Ah, I woke up this morning jammed between my children, nursing my newborn and my four year old plastered against my back (he claims he can't sleep any other way). This precious moment in the soft darkness of the early morning hour also tingled with anticipation and excitement. Today is the Last First Day! Later in the morning my wonderful husband, DJ, a.k.a Cinderella Man, will be heading off to the first day of classes of his last semester before he graduates. We dubbed today as the Last First Day. We are on the brink of new chapter in our lives. Being on the last page of the present chapter we can see a fresh new beginning, a new start.
This stretch of the journey has had its difficulties. It was precipitated by the affliction of the Bogey Man: the fight against cancer. While helping Jay fight for his life we built up some sizable debt. When we got back home after his death we struggled to pay this debt. Looking at all of our options we decided that DJ finishing his degree, which would increase his wage earning capabilities, was the best route to take. It was that, or head into bankruptcy, eventually. We sold our house and moved closer to the University where he is now set to finish in May. Living off of financial aid, income from a part-time job, and getting some assistance from the state (which really grates against our pride), we have barely made it. We have had some help from friends and family along the way as well. With all of this help we have eeked by....I mean really eeeeeeeked by. And here we are at the Last First Day.
On the first of the year, I came home from the hospital with a brand new member of our little nest, so sweet and precious, an incredible miracle. Two weeks later DJ begins the last leg of his University journey. CC, my eighteen year old Bluebird is graduating from highschool. The next few months holds the beginning and ending of two phases of life for the House of J. It is like looking from the deck of the ship across the ocean to the mainland after being shipwrecked, rebuilding the boat, setting sail once more, and now, finally coming home. Well, we have set our sails full speed ahead. We have hit rocks, icebergs, encountered squalls and storms of all kinds, and even sea monsters. The rest of the journey will be smooth sailing now because today is the Last First Day and shore is just a breath away. So, I will be waking each day with tingling excitement and anticipation for what lays ahead for the House of J. We are making our dreams come true one step at a time. So, hurray, DJ! It is our Last First Day!
Good for you Heidi. I am so happy to hear that you and your family are finally seeing that bright shinny light at the end of a very long, dark scary tunnel, which you and your family were forced to go through. Things will only get better and better for you all from here on in.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your First Last Day :)
Thanks Wendy! You understand what that tunnel is like as well. you show yourself so resilient, and your beauty shines everywhere. You must be an angel on the earth. Thanks for your light, and your encouragement!
DeleteHeidi
SAINTHOOD QUALIFICATIONS
ReplyDeleteWho are the saints of God? God's saints are those who are under His covenant. A covenant is an agreement between God and mankind.
ALL MEN WHO ARE OR WERE UNDER GOD'S COVENANT ARE SAINTS.
Psalm 50:5 "Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice." (NKJV)
ALL OF GOD'S PEOPLE ARE SAINTS.
Deuteronomy 33:1-3 Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2. And he said: "The Lord came from Sinai, And dawn on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came with ten thousand saints; From His right hand Came a fiery law for them. 3 Yes, He loves the people; All His saints are in Your hands; They sit down at Your feet; Everyone receives Your words.(NKJV)
Yes, those under under the old covenant were saints of God. The people under the old covenant were saints and they did not have to be placed in a canon of saints and then enacted by the ecclesiastical rule of church authority and approved by Moses.
1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. (NKJV)
All men in God's churches are saints. The body of Christ are God's saints; one and all.
Ephesians 3:8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was give, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. (NKJV)
The apostle Paul did not consider himself a candidate for beatification. Why not, because there is no such title of "Super Saint" found in Scripture. Paul said he was the least of saints.
If there was a class of God like "Super Saints" that men could worship, by petition them through prayer, the apostle Paul certainly would have qualified. GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD, HE DOES WANT MEN TO WORSHIP ANY SAINT, DEAD OR ALIVE, BY PRAYING TO THEM.
Ephesians 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints---(NKJV)
These Christians were not praying for dead saints. These were live saints praying for other live saints. Saints are all members of the body of Christ; nothing more and nothing less.
There are no Scriptures that mention a beatification of saints, through a canonical process; thereby turning a selected few into "SUPER SAINTS."
THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR SAINTHOOD!
The qualification for sainthood under the new covenant are:
A. FAITH: John 3:16
B. CONFESSION: Romans 10:9-10
C. REPENTANCE: Acts 3:19, Acts 2:38
D. WATER BAPTISM Mark 16:16, 1 Peter 3:20-21
When you come up out of the watery grave of baptism you are saved, you are a child of God, you are a member of the Lord's church, your are part of the body of Christ, you have been clothed with Christ, you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, your sins have been forgiven, you are a member of the church of Christ, you have been raised to walk in a new life, you have been washed by the blood of Jesus, you are in the kingdom of God here on earth. YOU ARE A SAINT!
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