Ada Brownell's Blog, page 5

DOES THE FUTURE LOOK DARK?

By Ada Brownell
I've never been afraid of the dark. When I was a kid the darker it was, the better we liked it.
The main reason for that is during the summer my siblings and I played Kick the Can after dark. The game was similar to Hide and Seek, except we set an empty can upside down in the middle of the yard.  The person who was “It” had to count to 100 while we hid and then begin searching.
 If the “It” person found us, we could race and kick the can before the person who was “It” could do it.  If we beat him to the can, then we could hide again and the person who was “It” had to count and go back to hunting. Sometimes we’d sneak around and kick the can even when we hadn’t been found because then the “It” person had to count to 100 again and we’d hide.
I slept outside under the stars with friends during the summer, too. Dark night didn’t scare me. In those days there wasn’t much to be frightened of in the dark, or even the light.
One night, though, while walking to church by myself when I was 12 or 13, I noticed the neighbor who lived across the street stumbling along toward me on the sidewalk, singing. He was drunk! I was halfway between church and home so I decided to walk as quietly as I could on the edge of the sidewalk and perhaps he wouldn’t notice me.
 Instead, when I tiptoed beside him, he shouted, “Boo!”
I shot down the street as his loud laughs echoed all over the neighborhood.  I arrived at church in record time, huffing and puffing.
After I was married, in a little town with no street lights I went out to empty the trash in a fenced pit area. Thought nothing of it because I knew where it was, even in the dark. Just as I dumped the waste basket a cat shot up out of the bin with a loud yowl. I about left my skin there.
Today, however, on occasion reality causes me and many Christians to view the future as a trip into darkness because of fearsome unknowns. We’re told in 2 Timothy 3:1 that in the last days before Christ’s return, perilous times shall come. Jesus even said, “In this world you will have tribulation.”
How should we respond? The answer is to get into God’s Word. God inspired the writers to insert so many promises there. Jesus’s warning in John 16:33 is followed by, “But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
Only recently I noticed a scripture that hadn’t caught my attention before, “The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness” (1 Kings 8:12).
Solomon reminded Israel of that during the temple dedication when the presence of God came as a cloud and filled the temple and priests couldn’t even minister. Perhaps some in attendance trembled, scared out of what they couldn’t see. It was as silly then to be afraid of the dark as it is now. The cloud blocking the light in the temple was God’s awesome glory and should cause joy instead of fear.
Today if He’s our Lord, we know God is with us—even in the dark. He promised to never leave or forsake (Hebrews 13:5), and we can hold on to that, even when the future seems to look dark and foreboding. God even dwells in the thick darkness!
Copyright Ada Brownell 2016
Ada Brownell, a retired reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain, is the author of nine books, including Peach Blossom Rancher, an historical romance released  by Elk Lake Publishing. Go to her Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell

