Matthew 24:42-44

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour do not expect.

Matthew 24:42-44 (ESV)

Cookie Baking Night 08/29/11

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Emily, Ethan, Carissa. We made peanut butter cookies (with a twist).

First we unwrapped several peanut butter cup candies (which in kid-world is an entire activity in and of itself).

Then we made the peanut butter cookie dough.

Next, we wrapped the cookie dough around the peanut butter cup and baked them per the usual instructions. It makes quite a tasty cookie, and it gives the kids plenty to do in the baking process.

Tonight we read lesson 53 titled "God's Children Love Him" from Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland. Ethan read John 12:1-3 for us from the Bible.

We also worked on our parachute project for The Voice of the Martyrs ministry. Tonight we glued the ribbons on the parachutes and wrote Spanish words on them: Dios es Amor = God is Love. We have now completed two parachutes.

As usual, a fun time was had by all.

At the end of the evening, a Cookie Baking Night alumni paid us a visit, our 19-year-old nephew (Emily's brother), Joe. It was fun to see him and visit with them.

Funny note from the evening:

For supper this evening, I made mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, and drop biscuits. Emily thought the biscuits looked like shortcake and asked if we were having strawberry shortcake. I told her they were biscuits, and she could put gravy over them if she would like. She immediately responded: "Mmmmm. Chicken shortcake. Sounds good!" All through supper she referred to the meal as "chicken shortcake" (I didn't see that one coming, but it definitely cracked me up).

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People

Why do bad things happen to good people? Hmmm, who hasn't heard that question bantered around while out and about rubbing shoulders with the world? Many people have asked it themselves. A young seminary student in our church (love seminary students--they thing about evverrrythiing-deeply) did a pretty good job tackling that question about a month ago in a Thursday evening service at our church. Click here to listen to the message or download it. It's worth your time.

Niece Musings

I thought in the absence of Cookie Baking Night (it's next week), I would share a short story about the kids.

A couple weeks ago, Kylie (my 11-year-old niece) and Emily (my 10-year-old niece) spent the night at our house. Due to distance and family dynamics, we don't see Kylie that much, and she hasn't spent that much time in our home. Emily, however, is a frequent visitor to our home. Feeling like our home is her home, Emily took on the job of tour guide. I was in the hallway when she was giving Kylie a tour of the guest bedroom (which she considers to be her room). I chuckled to myself as I overheard this conversation:

Emily said to Kylie:

"You can put your bag over there.

This is the bed.

This is the guest basket. You can choose one item from it since you're spending the night (Emily's favorite part).

And that's the Gospel of John (pointing to a small copy I had given her with a girl-friendly cover on it).

This is the closet ...."

And on it went. I was surprised and pleased to hear the Gospel of John given a prominent mention in the tour of the guest room.

The little ones are watching and listening, my friends, let us use our time with them wisely.

Words of Grace

Several months ago I was searching the Internet on the topic of Biblical Counseling, and my search brought me by a blog called Words of Grace (written by a pastor in Texas). The tagline at the top of the blog reads: Devotional thoughts and Biblical resources to shepherd Christ's church into a greater dependence on and delight in His grace. And I have found it to be just that. I commend it to your reading.

Cookie Baking Night 08/15/11

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Emily, Carissa, Ethan. We made s'mores.

First, we put chocolate and mini marshmallows on a graham cracker.

Then, we broiled them in the oven for 1 minute. (Next time, I would put the chocolate on after we broiled the marshmallows!)

Then, we put the other graham cracker on top. They were quite yummy!

We also continued work on our parachute project for Voice of the Martyrs. Tonight we measured out the strings for the parachutes and glued them on.

We read lesson 52 from Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland. Lesson 52 was titled "God's Children are New Creatures." Emily read John 15:1-5 from the Bible for us.

And we finished or evening with a walk (or should I say, run). As usual, a fun time was had by all.

Time With the Nieces

Last night Emily and Kylie, our nieces (cousins, not sisters), spent the night at our house. We took them to a family reunion today. The family reunion included an auction with "play money" we earned by bringing items for the auction, bringing food for the potluck, setting up, cleaning up, etc. So, we spent our evening preparing our auction items and food items. (There was a kid auction and an adult auction, so there was plenty for which to prepare).

First, the girls made fudge ("chocolate peanut butter fudge" and "candy bar fudge"--very tasty)

Next, they decorated boxes to hold the fudge which they had just made. (Side note: All night they were very giggly, as 10 and 11 year old girls tend to be, but while they were "creating" their projects---complete silence and concentration. It was lovely).

