Painting, Familiar faces and a Day of Rest

Well since I've last posted we have painted, painted and painted. All the rooms in our small apartment are painted with the exception of one(the kids room). Their room is last because it was the only room that was white. The new coat of paint gives our new home a little cleaner, fresher feel. Besides, when painting you find all the little cracks and holes that the friendly little creatures around here could come and join us through. So all is well and painted:)

Yesterday we had a good visit with Seth, Shannon, Ellen, Noah and Verna (Seth's grandma). If any of you didn't know already, they are on their way to hop on a cruise ship for a week (very nice). They stopped in to check out our place and then we went to eat at a restaurant on the river, Buzzard Billy's (outside). Yes, outside, however the shade was a bit cool so we asked to move to the sun which was great! Noah tried the fried alligator...apparently alligators aren't going extinct. After trying a very small piece we all decided it kinda tastes like chicken:) I can now add alligator to the very small list of weird foods I've tried.
All in all it was a good visit and sad to say good-bye again.

Today at worship was another convicting message. The title was: The Pharisee. Yes, just the title alone made me cringe a little but yes amazing. I could really relate to the speaker this morning about having religion in place of a relationship. I think most of my life my "good decisions" were based on a fear that I might not measure up if I did wrong/bad things. In this decision making I kept myself from a lot of pain caused by bad decisions but also headed down the path of being a Pharisee or religious. Because I made my decisions based on fear they were without God. And without God it was based on me and myself trying to do or live how I thought Christians were supposed to live. The parable of the Prodigal Son was read and the speaker said if you just read this story and only learn that God welcomes back sinners you're missing it. There are two stories here and the second is of the older son. At that point I was thinking 'conviction moment'!! I've always kinda identified with the older son in the story. I could see how he would be upset because his inheritance is basically now being shared again with his brother and what did he get for being "good" the whole time while his brother was out partying? His brother didn't get what he deserved from the Father (anger, rejection, etc) but instead got acceptance, love, and a party thrown in his return (Luke 15). The speaker pointed out that the Pharisee spirit is one that 1. gets distressed/jealous over someone else's sucess 2. hates to lose control (money, people, situations, etc),3. questions God's perspective, 4.obeys out of joyless obligation and 5. hides their private world from everyone else. All this being said, I found myself humbled and overcome with a repentant heart. It is a daily struggle of the Pharisee spirit but with Christ their is freedom in all struggles and situations. Praise God for his Father heart!