Ezekiel 18:21-23 NIV

This passage is referring to a proverb and corresponding worldview that the Jews of the time were using to (a) excuse their wicked behavior because their fathers were so righteous that they were automatically righteous as well or (b) blaming all of their troubles on the sins of their fathers and not owning up to the fact that their own wickedness was bringing God's wrath upon them. The proverb is in verse 2, "The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." In other words, the sins or righteousness of the father's affect their children.

"'But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.
None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he was done, he will live.
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?'"

This passage greatly encourages me because I have so often turned to wickedness, away from the path that I should follow, yet I can know that if I truly repent and turn from my sin, God will forgive me and save my life. What a gracious, merciful, and loving God I serve. I hope that all who read this may know Him too.

I Made It!

I made it home today, without any incident... well, sorta. I only arrived with half of my luggage, and hopefully my other suitcase will show up at my doorstep very soon. But the flights were fine, I slept most of the way. I also felt pretty good all day, and I feel fine right now. Thank God! I sure am glad that this virus didn't hit me 24 hours later! Well, I got back and visited my brother because he was having an open house at his new place. It is pretty sweet, I used to collect garbage on his street, of course, I collected his garbage at his old place too. Then I got home and had to rearrange my room back to my liking because Cheri had turned it into another room for her. Well, well, well, things are gonna change! lol Anyway, I am sorta tired and I am going to church tomorrow, which is exciting, so that is all for now. I may put some more pics of Fl. up in the coming days.
Call me if you want to do anything over break!!

I'm Coming Home

I will be leaving The Institute in approx. 7 hours and 10 minutes. Today was a pretty much awful day, I was sick all day, throwing up till 2 pm. I am hoping and praying that I will be fine tomorrow! I am looking forward to seeing all of you in the next few days!

"Tomorrow! Tomorrow! ..."

I know that I have been not been haste in my updating and I apologize. We have been quite busy here with the end of the semester looming ever closer. We have biography projects that are due today that we have all been working hard at. I got mine done a full day ahead of time (can you believe it, Dad?). I chose to study Daniel. I have three separate lessons and a creative component. The idea behind the lessons was to have a mini series type project that we could present for retreat type setting or just have a lesson to pull out if we are ever told to speak that coming Sunday evening on that Friday.
Tomorrow I fly home to cold weather, family and friends , and my own room and stereo. In that order. Today it was in the seventies and raining and humid. We had a nice time together as a team at Ben and Christina's house and a small bonfire outside. I was quite warm the whole time.
The street sweeper is coming around the circle for his second and final run this evening as he does every Saturday morning. It is actually quite loud. I really should be getting to bed, we have one final class tomorrow in which we are not sure what we will be doing. Lord willing I will see you many of you in the coming few days.

It's My BIRTHDAY!!!!

And all of you are missing it! Sorta. Thank you for the cards and messages. I greatly appreciate it.

Today we watched as the world was destroyed and laid sod at another H4H house. We lost our softball game miserably. Oh well, it was the last one of the season. I need to do some devo's and get to bed, tomorrow morning we are working on our Biography projects.

