The Good Portion

Oh, and a picture of my dear husband and poor Mao, yesterday - a much happier day for being Mao. For those who expressed an interest (ie. Jeri), here are a couple of pictures of my kitchen before the paint job. So, hopefully, in a few weeks I'll have some after shots. I've started with the cabinets (which I blogged about this morning), then plan to do the walls in pretty green and yellow.

Folks are finally beginning to acknowledge what science has become for them. Check out the Atheon: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/can-science-rep.html?npu=1&mbid=yhp

What I've done so far this morning, in reverse order, starting now: Sit down to type this. Fight back tears. Thank God the furniture's okay. Open the mail (good and bad news). Move the sprinkler. Scrub the kitchen counters. Scrub in the sink the most comfortable shoes ever, which I've owned for less than 12 hours. Put a load of paint stained towels in the washer. Put my favorite, and thankfully now clean, $60 shorts in the dryer. Scrub the shower with stainless steel scouring pad. Scrub the kitchen floor (with same steel pad), in underwear & ruined t-shirt. Scrub the kitchen chair. Sop up with towels puddles of black latex paint from the kitchen chair and floor & along the path into the living room with one hand, while holding a tightly towel-wrapped soaking wet somewhat cleaner cat. (Mao) Fight and wash squirming, shaking, splattering, black-paint covered cat in bath tub and get self and shower completely covered with watered down black latex paint. Breathe an unit...

I just learned of the news of Paul Newman's death. I don't know why this one in particular brought tears to my eyes. He was a generation ahead of me. I guess it's because he was a class act, a legend, whose name and blue eyes I've known all my life - now no longer living. But after reading a tribute to his life, his movies, his racing, his business, his massive donations to charity, what really impressed me was one quote. When asked about the secret to the success of his 50 year marriage to actress Joanne Woodward, he had this to say: "Why fool around with hamburger when you have steak at home?"

Today I have the day off; and Paul's at work. I slept in until nearly 10:00 because I've been needing the sleep for a few weeks now, and have felt a cold coming on since yesterday morning. I keep hoping it's just the allergies that come with the change of season around here (so many trees and molds doing their things to my sinuses), but it's beginning to feel like more than that. Anyway, I'm surrounded with laundry, and books. So I think I'll invest the better part of today on the book business, and laundry. Then maybe on Monday I'll feel free to start painting the kitchen. Here's the thing. I bought all the paint for the kitchen, including a gallon of the glossiest, whitest white I could find for the cabinets and trim. And now I've changed my mind and decided to do the cabinets in black. I know it sounds horrible, but the wall colors are so bright and I think the black will make it look crisper, and less easter-eggy. So now I have to spend ...

In my recent post, Do You Love God?, I ended with a list of commitments for fostering/preserving unity in the body of Christ (which I pulled from my Aug. 08 Tabletalk Magazine). Well, my friend Nahomi at www.couragetotremble.wordpress.com responded on her blog with three more very worthy commitments. "I would like to add some more to the list: "I will endevour to recognise the practices of my church that fall under the nonessentials category. So that we may not ever bind on others or teach as divine doctrine what is but the mere precept of man. I will try to distinguish between application/practice (that came from the minds of godly, albeit fallible, men) and the underlying Biblical doctrine (that came from the immutable word of God). "I will endevour to impress upon my forgetful and ungrateful heart the fact that I have been forgiven much (and continue to be forgiven much) and must therefore be gracious and patient with those who appear to me to lack in their understa...

We missed the big one, the big holiday, the one we've been waiting for all year... National Punctuation Day. Apparently it was on September 24. Well, my theory is this: Paul went and whited it out of my calendar so I couldn't use it as an excuse to tease him for being anti-comma. Click here for the hilarious thoughts of a professional copy editor about this under-appreciated day: http://www.boundlessline.org/2008/09/lapsing-into-a.html .

