The Real Enchilada

I've been promising more personal, introspective posts for a while now, and have at least one good one still in the editing stages... but this will do for now. It's largely adapted from an email and journal entries...

The Boy & The Girl
Ryan & I are doing well. We reach these sweet stretches where things are wonderful, and we're serving each other lots, and just having fun! My prayer is that those will be longer and longer stretches, with fewer inturruptions! Usually I'm the one to get cranky and break the mood... yuck. The Lord has recently shown me how often an emotion (usually anger) is the root of my sins against Ryan or in other areas, and I'm learning to ask for help when I feel it coming on. I get suckered into thinking that my feeling HAS to determine what I do, instead of truth. Can you identify at all? Pray for me in that way.

Encouragement
Along those lines, Ryan & I are teaching the kids at church, and right now the lesson is on Jesus growing up as a boy. It hit me that He knew exactly how it felt to be SO annoyed that you feel you HAVE to react in anger or frustration..."yet was without sin." He is THE person who can help me when I feel like I'm there-- THE proof that I CAN not get angry. That's been an encouragement lately.

Ryan just got home and relayed the final version of the T-house lesson he preached tonight, on Jesus walking on water (Matt 14:22-33), and it was amazing that his application was almost the same exact thing! That Jesus is near at hand with power to save, just when the temptation is fiercest (waves & wind strongest). He's walking on the water, calm and unsinking in the same storm. ("yet without sin") And the proper response to foundering faith is dependance-- prayer!-- not despair. "Lord, save me!" not "I'm going to sink! I'll never get out of this!" I think God's trying to get some point across to me... =D

Good Books
The Lord's been prompting my heart to examine myself-- to remember that my first duty is to be defined by godliness, not wife-ly-ness. You know? I'm supposed to be a GODLY wife, not just a wife. And I haven't been really cultivating personal holiness as much as I did before I was married. Which is natural, I suppose-- the whole 1 Cor 7 thing. No wonder sin has been more of a losing struggle latetly. No wonder I haven't felt "as close" to my Father as I have before. I don't want to let sin become rooted and such a habit that it keeps me distant from God! Anyway I bring all that up to say I'm reading Sin & Temptation (John Owen), A Hunger for God (John Piper), and other stuff that I hope will help. I'm also enjoying good doses of fiction. :) That stuff can be SOOOOO encouraging!!

Via Audiobook, I read F. H. Burnett's A Little Princess, which is a wonderful children's story, quite convicting: the heroine goes from tremendous wealth to starving poverty and ruthless hard work, and all the while is determined to act "like a little princess," always polite, honest, hard-working, and kind. So sweet. And I also read the Thoenes' Jerusalem Scrolls, which is set during Jesus' ministry. It's the story of Mary Magdalene, the centurion whose servant Jesus heals, and Martha & Lazarus (among other NT names), before and during their conversions. I was struck by how, well, un-Christian most of these people were...how cold they were towards Jesus, how self-righteous and unkind. It offended my imagination of them, of first-century Jews. But that's how they must have been... they crucified the Lord of Glory, after all! It's given me much encouragement (God can save anybody!!), and startling humility-- "what am I thinking? that God couldn't save someone that opposed to Him? He saved me!" "...as such you once were..."

I'm in a Book Club here, and it's great fun. Gets me to read books I'd likely not read on my own (not "my style" you know?), which in and of itself may not be a good thing, but paired with insightful discussion, it is! A great way to build friendships with thinking, godly women of all ages and walks of life!

Out & About
This weekend Ryan's taking me to see Phantom of the Opera downtown; my Christmas present. WOOHOOO!! We're going out to PF Chang's afterwards. I'm looking forward to that!!

There are several beats of my heart... may they be used to edify those who read! May you each receive what you need, and that always is God's grace.
~Christina

Snow Day!!

It snowed here today; school for me was canceled. I was looking forward to day of productive work, but God had other plans... my friend Ashlea ran out of gas, and called me so of course I ran to go get her, stopping by the Shuey's to borrow their gas can. As I was getting to the exit where Ashlea had run out of gas and left her car, I saw it being towed away! So then we had to track down where they impounded it, find it ("it's the car without any snow on it, row 22" -- as if that helped!), put gas in it from a can (which takes FOREVER), then drive to a gas station! Always an adventure with Ashlea around... then I went back to the Shuey's to return the gas can/tutor Morgan in Latin, and it ended up taking quite a while because I had to wait while they had lunch in the middle of it...

