One Steppers and Two Steppers.....

Well today's sermon was quite interesting...still talking about Doors (part 6).

We talked about our devotion to God. We can either be a one-stepper or two-stepper.

The verses were Psalms 86: 7-10

7 "In the day of my trouble I will call on you, for you will answer me."
8 There is no one like you among the gods, Lord, nor any deeds like your
deeds.
9 All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They
shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone."

Here are some of my notes from this sermon.

A one-stepper person is someone who walks through a door and just stopped in the middle of the doorway and just stands there. One foot is in one side and the other foot is on the other side.
When you're in the middle you're lukewarm, you're between hot and cold. One side of the door is hot and other side is cold. They can peek through the door and see what "plan" it is and if they like they'll go through it, but if they don't, then they back up and never want to have anything to do with that plan.
When they see their plan when they're not suppose to, they're ruining it for themselves; 'cause you have to walk through the door, whether or not you like the "plan" or not.
Also a one-stepper person is a like a person who drives on the highway with his/her blinker(s) on all the time. They never turn it off. They get in people's way 'cause they don't know where they're going and the people around them what to get somewhere to a certain place.
As my pastor called them "blinker man", they're distracted and they don't know that they had their blinker on for like 30 miles!

It doesn't matter what kind of door you go through......it could be wood, glass, etc.

Am I going to devote myself to God's plan on the other side of the "door"?
You have to have commitment required for the door "plan".
We have to trust the "door" too.

In the Psalms verses, I think David is writing this. But don't count me on that.
David was a man after God's own heart.

And that's about it for this Sunday.

Sarah :)

God's Promises to Us

Wow, this morning you can learn a lot just from one Sunday.

First our pastor gave more on his sermon about doors (part 5 in the series).
This week he was talking about the hinges on the doors. If the doors didn't have hinges, then there would be no door. The hinges is what keeps the door in the door frame. Without it, there would be no such things as doors. Doors are very important in our lives.........you can go through two rooms and a door would be right in the middle of the two rooms.
Life would be quite interesting if we didn't have doors.
We also have hinges ourselves too. Our elbows and knees are what keep us going every single day.
Without them, we would be useless.
But thankfully God made us the way we are and we are so grateful to have those to make us move.
Also the hinges are signs from God............he'll open the door and he wants us to go through it. Sometimes we just stand and wonder 'i really don't think i want to know what's on the other side of the door' and since we take so long to figure out what to do, He slams the door in our face and we might have just missed a great opportunity. So we need to go through the door even though we have no clue what's on the other side.

He gave us the story about Abraham and his son Issac. If you don't know the story, then here's the short version: God told Abraham to take his son to a mountain and told him to sacrifice (like a lamb) on a platform of wood. But God just wanted to test him.......Abraham didn't sacrifice his son.
God just wanted to see if Abraham would trust him and he did.
His trust was like a door, we go through it even though we don't know what's on the other side of the door.


In Sunday School we had a different set of verses, but still they spoke to me, 'cause I'd heard them from a different perspective.
The verses were Matthew 5: 13-14; talking about the salt and the light of the world.

Salt does not taste good by itself, it gives flavor to whatever you're putting on it.
Like you put salt on beans, chicken, etc.
We're like the beans and the chicken, we have no "flavor", until God sprinkles us with it; and then we have flavor. God sprinkles us to tell the world about him and we go to different places all over the US and the world so that everyone will hear about His story.

The light is always bright. God put light on us again to sprinkle the world about his teachings. We would never put out the light because it would do no use. We need to shine bright for Him.


Ok that's it from Sunday.

Sarah :)

Insights on two deaths.....

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went to my my first funeral yesterday, I had been to one memorial service before, so this was quite a little shocking for me, but in the end I did alright.

It was 4hrs there and back and it was worth it.
A little mis-understanding I saw before I left yesterday, she (my great-aunt; my dad's mother's sister) wasn't in her 100's, she was 80. I have another great-aunt who's 106; but she hasn't died yet.

