This may not make sense and I tend to run on but I had to get this off my chest....
I think pastors tend to do to simple sermons because they don’t want anyone to not understand but it seems to me that Jesus often preached in parables that the people wouldn’t understand. It seems that when its God’s time to open our ears he will, also I think pastors make it to easy on us. There should be a call to action after a sermon to say research this in your bible, read it, figure out what it means to you. Sermons should encourage people to pick up their bibles and learn more. Not just attend church on Sunday and be done. People need Jesus and then after that they need sermons that are going to better teach them who Jesus is, and I’m not talking the baby food stuff, yes we all know Jesus loves us but we need the meat to reach into the word and really figure out what was being said. What are the meanings of the parable, what was going on when the adulteress woman was brought before Jesus and he knelt and started writing in the dirt. What can we learn from the disciples? They were dense, I mean look at how often they had to ask Jesus the same things again and again. And I think that happens to our pastors and they get frustrated, but Jesus got frustrated too and yet he told them again. He know that they would understand someday and part of the teaching process is letting them figure it out themselves, that is how someone will truly learn. I just get frustrated when I hear sermons on something I learned back in Sunday school, even new Christians know these things, they understand the good Samaritan and to love your neighbor as yourself. What they need to hear is why is there evil in the world? How do we love others as Jesus did? How to pray and how to discern the voice of God? Not easy questions and that’s the point, the church needs to start talking about these things. We need to study the questions non-Christians have so we can try to help them understand about Jesus and the bible. We need to teach the children of the church (and our adults too) how to reach people and share the good news. Pastors need to stop with the baby food and start serving meat!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Oh Christmas tree
Saturday Tom and I went and picked out our first Christmas tree. We then took it home and decorated it. It looks so good, it's my first Christmas tree that wasnt at my parents house. The cats are very interested in it. Lily's new favorite nap spot is right under it on the tree skirt. So far no ordaments have been knocked off but we have caught the kitties reaching a few times. The only think it is missing right now is a star or angel for the top. We only have a bow I tied on.
So later that night was the store Christmas party. It was fun, the food was great and we had a live band which did a good job. It was the first time Tom and I have danced since our wedding. I love dancing.
Yesterday Tom and I spend most of the afternoon playing Lego Star Wars on our Xbox, so much fun! My eyes were all dried out by the end, I have a bad habit of forgetting to blink when focused.
It's just me and my mom for lunch today so we are going to go to Los Osos and then visit grandma afterwards. I havent seen the new place she is at but mom is happy with it and after seeing most the places in the Central Coast, she knows whats good and whats not.
It has been so cold. It's the coldest winter in my memory and maybe it's because where we are living or I just forgot but man it seems so much colder this year. This morning it took me forever to get enough ice off my car to be able to see, and my car still had not warmed up. Thank goodness we have a heater.
So for our first Christmas we are doing it early with Toms parnets. Christmas eve tom has to work and christmas day eve his mom has to work so we would really only have half a day, so instead we are going up early to have a few days so that will be nice to actually have time to enjoy hanging out with them.
I can't believe it's almost Christmas, I still have so much shopping to do! Tomorrow I'm meeting Lauren for dinner and a movie in SLO so before I'm going to go get Tom's gift. I need to make some Christmas cookies yum yum!
So later that night was the store Christmas party. It was fun, the food was great and we had a live band which did a good job. It was the first time Tom and I have danced since our wedding. I love dancing.
Yesterday Tom and I spend most of the afternoon playing Lego Star Wars on our Xbox, so much fun! My eyes were all dried out by the end, I have a bad habit of forgetting to blink when focused.
It's just me and my mom for lunch today so we are going to go to Los Osos and then visit grandma afterwards. I havent seen the new place she is at but mom is happy with it and after seeing most the places in the Central Coast, she knows whats good and whats not.
It has been so cold. It's the coldest winter in my memory and maybe it's because where we are living or I just forgot but man it seems so much colder this year. This morning it took me forever to get enough ice off my car to be able to see, and my car still had not warmed up. Thank goodness we have a heater.
So for our first Christmas we are doing it early with Toms parnets. Christmas eve tom has to work and christmas day eve his mom has to work so we would really only have half a day, so instead we are going up early to have a few days so that will be nice to actually have time to enjoy hanging out with them.
I can't believe it's almost Christmas, I still have so much shopping to do! Tomorrow I'm meeting Lauren for dinner and a movie in SLO so before I'm going to go get Tom's gift. I need to make some Christmas cookies yum yum!
Friday, December 7, 2007
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
So this will be our first Christmas together, we are doing a Christmas card using http://www.overnightprints.com/ we used them for our save the date cards, great prices and they are Christians, Tommy uses them for work
So it looks like I'm eating the lights but I was trying to put them up my nose so my nose would light up..... didnt work so well
Oh we are so excited about Christmas!
This is Lily..... shes annoyed that we woke her up from her nap to look at lights
This is Lupin, my handsome boy, he may be needy but he has been with me through some tough times. God truly gave man a blessing when he gave us animals.
Getting started
Ok I'm cheating a bit, here is my christmas letter for this year....
2007 has been an event filled year. In January I and my parents and brother attended the annual CIGA Hawaii trip. It was a week long, the longest I had been away from Tom so of course it was filled with phone calls and pouts followed by a happy reunion when we returned home. In February Tom celebrated 24 years of life. I surprised him with a trip to Monterey where we went to the aquarium, had Bubba Gump’s for lunch and walked around on the embarcadero. Also in February my grandpa Vann passed away. Vann had a long life but towards the end his kidneys started to fail, he started dialysis but decided to stop. It was hard and we will miss him but we know he is now in the presence of God.