Welcome to Decemeber

I can't believe that it is December already!! Maybe because it doesn't feel like it is nearing winter. Yesterday we ripped the roof off of the 2nd half of the church and Pastor Dave's house and it was hot! I hear that it was pretty warm last week in PA, but I was sweating and got some sun! Oh brother, these Floridians dont deserve Christmas with their hot weather. :P At least that is my joke with people.
Well, over Thanksgiving break I feel like I didn't do much, but that is only because I don't remember. We didn't have class for about a week. I was at the Brewer's for Thankgiving. They were kind enough let me come over. I went to the Florida Mall on Black Friday! That was nice. Then we went to Downtown Disney in Orlando. That was pretty boring without money, so I saw "Stranger Than Fiction". It was alright. I got to drive the whole way home (about 1.5 hrs) and I got us to the door at excatly 0200, right on time. I really enjoy driving any chance I get here. I am also one of the best drivers here. Half of the students crazy or scary, the other half are good. :) I was taught well, thanks Dad! The next day we went back to Orlando and spent the night at the interim pastor's house for a small GBC there. On Sunday we led worship since their worship team was on vacation. The church only has about 25 people now and they meet in a theater. They sold their building and school and bought a "mobile church", which is sound equipment packed in a trailer that they set up each week.
This past week we had class. On Tuesday we looked at Mormomism and Scientology, both wacky religions. Did you know that Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, was shot to death in a prison raid? He was the prisnor. Scientology was founded by a sci-fi writer who began it to make money. It believes that an alien lord captured other alien souls and sent them to earth where they inhabit human bodies which gives us our emotions and confusion. yeah. Wednesday and Thursday we got through the first 4 chapters. Friday was with Aaron and we did Philippians. Work wise, on Tuesday we cleared some jungle from Mike Ford's ranch so the prayer walk would look nicer. Mike is a godly man who lives in a ranch in Lorida and allows people to have functions there free of charge with hopes of sharing the Gospel with them. Wednesday we had our last Cross Connections of the month, wrapping up our series on the family and we ate spaghetti. On Thursday we washed some fire trucks. Friday we finished building a picnic table for a couple in the church and that evening Travis and I got to ride on a fire truck in the Sebring Christmas parade! That was a neat experience. The circle is now lit up like Candlylane, but very tacky with dolphins, alligators, flamigos, and racing flags. There is also very annoying music that plays all day long till about 2200. Saturday was the roofing, 10 hours of roofing. Today we went to the late service (Thank you Ben!) and then to dinner at someone's house who I can't spell. Randy and his family was there as well. From there we went to Pastor Dave's house for 2 hours and cleaned up the mess we made yesterday. And there you go, now you are all caught up. Tomorrow I have a lead on a job offer and hopefully I will get to do some work that pays! That would be great, wouldn't it parents? Well, I guess you want to see some pictures too, so here you go. I intentionally put them after this to see if you would really read all of this before looking at them.

This is the Kid City float. The children's ministry at the church

Travis and I are on top, right above the left-most silver panel. The other kids are a family that works with the department.

Me after getting back from 10 hours of roofing. I was pretty dirty.

My dirt line, no I am not that tan.

This is just hot, what can I say.
(besides the fact that it is out of focus!!!)

I am sorry that there are so few pictures. I have been forgetting to take my camera to the places that we go.

4 Days!!

I have not abandonded this blog, I will update. But for now before I go to church....
4 DAYS TILL MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Dogs

Last night the Brewer Bible study turned into a little doggie show. There were also 2 big dogs, but I dont like them, they drool on my computer and smell bad.

Brrrr! It's.... cold?

A cold front came in this week and the temperature dropped, today the high is 68 degrees!!! lol I like it though, it feels a little more like November. Yesterday the town put up the Christmas decorations in the circle. They have taken tacky to a new level. See picture. This week in class we finished Romans and Nehemiah. On Tuesday we helped with another Habitat For Humanity house. We nailed in the plywood outer walls and got the roof trusses up. On Wednesday evening, Cross Connections, our new adult ministry at the church, we talked about raising children. We handled it differently than what you might expect. Katy, Bryan and I shared about our experiences growing up. We answered questions like "How are some ways your parents prepared you for life?" "What kind of punishment did you receive?" "How did your parents influence your faith?" and a few others. Several people told us that they appreciated us sharing from our different viewpoints. I enjoyed taking a look back on growing up and my parents. I really appreciate all that they have done for me and the sacrifices they have made and how they have raised me. I have to say that they did a pretty good job. ;-) This week we also helped Pastor Randy out by putting up some more fence around his pool (still going from our first job here) and Travis and I dug around a broken sewer line in his backyard. It was pretty tough. On Friday I went to Morgan and her sister Paige's rodeo. It was pretty cool, and a little cold, like late season night games in high school. Morgan participated in team roping (one ropes the head, one ropes the back legs), breakaway (roping a steer from your horse), goat tying (galloping up to the goat, jumping off, slamming it into the groud and tying 3 legs together), barrels (racing around 3 barrels without knocking them over), and poles (weaving in and out of 8 poles). I also saw some teen bull riding. I didn't get back till 3:30 in the morning, but I had a good time. Today I got mom's Amish postcard and cookies and the Kaylor's card :) Thank you very much. Both Mrs. Brewer and Christina said that they would make shoo-fly pie with the recipe mom sent me, so that is exciting. No one here has ever heard of a whoopie-pie though, I need a recipe for that next.
Well, for Thanksgiving I will eat at the Brewer's and then the Michaud's. They are some great families in the church. On Black Friday we are planning on going to the... hehehe... beach, but I will have to do some shopping that day too, I am hoping that there is a good mall or something wherever we go. Okay, how about some pictures.

Pictures

Habitat House

I hit my thumb with a hammer at the house. It really hurt. I got light-headed and nauseous and had to lie down. lol It gave me this blood blister. I popped it later and it is fine now.

