Our ladies Bible study has been going through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. It has been very encouraging. Our last lesson was on Nehemiah 3 and 4. Just to give you a context, the People of Israel have returned back to the Land after being in captivity. They have actually been back for quite awhile. They have rebuilt the temple, but they haven't rebuilt the walls. The walls have fallen down and they are unprotected.
Nehemiah came along and encouraged the people to rebuild the walls. As they start the local rulers get angry and start to mock them. The people of Israel pray to God and do not answer their tormentors. They just keep on working. Scripture says 'for the people had a mind to work'. What a great attitude to have.
Sanballat and Tobias, those neighboring rulers, got angrier still. They conspired to attack the Israelite and kill them. They wanted to stop the people from rebuilding the walls. First they planned an ambush, but the people of Israel heard about it and told Nehemiah. Nehemiah immediately prayed and then set up a guard. He reminded the people that God would fight for them and then he set up a schedule and had half the men stand guard while the rest kept building. It says that they had one hand for their trowel and the other for their sword. They wore their swords all the time.
This account illustrates something that I think a lot of Christians struggle with. The balance of trusting God and personal responsibility. God's servants often fail from a lack of one or the other of these elements. Yes, we need to trust God in everything, but at the same time we need to accept responsibility for the things we can do. I think there is a constant tension between these two ideas and where that balance is reached is not the same for everyone. There is no sin in setting out a guard or in wearing a sword when the enemy is determined to attack. We must ultimately have our faith in God. God can (and did in the time of Joshua) send large hailstones to kill the enemy, but at the same time he he had the army out there fighting alongside Him. We are to be co-laborers in the purposes of God. It is easy to see that we should pray for others salvation, but we should also share the gospel with them. We must pray and trust God, but on the other hand we need to step forward in faith and act on what He shows us. We must also give our Christian brothers and sisters grace if they come to a different balance point between faith and responsibility. I see this come up in many different areas.... physical health decisions, family planning, finding a spouse and even finding work. We can back ourselves into an unbiblical box if we cling to one or the other of these positions. We must not get trapped into thinking that to gird on our sword, to take action, is to show a lack of faith, and is therefore sinful. We must seek God and His plan for us and do as He directs.
So, when faced with a difficult situation, consider the following steps of Nehemiah ....
1. Pray and seek God.
2. Set a guard, watch, arm yourself
3. Do what God has you to do, work
I hope this helps you. It was an encouragement to me and helped me clarify my thinking on some different issues.
~Mom
( Why the picture on the top? It was supposed to give the idea of some walls needing rebuilding)
The bottle contained $488.63. That money has now been deposited and spent!
I miss my sister! It has been over a year and a half since I have seen her. It is surprising me to find that tears are coming to my eyes as I type that. I really miss her and her family! We are blessed in this modern age to have Skype and other ways to communicate. I can pick up the phone and call her and it is not even long distance thanks to Magic Jack. But, it is not the same. So many little things that happen throughout the day, that I might have talked to her about when we saw each other are just not things that you would call someone on the other side of the world about. Her family is living in the Philippines. There is a thirteen hour time difference. When I feel like talking she is sleeping and vice-versa. 
The Mangos are cashing in their change bottle. Over the last couple years we have thrown in our change. The bottle is now chock full and there is a need for the contents, so we are busy counting the coins. The children are looking for a long boring movie to watch while undertaking this chore. Can you believe they chose 'Pride and Prejudice'? I'm sure most of the men reading this are saying, "Of course!" Anyway, I have a CONTEST for you. Here is the question to be answered..... What is the total amount of money in the jar? The only hints I can give you are 1. There are no coins larger than a dollar. 2. The bottle weighed forty pounds when weighed this morning. 3. My husband is hoping that there is about $500 in there and he is a very good estimator.
Our ladies Bible study has been going through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. It has been very encouraging. Our last lesson was on Nehemiah 3 and 4. Just to give you a context, the People of Israel have returned back to the Land after being in captivity. They have actually been back for quite awhile. They have rebuilt the temple, but they haven't rebuilt the walls. The walls have fallen down and they are unprotected. 
We were rooting feverishly for our favorite team, or not. Actually my DH sat and reviewed Paul's ballots and flow sheets from the debate tournament, the two days before.
Michelle sat and read a cookbook. She also lay down and took a rest, for she wasn't feeling well.
Paul sat and talked to my DH, and watched the game a bit. It was a good game to watch. We were rooting for the Giants so we were happy at its conclusion.
Here are the passionate party people! Yawn. We really had a nice time and a charming hostess. The food was good and the company pleasant. It was a nice way to spend an evening.
Can you find all five Mangos in this picture? This is our Speech and Debate team. We went to our first tournament last weekend. It was an exciting but tiring event. The leaving the house at 6 AM and not getting home until around nine, both Friday and Saturday made for some tired children AND parents. 
Elizabeth performed 'The Highwayman' by Noyes in the Junior division of Poetry Interpretation.
This is how T-Bob spent his day of competition. He had a stomach flu that showed up as he finished his first speech. He made it through the speech, shook the judges hands and ran for the garbage can in the corner. He made it. He found a couch in a quiet corner, and rested and slept the rest of the day. He did climb off the couch two more times and do his speech event. It was a rough day, but he made it through manfully. Everybody heard his story, and he was quite famous, or is that infamous?
Here are two special friends. Paul and Elizabeth. We (Elizabeth and I) were following Paul through his speech events. He did Impromptu Apologetics and Biographical informative. He did a nice job.
This was our home tournament so the parents in our club and another close by one had to do all the work that it takes to have such an event. My DH and I had the job of registration assistant and hallway monitor in the old blue hallway on the second floor.
It was quite a bit like solitary confinement. Too quiet for my tastes, but somebody had to do it. My DH did take the lion's share of this duty as I had to make sure the younger children got to their events on Friday and watched some of the older children perform their speech events and debates.
It is neat to see the camaraderie of the competing teams. Most of the competitors become friends through the years.
Here is Paul and his partner. They get along well and do an excellent job. They are both second year debaters. 
This is Paul's last year of debate, as he ages out this year. He is really enjoying his time.
Thomas is doing debate and speech this year. He is really enjoying this activity.
All of the children in the junior event got a certificate and a bag of candy. They did get called up on stage for some recognition.
Everybody comes in and watches the final round and awards ceremony. There were over 200 competitors and 69 debating teams. It was a BIG tournament.
There were 15 students who completed sweepstakes. That means that they did three speeches. One from each of the three categories, Impromptu. Informative and and Interpretive. They all got a certificate and a bag of candy. Here is Thomas receiving his.
These are the winners of the final round. The two girls beat the young men. The young women are from our club. We were all very proud and glad. They did a great job. It was a great weekend.
Leonard Dick graduated to glory yesterday. He is a man who I have known my entire life. He had the heart of an evangelist and loved to share the gospel. 