"You beautiful fish, you!"

Our friend, Rachel, sent us this video, and it is great. A modesty spoof on OneDirection's  "What Makes You Beautiful."
It's really nice to know there are at least a FEW guys [though these guys happen to be mormon, grrr >( ] out there who feel this way. Plus, it's funny.



Enjoy!
Sam

Camp "You know what camping is, right?"

 

I feel like a kid in second grade writing a, "What I Did at Camp" report :D.

So, we had less kids than expected -- ten. Still, enough to keep our hands full. A couple of people who were gonna come up and help had to pull out, so it was just me and my friend Riah. Here we all are:

 
 

They were all about 12, but David (in back) was so much older looking than them all

These kids came here from China knowing only basic English to gain the "American experience". Really though, it's a big witnessing opportunity for my grandpa. =] They've gone to Disneyland, the Grand Canyon, a horse ranch, and are attending a Christian school.

 

 

 

Lisa, Hettie and Carolyn

 

 

"Bob", Rainer and William

 

The kids all certainly had interesting tastes. They all had, in addition to our American foods, noodles at every meal. One "interesting" breakfast food we saw: Toast with American cheese and peanut butter. Also, in the above picture, was a soup of drinking water, a few noodles, fruit chunks and strawberry tops. Yup.

 

The girls beating the boys to the basketballs =]

 We were definitely kept very busy with all the cooking, cleaning and activities. But it was nice to go back to my childhood church camp, and the weather was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

The fuse ball and carpet ball tables were huge hits

 

 

 

The horny toad comes with an interesting story. Papa, Gully and  I were all on a hike, and Papa spotted a horny toad. Gully was extremely excited to catch it; they had been looking for one all week and had, apparently, never seen them before.

Papa: How are you going to carry it back to camp?

Gully: Oh...hmm...I know! *digs into pockets* Yes! *removes one single dirty sock* I don't know why this sock is in my pocket, but we can use it.

He proceeded to laugh about finding the solitary sock the rest of the way to camp. The things boys keep in their pockets...

 

 

 

One conversation Papa had with Gully was funny enough to report. (Background: Gully's mother is a very devoted Buddhist, and the kids have been learning about Christianity their whole stay here)

Papa: So, Gully, what is the biggest difference you can see between Buddhism and Christianity?

Gully: Christians...can eat meat.

Me: Do you like meat?

Gully: Yes!

So, it seems we have a convert, however insincere. ;-]

 

Seriously speaking though, this trip has had a big impact on these kids and their moms. Two moms and three children have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. Praise God. Please pray that they would continue in the faith and that they would all become saved.

 

In Christ,

Sam

 

 

(this quote title thing is starting to get difficult...)

Let's pause, and reflect...

An interesting quote I found by C.S. Lewis.



Puts things in real perspective. I mean, we spend so much time taking care of our bodies, then we spend a bit of time a day, or week, on our soul as an after-thought. It should be the other way around.

 

Have a good weekend.

Sam

P.S. Another snow post coming soon. =]

SquiRe's News!

Last week SquiRe walked out of Mom and Dad's room with a glowing smile. He declared to us some news that made us all beam too: "I am a Christian!"

"Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents." (Luke 15:10)

I am so glad to have, what SquiRe calls "a double brother". Not only is he my brother in this life, but infinitely more wonderful is that he will be my brother in the life to come!

Praising God,
Ashlin

"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time," (1 Timothy 2:3-6)

The birthday wish

I know it's been forever since we've posted...We moved and the internet is funky out here in the wild countryside...but hopefully blogger will work now. Unfortunately, this is not an update but a sort of re-post from a friend's blog. Her dad is having a birthday and, well, see for yourself:

Interesting perspective...

Hey, brother! Do you think there's a life after birth? Do you believe in Mom? - Nah, I don't believe these things, I'm an athiest. I mean, have you ever seen Mom?

