I must be getting ready for something. this week has been different. tonight we got the kids to bed and then brandi and alicia hung out with xander and I went into the basement. I ended up cleaning a bit, rearranging the desks. I don’t usually do this, but today was organizational day I suppose. I want things to be ready to go whenever there is a free minute. so, now I’m relatively done and have a minute to blog. for several weeks I thought there was going to be no free time. I even made it to the gym today.

Brighton and I are working our way through 1 Samuel in the bible. we are almost to the point where Saul is identified as the future king. It is interesting to see that the nation of Israel did not have a king, and had not had a king. they had Judges, that judged them and presided over them as the voice and grace of God. These judges saved them from multiple threats. But the pattern was clear that Brighton and I discussed. There would be a turning away from the Lord, the Lord would bring discipline through the acts of another nation or a plague or a trial and the people would cry out and turn back to God. They would be at peace with Him and the judge of that period would judge them, and then over time, they would begin to turn away again. They would turn away mainly because of the influence of the culture around them that they became enamoured with.

Now Samuel was old, and he had been just and right, but his sons were not so and Eli and his sons were dead, so Samuel was the last Godly leader in the nation of Israel, the last judge that was left and since the people saw that his sons were not like him, they decided to take things into their own hands and get their own leader.

This is important, because they would pick up the false gods of the culture and this would lead them away from the Lord. But always, when their path led them to where it was going, they would cry out and the Lord would hear and respond. God is gracious, and He is merciful. But He will not be mocked.

Now, the Israelites didn’t just come up with the idea that they needed a king. No, it says that they asked for a king because the surrounding nations had kings and these kings would rule and fight and be mighty. They wanted just such a thing for themselves. something they could see, something that was man and therefore vulnerable and also manipulable. God was not so. they did not like God’s timing, His ways or His rule, they wanted something more close to them. So they asked for their very own king. just like the other nations.

Samuel then spoke with the Lord. the Lord revealed that a king would rule a certain way that they would not like. He also specified that the people were not rejecting Samuel, but God, and secondly Samuel. But, because they wanted a king, He would give them a king. and so we start onto the revealing of Saul as the appointed king. that story is for another post, but it should be noted that they cast lots for the king and it came to Saul. But Saul had already been designated by God to Samuel. point: the casting of lots is under God’s sovereign hand. It is not chance. it is not luck. throughout the old and new testament lots are cast for major decisions. why? because they truly had faith that God was in control of all things and that the casting of lots done reverently and humbly for purpose would reveal His sovereign will in difficult decisions. See anyone making decisions that way these days? hmmmmm. kind of takes your own desires and will out of the equation doesn’t it. and that just doesn’t fit the post modern culture we live in.

(please note that I am not advocating everyone going to the casino and casting lots)
more soon.
tomb

3 children. 1 dad. 1 mom. we are out numbered. In these first few days of our new parenting life, this new phase of the Brown family, I find myself significantly overwhelmed, underqualified, and sometimes at wit’s end with how this is all supposed to come together. You often think about how things will be, only to find out that they are much different than you imagined. I’m finding that now. Things are not worse than I thought they would be, only different, and better in many ways. Yet I find that I am less of the man I thought that I was. I’m finding how selfish streaks run through me, spoiled habits and roots sink deep, and how patience is slim and often lacking. All these things showing me how not up to the task I am for this endeavor of raising 3 children, and to answer the call of God to raise them as Godly offspring, as God fearing, God loving, word saturated children. Then I think of the struggles that I have internally, and the lapses of impatience that plague me in my tired overwhelmed state and I am confronted with the awesome truth that my God does not tire of me. My God does not lose patience and show anger or wrath. But He is patient, loving, tender, even when I am the cryer, the whiner, the screamer, the spoiled one. He is rich in mercy and steadfast in Love. And that is how I am supposed to be. I am learning slowly what my wife has been saying from the 2nd or 3rd day. Tom Brown, your prayer life is about to change. It is all I have to get through. It is all I have to hang on to and to run to, to run to God with these problems and cast them on Him, that He will carry me, sustain me, change me, and sanctify me into the man He has planned, that He has had planned from before my birth. I’m tired, and yet felt driven to go on, not of my own, but of God. Unable to disappear, but to continue in my stead, to continue in what He has laid before me and to call other men to the same charge, that families would be changed, starting with mine, that we would endeavor to see God more clearly, and as more beautiful than before and recognize Him as worthy of all of our praise, and that we would serve Him and worship Him with our very lives. I want my son to see a man that loves God and is not ashamed to do so. I want my daughter’s to seek out that kind of man for a husband. and for that to happen, I must by God’s grace and enabling, be that man.

