Luke 1:1-3 - Equipped to Herald the Gospel

Verse 1 – As many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,

Verse 2 - Even as they delivered them unto us which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word;

Verse 3 - It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

One of those resources is this. Though he, himself, was not an eyewitness, he was acquainted with people who were. He had fellowship with people who fellowshipped with Jesus. Thus, he was properly set to take notes as to the person and works of Jesus. The second resource he had in his life so that he could do a fine job of declaring the Gospel were documents which he respected and made good use of. Interestingly, the documents he extracted from was not even canonized as his would be. But as was necessary, he still used them.

Now of course, this does not mean that, as far as his objective to declare the Gospel in writing was concerned, he had excuse to neglect the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. For it is clear, from the fact that his work would be ultimately canonized as scripture, that the Spirit enabled him. But as the Spirit spoke unto him directly, he also spoke unto him through others who had a direct relationship with Jesus and he spoke to him through the writings of those that were eyewitnesses to him.

So with us, what will be conducive to our doing a fine job of declaring, whether in writing or speech, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the same two resources that Luke had. (1) We must be in fellowship with those who fellowship with Jesus Christ in spirit. Consider John and what he wrote (John 1:1-3). That which he had seen, he shows unto the recipients of his epistle, and that they might have fellowship with him. Having fellowship with him, they have fellowship with Jesus. Insomuch as we see Jesus by faith and in spirit, we will show him unto others that they might have fellowship with us. And having fellowship with us, they are having fellowship with the Father and his son Jesus. (2) Also we are to be diligent in study. In principal that means that we should be imbibing conscientiously and indiscriminately from the Holy Scriptures. But at the same time, we should not despise attending to what is in accordance to the Holy Scriptures in the written works of men either. After all, God has appointed for the Church teachers. And we should not act as if they merely speak the word of God behind pulpits, but never write it in books. Luke himself didn’t deem it harmful to read and relay what he saw in the writings of men. For in addition to being able to test the documents with one another and with what he was told vocally, he had with him his God who would lead him unto all truth in spite of whatever errors those writings might have contained. May the same God do the same for us today.

FELLOWSHIP OF THE BELIEVERS( Music: I Simply Live for You)

Peoples Republic of America

President Obama

Got hope? Socialism?

It what I believe his most brazen move to date, President Obama has vilified all who make our country great - the folks with ambition, drive, and risk-takers. Now it is too much for ANY person, in any company to make ‘too much’ money - what ever that is. The executive branch is bloating itself and grabbing power from Congress minute by minute… making a mockery of the Constitution. What am I ranting about? See HERE and below

The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money. Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

As the New York Times reported in triumphant fashion today, this week we will see the writing on the wall - most likely during the third prime time appearance by the President in four weeks (not including the esteemed visit this week past as the first sitting president on the Jay Leno show). Oh of course, it will sound glamorous, and he will sound like he is fighting for each one of us low lifes.

Under the proposal, the Treasury secretary would have the authority to seize and wind down a struggling institution after consulting with the president and upon the recommendation of two-thirds of the Federal Reserve board.”

NOTE: No Congressional involvement here! WHAT!!!! That means NO input by the American people. We voice our opinion at the polls - and this prevents us from doing just that.

I am sure Hugo Chavez is proud.

I wish I were making this stuff up.

Our trip back to the States

Wow, what a busy last couple of weeks.  Two weeks ago, we had the privilege of returning to South Carolina to speak at the Irazu Summit at Mt. Airy Baptist church in Easley.  They allowed us to stay in their wonderful mission house and the entire trip was such a blessing.  My family all met us at the airport late Thursday night and then we drove from Atlanta to Easley that night.  The mission house was wonderful and to quote Jacob, “The bed feels like a cloud!”  It was so nice to sleep in a comfortable bed!  My mom was able to stay with us the entire trip and help us with the kids.  That was so nice.

The next day my friend Amy treated us both to a pedicure, while Jacob stayed at the house and was able to visit with Johnny, Michael and Natalie.   I also got to see baby Wyatt for the first time.  Of course I cried at the beauty of that precious baby!   After that we ate at Zaxby’s.  It was yummy!   Oh, the things we miss.  That night we had dinner with Chris and Amy.  The next day I got up early and went to Angie’s to get my hair cut.  What a nice relaxing morning.  She had coffee, muffins and banana bread waiting.  That afternoon we had dinner with our small group at Chris and Amy’s and then went back over to Angie’s to celebrate Mike’s birthday.  It was wonderful to see people from church early, not having to wait until Sunday morning.

On Sunday, we got to worship with our home church Mt. Moriah.  It was such a blessing.  That afternoon it started snowing (see the previous blog) but we went to share with Providence Baptist anyway.  It was nice seeing everyone there and when we left it was like a winter wonderland outside.  The next day, we had to cancel our trip to Kershaw, unfortunately, because there was so much snow and we were not sure about the driving conditions that night.   We hated to do it, but we did not feel that we had any choice.  Monday for lunch we had the privilege of sharing our calling and hearts with the leadership of Mt. Airy.   Tuesday we spent the whole day with Jacob’s family.

