A Lesson from Eli

I read this a week or so ago in my Bible reading plan. And it stuck out to me. Then a bible teacher from our church mentioned the exact same thing I had been pondering that same week...When God comes to Samuel with that still small voice...we all know that part of the story.

But it doesn't end there, and we usually don't talk about what happens next as much. The news given to Samuel by God isn't all that great for Eli. And Eli, already having been told himself by God what would happen to him some time prior has an interesting reaction. It struck me in the moment when I read it...Eli is saying, if God is speaking, I need to hear it. Even if it's about his judgement - if he's saying it, I want to hear it. And then the thought that the bible teacher fully fleshed out for me - Eli knew that God was just, and merciful. That his ways were best. Even sitting under the judgment of the Lord is better than to be without him. 

I guess I've usually heard "negative" teaching regarding Eli and his character. And maybe some or all of those points could be true. But at the end of the day, he knew that God would judge him rightly - and he was glad for that. When I read his response, it made me admire Eli's reaction,  because  it made me consider my own. I want to be someone who can acknowledge that if God is speaking, I need to hear it. Even if it's an uncomfortable call to obedience, or repentance... but am I that person? Certainly not always. But I want to fall on the mercy of God again and again, knowing that he will do what seems good to him - which whether I like it or not, will always be the best thing.

Identity Theft

There's a reason I can live comfortably in the "I'm a sinner" identity: I am, in fact, still struggling with sin. The qualities I want to exhibit all too quickly succumb to grumbling, complaining, impatience, anger, and self focus. Each day, I fail in a variety of ways.

...Satan shows us our sin so we might despair. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy. God shows us our sin to lead us to Jesus...

As quoted from Melissa Kruger in the book Identity Theft.

A Hidden Life

...for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs. George Eliot

Let's live a hidden life in 2021, of faithfulness to the will of God. Last weeks sermon on Colossians 1 detailed this succinctly - be busy with good works. Strive to know him more than you did. Rely on his strength to face whatever comes your way. And give glad thanks to the Father for all he has done. 

Our seemingly little impact in the world, is in fact, pretty spectacular - future generations will look back on our unvisited tombs and the "unremarkable" way we lived, and not realize the debt they owe to our faithfulness. Because we rarely live like we know that the way we live matters now - and will matter later - to those we'll never meet. I think it was maybe Mother Teresa (or was it Martin Luther King Jr?) who challenged people to do small things with great love. It doesn't have to be amazing in the worlds eyes, it just has to be the right thing in that moment - that's how needs both great and small are met.

I'm thinking this coming year is going to be one that will call us to greatness, through unhistoric acts, done with great love. Here's to living a hidden life in 2021 🥂

(Posted to fb Jan 1, 2021)

Lyric in Pictures

We added a new ornament to our tree this year.

Toast to the ones here today.

Toast to the ones that we lost on the way.

 We miss you Luc.

Vale's First Picture Day

"You are the happiest, unexpected answer to all my lost echoes" -Ann Voskamp

Your timing was unforeseen, but only to us. We didn't know you were missing all these years, but here you are

It's hard to imagine now, how we ever felt complete before your arrival

Vale was only 3 hours old when my friend Virginia came to take her picture and capture the kids reactions of meeting their new little sibling. They did not know the gender of the baby until they saw her...the big bow on her head was a bit of a giveaway from across the room. Kenna was THRILLED. She's wanted a sister ever since she could talk. Her theory is that girls aren't annoying at all. We'll remind her of that the first time toddler Vale ruins something special of hers:-)

"Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition, but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express." -Joseph Addison

Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part
Baby of mine

Little one, when you play
Don't you mind what they say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine
Never a tear
Baby of mine

If they knew sweet little you
They'd end up loving you too
All of those people who scold you
What they'd give just for the right to hold you

From your head, down to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Sweet as can be
Baby of mine

If they knew sweet little you
They'd end up loving you too
All those same people who scold you
What they'd give just for the right to hold you

From your head, down to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Sweet as can be
Baby of mine - Baby Mine, Alison Krauss

We have a little collection of sloths going on for our girly, we're sticking with a W theme because these names just seemed to fit - We have a Winston holding baby Waverly (Wavy), Winona, and this little lovey sloth is Winslow. We thought it would be fun to see how big she gets if we take pictures of her over time with the same little blankie/stuftie.