Okay, I'm on a link jag, I know. This time you can blame David Porter over at www.boomerinthepew.com . But this site, http://www.marshillaudio.org/default.asp , has an incredible slection of deeply thoughtful, educational, and culturally/timely relevant audio. I'm sitting here listening to a discussion on how our modern culture trains us to be cynical, and how we as believers can be aware of it, and combat it in our own lives. There are hundreds of such things available, to listen to online or download to MP3. (By the way, in case you were wondering, this is not an affiliate of Mars Hill Church.) This is a really incredible resource.

Well, and anyone else who's curious about life in the womb. GE has created a 4D timeline of images of fetal development from six weeks to birth. Check it out. http://www.gehealthcare.com/usen/patient/ultrasound/obtimeline_new.html

Well, leave it again to Al Mohler to bring clear thinking back to the surface. I honestly don't know how he managed to pack so much information and hope into such a tight package. Check it out, you'll be informed and encouraged: http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2550

Do you love God? How do you know? Is love for God synonymous with obedience? Is obedience enough, or does there need to be a warm affection connected with it? Do you ever wonder if you really love God, or what that even means, or how it looks? I've been pondering these questions over the last few days. I've gone around and around with the Scriptures on this, and what I've found has been both convicting and challenging. A while back, Paul and I arrived at 1 John in our nightly Scripture reading. It's a familiar book and I rather assumed I knew what it had to say. But reading aloud, hearing the words as they came out of my mouth, I became perplexed. I didn't understand it. Oh, the words were clear, but the train of thought - the logic of it entirely escaped me. John seemed to me to be talking in circles. (Paul said he ended up feeling the same way.) I guess when I've read it before, I haven't slowed down enough to notice I didn't understand, just grabbed...

I haven't the time to do much writing of my own for the moment. But here is something that every Christian should read. This one hits me really close to home. Those of you who have known me for any length of time know that I am responsible for the care of my 86 year old mother. Her health is stable at the moment, but her quality of life is terrible. She's not by nature a very happy woman, and less so now that she has lost her independence. Were I not a Christian I could find myself sharing the sentiments described in the link that follows; but I AM a Christian, and see that her life has meaning and value, to her (whether she recognizes it or not) and to me, though seeing her this way is difficult and painful. God has ordained this period in her life, just as he ordained her infancy - an even more helpless condition. Because she's not as cute as her infant self was, does not negate her worth. Because she's closer to the end of her life than she was in the beginn...

As usual, Al Mohler dishes us up some food for thought: http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2524

Want to know how a prominent emergent "Christian" answers that very direct question? Click on this: http://michaelkrahn.com/blog/2008/09/21/brian-mclaren-what-is-the-gospel/ Apparently to some folks, no news really is good news.

This is the latest in my participation in Reading the Clas sics over at http://www.challies.com/ . We're currently working our way through Jonathan Edwards' classic Religious Affections. Religious Affections, The Fifth Sign I found this section a bit more difficult to get a handle on than those previous, but, as usual, Edwards' way of restating the same thing in different ways, from different angles, over and over, finally got through my thick skull. This was not the section to try to read at bedtime. Once I caught on, however, I was amazed to recognize my pre-converted self yet again; and yet again received much understanding and encouragement. There were a few years where my "Christianity" mainly involved reading and affirming things folks like Josh McDowell and CRI and ICR put out. (Mind you, I'm not diminishing the value of those things in the least.) I was constantly proving the truth of Christianity to myself and keeping myself convinced. My "faith...

- this time about the comfort that comes from the knowledge of the sovereignty of God: http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1395_all_gods_musts_require_trust/#LinksToThisPost

Okay girls, here's a nice little decorating-type site for you - the kind of stuff regular folks on regular budgets (or less than regular budgets) can get into. It appears to be put together by a pack of regular gals as well: http://openhouse.homegoods.com/ (I found this on the blog of a new visitor to my site, the wife of a Lutheran minister in Missouri: http://countingmyblessings.typepad.com/ )

Here's the link to Paul's latest devotional. It's the first in what should turn out to be a three-parter on Acts 10: http://possumbane.livejournal.com/414971.html Oh, by the way, we're down to one computer at the moment (Paul's died the death - possibly just the power source); so, between my husband, myself, and my teenage son, time for posting is limited.

