Daniel got a whole pumpkin full of candy and a gold fish. Yes, a real live gold fish!!!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Daniel and the goods!
Daniel got a whole pumpkin full of candy and a gold fish. Yes, a real live gold fish!!!
Confession
Why is it that we are so scared to "confess [our] faults one to another" just like James 5:16 tells us to do? Why is it that when a group of sinners meet together they all act like they have not sinned all week long? Why are we so scared to reveal our sin to others?
"He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, not withstanding corporate worship, in common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break-through to fellowship does not occur, because though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are ALL SINNERS!"
"In confession a man breaks through to certainty. Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a brother? God is holy and sinless, He is a just judge of evil and the enemy of all disobedience. But a brother is sinful as we are. He knows from his own experience the dark night of secret sin. Why should we not find it easier to go to a brother than the holy God? But if we do, we must ask ourselves whether we have not often been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God, whether we have not rather been confessing our sins to ourselves and also granting ourselves absolution. And is not the reason perhaps for our countless relapses and feebleness of Christian obedience to be found precisely in the fact that we are living on self-forgiveness and not a real forgiveness? Self-forgiveness can never lead to a breach with sin; this can be accomplished only by the judging and pardoning Word of God itself. Who can give us the certainty that, in the confession and the forgiveness of sins, we are not dealing with ourselves but with the living God? God gives us this certainty through our brother. One brother breaks the circle of self deception. A man who confesses his sins in the presence or a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself; he experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person. As long as I am by myself in the confession on my sins everything remains in the dark, but in the presence of a brother the sin has to be brought into the light. But since the sin must come to light some time, it is better that it happens today between me and my brother, rather than on the last day in the piercing light of the final judgment. It is a mercy that we confess our sins to a brother. Such graces spares us the terrors of the last judgment." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together.
These are the things I have been pondering over today.
"He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, not withstanding corporate worship, in common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break-through to fellowship does not occur, because though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are ALL SINNERS!"
"In confession a man breaks through to certainty. Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a brother? God is holy and sinless, He is a just judge of evil and the enemy of all disobedience. But a brother is sinful as we are. He knows from his own experience the dark night of secret sin. Why should we not find it easier to go to a brother than the holy God? But if we do, we must ask ourselves whether we have not often been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God, whether we have not rather been confessing our sins to ourselves and also granting ourselves absolution. And is not the reason perhaps for our countless relapses and feebleness of Christian obedience to be found precisely in the fact that we are living on self-forgiveness and not a real forgiveness? Self-forgiveness can never lead to a breach with sin; this can be accomplished only by the judging and pardoning Word of God itself. Who can give us the certainty that, in the confession and the forgiveness of sins, we are not dealing with ourselves but with the living God? God gives us this certainty through our brother. One brother breaks the circle of self deception. A man who confesses his sins in the presence or a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself; he experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person. As long as I am by myself in the confession on my sins everything remains in the dark, but in the presence of a brother the sin has to be brought into the light. But since the sin must come to light some time, it is better that it happens today between me and my brother, rather than on the last day in the piercing light of the final judgment. It is a mercy that we confess our sins to a brother. Such graces spares us the terrors of the last judgment." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together.
These are the things I have been pondering over today.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Picture Day
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Lectio Divina-"The Nature and Practice of Spiritual Reading"
I recently joined a Bible study group called Soul Care. It is a Bible study for seminary wives. When I went to the introductory meeting I was not really sure what to expect. Carol (the lady who set up Soul Care) handed out the books that we were going to study. I looked at the cover and read "Soul Feast" Marjore J. Thompson. "Hum interesting title" I thought. I had never heard of this lady or her book. I listened as the book was described as a practical way of developing spiritual disciplines. I was immediately interested. I need spiritual disciplines. I find myself constantly fighting my flesh over the areas of scripture reading, prayer, fasting, worship, confession, service... the list can go on!
This past week we studied the second chapter of the book which talks about a spiritual discipline called Lectio Divina. This just basically means scripture reading. It is a practiced developed by early church fathers, and was practiced all throughout church history. She says "instead of analyzing or judging the text, we receive it as given and attend to what my be spoken through it." She previously had described scripture as "a lake whose depths have never been fully plumbed. On the surface it looks like any other lake; that is, we see human words like those in other books. But when we jump into the lake and begin to swim downward, we may be unable to find the bottom. It is as if those human words become transparent to some mysterious and infinite depth we can never fully grasp."
The way to practice Lectio Divina is in four basic phases. I will not go into the Latin terms for these four steps, mainly because it is easier to remember what is called "the four R's"
The first step after choosing a scripture is Read. You read it slowly, as if it was a love letter. Your read a small portion of Scripture, like 10-12 verses (or less). You read a line, then pause then read a line and pause. For some people reading silently causes our minds to wonder, so she suggests that for those people reading out loud helps. Then when you are done reading it, read it again. Read it three or four times.
The second step is receive. You start to listen for what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you. It might be a phrase from the text that stands out, or a image that came to mind. You are essentially meditating on the text to find out what it might be that stands out about this text.
The third step is respond. You take this phrase or image and you start to pray and find out what it is the Lord wants you to learn from this text. Marjorie says "Perhaps the Word has touched our pain, and we cry out in hurt, anger, or frustration; perhaps God has revealed our sin, and we whisper in confession and repentance; perhaps the Word has evoked gratitude, and our words leap up in thanksgiving; perhaps it has sparked our joy, and we sing out adoration and praise."
The fourth step is rest. After you have gone through all this you just sit quietly and rest in the presence of God. She likens this step to "a weaned child [sitting on his mother's lap who is] not seeking anything at its mother's breast; it is content to rest quietly, enjoying the simple comfort of the mother's loving presence, an image of complete peace."
