Tuesday Tip O' the Day

Your tip today is actually more of a request...

Many of the people who read this blog already probably know who McMama is. They may even know about her little McMuffin who is in the hospital with a heart issue. Those of you who pray, please pray for little Stellan. McMama recently posted a great post about God and prayer, and being that it's coming from someone who could really use a miracle right now...well, you just need to read it. Then PRAY.

Thanks.

(Bump) An interesting article about Oprah

(I started writing this the other day, so when I posted it, it showed up a few posts down instead of right at the top....)

I'm not a huge fan of the Oprah show, but I have seen it and know what an influential person she is. I had also heard something similar to this article recently and wanted to share it.

"Oprah labeled 'false prophet' and 'conduit ... to Hell'"
Jeff Johnson - OneNewsNow - 3/27/2008 8:00:00 AM

A Christian author who was saved out of the new age movement says media icon Oprah Winfrey has become a false prophet for a false Jesus. Oprah Winfrey identifies herself as a Christian. But she says that, when she was a young woman, she was disturbed by a pastor's declaration that the God of the Bible is a jealous God. "And something about that didn't feel right in my spirit because I believe that God is love and that God is in all things," she told her television audience. "And, so, that's when the, the, the search for something more than doctrine started to stir within me." Warren Smith, author of Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel, is a Christian who was saved from the new age movement. He says Oprah's search led her to Marianne Williamson and the new age teachings of A Course in Miracles. "Marianne Williamson was on Oprah back in 1992 with her book about the Course in Miracles," Smith recalled, "and back then, Oprah said, 'I believe that the principles of A Course in Miracles can change the world' -- and she's saying the same thing today." Williamson is now promoting A Course in Miracles through daily classes on Oprah's XM satellite radio channel. "I will be on Oprah & Friends every single day talking about the ideas in A Course in Miracles," Williamson said during a promotional announcement for the program. "We can have miracles. We can have greater inner peace. We can shift from an experience of fear to an experience of greater love." Oprah told her audience that she has no problem reconciling the differences between the new age religion she is now promoting and the Christian faith she claims. "I reconciled it because I was able to open my mind about the, um, the absolute, indescribable hugeness of that which we call 'God,'" Oprah said. "I took God out of the box." But Smith, appearing on the March 11 edition of the AFA Report, said the false teachings of A Course in Miracles should be obvious to any Christian. "Here are some of the lessons: Lesson 29, 'God is in everything I see.' Lesson 186, 'The salvation of the world depends on me.' 253, 'My self is the ruler of the universe.' 337, 'My sinless-ness protects me from all harm,'" Smith said, quoting from the lessons. "This is the Bible upside-down." Smith also criticized Oprah for the selection of Eckhart Tolle's new age book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose as her book of the month. "It reminds me of Jeremiah 5 where he says, 'A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land, the prophets prophesy falsely and my people love to have it so,'" Smith explained. "What is more wonderful these days than Oprah? A wonderful and horrible thing is happening in the land, the prophets prophesy falsely. Oprah -- by now teaching this class with Eckhart Tolle -- is no longer a pointer to deception. She is a false prophet and part of it herself." Christians have an obligation, Smith concluded, to point out the error of Oprah's new age "christianity," even if doing so means risking public ridicule. "Unfortunately, Oprah does so many things that are really good [that] people make the mistake of thinking that she's on to something with this whole spiritual deal," Smith argued. "What she's doing is, she's creating a new worldview. They're calling it a 'shift' that will prepare people for when the next shoe drops. "And this will be the way that world peace would be achieved," he said, explaining the new age philosophy behind A Course in Miracles, "by everybody adopting this view that 'we're all one because we're all god, we need to come together, we need to be in unity.' "And the only people who are going to hinder that are the people who are saying, 'No, we're not God. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.' Internet evangelist Bill Keller, appearing on Fox News Channel's Cavuto Report, echoed Smith's warnings, calling Oprah the queen of the new age gurus. "These new age teachings are really sucking in millions of people to these false philosophies, these false theologies, and they're literally leading people to Hell," Keller said. "Oprah, whether she knows it or not, is really being a conduit to lead people to Hell."

I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this one. I will only make one rule - no nastiness. I imagine that some people will agree with this article, and some may not. If you leave a comment that I consider to be mean-spirited directed at either myself or anyone else who chooses to comment, your comment will be deleted. I'm sure this won't be a problem, given my "regular" readers, but just in case...

Yeah, God pretty much ROCKS.

The subtitle to this post should be "Heat, Glorious Heat." I'm sure the grammer in this post is terrible, but I pretty much typed this like I would have told it...

Well, I've been FREEZING my backside off all day (well, now that I think about it, is that REALLY a bad thing? I mean, I certainly COULD use a little less backside....). I got up this morning and the house was a little chilly. I think maybe one of the kids bumped the thermostat last night. Anyway, I turned up the thermostat and didn't think much more about it.

After I took Bug to school this morning, I remembered that I had bought a new furnace filter the other day, and figured I'd go ahead and change the filter while it was on my mind. (I usually have to do things this way, otherwise I wind up forgetting about them)

I changed the filter on the furnace and put the cover back on. A little while later, I noticed that it seemed to be getting colder in the house. And come to think of it, I hadn't heard the furnace kick on. Okay, no biggie, I'll just turn up the thermostat. Yeah, so I do that and NOTHING HAPPENS. Hmm...not good. I take the cover off of the furnace and look at it, as if I know what I'm doing. I wiggle a wire here, wiggle one there. Then I notice that one of the wires looks like it came unhooked. So I get a screwdriver and some wire strippers and fix that wire. I reassemble the furnace and turn it on. YIPPEE, it started right up!