THE BEAUTY OF A BUSY WOMAN

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the place of the dead), where you are going.
Ecclesiastes 9:9-11  
BY ADA NICIHOLSON BROWNELL
Solomon, in his kingly robe, his once-handsome face now etched with the journey of his smiles and frowns, must have shut his tired eyes before he wrote Proverbs 31.
All around the palace, his wives chattered, screamed at children and giggled. A few primped before a mirror, hoping to catch their husband’s attention that night. Perhaps the first of the 700 wives started the trend of doing nothing but looking beautiful and criticizing other women in the house.  I imagine each woman wanted to be the loveliest, the sexiest, and the one he would choose most.
 But after being surrounded by all that outward splendor, Solomon ‘s mind caught a vision of a different kind of woman. He imagined a lady who “looks well to the ways of her household, and eats not the bread of idleness.”
A traveling evangelist also wrote about the value of not being idle. The evangelist, the Apostle Paul, picked up a reed with his rough hands, work-worn from stitching tents,  and wrote to the Thessalonian church, his graying head filled with love and yet, frustration.
“Keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teachings you received from us,” he wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:6. He pointed out his team was not idle all the while they worked  with the church in Thessalonica.
Paul became even more bold in his statements about lazy people. “If any will not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).
Although many people work at avoiding things they don’t think they enjoy—like washing dishes, cleaning the house, doing laundry, bathing the children, doing odd jobs, working diligently at a career—they miss out on the satisfaction work gives and the joy of having chores done.
My Mom loved to quote the scripture about “No work, no food,” but I grew to enjoy what I could find to do constructively with my hands. I did it with all my might, as another scripture says. Even as a kid when I cleaned the kitchen and mopped the floor, I loved to look back at what I’d done as if I’d created a work of art out of chaos. To me, it was beautiful.
After I married and we eventually grew to seven people in the house, I used to set time goals for completing different tasks. Did you know you can make your bed in less than five minutes? Clean out the dishwasher in just a few seconds more than it takes to heat a cup of water in the microwave? Less than 15 minutes to clean to kitchen after a normal meal? Put everything on your bathroom vanity away and polish the sink in about 30 seconds? Fold and hang the laundry straight from the dryer in five to seven minutes?
Furthermore, have you tried planning meals in your head while doing some of the above tasks? Time? Zero.
An orderly home creates a different atmosphere. We can do a little deeper cleaning once a week, once a month or twice a year. I find if I notice dirt to go after it at that moment.  I can do that much of the bime.
We don’t need to be fanatics about neatness and put the bread away before the person who got it out can get peanut butter on it, but doing what we can when we can, gives us a chance for fun if we plan.
Planning is the key to hospitality, budgeting our finances, finding ways to stretch the family income—and getting adequate rest, too. The secret is being organized. You can always fit more into organized space.
                                             Sidebar: Polishing the Inner Woman
Giving hubby or the children at least five minutes of attention after work or school usually makes the rest of the day go better.  With effort and a sense of urgency, a woman can love every member of the family and train children in the way they ought to go while multi-tasking.
But there is more. Some mothers and fathers pray briefly with their children before they leave the house each day, but if we can’t manage that, we need to pray with them sometime. It’s even better if the family has devotions together. Reading scripture and praying for one another only takes a few minutes, but every once in a while we can devote more time so we can discuss problems, answer questions, or have intense Bible study together.
Other important tasks that actually aren’t that time-consuming: Reading the Word and connecting with God privately. We can pray and memorize scripture while doing other tasks, even while jogging or doing a few exercises and stretches. But it’s important to kneel for a few minutes daily to give the Lord undivided attention.
Most of all, being in God’s House also is time well spent.  When we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, everything else we need and sometimes even our desires will be added (Matthew 6:33). Pastors, Sunday school teachers, children’s workers, youth leaders, Christian friends, become positive mentors, tea ching our children to obey their parents and The Ten Commandments. The church can help couples make solid marriages, and help individuals to allow God to direct their steps—making the rest of their lives better.
As with budgeting  money, we can find ways we waste minutes and hours that would be better spent if we managed them correctly.
The results help us at the moment—and possibly change our family for eternity.
©Copyright Ada Brownell 2012
Ada Brownell has been writing for Christian publications since age 15. She is a retired medical journalist for The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado  and is the author of Swallowed by Life, Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal; and Confessions of a Pentecostal.

SOMEONE FOR KIDS TO LATCH ONTO: JESUSBy Ada Brownell&nbsp...

SOMEONE FOR KIDS TO LATCH ONTO: JESUS
By Ada Brownell


      “The police came last night to our house to get Daddy,” the little boy announced. “He hid in the back on the shelf in the closet and they didn’t find him!”
      His eyes sparkled with triumph.
      The report came during our opening moments at the Dunamis Academy, an after-school and summers program where I heard similar stories. Dunamis means supernatural power.
       I started the program at our church daycare after retirement. A number of the elementary children in the class were Social Services children who didn’t attend our church.      Then I spoke to the daycare director and she also caught the vision because the older children already enrolled in the daycare after-school-and- summers needed something constructive to do.
      The first summer the director taught the lower grades and I took upper elementary and a few junior high youth. We continued the program after school and summer for two years. We charged a nominal fee to children not enrolled in day care. There was no charge to students already enrolled.
      Summers for three hours Monday through Thursday we sang, prayed, played, studied Bible stories, memorized scripture, did skits, saw object lessons, participated in discussion, listened to guest speakers, did crafts and learned how to operate puppets in ministry (the children’s pastor taught puppetry).  Daycare children stayed for a leisurely afternoon.
       On Fridays we went on all-day field trips to ministries in Colorado Springs to show children some of the ministries for which they could prepare. We watched a Christian radio missionary who was broadcasting the gospel around the world. We visited Focus on the Family. At David C. Cook we saw how artists create illustrations for their publications. We visited the Navigator’s castle and others. The next year we visited soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other charities in our city, Pueblo, Colo.
      We had guest speakers for the older children, two I’d like to mention. The guest teenager emigrated from Africa, and told about the differences in freedoms there and America.  She also taught a song in Swahili: “Hold on to Jesus.”  The other was a public high school teacher who taught about preparing for your future, and that included through playing a game called “Virus X” that taught how quickly sexually transmitted diseases spread.
      According to the last statistics I gathered at that time, five million elementary-age U.S. children grow up with no supervision after school. Twenty-two million adolescents are unsupervised between 3 and 6 p.m. on a typical day, according to the U.S. Department of Health’s Child Care Bureau.
      That happens while thousands of large church buildings are unoccupied except for a few people working in the office.
      Large numbers of America’s youth have never heard the gospel. The church is losing young people to secularism.  Some churches have eliminated Christian education, thereby carelessly dropping their sterling silver youth down the garbage disposal. Churches that emphasize discipleship often have only a small percentage of children and youth receiving training.
      The first summer of the Dunamis Academy, the two daycare assistants in my classes put the date they accepted Jesus as Savior during that time. Most of the children and youth also invited Jesus into their hearts.
      I wrote my own curriculum, Dynamite Decisions for Youth, and that plus teaching was a great deal of work, But sharing the gospel to those young people was an amazing spiritual reward. If I were young again, I’d love to help establish more programs like it.
      One note I’d like to add. Quite a few churches have after-school programs, but the ones I’ve seen don’t emphasize the gospel. We informed parents we would teach undenominational Bible classes and had them sign their permission. We didn’t have one parent opt out. In fact, we had great feedback, with parents coming to awards ceremonies.
      I imagine they were like my dad when our family started going to church. He told Mama, “Let them go. I heard they teach children to obey their parents.”