During our Bible study we practiced Lectio Divina. It was something that I had never done before, and it is now something that I will practice the rest of my life. The feeling is something that cannot be described. The Lord reveled himself to me that night. He reveled a sin in my life. There I was face to face with my heavenly father crying out for forgiveness. After repenting I moved into the rest stage. I really thought this was going to be the hardest stage because my mind is always wondering off thinking about the kids, what needs to be done.. well pretty much thinking about everything. But it was not hard. There I was in the presence of God. It was this peaceful feeling. Everything was calm. It was as if no one else was there, just me and my Savior. I was truly just resting in the presence of the Lord.
I urge you all to try this way of scripture reading. We did this for 30 minutes and it felt like 10. Find a quiet place in your house. Try to get in a place with no distractions. Snuggle up in your favorite chair, get comfortable, and just let God speak to you through his word. I also would recommend having a piece of paper and a pen with you. I found it a lot easier to journal through this process. Here are a few of the scriptures that she gave us to practice this discipline with; Psalm 121, and Proverbs 2:1-6.
I will end this blog entry with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. "The Word of Scripture should never stop sounding in your ears and working in you all day long, just like the words of someone you love. And just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love, but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart, as Mary did. That is all. That is meditation...Do no ask "How shall I pass this on?" but "What does it say to me?" Then ponder this Word long in your heart until it has gone right into you and taken possession of you."
This past week we studied the second chapter of the book which talks about a spiritual discipline called Lectio Divina. This just basically means scripture reading. It is a practiced developed by early church fathers, and was practiced all throughout church history. She says "instead of analyzing or judging the text, we receive it as given and attend to what my be spoken through it." She previously had described scripture as "a lake whose depths have never been fully plumbed. On the surface it looks like any other lake; that is, we see human words like those in other books. But when we jump into the lake and begin to swim downward, we may be unable to find the bottom. It is as if those human words become transparent to some mysterious and infinite depth we can never fully grasp."
The way to practice Lectio Divina is in four basic phases. I will not go into the Latin terms for these four steps, mainly because it is easier to remember what is called "the four R's"
The first step after choosing a scripture is Read. You read it slowly, as if it was a love letter. Your read a small portion of Scripture, like 10-12 verses (or less). You read a line, then pause then read a line and pause. For some people reading silently causes our minds to wonder, so she suggests that for those people reading out loud helps. Then when you are done reading it, read it again. Read it three or four times.
The second step is receive. You start to listen for what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you. It might be a phrase from the text that stands out, or a image that came to mind. You are essentially meditating on the text to find out what it might be that stands out about this text.
The third step is respond. You take this phrase or image and you start to pray and find out what it is the Lord wants you to learn from this text. Marjorie says "Perhaps the Word has touched our pain, and we cry out in hurt, anger, or frustration; perhaps God has revealed our sin, and we whisper in confession and repentance; perhaps the Word has evoked gratitude, and our words leap up in thanksgiving; perhaps it has sparked our joy, and we sing out adoration and praise."
The fourth step is rest. After you have gone through all this you just sit quietly and rest in the presence of God. She likens this step to "a weaned child [sitting on his mother's lap who is] not seeking anything at its mother's breast; it is content to rest quietly, enjoying the simple comfort of the mother's loving presence, an image of complete peace."
During our Bible study we practiced Lectio Divina. It was something that I had never done before, and it is now something that I will practice the rest of my life. The feeling is something that cannot be described. The Lord reveled himself to me that night. He reveled a sin in my life. There I was face to face with my heavenly father crying out for forgiveness. After repenting I moved into the rest stage. I really thought this was going to be the hardest stage because my mind is always wondering off thinking about the kids, what needs to be done.. well pretty much thinking about everything. But it was not hard. There I was in the presence of God. It was this peaceful feeling. Everything was calm. It was as if no one else was there, just me and my Savior. I was truly just resting in the presence of the Lord.
I urge you all to try this way of scripture reading. We did this for 30 minutes and it felt like 10. Find a quiet place in your house. Try to get in a place with no distractions. Snuggle up in your favorite chair, get comfortable, and just let God speak to you through his word. I also would recommend having a piece of paper and a pen with you. I found it a lot easier to journal through this process. Here are a few of the scriptures that she gave us to practice this discipline with; Psalm 121, and Proverbs 2:1-6.
I will end this blog entry with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. "The Word of Scripture should never stop sounding in your ears and working in you all day long, just like the words of someone you love. And just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love, but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart, as Mary did. That is all. That is meditation...Do no ask "How shall I pass this on?" but "What does it say to me?" Then ponder this Word long in your heart until it has gone right into you and taken possession of you."
Just like Daddy
When Brandon was about four years old his daddy worked for the Overland Park Police department. He brought this shirt home for Brandon one day. My mother in law kept it and passed it down to Daniel. He loves this shirt and wears it all the time. I think he looks really cute in it! This picture is up here for Nanny and Papa to see their grandson in his daddy's shirt, and to spark some memories of when their own baby boy was this age! Enjoy it! We love you!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Big Brother
Daniel loves being a big brother. He is always asking to help me with Monica. Just yesterday he asked me if Jesus has put another baby in my belly because he wants two sisters. Of course I had to break the news to him that it will be a long time before Jesus puts another baby in mommies belly! He is such a wonderful big brother. Monica is really blessed to have him as her brother. I am blessed to have such wonderful children! Here are some pictures of Daniel giving Monica a bath. 
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Girl Issues
I found this onesie that Aunt Richell bought to be really cute. I think that you can read it but in case you cannot, it says "Does this diaper make my butt look big?"
Daniel's Friends
I found that it is really hard to take a good picture of three toddlers. There is always one who is not paying attention. So here are my attempts to take some shots of the kids that I babysit. Aren't they cute????
Monday, September 17, 2007
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