So what do y’all think Mercy is talking about?
“Our brother in law is getting married.” Tyler?
“Who can I be married to?” No one yet.
“But I can be married to someone, when I’m walking down the island.” The island?
hmmmm… October 30, 2009
Peanut Butter Boy October 29, 2009
“As soon as he got home, he went to the larder; and he stood on a chair, and took down a very large jar of peanut butter from the top shelf. It had PEANUT BUTTER written on it, but, just to make sure, he took off the paper cover and looked at it, and it looked just like peanut butter.”But you never can tell,” said Josiah. “I remember my uncle saying once that he had seen cheese just this colour.” So he put his tongue in, and took a large lick. Yes,” he said, “it is. No doubt about that. And peanut butter, I should say, right down to the bottom of the jar. Unless, of course,” he said, “somebody put cheese in at the bottom just for a joke. Perhaps I had better go a little further … just in case … in case Heffalumps don’t like cheese … same as me … Ah!” And he gave a deep sigh. “I was right. It is peanut butter, right the way down.”
A.A. Milne, Winnie-The-Pooh (personalisation added)
The Big + pt. 2 (links) October 29, 2009
O.K, so I’m FINALLY posting the second part on this subject… although those who didn’t know I even had a second part probably didn’t notice… hmm…
First, visit the websites of Project Hopeful, Ahope, and the some of the sites listed here. Go ahead, do it. Read There Is No Me Without You (((older readers))). Research HIV.
Did you do it? Now consider what you have read: HIV is not so easily transmitted nor so “scary” as you might have thought. Now consider this: even if it was, that would be no excuse for God’s people to neglect His call to care for the “least of these.” Isn’t His carrying our disease and conquering us with His love enough to compel us to us to carry them- their sickness and their souls- before His throne? Isn’t it enough to inspire us to show them that love? Do we believe that the love of Christ is enough? Do we believe it will reach even them? “‘Love never fails’- is love failing now?” (Amy Carmichael)
Nothing Ordinary October 24, 2009
“Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Mark 1:16-18
Press on, Christian, take heart! “Nothing ordinary is equal to this new call.” (Amy Carmichael) – and yet it is so “normal”, so natural, it seems like it should be so “natural” that a child should follow his Father- his loving, perfect Father- about where ever and to whatever He calls- won’t we follow freely out of love? Don’t kick your feet and scream, you have no idea of the joy He has prepared for those who with their whole hearts follow.
And really, that is why nothing ordinary is equal to it- because of the joy. Nothing ordinary is equal to a Babe born of a virgin. Nothing ordinary is equal to His sinless life. Nothing ordinary is equal to His redemptive death. Nothing ordinary is equal to His saving work in sinners souls. And so we are compelled to ask “can anything be equal to following His call?” No, nothing.
Can we imagine beforehand the depth of the treasure-house of delight our Beloved has in store for those whom he is not ashamed to call “brother”? Now we do not follow to some abyss of emptiness- in the sense that where ever we are, whatever we do, we are never left empty when we call for Him to fill us. Now we follow to joy on joy, joy instead of joy. “Rude, crowding little children type of [joy]*” Not that there will never be sorrow, pain, hurt- but for believers, those things do not have to cancel out joy. Sometimes it may be a quiet, sad type of joy that it doesn’t look like [to others] you should even have. But if to live is Christ, then surely there is always joy. Surely there is great joy in following.
Also, nothing ordinary, I think we’ll find, is equal to the love- the Love of God from which it flows and the love to others which flows from this Greater Love. The type of love that makes your heart jump up and start screaming at the mere thought of your loved ones- the type of love that fills and flows over- but words fail.
And if humans, sinful man, is capable of such love, compare it now to the to the Love of God to His children. There is not even a comparison here. Nothing ordinary is equal to this, no nothing. The comparison fails: our families, our dear friends, add so much- can give so much to us. What can we add to God? There is nothing in us. What does He ask of us through the power of His Son? He calls for our lives. He calls for our all. He calls for us to serve Him through serving others. He calls for our love-our hearts.
And nothing ordinary is equal to this new call.
*Pastor John in reference to grace.
