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This video has been part of a scripture that has changed my life.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)

What are we doing for the 143000000?

Forgiveness

What is the basis of Christianity? Ask people that question and you'll get a bunch of different answers. I have my own personal answer : forgiveness.

I've been reading through the Bible in a year with You Version or whatever the App is on my ipod touch. To be honest with you, I'm a little behind. I'm not fretting, though. I'll catch up or just not worry about it. So what if I read the Bible in a year and 3 days? Who made those rules up anyway?

I read over a story, though, very quickly that I couldn't get away from. It's the story of two brothers: Esau, a hairy older brother who sold his whole birthright for a measly pot of stew and then got angry because he was "cheated" out of his birthright, and Jacob, a liar and trickster who swindled anyone he could come in contact with until he eventually became the victim of someone else's swindling. These brothers had a hate-hate relationship. Esau vowed that after the death of his father he would kill Jacob. Jacob ran away to his Uncle and vowed not to return. This is where God comes in. God tells Jacob, after much (literally) wrestling, to return to his homeland. Knowing that Esau is waiting with baited breath, Jacob devises a plan. He's going to bribe his elder brother with gifts, put others between them, and hide in the background, just in case he's still hot about the whole stealing his birthright and his blessing thing.

Well, as you can see with the picture above, their meeting was a little different than Jacob imagined. I can just see the terror in his eyes as they met the love in Esau's. What a moment! Hugs and affection and reconciliation. It really is beautiful.

I was kind of thinking this through, and I just really had a frying pan moment with God. You know, one of those moments where God subtly speaks to you, you have this thought, and it's like DUH! (like somebody hit you with a frying pan). Forgiveness is like the whole basis of Christianity.

So, here's my thinking. God forgives us. He forgives us of all of our sins - our bad things. When we walk in his forgiveness, we are walking in the power of overcoming all the bad habits and sins that we struggle with. But His forgiveness is two-fold. He forgives us and we must forgive others. You can't have one without the other. When we don't forgive others, we can't walk in the freedom from sin. We continue to struggle with those sins. But when we walk, forgiven by Him, and forgiving others, this beautiful freedom comes where we are walking in the power of His freedom from sin and giving it and showing it to others. It really is a beautiful picture.

I know that seems kind of elementary in Christianity. It was just one of those moments where what has been in my head as knowledge for so long sunk into my heart as revelation.

My prayer now is "God, I want to forgive others, so you can forgive me. I want to be free by freeing others." And the amazing thing is, He does.

Loving this life in Him!
~ Sam

A Day off & A Recipe

So, today, most of our county was shut down by impending inclement weather. This had the hopes of snow, and it did snow some early this morning. However, it has just turned into a bunch of ice. I would have taken pictures, however, this morning I woke up with the worst headache I have ever had. I didn't want to eat, open my eyes, anything. I took four sinus medicines and four ibuprofen! Talk about a heavy dose! The headache did ease off after a hot shower with sniffing steam (a great help to anyone with sinus issues). After 11 am, I was able to get up and start working on my to do list.



I know it is past Christmas, but I love this movie, so we watched it today. Jimmy Stewart is my idea of a dream boat. Great movie with a great message.



Tonight for dinner I made this recipe. It's an Asian Chicken & Rice Bake. It was actually really good. Click here for the recipe. I would just suggest cooking it longer than suggested. I served it with stir fry and Oriental Low Mein hard noodles. It was delicious! Next time I will put the stir fry vegetables in the dish. I think they would be an extra bonus! It's weird for me to be recommending a recipe. I am by no means a cook, but I think it's time to learn!

Also, I'm starting school this week! Crazy I know! I'm taking 2 classes that are prerequisites to getting into the MBA program at our local university. I'm pretty nervous about starting school all over again, but I've prayed over this and I really have a peace with it. Wish me the best!

Off to finish more on my to do list...

Work...Music...and Chicken!

So, a couple of things I'm thinking about tonight:

1) My Resolutions for the new year are no longer resolutions - they are now life goals. I tend to get over zealous on those things. J counseled me that I should kind of have these goals and work on them one day, one task at a time. So I'm trying that. For example, today, I came home and made sure that I emptied the dish washer, swept the floors, vacuumed, went through our huge mail pile. I also spent some time de-decorating our kitchen. Christmas is slowly going away - I will miss it - but I'm looking forward to opening up some cluttered space :-).


2) WORK WAS CRAZY TODAY!! I absolutely love my job. Today, though, was just one of those days I wish I could be about 5 different people.


3) One of the things I'm looking forward to at this time of year is bringing back my normal music and movies. Our family goes all Christmas in November and December with music & movies. I haven't updated my ipod yet, but I do have some money from an Itunes Gift card. Any suggestions on Christian music that you like that I may not have? Would love to hear it!


Ooo..another thing - I'm super excited - tomorrow morning I get to try the new Spicy Chicken Biscuit from Chick-Fil-A for free. I'll have to let everyone know how it is! Your experience?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow! 1-1-11! This is crazy! I'm very excited about this new year! I feel like it is going to be amazing. I wanted to take some time to reflect and get a purpose and just see where God wants me to focus for the year. Just something I like to do. I had some time to think about it. I got a call around 2:10am this morning from my mom. She called to let me know my little bro L had called the ambulance to pick him up. She had to go to work at 5:00 am, so she was trying to get someone to cover for her. My dad is on a camping trip with my little sister. So, my mom called me to go to the hospital with my brother. The hospital is about forty-five minutes to an hour away from my house. So I left my party peeps (I was just going to get in bed) and headed here:



Thank goodness it wasn't anything serious. He has plueracy, which is just inflammation basically. I took him home. Then drove home. I got home at 5:30 am. Thank the Lord for safe driving. Anyways, I had a lot of time to think about the new year and goals and such. So, I thought I would post my goals for the year.

Now, granted, I know I may not reach all of them, but it's a good guide map to start walking with. My #1 thing is to be a completely different person this time next year. I would really like that. So, here we go!

1)Consistently follow hard after Christ.

2) Read through the Bible in a year (I've got the plan going!)

3) TALK MORE - I don't talk about my feelings enough with the people that should hear that. I bottle up a lot, and then explode later.

4) Write more - blogging, journaling, experimenting with writing...

5) Use means of communication more effectively - facebook, twitter, this blog - I deleted a bunch of "friends" from facebook - mostly married men and people that are on there that aren't really friends - just faces I may have met once or twice. I'd like to use means of communication to really build relationship and/or point people to Christ.

6) Become more domestic - I'd like to cook more and maybe even start some sewing or something - I don't know - use this as a way not to waste time - I'm a big time waster - maybe doing some of these will help me with that.

7) Love God & Love People More than Myself - basically, putting others before me. I'm super selfish. I love me. I only do what I want to do when I want to do it and how I want to do it. I'd like to get beyond that. This will probably be the hardest.
8) Orphans - I don't really know what this enta
ils. I just have such a heart for the orphans of the world. Maybe something locally? Maybe just praying & giving? I don't really know.

Like I said - it's a dream list, but it's a good place to get started. Hope your New's Year Day is as relaxing as mine! May this new year be the best of our lives!

HAPPY 2011!!