Thoughts about Mark

James Earl Jones was telling me about Mark, chapters 1 and 2 on my way to school today. There is some interesting things in Mark, and having them read by James Earl Jones (who could have the best storytelling voice EVER) as well as the fact that the version he reads from is KJV, I guess I thought about the stories I'd heard before in new ways.. pretty neat.

First is in Mark 1:21-28. It's the story where Jesus goes to Capernaum (well, I didn't really know about Capernaum, so I googled it.. this is a neat site.. if you click on the link, you can see pictures of Galilee.. I guess to actually SEE where all of this went down.. it makes it more real or something. This was a small place.. maybe only 1500 people in the whole town (my high school was bigger!) And from Mark 1:14-18...imagine being like Simon and Andrew standing there on the shore of the sea in that first picture, casting your net into the ocean, minding your own business and having some random guy you've never met come up to you and say, "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men" Whoa. They must have seen something incredibly amazing in this man, because the next verse says, "At once they left their nets and followed him.") (Can I just say that as I am sitting here blogging this, for the first time in a little while, my heart came alive within me. It is good to sit and think about my precious Jesus and the stories that prove Him time and again as rightful king of my heart. Funny how you can give thanks for ipods and blogs, haha..)

ANYWAY...

back to Mark 1:21-28... i like how, before Jesus ever even addresses him, the man who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazzareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are- the Holy One of God!" Jesus then rebukes the spirit, it comes out of him and the people are amazed. (me too! wow.. can you imagine seeing unfold in real life?! the Bible is true! this really happened! wow.)

Mark then goes on to talk about how Jesus healed a bunch of people... one in particular in Mark 2 really hit me. I was trying to decide what about hearing this story really hit me today because, i've heard it a bazillion times before.. and here's what I came up with:

the word in the KJV for Paralytic is Palsy. Have you ever seen someone with cerebral palsy? How they are so cramped and uncomfortable.. how they are so confined by their own body? I have and my heart hurts for them. It would be such torture to be trapped in your own skin. Also, I went to Pendleton Elementary School yesterday on a field trip to teach little kids about snakes and spiders and bugs and there were two small children there in tiny wheel chairs.. i don't know what they had, but I think that was one of the things that made this passage stand out to me today. (funny how God orchestrates things to show you one thing and teach you something from that)

Well, have you ever thought about how this guy with Palsy had never walked? He was always cramped and contorted so that he could not move? Jesus says to Him that his sins are forgiven. Now, here, when Jesus forgives the man of his sins he is not healed of his palsy. In my mind, upon first reading it, I was relating the two, but upon further inspection, I realize that the man was not afflicted with Palsy because he had sinned, that is a completely separate ailment. Jesus first forgives him of his sin. That's big to me.. think about if Jesus had just performed some miracle on the man and not fogiven his sins, it'd have all been for naught.. and who really cares if you can walk good in this vapor of a life if you spend eternity in hell fire?! Jesus takes care of the big business first and then, only after he hears (without them saying anything, mind you) that there are some there who think he is blasphemying... he says, "which is easier; to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?" Then, to show them he is who he says he is, he tells the guy with Palsy to get up and take his bed and head back home.

This guy has NEVER walked before. And here's where I was particularly amazed (although in blogging it, I have come to be amazed at other parts as well) There was nothing in this guy Jesus had to work with.. by that, I mean, it's not like he gave this guy a regiment of therapy and said.. "listen, if you do these excersizes over the next few months, you should be able to walk..." it's not like this guy had any ability in himself to be able to walk. He had never walked since birth. Jesus right then and there gave him all the power all the muscle all the ability all the cognitive connections it takes to be able to walk. He didn't start off crawling, he never stumbled around and pull himself up by the wall.. The dude just got up and walked out as if he had always been fine. Gosh.
If Jesus can do this.. what is he capable of? He can do anything. I know we always say that, but I guess it hit me afresh today.. and if you have beared with me through this entirely long blog, my hope is that it will hit you afresh as well. We serve a God who is more amazing that anything we could imagine and who is able to do more with us than what our small little pea brains think He can. And it isn't a matter of any little inkling of effort in us that he fosters and grows.. he doesn't give us therapy.. he gives us life.. he gives us ability to move.
I wish I understood better what that looks like in my life.. I have faith that he can do it though, and maybe that's all I need..

things that are good

Jack Johnson's "Banana Pancakes" (i-tunes)

Ice Breakers "Liquid Ice", especially the cinnamon kind (a gas station)

:) enjoy today

It's late and I needed a break, so i blogged...

my heart prefers American Sign Language to English... it captures much better what I mean. I may move to South Dakota so as to be able to appease my heart.

