God's Peace

Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.] John 14:27Amp

This has been our theme verse this weekend. God is good. His peace reigns in our hearts and lives. We serve a VERY good God.

Can't go without a fight....

Today was my last day of work. Praise the Lord I am free. For the last few years I have worked for a small family business. It has been one of those jobs that you can't check out of at the end of the day, and has occuppied way too much of my time. Truth be told, I should have left a long time ago. I should have listened.

Anyhow, I am free, but that freedom isn't coming without a fight, and we are in one right now. We could really use your prayers.

I know that is seriously vauge, but I can't say much more.

Moving on.....to make things even better, Jody is no longer employed. Great timing. We serve a souvreign God, and He will provide.

The last two weeks have been crazy getting all the last minute stuff done for work, and I am so glad it is behind me. My kids have been with a sitter most of that time, and since they are not used to that they have been acting out to let me know that they need my attention!! So, Jody and I decided that a weekend away was the ticket. We packed the car up in less that 30 minutes and headed to Seattle. We are crashing at my Aunts house for the weekend, just us and the kids.

Please keep us in your prayers.

60 days and counting...

Before I begin, my sister is home and OK. God works miracles and they were able sew her up and send her home. She doesn't even ahve to be on full time bedrest like first thought. Praise the Lord!!

OK, well we are down to the sixty day mark. We are so excited. I only have 18 more days of work. I am really excited about that.

There are still quite a few things on my ToDo list, but they are getting done. Slower than I would like, but that's OK. Most importantly is getting the kids as ready as we can. We talk alot about it, and read about it and look at things are the internet.

Well, the Christmas season is officially upon us. The halloween stuff is gone from the stores, and the Christmas stuff is up. Malachi is very grateful for this as he is not a fan of halloween stuff. Somehow Thanksgiving always seems to get skipped in the world of retail. Why is that?

As I write this the kids are watching their favorite Christmas movie, Elf. They have been waiting all year, and are so excited that they are dancing around and quoting the movie. This is my favorite time of year, too, and I am looking forward all our family Christmas traditions.

Our second newsletter goes out monday. You can read it here.

Please continue to pray for us. We really need it as the time gets closer. Also, we are still in need of finances, so please keep that in your prayers as well.

I know this has been a random post, and here is one more random thing. We as a family to do not celebrate halloween in the traditional sense, but we do dress up and go to some sort of party each year. This year we went to a carnival at my Aunt's church up in Bellevue, as we were up there for Grandpa's memorial service.

Each year the kids get to pick their costumes. This year Son was Optimus Prime from Transformers. Daughter wanted to be Jasmine, but the Jasmine costume showed her tummy and so she chose not to get that out fit (so proud of her). All of the disney princess costumes were really expensive, so mommy gave her the option of being Hannah Montanah (a wig and t shirt were so much cheaper). She was so excited. She loves Hannah Montanah (even though she's only seen the show once).

So, here are some pictures of my little Hannah Montanah and Optimus Prime.

Grieved....

My spirit is grived this morning regarding our next president, and even more so by the passive attitude I have encountered from several believers regarding it. It is time for the church as a whole to wake up! This election is about way more than a "democrat" winning. WAY MORE.

But on to other things, because I have already spent my morning "educating" some young voters about their "oh well" attitude.

Even more heavily on my mind is my sister. She is 24 wks pregnant, and at a random ultra sound three days ago they discovered her cervix was opening. It got worse over night, and they transported her to a hospital that has a neonatal center. (I am sure I just butchered that word) Today they are going to sew her up, and hopefully that will fix the problem. She will still be on at least moderate bedrest for awhile. PLEASE keep her in your prayers. That the baby will stay in full term.

Why argue with tithing?

I got to admit, my blood is boiling right now. I just deleted a comment from someone I don't know who had made it his mission in life to prove that tithing is not new covenant nor for Christians. He is a "theologian" and from what I gathered from his blog, looks like he has even written a book about it. From glancing at his blog (not gonna waste my time or pollute my mind by reading it in detail) it looks like one of his major proving points why tithing is not for Christians is that tithers have also been affected by the economic problems we are facing. What a load of crap!

For those of you who stumble upon this blog or perhaps don't know me well, I am not one to keep my opinions to myself, and if you are wrong, I have no problem telling you. THIS GUY IS WRONG!!

This is not the first person I have come across that shares this opionion. Amazingly, the first time I ever heard of someone not believing in tithing was right after I graduated from Bible College, and it was a fellow student. I was floored. I didn't even know that the issue was up for debate.

Since that time, I have talked about this issue in depth with fellow alumni, and I have also....get this, what a concept....studied the Bible and what it has to say about tithing. Many of my fellow alumni don't have the same attitude that this guy seemed to have. They are generous, giving people who genuinly love the Lord. Their motive is not to find a way out of giving, as it is with most who object to tithe, but rather . So I have listened to their standpoint. However, I still find too much in the Word that says otherwise.

