The Weight of Words, Part 2

We enjoyed another tremendous Bible Study on Tuesday night.

Key verse:  Proverbs 8:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."  What you put on the table with your tongue is what you will consume, bitter or sweet.

We all have a filter that we hear everything through.  It is called the sum of our life experiences.  What we have experienced in life will affect how we hear what is said and how we receive it.  It affects our ability to trust and love.

Our biggest challenge is in the nature of our words.

Relationships have suffered and failed because of misunderstandings, how words are received and interpreted. We cannot accomplish anything with miscommunication. 

Psalm 64:3 "Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words."  People who use their words as a weapon do it to destroy those who don't agree with them.  You have the ability to destroy with your tongue. 

I Peter 3:1-2 says "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear."  Don't talk bad about the church to unsaved loved ones.  Always be positive about the church, the pastor and his wife, and what is going on.

Proverbs 17:4 "A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue."  Adam and Eve listened to the serpent.  He changed the Word of God by only adding one word.  God said "thou shalt surely die."  The serpent said, "Ye shall not surely die."  Don't listen to the wrong voice that is sewing doubt and criticism.

Numbers chapter 13 records the story of the 12 spies.  They reported that the land flowed with milk and honey.  But then they brought an evil report.  They saw themselves as inferior, inadequate and incapable.  Only Joshua and Caleb believed they were able.  In Numbers chapter 14 the people wept that night and murmured against Moses and Aaron because of an evil report.  A negative report can cause you to miss out on the promises of God.  They all died because they bought into a lie.

We need to understand the impact of our words.  Proverbs 17:28 "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding."  If you're not sure if you're saying the right thing, keep your mouth shut!  "If you can't say something nice... don't say anything at all!"

Joshua chapter six shows us that Joshua learned his lesson.  When it was time to take the city of Jericho, verse 10 says, "And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout."  Joshua did not want a negative report to ruin the victory.  Sometimes the best thing we can do is keep quiet.  They marched for six days - Joshua knew the complaining was going to start up.  They would have talked themselves out of victory.

Don't talk yourself out of victory.  Keep marching!  Hold on to your faith.  Victory is on the way!

Friday Foodie ~ Japanese Nabe

Last Saturday night a group of us met at Ichiriki Japanese Nabe Restaurant to celebrate Pastor McGriffin's 60th birthday.  It was a surprise and he was definitely surprised!

The surprise for the rest of us was how we were seated.  First we took off our shoes, then stepped into a room with low tables.  Thankfully we did not have to sit on the floor, it just looked that way!

Nabe, or Japanese Hot Pot, is very simple. Fresh vegetables + seafood + meat + a flavorful broth = Super Yum!  Les and I ordered the single Paitan Nabe which started with pork broth.  The Kami Nabe is advertised as "serves two" but the single was more than enough for the two of us.  I'm not sure of everything that went into our pot, but I know we had pork, shrimp, tofu, meatballs, cabbage, mushrooms, and kale.

Did I mention we cooked it ourselves?  The pot is on the table, over an open flame.

The meatballs (made by scooping out small portions from the stick in the back) go in first, then the veggies and tofu, last is the thinly sliced meat and seafood.  We let it cook for about 10 minutes and dug in.

Served over rice, this was a delicious meal!  We kept spooning out more and more.  We enjoyed every bite and the fellowship was outstanding!

Looking for Chapstick

The other day I was in Don Quijote.  Along with groceries, I needed chapstick.  After searching a few aisles, I spotted an employee and asked where I would find chapstick.  "Single or packages?" he asked.  "It doesn't matter."  "There they are..." 

Haha!  Not quite what I had in mind!  The poor guy was so embarrassed.  I eventually did find chapstick, but what a difference a letter makes!

Hawaii District Family Camp

Friday night we were privileged to attend the last night of camp at the Pu'u Kahea Conference Center.  Getting through Friday night traffic on Oahu is a lot like Los Angeles, but it was worth it!  Service was held in the Meeting Tent, with a wonderful breeze blowing in.

The children had service in the Upper Room, but sang a song at the beginning of service.  If I remember correctly, at least five received the Holy Ghost for the first time during camp!

The ocean breeze felt great, but "suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind" and God's Spirit was in that place!  We were singing "Whose Report Will You Believe?"  The song leader told everyone to hold up their Bibles - that is the report to believe!  God's Spirit moved in an incredible way!

