Recently I overheard my son singing Twila Paris’ “Lamb of God” with a different twist. He was happily and proudly singing his own revised version of the song without really knowing it. The correct lyrics for the first stanza are:

Your only Son
No sin to hide
But You have sent Him,
From Your side
To walk upon this guilty sod
And to become the Lamb of God

When he changed the first line to “Your only Son, You choose to kill“ I burst into laughter. As I told my husband, his revision was not very poetic and the word choice was not the best. But he is theologically correct:

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10)

For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:26-28)

I suppose he may have a future as a theologian even if becoming a artistic poet is out.

During our family devotion this morning, my son asked why people persecute Jesus and those who follow Him. I explained that Jesus himself said in the Bible that people would hate and despise Him. In his mind, he just couldn’t understand why people would hate Jesus. I went on to explain that all people are sinful (including mommy, daddy, his sisters and brother) and that they don’t like the things of God. He responded, “Not [13 month old] Calissa, she can’t do anything wrong.” I chuckled inside and was very glad that he loves his baby sister enough to attribute sweet innocence to her. However, I explained that even Calissa is born with sin. He sure loves his sister, even if he’s theologically incorrect.

So I brought home some churros for the kids as a treat for after dinner.

Matthew: I’m full and I want a churro.

Mom: That doesn’t make any sense. If you were full, then you couldn’t eat a churro.

Matthew: Hmm… I’m done then.

Clever boy.

Our three oldest children, ages 5, 3, 2, were playing in the living room unsupervised. I was in the kitchen, and overhearing them playing, I just had to go in and see exactly what they were doing.

I walked in to discover Emmaline (age 2) lying on the coffee table with a blanket draped over her. I learned from Matthew that he was performing a hip surgery on Emmaline while Andrew was administering medicine with an empty roll of toilet paper over her mouth. It was such a hilarious sight that I snapped several pictures just to document this “medical” feat.

As many of our readers know, Emmaline underwent REAL surgeries last year to correct her dislocated hips. Naturally, Matthew still remembered these — she’s only recently really begun to walk and run normally — and thus re-enacted the whole surgery.  At least, as he envisioned it. I was quite amused. Matthew talked like a real surgeon, “Emmie, lie down, I’m going to cut you up. Andrew, give her some medicine. Okay, Emmie, you’re all done, but you need to stay in the hospital for the night.” I was also rather surprised that both Andrew and Emmaline did exactly what Matthew wanted them to do. I was very glad that they played so well together. That’s another one of the joys of having a slightly larger than average family.

Here’s a photo of the operating room.  Click to view it full size.

For our morning devotional time, the kids and I read the Bible and then a chapter from Susan Hunt’s Big Truths For Little Kids. Today, after reading the story in the book, I asked my almost five year old son how the little boy Daniel in the story felt about his sin. Matthew replied, “He feels lucky.” Lucky? I was so dumbfounded. Where did he get that? We have been going over the Westminster Catechism with him for a while now and certainly he knows the answer ain’t feeling “lucky!”

I was very relieved to know that what he actually meant was “yucky” as indicated in the book. For some reason he heard “lucky” when I read it. Whew! I certainly don’t want my boy to view sinning as a stroke of luck!

This weekend we went to Evers’ company holiday party. As we weaved through the crowd, I got introduced to his colleagues and their respective spouses. One thing, and only one thing, that kept coming up after each introduction was. . . . “This is Evers and his wife, they have FOUR kids!” Then I see their eyes widen and their mouths gasp. I was amused. My husband tells me that at work he is known as the man with four kids. So, there you have it. . . . our greatest achievements are our four kids!

Fancy words? We just enjoyed watching Akeelah and the Bee, a very nice story about a young black girl in south L.A. who makes it her ambition to get to (and win) the National Spelling Bee. Lots of words which you and I will never ever encounter in real life. One of the words in the “championship round”: logorrhea, defined in Webster’s thus:

Main Entry: log·or·rhea
Pronunciation: “lo-g&-’rE-&, “lä-
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin
: excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness

For those of who not seeing the connection, the word is derived from Greek logos, “word” + rhein, “to flow.” Of course, that latter root is from whence we get the word “diarrhea.” See the connection?

I immediately thought of our oldest four-year-old son who can’t seem to stop talking. Even when he says he’ll stop. Lois and I shared a look when that word was defined in the movie.

As for “one-sided complaints,” has anyone else ever noticed how people complain that “there’s always so many dishes to wash,” and “there’s always clothes to pick up”…. but no one ever says with that same tone, “Why is there another meal on the table?!!!”