Forever For His Glory

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop [Elder], he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.  1 Timothy 3:1-7 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you— if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of di...

Lately, there have been so many courtships, engagements, and weddings announced, that I have been quite caught up in it all. “ So-and-so is getting married on such-and-such day ”, “ So-and-so just began a courtship ”, etc. And along with smiling, laughing and enjoying the happy couple’s happiness, there’s always the thought in the back of my head, I wonder what mine will look like (if it happens)? What will happen? How will it occur? And, you know, that really isn’t something for me to be worrying/thinking about. I was reading Jasmine Bauchum’s book, Joyfully at Home , and these quotes really encouraged me about this subject and helped me to get re-focused, so I thought I’d share them with y’all. I hope they are as much of an encouragement and help to you as they were to me. :-) “ It helps to remember that the Lord has a bigger plan for our lives than marriage and children, and that plan is to glorify Him with whatever gifts and talents he has given us, in whatever season of our lives ...

Last night was one of our monthly English Country Dance practices. And at the dances we have a mixture of people that have been doing ECD for many years, to those who have never danced before. Towards the end of the evening, one of my favorite dances was announced, Postie’s Jig. It is also one of the few dances where instead of dancing in long lines of guys and girls facing each other, each group is compiled of only 4 couples (4 guys and 4 girls). I *happened* to end up in a group that was almost entirely composed of advanced dancers (myself included). 5 of us were part of the first group that had started the ECD practices, 2 others had been coming for over a year, and the other boy was the type of beginner that teachers dream of. As the other groups formed, I noticed that most of the other groups were composed entirely of all beginners (there were a lot of new people that evening). I mentioned to one of the girls that maybe one or two couples in our group should go trade places wit...

Growing up, we’re told not to be “ conformed to this world, but be transformed through the renewing of your mind ” . (Romans 12:2) We’re told not to judge how, or what we can do by comparing ourselves to others. Except in one thing I’ve noticed; we don’t sing like we should. And maybe it’s just because I sing that I’ve noticed it (in myself and others), but if we don’t sound good singing, we don’t do it. Colossians 3:16 says, “ ... singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord .” We’re not called to sing (and only sing) when we sound good. Psalm 100 says, Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to al...

It never fails, at least once every month or so, I’ll be in the kitchen at Wednesday night church and I’ll hear some of the older ladies talking about some child or friend, and they’ll make the statement, “but (s)he’s got a good heart”. It didn’t used to bother me, either. I’d hear the story of whoever the person was, and no matter if it was a girl on drugs, or a young boy with anger issues, it was always the same. “They’ve got a good heart.” The sad thing is, it became a family joke to us. We weren’t trying to be disrespectful, but it was our way to respond to it, since there wasn’t anything we could do about it. And then recently I realized our desensitization to it. After hearing it for however long we’d been hearing it, it no longer bothered us. Which isn’t a problem, right? I mean, it seems innocent... except, I don’t think it is. I don’t remember ever hearing Jesus or the Apostles (or anyone else in the scripture, for that matter), ever tell someone that they had a “good” hear...

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night ; a nd God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long lif...

Many years ago I was watching a Christian parody about how a Christian should not witness. The “Christian” in the video started talking to an unbeliever and ended the conversation by telling the guy to “read your Bible!” and then whacks the guy with the Bible that was in his hand. The quote popped into my head last night as I was about to read the Bible before bed. I had gone to bed at about 9:50 with every intention of spending a while in the Word, but somehow I kept getting sidetracked as my mind (i.e. flesh) kept finding me other things to read/think about until I glanced at the clock only to find that it was 10:40. Where had the time gone? Surely I hadn’t wasted that much time!? And immediately (as if on cue) my mind started coming up with excuses as to why I shouldn’t read the Bible now because “it was too late”; “if you read it now you won’t be rested in the morning”; “you can always read it tomorrow, after all.” But you know, I’ve gone along with it before, and it never ...