Training

I have Corwyn on a leash in the house. It frustrates her, but it is the classic way to train a puppy---constant vigilance.

Frequent visits to the outdoors, time for a snack, do a command, reward---back to the crate. Her freedom slowly wanes.

It all makes for a nicer dog, though, and I'm happy to spend the time. She is so smart! She sits on command already, and she is so tiny still!

Growing fast.

As we all do. Sometimes we just gain weight!
But let's hope we actually grow in wisdom and strength of the most important things.

I was so convicted by the little discipline book we read last summer. Perhaps that's why I was able to make such a life change in January, going back to work, changing my lifestyle completely.

I think it had an effect. Discipline requires everything, total commitment. It's full-time training.

Getting up at five each day before work to get my Bible reading time in was a loss of time on the night-owl side of me. I couldn't keep my eyes open after nine.

Corwyn is now in her crate at nine each night, too. She understands that it is bedtime and there is no argument.

As a home-school mom I'm aware of the flexibility of schedules and hours. I think that is one of its strengths. As we launch our kids into jobs and formal education they are more grateful for the freedom they HAD and are much more prepared to take on the disciplined lifestyle.

It's all in the training.

Cherie has become a runner, cross country and track. She is learning the power of discipline too. More running usually helps the meet outcomes. It takes discipline to get out there everyday and run some. She's learning.

She's training.

Of all my children she has had to be the most disciplined in childhood. I hope the best for her.

I have five children, all completely individuals, all different in manner, personality, and habits. They are all delightful, and precious. God has blessed me. They have all had their battles, their defeats. They have come far, and I'm thankful that each of them believes the Bible and follows Christ.

That is the only thing that really matters.

Someone asked me recently about my "unschooling" tendency as a home-school mom. I was very careful to have our daily Bible time. I read Scripture, Bible stories, Daily Bread, Daily Light, One-Year Bible, Bill Gothard's materials (which are EXCELLENT! Don't let his failures keep you from the materials he produced!), and whatever spiritual book that happened to be current and appropriate----OUT LOUD. Not all at once, but as the Spirit led. We had hours to do it. The math, science, and anything else came later, second.

We prayed together every day. Mostly I prayed. They rarely wanted to. That was okay by me. As a mother I had the obligation to train them in knowing Christ, but they had to make the decisions for themselves. There are no grandchildren in the Kingdom of Heaven. Isn't that a truth?

I kept telling them that nothing but Christ really matters. This life is cursory. It's the next life that matters. I told them that my only goal for them was to know Christ.

Yes. Training.

And did they succeed at life? Did these methods of training work?

Well, yes. So far. Three of them are dean's list academics. One had a four-year complete scholarship to Concordia College, Moorhead. Two have published novels. One is a successful army officer, another a successful army reserves officer. Two are happily married! They are all musicians, playing various instruments. All five can draw, write, and sing. They all cook. Four have jobs that pay well. Three are college graduates.

They are compassionate, sweet, fun, loving individuals, and I just have so much gratefulness to God for allowing me to be their mom. God is so good.

And I give all the glory to HIM, as He put it on my heart to train them.

So, Corwyn gets her puppy training.  Just another day at Corgi Hollows.

May you commit your life and your self discipline to Jesus Christ.

Did You Know?

https://m.facebook.com/CarylTV/photos/a.591395967563486.1073741826.338136982889387/1026022057434206/?type=3

Misty Memory

Christlikeness

It's pretty easy to debate non-believers on philosophy or theology. One starts from a completely different premise, so there is little to touch base on, to find common ground. In fact, it is almost impossible to convince any atheist of faith.

It must come from within.

But when you debate spiritual issues with people of faith it becomes sort of hard. For me, at least.

Why? You MUST remain loving. You must try to be kind. You must be considerate. Even if the other person isn't.

That happened to me the other night. It began as a question on Facebook about Trump voters. The question was TO people who supported Trump or voted for him.

Well, that's me. I voted for Trump. I don't like him, didn't support him, but I voted for him. I felt it was a line of defense against the New World Order that Hillary actually represented.

So, I gave an opinion and was promptly accosted by a self described "civil rights activist" who had studied Bible at an evangelical college and had read the Bible in Greek....
You get the picture.

Then I was accused of being snarky for answering the questions put forth!

No good deed goes unpunished...

But the question for me, really, was, "How do I respond in an loving manner to people who come across in bitterness to me, who react to my ideas with rancor?"

How can we be Christlike to our faithful siblings?

