No Fear

When I look at the world around me, I am afraid. There is so much evil going on. Things that used to be shunned as evil by society, are now accepted as good. Things that used to be completely unacceptable by society, are now not only accepted but praised.

It makes me wonder, things that are still unacceptable may perhaps become acceptable in time and there will be even more corruption in our society.

Society now accepts so much that was once acknowledged as evil and if you stand up and say "this is wrong!" then you are the one who is looked down on for being "intolerant".

I do not hate people who choose to do wrong things. And by "wrong things" I mean sin. Things that God tells people not to do in the Bible. I believe the Bible is God's Word, every Word of it is true, and though I do not live by it as I always ought to, that is my goal. Its not a very popular belief anymore, even among "Christians".

I try not to hold those who do not believe up to the standards of the Bible. Those who do not believe are in a state of sin and death and cannot be expected to live by the Words of Life. If you are not saved I am not going to bash you for doing something that the Bible says is wrong, but I am going to love you and tell you about your lost condition and how you can be saved. Being saved comes first, you don't get your life straightened out and then accept Christ, its the other way around! You accept Jesus as your Savior, give your life to Him, and then allow Him to work in your life to make you pure and holy.

It crushes me when I read about people being persecuted by "christians" because of their sin. This ought not to be so. It's wrong. As believers we are to LOVE others and share the gospel with them. Not beat them up for not believing! I mean really, how ridiculous is that?? "You are doing something against the Bible so I am going to beat you up until you believe in it". Come on people!!! This is madness!

Are you a believer? A Christian? Do you love the Lord? Who of you who believe got saved because someone beat the sin out of you? I got saved because I realized my lost state, that I could not save myself, and that I needed Jesus to save me.

All of this does not mean I will stand by and be "tolerant" of everyone living wickedly. If you are saved, and I see you doing wrong, I will say something because I do not want to see you suffer the consequences of sin. I want to see you in a right relationship with our Father. I hope that you will do the same for me. If you see me in sin, say something to me in love! We should encourage one another to live by the Word of God. There is great joy in this.

Back to what I was saying about being afraid. I look around, I see all of this wickedness and my first response is to be afraid. Afraid of being persecuted for me beliefs, afraid of the influence of culture on my sons, afraid what evil might find its way into our family life. But this fear is just my flesh, and my flesh is weak. When this fear starts creeping into my heart is when I have to turn my eyes to the Lord, to look to His perfect Word, for there, I read that in the end, He wins!

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1 John 4:18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

John 16:33

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

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He has overcome! He wins! He will put everything right in the end. If I can only remember that when fear starts to creep in. 

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Psalm 56:3-11

Whenever I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
In God (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?

 All day they twist my words;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
 They gather together,
They hide, they mark my steps,
When they lie in wait for my life.
 Shall they escape by iniquity?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God!

 You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?
 When I cry out to You,
Then my enemies will turn back;
This I know, because God is for me.
 In God (I will praise His word),
In the Lord (I will praise His word),
 In God I have put my trust;
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

Boy, oh boy, oh boy

My boys are getting so big! I noticed on Sunday that Michael was looking taller so, as I do whenever I notice one of them getting taller, I pushed him up against the wall by the front door and made a pencil mark at the top of his head. Sure enough, he had grown an inch and a quarter since I measured him in July! He is now 5' 7 1/4" tall. That's 3/4 of an inch taller the me. He won't be 13 for 2 more weeks!

Since I measured him I decided to measure the other two as well. Gideon is 10 years 9 months old and is 5' 3 3/8". That is 3 inches taller than Michael was at the same age! I have always thought he would be bigger and taller than Michael. At every milestone he has been ahead of Michael in size.

Jason is my more average sized child. Silas was my small one. Jason is now 4' 3 3/8" tall. Only a little taller than average. I think he will be a tall adult though. I think I expect them all to be 6" or so.

I used one of those online height predictors once a long time ago, it said Michael would be 6' 1", Gideon would be 6' 4", Jason and Silas would both be 6". Only time will tell!

I sometimes wonder what Silas will look like when I see him in Heaven. Of course I don't know how much time will pass between now and the time we meet again. But then if Heaven is outside of time....will he still be a little boy, will he be older, an adult? What color will his hair be? It was black when he was born and got lighter as he gold older, and then very blonde after chemo.

Archie, Michael, Gideon, and I are all over weight. For the past few weeks I have been walking (or trying to walk) 1-2 miles every day with the boys. I really want them to have a life long habit of being active out doors. We are slowly working on eating healthier again, we used to eat pretty healthy and were a lot less over weight before Silas got sick. Our world was really shaken and it will take time to get things back in order, but we will keep pressing forward!