Tried With Fire

This is a wild butterfly garden, in every sense of the word. The purple flowers are swamp milkweed which is a favorite food of swallowtail butterflies. Amazingly this patch of beauty is behind a gas station and next to some trailer homes off the interstate.  We meet here as a drop-off point for visitation and were astounded by the sight.  Only a week before none of the flowers were in bloom.  The photograph doesn't capture the number of yellow swallowtails that were flitting here and there.  I don't think human hands planted this garden, which makes me marvel even more at the beauty of God's creation.

How great has been the mercy of my God to me—a poor, worthless, ill-deserving worm! I trace his goodness from my birth to the present moment. I was spared, notwithstanding my hardness, rebellion and backslidings, until I am more than forty years of age. I appear before God this morning—willing, heartily willing, to be, to do, to suffer whatever he sees proper, so that I may but be kept from sin, and dishonoring his dear name and gospel. When I reflect upon WHAT I WAS, how circumstanced, and situated, and view the way the Lord has led me, what he has done for me, and what he has done by me—I am astonished! O, that I did but feel humbled, grateful and thankful—as I would I desire to be filled with love to God, zeal for God, and concern to glorify God. I want to be entirely devoted to him, body, soul, and spirit, that my all may be for him and not for another. When I consider my coldness, carelessness, and ingratitude, I cannot but wonder that the Lord has not long ago disowned me! But bl...

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  1 Timothy 1:15 Words by John Stocker, written March 1776 Music by Sandra McCracken

I watched Alistair Begg's talk, Is the Exclusivity of Christ Unjust?  from the 2010 Ligonier conference last night.  It's a very timely question because we live in an age of pluralism.  Christianity is considered offensive because we believe it is the only way , not one of many ways to God.  The accusation of being "unloving" is thrown in our faces, because we'd be loving if we accepted every person's right to find their own way to God.  Also in this equally therapeutic age, the cardinal sin is making someone feel bad about themselves.  But how much have we been infected by this mistaken idea of tolerance and feelings trumping truth? Here is a very interesting quote from Pastor Begg's talk: [P]eople are not encouraged to seek out objective truth but to settle for subjective feelings. So to ask what a text means is passe. The real question is “What does it means to me?” Some of you are surprised by this statement because that it is where your home ...

Borrowing the idea from Tim Challies ... Is the following statement from a fortune cookie, Joel Osteen, or the Secret ? "You have inexhaustible wisdom and power." And now a word from our sponsor ... Addendum: The answer is FORTUNE COOKIE ! If you have inexhaustible wisdom, why does the fortune include 6 lotto numbers on the back?  Wouldn't you know that already? ;-)

I'm thankful for the safe return of our pastor and his wife from Uganda.  We missed them, but we're so glad God gave them this opportunity.  It has been a blessing to hear what He is doing in that country.  There is a great hunger for the Bible.  Not methods, not gimmicks, but the opening of the Scriptures.  In a continent where the prosperity gospel is entrenched, the Word is transforming lives. I couldn't help but think of the verse, "The entrance of thy Word bringeth light."  (Psalm 119:130)  Perhaps the Lord may send some of us to Uganda next year? I'm thankful for our small group.  I'm truly grateful how the Lord is knitting us together.  It feels very much like family to me.  It was hard to leave last night, but it was getting late.  I think I could have stayed much longer eating chips and French onion dip and discussing theology. I hope you giving thanks to the Lord today, too.

We often blame God for injustices done to us and harbor in our souls the bitter feeling that God has not been fair toward us. Even if we recognize that He is gracious, we think that he has not been gracious enough.  We think we deserve more grace. Please read that last sentence again.  We think we deserve more grace .  What is wrong with that sentence? Grammatically it is fine.  But there is something seriously wrong with the content, with the meaning of the sentence. It is impossible for anyone, anywhere, anytime to deserve grace.  Grace by definition is undeserved.  As soon as we talk about deserving something, we are no longer talking about grace; we are talking about justice. Only justice can be deserved.  God is never obligated to be merciful.  Mercy and grace must be voluntary or they are no longer mercy and grace.  God never "owes" grace.  He reminds us more than once: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy" (Exod. 33:19)...

My daughter said that Calvinists should have "Knox, Knox" jokes instead of knock, knock jokes. Consequently she came up with the following: Knox, Knox. Who's there? Dude. Dude who? Dude you want to read some Spurgeon? p.s. Dude is also our nickname for John Owen courtesy of Shai Linne's Spurgeon rap: "The amount that he read was truly mind blowing, steeped in the writings of dudes like John Owen..."

Thanks for praying for the family who lost their son and grandson.   This morning we learned that 6 young people were brought to Christ because of this event.  On the evening before his death, this young man and a friend were on the beach looking at the stars.  He was wondering what heaven was like. God answered his question by bringing him home to glory. Mourner! Go sit under your "Beloved’s shadow with great delight." Hide in His wounded side! The hand which was pierced for you is ordering your trials; He who roused the storm is the hiding place from it; and as you journey on, gloomy clouds mustering around you, let this bright rainbow of comfort ever arrest your drooping eye; "For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way... since He Himself has gone through suffering and temptation, He is able to help us when we are being tempted." The believer has "mourning days." The place of his sojourn is a valley of tears. Adam went weepi...