PROPAGANDA AND POLITICS

By Ada Brownell “For a long time propagandists have recognized that lying must be avoided,” says Jacques Ellul, author of “Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes”.

Vintage Books, 1973, Random House, New York, Copyright 1965 by Alfred A. Knopf Inc., page 53 Propaganda, page 279 Ibid, page 280

DOES JESUS CARE?

Thankful Jesus cares
By Ada Brownell


     The day I arrived on earth I entered a family swarming with children. Escapees from the Kansas Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, some of my older brothers and sisters weren’t excited about an addition to the family.
The house where I was born was tucked against the red-rocked Colorado National Monument’s Mountains in peach country—and Mom and Dad owned ten beautiful acres of irrigated land.
Our home had a bedroom for our parents, and one for the children. The three boys slept on one side of the curtain; the five girls on the other. We had a small living room, a kitchen with a wood-burning range, a back porch and an outhouse.
I opened my eyes to people striving to have enough to eat by planting a massive garden while Daddy and my oldest brother worked for $1 a day shoveling coal from railroad cars into trucks.
I soon started filing away memories of laughter, joy and singing because my siblings and parents found Jesus in the little white church on the corner of Fruita—and they considered themselves rich in the things that count.
I experienced the hand of God early.  My 2-year-old brother emptied a salt shaker into my eyes when I was an infant.  Mama knew how to pray, rinsed by eyes  and I’ve never had a serious problem with my vision.
Then a couple of years later, my sister gave me a bath and not knowing someone built a fire in the cook stove at the end of the summer, she sat me down on the top. I still have the scars, but I survived. I’m sure the family stormed heaven for my healing then.
At about age 12, I froze my feet when I disobeyed Daddy and went ice skating on the edge of the Colorado River.  It was a long way from our newer two-story house on the other side of town. Without telling anyone, I shoved my numb feet into hot water. They turned black and swelled. Of course, my sins found me out as the scripture says, because I couldn't wear my shoes and had to wear an older sister's. I quickly repented and my feet healed without seeing a doctor other than the Great Physician.
I accepted Jesus as Savior at age 5 and often experienced His power and mercy at work in me. I became youth president at my church at age 15 and discovered God can use anybody.  I started writing service ideas for a youth leaders’ magazine, then the youth magazine, and soon sold articles to other Christian publications.
The Word talks about God directing our footsteps, and I saw God work in amazing ways—even when my husband and I ended up in a small town in Utah with no church. I thought we missed the Lord’s guidance until the Lord did a work in me and I started a Sunday school there.  Almost every child in town enrolled and on Easter a few parents came.
I kept writing, became a newspaper correspondent and then was hired as a staff reporter. I worked 2 ½ years, and then stayed home for nearly 20 years with our children (another gift from the Lord). Then needing to send the five of them to college, and accepting no less than a Christian college, I completed my degree, landed a reporting job at graduation and worked 17 years in the news business. All five of our children went to Christian colleges.
All during these years, I could see God leading, and most of the time I was aware He cares about us. Answers to prayer and miracles came frequently. But when our oldest daughter, Carolyn, became ill with Burkitt’s lymphoma and died two months after the diagnosis, I wondered if I believed what I thought I did about God and eternal life.
As a medical reporter, I began researching to see whether science shows we are more than a body, and I went through the Bible again underlining everything about living forever.
As a result, I’ve written a book, several years in the making, Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, which was released in November 2011. As a medical journalist for The Pueblo Chieftain, I discovered medical science shows we are much more than a body—and scripture proclaims it loud and clear. I found Jesus was the same Lord when we lost our beautiful daughter as He was throughout my life and the Holy Spirit is the Comforter.
 The reason Jesus came to earth was to do something about death—and He did! He gave each person who will accept Him as Savior the gift of eternal life in Heaven.
When I look at the cross I see a symbol that Jesus cares. God the Father cared enough to send His only Son that we can live forever. 






