Happy Birthday, Blog!

And many more...

I started the Katrina's Musings blog one year ago today, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I have learned a lot through blogging, and I'll use this post to share what I've learned thus far:

• I like to write. I didn't know that about myself until I started blogging. Writing allows me a platform to gather ideas, form thoughts and share them with others.
  


• Blogging takes time. This is not a reason to avoid starting a blog, but it is something to be aware of before starting one. You cannot do it well without spending time on it. I consider this blog a ministry from the Lord, and I treat it as such. Just like any other ministry, blogging takes preparation and commitment.



• Blogging keeps you accountable. I think this aspect of blogging has surprised me the most. Writing a blog has its own accountability attached to it. There is accountability for what you say, so it causes you to research your ideas. There is accountability for how often you post an entry, so it causes you to manage your time accordingly. Since I often write about my evangelism efforts, it keeps my accountable to that ministry as well.


• Blogging exposes your thoughts. I am typically a quiet and private person. Blogging has challenged me in that area. Once your thoughts are released to a public forum, questions will ensue. In a sense, your thoughts become public domain.



• Blogging requires discretion. Not everything should be said on a blog. I often use my blog as a tool to share the gospel. When I go out in the community and share the gospel verbally with others, I give people information that contains an e-mail address for me and the address for my blog. When I am writing on the blog, I am aware that anyone could be reading it, and that knowledge should be handled with respect.



• Blogging allows you to connect with others. Blogging has a certain anonymity to it for the reader. For the writer, it allows you to connect with others in your immediate circle, and it allows you to connect with others around the world (literally) with whom you have never met yet you share commonalities.

Those are my thoughts. As mentioned above, I have thoroughly enjoyed the blogging experience. I look foward to another year of blogging.

Self-Reliance

Last week I shared a little from the latest book I've been reading, Bookends of the Christian Life by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington. Please refer to the posts from April 26 (Self Righteousness) and April 27 (Persistent Guilt) for more information. Self righteousness and persistent guilt were named as gospel enemies #1 and #2, respectively. There is a third gospel enemy mentioned in the book: Self-Reliance. Today I'd like to share with you what is said about self-reliance from pages 124 & 125 of the book:

Self-reliance toward God is dependence on our own power, not the power of the Holy Spirit.....Self-reliance is the opposite of dependence on the Holy Spirit's power for sanctification. Just as by nature we assume we earn our salvation by good works, so by nature we assume we grow spiritually by our own effort and willpower.

What's wrong with this kind of self-reliance?
Everything.

First of all, it doesn't work. The Christian life is a spiritual life lived in a spiritual world. Our human strength, be it physical power or willpower, is inadequate. We need divine strength that comes from a divine source--the Spirit of God. When we attempt to live the Christian life in our own strength, we head in the direction of legalism, pride, frustration, or ungodly living. It can even lead to a shipwrecked faith. When we nullify the grace of God provided by the power of the Holy Spirit, it's just a matter of time before we nullify the righteousness of Christ as well. That's why self-reliance is a gospel enemy.

The Last Frightening Friday

May 7, 2010, was my last Frightening Friday post.

When I first started posting about the evening I set aside to go out and intentionally seek to share the gospel with strangers, it was appropriate to call it "Frightening Friday". I was very nervous to approach strangers, and it often terrified me.

I'm still nervous as I approach strangers to talk to them about the gospel, and I still have to deny my flesh the opportunity to turn and run every time I go out. But, I no longer want to focus on that fear. It is a great privilege to go out in the community and tell others about the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. I'm going to start treating it as such.

The name of those posts will now be "Evangelism Evening". I will continue to set aside one night a week dedicated to sharing the gospel with strangers (usually Friday night, but not always), and I will use my Friday posts to share of those experiences.

As summer approaches I'll be keeping my eyes open for outdoor events where lots of people gather (festivals, parades, etc.), and that's where I'll be focusing my evangelism efforts. I'll write about those experiences on my weekly "Evangelism Evening" posts.

Frightening Friday 05/07/10

This Frightening Friday was very rainy (all day and into the evening). I had an errand to run this evening, so I went to the mall. While I was there I passed out gospel tracts. When I'm in the mall, I try to give a gospel tract to everyone sitting on a bench. Those sitting on benches are usually killing time, so I give them something to read while they're sitting there.

As I was leaving the mall I had a rainy day thought. In the parking lot of this mall, there is a large, covered city bus shelter. I parked near the bus stop (also a park and ride) and walked over to the bus shelter. I started at one end of the shelter and made my way to the other. As I made my way through I passed out million dollar bill tracts. Most people took them and thanked me. I said, "It has the million dollar question on back." That phrase usually causes people to flip it over so they can read the gospel message.

If you aren't passing out gospel tracts, I encourage you to do so. It is a good way to get your feet wet in the evangelism process. The gospel tracts are also a great way to start conversations about the gospel (i.e., "Here's a million dollars for you. It has the million dollar question on back, "What happens to a person when they die? What do you think happens to a person when they die?").

If you're reading this post, I challenge you to give out at least one gospel tract this week.

For gospel tract information: Check your church to see if they have gospel tracts available that they recommend (possibly with the church information on back for follow up if the occasion arises). I like the tracts sold by Living Waters ministry (http://www.livingwaters.com/). Their tracts are creative, visually appealing, and content rich. I also use a tract that I wrote myself. It contains my own testimony and a gospel presentation. I use it a lot because I know what it says and it's thorough. Answers in Genesis ministry (http://www.answersingenesis.org/) also has some thoughtful tracts and materials available.

