First called "Christians" ....

Acts 11:26

" ... and in Antioch
the disciples
were first called Christians ..."

Reading about the amazing growth

of the early church, 

in the book of Acts,

is an encouraging read.

The more the believers were persecuted,

the more the church grew.
 The grace of God that gripped these early believer's hearts
was invisible -- but the effect it had on their lives was easy to see.


Barnabas sought out Paul to help him disciple the new believers in Antioch.
They taught them the Word of God for a year.

As these new believers grew and the church grew,
those opposing them began to recognize them as people who were
"of the party of Christ"  and began calling them


"Christians".

The term  was used in derision toward these new converts.

But how encouraging and challenging it is -- 

that those who did not follow Christ

recognized those who did.

Now THAT is a good testimony ....
and a good challenge to me!

Singing with Jeshanah ...

From the Getty's Kids Album
"Better is one day with Jesus
Than a thousand another way".

Signs of Spring

This lovely spring tulip

is from my mom's flower garden.

It reminds me that life

is ever new.

From the dry ground

comes this beautiful flower.

Just in time to brighten our spirits

after a long winter.

"Who is a God like you, 

pardoning iniquity

    and passing over transgression

     for the remnant of his inheritance?

He does not retain his anger forever,

    because he delights in steadfast love.

¹⁹ 

He will again have compassion on us;

              he will tread our iniquities underfoot.      

                     You will cast all our sins  into the depths of the sea.

                                  Micah 7:18-19

I like this song.  I especially like the words ...."this is THY grand prerogative ....

                                                                    and none may in this honor share."

                   A PARDONING GOD

                                                                                                                ~Samuel Davies

     Great God of wonders! all thy ways

        Display the attributes divine;

But countless acts of pardoning grace

Beyond thine other wonders shine:

Who is a pardoning God like thee?

Or who has grace so rich and free?

Crimes of such horror to forgive,

Such guilty, daring worms to spare;

This is thy grand prerogative,

And none may in this honour share:

Who is a pardoning God like thee?

Or who has grace so rich and free?

 In wonder lost, with trembling joy

We take the pardon of our God;

Pardon for crimes of deepest dye,

                    A pardon bought with Jesu's blood:

                    Who is a pardoning God like thee?

                    Or who has grace so rich and free?

                     0 may this strange, this matchless grace,

                       This God-like miracle of love,

                    Fill the wide earth with grateful praise,

                          As now it fills the choirs above!

                      Who is a pardoning God like thee?

                       Or who has grace so rich and free?

Ponderings on Paul

Reading in the book of Acts ...

about who we now call the Apostle Paul.

He was not always that God honoring Apostle.

He was a highly educated man named Saul,

trained under the best teachers in the land.

He was not seeking after God.

He was seeking after Christians -- to persecute them.

He hated the Christians.   (Acts 8:1-3)

He had permission from the highest authorities to do this.

He was proudly doing this.

Although Saul was not seeking after God,

God had an appointment planned with him.

God met Saul as he was on his way 

to persecute the Christians.

He stopped Saul dead in his tracks.

In an instant this hateful man was changed ... 

to a Christ follower ...

to one who would proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles ... 

to one who would be totally 'sold out' to His Savior,

to one who would give us so much of the New Testament as we know it today,

to one who was willing to suffer MUCH for the sake of the Gospel,

to one who was absolutely not ashamed to speak the Truth.


In the words of James MacDonald ...
"If  your faith has not changed you, your faith has not saved you.
Your salvation happens in a moment
but is proved out over a lifetime."


"He saved us, not because of works
done by us in righteousness,
but, according to His own mercy ...."
Titus 3:5


"So also faith by itself,
if it does not have works, is dead."
James 2:17

What about me, how is my 'faith' being 
'worked' out in my life from day to day?

Gramma Camp "B"

Jared and Jill's kids were not able to be at the last Gramma Camp,

so we had a special Gramma Camp and made Israel lapbooks.

Alyssa, Eddy, Me, Carly and Lindsey

Only a boy named Eddie!

