Sebastian Bach - Skid Row

I never cared for his music even when it was the decade of hairbands. I was reading about the flooding and damaged caused by Irene and got the link to an article. His house devastated, that isn't' the reason I am doing this though. He posted that he was wondering if he should stay or go dealing with the house. He then posted something that caught my eye.

Well, God has other plans for me it seems,” he writes. “I just think He is giving me a much needed push, is all.

I think that the first part is kind of generic, something a pseudo Christian would write, but when he writes the second half and capitalizes the H in he, it makes me think there is something a bit more than just words. He acknowledges that God is in his life and is directing it.

I am sure that he is upset over his house but for him to say what he said in such a huge public way, I am impressed. His persona is not Christian, its not anti Christian either but it makes me want to dig deeper. I think people like him can make more of an impact to an out of control sinner than most Christians. I think it first shocks then slowly seeps in to ones soul when they find out that someone they admire is actually a Christian.

We are to be a light in the dark world. That means we are to go out among the sinners and stand out. I think that if he doesn't bat an eye saying what he says, he might not be the Christian he is supposed to be but he is doing something of utmost importance, He is planting the seed.

Its easy to be Christian among like minded friends, its easy to be a Christian when you volunteer.
Not so easy to be a Christian among coworkers who don't share your belief, it doesn't mean you should hide who you are it just means you are the light in their dark world.

My husband has caused people to consider their faith because he stays strong in a very hard line of work. He used to lament about how hard it was to rise above what they were doing at work. I never understood it until the death of a friend. We were at his funeral and all of his coworkers were sitting around us in church. The one that calls me 'momma' and 2 others behind us were cursing just having a normal conversation. I was very uncomfortable and praying the whole time they were talking. They said the Lords name in vain and then without taking a breath went with the Lords prayer that had started. That scared me so bad that I scooted up in my seat to have some physical separation. I then whispered an apology to Chris. He nodded because he understood that I saw what he had to deal with. Then I changed my prayers to better fit the situation.


I often look up stars or musicians to see who is Christian and who keeps quiet. I wish I had the ability to interview celebrities on their faith. Can you imagine reading about Denzel about his faith.(Actually, beliefnet has, lucky dogs!) I wish I could have that opportunity to interview them lol.

Anyway, thank you Sebastian Bach for planting the seed for millions of people.

Bible Study

I have to tell you, when I get a bible study in my hands I often get excited to see what God is going to show me in the pages, sometimes its my failures, sometimes its wisdom and sometimes its a reflection on how much work He has done in my life or how far I have to go.

I got my new bible study book, I prayed that Chris and I finished it wiser than when we started.
As I was reading the prefaced information, I got excited. Kind of like Horeshack. It talked about understanding why evil is in the world.

In my opinion, evil exists so that we can consciously turn away from it and toward God. How can we truly understand His undeniable power if there is no test? How can we understand faith if there is nothing to question the existence. How can we be stewards of Gods Word if we don't see anything else but Gods Word? How can we possibly understand the power of God if there is nothing to deliver us from?

I can't wait to see the authors opinion.
I listen to sermons when I feel that they are inspired by the word of God, when I hear certain things in the sermon, it could be how a personal memory scripture is spoken in the sermon or maybe its the way something is termed. I think that it is conforming the wisdom that God is imparting to me. It makes me feel like I am on the right track.

An example would be that when we were discussing politics(Which I hate discussing)Someone kept talking about the Republican party is the only way to go and that the abortion views are the litmus test for them. I told her that honestly, I pray on which way God wants me to vote, whether it is to bring us, as a nation, to our knees or to bring us to His glory and as far as abortion went, how many people have been in office that have been against it but yet done nothing to try to stop it? This person was not happy with me in the least. While I am sure my IQ is questioned when I say that it gets them to understand who I am aligned with. 2 weeks later, I was in the service and my pastor said 'It doesn't matter if you are Rep or Dem or Ind, what you should do is pray for who you should vote for.' I was so happy to get that little affirmation to know that I was on the right track.

