SNOW DAY

Here are a few of the pictures from our morning in the snow. We walked down to the river. Pearl must have thought we were going to see the ducks, because when we got there she asked, "What happened to quack quack?" To say the least we could find none for her to see.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Valentine's Day

There are many myth and lore about Valentine's day,
but I never hear what the bible has to say about a day
devoted to celebrating loving relationships.

There are over 500 verses in the bible that mention love,
but one that is not mentioned often is in Genesis 29.
The story of Jacob and Rachel where he worked seven years
for Rachel's father to gain her hand in marriage.

I implore you during this wonderful season of celebrating loved ones
and our relationships with them to read the passage in Genesis,
Genesis 29:1-30.



What does it mean to love? or maybe easier what is love? especially in
todays culture.

Would I work 14 years of hard labor to gain my wife's hand in marriage?
I hope I would not let myself get tricked.

I love my wife Brenda very much and we together work at better "loving God
with our whole hearts, souls, strengths, and minds, as well as loving our neighbors as ourselves" (Matthew 22:38-39).



Love is not just an emotion, feeling, state of being, or euphoria, but also an action, a way of life that shows integrity, honesty, truthfulness, passion (sometimes both kinds), and perseverance.

May we all love better each day holistically in a way that honors God.

Corben's Theological view Point

The web address for you to take the test:

http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=43870

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 79% Emergent/Postmodern 68% Reformed Evangelical 68% Neo orthodox 54% Roman Catholic 54% Fundamentalist 54% Charismatic/Pentecostal 46% Classical Liberal 32% Modern Liberal 14% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Let us know where your results are.

My Theological View

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 68% Roman Catholic 57% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 54% Fundamentalist 43% Charismatic/Pentecostal 39% Classical Liberal 36% Modern Liberal 21% Neo orthodox 21% Reformed Evangelical 18% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

My Favorite Pics

This are some of my favorite pictures of Pearl over the past couple of months.
Mom and Dad want me to use the potty. I am using it as a necklace, but I have a feeling they mean use it in another way.

Mom was trying to clean and pack some stuff away after the holidays. How can she be mad when I am sooo cute.

Bring it on I can handle the truth.

What are you talking about this is my shirt. (Pearl uses a shirt any T-shirt will do like most kids us blankets)

Pearl is telling her baby that it will be OK, and she understands that it is hard to accept that we can not choose our family. But God will help us to love our family.

Loving It!!

I just got done doing one of the most exciting wonderful things in the world. I just came in from shoveling snow. It is so beautiful to look at the snow covering the area. Tomorrow morning we are planning a family walk around Bridgewater. I am going to take some pictures. So check back to see the beautiful pictures of the beautiful snow covering the world God made for us to temporally do His work in. This picture is old but the only one I could find tonight.

Can Time Stand Still?

Not long ago my classes started for the spring semester of 2007 and usually the first week is really easy, just general introductions, but this semester was different. By midweek I had to read a whole book, and by the end of the week I had to read another. Also I had a bunch of other homework and so I was feeling frustrated. Then it got worse because I was waiting for Pearl to take a nap, and she didn’t. She just played in her bed and would not go to sleep. I was so frustrated and worried I would not get the work done. I was not in a good mood and I took it out on Brenda and Pearl. Later that night God reminded me I need to trust in him and that I was not trusting in Him with this homework. I asked God to forgive me, and help me make it through this. I cried out for God’s help. I also apologized to both Brenda and Pearl. The next morning I was watching Pearl. I was able to read an entire book well over a hundred pages as well as take notes on it and really learn what I was reading. I did this while I was watching Pearl and usually I can’t seem to get any homework done while I am with her, this is the task oriented personality in me, but I did. Then I realized I did all this in less then an hour and a half. I have never read that much, in that amount of time, and really took it in and learned from it. It was like time stood still. I saw where I was wrong, I asked God to forgive me, He did, and He helped me when I asked for His help. You see this reminds me of the blessings and woes in Luke 6:17-26 and especially 6:20 the blessing of being poor. This is not necessarily about money, nor is the rich in the warning later on, but whether we are being dependant on God or if we are trying to do it on our own.

Are we trusting in God to take care of us, obeying, and asking for help, or are we trying to do it on our own in this pull yourselves up by your boots strap mentality where most homes have a computer, 2 cars, and 2.5 kids who each have a cell phone U.S.?

If all things really are possible through God as Scripture suggests:

^NIV Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Then what is time? and can it stand still?

Cold

It has been so cold this week. Pearl has been looking out the windows and saying snow snow. We know she wants to go out and play, but it is way toooo cold. When the door opens she runs to it and than yells cold and runs back away from the door. The only bad thing for me about the cold weather that we have been experiencing is the fact that we had no water in the kitchen on Monday at all, and did not have water to the dishwasher until last night. Thanks to my Dad and his heat gun who came to the rescue. I did give him homemade chili for dinner though. I am not sure which he liked more not having to eat out (since they are still living at the Holiday Inn) or seeing Pearl. I know Pearl's highlight of the past few days was eating Mangos last night with her PapPap.

We are sooooo proud of you...

Pearl and I are so proud of Corben. He just got the results of his one week intensive class on leadership that he took last month at Asbury Seminary, and we knew it an "A". That gives him a cumulative GPA of 3.57. We were not surprised we knew he would do a wonderful job. He was also able to find housing for this summer that will enable Pearl and I to go down with him, and it will not cost anymore than if it was just him. What an answer to prayer.

God is an awesome God

God is an awesome God. He answers prayers in so many ways. I was riding home from visiting my parents this week while Brenda was driving and Pearl was sleeping and I was reminded on the radio that often we pray and are thankful for answered prayers, but do we stop and take the time to make sure the children around us see these prayers answered. As we continued on our way home I talked to my Aunt who was trying to figure out how they were going to pay for their son to go to Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA and I did not know this, but I was calling because Brenda had found a scholarship possibility for her son through Brenda and I as alumni of Geneva. Praise God for answered prayers. Also we have been experiencing family tension and God again answered our prayers there, by showing us that we do not always need to face this head on, but let God fight our battles for us, and so he has and continues to do so. This is like the Exodus 14:14 passage of the Old Testament. This concept is not only seen in Exodus, but is also seen in 1 Samuel 8:20 and 2 Chronicles 32:8.

The amazing part is not only is God alive, active, and answering prayers, but that he fights our battles for us, and we are to be at peace with this. So what is the appropriate response, how do we honor God for this, we should make sure the youth in our lives, see how God is working and answering prayers.

The radio personality even gave simple examples of how to let our children know prayers are being answered, by writing them down on a list like maybe on the refrigerator and then write down next to them how God answered the prayer when He does. Children will be excited when they see how God is working. Children will be encouraged to pray because they see the results. This is not to take away from faith, but help infant faith to grow and seeds to be planted as well as watered.

Awesome! God is truly Awesome!