So get equipped and please join me in sharing the gospel in your community this week.

Ambassadors' Academy Remembered

A year ago today I flew out to Los Angelos, CA, to take part in the Ambassadors' Academy. It was Wednesday evening thru Sunday morning, one full day of classroom training with the Living Waters staff and two days out on the streets of California putting our training to the test by handing out gospel tracts, street preaching, and one-on-one conversations sharing the gospel with people we met.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was without a doubt the catalyst for making it a point to get out at least once a week and intentionally share the gospel with strangers I meet. The training was extremely valuable.

What stood out to me the most was that the staff of Living Waters ministry didn't just train people from all over the country to go out and spread the gospel, they lived it. They all started in the same place (afraid) as the rest of us were starting. And each staff member (as near as I could tell) had their own ministry in their own community where they shared the gospel on a regular basis.

I also enjoyed meeting people from all around the country (and Canada at the one I attended). It was a joy to be with people all united by a heart to share the gospel. Some of the people I met that weekend I'm in contact with yet today.

If you have been thinking about pursuing training of this nature, I would encourage you to consider attending the Ambassadors' Academy. They run training sessions once a month for about six months out of the year (March thru August generally). They are full for 2010 but will start taking applications again most likely in the fall for the 2011 sessions. They have dropped the price considerably since I attended. They did this to allow more people to attend during these tough economic times. I would recommend checking into it (http://www.ambassadorsalliance.com/).

Note: The people attending these training sessions range from those who have never handed out a tract to those who regularly witness to strangers and regularly street preach. Once at the Ambassador's Academy, they simply ask that you take a couple steps out of your comfort zone and learn while you're there.

All of my pictures while at Ambassadors' Academy are of other people. I'm pretty quiet by nature and can be timid at times. Getting on the plane alone, flying to California, meeting a lot of new people, handing out tracts, engaging in one-on-one conversations about the gospel, and standing on a box on Hollywood Blvd and street preaching was pretty much the limit for this introvert. Asking someone to take my picture while I was there would have put me over the edge (seriously).

The Modern Church

This morning I was listening to "Wretched" radio program on my MP3 player. They played a clip from Matt Chandler preaching to his congregation at The Village church in Texas about the modern evangelical church in America. I transcribed the soundbite for this blog post. It is as follows:

"Here's what you're going to get at church 99% of the time, all over the place. You're going to get pragmatism. You're going to get "4 ways for better biblical sex", "9 ways to your best life now", "15 ways to be a better man", "7 ways to....." And do you know what you're not going to get? [You're not going to get] the nature and character of God. Here's what ends up happening. Because the world is broken and God has not restored it to its fullness yet, somebody is going to get sick, somebody is going to dies in a car wreck, somebody is not going to get in the school they wanted to get into, somebody is not going to get the job that they wanted to get, somebody's wife is going to leave them, somebody's husband is going to leave them, some 3 year old is going to get cancer, some of you are going to get sick. And at that moment, when that happens because you do not know the nature and character and beauty of the transcendent God of the universe (you simply know here are the behavioral modifications that I am supposed to do), you find yourself standing in half melted marshmallow, unable to move, feeling betrayed and you bolt. That's what happens over and over and over and over again., while the church continues to figure out how to get you back by getting creative, using smoke and lasers and helicopters and explosions....etc. Through it all, what you are not getting is the one thing you know, which is the picture of the transcendent, all-knowing, all-powerful God of the universe. So, most of us have a faith that is built on "I'll behave so God gives me what I want. And when He stops giving me what I want, I'm going to be furious and feel betrayed by Him because I did this, I did this, I did this, and He did not give me what I want." And that is in my experience [Matt Chandler] a bulk of what evangelicals believe."

There might be a bit of overstatement in the first sentence or two of this quote, but there is certainly a fair amount of truth as well. I have held this viewpoint myself in the past and I know people who live this worldview every day. I also know that without daily searching the Scriptures for myself and without attending a church that holds a high view of God and His Word these thoughts can sneak back in. It is prevalent in our culture today.

These words resonated with me today so I wanted to share them with you in this post.

Cookie Baking Night 05/03/10

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance: Carissa, Ethan, and Emily.
For supper: Macaroni and cheese (a classic), little smokies, and apples.
For our cookie: We made magic cookie bars (aka 7-layer bars). It was our first experience making a graham cracker crust (a great project for the kids, by the way). We put graham crackers in a large plastic bag and took turns crushing them with a rolling pin. The kids did a great job, and they enjoyed it.
We read lesson #28 entitled "God Takes Care of Us" from our Leading Little Ones to God book (by Marian Schoolland). Emily read Psalm 23 from the Bible to accompany our lesson.
We witnessed a hard rain (complete with hail) while we were preparing our cookies. After the rain, we went for a walk.
A great time was had by all.


The girls have been in the habit lately of wearing aprons while they bake (so cute!)

Ethan thought he'd have much more "crushing success" if he pounded the rolling pin on the bag like a hammer, but upon my advice he contented himself with rolling it out like the rest of us
(sometimes its hard being the only boy at Cookie Baking Night--no pounding allowed and there's a lot of apron wearing going on).