After Christmas

This year I also found some interesting bible plans to read, allthou this year I didn't get to complete them. It's been a strange Christmas this year. Both good and sort of bad. I didn't get to enjoy that it was Christmas, decorating came as an after thought. Been kind of rethinking the reasons for our traditions.
It was our first year home after my mother in law died. We didn't really have any plans, and celebrated Christmas eve with my sister in law and her family. But nothing of that is important.
I'm finishing up a carol plan and came to one that talked about the anticipation, waiting for the presents and the birht of Christ. Now the kids doesn't get much of the wait. They get presents each day of advent, many even get big presents. For this coming year I want to put paper for them, with things we can learn about Jesus together as a family.'

But back to the reading plan. In the years before and after Christ was born, all the Jews where really waiting for Him to come and save them. Waiting for Him to fix everything. Destroy the Romans. Free them from slavery. And what did Jesus do?? None of it. He did something they never thought about. He did something bigger. He saved us from hell, opened the door into Heaven.

In our daily life as we pray about things, He often does the same thing. Not giving us what we want.But something different and in the end bigger than we could ever imagen. As Peter and John did one time when they went to the temple. They gave the lame beggar something else than what he asked for. He begged for money to make it through another day. The apostles gave him his feets back, made him able to walk again so that he could make it through the rest of his days on earth. It was something much bigger than he wanted, but it was what he needed. Jesus does the same for us today. He gives us what we need rather than what we want. It is a sad thing that in to many cases we are to selfish to see it. We behave like toddlers and sulk because we didn't get what we wanted, blinded from seeing that we did get something better.

Just some thoughts.....
God Bless!!

Go to the Fountain

Kathleen Carnali has a fantastic song. It's about the woman Jesus met with the well. The one no one wanted to be around. The one that didn't just have one husband but five, and she lived with one that she wasn't married to. I have to admit that I've never really thought about that woman. I've listen to His words on seeking the living water.
But do you think she chose to be that way? Chose to be a whore?? I think a lot of us don't think behind the names given in the Bible. The story between the lines. Do you think Batsheeba had a good life on the castle?? She should have been stoned for what she did? But is it her fault? Would you have gone if the King called you?? Having a King in Norway I'm not sure I would have the guts to say no if a man came to my door and said the King himself was asking for me.

Back to the woman in the song. Imagen. Unwanted, broken and hurt. Without no place to go. Men done her wrong. In her case it was men that did her wrong, and herself. I'm not gonna take away her own blame. But there is so much more than just her own blame. We all get hurt, feel alone and unwanted. But it's where we turn that says most of who we are. Will be let the blame wash over us and find all kind of excuses to justify our hurt? Or will we go to the fountain and drink living water that will take away the blame. When the woman went back into the village, the village looked at her the same way. But she knew the truth and that Jesus didn't look at her that way was all she needed to go boldly and admit what she had done. And go from there with a clean slate.

-Verse 1-
There she was, all alone
Her heart was broken, her body worn
New with child, she felt so used
She wasn't wanted, only accused
She was empty, her soul was thirsty
Her heart was angry, for men have done her wrong
So she ran into the wilderness,
Not knowing where else to turn
She went to the fountain where there was water
And there she met the Lord

-Chorus-
He said,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
Shall never thirst, again

-Verse 2-
There she was, at the door
She wanted to leave, she couldn't take much more
Time after time, and man after man
Tore out her heart, while holding her hand
She was empty, her soul was thirsty
Her heart was angry, for men have done her wrong
So she ran into the wilderness
Not knowing where else to turn
She went to the fountain where there was water
And there she met the Lord

-Chorus-

-Verse 3-
So when your there, all alone
Your heart is broken, your body worn
And time after time, and man after man
Have torn out your heart, while holding your hand
You are empty, your soul is thirsty
Your heart is angry, for men have done you wrong
And your running through the wilderness
Not knowing where else to turn
Go to the fountain of Living Water
And there you'll meet the Lord

