Beach Day

Lacey and me

All the girls

The Whole Crew

Yesterday Grandma Dot took me, Karissa, Kolten and some of the Goldmans to the beach. Our friends the Sleadds had organized a whole day and I really wanted to go, but didn't think I could, so imagine my excitement when I found out that day that I could. We were a little late, but still had plenty of time to have fun. We met everyone at the beach and split up to go see our friends. I hung out with most of the girls and we played frisbee, walked and talked. Afterwards everyone went to a park to sing and pray, but before that Grandma had to go to Freddies (Fred Myers) to buy clothes for the ones who got soaking wet. At the park we played more frisbee, ate chips, sang parise songs, thanked God for the wonderful day, then we all went our separate ways.

It was such an awesome time. We expected it to be freezing, but God blessed us with wonderful weather.

Thank you Sleadds for organizing it and talking the Kruses into going (which provided the opportunity for me to go). Thank you Grandma for driving us there and for all the meals and treats. Thank you Dad and Mom for letting me go. And thanks for reading all this.
See ya!

Check it out!

Me, Karissa, David, Alex and Destiny (it was her idea) have all decided to start a blog about our Omnibus class.
Click below to enter the world-

The Omnibus Blog

Check it out :)

Long Time No See :)

WOW! I sure haven't posted in a long time. I guess it's because I've been so busy (I understand now why Nathan never posts :), but I've loved it. We finished the Chosen by God book, and my life will never be the same. We have also finished the whole book of Exodus, and the theme with this book is was about how Israel was freed from slavery to sabbath, freedom from a cruel king to serve another. We applied this in our day by saying-"freed from slavery to sin to a servant for Christ." We also talked about whether we should apply the death penalty of the O.T. to our day in age. I think so, but what do you think?We took these pics on day after class when dads battery went dead and then when he tried to jump it with Tami's car, her car went dead.

I also got my permit after a year of waiting, hoping, dreaming and waiting :) but now it's so sweet. I barely passed the test, I think I went through it to fast, but I still passed.

That's what has been going on...well I didn't post it all, it will all come in future post.
See ya!

School Time!

Many of you probably already know about the Omnibus course that I and my cousins are going through, but let me give you my opinion on it- It’s so totally AWESOME. No other course compares to it. I know I’m going to get so much out of it, because they teach on so much and because I have a teacher who really knows how to explain certain things and who is just plain old smart-my dad.

This week we went through the whole book of Genesis and studied on covenant, which is quite a coincidence because that is what dad has been teaching in his sermons. Yesterday we all came up with our own definition of what a covenant is…want to hear it? Good because here it is- “A covenant is a sacred and formal relationship between two or more people with clearly defined expectations and consequences.”
Today people replace the covenantal aspect of God with individual relationships, but all throughout the Bible God makes covenants. It’s so awesome!

I have gotten so much more out of Genesis than I use to. God put so much depth into the first 3 chapters of the whole Bible, it’s amazing. We had some really good talks on how long are the creation days (7^th day creationist vs. Theistic evolutionist), the flood, and where did all the races come from. They have been some very enlightening conversations.

During all that we also have to be reading a book called “Chosen by God” by R.C. Sproul. This book has been even more enlightening than you can image in.

Chp.1- Defining predestination (the topic of the book). Predestination has something to do with the relationship of our ultimate destiny, and that something is done about our destiny before we are even born. Other words- our destiny-the kingdom or eternal destruction-is decided by God, not only before we even get there, but before we were ever born. Pretty good...aye?
He then went into how all churches hold to some form of predestination, but the key question that they all argue on is this: On what basis does God make that decision? Do our individual lives have any bearing on that decision? How we answer these will determine if our view is reformed or not.

Chp.2-This was the best chapter, and I was able to get two apologetics cards out of it-sweet! First he talked about the sovereignty of God. God is the supreme authority over all authorities; all other authorities exist either by God’s command or by God’s permission.
If there is any part of creation outside of His sovereignty, then He is not sovereign and if He’s not sovereign, then God is not God. If we reject divine sovereignty then we must hold to atheism (at this part I couldn’t put the book down). We must hold to divine sovereignty, yet do it in such a way as not to violate human freedom. Human freedom and evil are under God’s sovereignty, He does not violate them.
At this point he went into the sovereignty of God and the problem of evil. Answering the question how could God create evil (Cat. 1 G.Q.- 3, for all you speech people J) But this post is already getting to long and you’re probably about to go back to whatever you were doing. So I’ll just say this- We know that God is sovereign, because God is God. Therefore we must conclude that God foreordained sin and that it was a good decision. What else is there to conclude?

Now I’m not saying that evil is good. God’s allowing evil is good, but the evil he allows is still evil. Hope that sums it up for you.

Again I need to draw to a close but I can’t, there is so much I want to say. By now the question is raised-“How can I have free-will when God is all sovereign and has already predestined my fate?” They do seem contradicting; many people try to come up with analogies to explain it. One is they are like parallel lines that come together in eternity. Of course if parallel lines ever came together they wouldn’t be parallel.

