We were taken through the beginning stages of Jesus' ministry. How when Satan tempted Jesus while He was fasting for forty days and nights. Three times Satan tried to tempt Jesus to sin, but each time Jesus resisted him and never sinned.
I Cor. 10:13 - "There hath no temptation taken you but soon as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
Then it was preached of when Jesus called His disciples. The Bible doesn't give us the back stage character thoughts because that is not important for us to know, but I wonder what the father's of these fishermen thought. Here comes Jesus and calls some men to, "Follow me and I will make you fisher's of men." Did the dad's know by just looking into the precious eyes of Jesus that that was the right thing for their sons to follow? Did they encourage or try to keep them within the family business of fishing with nets in the sea? One thing is for sure that the twelve disciples that Jesus did call to follow Him, had no idea what it would all cost them when they said "Yes" to that calling. The next three years were all about teachings and life lessons that they never heard of before.
Jesus taught about the heart! About loving your brothers as much as yourself. About dying to self and putting on a new man in Christ. He healed the blind man that was begging and begging for Jesus to come and touch him. Why? Because he knew that if Jesus would come to him, he would be healed and be able to see. He believed. Jesus healed the lame man that was so sick and weak that his friends lowered him down through a roof ... just to get to Jesus! Why? Because they knew that if Jesus would touch him, he too would be healed and walk again! They believed!!! They had faith!
We may try ... but we can never get away from Jesus. They crucified Him. He was buried. He arose ... because the grave could not hold him no more!!! He is alive! We can do as they did and try to get or keep Him out of our lives, but He proved it on the cross that He lives forever!!! The crowd got caught up in the trial of Jesus and were yelling "Crucify Him" when actually, some may have not even known the whole story. Do we do that? Do we criticize someone when we don't "know their story"? These are some things that were challenging to us today in our service.
We took of the bread and wine, washed one anothers feet, and then had a chance to give to alms. The morning hours went fast and were refreshing!
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Here are some highlights of our family happenings this past week ...
I have tried often to feed this little girl mashed potatoes, but she never really seemed to dig in! She looked to see if something else was offered and then choose that instead. Yet, she loves just regular potatoes. This week, I put some mashed potatoes in a small bowl and set it in front of her. Free for all! Help yourself! And she did! What a mess!!!
Yesterday, the kids and I went yard saleing and we had a blast! Yard saleing is not for me if I have three youngsters tagging behind, because I like to be fast. In and out and be quick with the selections, because the yard sales that I like to attend are developments! One house after the next style!!!
Well, because Mike had his customer appreciations days at work Friday and Saturday, he was not able to babysit. My options were else ... stay home or take all three? Ashlyn is an early bird, so after she was awake I woke the two older and out the door we went! An adventure for sure! They love to yard sale just as much as I do. We did great! They each took turns staying in the van with baby, took turns bringing her out too, and we all had a wonderful time finding lots of deals!!! Lots!!! So glad we went!!!
When we got back home, I was cleaning out the van from cracker crumbs, smashed fruit loops, and toast crumbs. We also had two banana's that got bruised during our morning shopping! I choose to make banana bars with them. These are so tasty and when as I pulled the hot tray out of the oven, the kids came bouncing into the house sniffing and enjoying the yummy aroma! I did top these with frosting after they cooled! Yum! Really!
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cup flour
1 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2-3 ripe bananas
Mix all together and pour into a bar pan. Bake at 350 for 30 - 35 minutes.
Icing:
1 pack cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup soft butter
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cup 10x sugar
Spread on top of cooled bars! Enjoy!
Mike and I have eaten at 'our new favorite restaurant' only a few times so far ... Chipotle! They have the best guacamole in town. I always turned down this food all my life because it always looked disgusting to me. When I actually tried it, it was good! I made some of my own and Mike thought the lime juice was a little strong, so I will try again soon! We ate this with tortilla chips! It's great with burritos or any Mexican food!
1 large avocado
2 tsp. fresh lime juice
2 Tb. cilantro
1/4 cup chopped red onion (I didn't add this.)
2 garlic cloves
1 Serrano chili (Didn't add this either.)
1 tsp. salt
I guess this was the week for recipes! Matthew's class celebrated his birthday on Friday, but his real birthday date isn't till July. He choose for me to make two large cookies pizza's! They loved them to say the least! I topped it with some icing and two four wheelers!
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We had a chilly week and tempts hardly got out of the 50's. Today, it quite different! We have 81 degrees and tomorrow is fore casted to 86! Talk about extremes for here! I love it though. My outside work kinda went on hold because of the cooler weather. I just don't enjoy working outside when it's cold. My weeds just had to wait! Now, tomorrow I am hoping to get to some greenhouses and buy some flowers! I am excited about that!!!
My running went on a short hold too. One, because of the cold weather. Two, because I have been dealing with some throat issues. It's not a cold, but sometimes my throat felt sore and dry. I had a deep cough that brought up some nasty mucus! Finally, by Thursday, the afternoon sun felt warm enough to run. I started out running our 3 mile block, but when I was almost back home, I decided to go one more mile! My accomplishment felt like gold!!! My first 4 miles! I ran my first 5K!!! Running a little more at a time is my way of running. I am not a good self motivator and I usually convince myself that my two miles daily is good enough. But, when I get the urge to go farther, I must do it with determination! My mind, body and soul feels refreshed after I get back home!
We are now off to hang out with friends!!! Enjoy the warmer weather again!!! Out of here ...
