Walking with the Way

Hello New Testament Readers! Below you will find the links to yesterday's talks at CBR. After you see the "history portion" of the talks, you will understand when I say, I am praying for you and your family for that God given "Joy" this season as we think about that future banquet with Jesus! Thank you, Jesus, for providing a way for us to join you at taht banquet!! History portion:   https://youtu.be/QOTLe2uRvT8 Sharon's portion:  https://youtu.be/dqfyjfME7IY   I will be taking a break from posting for two weeks.  Please continue the reading every day during the Christmas and New Year season!   I will post again on or the day after January 5, 2021.  That post will cover the reading of Acts all the way through chapter  23.   I challenge you to read one chapter a day.  The reading won't seem so overwhelming compared to putting off 21 chapters to the last minute! 😜 After this, we will be flying through the books!!  What a gre

Hello New Testament readers!  Below you will find two links to the recordings from this morning.  I talked about how the timing of John's gospel couldn't have come at a better time for the early Jewish Christians and Michelle talked about the Holy Spirit. If you weren't able to join us, I hope you enjoy the recordings! Anita's "history": https://youtu.be/8sCUXKwSdoo Michelle's inspirational talk:  https://youtu.be/hYYDP5m-B-8 Have a wonderful week reading the rest of John and starting Acts!!! Anita

Welcome back from a Thanksgiving break, although we never broke from reading!  We covered 14 chapters the past two weeks!! I hope you are sticking with us! Here is the link to the history portion that talks about God given festivals: https://youtu.be/RZokQjpkF-Q Here is the link to Kim's talk on how God can use your "sack lunch" he has given you to feed others:  https://youtu.be/M2gyEleCp6U Have fun reading John 10-16 this week! I would love to hear any comments you may have on the reading!!  Blessing to you! Anita

Hello to all of you New Testament Readers! Below you will find two links to yesterday morning's talks.   The first is "Part 2" of talking about the Trinity. https://youtu.be/g1ofidv-n8g   The second is Michelle's talk encouraging Thankfulness.  https://youtu.be/l_TZ0v_uuEM I am also including a link to a funny, 4 minute, satire regarding the Trinity.  I highly recommend that if you didn't hear the talk yesterday, you wait on watching the satire until after watching the above video on the Trinity.  It won't be as funny if you don't have some background on the subject. I hope you see the humor in it.  If you find any part offensive, sorry about that!  I guess that leaves me with a sick sense of humor! Haha!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving with your loved ones!! We all have so much to be thankful for.  One thing I am thankful for is that I have a Bible, in my possession, that I can open anytime I want,

 Hey to everyone who is reading along with us in Luke!! I hope you are having a fabulous week despite the drama going on in our country!  I felt such comfort this week as I did my reading and realized, God never changes!  Our own president of the United States can change every 4- 8 years, but the Lord NEVER changes!! Woohoo!  That brought me great comfort this week!  So, here is the link to the speakers today at CBR.  I hope you enjoy it as a supplement to your own reading! https://youtu.be/adee0vEITxk God bless you this week as we continue to read Luke! 

 What a week!!  With what is happening in our country right now, it is perfect timing to hear how history evolves (all to the glory of God) and to be reminded how having an eternal perspective is paramount!! If you have time to hear the talks, here is the link:   https://youtu.be/T7sleuy62Vg Happy reading!!

Hello all, we only have a couple chapters of Mark left and I decided to get some background info on the guy!  In my search I discovered something I had never heard of, a Markan Sandwich!  I am so glad I understand what that is now, because, wow, did it bring new insight into scripture I had never seen before! If you want to hear more, click on the link.  In addition, Sharon encourages us to pray even though we may have doubts.  Very encouraging! https://youtu.be/buIY-sRyqvQ Have a great week reading the end of Mark and getting into Luke! 

