Why I Believe There Was a World Wide Flood

  The flood that happened after God had Noah build the ark was something I never questioned but in our current time this event gets questioned regularly and even many who claim to be Christians choose not to believe in a world wide flood. That is pretty baffling to me and here is why.....

God's word says there was a world wide flood:

Genesis 6:17
"For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die."

Isaiah 54:9
"“This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you."

Genesis 7:4
"For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made." 

Genesis 7:17-21
"Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered."

2 Peter 3:6-7
"through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men."

As we can see God's word says that the earth was destroyed by a world wide flood. If God's word says it then that is good enough for me. But that is not all the evidence we have - not at all!

Archaeology points to a world wide flood:

 When you start looking at archaeology there is evidence for the flood all over the world. The way the layers and fossils are in places like the Grand Canyon is wonderful evidence of a world wide flood. There are fossils of sea creatures in the weirdest places - a world wide flood explains that perfectly. When digging down in cities in the middle east area there is evidence of civilization way down and then there is this really thick mud layer and then evidence of other civilization that is very different above it. The way it is points perfectly to a world wide flood that changed basically everything.

Stories in Cultures all over the World speak of the flood:

These are really fun to read about. As we were studying other countries (and many of them NOT being Christian nations) it was so fun to hear their little twist on the story of Noah, the ark, the animals and the flood. I encourage you to do a little research on this - it is pretty fun.

I recommend visiting Answers in Genesis for more facts about the flood.

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Ice Fishing!

 We live in Northern Minnesota in the Land of 10,000 Lakes but our family had never been ice fishing. None of us. I have wanted to change that for some time as it just doesn't seem right to live where we do and not have done that when it is such a big thing in our area. But with no equipment, and no knowledge of the sport - we had just let the idea go.


   But a couple of weeks ago I saw an announcement about a Take-a-kid-ice-fishing event. Take-a-kid fishing (in the summer) is a big thing up here but this taking them ice fishing was a new event. It was to be a whole day event for kids ages 11-15. It did cost $20 a child but they would get to go to a 3 hour class, get a snack, get a rod and tackle box, a $10 gift card, lunch and an afternoon of fishing. I thought that sounded like a pretty good deal.

   As it ended up we registered the 3 older kids for the event but then yesterday that guide/organizer called and said they didn't have enough interest so they were going to have to cancel the class section but would still like to take the kids fishing and they would give us our money back. That sounded okay to us - in fact pretty nice. I think the class could have been good but the kids weren't to sad about missing it - what they wanted to do was fish. They still got a pole and tackle box and lunch and an afternoon of fishing. Today we found out that they were the only kids. They didn't mind the extra attention and plenty of help.

 They started catching fish right away. I guess each of them ended up catching around 5. They weren't real big but that wasn't a big deal. They were pretty excited to be catching. Only Jonathan had ever caught a fish on a line before.

 I think it was perch what they were catching.

 It sounds like the ice houses (there were a couple that they could use that had room for around 6 fishermen in each) where pretty warm and it was a comfortable sport. We also had some gorgeous warm weather today.

  The guide and Jonathan cleaned the fish and the guide filleted them all and sent them home with us. They made a delicious supper.

  It had been my idea for the kids to go to this event and they were okay with it but not always super excited but they sure came home pretty excited. I am so glad they had a fun day. They said the got a lot of visiting time in with the fishing guides. They seemed like really nice people and it was cool when I figured out that I had done the wedding flowers for the main guy quite a few years back. I love living in a community small enough to allow us to have lots of different connections!

  Have you ever gone ice fishing? Is it something that you would like to try? My turn is still coming someday. The kids are urging me to get  a license and then we need to get some equipment (like an ice auger anyway) and then we can all go fishing together.

The Purpose of Hospitality

I have been thinking about the purpose of hospitality lately. It can be so easy to get so caught up in the logistics of hospitality that we forget about the reason that we do it.  When I remember to keep that purpose as the focus then things go so much smoother!

  So the purpose of hospitality is not showing off your house - even though lately I have seemed to do plenty of that as we have had a lot of company and most all of them want to have a tour (which I don't mind at all) since they know that we have been building our home. But even in the midst of giving house tours (which is NOT the purpose of company) I can still work on the real purpose of hospitality and truly all of life.