Wednesday morning I got up and went to Cracker Barrel with Christina and then we went to the Beth Moore Bible study she has been attending and then we went to lunch with Linda.  It was a sweet time of fellowship.  Wednesday night we spoke at Mt. Airy.  Thursday we attended and shared at the Irazu summit.  This was such a wonderful time.  It was so exciting to be with others that are on fire about everything going on around Irazu.  After that we headed to Spartanburg to spend the next couple of days with my family - my sister Mandie flew in from Connecticutt to see us!  We got to have a surprise retirement party for my parents.  Then Sunday we got to worship with our home church again.  That night we shared with Enon Baptist and then headed back to Atlanta to fly out.  We had a packed week.

How did God use this trip?  Many ways.  However, one big one was that we feel confirmed in our calling to Costa Rica.  There were many things that I had been missing and longing for, and when we experienced some of them, it was like, the Lord was telling me, “Just be content where you are in CR.  Don’t long for things here.  Your home for now is CR.”  Also, we feel that we have the best people supporting us with love and prayers.  We were so encouraged by the love we experienced while we were home.  Thank you to everyone that prays for us continually.  We could feel your prayers while we were back in the States.  Please continue to pray for our Spanish and our long term financing.  And for the financing of missions around the world.  Giving is down for many and it is affecting missionaries ability to stay on the field.

Oh, and the last piece of luggage finally arrived Thursday night.  Thank you to all of you that prayed for its safe return.  The kids were thrilled!

Here are some pics!

Guys' Night: On The Road #17 - Kinda UNCUT! All the way Sexy

Tu Me Manque

Life has gotten somewhat better.

Friday there’s a children’s meeting at the lady-who-gives-me-free-stuff’s (don’t worry - she means more to me than that.) house. Although I did get an awesome fluffy crowned bird pen. Guess what - it’s purple. Huzzah.

I went there feeling somewhat accomplished after helping to decorate my English teacher’s room for spring. Three hours more for Red Cross - huzzah!

But um, life still sucked. Then I remembered that at those Children’s meetings I could see my buddy Esther. Not she whom I forgot to pay for Girl Scout Cookies. Anyway, Esther and I always have these awesome deep talks during which we feel like old grandmas. It made me feel much better. Talking to Esther is like talking to Sushi without having to worry about what you say going to Cerritos High School. And with a smidge more intelligence and shared interests.

The lady-who-gives-me-free-stuff asked us, again, if we could help her daughter, who had been up past midnight last night because of a project. We both knew what was really going on. I almost said it, but the lady didn’t understand. So Esther and I didn’t really answer.

The lady’s daughter is an eighth grader at my school. By the time you get to tenth grade, you realize that all that time you procrastinated was a waste of time. Whitney doesn’t give any more homework than other schools. We just have a procrastinating culture.

Apparently her daughter recently discovered the wonder of facebook. And she’s on at all hours of the day - 6 AM Saturday morning. I got facebook for my internship - and that’s basically the most important thing I do on it. Why should I look at other people’s pictures, let alone comment on them, when I don’t know them? How does that help me?

Seriously, I barely remember any of the crap I did on the Internet two years ago. And in the long run, what you do that was so much more interesting than homework doesn’t affect you as much as the homework. I could tell you what the death of Abraham Lincoln’s *shudder* death was, but I can’t tell you where the unhappiest place on Earth is (which I read on MSN many a night). I know it’s not Disneyland.

In the end it’s been my schoolwork and the time I spent with people I care about that stick in my mind. Trivial knowledge about how to prevent cancer just doesn’t stay with me. (Eat a lot of broccoli - it also acts as natural sunblock.)

I had an odd dream regarding paper  last night. It was in two segments; the first I think was influenced by the flasher incident. My sister came home all distressed because of…gah. Disturbing. The second: my other sister was kidnapped because of stacks of paper that stretched over a mile long. It was burned. After she jumped in the pool and lay on the bottom. She wouldn’t come back up - just stared at us from the floor of the pool. My dad and I were like, noooo!!! But she wouldn’t come up. I was afraid that if I jumped in after her it might be too late. Eventually she somehow got to land and we tried to revive her. For some odd reason she’d become a square of paper with a face. Odd, but after pushing at the edges of the paper her eyebrow fell off and she opened her eyes. Huzzah?

It reminded me of my worst nightmare. The soymilk dream where my dad dies.

It feels odd not to have another book in Les Miserables bearing down on you. That book feels like it was a phase of my life. It may be melodramatic, Victor Hugo may go on an on about philosophy, and many words overused, but it has an impact on you. Jean Valjean makes you feel like the worst person on Earth in comparison. Hence I willingly put in my retainers the night I read it. It’s like Titanic with a message. I flipped through the copy of Hunchack of Notre Dame and there didn’t seem to be as many philosophical paragraphs - maybe I’ll give it a try.