Hello New Testament Readers!  I hope you are enjoying Mark chapter 9 today!  Two great topics were covered yesterday in CBR related to Mark. Here are the links if you care to watch.  Kim was very inspiring!    Part 1:  https://youtu.be/Pw81ELCR2cQ Part 2:  https://youtu.be/t_oYeJMaGIc

 Wow!! Can you believe we are already done with Matthew?  That was quick and super interesting!! So much was covered this past week.  I hope you found some new "pearls" to dwell on. In Community Bible Reading this morning, I focused the history portion on Ch. 24~ Jerusalem destroyed.  Michelle on the other hand focused on the Greatest Command and the Great Commission.  Each video is about 20 min.  Hope you enjoy! Comment if you so desire.  I would love to dialog with you! https://youtu.be/zmwSy_otQLU https://youtu.be/fZcD679_YKA

Hello fellow New Testament Readers! How is the reading going for you??  One more week and we are already done with Matthew! As you kow I am leading a group called CBR on Tuesday mornings.  I thought I would include the link to the talks that take place there because it goes with our reading here.  However, we have utterly failed at our attempts to get good recordings!  Today, we didn't even get a recording!! Arg!! 😖 There is so much to say about the reading, it would be great to share what Sharon talked about!   I did, however, re-record my "history" portion of the morning.  If you are interested in history, I hope you enjoy what is said in the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/tkNOGEp3VNNYR1CTk7lWgKpEVlNF0h6GN0GcJETXHifDe428h2aWFYsMPMSTyrlZ.8ObMcX_sV1r4lwXo?startTime=1602019893000   Also, please feel free to talk about what YOU got out of the reading!  I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section!

 Hello fellow New Testament readers!! If you are here reading this, you are following along with the new reading plan that will get you through the New Testament in one academic school year!  Good for you!! God will definitly reveal himself to you!  I am also leading a group called CBR- Community Bible Reading.  As such, I am trying to figure out how to do both CBR and the blog.  I decided I am going to mix things up a bit! I am going to include the links that are created at CBR and share them with you!   However, those vidoes can be long!  This week I will just include one section of the morning.   https://youtu.be/bR17j6pwFoc If you want to see more of a second speaker, ask for the second link in the comment section and I will send it to you.  The link I am including is about 16 minutes.  My talk is on how "history" shows that it's always been a heart issue with God.  The other link of the same morning is 20 minutes and that focuses on the JEsus being the "healer&q

 It's Thursday today!  I have gotten thrown off my game with the new reading plan in regard to when to post for you all!! You see, I am in a group called Community Bible Reading (CBR).  The weekly reading starts on Tuesday and ends the following Monday.  But with the blog, I ended my reading on Sunday and then posted.  I have been struggling to figure out the best way to continue with CBR and also encourage people in their reading using the blog.  So, I didn't post regarding the first week of reading.  If you want to see a video from CBR related to the 1-7 ch. reading, you are welcome to do that.  It's about 1/2 an hour.  Please excuse the technical difficulties we were having with our zoom recording.😖 Click this link: https://youtu.be/yvzwHpOlmBY If you have started Matthew with me, you should be on chapter 10 of Matthew today.  There is soooo much rich content in the reading!!  I would love to hear what has stood out to you!  Please feel free to comment in the comment

 Hello fellow readers!  I am starting a new plan to read through the New Testament in one academic year.  Starting today, if you read one chapter a day, you will be done with the whole New Testament by the first week of June!  What a great challenge!!  Read with me!  Each week I will post something about the seven days of reading.  I would love to hear your comments about the reading as well!  It would be like we were in a Bible study together....but....not together...We are getting used to that since COVID, right?!  😝 HOWEVER, if you are getting sick of this "virtual" thing and want to actually be with people, you can join me each week at South Shores Chruch to be with people face to face, talking about the week's worth of reading.   If you want more info. on that, ask in the comment section, and I will get back to you with the info. Ask a friend to join you!!  You will find the reading plan on the "Spiritual Fervor" tab. Hope you join me and  Happy Reading!!!

