I loath forwards and I only read forwards from people whom I know are not chronic forwarders. Today I got one from a woman in the church I was at this summer, I liked it but because I'm so passionate about stopping chronic forwarding I've decided to post instead.

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"
He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

A wee little rant...

I just received a massive slap in the face/wake up call about ou society and the huge gap that exists between the world as God created and the world that we now are responsible to rebuild. Tonight I was invited to see a movie; so my Sat. Night choices were movie or hanging with mom and dad. I chose the movie. I let my friend pick we always see great (usually funny) movies together. (Side note-My ADD movie naps have been cured somehow.) So she chose "Borat". I'd never heard of it, we read a few reviews online and based on the general consensus that it was supposed to be super funny we went. I would have much rather watched $9.15 be chewed up by my dog. The content horrible from nasty humor, crazy incestst and at times it certainly was nothing short of porn, I had to leave at that point, I couldn't take it any longer. I was blown away at the fact that people were laughing at homosexual porn, masterbation among other unmentionable things. Thinking that's funny?????? I don't understand how so much can get through the ratings. Where are we at? How did we get so far off track that humor is now found in others sin? I understand that this is a movie but film makers obviously don't make movies about stuff people can't relate to.
It's difficult for me to comprehend how a society can continue to move forward when there is so much power placed in media and the crap we are fed. It seems as though there is no common ground and no boundaries. The only thing we can agree on is the weather, "Lovely day out there" "The rain is sure coming down..." and why do we say these things??? because if we actually said something meaningful it may be offensive. Imagine if for every time we commented about the weather we said something about the Creator instead.
The fact is and remains that we have to be positive and proactive at the same time. Praying for and seeing the love of God in all people. It's a command.

Study Break at Hamachi House-AKA: My First Sushi "Experience"

So the blog is up and running again. I had a million other things I was gonna blog about but I've be overwhelmed by this today-I'll let it get your mind thinking as well. It's a lot about how far is to far in the church and where 10 million really should go. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think. The Canada AM and other videos on the right are also rather intresting.

Check out the actual ads @ this link ("The Wonder Cafe") and note that they are not the necessary views of the church (as it states in really small print below the ads) However, it remains that the UCC are the ones behind the 10.5 million to advertise, set up the site and deliver its content. I'm really wondering about accountability among MANY other things.