Keeping our Faith in our Business

With all the recent lawsuits regarding Christians in the business world, it makes you wonder if keeping your faith out of your business is something you should do. I kinda of frown on that because it then becomes a reflection of who I am in the business world. I have never had to hide my character, morals and integrity when I walked into a business place to work and it will also be evident of those that buy from me, that I keep my faith in the same way. It is who I am.

I had a comment the other day about how can I keep my faith if I am selling wreaths and products that don't line up 100% with my faith. For example providing Easter decor that depicts bunnies and eggs. I think we have to consider what the Bible says and how it was implied to prevent these items from becoming things we worship or replace Jesus with. In fact, we have to remember that Jesus came to save the sinner and not hang out with the religious leaders of the day. He came to save the lost. I have had more opportunities to share my faith now, than when I simply talked about Jesus all day in my blog posts. I have had opportunities to show the reason for my faith, like Paul takes about when people ask about me, what I do and where my faith comes into my business side of things.

Remember God can use us in any capacity to achieve what He has called us to do. I've prayed over my business and committed this to God. It's up to Him to shut it down or allow it to prosper. That's all any of us can do with our days, what we do, say or write, is let God use us as vessels to bring the gospel to people right where they are. In fact, my followers will be the first to share with you how evident my faith is in every aspect of what I do. Now while the symbolism of Easter can be traced back to is Babylonian pagan origins, the point is not to use these as a substitute for what Easter really means, to replace the resurrection with the eggs or bunnies. People are not using these products in some false idol worship and that is the point I am making. While I sell both religious and non religious home decor, God is the one directing people to me and what they decide to sell.

God can use us and our situations in whatever way He wishes to and I believe that I don't have to compromise what I believe in order to do what God has called me to create. I am curious, about what you think about keeping your faith in your workplace and look forward to your comments.

Exposing the Origins of our Cultural Traditions

Whenever I find myself reading the Bible, it always use to amaze me at how the Israelites could fall into the religious practices of the nations around them when they had seen what following God could do and what disobedience would lead to, yet like a dog goes back to its vomit, this is precisely what they did. Israel was constantly tempted by the Babylonian cults, and it is where we fall into Satan's subtlety's like palm reading, rabbits feet, good luck charms, white magic, tarot cards, fortune cookies and even purgatory and lent. All of these things have their origins in Babylonian cults regardless of how innocent and cute they might appear. There are all kinds of things in our culture and traditions today, that we fail to stop and consider or even question their origins, that they have Babylonian roots.

As we have looked back into Jeremiah 44:15-17 ~ "Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 'As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, n the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster."

This spells out the worship of Semiramus and Tammuz.

Ezekiel warns us in Ezekiel 8:12-14 ~ "Then he said to me, 'Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, 'The Lord does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.' He said also to me, You will see still greater abominations that they commit. Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz."

Each of them had their own personal shrines of his own idols. All of these things had their origins in the Bible, but then Satan twisted them and made them seem okay. Semiramus and Tammuz, you might say are not things I worship, but have you considered the origins of those statues and idols you do have that may in fact have Babylonian roots?

Purgatory predates the origin of the Catholic church, they didn't invent it. It was from the Babylonian culture.

Lent was established 5000 years ago, remember, when after 40 days of weeping and lamenting Semiramus prayed to the gods of the underworld to send back her son Tammuz. When he was resurrected, they celebrated. This is all pagan worship and this story appears in most cultures but with different names and worship styles.

Mary and Jesus, the Mother and Child or Madonna and Child, is an example of pagan worship. That very image of a mother holding a baby with a crown above her head, has been unearthed in archaeology more than 4000 years ago in ancient Babylonia, regardless of what you may have been told or taught as part of your religious upbringing. The worship of the "Holy Mother Of Heaven and Child" is what it has been called. Again if you don't believe this, please research it for yourself.

The Temple of Pan from ancient Philippi in Caesarea is where we also get the name Bacchus. It goes by another name as well, Tammuz. His name changes but his worship doesn't. We get the word 'panic' from this.

You might argue that you're not worshiping it like it is being revealed here, but that is the subtleness of Satan's antics. A twist just a bit, and you can see what he does. You can't worship the Queen of Heaven and that is what Jeremiah and Ezekiel were warning Israel not to do. If you want to know more the ancient names of Semiramus and Tammuz from various cultures, see my blog post.

