TIME FOR A NEW COMPUTER

If you've wondered why I haven't been posting as often, it's because our computer won't allow me. I've tried many many times to post pictures and even non-picture posts (like this one - I've tried many times already today hoping against all odds that it will succeed in posting), but many of them, I just have to let go. The pictures that I have posted, did so after many tries and much waiting. We've had various other fallouts with our computer and it's driven us to the unpleasant task of looking for a new one. Of course, to do so, we will need to find the money, and with Dan going to Israel - a $2200 trip, granted, part of that has been paid for by close friends and family, THANK YOU! - we are really up a creek. BUT we will pray and ask that the Lord will provide us with what we think we need: a computer. In this day and age, I don't see how we can live without one. Of course, our lives are not dependant on it, just our lifestyles. But if we don't have a computer, how will we keep in touch with all of you fine folk and show you all the pictures of little Eli and tell you what's going on in our lives? Dan does a lot of graphics and wedding photography/slideshows for his dad's business, the church, his job, etc so we will need a computer that can handle that sort of thing. We need a working computer!! I'm bound and determined to pray that the Lord will provide for our needs in a way that will surprise us once again. He has done so often before. I have no reason to believe that He wouldn't do it now. Jehovah Jirah is His name: The LOrd provides!

It's been far too long since I've posted anything about what's going on in the "life of dan and gen." Eli is growing everyday. He's crawling on all fours now. Eating puffed cereal - that means he's picking it up with his little grubby fingers and sometimes making it into his mouth. Those that do make it often end up falling out, or at least part of it. It's a mess, but eating a learning experience just like anything else. The poor dear has a perpetual runny nose due to teething/allergies/cold/take your pick, which he prefers to keep that way, thankyouverymuch. He silently fights the tissue and any hand connected to it by grabbing it and ripping it to shreds while moving his head back and forth making it impossible to truly clean his face. Instead, his nose-goods just get wiped all over his face only to crust and crack on his cute little cheeks. I love to watch him play. Of course, it's loads of fun to play with him, Mommy often has things to do around the house. And while I'm doing these things, I look over at my cute dear son and watch him as he discovers the world. He crawls right over to his toy basket and pulls the ones he wants out. Sometimes, he just dumps the whole basket over onto its side so he has easy pickins of all the contents. One of his favorite toys, oddly enough, is an empty DeerPark water bottle. There's a cheap toy for ya!

This weekend, Dan is going on the Men's Retreat with our church. I decided to take the opportunity to visit my grandparents in Virginia. My sister, Angela, is going with me and Elias. It'll be a quick visit but a much needed one. We were there in August, which was nice, but before that, it had been way too long. They had never met Eli. With Eli growing so fast, he's already changed a lot just since our family vacation.

Recognizing Christ In Others

It has been very interesting to read what others are saying in response to my seemingly harmless post. But I suppose it's time I respond.

Our society has affected the way we think about things and the way we talk. One has to be very careful of the words they use to get across their meaning. If we are so cautious as to not offend anyone with everything we say, we will, no doubt, say nothing at all. However, I know for a fact that there are several non-believers that check my blog regularly. So it is my responsibility that I choose my words carefully to say what I would like to say and that it be pleasing to my God. That said, I will continue.

Any true follower of Jesus would agree with me on the point that there is an unmistakeable bond between fellow Believers. It's the Holy Spirit alive and working in us that opens our eyes to recognize the mark of our Creator God. Example, my husband used to work in a huge financial institution where few were Believers. Wendi also worked there. Although they didn't know each other, they had seen each other once or twice and had been apart of a short group conversation at one time. Wendi went home to her husband and told him that she thinks this guy at work is a Christian. Dan told me the same. About two years after both had left the institution, we saw them at church. We spoke with them and have been friends ever since.

That is one example of many that shows that Christians recognize one another. It's Jesus in us that connects us - not we as humans, in and of ourselves.

