During my quiet time I have been going through a study by Beth Moore called "Breaking Free". Today, I was reading in Exodus 20:4-5 (In the midst of the 10 Commandments) Exodus 20:5 says, "...for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God..." Now, I definitely see how this could be a stumbling block for many. As I read this I was reminded of a time I heard an interview with Oprah. She was talking about a time when she was in church and this verse was read. She said she immediately thought, why would I want to worship a God who is jealous of me?
Now, my instant reaction to her saying this was, "Wow, how conceited and full of yourself do you have to be to think that the God of the universe is jealous of you?" But, as with many areas in the Bible, our English translations don't always say accurately what the original text meant. The Hebrew and Greek languages have many many different words to describe different aspects of something. (For example, we have one word for "love" and that can mean "I love ice cream" or "I love my husband". Either way we use the same word...The Greek, however, translates many different forms of love. Eros, for example, is erotic love. Agape is the unconditional, self-sacrificing love...Our language looses a lot in translation.)
But, back to the jealous God and Oprah's question. Why would we want to worship a god who is jealous of us? I certainly wouldn't... But, the LORD God, the God of the universe, the Creator, is not jealous of you. He owns the "cattle on a thousand hillsides" (Psalm 50:10). He created everything, including you and me. What Exodus 20:5 is saying is God is jealous FOR you. He loves you so much, He wants what is best for you to such an extent, that He is jealous FOR you. 2 Corinthians 11:2 talks about a "godly jealousy". Being jealous OF someone or something is a sin. God cannot sin. This "godly jealousy" is pure and holy.
As a parent, I want what is best for my children. I yearn for them to succeed, to thrive. If I see them doing something that I know will harm them, will derail them from success, it angers me, it hurts me...I am not angry at them, per say, I am angry for them. If, as parents, we react that way with our children, how much more does God, Who loves completely, fully and without fail, react that way when He sees us falling into the bondage of sin. He sees we are on a path that will harm us, that will derail us from the blessings He has planned for us. He is so in love with us He is jealous for us, wanting only what is best for our lives.
The rest of Exodus 20:4-5 talks about idols. "Do not make an idol for yourself...do not bow down to them..." Now, this is important. God is not, in any way, jealous of other "gods". (And, by the way, a god is anything we put in our lives above the LORD God. You may not think you worship anything, but God has implanted in everyone an internal desire to worship. If you are not worshiping the One True God, you are worshiping something...your job, the Wii or PS3, money...the list can go on and on) The LORD knows that worshiping these things is not what is best for you and therefore it hurts Him, angers Him, to see you following them. These things cannot save you, they cannot deliver you from despair, they hold no real glory.
Only God can save. He knew you before you were born. He knows every hair on your head. He loved you so much He sent His only Son to the earth to die for you. If you were the only person in the world, He still would have died for you. There is nothing in your past, nothing in your present and nothing in your future He doesn't already know. If there were anything too big for Him, His death would have been pointless...but it wasn't.
Jesus died for you. He died for me.
He chose to do this because He desires to spend eternity with us, He desires to bless us, He desires to give us peace. He has our best interest at heart. Above all else He desires for us to know Him, to love Him, to believe in Him, to trust and worship Him and Him alone. There are such bountiful blessings in store for those who do.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
February 10
February 10, 2010... 3 years. It really doesn't seem like it's been that long. Time heals all wounds? I'm not so sure I believe that. Time maybe makes the wounds less pronounced, less in-your-face, but they don't go away, not completely.
It would be his 71st birthday at the end of this month. Instead, he is celebrating his 3 year birthday today. The eternal-side of of me wants to celebrate with him. The human-side, not so much.
I still dream about him almost every night. I guess it's my brain's way of dealing with him not being here. In my dreams he is alive and kicking, helping me some way or spending time with me like he used to do. I keep wondering when those dreams will stop. Maybe never.
There are still occasions where I almost pick up the phone to call him about one thing or another. It only lasts a second before reality kicks in and I think, "Hello, dummy...remember?" It's so weird the random things that trigger nostalgia.
He was a great daddy. The best. His love language was definitely gift-giving. He loved giving gifts. Valentine's Day was a favorite of his. He always had some fabulous piece of jewelry for my mom, my sister and me. If you'd ask him, he would say he hated that Karyn and I had our ears pierced, but he gave us some amazing earrings over the years. If he was going to buy something, it was going to be the best there was. He didn't skimp.
Anyone who had the honor and privilege of knowing him knows he took joy in giving to others. It was never something he would admit, it was just him.
Growing up, my favorite days were our days together. He took off one day a week from the pharmacy to just spend with me. During the school year, he would pick me up from school and we would go do whatever...go to the farm store, go to Sam's, just drive around..it didn't matter. Summertime meant we had the whole day. We would go to Branson for the day and ride every ride at Silver Dollar City 10 times each. He never complained as I drug him from ride to ride to ride.
He was the dad who bought his daughter and her friends tickets to go see Marky Mark, then suffered through the concert quietly, knowing how much joy it brought them. He was the dad who, when his daughter wanted to go see Warrent, Trixter and Firehouse in concert, took her without question, and then stuffed bubblegum in his ears to keep his eardrums from bursting. He was the dad who would get tickets 3rd row back at a major rock concert, where the speakers are so close they control your heartbeat, just to spend time with his daughter. He was the dad who, though he never tried, became one of my best friends. He was the dad who, even after all three of his children were grown, was still lovingly called daddy...because that's what he was.
Happy homecoming day, daddy!
It would be his 71st birthday at the end of this month. Instead, he is celebrating his 3 year birthday today. The eternal-side of of me wants to celebrate with him. The human-side, not so much.
I still dream about him almost every night. I guess it's my brain's way of dealing with him not being here. In my dreams he is alive and kicking, helping me some way or spending time with me like he used to do. I keep wondering when those dreams will stop. Maybe never.
There are still occasions where I almost pick up the phone to call him about one thing or another. It only lasts a second before reality kicks in and I think, "Hello, dummy...remember?" It's so weird the random things that trigger nostalgia.
He was a great daddy. The best. His love language was definitely gift-giving. He loved giving gifts. Valentine's Day was a favorite of his. He always had some fabulous piece of jewelry for my mom, my sister and me. If you'd ask him, he would say he hated that Karyn and I had our ears pierced, but he gave us some amazing earrings over the years. If he was going to buy something, it was going to be the best there was. He didn't skimp.
Anyone who had the honor and privilege of knowing him knows he took joy in giving to others. It was never something he would admit, it was just him.
Growing up, my favorite days were our days together. He took off one day a week from the pharmacy to just spend with me. During the school year, he would pick me up from school and we would go do whatever...go to the farm store, go to Sam's, just drive around..it didn't matter. Summertime meant we had the whole day. We would go to Branson for the day and ride every ride at Silver Dollar City 10 times each. He never complained as I drug him from ride to ride to ride.
He was the dad who bought his daughter and her friends tickets to go see Marky Mark, then suffered through the concert quietly, knowing how much joy it brought them. He was the dad who, when his daughter wanted to go see Warrent, Trixter and Firehouse in concert, took her without question, and then stuffed bubblegum in his ears to keep his eardrums from bursting. He was the dad who would get tickets 3rd row back at a major rock concert, where the speakers are so close they control your heartbeat, just to spend time with his daughter. He was the dad who, though he never tried, became one of my best friends. He was the dad who, even after all three of his children were grown, was still lovingly called daddy...because that's what he was.
Happy homecoming day, daddy!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Snow Day
We went up to Mt. Charleston sledding today with some families from Northstar. We had a blast! The snow was litterally above my knees in some areas! Too bad I was the one with the camera, you could have seen me attempting to walk through it and falling! It was hillarious!
I did get several really good pictures, though. If you'd like to see them, I loaded them from snapfish just below this post.
I did get several really good pictures, though. If you'd like to see them, I loaded them from snapfish just below this post.
sledding 01\23\10 (219 photos), by Elaine Bridges
I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos
Monday, January 11, 2010
Welcome to 2010
Happy New Year!
Wow! Can you believe that we are in 2010? 2009 just flew by. So much has happened over the past year. God has blessed our family in so many ways. Over Christmas break we had our 2nd anniversary of living in Vegas.
Northstar is growing; this year has brought several new families to our congregation. We have been trying different programs with the Children’s Church, trying to find just the right fit for our kids. We still haven’t found a set-up that works really well for our group. The biggest struggle is we have kindergarten through 5th grade all together. Jake has just started a new series with them on the miracles of Jesus.
Jake has been busy this past year. He started a new job in November. During the week he now works at Vegas.com. He doesn’t have to travel to
He is still doing seminary in the evenings and on weekends, so free time is something that has become non-existent. Right now he is doing a Jan-Term, which means he is taking one class that starts and finishes in the month of January. In some ways it's nice, because he can get it over with, but it also means a lot of work. He's in class Mondays and Thursdays from 6-9:30 then Saturday mornings from 9-2:00.
He is excited about the new opportunities he has to be a life-witness to his new coworkers. There are two people in particular who have already approached him with questions about his beliefs. We know God has placed him in this job for a reason and we pray he will be open to God using him in a very real and life-changing way to the people in his office.
JD and Cora are doing quite well. JD made straight-A honor roll and Cora made A-B honor roll 1st trimester. We are so proud of them both. They amaze me each day with their intelligence and spiritual growth. God has such great plans for their lives.
It is our family's heart-felt prayer that our lives be used as a living-offering, a true life of worship in 2010.
We would love to see mission teams come out and partner with us this year! We have some great opportunities for volunteers this year. If you are interested, please let us know so we can contact you with more information.
Please remember to keep us in your prayers this coming year. God has been revealing to us new seasons in our family’s life and ministry. Please join us in prayer as we seek to hear His will and obey.
I know I say this with every letter and post, but I truly mean it when I say, your prayers and partnership with our family are so important to us. We do not take for granted our prayer and ministry partners.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
God's little blessings...
Something struck me as I drove the kids to school this morning...
Every morning we rush and rush, trying to get everything done and ready for school, trying to get to school on time. I try to take time to pray with the kids as we are driving to school, but some mornings we don't even do that.
JD is an early bird (and by early I mean, if the sun is up, he is up), the rest of us are not, to say the least. He eats breakfast and is dressed before the rest of the family is even out of bed. He also wants to get to school early so he can spend time with his friends. Because of this he starts to give a running tab of the time ticking away starting about 8:20 each and every morning. By the time we leave, usually sometime around 8:40, I am fed up. Each morning I remind him that I am very capable of telling time, probably more so than him. I also remind him that he has never, even once, been late to school.
So, needless to say, there are many mornings where I'm in a very foul mood by the time we leave the driveway to head to school. Today was one such morning. I was in no mood to even be up (Heidi kept me up most of the night because one of our fire alarms is beeping for a new battery...she is scared to death of this...), much less be told, once again, that it was time to leave.
We were driving to school, I was trying to make casual conversation with the kids, when we turned onto the street of their school. The street has a perfect view of Mount Charleston and its surrounding mountains.
At the base of the mountain was a rainbow! It wasn't very long, but it was one of the widest rainbows I have ever seen. You could see every color! It was beautiful. I gasped at the site and quickly pointed it out to JD and Cora. "LOOK! A RAINBOW!"
The entire mood of the car changed, as we discussed what colors we saw, the sheer beauty of what we were seeing. Cora said, "some rainbows that people draw have other colors". I said, "Yes, but the rainbows God creates always have the same colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet,"
to which JD replied, "That's because it's His promise to us!"
We pulled into the school, and they jumped out to meet their friends and start their day, but I was paused in awe of the wonder of my Savior, how He could take something so simple to completely change my whole manner.
Many verses from the Bible and songs began pouring into my head, describing the awesomeness of God and His creation.
What stuck with me was a few lines from Revelation Song by Phillips, Craig and Dean.
Let me share those lines with you:
Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and
Glory and power be
To You the Only Wise King,
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And I will adore You…!
That song just spoke my exact thoughts the moment. So often we take for granted rainbows, we complain about thunder and lightening, but these all show God's glory! As we see these, remember, ALL creation will sing praise to the King of Kings...it doesn't say "people", the Bible actually says that all of creation will cry out, even the rocks will cry out. That rainbow was a praise to God! That thunder and lightening is a praise to God! Those birds singing are praising God! With ALL CREATION I sing, praise to the KING of KINGS!
At some point, whether during this life or after, every knee shall bow to Him. May it be the desire of my heart, the song of my life, that my knee is bowed to Him in constant praise and awe of His glory.
Every morning we rush and rush, trying to get everything done and ready for school, trying to get to school on time. I try to take time to pray with the kids as we are driving to school, but some mornings we don't even do that.
JD is an early bird (and by early I mean, if the sun is up, he is up), the rest of us are not, to say the least. He eats breakfast and is dressed before the rest of the family is even out of bed. He also wants to get to school early so he can spend time with his friends. Because of this he starts to give a running tab of the time ticking away starting about 8:20 each and every morning. By the time we leave, usually sometime around 8:40, I am fed up. Each morning I remind him that I am very capable of telling time, probably more so than him. I also remind him that he has never, even once, been late to school.
So, needless to say, there are many mornings where I'm in a very foul mood by the time we leave the driveway to head to school. Today was one such morning. I was in no mood to even be up (Heidi kept me up most of the night because one of our fire alarms is beeping for a new battery...she is scared to death of this...), much less be told, once again, that it was time to leave.
We were driving to school, I was trying to make casual conversation with the kids, when we turned onto the street of their school. The street has a perfect view of Mount Charleston and its surrounding mountains.
At the base of the mountain was a rainbow! It wasn't very long, but it was one of the widest rainbows I have ever seen. You could see every color! It was beautiful. I gasped at the site and quickly pointed it out to JD and Cora. "LOOK! A RAINBOW!"
The entire mood of the car changed, as we discussed what colors we saw, the sheer beauty of what we were seeing. Cora said, "some rainbows that people draw have other colors". I said, "Yes, but the rainbows God creates always have the same colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet,"
to which JD replied, "That's because it's His promise to us!"
We pulled into the school, and they jumped out to meet their friends and start their day, but I was paused in awe of the wonder of my Savior, how He could take something so simple to completely change my whole manner.
Many verses from the Bible and songs began pouring into my head, describing the awesomeness of God and His creation.
What stuck with me was a few lines from Revelation Song by Phillips, Craig and Dean.
Let me share those lines with you:
Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and
Glory and power be
To You the Only Wise King,
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And I will adore You…!
That song just spoke my exact thoughts the moment. So often we take for granted rainbows, we complain about thunder and lightening, but these all show God's glory! As we see these, remember, ALL creation will sing praise to the King of Kings...it doesn't say "people", the Bible actually says that all of creation will cry out, even the rocks will cry out. That rainbow was a praise to God! That thunder and lightening is a praise to God! Those birds singing are praising God! With ALL CREATION I sing, praise to the KING of KINGS!
At some point, whether during this life or after, every knee shall bow to Him. May it be the desire of my heart, the song of my life, that my knee is bowed to Him in constant praise and awe of His glory.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Home from Gallbladder Surgery
Thank you so much for all of you prayers over the past few weeks. I went through numerous tests, bloodwork, ultrasounds, CT Scans, MRCP, x-rays, etc...all to no avail. My doctor referred me last week to a gastroenterologist, who I was scheduled to see Oct. 9.
Monday I became very faint. I couldn't stand without passing out and even felt dizzy when lying down with my eyes closed. By Monday night I was feeling so bad Jake drove me to our medical clinic's quick care. They couldn't do anything for me and sent me to the ER.
The ER floor doctor ordered more blood tests and another ultrasound of my gallbladder. They came back almost immediately saying they found "sludge" in my gallbladder and it would need to be removed. They admitted me right away to help control pain and await a surgery slot to become available.
Tuesday morning when the surgeon came in to talk with us he asked why we hadn't been referred to a surgeon weeks ago...that he looked at my ultrasound, but didn't have to, he said my symptoms were classic gallbladder problems. He said he guessed the doctor just wanted to see me hurt and run more tests...lol...yep, that's what we were thinking too, since we asked several times to be admitted into the hospital and were told "that's just not how it's done anymore".
The surgeon was extremely friendly and helpful. We were blessed to be assigned to him. He said, "Call me PK, everyone knows me as PK".
They got me into surgery a little before noon today. He said everything went really well. I have 4 small incisions. He told Jake and my mom the gallbladder was "BAD". They are sending it off for testing.
As many of you reading this know, my dad died from gallbladder cancer in Feb. of 2007. Even though it isn't hereditary, they are testing it for disease and cancer.
I got to leave the hospital around 5 this evening. I feel like I've been hit in the gut with a mac-truck, but the pain I was feeling before doesn't seem to be there at all. Hopefully over the next few days these surgery pains will decrease and the incisions will heal quickly.
I guess I can call that gastro clinic tomorrow and let them know I won't be in need of their services! Jake said he will also be calling our doctor tomorrow to let him know I had surgery on the very thing they said was "fine" and "within normal limits"...looks like we may be looking for a new doctor. Too bad. This one was so close to our house, and seemed really nice. But, we kept telling them that all the research we've done and others have told us say that diagnosing a gallbladder is hit-and-miss, you have to see it at just the right time and just the right angle to see the stones. Sometimes they aren't seen, even if they are there.
We mentioned this to the ER doctor who found the sludge and he concurred.
Anyway, I'm home now and resting...not comfortably...
I really appreciate all the prayers, posts on FB, calls and texts. Thank you, Jeremy, for coming by the hospital to visit and pray with us. It really meant a lot to me.
I got to eat jello tonight. It was very tasty, as were the ice-chips at the hospital after surgery! 1st food or drink of any kind since Monday night (I realized after being told I couldn't eat or drink, just in case they were able to squeeze me in to surgery yesterday, that I hadn't drank a drop of anything Monday, and only ate part of a biscuit with some gravy on it Monday evening...obviously by the time I got some ice-chips this afternoon I was dying of thirst!)
It's really a blessing to think about the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel! HE is the Great Physician! All praises to my God!
Monday I became very faint. I couldn't stand without passing out and even felt dizzy when lying down with my eyes closed. By Monday night I was feeling so bad Jake drove me to our medical clinic's quick care. They couldn't do anything for me and sent me to the ER.
The ER floor doctor ordered more blood tests and another ultrasound of my gallbladder. They came back almost immediately saying they found "sludge" in my gallbladder and it would need to be removed. They admitted me right away to help control pain and await a surgery slot to become available.
Tuesday morning when the surgeon came in to talk with us he asked why we hadn't been referred to a surgeon weeks ago...that he looked at my ultrasound, but didn't have to, he said my symptoms were classic gallbladder problems. He said he guessed the doctor just wanted to see me hurt and run more tests...lol...yep, that's what we were thinking too, since we asked several times to be admitted into the hospital and were told "that's just not how it's done anymore".
The surgeon was extremely friendly and helpful. We were blessed to be assigned to him. He said, "Call me PK, everyone knows me as PK".
They got me into surgery a little before noon today. He said everything went really well. I have 4 small incisions. He told Jake and my mom the gallbladder was "BAD". They are sending it off for testing.
As many of you reading this know, my dad died from gallbladder cancer in Feb. of 2007. Even though it isn't hereditary, they are testing it for disease and cancer.
I got to leave the hospital around 5 this evening. I feel like I've been hit in the gut with a mac-truck, but the pain I was feeling before doesn't seem to be there at all. Hopefully over the next few days these surgery pains will decrease and the incisions will heal quickly.
I guess I can call that gastro clinic tomorrow and let them know I won't be in need of their services! Jake said he will also be calling our doctor tomorrow to let him know I had surgery on the very thing they said was "fine" and "within normal limits"...looks like we may be looking for a new doctor. Too bad. This one was so close to our house, and seemed really nice. But, we kept telling them that all the research we've done and others have told us say that diagnosing a gallbladder is hit-and-miss, you have to see it at just the right time and just the right angle to see the stones. Sometimes they aren't seen, even if they are there.
We mentioned this to the ER doctor who found the sludge and he concurred.
Anyway, I'm home now and resting...not comfortably...
I really appreciate all the prayers, posts on FB, calls and texts. Thank you, Jeremy, for coming by the hospital to visit and pray with us. It really meant a lot to me.
I got to eat jello tonight. It was very tasty, as were the ice-chips at the hospital after surgery! 1st food or drink of any kind since Monday night (I realized after being told I couldn't eat or drink, just in case they were able to squeeze me in to surgery yesterday, that I hadn't drank a drop of anything Monday, and only ate part of a biscuit with some gravy on it Monday evening...obviously by the time I got some ice-chips this afternoon I was dying of thirst!)
It's really a blessing to think about the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel! HE is the Great Physician! All praises to my God!
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