SWALLOWED BY LIFE: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal
By Ada Brownell
Peter wrote, "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables...but were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter 1:16).
13-week Bible study:


Do you believe you could live with someone else’s heart or kidneys, but not without your body? Evidence shows we’re more than flesh. The author, a prolific religion writer and retired medical journalist, talks about the evidence; the wonder of life with all its electrical systems; the awesome truth about cell death and regeneration; mysteries surrounding the change from mortal to immortal; where we go when our body dies; resurrection; and a glimpse at what we will do in heaven. Questions and answers make this non-fiction inspirational book a great text for group study. It’s written by a medical journalist for support groups, religion classes, people with chronic or terminal illness, individuals who fear death or are curious about it, the grieving, and those who give them counsel.
Review: “It was wonderful how the author merged the medical with the spiritual.”
Amazon: http://ow.ly/U11Rn

WHAT IS YOUR CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE?

By Ada Brownell
Preachers, funeral directors, and a few other professions have learned “the 300 rule” through personal experience, says author and marketing expert Donald F. Pooley.


“The average person knows 300 people on a friendly level,” says Pooley. “Wedding planners tend to make reservations for 300 guests. Funeral directors  plan  for 300 mourners.”


I’ve learned my circle’s eye revolves around my family. Then it gets wider and wider.


Pooley, a business expert, says our circles intersect with our loved ones and friends’ circles, and then we often connect with our family’s and friends’ circles. Soon we’re multiplying 300 times 300 and we have influence of 90,000 people.


In today’s world with Twitter and retweets, Facebook, Pinterest, and other online media there is no telling how many people could be influenced by one person—either for good or evil. For instance three people who had nearly 5,000 Twitter followers each retweeted a tweet about one of my books today. My circle of influence immediately enlarged.


Why should influence interest a Christian writer? For me, the whole reason I write is to give “stick-to-your-soul-encouragement.” The purpose is to encourage Christians to grow in their faith.  If they don’t know Jesus, I’d like to influence or encourage them to believe and accept His gift of eternal life.


As a Christian marketing expert Shelley Hitz told me, you never need to be embarrassed to market your writing if you share information readers need, would like to know; or something they can enjoy, such as an inspirational novel. In my writing sometimes I try to remind people of things that are facts, such as God is still on the throne. That’s important to the suffering, discouraged and depressed. The idea is to bless people with what you share and the great stories you tell.


God gave us gifts and plans for us to use them. “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).
Ada Brownell
Peach Blossom Rancher,Sequel to The Lady Fugitive 2015 LAUREL AWARD RUNNER-UP http://ow.ly/QzlIPAda Brownell Author Pagehttp://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06Blog: http://www.inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.comStick-to-Your-Soul Encouragement

ETERNAL SIGNIFICANCE

Drawing Near Blurb
Each day, God beckons us to Himself, calling us to rest in His love and grace. As we do, He heals our hurts, overpowers our fears with love, and restores us to the women He created us to be. This 90-day devotional, written by women who are learning themselves to live anchored in God's grace, will help you deepen your faith and grow your relationship with Christ.
Buy it on the Wholly Loved website HEREor on Amazon HERE. By Jennifer SlatteryGuest Author 


There are no inconsequential roles or people. We all have the capacity to create a lasting, Christ-centered legacy. To be used by God to change lives and communities.


When our daughter was young, I often felt insignificant. I stayed home, spent most of my time changing diapers, wiping snotty noses, cleaning spilled and splattered food off the tile, and tossing the same toys back in the toy box.


Granted, there were countless precious moments I wouldn’t change for anything. But there were times, like when I overheard my husband telling one of his employees to do important things or watched one of the neighbor women pull into their garage dressed all professional and important, that I felt frumpy and … ordinary.


But then one day, I lifted my eyes off of all my insecurities and onto my Savior and diligently sought His will in the middle of the crazy. As I did, a few beautiful things occurred. First, He showed me, every dish washed, tantrum endured, and room tidied could be an act of worship. Second, He helped me see Him–His plans and heart–in my every day and the eternal value of building into a precious young life. Third, He invited me to step outside of my home and to look around and notice others who were feeling insignificant and discouraged. To speak life and joy into other people’s lives.


