Knorr Korner

Sea Isle 2010

2010-09-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

Oilpaint

2010-07-20T10:21:00.001-07:00

Just discovered a free plugin for Photoshop (Pixelbender) that did a pretty good job on this picture we took at Estes Park.

Fireworks at the Lake

2010-07-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

Independence Day 2010

2010-07-05T05:34:00.001-07:00

Video proof of what would otherwise be hard to believe.

The video keeps restarting about half way through. Not sure what the deal is with that. Here's a link to the mpeg.

Scenes from RMNP

2010-06-25T09:47:00.000-07:00

It has taken me a bit to want to post these pictures. When the real thing was more freshly in my mind, these pictures looked quite pitiful. That place is amazing. I also regret having seen so very little. Guess we'll have to go back.

Eli's BIG Brothers

2010-06-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

We were able to meet with Eli's brothers on Sunday. We had a very good time. I think we should start storing up food now.

And Beyond

2010-04-17T04:34:00.000-07:00

The Expanding Universe

2010-03-08T12:43:00.000-08:00

If the universe is expanding as science tells us it is, then what must it look like at the outer boundary of the universe as the material presses into nothing? What concept of that process do we have? As I think about this and correct me where I am mistaken, "expansion of the universe" is a naturalistic phrase? it seems to imply that the universe is only getting larger in boundary but doesn't it rather imply that at the outer edge there is an ongoing act of creation? Is it otherwise possible for something to expand into nothing? Has anyone thought of this before or seen it dealt with elsewhere?

One potential problem is that on the seventh day God rested from His work. I think there is a way to deal with that problem because God continues to create human souls and so resting on the seventh day does not imply a total cessation of creation on the part of God. I also think of the doctrine of God's upholding all things by the word of his power. This is, I believe, where Edwards gets his doctrine of continuous creation. If I remember correctly, Edwards thought that God preserving creation is like Him creating it anew every instant of time. If God were in the next instant to not will creation to exist, it would cease to exist that quickly.

All of this is just one more thought that adds to our consciousness of the greatness of God. God sends His Son to die on a speck of the universe, proving his love to each and every individual sinner whom He has called on that speck, knowing them intimately. In His spare time, as it were, He is continually creating around the entire expanse of the universe. Amen.

Recent Pics

2010-03-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

We've been really bad about maintaining our pics this long winter. Here's a few that I do have uploaded online from recent months.

Eli loves anything LEGOS. This set is a Christmas present from Gammie.

Valentine's Day morning.

We went to the lake last weekend to get a little sun.

While eating snow, Eli lost his first tooth. It surprised everyone because we didn't even know it was loose. A couple of days later he lost the adjacent tooth. Now he can quite easily drink his juice through a straw without opening his mouth.

Our little Paduan.

He has no hope who never had a fear

2009-11-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

Saved from something.

See where it smokes along the sounding plain,
Blown all aslant, a driving, dashing rain,
Peal upon peal redoubling all around,
Shakes it again and faster to the ground;
Now flashing wide, now glancing as in play,
Swift beyond thought the lightnings dart away.
Ere yet it came the traveller urged his steed,
And hurried, but with unsuccessful speed;
Now drench’d throughout, and hopeless of his case,
He drops the rein, and leaves him to his pace.
Suppose, unlook’d-for in a scene so rude,
Long hid by interposing hill or wood,
Some mansion, neat and elegantly dress’d,
By some kind hospitable heart possess’d,
Offer him warmth, security, and rest;
Think with what pleasure, safe, and at his ease,
He hears the tempest howling in the trees;
What glowing thanks his lips and heart employ,
While danger past is turn’d to present joy.
So fares it with the sinner, when he feels
A growing dread of vengeance at his heels:
His conscience like a glassy lake before,
Lash’d into foaming waves, begins to roar;
The law, grown clamorous, though silent long,
Arraigns him, charges him with every wrong—
Asserts the right of his offended Lord,
And death, or restitution, is the word:
The last impossible, he fears the first,
And, having well deserved, expects the worst.
Then welcome refuge and a peaceful home;
O for a shelter from the wrath to come!
Crush me, ye rocks; ye falling mountains, hide,
Or bury me in ocean’s angry tide!—
The scrutiny of those all-seeing eyes
I dare not—And you need not, God replies;
The remedy you want I freely give;
The Book shall teach you—read, believe, and live!
‘Tis done—the raging storm is heard no more,
Mercy receives him on her peaceful shore:
And Justice, guardian of the dread command,
Drops the red vengeance from his willing hand.
A soul redeem’d demands a life of praise;
Hence the complexion of his future days,
Hence a demeanour holy and unspeck’d,
And the world’s hatred, as its sure effect.

Some lead a life unblameable and just,
Their own dear virtue their unshaken trust:
They never sin—or if (as all offend)
Some trivial slips their daily walk attend,
The poor are near at hand, the charge is small,
A slight gratuity atones for all.
For though the Pope has lost his interest here,
And pardons are not sold as once they were,
No Papist more desirous to compound,
Than some grave sinners upon English ground.
That plea refuted, other quirks they seek—
Mercy is infinite, and man is weak;
The future shall obliterate the past,
And heaven, no doubt, shall be their home at last.

Come, then—a still, small whisper in your ear—
He has no hope who never had a fear;
And he that never doubted of his state,
He may perhaps—perhaps he may—too late.

-good stuff from William Cowper's, Truth

Spiderman

2009-10-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Remind me in about 10 years when we can pull these pictures out for full effect. The boy loves this costume.

Family Picture at Loose

2009-10-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

This picture represents a small miracle in that we were able to get this shot with a remote shutter release and everyone looking at the camera and smiling. The only head we had to clone was the man's with the clicker who was overly concentrating on said clicker.

Preference?

2009-10-04T06:01:00.000-07:00

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Football

2009-09-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

Smithville High School has a nice, turf football field. On Sunday we practiced a few plays much to the boys excitement.

KC Airshow

2009-08-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

Both boys were very excited to go to the Air Show. For Eli it was a nervous excitement. We parked at Briarcliff and took a nice Arrow Bus to the downtown airport. Eli was nervously talking nonstop. As providence would dictate, we arrived at the airport just as the US Navy F18 was taking off. What amazing power and noise! Eli was terrified. He was so excited but in that split second he was ready to be as far away from that place as he could get. My Mom graciously bought him some head phones and he wore those along with the ear plugs we brought with us for the entire 3 hours we were there. They seemed to help. Isaac was upset but mainly, I think, to see how Eli was so distraught. After the F18 things quieted down and everyone had a good time.

Grace makes the slave a freeman

2009-07-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

I'll recognize Calvin's birthday by way of William Cowper. Excerpted from The Task, Book V, Lines 589 - 714

Chains are the portion of revolted man,
Stripes, and a dungeon; and his body serves
The triple purpose. In that sickly, foul,
Opprobrious residence he finds them all.
Propense his heart to idols, he is held
In silly dotage on created things,
Careless of their Creator. And that low
And sordid gravitation of his powers
To a vile clod so draws him, with such force
Resistless from the centre he should seek,
That he at last forgets it. All his hopes
Tend downward; his ambition is to sink,
To reach a depth profounder still, and still
Profounder, in the fathomless abyss
Of folly, plunging in pursuit of death.
But, ere he gain the comfortless repose
He seeks, and aquiescence of his soul,
In heaven-renouncing exile, he endures—
What does he not, from lusts opposed in vain,
And self-reproaching conscience? He foresees
The fatal issue to his health, fame, peace,
Fortune, and dignity; the loss of all
That can ennoble man, and make frail life,
Short as it is, supportable. Still worse,
Far worse than all the plagues, with which his sins
Infect his happiest moments, he forebodes
Ages of hopeless misery. Future death,
And death still future. Not a hasty stroke,
Like that which sends him to the dusty grave:
But unrepealable enduring death.
Scripture is still a trumpet to his fears:
What none can prove a forgery may be true;
What none but bad men wish exploded must.
That scruple checks him. Riot is not loud
Nor drunk enough to drown it. In the midst
Of laughter his compunctions are sincere;
And he abhors the jest by which he shines.
Remorse begets reform. His master-lust
Falls first before his resolute rebuke,
And seems dethroned and vanquish’d. Peace ensues,
But spurious and short-lived; the puny child
Of self-congratulating pride, begot
On fancied innocence. Again he falls,
And fights again; but finds his best essay
A presage ominous, portending still
Its own dishonour by a worse relapse.
Till Nature, unavailing Nature, foil’d
So oft, and wearied in the vain attempt,
Scoffs at her own performance. Reason now
Takes part with appetite, and pleads the cause
Perversely, which of late she so condemn’d;
With shallow shifts and old devices, worn
And tatter’d in the service of debauch,
Covering his shame from his offended sight.

“Hath God indeed given appetites to man,
And stored the earth so plenteously with means
To gratify the hunger of his wish;
And doth he reprobate, and will he damn
The use of his own bounty? making first
So frail a kind, and then enacting laws
So strict, that less than perfect must despair?
Falsehood! which whoso but suspects of truth
Dishonours God, and makes a slave of man.
Do they themselves, who undertake for hire
The teacher’s office, and dispense at large
Their weekly dole of edifying strains,
Attend to their own music? have they faith
In what, with such solemnity of tone
And gesture, they propound to our belief?
Nay—conduct hath the loudest tongue. The voice
Is but an instrument, on which the priest
May play what tune he pleases. In the deed,
The unequivocal, authentic deed,
We find sound argument, we read the heart.”

Such reasonings (if that name must needs belong
To excuses in which reason has no part)
Serve to compose a spirit well inclined
To live on terms of amity with vice,
And sin without disturbance. Often urged
(As often as libidinous discourse
Exhausted, he resorts to solemn themes
Of theological and grave import),
They gain at last his unreserved assent;
Till harden’d his heart’s temper in the forge
Of lust, and on the anvil of despair,
He slights the strokes of conscience. Nothing moves
Or nothing much, his constancy in ill;
Vain tampering has but foster’d his disease;
‘Tis desperate, and he sleeps the sleep of death.
Haste now, philosopher, and set him free.
Charm the deaf serpent wisely. Make him hear
Of rectitude and fitness, moral truth
How lovely, and the moral sense how sure,
Consulted and obey’d, to guide his steps
Directly to the first and only fair.
Spare not in such a cause. Spend all the powers
Of rant and rhapsody in virtue’s praise:
Be most sublimely good, verbosely grand,
And with poetic trappings grace thy prose,
Till it outmantle all the pride of verse.—
Ah, tinkling cymbal, and high-sounding brass,
Smitten in vain! such music cannot charm
The eclipse that intercepts truth’s heavenly beam,
And chills and darkens a wide wandering soul.
The STILL SMALL VOICE is wanted. He must speak,
Whose word leaps forth at once to its effect;
Who calls for things that are not, and they come.

Grace makes the slave a freeman. ‘Tis a change
That turns to ridicule the turgid speech
And stately tone of moralists, who boast,
As if, like him of fabulous renown,
They had indeed ability to smooth
The shag of savage nature, and were each
An Orpheus, and omnipotent in song.
But transformation of apostate man
From fool to wise, from earthly to divine,
Is work for Him that made him. He alone,
And He by means in philosophic eyes
Trivial and worthy of disdain, achieves
The wonder; humanizing what is brute
In the lost kind, extracting from the lips
Of asps their venom, overpowering strength
By weakness, and hostility by love.

More SIC09 Pictures

2009-07-10T06:43:00.000-07:00

Looking through these, the best pictures we took of the little man were of him running away from us.