In fact if you look into the King James Version of the Bible in Acts 12:4, Easter is found in the Bible.

Acts 12:4 ~ "And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people."

This isn't a reference to Easter, a spring time celebration, but of Ishtar's celebration in Ancient Roman Empire. This was pagan Rome, not the Christian church doing the celebrating of Lent and Easter. After their festivities, they were going to bring Peter out and kill him. 

As her cult priesthood spread westward from Babylon, a method of priesthood began in Jesus' day as the Nicolaitans. Nico = Lords and Laitans = people. Religious rulers or lords over the common people. 

Revelation 2:15 ~ "So also you have some who  hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans."

By the way, the Nicolaitans practiced an ancient Babylonian rite, "The Seccessional Hierachy." A true minister of God will point you to Christ. That is why the Bible says that there is but one mediator between us and God, Jesus Christ. 

This is the very reason that Moses was reprimanded by God for bringing forth water from a rock and saying that he deserved all the glory for it when the Israelites were thirsty, a direction violation from God. Moses took the glory like it was coming from him, but God called him on it and resulted in Moses not being allowed into the Promised Land. 

Numbers 20:7-12 ~ "and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.' And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?? And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ' Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the lands that I have given them."

This Babylon in Revelation 17 is called a whore because (1) she is easily accessible = all roads lead to her, (2) she's deceptive = taking on a cultural form, and (3) she's dangerous = the souls of mankind are in her hands. 

Remember that we read that she is riding a beast, we will see later that the beast will be none other than the political antichrist. 

Remember we saw this image on the Greece version of the Euro coin. 

This is the Greece 5 Euro coin from 1996. As you can see a woman riding the beast, in her flowing robes, upon the water. If you were to purchase this coin it comes with a document that describes who this is. The waters are the sea of humanity, the woman is Europa who has been captured by the beast, Zeus taking her on a trip to conquer the world. Now not every Euro coin has a woman and beast on it, but if you research it for yourself, you will see for yourself what is apparent in front of us than many do not understand how prevalent this really is in the world. In fact a postage stamp depicting the very same image of the woman and beast also contains a little cupid like figure on it. Remember what we studied before, Cupid is the name for Tammuz in the Roman culture. 

This all points to a world that will worship Babylon or her origins in their religious system that has been a false one since the beginning of creation. We will be exposing even more tomorrow in our study. Hope you will join us.

This One Post Might Cost Me More Readers Than Any I've Written!

This one blog post today might just cost me me entire blogging and social media readership, but as I have always promised, I am sharing my insights on the Bible study through the Book of Revelation and in doing so, I am shining the light of God's Truth into the dark places of the world that we might wake up and be exposed to the Satanic influence that is permeating our culture and world today with such innocence that we might all find ourselves like John did, marveled and shocked at what is revealed.

This one post will probably cause quite a bit of controversy and the one thing I ask is simply if you would research all of this today for yourself. The one thing I believe might happen is that this post creates more curiosity and cause more people to open their eyes to what is happening all around them in the world today.

We are going to be digging even deeper into the mystery surrounding Babylon and the cult system of worship that began there, including looking into the prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah from the Bible and gaining an understanding of the word, "Purgatory." Is it biblical or is it grounded in myth?

The one question I would ask you if you are reading this today, is do you trust in Jesus alone or in a church, religion, system or tradition?

Remember from our study yesterday we learned a bit about the origins of the Babylonian cult worship. If you haven't read it, please do so by clicking here. It will help understand what we are studying today. Israel began to adopt this Babylonian cult worship.

Jeremiah 44:15-17 ~ "Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster."

Ancient Israel was bowing down to Semiramus, even Jeremiah warned them to stop worshiping.

Ezekiel 8:12-14 ~ "Then he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, the LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land. He said also to me, "You will see greater abominations that they commit. Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz."

Every person in Israel had their own personal idol in their homes. According to the Babylonian cult, Semiramus' acts of priestly intercession confirmed upon her the power to deliver a soul from what the Babylonians called the doctrine of (Perga-tory). Her religious system went out in the world.

You can read more on this in the book, The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop, written in 1853 by more than 270 authors who contributed to his research. Not one person today has ever disputed his writings.

Revelation 2:12-13 ~ "And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was killed among you, where Satan dwells."

