The best thing of spending quiet time with God is that He has placed little hidden treasures in the midst of His word just for us! If we spend the time, we will find those that He has given us. This week I stumbled across this verse and just fell in love with it...it reminds me of our purpose here in this amazing "group of islands"!
Isaiah 42:12
"Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise to the islands"
In every situation it seems that we are trying to instill in our children that they are to do all things "to the glory of God and not unto men" and to maintain such a way of living that if anyone were to slander their names that their reputation, etc would speak for itself and those who know them would have reason to say, no, that's not the Ebert kids, they wouldn't do that, act that way, say those things, etc. Last night while I was sleeping, my Myspace had been hacked into and there were messages sent of explicit nature and I was oblivious to it all until I checked my email...I had close to 10 messages from friends telling me about the disaster at hand. What is totally great about this is is that not one person felt that maybe I had actually been the one who had sent it! My character was on the line...there were questions that would be asked...answers that would need to be given...what kind of life have I portrayed to the people around me...and what are they thinking of me right now? Praise be to my God who has made such a difference in me; that He has turned the old to the new and that He patiently guides me throughout this journey called "life". I was challenged today, so I did a little research on character/reputation because it was in the front of my mind. I would like to share what the Lord showed me:
Webster's Def: Character : ~The complex of mental and ethical traits making a person or a group ~A person marked by conspicuous {striking, noticable, remarkable, outstanding} often peculiar traits [isn't there a scripture about being a 'peculiar people'?] ~reputation ~moral excellence
God's Divine Word: Re. Conduct: Titus 2:7-8 "In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine, shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerety, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you."
Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in Heaven."
We do not perform good works to gain the applause of men, however, we perform these good works as an honor to the Lord, that when "men" do see us, we can point them to the Father of all truth and righteousness. We are to conduct ourselves in such a way that brings glory to our God. I love how the scripture in Titus tells us that it is a "pattern of good works"...this indicates to me that it is consistent behavior...repetitious even. May we be strengthened to continue the good work that God has put before us and that we would be reminded of our focus...I know I have been today!
"Lord God, I honor You for the change you have made in my life...I praise you because it is only through you, that, we as humans are able to live a consistent life...I know that any good that is within me is from you Lord, it all comes from you! I thank you for turning what someone else meant for evil into a blessing today!"
As I have already mentioned, we recently survived our first typhoon of the season....Praise the Lord for that. We knew the weather was getting worse Tuesday evening, but were unsure if we were just going to have severe rains, etc. Wednesday morning, we found out that the kids would not have class...because of the continuous rains...still no real danger from typhoons at that time. By mid-afternoon Wednesday, we were experiencing the full effects of Typhoon Dodong. The kids were still in the "oh no, are we going to get sucked away" stage...I guess that shows where we came from! And I believe that Jonah heard more than once that things were going to be ok because we found him talking to the dogs saying, "It's ok Star, it's ok Tex, it's only a typhoon"!
There is no good way to explain exactly what a typhoon looks like...I had heard that I would see rain unlike any other rain I have seen in my life...I think that's a pretty accurate description! The rain and winds would whip around the house and change directions at any given time, and the rain was more horizontal than vertical...the weirdest thing, to confirm, I've ever seen!
Wednesday night the news told us that the schools would be closed in the entire Zambales Province so, we settled in for a good ol' family movie night. Just as the popcorn was finished popping...Power out! Once we got the candles lit and everyone settled down, I took a quick picture of our "brown-out companions":
So, we headed downtown to the Post Office of Iba to get ourselves a little ol' mailbox of our very own. I was so excited; right now we are sharing a post box with Paul's parents and even though it is always nice to get the mail when they deliver it, there's just something about going to the box yourself. What I didn't realize was the time frame involved in getting this crazy box. I took someone with me last Wed and the office informed us that the postmaster was not in that day, but that we would have to come back. Friday, Paul and I were in town already so we decided that we would stop and the postmaster was there, but he did not have any keys to the boxes so we would have to, once again, come back another time. Finally yesterday Paul ran down to try again...SUCCESS...we are the proud owners of Box #4379! There's just something about it all that just cracks me up...not sure exactly what, but it does. I took a few pictures of our humble Post Office...I am so grateful for this little place!
Paul remembered eating these as a child and asked if we could prepare them at the house here, so last week we gathered in the kitchen for a little cooking lesson and enjoyed our great "new favorite"!
Sarah's Got It!
and the one described above is that the banana is not rolled in a wrapper before it's fried, rather, it is only the banana coated in the brown sugar and then fried on a stick! This is his new travel snack for his weekly drive to Manila.
Banana Q
Last week we recieved an unexpected phone call. Some friends that we had made on deputation called because they were in the Philippines finalizing the adoption of these dear children. This process has been many years in the making for them and they are so excited about it all. We enjoyed our time with Bro. Jarrod, wife Christy and daughter Abby, along with new additions of Narcisso, Mary Grace, and Mary Ann. The icing on the cake is that Mrs. Christy is expecting another boy! What a joy to have been in their presence and to have made new friends with these sweet kiddos!
Cracked me up! I couldn't get over it! When in the states, I think I personally kept Walmart in business and just recently I had a conversation here trying to explain, to the "T", how the store was set up, what they had to offer the customer, etc. (I think I could almost tell you what isle the peanut butter was on~ha!) It was at that time that I realized I really did miss that crazy store! It's funny what we take for granted. So this little tag was a sweet reminder that even though I am world's away from the nearest Walmart, that God is still going to provide each and every thing we might need along the way!
I guess you could also say that not only did we get the "Walmart" find of the day, but we also got it on "clearance"! Hee hee...I love that part!