Snug as a Bug in a Rug

Meet 5 more of my Hebrew friends ..... 

"Malka"

"Uziela"

"Afeka"

"Avigdor"

"Yoel"
Doesn't he make a perfect
little Hebrew boy?!

Birthday Pics

from Myron's 60th Birthday Celebrations

I made a pie for you, Grampa.

Eddy enjoying a very GREEN Popsicle

Selah should advertise for Famous Dave's

The kids table at Famous Dave's

Green and Red Popsicles

Birthdays are   times of reflection.  

Birthdays make me think of this old hymn. 

It speaks of the Sovereignty of God in our lives.

It reminds me that all our days ... are in His hands! 

I like the words ... they encourage my heart.

(Same tune as "A Mind at Perfect Peace With God")

LORD IT BELONGS NOT TO MY CARE

~~Richard Baxter ( 1861)

Lord, it belongs not to my care

Whether I die or live;

To love and serve Thee is my share,

And this Thy grace must give.

If life be long, I will be glad,

That I may long obey;

If short, yet why should I be sad

To welcome endless day?

Christ leads me through no darker rooms

Than He went through before;

He that unto God’s kingdom comes

Must enter by this door.

Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet

Thy blessèd face to see;

For if Thy work on earth be sweet

What will Thy glory be!

Then I shall end my sad complaints

And weary sinful days,

And join with the triumphant saints

That sing my Savior’s praise.

My knowledge of that life is small,

The eye of faith is dim;

But ’tis enough that Christ knows all,

And I shall be with Him.

Guess who is 9 X 7 - 3 ???

Today just happens to be the BIRTHDAY

of the man I love.

His  60th Birthday!

Can . You . Believe . It .

 I . Can . Not

I thought I loved him when we married

all those years ago ... 

and in many ways, I did.

But our love has changed and grown.

Hard times, job changes, 

disappointment in people,

children, homeschooling,

dad dying, teenagers, vehicles,

weddings, grandchildren ... 

all these life experiences 

mold us and make us into who we become!

I am so thankful to the LORD 

that He brought Myron and I together.

My prayer is that we will continue to 

serve Him together all of our lives.

Some people call this stage in life ~~ Empty Nest.

It sounds like such a sad time of life.

Thankfully, our nest is not yet empty ...

we are so happy to still have Jeshanah at home.

 I like to think of this time of life as 

"Prime Time" 

and I'm going to live it to its fullest,

glorifying the LORD, 

with the man I love !!

We recently returned from a very

exciting trip to Israel so I'm

posting pictures of Myron and I 

from the trip.

Most of them are from our 

amazing 'trip photographer' ~  Allison Rockhold!
Love all the pictures, Allison.  Thanks! 

In these two pictures

we are walking from the 

Mount of Olives to

Gethsemane.

Our days were full of visiting

many sights and hearing teaching

relevant to each sight from the Word.

John Heller and Steve Price

did the teaching.

We visited Nazareth Village

which is a working community set up to be like the

village of Nazareth was when the LORD Jesus

lived there.

Here "Yosef" is showing Myron how

to drill a hole ... long before Makita

or Craftsman were invented.

 

 We spent quite a bit of time around the

Sea of Galilee area.

This is close to the place where the

LORD Jesus called the disciples 

to leave their nets and follow Him.

We went on a very peaceful

boat ride on the Sea.

I can see how it would be a 

favorite place for the LORD

Jesus to be.  The first day we were there

it was so clam and still.

We were able to view it several days

later when it was windy and there were 

pretty big waves on it.

This is the Jordan River.

We enjoyed a good challenge

from the Word of God here.

 Masada was one of Myron's 

favorite places ...

can you tell by his smile ???

I can....

I'm still digesting all the

historical information we learned here.

If you wanna know more  about this

place watch the movie "Masada"

It's on our 'to do' list.

 This is near the Mediterranean Sea.

In Israel there is lush green fields

and dry, dusty dessert.

 What a thrill it was

to view Old Jerusalem.

One day our LORD will

set His feet there again.

