Pray With Us Still.
Awhile back we asked you to join us in prayer for Pastor Matt Chandler of The Village Church due to the discovery of a mass in his brain and the immediate surgery to remove it. The surgery reportedly went well, and we have been waiting to hear what the pathology report would reveal. A link to a summary letter outlining this report is here. It is not what we hoped for and yet, we are not without hope.
Please continue to pray with us for Pastor Matt, his family and their church family.
The Compassion Project.
Our church community group has joined together this month to accomplish one goal: To find sponsors for ten specific children through Compassion International.
Our group has the packets, including a photo, for ten specific children who are currently in need of sponsorship. We are hoping to connect ten people who have the desire to financially support the spiritual, educational, and physical growth of a child who is severely limited by poverty with one of these ten children.
Here’s what we specifically love about Compassion:
1. Compassion is Christ-centered and Gospel driven. They know their real goal is eternal.
2. Compassion approaches childrens’ needs holistically, marrying the opportunity to share the love of Christ with the opportunity to practically serve children in the most basic fundamental ways (education, safety, medical care, etc).
3. Compassion practices accountable stewardship of finances. More than 80% of funds go directly toward Compassion projects. Less than 20% goes toward administrative costs and fund-raising efforts. Internal and external audits performed yearly ensure right use of funds. They also work to keep costs low and to spread every dollar, enabling working families to participate in this ministry ($38 per month).
4. Compassion works WITH and through local churches, not in addition to or in lieu of local churches. Children and families get connected with a well-rooted church family where they have relationships and consistent Christian discipleship.
Are you one of the sponsors we’re looking for and praying for? Are you interested in making a longer term commitment to a child you don’t know, but one that you will get to know as you exchange letters from across the world? Do you want to help?
Below are links to information about each of the children we’re advocating for. If you are interested in sponsoring one of these children, please contact us for more information or to make a commitment. Comment on this page or send a private email to raspberry39@hotmail.com.
Liz - SPONSOR FOUND!!! Thank you A. Olson!!!
Maria – SPONSOR FOUND!!! Thank you J. & C. VanHoof!!!
Four Year Anniversary.
It has been four years since that strange and exciting snow-covered night. Though there have been a multitude of strange and exciting moments since then, there is nothing that compares to the beauty and sweetness of being knit together with your best friend.
For so many, home is a source of anxiety and tension, a place to avoid by pouring yourself into work or social engagements. Paul, you have built with me a house of peace and solace. You are a sweet oasis, a comfort and strength. Thank you for sharing four tender years with me. I look forward to seeing what we build together over the next 60.
With love,
Your Wife.
Pray With Us.
Awhile back I wrote a short series on some of our favorite teachers/preachers, one of which was Pastor Matt Chandler.
We are praying for him this morning and ask that you would join us in prayer on behalf of him, his family, and his church family. Even as I type, he is going into surgery to remove a mass on his right frontal lobe, discovered this week after he experienced a seizure.
This morning he writes of his thankfulness and gratitude during this experience. You can find his brief blog post here.
We ask you, Jesus, to preserve Pastor Matt’s life, to give the surgeons steady and confident hands, to bring the peace which surpasses understanding to Pastor Matt’s wife and babies and friends, and most of all, to bring glory to Yourself through this process. We are thankful to you Lord for Pastor Matt and the gifts You have given to him, and we trust You through our surprise and confusion and fears. Thank you, Jesus.
Grace’s Christmas Presents.
Grace probably won’t remember this, her second Christmas on the planet. She’ll only be 14 months old when Christmas day arrives. And she probably won’t cherish the gifts she receives, although I’m sure the tissue paper surrounding the treasures will be a big hit.
Nevertheless, preparing for this Christmas has been exciting for me. It is my first attempt at hand crafting gifts for my daughter and I’ve really enjoyed every minute of it.
The fruit of my labor, as seen here, are a little doll and doll blanket (complete with knick-knack pocket for whatever Grace thinks is important to stow away).
Part of the joy in these projects is that it’s just plain fun. Creating is fun. God must have had a blast when he made our universe!
The other part is the joy of remembering my Grandma Erma as I work. I have her sewing box filled with all sorts of things I don’t have a clue how to use. I’m figuring it out as I go. The strawberry patch fabric was in there when I inherited the box and I remember the pillow cases the fabric came from. The plaid fabric used to be one of her summer shirts. When she lived near us, she was always working on a project for one of us, usually patching a pair of pants.
