Grace Standards

I love finding little Biblical gems...little truths that are invaluable and priceless. This last year, God showed our family one of these pearls of great price:

Scripture is clear that God is and wants to be active in every aspect of each believer's life. He guides us and gives direction to our lives, often with very clear statements from the Bible and at other times, by giving us "promptings" that are very personal, and that should be obeyed in faith but should not be interpreted as obligations for all Christians. People often assume that how God has led them, is how He is leading others; this bring bondage to both parties.

Some Christians use a form of religious speak that can intimidate other believers, especially when a claim is made that, "God told me to tell you..." This can be intimidating to new Christians who are eager to do things right and please their Savior.

As God leads us into a certain style or emphasis based on our unique gifts and experiences, these "leadings" should never be used as the basis for judging another's spirituality.
Proverbs 6:22 says:

When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

So, the question is, how can we not be judgmental and at the same time have the freedom to be who we are in Christ? How do we apply grace in the context of standards of contact and choices?

This brings us to:

THE THREE P's

(Think of this like a pyramid)

Precepts are the explicit Commands written in the Word of God--the "Thou Shalts" & "Thou Shalt Nots". For example, the 10 Commandments in the Old Testament, and Christ's 49 Commands in the New Testament.

Principles are the priorities that the Bible inculcates: things we all agree are important but are applied in very personal ways, through the Conviction of the Holy Spirit, such as stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to us, the number of our children, ministry participation, the importance of daily prayer and Bible reading. There are certain "Blessings" & "Cursings" for each one.

Preferences are personal styles and likes. Often, these preferences are actually off shoots of the principles, and when built upon a Biblical Foundation, many times, your preferences will reveal what your gifts are. It is at this level (and the one above) that personal perspectives often threaten healthy relationships, when taken out of balance.

Why is this important?? 1 Corinthians 4:5-7 says:

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

Growing in the "grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" that results in Him receiving glory "now and forever" (2 Peter 3:18) is the path of the maturing Christian life!

Recently, I came upon two similar thought lines, that are not as condensed as above, but add some more food for thought:
4 Step Pyramid:
Precepts (God's Commands-like above)
Principles (Like above, except it is just those things that are Biblically important but are applied personally-like stewardship.)
Promptings (Similar to Principles, except are distinctly the convictions that God speaks to us--as in what ministry He calls us to.)
Preferences (Styles & Likes)

5 Steps Pyramid:
Prayer (For the Spirit to help us understand the Word of God)
Precepts (Like above-Our Foundation)
Principles (Biblical priorities-importance of prayer and Bible reading)
Providence (Set Limitations-If it makes you sick to hear about medical procedures, you probably aren't cut out to be a doctor)
Preference (Like above)

I hope this is a blessing to you as it has been to me...if understood and applied correctly, these pearls can be life changing, and extremely freeing. The dilemma is applying these truths in every situation.....

To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgement, and equity; to give subtility to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 

 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

~ Proverbs 1:2-4, 7 ~

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (literally "do"-Matt. 7:24).

~ Matthew 11:15 ~

Fishing in Hell's Canyon

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

~ Psalms 19:1-3 ~

How can anyone, looking at the world around us, doubt that it was made by a Creator? As it has been said, "I don't have enough faith to think it was created by 'chance'...I only have enough faith to believe that we have a Creator, and even then, I sometimes doubt His will for me."

The cabins where we stayed

Our fishing trip outside of Lewiston was amazing and perfect in every way. The weather was beautiful (even when rainy), the fish were biting (except they weren't), and the fellowship we shared was sublime. 19 made the number of our party, between our 13 including Oma and Grampaw and Daniel (who flew out from Illinois for 5 days, specifically to go fishing with us), the Gaul Family (5), and our guide-Brett Dayton.

Back Row: Papa, Grampaw, Oma, Colter, Mrs. & Mr. Gaul, Brett, Bridger, Daniel, David
Front Row: Mama, Josiah, Rachel, Esther, James, Alyssa, Me, Samuel, Rebekah

In total, I think we caught around 50 fish, 45 of which, we ate at our fish fry (delish!!). There were mostly small mouth bass, though I think some individuals caught some catfish, other bottom feeders, and maybe a couple trout.

We always kiss our fishes...but Samuel wanted to eat his ;p

Ain't it a beaut?!? 

Rock Fishing....Me & Samuel

My big brothers!!!

Bridger & Josiah with the fish they caught 

Rebekah and her catch

Alyssa in her natural habitat

David and one of his catches

Bank Fishing...look at that fog!!

The river was at an all-time high...trying to flood it's banks, and so our sturgeon fishing didn't turn out like we hoped, but Samuel did catch a baby one Friday morning....SO cute!!!!!

Look at this Slide!! About a Class 5 rapids
What you can't see, is that if our boat was in it (which it wasn't), there would be 3 "holes" you wouldn't be able to see it, because of the wave patterns.

