Yesterday, Benjamin “helped” his daddy carve his first pumpkin.
He didn’t much like the goopy stuff.
But he did like the turnout of his Mickey Mouse pumpkin.
We went to an Animation Festival at some friends’ house. Benjamin really liked it.
We watched old cartoons outside!
But Benjamin liked looking at the pumpkins all lit up the best.
And tonight is Trick or Treat.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. – Matthew 6:33
Lately during Bible class and in sermons, William, the preacher at New Hope Road has been really hitting on the subject of seeking first the kingdom and what this means. He has said at least twice now that if you are truly seeking first the kingdom, it should be no question as to where you are going to be on Sunday – you already know that you are going to be at Bible Class and Worship services. It isn’t a question of “Am I going to church this morning?” – your Sundays are taken every week of the year, unless there is an actual legitimate reason as to why you can’t be there.
Side note: I personally think that we even take that a bit far. We say, “Oh, I feel a little headache coming on, I better stay home…” – let me tell you something. We have a very old couple at our congregation. The wife is completely mute because she had a stroke years ago, and the husband has to use a walker to make it around because of horrible leg problems. Every time I ask him how he is doing, he says he is not doing well at all. And yet, they are both there as often as they can. And we use any and every excuse to not be there. In foreign countries, everyone from the smallest to the oldest will walk miles just to get to a place where the Saints are meeting! It doesn’t take much effort for us to make it, and yet we don’t even attempt sometimes to make that effort!! This is shameful.
Wanna know the most legitimate reason why we sometimes miss services (on a regular basis especially)? Satan. I know that may be a bit harsh to say, but Satan has a goal to keep us all as far away from God as possible, and if he can just get us to miss here and there and not think much of it, and then even do it regularly without much of a thought or any feeling of regret… he truly has succeeded! One less soul devoted to God. One less soul truly seeking God.
What does it mean to truly seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness? Or, maybe the question should be, “How?” Well think about it. The Bible tells us to seek God and His righteousness. Can it be that hard? It’s all in the Bible! I like the way the psalmist put it in Psalm 119:11:
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
To seek God’s kingdom and righteousness, we need to hide His words, the words given to us in the Bible, in our hearts. It needs to be something that we keep with us and meditate on. It needs to be in the forefront of our minds and it needs to take precedence over all other things in our life. This is something that Carl and I are working very hard to instill in our son. We put a big stress on learning from and about the Bible and our Creator, and about Christ and His church. That comes first when we begin learning new things. We do learn the alphabet and our colors and shapes, but that is not what is most important to us.
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign
upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children,
speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon
thy gates: – Deuteronomy 11:18-20.
How do we seek after God’s kingdom and His righteousness? We make it our top priority. How do we make sure our children are seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness? Well first of all, we have to be doing so ourselves. We have to be making it our first priority. We need to be doing exactly as Deuteronomy 11:18-20 says to do. As parents, we have been entrusted with these little souls by God and it is our duty to protect these souls against the wiles of the devil by armoring them with the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).
Just like William has been saying, if you are not devoting yourself to gathering with the saints on the day that has been put aside for that – Sunday, the Lord’s day – then you are obviously not seeking first the Kingdom. It’s not your first priority and it likely won’t be your children’s first priority, if or when you have children. It should never be the case that you wake up on Sunday morning and groan, “I have to go to church today…” – you should wake up in the morning on Sunday and say, “I get to worship God our Father with the brethren today!” It isn’t some burden that has been placed upon us. It isn’t punishment, and what’s more, if you’re seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness, it isn’t optional. There should be no question in your mind. If you are seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, you’re going to put forth that effort, and you’re going to do it joyfully!
What does it mean to take a “Leap of Faith”? To me, it doesn’t mean leaping into something blindly, like some may say people leap into a religion following blindly. That is a different topic for a different time. However, I was thinking today about how sometimes in life you have to take a leap of faith. It’s almost inevitable. You don’t always know what is going to happen next to you in life, and we should never pretend that we have all of the answers worked out for ourselves. While I do believe we have all the answers and guidance that we need in our life within the Bible, that doesn’t mean that we are never wondering what our next move should be. The Bible never tells us what every step of the way will include. We just know that God has told us we are not the ones in control and we are not the ones who should guide our own paths.
