July 20, 2009
Angela
Defiance, The True Story of the Bielski Brothers
During WWII three brothers did an amazing thing. They saved 1200 Jews from the the hands of the Nazis by living and hiding in the forests of Belarus. It was an amazing the true store of survival and sacrifice. The three brothers were the Bielski brothers. Their names were Tuvia, Asael, and Zusia (Zus). They were experts at survival and knew the forests of Belarus like the back of their hands. They began hiding in the forests after the villages of Belarus were raided by the Nazis during WWII. Soon, they found themselves hiding other Jews in the forests.
I first heard of these brothers and the Jews that they saved while watching a documentary on the History channel(“The Bielski Brothers: Jerusalem In The Woods“). It is truly amazing that they were able to hide so many people in the forests and survive for so long!
The movie, Defiance, is an excellent portrayal of the struggle that they went through as they tried to save the lives of fellow Jews and themselves. Defiance, is an amazing movie, I highly recommend it! Below is the movie trailer that will give you an idea of what to expect from this amazing movie and true story! Enjoy!
East to West~Casting Crowns
Psalm 103
Of David.
1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children-
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
The Search For Christian America
There is one book that has been on my reading list for awhile and I finally picked it up this last week. My husband reads very regularly and read this one quite awhile ago. If you are a Christian and you live in America, you should read this book! It is titled, The Search For Christian America. I have read the first chapter and I already can’t believe how right on this book is regarding America’s Christian heritage. The 
authors of this book examine America’s “Christian heritage” and how it has affected Christianity in America and around the world. It is examines the historical roots of America and helps the reader to answer such questions as: How Christian is America’s Past? Was early America a distinct source of Christian values? What was the mix of Christian principles and baptized ideology in Puritan New England, the legacy of the Great Awakening, the American Revolution? How much Christian action is required to make a whole society Christian? Is the “Christian nation” concept harmful or helpful to effective Christian action in society? and the list goes on!
There are so many juicy quotes in just the first chapter that I was almost salivating as I read it, I could hardly wait to share it with you! So, if you want to read this with me, that would be great! Here’s one great quote that I appreciated. In this quote the author states that in examining America’s past one should not totally negate the influence of Christianity in our society.
“In making our case, we do not want to contend that Christian values have been absent from American history. On the contrary, we hope to show that there have been much commendable Christian belief, practice, and influence in the history of the United States and the colonies which formed the new country….We want to give due recognition to these positive Christian aspects of our history, for they have had a marked influence on the shape of modern American. There presence, we agree, justifies a picture of the United States as a singularly religious country.”
Another insightful quote deals with the idea that America is a special “chosen” nation by God.
“A third kind of question involves more theological considerations. Is it, after all, ever proper to speak of a Christian nation after the coming of Christ? From Scripture we know that Old Testament Israel enjoyed a special status as a nation under God. Modern evangelicals differ among themselves over whether the modern state of Israel remains special as a nation to God. But regardless of how a Christian feels about the modern Jewish nation, is it proper ever to look upon the American nation as the special agent of God in the world?”
Like I said, I’ve have only just started reading this book. So, I will do a full review of the book when I have finished. I strongly recommend reading this book if you want to be challenged in the idea that America is uniquely chosen by God and how that has molded our society and how that fits in with our extremely secular-humanistic society of today. My husband also wrote a post on his blog about this book. Enjoy! Thanks for reading!
The Stoning of Soraya M.
I can’t wait to see this movie! It is in my Netflix queue as we speak! Here’s a sneek peak of the trailer.
To be “Green” or not to be “Green”
15 “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. ~Deuteronomy 4:15-20
My husband wrote an excellent post on Earth Day and how Christians should view it and what our responsibility to the Earth is, in light of scripture. Check out the post over at his blog, Pure Milk.
Drama Queen
Since the day she was born my daughter has been a drama queen! She is very emotional, but very sweet and sensitive. But don’t let that sensitivity fool you! She is a go-getter. She is also very confident and out going. One day, after getting in trouble for having a bad attitude she brought me this note. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that being an adult isn’t any easier!
To Live Is Christ 