I worked a little, then ran out to the store to buy more GF flour to make banana pancakes for dinner... and Ashlea came over and we made Turkish coffee, then watched Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black (the first in a trilogy). It was about these people who get stranded on a desert planet right before an eclipse, and they find out the planet is inhabited by carnivorous radar-equipped things that only come out in pitch black... basically only 3 people survive and it's very unnerving. I'm glad I don't have to sleep by myself tonight! ... As you can see, not much work got done today!!

Amidst my changed plans, the Lord brought this verse to mind, brought up by several friends at our Ladies Fellowship last Saturday: "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good." 1 Peter 4:19 <-- if those suffering are to do this, how much more those who are having a wonderful day!? I guess the general attitude of our lives is to go about doing good, entrusted to God and His will for the day.

Glad to be warm and loved,
--Christina

Prayer Request

Please pray for a particular family here if you remember--a mother who was living with them is no longer able to care for her daughter, and so my friends have temporary custody of the baby girl, "Katie." Needless to say, a fourth child-- an infant at that-- is quite a lot of stress on them, and a tough adjustment for their youngest. And please, please pray for Katie's mother. We aren't exactly sure where she is, and it's really cold here. We fervently pray that she is somewhere warm, safe, and drug-free, somewhere she'll be able to think and realize what she's done and is doing. We don't know where little Katie will end up-- pray for her, too, that she will be protected and placed in a caring, stable, Christ-centered home -- either with a profoundly-changed-mother, or a foster family, or our friends.

The Vine Lady

From my visit last weekend to Nashville. I was visiting my Aunt Robin, Uncle Duncan & their two cuties, Caroline (4) and Luke (2)...with "baby Jack" on the way! One of Caroline's favorite local attractions is "the Vine Lady" who makes her appearance at the Opryland Atrium. Caroline even dressed up as the Vine Lady for Halloween! Anyway, the two of them were SO cute watching her and going to say hi to her, and then of course being the Vine Lady. TOO CUTE! The Vine Lady herself is rather impressive, I must say. (and I think her aim is to somehow appear seductive...but the stilts kind of negate that, I think...)

Response to my Previous Post

Here it is in full:

"You are trying your best to be a good preacher, lady, but you have no authority from God to preach like this to a man and you have no idea what you are talking about. You are deeply misguided."

D. Cloud


Hey! At least I got a response, proving my response was at least skimmed!

--Christina

Warning about Patch the Pirate?

Looking for some music for my choir, I came across an article warning against the inherent evil in "Patch the Pirate" music. That sort of thing galls me, for so many reasons. Two that come to mind: 1) this type of "Fundamentalist" thinking gives people a list of do's and don'ts and tells them that's how to be righteous. It grieved and angered me in Rome (the Catholic churches where pilgrims are promised pardon from any sin if they visit all 4 "big" churches), and in the lives of friends raised around Bob Jones University. NO!! ONLY throught JESUS are we made righteous!! The list either creates false hope or despair, depending on whether you do them or ont 2) because I love music! I've studied it, and throughout history "secular" music has been called sinful by one faction of the church or another...and then the age turns, and all of a sudden "Amazing Grace" is "the original tune" defended by old-timers, instead of being a contraversial tune to the textual composition of a questionable ex-slave-ship captain. How many "hymns-only!" defenders realize that hymns were scandalous when Watts wrote them-- "Psalms only!" was the conservative cry back then! Anyway, here is my response. Feel free to share any thoughts you may have:

To whom it may concern-

I just stumbled across your "warning" about Patch the Pirate music, and was physically sickened and at the same time incredulous. " The music would be right at home in a nightclub or a sleazy Broadway play and could easily conjure up such unwholesome images as that of a saucy woman sauntering across a stage."

