The Kind of USA We Live In.

We live out in the country off of a potholed (gotta fix that) chert road in a little town in the south.
My 2 teenage daughters (taller than I) want to walk the .9 mile to the mailbox.
I asked them if they had their pocket knives on them and running shoes on.
One of them had to go change her flip flops to tennis shoes.


Does anyone else realize with all the new technology and the unending passing of laws that are suppose to make us safe, that we are not any safer?

Man's heart doesn't change apart from the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?


Mattew 15:18,19
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:


Isaiah 64:6
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.


Psalm 53:1
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.


2 Corinthians 5;17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.


Romans 3:22
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:


Hebrews 1:3
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:


Hebrews 10:22
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.


Colossians 1:12-14      
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:


Ezekiel 36:26,27
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Philippians 2:13

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Men fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves.  ~Author Unknown

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.  ~Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.  Jeremiah 17:5

UNLIMITED, FASTER INTERNET

After some research and some expense and a little bit of ingenuity, we now have unlimited, faster internet.
(We went over our limited amount last month.)
Right now I as I type this, I am listening to hymns streaming from my computer and through some awesome sounding speakers.
Thanks to my husband for working so hard for us to have such things!

GOOD ATTITUDE

Remember Scott Hamilton, the olympic gold medalist ice skater?
He's been through some really tough times and comes through it all with a good attitude.
From the article, How Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton Found Jesus, Scott says,"I just learned that the only true disability in life is a bad attitude."

You know, I think he's right.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/how-olympic-gold-medalist-scott-hamilton-found-jesus-68160/

Movie Review Time:

Seven Days In Utopia

Disclaimer: I do not know enough about golf, nor do I want to, to use correct golf terminology.

I love a movie with a good message, even if it’s suppose to represent Christianity but only speaks of faith in God in general terms. Plus, it does kind of have a new age “what your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve” feel.

And even if it’s slow paced, or not a cinematic wonder or big action film or an exciting plot.

I was a little leery since it revolved around a sport.  Golf to be exact.

It was predictable for sure, but I don’t usually mind that.

And of course, there’s the, “Everything goes perfect when you become a Christian” myth.

Or is that what the movie is saying?................hmm. Let’s see.

Young man is pressured by his father to be the best golfer ever. Nothing matters but perfection.  From a young age, it’s practice, practice, practice.

Young man is impatient

Young man throws a tantrum when he flubs up in a tournament.

Young man takes off, driving his car to who knows where after messing up in that tournament, all the while having flashbacks of his father’s pressuring him, of golf games, of missing out on things with the rest of his family (like going to church), of his tantrum.

Then he comes to a fork in the road. Literally - on the highway.

He has to either turn left or he has to turn right. Left leads to a town called Vanderpool.

Right leads him to…..yup, you guessed it. It goes to the town of Utopia, Texas - Population: 373

As he is entering the outskirts of this in-the-middle-of-nowhere ranching community, his attention is drawn to a man out in a field, which causes him to pay no attention to the road ahead of him, where a big black bull (that’s a male cow for all you farm animal-challenged people) is standing in the road.

He sees it just in time to swerve and crash through a fence into a pasture, damaging his car and acquiring a small bit of damage to himself.

But that’s alright. It’s all part of the plan. The BIGGER PLAN.

Enter John (Robert Duval)

John is God’s messenger to this young man named Luke.

He’s also an ex pro-golfer. A man with the lessons of life that he’s learned the hard way.

He’s going to help Luke learn those lessons in 7 days……Seven Days in Utopia.

John has all these unusual activities for Luke to participate in, in order to learn these lessons.

Lessons to learn patience, lessons to develop vision, lessons on forgiveness, and finally, lessons that lead to faith in God. Also, they might lead to a better golf game.

At the end of Luke’s 7 days in Utopia, John does him a special favor and gets him in the PGA tournament.

(Yeah right!)

Here’s where we find out if all those lessons are put into practice in Luke’s life.

Does he still have a relationship with his dad?

Does he have forgiveness in his heart?

Does he trust God no matter what?

Does he practice patience in the golf game verses being angry and impatient when it doesn’t go well?

At the end of the game, the big name, more experienced, winning pro player misses and it seems that Luke’s golf game is going to end in perfection by his winning the tournament.

But………..just as the ball is rolling toward the whole…………………. the movie ends.

On the screen comes the words, “To Continue the Journey……        www.didhemaketheputt.com"

Remember the “everything goes perfect when you become a Christian” idea?

Yeah, they totally went there.

But, if you want to just ignore that and ignore the “believe and achieve” thing,

There are a couple of good messages you can get from this movie.

One is that a game is not that important.  (AMEN to that.) The character, John, even says this.

Two: relationships are more important, especially with God.

Three: patience (and calmness) is something one should attain.

Finally, and the biggest one, which sums up them all is:

                   It’s not winning the race that’s important. But it’s how you run the race.

And all of those messages are scriptural.

And that is why I like this movie.

It’s family friendly, rated G, with a slight bit of romance, and just enough humor.

Even if in reality a person cannot achieve these character traits in seven days (I think it takes a lifetime),

I recommend this movie to all those who like simple, relationship based movies and movies that remind you of God’s mercy. Remember…..God’s mercy is something no one deserves!!!

Hebrews 12:12

 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside                             every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

James 1:3,4

 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking  nothing.

Galatians 5:22

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

For a short review of the movie, Courageous, go to Laurel's blog:

http://laurelscrazylife.blogspot.com/search/label/movie%20reviews