Whew! My life has been a bit of a whirlwind lately. My precious 83 year old mother just spent 15 days in the hospital with an ailment that had the doctors baffled until they did exploratory surgery. Once the problem was discovered and remedied, the recovery began only to have new issues pop up one after another. Her entire hospital stay should only have been 6 or 7 days, however she was released on day 16. She is still very weak and I solicit your prayers. But, our God is faithful in all things and so our trust is in Him that she will make a complete recovery and quickly return to her old self.
The only good thing that has come out of my mom's hospitalization is that I've lost 7 1/2 lbs. - WooHoo!!! I'm going to try and keep this weight-loss going - pray for me!
Here in southwestern Ohio it has been in the 80's. Absolutely beautiful outside! Everything is blooming and how appropriate since Easter is only 2 days away. Myself, Bob, and the boys sat around our fire pit and roasted marshmallows after the sun went down last night. I so enjoy our family times together. The boys and myself will be coloring our eggs today and what beautiful weather to be outside for an Easter egg hunt.
I'm so excited because in a couple of weeks my very favorite Bible teacher is coming to my home church for a 3 day conference. Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum (www.ariel.org) will be at Grace Baptist Church, Mason, OH on April 16 - 18 and will be doing a verse by verse teaching on the book of Zechariah. If you have never heard Dr. Fruchtenbaum please visit his website; there is a lot of free material for your spiritual edification. He is Jewish and because of his up-bring in Judaism, has an advantage in teaching us the Bible like no other Bible teacher I know. He is a great scholar and theologian and if you are in the area I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to hear Dr. Fruchtenbaum and be blessed.
I want to leave you with a quote from a book that I am reading right now from Dr. Paul Tripp:
We all live on the continuum between slavery and freedom. The Bible warns about he deceitfulness of sin and its bondage. It is full of promises of the freedom we have in Christ. But our culture has its own warnings and promises of freedom, false solutions promised in various theories of change. These alternative theories seem appealing. They promise us that we can avoid chaos, live in freedom, and keep our own agenda and pride intact.
Christians have always faced these problems. We have always had to sift through false promises and theories of change. Even in the first century, Paul had these words for fellow believers:
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus our Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ (Col. 2:6-8niv).
Paul is concerned that we not allow ourselves to be taken "captive by hollow and deceptive philosophy." The Greek word translated "taken captive" is actually closer to "abducted" or "kidnapped.'' Paul's point is that we can be abducted by falsehood when we least expect it. He urges us to live with our eyes open to the culture influences that seek to gain our allegiance when we are not really paying attention. Don't be fooled. Don't think that Paul's advice applies only to big decisions and major doctrines. It is in the little moments of life that battles are lost or won.*
Gotta run, be blessed today and God glorified,
Your K.S. Mama,
*Paul Tripp, 'How People Change,' New Growth Press, Greensboro, 2006, pg. 23.
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