In Other Words for January 26

Many people use this quote out of context and do not regard the rest of the passage this is in. People who utilize this quote utilize it in such a way that they say, "See, Jesus advocates violence! Here's proof!" Far from it.

To be fair, one must read it in its entirety in context with the other verses. "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." Matthew 10:34-39

The first important observation is to recognize that Jesus does not speak about "the sword", but about "a sword". Jesus is not a "prophet of the sword" as is taught in Islam. The sword of violence, force and war has no place in His message. What kind of sword is He talking about?

It is the sword of division that God's word brings. It is the division of truth from error, and the reaction of the darkness against the light. It is also the sword of the gospel and the sword of truth. The sword that Jesus brings, is the sword that his followers have to suffer, a sword that is applied to them, not a sword that they wield against others.

This verse in context shows that Jesus knew that His words would cause controversy, that Christianity would cause strife between family members and that in preaching the Gospel, those who preached it would not be warmly received for this is a sinful world filled with the sinful nature of man. It speaks about the consequence of being obedient to the command of Jesus that we are to preach His message, and for many, to hear the words of the Gospel, telling people to go against their sinful nature will cause them to reject it, make them angry and react with violence.

We will be hated for the message of repentance that we have to bring. We will be hated because we call people from evil to light and because this message exposes their evil deeds. The sword of the gospel cuts and divides, as the word of God does (Hebrews 4:12), "between eternally hostile principles, penetrating into and rending asunder the dearest ties" (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown). Though the ultimate end of the gospel is peace with God and with those who love Him, the immediate result of the gospel is frequently ideological and moral conflict with the world.

For many it will mean that even our own family will turn against us. Faith in Jesus requires total commitment from those who choose to follow Him (Mark 10:27), and love and allegiance toward Him and His word is contrary to the "natural man" and the world system, "for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" (2 Cor 6:14). Therefore conversion to Christ can result in strained or broken family relationships, persecution, and even martyrdom, due to rejection of the gospel. And exactly that happens in many countries. The fellowship of believers, while full of peace, incurs the wrath of the nonbelievers. Christians are gathering peacefully, yet are persecuted.

Richard Lenski offered insight into the implications of the “turmoil” brought by Christ:

The idea is this: if Christ had not come, the earth would have gone on undisturbed in its sin and its guilt until the day of its doom. Now Christ came to take away that sin and that guilt. At once war resulted, for in their perversion men clung to their sin, fought Christ and the gospel, and thus produced two hostile camps. Christ foresaw this effect and willed it. Emphatically He declared that He came to throw a sword on the earth. Better the war and the division, saving as many as possible, than to let all perish in their sin (1943, p. 415).

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword," is a wonderfully honest statement about the need for the sword of truth, Christ's Sword of Truth, which heals the wounds it inflicts. Only by becoming a Christian and by being indwelt with the Holy Spirit can we understand the Truth that Jesus brings and can that healing begin. The Truth renders those still in the dark stiff with anger and indignation over their sins and sinful lifestyles being brought into full exposure to the light. Once we are brought into that light, we no longer need fear the Sword of Truth, and instead will find the peace that passes all understanding.

To view more "In Other Words" participants this week check out The Heart of a Pastor's Wife. Thanks to Esthermay for hosting this week!

Fill in Friday for January 22, 2009

1. You have a chance to heal a rift between two sides but are not sure how to go about doing it.
2. I want a massage right now!
3. There is a lot of stuff I have to do Saturday...clean, clean, clean...but it's supposed to be beautiful outside, I know I'll want to ride on Oscar's bike.
4. It's nice I can get a box of Girl Scout Cookies from a friend at work if I don't have the correct amount right then and pay later.
5. It's time to get my rear in gear and get ready to go grocery shopping and clean tomorrow.
6. Plans for tonight are up in the air but I'm thinking I might just catch up on sleep instead.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sleeping, tomorrow my plans include cleaning, washing tons of clothes in our new washer and dryer, grocery shopping, hopefully going for a ride on Oscar's Harley and maybe dancing or a movie and Sunday, I want to go to church and eat BBQ after while enjoying the unseasonably warm weather!

