rebel sword ! ! !

Wow, it's been a whole month since I posted last! BTW, we now have 6 tortoise eggs in the incubator. They should hatch next month.

Ok, the reason I'm posting is because I found a excerpt from the book Spurgeon Gold on The Way of the Master Radio website and I was convicted. Here it is:

Let us save men by all the means under Heaven; let us prevent men going down to hell. We are not half as earnest as we ought to be. Do you not remember the young man, who, when he was dying, said to his brother, "My brother, how could you have been so indifferent to my soul as you have been?" He answered, "I have not been indifferent to your soul, for I have frequently spoken to you about it." "Oh, yes!" he said, "you spoke; but somehow, I think, if you had remembered that I was going down to Hell, you would have been more earnest with me; you would have wept over me, and, as my brother, you would not have allowed me to be lost." Let no one say this of you.

- Charles Spurgeon

Step out in faith today, and seek and save the lost while you still have time. We don't know the day, or the hour when Jesus is coming back. We want to be about His work until then. If you have family or friends that aren't saved, please reach out to them today. They may not have tomorrow.

I came across this list today, and remember my mom compiling it several months ago. I may have mentioned some of these resources at one time or another, but I thought I'd like to post our entire favorite list up to this point.

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 Websites 

www.wayofthemaster.com

Learn how to share your faith through on-the-street witnessing clips, free audios and more…

www.livingwaters.com

Tracts and other evangelistic tools

www.pocketpower.org

Receive 30 free Gospels of John a month to hand out – choose your cover!

Books

One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven – Mark Cahill 

Out of the Comfort Zone – Ray Comfort (autobiography)

The Evidence Bible – Compiled by Ray Comfort

Commended by Norman Geisler, Josh McDowell, Dr. D. James Kennedy and Franklin Graham. Finalist in the 2002 Gold Medallion Book Awards.

This summer my sister and I are planning to work as counselors at a Christian children’s camp. Today was the second day of staff training. Before hand, I prayed that I would have an opportunity to witness to one of the staff. The workers are supposed to be Christians, so I though that maybe I’d run into a false convert. But the Lord surprised me!

During the session before lunch, two young businesswomen came and spoke to our group about how to help autistic campers. Afterwards, they stayed and ate lunch with us. One of the ladies sat down at my table, and we made light conversation. I thought about witnessing to her, but I didn’t want to push anything. “Besides,” I told myself, “You don’t witness to a professional!” God made me stop. “…Or, do you?”

I asked her if she had a home church. She replied no, that she’d slipped away from “that kind of stuff”. But she grew up Catholic. “I think it was a good influence on me. I probably want to get back into religion once I have kids so they can grow up around it,” she said. When I followed up with “What do you think happens after you die?” She paused with bright eyes, clearly thinking hard. “I think it’s like in the movie ‘Ghost’! The guy’s spirit hangs around and fixes problems before disappearing…I hope it’s like that.” I grinned. “It would be NICE it were like that! But you can know for sure what happens. The Bible says in Acts ‘it is appointed for a man once to die, and after that, the judgment’…” We went on to have a wonderful, interactive conversation. She really cared about the topic, and was very open to the Truth. After sharing the Gospel and talking about what is means to repent etc., she looked down, nodding her head. “I think that’s really important…that’s a lot to take in…”

Over the past two months, God has been showing me people lost in sin in unexpected places (Christian speech tournaments, Christian camps…). It’s caught me off guard, and reminded to me to always be ready to share the Gospel – to keep on my spiritual toes and have my feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel… you never know where another fish will turn up!

Recently I discovered a CD that has quickly become my favorite. Laura Story’s debut album, “Great God who Saves”. It’s packed with solid lyrics, amazing vocals, and great accompaniment. Grace seems to be the theme of the album to me, and each time I listen, I come away feeling showered with His grace. Check out Laura Story on iTunes or on her website at http://www.laurastorymusic.com/.

Ok, here are the pictures! Mindy still hasn't layed a third egg, so we're wondering if that might be it. She's still holding her tail in a funny way, and wagging it like a dog when she walks, so we're not sure what's up with that. Here's the first egg when we found it this morning.

We moved Mindy and Mork to another bin so they wouldn't disturb the egg. Tortoise eggs must be very still and cannot be turned. You can see the second egg in the hay at the bottom of this picture.

We (carefully) marked the top of the eggs with a pencil, and removed them. Then we put them in a temporary incubator that we rigged up. Since we didn't count on having eggs so soon, we didn't have an incubator yet.

The larger egg is the first one. The metal prong and cord you see is a thermometer so we can keep the eggs at the right temperature.

Here's Mindy pacing in their pen.

Here's our makeshift incubator. The white bowl holds water and the container on the right has the tortoise eggs in it.

Well, that's it. if she has any more, I'll post another picture!

Last week my dad, Kelcee and I got back from the (OK, here’s the whole spill) NCFCA (National Christian Forensics and Communications Association) Regional tournament in Marietta, Georgia. (By the way, “forensics” is Speech and Debate.) It was a blast! Regionals are longer than regular qualifiers, so it lasted 5 days. We got so much helpful insight at this tournament and learned a lot from just watching other speeches when we weren’t speaking, and talking to the other competitors who had been doing it longer than us. During my spare time I enjoyed doing the following activities: Playing Egyptian Rat Slap (a very fun card game) playing or listening to other people play guitar, watching duos, (a duo is and Interpretive speech where two people “act” out a piece of literature) timing Team Policy Debates (the topic this year is Illegal Immigration), watching friends in their debate rounds, meeting and making new friends, talking to other competitors, playing more Egyptian Rap Slap (which seemed to be the unofficial card game of the tournament. J) We learned so much at this tournament, and I can’t wait for next year! If you want to find out more about NCFCA go to www.ncfca.org NCFCA is an organization for Christian Homeschool students, you learn so much from it, and it’s a lot of fun!  