I can't wait!!

Had to put a 'bus' picture in.

We spent a lot of time on the bus

and it was fun getting to 

know new friends.

Our driver was good ~~

sometimes a bit scary!

Myron noticed this man working
inside a 'cave' as we walked along.
He didn't know ANY English but was
proud to have his picture taken.
Can you tell what he was making in
his wood shop?  Caskets!

Hard to believe that Israel would

have an entire Restaurant devoted

to this American 'idol'.  

It was a very busy place but had

the cheapest hot chocolate!

Hot Chocolate  -  $3.00

Mug  -  FREE !!

This is a sunrise

over the Sea of Galilee.

I think Allison got up real early 

to get that shot.

We don't know what the year 

ahead holds for us ...

but as I have told you before

in the words 


of 

                                 Winnie the Pooh ......

“If you live to be a hundred, 

I want to live to be a hundred minus one day 

so I never have to live without you.” 

Of course I know that our times are in His hands ....

and I am very thankful for that.

I LOVE YOU, MYRON,  WITH ALL MY HEART !!!

Acts ... The Bridge

Am reading through the Bible chronologically

and just finished up the Gospels.

Today I began the book of Acts, which is sometimes

considered a kind of "bridge" between all that

happened in the Gospels and the Epistles.

It tells of the establishment of the 'church'.

Peter denies  knowing Jesus

Today as I was reading the first few chapters

my heart was so thrilled  as I read about Peter.

The Peter who had maybe just less than 2 months earlier

cowered by a fire and denied his LORD.

The Peter who followed off at a distance 

in fear of being recognized as a follower

of this One who claimed to the Christ. 

Wow! Has this man changed! 

The Holy Spirit had come and coupled with Peter

and the other disciples now KNOWING that 

Jesus was the Christ, because of the RESURRECTION,

this guy was new and different!

Peter preaching at Pentecost

"But Peter, standing with the eleven,

LIFTED UP HIS VOICE and addressed them, 

'Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem ....'"

He goes on, quoting OT Scriptures, 

and defending Jesus Christ as Israel's Messiah.

"God raised Him up .... whom you crucified....."

Peter, through the power of the Holy Spirit,

led them to repent, change the way they

had been thinking about the Christ.

We're not told how many people 

Peter was preaching to

but we are told that 3,000 were saved 

and added to the infant church.

It's so encouraging to meditate on the resurrection,

the change that it made in the disciples lives

and to give honor to the LORD for the way

in which He worked in Peter's life.

Oh that we too may know the life changing

Power of the Resurrection ! ! 

As I was thinking about this 

I remembered a song I sang 

 in high school as part of a singing group called

"The Risen Son Singers".  

It's funny now ... we probably wouldn't even be

allowed to sing in a basement!!

But it was fun then ... and we learned some great music!

I love how this song goes through history ...

Pentecost ... Christians scattered across the world ...

Christians martyred ... Reformation ... Revivals ... 

and though the song is old ... 

the words are still the same today ...

We need the Holy Spirit to stir us and 

revive us and the church today!!

Here's the words to the song by John W Peterson

COME HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost 

He came in mighty fullness then 

His witness thru believers won the lost 

And multitudes were born again 

The early Christians scattered o'er the world 

They preached the gospel fearlessly 

Tho' some were martyred and to lions hurled 

They marched along in victory 

Chorus 

Come Holy Spirit dark is the hour 

We need Your filling 

Your love and Your mighty power 

Move now among us stir us we pray 

Come Holy Spirit revive the church today 

Verse 2 

Then in an age when darkness gripped the earth 

The just shall live by faith was learned 

The Holy Spirit gave the church new birth 

As reformation fires burned 

In later years the great revivals came 

When saints would seek the Lord and pray 

O once again we need that holy flame 

To meet the challenge of today 

Chorus 

Come Holy Spirit dark is the hour 

We need Your filling 

Your love and Your mighty power 

Move now among us stir us we pray 

Come Holy Spirit revive the church today 

  

Repeat Chorus 

Revive the church today 

Revive the church today