, but most of our vehicles have been new. With something used you don't always know the history. But it does make me a bit wary now of trusting that car. Sometimes I drive it, but now I don't think I will at all. If dad and mom hadn't been home to come and pick us up we could have been stranded. I hope nothing else breaks now. I can't handle broken things! It is just so much better when procedures or items are in perfect working order. :-)

This has been a very busy week already and it looks like it will be right though until the end of Sunday. Kristen is in a soccer tournament that starts Friday and goes through Sunday. And we have my mom's birthday in here and a Bible study to go to on Saturday night, just to name a few things. Jordy is enjoying his week at home and catching up on his sleep. I think his cough is getting better. And he's had no fever or real sickness so he can't have H1N1 or I think he would be very ill.

Yesterday I like the devotional I led. "Into All the World". My kind of topic! It was written by Charles Stanley and I particularly liked that he made no bones about what the true mission of the church is or primary mission. "We who make up God's body must align our thoughts with His and return to the church's primary mission: proclaiming the truth about the grave danger facing mankind and about Jesus, the only One who can rescue them." This tied in too with our sermon a few weeks back and I think we don't always have as much of a burden as we should for those around us who don't know Christ. I don't know as we always see them as being in "grave danger", and yet that is exactly what they are if they are separated from God. Anyways, it was quite well written I thought. I don't know as I would have used Mark 16:15-16 as the scripture with it. But only because you could use the one from Matthew instead. Too many people may read the verse from Mark as thinking you have to be baptized to be saved. I know there are Christians that believe that though. And I have been baptized, but not because I thought it would save me to do that. Anyways, that is all for tonight.

Scripture Memory Verse

"Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands" (Psalm 112:1).

Here is our next scripture memory verse. Darrell chose this one last night for us to start on. I think he was careful to choose one that will be a little easier on us than the one from Nahum. That one was terrible to memorize, but we do know it and can move on now! So we can see here that we need to fear the Lord and actually delight in obeying His commands. I think we can see too that if we are to delight in obeying God's commands we need to be those who treasure His word. And spend time in in daily. There are many gems to be discovered as we do that.

We had quite the day yesterday. Darrell's car broke down on the way home from church. At first it sounded like one of the jack hammers from all the construction on Wye Road, but we soon realized it was a terrible rattle in our car engine. So Darrell pulled over and then Dad and Mom came to pick us up. At least the car is at Vince's now so he might get time to look at it today. Never a dull moment!

It was interesting in Sunday school yesterday. A few comments at the end about our expectations of others caught my attention. And that if we expect too much of others or something like that then we will be disappointed every time. Well, I do have high standards. So does Darrell. I won't deny it, but I certainly don't expect the same thing out of others. Nor do I expect a perfect church. Good grief. We've all heard that expression that if we want a perfect church then it would be imperfect as soon as we ourselves join! But I am in process and learning that what I think matters, other people don't appear to. But I guess we should just not expect anything out of anyone or we may be misunderstood or have others think we are expecting perfectionism out of them. And what I might think is God's standard there would be those who disagree. Like in anything there are many opinions on things. I think we all know that we too are someone else's difficult person. Since none of us are perfect. I do think though that in some cases it can be used as an excuse for being sloppy, and it was mentioned that it shouldn't be. But in any case it's good reminder that we do all have some expectations of others and most times others haven't even agreed to meet those expectations.

Also, something was said about there being an anti-intellectualism amongst some Evangelicals as a whole I think. I am not personally against intellectuals in Evangelicalism or churches or anywhere else. On my side of the family there are several medical doctors and a lawyer. One is even a Psychiatrist. Some very intellectual people and disciplined I might add. We figure that is where Kyle may have inherited his intelligence. A good gene pool that seemed to come out in him. :-) So of course there is a need for intellectuals to engage these types of people who "think" more and won't just accept what God's Word says in the same way some of us do. But at the same time you do have to be careful, because not all the ideas some of these people promote fall into line with traditional doctrines of our faith. Anyways, it was quite the day and a lot to think about.

Here's Kristen before she left tonight. The youth group do a games and activities in the community and give out candy. So she's helping at that tonight. She made her costume and carved a pumpkin, because she wanted the insides for one of the stations she is running this evening. I was happy to see that Kristen gave up an invitation to go with some friends to another friend's home tonight. She chose to participate in the youth outreach instead. Serving God is not always at times we find are convenient. It was nice to see this year that one of the Christian families on our cul-de-sac did not turn out their lights. Every year they seem to have done that, and even though I understand why Christians get up in arms over Halloween, I don't know as it sends a good message if Christians turn out their lights. I don't think there is harm in giving out some candy to the neighborhood children. In fact, you even get to visit a short while with some neighbors you don't normally chat with as often.