We are done!! We finished our summer reading in the Old Testament! That was fun!  How did you like getting to know our God, three in One,  a little better? This past week's reading was interesting to me! Did you catch how Judges ended and Ruth began?  Judges ended with, "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit." (21:25), which implies everyone was doing their own thing, not what God commanded in Joshua. Disobedience and waywardness was running rampant! Then the book of Ruth starts off with, "In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land." (Ruth 1:1). That's a clear reference to the time of “Willy Nilly” the Israelites were practicing during the “time of Judges”. Yet, as we read Ruth, we learn of a couple who are of  “noble character" (Ruth 2:11 &  3:11), actually following God’s commands.  I loved the reminder that even in the bleakest of times, there always seems to be a remnant of true believers in

Again, I found myself wondering what I can get out of this terribly sad reading we are doing in Judges.  I was sad reading about Sampson (ch. 16), but my stomach turned reading chapter 19!  In fact, my 8-year-old son, who was sitting across the room from me when I was reading said, "What are you doing with your face, Mom?"  I laughed when I realized he had looked at me right when my face was twisted with horror as I read about the poor concubine. I simply said, "I don't like what I am reading!" Thankfully, he didn't ask what I was reading specifically,....yet he knew it was from the Bible. 😬😳 I wonder what that little guy thought of that answer?!... I should probably talk to him about it later.  But, at the time, I couldn't respond with much more.....I wouldn't have been able to explain the Bible right then and there for him...I needed time to process...what am I reading?... and why is this in the Bible?!! Well, I have processed now, and this

I don't know about this past week's reading.....in just 7 chapters we read about 8 leaders of Israel...who weren't the stellar examples of godly leadership for the "chosen people of God"! To be honest, I was left feeling uneasy about how the country was going (a little like how I feel these days in our own county). Even Gideon, who I remember as being one of the "heroes of the faith" mentioned in Hebrews (ch. 11), didn't seem like a hero I would encourage my boys to emulate. So....what can I get out of this reading?  How is this part of scripture "God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16-17)? Humm...well, Gideon might not be the picture of faith, since he faltered several times,.....but we can certainly learn a lot about God through Gideon's faltering faith!   God is faithful even when our faith f

Monday we read Joshua exhort the people, "So be very careful to love the Lord your God." (23:11) Then through the rest of Joshua he continues to warn and plead with the Israelites to "Yield their hearts to God."  As I was reading Joshua, I was kind'a surprised that he didn't have a lot of hope for these people to remain faithful. After all, he had spent the last years of his life on the battlefield with the men of Israel who continually rallied to battle to defeat and conquer the people in their promised land.    Yet, Joshua was right,  as soon as the exhortations were out of his mouth he states, "You are not able to serve the Lord.  He is a holy God, he is a jealous God." (24:19) We saw the truth in that statement as soon as we started to read Judges!  Immediately, in chapter 3, we start to see the pattern of the people: live in peace --> sin --> fall into captivity --> moan for help --> God rescues --> peace again comes, but the pa

After reading how the land was divided between the tribes in this week's reading, I bet some of you were thinking...."Do I really need to read all these names? I can't find a lot of practical application for myself in this reading, do I really need to keep reading?....." Come on, be honest, did you have any of those thoughts?  Well, I have a challenge for you! If you feel you got nothing out of the reading take a look again, looking for these subjects: Thoughts on women's rights (chapter 17)?   An acknowledgment for the need for capital punishment yet  there is a time for not implementing capital punishment (chapter 19)? Did you notice to whom the cities of refuge were given? I thought it was interesting that the one's designate to be the priests (the intercessor between the people and God) would be the ones to receive those who needed mercy. Maybe God felt they were the best equipped to deal wtih the emotions involved in those cases, who knows, I jus

This week we read how Joshua, along with all the Israelites, engaged in the conquest and "moving in" to the territory that made up "the Promised Land". If one just skims over these chapters, it can leave a feeling of, 😱"Ugg!  How horrific!"  The killing of "all who had breath" (10:40)- that sounds barbaric and merciless by today's standards! What kind of God do we serve who would be so harsh?!😦 Yet, while I was reading, a verse came to me that I remember reading a while back.  I'm so glad God brought it back to the forefront of my mind as I read these chapters!   I remember a scene in Genesis where God was talking with Abraham.  Abraham is at a scenic lookout point, a view that eventual became what we know today as Israel.  God and Abraham just had an exchange about the promise of a son, a promised land, and an explanation of the timing of those events.   In fact, God told Abraham exactly what would happen over the next 400 years!

