It's not about you!

Pslam 67
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine upon us,
Selah
2 that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
...
7 God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

God's purpose in blessing His people is so that others may see Him.

So the question is, how can you "shine your light" that all the earth "know Him" and His "salvation among the nations"?

How do you reconcile Matthew 5:16 and 6:3?

Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven

Matthew 6:3-4
"But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Any thoughts?

Will the dust praise You?

Psalm 30

⁷ O LORD, when you favored me,
you made my mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed.

⁸ To you, O LORD, I called;
to the Lord I cried for mercy:

⁹ "What gain is there in my destruction,
in my going down into the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?

It is so important to ensure we do not go from gratitude to entitlement, and yet it is an easy path to slide down without realizing it. David asks, "What gain is there in my destruction,... will the dust praise you?"

How easy it is to take our blessings and the Lord's favor for granted! What I think we need to realize is that there is a purpose in everything - God blesses us for a purpose, and allows challenges to happen for a purpose.

Two of those purposes laid out in this psalm is that we are to praise Him, to proclaim His faithfulness.

How do I praise him throughout the day? This doesn't mean I go about singing Amazing Grace all day (necessarily).

• God is a God of order, not chaos. Doing things with order.
• God is a God of excellence, not halfheartedness. Doing things with excellence and with all my heart.
• God is a God of creativity, not apathy. Doing things with creativity.
• God is a God of love. Doing things with love, not selfishness. Serving others.
• God is a God of peace, not contention. Seeking peace with all people.
• God is a God of justice, not injustice. Doing things with justness.
• God is a God of eternity. Doing things with eternity in mind, not just the short term.
• God is a God of now. Doing important things now, not putting them off. (Ecclesiastes 11:4)
• God is a God of perfection. Giving 100% 100% of the time, not 95%.
• God is a God of perfection. Seeking to always improve to become more like my Creator.
• Any others you can think of? Share in the comments box.

To proclaim his faithfulness? To share with others what He is doing in my life, to look for ways to give credit to Him, to have a zeal for his glory, as David did.

Gardening in June - Peppers, Tomatoes, Marigolds oh my!

Josiah's approach to gardening: I wonder what the ROI is on gardening? Let's see, $3 per plant + 40 minutes to plant them + watering + time to water = close to grocery store.

Spending time in the dirt with my best friend, outside, using my hands. Priceless.

Today we planted tomatoes, peppers (green & orange bell, jalapeño, anaheim) rosemary, parsley, thyme and marigolds (for scaring the aphids away).

This is broccoli we actually planted earlier this year from seed - such a lovely little head!

I gave everything a nice shower after we were done.

Garden bed before...(oh, and if you can identify the mystery plant that sprung up from compost, we will thank you heartily!)

the garden bed after, filled with tomatoes, peppers, and the mystery plant.

Till your land

Proverbs 28:19
He who tills his land will have plenty of food,
But he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.

Hard work + savings + safe investments + patience = prosperity.

This is tilling your land.

"business opportunity" + "super investment" + rah-rah stories + get rich quick = poverty.

This is vanity.

Yellowstone -

Yellowstone in September is beautiful!

We spent the first night in Montana, then reserved a spot in Pebble Creek in the Lamar Valley. We hoped to see some wolves but didn't even hear them. We saw Elk, Deer, Antelope, Coyote, Moose, chipmunks... that's the alive stuff. The dead stuff far out numbered the breathing. Skunk, deer, raccoon, rabbits galore, coyote, antelope and so much more.

Saw the mud volcano and Old Faithful. Stayed at Lewis Lake on our way to Teton National Park. The Teton's are beautiful! Lots of fires. Drove 1500 miles! Stopped at Sierra Trading Post on the way home for some great deals. www.sierratradingpost.com

View Josiah's Photos on Picasa
View Beka's photos on Facebook

Happy FREE Birthday!

Who ever knew there was so much free food to be had?

Call me what you want, frugal, dork, I just like free food!

Beka and I signed up for a few places that give free food for birthday's and for signing up for their email lists, and below are our favorites. If you want to go crazy, just search google for free birthday meal.

Most require you to buy an entree or two to get something free, but those are not what I would define as the "best" ones. So below are absolutely free ones. Also, I'm not as big a fan of desert as real food, so I didn't list or sign up for all the places giving free deserts on birthdays.

• Qdoba - Free chips and salsa for signing up
• Benihana - $30 birthday meal! WOW!
• Red Robin - the famous free birthday burger!
• Famous Dave's - Free desert or appetizer for signing up
• TGI Friday's - free appetizer for signing up
• bd's Mongolian Grill - free birthday meal, coupon for signing up
  

These ones are cool, but have to buy something

• Noodles & Company, buy 1 get 1 free
• Maggiano's - $10 off $30 birthday coupon and coupon for signing up
• Ruby Tuesday - buy one get one free

Happy eating!