2500 Miles, 2500 Pictures

2009-07-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here's just one picture. We had a great trip to Sea Isle City, New Jersey. Both boys loved the beach. What a blessing.

The Ks at the K

2009-06-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

It was our first ballgame at the K since Isaac was 2 weeks old (we saw a game in St. Louis last year). The Cards romped the Royals, btw.

The Lord's "august design" in Natural Revelation

2009-06-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

Below is an excerpt from William Cowper's poem, Hope. Cowper has been called the "apostle of nature" for reasons such as the below.

I can print the entire poem as a little booklet upon request. I think reading it is worth the effort required. As an example of the effort required, I had to do some research to find out who Cowper referred to as Leuconomus ("beneath well-sounding Greek I slur a name a poet must not speak"). Can anyone decipher the saint who Cowper is referring to???

The just Creator condescends to write,
In beams of inextinguishable light,
His names of wisdom, goodness, power, and love,
On all that blooms below, or shines above;
To catch the wandering notice of mankind,
And teach the world, if not perversely blind,
His gracious attributes, and prove the share
His offspring hold in his paternal care.
If, led from earthly things to things divine,
His creature thwart not his august design,
Then praise is heard instead of reasoning pride,
And captious cavil and complaint subside.
Nature, employ’d in her allotted place,
Is handmaid to the purposes of grace;
By good vouchsafed makes known superior good,
And bliss not seen by blessings understood:
That bliss, reveal’d in Scripture, with a glow
Bright as the covenant-insuring bow,
Fires all his feelings with a noble scorn
Of sensual evil, and thus Hope is born.

Hope sets the stamp of vanity on all
That men have deem’d substantial since the fall,
Yet has the wondrous virtue to educe
From emptiness itself a real use;
And while she takes, as at a father’s hand,
What health and sober appetite demand,
From fading good derives, with chemic art,
That lasting happiness, a thankful heart.
Hope, with uplifted foot, set free from earth,
Pants for the place of her ethereal birth,
On steady wings sails through the immense abyss,
Plucks amaranthine joys from bowers of bliss,
And crowns the soul, while yet a mourner here,
With wreaths like those triumphant spirits wear.
Hope, as an anchor, firm and sure, holds fast
The Christian vessel, and defies the blast.
Hope! nothing else can nourish and secure
His new-born virtues, and preserve him pure.
Hope! let the wretch, once conscious of the joy,
Whom now despairing agonies destroy,
Speak, for he can, and none so well as he,
What treasures centre, what delights, in thee.
Had he the gems, the spices, and the land,
That boasts the treasure, all at his command;
The fragrant grove, the inestimable mine,
Were light, when weigh’d against one smile of thine.

St. Louis Trip

2009-04-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a slideshow of pictures from our St. Louis trip, most of which are of the spectacular Missouri Botanical Garden. If you are ever in St. Louis, do yourself a favor and stop by. It turns 150 years old this year making it the oldest such garden in the country and is home to a 14 acre Japanese garden which is the largest Japanese strolling garden in the Western Hemisphere. We couldn't have been there at a better time; it was on fire with spring color. As the saying goes, the pictures don't do it justice. As I think back, I am kicking myself for the pictures we didn't take. I think there is a bit of sensory overload that begins to kick in. Not only do they have the beautiful Japanese Maples, flowering trees and shrubs and flowers, they also have the biggest Pin Oaks I have ever seen. There was a Pumpkin Ash so big you could fit your hand in the fissures of the bark. I am already looking forward to our return, maybe in the fall!

We also visited the Arch and the zoo (which is only 3 miles from the garden). At the zoo it turned cooler and sprinkled on us most of the time so we didn't get as many pictures. We had a good time and are thankful to Po for the trip!

Soccer

2009-04-17T05:08:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first night of soccer practice. The boy was pretty excited. There were probably 60 kids in his group (they broke them down to about 6 kids per coach for 10 "teams"). We have been playing in the back yard where we try to take the ball away from him (he also adds some of his own strange rules). Leading up to the practice he kept saying that he wasn't going to let any of the kids take his ball away. When we first got there I think he was a bit overwhelmed. We got his shirt and walked down to the fields and we said go get 'em. He said, "I am not playing with all of those kids." It didn't take him long to get out there though. He threw his ball out into the field, where everybody was kicking around with the coaches and parents, and chased after it. He likes to drop back about 30 yards and then and kick the ball (he's pretty tired by the time he actually gets to the ball). He's in the same group as cousin Tyler. He listened well and stayed pretty focused. We had to strong arm Isaac to keep him off the field.

Narnia at Union Station

2009-04-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

http://narnia.unionstation.org/

Good Morning

2009-04-04T08:42:00.000-07:00

From Crops

Long Time No See

2009-03-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, my Dad got us a new TV and a Wii. One of our favorite family games is Wii Sports Bowling. For Lisa's Birthday I took a couple of days off from work and we went "real bowling" as Eli says. Pretty exciting. You'll notice Eli crossing the line in one of the pics. He about jumped out of his skin when he heard the buzz.

We finished that day off at the Lake. Lord help us not to take these moments for granted.

We also have a Star Wars Legos game for the Wii and Eli's new favorite thing is Star Wars. He got a Star Wars Legos kit for Valentine's Day.

The little man is going to be the reactor of the family. His face absolutely lit up when he saw his puppy dog. The puppy dog still has priviledge in his crib.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-30T06:43:00.000-08:00

Some pics from this year's Christmas.

Isaac Climbs into Highchair

2008-12-29T19:54:00.000-08:00

He bloodied his lip twice today, but not while doing this.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T06:16:00.000-08:00

From Crops

Pics

2008-12-13T05:57:00.000-08:00

From Crops

Enraptured by a good story

From Crops

Happy Birthday Eli!

From Crops

Checking "Scroogeism"

2008-12-13T05:17:00.000-08:00

This is really good from R.C. Sproul.

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/2008/12/marleys-message-to-scrooge.html

As I have watched Eli's mind mature and become more easily enraptured with good story, I have been convicted of too often taking the mystery and story out of Christianity. Doctrine is so important. It is the foundation for absolutely everything. Without it, we can hold to nothing. Without it, worship is impossible. Again, we are so careful to not fall into the "doctrinelessness" of much of today's church or the mindless New Age spirituality of our age, that we totally lose the experiential quality of the faith. We must learn to leave room for mystery. In our care to rightly frame all things doctrinally, we must not end in an intellectual exercise only. We cannot be paralyzed by what is a healthy concern for right understanding and we shouldn't make others around us feel this way as well. We must, like little children, stand before the throne of God - knowing what we know about Him because He has revealed Himself and because we have so painfully slowly trained our minds to think His thoughts after Him - and be overwhelmed. That is the true experience of transcendence (which Oprah and her followers are longing for and yet will never find because they have lost doctrine of the miracle of Christmas - the transcendent God becoming eminent in the flesh of Jesus Christ); that is the essence of worship.

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

October Glory

2008-10-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

Here's my tribute to the last day of October. This was taken a couple of days ago of a Red Maple in front of our house. It's a late bloomer which makes me wonder if this is the October Glory cultivar of Red Maple. I have read somewhere that these trees would have been better named November Glory. If not October Glory then Red Sunset. Does anyone out there know how to tell the difference? In a few more years, we may find out because we planted one of each in the back yard this fall along with a Legacy Sugar Maple, Fiesta Sugar Maple, Autumn Blaze Red Maple Silver Maple cross, Burgundy Belle Red Maple and Brandywine Red Maple. We are waiting for the Yoshino Cherries to arrive from arborday next month.

From Landscape

October Sunrise

2008-10-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

When we lived on the north side of town, I used to admire the sunrises driving through town, on my way to work. This pic from March 2005 is an example of that appreciation

From Crops

Three years later, we can see the old barn from our back yard and experience the sunrises every morning. Those pesky electrical wires are visible in both pics but who's complaining :). The LORD is good.

From Crops

Fall Pictures

2008-10-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love Fall? Pics from Smithville Lake and Bluffwoods Conservation Area.

Hodge Podge

2008-10-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this in a while. Here's a hodge podge of pictures.

Desiring God National Conference 2008

Our frosh nephew, DJ

Fun with a Water Hose

2008-08-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Watering more than just our new trees.

The house we bought this spring had a pool that came with it. Needless to say, we have enjoyed it very much. True to form though, Eli is the most careful and concerned around and in the pool. He insists on being held even though we have various flotation devices that would keep him afloat. Many times this year when the rest of the family was in the pool Eli would say, "I'll swim tomorrow." Whenever he was brave enough to swim only holding one hand, in anxious excitement, he would call all to look at him. We worked with him several times trying to get him to duck his head under the water, with little success. The first thing he said after being drenched (See below) was, "I went under!"

Go ahead and fill it up again :)

Eli's Special Talent

2008-08-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

Eli is notorious for falling asleep while eating. Here's a couple from May 2006.

We have video of him actually eating while in that wonderful stage of almost sleep but tonight's picture may take the taco, so to speak.

Fall is Coming

2008-08-09T05:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Maya!

2008-08-03T20:53:00.001-07:00

July Pictures

2008-07-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Birthday Cake

2008-07-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

The boy knew what to do with the cake. He ate a lot of it but actually slept as good as he ever has last night.

Eli and Fireworks

2008-07-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

This picture pretty much says it all.

Happy Birthday Isaac!

2008-07-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

Isaac is one year old today.

Fireworks with Lisa's Family

2008-07-05T05:34:00.000-07:00

We stayed home last night for the show put on by our nephew, Jax. Isaac slept soundly in his crib through it all. Eli preferred watching from inside the house.

Wicket and Day Lilies

2008-07-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

The boy cleans up pretty nice and loves his big backyard.

Some Day Lilies we were pleased to see growing in our yard this spring.

Breaking It In

2008-06-22T20:34:00.001-07:00

The tadpoles are gone but we still can't see the bottom. Some brave souls ventured to get in anyway.

The water is really that blue.

If it were the ocean, you would think it pretty.

My idea of getting in without getting wet...

and the result thereof.

Pascal's Challenge to Indifference in Religion

2008-06-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

One of the longer Pensees from Blaise Pascal.

194. ... Let them at least learn what is the religion they attack, before attacking it. If this religion boasted of having a clear view of God, and of possessing it open and unveiled, it would be attacking it to say that we see nothing in the world which shows it with this clearness. But since, on the contrary, it says that men are in darkness and estranged from God, that He has hidden Himself from their knowledge, that this is in fact the name which He gives Himself in the Scriptures, Deus absconditus; and finally, if it endeavours equally to establish these two things: that God has set up in the Church visible signs to make Himself known to those who should seek Him sincerely, and that He has nevertheless so disguised them that He will only be perceived by those who seek Him with all their heart; what advantage can they obtain, when, in the negligence with which they make profession of being in search of the truth, they cry out that nothing reveals it to them; and since that darkness in which they are, and with which they upbraid the Church, establishes only one of the things which she affirms, without touching the other, and, very far from destroying, proves her doctrine?

In order to attack it, they should have protested that they had made every effort to seek Him everywhere, and even in that which the Church proposes for their instruction, but without satisfaction. If they talked in this manner, they would in truth be attacking one of her pretensions. But I hope here to show that no reasonable person can speak thus, and I venture even to say that no one has ever done so. We know well enough how those who are of this mind behave. They believe they have made great efforts for their instruction when they have spent a few hours in reading some book of Scripture and have questioned some priests on the truths of the faith. After that, they boast of having made vain search in books and among men. But, verily, I will tell them what I have often said, that this negligence is insufferable. We are not here concerned with the trifling interests of some stranger, that we should treat it in this fashion; the matter concerns ourselves and our all.