Why would any child gets these images in his head? Where would they even get such ideas!? Any such association is, I'm afraid, a residue of Mr. Cloud's own sin-filled past, not a result of anything inherent in the music itself. ("To my great shame, I lived a very wicked and worldly life before I was saved, and I know as much about worldly music which is fitting for wicked environments as any other man.") I won't try to dissuade anyone of this "the Devil has a beat" position based on the hundreds of Scriptural and reason-based approaches, because my guess is that you are unwilling to consider them, and that better men and women than myself have tried to show you the sad, Judaiizer-istic errors in your this thinking. But I will say this: when Jesus saved Nicodemus, a Pharisee, do you think He would have warned him to now avoid anything that reminded him of his erroneous, pride-full self-righteous unsaved way of life-- to avoid anything smacking of Judaism? What about when He saved the woman caught in adultery-- would He have warned her to avoid anything that reminded her of her own tainted past-- maybe certain scents, certain sorts of fabrics? No... those saved from their own prisons of pride (legalism) now dedicated their desire for outward holiness and keeping of high holy days to the glory of Messiah; everything had new meanings for them now! For them, Jesus' blood redeemed everything that Satan had tried to twist to evil. Likewise, those saved from their prisons of license now dedicated everything once dedicated to self-indulgence to the worship of Messiah; one such sinner broke her box of nard to annoint His feet. Others surely married and enjoyed sexual intimacy (worship) with their husbands or wives, to the glory of the One who has bought all pleasure for His people.

There is nothing beyond the reach of redemption; not even a weak sinner's association with music he once enjoyed as a rebellious sinner. Sure, scars take time to heal, and some may do better avoiding certain "triggers." But they must be careful not to force the result of their weak consciences to label as 'evil' that which God created and called "good." Let the strong bear with those who are weak, until the weak can be taught and built up and be made strong, with consciences set free from condemnation, and bodies wholly dedicated to righteous living. (Rom. 15) In other words; let those whose consciences are weak and can't handle music that reminds them of situations where they sinned be helped along until they at least see that what led them to sin was sin in their own hearts (James 4:1) , not anything inherent in the situational musical soundtrack itself. "The world" is within our own hearts!! (Mt. 15: 10-20)

In Gospel bonds, and no other,
--Christina Szrama (Pre-K and Middle School Music Teacher)

Photo-Documentary

Too many photos to post, so here's a link to albums (on Facebook) you may peruse at your leisure!

Louisville Going-Ons ...birthday parties, church functions, friends eating food, and even a Christmas Tea!

Our First Christmas Together... pictures from our time in Ruston, LA with the entire Thompson Clan, pictures from Ashley & Craig Sarratt's wedding, and of our brunch with our dear friends Chris & Val Powell, in Greenville/Taylors/Greer, SC. Click and revel in the glory of my darlings, Hannah & Noah!! :)

~the Mrs.

ps- It's cold here!!!

A little Bit of New Year Humor

Ryan & I found this hilarious... especially me -- I watched it 3 times in a row before Ryan proclaimed me ridiculous. Thank you, Uncle Jeff. Why are the alcohol (especially beer) commercials always the funniest? (Molson's "Joe Canada," "The Magic Fridge," "Dude!"... the list goes on) What do I find funny about this?... not sure. I think it's the guy's "Oh... you meant--"

Anyway, we've got days of snow, but no snow days. Which is good for the sake of learning, I know... but not so good for my half-baked lesson plans! ;)

Off to rest up. Til next time (and mind you, I've had quite a post brewing in my head for the past week),
-- happy to be Mrs. Szrama

Just for you Anna: (the aforementioned "Magic Fridge" commercial)


p.s. The Szrama Clan does not endorse the irresponsible, unholy over-consumption of alcohol in any form (especially not Bud Light... yuck!). We just think the commercials are particularly well-done.

"He Ain't Heavy, Father...

...he's my brother"
Race & Van Parker

International Adoption... beautiful

New Years Resolutions...

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

For a great sermon on this text, listen to or download this one!

Christians naturally want to resolve for good, and the Apostolic model for us is to pray for each other, that we might be empowered by His Spirit to FULFILL those resolves! Ryan & I want to be more purposeful and thorough in our prayers for you... for your resolves for good... for the glory of our Lord Jesus! Pray for us, as we resolve to pray for your resolves! :)

--Christina

Christmas Decorations

Welcome! (I made the wreath myself =D)

Some of you may recognize our somewhat scary cactus: now it's a Christmas Cactus!

Our "real" tree: Ryan surprised me by bringing it home and setting it up with tinsel & lights one night. The tree itself is stolen. Sort of... ask Peter or Jen Sieg. ;D

Our "gift tree--" the one you saw snowed-under gifts before ...on loan from Christy Fullerton.

Yay for Christmas Poinsettias!!