Bro. Jeff Morgan preached an amazing message entitled "The Power of God's Word in Your Mouth."  When WE speak His Word, powerful things happen.  Great things are going to happen when we speak His word with confidence, knowing that whatsoever we bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatsoever we loose on earth is loosed in heaven!  Mountains will move when we speak.  They were created by the spoken word of God, so when we speak His Word, even the mountains recognize it!

Bro. Morgan told the Hawaii district, "You are no longer immature Christians, but Sons of God!  It's time for great things to happen in the Hawaiian Islands."

The Weight of Words, Part 1

 
Last Tuesday, Pastor McGriffin began a new series about words.  I have written many posts about words and how they can harm or help others (click on this link if you want to read them all, good stuff if I do say so myself!)  The old childhood taunt "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me," is one that I disagree with strongly.  A broken bone will heal, but words can hurt for a lifetime.  What we say to others and what we say to ourselves matters.  Here are some notes from last week's study:

Key verse:  Proverbs 8:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." Pastor McGriffin had us look at our neighbors and repeat, "My words carry a huge weight." 

Genesis chapter 11 gives the account of the Tower of Babel. "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech." (verse 1) "And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.  Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." (verse 6-9)  God knew that the ability to communicate was so great that nothing could stop them.  Amos 3:3 "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"  

Language is powerful.  The tongue is very often used as a weapon of destruction.  Psalm 64:3-6 "Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:  That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.  They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep."

There are approximately 6900 languages in the world.  There are more than 800 languages in Papua New Guinea (pray for our missionaries there!)  There are about 750,000 words in the English language.  The average person speaks 3,000 and may know 10,000 words.  College graduates may know 60,000 words. That means there are 3,000 ways we can be misunderstood every day.

Words are tools - tools designed to build or to destroy.  The choice is yours.  Always try to lift people up with your words - make them feel better when they leave your presence.  It's not a good thing to be known as someone who rips people to shreds. Deuteronomy 11:26 says, "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse."  Make the right choice between life and death and blessings and cursings.

You can destroy yourself with words.  James 3:5 says, "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!"  The second part of Proverbs 18:21 says, "they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."  Your will reap the fruit of how you use your tongue.  Use your tongue as a weapon, a vessel of criticism and division and it will come back to you.  Use your tongue as a tool to heal, of blessing, or to speak joy and it's coming back to you.  There is weight in your words.

People magnets are those who speak positive things.

Be a good listener.  Hold back your words and just listen.  {Funny moment during the lesson:  At this point during the teaching, Pastor McGriffin said, "I need to work on this... you don't need to be nodding your heads right now!"  I was nodding my head, but I was thinking of myself!}

Be careful when you use sarcasm to destroy by using humor.  That needs to be repeated, be careful when you use sarcasm to destroy by using humor.  Sarcasm cuts and wounds.  Somebody is always listening.

The Bible has so much to say about words! 

Proverbs 25:11 "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."
Proverbs 15:23 "A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!"
Isaiah 50:4 "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary"
Proverbs 10:20 "The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth."
Proverbs 12:18 "There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health."   
Proverbs  12:19 "The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment."
Proverbs 12:25 "Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad."
Proverbs 15:2 "The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness."
Proverbs 17:4 "A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue."

Be careful who you listen to.  Those with a naughty tongue bring death.  Talk in opposition of the ministry, or negatively of brothers or sisters is coming from naughty lips. 

This was a tremendous lesson and I'm looking forward to Part 2 tonight.  I want the weight of my words to bring forth life and blessings! 

Coming Soon!

We have had a busy few days!  I want to blog about it all, but laundry and housework are calling this morning.  Coming soon...

Hawaii District Family Camp:

Birthday Dinner for Pastor McGriffin's 60th Birthday:

Church Celebration for Pastor McGriffin:

And I still need to blog about last week's Bible Study, because Friday night's service at camp was along the same lines!

My First Kama'aina Discount

I made my way to the Ala Moana Farmer's Market this morning.  We were out of coconut butter and lilikoi butter, our two favorite island toppings!  I came home with more than that:

Macadamia nut sticky buns, coconut butter, lilikoi butter, strawberry jam, Hawaiian passion fruit/jalapeno pepper jelly (this is awesome on fish!), coconut-macadamia peanut butter, and cinnamon macadamia nuts!

All the jams, jelly and butters, along with the macadamia nuts came from the same booth.  They always give me a discount because I buy so much.  The coconut-macadamia peanut butter came from another booth and that's where I got my first Kama'aina discount!

