Lord Most High

From the ends of the earth
From the depth of teh sea
From the heights of the heavens
Your name be praised

Throughout the endless ages
You will be crowned with praises, Lord Most High
Exalted in every nation, Soverign of all creation
Lord Most High, be magnified

From the hearts of the weak
From the shouts of teh strong
From the lips of all people
This song we raise Lord

It's Your Blood

It's your Blood that cleanses me
It's your blood that give me life
It's you blood that took my place
In redeeming sacrifice
Wahses me....Whiter than the snow, than the snow
My Jesus, God's precious Sacrifice

You are the Potter

You are the Potter I am the clay
You're will, not mine, be done
Please mold me and lead me in your way
Until my life, a victory won

Please hold me gently lest I fall
Keep me close to your side
Teach me to listen to your soft gentle call
And may I fall into your arms open wide

Your burden is light
And easy to bear
But give me the might
To wait in time of unanswered prayer

My mind is confused
And my heart is in pain
As for the countries good a soldier is used
May it all be to Christ's gain

As I wait longingly for You
And hold fast to Your Word
May each day fly by
As in your timing You fulfill the promises I have heard.

My Job

So much to do so little time…between answering the phone for the entire company, helping customers with technical support, processing hundreds of orders, taking callbacks for sales, boxing packages in shipping I am kept fairly busy at my job. Most of the time I am just Janel at customer support answering the phone and telling customers what to do to make their software work. I enjoy my job and the people I work with. I’m convinced that my department and my manager are the best in the entire company (if not the entire country). Since I came back to my job at the end of the summer things have been busy but relaxing. Each day I get to work early and leave early and have the majority of the afternoon to spend time with my family, work in my garden and read lots of books.

Soon this will all change and I’ll be going back to school. I’m excited to be back in the academic environment. I have not been to school in over a year and I’m excited to meet new people and learn new things. I may be working part time at my job which also excites me a lot. I’ll miss seeing every one every day….but at least for a while I’ll still be working one day a week and will be able to spend time with my friends and my customers then.

The Grass

Grass cannot call for dew asn I do. Surely the Lord who visits the unparying plant will answer His pleading child.
C.H. Spurgeon

Leadership Part 2

As I looked through the Bible for places where the word “lead” was mentioned I found a variety of things. I think that each of the different references has a very different meaning, some are comforting, some are commands, some are facts fro history. I wanted to share some of the ones that were special to me with you.


Hebrews 13:17 “obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls”

This was a very sobering for me both as someone under the authority who needs to obey, but even more as someone who has a certain amount of authority and who is to keep watch over the souls of those who I'm in leadership over. This is especially sobering when I think about the fact that it is my hearts desire to be a mother some day. I will be in part for watching out for the souls of my children as I lead them. Scary.

Psalms 23:2 “He leads me beside quiet waters”

Oh, was a great promise. This must be one of the most comforting passages found in scripture. The Lord leads us beside still waters. These aren't just any waters. These are not fast moving waters...sheep are afraid of fast moving waters. No, this is waters where the Shepherd can bring His sheep and they have no fear. I imagine deep quiet pools of fresh water. Perhaps there is the stream of God's word pouring into our hearts as God brings us to the still and quiet waters of a heart at peace with Him.

Isaiah 53:7 “...Like a lamb that is led to slaughter...”

Mark 15:20 “...[they] led Him out to crucify Him”

Jesus allowed Himself to be led to the worst place of all. He was led not only to the pain of crusifiction but also to separation from the Father God. The first and last time in all of history when the Trinity was separated. It may be that some day we face persecution and will be led to slaughter for what we believe but fortunately we will never be led in this way away from the Fathers love. The only thing that can lead us away is our own selfishness and empty conceit.

Romans 15:20 “For all who are being led by the spirit of God, these are sons of God”

Oh, I long so much to be led by the spirit of God, but too often I find myself being led by other things. That old man keeps popping in his ugly face and I have to chose to slay him daily. God empowers me to do this but I still much chose to use that empowerment and resist the urge to be led by things other than God.

Leadership is a passion of mine. I do want to obey those who God has placed in authority but I find this a less daunting task than leading. I want to be able to follow the Lord so that I can lead those he puts over me. I hope and pray that He will give me children some day that I will be responsible for leading to Himself and I hope to be well prepared as a leader and teacher for them.