This little moment of fame for one Downs Syndrome child has apparently already accomplished a lot. It's got an influential group of Canadian doctors up in arms with concern that seeing this child might prevent mothers from aborting their possibly Downs Syndrome infants: http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2454 . Election politics aside, and opinions of Sarah Palin aside, (and I will refuse to discuss election politics on my blog as well as in most other places) I must say that , this has been a golden moment for Downs Syndrome children, those living and those not-yet conceived. As a woman at high "risk" for giving birth to such a child, should I by some miracle actually conceive in the first place, I'm glad to see anything that would make the world a more welcoming place for my hypothetical Downs Syndrome child, and of course for those very real, living and breathing children who are truly just the remnants - the 10% or so who have survived this particular...

Tagged by jilrani 1. How many songs are on your Ipod? my Ipod technically belongs to my husband, but he keeps a file of sermons and lectures for me to listen to while I'm at work. (He has 8433 songs.) 2. What do you do before bedtime? Paul goes to bed earlier than I. So I read the Bible with him in bed, then, while he sleeps, I do dishes, laundry, blog....until my bedtime, when I read a bit before falling to sleep. 3. What magazines do you have subscriptions to? Smithsonian & Tabletalk 4. What is your favorite sound? expository preaching (and in particular the comforting voices of R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, John Piper, and strangely enough, James White). 5. If you had a million dollars that you could spend only on yourself, what would you do with it? pay off my mortgage and do all our home improvements (especially fencing in the back yard), get medical insurance and get a check-up for everyone in my family - pets included, buy a new computer and a copier for the church...

Here's one I got a kick out of: http://www.cyriak.co.uk/lhc/lhc-webcams.html

Good grief, I nearly forgot to post the link to Paul's latest devotional. The theme of this one is Reformation Day. Don't miss it; it's a doozy! http://possumbane.livejournal.com/411384.html

My pastor sent this out this morning via e-mail. I've posted it here for my future reference, and for the benefit of those who may not have read it already. It is very concise, very helpful, and very true. These are the effects the Doctrines of Grace have had upon me. Ten Effects of Believing in the Five Points of Calvinism by Dr. John Piper (April 20, 2002) These ten points are my personal testimony to the effects of believing in the five points of Calvinism. I have just completed teaching a seminar on this topic and was asked by the class members to post these reflections so they could have access to them. I am happy to do so. They, of course, assume the content of the course, which is available on tape from Desiring God Ministries, but I will put them here for wider use in the hope that they might stir others to search, Berean-like, to see if the Bible teaches what I call "Calvinism." 1. These truths make me stand in awe of God and lead me into the depth of true ...

(This is a contination of my participation in http://www.challies.com/ Reading the Classics Together on-line reading group.) I found this chapter really helpful. I come from a non-reformed background, where the Scripture was used in just about every way imaginable, but seldom in the way in which God intended it to be used. This chapter has a lot to teach regarding everyday discernment, in the correct use of Scripture, in dealing with others, and our own hearts. It is often the case, within and without the Church, that we encounter people communicating with great passion, and as a result we can be moved, not necessarily by what is actually being said so much as by their forcefulness, and the variety of strong feelings evoked in us. It is critical that we be able to set aside, to the degree necessary for clear thinking , our strong emotional responses to communications that impact our lives, so that we can examine what is actually being said for its truth and value. It is also impor...

Have you ever noticed that the folks in the natural food stores seem to be either "hippies" - or Christians.? Have you ever noticed that Libertarians seem to often be either very left wing - or very right wing? Paul and I have often commented upon how often "hippies" and Christians find themselves on the same side of things for entirely different reasons. Like the midwife I consulted with (in case of a miracle) - she was a midwife with an acupuncturist/herbologist husband - your standard earth-mother. She smiled with approval that I would refuse to undergo invasive testing to identify if my hypothetical child would be in some way sub-standard, and that I would refuse abortion no matter what. I knew we were on the same page. I noticed back in my homeschool days, because I homeschooled through a public school district rather than independently, that the homeschool families were fairly evenly divided between Christians and "hippie types".And now I subm...