Another of my wreaths... that tulle from the wedding came in handy!

Our "Advent Line" (hehe, no wreath...)

Before they come down, I have to chronicle them... I wanted to do so much more, but have contented myself with and enjoyed these:

A Very Thompson Christmas

the traditional Christmas pose: in front of the poinsettias...

Most of the Crew (minus my Mom, taking the picture) after enjoying National Treasure 2

Andrew playing with Ross (currently the youngest Thompson cousin)

Me singing with my Dad-- haven't gotten to do that in SO long (we sang Bob Kauflin's "In the First Light")

Daddy Ron feeding his "pippy" (puppy) Lucy

Riley pulling a Ryan (wearing the cool new watch from Uncle Bart!)


Conner in Daddy Ron's glasses-- he put them on and said "hey! these microphone everything!"

One More Day...

My friends Ashley & Craig are getting married tomorrow night! I tried calling Ashley, but the phone was off... made me think of the night before my wedding, NOT that long ago, when I tried to go to bed at a decent hour, and, try as I might, sleep would not come. I wasn't nervous or really even excited... I guess just happy. So, Ashley, I pray that you are happy right now... and also resting. :) (and I've heard that you've been sick, so I pray you're TOTALLY HEALED by tomorrow!) I know where Craig is-- in the hot tub at my Uncle's house, 5 houses down. If my family hadn't been so wrapped up in a HILARIOUS game of "Outburst," I would likely have gone down to crash it... ok, just to say hi to Craig. I tutored him through high school English & Spanish, come on! And he returned the favor in college, and got me through Physics.... ok, so that still isn't enough to motivate me to crash a hot-tub full of boys. Actually, i don't know what WOULD...

God give you both health and clarity of mind tomorrow. Ashley, if you're reading this at any time tomorrow (I know, not likely), then please, make up your mind to NOT stress, and to ENJOY IT! Craig, same to you. :) And don't do anything stupid that might ruin the pictures.

I love "Nights Before," don't you? One of the reasons is because they are inevitably followed by "Days of;" I mean, you couldn't have one without the other. But part of their glory is the delicious (or torturous) knowledge that this night WILL end, and then something will change; it's the Last Night, and then tomorrow will be the First Night. We love security, as humans; we like to be comfortable, even boring. But we crave change, too, calling it progress, improvement, fun. On the Night Before, we're looking at both, smacking our lips on the sweetness of the last of the known, and already anticipating the new taste to come. It's like a kid alternating between finishing one doughnut and smelling another. Smiling at both. The Day Of may pass quickly, but the Nights Before hardly ever do. They are endless, for all intents & purposes, until you look back on them.

I think... hmmm... I think I want to live my life here as a "Night Before:" enjoying every bit of it, even the stuff I naturally, uh, don't enjoy... and all the while whetting my appetite for Heaven. What was it those more sophisticated than I called it? The already-and-the-not-yet?

That.

Because "Today is the Day of Salvation." Christ "for once saved those who are being saved." We're living in the Kingdom, and waiting for the Kingdom. We're groaning for redeption, and fully redeemed. We're longing for His presence, and enjoying it already. Like a Bride trying to sleep for the last night in her old bed...

Ok, so I was going to post a picture of Ash & I together, and wound up taking quite the pictoral stroll down Memory Lane. Here are a few for you to enjoy. :)

October 2002-- Ashley & I in front of Miabi's, Eastside's Homecoming (both freshly graduated from h/s)
Summer 2003- Craig, Me, & David Sapp, rock climbing in Kings Mt, NC. Attractive harnesses, don't you think? (that was back when Craig worked for Rocks & Ropes!)


June 2002-- Craig switching bathroom signs on our Mission Trip to Mezquital (he was supposed to do that...)
Ashley with her Daddy & Kristen Hatfield, same mission trip

Nov 2002- Ashley with me, right after I cut 18" off my hair (she was my moral support for that, and for the 2nd hole I had pierced in my ear for my 21st birthday... ahh, good times)

March 2005- Ashley talking with kids in the Acapulco Orphanage- a mission trip we took through Furman's RUF... hehehe I have lots of pictures of Ashley, it would seem...

September 2006- Triple-Play Date Night- Ryan & Lydia Donell had Craig & Ashley, and Ryan & I over for dinner & games. Ahhh, young love.

