Back to school and other stuff...

A week at Grandma's house.

Fun with cousins

Whatcha' looking at?

The best part of Grandma's house.

Bunnies!

School...

Traditional first day of kindergarten picture.

First Day

Other Stuff...

Is Heaven for real?

When it comes to current movies, I am a day late and a 3 steps behind. But that's OK. It's one thing in this life that I don't mind being a bit out of date.

Recently I watched the movie "Heaven is for Real" and it caused a bit of concern for me, not because it discusses things about heaven that cannot be verified in the Bible such as whether Jesus has a horse, but it's explanation about how we get to heaven. This movie seems to spend more time dealing with the father's lack of faith than what a 4 year old saw on his trip to Heaven. <rant>Once again Hollywood portrays this pastor (the father) as a wishy-washy in his beliefs.</rant>

Why the fuss? There are 2 scenes where the qualifications to enter Heaven are discussed. The first is between the father Todd and a lady in the church, Nancy. Nancy is bitter about her son's death.

"Do you think—I have to ask—do you think my son went to heaven?"

"Do you love your son?" Todd replies. 

"Of course," she says.

"Do you think I love mine?" he asks. 

"I know you do," she replies.

"Do you think I love my son more than you love yours?" 

"No."

"Do you think God loves my son more than He loves yours?" 

The second troubling scene comes at the end where the father, Todd is preaching a sermon with the intent to explain Colton's trip to Heaven:

"So now we've got a question: Was Colton in heaven? Yes. He was in the heaven that God showed him. Is heaven real, 'cause if heaven is for real, we'd all lead different lives, wouldn't we? Would we? Really? Haven't we already seen heaven? In the first cry of a baby? The courage of a friend, the hands of a nurse or a doctor, the love of a mother or father? Haven't we already had a glimpse of heaven and so often chosen the hell of hate and fear? Is heaven for real? Every single one of you has asked that question. All of us have. And for me the answer, it's yes."

Todd also preaches, "I see it, so I believe it. What we believe changes what we perceive, and I believe that God, He's love. Ten thousand times I've been here, and I've talked about 'On earth as it is in heaven.' And I don't know that I ever listened to that. And my son, he saw something, he saw heaven. He'll tell you all about Jesus. How 'bout that name, Jesus? Ooh. Jesus. Creates so much hope in so many of you. So much distrust in so many others. That's OK. I believe God asked me to be a pastor. Did he insist on my vision being the same as yours, or yours? Of course not. Did he make me one of those heroes like the lion and the bear and the unicorn I preached about? No. That's what I wanted. God had a different plan. God crushed my pride, opened my heart to love. And all I have to do, the one thing this love requires, is that I let others know they're not alone."

So, is Heaven for real? Yes, it is. So is hell. How do we enter Heaven? Do we all go?

The fact of the matter is, none of us have been good enough to go to Heaven... If you don't believe me, start with the 10 commandments. Have you been able to keep ALL of them? Jesus even upped the ante on several when he tells us that hating our brother = killing and lust = adultery. My guess is that 100% of the people who can read this have broken most of the 10 commandments. What does this mean for me, and you? It means one thing, if God is just (and He is), He can't let you into Heaven, you need to be punished.

UNLESS, someone takes your punishment. But who would do that? Jesus did. He took mine and your punishment that we rightfully deserved so that we could be righteous before God. That way God judges us according to how Jesus lived and not me. In John 3:15, Jesus says we need to believe this we are still condemned. This is not the kind of belief that only gives lip service but truly becomes a way of living life.

Wait a minute...so why do you need to get there your way? Fortunately it's not my way but it's what Jesus said in John 14:6. There is only 1 way to Heaven, and it's through Jesus. This doesn't have to be offensive. It's actually quite simplistic (perhaps that's the problem). We don't need to be rich, high caste, or perform great deeds. The Gospel is open to all nationalities and socioeconomic statuses. But it [entrance to Heaven] can only be through Jesus.

My concern to my fellow followers of Jesus, do you recommend this movie as good, clean and family friendly? This movie doesn't point people to Christ but rather away. It says, Jesus doesn't really matter, we all get there somehow...that's not true! That would be nice but it's not true. If you want a good review see the Plugged In review here.

PS. I have several reservations about calling it clean and family friendly, but that wasn't the point of this post.

Christ's Coming in Judgment

Today's Sunday School lesson is taken from 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Here are a few observations from the lesson. For some reason this lesson feels a little disjointed, however I was blessed in studying it.

Paul starts out with his traditional greeting verses 1 and 2. It would appear that only a short amount of time has passed since the last letter (First Thessalonians). The 3 men are still working together and are most likely in Corinth. Paul is giving additional teaching (almost like correction) to the believers on the subject of Christ’s return.

