Luke 14:25  And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
Luke
14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and
wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luke
14:28  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down
first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Luke 14:29  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
Luke 14:30  Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Luke
14:31  Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth
not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to
meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Luke 14:32  Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
Luke 14:33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:34  Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
Luke
14:35  It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but
men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Put to death the things, desires of this world.
Lay down our lives for the Lord.

Salvation is a free gift.

When
we are washed in the blood we will become Spiritually Healthy and
Spiritually Wealthy (Heirs with Jesus). You give your life to Him,
washed in the blood, cleansed and purified. Am I promising you will be
physically wealthy? NO, but you will be spiritually wealthy. Am I
promising you will be physically healthy? NO, but you will be
spiritually healthy.

We need to present the gospel message in
it’s entirety. There is this drive to get people to say the Sinner’s
Prayer. We can say anything with our mouth, but if we don’t live
it……..
Do we really love Jesus if we only say it with our mouth.

We need to share with people the cost.

What
is it about bearing our cross that people don’t understand? We need to
crucify our wants. Jesus is supposed to be most important in our lives.
What did it cost you to become a believer and follower of Christ?

It may cost you your friends.

Luke
9:57  And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man
said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Luke
9:58  And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air
have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Luke 9:59  And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Luke 9:60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
Luke
9:61  And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first
go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
Luke 9:62  And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

You need to be willing to let go of people.
You need to be willing to let go of things.

Believing
is not a once and done act. It is an attitude of heart and mind. The
gift is free but the cost is very high. He asks you to let go of
everything. You life is no longer your own, it is now His. He asks you
to make Him LORD of your life. Ruler of your life.

God needs to be more important than friends, family and even more important then your spouse. More important then your children.

What
does it cost to be a believer? It costs you everything. Nothing is
yours anymore. Your life is no monger yours. It is the Lords. Jesus
says is we want to follow Him we need to crucify our flesh.
Christianity is not convenient and comfortable. Jesus is mocked by
people who pray the Sinner’s Prayers and do not follow through, do not
follow Him with their heart and mind….BODY AND SOUL.

Have you considered the cost?

He
wants all of you! He doesn’t just want part of you. You can’t say well
Jesus I want you to save me but don’t touch my love of money. Jesus I
want you to save me but don’t make me stand out. Jesus I want you to
save me but don’t make me be different. Jesus I want you to save me but
don’t make me stop doing this or don’t touch that.
Jesus I want you
to save me but I don’t want to follow what you say about divorce, homosexuality, lying, obedience,
pride, etc. Does that work? NO

Jesus wants all of you or none of you. You can’t follow half way.

There
will be times that will be difficult. You will need to take a stand for
Him. Your friends may turn against you. You could lose your
possessions, your freedom, or even your life. Are you willing to walk
with Him even if it means loosing everything?

God bless you and draw you close to Him.

I have been tagged by Christine

The rules for ‘3 Random Things’:

1. Post 3 random things about yourself.
2. Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
3. Tag at least 5 other bloggers.
4. Let them know you’ve tagged them by commenting on their blog with an invite to participate.

————————————————————————————————–

1. I love watching Atlanta Braves play baseball. I am a big Braves fan

2. I am a cutter/self-injurer (Most often characterized as Borderline personality Disorder). I say am because I believe for self injury it is the same as drug addicts or alcoholics, once you are one you will always be one. It doesn’t matter how many weeks, months or years it has been since a self injurer has cut/burned, the temptation will always be there when things go wrong and one cut is all it takes to fall back into that way of doing things.

3. I don’t like to wear socks. All year round I have a tendency to not wear socks. Even when I wear sneakers. I just don’t really like to wear socks.

now to tag 5 people

1.  Cherylyn

2. mommyinChrist

3. Laurie

4.  SunnySusan

5. tx_christian

I just heard some cool news today. If you are waiting for your stimulus check….it may already be in your bank account.

First federal rebate checks are delivered

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Good news on the rebate front.

If you arranged to have your
federal rebate deposited directly into your bank or credit union
account, there’s a chance it may already have arrived.

The U.S.
Treasury yesterday began distributing the first round of federal
rebates. It’s the result of the new federal economic-stimulus law which
is intended to help kick-start the nation’s slumping economy.

