An Evaluation

At school the reformed group passed around a book on paedobaptism. After four others had read the book it was passed to me. Before reading this book I had not read anything in favor of infant baptism, only the opposing view. Bryan Chapell makes a clear explanation of the continuing Abrahamic Covenant. He explains that circumcision was a seal of the covenant that God had made with Abraham and prefigured the shedding of Christ's blood. After Christ died the New Testament believers received a new sign, baptism portrays what Christ accomplished on the cross, the washing away of our sin.
In the time of Abraham all the members of a household were baptized to symbolize the head of the house leading his family in the way of God. Circumcision did not indicate belief since it was applied before a child even had the ability to believe. If baptism is the new sign of the covenant then all of the Jews in the New Testament would automatically baptize all the members of their household because of the tradition that had been in place for many years.
I enjoyed reading the small book for its comprehensive way of presenting the information. I can understand why my parents do not hold to infant baptism, because of their dispensational holdings they view the Bible in a completely different manner.
As far as how I feel about it...I am considering it. I have been studying Galatians 3 and it is very clear that the believers of today are children of Abraham. Jesus Christ is the offspring.
"Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'in you shall all the nations be blessed.' So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith."
~Galatians 3:7-9

My Celiac turned into a blessing

The other day I made a trip into town to meet a lady who has Celiac. She has developed her own gluten free flour business, I went to her house to buy some gluten free flour and to ask her some questions. I thought that I would be there for an hour or less, I had never met her before and had no idea what to expect. As my conversation with her progressed from my story and how I discovered my intolerance we found that we were very much a like in personality. I ended up staying until 5:00, I spent 6 hours at her house!
She has 2 little boys, both are gluten intolerant so she bakes bread and other gluten free foods that most people just buy in the store. However one on a gluten free diet quickly discovers that the store bought "bread" hardly compares with what we used to eat and carries with it a heavy price tag (5.00 per loaf). Naomi was planning on baking all day so she encouraged me to stay as we chatted and baked and cleaned up the kitchen. I found a wealth of knowledge about celiac, cooking gluten free and living normally. I also found Spiritual unity and encouragement as we discussed many Biblical truths (She is nondisp. and grew up presby.) Best of all I found a friend. I was so excited after leaving her house because she is someone that I can learn a lot from, not only about gluten but also about being a stay at home mom and a pastor's wife. I am so thankful that I got to meet Naomi. I would have never even had the chance to get to know her if it was not for the one major thing we have in common.
Naomi has her own gluten free all purpose flour that can be substituted cup for cup with its gluten containing conterpart (white flour). This is an amazing feet considering that there are not many flour alternatives that can be used consistently. As she shared her story with me on how she came up with the formula it was evident that this is something that God gave her. All of the profit from the business goes into the ministry. Naomi has big plans to expand her business and add a whole grain flour that will be a "whole wheat" substitute. I would love to be a part of such fascinating work. The flour is called Better Batter gluten free all purpose flour and if you want to find out more about it she has a blog called betterbatterglutenfreeflour.com. On her website are recipies and information on gluten.
One major thing I learned is that gluten is a protein that is a binder in flour containing ingredients. Therefore I am not surprised that I often got sick eating in the cafeteria at school, cross contamination can occur if utensils, dishes and surfaces are not properly cleaned or kept separate. This still is a problem in my house with our tiny kitchen and no dishwasher. All of the dishes need to be washed in scalding water before the gluten protein is broken down.
However, I am so thankful for the friendship that God has given me through celiac.

Summer Joy

Okay, it has been a month since my last blog. But I have a pretty good excuse, I was writing a book. If it sounds cool it's probably not. As most of you know I majoring in Elementary Education and for my junior year I had to write a children's book. I really was excited about this at first, before I realized I am not an Artist. So with painfullly simple pictures the book is FINISHED! I wrote my book to be an informational story on Celiac disease. The title is Ellie Yak has Celiac, I hope to use the book to explain my intolerance when I am teaching or working with children.
I would like to comment on the weekend at the PCRT. I would have to classify the conference as the best Spiritual feast I have received in a long time. Believe it or not, living at BBC makes it hard to be Spiritually refreshed with the dry preaching we listen to.
The Speakers were amazing. It has taken me a few weeks to process everything that we listened to.
Now with summer upon us I have both sweet and sorrowful emotions. It's nice to be with my family. To be able to talk in person with my parents about everything that I am learning. Hanging out with Josh and Jamie. And eating food without the fear of getting sick! I am sad because I had to say goodbye to my best friend. It hardly seems like a reality that I can't just walk over and see him. God has given me great memories and blessings through Jordan from this year.
I am really looking forward to doing a lot of reading this summer, right now I am reading a book by Susannah Spurgeon (Yes, wife of C.H. Spurgeon). The book is divided between her biography and her devotionals. I love Spurgeon and have been delighted to find his wife's writing to be of equal theological content with a gentle and relational style that portrays her immense affection for Christ and her vibrant relationship with the Father.
I am also going to be nannying this summer. A family of three outgoing and busy children. I am sure I will have funny stories and pictures (if I can figure out how to post them) to share as the summer proceeds. I will need much prayer as I seek to be a loving but firm Nanny.