Diehm
Diaries 2013
As we consider the Christmas season, I
wanted to share a story with you. There was a man who was living
well, with a nice house, a wonderful family, great job, and
everything else going for him. The problem was that he was dying of
stage 4 cancer and didn't even notice the symptoms coming on since he
was so wrapped up in his life. His doctor however did notice, and
contemplated speaking with the man. You see there was a new cure
that this doctor knew about that had a 100% success rate of curing
this man's type of cancer. The doctor wondered however if the man
would reject his cure since he was living such a happy life and might
not want to hear the news. The doctor also wondered what his
colleagues might think about this radical treatment and how they may
ridicule him. The doctor pondered telling the man about his certain
death, and the cure that he was sure would heal him. If you were the
doctor what would you do? This story is real for all of us, because
we all are or have been in the shoes of the man dying of a disease.
The Bible calls this disease 'sin'. As the doctor that is sure of
the cure, I hope you will read my diagnosis and consider what the
Bible has to say.
Like the man in the story, most of us
are unaware that we are suffering from this disease. Maybe we have
heard about it, but surely it would never happen to us. After all
aren't you a pretty good person? We need to look no farther than the
Ten Commandments to see that we are all guilty of breaking God's law.
Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever wanted something that
wasn't yours? Have you ever stolen anything regardless of value?
Have you ever used God's name in vain? Have you ever not loved God
with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? The list goes on, but
the fact is that “we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God” (Romans 3:23). The Bible also says in James 2:10 that even if
you “keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, you are
guilty of breaking all of it”. See God is perfectly loving, but He
is also perfectly just and must punish sin. Romans 6:23 tells us
that “the wages of sin is death...” and so because of our sin,
our punishment that we deserve is death. This isn't just physical
death, but spiritual death in hell for eternity. It may seem like a
steep punishment coming from a God who says that He loves us, but we
must not loose sight of the person we are offending. It is God who
made us and gave the law. To assault a random person might get you
into a little trouble, but assault the president, and the punishment
will be much steeper. So since we have sinned against God, we
deserve to go to hell. You wouldn't say that a judge is 'good' or
'loving' if he let a criminal go free, would you? Of course not, and
so God must punish sin. Once we understand that bad news, we can
realize the cure for our disease. What if as that judge was getting
ready to imprison you unless you could come up with a 100 million
dollar fine, and all of a sudden, someone you didn't know came in and
paid your fine for you. You didn't deserve it as you were guilty,
but this man did it for you anyway. That is what Jesus did for you
and I on the cross about 2000 years ago. It isn't anything we can
earn, or anything we deserve, but something the Bible describes as
grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not
of works, lest anyone should boast”. Romans 6:23 certainly starts
with “The wages of sin is death...”, but it finishes with “but
the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Please understand that you are a
sinner and that you are on your way to certain punishment in hell if
left to yourself. There is nothing YOU can do to right your
situation. Only Jesus can help you, and He already has paid your
fine for you. So what do you need to do? You do nothing to earn it,
but merely take the free gift by faith in what Jesus did for you like
the Bible says. This means that you come to a realization of what
your sin means to God and find yourself guilty before God. It means
that you have a change of heart about your sin and turn and accept
Christ's free gift of eternal life in heaven. If you do that then
you are guaranteed to go to heaven when you die (1John 5:13). If you
truly have that change of heart, the Bible says that you will be born
again, meaning you will have a new nature. You will no longer desire
sinful things as a pattern of life, but will instead desire to serve
God and follow Him. If you have come to this saving faith, does your
life reflect that? If not, the Bible says to consider whether or not
your really in the faith. But don't just take my word for it, take
Gods. Read through the gospel of John first and see what conclusion
you come to. Just ask God to show you the truth. God bless you in
this season and all others, where Jesus is the only reason.
We
have missed a few years of Christmas letters (the last one we did was
in 2010), and a few things have changed in the past 3 years (as we
then had an almost two year old, and are now on our way to having a 5
yr. old, 2 yr. old, and are 30 weeks pregnant with #3!)
Our
excuse for no Christmas Letter in 2011 was the arrival of our second
little girl, Elaina (Lainey) Jane Diehm. She came a bit early and
arrived with style on New Years Eve 2011. Since then she has been
kept us very busy…from not sleeping through the night until she was
10 months old, to using the toilet water to brush her teeth, she has
earned the title of “Dennis the Menance”, as we affectionately
call her. However, we love our “Lainey Lou” to pieces, and she
totally has us wrapped around her feisty little finger. She is now
almost two years old, speaks in 4-5 word phrases, and still has not
made it onto the growth chart at a petite 20 pounds, although she
eats more than any one else in the family on a daily basis. Her
favorite activities include “helping” cook (as she stirs and
taste tests everything), playing with sister “KEY-ra”, and
feeding or strolling her baby dolls through the house, with a purse
on her shoulder. Her current favorite phrases are “I DOO it!”,
“Love you too mommy”, “I HUNGY or FIRSTY”, and “Oatmeal
COOOO-KING” (as oatmeal is the first thing she requests in the
morning).