Jordy did arrive home this afternoon. And he has a cough! But says he has been coughing for a few weeks. He has no fever or flu symptoms so I don't think it's H1N1, even though that is going through the school. He did decide to stay home tonight though rather than going with Kristen. I think that was wise, because I don't really know if he does have anything and wouldn't want him to spread anything to the youth if he does. I've threatened Gilligan with his kennel tonight if he doesn't shape up quickly. This is one evening I am not enjoying owning a dog. But understandably pets do get anxious with all the commotion!

Why don't we seem to realize that God has called us as Christians to be diligent and faithful in everything? I get so frustrated when people are not diligent or always looking to take the easy way out. Maybe it's a sin though to get frustrated with others? It's not that I am always perfect. Far, far from it. None of us can be. But why is it that some make it such a habit to be so undisciplined? And the crazy thing is that when it becomes a habit in one area it seems to spread into many other areas of life as well. And gets to the point where people are just satisfied with being that way and have no desire to change. Or even think anything is wrong with it. The Bible says it's wrong though to be lazy and why wouldn't someone work hard at whatever they are doing, whether it be in their own home or a job or anything else they are to do? God does give us all responsibilities and the verse I am thinking of even says that whatever our hands find to do we are to do it with all our might or something like that. People actually brag about not caring or being lazy! They obviously don't think it's sinful to be that way. And it carries through even to time spent with God. Someone said to me, "oh, I have under five minutes a day to spend with God". That is just ridiculous for someone to make a statement like that. How on earth could anyone really grow further in the Christian life if they give God five minutes of their day? Not that there is some time limit, but it's as though it was okay to just push God to the backburner. Five minutes is better than no time spent, but everyone has more than five minutes a day to spend in the Word and prayer. And it was the attitude about it I think that bothered me. But as Darrell always tells me, I shouldn't get my tail in a knot about other people. He's right of course, and I won't really get my tail in a knot about that person, but it was just another one of those things I guess. I pray though that I don't start making it a habit myself to be such a poor example to other Christians or unbelievers.

Yesterday I went to a Michael Card concert that was being held at our old church. I was so encouraged! Normally I really don't like that kind of music, or at least it's not my favorite, but with it being live I enjoyed it. But what I enjoyed the most was the teaching in between. His theological insight was quite amazing! It was unusual to go to a concert and have someone be that way. He emphasized too the cost of following Jesus. I wonder how often that happens at a concert?

Tomorrow Jordy is leaving the school at 7 a.m. so I think he should be home here for the school break by around noon. I don't know if he is bringing any kids with him this time or not. He called when I was out grocery shopping today and Darrell didn't get the full information of course. :-) However, Jordy did let Darrell know that the Bible school is full of H1N1! Darrell told Jordy that he was sure mother will be pleased to hear that. I am just relieved that Jordy hasn't picked it up. At least not yet. Kristen even said, great, Jordy will bring the Swine Flu into our house. Well, it's already going through Kristen's high school so I guess she herself could bring it in. I did have the shot Monday, but I doubt much immunity is built yet. The regular flu shot they say two weeks. I think H1N1 is at least a week or ten days, but there seems to be contradictory information. Well that is all for tonight.

Today we finished the Sermon on the Mount in our Bible study. To me the whole thing was summed up in the last lesson really. In these verses: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matthew 7:21-23). Someone had said they are afraid of these verses. Well, I can't say I'm afraid of them in the sense of going around scared of God. At first I thought maybe I should be fearful, but then I thought, no, why would God want me going around afraid? We are to have a reverent fear and respect for God, but that is not the same thing as being afraid God might take your salvation away from you or that kind of thing. That isn't right at all and I don't think anyone could truly enjoy their relationship with God if they thought God may not let them into heaven. But you never know, God doesn't grant assurance if you are not truly saved. Maybe some could be uncomfortable if they don't think they are saved. But too, the devil likes for Christians to never really be sure of their salvation and doubt. So that can happen too. But reading these verses we can see that "many" are going around with false assurance. Not just these Pharisees or religious, but many of us today too. There are phony people who do try to twist things and lead others astray. And from this Sermon on the Mount we can certainly see what true saving faith is to look like. I think this whole thing is a good wake up call and a good reminder too that we should be examining ourselves and our lives. Many of us could be these self-deceived and not be seeing things for the way they really are. I try to live a righteous life, but as we can see this Sermon on the Mount is challenging to study and to live out! I think though if someone isn't really saved then they likely wouldn't care much about what this Sermon on the Mount says or about sin in their lives. And really I don't think anyone could truly be saved and never obey the Bible. I always thought that sin should never be increasing in our lives, but rather should be decreasing. That has been my experience. Not meaning I don`t ever sin, but really when Jesus comes into a heart He goes through room by room and starts convicting you of areas that need to change. It`s a process though and none of us will arrive this side of heaven that is for sure. A good study though and lots of food for thought. I never realized before how much there was to this! The next study is going to be about God`s love through the Psalms. I do have that study and had started doing it years ago, but never finished it. So it will be like starting new since I don`t remember what`s in it now. Or why I left it incomplete. There must have been a reason. It was probably over my head at that time likely and I moved on to something else. So maybe I will understand it better this time.