The immortality of the soul is a matter which is of so great consequence to us and which touches us so profoundly that we must have lost all feeling to be indifferent as to knowing what it is. All our actions and thoughts must take such different courses, according as there are or are not eternal joys to hope for, that it is impossible to take one step with sense and judgment unless we regulate our course by our view of this point which ought to be our ultimate end.

Thus our first interest and our first duty is to enlighten ourselves on this subject, whereon depends all our conduct. Therefore among those who do not believe, I make a vast difference between those who strive with all their power to inform themselves and those who live without troubling or thinking about it.

I can have only compassion for those who sincerely bewail their doubt, who regard it as the greatest of misfortunes, and who, sparing no effort to escape it, make of this inquiry their principal and most serious occupation.

But as for those who pass their life without thinking of this ultimate end of life, and who, for this sole reason that they do not find within themselves the lights which convince them of it, neglect to seek them elsewhere, and to examine thoroughly whether this opinion is one of those which people receive with credulous simplicity, or one of those which, although obscure in themselves, have nevertheless a solid and immovable foundation, I look upon them in a manner quite different.

This carelessness in a matter which concerns themselves, their eternity, their all, moves me more to anger than pity; it astonishes and shocks me; it is to me monstrous. I do not say this out of the pious zeal of a spiritual devotion. I expect, on the contrary, that we ought to have this feeling from principles of human interest and self-love; for this we need only see what the least enlightened persons see.

We do not require great education of the mind to understand that here is no real and lasting satisfaction; that our pleasures are only vanity; that our evils are infinite; and, lastly, that death, which threatens us every moment, must infallibly place us within a few years under the dreadful necessity of being for ever either annihilated or unhappy.

There is nothing more real than this, nothing more terrible. Be we as heroic as we like, that is the end which awaits the world. Let us reflect on this and then say whether it is not beyond doubt that there is no good in this life but in the hope of another; that we are happy only in proportion as we draw near it; and that, as there are no more woes for those who have complete assurance of eternity, so there is no more happiness for those who have no insight into it.

Surely then it is a great evil thus to be in doubt, but it is at least an indispensable duty to seek when we are in such doubt; and thus the doubter who does not seek is altogether completely unhappy and completely wrong. And if besides this he is easy and content, professes to be so, and indeed boasts of it; if it is this state itself which is the subject of his joy and vanity, I have no words to describe so silly a creature.

How can people hold these opinions? What joy can we find in the expectation of nothing but hopeless misery? What reason for boasting that we are in impenetrable darkness? And how can it happen that the following argument occurs to a reasonable man?

"I know not who put me into the world, nor what the world is, nor what I myself am. I am in terrible ignorance of everything. I know not what my body is, nor my senses, nor my soul, not even that part of me which thinks what I say, which reflects on all and on itself, and knows itself no more than the rest. I see those frightful spaces of the universe which surround me, and I find myself tied to one corner of this vast expanse, without knowing why I am put in this place rather than in another, nor why the short time which is given me to live is assigned to me at this point rather than at another of the whole eternity which was before me or which shall come after me. I see nothing but infinites on all sides, which surround me as an atom and as a shadow which endures only for an instant and returns no more. All I know is that I must soon die, but what I know least is this very death which I cannot escape.

"As I know not whence I come, so I know not whither I go. I know only that, in leaving this world, I fall for ever either into annihilation or into the hands of an angry God, without knowing to which of these two states I shall be for ever assigned. Such is my state, full of weakness and uncertainty. And from all this I conclude that I ought to spend all the days of my life without caring to inquire into what must happen to me. Perhaps I might find some solution to my doubts, but I will not take the trouble, nor take a step to seek it; and after treating with scorn those who are concerned with this care, I will go without foresight and without fear to try the great event, and let myself be led carelessly to death, uncertain of the eternity of my future state."

Who would desire to have for a friend a man who talks in this fashion? Who would choose him out from others to tell him of his affairs? Who would have recourse to him in affliction? And indeed to what use in life could one put him?

In truth, it is the glory of religion to have for enemies men so unreasonable; and their opposition to it is so little dangerous that it serves, on the contrary, to establish its truths. For the Christian faith goes mainly to establish these two facts: the corruption of nature, and redemption by Jesus Christ. Now I contend that, if these men do not serve to prove the truth of the redemption by the holiness of their behaviour, they at least serve admirably to show the corruption of nature by sentiments so unnatural.

Nothing is so important to man as his own state, nothing is so formidable to him as eternity; and thus it is not natural that there should be men indifferent to the loss of their existence, and to the perils of everlasting suffering. They are quite different with regard to all other things. They are afraid of mere trifles; they foresee them; they feel them. And this same man who spends so many days and nights in rage and despair for the loss of office, or for some imaginary insult to his honour, is the very one who knows without anxiety and without emotion that he will lose all by death. It is a monstrous thing to see in the same heart and at the same time this sensibility to trifles and this strange insensibility to the greatest objects. It is an incomprehensible enchantment, and a supernatural slumber, which indicates as its cause an all-powerful force.

There must be a strange confusion in the nature of man, that he should boast of being in that state in which it seems incredible that a single individual should be. However, experience has shown me so great a number of such persons that the fact would be surprising, if we did not know that the greater part of those who trouble themselves about the matter are disingenuous and not, in fact, what they say. They are people who have heard it said that it is the fashion to be thus daring. It is what they call "shaking off the yoke," and they try to imitate this. But it would not be difficult to make them understand how greatly they deceive themselves in thus seeking esteem. This is not the way to gain it, even I say among those men of the world who take a healthy view of things and who know that the only way to succeed in this life is to make ourselves appear honourable, faithful, judicious, and capable of useful service to a friend; because naturally men love only what may be useful to them. Now, what do we gain by hearing it said of a man that he has now thrown off the yoke, that he does not believe there is a God who watches our actions, that he considers himself the sole master of his conduct, and that he thinks he is accountable for it only to himself.? Does he think that he has thus brought us to have henceforth complete confidence in him and to look to him for consolation, advice, and help in every need of life? Do they profess to have delighted us by telling us that they hold our soul to be only a little wind and smoke, especially by telling us this in a haughty and self-satisfied tone of voice? Is this a thing to say gaily? Is it not, on the contrary, a thing to say sadly, as the saddest thing in the world?

If they thought of it seriously, they would see that this is so bad a mistake, so contrary to good sense, so opposed to decency, and so removed in every respect from that good breeding which they seek, that they would be more likely to correct than to pervert those who had an inclination to follow them. And, indeed, make them give an account of their opinions, and of the reasons which they have for doubting religion, and they will say to you things so feeble and so petty, that they persuade you of the contrary. The following is what a person one day said to such a one very appositely: "If you continue to talk in this manner, you will really make me religious." And he was right, for who would not have a horror of holding opinions in which he would have such contemptible persons as companions!

Thus those who only feign these opinions would be very unhappy, if they restrained their natural feelings in order to make themselves the most conceited of men. If, at the bottom of their heart, they are troubled at not having more light, let them not disguise the fact; this avowal will not be shameful. The only shame is to have none. Nothing reveals more an extreme weakness of mind than not to know the misery of a godless man. Nothing is more indicative of a bad disposition of heart than not to desire the truth of eternal promises. Nothing is more dastardly than to act with bravado before God. Let them then leave these impieties to those who are sufficiently ill-bred to be really capable of them. Let them at least be honest men, if they cannot be Christians. Finally, let them recognise that there are two kinds of people one can call reasonable; those who serve God with all their heart because they know Him, and those who seek Him with all their heart because they do not know Him.

But as for those who live without knowing Him and without seeking Him, they judge themselves so little worthy of their own care, that they are not worthy of the care of others; and it needs all the charity of the religion which they despise, not to despise them even to the point of leaving them to their folly. But because this religion obliges us always to regard them, so long as they are in this life, as capable of the grace which can enlighten them, and to believe that they may, in a little time, be more replenished with faith than we are, and that, on the other hand, we may fall into the blindness wherein they are, we must do for them what we would they should do for us if we were in their place, and call upon them to have pity upon themselves, and to take at least some steps in the endeavour to find light. Let them give to reading this some of the hours which they otherwise employ so uselessly; whatever aversion they may bring to the task, they will perhaps gain something, and at least will not lose much. But as for those who bring to the task perfect sincerity and a real desire to meet with truth, those I hope will be satisfied and convinced of the proofs of a religion so divine, which I have here collected, and in which I have followed somewhat after this order...

Weekend Pics

2008-05-26T20:30:00.001-07:00

Isaac with the great grandmas (both Lisa's).

Eli with his F14. Airplanes are his new favorite thing. Every plane he sees is an F14. Today he saw a bird and said, "That's an F14 bird."

It won't be long.

Riding cousin Cooper's b-day present from Po.

Careful Eli down the water slide

Chillin' with Aunt Shannon.

Weak stomach's be warned.

Gettysburg Thoughts

2008-05-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

I wrote this upon returning from our trip to the east coast in July last year, waiting to see if it makes any sense. I am not sure it makes any sense but I thought Memorial Day Weekend would be appropriate for it.

***
We were only able to stop in Gettysburg for a couple of hours and saw only a tiny fraction of what is to be seen there. I just learned they are building a new visitors center which they hope to have complete in 2008. I would love to get out there again after this is built.

I have been trying to think about what it is that makes visiting a battle field like that such an amazing experience. I have also questioned why it is that I so enjoy learning about war. I think this is unique to men but there is just something about it that draws me to it. Make no mistake, war is terrible. On the drive there I kept thinking about the lives and families that were destroyed in 3 days in 1863. At Gettysburg we read of two brothers who were born and raised in Gettysburg. One fought for the Union and the other for the CSA. One of these men died on the hill he grew up playing on as a boy (Culp's Hill). It is remarkable to consider and dream of the personal stories of the 46,000 - 51,000 casualties of this battle.

And yet, despite the terribleness of war, there is something inspiring, something that draws us to it. There is something inspiring about giving your life's blood for a principle. There is something inspiring about the men who obeyed orders and charged up a hill in the face of a murderous fire. Valor, courage, honor, brotherhood. These are the noble traits that are uncovered, in a unique sense, most perfectly by war.

One of the reasons, I think, that this particular war was so terrible is that it was a war fought on principle with both sides thinking that they were right and that God was on their side. Such a war must end in the total destruction of one or the other sides. This fact makes the American Civil War unique in history. At what point do the French soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars decide that conquering the world is not for them. At one point does a Nazi soldier think that serving the demented vision of Hitler is not worth it. This consideration does not cross the mind of an American Civil War soldier. They believed, on both sides, that they were defending their very way of life.

This area of Pennsylvania is absolutely beautiful. Gettysburg lies at the foot of larger mountains to the west. The land of Gettysburg rolls in anticipation of these larger mountains. As I looked at the land I marveled at the genius of soldiers who were able to survey the country side and move the innumerable men under their command into position. All of this without the benefit of modern technology to communicate. That is remarkable to me. I considered myself and know that I would be wholly inadequate for such a task.

I also have wondered if our culture can now produce the likes of men who fought at Gettysburg. I thank God for our armed forces and know that there are such men in service of our country there and in other places (police departments, etc) but in general it seems that the modern mind sees the whole thing as quite pointless. I don't think our culture can produce men who will die for principle. These men simply viewed life and death in a different way. And although we may shed tears for the lives destroyed, we are not, in our indifference to principle, superior.