Uh-oh, instead of heat, now the air conditioner is on. The thermostat is set on "heat" and the A/C is on? As Puckey would say, "What the heck? What the heck is going on around here?" I turned off the thermostat and just about started to cry. I'm not a big fan of the cold, and I'm starting to get pretty chilly. Ande is at work, and I can't just call him, so that's not an option. My father-in-law, who would gladly give someone the shirt off his back, knows absolutely NOTHING about home maintenance/repair stuff, so he would not be of any help. Hmm...what to do? Can't call a heating/cooling guy, we don't have the money. Guess I'll just freeze until Ande gets home. Well, I might as well bake some cupcakes, so at least the kitchen will warm up a little....(yeah, this is why my backside NEEDS to be a little less...LOL)

Ande ended up calling me, so I tell him what's going on. He doesn't know what to do, and says he'll have to look at it when he gets home. Man, that's like 4 or more hours away!!

Okay, I decide to go downstairs for one last try. I turn the furnace off and take the cover off of it. It's then that I notice another wire is loose. I get the screwdriver and the wire strippers back out, get the wire back in place, reassemble the furnace (again), and go upstairs to turn the thermostat back up. I listen for it, and hear the furnace come on. That's a good sign. I run downstairs and watch as the pilot light gets the burners going....l

WHOO-HOO!!! WE HAVE HEAT!!!!

So, I'm thrilled that God gave me "problem solving" skills. That way we didn't have to call a furnace repair guy and pay him a small fortune to reattach these two wires that I must have knocked loose when I was replacing the filter....I'm feeling pretty happy right now!

Now I'm going to take a nice hot shower to warm up. Yes, it's nearly 2:00PM and I'm just getting in the shower. I know some of you can relate. To those of you who can't...well, I don't know what to tell you.

God's timing is never off...

Well, so I think most people who read my blog know that Ande was laid off from his full time job back in August. That was such a huge hit to us - not only to Ande's self-esteem, but of course to our budget and pretty much our way of life. Fortunately he has been able to receive unemployment for the last 6 months, and has been able to pick up extra hours occasionally at the homeless shelter where he works on Saturdays and Sundays. Of course, our budget was still very stretched, and it was only because of Ande's parents that we have been able to keep our house payments paid on time and be able to pay our other bills, too. (Thanks Mom & Dad!)

Over the last 6 months, we have not ceased to be amazed by the kindness and generosity of our friends, family, neighbors, as well as virtual strangers. Any time we've had a need arise, it has been provided for, sometimes without that need having ever been spoken aloud. I have written a few posts about such times, but almost feel like I'm bragging because the amount of times that we have been blessed by others is SO many, and the things we have been blessed with, be it money, time, physical work, or items we were in need of, has been so much. And yet here I sit, just bursting with excitement over yet another occasion where God is supplying our needs.

Part of Ande's old job (the one he was laid off from) was to go to places of business that used his company's service to do maintenance and repair work, plus training and in some cases sales. He had a customer that was local to where we live, and since Ande was the only technician who lived in this part of our state, he was the natural choice when it came to "who to send" to this particular customer. This customer, whom I'll call FAA for short, contacted Ande's former employer about something a few weeks ago, and asked for Ande. They were told he didn't work there anymore. Several of the employees from FAA know Ande's uncle though business dealings with him. So one of the employees contacted Ande's uncle to see what the story was. She then asked Ande's uncle to have Ande contact FAA for a possible job opening. Ande went and interviewed last Friday, and got the call today that they would like him to come in tomorrow to fill out some paperwork and then they want him to actually start work on Thursday!

Did I mention that Ande only has 2 weeks of unemployment left?

Yeah, so God's timing is still perfect, and HOW COOL IS IT THAT THIS JOB "FOUND" HIM - HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO LOOK! Sure, this job won't pay a lot, and it's not going to be a glamorous job - but it's work and it's close to home! Before, Ande was usually driving AT LEAST an hour or more ONE WAY to work EVERY DAY!

The other cool thing is that we received our income tax refund, and I was able to pay several of our bills (house, phone, sewer, electric/gas) ahead a little so that we can relax a little about our finances (and give my in-laws a bit of a break!). Plus, now that I know Ande will have income, I can hopefully continue to pay our bills ahead and have a little "cushion" in case of emergency.

More good news is that Ande has been invited to the New York Amp Show in May. This will be a great opportunity to get Kirby Custom Amplification amps into the public's hands. The NAMM show was pretty cool, but Ande said he really felt like a little fish in a big pond. And since the general public could not attend the show, he didn't really think his amp made the kind of impact it could make at a smaller scale show that IS open to the public. He's still glad he went, and I am, too. Otherwise he may not have received the personal invitation to the amp show. The host of the show actually CALLED OUR HOUSE to invite him!

So...if things are going well at home financially in May, we might get to take a weekend trip to this amp show as a family...but we'll wait and see about that. Right now I'm just looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us next....

Speaking of what God has in store....if you haven't been in a while, check out Nate and Tricia's story. I am still amazed at what God is doing in this family!

Logan

I'm posting this for anyone who has ever experienced a loss in their life. Well, really it's good for anyone to hear. This little boy has some serious insight. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE check this out!! You won't regret it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCdZwitrNoY

I came across this video on another blog, The Merritt Family. I love how God just keeps bringing me to these different blogs so that I can see Him working in other families that I might not know anything about! It's the same thing with Nate, Tricia, and Gwyneth... There are SO many families out there who are living through things I could never even imagine! It's really enriched my prayer life and given me a lot more focus on things to be able to read about these families.

Please read a little about Julian Avery below as well. Thanks.