In
2012 we neglected a Christmas Letter as we were busy transitioning to
our new home: trying to figure out which box had the dishes in it,
and which one had shampoo. The last thing on the list was
documentation of our hectic life. ;) We sold our first beloved home
in May of 2012, as we decided to take advantage of incredibly low
interest rates and move into a bit bigger home that we could use for
hospitality and to meet the needs of our growing family. We lived
with family for 5 months while our new home was being built, and were
very excited to get into our new home in November 2012…just in time
for the Holidays! We are very thankful for the new home that GOD has
blessed us with, and have enjoyed getting settled, adding our own
touches, and getting to know the neighbors over the past year. Lainey
loves seeing the cows out the back windows (as we have cornfields and
pasture in our back yard), and Keira loved going on walks this summer
to catch the toads that live in abundance out here. Austin and I are
thoroughly enjoying the decrease of home projects that has come with
a newer home.
This
year has also been full of changes for us! In July God gave us quite
the surprise as we found out baby #3 was on the way!! We are now
anxiously anticipating the arrival of another little girl beginning
of March 2014. We are excited to have a houseful of girls, although
Austin has reserved the right to “Guy’s Nights” to keep his
sanity.
In
September, Austin and I were blessed with the opportunity to take a
once in a lifetime trip…a 14 day cruise through the Mediterranean
Sea with stops in numerous countries including Italy, Croatia,
Slovenia, Malta, and a few others. We learned A LOT of history,
toured the famous ruins of Pompei, and saw the Vatican and Coliseum
in Rome, to name a few of the highlights. We thoroughly enjoyed the
abundance of food on the boat, and getting to interact with many
different cultures. One of the main things that I took away from the
trip was how blessed we as Americans are with having Christianity at
our fingertips. The ability to go to church, have Christian friends,
and hear the Gospel is something we so often take for granted
here…but it is almost obsolete in Europe. I came away with a whole
new viewpoint and appreciation after our trip!
Beyond
the exciting BIG things going on in our lives, it has been a great
couple of years. God has blessed us with a great church that we love
attending and learning at (Southview Bible Church). We continue to
teach the K-2nd
grade kids club on Wednesdays, and I have had the privilege of being
involved in serving as a deaconess and organizing some of the social
events of the church. We have a great group of friends who are an
encouragement to us, and we are so thankful to have others to share
life with!
Austin
continues to work at Council Bluffs Savings Bank, and has
transitioned into more of the business banking side of things. He
enjoys the variety that his job offers, and we are both very thankful
that He works for a very family friendly company that cares for its
employees. He has a great schedule that allows us to be involved in
activities in the evenings, and have lots of family time.
I
(Ellie) continue to work for Perigon Networks, a technology company
in Bellevue. I continue to oversee the administrative and financial
side of the business which includes Billing, HR, and Finance. It
keeps me very busy, but I love the challenge, variety, and fast pace.
I work with a great management team and love the small family
atmosphere of the company.
Keira
started attending Heartland Christian School this year in their K4
program. We have been beyond impressed with the school and are so
thankful for the Christian influence she receives everyday, as well
as the strong emphasis that they place on academics. We have really
noticed that she has blossomed socially this year, as well as growing
academically. She is currently starting to learn how to read and
recently memorized Psalm 23 as a project for Thanksgiving time.
Beyond school, Keira continues to take dance classes (ballet and tap)
once a week, as well as being involved in Cubbies club as church. In
her free time she LOVES to do any type of artwork or crafts, sing and
dance at the top of her lungs, or play Barbies for hours on end. She
is very detail oriented, and an often time corrects me. She recently
told me that “Lainey is too old for a paci. If you aren’t going
to get rid of it, I will”. If the weather is nice out she loves to
ride her bike or Jeep, or do just about any outdoor activity. It has
been very exciting this year as Keira has shown more interest in
Jesus and the gospel and seems to understand it well and wanted to
make a decision to give her life to HIM. We continue to pray for her
and the other girls; that they would accept Jesus as their personal
Savior, and that Austin and I would continue to being Godly role
models in their lives!
As
we look forward to 2014, I am thankful for many things, but first and
foremost for Jesus coming to die for our sins on the cross so we can
live eternally in Heaven. Secondly I am thankful for a husband who is
the perfect match for me and a great leader for our home. As we see
times changing and the years flying by, we have started to have a new
awareness that “life is but a vapor”. Austin and I have both
been challenged to be using every precious day that God gives us to
share His good news with others, and to live for things that are
going to matter in eternity. Life is so busy and it is easy to get
caught up in petty things, but we challenge you in 2014 to evaluate
what your relationship is with God, and to invest in things that will
last beyond your 70-80 years here on Earth.
Love,
Austin, Ellie, Keira, and Lainey Diehm.
