Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Isaiah 52:12 "But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear gaurd."

From My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Security for Yesterday. "God requireth that which is past." At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God's grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday's sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow. "For the Lord will go before you." This is a gracious revelation, that God will garrison where we have failed to. He will watch lest things trip us up again into like failure, as they assuredly would do if He were not our rerewared [rear gaurd]. God's hand reaches back to the past and makes a clearing-house for conscience.

Security for Today. "For ye shall not go out with haste." As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ.

Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.

Happy New Year, friends. I pray that the failures of your past will not hinder your walk, but instead of will make a "clearing-house for conscience". He is the God of our past, as well as our future. Amen.

Word of the Day: Immanuel

"God with us." I have been studying the tabernacle in BSF these last few weeks. The tabernacle was a visible reminder that God was an every day presence for the Israelites. It was a sign that God wanted intimacy, but that intimacy was unatainable by our own means. Hence all the sacrifices needed to enter into the presence of God.

It all pointed to the eventual coming of Messiah. Jesus. God with Us. Immanuel. We can have intimacy with God all because of Jesus. God came to earth so that we might enjoy perfect communion with Him, for all eternity. Isn't that amazing?

My favorite name for God. Immanuel. God with Us. He doesn't need us. He WANTS us.

I hope you all have a very blessed Christmas. I hope that you all get a chance to contemplate the enormity of God's work in sending Jesus as the final sacrifice so that we can have intimacy with our Father and Creator.

May God bless you with understanding and peace on this day.

Celebration

We're celebrating here in the Wilhelmsen house this morning. The most wonderful, most talented Erik has won his fantasy football league.

Congratulations to Team Brawlers. And halla for the extra cash!

All those late night trades, and Sunday morning obsessions has paid off. Woo Hoo the season is over! YES! Now we can focus on really important things, like American Idol.

What a morning...

As I sit at my computer for a few minutes, catching up on some friends, okay, not really friends, but blogs, an atrocious smell greets my nose.

Yes, my toilet is stopped up. And no amount of plunging on my part has helped. And it's DISGUSTING! Thank the living LORD that we are eating out at a friend's house tonight. And the unfortunate thing is that I have had candles burning all morning and been baking and cooking all morning, and still, the SMELL. And ya'll who know me KNOW that I do not have a great sense of smell. Maybe I do a lot of breathing though my mouth. Probably a good thing today.

Of course this kind of crap always happens within minutes of my husband leaving the house for the day. I swear when we got married I wanted to insert a clause into my vows. "I promise to love, honor and obey, blah blah blah. As long as I am not in charge of toilet stoppages, trash cans, or yard work. I'll cook, clean, launder, fold, iron, and be your everyday girlfriend AS LONG as I don't have to mess with any of those things, as long as we both shall live." But no. Today I had to do the plunging. And it didn't work. I think I am plunger-retarded. I don't get it. I think it has to do with the angle of the plunger and since I'm height-challenged I think I'm already at a disadvantage. I NEED A BAILOUT!

Or a plumber. Or my husband!

Clarification

Okay, so my previous post about the Big 3 American car makers may have been overly harsh. I know, how uncharacteristic of me.

It turns out that GM is one of the best car manufacturers in the world. And really, does anyone make a better truck than Ford? Not to mention that Chrysler pretty much pioneered the mini-van. So, yeah, I'm wrong that no one buys their cars. A lot of people, worldwide, buy their cars. (Factoid, the Buick is one of the top cars sold in China! Who knew?)

So, basically, I was wrong about the importance of the Big 3. I have been set straight.

However, I do not think it right to give out a bailout. I am saddened that the American car makers are in such a predicament, but the truth is some mismanagement and poor acquisitions are playing themselves out. GM should not have given the United Autoworkers life-time pensions in exchange for lower salaries in the 80's. They probably shouldn't have spent so much money on Hummer. And most of them should have changed their business models to compensate for the tough competition in the US car market. I heard on the radio that in the 1950's, GM's goal was to have 40% of the market share in the US. Fine back then, but not possible now with all the brands available. (I guess that explains the protectionist arguments the Unions spout.) The problem is they are still manufacturing cars with that goal.

I would be thrilled if the automobile makers would actually put Congress where they belong with this thing. The cafe standards alone have aided to the sorry state of the automobile industry. When government gets into business, business suffers. So, I say the bailout should happen with the elimination of the cafe standards.

Give-Away Day

Hey there,

It's Give-Away Day at sewmamasew.com. Anyways, here's a link to a give-away that I entered. Isn't that a pretty fabric?

If you're interested in entering for some of those give-aways (not sure if that's correct) then check out the Sew Mama Sew site. Pretty neat stuff if you ask me, and just in time for Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Wilhelmsens

Yes, I am the first of my friends to get out my Christmas Cards. Well, technically I don't do cards. I do blog posts.

In any case, my sister-in-law is a photographer and took our family photos a couple of weeks ago. Um, can I just say that she rocks? I am one of the luckiest girls alive. I have three sisters-in-law who are so kind, loving and fun. And one of them takes our photos. Cool, right? I know. So lucky.

Thankgoodness for Rock Band!

Seriously, Rock Band totally rocks and I'm proud to say that I have now attained a consistent Medium level. Oh yeah, mediocrity. It's basically my station in life. How many people can say their life skills are equal to their talent level on Rock Band? Not expert, but good. Well, that's me.

In any case, we had a totally awesome (can't help pick up the rocker-lingo) weekend with my brothers and sister-in-law, and the most adorable nephew in the world. Together we introduced our parents to the world of fake instruments and rock-star status.

All I can say is that I've got a fever and the remedy is more cowbell...