Faith for Tomorrow

It was by faith that the walls of Jericho fell after the people had marched around them for seven days.

It was by faith that Rahab, the prostitute, welcomed the spies and was not killed with those who refused to obey God.

Do I need to give more examples? I do not have time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. Through their faith they defeated kingdoms. They did what was right, received God’s promises, and shut the mouths of lions. They stopped great fires and were saved from being killed with swords. They were weak, and yet were made strong. They were powerful in battle and defeated other armies. Women received their dead relatives raised back to life. Others were tortured and refused to accept their freedom so they could be raised from the dead to a better life. Some were laughed at and beaten. Others were put in chains and thrown into prison. They were stoned to death, they were cut in half, and they were killed with swords. Some wore the skins of sheep and goats. They were poor, abused, and treated badly. The world was not good enough for them! They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the earth.

All these people are known for their faith, but none of them received what God had promised. God planned to give us something better so that they would be made perfect, but only together with us. (Hebrews 11:30-40, New Century Version)

Even though I’ve read through the entire Bible twice, I don’t remember this chapter of Hebrews. It sure sticks out to me now.

All the people in the Bible who had nothing else except for faith in God. Faith that there would be enough water to drink, enough food to eat. Faith that God would make things right. Faith that God would save them in the end. Faith that their struggles would be worth it.

There is so much going on right now, from the circle of people I know and love, to my town, to my country, and out there in the world. Will this pandemic ever end? Will we be at war with Russia in the coming months? Will the freedoms we take for granted be taken from us?

Worry and anxiety won’t answer any of those questions. Maybe faith won’t either, but faith will let us sleep at night and will give us hope in the new day.

 

Remodel post 5 (and the final one)

I promise this is the last post on our recent home remodeling project. At least for now. This series has renewed my interest in our really big project from 1999, when we turned the garage into the living room. I have a book full of photographs to scan first. But I digress.

So here are the before, during, and after pics of our shower. Many years ago, we had installed one of those tub surrounds, which we had thought about keeping. But then my daughter offered us boxes and boxes of tile which came with the house she bought a few years ago.

From the other angle. Even found one picture from before we did any major remodeling, when the original avocado tile graced the bathroom and we had installed the sliding shower door.

Then there was the shower surround.

And onto the new tile.

This might be my very favorite part of the entire remodeling project, even over the oak kitchen cupboards.

When my daughter gave us those boxes of leftover tiles, we knew there weren’t enough of one color or style. I embraced that though, telling our contractor to just mix it up, that he didn’t need to worry about any sort of pattern. I love what he did.  

Many of the homes I’ve been to on my travels to Kenya were tiled with multiple mix-matched tiles. Though my shower tiles aren’t nearly so varied, they still remind me of my home away from home in Africa.

The Faith of Moses

         It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born. They saw that Moses was a beautiful baby, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s order.

It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of the king of Egypt’s daughter. He chose to suffer with God’s people instead of enjoying sin for a short time. He thought it was better to suffer for the Christ than to have all the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking for God’s reward.

It was by faith that Moses left Egypt and was not afraid of the king’s anger. Moses continued strong as if he could see the God that no one can see. It was by faith that Moses prepared the Passover and spread the blood on the doors so the one who brings death would not kill the firstborn sons of Israel.

It was by faith that the people crossed the Red Sea as if it were dry land. But when the Egyptians tried it, they were drowned. (Hebrews 11:23-29, New Century Version)

Last Sunday, I wrote about Noah’s faith in God. Next to the famous ark-builder, Moses is probably the most well-known man in the Old Testament.

Perhaps Moses had an advantage over us, and even over Noah. God appeared to Moses in that burning bush, so he must have believed everything that God was telling him. Right?

God is hardly ever that obvious; He usually tries to get our attention in less apparent ways. But listen, watch, pay attention. If you are doubting your faith, God is out there. He is communicating with you, showing you the way. All you need is faith.   

Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find him. (Hebrews 11:6, New Century Version)

Remodel post 4 – Toilet

Yes, the toilet is pretty exciting. Well, isn’t it? I think we all take our modern flush toilets for granted. Shoot, we take toilet paper for granted. But go a day without either of these modern conveniences. No thanks!

Once again, I have to start with the pictures from way back. When we moved into this house in the fall of 1990, believe it or not, there was shag carpet in this bathroom. I know – yikes! We immediately ripped it up to find this sketchy tile underneath.

Downright nasty.

We picked up this pretty pink and green linoleum and slapped it down as quickly as we could.

Then in 2003, we painted and put down some stick-on tile. New toilet, too.

And finally, we arrive at December of 2021.

Greatly improved, don’t you think?

 

Remodel post 3 – Bathroom Sink and Vanity

Going to make this quick. It’s been a rough week and a half. I’ll get through it, though. Gotta have faith.

 I had thought I might share all the before, during, and after pictures of the bathroom remodel. But then once I brought out the pictures from the first remodel back in 2005, I realized there were just too many. So, I present the vanity first. 

The original vanity when we moved in the house back in 1990. That avocado tile! Hideous!  

The beginning of ripping it up in 2005.

The finished vanity in 2005. Looks good, but what you can't see is that on the left side there was a gap of about three inches because we bought the sink at a great discount. 

And the current remodeling, beginning on December 3. 

The sink hadn't come in yet when we had company over on New Year's Day. Thus the bottle of hand sanitizer!

Ta-da! Love it! 

Noah's Faith

It was by faith that Noah heard God’s warnings about things he could not yet see. He obeyed God and built a large boat to save his family. By his faith, Noah showed that the world was wrong, and he became one of those who are made right with God through faith. (Hebrews 11:7, New Century Version)

Can you imagine hearing God’s voice telling you to do something as outrageous as building a boat big enough to carry two of each animal on the earth?

Even with today’s technology, it takes a team of experienced boat builders, engineers, and mechanics to create a seaworthy vessel capable of carrying huge loads. Yet, with no experience whatsoever, Noah listened to God’s voice and had faith that God would help him every step of the way.

When you’re faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge, do you walk away, or do you put your trust in God and have faith that He will see you through?

Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find him. (Hebrews 11:6, New Century Version)

Faith, part 2

Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it. (Hebrews 11:1, New Century Version)

Last Sunday, I introduced my word of the year – the word which will lead my spiritual walk this year, the word which I hope will bring me closer to God, the word I can turn to when things get rough.

When I shared that word with you last Sunday, I also posed some questions. The main one being – why pick such an obvious word? Well, because it’s important. It’s often all we have. And because sometimes I need – we all need – something so obvious.

Let’s spend some time looking at what the Bible says about faith.  

It is by faith we understand that the whole world was made by God’s command so what we see was made by something that cannot be seen. (Hebrews 11:3, New Century Version)

You basically have to believe that the world and everything in it was created by God. Or you believe in some big bang theory, some scientific postulation as to how the world was formed. As far-fetched as the creationist theory may sound, I think that the evolution theory seems just as crazy. What caused some gaseous matter to randomly start shaping into a planet and how did a bunch of molecules grow into a life form and why would sea creations crawl out of the water and suddenly start breathing air and then shed their scales for skin and grow legs and arms and hair.

I don’t know. I guess you just have to have faith in one theory or another, I just have faith that God made us; I believe in that which I cannot see. 

Remodel Post 2 - Kitchen

I’ve managed to delete twelve of the 212 pictures I took of our house remodel. Down to an even 200, except I still have to get a final picture of the bathroom sink. You’ll get to see that next week.

For now, here is the great reveal of the kitchen. Our house was built in 1969 and I always thought these cupboards were original – sure look like it, don’t they? But then the guys found this note under one of the cupboards when they ripped them up. Interesting, huh? 

Anyway, here it is, almost day by day since November 25.  

This was right after the power was out for 72 hours, which is why there are kettles on the stove for heating water. Thankful for a gas stove and thankful that it wasn't two weeks before when the stove was under a bunch of stuff in the dining room. 

Ta-da! Here we are in our beautiful new kitchen!