Then they decorated a pair of flip flops to put in the auction and added a little "bling" to the flip flops they currently own.

Blow up that air mattress! It's time for bed! We're exhausted! (okay, I was exhausted, anyway).

Proverbs 2:1-5

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 2:1-5 (ESV)

Song of the Nightingale

I just finished reading Song of the Nightingale by Helen Birhane (pronounced Bur-haun-ee). It was a short book and a quick read but a hard book to read because of the content. Helen's story is one of modern-day persecution and torture because she refused to deny Christ. She is from the country of Eritrea, where Christians are being persecuted for their faith yet today.

Helen was born in 1974 (she is five years younger than I am). She was taken to prison in 2003 and released (on the brink of death) in the year 2006. Persecution is happening today.

I heard about this book when I was listening to a Persecution Podcast a few months ago, and Helen was the featured story. One of The Voice of the Martyrs contacts had recently spoken with Helen (Helen and her daughter were able to escape from Eritrea and now live in another country where they are safe for the time being). The VOM contact asked Helen if she had a message for the church in the west. She said this:

"Christians in the west are not willing to give up their comfort. They are free, but they are not really free because they are attached to their possessions. We must take advantage of this freedom. My message for Christians in the west is that we must overcome fear. You do not die until it is your time to die. Realize that when you teach the gospel, some will accept it and some will reject it. Jesus told us in the Bible that the world would not accept Him, so we will not be accepted. Nonacceptance should not keep us from preaching the Word. When we decide to follow the gospel, we have to know that people will reject us."

Also of note: At one time, in Eritrea, Helen was free to worship Christ openly (she grew up in a Christian home). Freedom can be taken away very suddenly, and it can happen in any country.

I highly recommend reading this book and checking out the Voice of the Martyrs website for more information about the persecuted church. Let's not forget them. And let's go out and share the gospel while we still have the freedom to do it.

Click here if you would like to order this book from Voice of the Martyrs. (You can find the Kindle version on Amazon but not the paperback book).

I will end this post with a paragraph Helen wrote in the epilogue of her book:

" I want to give a message to those of you who are Christians and live in the free world: you must not take your freedom for granted. Use every opportunity to praise the Lord every day. If I could sing in prison, imagine what you could do for God's glory with your freedom."

Proverbs 30:7-9

Verses to ponder today:

Two things I ask you: deny them not to me before I die:

Remove far from me falsehood and lying,

give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is needful for me,

lest I be full and deny you and say "Who is the LORD?"

or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:7-9

Electricity Day

I have deemed today "Electricity Day".

Yesterday some storms came through the town in which I am employed causing a power outage. The electricity was still out today, so my place of employment closed for the day.

I used this unexpected "treat" to do some reading in the morning. And in the afternoon, I picked up Emily (my niece) and we went to the wave pool. Emily was quite the trooper in the wave pool. She's not very tall, so she got "roughed up" a bit by the waves. But she didn't give up, persisted to the end. (This picture was taken at the end of our adventure).

It was a lovely day. I am grateful to God for it.

Happy Electricity Day!

Cookie Baking Night 08/01/11

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Ethan and Carissa. Tonight we made a cookie called "Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies". It is exactly what it sounds like. Start with your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe and some Double Stuff Oreo cookies.

With a cookie scoop, put a scoop of dough on top of the Oreo. Flip it over and put another scoop of dough on it.

Wrap the dough around the cookie and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes (until brown).

Ahh, the finished product. Pretty tasty too. (Note: I used the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie dough recipe, which calls for 2-1/4 cups of flour. Next time, I would up the flour to 3 cups. With less flour, the cookie tends to spread out too much, but still a very tasty treat).

Tonight we also read lesson 51 from Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland. The lesson was titled "We Must Be Born Again" (excellent lesson---did a great job explaining what the Bible means when it says "we must be born again".) Ethan read John 3:1-5 for us.

After our lesson, we continued working on our parachute project for Voice of the Martyrs. (See last Cookie Baking Night post for more details). Tonight we traced the parachutes and cut them out. We'll continue the project next Cookie Baking Night.

At the end of the evening, we went outside to wait for Ethan and Carissa's mom to pick them up. I told them they could play a game while I did some weeding in the flower garden. They said, "We want to weed!" So, I got them some gloves, pointed out the weeds, and let them have it. They are great weed pullers. After their mom arrived, I said, "Okay, you can pull two more weeds and then it's time to go." Carissa said, "Awawwww."

Hmm. Note to self: Start weeding earlier in the evening next time :)

And as usual...........a fun time was had by all.