Sad but true

Sam

National Day of Prayer

When we go before God in prayer with a cold, dull heart, and in a lifeless

and listless manner pray to him for eternal blessings, and those of infinite

import to our souls, we should think of Christ’s earnest prayers that he

poured out to God, with tears and a bloody sweat. The consideration of it

may well make us ashamed of our dull, lifeless prayers to God, wherein,

indeed, we rather ask a denial than ask to be heard; for the language of

such a manner of praying to God, is, that we do not look upon the benefit

that we pray for as of any great importance, that we are indifferent whether

God answers us or not. The example of Jacob in wrestling with God for

the blessing, should teach us earnestness in our prayers, but more

especially the example of Jesus Christ, who wrestled with God in a bloody

sweat. If we were sensible as Christ was of the great importance of those

benefits that are of eternal consequence, our prayers to God for such

benefits would be after another manner than now they are. Our souls also

would with earnest labor and strife be engaged in this duty.

- Jonathan Edwards

The Message of the Cross

Kingdom Come

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.

The Touch of the Master's Hand

It was battered and scarred,

And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.


"What am I bid, good people", he cried,
"Who starts the bidding for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"
"Two dollars, who makes it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,"


But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.


The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said "What now am I bid for this old violin?"
As he held it aloft with its' bow.


"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, Who makes it three?"
"Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone", said he.


The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We just don't understand."
"What changed its' worth?"
Swift came the reply.
"The Touch of the Masters Hand."


And many a man with life out of tune
All battered with bourbon and gin
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin


A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.


But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Masters' Hand.



Myra Brooks Welch



If ever your life is out of tune,

And no music soothes the soul,
Seek out The Master whose gentle touch
Will bless you and make you whole.


Like an old violin, weathered and worn
A life may not be so grand,
But may be uplifted, transformed, and renewed
By the touch of The Master's Hand.


~ Ken Brown ~

 
-Momo

Real Life Interruptions

"I think I find most help in trying to look on all interruptions and hindrances to work that one has planned out for oneself as discipline, trials sent by God to help one against getting selfish over one’s work. Then one can feel that perhaps one’s true work—one’s work for God—consists in doing some trifling haphazard thing that has been thrown into one’s day. It is not a waste of time, as one is tempted to think, it is the most important part of the work of the day—the part one can best offer to God. After such a hindrance, do not rush after the planned work; trust that the time to finish it will be given sometime, and keep a quiet heart about it."

Annie Keary (as quoted in Keeping a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot)


"The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s “own,” or “real” life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one’s “real life” is a phantom of one’s own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it’s hard to remember it all the time."

C.S. Lewis, The Quotable Lewis


Risa

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

                         ~St. Francis of Assisi


Risa

Be On Guard!

Recently my devotions have been in the book of Colossians. I thought I might share something I've learned.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.  (Colossians 2:6-15)

Can you imagine a miner spending day after day in a cave mining for gold or precious gems, and then after gathering his treasure he leaves it unguarded? Paul tells us that the treasure we have received are not unlike earthly treasures in that respect. We shouldn't leave the treasures we have been given in Christ unguarded.
 
Did you know that one of the biggest computer hackers of all time is currently appealing his 70 year sentence after being found guilty of causing the U.S. government $1 billion of damage by breaking into it's most secure computers at Pentagon, NASA, the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, in 2005? The very important information stored in these computers were heavily protected, but they were still compromised. The treasures we have been given are the Bible, the Spirit, and salvation in Christ. Our treasure is the greatest gift of all time! It is worth more than billions of dollars! We must guard this treasure!

I believe it is difficult for us to fully understand or appreciate all that we have been given in Christ and how important it is for us to guard this amazing treasure. Unknowingly, we may be letting down our guard to peer pressure, the media,or the newest philosophies. We may allow them to come in and influence our thinking, deceiving us in the process. Think of a computer; it may look fine on the outside but it may have corrupt files or a virus infecting it. We may think we are fine, we may look fine, but our thinking may be corrupt. If we compromise the truth it is no longer truth. Think about it; if something is 90% true, is it still true? If water has just 1% arsenic in it, is the water still pure? Do any of us really live out the truth 100%? No. But if we try to blend the ways of the world with the way of Christ, we will lose the true way.

Colossians 2:8: Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
 
~Momo

Take My Life

I recently heard this song and it really encouraged me. I hope you are uplifted and enjoy the music.

~Momo

The beauty of growth and sanctification

“Though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was.”  
- John Newton

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."   - Philippians 3:12-14

"...Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ..."   
- Philippians 1:6

“Take a fresh draught of perspective, self.

