Determination

“When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem…” (Luke 9:51).

This is one of those verses in the Bible that are easy to skip over as we rush on to other more important verses. I’m sure I have read these words numerous times in my life and I never paused to give them much thought. While working on a lesson this past week, I had an opportunity to read Luke 9:51 again but, this time, the same words caught my attention in a way that I had not experienced before.

The text says that Jesus was “determined” to go to Jerusalem. Literally, the phrase could be translated “set His face” and it is rendered that way in several versions of the Scriptures. It is a phrase that speaks of resoluteness of purpose or firmness of decision. What is being described is Jesus’ unwavering determination to keep His appointment with a cross in spite of the pain and suffering that would accompany it. In my mind’s eye, I can picture the face of my Savior. As He contemplated the road before Him, perhaps His eyes narrowed a bit. Possibly His jaw muscles flexed as He clenched His teeth. Maybe His brow furrowed some as the burden of His calling settled upon Him. The weight of that burden would continue to grow as the time grew closer for His crucifixion. In the Garden of Gethsemane, as He awaited His betrayer, Luke speaks of Jesus and tells us that “…in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:44). But through it all, Jesus remained determined to complete His mission regardless of the personal costs.

I am so grateful for a Savior who never wavered in His commitment to do whatever was necessary to secure my salvation. It is certainly a gift of which I am not worthy because my own determination to serve God is so flawed and inconsistent. Father, please help me to “set my face” to do Your will.

God loves you!

Mike

GRRRRRRR!

On Saturday as I was laying around with the stomach flu I received an email from Paypal . It was a receipt for a transaction. hmmmmm! After checking with everyone in the vicinity, the email was checked again and another email from Paypal saying "we have reason to believe that your paypal account was accessed by a third party." NICE. After logging into Paypal we discovered that ~2~ unauthorized transactions were made. Both were to gaming sites.......... So we are in the process of two investigations and hopefully will not be out a little over $100. We've been around long enough to know not to follow phishing sites so probably some little geek that gets a thrill out of hacking generated our password, which was promptly changed. However the game continues as we look for ways to make our online experience more secure and keep the little buggers out.

Dependability

Frank Oresnik knows a dependable truck when he sees one. Back in 1996, he bought a 1991 Chevrolet Silverado pickup with 41000 miles on it. Mr. Oresnik is in the business of distributing seafood and steaks in the upper Midwest and he planned to use the truck as his delivery vehicle. Twelve years later, he is still driving the same truck. What is even more impressive is that, on February 8, the odometer on the truck passed the one million mile mark. Yes, you read that right – one million miles on the same vehicle. Oresnik reports that the truck has been through 4 radiators, 3 gas tanks, 5 transmissions, and 6 water pumps, but the engine has never been overhauled. He credits regular maintenance and a bit of luck for helping his Chevrolet to last so long. He now plans to retire his trusty Silverado. Apparently both General Motors and Shell Oil are interested in taking it off of his hands.

So what is the moral of this story? Run out and buy a Chevrolet, right? No, even if I had stock in General Motors (which I do not), I would not be interested in influencing your transportation choices. But all of us admire dependability, don’t we? We applaud when we run across products that live up to their hype – that meet and exceed our expectations. In an increasingly disposable society, perhaps we are even more impressed when we stumble across something that lasts.

Reading the news articles about Mr. Oresnik’s truck did get me to thinking about the dependability of our God. It is not something that can be measured in miles. Perhaps it is best gauged in experience. How did the young shepherd David know he could depend on God to help him defeat Goliath? Because God had been dependable in the past! “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine…” (1 Samuel 17:37). Even Chevrolet can’t match God for dependability!

God loves you!

Mike

Japet

For at least 3 years the twins have had a make believe kingdom called Japet. (rhymes with Map-it) The Rex (king) is sometimes good and sometimes bad. They are alternately princesses or queens. Japet has it's own language, which changes frequently, and some pretty strict laws. In our homeschool we are studying Kings and Queens under the character trait of Obedience and I really wanted to build them a castle. Mike, Taylor, Tessa and I spent most of Friday cutting and painting boxes and Saturday Mike and I put it all together. Then came the fun of painting the bricks which I finished Saturday. They have been having a blast playing in it since. They are the ones who decided it needed to be the kingdom of Japet. Go figure.

of paintballs and snowballs

Lane loves to play paintball and got the opportunity last weekend. He had promised the girls that they could shoot his gun when he got home. I now understand how a paintball can leave a bruise! Just a few days later it snowed all day and the girls played out in the snow for an hour, throwing snowballs and making their first snowman.