Rich & Diane's Place

Below is the way the ESV has chosen to form paragraphs from a section of scripture from the Sermon on the Mount. In order for you to see what thoughts I’m having about this section of scripture, I would ask that you read this section a few times before reading further.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Here’s the question … Are these paragraphs containing one great teaching after another? Or, are these ideas connected with a tight common theme?

The ESV paragraph divisions seems pretty logical as shown. But, as I was listening to this section of scripture in audio form, - listening to this section of scripture over and over again, relaxing, and thinking about the the the message, and looking for a flow of thought ... it seems that this entire portion of scripture might be better placed into a single paragraph. There's a wonderful connection that runs through this entire section of scripture. There are two reasons for considering that this may be the case:

(1) The content of the first paragraph and the last sentence are tightly connected. The last sentence seems to be saying the same thing as the first paragraph - just in a "recap" sort of way. Look at it again: Jesus said, Judge not, that you be not judged ... for the way that you measure out the teachings of the law on others ... either with a condemning attitude, or with an attitude of mercy ... is the same way the commandments of God will be measured out on you ..... < does the content of the other paragraphs belong belong here with this one ... this is the question > ..... So, whatever way you wish for others to treat you is the way that you should also treat them. This is the conclusion of the Law and the Prophets.

(2) Secondly, it's not just the **content** of the last part that closely aligns with the content of the first paragraph, but, it's also the **way** that The Golden Rule is introduced that connects it back to the first part:

• So ... the Golden Rule
• Therefore ... the Golden Rule

Now, if "The Golden Rule" was meant to go with the first paragraph about "Judging Others" ... then perhaps the order got messed up during translation. Perhaps, "The Golden Rule" should be place before the other paragraphs about casting pearls before swine, and the asking, seeking, knocking advice ... but I do not think so ...

So, if the order is not messed up ... if it's correct, then perhaps all of the content of all three paragraphs really belong together. Perhaps all three paragraphs should be combined into a single paragraph. If this is the case, perhaps we should look for the connection in order to get the whole message. Perhaps there are three sub-points in a main message. I'm pondering this. Perhaps an outline might look something like this:

I. Instructions about RELATING TO OTHERS, and how that parallels our RELATING TO GOD.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

a). Be careful not to condemn others with the law ... showing disdain in areas where they fall short of God's grace. If you do this, in like manner, you will be condemned in view of the commands of God ... He will relate disdain towards you in areas where you fall short of God's grace. To develop mercy is of key importance, we all need it equally before God. Playing tit for tat will get you in huge trouble fast. How you relate to others is how God will relate to you ( remember, blessed are the merciful ... because they will obtain mercy ).

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

b). Be careful about sharing spiritually revealed truths with those that are not only unsaved, but are also greatly not interested. One reason that you do not want to do this is because it won't really do them any good. They are dead to God and God is not working in them. Secondly, they will judge you as thinking that you are better than them, and will seek your harm. Use wisdom about what you share, who you share with, and how you share ... don't force things on people who are not interested ... test the ability to share often, but be ready to back off if the Spirit is not moving in the life of a person with a hostile spirit. This is wisdom.

But, perhaps the main reason to not want to do this falls into the theme that's running through these paragraphs: Judge not that you be not judged, treat people the way you want to be treated. So, in this second example, what spiritual truths do you share with those that are not spiritual. Follow the teachings that Jesus is giving here: treat them like you imagine you would want to be treated, given that there's no foundation of spiritual interest. Do you want pure religious teachings applied to your life like course sandpaper rubbing you the wrong way? Remember that God lets people follow there own sinful stubbornness until they "come to their senses" ... He's the patient father ... allowing his youngest rebellious child to leave ... heartbroken, and hating it, but He allows this nonetheless. Cast not your pearls before swine ... share with those that will receive, test the ability to share often, pray, watch for repentance hope, but also ... let them alone until the day of visitation ... treat them like you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes ... you would want someone to be on your side, praying for you, and ready to share, but sharing when it would do some good and there was the possibility of you to receive ... not running over you before that appointed time.

(BTW ... this involves judgment mixed with wisdom, motivated by love ... not the abstinence of judgment! You have to "judge" what a "dog" is, what a "pearl" is, what a "swine" is and what is "holy" anyway ... So, this is confirmation that Jesus is not commanding us to "not judge" .... but rather ... to "not condemn" someone based on failure to keep the laws of God).