Kamaʻāina (pronounced ka-ma-EYE-na) is the Hawaiian language word for a long-term resident of the Hawaiian Islands. Literally "child of the land," it derives from the words "kama", meaning "child", and "ʻāina", meaning 'land'. The word "kamaʻaina" describes Hawaiʻi residents regardless of their racial background, as opposed to "kanaka" which means a person of native Hawaiian ancestry.

I felt so honored!  I guess six months makes me a long-term resident.  Maybe because I'm there so often the vendors recognize me as a local.

I see so many island visitors and I try my best to help when they seem lost.  This morning while I was out running, there was a couple looking at a map.  I asked if they needed help, they were trying to get to Diamond Head.  I was happy to give them directions and later saw them on my way down from the crater.  Just doing my part to be a friendly Kamaʻāina!

Hunting Country Musicians

 

A headline on my Yahoo home page caught my attention this morning:

Montana Leaders Held Illegal Hunts for Musicians

The first paragraph of the story did not clear up my confusion: Three former Blackfeet tribal leaders will serve three years of probation for holding illegal big-game hunts for country musicians that were filming an outdoors television show on the northwestern Montana reservation.  I pictured musicians, with guitars strapped to their backs, running scared through the Montana winter...

The real story is the musicians were guided by these men and were the hunters, not the hunted!

Tuesday night, Pastor McGriffin taught a wonderful lesson about words.  I'll recap it soon, but this misleading headline was a reminder that words, and they way we use them, are important!

Our View Last Night

Just before sunset last night I noticed that the sun was hitting our lanai.  I stepped out and...

We will probably get to see the sunset from our room for about three days before it goes behind another building, but I'll take it!

Youth Camp Time

I knew when we started our Hawaiian Adventure that we probably wouldn't be home for Pacific Coast Camp this year.  Camp started yesterday and we are on an entirely different Pacific Coast!

I met my true love at Senior Camp 1989

I spent some time re-reading all my camp posts.  It's always been a huge part of my life.  The greatest happened 39 years ago today when I received the gift of the Holy Ghost on the very first night of Youth Camp 1974!  I'm so thankful for that.

It just so happens that this week is Hawaii District Family Camp.  We will be going to service on Friday night so I'll get a small dose of camp after all.  Praying that there will be a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost in every service at youth camps across the country this summer!

To be Right or to be Liked

I read an interesting article about Bill Cosby yesterday.  He talked about his TV show "The Cosby Show" and his philosophy behind it.  “I based the series on two important things: Number one … I hated those series where the children were brighter than the parents, and those parents had to play dumb,” Cosby said. “Number two was that I wanted to ‘take the house back.”  I've never seen the show, but I certainly agree that the dumming down of parents only leads to disrespect.

Cosby gave an example of his own grandfather.  When Bill wanted to play high school football, his grandfather discouraged him.  "Your bones are not strong enough."  The young Cosby didn't heed his advice, and broke his shoulder in the first game of the season.  Grandpa Cosby didn't remind him of his advice, just asked how he was doing then he put a quarter in Bill's hand and he said, "Go get yourself some ice cream. It’s got calcium in it."

Bill summed up his parenting philosophy with this, "When it comes to parenting, to raising young people and keeping them safe, it’s better to be right than liked."

When I think about the leaders in my life (parents, grandparents, teachers and pastors) I am thankful that they chose to be right instead of liked.  They stepped on my toes, told me "No" and held firm to their convictions.  I didn't always like it, but I'm glad about it today!  As a child and teenager, I didn't have their life experience.  If they had let me make my own decisions, who knows where I would I be today.

I know now that it isn't always easy to take a stand.  With the wisdom of years comes the realization that those who were right, and weren't afraid to steer me in that direction, are also the ones I like!

Father's Day Memories

I started this blog in July, 2008. There have been many Father's Days since then. I celebrated my Dad each time.  You can read each one here:

2009
2010
2011
2012

I am missing my Dad today, but I don't have any regrets.  Don't wait to tell your Dad (or Mom or Grandparents or children) that you love them!   

Friday Night Fun

After quite a bit of rain this week, it was clear last evening so we decided to go watch the sunset.  It never gets old.

30 minutes after the sunset, we were still at the park when the Friday night fireworks went off.  Lots going on in the sky on Friday night!

Happy Friday!

I know I disappeared this week - sorry about that!  After my fall on Tuesday, it was very difficult to type on our laptop.  We don't have a computer desk or chair, so it was a bit uncomfortable...

I may have also been a little distracted by the view!

My wounds are healing nicely.  Although my legs look like they belong to a five year old!

Have a great weekend!

