End of Turkey day week

Good week - I liked not working very much at duke. do i really want to go back tomorrow?
This picture was taken on a random siting of Meredith at the mall. This was right in front of the big Christmas tree. Long day at work right before it was taken, but it was good to see her.
Bucs lost, Gators won, Notre Dame didn't do me any favors, Colts are winning, and the Gator bball team joined the ranks of the newly beaten - along with the heels, Dukies, LSU and Kansas (who beat us in OT). oh, well. Such is life.

What are you thankful for?

As I sat down with Ps 136 on this less hectic day after T-day: I found a lot to be thankful for:

My salvation - full and free
My parents - gracious and believing
My family - accepting
My friends - pushing, believing, edifying
The Word - hearing the very Word of God and in a world of lies knowing I can come to it and find unwavering Truth
Food - something I love to do and nourishment as God provides it.
Football - another fun thing (and something that brings my brother and I together more than not)
Possessions - they help make life easier
My education and brain - I love to think
Books - Helping insure the above
Creation - seeing a little bit of the God I serve when I walk outside

As you can see these aren't in any particular order after the first 5. I hope you have found things to be thankful for - and share it with the people you are thankful for! :)

Tday food and friends

Well, this is T-day! What are you thankful for?

We had good food, unexpected but certainly welcome people - so glad they came. Watching football.

Christmas Party Video

Christmas party of the YEAR!!!


You gotta come - watch the video above! Dec 1! :)

What a great Sunday!

What a bad week (with few bright spots) - but a glorious Sunday. What a way to end it - almost.

collegeLife was good. Brad spoke and Jason led worship. The verse that Jason used (Hebrew 9.11-12) is perfect for those people that think they can earn or even have any part in their salvation:

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Then I came home and cooked some
Then, Meredith and I went on a hike in Chapel Hill (with all the brown dead leaves on the ground) and ate a picnic lunch. That is one of the pictures we took

Then I came home to take a relaxing bath in a messy room (I gotta work on that after Christmas - when I have time).

Then I listened to the Bucs game - and they WON! Now I am watching the Colts game - they gotta beat the Boys - my least fave team (even though Emmitt played for them).

Cooking some chili and an apple scone cake. Doing a small Bible study with some girls tonight. Then maybe I'll work on my room some.

Perfect weather outside - about 50 degrees, beautifl sunset working now that I can see from my living room.

So, between football, cooking, the Word, and quietness, and the outside - great stuff!

My Chosen Evangelical Ghetto!

Dr. Reid always warned us about living, working, breathing in an evangelical ghetto while in seminary. Well, I wish I could choose mine now. There is something about sweet fellowship with fellow reformed people. It is something in graced views and humility and then just fun (not that I have these, but I like being around people with these). This little boy would definitely be in my neighborhood. But, his mommy and daddy (and soon to be brother or sister) are taking him away to Southern in KY. But, Lord willing I'll get to see all of them in August.

Exact truth in the It Is Finished

This is it for me:
6a start (that is nothing out of the ordinary)
7a - 2 hour dentist appt - boy, those are fun. The funnest part is finding out your dental coverage by Duke is only paying 1/8th of it.
945a - finally get to work, had desk full of stuff, and finally caught up by lunch at 12.45a (right now).
Power bills and leases - they are not fun either as they have been thrown into the mix today.
5p - get off work and running to the leasing office and eat dinner before going to W-S to work and stand on my feet till at least 10p tonight.
Come home, read some in The Innocent Man by John Grisham (a great piece of Nonfiction if you want any). Get to bed by 1130p probably - what a long day!

Today is a hard day to say "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." But, the truths of Scripture are not based on what kind of day we are having - is it? Praise God it isn't. As Luke 1.4 says: it is Exact TRUTH!

As I am reading in Valley of Vision right now, I started thinking that even though I know that my works can not influence God's Thoughts toward me - they are eternally based on grace and mercy - how often do I live in the thought that I am a: disappointment, horrible handler of money, a sinner. Help me to live in:
"The 'It Is Finished!'
Increase my faith in the clear knowledge of atonement achieved, expiation completed, satisfaction made, guilt done away, my debt paid, my sins forgiven, my person redeemed, my soul saved, hell vanquished (much worse then the dentist and Duke Power), heaven opened, eternity made mine."

Season of Prophecy

Well, now that we are in November and I'm working my seasonal job - it is just about Christmas time. I read Luke 1 yesterday and came across this prophecy by Zechariah that I don't think I'd really "seen" before. It is amazing:

Luke 1.74-79
"That we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

The key part there is that He does all this (even giving John to Z & E) - because of His great mercies. It is not because of anything we do. Z & E were righteous and holy people, set apart for the work of the gospel, God visited them, gave them a child, all because of His mercy and grace.

Sounds and Sites of the Beach

I went to a genealogy conference in Indiatlantic Beach this weekend. And watched the Gators play and other mess ups in the Top 10. Each night we slept with the sliding door open overlooking the beach. The sounds of the waves are wonderful. If I could just rent a balcony on that hotel I would be happy. I sleep much better and wake up to the sounds of the waves and the views of the sunrise - God is so good. Ps 79!

A (sad for me) Shout OUT!

Just wanted to let everyone in blogland know that my friend, Mr. Bradley Weldy, got into the SBTS (Southern in KY) PhD program. He will start in January. Him, Lindsay, and little Shep will be leaving this area in December. True, I am leaving in February - but it isn't the same! :)
I know they will do great and I look forward to buying all of Brad's books (Prof Weldy I mean).
God is going to use you 3+ mightily for HIS GLORY!

