The King of the Jews

An icon is something or someone who represents something bigger than what they at first glance appear to be. An icon would be a model of perfection, something or someone that holds conviction or values. Although, an icon can also be controversial to one or more groups of people, causing the icon to be both loved and hated by many people. In many cases an icon can personify something a mass quantity of people would want to be or strive to be. I believe that Jesus Christ is not only my personal icon but an icon of Godly perfection and sacrifice for many. In today’s society, there are millions of churches around the world that do their best to live the gospel and uphold the Messiah’s teachings. However back in the Roman days, when the Lord did walk upon the earth, He was not accepted by his own people, the Jewish people, particularly those of authority. I believe it is far easier to see why Jesus is an icon in our current world but I seek to explain why He was an icon in the time that He lived and walked upon the earth.

“One Sabbath (holy day) [Jesus] went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, ‘Get up and stand in front of everyone.’ So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?’ He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ The man did so, and his hand was completely restored. But [the Pharisees and teachers of the law] were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.” (Luke 6:6-11).

In the above passage, Jesus miraculously heals a man on the Sabbath and the leaders of the Jewish people seek to kill Him because of it. The Sabbath (most commonly considered a Sunday, or day of rest in our present world) was upheld to the highest degree. In the old law no Jewish person was allowed to carry anything, even a needle in their pocket, do any work or eat on the Sabbath day. This law would include healing because it was considered to be work to heal someone. Therefore, in the most controversial way, Jesus says that the laws of the people are not the laws of God and their definition of ‘keeping the Sabbath holy’ is faulty. He also claimed that He, as God, was Lord of the Sabbath in Luke 6:5, which was possibly one of the main reasons the Pharisees want him dead; because Jesus claimed Himself to be Lord. In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John the Jewish leaders are angrily trying to find fault with Jesus so that they can put Him to death.

Throughout the Old Testament, many prophets spoke of the coming of God’s Messiah for the Jewish people and for all man kind. Many prophets foretold that this Messiah would come with power causing “all mankind to see God’s salvation” (Isaiah 50:5). Because of this passage and others similar to it, the Jewish people expected a military leader or great king to be their Messiah, not a simple carpenter. “The scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David [and other prophets]…” Luke tells us in Acts 1:16. According to the Old Testament, and the prophets, the coming Messiah was an icon of salvation and hope to the Jewish people. However, when He came, the Jewish leaders thought that Jesus was trying to destroy the laws they had set up, but Jesus clearly states in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Therefore, Jesus understood that the scriptures needed to be fulfilled with His death and resurrection for the assurance of salvation for all people.

However, Jesus tells us, “No prophet is accepted in his hometown” (Luke 4:24). Thus when his own people, the Jewish people of Israel, hate Jesus for his miracles and teachings, it is not hard for us to accept that He became an icon of His time because He not only did extraordinary things but he also taught and spoke with extraordinary authority and went against the “norm.” Jesus’ miracles and teachings were different than anything the Jewish people had seen or heard before. The Bible also informs us that He had many followers and crowds of people came to see Him as Mark 6:33-34 explains; many people saw Jesus, recognized Him and ran to reach the towns ahead of Him so that He could speak and teach them. Later in that same chapter of Mark, people believed and again recognized Jesus and “ran throughout that whole region, bringing their sick to Him wherever they heard that He was.”

In the same way, the Pharisees and teachers of the law knew who Jesus was and, in vain, tried to find fault with His teachings and words. Though they asked Jesus many questions and tried to find fault with Him, the Lord always saw into their hearts, knowing their ways were evil; He always found a way to answer their deceiving questions that left all the people, including the Jewish leaders amazed. In the way that Jesus was hated, loved, and known by many in the Roman days it is easy to see that He was an icon of His time because there was hardly an ear who had not heard His name spoken. The elders, rabbis, and chief priests of the Jewish people feared Jesus’ teachings because they thought he would lead a revolt against them through the people. Not to mention that these important Jewish leaders were only important because of the laws they upheld and without these laws they would not have the authority over the people that they currently held. “Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest…and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. ‘But not during the [Passover],’ they said, ‘or there may be a riot among the people.’” (Matthew 26:3-5).

