Adventures in Denver: October 2007

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Pumpkin Patch Fun and Congrats to Shawna and Jeff

My cousin, Shawna and her man, Jeff got married last Saturday in a very fabulous wedding, so Congratulations! Happy marriage time to you two. :)

This past weekend Ben and I didn't have anything going on, so we got to take Elijah to our favorite pumpkin patch in Lawrence (it's our favorite 'cause we haven't been to any others). We went last year and had a good time, and this year turned out to be an equally good time. The weather was fabulous (not rainy), and there were lots of families running around. Elijah really enjoyed the hay bale maze and the pumpkin slingshot game. We also got to take a tractor ride out to the actual pumpkin patch and see "stinky" cows on the way. My favorite part about the pumpkin patch is the gift shop in the barn. We usually don't get a pumpkin from the patch because then we have to carry it around with us everywhere and stand in a really long line to get it weighed, so instead, we buy little pumpkins in the gift shop for Elijah to paint when we get home. He loves it. :) And Ben and I buy some jalapeno jelly that they sell in there too. Made in Kansas. woohoo. My favorite part of the whole thing though is that you can pretty much let your kid do every fun thing there, and it only takes about an hour and a half...just the right amount of time before everyone starts getting grumpy and tired. We even had time to drink apple cider slushes, eat popcorn, and let Elijah get his face painted (he picked out a spider). It was a good time.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Fall is here

Well, it has finally started to get colder here in eastern Kansas, and it also is very rainy here that last week or so. Kim and I planted some grass seed a few weeks ago in the scant 50 square feet of earth we are renting along with our townhome, and it has sprouted and is growing quite nicely. We have taken to calling it our 'lawn', even though it is only a 2 foot-wide strip surrounding the concrete on our patio. Haha. School is keeping my mighty busy, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I will be done with my classes next May. It looks like I will end up getting a job in Kansas City, unless something completely surprising happens (you never know, right). Kim and Stella are doing just fine, and we are starting to realize how close we are getting to the due date. Before you know it, there is gonna be another little Kaan in the world!

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.