Halloween 2013

Pumpkin carving station in the driveway

All done... they were pretty for one sweet night until the blasted chickens found them, then it was pumpkin mangladesh on the front porch.

An adidas rep, elephant, half-ready mom, prairie girl, cow, and cowboy.

More Spurgeon

Doesn't look like my current Spurgeon obsession is going anywhere anytime soon...

This one is from Morning and Evening:

 THEN DAVID SAID IN HIS HEART, "NOW I SHALL PERISH ONE DAY BY THE HAND OF SAUL."  I SAMUEL 27:1

"The thought in David's heart at this time was a false thought, because he certainly had no ground for thinking that God's anointing him by Samuel was intended to be left as an empty, unmeaning act.  On no occasion had the Lord deserted His servant; he had often been placed in perilous positions, but not one instance had occurred in which divine intervention had not delivered him.  The trials to which he had been exposed had been varied; they had not assumed one form only, but many--yet in every case He who sent the trial had also graciously ordained a way of escape.  David could not put his finger on any entry in his diary and say of it, 'Here is evidence that the Lord will forsake me,' for the entire course of his past life proved the very reverse.  He should have argued from what God had done for him that God would be his defender still.  But is it not in the same way that we doubt God's help?  Is it not mistrust without a cause?  Have we ever had the shadow of a reason to doubt our Father's goodness?  Hasn't His loving-kindness been marvelous?  Has He ever once failed to justify our trust?  Our God has never left us at any time.  We have had dark nights, but the star of love has shone out amid the blackness; we have been in tough battles, but over our head He has held high the shield of our defense.  We have gone through many trials but never to our detriment, always to our advantage; and the conclusion from our past experience is that He who has been with us in six troubles will not forsake us in the seventh.  What we have known of our faithful God proves that He will keep us to the end.  Let us not, then, reason contrary to the evidence.  How can we ever be so ungenerous as to doubt our God?  Lord, throw down the Jezebel of our unbelief, and let the dogs devour it."

My wife wanted me to do this, so I sacrificed some time for it.

My wife wants me to write down some thoughts about marriage, headship/submission, sovereignty, suffering, providence,... you know, some lighthearted stuff we've been talking about lately.  I'm not exactly sure what she has in mind here, but I'll see what I can do.

We found out a month ago that our little girl only has half a heart (HLHS).  She's not heartless, but she's cardiologically impaired.  Carissa wonders if this might qualify us for a Make-A-Wish family vacation.  I told her I thought that was for people who were dying.  I caught her on the website the other night.  I don't think we'll qualify.  It has been hard.  Our hearts are breaking as Louisa's struggles along.  She's got a patent foramen ovale and a PDA keeping her alive right now.  It's like an analogy for what Jesus does for us.  He makes a way to bring the life giving blood to us.  Otherwise, our sin has cut us off.  Like the ductus slowly shutting down after birth as the lungs fill with oxygen, thereby changing the pulmonary arterial resistance and shunting blood past the ductus.  It closes.  In our little girl's case, if that ductus closes, she won't be able to sustain her life.  So a connection must be re-established.  The Old Covenant is like giving the prostaglandins.  It's a way to keep the ductus open, but it's imperfect and temporary.  Something more substantial is necessary, something more permanent.  So, like Christ, a new way is opened.  There's a triune solution to our little girl's problem and in these 3 stages, her heart can be healed.  Funny how these little connections pop up.  So Christ is all and is in all.

my post, my picture

But none of that is what I was supposed to write about.  My wife has commissioned me to reflect on our marriage.  Just how do you lead someone like her through this?  It's not easy. She's a bit fragile, a bit unstable.  Prone to despair.  I recently had breakfast with my BFFs and we came up with some good ideas.  As usual, they encouraged me with gospel wisdom.  A man loves his wife like Christ loves the church -- sacrificially.  A daily self-denial.  A daily giving up of oneself and laying down your life for your wife.  And she is to submit herself as the church submits to Christ.  But what are we to do as we are both sinners struggling along?  She can't perfectly submit to me because, unlike Christ, I can't be fully trusted.  And I can't perfectly lay down my life for her because, unlike Christ, I am sinful and have self-seeking motives behind so much of what I do.  And she can become so unreasonable sometimes.  Maybe even a lot of the time!  What are we to do?

Apparently (according to one of my pals), Doug Wilson has said that a man will grow in attraction to his Godly wife over time if the two are seeking after each other in Christ.  She will become more beautiful as he serves and sacrifices for her and she submits to him.  This is a beauty that is difficult to describe.  It isn't the beauty of Miss America pageants nor the beauty of an Olympic athlete, nor even the beauty of one of your darling little daughters.  It's the beauty of a woman submitting herself to you.  What man doesn't want to have his wife submit to him in her strength?  Not fearful or forceful submission, but willing and loving and strong submission.  This is what we long for as men. Many have perverted this, but the Bible applauds it and deep in our hearts, we applaud it too.

