"You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter..." (Deut.16:11).
Israel in the Old Testament could come to worship God, and He commanded them to come and "rejoice before the LORD your God." They could rejoice, not because they were good enough to please Him, nor for anything in themselves - but because when they worshiped, they brought the sacrifice commanded by God.
Something outside themselves, to atone for their own sin. There was no thinking they were pleasing God by their moral lives, or their charitable deeds. Coming with only good works would not make them accepted. And without acceptance, there can be no rejoicing before God, for He is angry with those break His laws.
Is this not a picture of true religion today? We cannot rejoice before God based on our own merits, hoping "the goods outweigh the bads", and that that will be enough for God. Perfect justice demands punishment for all law-breaking. We can only rejoice before God the same way that Israel did: by trusting in the sacrifice of Another - in Jesus Christ who died to atone for our sins, to appease the wrath of a just God.
This is surely the only way to "rejoice before God" when we come to worship. To come trusting in the Sacrifice of something outside ourselves, as that by which God will accept us and our worship - that by which God will rejoice over us, and therefore we can also rejoice in Him!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
baby steps
Emily just keeps doing new things. A few days ago she actually stood up by herself for a few seconds (both hands were busy holding something).
She also started saying "please" (well, the clap-your-hands sign for please) when she wants something. It started as just "please" for "I want a drink" and has expanded, today, to "please" meaning "more of what we were just doing", like "more tickles".
Today she successfully got herself OFF the Vitalizer (exercise trampoline) by getting on her stomach and backing up - without my doing or saying anything to prompt it. She likes to get on there and try to bounce herself up and down while she's sitting on it.
Her first "words" were not mama, dada - but "ta, ta" while pointing at something she wasn't to touch, meaning "don't touch!" Now she says "nyoh, nyoh" or "noh, noh" when pointing and things she knows not to touch (though she often goes ahead and touches them anyway).
She likes to wander down the hall into Katherine's room to wake her up from a nap (to Katherine's, and sometimes Mommy's, chagrin). She loves her big sister!
She likes to make a mess too. To take the clean clothes out of the laundry basket and toss them on the floor one by one. Or pull everything off the little table next to the couch (needless to say, we don't leave much on there on a regular basis).
She keeps being able to reach higher and higher to grab magnets off the fridge - especially Katherine's foam letter magnets, which if Emily gets, she loves to put in her mouth and "gum" them for awhile, till Mommy notices and fishes them out.
"Babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow..." yet at the same time, it would be more sorrowful if they didn't progress in ability. So thank you, Lord, for normalcy, and for a fun little girl who is growing so fast!
She also started saying "please" (well, the clap-your-hands sign for please) when she wants something. It started as just "please" for "I want a drink" and has expanded, today, to "please" meaning "more of what we were just doing", like "more tickles".
Today she successfully got herself OFF the Vitalizer (exercise trampoline) by getting on her stomach and backing up - without my doing or saying anything to prompt it. She likes to get on there and try to bounce herself up and down while she's sitting on it.
Her first "words" were not mama, dada - but "ta, ta" while pointing at something she wasn't to touch, meaning "don't touch!" Now she says "nyoh, nyoh" or "noh, noh" when pointing and things she knows not to touch (though she often goes ahead and touches them anyway).
She likes to wander down the hall into Katherine's room to wake her up from a nap (to Katherine's, and sometimes Mommy's, chagrin). She loves her big sister!
She likes to make a mess too. To take the clean clothes out of the laundry basket and toss them on the floor one by one. Or pull everything off the little table next to the couch (needless to say, we don't leave much on there on a regular basis).
She keeps being able to reach higher and higher to grab magnets off the fridge - especially Katherine's foam letter magnets, which if Emily gets, she loves to put in her mouth and "gum" them for awhile, till Mommy notices and fishes them out.
"Babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow..." yet at the same time, it would be more sorrowful if they didn't progress in ability. So thank you, Lord, for normalcy, and for a fun little girl who is growing so fast!
Fear Not
We so easily worry over many things - things that we fear will happen; and we fear that if they happen... well, we don't know what, but surely it will be a bad thing, if they happen. Unknown situations that we have not been in before, and how will we handle them? Or we fear that if a current situation that is uncomfortable is not resolved soon, then we won't be able to keep dealing with it.
We think that for us to have joy or peace or stability, we "must have" that job that is so needed, or that child we desperately long for, or restored health; or we fear that we will lose the job that we have, or the health of the present, or that the child we do have will be taken from us.