Interested in learning a few signs? click here there's a little lady who lives in the computer who will teach you how to say whatever you ask her. she's a handy little friend.. haha.. no pun intended, well, ok, maybe a little. :)

I downloaded the entire New Testament as read by James Earl Jones from itunes. It's even got a complete musical score. How very delightful. ridin' along in my automobile, instead of hearing that stuff that comes on Christian-talk-radio in the morning, I can listen to the Good News. Man, I love technology.

If you get a sec, please pray for me. I am not sure I am going to be able to mentally make it through the next few weeks. I do not understand why everything in the world has decided to go bazurk four weeks before my "i-do" day. He always said He's about sustaining us THROUGH things, not taking us out of them. I want to focus on the house, but seems like all I can do is decorate the doorway.

Also, here's a thought: the point of life is not for me to be happy. (or you, for that matter) I oftentimes forget that.

carry on..

!!!

I just realized something about myself. Well, here's how it happened...
I have about a bazillion thank-you's to write.. everyone has been so kind and generous and we've gotten a good number of wedding gifts at showers or in the mail... so my frequency of thank-you writings has definately increased over the past few weeks, which has enabled me to note a trend...
I am a exclamation addict. In a thank you note of eight sentances, I am very likely to end seven of them with ... !

There isn't necessarily anything wrong with the exclamation! It's a lovely piece of punctuation. But when you use it at the end of every sentance, it somehow loses it's punch! But it's a struggle between how many to use and when, because I am most appreciative of all the love that has been poured out and I want to emphasize the excitement in my Thank You notes! Who wants to get a note that says,

"thanks for the spoons. they were great. we appreciate them so much. hope to see you soon. "

Now watch what happens when you had a few exclamations..

"Thanks for the spoons! They were great! We appreciate them so much! Hope to see you soon..."

You can tell I really like the spoons. However, when I read over it myself, I think, "whoa, looks like this girl drank too much coffee this morning." I'm like the bug from smilepop.com. (hi! hi! hi!)

haha.. all this to say that if you get a thank you card from me with a bunch of !!!! just know that the more !!!'s the greater my appreciation. :)!

So, I was looking on itunes for that real chill version of the"Somewhere over the rainbow" song and finally I found it... turns out it's by a group called Israel kamakawiwo'ole. This is their cd cover.. it's called "Facing Future." Wow.

"God is good and Jesus is Lord"

I wonder what it is about blogging that is so interesting and slightly addictive? Maybe it's that we all desire to be known. I don't know. Not like the famous kind of known, but I think more, just related to and understood. Maybe it's that we think we have something the world needs to hear. Anyway, it's good and rather therapeutic.

If you haven't ever read it, I highly recommend Kellie's blog. If you want to see something amazing, read the october 26th post and then the november 4th one... I have never seen anything like this. This kind of faith blows my mind. And makes me wanna get in the Word and find out how to get that kind of strength. She's amazing..

Friday is my last day of teaching... my how time flies...

They've done it again! This month's theme... FISH!

REAL fish! Lots of them!

this guy could be Google's mascot!

while you take you little break, you can watch lovely fishys swimming around. how wonderful.

carrie's gonna be cookin' up a storm!

happy bridal shower Carrie!

cool timing

http://www.backtothebible.org/devotions/classics/streams/102

Standing

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

Mrs. Lula had her surgery yesterday. They took out two lumps and discovered the cancer is in her lymphatic system, meaning she will have to undergo radiation as well as Chemotherapy. I was so disappointed in the news.