I found the below quote taken from the speech given by General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at the dedication of the monuments at Gettysburg to the soldiers of Maine. If you remember, General Chamberlain was the defender of Little Round Top and is played by Jeff Daniels in the excellent movie on Gettysburg. The entire speech is worth the read. Chamberlain later became governor of Maine and from what I have learned, was an evangelical Christian. I am hoping to find out more about that. The speech is characterized by a sense of the significance of man and the longing that is within man for something higher than himself. Modern man does not speak like this because he believes he is the accident of evolutionary forces and is not significant, is not created in the image of God. I think then that as we compare ourselves to men of only 100 years ago, we can see the results of the modern idea that God is dead. This is worth some time and it may be considered later. I am thankful for what Francis Schaeffer has done to my brain in this area.

While you're at it reading the dedication speech, read also the following speech Chamberlain gave of his recollection of the surrender at Appomattox of which he was a part. It too is exhilarating.

To return to the original question, what causes us to be overwhelmed with emotion as we walk the grounds of a bloody battlefield? Here is Chamberlain's quote:

"No chemistry of frost or rain, no overlaying mould of the season's recurrent life and death, can ever separate from the soil of these consecrated fields the life-blood so deeply commingled and incorporate here. Ever henceforth under the rolling suns, when these hills are touched to splendor with the morning light, or smile a farewell to the lingering day, the flush that broods upon them shall be rich with a strange and crimson tone, -- not of the earth, nor yet of the sky, but mediator and hostage between the two.

But these monuments are not to commemorate the dead alone. Death was but the divine acceptance of life freely offered by every one. Service was the central fact. That fact, and that truth, these monuments commemorate. They mark the centres around which stood the manhood of Maine, steadfast in noble service, -- to the uttermost, to the uppermost! Those who fell here – those who have fallen before or since – those who linger, yet a little longer, soon to follow; all are mustered in one great company on the shining heights of life, with that star of Maine's armorial ensign upon their foreheads forever – like the ranks of the galaxy.

In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women form afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.

This is the great reward of service. To live, far out and on, in the life of others; this is the mystery of the Christ, -- to give life's best for such high sake that it shall be found again unto life eternal."

Earlier in this speech Chamberlain says that the men of Maine, "humbly submitt[ed] to that mysterious law of sacrifice and suffering for the deliverance of evil." Can it be that the sacrifices of men that inspires in the battles and wars of this fallen world is an echo of the great Sacrifice that our Creator made in submitting Himself to death, even death upon a cross, for the salvation of our souls? "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." The overwhelming emotion that is experienced visiting a battle field is an emotion that is a type of the emotion that is drawing us to our suffering and triumphant Redeemer. These men took up arms in the defense of their lands; Jesus freely gave Himself to the oppression of those who afflicted Him and opened not His mouth. The analogy is not perfect. And yet I wonder if our fascination with war is a fascination with lives sacrificed for the service of others. In this fallen world and as long as Lord Jesus tarries, there will always be that mysterious call to take up our cross and emulate Him in His dying for the sake of our love for Him and our friends.

"Mr. Parks" Honored

2008-05-17T04:33:00.000-07:00

My Dad works for the City of Savannah as manager of the parks system. Last night was the opening night of a new youth sports complex. The complex is the result of mainly one Savannah business man's idea and financial backing. As an example of my Dad's wit, he dubbed the complex The Cranium for the business man Mr. Crane. The complex contains three youth baseball fields (I doubt you can find nicer ones around) and some youth football fields. The youth football fields have already hosted many tilts on the gridiron. It is something to see 3rd graders play football! Last night was the first night for T-Ball, Girl's Fastpitch and Boy's Baseball.

We learned earlier in the week that the City of Savannah was going to surprise my Dad by asking him to throw out the first pitch. Not being one for attention, they figured they had to surprise him because they didn't think he would do it if he knew about it in advance. In a speech before the pitch, they honored him by recognizing his hard work and dedication. It was pretty emotional and we are very proud of him!

Unfortunately, most of my pictures are back focused. I think the fence in the background threw the auto focus off. Here are a few from the evening (which was absolutely gorgeous, by the way).

Congratulations Dad! You deserve it.

Fairly Recent Pictures

2008-05-10T06:12:00.000-07:00

Of late, we've had little time for naps (at least group naps). These are from a while back.

Pics from Sunday

2008-04-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

We all bundled up to watch DJ run track in Savannah on Saturday. Little did we realize that this cold, cloudy day would give the little man such a bad sunburn!

April 8 - The Pleiades and Crescent Moon

2008-04-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

From astronomy.com

The night sky will deliver one of its greatest spectacles April 8 when a crescent Moon will appear against the colorful tapestry of a twilit sky. Add the Pleiades star cluster to the mix and the stage is set for a performance no skygazer will want to miss.

Mark your calendar for Tuesday, April 8. Head outside no later than an hour or so after sunset (roughly 8:30 P.M. local daylight time), and look to the west. Your eyes should land immediately on the slender crescent Moon, oriented with its cusps standing nearly straight up from the horizon.

Binoculars will reveal a stunning sight. "Point them at the Moon," says Astronomy Senior Editor Richard Talcott. "The bright Pleiades star cluster sparkles like a clutch of tiny diamonds accenting the primary jewel - the Moon."

The Pleiades ranks among the finest deep-sky objects in the sky. Also known as the Seven Sisters, the cluster contains more than 100 stars. Under a dark sky, keen observers typically can spot the six or seven brightest Pleiads. On the 8th, however, the nearby Moon likely will drive all the stars below naked-eye visibility. It takes about three Full Moons to span the Pleiades apparent size.

North Americans will get the best views of this conjunction. From the East Coast, the Moon stands just to the lower right of the cluster as darkness falls. The Moon appears closer to the cluster's center the farther west you live.

From the West Coast, the Moon lies just above the cluster's stars. Regardless of your location, the Moon will have moved noticeably relative to the cluster by the time the pair sets shortly after 11 P.M. local daylight time.

When you first gaze at the Moon, you may see only its brightly lit crescent. Look a little closer and you'll see an ashen light filling out the "dark" part of the Moon's disk. This light comes from sunlight reflecting off Earth's dayside up to the Moon and back to us. Literally, the Moon is bathed in earthshine.

Amos 5:8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name;

A Few More Baseball Pics

2008-03-28T04:28:00.001-07:00

Personality Reduced to Chemicals

2008-03-27T06:48:00.001-07:00

This article by Dr. Mohler, touches on one of the main problems of the materialistic world view which reduces everything to chemicals plus time plus chance in evolution.

Is Belief in God Just a Natural Phenomenon?

Below are some quotes from Francis Schaeffer which comment on the same problem.

"No one has presented an idea, let alone demonstrated it to be feasible, to explain how the impersonal beginning, plus time plus chance, can give personality... As a result, either the thinker must say man is dead, because personality is a mirage; or else he must hang his reason on a hook outside the door and cross the threshold into the leap of faith which is the new level of despair." ...

"In the same way, if man has been kicked up by chance out of what is only impersonal, then those things that make him want hope of purpose and significance, love, motions of morality and rationality, beauty and verbal communication - are ultimately unfulfillable and are thus meaningless. In such a situation is man higher or lower? He would then be the lowest creature on the scale." Page 95, The God Who Is There

"If we begin with less than personality, we must finally reduce personality to the impersonal. The modern scientific world does this in its reductionism, in which the word personality is only the impersonal plus complexity." Page 285, He is There and He is Not Silent

And these from John Frame applying the method of Van Tillian presuppositional apologetics.

"Van Til calls upon us to implement his transcendental method by the strategy of adopting the unbeliever's presuppositions for the sake of argument, in order to reduce them to absurdity. And, of course, we should also permit the unbeliever to attempt the same thing with our presuppositions." Page 320, Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of His Thought, John Frame

"I suspect that Van Til's strategy can be more clearly described as follows: We should address the unbeliever always from our own presuppositional commitment. From that commitment, however, we may legitimately examine the unbeliever's presuppositions and tell him our evaluations of them, how they look from our point of view. We may also evaluate their consistency (e.g., the consistency between rationalism and irrationalism) and factual accuracy from a Christian-theistic view of logic and evidence." Page 321, Ibid.

"In a practical situation, then, we should try to show the unbeliever that, for example, his rationalism and irrationalism separately and together destroy the intelligibility of the world and of human thought. But if this argument drives the unbeliever into a deeper irrationalism, we do not concede to him what his presuppositions permit him to concede, namely, that the world is an irrational place after all. Rather, we continue to press the claims of God's revelation. In some situations, we might point out that the non-Christian himself refutes his own irrationalism, for despite his philosophy he continues to live as if the world were a rational place. Thus, the unbeliever's own mind is part of God's revelation, witnessing against his irrationalist defense." 322, Ibid.

There is a Fountain Filled with Blood

2008-03-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

William Cowper
Praise for the fountain opened

Zechariah 13:1 "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from EMMANUEL'S veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Loose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there have I, as vile as he,
Washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its pow'r;
Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.

E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply:
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler sweeter song
I'll sing thy pow'r to save
When this poor lisping stamm'ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe thou hast prepared
(Unworthy though I be)
For me a blood-bought free reward,
A golden harp for me!

'Tis strung, and tuned, for endless years,
And formed by pow'r divine;
To sound, in God the Father's ears,
No other name but thine.

The Life & Diary of David Brainerd

2008-03-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

This is a couple of days old now.

I began reading The Life & Diary of David Brainerd last year but soon shelved it and moved on to something else. I was benefiting from it but it was pretty slow going. I downloaded it free from Christian Audio a while back and today began listening to it on my way to work. Amazingly if I stay according to plan, I will be able to listen to the entire book in just 2 weeks. I would prefer to actually read the book but this is a wonderful way to spend time with a work that I may not get time to spend with otherwise.

A few things struck me today. One of those was the thought that the best thing a person who tends toward legalism can do is to spend some time with someone who can "out legalize" them. The two that came to my mind were Luther and of course, Brainerd. Both were as vigilant as anyone could be in trying to keep God's law and both were driven to utter despair before yielding to the righteousness of God in Christ.

Brainerd got to the point where he was angry with God and with His way of salvation. He says,

The many disappointments, great distresses, and perplexity I met with, put me into a most horrible frame of contesting with the Almighty; with an inward vehemence and virulence finding fault with his ways of dealing with mankind. I found great fault with the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity; and my wicked heart often wished for some other way of salvation, than by Jesus Christ. Being like the troubled sea, my thoughts confused, I used to contrive to escape the wrath of God by some other means. I had strange projects, full of atheism, contriving to disappoint God's designs and decrees concerning me, or to escape his notice, and hide myself from him. But when, upon reflection, I saw these projects were vain, and would not serve me, and that I could contrive nothing for my own relief; this would throw my mind into the most horrid frame, to wish there was no God, or to wish there were some other God that could control him.

Brainerd took the Bible as God's infallible Word. He didn't reject the authority of the Bible because it didn't suit his fallen mindset; he just didn't like what it said. That seems remarkable doesn't it!

One of the things that use to "irritate" him was the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

2. Another thing {that irritated him} was, that faith alone, was the condition of salvation; that God would not come down to lower terms, and that he would not promise life and salvation upon my sincere and hearty prayers and endeavours. That word, Mar_16:16. "He that believeth not, shall be damned," cut off all hope there: and I found, faith was the sovereign gift of God; that I could not get it as of myself, and could not oblige God to bestow it upon me, by any of my performances, (Eph_2:1, Eph_2:8.) This, I was ready to say, is a hard saying, who can bear it? I could not bear, that all I had done should stand for mere nothing, who had been very conscientious in duty, had been exceeding religious a great while, and had, as I thought, done much more than many others who had obtained mercy. I confessed indeed the vileness of my duties; but then, what made them at that time seem vile, was my wandering thoughts in them; not because I was all over defiled like a devil, and the principle corrupt from whence they flowed, so that I could not possibly do any thing that was good. And therefore I called what I did, by the name of honest faithful endeavours; and could not bear it, that God had made no promises of salvation to them.

