Irish Hills

I don’t go to a perfect church. Neither do you. In fact, oftentimes, I clasp my head in my hands and sigh, “why can’t they just understand?” Familiar, no?

This morning, though, after having had to endure a “less-than-perfect”, perhaps even “a-bit-flawed” service, I did my morning ritual on the internet, including reading my Mom’s most recent post which is about the extreme importance of the local church. Which led to me to read the Bayly Brother’s post on video sermons and the marks of a good church, which was good, but led me to this quote:

(People) will give you leave to preach against their sins, and to talk as much as you will for godliness in the pulpit, if you will but let them alone afterwards, and be friendly and merry with them when you have done, and talk as they do, and live as they, and be indifferent with them in your conversation. For they take the pulpit to be but a stage; a place where preachers must show themselves, and play their parts; where you have liberty for an hour to say what you (desire); and what you say they regard not, if you show them not, by saying it personally to their faces, that you were in good earnest, and did indeed mean them. (Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor.)

Ooh, ouch! That hurt on many different levels.

Grace

Thanks to Montana Maiden for tagging me!

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so:

1) The Happy Feminist
2) Space Station Samara
3) Renewed Day by Day
4) Montana Maiden
5) Irish Hills

Select Five People to Tag

Naddy
Tasha
Pieter
Cindy
Mother
Feel free to ignore this tag if you want.

What were you doing ten years ago?

Good question. I’m not exactly sure. I think that we were still living at our old house, so probably I was roaming the fields in the front and back of our house, making sure to avoid the coyotes and scary cows with the big eyes. I do believe that it was a cattle ranch next to us… I might have even been playing in the snow on March 2, 1996 at 5:47 p.m., I do remember one particulary heavy snowfall there. Speaking of snow did ya’ll know that it actually snowed at our house again? But it some rain doused our hopes of a sparkly morning spent outsides right afterwards, oh well.

What were you doing one year ago?

One year ago I was struggling through my math book, staying inside out of the rain and cooking meals for my family. Drudgery. But I also started my blog a year ago. Actually, it was a year and four days ago. Did ya’ll know that?

Five snacks you enjoy:
1) One half inch thick extra-sharp cheddar cheese. I keep on asking for a block of it as a gift but I never get it!
2) Peanuts. Large handfuls.
3) Almond Rocha, though only one at a time, usually consumed within a period of three or four days.
4) Fried eggs
5) Mochas. Though I don’t really have these as a snack. I have one a day. In the morning. After I have to make the coffee.

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
1) Come Thou Fount
2) Castle On a Cloud
3) A Mighty Fortress
4) Deliver Us (from Prince of Egypt)
5) Amazing Grace

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1) Buy a bigger bedroom all to myself. Am I not selfish, no?
2) Tithe $100,000 dollars. I don’t particulary care about taxes, though someone else might.
3) Travel to Ireland.
4) What does one do with a million dollars?
5) Put the rest in a savings account.

Five Bad Habits:
1) I break hairs. Don’t get this confused with splitting hairs. It’s different.
2) I often spend too much time on the internet.
3) Believing my word to be wiser than others at times, and therefore inserting it into conversations.
4) I like to break out into a fury of cleaning sometimes.
5) Fall asleep while I’m reading.

Five things you like doing:
1) Cooking.
2) Writing, though I don’t like being forced to write.
3) Ride my bike.
4) Show off. Bad thing that.
5) Pick my outfits for going out or going to church. Yes, I find a certain pleasure in this. *quirky*

Five things you’ll try not to wear again
1) Shorter hair. Though, sometimes it seems that for short periods of time I develope a fascination with scissors, and then I regret doing something to something that took me a year to grow out to a reasonable length.
2) Slobby looking clothing.
3) Red nail polish. It just wasn’t meant to be.
4) Ugly shoes. That’s rather broad, eh?
5) V-neck swimsuit. One does have to be careful.

Five Favorite Toys
1) My kitchen.
2) My computer.
3) My books.
4) My ipod shuffle.
5) My weights.

Coram Deo! Graciebird