Jesus changed my life!!!!!

[Aidensmom]

I think we always want what we don't have--I've always wanted a shorter name, LOL! It's funny how many people choose different names for their babies once they arrive. My original middle name was supposed to be Anne, but they changed it to Ashley once I arrived. Also, they were originally going to call me by my middle name, but then my mom decided that I looked like an Elisabeth. Now I just use my maiden name as my middle name, so I guess it's good that they called me by my first name.

My name is Elizabeth (though I now go by Beth) and I always wanted a shorter one too! Whenever I have to sign things, besides legal documents, I always just use my first initial because my whole name is so long.

OK, back to the regularly scheduled thread.

 

[goofygirl]

Thanks for all the info re: baptism!

BTW, Joy is a lovely name, its my middle name

 

[Amity 3]

Eljah,never died by was taken up to heaven in a chariot

so what do they do with the chariot? valet park it for eternity?

 

[goofygirl]

I have a new question for everyone. If you go to a church, temple, mosque, etc., how did you choose the church you attend vs going to other similar ones? Do you consider the other members of that church to be your church family? Do you feel part of that church community?

I was interested in the Episcopal faith, and while I had plenty of Episcopal churches to choose from in my city, this particular church was closest to home, and another major factor was that the priest was featured in a local newspaper and I was very impressed by him- so I wanted to see him in person at his church and hear his sermons, etc.

The first time I attended the church, I hit it off with everyone right away and I knew I was "home."

Yes, they are family. We are a small parish- about a total of 70-80, with about 50 or so that attend regularly. So, we are tightly knit- if one of us is in trouble, word travels quickly through the parish and to the priest, and in no time, a bunch of people from the church will be there for you in your time of need, illness, or whatever. That's what I really like about my church.

 

[ead79]

According to our tradition Eliyahu is among us, somewhere and in some very special state of existence. We designate a special seat for him at every circumcision. We pour a cup of wine for him at the conclusion of our Passover Seder.

There are numerous legends about his interactions with righteous people throughout the generations. We have a book entitled "Tana D’Bei Eliyahu" which records the lessons that he gave to Rav Anan, a great scholar in the Talmud. If I may say so, he appears to take the role of a one-man Special Operations Force for Heaven.

The final verses of the Bible (Prophets) state openly that Eliyahu will be sent by G-d to help usher in the Messianic era.

"Behold I (G-d) am sending to you Eliyahu the Prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of G-d. And he will bring back the hearts of the parents toward (their) children and the hearts of the children towards (their) parents, lest I come and smite the Earth to oblivion." (Malachi 3:23-24)


Eljah,never died by was taken up to heaven in a chariot

I love your term "one-man Special Operations Force for Heaven"! What a wonderful tradition to honor Elijah at every Passover Seder and at circumcisions. I was watching the tv show "A Baby Story" the other day, and it showed a circumcision ceremony. It was very meaningful, and I wished I had understood the symbolism and Hebrew speaking (though I do feel sorry for any rabbis that are a bit squeamish, LOL). I knew about Elijah being taken up to heaven in a chariot. What an awesome honor for God to give someone! As for the verse from Malachi, Christians would say that God sent Elijah in the form of John the Baptist to issue in the coming of Christ, and that he will be sent again as a prophet before the end times. Also, I wanted to ask you to be sure that it's not disrespectful that I type the name of God out in my responses. I know that it is Jewish tradition to not type out the name of God fully. I just want to be sure that it is not offensive if I do so in my responses. Thanks again for all your info.

 

[scraptoons]

so what do they do with the chariot? valet park it for eternity?

Good question. By the way, love the comic strip in your signature.

 

[Amity 3]

Good question. By the way, love the comic strip in your signature.

I'm just a simple guy asking simple questions. the depth of knowledge that people like Jenny, Joy, Buckalew, and Jimmy retain about their beliefs amazes me.

I don't buy into it, but I respect their dedication.

 

[Buckalew11]

Amity3, that is a very kind thing to say. Check out my tag we have something in common (besides WDW!)

I have a zillion questions and am known to ask. When I am studying the Bible, one thing learned always leaves me with a new question and then a new search. It is a hunger that is never filled.