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity states that Jesus must have either been the Lord, a lunatic or the devil. “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would have been a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else He would have been the devil of Hell. You must make the choice. Either this man was the Son of God: or else a mad man or something worse.” Yet, in the time that Jesus walked the earth, He was considered Lord by those who loved him and a lunatic and upstart trying to overthrow the old laws and the ways of the Jewish people by those who hated Him. In Matthew 16: 15-16 “[Jesus] asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” Agreeing that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah, other than just a mere man would once again prove that Jesus was an icon because He was more than He appeared to be at first glance. Yet the people replied that surely Jesus must be, “John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets,” in Matthew 16:14. Clearly people knew of Jesus and His teachings and miracles and people would travel great distances to see Him and hear him preach. Therefore, the people clearly saw him as a figure of importance. Because Jesus taught on controversial issues of his time, not to mention that he healed on the Sabbath, He was indeed someone who held higher value on the things of life, thus proving that He was an icon in the days the Roman Empire was in control.

C.S. Lewis later adds in his book, “You can either shut [Jesus] up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at feet and call Him Lord and God. But let none of us come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” As C.S. Lewis stated earlier, “You need to make the choice.” I believe that Jesus Christ was an icon of hope and salvation for all people, not just the Jewish people. In truth, Jesus remains an icon of perfection, sacrifice, salvation and hope to many people in the world.

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* Please note that all scripture comes from the New International Version of the Holy Bible. All quotes from C.S. Lewis are from Mere Christianity (NewYork: MacMillan Company, 1960), p. 40-41.

Flanny and I have footie pajamas... to see another picture, check out her website. YAY!!! 

"I do."

I realized something today... not that I didn't know it before, but it all suddenly came together today. I was sitting in Theatre class and at first I was looking at the pictures in the book from the chapter that I had not read, vaguely listening to my teacher talk about set design and scenery... but mostly, I was praying. Yep, its true... I pray in school. Anyway, I was praying and kind of looking around at all the people in my class wondering if they knew Jesus. And I was thinking about the plan He had for their lives, wondering if they even knew that God was working in their lives. After all, even if they didn't want His hand moving in their lives, He was still moving. (That's another thing I like about Jesus. He always knows whats best for us, even when we think we know it all.) Well, then God told me that all of those students were someone's future wife or husband. And my first response was, "Woah!" Of course then a moment later, I was like, "Yes, God, you are right... that makes sense..." Then God started telling me stuff about relationships in general... If you will, let's think about this together. If all of God's children (ie: the world) are our brothers and sisters, and only on the day we say "I do" are we anything more than brother and sister (and only with that one other person), then should we not be treating all of God's children (ie: the world) like brothers and sister. Now, from here I have a slight problem. You see, I don't have brothers or sisters, so I don't know how to treat someone as such. So, I went to someone who would know. Andrea! I asked my little Flan quite bluntly if she had ever made-out with one of her brothers. Her response was the most horrified look I'd ever seen. I took that as a "no." Then I asked her if she ever holds hands with her brothers. At this point I'm sure she thought I was a nut. But it was research that had to be done, for all of us who are the only-children in our families. Now, why on earth would we want to watch some woman dance around half-naked at a bachelor's party or a man strip at a club? (Please note that looking at porn does apply here too). Those people are our brothers and sister. I have to use my imaginiation here, but I think if I did have brother and sisters that I would not want to watch them dance naked, strip or pose for porn. These people are someone's child, someones sibling, someone's grandchild.. and someone's future spouse... possibly even someone's spouse right now. Let's put it this way. Would you want someone touching your wife? Would you want someone flirting with you husband? For those of you who know me, you would also know that I'm not married, but assuming that I was, I think I would be angry, jealous and hurt if someone was flirting with or touching my husband(its not really the best way to show your respect and support that couple). So, assuming that you agree with me, let me ask you this: Why do we do this sort of thing to other people? Those people we flirt with, lead on, ect. are someone's wife or husband. We live in a sick world, that doesn't care how other people are hurt but only how they can satisfy their own desires for a moment before moving on. As Christians we are called to uplift the body, not to tear it down. We are called to heal, not to make sick. We are called to help, not push aside. How can we understand how to love someone who is not perfect if we can't even begin to understand a LOVE that is perfect?

