Well I know
it's a little late to be getting to this now, and I could have just shrugged off sharing how my week went, but I decided it's better late than never.
What an awesome week it was too! We've been going to a study on Monday nights to watch a series called The Truth Project. It's a philosophical look at Christianity, put bluntly: The (only) Truth. We've really enjoyed it and have even stayed behind to fellowship and sing worship together. It's the same group of people that we fellowship with on Saturday nights too. It's very interesting, and I've really been learning a lot. It's really hard to repeat, because there is a lot to it, but basically it's teaching that none of the philosophical questions that people ask can be answered without putting God into the equation. How do you know what's right or wrong? The answers varied but basically it came down t
o that most people believed "you just know” or “you have a feeling". Well then, where does that feeling come from? "You're born with it, it's your conscience." What makes you born with it, how are people born with it? Here come
s the pause..."You just ARE." Wow, that's logical. Well it's easiest and best explained if you look to God, the Creator of all and the bible where He teaches us that He made people to know the difference between right and wrong because of his instructions. Did you know that originally, in Webster's Dictionary, the definition of philosophy was "to enlarge our understanding of GOD"? The later editions have edited out "God", compromising the original meaning. It's been an awesome learning experience. I could blog all on that but there is so much more I want to share!
On Wednesday Allie and I went to Discovery Gateway to hang out with Our Friend's Shani and her son Alex. It was a lot of fun! This was the first time that Allie was old enough to really enjoy it and play. 
She loved the water and got pretty wet, thankfully it was a warm day so I didn't really have to worry about her being too cold. It wasn't a long play date, both the kids got pretty tired after a couple hours so we headed out. I ran out of gas on my way to go get Steve, so that sucked, but it turned out fine and as Steve came to save the day (thanks to our friend Brande driving all the way from Sandy with a gas can) we even got the chance to talk to an old friend of ours which was very interesting. It's always good to see old friends to be reminded why we don't miss our lives B.C.
Friday we went to a Good Friday service at the church, it was a short message a
bout Jesus' death on the cross and what it means to have our sins paid for in full. This woman described how Jesus was taken to Jail when he hadn’t done anything wrong. He was beat beyond recognition. They pushed a crown on thorns onto his head to mock him for calling himself a King. They ridiculed him, laughed at him, and forced him to carry a heavy piece of wood through crowds of people. His wrists and feet were nailed to a cross and when the cross was stood up the weight of his body would have pulled at those nails in his wrists and feet. He felt agonizing pain that we couldn't even imagine. It didn't end there, so much more and all so that we wouldn't have to spend eternity in hell. After the message, we were given the chance to come forward, take a nail and hammer it to the cross. It was done as a symbol for nailing our sin to the cross and leaving it there where it belongs and where it's forgiven. Almost everyone went forward to put a nail in the cross.
it's a little late to be getting to this now, and I could have just shrugged off sharing how my week went, but I decided it's better late than never.
What an awesome week it was too! We've been going to a study on Monday nights to watch a series called The Truth Project. It's a philosophical look at Christianity, put bluntly: The (only) Truth. We've really enjoyed it and have even stayed behind to fellowship and sing worship together. It's the same group of people that we fellowship with on Saturday nights too. It's very interesting, and I've really been learning a lot. It's really hard to repeat, because there is a lot to it, but basically it's teaching that none of the philosophical questions that people ask can be answered without putting God into the equation. How do you know what's right or wrong? The answers varied but basically it came down t
o that most people believed "you just know” or “you have a feeling". Well then, where does that feeling come from? "You're born with it, it's your conscience." What makes you born with it, how are people born with it? Here come
s the pause..."You just ARE." Wow, that's logical. Well it's easiest and best explained if you look to God, the Creator of all and the bible where He teaches us that He made people to know the difference between right and wrong because of his instructions. Did you know that originally, in Webster's Dictionary, the definition of philosophy was "to enlarge our understanding of GOD"? The later editions have edited out "God", compromising the original meaning. It's been an awesome learning experience. I could blog all on that but there is so much more I want to share!
On Wednesday Allie and I went to Discovery Gateway to hang out with Our Friend's Shani and her son Alex. It was a lot of fun! This was the first time that Allie was old enough to really enjoy it and play. 
