It's Hard To Find A Christian Man!

Next month I will be celebrating twenty-three (23) years of marriage... Although there have been some ups and downs in our "Happily Ever After", I know the reason and the only reason we have stuck to each other is because of our faith in God... In our belief that a marriage is a relationship designed by God.

Mark 10 6-9 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Christian Dating is not easy now a days. We live in a world that is not the same as it was when I was dating and looking for a husband... I know many young and older adults that are very frustrated on how difficult it is to find a like minded follower of Christ... When I read about ChristianCrush.com - I had to share the site with my single Christian friends.

One of the great things about Christian Crush is that it has video profiles. I personally think that this should be a MUST (Christian Crush is the only Christian on line dating service that offers this)- you can learn so much about a person by the way they smile... by the way they talk.. by their presence... Not only does this Christian Dating service have video profiles it is privately owned by a Bible based organization and is not affiliated with companies that are not Bible based.. I like that!

If you are looking for a Christian Man (or Christian Woman) or knows someone that is - Tell them about Christian Crush..

One Day I Will See His Face....

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now; you believe in him and are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy. 1 Peter 8

This was a verse from yesterday's sermon.... This verse made me think of a child in our womb.. We do not see the child but we love them... Even before we felt the first kick..... We are filled with joy....

Just because we do not see Jesus.. (yet) does not take away the joy and love I feel everyday from Him..... and I know that one day...... I will see His face and stand in Awe in His presence.....

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The other day I went to dinner and an ornament exchange at a very dear friend's home. There were seven of us women - women who worship together... pray together... and learn from each other....
After dinner, we all sat down to listen to the The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I had never heard the story before... and I am so happy I did.... I truly believe everyone should hear it...
I have always known that Christmas was Jesus' birthday.. I have always known that He was the Son of God... but I always envisioned the birth to be much like what we see on TV... A beautiful and well rested Mary gazing at her quiet baby boy... Then immediately after the birth came the three (3) wise men.... Did you know that the Bible does not say how many there were? Did you also know that they did not show up at His birth but a few months.. possible a couple of years afterwards...?
This book The Best Christmas Pageant Ever shows the story of Jesus' birth from a different perspective... This story is about some very rough kids who fell in love with baby Jesus.... The real Jesus... The real Mary... and brought Him the best gift of all.... their hearts and more..
Discover The Best Christmas Pageant Ever this Christmas... Below is a mini movie I found on Youtube - enjoy and may you and yours be Blessed by the Best CHRISTmas present of all - our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Oh, Happy Day... Oh, Happy Tears

Picture of My Sister and My Mom

Today something amazing happened... Something I have been praying for... Wishing for... Looking forward too....

Today my mom rededicated her life to Christ... Recently she has found a church where she feels connected... Where she feels welcome. I cannot tell you how excited I am... It's been over thirty-five years since my mom had anything to do with church.. I know that her faith has been on the fence.... I know that she has had a very difficult life in many areas... and today she is giving it to Christ... Oh Happy Day...

My sister, Debbie and my mom have many things in common but the top two are... They both post major life changing news on Face Book... Yep.. and they have "funny looking" dogs.. But you know what - that's okay.... What a great thing to read when I logged onto Face Book today.... Not only is my mom - my mom - She is now my sister in Christ as well... I am currently crying "happy tears" Are there any better kind of tears?

Today at 4:00 PM - I will be at Huntington Beach Pier - prayer walking... Today - with my mom's acceptance/re-dedication to Christ is exactly what I needed to get into the "Spirit"... knowing that prayer.. constant prayer... works... Right now I am ready to be the prayer warrior that God is calling me to be.... knowing in His grace and in His never ending love for us - miracles happen and prayers are answered.

This is for you, Mom.. I love you so much.....

We Need To Go To Church

We need to have fellowship with other Believers. The Bible has no examples of anyone who was right with God but also stood alone and did not spend time with other believers. Hebrews 10:24-25 'and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Gathering together in corporate worship also helps to feed your soul. "Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." Public worshiping is the best place to give your soul the 'Word of God' nourishment it needs.

Going to Church regularly brings you closer to others who can love and encourage you. We all have troubles...Life can be very difficult but why carry all your worries by yourself..

It is a great place to pray and be prayed for. There is power when people of God pray. I know from personal experience. The healing of my own daughter.. The power of pray is an awesome thing to experience..

You don't need to go to a Mega-church to worship. Church can be a few people getting together and helping each other grow in Christ. This happens when we get together to lead one another towards love and good deeds. It does not have to be in a church building on Sunday morning. It could be any day of the week...at any location...

I also want to point out that going to church does not save people..yes that's right it does not save people... People are saved by getting right with God.. But getting it right with God is only the start of being a Christian. We need to surround ourselves with other believers to stay on His path...and not fall off and go on Our own path...

