Friday, August 17, 2007

not only that.....

if you read my last post about wanting to find a non-ecumenical, reformed church when we move then you may, or may not, be interested to know that i also require it to be AV only and also that the ladies wear a headcovering out of conviction and not just tradition or because everyone does it.
i know, i know, you think i am crazy, perhaps i am.
the AV thing is important, the new versions are based on erroneous texts (just google westcott and hort or go and listen to the stuff on sermon audio, or check out http://www.trinitarianbiblesociety.org/ they have loads of info) the text that did it for me is in john 5 v 6 which, in the AV reads 'when Jesus saw him lie, and KNEW that he had been now a long time.....' (emphasis mine)
the NIV reads 'when Jesus saw him lie and LEARNED that he had been.....' - emphasis mine again.
well, i know it's only one word, but what a difference it makes to the sense, this was just the verse that got me looking, once i started there was no way i was going to use a modern version again.
the hat thing.
don't get me wrong, it was a struggle for me, i like hats, i like scarves, i am married to a muslim. so, there was no way i was going to start wearing a hat just because some man told me i had to. then i read the relevant passage and started wearing a hat. of course once again it is much clearer in the AV and it's all to do with creation, authority and Gods order of things, there is alot more i could say here but i don't have time, really really got to go to beverley, deep joy. plus i am freezing, but again there is plenty of stuff on sermon audio for anyone really interested. i have a little book too. obviously.

on finding a church and other things.....

well, first things first, the 'forsale' sign has gone up. it's bright pink ('magenta' said the estate agent somewhat defensively imho, apparently some of his older clients thought he had 'come out' as our town's first gay estate agent ) anyway, the sign is up and soon there will be a virtual tour of our home online , i am just hoping they have the technology to edit out the mess piles of educational materials essential to home-edding two teenagers.
secondly i have had to change my weight loss tracker. this is because i couldn't get to ticker factory to change the last one, the clicking wouldn't work for some reason, so i made another one, this time i put my heaviest weight in - from last year, before i started cambridge i had already lost about 28 lbs, give or take a couple, i have also lowered my target weight, which may seem a bit mad, but i don't want to put all the weight back on and so am going to give myself a little bit of leeway. i don't ever remember being thin and am not sure i can eat like a thin person, but i am already having so much fun shopping that i think i will like being thin enough to control my eating. i am hoping that almost a year on cambridge will help me to re-educate myself - after all i am managing to survive quite well without all the stuff i used to eat. although i have had a couple of days 'off' - when i have cheated quite spectacularly, you are supposed to do a week of 'add a meal' every so often with cambridge, but i think the meals are supposed to be chicken and green veg - not chocolate and biscuits but, anyway, i am back on track now and determined to get to goal. my birthday is in may and we will be on a protest so i will be having a packed lunch that day - i am looking forward to it.
so, finally, that brings me to the point of my post. the main 'worry' i have about moving is finding a church. if my reader has read my testimony (well, the half of my testimony which is on here, i don't think i ever got around to finishing it, note to self, finish it quick!).if you have read even that half you may recall i had a very unpleasant experience in the charismatic/ecumenical movement. i left that particlar church and did alot of bible study and research and came to what is commonly called 'the reformed and separatist position'. i must stress that this WAS a direct result of alot of prayer, bible study and research. i had a bit of a problem, there was no church in my area which wasn't a part of the ecumenical movement. eventually though God, the God of the impossible, brought a free presbyterian church to the town - see the link in my linkys. i have been there ever since. the preaching is fantastic. just good, solid, expository bible preaching, nothing added, nothing taken away. doctrinally they hold to the westminster confession of faith and are totally separate from the world council of churches/churches together/general ecumenism. just what i wanted and what i feel is the biblical position. don't get me wrong, i am not against unity, just not unity at the expense of doctrine, no compromise, that's my motto. it was good enough for the reformers, it's good enough for me. if men (and women) were prepared to go to the stake for their protestant faith then i should be prepared to take my stand, no matter how feeble. (read foxes book of martyrs for more on this, for example).
of course there are other churches which take a similar separated stand, we know of some independent, strict and particular baptists for example. however they are few and far between and there's the rub. i need to be in one of these churches, preferably i would love it to be a free presbyterian church since that is where my heart is, but at the end of the day we have to go where the Lord leads us and where He opens the door for my husband - who obviously isn't the slightest bit concerened about what church there will or will not be for me, he just wants to earn a living and take care of his family. so, i am trusting God with this. He has already answered prayer in a wonderful way concerning the asking price for the house - let's now see what we get. anyone who is interested in a 5 bedroom mid-terrace house in need of quite a bit of work located in the armpit of the universe should check out harrisbell.com for an absolute bargain.
so, dear reader if you are a christian and inclined to pray please pray that God will order our circumstances so that our home and business sell promptly, that my husband finds the right place at the right price at the right time for us to earn a living and that there will be a good church there for me. thanks.
we have been to cash and carry today and shortly will go to swimming, if/when we move i have determined NOT to get involved in the administration of the new swimming club, i am going to be one of those parents who steadfastly looks at the floor whenever someone asks for helpers, i will continue to act as an official if i have the chance but i am NOT getting involved in the other stuff. no way.

long time no blog...

well, i re-discovered this blog when creating one for my mum, its been a long time and part of the reason is this.........i have, dear reader, turned into a 'swimming mum', it seems that our son is actually a very good swimmer - two coaches from other clubs informed that his times are fantastic considering how little training he does, for this and various other reasons we have left the club where we have been for about 8 years and gone to one up the road - a half hour drive, its tricky with the hours we keep, but we are managing to get up at 4.30 a.m. four mornings a week, to go training for 2 hours, then go back four evenings a week to train again, water time has gone from 6 hours a week to 14 hours a week, plus 8 hours of driving, so obviuosly with school work and delivering pizzas my times is just about gone, don't even think about housework - finally a reason not to clean, no house move news yet, but i am sure that it will come.
in the meantime i am alive, i am still here, the soul is willing to blog but the body is too tired, for the time being.

obviously taking into account the length of time it has been since my last entry here i have alot more news, not least the fact that we appear, DV, to be moving house, i will hopefully post a bit more about that at some point. for now i am fiddling with the settings, see you soon.