In March Tom went on a two week (?) long mission’s trip to Israel where he got to see the places where history happened. Before leaving he wrote me a song, and put it onto a CD for me, it’s beautiful. To help pass the time I went on a trip to Washing DC to visit my good friend Mara who had recently moved there.
On April 23 (?) Tom and I went to our special place at Montana De Oro, it’s special because it is where Tom asked me to be his girlfriend. We go out there occasionally so we picked up some sushi and headed out. Tom had told me he had a surprise for me which I knew was probably a song he wrote for me. When we got there he pulled out his guitar from the trunk and said “I bet you know what your surprise is” and I happily nodded. After eating Tom pulled it out and played and sang a beautiful song. The lyrics all about love and spending our lives together, yes and times I’m a little thick. So still totally clueless Tom puts his guitar away and tells me he has one more surprise for me, he pulled out a box he told me he loved me. I immediately give him a big hug and say yes. The rest of the night I alternated between tearing up and giggling like a mad person. We called my parents and his, both which already knew. He had asked my parents for my hand a few days before. It was wonderful and beautiful….. and then the wedding planning started.
Wedding planning is fun but there is so much more then you could imagine and nowadays most people take a year or more to plan it. Tom and I took about 5 months. It all went so well and with the help of amazing family and friends we stayed sane and had fun.
In May we went with Tom’s parents to his brothers graduation in Colorado. In July was my bridal shower and a visit from my cousins Tracy (my maid of honor) and Jon Jackson and also my uncle, aunt and cousin; Stanley, Shannon and Dora. Also VBS at Tom’s church, which had a great turnout and was just a blast. Then in August was my 23 birthday where Tom gave me a bible engraved with my soon to be name. September came so fast and the meetings with all the wedding people became a daily event. Then on September 14 we had our Rehearsal dinner at F. Mclintocks hosted by Tom’s parents Jim and Christine. Everything went perfect. The next day we got married and it was perfect. It was so wonderful to experience it with our friends and family. After that we spent a week in Zihuatanejo in Mexico which was beautiful and such a nice way to unwind after all the wedding planning.
In October I was already feeling a bit of the post wedding blues so to counter act that we hosted a Halloween party which was a blast. In November we held our first Thanksgiving at our house. It was so much fun and since everyone was so willing to bring stuff I didn’t feel stressed at all but could just enjoy the day with my family, both the old and the new.
2007 has been an event filled year. In January I and my parents and brother attended the annual CIGA Hawaii trip. It was a week long, the longest I had been away from Tom so of course it was filled with phone calls and pouts followed by a happy reunion when we returned home. In February Tom celebrated 24 years of life. I surprised him with a trip to Monterey where we went to the aquarium, had Bubba Gump’s for lunch and walked around on the embarcadero. Also in February my grandpa Vann passed away. Vann had a long life but towards the end his kidneys started to fail, he started dialysis but decided to stop. It was hard and we will miss him but we know he is now in the presence of God.
In March Tom went on a two week (?) long mission’s trip to Israel where he got to see the places where history happened. Before leaving he wrote me a song, and put it onto a CD for me, it’s beautiful. To help pass the time I went on a trip to Washing DC to visit my good friend Mara who had recently moved there.
On April 23 (?) Tom and I went to our special place at Montana De Oro, it’s special because it is where Tom asked me to be his girlfriend. We go out there occasionally so we picked up some sushi and headed out. Tom had told me he had a surprise for me which I knew was probably a song he wrote for me. When we got there he pulled out his guitar from the trunk and said “I bet you know what your surprise is” and I happily nodded. After eating Tom pulled it out and played and sang a beautiful song. The lyrics all about love and spending our lives together, yes and times I’m a little thick. So still totally clueless Tom puts his guitar away and tells me he has one more surprise for me, he pulled out a box he told me he loved me. I immediately give him a big hug and say yes. The rest of the night I alternated between tearing up and giggling like a mad person. We called my parents and his, both which already knew. He had asked my parents for my hand a few days before. It was wonderful and beautiful….. and then the wedding planning started.
Wedding planning is fun but there is so much more then you could imagine and nowadays most people take a year or more to plan it. Tom and I took about 5 months. It all went so well and with the help of amazing family and friends we stayed sane and had fun.
In May we went with Tom’s parents to his brothers graduation in Colorado. In July was my bridal shower and a visit from my cousins Tracy (my maid of honor) and Jon Jackson and also my uncle, aunt and cousin; Stanley, Shannon and Dora. Also VBS at Tom’s church, which had a great turnout and was just a blast. Then in August was my 23 birthday where Tom gave me a bible engraved with my soon to be name. September came so fast and the meetings with all the wedding people became a daily event. Then on September 14 we had our Rehearsal dinner at F. Mclintocks hosted by Tom’s parents Jim and Christine. Everything went perfect. The next day we got married and it was perfect. It was so wonderful to experience it with our friends and family. After that we spent a week in Zihuatanejo in Mexico which was beautiful and such a nice way to unwind after all the wedding planning.
In October I was already feeling a bit of the post wedding blues so to counter act that we hosted a Halloween party which was a blast. In November we held our first Thanksgiving at our house. It was so much fun and since everyone was so willing to bring stuff I didn’t feel stressed at all but could just enjoy the day with my family, both the old and the new.
So thats what I have of my christmas letter, so far anyways. So as you can see I'm a newly wed and me and my husband are just trying to figure out God's will in our lives. more to come soon ;)
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