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

c). Knowing what you know about this kind of spiritual decree that Jesus is showing us - that God is merciful and patient with us as we are merciful and patient with others ... ( which is based on the degree to which we understand point (a) above ), and ... understanding that you see your need for God to richly apply that mercy in your life ... demonstrated by the way that you are striving to develop and practice applying that mercy to others ... then, you will gain further confidence, you will build your faith .... and your vertical relationship with God will follow ... even to the point of having confidence in your asking, seeking, finding circumstances before God.

Based on all that above, we can see that God Himself desires to treat us the way that He would want to be treated, if He were in our shoes. I know, I know … this is a very very bad way of stating the theme running through this third point. But, the point is, the theme is there: God wants to treat us kindly with good gifts … if we, being evil know how to give our children good gifts … Certainly God would want to give good gifts to us … since He is perfectly holy. If He wants us to have instructions of treating others the way we would want to be treated … certainly His character is acting the same. This again, gives confidence towards prayer and knowing the Goodness of God.

Thus … we are treating people the way we wish to be treated by God … and we are developing grace in our horizontal relationships and receiving grace in our vertical relationships.

I do not know how to explain the fact that I see this as increase in FAITH that results in outwardly exhibiting itself … not a works-based reward principle.

**** Yet I do understand that God is merciful with us many times when we are not merciful towards others ***** His GRACE is beyond our ability. But as we grow in Him, we start to act like Him from His Spirit within us!

Do we become a Christian and then just live until we die – hopefully bringing others into the family of God before that finally happens? Is the becoming of a Christian the only spiritually important thing that happens in our life? What is the Christian life supposed to be about, once you have recognized God, understood the purpose of the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, and accepted that gift in proper response of repentance, agreeing with God’s design and placement for us, and live out a life of confession to that truth by faith? How do we proceed from the point where we accepted such a glorious gift of salvation from Him?

When we understand that receiving salvation is a spiritual beginning, a new birth, we understand that we are spiritual babies. We have begun the process of “growing up”. What are we “growing up” to become? What does it mean to spiritually mature? Does that mean that we adopt a lot of “good habits” that we perform so often that they become part of our lifestyle? Is that what it means to “grow up”? That we “become good” by forming good habits?

Consider this verse, Romans chapter 12, verse two:

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The process of growing up has to do with becoming transformed; and, from what this verse implies, it’s a mental process – it happens in our minds. We may put on an outward front to others, but who we really are takes place in our minds. The way we think of ourselves, how we justify our behaviors, how we judge others, how we hold to our opinions – all these things are held in our minds. Scripture says, it’s our minds that need to continue to be transformed.

[By the way, it may be worthwhile making a quick side note at this point. All my life I have heard language about "Giving your heart to Jesus". I certainly think we can all agree to what that means. But, in this context, our heart refers to making a decision about a great degree of priority. This priority is described as being so great it involves our emotions - thus we say that we give our heart. But, our physical heart is not the seat of our emotions. In doing a recent study of the brain, it's been re-enforced to me that all of our emotions are formed in some key regions of our brain. It may be more proper for us to say that we give our "mental affections" over to Jesus, or better yet, we replace our existing mental affections with Jesus Christ, whereby He becomes the object of our affections, or desires, and confession, and worship, and .... etc etc etc ... ]

But, returning from our sideline conversation, back to the main discussion. So, Romans chapter twelve, verse two says we are to be transformed, a mental process … something that goes against the norm of being conformed to the rest of the world. If we become transformed in our minds, it will mark us out as a peculiar people.

That’s easy to say … and it sounds very nice. But, what does that really mean, – to be transformed? What are we being transformed from? What are we being transformed into? Does Romans chapter 8, verse twenty nine, provide details to this transformation process?

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Once we have been born spiritually, we have started a process of being transformed into the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. At the end of this transformation process, we will reach a state that inspired language calls conformed into the image of His Son. Whatever that language means, it has in view that Jesus was the firstborn of many who were predestined to arrive at such a state. Does this sound a little strange? Consider some similar language from second Peter chapter one and verse four:

“… He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature …”

Scripture seems to indicate that those who have been spiritually born, will began a spiritual progression until we arrive in a state that scripture describes as having become partakers of the divine nature.

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For just a moment, let’s take a look at Genesis chapter one verses twenty six through twenty seven:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth”.

   So God created man in his own image,
      in the image of God he created him;
      male and female he created them.