I learned yesterday that a couple in our church lost their grandson in an accident at Nags Head.   He was caught in a rip tide.  His friends made it back to shore, but he did not. God's providence is hard to understand particular when it is very bitter.  The loss of a child is a pain that I cannot even imagine and pray I never experience.  Yet in their grief, there is comfort.  This young man only 2 months prior declared his faith and trust in Jesus Christ.  He's with His Savior now. To quote Voddie Baucham, "In the providence of God, the suffering that this family is now enduring is maximizing the glory that God will receive from this particular family in this set of circumstances..." So I pray this would be true for them.  I pray that God would be honored and glorified in their suffering.  I pray His love and grace would abound to them.  And I pray that the Gospel would be shared - the Good News which gives us hope beyond the grave.

I'm thankful for a gray and rainy day after a scorching summer.  However, the clouds vanished this evening in time for a beautiful sunset.  The photo and the power lines don't do it justice. I'm thankful for the perfect timing of God's provision.  My work load has doubled these last 2 weeks.  If this  occurred during our move, I would have had more on my plate than I could handle.  But our Heavenly Father knows what we need and when we need it.  I continue to be grateful to the Lord that He provided a way where I could work and homeschool. I'm thankful for the pets and their company when my daughter is away.  (She comes home tomorrow! ) It's nice to have living things in the house other than the philodendron and the few creepy crawlies that keep sneaking in.   I decided to read in the bunny room last night. Immediately Big Bun hopped over and laid down next to me for a snuggle.  He is a very cuddly, comforting sort of...

Providence is an act of God, whereby, according to His eternal and most wise counsel, He preserves and governs all things, and directs them all to their ends, but chiefly to His own glory.  It is necessary for our hearts to be well established in this truth, that we may acknowledge God with praise for the good that comes to pass, and embrace the bad with patience. Ezekiel Hopkins, Works , III:371-382, from Voices From the Past , Banner of Truth, page 231 ht: Constrained By Grace  via  Pastor's Corner

My daughter received a birthday card with a quote from a popular Christian author which stated, God has placed His hand on your shoulder and said, "You're something special."    Maybe I'm overreacting (I tend to do that), but my first reaction was that this is the perfect blend of Veggie Tales and Robert Schuller.  This isn't to speak ill of the friend who sent the card.  She's not a critical, wet-blanket Calvinist like me, so she probably thought it was just a nice card.  But this statement is a perfect example of the prevalent sweet-as-saccharine-and-just-about-as-nutritious sentimentality that passes for the love of God. Sadly, there's a view that God is so enamored with mankind that He is desperate to have a relationship with us.  He'd do anything for us, and depending on who is preaching, He'll give us whatever we want. There's nothing God likes more than to forgive, and He forgives whether we repent or not. God exists to please man, n...

"The Gospel is the end of all human ability to validate ourselves.  The Gospel pulls the rug out from the attempt to make ourselves righteous.  The Gospel is the only thing that can bring an end to ourselves being ruled by our success and dominated by our failures." From today's sermon on Hebrews 4:1-11 by Dr. Dan Kerley

Let others be wise to their own destruction; let them establish their own imaginations for the word of God, and rule of their faith; hold you fast what you have received, and contend earnestly for it; add nothing, and diminish nothing.  Let this lamp shine till the day dawn, till the morning of the resurrection, and walk ye in the light of it, and do not kindle any other sparkles, else ye shall lie down in the grave in sorrow, and rise in sorrow. Hugh Binning (1627-1653) from Words Old and New , Banner of Truth, page 206. His dying words: "One line of the Bible is worth more than all human learning."

I don't think this is what the author of Twilight had in mind.

I'm thankful for: Strength for the day and for my wrists.  I miscalculated the time it would take to complete some dictation, hence the typing rabbit in my previous post.  However, I'm thankful for grace to complete the work and grace to learn from my mistake. Our small group.  We were blessed to host the meeting at our home last night.  The meeting is normally at our pastor's home, but he's in Uganda and his wife will be joining him shortly.  We had a smaller group than normal, but the fellowship was sweet.  There were 2 grandparents with their grandson, a young couple in their late 20's, and a middle-aged single mom with her teenage daughter.  Not a lot in common if you only looked at demographics, but Jesus Christ makes all the difference in the world. Getting a glimpse of what God is doing in Uganda.  Our pastor, Ryan Davidson , has been in Kampala, Uganda providing training in the theology of marriage/family and family counseling at the...

ht: Disapproving Rabbits

The sum of the Ten Commandments is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind.  Love is the queen of graces.  It shines and sparkles in God's eyes. The nature of love consists in delighting in its object. If our love is sincere we must not divide it between God and sin. The true mother will not have her child divided, nor will God have our hearts divided. We must love God for himself, his loveliness, and for the perfections that are in him.  Hypocrites love God because he gives them corn and wine.  We must love him with all of our might.   We can never love him as much as he deserves, but we must love him as much as we are able. Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments , pp. 6-12, from Voices from the Past , Banner of Truth, page 221.

