The Foolishness of Preaching

1 Cor. 1:21, AMP

"For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him], to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him)." 

We, humankind, try to figure things out on our own. Even those cultures who do not have a monotheistic worldview have a system of rights and wrongs, and feel guilt when they commit those "wrong things" and self-satisfaction when they do those "right things." But our own system is flawed; we can NEVER measure up even to our own standards! And God's standard is Ultimate Perfection, so we definitely miss the boat there. 

To overcome this feeling of guilt, humans try to do more good things than bad ones. Hear me now - even those of us who are believers that Jesus has saved us from our sins, how many times have we "tried to do the right thing" to make up for the wrong one? Did you do that to make yourself feel "ok"? Do you feel guilt over wrongdoing, repent to God by telling Him you're sorry and turning "180 degrees" in the other direction, and then, go try to do something good to feel worthy of the forgiveness God just gave you? Whenever we do that, we are still trying to follow "man's wisdom," which is the foolishness of God. See, God put that sin out of His mind 2,000 years ago when Jesus died on the Cross! We may repent of individual sins to help ourselves feel better, but we're not making God feel any better. After repentance like that, at least forget about it. How often have I kept remembering those feelings of guilt to stop myself from ever committing that sin again? I'm punishing myself for a sin Jesus already took the punishment for!

But Jesus says, "Just stop looking at it, and look at Me!! I don't want your sin and guilt to take My glory from Me! I did not save you to make you 'humble' and self-abasing servants* - I saved you so that sin would be a thing of the past for you!! It's gone - I don't think about it, why should you? I LOVE YOU. It's done!!"

(*He said He no longer calls us servants but friends.)

So "when the world with all its earthly wisdom [even taking the Gospel and turning it into another form of law and made it about 'being a good girl now to show you're sorry'] failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own [stupid] philosophy [which can never give you the fullness of life God intends for you to have], God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [the TRUE Gospel that your sins and chains and guilt and old man were really, truly crucified once and for all on the Cross as Romans 6:6 says!] to save those who believed [even believers need to be preached to once in a while :-) ]." - 1 Cor. 1:21, KRV (Kay Roe Version)

We just need some renewing of our minds.  - - - - >

"By beholding, we are changed." I wrote a blog post about that once before. The more we see Jesus and who He really is (happy with us and wanting to show us the glories of eternal life now!), the more we realize that He has made us like Him (perfect and holy - doesn't Peter say we are a "holy nation"?), the more we believe it. When we understand who He is and what He has done and who we really are in Him, we can reflect Him to our fullest potential and mirror His perfect image. In other words, the only thing stopping you from living in eternal-life perfection here and now is you. (And me - I need preaching to, too!) It's our view of yourselves that needs changing... because God sees us as absolutely perfect. He sees Christ all over us; Christ has become our perfection.

It is through the preaching (and understanding) of the truth that you are saved into the awesomeness of heaven-on-earth now and forever. Not through this world's attempts to "make things even." Don't let yourself be swayed by this kind of false teaching... even if it comes from someone you trust. Make sure your worldview comes from the Word of God... Jesus Himself. He says, You are holy!

Hebrews 10:10 AMP

And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One).

Hebrews 10:14 AMP

For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy.

Forever, it is done. Jesus said it: "It Is Finished." There's nothing else you need to do but rest in the fact that Jesus did it all and made us completely holy. You are awesome! He wants to enjoy you now... don't let your unbelief get in the way of enjoying fellowship with your Creator :)

Guess What???

We tied the knot!! :-)

Sorry we haven't been in contact with you as much as we'd like, but that's because we've been getting married, settling into our new home, and starting Teach 2 Teach, our new music teaching business! But before we get to that - Wedding Photos and Videos!

When we were picking our wedding photographer and videographer, we thought we were just hiring our very talented friends who had relatively new photo and video businesses, but they turned out to be much more than that! Check it out:

Wedding Videos by Peter and Orlando: http://viewhigher.com 

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/51941322# 

Full Video: http://vimeo.com/51941320

Wedding Pictures by Dave Shay:
Blog: http://www.ds2photo.com/1/post/2012/10/jay-kaymarried-north-jersey-wedding-photographer.html  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daveshayphotography 
Website: http://www.ds2photo.com/ 

Teach 2 Teach

We are so excited to share about our new music lessons company, Teach 2 Teach! T2T offers private and group music lessons in voice, piano, guitar, ukelele, and songwriting, and we have recently started after-school clubs in both private and public schools in northern New Jersey. We are also hiring music teachers, so be sure to email us about that if you are interested!  For more information about us, our company, and what we offer, visit www.teach2teach.com.

Pleasure

All humans desire pleasure.

