Updates of my growing garden

Here are some of the fruits from my little garden.

Check out the baby watermelon.

And it's big brother.

A beautiful cucumber.

and lots of tomatoes too.

Here you can see how big our garden is Everything is so green. I just love it.

This is one of the flowers getting ready to bloom from the seeds scattered next to the steps.

These little guys just started to bloom.

And I love these little miniature snap dragons.

False Prophets and False Teachers

The Bible warns us to be cautious for False Prophets and Teachers. How can we do this? The only sure fire way is to get to know the Bible. If we know what God has said then we will not be led astray. I believe our churches are failing in this area. How often do you see a Bible in the pulpit or one of the scripture readers reading the lessons directly from the Bible? I have found at least in the churches I visit they usually read from the proper sheet. How many churches actually have Bibles in their pews and encourage their members to open them during the sermon and the readings? Or during Sunday School how many of our teachers model to our children and encourage them to look up the lesson for the day? Even in the adult class often all we need is written on the hand out. I fear that if we do not open our Bibles at church chances are we are not opening them at home either. Now I know that some of us do but I fear we are the minority. We all find it difficult to stay consistent when it comes to spending time in Gods word. If we are trusting what our pastors and teachers are telling us but we have not read for our selves it will be much easier for us to be lead astray. Our pastors and teachers are sinners and make mistakes and we can give back to them by knowing our scripture so that we can bring those moments to their attention. After all they do not intend to lead their flock astray. So today I would like to encourage you to take a look at your life at home and at church. Take your Bible with you and open it during the readings and the sermon so that you can be sure that you are be lead in the right direction. Encourage your churches to bring the Bible back into the pulpit, lectern and into our Sunday school classes So that we will be encouraged to read God's word in and out of Church.

Ezekiel 14.

God was talking about how a person can only save themselves by their righteousness from Gods wrath. He even noted that the same is true for people such as Daniel, Job and Noah who all found favor with God. As much as we would like to save our children from the evil in this world and from eternal damnation we can not. Our children are not saved through our faith but through their own faith and repentance. It is our job to equip them with the knowledge of Gods Word and to lead by example a life filled with love, devotion and repentance in our Savior Jesus Christ. God tells us to train up a child in how he should go and he will never depart from it. If we do not train our children we have failed them miserably and we will have to answer to God for our actions or lack of actions. I often hear people say "I come from a Christian home". Well that is good but do you believe? and if so what do you believe? If they have been trained in how they should go this answer will come easily for them if not they will stumble and stamper walking around the question. If we want our children to be absolutely certain about their salvation we must teach them and pray for and with them.

Youth Group Trip to Hills Alive!

This weekend we took 11 teens and parents to the Hills Alive concerts in Rapid City, SD. We left the church parking lot at 6:00 AM after a prayer lead by our pastor.

When we arrived in Rapid City my parents had a great lunch of ribs, potato salad beans and rice crispy bars. What a blessing to have a great meal waiting for our tired travelers.

This is the view of the main stage that we could see from our location in the park. They had large screens so that we could see close up shots of the artists. Our teens and yes some of the adults spent some time right up front listening to News Boys. and Jars of Clay.

Here is our crew relaxing and listening to the music.

Tim was so awesome he went to pick up our supper each night so we would not have to leave the concerts. Day one pizza, day two sub sandwiches.

More relaxing and listening. This was a great opportunity for the teens to get to know one another and form life long friendships.

After a late night of concerts sleep was a welcomed guest.

My parents and cousin even came to enjoy the music in the park.

They enjoyed climbing the dinosaurs and that made for a cute group picture.

I always think the teens look so tall until we had them standing by the long neck.

Posing at the dinosaur.

Here is a picture of all 11 of us.

When we stopped for lunch on the way home the restaurant had lots of games for the teens to play. They had a great time. There were games for all ages.

These two were enjoying a game of pool.

Relaxing at the resturant on the way home. It was a nice break from the car ride. I thank my Lord and Savior for keeping us all safe on this fun trip that was designed to glorify Him!

Do you worship Idols?

Today I was continuing my Daily quiet time with God and as I was reading Ezekiel 4-10 it occurred to me that idols are every where. We do not necessary make graven images that we bow down to and worship or pray to but there are many things that we put in front of God. For example T.V., Computers, Video Games, Sports, Friends, Family and the list goes on and on. This is something that I believe all Christians struggle with. How much is too much? When does something go from being a pastime to an idol? I do not believe that we are meant to spend our entire day dinging in Gods Word How ever we should be meditating on what we have read and we should fill our thoughts with him through out our day. We have many ways to do this. What kind of music do you listen to? Does it turn your thoughts towards God or towards earthly things? What kinds of books do your read? What kind of T.V. programs do you watch are they pleasing to the Lord? What about the time you spend with your friends are you fellowshipping or gossiping? Even in our own families is our time spent glorifying God or worrying about how we are going to get the kids to all their activities and also get the stuff done around our home. Perhaps it is time that we evaluate our lives to see where those idols are so that we can destroy them and focus on Godly things instead. After all God showed his wrath to the Israelites and I know I would rather not see God's wrath turned towards me.

In his service,

Melissa

Witnessing to others

Today as I was reading Ezekiel chapters 1-3.

