The Good News

I was listening to the radio today and one of the news stories was on religious believes in America. Appearantly over 50% of evangelical Christians believe that "good" people of other faiths can go to heaven. That is a lot of misinformed people. You can read the whole article here.

This doesn't even make sense to me. Why would you have faith or specific religious beliefs if you can have eternal life in heaven by just being a good person? What constitutes being a "good" person. The article talks about giving blood, allowing a stranger to cut in line, help someone find a job and giving directions to a stranger. If thats all it takes, I'm doing pretty good in life- except I can't give blood because I'm anemic. But there are times I am in a hurry and don't let that old lady go in front of me at SuperWalmart even though she only has 3 items and I have a cart full. Do I lose my salvation on those days?

So here is the truth. Sometimes I do really good things, but more often I do bad things. I'm selfish, I gossip, I do things I know I shouldn't..etc. James 2:10 says, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point is guilty of breaking all of it." It only takes one sin to seperate us from God. In God's eyes all sin are the same- gossiping and murder. Although we hold them to different standards- they aren't. And we are all in the same situation- sinful, broken and distant from God. Romans 3:10 states: There is none righteous not even one. But here is the good news. God made it possible for man to have a restored relationship with him- to spend eternity in heaven. And its not about what we've done- but what has been done for us. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ- but the reality is that his birth is irrevelant unless you know the big picture. Jesus Christ left his glory in heaven to walk with man. Born fully man and fully God he was tempted in every way to do "bad" stuff. Steal, lie, cheat, hurt others, etc but he resisted all temptation and lived his life perfectly. He went on to serve as the ultimate sacrifice- the blameless Lamb. Overcoming death, the consquence of sin, and taking the punishment that we all deserve. We can't possibly be good enough, therefore we must rely fully on Christ for our salvation. When I die and I stand before the Lord and he asks me why he should let me into heaven. I will not say because I've been a good and deserve it because I haven't- instead I will say the consquences of my sins have been paid for by Jesus. I have no fear of death only the hope of the good news.

OOPPPS

I've failed. 3 days into my 365 days of photos I stopped. And then I got sick and stopped again. This project is officially on hold. I will restart the year on January 1. I will take and post atleast 1 picture everyday of 2011. Why? Well 1. to improve my skills and experiment with my camera/lens. 2. A picture tells 1000 words. Sometimes a picture can tell you more about what is going on in our family than I could ever write.

I've been pretty darn sick for about 10 days now. So sick I've missed 2 weeks of church- I really miss it! Plus I have very rarely left the house or more specifically the couch. For a week I wore nothing but PJs for 10 days I didn't wear my contacts! For 3 days I had a 102 or 103 degree fever. I was sick! Fortunatly for me, it was a slow week at the airport and Kellen was around a little more to let me rest some. And my lovely sister Chrissy came down one night to watch Lainey so I could shower and sleep and then on Sunday my parent brought some delicious homemade chicken noodle soup. It is incredible difficult having the flu and having an almost 4 month old that nurses every 3 hours. I was extremely limited on the medicine I could take and when I could take it. It was so tempting to give up nursing- but I didn't. I am still sick- coughing, sore throat and nasal drainage but I am slowly getting better. I wonder if I should see a doctor- could I have strep or a sinus infection?

The weather has been horrible for flying. Kellen has barely been working at the airport- of course during one of the most financially demanding time. Not just because of Christmas but our 6 month car insurance payment and increased heating bill. Oh well, God will provide. He always does.

Last big thing- we're going to have another niece or nephew come the end of June! Melissa is due June 28th. We're super excited for another baby to love on! Children are such a blessing. Lainey is going to have so much fun playing with her cousins when she gets a little older!

I could really use a vacation and we have some free flights to use...we're planning on going early May. Any good suggestions on where? We were thinking out west to the Grand Canyon etc...