The arguments are all pretty much the same. Tithing is not mentioned in the NT, and Jesus never says anything about it. Giving is talked about, but not tithing. Tithing was to take care of the priests in the OT. We are now all priests and kings, so why tithe? Tithing is law, and we are no longer under the law. Things like that....

Well, first and foremost, I would always rather err on the side of caution. When speaking with unbelivers who say, what if you are wrong about God, my typical answer is then I am not out anything. On the flip side, if you are wrong, well I hope you like hot weather....

I feel the same way about tithing. If I am wrong, than I am not out anything (except money, and who cares about that). If I am right, which I am, then I get to recieve of the blessings of God.

Tithing is not a mosaic law. First fruits and offerings are mentioned as early as Cain and Able. Giving of 10% is mentioned as early as Abraham.

Jesus came to fulfill the law, not do away with the law. For instanace, he says that not only are you not to commit adultry, but you are not to even lust after a woman, for in so doing you have committed adultry in your heart. Jesus takes the law and takes it one step further. The same holds true to tithing. We are not to stop at 10%, but we are to give generously.

Many that I have spoken to who do not believe in tithing, also believe that any of the OT that is not mentioned in the NT is not applicable to us today. What a load! God's Word is WHOLE, and it ALL applies to us! If you care to study it deeply, including all the "boring" laws, lineage, etc... you will glean something that is applicable to you today. As my mom says, the Word of God is finely woven together from start to finish with the same thread. It all ties together. OT and NT.

Well, I gotta run, it's time for family dinner, and Maudi just fell in the toilet (dont laugh, ok, you can laugh, it is pretty funny...). I know this is not the deepest most thorough exegesis on tithing, perhaps on another day.... but for now, if you find yourself questioning tithing, I say ask yourself two things, first why am I questioning this? what is my heart motive? Then, I ask that you go to the word and study it for yourself. And ask God to search your heart, and to reveal HIS WORD AND WILL on the matter to you, he will.

PS One more quick note....God never takes back His Word. He will always fulfill it. I have never seen a faithful tither that God did not bless, but I have certianly see those who don't go without....

Tithing, Giving

The issue of tithing and giving has been on my mind quite a bit lately. First, we want to thank each and every one of you for your generous giving to AFN. We are blessed and humbled.

For us 'seasoned' believers, we know that God's word is clear about tithes and offerings. He says to bring both to the storehouse. (See Malachi 3) Tithe is the first thing we give; our first 10% belongs to God. Anything that we give above that is an offering. These are basic principles most of us know and live by.

However, the question of where does tithe belong is sometimes not as clear. I, Jody, and the leadership of AFN believe that your tithe should be given to your local church. We believe that the storehouse is the local church. Your church, where you are equipped and where you minister, is your storehouse; your tithe should always go there. If it doesn't, your church will not function properly.

Think of it as you would your own household. You get your food and rest at your home. You work to provide for your home. What if you began to give your earnings to another household? What would happen? The funds would dry up, and your household, your family, would go without. The same is true for the local church.

I want to take this even further now. Within each local church are multiple ministries or needs or departments---however you refer to them. These ministries are branches of the church body. Just like your own body, you feed the stomach, which then nourishes the rest of you---your arms, legs, hands, etc... Your tithe belongs to the the stomach of the church---the general fund as many call it. You cannot feed your body through your arm; it does not receive nourishment that way. If you give your tithe to a specific ministry within your church instead of to the general fund, a malnourishment occurs, and the church as a whole begins suffer and cannot function properly.

When you bring your tithes and offerings to the church your tithe belongs to the whole church body, or general fund. Your offerings belong to whatever ministry, need, person, etc... that God directs you to.

To all our supporters, we say thank you, however, we ask that you remain faithful first and foremost in your tithes to your local churches general fund. That is where it belongs. Any offerings or givings that you feel led to give to AFN, we humbly accept.

Just an update...

The time is going by so quickly!!! We are now only 82 days away from departure. We are all so excited. In the meantime, there is quite a bit going around here. When we moved into our new home, this past January, we were told that they would be building a house in the "lot" behind ours (aka, the back yard). In actuality, they are turning our home into a glorified duplex. They began construction this last monday. It hasn't been too bad. They start around 7 and are gone by 3. Sure has kept the kids entertained!!

However, because the back yard is completely gone, and our front is too close to the road, we had to make the hard decision to find our dog a new home. We had talked about this with the kids two weeks ago, and so they knew this was a possibility. They were sad, but they understood, and have had a really good attitude about it. To "make it up to them" we took them to the pet store to pick out a new pet. We are now the proud owners of "Elaina the Hamster." The kids are so excited about the hamster! The deal was that Son got to pick out the hamster and Daughter would name it. So, Son keeps saying "I did a good job! I picked a good one!" To which Daughter replied "And I did a good job naming her!"

Beginning Monday, I will start training my replacement at work. We have found the perfect person for the job, so that is great! I have put alot of time, sweat, and tears into this company. However, I know it is time to move on, and I am looking forward to being able to focus fully on the kids schooling, my family, and of course, Africa!!! :-)