Blessed Weekend

This past weekend, Tony & I took a trip to the Whole Foods Market in Raleigh. It is so much fun to go grocery shopping with my husband. I get this feeling of "healthiness" just by walking through the store. Haha. We mostly bought some staple items: crackers, granola, walnuts, mac & cheese, shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste, etc. I was excited to find out that the prices I've been paying at Wal-Mart for organic items is actually cheaper than the Whole Foods Market. Praise God! Wal-Mart doesn't have as big of a selection as Whole Foods... yet. Lord willing this will continue to be a growing market. When we were all done shopping, we went outside and enjoyed a carton of Mango & Cherry soy ice cream. It was very tasty!

That evening we met up with Carl, Jim, Brian, and Harry at the Raleigh Downtown Live (a free summer concert). We set up on our usual corner to pass out gospel tracts, talk to people about eternity, and open air preach. God crossed my path with three teenage boys: Allen, Dan, and Ben. Allen and Dan are brothers and have been raised in the Lutheran Church. They had actually just got back from a youth convention. Ben has been raised in the Catholic school. I asked them if they knew the 10 Commandments. Dan said "No, I had to memorize them for confirmation... but I don't remember what they are now." We had a wonderful conversation about God's glorious gospel in light of His Law - the 10 Commandments. Ben asked "what about purgatory?" We took a look at Revelation 21:8 which says that all liars... will have their part in the lake of fire. I asked Ben how he would interpret that; "well, all liars go to hell". And who isn't guilty of telling a lie? The "hard" truth is that every single person deserves to go to Hell for breaking God's Law, but Jesus Christ paid the fine for us by dying on the cross. That is amazing grace!! Allen and Dan chimed in and said that there is no purgatory, when you die you either go to Heaven or Hell. They were all very much excited and gladly accepted a stack of gospel tracts to give out to their friends at school. Dan's mom had recently purchased the New Testament on MP3 and he's been listening to that every day. It was such an encouragment to meet these guys and I pray that they will grow up to be Godly men that desire to please God in thought, word, and deed.

I also have a book recomendation: "A King Without a Shadow" by R.C. Sproul. Tony & I had the joy of reading this book to 8 children Sunday night at a Bible study (it was our turn to watch the kids). It is a beautiful lesson of God's holiness and our sinfulness!