I know that the Lord is in control and His will is perfect... I praise Him for His promises and that I can know and trust them. But he doesn't promise to heal our sickness, he doesn't promise to free us from pain. Just because you're a believer doesn't exempt you from the hurt in this world. Oftentimes I hear that lie preached.. that if only you believe in Jesus, he'll take away all your hurt and you won't suffer any more.. you'll always be happy and smiley. This is a lie. Jesus says, in this world you WILL have trouble, but then he tells us to TAKE HEART because he has overcome the world.

I feel like I can't say with full confidence, "She's going to be OK" Because that isn't promised to me. Just because you believe something doesn't make it true and I don't want to stand on something false just to make myself feel better because eventually it will be exposed for the falsity that it is and I will be left standing on crumbles. I want something more solid. I want to cling to what I know is true... we have hope in Jesus, yes, but what does that mean?.. he promises to give us life that is abundant, and she has certainly had that.. he promises too, that all things work together for the good of those who love Him and she does... he promises to finish the work he began in us, but he doesn't tell us when that finishing will be.. he promises to sustain us... he promises that our salvation is secure... he promises to forever live and plead for us.. he promises never to leave or forsake us... since life is a vapor, we can take heart in eternity, but it doesn't make the pain during the vapor any less real. One day the sun will set on this world of suffering only to rise again on a world where there is no sadness or hurt, none of the effects of the ruler of this age and his destruction... a place where we will look fully into the wonderful face of our Redeemer and because of what he's done, abide with Him there. Praise the Lord.

"But I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly..."

Satan does everything he can to try and steal our joy. The WORD calls him a theif and tells us that he comes to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10) I hate him. He has no place in creation. I hate that he has any power at all. I am thankful that I know Jesus and Jesus has victory over him! Nasty little thing.

We found out this past week while I was home on spring break, that Benjamin's precious mama, Mrs. Lula, has breast cancer. She will have surgery on Wednesday to have the spot removed. We are praying that it is contained in one area and that it has not spread to the lymph nodes. Please join with us as we battle this attempt on Satan's part to dampen a most remarkable spirit. He has no power over her or any one of us who have the blood of Jesus covering over us. We continue to cling to the hope that is set before us in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Praise Him for he alone is good.

I have been blessed to never, up to this point in my life, have had to face death or disease in myself or any of my family members. I still have all four of my grandparents as well as my two step grandparents and no one in my family or very close to me has ever faced disease. When I heard about this, I had a hard time, not because I didn't trust the Lord, but because, being a biology teacher, I know what lies ahead of her because I know what cancer does and what you have to do to fight it. When I spoke with her about it... she was incredible. She just put her little hands out and said, "It's for my good! How can I be sad or upset or anything, if I know it is for my good?!" To see her confidence in the promises found in the Word, is very amazing to me. I wish everybody had a chance to know her. What a model she is of a woman who has lived her life seeking to be like Jesus. I find myself praying, "Lord, help me to be like Mrs. Lula..." and then I realize that it is the Jesus in her that makes her who she is.. it is the Jesus she is striving and living and being for... it is her focus, her love and passion for the Lord that I long to emulate... she points me to Him and that is the good stuff!

I love to think on Colossians 1:26-27.. how it is Christ in us. We know the secret. Christlikeness is not produced by imitation, but my inhabitation.

-A week after we got engaged, Christa, who is Benjamin's sister, and her husband Jason had their four wheeler stolen from their house.They realized what was happening only to open the door and watch a truck drive away with their four heeler in the back.
-Mrs. Lula was diagnosed with breast cancer
-My house is completely messed up. They're working on it, but it is still a disaster area.

Steal Kill and Destroy

Satan doesn't mess with something that isn't a threat to Him. Why would he waste his time? I praise the Lord for suffering and trials because I know that it means Satan sees he's threatened and he's retaliating. It makes me excited because I know the Lord is faithful to complete this work he has started in mine and Benjamin's life idividually and collectively. If Satan is attacking, and I know Jesus has victory over him, how can I not be excited about what is to come... bring it on!