Its little things like that which encourage me to keep going.
God has given me physical affirmation like that always makes me feel on top of the world.

I can't wait to see what He has in store for me between the pages of this book.

Fail

Well, I am always the first to realize being a Christian is NOT easy, if it was everyone would be on the bandwagon. Part of being godly is never forgetting your place in the world. I failed. Today when we first got up we found out our vehicles were broken in to as was our garage. Instead of keeping a cool head, I worked up a righteous steam of fury. How dare they! They were less than 20ft away from my daughters. If I think of that I have a hard time keeping my fear and fury in check.
About an hour after I posted, I became ashamed. God had convicted me. Its just things he took. He didn't get our children, my mother who was drinking coffee when it happened, or our dog. He just took things. I am warring with myself. On the one hand, I do my best to 'store my treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where robbers cannot steal.' but on the other hand, they have broken the law. Chris asked me where my faith is. I even felt more ashamed for my thinking. I am very blessed that my husband was there with encouragement.
I am thinking I am going to bed early tonight because I failed so horribly today.

Wow!

So Chris went to go pick Abby up from her first youth mini concert. She was watching Over Everest. When Chris got home he told me he saw an old coworker playing with Ted.
Chris was catching up with him and found out that he had surrendered to the ministry and he was at the church that my son has been going to with his girlfriend.
When my husband told the guy who my son was, his face lit up and was telling husband that he was in the exact same shoes as my son. He has been mentoring him through the whole thing and telling him to keep his chin up, do what you need to do no matter what everyone says.

It really made my evening. Austin has gotten so much grief even though it takes 2 to make a baby.
Its nice to know he has someone at that church who is a friend to him.

Its funny how God allows us little doors in which to see things we normally wouldn't see. An old coworker mentoring my son. We wouldn't have known other than my son talking about this guy who is 'really cool'.

Thank you Lord for the friends Austin has at that church.

Satan, You can't have my children!

I am currently reading this book. It is opening my eyes to the way I pray. The scripture that struck me is Romans 4:17 'As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations.'
God gave Abraham hope of things to come.
It was before Issac and Ishmael were born.(I know its not the correct birth order but Ishmael's line gave birth to muslims and was physical reminder of Abraham and Saras lack of faith.)
Both he and Sara were over 100 years old. They both lacked faith. When God presents you with something, where does your faith stand?
I had lost my Bible which made me feel out of sorts, I tried with other bibles but it just wasn't the same.
When Chris was laid off, it struck me how far I had come with my personal faith. I just thought 'Ok God, I can't wait to see you work through this.' (I used to work over time figuring out worst case scenarios on how we would live, picking out cardboard boxes, melodramatic I know but that's how my brain works.) The first month was disappointment in the world but amazement at what God had done by setting us up in such a way to 'make it' on unemployment which is over half less than what he normally makes.
The second month, stress set in. Not in our faith in God but wondering how long we were going to go through this. When Chris' faith would wane, I would step up and vice-versa.
With the third month came doubts, 'Lord, have I done something offensive? Did I miss something? I know I have frustration when it came to my job and how I was let go and the gossip that ensued but I've been honest and asking for help...what did I do wrong?' I also found out I was going to be a grandmother and that the girls parents were wanting my son to go to jail. I started asking more questions and begging forgiveness. I didn't know what I had done.

Then Chris got a job and things started to turn around and I got perspective. God provided for us when we thought it was impossible, God had brought us through this 'desert'. He promised to be there for us and His plans are not to harm us but to prosper us. I lost sight of that for a while.
Its been a few weeks and He is showing me that it was a way to 'grow' my faith.

Becoming a grandmother will be a beautiful gift. No child is born without God's blessing. While the timing is messed up God will use this for His master plan. Maybe it will be part of B and A's testimony. Maybe its to show us that as parents we can only do so much for our children's walk, it has to be a conscious effort on their part to make it fruitful. It may even be used as a way to help forge a fortified bridge where there was just a rope between the two families. Who knows? Certainly not me. God knows, but its up to Him to reveal it in His perfect timing.