Quotes Archive 2016

To be a follower of the Crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss. Elisabeth Elliot

God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain. C.S. Lewis

A man could not truly know God if he thanked Him only for what appeared to be good. George MacDonald

It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own. Marcus Tullius Cicero

Am I willing to spend and be spent; not seeking to be ministered unto, but to minister? Oswald Chambers

Though You slay me, yet I will praise You. Though You take from me, I will bless Your name. Though you ruin me, still I will worship. Sing a song to the One who's all I need. Though You Slay Me (Shane & Shane)

The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life. Frank Lloyd Wright

So maybe having a big family is the way to go, because you get at least a taste of all the other lives you'd like to live. Dorcas Smucker

Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is. CS Lewis

Random Thoughts

Ideas or quotes I come across that I find funny, silly, inspirational, true...and just plain random!

If you want to change the world, go home and love your family. Mother Teresa

Believe me, every heart has it's secret sorrows, which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Using cynicism to protect yourself from the bravery that having hope requires is the sneakiest form of cowardice there is. Jon Acuff

If there was one thing he disliked more than another in a world full of objectionable happenings, it was this. PG Wodehouse

Mrs Darling: There are many different kinds of bravery. There's the bravery of thinking of others before one's self. Now, your father has never brandished a sword nor fired a pistol, thank heavens. But he has made many sacrifices for his family, and put away many dreams.
Michael: Where did he put them?
Mrs Darling: He put them in a drawer. And sometimes, late at night, we take them out and admire them. But it gets harder and harder to close the drawer...He does. And that is why he is brave.
J.M. Barrie (Peter Pan)

Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it. Roald Dahl

Don't be fooled by the idea of calling: it's not some mystical dream life we think we deserve to live out; it's stewarding + living out well what we've been given to discover that it's really more than we deserve...Discovering 'our calling' in the everyday has so much less to do with WHAT we are doing and more to do with WHY we are doing what we're doing. This is how God's teaching me to #learntolovewhatmustbedone today..." Ruth Chou Simons

He said "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."The Velveteen Rabbit

I'm so happy! I know a million others have said it before, but none with such justice. Elizabeth Bennett, Death Comes to Pemberley

There are many little old ladies serving in church nurseries who may not understand how to articulate the theories of gospel-centeredness or have the ingenuity to dazzle our minds with psychological insights, cultural observations, and Christocentric interpretations of Old Testament passages. Their hearts, however, burn with love for Jesus and overflow with gratefulness for His grace...So don't be quick to judge them. Be humbled by them. Mastering the theology of gospel-centeredness is not the point. Loving the God of the gospel is. J.D. Greear

Recent studies show that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than do the men who mention it. Unknown

Wisdom is not primarily a function of how clever we are, nor of how much information we have managed to cram into our minds. Rather it is a moral choice to be independent of God or to be subject to him in our thinking as well as our doing. Graham Goldsworthy

No Christian can avoid theology. Every Christian is a theologian. Perhaps not a theologian in the technical or professional sense, but a theologian nonetheless. The issue for Christians is not whether we are going to be theologians but whether we are going to be good theologians or bad ones. R.C. Sproul

A life outside of Christ is both hard and frightening; a life in Christ has hard edges and dark valleys, but it is purposeful even when painful. Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. CS Lewis

And I think I'm kind of a nice guy. Being a nice guy, trying to prove that nice guys don't always finish last. Darius Rucker

If I had a nickel for every time I was doomed by a puppet, I'd have...two nickels! Which isn't a lot, but really, it's weird that it happened twice, right? Dr. Doofenshmirtz

The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock... the trial may even end in God's acquittal. But the important thing is that Man is on the bench and God in the dock. CS Lewis

You may be whatever you resolve to be. Stonewall Jackson

Jesus is greater than I have ever portrayed Him to be. Tweeted by @JohnPiper

Don't base the number of kids you want on the pain in the {butt} of infancy, because it's so finite. Base it on how many people you want at Thanksgiving. Gwenyth Paltrow

Learning To Love What Must Be Done

This job has been given to me to do. 

