"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query stephen miller. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query stephen miller. Sort by date Show all posts

Friday, December 12, 2008

Ramblings!

Finished it! The book I mentioned recently... uh, let's see. It's The Complete Guide to the Bible by Stephen Miller. It had 510 pages, but the writing was big and it had colorful pictures throughout! I read the last half of it while walking the elliptical here in the house. It made the time pass quickly and I got through that book much faster than if I'd merely read a few pages each evening. As the name implies (sort of), it's a summary of each book along with certain facts concerning the teachings of the book. I didn't always agree with the author as his interpretation was a bit different than I was used to, but overall it was a nice read. Now I can read some of the new books that I've been getting lately in the mail. I think I'm only waiting on one that I ordered a few days ago.

Today I went to Wal-mart. I had time to spare, needed a lot of stuff for the family party next Saturday and I was in one of those browsing-at-leisure moods so I left home around 11 AM. I'd eaten an early lunch since I'd only had carrot, broccoli and beet juice for breakfast. I made a quick stop at my workplace and then was at Wal-mart around 11:30ish. I noticed gas was $1.55 ($1.52 with Walmart shopping card) .. not cheap enough so I thought I'd get it elsewhere later. When I came out of Wal-mart two-and-a-half hours later (yes!), gas dropped 6 cents so with the Wal-mart shopping card, I paid $1.46/gallon. I filled up my car.

I looked at many many items and bought 39. No, I didn't count them. It was printed on the end of my receipt in rather big writing. I enjoyed looking around and actually marking most everything off my list. I ran into an old high school classmate's mom and talked to Mrs. Evans for a few minutes. It was good seeing her.

Last night Andrew and Will went to play basketball, but Will sprained his ankle after about 30 minutes of play. When Andrew dropped off Will, Michael came over and said in a matter-of-fact way, "So, Dad, you hurt your ankle again, huh?" He then acted as if he were going to massage it, but Will stopped him before he did that. Michael was helping to get off the other tennis shoe and said, "Let's see if this baby can walk." Since Steph didn't have an ice pack or ice, Will used a bag of frozen greenbeans or stir fry to ice his ankle.

Sunday night we went to Michael's church Christmas program. Michael really sang out and seemed to enjoy the program. He asked me Tuesday, "Did you like my play?" He was still talking about various aspects of it. It was about a spelling bee, but very Christmasy, of course. The contestants spelled various names and descriptions of Jesus.

Andrew's friend, Al, was over here Wednesday night. He had graduation rehearsal on Thursday morning, and Southeastern is quite a ways from his home in Lynchburg, VA so he asked to stay here. We ate supper at Andrew's parents' house since Al loves FIL's barbeque. We talked a good while and then Andrew and Al went to the basement to play pool. We watched some of Al's scuba diving video from his trip to Aruba.

Yesterday we got 2.75 inches of rain. Since Andrew wasn't working, we went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch and then rode over to the old mall and walked around for a bit. Went by Goody's since it's going out of business. We didn't buy anything there. I found a purse at Sears that Andrew got me for Christmas. Very no-nonsense, smallish, black purse -- my style! I saw my friend Denise for about 15 minutes. She works at Victoria's Secret and I happened to see her as we were passing that store. I had not seen her in literally months so it was great talking to her for a few minutes.

I sent off my Christmas cards on Monday. I didn't do as many this year ... 39, I think. I have gotten a few in the mail this week. I really enjoy going to the mailbox this time of year and seeing pictures especially!

Last night I wrote "Hey, Christian! Remember this?" on my other blog. I discussed some of these things with Al while he was in town. I'm trying to find out why Christian Zionists blindly support a group of people who are oppressive and murderers when God is so clearly not that way. In fact, He sternly addresses Israel in the Old Testament and one example is in Isaiah 1. Here are just a few of those verses.

15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;

16 wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,

17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.




I think I've rambled enough for now. Oh, I absolutely loved Survivor last night! Andrew watched it tonight on the internet, and I watched the last 20 minutes again. I'll post this now.