We cannot affirm that they are contradicting or else we would be saying that the Holy Spirit is an author of confusion-which is impossible.
Here is the answer-it is not freedom that is cancelled out by God’s sovereignty, it is autonomy that cannot exist with supreme sovereignty. We are free but there is a limit to our freedom and the limit is God’s sovereignty.

Ok this is the end now, I won’t write any more on this book, until the next post, even though I am sorely tempted too.

If you have made it this far you are remarkable.

But before you leave please tell me what you think about God being covenantal, and about the doctrine of predestination?

Me and Natalie at Speech club

Happy Birthday!!!

Yesterday was Katrina's Birthday, but I couldn't get the video to work until now, and it still has a problem :)

What is Self-Government and What is its Foundation?

What is Self-Government?

Websters 1828 dictionary defines Self-Control as "restraint exercised over one's own impulses, emotions, or desires..."

Let's look at Reuben and Joseph, two of Israel’s sons, as an example. Joseph was sold into slavery, as a slave he had many temptations in the house of a rich man. But one temptation in particular he fled, he had self-control and did not give in to the temptation. He suffered many cruelties for what he did but God was with him all through it. Later on in Gen.41:38 "Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” ^39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.”

Joseph was discerning and wise, he had self-control. He was stable and fled temptations. Whereas Reuben was called “unstable as water” (gen.49:4a). Joseph excelled greatly and Reuben did not, one had self-control and stableness and the other didn’t.

Self-government is something that one possess and when possessed they are able to flee temptations, control their anger be stable etc..

What is the Foundation of Self-Government?

Back in Genesis where Pharaoh is praising Joseph he says “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God” The spirit of God dwelled in Joseph and it is because of that that Joseph was great.

The Fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5) is a great virtue and a self-governed person would possess these.
Notice thought they are called the fruits of the Spirit. Only when the Holy Spirit is working through us can we produce theses fruits.

As human beings, descendents of Adam we are born in sin (Rom.5:12), our hearts are wicked (Jer.17:9), we are born sinful (Ps.51:5). Being such we do not desire to do good, and are not good (Ecc.7:20, Rom.3:12, Matt.19:17). Therefore we cannot have self-government without Christ or the Holy Spirit working through us, doing those good works through us.

As is said in Matt.15:4-5 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. ^5“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

To bear the Fruits of the Spirit the Holy Spirit must dwell in us and this is the foundation of self-control.

Pastors who have had a huge influence in my life-

Since I got an ipod 2 years ago I have really been wanting to listen to more sermons but never got into them until this year. I would like to share with you some of the men who I love to listen to.

1. Kenny Anderson- not only is he the best dad ever, but he is wonderful in the pulpit.
Church to me now is not just about seeing all my family and stuff, but rather I look forward to hear what dad has to deliver, and it is always very impacting and useful.

2. Greg Bahnsen- I don't know if he was a regular pastor but his talks on apologetics are wonderful. If you haven't listened too " Weapons of Our Warfare" or "Destroying All Speculations" by him, you better. He was a great debater, you can listen to his all time debate by clicking here. You better listen to it.

3. Gary DeMar- He followed Bahnsen in many ways. He has a podcast/radio show now and I love to listen to it. Me and dad just went to a Worldview Super Conference hosted by his organization called American Vision. If you have listed and heard of Bahnsen then you'll like him.

4. Douglas Phillips- Many home schoolers know this name, he is huge in that circle. His talks are very interesting. My favorite cds that he has put out are called "Daughters of Victory" and "The Sleeping Beauty". They have had a huge impacting on my life and what I want to do with my life. Every girl MUST listen to those talks.

5. Paul Washer- We just started listening to him and it has been a HUGE influence in all my family's lives. Click here to listen to some of his stuff. I highly recommended you look him up and listen to some of his stuff. You have too, I can't even begin to describe how good he is. But don't listen to him if you don't want to change your life for the better.

6. John Piper- Our family has started to watch some of his sermons at night and believe me, we don't regret it. If you haven't heard of him then you have really missed out.
Click here for videos etc...

7. Bill Jack- He is very good for teens. He goes around the states and speaks at camps called Worldview Academy Leadership Camps. They are very good and I hope to be able to attend one in the future. He is very funny and smart which makes him an excellent speaker. If your a teen you should definitely look him up.

8. Voddie Bauchman- I first heard him at the conference I went to in NC. He believes many of the things that I believe and rarely find in many of the pastors today. Click here to watch some clips, but they're not as good as when he's in the pulpit. My favorite saying of his is "We are raising men who have the biological capability to have children." Very impacting for one sentence.

9. Way of the Master podcast- They were the first who really got me going. I listened to them to learn how to street witness. Even though now that I find many things wrong with their theology, I still recommend them if you want to learn a great way to share the gospel.

These men are only a handful of all the great pastors out there.
Who do you like to listen too? Have you heard of these men before, and what is you opinion of them...please I really want to know :)

Anderson Family -The Younger Years

Here is a video dad did a long time ago.
We had taken a lot of pics then dad made this little thing.
Also I did a video of our recent years and posted it...click here to watch it :)