Theologians have pondered what it means to be made in the image of God over the centuries. Exactly what it means remains somewhat mysterious. Certainly the sinful fall of mankind has had some effect on that. But being restored back into the family of God, begins with a new birth, made possible by Jesus Christ, and seems to involve a process of being transformed into Christ’s image in such a way that Christ can be called the firstborn of many brothers.

And what can we say about the image of Christ? Consider this verse, taken from second Corinthians chapter four, verse four:

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Or how about Colossians chapter one, verse fifteen:

He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

So far, we have pointed out two verses stating that Christ is the image of God. And, before the fall, we were initially created in the image of God. We have also stated that the new birth begins a process of being transformed, by the renewing of our minds. And we have seen some wonderfully strange language of Peter alluding to us becoming partakers of the divine nature, my many precious gifts of God – chiefly the Unspeakable Gift, Jesus Christ.

Let’s look at one more verse, Philippians chapter one, verse six.

And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion the day of Jesus Christ.

Or more explicity stated, Philippians chapter two, verse five:

Have this same mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus

It will happen, it will one day be completed, we will be conformed to the image of Christ, who is the image of God, whose image we were initially created in. But it’s a work in progress right now. The first part of the journey has already taken place with every Christian, we have turned our minds into agreement with God about what sin is, (repentance), acknowledged the supreme gift of God, (Christ), and clung to that promise of life by faith in His truth. But, we continue the progress still further, by transforming our minds towards sanctification in the very same way … to deeper levels, that covers all areas of our lives to the point that it defines who we are. This is Christian growth.

So this is all backdrop for a discussion of how my view of Christianity differs from God’s view of Christianity. Let me list a few things.

This leads me to understand some corrections that need to be made in my thinking. I have views of what Christianity means to me. Some of those views are correct, some are not. They have been influenced by my culture and environment. But, in light of the discussions above, some my my views of Christianity need to be corrected. Here are some corrections that need to be made.

• In my current view of Christianity, I love to sit with a cup of coffee in hand, study the Bible, reading wonderful commentaries, and add knowledge to myself about how great Christ’s supremacy is – and try to grasp fully the reality of that.

But these verses above talk about a deeper application. They talk about the Word of God being more than meaningful insights. They talk of the Word of God becoming a living and abiding part of my heart’s desires to the point that it defines who I am; – who I am becoming. God is interested in adding to my sanctification, His holiness, naturally occurring from within, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the possibility of Jesus Christ, from my own inward desires being conformed into His desires. This is the death of the flesh, and the maturing of a spiritual seed that was planted in me from Christ Jesus – the Holy Spirit. This is a mystery. It’s not as cut and dry as English words allow – its’ something I do not fully understand. But it a reality that I have already began to participate in.

• In my current view of Christianity, I want to like the people that I want to like. Those who love the Word of God, those who worship like I do, those that seem to be approved by my current view of Christianity.

Wouldn’t you know it, when I look at Christ, it seems that I’m acting like a Pharisee with these thoughts! This is an area that needs to be transformed into the image of Christ. I need to recognize that there are people gripped in sins that I find repulsive. (And how hypocritical is that, I don’t have to think to hard to go back to a time that I too was one such person like that.) Christ was full of forgiveness to those who others thought were hopeless. Luke 19:7 is my response towards some people. But Christ’s response is found a few verses down in Luke 19:9-10. I need more brain surgery in this area – I need to be transformed until I have the mind of Christ.

I could go on and on … and I could get more and more personal in the examples. But the point is, I am in desperate need of not just understanding this; but in participating in the process of transformation. This is God’s view of Christianity – which is again available through Christ Jesus, – the way, the truth, and the life. Praise God for the possibility of such a rich life!

I ‘m so grateful for the support and encouragement that is provided for us in one of the greatest institutions ever established by our God – the local church. Here are some things that were impressed on my heart and mind from yesterday’s look at scripture. I’m still processing and responding to these things in my life – and what a joy it has been to do this.

I did not give myself life,
nor did I cause myself to be born,
I did not determine my personal characteristics …
– my body style
– my eye color
– my intelligence
– my health
– my abilities, or even my disabilities …

And yet, my life, and the characteristics of it, are gifts from God that I enjoy today.

I did not choose when or where I would be born,
– what century
– what country
– what climate I would live in

And yet, I find myself typing these very thoughts in English with marvelous technology as a US citizen.