Lord, I’m weak. I cannot do this on my own. if you leave me, and let me to myself, I will run aground. I need you to sustain me, that I might be used by you to create Godly offspring, that I might pass on to Xander that which is of most importance, that you are God, and that you are Holy and you have provided a way to peace with you through your Son Jesus Christ, that through His death and resurrection, there is a path to eternity with you, for those who believe, and there is wrath and destruction for those who do not. I want to enter through the narrow gate, and I want my family to follow if they outlive me and if they do not, I want to follow them to you. Not so that my family can be together in eternity, but so that each can be with you, which is eternally satisfying and provides more joy than any other thing, especially the things of this passing world. God help me to be a Godly man. fill me with passion for you. fill me with zeal for you that is not for pretense, but for your Glory and your name. May my deeds and meditations and speech and conduct be pleasing to you, glorifying to you and may my children grow to love and praise you all their days. Do not let them wander God, do not let them stray, keep them, hold them and let me not hinder them, but keep them close in spite of me, for I know that I can be their greatest influence and biggest hinderance in their coming to you, may I parent and husband and father and love as you would have me, not as I would. God, I know that my heart is not pure, there is so much flesh left. cleanse me and further make me fully yours, crush me and humble me, and astound me by your ways, your glory, your power. You are good, and merciful and what I have already received, I do not understand, much less, deserve. may I not be the complainer that I am, but let me be the God praiser that I am currently not. Make changes in me God, I pray that they would be fast, but I more desire them in your time not mine. Have mercy on me God, I’ve been slow, and I continue to be so, but my desire is you, and my hope is you and my aim is to point others toward you, that they might receive the greatest gift ever conceived, eternity with a Holy God. I dont’ understand it, but my spirit delights in the thought. May you be forever praised, your deeds are good and mighty and true. In Jesus name I pray.

tom

check out this presentation… it is a video which is very interesting and has an accompanying powerpoint presentation…

a must listen for sure. former aerospace engineer from military space programs, former atheist, evolutionist, became a creationist, then a christian…

It is not so much the fact that people believe in other things, we all have our beliefs, but when the unprovable is promoted as fact, and yet has so many problems, this really bothers me.

Other great stuff here at www.nwcreation.net too.

video

presentation

By God’s providence, I have stumbled across a lot of information concerning creation and support of a biblical worldview of creation, global flood and dinosaurs. This flies in the face of the culture and the prevalence of evolutionary theory and influence in biology, science. I believe the bible to be the inerrant word of God, and that it can be trusted over the knowledge of man. I’m excited about this new area of study and focus for me, even as I’m on the eve of the birth of my new son Xander. If I have time to write here, as is apparent now I have little, then I will be writing on this and defending this position. Although I gave up belief and faith in evolutionary concepts years ago, I had not until now come across writings, and minds and explanations that were biblical and scientific that did not contradict my biblical worldview that God created everything just as He said He did in His word. Having much more data and finding that there are still great minds in the Christian community is greatly encouraging to me as I am fairly logical and interested in science and causation. I am excited to see where this will take me, the conversations that it will start and the undergirding for my faith, as I learn more about how to explain why God’s word is truth and man’s knowledge finite, where as God’s is infinite. Mainly, it is interesting to see how much has had to be thrown out of the evolutionary and old earth theories based on new discoveries. Yet, even though the scientific community has let go of some of their icons of “proof”, education still has not updated their texts to show that there are things that we once took as truth that are not necessarily so.

I’ll write when I can and share what I’m learning. if I take long to get back, ping me. and I’ll share where I’m at.