My dad, sister, and I returned home last week from the NCFCA regional speech tournament. We didn't "break" to semi-finals, but we had a great time.  Watching others' speeches and learning from fellow competitors gave us valuable insight and we learned a lot from delivering our speeches as well. Despite the tight schedule and fast pace, we had plenty of time for fun. My dad volunteered as a hall monitor, and he enjoyed the authority that came with his bright pink “NO TALKING” sign. He would shoosh us and competitors we knew when we were being quiet, and when things became a little louder, he would threaten to take the noisemakers “downtown.” J A few of the highlights for me were meeting new friends and having great fellowship, playing Egyptian Rat Slap (card game), learning Scottish dancing at the banquet, getting to spend extra time with my dad, driving on the interstate en route to the tournament, studying the Bible with two sisters in the Lord one morning, watching a duo performance of the book "Horton Hears a Who" (it was hilarious!), and playing soccer w/ my sister in the hotel parking lot (during some free time one afternoon.) I also met a Mormon girl and had the opportunity to witness to her. Here is what I wrote about the encounter...

Before the tournament, I prayed that God would lead me to an unbeliever to witness to. Since the organization is for Christian Homeschool students, to me it seemed unlikely that I’d find an unbeliever. Still, I would keep an eye open for what God might do. During the 2^nd day of the tournament, He did it.

I saw a girl sitting at a table reading a thick, blue leather Bible. I sat down across from her, and we began chatting. Looking forward to some fellowship, I asked her what she was reading in her Bible. She told me she was reading up for a study that she does with her church. As I asked about her church, Taylor said, “Well, actually, I’m Mormon.” I hope my jaw didn’t drop, but I was so excited to realize that I was sitting across from the person that God had sent me! In that moment I completely forgot the little bit I’d learned about the Mormon religion, so I began asking her what she believed. Our (actually very pleasant) conversation was interrupted when it came time for us to go give our speeches, but we promised to reconvene. The next day in the student center, we had some free time and sat down together to continue talking. I walked her through the Ten Commandments, explaining our guilt before God, and then God’s amazing love displayed in Christ on the cross. This part went along like most witnessing encounters, but afterwards, it took a twist. When I finished talking about believers going to heaven and seeing Christ face to face when they die, she asked an interesting question. “So…what is the main purpose of life then?” She meant, what is the point of living for Jesus and dying to be with him forever, if there’s no world waiting for you to rule over in eternity? (Mormons believe the goal of existence is to model your life after Jesus so you can become a god of another world in the afterlife). I was amazed at the directness of her question, and said, “The reason God made us is to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.” I had a wonderful opportunity to explain what man was created for, and how we are to enjoy God. In conjunction, I also explained how living to become a god after death is a mistaken aim. We went back to the garden of Eden and I showed her how the desire to “be like God” was what caused Eve’s fall. We covered man’s depravity, our need for salvation, Christ’s amazing love, and repentance and faith. I pray that God touched her heart with the beauty of the gospel, and that she will abandon her pride and bow at the foot of the cross. I pray that she glimpsed the “light and easy yoke” of serving Jesus, and that she will turn from the false doctrine of works to embrace Him.

Today I read in the book of Joel. This verse really struck me:

 Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished. Joel 1:11

 I’m not completely clear on what Joel is saying here, but wouldn’t it be amazing if this verse could be related to the context of Luke 4:35?

 Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

 Joel 1:11 can be applied to the above verse, so let’s take an evangelistic look at it.

 Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished.

 We are called “laborers,” in God’s harvest, or farmers. We are to wail because the harvest has perished! Lift up your eyes…the fields are white for harvest! One day it will be too late. One day the harvest, or the people who don’t know Christ, will have no second chance. They will have perished.

 Imagine that you have a garden. You’re growing squash. You watch as it turns from the yellow flower, into the little pale vegetable and finally into a big, yellow squash. Imagine that you have a field full of ripe squash. You look out your window and see all the yellow squashes under the prickly green leaves and you say, “Yep, my squash is ready to be harvested.” But you don’t do a thing about it. Day after day you look out your window and see those vegetables. One morning you see deer wandering around in your patch. You see the squash getting riper day after day. But still, you don’t do a thing about it. Soon it’s too late. You’ve waited too long; your squash is no good. Your whole field is ruined. That seems crazy, right?

 It’s the same with this world. It’s a field full of ripe fruit. You can see it everywhere, on TV, in magazines, and on the street. People who want to trust in something, but they don’t know what. So they go after the wrong things. You can go to the mall and see it plainly. Look at the empty expression in people’s eyes. They fill their lives with entertainment, friends, material things, health care. (hey, no matter how well you take care of your body you’re going to die sometime, right?) All this will pass away. One day everything they hold dear will be ripped from their hands by death. Then it will be too late. So what do we do? We look out our kitchen windows day after day. We see the ripe fruit and say, “Yep, Lord, those people need you. They’re ready for harvest.” But we don’t do a thing. One day it will be too late. One day we will have waited too long, the harvest will have perished. Time is running out. So let’s go be laborers in God’s harvest today. Let’s obey his call to go and reach out to this dying world.