Braces

Took the boys to get their braces yesterday. It was practically an all day adventure, and not a fun one. Ryan's been through this before, so he knows the joys that will come from dealing with them for the next year and a half. But Kyle is a newbie, and he is not liking it one bit, although he did get to chose a color for his rubber bands....blue, of course.

Glory In Suffering

~by Ryan Vegh

In this life, it can be so easy to become discouraged trying to do what is right. We have our old sinful nature to put up with, and the devil and his minions, and other people--maybe even friends or family. Yet, as Christians, we have a blessed hope--a great joy that helps us endure our suffering without growing weary or losing heart.

Consider those who endured persecution for the cause of Christ; those who were tortured and stoned and insulted; those who were mocked and spit upon. Consider even Jesus, who endured the cross, condemned as a sinner for no wrong of His own. These were all able to endure their suffering because of the joy that would follow. As the apostle Peter says, "...rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." And as Paul says, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

Though hardships abound, God is using them for our good, refining us day by day to be more like His precious Son. "Endure hardships as discipline," it says in the book of Hebrews, "God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ... No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness for those who have been trained by it."

"Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." God has already predestined us for glory, and "if God is for us, who can be against us?" God even gave up His own Son for us; "how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

So, what should we be doing while we wait here in this evil world? We should be very careful how we live--"not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Don't be foolish, but "understand what the Lord's will is." "Rejoice always, pray continually," "always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." And, "let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Foretaste of Armageddon

~by Ryan Vegh

I stood there by the wreckage. My eyes gazed about in every direction but found no relief from this hellish scene. All around me was a barren wasteland. A caved-in house lay on my left, while its roof lay on my right. Boards broken, windows shattered, yet this was one of the more fortunate homes; the debris of many others is dotted on this dusty ground for miles and miles, far beyond the reach of my eyes. Just last week, these buildings proudly stood in their appropriate places, with happy citizens going about their daily business with smiles on their faces. But a monster of a tornado ravaged this town. It crazily devoured everything that was sucked into its path, then it spewed its meal back out across the land as if to haunt us with its memory. ...As I stand here amid the corruption, my mind wanders to armageddon - a time I cannot fathom - of which, this filth is just a bitter foretaste... Yet though my eyes find no relief, my heart has a blessed hope: Jesus Christ the Lord, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

City of Treasure

~by Kyle Vegh

I hurry through the poverty-stricken streets of a city that looked more like a battleground. The war raging between my country and a neighboring country was taking its toll, as attested to by the broken windows and burned exterior of nearly all the houses I passed. Forces from the opposing side had constantly raided and rummaged through any and every house possible, pillaging and stealing anything they could. Anything they couldn’t store with them on the way back to their side of the boarder, they destroyed. Our army was not strong enough to defend itself from the seemingly all-powerful units we were being attacked by. Every person in my country felt the constant danger surrounding them, but this was very apparent in one city in particular.

Everyone knew this city had a very large treasury, holding the bulk of the wealth of the country. Rumors were spreading that our government was planning to trade its massive reserves of ancient artifacts and treasure to nearby neutral countries in order to get enough money to be able to afford more troops and weapons to make a comeback in the war. The rumors must have spread into places they ought not to have spread, though, because one terrible day large legion arrived completely unexpectedly and invaded our treasury, taking as much of it as they could. We know they could not have taken everything, because there was far too much to take with them in just one raid. However, nobody is sure what happened to the rest of it, because it is nowhere to be found in the treasury.

The treasury was the only hope for our country, and the report that the treasury had been looted caused every hopeful in our country to lose their hope. Every hopeful; that is, except a very small minority, who I myself am a part of. And that is why I’m here in this city. I have sources who believe they know what happened to the large portion of the treasury that must have still been left after the unabashed robbery. Spies were sent over the boarder, and heard talk of treasure being in a large secret storage room in an abandoned house. Now, there were many abandoned houses, since there were so many fleeing from the country, but there was one particular house that was known as being long unoccupied. I am determined to find this treasure, even more so as I pass the many left homeless from the constant attacks. It is our only hope for survival.

I finally arrived at the house, panting after the long run here. I knew I had to work quickly. Bounding up the steps to the front of the house, I tested the door. Locked. The window just a few feet away was already broken, so I resolved to take that entrance. The old abandoned house, which looked so miniscule on the outside, looked much more spacious than I imagined it would on the inside. The front door (or front window, depending) opened up to the foyer, a room with a large ceiling on the right, and a hallway on the left opening up to several more rooms. In between the room with the large ceiling and the hallway was a staircase leading to the second floor. Starting on the first floor, I searched through all the rooms, hitting against the walls and floors with different hammers and things, trying to find any walls that sounded hollow or anything that sounded or seemed out of the ordinary. No luck on the first floor.

I headed up the aforementioned staircase to the second floor, using the same procedure of search. The situation was looking more and more bleak, until, in a quite small, dark room, one of the walls looked a little newer than the rest, without the grime, dust, and cobwebs that was on all the other walls. I took a blow at it with the hammer, and realized it was quite thin, since the hammer made a hole right through it. Heart beating faster than I ever remember it beating, I hammered, punched, and kicked at the wall with everything that was in me until the whole wall came down. Looking into the deep room that used to be concealed by a façade of plaster, I stood in awe of the resplendent store of treasure and artifacts.

Knowing everything I went into that house hoping I would know, and seeing everything I went into that house hoping I would see, I sped down the steps back to the foyer. Crawling back out through the window, I headed toward the police office. I walked slowly and---I hoped---unexcitedly so as to not attract attention from any onlookers. Once I arrived and told of my findings to the police officers there (oh, how I wish you could have seen it), the looks and cries of excitement, disbelief, joy, amazement were hysterical. Although, I can’t say I wasn’t doing just the same, for I too was feeling the infinite happiness of the prospect of becoming free of the bondage that seemed to have held us for ages by that point.

And now, after all this took place, my country recovered every piece of treasure in that glorious old house, and was able to trade it to the nearby countries for troops and weaponry, as planned. We were also able to work out a deal with the countries we traded with to form alliances against our attacker, much to the glee of my country, and myself. With the help of our newly found allies, the invaders were driven out, and rebuilding has begun. It will be a long and bumpy road to recovery, but a trip that I will be more than happy to take.


---Fin

My new desk!

My husband bought me a new desk. The boys were a great help in putting it together. I have quite a mess to clean up now, but I am happy with my new desk. It is very cool! Thank you, Darryl!