Apology

I need to apologize.   Especially if anything I said in any of my posts was critical of anyone specific.   My blog is intended to relate my struggles and MS journey with the blessings that are associated with my personal relationship with Jesus Christ and trust in His wisdom, power and mercy and in the grace, peace, joy and strength He provides as a direct result of that trusting relationship.   I share my thoughts and experiences in an effort to encourage others, spark conversations and, hopefully,  light a fire in people so they are salt and light in their families and church first and then into the world.  This is also therapeutic for me and a way of keeping my thoughts off of my own personal difficulties and focused on my blessings and my eyes looking to the needs and hearts of those around me.  I also share my thoughts and observations regarding how we, as Christians are living compared with what the Bible says about how we should be living our lives.   

If anything in my posts sounds critical of anyone in particular, please forgive me.   Please don't use anything I have written as a way of beating anyone over the head for their human failings - if you criticize anyone, criticize me because I make lots of mistakes.  We ALL fail to live up to God's standards and we have to be really careful about how we view our brothers and sisters in Christ.   We should be encouraging eachother to do better and, better yet, we should look inward at our own failures and do our best to change our own bad habits or incorrect thinking and be examples of how to live righteous lives.  

It's wrong to judge each other and we have to be really careful about passing judgment on our brothers and sisters in Christ.   Calling attention to needs and suggesting ways people can be more involved in service or encouraging others to be bold witnesses for Christ is different than being critical of someone's imperfections.   

So I apologize to anyone who has read my blog and felt personal criticism.  Please know that my intention is always to shine a light on areas I notice we could ALL do better as Christians- starting with ME.  

I challenge you to, whenever you think something critical about someone, stop and remember that you have areas in your own life that others could be critical of and think about how it would make you feel if people were always pointing out your flaws.  

One thing I have learned as a mother to a son like mine is that there are ways to positivly encourage the behaviors we want to promote and discourage behaviors that are destructive.   Not everyone responds to correction the way we hope they will.  But almost everyone responds well to loving encouragement.

In the end, we need to remember that the most important commandments in the Bible are to love God first and then to love our neighbors as ourselves.   Love keeps no record of wrong, love is patient,  love bears all things,  love isn't irritable or resentful, love isn't rude and it doesn't insist on having its' own way, love is kind, etc.  Love covers a multitude of sins.  Correction without love is irritating and can cause hurt and resentment. 

So, please forgive me for anything I might have said to give the impression that I was passing judgment on anyone. 

Object Lesson

Several days ago we were talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls on display at the Reagan Library in California.  My son chimed in and said that you wouldn't want to go swimming in the Dead Sea - it's SO salty!  My daughter pointed out that you can't sink in the Dead Sea though - that there is so much salt that you float.

Today, as my son got into the car after school, he started telling me this idea he had come up with as an object lesson that was a "magic trick" to use when explaining salvation to people.   He had remembered a time at a chapel service (when he still attended a Christian School) where they did magic tricks as a way of explaining salvation to the kids.

His idea was to have 2 glasses of water and to dissolve a bunch of salt in 1 of the glasses so it looked as clear as the plain water.  Then he said he would have 2 eggs as well.  With the first egg he would tell a person that the egg represented a person who had not accepted God's free gift of salvation.  Then he would put the egg in the plain water and watch it sink to the bottom.  He would then explain that without accepting Christ as their Savior,  they would sink under the weight of their sins and ultimately drown.  The other egg, he would say to the person, represents a person after having accepted Jesus as their personal Savior.  He would then put the egg in the glass of heavily salted water and watch it float to the top.  He would go on to explain that Jesus lifts us up out of our sins and helps us rise above the weight of them.

I was impressed.   He had obviously been really thinking about this idea for several days and today, after a full day in school- public school - the first thing he wanted to talk about was this magic trick/object lesson he had come up with as a way to witness to unbelievers!

His idea was so good I had to share it with you!