My Bible!

I lost my bible a long time ago. I was upset over it. I would use another bible but it wasn't my bible. I found it yesterday and I had to wonder what exactly it was about that particular bible that made me miss it so. Did I idolize it? Did I put more worth in it than others? When I touched the familiar leather saw the faded gold I realized that I didn't idolize it, I just missed it like an old friend.

Flipping through the pages seeing the different ways its been worn, reminded me of what I shared with this particular book. Not only does it hold Gods Word, it holds some of my tears, memories and triumphs.
The tear stains map out struggles in my life, the church split, my dad dying, worry over my children all shown in the round ripples over the scripture.
Some pages are marked with lines, some with stars, church programs with notes furiously written to keep up with the message being spoken to me, all crammed in its pages. A note from my daughter, a book mark given to me by traveling evangelist from the Honduras, a bookmark given to me by one of the kids in my class. All memories that remind me to pray. All things I could live without but so very thankful I don't have to.
Some pages hold memories of reward for waiting on God's timing not my own or of a time of struggle.

All of the pages hold hope for me for showing me how far I have come since I have had the bible. I imagine that it will be retired one day but for now, I'll treasure it like the old friend that it is.

Someone please explain to me....

Can someone please explain to me why or how gossip is the better sin? Sex is a sin, I know that, being gay is a sin, so is vanity, gossip, lying, murder, adultery, gluttony, greed,judgment, etc. What makes someone who thumbs their nose part of Gods word any better than the person who thumbs their nose at any other part of Gods word. I am a sinner, sometimes its gossip, sometimes its lying, sometimes its gluttony, take your pick, I've done all at one time or another. I am not proud of it by any stretch of the imagination. Knowing I am a sinner and recognizing it for what it is keeps me humble.

I do consider myself a work in progress. I can't ever imagine a time when I am not learning. Raising kids is a tricky process. I've raised them in the church, I have tried to lead by example with every thing I do. I am slow to anger and when my children are picked on or gossiped about, I stuff 'momma bear' mode down deep and try to teach them how to rise above it all and try to be godly in everything they do. Sometimes I fail miserably. Teaching them I have learned more about myself in the process.

Some of the hurtful things I have heard about my family and my son has made it very difficult to stuff the 'momma bear' mode. People I have figured as godly people that I thought had 'done it right' where raising children was concerned have been saying some seriously mean and nasty things about my son. They have been gossiping. I think the only difference between the sins of premarital sex and gossip is that you can get caught in a very public way and you can't deny it.
Austin's girlfriend is pregnant. Some of the things his girlfriend has been told is just wrong. Sex is NOT the worst sin in the world. Possibly one of the most hurtful to the parents but not the worst. The denial of Christ is THE worst. People forget that so easily, it makes me wonder where their heart is.

I've been judged as a horrible parent. I've done the best I can. My kids know scripture, they know Christ, they know what miracle has been worked in our lives because He loves us, we have been active in church we have done everything that we know to do. I've walked the walk and talked the talk. I've been honest(much to the dismay of my children) about sex. I've told them about what God says about it and about how we should conduct ourselves but like all kids, there is a part of them that says 'they know better'. I also get that teens are teens. As much as I would love to think that they didn't think of the opposite sex, I know that's not true either. I've done the best and I don't care what others think but they think my kids are horrible. That couldn't be further from the truth and it breaks my heart.

The thing is that when the world judges me, I could care less because I wear the banner of Christ proudly. Mainly though, the world doesn't care. Its the Christian brothers and sisters, some I don't even know that are tearing my family to shreds with their cruel words and judgements.

Thankfully God knows me better than I know myself, He also knows my husband and children and maybe even my mother(A whole different ball of wax). I am thankful that He has also given me the wisdom to know that I am blessed that I have a few friends that I can trust with my life and my children and my heart. I know that they will be there for me and my family through thick and thin which is more precious than gold.

I realize this is a very random post but I am growing weary of defending my kids against gossip mongers and the like.