Happy Birthday Nathaniel!!!

Hey everybody, can you believe my "little" brother is 15 today!?!?! WOOT WOOT WOOT!!!!

My he has grown up so much in the last year. And I don't just mean in height. He has matured, and become such a wonderful friend. I do admit he has his days, but then so do I.

This young man has so many accomplishments, people should be clamoring for his autograph. He has loaded an entire field of square hay bales onto a rack by himself. (driving, lifting and stacking) He has built some pretty genius make-things-easier-on-people gadgets, and done tons of work on our house. He bakes cookies, with them NEVER getting burnt. He helps his technology illiterate sisters, a lot. He has several younger friends at church who look up to him, and again, I'm not just talking about height. He is wonderful at organizing games to play within a group. He learned to ski this winter, and made it all the way down the big hill. Next year he'll do it without falling to stop. (lol!) And he makes some totally trump all LEGO houses.

Oh, and did I mention that he is strong enough to carry any of his "big" sisters around? Yeah, this guy I'm telling you about is amazing. And he is my brother. I love him. And that's all there is to it.

Waiting for Spring

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I am not a winter person. I would rather have it be scorching hot with lots of humidity than to be cold. Call me weird, but hey, I grew up in Phoenix, AZ and to us cold was 50 degrees. Having been in a warm country for 2 weeks in February, and getting a sunburn was a nice break from the sub zero temps we had lately. But it made me long for spring even more. Everytime people say its supposed to be cold, or snowy I just remind them that April is on its way, and anything we get now will be gone very soon. YAY!!!!! I love spring!

My favorite part of early spring is seeing and hearing black birds in the trees. On the farm all summer long we'd have huge flocks of birds in the trees. They'd sit and sing, and then all at once they would fly to another tree. The rush of their wings is one of my favorite sounds in nature. And to have them come in March and begin their summer long visit brings me hope that it will be warm soon.

The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
Song of Solomon 2:12

And he changeth the times and the seasons:
he removeth kings,
and setteth up kings:
he giveth wisdom unto the wise,
and knowledge to them that know understanding:
Deuteronomy 2:21

Then I will give you rain in due season,
and the land shall yield her increase,
and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
Leviticus 26:4

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How Ye Ought To Answer

Colossians 4:5-6
Walk in wisdom toward them that are without,
redeeming the time.
Let your speech be alway with grace,
seasoned with salt,
that you may know how ye ought to answer every man.

A few weeks ago I heard these verses read, and they really stuck with me. I read them over and over, pondering them each time. And the parts of "redeeming the time" and "that you may know how ye ought to answer every man" really jump out. I have found myself in so many situations where the conversation is about something I feel strongly about, yet it goes beyond my ability to converse intelligently quite soon. Abortion, modesty, creation, God and the Bible in general, for example. All are things I think I know so much about, yet when I'm talking with somebody about it, I realize I know hardly anything. And then here are these verses that tell us to know how to answer people. There is another verse that says something similar.

1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts:
and be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason
of the hope that is in you
with meekness and fear:

"Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh of you" Well, I'm usually not ready, because I don't have an answer. I never thought through WHY I believed what I did.

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.

We can interpret this verse to mean to study the Word of God, but we also need to study the world around us. So we know the Truth, inside and out, by seeing what is truth (God's Word) and what is false (the world).

Specifically I am challenged to study the issues of my day, that I view from God's stand point. But to give an intelligent argument I need to know the other side, so I can counter it with the Truth. But I also need to speak with grace. Not condemning someone for their belief, but in Christ's Love sharing the truth. In so doing I am redeeming the time for God's Kingdom.