Month: April 2007

I am reading Steve Brown’s book, A Scandalous Freedom. It’s a borrowed book, and I am restraining myself:

“I will not highlight or underline in this book.
I will not highlight or underline in this book.
I will not highlight or underline in this book.”

… and I’m only on Chapter One!

Brown is pointing out that if we are free from our sins, we no longer are carrying around this burden. He writes about how this freedom can manifest itself practically in our lives.

Here’s an excerpt:

Does being free mean that God is please with whatever I do, not matter what it is?
Continue reading ““We do not break God’s laws; we simply get broken by them””

I’m feeling a little under the weather (way sore throat and a fever) after returning home from our trip. I did take notes for posts – we were pretty busy in Japan and I didn’t get to write as much as I’d hoped. But… that means I was out enjoying life, right?

So, my brother called today and reminded me to take care of myself even if it meant relaxing and not unpacking so that I wouldn’t get even more sick. I kinda laughed at that statement from my dear, unmarried, childless brother. But, he reminded me that even if I couldn’t stop meeting the demands of the day, that taking care of myself included spiritually and that I should be praying throughout the day. Yeah, I knew that. So, God gave me bigger things to pray about than my dumb sore throat.

In Japan, my new friends the Sanos’ three year old Takumi (拓実), which means to “cultivate and bear fruit” , had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance last night. My friend Kyoko wrote:

Just last night, right about the time I received your e-mail, Junko’s third child, that is, second boy, Takumi, had to be taken to hospital by ambulance. She might probably write to you about it in more detail. But he looked like stopped breathing, Masakazu, his father told me. Takumi had high fever all day, and in the evening, he threw up once. After that, his parents were watching him sleeping next to the dining room. But at one moment, they realized Takumi’s eyes were not focused, and looked really pale. They felt something was wrong and picked him up, but he had no reaction. So they slapped him and talked to him, did everything they could do to have him stay awake. Finally, after Masakazu put his finger into Takumi’s mouth and had him throw up little bit more, Takumi woke up and began to weep with weak voice. So they called ambulance and had the doctor check him. After all, they were told that it was a convulsion caused by high fever. Now our whole church is praying for the complete recovery for Takumi. You will never know what happens with small children. God showed His mercy again.

So pray over little Takumi with me!!

And then, my cyber friend Heather from Moms of Grace just found out she had a brain tumor! I have been reading her blog for a month, so I knew of her before she found out. It has been amazing to see her consistently Godly response to this situation, as well as the outpouring of prayers from the women at MoG.

Heather wrote in her blog Especially Heather:

Then when you take into account that we have only known about this tumor for a little over 48 hours, and you look at the amazing things that have happened in those 48 hours- I have an appointment at the #1 ranked neurosurgery hospital in the country people! A feat that takes upwards of 6-8 months normally. You cannot tell me that God didn’t have his hands all over that….

I am sure I will walk through the valley, I am sure I will be sad, and part of me is still very removed from this- it is still very very fresh and I still feel as if it is happening to someone else… but at the same time- I do not fear what my future holds. I cant. I cant spend the energy anticipating the next horrible event.

I am choosing to anticipate the next great provision. Whatever provision that may be. I am choosing to believe that no matter what- even if God calls me home tonight in my sleep.

He never stepped off His throne. He simply brought me closer to it.

Wow. Heather, can you put that last line in a greeting card?

Please pray for Heather and her family with me. I do believe that her blog would be a good tool for sharing the gospel with others who may be going through a difficult experience – something to keep in mind for future reference. She has many readers. Pray that as people read her living testimony, that they will be drawn closer to the Lord. I know that I have!

I heard Al Gore’s presentation on global warming. While many politicians and commentators laughed at Gore, I believe that we’ll see a trend from businesses trying to become more environmentally conscious, and I think they’ll get more media coverage. Businesses doing more to take care of the earth isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I’m not a scientist, and I know that there are Christians who believe that global warming is real and there are those Christians who refuse to take a stand on the issue.

Honestly, I don’t know enough about earth science to debate whether or not global warming is real. But, I do not see a problem with Christians thinking about the environment in the sense that we are stewards of the earth.

(I did mention the book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger earlier in my blog. It was the book that I was reading when I met my husband. I just can’t bring myself to fully agree with Sider to say that it is sinful to be wealthy or condemn people who own SUVs – I have one, we fit seven people in it, and it keeps us safe on icy roads. Sider’s goals are admirable, but his applications and conclusions about sinfulness are off. Yet, there are few Christians who have have written about poverty and the environment, so he has become an “expert” by default.)

Certainly being a good steward means that we should do what we can to be less wasteful. I don’t understand why stewardship principles have to be thrown out just because people may or may not believe that global warming is real, or that to be environmentally conscious that you have to worship the earth. I believe that taking care of the earth is a way that we can show our appreciation to God for His provision.
Continue reading “Environmental Backlash”

“What does the idea of biblical submission mean to you as it relates to mutual submission, within a marriage, and as a church member? What does it look like in practice?”

This is a question being discussed under the “Digging Deeper” forum at the Moms of Grace community – will be thinking about this today. I’m interested to know how women will respond.

Also, we’re studying the same topic in our Motherwise study group.