So here we are, in my favoritest season of all time. I know I’ve been fussing for months and then all week but that’s just because February was unreasonably long this year and lent is late. This, hopefully will provide great happiness later when Easter itself isn’t bitterly cold. I guess I should start praying about that now. Still, what a long week. The pancake supper was a riotous success. The sheer number of shouting children beating each other with... Read more
I commend you all for being here this cold cold morning for the inauguration of a season of penitence, fasting, sorrow, repentance, of looking at the great suffering of our Lord to understand its meaning and purpose, to draw closer to God not for our own gain, but out of love for him and gratitude for his love for us. So thank you for coming. If you have a bible we’re going to look briefly at four texts that deal... Read more
Ever started a bible reading plan and petered out after a week or two? Maybe you made it to Leviticus and that was it? Here are five principles that will help you develop a daily reading habit: 1. Don’t expect to have a felt “spiritual experience” every time you open the bible. God feeds, strengthens, sanctifies, transforms, builds, corrects and rebukes you through his word. Every syllable is God breathed and absolutely true and sufficient for all the needs of... Read more
The little girls love to “speech”. They take turns. They wave their arms and shout. Its very realistic looking. I’m trying to sort my thoughts into order for tomorrow and get some school done with children who only want to think about pancakes. If I have a moment I’ll post later today but otherwise we’ll all be up tomorrow with the dawn to church and I’ll post whatever it is I’ve said after that. Read more
Back in the bad old days, when I used to post on Saturday and Sunday, just to keep up the false pharisaical image that I posted all the time, I would put up a pretty video of a boy choir here and there or a little small Amy Carmichael meditation from His Thoughts Said…The Father Said. I never actually wrote anything. The usual Sunday way is to work a whole lot and then collapse. Not, as I said yesterday, words... Read more
Signing up to write seven posts in seven days, which I’m sure seemed brilliant to all three hundred of us who linked up, means that I have to think about something, anything, on two days I don’t usually have time to think at all. Saturday and Sunday are days of manual labor, not days to sit fussing over how two paragraphs fit together. In fact today is a Work Day, foolishly put on the Calendar by me, whereby I would... Read more
I shot this brief video (around 7 minutes) to explain the purpose of the season of Lent and what to do during Lent. Short version: If you have a lust problem, don’t give up chocolate: Read more
one I don't want to see the new Jesus movie. Matt made me watch the trailer yesterday and I had to retreat behind a book, trying to shield myself from yet another roguish, arrogant, Captain Jack Sparrow-ish, English accented, western Jesus whose sappy line delivery and long overly meaningful gazes make me want to become an atheist. Why? I ask every time, does Jesus have to be like this on the big screen? Why? Oh Why? And why all the... Read more
Job has always been a difficult book for me (not that I’m unique in that). My biggest frustration is not Job’s suffering. I get that. It is God’s answer beginning in Job 38 which, as I’ve understood it in the past, is essentially: “I Am who I Am. My ways are not your ways. My designs are beyond your comprehension. So don’t question me” Amen. This is true. But by this point in the book, I’ve longed for comfort and... Read more
Elphine won her first little fencing match or parry or whatever it's called last night. She was paired up with a younger kid who wasn't very much smaller than her, who has been doing it a lot longer, and who would never say 'touch' when she got him, or whatever it's called. They went at it pretty intensely and the teacher stood back and laughed to himself. It was so shocking to see Elphine, who in every other lesson has... Read more
Preventing Grace
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