I did not place myself in a home that would be exposed me to the knowledge of the one true God
I did not determine that I would hear the generally unaccepted, yet true, history of the shameful beginning of mankind …
– of the fall of man
– of rebellion from God’s authority and instructions
– of turning our hearts from our Creator

And yet, I have heard this history and see it’s truth lived out deeper and deeper everyday as we progresses down a path farther away from God.

I did not determine that one day I would be exposed to the Good News of God’s Love
– that 2000 years ago, He walked among us, in the person of Jesus Christ
– that He shared in our way of existence in a fallen creation
– that He lived a life full of love and compassion for helpless people He created
– that He rebuked those who tried to block others from coming to know the truth, Himself
– that He volunteered to pay for our rebellion Himself in order to free those who would turn back from their rebellion to Him

And yet, I have heard the good news … and I have believed … and I have embraced this truth from my personal Creator …

I have found that, although there are many things that I may have some control of … His loving-kindness has already provided the most important things … things that I needed the most.

It is important for us to remember these things lest we think that we are greater than we are, lest we think that we choose Him from our own knowledge, lest we become prideful thinking that we are better than others. We should remain humbled by His great mercy and kindness towards us … He raised us up and made us who we are. Let us never forget where we came from, and that we were nothing before He found us. Praise God that He found us! (How thankful we are can be seen by how much we care for others by telling them the good news.)

Here’s where these lines of thought are based in Holy Scripture – Deuteronomy chapter eight:

“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.

So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

“Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.‘ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.

In the New Testament, we understand that we are children of these forefathers through the law of faith (they followed after God by faith, and so do we). God promised them that He would bless them and their descendants. He is still keeping His promise today. He chose them from all those that were on the earth, for only reasons that He knows – simply out of His loving-kindness, to be a special people reserved unto Him, and that He would be their God.

Therefore, we too are a peculiar people, special to Him, different from the world. We need to pay attention not to forget these lessons in the Old Testament. He allowed them to get hungry just so that He could feed them … to demonstrate that He is the real source of our life, not mere food alone. He is our great reward – and there is no greater reward!

Keeping God’s commandments seem to not be some duty-list, so much as it was a means to worship God, to show affection to Him, a means to honor Him. The keeping of the commandments were a heart-felt way to revere the relationship that we have with God. God had reminded them of His intimate relationship with them over the last 40 years. During that time, did them ultimate good. He humbling them through discipline for their lack of faith – He did things to build up faith in them, to reveal His loving character for them, and His ability to handle any problem that would come along. He reveled His goal of sanctifying them unto Himself as His chosen people.

We need to understand what idolatry is: giving our affections so freely to this thing … or that thing … chasing after things in order to satisfy our desires. We recline back … and go on to forget God who has always been the source of our life … and when we chase after the pleasures of other things in our life … when we set our affections and joys on other things, instead of desiring to please God … it is comparable to adultery! These scriptures warn us to return to our first love, to live life correctly as God designed us, keeping faithful to Him by keeping His commandments. We should beware lest we forget the reason that we have been so blessed; and to return to our supreme joy and treasure – our great reward – the only satisfying object of our affection – God, our Father.

Rach celebrated the big “One-O” B-Day! We had her open envelops that contained pictures and clues for several surprises throughout the weekend.

• It’s nice to be with friends when you thought you heard something in the attic.
• Be careful how much you eat … you never know when you might get a toothache!
• Find someone that has dug a big hole in the backyard and make a visit
• Get ready for summer!
• SHIP + Pappa’s Middle Name
• Eat at the place of your choice

Between running around chasing down clues … we had a wonderful strawberry cake Saturday evening.

Dr. Harry Ironside has written a book, called Except Ye Repent, in which he examines the doctrine of repentance in depth. From chapter one, he spots common misunderstandings about this important principle and talks a bit about what repentance is not. Then he begins to show what correct biblical repentance looks like. Let’s review some of his starting points – what repentance is not:

• Repentance is not simply penitence or remorse – ( i.e. feeling sorry for sins committed.)

Repentance, from the Bible’s perspective, is an act of God (2 Tim 2:25-26). When God grants repentance and we accept the Biblical perspective of how undone we stand before God, the usual immediate response is sorrow over our sins against God … but repentance goes beyond feelings; it’s end results produce a changed life! From 2 Corinthians 7:10 we see that godly sorrow produces a repentance not to be repented of. An unregenerate man can feel a certain sorrow for sin – and it has nothing to do with salvation, the feelings of being sorry for sin, by itself is not repentance.

