What's the Stink About Ink

 "Mom, what does that guy have all over his arms?"  "Those are tattoos. He's probably not saved and needs to hear about Jesus. We should pray for him."  I've heard similar conversations from others and I know I've had those conversations myself at one time, but what does the Bible say?

First of all, does the Bible clearly teach that tattoos are sin?  Some would say, “Yes” based on Leviticus 19:28, "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord." It seems pretty clear if you isolate that phrase. The preceding verse talks about not eating anything with blood and not shaving around the sides of your head. In that culture those things were pagan rituals and meant something very different than they do today. So, if a Christian believes tattoos to be sin based on this verse, they must also abstain from the other things mentioned in the preceding verses to be consistent with their beliefs. It's more about motives.

Second, we must be very careful not to look at someone’s outward appearance and judge their heart. People get tattoos for different reasons- Maybe as a memorial to a child who has died, or to remember a momentous event in their life or maybe to have a constant reminder of a verse that has been a source of strength. I have Christian friends who have tattoos and some got them after they were saved. The Bible says that we will know them by their fruit, not by whether or not they have tattoos, or the length of their hair or the way they dress or any other external thing. If we can tell the state of someone’s heart by their outward appearance, where do we draw the line? We can only know if someone is a Christian if there is evidence of the fruits of the Spirit in their life. We can only see evidence of that if we get involved. Next time you see someone with a tattoo, feel sorry for them and say, "They're obviously unsaved and just need Jesus", think again, maybe they just saw you loose your patience with your child and they were thinking the same of you.

John 13:35   "By this shall all know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Galatians 5:22-24    "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against this there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

The Tree and the Little Boy

I recently read the book, "The Giving Tree". It's a children's book, and a simple story, but one that lingered in my mind. The story tells of a tree that loves a boy. She is happiest when she gives to the boy. She gives and gives until there is hardly anything left of her- just a stump, but even then she is happy to give the boy a place to rest. It's a beautiful story of giving, but a sad story as well. Though the boy enjoys the gifts the tree has to offer and always comes back to her, he never says thank you to the tree even though he says loves her. The boy appreciated the tree and what she had to give him, but he never thought of giving himself. The tree was never sad that the boy didn't love her as much as she loved him, she was just happy merely to have something to give the boy. She thought only of him and what would make him happy.

This year on good Friday I watched "The Passion of the Christ" for the first time. I was so moved by Jesus love for the people who were so cruel to Him. When Jesus knew His time was come, He did so much to prepare His closest friends. He was so concerned for them and prepared them for what He knew would be so difficult, for THEM. He had more love and compassion toward the disciples than He did fear for what He knew He was about to endure. Like the tree in the story, He gave and gave until He gave His life for those He loved so much. Are we like the boy? Do we enjoy all that Christ has to offer, giving little if any thanks though we claim to love Him? Do we accept and appreciate all the gifts He gives to us without willingness to give ourselves? We truly become alive when we allow our souls to become enchanted by the simple treasures He gives us daily. How can we not thank Him and give Him our lives, our thoughts, our gratefulness.


"This people honors me with their lips, but their hears are far from me." -Matthew 15:8

Dear John

Dear John,
Whenever God seems so far away and I grow discouraged over the things of this world l often reach for your book. The way you write makes Him become so real to me. It's powerful, sometimes too powerful, creating a love so intense that sometimes I have to put your book down and reach for  another. You make my heart ache to be with Him. I like how you refer to yourself as the one who Jesus loved. I wonder if you were thinking about how He created you to be one of His closest earthly friends and what a special privilege that was. You write so humbly and honestly. My favorite parts are when He said, "before Abraham was, I AM." How amazing that must have been to hear Him say that, and know! I also love what you wrote about Jesus and Mary in the garden that first Easter morning. I wish I could have secretly watched that moment in history. I wish I could have seen His face when He talked to her and then looked at her and said her name. And then you end your book with, "there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." Someday I will be able to thank you in person for your book and ask Him about all those other things.

