Could Not Have Been Prouder

Sometimes things happen in your lives that make you realize how absolutely blessed you are. Joy, Luke, and myself attended an award ceremony at the elementary school today in which we were told that our oldest son Ethan would be honored. We were not told what for but there was no question that we as a family would attend. Long story short, Ethan was given a medal for his Advnaced Reading program achievements as well as a certificate recognizing his being on the A honor roll all year. I am so proud of him. Here is what really got to me though. Two girls who attend church with us are also in the same grade as Ethan and they were both honored at the program as well but these two beautiful girls both received a very special award. Both of them received the Citizenship award in their individual classes (one of which is in Ethan's class). This award was given to the students who were most helpful and respectful in their individual class rooms. I was so proud of them and of the fact that I can call their parents and Sunday School teachers my friends. I have no doubt in my mind that these girls involvement in church and their parents' love of the Lord plays a large role in their receiving this award.
I can not help but think of Christ's instruction for us to become as little children (Matthew 18) in order to receive salvation. I know from my daily interaction with Ethan that he wants to do nothing more than learn as much as we can and to be helpful to those who he can help. I pray that all who read this will make a decision to become as these glorious children and try to learn as much as we can through Bible study while trying to follow Christ's instructions to love our neighbor as ourselves and help those who we know are struggling.

Pilgrim's Map

I know it has been quite a while between posts but I struggle to find time to post here. I am going to try and do better but in the meantime, here are some good links that I have recently viewed.

*This is one that you may have heard about but this video is a must see. Click here.*

*Here is an excellent post for all of us about forgetting the reward that we Christians sometimes seem to forget is coming to us if we live faithfully. Click here.*

*For all of you Star Wars geeks out there (myself included) here is the link to the new trailer for the animated Clone Wars cinematical release at Yahoo movies. We took the boys to see Speed Racer Friday night (didn't know it would have so much language in it, oops) and they showed this preview and it looked really cool on the big screen. If you haven't seen the first two Clone War movies I would suggest renting them and watching them as they fill in many blanks in a very cool animated way. This movie opens in August and I will definitely be there. Click here.*

No Excuses

I heard a good sermon tonight about the excuses that are offered up in Romans 1 for not living the Christian life. As I was checking out various blogs that I enjoy this evening I realized that any of us living in this age of advanced technology and information exchanging have no excuse to not drape ourselves in God's word each and every day. There is such a wealth of good and doctrinal sound information to be explored on the internet that a thought provoking Bible study is literally seconds away from all of us. We can subscribe to have devotionals or daily Bible passages deliverd to our e-mail if we like. Of course I do feel that nothing is better than good old fashioned study of an open Bible in a quiet place where the Holy Spirit can reveal to you what it is you need to see that day. That being said though, do any of us have any excuse to not sharpen our knowledge of the sword (that's the Bible) every day. I understand that there are probably more trappings and false doctrines online than truth but if you can discern the two I wonder if an excuse to God on judgment day about our lack of study will be tolerated from those of us who live in this age. God's blessings are all around us and we have no excuse to not spend time in learning more about Him daily.

I had to share this

This is probably one of the most amazing/disgusting things I have ever seen. This is a picture of DavidHolbert, a fullback from the University of Tennessee. This happened at a practice. Thank God that you are not enduring that pain right now.

Just A Reminder

I have gotten some e-mails from people this morning stating they did not know how to comment to posts. So, at the end of the post it will say "0 comments" or "3 comments" or however many comments there are. Click that and it will take you to the comment screen. Type your comment and then choose how you want to sign it. If you do not have a blog or g-mail account, click the name/url box and just leave your comment. Of course anonymous is an option as well.
If you want to read other people's comments simply click the title of the post (for instance to read comments to this post, you would click the title above ("Just A Reminder").

Have a great day