The first batch of rebates wasn’t supposed to go out until Friday.

But the Internal Revenue Service managed to process some of them earlier than planned.

As a result, about 800,000 rebates were deposited directly into bank
and credit union accounts yesterday, said IRS spokeswoman Peggy Riley

The Treasury plans to directly deposit another 800,000 rebates today, 800,000 tomorrow and about 5 million on Friday, she said.

So if you’re eligible for a rebate by direct deposit, you may wind up receiving it earlier than you figured.

That should come as good news to consumers who are struggling with
soaring food, energy and other costs –– and for those who are still
paying their winter heating bills, said Mary F. Bernard, president of
the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants.

“The
sooner you get it, the quicker you can start to invest it, pay off
debts with it –– or, as the president hopes, spend it –– to put it back
into the economy somehow,” said Bernard, who is also tax principal at
Kahn Litwin Renza & Co., Ltd., a CPA firm in Providence.

Edward M. Mazze, former dean of the University of Rhode Island’s
College of Business Administration, said that the start of the rebate
distribution “is going to help raise people’s confidence in the
government’s ability to follow through on something that’s been
promised, and also do something to stimulate the economy. While
everybody’s talking, the government is actually doing something.”

Mazze, who currently serves as distinguished university professor of
business administration at URI, said, “Rhode Island is definitely in a
recession,” and many other parts of the country are in the similar
economic circumstances, with rising unemployment rates and a drop in
confidence by business people and consumers.

“People are really
living so close to the edge now, [mainly] because of the rising price
of gasoline. The [rebate] money is going to immediately help,” and will
also spur economic activity –– no matter if people spend their rebate
money, invest it or use it to pay bills, Mazze said.

Keep in mind that the Treasury still plans to issue rebates by direct deposit first, paper checks later.

So, as a general rule, if you filled out the “direct deposit” section
of your federal income-tax return, you should receive your rebate by
direct deposit, too –– and get it sooner than those who’ll receive
rebate checks by mail.

President Bush late last week announced that some rebates will be issued earlier than planned.

The Treasury followed up with yesterday’s first round of directly deposited rebates, Riley said.

“The simpler returns were processed through a more modernized computer
system, so it speeded up the processing, and we were able to get the
[rebates] out quicker,” Riley said yesterday.

The IRS is still
sticking with its originally published schedule for rebate
distributions. The IRS also says that rebates will continue to be
distributed based on the last two digits of your Social Security number.

But the IRS now says, in effect, that the dates in that schedule are at
the extreme end of the range. As a result, you could receive your
rebate earlier.

For example, the Treasury originally planned to
start mailing rebate checks on May 16. So if the last two digits of
your Social Security number are between 00 and 09, your rebate check
wasn’t supposed to be in the mail before May 16.

But the IRS now
says that rebate checks for some of the people with those Social
Security numbers will be mailed May 9, and that all of the checks for
people with those Social Security numbers will be mailed by May 16.

In general, rebates will range from $600 to $1,200 if you’re married
and filing a joint return, or $300 to $600 if you used another “filing
status” on your federal income-tax return (such as “single” or “head of
household”).

You may be eligible for an additional rebate amount
of up to $300 for each child you have who was under 17 as of Dec. 31,
2007.

(The rebate schedule described above applies to people
who filed their federal income-tax returns by April 15 and who are
eligible for a rebate. If you’re eligible for a rebate but file or
filed after April 15, you’ll receive your rebate later this year.)

TODAY’S TIP: The IRS still plans to mail you an individualized notice
which will let you know, based on your circumstances, how much you’ll
receive and when you can expect to receive it.

But because some
rebates are being issued earlier than planned, some people will receive
their rebates before they receive their notices, Riley said.

Keep the notice in your tax files; you’ll need it early next year, when
you complete your 2008 federal income-tax return, she said.