I wrote a post awhile ago on growing older but more thoughts sprang to mind as I was waiting for the verdict on my car on Friday.  One of the downsides of having to wait for your vehicle is the TV in the waiting room.  I normally don't watch TV, so enduring Regis and the other perky morning show hosts seemed like a waste of neural energy.  I did my best to not pay attention to the tube,  but I couldn't help but notice the makeover segment being shown. The victim was an attractive grandmother.  Her hair was snow white in a flattering short cut.  She wore stylish glasses. Her clothing reminded me of Land's End.  All in all, she looked fine the way she was.  But when the hip, celebrity makeover artist was done, you wouldn't recognize the woman.  Her hair was dyed reddish brown, tousled and spiked.  They must have given her contacts because the glasses were gone.  She was dressed in a very low-cut, sleeveless wrap dress in an animal pri...

The only way to prevent the spirit of entitlement is to recognize where we came from, our own wickedness, our own depravity, and our own helplessness apart from the grace of God. From today's sermon by David Gouge on Jonah.  We were blessed to have our brother preach today since Pastor Ryan was en route to Uganda.

If you ever wondered how much it costs to have your ears scratched...

For the literary nerd, William Shakespeare condenses his 34 plays in 5 minutes in this short film by Barry Purves .   ( The order of the plays are:  Henry V; Julius Caesar; Antony & Cleopatra; Coriolanus; Henry VIII; Romeo & Juliet; Henry IV; Richard II; Henry VI; Richard III; Troilus & Cressida; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Hamlet; Othello; Titus Andronicus; Timon Of Athens; The Tempest; As You Like It; Macbeth; All's Well That Ends Well; Taming Of The Shrew; Much Ado About Nothing; Merry Wives Of Windsor; The Merchant Of Venice; King John; Pericles; King Lear; Comedy Of Errors; Love's Labour's Lost; Twelfth Night; Two Gentlemen Of Verona; Winter's Tale; Measure For Measure & Cymbeline.)

Update: God is very merciful.  My car wasn't safe to drive.  The brake fluid hoses were leaking so there wasn't any brake fluid to the driver side brakes and very little on the passenger side.  Translation: no working brakes.  In addition, there was some transmission fluid leaking as well.  I'm very thankful that He kept us from an accident which could possibly have caused injury to ourselves and others.  Lord willing, I'll have my car back next early next week. The sound of rain on the roof.  A series of large thunderstorms came down the James River to the Chesapeake Bay this evening, which is why this post is so late.  Some of the storms were moving so fast, and the sky darkened dramatically that it gave us an inkling as to what the shadow of Mordor may have looked like.  It has been extremely dry and hot this summer, so every drop counts. My daughter is back home after being away for a week.  Although there was grace for both of u...

In seeking truth, remember it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths that make them sweet and profitable to the soul.  It is not the bee's brief touching of the flower, but her abiding upon the flower that draws out the sweet.  It is not he that reads the most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian. Thomas Brooks, Works , I:8-9, from Voices From the Pas t, Banner of Truth, page 217.

It's so important to pray for our pastors, but often my prayers are generic and vague.  I was encouraged by Pastor Mike Andrews ' post on specific ways we can pray for these men who labor over our souls.   (Put your pastor's name in the blank.) 1. Lord, I pray that ____________ would be strong in you and in Your mighty power (Eph 6:10). 2. May ________________ 's wisdom begin with an awesome fear and reverence for Your holiness and power (Prov 9:10). 3. I pray that ______________ would stand firm against the enemy's schemes to sabotage the work that You are doing through him (Eph 6:11). 4. Father, please continue to renew _______________ daily in Your holiness. Keep him from growing weary, reminding him that his labour is not in vain (Isa 40:31; 1 Pet 1:16; 1 Cor 15:58). 5. Lord, set Your angels around _________________ and his family, guard them in all their ways, that no harm will befall them (Ps 91:10-11). 6. Lord, I pray for ______________ to have men...

There should have been a box of tissues in every pew yesterday.   I'm not a very emotional or sentimental person. As a church, I would say that we're not very emotional either,  after all we're reformed.  But as Jonathan Edwards would say, we were moved in our religious affections for the Lord and for one another. For starters, we celebrated the Lord's supper.  It's always hard for me not to cry during this time.  I was especially struck with what a privilege it is to partake of this remembrance.  I am not an outsider who has no part in Christ's death but one who has been brought near at a great cost.  This is no formal ritual but a very real reminder of our Savior's death. Afterwards the pastor and his wife sang a song about Christ's love for His church.  Their voices blend beautifully together, and it's always a pleasure to hear them sing.  But as lovely as the music was, I got choked up at the words depicting Christ's determination to ...