So here's my litmus test for a healthy marriage:  Am I attracted to my wife?  Am I attracted to her right now?  Am I attracted to her more today than yesterday?  Last week?  Last month?  Last year? Since we were married?  If the answer is yes to these, than we are on the right track.  But when and if the answer is no, than there's a problem and the problem is almost certainly that I am not worthy of her submission, therefore she is struggling to submit to me and therefore she is becoming unattractive to me.  But, I have to be careful to start with the I am not worthy of her submission part rather than the she is struggling to submit to me part.  What has made me unworthy?  Perhaps I have betrayed her trust.  Perhaps I am being impatient.  Perhaps I am being rude.  Perhaps I am correcting her or ridiculing her in front of our friends or our children.  Perhaps I am showing her that she is low on my priority list.  Perhaps I'm in fix-it mode instead of listening mode.  Or lecture instead of nurture.  Or yell instead of hold.  Perhaps I am gritting my teeth in annoyance.  Perhaps I'm loafing when she's working.  I have proven myself many times over as not deserving of her submission.  I can't hide my sin, not from her.  She'll see right through it.  My only hope is that there is something more powerful than me that can make this thing work.  Praise be to the Holy Spirit who works His mighty work in me to make me attractive to my dear wife.  I hope and pray that it is He she sees, not me.  And that is only possible by His great power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.  And that is no small power.

I can honestly say, Carissa is becoming more attractive.  This recent trial is making her more attractive.  There are times I don't like what I see.  I see an angry interaction with one of the kids.  I see her doubting her Father's sovereign plan for us.  That's unattractive.  But who's fault is that? Hers?  Yes.  Mine?  The ultimate yes.  I am called to present my wife as a pure and spotless bride. Her sin is on my shoulders.  If she is struggling to believe the truths of scripture regarding our half-hearted little girl, that is my problem.  If she is raising her voice in a harmful way at a child, that is my fault.  I need to bring my wife back to the cross for forgiveness.  I need to make sure she knows the joy of her salvation.  Over and over and over again.  It's the same gospel message for her EVERY day.  In EVERY circumstance.  In EVERY trial.  As one of my wise blokes said at breakfast, "They (our wives) need to hear it over and over again, faithfully, without wavering, the same message about the gospel.  It's really quite simple what they need.  We need to patiently bring them back there time and time again to the same increasingly familiar place."  My wife needs to know the truth about Jesus enslaving her to Himself that she can know the true freedom of her submission to Him, even as she knows the true freedom of submitting to me.  Do I set her free in her submission to me?  She is a dear and Godly woman.  She will submit out of obedience to Christ regardless of my faithfulness.  I know she will.  But am I worthy of her submission?  In her submission, will she find true freedom in this life of ours together?  I pray dear Lord Jesus, that she will, by your gospel grace, find me worthy and life giving as you are both worthy and life giving.

We'll have to save providence and sovereignty for another night.

Be Still, My Soul

A few people have encouraged us to pick a theme hymn for the upcoming months.  This is what we decided on:

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know his love, his heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From his own fullness all he takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be for ever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

The other two that we are going to a lot are:

More Love to Thee, O Christ

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

Maizy's quote from breakfast with Dad this morning

Nick:  "What do you like better, cats or dogs?"
Maizy:  "I like cats better because they lay babies.  Remember our old cat?  She laid a lot of babies."

Chickens are the new frame of reference.

2 Baptisms and a Profession of Faith

Donavon’s and Kelvin’s Baptism – 10/20/2013

Psalm 25

11 For your name's sake, O Lord,

Pardon my guilt, for it is great.

12 Who is the man who fears the Lord?

Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

13 His soul shall abide in well-being,

And his offspring shall inherit the land.

14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,

And he makes known to them his covenant.

15 My eyes are ever toward the Lord,

For he will pluck my feet out of the net.

My dear boys,

The Lord decided you should have a new family.  One of the reasons I think it was a kindness of the Lord to put you in our family was so that you could be part of our church and you could grow up with all these amazing people who will serve the Lord by serving you.  In just a minute, Pastor Kevin is going to baptize you.  We’re doing this in order to mark you out as covenant children.  This means that you will have the same benefits that Abraham and his son Isaac received when God made this covenant with them – that He will be your God and you will be his adopted sons.  Donavon, I know it’s been hard and a little confusing why God would give you a new family.  I hope you will grow to know how much we love you, but more importantly, that you’ll grow to know how much Jesus did in order to “pluck your feet out of the net” and make you a friend and a son of your Heavenly Father.  You are my son and I promise to love you forever.  Kelvin, I also pray for you with the words of this Psalm that “your soul will abide in well-being” and that you will grow up to fear the Lord.  You are my son and I will love you forever.  My dear boys, I am looking forward in faith to the day that we will together, with all these saints, inherit the Land.  Your mom and I and your brother and sisters love you very much.  Thanks for joining our family. 

