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April 23, 2007
What's Up?
Let me tell you what is up:
My parents are coming in 5 days! Yay. I miss miss miss them. However, I am working each day they will be here. Boo.
My inlaws (a lot of them) are coming in a week and 3 days. Yay. I like them. However, I will be with my family for my sister's graduation.
My sister is graduating from grad school in a week and 5 days. Yay! She's worked so hard and has really earned all the honor we can give her.
My sis-in-law is also graduating from college in a week and 5 days. Yay! She's worked hard too. However, I will be in Atlanta celebrating my own sister's graduation.
(All these celebrations hit at one time. When it rains it pours, I guess.)
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In addition, we met with our session* yesterday. Vague language abounds on the public forum that is the Internet, but rest assured we are doing fine and just craved more guidance and help and prayer in a family situation. If you want to, we'd love your prayers. We are looking for reconciliation and truth--and freedom from half-truths and the lies that trap us all so effectively.
In relation to this vague personal note, read this blog post from a friend. Then come back here. Did you read it? Good. Did you notice all the talk about personal and spiritual growth being more important than reports about concrete, tactile changes? That's where I've been, too, these last few months. The growth and change is still going on...which is hard, like the last few laps of a track race...but it's a blessing to see progress in the anti-sin war I contend. Praise God.
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I'm still dissatisfied with retail. Praying about another job. Join me. The active job-hunt won't start till after the flurry of visits ends.
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I'm also (finally!) eBay-ing all the stuff the previous tenant left behind. Yes, the previous tenant left all her stuff but clothes in this house. At least we can make money off it, right? Yes. So there you go.
It's been an adventure.
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*session: the leaders of a church body. The session is composed of the head preacher of a church, called the teaching elder, and any other elected elders, called ruling elders, who probably are not employed by the church body. Instead of being leaders like ship captains or army generals who bark out orders in haste and hurry, they are more like shepherds, applying the leadership and guidance that already exists in Scripture and apply to us, the church body, because they know our particular needs.
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April 18, 2007
Coincidental? Nope.
Verses from my devotions yesterday:
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the LORD are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.
--Hosea 14:9 (in context)
Let everyone beware of his neighbor,
and put no trust in any brother,
for every brother is a deceiver,
and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
Everyone deceives his neighbor,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they weary themselves committing iniquity.
Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
they refuse to know me, declares the LORD.
--Jeremiah 9:4-6 (in context)
Did you notice? In this passage, the grossness of the sin mounts and mounts, and what's the worst of the sins listed in this passage? What's the absolute peak of sin you can commit? "...they refuse to know me." Come on, folks. Let's press on to know him!
Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD."
--Jeremiah 9:23-24 (in context again)
And here's that very point underlined for us again. Just a few verses later, Jeremiah again calls us to understand and know him. He is the one (the only one) who practices love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, after all. Come to know him, and come to know him better.
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frus-ta-rating.
It's pretty frustrating to run across so many roadblocks while trying to figure out this eBay stuff. One after another. Oh well...I'll get there!
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Imagine that!
Here in the library, the library computers don't allow CD-roms to be used. (That part makes sense. Here comes the Imagine-that part...)
The librarian didn't know what a CD-drive is on a computer. A librarian. Didn't know. Sheesh.
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Most Heartbreaking of All
Not only is Virginia Tech closed for the rest of this week, but local high schools and grade schools are also closed today so people can attend funeral services. Imagine such widespread loss, that so many funerals will be held today.
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Under Authority
During our time at Center Hill, we also attended the Little Country Church that's been there since time out of mind. My grandparents have been on the church board for 20 years. My great-grandmother helped found the church and was their church pianist for years and years.
But I noticed...some oddnesses. Nothing in particular, but just the difference between a church that clearly and faithfully teaches Scripture as the authority for every facet of life and a "good, traditional country church."
I love my home church and the clarity of the teaching there: that the pastor and the elders endeavor to teach Scripture as the authority, not themselves as the authority or some good book as the authority. No: Sola Scriptura for all of us, even the pastors.
What a good reminder that we are all under authority.
...submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:21
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April 11, 2007
Easter Travels
What a nice vacation! We sojourned north. In Western PA, we visited The Dude's brother and sister-in-law, who's pregnant and has the cutest baby bump ever! Then we headed to Center Hill to visit Grandma and Papa. We also got to see a lot of my Uncle and Aunt.
We decided to take interstates instead of state routes back South, which brought us within ten miles of The Dude's youngest brother's Calvinist College. We called his room and said "We'll be there in 2 hours...can we meet?" We did, and it was very nice.
Then we trekked south through West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee, finally coming home.
Many things were observed and meditated upon. Many things were discussed at length with The Dude and verry shallowly with my extended family members. Insights were gained, and we shall see how the Lord will work in our lives to straighten out the mess that's been made. It's a mess! A pickle! A kofloffel, as I like to say. So many factions, half truths, and misleading stories. Where is the truth? Who knows what really happened? Who knows how it will turn out?
I've already been through a miraculous reconciliation, so I know it can happen. But how can God bring this one about? Pray, won't you?
And I just looked at the title of this post and learn the answer to my questions. How will God reconcile the hurt and anger and pride and wounds that have resulted from The Pickle? His death and resurrection make us agents of reconciliation, and by his wounds we are healed. There's the truth in the midst of all this falsehood.
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