Emergency Exit Only

You know those "Emergency Exit Only" signs? Sometimes I feel like there should be some of those for life. Sometimes, all I want to do is throw up my hands and declare myself done as I grab my bag and run for that "Emergency Exit Only" door. An alarm would probably sound and people would know I was running and they'd probably try to stop me. But it doesn't matter. I'll be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Because at times, anywhere else is better than where you currently are.

However, today is not one of those days. Today, regardless of trial(s), here I will remain. Too often in trials I have run away and given up... given up more than I can ever imagine. I've come to this conclusion: there are three kinds of trials we face.

1) God given trials (as in dealing with bondage and sins and such).
2) Trials brought on by other people and/or circumstances.
3) Trials you bring on yourself.

The outcome of these trails depends on your own personal response to them.

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
"If you falter in times of trouble and adversity, your strength is small!" - Proverbs 24:10

A Biblical Perspective

The following paper was research done for my Anthropology class... Take that, Evolution!

The subculture of Reno, that I interviewed, is one that is not easily recognized. They do not dress in any particular attire or stand out as being “unusual” or “different” in any way. This subculture may very well be one you can only recognize by having a conversation with its members or by watching the way they interact with one another. Those interviewed were very helpful and did not mind being singled out as a minority. I interviewed eight members of this ever growing subculture, three males and five females. All were from different walks of life and they could not be easily picked out in a crowd as being of the same subculture. The informants I interviewed spoke mainly of their belief systems and not of ethnicity, background, or of anything else that might separate them from Reno’s majority. I set out to interview a subculture commonly known as Christians. I desired to know who they were, what they believed and what they practiced.

The Christians I interviewed ranged in age from eighteen to twenty-three. They cover the University of Nevada, Reno’s campus from freshman to second year seniors. Their majors vary from general studies, speech communication and therapy, math, biology and psychology to civil engineering. Many of them came to the University of Nevada, Reno from other parts of the country; as near as Reno itself, to Las Vegas, Florida, Colorado and California. Five of those interviewed have jobs as well as go to school full time and are involved in multiple clubs and organizations on campus. All informants in my study are involved either in Campus Crusade for Christ or InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Five of those I interviewed grew up with a majority of their families being Christian. Informant B grew up in a non-Christian family, but says that all of his family has recently become Christians. Informant G grew up with only grandparents who were Christian, and informant F claims to be the only Christian in her family. The informants interviewed, expressed that though most of them had grown up in a Christian home, they did not become a Christian until middle school and early high school; although, informant C explained that he had accepted Jesus into his heart at seven years old. (See Chart 1: Age Informants Became Christians). From the ages my informants became Christians themselves, in comparison to how many members of their family were Christian as they grew up, it is apparent that family influence played a huge roll on the child and they accepted Christ at a much younger age than those who were not raised in a Christian home.