This is remarkable on many levels but the thing that struck me was seeing justification by faith alone as a "hard saying". This sentiment we do not often find today. I think we think that salvation being by faith makes things rather more easy. I am reminded of what Tim Keller said in Minneapolis at the DGM National Conference in 2006. According to my memory he said, quoting someone else, since salvation is not by something we can do and then be done with, but by faith, there is nothing the Lord cannot ask of us. He may even ask for our son on the altar.

Trusting in God for all things is not something that we can naturally do. It is a supernatural effect and is ever the struggle of the Christian in this life. Perhaps our inability to trust our Heavenly Father in this life is our greatest grief. Lord Jesus thank Your for Your righteousness which is ours by our simple faith. May we ever increase to trust you more and more.

The last thing that struck me today was the folly of believing we can attract unbelievers to God through external means, entertainments, etc. "The unregenerate man hates the light of truth because it reproves his deeds and shows him his just desserts." There is nothing worldly attractive about being convicted of sin and seeing what that sin deserves before a holy God. Therefore to hope to attract unbelievers outside of the context of understanding our alienation from God and restoration to God through Christ, is utter folly.

1 Corinthians 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Read Brainerd's words on being confronted by a holy, sovereign God.

4. Another thing to which I found a great inward opposition, was the sovereignty of God. I could not bear that it should be wholly at God's pleasure to save or damn me, just as he would. That passage, Rom_9:11-23, was a constant vexation to me, especially Rom_9:21. Reading or meditating on this, always destroyed my seeming good frames: for when I thought I was almost humbled, and almost resigned, this passage would make my enmity against the sovereignty of God appear. When I came to reflect on my inward enmity and blasphemy, which arose on this occasion, I was the more afraid of God, and driven further from any hopes of reconciliation with him. It gave me such a dreadful view of myself, that I dreaded more than ever to see myself in God's hands, at his sovereign disposal, and it made me more opposite than ever to submit to his sovereignty; for I thought God designed my damnation.

All this time the Spirit of God was powerfully at work with me; and I was inwardly pressed to relinquish all self-confidence, all hopes of ever helping myself by any means whatsoever: and the conviction of my lost estate was sometimes so clear and manifest before my eyes, that it was as if it had been declared to me in so many words, 'It is done, it is done, for ever impossible to deliver yourself.' For about three or four days my soul was thus greatly distressed. At some turns, for a few moments, I seemed to myself lost and undone; but then would shrink back immediately from the sight, because I dared not venture myself into the hands of God, as wholly helpless, and at the disposal of his sovereign pleasure. I dared not see that important truth concerning myself, that I was dead in trespasses and sins. But when I had as it were thrust away these views of myself at any time, I felt distressed to have the same discoveries of myself again; for I greatly feared being given over of God to final stupidity. When I thought of putting it off to a more convenient season, the conviction was so close and powerful, with regard to the present time, that it was the best, and probably the only time, that I dared not put it off.

It was the sight of truth concerning myself, truth respecting my state, as a creature fallen and alienated from God, and that consequently could make no demands on God for mercy, but must subscribe to the absolute sovereignty of the Divine Being; the sight of the truth, I say, my soul shrank away from, and trembled to think of beholding. Thus, he that doth evil, as all unregenerate men continually do, hates the light of truth, neither cares to come to it, because it will reprove his deeds, and show him his just deserts, Joh_3:20. And though, some time before, I had taken much pains, as I thought, to submit to the sovereignty of God, yet I mistook the thing; and did not once imagine, that seeing and being made experimentally sensible of this truth, which my soul now so much dreaded and trembled at, was the frame of soul that I had been so earnest in pursuit of heretofore. For I had ever hoped, that when I had attained to that humiliation, which I supposed necessary to go before faith, then it would not be fair for God to cast me off; but now I saw it was so far from any goodness in me, to own myself spiritually dead, and destitute of all goodness, that, on the contrary, my mouth would be for ever stopped by it; and it looked as dreadful to me, to see myself, and the relation I stood in to God, I a sinner and criminal, and he a great Judge and Sovereign as it would be to a poor trembling creature, to venture off some high precipice. And hence I put it off for a minute or two, and tried for better circumstances to do it in; either I must read a passage or two, or pray first, or something of the like nature; or else put off my submission to God's sovereignty, with an objection, that I did not know how to submit. But the truth was, I could see no safety in owning myself in the hands of a sovereign God, and that I could lay no claim to any thing better than damnation.

It is not possible to read something like that without shuddering at the thought of how lightly we treat conviction of sin. I shudder to think about my own unconcern for sin. Lord, may we seek to do that which is unnatural, indeed to do that which is supernatural, by rightly seeing our natural position before you and therefore magnifying the work accomplished by Christ Jesus on the cross for the salvation of our souls.

New L&B Website

2008-03-08T04:31:00.000-08:00

Miss Deanna redesigned the L&B website and we couldn't be more pleased. She really out did herself. Now all we have to worry about is taking pictures that match the quality of the website, which will be no small thing.

Thanks Deanna!!!

Tanner Picks Up 200th Win

2008-03-08T04:07:00.000-08:00

This is a very nice article that ran in the Platte City paper about Coach Tanner (Lisa's brother). They won their 6th district title in a row and are playing today in Warrensburg for the chance to go to the State Finals in Columbia.

Ready for Spring Already

2008-03-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

More Wilberforce

2008-03-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

I hope nobody rearranged their day to watch Wilberforce on Sunday because he wasn't on! Not sure why I had bad information. The best I can tell, the documentary will next be shown on Friday, March 7 at 7:00pm, KCPT. See the pbs site for other show times.

I think most people who know a little bit about Wilberforce know that he stressed the "peculiar doctrines" of Christianity. Prior to reading the book, I wasn't exactly sure which particular peculiar doctrines he is referring to. This quote from page 176 is, I think, the best summary for what he is thinking:

"But the grand radical defect in the practical system of the nominal Christians, is their forgetfulness of all the peculiar doctrines of the Religion which they profess - the corruption of human nature - the atonement of the Savior - and the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit."

Chapter Two is called Corruption of Human Nature and in this chapter he says that the depravity of man "is eminently the basis and groundwork of Christianity" Page 13. This theme he hits over and over and this is one of the main things I took away from the book. I may post some additional thoughts about this later.

The quotes which follow below are another main theme of the book and I think it can be described as an exhortation to be in the world but not of it. Again, I was amazed at how relevant and really how little things have changed.

Speaking on the erroneous notion that prevails in the church, that instead of Religion governing all areas of life, it is fenced to a small portion and in the rest we can do, it is believed, as we like. What a powerful phrase is decent selfishness.

"The instructive admonitions, "give an account of thy stewardship" Luk_16:2, - "Occupy till I come" Luk_19:13; are forgotten. ...

Accordingly, we find in fact, that the generality of mankind among the higher order, in the formation of their schemes, in the selection of their studies, in the choice of their place of residence, in the employment and distribution of their time, in their thoughts, conversation and amusements, are considered as being at liberty, if there be no actual vice, to consult in the main their own gratification.

Thus the generous and wakeful spirit of Christian benevolence, seeking and finding, every where occasions for its exercise, is exploded, and a system of decent selfishness is avowedly established in its stead; a system scarcely more to be abjured for its impiety, than to be abhorred for its cold insensibility to the opportunities of diffusing happiness. ...

Yet thus life rolls away with too many of us in a course of "shapeless idleness." Its recreations constitute its chief business. Watering places - the sports of the field - cards! never failing cards! - the assembly - the theatre - all contribute their aid - amusements are multiplied, and combined and varied, "to fill the void of a listless and languid life;" and by the judicious use of these different resources, there is often a kind of sober settled plan of domestic dissipation, in which with all imaginable decency year after year wears away in unprofitable vacancy. Even old age often finds us pacing in the same round of amusements which our early youth had tracked out. Meanwhile, being conscious that we are not giving into any flagrant vice, perhaps that we are guilty of no irregularity, and it may be that we are not neglecting the offices of Religion, we persuade ourselves that we need not be uneasy. In the main we do not fall below the general standard of morals, of the class and station to which we belong, we may therefore allow ourselves to glide down the stream without apprehension of consequences." Pages 97-99

The next quote I know all too well. My mind is alive in the morning but by evening I am dead; dead physically and all too often dead spiritually. Lord Jesus may our rest ever be taken in you.

"The seducing considerations of diligence in our callings, of success in our profession, of making handsome provisions for our children, beguile our better judgments. 'We rise early, and late take rest, and eat the bread of carefulness.' In our few intervals of leisure, our exhausted spirits require refreshment; the serious concerns of our immortal souls, are matters of speculation too grave and gloomy to answer the purpose, and we fly to something that may better deserve the name of relaxation, til we are again summoned to the daily labors of our employment." Page 101

The next two quotes are an encouragement to me as I think upon being in the world but not of it.

"The Christian's path is beset with dangers - On the one hand, he justly dreads an inactive and unprofitable life; on the other, he no less justly trembles for the loss of spiritual-mindedness. ...

But to resume my subject, let us when engaged in this important scrutiny, impartially examine ourselves whether the worldly objects which engross us, are all of them such as properly belonged to our profession, or station, or circumstances in life; which therefore we could not neglect with a good conscience. If they be, let us consider whether they do not consume a larger share of our time than they really require; and whether, by not trifling over our work, by deducting somewhat which might be spared from our hearts of relaxation, or by some other little management, we might not fully satisfied their just claims, and yet have an increased over plus of leisure, to be devoted to the offices of Religion.

But if we deliberately and honestly conclude that we ought not to give these worldly objects less of our time, let us endeavor at least to give them less of our hearts; striving that the settled frame of our desires and actions may be more spiritual, and that in the motley intercourses of life, we may constantly retain a more lively sense of the Divine presence, and a stronger impression of the reality of unseen things; thus corresponding with Scripture description of true Christians, "walking by faith and not by sight" 2Co_5:7, and "having our conversation in Heaven" Phi_3:20." Page 155

"In the case even of those objects, which may more justly claim the attention of reasonable and immortal beings, in our family arrangements, in our plans of life, in our schemes of business, we become, without relinquishing the path of duty, more moderate in pursuit and more indifferent about the issue." Page 185-186

Lastly, this gem on marriage. It took several years for Wilberforce to write this book. It was finally published in 1797 the same year he married Barbara. That's a neat little nugget to consider as you read this.

"Doubtless, this more favorable disposition to Religion in the female sex, was graciously designed also to make women doubly valuable in the wedded state; and it seems to afford to the married man the means of rendering an active share in the business of life more compatible than it would otherwise be with the liveliest devotional feelings: that when the husband should return to his family, worn and harassed by worldy cares or professional labors, the wife, habitually preserving a warmer and more unimpaired spirit of devotion, than is perhaps consistent with being immersed in the bustle of life, might revive his languid piety, and that the religious impressions of both might derive new force and tenderness from the animating sympathies of conjugal affection. Can a more pleasing image be presented to a considerate mind, than that of a couple, happy in each other and in the pledges of their mutual love, uniting in an act of grateful adoration to the Author of all their mercies: recommending each other, and the objects of their common care, to the divine protection; and repressing the solicitude of conjugal and parental tenderness by a confiding hope, that, through all the changes of this uncertain life, the Disposer of all things will assuredly cause all to work together for good of them that love and put their trust in Him; and that, after this uncertain state shall have passed away, they shall be admitted to a joint participation of never-ending happiness. It is surely no mean or ignoble office which we would allot to the female sex, when we would thus commit to them the charge of maintaining in lively exercise whatever emotions most dignify and adorn human nature; when we would make them as it were the medium of our intercourse with the heavenly world, the faithful repositories of the religious principle, for the benefit both of the present and of the rising generation." Page 247

I really most highly recommend the reading of this book. It isn't easy going but it is very beneficial.

