A Net in Time

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I Yelled At God

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Tonight I yelled at God…it’s not a good thing to yell at God but I yelled.

I was angry because someone disrespected my need to have my student home at a good time.  They thought they should take them out for a party after an event and I needed to wait in the cold for them to finally show up.  I was SO angry but had just had someone run it through my head again (earlier that day) that what comes out of a person in times of stress is indicative of what is in their heart.  If what comes out is anger and not love, then Christ isn’t living in you.  You are being ruled by the flesh.

So I yelled at God.  Saying I’m angry and if you want me to be someone different you need to change me.  I hate this.  I hate this anger the lives inside of me and slips out when I would rather it didn’t.   I hollered at him so loud, and I know he heard me.  He heard me and let my hubby text me and so we talked.  (well texted talked) and my heart quieted again.  I caught a grip, and realized something… that anger… kept me awake on the trip there and for MOST of the trip back and then I started nodding and shaking my head to stay awake.  (good thing I was only five minutes from home eh?)

You see I can and do fall asleep at the wheel.  When I’m tired I must not be on the road.

yelled at god

Hubby reminded me that it’s okay to get angry, but anger becomes sin when you hold onto it. I don’t hang on to it.  It’s quick and sudden like a fire and then it dissipates.  If I was wrong, I apologize and work it through, but it never stays. 

But when it flairs you know what happens?

I start to doubt myself, my faith, my heart.   It makes me question how I can have this anger when every where I go in Christian circles I’m told over and over… what’s in the heart comes out on the tongue or in the actions.  If you aren’t showing love then you don’t have Christ within.  So how to I manage those two things?   How do I see my faith is real when my actions so often, in times of stress or concern or feeling ignored…. don’t result in love or patience or anything like that being shown?   How can I yell at the one who died so my sin doesn’t have to rule my body?

Therein lies the struggle doesn’t it?   Between the here and the what should be.  God is always in control.  My hubby didn’t NEED to text me when he did…but he did. That was a needful God moment, to give me a moment to stop, breathe, think my actions through.  To use adrenaline for the purpose God created it for…awakeful, alertness to keeps one surviving. 

And so through God’s orchestration, I see his grace reaching out to me.

Through yelling and conversation I realized again… My God reigns.  He’s fully in control and aware of all that occurs.  He handles hurt and pain and anger and he changes and moves and makes things better. His control.  His reign.  Always. Remember it.

 

Crafty Ideas from Junk

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crafty ideas from junk

Crafty Ideas from Junk is a book I pulled from my art shelves.   It’s not a large book by any means but has a number of fun crafts in it to delight your budding artist.   (or simply a child looking for some way to occupy their time) Games, robots, necklaces and plant holders are just a few of the activities waiting to be discovered.

crafty ideas from junk

Each craft/activity comes with a needed supplies list.  Some are more loose in their requirements than others, as well as instructions following. I found that some of the directions left me a bit confused as to what I was to do first or next or just how to accomplish the task at hand, but that gives the opportunity to do some problem solving, which is a great part of doing crafts isn’t it?  To have to figure some of it on your own.   Helps make the craft or game more your own.

crafty ideas from junk

One of the things I would like to do with a Co-op class sometime is to have a “make games for your siblings class”.  I look at the instructions above and think… this would be a great game to older kids to make for their siblings.   What do you think?

crafty ideas from junk

More than 25 crafts, games and activities fill the pages of this softcover tomb by Myrna Daitz.   Children will find themselves encouraged in their efforts to keep themselves busy.   I like this little book and it will rejoin the others on my shelf. Perhaps in the spring I’ll actually host a “Make a gift for your Siblings class”.  Would be fun don’t you think?

crafty ideas from junk
Crafty Ideas from Junk
Myrna Daitz
Exley Publications Ltd
48 pages, softcover,
art book, elementary, craft, art

 

Wizardry with the boys

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This past weekend I went to the festival of wizardry twice. On Friday I went with my son, and then on Saturday I went with my temporary son.  🙂  

Friday we ended up getting sent home since we had a spell of high winds come through that threatened the lives of people.   We helped a vendor put their stuff away after working in the children’s tent for about 30 minutes. 

festival of wizardryI had just enough time to mostly finish my wand.  We were given the instruction of “inspire others” so making a wand and chatting as we did so seemed a great way to do that. 

festival of wizardry wandMy son liked this quote so I snapped a pic.

festival of wizardry quoteOn Saturday, our student and I went up.  Originally I had planned to go with the lad and our student on the Saturday but they miss-booked us and the lad had a cadets thing come up and couldn’t go.  So we worked with the miss-booking and went two days in a row.

Anyways, we were assigned to helping mind the gate but they had lots of volunteers there, instead we went to the non-alcoholic bar and served drinks, cookies and candied.   We were run off our feet but had a lot of fun!

