6.29.2009

Books bought on vacation

... for a song:

1. The Fisherman's Lady - George MacDonald
2. The Marquis' Secret - George MacDonald
3. Reformed Standards of Unity
4. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
5. Her Hand in Marriage - Douglas Wilson
6. The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism - Carl F.H. Henry
7. Man of Geneva: the Story of John Calvin - EM Johnson
8. Expositions of Holy Scripture - OT, 6 vols - Alexander MacLaren
9. Hide or Seek - James Dobson
10. Subversive Spirituality - Eugene Peterson
11. Survivor's Guide to Home Schooling - Shackelford/White
12. Upon this Rock: a Novel of Simon Peter - Frank Slaughter
13. Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen
14. Love Must Be Tough - James Dobson
15. The New Answers Book: Q&A on Creation/Evolution - Ken Ham
16. Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free
17. Battle for Middle-Earth: Tolkien's Divine Design in Lord of the Rings - Fleming Rutledge
18. Salvation Belongs to the Lord - John Frame
19. Instructing a Child's Heart - Tedd Tripp
20. Heresies - Harold Brown
21. Halley's Bible Handbook
22. Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament - William LaSor
23. Creation and Change - Douglas Kelly
24. Did Adam Have a Belly Button - Ken Ham
25. Passion and Purity - Elisabeth Elliot
26. The Faith of the Church - A Reformed Perspective on its historical development - Eugene Osterhaven
27. Tried by Fire: the Message of 1 Peter - William Brownson
28. Joshua and the Flow of Biblical History - Francis A. Schaeffer
29. The Fine Art of Public Worship - Andrew Blackwood
30. The Church at the End of the 20th Century - Francis Schaeffer
31. Bringing the Gospel to Covenant Children - Joel Beeke
32. Family Worship - Joel Beeke
33. A Call to Prayer - JC Ryle
34. Van Til: the Theologian - John Frame
35. Treatises on the Sacraments - John Calvin
36. Tabletalk - Martin Luther
37. Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God - J. I. Packer
38. The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan [know your enemy]
39. Comfort in Sickness and Death - Robert Murray M'Cheyne
40. Christians Grieve, Too - Don Howard
41. The Lord's Supper - Thomas Watson
42. The Believer's Joy - Robert Murray M'Cheyne
43. Reformed Confessions Harmonized - Joel Beeke and Sinclair Ferguson editors
44. When a Christian Parent Dies - Jay Adams
45. When a Child Dies from a Christian Home - Jay Adams
46. When a Christian spouse Dies - Jay Adams
47. Solving Marriage Problems - Jay Adams
48. Power Encounters: Reclaiming Spiritual Warfare - David Powlison
49. How to Help People Change - Jay Adams

For the kids
1. Attack of the Turtle - Drew Carlson
2. Mr Pipes And The British Hymn Makers - Douglas Bond
3. Mr Pipes and Psalms and Hymns of the Reformation - Douglas Bond
4. The Jesse Tree - McCaughrean
5. John Calvin - Simonetta Carr

6.24.2009

Of Servetus, and appealing to the middle

Two items to pass on from perusing the latest World issue.
1. Abraham Kuyper, on Calvin's dealing with Servetus:
"I not only deplore that... I unconditionally disapprove of it; yet not as it it were the expression of a special characteristic of Calvinism, but on the contrary as the fatal after-effect of a system, grey with age, which Calvinism found in existence, under which it had grown up, and from which it had not yet been able entirely to liberate itself."
2. World columnist Andree Seu, on the parallel challenge to the Church, and to the Republican party (thankfully, not confusing the two!):
"It is the secular mirror image of Christianity's desperate attempts to look relevant to its base. One faction wants to throw all the distinctives overboard in order to save the Church - a strategy of throwing out the faith to save the faith. The other faction wants to put its confidence in God no matter how many parishioners walk across the street to the friendly gay church."

6.18.2009

Elders and deacons

"The qualifications for each office are stringent enough to disqualify the person of severe moral defect, and they are lenient enough that nearly any church member in good standing can be ordained. Godliness, not social status, education, wealth, or other such things, is what makes a man fit for office."

Tabletalk, June 2009, pg 47.

6.16.2009

Be ye perfect, therefore...

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."
Vince Lombardi

6.12.2009

Communion Exhortation - 12/7/08

God speaks to you here at this Table, as he speaks in His Word, at baptism. This is a gift, for we do not deserve to be spoken to. Much less do we deserve to be fed at the family table. Justice would mean no food for anyone. Straight to bed, no supper. Occasionally things get bad enough that we need to do that, but the punishment of law does not motivate like the grace of love does. And here is love. Here is gift. Here is grace, in this bread and wine. We receive food as children at the family table. We have confessed our sins in a posture of confession, kneeling. We now partake of this table in a posture of feasting, being included in the family, being addressed as a member. God speaks and renews His covenant of grace with us here, rooted at the cross. You are forgiven because of Him. You are favored by Him.

Lovin' Summertime


6.08.2009

Table: The big reveal

It all started with this on Christmas 2008:
Things weren't looking good. Water + wood=very bad It was a long, hard, ugly process...

But the end result was worth it! From "water-logged" to "Wow!"

It's done. I'm happy (and tired). Come on over for dinner.




6.04.2009

Short baptism summary

Wow! In less than 3 inches of screen space, Jay Adams says an awful lot...

Scaring the faithful

"There are men out there who don't know anything more about the NPP [New Perspective on Paul - a la N.T. Wright] than what enables them to scare dutiful parishioners, in order to keep them out of the woods" - Douglas Wilson.

6.03.2009

Things I never noticed...

in Psalm 40:

God's thoughts toward us are innumerable - verse 5.
"I am poor and needy, yet Yahweh thinks upon me" - verse 17.
His attention to us in Christ is constant and favorable.
He lifts us out of horrible pits, sets you on a sturdy place, and makes you sing His praises - verses 2-3.

On sermons

"It is a poor sermon that gives no offense - that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher" - George Whitefield.

Quote from Tabletalk, June 2009, pg 2.

Live Free or Die!

Article by Mark Steyn, author of America Alone

6.02.2009

Over the river...


We live near lots of water - rivers, bays, ocean, swamps - which means lots of ways to cross these bodies of water. Tunnels, bridges, ferries. This weekend we took a drive out into the country which necessitated crossing the James river.

We crossed by bridge.

5 mile long drawbridge - this is a rare sight; there is hardly any traffic!!

The bridge offers a great view of the Northrup Grummon shipyard. A whole lotta people building some whopping big boats! This photo only shows a small portion of the ship yard.



On our way back we chose a different way to cross the river: car ferry!


It's only a 15 min cruise but exciting for the little ones

What did you expect me to do on a ferry?

We saw plenty of boats on the water, both new and old. Like 400 yrs old. These are the ships at the Jamestowne Settlement, not the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria! (they're the Godspeed, Discovery & Susan Constance)

The sunset over the James was more impressive than any man-made structures in the area.












6.01.2009

I never liked dolls

...until I saw these. Oh my. They are adorable and perfectly sweet for a little girl (or mama?). Really, am I too old to have a birthday wish list?