This concludes this series. I figured I should keep it short and sweet this time since last time was so long and stretched out. I hope to keep with this trend and have shorter more compact series. One of my desires in this blog is to challenge your thinking and to bring you to the word of God.

Leadership Part 1

This summer I learned a lot about leading. Actually I learned a lot more than I would have liked to. The most important thing that I learned is that if the leader has a good relationship with the Lord not every thing will automatically go well, but if the leader has a bad relationship with the Lord then things will automatically go wrong.

Wow, I've never had a time where I had to distance myself from what I was feeling quite like I did this summer. There were so many times when I just had to give something to the Lord because there was nothing I could do. There were also times, more than I would like to admit, that I took matters into my own hands and fretted over situations until I became weepy and despondent. Nothing like having a depressed director.

The Lord did wonders in my life to show me my sin of pride when it came to leading. There were times when I needed to be firm about what was right even when I so wanted to join in on what wasn't so right. My flesh longed to be a part of what every one else was doing, but if I had participated then things would have become very unruly. God also showed me that a leader must admit when they are wrong. I had to do this multiple times this summer and there are probably things that I should have admitted that I didn't even think of or know about.

Even when I was responding rightly to the Lord the day wasn't guaranteed to go well. I could have a great time with the Lord and be well prepared, but Satan could stick his little face in the way of every thing we were doing and ruin the day. Many times I prayed for the protection of those I was leading from the devils whiles. God did answer my prayer in this and helped the other leaders and I believe the children to grow more in godliness.

The biggest lesson I learned is that it is neither easy nor fun to be the one in charge. Being the top dog may sound like fun for a little while, but then see how you like it once something goes wrong and you are the one responsible for making sure that it gets fixed. What about when people aren't getting along and you are responsible for getting to the bottom of the matter. What about when someone gets hurt and you are the lucky one who gets to explain to parents. There really are more miserable jobs than fun jobs when it comes to leading. It isn't something you chose for fun but that you chose because you must. God did not give me peace last winter until I agreed to lead camps for this summer. I think it is a good thing God doesn't really give us a choice in these things of what our preference would be, because I know I would always take the easy way and if I always take the easy way then I know that I will never grow.

Another thing that I learned was to appreciate the leaders in my life more. Working with several pastors this summer showed me the agony that they constantly go through with every thing I had to deal with and so much more. They learn to do it with grace and diligence. Each pastor I got to know worked very hard and cared about people very very much. I was so glad that I got to see them in action and learn from their example. I truly admire spiritual leaders.

Rock Climbing

Hiking is one of outdoor experiences that I enjoy most. Whether I'm backpacking and spending a long strenuous weekend in the mountains, or just going for a stole in the relaxingly flat surfaces of the Midwest and east coast I enjoy walking (or climbing) in God's creation. God is so good to give us this beautiful creation, and for most of us the ability to enjoy it. I truly believe that more people should use this ability to see what God has done. There just in not any thing like coming over a peek and seeing a glacier below your feet, or watching the wild flowers poke their brave heads above the ground and start to blossom.



Even though I enjoy hiking what I enjoy even more is climbing over big boulders or getting to the top of a steep ridge and knowing that I just pulled myself up a cliff face. Although a rock climbing trip isn't complete until I almost fall to my death (or at least great pain) it is all worth it for that feeling of satisfaction that you get as your arms effortlessly (or not) lift your body over a ledge and you collapse at the top.


Today my dad and brothers and I were reminded just how beautiful creation is and how much fun it is to be out in it. These are a few pictures of out trip.

Submission Part Five

This series has gotten quite spread out and I understand that it is probably hard to follow. Most of you probably didn't realize I was doing a series at all. Well this is the last post on this series and I promise that the next one I do will be more organized. Hopefully this will make sense to you even though the thoughts in this post will come from several different directions and are rather disorganized. I thought it would only be fitting for such an unorganized series to have an unorganized last post.