I sew and think about my Grandmother. And I look forward to watching Grace tentatively open her lovingly made gifts and her face as she blissfully crunches and crackles her beloved new tissue paper. It’s going to be a great Christmas.
The Swiss Family Robinson
Today Grace and I finished reading The Swiss Family Robinson. Having watched and loved the Disney movie so many times as a child, I looked forward to reading this story of adventure with my daughter.
We discovered that, though Disney produced a wonderful family movie, it should be titled: The Family That is Not the Swiss Family Robinson.
We were happy to find, though, that the book is far more wonderful than the movie even though there are no pirates to thrill the reader. The story is not without its thrills; there is a boa constrictor scene that will fulfill the wants of any adrenaline enthusiast. There are also some scenes of animal violence that would need some helpful explanation and guidance from Mommy or Daddy to help a child understand the context of these particular scenes.
The most memorable part of this story for me, though, is the attention given to family prayer, worship, and devotion. In several places throughout the book the characters stop to express gratitude and need for protection from God. The father provides spiritual leadership to his family throughout the book by gathering the family for prayer and worship. The family’s daily life is undergirded with a consistent lifestyle of Christian family discipleship.
One of my favorite passages occurs as the family is remembering the anniversary of their escape from their ship wreck:
“Afterward we sat together for a long time, enjoying the calm beauty of the morning and talking of all that had taken place on the memorable days of the storm a year ago. For I desired that the awful events of that time should live in the remembrance of my children with a deepening sense of gratitude for our deliverance. Therefore I read aloud passages from my journal, as well as many beautiful verses from the Psalms, expressive of joyful praise and thanksgiving, so that even the youngest among us was impressed and solemnized at the recollections of escape from a terrible death, and also led to bless and praise the name of the Lord our Deliverer.” (Chapter 22, “Thanksgiving Day”)
Sadly, you just don’t get that kind of writing in contemporary children’s literature.
The Swiss Family Robinson is a story well worth reading with your own family, and portrays an example of family worship that is well worth replicating.
House Photos.
Today’s prize for Least Helpful Interior Photo of a Home for Sale goes to:
Happy Halloween!
Thanks to Grandpa Bill, we had a cute little pumpkin man to greet all the neighborhood children as they came to our door this evening. Getting to meet and greet so many of the families who live nearby, but who we rarely see because of the hectic pace of life, is a treat we look forward to every year. No, we don’t advocate scary costumes or witchcraft, but we do love kids and their families and we do love getting such an easy opportunity to love our neighbors with a big cheesy grin and lots of sugar.
Happy Halloween everyone.
Ee-I-Ee-I-O!
Grace had her one-year doctor’s check-up yesterday and all reports are great! She measures 30 inches long and weighs 21 pounds 11 ounces.
She isn’t walking or crawling yet, although she can army crawl backwards until she gets stuck somewhere. This is a stark contrast to her 10-day-older cousin, Sienna, who rivals Nascar speeds with her crawling, but only when she isn’t sprinting on her delicate little ballerina legs. The differences between the two girls are amazing. Gracie is far more interested in the intricate details and deepest meanings of the smallest particle of whatever she finds on the floor; Sienna has places to go, mountains to climb!
Grace Puppy, Sienna Piggy, Mighty Quin Lion.
And then there’s Quin. Mighty Quin. At his four-month appointment he weighed in at 19 pounds 11 ounces (Grace weighed 19 pounds even at her 9-month appointment). Each baby so different and so amazing.
But have you ever seen a more adorable puppy? Never.
Sexual Detox
Tim Challies has posted a fascinating series of articles outlining the problems of sexual sin in and outside of marriage, the impact of sexual sin on marriage, and the means of detoxing from sexual sin and rebuilding the ruins. He offers a very tender and fresh perspective on the issue and communicates both the severity of the problem as well as the hope for transformation in a very personal and applicable way. These articles are well worth reading. You can find each of them here:
Sexual Detox I: Pornifying the Marriage Bed
Sexual Detox II: Breaking Free
Sexual Detox III: A Theology of Sex
Sexual Detox IV: Detoxification
HT: Tim Challies
