damascus.road

So we've seen so many pictures, movie scenes, etc of the Nativity. Well like many things in Israel they just don't look quite like you have imagined. I wish that I could go back a little over 2000 years ago and be able to show you some pictures of the place as it was with Mary holding the baby Lord Jesus, God with Us. I would try to get a wide enough shot to get the Wisemen as they knelt there with their gifts. The Shepards would be there too. They would be there in their filthy clothes. They'd still be pale from seeing the angel and the Glory of God that they had just experienced. I can't give you any of that, but here is where the place looks like today... This is the Church of the Nativity: After walking deep into the church, you walk down into a shallow cave that the church was build on top of. This was the spot that Jesus was born. If you turn 180° from the above shot, you see the spot where they laid him. The manger would have been somewhere in this tight spot. ...

As soon as we got finished eating supper Alan starts wrapping Christmas presents. He is in the back for a while and he comes out with some gift boxes and a few presents. I instantly notice the PINK wrapping paper!!! I didn't say anything at first, but then I just couldn't resist. I asked him what is the deal with the pink paper? He replied, Its for the girl gifts. He came back with a red and green Christmas sack but instead of having the traditional red, green, or white tissue paper to match..... BLUE! Yep, you guessed it. That was a boy gift! There will be no getting Tyson and Zoe's presents confused this year. SMILE!

I belong to the body of Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives within me. So, I say that to ask for a favor. Since I am a representative of Jesus Christ and claim to live how the Bible tells Christians to live..... if you see me living outside of God's clear and perfect guidelines I want you to CALL ME ON IT! The Bible actually says that Christians should do that. (1 Corinthians 5:9-12) God will judge the people of the world, but Paul tells the church at Corinth to judge people who are in the church (actual believers). That is what I want you to do for me. I will not be offended at all. I will be thankful. I never want to displease my Lord by saying I am a Christian and not live Christ like.(or being a stumbling block) I hear many people who claim to be saved stating that it is hard to live the Christian life. They use Paul as an example to justify this. Well, Paul didn't struggle living for God. His struggle was wanting to live perfect and knowing he could never be. Paul c...

Ok folks. Go to the bathroom, Grab you a cup of joe, and hold on for the ride because this my take a while. Yep, I'm letting it all hang out. Here's what Jesus has done for me. ( And the list is still growing) Like many people in the Bible belt, I was raised in church. Actually, I was made to go to church pretty much all my life until I was off to college. I was raised by my grandmother since I was 2 months old, and she made sure that I was in church practically every time the doors were opened. There were times that I liked it and there were times I resented it. As I grew older, I started questioning things that I was taught, God, the Bible, Jesus, etc. I NEVER wanted to believe something "because my grandmother said so" (Even though I highly regarded her opinion most of the time). Throughout my elementary and high school years, I lead a "Christian" lifestyle. By that I mean that I didn't party or drink or cuss (much) or fight, etc... If you would h...

I overheard Zoe playing school last night. She was calling roll and being very enthusiastic for each child. She would welcome them in the class and even comment on how nice they looked. I recognized names of kids in her class as she called them and she had family members as well. Then I heard.... "Jesus". And a second later she replied "here." (as she had for each child) Tyson: Zoe, Jesus doesn't go to school. He already knows everything. Zoe: Tyson, do not talk out in class or I will pull your card. A few minutes later...... Zoe: No you can not go to the restroom. You need to get in your seat now! Why cant you stay in your seat like Jesus? SMILE!

I'm having a Christmas tree crisis this year. I have to laugh because well its one of those "that only happens to me" things. You may know that I was unable to get the Christmas tree's light to work when I originally tried to get it up one night last week. All week I patiently waited for Alan's return so he could get the lights working and we could decorate and all would be well in the land of Christmas trees. Alan started looking at the tree and he determined that it was just a broke tree. ( this was determined after shaking and twisting every single bulb ) Alan was also on call on Saturday so he is constantly being pulled away from the tree and time was ticking away. My precious time! I had made a schedule in my head as to how my Saturday was going to be played out. I even made the verbal announcement to the entire family during Saturday morning snuggle time. Well it was already well past noon and still NO TREE! So, I did the only thing I knew to do! Get the ...

A few days after I made Jesus the Lord of my life I decided to compare my salvation security that I had before with the security I have today. I wanted to see why I was so convinced for all my life (except the last year) that I was going to go to Heaven when I died, and now how I can see so clearly that my religion was going to send me straight to Hell. To do this I made a list of things that I would have told someone how I knew I was saved or going to Heaven if they were to ask me at any point in my life from my profession of faith until October 9th. I was able to prove myself wrong with scripture. This is a really wise thing to do. (try it) I want to share with you my list and the scriptures. I ask that you take the time to read the scripture!!! I believe in Jesus (birth, life, death and resurrection). James 2:19 says that the demons believe in one God and tremble. Even Satan himself believes in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the demons or the Devil aren't going to go to Hea...