This perspective shift led to some of the most amazing, eternal conversations, often with strangers; interactions I believe, in faith, God built upon, maybe for generations to come.
I thought of this, and of the capacity for impact we all hold, as I was reading through  Acts 16 .
In this chapter, we learn about a woman named Lydia whom Paul, an early church planter, encountered and shared the gospel with. Soon after, she welcomed him into her home, and thus, the first Christian church in Europe began.
Here’s what struck me.
First, she was female, during a time when women weren’t often included in religious discussions. Yet Lydia was not only included, but invited to serve alongside one of the most influential men in Christendom.
Second, she lived in a pagan, primarily Roman and Greek city. Residents worshiped many gods, including the emperor who claimed to be “lord and savior.”
Philippi, where Lydia lived, had a nearly nonexistent Jewish population. It was also on a major trade route, and therefore would’ve received a lot of foot traffic in its market.
Of Lydia, Luke says she was a “worshiper of God.” The original word used here was sebomenē, which referred to Gentile Jewish converts.
My question was, how did this Gentile living in a pagan land learn about Yahweh, the One true God?
Most likely not from one of the few Jews in her area. I suspect she learned about God while selling in the market.
Scripture says she sold purple cloth, which, in ancient times, was purchased by the wealthy. I highly doubt the wealthy did their own shopping.
I suspect Lydia learned about Yahweh from a slave who was simply doing his job. Serving his master, receiving no credit or respect. In fact, others likely looked down upon this slave and treated him rather poorly. He may even have assumed his life didn’t matter. I mean, he was just a servant, buying things for his master with his master’s money.
But this slave, whomever he or she was, became the catalyst to the first church in Europe, as did Lydia, a woman who spent most of her time selling cloth.
All that to say, your life matters, whatever you’re doing, wherever you’re at, God has a plan for you. He has someone for you to show love to. Someone for you to encourage. Someone who needs hope and the light of Christ to pierce through their darkness.
No one, and no role, is inconsequential because we belong to an intentional, miracle worker, grace-revealing, life-transforming God
Who might God be calling you to love on today?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Jennifer Slattery  is a writer and speaker who’s addressed women’s groups, church groups, Bible studies, and writers across the nation. She contributed numerous devotions Drawing Near: 90-Daily Devotions, is the author of Restoring Her Faith and numerous other titles, and maintains a devotional blog at JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLoud.com. As the founder of Wholly Loved Ministries, she and her team love to help women discover, embrace, and live out who they are in Christ. Visit her online to find out more about her speaking or to book her for your next women’s event, and sign up for her free quarterly newsletter HERE to learn of her future appearances, projects, and releases.

America Without Christians and Jews?

By Ada Brownell

Jews and Christians continually are criticized in the United States today, but the world would be a sorry place without its Judeo- Christian heritage.

Yes, evil things do occur in the name of God. Nevertheless, those who obey the Bible change the world for the better, and not only by bringing good news of redemption and eternal life. Christian charities have housed and fed the homeless and hungry around the world for centuries. Missionaries often bring free health care and medicine when they go to tell the world about Jesus. Christians are there, too, when disaster strikes.

Religion was the reason people learned to read. Since the Middle Ages, there has been near universal literacy among Jewish men because they were required to read the Torah by age thirteen.
In the early church, Christians copied the apostles’ writings by hand, as was done meticulously for centuries with Old Testament scriptures. But with the Reformation came a desire for everyone to read scripture. Until then, it was read in churches. The first moveable-type printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg, and the first book printed was the Gutenberg Bible.

According to the Encyclopedia Americana, education in colonial New England grew out of the Reformation as well. Puritans made sure their children could read the Bible. In the Middle Colonies, religious sects birthed early schools. In the Southern Colonies, parents tutored their children or educated them in a private school, often so they could read God’s Word. In New England, teachers were hired because of their soundness in the faith. The home and church provided most education until the early 1900s.

Universities and colleges were started by religious organizations:  Harvard to train preachers; Yale for training in church work, civil duties, the arts and sciences; Vanderbilt for teaching law, medicine, theology and the arts; Baylor was the fruit of the Baptist General Convention; Boston University was started by Methodists for training in theology; Boston College was Catholic, as was Fordham; Cornell College was Methodist; Rutgers University for 80 years included the New Brunswick Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church of America.

The world still is being educated by Christians. Wycliffe Translators live with primitive tribes and give them a written language and teach them to read. Wycliffe translated the Bible into hundreds of languages, and brought literacy to many nations. In their “Last Languages Campaign,” Wycliffe’s translators hope to have the 2,200 last languages translated by the year 2025.  Currently, Wycliffe has 1,400 translation literacy and language development programs, touching nearly 600 million people in 176 countries.
The church birthed most of the hospitals in our nation.
Jews also established hospitals, some of the best in the world, such as National Jewish Hospital in Denver, and Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem and Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, Israel. The Israeli hospital was founded by Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, which still underwrites a large part of its budget. In 2005, Hadassah was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize because of its equal treatment of all patients regardless of ethnic and religious differences, and its efforts to build bridges to peace.
A Hadassah member told me the medical center treats Palestinians injured in the wars and conflicts between their states.

Christians visit those in prison, mental hospitals and nursing homes; care for orphans and speak for those who can’t speak for themselves, such infants in the womb.
The church teaches children to obey their parents--then they provide wholesome activities for youth—mostly for no charge.
Christians will come to our side when we’re dying, and comfort those left behind.
Yet, it is not because of works of righteousness that God saved us and gave us the promise of eternal life, but because of His mercy.
-- Ada Brownell is a retired newspaper reporter and free lance writer.