Can't wait to see that last dating couple be sealed!! :)
--Christina

Merry Christmas!

Clockwise from bottom: Bart (my Dad) w/ Karina (my Mom) on his lap; the Charlie Thompsons: Ross, Collin, Aunt Paige & Uncle Charlie (my Dad's youngest and tallest brother); Andrew (Rusty's oldest), Aunt Anne (Rusty's wife) & Nicole (my middle sister), standing; Mama Blanche (my grandma's Mom); the Szramas; Daddy Ron & Mama Peggy (reigning pair); Conner (Rusty's youngest), Anna (my youngest sis), and Riley. My Dad's younger brother Rusty was taking the picture, and their sister Robin & her family couldn't make it this year. She's quite pregnant with "Jack," their 3 child.

Most of "the Thompson Clan" is gathered here at my grandparents' house in Ruston, LA. Actually, their home (the one all the grandkids have always known as their house) is quite a bit OUT of town, set on its own 48-acres complete with woods, creeks, pond, and meadows. It's also equipped with 4-wheeler trails, a VW Thing, dirt bikes, a shooting range, lots of guns, a trampoline, and my Uncle Rusty's under-construction new GORGEOUS house & shop.

I'll post pictures of our ambles through the woods with the dogs & my grandpa later. I shot a shotgun for the first time in 4 years or so, and was relieved that I could still aim & shoot ok. I wouldn't have wanted to be shown up by my little cousins. Although, Riley (who was with us) is so sweet and encouraging that he wouldn't have rubbed it in if I hadn't been able to shoot the bottle out of the tree at all.

Most of us stayed up late last night, after letting the kids open one present each. We played Rummikub, the game Ryan bought Andrew, and just swapped stories. Charlie & his brothers kept us in stitches, mostly recounting all his childhood mishaps resulting in broken bones! Then this morning we had a big Christmas Dinner, a day earlier than usual, because my uncle Charlie had to leave in the afternoon.

The older set of boys (Dad, his brother Rusty, and Ryan) are making quite a ruckus trying to fly their new remote-controlled helicoptors inside... Aunt Anne, Nicole, Anna & I just finished several rounds of 'Blokus,' one of the games "the little boys" (Rusty's boys) got for Christmas. It was quite a lot of fun! After 15 years with Anne as my aunt, we're just now starting to see her competitive, jokester side. :) We opened all our presents tonight, after the Christmas Eve Candlelight service... I am still in shock from the Phantom of the Opera tickets Ryan got for me!!!

All right, I'd better go find my child and get him ready for bed... :) More pictures and thougts to come--

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
~Christina Maria

Boys Singing, Boys Playing

A fun bit of Christmas Cheer...



[This is Indiana University's male a capella group, Straight No Chaser, check out their other songs on Youtube, such as "Africa"-- this will make the ending of "the 12 Days of Christmas" make sense.]

I want my boys to sing like this! Speaking of which, I played a clip of the Winchester Boys Choir singing Christmas hymns for my 5th and 6th graders...the looks of incredulity on those boys' faces was AMAZING! "Those are NOT boys, Mrs. Szrama!" "They've got girls in there, I hear them!" And then wen I smiled and said, "Listen- here they go up higher!," their eyes got even rounder, which I didn't think possible. I'm trying to teach them that, yes, boys really DO sing high before 8th grade!! They think they can't sing high, but if I don't tell them it's high, they can do it! So many boys are shy about singing, but I've never met any grown-up boy who was glad he'd never learned how. People go nuts when boys sing!!

Anyway, Ryan & I are safely in Ruston, LA, and Ryan's been introduced to the ranch, the Thing, my great-grandma, and all the Thompson Clan traditions. Tomorrow my Dad & I will sing at Temple Baptist Church here in town; I'm looking forward to singing with my Daddy again. Ryan's been a hit with the boys (my 3 cousins); he came dressed for breakfast in a Power Rangers mask, tennis arm band, cap, and carrying a huge Batman doll. They loved that, as you can imagine. They're such sweet boys that they'd have loved just about anybody. But Ryan is such a great fit for them-- I mean, they are so much like he & his brothers growing up: loving being outside, fantasy, Legos, video games, books, board games, trampolines, and being active in general. Just boys. Good boys-- polite, excitable, sweet, and full of energy. My Aunt Anne's done a wonderful job with them...and God has been so gracious. May He give Ryan & I such boys in a few years!!

