Off With The Old...

Tadpoles are swimming in our pond. We’ve watched them grow and turn into frogs. These are just another batch of tadpoles we’ve found. Some tadpoles even have four legs already. It’s weird to see them become frogs. It is almost like they grow into completely different creatures.
When we are redeemed and washed of our sin, it is - as 2nd Corinthians 5:17 says - like we are different creatures. “Therefore, if anyone be in Christ he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come!” We no longer have the burden of shame and sin when Jesus wipes us clean. We can walk with hope, love, and joy!
These tadpoles will soon be frogs hopping all around. In fact, we’ll probably find a few of them in the pool!
“And He [Jesus Christ] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.” - II Corinthians 5:15
J. Andrew

Courage vs. Cowardice

The world has a very foggy idea of courage. The courage that used to be inside the patriarchal father has been removed and has been replaced with cowardice. Many believe that riding the fastest roller coaster or jumping from an airplane proves one’s courage. This is not a mark of bravery or courage, but is only daring (or in many cases - just stupidity). Now, I’m not saying that roller coasters or sky diving are wrong. In fact, I’d like to do these things. But let us be clear about the difference between courage and rashness.
For examples of true courage and heroism, I will turn to disasters on the sea. First, the Titanic was one of the greatest events of history that showed courage and bravery. Men who had heard the story of the Birkenhead (see below) and had been taught how to be chivalrous and courageous stood on the deck of a ship that would soon be plunged into the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean. They placed their children and wives into lifeboats and said good-bye to those whom they would never see again in this world. The water was very cold, and most of these noble men perished by freezing to death.
The second example of courage we find in the archives of history is found in the story of the Birkenhead Drill. The men on this ship were descendants of some of the greatest men in history. Their family trees included names such as Isaac the Bruce, William Wallace, and other glorious covenanters of Scotland. The Birkenhead, one of the grandest ships of its day, hit a rock off of Cape Fear in South Africa. The men drew up in military order as women and children boarded lifeboats. The ship sank twenty minutes after the Birkenhead struck the rock, but all of the women and children were saved in the lifeboats. Most of those noble men were eaten alive by sharks that were swimming in the water. However, not a single woman or child died!
Contrast these noble stories by a ship that showed great cowardice and selfishness, the La Bourgogne. This ship also began to sink, but instead of acting in a manly manner, the men and sailors began killing the women and children and leaping into the lifeboats to save their own miserable lives. Two hundred ninety-five men lived, while only one woman survived, and dozens of children perished. These French passengers were products of the pagan French Revolution.
Praise God that we are seeing Godly fathers and mothers raising up Godly sons with the qualities of nobility, selflessness and courage - even in the face of death!
J. Andrew

Hunting

When I was very young, I thought it was “mean” to kill an animal. I wasn’t a tree hugger, and I did believe that in self defense it would probably be OK to kill an animal, but I thought it wasn’t “fair” to the animal. I adopted this mindset by watching a few movies like Disney’s Bambi, which portrays the hunter as the evil antagonist. Don’t think movies like this affect us? Consider the following statistic: The year following the release of Bambi, hunters spent barely over half the dollar amount they had spent the previous year – before Bambi had made his debut in the “mean, cruel forests of America.”
Benjamin and I participated in a Hunter’s Education Class. Through this teaching I learned that if we didn’t hunt deer, they would overpopulate to dangerous numbers! Many deer that weren’t hunted would die to disease or starvation – due to overpopulation. These facts changed my whole mindset about hunting in general.
More importantly, I’ve also learned how God told man to take dominion over the earth. This may include hunting and protecting endangered species.

J. Andrew

The Gallantry T.R.A.I.N.I.N.G. C.E.N.T.E.R. Acronym: Part I

To Rear, Admonish, Instruct, and Nurture: What it means and Scriptures supporting it.
The first part of our Training Center acronym goes like this: To Rear, Admonish, Instruct, and Nurture.
We have to REAR up a godly offspring prepared to attack anti-Biblical worldviews. We must use the Word of God, which is the Sword of the Spirit, have our feet shod with the shoes of peace, wear the helmet of salvation, and be clad with the breastplate of Righteousness and Truth. Then, armed with the shield of Faith we can combat the fiery darts of the evil one.
The Bible says to “bring them [your children] up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”(Eph 6:4) This basically means to steer your children in the paths of righteousness as found in the Scriptures. When one ADMONISHes a child in the Lord, he may have to use the rod of discipline.
We need to open up the Holy Scriptures as we INSTRUCT our sons and our daughters and teach them the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.
To NURTURE means to care for and protect. We have to train our children for a life only a Christian can live, while guarding them from the wiles of the devil.
J. Andrew

The Beauty of Being Made in the Image of God

A few days ago I saw a T-Shirt with this phrase: “Don’t think of yourself as an ugly person. Think of yourself as a beautiful monkey.” This shirt was soaked full of the lie of evolution - that we evolved from apes. If you wring this shirt out, you will see that it contained the evolutionary and humanistic ideas that have dirtied our Christian culture. If the media says it’s true, isn’t it truth?
I beg to differ.
It was a grievous occurrence for me to see a shirt which was such an abomination to the Lord. We are all created in God’s very own image. That’s what separates us from the animals. God created us in his very own likeness and we were “fearfully and wonderfully made.” But we’ve tainted our lives with the black mark of sin and disobedience. However, our Maker came to this world He created, and saved us from sin, when our Lord hung on a tree. Since we were created by Him, we are accountable to Him. Many children aren’t taught that they are accountable to God or that they’ve been created in His image. We truly find our “self-worth” in Him, not because we’ve done anything good. Matt. 19:17 says, So, He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” The myth of evolution leaves us destitute, but the truth of God’s Word gives us hope.
J. Andrew

boy like me, Man like You

boy like me, Man Like You from J. Andrew Wong on Vimeo.

boy like me, Man like You is one of the very first videos we made; I was 12. This song is from Rich Mullins and is a favorite of ours. Throughout this video you'll see moving shots where the camera is "rolling." We don't own a dolly so we improvised with a wagon.

