A Must-Listen on Biblical Womanhood
Highly, highly recommended to all women: Mark Driscoll's 4-part sermon series on Women and Femininity. If you only have time to listen to one (they're about an hour and 15 minutes each), Women as Homebuilders is especially excellent. They're available for free downloading (as are all of his other sermons). Go to the above link, click Downloads, then Sermons, then Practical Topics, and then Women (kinda complicated, but well-worth the effort!).
Friday, June 16, 2006
Shameless Product Non-Endorsement
A few days ago, a friend of mine was doing some spring cleaning. One of her projects was to clean out all of her purses. She came across one that she doesn't recall using since last November. Among the contents of the bag were two chicken nuggets from a certain well-known fast food chain, which shall remain nameless (although two red pigtails might give it away). Two 7-month old chicken nuggets! And the scary part is not that she had chicken nuggets in her purse (she's a mom). The scary part is that they looked as if she'd bought them yesterday! Yep, no mold, no decay... just two perfectly good-looking nuggets! Anybody hungry? :)
If you've seen SuperSize Me, this may remind you of the french fry experiment (the two-month old perfectly fresh-looking fries)... Now we know they weren't faking!
A few days ago, a friend of mine was doing some spring cleaning. One of her projects was to clean out all of her purses. She came across one that she doesn't recall using since last November. Among the contents of the bag were two chicken nuggets from a certain well-known fast food chain, which shall remain nameless (although two red pigtails might give it away). Two 7-month old chicken nuggets! And the scary part is not that she had chicken nuggets in her purse (she's a mom). The scary part is that they looked as if she'd bought them yesterday! Yep, no mold, no decay... just two perfectly good-looking nuggets! Anybody hungry? :)
If you've seen SuperSize Me, this may remind you of the french fry experiment (the two-month old perfectly fresh-looking fries)... Now we know they weren't faking!
Friday, June 09, 2006
Shameless Product Endorsement
I have to say that Brown Cow™ Cream Top Plain Yogurt is the best commercial yogurt I have ever tasted. Creamy, full-bodied, not too tart, and no antibiotics or hormones to boot... add just a little good Canadian maple syrup, a bit of freshly ground flax seed and you've got a snack that's both nutritious and delicious! And hey, just saying "Brown Cow" gives us Canadians a chance to display our fine Canadian-raised pronunciation skills:)
I have to say that Brown Cow™ Cream Top Plain Yogurt is the best commercial yogurt I have ever tasted. Creamy, full-bodied, not too tart, and no antibiotics or hormones to boot... add just a little good Canadian maple syrup, a bit of freshly ground flax seed and you've got a snack that's both nutritious and delicious! And hey, just saying "Brown Cow" gives us Canadians a chance to display our fine Canadian-raised pronunciation skills:)
Our Faithful God
"Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass." Joshua 21: 43-45
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
What Do You Expect?
I don't know about you, but I don't expect much from God. I am the master of negativity when it comes to my expectations about what God can and will do. It's not that I don't expect anything; rather, I actually expect to be disappointed, frustrated, bored, ineffective and weary. I might not say so, but my actions and reactions betray my real expectations. This is often true in my devotional time. I'll sit down with my Bible one morning after many days of not getting my devotions in before the kids wake up, and my attitude is one of "Well, it might be quiet now, but I'll just bet God only lets me have 5 minutes before Susanna comes bolting in here, so I might as well not try to read anything deep or difficult." Or lately, I've been working my way through the Old Testament, and there are many mornings when the chapter(s) for the day is(are) filled with genealogical information, or accounts of which tribe got which cities in the Promised Land. And as I notice that this is what I'll be reading for the day, the thought is that I'm about to be bored out of my mind. "Oh, yippee. Get to read a list of cities I can't pronounce. I'm gonna get a whole lot out of this one. Maybe I should just skip these chapters."
What does this say about my view of God? Well, he's little, and just about powerless, and not too interested in my daily life or thoughts. I don't like to say it, but if I really examine the beliefs that inform the way I live much of the time, that would be them.
