It doesn’t get cuter than this. I love babies. 
Guess I’m lucky to be going to a whole conference about them in a few days!
Coram Deo!
Archive for the ‘Christian’ Category
Babies
Monday, July 5th, 2010A Few Thoughts on Red, White, and Blue
Sunday, July 4th, 2010At first I was rather sorry to hear that today, July 4th, fell on a Sunday this year. But now I am rather glad, for it highlights a few things I strive to remember most every Independence Day.
First: My allegiance and fear always and only belong to one sovereign, King Jesus. Sappy patriotism and Godly fear and righteousness to the King of Kings do not mix, and should not be considered as being on the same level with one another.
Second: While I need to render Godly obedience to those authorities over me, it is only Godly so long as that obedience is not in direct transgression to God’s laws. When and where I can I will peacefully resist and undo such laws that require me to render disobedience, slavery, and state worship.
Third: I will strive to peacefully build up and restore this country, and unshackle the bonds of tyranny that we lay under; and I will raise my children to do the same in Godly obedience and wisdom.
Fourth: Reformation and restoration of the heart of this country will never occur until reformation and restoration occurs first in the hearts of individual men, families, and local churches and communities. Don’t look to the highest courts for serious change in the morality of our country until our own hearts, families, and church governments are found steadfast and faithful in Christ and His law.
Fifth: I despise and abhor the depravity of all the preemptive warfare our country has engaged in over the past 150 years; and I pray that the wars in which we are now engaged in numerous countries around the world, and slaughter of innocent men, women, and children may cease soon. War is rarely, rarely justified, and that is why our Founding Fathers tried all other means of reconciliation before they engaged in war.
Sixth: I take pleasure in the joy and love present in gathering together in cheerful celebration with fellow Christian families in my community. In a culture that is sadly fragmented and individualistic, and where strong, Christian communities are almost nonexistent, it gladdens me to celebrate with a community of Christian brethren that rejoices in God’s grace, and heartily enjoys the good gifts He has given us on this earth. Today is a felicitous opportunity to relish good food, good, thought-provoking conversation, and good fellowship.
Seventh: I celebrate hope on the 4th of July, and trust in the promises of God. His kingdom will grow to fill the earth, and is furthered every day by our common, humble, and faithful living. What He requires is hard work, perseverance, and faith in trials; nevertheless, we according to His promise, look for for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Stand firm in your faith despite the faithlessness that rages around you; blessed are those who put their trust in God.
Coram Deo!
Carry On
Thursday, June 24th, 2010God’s grace is relentless and untiring… it will never stop pursuing His loved ones all the days of their life. We may forget it in the daily moments of life, in the wearying and monotonous moments of living, but He is working His most powerful grace in our lives during these oft disregarded and unnoticed tiles that create the mosaic of our lives. The weight of these moments will break our backs if we try to shoulder them on our own strength — they can’t be shouldered by any but the shoulders that carried the cross for us.
So look back even over this week and see His omnipotent and all-sovereign hand in every step that you took. He was there walking with you with feet that once walked long, dusty miles on this earth. And He was present even in every plan of yours that went awry; and every heated and impatient word that you spoke, and every fatiguing trial that you endured. He endured every conceivable trial, and was patient with even the most infuriating of people. He was there with you even then, working to draw you closer to Him through it all, and conform you more to His likeness… admit your need for His daily grace, even on the sunniest of days, but especially on the days that bruise and batter our hearts and hands and feet, when all the aggravating moments of the day build up to explode with the force of a powerful storm. His love and grace will not let you go until you are sanctified and changed from a child of darkness, who is a self-worshipping lump of clay, to a true child of His kingdom, fit to serve Him forever in glory on the new heavens and earth.
Coram Deo!
Levi and Alyssa – Married!
Monday, June 21st, 2010It was a joy and privilege to help photograph the wedding of Levi and Alyssa because of their desire to glorify and honor God in all things, especially in their new marriage. May God bless them in their commitment to Him and to each other!
Coram Deo!
Strengthen the Hands Which Hang Down
Saturday, June 19th, 2010The Race of Faith
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Discipline of God3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“ My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”[a]7 If[b] you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Renew Your Spiritual Vitality12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
The Glorious Company18 For you have not come to the mountain that[c] may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness[d] and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned[e] or shot with an arrow.”[f] 21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”[g])
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
Hear the Heavenly Voice25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake[h] not only the earth, but also heaven.”[i] 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may[j] serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
Coram Deo!
Psalm 148
Sunday, March 21st, 2010Psalm 148
Praise to the LORD from Creation
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon;
Praise Him, all you stars of light!
Praise Him, you heavens of heavens,
And you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the LORD,
For He commanded and they were created.
He also established them forever and ever;
He made a decree which shall not pass away.
Praise the LORD from the earth,
You great sea creatures and all the depths;
Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
Mountains and all hills;
Fruitful trees and all cedars;
Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and flying fowl;
Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and maidens;
Old men and children.
Let them praise the name of the LORD,
For His name alone is exalted;
His glory is above the earth and heaven.
And He has exalted the horn of His people,
The praise of all His saints—
Of the children of Israel,
A people near to Him.
Praise the LORD!
Coram Deo~
I Bind Unto Myself Today
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010Today is a feast day.