But we aren't supposed to know ahead of time, what exactly will happen in our lives, and how we will handle it. God decides that. Instead we are to rest in knowing Jesus. Knowing that He who "loves us and freed us from our sins by His blood", still loves us and is waiting for us in the unknown future, to walk with us there as He does in the present.
God knows, and we usually forget, that this world is but His training ground for the real Life to come. That what is seen is not lasting reality, but what is unseen. That the development of our souls is what matters more than that job, or that child, or our health. For those who love Him, He is their loving Father who truly does have their good in the works.
Yet even when we remember that He "works all together for good to those who love Him", we think we need to worry anyway, because we don't trust that His plans will be what we want, and we fear that He will put things in our lives that we don't like. We think we know better than He does, what is good for us.
But if we really love Him who died to save us from His own wrath over our sin, who by His death brought us peace with God (how amazing!), then we will have peace in leaving our unknowns in His hand too. We will believe that He who did the greatest thing - giving up His life - will surely do the lesser things for us too; that He really does love us and desire our ultimate good, even when we cannot see how the present (or the feared future) could possibly do us good. We will rest in that love of Jesus toward us.
And is He not enough? To have Jesus, the One who loves us and makes us able to come to God without fear (though with godly fear) - this is greater than poor health, or unfulfilled longings, or meager finances. When Jesus is everything to me, then I can sing with Habakkuk, that though all my circumstances seem to be against me and I cannot see a way out,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength...
... and He would have me rest and rejoice in Him. "Perfect love casts out fear."
(verses quoted: Rev.1:5. Rom.8:28. Hab.3:17-19. 1Jn.4:18.)
We think that for us to have joy or peace or stability, we "must have" that job that is so needed, or that child we desperately long for, or restored health; or we fear that we will lose the job that we have, or the health of the present, or that the child we do have will be taken from us.
But we aren't supposed to know ahead of time, what exactly will happen in our lives, and how we will handle it. God decides that. Instead we are to rest in knowing Jesus. Knowing that He who "loves us and freed us from our sins by His blood", still loves us and is waiting for us in the unknown future, to walk with us there as He does in the present.
God knows, and we usually forget, that this world is but His training ground for the real Life to come. That what is seen is not lasting reality, but what is unseen. That the development of our souls is what matters more than that job, or that child, or our health. For those who love Him, He is their loving Father who truly does have their good in the works.
Yet even when we remember that He "works all together for good to those who love Him", we think we need to worry anyway, because we don't trust that His plans will be what we want, and we fear that He will put things in our lives that we don't like. We think we know better than He does, what is good for us.
But if we really love Him who died to save us from His own wrath over our sin, who by His death brought us peace with God (how amazing!), then we will have peace in leaving our unknowns in His hand too. We will believe that He who did the greatest thing - giving up His life - will surely do the lesser things for us too; that He really does love us and desire our ultimate good, even when we cannot see how the present (or the feared future) could possibly do us good. We will rest in that love of Jesus toward us.
And is He not enough? To have Jesus, the One who loves us and makes us able to come to God without fear (though with godly fear) - this is greater than poor health, or unfulfilled longings, or meager finances. When Jesus is everything to me, then I can sing with Habakkuk, that though all my circumstances seem to be against me and I cannot see a way out,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength...
... and He would have me rest and rejoice in Him. "Perfect love casts out fear."
(verses quoted: Rev.1:5. Rom.8:28. Hab.3:17-19. 1Jn.4:18.)
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Kid News - May 2007
May has flown by!
Katherine: turned 3 on the 28th.
Current favorite things: the old Fisher Price "Chatterphone". Silly Putty (birthday present). Still enjoys TuxPaint, but not Starfall as much. Still likes her "Eye-Block", though it's no longer as prominent in her playing. Still likes the Carl books (we currently have borrowed "Carl's Birthday" from the library). Oh, and she likes putting money in the "moffering" at church. It's very cute.
Emily: almost 10 months old.
She likes to stand up and "cruise" around, though she's not standing or walking independently yet. She loves to eat food (except too much sweet potato), and her top two front teeth are finally coming in.
Though easy-going as far as not fussing over odd things happening, she's also very determined and slightly stubborn, not quickly sidetracked from whatever she had set her mind on doing at the time.
Some kids carry around a blankie... some carry around a stack of square Duplo blocks (preferably blue and red - or at least, a stack with no yellow in it)
Emily likes to be bounced
Posing with Daddy
Looking at the goats at a strawberry farm
Sitting in the grass
Strawberry picking at another farm. Katherine most liked playing with the flag instead (flags marked where people had stopped picking on a given row).
Guess what, Mom? I do like strawberries!