Truthful Tuesday for January 19, 2010

So, from time to time I write what is called a Truthful Tuesday post to where I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I make it about whatever I want, but usually the topic is not easy. Telling the truth rarely is.

This week the topic is . . . DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNN . . . about . . . pro . . . dooo-dooo-dooooo . . . what is that? . . . ah yes, the topic is about procrastination. Of which I am the MASTER of. And it frustrates the heck out of me, but I never seem to find motivation to get things done until the last minute. Then I do things really quick and usually REALLY well. But there have been times it's come around to bite me in the no-no spot. This particularly affects the house. "Oh, I'll wash dishes tomorrow. I'm too tired tonight." And the next thing you know . . . it's a week later with a week's worth of dishes to do and by then I REALLY have no motivation to do them. "Oh, I'll get to the laundry tomorrow." And then tomorrow comes and Emily has a project she needs help with or Nate just really wants to do that baby snuggle or Oscar finds an interesting show and here comes Friday and I'm scrounging for clean clothes to wear. It's gotten to the point where I really don't even want people to come over. Of course it doesn't help that I seem to be the only one even trying to pick things up around the house and it's stretching my limits. My darling, dearest (female) friend at work thinks that I am Superwoman with everything that I do, and to an extent, yes, that is true, but I could be even MORE super if I could just get my shhhhhtuff together. LOL!

I think I'm going to try doing FlyLady to help out with everything. It's completely FREE and from what I've heard her program is great! Hopefully it will get me off my procrastinating butt and get me on the road to a cleaner house and more de-cluttered life and I can work on the other areas of my procrastination baby steps at a time. Wish me luck!



HAPPY TWO MONTHS OLD MY LITTLE MAN! MOMMY LOVES YOU SO MUCH!

In Other Words for January 19

It's not easy being the sole bread winner in the family in this economy. Trust me, I know. My husband and I had a healthy combined income, was in the final stages of buying a house, had a baby on the way and two daughters already – one each from previous marriages, we really just seemed to be doing more than ok. Then, out of the blue, my husband called me in July, letting me know that he'd gone in to work that morning and was told his crew was laid off, along with a couple of other crews.

We lost the house. The house we had our hearts set on that would have been built on a couple of acres in the country on land that was perfect for gardening. It was quiet, peaceful, had lots of fruit trees already on it. Had all of the hook-ups already on there. We would have had our room, the girls could have had their own rooms, there would have been a guest room and a little nursery attached to the master bedroom.

Instead, we were stuck in a small two bedroom apartment with not enough space for even what we had then, not to mention the baby that was coming.

My husband has been looking for a job ever since in his line of work and has not yet been able to come up with one that wouldn't require him to be away from home 95% of the time. I'm not saying that it hasn't been stressful, living on my income. In fact, we lost more than 50% of our income when he lost his job. But somehow, only through the Grace and Mercy of God, we have been able to make ends meet.

I've gotten a refund check from my insurance for over charging on some visits to my diabetic perinatal doctor when I was pregnant with our son. Have you EVER heard of such a thing from an insurance company? An anonymous person at my work gave me the $600 needed to do my ultrasound and testing that I otherwise would not have been able to do, but that was crucially needed due to my being a Type 2 diabetic and having gestational hypertension. We received over $1,100 from my wonderful co-workers to purchase needed nursery items for our son. Items we did not have, being that his daughter is 11 and mine is 8, and we didn't think we would have another child so baby items were a thing of the past. My husband reconnected with his mom, through the death of his grandfather and she has been more than willing to help pay some of the bills until he finds a job. MORE than a blessing!

While one would think that the happenstance of not having a job would have a detrimental economic impact on a (now) family of five, God has provided for us beyond anything we ever could have imagined. We're still in the small two bedroom apartment, but this circumstance of our lives also has allowed my husband to be able to be there for our son's traumatic birth – he was, for all intents and purposes stillborn as the cord had been wrapped so tightly around his neck they couldn't get him out all the way without cutting it first, but, again, by the Grace of God was revived and took his first breath several minutes after birth – and to take an extended visit with his family several hours away during my maternity leave.