Come, Make a Home in My Heart May 25, 2009
I – and, I trust, some of my readers – know to some degree what to some degree what it means to have Christ come and make a home in our hearts. Sometimes, even now, we still try to treat Him (as Pastor John might be heard to say) as a house guest- a vsitor. We say “make Yourself at home”, but we would think t terribly presumptuous if He came into “that one closet” – the closet in which we try to hide our sin, not rememberng that it was in front of His face, and He saw it, when that sin was first committed. Do we really want to wait for Him to go into the closet “uninvited” to remember that He already knows about those things, to remember that He already carried them to the cross on His own spotless shoulders anddied to wash them away? How long until the freedom freely offered will be freely received? Blessed are we when we do not tarry to open the closet door and give Him our whole hearts! Blessed are we when we do not tarry to accept the gift of freedom from all those things, all the things in the closet. Blessed are we when we do not tarry to beg and plead for Him to come and do away with all of the sins creeping about His home- do we think that the Sinless One desires to share a home with out pet sins? I am not talking about the unconverted, but of the believer who who goes through seasons of striving with his Beloved for another last drink of sin; and foolishly tries to hide it away for a time when He Who sees all is not looking- and in our great foolishness we think to hid it in His very home. We must learn to give it all to Him, for He requires a whole heart.
Now, just a few words of comfort before I go: He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust – We have not a High Priest Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses – “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”
Open wide your heart and know the Joy which He alone gives.
SOLA DEO GLORIA!!!
Adoption: January 29, 2009
“…They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.” –Jeremiah 5:3
I was defiant.
”…All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” — Romans 3:23
I was disobedient.
“All we like sheep have gone astray…” —Isaiah 53:6
I was wayward.
“You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.” —Deuteronomy 10:24
I was rebellious.
”… Every fool will be quarreling.” —Proverbs 20:3
I was argumentative.
”The heart is deceitful above all things…” —Jeremiah 17:9
I was deceitful.
”…Desolation and destruction are in their highways.” —Jeremiah 59:7
I was destructive.
“… by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.” —Ephesians 2:3
I was angry.
“Why is my pain unceasing, my wound uncurable, refusing to be healed?” —Jeremiah 15:18
I was broken.
————————————————
”For you did not recieve the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have recieved the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”— Romans 8:15
Yet He adopted me.
“And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me… ” —Jeremiah 31:34
He made Himself known to me.
“…For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” —Jeremiah 31:34
He forgave me and forgot all that had come before.
”… I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” —John 10:10
And He gave me life abundant.
————————————————
”For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you…” —John 13:15
———–
“Whoever recieves one such child in my name recieves me.” Matthew —18:5
titles are not my strong point November 15, 2008
What exactly is heaven? Where is it? When did it start? Will it really last for ever; and if so, just how long is that, anway? What makes it heaven?
Before Christ came into my life, all of my pursuit of Him was really me chasing a heaven of my imagination- and I basically thought that that was what the Christian life is. There have been so many questions that have come into my heart these past several months as I look around in awe at what it is really like. I find that being a Christian isn’t like I thought being a Christian would be (no! for being a Christian means being with the REAL Christ, not the hollow, uncaring Christ of my imagination!), and with that come so many other things which I find to be so different. For instance, heaven. I guess if being a Christian isn’t quite like I thought being a Christian would be, heaven just might not be exactly what I was expecting either. And I’ve found that it is not.
Let me start by decribing to you the heaven which unbelieving Ellen was pursuing:
It was a big place… I didn’t ever really visualize what it looked like, but it was certainly pleasant. I guess although the idea was really appealing to me, my main thought was not of the “golden castle” idea of heaven, because that was not what I was most hoping for. Not castles. The most prominite picture in my mind was the idea of having every thing go “my way”-I just I had a vague thought of finally being ‘in charge’ of what happened to me in some way. I was chasing a dream of a place where everything happened the way I wanted it to. My second thought of heaven was as a quiet spot where I could sit in a rocking chair & finally hold my Abigail again. I wanted to go to heaven (1) because I knew that hell was real in some way & didn’t want to go there; (2) because I wanted to finally be in a place where (as I thought) I might be able to make things go how I wanted them to go; (3) because I had (and still have) an intense longing to see the sister I never got to know, just once more. Always in my imagining of heaven Abby was there, just me & her. Abby was what made it heaven in my mind- in all ways it was much as this world is, except that Abigail was there, and dying was not real. I thought heaven was heaven because Abigail was there & bitter death was not.