The Better Hour

2008-02-29T06:03:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading William Wilberforce's book A Practical View of Christianity. It is a remarkable book. I am hoping to excerpt some quotes here in the future. A documentary on Wilberforce is scheduled to be on PBS beginning this weekend. You may have to set your record button for the below KCPT times.

Sunday, March 2, 6:00pm
Monday, March 3, 3:00am
Friday, March 7, 10:00pm

I came to Wilberforce looking for an example of a "Good Confession" in the public realm. What I received in the main from this book was a deep challenge to the nominalism of my own faith. The book is a pounding call to live out your faith in all of life. One can only imagine how moving it must have been to hear Wilberforce speak in Parliament. In the book, his rhetorical skill is constantly on display.

This book is amazingly relevant. His call to the church of his day is also a call to ours.

Here are a couple of quotes from his concluding thoughts.

"Let true Christians then, with becoming earnestness, strive in all things to recommend their profession, and to put to silence the vain scoffs of ignorant objectors. Let them boldly assert the cause of Christ in an age when so many, who bear the name of Christians are ashamed of Him: and let them consider as devolved on them the important duty of suspending for a while the fall of their country, and, perhaps, of performing a still more extensive service to society at large; not by busy interference in politics, in which it cannot but be confessed there is much uncertainty, but rather by that sure and radical benefit of restoring the influence of Religion, and of raising the standard of morality." A Practical View of Christianity, Wilberforce, Page 273

"to the decline of Religion and morality our national difficulties must both directly and indirectly be chiefly ascribed; and that the only solid hopes for the well-being of my country depend not so much on her fleets and armies, not so much on the wisdom of her rulers or the spirit of her people, as on the persuasion that she still contains many, who, in a degenerate age, love and obey the Gospel of Christ, on the humble trust that the intercession of these may still be prevalent, that for the sake of these, Heaven may still look upon us with an eye of favor." Page 274

"And all my work be praise."

2008-02-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

That line really struck me from the hymn we sang on Wednesday night. Being good Protestants, we know that we cannot earn God's favor by our works. But our works can be offered as praise that "others may see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven".

Below is the rest of Isaac Watts' Psalm 23 hymn.

1 My Shepherd will supply my need:
Jehovah is His Name;
In pastures fresh He makes me feed,
Beside the living stream.

2 He brings my wandering spirit back
When I forsake His ways,
And leads me, for His mercy's sake,
In paths of truth and grace.

3 When I walk through the shades of death
His presence is my stay;
One word of His supporting grace
Drives all my fears away.

4 His hand, in sight of all my foes,
Doth still my table spread;
My cup with blessings overflows,
His oil anoints my head.

5 The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days;
O may Thy house be my abode,
And all my work be praise.

6 There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, nor a guest,
But like a child at home.

Final

2008-02-17T05:24:00.000-08:00

I was more happy than this picture indicates :) There were two other cases and we were the third to go. Once we were in the room with the judge, it only took about 5 minutes. Name, address and other easy type questions were asked of each of us. The main difficulty was that we had to listen fast because our lawyer talks so quickly.

What an amazing blessing. Thank you Miss S for your wonderful gift to us. It is a gift that can never be repaid and we will be forever grateful. Thank you to all who prayed and cared for us during this time. Your love did not go unnoticed. Thank you Lord Jesus for Your condescending care and love. That You intervene in the lives of sinners like us, is simply too much to fathom.

Patee House Museum

2008-01-30T04:07:00.001-08:00

Eli loves trains. He has grown up liking Thomas and we have long been amazed at his ability to identify the different trains. He received a Lionel Train Set as a Christmas gift, I think two years ago. As a little guy he was afraid of it such that we had to put it away. Right before Christmas this year, we got it out again and he was enthralled by it and yet still careful around it. Below is a picture of that day. He was wanting to grab his wooden train whistle but is being very careful to keep his eye on the train and to maintain his distance.

Eli loves trains so much that he even likes to watch his Lionel Instructional DVD that came with his set. He watches this as much as he watches his other videos. From this he has learned all kinds of new terminology. I caught him, while playing by himself the other day say, something about the "Lionel FASTRACK track system". He knows the term coupling and all about his powerful CW80 Transformer. Papa Tanner (Lisa's Dad) also likes trains. From him he has learned about boxcars (Eli calls them "foxcars"), hoppers (Eli calls them "poppers") and tank cars. He is fond of saying Diesel Locomotive and can identify these engines as such.

In an effort to get him to sit still in church, we have been rewarding him with train related events. The first reward was a trip to the "train store". Eli is a very particular little guy and everything must be just so. In church that day, we forgot to bring his snacks. This would normally be an occasion for a melt down but on this day, one little phrase diffused the situation, train store. Just like that, he bit his lip and fell asleep on Momma's lap, and Daddy was able to enjoy the sermon without the anxiety of him interrupting someone else.

Well, the train store left a little to be desired. I think he enjoyed it well enough but it really had very little. The plan the following week was to take Papa Tanner to the train store, if Eli was good. His behavior on this day was border line. When the service was over he looked at me and said, "I did good." I said, "Not really" and the kid burst into tears. We didn't end up going to the train store that day.

We have been wanting to get him something to add to his train set. He most often talks about getting a diesel engine but for some reason he has gotten it into his head that he will be afraid of it. He'll say something like, "I want a diesel engine but it doesn't have a whistle and it won't be loud." Sometimes, because of this fear, he says that Isaac is going to get a diesel engine.

The other day Lisa and I were talking about something (uninteresting grown up talk) and Eli came up and said, "Are you guys talking about diesel locomotives?" We said, "Uh, no." I then said as he was walking away, "He sure has a one track mind." He turned and said, "What are you talking about Daddy, are you talking about tracks?"

Our next "bribe" (if you must) was a trip to the train museum. This particular museum is the Patee House Museum in St. Joe. We met Po (My Dad), Pappa & Nana Tanner, and cousin Skylar in St. Joe. The museum is very neat. They have a lot of stuff from the history of St. Joe and they do a good job of transporting you back to the 19th century. $5 for adults, $3 for students, 5 and under are free. We were there for over 2 hours. The main attraction, of course, was the steam engine they have on display. Despite his excitement, he was afraid of it. We had to assure him that there were no loud bells or whistles and that it wasn't going anywhere. We wanted him to go near the train so that we could take a picture. He would have none of that. We had to settle for the little train below.

They also have a room with a substantial train layout in a glass case. It operates with the touch of a button on the side of the case. This was a big hit.

The next day Eli asked Lisa, "Tell me the story when we went to the train museum." Gladly buddy. That story and your love of trains will be things we long cherish from your childhood.

We are hoping to hit Union Station soon with Gammie and Papa.

We wanted to take his picture on the big train but we had to settle for this little train. He was a bit afraid of the steamie.

Carrots!

2008-01-05T05:33:00.000-08:00

Nothing like a carrot shake after 6 months of formula. I have a feeling our fair skinned little man is about to take on the hue of a pumpkin.

Po's Run

2008-01-05T05:08:00.001-08:00

This was the result of the Dec 22nd snow.

Christmas 2007

2007-12-28T05:03:00.001-08:00

Spoiled again.

Snowed In!

2007-12-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

We are in the 7-10" band and I believe it. In places it goes up to my low mid-shin. It is so beautiful; the pictures don't do it justice.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-22T05:47:00.000-08:00

Christ is the Lord! Let ever, ever praise we!

2007-12-21T05:33:00.000-08:00

In response to Pilgrim's request for favorite Christmas hymns, here's Celtic Woman singing, O Holy Night. You might also want to hear O Come All Ye Faithful.

Oh holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
Oh night divine, Oh night when Christ was born;
Oh night divine, Oh night, Oh night Divine.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! Let ever, ever praise we!
Noel, Noel! O Night, O Night Divine!
Noel, Noel! O Night, O Night Divine!

Noel! Noel! O Night, O Night Divine.

Snow Day

2007-12-08T07:59:00.001-08:00

Good sledding weather right in front of Po's house.

Pictures

2007-12-08T07:49:00.001-08:00

Recent Sunsets

2007-11-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas Tree

2007-11-23T17:13:00.000-08:00

We cut down our Christmas tree today on a fairly cold day. Eli really enjoyed the hay ride and looking for a tree. Isaac stayed bundled close to Mamma.

Fall Pictures

2007-11-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Reformation Day!

2007-10-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

"Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'" --Abraham Kuyper

Amen. This is one of the great gifts and legacies of the Reformation: Jesus Christ is Lord over every thought, every deed and every area of life. How wonderful and freeing and beautiful that is! Soli Deo Gloria!

A Mighty Fortress is our God
Martin Luther

A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevaling.
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabbaoth, his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours,
thru him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill;
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever.

Fun in the Puddles

2007-10-14T18:59:00.001-07:00

10/6 Pictures

2007-10-07T17:08:00.001-07:00

Stand

2007-10-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

We had an edifying time in Minneapolis with John, Deanna and Steve and yes even Jonathan and Isaac. The boys did good.

I love to hear Helen Roseveare say the name of Jesus. What a sweet lady who dearly loves the Lord.

Caedmon's Call New CD

2007-09-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

The new Caedmon's Call CD is really good. Below are the lyrics to a few of my favs

This song is for the moms

Sacred
Words and Music by Randall Goodgame and Andrew Osenga
(c) 2007 House of Mirrors Music (ASCAP) admin. by Simpleville Music, Inc. / 2007 Mighty Molecule Music. (ASCAP) admin by Music Services

this house is a good mess
it’s the proof of life
no way would I trade jobs
but it don’t pay overtime

I’ll get to the laundry
I don’t know when
I’m saying a prayer tonight
cause tomorrow it starts again

could it be that everything is sacred?
and all this time
everything I’ve dreamed of
has been right before my eyes

the children are sleeping
but they’re running through my mind
the sun makes them happy
and the music makes them unwind

my cup runneth over
and I worry about the stain
teach me to run to You
like they run to me for every little thing

when I forget to drink from you
I can feel the banks harden
Lord, make me like a stream
to feed the garden

wake up, little sleeper
the Lord, God Almighty
made your Mama keeper
so rise and shine
rise and shine cause

everything is sacred
and all this time
everything I’ve dreamed of
has been right before my eyes

There is a Reason
Words and Music by Andrew Osenga and Randall Goodgame
(c) 2007 House of Mirrors Music (ASCAP) admin. by Simpleville Music, Inc. / 2007 Mighty Molecule Music. (ASCAP) admin by Music Services

late at night I wonder why
sometimes I wonder why
sometimes I’m so tired
I don’t even try
seems everything around me fails
but I hold on to the promise
that there is a reason

late at night, the darkness makes it hard to see
the history of the saints who’ve gone in front of me
through famine, plague and disbelief
His hand was still upon them
cause there is a reason
there is a reason

he makes all things good
he makes all things good
there’s a time to live and a time to die
a time for wonder and to wonder why
cause there is a reason
there is a reason

I believe in a God who sent His only son
to walk upon this world and give His life for us
with blood and tears on a long, dark night
we know that He believed
that there is a reason
there is a reason

for the lonely nights
and broken hearts
the widow's mite
in the rich man's hand
and the continent
whose blood becomes a traitor

for the child afraid to close their eyes
the prayers that seem unanswered
there is a reason
there is a reason

Hold The Light
Words and Music by Andrew Osenga and Randall Goodgame
(c) 2007 House of Mirrors Music (ASCAP) admin. by Simpleville Music, Inc. / 2007 Mighty Molecule Music. (ASCAP) admin by Music Services

it’s been a long year
like a long sleepness night
Jacob wrestled the angel
but I’m too tired to fight

every Wednesday
for two years we’ve met
I’ve showed you all my anger,
my doubts and bitterness

there was no judgment in your eyes
just the silent peace of God
that felt so real in you

will you hold the light for me?

and I stay up late
because I cannot sleep
I don’t want to face the quiet
where its just God and me

I’m waiting for the gavel
handing me the sentence down
because I don’t believe forgiveness
or even repentance now

I want to feel redemption
flowing through my veins
I want to see with clear eyes
beyond lust and hate

I want the war to be over
and know the good guys won
and I want love to hold me
to know I’m not alone

standing around a willow weeping
we were praying in the backyard
in the chill of the night
the friendship light reminded me who we are

Little Man is starting to smile

2007-09-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

That yellow in the background is rag weed which is I think why I killed about three trees today blowing my nose.

