Two Words

Carolyn Noble is a commercial for www.studylight.org and if you were a part of our Tuesday womens' group, you are probably laughing out loud when you read that. She said it 99 times. Well guess what. She's right. I am "clicking" like crazy reading tons of info, and I totally recommend you do it, too.
No matter where you are on your spiritual Journey, or even if you haven't started it, there's massive ammounts of reference tools there that can make pretty much any aspect of the bible make sense.
As some of you know, I am now going to be leading the web ministry team at Journey. I have thought long and hard about how to do this. I am not leading a perfect life by any means, and I don't want any of my blog readers to see this and think "WHAT?, who are YOU to do THAT?"
My entries will never be ANYTHING to inspire those thoughts.
I think for a while I am just going to focus on two things:

Things that intrigue me/or I have questions on

And things I relate to, or need to do better with

I know there will be plenty of posts that lead to little to no learning, because I will strictly be speaking in laymans terms and have zero "seminary" experience when it comes to "teaching" so my blog will periodically contain information that I have gathered that you are welcome to question.
As I have said before, I feel pretty sure I won't be able to answer your questions, but I can direct you to at least two great guys that will help you "get it". (Or there's always Caro, cause inductive bible study is HER thing!)
I will still have my normal boring posts, my blog won't turn into all religious thoughts and ideas, but I do see it as a way for me, and all of us, to learn some things we can really apply to real life.
Until I can say I have the perfect marriage, the perfect kids, and the perfect discipline techniques, I will still be searching for Christian ways to improve those!
So from todays research, here's what really caught my eye.

Sometimes I wonder if the concept of saying “Thank You” is fading into oblivion in Monticello, and society as a whole.
I was reading in my bible tonight (from references on the above mentioned website) about the 10 men healed of leprosy (Luke 17:11-19). Remember the story?.....10 guys have leprosy, they live on the edge of town, they probably have a pretty miserable life from being viewed as being so gross, and suddenly Jesus passes by them. They call out to him, from a distance, He tells them to go show themselves to the priests and as they go they are healed. So Jesus heals these 10 men of this evil, disgusting, and painful affliction.
Now you would think they would have been so appreciative and THANKFUL.
You would also think that all of them would run after Jesus to thank him and hug him and gush for hours.
But as the story goes, only ONE comes back to say Thank You!

Only ONE, Only ONE…just ONE man……do you think you would have been that ONE who came back and threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him? Or would you have been like the other 9, already moving on with their lives, finally out socializing, making friends, and hanging out with family and forgetting that Jesus just totally healed and transformed their lives?

I would like to think I would be that ONE who came back.
Who knows?
The reality of life, the business, and my typical habit of flitting on to the next thing to do so quickly, makes me wonder if I would have returned to thank Him.

Those 2 simple words ”thank you,” can make such a difference in the lives of our children, husbands, friends, and family members, but do we use them on a daily basis? Are we EVER gracious enough?
I want to challenge everyone to say, “thank you” to 3 different people this week for something they did or have done. Go out of your way, say it to someone who may not usually be thanked, or simply say it to your hubby for just being employed, or to a friend at church who works in the nursery or teaches Sunday School to your children, or leave a comment on someone’s blog thanking them for the way it encouraged or ministered to you.
It doesn't take much. Two words. Big difference.