All of my informants attend local churches throughout Reno. When asked why they attend church, informant D stated, “I love the connection I have with other believers. It makes me feel at home.” Informant A said he enjoyed the fellowship that a church could offer. However, informant E expanded from fellowship and added, “I want to grow in my faith and knowledge of Jesus and to worship Him, and this is one way I am able to do so.” Though most of my informants grew up in churches outside of the ones they are now attending in Reno, they all seem to have similar occurring traditions. It seems that most churches have some form of musical worship whether through hymns or worship bands; churches also have prayer, sermons or messages, readings from the Bible, and fellowship. Likewise, all of my informants are involved in at least one Bible study, either on or off campus. When asked why they attend Bible studies, informant B smiled and said, “It keeps me accountable and I like to hear other people’s thoughts on Biblical issues… it helps me broaden my views.” Informant F added that she liked learning about Jesus’ teachings and applying them to her life. Six of the informants mentioned fellowship as a reason for attending Bible study. When asked about what drew them to fellowship, informant B replied, “The people are really cool, we usually have a lot in common.” The most general traditions of a Bible study is as follows (in no particular order): prayer, Bible reading, questions and discussions, encouragement, accountability, and discussing ways of practical application in a ‘secular’ world. Informant D happily added that there was usually food, as well.

When my informants were asked how they live their lives being a Christian at a ‘secular’ school, the main reply was that it took a lot of focus not to conform to the world around them. Informant B told me, “It is difficult at times, to watch the hopelessness of so many people.” Informant D explained to me how she tries to live like Jesus would, and be a light to a world of darkness, “I just hope others will see something different in me compared to the average person.” Informant E added that she thought being a Christian in a ‘secular’ school would be easier than being one in a private Christian college. “You have to be real about your faith and who you are, and you have to seek God on your own here,” she told me. However, all agreed that it took a lot of hard work to constantly live out being a Christian at a ‘secular’ school. “You really have to have a lot more faith and be able to support what you believe in, especially when you’re in classes that teach evolution and are ‘anti-Bible’ and ‘anti-Christian,’” informant H stated. They also informed me that most of the time they do not end up living out their Christian life as they had originally planned. “We’re not going to ever be perfect, that’s not the point,” informant G explained, “But it’s all about grace and second chances.” Those I interviewed also informed me that for the most part, a majority of their friends were Christians, anywhere between fifty percent and approximately ninety-five percent. (See Chart 2: Informants Approximate Percentage of Friends who are Christian). When I questioned my informants about how they share their faith with their non-Christian friends, informant C said, “I try not to push the topic. You can be a ‘living Bible’ when you are living by the Bible’s instructions. Actions always speak louder than words.” Most of the other informants added that they would invite their non-Christian friends to Christian events and will often try to start “meaningful conversations” about life and just try to reach their non-Christian friends at their friend’s level.

Next, I asked this subculture of campus Christians if they were currently involved in community service. Most of them shied away from the question with a statement about how they enjoy helping out with church projects, and informant A said that he was involved in “Big Brothers of America.” Informant E expressed her desire to get more into community service stating, “We are called to serve others and I should be involved in community service projects more often.” However, when I asked this question, seven of eight informants mentioned they had been on at least one mission project in their lives. These missions were widespread, from Reno itself, to the inner cities of California, Arizona, Washington, to Mexico and Argentina. Most mission trips for youth teach Vacation Bible School (VBS) to the country’s native children; work with inner-city youth and homeless people in the cities.

Following this question, I asked my informants if they worked while they attended school. All of my informants are full time students at the University of Nevada, Reno and five of the eight, work part time. When I asked them how many hours a week they spend doing work and homework, their responses ranged anywhere from 30 to 70 hours a week (doing homework, going to classes and working combined) Five of my informants said that they spent about 30 minutes a day praying and/or reading their Bible. The other three said they spend about and hour to an hour and a half per day in devotions. Informant B informed me that he had to plan his day to fit in time for his devotions and that there were lots of times he’d rather be doing something else. One informant said he likes to get up early and do devotions before he starts his day and another said that they would rather do theirs at night just before bed. Informant D said that she liked to pray while walking to and from classes or while driving. Informant G added that she always tried to make sure her devotions came before homework, “Sometimes things like social life and homework just have to take a back seat. Eventually everything will get done, but I’m not going to sacrifice my ‘quiet time’ for anything else.”