Paul continues to have fond memories of Thessalonica and the people he met there. He loves them and rejoices at their success.
Verses 3-10 is a complete thought that would qualify as too long of a sentence in modern English, however we need to look at it together to understand what Paul is trying to say.

• Paul is thankful for the Thessalonians because:
• Their faith is growing.
• Their love for each other is growing.
• Paul boasts of the patience and faith that they have in the midst of persecution.
• This (referring to their patience and faith in persecution as well as their growth in faith and love) is evidence of God’s righteous judgment.
• How is this evidence of God’s judgment? How can you have patience and faith in persecution? Currently we have a modern day example of this in Iraq. This patience and faith comes by the Holy Spirit.
• God will set everything right because He is just. v6 Also see Romans 12:19
• How will Jesus return?
• With mighty angels.
• In flaming fire, with vengeance on those who do not believe and do not obey.
• With glory and admiration of all who believe.

Counted Worthy of His Calling
Twice I find this phrase “count(ed) worthy”. The first is in verse 5 where we are to be “counted worthy of the kingdom of God”, “for which ye suffer”. Secondly I find this phrase in verse 11, where Paul says he prays that they [Thessalonians] would be counted worthy by God of this calling.

Application
In Mark 13:32-37 Jesus gives a very clear application to this lesson:
Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. 34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. (Mark 13:33-37)

Verses 11-12 also tell me that I need to be in prayer.

Often times when we hear of Christians being persecuted such as they are in Iraq, we ask what we can do. The first response from the persecuted people is rarely, if ever, send in your army! No, it is always, “PRAY FOR US!!” Am I praying? In this passage Paul was clearly a man of prayer and he specifically prayed for this church in Thessalonica as they faced the trials of persecution.

Watch and Pray my fellow Christian, Christ WILL come again! Be ready

When Mom's away

Boys really shouldn't be left home alone.

They can tend to do things that shouldn't be done... Last week my wife and 4 of my children went south from Monday until Friday. That left me and my 8 year old son home alone...what could go wrong?

So what did we do besides upgrade networks?

Unfortunately I couldn't take the entire week off of work so I let my son use my laptop while I tried to work...I think he played more than his quota of computer games. He did however learn a little of SmallBasic.

First of all we painted Jesse's room.

The Blue Room.

We both agreed with one thing, we missed Mom's cooking...Raman noodles, again. 

Then we did firewood..no that's not my son. :)

By Thursday night we had quite a pile. Thanks Ceegan, Tanner, and Glennie.

Oh we had fun, although we were very happy to have everyone back, safe and sound. I felt like I had a lot of one on one time with my son. We had to share all of life for most of 5 days.

Abandoned Post??!!

I saw a guy wearing this t-shirt:

I almost stopped and told him to get back ON-DUTY! But I didn't, but now I am going to do it. Brace yourself, here comes a rant! There are just too many dads who do exactly this, they are off-duty all or most of the time. What we need instead are more men with the kind of hands that are described in the song "Daddy's Hands".

I remember Daddy´s hands, folded silently in prayer.

And reaching out to hold me, when I had a nightmare.

You could read quite a story, in the callouses and lines.

Years of work and worry had left their mark behind. 

I remember Daddy´s hands, how they held my Mama tight,

And patted my back, for something done right.

There are things that I´ve forgotten, that I loved about the man,

But I´ll always remember the love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.

Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.

Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle 

But I´ve come to understand.

There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

I remember Daddy´s hands, working 'til they bled.

Sacrificed unselfishly, just to keep us all fed.

If I could do things over, I´d live my life again.

And never take for granted the love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.

Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.

Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle 

But I´ve come to understand.

There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.

Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.

Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle 

But I´ve come to understand.

There was always love .....

In Daddy´s hands.

~Holly Dunn

Dad, take a moment and look at your hands...is there love?

Just reading the news

I was reading the news today...

Revelations 6 

Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Bridge to Nowhere

Some pictures of the Kinzua Bridge

This past weekend my sister and her family paid us a visit. To entertain everyone we braved the rain and went to the Kinzua Bridge...well it's not exactly a bridge anymore. By the time we got there the rain stopped and we had a nice evening.

See. Bridge to nowhere.

In July of 2003 a tornado destroyed part of the bridge. A few years ago they built a lookout at the end of the remaining structure.

Very Scenic

Find any loose boards?

We discovered that the windows are slippery when wet. :)

Smile.

These 2 cousins don't get to spend a lot of time together.

At almost 300' you get quite a view especially when the leaves are nice.

Do you see what I see?

Kind of accidentally got a good shot.

We hiked down to the creek that flows through the valley and Oh what a tiring time we had hiking back up.

I think it's neat how the structure was preserved despite nature's destruction.