Some really lovely people in the church stopped by and gave us this furniture last Friday. At the risk of turning into a blog that puts of the same picture thirty times in the same post, here it is again. We bought the umbrella on clearance this morning. Right next to the children digging a tunnel through to the other side of the world. With room for a baby. And a little bit of gravel we bought this morning. Not... Read more
Every upswing in energy and growth in the church seems to be met with a serious wall of struggle and opposition. This makes sense, of course, because if the Gospel of Jesus is spreading and taking root in people’s lives, the enemy is being destroyed, which I imagine must be awfully frustrating. Inroads Our summer festival, about which I neglected to blog, was a resounding and encouraging success. Many many people came and availed themselves of all we had–ice cream,... Read more
In the present instance, going back to the liver-pill circular, I had the symptoms, beyond all mistake, the chief among them being ‘a general disinclination to work of any kind’. What I suffer in that way no tongue can tell. From my earliest infancy I have been a martyr to it. As a boy, the disease hardly ever left me for a day. They did not know, then, that it was my liver. Medical science was in a far less... Read more
One Phyllis Strupp, of whom I have never before heard, thinks that Father, and by that I presume she means God, doesn’t always know best. Father, by whom we assume she means God (I’m kidding, I know she doesn’t mean God, I’m just messing with her), needs the Holy Spirit, whom it’s clear she assumes is “female” to get it right. Jesus was loud and clear on this point: God has both masculine, left-brained qualities in God the father as... Read more
Why isn’t there a hue and a cry (backed up with money from some rich underground lair dweller) for Anglican Women and Mothers to get together for a blogging conference so that we could all meet each other face to face? The Catholics do it all the time. Tisn’t fair. We could meet near some lovely gorgeous beach with a beautiful chapel and pray the hours and eat beautiful food and hear talks from each other (or anyone we might... Read more
My first answer to nearly everything my children ask me is always a full throat-ed and enthusiastic “NO!!!”.“Can I have a snack?”“No, no no you’ll spoil your dinner!”“Can I go play in the mud?”“NO NO NO It is not in my mind to bathe you tonight!”“Can I have all the children in the church over to play this afternoon?”“ARE YOU Kidding ME? NO!”“Can I eat this bug?”“No! Well, maybe if it doesn’t look poisonous.”“Can I help you cook?”“Oh baby, not right now.... Read more
We’ll be mainly in Acts 2 this morning, if you’d like to go there in your Bible. Luke writes, ‘When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.’ It’s a bewitching line, they were all together in one place, all 120 of them—the only believers in Jerusalem, all together, waiting because Jesus had told them to. To say bewitching because it gets to the heart of a deep human need and longing. Many weeks ago we talked about the Tower of... Read more
Romulus came weeping down to the laundry room. “They’re not letting me have FUN!” he shouted.“They’re not letting me destroy anything,” he wept.“I am so so sorry to hear that,” I said, “did you ask them for a turn?”“I did but they wouldn’t.” Which is really, if you come right down to it, not very far off from my daily interaction with the Lord Most High. Read more
Comfortable Cat Comfortable Baby Rhododendron out the front Letter Writing Angry Letter Writing Letter Writing Disobedient Letter Writing New Rose Bush Zucchini Lettuce Old Rose Because it wasn’t hot enough I made bread and baked a stuupiid turkey (to channel Gladys). Read more
Gladys, snuggled deeply and comfortably in my lap: “I hate that song.” Me laughing hysterically: “Hate is a pretty strong word. Do you know what it means?”Gladys: “It means I don’t like it at all. I hate that song.”Me: “Why do you hate it?”Gladys: “I don’t know.”Me: “I think its lovely.”Gladys: “I weally weally hate it.”Matt: “I don’t think you should use that word, Gladys.”Gladys with relish: “Like stupid. Just like I can’t say sstuupiid.” Much LaterMatt: “So you’re saying... Read more
Preventing Grace
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