The Job:

We worked hard for an hour and a half and then needed food, and since I was working twice with a student we got a free lunch voucher.  The lines were horrible for the standard fries, pizza, burger places so we took a chance on a small place doing a perogi with chicken stew dish.  IT WAS FANTASTIC!  I need to learn how to make this it was so very good.  

festival of wizardryBack to work with a student who kept enjoying the caramel sauce.  I gave him fitz but he just grinned at me.  🙂  The ladies working with me grinned at him and told said “teens!”  🙂  So it was all good.  It was good to hear his attempted chatter and the ladies responding to him.  It was such a nice day. 

festival of wizardry

The recipe:

The recipe we used for better beer “caramel sauce, cream soda, and real whipping cream”.   It tasted good but was very sweet. The cookies came in all house colours, glasses and sorting hat.  The glasses were very popular with families with multiple kids because they could break them in half easily.   YES, I bought some and brought them home for the guys. 

festival of wizardryOnce 4 oclock came around we were done for the day so wandered around seeing what all was there.  I was tempted by honey, our student tempted by a neat ornament.  I had no money for things though (since I had bought cookies) so we just bought with our eyes.  I met a lady who wrote what looks like an interesting book so I talked to her about reviewing it.  🙂 

We heard some noise so headed over to see what was going on and discovered a game of quidditch was going on…. a match between Toronto and Guelph. It’s an immensely confusing game…..

festival of wizardryJust so you know… we learned that bacon flavoured cotton candy tastes good but wrong.  🙂   The vendor said it was a good seller combined with her maple flavour.  I told her I believed that but wasn’t brave enough to buy any.  I did take a sample stick home to hubby who liked it.  🙂  (I told her I thought he would).  

That was our wizardry weekend.  SHOULD you ever be up this way in September of 2019, come join us at the Festival of Wizardry.  It’s a good time!

festival of wizardy

 

Love One Another

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Augustine once said “Remember, we are washed in the same blood.”   Doesn’t that comment just make you think?  Doesn’t it just highlight to you how we are all part of one family.   ALL believers in Christ have been cleansed by the same blood, the blood of Christ.  We are all part therefore of one big family.  It’s good that eh?

Sometimes, oh sometimes, we are so caught up in being doctrinally correct that we lose sight of the fact that we are family, and forget to treat each other like it.

love one another
Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

We need to love each other like family.  And just like families do, we can call each other out when we act inappropriately, or have faulty thinking, but we do so from the vantage point of love.  We don’t want our loved one going places, or thinking places, or acting in ways that aren’t suitable.

So when we talk with other believers, even if their faith is divergent from our own (for instance believers baptism vs covenant baptism), we don’t have to act like, or treat them like they are horrible for having a different standard.  The question always comes down to this… do these other believers love God, do they see that Christ’s death is the only answer to the sin in our lives, do they embrace God’s word as God’s word and believe in it wholly?   If they do, they are brothers and sisters in Christ, they are family.  Shouldn’t we treat them as such?

These are my people; we have been washed in the same blood, sanctified by the same Spirit, and loved by the same Father. (Ian Hamilton, The faith-shaped life) Click To Tweet

Doesn’t mean it’s easy, in fact loving family can be downright messy, but let love be the first guide.  Let love draw us into unity with each other instead of letting our differences drive us apart.

…….

Do you want to follow along?   Faith Shaped Life is available on amazon.

How Sweet The Name of Jesus Sounds

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I was looking for a hymn to post this week and this one caught my eye.  I’ve have sung it often over the years, it’s a short, easy to sing song based on Song of Solomon 1:3: which reads, “Your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you.”

how sweet the name of jesus sounds

John Newton is the author of this hymn. Preaching in a church in Olney he wanted to find a way to help the common people remember God’s word more clearly. This led him to start creating simple songs for them to learn, with easy melodies so they could more easily bring God into their lives.

Lyrics

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
’Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary rest.

Dear name! the rock on which I build,
My shield and hiding place,
My never failing treasury filled
With boundless stores of grace!

By Thee my prayers acceptance gain,
Although with sin defiled;
Satan accuses me in vain,
And I am owned a child.

Jesus! my shepherd, husband, friend,
O prophet, priest and king,
My Lord, my life, my way, my end,
Accept the praise I bring.

Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see Thee as Thou art,
I’ll praise Thee as I ought.

Till then I would Thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath,
And may the music of Thy name
Refresh my soul in death!

Come, Everyone Who is Thirsty

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In church this morning we sang a song new to me.  Come, everyone who is thirsty.  I thought the lyrics were pretty good and though it was hard to sing (new to me and organist picked a tune different than in the book) I thought it would be good share with you all.

Come everyone who is thirsty

Written by Lucy Rider Meyer was an American who followed a varied educational progress.  She went to medical school with the intent of becoming a medical missionary, then her fiancee died so she stopped attending.  She was the principal of a school before getting a degree in Chemistry.. which she then taught.  Overtime she became convinced the religious leaders needed better training.   Together with her husband she opened up the  Chicago Training School for City, Home, and Foreign Missions .    She didn’t hold that God caused the bible to be written but merely that it was written by inspired men. She was a strong protagonist for female deaconesses. It was an old office apparently revived in Germany.  It was based upon biblical precedent, that deaconesses cared for the poor and the sick, helped conduct interviews of women, trained women preparing for baptism, and then assisted at their baptisms. She thought it was an important role that should be revived. She worked toward that end.  She wrote songs, books and maintained a periodical called The Deaconess Advocate.

The two versions I’m sharing today are quite different from each other, they have their own pros eh? 🙂

 

1 Come everyone who is thirsty in spirit;
Come, everyone who is weary and sad.
Come to the fountain, there’s fullness in Jesus –
All that you’re longing for; Come and be glad!

Refrain:
“I will pour water on him that is thirsty;
I will pour floods upon the dry ground.
Open your heart for the gifts I am bringing;
While ye are seeking Me I will be found.”

2 Child of the world, are you tired of your bondage?
Weary of earth-joys, so false, so untrue?
Thirsting for God and His fullness of blessing?
List to the promise, a message for you. [Refrain]

3 Child of the Kingdom, be filled with the Spirit!
Nothing but fullness thy longing can meet.
’Tis the enduement for life and for service.
Thine is the promise, so certain, so sweet! [Refrain]