• Repentance is not penance – an effort by man to atone for sin, to attempt pay for one’s sin before God

Man can never perform spiritual repair for sin. The greatest historical example of any man attempting this would be that of Judas’ efforts. He had such inner anguish over leading the Jewish mob to Christ’s location for 40 pieces of silver, that he tried to return the money – and later went out and hung himself. But, no act of penance can atone for anyone’s sin. Atonement could only be accomplished by God pouring His wrath for our sins onto His Son, Christ, who voluntarily made payment for them during the crucifixion. The idea of man trying to perform this act is contrary to the whole reason Christ had to come! Of course, Dr Ironside mentions, repentance will cause a person to seek to restore wrongs against another person, as far as possible – but this is just one outcome of repentance, not the means of accomplishing it.

• Repentance is not reformation – it’s not turning over a new leaf.

Although repentance is closely associated with a new lifestyle, accomplishing a new lifestyle by itself, (based on man’s efforts alone) should never be confused with the supernatural work of God in ones life.

So, after opening the first chapter up with describing what repentance is not … we go onward to talk about what repentance is. Here’s a section from chapter one worth reviewing:

What then is repentance? … it seems almost necessary to say that it is the Greek word metanoia, which is translated “repentance” in our English Bibles, and literally means a change of mind. This is not simply the acceptance of new ideas in place of old notions. But it actually implies a complete reversal of one’s inward attitude.

How luminously clear this makes the whole question before us! To repent is to change one’s attitude toward self, toward sin, toward God, toward Christ. And this is what God commands. John came preaching to publicans and sinners, hopelessly vile and depraved, “Change your attitude, for the kingdom is at hand.” To haughty scribes and legalistic Pharisees came the same command, “Change your attitude,” and thus they would be ready to receive Him who came in grace to save. To sinners everywhere the Saviour cried, “Except ye change your attitude, ye shall all likewise perish.”

And everywhere the apostles went they called upon men thus to face their sins — to face the question of their helplessness, yet their responsibility to God — to face Christ as the one, all-sufficient Saviour, and thus by trusting Him to obtain remission of sins and justification from all things.

So to face these tremendous facts is to change one’s mind completely, so that the pleasure lover sees and confesses the folly of his empty life; the self-indulgent learns to hate the passions that express the corruption of his nature; the self-righteous sees himself a condemned sinner in the eyes of a holy God; the man who has been hiding from God seeks to find a hiding place in Him; the Christ-rejecter realizes and owns his need of a Redeemer, and so believes unto life and salvation.

Which comes first, repentance or faith? In Scripture we read, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Yet we find true believers exhorted to “repent, and do the first works.” So intimately are the two related that you cannot have one without the other. The man who believes God repents; the repentant soul puts his trust in the Lord when the Gospel is revealed to him. Theologians may wrangle over this, but the fact is, no man repents until the Holy Spirit produces repentance in his soul through the truth. No man believes the Gospel and rests in it for his own salvation until he has judged himself as a needy sinner before God. And this is repentance.

It is my prayer that this would be comforting to you … as you read, and remember a time in your life when you repented and believed the gospel message of the Bible. The responses of repenting, and believing are actually two sides of the same coin. It doesn’t seem possible to do one without performing the other. It’s simply a positive reaction of accepting the gospel message with a thankful, life-changing way – ever trusting in the work of Jesus Christ’s love and compassion for us sinners.

Warm Regards, Because of Christ.

This is pretty heavy snow for central Mississippi. The strange thing is … farther north, they didn’t get any snow.

Here at Rich & Diane’s Place, we have performed painful operations to PHP code and CSS attributes in order to customize the appearance of this site. The major customization was to merge the Sliding Doors category-selection header to the top for each theme available.

After working on this for the past few months, I seem to have become satisfied with the way things currently stand. (Dare I draw attention to the date this article was written with that previous sentence? I may change my mind yet again with huge changes that have yet-to-come! I’ll risk it!) Having said that, I’m curious to see if the casual visitor has a clearly defined favorite color preference for the Elegant Box Theme.

I’m also curious to see if folks prefer the default Elegant Box Theme to the others that are available:

• Evanescence
• Red Line

Please give your feedback below. Of course, any general comments about the design of this site are warmly appreciated as well! Thanks in advance.

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