The region of Pergamos was in the place now part of Turkey and extended into the region of Iraq. At the time of Jesus Christ, the headquarters of the Babylonian cult was in Pergamus. The church called it Satan's seat, or the Temple of Zeus. This actual temple has been relocated and can be found in the Pergamum Museum in Berlin, Germany today. Semiramus was worshiped there. It is where emperor worship began. Emperors used the term Pontifus Maximus, which is Latin for Emperor of the Roman Empire. Check ancient Roman History for more on that. All the Caesars obtained that title and that is why the Roman Empire was worshiped and the emperors were worshiped as gods.

This is why there was such an issue when Christianity came on the scene, because you either worshiped Jesus Christ as Lord or you declared Caesar as lord.

The ancient Babylonian cult married itself into the ancient Roman Empire. This is the key to the century we are living in today. This is why it is so important today to see the rise in Europe's power and might. It must happen and it is!

The ancient Babylonians when they worshiped Semiramus as the priestess of Heaven and Hell, remember when her son Tammuz died, she prayed him out of hell and death.

So why did Jesus write the letter to the church of Pergamum?

Because its root is Perga-tory, Perga-mum. Perga-mus. Catholics didn't invent purgatory. The popes didn't invent purgatory. This has been in the minds of men and women since Babylon. It is not new.

The museum of Pergamum is located in Berlin, Germany because the German's stole it from Turkey. I am including pictures of the Museum of Pergamum, the Ishtar Gate, and the Temple of Zeus and you can research it for yourself and visit it today if you find yourself in Berlin, Germany. It got its name from Jews and Christians as the throne of Satan founded in roots from Babylonian worship. Tammuz in some cultures was worshiped as the moon god.

In the Assyrian Empire which reaches into southern Russia today, worshiped Semiramus and Tammuz as Isthar and Tammuz.

In Phoenicia, they were worshiped as Ash-Tar-Ta and Baal.

In Egypt, they were worshiped by the names Isis and Horace.

In Greece, they were worshiped by the names Aphrodite and Eros.

In Rome, they were worshiped by the names Venus and Cupid.

In Islam, they don't know the name of their god, so they simply refer to him as Allah, but if you research it further, they worship the moon god. What is on the temples as a symbol of their faith? The crescent moon.

Semiramus was declared to be the intercessor for the world, and that Tammuz was the deliverer of the world, and born in Babylon was the cult of "Mother and Child."

Do you remember how long Semiramus lament, pray and wept for her son? 40 days. They referred to it as "Lent!" After the resurrection of Tammuz, there was a great celebration in honor of Semiramus (Isthar) and Tammuz of feasting, drinking, and of orgies. A very special gift was exchanged, a decorated egg was given to worshipers of Isthar, her name for 2000 years is not Ishtar, but by the Chaldean word, "Easter."

Don't believe me, again research this for yourself.

The Babylonian Empire has always recognized the egg as a symbol in fertility. If you gave an egg to someone and they accepted it and took it from you, then you would engage in sexual orgies with that person.

That is why John was so marveled and shocked at what he was seeing at the opening of Revelation 17. He understood exactly what was happening. It is hard to gain an understanding of the traditions we grew up with as children, but again research it all for yourself. It is challenging reading and studying this and it is no wonder we find ourselves shocked today and how this Babylonian culture is all around us without us being any wiser until hopefully today.

Do You Need A Body Guard?

When you think of people who require a body guard, you'd probably think of a celebrity, members of high ranking government positions or even a sports figure who is sought after by fans. When you look at your life, do you need a body guard?

Odds are probably not. Not anyway yet.

Why is that? Why would you need a body guard?

Body guards are needed to protect the very lives of those who have hired them. Willing to die for them if need be. Not exactly the job I would sign up for.

Yet why do people do it?

Definitely something to make you wonder about. People who would take on a job, going to work one day and might not make it home because they have laid down their life for someone that they really don't know.

But it's easy to consider when it is someone you know really well. Inside and out on all levels. Perhaps even love. When you ask yourself the question then, would you be willing to die for someone you love, the question is an easy one. A no-brainer if you will.

Trust me when I say this that there is NOTHING you have done in your life that is so terrible that the death of Jesus at the cross, doesn't cover it.

It's not like you tell God what you did, and He says, "Wow! I didn't even think about that one. Nope that one is simply too great, it's not included."

No everything past, present or even future based sins are ALL covered in the death of Jesus on the cross for YOU!

