Are you saved?

I recently read a message by Spurgeon.  I like what he had to say about the assurance of salvation.  The world is so full of "religion" and so little spiritual reality that it would do us good to examine our hearts and lives.  It is wonderful to KNOW you are born again!

“There is a great difference between presumption and full assurance.  Full assurance is reasonable: it is based on solid ground.  Presumption takes for granted, and with bold face pronounces something to be its own to which it has no right whatever.  Beware, I pray you, of presuming that you are saved.  If with your heart you do trust in Jesus, then you are saved; but if you merely say, ‘I trust in Jesus,’ it does not save you.  If your heart is renewed, if you hate the things you once loved, and love the things that you once hated; if you have really repented; if there is a thorough change of mind in you; if you are born again, then you have reason to rejoice; but if there is no vital change, no inward godliness; if there is no love to God, no prayer, no work of the Holy Spirit, then your saying, ‘I am saved,’ is your own assertion, and it may delude, but it will not deliver you. “  (emphasis added) C.H. Spurgeon

Solar Cooking

We recently became the happy owners of two solar cookers.  I had never heard of a solar cooker before but was excited to give it a try.  I figure if we can cook even a couple of meals a week in the solar cooker it is that much more propane and electricity we have saved.

Our first attempt at using it was unsuccessful.  We put a pot of chili in to cook but before too long the sky became cloudy and we had to finish cooking supper on the stove.  Our next attempt was mostly positive.  We put a peach cake in to bake but I underestimated the time needed and it got too late before it was finished.  But it only took 10 minutes in the oven to bring it to perfection.

Our third attempt was also unsuccessful. I think part of the problem is the type of pot we are using.  We'll try to have a positive report next time! :-)

The cake we almost finished baking in the solar cooker.

The Narrow Way

"Speaking out with a prophetic voice against all that comes short of God's highest purpose for His Church, may perhaps reduce our numbers, but God has always been more interested in quality than in quantity. We don't have to make the narrow way any broader than God Himself has made it." - Zac Poonen