That's how God created us! We were made for success, for joy, for happiness, for fellowship. He made us to enjoy things. He is pleased when we are pleased! And when we love Him and have His Spirit inside us, we are pleased when He is pleased, too.

God has given us desires - they come from Him and were made to be fulfilled! It all depends on how we fill them. Make sure you are walking in the mind of Christ (which is your inheritance as a Christian!) and follow your God-given desires and you will find the fulfillment - and pleasure - you were created for :-)

Longing

Sometimes I get this feeling of longing. And even though it's supposed to be a feeling of dissatisfaction, wanting something more, I really like the feeling.

Spring fever feels like this.

I want what I had last year at this time. I remember the trees, the flowers, the sunshine. It's like I'm coming awake again! I remember driving with the windows down, radio cranked up. I remember, literally, driving in J's jeep with the top down, listening to Benjamin Dunn's music and laughing together, our first date!

I remember feeling so free, like I held the world in my hands. I could do whatever I liked, and so could J. We were children of the King.

Yet, there was also a sense of longing, but good longing. It's like, we know there's more, and we are MOVING TOWARDS IT. Sometimes, it's not that we actually want to possess the thing we long for, it's just that we love the drive, the push to get it, the journey it takes. I feel empty without it.

I hate normalcy. I get restless when I'm stuck to one routine too long. I want that challenge. That push for something more.

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I've been thinking about freedom today. We are totally and fully free because of Jesus. I want to go do something awesome to exercise my freedom! I want to FEEL my freedom, want it to be manifested.

What happens when someone who's been a captive for 15 years is finally freed? He's been longing for freedom for so long... what happens when he finally gets it? Does he miss that old familiar feeling of wanting to be free, searching for a way out? Perhaps.

In the same way, romance is a lot about the pursuit, isn't it? All the fairy tales are about the prince and princess finding each other. What sort of story starts out with them finding each other and being happily ever after in 5 minutes? No, even if they meet at the beginning, there's something that keeps them apart until the end. They don't get married until just before the credits roll.

So what is it about our human nature that loves the pursuit? I guess that, while we LOVE desire, we CAN be fully satisfied once desire comes. Doesn't Proverbs say that "Hope deferred makes the heart sick?" If there's NO fulfillment to our expectations, we get super frustrated. I HATE movies that don't have happy endings! :)

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This all ties together with my thoughts about freedom. We ARE fully free in Christ - but sometimes, we still think like the old captive. We think we miss that feeling of longing, and can't let it go. While I do believe that God has put a longing in our hearts for our True Home (C.S. Lewis is big into this, and I love how he views this topic of longing!), I also believe that we don't experience the fulness of our freedom here and now because we are still dreaming of being set free. But He has already freed us from EVERYTHING!! On Good Friday, Jesus proclaimed, "It is finished." And He meant it! "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you," Jesus said. If we know Him, we have eternal life (John 17:3) - We have it already! I'm getting ready to let go of the longing that doesn't belong and embrace the joy that is mine in the present! :)

Progress

“You’ll be doing live music forever. We came for dinner and stayed for 5 hours. The way you two look at each other – she looks at you like you’re the only one in the world, and when you look at her – you two make my wife and I remember what it was like when we first met.”

One of the men in our audience at the Huntsman told us this after our show there last Friday. It's probably the greatest compliment we could ask for! God has been using our relationship itself to minister to people, as well as our music.

It was a GREAT turn out Friday night, so fun, everyone loved it and we musicians just had a blast! We packed the restaurant out, so I think the owner was quite pleased, too. Dane and J Turner played with us on drums and bass. They were going to leave for Vermont and postponed it till the morning so they could play with us! They are amazing musicians and the fact that they support us that much means a lot. 

We've had a lot going on the past couple weeks! J & I wrote a new song, Sheep Say Baa – it's so fun! We can't wait to release it.

We also met with View Higher Pictures' co-founder, Peter Nevill, to start collaborating on our first official music video, The Best of It. Peter's a good friend of mine, and it means a lot that View Higher is teaming up with us for this project! 

Our show at the Huntsman was another key event on our calendar last week, and now this weekend both J & I are leading worship for two separate conferences: J is at the New Canaan Society's annual retreat in Washington, D.C., and I will be at the Fire & Water Conference in Harrisburg. We will be apart, but we get to spread our influence to even more people this way.

Like David and Joseph in the Bible, whatever we do succeeds. God is for us! Nothing can stand against us! Even in the wilderness, David had 600 mighty men who followed him. Joseph was put in charge of Potiphar’s house, and even of the prison he was unjustly thrown into. Even if satan throws stuff against us, we live under the New Covenant – Jesus’ blood has conquered everything!! There IS no prison or wilderness for us! We can surpass David and Joseph - who both became powerful rulers of nations. “Greater works than these you will do…” – even than Jesus! How great is our God and His lovingkindness towards us!