Til later (And more sure to come!),
Christina

Teacher Gifts and Christmas Cheer

Piled around and on our tiny tree: Most of the gifts I've received as a teacher!
...gift cards to Target, Wal-Mart, the Oxmoor Mall, LifeWay Christian stores, and our favorite restaurants (P.F. Chang's, Q'doba, Texas Roadhouse)... beautiful ornaments (I especially love the homemade ones!), pretty Christmas things (the goblet from the Kings is now the holder for our Christmas Day Advent Candle), and lots and lots and lots of yummy things to eat! We're sharing as much as we can, let me tell you!

I remain amazed by how lavishly I'm loved on by the parents at Dorothy Sayers!

School Pics

I just got these pics of me with my sweet kids... They turned out remarkably well-- go Mr. Tomeny of Craig Paul Studios!!

The Monday/Wednesday class ("Jack" will tell you he's my favorite boy in the WHOLE class!)

Tuesday/Thursday's class... not as pretty a day.
Can you tell they're my more rambunctious/distractable group? =D

oh, and that's our class bear, Rhys Luther. Very important classmember. He had to stay home sick today, as I told the dissapointed kids. I told them he was full of germs-- which is true-- being washed right now, so I can have him there for the last day of school of 2007. They would NOT be happy without saying goodbye to him! :)

I'm off for much-needed recovery sleep
-- happy to be Mrs. Szrama

Fed-Ex Delivery

Whoooohoo! We got our wedding album today!

Meet Three of our Pastors

I lifted these straight off of our new, being-built church website, because I found them so refreshing and honest. These are the kind of men God has sent to us to shepherd us here at Immanuel. Ryan & I have the privelege of knowing all of the 5 pastors surprisingly well, through various "coincidences." Ryan works with Ben, for instance... yes, he is the Ben who bought me the bubblegum-coated chocolate icecream way back when...

Marvel at the sort of men God's grace can make!:

Our Pastors.

Ryan Fullerton

Pastor Ryan was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and grew up all over Western Canada. Throughout his teen years he looked to political causes to make him feel righteous and drugs and sex to make him feel happy. Thankfully, by the time he was 21 he found his righteousness was a joke and his happiness had turned sour. Then, through the simple and intelligent witness of his step-mom he came to trust Jesus Christ late in the evening just before Good Friday in 1995. Following that Ryan began to grow, to tell people about Jesus, and to study his Bible. Shortly after his conversion he studied for a year at Prairie Bible College, in Three Hills Alberta, and then for two years at Tyndale College in Toronto, Ontario. In Toronto, Ryan had two life shaping experiences. First, he got to work in a downtown urban Church under the leadership of Dr. Stephen Beck. Second, he got invited to be in a ‘study group’ by the godliest and the prettiest girl in the college. A week after graduation the lovely Christy Joy Teal became Christy Joy Fullerton. The next eight years have been a whirlwind including drilling for oil, pastoring a Church in a town of 311, finding out he was naturally a bad husband, God giving miraculous and happy grace in his marriage, having four children (Jordana, Luke, James, and Christopher), starting Seminary, stopping Seminary, and becoming (somewhere in there) the Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church. Since 2002 Ryan has been the Pastor of Immanuel. In that time God has blessed him with many trials, incredible Co-Pastors, and an amazingly loving Church. On top of all this he has had the privilege of seeing Immanuel Baptist Church take some small steps towards bringing the heartbeat of the Cross to the Streets of our city and the ends of the earth.
Right now at Immanuel Ryan has the primary responsible for preaching the Word of God Sunday Mornings, equipping others to preach God’s Word on Wednesday Nights, shaping our Sunday Morning ‘Discipleship Classes’, and leading our public services. He is also beginning to spearhead evangelism, and to cultivate and articulate the vision of the Church.