To
hear recorded messages about the federal rebate program and its rules,
call the IRS’s rebate hotline toll-free at 1-866-234-2942. You can also
find out more about the rebate program from the IRS Web site:

www.irs.gov

Rebate distribution

schedule

For Direct Deposit

For Paper Checks

Source: U.S. Treasury,

Internal Revenue Service

Yesterday we had so much fun. We went to yard sales, development yard sales. We walked a lot and got some really good deals. I was able to get my oldest son some much needed clothes, which was one of the main reason for going to yard sales yesterday. I also got some books to read. I love reading. It is one of my favorite things to do. I seem to have passed my passion of reading on to my daughter too

It was a wonderful fun day, which makes the pain caused by it worth it all

What pain you ask? the pain in my leg which hurts in a constant pain broken up my shooting agony of pain.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday.

I just wanted to say I am sorry to all those of you who are used to me posting everyday.

Please keep me in your prayers. I am emotionally having a really hard time right
now. I hope to be back to my normal self again soon.

This past week was my husbands first week working the new schedule. I apreciate all who have been praying for us about it. My husband wrote a wonderful post on how it went.

Please check it out.

Thank you and God bless all of you.

People
tend to have a problem now days being on time. It is something that
really bothers me. If you say you will be at my house at 5pm. Then be
at my house at 5pm. When a person says they will be there are 5pm but
do not show up until 5:15pm or 5:30pm or even worse 6 or 7pm then
they are lying. They are also stealing an other person’s time as that
person is waiting for them. It is very bad manners.

I,
for one hate it when people are not punctual and keep me waiting for
hours.

When
you are late for appointments, meetings or work itself, you show a
lack of respect for other people’s time as well as your own.

Being
late in paying bills can be costly and being late socially can strain
relationships.

In
many cases lateness is caused by a lack of commitment to arrive on
time. Meaning lack of respect for the other person.

Plan
to arrive 10 minutes early and always leave plenty of time for
traveling time.

Let
me tell you a story about a thing that happened to me. That is a
perfect example. My husband and the children and I were planning to
go with P for a tree for his house. J was also planning to go along
with her children. P was to stop by her house and then be at our
house around 9am.

Well,
p showed up at J’s house and talked to her husband as she wasn’t
there. She had went to get one of her children from the neighbors
house where she had slept over.

9am
came and I got my children in their coats so they would be ready to
go when P and J showed up. 9:30 came and we were sweating in our
coats and they hadn’t shown up. 9:45 came and I was really really
mad. I finally called J’s house to find out what was going on. It
turns out that J still wasn’t home from the
neighbors house. J showed no respect for our families time or for P’s
time. We didn’t finally leave our house until 10:30, one hour and a
half after the originally planned time.

IT
showed totally lack of respect for me, my plans and my time.

Being
punctual is a part of showing courtesy which, according to
1Crotinthians 13, is a part of love.

Lack
of promptness and punctuality is really stealing. It is stealing the
other person’s time. It is also lying, for it is a failure to keep
promises.

Napoleon
was always ahead of time. He said, “Every moment lost is an
opportunity for misfortune.”

Lord
Nelson, the English admiral, said that his success was largely
attributed to the fact that he was always on time. He said he gave
himself a quarter of an hour extra time. This allowed for accidents.

Matthew’s
said that men who are habitually behind time are habitually behind
success.

Napoleon
said he beat the Austrians because they did not know the value of
five minutes.

Rom 2:1  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
Rom 2:2  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Rom 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
Rom 2:7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
Rom 2:8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Rom 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
Rom 2:11  For there is no respect of persons with God.
Rom 2:12  For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
Rom 2:13  (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
Rom 2:16  In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Rom 2:17  Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
Rom 2:18  And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
Rom 2:19  And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
Rom 2:20  An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
Rom 2:21  Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Rom 2:22  Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Rom 2:23  Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Rom 2:24  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
Rom 2:25  For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
Rom 2:26  Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
Rom 2:27  And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

When you judge someone for something that you are doing too, you condemn yourself. God judges according to the truth.

You preach a person shouldn’t steal. Do you steal?
You say a person should not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery?
You say don’t make an idol. Do you hold anything above God?

It dishonors God when you do the thing you speak against. A thought that pops in my mind as an example would be the preachers who are famous who have been caught in adultery. It really dishonors God and makes people look at Christians in a bad light. We have to make sure that we are following God and are not hypocrites.