 Therefore, it is a gift.

 Therefore, it is a privilege.

  Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God. 

Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done for him. 

Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God's way. 

In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness.

Elisabeth Elliot

Quotes Archive 2015

Your life is messy and hard but that's not a failure of the plan, it is the plan. It's God working to complete what he's begun in you. Paul Tripp

Oh for grace to trust Him more. Louisa M.R. Stead

What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. CS Lewis - The Magicians Nephew

'Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 'You have been my friend.' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing,' EB White, Charlotte's Web

The single most important ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people. Without it, most achievements are not possible, and even what we do achieve will feel hollow. Abraham Lincoln

Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success. C.S. Lewis

There are good young men who need someone to show them they are trustworthy by entrusting them with worthy work, who take the time to inspect their work so they know what to expect, who give them confidence to do hard things by giving them hard things to do. Ann Voskamp

I believe that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church. Put your finger on any properous page in the Church's history and you will find a little marginal note that says: 'In this age people could readily see where the Church began and where the world ended.' Charles Spurgeon

It is not trying that is ever going to bring us home. All this trying leads up to the vital moment at which you turn to God and say, “You must do this. I can’t.” CS Lewis

In the United States today, there is a pervasive tendency to treat children as adults, and adults as children. The options of children are thus steadily expanded, while those of adults are progressively constricted. The result is unruly children and childish adults. Thomas Szasz

I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance, but by our disposition. Martha Washington

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. Newt Gingrich

Quotes Archive 2014

I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me...Mother Teresa

I just wish people would realize that anything's possible if you try; dreams are made possible if you try. Terry Fox

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. John F. Kennedy

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt

All relational tension is the result of feeling like I need something from this person, and I am not getting it. So if everything I need and long for I already possess in Christ, I am now free to do everything for you, without needing anything from you. Pastor Tullian Tchividjian

Our hopes are high. Our faith in the people is great. Our courage is strong. And our dreams for this beautiful country will never die. Pierre Trudeau 

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong. Abraham Lincoln

Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century:
Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others;
Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected;
Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it;
Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
Neglecting development and refinement of the mind;
Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman 106 B.C. – 43 B.C. 

Lord, make my way prosperous, not that I achieve high station, but that my life be an exhibit to the value of knowing God. Jim Elliot

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. Abraham Lincoln

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried. GK Chesterton

You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down. Mary Pickford

Beachy Days

On Saturday, after sports - the kids and I hit the beach for a few hours! The water starts getting colder in October, even though the air is nice - it gets too cold for swimming in a hurry, so we wanted to get in one last beach day of the year. I didn't really take any/many pics of our beach excursions this summer, so I'm making up for those occasions now.

There is something so simple about the beach, and yet so fulfilling, it's mystifying. Really. It is one of things in life that everyone loves, and that yet no one can fully explain why. It's one of life simple pleasures, and in the era of time we find ourselves in, simple pleasures are becoming increasingly rare.

There is nothing more thrilling to the soul than your favourite beach-spot

85 degrees. Gorgeous.

We chose to move here 10 years ago. Because of the beach. It really came down that. We made a list of things we wanted, and this was the place where those things were possible, so we moved here and chose to build our lives. We didn't have kids when we decided to live on the coast, and I never really thought about the impact that the ocean would make on their hearts. It's free, and it's simple, but loving the ocean is one of the greatest gifts we've given our kids.

  The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea. Isak Dinesen

 Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach. Michelle Held

 I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought. Helen Keller

Grey is getting big and skinny. I miss that chubby little baby!

There are two ways to get enough. One is accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less. GK Chesterton

...when you have waves and sand, you don't need anything else.

My shadow is tall:-)

 Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone. Anon

 The sea, once it casts it's spell, holds one in it's net of wonder forever. Jacques Cousteau