Ben Hedrick
baptism as people! Homeschooling took up most of Ben's K-12 education : as a result he is very close to his parents and sisters and is thankful for the the way the Lord used them to make him more like Jesus. Ben continued his education at Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis, where he graduated with a BA in Religion in 2003 . He came to Immanuel in 2004, and soon after met and married his wife Sarah, a gifted pianist and graduate of the University of Louisville School of Music. Together, Ben and Sarah have two children: Karis, and #2 due in May of 2008! Karis is still a toddler and is learning new phrases every day, of which Ben's favorite isBorn in Memphis, Tennessee but raised mostly in Kansas, Ben is one of Jim and Lee Ann Hedrick's three children. The Lord blessed Ben with faithful Christian parents who were continually modeling for him pastoral, cross-bearing Church service. The Lord drew nine-year old Ben to himself through the witness of his parents, and Ben considers it a great honor to have had his father baptize him in a Kansas creek. His father's congregation was the only Baptist church in the county, and as such there were as many cattle in attendance at the "yes sir, daddy"! Ben enjoys spending time outdoors with his family , watching St. Louis Cardinal baseball, roasting his own coffee, and plans on becoming a hobby beekeeper someday. Working full time in sales for a local family-owned commercial refrigeration company takes up most of his time, but Ben also longs to see local churches founded firmly on deep and rich theology that works itself out in believers doing good to all men, especially the household of faith.

Jeff King
Pastor Jeff King grew up in a suburb just outside of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida called Coral Springs. He is the son of two wonderful Christian parents. While in High School, he began courting Christy, whom he somehow persuaded to marry him halfway through his college years. Jeff attended Samford University where he obtained a BA in Religion. Jeff and Christy moved to Louisville in 1998, and joined IBC in January of 2002. He became a volunteer pastor in 03. He graduated from Southern Seminary in May ’04, and was hired in May of 07 to be the second staff pastor at IBC. Jeff oversees discipleship counseling, membership, missionary support, IBC staff, and care group ministries. Jeff and Christy have two daughters, Alexis and Rachel. Jeff recently “delivered” a spleen weighing more than either daughter weighed at their birth. Alexis attends pre-school at Dorothy Sayers and is learning that the letter “A” makes four sounds. Rachel has learned that she can aggravate her sister by making one of those sounds four times. [Edit: HAHAHAHA] Jeff enjoys being with his family, reading, playing sports, gardening, and watching Gator football. Jeff desires to lead a people to fight for joy, and sees every experience as a Divine call to joy—a shameless, unmitigated challenge to throw off all worries and complaints and to “enter into the joy of our Master.” (Matt. 25:21). Jeff’s happiest thought is that Christ shed His blood for sinners.

p.s. I just want to applaud my husband for the hours and ingenuity he's put into the code behind that new website. God be praised for the quiet good that you do! I love you!!

By Grace

Yesterday, through the readings of the Scripture, the Spirit of God filled me with immense joy and full-hearted...amazement at His Love and His sovereignty! Studying the Sermon on the Mount, God brought sudden insight into the place of His Law, and Jesus' exaltation of it. The Law shows us God's holiness-- how could Jesus ever come to abolish it?? Jesus LOVES holiness; He's the guy in Psalm 119 who cries "Oh, how I LOVE Your Law; it is my Delight!" He came to show us how beautiful it is to keep the Law, and to purify a people for Himself who are ZEALOUS about law-keeping (Titus 2), and to make them able to do what they were never able to do before: keep the Law, because He livees in them and enables them to!! Anyway, it struck me how beautiful that was... and get this: God wrote things into His Law to ensure that He could bear its curse. He's the One who said "cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree," so that in 1500 years, when crucifixion was popular, He could endure it and "become accursed," to set His Beloved free from the Curse deserved by everyone who breaks His Law. I wanted to cry out with Paul "o the depth of the riches of His wisdom and knowledge!"

And I felt like Martin Luther, suddenly understanding, with proper amazement, that, though we CAN'T keep the Law, we can still be declared righteous! God loves His Law, and it is beautiful-- all His Laws protect beauty-- and He made a way for law-breakers to become righteous... and to love His Law as He does, as it was so gloriously kept in Christ! As I didn't have any nails, or any inside doors in our living quarters, for that matter, I contented myself with running into our dining room/bedroom and cuddled up in bed with Ryan, thanking God and rejoicing. When he woke up a little, I told him what the Lord was showing me, and he kissed my forehead and I curled up on his chest, happy in Jesus.

Oh, won't you read this and leave praising the Lord that it is NOT, as some cults subtly maintain, "by grace we are saved, after all we can do." It is SOLA GRATIA-- by Grace, GIVEN to us, all the way, the only way... and that is WORTH staking your life claim upon!

Awaiting the Day when I can hold the All-holy, and not be pushed away... because of Grace,
~Christina