It has allowed my husband and I to really grow together and show that we have what it takes to stick out the difficult times. It has allowed me to more fully and deeply trust God and know that we ARE in His hands. That His promises in the Bible to never leave nor forsake us, to care for those and meet the needs of those who love Him even moreso than He does the birds of the air or the lily's of the field, are not issued in vain or void.

The world says, "blame God for your troubles, for the loss of your job, income, marriage, loved one, etc." God says, "Trust Me. I WILL take care of you for ALL things work together for good to those who love Me." All things. Good and bad. Big and small. Everything that happens to us is a chance to just trust God. If God has brought you to it, then He is going to bring you through it.

We can choose to make a Monet from a Picasso by trusting God to carry us through the rough spots or we can choose to make a Picasso turn into an Edvard Munch by trying to do it on our own and listen to what the world has to say. Which one will you choose?

Monet:

Picasso:

Munch:


To view more "In Other Words" participants this week check out Expectant Hearts. Thanks to Kathryn for hosting this week! This is my first time back doing the IOW in a couple of years. :-)

Thursday 13 - my first one!

I'm not so awesome at writing an opening today so my Thursday 13 will just be a list of things I've discovered regarding parenting a newborn at 36 vs parenting a newborn at 28 thanks to my 8 year old daughter.
1. It takes a LOT more energy to handle a newborn at 36 than it does at 28.
2. I need a lot more sleep as I get older and find myself getting a lot less now that I have an 8 year old to get ready for school, a 7 week old to get ready for daycare, a husband to encourage and entertain as he is looking for a job and a ME to get ready for work.
3. I've learned that the things I was all paranoid about the first time around are really no bog deal.
4. Binkys CAN be rinsed off with water, juice, etc. if dropped on the floor instead of automatically fretting about sterilizing them RIGHT AWAY!
5. ALWAYS allow for extra time out the door in the morning. It is inevitable either you will get spit up on or the baby will spit up on itself just as you're about to either put them in the carseat or walk out the door. PLAN FOR CONTINGENCIES!
6. Add the Mylicon to the bottle as you're mixing it instead of waiting until the baby is all gassy after the bottle. It will save your baby a lot of discomfort.
7. It's OK to have the baby be passed around between relatives and friends. They actually learn to be a people person instead of freaking out around new people.
8. Make sure to get a 2nd base for your carseat. It will save invaluable time transferring the baby from one vehicle to another.
9. Making your own baby food is preferable and much less expensive than buying store bought food. You can even use an ice tray to freeze the excess you make b/c the food will keep up to two weeks and each cube of food equals on ounce.
10. If you feel like something is wrong, trust your instincts. Just b/c a parenting book, advice, tidbit that you've read or been told says one thing, don't assume that it's correct. If you think something is wrong with your baby, they can't communicate to affirm it, take them to the pedi. Better to be safe than sorry.
11. That being said, DON'T BE PARANOID!
12. When getting out of a vehicle with a toddler who is walking – never, ever, ever turn your back or let go of their hand in a parking lot. If you have to juggle a purse or something, make sure you have that stuff together FIRST before you get your kid out of the car seat/booster seat.
13. When talking to your baby, keep the room quiet. Turn the TV off, the radio, the computer. Make it all about your baby and look directly in their eyes. They will focus better without other noises to distract them and you will have a sweet time of bonding.

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Goodness gracious, how time does fly!

This time last year I was dating a wonderful man and happy! Fast forward a year and I'm married to this man, WITH a new baby and still happy! :-) Nathaniel Lawrence Kelso was born November 19, 2009 at 12:11 AM and was 8lbs 10oz and 20" long. Poor baby was hospitalized with RSV on Sunday and was able to come home yesterday afternoon. He was the youngest RSV patient at Dell Children's Medical Center, but they did a great job. While RSV can be serious in young children and lead to pneumonia, in infants it can be fatal. Thank God he is on the mend!

I need to start blogging again. It's time. I took a very much needed couple of years off - but have been keeping going on FB mostly. I'll be continuing with a lot of the meme theme's I used to blog about and I can't guarantee that I'll be posting several times a week like I used to, but I'm back.

Here are some pictures of what's been going on. Enjoy! :-)