what must i do...

...to be saved?

It's quite perplexing that the Bible never mentions the term asking Jesus into your heart. It never says accept Christ. Walk down the aisle. Raise your hand. Sign the card. Talk to the pastor/elder. It doesn't say ANY of those things as a recipe for being saved. In Mark 1:15, Jesus proclaimed the good news of God. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" Now, because we (society and me) are task-oriented people, we take these two items and turn them into checklist-items.

• repent
• believe

Paul Washer describes it like this: "You were saved because you repented of your sins and you believed, and not only did you do that in the past, you continued to do it even until now . . . . A proper translation of that verse He gave is this: The Kingdom of God is come. The time is fulfilled. Now, spend the rest of your lives repenting of your sins and believing in Me. Conversion is not like a flu shot. "Oh, I did that. I repented. I believed." The question is my friend––are you continuing to repent of sin? Are you continuing to believe? Because He who began a good work in you will finish it. He will finish it." (Here's the rest of the sermon.)

At the end of this quote, Washer refers to God beginning a good work in us (Philippians 1:6), which brings up another crucial point. Our wise and sovereign Creator is the One who turns us to repentance and belief. This is what transforming grace is all about. When we deserve hell, He chose us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will (Ephesians 1:5). For many years, I believed that I was saved because I had asked Jesus into my heart and life. Wrong. I am saved because God loved me and God called me to repentance and believing in Him. Wow, that is humbling. (Charles Spurgeon talks more about election here, a really good sermon.)

THEREFORE, we Christians, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28), go on a lifelong journey of being progressively sanctified with the help of the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 say, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass." Does that mean I will never again mess up? No. But I will spend the rest of my life repenting and believing Him. 2 Corinthians 13:5 warns us to examine ourselves. We are to test ourselves in the light of Scripture to see if we’re in the path, because a true Christian will be different.

summer images

the good of beer

No, I'm not going to write a controversial post on beer drinking. My personal opinion of the taste of beer is: gross. Why put gross-tasting calories into my stomach when I could actually enjoy an ice cold root-beer!? There is one good thing about beer, though. You can cook with it and make some pretty yummy things. Sorry, I can't post pictures, but I guarantee you'll be satisfied.

Grilled Beer-Brined Chicken The best chicken I've ever had.

Ingredients for brine and chicken:

1 c. water

2 T. kosher (coarse) salt

2 T. packed brown sugar

2 (12-oz.) cans beer or nonalcoholic beer

8 pieces chicken (I used boned Smart chicken.)

Barbecue Rub:

1 T. paprika

1 t. table salt

1/2 t. onion powder

1/2 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. pepper

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1. Mix water, salt and brown sugar, stirring until salt and sugar are dissolved. Stir in beer. Add chicken. Cover; refrigerate at least 8 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

2. Line 15x10-inch pan with sides with foil. Remove chicken from brine; rinse thoroughly under cool running water and pat dry with paper towels. Discard brine. Place chicken in pan. Refrigerate uncovered 1 hour to dry chicken skin. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix all rub ingredients except oil; set aside.

3. Heat gas or charcoal grill for indirect cooking. Brush oil over chicken; sprinkle rub mixture over chicken. For two-burner gas grill, heat one burner to medium; place chicken on unheated side. For one-burner gas grill, place chicken on grill over low heat. For charcoal grill, move medium coals to edge of firebox; place chicken over drip pan. Cover grill; cook 15 minutes.

4. Turn chicken over; cover grill and cook 20 to 30 minutes longer, turning occasionally, until juice of chicken is clear when thickest piece is cut to bone (170°F for breasts; 180°F for thighs and drumsticks).

Oven Directions: Make chicken as directed through step 3. Heat oven to 425°F. Brush oil over chicken; sprinkle rub mixture over chicken. Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when thickest piece is cut to bone (170°F for breasts; 180°F for thighs and drumsticks).

