Sprout- Glad things are getting done- very stressful time which might help explain the headaches and the poor choices- but all of that will improve soon I am sure.
Keepfing faith- and Mavnan- prayer that you both are able to get focused and that the wt starts melting off.I agree Mavnan- once you have salvation I don't believe you can loose it.
Dance for joy- were in sa cold snap as well hopefully have a great weekend,
I am doing fine, making good choices except for last night but still did o.k.
Hi to all I missed off tom. so bible study and catch up reading in order for morning. catch ya all later.

Sprout... glad you are getting things done and getting a new start! Ya we need to get that water in; fortunately for me I naturally drink tons of the stuff!

Mavnan, hope you are able to make a decision soon about the house... how exciting! I am a former Florida girl too... four years in Fort Lauderdale.

Doitforme, great job on making the right choices! Keep it up!

I just said a prayer for each of you! Keep making those good choices!

Dance

Dance for Joy- Thanks! So much.
Just popped in, quiet here. catch ya later.

OK, I know I don't have too much to complain about for it is 40 and drizzly outside and I could be further up north, but.......the office I am in is about low to mid 60's and I wish they would turn it up some. It is quiet here this morning. All but 1 of my guys are out of town or country and the last one won't be in until noonish. So I can catch up.

I had an awesome weekend. I went on a UMW (United Methodist Women) retreat. It was great. The message the whole weekend was of God's mercy and grace and how to accept it and not turn from him and how we go through life like it is a maze. How we turn here and there and sometimes get lost, but how awesome when the path opens up for us. It was drizzly and chilly, but I did ride a horse too during freetime. This is a feat in itself, because I have only ridden a horse maybe 5 or 6 times my entire life. His name was Zander and he kept wanting to stop and munch on grass and basically "told me" by his actions that he was durn well going to do what he wanted to do.

Marilyn Painting and fixing up a house can be hard work, but I bet it is really turning out nice for you. My husband and I have a 3 year plan on all the things we want to do at our house. Painting and floors are top of the list.

Gary Way to go for DD. What kind of medicine does she want to practice? and Ron, congrats on the final answer. How exciting to be the one to put your team on top. Like scoring the last second TD in football. Thanks for the link on dogtreats. I forwarded to a couple of friends with small dogs. My parents have big dogs and give them Milkbones and table scraps for treats. Probably too much table scraps though. It's funny, but when we try to give people food to our cats they look at us like we are from another planet or something. Catfood for them and nothing else. I love the idea you had about freezing everything. I am hoping when taxes come in - a small freezer will be one of our gifts to ourselves. I want to start preparing meals in bulk and freezing. I have been reading a little about it.

Dance It is a pleasure to meet you and have you here. Welcome back. So you live in Seattle. I was just going to ask you if it is beautiful up there, but I can see under your avatar it says Beautiful Seattle, so I guess there's my answer.

Wilma Goodness. I trust that you are finding ways to keep warm. See I have no room to complain, because it is, to most of you living north of Dallas, a balmy 40 degrees here. I too find that when I am on a streak of days for exercising, mainly brisk walks/slow jogs, it shows in my BP. Did some this weekend on my retreat. Mainly jogging from cabin to worship building to dining hall and back.

Part 2 coming momentarily..........................

I didn't want my post to take up too much space..........

Doitforme Where did you get the will power dust? Is it .......... wait..... ok I found it. Thanks. I think I can use that too. Awesome poem by the way.

During worship yesterday, we were told that after communion, we could go up and pray with one of our "prayer warriors" about anything troubling us. Well, I was doing just fine all weekend (not tearing, crying, or getting emotional like some) until they started to sing the song Sanctuary (I think that is the name) during communion, then the Spirit must have been moving me or something cause the floodgates broke and I started to bawl like a baby. Anyway, I went and prayed and asked that God give me the strength to break down the wall I had inside that kept me from doing the right things and making the right choices and how my weight was affecting my health. It really helped so I will continue to pray for all of you to be able to do the same.

MavnanI hope you had a wonderful trip with your DH. Prayers for your decision that you have to make. It sounds like a beautiful place. Why is it that money always has to play a factor in big decisions? Hopefully you will be shown the way either God will help you find away to afford the home owners fee or maybe He has something even better to show you. Best of luck.

Pixiefalls You are doing such an awesome job. Keep up the great work. I have a daughter about your age. I am trying to get her to join forces with me in the battle of the bulge. She is about my size. I wish there was a way to get through to her. I wonder if she would be interested in joining our forum. She does have a deep love for Christ..............hmmmmm. I will try.

And......Everybody else come back soon.

Gotta run folks. Peace be with all of you.