Ps 119 applied

As I was looking through blogs and other sites last night and today, I found this one. To my knowledge, one of the designers of this program goes to SEBTS (lots of good things come of that school).
I've always wanted to memorize Scripture, but get so overwhelmed at time and then quit. Accountability hasn't worked. I've tried figuring out how Piper and Davis (FBCDurham Pastor) do it. I've tried it many ways.
This is one of those ways. Figure 8 is a system. After reading it, it sounds great, hard work (but what worth having and doing isn't?) and they have created 3 different levels of intensity. Check it out - let me know what you think.

The Weight of Sin

I would have to say the tangible sin I struggle with the most is my addiction to food - its real player that it is in my life. (the non-tangible ones are pride and idolatry - those I deal with everyday).
I was reading in Piper's new book today about repentance. Some of the verses he uses are "come unto me, all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "I am the living water, drink from me and you will never thirst again." "Hunger and thirst for righteousness." I immediately was convicted and overwhelmed with the weight of sin - literally.
I struggle with weight, losing it, gaining it, knowing why I eat, what drives me to work out, why I don't work out, clothes, the appearance, the judging of others either thinner or heavier than I am (that's everyone by the way).
But, God grants rest from that in His grace. Under the burden and weight of the cross is freedom. Freedom from the struggle of weight.
I want to come to the realization of that freedom in this area. It is tough - but Christ is bigger.
Whatever sin that may be heavy to you - let go of it - you don't have to carry it any further. God's freedom is Christ.

Ruth and Football

Boy, when you wake up late in the morning, and you are not even in your own house (housesitting) - it doesn't make for a very calming, healthy morning. But, all is well, I am at work...
But...the weekend was very successful.
The Women's Conference went very well. Between 15-20 ladies there, good fellowship. My prayer was that I could relate to them and my stories of how God had rescued me from idolatry and bitterness even in the last few months and weeks seemed to work. Thank you God for allowing me to relate to these women.
Did some good clearance shopping at some Kohl's this weekend and got some great deals by adding at 15% coupon to it.
Charlie did a great job in collegeLife on 1 Kings. It was great! some people have that gift of cramming it all in in 25 minutes. Great job on application as well.
Went to the 2nd best Chinese place in the state of NC. Charlie's is my fave place in Chapel Hill. But, Maggie and I went to the place I found before Charlies - Chens. It is in Franklinton out north of Youngsville. People from Faith and I would go there after church in seminary. I took my Mom there once and we got the General Tso's chicken - my fave (but not healthiest). Yesterday I didn't get the Tso's - I got broccoli with garlic sauce and white rice - yummy! :) It was good - not as hot as Charlie's which I would have liked, but it was good. I'll get to Charlie's my last week in the state with my friend Mollie.
Football was good this weekend too. Gators won, Michigan and OSU both had a run for their money, Tenn lost so we get to play Dec 2. Thanks LSU! Bucs lost - but at least they showed up for about 5 minutes, but that of course isn't long enough. Miami beat the previously unbeaten Bears - go fins and Jason Taylor on a pick. Then, the Colts finished the weekend off with a win in the game of the weekend - they beat the Patriots. now, most will say the Patriots didn't really play their game, but the fact remains is P.Manning won and the Colts are the only still unbeaten team! :)

Week in review: weekend in anticipation

Well, it has definitely in an Indian summer this week as we have had the time change here in NC. It has been in the mid-high 70s all week but due to be not even out of the 50s for the weekend. Oh, well.
It has been a great week. Ok at work - but what is new.
Great time cooking with my girls on Tuesday for Reformation Day (ok, Halloween for most of the world). Have you seen Luther (the movie)? Do you know what the staples of the Reformation are? You need to - they are very important. We baked very good things - check out the food blog.
Went to lunch with a friend of mine - Claudia. Lucky 32 - you can check out my review on the food blog as well. Then I house sat for a lady - very relaxful - watched the Gators win, but they didn't look great against a very poor offensive UGA team. But, we won. We are still in the hunt against the BCS. All of us 1-loss teams gotta hang together!
The Bucs did horrible - they lost. But, they are still my team. Some changes are going to have to be made for them to start winning decidedly - don't know what those changes are. I really like Monte Kiffen - Jon Grudem not so much. Maybe they need to take some offensive pointers from the boys of old FL. Defensive from the veterans at Miami Dolphins. The Colts won though - they looked pretty good. Do they ever play Chicago - I think I know who would win. That would be the first time I've pulled for a UT guy over a FL guy - just love Peyton in every area (except college alma mater) over Rex Grossman.
Personal Worship time has been great. Praying for many things for people - but I love praying Scripture for other people: friends and family. Wisdom, marriages, boldness, patience, purity...all these things can be found in Scripture. The nearness of God is my good - help me to remember that statement from the psalmist in 73. It is one of my fave psalms. Valley of Vision and Oswald have said some very good things this week.
Getting prepared to speak to a group of ladies at Faith Baptist in Apex where Frank and Kasey serve. Speaking this weekend on Ruth: God kindness in the midst of trials. I love studying the Word - going in depth through it - how many little wonders come out and I get to pass it on. This is my favorite thing I do: maybe not - cooking with my girls is awesome too!
Go Gators this weekend: Vanderbilt. Go Bucs and Colts! Gators bb won tonight - they play again Sunday. I get to go the Duke game on Saturday night. Good weekend - plus housesitting.
Oh, this picture was taken in my friend Claudia's driveway in south Durham - this is one thing I will miss about this state when I leave - but that is what vacations are for!
Over and out