-Chorus-

Till next time, 

God Bless

Ignorance

I'm currently reading this book: Dominion by Randy Alcorn. (Fantastic book!!)
And it strikes me several times how strange the world has become. You read among other things about gangs in the US. Vividly on their thoughts and feelings. Sometimes I just want to yell or shake them because they are so wrapped up in lies. How the power they have through guns is what’s important. The respect they get from being feared. Not to forget that everyone that’s not living like them are taking orders from someone else than themselves. They don’t wanna know that the respect you earn is uplifting, that taking orders because you choose to is more freeing than doing it out of fear.  

There is one place in the book that I love. Some gangers’ talk proudly of the marks they spray around town and the main character points out that one of the marks is the Star of David. And the ganger says that no Jew is going to take that away from them, it is the mark of that gang. The ignorance is striking. The Jews can't take away something that has always been theirs. It will never be the real mark of a gang, even if you ignore the truth it doesn’t change. The gangers’ are someone that has never really grown up. Always acting like teen that rebels against the grown up’s. Sort of like bad Peter Pan’s. They refuse to see things from another side, they wear their emotion on their sleeves and they feed of rage and revenge. Never really thinking about the consequences it will bring to themselves or others. Life and death is just something that is as natural as choosing your clothes. They are more animals than humans. Only when someone they care for is being caught in the crossfire it’s more than a game of sorts. They never want to think about the other gang members as fellow human beings. I feel rage, and sometimes I do want revenge. Doesn’t mean that it is right or that I can do something about it. I believe that revenge belongs to the Lord. It’s not my call to say what it should be or to whom. Is it our decision to kill the shooter because of what he did? What if he was revenging his brother? What if it was an accident that is eating him up inside? How can we know??
 
I keep thinking about the ignorance. Everything they refuse to learn in school (or by the older generation) because they say it’s worthless. Not knowing that they are actually doing the same when they teach younger kids that the street life is the better life. They do have a lot of street smarts, but are naïve when it comes to being a fellow man, a real human being. Their ignorance is hidden by being tough, mean and fearsome. They blame those that make it out of the gangs as cowards, worthless and betrayers. They think that they caved in, surrendered. 
I’ll never have to deal with these issues, and I am very grateful for it. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect me that people can be so mislead that they’d rather believe the lie than the truth. I’d like to be able to do something about that, but instead of moving to another country I can try to help those in my own community that is stuck in that same pattern without the gangs. (We don’t really have those here yet…)


I am far from finished reading the book, and for that I am thankful. It is my kind of size so I don’t have the opportunity to get so hooked that I’ll basically do nothing but read for a day or two before it’s finished!!

Constitution Day with a little extra on the side

So yesterday we celebrated our day. Our day of the constitution and our independence day so to speak.

We sort of have a parade where everyone joins in. There is always someone who wants to take pictures, or can't join in. But for the most part everyone that can walk (or be in a carriage) walks on. We sing and wave our flag. It's the day we are most proud to be norwegians. A day that we don't always welcome all people. Norwegians is the kind of people that for the most part say: what can I do for you, how can I help. We align ourselves for what others want. When immigrants comes to our country we welcome them, but we don't expect much from them. We don't expect them to learn our languge or customs. We hope, but don't expect. Then our day comes, and we don't want their flags in the parade, or their clothes. We don't really want them to be a part of it at all. And I think that is sad. If we welcome the immigrants and want them to be a part of our culture, we should want them to be a part of our day. I agree that their flags doesn't belong on the day that celebrates our right to be our own contry. I am glad that sometimes norwegians can draw a line and not let everyone just step over it without saying a word. As christians we don't parade our belief, or wave a flag that says we are christians. In a way we should do it. Not in an intrusive way, but to let people know from the get go that we belong to Christ.