We are honoring and celebrating the courageous and godly St. Patrick of Ireland this March 17th in our grand custom of having a feast of corned beef, braised carrots, cabbage and potatoes, irish soda bread with butter, dubliner and dûnbarra cheeses, and guinness. I’m sure pictures will be forthcoming later from that.
Though our family loves our Irish roots, on St. Patrick’s Day we are less about celebrating all things Irish than we are about celebrating the godliness of a man who risked life and limb to strike the roots of paganism and solidify Christianity in one of the fiercest mission fields in all of Europe: Ireland, a fiercely heathen and barbaric nation that even practiced human sacrifice. St. Patrick should also be honored as a man who resolutely taught the Trinity, and the deity of the Christ, in an age where Arianism and Pelagianism were rampant heresies… how differently the history of Ireland (and even the history of the Christianity) would be if those heresies had taken root and spread like a rash through Druidic Ireland! Ireland was an anchor for Christianity later when the rest of Europe was crumbling politically and religiously, and St. Patrick’s monasteries preserved many Christian and classical works that would otherwise have been lost.
Of course, there are many myths surrounding St. Patrick — I think I’ve read every single one that’s been included in children’s picture books and history books about Ireland. St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. St. Patrick demonstrated the Trinity to the Irish people by holding up a shamrock. St. Patrick performed miracles with his ash walking stick across all of Ireland. Differentiating now between legend and truth is rather impossible… many of these legends, though, are probably rooted in a grain of symbolic truth; driving the snakes out of Ireland is symbolic for St. Patrick driving the “snakes” of Pelagian heresy from the green shores of Ireland. And his 3-leaf clover illustration of the Trinity is really clever once you think about it.
My favorite “legend,” however, is the legend that St. Patrick wrote this renowned hymn, “St. Patrick’s Breastplate.” The words are attributed to St. Patrick, but some people think they could have been written in the 8th century instead. The beauty of this hymn or poem, however, is that it speaks of all the daily protections of Christ for our body and spirit; what do we have to fear when we bind Christ unto ourselves, and place Him to our right and our left, and behind and before us? Here is part of that hymn:
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.
So today, I am not simply celebrating my Irishness (St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish, he was from Britain), but I am celebrating a man of God who bound unto himself the strong name of the Trinity, and who left behind a mostly Christian Ireland when he died on March 17, 493. May my life likewise model that of St. Patrick’s: that Christ is in the heart of every man who thinks of me, every mouth that speaks of me, every eye that sees me, and every ear that hears me.
Now go feast. We are remembering again God’s love for us in Christ; and just as St. Patrick and St. Brigid did, we should in good and hearty conscience celebrate the fulness and richness of God’s gifts given to us on this earth. And let your souls upon remembering Christ cry, “Aye!”
Coram Deo!
The Ways of Charity
Thursday, March 11th, 2010“Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.” If charity has gifts and graces beyond others, it restrains itself with the bridle of modesty and humility from vaunting or boasting or any thing in its carriage that may savour of conceit. Pride is a self-admirer, and despises others, and to please itself it cares not to displease others. There is nothing so unbearable in human or Christian society, so apt to alienate others’ affections, for the more we take of our own affection to ourselves, we shall have the less from others. Oh, these golden rules of Christian walking! ‘Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love in honour preferring one another.’ ‘Mind not these high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits’ (Rom. 12:10,16). Oh, but that were a comely strife among Christians! Each to prefer another in unfeigned love; and in ‘lowliness of mind,’ each to ‘esteem another better than himself’ (Phil. 2:3). ‘Knowledge puffeth up,’ says this apostle (1 Cor. 8:1), ‘but charity edifieth.’ Pride is but a swelling and a tumour of mind, but love is solid piety and real religion.
“Charity seeketh not her own [things].” Self-denial and true love are inseparable. Self-love makes a monopoly of all things to its own interest, and this is most opposite to Christian affection and communion, which puts all in one bank. If every one of the members should seek its own things, and not the good of the whole body, what a miserable distemper would it cause in the body! We are called into one body in Christ, and, therefore, we should not look on our own things only, ‘but every man also on the things of others’ (Phil. 2:4). There is a public interest of saints’ mutual edification in faith and love which charity will prefer to its own private interest. Addictedness to our own apprehension, and too much self-overweening and self-pleasing, is the grand enemy of that peace to which we are called in one body. Since one Spirit informs and enlivens all the members, what a monstrosity is it for one member to seek its own things, and attend its own private interest only, as if it were a distinct body.
— Hugh Binning, Christian Love; a Puritan Paperback.
Coram Deo~
Proverbs 9
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010The Way of Wisdom
1 Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
2 She has slaughtered her meat,
She has mixed her wine,
She has also furnished her table.
3 She has sent out her maidens,
She cries out from the highest places of the city,
4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Forsake foolishness and live,
And go in the way of understanding.
7 “He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself,
And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
8 Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you;
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied,
And years of life will be added to you.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,
And if you scoff, you will bear it alone.”
The Way of Folly
13 A foolish woman is clamorous;
She is simple, and knows nothing.
14 For she sits at the door of her house,
On a seat by the highest places of the city,
15 To call to those who pass by,
Who go straight on their way:
16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”;
And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
17 “Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of hell.
Coram Deo~
Don’t Trade Your Soul For Cheap Grace
Thursday, March 4th, 2010Here are some quotes to chew on from Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the cost of grace:
Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing…
Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian ‘conception’ of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins… In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. ‘All for sin could not atone.’ Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin…
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession… Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Coram Deo~