Even if you were the very last and only person on earth, EVER, Jesus would have died just for you, because like you've experienced, there isn't anything you wouldn't do for someone you truly love more than anything. If it was between them and YOU, you would gladly take You over them.

Jesus can relate to us more than we think.

Why is it then, that Jesus who was the most loving man on the face of the earth, and the most loved, is the most hated?

He never laid a hand on another, never condemned or judged people based on their actions, past or present, but instead forgave them of their sins and were told to simply go and sin no more. He never killed the people who really wronged him, beat him, and even crucified him, even though He had at His disposal legions of angels that would have answered the call in a heartbeat.

Why is it when He was crucified, the first words He spoke were, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do?"

Because in all honesty they really didn't. We have no idea of the magnitude of what Jesus felt, endured, and knew in advance all that would happen to him. Yet He humbly went to the cross in our place.

Yet how often do we look upon Easter week, and fail to understand the depth of that kind of love? To remember what He did, so we can have a restored relationship with Him and God, the Father. Open lines of communications without all the rules and regulations of sin sacrifices any longer? Where have we fallen short in our day to day actions of simply leaving Jesus behind.

We ARE living in the last days. People all around the world are willing to die for Jesus. People who have less time in their faith than we do, and willingly are killed because of their belief in a loving God.

We may not need a body guard right now, but trust me, there will come a time, where you will wish you had one. When the persecution of Christians and believers in Jesus Christ will come to a full blown conclusion. Where you will have to take a stand for your faith. Will you take a stand for Jesus, or will you take a stand for this world?

Those my friends, are your only choices. Which one will you stand for? The eternal consequences are simple. Stand for Jesus, have eternal life. Stand for the world, eternal punishment.

God is providing a way for you to come to a loving place in Heaven, but He won't wait for long. We will ALL be given that choice in life, but the choice is ours alone to make, because He loves you that much, he doesn't want you to die. But you can't have it both ways, and don't think you'll always have time for that later. Death comes swiftly and unexpectedly at times, and you may not have another chance.

I challenge you today to take a stand for Jesus, for your faith. Would you be willing? If you don't take a stand for something, you'll fall for anything. Choose Jesus.

Sinner's Prayer

Father, I come to You, confessing my sin and asking for Your forgiveness. I thank you, Lord, for You have promised that if I will confess my sins, You will be faithful to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I want to turn from my sins and live in Your will. I ask that You give me the power through Your Holy Spirit to live the right way.

I thank You that Jesus Christ died on the cross, paying the price for my sins, and then rose from the dead. I accept Him now as my Savior, my Lord, and my Friend. Thank You for giving me new life in Christ. I surrender myself to You; make me what You want me to be. In Jesus' name. Amen!

Son Rise Sunday

Allelujia! He is RiSon! I love that play on words. I tried today to drag my 45 year old body to attempt to go to sunrise service this morning at 6:15am. What that entails is getting my lovely two daughters out of bed and ready as well. One takes about 45 minutes to get ready and thats if she even comprehends, 'Time to Get Up' when I tell her. More than half the time, I have to go and wake her back up again, because I think she fell asleep thinking she must have been dreaming because it's still dark outside.

My teenager, gotta love her, alone just takes 1 1/2 to get ready and all that is, is showered, dressed, make up, hair done just right, because you just never know who may be there, and that doesn't even include breakfast. That is, if she hears your voice in her dreamland somewhere and even remotely responds to your voice to get up.

Not only that to top it all off, I stayed up way to late, watching, "The Greatest Story Ever Told", which lasted til 12:00am. I personally felt tasked to watch this from start to end, even though my mother made me watch it ever Easter when I was little. So I have seen it a lot, let's just say. I felt like I owed it to Jesus to watch whatever portrayl Hollywood put together during the time when Bible based movies weren't unheard of. I felt like I was watching TV with my Lord and wanted to be with him first thing before anyone in my household on Easter morning. Let me tell you I was, and wide awake. It took me another hour or so to finally fall asleep, but I had some last minute Easter things to take care of as well. I do have a 10 year old that still loves her "Easter Baskets", and I haven't the heart to tell her otherwise just yet.

So you guessed it, I was preparing for Easter morning so we could at least make it to Easter service at church, even if it was the later morning service. We were glad we did. The morning to me, was spent the way I wanted it to be spent, with Jesus reliving the most miraculous time on Earth and I didn't want to spend it asleep.

