Psalms 145:8, "The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

It's been a whirlwind few days. This is quite a week. God is making a lot of changes in our lives. Fortunately I'm one to like a change - but not some change. One thing I like to keep the same is to have my kids near me. I'm glad Benjamin is only an hour or so away.

We had a lovely day on Tuesday taking Benjamin to Lynchburg to get settled in his dorm. I liked his place. The fellows were very friendly and helpful. I think they love the Lord there. It was fun being at Liberty because there was so much reflection of people's faith. I went into dorm rooms and they had posters about Christian bands and Christian thoughts. In the halls and on doors are references to the Word of God. The music was Christian too. I was loving it. I was with a whole group of people that were generally like minded with me. It was nice. I'm sure Satan is alive and well at Liberty, but more importantly Jesus is alive and well at Liberty. We saw the soccer and the football players practicing in the heat. We saw the stands that sometime this fall we will go see a football game with Benjamin.
There is a Barnes and Noble on campus right across from Benjamin's dorm. I saw on his fb that he had, on the same night the choice of listening to jazz or going and playing Frisbee with some folks. You know he loved that. I think he has found where he will be happy for at least a few years.

Yesterday was drivers license nightmare. With all the budget cuts from Raleigh we drove for hours, from shut down drivers license office, to closed office, to relocated office till we finally ran out of time. Elisa, who was sorely disappointed, went home without taking her drivers test.
We are going to try again today. We figured the way they hide the drivers license buildings is yet just another level of testing to see if you are worthy to get your drivers license.

Today and tomorrow will be wild as well. License today in Roxboro, at least 1/2 hour drive and then maybe if I'm lucky, coffee with Lynn at Main Street. Although, I almost cry when I go in there. Who is going to wait on me? I only like Benjamin. I would come and he would say "hello mother" I loved it.
Then should be home this evening. Tomorrow is coffee with Kathy. I'm showing her the cool Ye Old Bookstore.

Elisa and I love this song ... applies to many people we love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrh4pJP-oqw

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD. Psalm 1:24

Today had been another good day. My mood is lethargic so I'm not on top of my game. BUT, I did get my ironing done today. I will be perfectly honest with you and tell you I put 3/4 of the shirts back in the dryer to reduce the wrinkling. There were at least 10 in the dryer shirts and I SO didn't want to iron them. Now I have taken them out of the dryer and they are marginally wrinkle free and hanging on hangers - good enough.

I have been tired and sleepy all day. It's your basic hormone issues. Hormones are really interesting. God is amazing how he puts all these chemicals together and then they have tremendous effects on every aspect of our life. So, a little tired.

The weather today has been warm and wet. I think we got 2 inches in about hour. It was a lot, it really came down. It even hailed. btw, have you ever studied hail and how when a rain drop falls from the cloud the air pressure sends the drop back up into the cold where it drops in temperature and then freezes and then that little rain drop falls again as a little ice crystal adding a bit more rain drop to it as it starts to fall to the ground but because of the air pressure it keeps being sent back up and then falling a bit until the air pressure sends it back up until finally the weight of the ice is greater then the air pressure that keeps it in the freezing cycle and it fall to the ground. I learned that on The Magic School Bus show.

We listened to a bit of Dave Ramsey today. It's always encouraging to renew the truth.

We made some GREAT pizza tonight. In the end it was good but the process was long and wrought with failure. But, we had fun. Benjamin and I were following a pizza dough recipe from Kimberly that they make all the time, with great success. We on the other hand made chicken food. The problem was my food processor, I had no idea how hard it was working although it did bounce around on the counter like an ADD kid trying to sit in story time. By the time 10 very busy, struggling min. were over we took the lid off and the dough was so hot it was almost to hot to touch. Benjamin and I being the eternal optimist had hope that just maybe it was still good and would rise but after an hour the ball of dense, stiff dough laid still on the bottom of the bowl. I flattened it and baked it and then gave it to the chickens.
Our good news was that Elisa had been making dough for bread sticks and even though she had them formed and sitting pretty in the pan waiting to be baked she gave them to the dinner cause and we turned them into pizza crusts.
Elisa made pepperoni and I made chicken with olives, spinach, tomatoes and cheese ... mmm.. good!!

