Marriage

God invented marriage. He intended it to be the permanent union of one man and one woman. It was to be the base upon which a strong family was to be built: a father, a mother and children. On Saturday we attended the wedding of Ed's nephew Jeff and his fiancee Kiera. It was a beautiful event and hopefully the beginning of a beautiful journey for them together.


Genesis 2:21-24
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Matthew 19:5-6
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

I'm Baaaaaack

I haven't blogged for awhile (since August 22, 2007). I work 12 hour shifts, 4 on and 4 off, so when I'm working I don't have much time. My last four days off my sister, Val, and I drove 11 hours to MacKenzie BC to visit my nephew Ryan, his wife Char and their four children. Although it rained and was cold most of the time we had a lot of fun. We stopped at Mt. Robson on the way.

My first Blog Post (see: New Life April 20, 2007) mentioned the birth of my nephew's son, Seth Elijah Jackson. They had him dedicated while we were there.

MacKenzie is a sawmill town. There is a park where they have displayed the "World's Largest Tree Crusher". The picture beside it is Emma sitting on a wrecking ball.

Ryan and his family are fortunate enough to live five minutes from Morphee Lake. The lake with the mountains in the background is beautiful.

We played endless games of scrabble, did Facebook quizzes and went out for ice cream. Thank you Ryan and Char for a great weekend.

This and That in Pictures

I was browsing my photo archives. These are some of my interesting ones.

I love this picture. I "borrowed" it from my nephew's blog.

Printer Jam : I understand the mouse was released without harm.

This is interesting.

I got this picture in an e-mail. It was labeled : a poor man's bar-b-que.

This is our chopper. We sold it to my nephew a couple of years ago. He never got around to getting his motorcycle license so we are buying it back.

The first picture was taken of our front yard in January 2006, the second one January 2007. What a difference a year makes.

Voice of the Martyrs

Indonesia

The Sword will not Separate

Brought to you by The Voice of the Martyrs

From the left side, Noviana Malewa may look like any other 15-year-old girl. In her eyes you see a sadness and a strength much too deep for any girl her age. She has the look of someone who has witnessed more than they want to see and endured more than they think they can survive.
In October 2005, Noviana and three other teenagers were taking a small footpath on the way to their Christian high school near Poso, Indonesia. Suddenly, from out of the jungle, sprang six masked men in all black, wielding machetes. Noviana fought bravely, but was struck across the side of her face and neck with a machete. She fell to the ground and rolled down into a ravine. Above, she heard her friends screaming. Just when she was about to lose hope, a van of soldiers appeared and took her to a hospital.
Noviana was the only survivor that day. After the attack, she was hidden in a Christian village and guarded by police because her testimony was needed in court. The radical Muslims who had killed her friends were still looking for her. It was even too dangerous for her to attempt a hospital visit.
After months of negotiation to guarantee her safety, VOMedical was finally able to arrange transportation to a hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia. While in hiding VOMedical will continue follow-up treatment. Though Noviana's physical scars are beginning to heal, she still struggles with the emotional and mental scars from witnessing the brutal murder of her three friends. Yet, she remains steadfast in her faith.

Check out this link for information on Voice of the Martyrs

http://etools.780net.com/a/jgroup/bg_wwwpersecutioncom_afa-campaign_9.html

Some Words of Wisdom

"I am not available right now, but thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes."

Aspire to inspire before you expire.

Frustration is trying to find your glasses without your glasses.

Blessed are those who can give without remembering And take without forgetting.

The irony of life is that, by the time you're old enough to know your way around, you're not going anywhere.

I was always taught to respect my elders, But it keeps getting harder to find one.

Every morning is the dawn of a new error.


The quote of the month is by Jay Leno: "With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

The man whispered, "God, speak to me" and a meadowlark sang. But the man did not hear. So the man yelled, "God, speak to me" and the thunder rolled across the sky. But the man did not listen. The man looked around and said, "God let me see you." And a star shined brightly. But the man did not see. And the man shouted, "God show me a miracle." And a life was born. But the man did not notice. So the man cried out in despair, "Touch me God, and let me know you are here." Whereupon God reached down and touched the man. But the man brushed the butterfly away .. and walked on. Don't miss out on a blessing because it isn't packaged the way that you expect.

rios2008_But_The_Father_Makes_Them_Grow

Watch this. It's wonderful.

Can You Say Appeasment?

According to the New World Dictionary Second College Edition the definition of 'appeasment' is 'the policy of giving in to the demands of a hostile or aggressive power in an attempt to keep the peace.'

From an article posted on WorldNetDaily August 15, 2007:
Catholic churches in the Netherlands should use the name Allah for God to ease tensions between Muslims and Christians, says a Dutch bishop.
Tiny Muskens, the bishop of Breda, told the Dutch TV program "Network" Monday night he believes God doesn't mind what he is called, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported.
The Almighty is above such "discussion and bickering," he insisted.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57178

Exodus 3:13-15
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

God did not tell Moses that His name is "Allah".

Exodus 6:3
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knew Him as Jehovah, not "Allah".

Nowhere in the Holy Bible is God referred to as "Allah". God insured that His people knew His name. What makes Bishop Muskens think that God doesn't care what He is called? My name is Trudy. I would soon be offended if someone insisted on calling me "Sally" when they already knew what my name is just because they liked "Sally" better or because someone else liked that name better. For that matter, what makes Christians think that Muslims will like us any better if we appease them? If anything, they will lose even more respect for us because we don't even have the courage to stand fast for what we believe. Well entrenched hatreds will not go away simply because we back down on matters of our own faith.