Last week, as I was reading through Joshua, I came to the account of the crossing of the Jordan. You know, the one where the priests step in to the Jordan with the ark, and the river suddenly stops flowing and forms a wall of water all the way back at the city of Adam, and so the people cross over on dry land, and go on their merry way, and blah, blah, blah. Heard that one a hundred times. Wait, what? The river did what? Can you imagine being a citizen of Adam, and you're just going about your business, washing dishes in your kitchen and you look out the window like you might any other day, and... what in the world? There is a wall of water out there where there used to be a river. You'd probably freak out. I mean, that just doesn't happen every day. In fact, I only know of two times it did. This is a completely unnatural, extraordinary event. And who brought it about? That puny, powerless god of my own imagination? NO! The Almighty, All Powerful, All Glorious, All Sovereign All Righteous, Incredibly Creative God of the Bible! I come to a God who can stop a river in its tracks, and on top of that, made Himself into a man and died to save me, and all I expect from Him is 30 minutes of boredom and an ineffective, disappointing rest of the day? I must be crazy!
So lately, when I sit down to read the Bible, before I read anything or get any stupid ideas about certain passages being boring and worthless, I start with asking God to make me expectant, not of disappointment, but of all the wonderful things in His Word, things that the Holy Spirit can teach me even through genealogies. And reading with eyes looking out for God to work, I'm amazed at things that I learn from a passage that is primarily a description of land distribution!
What does this say about my view of God? Well, he's little, and just about powerless, and not too interested in my daily life or thoughts. I don't like to say it, but if I really examine the beliefs that inform the way I live much of the time, that would be them.
Last week, as I was reading through Joshua, I came to the account of the crossing of the Jordan. You know, the one where the priests step in to the Jordan with the ark, and the river suddenly stops flowing and forms a wall of water all the way back at the city of Adam, and so the people cross over on dry land, and go on their merry way, and blah, blah, blah. Heard that one a hundred times. Wait, what? The river did what? Can you imagine being a citizen of Adam, and you're just going about your business, washing dishes in your kitchen and you look out the window like you might any other day, and... what in the world? There is a wall of water out there where there used to be a river. You'd probably freak out. I mean, that just doesn't happen every day. In fact, I only know of two times it did. This is a completely unnatural, extraordinary event. And who brought it about? That puny, powerless god of my own imagination? NO! The Almighty, All Powerful, All Glorious, All Sovereign All Righteous, Incredibly Creative God of the Bible! I come to a God who can stop a river in its tracks, and on top of that, made Himself into a man and died to save me, and all I expect from Him is 30 minutes of boredom and an ineffective, disappointing rest of the day? I must be crazy!
So lately, when I sit down to read the Bible, before I read anything or get any stupid ideas about certain passages being boring and worthless, I start with asking God to make me expectant, not of disappointment, but of all the wonderful things in His Word, things that the Holy Spirit can teach me even through genealogies. And reading with eyes looking out for God to work, I'm amazed at things that I learn from a passage that is primarily a description of land distribution!
Friday, June 02, 2006
No, Really!
If I have any loyal readership left out there, I would like to let you know that I am no longer in a state of denial: Rachel's assessment of my blogging frequency has been correct all along, and in order to be completely truthful, she should actually now list me under "Bloggers Who Don't Blog". I would really like to post at least from time to time, but I can't make any promises, seeing as the last entry was written as I thought life was slowing down a little bit, and then the last two months have been another whirlwind... I think life is heading back to a normal pace now!
My guess is that the best thing to do is to start fresh and not try to complete any previous blogging topics, although I'm still studying the Old Testament and thinking about the Law. But I'm more likely to blog if I can just start where my mind currently is, rather than trying to fill everyone in on everything I've thought or done in the last two months. And now I've got a diaper to change and dinner to start, so that's all for today!
If I have any loyal readership left out there, I would like to let you know that I am no longer in a state of denial: Rachel's assessment of my blogging frequency has been correct all along, and in order to be completely truthful, she should actually now list me under "Bloggers Who Don't Blog". I would really like to post at least from time to time, but I can't make any promises, seeing as the last entry was written as I thought life was slowing down a little bit, and then the last two months have been another whirlwind... I think life is heading back to a normal pace now!
My guess is that the best thing to do is to start fresh and not try to complete any previous blogging topics, although I'm still studying the Old Testament and thinking about the Law. But I'm more likely to blog if I can just start where my mind currently is, rather than trying to fill everyone in on everything I've thought or done in the last two months. And now I've got a diaper to change and dinner to start, so that's all for today!
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