While I held the camera Benjamin pulled me around the yard. Oh the life of a cameraman!

As you'll see the ride was pretty bumpy!

(No, Noah isn't related to Rich Mullins.)

The Blue Whale

We’ve been studying the blue whale recently, and have discovered some very interesting facts. They are the biggest animal ever recorded. The T-Rex doesn’t even come close to matching the blue whale's enormous size. It’s wonderful to think that God has created such a large animal. Not only is all-powerful God in control of the land, but He’s also King under the sea. This is clearly seen in the story of Jonah, “Now the Lord had prepared a fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” (Jonah 1:17) The word “prepared” literally means “appointed.” So God appointed a fish to swallow Jonah. Wow! He is so mighty.

J. Andrew

The Little Robin

On the morning of the fourth of July (2007), we set off some firecrackers on our street. After the smoke had cleared, we found a small robin who was obviously scared of the sparks and loud noise. He wasn't quite ready to fly and must have fallen out of his nest a little prematurely. Benjamin tried to pick it up (with gloves on), but the bird just hopped to the side of the road. As we were feeding pieces of earthworm to the bird, we heard a chirping from a tree above us and looked up to see a robin....perhaps papa robin!

This story shows how helpless we are without our kind loving Father. He protects us and keeps us in his large and powerful hands. We can always feel sure that God is in control.
We immediately backed away from the little bird and went inside. As I looked back, I could see the baby and parent robin together.

J. Andrew

The Snake

One hot afternoon we found a snake in the process of eating a toad. We watched as the fangs were injected into the bumpy surface of the doomed toad.
When we see things like this we see again the evidence of a cursed and fallen world. However, through these conversations we get to speak about our blessed redemption from sin and how we can be forgiven of our great sins. We speak about how our sins are as scarlet and how Jesus’ grace and mercy can make them as white as snow.
We all watched as the toad sank deeper and deeper into the snake’s mouth until all that you could see was the large “bump” in the snake. It went deeper and deeper until it was halfway through the snake’s body. Then you could see how small the head of the snake was and how large their mouths can open.

J. Andrew

The Caterpillars

On the evening of June 8th we caught a Polyphemus moth and put it in a cage. The next morning we saw that the moth had laid eggs! So, two weeks later, baby caterpillars started hatching in our cage. In fact, we had 200 hundred of them! We split them up into personal cages and gave some away. We clean their cages out every other day and document how large they are and how fast they are growing. Now our caterpillars have lived more than half of their lives as caterpillars. In another few weeks we will have many cocoons!
Just as these caterpillars will experience a change as they become pupae, and build their cocoons, so we too become “a new creature” when we are saved. We leave behind our previous lives and habits to live a holy and pure life. Then, we build a home to be away from the world and it's carnal pleasures. We learn and grow through our parents’ and God’s help until we too-when we are mature- fly all over the world spreading the Gospel, producing Godly offspring, and training them in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

J. Andrew

Polyphemus Caterpillars

On the evening of June 8th we caught a Polyphemus moth and put it in a cage. The next morning we saw that the moth had laid eggs! So, two weeks later, baby caterpillars started hatching in our cage, in fact, we had 200 hundred of them! We split them up into personal cages and gave some away. We clean their cages out every other day and document haw large and fast they grow. Now our caterpillars have lived more than half of their lives as caterpillars. In another few weeks we will have may cocoons!
Just as these caterpillars will have a change as they become pupae and build their cocoons, so we too become “a new creature” when we are saved. We leave behind our previous lives and habits to live a holy and pure life. Then, we build a home to be away from the world and their carnal pleasures and learn and grow through our parents’ and God’s help until we too, when we are mature, fly all over the world spreading the Gospel and produce Godly offspring and train them in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

A New Cousin

A new cousin was born at the home of Will and Ginevra. Kyden Wesley is doing quite well. At only 15 days old he weighed in at 10 pounds! He has lots of beautiful hair and is much more alert than seen here in this picture.

Lesson in Auto Mechanics

Disassembling a six-cylinder engine with
"Mr. Kenny."

Old Fashioned Independence Day Celebration

We attended an Old Fashioned Independence Day Celebration recently. It was held at U.S. Congressman, Todd Akin's house. The evening was very Christian and very Patriotic. With fife and drum music, bagpipes playing and canons firing, we felt like we had entered another time era. Re-enactments, displays and speeches informed us of a time when Americans openly honored their God. A fantastic firework display rounded out the evening as we celebrated 231 years since America declared her independence!

Benjamin, trying out a black powdered rifle. No,

he didn't get to actually fire it!

A re-enactor starting a fire with flint & steel.

U.S. Congressman Todd Akin, reminding us of our

Christian heritage.