Tomorrow we take Benjamin to Liberty and I can honestly tell you I am ready for him to go. Not because I won't miss him but because it's right. He's not a little boy or even a young boy he is man, strong and determined. We will continue to pray that he will stay strong, you pray too. But, I feel confident that he is going to be OK. I'm also confident that he will stay in touch with us, cause, that too, is the right thing to do.
We are going to get him there early, get him all settled, take lots of pictures, take him to dinner and then hug him and leave. I have a feeling it will be sad to leave him but at the same time very exciting. He is going forward, He is doing a good job. He is accepting responsibility for his future and doing what he need to do to make it a good one. So, I'm pretty proud of him.

Now we are watching yet another violent show - the Matrix. Don calls them action movies.
I'm sitting next to Don blogging, drinking a glass of wine and enjoying the evening.

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Today was a good day. Sunday school went OK. I was trying to introduce the kids to the 12 Apostles. We had an addition in the class today. Little Shawn, he's about 1 - cute as can be and loves to eat what he wants and do what he wants (imagine that) Melinda (his grandma) was in there with him. She is trying to get him used to being in a school or structured type environment so he will be able to manage in the school system. Initially, we colored a Bible pictures for Nick - he's in the army- and then we had our Bible story time. Luke has a real hard time sitting for the 5 min and paying attention. He wants to lay all over the floor. I seem to have taken on the responsibility to see that he sits up and pays attention to the Bible study. I could, in theory, let him lay on the floor quietly and maybe get some knowledge, maybe not. I guess I just can't do it, so I sit his little self next to me, with my arm around him, encouraging him that he is 5 now and can sit and pay attention. He goes limp, being so forlorn ... suffering so. We moved along in the study, I explained the story, drawing attention to the pictures, calling the children's names individually as I taught. Little Sarah, God bless her sweet heart. I'm not sure how much she gets. Besides the hugs and back rubs. Joseph is busy trying to keep Luke in order, I'm not sure how much he is able to get. After I read the story I asked a few questions and actually got answers from Luke and Jo. Sarah answered "God" and that was fine with me. But the cool thing was Luke actually gave real live answers. Awesome.

Then in church today Pastor Robert read all of Psalm 119. That has about 145 verses. It was really good to sit and listen to God's Word being read. That was a long reading but Pastor Wright did a good job. As I was listening to it, I was thinking I should read that every day. Then after Pastor Wright talked, the Gideon got up and told us a moving story of how a particular Gideon Bible had changed several lives.

That was the morning. Then in the afternoon - after a 45 min nap - we made some spaghetti and headed over to the Sawyers and saw Mitchell, although he is still recovering, I think he is looking great. But we can safely say he was not impressed with the Marines. He said it's OK if you are well, but if you are at all not 100% there is absolutely no mercy and even worse then that they are harder and meaner.

We have a busy week ahead of us. Monday I have to get caught up on Laundry,

Tuesday we take Benjamin to Liberty, Wednesday, I take Elisa to get her drivers licence and that evening we celebrate Sarah O'Malley's birthday dinner with her and her family, Thursday is tea with Carol and Alex. Friday, I meet Kathy, Tammy Densfrie's mom, and I'm going to show her the Ye Old Bookstore and then we will get some coffee. I don't know about Saturday yet but we'll see what happens. It's busy, but I love it.

Now with a glass of wine, I sit and write on my blog and somewhat

watch the movie Air Force One. Glad to be home.

The center piece for Elisa's 18th birthday brunch

I'm sure you can tell I'm loving the blogger templates. I'm still looking for one that is more woodland but for now I will just enjoy this elaborate floral.

I remember this picture from my childhood. The Catholic church was so full of imagery. It made lasting impression on my mind. As a little girl I would be sitting in church, actively looking at the finery and the statues and the paintings. It did not detract from my love of God instead it helped me make it more relevant to my life, it made it more real rather then some abstract thought.