As we have talked about before the Bible tells us in Ephesians 5:21 that submission is something for every one. We are all required in one way or another to submit. For some this is in the family, for some this is in government. We all submit to God. Some people are even called to submit by leading. God is so organized that He showed us exactly what various people are supposed to do to submit

Wives are supposed to be under the authority of their husbands
Husbands are to love their wives
Children are to obey their parents
Parents are not to provoke their children
Slaves are to obey their masters
Masters are not to threaten their slaves

The Bible also gives some organizational outlines in the Bible for the church. We are told how elders and deacons are supposed to live their lives, by leading their family well, and being self controlled. We are also shown the role that men and women play. One highly debated sections in the Bible is about the role of women when it comes to teaching and preaching...or the lack of their role

1 Timothy 2:11-12 Let a woman quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.

I have been told that this section of the Bible is completely ridiculous because that word quietly actually means silent and therefore it would be a sin for a woman to sneeze in church and certainly unacceptable for her to sing hymns and praise songs. But as the Bible Knowledge Commentary shares with us this same word is used other places in the Bible to mean calm or peaceful. The women are to remain calm. It is commonly thought that there were women in the church that Timothy was pastor of who were controlling the church by their arguing with the teaching that was going on. They were not peaceful as God is commanding through Paul and Timothy.

One difficult area of the Bible to accept is the command for a woman to submit to her unsaved husband.

1 Peter 3:1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives.

There are several women that I know who are married to ungodly men. It is very hard to me to accept that they should submit to them. Yet here Peter is commanding this as the way they are to win their husbands souls. The Bible really does not give an excuse not to follow the role models set in Ephesians 5 and 6 There may be some cases because of great sin that it is not possible to follow these commands. However, the Bible does not seem to show an example of when this is. As we well know those things which the Bible does not give explicit commands about are the hardest things in live to deal with normally. Yet God does give us principles to follow and is our duty to learn how we are to follow these principles.

Well I've come to the end of my series. It was stretched out and long thank you for your patience. Perhaps I'll write more posts on what I find on the topic of submission and obedience and how they obtain to our lives. The thing that I learned most about submission and obedience is that they were created for order. Our God is not a God of disorder but of order.

Whom Have I in Heaven?

Whom have I in Heaven but Thee oh Lord?
And besides Thee I desire nothing on earth
My heart and my flesh may fail
But God is the strength of my heart
God is the strength of my heart
And my portion forever

CCL#2024181

The Young Timothy (another book report from the Bible)

When I read the book “Do Hard Things” I thought of the books of Timothy written to a young man doing a hard thing.

1 Timothy
The first book to Timothy is where my pastor has been preaching from for the last few weeks. It has been encouraging to me this summer because it tells about Paul's instructions to young Timothy about standing up to those older who are giving falls teaching. Sometimes I think I know just how Timothy felt, all alone, left in charge or a body of people who are not necessarily following God's ways. Paul gives Timothy advice for how to instruct these unruly men and the rest of the congregation.

2 Timothy
In the second letter from Paul to Timothy Paul gives even more instructions to Timothy regarding the church. Paul exhorts Timothy to be strong and to stand as an unashamed workman for Christ. This book is all about Paul encouraging Timothy and exhorting him to stand firm in the faith even though tough times come.

Some Book Reports

Philemon (A book report from the Bible)

I thought that I would write some book reports on books of the Bible. The book of Philemon, I feel, relates very well to the first book report I gave “Twice Freed” which was about the slave mentioned in the book of Philemon, Onesimus.

Philemon is an all but forgotten book of the Bible. Nestled between Titus and Hebrews it is one of Paul's prison letters. He wrote it to a specific family and the church that worshiped in their home. It gives encouragement to the church and an endorsement



Good News About Injustice by Gary A. Haugen

Why does God allow that? How can the wicked get away with what they do? If those are questions you have ever asked yourself then this is the right book for you. I ask myself those questions frequently (far more frequently than I ought) the answer is: God has done something! He has put you and I and all Christians here on this earth to do His will. His will is justice. We are to be the salt of the earth and to defend the fatherless and provide for the widow. It is our job, and by the look of thing we have dropped the ball. We need to be in the world fighting for the rights of those who cannot fight for themselves. This book tells about Gary Haugen's experiences as he works with International Justice Mission: http://www.ijm.org/



Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot

Elisabeth Elliot is one of my favorite authors so it s a special treat for me every time I get to read about her own life. Passion and Purity was a review for me but each time I read it I'm in a different position in life and it brings refreshment for how I observe the world around me especially when it comes to the opposite sex. Elisabeth Elliot has a passion for honoring the Lord and an honesty that I admire and respect. This particular book is about the courtship that she had with Jim Elliot and how the Lord led both of them during this time in their lives that required them to wholly rely on the Lord.

Another Year

The Lord is so good to give me another year to grow and to learn more about him. I'm so thankful for a wonderful birthday with family and friends...and such a fabulous nap. Some of you know but for those who don't the activity that I wanted most for my birthday was to take a nap. It was beautiful.