Not only that, our morning went smoothly. No arguing, everyone in a great mood, even though Mom is barely coherent, I went about singing the Hallelujia chorus all morning long! Starting first thing. I think my family must think it due to a lack of some serious sleep on my behalf. I was off to a great start with some caramel coffee and I was ready to go.

Troops marched off to their respective showers, got their chores out the way, house and rooms picked up, breakfast made, and time to get to church with minutes to spare. The message, as always very inspiring. We read about the resurrection of Jesus.

The interesting part of our sermon today, was that after witnessing all that Jesus had to show them, after Mary claiming to have been told by angels that Jesus was alive, and others claiming to have the same story of the empty tomb, two disciples were heading out of town despite what Jesus had told them. He reminded the disciples to stay in Jerusalem, when they heard and witnessed his resurrection. However, some still had their doubts. Some still didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah the prophecy had foretold, they thought somehow that Jesus would change their current circumstances and probably fix all their problems in Rome. So after feeling yet even more discouraged they left.

They were joined, later after some grumbling about how let down they felt that Jesus didn't fix things, by Jesus himself, although He prevented them from knowing who He really was. Imagine that, complaining about Jesus to Jesus, Himself. Amazing! Then the two disciples share their story with Jesus, their expectations and let down and Jesus reminds them of all the things fulfilled based on Jesus' presence all this time.

After a time, the disciples arrive at their location for the evening and Jesus bids them farewell, only they insist He must stay with them, it's night after all. Jesus agrees and after breaking bread and offering thanks with them, He reveals who He really is to them and then disappears. Wonder what they were thinking? I know for me, I would feel so ashamed about my grumbling and complaining, I would lose it.

In that moment, they immediately left and headed back to Jerusalem, in a hurry to share the good news with everyone. It's at that moment in time, we find ourselves with the remainder of the disciples in the Upper Room when Jesus returns again to share His resurrection with the rest. I often wonder what transpired in both heaven and hell that day.

You know that when Jesus uttered those words, "It is finished!" that Satan panicked big time, and all of heaven fell silent! I couldn't imagine as a parent watching my only child die for someone else.

Yet even death could not contain Him, and it never will again! He is Alive and He has come to save us all from certain and everlasting death. He is preparing a place in heaven for each of us, where there will be no more pain, no more tears, no more death, just an eternal celebration where I will spend my entire eternity thanking my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for all He did for me that day!

I must tell you that I would feel as the disciples did that day when Jesus reappeared to them after His resurrection. The joy can not be contained. Jesus blessed me today with an abundant amount of joy that no matter what anyone said or did, had no effect. My Lord Lives!

....and He shall reign forever and ever!!....Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Solemn Saturday

Today I woke up and realized in my weekend reflection that today would have represented the day after Jesus' death. I spent the morning wondering what life was like for the disciples that day. I would have guessed that for some, they wondered if Jesus was really dead, "Did it really happen?". Some probably still in denial that our Savior was dead and the loneliness that day must have been overwhelming.

You spent so many years with this person witnessing all His miracles and the many blessings that followed. To just have had the opportunity to walk with Jesus and talk with Him, to hear what really interested Him during all His travels. Then to have that all taken away in a day.

I wonder how Peter felt the day after his denial of Jesus. I wonder just how many "what if's" he played out in his mind. I personally feel that Peter felt the worst. He was now living the life of regrets. A life he probably felt he could take back and wished he could. I see Peter sitting among the rest of the disciplines in the Upper Room but isolated from the others in tears.

I am certain they spent the day wondering how they could have possibly changed the events that happened the night before, wondering if they could have saved Jesus. I am also sure that at some point in the day, they spent time sharing all the stories of what they remembered most about Jesus. I would guess at times, there would be a great memory shared that would bring about a smile and laughter, only to have it suddenly removed, when they realized those moments were no more.

I can imagine how somber and sullen that day would have been. A day of reflection and remembrance of Jesus' life on Earth and the impact he made in so many lives.

Little however did the disciples now the majesty of what would await them in the morning. But for now, I am choosing to reflect and remember just what Jesus has done in my life today and how if it weren't for Him, I would be hopeless and lost.

Good Friday!

Today holds such significance! I woke up this morning to the most amazing thought and I wanted to share it with you. I get emails from Max Lucado, one of my most favorite authors and wanted to share with you, his meaning of why as Christians the cross remains our symbol for Christ. The article begins by analyzing why as Christians would we take the cross as a symbol of our Savior's torture device. 