Finally I asked them what it meant to be a Christian and how it affected them in their daily lives. “Being a Christian has given my life purpose and hope,” Informant H replied, “I have gained a closer relationship with [God], guidance, love, eternal life and it has helped me to trust God and His plan for my life.” Informant F said that since she became a Christian she has been more patient with people and that she can understand and love them on a more meaningful level. “It’s like I can see people the way Christ sees them.” Informant E said, “Being a Christian means you believe that Jesus is Lord, that He died for the sins of the world and was resurrected so that anyone who believes in Him could have eternal life with Him. Following Jesus gives me hope, purpose and joy that I can’t explain.” Informant D proudly said that since she started following Christ, she feels a sense of forgiveness and hope, when there seemingly is none. Informant B said, “I have a personal relationship with the living God. He gives me hope and joy when times are bad and a greater joy – that I can not explain – when times are good.” “When I became a Christian,” informant A reflected, “I was into drugs and parties and girls. I had some bad addictions, and from the day I declared Jesus my Lord, my addictions disappeared. God healed me and freed me from things that were holding me to this world. I can’t explain it, but I just have this joy that seems to come from the deepest part of my soul. I know I’m forgiven and I know I have eternal life.”

In my research, I found that there are more Christians on the University of Nevada, Reno’s campus than I had imagined. They were very welcoming and supportive about this research project, and were also very open about who they are and what they believed. I believe that Christians are a step above the ordinary non-Christian student in their personal beliefs and ideals, as well as their overall outlook on life. Not only are they trying to keep up their grade point average, but many of them are working in jobs around the city, attending and helping out with their churches and trying to spend personal undisturbed devotion time with the Lord. Their world view is seen from a Biblical perspective, and they tend to be more focused on eternal reward and treasure, than on things of this earth which the majority of mainstream American culture holds dear. Christians are living for God and doing their best to serve Him before they serve themselves. They appear like everyone else, and it would be a challenge to pick one out as they walk across campus to their classes. But what makes them different, are their beliefs and ideals. They care about others and have an “unexplainable” joy deep within themselves. Christians may be living in the world, but they are not of the world.

Some Reflections

I received the nicest compliment of my life last night in an elevator. I said hello to this guy standing in there with me and he looked at me in shock and then said, "You're one of those Bible girls, aren't you?" I blinked and said, "um... yea, I guess I am." and he said, "I can tell because you're so nice!" He got off the elevator on the fourth floor and I was utterly shocked. I'm "one of those 'Bible girls.'" I couldn't have asked for a better phrase to discribe me.

I was reading through a journal entry from one of my first weeks here in Reno and I'll post it!

Thursday, September 8, 2004

"At first I thought, how hard it must have been for Paul to speak to Jews and Gentiles about Christ and how hard for the Jews and Gentiles to accept and believe something so completely new and foriegn. And then I thought, surely there are more people from this time in history that are belivers than there were back in Paul's day, after all how much better off are we who have all of God's Word and were taught from birth about Jesus. But then I look around and I see I am surrounded by a world of sin. A world that still does not know Jesus. There were so many who walked with Jesus, ate with Him, saw His miracles and yet many did not believe in who He was. They saw Jesus face to face and yet they did not believe. Too many still don't believe and too many Christians continue to doubt. One will live forever and the other will die everyday forever. 'How long, oh men, will you turn My glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods and lies?' (Psalm 4:2)"

Five Chapters on Change

Chapter One:
I walk down a street and fall into a hole. It is my fault and it takes a lot of work and a long time to get out.

Chapter Two:
I walk down the same street and fall into the same hole. It takes me a long time to get out, but this time it wasn't my fault.

Chapter Three:
I walk down the same street and fall into the same hole, its my fault but it doesn't take me so long to get out.

Chapter Four:
I walk down the same street, see the hole ahead of time and walk around it.

Chapter Five:
I walk down a different street.

