BenH
The devil actively is pursuing every Christian to cause him or her to
be entrapped by the things of this world. Pleasure in this life will
never come close to the glories that are prepared for them that Love
the Lord. The devil knows that and will provide us activites and
trinkets to love. We obviously cannot be seperated from the things of
this life. God set is in this earth for a purpose, however the devil
wants to distract us from this purpose. As a diver cannot stay under
water forever and an airplane cannot remain in the sky so also the
Christian cannot remain in the world. In all three cases the once the
mission is complete in their abnormal places they must return to
reality. Those who are saved have a mission, a mission to share the
good news to this world. The concern and love for others who do not
know or do not understand the good news should be always on our mind
and plans. We have a mission, a mission which the devil wants to
distract us from. If a diver stays to long in the water he will drown,
if a plane remains to long in the atmosphere it will also be
destroyed. Our life as a Christian is only temporary in this world,
real life is in heaven. We will use the means necessary to complete
the mission, but understand that our mission is not to remain and
continue to sustain ourself in that place, but to finish the mission
and move out. This world is only temporary, don't focus your life on
making your stay comfortable, but use the tools in this life to
complete the mission, to speak to more people. To let everyone know of
real life! Make sure the devil will not trap you.
This was a great challenge I learned from my devotions this morning. I
hope it was a challenge and blessing to you also!
BenH
Some people think it weird that I use the word munchkins to refer to my little brother and his sidekicks. Well, I think thats what they are, mischevious munchkins. Last night one my family brought one of Hudson's friends over to the house because we needed to watch him till church because his mother was at work. The boys were having a great time together. We had supper and then it was time to leave so my dad told the boys to meet us in the van because we were all going to ride together to church, so the boys did what they were supposed to and got in the van. Meanwhile, Nina and Selena needed to leave early for church and Titus hopped in with them in one of the cars. Since my parents and I didn't see who got in the car we just assumed that everybody else was with them and so we took the other car to conserve gas and left for church.
Today was a very special today. As some of you remember I told you about my neighbors who have been saved. Well, today Amanda Lagan was baptized at my church and it was so exciting to hear her salvation story. I wish I could have posted it on video. It was very exciting. I just got back from having a wonderful time of food and fellowship at their house with their friends and relatives.
In addition to that blessing my group was able to sing at my church the song "Open my Eyes". I thought the song was very pretty and EXCELLENT words. There are so many songs out there that have phenominal words that really encourage me in magnifying God. I praise the Lord for music. I've added the clip of us singing on YouTube so you can check it out. Have an Awesome Day!
BenH
P.S. Check out the new blog look, :) Yes, that is me as a little guy. I looked a whole lot cuter when I was small :P
You may have had an occasion in your life where you invested your time and money into something which you felt was great endeavor. However you sadly found out later that all the work you invested was worth nothing. I've had some of those experiences and they aren't very fun; matter of fact, they are just downright disappointing. As I read in a book called "Love Not the World" by Watchman Lee, he gave an illustration which will help us to realize what is worthwhile to invest in.
We all want to invest in something that will be profitable to us. We don't want to invest in something which bust later on. I've got good and bad news for you. This world is going to pass away....
"Let us suppose that the municipal authorities of Shanghai should decree that the school where you are employed must be closed. As soon as you hear this news you realize there is no future for you in that school. You go on working there for a period, but you do not build up anything for the future there. Your attitude to the school changes the instant you hear it must be close down. Or to use another illustration, suppose the government decides to close a certain bank. Will you hasten to deposit in it a large sum of money in order to save the bank from collapse? No, not a cent more do you pay into it once you hear it has no future. You put nothing in because you expect nothing from it."
It is so much easier to look at the things we have in this world and forget about the next world isn't it. I like what my Pastor talked about a couple weeks ago regarding finances. Our finances should be a means to an end. Why do you work to get money? Are you spending it on yourself or others? If your saving, are you saving for a means to an end of helping spread the gospel or are you saving it for the comforts of this life, an investment into this world is like investing in a crashing bank. You doesn’t have 700 billion or whatever dollars to throw at this world and think it's going to get better, so use each dollar to invest in the world to come.