Love, Mom and Dad

Nick read the verses we picked and the letter he wrote for the boys' baptism

Lunch after in the church basement

If I ever decorated a cake that looked like this at MSU I would've been fired, but whatever.

                This beautiful girl now takes the Lord's Supper with us!  When Pastor Kevin asked her if she had a favorite book of the Bible she nodded and said, "Psalms is fun!"  That's Natti :)

Ebenezer Stones for Today

I don't want us to forget the little "helps" the Lord is sending us right now in the midst of trial, so I'm going to try and record them as they come...

1. Peeter and Carolyn L. gave us Beside Still Waters by Charles Spurgeon with the inscription "May the God of comfort be known to you afresh."
2. Susan R. gave me a collection of meditations by John Piper, A Godward Life.
3. Sue H. randomly made us dinner because she wanted to do something for our family.
4. Already so many emails, texts, notes, offers to help and little gifts from our parents/family and friends.
5. Annie and Allan staying here with the kids for two nights for our first U of M appointment day.
6. Hearing the little girls talking in bed about how much they love girl babies, how cute her little feet are going to be, and how they are probably going to hold her every day.  They kiss her on my belly every night when I check on them.  (These make me cry, but they are precious).
7. The Corrie ten Boom quote Christy D. sent me because she knows I love her:  "Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength."
8. Grandma's china sugar bowl mom gave me with promises from the Bible inside that she wrote on slips of paper.

A Sure and Steadfast Anchor

One of our theme verses right now is Hebrews 6:18b-20, "We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."

Susan gave me the book A Godward Life by John Piper (a collection of meditations) on Sunday and said it has been an encouragement to her in the past.  I was looking through it today and found a great one on those Hebrews verses...

"So the anchor of our soul is the absolutely certain hope of eternal joy with God which Jesus has secured by his priestly work in the holy of holies."

"The anchor is secure at both ends.  Yes, we must hold fast to the anchor, but the good news is that our holding fast was secured by the blood of Jesus.  We know this because the blood of Jesus is the blood of the new covenant, and what the new covenant promised was that God would secure our salvation at the top and the bottom.  The new covenant promised that God would not only forgive and accept those who love him (Jeremiah 31:34), but also that he would see to it that we love him (Deuteronomy 30:6), walk in his statutes (Ezeziel 36:27), and fear him and not turn away from him (Jeremiah 32:40)."

"The anchor is bound in heaven and secured in my soul.  The rope does not dangle in my face and lie limp across the deck of my soul.  God, by his Holy Spirit, takes up the rope and ties it to the little ship of my weak and vulnerable soul with unbreakable, sovereign covenant love.  This was promised in the new covenant and purchased by the blood of Jesus."

Build Your House on the Rock

"Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:  he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.  And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built."  Luke 6:47-48

Matthew Henry -- "That those only make sure work for their souls and eternity, and take the course that will stand them in stead in a trying time, who do not only come to Christ as his scholars, and hear his sayings but do them, who think, and speak, and act, in every thing according to the established rules of his holy religion. They are like a house built on a rock. These are they that take pains in religion, as they do,—that dig deep, that found their hope upon Christ, who is the Rock of ages (and other foundation can no man lay); these are they who provide for hereafter, who get ready for the worst, who lay up in store a good foundation for the time to come, for the eternity to come, 1 Tim. vi. 19. They who do thus do well for themselves; for, [1.] They shall keep their integrity, in times of temptation and persecution; when others fall from their own stedfastness, as the seed on the stony ground, they shall stand fast in the Lord. [2.] They shall keep their comfort, and peace, and hope, and joy, in the midst of the greatest distresses. The storms and streams of affliction shall not shock them, for their feet are set upon a rock, a rock higher than they. [3.] Their everlasting welfare is secured. In death and judgment they are safe. Obedient believers are kept by the power of Christ, through faith, unto salvation, and shall never perish."

Don't End Up Like King "Neverkanever"

 

I love the think spelling, the words, and the pictures on this picture story Francie made after we read the story in the Bible!

Morning and Evening (Spurgeon): October 3

He himself has suffered when tempted. -- Hebrews 2:18

"Let us be encouraged--Christ has borne the load before us, and the blood-stained footsteps of the King of glory can be seen along the road that we travel at this hour...The head has triumphed and the members share in the victory.  Fears are unnecessary, for Christ is with us, armed for our defense.  Our place of safety is the embrace of the Savior.  Perhaps we are tempted just now in order to drive us nearer to Him.  Blessed be any wind that blows us into the harbor of our Savior's love!  Happy wounds that make us seek the beloved Physician."