Housework :)

A bit of an odd topic for a Sunday, but one question I get a lot is "how do you split the housework?" and it usually comes during noon meal after church on Sundays so it's on my mind...

I find it kind of humorous, but I guess it would be a question on quite a few (usually women's) minds when they learn that two single women share an apartment. It's kind of similar to how a wife and her daughters would share the housework I suppose, but instead of rotating, we typically keep our same jobs.

I usually do the dishes, the laundry (including putting it away for the both of us), take the trash out and the sewing, but my roommate is beginning to sew some of her dresses now so that is helping me out a bit.

She usually does the cleaning (she's a bit of an OCD clean freak -- I say this with the most loving smile on my face :)! and she usually does the cooking.

I say if there is one chore I could get rid of it would be cooking! The one thing I will cook are crock-pot meals or things that I throw in a pot and let simmer all day like chili or pulled pork :) I am not very good with things that have exact times to them... just seems like I don't do a good job judging whether something is done or needs a little bit more time.

We each take care of our own bedrooms so when I say she cleans, it is typically the kitchen, living room and bathroom that she takes care of. Right now, the apartment needs a desparate cleaning, but a bit part of the mess in our living room is we have 24 tomato plants growing!! Yes, that's right, 24 :) In an apartment! Lol. Guess I have a bit more of a "green thumb" than I thought I did! But I also have some fabric out that I have been working on cutting out and so that spreads out a bit :( I am almost done with that and the the cutting board can be put away.

If you have daughters, or other women sharing a house, how do you split the housework? Does everyone rotate jobs or do you keep the same jobs?

Blessings in Christ,

The Second Commandment

The Second Commandment :)

Old Testament:
Exodus 20:4 - Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: (KJV)

New Testament:
1 Corinthians 10:14 - Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. (KJV)

There are numerous mentions in scripture of the second commandment in the New Testament. I think the second commandment is where I got the word "idols" that I had mentioned during my post on the first commandment. But I don't think that idols would be an inappropriate word instead of gods either for the first commandment. Anyway... I digress :)

I believe that the second commandment is expounding on the first commandment. I believe that God is reiterating his point on not having anything before Him. What would constitute a graven image? As most of us know, the Amish (the more conservative groups) believe this would include pictures. There are some who would simply say that posed pictures would be graven images while non-posed pictures would be okay, and there are others who would say any picture at all would be a graven image. Other groups of Christians would say this would mean anything that we would worship or other groups of people would worship -- an elephant or buddha for the Buddhists. And still yet, some would say this means pictures or images of what we would believe Christ to be like. This last part would link in with the pictures of "heaven above"...but I would also say that it would include pictures of what we imagine heaven might be like. The "earth beneath" part would imply that we should not paint pictures of what hell might look like.

My stance on the "graven images" portion of this verse is that photographs would be allowed AS LONG AS we do not worship these images. The moment we begin to worship images/photographs instead of Christ Jesus, they should be removed from our lives until we can re-focus back on the Lord. As for pictures of heaven and hell, I prefer those remain part of my imagination (as for the looks because we know from scripture what each place will be like) and not until I die will I know for sure what either place would be like. I was raised in a church that did have a crucifix hanging at the front, do I believe it is right? According to this scripture verse, no, but growing up I thought it to be "normal". Anyway, I think that all the crucifixes and the pictures of Jesus are made up because the Bible does not describe Jesus physically. It simply describes His personality and other characteristics about Him, but none physically. I think we will all be surprised as to how Jesus looks when we reach heaven... and until then, we should leave it to our imaginations :)

Blessings in Christ,

Ten Best Decisions a Woman Can Make

I was glancing through a book at work one day and this title stood out to me. Really? The 10 Best Decisions a Woman Can Make? I didn't read much except for the table of contents so I am not sure if it is a Chistian based book or not, but I think we can make it a Christian based book just based off what this author says are the 10 best decisions.

1. Decide to decide
2. Decide to be authentic
3. Decide to get over it
4. Decide to turn up the truth
5. Decide to maximize me
6. Decide to be successful in each situation
7. Decide to live by love
8. Decide to take good care of me
9. Decide to be daring
10. Decide to leave a legacy

These may not seem too much like Christian statements, but how can we re-phrase them so that they will apply to Christian living?

1. Decide to follow Jesus
2. Decide to be truthful in everything I do
3. Decide to forgive
4. Decide to share the Truth -- God's Truth
5. Decide to maximize my understanding of the Word
6. Decide to obey God's Word and be "successful" in His eyes
7. Decide to live by love, by God's love, and to love others as I am loved by God
8. Decide to take care of me, first - spiritually and then physically
9. Decide to share the Word of God with others
10. Decide to raise my children in a Christian home

Is there another way that you can think of to change these decisions into Christian decisions? I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Blessings in Christ,

The First Commandment

I have been debating on doing a series on the 10 Commandments. I like this idea and have had it on my mind for a few months now, but I fear that I will not be able to draw out enough on them to make the posts more than just a statement. So for now, I will start on this series, but I am not sure for how long I will continue it and if I will cover all 10 Commandments or pick a few.