LOVE THAT LASTS A LIFETIME

     
ada@adabrownell.com  THROWBACK BLOG POST                                                         
                 


LOVE THAT LASTS A LIFETIME
                                          By Ada Brownell
      The old man’s gnarled fingers gripped the polished arms of the chair. His grey eyes snapped with enthusiasm. “I’ve sent my servant Abahu to my country and to my kindrid. He will return with a wife for you. I’ve done this so your seed will inherit this land the Lord gave to me--and our children and children’s children.”
      Abraham, the old man, squinted his eyes, waiting for a response from his son, Isaac.
Already 40 years old, Isaac had noticed the beautiful daughters of the wicked  Canaanites, their neighbors. He ran his figures through his shoulder-length brown hair, his heart pounding. A wife! Could the aged servant his father sent tell who would please him?
“I should have gone with Abahu!” Isaac dropped on his knees in front of his papa, upset, but loving the feeble man and seeing his frailty. “This is important!”
Abraham reached for Isaac’s hand. “I couldn’t bear to send you back to that country. I sent my servants with many gifts.  Be in peace. I saw an angel leading the way.”
A few days later, Abahu stood with 10 camels near a well where women of the city came to draw water.
“Oh, Lord God, I pray thee send me good speed this day and show kindness to my master Abraham,” he prayed. “Let the damsel I ask for a drink also volunteer to water my camels.”
Before he was done praying, Rebekah walked toward the well with her pitcher on her shoulder. After she filled it, she held out her hand to Abahu. “Drink, my lord.”
 While Abahu drank, he observed the young woman who was returning to the well. She turned to him. “I will draw water for thy camels also.”
She was the one!
In a short time, the servant had her father’s approval, but her family called for Rebekah to see if she wanted to go.
“I will go,” she said.
Rebekah left, bringing along her damsels, as they rode camels and followed Abraham’s servant.
Isaac was out meditating in the field at evening when in the distance saw riders coming.
Rebekah saw him  Knowing it must be the man that was to be her husband, she covered her face with a veil, jumped off the camel and into Isaac’s waiting arms. And he loved her and married her right away.Contrast this story with King David who could see Delilah bathing on a roof next to the palace. His lust resulted in a quick tryst, an attempt at a cover-up, the intentional killing of Delilah’s husband, and the death of the beloved child born as a result of their sin. All of his life, David regretted his transgressions.
      People have confused lust with love since the beginning, and it might be more widespread today than ever before.
The Bible says when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (James 1:15). That’s often verified today. The Ccnter for Disease Control’s 2010 report on Sexually Transmitted Diseases identified STDs as one of the most critical health challenges facing our nation, with 19 million new infections each year costing the health care system $17 billion, not to mention the misery caused by herpes, the shame, the cancers caused human papilloma virus, the infertility caused by Chlamydia, liver failure caused by hepatitis, not to mention AIDS, and emotional problems such as suicide, unwed pregnancy, abortion, alcoholism, drug addiction and even murders from jealous lovers.
      Contrast that with the Bible’s definition of love: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
True love waits until after the wedding because of love deeper than lust. The couple vows to love each other, forsaking all others, until death. Love cares for their children until they’re able to care for themselves.
Love is far more intense than lust. Lust may last for a few moments, a few nights, maybe even a few years. But love, especially when deepened by God’s supernatural love, endures for a lifetime and beyond, through every moment, long beyond outward beauty, into every heartache, every sickness, every financial crisis, every disappointment, every loss, and even in death.
An old man knew he was dying and he asked his wife, “We’ve slept together for 68 years. Wife, crawl up into this hospital bed with me and sleep with me one more time.”
And she did.
The Bible says love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:8).
©Ada Brownell 2012
Ada Brownell is author of a book about supernatural love—how even after Adam and Eve disobeyed and ate of the forbidden tree and became mortals that would age, become ill and die, God promised He would send Someone to change that and restore eternal life. Read about it in her book, Swallowed by LIFE: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, in either paperback or for Kindle at http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW  Watch for her teen novel, Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult, available in the near future.


  Ada Brownell author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06
Blog: http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com
Swallowed by LIFE: http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW
Confessions of a Pentecostal: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0088OP460
 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/AdaBrownellWritingMinistries
Twitter: @adellerella













Genesis 24

ANSWERS TO QUIZ ON THE FUTURE YOU

Excerpt from Ada Brownell's  book, IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU.