See how the framework is grand.

Remember the times when you could have let go,

When all seemed to fail like the seeds you had sown,

But your Father was holding your hand.

Remember the days when invisible words

Flew the darkness away, and you wept.

And each salted glass tear was a mountain of fear

Leaving and melting and now there appears

A glimpse of the Lord’s promise, kept.

Don’t drown in shed tears for the past you knew

It’s different now that you look back.

The colors are marching through darkness you felt.

But each one is brighter for each sorrow dealt,

And their richness finds nothing to lack.”

.

- Grace Einkauf

 

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."   
- 2 Corinthians 5:17

"...Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."    - Ephesians 4:13-16

  "Yet the righteous will hold to his way,

And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger."
- Job 17:9

 

"But the path of the just is like the shining sun,

That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day."
- Proverbs 4:18

Though I am far -oh, so far!- from what I ought to be, so far from what I want to be, by the grace of God I can truly say, "I am not who I once was!"

Risa @};-

Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday

    I read the title of an article today that said "How Spiritual Are You?" The subtitle read: "You may be closer to God than you think." HA! God's holy word tells us that our best, our righteousness is as filthy rags! Think of it!
    One time Dad was doing plumbing work at someone's house and he had to take the whole toilet out. The hole in the ground was filthy. Honestly I think it was the grossest thing I have ever seen or smelled. I stepped back and covered my mouth and nose. I still wanted to help Dad but I did not want to help him with that! Dad turned around and said "Can you imagine putting some food right there?" Oh! I gasped with disgust. I knew what he was going to say next. "That is how God views sin. He can have no part in it."
    It is Good Friday today, the day our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ died. . . for you and for me. For an ungrateful and undeserving world. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." (John 15:13)
    It is easy not to think about how blessed we are. It is easy not to think about the price it cost for our salvation. It is easy not to think about the pain Christ went through for you and me. Good Friday is a reminder.
    Good Friday was not at all a good Friday for Jesus, but it was a wonderful Friday for all of mankind. Good Friday reminds us just how horrible sin is, how holy and forgiving God is, and how amazing His grace is. Without Christ's death we would have no forgiveness of sins, only darkness. Without Christ's death we would have no way to get to God no matter how "good" we thought we were. And without Christ's death we would have no understanding of true love.
    The first thing Jesus prayed on the cross was, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
    The last thing Jesus prayed on the cross was, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit."
    Yet three days after Christ died, He was risen again.

"Without the victory of the resurrection, the death of Jesus would have been in vain. For death by itself is no victory, no matter how well-meaning the sacrificial lamb, no matter how noble the cause. Through His resurrection, Christ broke the power of death once and for all time. Salvation was not completed only because of the cross. It was completed by the victory of the empty tomb. "... Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor 15:54b-57 NIV"

~Katherine Walden



Momo

Food for thought

"Duty is only a substitute for love. . ."

The video is a bit hard to follow at first, but very thought provoking.



(You can view the full video here.)


Risa

The sinful bean bag chair

Below is the link to a video about sin by Joshua Harris (author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye and brother of Alex and Brett Harris). Using a black bean bag, he illustrates the danger of sin and the importance of trusting and obeying God's command to turn away, even to flee, from evil.

http://www.generationcedar.com/main/2010/01/joshua-harris-sin-and-the-bean-bag.html

Risa

Bible Bee

The Bible Bee results are in!! I got a letter from one of the chairmen and my certificate in the mail a little over a week ago!

I got the score of 257 out of a possible 300! I am so glad I participated in the Bible Bee and would without a doubt recommend it to anyone for next year!!! I was blessed with some of the nicest judges ever, it was a healthy competition, and all the other students were very friendly and encouraging! I loved it!

It started with prayer. All the children participating in the Bible Bee went the participant who was closest to them and prayed for them. Then we went into our classrooms and took a written test. It was one hour long and there were 225 question. Although the desks were uncomfortable and very small, I managed to complete about 180 of the questions.

Next, we went into the oral round stage! There were 2 oral rounds. There was 12 minutes per person in each oral round. You were asked to recite 4 different passages and answer 4 Bible knowledge questions in each oral round. I had a blast!
-Momo