Tried With Fire

I am thankful... I finally received word from my home warranty company regarding my broken central air conditioning unit. They will cover almost the entire cost to replace the external unit and part of the inside unit.  Even though I am paying a small portion, it is much less than the full retail price of a new AC unit. So I'm thankful for the warranty. I'm also thankful the window units are still keeping the house cool in the meantime. After a few anxious days, Big Bun has turned the corner. His appetite is back to normal, and he seems to be getting back into his usual daily routine. His back legs, however, are still quite weak, and it's a struggle for him to move around. But despite this, he is acting much more like himself. I know Big Bun is only a pet, but I am thankful for him and thankful for all the prayers for this bunny. I'm grateful for technology that makes it possible to see a loved one who is far away. Where would we be without webcams, Skype, and the...

It's my turn again at Out of Ordinary : The women in my church have been getting together roughly once a month for Sunday night socials. Different ladies open up their homes for a meal followed by a time of fellowship. These have been fun times to be together and a great way to get to know one another outside of Sunday morning. My turn as hostess will be in October, and I'm already starting to formulate plans in my head. While I am a planner by nature, there is another reason for thinking ahead so early. Hospitality intimidates me. I have the usual reasons. I'm an introvert. My house is small. I don't have a dining room table. I'm too busy with work. I'm more of a throw stuff in a crock pot with a can of cream of mushroom soup than a gourmet chef. And so forth and so on. In addition to these lame excuses, there's also a lingering fear in the back of my mind of "not doing it right", whatever that nebulous standard may be. So it's no wo...

Lizzy 2003-2015 Last week was rough emotionally. One of my beloved bunnies, Lizzy, took a rapid downturn. She was unable to use her back legs and unable to eat or drink. By the time we got to the vet's office, her front paws were even weaker. Diagnostic testing could be done, but to what end? Even if the cause was discovered, what treatment could be done that would make any difference to a rabbit who was as old as the maximum average life span? There was only one viable choice given Lizzy's precarious condition, but it still wasn't easy. The vet reassured me that I had made the right decision given her symptoms and age. The entire staff were very kind and compassionate, but I still bawled like a baby and held her as long as I could until it was time to say goodbye. The next day, my last bunny stopped eating for no apparent reason and began to show the same weakness in his limbs. So it was back to the vet again. I know I shouldn't have favorites, but in my opinion,...

Has Jesus saved me? I dare not speak with any hesitation here; I know He has. His Word is true, therefore I am saved. My evidence that I am saved does not lie in the fact that I preach, or that I do this or that. All my hope lies in this that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. I am a sinner, I trust Him, then He came, to save me, and I am saved; I live habitually in the enjoyment of this blessed fact and it is long since I have doubted the truth of it, for I have His own Word to sustain my faith. It is a very surprising thing,—a thing to be marvelled at most of all by those who enjoy it. I know that it is to me even to this day the greatest wonder that I ever heard of, that God should ever justify me . I feel myself to be a lump of unworthiness, a mass of corruption, and a heap of sin apart from His almighty love; yet I know, by a full assurance, that I am justified by faith which is in Christ Jesus, and treated as if I had been perfectly just, and made an heir of God and a joint-hei...

Openness Unhindered , Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, Crown & Covenant Publications, July 2015, 206 pages. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield is one of the most thought-provoking and challenging books I have read. I was convicted of my lack of love for the lost and lack of faith in the power of the gospel, but it also encouraged me to believe that God is able to save to the uttermost. If you haven't read it, read it! Because of Secret Thoughts , I was eager to read Butterfield's second book, Openness Unhindered . Identity and specifically sexual identity are hot topics and even more so following the Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage. How should Christians address the issue of sexual orientation and identity? How do we come alongside our brothers and sisters who struggle with sexual sin and have made the choice to live "in chastity with unwanted homosexual desires?" (pg. 144) These are a few of the issues tackled ...

"A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench."—Matthew 12:20. What is weaker than the bruised reed or the smoking flax? A reed that groweth in the fen or marsh, let but the wild duck light upon it, and it snaps; let but the foot of man brush against it, and it is bruised and broken; every wind that flits across the river moves it to and fro. You can conceive of nothing more frail or brittle, or whose existence is more in jeopardy, than a bruised reed. Then look at the smoking flax—what is it? It has a spark within it, it is true, but it is almost smothered; an infant's breath might blow it out; nothing has a more precarious existence than its flame. Weak things are here described, yet Jesus says of them, "The smoking flax I will not quench; the bruised reed I will not break." Some of God's children are made strong to do mighty works for Him; God has His Samsons here and there who can pull up Gaza's gates, and carry them t...

Spurgeon doesn't mince words when it comes to the necessity to preach the gospel. I wonder if this sermon would get him in trouble today? Wherever there is found a man, there is the minister free to preach! The whole world is our parish—we know of no fetter upon our feet, and no gag upon our lips. Though kings should pass laws, the servants of Christ can bear the penalty, but they cannot disobey their Master; though the Emperor should say the Gospel should not be preached by any unauthorized denomination in France, as I have heard he has said of late, we care not for him. What cares the Church for a thousand Emperors? Their resolutions are mockery; their laws waste paper! The Church never was yet vassal to the State, or servile slave to municipalities, and powers, and she neither can nor will be. At all the laws of States, she laughs and utterly defies them, if they come in the way of the Law of Christ which says, “Teach the Gospel to every creature.” Brethren, I say, the Chu...