  That purpose is to Glorify God.

So how can we glorify God in hospitality?

FIRST: I have found it really helps to pray and ask Him for His help and His leading and direction as you have people over to your home. This is something I need to do more often. When I do remember to turn things over to Him it just gives me such a peace.

• We can invite over a young mother and her children and encourage her through godly conversation.
• We can find ways to share God's word with our guests. Possibly inviting them specifically for a Bible study or possibly just looking for opportunities in the conversation to share how God has been speaking to you lately.
• We can have a family over that has been feeling cooped up over the course of the winter and the kids would really like some interaction with others. This can be an opportunity for your children to be God's hands and feet as well.
• We can pray with or for our guests. Right then or say you will (and remember to do it) when they mention a need.
• We can develop friendships with others who are not Christians through hospitality which may cause them to be open to the gospel someday.
• We can invite over groups of Christians to encourage the strengthening and unity of the Body of Christ.
• We can invite over Christians and those that are not at the same time to allow more connections to form for allowing more opportunities for the gospel to be spread.
• We can get-together for a time of music in which we worship our Creator.
• We can practice hospitality and when together do some act of service (maybe making quilts to donate) that can then bless others.
• What other ways can you think off?

  Many times when we have people over we have no idea just how God will use that specific time of hospitality. Perhaps a connection will be formed, perhaps God led us to have a specific person over because He knew that they needed encouragement to stay faithful in their walk with Him or maybe we were the ones that needed the encouragement. 

   All I know is that God wants us to be hospitable. When we give our lives to Him and allow Him to use them the way that is best - then God will be glorified.

   May God bless you as you show hospitality to others!

Goals for Good Health - Natural Tooth Whitening

Lately we have been kind of focused on teeth quite a bit. We have been working to make flossing a new habit for everyone (and it is going pretty well) along with drinking more water (also helpful for having better teeth). We also had a dentist appointment for Aaron and Megan and they are scheduled to go back for some fillings. But while we wait for the appointment we are using black walnut hull as much as we can to see if perhaps their teeth might heal with that. I should have used it earlier. I don't know if it has time to work at this point. I guess we shall see.

  Progress is being made on other health goals too. This week I have been working on having better posture. I still have a lot of work to do but it is a start. This week has gone much better for getting to bed on time and we have also been getting our stretching done. This week has been a success so far.

  I have been wanting to work on some natural tooth whitening methods that will also  help with overall mouth health.

 This week it is my goal to make this toothpaste and also implement some of the ideas in this post. I will try to take a before picture soon and then update you all in a week or so.

  Have you ever tried natural whitening methods? I would love to hear your thoughts on them!

Actually Enjoying Ironing

Ironing is not one of my favorite activities. In fact it can get put off for quite a while around here. Quite a long while. Like this was the first time I ironed since before we moved.

  But anyway- we generally don't need to iron much. Though Ken wears dress shirts to work we buy the "Wrinkle Free" variety (which is sometimes true and sometimes not) and we try to get them pulled out of the dryer and hung up promptly. If that doesn't happen then they generally get thrown back in with a wet load of clothes. As far as the rest of us we try to not have many clothes that need ironing and if they do we might rationalize that after an hour or so either the wrinkles will have worn out or it would have been wrinkled anyway so it isn't going to make much difference.

 Ken however had been building up a group of shirts that I had tried to treat carefully when taking them out of the dryer but he still thought they were to wrinkled to wear. I had been putting off ironing them but this past weekend I had some extra time and thought it would be good to spend it in a way that would bless my husband.

   So I pulled out my ironing board and iron and put it up in our room in front of our southern window and was able to iron while enjoying the view and the sunshine coming in. I also grabbed the pen and paper that I had been using to write down some long term goals and I was able to think more about that and jot some more things down while I worked.

  It was really quite a pleasant half hour or so and it really feels good not to feel the pressure to get it done anymore. I think I might like ironing after all.

What sort of relationship do you have with your iron? Do you love it or hate it or are you somewhere in between?

Why I Believe We Will Live Eternally

I believe that this life is not all that there is. In scripture God tells us that there is an eternity. Here are some verses to show why I believe that.....

Matt. 25:46, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. "

John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." 

Mark 9:43-48 "And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ 
Psalm 41:13 "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen." 

Are you ready for Eternity?