Happy Halloween & Reformation Day

My Hubby's Pumpkin this year(2017)

It's another Holiday.  Some of you might have been wondering where I've been since Columbus Day.  Well, my husband and I went on vacation-by ourselves!!!  Yes, we are spoiled.  No kids, no work, just fun and relaxation.  

We enjoyed a lot of alone time, lots of board games( I skunked him 3 times in our cribbage tournament-okay, he skunked me once, but although I technically won, we both won since we got to spend so much time together), watched several movies-most of which weren't very good, and spent a couple of days adventuring to find waterfalls when the weather was nice.

Onto one of my favorite websites, History.com for the History of Halloween.

Most of you have probably heard a lot of the history before, but it's always fun to watch a short reminder video.   

It's interesting, I guess I never thought that people didn't celebrate Halloween or struggled with it as Christians. You can check out this Focus of the Family article answering the Question:  Should my family celebrate Halloween? 

It might have been the way I was brought up, we only attended church periodically. I have fond memories of dressing up and trick or treating - all those Halloweens that were so cold your Mom would make you layer a lot and by the time you got home you were sweating from all those layers and all that walking. 

I also remember that our parents had to check all our candy.  And yes, sometimes that is funny because they would laugh and steal the candy saying it wasn't safe for kids, but then they would eat it.  That was mostly my Dad though.  But it was also serious, there were people putting razor blades in candy and kids getting sick.  

Me at Halloween when I was about 7, Yes I was dressed as a NUN!
My Mother made this costume for me.

Back when I was a kid people had Halloween parties for grown ups!  Can you believe it?  I wonder if anyone ever does that anymore.   We try to get together yearly with a group of friends to do Pumpkin Carving, that's been going on now for about 12 years.

When my husband and I had our son we just figured, he doesn't eat the candy why trick or treat.  So we brought him to family in the area to show off his costume, which really was just a sweatsuit made to look like a costume.  I miss the more simple costumes.

Then as he got older and we had our daughter, there wasn't really any trick or treating around where we live.  Nowadays, there are things like Trunk or Treat-mostly done at churches to give the kids a place to come that's safe, not scary and have some fun.  It also gives the church the capability to reach out to those who aren't Christians, to spread the gospel.

Speaking of:  Did you know that today is also Reformation Day?  The day when Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation.

Here is one our friend's blog post about Halloween , I've shared about him and the organization he works for here in my blog.  

So, check out Mark Sohmer's tips for Reverse Trick or Treat.

Now, I realize that most of you have already done your festivities for this holiday, but I wanted to write a post about it anyway.  Sometimes it takes me a full year to get into the swing of things and try something new, so I hope that this was fun and helpful for you.

For our family it's about having fun and decorating.  For my daughter especially, it's about eating lots of candy.  In the end my take away is this:

Read the portion of 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 titled The Believer's Freedom but pointedly verse 33:

So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Vampires

It's October, the leaves are changing and the weather here in the eastern US is getting really chilly.  Although, while I write this today it's 64 F and humid, it's a little odd, seeing that it's been 32 F the last few nights.

With October comes all things creepy right, or at least it seems that way.  The decorations go up and more than likely you will find a vampire or many among the strung up things.

Ever wondered where the legends of vampires came from, check it out here, at one of my favorite sites!

Now that you've read a little history, let talk about how to keep those Vampires around us from sucking the life out of us, and from us becoming them as well.

Don't let things suck the life out of you, and don't turn into a life sucker either.

Blood is our life force, it's what makes things work in our body.  It's what God showed us in the bible as a sacrifice to atone for sin, even before Jesus was in the picture , He showed us the necessity to sacrifice through blood.  Leading the way for the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus' blood covering all of our sins.

There are a lot of great things in life. For me, entertainment and family outings are a couple of them. But, like any great things, too much and too often can be a bad thing because then it sucks the life out of you. It's exhausting, it gets us to a breaking point and we just wanna hide under the covers and cry for awhile.  Yeah, I've done this a lot in the past, and I'm sure I will in the future. 

If we don't find a balance with all things they can become our modern day vampires.  And, if we aren't careful, we can overstep our boundaries and become vampires ourselves, sucking the life out of others.  Finding balance is a necessity in life, it is so hard sometimes and requires a lot of daily mindfulness.

It's those closest to us that tend to be affected the most, family members, spouses, children and friends.  

I encourage you today to look at your life and see if you have any vampires in your life or if you've become one.  Evaluate things, and see if you need to strike some kind of balance in your life.  

God is in control, but we need to take up our cross daily. I saw a sign on a church the other day that said:  

No God, No Peace

Know God, Know Peace

Isn't that true.  When we strive to know God and what He wants for our lives, then it leads to peace.  No one said it would be easy, in fact it often isn't, but striving is part of the journey.

1 John 6-7:

6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Ephesians 2:13

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.