She loved the water and got pretty wet, thankfully it was a warm day so I didn't really have to worry about her being too cold. It wasn't a long play date, both the kids got pretty tired after a couple hours so we headed out. I ran out of gas on my way to go get Steve, so that sucked, but it turned out fine and as Steve came to save the day (thanks to our friend Brande driving all the way from Sandy with a gas can) we even got the chance to talk to an old friend of ours which was very interesting. It's always good to see old friends to be reminded why we don't miss our lives B.C.Friday we went to a Good Friday service at the church, it was a short message a
bout Jesus' death on the cross and what it means to have our sins paid for in full. This woman described how Jesus was taken to Jail when he hadn’t done anything wrong. He was beat beyond recognition. They pushed a crown on thorns onto his head to mock him for calling himself a King. They ridiculed him, laughed at him, and forced him to carry a heavy piece of wood through crowds of people. His wrists and feet were nailed to a cross and when the cross was stood up the weight of his body would have pulled at those nails in his wrists and feet. He felt agonizing pain that we couldn't even imagine. It didn't end there, so much more and all so that we wouldn't have to spend eternity in hell. After the message, we were given the chance to come forward, take a nail and hammer it to the cross. It was done as a symbol for nailing our sin to the cross and leaving it there where it belongs and where it's forgiven. Almost everyone went forward to put a nail in the cross. 
Friday night we had the privilege of going to a traditional Passover Seder Supper at a friend's house. We were very blessed to enjoy the evening with people who we knew, but hadn't really spent much time with. It's great to get to know people better and dinner is always a great place to fellowship, people are always happy when they eat. We really had a great time with it and went through the whole ceremony, each of us having a little part in it. We went to 2 of them last year and each one has been it's own experience that we have enjoyed very much. It's nice to take time and recognize Jesus as our Passover Lamb.
Saturday morning we rushed out the door to get to the Easter egg hunt for the kids. I was surprised to see that they used real eggs, kind of gross if you ask me, but hey whatever. Allie was able to get one egg, she happened to be standing right on top of it when they blew the whistle. Jordan was nice enough to share a few of his eggs with her though.
Later in the afternoon the kids colored some eggs and even Allie 
played a little part in it. There wasn't many but they seemed to enjoy themselves.
Our celebration of life weekend continued on Saturday night, we went to The Rock Church for a worship service and message by Steele Croswhite. The music was absolutely amazi
ng, it's was beautiful. I can't even describe it. Two different bands played and Steele did the message in the middle. It was great to listen to him preach. He is passionate about it, he spits and yells and throws his arms all over the place. Pastor Steele is so on fire for Christ, he radiates God's glory. At one point in the message he explaining God's love for us like the love a father has for their own Child and how as parents, if our kids were to ask us what they could do to please us we wouldn't tell them to guess or work hard, we just want our children to love us. God is the same way, he isn't expecting us to work toward our salvation, and he’s not asking us to guess what he wants us to do. H
e tells us what he wants. He wants us to turn our lives over to him, love him, and accept that Jesus died for our sins. That's his instruction to us, it's really that simple. It doesn't have to be hard because he loves us enough to just tell us right up front what he wants from us and it's easy! At the end of the service it was time for Baptism. They said it was the most people they think they have ever had get baptized in one night. I think it was 15 people. I loved watching Pastor Steele as people would confess they have taken Jesus as their savior he would dance around in place and get all excited!
ng, it's was beautiful. I can't even describe it. Two different bands played and Steele did the message in the middle. It was great to listen to him preach. He is passionate about it, he spits and yells and throws his arms all over the place. Pastor Steele is so on fire for Christ, he radiates God's glory. At one point in the message he explaining God's love for us like the love a father has for their own Child and how as parents, if our kids were to ask us what they could do to please us we wouldn't tell them to guess or work hard, we just want our children to love us. God is the same way, he isn't expecting us to work toward our salvation, and he’s not asking us to guess what he wants us to do. H
e tells us what he wants. He wants us to turn our lives over to him, love him, and accept that Jesus died for our sins. That's his instruction to us, it's really that simple. It doesn't have to be hard because he loves us enough to just tell us right up front what he wants from us and it's easy! At the end of the service it was time for Baptism. They said it was the most people they think they have ever had get baptized in one night. I think it was 15 people. I loved watching Pastor Steele as people would confess they have taken Jesus as their savior he would dance around in place and get all excited! Resurrection day services were so awesome. The church was packed. I always enjoy Pastor Terry's sermons and it's great to have the topicals. It's important that even though the message of the resurrection is something we have heard over and over that it doesn't change the way we feel when we hear it. The resurrection is so important to understand the power of God. Jesus rose from the dead, and not in a zombie kind of way like so many non believers are making this out to be. One small detail that goes by unnoticed:
Jesus folded up the cloth that had lain over his eyes next to the burial cloth. During that time when someone would get up from th
eir meal, if they were done eating they would wad their cloth up and put it in their plate, but if they were coming back they would fold it nicely and place it next to their plate. Jesus
is not done here yet.Later we went to some friend's house. We listened to music, laughed, ate tons of food and fellowshipped. It was a great end for our week. We have so many blessings to be thankful for. Next Easter won’t come fast enough.
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