Funny Happenings- I'm Getting Old, God

It gets really funny after 1 minute and 40 seconds!

The Way You Came (song)

Believer's Heritage- Joseph Scriven

Joseph Medlicott Scriven was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1819. He was a good student who attended Trinity College in Dublin at the age of 16. Even though his health was poor, he tried to carry on his family's military tradition in England. He left after 2 years when he was assessed as "physically unfit".

Joseph returned to Dublin and finished college in 1842.

He was engaged to be married in 1843. The day before his wedding, his fiance was thrown from her horse into the river Bann and drowned. 

After this tragedy, he took a job as tutor to the Bartley family. While in the Middle East, he wrote the first line of his famous song, which he intended for a poem called "Pray Without Ceasing". When Joseph heard that his mother was ill, he sent her a letter with the poem enclosed. Years later, when Joseph was sick, a visiting friend read some of his poems, including what had become known as "What A Friend We Have In Jesus".

Jospeh left for Canada in 1846, and took a tutor position in 1850 with the Pengelley family. There he met Eliza Roche, and again was engaged to be married. But for the second time, tragedy took his fiance, this time in the form of pneumonia.

He was a member of the Plymouth Brethren, of which George Muller was a member, and began preaching for a Baptist Church. He would preach wherever he could find an audience. Sometimes, he was even greeted by people throwing fruits and vegetables at him, but even when faced with arrest he carried on. It was said that he could quote Scripture for any occassion.

Jospeh spent all that he had to help those who could not help themselves. It was a familiar site in Port Hope, Ontario to see him carrying around a bucksaw. He would cut wood for those who couldn't do it for themselves, or for those who could not pay, but he wouldn't work for money. He would care for the sick. His landlady, an Irish widow,had a cow, which he milked for her and made the deliveries.

Joseph died in 1886 and was buried in the Pengelley family cemetery next to Eliza Roche. His friend published his poems in a book called Hymns and Other Verses. Charles C. Converse, a well known musician of the time, put it to music, and it was included in Ira Sankey's gospel hymns. 

In 1920, the people of Port Hope erected a monument to Joseph with the words of his poem-turned-song written on the four sides.

Aunt Jane's Hero (book review)

Aunt Jane's Hero is a story about a young man, Horace, who wanted to find love. He was a handsome man with a good sense of humor, yet chose to hang out with reckless young people. He went after the most modern of women for his time. And yet, he couldn't find what it was that his heart desired.

Aunt Jane was a kind, Christian woman whom he would talk to. And it was Aunt Jane that he turned to after his world seemed to fall apart.

He lost his leg in the Civil War. His desire to be loved seemed like that could never happen now that he was a broken ma., After all, who could love someone who wasn't whole physically or spiritually?

This book is a story of a man who wanted to live his life his way and lost everything he wanted, yet when he turned to the Lord and learned to live his life according to God's will he found everything his heart could ever desire. If you're looking for an encouragement to walk the Christian walk then this book is for you.

Flu Shot Soup recipe

1 whole chicken

4 cups chicken stock

1 diced onion

2 sliced leeks

3 diced celery

3 diced carrots

16 oz mushrooms

10 cloves minced garlic

1" grated ginger

5 to 10 basil leaves

1 TBS chili sauce

2 TBS lemon juice

1 TBS curry paste

1 TBS sugar

1 can coconut milk

8 oz leafy greens

1 cup rice noodles

salt to taste

Cook chicken until done. Remove meat from bones, and set aside.

In a large pot, add stock, onions leeks celery, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, ginger, basil, chili sauce, lemon juice, fish sauce, curry paste, and sugar. Cook until hot.

In a separate pot, cook rice noodles according to package directions. Strain and set aside.

When sauce is hot, add chicken, coconut milk, and leafy greens. Bring o a boil. Turn off and add noodles. Salt to taste and serve.

NOTE: You can add more chili sauce if you like it spicier.

Fornication Is Not Love (video sermon)

Throughout the Bible, you see the word "concubine". What does that mean? A concubine is like a live in girlfriend or a common law girlfriend. She is not a wife.
A relationship between a concubine and a man is that of fornication without commitment. They aren't in love with each other, or they would commit. They are just using this person to supply their physical needs. A fornicating relationship is not a relationship of love, it is lust.
A man is suppose to be willing to lay down his life for his wife. He should be willing to work, to provide, to protect; his life is all about supplying her needs. That is love. Love respects someone enough to wait for marriage. Love  will commit to that person before they fulfill their fleshly desires. When a relashionship begins with fornication, it plants a seed of alienation and drains the love out of the relationship, and brings the curse of God upon both the man and the woman. It's not something that you want to spend the rest of your life paying the consequences for!

True love obeys God's commandments and doesn't ensnare someone into a shameful situation that expects you to disobey God's will for your life to "make the situation right". There's a big difference between spending your life with someone and sacrificing your life for someone.

Who's Servant?

Money, and the things it buys, are necessary for life, and God blesses his children with possessions to enjoy and use for him. There is nothing wrong with money, but allowing money to dominate you is a dangerous position.

Recognizing that what we have belongs to God and is to be used for him, will give our resources eternal value. It is one's attitude towards wealth that determines it's true value. Eternal treasures surpass in value material wealth on earth.

Jesus wanted a young man to learn that. And thru him, he wants us to learn that.

Luke 18:18- And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

This poor young man, like so many people today, was confused. An inheritance is a gift, not something you earn. Yet he thought there was something he could do to secure it. Jesus wanted to show this young man that obeying rules was not enough.

Luke 18:20- Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

Jesus quoted 5 of the commandments that pertained to men. Jesus wanted to cause the young man to recognize something.

Luke 18:21- And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

Jesus knew that this man was trusting in his good works. You see, this was the Old Testament and you were saved by keeping the law. God rewarded people with riches for keeping the law.

Luke 18:22-23- Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

The man was a prisoner to his wealth. It was his badge that told others how good he was. He thought he had kept the law, but he loved his money more than his neighbors and more than God. Maybe he didn't realize he was doing it, but he had given riches the most important place in his life. The problem was not that he had riches, it was that his riches had him.

Luke 18:24- And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

The listeners were shocked! If a good person who kept the law and was rewarded by God with riches couldn't be saved, who could? Jesus wanted them to realize that the law couldn't save them. He wanted them to see that it was impossible to keep the law. To have eternal life one must admit that he cannot be good enough to deserve to go to heaven. He must receive Jesus' death as a payment and accept God's gift.

Jesus explained in the sermon on the mount why trusting in wealth is risky. Emptiness follows those who lay up earthly reasures for personal enjoyment.

Where one invests treasures and his life will determine where his heart will be.

Matthew 6:20-21- But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.