We have a speech also this day, where they mostly talke about how this day came to. And it is a nice reminder. I can see that the day is in changing, there is only a few left that lived during world war 2 and knew the feeling of not being a free country, not being allowed to celebrate our day. The weird thing is as christians we don't celebrate our independence day or constitution day the same way. I get that as we are not jewish we don't really have a constitution day (that I guess would be when Moses got the ten commandments on the mountain). But we do have an Independence day. But it holds so much more than just the freedom of the country. It is the freedom of man. Our freedom from sin. Our salvation. 






Our salvations that lets us dress as Christ before God. Makes God see us as clean as Christ on judgment day. On our Constitution Day a smaller amount wears our norwegian tradition. Back in the day it was a way to tell where in the country you belonged to. Now the lines are more washed out. You can in a lot of cases just pick one you like and get it. As it is with our beliefs. The lines are wahed out. You can believe in the Bible but not in what Jesus did. You can be a christian but also believe in fortunetellings. We trust in more gods today than ever. money, fame, fortunetelling, sequrity, family it can all be our gods if we let them. Forgetting that we are dressed in Christ and that we should honor Him like we honor our parents. Which we mostly don't do (in both cases).

I see the youth of today disrespecting their parents, not wanting to think that they actually did sacrifice something to have them. In some cases sadly that is true. It's easy having kids today. You can send them off to kindergarden almost as fast as they are born, then off to school. All you have to do is make sure they get up in the morning (make sure the school children have eaten), drop them off , then remember to pick them up, feed them dinner and put them to bed. The kindergardens or schools doesn't have the capasity to bring them up, they just learn them the school part of what they need to survive an adult life. The parents doesn't have the time to do it, they are beat after a long day at work. With this perspective in mind can you blame the youth for the way they behave? For their lack of moral?



This year they had horseback riding for almost everyone that wanted. No age limit, I think only kilo limit. My youngest loved it, she's been a horse girl almost from birth. And finally got the chance to really be on a horse. She has been on one before, but only when it stood still.
When the ride was over and it was time to get of, she held on. Not wanting to let go. And after her second tour the horse got a little spooked. My husband who held her did feel a little fear for a moment. But our girl didn't notice that something was off, she smiled and held on to the horse. We should do the same in life. Hang on to Christ and when things get bad we don't have to worry, because He will take us through. He has our backs and keeps us safe.


This year we had something happen quite out of the ordinary. A chopper came to pick up two musicians. They were needed in a band in a bigger city. When they were asked to play in this band that was missing a type of instrument, they turned it down. They were needed in our village to play. So they couldn't get to this town in time. Some rich people say that it wasn't a problem, they could get a chopper to pick them up. And so they did. In life we are those musicians. God askes us to do something that He needs us for, and we say no. We don't have the time. So being the richest in the world he sends us a chooper to make sure we get to where He needs us on time. Sadly we decline the chopper. We are not special enough to deserve a chopper. We are just ordinary people. No one special. That isn't true. There is only one you, no one can replace you entirely. Someone can do the job, but not in the same way as you. You have something that no one else has. He sees something in you that He can make bigger, better and He made you special!

 

So on that note it is time for me to post this blog and take care of my house and kids!
Till next time,
God Bless

The forgotten generation??

I heard one of pastor Craig's sermons and he talked about this generation (I think it was the series 'I Believe in You'). You know from 30 something and younger. 

That we are the generation of tomorrow, not realizing that we are really the generation of today. We've learned that we are entitled to almost everything and that we don't have to do much to get it. But back to the forgotten generation. We grow up waiting for life to happen, waiting for it to be our turn. But what happens is that we lack the knowledge for when it is our turn, when no one else takes responsibility. As long as there are someone older, we don't have to do anything. We let everyone else do everything that we don't feel like, want to or even care for. And we know that if we don't do it, someone else will. 