M31 Andromeda Galaxy

2007-09-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Same basic setup as the last one. This is 50 stacked images of The Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

M31 is pretty easy to spot. I can normally see it if I do not look directly at it. First find the Great Square of Pegasus which rises at night fall this time of year. The Andromeda constellation comes off of Pegasus with three pair of stars. M31 is off the 2nd pair of stars forming 3 "stars" that are equidistant to each other. See below for a visual at 10pm, on September 5.

Challies Give Away

2007-09-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

A chance to win free books. Need I say more.

Click to enter

M13 Globular Cluster

2007-08-30T21:48:00.001-07:00

We rented a lens for the upcoming weddings Lisa has in September and I put it to use, pointed skyward. This was pretty exciting for me as this is the best I have been able to do on a deep sky object. Messier Object 13 is not visible to the naked eye but was quickly visible when I saw the first shots. This Globular Cluster contains several hundred thousand stars. This is really amazing because in the picture it looks like one bright object. The below images were created by a composite of over 50 total images (17 "Light" Images) stacked with Deep Sky Stacker to remove noise. The actual picture frames were 3 second exposures, f2, ISO 1600, 135mm.

Isaac's First Kubota Ride

2007-08-25T04:56:00.000-07:00

Hummingbird

2007-08-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying at least 3 hummingbirds in the past week. It is amazing how fast they are and how agile they are in midair. I recently discovered how to use our camera tethered to my Dad's laptop to take a series of shots unattended. For these I set the computer to take 99 shots every 5 seconds. The majority of the pictures came up with nothing. Here is a sample of the dozen or so that caught hummingbirds. I am hoping for another go at it as I saw today what I think is a male with red feathers on his throat.

His lightnings light up the world Psa 97:4a

2007-08-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

We have an hour drive home from church but last night it was worth it. The storm we witnessed on the way home was one of the better electrical storms I have seen in a long time. By the time we got home, the storm was generally over. This was the best picture I was able to get. It is very addicting sitting there, watching the sky and hoping that the next exposure is "the one".

17mm, 30 second exposure, f/11, ISO 400.

Isaac's Birth Announcement

2007-08-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

Our John Wayne wannabe

2007-08-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

Little Man

2007-07-31T06:05:00.000-07:00

Family Night at the K

2007-07-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

4 tickets, 4 dogs, 4 cokes, bag of popcorn, fireworks after the game and the best seat in the house (Section 139, Row PP, Seats 25-28, end of the row, top of the section) for $40.00. Friday nights at Kauffman Stadium are Family Nights and they make it very reasonable to see a ball game. The big man loves baseball and the little man probably soon will. We actually left in the 6th before the rain came but enjoyed our time. Happy Anniversary Honey!

Comfortable July Evenings

2007-07-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

More Pics

2007-07-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

Beautiful at 6am

Schaeffer v. Aquinas

2007-07-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

On recommendation of Dr. Mohler, I picked up GK Chesterton's biography of Thomas Aquinas . I have become more interested in getting at least a sense of the history of philosophy. In Francis Schaeffer's opening lines of How Should We Then Live, he says,

"There is a flow to history and culture. This flow is rooted and has its wellspring in the thoughts of people."

It is by understanding this flow that we can better understand how and why modern man thinks as he does. In this understanding, we can better give him Christ. Schaeffer says in the Forward to Escape From Reason,

"If we are to communicate the Christian faith effectively, therefore, we must know and understand the thought-forms of our own generation." Volume 1, Page 207

Schaeffer's concern is that evangelical Christians have not taken the time to understand the flow of thought and so we have not been as effective as we might have been.

"Christians have tended to despise the concept of philosophy. This has been one of the weaknesses of evangelical, orthodox Christianity - we have been proud to despise philosophy, and we have been exceedingly proud in despising the intellect." Page 279 Francis Schaeffer Volume 1, He Is There and He Is Not Silent

Schaeffer begans his book Escape From Reason with Thomas Aquinas. He sees Aquinas as a source for the humanism of the Renaissance. This was due to the reintroduction of Greek philosophy, especially the philosophy of Aristotle, to the church. The point here is fine. Schaeffer's problem with Aquinas' use of Aristotle is not the use of rationale as antithesis; it is the use of pagan philosophy (reason) unbounded by Revelation.

"Rational thought as antithesis is not rooted in Aristotle, it is rooted in reality" Francis Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, Volume 1, Page184

Schaeffer's problem therefore with Aquinas was not the use of reason, but the unbounded use of reason.

"In Aquinas' view the will of man was fallen, but the intellect was not. From this incomplete view of the Biblical Fall flowed subsequent difficulties. Out of this as time passed, man's intellect was seen as autonomous." Page 211

"This sphere of the autonomous growing out of Aquinas takes on various forms. One result, for example, was the development of natural theology. In this view, natural theology is a theology that could be pursued independently from the Scriptures." Page 211

"From the basis of this autonomous principle, philosophy also became increasingly free and was separated from revelation. Therefore philosophy began to take wings, as it were, and fly off wherever it wished, without relationship to the Scriptures." Page 211

"Aquinas had opened the way to an autonomous humanism, an autonomous philosophy; and once the movement gained momentum, there was soon a flood." Page 212 Francis Schaeffer, Volume 1, Escape From Reason

This humanistic movement in the church was corrected by the Reformation. At this point, man had two options. He could pursue a unified knowledge of truth beginning only with himself and by his reason alone or he could return to the Bible and God's revelation as the only source for truth. Man, in his rebellion against the Creator of the universe, has chosen the former. Autonomous, humanistic man romantically believed he could come to a knowledge of truth beginning only from himself.

Now notice what has happened: in the process of history, modern man has given up believing that he can come to a knowledge of truth beginning only with himself.

"In the end the philosophers come to the realization that they could not find this unified rationalistic circle and so, departing from the classical methodology of antithesis, they shifted the concept of truth, and modern man was born." (Page 10, Francis Schaeffer, Volume 1, The God Who Is There)

Man seeking to be autonomously rational has given up on rationality. All in life that is meaningful must be held irrationally. It is at this point that Francis Schaeffer's ministry is so helpful. Schaeffer was not against the use of reason. Reason is a gift of God. To the contrary, Schaeffer's understanding of the flow of thought in history caused him to see that modern man must hold everything significant in life in a romantic leap of faith. This principle really defines Schaeffer's apologetic. There is no hope or meaning to life outside of the Christian understanding. Christianity is hope giving because it is really true. Modern man has borrowed his hope from Christianity. It is the job of the apologist/evangelist to take a person and expose how he is borrowing from Christianity. Schaeffer called this "taking the roof off". Schaeffer describes what this entails in Section 4, Chapters 2 and 3 of The God Who Is There and it is really excellent and worth the time considering.

Schaeffer often makes the point that Christianity is the only "system" that a man can hold with all of his philosophical and intellectual doors wide open. What he means by this is that Christianity is really true. We need not make a leap of faith in the area of reason to hold the Christian hope.

"I try to get them [unbelievers] to consider the biblical system and its truth without an appeal to blind authority - that is, as though believing meant believing just because one's family did, or as though the intellect had no part in the matter.

This is the way I became a Christian. I had gone to a "liberal" church for many years. I decided that the only answer on the basis of what I was hearing was agnosticism or atheism. On the basis of liberal theology I do not think I have ever made a more logical decision in my life. I became an agnostic, and then I began to read the Bible for the first time in order to place it against some Greek philosophy I was reading. I did this as an act of honesty insofar as I had given up what I thought was Christianity, but had never read the Bible through. Over a period of about 6 months I became a Christian because I was convinced that the full answer which the Bible presented was alone sufficient to the problems I then knew, and sufficient in a very exciting way." Page 264 Escape From Reason

"It is possible to take the system the Bible teaches, put it down in the marketplace of the ideas of men, and let it stand there and speak for itself." Page 265 Escape From Reason

That is about 6 months of reading distilled into a few paragraphs and so I am sure very little of it makes sense. I think it is important though. Pastor Tim recently said in a context of our need to be born again that apologetics are not only for unbelievers but also for believers. I couldn't agree more. This line of thinking has been a help to my faith.

Back to Aquinas. I have come to have a sense in my wider reading on Schaeffer, that Schaeffer was a little hard on Aquinas. I can't place my thumb on why I think it, but I think RC Sproul thinks this way. So in an effort to understand more about Aquinas, I picked up the Chesterton biography. I went into the reading of this book very interested in letting Aquinas and his Roman apologist speak for themselves.

But, as I read, certain things bothered me throughout. An example was Chesterton's insistence on saying the "the Church has long said so and so" on some particular issue instead of saying "the Bible says so and so". The difference in the views on what is seen as the absolute authority was driven home in this way. Rome finds Scripture submitted under the church; the Reformers correctly submitted man under Scripture.

The culmination of the essence of the things that were bothering me came in the final pages of the book. I've quoted them substantially below:

"It will be found earlier in this book; and it [the Reformation] was a quarrel of monks. We have seen how the great name of Augustine, a name never mentioned by Aquinas without respect but often mentioned without agreement, covered an Augustinian school of thought naturally lingering longest in the existing order. The difference, like every difference between Catholics, was only a difference of emphasis. The Augustinians stressed the idea of the impotence of man before God, the omniscience of God about the destiny of man, the need for holy fear and humiliation of intellectual pride, more than the opposite and corresponding truths of free will or human dignity or good works. In this they did in a sense continue the distinctive note of St. Augustine, who is even now regarded as relatively the determinist doctor of the Church. But there is emphasis and emphasis; and a time was coming when emphasizing the one side was to mean flatly contradicting the other. Perhaps, after all, it did begin with a quarrel of monks; but the pope was yet to learn how quarrelsome a monk could be. For there was one particular monk, in that Augustinian monastery in the German forests, who may be said to have had a single and special talent for emphasis; for emphasis and nothing except emphasis; for emphasis with the quality of earthquake. He was a son of a slatecutter; a man with a great voice and a certain volume of personality; brooding, sincere, decidedly morbid; and his name was Martin Luther. Neither Augustine nor the Augustinians would have desired to see the day of that vindication of the Augustinian tradition; but in one sense, perhaps, the Augustinian tradition was avenged after all.