Well, I hope you got some thoughts about investing in the world. It was a challenge and a blessing to me as I read this section of the book and I hope it was to you as well. I also just wanted to say a public Thank You to Steven for all of his encouraging emails he sends me about my blog posts. He's been a great inspiration for me to keep blogging =) You can visit his webpage at www.sbcjr.com or you can visit his family website at: www.thecorbettfamily.org
Thanks for reading everyone, Invest in the Best!
BenH
Well, this may be a blessing to you, but I don't know if it will be for me :) I read a couple of blogs and I saw this questionaire on Anne's blog and since I haven't had something in particular to write in awhile I would post this and you can learn a very tiny bit of information about me :)If you want to check out Anne's blog you can see it at http://annehammond.blogspot.com/Okay, Here it goes. In case you can't figure this out, the ones in bold are true and the ones that aren't then that means they are not true. If your still confused, I honestly don't have any more information to help ya out, sorry :) lol1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang/played a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping - in my unsaved days
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie - Does my own count :)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching - Boring
63. Gotten flowers for no reason - I always have a reason :)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Made a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
BUT, the blessing is that while my brother Titus was trying to help me work on a project he went to grab something and he found my headset tucked away. I still don't know how they got there. I am just so thrilled that I got them back now!!! I'm enjoying listening to some music right now as I type this bloggy up on my phony. I am smiley :)
Have a Wonderful Night Everyone!!!
BenH
My friend Nat video taped a new Thai friend of mine (Berm) while he was singing in Thailand and I just heard it now and I thought the song and his singing was awesome. I had to share it with the rest of you. I love to hear people who sing from their heart and sing it out loud for everyone to hear. I hope that you will find it a blessing, I'm definitely blessed :) Have a Good Night!
It's the time to celebrate again, I have reached my #100 blog. I honestly never thought I would get this far. It took me awhile to start my blog at first because I do not like to start projects that I may not finish, it really annoys me. I'm so glad that I've been able to keep up with posting, I've found it quite fun to hear that other people actually enjoy hearing what I write about. It makes me HAPPY =) ! I try to be cheerful as much as I can and when I get down, I have to remind myself to smile again. It makes a world of difference when I look at the bright things God has done for me.
This blog seems to contain a lot of B's in it :) As some of you know, yesterday was my birthday. Though the day was pretty much the same as usual, I had some time with my family at the end of the day which was fun. My family is great, we have a lot of good times together. My little brother, Hudson, is hilarious, he cracks me up so many times. When we got back from church we all gathered in the living room and I was going to open the presents they got for me. Hudson was SO excited for me to open the presents, he had already been counting them previously that afternoon and he knew there was exactly eleven. Three of the presents were from him. After opening the gift from my sisters which was a nice maroon shirt/fleece I decided to open Hudsons. I started opening the first little thing and he quickly said, "don't let Nina see, Nina don't look". Nina looked at him confused and Hudson then said, "I got you the same thing for Christmas." :) It turned out to be a magnet that he had got from Commerce Bank when he had gone on his field trip the other day for school. :) I started opening his next gift. As I was opening it he told me that it was hard for him to decide which one to pick for me. I finally opened the gift and found....... A book from his book shelf. :) Hudson has bookshelf in his bedroom which has a lot of the books that I read when I was young. So he decided to get one of those books off the shelf and wrap it, the second package was also a book. He got me Christopher Columbus, and Ben Hur. He quickly pointed out the reason why he had to pick the book Ben Hur :). I think you can figure it out.
Hey Berm, I didn't know you designed toothbrushes :). It's a reminder
for me to pray for you whenever I see the name "Berman" on the brush :)
Have a Great Day Everyone in Bloggy World!
BenH
Today was simply exhausting. My cell kept ringing when I didn't want it to and I had so much Bible Institute homework to catch up on since I was Thailand. I was getting quite discouraged, and the thought kept running through my mind, "How can you be thankful for this?"