We definitely had our fill of adventures...between:

Climbing up Mountains,

Exploring caves,

Boating through Class 3 rapids,

Looking at Petroglyphs,

Collecting posies for our Mamas,

and....most memorably (for me) falling into the river. :) It was an accident, and thankfully, I caught a hold of the bars on the boat, and was able to hold on, with Samuel's help, who was immediately there (wow is he strong!!!), until Mr. Gaul pulled me out. I remember thinking "Wow! The water is actually pretty warm! I think I can hold on for a good bit!!" Thankfully, we weren't in the middle of the river, so the water wasn't as rapid as it could have been. That was a very memorable experience!! :)

Some members were a little too friendly with the cactus, and we sadly found out that cactus likes to take advantage of hospitality, and expelling them from your 'homes' can be difficult and time consuming, plus cleaning up the mess they leave behind....Campho-Phenique works wonders!! ;p

Poison Ivy was rampant in different parts-particularly on the Idaho/Oregon border...it sure is pretty though!

Poison Ivy: Looks like Mint, 3 leaves together, and has a greasy look

Of course, you can't be by a river, and not have a stone skipping competition!!

 You ever seen a potato playing a piano??? Neither had I!!! :)

Esther loving up big brother Daniel

 I love doing hair....and I LOVE braids. Thankfully, I had a willing victim...love using fishing line for hair ties!! :)

I think my favorite memory made, was spending time in the early mornings, fellowshipping with God as the sun came up, and the river sounds in my ears; and having wonderful discussions about different Biblical topics with individuals. What a blessing it is, to be able to fellowship with likeminded believers!!!

The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the people see His glory. For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: Thou art exalted far above all gods. Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.

~ Psalms 97:6 & 12 ~

Going Fishing

We're going on a 2.5 day fishing trip with some close friends on the Salmon River in Hell's Canyon.... Going to catch Bass and see some Sturgeon!!! Woohoo!!!

And best yet, Daniel came home to go with us!!! He's here for 5 days!!!!

Just for kicks, look up askew on Google.

Just do it...

And He saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

~ Matthew 4:19 ~

The utmost calling in life!!!

Venia

A young friend of ours in the Movie industry just came out with his 2nd film called VENIA, (latin), meaning 'grace, indulgence, favor, pardon, and forgiveness'.

Inspiring and convicting, I would encourage everyone to watch this short 9 minute video:

But I say unto you which hear (do), Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid no to take thy coat also.

Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

~ Luke 6:27-31, 35-36 ~

Attn: Mac Users--New Virus

FYI: I used the Scripts myself to make sure my Mac is clear, and Praise the Lord, it is.

First of all, PC users probably think we Mac people are weird to be all 'hyped up' about 'a virus'..but this is a little infamously semi-revolutionary for us Mac users, because our computers aren't susceptible to the thousands of viruses plaguing Windows-based computers...(Thanks to Apple!)

However, in the past week, it hit the News that 600,000 Macs -- mostly in the U.S. and Canada -- are infected with a trojan horse virus called "Flashback".

Flashback was originally discovered in September 2011 and was designed to disguise itself as an Adobe Flash Player installer, using Flash player logos. After installing Flashback, the malware seeks out use names and passwords that are stored on your Mac.

The resurgence of Flashback appears to take advantage or Java runtime for OS X. Apple issued a patch this week though it didn't mention Flashback  by name. The patch is available for OS X 10.6 and 10.7 as well as for OS X Lion 2012-011.

"There are no visible symptoms for this Mac virus, except for making sporadic connections to unknown servers that can be only seen in the Firewall logs, if any firewall is in place," Boris Sharov, CEO of Doctor Web which originally found the virus, told Mashable. "The symptoms also depend on the payload that may be downloaded upon the command from the control server."

Although Sharov said it's difficult to prevent contracting the virus, it's not impossible.
"The bad thing about these types of infections is that it is hard to prevent them without disconnecting one's computer from the Internet all together. We advise Mac users to strictly follow Apple's security updates. Don't neglect them. Unfortunately, the number of infected computers are still increasing, which means that users are careless about security patches, and they shouldn't be."

Sharov also advised Mac users to install anti-virus software, even though many think it's unnecessary to do so for Apple computers.

Thanks to Mashable, there is an easy way to see if your Mac has been infected. They wrapped all the command line code into two AppleScripts. Why two? There are actually two areas of your hard drive that need to be checked for nasty files. These files simply run the terminal commands and let the users know if they have anything to worry about.
They aren't the most beautiful creations, but they do the job.
You can download the scripts here (hosted by CloudApp). After unzipping, simply double-click on the "trojan-check" and "trojan-check-2".
If either of the scripts report something other than "does not exist", go to F-Secure's website and follow their removal instructions.

Even if you aren't infected, make sure you install the latest Apple security update for Java to fix the vulnerability that allowed this nasty exploit to exist in the first place.

(Thanks to Mashable for the information)

Passover Seder

Tonight, our church is having a Seder dinner. It is always such a blessed time, and I am very much looking forward to it tonight. I found this very interesting, in regards to how Jewish/Judaeo Christian Seder dinners usually progress.

Last month, Mama and I watched/listened 'The Feasts of the Lord' by Pastor Mark Biltz. I would highly recommend everyone to listen to it. You can listen to it free on their website or purchase DVD's with a presentation added as well (best in my opinion).

Pastor Biltz shows how the Spring Feasts were actually 'dress rehearsals' for Jesus' death and resurrection, and how the Fall Feasts will be fulfilled when Jesus comes back the 2nd time.

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put My name upon the children of Israel {of which we are grafted into through Jesus Christ}; and I will bless them.

~ Numbers 6:24-27 ~