What is not taught

To our comrades in the Faith, the Faith which is the knowledge of, not only the fact of Jesus Christ, but also the active seeking and emulating of His most excellent Character.
In recent weeks we (that is my husband and I) have been discussing the state of the Church today and how the church stands in respect to the actual number of true believers within that construct. The imbalance of numbers is staggering enough that there should be a cry of anguish from the true believers, or at least a rallying call to those that are within the "Church" but not a part of the family of God. We (or at least those who strive to be) true believers and doers of the Word and no longer the majority; neither within this country of the United States of America, which was founded on principles derived from our faith, nor even within the "church". How is this seen? By the lives which are being lived by average "Church Goers" and by the lack of any real consequence to our existence within this culture.
Your Average "Church goer", especially the young one, works or goes to school during the week, has their "hangout" (Aka Party or bar) night on Friday, deals with the hangover or other consequences on Saturday and, out of some sense of corporate responsibility to the "church," goes to a building to listen to a sermon on Sunday. Just so you all know, that would be an optimistic approach. Joshua lived in California for a few years. While there he had a group of non-Christian friends, partially because they were more honest and real about who they were than lots of the "Christians" he met. These people couldn't believe that he was saving himself for marriage and were always trying to give him tips on how to pick up girls. "Go to church," one of them said, "Christian girls are the nicest and easiest to get into their pants." if that's the perception of young church going women what on earth must the men be like? I knew an old man once, the son of a baptist preacher, this old man had fought in wars, dealt well with his money, and wound up living a bit more than comfortably in California. This old man believed that my parents were puritans for trying to protect me and instilling me with ideas of purity. He believed that "god is in everything" that principles in the Bible could not be taken literally, That Christ was not a model to follow (if He was real at all), and that sex anytime, anywhere, anyway was okay because God built it into the body and the body drives us to it. Thus he wound up talking about it to a stupid fourteen year old girl on the internet.
Christians are loosing everywhere, they started by loosing their Faith to the mundane actions of Religion, to Religion or through Religion they have lost their children, and now even the Church which was to be the living breathing body of Christ on Earth is being lost as the Faithful are replaced by the fakers, the pew fillers, and those who simply don't care. People are lost, they do not have a way to see, their eyes are blinded their ears are stuffed so full of the drivel often served from the pulpit that they cannot realize what they are missing. What is missing? RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST!
Some, some who are blind, might think this something that is taught often in the church, after all it is stated that only by such relationship can one be saved. But here is my question, How can you have a relationship with someone you don't know. We all hear the basic's from the pulpit, but then really getting to know Christ is lost in the topics, the sermons, the reason's we should be doing something instead of WHO we are trying to be like.
We (Joshua and I) are still trying to understand who Christ is and how we can be more like him. We have seen people who think they know it all, think that they have arrived at perfection and don't need to continue Seeking with all their hearts, the picture is never pretty. If we (all of us) ever think that we have reached a full understanding we will be at a point where we need to scratch the slate clean and go back. God is big, great to be contained in a human mind, but that is the glory of it. As we learn more about God and strive to be more like him, we will find even greater depths in which to dive, depths of love, depths of perfection, depths of justice, depths of God. He wants to be known, He created us to love him. The only way to love someone is to know them, and the only way to know someone is to seek after them, to chase them, to question them, to study them, not in a spirit of rebellion but in a spirit of growing closer to them. That is what we must do to know God, and by Knowing him fall more in love with him, and as loving him we will obey what we know of him and continue to seek greater understanding of him. In so doing we will shine as examples of who He is, a love like that is like the brightest of lights in the darkest of places, that is what He wishes us to be. To bring more close enough to fall in love with HIM.

SO the life

Joshua and I are now fully moved into our new home. Now I just have to organize the place. Oh joy :) It wouldn't be so bad if i was good at being organized but organized chaos is usually my level best. However, even i understand that such a state of affairs is not acceptable for entertaining either of out mothers :P In support of my mother she did her level best to teach me how to clean house and organize my room etc. I'm just a horrible student. Other than that my love and I are settling in quite well. The dog is still up for grabs if anyone out in the country wants him but we're not pushing to get rid of him. We still have the cat and my husband bought some fish. the joys.
i started reading Laddie to my little brothers in law (and despite certain individual professing otherwise yes i consider Daniel my LITTLE brother) .
I've been being a terrible slacker most of the time but am working to correct that... yeah blogger working really hard...
Anyway we couldn't be doing much better in aspect of our relationship and what not, God is Good we are happy, the world is... okay the world is not so much at peace but we'll deal with that when we get to it.

Doggie

Sadly enough, my husband and I need to pass on a member of our family. Tiberius a sweet dog though he is can't handle the pressure of our new home in the city. He is very good tempered although he needs some discipline. He's smart and knows the general doggie tricks and is more than willing to comply when you have a treat in your hand, shaggy red hair, a purple tongue that indicates chow heritage, he needs a home where he can run and play, where he doesn't need to be tied up or caged. he likes water, will chase the snakes out of your yard, bark at strangers, and won't ever bite a family member or friend. He's good with kids, and tolerates our cat, although he gets a little jealous. He used to be a house dog, so if you let him out at the proper times he won't poop on the carpet.
Please if anyone sees this and wants to give a home to a sweet dog like him contact me. I hate to part with him but it's better for him to be where he can run rather than jumping out of his pen and risking getting hit by a car.

The Point and Purpose

So this is my first hazard attempt at an idea my husband brought up and I decided to run with. A blog not only to speak of what's going on in our lives but to speak of the point and purpose of life. To encourage fellow believers in the things of God and to bless those we can with our thoughts or by telling how God is working in our lives. We hope to show God through our lives and experiences, in the way we walk this turbulent world, and how we respond to the troubled times that are upon us.

The time is not far off where difficult choices will have to be made by all. The choices we as Christians, as a family, and as citizens of these United States of America make will shape this country's future. Sometimes there are choices between right and best, safety and fighting for what you believe in. The order of Priorities are God, Family, Country, but the time seems to be coming when one of these priorities, the least of them, will work against the two greater causes of God and Family. Faced with that decision what is to be done? How do we protect our family and our faith? Is there a way to head of the potential Disaster which the citizens of this once great country (us included) have allowed to come so close to the door?

These questions are on the table but for now we will live our lives before God as best we can, seeking Him in our hearts and in our actions and following his lead in all things. It is a great adventure which lies ahead of us, mistakes and failures will happen, but what will carry us through all the dangers of this life and the happy beginning of the next will be The God in heaven who reigns absolute, with whom we share a personal relationship and who brought us together as one to serve him.