There is a black widow in there, under my seat at the rodeo. I had never seen one before

Morgan going for her goat.


Yee Haw! I'm a rough ropen cowboy!


Morgan on Doc running barrels


Morgan and Paige as cold, crazy cowgirls


The Circle. Enough said.

Pictures- Mens Retreat

enough said

zoom zoom

The suite where we had our meals and sessions.

A view of the pool and what I guess you could call the courtyard.

A view of the ummm, maybe the ocean?

Another view of that big, wet thing. That is the lifeguard tower.

The ocean. We had beautiful weather.

The hotel. My room, which I shared with Steve Swan, a man from the church, is B1.

Pictures- Fall Festival

We had ALOT of candy left over so the teens got to take their fill. There was alot of yelling and pushing. :)

Food and tables were in the tent, mini moon bounces, big slide, construction fence.

Various games

Yeah, we had a balloon arch.

Bethany and Morgan manning (or is it womanning?) their game.

Daytona Beach

Here I am overlooking the beautiful Daytona Beach writing to all of you guys up in the cold (although not recently) and blustery north. The high is only 81 today, but I will have to get in the water just because I am here. I may try surfing on these little waves. Last night and this morning Pastor Randy spoke and this evening his brother is speaking. His brother is a phsyco doctor. (?!) I am having a great time and learning a lot of stuff! I will put some pictures up when I get back to the Institute. Have a great day!

Tsk Tsk Tsk

Don't tell anyone, but I'm in church right now! shhhhhh

Busy Weekend

This past weekend has been a busy one! Or maybe it was just tiring so it felt busy. On Saturday I got up at 6:30, something that I am not used to doing anymore, and went to the church to help with the "Rip the Roof Off" day. We got half of the roof replaced that day. Saturday night was the YFC 3 on 3 basketball tournament. That got a little boring to tell you the truth. There were 1 or 2 hundred kids there to play basketball. It went pretty smoothly, no fights or injuries. I just pushed a slider up and down a few times on the sound board all night. But I also got to shoot around, throw Frisbee and play ultimate football (like ultimate frisbee but with a football). On Sunday we went to church for both services and then set up for communion that evening. During the quick afternoon we got ready to take care of the kids that evening, which we did. Travis and I, along with Shea and Bryan, did 2 puppet songs and Travis and I inproved the whole story of Jonah to the kids. They were wild kids though, loud and disobedient. And then we went back to the joint and I ended up staying up till 2 watching CSI reruns. Today I don't have much to do, except the Bible study tonight at the Brewers. This weekend, Thursday to Saturday, is the men's retreat down at Daytona Beach in a sweet resort/conference center. That should be cool. I am still praying about Israel, if anyone has any thoughts of how I could obtain $2,800 legally, I am all ears. Well, I hope that all of you who read this are having a wonderful day. Let me a comment so I know who is keeping up to date!

Mustard Seed??

Well I guess it is high time I posted something!!
Life here in mostly sunny FL is going alright. Another week of classes blurred by and I can hardly believe that we are into November already!! It doesn't seem natural to not have the leaves change or the temperature drop or the winds pick up or to have to with sleep pants on under my comforter. I actually just sleep under a sheet every night, and I have only woken up chilly once (when there was a "cold" front and the temp got down to the 60s!). But I sleep like a rock. Anyway. I got facebook so I could keep in contact with friends from school and there are so many on there! It is cool, but sorta annoying because I feel like I need to keep checking to see if anyone left me a comment or updated something. Hopefully that will fade away. This morning I got up at 6:30 to go to the nearby middle school to play basketball with some kids with the YFC guy who comes to Randy's class. It was neat, but I am not used to getting up that early anymore! Back when I was throwing trash I was up at 4 or 5 every morning and working by 5 or 6, respectively.
The Title, it has a purpose. Pastor Randy told us the other day about the mustard seed (it was a rabbit trial, we're in Romans). I want to warn you now, what I am about to say may BLOW YOUR MIND!! (Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-32, Luke 13:18-19)
So when Jesus talks about a "mustard seed" he isn't talking about a mustard seed. He is actually referring to the seed for a weed in Israel. It is a large weed with yellow flowers. When the Bible was being translated into English, there were none of these weeds in England so the translators decided to use a mustard seed. The reason Jesus refers to these weeds and not a mustard seed is because...
Houses in Israel will most often have a small garden not much more than a few dozen square feet inside a small wall attached to the house. In this garden they would grow their spices and mint, etc. so that they wouldn't have to walk the whole way out to the field to get a few spices for cooking. What Jesus is saying is that the "kingdom of God" is like a man who plants this weed in his garden and allows it to grow up and cut off all the light to the other plants. This seems like a stupid idea, which it is, except that the man isn't caring as much about the other plants as much as he is about the birds who can now rest in the weeds branches. God's ways may not always seem to make a lot of sense to us, but just like the man was actually watching out for the the birds, God has a purpose behind what He is doing and it will be good. Isn't that crazy!! We have all heard or read that parable before, but even today we didn't understand what God was trying to tell His disciples. "He who has ears let him hear."
Some time I will need to explain to you the parable of the sower. When you know what an Israeli field looks like, it will make so much sense to you that you will be amazed. Or maybe that is just me.

