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A couple of weeks ago I posted on C.J. Mahaney’s sermon titled Don’t Waste Your Humor. He’s at it again with another sermon at Covenant Life church, called Don’t Waste Your Sports. Listen and find out how you can glorify God through sports.
This is the latest eNewsletter from 9Marks (also available in PDF).
FAMILY & PARENTING
Wanted: Kingdom Families
Embedded Portraits: A Theological Vision for Families
Part 3: Raising Boys vs. Raising Girls
Book Review: Family Driven Faith By Voddie Baucham Jr
Reviewed by Michael Lawrence
Book Review: Practicing Hospitality By Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock
Reviewed by Adrienne Lawrence
This past Friday I turned 36 years old, approximately 13,140 days. That’s a lot of days, how quickly they come and go. Have you ever numbered your days? I’ve spent some time reflecting on this and it had a very sobering effect. How have I spent these days? How have I wasted them? How many have been used for my Creator? What has been done for His kingdom? There are many days highlighted in my mind for the earthly pleasure or pain that they brought. In providence they came and shaped my life and I thank God for each one, but in honest reflection I must acknowledge the dreadful fact that so terribly few of these days were truly devoted to Him or of any use for His kingdom.
In a prayer from Moses we read, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:2). The “so” in this request indicates a response to the previous statements which speak of the might and wrath of the Creator God and our disregard of Him and utter waste of the days He’s given us. I know this is true of myself and so my echoing of Moses’ prayer is heart felt. But I also know that because not a day was wasted by Jesus in His 33 years on earth and was spent perfectly glorifying the Father and accomplishing His will, I will not be dealt with in wrath as deserved but in divine love. By grace I share the reward of His life and receive the credit of His righteousness. And all the more I pray that God would teach me to number my days that I may get a heart of wisdom. That I would not waste another of the days He’s given. Moses went on in his prayer to appeal to God’s steadfast love, to call on God to satisfy us with Himself, to further reveal Himself to us so that we would be glad in Him alone, for His favor to be on us, and for God to establish the work of our hands upon us. What a great prayer. How about secretly whispering this before blowing out the candles? Lord willing may the next 13,000 days be full of His grace and power, and on reflection then may I see a legacy of faith and obedience with some lasting eternal value for His kingdom. Have you ever numbered your days?
We returned late last night from vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine. Thanks to some very generous friends who lent us their home we were able to enjoy 5 days in a fun and scenic place. Our schedule was packed and we had a great time exploring the seacoast, finding huge starfish at The Ovens, picking wild blueberries on top of Cadillac Mountain, and taking in the sites and sounds of Acadia National Park. We were mostly out an about but I knew there would be a couple of afternoons at the house where the boys would be bored and anxious for the next adventure so I surprised them with a vacation gift, their very first archery set. That’s right, a real bow and arrow (mom loved that) complete with finger guard and quiver. I also picked up a large foam target from Wal-Mart. They loved it and did a good job hitting the target (5 feet away) and not each other or me Read the rest of this entry »
I listened to an excellent sermon this week from John Piper called “How the Supremacy of Christ Creates a Radical Christian Sacrifice.” Piper’s words were gripping and challenging and I think a lot closer to real Christianity then most of what we normally hear. It’s been on my mind all week and I’ve been praying that God would not let the message slip away but instead press it into my heart. So timely was this quote I came accross today which touches on some of what I’m being challenged with:
When the prosperous man on a dark but starlit night drives comfortably in his carriage and has the lanterns lighted, aye, then he is safe, he fears no difficulty, he carries his light with him, and it is not dark close around him. But precisely because he has the lanterns lighted, and has a strong light close to him, precisely for this reason, he cannot see the stars. For his lights obscure the stars, which the poor peasant, driving without lights, can see gloriously in the dark but starry night. So those deceived ones live in the temporal existence: either, occupied with the necessities of life, they are too busy to avail themselves of the view, or in their prosperity and good days they have, as it were, lanterns lighted, and close about them everything is so satisfactory, so pleasant, so comfortable—but the view is lacking, the prospect, the view of the stars.
Søren Kierkegaard, The Gospel of Suffering, trans. David and Lillian Swenson (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1948), 123, cited in Vernard Eller, The Simple Life
One day last week my older son schemed with his little brother how to avoid their daily quiet time. This is an hour or so break each day around 2 o’clock where they sit quietly with a blanket and a stack of books. They don’t like the break from their play and often express their objection but it is non-negotiable, they usually NEED the rest. This day Mommy was busy in a task and my oldest had noticed that the 2 o’clock hour was slipping by. It’s very uncharacteristic of him to intentionally deceive (that’s the closest word I can think of to describe the offense) and his younger brother seized the opportunity to blow the whistle on his normally very compliant brother. He was questioned by Mommy Read the rest of this entry »
Remember Evel Knievel? If you do you’re too old. Nevertheless, I was reminded of the stunt man on Saturday when my 5 year old dare-devil… which by the way is a biblical term: “and give no opportunity to the devil” Eph 4:27, but I digress… my 5 year old discovered that tricycles cannot fly over swimming pools and I discovered that he can swim quite well in the deep end. I was ready to dive in to the rescue but I hesitated for a second to see what he would do, and to my delight and relief, he calmly resurfaced and swam to the side of the pool like an expert. Well done! His older brother (6yr) even had the wits to pluck the tricycle from the pool before it sank. Read the rest of this entry »
A couple of weeks ago we received the very sad news that a student we had in youth group a couple of years ago had passed away. Steven didn’t attend our church but he came to our youth group through the invitation of a friend. We only had a small time to get to know him, he came to our meetings for about 6 months before moving on, but we enjoyed seeing God work in his heart and life in that time. After high school Steven joined the Marines and was stationed in Thailand. One of our Pastors knew Steven and his family well and wrote the following tribute: Tribute To A United States Marine Read the rest of this entry »