The promises of God are for all of His children - He loves you! Rejoice in the victory that Christ won for you on the Cross, and have a wonderful weekend, everyone :)

- Kay

The Predicament

So I used to think I had a normal van. Yeah... even after all our Otie adventures, that's what I used to think. But I was wrong. My van is not a normal van. My van is alive.

I was driving away from J's house one day when I realized I had a book in my car I forgot to give him. Sometimes my van, Otie, doesn't like to turn on in the cold, so I left him running while I brought the book to J inside his house. When I came back out, I found out that Otie has a mind of his own, and he thought it would be funny to lock me out! My purse, my keys, my spare key, everything was locked inside except my phone which was in my pocket.

I ran back inside to tell J, and we turned to - what else? - YouTube. Who hasn't gotten locked out of their car before? People like to document that kind of stuff. We found a bunch of companies who unlock cars professionally but they used real wedge tools... we didn't have any real tools like that, but we did have a garage full of potentially helpful stuff, so J & I went on a little treasure hunt.

Armed with 2 wire coat hangers, 3 paint scrapers, a hammer, and two door stoppers, we marched back out to Otie.
J shoved the door stopper into the top corner of the passenger door and wedged it in deep with the hammer.
The paint scrapers were useless. J had cut & bent the hangers and they worked alright except they weren't strong enough to put force on the manual lock - we had to hook it over the lip of the lock and pull back. Not easy!!

J remembered a stronger wire wound up in a red spool and man, that really did the trick! It even had a ready-made hook on the end. It took a LOT of tries.

J maneuvered the wire while I held the flashlight (an app on my phone) and gave him verbal directions - he couldn't see the inside of the latch from where he was standing.
  
We didn't give up, and suddenly - boom! - we'd flipped the latch! We opened the door ASAP so it couldn't re-lock, and Otie was free. Through teamwork, we did it!! :)

 Yeah, I don't know what Otie thought he would gain by locking me out - he really does like me - but I don't think it will happen again! :)

- Kay

The Big Day

Jason and I went snowboarding yesterday. Little did I know that it would be day that changed my life forever.

My first run down Sugar Slope (the easy, "learning" slope) went well, and I felt like I was starting to get the hang of turning from "heel side" to "toe side." For our second run, J suggested we ride towards the left side because it was less crowded. I started out toward that side but ended up inching into the middle as I tried, unsuccessfully each time, to make that half-spin turn.

"Kay, come over on this side by me," J encouraged, still further up behind me on the hill. "No, I'm GOING to make this stupid turn!! I'll lose half the mountain by the time I get over there, it's just gonna be a waste." Little did I know that J was whispering, "Oh, no, it won't!" to himself. :)

In spite of my words, I did steer all the way to the left, losing very little of the hill. Then I tried again in vain to do my spin, fell, and sat down in the snow, discouraged. "I can't do it! I keep catching my back edge," I pouted to J. I was actually getting VERY frustrated, feeling like I was just getting worse. Poor J. He took off his board and walked over to me, then knelt down in front of me. I thought he was going to say, "Kay, it's ok, I love you, you're amazing and you can do anything," as he usually would, but instead he just sat there with a look on his face I couldn't read. Then he unzipped his jacket and reached into his inside pocket. I thought he was going to pull out a tissue so I could wipe my nose, or take out his phone to show me something encouraging. What he pulled out, however, was a blue ring box! I briefly wondered if this was a joke, not wanting to get my hopes up. But then he opened the box - slowly and significantly - and there inside was a real diamond ring!!!!

"Oh my gosh!!!" I said, TOTALLY surprised. "I love you, Kay," he told me, tears in his eyes. "Will you marry me?"

"I will!" I said, now crying myself. He slipped the ring on my finger and I kissed him, so full of joy I could hardly contain myself. He was even more emotional than I was (which is usually the case with us).

We spent about ten minutes composing ourselves from all the emotion and then boarded the rest of the way down the hill - now I felt like I could conquer the world! Then J took me to the fancy new Red Tail Lodge restaurant which was a lovely atmosphere and we called our friends and family and had a wonderfully romantic little lunch.

It was such an amazing day! There were several times in the day where I'd suddenly get more of a realization of what just happened and say, "Whoa! We're engaged!" or look down at my ring in awe that it was really real! We both wanted it to be a surprise, and it so totally was!! It's an extremely difficult thing for J to keep anything a secret from me, but he did, and I was so proud of him.

After we finished at Mountain Creek, we had a lovely little engagement party with both of our immediate families and played music until late into the evening. It was the perfect day.

I'm soooo happy.

I love you, Jason Roe!! :)

- Kay