But that is not why heaven is heaven. I find now that heaven is heaven because of Christ. Now that I know Him, I know that it could not possibly be heaven without Him. He is what is lovely about it. Not the gold & silver, no! Not the freedom from death- Christ, Christ is why it is heaven, I see now what I did not see before. Heaven is a place where we will at last be so free from sin that our released spirits will finally be able to praise our Saviour without check or bound; a place where the grief and hurt and pain that cuts us here will not come & sting any longer; a place where death that chases us here will not be permitted to enter; a place where our awakened souls will join with so many other saints who have gone before in inceasantly singing the glory of our God; a place where we will finally be complete in Christ; a place where we will finally see Him face to face; a place where we can at last sit in His holy presence forever & ever.
I am still exploring the meaning of heaven & would be a fool to try & expound further. With every new truth I dicover of our Home, the longing grows keener. The thought of going there grows sweeter in my heart with every changing tide of life, as I find that less & less of my own is here on earth. Every day as my understanding of heaven is growing deeper & I am finding that it is nothing like I thought it would be, that it is so much more beautiful than I thougth it would be- I find that I must be careful that my goal does not once again become heaven, but that my goal be now & always my only Christ. I must constantly remind myself as I strive to press daily toward my resting place where I can be with Him at last, that He is not absent from us who still trek the road to our Home. He is with us all along the road which we travel. He has not left His children to sojourn alone in this land. We can know Him here. He is with us here. We can praise Him here. We are His here.
Now I will leave you with some quotes from three of my favourite tools in discovering the truths of heaven: the Holy Scriptures, Samuel Rutherford, and Rich Mullins:
“Whom have I in Heaven but Thee?” Psalm 73.25
“He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of
the earth: he that comes from heaven is above all.” John 3.31
“He that believes on the Father has everlasting life…” John 3.36
“He that has the Son has life…” I John 5.12
“These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you might believe on the name of the Son of God.” John 5.13
“…That we might know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son
Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” I John 5.20
“There is such a thing as Glory
And there are hints of it everywhere
And the hints are overwelming
And it’s scent is in the air
It’s more powerful than morning
Oh the morning can’t compare
With such a thing as glory…” Rich Mullins
“When I leave I want to go out like Elijah
With a whirlwind to fuel my chariot of fire
And when I look back on the stars
It’ll be like a candlelight in central park
And it won’t break my heart to say goodbye.” Rich Mullins
“They are not lost ot you who are laid up in Christ treasurury in heaven. At the ressurection you ye shall meet with them: there they are, sent before but not sent away. The Lord loveth you, who is homely to take and give, to borrow & lend.” Samuel Rutherford
“There is nothing but perfect garden flowers in heaven, and the greatest plenishing there is Christ” Samuel Rutherford
“God has made many fair flowers, but the fairest of them all is heaven and the flower of all flowers is Christ.” Samuel Rutherford
“We smell the smoke of this lower house of the earth, because our heart and our thoughts are here. If we could mount up with God, we should smell of heaven and of our country above, and like strangers or people not born or brought up here-away. Our crosses would not bite upon us, if we were Heavenly minded.” Samuel Rutherford
“The sea-sick passenger shall come to land; Christ will be the first that will meet you on the shore” Samuel Rutherford
“Christ has come, and run away to heaven with my heart and my love, so that neither heart nor love is mine.” Samuel Rutherford
“Go on and faint not, something of yours is in heaven, beside the flesh of your exalted Saviour, and ye go on after your own.” Samuel Rutherford
It is not an imaginary place where fairy-angels dance in piles of gold. It is a real place. Real people I love are there right now. Abigail is there. My great grandmother Angeline is there. Even as we still daily have to remind ourselves that she is no longer here, Mrs Amber is there. It is amzing to imagine for a moment how different it must be for her than for us who are left behind for a little while longer. We know that they are expiriencing a greater reality than we could ever begin to get a hint of down here in the play world. Press on, press on toward heaven & Christ, do not look back on this old, cold, dirty playhouse, unless it be to grab by the hand some poor other, by such encouraging them to loosen their hold of the things of earth in a greater quest for things eternal. “What may I say of Him? Let us come & see.”