We celebrated Katherine's 3rd birthday at a family dinner when her cousin Collin was in town.
Carrot cake, at her request - though she really ate more ice cream than cake.
Trying to open presents
Jessica and Collin
Grandma and Emily
Daddy helping Katherine try out her new talking globe (thanks to Aunt Julia who found it at the thrift shop!)... I think Daddy and Mommy enjoy it more than she does, though she likes to make it play music from different countries.
making a face... probably impatient to be fed
Then at the end of May, we got to go visit Krista (Deutschmann) Albee, who just had her 2nd baby. She and her family live about 30 minutes from us.
Emily eating an animal cookie that she stole from Katherine's cup
Krista and Jack (who just woke up) posing with Katherine
Katherine with Emily-dog (who mostly tried to escape toddler affection)
Not so sure about Madschen...
... but still trying to play with her
Katherine: turned 3 on the 28th.
Current favorite things: the old Fisher Price "Chatterphone". Silly Putty (birthday present). Still enjoys TuxPaint, but not Starfall as much. Still likes her "Eye-Block", though it's no longer as prominent in her playing. Still likes the Carl books (we currently have borrowed "Carl's Birthday" from the library). Oh, and she likes putting money in the "moffering" at church. It's very cute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emily: almost 10 months old.
She likes to stand up and "cruise" around, though she's not standing or walking independently yet. She loves to eat food (except too much sweet potato), and her top two front teeth are finally coming in.
Though easy-going as far as not fussing over odd things happening, she's also very determined and slightly stubborn, not quickly sidetracked from whatever she had set her mind on doing at the time.
Some kids carry around a blankie... some carry around a stack of square Duplo blocks (preferably blue and red - or at least, a stack with no yellow in it)
Emily likes to be bounced
Posing with Daddy~~~~~~~~~~~~
In May we went strawberry picking several times, though the season ended at the end of the month when we got a spell of hotter weather.
In May we went strawberry picking several times, though the season ended at the end of the month when we got a spell of hotter weather.
Looking at the goats at a strawberry farm
Sitting in the grass
Strawberry picking at another farm. Katherine most liked playing with the flag instead (flags marked where people had stopped picking on a given row).
Guess what, Mom? I do like strawberries!We celebrated Katherine's 3rd birthday at a family dinner when her cousin Collin was in town.
Carrot cake, at her request - though she really ate more ice cream than cake.
Trying to open presents
Jessica and Collin
Grandma and Emily
Daddy helping Katherine try out her new talking globe (thanks to Aunt Julia who found it at the thrift shop!)... I think Daddy and Mommy enjoy it more than she does, though she likes to make it play music from different countries.
making a face... probably impatient to be fed
Emily eating an animal cookie that she stole from Katherine's cup
Krista and Jack (who just woke up) posing with Katherine
Katherine with Emily-dog (who mostly tried to escape toddler affection)
Not so sure about Madschen...
... but still trying to play with herTuesday, May 29, 2007
God and money
"You cannot serve God and mammon" (money, material things).
You cannot trust - or live for - God AND stuff. It's one or the other.
Only one thing can hold highest place in our affections.
Here in America, it's easy to give that spot to money, stuff, material things. To build up our retirement accounts, trusting them to care for us in our old age.
To work in order to earn money, so we can have money to "do whatever we want". So we can have security, or so we think.
Why do we have a hard time trusting God with everything, instead of trusting our money?
We think we are wiser than God. That if we really trust God, if we really live as He would have us to live, if we really used our money for the Kingdom instead of as a security blanket - that He would put us in the poorhouse, and we would have no happiness. We think we will be happier with money, than with God. That building up Monopoly money here is worth more than accumulating treasure in Heaven. We trust what we see, because it is now, rather than the God we cannot see, who has promised future things. And who has promised to provide all that we need if we live for the Kingdom first (Matt.6:24,33).
We forget that the One who gave everything to save our souls, does love us here. That if He takes our money, He will give us something better. Is it not the poor who love Him most? It is those who trust Him with everything that find Him to be everything. It is those with little who rejoice most in the God they cannot see. Maybe God would take our money in order to give us Himself. Is that not a better trade?
Our God is in the heavens;
He does all that He pleases...
...trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
The LORD has remembered us; He will bless us...
He will bless those who fear the LORD,
both the small and the great.
(Ps.115:3,11-13, ESV)
You cannot trust - or live for - God AND stuff. It's one or the other.
Only one thing can hold highest place in our affections.
Here in America, it's easy to give that spot to money, stuff, material things. To build up our retirement accounts, trusting them to care for us in our old age.
