Merry Christmas!

I've always considered myself a pretty happy and fulfilled person, but I also always realized that there was something detrimentally important that was missing, never quite knowing what it was. Until yesterday. Yesterday was the day my mom gave me the amazing quilt that not only completed my room, but also that distant yearning within my heart! Thanks Ma, for fulfilling my life.

Oh, and I changed my mind about Christmas. It's actually not about the presents at all. It's about having a day wherein you can stuff just as much chocolate, Spinach dip and soda pop in you belly as you can, and then waiting a few hours till you're not full anymore, and doing it again! No, I'm just kiddin'. I'm SO grateful Jesus came to earth so I can live a life full of hope and joy in His salvation.

Somewhere around the first of December, Madalyne and Mark made this gingerbread house. Malachi was ready to eat it as soon as it was done, but Madalyne was a strict (and I mean STRICT) policeman to prevent that. She managed to keep both Mark and Malachi from eating even one piece of candy or crumb of gingerbread until Christmas Eve! And boy did they enjoy every bite of that nasty, stale house!

Yeah, it's true that I only took 3 pictures of our whole Christmas. My camera is STILL lost, so I've been having to use the family's. It's just not the same. Not the same at all.

Forescore and seven years ago was the last time I posted any pictures, so I intend to do that now. I didn't get any pictures of the really deep, pretty snow (because I lost my camera), but last week when it snowed I decided to make a snowman, and he only turned out to be 1 foot high, so I named him Baby Frosty. (Those orange things on the ground are the remains of his nose I ripped up in frustration after failing to succeed in grafting it to his head)

Now I just think this looks cool, even if I'm not a professional photographer!

Now, I realize that almost all my pix are of Malachi, but nobody else in our family got spaghetti all over their face and then hammed it up even more with the dorky expression!

I didn't post a picture of the back because he had nothing else on underneath! (Nobody else in our family does THAT either!)

The world's HUGEST tomato:

Our fantastic fort!

rewards, wether ya like 'em or not!

Have you noticed how most parents get their kids to help with jobs? It’s usually by promising them a reward. When my little brother Mark was younger, I could get him to do absolutely anything for a piece of candy. I remember one day several years ago, the two of us were playing together and I told him that I would give him a piece of candy if he kissed my feet, and he did! Now that he’s older, Mark isn’t quite so desperate for candy anymore, but he will do almost anything for computer time or time with his friends. Rewards aren’t simply incentives for children either. Adults go to work faithfully so they will be rewarded with money when they are done. I think God realizes this too, because He offers rewards for our spiritual life. He knows that if He tells us that if we are peacemakers, we will inherit the kingdom of God, and that makes us want to be peacemakers. (Sometimes it doesn't look like God is giving us a reward, because our enemies still hate us, even when we love and pray for them. But God often rewards us simply by assuring us that He's pleased with what we did.)

Daniel was accustomed to hearing from the Lord. When Darius had a dream that he didn’t know the meaning to, God gave Daniel the interpretation of it, and when a different king saw strange writing on the wall (written by God), Daniel heard from the Lord what it meant. And yet, one day, he experienced a vision that gave him so much awe and fear that he was terrified and his skin turned white, as he tremblingly fell on his face to the ground. It was Gabriel, the angel, and the word he spoke to him was this: “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words” (Daniel 10:12). Then, he proceeded to give him a prophecy for the future. So he was saying that the very reason he was even there, speaking to Daniel, telling him not to be afraid, was because God had heard his words, and had seen that Daniel had been humbling himself before God, seeking to understand His ways. Now all his work had paid off. In a way, this was his reward.

However, in Hosea, God tells his people that because they have turned away to other things and forgotten Him, He will “…punish them for their ways, and reward them their deeds” (Hosea 4:9). This is a completely different kind of reward. These people have not done what He told them to do, and He is “rewarding” them by punishing them.

Now here’s my admonition: If you are doing something God is telling you to do, but it’s really hard, or you have been waiting for something He’s promised you, but it seems to be taking too long, remember that whatever you choose to do, He will give you a reward. For example, if you endure temptation, you will receive a crown of life, and if you fear Him and obey His commands, you will become wise. But if you give up and follow after something else, He will punish you. God doesn’t just make us do things because they are hard, He makes us do them so that we will be able to receive a good reward, which will cause us to be much happier in the end.

More Than It Is

What kinds of things grab your attention? Now, I’m not talking about just any old thing like a person on the street wearing funny clothes, or an interesting movie, I’m talking about something that seizes your mind and fascinates you for a LONG period of time. Something eye-catching, mind-snatching, and sleep forbidding! When I ponder this query, I think of one thing that is plain and simple: hilarious things. I absolutely thrive on finding things that truly amuse me, whether it’s making a funny accent, reading credits on movies to find wacky names, knock-knock jokes, or regular old funny things with friends. Now other people who don’t really care about that kind of stuff would be interested in other things like various hobbies. Perhaps fishing. I’ve seen folks do that for hours! Or shopping. I’ve seen still more people who do that for hours! Reading is another one on the list. You ask people what kinds of things they do in their free time, and they begin to list off things similar to the list above. People’s hobbies are what they focus on, and are what a lot of their extra time is spent in doing.

But today I read a verse in the Bible that literally made me set the book down and just sit there and stare for a few minutes. It talked about Jesus ascending into heaven, and it said that after He left, “...the disciples were looking steadfastly toward heaven.” After I read that, I was forced to ask: Am I looking steadfastly toward heaven??? Well, if the Bible tells us that that’s what the disciples were doing, then what kinds of things did they do to make God say that? Throughout chapter two of Acts, it mentions that they were constantly witnessing, preaching to the people, meeting together with believers, praying, and taking communion together. I don’t know that I don’t quite meet that noble conglomeration of things. Sure, I read my Bible every day, have lots of Christian friends, pray, and take communion once a week, but how many of us can really say that we sit down for hours at a time reading the Bible, seize every chance we have to witness, and continue steadfastly in prayer?

It’s something that is definitely more important that anything else in life—more important than playing the guitar, or hanging out with friends. I mean, what are we even on the earth for? It’s not to accomplish a lot or have a good time (of course we all know that, but sometimes we don’t act like we know it). Our purpose, as people who have been bought with an expensive price, is to know Jesus more and more and more, and to do what He tells us.

So let’s not make friends or hobbies or work a strong priority. Let’s replace that stuff that we think we need and make God such a strong priority that our eyes are steadfastly looking toward heaven!