Why would we want to remember that? Take any symbol and make it mean something. A mini electric chair, a guillotine, an ax? Basically we are taking something, like a cross, and using it to signify our religion and our beliefs. Many don't see that way. Crosses are everywhere, they are on the top of churches, engraved on tombstones, hung on our walls in our homes, and even worn as jewelry around the neck. Yet besides the significance that the cross did not kill our Savior, we choose to hold it as a way to remember. A way to remember the ultimate sacrifice that was paid for everyone of us that has lived, so that we can share in the abundance of life everlasting, provided to us by Jesus Christ and our belief in Him. 

How sad to think how many people go through life without true faith and hope in something better than this life. My heart goes out to people lost in this world, bound by their own self inadequacies, faults, mistakes that they have made or currently making, and living a shell of existence as they go through life each day. How different is the life of a believer especially this weekend! We have hope, joy, peace, love and all the gifts of the spirit. We also have the added benefit of knowing that this life is temporary, our suffering in it, is nothing compared the suffering Jesus Christ took upon His perfect body and soul for us! 

We should be happy even in the midst of crisis because we didn't have to endure what Christ did for us. I believe today is a time to reflect on that day. To review and read the gospels stories of Jesus' final days. It's a time to realize that our bad days are nothing compared to the days Jesus faced in his final hours. It's time to remember that this life is temporary and we are just visitors in the place, designed to make sure we add to the very population of our eternal home, by taking as many believers with us as possible. Heaven has no capacity limits, and then again neither does hell. 

However, I would rather spread the news about hope and joy, than eternal damnation and suffering that nothing here on earth, could ever imagine. This Easter, it's about life! Eternal life! Just those two words are enough for me! Now here is what Max had to say about what he believes the cross truly means. Love his definition! "Why is the cross the symbol of our faith? To find the answer look no farther than the cross itself. Its design couldn't be simpler. One beam horizontal--the other vertical. One reaches out--like God's love. The other reaches up--as does God's holiness. One represents the width of his love; the other reflects the height of his holiness. The cross is the intersection. The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards." May you all have a truly wonderful and blessed Easter!

Got Coffee?

I found an interesting suggestion the other day that my hubby and I were off shopping for Easter candy. We stopped by Starbucks inside of Target and I noticed a sign that said if you ask for coffee grinds, they will gladly supply you with some. It struck me as odd since I couldn't figure out what you would use them for.

So a couple of days past by and I googled for what to do with coffee grounds and perhaps gardening since that was all I could think you could use them for. Well low and behold I found a ton of interesting information out. Seems like if you ask for them, Starbucks has about 50-100 pounds of coffee grinds to pass out. You place them around the base of your plants and they do a couple of things.

1. They increase the PH in your soil, especially if you have a clay-based soil like we have in the desert. Funny but it looks more like sand.

2. It repels pests from your plants along with broken egg shells. Yes I am planning on saving those and try adding them to my garden as well.

3. It helps promote worm growth. Worms in your garden equal amazing soil. You want worms, just in your garden however.

4. It helps your plants produce more blooms, fruits, veggies, shiny leaves and more growth.

5. Its cheaper than Miracle Grow and it's completely organic.

So my daughter and I are going to try it and she is going to document the results for her Science Project. I will keep you posted and let you know how it's going. You can also dilute the extra coffee you have left in the pot in the morning and water your plants with it.

So it dawned on me this morning with all the talk about gardening, that spring with all it's new life, blossoms and potential fruit just waiting to pop out, that it reminded me of Christ. This time of the year is so amazing that despite getting lost in marshmallow peeps and chocolate bunnies, that we lose sight of our amazing savior who pledged the ultimate sacrifice and gave us His life, so that we can have life, only more abundantly. Spring is the time for new life to begin and what a great way to celebrate Christ's resurrection, then everytime you notice a new bud on your flowers or a new piece of fruit growing on your trees or even new leaves beginning to burst on your trees, take a moment and remember Jesus. He is the ultimate Life and spring is just full of signs to remind us of His resurrection. Just look at my wonderful apple blossoms pictured above! Gotta love that smell!

May your garden's be full with life and color and take a moment to thank God for His gifts this Easter.

Love and Hugs ~ Kat