Quiz Answers:
Chapter One:
1.     Answer the question truthfully and meditate on why you do or don’t think of the future.
2.     Allow yourself to dream great dreams while you ponder this question.
3.     Keep this list of dreams in your diary or your Bible where you can look at it occasionally.
4.     Write down your ideas.
5.     Both are important, but people with great talent who don’t dream or desire to polish and use what they have often have less success than those without much talent.
6.     Fulfilling dreams usually has little to do with luck, but it doesn’t hurt to know people who can help you succeed.
7.     Our decisions affect our future because we can’t achieve anything without working toward a goal.
8.     Yes. Because they once they become a part of us they’ll probably be with us all our lives.
9.     Because they assist us in reaching goals. Even though being on time at school doesn’t seem like a big deal, an “on-time” habit will help in everything we do.
10.  Poor people from dysfunctional homes achieved great things all through history.


Chapter Two answers
1. He was a little cocky, but no one deserves to be sold into slavery. His brothers’ jealousy consumed them.
2. Good character almost always shines through, although torture and being a prisoner sometimes causes a person to resort to bitterness and maybe even violence. Good character will show in our attitudes and actions.
3. Joseph said later God had a purpose. God used Joseph to save many people from starvation. God probably left him there because it humbled him. The cocky kid disappeared and emerged a strong man whose witness eventually went all over the prison and all over Egypt.
4. Joseph desired to find God’s grace and serve Him, which Joseph did (Genesis 39:4).
5. We probably should remember he forgave his brothers.
6. The Book of Life, and our name is written there when we repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our Savior.
7. Who we are doesn’t depend on the meaning of our name. Who we are depends on our own will.
8. Not necessarily.
9. We don’t need to accept criticism or privileges because of our family name.
10. Do my best to show people I no longer practice sinful habits or unacceptable activities, and be patient while they discover who I really am.


Chapter Three answers


Be thoughtful and truthful with your answer.A respectful, loving attitude that shows on our face and in the way we dress.How you look shows whether you respect yourself, and it could go beyond that to showing how you respect your school, others, your family, and even God. If you look your best without dressing seductively, it shows you respect yourself, and modesty shows you respect others.Search your heart. Do you want to be respected or eyed by slime?If your answer is no, start paying attention. Glance in a full-length mirror and assess how you look. Look at yourself in the mirror. Inspect recent photos of you.When you’ve decided on your best features, write down your choices and use those in the way you apply makeup and how you dress.If you haven’t been paying attention, you should be.Make a list of people you admire and then state why you think they’re special. If they are super skinny and you suspect they might be anorexic or bulimic, look up anorexia and bulimia on the Internet. These conditions not only harm your health and can kill; they sometimes blossom into a serious mental illness. By the same token, does the reason you admire them make sense for wanting to be like them?Because good looks last only until we age, become ill, can’t afford good clothes or makeup, get flabby, or gain weight. Godly character lasts through life, through hard times, and for eternity. It’s who we are that counts, not how we look.Opinion leaders don’t follow the crowd. You’re not afraid of being different, or following your own dreams, standing out from the crowd, and becoming a strong person others can trust and should admire.
Chapter Four answers
Just calculate that.React.Distressing circumstances; more powerful.Will.Go in faith through doors God opens, but be sure to stay close enough to God to know if He opened the way.Now.God.Accept Jesus as Savior and make Him Lord of your life; observe what people do in different careers, and talk with people who do the work you would like to do.Joseph.
10. He probably would have died young or at least never found favor as a slave.


Chapter Five Answers
Imitate.From experience or other people.It changes us and our character.By consciously controlling our thoughts, filtering out ungodliness, avoiding filthy movies and television, being content, listening to good music, reading good clean stories, studying God’s Word, and picking up wisdom from wise people around us.Our conscience.No. Because we can ignore our conscience.By not going into Satan’s territory, giving him our minds, and resisting and rebuking him.God’s Word, good books, good music, a will to work, a will to do our best, and a decision to live for God no matter what the circumstances or what other people do.Ask God for protection of our minds or to intervene. We can ask teachers for substitute books. Above all, resist brainwashing.Because truth pays off. All propagandists have to do to change people’s attitudes is twist the truth or “spin” it into a lie, or give people what they want to hear instead of the whole truth.


Chapter Six answers


Yes. Perhaps because David probably would have sought the Lord first, but we’ll never know. David made a huge mistake himself when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. Nevertheless, God can see into the future and would have helped Solomon if he’d asked.Only you can answer that.God provided miracles, by first giving the servant wisdom, by moving on Rebecca’s heart, and by helping Isaac respond to her.  Be truthful in your opinion of what happened.The will.Love; the same way.We want others to love us as God loves us.Because of nearness in time and space (propinquity); We desire someone; Our instincts tell us to create a family; To build our ego; Because we decide to fall in love; No one better is available; We have similar interests; Because of loneliness; Because someone else encouraged us to date this person; Because it’s God’s plan.You have the answers.1 Corinthians 13The will.


Chapter Seven answers
To prevent STDs; to prevent pregnancy; to present yourself as a virgin to your spouse at the marriage altar; to enhance your marriage, especially with trust and respect; to keep healthy emotionally; to stay free from sexual sin.True.Poverty.They have goals in life.To please God.Adultery.Friends.Liar. Truth.Just give your opinion.Our will.


