Well, it’s been quite a while since I wrote my last “real” post. It’s not for lack of ideas, mind you. I have at least a half-dozen or so that I’ve jotted down from time to time. I think that, for me, it really does take some work to construct something that really says what I want it to say. I envy those people who can just sit down and have the words fly off their fingertips. Perhaps their thoughts are just more disciplined than mine. Who knows?

But I can give a quick update on our fairly normal household. At least I think it’s normal. You can judge for yourself :

• The kids are enjoying their summer break and spending a good bit of time outside. This is helping.
• One of the problems of having a 50 year old house is, well, 50 year old plumbing. The most recent water leak through the ceiling means we get to decide whether to simply (ha!) fix the problem or remodel the vintage green tile bathroom.
• The church debate still goes on. We will stay or will we go? Odds are looking better that we’ll go. When and where are still up for grabs.
• We go North in a week to visit Jenn’s extended family. Should be mostly fun. Lynn, Ilona - we’ll wave as we come through.
• And what’s the deal with getting braces so soon now? A8 is going down that path but when I was in school most people didn’t get them until jr. high.

I’m sure there are other things that I could bore you with but that’s enough for now. I have a couple of posts on the will of God that are brewing and should get done soon. Really. I promise. Come back and see for yourself.

A few months ago I mentioned that Ken Myers was speaking in Nashville as part of a Humanitas Forum lecture series. Myers, along with Jeremy Beer, were speaking on Jesus as More Than a Personal Savior. If you missed that but are interested in hearing the talks then good news for you! All the lectures from the weekend(along with a Q&A) are available for free. Just go here and download to your heart’s content.

And if you benefit from you hear, consider making a donation to the Humanitas Project and the work they are doing. (note : I receive nothing for my shameless plug)

A friend sent me the following YouTube link earlier today and I can’t stop thinking about it. It was a welcome reminder of how God makes Himself known to each of us right where we are. More personally, it has caused me to reflect on how much knowing Him has changed me in some ways and how far I have yet to go in others. Take the next couple of minutes and check it out for yourself…

My cardboard testimony would say “Proud Liar & People Pleaser/Humbled by God’s Grace.”

How would yours read?

To admit the existence of a need in God is to admit incompleteness in the divine Being. Need is a creature-word and cannot be spoken of the Creator. God has a voluntary relation to everything He has made, but He has no necessary relation to anything outside of Himself. His interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply nor from any completeness they can bring to Him who is complete in Himself…

So lofty is our opinion of ourselves that we find it quite easy, not to say enjoyable, to believe that we are necessary to God. But the truth is that God is not greater for our being, nor would He be less if we did not exist. That we do exist is altogether of God’s free determination, not by our desert nor by divine necessity.

-A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy, p.52-53

First, let me say that Brian made it safely to Atlanta for his business trip late yesterday afternoon. (Didn’t want to scare any of you who knew that!)

After we heard from Daddy that all was well, Mom piled the three kiddos into the van to head to Sonic for dinner. On the way there, from out of nowhere, three deer ran across the street in front of me. Thankful for my new tires, I braked as hard as I could brake safely on the wet road, but I managed to hit the third one in his back thigh as he attempted to jump over the hood. I think the deer will be bruised, but okay. He didn’t seem to have any trouble continuing into the field! A quick inspection of the hood and front of the van when we arrived at Sonic showed no damage to the van, but it did raise a few eyebrows from the lady next to me!

After all of this, I’m hopeful that I won’t need to create a “Near Miss” category! Again, I find myself thankful for the many ways that God holds us in the palm of His hand - some seen, most unseen. I just happen to be fortunate enough to be able to see more clearly for the last couple of days. Maybe one day such clarity will come without all the near misses!

Near miss #1: We discovered a worn hole in one of the tires on our van. It was obvious that it had been there for a while. Two days earlier I had driven a friend, her daughter, and A6 to Chattanooga for a field trip. (And on Wednesday I’m planning to bring the kiddos to Grandma, 2 hours away!) After 4:00 pm on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, we found that our tire shop was indeed open and could replace the tires before Monday when Brian leaves for a business trip.

Near miss #2: While I was watering the flowers last night, Brian heard a different sort of sound coming from basement. When it didn’t go away, he took a moment to investigate. He found water spraying into the basement, which is unfinished, but is used as the kid’s play area and for storage purposes. For some yet-to-be-diagnosed reason the pipe that brings water to the outside spigot had sprung a leak. I had only been watering for around 15 minutes, so even though it took a couple of hours to clean up it could have been so much worse. I think we acted fast enough to save the rugs. They are currently airing out in the garage. The only real casualty might be the Christmas tree. When it dries out completely, we’ll have to plug it in to see if the lights still work.

Near miss #3: While in the middle of the clean-up process, Brian walked outside to check on the kids, who were remarkably helpful, btw. They had been staying out of the way by playing outside. Brian steps outside and sees that they have resourcefully tied a jump rope between the two Power Wheels vehicles. He watches as one vehicle circles around the other, effectively making a noose around A8’s neck. Thankfully, no one was injured because of Dad’s quick reaction time. Needless to say, the jump rope has been banned from all future usage with Power Wheels vehicles!

Today, we are taking it easy and counting our blessings. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for!

A8: “I like the smell of books…”

:big grin:

The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions and character of your sin.

-Timothy Keller, Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: Living in Line with the Truth of the Gospel (Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), 2.

HT: Of First Importance

Molly had a recent post on discipline and the “s” word which garnered quite a few good comments along the way. And someone inevitably brought up the passage from Hebrews(quoted below) which reminded me of a post I did a long time ago on a blog far, far away. So in lieu of something new I’m going to repost it here.

The question, of course, is can we use the Hebrews passage as support for the physical discipline of our children. See what you think.

Heb 12:1-11 ESV
(1) Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
(2) looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
(3) Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
(4) In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
(5) And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
(6) For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
(7) It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
(8) If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
(9) Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
(10) For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
(11) For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

And here’s my exposition of sorts…

The writer has just finished talking about the nature and power of faith in chp 11 and how that faith expressed itself in the lives of many in the past. He then uses that as a platform to start exhorting others to apply those same principles in their own lives.

We are to cast off every weight and sin which drags us down, looking to Jesus, who has already endured the same hostilities from sinners that we will go through. We should keep our focus on Jesus so that we will not become “weary or fainthearted” - remembering that we have not yet suffered trials as severe as they could be.

So, in all of these trials and sufferings, do not lose faith. Remember those who have gone before you and the faith they exhibited. Remember Jesus and what he endured. With all that in mind, do you think that your current trials mean that God does not love you? Of course this cannot be true. The endurance of the trials is in itself the discipline. God is treating us as sons by letting us undergo persecution, hardship, etc. because He loves us.

If we did not undergo trials, it is a sign that we are not really God’s sons. And the discipline is ultimately for our own good - so that we may share in God’s holiness. Even if it does seem painful at the time, the ultimate result of the training is righteousness.

Conclusion : It’s easy to lose sight of the overall thrust of the passage when looking at single verses. The passage is meant to be an encouragement to not lose faith in God’s goodness in the face of trials. Do we really want to use it as support for the idea that we have approval to physically discipline our children? I think to do so is take away from the author’s intended meaning and lose the full impact of this wonderful passage.

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of the kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinners - no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat, the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.

-C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

I’m not sure if I’ve posted this quote here before or not, but if I have, it’s worthy of repeating. I have a lot of disjointed thoughts when I read and meditate on Lewis’ words, the least of which is that I find this to be one of the most challenging realities of living a gospel-centered, Christ-honoring life.

(sigh)

I needed this reminder today.