So, how about some pictures?

This is Sebring Grace Brethren Church

This is the sanctuary

This is Summer's tiny dog compared to the Brewer's dog

I pressure washed this huge picnic table. The whole thing was the darker color. It looks nicer now.

This is the Living Room at Grace Bible Church, down the road. This is the young adult singles ministry that we attend Wednesday evenings after our service at our church (now Cross Connections) is over. We hang out, worship, and Aaron usually teaches.

I Corinthians 15:10

"But by the grace of God I am what I am , and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I , but the grace of God with me."

I want to be able to say that as Paul did.

I Corinthians, Acts, Nehemiah, I Samuel

Well, we are in full swing with our Bible classes and such things. On Sunday mornings, Pastor Randy is going through Acts and I Samuel. He is in I Timothy in the evening but I have only gone to that once. On Tuesday we talked about Judaism with Pastor Dave, Ben's dad. Today and tomorrow we are finishing up I Corinthians with Pastor Randy. Finally, Friday we started Nehemiah with Aaron.
GCBI is taking charge of the adult Wed. night service and starting a new program we are calling "Cross Connections". This ministry is designed to drawn in young families in a casual environment to connect and learn the Biblical model and principles for the family. This will begin this Wed. Nov. 1. This afternoon we spent a few hours at The Palms nursing home visiting with residents and some of us took some walks with them. Tuesday and tomorrow and maybe longer we are putting up a new fence at the church to expand their playground.
That is about all that I can think of to update on right now. Your prayers are very much appreciated! I am learning a whole lot of things that I hadn't known before and God is using different circumstances in my life to teach me lessons and draw me closer to Himself. I would also ask you to pray for God's provision and guidance concerning the upcoming trip to Israel that Dr. Randy will be leading. It cost $2800, which I don't have but I feel that it would be a wonderful, life changing experience that would give me a deeper, more personal walk with God and faith. I know that the only way I could go is if God quickly brought the money to by some miracle, so it is completely up to Him whether or not I can go, and I am okay with whatever He desires, but this opportunity is something I would really love to experience.

P.S. It has been "cold" here recently, getting down into the 60's!! Time to break out the winter coats!

More Random Pics

Most of these pictures are from the trip, but a couple are not. I will point those out. These are also not in any sort of order.

Morgan and I sweeping Kip Street in Philly getting ready for the block party.

A group trust fall at River Valley Ranch (RVR). The person in the middle closes their eyes and lets everyone else push them around.

This is the view from the trust fall off the platform. I did it. :)

This is not from the trip. This man near Sebring turned a run down piece of lakefront property into a free retreat center for whatever groups would like to use it. We will be working out here a little when it gets cooler. (which means 60's-70's)

This is a group shot with our first host.

It got pretty boring in the van.

Travis getting beat at foosball by a pro.

I finally got to mow some grass!!! I missed that.

This is in front of the Helping-Up Mission in downtown Baltimore. They are doing a really good thing there.

Eating dinner at Chuck E. Cheese

This is not from the trip but from our first Habitat project when we painted.

Morgan and I wiping down chairs at the Helping-Up Mission. They didn't have any real projects for us to do.

All of us on Federal Hill at Inner Harbour

We stopped at the "Crackel Barrel" on the way home!

Travis and I on a Gator at RVR. They only let us drive the golf carts though :/

We ate at Chuck E. Cheese! Travis used to work there so he was acting like he hated it.

Walking around Inner Harbour. It was weird to be there again when I was just there 1 year ago with my class. It made me sad.

Travis and I racing at Chuck E. Cheese.

I now have a facebook page, but I don't want to use it very much. I just wanted it to keep in touch with friends. Please comment here.