If you have been reading along with me for any length of time, you may have heard me say that everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus.  Did you see any of that in this week's reading? Once again, I did! I read one commentary that pointed out how Joshua himself was a "Christ-like" figure.  Joshua in Hebrew means Savior and we read how he was the one designated to deliver the Israelites to the Promised Land.  In the same way,  the name Jesus means Savior in Greek and we know that he is the one who will deliver his people to the heavenly Promised Land. I can say more on this foreshadowing to Christ, but to be honest, my attention was caught more in how God expects the same from us today as he did of his true followers back in the time of Joshua. While I was reading about Rehab in chapter 2, I thought, "Boy, God does not change! (Hebrews 13:8). He is always looking for a heart that is open to him and when he finds it, He blesses that person. Rehab is a perf

I have to say, I really enjoyed reading Deuteronomy! I hope you did too! This week I was reminded: 1.  The only way to do things is God's way!  We can not create our own way of doing things and think we will get to heaven that way.  It's God's way or no way (Deut. 29:20)!  Jesus reiterates that idea when he says, "No one comes to the Father except through me."(John 14:6). There is just one way, God's way! 2. I saw foreshadowing in Deut. 30:4, "Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back." to the words Jesus says in Matthew 24:3 when he says he will send his angels to "gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."  This is going to happen, people! I can't wait!  Are you excited for that day? 3. I saw the first reference to God being our Rock in Deut.32.  Moses makes that reference 7x's in the s

Among the various laws we read over the week, I was left pondering........a lot!! Some of what we read was strange! Yet, one verse stood out to me like a light bringing clarity to it all!! "For the Lord moves about in your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you." (23:14) I love that!!! God gave us laws to use for "teaching, correcting and rebuking" (2 Tim. 3:16) because He loves us!! He wants to protect us! I also had this thought, while I was reading all those rules, like a parent with a child, we don't always get the "why" behind the rule.  At times, I have given a rule to one of my kids and just expected obedience because of my relationship with that child.  My kids know I love them and want the best for them, so for the most part, they obey the rules of the house without asking why. Actually, most of the time, they can figure out the "why" without asking. I noticed that a lot of the rules God put forth in the Law h

How fortunate that we are reading what our Heavenly Father has said to us! However, there were some strange, or hard things to process in our reading this week, wouldn't you agree?! Like, our reading today, ch.21, whoa, am I right?! 😳 Yet, even if it sounds barbaric, or not applicable today, there are still lessons to learn.  After all, Paul says in his letter to Timothy that "all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, for correcting for training in righteousness" (2 Tim 3:16). Therefore, we can not throw out scripture that makes us uncomfortable as we read. I have a friend who is a teacher in a Christian elementary school.  She has the privilege to get to teach the Bible to her students daily.  She teaches her students to look for the "Timeless Truths" in what they read.  I love that! So, what were some timeless truths you found even in scriptures you found to be uncomfortable? One timeless truth that stood out to me w

When one reads the Old Testament through the lens of the coming Christ, it's kind'a easy to see the things that point to Jesus.  Did you see anything this week that pointed to Jesus? I noticed chapter 8 had some big-time arrow pointing!! → = Jesus! Moses was reminding the Israelites about the manna they had in the desert.  "He (God) humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone by on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." (8:3) Did that sound familiar to you? It should!  Jesus, himself, quoted that verse to the "tempter" in Matthew 4:4. I also can't help think of the scene when, once again, God was providing a miraculous amount of food for the people that gathered around Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus even reminds the people the same thing Moses was reminding the Israelites about,  "Your ancest