My Creator

Written By My 12 year old Daughter Nicole

My Creator
My Lord, My Savior, all-powerful. He spoke the earth into existence
The beautiful Flowers,
The clear waters,
The wide blue skies.
How amazing, His creation is
His love is enduring
and His mercy is never ending
In a cave in Bethlehem,
You send Your Son to be born
forgiven for my sins.
Your Son died on a Cross for me
I am grateful
for all the generosity you show
When I see you in Heaven.
I will kiss your feet
and say "Lord Almighty"
I love you, my Creator

The Atheist's Wager

I received this comment today from the author of 11Myths and Truths on Atheism

The Atheist's Wager:
“It is better to live your life as if there are no Gods, and try to make the world a better place for your being in it. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent God, He will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in Him.”

Many people agree with the above statement. They believe that you if you have been a good person, you will go to Heaven. People say things like, "John was such a great neighbor, he gave food to the poor, he volunteered at the homeless shelters, and he always had a good thing to say - he will surly go to Heaven." Well, the Bible is very clear how to you can get to Heaven. The ONLY way is through Jesus Christ our Savior. You can't get to Heaven by just doing good deeds. You can't get a ticket on the Golden Highway to God because you were a good person. God, will not say, "Oh, you didn't believe in me that's okay... you were a good person, so come on up." If good deeds did earn your way to Heaven then Jesus died on the cross for nothing...

The Atheist's Wager unfortunately is a cope out. If a person is old enough to use this wager than they have been on Earth long enough to get know Christ. So saying, I will not believe in God because I just don't.... but if he does exist...I'm a good person..so he'll let me in.. It does NOT work that way...

Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" this means that no one can live up to God's perfect way. We cannot save ourselves because as sinners we can never meet God's requirements. Our only hope is faith in Jesus Christ...

John 3:16 is another verse that spells it out "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.."

I did respond to my new atheist author friend, however, my comment has not posted....hmmm. All I said was basically what I said in this blog...but much less wordy... I also wished him the best in his research of religion.. ..Like I have said before...when he discovers God is real and accepts Jesus as his savior..what a mighty warrior he will be to glorify God's Kingdom..

God My Imaginary Friend?

One of my favorite things to do is read other people's blogs. I have been intrigued, inspired, saddened, and confused by so many interesting people. Yesterday, I was looking for new blogs in one of my favorite blog sites Technorati. I usually look at a few of the top 100 blogs and then I go to my areas of interest, family, food, and faith. While I was in the faith area, I ran across yet another atheism site. I find that so confusing to have an atheist site under faith...unfortunately atheist do not have faith at least in God..I wish they did. Anyways, the site I read was titled "11 Myths and Truths about Atheism" and this is a portion of what it said.
1. Atheists are 100% convinced that there no God - the author said he is open to evidence to show otherwise.
2. Atheist are immoral: without religion, there's no basis for morality- author states they are not immoral, which I agree with to a degree. Can't lump all of them together just like we can't lump all Christians together. Even though the author called Christians trolls - which I found funny...you got to laugh...
3. Atheists are angry and unhappy - The author assures us he is very happy.
4. Atheists are disrespectful, intolerant , and mean - again we can't lump them all together but this author admits to no tolerance for other's beliefs. He liken Christianity to an "imaginary friend"
5. Atheists are whiny - this answer cracks me up. The author said that the Christian trolls whine to him about their childish beliefs and when he responds they call him whiny... when this author finally does find Christ...he's going to be great on bringing people to the Lord...
6. Atheists are just trendy - I think the author enjoys going against the "norm". You know those guys that just want to start an argument...
7. Atheists are just angry with God- the author assures us they aren't angry with God...he doesn't exist...
8. Atheists criticize the ugliest and most simplistic outdated versions of religion and ignore serious modern theology - the author again states that Christians worship an imaginary friend and it is impossible to worship an ethereal entity. There has to be a concrete person even if it's a Palestinian Jewish "savior" with a beard and blue eyes... I sensed major hostility on this one....
9. Atheists are responsible for the worst crimes in history - The author and I agree that is silly.
10. Atheists think science belongs to them - I don't think anyone believes that but I will say that Christians and atheists interpret science differently.
11. Atheists think they're superior-the author changed superior to arrogant...but denies both.. Reading his blog, I have to completely disagree with him - even if I was not a believer of Christ, I would find this article very arrogant....just calling Christians trolls who play with imaginary friends says it all...