I was told a little while back, a little over a year, that as Christians, we do not follow the 10 Commandments because they are only listed in the Old Testament and as Christians, we do not abide by the Law of the OT since we believe that Jesus was sent to save us from our sins. I was shocked by this, but I came to realize that even though this gentleman who was telling me this was a Conservative Mennonite (yes that is right...) that he was the only one who I had heard this from! I have since attended several other Conservative Mennonite churches and the majority of them have the 10 Commandments displayed in their church house somewhere!! Anyway, I hope my side rant can shed a little bit of light onto why I feel led to discussing each one.

In doing a little bit of research before I started writing this post, I found an interesting article saying that Christians today only obey 9 of the 10 commandments...the one we do not keep is the 4th commandment. Now enough of me getting ahead of myself :)

The First Commandment:
Exodus 2:3 - Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (KJV)

In the New Testament, this command is worded as:
Matthew 4:10 - Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (KJV)

This seems like a straight forward command, right?? Growing up, I used to take "gods" as the gods from mythology, so the god of rain, the god of sun, etc, and that was it.

Now as I look at it, one thing I noticed right off the bat is "gods" is not capitalized... So what constitutes a "god" in this sense? I think god can be anything really. It includes the gods from mythology and anything else! To me, this commandment means that we should not worship anything or anyone before we worship GOD.

What if we were to change "gods" to "idols" (as some versions have), would this change the meaning of the verse for you? In a way, I think "idols" may make it easier to realize all that was being included in the verse here. Idols can vary from so many different things/people, athletes, to musicians, to statues, etc. The list is endless. I believe each and every one of these things or people would be included in what is worded as "gods".

Do you have anything to add? I am always open to new ideas. If you have anything you would like added to one of the remaining commandments, please share and I will add it in :)

Blessings in Christ,

Fearing God and Death

This one sort of ties into a previous post of mine on Assured Salvation. Sunday at church, the Bishop was giving main sermon. His main topic was fearing God and how it does us some good to fear God because if we fear God, then it will help us want to do what is right and obey God's commands. He gave several examples in the Bible of those who obeyed God out of fear, one being Abraham when he took his son to sacrifice him for God because that is what he was instructed to do.

This lead into a converstaion the Bishop had with an Old Order Amish man a little while back about how the Amish man feared death because he did not know where he was going to go. In essence, the Bishop said, this man's fear of God was so great that he feared to meet God upon his death. The Bishop linked this to the Amish's belief that one does not know where he will end up upon death until he is told by God. **This is for the Amish around where I live, I realize not all Amish believe this, but this is how this Amish group believes.** He continued saying if anyone was so fearful of God because of his or her past sins to die that we could repent and know exactly where we will go. I understand the church that I have been attending does believe in assured salvation, but as I said before, it is something that I do not believe in. But, nor do I believe that we should be afraid of God so much that we do not want to die. I am perfectly fine not knowing for sure where I will end up when I die, of course I would love to be welcomed into God's Kingdom, and that is what I strive for in my daily life, but I will not say where I will end up upon my death -- I do not believe it is my place to say so. I will admit, there was a time when not knowing scared me, but as I have grown, I appreciate not knowing. I know what I need to do in order to be welcomed into Heaven, but I also know that sin and temptation are constantly around the corner and if I stumble or fall into the trap of sin, I may not have enough time to climb back out before I die.

Blessings in Christ,

Cleaning Up

Hopefully this will be the last time for a while that I find myself sifting through mud soaked cardboard boxes, but I am doubting that will be the case. I was able to help clean up yesterday and today... I am truly surprised at how fast the store has been able to open back up, they have two departments and the cafe that were not open as of today, and one will be opening early tomorrow morning. Anyway, today I was working with another volunteer, an older Amish man, and he was sure the jokester :) Made the time go by faster!

Q: In Germany, how do they call a wheelbarrow?
A: They don't, they push it!

Oh my, he had me laughing most of the day, it was sure great to meet someone with his humor and personality when cleaning up from such devastation! Today was pretty much re-stock the shelves day though as most of the major cleaning has been done.

Our area is calling for rain through Monday morning now so I am praying that it will not be enough to cause another flash flood. Although at least right now we do not have any melting snow to add to the rivers.

This event was the first time that I have seen first-hand how a community pulls together to help get someone or a business through a time of devestation. It was truly amazing and I am glad that I was able to help even if only for a little bit. As backwards as it may seem, I am beginning to think that sometimes God allows tragedy to happen in order to bring the community together to support one another.

Blessings in Christ,

Colors -- Are they immodest?

Is there such a thing as a "wrong" color to wear? One that we should consider immodest or not appropriate to wear? In my humble opinion, I do not think so. God created every color we have, He created the rainbow, the robin's eggs, the sunset, the sunrise, the flowers, all of which use various colors. I am a colorful person and love to wear colors. I feel drab when I wear dark colors, but I do understand their purpose. There are some circumstances which do not call for bright colors, but on an everyday basis, I love to wear the colors which He created for us!

God did not just create blues, purples, greens, black and white, He also created reds, oranges, pinks, yellows and the various shades of each of these. If we allow only certain colors to be permissible for wearing, what are we saying? My closet has always looked like a rainbow, some colors more numerous than others :), but I have felt that if God created the colors, then why should I not wear them? I do not feel that a color will make a person's clothing immodest, I believe it is more the size/fit of the clothing which makes it modest or immodest.

Just a small random post, but this has been on my mind lately :)

Blessings in Christ,