Sea Turtle Life

I finally got around to organizing and filing away LAST YEAR'S school work and projects. While digging through the piles of paper, I discovered this game I created. My children loved learning about sea creatures last school year, and they really got into the whole life cycle of sea turtles. Who could blame them - rooting for those cute little hatchlings as they race for the sea while hovering gulls and lurking fiddler crabs enjoy the buffet on flippers will get anyone's adrenaline pumping. So I made up this game to reinforce all the aspects of a sea turtle's life. Hope it inspires your own family!



Click on the image to see it larger. Someday I'll learn how to convert these into pdfs for easier sharing...

Shack review

Good review, here.

Solzhenitsyn

I'm listening to Solzhenitsyn's famous speech at Harvard in 1975. It is really something, though hard to get it all as he speaks in Russian and the translation was simultaneous. The following quotes are not exact, but the gist. You can listen here.

"The West is legally and politically free, but socially conditioned to follow the fashion of the day."

"You might think in response to my criticism of the west, I would suggest to you the alternative of socialism." [At this point he stops until the translator finishes, and then says emphatically,] "Nyet."

I haven't cracked his "Cancer Ward" and "August, 1914," yet, but they just moved up the reading list...

Citizens of Heaven

Just finished this tonight - quite good. Wright is controversial when it comes to justification, but fairly tame on the resurrection. His main point: the future hope that Scripture emphasizes is not life after death in heaven; it is life on earth, after life after death in heaven. The intermediate state when our souls are with Jesus are not the end goal, but a rest stop on the way to a renewed heaven and earth. Our present labor is not in vain, because it will be renewed on the new earth.

As usual, he accurately hits the flaws of liberalism (denying the physical resurrection) and fundamentalism (dividing reality into physical and spiritual). A bit disconcerting that he treats these as twin evils, when the former is far more deadly, but still helpful to sift through fundamentalist critiques.

No time now to pull out the zingers on baptism, purgatory, and the like. One disappointing section taking the liberal view on 3rd world debt, but it only lasted about 5 pages.

One illustration of his really worked: when Paul says we are citizens of heaven, he isn't saying that it is our final destination. He was writing to Philippians, a Roman colony made of Roman citizens, who weren't living in Rome. Their purpose was to instill Roman culture in Philippi - to bring the roman worldview to Philippi. This is what a citizen does. In the same way, we are to bring the lifestyle and worldview of heaven to our world. It doesn't mean we can or should withdraw from the world, but that we are to engage and evangelize the world with heaven's way of life.

Great stuff.

Sabbath

Found this over at leithart.com just now:

"Eugene Peterson writes that the Sabbath 'erects a weekly bastion against the commodification of time, against reducing time to money, reducing time to what we can get out of it, against leaving no time for God or beauty or anything that cannot be used or purchased. It is a defense against the hurry that desecrates time.'”

Scripture of the day

Proverbs 29:27
"An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous,
but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked."

Couldn't state the antithesis much more strongly than that.

Dish Rag Champions!

The "Yarnhooligans" rocked the dishrag world yesterday by coming in first place with a record time of 5 days to knit 4 dishrags!
Team "Knit like Jehu" came 2nd 24 hours later. They should stick to chariot driving.
We haven't heard from the "Dishrag Divas" and think they might be lost at the salon.

Congrats to all the participating knitters & crocheters.

CHRF Dish Rag Tag

Our congregation is participating in the Olympic spirit of competition by holding a Dish Rag Tag relay. We're knitting (or crocheting) dish rags then sending them to the next team member, "tagging" them to knit another dish rag as fast as possible. Four people per team spread out from Ivor to Williamsburg, VA.

Monday was the opening day of knitting. The first leg of the relay is still in progress with three ladies in one home fiercely competing against each other! Who will come out first? Follow the action here and root for your favorite team!

Team 1 - Yarnhooligans
Team 2 - Dishrag Divas
Team 3 - Team "knit like Jehu"

10 Blissful Years...

...of marriage to my wife, today.

"Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves... You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you hav captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes" (Song of Solomon 1:15; 4:9).

Balanced Life

Listened to Ligon Duncan's presentation at the PCA General Assembly, telling us all the things the sacraments don't do. I was all set to write a little rant here about it, but that's all you're going to get, because moments later a pastoral situation injected some healthy balance into my theological wonkish life.

Thank you, Lord.

Peach Peel Jelly (aka Peach Pit Jelly)

I searched the net for a peach peel jelly recipe that didn't require 4 quarts of peels. That would require a bushel of peaches, something that wasn't going to find it's way into our home anytime soon. So I improvised and came up with this lovely dark pink jelly instead. The flavor is delicious, like a peach Jolly Rancher! Wish I had a digital camera to show you how it sparkles.


PEACH PEEL JELLY
1.5 quarts peach peels and pits
5 c. water

Boil the above together, then cover tightly and simmer 45 min. Strain juice through cheesecloth. Discard pits and peels.

4 c. juice
5 c. sugar
1 package pectin (such as SureJell or Ball - NOT the sugar free kind)

Follow the directions in the pectin for cooked jelly. Enjoy!

Currently reading/listening

PCA General Assembly colloquium on the efficacy of the sacraments
Will Barker - solid on historical Reformed view, but barely touched efficacy, except to reiterate the very basics.

Far as the Curse is Found (sidebar) - good overview in chpt 13 of the church and her mission. This is sermon prep.

Surprised by Hope (sidebar) - also sermon prep. Wright is a compelling author. Main point so far is that resurrection is inherently this-worldly; it doesn't just mean continuing consciousness after death. Resurrection gives hope for redemption of this world.

Scripture of the day

Job 5-7
Job complains against his friends (6:14-15), pleads his vindication (6:28-30), and asks God why he hasn't forgiven his sins (7:21). How do these last two fit together? It seems they fit because Job assumed God provided forgiveness in his faithfulness - by his sacrifices? (1:5). Unsure of how, but Job knows Who (19:25). So the question is, why has God singled me out for such suffering? (7:20).

Worship?

I was wondering how to respond to the latest World cover article. At first, I was just confused at World's impartial covering of the casual, emergent worship trend. Then George Grant pointed me to this article. Please read it, and tell me if you think the author is right on, or just whining. (I switched from the former to the latter about 80% of the way through.)

Scripture of the Day

Job 4:12-21
12 “Now a word was secretly brought to me, And my ear received a whisper of it.
13 In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men,
14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake.
15 Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up.
16 It stood still, But I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; There was silence; Then I heard a voice saying:
17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 If He puts no trust in His servants, If He charges His angels with error,
19 How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before a moth?
20 They are broken in pieces from morning till evening; They perish forever, with no one regarding.
21 Does not their own excellence go away? They die, even without wisdom.’


It appears to me, while not all that well-read on Job, that Satan's testing and persecution of Job continues beyond chapters 1-2, changing and taking on the form of pseudo-wisdom in Job's counselors. It is especially poignant in these verses. The spirit of vs 15 is Satan, and he speaks words of despair, mixed, as usual, with half-truth: "You can't be righteous before God! You'll always be a sinner. So just give up, curse God, and die." Many give in to temptation by listening to these words. In the press of tempting sin, the straw that breaks the camel's back is often despair: I'll give in eventually, so why not now? It is Job's resistance to this, his stubborn yet godly insistence on meeting with God, that vindicates him, in the end. He continues to turn TO the Lord, instead of turning from Him, even when he crosses the line and accuses God of wronging him.