I love your comic strip also!

 

[Amity 3]

Amity3, that is a very kind thing to say. Check out my tag we have something in common (besides WDW!)

I have a zillion questions and am known to ask. When I am studying the Bible, one thing learned always leaves me with a new question and then a new search. It is a hunger that is never filled.

I love your comic strip also!

open heart, open mind. teach me everything you know.

but respect my beliefs when they don't coincide with yours.

 

[Buckalew11]

open heart, open mind. teach me everything you know.

but respect my beliefs when they don't coincide with yours.

Giving respect is a choice. I can do that.

Teach you everything I know? How long ya got? (Did you hear that roar of laughter from somewhere???? )

 

[jimmiej]

Originally Posted by lovethattink
I have a new question for everyone. If you go to a church, temple, mosque, etc., how did you choose the church you attend vs going to other similar ones? Do you consider the other members of that church to be your church family? Do you feel part of that church community?

When we moved to this community 11 years ago, we began to look for a church home. We looked at the two largest Southern Baptist churches in town. We attended both for two weeks, One we were familiar with, having visited there several times with friends. The other church had been recommended to us by a pastor friend.

Church A seemed very much like our hometown church, very traditional & fundamental. The pastor at church B really drew our attention as he had a unique preaching style.

On the way home from church after visiting both churches, we asked our kids which one they liked the best. They quickly voted for church A because they already knew some other kids there. DW & I preferred church B. About 8 pm that evening, a knock came at our front door. The youth director & several youth from church B were there to see DD #1 (she was 7th grade at the time). She visited outside with them for the better part of an hour. DD#2 joined in the fun too. When they left, DDs came in & said, "We want to join (church B)!

We joined church B the next Sunday. DW joined the church staff 3 months later & the rest is history. We love our church family like our blood family. Our membership is approaching 3500 members, people are being saved & baptized every week, & we're making a difference in our community. God is good!

http://www.oakwoodbaptist.org/

 

[JoyG]

Brenda, you got tags!!!

Are those new?!

 

[JoyG]

We joined church B the next Sunday. DW joined the church staff 3 months later & the rest is history. We love our church family like our blood family. Our membership is approaching 3500 members, people are being saved & baptized every week, & we're making a difference in our community. God is good!

http://www.oakwoodbaptist.org/

Jimmie,

Do you find some people get lost in the crowd at your church? How does your church reach people individually? Do your pastors know your names? I'm just curious how it works in big churches.

Our church has about 400 members and two services, and I like the feeling of knowing the three pastors individually. Although if it was much bigger I don't know how possible that would be.

 

[JoyG]

My name is Elizabeth (though I now go by Beth) and I always wanted a shorter one too! Whenever I have to sign things, besides legal documents, I always just use my first initial because my whole name is so long.

OK, back to the regularly scheduled thread.

I can't believe how many Elizabeth's are on this thread!

 

[JoyG]

Thanks for all the info re: baptism!

BTW, Joy is a lovely name, its my middle name

Thanks! I have met so few Joy's in my life...I can count them on one hand!

 

[JoyG]

I'm just a simple guy asking simple questions. the depth of knowledge that people like Jenny, Joy, Buckalew, and Jimmy retain about their beliefs amazes me.

I don't buy into it, but I respect their dedication.

Like Buckalew said, one question just leads to another. I don't know nearly enough.

That comic strip is hysterical...and that's just what happened to me when I joined the DIS!

 

[lovethattink]

Jimmie,

Do you find some people get lost in the crowd at your church? How does your church reach people individually? Do your pastors know your names? I'm just curious how it works in big churches.

I'm not Jimmie, but I'm going to chime in anyway, lol.

I go to a church with more than 5000 members. I know 2 of the pastors and their wives personally, but not the rest.

I came to that church while visiting it with my son's baseball coach and his family. The thing that caught my attention was how everyone around us greeted us. They said they had never seen us there, asked if we were new to the church. Welcomed us, and were very friendly. During the sermon the pastor asked everyone to do an activity. He said he usually doesn't ask for these but wanted everyone to do it. There was one lady sitting all by herself and someone from another aisle came up to her so she could participate. I was touched. The message great, the music was fantastic, and I could really sense the present of the Holy Spirit in that sactuary. 3 months later we were members.

