Adventures in Denver: September 2007

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Good Times

I think I forgot how busy the end of summer/beginning of fall can be. Lots of fun has been happening since we last posted so I thought I'd do a little recap with pictures to fill you in on the fun. So I'm 28 weeks along now in my pregnancy, and I wanted to show you how big I'm getting. The first picture is from August 20th and the second picture is from tonight. I'm gonna be so huge by the end of November! But anyhoo, things with the baby are going pretty well as far as we know. She moves like crazy; she's always sticking her legs out. Realization is starting to hit that we're actually going to have two children soon...yeah, we're a little slow.

Elijah and I went to Chillicothe last weekend for the crafty fair called Chatauqua (I really don't know how to spell this). It is a very good time. I bought a stuffed animal llama, and Elijah had a good time and called it the "party park". Elijah especially enjoyed all of the inflatable things they had there for kids. He got to ride the giant inflatable slide with Uncle Will. Yay for Uncle Will!

This picture was actually taken about a month ago, but it's so darn cute I had to add it. This is my niece, Julienne at about 5 months old with my cousin Sarah's daughter, Ainsley. That would make them third cousins or something. Very cute!

That's a little updating. Things are going to be very busy this fall. Ben's still working really hard on all of his school stuff, Elijah and I joined, MOPs (a mom group called 'mothers of preschoolers) and that starts this Tuesday, I've got a ton of doctors appointments for the baby, and Elijah is still working on potty training, which I think I've finally convinced him does not actually involve a train. If anybody has potty training advice feel free to share. :) Have a lovely week! Oh, and Happy 28th Anniversary to my parents, Mark and Vicki!

Devotions

Click the link above for the Daily Devotional, daily excerpts from the book "A Day's Journey" by Pastor Jon Courson.

Selected Article from Abiding Life Ministries Intl.

Coming to a Place of Deception

By Michael Wells

James 1:14, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”

Galatians 5:16-17, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

I am starting to believe that people are deceived because there is something in them desiring the deception. First, if Satan has the ability to deceive all men, then all men would be deceived. Obviously he does not have that kind of power. So what does he look for in a man that would allow for a deception? Satan is looking for something in the heart of man where the deception can begin. It would be impossible for Christ to deceive any person, for there is nothing in Christ that the flesh desires. True Christianity cannot deceive, for again, nothing in the flesh wants anything at all to do with Christianity.

Christianity has one message for my flesh: “Move over!” So what is it that makes man’s heart open to deception? I believe it is the desire of a heart that says, “I can be God.” Rephrased, it is the desire of the heart to be independent from God. This is why the Mormon religion is so successful; it is cleverer than the early Catholics who embraced the local gods of the people, or just gave them different names. As you know, many “Catholic” countries are rife with blends of Catholicism and witchcraft. Haiti is an example. However, the Mormons offer something more: man can actually become a god. Man can invite his wife to his celestial kingdom, where she can be eternally pregnant. This “deception” has incredible drawing power to those who have suffered under the hand of their unjust god, or who have served a god all of their lives. After all, who would not want to believe that he could become the one who hands out punishment and receives gifts from others?

Such a person is deceived with a ludicrous teaching, but moving past the cobweb to the spider, we see at the root a heart that says, “I want to be God.” Deceptions all offer the flesh something, and Christ is always taking something away from the flesh. When someone converts to Mormonism, or any of the other “-isms,” I never feel that the Mormons won one while the Christians lost one. Instead, I believe that the person, in believing the deception of Mormonism, actually revealed a heart previously hidden that is anti-Christ. Again, we see that nothing is working against us. God is permitting all the “-isms” for the revelation of hearts. The germ of every cult is this promise of keeping the flesh alive through some kind of God-playing. The amazing thing is that it holds any attraction, when it is so much easier to have a God than to play God.