Carl Bloch, The Visitation

What is not to love about this picture? I saw pictures like this all the time. It shows joy, it's historical and it has an element of holiness to it.

It is the goal of believers to demonstrate their love for God by loving others.

There is a depth to community that can only be plumbed through the empowerment and submission to the person of the Holy Spirit. The scriptural exhortations to consider others as better than yourselves, to confess your sins to one another, to accept and welcome one another, to bear with and forgive one another, to care for and give to one another, and – as Jesus put it – to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him can only be understood and realized via the work of the Holy Spirit in and through the life of a child of God.

There is a misconception that community is built around uniformity: people who believe alike, act alike, respond alike, desire alike, etc. However, uniformity will not create the type of community in which God calls us to live. This is evident in the constant exhortation for believers to bear with one another, forgive one another, have patience with one another, and consider others as more important than themselves. Thus, the authors of Scripture recognize that there would be relational frictions between believers. This relational frictions Willard describes above by the phrase “raw, skin to skin contact”. The way that someone responds to relational frictions demonstrates whether or not they are living in a Spirit-enabled, Spirit-empowered community, or if they desire to live in a uniform community.

People normally and naturally respond to relational friction with anger, impatience, divisiveness, selfishness, defensiveness, pride, etc. These responses are manifestations of sin. This type of response may reduce relational friction, but it will not maintain community.

However, through the indwelling and enabling of the Holy Spirit, it is (super)-naturally possible to respond to relational friction with understanding, acceptance, patience, humility, forbearance, perseverance, and even joy. This type of response will not immediately reduce the relational friction, but it will maintain community. In fact, true community is only possible in the presence of relational friction and a Spirit-controlled response to that relational friction.

Let me say that again: true community is only possible when those within the community – or at least a majority of those within the community – respond to relational friction through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Also, if there is no relational friction, then there is no community. There are either surface acquaintances, with the real friction hidden beneath, or a cult-like uniformity where those who disagree are excluded from the “community”. Neither of these is a community.

If we want to determine whether or not we are living in a Spirit-led, Spirit-enabled community with other believers, we can begin by examining how we respond to relational friction, that is to “raw, skin to skin contact”. If we respond by demanding our rights, privileges, wants, expectations, etc. then we are not living in community, but we are allowing sin to hinder our relationship with other believers, which demonstrates that sin is also hindering or relationship with God. If, on the other hand, we respond to relational friction in Spirit-created humility, joyfully allowing others to usurp our rights, privileges, wants, expectations, etc. then we are demonstrating that we are maintaining the community of the Spirit.

One thing before I finish this post: It is not the goal of the believer or a group of believers to create or maintain community. Instead, it is the goal of believers to demonstrate their love for God by loving others. As believers demonstrate their love for God by loving other believers in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, then Spirit-created community will ensue. Also, as believers demonstrate their love for God by loving non-believers in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit-enabled mission will ensue. Either way, the goal is to love God by loving others. http://www.alanknox.net/2007/09/depths-of-community/

Beth Moore teaches the book of Daniel

Our Daniel DVD by Beth Moore was very encouraging. Her stories and humor make it fun but she isn't fooling around when it comes to God's Word.

In her own personal style she took us through history to the present time showing us the mighty hand of God. Using Babylon as an example of our present day cultural experience, Beth challenges us to rise to the occasion and stand firm in our faith just like Daniel did. He broke out of the mold of the multitude and continued to live as the Lord had taught him. Beth reminded us that Satan likes to use comfort to lull us into passivity and this Babylon we are living in now gives us plenty of opportunity to be comfortable. She showed us how sovereign God is and that even in this culture of over indulgence we have been assigned to live here now and continue to be used by God to further His kingdom.

A couple points she made:

* We are to make a mark here for the Kingdom of God.
*Babylon symbolizes self will.
* the verse that addresses it Isaiah 47: 8, 10
* We get comfortable then we become captive and nothing is more dangerous then friendly captivity. Importantly, captivity never remains friendly.
* We are to be like Daniel and resolve not to defile ourselves.

So join us on Thursday, Abeles home, 7:00 pm.