Until then,
 Annaliese

Just Follow Your Heart

We constantly hear the phrase, "just follow your heart", but the Bible says the heart is deceitful. I think we hear it so much that sometimes we make decisions based on our feelings. Just because we have a peace about something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. We tend to determine God's will for our lives based  on our feelings or our hearts. When I have to apologize to someone, or confront someone, I don't have a peace, but I know it's right. Sometimes God wants us to go out of our comfort zone and that is anything but peaceful! I was recently talking to someone about music and she said she determined if a style of music was sinful by whether or not she felt guilty by listening to it. We give far too much authority to our feelings or our hearts than we do the Bible or godly council.

Motherhood

"Dear friends without kids, enjoy being able to lay around and sleep in peaceful quietness when you're not well."- I'm sick with a cold today and was going to put this as my status, but didn't because I didn't want people to think I was complaining about being a mother. But, just because I'm sick doesn't mean the kids are going to stop arguing, drawing on the furniture, or throwing food on the floor and then demanding more of something else. I just want to lay around and enjoy being sick! There's a picture on Pinterest that says something about how good moms have messy houses and happy kids. Good moms aren't suppose to care about what the house looks like or what they look like, it's all about enjoying every moment with the kids because they grow up so fast. Well, there are a lot of moments I really don't enjoy, and I'm pretty sure there are a lot of things I'm not going to miss. But, somehow the good moments have more power than the bad moments, and the longer I'm a mother, the more the good moments accumulate until they overpower the bad so much that I can't remember them, or at least can't remember them exactly as they were.

Happy Earth Day

"Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it." -Genesis 2:15

I've come across some Christians who think the earth is for us to use and abuse, to be wasteful and careless because it's not going to last and we are not of this world. They look down on those who take care of the earth, accusing them of loving creation rather than the creator and no doubt, some do. God created the earth for us, shouldn't we appreciate it? Shouldn't we be good stewards of what we have been given? God gave Adam authority over the earth and with that authority came stewardship. We have a responsibility to preserve and appreciate the resources we have been given. The earth is an amazing place that was created just for us. It is a privilege!

"So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand." -Genesis 9:1-2

"With great power comes great responsibility."-Spiderman ( sorry, I just had to throw that one in there)

Thanks for March

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."-1 Thessalonians 5:18

Yesterday the kids were playing outside in the water when they suddenly ran inside and said there was a bee and they were going to stay inside. They wanted to go back out and play, but they were afraid. Then I heard Faith say, "Come on, Brady. Don't let that bee take away your joy!"

March is usually my favorite month, but not this year. This March has been a discouraging month for us, and we're really trying to not let it take away our joy. Brady didn't get into Brushy Creek, where Faith goes to school. We did all the right things to get him in, so it was surprising to get that news. They were really excited to be in school together and Faith would always talk about how she would get to wait with him to get picked up at the end of the day. She told him all about kindergarten and the teachers he might have. When we visited her, he would point out the kindergarten class rooms and playground, which Kasey always referred to as Brady's cage. Faith and Brady are so close. Now, he's going to go to a different school. I'm not sure how that will work, but I know it will.

The same time we were going through the school situation, an opportunity came up for Jason at work. The kind of opportunity for which we had been waiting for a long time. He was interviewed for an executive position at a different branch. We had to wait longer than we wanted to to find out if he got the job. It seemed like a great opportunity for our family, what we had already been waiting so long for. It was so close between him and another guy. The other guy got it. I received  the phone call from Jason while my parents were visiting. They didn't know any of this was going on. I only told one person, and Jason told a few others. The other guy had just moved to town because his wife got a job in Greenville. I'm happy that it worked out so well for them. There's another opportunity on the horizon, but it's a way off and it means more waiting.

We are disappointed that these things have not worked out, but thankful God knows what's best for us. We would have chosen differently and we would have been wrong. Dealing with the stress this past month has been extremely difficult. Sometimes God lets us look back and see what He was doing, and sometimes He just wants us to trust Him. Some of our circumstances are pleasant and some are not, but we are commanded to be thankful in ALL circumstances. I'm finding reasons to be thankful that Brady is going to a different school, that Jason didn't get the job and that we have more waiting to do.