Table for 5

Really awesome slideshow about the first 9 months journey

petra2201 — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:10:27 +0000

I had to search all over the net to find this slideshow on ivillage. I watched it when Susie was pregnant with our first son. It’s very well done and gives a nice overview of the whole process.

I had been studying more on provision when….

petra2201 — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 05:14:08 +0000

As I was learning how to better provide for you guys and your mother I began running across what we call rabbit trails. They wander off all over the place! What got me on this particular rabbit trail is Matthew 5.

I had decided I needed to memorize the sermon on the mount. Probably about the 15th time of rereading the Be attitudes something stuck out. As you grow and read your bible you will come across things like this, PAY ATTENTION, it generally means God is trying to get your attention. So let’s look at these so called Be attitudes.

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

See I’ve read all this before. I’ve read commentaries on it. Heard ALOT of sermons on it. Blessed, Blessed, what does that mean? What did Jesus mean Blessed? I looked it up. Depending on who is saying it and in what context it can mean several things. In the Old Testament it was common to hear blessed be the name of the Lord. This was more an understanding of my place in relation to His. Call it a confession of the obvious.

In Psalms you will see blessed a lot. A lot of times it refers to wealth. God giving His people wealth. Then there is the blessing of children, the fruit of the womb, blessing of understanding…. so on and so forth.

Jesus wasn’t talking about any of this. Here is the greek definition of the word blessed, hold on to it,
3107 makarios mak-ar’-ee-os a prolonged form of the poetical makar (meaning the same); supremely blest; by extension, fortunate, well off:– blessed, happy.

Consider the first line, Blessed are the poor in spirit. Poor means lacking, not having something that others have. So Jesus is telling us that if you are lacking in this area if you don’t have something that others do, you ought to consider yourself in a (blessed) position. Let’s keep going it get’s clearer.

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Hmm… your crying, your sad, and yet Jesus tells us we should consider ourselves happy.

As you keep reading you start seeing that Jesus is describing attributes and situations that don’t look fortunate, happy, or well off. You can count yourself blessed when your meek, making peace, merciful (meaning you just got wronged), pure, and hungering for righteousness. The clincher, the thing that really explains this all is found in the last be command.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Your getting picked on for your beliefs, people are telling lies about you, and here is Jesus telling us to rejoice, be happy!

If God considers you blessed then your may very well not look on the outside like your well-off. You’ve probably been made meek, (Much humiliation produces humility). You’re probably sad and in need of comfort. You may even be in a lawsuit, in jail, or worse. Yet it is His character shining through you that is making you blessed. It is His comfort you receive when your mourning. And it is His reward to give if you physically die and go to heaven. Being blessed has nothing to do with feeling happy, looking rich, or being popular. Those things can actually be a warning sign! You may need to re-evaluate your life and compare it with His.

So my sons as you grow, be aware that people will say mean things when you dress different or tell them we don’t watch that kind of show. When someone steals your idea and steps all over you to get ahead, you want the right thing and so you let it work something out of your spirit. Then you turn around and pray that God would help them get ahead. Life will rain on you. You will see good and bad. Let God use the things He will to save your soul. The things of this life are tools. They help you do a job. When your done, not one single tool of yours is going with you to the grave. And they won’t be waiting on you when you come out.

Providing for your family part 3 Avoiding the dangerous stuff….

petra2201 — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 04:46:19 +0000

Provide part 3
Make sure your physically, mentally, and spiritually able to provide.
I’ve been eating better than I used to. There was one point in my life were I was over 200 lbs and was physically week. I couldn’t run very far without huffing and puffing. Then we wen to a ministers meeting in Houston. A brother got up and was mentioning how foolish we must look to God asking for healing for our hurt knees, sore backs, diabetes, and heart conditions. Especially when the cause was what we put in our own mouths! I came back from that with a new perspective.
My life, my body, is not my own. Yes Jesus owns it, but so does my wife and to an extent my kids. I have a duty to make sure I’m not ending my life prematurely. I can see now that it is selfishness on my part to not eat right and workout. Your momma needs me to be able for a wide range of things. I need to be strong enough to work. I need to be healthy enough to stay active. I need to be fit enough to play with you guys. And dare say I need to keep up some eye candy for the queen of the house!
But this is just one facet of this piece of the discussion because provide for your family means to be be there! I can’t eat, drink, or do things that will lessen my chances of fulfilling that.
No excessive amounts of junk food. I need to work out and stay active. No drinking alcohol, no tobacco, no drugs, no dangerous activities. I see part of providing for the family as making sure I’m there!
Sure i could die before my time. I could get hit by a bus, or a robber could shoot me, any number of thins could happen. But wouldn’t I feel foolish if I didn’t pay attention to the God given cues in my body and make sure it’s healthy! How does that discussion go with God? Sorry God I’m in heaven early…. Yes sir I was supposed to eat better but Ahh it sure was good. What do you mean you wanted me to live another 30 years? I understand He can intervene and take you out. How often do we do it ahead of time?
An it’s not just eating. I have a long list of things I won’t do simply because of my family. I won’t go places and do certain things so that I make sure I’m there for you guys.
I’m not saying be boring, and I’m not saying don’t have fun. I’m saying once you had a family your level of responsibility changes. You want to try skydiving, go before you have kids or after they’re grown. You want to swim with sharks that’s your business if your over 18 and unmarried. After your 18 focus your sense of adventure. Point it to things like camping in the backyard with your children. Old testament scripture says if a man had just gotten married he’s excused from war for a year. Keep that in mind!