Good News About Injustice (a book report)

Good News About Injustice by Gary A. Haugen
Why does God allow that? How can the wicked get away with what they do? If those are questions you have ever asked yourself then this is the right book for you. I ask myself those questions frequently (far more frequently than I ought) the answer is: God has done something! He has put you and I and all Christians here on this earth to do His will. His will is justice. We are to be the salt of the earth and to defend the fatherless and provide for the widow. It is our job, and by the look of thing we have dropped the ball. We need to be in the world fighting for the rights of those who cannot fight for themselves. This book tells about Gary Haugen's experiences as he works with International Justice Mission: http://www.ijm.org/

Do Hard Things (a book report)

Do Hard Things by Alex and Bret Harris
Wow, what a rebelution against this generations low standards. About two years ago I started reading the Harris twin's website The Rebelution http://www.therebelution.com/blog/ when they came out with a book I was very excited but it wasn't until recently that I actually got around to reading the book. Their book gives examples of some hard things that teenagers can do that you would never have imagined. Sometimes I feel like my life is hard or that I have obstacles to surmount. This book showed me that I could do even more than that, that I could do things much much harder than what I thought. There were times this summer when I felt I was at a breaking point. This book helped me to see that I can do way more than I did this summer. The Harris brothers give examples of great American's from the past who made choices as young people that made them into the great people we remember them as. They also give examples of teenagers in present times leading political campaigns, leading campaigns for the poor, and organizing large rallies that honor Christ. I would suggest this book greatly for any teenager or any one who works with teens or any one who is considered a young person in society.

Twice Freed (a book report)

Twice Freed by Patricia St. John
This was a short children's book by one of my favorite children's authors. The story begins about a boy named Onisomis and his struggle in slavery. He meets a beautiful girl and would like to someday marry her, however his slavery stands in the way. Every thing he wants in life requires him to be free. His heart is heavy with the thought of being a slave always. Beginning to steal a few items from his master he saves them away and when he finds the opportunity runs away and boards a ship headed far away. Eventually he ends up in Rome where he meets up with the apostle Paul. Onisomis knows that he must go back. He is somewhat fearful of meeting his master and the masters son again. However he also has faith that they will accept him because on a previous visit with Paul Onisomis' master had become a Christian. To find out more abut the story read the book of Philemon.

This Time of Relaxation

Now that the business of the summer has dissipated I have had a lot of time for reading I'll be posting some book reports. I hope that these reports will encourage you to read these books for yourself. It has been wonderful to just have time to sit and read and read and read. Most days I get home from work around 3:00 and there is not much to do until it is time to help with dinner so I hang out with my brothers or read. I am so thankful that the Lord gives us these times to rest and reflect because it has been so good for me and it has changed my perspective on life to be much more positive and ready to respond to His next steps for me.

Friday Nights and Mid Week Gatherings

Football, keep away in the pool, bowling, pizza, volleyball, guitar hero. Yeah those things pretty much sum up the times that we would get together as the two teams. After working hard there was a need to play hard. There is no better way to play hard than to tackle each other in the pool or to run across the field chasing a football. All of this playing hard on top of working hard made for a large consumption of pizza. Yes, if it came down to it we could probably keep Little Caesars in business. The midweek gatherings and the Friday night parties served another purpose (besides just being fun) they were a time when we could all get together and be friends. There were no worries, we were away from all the children, away from the struggles of the day. We could just be there and have fun together.

Sixth Location

The final location was a lot of fun because we had some extra helpers so there were more friends to be with. Also there were more children and with more children more excitement is built. We had some very good times with the kids who ranged from very well trained to....not so much. With the extra kids and extra helpers came completely new challenges to me as a leader. The ways in which I grew this week were much more fun than in previous weeks. I learned better how to deal with situations on a larger scale. The team unity was very good this week. It was fun to see people getting along and helping one another grow in their skills of working with kids. We had some extremely adorable children at this camp and they were constantly trying to stay on the good side of their leaders. It was interesting to watch the variety of children and how the teens handled them as the small group leaders.