Silly me, I felt compelled to say something to this writer. Even though my faith is strong and my heart is strong sometimes/many times the words I want to say don't come out the way I mean....The last thing I want to do is wear my Christian chip on my shoulder and attack someone who doesn't believe...that would never represent God's unconditional love nor would it make Christians look respectable and worthy to be heard... This is the comment I left

When I became a Christian I had a hard time understanding faith. Faith that God just exists.. I believe in history. I believe in facts. I thought Lee Storbel's books explained a lot. "The following is an answer he gave to why he went from being an atheist to a Christian
For nearly two years, I investigated science, philosophy, and history. I read literature (both pro and con), quizzed experts, and studied archaeology. On November 8th, 1981, alone in my room, I took a yellow legal pad and began summarizing the evidence I had encountered. In light of the scientific evidence that points toward a Creator and the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, I came to the conclusion that it would have required more faith for me to maintain my atheism than to become a Christian. Essentially, I realized that to stay an atheist, I would have to believe that nothing produces everything; non-life produces life; randomness produces fine-tuning; chaos produces information; unconsciousness produces consciousness; and non-reason produces reason. Those leaps of faith were simply too big for me to take, especially in light of the affirmative case for God’s existence and Jesus’ resurrection (and, hence, his divinity). In other words, in my assessment the Christian worldview accounted for the totality of the evidence much better than the atheistic worldview.
From your post, I can see you are not criticizing others' faith - you just don't agree. There is historical factual documentation that proves the existence of Jesus..I'm sure you can find it. no need to write a book here :) but as CS Lewis states. Either Jesus was a liar, A crazy person, or he is who he says he is...The Son of God. I have no disillusion of converting you...I'm not that naive...or that smart. I do hope you would consider other ideas...Let's say if there was not a God and you believed in him and died..okay you're dead...now let's say there IS a God and you don't believe in him..you'll have an eternity of regret..What do you have to lose? This post was written with all due respect and no judgment. I wish you only the best.

I left this comment so proud of myself for having the courage ... I want to be the person God has called me to be. I feel led to bring out his word... Of course this author has probably heard a million comments such as mine... From the comment he sent me, I can only conclude that he spends far too much time mocking faith rather than the research he claims to do... I believe that if someone really and truly went looking for the truth about Jesus Christ being our Lord and Savior he would find it. I believe they would have no other choice to believe in God whether they wanted to or not... Here is the comment he left to me.

I have also investigated, and continue to investigate, the claims of religions. And I have come to the exact opposite conclusion. Those "leaps of faith" that you say are insurmountable, are in fact small compared to the even greater leaps of faith needed to affirm Christian doctrines. The naturalistic worldview explains reality better than ancient myths and medieval philosophy.
C.S. Lewis is a good popularize of common Christian apologetics, but his arguments are not very good. The one you posited is called the lord-liar-lunatic-trilemma, which is fallacious and weak. And I see you also use Pascal's wager, and even less convincing argument. Sorry, but if those are the arguments that convinced you of Christianity, then I must say that your investigation is shallow.

Of course, I was very discouraged by the "shallow" remark and wanted to make sure he knew I was not such a person but came to my faith by much more than thought..so here is my final comment.

Thank you for your comment. I think to explain the complete reason I am a Christian would take much more than a "comment". As I mentioned before I have no illusions of changing any one's mind..I'm not that smart..But I do feel peace and I do feel loved. My reasons in my opinion are very deep and would take much longer to explain than a comment on a post. I wish you best of luck in your investigation.

Kind of funny I have no clue who Pascal is or what his wager is.....but I can say this....when this current atheist author comes to Christ, what a leader he will be to glorify God and His Kingdom...

I Love You....You Love Me...

I love you ...You love me...We're a happy family with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you...Won't you say you love me too..... The purple dinosaur Barney got it right with those lyrics. Can't you just hear him singing in your head now? I know I do. I remember many a morning with my kids watching Barney so that I could get a little work done..... He was the great morning babysitter....I could throw a load of wash in, spruce up the kitchen, and if I was lucky maybe even talk to a friend on the phone for a few minutes...
In the Bible, love is spoken of over and over again. Love one another as I have loved you. John 13:34 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.....John 15:13 This is the love that God has for us. He sent his Son to earth to die on the cross for our sins. Before I became a parent myself, I didn't get the greatness of that act... Now think of this.
We love our kids don't we? We would lay down our lives for them. We nurture them, cuddle with them, take care of them. I look at my daughters and I cannot imagine loving anyone more that I love them.
A couple of years ago, a MRI showed a growth on my youngest daughters brain. I had never felt such fear in my life. The thought of losing my baby was so overwhelming to me.... I remember calling my church and asking them to send out a prayer request for her. I also remember getting on my knees and praying to God to please please please let my baby be okay... The next day the doctor's office called and said that everything looked normal and she was okay... To say I was in shock would be an understatement. My baby was healed....I have no doubt... I was the lucky one...
God sent his son to die for me. To die for you... To die for people that turned their backs on him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his ONLY begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God sacrificed His Son.... I don't think I could sacrifice my kids for someone I loved much less someone that may never know me....
That my friends is Agape love....Unconditional love... The love that Jesus taught about. The love that He has for us and wants us to have for others..... God has very high standards for us...But that's okay.. In His word and in His love all things are possible.......