Beautiful Boy on your Birthday

Last night I couldn't go to sleep while this song was running through my mind. A few years back I was on the verge of giving birth to you and I was thinking about all that you have brought to my life. I learned from you that personalities begin before birth. You wriggled twice as much as your sister and you were/are that much more boisterous and active.

Now you're halfway around the world on a big adventure. I pray for you every day that God will be your greatest treasure no matter where you are or what you do. And that all of your days you will wake up only to bring glory to him.

Pray to know the Truth

"While the gospel reveals God's gift of justification, it does not begin there. It begins by revealing to us the wrath of God. The good news begins with this bad news: The wrath of God is pouring out of heaven upon all human sin. People defy God by ignoring him. Their sinful way of life is suppressing the truth." From A Passion for God by Raymond C Ortlund, Jr., a paraphrase and devotional on the book of Romans.

We are so mired in untruth that we have convinced ourselves we are in the right and have spurred on others to believe the same untruth. We are damning us all to hell. "Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they no only do them but give approval to those who practice them." Romans 1:32

Each day I realize how much less the truth is regarded because everything is relative nowadays. It used to be that Christianity was believed to be true, but now our world is veering away from Christian truth and in fact it is often ridiculed and mocked.

The President and Mrs. Bush

I still respect the president. I pray for him because he is the president and because he believes in Christ. Because of his position and because he's a fellow believer he is due our respect and our prayers. Pray for him to have wisdom to carry out his role in way that would bring glory to God.

From a PBS Frontline interview of a fellow Christian who attended a Bible study with Bush:

"And I was really taken aback by the fervor. The way he said it was not just saying, "Oh, I really enjoyed it. It was a nice Bible study." It was something deep. And he talked about the fact that when we had studied about Nicodemus … and he had asked Jesus about life. And Jesus told him, "Nicodemus, you've got to be born again." And that little story really impacted him because he told me at that point, he said, "You know, I realized through studying that I had to be born again." And it was pretty obvious what he was saying to me, at that point, was that he'd had a real encounter with Jesus, in a very real way.

I've heard many stories about how he actually came to faith. But I know that CBS was a part of that. And really, with CBS, what really changed him, and what changed me, too, is the Scriptures. They're alive, and they're powerful. And reading them makes a difference in your life. Really impacts you."

You can read the whole article here.

The Fragility of the Good Life- Victor Hanson

"The good life sometimes can be lost quite unexpectedly and abruptly when people demand rights more than they accept responsibilities, or live for present consumption rather than sacrifice for future investment, or feel their own culture is not particularly exceptional and therefore in no need of constant support and defense." Read the rest of the article here and today's article here.

From www.realclearpolitics.com the best daily summary of the political pundits.

Artifacts

There have been so many interesting, old things in my mom's house that we've been cleaning for several months now as she gets ready to sell it and move in with us. We found a German Bible based on Luther's version and a second or third edition of Webster's dictionary.

I remember when my grandma died and the family was so disappointed because the state required her things be sold at auction to pay for my grandpa's nursing home care. I bought my grandma's bed, dresser and vanity. When we moved the vanity drawers fell on the highway. Somehow the bed disappeared. I keep accusing my husband on that one. All I have left is the dresser which is now scarred and smelly.

My son wanted this chair in the picture and it turns out that it belonged to my grandma and was sold at that same auction. I wish I knew the rest of the story.

The passing on of history is becoming more important to me as I live with my mom and hear her stories. I pray that we can be together long enough to get them written down.

By the way, his room never looked that good when he lived at our house. In fact, you wouldn't have been able to see the floor.

"May they fear the Lord while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations." Ps 72:5 ESV

Happy Birthday, John Piper

My favorite pastor, John Piper ages gracefully.

grandparents day

Gwammaw, I love you to the moon and back, three times. And tell gwampa, too. The best words I heard this summer along with, ”I’m sorry I can’t play because my grandma’s here and she’s too important right now."

1974

You never really change. You’ll always be struggling with the same habits and weaknesses, even the same sins. Most of them we get from our families. And we pass them on to our kids. Living with my mom is like seeing a reflection of myself. It’s not just that, but I see some of the same traits in my grandson. As much as we try to be different, our families are a part of who we are. We might as well make the best of it.

Free Speech

My favorite woman in the political world, Condi Rice, is portrayed negatively in an upcoming ABC docudrama, The Path to 9/11; however, I haven't heard much about that. Instead, we get this letter by democrats' finest which seems to threaten the Disney company over a few minutes in a 5 or 6 hour show. I'm proud of my favorite bloggers, Powerlineblog (Click the link with John Podhoretz, too) and Hugh Hewitt, for being fair to Democrats. This Powerline article explains why Clinton looks good in the movie.

I hope Condi stays out of this discussion. She has other more important things to worry about.

Following Jesus

"The Hiding Place," is a movie about Corrie Ten Boom and her Christian family imprisoned in Ravensbruck for hiding Jews in their home during WWII. As Corrie's sister, Betsy, is dying she says that "there is no pit so deep, that God is not deeper still." The true story of these Dutch sisters is inspiring to those of us who wrestle with the concept of suffering and God's place in all of it.

As the prisoners around them are questioning how God could allow the torture they're experiencing Betsy says that there is much about God we will never understand. But she says that God is good and he uses suffering to bring about obedience. Now that's a word we never hear anymore: obedience.

We would rather hear the words, comfort or happiness or goodness. We want all the warm fuzzies that God is supposed to provide without any of the work that goes along with it. Religion like that is not lived with heart or deeply held conviction. For it's a self-centered, what can I get out of it type of worship. Jesus says, "Come, follow me."

Can you imagine Jesus looking at you and saying, "Come, follow me?" What did he mean? As a boy Jesus grew up near the temple, learning the word by heart. He learned his father's trade. He walked in the desert for 40 days struggling with the devil, going without food. He traveled the country with 12 unruly, self-centered sinners talking about His father to everyone he met. One of them betrayed him and he died a gruesome death alone, outcast by even his Father God.


If we are to be followers of Jesus we must be prepared to suffer. We have no right to be angry when things we don't understand happen to us. We have no right to question God. We shouldn't be surprised when we are treated poorly at work or when the biopsy comes back negative. Or when our best friend dies before her daughter gets married. God is not in our lives to make our lives easy. Our sinful perspective is all about right here and right now.

What if that cancer is creating for us a treasure in heaven or making us more like Jesus? What if that accident that paralyzes us is making us ready for our home? Our home with Jesus in his world, not the world that we see now. How does 70-90 years compare with an infinite number of years with Jesus? As my grandson says, that's more than I can count.

I have been abandoned, lonely, persecuted, abused, poor and rich. I have been through times of intense temptation and isolation. Important relationships have been disappointments that have left me stunned and empty. During those times I was focused on myself and my misery. I would spend whole days, several days stewing about these circumstances expecting blessings instead of suffering. I did not follow Jesus. I complained and whined. And I was miserable.

When Jesus suffered he put obedience to his Father first. He suffered because he chose to obey his Father and he suffered for us. He suffered for the joy that was in the future, for the glory that it would bring to his Father and to you and I. He lives in us to bring us back to him so that we might enjoy him forever for his glory. Whatever is for His glory is for our glory, too. What if the only way to enjoy him forever is to suffer as he did?

I'm not living this every minute of every day. I still get too caught up in this world. But when I'm going through trials or when I'm old and frail or blind, I want this truth to be so much a part of who I am that my friends and family will see the joy in my heart because I will know that "this slight and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."