More pictures & a SCC song for Momma October 21, 2008
I am about to go finish the 4th & final instalment of my unconnected (in some cases) thoughts on Adoption. But before I do, I decided to just post something fun. Ben says that he won’t read my recent blogs becuase he ’scrolled down & saw that it was about a foot long, and the letters were tiny’. He said he’d wait for the movie to come out. Anyway, here are some pics I have had uploaded for a while but never posted before:
Josiah having second breakfast
us kids minus Trey [working] at the zoo
Mercy Kate (in the egg); Jake (on the egg); Ellen (by Jake); Josiah (in Ellens arms); Emma (by cow); Hannah; Ben; Annie & Sarah (left to right on cow).
All of the kids in the above picture & one other brother (Trey) are my brothers & sisters (except me. I’m just me). All of the children talked about or pictured on this blog are my brothers & sisters or friends. Just thought I’d clear up any confusion. Anyway, this is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that I’m posting for our Mom. It makes me think of her.
You’re up all night with a screaming baby
You run all day at the speed of life
And every day you feel a little bit less
Like the beautiful woman you are
So you fall in bed when you run out of hours
And you wonder if anything worth
doing go done
Well maybe you just don’t know
Or maybe you’ve forgotten
That you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell how you
You are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time.
With every “I know you can do it”
And every tear that you kiss away
So many little things that seem to go unnoticed
They’re just like the drops of rain
Over time, they become a river
You’re beautiful, so beautiful
How you’re changing the world
I believe that you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time.
*** some of you might have noticed that Momma recently posted about the song “Something Crazy”, which is also on Steven Curtis Chapmans album “This Moment”. That CD has been playing pretty much non-stop around here- at home & in the van- for about a week now (those who know us really well know that we never like something in moderation) so it’s no wonder both of us thought of posting songs from it.
Waiting March 26, 2008
Lately, Mercy has been learning the meaning of the word “Wait”- and it’s high time. She used to tell you she wants something, and if you didn’t respond immediately she would repeat that she WANTS something. We knew we had to ‘nip this is in the bud’, but it wasn’t until a little later that we decided to teach her about “wait”. She started repeating a request 72 million times at a speed that would make a NASCAR driver dizzy until the required object is in her hand (example: Mercy is ready for bed and has an urge to have a goodnight drink of milk from her bottle. She cries out “Mo-Mo wan’ da’ ba-ba, wan’ da’ ba-ba, wan’ da’ ba-ba, PEEEEEASE, Mo-Mo wan’ da’ ba-ba, wan’ da’ ba-ba…”). It is mostly at these times that we say the new word- and usually she is quiet and patient for a few minutes after being told to wait. Of course, there are times when she needs more correction than one simple word (these times are most frequent at the grocery store, during Church or at some other dreadfully inconvenient place).
The theme of waiting has been very common around here- waiting for documents to come, waiting to hear back from the grant organisation, waiting for “The Call” which we don’t know when to expect…
So what do you do when you are told to “wait”? I find I am prone, like Mercy, to call out my request in a louder, more I’m-seriously-about-to-throw-a-huge-fit voice. I think “the only reason there could be that God has not answer my prayer the way I wanted Him to, when I wanted Him to is that He didn’t hear me, or, He didn’t think I was serious.” So I go into bratty two-year-old mode and I say “Do what I want, and do it RIGHT NOW“- but I find that it doesn’t work. It seems to work out way better to just be quiet- then, I can hear Him when He tells me:
“…For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then shall you call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will hearken to you. And you shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart…”
It might be seventy years, but He will not forget us (even when it seems like He has).
“Sing, o heavens; and be joyful, o earth; and break forth into singing, o mountains; for the Lord has comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted.
But Zion said, ‘the LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee on the palms of my hands, thy walks are continuously before me…”
May I wait, that it may be true of me “I waited patiently for the LORD, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”
~Ellie
From Amy Carmichael March 11, 2008
I read this in Amy Carmichael’s Ploughed Under today…
“…Tamarind pods do not always fall from the tree for us. The silver & the gold we so much need do not lie on the path for us to pick up as we walk in difficult ways. To us is a new Joy then, and a deeper: we are trusted to trust our Father when all that we hear Him say is this: “Blessed is he whomsoever shalt not be offended in me” but for the heart that knows Him, it is enough.”
-Ploughed Under by Amy Carmichael
