A new beginning

Well, I finally did it!  14 years after moving to the US with a view to staying for a while, I made it "permanent" and became a U.S. citizen!  (It's only permanent unless God calls us to go somewhere else!)

I initiated the process in June 2016, before any change in the White House - it was not a knee-jerk reaction to new leadership, as some might think.  More a choice to offer more stability for the family.

The ceremony was to be held at 9am on Friday, March 24 in Philadelphia.  Scott and the kids came along for the occasion - we brought the kids more for a civics lesson than thinking it would mean much to them at this age! 

There were 64 people taking the oath of allegiance, from 32 different countries!  We had no idea what to expect on duration, anything.  So we were pleasantly surprised to find it would be over by 10:30am, and it was actually finished by 10:15am. 

The final part of the process was collecting my certificate of naturalization, which I'll use to get my  passport as identification - the picture on the certificate was taken at an appointment last summer and I was not told it would be my forever picture!!!

Here are a few pictures from the day!!

 

Eternity

It was a sad weekend for our church family, as two families lost loved ones.

In one case, a couple we have known for years, roughly the same age as us, lost their 21yo son the day after his birthday to a heroin overdose.  He leaves behind a little girl and baby on the way. 

Despite having many struggles over the past few years with poor choices and self-destructive behavior, he had been doing well and his last Facebook post the day before revealed a thankful heart and optimism for the future.

As the church was informed and asked to pray for them, an older couple, who the week prior had brought their 26yo daughter to church and had prayed Scott as she was recovering from addiction and doing better, they told their daughter what had happened, warning her.  The next day she died of an overdose too, with her 5yo daughter in the room.  She also has a 7yo daughter.

We taught them and played with them in Sunday School yesterday, they were unaware that their mother had died, because their grandparents did not yet know how to tell them.

These are not isolated cases - drug deaths are rampant and it's not always people from "bad" families or poverty.  Our world is broken and there are many things that promise an escape, or [temporary] peace, but they lead us down the path of destruction.  Not just drugs, alcohol, acquiring possessions, sex and porn, even food.  All false gods promising redemption.

But the truth is we were created to crave and serve the real God, the one who made us.  Without him we are a slave to the desires that lead us to seek significance in places it can't be found.

These deaths have affected me more than any other because of their timing.  Recently I've been reading more about eternity. 

Many of us, myself included, turn to God for help in this life.  We screw it up on our own or fail to find purpose for our life, so, if we are very fortunate, we meet Jesus and he says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

But it's not this life that was Jesus's primary reason for coming.  At the end of this brief life we will find our eternal destination - our residence with no expiration.  Due to the separation of man from God, the default setting on our eternal GPS is Hell.  A place of incredible suffering and torment without end. 

There is nothing we can do to alter this course ourselves.  Doing good things is pointless without having a personal relationship with Jesus.  It is only through him, and his substitutionary death on the cross, where he went to hell in advance, on our behalf, and subsequent resurrection that we can be reconciled with God.

It is not what we do that changes our destination to Heaven.  It is our decision to lay aside our independence and accept the offer of Lordship from Jesus.  The scum of the earth have the same invitation as you and I, because we have all fallen short of God's standard of holiness, the extent is unimportant.

The thief hanging on the cross next to Jesus, at the very close of his own life, recognized that Jesus was the Son of God and had the authority to forgive (erase, remove) his sins against God and become acceptable to God - simply through faith that had the courage to say "I need you, because I am not worthy". 

Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43

We spend so much time and effort seeking peace and pleasure, reward and recognition, in this life that we fail to realize how little time we have to make decisions for the eternal life.

The smartest thing the devil ever did is convince people that neither he, nor hell, are real. 

People say that a "good God" would not send people to hell.  But in fact it is us - we have committed the sin that sends us to hell.  Our good God, sent his Son to rescue us!!  He made a way for us to escape the sentence we were born under.

How little time we spend contemplating eternity, or simply what comes after death.  We spend our days focusing on the here and now, but

The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  1 John 2:17

It is in love, and desperation that I write this.  I urge everyone to take a look at their life and consider the future.  If you have even an inkling that there is life after physical death, you owe it to yourself to find out what that is.  Don't take the chance.

I leave you with this account from the Bible:

Luke 16:19-31New International Version (NIV)

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²² "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

²⁵ "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

²⁷ "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

²⁹ "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'

³⁰ "'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

³¹ "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

I love you.  God loves you.  Don't let pride or ignorance stop you from receiving that love.

30 day journey

About 6 weeks ago an acquaintance made me an offer I couldn't refuse - to try a 30 day nutritional cleansing and fat burning diet system.  you know the routine, 2 meal replacement shakes and some other supplements, mixed in with a few days of a type of fast, and only eating non-processed healthy food for dinner.

It's no secret my nutritional health journey is a rollercoaster and the holidays always make me go downhill.  I wasn't quite at my heaviest, but not where I wanted to be.

I went for it and lost 15lbs, and 10" in all the right places!

But, what goes beyond the exterior is what changed in my mind!  I went from seeing healthy choices (as opposed to junk food or processed food) as being deprived and "poor me" to actually being empowering - to have control over my cravings.

Often we crave certain things, but it's not out of hunger - any food would satisfy hunger!  We crave things for comfort, reward, pleasure etc, and we sabotage our own bodies in response.

I started a study group on the book Made to Crave.  It talks about how we were designed to crave, but that craving should be for God, for his will and plan in our life.  Misguided cravings result in pulling us in the opposite direction.

And that's the difference - realizing that my health honors God and enables me to serve him with more energy and ability than before!