My friend Susan is giving away a nice item for children. It's a Read and Share Bible which looks quite interesting. I'm going on over to enter and encourage you to do so also. This would be great for your grandchildren if you have no small ones of your own. And if you have no children at all, what a nice gift this would be for a niece or nephew. Come on over with me!
Even though the Lord Jesus Himself is the most special gift that has ever been given to us, His children, He chose in His providential goodness to give our family an extra special gift during the Christmas season of 1992. She was born on December 22nd of that year and came to us all wrapped in pink and white on December 26th. She stole our hearts right away. . . can't you see why?
So, every year on this date, in the midst of all the seasonal merriment, we celebrate this special Christmas gift. This year's celebration is a significant one, however. Today is the eighteenth one and you know what that means. Not only are we thankful that the Lord has allowed us to share this day with Neesie as she reaches this milestone, but we're able to rejoice that God has seen fit to draw her to Himself and that as she reaches young adulthood she continues to look to Him to guide and direct her life. We know He will.
Neesie captured the heart of her dad and mom and big sister on that day after Christmas eighteen years ago and continues to do so. Now added to the number of those who love her dearly are a brother-in-law and two doting nieces. And I can honestly say there are quite a few others among family and friends who consider her a truly special gift.
Somewhere in her childhood we began to recite Psalm 121 to her at bedtime, and that tradition continues to this day. Needless to say, that passage is her life verse(s) and we put its reference on every birthday cake and card. So as I say "Happy Birthday, dear Neesie", I say it with a prayer that the reality of these words in the psalm will keep you looking upward all the days allotted to you. We love you very much.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. . .The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore. From Psalm 121
See this picture? Just a little bit of snow, right? No problem, right? No, you're wrong. It brought a TON of problems to this area for the rush hour! I know all you folks who are counting the snow in feet are probably chuckling at our little half inch. Well let me tell you: It started snowing late in the afternoon with a rather wet, not powdery, kind of snow which immediately froze on the very cold surface due to the low temps of the past few days. This combination turned out to be murderous for the commuters coming home from work, AND my poor husband trying to get to Neesie's place of work to pick her up. He left a half hour early and was at least a half hour late getting her. A long story, but she and he and I were back and forth on the phone his entire ride. THEN, they had to come home, which took twice the normal time. In some instances, it was taking people an hour to go one mile. Sometimes, going 15 miles per hour was too fast. Five to ten mph was safest.
Unbelievable! The road crews hadn't prepared for this unexpected turn of events, I guess. If it had started earlier in the day as forecast perhaps it wouldn't have frozen so solid, or if it had snowed more than a coating perhaps there would have been some "crunch" for the tire wheels, but wow, this was unreal.
Well, thanks to the Lord, my folks made it safely home without an accident. Unfortunately, there were many who did not make out so well.
So, guys, I think I'd rather have your two or three feet. No I don't mean that.
Just reporting in.
"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20
In September of 1983 my husband and I and our three year old daughter gathered with three other couples and their children for a picnic. Now having a picnic with other families is not an unusual occurrence by any means, but this meeting together was special in nature. You see, this group came together that day to discuss the possibility of establishing a church in our area. We were all like-minded in our theology and in what we believed concerning what God required of His Church in its worship. For a year we met as a Bible Study, with the help and covering of an established congregation which "mothered" us and with continued growth in our number during that year. Then, in September 1984, we had our first worship service, meeting for another year as a fellowship. By God's mercies, in December of 1985 we constituted as an official church body and ordained our pastor, who remains to this day.
Tomorrow, we are having a celebration of our 25th anniversary as a body of believers. We started out in a school, have at times used borrowed facilities graciously lent to us by other congregations, and for the past eighteen years worshipped in a building of our own. The faces of the various people meeting at one time or another have changed over the years. There have been glorious days and painful days. We have been a people with feet of clay, as is the case with every single child of God in every single congregation on the face of the earth. After all, aren't we all sinners in need of daily forgiveness? We have pressed on, however, seeking to serve our Lord and doing our best to honor Him.
But this is not a post about us; it's about the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Himself who has been kind enough to allow us to see this anniversary, still proclaiming His Person and Work. It's most of all an expression of my gratefulness to a Savior who has promised to meet with His people at each and every gathering in His Name on this earth, wherever that gathering may be and even if they're only two or three of them.
These are the words of my dear Bishop Ryle on Matthew 18:20:
"There is comfort in these words for all who love to meet together for religious purposes. At every assembly for public worship, at every gathering for prayer and praise, at every missionary meeting, at every Bible reading, the King of kings is present, Christ Himself attends. We may be often disheartened by the small number who are present on such occasions, compared with the number of those who meet for worldly ends; we may sometimes find it hard to bear the taunts and ridicule of an illnatured world, which cries like the enemy of old, "What do these feeble people?" (Nehem. iv.2) But we have no reason for despondency: we may boldly fall back on these words of Jesus. At all such meetings we have the company of Christ Himself." ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew.
Thank you, dear Lord Jesus, for your faithfulness to us these past twenty-five plus years. Help us to "persevere and not be ashamed," as Mr. Ryle further exhorts.
Our church website is here. Also the above picture is a drawing of our building.
Is it just me or do people have too much time on their hands these days? And I'm not just talking about us Americans. This event, whatever it was, took place in South Korea. I don't know...maybe they're trying to get their minds off the problems they're having coming from up north. Seems to me they better be concentrating on the folks from the "northern kingdom" as there is nothing funny about them.
Also, as cute as these little penguins may be, and as much as I like animals, I am really bothered by the waste of money that we see going on here and abroad on foolishness when there is so much worldwide hunger. Sorry, but that's my two cents for whatever it's worth. Tell me if I'm wrong--I don't mind.
Between now and this past August, five friends of mine have lost their husbands. These are all ladies whom I have been friends with for many years, and in each instance, the marriage was a solid and long lasting one. Each was a wonderful testimony of the beauty of marriage, and now each of these dear ones will face the holidays for the first time as widows. Today I went to a church to get a good tight hug from the latest widow, shortly before she went to bury her companion of 46 years. I remember going through the whole saga of her dating him and then their marriage those many years ago. . .and now our tears mingling at such a time as this.
I just wanted to remember them now for a few minutes and ask that you'd please take a moment to say a prayer for Carol, Carole, Carolyn, Joan, and Joyce during this first Christmas season without their husbands. God has blessed each of them with children and grandchildren, so we can be thankful for that.
There is something I see in each of these ladies; it's something you see when the years have been many and the relationship has been harmonious and loving. I see tranquility in their sorrow.
