10/27/08

We went to the fairgrounds this afternoon to pick up our things that needed to be brought back home. We also got our ribbons. :) The fairgrounds were so desolate and sad looking. I miss it already. When we picked up our ribbons, we looked at the comments made for the recipes. We were very surprised to find that Wesley actually DID win a ribbon! He won "Honorable Mention" on his chocolate pound cake! It made his day. The pound cake was very hard to see in the area so that doesn't surprise me that we missed it. It excited us all to get our ribbons. We are looking forward to next year and Mikayla is already deciding to enter more areas. lol Here are a couple of food pictures from Saturday. Today I counted with my students all of the different things we ate.... we counted 10!

Kevin and I eating our deep fried dill pickles. They were actually pretty good!

My home boy eatin' him a corn dog. :)
(I don't know why he had his hat like that... lol)

Tonight we ate at Chick-Fil-A for our school. We had a school night there and it was like a fundraiser sort of thing. I mention this only because my administrator asked me if I was going to put it in my blog. (His wife reads my blog quite regularly) lol In fact, he came up with this little slogan for me "I ended my day eating at Chick-Fil-A".... Kelly... please let him know it is here!

I post these pictures below of the blacksmith in the "old" part of the fair. It was neat to watch him take that hardened metal and turn it into something totally different. A lot of times he had to keep putting it into the fire to get the shape he wanted. One thing I watched was that he never left the metal alone. He stayed with it and continued to heat it, shape it, heat it some more until he finally got the shape he had desired.




As I stood there watching I began to think of how the Lord is like that blacksmith in our lives. He puts us through the hard times to "refine" us... to get all of the impurities out and to change us to become more in His image. When He puts us through those refining fires it hurts. They are not pleasant and we wish we could get away from the fire more quickly. God never leaves us there by ourselves. Through it all He is standing there, feeling the heat, too. He is making sure those impurities are leaving and the true "metal" of our faith is shining through. The end product is that we are more like Him.

I can honestly say that I have seen the Lord work like that in my life. I am thankful for that refining fire. It has never been pleasant. There were days I wanted to throw it all in, but He kept putting me through the fire to create something new in me. I know I am still being refined, but I am thankful He is there with me and will never leave me.

I leave you with these verses and words of a song that go along with those thoughts of the blacksmith.

Malachi 3:3 (NASB)
He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the LORD
An offering in righteousness.

Romans 5:1-4
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

Rejoice in the Lord

God never moves without purpose or plan
When trying His servant and molding a man.
Give thanks to the Lord
When the testing seems long.
In darkness He giveth a song.

Oh, rejoice in the Lord,
He makes no mistakes.
He knoweth the end of each path that I take.
For when I am tried and purified,
I shall come forth as gold.