Here we go, diving into the Old Testament to remind ourselves of our mighty God's wisdom, power, love, and mercy! How did you like the first week of reading?  Chapters 1-3 felt like I was reading the Cliff notes to the book of Numbers.  I loved the brief overview!  It was also great to read the 10 Commandments again in chapter 5; so simple yet so profound!! I mentioned that I was going to be looking for foreshadowing to Jesus as I do my summer reading since I have been told the whole Old Testament (OT) points to his coming.   Well, sure enough, I found some!  How about you?  Did you notice anything that points to Jesus? What I noticed was in the very first chapter of Deuteronomy! The history that Moses was reviewing with the current generation of Israelites regarding the actions of their parents, is exactly the same human behavior we have today!  Wouldn't you agree? And, God was the same back then as He is now!  He foreshadowed the work of Jesus by displaying his charac

We did it! We are done with Revelation! Congratulations on finishing strong! What stood out to you in this last week of reading? The verses that stood out to me were, “They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away.” (21:4) Did you catch that? Now I know that the Holy Spirit lives in me now, but when he is “with us”  face to face, there will be a new “order of things”. We are going to see Jesus face to face and things are going to be REAL different! How EXCITING!! It’s going to be beyond what we can imagine because we only know and understand the “old order”. Personally, I can’t wait! But until then, I am going to keep reading so I can keep learning new things about my Lord. The Old Testament has lots of good stuff that points straight to Jesus. I am going to hunt for those indicators or bits of foreshadow

We have only three days left of our semester reading!! We did it! The whole New Testament!  Wow, time flys when you are having fun, right?!! Did you have fun? Yeah,....but....umm.....are we having fun right now in the reading? 😧  Some people, reading this section, may feel relief reading how, in the end, evil does not win. One might feel some righteous anger over injustices they have experienced and look forward to the day that the perpetrator will get his due. However, I have found the reading to be a bit sad this week! Yes, it is good to read that the evils of "Babylon" will end, but, you gotta admit, God's righteous judgment on people is overwhelming! The saddest for me to read was the people's response, "..they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him." (16:9) and "People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but t hey r

At this point, you might be getting anxious reading John's vision or you are getting very confused.  Perhaps, like me, you are excited!! Through the many times I have read Revelation, I have gone through different teachings and discovered the many different ways people interpret Revelation. There is predominant teaching in our US Christian culture today that became very popular from the Left Behind book series published in 1995.  The thought is that there will be a rapture of believers at an unknown time. With Christians out of the way, all the plagues of the seals, trumpets, and bowls will occur in chronological order in a 7 year period. During that time there will be new converts to Christianity. Christ will then return and rule for 1000 years only to then have to once again engage in battle and finally defeat Satan and Satan's followers.   At the end of the 1000 years will be the judgment of all mankind. I have had a very hard time with that interpretation of Scripture

Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms!!! 🌷🌸🌺 So, our reading this week, wow!! Right? There is so much to comment on in this week's reading! Again, I know that the things that stood out to me may not have stood out to you, but let's talk together about what we got out of the reading! Me first! (haha) Did you catch that we are all priests? (Rev. 1:6) I have never thought of myself as a priest! Yet, the way John put it,  we are "priests to serve his God and Father".  There are a lot of other things I would love to talk about in chapters 2-5, but this priest idea in chapter 1 caught me. We also just read from Peter that we are holy priests (1 Peter 2:5). I had to look into that a tad bit more since being a priest sounds like an important role and I am one who likes to know my job description and what is expected of me in my role as a priest. In the Old Testament, the Levites were the priests.  Everybody back then knew that the Levites were "set apart"

So, this is interesting! I did some research and found that scientists have no idea why a moth is attracted to a flame.  There are several hypotheses, but none of them are convincing in the scientific world so, it has been chalked up as a mystery! I think there is a similar mystery in Christianity.  There is seemingly no explanation as to why some secular people are attracted to the light of Christians and others are repulsed by the same light.  I would think every nonbeliever would be repulsed by Christianity when I read things like, "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (2 Corinthians 4:4) and ""For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come into the light, lest his works should be exposed." (John 3:20). Yet, there are those who see the light and do a nose dive toward it like a moth to a flam