O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. – Jeremiah 10:23
Sometimes, we have to take a leap of faith. I say that meaning we sometimes have to just leap out and trust that God is there to catch us! Do I believe that God will always be there? Absolutely! He has promised that He will take care of us in Matthew 6:33, providing that we always look to Him first and seek first the kingdom! I know I have mentioned that verse before, and I know I have said that it is one of my favorite verses – I believe it must be my very favorite for it is one that gives me such strength and such hope. I admit that I have been feeling very hopeless lately, not knowing what the future holds for us, and yet – God has promised to be there no matter what! That is not hopeless at all! That is the complete opposite! That is full of hope! Hopeful! And that is comforting!
Many of you probably know this already, but after a lot of consideration and prayer, Carl and I have decided that we are going to hold off on looking for another preaching job. He has recently been hired to work for a company very close by and we have decided to settle down here for the time being. I know that there are a lot of people out there who might be disappointed in this decision, maybe even angered or upset. If you feel any of those, I really am sorry you do feel that way. I would like to express to you wholeheartedly that this doesn’t mean that we will never get back into the preaching life again – on the flip side, it also doesn’t mean that we will – we just don’t know right now! However, I want to really stress to you all that we are not giving up.
There is a dire need for faithful gospel preachers today. I completely agree. However, there is also a dire need for faithful, active members! Deciding to be a “regular” member (I hate using that but it’s the only way I can think to say what I mean right now – you all know what I mean) doesn’t mean we’re deciding not to spread the gospel to the lost. There is so much good that we can do even without being a preacher or a preacher’s wife. There are so many opportunities out there that we can now take without being the preacher and the preacher’s wife!
All in all, we only wish to be pleasing to God. You do not have to be a preacher or a preacher’s wife to be pleasing to God. We aren’t giving up. We aren’t throwing in the towel. We aren’t discouraged or angry or sorrowful.
However, we are trusting God. We are praying about this. We are excited about all of the possibilities out there for us. We’re ready to leap.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. – Ecclesiastes 12:13
I feel like this past month has gone by SO slow. Perhaps things just move slower here at Nana and Papaw’s house. But I don’t think you have gotten the concept of “slowing down” quite yet! You are as active as ever! While you still {usually} take your nap every day, you go go go all day long when you are awake! There is no rest for the growing boy I guess! You are into everything all day long! You are so very curious about everything around you, and you learn SO many new things each day!
Your speech has really taken off this past month and you repeat nearly everything you hear. This is a great reminder to keep our tongues in check because there is no telling what you will pick up! You talk all day long while you run around and you repeat the same word about fifty times before you decide to move on to your next word. You do this a lot when we are outside and you point up into the sky and yell “MOON! MOON! MOON!” for a few minutes and then, “STARS! STARS! STARS!” for the next few minutes. You are OBSESSED with the moon and stars!
We are so proud of you, Benjamin, for all you have learned this month! Every night before bed we have our Bible Quiz, and unless there is a new question that you haven’t learned yet, you get them all right! Here are the questions that you know the answers to:
- Who was the first man?
- Who was the first woman?
- Who made Adam and Eve?
- Who built the ark?
- Who is God’s son?
- What does Jesus want us to read?
and right now you are working on:
- Who slew Goliath?
- Where do you want to go? (Heaven)
We are SO proud of how much you are learning! Besides that, you are learning your colors too! What a smart boy you are!
You are getting close to being able to wear 18 months clothes without too much of a hassle, except for your tiny waist! For the longest time you have been in 12 months clothes. In fact you wore a 6-9 Onesie when we went to Disney!! You are still a little guy, but you are getting up there! You weigh around 24lbs, but I am not sure how tall you are!
Benjamin, you are still our little sunshine and we love you very much!
