A talk about James

On Sunday our pastor, Mark, was talking on James, since he's been doing a series there. This time it was James 5:1-6.

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

Sounds like a fun passage to present, huh? He began by expressing that most of us don't consider ourselves rich and so it's easy to pass over this section thinking that it doesn't apply to us. But when we define "rich" as "having more than we need," almost all of us realize that we are rich, especially when we consider the world economy. James is talking to those who have more than they need, explaining that the "riches" they trust in are rotted.

So is James blasting the wealthy for being wealthy? No, not really. The question we need to ask is Why does God give us more than we need?
Mark gave a great illustration: Suppose you are little Billy's parent. You decide to take little Billy and his friend little Johnny to the park for a picnic. They each bring their lunches. Little B and little J each pull out their peanut butter and jelly sandwiche, apple, and juice box for lunch. When they are finished, little Billy (your son) reaches in his bag and pulls out a bag of cookies. Little Johnny doesn't have a bag of cookies. As a parent, what are you hoping little Billy will do? Share his cookies with his friend, right? And you will be so proud with little Billy gives 4 cookies to his friend and gives 4 cookies to himself.

So when God gives us more than we need, it's not really our need He has in mind. Rather, He's thinking about the needs of others. And what a proud Father He is when we share our bag of cookies.

Joshua and I really enjoyed this talk and are praying for and looking for opportunities to share what we have been given. May you be blessed with the same opportunities.

Memorial Day Weekend

We have had a very enjoyable weekend. At lunchtime on Friday Joshua's boss let the office go home and start their weekend with the afternoon off. Big surprise for us! We didn't think that would happen! So after cleaning the house that afternoon, we were free to enjoy the weekend!

Of course, it's been raining the whole weekend, starting Friday. But we have made the most of it. On Saturday we took the dog rollerblading and then went to a 6th grade graduation party at a friend's house. And we didn't have to come home early to do homework! How great is that?

On Sunday we got to celebrate new life as 6 people from our church were baptized. Since our church meets at a community center near a park, after the second service we walk over to the community pool there at the park and baptize there in the pool. We had two children and 4 adults make a public confession that they are followers of Christ. They each wrote in their own words about how they became a Christ follower and an emcee read their story so that we could all celebrate with them. It was sprinkling the whole time, but that didn't stop people from coming down to celebrate. It was such a special time. What a blessing to be able to share in the lives and in the special moments in people's lives.

Today it is still sprinkling off and on. We've just been relaxing and enjoying the time off. We had a very festive Memorial Day breakfast.Happy Memorial Day!

Graduation!

My brother graduated from UT this past weekend. I can't believe how fast those years went by! I am so proud of him and all he has done. He's a really great guy and I'm proud to call him my brother.We had a great time all getting to be together for his graduation and hanging out with some of his friends. Matthew plans to stay in Austin for the next year until some of the high school guys he works with in Young Life graduate. Then he plans to go to Costa Rica for about a year and start up a Young Life club down there.

We had to humor the parents and pose in front of the Bevo. But don't worry, we showed our Aggie pride with a Gig 'em. =)

More thoughts on James

James 1:25
But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

This verse says to me that living the Christian life is not about memorizing a set of rules, but about looking up on the truth of God until it is seared on your heart and in your mind and you can't forget it. It's about knowing the truth so that when you are faced with decisions to make and difficult situations, you can respond in the way that is pleasing to God.

James explains that what we do will show if we have been look intently at the perfect law. Our behavior will show if we are effectual doers or forgetful hearers. And the one who walks in the law of liberty will be blessed in what he does.

What do my actions say about me today? Do I remember, as I go about each day, the things that I have read in God's word?

Finished!

Another semester is finished! Yay! We survived!

Joshua had his final presentation on Monday night where he "wowed" the architects with his project. He did a fabulous job!

Sarah finished today with her 4th final. Whew.

So what's next? Joshua is going back to work full-time. Sarah will be taking almost 3 weeks off of school before her summer class starts. She will keep working and catch up on housework, new recipes, and reading. She starts her practicum at the seminary next Tuesday!

Another semester older, another semester smarter.

Ahhhh! Finals!

Yesterday pretty much all I did was study for the 2 finals I had today. They were both hard. Basically, my brain is tired. I've crammed all kinds of information from this semester in there and now I want a break. But I still have 2 finals next week. So I'm trying to get motivated to keep studying...

Joshua is on the final stretch of his project. He presents on Monday night. So this weekend will be no fun as he has to work on that and I have to study.

Why are we in grad school again?