I eventually joined a women's Bible study. There were 200 girls, and we were split up into round tables of 8 people, and stayed with those 8 through out the whole study, so it really didn't feel so large.

I was worried about getting lost in the crowd, but that hasn't happened. In fact, I had a medical emergency one day after dh left for work. I called one of the girls from church. Within minutes there were 2 people at my door. One to take ds to school and one to take me to the doctor. When I got out to the reception area at the doctor there were a few people from church waiting for me. They saw my face and knew it was bad news. They hugged me, prayed with me, and took me home. When I had to have a medical procedure to "fix it", someone from the church brought us dinner when I got home.

Same thing when I had my 2 year old. For a week, I didnt' have to lift a finger to cook. Each night someone from church brought us a meal. We've done that for members of the church as well.

To me that's how a church family is to be, there for you when you need them, and you there for them when they need you.

Since we joined our church, it has grown alot. We opened up a seekers service at a different location. The first sunday there were 650 people in attendance. That goes to show you how many people are searching for a church. By the 3rd Sunday we had to make that into 2 services. The seekers service has continued and recently we have started small groups there too. I feel very blessed to be in a church that is growing and thriving, and alive and on fire for God!

By the way, a few pages back there was a post about going to see Michael W. Smith. Some of my friends are in his Worship CD!

 

[JoBird]

The church I attend now, I am not a member of, but I love it and the preacher's style. When we moved here, we came from Charleston, SC (our hometown) by way of Rochester, NY. I have to say that our experiences in churches in NY were not good, we never found a church that we felt we could be fed spiritually. So when we got to Arkansas, we were hungry! We looked around and when we heard our preachers sermon for the first time, Dh and I looked at each other and just knew.

We are not members of this church, but we will never "join" a church anywhere we move, because we move so often. Also, our church back home in SC is so dear to us. Dh's Father and the pastor go way back, their families have been through so much together. Dh's Father is now the administrator over the church school there. We just feel like that church is our "family". It's so much fun to go home and see all of those people...when we do, people kind of line up to talk to us...like a wedding reception line!!! It's funny.

That pastor has preached at Dh's sister's funeral, he gave Dh his blessing to marry me...(if you read my testimony, you'll understand), he has married us, dedicated each of our children, preached at my own Father's funeral, and this summer when we went home, he baptised our oldest and middle child. It was one of the most beautiful, spiritual things I've ever witnessed. And it was just the family, the preacher and his wife there. When I told him thank you for doing it, he looked at me and hugged me and said "I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. You are family to us." So, that's why we love that church.

Now, I'm off to pack for our trip tomorrow to Disney! I sincerely hope that each of you is blessed while I am gone...I look forward to reading the developments when I get home next Saturday.

God Bless!
Jo

 

[JennyMominRI]

so what do they do with the chariot? valet park it for eternity?

..I would think that being the Chariot of G-d it would get valet parking

 

[JennyMominRI]

I love your term "one-man Special Operations Force for Heaven"! What a wonderful tradition to honor Elijah at every Passover Seder and at circumcisions. I was watching the tv show "A Baby Story" the other day, and it showed a circumcision ceremony. It was very meaningful, and I wished I had understood the symbolism and Hebrew speaking (though I do feel sorry for any rabbis that are a bit squeamish, LOL). I knew about Elijah being taken up to heaven in a chariot. What an awesome honor for God to give someone! As for the verse from Malachi, Christians would say that God sent Elijah in the form of John the Baptist to issue in the coming of Christ, and that he will be sent again as a prophet before the end times. Also, I wanted to ask you to be sure that it's not disrespectful that I type the name of God out in my responses. I know that it is Jewish tradition to not type out the name of God fully. I just want to be sure that it is not offensive if I do so in my responses. Thanks again for all your info.

It's not at al disrespectful for non-Jews totype God and for Jews it's more tradition than anything else..You will see some Jews write God,although most do G-d, L-rd etc.