The Alpha & Omega

What’s in a name? A name is more than just something by which we are called; in a sense, it is our reputation.

A name can conjure up images of glory, honor, and grace. It may cause sadness, anger, and dismay. Yes; a name is a powerful thing.

Did you know there are a multitude of names for God? Each name unique and powerful; the list is endless.

In hopes of helping my children have a better understanding of who God is and all He means to us, December will be dedicated to teaching my children various names by which He is called. Each Christmas season, our hopes are to learn even more names given.

Join us on this exciting adventure through Scripture, where we will learn some amazing verses, talk about how those verses should affect our lives, and discuss some practical ways to make these names “real”.

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“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” – Revelation 1:8

Eternity is a hard concept to understand, isn’t it? Even for us adults, the idea of God having no beginning and no end is a little mind-boggling. Think about it. God had no starting point; none. He always has been and He always will be. There was never a point that He didn’t exist and there will never come a time when He will cease to be.

So what is time anyway? Time is a way we talk about tensed events. Said event happened first, that happened next, this will be happening afterwards. The beginning of time is when God chose to act.

Here’s a question for you: Can we measure infinity? No; it is possible to always add one more. There is no number high enough which represents infinity. Here’s another thought: When we talk about the past, can we count infinitely backwards? No! There has to have been a beginning.

Let us use dominoes to illustrate this concept. Imagine you have a series of dominoes set up on end. Can you create an infinite set? No! It is physically impossible to do so. You could always add yet one more domino to your set. However, there was a starting point. Nothing comes before the starting point. You had a definite beginning, but you could continue adding till kingdom come.

Now, in our row of dominoes, can the first domino choose to knock over the one behind it? No; our domino is a thing (an event) which cannot choose to act; things are merely acted upon. They have no powers of volition. Only persons have powers of volition, so only a personal first cause can choose to act. This first cause is also known as a prime mover. We refer to such a prime mover as “God”.

When God says He was the first, he is not indicating He was the first tensed event (our first domino); He is saying He was the prime mover. God existed logically prior to the first event. God is the being who put the first event into motion. Nothing caused God, He was self-existent. There was nothing before God.

When God says He is the first and the last, He is pointing out that He is an uncreated being. He is drawing our attention to false gods which all have a beginning. False gods did not always exist; there is only have one first cause.

God was, is, and is to come… How incredible is that?

The Bread of Life

What’s in a name? A name is more than just something by which we are called; in a sense, it is our reputation.

A name can conjure up images of glory, honor, and grace. It may cause sadness, anger, and dismay. Yes; a name is a powerful thing.

Did you know there are a multitude of names for God? Each name unique and powerful; the list is endless.

In hopes of helping my children have a better understanding of who God is and all He means to us, December will be dedicated to teaching my children various names by which He is called. Each Christmas season, our hopes are to learn even more names given.

Join us on this exciting adventure through Scripture, where we will learn some amazing verses, talk about how those verses should affect our lives, and discuss some practical ways to make these names “real”.

 ……

“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” – John 6:35

How many people in the world are going hungry tonight? Some are needing physical nourishment, but far too many are needing spiritual sustenance as well. When Jesus came to earth it was to meet our needs, both physical and spiritual. In John, we read of Jesus’ promise to fill us.

To begin, let’s take a look at the importance of bread. Bread is a staple of dietary life. One can survive on mere water and bread alone for quite some time. Bread plays an important part in both Jewish and Christian history; bread is broken during passover, was poured down from heaven, shared at mealtimes, and prepared in a particular manner (unleavened).

Here, in the book of John, Jesus has just fed the people and yet they are clamoring for more. Jesus is trying to remind them that they need to look beyond their mere physical needs and wants; looking to things of the Spirit.

During this Christmas season, I want

to focus on sharing this same concept with my own children. Instead of worrying about the things they want, I want them to focus on whether or not they are intaking enough of God’s Word. Are they reading daily, praying daily, and seeking Him in all areas of life? By coming to Him daily, their spiritual needs will be met and they will never feel empty or “hungry” again.

To reinforce this principle, we spent some time making fruit cake! We had never made it before, but it was great! Super easy and super tasty!

Fruit Cake

1 cup golden raisins

1 cup currents

1/2 cup each (dry cranberries, blueberries, cherries, and apricots)

1/4 cup candied ginger

zest from one lemon

zest from one orange

1 cup rum

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/4 tsp. all spice

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

10 tsp. (1 1/4 sticks) butter

1 cup unfiltered apple juice

1 cup sugar

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

1/4 cup toasted, crushed pecans

Soak dried fruits in rum over night (or nuke for 5 minutes in microwave). Place fruits in large pot; add spices to mixture. Bring to a boil; add butter, apple juice, and sugar; reduce and simmer for five minutes; set aside to cool for fifteen minutes. While cooling, mix together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add flour mixture to wet mixture. Once incorporated, add eggs and pecans. Mix well. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour (or until an inserted stick comes out clean). To prevent your cake from “cracking”, add a shallow pan of water to the lower shelf of your oven during cooking.

(For those of you who dislike using alcohol in your cooking, feel free to emit this. However, please remember the alcohol itself is being cooked out in the process; no actual liquor is being consumed. This is for flavoring purposes only.)

For those of you who might not care to try fruit cake, you could always make a Happy Birthday Jesus cake! HERE is a great recipe, should you care to give it a go.

Day one of “What’s In a Name?” proved to be lots of fun! We learned a lot, had lots of fun, and made some awesome memories together. I can hardly wait for day two!