The Wondrous Week of Vacation

The next week we had a the entire week off because of the fair in Lynden. Just before this week the CEF director (Natalie) asked if I would be interested in directing again next year. My initial thought was “NO WAY! I CAN'T DO THIS AGAIN! I'M A FAILIOR!” (not every thing was going smoothly with camps and I blamed myself for a lot of it) but, of course that wouldn't sound very good so as calmly as possible I said “I'm not sure.” Well Monday I left with my Dad and brothers for a three day backpacking trip. As we hiked up in the fresh mountain air my mind also cleared from all the confusion and the battle field (yes ministry is a battle). As my muscles began to feel more and more tired my mind and spirit became more and more alive and refreshed. I felt as if I could do any thing in God's strength. As this feeling grew stronger and stronger the voice of conviction also grew louder. I knew that God wanted me to be open to the idea of being a camp director again. So I gave up on saying “no” and decided that whatever God wanted for my summer next year would be just fine with me.

After 3.7 miles of hiking we reached our destination. We set up camp on a small outcrop between two lakes and threw out our lines in the larger lake (well my dad and brother did) I sat on a log watching (they say I don't need to talk while I observe..but I'm not sure that's entirely true). While I watched I also prayed and worshiped the Lord for every thing that I could think of. That night we watched the stars as we drifted off to sleep (no tent way up in the mountains, it's too heavy to carry).

The next morning we rolled out of our sleeping bags, ate a good breakfast and wandered up the hillside. Bushwhacking our way through we came to a beautifully splashing waterfall. We scrambled up the rocks (yes at one point I got very stuck and my night in shining armor...ok my brother in dirty jeans) had to rescue me) when we finally got to the top of the waterfall I was completely exhausted but some aspirin helped to wake me up. We hiked up to the top of Sisters Bride where there was a rock ledge that we sat on and ate lunch. From the ledge we could see Mt. Baker clearly and feel as if we were almost parallel with the peek. We could also see Mt. Rainier down to the south. Then we headed down the mountain, we picked a different rout this time. Near the peek was a snow drift so we spent some time sliding down it. The menfolk say that I have a “certain style” I'm not entirely sure what that means...but they say it's funny.

That evening we decided to take a swim in the smaller of the two lakes that we were camped between. Oh, it was cold! As we sat by the fire afterwards I realized that every part of my body ached. Actually when dad asked what parts hurt I told him “Every thing but my nose” We slept extremely well that night.

The next morning we waited for our clothes to dry and then headed down the mountain. We took one other small hike and then went home to hot baths and warm beds.

The rest of our week off was rather relaxing. I worked in my garden mostly and relaxed much of the time. This week was such a blessing from the Lord. Near the end of the week Natalie and I got together to prepare for the next week. We had 38 children preregistered at the camp I was directing and had no idea how many more we might have. We redistributed all of the supplies to make sure that we would have enough. We also reorganized the teams so that I would have some extra workers to help in case we had too many kids.

Fifth Location

The next location may have been the one at which we encountered the most spiritual warfare. It was held at the Holiness Camp Ground in Ferndale. Although we had many well behaved children we also had some that could not be controlled. It was hard to work through and parents were frequently involved. Through all the bumps we were still able to make the gospel message clear and were able to add some new things to this camp that we hadn't at previous camps. Each day we had a time where a different leader would share a special skill activity that they were knowledgeable in. This was also the first location that my brother started teaching the Bible lessons full time. It was fun to watch as his style grew and he became confident in what he was doing. At the end of the week we gave a presentation with the kids for all of the adults at the camp. It went well and the children were happy to share what they had learned and the adults at the camp were blessed.

Names I Was Called This Summer

Gizelle
Mom
Natalie
The Dictator
Teacher
Top Dog
Idiot
Oidiot

Fourth Location

The forth location was in the small town of VanZandt (near Acme...kinda) we started off our week by meeting an elderly woman who sweetly told us in a halting very elderly lady type voice “We are a bit limited here, but we do have a bucket of water so you can flush the toilet.” Little did I know just how much this place would feel like a foreign mission field. We were without any running water the entire week and one day without electricity. Also the huge garter snakes under the building greatly influenced my prayer “Maybe I will be willing to go to Siberia instead of the Amazon Lord.” We had about 15 children which was a very good number for that small town and considering that the church down the street less than a mile away was also having a Vacation Bible School. This particular week I took some time away from the group to pray and think and organize. It was a good time of refreshment with the Lord. While I prayed and read in the car I had one of the leaders take over my position as director. It was fun to watch how she directed the group and how every one grew and learned through this time. The children at this location were fairly open to the gospel. I got to share the gospel with several children and one came to Christ. Also many of the children were living or staying with grandparents during this time and although we knew that many of them were hurting it was neat to watch how they took care of one another.