Remodel on Master (bath)

OK, I've gotta brag about my man. It's not because Rachel makes me feel guilty about how she talks about Nathan or even my sister going on her marriage enrichments (are those like second honeymoons???)ha Today, the final touches were done on our bathroom. Kevin took pictures after the tile work was finished (last week), but to me, it was not finished until the shade and the prized stain glass window was hung. What a great feeling! But, back to the reason for the post - I am so proud of Kevin as I think he did a great job and his patience in getting it done right was great.

Book Quotes from "RADICAL" by David Platt

Just as promised in our Bible Fellowship Group, I wanted to post some of the great quotes from 'Radical' to encourage you to read the book. Let me warn you that many are very convicting!

"We've missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable. We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves."

"We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist Him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with. We are molding Jesus into our image."

"....cost of discipleship is great. But I wonder if cost of non-discipleship is even greater."

"Accept Him? Do we really think Jesus needs our acceptance? Don't we need Him?"

"...the goal of the American dream is to make much of us, the goal of the gospel is to make much of God."

"In prayer, we ask God for gifts, and He gives the Giver; we ask for supplies, He gives the Source; we ask for money and He give us the bank!"

"Instead of asserting ourselves, we crucify ourselves. Instead of imagining all the things we can accomplish, we ask God to do what only He can accomplish."

"Would you say that your life is marked right now by the desperation for the Spirit of God?"

"...we have unnecessarily (and unbiblically) drawn a line of distinction, assigning the obligations of Christianity to a few while keeping the privileges of Christianity for us all."

The population of world (at time of book published): 6,783,421,727. According to most liberal estimates 1/3 of world is Christian. That leaves 4.5 BILLION headed to hell."

"We are by nature, receivers. Even listening to God's word we ask, "What can I get out of this?" What if we began to ask instead, "How can I listen to His Word so that I am equipped to teach this Word to others?... when we realize we have the responsibility to teach the Word, it changes everything about how we hear the Word."

"Good intentions, regular worship, Bible study, do not prevent blindness. Part of our sinful nature instinctively chooses to see what we want to see and to ignore what we want to ignore."

"The question therefore is not, "Can we find God's will?" The question is, "Will we obey God's will?"

"Do we believe the reward found in Jesus is worth the risk of following Him?"

"This is the unavoidable conclusion of Matthew 10. To everyone wanting a safe, untroubled, comfortable life free from danger, stay away from Jesus."

The main challenge of the book ended with 5 recommendations for the "Radical experiment":
1) Pray for the entire world
2) Read through the entire Word
3) Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose
4) Spend your time in another context
5) Commit your life to a multiplying community

Hey Rachel and Sandy

Remember the Christmas baskets you found me Christmas at 90% off at Michael's? Well, I finally finished the project - I spray painted them brown and took off of some of the glitter message of Ho Ho Ho on liner. I just finished pressing the liners and getting them back in baskets. Aren't they cute? What a great deal at $1.49 each. Thanks for thinking of me! I am going to put them upstairs on the bookshelves.

Kids on a Mission

In Awana group this Wednesday night, after the segment of Hudson Taylor, we had a relay game with international costumes. The kids loved it. I captured this picture (best one of many) as want to enlarge it and display it in room as "Future International Missions Department". My prayer is that from this class will come either full-time missionaries or great financial supporter and prayer warriors for missions!
But as you well know, kids love to pose for their 'silly' picture which turned our to be very very funny. Thought you might get a good laugh, too!

Snowed In Again?

Sunday night we had 'thunder snow' and we received 6" of snow that made it look like a winter wonderland on the farm. Monday, we got the 4-wheeler and sled and I took videos (waiting for my $10,000 prize winning America's Funniest Video shot). Caleb is still out of school and for who knows how long. Day 1 the snow was fun. Not sure what Day 3 or 4 will be like.ha Don't get me wrong, I love the snow, but is just a reminder that too much of even a good thing is too much!

Snowed In

Ok, I am fully aware Kevin took this picture on Christmas Day and the snow has all melted and I can no longer use the excuse that I am snowed in for putting off stuff I need to do.... BUT, be proud of me because I did actually organize the pictures on the computer and just found where Kevin put these photos to share with you.

Victories in Ecuador

This picture is priceless. (Not of me as hair is pitiful.) This is the picture of Monika and I with the four ladies that rode by bus (all night) for 11 hours to get to our teacher training session last Friday in El Tambo, Ecuador. (They came from Amazon jungle area.) I was amazed at all the lady's hunger to learn and desire to win others. (Would I have taken an 11 hour bus ride??umm) The 'monkey' in picture is puppet as we taught how to use them (thank you, sister for yard sale finds) and the pink bear is a beanie baby used in memory verse game. (It is official - I am begging for these to take next year's trip. In other words, free or super cheap.) Thanks to all of you for the prayers for our health and safety and God working in the Teacher Training time last Friday. This was truly the highlight of my trip. Our interpreter was great - every detail God orchestrated. The only problem was we did not take enough of the materials as there were 9 churches represented and we only took 6 of the Wordless Book's visualized, so we had to coordinate how some groups could share when finished. We gave out packets and door prizes and you name it to be sure everyone received enough tools. Of course, going into the schools was great and we did not have a single teacher turn us down. We presented the gospel to 267 kids in four days. Each child received a wordless book bracelet and tract and the ones who could read received a New Testament. Of course, in the afternoon the balloons got the highest attention. Once again the gloves were begged for. You would have thought I was giving out gold. (Here we go again to Dollar General for winter clearance sales next year.ha)