Just Keep Going

This quote came from Runner's World yesterday:

Running, much like life, has its hills and valleys. On any given run, and particularly in most marathons, we come across easy stretches and seemingly impossible challenges. I have learned to just keep going. The tough moments never last, and the easy stretches are always a joy. The same is clearly true in life, if we just keep going we'll get to that finish line with water, massages, and bananas!
~Will Starr, Runner's World Challenger of the Week

After reading it, I thought how I could blog about life and running.  Especially how similar they are.  But what is waiting for us at the finish line is far greater than water, massages, and bananas!  Seeing Jesus face to face,  eternal life and heaven!

I didn't get a chance to work on this post before I headed out for my own run this morning.  I was a little slow - I had pushed pretty hard yesterday morning before we headed to the airport.  Just before the 2 mile mark, I was on a little stretch of dirt that connects two sidewalks, when...

I stumbled over a root and went down HARD!  I landed on my right side - hand, arm, elbow, knee and shin, with a scrape on my left knee as a bonus.  I was stunned at how quickly it happened!  One second I'm sailing along, the next second I'm on my back (I tripped, fell, and rolled) and wondering where my Garmin got off to! 

That is just like life!  One day the sun is shining, life is good, but before we know it, we're on the ground.  Job loss, illness, harsh words that cut deeply, sin, life.  It can knock us for a loop.  The decision is what are we going to do next?

Fortunately, I was near a restroom, so I hobbled my way in there and cleaned up the best I could.  I walked most of the way home, very thankful that I was okay.  Many hours later, I am scraped and bruised, but fine.

So when life throws you a curve ball, what are you going to do?  Get back up!  Dust yourself off and keep going!

I Say This Every Month...

"Every time we come home, I am so busy!"

I know I say it every month, but it's so true.  There are just some things I can't do while we are gone.  Like go through a months worth of mail.  And work on new choir music (I really miss my keyboard while we are in Hawaii!)  Or visit face to face with wonderful friends.  And schedule shuttles for our next trip.  And schedule to have our mail held while we are gone again.  It seems endless, but I'm getting it done.  Laundry is going, I just emptied the dishwasher, and now I've got bills to pay and set up to be paid while we are gone again!

Church and choir tomorrow, then it's back in the air on Monday!

Oh!  I got a really cute new purse.  When I showed it to Les, he said, "When did you buy that?"  "I didn't - I won it on a blog giveaway!"  I almost never win anything, but I won this cute purse from Kristina J.  Isn't it darling?

Product Review - PB2

When Les was at Georgia Boot Camp in April, Lance introduced him to what he calls a "Green Monster Smoothie."  The ingredients are:

2 scoops Recoverite
2 tablespoons Peanut butter
1 Frozen banana
2 cups Almond (or Soy) milk
1-2 cups Baby spinach

Throw it all in the blender and you have a green shake that tastes like a peanut butter shake!  It's very tasty, but I felt the calories were too high for me.  The total is almost 600 with 15 grams of fat!  I cut the recipe in half and it was plenty, but I still felt the peanut butter portion wasn't worth it- even though that is what made it taste so good!  Enter an email from Hungry Girl:

Dear HG,

I recently bought PB2 for the first time, and don't know what to do with it! How do I use powdered peanut butter, and what are some recipes I can make with it?

Puzzled 'Bout Powdered PB (read the answer here) 

I had never heard of powered peanut butter before.  After a little investigation, I learned that 2 tablespoons of PB2 = 45 calories with 1.5 g of fat versus 180 calories with 15 g of fat in the creamy peanut butter in our pantry!  You just add water to make it... or put the powder directly into a smoothie!

I decided to give PB2 a try and ordered some from Amazon.  To save shipping costs, I had it shipped to California and it was waiting for us when we got home.  It blended really well and tastes great!  I haven't tried making it with water and I'm not sure if it would make a good sandwich, but I think it would probably work well in baking, too.

Have you ever tried powered peanut butter or some other powdered food?  Like or dislike?

He's Back!

I decided to go for a ride on my mountain bike this morning.  I don't have a bike on the island, so the last time I rode was April 26th! About a quarter of a mile down the trail, I saw this:

Bear sightings!  You might remember that we had this same issue a couple years ago.  We never did see the bear, but we definitely saw tracks two years ago:

 

It's been very dry this year and the drier the year, the lower animals have to come down to find food and water.

There was a car parked at the trail head, so I knew someone was on the trail ahead of me.  I proceeded with caution and a couple minutes later heard rustling in the bushes... it was a little coyote!  Rabbits! Coyotes! and Bears! Oh my!  It's an adventure!