In the case of Flan and I, it took an "army" to rescue a sheepy. In the case of Jesus, it took was His life to rescue the entire world's sheepys. Perhaps I should explain.

Today I realized that my sheepy was lost and I turned to Flan and said, "Flanny, I can't find my sheepy." and she went looking for it, like any good friend would. She reached behind my bed, but her arm got stuck, "ack! My army is stuck." I started laughing, "Your army!?" and shortly after, up came my sheepy! YAY! (and the whole kingdom... that apparently Flanny owns, since she has an "army"... rejoiced!) And I thought.. wow, and it took an human "army" -- In this case, Andrea's -- to rescue one sheepy. But Jesus did it all by Himself! Except that He had every person in the world to rescue, not just one. So, see! Jesus rescued all the sheepys in the world! Yay Jesus!

Confused? Yea... I don't blame you...

P.S. I fell slid down about 8 stairs today. Feet flew out before me and just slid on down. My elbow will be bruised as will my ankle... but I live. Which just proves that Jesus does rescue His sheepys! Yay!

Just for those of you that care - I know that you all do... and since its my Blog and I am allowed to brag occasionally... I just thought that everyone should know that I got an 80% on my Anthropology exam (the highest score was a 90%). I also got an 89% on my Archaeology midterm. And today in my Archaeology class, my professor said, "Who's Stephanie Garver?" and I raised my hand thinking, Oh no.. what have I done! and he read my four page outline for our research paper aloud to the class and then said, "Everyone's should have been just like this one." So, life has been good (test scores aside, life is still terrific!)

Just thought that everyone should know... since its my blog and I'm entitled... (winkwink)

Just jokes, guys!

A friend of mine, who I always considered a strong Christian has lost his love for Christ Jesus. I am always sad when people who were once so on fire for God can forget who He is and get stuck in their sin. That really is the point... we have freedom from sin and bondage in Christ and its one of the saddest things to me to see Christians and churches stuck in sin. We have power over sin. It does NOT have power over us. Yea, it really is one of the most sad things to me. Please don't giev the devil a foot hold in your life. Avoid sin (I personally pray daily that sin would always revolt me even though it is constant in our lives and surrounding us, no matter how innocent the circumstances.) Pray for your firends that they would continue to seek and follow the Lord and that they would not become tied in bondage that they have power over.

I was reading through my journal from summer the other day and I came across this entry I wrote near the end of summer: Sunday, August 8, 2004

"You are the God of answering prayers! Holy, holy, holy are You and how the Lord has blessed me and prepared my heart for this. May this continue to be yours. Lord, make everything in my life, yours completely. Continue to put peace into my heart as I seek to follow Your will. I look back on all I've written and see how the Lord has heard my cry and come to my aid. He has prepared a table before me, with things I never thought to ask for. Speak peace continually to my heart. Your plans are great, your glory unmeasured and your love ever infinate! You bring joy to my heart and soul..."

The Lord gave this to me on September 15, 2004:

I find it easy to see where Biblical people fall short or fail... or where they did something good and pleasing. We have their entire story and often even what God and other people think of them. Its easy to say to Biblical folk, "Why won't you wait? Why won't you trust God? Why do you fear and doubt after all God's done for you? If only you'd have waited a short while more God would have delivered you." Life is not so easy for us. God see's all of the past, presant and future, we see only a few fuzzy moments in time. Our Lord sees how things knit together (after all He's the one with the knitting needles doing all of the work) We can't see even the full ball of yarn. We see only a piece of our own little stitch, if even that! I find that I doubt easily. Doubt that deliverance is coming. Forget to ask, wait and trust on the Lord. I lose focus so easily. I forget that God will deliver me!