It made me think about Ezekiel's experience with the Lord I can't help but think how I would respond to what he saw in the heavens. Would be I be scared, in awe or in a state of disbelief. Ezekiel heeded to Gods calling and went to deliver a message of judgement amongst people who would not listen. But before he went he ate a scroll containing the words of God. He stated that it was as sweet as honey. We also have Gods word in our hands and God desires us to "eat it" as well. Can you taste it? Is it sweet or do you find it to be a bitter unpleasant task. I would like to encourage you to ask the Lord to show you it's sweetness so that you will have a craving to devour His word each day.

Chapter three focuses on Ezekiel going to witness to these people. God has also called to witness to others. I find it interesting that God tells Ezekiel in 3:9" I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them though they are a rebellious house". I know that as for my self I often let fear get in the way of what God has called me to do. After all what if they get mad at me or decide to hurt me. What if I actually had to be persecuted for my faith. Would I be able to handle it. God tells me yes you will. And I take great comfort in knowing that God will be with me as I witness to his people no mater how difficult a situation it might be and that he will equip me with all that I need to do the job. God also told Ezekiel in 3:10 "...Go now to your country men in exile and speak to them. Say to them, 'this is what the sovereign Lord says,' whether they listen or fail to listen". It is not our job to make them listen just to share the Gospel with them there are many opportunities in our every day lives to do so. God will do the rest.

So let us fulfill the Great commission "Therefor go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit and teaching them to pbey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. " Matthew 28:19-20

Melissa

Pride

Today as I sat down in the stillness of the beautiful morning I continued my journey through the Book of Daniel. We all know the children s stories about Daniel and the lions den and Shadrack Meshack and Abendigo but we sometimes forget about what happens in-between those stories and what lessons we can learn from them. Today I was reading about what happened right before the lions den about the mysterious hand that appears before King Belshazzar and proceeds to wright on the wall. Here is the account of that incident.

Daniel 5:5-6 and Daniel 5:25-28

⁵ Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. ⁶ His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.......(Daniel was called upon to interpret the writing and this is what he said.) ²² "But you his son, ^{d]" [d]} O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. ²³Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. ²⁴ Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

"This is the inscription that was written:

Mene , Mene , Tekel , Parsin ^[e]

²⁶ "This is what these words mean:
Mene ^[f] : God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

²⁷ Tekel ^[g] : You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

²⁸ Peres ^[h] : Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

While I was reading this passage I was thinking about how frighting it would be to watch a hand appear from no where and start writing on the wall. I am thinking that the King's hart was immediate convicted of his wrong doing. Today we do not see these kind of acts from God to convict our hearts rather the Holy spirit works in us that we might repent and receive the forgiveness of grace. How often do we brush off the nudging of the Holy Spirit as he tries to convict our hearts of our pridefulnes. I also thought about how hardened the heart of King Belshazzar was that he had drifted so far away from the lessons his father had learned about when he through Shadrack Meshack and Abendigo into the furnace. Just as King Belshazzar let pride drive a wedge between him and God we also tend to forget to give all glory to God. As parents do we set that example of verbally giving glory to God when something good happens or are we quick to take the credit onto our selves. You can see the prideful in our children early in their lives when they call to us saying "look at me look at me or see what I did." I would like to encourage each of you to make that a teachable moment sharing statements like "That was very nice, It is awesome that God gave you the strength to do that." or Offering a quick prayer with you child to thank God for the gift of talent that the child has been given. You can also develop simple statements that the child can respond to when people are giving the praise for example, "Thank you but I could not have done it with out my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." or "All Glory Praise and Honor I give to the Lord". If you practice these kind of statements it will become easier for your child to do away with pride and turn to humbleness giving a witness along the way.

Now O sing to the Lord, Oh sing God a New Song!

Women Living Well

My husband just told me about this blog. He heard about it on one of his Christian chat rooms. I have been looking at it and I think that it could be a great place to find encouragement as a wife and a homemaker. Sometimes we feel as though we are the only women still staying at home taking care of our husbands. This woman uses Gods Word to offer encouragement and support. Check it out.

Families Work together

Today Tim lifted me up high with the skid steer so that I could finish painting the house. I also painted our pro-pain tank. I should have had Ansir take a picture but he was busy mowing the neighbors lawn.

After lunch they boys got busy digging fence post holes. It was hard work but they were very quick about it. They finished by 3:15. At least it was much cooler today than yesterday so the work was bearable.

Here is Tim as he powers through the grass to get the hole started.

Once the hole was started Ansir took over and tried his hand at completing a hole. He did a good job.

We are thankful for our big yard but that means that many many holes needed to be dug. I think they boys dog about 20 holes today.

Here you can see our fence line. We don't quite have enough for our entire yard but we will be getting some more in the future to finish the project. Next week we will be setting the poles with some quickcreet and pulling the fence tight.

Flowers in Bloom

My mom brought these beautiful daises when she came to visit and as you can see they are doing very well in this ND dirt.

These plants are have overtaken my flower beds. They are actually very pretty. We had a debate on what color they would be. My mom thought red, my neighbor thought pink and I had no clue. Well now we know.

The white spots that are covering the plants is not a disease. It is paint from painting the house.