Beer Bread

3 c. flour

1 1/2 t. salt

1 T. baking powder

1 (12-oz.) can beer, room temperature

5 T. sugar

4 T. butter, melted

Mix dry ingredients; add beer and mix. Coat mixture with 2 T. melted butter. Let set 15 minutes. Put in a greased and floured loaf pan and bake for 1 hour at 350. When done brush with 2 t. melted butter.

our aim

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:

Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.... It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither. It seems a strange rule, but something like it can be seen at work in other matters. Health is a great blessing, but the moment you make health one of your main, direct objects you start becoming a crank and imagining there is something wrong with you. You are only likely to get health provided you want other things more – food, games, work, fun, open air. In the same way, we shall never save civilisation as long as civilisation is our main object. We must learn to want something else even more.

Most of us find it very difficult to want 'Heaven' at all - except in so far as 'Heaven' means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognise it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.

THEREFORE -

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:2-3

real life

Live for your athletic achievements—and some day the elastic in your legs will go, your reflexes will slow down, and your life will be "over".

Live for your scholastic attainments—and some day knowledge will pass you by, and life will be over.

Live for your family alone—sometime the children will be grown and gone, and life will be over.

Live for your business success—some day age will come, younger men will reach impatiently for your place, and life will be over.

But live for Christ—live for the inheritance that fades not away—and life will then have just begun!

-Author unknown

car talk

They say that you should turn off the radio in the car when travelling with your kids. Kids communicate better when you aren't staring them in the face, I guess. This is our normal practice to and from town. On one section of the road, we talk about what we're thankful for. On another, we talk about the day's plans. These subjects sometimes turn into more meaningful talk. Take Monday, for instance, which went something like this:

Myra: Today is Grandma Aberle's birthday. She's 57 years old!

Carly: And you're 31.

Isaac: How can she be older than you when you're bigger?

M: God just made me taller and bigger.

(The kids sat there, thinking thoughtful thoughts.)

I: Abraham's wife had a baby when she was as old as Grandpa Hartter!!

M: Wasn't that an awesome miracle? That's one reason why she laughed when God told her that she'd have a baby. She didn't believe it because she was so old. But God can do anything.

C: Yeah, you know that song, My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there's NOTHING my God cannot do! God can do anything He wants to.

Conversation followed. As we pulled up to the High Rise, the kids knew the routine. They'd go into the office and pick out a couple worksheets from their workbook to do before playing. Isaac summed up the whole conversation in a big, deep voice. He said with gusto, "Yeah! God can do REALLY HARD worksheets!"

I laughed and answered, "He can do a lot more than that!"

images

Water balloons make any kid happy unless you squeeze too hard.

X-Treme Croquet

Good times.

The snake didn't have good times. He should've known better than to come out around people with all sorts of mallets.

happy birthday

Isaac's been counting down the days. Today's the day.

Four years ago, tiny contractions woke me up at 5:30 a.m. Jared was working his 12-hour night shift, but he was coming home soon. He'd make it just in time to run the Firecracker 5K Run and then settle down for some much-needed sleep. Cramp-like contractions continued on a regular basis. Thinking I could be of help, Carly and I drove to the middle school to pick up his running packet. I remember standing in line waiting for my turn. Trish Lukert greeted me, "Hi, Myra! How are you?" Contraction. I tried to smile. "Just fine!" But what I wanted to say was, Can you hurry? I think I'm in labor.

Jared got home around 7:30 a.m. Contractions were still small and around five minutes apart. We wondered whether he had time to run this race or not. He ran to the starting line six blocks away. I finished packing our bags, and Carly and I waited on the front steps. Run fast, Jared! C'mon! Light contractions continued. I packed the car, wondering whether this was really labor or not. Twenty-two minutes later, Jared crossed the finish line. All runners generally pant and come to a screeching halt when they finish the 5K. Not Jared. He continued to race home. We dropped Carly off, and went to the hospital.

Isaac John was born at 12:12 p.m.

Carly: pestering her brother for the first time

Jared: running on zero hours of sleep

Turning 1

Happy Birthday, big boy!