Scenes from RMNP

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

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

The Expanding Universe

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

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

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

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