It really shouldn't be that way. We should be ready to roll up our sleeves and dig in wherever needed. Our excuses are just that, something that we say to convince ourselves to not do it. I was surprised one time, when my youngest was only a few months old. I was taking my oldest to the dentist, and had the other two with me. At that time my oldest was 8, and the other one two and a half. I’ve never believed in having anyone of my kids in kindergarden before the age of three (or close too). On the way through the door (can’t remember if it was on the way out or in) I met another mother. She thought I was though or had guts or something since I brought all three kids. The truth is that I didn’t have a choice. If I was going somewhere at that time, I needed to bring all three. Still sometimes I have to do that. Now as the kids are getting older it is in some way’s easier. But the point is (before I ramble on to far) that there is almost no limit to what I can do, even with three kids in tow, as long as I don’t think too hard on it. If I have to: I do... What we do is give ourselves an excuse to get out of things. We sit and think of how nice it would be if there was a choir for the kids, family meeting or whatever we feel we are missing. But very few of us do something about it. We feel it cost us too much. Have to give up too much of our time. Not that we have something more important to do with our time. I know I am probably a little all over the place at the moment. But I just realized that I don’t have to wait for someone else to start something, or for someone to hand in their towels. I can start now. Just dig in there. If someone already is starting the thing I have a passion for, then I’ll roll up my sleeves and help with whatever they need. All I have to do is pray that He will guide me into the place where I am needed.
So let us be the generation of right now. The generation that digs in and makes an impact! And let God do the work He needs in us.

Till next time, 
God Bless

Truth and Consequence

I wasn't an old teenager before I discovered that everything has a consequence. An the older I got the more things had consequences. I like to explain by telling about the rain. When you are young (kid) and it rains outside the consequences are mostly of the positive varaity. Rain means mud, jumping in it, dancing in it or movie time inside. When you get older rain means doing nice stuff inside because outside you'll be wet and cold. To a mother rain means work, dirty kids, dirty floors, dirty clothes if you don't get them in. To an older person rain means wet, cold, sick, slippery so you might fall down. So every choice you make has a consequence. I could go on about this, but today I wanted to focus on truth and consequence. If you don't tell the truth there will be consequences later. If you tell a white lie so that there will be no argument at the moment, a bigger one is waiting for you down the line.

You want to go see a movie or something and there is certain people you don't want to go with. Will you lie and tell them you are doing something else and take the risk that you might meet them there in the big crowd or will you tell them the truth and risk them being mad at you?
Or what do you do when the cool, popular person ask you flat out (with a tone): are you one of those that believes in Jesus?? Do you lie and hope to be a part of their crowd or do you tell the truth and risk getting bullied?


Tough choice, huh? Many times, trying to do the right thing is really tough because the wrong thing could be so much fun, while the right choice seems like a drag! Take Moses, for example. He faced a tough choice: turn his back on God and his people to live his life in the lap of luxury, or hang out with a bunch of complainers in the desert. Pretty clear choice, wouldn't you say? But Moses chose the longer-lasting rewards of obeying God instead of the immediate gratification of sin.
Most of the discible faces crusefiction, hanging, decapitation, stoning for their belief. All they had to do to stop it was to say: I don't believe in Jesus as the only way...
It does put things in perspective....

Till next time,
God Bless

The story of Easter part three

Today is the day between death and life. The day were all the disiples were mourning. I believe they were in a bubble. The kind you are in after you lose someone dear. The kind where you can't really think you are in reality, you must be in a dream. Yet life outside moves on like nothing big has happened.
It must have been such a shock. To have Him torn out of their lives. Not that He was young, that He was, but because He had so many things left to do. Or so they belived. He should have been with them longer. Taught them more, been the King they were waiting for.

But He did not come to earth to be a king, or to die. He came to bring us Heaven, peace with God. And to do that the only way was to die on the cross. Not die in an accident, or someone murder Him by a sword or something like that. He had to be hung on the cross and be banned because of us. For our sins. We should be the once on the cross, those that deserve to go to hell. Yet He did it for us, so that we didn't have to. So that we could go to Heave with Him. If we only believe in Him and what He did for us. 

 





So Have a Blessed Easter,
Christin