Sending Carmel off with Prayer, Love and Soap

And many thanks to Lisa for the toys! :)

James is awesome!

4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Favorite James verses

Hi everyone!

I have had such a great summer with you ladies! I have learned and grown so much from this study and our discussions. Stayed tuned for our next activities. My favorite verses are below!

James 1:25

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

James 2:22

You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

James 3:17

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

James 5:16

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Caution: Work not in progress

Thanks for the gift ladies! This provided at least 10 minutes of entertainment at work for me this morning. I put a couple more pics from last night below too. I had a great semester with you girls and will miss you! Hope everyone will make it out to a "screen on the green" with us in a couple weeks.

Favorite Verses from James

Looking forward to seeing you all tonight and recapping our semester study. I pulled out a few of my favorite verses from James. Feel free to add yours as well.

1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

1:25 "But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does."

2:5 "Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?"

3:9 - 11 "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?"

3: 13 "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom....3:16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."

4:2b & 3 "You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

4:6a "But he gives us more grace."

4:7 & 8a "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you."

5: 5 "You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter."

5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. "

Pictures from Uganda fundraising night!

Here are the pictures from Uganda fundraising night. Enjoy!

Upcoming Events:

Tonight, July 19 - Come out and support Carmel and her trip to Uganda!

Monday, July 23 - Come out to Buffalo Billards at 7:30p.m. with our own "Dr. Phil" as she celebrates making it through her defense earlier that day and will officially be graduating with her PhD! Woo hoo!

Tuesday, July 24 - Last group meeting of this semester! We will wrap up some final thoughts on our study of James and spend some time in prayer and fellowship. Bring some snacks to share with the group and we'll see you there! Oh yes, and don't forget to bring in some toiletries or other items that Lydia can take with her to the girls orphanage in Mexico!

More Pictures from Sunday!

I am doing my blog duty and posting the pictures I took at Baptism by the Bay. Thanks Ger for having space in the car to take me and Happy Belated Birthday Carmel!

Full Weekend

Well our group certainly had a full weekend!

Inservice

Thanks to Janine, Gina, Skye, Jill, & Lisa for helping Emily & I pack lunches Saturday afternoon. We actually got them all to fit inside Emily's refrigerator!

And another thank you to Janine, Jill, Steph, & Lisa for passing out lunches on Sunday before the 11:30a.m. service. It was a blessing for Emily & I to serve with you ladies this weekend!

Baptism by the Bay

We also had our very own Hortencia get baptised yesterday evening with about 20 others from NCC at Baptism by the Bay. So awesome to see her taking that step of faith and obedience that God has called her to. Her excitement was written all over her face. Congratulations Hortencia! Looking forward to seeing how God will use this as a catalyst to move you forward with Him.

James Chapter 5

1) Does James seem to be condemning all rich people? If so why? If not how can one be a good rich person?

2) The word "then" connects 5:7-12 to 5:1-6. Our patience should be based in part on what James said in the previous paragraph. Why would 5:1-6 lead to an exhortation to be patient?

3) Why should expecting the Lord's coming make you patient (5:7-9)?

4) What will prevent patience from becoming laziness and inactivity? How is it possible to be patient and yet active?

5) A sign of impatience is frivolous swearing. Why is it so offensive to God? (5:12, Mttw 5:33-37) What does swearing, especially by using God's name, do to our witness before unbelievers?

6) How does the attitude of confidence and certainty regarding prayer in verses 13-20 relate to James 4:15?

7) Only God can bring a sinner back and save him (John 6:44, Ephesians 1:7). So what does James mean by saying that one of us should bring the wanderer back and turn him from the error of his way?

James Chapter 4 Questions

1. How does it affect you to know that God considers your pursuit of selfish goals adultery?

2. What are some of the symptoms of friendship with the world? How can we as Christians live in the world and be relevant without being "friends" of the world?

3. God provides plenty of grace for us to overcome our envy, craving for
pleasure, and consequent quarreling. He offers abundant grace to
respond to Him with full devotion. Why does He give us this grace only
if we are humble, never if we are proud?

4. Have you ever wondered why you don't feel God near to you? According to 4:8, is this a failure on God's part or on our part? What should we do when God seems far away?

5. Do you actions show that you are doubleminded or singleminded in your devotion to God? Who does your behavior show is really first in your life?

6. What is a person saying about God and self when he makes plans without
consulting God? What would be the humble attitude toward plans (4:15)?

Let's Go Nats!

Well I'm definitely glad I decided to go out to my very first Nationals game despite the stickyness. It turned out to be quite a nice evening with my half-smoke and $4 bottle of water (minus the cap they take from you because they don't want you to throw it in the stands). Too bad we lost! But I'm glad I got to hangout with you guys. Hope Jumbo Slice was all you hoped for and more!

Here are Lydia's pictures:

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope you all had a great day yesterday. What a blessing it is to live in this country and have the freedom to worship Jesus freely! Do not let this day, week, year go by without thanking God for the opportunities we have here and how we can use what we have to bless others. Also, remember to keep our country's leaders in our prayers.

Luke 12:48 "From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more."