It is the unseen bond of Christ that I speak of. Yet, the Bible speaks of tangible things that can identify a Christian. Jesus says in John 14.15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." In verse 21, He goes on to say, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Galatians 5.22 tells us what the fruit of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, faith. These are the marks of the Believer. 1 Corinthians 13 is an entire chapter set aside for describing LOVE. "The indispensable mark of Christian life is Christian love." (New Geneva Study Bible, Theological Note on Love, pg 1818) True love is recognizable and there is a connection between two people that are indwelled with this Love.

Certainly, one can talk the talk and walk the walk without truly loving Christ or allowing the Spirit to sanctify him. But that person has not Love. That person cannot truly love the way Christ loves unless Christ is in him. That is a scriptural fundamental. But if one doesn't believe scripture to be the inspired Word of God, then we have another issue on our hands.

In my original post, I wasn't speaking of judgment. There was no judgment made on my friends or anyone else because I can connect on a certain level with some and not others. I can most certainly befriend non-believers and love them the way Christ loves. I can only pray that the Holy Spirit will reach their souls through my love of them. But it is not I who judge. I have Scripture as my authority. That is my instruction manual. Whether or not another is truly walking with God is between them and God. It is He that they must reckon with. And whether you believe me or not, they will reckon with Him. We all will.

But I must emphasize again that I so enjoy true fellowship with fellow Believers if simply because I enjoy true fellowship with my Messiah. They encourage me and uplift me. They point me to Christ. Or rather, I suppose, it is the Holy Spirit that does all that through His followers. Either way, I am blessed.

The Trees of the Fields Clap Their Hands

Eli, getting into the magazine rack. It's beginning...

With the temperatures dropping to the low 50's and the overcast skies bringing the rains from Hurricane Ernesto, it feels like Fall is here to stay. My mind tells me different as I've become accustomed to Mid-Atlantic weather this time of year. Although I haven't read the Farmer's Almanac nor had I so much as turned on the television to watch the weather until this morning which got me no closer to information about the weather than looking out the window, I expect that we'll probably end up with an Indian summer, only being teased with a spell of cooler weather and a un-elaborate color scheme compared to "finer" parts of the country. This time of year, I reminisce of years spent in New England and the trees in all their colorful glory singing praises to their Maker.

"For you shall go out in joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills before you will break forth into singing, and all the trees of the hills will clap their hands."

Last evening, we got together with some friends of ours. It had been quite awhile, but the time spent talking, laughing and discussing marrital matters as well as child-rearing matters was both thought-provoking and enjoyable. I must say that good times spent with fellow believers is beyond anything one can explain to a non-believer. There's a bond that automatically connects us, if, and this is rather a key factor, the other person is truly walking with Christ. I've met stagnant Christians who act as though they've got everything together, but when you sit down to talk with them, they are evasive and unpersonal. Perhaps it's in part due to personality, but I know that it has to do with whether or not the Holy Spirit is truly present and working. Naturally, there are people that are hard to love whether Christian or not. Some of us are still set in our ways, but there is so much grace in Christ that it flows out of His followers. I know extremely personable non-Christians that on a human level I connect with very well. But there's still something lacking in those relationships that is the greatest bond: the bond we have in Christ. If you, reader, don't have Christ, then you haven't the slightest idea what I'm talking about. And you probably don't realize the missing bond. But once your eyes have been opened, and I guarantee you, they will be opened at one point or another (hopefully sooner rather than later, for your sake), you will see that all this while, you have been missing a common bond in your relationships that will make friends all the more dear. Dear friends help us get out of our selfish ways and cause us to do things that have no ulterior motive. We are suddenly released from the bond of thinking only of ourselves and finding an end to making ourselves happy and content, never to find it. The only way to true satisfaction and contentment in life is to know your Maker as all of nature does. Jesus said, if these men don't praise their Father in heaven, the rocks will! You will see that life is so much more enjoyable and there is an assurance that the family of God will be together in heaven after death. Death is only the beginning.