Chapter Eight answers
1. No. Because faith is necessary for salvation (Romans 10:9, John 3:16).
2. Revelatory days of creation; Age-long days of creation; Twenty-four-hour days of creation: twenty-four-hour days of re-creation.
3. The Piltdown Man.
4. He wrote the book in 1859.
5. No. Because it’s still a dog, a fish, a fruit fly, a bird, or whatever it was before there were mutations or genetic changes.
6. Faith. Because no one can prove how or why we got here, and the perfection of creation cries out for a Designer.
7. To make evolution appear plausible, because in a normal man’s life span no significant changes can be seen in any species that say they are changing into another.
8. The exponential J curve.
9. The first and second laws of thermodynamics. The first is that matter cannot be created; the second is that matter continuously degrades and becomes less organized. The universe is slowing down and dying, and everything on Earth eventually falls apart or decays.
10. The seeing eye; hearing ear; the brain and neurological system; the digestive system; reproduction and cardiovascular systems; and on and on and on.


Chapter Nine answers         
1. The only begotten Son of God (John 3:16).
2. John chapter 1 says Jesus (the light of the world) was there at creation. Jesus said He existed before Abraham (John 8:58.).
3. Yes. The Bible says no other god or person can provide Salvation (Acts 4:12).
4. He was wounded for our sins (Isaiah 53:5) is one, but there are more, even in that chapter.
5. Jesus claimed to be God when he told the Jews that if they kept His sayings, they would not see death (John 3:51-58), and other times referenced in the Bible.
6. He accepted worship and forgave sins.
7. Because if Jesus were just a “good” man, he lied, because He claimed to be God. Either Jesus is who He said He was or He is a wicked imposter.
8. Forgiveness of sin; a sacrifice for all humankind’s sin.
9. Because He lives, we shall live also.
10. Like a thief in the night, unexpectedly (See Matthew 24, 25). He told us to watch (be ready) because we won’t know the day or hour (Matthew 25:13).
Chapter Ten Answers
1. Blood.
2. Believe, repent of sin and accept Jesus Christ as Savior.
3. Born again.
4. God forgets it (Micah 7:18–19).
5. No, but God take away guilt and give us peace about it.
6. By studying the Bible and keeping our conscience soft and receptive to the Holy Spirit.
7. Yes, but only by accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and turning from false doctrine, scripture outside of the Bible, and worshipping men or other gods as their savior.
8. Giving every part of you to the Lord, seeking His will, and following God and His Word.
9. No.
10. No. It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).


Chapter Eleven answers    
1. Holy men of God inspired by the Holy Ghost.
2. Joseph Smith; Mohammad wrote most of the Koran.
3. Because it shows testimonials that what was said was true, especially since forty authors agree on hundreds of controversial subjects.
4. No, yet the whole book is filled with prophecies and fulfillment of the Messiah, and the New Testament is written by witnesses who saw how God completed His plan of salvation for man. Much of the New Testament contains quotes of the teachings of Jesus, however. (See 2 Peter 1:16 and 1 John 1: 1).
5. The Bible.
6. Peter and John.  (See 2 Peter 1:16 and 1 John 1: 1).
7. Yes. The Pool of Siloam, King David’s Palace, and many more,
8. By scribes, who spent their lives copying scripture and being sure it was accurate, and making sure the scrolls would not disintegrate.
9. You probably can’t prove it to someone else, but use the Word in faith, and you can prove it to yourself.
10. Yes. But most denominations believe this is true of the original manuscripts, not necessarily every translation, although most translations can be trusted.


Chapter Twelve answers
1. Because a Christian needs to talk to God, and God loves to communicate with us.
2. Probably not. It would be like being married and never talking to your spouse.
3. The Bible says it will be. Hundreds of promises are contained in the Bible.
4. Just by talking to God as you would someone else, but being sure you are reverent, and begin by thanking Him for your blessings and what He has done.
5. Yes, but sometimes God says no.
6. Because it’s OK to get your emotions involved. Sometimes a person has great need, is sorry for sin, or weeps because joy has come in.
7. Yes, if you are conscious of what you are saying, mean what you say, and have faith God will answer.
8. To increase faith but also to assure God we believe what He has said.
9. Because he told us to “ask.”
10. Everything. That’s what helps our prayers reach heaven.


Chapter Thirteen answers


1.     To steal, kill, and destroy.
2.     Snare.
3.     A roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
4.     Be sober and on our guard.
5.     What people do every day.
6.     Steals talent, destroys character, and eventually kills.
7.     Diamond; polishing.
8.     Only you know.
9.     Make a plan.
10.  If I assume responsibility for preparing for the future, and trust God to open doors and lead.