I was given the privilege of preaching to our church yesterday.  My primary text was Hebrews 13:17:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

This was an interesting text for me which to preach, as I am not on the leadership body of our church (i.e. an elder).  So in some sense there was an advantage I had, as there would be no appearance of a conflict of interest in my bringing this word. In the months I spent thinking on this text, the Lord used it, in fact, to draw attention to areas where I was failing to obey this command in the most subtle ways.

The audio of the sermon is free for download here.  In addition, you can download my detailed sermon notes as well as an addendum I included in response to the question of when should we not obey leaders of the church.

I know quite a few eligible, godly, and attractive young ladies who want to get marry and start a family, but feel frustrated by the apparent absence of mature and godly men interested in pursuing them.  In the meantime, they are waiting patiently and anxiously, but the process of waiting is difficult at times.  I came across Nancy Wilson’s recent posts about this specific subject that I know will benefit my single female audience.  In Wilson’s Unmarried and Fruitful post, she writes:

In your thinking, do not let marriage become an end rather than a means. Marriage is a means of glorifying God, not an end in itself. Determine to use your unmarried state as a means of glorifying God as well, and don’t allow marriage to become something other than what it is in the created order. In other words, don’t let it become an idol, something that has way too much importance to you, so that you believe you are only half a person or that you are being held back spiritually because of your unmarried state.

Read more…

I made some pretty hair bows for the girls, and here they are proudly wearing their bows.

Some of the the hair bows I made:

These fabric flower hair bows are so easy to make and I find it quite relaxing sitting in my rocker and hand stitching these pretty things.  So, do you want to make one for your girl?  If so, here’s the step-by-step awesome tutorial.  Girls are so fun to decorate, oops, I mean dress up.

Matthew turned 7 last Saturday, and we celebrated with a family outing to a local amusement park. It really is amazing: he’s getting so big, so capable… and yet still a little boy who loves to cuddle with his mom & dad.  I’m so grateful that God put him in our lives!

In honor of his birthday, Lois (at his request) made him a “crown and cape” like his brother‘s.  Crown & his birthday cake shown here:

And a little fun “dinosaur” face:

For a family of seven, we go through a lot of paper napkins each day and we’re constantly running out of them.  I finally wised up and made cloth napkins using the serger I received for my birthday.  Now our eating experience gets more exciting using cloth napkins.  The kids can choose from standard looking ones to cute turtle prints & lady bug prints to pretty pink flower prints.

Here are the cloth napkins (10″ x 10″ in size):

I simply fold these in half (actually, the kids fold them) and store them in a basket on the dining table:

I love it when it’s both economical and fun.

I’m attempting to better redeem my time by renewing the practice of reading good books, when I can squeeze it in each day.  I certainly have enough candidates awaiting my attention on my bookshelf.  So after speed-reading Tim Keller’s provocative and excellent book, The Prodigal God, I’ve decided to begin reading a modernized (but unabridged) collection of three classic works by Puritan John Owen (1616-1683), in a book titled Overcoming Sin and Temptation.

As I began a couple of days ago (in the introduction), I came across an eloquent insight on overcoming temptation.

“Let a soul exercise itself to a communion with Christ in the good things of the gospel—pardon of sin, fruits of holiness, hope of glory, peace with God, joy in the Holy Ghost, dominion over sin—and he shall have a mighty preservative against all temptations.” — Works of John Owen, 6:144

Do you struggle with temptations?  I sure do.  Every day.  In areas I expect, and in ways that surprise me.  And I often feel helpless.  So it was of great encouragement that I read the above reminder on how to best battle against temptation.  When I face temptation, especially of “old” sins that keep cropping up, I find myself tending to dwell on that sin: how come I haven’t defeated it, why it keeps recurring, etc.

Owen’s point is simple.  It is not through that sort of ongoing self-introspection that we best battle remaining sin.  Rather, it is through frequent and regular meditation upon and relating to God through the graces of His gospel.  A focus not on self, but on God in Christ and the glories of the gospel, is the surest weapon in our struggle against temptation and sin while we remain on this earth.

An analogy comes to mind.  What’s the best way to keep weeds out of a lawn?  Wheelbarrows of weed-killer every day?  I think not.  The best way to keep weeds out of a lawn is to keep the grass healthy and thriving through ongoing mowing, water and nutrition.  Yet when I attempt to defeat sin by focusing on temptation and sin and self, I’m essentially trying to kill the weeds of sin in my life solely through ongoing weed-killer.  Instead, to overcome sin and temptation, I ought to be primarily focused on sustaining a healthy, thriving communion with Christ, grounded in and dwelling on the gospel and its promises.  And what do you know… that also “happens” to be the best way to keep sin from taking root in my life.

And surely this is a crucial strategy to grasp, for, as Owen has also said: “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

Our #2 turned 5 today on Easter Sunday.

I made a reversible superhero cape for him.  The red side has the Superman logo and the black side has a lightning bolt with his initial.

Here he is with his intoxicating smile:

And his “prince for a day” birthday crown with a “5″ in commemoration of five years of fun-filled living!

He requested a blue dinosaur cake:

Here am I with my birthday boy:

What we found through the years is that the kids really enjoy the simplicity of having a special birthday cake of their choice.  This year we did not purchase any toys for Andrew and we discovered that he felt more special with the gifts I made for him.  We are blessed to have a special boy like Andrew.