Friday, January 2, 2009

Books I Read in 2008

I checked just this morning. List started in January 1999. This means for ten years now I have kept a list of books I finished throughout the year! Most years I read 99.9% fiction -- usually of the historical, Christian or mystery varieties. But this year I only read 2 fiction books and 35 non-fiction ones! Quite the change! I wrote reviews for each book throughout the year. Some are just short things, others more extensive. Click on the titles below if you are interested. Hopefully I did the links correctly. :-)




List of Books Read in 2008

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese

The Destiny of Muslims in the End Times by Faisal Malick

To My Muslim Friends
by Anise Behnam

The Crescent Through the Eyes of the Cross by Nabeel Jabbour

The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel

Does My Head Look Too Big in This by Randa Abdel Fattah

Meeting Islam: A Guide for Christians by George Dardess

The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun & Paul Hattaway

The New Answers Book by Ken Ham, general editor

The Shack by William P. Young

Being Arab by Samir Kassir

The Bible Exposition Commentary Vol. I
by Warren Weirsbe

Scratch Beginnings: Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepherd

Victory for Us Is to See You Suffer by Philip Winslow

Too Christian Too Pagan
by Dick Staub

The Faith by Charles Colson

The Attentive Life by Leighton Ford

Called to Die by Steve Estes

Mary Louise's Opus by Mary Louise Mason

Unshackled & Growing by Nabeel Jabbour

Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby

The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan

Daring Chloe by Laura Jensen Walker

Muslims, Christians, Jesus by Carl Medearis

Standing with Israel by David Brog

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson

Once an Arafat Man by Taysir Saada
& Dean Merrill

Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg

The Complete Guide to the Bible by Stephen Miller

Christianity Today study series on Islam

Children of Hope by Vernon Brewer & Noel Brewer Yeatts

Mission Al Jazeera by Josh Rushing

Rethinking Holy Land by Marlin Jeschke

Defining Moments by Vernon Brewer

Friday, December 5, 2008

Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9

6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.


I must admit that Jesus has been all those things to me lately. He has been a Wonderful Counselor -- giving me instruction on how to deal with situations. He especially made Philippians 4 (see below) more real to me. That goes along with the Prince of Peace description because as He promised, when we are anxious about nothing and instead present our prayers to Him with thanksgiving, the peace of God does come down to us ... and, really, it is beyond human understanding. It gives a quiet, inner strength and joy as well. Have I arrived? Goodness, no. It's often a daily, sometimes hourly struggle with worry and fear, but when I remember the faithfulness of God AND the fact that I put my trust in Him - the Mighty God and the caring, loving Father -- I have that sweet peace in my heart.

I am eager to see how God will work and glorify Himself. I am thankful I serve a God Who cares and Who is involved wholeheartedly in the affairs of humans. I don't serve one who sits back with indifference.

My Lord cares. He's involved in all the details.

I love this from a book I am presently reading. Concerning Job, the author states: "Job now realizes that all his deep-sounding philosophical questions about suffering are the mutterings of a fool. He can't begin to understand why God lets good people suffer. And he doesn't have the creativity or the foresight to think of ways God could actually use suffering to help the sufferer, as well as to help others." (pg. 153 --The Complete Guide to the Bible by Stephen M. Miller)

In a way it goes along with something I read this week in the Voice of the Martyrs publication for this month:

"Some of those who persecute the Christians in Vietnam are turning to Christ. We receive reports of Vietnamese policemen interrupting meetings, following Christians to a river baptism, or interrogating men and women in a police station. When the people they arrest show the mercy, grace and love of the Savior, these authorities are puzzled, then stunned. These captors become captives of the kingdom of forgiveness. (How often we forget that those who insult and harass Christians are our mission field.)" -- pg. 12

That part in parenthesis was a wake-up call to me! How I long to snap back at those who insult me and those I love. Oh, that I will be filled with God's love and forgiveness instead!

The Lord has been using these words to help me recently.

Philippians 4


4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Even if you cannot rejoice in your circumstances, you can always rejoice in the goodness of the Lord! Give this passage a try and see how God will reward your obedience with that unexplainable peace.