This morning I watched Ariels’ Beginning. Don’t kill me yet. It had some good things going. For one, it was the first Disney sequel that has stayed close to the feeling of the original. Of course they modernized and made it less timeless, but the storyline was the best of all the sequels. I actually like King Triton now. Well, not that I didn’t before. Sebastian’s new voice bothered me.

Benjamin the manatee was the best part of it though - do you think he could get together with Barbara Manatee? Larry would not be pleased.

Sigh. This has been yet another melancholy awkward post. Hope you little children got something from this. Now get back to work. I for one, am getting back to cleaning/decorating my room.

Quick Thoughts: Implementation and Aggravation

I had a relatively aggravating day, and yet, I feel pretty great.

Technology

My big expensive laptop has some significant problems. It’s out of warranty, because I am an idiot. It’s only a little over two years old. I paid more than $2,500 for it. It’s now a paperweight. Well, if it were just a paperweight, I would feel better about it. Instead, it nearly works, it almost works, it starts and fails. I keep thinking that I can fix it. I have been wrong so far.

I have been using the laptop I bought for A, which has some quirks to it. BP is not even entertaining the idea of buying a new machine for me, which he should. I think I am meeting with him tomorrow, so I will demonstrate the pathetic-ness of the situation. He really should shell out for a new machine but he wont.

The Car

I did not hear back from BFD. I told him I wanted to pick up the car today and asked if I should call his assistant. No response. I did not call her, or call him again. I know he’s busy and focused and I would rather not bother him right now. I don’t need it, really. I called the car company myself this afternoon for the address for the paperwork, which he had failed to provide. They asked my name and my relationship to BFD — I gave them first name only and said I was his assistant. Honestly, I have no status, so it’s not like it matters.

Business

There are some interesting things happening, despite being hampered without a reliable machine.

A couple of interesting projects are happening. I spoke with BP about BFD’s project. He was kind of an ass about it, but that’s to be expected. Still, I think I could get BFD’s thing done with a couple of phone calls. Now that would be nice.

The big news is that my dream project is possible. I will be in charge, but l may not have much control over it. It’s possible that we could get launched in a strong, high-profile way. I have been preparing for this for years — everything I have done has lead here to this moment. It’s not guaranteed, of course, that any of it could come to fruition, but I am glad the project is back in the mix.

Diet/Health/Exercise

My weight is down to 112.4. My period is finally over.

With BFD out of town, I will avoid cheeseburgers, fries, chinese or any other weird thing he is craving. (It’s hard to believe how amazing he looks with how terribly he eats.)

I am eating more carbs — I picked up jalapeno cilantro hummus from whole foods, which I have been eating as a snack with baby carrots.

Portion control is still so important: I pay attention to how much I eat of everything all the time.

I had really been depressed during February and my non-date/non-leftover eating became completely ascetic (seriously, I often had meals consisting of peanuts, or a turkey burger, or scrambled eggs) . Now, I am focusing on making great things and enjoying what I am eating.

I went to whole foods last week and picked up a couple of varieties of store-made sausage (basil pesto, and jalapeno). I have cut them in half, grilled them on the foreman, and mixed them with vegetables. Tonight, I had half a sausage (about 2.7 ounces) with 2.5 ounces of broccoli florets and 1 tbs of the greatest ricotta (ricotta con latte) along with a 1/2 tbs of olive oil, italian herbs, crushed red pepper, and some fleur de sel. I wish I had parmesan because it reminded me of a wonderful alfredo.

I have also been making larger frittatas on days when I do not have a quiche in the fridge: a tbs of olive oil, and ounce of onion, 2-3 ounces of vegetables, .5-.75 ounces of cheese, and three eggs and a dash of kefir, heavy cream or greek yogurt. It makes two meals — and honestly, could make three.

I have not been exercising in the last few days — though I promised I would for lent. I have been in significant pain since Friday. I walked more than 12 blocks in stilettos, without my gel inserts, and my bad foot just began aching. I skipped my workouts and rested my foot. The pain was bad. This morning is the first day it was bearable, but it still hurts. I should bike tomorrow morning if it’s better.

Romance

I am feeling all warm and loving towards BFD. I am so fond of him and I continue to appreciate him and what he’s doing. When I have perspective and I am not suffering from hormone issues, I realize how well things are going between us. I miss him very much, but I am happy he is away and focused. I do not expect to speak with him until Saturday. I may text him from time to time, but I also may leave him completely alone. He needs this break. It’s not a break from me, it’s a break from the entire world.

It is difficult, because I know how depressed I have been. I do not think he has noticed with all the stress he is under, but it affected how I felt towards him, though not necessarily how I acted towards him.

I am missing him so much right now, but I know I will see him in 5 more days.

Friendships

I am already separating myself from W and JF. I feel better about that decision. I am reaching out to other people.