Saw family who I didn't know who they were...........and then saw my regular extended family, which was nice........'cause I hadn't seen them in like 5 years...............grandparents were the same except for my grandfather, who looked like he gained weight and always had his head down, but still had his eyes open, so he knew we were there.............grandparents didn't come to the funeral, we saw them at their retirement home (after the funeral). Which is so hard sometimes........'cause you might think that's the last time you'll see them.

The funeral was nice (try to make this story short and sweet).........we walked in and the casket was open, but we were like 15 ft away, so we only saw her head. But we didn't go up there and see it.
It was then closed for the service which was nice, but the opening (at the beginning) was kinda of freaky, but that memory will be with me forever.
The pastor (of the church) spoke, he had only been there for a year, so he didn't know my great-aunt that well, but our family gave him little reminders on what she had done in her earthly life.
then it was time to go outside, the great part about the church was that the burial site was right behind the church, 'cause its the family's church.
Its weird standing near the site, but that memory will be in my mind also forever.
Then it was over, but after it was over, we walked not even an 1/2 mile to my cousin's grave site (my cousin who was 23 died on June 23 of this year). I didn't even see it at first, because it doesn't have a granite stone in front of it. Just grass (that looked like sod grass; it was lined up 3 across and 4 down) and a little (seriously) 4x6 card of his DOB and DOD on it. His bosses from his job will pay for the big granite stone engrave thing. And his brother found a nice poem that will be engraved at the bottom of the stone too.
But it was nice to see, 'cause we didn't come to that one, 'cause we were moving that weekend.
Its hard to believe he's gone, but still hasn't hit me yet. My aunt had someone videotaped the service, maybe I'll ask for a DVD of it. She has pics around the house of him.
She looks well, but inside she's not; one of my other great-aunts said she talks to him everyday.
And even her husband and other son cry all the time and she does too. You'll never get over a loss of someone that close to you. And just when you're somewhere else (like a store) you think about him. I know I've done that quite often.




Oh and another little (yea right) thing, I also think a red bottle (at a restaurant) is always ketchup: ITS NOT!
I poured what I thought was ketchup on my plate for my chicken strips and French fries, but IT WASN'T!
IT WAS NC HOT SAUCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lordy, that's hot! It took me forever to get it out of my system!
Oh that was my lesson in NC hot sauce.
And don't laugh, 'cause it was hot!!!!!!!!!
How do North Carolinians stand it?????

So that was my extended travels yesterday..............but in the end it was worth it.
Btw, I didn't cry at all, I laughed (at the funny parts in the sermon/message), but I never cried. Once in a while, my eyes watered up, but that was it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This will be quite a long post, 'cause now I'm going to talk about the spiritual part from my two deaths in my family and my thoughts on them.

While in the car yesterday, I looked through my bible (which I had brought along) for verses about death. I found one that was very uplifting.


Philippians 1:20-26 (student's life application bible)

20 For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ, whether I live or die.
21 For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better.
22 Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. I really don't know which is better.
23 I'm torn between two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes I long to go and be with Christ. That would be far better for me,
24 but it is better for you that I live.
25 I am convinced of this, so I will continue with you, so that you will grow and experience the joy of your faith.
26 Then when I return to you, you will even more reason to boast about what Christ Jesus has done for me.


And a verse that the pastor said over and over again yesterday:

Revelation 14:13 (King James Version)
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

My great-aunt has done all she can in her earthly life, she now can rest from her labour and her works will be remembered forever and ever. She will have no more pain or suffering, she is free from pain.
She had always planned family reunions (in the past), but now she's planning the biggest one of them all. She's seeing her family (parents and siblings) and husband (who died before her) and rejoicing with her for ever and ever for eternity.
Also she will see one of her great-nephews who died this past June.
I hope and pray he's in the same place she is. *pray*

Its just good to know that we're going to go to a better place when we die. The streets will be gold and we will have mansions to live in that He made for us.

It sounds nice, doesn't it? It will look and sound nice when we get there or when Christ comes back, whichever comes first.

One of the goods things that I remembered from the sermon/message, was that one of my family members got a letter from my great aunt and on the back of the envelope, it said:

IN GOD WE TRUST


It was doubled underlined too. (which I can't do on here; but you can visualize what it looks like)



Sarah :)