Hebrews

My Thursday morning Bible study just finished doing the Life Lessons study of Hebrews by Max Lucado. It was a very easy study with lots of tidbits of wisdom. If you feel like you don't have a lot of extra time to commit to a study, these Life Lessons are perfect! The back of the book says:

"Jewish believers were torn between their new faith in Jesus and their old ways rooted in Old Testament routines and rituals. And they were tempted to go back to their familiar life that seemed good enough. But Hebrews shows us that salvation through Jesus is better. So the writer of Hebrews compared the old ways and the new faith. This comparison focuses on Jesus, his effective ministry, and his ultimate sacrifice. Hebrews shows us that nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to our incomparable Christ."

How often are we tempted to backslide into old ways because they seem "good enough"? Yet, time and time again walking with Christ has proved to be so much better!

Daniel, Week Two

I was supposed to post this Wednesday, but I guess it's better late than never!

Session Two, Daniel 2 (the video): A Dream and a Kingdom

Beth covered Necuchadnezzar's prophetic dream, Daniel's interpretation, and how most of the prophecy has already been fulfilled throughout history. Nebuchadnezzar's dream was of a large statue made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and iron and clay. Each portion of the statue represented a world empire. Gold represented the Babylonian Empire, silver represented the Medo-Persian Empire, bronze represented the Grecian Empire, and iron represented the Roman Empire. The iron and clay toes may represent a ten-nation confederacy yet to come (and also foretold in Revelation).

Day One: A Royally Troubled Mind

• "Carefully consider Nebuchadnezzar's demand. He wanted his servants to recite the actual content of the dream before they interpreted it. Either Nebuchadnezzar demanded proof of their supernatural ability by requiring the content, or he had forgotten some of the dream. Both explanations are viable." I had never considered the latter possibility!
  
• "Beloved, God knows your details... 'Don't be afraid' (Luke 12:7) You are invaluable to your king."
• Exodus 25:8 "Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them."
• John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us..."
• "Our God will dwell with us until we dwell with him."

Day Two: Urgent Tact, Urgent Prayer

• "A tactful approach doesn't cast a vote of approval. Tact is wisdom, not flattery."
• Leaving a bad taste for Christianity in their [those still lost and searching] mouths is deadly."

Day Three: Praise to the God of Heaven

• "Rule for victorious living: when the stakes are high, bow down low."
• "Trusting someone else's relationship with God to the degree that you'd receive a vital message through him is challenging."
• "The answer to urgent prayer calls for urgent praise!"
• "Dear One, nothing is more appropriate than jumping up and down for joy over answered prayer. Sometimes we confuse humility with timidity. When God comes through for us, a timid and tentative thanks is not only out of place; it's anticlimactic."
• "If we became intentional about noting every single answer to prayer, we'd be astonished by God's attentive faithfulness. Beloved, He answers you affirmatively so much more than you probably realize."

Day Four: From "He" to "You"

• "God's sovereignty means that He has supremacy over all things and does whatever He desires with whomever or whatever He pleases."
• "God's providence is intentional and purposeful."
• "God's Word is eternal. Unaffected by time. Scripture was inspired to be as fresh each passing day as it was the first."
• Daniel 2:20-23 "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank you and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king."

Day Five: Daniel's Interpretation

• This day was a lot of review over the information that she covered during the video in session two (the dream, the interpretation, the statue, etc.).
• Daniel 2:27-28 "Daniel replied, 'No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come..."
  

17 Week Appointment

I had my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment yesterday. There isn't a lot to report. However, she ordered another ultrasound, so I should be posting updated pictures soon!

Weight gain: about 6 or 7 pounds thus far
Blood pressure: 122/80 (still good but higher than it has been)
Baby's heart rate: 150 bpm

I told the doctor that we have decided to wait until the baby is born to find out the gender. She was so excited! She said that none of her patients ever wait to find out anymore, and she is happy to be the one to announce whether it's a boy or girl.

Also, she guessed boy. :-)

Celebration of Discipline

I finally finished it! I can't tell you how long I've been reading this book (I started sometime last year), but last Thursday I finally finished it. It's not that is was a bad book, in fact it was really good. It was just a lot of information to take in. The writing is easy to understand, but the topics covered are quite deep. Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster walks through the classic disciplines of the Christian faith: Inward Disciplines (meditation, prayer, fasting, study), Outward Disciplines (simplicity, solitude, submission, service), and Corporate Disciplines (confession, worship, guidance, celebration).

Here is a little snippet from the first chapter:
"Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people... The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths... We must not be led to believe that the Disciplines are only for spiritual giants and hence beyond our reach... God intends the Disciplines of the spiritual life to be for ordinary human beings."

I recommend it for anyone who wants to explore practical ways to grow deeper in their faith.

Kids Night at Chick-fil-A

Every Tuesday night is Kids Night at Chick-fil-A. You can get a free kids meal when you purchase an adult meal, they have a free face painter, and this week there was a sundae bar. We decided to head over there after Chloe's basketball practice for dinner. It's usually a zoo on Kids Night and this week was no exception! These are the animals (and a princess) that we brought home:

Basketball

Chloe and Sophie have been playing basketball at Southport Presbyterian Church. Jason is coaching Sophie's team, and Uncle Lincoln is an assistant coach for Chloe's team (Nate is on her team as well). Chloe has practice on Tuesday evening, Sophie has practice on Thursday evening, and they both play at different times on Saturday. It has been quite fun to keep up with! :-) This is the third year that Chloe has played basketball, and she has come such a long way in three years. I am so proud every time I watch her play! She is athletic, competitive, and genuinely enjoys playing. This is Sophie's first year to play. We have had to spend a lot of time reminding her that Chloe is older, bigger and has played longer, so she should not compare herself to Chloe! Sophie has learned a lot and grown so much since the beginning of the season. We are so proud of her! I think she has enjoyed playing and will probably opt to do it again next year. I never played sports... never really even liked watching sports (other than tennis), but I love to watch our girls play! Here are a few pictures from their games last Saturday:

Sophie's Game:

Chloe's Game:

The cheering section: