A Glimpse Into My Life ...

I received a book in the mail last week, it's called "To Be Or Not To Be A Church Member - That Is The Question".  It is a really quick read (only 4 chapters) and it is by Wayne Mack and as it says on the back of the book "This is a book all Christians should read, whether members or non-members of a local church - and one that every pastor should hand out to his congregation".  I want to share just a little bit from the Foreword, which is by Pastor Daniel Kirk, Calvary Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX.

     I believe one of the greatest needs in the western church of the twenty-first century is a return to a decisive commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ made powerfully tangible by commitment to the local church.  Building His church is the only thing Christ is doing in the world; so committing to a local body that is passionate about living for Christ must be the highest privilege in the world.  Where else can a believer know more joy in employing his spiritual gifts than in the local church?  What other institution can better encourage the believer's pursuit of holiness with real accountability (Matthew 18) than the local church?  To what other organization did God specifically give such gifted men as pastor/teachers (Ephesians 4) than the church?  To what spiritual leaders are disciples of the risen Christ commanded to obey other than those of the local church?  Can a follower of Jesus Christ profess allegiance to Him and deny the church for which He died?

The thing I liked most about this little book is that the author wasn't just 'shaking his finger at you' and saying "You have to do this, this and this" without backing it all up with Scripture - all the points that he made have a Scripture reference right beside them.

I'll just share one more point from this book (this quote is from the author, Wayne Mack):

     The church, as defined by the Word of God, is a group of Christians who dedicate themselves to meeting together for the regular preaching of the Word of God; who submit themselves to biblical eldership as described in 1 Timothy 3, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, and Hebrews 13:17; who regularly celebrate the ordinances of the church (baptism and the Lord's supper); and who practice and submit themselves to church discipline as laid out in Scripture (Matthew 18:15-17).

I really encourage you to get this book and read it (ISBN 1-879737-57-4) - it really opened my eyes to a lot of things that I had never thought about before, there were verses presented in this book that I'm sure were not in my Bible the last time I read it, lol.  Take for instance this verse 1 Timothy 3:15 .... I won't write it out for you here, I'll let you go and look that one up. 

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Last week was my birthday and my wonderful husband gave me a book (Country Wisdom Almanac) as well as a gift card for Chapters.

Yesterday afternoon we went in to Chapters and I chose two books.  The first one is My Knitting Journal, it is a wonderful book full of useful tips and information, it also has places that you can record information like:  the measurements of your friends and family so if you knit for them you have all the info you need, different tips that you glean from various sources (other knitters, the Internet, etc.), a place to keep track of all of your projects (who it's for, when you started/finished, pattern source, type of yarn, needle size, project measurements, gauge/tension, stitches per inch/centimeter, rows per inch/centimeter, your notes, a place to attach the ball band & yarn sample as well as a place to put a photograph of the project.  It also has pages so that you can record where your favorite shops and suppliers are as well as your favorite websites.  Last but certainly not least, there is a spot to add your yarn stash information (the book recommends adding these entries in pencil so that you can erase them as you use your stash up).  Basically this is like carrying part of www.ravelry.com around with me where ever I go, lol.

The other book that I got is Knit Aid by Vickie Howell, I really wanted a small book that I could take with me in my knitting bag so that if I am drawing a complete blank on how to do a certain technique (ssk always gets me) then I will have this book to help me out.  It is a great little book with lots of drawings to illustrate how something is done (there are also tips throughout the book, like how to loosen up the stitches when you are casting on).  Two neat features of this book are the Knitter's Graph Paper at the back of the book (it says "Scan it.  Copy it.  Use it", lol) and it also has an On-the-go Gauge Ruler at the back as well.  You can cut these things out of the book, but I think I'll leave them right where they are ... this way I'll be able to find them. 

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We have started a new book for our Family Read Aloud, it's called "Girls to the Rescue" and it is modern day fairytales where the girls are the heroes - the first story in the book that we read last night was called "The Fairy Godmother's Assistant", it was so funny, the kids did not want me to stop reading the book so I read a few more stories during Tea Time to them.

Both of the kids highly recommend this book because it has got such funny stories in it.  For instance, in one of the stories last night, the Princess wanted to marry a Prince but before she could she had to go and 'slay' (not the word they used but I can't think of the correct word right now) a dragon and an ogre, then if that wasn't enough she had to answer three questions.  Just as the Chancellor was about to ask the first question, the Princess calls out "Suuuueeeeeeeeeee, here pig, pig, pig, pig", the Chancellor stares at her and then asks "What's wrong with you?" to which the Princess replies "Nothing.  Second question, please". lol.  Joshua found this story so funny that just as he was about to take a drink of his tea (when I was reading this part) he started laughing so hard that he spilled his tea on the table, lol.

Okay, I'm off to make some lemonade for the kids - Charlotte had some the other day at Mug Up and she has been craving it ever since (thanks, Pam.), lol. 

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