It came out of its cell again, the day of storm and ruin, and cried out with a new and mighty voice for an elemental and emotional religion, and for the destruction of all philosophies. It had a peculiar horror and loathing of the great Greek philosophies, and of the Scholasticism that had been founded on those philosophies. It had one theory that was the destruction of all theories; in fact it had its own theology, which was itself the death of theology. Man could say nothing to God, nothing from God, nothing about God, except an almost inarticulate cry for mercy for the supernatural help of Christ, in a world were all natural things were useless. Reason was useless. Will was useless. Man could not move himself an inch any more than a stone. Man could not trust what was in his head anymore than a turnip. Nothing remained in earth or in heaven, but the name of Christ lifted in that lonely imprecation; awful as the cry of a beast in pain. (emphasis mine)

We must be just to those human figures, who are in fact the hinges of history. However strong, and rightly strong, be our own controversial conviction, it must never mislead us into thinking that something trivial has transformed the world. So it is with that great Augustinian monk, who avenged all the ascetic Augustinians of the Middle Ages; and whose broad and burly figure has been big enough to block out for centuries the distant human mountain of Aquinas. It is not, as moderns delight to say, a question of theology. The Protestant theology of Martin Luther was a thing that no modern Protestant would be seen dead in a field with; or if the phrase be too flippant, would be especially anxious to touch with a barge-pole. That Protestantism was pessimism; it was nothing but bare insistence on the hopelessness of all human virtue, as an attempt to escape hell (emphasis mine). That Lutheranism is now quite unreal; more modern phases of Lutheranism are rather more unreal; but Luther was not unreal. He was one of those great elemental barbarians, to whom it is indeed given to change the world. To compare those two figures bulking so big in history, in any philosophical sense, would of course be futile and even unfair. On a great map like the mind of Aquinas, the mind of Luther would be almost invisible. But it is not altogether untrue to say, as so many journalists have said without caring whether it was true or untrue, that Luther opened an epic; and began the modern world.

He was the first man who ever consciously used his consciousness; or what was later called his personality. He had as a fact, a rather strong personality. Aquinas had an even stronger personality; he had a massive and magnetic presence; he had an intellect that could act like a huge system of artillery spread over the whole world; he had that instantaneous presence of mind in debate, which alone really deserves the name of wit. But it never occurred to him to use anything except his wits, in defense of the truth distinct from himself. It never occurred to Aquinas to use Aquinas as a weapon. There is not a trace of his ever using his personal advantages, of birth or body or brain or breeding, in debate with anybody. In short, he belonged to an age of intellectual unconsciousness, to an age of intellectual innocence, which was very intellectual. Now Luther did begin the modern mood of depending on things not merely intellectual. It is not a question of praise or blame; it matters little whether we say that he was a strong personality, or that he was a bit of a big bully. When he quoted a Scripture text, inserting a word that is not in Scripture, he was content to shout back at all hecklers: "Tell them that Dr. Martin Luther will have it so!" That is what we now call Personality. A little later it was called Psychology. After that it was called Advertisement or Salesmanship. But we are not arguing about advantages or disadvantages. It is due to this great Augustinian pessimists to say, not only that he did triumph at last over the Angel of the Schools, but that he did in a very real sense make the modern world. He destroyed Reason; and substituted Suggestion.

It is said that the great Reformer publicly burned the Summa Theologica and in the works of Aquinas; and with the bonfire of such books this book may well come to an end. They say it is very difficult to burn a book; and it a must of been exceedingly difficult to burn such a mountain of books as the Dominican had contributed to the controversies of Christendom. Anyhow, there is something lurid and apocalyptic about the idea of such destruction, when we consider the compact complexity of all that encyclopedic survey of social and moral and theoretical things. All the close-packed definitions that excluded so many errors and extremes; all the broad and balanced judgments upon the class of loyalties or the choice of evils; all the liberal speculations upon the limits of government or the proper conditions of justice; all the distinctions between use and abuse of private property; all the rules and exceptions about the great evil of war; all the allowances for human weakness and all the provisions for human health; all this mass of medieval humanism shriveled and curled up in smoke before the eyes of its enemy; and that great passionate peasant rejoiced darkly, because the day of the Intellect was over. Sentence by sentence it burned, and syllogism by syllogism; and the golden maxims turned to golden flames in that last and dying glory of all that had once been the great wisdom of the Greeks. The great central Synthesis of history, that was to have linked the ancient with the modern world, went up in smoke and, for half the world, was forgotten like a vapor." Pages 163-166, GK Chesterton, Thomas Aquinas

These paragraphs clearly demonstrate the expanse between Rome and Protestant theology. The very thing we hold dear is the belief that man cannot move himself an inch toward God and that the work of salvation must be all of Christ's and that all the glory must go to Him and not to us. With this understanding of Aquinas, I can't help but agree with Schaeffer that Aquinas had an incomplete view of the Fall. We are by nature useless. We must be born again to see the kingdom of God.

Purely due to the providence of God, at the same time I read the above words I was listening to John Piper's bio on Martin Luther. I love it when the Lord works like this. It is an assurance that He is caring for me. The quote that shook me from that pastor's conference message is below

At the heart of Luther's theology was a total dependence on the freedom of God's omnipotent grace rescuing powerless man from the bondage of the will. His book by that name, The Bondage of the Will, published in 1525, was an answer to Erasmus' book, The Freedom of the Will. Luther regarded this one book of his -The Bondage of the Will - as his "best theological book, and the only one in that class worthy of publication" (see note 69).

To understand Luther's theology and his methodology of study it is extremely important to recognize that he conceded that Erasmus, more than any other opponent had realized that the powerlessness of man before God, not the indulgence controversy or purgatory was the central question of the Christian faith. Man is powerless to justify himself, powerless to sanctify himself, powerless to study as he ought and powerless to trust God to do anything about this.

Erasmus' exaltation of man's will as free to overcome its own sin and bondage was, in Luther's mind, an assault on the freedom of God's grace and therefore on the very gospel itself. In his summary of faith in 1528 he writes,

I condemn and reject as nothing but error all doctrines which exalt our "free will" as being directly opposed to this mediation and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. For since, apart from Christ, sin and death are our masters and the devil is our god and prince, there can be no strength or power, no wit or wisdom, by which we can fit or fashion ourselves for righteousness and life. On the contrary, blinded and captivated, we are bound to be the subjects of Satan and sin, doing and thinking what pleases him and is opposed to God and His commandments (see note 70).

For Luther the issue of man's bondage to sin and his moral inability to believe or make himself right—including the inability to study rightly —was the root issue of the Reformation. The freedom of God, and therefore the freedom of the Gospel and therefore the Glory of God and the salvation of men were at stake in this controversy. Therefore Luther loved the message of The Bondage of the Will, ascribing all freedom and power and grace to God, and all powerlessness and dependency to man.

John Piper, Pastor's Conference 1996, Martin Luther: Lessons Learned from His Life and Labor

Amen.

Original Sin

2007-07-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

Our good friend over at The Hanson Crew has written some good thoughts on John MacArthur's book, Safe in the Arms of God. Lisa and I read this book a couple of years ago and we agreed that it was helpful. I cannot think of anything worse in this life than for a parent to lose a child. I think a parent would rather endure any amount of suffering, physical or otherwise, than to deal with the paramount suffering of losing a child to death. The consideration of a child dying then is a consideration that causes us to think upon eternity and that the world we live in is fallen, maybe more so than anything else.

One of the most important books I read as a newish Christian was Jonathan Edwards' The Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Defended. I was driven to this book by my having to deal with Paul in Romans 5:12-21. In Part I of Edwards' book, he sets about to prove the doctrine of Original Sin from the observation of reality. Chapter 2 of Part I deals with the proof of universal mortality for Original Sin, especially the death of infants. I can still remember setting on our couch at Paradise Lane literally weeping over the words of Edwards as he wrote that not only infants die but often they die horribly. He mentioned the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and that Deu_28:53-57 seems to prophesy of this event where parents are forced to eat their children. Fernando Ortega's song City of Sorrows from his album Storm, recounts this horrible event.

Kings in their armor
Swords in the sky
Storefronts of martyrs
Lined up to die
While in the streets of Jersualem
Children in pain
Covered in ashes
I called out your name

Oh Jerusalem
City of thrones
The blood of your people
Still darkens the stones
City of Sorrows
Set on a hill
Bride of the prophets
They dream of you still

This is terrible on so many fronts. This consideration helps us to really feel the force of the Lord's words when He says

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' " Matthew 23:37-39 ESV

The very next thing He says to the disciples refers to the events of 70AD

Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, "You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." Matthew 24:1-2 ESV

The doctrine of Original Sin is so important because, in today's age, we don't properly understand how right God is to punish us for our being in Adam. The wages of sin is death Rom_6:23. Why then must infants die? What sin has an infant committed? Paul says in Rom_5:14, that death reigned even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam. I take Paul here to be referring to infants who haven't outwardly sinned in action as did Adam but who are sentenced to death due to their relationship to Adam by nature. Who can think of the seeming innocence of infants and the terrible ways in which they often meet death and the justice of God in their death, and not feel the weight of the truth that we, who have actually sinned like Adam in turning our backs on the Lord, are so deserving of His judgment and wrath? Because of the Fall and the justice of God, infants die. O how much more deserving of death am I than a seemingly innocent little baby. O Lord have mercy on me! By one man sin entered the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all have sinned (in Adam) Rom_5:12. There is none righteous, no not one, Rom_3:10.

Well what are we to do with this? The absolute beauty of Romans 5:12-21 is that though we are dead through our relationship to Adam, it is through a relationship with Christ that we get life. Though we are condemned in a sin we did not actively commit (though we would have committed it if in the place of Adam) we are saved through a righteousness not our own but the righteousness that only Christ, the second Adam, could perform. We may be tempted to cry unfair to God in our being condemned with Adam but we quickly shut our mouths when we consider that Jesus, who knew no sin, was crucified for our transgressions, and that by faith in Christ, God counts us as righteous. When God removes our old stony heart and gives us a new heart of flesh and we look upon Christ in faith, he counts us as being righteous in Christ. Not a righteousness that is our own but a righteousness that comes by faith in Christ and from Christ Phi_3:9. To Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, be all the glory for our salvation, for all eternity. Amen.

By the way, an understanding of Original Sin, if we can but let Scripture speak at this point, is the doorway, in my opinion, to understanding the Reformed view of Scripture. This is the doctrine of Total Depravity Eph_2:1-3. This is the doctrine that we must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God Joh_3:3. If you want to know why it is said that the Reformed view of Scripture exalts God and debases man, it can be found here. Humbly therefore we must come to God.

The doctrine of Original Sin is the source of the problem of the eternal destiny of those dying in infancy. Edwards' actually addresses this question squarely in Part II, Chapter IV, Section I of Original Sin Defended. For me on this issue, I rest in the absolute goodness of God and know that when we get to heaven, we will look upon his judgments and say, "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." Matthew 11:26 KJV

More Pics

2007-07-16T20:55:00.001-07:00

Sleepy Boy

2007-07-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

Isaac's favored position.

Isaac Nathaniel

2007-07-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of the little fella

Sea Isle Pics

2007-07-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

First installment of possible future installments.

Gettysburg

2007-07-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip (more pictures will be forthcoming). We were able to stop by Gettysburg on the way home and it was a powerful experience.

This is the field of Pickett's Charge. I cannot imagine charging that hill. The marker at the right is where CSA Brigadier General Lewis Armistead fell.

This statue is of Major General George Meade, Commander of the Army of the Potomac. It faces the field of Pickett's Charge.

We were only able to spend a couple of hours here and I can't wait to go back and see more.