Just a quick post. I found a site that has some free worksheets for homeschoolers

petra2201 — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:59:56 +0000

They have a lot of free worksheets but also quite a few paid ones for customers as well.

AbcTeach

So life has been crazy…..

petra2201 — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 06:20:15 +0000

I finally finished the baby bump slideshow. I got real busy after baby got here (duh) and have just now had the time to finish it. Though now that I’m looking at it I need to ad one last picture.. the baby! Maybe tomorrow ,,,,,,
as usual go here to see it.

Providing for your family part 2

petra2201 — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:41:08 +0000

This time when I discuss provision its not the fun stuff. These past two weeks we have been cleaning out our new shop. This is when Maw got sick and had to go to the hospital and I caught a sinus infection. It’s not the best of time for all that to happen. It was stressful and I didn’t feel good a lot.
But I worked anyway; that’s another key to provision. Self sacrifice for the greater good of your family. It does not matter the size of your family , whether you have no children , or you could be on tv for all your kids. You as a man and husband have a duty to your family.
I worked when I felt sick and wanted to go home and go to bed. I worked when I really wanted to stop and watch tv. I worked when I wanted to do anything else. Its not because I’m some great person, it’s because I recognize my duty. My duty is to take care of you guys and your mom. My duty is to make sure you guys get a broad experience for working. My duty is to help you understand what work is and why it’s not always time to play.
When I first got married I didn’t understand this. I did stupid things with my time and money. I bought a lot of junk that I didn’t need. Now I’m literally paying for things I no longer have. I’m paying for a swimming pool, a horse, a saddle, 2 cars, and a bunch of other stuff that I no longer have possession of. All because I wanted it and didn’t know how to wait or tell my self no. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my wants for the good of my family. Now I have used equipment, an old truck, and I’m paying off the van. I don’t need a brand new entertainment center. I don’t need the newest laptop, or tech gadget. I don’t need to go out to eat every night. I’ve learned some self discipline. When I really want to watch tv, instead I’ll play some games with you guys. It’s more rewarding than watching tv and I think the payoff will be better in the end.
So let me remind you guys again, no matter the size of your family you have a duty to do what’s best for your family, provision means self denial.

Providing for your family part1

petra2201 — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:29:44 +0000

Providing for your family part 1

Sons, I’m going to talk about a subject and I will probably change my mind somewhat down the road. In 1 Timothy us men are charged with providing for our families. That word provision is a can of yarn. Every time I thought I’d reached the end of it I see a new avenue in which I’m responsible for. It’s a tough job, real tough. It’s so hard God has provided you a spouse, a ministry, and a lot of sound advice out of the Bible to accomplish it. It’s funny how one scripture can adjust the way you view your whole life’s perspective.
As I write this part about providing for your family I sit in my big red chair because I don’t feel good. I want to be in bed asleep but I can’t. I don’t want to work today but I’m going to. Tomorrow, I don’t want to take you guys to boy scouts at 10:00 am and then clean my shop. However I will do that unless something bigger crosses my path. Why, you may ask. Why not stay home, why not get comfortable? Why not do what I want to do? Provision.
It’s that one little word which has upended my lazy behind and kept me from sitting at home when that’s what I really want to do.
If God gives you a spouse the scripture teaches He has given you favor. If He gives you children, they are your heritage, your inheritance from Him. You can’t just do what you want. You are tasked with the responsibility of providing for this family that He has handed you.
So the first part of provision is sacrifice. Sacrifice of your will to accomplish His in your family. I’ll try and go down some of the rabbit trails of what that means later but for now let’s some provision up for this discussion in this way. Providing for your family requires a work of sacrifice on your part. It means giving up the things you want to do and sometimes working when it hurts to do His will in your family.
I will try to explain more and go further down these ideas as time goes on.

I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth… honest.

petra2201 — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 05:19:05 +0000

I’m delinquent in my posting. No pictures, no letters to the kids… yeah I know I’ve fallen off the Blog wagon. I haven’t yet I promise. I’ve just been busy with business and baby. On the business front I’m finding myself torn between custom making a web app that will let me track phone calls, quotes, and parts I’ve ordered for customers. I’ve looked into buying or getting open source stuff but everything I look at is really cumbersome. I don’t need a swiss army knife I need a phillips screw driver! Any ways enough of that rant. I have an article for the boys that I’ve been working on about providing for your family but as I started studying it from the Scripture it turned into a monster. It all started with the Scripture in Timothy that says if a man doesn’t provide for his own household he’s worse than an infidel. Obviously it’s talking about putting food on the table but it also can go so much deeper. What if a man just provides food and money but no companionship for his wife? Does that count? What about being an involved father? It very quickly took a turn down a spaghetti trail pile of questions about what does provide mean… When I can get it organized I will try and share it with my boys (and whoever else may read this.)

Woot we’re officialy a table for 5

petra2201 — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:35:17 +0000

Aiden was born yesterday at 7:11 pm. When we get home tonight and we have all our boys with us we will be the official table for 5.

Remember how to show love to Jesus

petra2201 — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:53:58 +0000

I was working at another church today. I was working on the pastor’s computer and saw a note marked Urgent. It said the pastor needed to call a certain person because they didn’t feel anyone cared about them. It said no one called or visited them. This is a common complaint.

In fact it’s something that Brother Emmons pointed out tonight. We need to love each other. There are different types of love. Some people respond to spending time with them. Others it’s all about appreciation. And for some it’s little acts of kindness like mowing their yard. The point is we need to get better at getting our love across to other people in church.

How sad it is that we are endangering our own souls for our comfort. Jesus warned us in the parable of the goats and sheep that when we do it to the least of these we’ve done it unto Him.