Again, in our reading this week, God uses his word to be encouraging during these uncertain times! "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings."  (1 Peter 5:7-9) Isn't that the truth! I was on a Zoom talk yesterday with missionary friends who live in Germany.  They described their lockdown being very similar to ours here in the USA.  Likewise, some missionary friends in Spain have been experiencing the same kind of "suffering".   Praise the Lord, these friends, have cast all their anxiety on God.  They stand firm in their faith! What I love about the above verse is that it not only gives encouragement, it gives an action step.  I don't like just sitting back, doing nothing in tim

With the lockdown of the country and the unknowns on how and when it will "open up", it's near impossible to "boast about tomorrow", wouldn't you agree?! This situation we are in sure made James 4 stand out to me! "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why you don't even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?..... all such boasting is evil ." (James 4 13-17) Could God be using this virus to remind us not to boast about our plans? Well, I am a planner!  I love to think of the next adventure and do what I need to do to make it happen. God has definitely put a reality check on me! Reading James, I was asking myself, have I left God out of my plans? I like what Francis Chan says about this passage.  "There are two issues here (in this scripture). One is the sovereignty of God and secondly is our submission to God."

Happy Easter!! I can't believe the perfect timing of reading Hebrews as we celebrate our risen King this Easter Day!!  Did you see how the writer of Hebrews basically hit every point and reason, we celebrate today?! He described how we need a mediator before our Holy God.  Jesus is that mediator! "He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek." (5:9-10, 6:20 7:24) "He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself." (7:27) And our Friday reading!! Yes! "Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many." (Hebrews 9: 27) And the spot-on verse that declares Jesus is ruling right now!! "But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his foot

Well, Titus 3 sure stood out to me this week! “Remind people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceful and considerate, and always to be gentle towards everyone.” (vs.1) I have been reminding my adult kids often about being subject to the authorities. Obeying the new rules of social distancing and staying home has been hard on them! Fortunately, for believers, the directives Paul gave to Titus, especially “to be self-controlled” (2:5, 2:6   & 2:12) is doable because we have the Holy Spirit to help us! I love Titus 2:11-14, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age , while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and

There was a verse that stood out to me this week that caused me to reflect back on a conversation with a friend who was disappointed at the reputation of Christians as a whole "the church".  She felt that if the church worded things better, or had more tolerance of other people, we, as a whole would have a better standing in society. First of all, when someone starts to say anything in the form of a blanket statement against the church, I bristle. Why would I bristle?  Because the Bible tells us that we, the church, are the body of Jesus! (Rom 12:4-5,1 Corinthians 12:12, 27, Eph. 5:30, Col. 1:18, 24, to name a few). So, for one to say they don't like "the church", they are grouping every Christian around the globe, basically stating they don't like Jesus!  Right?  After all, we are like the body of Christ!  And here is something to think about, God loves his church like a husband loves his bride!  And like a husband, God will defend the honor of his bri

One week of "lockdown" complete! How is your daily Bible reading coming along?  Do you have more time to read now that everything has been canceled? I would love to hear what has stood out to you in the reading! On Friday, a distant friend called to check to see how I was doing with the new way of life due to the coronavirus.  She was busy watching her granddaughter and was also listing her concerns with other family members and how she was helping them. She ended with, "I hope the man upstairs sees how hard I am trying to help everyone and gives me extra credit for it, and lets me in!" Well...that's not exactly how it works...but I didn't feel it was the time to get into a theological discussion, so we signed off with love and good tidings. However, I was left reviewing in my head that nothing we "do" will earn our entrance into heaven, except the "doing" of having faith in Jesus and what he did on the cross.  That's it!  Every

Was your church service canceled today? If so, maybe, like our church, you can watch your service online.  And since you may have a lot of extra time on your hands, now that much of your busy schedule has been wiped clean, you can watch some interesting videos that I will be including in this blog! I find it so interesting when God seems to talk to me using a theme that keeps coming up in my daily reading and continues in other areas as well (i.e. YouTube). It was recommended to me that I should watch a movie called, "American Gospel: Christ Alone" I did not see the whole movie, which is 2 hours, but I watched a one hour version that was very interesting.  It's a documentary critiquing how the Gospel in America has been diluted down or even lost in the teaching of prosperity or morality.  It's definitely worth watching so here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU&t=2747s I found it interesting that one of the pastors on the film said