One Matt managed to aquire a small mountain of mulch this week and spread it all over the yard with a goodly measure of yelling and frustration. So much work. But so much nicer than the big brown smear of the bed he “opened up” last year. He is addicted to “opening up beds” and then freaking out while they continue to grow acres of weeds. He has been veritably hysterical about it. Then my cosmos reseeded itself to be... Read more
The kids have been watching Leave it to Beaver over the last few months when we cut them off from Minecraft every now and then. Go ahead and judge. They are allowed to binge on Netflix and minecraft on the weekends. We own a tv. We're sinners. Tralala. So it's been Leave it to Beaver, which is really funny. I've been enjoying the timing and acting and pretty good writing. So then we dug around on amazon and found something... Read more
I was fully intending to prattle on this morning more about Islam and whatever it was I was saying yesterday, and I will try to get to it more in a bit, but it will involve digging up those upsetting pictures and some sections of the bible that are rumbling round in the back of my mind, somewhere. What can I say, I am barely awake and I have a big stack of email and stuff that I didn't do... Read more
Day Nineteen I Samuel 17: 38-39 Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. Saul has already been busy clothing himself with... Read more
Slept through Song of Solomon last week so had to go back to it again today, except that all the children are here with me, arranged uncomfortably in my bed, kicking each other and fighting. Awkward, you might say. But I listened to it anyway. And then I popped over the Facebook and the top “story” (if ever there was a misnommer…that little floating cloud, 'new stories' or whatever it says, more than anything, makes me want to leave FB... Read more
Day Eighteen I Samuel 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction. Samuel comes pattering along, after being told by God to do so, and says to Saul, “?!” “What is this sound of sheep, bleating in my ears?” And Saul... Read more
When my grandmother died so suddenly, however many years ago, and the whole family was pitched into grief and then the inevitable dividing up of important items–one wooden giraffe for each grand child, the accordian for my aunt, the handmade kindergarten creation song booklet for me–my mother took hold of her, my grandmother’s, bible, which meant that her own bible, my mother’s I mean, came down the line to me. My grandmother’s bible is enormous. I don’t know how or... Read more
I've always been guided, in my mothering life, first by the advice (and who knows if it's true or not) that “you're not that powerful.” Meaning, unless you really set out to ruin their lives, they'll basicslly be fine. And second, that horrible stat that if mothers take their children to church by themselves the children only retain the idea of going to church like 30 percentof the time, or something ghastly, but if the father takes them by himself,... Read more
Inevitably when the topic of justification arises and, in particular, the reformed doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone arises, people ask the same sort of questions. “So, let me get this straight. Do you mean all I have to do is say I believe that Jesus died for my sins and I go to heaven?” No. That’s not what we mean. “So, as long as I trust in Jesus I can do whatever I want?” Well, yes, but of course... Read more
Day Seventeen I Samuel 4:20 And about the time of her death the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or pay attention. 21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark... Read more
Preventing Grace
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