I just am at a lost for words when it comes to how clear the Bible is to me now and how applicable everything I read is to my life. Its something that is just hard to explain. (especially when you are typing) I can read the Bible and actually remember what I read! I know that sounds silly, but for the 21 years that I just had religion and not true salvation, I would read the passage just so I could fill in the blanks in the Beth Moore workbook ( I have done my share of Beth Moore Bible studies ) and never really would think seriously about the passages again. Now I read my Bible every chance I get. Seriously. I look forward to it and want to do what God's word says do. The Bible tells us time and time and time again how Christians should live their lives. Its very clear. I feel like a big fool for thinking that I was actually going to go Heaven when I was not living my life the way the Bible tells Christians to live. For example: 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved ch...

I want to ask you to pray for Tyson. (and me) He came home from school on Wednesday upset because some boys were saying "Your Momma is so fat ...... " jokes. He was really bothered by this. He also said that they were teasing him about a girl in his class. They were saying Tyson loves ___. And he replied. Yep, the Bible says we should love everyone. So then the boys laughed and were joking about him wanting to marry the world. (keep in mind these are second graders) So, Tyson then tells me that he says to them that they need to be his friend because he reads the Bible and loves God. He told them that making fun of people and saying ugly words is a sin and God hates sin! I asked him if he really said that and he said "not out loud, but in my head." (smile) I told him that I was proud of him for at least thinking it. I talked to him about how the Momma jokes were not about me specifically and to just ignore them. He was quiet for several minutes and then he started to...

Okay, I'm worn out and feel like I need to be in a nursing home somewhere making Christmas potholders because I can't do anything else! Wait. What am I saying? I can't make potholders either. Alan is gone to Miami this week and I thought that me and the kids could put the Christmas decorations out and put the tree up tonight and surprise Daddy when he got home. WRONG! I got the tree out of the box and once I figured out the middle section was actually the middle and not the bottom.... I couldn't get the crazy thing plugged in. I mean there are three plugs and they are even numbered. 1,2,3. BUT I would have had to bend the tree in half to get them to each other. There is NO way they reach!!!!! The saddest thing is that about 5 minutes after me trying to get the lights to come on Zoe said " Call Daddy! He will tell you how to do it." So, if you have any hints on how to make the lights on my kids Christmas tree come on please share! hahahha

Good Morning! I hope everyone had a glorious Thanksgiving Holiday. We had a wonderful time. We are actually still celebrating. We plan on going back home this afternoon. I'm hoping I can start putting up my Christmas tree today. I wanted to go ahead and share with you the other 3 things that God used to wake, shake, and BREAK me!!! The third thing was a book called The Way of the Master by Ray Comfort. A couple from church gave it to Alan and I so we would be able to witness to others the way Christ did. (Matthew 19:16-30) He used the Law. "The law is perfect in converting the soul."Psalms 19:7 I started reading it and listening to the CD that came with it "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and I was blown away. At first it was WOW! This really makes sense! This is really going to help me witness to others. Then I continued to listen to it over and over and I was convicted of habitually not obeying God's Law. (Exodus 20) We have the link on our blog.... Check it...

I want to share with you the second thing that God used to reveal to me truth about Him...... His word! I went to church and heard sermons preached on how Christians should live and how so many people just "play" church and play games with God and don't even realize it. When I first starting hearing these sermons....and actually seeing the verses in the Bible that are very straight forward on how Christian people should live holy and righteous lives. I would always be thinking of that "one" who needed to hear that. I would actually say to Alan on the way home. "Boy, I'm so glad ____ was there because they really needed to hear that!" Or "I wish _____ could have heard that one!" What a fool I was for thinking that. Those sermons were meant for ME! I'm the one who needed to hear it. You are either for God or against God. You are either hot or cold.In Revelation 3:15 Jesus says " I know your deeds, that you are neither cold n...

Howdy folks. We are just getting everything setup. If you are here, I'm glad you stopped by. Linda and I have been discussing creating a blog and now it has came to pass. We have plenty of stuff to talk ... er *blog* about. My heart leaps with joy because of what GOD has done in our lives! I hope that our posts here show our true appreciation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in his act of saving grace! "Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever."

HI! My name is Linda and I'm a born again believer in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit starting dealing with me about a year ago. The Holy Spirit revealed to me some things that caused me to do start do some causal thinking which ultimately led to serious thinking about my profession of faith and my life in general. I would like to share with you the 5 things that the Holy Spirit used to "wake me up from religion" and show me truth through His word. I will try to put one a day for the next five days First thing that happened was that Alan was saved or you could say he was born again. (Jesus says in the book of John "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.") There was a change in him. He was a new man! ( Eph 4:21-24) At first I thought it was because he was a "new" Christian and that he would settle down and would go back to acting like many of the 'mature Christians' that I was used to being around. That...