Its said that a goldfish has the memory of approximately 3 seconds. Well, so do I. How many times in the Old Testiment did God deliver His people and do miracles and in the very next chapter, or even verse His people have forgotten Him? How many times has God's hand moved to bless us and we forget to thank Him or don't notice the blessing at all... or if we've noticed lose hope the very next day/hour/minute? How often do we forget who GOD is? Do we even know at all? If we did, would we still forget? I look forward to the day when I won't have to forget at all!

We have to remember who Jesus is and not who we are and always keep in mind His power and mercy. Its a hard thing to do... but we can not have an intimate relationship with Him and dwell in Him in couples or groups. The Christian walk can be found only in fellowship alone with Jesus. No one is going to do my walk for me. No one is going to do your walk for you. But I'm starting to see that only in this relationship with Jesus can we experience peace in the midst of the storm that is life! Isaiah 26 says that the Lord will "give him perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon me, because He trusts me." God wants so much more for us than we can ever begin to imagine. And he's willing to give it to us if we are willing to give him our lives in exchange. So, every day, I keep asking myself, "Just how willing are you, Stephanie to give everything to Jesus so He can make you new?" and I always say, "I am so very willing... Jesus show me what to do first!" And because perfect unity with Him is - of course - in His will, He will show us each step at its proper time (according to His time, naturally).. because if He told us all the steps at once we would not be trusting Him to be who who says He is. That's faith.

So, I encourage you, dear reader, to wait and hold onto the Lord's perfect promises!

In case any of you were wondering, as I fear some of of you were... I do not believe in or support evolution. I am in fact a Creationist. But more over, I am a Christian. Thus, I believe the Bible. Word for word (that's right, baby!) I believe that the Bible is God breathed. Thus, it is God's word. Thus wen it says, "God created the earth"(Genesis 1:1) I happen to fully believe and have confidence in it. Also, when the Word states, "My help comes from the maker of heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:2) I interpret that as saying that God, our Lord, Jesus Christ, did indeed create the earth... and all the little animals and creatures that crawl upon the ground as well as humans, just as they are today. Please don't worry about my salvation. That is bewteen God and myself. Therefore, to sum this up, I would like to conclude that I do believe in Jesus and I believe that He is the same, yesterday, today and forever more... Therefore, He would have had to have created the earth and all things that live upon it. If you have any further questions or concerns about my personal beliefs please feel free to contact me or just open your Bible.

-This has been a public announcement from Stephanie's Blog service. Have a great day!

Romans 13 (AMP)
1 LET EVERY person be loyally subject to the governing (civil) authorities. For there is no authority except from God [by His permission, His sanction], and those that exist do so by God's appointment.
2 Therefore he who resists and sets himself up against the authorities resists what God has appointed and arranged [in divine order]. And those who resist will bring down judgment upon themselves [receiving the penalty due them].
3 For civil authorities are not a terror to [people of] good conduct, but to [those of] bad behavior. Would you have no dread of him who is in authority? Then do what is right and you will receive his approval and commendation.
4 For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, [you should dread him and] be afraid, for he does not bear and wear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant to execute His wrath (punishment, vengeance) on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath and escape punishment, but also as a matter of principle and for the sake of conscience.
6 For this same reason you pay taxes, for [the civil authorities] are official servants under God, devoting themselves to attending to this very service.
7 Render to all men their dues. [Pay] taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, and honor to whom honor is due.
8 Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor [who practices loving others] has fulfilled the Law [relating to one's fellowmen, meeting all its requirements].
9 The commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet (have an evil desire), and any other commandment, are summed up in the single command, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.
10 Love does no wrong to one's neighbor [it never hurts anybody]. Therefore love meets all the requirements and is the fulfilling of the Law.

"Whatever you do work at it as though working for God and not for man." Colossians 3:23

You know, as I sit here attempting to study for my Archaeology midterm on Wednesday, this verse comes to mind. Then so does the thought, I just don't think God wants me to know about evolution. Too bad this is what the test covers. Then I asked Jesus about it, and He doesn't like the subject either. Thats a nice thing to know. God's always got my back on matter like this.