I struggle with this. I struggle with responding in love when I am made fun of. I have a family member who routinely scoffs at me, and I've wondered over the years how I should respond to him. It's a question I have wrestled with.

Why does he scoff?
How should I respond?
Can I avoid him?
Should I avoid him?
How can I be loving in response?

He doesn't agree with me on anything, but since he is family I MUST interact with him on occasion. That's hard for me. I ask the LORD, how? How should I act?

How should I act toward the "activist" who disagrees with my Biblical stance (in this case it was self-defense as a believer).

I'm not sure ignoring is the answer. I think the true church must defend itself. Look where we are now! Yes, we are watching the ongoing march of prophetic events which includes apostasy in the end times, but don't you wonder how people who grew up with Christian parents or grandparents can support gay marriage?

I do.

What happened? Biblical illiteracy?

It's a combination of things, certainly, but I think we true believers have an obligation to use apologetics to defend our faith, even on the offense, on the battlefield, on the philosophical turf of the opposition.

Christ did.

We need to keep it on the offense, and when we are falsely accused we need to respond in a Christlike manner.

Love. Soft answers. Kindness. Self examination. Pure heartedness. A ready word.

Showing Christ's love is Christlike. Waiting on His purposes and His action is our recourse, our defense, and ultimately our offense.

We know the end!
MARANATHA!

Praise Jesus!

Corgi Hollows Podcast: Foreign Devil in China, Episode 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MDYDeTQEq0

Announcing the Corgi Hollows Podcast

Ed and I are trying something new. We don't expect much from it, and we are complete amateurs, but we think it would be fun to do podcasts.
We both have a lot to say, right?
Boring for some, perhaps, but things that interest us and a few folk.

I'm going to review books that I've read. I want to talk about Corgis! Ed wants to talk shop----current events, cancer, mental illness, computers, math, science, philosophy, languages, pipe organ, music----basically the things he's an expert on. (:))
Look for the podcasts to appear on the Corgi Hollows YouTube page. I'll link it.

Cool, Clear Waters

The days shorten.

I am a prophecy watcher. There is one thing that convinces me Christ's return is imminent more than anything else, and that is the spiritual blindness that I see around me.

Am I spiritually blind? We all MUST ask that question.

I have discovered that basing my faith on the one thing that God ordains is the only safe path to true belief-----that is, the Bible.

I live or die by the veracity of that document. I have no other post to stake my belief on.

My experiences, though amazing and wonderful, are spiritual, and cannot be fathomed by anyone not born again.

I can revel in them, but they are not transferable.

The only thing I have to trust is God's Word, and everything measures up to it in this world; Science, doctrine, psychology, philosophy, meaning. It all must bow to its authority.

Can I rely on the Word of God, the Holy Bible?
Yes.

The Old Testament is completely reliable. The Jewish scribe, Ezra was instrumental in bringing forward ancient texts from the patriarchs. The OT prophets and writings of David are more reliable than any other ancient document. Archeology continues to affirm the claims of Scripture.

The New Testament is also reliable. I've been fascinated and educated by Christian Pinto's research on the reliability of the King James Version. I like to compare the Martin Luther German to the KJV. I'm satisfied that the KJV is an accurate translation, true to the manuscripts brought to Europe after the fall of Constantinople. These manuscripts are probably the most reliable. Not the Vulgate, nor the Codex Sinaiticus. The KJV was translated from more reliable manuscripts.

I'm thankful for Tyndale, Wycliffe, and the Protestant reformers.

Finding an external authority for a philosophical compass is a beautiful, healing, refreshing thing. The Word of God is that compass for me.

Cool, clear water.

But the days are full of muddying influences. The Word of God is attacked, mocked, undermined. That has always been the case, but perhaps more so now.

As Satan tries to infiltrate Christian institutions he snatches those who are not philosophically anchored.

That's why bastions of Christianity like Harvard, Yale, and other Ivy league colleges are no longer bastions of faith. Satan has won his battles there.

But he doesn't win the war, and everyone should be asking---"Whose side am I on?"

The "intelligentsia"  and self named "intellectuals" who rule in these institutions are a godless lot of sinners. They deny Christ and His commands. They mock the Apostle Paul. They thumb their noses in the face of the living God who created them and all they see.

As Psalm 120 warns, they will get what they deserve.

Simple, childlike, even foolish faith wins in the end.

It's so refreshing in these warming days, days of end-time approach.

The misguided concern over politics and policy will become moot in an instant. The world players act out their parts in the ongoing timeline of Bible prophecy and we faithful ones watch expectantly. We know the end, we see the whole picture.

God wins.

The relief washes over me like cool, fresh water.