To work in order to earn money, so we can have money to "do whatever we want". So we can have security, or so we think.
Why do we have a hard time trusting God with everything, instead of trusting our money?
We think we are wiser than God. That if we really trust God, if we really live as He would have us to live, if we really used our money for the Kingdom instead of as a security blanket - that He would put us in the poorhouse, and we would have no happiness. We think we will be happier with money, than with God. That building up Monopoly money here is worth more than accumulating treasure in Heaven. We trust what we see, because it is now, rather than the God we cannot see, who has promised future things. And who has promised to provide all that we need if we live for the Kingdom first (Matt.6:24,33).
We forget that the One who gave everything to save our souls, does love us here. That if He takes our money, He will give us something better. Is it not the poor who love Him most? It is those who trust Him with everything that find Him to be everything. It is those with little who rejoice most in the God they cannot see. Maybe God would take our money in order to give us Himself. Is that not a better trade?
Our God is in the heavens;
He does all that He pleases...
...trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
The LORD has remembered us; He will bless us...
He will bless those who fear the LORD,
both the small and the great.
(Ps.115:3,11-13, ESV)
Sunday, May 20, 2007
from His hand
The grass often seems greener
where other people serve God.
surely they do great things
worthwhile things
but I, I seem to stagnate here
I wonder what will last
of all I do.
Changing diapers
folding clothes
reading books to little ones...
my ever-present fight with clutter,
errands to run
bedtime again -
all seems so mundane
so useless in the scheme of things
... and thinking so
I find that I forgot His ways -
the mystery of how
"little" in the world's eyes
may be "great" in His
forgot that Jesus said
"the Father Himself loves you" -
and when I live in light of that
I see aright again
that every moment comes
from His hand
given in love
for purposes that sometimes
He alone will understand
and if every moment
comes from Him
than I receive it gladly
happy again to be
but an unworthy servant
yet more -
a child of God
loved and precious to Him
we were redeemed
to live "no longer for ourselves
but for Him who died for [us] and rose again"
and this we can do
no matter where He puts us
your life will not be wasted
if you live to serve your King
tending the plot of ground
which He has lent to you
serving His Kingdom
serving His people
loving His people
even by a prayer
an encouragement
a cup of cold water in His name
He does not forget
such "labors of love"
service rendered unto Him
even in some obscure,
unseen place
"if He had asked you to do some great thing,
would you not have done it?
How much more then,
when He asks you to do
something small?"
may I remember
and be reminded
that it is an honor
to serve Him in something small
and to be faithful there
to leave to Him
the arranging of my life
my times
my sorrows and joys
and to receive gladly
every moment
from His loving hand
(Bible verses referred to: John 16:27. 2Corinthians 5:15. Matthew 10:42. Hebrews 6:10. 2Kings 5:13)
where other people serve God.
surely they do great things
worthwhile things
but I, I seem to stagnate here
I wonder what will last
of all I do.
Changing diapers
folding clothes
reading books to little ones...
my ever-present fight with clutter,
errands to run
bedtime again -
all seems so mundane
so useless in the scheme of things
... and thinking so
I find that I forgot His ways -
the mystery of how
"little" in the world's eyes
may be "great" in His
forgot that Jesus said
"the Father Himself loves you" -
and when I live in light of that
I see aright again
that every moment comes
from His hand
given in love
for purposes that sometimes
He alone will understand
and if every moment
comes from Him
than I receive it gladly
happy again to be
but an unworthy servant
yet more -
a child of God
loved and precious to Him
we were redeemed
to live "no longer for ourselves
but for Him who died for [us] and rose again"
and this we can do
no matter where He puts us
your life will not be wasted
if you live to serve your King
tending the plot of ground
which He has lent to you
serving His Kingdom
serving His people
loving His people
even by a prayer
an encouragement
a cup of cold water in His name
He does not forget
such "labors of love"
service rendered unto Him
even in some obscure,
unseen place
"if He had asked you to do some great thing,
would you not have done it?
How much more then,
when He asks you to do
something small?"
may I remember
and be reminded
that it is an honor
to serve Him in something small
and to be faithful there
to leave to Him
the arranging of my life
my times
my sorrows and joys
and to receive gladly
every moment
from His loving hand
(Bible verses referred to: John 16:27. 2Corinthians 5:15. Matthew 10:42. Hebrews 6:10. 2Kings 5:13)
Monday, May 14, 2007
stairs
Today while we were outside, Emily climbed our whole flight of steps leading to the front door. As if she had always done that. She's done a step or two here and there, but not that much at once. Steps are so irresistible to babies.
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