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while, and as usual, I have a lot of posts to catch up on It's so wonderful to see how lively this group is! As always, everyone here is in my prayers, and I do read all the posts, even though I don't respond individually every time.

Not much new going on with me and DH. My miscarriage has pretty much finished physically (finally) so now I continue to work on the emotional recovery. Like anything else, I have my good days and my bad days , but I'm sure that God has something up his sleeve. Maybe parenthood, maybe not. We'll see...

My dad is really stressed out after finding out that he is going to lose his job. He is searching in earnest for a new opportunity :work: and struggling with that. I hope something comes through for him soon! He definitely doesn't deserve this, especially since he and my mother kind of thought they were set. *Sigh*

No law school news since last time! I'm grateful that I have three schools to choose from, but I'm hoping for more. I get to go visit UNC next weekend and am EXCITED! I hear that Chapel Hill is beautiful, and the students that I've talked to on the phone so far have been very friendly and helpful. All GOOD signs.

Gary ~ WOW! So much good news, where do I even begin??? Congrats to your DD! Getting into med school is such an amazing accomplishment, and you have good reason to be proud! And published recipes! Emeril, Bobby Flay, Ming Tsai, LOOK OUT! Here comes Chef Gary! I will have to invite myself over for some dinner and try out some of your famous cuisine.

Beth ~ I'm glad you had fun at your retreat. I haven't done one in AGES (the last time was a one-day Engaged Encounter for me and DH before we were married) but I generally find them to be such meaningful experiences. Especially when my faith is suffering, it's nice to be in a community of people who lift me up and remind me what matters in life.

Sprout ~ Sounds like you're getting a lot done! Thanks again for keeping the journal thoughts for the day coming! I enjoy reading them and thinking about them.

mavnan ~ Prayers for you. No doubt God has an amazing plan for you even if it isn't apparent right now.

Dance4Joy ~ back! Nice to see you here!

Everyone else, I am thinking about you and praying for you! Have a great day!

HI GALS~ Just checking in. Angie said dinner is almost ready ~ quesadillas and tortilla soup tonight...yumm!

Be back later..............dinner ready!

HI GALS ~

No time to post individual tonight ~ I will catch up ~ Promise!

HOWEVER ~I want to thank all of you fro the pats on my back for being published One problem though, if I ever made a cookbook it would have to be from: Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Angie, Grandma Judi, ex-wife Brenda, Taste of Home, Rachael Ray and tons of internet sites! I do change the recipes up a bit from time to time, but mostly they belong to somebody else. AS YOU WELL KNOW!

MOST IMPORTANT!

And not enough time tonight to say all I want to on the subject ~ but how cool is it to be able to talk about salvation with all of you and our different views. I am ALWAYS learning! Maybe I confused you with the way I said some things (Angie says I do that often!!).

What is your take on this:

Suppose someone tells their friend that the friends newborn baby needs baptised ~ friend takes mom and baby to her church to be baptised ~ saved correct? ~ then suppose that that baby never enters a church again, becomes and adult ~ never claims to have a relationship with Christ, in fact maybe even pokes fun at the idea of a savior ~ does this person go to be with Christ? upon his death?

Help me out gals ~

Prayers for all of my 3FC friends!

Hello to all! I'm very tired tonight but will try to post a little bit. I had a staff meeting tonight and they served munchies. YUM! They served chicken fingers, beef shishkebobs and other great stuff. It was really good.

It's still pretty cold here but not as cold as last week. At least it's warm inside.

Gary: You have asked an interesting question. It'll be interesting to see what kinds of answers you get. I am a Mennonite and we do not believe in infant baptism. We believe that when you give your life to Jesus then you get baptized. We believe that baptism is not the way to heaven but a public expression of our faith in HIM.

Looking forward to more answers.

Hi yall, I'm a 25-year old Christian, I was raised in the Baptist church, I don't believe in baby baptism either. I believe children should be baptised when they are old enough to know who Jesus is and understand what he did for them and why. I think perhaps I got saved and baptised too young, I was about 4 when I got saved and 6 when I was baptised. I went to a Christian private school from preschool to 3d grade, in 3d grade I started going to a public school. I went to church as a child. Right now my family is going to First Alliance Christian church, which is part of the Christian and missionary alliance. I have been blessed by the Lord with artistic talents, I can draw well and am working on improving my painting skills. I also write poems and stories. I like to draw fashion designs. I know a little bit about art history, like how in the Baroque area fat or voluptuous women with pale, soft skin were considered very beautiful, I've seen chubby nudes by Rubens and Rembrandt. Only the very rich could afford to get fat, also they did not have to work in the fields like peasant women, they stayed indoors and had pale skin.

Gary you have posted a good question – and I am sure you will get some different answers. Here is where I come from and my thoughts on it.

We attend the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church ( my step dad has been a pastor of this ‘church’ for over 50 years now) and previously we attended the Fellowship Baptist Church. Neither of these churches believes in infant baptism.

As parents, we stood before the congregation when our children were small and had them dedicated. What this does is tell the congregation that we are believers in Jesus Christ and that we are going to do our best to provide a Christian home for our children giving them the opportunity to go to church / Sunday school and learn all there is about Christ. Then when the child gets to be of an age where they understand all of this they can make up their mind whether they want to follow Christ.

On saying that your question is ‘baby to her church to be baptized ~ saved correct~ my answer is NO the baptism will not save the child. Baptism is an outward sign to all witnessing it that the person has accepted Christ as their Savior and is a step in obedience. A baby who is unable to speak at this time would not have been able to express their belief in Christ.

The next part of your question ~ does this person go to be with Christ upon his death? My answer to all babies and small children who die – yes they go to be with Christ.

Christ spoke in the Bible about children and how we should treat them – not turning them away from him.

I have a few Scripture verses for how I believe:

About who we are:
Romans 8:8 Those controlled by the sinful nature canot please God.

1 John 1:1-2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father n our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world.

Matthew 25:41-46 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They will also answer ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you ?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’

2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you have believed our testimony to you.

About Receiving Salvation
Titus 3:5-7 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having be justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Acts 2:38 Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized ever one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

Children in Jesus’ presence
Matthew 18;2-4 He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said, ‘I tell you the truth unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom.’ Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

Mark 9:37 Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.

Mark 10:14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Mark 10;16 And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

Luke 18:16-17 But Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

My retreat this past weekend was focused on His Amazing Grace, which is I guess what Marylin touched on. That not through deed, but though grace or mercy, we are saved and those who beleive and accept Jesus Christ as our saviour shall have eternal life.

My question is, if it is through grace and acceptance of Christ, then where does baptism play a part? (I, growing up Lutheran, was baptised as an infant) Is it a symbolic act of rebirth? Can you accept Christ and enter Heaven without being baptized......I am a little confused. I'll admit, there is alot that I am still learning. Or alot that I thought I new, but as I grow older I realize maybe I didn't know.

Anyway, what about those who were never exposed to Christianity. Never learned about Christ? You know, like natives or people in remote areas. Is it like children, do they get to enter the Kingdom of Heaven too. Or, one that I have trouble with.......what about those who lived lives totally on the wrong path (ie - deathrow inmates) and accept Christ in the last few days or hours of life? I know that I don't even want to venture to judge that one cause it's not my place.

We use to kid in Bible study that maybe there are different levels of Heaven, like a tall condominium and those who led more Christ like lives get the top floor penthouse and those who commit heinous crimes and wait till the last hour get the basement. LOL I don't know.

Boy, this can be a deep group here. I like it.

By the way, after about 35 years of being Lutheran, my husband (who was Baptist) and I decided to join a Methodist church. Somewhere in the middle I guess.

Beth just read your post and thought I would give my 2 cents here. Hopefully I can explain it correctly.

Baptism is an outward sign of your faith / believe in Christ - it is telling those that believe and are saved that you are one of them and it is telling those that are unbelievers that you are taking a step of faith publically in obedience to Christ.

Can you be saved and not be baptised and still go to Heaven? YES. I believe that there are a lot of people that accept Christ and never do get baptised for whatever reason. Some could have accepted Christ and shortly after died without having the option to be baptized. I don't believe you need to be baptized to get into heaven - it is something that Christ tells us we should do but if you have not taken that step of obedience prior to your death you will not be refused eternal life with Him.

As for all of those that have not heard of Christ. This troubled me and still does to some extent. That is way we have so many missionaries - going and telling the world about Christ. But for those that have not heard about Christ due to where they are living. I do believe that born in us from conception is that of 'right and wrong' and some inward knowledge of some 'greater being' - hopefully this makes sense - and I think those that have not been told of Christ will still stand in front of CHrist on the day of judgement to give an account of how they lived. I really don't believe that CHrist would send all those that have now heard the word 'Jesus Christ' to '****' without letting them give an accounting of why the lived the way they did. God created us all - believers and unbelievers - and he wants us all to confess to knowing him but I believe that He knows that there will be those that will die before that word has been spoken to them - and He will then judge accordingly.

The main thing is this: Know that you are saved, you have been given eternal life - and because of this let others know of your faith so that they can have the same opportunity as you - being able to rejoice with the Lord forever and ever.

Hope that makes sense